Back to School Series - Miss. Ball

From building welcoming classroom environments to establishing helpful routines at home, Miss Ball offers thoughtful insights that ease the transition for learners of all ages. Whether you’re a parent, student, or community supporter, this episode highlights the simple ways we can all contribute to a successful school year. 

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[Intro music]
Melissa: This month, we are doing a special series all about back to school, and we have awesome local educators and teachers coming in. And today, we have Megan Ball, a local fourth grade elementary school teacher joining us today. We're so grateful that you came in. Thank you for coming in.

Miss. Ball: Thank you. I'm excited.

Melissa: So first, we wanted to start with just what made you want to become a teacher?

Miss. Ball: So, I like to joke I'm a third generation teacher. My grandma was a teacher back in the 1930s, I guess 1940s technically. Then both my parents were teachers growing up and I just didn't really see anything else that I wanted to do growing up.

And so I became a teacher and I loved it. I really have had a really a fun time.

Melissa: I love that. Because you think about teachers inspiring generations, but I don't always think about the teachers inspiring their kids also in that

Miss. Ball: Yes.

Melissa: Hey, that's a great career path to take.

Miss. Ball: Yes. And I was the one child that they did not try and turn away from teaching. My siblings I had one sister that considered it for about a week and my mom said, no.

Melissa: She was like, no. You're you should try something else.

Miss. Ball: Yeah.

Melissa: Well, that's cool though that that you had that guidance too. So

Miss. Ball: Yes.

Nelissa: That's really awesome. But diving into, like, this back to school prep kind of this idea of what we should know or what parents and students need to know, if you're a new student coming in, you're kinda nervous, you've never been to the school before, what kind of advice would you give to maybe the students who've already been there, this is their elementary school, to be kind and welcoming to those students? What would you..

Miss. Ball: That's the answer is be kind and welcoming. It's really interesting. Most of the time on the first day of school, even the first week, the teachers are out on the playground as well. All the teachers will usually be outside that first little bit. I mean, there's always teachers out there, but it's not usually all the teachers, but the first week or week or so of school, it's usually all the teachers are out either in the morning or in the afternoon.

We can tell which kids are new because they are very shy and they're probably not playing with people. And that's when we as teachers can step in and the kids are so good about it. All we have to do is say, Hey, Sally, I see somebody over there who looks like they could use front kitty, go be a friend. And they'll hop right on and they say, Oh my goodness, I didn't even notice. So I would say to those kids who are already they've been at the school, this is their school, they're very comfortable.

Just take a moment, look around and see who needs a friend. And then just go welcome them, smile and say, hey, come play with us.

Melissa: Simple answer, but, like, that's, like, too. I feel like as an adult sometimes, if you're in a space where you're comfortable and you have your group, whether it's, like, church or whatever, a local community event that you know and you see someone, like, yeah. You don't always think about it because, like, you're in your space, but stopping going, oh, who's around?

Miss. Ball: Yeah. And it just takes just a little bit, just a few seconds.

Melissa:Mhmm.

Miss. Ball: Look around, see who needs a friend.

Melissa: So that was for our students.

Miss. Ball: Yes.

Melissa: In whatever grades you are, that could be elementary to high school. Like, you might not be on a playground anymore if you're in high school, but you still have cafeteria, lunch, like classes, hallways, like, where am I going? I have no idea kind of thing. So, like, same same thing can apply, I feel like, across the board.

Miss. Ball: Can. Absolutely.

Melissa: So but for our parents, maybe they have a student maybe they've been in the school system before, maybe they haven't. But if they have a student and they know that their child is a little not as strong in, like, a certain subject, what's the best way to kinda be like, hey. I'm concerned about this.

Like, I don't want the child to feel, like, pressure, but I need... I want you as a teacher to know that they might need a little help. Like, how do they best communicate that and talk like, have a plan with their teacher?

Miss. Ball: Totally valid concern. My thing, and most teachers I know do send home packets on back to school night of tell me about your child.

Melissa: Okay.

Miss. Ball: We do have some parents that come in on back to school night and want to talk about it right there and then, which I admire so much because that means you are very proactive about getting help for your child. Save it for the first week of school, send an email. Back to school night is very busy and we are meeting all of our kids at once and I just have a really bad memory on events like that. So send me an email and let's, let's meet sometime after school hours and set up a plan. Let's be a team.

Back to school night is very helpful to meet those kids. Write it down on those papers that teachers will send home because I, most teachers do. And if they don't, send an email and say, Hey, this is so and so. My child is this kid in your class, can I make an appointment with you to meet? And we can go over some concerns that I have.

I know that's what my mom did for me. I really struggled in math and it's funny because I'm a fourth grade teacher and in fourth fourth grade, that's when they really started catching on that I was really struggling in math and my mom and my teacher were, were a great team and, and got me caught up a little bit.

Melissa: Yeah. I wouldn't have thought about that too. Because like, the parents were like, I'm going in, I'm ready to share.

Miss. Ball: Yes. And we really appreciate it so much, it's great.

Melissa: You're like, I'm glad you're sharing. But also, like, you're seeing all the parents and all the kids in one evening, so it might slip through the cracks.

So, like, follow-up. Maybe say it that night, but definitely follow-up with an email.

Miss. Ball: Please follow-up. Yeah.

Melissa: Great. That's good. So this was more thinking for, like, if you're an elementary school student and you're moving from, like, elementary to junior high or junior high to high school, but I don't know. Is that a like, if a kid is nervous about moving from those different school levels, is there kind of an application for that maybe in elementary school, like, k through, I don't know, maybe second up to the higher grades? Is there still that nervousness and how...

Miss. Ball: I mean, it's a new grade every time.

Melissa: It's true.

Miss. Ball: So I I definitely still think it's applicable. It's just those bigger transitions are when you're moving into the the older schools and I think it's one of the biggest changes that is happening is these kids are going from a group of maybe 80 kids in their grade, 80 to 90 kids, and then they'll go into middle school, junior high and it'll be, you know, 400, 500 kids in their grade. And it's a huge group of kids that are all experiencing new things at once and it's just, there's going to be changes in friends. You probably won't know your teachers and your teachers also have, you know, a lot more students. So you're a student going into a new school.

So, I mean, it applies into the, our first question. Just be ready to make new friends, be ready to form relationships with around seven teachers and realize that teachers are trying to form relationships with 200 students. It's going to take a little bit longer than it probably did in elementary school, but it'll still be a really good experience for the most part.

Melissa: That's great. That that I have to shift my headspace too to think about that because I where I grew up, it was so tiny that my graduating class, I think, was in the, like, high twenties, low thirties. I don't remember exactly anymore. I always say, like, 25. I'm like, that seems a little small, but it was small.

Megan: Mhmm.

Melissa: And we probably started off in freshman year as, like, maybe in the high thirties and then by the time, you know, end of the high school. But, like, that would have been hard if I had to change from, like let's say I moved somewhere where there was a bigger high school.

Miss. Ball: Right.

Melissa: That would have been crazy and so foreign to me. So, yeah, thinking of that transition from, like, elementary to high school the same way, that would be wild. But also try, like, like you said, like, try and make new friends, maybe, like, try new things that you wouldn't think about too because you never know what you might like love.

Miss. Ball: The really fun thing about those other the bigger schools, middle school, junior high, high school, is you get to take those elective classes and, you know, start gearing your interests more toward...

Melissa: yeah, figuring out your little niche.

Miss. Ball: Yeah. It's really fun. It's a fun experience. Just give it a little time. It'll be different.

Melissa: At the beginning of each school year, is there something that you'd like, okay, I really would love if parents and students would know this because it's kind of something they need to know. At the beginning of every school year, that seems to get kind of missed.

Miss. Ball: It's really most of the time, parents are very good at following instructions. I know most schools ask that items are labeled so that, you know, when you're putting stuff away on like back to school night for safe school, it can just go really quick.

It makes it go really quick and it helps calm down the chaos a little bit if you have things labeled. So, you know, your pencil box and have stuff organized. I know it takes a little extra time at home, but it also helps the kids get familiar with these are the supplies and maybe you can do some prediction activities. What do you think you'll use this notebook for? You know, why do you think you need 12 glue sticks?

Melissa: 12 glue sticks?!

Miss. Ball: Depends on the grade. I don't think we asked for that many, but I know kindergarten has a lot of cut and glue because they're using their, you know, their fine motor skills as something that's really important in kindergarten. When you get to the higher grades, it's usually a lot more writing. So I would say labeling those items really helps.

And something else I would do even before school starts is there is always a bit of a kerfuffle at the end of the first day of school involving how am I going to get home? Most of the older kids are, have been through it, they're pretty familiar with it, but our littles, our kindergarteners, our first graders, get really scared at the end of the day. And it breaks my heart because most of the teachers, again, are out there and we, most of us have the list of, hey, this kid is on this bus. And, you know, it's just that those poor little, little littles are out there saying, "I don't know how to get home and I don't know what bus I'm on." And you're like, "okay, what's your name, kiddo?"

And we'll, we'll get them there, but really go over that get home plan over and over and over and over and over and over and over, just to, to try and make that easier. They'll still probably panic at the end of the day and forget, but, you know, hopefully it'll help a little bit. And then something else, I'm already starting to do it, is those bedtime routines are so important. Don't do it just the night before school, try and get into it like, you know, at least a week ahead of time and lunchtime routines too, because kindergarten starts at our school at like 10:50 and, sixth grade goes until 12:50. Okay.

So lunchtime. So lunchtimes are, you know, if you want to call the office and see, you know, what time does my kid, what are, what time are they gonna eat lunch? That might be useful to get them in the routine of this is when your meal is so that that can get their stomach a little bit more used to it.

Melissa: That's fair. Because I think about that too.

And like I have a set lunchtime, and whenever it gets put off one way or the other, I'm like, I am so hungry. I'd definitely think so. Yeah. Get put off a little bit.

Miss. Ball: Body gets angry. Yeah. The kids feel it. Yeah.

Melissa: Especially because it's like you've had this summertime of probably mostly freedom, so you could kind of eat whenever you want. A lot of grazing.

Sleep whenever you want, which is great. That's a good there's time and place for that. But, yeah. They're like, oh, this gotta get back into all the schedules. Like Yes.

You're not gonna be able to just go grab a snack when you feel hungry and sleep. I had thought about the sleep one, but I'm like, I didn't think about the food one. That's a great Yeah. That's a great one.

Miss. Ball: It's important.

Melissa: Yeah. No. It is. Because, like, when you get hungry, you get angry and you can't think as clearly. So Yes.

That's definitely that's a good one. Mhmm. Thank you. I'm gonna get a swag of water really fast because I can feel the tickle in my throat.

Miss. Ball: I'll join you.

Melissa: Hydration is important.

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa I don't know if that has to back do with back to school, but...

Miss. Ball: kind of. We have a lot of water bottles like what you and I just had. I would definitely teach your kids to close the lid on the water bottles because the amount of times those get dropped in a day, you have a lot of spills. that's a good skill.

Melissa: I mean..this is an adult's water bottle (holds up water bottle) and you can see these lovely dents

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa: From being dropped.

Miss. Ball: Yeah. Oh, I have mine. They're scratched up. Yeah. So, yeah. Close the lid.

Melissa: Or get a lid that's easy to close probably too.

Because if it's a little and they have a complicated water bottle Yes. That might not be the best thing.

Miss. Ball: Yeah.

Melissa: So we kinda touched a little bit on, like, if a parent has a specific concern, right, about their kid, but what are the best ways for parents to be involved in their kids their whole school year? I mean, we're talking about getting ready, but, like, start that school year with that mindset.

Okay. I wanna make sure my kids, kid or kids, some people probably have multiple children, I imagine they do. That was silly. Yes. Of course they do.

But, how to make their school year a success and be involved in that?

Miss. Ball: Yeah. Really, just keeping communication. I know a lot of schools are going to more digital communication, which makes it easier to get in contact with the teacher. Most teachers, the questions we get have to do with grades.

And I would say check grades frequently. Again, most teachers update at least once a week for grades. If you notice that anything is off or you see a grade that's lower than what your kid would normally produce or you're seeing a concerning trend, get in contact with the teacher. They haven't already gotten in contact with you and say, hey, this is concerning me, let's be a team and figure out how to help the kid. And something I have loved when parents tell me this because, oh, what a good idea, is they will take the work that's been passed back, graded and brought home and they will look at the work and say, okay, so they're doing long division.

Let's find a real world application of long division. So there'll be walking through the store and, okay, so if this item has, you know, if this is a box of four fifty items

Melissa: Paperclips.

Miss. Ball: Yes, paperclips. How many packs of nine papers will that give me? Just random things like that.

And it really helps the kid connect because the kids will ask us, when am I ever going to use this? You will use all the time. Most of the math that you learn in elementary school, you use it constantly. So finding just those little real world applications or, you know, reading, you can apply that to movies that you watch or just random conversations that you have. Hey, why don't you predict what you think this character is going to do in the movie?

Or can you summarize what just happened? Just random things like that, and that can really hone in those skills for them.

Melissa: And, like, make the connection.

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa: Like, oh, I can do this because I just did it here.

Miss. Ball: Yes.

Melissa: I can do it in the classroom.

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa: I know math was not my strong suit either. I could do it, but, like, I didn't always make the connections as fast Yes.

As I did in English and language. So, it is important. Math is important, guys.

Miss. Ball: Very, very.

Melissa: I use it every day more than I thought I ever would, so it's really good.So along with, like, getting your food schedules and your sleep schedules, what can maybe parents or kids know or do to kind of help be sure that they know how to behave in a classroom?

Miss. Ball: I think most kids, they're, they've been through school before, they know the expectations of the school. Parents, you can just ask your kids, what were the rules for the school last year? What were the rules for the classroom? What were the expectations, I guess, is a better word to use than rules because it really does set that standard for the kids.

You know, what were the expectations for the playground? How do you treat people on the playground? What about the cafeteria? What about the bathrooms? Are these expectations?

Can we put some of those expectations in place at home, just to start practicing? I think too with, with getting those plans in place, it might be a little hard because again, home and school are different and the kids know that home is, for most kids, it is the safe place and they're going to behave differently at home than they do at school. Most of the time, kids actually behave better at school because they are surrounded by their peers. They are surrounded by other adults that have not grown up with them and it's not, it's a safe place, but it's not their safest place. They know at home they're going to be loved no matter what.
And so they, they feel like they can, they can, you know, show their or act out their emotions more at home, which valid.

Melissa: That's what you should be able to do.

Miss. Ball: You should be able to, yes. That's So if you're seeing kids acting out at home more than at school, I guess that's kind of a compliment. They feel very safe with you that they can do that, but just starting to implement, okay, what were these expectations again?

Maybe you could teach your younger brother about those expectations. Just simple things like that.

Melissa: That's awesome. Thank you. Sorry, that was kind of more of like a curveball, but...

Miss. Ball: You're good.

Melissa: Talking with one of my other coworkers who's got family and education, and she was talking about that. And I was like, that's a good thing to kind of setting that expectation. Hey. It's gonna be remember how it's a little different and how we behave and, you're surrounded, like you said, by a bunch more people, not just your family. Yes.

So that's gonna change the way you behave, because you can't all talk really loud at the same time, because then no one will be able to hear anything

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa: And no one's gonna get any learning done. So, now we come to kind of the fun part. What has been I guess, what's maybe the hardest part about teaching first, and then we'll go to the positive. What's, like, the most fun, most part the part that you love the most?

So we got a positive. You know, pro and cons.

Miss. Ball: The part I love the most. I really do love being there when the kids have their light bulb moments, because those light bulb moments exist and they are so fun to watch. Those are the moments where I'm like, okay, this math lesson is going to be going for another twenty minutes because this kid is starting to get it and I need to make sure this kid gets the practice they need to remember that they actually got it and they succeeded at it.

It's so fun to see those successes.

Melissa: To like see the learning as it's happening. That's cool.

Miss. Ball: Yes. And, you know, I love that I get to share my things that I love, my passions with the kids and they think I'm the coolest person ever because I love these things where, you know, in other areas it might not be as applicable in my life, but you know, in school, if I can attach it to the standards and say, we are going to study characteristics of certain characters from my favorite books or we're going to do a compare and contrast, we're going to have some real world application.

It's really fun to hear kids discussing things that they might not have discussed otherwise.

Melissa: Mhmm.

Miss. Ball: But anyway, they have great discussion. It's fun to see them interacting with each other.

Melissa: Is there did you wanna say a part that's hard or we don't have to?

If you're like, no, I wanna stick with positive.

Miss. Ball: I can say a part that's hard. We can tell when kids are having a bad day and that makes us really sad. So that's a I would say that's a hard part is, you know, when kids come to school with something extra that's not lifting them up and and you know, no matter what has happened, whether they just didn't get a good night's sleep or something happened between the time they left and the time they got to school again, that was really sad for the family. Just, we can tell when those things are happening and that just makes me sad.

I just, I love it when they're happy and that most kids should be, kids should be happy most of the time. I, I understand that there are things beyond our control, but, that is really hard when we get kids that are coming to school with circumstances that they can't control. So, yeah, that's one hard part. Another hard part is we have to figure out what gets prioritized and what gets kind of tossed to the side in the grand scheme of things, which means that sometimes we, we aren't able to do those fun activities that we really wanted to do. Sometimes we have to go back and review expectations and it's especially after Christmas break, the kids know testing is coming and they are tired of snow and being inside.

And so going back and reviewing those expectations is really rough, but it's, you know, it's necessary for all of us to keep enjoying our time. So, yeah, I would say those are probably some of the harder parts, but I think the good outweighs the bad.

Melissa: Yeah. Well, and, like, the one that you said first, I feel like that shows that that as teachers, you guys like, it's hard to see these kids that you care about and want to be growing and happy and good. Sad.

So I think that speaks to, like, hey. Teachers care about you guys.

Miss. Ball: We do. We really do.

Melissa: The last question, I guess, unless I missed anything. We'll we'll go with this question and then you're like, hey. No. I wanted to talk about this, and you didn't ask me that question. I am a single adult, right, so I don't have kids. We were talking before and I said, like, the only back to school that, like, is affecting me right now is I notice all the back to school supplies on sale and all the grocery stores and everything.

So I'm like, how does this episode apply to me? I'm sure it does somehow because in my brain, I was like, well, driving to work, I might have to be looking out more for, like, kids walking to school, the buses, but I'm like, there's probably other things that as a community member who doesn't have kids in school right now or, hey, maybe you're a parent who used to have kids, but they've all grown up and moved away.

Miss. Ball: Mhmm.

Melissa: Like, what's our part in back to school and all of our local schools?

Miss. Ball: I I really think that first part you mentioned is, is as transportation to school starts happening, really be on the lookout.

We have a lot of walkers in this town, we have a lot of buses in this town and we want all of our kids to stay safe. Some kids cross really busy roads and I'm aware of one road that they haven't been able to get a crossing guard out there. It's not an incredibly busy road, but it's definitely not a silent road either. Really be on the watch out for those kids. They have been taught to stop and look both ways, but sometimes they forget and, you know, just, just watch out, be aware of where the main traffic areas are and what times kids are going to be walking to and from school.

That's, that's a major, safety concern that gets talked about every year is protect the kids, make sure they're safe. I would say for, for community members that feel like they have something to share with the schools, reach out. We love community outreach. I know for my school, my grade alone in the past year, we've had the museum, the zoo, we've had the American Dogsled Derby come, 4H has come, I know dentists have come, the Wattsmart program, a mining company. It's just all sorts of people from all over the place.

If you think you have something to, to contribute, reach out to us. The kids love to hear from the community.

Melissa: That's another way of education.

Miss. Ball: Yeah.

Melissa: Sharing.

Miss. Ball: It just it's the real world application of what we're teaching them.

Melissa: Thank you. Is there anything else that we didn't cover that you wanted to make sure to talk about or...

Miss. Ball: No. I think I think we've got them.

Melissa: Well, thank you so much for coming in today. I really appreciate your time and appreciate what you do for your kiddos and your passion for teaching and sharing, like, your love for all the cool things that you get to do as a teacher.

[Outro music] So join us for the next installation of this. We'll we'll be having, I believe, three more teachers come in and talk to us or educators. And so, yeah, check out episodes wherever you get podcasts. You can find episodes on the Riverbend Media Group podcast page.

Thank you for listening. Have a great day.