00:01.56 Gary Gray All right, we have the recording. And I just have to find my little spiel that I have to say. It 00:09.55 Marisa No worries, Gary. i You just came home from something jumping right into this. So but you need to write all the appreciation for you. 00:13.95 Gary Gray was such a busy day. It was such a busy day. 00:18.43 Marisa should trio 00:21.55 Gary Gray It's all for the kids, though. It's all for the kids. Yes. All right, here we go. Ready? 00:27.12 Marisa yep let's do it. 00:27.87 Gary Gray Yes. Welcome back to another episode of Corridor Conversations, the podcast segment of NCTE's Classroom Corridors, sharing expertise and inspiration from elementary teachers. I'm your host, Gary Gray Jr. Today, we are talking with Marisa Saelzler. 00:45.58 Gary Gray I'm so excited to have you. Lifelong learner, elementary teacher at Albert Chapman, Ohio State PhD student. I want to say that again. was Iowa State PhD student, wife and mama of two beautiful daughters. Marissa, how are you? How are things? 01:06.21 Marissa I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I'm so happy to be here talking with you today. 01:11.42 Gary Gray Yeah, i am I am so excited to dive in. um i have a handful of questions and we're just going to see where we go. We talked a little bit earlier. I want to dive right about this question because specifically about your work and what has inspired you to blend the ideas around arts, nature, and technology and STEM in teaching and like how does that benefit your students? 01:35.82 Marisa um Well, thank you for having me. Thanks for asking this question. i just think it all starts so much with being open. And I think that sometimes we forget that as educators, we're trying to have each moment planned and scripted. 01:45.55 Gary Gray Hmm. 01:55.29 Marisa And and it's like having this framework helps you is having the framework, but being open to ideas because really the kids have been what spark this work, ignite this work, keep this work going, because sometimes we'll get into something and they'll take it a different direction, but it's better. 02:19.72 Marisa And I always am just watching to see what happens because when you leave a little space, it gives them opportunity. 02:31.22 Marisa and And just to like, and to see where that goes, you have to have that um trust that you're like, you know what? 02:31.59 Gary Gray I agree. 02:40.25 Marisa Let's put a little space here, see what happens. 02:42.43 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 02:43.44 Marisa And you have a plan, you have this framework, but the kids just take it to a whole new level. 02:43.65 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 02:49.38 Marisa Like they're brilliant. They are the most brilliant people. 02:51.33 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 02:52.40 Marisa And I always think about like, Their time is now their time. that We're not training them for later on. 02:57.11 Gary Gray Yeah. Mm-hmm. 02:59.83 Marisa ah families Now we're not, we need their genius now. And I just think that, um, this all came about just from following their lead and watching them and see, okay, this spark and how their gifts shine through. 03:10.46 Gary Gray e 03:16.00 Marisa And I'm like, Oh, I make all these connections and then help them to see the connection. 03:20.65 Gary Gray I love 03:22.52 Marisa So, It's not that I started like, oh, I want to workshop this thing, blending these things together. It's actually watching them and seeing, okay, this idea you have, this is great. 03:29.29 Gary Gray that. 03:34.86 Marisa And you know what? It connects with this and seeing like, this is how we work as a world. Everything's connected. So living in the connections is what like brought me here. 03:46.88 Gary Gray i love that And it makes me think so much about just like the idea of questioning and how questioning is so important and allowing kids to question the stuff that we're talking about in the classroom. 03:53.88 Marisa you 03:58.74 Gary Gray It also makes me think about like, can you think of a time or a moment within the classroom where, you know, a student has just like really had that light bulb moment and you were like, yes, that is it. That that is what we're looking for. And maybe can you share a little bit about that? 04:16.64 Marisa Yeah, a really cool moment. I'll never, I'll never forget this moment. It just makes my like heart sing when I think about it is whenever we were, we have an outdoor learning lab um at our school that I take the kids out in. 04:31.00 Marisa And we were having a discussion about um the space and what makes a good habitat and you need food, water, shelter, and space. 04:38.19 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 04:41.01 Marisa And so we were talking about that what do we need? And what we were missing, the aspect was water. We didn't have a water source out there. And then I remember one of my students, Pernusha, said, well, in my country, when it rains, we put out um pots and pans to collect the water. 05:00.89 Marisa And so the kids were like pondering this idea and like, we're like, we haven't seen this here. And, you know, they they were workshopping it in their head and just kind of, you know, thinking about how do I feel about this? And then I was like, when we started workshopping it out loud together, I was like, I wonder if this is how the rain barrel was invented. 05:22.98 Marisa You know, this thing that we see, maybe we don't see pods and pans, but the rain barrel and what a smart way to use that resource and capture it. 05:22.84 Gary Gray Yeah. 05:33.57 Marisa And it just was such a beautiful moment of like, she made this connection with, And it took us to another place, you know, and that can't be scripted. 05:44.83 Marisa That's so, it's so beautiful whenever, it's just so beautiful and it's brilliant. 05:44.86 Gary Gray You cannot. 05:50.38 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 05:50.95 Marisa and And then you're thinking about this and you're drawing on your roots of what you've seen. And you see that there's wisdom you can draw on from the past, innovation in the future. 06:02.39 Marisa You know, like it doesn't have to be an either or. 06:03.42 Gary Gray the 06:05.45 Marisa It's like, we are, we can make this, these beautiful creations and ideas fly. 06:10.85 Gary Gray who I love that. And how layered is that to have a student be able to like, and I can only picture the classroom where like that student has built the confidence to even share that idea. And then on top of that, these kids are leaning in on like, okay, I've never heard of that. Like, 06:28.28 Gary Gray what What are other places where they're collecting water in different ways? And where are those people from? and what do they look like? And all the different things. So like these experiences are so layered, so layered, which makes the idea in itself around like just inquiring about life itself is so powerful, so powerful. 06:45.83 Marisa Thank you. 06:48.15 Gary Gray The next question I have for you is like you've created, you know, lots of hands-on activities, experiences for kids. inclusive learning experiences from like coding with sewing to making scientific observations accessible. 07:00.95 Gary Gray What drives your commitment to like these creative approaches and specifically what impact have you seen within your students? And you've kind of touched on that a little bit in the last question that I asked you, um but can you expand on that a little bit for me? 07:15.62 Marisa um Well, i think that there are all the layers of this, you hit on it, like the caring about other people, there being multiple entry points, because just, you know, whenever we think about ourselves in the world, then we come at things at multiple entry points. 07:25.33 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 07:40.66 Gary Gray the 07:40.89 Marisa And I think we have to do that as teachers too. And And it's not just one way and you're not going to think of all the ways. And that's why you have to ah lean into that, like the power of the collective, you know, the power of that. 07:57.45 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. who 07:59.84 Marisa What are we thinking? And when you start building that, it's amazing of What kids say what they're empowered to do, what they do as leaders, like they are sparked and it's authentic. 08:13.10 Marisa It's real. And it's just, it's just magical whenever you build that, that it's, and so the drive comes from like, I love seeing that ignited in them because their time is now. 08:26.07 Marisa So it's like, your time is now. 08:26.37 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 08:28.35 Marisa i see you like when we're doing projects, I am thinking authentic audience. How are we going to use this in our community? 08:33.97 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 08:35.39 Marisa How's everyone going to be included? 08:35.49 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 08:37.07 Marisa So that's how, whenever it's touching on how accessibility, how is everyone in our school and our community going to be a part of this? What barriers are there? 08:45.91 Gary Gray who 08:47.02 Marisa Maybe they're not your barriers, but as an ally, as a friend, as a community, we have to think about this and how we can help other people. Like we can use ah You know, there's different times. 08:59.45 Marisa Sometimes you're going to need help and sometimes people are going to need your help. That's a community. 09:02.74 Gary Gray Exactly. 09:04.00 Marisa And we have to start thinking about that point of view from from the beginning. 09:04.13 Gary Gray It is. 09:09.11 Marisa You know, like we got that doesn't just happen. 09:09.85 Gary Gray We do. 09:12.50 Marisa It's like something that as we're workshopping it together and thinking and even just when you think you've made it, when you're like, oh, my gosh, this is a great idea. 09:21.73 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. 09:23.57 Marisa But then someone says, but what about this? That's not a disappointment. That is like progress in your idea because you're like, oh my gosh, we can make it better. 09:33.97 Gary Gray Yes, yes. And I love, i yeah this is all music to my ears. I love just inquiry and I love having kids sit in, you know, failures and have conversations and problem solve because it's such a great way of building empathy with people and kids and community. 09:57.20 Gary Gray And it also just allows kids to, you know, allows their brains to grow. Like, you know, if we if you fail, fail, fail, your brain's going to grow, grow, grow. So I love that it allows that to happen, like just organically, not just through like, answering your question, getting it wrong. It's like you're constantly problem solving over and over and over again, for the better of the community in the world, etc. 10:21.37 Gary Gray i wish I could just be like a fly on the wall in your classroom, because I know 10:24.62 Marisa Thank 10:25.65 Gary Gray there's some magic happening. I just know. 10:28.24 Marisa you. 10:28.96 Gary Gray I know. 10:29.26 Marisa Thank you. 10:30.86 Gary Gray and and And I know that there's also been other educators that you've worked with that has influenced you. 10:39.10 Marisa Mm-hmm. 10:39.01 Gary Gray And this goes to my last question, like, what have you learned from working with other other educators, specifically, whether it's through your PhD or through the classroom with the kids? And how has it like influence the collaboration with your students and their learning experience. 10:57.65 Marisa um okay, so community is everything. Community with your kids, community with other teachers. And I think it's, you know, that power of the collective. My good friend Stella Vialba is such a leader in this, in that, you know, the good for all and like the reminder of why we're doing this and how you get to the best idea. 11:23.93 Marisa and so a couple things I think about in this is I used to think about success and failure. Like this was a win, this was a failure. 11:34.64 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 11:36.81 Marisa And I've changed my mindset into like success as progress and failure as pondering. So like, is this a moment of progress or pondering? 11:45.70 Gary Gray e 11:49.53 Marisa Because you're always like on that continuum. 11:50.23 Gary Gray the 11:53.15 Marisa And so I feel like that helps me whenever... I'm talking with educators and people that i care about and, you know, respect their practice that whenever they're telling me, you know, if they tell me something, push back in on an idea or even something that I'm like, Hey, this was a really great idea. Like I'm feeling great. and they're like, well, what about this? 12:17.05 Marisa Then. 12:16.99 Gary Gray the 12:18.17 Marisa It's like, gives me that moment of pondering of like saying, Hmm, you know, what can i do next time? What can i do better? What do I need to go back and address tomorrow? You know, like and even saying, Hey, you know, i thought this was a win, but I realized a blind spot or something. 12:27.93 Gary Gray Sure. 12:34.48 Marisa i 12:35.07 Gary Gray Yep. 12:35.86 Marisa And when like success, when things have worked, seeing like, okay, how has this made progress? 12:35.93 Gary Gray Yep. 12:42.33 Marisa How has this helped others? Um, because you're never finished, you know, it's never like you're at the finish line. It's like you live in this continuum. 12:52.87 Gary Gray Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 12:53.49 Marisa And one of the best things, um, that I've been a part of recently is, um, my friend Stella, the power of the collective, um, started this, we have this book group called meet me at cover to cover. We meet at a local bookstore. 13:12.13 Marisa We, um, bunch of educators get together and we talk about books. we We shop, we talk about books, and then we talk about what's in our stack. 13:22.92 Marisa And then as we're talking about what's in our stack, we're saying, oh my gosh, I see a connection how you can use this here. 13:24.05 Gary Gray Mm 13:29.78 Marisa I can see this. And it's like that organic thing connection over just books being this part. It's not even saying, okay, let's workshop this one lesson together. 13:40.93 Marisa It's like being open to what can what can be sparked when we're thinking together for the good of our students. 13:48.26 Gary Gray hmm. Yeah, I mean, it is so important to have community like I I hear you so much when you talk about like having your people next to you and how that can really influence just like your morale and the way you show up for kids like it is so important that you are having those people that are lifting you up 14:03.31 Marisa Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 14:16.78 Gary Gray but also being honest, being able to be honest with you about the things they think you could, you know, adjust or change in your teaching. and not only that doesn't just help you within like your teaching life, it also helps you outside of the classroom as well. And I think that is hard to find. 14:34.54 Gary Gray And I think um some of us are very lucky to have that. Some of us are still searching for that. But I can hear that Stella, but but has done that for you, which is really, really cool. 14:47.36 Gary Gray Really, really cool. Marissa, I want to thank you for hanging out. um You have been awesome. I'm wishing you all the best in your PhD. And I'm just so glad you're with the kids because you're doing amazing things. I appreciate you. 15:02.50 Marisa Thank you. I loved chatting with you. It was an honor to get to just connect and just sharing the joy together. So thank you. 15:11.33 Gary Gray Thank you. Thank you. See look, this is right on 15 minutes.