Stuck on You: An Ode to the Gym Wall

I learned a few things today, and I have some numbers to support my learning.

3, 150, 18, 3000, 5, 280, 60, 10.

• It takes a committed community 3 days to hit 3000 dollars in sales at a buy-one-get-one book fair.
• This committed community cleared their never-before-hit, projected sales goal by approximately 10%.
• It takes 150 students approximately 60 minutes to cover their principal in duct tape.
• 5 pounds of duct tape is enough to suspend a 280 pound superintendent 18 inches above the gym floor.

Our students, our staff, and our community came together this morning to do something that wasn't in our curricula. We won't be able to report the day in our test scores. The grade books won't be updated by the day's events. Truth be told, I couldn't be more thrilled about the way the day went.

If you're an educator, your students need to know you're capable of being silly, goofy, and human. Sometimes, it's good to let your hair down. (Yes, even the bald superintendent knows this.) 

It's Okay To Be Not Happy

The many moods of the author.

This isn't going to be my most popular blog post. It occurs to me that connected educators - those educators who reflect on their work through blogging and engage in upbeat edchats on Twitter and sharing all their students' activities on Instagram - are relentlessly cheery. Like to the point that it's possible their not being real with themselves.

I've decided that I'm not going to single out any one super cheery individual - they know who they are, and for whatever the reason, they've determined they're not letting their bad mood out to breathe. If you're not sure who I'm talking about, just find anyone who talks about motivation, inspiration, making a difference, or being a superhero teacher (another chat covered this recently).

It's not that there's something wrong with a positive outlook, but let's face it. There are days that are hard. There are days that we don't want to get out of bed, and there are Sundays that seem to move way too quickly. The pay is small, and the demands are many. The gratitude comes intermittently. Fellow teachers throw each other under the bus, are resistant to change, seem unwilling to grow. There's any number of reasons to be in a bad mood, and each is valid.

I guess what I'm really saying is it's okay to be in a bad mood. No, you shouldn't let yourself get bogged down with bad moods. But you don't have to be unbearably chipper at all times. That's lying. And you're better than that.

The Dissolution of Resolutions

What do you do when The Great Egg White Experiment doesn't pan out? Add BACON!

In honor of the official end of resolution season! That’s right! If you made your resolutions for the new year, January 17 is the date that the majority of those resolutions fall apart. So long, gym trips! Adios, grading those papers early! Sayonara, early bed time!

You know the spiel up to this point in the year. It’s the new year! Make your new year’s resolutions! Gonna be a great year to change it up! New year, new you! Pick one word that exemplifies what you’re gonna be about for the whole year! Stop sucking so much at being you and be a better version of you!

Bleh. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so much a sales point as the others, but let’s just talk about what works. After all - that’s what we do, right? We keep doing what works. So, what’s good and what you do now that you did last year and the year before? How much of what you do is actually new? How do you bring in small amounts of new to the old to make it feel just different enough not to lose your mind?

I try to keep the following things in mind as I move forward, and I don’t feel like I’m reinventing anything. I actually feel like I’m reflecting and adapting.

Identify your successes:
Chances are you’re doing something well. You’re fostering relationships, building rapport, You have great methods for imparting knowledge. You know your content forward and back. Find the things you do well. They’re the things that you’re going to take with you forever. Hold on to them. They’ll help you grow.

Find 1 or 2 new things to attach to things you know:
You’re clearly connected. Now it’s time to harness that connection. Find someone who is doing what you do differently. Talk to them. Pick their brain. What are they doing differently? How is it working for them? Can you use what they do? Can they use what you do?

NEVER teach a new tool with new material:
When you find a new tool you want to teach your students, you cannot teach it at the same time you’re teaching new material. It doesn’t matter the age. If they don’t understand how to use the tool, you’re not going to know if they understand the material, and the assessment value will be lost. Teach them the tool. Let them fail with it a bit. Then let them use the tool to show you they understand how to leverage it to demonstrate their content knowledge.

Thinking strategically about how you approach your early [or even late] adoption will allow you to keep your changes sustainable.

The Shawshank Redemption or How I Escaped My Own Ed Despair

(img credit: http://haru204.deviantart.com/art/Shawshank-Redemption-151789548)

I was innocent. Everybody here is innocent, didn't you know that?

You probably thought you were innocent. You're not. At some level, you have yourself to blame, and I have myself to blame. Whether it's the testing, or the parents, or the other teachers who just don't get how to handle the kids - we all at some point have contributed to our own despair in the educational environment.

But it can be really miserable, you know? We get tired in that way that feels like we may never have energy again. Kids come from homes with little to no food. They aren't doing the most basic of work despite my best efforts. I don't have anyone to go to for support. We get defensive in that way that no one really understands what it is to be an educator. My admin doesn't remember what it was like in the classroom. My teachers don't get that they're where the the rubber meets the road. My children's teachers don't understand how special my kids really are and that's why they get in trouble.

I did this. I've said these things. I've felt these feels.

I had to take control. I had to find my voice, and I had to hear myself. It wasn't that I needed someone else to hear me. That wasn't going to do it.

This week's #totallyrossome focuses on just how we approach the negative aspects of what we do through the lens of The Shawshank Redemption. (If you haven't seen it - I don't know how to help you. You're missing a major piece of American cinema, and you need to remedy this immediately.)

I was Andy Dufresne. I didn't see any fault of my own in what I was doing, and I wanted someone to fix it for me because that would mean justice and fairness. We don't deal a lot with justice and fairness, though. We need to assess our situation, look our options, and make a plan for how to deal with it. (Sometimes that means making a hole in a solid object and crawling through some awfulness to find something better.)

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Please join us for #totallyrossome tonight. It's at 9 PM Eastern, and it features some of the most thoughtful and fun educators I've ever met.

Play or How I Learn Best

(img credit: https://pixabay.com/en/playground-children-kids-game-417615/)

"Here you go. Make it work."

Those were the instructions I gave to the algebra students when I showed them the 3d printer our school recently acquired. I hadn't opened it. I didn't want to do anything with it until I knew what it would mean to the instructional lives of our students. There's no point in having something for the students unless there's a plan for how the tool will build on their experiences.

So that became the plan. I gave the unopened box with a laptop to a small group of students, who - through a glitch in scheduling (read: a mistake I made) - have an empty period in their day. They unpacked, explored, Googled, watched videos, made mistakes, aligned pieces, and printed a little heart pendant. The looks of satisfaction on their faces were priceless, and it was a result of their freedom to play with a goal.

Play is not about a lack of direction. It's about sampling, poking, prodding, and finding ways to fail and ways to succeed within parameters. Games are designed with ends in mind. So is learning that utilizes play. Assessments are done along the way. You understand how much a participant is capable of grasping of the play while observing them in it. When one skill is mastered, it generally opens the door to more sophisticated opportunities.

It's been a while since we have had #slowchated, and I've missed it. Discussing one question across the span of a day allows for richer connection and reflection. We're capable of transcending the challenges of injecting nuance into 140 characters. So let's slow chat this week about play. How we use it for our own learning, how we use it to get our students to learn, and ways that we can expand its use.

Question by day:
11/16: What was one thing you learned by playing that has stayed with you? Why does this stand out to you?
11/17: What types of play do you allow for your students, or do you find there isn't enough time for play?
11/18: Are video games useful educational tools? Which ones? How so? OR Why not?
11/19: Think of person with whom you work who views play as an "out of school" activity? How can you bring them to play? If it's you, what would it take to get you to play to learn?
11/20: We've talked a lot about playing and learning - How can someone who is using play use assessment (formative, summative, authentic) to provide feedback?
11/21: I always end with a challenge: Tell us one way you'll try to use play next week in your school/classroom.

Blogging Lets Me Self-Reflect

(Img credit: http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2014/12/19/chicken-parm-you-taste-so-good/)

It's connected educator month - a time for educators on Twitter to tell other educators on Twitter how important it is to be an educator on Twitter. Well that is generally what it devolves into, but I want to do something a little different at #totallyrossome - I know, shocking - to mark the occasion. As we've done in the past, I'd like you to invite as many non-chatters as possible. If you can get people who are new to the Twitters this month to come, extra points for you.

So you may or may not have seen these Nationwide commercials. They play up the jingle which claims "Nationwide is on your side" in a very sing-songy way. Then they take regular folk saying regular things in the sing-songy way as a parallel to the Nationwide jingle. Now that's 3 Nationwides in the same paragraph, I think I've fulfilled my obligation for schilling for them. (4) Take a look at the newest ad below to get a sense of the jingle, and its many uses.

In education we find ways to reach students that may not be in the how-to manual. For instance, no one ever taught me in teacher preparation courses that a drum-line could be a way to demonstrate understanding of Lord of the Flies story progression, but it sure helped me get those 5 students to read it and fight to make me see how their self-written piece showed that progression. We try things that engage real students who sit in our classrooms. The alphabet is sung to a popular lullaby tune. There's at least one "clean up" song that encourages students to "do their share". I remember being a young man and learning the counties of Vermont in a song sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle. There are any number of mnemonics that can be employed to help students engage and retain information.

The other night at dinner when my 6-year-old sang, "Tomorrow is pinata day," I realized just how effective a tool jingles can be for helping young people access and retain information. (I don't have any idea why it was pinata day, but I know he was ready.) We do all sorts of things for our students to engage them. We should be willing to do the same for ourselves.

So it brings me to the assignment. Tonight at #totallyrossome, we're going to talk about being connected educators with a twist. All questions and answers will be "in the form of TV ads." (Hum the quoted words to yourself. It works. And while you're at it "see the title at the top". (I did it again.))

Remember - invite someone new. Have fun reflecting on your own connectivity. If we're not doing these things, Connected Educator Month becomes just another opportunity to pat ourselves on the back for stuff we're already doing, and that doesn't help anyone.

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#totallyrossome meets Tuesday nights at 9 PM EDT.

Apologies and Amends

(Img Credit: Photo taken of presentation at Congregation Beth Israel, Scotch Plains, NJ)

"I don't apologize."

It's a sizable blanket statement. It was the answer I gave in an interview (for a job I didn't get). It was also 100% true for a time in my life. 

Apologies fly around adult conversation in places they shouldn't. Adults like to look at each other and say sorry for things that need to get done. "I'm sorry, but I need that report filed by 3 PM." Break it down: There is a report. It has to be done. It has to be done by a time. The listener is the responsible party for the report. The speaker is not sorry for this list of facts. The apology shouldn't happen. 

When I started looking at professional conversations in this way, it made things far less personal - for me. There's a thing to do, someone is responsible for the thing, and the thing gets done. It's a sterile, clinical relationship. With this type of relationship, empathy decreases. There's no reason for empathy when nothing is personal. In fact, it moves in the other direction. When nothing is personal, but one of the parties involved in the responsibilities takes it personally, I found myself looking down on them. Didn't they understand that the situation wasn't personal? Why were they so unprofessional?

I've learned some things from this mindset. First, and probably the most important, personal relationships have very little to do with bottom lines, deadlines, or lines in the deli. In fact, finding empathy in the connections we make each day is one of the traits that allow educators to move beyond the cold, hard numbers that make up a student into the realm of helping that student reach his or her potential as human beings. That's significant.

I have started apologizing again. When I find myself faced with delivering disappointing news, I need to be able to look past it as matter of fact and see it as news that will change the course of the receiver's day. When I have done something to warrant an apology, I apologize and when I haven't done anything per se but I know that there's bad news to give. An apology does not mean laying claim to guilt, but it shows that I'm empathetic to person feeling the pain. Sometimes empathy is enough to let someone know you see they're hurting, and that can go a long way to mitigating that pain.