For an educator the most exciting time of the year is the Fall and the start of a new school year. It is a fresh start, a new beginning, and a special opportunity to make a difference in this troubled world. As we begin this new year I'd like to take my second blog as an opportunity to share 10 pieces of advice to all educators everywhere. These are my keys to a successful year. Here we go...in no particular order.
1. Be a good teammate and more importantly a good friend: Support your teammates or your co-teachers, or your administrative team, whoever you work with. Share your good ideas. Listen to your teammates ideas. Be a patient listener. They may not want you to solve their problems. Most of the time people just need to be heard. Kind words and small acts of kindness go a long way. Have your teammates back and they will have yours.
2. Get connected: Create an Instagram account, Tweet, blog, pin away on Pinterest, whatever. Pick some form of media and reach out to educators across the world. This is an excellent way to learn new ideas and rekindle your passion for learning. Social media allows us to expand our circle. It allows us to network with peers we didn't even know existed and be the captains of our own Professional Development.
3. Quality over quantity: Its not how many lessons you teach or how many of the Common Core Standards you cover. Its more important that we offer deep learning experiences for students. Create memorable learning experiences for them that they will not forget. Delve deep into lessons. Remember that an outstanding lesson cannot be contained to an hour lesson. Plan lessons that take several class periods to complete. Taking the time to really focus on topics and ideas equates to deeper learning for our students.
4. Stay in the moment: Don't let the wonderful, everyday small moments at school pass you by. Too often we educators allow ourselves to over focus on mundane tasks, looming deadlines, etc. We become distracted to the point that we can miss the extraordinary things going on in front of us on a daily basis. Don't miss opportunities to shake a child's hand, tell them "good morning", or ask them how their ballgame went.
5. Involve your parents: Make them feel welcome in your classroom. Keep them informed. Reach out to them. Find out what they want this school year for their children. Form a partnership. Having their support will only help you reach their child more. Find out what they think works best for their child. They hold key information regarding their child's learning styles and motivations. Call, email, or message them with positive news. Don't allow the first interaction with them to be about something negative.
6. Empower students: Give them real leadership opportunities in your classroom and in your schools. This is a step further than engagement. Allow them to have a voice and to make decisions that impact the pathway of their learning. Facilitate more, lecture less. Give them real responsibilities. Challenge them. Make them think for themselves and make difficult decisions. If they struggle be there to encourage them to keep at it.
7. Don't sweat the small stuff: Many times we allow ourselves to get caught up in problems that are actually inconsequential. We allow ourselves to stress out about things that don't really matter. Before you get too upset, ask yourself, "Does this really matter?" or "Is this really that big of a deal?" More times than not we will find that these problems are simply solved or unimportant. Don't let a bad 5 minutes snowball into a bad day. Don't allow small things to get in the way of your lofty goals.
8. Let your hair down: Let your true self out. Let the students see your passion. Plan your instruction so that it will be enjoyable for you to deliver. Let students get to know you. Being authentic will allow you to be more approachable. It will also become more likely that the learning you lead will stick better with students.
9. Remember that every interaction that you have with someone has the potential to be the bright spot of their day: The smile you give a student or co-worker could be the only smile they see all day. The kind word you offer could help them shake off a negative thought. Do not underestimate the positive impact we can have on each other with simple kind acts. Take time to greet your students as they walk in the door. Make them feel special and make sure they know you care about them. On a daily basis be a champion for your students.
10. Challenge yourself: Be the best version of yourself as possible. You have the opportunity to be better than you were last year. You can reach more students than last year. You have the chance to try more innovative strategies. Abandon your comfort zones. Demand more of yourself. Personalize instruction better for your students. Don't settle for average. Set goals for yourself. Hold yourself accountable by adhering to a timeline. Do not settle for less than your best. Go home every night knowing that you were the best teacher you could have been each day. You can do this!
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
The Struggle is Real
My goal this summer was to focus on improving my leadership capability. I assigned myself summer reading. This list consisted of Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath, The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros, and Kids Deserve It! by Todd Neslonely and Adam Welcome. Dave Burgess's Teach Like a Pirate is up next. The interesting thing is I've read the three at the same time, during different times of the day. I've enjoyed this rather than finishing one and then moving on. It has suited my untreated adult ADHD well. As I write this, I'm pages away from finishing Innovator's Mindset and David and Goliath. These texts have been inspiring and have helped re-energize me for the upcoming school year. I'll focus more on thoughts from all three books in a later blog but now I want to focus on the idea of having a growth mindset. (Growth Mindset by Susan Dweck is also on deck.)
My oldest daughter is 8. I will preface this story by stating that she is sweet, loving, and thoughtful. She endears her know-it-all older brother and is the best big sister to her 2 younger sisters. But right now she is going through a stage where she has been giving up easily and abandoning difficult tasks. The girl easily mouths the words "I can't" 50 times a day. She uses it as a crutch...her out, her white flag. When I hear the repulsive "I can't" I hit her with my best stink eye look I can muster. At gymnastics class she peers over at the experienced girls, who've been gymnasts since they were toddlers, with envy. She doesn't understand that in her one year of classes (1 night per week) she cannot expect to be as skilled as those who've taken classes for years, several nights a week. I tell her, that doesn't mean you can't do what they do, eventually. Their skills developed over time and so can yours. Watching her and thinking about her has made me compare her "I can't" habit with something I see at school.
Too often I hear educators talk or focus on what kids can't do. I am including myself in this. Unfortunately I can remember making excuses for a student's behavior or undesired achievement by saying he/she just can't do that. Maybe if I'd only phrased it as "He can't do that right now, but if I try strategy X,Y, or Z maybe he can progress." We can't lower our expectations for students or focus on what they can't do. We must focus our energy on growing them, building them up from where they currently are in hopes of helping them create a better version of themselves. We use "she can't" as our crutch and our excuse for our poor performance as educators. Don't give up on students and don't stop trying to reach them just because they perform "poorly" or struggle.
Struggle. That is where I want to go next. My son is starting middle school this year. He has attended school with his assistant principal dad every year of his school career. Over the years he has had some phenomenal teachers who've helped make him into the fine young man he is today. He had a great elementary school career and it will be bittersweet not having him in the car with me to and from school. However, the one thing that never happened for him was a learning opportunity that presented him with great difficulty. Students need opportunities that trouble them and make them think. Not that he wasn't challenged, he was, I just never really saw him bring home a struggle that required deep thought, reflection, and time to process. I want him to face challenges. The growth opportunities that I remember best were getting him to write neat, stay organized, and check over his work. I want there to be questions that he can't answer right now. I don't want his learning processes to always be easy for him. To prepare him for life and career he needs to learn how to make mistakes, struggle, fail, and be frustrated. I firmly believe success requires blood, sweat, and tears. Struggling will also teach him to be resilient, rebound, rethink ideas, and learn from his mistakes. Too often as parents and as educators we focus on keeping everyone happy. Growth does not occur in our comfort zone! Don't get me wrong. I do want him to be happy and enjoy school, I just want school to be challenging for him. I wouldn't mind getting a phone call or email from his teacher giving me a heads-up that he had a hard time at school on a particular day. Maybe his experiment failed. Maybe he couldn't find the flaw in his summary or he couldn't narrow the topic of his Genius Hour project. I would welcome such news. I think back to my own teaching experiences as a 4th grade teacher. I could have done far more to challenge students. I could have devised more challenging ways for them to manipulate their learning content. This idea of struggling that I am promoting must be controlled and intentional. I'm not talking about giving multiplication or division problems to a room full of kindergartners who have just learned to sequence numbers or having 1st graders complete book reports on War and Peace. I am talking about assigning tasks and activities that are designed to be challenging for all learners at their different levels. Without struggle, there is no growth.
This initial blog was pretty exciting to write. I hope to grow as a writer and learn from sharing my experiences. I look forward to receiving the feedback and thoughts of others. In the meantime lets all focus on being the best version of us as possible.
My oldest daughter is 8. I will preface this story by stating that she is sweet, loving, and thoughtful. She endears her know-it-all older brother and is the best big sister to her 2 younger sisters. But right now she is going through a stage where she has been giving up easily and abandoning difficult tasks. The girl easily mouths the words "I can't" 50 times a day. She uses it as a crutch...her out, her white flag. When I hear the repulsive "I can't" I hit her with my best stink eye look I can muster. At gymnastics class she peers over at the experienced girls, who've been gymnasts since they were toddlers, with envy. She doesn't understand that in her one year of classes (1 night per week) she cannot expect to be as skilled as those who've taken classes for years, several nights a week. I tell her, that doesn't mean you can't do what they do, eventually. Their skills developed over time and so can yours. Watching her and thinking about her has made me compare her "I can't" habit with something I see at school.
Too often I hear educators talk or focus on what kids can't do. I am including myself in this. Unfortunately I can remember making excuses for a student's behavior or undesired achievement by saying he/she just can't do that. Maybe if I'd only phrased it as "He can't do that right now, but if I try strategy X,Y, or Z maybe he can progress." We can't lower our expectations for students or focus on what they can't do. We must focus our energy on growing them, building them up from where they currently are in hopes of helping them create a better version of themselves. We use "she can't" as our crutch and our excuse for our poor performance as educators. Don't give up on students and don't stop trying to reach them just because they perform "poorly" or struggle.
Struggle. That is where I want to go next. My son is starting middle school this year. He has attended school with his assistant principal dad every year of his school career. Over the years he has had some phenomenal teachers who've helped make him into the fine young man he is today. He had a great elementary school career and it will be bittersweet not having him in the car with me to and from school. However, the one thing that never happened for him was a learning opportunity that presented him with great difficulty. Students need opportunities that trouble them and make them think. Not that he wasn't challenged, he was, I just never really saw him bring home a struggle that required deep thought, reflection, and time to process. I want him to face challenges. The growth opportunities that I remember best were getting him to write neat, stay organized, and check over his work. I want there to be questions that he can't answer right now. I don't want his learning processes to always be easy for him. To prepare him for life and career he needs to learn how to make mistakes, struggle, fail, and be frustrated. I firmly believe success requires blood, sweat, and tears. Struggling will also teach him to be resilient, rebound, rethink ideas, and learn from his mistakes. Too often as parents and as educators we focus on keeping everyone happy. Growth does not occur in our comfort zone! Don't get me wrong. I do want him to be happy and enjoy school, I just want school to be challenging for him. I wouldn't mind getting a phone call or email from his teacher giving me a heads-up that he had a hard time at school on a particular day. Maybe his experiment failed. Maybe he couldn't find the flaw in his summary or he couldn't narrow the topic of his Genius Hour project. I would welcome such news. I think back to my own teaching experiences as a 4th grade teacher. I could have done far more to challenge students. I could have devised more challenging ways for them to manipulate their learning content. This idea of struggling that I am promoting must be controlled and intentional. I'm not talking about giving multiplication or division problems to a room full of kindergartners who have just learned to sequence numbers or having 1st graders complete book reports on War and Peace. I am talking about assigning tasks and activities that are designed to be challenging for all learners at their different levels. Without struggle, there is no growth.
This initial blog was pretty exciting to write. I hope to grow as a writer and learn from sharing my experiences. I look forward to receiving the feedback and thoughts of others. In the meantime lets all focus on being the best version of us as possible.
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