#smway podcast by Daniel Bader

A South Milwaukee health teacher, Kimberly Jaeger, is growing and learning in her career by incorporating project-based learning in her classroom. Her work and research may pave the way for similar types of learning across Wisconsin.

In May, the Music Department will present something entirely new—the debut of a piece composed specifically for South Milwaukee.

In this episode, we visit the Orchestra Pit for the musical Chicago (spoiler, they're not in a pit), we see the Tournament of Books at Blakewood Elementary School, and we check in on our NASA TechRise student engineers and their progress on their project destined for a NASA weather balloon.

Our middle school engineers are going to space... sort of. Their project is, for sure. In May, an instrument the students are working on to study the atmosphere will be launched on a NASA weather balloon. We're only one of 60 schools nationwide -- and the only one in Wisconsin -- to earn the right to participate in the NASA TechRise Program, and our middle schoolers are hard at work soldering and programming their device ahead of the May launch.

Giving back to something gives you a sense of ownership and helps build community. Here's how to give back in at least three ways.

We meet District Nurse Sarah Barrett and about all of the worries and responsibilities modern school nursing programs face. Also, since it’s peak season for respiratory viruses, we’re going to review when to keep your child home from school and when to send them in.

Today on the podcast we’re going to college in three interviews: First we’ll hear from two students and where they are on their college journey, then we’ll hear from a college official about the process of applying and a rough timeline for students and parents to follow, and finally I talk to a financial advisor and the author of a book on paying for college.

The ACT is a standardized test that colleges use for a range of decisions, and as we’ll hear, scholarship-granting organizations help determine who they want to award those scholarships to.

Recently, 8th grade health students explored and celebrated Red Ribbon Week - a time of year dedicated to learning about drugs and drug addiction. Some students made awareness posters, some tied ribbons around trees and poles outside the school, others made podcasts.

Math is math, right? Yes.

Eighth graders are choosing their courses for freshman year very soon. We're asking them to sketch out all four years of their high school career now - knowing that it will change - so we can think about the end goal and life after high school.

Professional lights, a full size stage and orchestra pit, theater seating - a generation of students have benefited from having a professional performing arts center located in their building. We meet PAC Executive Director Rachel Abraham at center stage to talk about the history, the work, and the business of a performing arts center.

On this episode we meet two high school English teachers and discuss what a modern English Department looks like.

Wisconsin's newest reading law, Act 20, led to an examination of South Milwaukee's curriculum and practices - many of which were already part of the practice of SDSM.

Today we’re talking about the district’s new STEM program for elementary students. But in a bigger sense we’re talking about engaging curiosity in a hands-on way to look at something and learn how it works and why – or better yet, to build something and figure out how to make it work.

In this episode, we meet Mike Arendt, the newly appointed high school principal. We talk about the role of a principal, how he sees students in their path to adulthood, and what plans he has for South Milwaukee High School.

The annual Wisconsin State Spanish Pronunciation Contest Championships is becoming a tradition in South Milwaukee. For those not familiar, it’s a contest where students study a bit of text, this year and last year it was a fragment of a poem, and practice pronouncing it exactly correctly.

An annual tradition is about to happen at Rawson Elementary School, and that’s why third-grade teacher Bill Gaynor has student art collected from the entire year in every corner of his classroom.

With the financial assistance of a grant, and its connections to high learning, the two South Milwaukee High School teachers and their students are teaming up to do real research on microplastics in water.

Today we’re talking about the National Honor Society at the high school and the real commitment that society has to community service.

Welcome to the SMWay Podcast, I’m your host, Daniel Bader. Today we’re touching on a hot-button topic in Wisconsin, reading legislation. Specifically, ACT 20, a law passed last summer states that all Wisconsin schools are required to provide science-based early literacy instruction in both universal and intervention settings.

How do public schools teach students to play music? It's a process that starts as early as Kindergarten, but by high school can mean deep involvement in a world of musical opportunities. In this episode, we speak to instructors from elementary, middle, and high school about the process of learning and loving to play music as part of school.

A staple of schools across the nation is the spring high school musical. Our High School is performing the award-winning show Legally Blonde – a musical based on a book and a 2001 movie by the same name. 

For several weeks now School Board members and District representatives have been out in the community with tables, like at the Bucyrus Club and various sporting events talking to residents about the 2 million dollar non-recurring operational referendum that’s on the ballot on April 2nd. We had a big information night at the high school and have two more planned out in the community. 

 Today’s episode is going to be a little different in that it deviates from our regular format. STEAM night – a celebration of all the work in our schools through the lens of STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math – is one of the biggest events during the year and certainly the biggest one-day academic event outside of graduation. 

Today we’re talking about one of the newest student activities in South Milwaukee – First LegoLeague. If you’re not aware of what it is, it’s more than bricks and Lego figures, though those are certainly part of it.

Welcome to the SMWay Podcast and the first episode of 2024. I’m your host, Daniel Bader. In our last episode, we heard about music students giving back to the community by using their talents to carol out in South Milwaukee.

Apollo Jazz - an extra-curricular choral group - spent a day recently out in the community caroling. In this episode, we’ll hear from students why they joined the Apollo Jazz Choir, what it is, and hear some of their music. We’ll hear from the teacher-leader of the group, Aimiee Swanson, a little bit about how South Milwaukee High School’s two-person Music Department is growing and getting students really excited about music.

Today on the podcast we’re talking to members of the school board about some serious topics. In one way or another, since the spring, the idea of a referendum has been mentioned as a way to close the gap between the district’s revenue and its expenses.

Today, we’re talking about student report cards – specifically Elementary school report cards, because they’re changing.

Report cards are as a part of school as pencils and chalkboards. The goal of the report card is to give parents an idea of where their students are in their studies and an early warning sign that they might be struggling in a subject and need some help.

Today we’re talking about attendance and why it matters. For some time, South Milwaukee has had an attendance problem, and over the last two years the District has worked to improve those rates – after all, you can’t improve reading or math skills, prepare for high school or pass a class to get credits to graduate if you’re not in school learning. School is compulsory for students ages 6 to 18 in Wisconsin. That means unless a student is homeschooled and parents are running it in accordance with applicable laws, children are required to attend a school - private or public. Public schools, then are also required to keep track of attendance, and to the best of their abilities, account for the whereabouts of every child enrolled in the school district, every day. Tody we'll hear about some of those efforts and how they're paying off so far this year.

It’s a new school year and an exciting time for our students and teachers. For a group of teachers in South Milwaukee, it’s REALLY a New Year, because it’s their first year. For some it's their first year as a teacher, for others, it's the first in our little city on the lake. Today we’ll hear from two of them and learn what led them to teach in the first place, and how they got here. Then we'll hear about hiring teachers in this labor market and what hiring educators in Wisconsin is like.

Today we’re introducing South Milwaukee’s new superintendent, Deidre Roemer. We’ll hear a little bit about her family, her career, where she’s been and what led to South Milwaukee. I’ll ask her about first impressions of the District and the city, about what we should celebrate, and what we need to work on. Spoiler alert, she’s hit the ground running. I’ll also ask her about the state’s education budget, what’s changed since our last podcast episode, and what it means for South Milwaukee.

Music teacher Aimee Swanson and her fifth grader, Gloria, recreate the student-written song sung during the Speak Up for Public Schools events on April 19. Students created the lyrics to the tune of Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land. Gloria plays guitar and harmonizes to her mom, Aimee. Learn more about supporting Wisconsin Public School funding here.

The story of how one Blakewood teacher, the late Judy Canfora, and her love of nature, made a lifelong impact on two of her colleagues, Colleen Bartlein, the middle school administrative secretary, and Chris Bosetti a middle school science teacher (both of whom are retiring themselves this year) and their children.To honor Judy’s life, Colleen and Chris organized a group of Judy’s former colleagues and students who gathered on April 28 to plant a tree in Judy’s memory at Blakewood, right near the forest she loved and which bears her name.

Our music students not only work pieces for school, but they also have their own interests and passion for the art. What I have for you today is what I'm calling – until NPR tells me not to – a Tiny Office Concert. It’s a performance, really, not a concert, of a song or piece of music that a student is working on themselves – not as a part of an assignment.

We tend to put ourselves in boxes - sports kids, art kids, theater kids. In this episode, we throw that notion out as we explore all the aspects of what goes into a big production like a spring musical. At least at South Milwaukee, the spring musical is a near-total community effort. Career and Tech students build the sets and run the sound, art students paint the sets, and the cast is made up of students from all walks of life. The pit musicians come from the student body, but also from the staff and community. The musical is applied learning, builds skills for life, and is presented to the community as an example of what a free, public education can do.

Music teachers are exceptionally hard-working, talented, and energetic people in schools full of dedicated hard-working, and talented teachers.

History in our country is a pendulum, swinging back and forth, directing where we pour our energy. The 1990s and early 2000s saw a push toward a college education and attendance for all of our students because a high school diploma was no longer adequate for the job market.

This week we’re talking about the budget. When it comes to schools, it’s vitally important to know how we pay for our students to be educated.

Any job you have in your career, whether it's hands-on like construction or in an office setting or anywhere in between, employees who are most successful can manage their stress productively and in a healthy way, respond appropriately to setbacks, and manage conflict with coworkers.

Learning to read is one of the most important skills students learn at school. It’s the base upon which everything is built. How we learn to read and write is a subject of constant study and how we teach it changes, too. In this episode, we peek inside a classroom and see how collaboration amongst teachers from different disciplines, combined with data, is tailoring literacy education to third graders.

Meet District Nurse Supervisor Stephanie Cahlamer. She's a pediatric critical care nurse, Pediatric SANE Forensic nurse, and Project Adam Advocate with experience as a flight nurse, an EMT and a Firefighter. She's also the head of a team that is more integrated in learning than ever. Modern school nursing programs are more than Band-Aids, ice packs, and hugs. Cahlamer's team manages health plans, administers medication, trains teachers and staff in emergency aid, and has a very big role in making sure medical needs do not stand in the way of the right to a free, appropriate public education.

Science Technology Engineering and Math. STEM. STEM is about the scientific method, and why these fields matter. It's also about life skills: trying, failing, troubleshooting, trying again -- really becoming invested in a project to accomplish a goal. Today we hear from the South Milwaukee Middle School's new dynamic STEM teacher, about her students and how her program ties science education and Careers Tech together.

Our school teams are presenting School Improvement Plans to the School Board - we talk to Christie Gajewski, director of curriculum and instruction about what School Improvement Plans are, what they mean, and how we're changing Public Education for the better.