Kellie Grochocki, an eighth-grade math teacher at IMS, coordinates the student workshop event, Discovery Day. I will be interviewing her to understand the challenging organizational process.
Panther Press – How are you and how is your day going on currently?
Grochocki – It’s good so far. It’s Friday, so I’m almost ready for the weekend.
Panther Press – How would you describe organizing the ins and outs of Discovery Day?
Grochocki – How do I describe it? Now, it’s a lot. Making sure that all almost 780 students are in a class, making sure all 80 teachers pick something to teach for everybody. It’s a lot of work. But I like it, it’s fun!
Panther Press – Is organizing Discovery Day stressful for you?
Grochocki – It can be. Especially, when each grade is picking when they choose their workshops, making sure all the Google Forms are connected to the website, making sure everyone can pick their Discovery Day workshop.
Panther Press – So does anyone help you organize Discovery Day?
Grochocki – No, I do it by myself.
Panther Press – How many forms do you approximately make for every session for every workshop?
Grochocki – Well, every workshop, there are two sessions all right? Last time we had 55 workshops, so 110 Google Forms I had to make.
Panther Press – What new workshops are here this year that weren’t here last year?
Grochocki – Ooh, okay! So each teacher gets to pick their own, some teachers do the same, some switch. Some new workshops this year were the Christmas ornament one, that was new, baking cookies was a new one this year,… A lot of the art ones were new this year.
Panther Press – What will happen if a teacher running a workshop is absent on Discovery Day?
Grochocki – So, it depends on what the workshop is, okay? This year we did have that happen with the baking cookies workshop, and I was able to pull another teacher that was doing it with a group of three teachers to run that workshop. But sometimes if I don’t have another teacher that is able to help, we either push the kids into a different workshop, or we can give them board games and cards to play with.
Panther Press – Do you like and enjoy organizing Discovery Day overall?
Grochocki – I do. I just like making sure everyone has somewhere to go to and trying to make sure everybody is going to a workshop THEY WANT TO BE IN. It’s definitely something fun for you guys to do not being in the classroom everyday and for also exploring new activities and hobbies.
Panther Press – What workshops do you think are interestingly fun for the students of IMS?
Grochocki – The food ones are always fun, right? That way you guys learn how to cook and bake too! A lot of the sports ones are fun as well, like in the gym you don’t always play football, but on Discovery Day you can play football. So a lot of the art ones are fun, if you like arts and crafts, you learn something new.
Panther Press – Have there been any times when Mrs. Cilento has cancelled Discovery Day, if so when?
Grochocki – Yes, a couple of years ago because of student behavior.
Panther Press – Do teachers consistently run the same workshop every Discovery Day?
Grochocki – There are teachers who do the same thing every year, there are teachers who do one workshop for our first Discovery Day, and another workshop for our second Discovery Day, and then there are some teachers who pick different ones every time!
Panther Press – Are there new Discovery Day workshops every year?
Grochocki – Yes, there are at least a couple that are new.
Panther Press – Is organizing Discovery Day fun overall?
Grochocki – Yes it is. I know it’s a fun day for you guys and I make sure I work hard to make sure you have fun workshops you go to, but also make sure it’s organized and everybody has what they need and I like doing it.
Panther Press – Do you run a workshop for our students?
Grochocki – No because it takes me a long time to put everything together and then the day of Discovery Day, I just walk around to check on teachers and make sure they’re okay. If there are students not behaving, I bring them to the office and stuff like that.
Panther Press – What’s the main reason you are inspired to help in Discovery Day and organize it?
Grochocki – Good question, very good question! So, I was not the first teacher to present/run Discovery Day, there was another teacher who did it before me and she left the school and when she left Mrs. Cilento asked me to help with it because I helped that teacher a little bit with it so Mrs. Cilento asked me to run it and I changed it a little bit each year depending on what we needed.
Panther Press – Thank you for contributing time for this interview.
Grochocki – You’re welcome!
