A #slowchated for Giving Thanks

img credit: http://www.andertoons.com/thanksgiving/cartoon/4206/no-end-of-november-bad-for-me

It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of engaging in #slowchated. But I couldn't let this week go by without expressing thanks for one of the venues that connected me with some of my closest PLN members.

I spend a lot of time looking at what's being demanded of me. I still need to get this done. That's on my list. I will look into that. My staff, my bosses, my sons, my wife, my friends - they need me to do stuff. I like being needed. At times, I stress about my commitments. My job in education has become incredibly political. Keeping abreast of policies and mandates and threats from the powers that be increase my stress level. I confess that I lose sight of the pleasures in my life due to the stresses.

Thanks to Justin Schleider (@schleiderjustin), I spent last week thinking about how we pause and find the positive. (Sidebar: I met Justin IRL over the weekend, and he's every bit the positive force he seems on the Twitters.) But I digress.

In my house, there are two things we do each night at dinner. We cheers before anyone eats, and everyone must pick one thing from their day that was really good to share. If there are more things you want to discuss, we talk about it. These little things are for a few reasons. We all get on the same page about where we are and why, we get a 5 year-old boy and a 7 year-old boy to talk about specific events and how they felt about them, and we also get to really focus on all the good in our world.

That's why Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. It's a time to focus on being thankful. In its idealistic core, Thanksgiving forces us to pause, reflect, and realize that no matter the stresses, the losses, or the challenges we face, there are positive things in our world.

It is in this vein that I intend to walk us through a wonderful week of giving thanks on #slowchated.

Q1: How do you show appreciation for the people in your life? #slowchated

Q2: How have people shown appreciation for you? #slowchated

Q3: Do you have family traditions of showing thanks? #slowchated

Q4: Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating! How are you spending your Thursday? #slowchated

Q5: Today's question is for #FF. Tell everyone who in your PLN you're thankful for and why. #slowchated

Q6: Black Friday was once considered the officially beginning of the holiday season (despite Christmas commercials since October). Does Black Friday stand in direct contrast to Thanksgiving? #slowchated

#edcampNJ Super Quiz Add On!!!

Links for #edcampNJ presentation:

Quiz

Super Quiz Video instructions

"Is Congress a Good Guy or a Bad Guy?"

"Is Congress a Good Guy or a Bad Guy?"

So that's a question that came up at the dinner table recently. My seven-year-old asked, and then I set about trying to explain what Congress is, why it exists, how government works...

It got out of hand, and the subject was changed. It got me to thinking about - well, a lot of stuff. I wondered when children really needed to start learning about voting and the election process and how government works and what decisions are made and what ones are left behind.

So now, on #totallyrossome, we're going to be playing a game:

It'll work like this:

How old should a kid be...before we talk about marijuana legalization? After all, here in the great state of NJ, one of the most prominent cases was about a 3 year old girl. Children relate to children. How do you have the conversation?

How old should a kid be...before we talk about how women are still fighting for equal rights - a hundred years after campaigning for the right to vote?

How old should a kid be...before we talk about the trend of being born rich counting more than the hard work you put into your education?

How old should a kid be...before we talk about the dangers of guns? After all, 1st graders are no longer safe from attack. (I'm not challenging the 2nd Amendment. A look at the gun violence (injuries and deaths) in the last 72 hours supports this claim.)

How old should a kid be...before we talk about the fact that any company that has more money than them has more influence in an election?

***

There's a lot about this world that we try to protect our children from. We need to eventually teach them what's out there and be honest about how it's impacting them. 

This is not going to be an easy conversation. It's not an easy world.

I do hope that you come by and share your views in an open, respectful way. Our young people are counting on us having these conversations and getting better so that our world can continue to do the same.

Meet Them Where They Are

img credit: http://www.mrstruittspage.org/differentiated-instruction.html

When I first started teaching, I thought I'd have students writing amazing things, and I would be shaping and fine tuning. As you can imagine, it was a little different. Some of my students were writing sophisticated things. Others wrote words on a page because I said to. Still others had neither the capacity nor the interest in writing anything at all.

When I first started presenting, it was with the thought that I was really late to the conversation and I'd need to amp it up to actually engage educators who already knew so many of the tools I was using.

Turns out, just like teaching young writers, educators show up at different spots in the skills and experience spectrum, and we need to recognize and respect that fact.

There exists a need to meet all learners where they are. We must respect that they are in the learning process, and they may be in very different parts of that process. This holds true if you are in front of group of 1st grade students who have hugely different vocabulary skills or a group of educators who are trying to learn something new about educational technologies.

The difference in these two examples is the why of their appearance in front of you. 1st grade students show up because they have to. Education is compulsory for certain ages. Generally, the group of adults shows up because they're looking for something. They have chosen to come. In this case, poll them. Get a sense of why they came. Learn quickly where they are and where they are headed. This information is going to help you tailor your message to meet them at an appropriate level and in turn to help them reach their goals.

Ideally, you can offer insight early on that will indicate the levels to which you will be speaking. Is your presentation for the experienced ed tech user? Is it for people who are new and just starting to spread their wings? Or is it somewhere in the middle. Letting your potential audience know up front what to expect is going to give potential attendees the ability to decide right away if they're comfortable enough to push themselves or if they have higher levels of experience that won't fit your introductory lesson.

Remember - meeting your audience where they are benefits both the learner and the instructor.

Open Doors

Connected educator month has arrived. This is the time that connected educators celebrate being connected and all the wonderful feelings we have and the fantastic things we’ve learned from our connections. We lament the fact that there are educators around us who fear the methods of connecting that we all hold dear.

What does that get us? A lot of frustration.

“Why can’t they see how wonderful it is to be connected?!”

“They’re stuck in the past!”

“They’re harming students!”

I used to get upset when colleagues shared resources through email because it’s such a limited way to get the word out. I would rail to my connected educator groups about how I had seen the same articles on Twitter the week before. I would not deign myself to click on the dated information.

The fact is that connected educators, as a gross generalization, become exceptionally divisive in our attempts to pull, push, poke, or prod our colleagues into a land of online connectedness. And as we should realize with our students, we cannot force anyone into our world. We must open doors and allow those who have not already found their preferred method of connectivity the opportunities to walk through them.

Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, FaceBook are all ways for educators to connect. Personally, I haven’t spent time with Pinterest, and I’ve never been on FaceBook. I’ve made some connections on Google+, but it’s never been my go-to when reaching out to my PLN. But Twitter is my chosen tool. I was going to write about how it has changed my professional approach, but Jill Thompson (@edu_thompson) did that in 2011 when she wrote "Twitter Has Changed My Teaching Life".

The point is this. Being is a connected educator is important. There are ways to connect for everyone. There are also levels of connection. Wherever your people are, meet them there. Show them alternatives; find some for yourself. Don’t get frustrated because your colleagues aren’t rushing to Twitter or share their Pins with you. Don’t condescend when they turn their noses up at coming to the local EdCamp. The key is to just open as many doors as you can. Send those emails, put links on your sites, talk to them about opportunities. When the doors are open, someone is going to walk through, and they might even bring a friend.

#totallyrossome Week 4: Building a Utopia

image credit: http://shewalkssoftly.com/category/astronomy/page/2/

There has been some interesting doings in Missouri in the last two weeks. Following the officer-involved fatal shooting of a young man. This is the over simplified way of looking at what actually happened. If you don’t know, the town of Ferguson has 53 police officers, 3 of whom are black. The town happens to be ⅔ black. The officer involved in the shooting is white. The young man was Mike Brown, an African American teenager. It also turns out that Brown was shot 6 times, including twice in the head. The series of protests set off by the event have spurred violence in the streets, with police militarization, tear gas canisters being fired into crowds of civilians, police officers arresting journalists and holding them without charge, and the list goes on as the days continue. Across the country, protests of solidarity are springing up. Citizens in New York City have been arrested in protests. Los Angeles saw gatherings with t-shirts emblazoned with “Hands up, don’t shoot”.

So how did we get here? And for us as educators, how do we handle this? As educators who may or may not be far away from the actual situation, how do we engage our students in conversations about society that will enable them to grow into thinkers who fight to be a part of a better society? Ultimately, what does a better society look like? Where are we failing ourselves?

This week’s #totallyrossome is focused on not only what is happening in Ferguson, MO right now, but also the issues that prevail in our country that allow situations like this to occur. We like to talk about going all in for whatever it is we’re doing at the time, and this will be no different. Our conversation is going to focus on creating the perfect world. Bring your opinions and bring your respect. We’ve got a lot to do.  

How differently the situation is being reported or commented on:

Fox News (a 12 minute video looking at the situation from a variety of standpoints) -

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/18/on-vacation-break-obama-discusses-iraq-missouri/

USA Today (video and text about support for alleged shooter) -

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/19/officer-supporters-ferguson-shooting/14259993/

Sunil Dutta in the Washington Post -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/19/im-a-cop-if-you-dont-want-to-get-hurt-dont-challenge-me/

News One for Black America (video) -

http://newsone.com/3044563/how-do-you-feel-about-the-police/

Mail Online -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2726609/Stores-looted-including-one-slain-teen-Michael-Brown-allegedly-stole-cigars-sixth-night-confrontation-Ferguson-St-Louis-police-ordered-stand-Highway-Patrol.html

via Slate: John Oliver on Last Week Tonight “So you’re taking a group of people tired of being treated like criminals and locking them up in their homes for a night.” (some foul language) -  

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/08/18/john_oliver_on_ferguson_missouri_and_police_militarization_video.html

Teaching Tolerance -

www.tolerance.org/blog/dontshoot

20 Minutes to Collaboration

Thanks for joining me!

By the time we leave here, you're going to be able to leverage the Google Drive to collaborate with your students or colleagues.

The following links are for samples to show you just how easy the collaborative process can be.

Document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hdeJyLihCLE0ZeVlKQjfjNg8JzBSOk3J_9j4Ll5SKVk/edit?usp=sharing

Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HqkKNCH3HH6trqgOOMKkLRT5kPVFvbm8CBsYP_neqkc/edit?usp=sharing

#totallyrossome is Ready to Engage!

I planned. I worked. I researched. I had resources.

They were going to love it.

It was time travel and free will. It was technology based. It was Clueless meets Nietzsche. It was scholarly texts and Groundhog Day. It was pop culture and 1984.  Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Bill Murray. It was the best lesson I ever came up with.

Wait - was that a yawn?

What the - ?

How on earth is anyone bored by this? It's amazing!

But I needed this. I needed the snap back to reality. It's important to look at the evidence. Teachers don't ever think that they're the weak link. We are good at what we do. Even reflective teachers who look for ways to connect, collaborate, and develop themselves professionally think that they're doing a good job.

So how do we find those clues that our students give us? Are we getting it?

#totallyrossome is all about getting our students engaged, and I'm eager to hear what you think.

Some thoughts:

Assessing what students thought of the lesson via the Teaching Channel

High School Reading 2011 (A look at getting HS students to read)

Student Engagement Instrument (Through University of Minnesota)

How Do We Know When Students are Engaged? (by Ben Johnson via Edutopia)

Opening Days: #totallyrossome Heads Back to School

Image credit: http://www.bellyitchblog.com/2013/08/13-back-to-school-comics-to-make-you.html

This week at #totallyrossome, we're looking at the most important time of the school year - the opening days. You get one chance to make a first impression, and the opening days of the school year are your chance to set your tone.

When I started teaching, Mrs. Jenkins, who may or may not have had stories about little Walter Disney was like as a tyke, told me I was not to smile before Christmas. "They need to know that you're in charge." I'm not so good with the not smiling, but I learned quickly that what was not set early in the year would become battles later in the year.

Just a few thoughts and resources on the beginning of the school year:

• Jose Vilson's Cheat Sheet for the First Days of School
• Doug Robertson devotes some time to setting the tone for your class in his book He's the Weird Teacher (Link is to Amazon's book page, and I received nothing for my endorsement of the book.)
• Planning for Your First Day at School by Linda Starr (Heads up: Education World is FULL of ads.)
• Pinterest has numerous Back to School Activities from numerous users (This link is from WeAreTeachers.)

How do you get the year started? What do you always do? What have you found you will never do again?

Join us Tuesday, August 5 at 10 PM EST as we get totally into the beginning of the school year.

Reflections on the Inaugural #totallyrossome

Whenever something new begins, there is a period of adjustment. There are nerves. There is insecurity. When I decided to create a new edchat based on being totally committed to what it is we do (whatever that means), all these things were there. I have developed a solid PLN on Twitter, and I know when I have questions or need advice, these folks are there for me. When I floated the idea of an edchat that focused on giving your all, they were there with support.

When I asked my first question at the start of the chat, it felt like days before the first reply came in. Sure enough, it was one of my #edufam. From that close knit group of educators upon whom I have come to count.

"Well, at least one person came," I thought. If nothing else, I can count on them. I don't need to say who they are. They know.

Then someone else responded. Then came another. And another. Out of nowhere, #totallyrossome was a live edchat, complete with participants!

When the dust settled, and the hour was up, we had nearly 300 Tweets from 18 participants. I had an idea for a conversation, but it took all of you to make it a discussion, and for that, I humbly thank you all.

I hope you are able to join us next week for #totallyrossome. It's on Tuesday nights at 10:00 PM EST, and it's a great group of teachers, administrators, and parents.

Announcing #totallyrossome: A Look at Being All In

image credit: http://www.idiom.co/improve-customer-relationships-and-roi-with-customer-segmentation/

Abraham Lincoln is credited as saying "Whatever you are, be a good one."

It's a fantastic quote. It speaks to how educators live their lives. In education, we spend our time playing a balancing game. We want to be all of it. We're teachers, mentors, bookkeepers, managers, standardized-test administrators and scorers, parents, surrogate parents, counselors, taxi drivers, delivery men and women. There's the home, the school, the classroom, and our online, connected ed arena. We want to be all of it, and we want those around us to know that we are all these things for them. It's the giving nature of educators committed to helping others. Many seek to find the balance in their lives that will keep all them as happy as possible while letting down those who inhabit the various arenas as little as possible. Trying to be good.

In high school, I had a friend whose parents were splitting up after 21 years of marriage. Her mother said to us one afternoon over homework and Oreos, "In a relationship, it can't be 50/50. You've got to be willing to give 100% of yourself."

And there's the rub. From the mouth of a woman whose life felt like it was falling apart and a conversation that took nearly two decades to ruminate. It's about a commitment to what we want to be. If we really want to wear each of those hats, and we want to wear them well, we can't look for the balance of ourselves. We have to look inside of us for the ability to commit to the ideal that whatever it is we're being at whatever time it happens to be, we're going to be the best that that we can.

With this in mind, #totallyrossome is borne. Each Tuesday, at 10 PM EST, 7 PST, we're going to talk about committing to being totally in. Whatever "in" means at the moment. Whatever "in" calls for. It's about focus on the tasks that make each of us educators. And parents. And colleagues. And friends - you get it.

For our inaugural chat, Tuesday, July 28, we'll be talking about summer preparation.

Some links and things to get your thinking underway for the first #totallyrossome:

• What have you already done this summer to get ready for the upcoming school year?
• With some schools around the US getting ready to start, have you completed your goals for summer preparation?
• What haven't you been able to accomplish this summer in preparation?
• What keeps you from achieving your full list of to-do's?
• How can you commit to preparing for the school year in the summer you have left?
• The Myth of Having Summers Off by Heather Wolpert-Gawron 
• Year-Round Schooling: How It Effects Teachers by Matthew Lynch
• Top 10 To Do's for Teachers During Summer Vacation by Melissa Kelly (Always love top 10 lists for their insistence that they've cracked the code.)

I'll see you Tuesday night, and you know I'll be totally in.

The Inquisition or #slowchated Pops the Questions

image credit: http://myplacers.com/2014/01/6-lessons-from-comics-on-preparing-for-interviews/dilbert-interview/

In the paper recently, there was a job posting for a physical education teacher for grades in a nearby, suburban high school. With a little inside information, I learned that there were 178 applicants for the position. Now let's assume your online service answers fit the right algorithm, you are a connected educator with the right connection, your resume has that perfect combination of professionalism and sparkly innovation, and your cover letter struck the right tone. Assuming all these things, let's also assume you made the list of the 30 or so hopefuls to get called for an interview. (For those of us who don't immediately see the math here, that's less than 17% of all applicants.)

Well, now what?

That's what this week's #slowchated sought to discuss. The interview. How do we prepare? What kind of questions can you expect? What kind of questions shouldn't you expect? And what kind of questions should you ask? Put it all together, and this group of teachers and administrators has painted a vivid, realistic look at what you should expect when interviewing.

To recap some of the high points, participants were asked to comment on the following areas:

Preparation:

The extra-prepared

A1: Do mock interviews w/colleagues & get HONEST feedback on your overall vibe/message. Spew idea-junk & refine/polish the gems. #slowchated
— Eric Saibel (@ecsaibel) July 14, 2014

The seat-of-pants flyers

A1 I am a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl-haven't prepared too much in past, believe my love&knowledge of T shows #slowchated
— Kory Graham (@tritonkory) July 14, 2014

And those focused on the important things

A1:Make sure there is no food in my teeth and my breath is fresh. Eye contact. Ask interviewer questions, express desire for job #slowchated
— Seena Rich (@SeenaRich) July 14, 2014

Favorite question:

Specific situations

A2: I love to hear abt a specific struggle & specific success w a S. The look on his/her face says it all. #slowchated
— Catina Haugen (@chaugen) July 15, 2014

Relationships

#slowchated A2 Discipline plan. Bc I love talking about the way I build relationships in class, and the positive reinforcement stuff I do.
— Doug Robertson (@TheWeirdTeacher) July 15, 2014

Philosophy

A2) #Slowchated I always hope for this one: What is your philosophy of education? I answer thusly: http://t.co/SJmR2JDrQt
— Jeffrey Farley (@FarleyJeffrey) July 15, 2014

Least favorite question:

Weak!

a3 i mean really what do u want me to say about my weaknesses? am i gonna make myself look bad? or should i say im perfect? #slowchated
— Justin schleider (@SchleiderJustin) July 16, 2014

Management system!

A3: 1/2 I hate the classroom mgmt ? I don't have a system, points, rewards, etc. I do my best to make my teaching engaging. #slowchated
— Kevin Ashworth (@SLOlifeKevin) July 16, 2014

Choose your words!

A3 How do you DEAL with diversity? Im sorry what do you mean deal with? If you will excuse me I need to not be here anymore #slowchated
— Brian (@btcostello05) July 16, 2014

Strangest question:

Scary strange

#slowchated A4 "I see here you've put 2nd as your 2nd choice. Don't you find the smaller students are...less likely to talk to you?" 1/2
— Doug Robertson (@TheWeirdTeacher) July 17, 2014

#slowchated A4 2/2 DID YOU JUST ASK ME IF I SCARE LITTLE KIDS!?! Ha! I said no, the littler ones actually get me. They can see the weird.
— Doug Robertson (@TheWeirdTeacher) July 17, 2014

Awkward strange

A4: "If we asked ___ about you, what would she say?" "I... I don't know, I'm not ___." #slowchated
— Samantha Bates (@sjsbates) July 18, 2014

Borderline illegal-consult-your-HR-rep strange

A4 T friend of mine was asked 'Why aren't you retiring? You're old enough.' #slowchated
— Barbara Larochelle (@BarbLarochelle) July 17, 2014

Best advice:

First date

+A5: - 1st interview = 1st date, keep it short, sweet, memorable, not too many details - you are interviewing the employer! #slowchated
— Manan Shah (@shahlock) July 18, 2014

Confidence

A5 always end with a mic drop, or ghost mic drop #slowchated
— Brian (@btcostello05) July 18, 2014

Details

@sjsbates #slowchated A5 Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck Don't say f*ck
— Doug Robertson (@TheWeirdTeacher) July 18, 2014

You should ask:

Collaboration?

A6 What's it like to work at your school? Is there a lot of collaboration? How would you describe the school's "feel/vibe"? #slowchated
— Kory Graham (@tritonkory) July 19, 2014

The turn-it-around

A6) #SlowChatED Qs for interviewers: What is YOUR philosophy of ed? Describe your implementation of RtI. What tech will be available?
— Jeffrey Farley (@FarleyJeffrey) July 19, 2014

Baked goods

A6 1) What might standout regarding the culture of learning in your schools? 2) How plentiful is staffroom baking? #slowchated
— Robin Dubiel (@RobinDubiel) July 19, 2014

Well, there you have it. Taking a look at how the #slowchated crew views the interview process may just give you the tools you need to nail your next one. Be sure about your philosophy and yourself. Understand the importance of the relationships you're developing - they have the potential to really drive your students' achievement as well as reduce the amount of time you spend managing the classroom behaviors.

You are in the business of impacting the growth of students. Let your interviews be a forum in which you scream your devotion to that end.

My #slowchated About Hiring and Being Hired

Many colleagues are involved in various levels of the hiring process this week. Either it's a second interview, a job offer that is actually being considered rather than jumped upon, or resumes being sent out en masse, and there are lots of emotions attached.

I need a job.

I need to fill this job before summer starts.

I need this job.

I need to get away from my old job.

Am I qualified?

Is this candidate a match for our program?

Am I overqualified?

Why is this person leaving their district after so many years?

Am I too young/too old?

They're too old/young to meet the needs of our students.

And new applicants have this over their heads:

This week for #slowchated, I want to reflect on all of our experiences in the process. There's a lot to consider here. We've all been on this spectrum at some point, and our experiences together spin a yarn that will be of value to someone who is trying to find a job, keep a job, or even leave a job.

The questions this week will be able to be answered from both sides of the table.  The job seeker and the potential employer will find they have a voice here. Hopefully together, we can get a look at how we all approach that table.

Maybe after we have this conversation, our interviews won't have to end like this Monty Python bit:

The questions:
Monday, July 14, 2014 - Q1: Whether you're interviewer or interviewee, how do you prepare?
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - Q2: What question do you hope will be asked in an interview? How would you answer?
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - Q3: What is the one question you hope WILL NOT be asked in an interview? How would you answer?
Thursday, July 17, 2014 - Q4: What is the strangest question you've ever been asked in an interview? How did you answer?
Friday, July 17, 2014 - Q5: What advice were you given that you couldn't live without in the hiring process?
Saturday, July 18, 2014 - Q6: Potential employers ask "Do you have any questions for us?" What question do/will you ask?

Start From Where You Are

In a classic example of country sensibility, 1988's Funny Farm depicted down-home rural folk interacting with city folk.

Now, it's important to let you know that I grew up in Vermont. To really define it, I grew up in Funny Farm. Parents of schoolmates were extras in the movie. Local restaurants still have pictures hanging of when the film crew came in for lunch. When those rascally kids cut down the Redbud sign? My friend Adam lived at the end of that street. I still have family there, and I like to think that I still have a lot of there in me (despite my father's claims to the contrary).

I know people exactly like that farmer. There are things locals say up there that I don't hear a lot where I live now. When I went out to the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York for college, I was shamed into losing one of the more versatile words in my parlance - wicked. And for a time, I was wicked upset about it.

One of the more common utterances from the land of my birth (Maine claims it as their own, but I've never been to Maine, and I heard it often in my youth) is:

image credit: http://www.pinterest.com/libbynzeus/maine-humor/

Or, more simply: You can't get there from here.

It's an interesting notion. The impossibility of being able to move to a different place simply because of where one is currently. It speaks to comfort. It also speaks to complacency. It speaks to the hesitation in all of us to face change. And it shows possibly the worst parts of ourselves when we ask those around us to accept that here is where you are, and here is where you should stay.

Arthur Ashe said "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." That's what I want to be, and that's what I want for those with whom I work.

Look at your department. Your staff. Your colleagues. Yourself. How much willingness is there to start that journey toward something new?

"Start where you are." Kory Graham (@korytellers) asked a question recently about feeling like she wasn't getting to those people around her. She wasn't inspiring them the way she felt she impacted those in her PLN. And the only thing she can really do is to get started. The journey can't start until that step is taken. As you get started, you're going to have people tell you that you can't get there from here, but don't forget that those people need to start from where they are too.

"Use what you have." Those of us who are connected feel like we have extra tools in our belt. After all, it's not just me supporting my efforts. It's my entire PLN. We're formidable. I find myself looking at those educators who don't connect through a confused eye. I think to myself, "Self, there's a person who wants to impact students' lives for the better, and he's not getting it done because he's unwilling to use all the tools that he could have." In the meantime, I'll use my tools to reach him; to make him understand that it can be better; to help him become better.

"Do what you can." This is what educators do. We do what we can to help every student. The problem that we face in trying to get these educators on board for their own improvement is that there are too many of them who think of what they can't. They can't create a website, they can't DO Twitter, they can't find the time. Only when we empower ourselves to live with "I can" will we realize that we can make a difference.

So you can get there from here. Now get out there and get started.

The Top 5 Members of My PLN Who Make My Job Easier

Inspired by Craig Kemp's (@mrkempnz) recent post: Who Are 5 People Online That Make Your Life Easier?, I set out to answer that question for myself.

Craig is a connected educator I've interacted with on many an occasion through Twitter. Well, that may be a bit of an understatement. The truth is that Craig is an educator living in Singapore. Well, he's an educator from New Zealand living in Singapore. Add to that the fact that he regularly engages in Twitter chats happening here in the US. (For those of you who are to this point unaware, New Zealand is not conveniently located in one of the many time zones that comprise the US. They're actually 16 hours ahead of us here on the East Coast, and nearly a full day ahead of our friends in Hawaii.)

He's a great thinker, a worthwhile educator with whom to connect, and a gentleman. (He thanks each of his followers for connecting - a practice which I try to uphold, yet always find excuses for why I fail.)  I enjoy that I've "met" Craig. His writings both in tweet form and blog form are generally thoughtful and promote teachers reflecting on what they do. His most recent post has clearly given me pause.

image credit: http://livingcivil.com/a-helping-hand/

So my five? It's hard to limit to just five, really. They're amazing people. They probably know who they are. I know I can count on them if I get stuck with a problem professionally. They have the resources, the know-how, and the accessibility to lend a hand when I get stuck. I feel like they're just on the same wavelength, and when it comes to taking full advantage of being a connected educator - my five are the reason I choose to stay connected when so many of my colleagues are still willing to say "I don't put myself out there online."

Those colleagues have limited themselves to the people they see on a daily basis. Those people need to think hard to come up with 5 people who help them. I needed to whittle down my list to get to the 5 most helpful. They've taught me to connect, they've taught me to lead, and they've taught me how to ask for help in ways I never imagined needing. I continue to choose connectivity, and I wouldn't be half the educator I am without my five.

And PS - I'm not actually going to tell you who my five are. This is my big takeaway from Craig's piece. They're mine. I have crafted my PLN to be what I need it to be, and that is not going to match up with anyone else's needs.  I can't tell you what your needs are. You need to take some time and determine your own five and how they've impacted your growth. It's a growth process.

And PPS - thanks for the inspiration, Craig.

Tracking Down an Idol

Image Credit: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/03/spitballing-indy.html

This is sloppy, but so is life.

In this week's #slowchated, @EricDemore is asking about rebellion. Tuesday's question was along the lines of: What rebel most impacted you? I saw great answers. Galileo. Henry Rollins. John Dewey. Beakman from Beakman's World. Howard Zinn. Beatnik Writers.

My mind went to an author. He had the single greatest impact on my education and my subsequent growth into adulthood. Former Hobart and William Smith associate professor and author Paul Cody. He has written 5 books that you can find here. (Full disclosure: I've never read any of these in their entirety, but I ordered his memoir, released last year.)

Paul is/was a great man. He read/reads to us. It seemed a silly thing at the time - a professor reading from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried to a class full of English majors. His voice is/was incredible. Soothing and engaging. His cadence makes/made you hang on every word. 

When I was a junior, Paul shared a column he had published about his time as an undergrad. It was laced with drug use and alcohol abuse. It spoke of regret, but it impressed upon the reader the understanding that the time was not lost. It was a piece that spoke to me on a lot of levels. There were elements with which I couldn't relate - after all, here was this great man upon whom I depended to help me grow as a writer and thinker talking about his own dependence on chemicals to keep moving.

Fast forward to now. Asked for a Cody text, I began a search for that column. I found talks he gave at Colgate, dead links within Ithaca's writing department, and an Amazon link to books he's written. His voice still has the same amazing qualities. I was saddened to know that he was no longer at Ithaca. I was happy to see that he's still writing. No email, no social media that I can see, I am reaching out to his publisher for contact information. 

But still I learned more than I expected. When I looked at the Amazon preview of his latest work, a memoir called The Last Next Time, I was thrown when I realized he was writing about his wife driving him to rehab. I wasn't sad. I was thrown. I didn't expect it. He struck me as a man who had a handle on all of it. Then the writing gave setting clues. This was right after he left Hobart and William Smith. He left the year after I did. He was experiencing addiction issues while teaching us. 

It's a strange feeling, recognizing that one of my heroes, a man who inspired me to grow up, to be strong, to take measured risks was fighting demons the whole time he was making me stronger. I don't know how I feel. I know that I feel different.

3 days after my 21st birthday, I walked into his class (because I was in no condition to walk into his class 1 day after my 21st birthday), and he called me out.

"Ross," his voice boomed across the tiered hall. "Where were you on Monday?"

"Paul," I began. "Sunday was my 21st." I would never have considered lying to him.

"That's not much of an excuse."

"Were you in class after you turned 21?"

Pause.

"Touche."

We think we know the people in our lives.  Here's what I know. He's a good man, and he made me a better person, and I wish I knew him better.

Commencement

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This time of year, there are grades to be finalized, speeches to be made, and toasts to be cheered. Graduates from all across the country and grade spectrum are celebrating the culmination of work that allow them to move on to the next steps.

Classmates watch anxiously, unable to shake the idea that this may be the last time they're seeing each other, since when you move on, you don't always take everyone with you.

Speakers are reassuring these same graduates that a commencement is not an end but a beginning. When one door closes, another opens. Your future starts now. These are all commonly uttered as we celebrate the our hard work.

Moms may dab tissues into the corners of eyes to protect the makeup; they may stand and scream with pride and glee watching their babies walking across stage to collect the document affirming that, yes, this part of the process is complete.

Fathers may stand stoically with silent pride beaming from their chests seeing their children achieve; they may giggle like school children with the joy that comes from the private joke of seeing a district level administrator shaking hands with their child, who at one time needed help burping.

Younger siblings look on with adoration, knowing that one day, it will be their turn.

Teachers? Teachers watch as well. They lament the loss of the group they've come to know so well. They swell with pride at the children who have become young men and women under their tutelage. They wish for further successes, while recognizing that this is truly the end. Their time with this class is over.

It is a time of release, and it is time for reflection, because next year starts right now.

And that's what it is for the teachers. Commencement. The beginning of next year. The start of the planning process. Teachers can look at each one of the graduates walking across the stage with whom they've had interaction and know what they could have done differently or better. These thoughts are part of the process. What do I wish I knew when last year started?  I'll make that call home sooner.  I won't teach that book the same way.  I'll have more technology tools in my tool belt.  I'll use a different diagnostic.  I won't have so many rules. I'll have more rules.  I'll decorate my class differently.  I know that the kids will be different. I'll be different.

I once read (and I don't remember where) a sixth grade teacher said, "I may teach 6th grade every year, but my students get 6th grade once." So at commencement, enjoy it all, and soak it all in. Celebrate the successes of your former students. Just don't ever forget that it is a beginning.  It is the beginning to the only time that a teacher's next students get to be in the next grade.  That teacher is already working to make sure it's amazing.

Congratulations to all the graduates of 2014.

What Ronaldo's Foot and Varela's Head Can Teach Us About The A-ha Moment

94:45. In a game with 90 minutes, it's a curious point at which to have your heart broken.

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Max asked me what half they were in at about the 57 minute mark. I told him the 2nd half.  He asked how many halves there were in the game. I asked him how many halves were in a whole. He said four. Let's go through this again. It's a conversation that had started in the fall during the NFL season. Quarters and halves; total minutes; teams switch sides; 60 minutes equals 3 hours. It's not easy for a youngster still trying to understand clocks to work out how the timing of a football game works.

Soccer was supposed to be different in this regard. "If you cut something in half, how many pieces are you going have?"

"Two."

"How many halves are there in a game?"

"Two." Nice. He gets it.

In the 64th minute, Jermaine Jones absolutely destroyed a shot that the Portuguese goalie couldn't see, much less stop. Max looks at me between jumps on the couch, smiling from ear to ear, and yells, "That was a great strike!" He's adorable.

As we gathered ourselves and play resumed, he noticed I was on the edge of my seat. "What's wrong, dad?"

"There's a lot of time left. Portugal is picking up the pace."

"Wait, there's a lot of time left."

"Yeah, buddy. 25 more minutes!"

"Wait, so there ARE three halves." Whoa whoa whoa. I thought we had covered this.

I look at him.  He's bigger than I remember. He walks. He runs. He talks, he writes, he builds his own Lego sets, and he rides his bike. Each of these things happened in one amazing moment that I'm sure we have pictures of, and we've documented in the right way so as to never forget.

But at the same time, none of them happened in one moment. There was training, and there was frustration, and there were changes made to the plan so that the reason we made the plan would come to fruition.

Knowing this - understanding this - made it that much easier to stomach when - at 94:45 in a game that would be blown dead at 95:35 - Cristiano Ronaldo played a beautiful cross that was struck perfectly by a diving Varela into the back of the net, snatching a draw from the jaws of what surely looked to be a loss.  It was not lucky, and it was not all in that moment, for that moment had been practiced for hours on end. The legs, still fresh enough in the stifling heat and humidity, had trained past exhaustion on occasions too numerous to count.

That's how it is with Max's learning. He gets the credit and accolades for those moments in those moments, but it's all the building that led to it that's really responsible for the growth. All the times we fail - those are the times most responsible for the time we succeed.

Walkthroughs: The Imperial March or Walking on Sunshine?

How open are you to people coming into your classroom?

According to the December 2007 Educational Leadership on the ASCD website:
          The idea behind walk-throughs is that firsthand classroom observations can paint a picture to inform

          improvement efforts. These observations typically involve looking at how well teachers are 

          implementing a particular program or set of practices that the district or school has adopted.

The Goal

Ours is a district always looking to improve. We have 3 schools identified by the state as focus schools, so they are subjected to multiple state walkthroughs until they clear that label. To ensure uniformity within our schools, we conduct walkthroughs at all of our schools around the same time as the state walkthroughs are happening. This allows us to remain cognizant of progress through specific lenses in all of our buildings to keep them moving forward.  We focus on effective instruction practices, student engagement, and the appropriateness of grade-level instruction.  There are talented, professional people in the business of improving instruction for students looking at specific content and grade levels to ensure the most informed feedback we can offer.

The Reality

I sat down to have a bite to eat with some of my staff yesterday afternoon, and there were two responses to the coming walkthrough.

          "Excellent! We have planning during that time, so you can't come into our rooms!"

          "It's so scary when they come in. Even when they're not coming to your room, it's still scary."

More succinctly, the walkthroughs are now this:

Image credit: http://kharminspage.com/archive.htm

The teachers see us coming and hope that we decide to keep moving past their room. The anxiety is palpable, but I get it. As a former classroom teacher in the district, I get it. I didn't like the district team walking into my classroom. I saw an array of people with various levels of experience, and nearly all of their collective experiences were not teaching ELA to the high school students I had before me. What could they possibly tell from a 5 minute visit to my class?

As a member of the walkthrough team, I get it. I have conversations every day that amount to the age old, "Teachers aren't teaching." During a recent walkthrough, a team of district administrators referred to allowing teachers to conduct the walkthroughs as a chance to "see what's wrong in the building."

And you know what? Both are right, and both are wrong.

Right and Wrong

So how can they both be right and both be wrong? They're looking at the walkthroughs through the wrong lens. Yes, there are things that are wrong in our buildings, and we as educators need to recognize this and root out the causes of those situations, but we need to understand what's good in order to aspire to get there.

We all need to see the walkthrough as the best way to collaborate our way to better educational experiences for our students. It is critical to create a culture in which a teacher expects to have visitors as well as expects to be a visitor. The UCLA Walkthrough model encourages teachers to be in the classrooms of their colleagues to find things that are positive, and then the walkthrough team debriefs all the wonderful things they saw in front of the rest of the staff. When teachers move around the building in search of good things happening, they find them. They get new ideas to implement. When they have discussions about those good things in front of their colleagues, their colleagues get excited that the good they're doing is being noticed.

When teachers and admin get excited about the good that other people in their building are doing, the culture shifts from one of viewing visitors as dictatorial tyrants seeking any opportunity to force choke someone to one of celebration of teaching and learning.

You may even start to invite visitors in to share the good you're doing.

Or What If Instead of That, Teachers Had Guns,Too?

December 14, 2012 - "B" Day at Orange High School in Orange, NJ. I know it was because my last class left at 12:40, and I had the next two hours to myself. I spent that time in an empty classroom, reading and watching the news unfold. Twitter told me the wrong person had done the things I was reading about. I exchanged text messages with parents of young children as we all tried to come to grips with the event.

I was sure that the modern American would stand up and demand change. Surely, we would step up and say, "That'll do, guns. That'll do."

Since that day, there have been at least 74 school shootings in the United States. Broken out in total school days, that means that approximately every 6 days, we can expect to hear that there has been a shooting on a school campus.

If you're scoring at home, that's more frequently than you can find a Sunday edition of your local newspaper.

Nothing changed following the event in Newtown. Actually Georgia passed some pro-gun legislation since Newtown, and the state has the most school shootings of any state since Newtown (10). The gun lobby and our politicians have worked to ensure that there is no change to our perceived Constitutional right to bear arms.

But this is our world. We live in it, and we need to adjust to it or fight to see it changed.

• We need to arm our teachers to protect our students, or we can take the guns out of the hands of the general population which would reduce the access people have to guns.

• We need to post armed guards at the doors to every school building, or we can drastically reduce public access to guns.

• We need to stop declaring our schools "Gun Free School Zones" so that criminals won't see them as easy targets, or we can severely limit the possibility of a person from obtaining a gun.

• We need to dress our students and ourselves in kevlar vests, or we can take away access to guns so that we and our students don't have to worry about being shot at.

• We need to have an open dialogue with our community about what needs to happen to protect our schools from future shootings, or we can take steps previously untaken to be sure that people who don't need to have guns don't have guns.

There's a lot that we, as a society, can do to protect ourselves when this happens again. But remember that guns are designed to kill something, and every time a gun kills something, it means that the gun worked. What if - stay with me - what if we actually got rid of the guns? There wouldn't be a rifle or a shotgun lying around the house looking like the perfect solution to whatever might be ailing someone at the moment. There wouldn't be aisles of guns in Wal-Mart next to the lawn darts and toilet paper. 

What would that society look like? Would there still be bad people? I'm sure. There are bad people now in countries where the population doesn't have guns.  Would people still have mental illness? Would people still commit crimes? Probably. But I bet we wouldn't be reading about a shooting in a school every sixth day. Then we could get to the business of healing with those people with mental illness and addressing the conditions in which people still feel the need to commit crimes.

To live in fear that a king is going to come be a tyrant over us and to use that fear as justification for an amendment open to interpretation is to ignore that King George isn't posing a threat anymore. It's ignorant. And now that we're on this topic of ignorance, anyone who feels like your rifles and your state militias are going to be able to stand against the single largest armed forces in the world is delusional. If the United States military decided to turn against the people, there isn't a state in the Union that could stand against it. 

I want this to be an America that moves forward into this century. I work diligently to ensure that my staff provides classroom experiences for our students that will lead them to be the best 21st century citizens that they can be. This country should offer no less. 

Quite frankly, this country actually continues to offer less. We spend more on our military than the next 8 countries combined and more than triple the country in the 2nd spot (China).  We are leaders of the developed world in two categories when discussing children. Child poverty and school shootings.  We refuse to protect the most vulnerable of us, and if we don't take great strides in directions not previously explored in our still youthful history, our legacy will not be one of improving America. We will be remembered as the generation who tried to protect our students from guns being brought into schools by bringing guns into schools.

Finishing Strong

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The finish line. The pay off. The grand finale. Wrap parties. Graduations. Roll credits. Tying up loose ends. Closure.

There is cause for celebration in the end of all things. No matter the reason for it, there is something to be said for seeing something through to the end. It allows us to know that our work was for purpose. We can move on to the next knowing that the former has ended well.

Schools are constantly in process of moving toward the end of the year. Prom season and memorial day often signal the downward slide toward a summer of opportunity. It is during this brief period of time, at least in the great state of New Jersey, that teachers make the decision of either banging one's head against the wall as they fight nature's magnetic pull of the metallic adolescent attention toward longer days and shorter lists of responsibilities or joining their charges in the march toward a Pied Piper promising bare feet and rolling houses of sweet, frozen temptation.

It is during this time that those of us in education must storm onto those beaches in the minds of students. We must not allow them to look at the end of the school year as the end of learning. It is merely the end of their tenure in that grade. They must see learning as a process that is happening even we're not looking. That comes from their teachers.

So my challenge to teachers is this: Push their thinking. Sure it's the end of the year, and you still have curriculum to get through. It's up to you to get them excited about being there. If you have a great lesson you've been thinking about giving them, do it now! They want to be excited about where they are, not about where they're going because they dread where they are. And that's really the problem. Any student who is telling you the year is over and they're looking forward to summer is really telling you that they're looking forward to not being where they are.

Remember, you can't be engaging until you're engaged. Get excited about what time you have left in this school year. You can excite them. Make yours the class they talk about when it's over.

Why I Stay

Earlier this month, the Huffington Post published another letter from an educator who was just too tired of it all to stay in the classroom another moment. Educators know what "it all" is. The reform of public education coming from the corporate centers and the government entities under their indirect or in some cases, direct lobbying control. It's Smarter Balance. It's PARCC. It's the efforts of Common Core to create an educational marketplace for publishers. It's Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates. It's Super PACs donating to local school board races. It's taxpayers announcing that they are the bosses of teachers. It's attacks on collective bargaining and the right to due process. Educators know that this is out there. We know that it's out there and it's banging on the door every day trying to get in and beat down our spirit. And in some cases, it's successful.

For instance, at the time of this writing, in the state of New Jersey, teachers have just finished scrambling to make sure that their student growth objective (SGO) data have been compiled and analyzed. These data are being used to help determine just how effective a teacher is. For many teachers, this SGO will be combined with an SGP (student growth percentile) and the observations made by administration and a total proficiency number will generated. The number generated by this effectiveness rating will ultimately be used to determine whether or not a teacher keeps his or her certification. Not just their current job is in jeopardy. Their teaching license is up for grabs.

***

I recently fell in with a collection of educators from across the country. We have conversations in #slowchated that span a full week about issues that confront all aspects of schools. An offshoot of that conversation developed something weird. Or something weird came out of this. Or there was something weird in it. (#weirded is one of those.) A smaller group of educators began to have conversations about improving the experiences of students in the classrooms for which we are responsible. These conversations center on fighting. Not fighting the power. Not fighting the symptoms of any struggles faced by students. We don't talk about what we fight against. We talk about what we fight for. We talk about fighting for students. We talk about ensuring that the 11, 20, 35, 135, or 1200 students that you are responsible for get the best of you. We talk about what makes teaching worthwhile - the students and their futures.

The futures of students are incredibly exciting things. They are the future. That's not hyperbole or symbol or dramatic. Their futures are literally in the future. I think back to when I was in the fourth grade. On picture day, I had lasers in the background. (That's a fact. Call my mom. It's still up in her living room.) I now have a laser in my bag at all times. It's on my presentation clicker remote. That's right. I have my own laser. No big deal. You can have one too. And my fifth grade phone calls to my girlfriend? Made on a rotary phone with it's very own stretchy curly cord. My current calls to my wife? Hold on, my pants pocket is ringing. I'm never away from my phone. (Except for that time you tried to call, Grandma. My phone was charging. Far away.) So what will today's fourth and fifth graders see when they are my age?  I have no idea! And they have no idea! It really might not even exist yet! What an amazing opportunity!

***

So? Fair reader, what does this all mean? What is the point? Educators work in a profession that's pretty easy to define. Because everyone goes to school, everyone feels they have a pretty good grasp of what goes on there. You're a teacher? You work 6-7 hours a day, you have summers off, and you couldn't really hack it in the private sector. After all, "Those who can do..." Educators don't even have to deal with adults. They deal with kids. Kids! How hard can it be to get a group of kids to color in the lines? The economy is down? It really must have to do with those educators with their swanky guaranteed jobs and high end benefits packages.

Teaching is hard. Educating young minds is hard. Students walk into a school building from as many different story lines as one can imagine. They come to us with empty bellies, full bellies, glasses, a need for glasses but none to be found, 2 parents, single parents, same sex marriage parents, dead parents, grandparents, physical limitations, special needs because they're so far behind, and special needs because they're so far ahead. The one thing that they all have in common is that they come to us with hope. The hope that the people they meet in those buildings will lead them to become the best possible person they can be. We owe it to them to live up to that hope.

And that's why I stay. Because the hardships that I face are not more important than the hopes of the young faces that will one day stand where I am. They will need to lead, and they will need to remember that despite the challenges, they cannot waver in the commitment to be there for those who need them most. And maybe, just maybe, when they stand in our places, they will remember how we fought for them in the face of the challenges, and they will have the strength to do the same.