Episode 709: Follow Their Lead: The Way to Creativity via Asset-Based Dispositions

Ashley Mengwasser:

It's no mystery that confident, expressive learners have more academic success. But as educators embrace personalized learning strategies, what does the evidence show leads to self-propelled student work that bears the secret sauce of creativity? Today, a distinguished educator known by her school for her super engaging lessons shows us the way to students' most inspired, impressive work, via personalized learning.

Welcome back, Georgia educators. It's new-episode day on Classroom Conversations, our award-winning teacher feature podcast series. You're listening to the platform for Georgia's teachers, presented jointly by the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Public Broadcasting. If you're a first-time listener, hello, I'm your host, Ashley Mengwasser.

Season seven of our series holds up a magnifying glass to personalized learning instruction, the customizable, learner-driven teaching method powered by student voice and choice, at a student's pace. Today, I'm investigating the sensational success of a classroom teacher with major street cred, and STEM cred, to influence a creative revival in her middle school students.

Today's guest practiced collaboration and nurtured an asset-based disposition, helping learners lay their own personalized learning groundwork. However, did she do it? Well, it's a privilege to host Fort Valley Middle School's 2024 to 2025 Teacher of the Year and Peach County School District's Teacher of the Year, Ms. Charvez Holmes.

Charvez is an eighth-grade science teacher, gifted teacher, STARBASE 2.0 sponsor, and all-around STEM maniac. She recently moved to beautiful coastal Richmond Hill in Bryan County near Savannah where she'll become the gifted lead and then some at Richmond Hill Middle School. Thanks for being here, Ms. Charvez Holmes. Hi.

Charvez Holmes:

Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

Ashley Mengwasser:

How are you doing today, Charvez?

Charvez Holmes:

I am doing fantastic.

Ashley Mengwasser:

First-time podcast guest, right?

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Okay. Well, your name is incredible, Charvez Holmes. Any similarities to Sherlock Holmes?

Charvez Holmes:

I get that a lot.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Do you really?

Charvez Holmes:

Yeah. I do.

Ashley Mengwasser:

All right. Well, to continue our detective theme, you really like to see your students' fingerprints on their learning, which is what personalized learning is all about. In your experience, what clues have you found that students are really responding well to PL?

Charvez Holmes:

When you give them something intangible to do, they outshine others that are around them or even themselves. They surprise themselves. A lot of times, I think once we just relinquish the reins as a teacher that say that things are fixated or needed to be done a certain way, that we really get to see our students shine and kind of embrace their own uniqueness.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So they've got this extra sparkle, these PL students?

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You're on your own journey right now in your life, Charvez, having moved three hours away from your beloved school system of many years. How did the students and staff at Fort Valley Middle, where you were before, how did they react to your departure?

Charvez Holmes:

Well, we both had tears of sadness and of happiness. They're very excited for my new journey, but also, I've built such a great working relationship with the students, the community in that when I finally announced it, I really had tears coming from my students, and I just had to embrace them with a hug and just let them know that I really do love them, and that everything that I taught them, I want them to carry it forward and not lose anything. I really do love my students, and I really wish the best for them. And in return, the same for me. They love me. They wish the best for me.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That was their reaction?

Charvez Holmes:

That was their reaction.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Let me tell you, they're going to miss you. I can just tell from your spirit. What are you enjoying so far about your new residence in Bryan County?

Charvez Holmes:

I am enjoying everything that's around, that Tanger Outlets are not too far away.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, shopping.

Charvez Holmes:

Shopping. I'm close to the coastal line. So there's a lot of beach area that I get to venture along.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You've been walking the beach?

Charvez Holmes:

I have been walking the beach already.

Ashley Mengwasser:

All right. What else do you like about Bryan County?

Charvez Holmes:

I had a chance to do a walk-through at the school and just to see some of the awesome things that are already in place there, as far as being a STEM-forward school. It is definitely one of those areas that are really upcoming. A lot of people are coming in with the new Hyundai Metaplant. So talk about connections, and just, there's the limitless possibilities for the students in that area.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Now that you're at Richmond Hill Middle, I mentioned some of your science roles heretofore. What will you be doing at Richmond Hill? What are your roles there?

Charvez Holmes:

Richmond Hill Middle, I'll be teaching eighth-grade science. Also, I'll be their PLC lead and one of the eighth-grade gifted leads for this upcoming year.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Do you like working with gifted students?

Charvez Holmes:

I love working with gifted students. I've actually worked with gifted students my whole teaching career.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Is that right?

Charvez Holmes:

That is right.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You've not strayed from that path.

Charvez Holmes:

I have not strayed from that path at all.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What appeals to you about teaching this middle school cohort and teaching science as well? Why those two things?

Charvez Holmes:

Well, science is near and dear to me. I went to school as a physics major. I had a passion for biomedical engineer and prosthetics. So everything science is practically ingrained in me. What appeals to me as far as working in this middle school realm of things is that we have a dynamic group of students, and they're in that sensitive age where they really need someone that is going to help and push them to be the best that they can be, and I feel like I fit right in in that group of students.

There are so many possibilities that are ahead, especially with the wave of STEM and STEAM. I've had this pleasure of being poured into as a product of the Georgia school system. And now, I get to bring all of that good work right back into Georgia and just pour back into the students.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You have a definite propensity toward innovation, which we're going to hear about today. What inspired you to first become a teacher, if you look back at the very beginning of your teacher origin story?

Charvez Holmes:

This is a unique story. I am an alternative-route teacher. That means I didn't go to school to become a teacher. I actually volunteered one day at my church to teach a lesson. We had kids from five years old to elders, about 70 years old, and the one thing I got from that lesson is that they enjoyed it, every single person from the smaller to the older. And the lady that was over that, she actually told me, she looked me in my eye, and she said, "You are a teacher."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh my gosh.

Charvez Holmes:

And I loved everything with kids. I've always worked in jobs with kids, always worked in jobs where I help others to learn new things and tasks. And you know what? I was at a time in my life where I was transitioning jobs. I was looking for that purpose, and we all know that we are called to teach.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I hear that over and over again.

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. It is definitely a calling. I remember vividly one summer, that same lady said, "Hey, get in the car. We're going to the Department of Education."

Ashley Mengwasser:

No way.

Charvez Holmes:

And we drove down to South Carolina Department of Education, and there was a new teacher alternative-route program called Teachers of Tomorrow for South Carolina, and I signed up that day. And two years later, I worked my first job in Union County, South Carolina, as an alternative school teacher teaching sixth through 12th grade. So talk about an experience as a first-year teacher in an alternative school setting, but not only that, teaching sixth through 12th grade.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Teenagers.

Charvez Holmes:

Teenagers. Yes. So after that, I did drive just a little bit to get to that job, and I knew I wanted to be a little bit closer. So I applied to another school. And this school, it really was my heart in South Carolina, Cyril B. Busbee Creative Arts Academy. It's right outside of the Cayce, West Columbia area. I got to see myself start to flourish in that school. We integrated art into the classroom. So imagine learning about adaptation.

And I have the school administrators that come in, and my students will color these butterflies and camouflage them throughout the classroom, and the administrators had to come in and hunt for those butterflies.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That's nice.

Charvez Holmes:

Yes. So we embraced everything. I mean, we had administrators crawling on desks and going, "Here." But just to see that buy-in from the administrators, and the students were so excited. It really just kind of peaked everything that I've already desired to do in an educational setting.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So that got you in. What got you to Georgia?

Charvez Holmes:

What got me to Georgia is that my family lived in Georgia.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh.

Charvez Holmes:

They tried for years to bring me to Georgia, and I said, "Oh, no." I enjoyed South Carolina. I love the scenic things. We had nice river walks, and I just literally took a leap of faith and said, "I'm going to go." And when I got to Georgia, my family, they told me about Peach County. I didn't know much about Peach County School System, but I didn't know that my sister's husband, he went through Peach County School System.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Himself?

Charvez Holmes:

His whole family went through Peach County School System. So right then, I knew that it was a system that was set up where family came through. I learned later that not only family came through Peach County School System, but a lot of those people that graduated came back to work in Peach County School System.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That's a good sign.

Charvez Holmes:

It was a great sign, and Peach will always be home. I got the initial feeling from that when I first got there. It's so phenomenal to have. Even at a board level, the superintendents literally would come out. He would come out to shake your hand, to meet and greet you, to sit and have lunch with the kids throughout the day. It's just an awesome feeling.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You have always cared about hands-on. You said part of it was the calling you experienced that day that you taught, but it was also the impact that your formative teachers had on you and you wanting to pass those experiences forward. What mark did they leave?

Charvez Holmes:

They left an outstanding mark. I remember Ms. DeAnn Peterson through Avondale High School.

Ashley Mengwasser:

In Georgia.

Charvez Holmes:

In Georgia. Absolutely. We were a magnet-style school. So I remember doing plays and things throughout school, but one of the things that really stuck to me that kind of got me into my wave of science was we would go in the hallway. We were talking about waves. We had slinkies going up and down the hallway. And now, as an educator, I get to tie back in some of those things, the compression, the refractions from it, and calculating how the wave travels.

We went out to the stadium, and we propelled things off the side of the stadium to calculate speed. It was a phenomenal experience, and that's only just to name a few. And I feel like me, as an adult, if I can vividly remember those things, and I'm smiling right now, because-

Ashley Mengwasser:

You are.

Charvez Holmes:

... it really left a mark on me. I aspire to really leave that same mark on my students and bring that excitement for learning.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And you've done it, Charvez. And by the way, no wonder you're a physics lover, because all those things scream physics. Could you break your wonderful news here for us? You have something magical happening in about one school year's time. What is it?

Charvez Holmes:

One school year's time, or maybe shorter.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh.

Charvez Holmes:

The wedding bells will be ringing.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Congratulations. Can you tell us about your betrothed?

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. He works along Georgia ports. He does a lot of hands-on work, which really aligns with the work I do with my kids and what I try to push for my kids to do, hands-on work. I love him dearly.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, so no wonder a relocation closer to Savannah if he's doing port work.

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

One thing that I think really got you interested in personalized learning from the first time we talked was, when you were at Fort Valley Middle, which has your heart, personalized learning came on the scene as a way to get students to be more creative. Tell us the story about the conversation with faculty and staff where you realized, "Something's going on with our students, and we need to push them past the stuck place that they're in."

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. So it really was a district initiative. Some of the work that I did with our district level is we would go and do an analysis of all the things within the district as well as our individualized school as a part of a leadership committee. And through our school improvement goals, creativity and also just kind of getting students to get out of their shell was the thing that we were pushing for, and the student engagement piece.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, yes.

Charvez Holmes:

So creativity, student engagement was a thing that we really was pushing for. So we sat as a team, and we wanted to see how we can best implement some things within our school to kind of give our students that creative push, and to just help them to reach their full potential in the classroom, and that actually led to a lot of the initiatives that we have still going on today.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Which you're going to tell us about some of those today. I'd ask you what it means to be a personalized learning teacher, but the truth is, a personalized learning teacher is just a teacher who implements those 10 PLE standards, right? So let me ask it differently. What's it like to incorporate personalized learning standards into your teaching from a teacher perspective?

Charvez Holmes:

So as you mentioned, personalized learning is you just honestly being a teacher. You're listening to the needs of your students and what they thrive well with, as far as using it as an asset for our students. So for me, what that looks like is I'm doing inventory of my students. What are some of the things that they like? And not only just at the beginning of the school year, but maybe midyear, because we know that our middle school babies go through a wave of things.

Ashley Mengwasser:

They sure change, don't they?

Charvez Holmes:

They change. So beginning of the year, I do an analysis for my kids and figure out what are the things that interest them. Shortly after that Christmas break, I redo that same thing, because something could have changed, and then I tailor my classroom towards their needs and facilitate instruction around what they actually enjoy doing.

And I love it, because if you set up a nice environment for the kids or a welcoming environment where they feel okay to speak with you about what they love, they will advocate for those. I can remember now, we will have an assignment, and a student can say, "Hey, Ms. Holmes, I thrive well speaking. Can I speak my project versus writing my project?" And I would say, "Absolutely." So just really harnessing that, that choice and voice, within instruction is really the wave.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You developed a bit of a reputation at Fort Valley Middle for being the teacher who brings out the best in your students, the illustrious Charvez. Describe your two things, really, two programs. You had gifted showcases and also STEM Nights. Tell us what those are and where those ideas came from.

Charvez Holmes:

Our gifted showcase and STEM Night, honestly, it stemmed from-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Nice one.

Charvez Holmes:

Yes. Absolutely. It stemmed from the personalized learning initiative that was brought to Peach County. So, again, falling back on our school improvement needs, that engagement piece, we really wanted to create something where our students are fully engaged and kind of harnessing and taking that ownership of their education.

So the STEM showcase is like an advanced version of our Gifted Parent Night where we get to tell the parents about the things that we do, and we just added a twist to it. We allowed the students to lead the actual showcase. A lot of the work that they showed was work that they created. So talking about analyzing where your kids work well and how they work well and what they do well. And now, they have a platform where they can showcase them to their parents, the community, the teachers as well.

One of the things I really enjoyed when we piloted our very first showcase is that we have a dynamic of students that are multilingual or bilingual. We had students that were willing to be translators for their parents so that we can get the parents out to see the awesome work they're doing. So the welcome may have came in English, and then it came in Spanish, and it happened that way all throughout. So that was one of the things that we really enjoyed to see from our students, that they were willing to make sure that their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts felt welcome while coming to see the awesome work that they were doing.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What was the format for the showcase? Do they have a certain amount of time to talk, or how did that work?

Charvez Holmes:

Well, we left it open. Normally, it's about an hour and a half, max. We welcome them in. We give them light refreshments. The students take the stand, and the teachers are sitting back, and we monitor to keep pace and things for that, but they welcome the parents.

And how it works is that we don't only have work samples from one grade level. We have those work samples from all grade levels, so sixth through eighth grade, every content area. So talking about Georgia Studies, and students built life-size models of the Native Americans, and we saw nice, finely braided hair and clothing. It was just something to see.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It sounds like a whole portfolio, not just one project presentation. That's pretty amazing. And what happens at STEM Night?

Charvez Holmes:

That was a night to remember. Through STEM Night, we had a few partners that came in. We had Georgia Tech Research Institute. They have what we call STEM Road Kits. I reached out to them to see if they will be willing to come in, bring in that community involvement piece for our students, and kind of tie them in. We have some awesome students. They can do awesome things, and sometimes we just got to allow them to realize that they can do those awesome things. So try to build those community connections. But our students for STEM Night, they dissected sharks.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Wow.

Charvez Holmes:

So let's talk about the anatomy of a shark, and they got to learn where the dorsal fin was, and ants. What I realized is some of the parents never touched an animal or dissected an animal before. So they were just as excited. There's another connection that we had, The Magic of Evan Dupree. He is an illusionist/magician in that area, and he came and put on a light show and did a lot of magical tricks that aligned with our state standards for eighth-grade science.

And other than that, it was really just an awesome day. They got to make edible cars and race them down a ramp and calculate speed, and then, of course, eat them afterwards. So that's just a snippet of what our STEM Night entailed.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It sounds like it has a lot of dynamism.

Charvez Holmes:

It does.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And enthusiasm and joy. You had the illusionist who literally lit up the room. And this all speaks to community partnership, which is an application of the PLE Standard 9. Expanded collaboration, where you're coaching your students to interact, and teachers help learners build relationships with community stakeholders. What skills did you see your students exhibit as a result of these partnerships? How did it grow them?

Charvez Holmes:

One of the really big partnerships that we have is through the Museum of Aviation. They have what we call STARBASE Advanced. It's formerly called STARBASE 2.0. And in the evening times after school, they come once a week, and they come and help to facilitate, along with myself, whether it's coding or drones level courses for the students. I learned that we have students that were interested in things that were beyond the classroom.

So with them coming out, the kids learned about air traffic control while flying the drones. They got to be blindfolded and they could not watch their partner, but they had to code for their partner to make their drone get to another level or to a certain destination. The coding aspect. They learn block coding, and we know that everything right now in the world is circumvented around technology, innovation. So really pouring into our students every way possible is helping them to actually be able to be prepared for the real world.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And show interest in things that they never knew about before-

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely.

Ashley Mengwasser:

... which you certainly saw happen. Another standard I want to talk about is personalized learning Standard 3, which talks about asset-based dispositions. This may sound complicated, but it's a way to serve all learners. And the strategy is, you encourage and support students in embracing and valuing their unique individualities and learning differences as assets rather than deficits.

Did you see that in your gifted showcase, for example, that students had these assets, that if you just encourage them, like you did, to go embrace something that they like and use that in their project, wow, it's amazing how they can then champion that and harness it for learning?

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. So we got to see the uniqueness in some of those pieces that I spoke about as far as the Native Americans, and how they may have dressed the Native Americans in their portrait or their display that they had. Not only that. As far as talking about asset-based, in the prior year, we actually saw students also harness the same standard.

We have this session throughout the day, a lot of them, give them intervention times, but we also have some enrichment times for our gifted learners. And through that enrichment time, we got to see our learners go in what we call a creativity project, or a passion project. So they got a chance to choose exactly the things that they like and just create a model or be able to showcase and display them. And one of the things that are very memorable, I had a young lady. She brought a sewing machine to school. She had a passion for sewing. And the cutest thing, she sewed clothes for Barbie dolls.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, wow.

Charvez Holmes:

So she had her dolls at school. So each day for that 35- to 40-minute block, she was sewing something different for her dolls.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And you would not have known if you had not had that enrichment experience.

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. I would have never known. We have awesome writers. Some created books. Some created woodworking items.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Woodworking?

Charvez Holmes:

Woodworking.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Tell me about that student.

Charvez Holmes:

That student, he built a birdhouse. He also built a toiletry holder. And then later that school year, when we actually were deep into our standards, I love this one project that I have. It is a marble run, and traditional marble runs is, "Hey, place the marble there. Let it go down the ramp, and that's it."

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, I've seen that. So you drop the marble in, and it's this circuitous little slides or something.

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely. But I give my students full autonomy to create how they want to, and I give them a little bit of a twist. So it's not like a traditional marble run. I would say, "Hey, this is going to be the slowest marble run. So not only we're talking about Newton's laws of motion, we're going to bring in some friction." So now, they really got to think creatively and go through a lot of problem-solving, because they do test runs on how they can get their marble to go the slowest and fully complete the actual ramp or whatever design that they have. And this one student, he created a marble run out of wood.

Ashley Mengwasser:

The woodworker.

Charvez Holmes:

The woodworker.

Ashley Mengwasser:

The middle school woodworker.

Charvez Holmes:

Middle school woodworker.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Amazing.

Charvez Holmes:

And it was phenomenal. And by the time that the marble made it to the bottom, it hit a switch, and it lit up the board.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Whoa.

Charvez Holmes:

So our students really, they have it. And if they don't have it, it is our job to pour all of these things into them and just see how they thrive with whatever excites them.

Ashley Mengwasser:

With whatever excites them. And you know what? It's solving the creativity problem, because you're blown away by the projects they're producing, and they're being told, "Whatever you naturally gravitate to, whatever is your strength, we don't have to worry about highlighting your weakness here. We can advance your strength." What kind of feedback did students have after participating in these kinds of projects?

Charvez Holmes:

The students are amazed. They always tell me, if you get to a point where, "Hey, I need you to... Let's take a little bit of note here." "Well, can we do this?" They want to touch things. So it is my job, it is my charge to now, I've created this atmosphere of learning through inquiry and hands-on to keep that going, because that's how they learn best.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yes. These gifted showcases and STEM Nights and an enrichment period in their day. How do these events impact your school and your community as a whole?

Charvez Holmes:

Well, it lets our community first off know that the school has things going for them. They have things that are open and available for the students to learn. A lot of times in rural areas, you don't get a lot of, I want to say, things poured into them. So for me, coming as an outsider, it was my charge to say, "Hey, you can do this, and you can reach new heights. And whatever it takes, we're going to bring it here, or we're going to connect you with that community and allow that community to continue to pour into you and build you up."

As far as the school-wide, over the last two years, we have saw tremendous gains within our students, not only just in the regular classroom, but also through our state testing. So we are working towards excellence, and excellence is in our students, and we're just helping to bring that out.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. So you're setting a task before them, and then, really, you're following their lead, where they see their skills go. You harness those assets. What teacher tips or school savvy do you have, Charvez, for those who do want to do the same thing? They want to spotlight student strengths in a way that gets their community involved. What are your tips?

Charvez Holmes:

My tips would be to really listen to your students. A lot of times, again, relinquishing the reins, because sometimes teachers can have their own personal control. I am the chaos coordinator, so I'm okay with students maybe messing up on something. But if I can use that as a learning moment and say, "You're on the right track, but maybe let's fine-tune this another way," it allows the students to know that they can mess up, but they also can do better. So I really would just say, listen to your students. Take inventory. They change throughout the year, and just embrace all of the uniqueness that all of the students have to offer.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Charvez Holmes, you have really cracked the case on student creativity using personalized learning. Thank you for your incredible powers of observation. Congrats on all your success. You're an incredible detective, Ms. Holmes.

Charvez Holmes:

Thank you so much.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And I should add, should you require a loyal Dr. Watson-esque attendant on your wedding day, I do weddings. I officiate actually.

Charvez Holmes:

Really?

Ashley Mengwasser:

So I'm here if you need me. I'll be behind the microphone. You know where to find me.

Charvez Holmes:

Absolutely.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Thank you, Charvez. Educators, with personalized learning tools at your fingertips, “the game is afoot,” to quote Sherlock Holmes himself. With PL, students excel. Creativity soars. Collaboration becomes more confident. And hey, they then appreciate the person who empowered them into this promised land, you. You're a great teacher. Follow their lead, their learning assets. Case closed. If you're enjoying our PL takeover, news flash, there are only a few episodes left. So listen in next week as we start to close out our season. I'm Ashley. Goodbye for now.

The personalized learning series of Classroom Conversations is funded by the GRE4T Initiative. In the fall of 2020, the Georgia Department of Education made a commitment to student-centered approaches through Georgia's ReStart: Embrace, Engage, Expand, and Enhance Learning with Technology Initiative.