Tech, Teachers, And Real Results

The best conference takeaway is the one you can use on Monday. That’s exactly what we set out to capture in this conversation with Shayla Pandja, the English instructional coordinator for St. Landry Parish, recorded live at LACUE in New Orleans. We dig into the real work of supporting high school teachers: choosing a core curriculum that builds knowledge and skills, layering on targeted practice that mirrors assessments, and making sure every classroom can actually access the tools that promise improvement.

Website: spotlight4success.com 

Chapters

• 0:06 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 0:38 Role And Instructional Focus
• 1:01 Curriculum And ABC Practice Materials
• 2:28 ABC Overview And Score Guarantee
• 2:32 Tech Priorities And One-To-One Access
• 3:13 Classroom Moments And Teacher Motivation
• 3:43 Takeaway: Use AI For Benefit
• 3:59 Thanks And Close

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:06

Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I'm Devin Pintozi, your host. We are here at Lacue in uh New Orleans 2025. We are so excited to have with us our special guest today, Shayla Panja. Hello, Shayla.

SPEAKER_00: 0:22

Hi.

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

Shayla is joining us. Uh she is here with uh St. Landry Parish and she is the English instructional coordinator. Uh we're so happy you could join us today. And wanted to know, uh, tell me a bit about what brings you here to Lakieue.

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

Okay, so I wanted to have an opportunity to um gain some resources for uh supporting my high school English teachers. Um kind of like you said, I'm the high school instructional specialist, um, so I support my teachers and their instructional practices.

SPEAKER_01: 0:55

Oh, that's great. And uh and uh so uh what are you using this year?

SPEAKER_00: 1:01

So in terms of our curriculum, we use Savis. Okay, but um earlier you asked me about ABC and my knowledge of it. Uh so throughout the district, certain schools purchased ABC uh leak practice materials. Okay, and so our district had a little bit of extra funding, so we went ahead and purchased uh lead practice materials for all grade levels.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23

Oh, wonderful. Oh, wonderful. So we look forward to hearing about how that goes for you and your your school system. That's great. Thank you. Um so can you tell me uh a bit about you know, you're here at LACU. Um are there any special strands or specific areas of interest for you?

SPEAKER_02: 1:41

Thank you for watching Spotlight for Success. I am Devin Pentosi, the Chief Operating Officer of American Book Company. We are located here in our headquarters in Woodstock, Georgia. All of our materials are printed in the USA. We have horse. We guarantee score improvement You can get free samples of our materials either in print or in electronic formats at abc12.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

SPEAKER_00: 2:32

So for me, it's that technology component. Okay. Um, our district, we're one-to-one for the most part.

SPEAKER_01: 2:39

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00: 2:39

Yeah. So um I just wanted to be able to support my teachers with any new resources, any new links, or just anything that other teachers are using because you know, if they're not able to get out of the classroom, they're not able to get access to learning about all of these things, and so I just want to be able to support them.

SPEAKER_01: 2:58

Oh, that's wonderful. Um, okay, great. Um, is there anything uh special that's happened in the classroom or when you're working with the teachers uh that you're like, wow, this is this is the kind of event or the kind of moment where I'm like, this is why I got into education.

SPEAKER_00: 3:13

Oh yeah, so definitely when you have the kids that have those enlightenment moments when the everything starts to make sense for them, they're having engaged, they're engaged, they're having that student discourse, that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 3:26

Oh, okay, yeah, it's so awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 3:28

So it's your reminder of why you know you are.

SPEAKER_01: 3:30

Yeah, why is so important, right? That's great. Um, do you have anything you'd like to share with the LACU community? Like a takeaway for them.

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

Okay. Um, well, I've only been here a couple hours, uh, but my takeaway so far is that technology is advancing and AI is here, so let's find ways in which we can use it to our benefit.

SPEAKER_01: 3:58

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 3:59

Uh thank you once again. This is uh Shayla Panja joining us uh from St. Laundrie Parish. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00: 4:05

Thank you.