#SMWay Podcast

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. That by itself would be interesting, but the two free shows will also incorporate visual art in the form of a gallery presentation and digital art played as an instrument during the piece's third movement. It's a big idea that layers and builds on the artistic discipline...

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...

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. We’re talking about the ACT because it’s coming up in the spring and South Milwaukee High School has a new tool to help students prepare for the ACT and will begin dedicating some classroom time to preparing st...

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. This episode is the first in an occasional series called Student Voices. We hear the two podcasts the students created and what they...

Math is math, right? Yes. However, how we teach it and understand how students learn it is constantly in flux. In this episode, we hear what the day-to-day math class looks like at each level, what the K-12 goals for math education are, and what parents can do, particularly at the elementary level, to build mathematical confidence in their children.

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. Hear about how that's done, what a parent or guardian's role is, and how to prepare your student to make some of these big decisions.

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. In this episode, Director of Curriculum and Instruction Christie Gajewski discusses new literacy practices this year with elementary teachers and instructional specialists.

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. I’m excited to introduce you to our STEM teachers who are on an exploration of their own – building a new program...

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. Mike comes to South Milwaukee after the departure of former principal Bryan Terry. He’s spent 17 years in education, has taught social studies, coached football and baseball, a...

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. Today on the podcast we’re going to hear from four students who participated and got a first or second place m...

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. Soon that artwork will be gently placed into a box, wrapped with care by students, police officers, firefighters, and other volunteers, and delivered with notes of care and encouragement to area cancer pa...

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. I think maybe we don’t celebrate enough the community service our students do. Just last week the Lakeview Elementary Student Council donated dozens of toys to an animal shelter and a box of tennis balls to the police department’s K-9 Unit - Rocket, who happily acc...

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. Today we’ll speak with Christie Gajewski, Director of Curriculum and Ins...

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.  There are three components to a musical, the actors, the orchestra, and the stage crew. Today, you and I are going behind the scenes and talk to members of the crew who build the scenes that...

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...

 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 bringing you three audio p...