Teach Middle East Podcast
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Teach Middle East Podcast
Balancing Tech, Arts, and Personal Growth at Dubai American Academy with Justin Reynolds Ed.D.
Sit back and join us for an inspiring discussion with Justin Reynolds, the principal of Dubai American Academy. You'll hear about the pivotal moments that shaped his career, from his mother's teaching legacy to his early involvement in drug prevention programs. Justin takes us through his transition from teaching to administration, and the exhilarating experience of opening a new middle school at DAA.
Discover how Dubai American Academy is paving the way for a tech-savvy future. Learn about their innovative use of iPads, coding apps, and robotics, and how they're pushing the boundaries with VR and AR projects. We also tackle the ethical considerations of AI in education. But it's not all about technology—Justin underscores the enduring power of in-person interactions and the arts, sharing personal anecdotes from the Junior Fine Arts Festival. Finally, he reflects on balancing a demanding professional role with a fulfilling personal life, highlighting the importance of creativity, holistic development, and finding time to unwind. Join us for an episode brimming with insights on education, technology, and personal growth.
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Hosted by Leisa Grace Wilson
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Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome back to the Teach Middle East podcast. My name is Lisa Grace Wilson and today I have Justin Reynolds, principal of the Dubai American Academy, on the podcast with me. It's nice to have a different accent. I seem to have a lot of Brits on this podcast, but today, not today.
Speaker 3:Today is not their day. It's not their day. No, thank you so much for having me, justin Reynolds, and yes, I do hail from the United States.
Speaker 2:Where in the United States are you from?
Speaker 3:Justin, you know, lisa, we, my family, we're from the middle bit that nobody sees. Everybody knows the coast. I'm from Missouri, st Louis, missouri, and that's, you know, well known for being the home of Cardinal Baseball, the best baseball town in the United States. So that's our claim to fame.
Speaker 2:What brings you to the United Arab Emirates? What brought you here from Missouri?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, yeah, missouri, and actually, if you've seen Ozark, it's like it's that state, so it's literally a lot of country, kind of the Midwest. It's a very slow pace. People are very nice there. But you know what? My wife and I we lived there all our lives, we grew up there, and so it was 2017.
Speaker 3:My wife, she owned a beauty company at that time and she had the opportunity to come see Kim Kardashian's makeup artist do a workshop over here. It's, you know, just staying right at the Atlantis, and so she's like, hey, I'm thinking of doing this thing, would you like to go with me? So we came over here, for I think it was like 10 days at the time and it really like the trip here, like we love Dubai, we loved the people, we love the culture. We're like you know what? I wonder what would what would life be like if we left? You know our little town of St Louis, you know how would that be, and that really gave us just a good glimpse to see what that would be like, that short 10 days. So that really got us thinking about international travel and international work. And, you know, a couple of years later, lo and behold, the opportunity came up here to work at DAA and I hopped on it.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. Tell me a little bit more about sort of your career in education. So take me back to the St Louis days, and where did your career begin?
Speaker 3:Sure, Well, you know, I think my career began my mom was a teacher and she retired, you know, I think several years ago now, like five, 10 years ago. But you know, she really was the catalyst, I think, in getting me started. But I think it was in grade five when I had the opportunity to kind of there were a group of students that came in and it was a drug prevention program and they were teaching us fifth graders about, you know, the dangers of drugs and alcohol and stuff like that. And so it was there. I was like huh, I think that really looks. That's intriguing to me that a student could do that so fast. Forward to my junior year, which is 11th grade, I had the opportunity to do the same thing. So I went down and taught fifth graders and then, 12th grade, I was able to watch a grade five teacher and kind of shadow her and just really got the love for the profession at that point. And then by the time I hit university, I knew that's what I wanted to do. One thing I was not expecting, though going into university was like I knew elementary, that was my niche, Like that's, that's where I was going to be Right. I just absolutely knew it backwards and forwards, Got my first gig teaching third grade right out of university.
Speaker 3:That was in the Kansas City side of Missouri, which is on the opposite side of the state.
Speaker 3:So I decided to move back to the St Louis side and I fall into a grade six position thinking, you know, I never thought I was going to be that my mom was a middle school teacher. I wasn't going to do that, I wasn't going to follow in her footsteps in that regard. But, lo and behold, started teaching and then all of a sudden, like loved it, like absolutely loved it, so I taught grade six there for a while, taught sixth grade math, and I was. I was approached to to be the head of department by my then assistant principal who helped, you know, vault me into those types of roles. And then there was a leadership program that gave teachers the opportunity to go and shadow principals in the school district that I was in. So I took advantage of that and that got me on my journey for administration. So since admin I've been doing a little bit of elementary and middle school is where I found my way back home. So it's really been in those two age groups that I really found my niche and where I like to be.
Speaker 2:That is so good. So tell me, what would you describe as a high point in your career so far? A real high point?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, I think there are several high points at all the different schools that I've been at.
Speaker 3:But, gosh, I think right, like right now, because it's what I'm living and breathing is, you know, we're getting ready to open up a brand new middle school on our campus, so our enrollments are going up and so they said, look, we have this opportunity for the middle school to be able to move we're on the same campus but across the way so to be able to help, you know, guide that construction and guide the thinking of you know how's the middle school set up, How's it going to work, how's it going to run, you know all those things starting from scratch, I think is a really cool point in my career.
Speaker 3:To be able to do and to have the support of my team with me through that process has been really key. So I've loved that. But, you know, coming over here, also a high point just the community that we built. You know the families that come in and the parents that really enjoy being part of the school community and the students, like I would say that that's a big thing, you know. And to say that for a middle school, you know, if you work with the adolescents. It's not always the easiest thing to do to form those bonds and those relationships, but I feel like we have a great team here, and so I think that contributes to the high point and the success that we see here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Tell me a little bit about DAA. I know quite a bit about some of the things that you guys have been doing there because you guys are really into tech, tech and I know from you know, maybe interfacing with Srijit and all those guys in that area that you guys do some pretty impressive things. So I'm going to give you five minutes, Justin, to kind of ball out, if you like, on what you guys are doing at DAA that others need to hear about.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, look, I think, first and foremost, I think what our main focus is is on, not the tech, but how we're using it. How are we enhancing going on in the classroom? Because you are right, lisa, we're very fortunate to have a lot of toys and gadgets at our fingertips, but my frame of thinking, and I think the other principals would also agree, you know, if we're not leveraging that in the right way, not making it meaningful for kids, then OK, it's a glorified paperweight and we don't want that. So what? What are we doing? I would say that it starts young. It starts in our elementary. You know they have iPads that are that are given to them. They're kept at school, but school issued iPads, and on those iPads are several apps that kids use every day. I think they're learning to code through an app called Scratch and then as they graduate they graduate elementary All of them have that kind of that base level, of kind of the basic coding, and then, as they come up to the middle school, they have opportunities to take the coding and robotics courses we have it at grades six, seven and eight, which really allows them to flourish and blossom and, of course, use all the fun Ozobots and different tech tools that we have available, and one thing that I think we do a nice job of is we take it outside of the classroom. Our coding and robotics teacher is also a coach an innovation coach for each of our teachers, so he supports teachers in the classroom if they say you know, we have something coming up in history. We want to infuse tech in our history lessons. You know what are we going to do. So he helped them create a VR timeline. So they programmed, let's say, it's Caesar or you know, the fall of Rome or something. So the kids created a timeline, but it was virtual. They set up like an art gallery or it could be set up like in a house within their VR goggles. So now the participant, the end user, puts on the goggles and, rather than doing like a gallery, walk you know on a piece of paper, they've now set up a timeline of events that they're able to literally walk through with the VR headset, and that was really neat to see.
Speaker 3:Something else that we've used augmented reality for is in our science lessons.
Speaker 3:So there's physics and there are some things that you can do in a lab and there are some things that you can't do in a lab. So I think one of the things that we were looking at was, you know, looking at mass and you know how how far can this heavy of a car roll, you know, down an incline. So we obviously don't have that. We're able to just roll cars out along the track. You know, not really a safety thing that we would really do, but so they're able to do that using augmented reality. And so the kids took the app and they they created the experiment on the ipad using augmented reality, changed the like, how heavy the car was going to be, how steep the incline was for the ramp, and they would see their, their virtual car kind of go across on the screen using this augmented reality. And you know, you really get a good idea, a good sense of what it is you're dealing with whenever you're able to see physics, you know, know from that perspective, you know real life connections that you can make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just thinking in terms of what you kind of have been doing, which is, I know that you guys have done quite a lot in terms of robotics and VR and AR, but where are you now with your integration of technology as it relates to artificial intelligence and where that sits within schools and within the curriculum?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, that's a great question. I would say from a fundamental standpoint. We know that AI is here and I think the head of the IB you know worldwide has said AI is here to stay. We need to learn how to work with it, not work against it. So that's been predominantly what we're looking at, you know, just thinking from a teacher's perspective. Like we're using AI to create a template to send to parents, we're using AI to help us formulate different codes in our Google Sheets in order to make our life easier. So we need to embrace that as well going into the classroom.
Speaker 3:So, of course, you know, we're coming up against things and kind of looking at it through the lens of is this kind of plagiarism if a kid does chat GBT on an assignment and then they just, you know, copy and paste that in? Yeah, and we do have like AI detection software so that you can use Turnitin as one of them. But it's about the conversation of how do you effectively use this? Can you use it to outline? So I don't think we're quite there yet, particularly in the middle school, where they're learning to research. So we're still really trying to get our arms wrapped around that. What could it actually look like.
Speaker 3:But from my perspective it's more of a positive Like how can we use it? Teachers are already using it, adults are already using it. So why not help arm our kids with that information rather than restricting them from it? And then only to you know, ok, two years after they graduate, they're using it anyway, you know, let's kind of see what they can do with it as well. That's kind of our standpoint, if I'm not sorry, it's still kind of it's ever evolving, right? So it's a very hard answer for me to nail down with specifics, right? So it's a very hard answer for me to nail down with specifics.
Speaker 2:No, it's authentic because you are telling us what a lot of school leaders are feeling, which is we don't know for sure, we don't have the answers, and it's good to not put a hard and fast.
Speaker 2:This is how it should be on something that is changing every day, because you might say, this is how we should use AI AI in the middle school but tomorrow AI evolves and does something different, and what you just said is no longer relevant, is completely obsolete. So, given the fact that we don't know where AI is going and we don't know what students will face, I think it's for me. I think it's something that we ought to embrace, but with caution and understanding that, as it evolves, we're going to have to remain very flexible in how we handle it. As it is like something that is growing, you begin to treat it differently as it enters different stages, and I think that's where we are with AI. So let's change gears a little bit from AI and talk about the arts and the other subjects that are not getting as much limelight as they should. What role do you think those subjects will play going forward in an increasingly technological era?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, I think from the beginning of time, you know, people have enjoyed, like they built the, you know, the Colosseum in Rome to be entertained, right. So there's always been this need and this want for entertainment, and so the arts, I think, is going to be something that is here to stay, no matter what. I mean, if you talk to people now versus 20 years ago, like still that, that the love for getting out there and, and you know, watching a concert live versus watching something at home, I think there's a stark difference. So then I think we felt that over COVID, you know, instead of a musical, we had had a maschical, and so you know it was just, we did what we could at the time, but it was an online show and you know, so there wasn't as much interaction. So I think it's key that, despite all the technology going around, we have to maintain just having those actual in-person interactions with one another. So having those key events we're not like sports. Sports has been something that has stayed, you know. It has stood the test of time. People will show up in droves to watch sports.
Speaker 3:I think the arts are the same way. We had our Junior Fine Arts Festival. We held it. We hosted for five different schools and our MESAC conference and we had a great turnout of kids and we had a great turnout of people who wanted to support the show, you know, last weekend. So that's all very encouraging and I think, you know, from a school standpoint, kids really love those activities.
Speaker 3:So I think I don't see technology taking away from that. I think you're always going to have people that are drawn to the arts and you know, to be honest with you, there's a facet. Now we're actually incorporating an art class that's focused on the digital, so the digital drawing, so utilizing iPads and those different programs to create art. So you know it also enhances it in that direction. So it might morph a little bit or there might be another faction of art that comes from technology. But arts are here to stay. People sorry to say, being a former math teacher but people don't pay good ticket money to go watch mathematicians do problems on the board. They go to be entertained, you know, by acting, by singing, by bands, things like that. So arts are here to stay and we're at the school where I'm currently at we promote that, that holistic development of children. We offer those classes and also we have opportunities for kids to get involved after school as well. So for us it's not even a question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm glad to hear that, because I think sometimes we get so excited about tech and about you know that we forget that as humans we want to be creative, we want to play, we want to really enjoy that human to human connection. And having the arts as a real priority in schools is how we develop children's creativity, is how we express ourselves as an adult and how we also keep in touch with our human side.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have to. Yeah, Like you said, it's part of being human is having those connections. And if we're just apart and you know we see that with kids in the generation sometimes they would rather text somebody down the hall rather than speak to them. You know, that's something. I think that's something that they're going to have to traverse as they get a little bit older. You know that social anxiety that comes with that. So for us to create those opportunities for the kids to say, ok, well, we're not doing devices, we're actually doing this thing. It's wonderful. And you know, I think everything has its place and you can say everything in moderation. But yeah, that's the arts. The arts have to be in person.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool Now. So that's the professional side of the podcast. Guys. Now we try to get to learn who Justin is as a person, so we're going to go a little bit more on the personal side. So Justin family man, wife, children.
Speaker 3:Yes and yes. I have a wife of 17 years and two children, both of which attend my school One's in middle school, one's in elementary.
Speaker 2:And so what's life like at home? How do you unwind, take off that principal's hat and just be Justin? What are you doing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look well, I, first of all, my wife keeps me young, or, like she, she gives me the gray one of the two, because rightly so. Like our job, you know, is is is principals. It's very taxing and it's a job we have to take seriously. But she's like seriously, justin, when you come home, you walk through the door like your dad, your husband, like it's okay to be silly. She probably tells me that like once a week. So I would say that's the biggest advice. You know, if we're acting silly in the car, you know kids are singing in the car, you know, don't be afraid to sing along or do something goofy along with them. So I would say that that helps keep me grounded and I think that's part of the well-being piece too. That's important for me is to yeah, I'm a dad. I knew that I wanted to be a dad for a long time. So I've got to consciously turn off work and make sure that I'm making time for my family, because, ultimately, I kind of always knew that I wanted to be a dad. So I need to take the time to be able to focus and do my diligence there.
Speaker 3:So what do things look like? I mean, right now it's loaded with, you know, kids activities. You know we were just talking about the arts my son's involved in band, so he was with the Junior Fine Arts Conference last couple of weeks, and then my daughter she does drama and she also does dance. So yeah, very, very big in the arts I think our family is, and you know it's I don't know, I like to also, apart from, you know, sometimes picking around on the guitar, you know singing and stuff like that like to play paddle, like that's something that's come on because it's relatively new. It's not in the States, states it's pickleball, here it's paddle. So that's something that I've picked up in the last year. It's really fun and again, it really helps to just go out and just be me, be myself and, you know, not really beholden to my title or or even the dad title or the husband title, it's just for me.
Speaker 2:Are you playing paddle a few times a week, or how often are you playing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look it's. It depends on the time of the year, but on my best weeks it's two times a week, but usually I average about one time a week, and I and I appreciate that usually I average about one time a week. And I and I appreciate that I used to play softball as well. Softball is a modified version of baseball where older people can get out and play so, but that and that's very American, but that's something that you know I take part in it, that I took part in at Dubai Little League, so that was that was always fun too.
Speaker 2:And in terms of reading, what are you reading? What are you enjoying currently?
Speaker 3:Yeah, look, there are a couple different books One, I'm ashamed to say, because my wife got me onto this because it was like it's like a court of rose and thorns or something like that. Sarah Moss is the author and it's apparently a series and she burned through the series. There's a six books series. She burned through five of the six books in like I don't know two weeks or something like that. So she's like you have to read this. So it's very much a fantasy driven. You know, created the whole world.
Speaker 3:So, from a fiction standpoint, that's something that I'm reading right now. I would say also disruptive thinking, if we're talking nonfiction, that's something that I really like to read. Eric Schoeninger, who was apparently in Dubai just a couple of weeks ago, he does a lot of work with disruptive education. So what are we doing in our classrooms that can be different and can be impactful for our students? That's a book that I'm actually rereading because it's just some great work going in there and that kind of connects to the AI and just innovative teaching strategies, just in general.
Speaker 2:So I'd say those are the two that I've got currently kind of co-reading. That's good. I have Eric on the pod, really really great thinker, and yeah, he really does talk a lot about what education could and should look like.
Speaker 3:Ted Dendersmith has a great book, what School Could Be, so I don't know if you've heard of that book or not, but some great ideas there, just ideas, different schools from around the world and their take on education and how it's innovative and how it's different and how it's benefited the kids. So I think you know kind of putting all those pieces together from earlier with AI and like how do we instruct? Like there are just some ideas that we're going to have to do because we have to think of school differently, moving forward to prepare our kids for what they're going to need to do.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. So, because that's going to lead me to, maybe my penultimate question for you on the podcast is if you were to have a crystal ball, what does the future of education look like ideally for you?
Speaker 3:Wow, look, I think it's going to have to come down to a point where teachers are able to service the kids individually. Yes, we're going to have to have ultimate goals that we're going to have to hit in order to move on to the next level. But I don't know if, okay, crystal ball, okay, I bet that we're going to go to something that is less about the age that you're in and more about like okay, I've done this, this, this in the curriculum, I've met these particular standards. I can move on to the next thing. So, rather than graduating by age, maybe it goes more to a model graduating by, you know, content area, because I think we're seeing it done with certain groups of kids that are.
Speaker 3:You know, there was somebody who was just able to go to Harvard or Yale and they were like 12 years old. How can we make that meaningful? How do we scale that and how do we make that fit for our society? So I think we're going to see more individualization here. A lot of universal design learning is happening across different schools, so I think that's going to be a big component in the short term future, but really it's going to boil down to that.
Speaker 3:How are we going to be able to serve each of our kids individually, help each of them move from where they're at to where they need to be, and yeah, I think, that's going to be probably one of the biggest shifts, and I think kind of what you talked about earlier AI, that's going to be a big part of that, and how can teachers and how can education in general leverage that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I agree with you with the individualization of education, education catering to the person who is being educated rather than a whole collective having the same diet, having the same content, having to do the exams at the same time, that type of thing. I'm in complete agreement. All right, so this podcast is going to come out just as we're about to go on summer, just as we are on summer holidays. So what is Justin doing this summer?
Speaker 3:I am going to take my family back to the United States, to St Louis. Every year we go back there. My kids love to see their grandparents, my parents and my wife's parents, so we spend a good. I'll spend a good four weeks there before I need to come back, but they'll stay a little bit longer because you know school doesn't get in until the end of August.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. Well, I wish you a great summer and thank you so much for being my guest on the podcast my pleasure.
Speaker 3:Happy to happy to be here. Thank you very much.
