My friend, A.J. Juliani, with the help of other educators, has published a great blog post detailing many examples of empowering students. I'm pretty sure that everyone can find one important piece that will help them become a better teacher.
I contributed one of my favorite Renaissance lessons to the list as well if you want to check it out.
Sharing and helping equals learning. I learn the most by seeing the process of what others have went through. I then take things that I think are relevant to my class, subject, and students and then put them in place into my teaching. I really enjoy tweaking and making lessons better to meet the needs of my students. I have found that the teacher community is one of great sharing and A.J.'s post about the examples is something that can help many teachers (and students) in the classroom.
I can remember early on in my teaching career, that I made teaching more about me. Not as someone who needs a pedestal, but as more of the work side of things. I had to do this. I had to do that. I had to prepare this. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. That's a lot of eyes on me. :) I thought it was more about what I was doing and not what students were doing. Over the years, I have seen the value of empowering students. I now offer more choice. A lot of the time, I'll put this phrase into a project: "Do you have any better ideas for this ______?" My favorite thing to do is then share their idea of amazingness with the class. Usually when that happens, another student will have a better idea that stems from it. It's a nice little spark of creativity.
Be sure to check out A.J.'s post and then check out A.J's and John Spencer's new book, Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning.
Go! Go! Go! That's what it always seems like around here. For all the awesome things we're doing, it always feel like too much. My family's just as busy as everyone else's I'm sure. Over the past couple of years, I have decided to simplify a lot of things. Not because it's easier. But for the fact that less is indeed, more. Less time on some things, leads to more time on things that really matter.
Watch this intro video to Rend Collective's album entitled Campfire II. If you're not familiar with Rend Collective, I suggest you give them a listen. I added the whole playlist, so you can listen if you'd like. I've found that it's really good background music. It keeps me energized and it's almost impossible to not tap your foot. You can't go wrong with banjo music.
Whether you believe in the same religion as this band is non-important. What they are championing is a return to what really matters. To fellowship. To community. To connections.
Some thoughts from the intro video.
"Simplicity is the art of restoring a clear and unobstructed view of the things that really matter. Unplugging ourselves...Our lives are so full, distracted and stretched. Learn to clear away the clutter and detox our hearts."
We've got to realize that we are crazy busy. We need a return to simplicity. We, as people, are busier than ever. We're also filling our spiritual voids with busy-ness. We have to come to terms with this notion.
"Authenticity is not a style. It's a state of the heart. It's about substance."
We have to be intentional about simplicity. I had to learn to say, "No." to some things. I've turned down some pretty good things and opportunities. But what would I have gained? I'm not sure. I said, "No." to basically say, "Yes." to something better. In most instances, time with my family. Being authentic is saying, "No." and not feeling guilty. Say, "Yes" to what really matters. I've spent a lot more time with my family over the past couple of years. I've hugged more. I've still got a long way to go, of course, but I try to make it a point.
In the realm of the classroom, we can do way too much. We can over teach. Over prepare. Over plan. Over (insert anything here). We're teachers. We know we answered a calling to help and serve others. However, we can't help and serve if we're not taking care of ourselves first. That brings to mind an airplane flight attendant. In the advent of an emergency, they always tell you to put your mask on first before assisting others. Why? Because you can't help others, if you don't help yourself first.
Maybe this means, doing less grading and giving more feedback. Plan for student inquiry instead of you being the "sage on the stage" all the time. Only grade meaningful things vs practice assignments. Come to school one hour early instead of leaving one hour after school. Really use your prep time to complete tasks. (That's something I struggle with big time by the way.) I've developed a really good format for what is important to my classroom. I try to keep on those things. It centers on consuming to create and innovate. If it doesn't align with those things, then why am I having my students do it. Cut the fat. Be more simple. Almost every day I do these things: Pun of the day, quote of the day, read to my students, consume, and then create. That's it. Be clear. Be concise. Be simple.
Focus on three things. Read this about how to be more productive. Choose one word to represent your entire year or better yet, your entire life. After almost 15 years of coaching basketball, I haven't gotten more complex. I've went the other way. I keep things extremely simple. The more you have to think, the slower your feet get. I find pleasure in keeping things as simple as possible. My teams build off of things I teach early on in the season. My communication has sharpened because of trying to think of the end first. You have to know where you're going.
Make meaningful experiences instead of have them complete a checklist. Some might gasp as this next one. My favorite days of teaching are when I have planned a great project, where the students are deeply engaged and they really don't need me besides for clarification. I can sit around the room and just chill with my students. This is when I really get to know them. To swap stories. To share my life and for them to share theirs with each other. Which leads us into...
"Share our real selves and our stories. Our deepest fears yield our deepest connections. That is how true communities are forged. Our testimonies, no matter how dark, are powerful weapons of light."
Over the past couple of years, I have really started to put an emphasis of relationships. You know, because that's what really matters ;) I've reached out to some people and we meet regularly. We use voxer. We meet at the local diner. We share life together. Every year one of the last things I have my students do is to write their favorite memory of my class. I'd say 95% of the time, it involves at least one other person and something funny. No one says things like the Rome test, the feudal pyramid, or latitude and longitude. Why? Because none of that stuff really matters. What matters and is the most memorable is the connection they made with others. The friendships. What are you doing to share your story with someone else? Better yet, whose stories are you listening to? Find a trust-worthy friend.
"Calling us to risk and danger, so we might change the world... Our God loves us too deeply to smother us with safety. He knows we don't combat our fears by living sheltered lives we fight fear by developing courage."
I remember a couple years ago, I joined into a Voxer group of some pretty awesome guys. They run in some pretty big circles. I run in such small circles that they are more like little dots. I was nervous. When I say nervous. I mean I didn't say anything. At all. I just listened. I eventually said stuff. I eventually had dinner with a lot of them. I worked on some projects with them. One of which was way out of my comfort zone. I have designed logos for some of them for their awesome projects. (Here's my design portfolio) I shared my life. I listen to their stories. I now consider some of them my best friends and mainly because I talk to them the most besides my family.
Courage takes time. The only way to be brave, is to well, be brave. My son, who just turned 5, has had a really big fear of heights. When I say fear, it is a legit fear. I mean terrified. Over about a year, he has developed confidence in himself to tackle playground equipment. It's taken time. He's taken baby steps. Literally. Lol. But he has gotten to places high up off the ground this summer that were not possible last year.
In the classroom, what are you waiting for? Try that new thing. Never tried Genius Hour? Do it. Thinking about a shift to Project Based Learning? Do it. Try it for one unit or lesson. Get out there. Dance in the street. Watch out for cars, of course! Seriously. Ships weren't meant to stay in the harbor. They were meant to sail. No one ever changed the world sitting in their living room twiddling their thumbs. Being safe is okay. But okay is just, okay. Don't be okay. Be great.
"No longer want to be half-alive."
This goes along with the last quote. A couple years ago, I felt like I was in a funk. I needed more. I was so engaged with school, that I was missing out on other things. Those things were the things that really matter. Marjorie Pay Hinckley says is pretty well, “I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”
"Mission is the ignition."
You have to make a decision to live with simplicity. To focus on what matters. To give up things that are meaningless. What is your mission? If it's getting your kids "As" that's not a mission statement, that's an endpoint. When students leave your classroom, are they just going to remember a letter on a report card? I hope it's more. I hope it's way more. Your mission has to transcend today.
I'm currently in the Innovative Teaching Academy ran by AJ Juliani. This is a blog post in relation to the class. Sidenote: AJ and John Spencer are getting ready to release a new book titled: Empower. I'm super pumped for it.
Has technology made us learn new things in new ways, or are we just learning the same old things in new ways?
When answering this question above, I can't help but think that learning doesn't happen in a vacuum. It used to be, but things have changed. Learning is a culture in itself. We have to think of the culture of learning that extends far beyond how technology has helped us learn.
Being a social studies teacher, I tend to think in terms of cultures: the ebb and flow of life and how things interact with others. Learning has now changed beyond the school walls.
When getting students to learn today, teachers have to look beyond the walls and think about where this learning might take them. We have to think of the audience. Large audience? Small audience? Does it need to stay within the classroom? Are we learning to create for a global audience?
Wait. Global audience? That didn't use to be an option.
Everything stayed within the four walls of the classroom. Students created for the teacher. Sometimes, they might have created for other students. This is where technology has changed everything.
In regards to learning, we used to learn by reading. Now we're learning from videos, blogs, websites, online classes, MOOCs, PLB, YouTube channels, Twitter, Voxer, Google Hangouts, Skype, YouTube Live, Facebook groups or Facebook Live, and on and on. You can now pick the brain of an expert "in person." We have so many avenues of obtaining information.
Learning is now a conversation.
Where I think technology has changed learning is that learning can now be a conversation and not not just a "read and get" one-way conversation. It's interactive. It let's the learner dive deeper than just a textbook.
I mentioned that I think learning is an element of culture. I'd argue that classroom cultures shift from classroom to classroom. Schools even have their own culture. Each team, whether it be a teacher team, a sports team, a business team, or whatever has a separate culture about it. The leader of that environment has to embrace what learning is today. You can't limit yourself, or others under your leadership, to what has always been. You have to embrace it. Maybe that leader is a teacher. Maybe it's "Mary, the Mom" who is trying to plant cucumbers and has sought the help of a master gardener through Google Hangouts. Maybe it's a boy that has a love of dinosaurs and his parents have found documentaries on Netflix/YouTube to watch and obtain information. Maybe it's me, the "Un-Handy Man," that calls on YouTube, watches a video, reads through all the comments, and double checks links and resources for validity in order to help myself replace the flapper in my toilet. I then went to the hardware store, engaged in personal and professional dialogue about what I needed, the specifics of my toilet and unique problem, and then we were able to find what I needed.
I'm currently in the Innovative Teaching Academy. It's a class put on by my friend, AJ Juliani. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this great class and learn from so many awesome people.
"What is innovation?" is the topic of the week. We had to answer that question by creating a meme. (Sidenote - George Couros' book, "The Innovator's Mindset" is a fantastic read on the topic. It affirmed many of my beliefs about what being an innovator truly is. I suggest you give it a read.)
This is my meme.
I imagine someone a lot smarter than I did came up with some grand definition of what innovation in schools really is. Problem is, I probably couldn't understand it because there would be big words. So, how about we keep it really easy.
The quick answer to this is that if students are truly engaged, it's probably innovative. If students don't want to leave your room to go to the restroom, it's innovative. They'll hold it. They'll do the pee-pee dance while working. Their eyes will start to have a yellow tint. They'll do whatever it takes to stay in the room. My best lessons are like this. I can see it happening. There is a certain energy during this type of learning. I also have a ton of dud lessons. Hopefully, I can eventually make all of them innovative. It takes time.
The simplest definition of what innovation is in schools is if your students are doing the pee-pee dance while creating then it must be innovation.
It takes courage, a huge amount of bravery, a willingness to leave your comfort zone, and to ultimately let go of the fear of failing. I had to get over myself for real innovation to take place. I had to release control, release the "I'm the most important person in the room" mode, and release the "Learning Isn't About the Teachers" role. Get over yourself.
I remember the first time that I tried Genius Hour / Passion Projects four years ago. I had no idea what I was really doing. I pitched it as a do anything you want and just show us what you learned by creating something that you present. Pretty sure no one left to use the bathroom that day.
Trust. I had administrators that ok'd my adventure. They trusted that I knew what I was doing and knew it was what was best for kids. They were also there to check-in and bounce ideas off of.
Just do it. Yes, that's Nike's slogan, but for crying out loud, do something.
Get out there and do something. Push yourself. Put yourself in your learners' shoes. Would they really want to be in your class if you said it was optional?
The best way for me to vent is to write. I have found that I need to blog to get my mind off of things. So, today, I write.
At the end of every school year, I end up turning into someone not myself. It’s really someone that I don’t want to be, but it’s like it just comes out. I can’t help it. My main reason is that I’m tired. Tired of a lot of the antics from students, tired of policing the same students to somehow behave appropriately day after day, after day, after day. Tired of harping on the same students to turn their work in even though I have reminded them to the umpteenth power already. Tired of saying, “Be prepared by doing _______.” and kids not doing said thing, but then upset at the consequences from not doing said thing. I might and probably some of my students that I routinely get on might even consider me a jerk. As we end the year, I wonder if that’s how they’ll remember me? Some cantankerous, crotchety guy. I don’t mean to be that way. I was raised to work extremely hard in the classroom, to not do dumb things, and that I could be guilty by association. I can’t, for the life of me understand why some students just want to simply exist. I just don’t get it. Wouldn’t it be more boring to just do nothing in school than do the assignment.
So, because of these things here’s a list of the Top Seven Things I Can’t Do For Students...followed by things I can and already do do. (Saying do twice in a row always makes me giggle)
I can’t make kids care about school. Let’s be honest. Not everyone likes “school.” There are things that I don’t like about school. There are things that happen that I don’t think are very beneficial to a learner. What I can do is that I can try and make students look toward the future and see how the long term effects of their actions today influence the future.
I can’t consistently engage kids better than electronics. There is a difference between being entertained and being engaged. Being entertained is like watching a movie. It’s more one way. Being engaged is two-way. Being engaged in today’s culture is like watching Dancing With the Stars while simultaneously engaging in twitter conversations with people all over the globe during the show. There has to be input from both parties. There are just some things in school that can’t be engaging all the time. School can’t compete with the digital overload that students have access to. We just can’t. Learning is hard work and not necessarily for your entertainment. I work in a 1:1 school system. One chromebook isn’t enough, students have to pull out their phones and iPods, also. Attention spans have dropped. Spending an hour on an assignment is extremely hard for students to do. What I can do is provide as much choice as possible, try to connect to their world as much as possible, and encourage them to dive deep. Here’s what we’re currently working on in my class. Here's what it looks like in class.
I can’t do students’ assignments or make them turn it in. This seems like an easy one. I won’t do an assignment for you. I can encourage you to start, to continue, to press on, to look at the future, to not just live for today, to explain the long-term effects of doing off-task things, or to talk about planting a seed that grows later. I can help you by answering your questions. I tend to answer questions with questions. I can assign them a lunch-n-learn with me during lunch, or a detention, or a Friday School. Those things don’t necessarily help. The only students that things like detention influence are ones that already care. (See number one in this list.)
I can’t make them act like Mother Theresa. Look, not everyone’s perfect. I get that. I pretty much wipe slates clean everyday. I teach in middle school. First, they are trying to figure themselves out. Second, they are trying to figure everyone else out. Third, they are trying to figure out what they want to investigate in their own life. Fourth, they are trying to manage jumping up into secondary school and trying to make it as least awkward as possible. Fifth, by time they get to sixth grade, a lot of their thoughts have already been shaped by former teachers and how important school is perceived at home. I can read books like “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success,” which is the kids version of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success so they know what it takes to be successful. I can read them things like the “Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon so they understand how positive and negative energy affects culture and how to choose your friends wisely. I can read “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander that gives a glimpse into the daily life of students in middle school that struggle with the same things that they do. I can read a quote of the day from “365 Days of Wonder” by RJ Palacio to try and get deeper and have discussions about life and show some empathy.
I can’t be in charge of their home life. Parents/Guardians are in charge of home lives. As much as I want every student to have the best life outside of school, the reality is that most don’t have that TV sitcom home. I can make my room a safe place. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not too positive with students that can’t figure out how to “student” correctly after 160 days of school. (Random: I think studenting should be a word. There is a proper way to student. It’s kind of like the word parenting. A parent parents. Shouldn’t students student? I know, my mind is wired a little different.) Those students that just can’t figure out how to turn things in at the end of the year still, continue to talk out, continue to be annoying, continue to back talk, continue to treat others not nicely, are the ones I’m talking about. I can remember to look at others through the glasses that they are doing the best that they know how instead of judging them. Maybe they haven’t learned yet? More importantly, maybe they haven’t been taught?
I can’t make them responsible or be organized. I can provide support and ideas for organization like Google Keep, journaling, and using Canvas calendar, but a student won’t learn how to be organized or responsible unless they are held accountable and taught how to be organized. Even then, some students just won’t because it’s a choice. After 6 years of previous schooling (K-5) most of those habits have already developed. It’s also a caring issue (see number one) and a home life (see number 5) issue. Sometimes, being held accountable is writing a personal note. Sometimes, it’s calling them out in front of their peers. Sometimes, it’s a hug. Sometimes, it’s a stern gaze or suggestion. Sometimes, it’s having them call their parents from my desk phone to “tell on themselves.” Sometimes, it’s just being there to lend your shoulder.
I can’t pull their legs anymore. I think it’s best to be straight up honest by the time they get in the middle school. This game called life is about to get real. Choices matter. Completing your work matters. Who you hang out with matters. Learning how to work hard matters. A lot of students are just getting a taste of what it takes to “student” correctly. (See, studenting is a thing, hehe.) I can tell students what they need to do to improve. I can help them make goals to get better. I can be honest and inform them that what they are doing isn’t cutting it and they need to try harder. Speaking the truth is a very hard thing to do. It seems that most people avoid the truth nowadays. Speaking the truth in love is what is needed. Listening to the truth is really hard, too.
I hate it when I get to the end of a school day and I have spent all my time on those students that fall into one or more of the seven things above and have neglected all the students that are working hard, behaving correctly, and care. I struggle with that balance. I struggle with letting students fail because it’s the right thing to do. I give limitless chances to redo or retake an assignment. I let students hand things in late. I feel I do enough on my end. There has to be some responsibility from the students.
I feel my lessons are "good enough." They get by. Students are challenged. I've been using the same lessons for a couple of years now. The problem is that I've always thought that good enough is neither. Neither good, nor enough.
I'm out to change that. As I wrap up this school year and start making preparations for next year, I decided to enroll in the Innovative Teaching Academy that's put on by my good friend, A.J. Juliani.
I'm excited to learn more. To grow. To improve. To meet other educators that share the same passion. To find some new things to make the teaching and learning in my classroom better.
Our basketball season ended a couple of weeks ago. I always have a love/hate relationship with the end of the season. Sad to see it come to an end, but happy that it happened and that I can spend some time with my family. (Or actually write a blog post.)
I am sad to say that this season didn't produce any trophies, championships, or other things that the world deems as a success. It was the first year in four years that one of my teams hasn't "won" something. I also have never set out to win anything. Winning is never a goal of mine. I am upfront about that in the beginning of the season. I am focused on all the little things that go into winning. This class had a lot of things not necessarily go their way this year. They battled. They fought. They didn't complain. Many factors go into that. Some we could have controlled. Others we couldn't. My job as a middle school coach is to prepare my players for their future careers in high school, while also competing in the here and now. I teach fundamentals, spacing, and all the players know that I love defense. Unfortunately, we didn't end up with many wins this season.
What it did have though, was great kids, great moments, and apparently, life lessons.
I have always thought that my job as a coach is to not make winners today, but to cultivate an atmosphere and culture that is conducive to producing students and players that win at life 20+ years down the road. Sports come and eventually go. Lessons, learning, and relationships last a lifetime.
This letter will go up on my wall. It will serve as a reminder that I at least did one thing right this year. I really appreciate how this player took the time to write a well thought out thank you letter. He doesn't know this, but these types of moments are what drives me. Not winning. Not championships. Not any of that. It really doesn't. You may think I'm crazy. Shoot. Most people already do. :)
I will remember this note more than any score.
Thank you to the player that wrote this. It means a lot.
The ISTEP+ scores were released to the public last week. The scores were from the last school year. The newspapers have a breakdown of all the scores, how each school and district compare to each other and a bunch more data. That's what gets in the paper. Shoot, it's even the top story.
Let's take a look at what isn't in the newspapers:
The teacher that stays after school to help students with reading.
The money given and raised by the parent organizations to the classrooms and students.
The presents that teachers buy with their own money to give to students.
The teacher who just spent 30 minutes in line at the Dollar Tree to get Christmas stockings for all her students.
The teacher that gave up family time to attend a sporting event of one of their students.
The teacher that arrives early to help students with their math.
The teacher that bought a student's lunch because they didn't have any. For a week.
The teacher that took a student aside to help them understand a life lesson.
The teacher that acts as a father/mother to a student going through a hard time.
The teacher that holds students accountable because there isn't accountability at home.
The teacher that opens the eyes of a student to show them that education is the way out of poverty.
The teacher that lights up a room with their presence and gets students to love learning.
The teacher that gives up their lunch hour to help students work on their Genius Hour projects so they have extra time.
The teacher that makes test days fun.
The teacher that hugs students (and other teachers) every day to brighten their day.
The occupational therapist that has helped a student finally figure out how to grip a pencil the correct way after 3,457 times of going through it.
The special education aide that gets paid next to nothing, but would give an arm, leg, kidney, or whatever for a student that needed one.
The aide that has never raised their voice once to a student.
The custodian who takes a student under his wing and shows them how to take pride in their work by being disciplined and teaches them a skill that they can use forever.
The custodian who "had a little extra time this evening" and decided to wash and dry the basketball team jerseys while working her normal night shift load.
The teacher who consistently gets berated by parents in emails and is so stressed out they regularly have to see a therapist.
The counselor who daily listens to all of the middle school drama and somehow makes sense of it all.
The lunch ladies that consistently make lunches for everyone in a school twice a day. I think it's hard to make supper for my family. How about 500 students every day? Twice.
The bus driver that says, "Good morning!" every day to all the students.
The coach that takes his team to a funeral viewing of someone that all the players know and teaches them how to comfort a family, grieve with something, and that it's okay for a man to cry.
The teacher that has lost a loved one, but doesn't take any days off of school so the students don't miss a beat.
The teacher that comes in on Saturdays or Sunday evenings.
The coach that takes the time to know all of his players and has visited their houses.
The secretary that is always there for students.
The bookkeeper that always has change for a $5 so the teachers can get something from the vending machine.
The lay coach that runs before and after school practices and still works full time.
The teacher that is never satisfied and learns more and more and more from getting involved in professional development on their own time to better meet the needs of their students.
The administrator that is lining up families that are in need so they can have a meal and toys for the holidays.
And on and on.
One could say that yes, all of these people signed up to do these jobs. But none of them deserve their work, their skills, their positive attitude, their hustle, their work ethic, their character, their tenacity, their ferocity, their occupation, their whole existence to be measured by a single score. Education is more than that.
That list are the stories that need told. Not the scores of a test.
Oh, and by the way, that list are things that I have seen or heard of happening in my district so far this school year. There are more, I just got tired of writing.
So, on this Thanksgiving evening, I give thanks for all the employees that work at schools everywhere. You make a difference. You don't do things for the newspapers. You do things for children. Here's to you.
It's basketball season. I love it. It pushes me and challenges me and I really enjoy it. Due to the wanting of my team to become more closer, I tend to ask them a question that each of them have to answer during practice. One of the questions the other day was, "Who is your hero?" It couldn't be a superhero or a make-belief person.
I got one "Michael Jordan," but the majority stayed pretty close to home. In fact, most never lost their home.
Out of 13 players in the 8th grade, I'd say 9 of them said their dad, mom, or parents were their heroes. Most of them said their dad was their hero.
They also had to back it up and say why they chose them. These are some of the things that I remember from the conversations. I don't remember them word for word, but these are close.
He spends time with me
He teaches me things
Teaches me about life
He taught me how to fish
He's always there to listen
She works really hard for me
They love me a lot, even when I screw up
We go on road trips and do stuff together
Our kids are always watching. They see and hear everything we do.
This is something that really hit home for me as I'm super busy all the time. My own kids are watching who I am: What I do when no one's looking, how I treat others, how much love I show, or don't show, and how much time I spend with them on a regular basis, There isn't a substitute for time with my kids. My phone needs to be put away more. My eyes, they need to look in theirs. They crave attention from me. They are eager to learn new things from me. I need to teach them more.
Not one player said anything about material things. Nothing of monetary value. It was just time. T-I-M-E. Time together makes you a here.
This is just a reminder to myself that I need to do better. May we all be a hero to someone.
