The Power of Projects

I have been writing for awhile now about my journey in education and sharing my thoughts and experiences. I am by no means and expert and struggle with the term master educator when people sometimes refer to me as such. I prefer the term life long learner. I am always learning new things especially from those new to the profession who have the gift of being shown the latest research in educational practice. It is also nice to see them come into the profession fresh and excited to teach. I am learning to check myself as a veteran teacher in telling them things to avoid and things to try as was done for me. I want to encourage them to try out what they know and see what works for them. I am doing this with a new member of my staff who is new to my department and school. I am also trying to learn from what they are doing and trying out rather than "showing them the ropes." I am also trying to learn from a fellow teacher who is what I could consider to be in the middle of their career. I am hoping to glean from both teachers more about their knowledge and mastery of having students do projects.

Every year when asked what kids will be doing in my class I tell people that we are changing it up from years past because I like to "drive my principal nuts" (he loves this by the way as I know he is watching/listening). This year was no different as I decided to delve into my past as a middle school student and bring back the experience of "shop" class. We started out the year learning about classroom procedures and then a month on the engineering process. After that I gave students a menu of projects they could work on and turned them loose. My expectation is that complete 1 project a month for a total of 3 projects. This is on-top of the 20% time project I have students work on throughout the semester. I was a little nervous in starting this endeavor as I though 1 project a month would be too much. However what I am finding is quite the opposite that 1 project a month may be too little. Also I am finding that when I give students the ability to work not constrained by a set "curriculum" their creativity start to flow a bit more. It is this creativity that I hope to stoke more and see what they may come up with down the road. I will admit I am struggling to keep up with the demand of sending projects to 3d print, vinyl creations to cut out, and feedback to give but I am managing.

In the managing of projects this is where I could use some help. In the past I have had students work on 1 project and all the same project usually through a set curriculum. It was easy for me to manage and students did ok but quickly got bored as they completed the steps ahead of others or were so far behind felt they couldn't catch up. As mentioned before I am the one trying to play catch up but in a presently surprised way. This is where I hope to learn more from our new teachers and those with experience in managing students working on multiple projects. 

Use this link to listen to a podcast version of this blog post.
The music in the podcast is protected under creative commons licensing. Attribution information is below:
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fearless First" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Assessing in the new age

So I am trying something different this blog post. I am trying out my first Podcast. I was inspired by both my principal and by author and speaker George Couros who recently spoke at a training our district put on as part of our state training day. We were challenged to do something new and innovative in our practice to help inspire kids and let them explore the world around them using the tools that are out there rather than the tools we are familiar with. I have been trying to do this for the majority of my teaching life and have had some successes and some failures which is how it goes. 

Today I will be talking about assessments and highlighting a way to assess kids that I was inspired to try but Author and game designer Jane McGonigal in her book Reality is Broken. This is my first attempt at podcasting so be kind in your feedback.  The format is my unscripted thoughts on the topic and more like a informal presentation I might be giving to a group of teachers. 

A link to the podcast is below:

Podcast on Buzzsprout 

Link will be inactive after 90 days if anyone knows of a better way to host my podcasts for free I am all ears or if you know of a way to attach an MP3 in blogger I am also all ears. 

Leadership when your not in charge: Follow like a leader

My first post around leadership when your not in charge was about knowing yourself and how to use that to be a better leader. This post will focus on what the author Clay Scroggins calls self leadership. For those of you reading this as the first post a little summary. I am talking about the book "How to Lead When Your Not In Charge" by Clay Scroggins. This is a position many teachers find themselves in throughout their teaching careers. It is not an easy position to be in as we as teachers often times have a tenuous relationship with our admins.I know for me personally there have been times I have been all in behind my admin and there have been times when I cocked my eyebrow and said HUH? at things being proposed thinking I could do better. This books helps navigate the middle ground of being a follower and a leader and is helpful for those like me who like to lead from within. Ok on to the post.

So we have done some self exploration and figured out who we are. Not an easy thing to do and if you are like me you may be still doing it. I think this will always be something we as teachers do as who we are as teachers changes over time. However that being said it is time to talk about the idea of "Self-leadership". In the book Scroggins shares an adage "I would much rather steer racehorses than carry racehorses." in reference to trying to lead someone who doesn't want to be lead. I often times think of my students. They are eager to do but not necessarily in the direction I want them. As I was working on my admin credentials I experienced this with experienced teachers as well. They often times know what is best and don't like to be told what direction to go, they just want to go. This is when we as teachers, admins, leaders are put in the position of carrying the racehorses as opposed to steering them. I recognize in myself when I am forcing my admin to carry me rather than steer me. What can help with this is Self-Leadership and to me the core of leading from within.

The first principle of Self-Leadership is: Model Followership. This doesn't mean you follow every direction given to a T and not complain? No absolutely not. It is about how you handle yourself when the person in charge makes both good and bad decisions. It is about not diving in to the water cooler talk. It is about standing tall and responding to situations appropriately and respectfully. You want others to see you as a person who doesn't pick people apart and belittles them but more one who is supportive and honest. This can be hard to do at times as it is easy to get sucked in to the water cooler talk; I know I have been there many a time. What I try and do in this situation is to listen and not talk. It doesn't always work but again I am only human. A change I am working on is when I feel like I have to talk; I try more to point out other points of view or encourage those who are complaining to try and understand the reason why. Which leads us to the second principle.

The second principle of Self-Leadership is: Monitor your Heart and Behavior.  This is probably the hardest part of Self-Leadership. Many a time we let our emotions (heart) drive our behavior for good or for bad. I can't count the number of times I made a poor decision based on emotions. The 2 that stick out were deeply rooted in emotion for me. One was bad and one was good but both were based on emotions. I have learned from both of those experiences to always stop when I feel my heart jumping up and telling me to do something. It is important to take a step back and think before you act to make sure you are heading in the right direction. In the book the author talks about 3 questions he asked is his old employees before leaving to help inform the work he would be doing in his new job. These questions are based out of the book "The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter." The questions are:

1. What did I do over the past few years tat inspired you?
2. What did I do that frustrated you?
3.  What do I not know about myself that has become a blind spot?

The questions in and of themselves may not be helpful as a teacher but being reflective is very important. As the author says feedback is always circling around your classroom and school about you. Tapping into that feedback is important to monitoring your heart and behavior as it will help mold your behavior in the future. Also it shows to others that you value feedback and are willing to use it to change. Which leads us to our last principle.

The third and last principle of Self-Leadership is: Make a plan. I have a famous saying (one of many my students and family would say) "Know where you are going before you get there." I came up with this as I was stuck behind a slow drive who was obviously trying to find someplace they didn't know. I remember being very frustrated with this person and found myself yelling at them my quote. Fast forward to the present and I find myself being in the situation of that driver. I had been teaching for a number of years and feeling frustration of not having any direction or knowing what to do. I knew I didn't want to teach in a classroom my whole life so wanted to know the next step. On the recommendation of my admin I got my admin certificate. Upon finishing that I found that I still didn't know where I wanted to go as a leader. That was when I inadvertently did what the Author says is the third principle, I made a plan. To help with this plan there are 3 things one needs to do:

1. Know where you currently are.
2. Have a vision for where you want to go.
3. Develop a discipline and accountability to do what it takes to stay on track.

This is important as it is very hard to follow someone who doesn't know where they are going. I know that for me personally it is all about my plan to help teachers become better teachers or a teacher of teachers. I want to be that person in the district that support teachers in honing their craft to be better what what they do. Which is why I am doing this blog and why I offer to teacher classes, and why I want to be a better leader even though I am not in charge. Someone who knows where they are going whether they are in charge or not is easy to follow.

So in the interest of putting my money where my mouth is I want to hear from you about how I am doing. 

1. What are you enjoying about this blog?
2. What do I do that frustrates you in regards to this blog?
3. What might am I seeing or not getting?
4. What could I do better?
5. What topics would you like to explore as we continue this journey?

I welcome your feedback and as always Go Forth and Do Great Things!

Leadership when your not in charge: Exploring who you are

I am currently working on reading the book "How to Lead When Your're Not In Charge" by Clay Scroggins. The premise of the book is how to harness your leadership potential and skills even when you are not what the author refers to as "in charge." I can relate to a lot of what he is talking about as it fits with my type of leadership. I tend to want to lead from within a group and help move it in a particular direction rather than be the figure head or standard barer. I have worked for 9 different principles and 3 to 4 directors in my life and I found that I got frustrated from time to time with the direction they were going. Part of that struggle are the lessons I learned as a child, working as a teenager & and college; one always respects their boss (and those over them) and does not criticize them and does what they ask within reason. Once I started in education as a para-educator I started to experience the sometimes contentious relationship between staff and principles & other administrators.

I know that a lot of us teachers out there feel this contentious relationship between admin and ourselves. I know I felt it for years, that us vs. them attitude. Admin is the dark side that can't be trusted and doesn't know or remember what it is like to be in the trenches of the classroom with 25 to 30+ kids a day. One thing I did to help with this was I took the advice of a principle and got my admin credentials a while back. It was one of the best things I ever did for my teaching. I learned a lot about being an admin and what it is like being a principle. I have filled in for both my vice principle and principle as well as other principles within the district I work. I found that those in that job have the same frustrations that we as teachers do in our classroom. Best way to describe it is that they are teachers of teaches not necessarily the "boss" we see them as in a sense. They have a vision just as we do and they have to move it along with a group of people who may have their own vision. However I digress back to the point I started with about my thoughts and lesson from the book mentioned above.

 I sought out this book at first as possibly a humorous read that might have some ideas on how to work with leaders who I don't agree or get along with. However as I get more into the book I am finding that it fits well with my leadership style of leading from within. While I am still reading the book I thought I would share some of the lessons I have learned so far regarding leadership when you are not in charge with the hopes of helping you grow that leader inside of you.

One of the first things you need to do is figure out who you are as a person or as the author says your "self-in-relationships". The first step is to analyze your past. To do this you need to look at more than just your past experiences in life. You need to look at where you come from and how your family is as well as where they come from. Explore your social-economic status as well as your ethnicity, gender, and citizenship. The goal is to be able to "see yourself in time" as the author says, see who you are truly. One of the best ways to do this is to create a timeline of 5 highs and lows in your life and list them out chronologically. I did this and found it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I found that as I picked events to put on my timeline I would think of others that overshadowed ones I initially thought of initially and it was very hard to limit myself to just my top five. Which I feel is the point of the exercise to really explore who you are and how your past has shaped you today.

The second part is to explore the people you choose to surround yourself with in life or as the author says your "self-interior". To do this you need to look at who you are associating with both your friends and co-workers. Are they good supportive people who you can count on or are they overly critical of you and everything else. Are they what the Author refers to as toxic people or do they support you as you grow and evolve. I will say I have done this over the past couple of years even before reading this book and it has been helpful. I have found that it is powerful to look at and think about who you surround yourself with. You may find that your list may change over time and people you saw as supportive are not "toxic" and vice versa. That is OK in my opinion as long as your recognize it.

The third part is looking at what they author calls "self-interior". This is who you are as a person and your personality. This we have millions of times when we take those funny online "personality quizzes" on social media or when we do a personality test. I know that after going through my psychology degree I became rather skeptical of personality tests but I am now beginning to see the power in them when trying to figure out my personality. I have come to think of personality as more amoebic in nature than set in stone. I think it shifts and morphs in shape to fit the situation/needs of the situation yet still having a core belief that we pull from. I say this because I am by nature a very introverted person but at work and in some social situations I can be very extroverted, yet when I get home I am exhausted.   

The fourth part is to look at your purpose. For some of us who are more spiritual in nature it may be easier to answer this question. However it is deeper than that as I have found (as I am not overly spiritual in the modern sense). Figuring out your purpose is more about "Why [you are] here?" & "What [you] uniquely contribute to this world?". The author refers to this as your "self-agency". I am still trying to figure this one out on a deeper level but I feel that I am close when I say that I think I am here to help others grow, hence my work on this blog and as a teacher. However I think it might be more than that.

The fifth and last part is to examine your priorities in life and what drives/motivates you or your "self determination".. It is not so much about, as the author says, how you prioritize your life around friends, work, family, etc. It is more about the truths that shape your identity. This could be your spirituality in a sense. I see is as looking at what motivates and drives you to be who you are today. What principles do you use to guide you through life. What are the rules you live by is another way to view this. An example for those you like me who may not be overly religious are "Gibbs rules" from the show NCIS. For those not familiar with the show Gibbs is a grizzled Marine who is a member of the the Navel Criminal Investigative Service who has a set of rules he lives by both personally and professionally.

This is just  taste of the book and I will be adding future posts as I delve deeper into the book to help synthesize what I have learned and hopefully give you examples of how I am using/applying my reading from this book. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the above as well as how you use them to find out more about who you are as a leader.

As always Go forth and do great things!

Summer Vacation

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Yesterday was the last day of school in our district and it is always a bitter sweet time of year for me and for the kids. There is joy in the air because school is out and there is sadness in the air over not seeing friends. There is also fear in the air for some over not having the security of being at school for 6 to 7 hours a day. For me I will miss the kids but am looking forward to some time off and getting away. I am looking forward to getting in the yard as well as retooling my curriculum in addition to the family vacations and conferences. Sharing this with staff at our end of the year party got me thinking that just because summer is here and school is out doesn't mean the learning is done; it is a time for the learning to begin or even continue. It is a time to possibly even apply the learning you did over the year to real life.

Summer slide

As teachers we often time talk to parents about the summer slide. For those not in the know it is what happens to kids learning over the summer. They tend to slide back a bit in skills and ability. It is something we have to account for in the fall when school starts up by reviewing basic skills to bring them back up the level they were at in the spring. It is something that districts struggle with and try to compensate for in many ways. I know I was a kid I would get summer math packets and reading lists every year. I came to loath them over time because summer was my time not teacher time. Now a days we have summer camps which focus on areas like Reading, STEM, math, outdoor skills, etc. There are reading contests, and learning centers open for tutoring. I know for me and my kids there will be some online classwork done to hopefully prevent some slide as well as bolster some of the skills they are behind in. However in a new twist I am going to be joining them this year in taking classes online with them. I want to prevent my summer slide as well. I am not talking about the a-fore mentioned conferences and training's I will be attending. I am talking about taking classes online in what I teach already (programming, 3d design, engineering, Google certification, etc.) so I don't slide in my learning. I have tried this in the past and found it to be helpful and also a good way to model life long learning for my kids. As a start off my journey I thought I would put together a list of resources for teachers, parents, and students who might want to join me in doing some basic skills learning over the summer to hep prevent the summer slide. Below is a list of resources I have found that you can use. This list is by no means complete and I hope that you will add to it.

Resources 

• STEM

• www.khanacademy.org/
• www.hourofcode.com
• www.codecademy.com/
• www.instructables.com

• Google & Microsoft office

• teachercenter.withgoogle.com/certification
• gsuite.google.com/training/
• www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/training.aspx
• support.office.com/en-us/office-training-center

• Reading list

• "Brain Rules" by John Medina
• "Social: Why our Brains are Wired to Connect" by Matthew Lieberman
• "Start. Right. Now." by Jimmy Casas, Todd Whitaker, & Jeffrey Zoul
• "Culturize: Every Student, Every Day, What ever it takes" jimmy Casas
• Any Fiction book in a genre you like

These are just a few of my quick ideas sits and book teachers can check out to keep their learning sharp. I invite and encourage you to share resources, books, etc. that you know about to grow this list for teachers.

As always: "Go Forth and Do Great Things!"

Prepping kids for the "Real World"

Credits: pic 1= https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Women_at_work_during_the_First_World_War_Q30804.jpg 

pic 2= https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6083/6102401113_68b228bb15_b.jpg

The two pictures above represent 2 different career paths that students can take but they represent a topic that has been on my mind for the past couple of years as a teacher, prepping kids for what I refer to as The Real World.

No I am not talking about the MTV reality series but life after/outside of school. For those who don't know I work in the curricular area of CTE (Career and Technical Education) and enjoy what the work I do greatly. I often times refer to my classes as the glue or the reason why students need to know Science, English Language Arts, Additional Languages (my own term since I consider coding to be worth a foreign language credit to graduation), Math, PE, Art, etc. In addition to giving students opportunities to apply their learning in other curricular areas, I also teach is referred to as employ-ability skills or 21st century skills.  

These skills include things like working as a team, problem solving, project management, improvising

These skills include things like working as a team, problem solving, project management, improvising, showing up on time, work ethic, and many more. It is the last one work ethic I have been struggling with over the last few years. Then a recent exchange with colleagues got me wondering how and if we are prepping kids for the real world of work or if the world of work is evolving.

Back when I was in school doing quality work, following directions, and getting things done on time were non-negotiable

. We did the work and if we didn't do a good job or turned it in late we understood the consequences. Now sometimes we were given grace but usually we had to ask for it or let the teacher know things ahead of time. However now a-days it seems that kids expect that they can turn something in late, or redo work that was not to the expectation, or can negotiate different expectations whenever they want. This is not something I usually allow in my class without a good reason and done before assignment is due. Yet it seems this is happening more and more and without students initiating the conversation. In conversations with my colleagues we debate giving test corrections for kids to improve their score or having flexible or no due dates because we are measuring a standard and turning in things on time is not the standard being measured (not a knock against standards based grading).

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I know that there are good intentions in these practices. We want kids to experience success, we want to know they have mastered that standard, kids learn at different paces and ways, and on and on. These are all great reasons but at what cost are they being used?

So my concern is that as kids move through K-12 if we are not putting an emphasis on things like getting things done on time, to standard/Spec, etc. are we really preparing them for life in the real world or has the real world changed to where you can redo things until you get it correct, there is no real time limit, etc.

I know in talking with employers in my biannual meeting I do heart the opposite of what we are doing in education yet I know that is a small subset of employers so I would like to hear from others about this. What are your expectation of people entering into the workforce these days?

I would also like to know how you teach kids employ-ability skills like the ones mentioned in this blog. What ways are you helping to prepare kids for the real world. I look forward to your comments.

As always: "Go Forth & Do Great Things!"

Teacher Mental Health

As we round out another teacher appreciation week I want to thank those of you who are educators out there. Often times it may seem like the work we do is thankless at times but know that we are making a difference. I was reminded of that by a story a colleague shared this week about a student they had who was what I often times call a high energy student. You know the one I am talking about as we all have our names for those students that push us to our limit and back again, and we all have our names for them. I choose the term high energy because that is what I truly see them as having or needing high energy. Although I digress. My co-worker shared with me that they ran into this student at a local fast food establishment and said student was a manager. In their conversation the student tool my colleague that they were sorry for the way they acted and now understand why it was so frustrating working with kids like this student. The former student was now a manager and shared how hard it was to motivate and manage people who didn't want to work or were as I say high energy. It is little stories like these that remind me the pay off in teaching is sometime much farther down the road for us that we may like. However it also brought me to another realization the stress that as teacher are under throughout the day is enormous then you add to that the stress of every day life and it is a wonder you don't see teachers snapping.

How do we as teachers do it? How do we keep from snapping? like the ones you see on TV for "taping" a kid to a chair, kicking a student, cutting their hair while singing the national anthem.

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I know between the stress of kids testing boundaries, grading work, students hounding me to get missing work graded and turned in, on top of dealing with neighborhood stress, stress of severe health issues of loved ones, and I could go on I sometimes worry I might end up on TV. I know what you are going to say; maybe it is time for a break or time to look into doing something less stressful. I know I often times think about that as well but for one like me it is not that easy. I do truly enjoy the work/art/science of teaching. I crave that aha moment when a student gets it. Also taking a break is easier said than done. Often times I get into a discussion with friends over how much time off teachers get and how "lucky" we are. I don't want to get too into this discussion but Il I will say that if you looked at my summer schedule you would wonder why it is called summer vacation. As teachers time off is not always a break but a chance to get caught up on the back log of work, required training, and planning. But after reading an article in the May 2019 issue of Men's Health entitled "My First Mental Health Day" I want to encourage my fellow teachers to change their tune on breaks.

Taking a break from work, stress, life, etc. is essential as hopefully we all know. At some point you will break if you don't have fun or relax.

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However as teachers we don't get or take breaks often enough in my opinion. I know what you all may be saying: "I don't have time", "I have students coming in to work", "I hate taking time off because of writing sub plans", "Work won't get done if I am not here", and I could go on and on. I have used many of those excuses in the past and still do. However I was reminded of the power of taking a day for myself earlier this week. It was my twice yearly trip to the dentist that reminded me of the importance to take a day. I know what you are thinking how can a trip to the dentist be low stress. Well for one he is my uncle and I enjoy seeing and catching up. Also I am hearing those of you getting ready to ask my why I took a whole day for a routine cleaning appointment. Well I learned long ago that trying to schedule an appointment early or late enough I could take a half day off was a pain. So I decided that I would take a full day and schedule it when it worked into their schedule. Oh man what a relief that was. it also gave me a day to do things like run errands for my wife so she could rest and also open up my weekend. It was nice to be able to take a mental deep breath for a day. Even with all the emails coming in from students and staff. I was more relaxed when I got back to work and those high energy students weren't as stressful to deal with. Case in point, rather than yelling and lecturing a couple of students who drive me up the wall, I simply had a good heart to heart with them and moved on. I think I may have confused one as he walked away I could tell he was thinking "why didn't Mr. G go off on me" (Chalking one point up for Mr. G).

It was a day like that that reminded me that I need to do that more often during the year. Take a day for myself to take care of myself. Go to the doctor, take care of appointments, be there for my family, etc. Yes I know I will have to write sub-plans, deal with the lack of production, and on and on. But in the long run I believe taking that day here and there may help keep me sane. That being said I also think we as teachers also need to find time during our day to de-stress. I am often times asked why I don't let kids in for lunch to work. I tell colleagues and kids alike that that is my time to get out of my room have adult time. Yes going tot he staff room can be stressful but just taking the 30+ minutes we get to be "duty free" should be that "duty free". I also want to encourage teachers to take some time during the planning to breath and reflect and not "plan". Take a moment to meditate if you can be mindful. At the end of the day leave work at work. Go home and spend time with family and/or with you. Do something you want to do not sit and grade papers, plan out the next months lessons, etc. Maybe sit and watch TV, read a good fiction book, or just let life pass by as you observe it. It is ok to do this once in a while.

Lastly I would like to encourage our unions and administration to seriously look at providing not only mental health days and/or personal leave time in the contracts but look into providing time and/or language in our contracts for mental health both of teachers and students. Lets look into giving teachers a break beyond planning during the day. What I wouldn't give for a para to stop by once or twice a day to ask if I needed a break to go to the bathroom (although I often joke about invoke the power of teacher bladder) so we don't have to hold it for hours between our planning or lunch.

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Wouldn't it be interesting if all staff had a 4 hour aide to work on grading, organizing, etc. What might it be like if we had an hour lunch rather than 30 mins? I know these would cost money and possibly add time to the day but I wonder what we might find in the way of job satisfaction and learning if we did? Also I wonder if we might see a reduction in news stories about teachers snapping.

What are your thoughts? How can we help ourselves be mindful of and deal with our stress? What do you do to get through the stress? I can't wait to see your thoughts and comments.

As always:

Go Forth and Do Great Things.

Science fairs and increasing interest in STEM

As an engineering & technology teacher I get all excited about new things in the STEM field. I was excited to see the pictures of the black whole. I am enjoying getting deeper in subjects like hover craft, hot air balloons, writing html, exploring robot design, and much, much more. Sometimes the kids are with me and sometimes the kids are not. I will admit I get a little bummed when the kids are not as excited as I am but I remind myself that not everyone is into STEM. Which brings me to what i want to write about today: increasing interest in STEM fields.

One tool used to peek kids interesting in STEM is the good old fashioned science fair or as some are calling it the STEM showcase. The science fair has been around for decades as a way to show off the work we are doing in science to the community and help get kids interested in the topics of science. In a nutshell it is being used as a motivational tool. But how motivational is it to kids in getting them interested in STEM?

I ask because my twins are at the grade level where the science fair is done at the elementary level and I am finding 2 very different levels of interest. One kids is mildly excited about doing the tried and true volcano project (thanks to our recent trip to Mt. St. Helens). The other is doing everything she can to get out of it. This came as a shock to my wife and I as she has showed a real interesting in her science time as well as in playing with 2 robots at home. Yet any mention of the science fair is having her shut down and bring on bouts of anger/fear. As a teacher I know that no learning will happen when a child is angry and/or fearful. I have learned to pull back and find other things for my students to focus on or if there is time I try and have a conversation with them to see if I can break them through their anger or fear. Which is what I am doing with my own child. The root of the issue is that like me she is shy and hates "presenting" (yes I know I am a teacher how could I hate presenting; but that is another topic for another post). I looked more into the flyer that went home and see that for 5th grade students it is a requirement. When talking with her about this she is pretty adamant that she will not do it and would rather take a zero.

Don't worry I will get her through this with little to no trauma but it got me thinking. What are good ways to motivate students' interest in STEM fields and is forcing them to present at a science fair the best course of action? I have heard the arguments that if we don't require it they won't do it, or we must do it as a PR piece for voters, or my personal favorite because we have always done it. All, except the last, are valid excuses but what is the impact on motivating students interest in STEM? I can tell you for my daughter and I it is a huge demotivator. While I have learned to suck it up and present something she has not acquired the confidence yet to just suck it up.

I could really care less if she presents or not, what I am more concerned with is keeping her interest in STEM. As we all know girls interest in the STEM field wanes over time even thought we know they do better in these fields. She is one whose interest in STEM has grown over the years. She struggles with reading and writing (like father like daughter) but to see her interest in environmental science with her ability to talk and recall info at the dinner table brings joy to my heart. She is able to describe the parts of studies they did in class and talk about the affects of pollution on the environment from an article in class. She loves playing with the robots I bring home from my classes and exploring how they work both on her own and with her brother. There are even times when she will ask to come out in my shop to help me work on building things or fixing things around the house. She also has acquired an interest in playing video games with her brother where there are missions to solve. All of these are examples of a high interest and confidence level that is utterly erased at the mention of science fair.

So my question to you all is forcing kids to participate in the science fair the best way to motivate kids to explore interest in STEM? What other ways can we motivate kids to explore STEM? Some that I have explored are:
1. Virtual presentations
2. Creating challenges relevant to student interests
3. Student choice in projects
4. Alternate methods of assessment
5. After school clubs
There are many more out there that I would like to hear about as well as your thoughts on the importance of the good old fashioned science fair.

As always go forth and do great things.

Student choice and the power of 20% time, Passion Projects, & Genius Hour

Over the past 2 years I have been doing what I call 20% time. I got the idea from Googles 20% time initiative. This is where google would give employees the opportunity to work on projects they were interested in while at work. Out of this time came things like gmail, adsense, etc. is not out of vogue at Google according to recent news reports. However, education is now giving it life in various forms such as 20time projects, Passion projects, and Genius hour.

No matter what you call this time you give students it will be the best time spent in class by you and your students. I am following along, albeit loosely, the setup of Kevin Brookhouser and his 20time projects (see website link above). In my class students get every Monday to work on learning a skill of their choice. Skills students choose to work on range from learning 3d design, to programming, to baking, football skills, soccer skills, etc. Nothing is off the table unless parents say so or it is too outlandish that it can't be done at school (I haven't run into this yet). The impact on learning and ancillary skills I can teach during 20% time is huge.

The impact that my 20% time project has on learning is greater than anything else I have done instructionally in my 19 years of teaching. On Monday's I have lower discipline numbers and less redirects to get on task. Students are more engaged with what they are doing which is a huge help in keeping discipline down. However that being said I am also able to teach skills such as project management, communication, research, and time management in real life contexts that have a lasting impact over time. Students use a modified Gantt chart

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to track and report their progress on their skill. At the end of the project students will present what they learned in a TED talk like format. This gives them speaking skills in front of a small audience that they know and trust to an extent. As I continue on I hope to expand this project down the road.

Student feedback and engagement is high as well. I see more students working on their projects and skills both in and out side of class. This is significant as when I give homework or ask kids to work on work outside of class I get a poor turn in or completion rate. One might say that it could be because they don't have time or resources outside of class or school. Which might be true however I find that kids will find a way if they feel the work is relevant to them and/or their lives which my 20% time project usually are.

One big question I am asked is how do I assess the projects or skills that they learn. I try very hard not to assess the skill they are learning but more give them feedback and guidance as they move along. I assess them on their time management with a check-in that I do every couple of weeks or so. These consist of me looking at their Gantt charts and talking with them about their project and how it is going. It also involves me asking what they need from me in the way of instruction or resources. If they are asking for help and resources they are learning. I also grade them on a TED style talk presentation at the end of the semester. I have them talk to 3 points
1. What is your skill and the artifact you created with your skill
2. How did you go about learning your skill
3. What are your future plans to continue learning
I have found that if students can answer there three questions in their 5 minute talk they worked on the project they set out to do. I got the idea from one of my ELA teachers and love it.

I welcome your thoughts and ideas on this idea I have started and as always:
"Go Forth & Do Great Things!"

Classroom management in this new era: PBIS, Restorative justice, & discipline

In this post I am looking to my readers for advice and info on PBIS and Restorative Justice. I ask this because I am hearing pings in the hallways of our school that suspensions will be a thing of the past except for bringing weapons to school. This is a move by the state to curb absences due to discipline. As I hear this my gut reaction is one of anger and frustration and thoughts of wanting to get out of the profession because I am concerned that students see there are little to no consequences. However, taking some time to process I want to know more about the two initiatives our district is undertaking to help show students how to be positive members of our society and also see the consequences of their actions on others.

I will admit I am an old school teacher when it comes to classroom management. I have high expectations in my class when it comes to behavior and respect. I expect that you come into my class to meet the following expectations:

1. Have fun
2. Make someone's day
3. Come on time and prepared
4. Choose a positive attitude

These are borrowed and adapted from the Fish! Philosophy out of the fish market as Pike Place Market. In a nutshell to help with workplace management the pike place fish mongers came up with a philosophy I really like. When you come to work you should be focused having fun (first and foremost), to help with that you need to choose a positive attitude, You also need to make someone's day, Along with these three you need to be there for people (what I call on-time and prepared). Following these 4 simple practices help make the day go by faster and more enjoyably and also cuts down on issues and negative behavior.  

I believe strongly in respect and building respect with students and parents. I prefer when students and I have an issue with behavior we talk and work it out together as there is usually an underlying reason for why they are not meeting the above expectations. That is the respectful thing to do. I tell my students that they are with me 5 days a week not their parents so we need to work it out but that I will involve their parents if I need to. This works pretty well on most things. I tell students that the best way to build respect with me is to take responsibility for your actions. For example if you break a tool or Lego piece tell me, if you do something wrong and get caught tell me why so we can work it out. I do the same with my students. If I do something wrong or make a mistake and apologize and offer to make it right. A lot of times students just brush this off but sometimes they are amazed that a teacher does this. Don't get me wrong it is hard for me to do but I am seeing the benefits the more i do. Another thing I do to build respect is if I am going to call home I try to have a conversation with the student before I do so they know what I am going to say. This is hard for some but I think they appreciate it so that when they get home they know how to frame the conversation. I also am trying harder to call home with good news on kids. I have found this shocks most parents but helps when one needs to have harder conversations later on. Before I do call home with good news I ask for permission from my students. This takes them aback at first but more often than not they appreciate it.

I have also found over the years that humor/sarcasm (contrary to my management classes and books) helps to disrupt behavior and give students an out. For example instead of yelling at the kids for talking while I am talking I simply wait for them to talk and then ask if I can continue or kicking backpacks out of class for not meeting the expectations, or judging the pencil for not being out for the student to take notes. I also find that sometimes students need an out/break when it comes to their behavior, such as a moment out of the classroom or a moment to run some stairs. With the later 2 though I am finding I am at odds with the state on this. According to what I have been told if I ask a kid to leave the room I need to notify parents that I made that decision and why. In some cases I agree I need to let parents know but if I sense the kids needs a break or needs to run off some nervous energy I don't think parents need to know. Maybe I am wrong what are your thoughts?

I am wondering your thoughts on my management strategies and how they fit in with PBIS and Restorative Justice. We are learning about PBIS this year in small chunks but I would like to know more. I would also like to know more about how to practice more Restorative Justice in my classes as I feel it might be a better fit with my teaching style. 

As always I welcome and encourage your thoughts and ideas.

Go Forth and Do Great Things!

Being Social: Tapping into the social student brain

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This is the second part of my 2 part blog post on the book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman. I have been reading this book as part of a book study for a group called HDIL (How Do I Learn) which has been examining and helping teachers learn to apply the latest in brain research/science to education. I forgot to mention that in my earlier post. Working with the group of Health Educators, Instructional coaches, fellow teachers, and Neuroscience researchers  has been exciting and rewarding both on a personal and professional level. It has expanded my thoughts on improving how I educate our young learners and that is the focus on this post is how I feel we can improve schools to leverage the power of our social brains.

The research that the author presents and has done is pretty clear that humans are social creatures and our brains have developed to leverage being social to help us survive and grow. He has shown that our social nature can have both positive and negative affects on our brain and on us as well. When we act in a way that is socially acceptable or are given positive social attention from our peers there is activity in the parts of our brain that allow us to experience pleasure and dopamine release. When we act ina way that is not socially acceptable or are given negative social attention from our peers the converse is also true, we experience pain and those regions of the brain associated with feeling pain light up. That is as technical as I want to get as the importance is more on how to leverage the social brain to improve education an student learning.

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Students start out their educational career as one class and move through the early years as part of a class/tribe/family if you will. They get to know their teachers, and peers and learn their habits and quirks. Then in Middle school/Junior high we thrust them into a situation where they are in a new building, multiple classes, new school, many more peers, & HORMONES!

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All of this leads to a sense of no longer belonging when in actuality their brains are craving to just belong. We need to change the way we educate to better take advantage of this craving so we are not fighting it.

As we explore the future of schools and work to change them to meet the needs of the future; we need to accept the fact that just giving students knowledge to remember for later on is no longer acceptable. We need to look at how to teach students how to use that knowledge as well as how to interact with one another. As a CTE (Career and Technical Education) teacher I get to meet with industry professionals to learn more about what I can be doing to prep kids for the "real world" (as I like to call it). The number one thing they mention to me is to help kids develop "soft skills"; those skills like reading people, working together, showing up on time, etc. These are not skills we have necessarily focused in schools but should do more of as we move into the future. Some may say that isn't the job of education but it is all of our jobs. One these "soft skills" is self control.

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Self control is a skill that is important to have not only to help keep us safe but also to help us be more productive in our careers. I see kids in my class that I wish had more self control or patience. I have wondered why they don't have any and hope they get it later. However I now realize it is part of our job to help teach them self control what it looks like and how it works. Along with that we need to give them opportunities to practice using it and not fault them when they fall down or don't use it. I don't know what this looks like quite but I can see it coming into play during project work, and maybe as a part of grading. This leads to another thought we can as educators need to focus on which is helping kids belong.

Another way I feel we can help students belong is to look at ways to co-mingle the curriculum at the middle level. I am not saying need need to go to a more elementary model of 1 teacher who teaches all subjects but more of a co-teaching approach bringing teachers together (having teachers move from class to class rather than students). Where students are exposed to all subjects by multiple teachers in the same class. This I feel will help them see how knowledge is not a singular subject but is interwoven and social. Also it helps give the context of why they need to know this stuff in order to apply it.

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One of the things talked about in the education chapter is that we crave the"why" of knowledge not necessarily the what or how. I know I have seen and see the power of this in my class all the time. I teacher a number of elective classes from robotics to programming to engineering and most kids excel on concepts they struggle with in other classes. One example I am proud of and use all the time is teaching cross multiplication as a function of calculation turns. Our math department struggled with teaching this concept to students especially some of our Special education students. They wondered why I never struggled with it or why kids in my class "got it" I told them I put it into context. They needed to know ratios and cross multiplication to figure out the arc length (which couldn't be "measured" easily) to get their robot to turn a specific angle. Yes they did struggle with it for awhile but once they had the why they needed it OMG! they took off and had it down pat. We need to look for more opportunities to give students a chance to learn and apply the why they are learning things and we will be amazed at how much they will gain in the end.

Lastly I would like to talk about how students show those gains teachers favorite TESTING!

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I know there are numerous thoughts and feelings about testing from high stakes to quizzes. I have my own personal thoughts which I won't get into other than to say we need to rethink how we empower kids to share their knowledge and understanding. I am a PBL (project based learning) teacher and there by most of my "tests" are projects rooted in real life applications. However I recognize that at times there has be be a test given for various reasons. I know the stress of giving tests from having administered several tests over my career, both kids and teacher stress. I wonder though if we made one simple change if it might alleviate some of that stress. That one change is to let kids talk during the test. I know this goes against all the "rules" and "norms" of testing but why? When asked that question I am told so they don't cheat. I accepted that answer early in my career but as I got more into reading books on PBL education, talking to employers, and stressing out while giving tests I rethought that reason. If we are social creatures we need to communicate in some way shape or form. To ask us to be silent for any great length of time goes against our nature. Also where in our jobs, other than teaching, do we need to "test" to get paid? Yes I know we need to test to get various certificates/qualifications for a job but not once we get the job. We get paid by doing our job and being productive. Often times we have to work with others to get the job done. So why not start teaching that during school. Why can't we allow students to talk while testing? I know most will say but how will students show what they know. Well they will show it by the questions they ask others and the explanations they give to others. Also sharing of info is part of what is needed in the workforce; know when and what info to share. Also if we train them to share info correctly (not just giving the answer) they cheating won't be an issue.

These are my thoughts on how to apply the concepts and ideas posed in the book. I welcome your thoughts and ideas as well as encourage you to read the book.

As always Go Forth & Do Great Things!

Being social: Increasing productivity

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As I wrap up my reading of the book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman. I want to write 2 posts in relation to work in schools and how we can help students and teachers tap into our social nature. The first of these 2 posts focuses on the work environment especially in schools. 

I was struck by how in this country we equate job satisfaction with more income as pointed out in the book. I myself am guilty of this way of thinking. However after reading the chapter entitled "The business of social brains" I am inclined to rethink this a bit. We hear phrases like "Money is the route of all evil." or "The best things in life are free" or many others. It turns out these phrases are to a certain extent true as pointed out by numerous studies on economics and job satisfaction and on productivity in the work place. My goal here is not to talk about all these studies an what they show but to focus on my thoughts on how to improve productivity in schools through social endeavors. 

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In the book they cite research that shows as income increases the feeling of social well being stays the same. They also cite research that shows the most effective ways to increase productivity is not to give out more money (it actually decreases it in some cases) but to bring in a social aspect. Help your employees make a real life connection to the work they are doing. As an example they talked about the job of students calling Alumni for donations. What they found was when they brought in a student who was or did benefit directly through Alumni provided scholarships the callers were more productive and motivated to work their callers for money and actually brought in more donations. 

In teaching we get to see this day and and day out with our students. However I believe we can do better. I believe it would be helpful to be able to see how our work impacts families and communities. Some of us get to see that but I think we could do better by attending community events and working with our community leaders to see what events/meetings/ etc. we can attend as teachers. Also I know that we as teachers are feeling overworked and underpaid and don't feel we can sit on another committee or meeting beyond our contract. However there is meaning in accepting that request to sit on a volunteer committee. I have served on a few committee's for my children's school district. While I don't work in the district it has reminded me of the importance of doing so as well as the intrinsic reward/value by doing so. I am not a overly outgoing person and prefer to the the social butterfly on the wall watching others have good time. However the more I have started to include myself I am able to take more satisfaction from the work I do and share the knowledge I have. I think we as teachers and administrators need to focus both on giving teachers opportunities to sit on community boards as well as support that interaction. Also it is important for admin to provide those opportunities and encourage teachers to take advantage of those opportunities not out of requirement but out of helping to fulfill that social need. 

Lastly as schools we need to look at ways of making the work we do during the school day more social. Whether that be time to work together on a cross-curricular project, time to talk with colleagues about what ever comes to mind, time for students to talk while working (possibly more on this in a later post 😃), and time to "break bread" together. The last one is the hardest for me as for reasons I stated above. However, I think the past emphasis on high stakes testing forced us back into silo teaching based on subject areas. You would see math, science, and language arts teachers huddle together in teams to talk about their practice which was OK for their curriculum but not for the overall child. Children need to see how curriculum is social in that it all works together to make one successful.What I am thinking/proposing is taking a page out of the elementary playbook but instead of having 1 teacher teach all subjects you have 4 teachers teach all subjects together in a team teaching concept. I know this may have been or is being tried and I welcome your thoughts/comments on how it is going/working.

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this brings me to my final thought, the importance of communication. I think this is the essence of being social. We often times feel that social media is bane of our existence and ruining our ability to be social. I have found myself totally agreeing this statement until I read this book. I still have my reservations but when you see how we are wired to be social and also put social media in the context of being a tool, it opens up some possibilities. For example 5 years ago I would never have thought of using a tool like email to communicate with my students. It was a barrier that I felt shouldn't be crossed. Along with that I wouldn't imagine being a "friend" on Facebook with my students or tweet with them no matter how much they begged me (again barriers). However now I use email and google classroom (what I call social media for the classroom) to communicate with my students and dare I say it is working out for the positive. With proper instruction on how to both use the tool and respect boundaries social media can be and is a powerful educational tool. 

As always thanks for reading and commenting and remember:

Go Forth and Do Great Things!  

 

Master becomes the Student: Preventing Cabin Fever with Arduino

Living in the Northwest is a unique experience when it comes to weather. We are one of the few places in the US that actually has 4 seasons (summer, fall, winter, spring). The nice thing about this is that for the most part our weather tends to be pretty mild compared to other parts of the country. However when we do get extremes in weather it sometimes throws us for a loop. Take this past week for example. We started out with some fun winter weather that either closed or delayed school for pretty much the entire week. Then when things were getting back to normal we got

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and we got tons of it, anywhere from 2" to 15"+ with more expected on the way. For me just 1 to 2 days stranded at the house drives me nuts looking for things to do and not go crazy. I do the traditional parental things like play in the snow, shovel the driveway, cook, let wife work, etc. I know as a good teacher I could grade papers, plan lessons, read all those PD books I bought for days like this, or get caught up on the all the email I get. But after one does all that what is there to do? Well I decided that I would take on the role of a student and do some good old fashioned book learning (or get back to learning). 

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A year ago as part of my question to do near earth satellites with my after school tech club I took up reading about and learning Arduino.

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I walked away over the spring/early summer because of both honey do projects but also because I was getting frustrated with reading and understanding electrical wiring diagrams. OMG! for a psychology major/history minor they are nothing like Venn diagrams & Brain maps. As a middle school technology teacher I also had limited knowledge on electrical engineering. Mostly limited to wiring up a Lego Mindstorm's motors and sensors. That being said being snowed in forced me to look for something to do inside and was warm and productive. I fired up my ol' desktop and dusted off (achoo!) the book on Arduino projects I bought and jumped back into the program and wiring. Argh I hate electrical diagrams but I decided to try doing what I am teaching my students about now, "The Engineering Process!"

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So I identified the problem: couldn't get wiring of sensor to work;

I then researched and brainstormed solutions: looked up on the net the sensor I had and wiring diagrams

I picked some solutions: I wired up a few of the solutions I found and tested them till I got one that worked.

I then put the wiring together with the wiring diagram for the program from the book and what do you know it finally worked. 

 

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The cool thing about this is not that I got my project to work, although I am pretty excited, I now have a real life story to share with my students and also show them that I do practice what I preach. 

Snow day; online option?

It is has been awhile but with FLL competitions and end of semester it has been a busy winter. However I now have time to write and post more.

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Today is a snow day for my district and my kids district. This is a day that kids and some teachers dream of, no school for a day. However for some it is a bitter sweet day as we know that it will mean we will have to make the day up later on in the year. For some that isn't a big deal but for others it can be as you may have scheduled vacations on those days. I often wondered what if there was an option to not have to make those days up and still meet the learning requirements?

It wasn't until this year that I may have found an option. Over the past 2 years we have been working on our new school building. This has been an exciting challenge as we will be working in our main building as they tear down and build parts of our new building. One of the challenges we will have is to serve lunch in our main building while teaching. We have had many creative solutions posed and that we are working on but one that was suggested as a way out of the box option is online classes. Some of my colleagues scoffed at the idea, yes I was the one who proposed it. Some outright said it wasn't an option because not everyone had access and other typical excuses when it comes to tech use. However there were some who thought it was worth at least some discussion and thought. It turns out there are some schools back east that offer this option. Instead of closing down for the day due to snow they have teachers submit lessons online for students to do on the "day off". Yes there are access issues for those that don't have internet but lets try looking past that. There will always be barriers to learning no matter how we choose to deliver instruction. Good teachers know how to blow past those barriers or turn them into spring boards to learning.

I wonder if what your thoughts are on this topic. Would this work here in the Northwest? I will your thoughts.