Examples of Empowerment

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.

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Thanks Four Olive Your Kindness - Year 3 in the Books

Thanks four olive your kindness. 

Haha, I found that this card was appropriate considering all of your puns...and the olive branch you wore on your head (during Culture Festival). Anyway, this card is a thank you for being a really great teacher. This year has been very memorable. I have never had a teacher that I truly trusted. You were the only person who knew (....insert major life event here....) Like you said, "Secrets don't make friends, but really good friends make secrets." I hope that you have a great class next year and that no one can annoy you as much as me and my friends. 

- Name

We just wanted to say  thank you for this past school year. You will never know how much your daily kindness mean to the both of us - it was priceless.  Your obvious effort as a teacher is truly exemplary. Do not ever lose that or become discouraged. We are truly grateful for all of it, and (name)  learned more this year than ever.  Best wishes to you and your family. We hope nothing but many blessings. 

- Family Names

Best Teacher - 

The teacher who understood what had happened in my life and made it better.  The one teacher I won't forget when I move. 

- Name

Mr. Miller is the best TEACHER EVER, (with my 4th grade teacher) I'm going to miss you during the summer. You are always nice and funny. STAY AWESOME, and weird - in the best way.

-Name

Mr. Miller is fun sweet, amazing, and the best teacher ever. He gets you through the year in a fun way and always has a smile shining on his face. Thanks for being awesome!

-Name

Mr. Miller, thanks for making things fun but still doing a great job teaching. 

-Name

Mr. Miller is the best reading teacher ever. When he is mad, he forgives them!

-Name 

Mr. Miller,

You make me laugh,

You make me smile, 

I'd love to stay awhile.

But at the end of every class, 

I ask if I can stay,

but you pass.

But I do not leave with a broken heart,

instead I am lit up in every part.

Thank you for everything. 

You are the best teacher I've ever had. :) 

Your Student,

--------

Mr. Miller,

You are one of the best teachers I've ever had! You are very nice and funny. I hope we will see each other next year! I learned a lot and I will miss you.

-------

Mr. Miller,

You're a great teacher and super nice. (You can't be mean very well.)

-------

Mr. Miller,

I can't tell you how thankful I am that ------ has had you this year. It seems as if God hand-picked a very small group of you guys to go through this nightmare, journey of a year with our family. I appreciate it so much. Your patience and understanding, as well as your support, with ------ and me. 

Gratefully,

Mom 

These are actual notes/cards from my students/parents this year. I don't post these things to brag. If anything, it's as far from it as possible. I don't like the spotlight. In fact, I almost downright go out of my way to avoid it. Why? Not sure. I think it's just how I'm wired. I like seeing others succeed that have been "under" my guidance. 

But one of the things I really enjoy is receiving a handwritten note or card from my students or their parents for a job well-done. Taking the time to write a thank you is actually very time consuming. We can type in 1/2 the time or faster. Emails are so much quicker. (sidenote - I love getting emails as well) A thoughtful hand-written note means a lot to me. I keep the ones I've received in a folder in my desk. I pull them out when I have a bad day. Or when a student is driving me nuts. Or when there is something that is really pulling me down. Or when some of my students don't pass something. Or...on and on. 

They get me through a lot of days. These are what really motivate me. That desire to help someone succeed and then being recognized personally can typically bring me to tears. 

Anyway, back to the original thought. No students ever thanks you for teaching them that Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492, or that knights are the second tier of the feudal pyramid from the Middle Ages, or on and on. Yes, I teach all that stuff. But at the end of the day, you have to realize that life is about relationships and there isn't meaningful learning into a relationship has been built. (Something random - the ones that I don't develop deep relationships with tend to not do as well. I need to look into that.)

I have learned a lot this past year. About my students. About myself. About me as a dad. About me a learner. About me as a husband. About me a leader. About me. 

Thank you to the amazing students I had this year. Thank you to the amazing parents I had this year. Thank you to my teammates. Thank you to the staff. Thank you. 

I left my students with this this year. 

May you live boldly,

May you love humbly,

May you never stop searching for wisdom. 

I stole it from http://www.educationrethink.com/2014/05/closing-words-for-students.html I typically say and do something very similar, but I really liked the wording that John used. I hope he doesn't mind. :) 

I can't wait to learn more this summer. 

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Some Homework Thoughts

    

Over the past three years I have thought deeply about homework and the meaning behind it. I have come to some conclusions. 

Each year, I have assigned less than the previous years. The main reason is that I got tired of "policing" it daily. It just gets old. I have found that the ones that don't do it more often than not are the ones who don't have much support at home and probably aren't going to do it regardless. The others that don't seem to do it are the ones who are the incredibly talented ones who already understand the material and it becomes monotonous so they don't see the value of it. So for the majority of my students they do it and get it done.

I wouldn't say that I assign homework to just assign homework, but what I do require them to do is finish what we didn't get finished in class. Which for some could be a lot. Others might have finished in class. Everyone works at different paces and I respect that. The other things that I require are typically self-selected projects that take a while to do. Our book projects, which they get to choose their books, are done outside of school, except they can work on them during RTI two days a week if they are not in a RTI group. We also have added the many research papers this year and a lot of the writing has been done outside of school. If I do assign something to be completed at home, it is usually (probably always) something that has already been taught and is just practice work. Yes, practice is good.  

What I want to see is students engaged with their home life as well. Many play sports and have a lot of practices/games. Many don't have support at home. Many have horrible home lives. Many, especially in my class this year, have parents or elderly family members living with them that are in need of medical attention daily. I have three with someone in their immediate family battling cancer. 

I've also found that most students "do stuff" after they leave school. Yes, some play video games, but the "real gamers" also interact with other players all over the US and beyond. One of my students has her own YouTube channel that she posts videos to. One is champion barrel racer who completes all over the US. One shows cattle and tends to them daily. One has a dad who leads hunting expeditions for weeks at a time in Canada. I left school today and saw four guys playing hoops together. I have one student who is planning on building and racing a dirt track car soon. One of my student's fathers is preparing to run for a county judge position. She is learning all about marketing and politics. There is real, authentic learning going on outside of the walls of school. I don't want to crush that with some work that just needs to get done to prove that they are doing things. 

I tend to think of homework as either reflections (I gave all my students blogs this year to write about anything they wanted) or possibly prep for the next day's lesson. I have seen this concept grow over the past year as social media and flipped classrooms have been gaining momentum in the classrooms. I don't like assigning things just to assign things. 

Grading HW-Like I said earlier, most of the homework is practice or large projects. I'm not going to be grading much of the practice, except to check for understanding. I will be grading the larger projects that are typically on self-selected topics. 

I think there is a place for homework. It just needs to be done in a way that is beneficial to the student, the teacher, the family, and time. 

John Spencer sums up how I pretty much feel here 

The following is what a committee at my school is working on currently and my thoughts on them. 

• Establish Student Expectations
• To finish homework in the time allotted by the teacher
• One day late is acceptable if a legitimate reason is given by the student prior to the assignment being turned in. Students need to know the difference between a reason and an excuse. 
• Establish Teacher Expectations
• Practice HW - to be done on skills they are practicing or have formally learned
• Policy for late HW
• Project HW - More self-selected
• Establish Parent Expectations to be communicated home
• Policy go home that is signed and sent back
• On class sites, etc.
• Establish Grade Value
• I like the current HW value in 6th grade. 70% Tests to 30% Classwork/HW but it could almost 100% tests since the rest could be practice. 
• Homework that is practice is practice. I tend to not "grade" but to check for understanding
• Grade value for projects would still need to be valued appropriated as tests/assessments

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