The Story I Told Myself

I once had the privilege of attending an 8th grade field trip to our district's STEAM center. As a science teacher of 13 years, it was good to be surrounded by engaging activities connected to my favorite content! I bounced around from activity to activity and watched my students learning by doing. One activity involved using K’NEX to create a variety of structures.

I strolled into the room about 10 minutes into the session and noticed a student sitting alone at the table, not building the model. This young man is full of personality when you interact with him one-on-one, but is not a strong student. It is not uncommon for me to see him just sitting in class, not doing his work. I know that he is a past STAAR failure and was retained in elementary school. I also know about his home situation that is not something I would wish on anyone. Despite knowing all this, when I saw him just sitting there, a story began to form. In my mind, I believed that he was just choosing not to engage. I thought he was just being lazy. I sat next to him with the intent to tell him how disappointed I was that he was not respecting the opportunity he was being given. When I asked why he wasn’t building, he said, “I don’t know how.” This seemed unrealistic and I told him just to look at the picture and make it look like that. I watched as he struggled to connect the pieces. At that point I gathered up pieces and began to build. He watched intently and within a minute, he was going. I watched his momentum build after his “aha” moment. We continued building together. I asked him if he had ever had Duplos or Legos as a kid. He said that he had not. I am ashamed of the story I told myself about this young man. Some might think that he should be grateful that I cared enough to sit next to him and help. The reality is that the biggest learning that happened that day was on my part. This young man taught the principal to beware of the assumptions we make about why students disengage. It is a lesson that I won’t soon forget!

What are your go-to questions that you ask of students when they appear to be disengaged?

Perception vs. Reality

The human mind is amazing. Our success as a species is clearly linked to our ability to perceive the outside world, find patterns based upon experiences, and learn. Despite the undeniable virtues of the brain, it is fallible. Take two minutes to view the video at the link below.

Charlie Chaplin Illusion

When I first saw the video clip, I was amazed.  How did my mind misinterpret the reality of the situation?  I rewatched it and tried to force myself to see the mask as it was. I was unable to make this happen.  Despite my best effort, the mask always became convex as it turned to its inverted back side. My perception was not reality.

The relationship between perception and reality is worthy of exploration. One truth that successful people recognize is that our own reality is skewed by prior experience, bias, and our own brain’s misinterpretation of events. This realization helps us slow judgement, seek outside perspectives, and to be truth seekers. A second truth is that other's perceptions are their reality. People, adults in particular, hold tight to their perceptions as truth. This understanding is critical when we work to shift other's thinking.

Accepting these two important truths is fundamental to a mature mindset. Perhaps that is just my perception…. :-)

How do you create an internal, reflective pause, when you are compelled to be a truth teller, rather than a truth seeker?

Alexa

Last Christmas we received Amazon's Echo Dot as a gift for the family.  This little “smart” speaker is another technology tool that is leading us down a new path.  We activate the intelligence of the device by calling out “Alexa.” Once our friend Alexa awakens from her electronic slumber, we have access to music, weather, information from the web, etc.  Dear Alexa performs best with direct, concise requests.

Listening to my 5-year-old Max make requests with his speech challenges is really entertaining!  I am impressed that she can interpret and meet his desires as well as she can. When listening to him struggle to request, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” I realized that this technology tool was both a blessing and a curse.  The blessing part is that Max, and myself, are learning how to craft simplistic language to get the information or function we want. This is a great opportunity for problem solving and honing communication skills. The downside to this is the directive nature of the requests.  Terse requests tend to sound bossy and impolite. I don’t want Max to talk to me, his teachers, or anyone else in this way. Polite asking versus direct telling tends to increase the chances we will get what we want when it comes to human interactions.

I think that this example points to the challenge and ultimately the opportunity that lies with technology usage.  In my role as a parent and principal, I need not avoid these types of tools because of great potential they have. It is also critical to remember to teach Max that there are many different ways to communicate based upon the situation.  The way we talk to our new friend Alexa is different than the way we talk to human beings. When we embrace challenges as opportunities, our perspective shifts dramatically for the positive.

How do you directly teach your students the nuances of language, including registers, to set them on a path to successful communication?

Fuzzy Thinking

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of my education heroes. He is a master of using the power of his narrative to simplify the complex. This is true if he is teaching astrophysics or important life lessons. Check out the 5 minute clip from a graduation commencement at the link below:

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Fuzzy Thinking

The examples he gives in this speech are powerful in helping to illuminate the issue of an over-reliance on multiple choice or objective testing. As a teacher of science for 13 years, I enjoyed the ease of grading and disaggregation of  data that these objective assessments provided. Despite this convenience these assessments can create the problem Neil is discussing. What are some steps a teacher can take to reduce the occurrence of “fuzzy thinking” in our classrooms as a function of our assessment?

1. Minimize the number of questions that are only at the knowledge level. If the answer can simply be given by memorizing, we are only reinforcing the problem. A good filter for this is to ask ourselves, “Can the answer be found by googling it?” If the answer is an affirmative, then it is back to the drawing board to craft a deeper question.

2. Provide a variety of assessments and checks for understanding about concepts that matter deeply. Let's face it, not all learning targets are of the same significance. For those enduring understandings that are priority concepts for your content area, allow for students to demonstrate mastery in a deeper fashion. When students respond in an essay or short answer format, we can get a much clearer picture of where students are in their understanding.

3. Demonstrate that your focus is THAT students learn rather than WHEN they learn. Your behavior after formal assessments will show students what you value. Simply returning the assessment and moving on sends a devastating message for those who were unsuccessful. This practice communicates, "Learning is optional... as your teacher, I am OK with you failing." Purposeful opportunities for students to revisit the thinking behind the answers that they missed, communicates a positive message. Leveraging retest and redo practices that allow for student to fully recover show that our focus is on learning, not just a grade.

Do you celebrate the correct answer or learning in your classroom?

Oblivious or Conspicuous?

I have a life goal that has set me on a path to continue to grow as a man. My goal is to be the best man my children have ever known. On my reflective journey to become better, I have noticed something about myself. I find that when things are going well and everything is in its place, I am oblivious to my current state. As soon as something is no longer in a state that meets my expectation, it becomes very conspicuous. A simple example of this could be related to the cleaning of a classroom. Each day we enter and the room is clean. Throughout the school day, busy students traipse in dirt, sticky fingers touch surfaces, and the trash can fills. The next day, the room is clean again thanks to the hard work of our custodial staff. Over time we become oblivious to this positive state of existence. If we walk in one day and the room has not been cleaned, it is VERY conspicuous. Rather than noticing and celebrating 100 days of a clean room, we only seem to notice the one day that it did not happen. A bigger example might be how we take our good health for granted. Only when we have pain do we appreciate the pain-free existence from the day before.

I know I am not alone fighting this dark side of human nature. Why is it that we don’t take the opportunity to praise the majority of students who are doing just what they are supposed to day-after-day? We are often oblivious to their contributions. Instead, those few students who are not meeting our expectations become very conspicuous to us. This narrow focus on the small minority begins to cloud our perspective of the class as a whole, our school, and sometimes even our view of the world. I believe that shifting our focus to make those things that are in a positive state conspicuous, and become more oblivious the other things, makes our life better!

What are you doing to make the positive things in your life conspicuous to you?

A Tale of Two Windows

What a pleasure it is to walk about a new campus like ours!  Collaborative spaces, the latest technology and natural lighting abound.  I was walking about on one of my coaching days and was struck by the the variety of messages that I was getting from how my teachers chose to cover or uncover their interior windows.    

Check out the image above.  The classroom pictured on the top is identical to the one on the bottom.  Do you get a different feel when you look at them?

As I walked by the open window, a story began to form in my head.  This is a room in which the teacher trusts the students to maintain a focus on their learning, even when someone happens by. I find it noteworthy that all the students are engaged even though their principal is standing in the hall with his phone clearly taking a picture. This room tells a tale of openness and transparency.  It invites us to come and take a look at the amazing learning that is taking place within its walls. It speaks of a teacher who is vulnerable and authentic. It says clearly, "This space is all about collaboration and connection."

The tale of the closed window stands in stark contrast to the other.  It seems to say that students are incapable of recovering from the distraction of someone walking by in the hall. It whispers of something private happening within its walls. It sends the message that learning is siloed within its space.

What tale do your windows tell?

Mark

Max Learning: Learning Everything

How do you bring a big smile to the face of a father who has been an educator for 30 plus years?  My four-year-old Max knows just what to do.  Simply stare straight into Daddy’s eyes and make this heart-felt declaration, “I want to learn everything!”  My little man’s drive to learn is something to behold. His passion for learning is a precious thing. My wife Courtney, and I, treasure it and are driven to keep that fire stoked.  In this post I will explore some of the actions we take to engage Max so that he can move toward his goal of “learning everything.”  I think the lessons learned here apply to all learners, big and small.

Leave it for later – Max has a variety of centers throughout the house.  He has a store front opposite a miniature grill.  He can “cook” up a multiple course meal, ring you up on the register and serve you at a table for two.  A pressed plastic castle form serves as a central focal point for ongoing pirates versus knights conflict.  He has a dress up area, multiple libraries and his current favorite, a table for his Legos. 

To maintain order, our expectation for Max was to reorganize one center before moving on to the next.   “Clean up Clean up, everybody everywhere….”   I suspect you know this song.  Like most young ones, Max is prone to fight the clean-up process.   This is especially true when it comes to his Lego creations.  We learned a tough lesson through these battles to let Max pick a specific creation to keep for later.  Upon reflection, it makes total sense that he would struggle with dismantling the creation he finds value in.  This simple acquiescence has reduced our battles and created a balance between cleaning up and devaluing his creativity. How can you allow for ongoing processes that provide continuity of creativity for your learners?   

Let them lead – Max has become very proficient in riding his bike with training wheels. The wheels will be coming off in the fall.  As his proficiency grew we began lagging behind so that he could pick his own path.  I was amazed at how simply allowing for him to choose which sidewalk he would venture down increased his motivation to ride.  How do you provide autonomy for your learners so they will pedal faster than before?  

Search it up – The questions that Max has about the world seem to be endless.  This is especially true when it comes to space and natural science.  What can I say, he is his father’s son when it comes to that.  I find myself frequently struggling for complete answers that satisfy all his curiosity.  That’s when the smart phone comes in very handy.  My favorite platform to leverage is You Tube.  How do you respond to your learner’s big questions to support a “search it up” mentality?

Lessons within service – I understand that it is important that we all see ourselves as something bigger than ourselves. In an effort to support this idea, Max and I set a New Year’s resolution to pick up one piece of trash every time we are outside. On an outing last spring, we focused on cleaning up a ditch near our home.  Beyond the lesson in service, Max stumbled upon some really interesting things.  A dead cedar wax wing allowed us to look at the anatomy of a bird up close.  A shy crayfish and his recent molt gave us an opportunity to talk about exoskeletons.  How are you leveraging teachable moments for your learners?

Junk collecting – Every parent knows the frustration of their child finding more joy in playing with the box a gift came in than the gift itself. This should not be a surprise when we consider the creative minds of our little ones.  We have begun collecting odds and ends for Max to use outside.  He engages with these random objects as much as or more than his outside toys.  Bungee cords, sticks, and a variety of containers are his current favorites.  Could you create a maker space for your learners?

Moving beyond the trivial – Max has a great memory for past events and the names of things.  On a recent trip to the Sonoran Desert, he had the opportunity to see novel flora and fauna.  He knows the difference between a saguaro and organ pipe cactus.  He can recognize javelina, coyotes and quail.  I am proud of his ability to remember the names of things, but I work hard to question him into deeper understanding.  We were fortunate to observe some animal behaviors that are perfect for exploring the “why”.  We watched a pair of javelinas stroll into a dry creek bed.  One began rooting with its snout in the creek bottom until a muddy pool of water appeared.  Through questioning, Max was able to articulate why this animal was doing this.  At first he postulated the javelina was going to drink the water, but when the javelina rolled in the water, Max figured out that he was after a cool bath.  How do you question your learners so that they will think deeply and own their learning?

Butterfly lessons – In the spring we collected 5 monarch butterfly caterpillars.  On a daily, sometimes hourly basis, we watched as the caterpillars devoured the milk weed and grew larger.  Four of the five attached and formed a chrysalis. Only three of the insects fully pupated and spread their wings as butterflies.  In our world that seems to promote only immediate gratification, it was refreshing to see Max stay interested and ultimately be rewarded by seeing an adult emerge.  I believe this is the most important lesson of all.  Life and learning are imperfect and require patience, but wonder lies at the end!