Voices of District 303

St. Charles CUSD 303

The Voices of District 303 Podcast is designed to open a window into the daily lives of our students, staff members, and community. Launched in 2021, Voices of District 303 strives to take you into schools, classrooms, and departments that make District 303 a special place to teach, learn, and grow.

  1. DEC 9

    Inside the Classroom: How Community Creates Excellence at Bell Graham

    In this episode, we visit the classroom of Bell Graham 4th grade lead teacher Ruth Vostal to talk with her and Principal Amy Kleuppel about how educators come together in Professional Learning Communities to build a culture around the D303 core values of Achievement, Belonging, and Perseverance. We also discuss how the entire Bell-Graham community works together to build pathways to excellence for their kindergarten through 5th-grade students. A big congratulations to Bell Graham Elementary School, which is one of D303’s 7 schools that just received the highest “Exemplary” rating on the 2025 Illinois State Report Card.

    48 min

  2. NOV 4

    Inside the Classroom: Talking with North High School Department Chairs Jennifer Anderson and Stephanie Dodd

    This school year, the Voices of D303 Podcast is taking you inside our classrooms, to hear from our educators about their work in advancing the D303 mission of: Together, Building Pathways to Excellence. In episode 2, we’re talking and thinking in the Think Tank located inside the library at St. Charles North High School. Our guests are two fabulous Department Chairs at North: Stephanie Dodd (Fine Arts) and Jennifer Anderson (Mathematics). They bring such a rich depth of experience to their work with students, educators and North. Our conversation brings to life the power of the D303 focus on “Together” in building pathways to excellence for our students.

    41 min

  3. OCT 1

    Inside the Classroom: Talking English & Social Studies, with East HS Department Chairs Cara Drexler and Andy Ehrhardt

    This school year, the Voices of D303 Podcast is taking you inside our classrooms, to hear from our educators about their work in advancing the D303 mission of: Together, Building Pathways to Excellence. In our first episode, we stopped by Classroom B218 at St. Charles East High School to talk with the school’s Department Chairs Cara Drexler (English) and Andy Ehrhardt (Social Studies) about the classroom work they do and how they support other teachers in ensuring East students get a solid foundation in these core subjects to help put them on their pathway.

    40 min

  4. JUL 29

    Finding Your Pathway: A Conversation with Members of the Class of 2025 Pt.2

    This is Part 2 of our special Class of 2025 Episode of the Voices of D303 Podcast. To close out the 2024-25 school year, we’ve spotlighted some outstanding members of our Class of ’25. When we recorded Part 1, St. Charles North High School Student Body President Anna Gagne was traveling overseas with her family. So we waited for her to return to St. Charles so she could talk with us about her fabulous summer travel, her time at North, and her college plans and future pathway.

    27 min

  5. JUL 2

    Finding Your Pathway: A Conversation with Members of the Class of 2025

    This year-end episode of the Voices of D303 podcast spotlights three outstanding members of our Class of 2025–James Shimon, Ellen Jahoda, and Tanner Karsjen. They talk with Dr. Gordon about finding their pathways and their “people,” as well as the experiences they most treasure and most look forward to as they get ready to head off to college.

    39 min

  6. JAN 31

    Transparency, Teamwork, and Teaching: The Impact of PLCs at Corron Elementary

    Effective Collaboration is one of three key priorities in the District 303 Strategic Plan, and Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, play a vital role in bringing this priority to life. PLCs are thriving in every school across the district, including Corron Elementary, where educators are seeing a significant impact from collaborative teaching. Corron Principal Christine Balaskovits and 5th Grade PLC Leader Erik Robinson recently joined the Voices of District 303 podcast to share their insights on what makes PLCs so effective. A key theme of their discussion was the importance of vulnerability—teachers openly sharing data and welcoming peer feedback. Even veteran educators are prioritizing transparency and continuously reflecting on their strategies to ensure the best outcomes for students. “Because it’s all about the students, they’re not afraid to ask for help,” Balaskovits said. “Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean you’re always going to have the best data, the most growth.” Many PLCs, including Robinson’s, bring together educators with a range of experience levels. This mix of perspectives allows teams to blend time-tested teaching strategies with innovative, research-based approaches to enhance student learning. Robinson explained how this collaboration leads to dynamic problem-solving.  “We are bringing not only the old tried and true methods, but we are also bringing the new methods that research is uncovering. We’re able to try a lot of different things to see what works,” he said. “Some classes try one thing, other classes try another thing, we all come together to see what’s working, what we can go forward with, what do we need to adjust, what did you do that I want to try, or what can I give you that you might want to try to help your students achieve more.”

    30 min

  7. JAN 10

    Formative Assessments & Their Role In Elevating Excellence

    For many educators in District 303, formative assessments serve as a diagnostic tool, helping them to analyze the effectiveness of their teaching methods. Receiving real-time feedback on student achievement encourages flexibility, as instructors are able to tailor lessons to each individual class and revisit concepts that kids may be struggling with.  Tina King, Senior Director of Learning and Teaching,  compares formative assessment data to mission control.   “If I don’t get good feedback along the way when we’re flying the shuttle, we’re not going to hit that target,” King said. “[Formative assessment] is that super clarity for teachers on learning targets and that input along the way, so we don’t get to the end of a unit of study and realize that we didn’t get students where they need to be.”  Formative assessments can take many different forms, from entrance slips, to homework checks, to short quizzes. Jennifer Anderson, Math Department Chair at St. Charles North, believes that no matter how they look, formative assessments emphasize ongoing learning, rather than one-time evaluations.  “That’s really important for students to be explaining their work as they go because then those misconceptions can come to light. That’s our teaching moment, for our teachers to jump in and say ‘I’d like to add on to that’ or provide some clarification,” Anderson said. “Or turn it to other students [and ask] ‘anybody want to add to this?’ to help provide and get that conversation going amongst them.”

    37 min

  8. 12/13/2024

    Career Connections: Students Talk Self-Advocacy & Efforts To Increase Opportunities For All

    Extracurricular academic programs or internships take learning outside of the classroom and can be instrumental for students looking to discover their passions. St. Charles East juniors Kunal Gaind and Rahil Bukhari recently joined the Voices of District 303 podcast to talk about what they’ve learned by getting involved.  Kunal discussed how rewarding it was to take STEM classes at Johns Hopkins University, while Rahil shared that volunteering to learn more about health care professions through the Northwestern Medicine Discovery Program was a life-changing experience.  “(I learned a lot that was) science-related: this is how we analyze DNA, this is how we approach patients,” said Rahil. “But I think something more valuable is honestly the rudimentary skills you learn. Just having empathy for other people and learning the value of kindness.”  Now, the pair is encouraging other D303 students to seek out similar opportunities. Working with East teachers and administrators, they’ve created a spreadsheet that details some of the summer programs in the area, laying out any associated costs and how to apply.  “Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re all residents of St. Charles and we all want these amazing opportunities,” said Kunal. “We all care for our futures.”  The students also talked about the importance of self-advocacy, and discussed ways to take ownership of your own learning.

    27 min
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About

The Voices of District 303 Podcast is designed to open a window into the daily lives of our students, staff members, and community. Launched in 2021, Voices of District 303 strives to take you into schools, classrooms, and departments that make District 303 a special place to teach, learn, and grow.

Information

  • Creator
    St. Charles CUSD 303
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Voices of District 303
  • Show Website
    Voices of District 303