Share the Successful Stories – Just Change the Names

Most teachers have heard at least one terrifying story about that one kid who was so horrible, so difficult, he would have challenged anyone. But what about the stories with that same kid, but with a different outcome thanks to the hard work of a fantastic teacher? Maybe we should start sharing those stories instead…

Eric never had a chance, at the age of four Eric watched in horror as his father shot his mother, and then himself in their family’s dining room after a heated argument about infidelity. Eric was placed in three foster homes before kindergarten, and by the start of first grade had a reputation throughout his elementary school as the most challenging kid to ever step foot on campus. In essence, at six years old, many teachers had already written Eric off as a failure. As each year ended, the next year’s grade level teachers would argue and fight over who would “get stuck” with Eric the next school year; usually drawing straws was the solution. The fourth grade team even decided to divide the duties among them, each taking a turn watching Eric by having him trade teachers for each subject area.

By the end of Eric’s challenging fourth grade year, he was suspended twice for fighting with others, swearing, throwing objects and using profane language. He had lunch detention almost every day, and rarely spent recess off the bench by the teachers. Eric had been given many titles by teachers, parents, and students: Unmotivated, challenging, horrible, a bully, a jerk, a waste of energy, slow, stupid, fat, loud, obnoxious, a waste of tax dollars, a drain…. Is it any wonder Eric struggled to find success in school?

Before fifth grade started, a new teacher named Mrs. Johnson decided she wanted to accept the challenge and teach Eric that next year. Despite having only one year of teaching experience under her belt, her teammates didn’t put up a fight; quietly they took the proverbial step back, and allowed Mrs. Johnson to step forward. During the summer, Mrs. Johnson wrote a letter to Eric and his current foster parents saying how excited she was to have Eric in her class.

On the first day of school, every student had an assigned seat, and for the first time in six years, Eric found his name in the middle of the class, in a group with other students. Eric wasn’t sure how to take Mrs. Johnson, so he did what he had always done, he pushed expectations, tested the water, and tried to rattle Mrs. Johnson by using bad language, talking aloud, and arguing with her about anything available. Yet, to Eric’s amazement, the consequences for his actions didn’t include lunch detention, trips to the office, or missing out on recess, instead, they resulted in one-on-one time with Mrs. Johnson before and after school. It wasn’t fun for Eric by any means, but for the first time Eric could remember, he truly felt that someone cared. Mrs. Johnson would talk about actions, what they meant to others, and how Eric, “Could be anything he wanted to be, and do anything he wanted to do if he was willing to try.” This speech was not the magic solution; Eric still turned in bad work, only to see the phrase, “I know you can do better” on the top of his paper instead of the typical F in the upper right-hand corner.

By midyear Eric stopped fighting it, and finally accepted the fact that Mrs. Johnson not only cared about him, but was not going to give up like his other teachers had done. Eric started working harder, paying more attention, and decided school really wasn’t the best place for bad language and fighting. Eric was finding success, and by the end of the year he found a level of self-efficacy he never had before. He wasn’t the perfect child, he still argued and made mistakes, but a teacher cared, so maybe other teachers would to…

Mrs. Johnson wrote a letter to Eric’s future middle school teachers, stating the following: “Eric isn’t perfect, he is going to make mistakes, he is going to push your buttons, and he is going to stretch the limit of your patience. But don’t give up, show him you care, and he will surprise you, he will reach your expectations, and he will be successful.”

Such a perfect message for all of us isn’t it? Don’t give up, show them you care, and they will surprise you…they WILL reach your expectations, and they WILL be successful.

Leveling the Playing Field

The transformation from library to Learning Commons has been a challenging, exciting, difficult, worth-while, and an amazing experience. Seeing students utilizing the once quiet space for learning, collaborating, and lots of risk-turned-failure-turned-knowledge has been very worth the time and energy spent.

Yesterday I was walking by and noticed dozens of students working on things like Lego Robotics, Makey-Markey, Play Ozmo, Chrome Books, and Cardboard Creations in the Learning Commons and it hit me...we have finally found a way to level the playing field.

One of the most challenging things we deal with as a Title 1 school is the lack of background knowledge and experiences our students come in with. We spend so much time talking today on blogs and Twitter, about how we are living in a digital world, that students come to us hard-wired to use and understand technology. But guess what? Many of my students have not experienced the many technological advances that are often assumed to be the new norm. Computers, smart-phones, even Legos....no prior history.

So as I walked by the learning Commons, and stopped to see learning in action, I was blown away to see that a design challenge could be completed, could be a learning experience, could open the door to collaboration for ALL kids. It didn't matter what a child had at home, or what he/she had experienced before…creating the largest machine that could transport a golf ball three feet is challenging for all, and every student has something valuable to share.

In the Learning Commons it doesn't matter how much money you have, where you come from, what technology you own, how many parents you have, what you did or didn’t get for dinner...all that matters if the great brain you bring to school each day is filled with great ideas you are ready to share. Everyone takes risk; everyone learns from failure, everyone gets the same great experience.

In essence, the playing field is equalized, and everyone is welcome to play.

Check it out at: https://www.thesphere.com/direct_embed/472116

An Example of Taking a Risk in Education -

One of the things I constantly encourage my teachers to do is take a risk in the name of student success. I even changed my blog address from the very long-winded “LessonsInLearningWithRyanSteele” to “RiskToLearn” – but then I have to ask myself, what does taking a risk even mean?

So, I am going to go with a very overarching broad brush stroke method to answer this: Taking a risk in education means you are doing something you are not 100 percent sure is going to work, but you know it would benefit your students. EVEN if it is out of our comfort zone. Here is an example from a friend in Atlanta:

My friend was at his wits end, his ninth grade history class was unruly, and despite all the detentions and referrals to the office, his students just didn’t want to behave. He wanted to put his students into six groups, but even when divided by six, he couldn’t find a combination of students that would work well together. In a class that started out as 36, four students had already been expelled for using weapons on campus, and three others dropped out of school by the start of the second semester. This left him with 29 students, 29 students who loved to fight, swear, argue, and ignore anything, and everything, he had to say.

The easy solution was to give up, to sit in the front of the room, let his kids do what they wanted until the bell rang, it’s not like his administrators were checking up on him anyway…The standardized test scores didn’t matter, no one expected his kids to pass, so it would be so easy to sit back and just give up. However, that was not his style, he just couldn’t give up, but what he could do didn’t seem to matter. So like all good teachers, he took a risk, and came to school three weeks later with a new plan in place.

His students waltzed into class, tardy as usual, only to find a note on the whiteboard that said the following: “Please join me on the football field, Mrs. Erickson is waiting in the hallway to escort you personally." Each student groaned and sighed, yet had some interest in this sudden change of environment. They marched outside, only to stop in awe as they saw their teacher standing in the middle of 30 manikins, borrowed from his local department store, covered in washable red paint and old clothes he bought from the Salvation Army.

“Welcome to the Revolutionary War! You just came home to find 30 of your closest friends and family killed by the British army! What are you doing to do?” he shouted.

“Kill them!” said Cain, a typically quiet student.

“How are you going to do that Cain? They are thousands of them, and only 29 of you…” “I don’t care, I could take them!” replied Cain.

“Really? Look around.”

My friend raised a starter pistol and fired one shot. From behind the bleachers came nearly 100 parents, volunteers from his wife’s workplace, and the school’s three administrators. “Cain, how can you take this many people all with guns pointing at you? How can you win a war when you are this outnumbered?”

My friend then went into detail about the use of gorilla warfare. He brought out dozens of large boxes he received from numerous stores, and used them as trees and rocks in order to have the students physically get into hiding positions. While the students where hiding, the parents and volunteers marched across the field in the same style of the British solders, only to find they were not able to see the students.

This was a magical day. Not because his students were great from that day forward, because they weren’t. Not because he build a bridge between some parents and the school, which he did. Not because he gained positive praise from his administrative team, which he also did. For my friend, this day was magical because from that day forward his students paid more attention, and bought into a subject they didn’t seem to care about just the day before. It was hard work, took time and planning, but at the end of the year, his students still were talking about the day their teacher killed 30 manikins in order to teach a lesson.

We get one opportunity to make a difference – but that difference can be huge, gigantic, immeasurable, life-changing, earth-shattering, amazing…

Taking risks just might help make that amazing difference in a child’s life.

Time for Christie to Start Talking SAMR

Here is a great article introducing the SAMR model -

https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model

More to come soon!

It’s Not About Me

I am not sure why it is such a challenge. Maybe it is ego, maybe pride, maybe human nature – either way, remembering it is not about me may be the most important thing I remember each day.

The other day a good friend of mine came to see the new Learning Commons and as she sat down in my office she said, “You need to take down that sign.”

I looked up and above my desk there are, now were, two signs…One says, “It’s Not About Me:” and the other said, “It’s About My Amazing Teachers and Students.” It only took me a second to realize that by adding the word MY in the second sign I was once again…making it about me.

In this profession I think it is easy to want to share, even brag, about the good things that happen. As a principal, when something bad happens, it is on you. So, as a principal, I think it is easy to want something good that happens to also be on you…yet, it can’t be.

There are so many amazing things happening this year – Technology integration, risks being taken, class blogs, green screens, Christie Learning Commons, etc….And here is the secret…It’s not because of me, I am not the one on the front lines…it is the teachers. BUT, here is the KEY I have learned, while it’s not about me; it comes from me…support. My teachers know I support them, I support taking risks in the name of student achievement, I support them as they ask for grants, think outside of the proverbial box, ask questions that are self-reflective in nature to become better at their craft, and I listen to each idea, every time.

It’s not about me, it’s about the teachers and students…and you know what? I think I prefer it that way…

21st Century Learning Points

21st CENTURY STATEMENT OF TEACHER RESPONSIBILITIES: In order to adequately prepare today's students for their future, teachers must effectively participate in professional learning networks, share and model the use of current internet tools, lead authentic, integrated project-based learning activities, assist students as they establish their own learning networks and digital footprint, learn alongside our students as they create, collaborate, and share, provide sufficient learning opportunities for students to become digitally literate and fluent, while also inspiring each child to be quality, digital, global citizens. (http://twitterforeducation.wikispaces.com/21st+Century+Fluency)

List of 21st Century Skills from http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/21st+century+skills •Problem solving •Synthesizing across content areas •Interpersonal communication •Search strategies •Information credibility •Dealing with information overload •How to write for an online, rather than print, environment •Computerized presentation skills •Workspace ergonomics •Basic debugging •Basic understanding of usability concepts •Reflection •Cross-cultural communication •Authentic Learning

Attributes of a 21st Century Learner from: http://blog109.org/communities/dsherman/archive/category/1883.aspx A 21st Century Learner… •is curious; •asks questions; •accesses information from a variety of sources; •analyzes information for quality; •communicates using a variety of media; •gathers and communicates information and employs technology ethically; •adapts to an ever changing information landscape; •needs a supportive network; •is a partner in his/her education; •manages time effectively; and •has the ability to prioritize and plan effectively.

Adding the A to STEM...STEAM

STEAM Education aims to bring Functional literacy to all. It promotes bridging the gap between business and educational goals to create a more productive and sustainable global culture based on teamwork. This educational framework is for all disciplines and types of learners with the goal of being more engaging and naturally successful for all members of any educational system.

Read more at: http://www.steamedu.com/