Letting Go

Everyone brings their perceptions and at times their misconceptions into all that we do. We cannot help but do it, its part of being human. But no matter who we are, this id a condition that can be overcome, and must be overcome if we are to get beyond them. 

As educators and leaders we must be the examples for our students and our teachers. I realized recently that I was letting my own misconceptions get in the way of my opportunity to grow. For years I resisted social media beyond a Facebook account I try to keep very private. I did so because I had heard a few social media horror stories, seen a few potential teachers posting personal content, and of course scores of athletes who so successfully ruin their image in 140 characters or less. 

As I have encountered more educational leaders in my studies, a common thread kept popping up: social media can teach us and connect us to a world far greater than our own. 

I first started by joining a private facebook group that connected other members of my leadership group. So many great conversations of support helped me to see that this was valuable. Each person contributes to their comfort level and helps to promote a greater understanding for all of the members. 

Reluctantly and slowly I started this blog, but it is seen by so few. Despite a number of posts when I first started, this blog is still very much in its infancy. 

Recently I let go of my biggest misconception, Twitter. Twitter seemed like a waste of space, even less privacy than facebook, and it seemed like a place for self righteous and self absorbed people to pretend they were inportant. That was my misconception. That was my bias, my personal limitation. 

I have let it go and in return, gained a limitless world of ideas and knowledge. In the short time I have been on Twitter, I have found more information, connected with more events and educators, and enhanced my practice far beyond the walls of my school. 

Many of you will find this on Twitter, so you already know the incredible learning network it provides. Others have yet to open that door. 

Our perceptions are valuable. They help us make sense of foreign situations and understand the world around us. Unfortunately they also limit us within our own thoughts and experiences. As we ought to with our students and teachers, identify your perceptions and ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the basis for this idea?

2. What does it mean if I am right?

3. What does it mean if I am wrong?

4. How will I know if my perception is justified?

In my case I was wrong, atleast as it pertains to what I can gain from using social media to connect with educators. Doing so has opened up education beyond my ability to find without the digital world. 

I have challenged one of my own perceptions, can you think of one of your own?

The Secret Ingredient

Something occurred to me today while I was teaching today. It was my first day teaching my class from start to finish since mid September. With a student teacher slowly but surely taking over my class, I had forgotten something. 

This year, between difficulties I have found adjusting to the many areas to which I have spread myself, being a cooperating teacher, trying to lead or at least help in several different areas, I seem to have forgotten something along the wat...  I absolutely LOVE this, and it is FUN. 

I know many teachers are stressed in our state about teacher evaluations, sgos and sgps, common core, parcc, anti-bullying and more. I myself started falling into the trap I have tried to keep others from trekking. I was losing sight of how much fun this job can be when you are doing it well.

My class wasn't perfect today, and there were things I could improve. Today was however, the most fun I have had all year, and as a result I feel as though my class was with me and gaining more than at any time in the year. I had forgotten the one thing I held as important as any other in teaching:  if you are having fun, and making sure the students are having fun with you, everyone will be doing so much better overall and learning will naturally occur. 

So if you ever find yourself stressed or in a funk, get into your classroom, close the door and have fun with your students!  It will help pull you out of that rut, allow you to forget (at least temporarily) all the stressors from the outside world. 

Tomorrow's homework: go into your classroom and no matter what you teach, enjoy it to the fullest!

The Way It Ought To Be

It has been a long time since I last posted and that is partly because the start to the school year has been filled with challenges of a new class, a student teacher, and just trying to get a genuine understanding of how my schedule will allow for the ambitious hopes I have for my students.  Over the summer I would often be struck with ideas about concepts I find important, something I wanted to share, but with the incredible hustle of the first few weeks of school I have had little on my mind accept keeping straight all of the tasks I have taken on to start the year.  One such spark came to me this week, and it is something I hope I always keep in mind as I move toward being an administrator.

This week, as I began to settle in, and my student teacher has started to assert herself in the classroom, I was once again struck with something.  Our school is undergoing significant changes.  This year there are five new teachers (or at least new again...) or about 20 percent of the certified staff, we will welcome a new administrator for the first time in nine years, and there are new people beginning to emerge as leaders.  One thing I have noticed thus far, is a positive energy from many of the people in the building.  Another, is a higher level of communication between teachers.

When I discussed our new administrator's arrival (this Tuesday) with a good friend at work, I shared both my concerns and my hopes.  This new arrival will be very difficult in many ways.  The learning curve will be high, the atmosphere very different, and oh yeah... it is a contract year.  The final concern is the greatest.  With a new, eager administrator looking to get started, we could be in for any number of rustled feathers.  How we as a staff react and welcome him, and his response in turn during this potentially tumultuous process will shape the future of the school, its staff, and the families that trust us with their students.  It is a relationship that must build with trust and mutual respect in order for both sides to feel comfortable enough to promote growth while leaving neither so comfortable that the school remains stagnant.
As teachers, we will ideally extend our welcome beyond words and attempt to work with our new chief whenever possible.  Contract negotiations can often inhibit the willingness of people to go out of their way to help (sad but true.)

This conversation led me however, to another equally important thought while shaping the future of our small school.  Working well collaboratively is essential to improving school-wide instruction.  Last year I had the great fortune of working with a tremendous educator for whom I have great respect.  While I have worked with excellent educators in the past as grade-level partners, this year was different.  It was different not because she was necessarily better than any other teacher I have worked with, it was different because I felt that by working together, we made each other better and ultimately it benefited our students significantly.  There is something to be said for pairing teachers together that develop strong teaching chemistry.  I hope that when I am in charge of teacher placements, I can remember to keep it in mind.  Some people just work well together, while others do not.  While I enjoyed the paradigm of collaborative teaching environments, two other teachers (both of whom I respect) experienced the exact opposite.  Neither could agree on anything, and unfortunately their conflicting styles as teachers, and people, led to a lack of communication and collaboration that genuinely hurt the class.  It was not that they were bad teachers, its that they were bad together.  I have seen other teachers work great together in the past, while some typically do not.  Much like mixing the ingredients of a recipe, the combination of teachers, students, and support from other areas can lead to a something genuinely magnificent when done correctly, while the wrong mix can be to the detriment of everyone involved.  Ultimately, a good leader must be a master at understanding the people with whom they work.  They must work well enough with each person to help bring out the best in them, whatever it is they need.

Creating competition in schools could lead to the destruction of these best types of these relationships, while fostering collaboration and careful understanding of the staff in your building can lead to amazing educational opportunities for all of our students.  As teachers, we should be striving to learn how to blend our skills with that of those around us to provide the best opportunities for our students.  As leaders, we should seek to know and understand the strengths of our staff in ways that enable us to create collaborative environments that inspire success.

Either way, starting next week, we will have a new leader in the school.  By trying to create and foster a collaborative environment with him as well as the other teachers around us, we will find ourselves pushing the school forward in a most positive direction.  My greatest hope, is that he continues to get to know us as both educators and as people, so that he can learn how to work with each person to bring out their best abilities.

Thanks for reading

Teaching Terror: Putting 9-11 in Perspective for Primary Students

Twelve years ago now, a horrible, terrifying event took place that will be the defining event for people of my generation. Like those before me, from Roosevelt's death to VDay/VJday, to Kennedy and MLK, I will never forget the tragic, terrifying events that unfolded on September 11th, 2001. Like many other people the images and memories have been burned into my brain by the intensity of the emotion.  I was fortunate not to lose anyone on that day, but I know several people whose world dropped along with the steel and glass that day.  It is as important an event in American history as any our students will learn about because of how drastically it altered the landscape of the world. But ever since my first year of teaching, I have been required to teach students who were many years from being born about the significance of that day. It is difficult to imagine explaining the fear, concern, and devastation that rocked the country that day when speaking to 5 and 6 year olds the as,e way I will have to explain to my daughter one day.
Two years ago  on the 10th anniversary, I finally realized what my purpose should be when teaching this tragedy to the future youth of America. The phrase "We Will Never Forget" has a lot of meanings and is a popular one for sure, but what does that really mean?  In one way it is literal, we will always remember the images, feelings, and our personal stories from that day. But what does mystery teach a 5 year old?  When I thought about this, I realized that sad as it is, we have already forgotten. My story is a common one. I was in college, got a phone call early in the morning, put on the news and then watched in horror, barely believing my eyes. But, within two hours, 20 of us that lived on a hall had decided to go donate blood to help out. We went to a local hospital within walking distance. When we got there, it was so packed with people hoping to donate that the hospital closed a section to create a makeshift blood bank. So many people wanting to help was amazing. As days went on there were many stories about the heroic first responders, the heroes on Flight 93, people volunteering to dig through debris or help look for loved ones, and of course countless others like mine. Also, people felt a pride in being American that I had never seen and I can only guess hasn't been shown since at best, the Cold War.  Politicians worked together to get necessary things done, people were generally responsive to the needs of others, and Americans banded together from one coast to the other. In short, the attacks had the exact opposite result that their perpetrators had intended. We were stronger, more unified, and more caring for one another than ever before.
Those are the lessons that we should teach our young children:  lessons of caring for each other, volunteering, and pride in the amazing nation we call the United States of America.
Fast forward 12 years and sadly it seems many of those lessons about the value of community and our great nation have dissipated. That short era of caring, community and cooperation has all but evaporated for every day life for many Americans. So as a teacher, a parent, and a member of the generation for whom 9-11 was a benchmark moment, I feel responsible for imparting on my young students those messages.
When I think of how I can best honor those who gave their lives and fight back against that kind of horrible terrorist action, the best way I can think of is to teach these children how amazing it was to be an American in the days and weeks following that horrible event. My goal every 9-11 is to try and instill my class with a sense of hope, community, and a little classic American Patriotism to ensure that not only will we never forget, but that as a nation, our future Americans will develop in such a way that defies the terror and embraces the great potential of the people of this country.


Thanks for reading.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

So after just three days of having students, I realized something that although I have said, sometimes it is easy to forget.  As adults, educators, and role models, we never get to stop learning! 
Over the past few years I grown both more accomplished, and more confident as a classroom teacher.  So much so, in fact, that I have often stated that I can fix any behavior problem, teach any student, and that there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome.  I have lived that mantra and proved myself at least somewhat capable of it in the past.  But after just the first day of school, I scratched my head a few times.  I had two choices, go get a drink or take a nice long relaxing walk.  We have most likely all had a day like this as an educator, but rarely have I experienced such a frustrating day on the first day.  To top it all off, I had the good fortune of having my student teacher soak in the experience!  I learned some valuable lessons by the next morning, and I went back to work refreshed and ready to try again. 
Each of my three days has gotten better, leaving me much more hopeful for the year to come.  But  I wanted to share some things I realized in those three days that will make me, my student teacher, and hopefully others, a better teacher.
The First Day of school is slightly terrifying - There are few moments more exciting, exhilarating, and ultimately terrifying than that first moment when you close the door behind your brand new class, look out among the new faces, and realize that for the next 7 hours, these kids are yours and what will happen to them in the next year, and for many of them the rest of their lives will largely be impacted by the decisions you make and the things you can accomplish.  I can only imagine it being something like the lead walking into a one man show on the stage on Broadway for opening night, only the audience is smaller and they don't always want to be there.  15 minutes into my "performance" I realized two things, first this year is going to provide a fresh set of challenges (which is in honesty a good thing in many ways) and second, I had failed to introduce the students in my room to the student teacher!  I was so zoned into my "performance" that I neglected something I should have prioritized!  It won't be the last time I do not get to everything I had planned but I need to say that in the combination of excitement and terror, I overlooked something important.  In my zest for establishing the class as an amazing place for students to learn, I failed to hit an important point.  My biggest learning point from the first 15 minutes of my day, is that no matter how prepared you are, you need to accept that you will never do everything you wanted.  Instead, you must create and prioritize the important goals you have for the day, and get them in accordingly.  On the other hand, it is NEVER TOO LATE to teach something that you feel is important!
Sometimes you need to have other people remind you of things you already know - This happens to us all the time.  I was spoiled in the past four years that many of my challenges in the classroom were centered around overcoming either behavioral or academic issues, but rarely both.  When being faced with new challenges, we as teachers sometimes forget that many of the tricks, tools, and strategies we need can be retread and combined with new research to come up with great ideas.  In my classroom, I have a huge binder that I helped to develop during a PLT.  In the binder, we included tracking pages, strategies, resources and more.  Not one time in these three days have I opened that binder and looked for resources.  It took some advice from another educator to remind me that some of the things I needed to get started were right there in on the shelf in my classroom!
Solving a problem comes from having the right attitude, being willing to try, and being open to ideas from anywhere-  No teacher, administrator, or educator, should be so foolish to believe that they cannot get help from others.  With any problem, we ought to be open to finding solutions wherever they may be.  We must continue to try!  The alternative to trying to fix a problem, is giving up on your students.  While it is acceptable to be frustrated, disheartened, or even angry about something during your day, you must always step back, take a deep breathe and try again!  No teacher can ever give up on a problem, so therefore we must continue to try and try again in as many different ways as it takes.  If nothing else, you have helped to eliminate all the bad ideas for the next teacher that inherits those students that need your help.  Finally, and perhaps the most important, is to have the right attitude.  When I left on the first day, I didn't feel great.  I was disappointed, more so with myself than the class.  By the next morning I was back to my hopeful self, trying again as it were.  The things that were not working on day 1, were better on day 2, but by the end of the day, I was still frustrated.  I had failed to get across many of the lessons I had hoped to impress on the students and again my time disappeared before my eyes.  On Friday morning, I came back, refreshed and ready to try again.  Finally, it seemed like I was getting there.  The morning went better than I could have hoped.  I would love to say the day was perfect, but lets face it, it was not!  Instead, it was just good.
Celebrate small victories- In three short days, upon reflection, I realized that despite my lofty expectations not being met, the week had produced a number of great outcomes.  When I left that day, I told my student teacher to celebrate a little this weekend, she had made it through the first week and things were looking better each day.  What I did not think about, was that I myself should celebrate the same.  Things are looking up and we made it through this first week having accomplished a lot!
New challenges make us better -  I always say that I do not envy those teachers who repeat the same subject, same lesson each day for the entire year.  This week I was reminded of a valuable lesson I learned a long time ago: no two classes are the same, so no matter how great a lesson was the first time, the next time, it will need to be different.  Those teachers that teach the "same thing" over and over, really are faced with new challenges each period rather than each day. Regardless, these new challenges provide us with opportunities to increase our knowledge, test our skills, empower us with positive attitudes, and find the best within ourselves.
Surround yourself with the right people - This is not just me!  In this week I have had this discussion with several other people, each one of us at some point needing another person's positive attitude to help us reframe our thinking and regain the right frame of mind.  There is no shame in needing a bump back onto the path every once in a while, and having those people around you will be a great step in that direction!
 Finally: When you can laugh or cry... make sure that no matter which you do first, you finish with the laugh!  While my students and coursework have provided me with some very frustrating moments this week (many of which are of my own accord) they have also provided me with lots of positives and some of the most lighthearted and enjoyable situations I have had in months!
I will leave you with this little gem from my room:  (We are decorating with mustaches, a first grade favorite, and each child is taking a picture with a fake stache...)
Student Teacher: Move over there and hold your mustache up for the picture
Student: Up here?  Look now its a unibrow!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to laugh! 

Is School What Holds American Students Back?

I recently read an article by Peter Gary that called School is a Prison. In this article he takes the position that today's school system as it is, is damaging to our students. He quotes research that followed middle school students and tracked what they were doing and their emotional state during that time. That research stated that kids were less happy when playing with friends as opposed to while in school. Thank you for illustrating nothing!  Monitor how anyone feels and chances are the vast majorityof people will feel the same way working and out relaxing with friends. I am fortunate enough to be someone who loves my work, and I can honestly say I generally enjoy being there, but even I would say that relaxing with friends would rate slighlty higher on the enjoyment scale. Dies that mean that I should not work?  Obviously not. So for starters, his argument is based on pointless research. On top of that, you could most likely put a middle school student on the sideline of an NFL game or backstage at a concert and they would rate the experience low on the excitement scale!

He argues that society shrugs it off as preparation for life in which they will often be limited in what they are able to do in their post education life. The truth is, unlike whatever world the Author lives in, most of us have to learn to work within a system in our workplace. Their are schedules, constraints on our time, expectations, and demands; as well there should be. To remove this from a child's education is to further advance the culture of entitlement that has developed as my generation grows into parenting age. 

The article then goes on to discuss the value of using Student Directed Learning. The author praises homeschooling and then the Sudbury Valley school.  In both approaches children are free of the "shackles" of traditional school. The students are "free to do anything they want as long as they don't break the rules."  The rules are created by tge students. The goal is to foster and indulge the educational curiosity of students. 

I find this article to be both simple minded in its attenpted solution and offensive to all good educatiors.  I have done a bit of reading on Self Directed curriculum because I wanted to improve my ability to reach my Kindergarten students. I realized that I can incorporate many of tge principles of Self Directed learning and foster and inspre student curiosity. If you read my blog "What Can You Really Teach on the First Day" you will know the value I place on developing curiosity and a love of learning fir children. Giod teachers incorporate student interests, develop interesting learning opportunities and provide chances for students to explore their learning environments. They create situations in which students can develop a love of learning that lasts beyond school. Sure, many kids will still say that they are happier playing than in school. Students are generally very happy in my class, but they still love playtime. 

My point is sinple, in my class students learn to love learning and indulge their curiosity, and explore things that interest them academically, but they also learn to manage their time, be responsible for their work and their actions, and how to put forward good effort when the activity is not their favorite. All of these are valuable skills. 

While students may report being burned out by schooling, tge major issue is not being jn the classrooom, but the stress we place on grades and testing. As teachers, parents, society, and now even politicians, the extreme emphasis on test scores and perfect grades that burns out students. 

Comparing schools to a prison is a harsh misguided concept. The key to inspiring students is balance. Teaching students that they can enjoy some things while meeting obligations is a crucial lesson. Teachers and students alike need to remember Theodore Suess Giesel's advice to graduating college students, "So be sure when you step. Step with great care and great tact. And remeber that life's a Great balancing act."  

Students and people in general can take a great deal from this. No one method ever fixes everything. Through taking the best practices of many concepts, we can come closer to achieving all the goals at once. 

Thanks for reading!

Finding it Hard to Manage?

As school creeps around the corner, I see more and more social media posts about how to manage your classroom. Classroom management isn't complicated on paper, in fact, telling you what to do is extremely easy. Just like parenting however, it is the execution of management, not the theory that is most important. So with that in mind, I will touch on some of the ideas I believe are most important. 

1. Somewhere inside, no matter how crazy they might make you, you have to like your kids. Short of brilliant acting, kids can tell when you don't like them. If you want your students to respect you, like you, and most importantly respond to you, you must show them you care about them. Here are a few simple things you can do to show them you care:  

Learn about something that interests them!  

Remember important events in their lives. 

Look at them when they talk, and do not let others interrupt. 

Compliment them to other people, especially if they are in earshot. 

Praise publicly, discipline privately. 

And one of my favorites to start a new year... Make a positive phone call to their parents!  Nothing gets a student and their parents more excites then when a teacher calls and talks about how great a child is doing. 

I known it seems silly, but many teachers forget this stuff as the year gets going. Again, its the practice that actually makes you successful. Make a list of 5 things you want to incorporate in the first month of school that will show students you care. 

2. The next and perhaps equally inportant task for classroom management is to teach students the appropriate behaviors you expect.  

As a teacher, when you expect a student to present you with demonstration of some skill ( for example multiplication), you would teach them how to multiply first! You don't test Kindergartners on tgeir ability to read before teaching them the prerquisite skills, right?  So why would you expect students to know what you expect for behavior without teaching them?  Instead, spend time teaching them how to behave, give them the opportunity to get involved in the how and why of the classroom's appropriate behaviors.  Most kids know what they are supposed to do in isolation, but doing it is not always easy. Having them hash out why the behavior is important will help the action set in. 

3. Expect the right behavior all the time!  Lots of people use check lists, stop lights, and otger visual aides to let students know they are not following rules. What are you really saying however, when you use these methods? What you are saying is that I do not expect you to behave the first two times, but by that third time you better get it right!  A quck reminder of the rules is all that it should take, if disruptive behavior continues, then whatever the agreed upon consequences are, they need to ensue but respectfully!  Discipline needs to be done without anger, calmly and fairly!

4. Fair is not equal. Remind students that fair only means that each student is getting exactly what they need to learn.  That is not the same for each student. 

5. Be yourself!  Don't waste your time being pertending to be anyone else, kids can see through you. If you like something you have seen someone else doing, make it yours.  Do not try to do anything how someone else would. You can never be someone else as well as you can yourself!

Remember, there are a lit of great concepts for classroom management, many of which are effective. The key is to remember to use them. Put the ideas on your calendar if you have to, but do not let them get swept aside as the hustle of the year sets in!  

Thanks for reading!