Grayson McKinney & Zach Rondot are co-authors of The Expert Effect: A Three-Part System to Break down the Walls of Your Class
Grayson McKinney is an elementary educator from East Grand Rapids, Michigan who is known for his innovative approaches to teaching and learning and is a true agent for change. Co-author of The Expert Effect: A Three-Part System to Break Down the Walls of Your Classroom and Connect Your Students to the World and the picture book companion, The Expert Expedition, his mission is to empower students to connect their learning to the world in order to improve their own lives, the lives of others, and the environment around them.
Zach Rondot is a 4th grade teacher from Michigan. His main mission as educator is to empower my students to be strong, confident kids for more success, happiness, and fulfillment in their lives. He has a Master’s Degree in Educational technology and loves using technology to deepen learning, enhance creativity, and create opportunities that would otherwise would not be possible.
Trenches story: Zach- met Grayson in his 4th yr teaching. They were the only 4th grade teachers. The janitor removed walls, co-taught. Had an amazing student teacher who is now a colleague. Were exhausted. Kids were really excited, flexible. Ended up being a positive experience. Grayson-early days of pandemic. Amazing time of collaboration. What are we going to do to make students want to sign in & see us daily? Tapped into creativity. Got to know st’s on another level. They were able to strip away non-essentials like formal evals of student progress.
Talk about writing of book: The Expert Effect: A Three-Part System to Break down the Walls of Your Class. They teach together at same school, co-taught together for a while. Presented at district PD. Will share about 3 ideas in book. Very beginning- they first met when Zach graduated, had had 20 interviews in 2013. He got a last-min call to teach a lesson in Grayson’s room. They split a building tech chair position. Some ppl mentioned writing a book. District had gone 1-1 with ipads. Became a philosophical shift. Changed who students were learning from. Lined up opportunities to Skype. Some ideas became blog posts. They had a 3 part vision of how it all connects.
Tips for getting started with this: Get students to learn from outside experts. They share tips & tricks on PBL. Sharing like an expert to authentic community. Learn from, become expert in their knowledge. Celebration on how far they have come. Don’t just find random speakers, have it tie into units of study. Taking class to the field. Lots of times during presentations, ppl say they have many ideas, they encourage them to start w/ 1 unit. Speaking to expert doesn’t have to be the 1st course of action. Could be best at the end. Expert could be giving feedback. A lot of examples are ES based. They have worked w/ 6-12 graders in the last 2 summers. Youth Innovation Lab. Challenge that periods are shorter. Record a virtual session & show to the other classes. Gather ?’s from each class period.
Just had a children’s book release The Expert Expedition. Goal is to inspire teachers to change their teaching to impact kids. Gives kids opportunity to explore passion projects. They advocate for kids being able to learn from the classroom teacher. Talk about their illustrator (shows book on screen). Every pg is illustrated w/ pics of projects their st’ have undertaken. Picture of gymnasium filled w/ products of their studying of entrepreneurship.
Zach- student-led podcast- Grayson has done it, but no more. It’s been around since 2018. They record about 5-7 x’s a year. Goal is a way of spreading positive messages around the world. Conversations from morning meetings. Documented candid convos during pandemic of kids’ perspective. Everyone who choses to be on. Zach’s favorite project. He attended PBL seminar. Wanted to give st’s a platform where st’s could share their learning w/ world. Started using anchor.fm. Over 5000 downloads, 45-50 countries reached.
Usually talk about… conferences you’ll be presenting at? They do local ones, check their website.
Out of everything? Grayson- when you combine excitement of learning & what effect podcast has on kids, it can be a powerful shift for students. Choose a single unit or lesson. Click To Tweet. Zach-taking a risk pays off. Gratifying experiences in education. Dive in!
Where can ppl find you online? http://www.experteffectedu.com @gmckinney2 IG:@ZachRondot, Blog: zachrondot.com
Find Grayson on Twitter: @Gmckinney2, Instagram: @ExpertEffectEDU Website: http://www.experteffectedu.com
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-H6C0evw7P8
Books
Expert Effect Amazon Link paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/195385219X
Expert Effect Amazon Link Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Effect-Three-Part-Classroom-Students-ebook/dp/B092XQKM9F/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+expert+effect&qid=1621300985&sr=8-2
Amazon Hardcover link: https://a.co/d/ftD50Ug
Amazon paperback link: https://a.co/d/126jAdZ
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