tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63652656017329468542024-03-14T00:29:49.322-07:00Wondrous World of Mr. OgleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-45074914293644766542015-01-30T07:40:00.004-08:002015-01-30T07:41:27.558-08:00What if....?What if doing one simple thing differently could change everything? Would you do it?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PIHtuKc3Gjg" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-44579733872343486792014-09-04T12:03:00.001-07:002014-09-04T12:03:14.107-07:00Holla Achya Teach!This will be a short post because it isn't my usual philosophic rambling. Instead, I'm giving a little advice to my students, not just for my class, for any class, and not just for high school; this information will also help in college and the workplace. This advice is simple: Communicate with your teacher (professor, boss, etc.) about anything concerning your ability to meet their requirements as soon as the situation arises. So far this year, I have had several students absent from my class for various reasons. In some cases, it is a planned trip or appointment, so they ask for assignments the day before they are absent. That is fantastic. In some cases, even when they know they will be gone, students do not take care of this necessary information beforehand. Other times, a student is absent because they are sick. In most cases, these students will wait until they get back to school to go to each teacher at the beginning of class to ask for what they missed, but I have had a couple of students this year take the time to send an email to all of their teachers (just one email with all of us CC'd) explaining that they were not feeling well and would not be in class and asking for any assignments they would be missing. This blew me away. What an amazingly responsible thing for a teenager to do. Instead of having your parents call and ask for a homework request to be sent around to your teachers or simply doing nothing at all until you get back to school, be proactive and take the few minutes it takes to send an email to your teachers to personally explain why you will not be in school and to request make-up work.<br />
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Another scenario that has popped up is concerning electronic assignment submissions. Many of my assignments are submitted electronically outside of school hours. It never fails, on every assignment, I have students who fail to submit anything. I usually send out an email reminding them that they need to get the assignment done within a week to comply with my late work policy, and I invariably receive emails with a range of excuses of why the assignment wasn't done. What I rarely get, however, is an email from the student when the excuse happens to let me know they will not have my assignment done and why. How refreshing would that be to have a student send me an email before deadline to explain what difficulties they have encountered and that they will not be able to meet my deadline? I would never dream of just silently missing one of my bosses' deadlines and then waiting for them to approach me, and I'm guessing most responsible working adults would say the same. In the event that I know I am not going to meet a deadline, I contact my boss to let him know that I will not meet the deadline, why I will not be able to meet it, and when I expect to have the task completed.<br />
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The point of all of this, dear students, is to say that it would go a long way toward endearing yourself to your teachers if you began proactively communicating on your own behalf, and it would build in you an important habit for success in the adult world.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-31013743386656319612014-08-16T09:29:00.002-07:002014-08-16T09:29:24.675-07:00Fresh StartAnother school year is underway at PCHS. This is my seventh year of teaching, and I am always excited for the first days of school, and I think you should all be excited too. For me, the beginning of the school year is more significant the start of a new calendar year. On January 1st, many people wake up looking at the new year as an opportunity to make changes, better themselves. We make resolutions for the changes we want to make in our lives. As a teacher, my life revolves around the school calendar more than it does the standard calendar; for me, New Year's Day is halfway through the year, not the beginning of it! By New Year's Day, we've already put in a full semester of work, so each August, I begin thinking about myself as a teacher. What I have I done in the past that I am happy about? What I have done in the past that I'm not so happy about? What worked in my classroom? What did not? I start every year by making resolutions about the kind of teacher I want to be this year. I set goals for my own improvement. Here are the goals I have for myself this year:<br />
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-I want to blog more often. As a teacher and father of three young children, I don't have much time for traditional hobbies like golfing or going fishing. Truth is, I haven't done those things enough to even know if I would enjoy doing them more often. I'm not very good at either one, and I don't really have the time or resources necessary to get better at this point in time. By most accounts, though, I am a pretty good writer, and I enjoy doing it. It doesn't require an incredible amount of time, and I have all that I need to accomplish it sitting right here at my fingertips, so I resolve to blog much more often than I have the last few years. I think that putting my thoughts out for students and parents to read gives them more insight into who I am as a person and what I am trying to accomplish in my classroom.<br />
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-I want to continue to get better at communicating with parents. As soon as I finish this blog, I am going to start the tedious task of creating email lists of students and parents for each of my classes (no small task with 7 classes and about 150 students). After that, I will be sending out mass emails to both students and parents with information about how to stay in contact with me and access course information. I know that not every parent uses email on a regular basis, but I have found that enough of them do to make the effort worthwhile. This is something that I have done will during some semesters but not so well in others. I resolve to do a good job of it both semesters this year.<br />
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-I want to do a better job of creating a culture in my classroom for students to not only feel comfortable getting extra help from me, but also to make sure that process is easier for kids. I think that I am going to try to create extra help sessions each week focusing on specific topics so that students can show up for help in those areas at those times. For example, I may have a time set up every Monday after school to focus on grammar for 30 minutes. There may be a 30 minute session on Thursday for organization and study skills. I plan to include students in coming up with times and topics, so feel free to leave me a comment with your suggestions.<br />
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-I want to continue to get better at getting feedback to students in a timely manner. Last year was probably the best I've ever done at getting assignments graded, posted on MMS, and back to students quickly, but I want to continue to get better at that. For some assignments, this is very easy. For others, I'm going to have to really buckle down to make it happen. With 100 students enrolled in English II, grading 100 essays is going to take some time, but my goal is to get those essays graded within 10 days, which means grading an average of 10 essays each day. It will be hard, but resolutions are not meant to be easy. If it were easy, we wouldn't have to resolve to do it, right?<br />
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-I want to continue to be the change. With Challenge Day coming back this year, I'm excited to continue to see our school culture improve, and I know that I have a great responsibility as a teacher to be a big part of that change. I see you, I've got you, and I love you.<br />
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There you have it: my five resolutions for this school year. I know I will not accomplish all of these things all of the time. There will be weeks when I am worn out from the daily grind of school and raising a family. There will be weeks when I have meetings after school that get in the way of accomplishing some of these tasks. A little over a year ago, I began trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I started paying more attention to what I was putting in my body and resolved to exercise more. A year later, I can see the difference in my weight, body composition, and overall health. This process has taught me a lot. Have I met my goals every day for the last year? No. There are still days when I eat too much junk food or skip the trip to the gym, but if I continue to work on those goals and have more good days than bad, I will move forward. The resolutions I have for this school year are the same. There will be days or weeks when I don't accomplish some of these goals, but if I have more good weeks than bad, I will be a better teacher at the end of the year than I am right now.<br />
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For my students reading this, what are your resolutions for this school year? What kind of student do you want to be when we arrive at the end of the year? What will it take to accomplish that goal? I want you to try to come up with five goals for yourself. Instead of focusing on a grade you want to get, focus on the behavior it would take to earn that grade. For instance, instead of saying "I want to get all A's", resolve to turn every assignment in on-time to the best of your ability, to ask for help when you don't understand an assignment or concept, to participate fully in every class, etc.. Understand that there will be days that you don't feel like participating, and that is fine, but if you try to meet your goals every day, you will be far better off than if you aren't trying at all, even if you sometimes fall short. I look forward to accomplishing our goals together.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-10413816554757167712014-05-17T07:14:00.001-07:002014-05-17T07:14:28.746-07:00Why I'm a JerkI've tried to deny it for years, but I guess it is time for me to admit it: I can be a bit of a jerk. I do a lot of jerky things, and my face just naturally looks angry. I tell my students when they aren't doing what they need to be doing. I let them know when they are screwing up, and I let them know what they need to do to stop screwing up. When my students fail to put forth their full effort, I call them out on it, and I assess their work accordingly. To many, this seems like some real jerk behavior. Maybe they are right, but I am not going to change. I'm not going to change because my job is to prepare my students for the real world, and the real world is a jerk. The real world will let you know that you are screwing up in a far harsher way than a stern lecture and a low grade on an assignment.<br />
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My students need to be prepared to go to college, the military, or the workforce and bring their best effort every day, even if they are tired, even if they have big plans for the weekend, even if they broke up with their boyfriend/girlfriend, even if they just don't feel good or are having a bad day. The real world is going to expect my students to be responsible, driven, and dependable, so I expect the same thing. That is the only way I can feel like I am doing for them what I am called to do. Is it what they want me to do? In many cases, maybe even most cases, the answer is no. They do not want me to push them, to hold them accountable, to have high expectations, but I will say this: I have never had a former student tell me that I did not do enough to prepare them for life after graduation. My class is hard. It is supposed to be. If a student passes my class, they should know that they accomplished something meaningful. A passing grade in my class is not a participation ribbon; it is medal that was earned through hard work and determination. That is the way it is supposed to be. No one has ever learned anything they did not have to work for. Period. So, I make my students work.<br />
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A couple of days ago, I posed a simple question to my students: Are you an optimist or a pessimist? As often happens, one of my students turned the question on me. I will share the answer here for everyone who was not in that class on that day because it may give a little more insight into why I'm a jerk. I told the class that when it comes to my students, I am an optimist. I expect the best from them. I expect that every student in my class wants to be successful, wants to learn. I go into every class period with the expectation that my students are going to give me their best shot until the bell rings. I give every assignment with the expectation that my students are going to use it as an opportunity to push their performance level up one more notch. If I were a pessimist, any failure to meet those expectations wouldn't bother me because it would just confirm my low expectations, but that is not the case. When students sit in my class and do nothing, it bothers me. When students blow off my assignments, it really bothers me. These things bother me because they let me down. I have such high hopes for my students that when they let me down, I feel it. When they let me down, I let them know because wherever they end up after graduation, their boss, commander, professor, etc., will certainly let them know when they fail to meet expectations, and in the real world, the stakes are much higher than they are in high school.<br />
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Coaches will often discuss players by breaking them down into two skill sets. One skill set is tangible. Does the player have solid fundamentals? Do they understand the game? The other skill set is intangible. You can't measure it. How does the player respond to being coached? Are they mentally tough? How do they handle adversity? The first set of skills are less important in many player evaluations than the second because the first set of skills can be taught if the second set of skills are solid. Life is the same way. Successful people have the second set of skills. They are able to take negative feedback and learn from it. They are mentally tough enough to see it as an opportunity to get better. When they get knocked down, they look at the damage, learn from it, and move on with a determination to not get knocked down again. If a person can do that, they can learn just about anything. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. It is the case in sports, as it is in life.<br />
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If I weren't a jerk, my students wouldn't learn. If I accepted sub par work, what would drive my students to try harder the next time? The answer is nothing. If I give a student an A for something that is a C at best, will they ever actually produce something worthy of an A? Why would they? I would be leading them to believe that what they are doing is already outstanding. As far as they would be concerned, they do not need to improve; they are already at the top. If I made a student feel like not doing an assignment for my class is acceptable, what motivation do they have to turn in the next assignment. We all want to believe that getting gold star stickers for everything we do is going to make us feel so good about ourselves that we will naturally get better, but that is only partially true. While we will feel good about ourselves, we will never get better. We get better by competing, especially against ourselves. We get better by constantly striving to outdo our last effort. Without honest feedback of our shortcomings, how can we grow? <br />
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So, yes, I'm a jerk, but I'm not a jerk out of malice. I'm a jerk because I care more about my students and their future than the vast majority of them will ever understand. I'm a jerk because I want to see them be successful in life, and I know that they are going to have to work hard to do that. I'm a jerk because I would rather them get a little scuffed up within the protection of our high school surrounded by people who are there to pick them up, dust them off, and help them learn to get better than out in the real world where they will be stepped on by the next person waiting to take their position. I'm hard on my students because I know that what comes next will be even harder, and I can't look myself in the mirror if I'm not doing everything in my power to make sure they are ready for it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-44568287027206284852013-12-14T07:54:00.001-08:002013-12-14T07:54:34.568-08:00What Great Students Do Differently: Be Proactive, Not ReactiveAs I sit here at my desk at home watching the snow falling and grading student essays, I am reminded of an idea I had for another entry in this series. It occurred to me on vacation (I think about how to be a better teacher while on vacation. How many students think about how to be a better student while sitting on a tropical beach? There may be something seriously wrong with me!). I am in the process of reading <i>The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens</i> by Sean Covey, and I was reading it periodically while basking in the Dominican sun in between longer intervals of reading <i>A Thousand Splendid Suns</i> by Khaled Hosseini. I'm obviously not a teen, but I do work with teens, so I am very interested in what qualities make some teens effective while others never seem to find success. I can not recommend this book to high school students strongly enough. In fact, I tend to think we would benefit from every student at PCHS reading it as a requirement for some class somewhere. It is available in the library if you are interested in reading it yourself.<br />
The book itself is very easy to read. It is written into short, manageable sections with a lot of real-life examples to illustrate the concepts being addressed, and each chapter ends with baby steps a teen could take toward cultivating these habits. Honestly, anyone could benefit from cultivating these habits. They are universal; the way in which they are presented is simply targeted toward teens, but I digress.<br />
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The first habit is being proactive, and as I was reading this chapter, I realized that this may be one of the more important things that great students do. Instead of their classes happening to them, they take control over their learning and their education. This is easily apparent when I grade student essays. There are some students whose final essay of a semester is obviously better than their first essay. These students are proactive. When they get the feedback from the first essay, they begin trying to figure out how to improve. They come talk to me or another teacher to get clarification on what a good essay should be, and then they continue this process for the entire course. The understand that the grade they receive is based upon how well they can produce an essay that meets the guidelines of the assignment and the structure of an academic essay. They are proactive. Other students are reactive. They take no steps to improve and keep letting the poor grade happen to them. It is amazing to me the number of students whose feedback and grade on the final essay is exactly the same as the first essay. These students are reactive. Here is the difference in responses to a poor essay grade from proactive students and reactive students:<br />
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Proactive:<br />
-I got marked down for not having a thesis statement. I need to go talk to the teacher to figure out what they are looking for in a thesis statement and why my thesis doesn't measure up.<br />
-I thought I incorporated enough support, but the feedback says it is lacking. I need to figure out how to more effectively incorporate support.<br />
-I received a failing grade. I need to figure out what I need to do to earn a passing grade.<br />
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Reactive<br />
-I got marked down for not having a thesis statement. Thesis statements are stupid. When will I ever need to write a thesis statement?<br />
-I thought I incorporated enough support, but the feedback says it is lacking. The teacher is just mean and wants us all to fail. There is nothing I can do to improve.<br />
-I received a failing grade. The teacher is unfair and out to get me.<br />
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Which approach seems more likely to lead to success? The fact of the matter is that life is hard. Accomplishing any goal is going to take trial and error. I do not know of a single successful person who hasn't hit a brick wall or two along the way. Randy Pausch, author of <i>The Last Lecture</i> (another book I think everyone should read), describes brick walls in this way:<br />
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<i>The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.</i></h1>
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This perfectly sums up the difference between proactive and reactive people. Proactive people encounter a brick wall and immediately start trying to figure out how to get over it, through it, around it. Reactive people complain about the brick wall and keep letting it stand in their way. </div>
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If you have managed to stick with this post up to this point, I would like you to take a few moments of honest reflection to think about how you react to brick walls. Think about the last time you didn't find success at something, whether it was failing a test, doing poorly on an assignment, or not making the team/getting the part. What was your first reaction? Did you start coming up with reasons it was unfair? Did you start figuring out who (besides you) was to blame? Or did you start figuring out what YOU could do to ensure greater success the next time? Your answer well tell you what kind of person you are right now, but the great thing about life is that a reactive person can make the choice to start being proactive. In fact, making that choice is the first, most-important proactive decision a reactive person can make. If you are brave enough, share in the comments what you came up with in your honest reflection.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-30805026270608536142013-11-12T13:12:00.002-08:002013-11-12T14:16:33.129-08:00What Great Students Do Differently: ResolveFor the second installment of this blog series, I have a guest blogger. Ms. Seaton has agreed to write about one of the things that she sees great students do differently. It is strange how the universe works that I would get around to posting this today considering I spent the entire period talking about this exact topic in all of my junior/senior level courses today. What Ms. Seaton has written here sums up very nicely the point I was trying to get across in class today. Enjoy.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">What do great students do?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">They resolve to succeed. Great students have well-thought-out plans for the future and enough self respect to consider themselves worth the work to achieve their goals - no matter what stands in their way. They realize that their education is not just for them but for their future family and life. Great students understand how their education becomes a building block and foundation for what they want in the future. What kind of lifestyle do you want in the future? Great students have contemplated 20 years down the road.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">They have the resolve to not waver when life throws a curve ball - no matter how large or how fast. They get themselves back on track or adjust their goals as necessary. They have the patience to see their goals through no matter what might stand in their way. Great students will always turn all their assignments in because of how it makes them feel accomplishing yet another step towards their goals. Not turning in assigned work is never a thought - for they won't allow themselves to fail. They don't want to let themselves down.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">When great students see others are messing around in class and not realizing the importance of the message, they are motivated even more to achieve and grow from the spot they are in. They are in tune with the teacher, to learn the material that is being presented to them and more importantly - how they can use it to excel in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">They are emerging as a leader of their own destiny and are starting to affect their own families' future…..however they won't realize this until a lot later. Great students know what resolve is. They are focused on their future and will fight for their dreams.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-8071795707088096902013-11-02T15:56:00.003-07:002013-11-02T16:05:24.797-07:00What Great Students Do Differently: Utilize ResourcesI am currently leading a small group of faculty members in a book study of Todd Whitaker's <i>What Great Teachers Do Differently</i>. The goal is for us to sit down and have a meaningful discussion of what great teachers do differently than those who are not so great. We are about halfway through the book, and I have to say that while the concepts aren't groundbreaking, the discussions have been a great reflective exercise for myself and my colleagues. I think that is usually the case with trying to become great at something, though. When we look at people who are really good at what they do, we generally find that they aren't doing anything overly complicated or beyond the reach of anyone else. They are just very good at doing the simple things, and they do them consistently. With that in mind, I would like to start a blog series on here outlining some things that great students do differently. Todd Whitaker started out with fourteen things that matter most for teachers, but over the years, that number has grown to seventeen as the book has come out with new editions. I don't know how many I will come up with for students, and I am going to try to bring in some of my colleagues as guest bloggers to share some of their insights into what makes great students so effective. I don't believe anything we have to share is going to be earth-shattering, but perhaps it will allow for a discussion in the comments section and some reflection on your part. As you read these, ask yourself how well you do these things, and if you do them well, how consistently are you doing it.<br />
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<b><u>Utilize Resources</u></b><br />
On a weekly basis, I deal with students who are struggling in a class. Often times, the class they are struggling with is mine, but since I supervise a study hall and help my homeroom students, I also see students struggling in other classes. In almost every case, the answer to these struggles is to utilize the resources available within the school. I'll give you an example. Suzy is really struggling in her English class. She pays attention during daily grammar instruction and she tries really hard to figure out the parts of speech and the sentence parts and even that maniacal diagram, but the concepts just aren't solidifying for her. As a result, she struggles on grammar quiz after grammar quiz. She is frustrated because she has always like English class because she loves to read and even writes stories in her spare time; she wants to be a writer someday. Now she is getting a D in English and worries that she has been wrong about her career aspirations. She is ready to give up. This scenario could apply to any number of students sitting in any classroom in the school, and on the surface, it would seem that Suzy is doing everything right. She is paying attention, doing all of her work, and trying really hard to learn, but Suzy is making a common mistake. Suzy is operating under the assumption that she is in this battle alone.<br />
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Asking for help is hard. We worry that the people we are asking are annoyed or inconvenienced by our requests for support, but if we really think about it, the people we are afraid to ask have purposely put themselves in a position to help. Helping us is their job. School is set up in such a way that each progressing year builds on concepts from the year before. It stands to reason, then, that even a good student is eventually going to reach a level where the work becomes more difficult than they can manage on their own. This does not mean they are dumb or lazy. It does mean that they are going to have to change their approach. Every teacher in the building went through a difficult road to be standing at the front of that classroom, and they all did it because they wanted to. None of us are here against our will. One of the most frustrating things I encounter as a teacher is having a student fail knowing that they could've been successful if they had asked for help from me or anyone else.<br />
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Let's go back to Suzy. Suzy's mother is also concerned about Suzy's grade and the fact that Suzy is no longer as excited about school as she used to be. Suzy's mother contacts her English teacher to find out why Suzy is doing so poorly. The teacher reports that Suzy is paying attention in class, doing all of her work, and appears to be really trying to master the concepts, but she just isn't making much progress. The teacher also reports that Suzy never asks questions in class when the concepts are being covered. This is not uncommon. A majority of students are afraid to ask questions in class because they all feel like they are the only person who doesn't understand. As the guy who keeps the gradebook, let me put that to rest right now. In just about any class, there are a number of students who are struggling. Again, that is part of the process. If everyone has mastered the concepts being covered, what would be the point of the class. Suzy's mother tells the teacher that Suzy is shy, and getting her to ask questions in class is going to be more painful than pulling wisdom teeth with no anesthetic. For many students, this is where the throw in the towel, but great students realize that there are resources at their disposal. In Suzy's case, it is that English teacher. The teacher tells Suzy's mother that she is available to help Suzy one-on-one before school, after school, at lunch, or even during her prep period if necessary. Suzy's mother lets the teacher know that Suzy will be there after school the next day for tutoring. The teacher is excited to see Suzy's mother helping Suzy get the help she needs. The next day, Suzy shows up, and instead of being angry at the imposition, the teacher is happy to see Suzy taking the initiative to show up and get help. They work together for about twenty minutes after school and are able to identify the concepts that are causing confusion for Suzy. After a couple of these short, after-school sessions, Suzy is feeling much more confident in her grasp of the concepts. On the upcoming grammar quiz, Suzy goes from getting a failing grade to getting one of the highest grades in the course.<br />
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This scenario outlines two resources that students have at their disposal, but that only the really effective students use consistently: their parents and their teachers. Suzy did a great job of communicating with her mother about her frustrations in English class. Because of that communication, Suzy's mother was able to take action and contact the teacher for some insight into Suzy's problem. This communication led to Suzy finding out that the teacher is another great resource for her use. She learned that the teacher is there to help her learn; that is what teachers do.<br />
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This seems like such a simple concept, but so few students use these resources. When I have conversations with students and parents, I find that many students try to hide their learning problems from their parents and avoid asking their teachers for help. This is madness. Parents want what is best for their children, and teachers want their students to learn. I've never met a teacher who entered the profession to hinder student learning or because they like to see people fail. Great students understand this, and use these resources as a first instinct when they encounter problems.<br />
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Another human resource that is available to students but rarely used is the the tutoring program offered through the National Honor Society. Every day at lunch, there are two or three NHS students sitting in the library just waiting to help students with the subjects in which they are highly proficient. These students are almost never utilized. It isn't a sign of weakness to take a draft of an essay to a peer who is highly proficient in English class in order to have it proofread and get feedback for improvements or to seek help from someone in an advanced math class in order to prepare for an upcoming exam in Algebra I. It is a sign of maturity and resourcefulness: two skills that make for successful adults.<br />
<br />
Not all resources are human resources. This year, we became a Google Apps school. I have been really stunned by how little students are utilizing this resource. Google Apps allows students to have more access to their teachers than ever before. Our email addresses are pre-loaded into your address book. You can add us to your Google Hangouts (instant messenger) contact list using that same email address. Google Drive allows you to share drafts with your teachers and peers for feedback before submission. Drive also allows you to save your assignments to the cloud, which means you never have to worry about losing your work to a crashed computer or saving it in the wrong drive on the school network never to be found again. Since many teachers also use Turnitin.com, it alleviates compatibility issues since Turnitin.com now has the ability to instantly upload a Google Drive document.<br />
<br />
Thomas Edison once said, "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this- You haven't." I can't think of any better way to sum up what great students do differently. When they run into problems in a class, instead of giving up, they start looking to all of the resources they have available to them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-29439674432857970512013-05-03T12:29:00.001-07:002013-05-03T12:29:18.970-07:00PLC PD Feedback<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KhZyJQGslLPXFfNWZ56uYnhzmM_N5yOGieLOGUgxRl4/viewform">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KhZyJQGslLPXFfNWZ56uYnhzmM_N5yOGieLOGUgxRl4/viewform</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-18460859688352645422013-03-09T18:22:00.002-08:002013-03-09T18:27:23.508-08:00Be The Change<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J482gzVE8VM/UTvvb4cZTeI/AAAAAAAACuY/vOXegFSC0sA/s1600/BE+THE+CHANGE+POSTER+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J482gzVE8VM/UTvvb4cZTeI/AAAAAAAACuY/vOXegFSC0sA/s320/BE+THE+CHANGE+POSTER+(2).jpg" width="279" /></a>I have been thinking about this post for about a week and a half now. A little over a week ago, our school participated in a three day event called Challenge Day. Going into it, a majority of the student body (and some of the teachers) were very skeptical about this program. We had very little idea of what it entailed. We did know that it involved sharing, crying, and hugging. That was about it. Over the past couple of years, I've become increasingly concerned about the culture in our school. Students have become increasingly disengaged and disrespectful to their teachers and even more so toward each other. Challenge Day came at a time where it seemed like each day brought stories of more fights and more bullying. As far as I was concerned, Challenge Day was well worth a shot.<br />
<br />
I'll be the first to admit that in spite of my full support of Challenge Day going in, I was more than a little apprehensive about participating myself. Over the past five years, I have cultivated a certain persona in the classroom. I had developed a reputation as being somewhat gruff. I am direct and do not show much emotion around anyone but my wife and children, and even then, I tend to be somewhat guarded. That has not always been the case. I remember being a very affectionate and tender-hearted child. Even in high school, I was regarded as a "nice guy". My military experience hardened me quite a bit, as is usually the case. I had a number of experiences in which it was a matter of survival to suppress my emotions and function in a rather cold, rational way. Once I entered the classroom, that part of me became rather cemented. I have always cared about my students, which may come as a surprise to some of them, and that is something I deeply regret. I hate the idea that anyone has sat in my classroom and thought I didn't care about them. The truth is that I don't understand how someone could do the job of a teacher without caring about students, but I know that some teachers don't. I like to think that we don't really have any of those in our building.<br />
<br />
Aside from my military experience, the process of becoming a teacher also contributed to the persona I had adopted. Throughout my teacher training, we were repeatedly warned against becoming too close to students and especially against showing any affection or making physical contact with students. This was especially true for male teacher candidates and even more so for male teacher candidates looking to become high school teachers. There is such a fear of sexual misconduct that we had it hammered into our heads that it was best to just keep our distance from students. As a result, in my first five years as a teacher, I had only hugged a few students with whom I had a particularly strong connection. Those rare embraces tended to be with my homeroom students upon their graduation. As I had been trained, I showed, my students I cared by expecting much of them and offering to help them with their studies whenever possible.<br />
<br />
Challenge Day showed me the error of my ways. Really it showed me the error of our ways as an educational system. For many of our students, simply wanting the best for them doesn't register as caring. These kids lack strong support systems, and our expectations just seem like another source of oppression for them. They need to really know that we really care. I feel like I was able to finally show that to my students during my day of participation in the gym. I lowered my waterline and let the students in my "family" group see the real me. I allowed them to see me cry. I shared with them my greatest fears as a father, and I listened to them share their struggles and heartaches. Over the course of several hours, we learned what it really means to show someone you care. You listen to them and you offer them a hug. It was a transformational experience for many of us. I had students come up and hug me, and I could tell they didn't want to let go. Words can't express what that felt like.<br />
<br />
During the "cross the line" activity, my heart broke for students as they had to repeatedly cross the line indicating that whatever statement being made applied to them. Students who have lost loved ones to drugs, alcohol, violence, incarceration, divorce continued to cross the line, and I could see the physical toll it took on them as all of those experiences impacted them all over again. I saw students who never talk to each other holding each other up as they realized just how much they had in common, and I saw students who had not experienced that pain show their support by holding up the sign for "I love you". The whole scene was almost spiritual. I will never forget seeing two particular students that I have had in class for a couple of years crossing the line together time after time. Both of them were in tears, and I think that if not for the other, they wouldn't have been able to go on. I felt horrible for having known both of them for so long without actually knowing them. When I had the chance, I apologized to both of them for never taking the time to hear what they have been through. Then we hugged, and I felt like a teacher. Before that, I didn't realize that I was missing that part of my job.<br />
<br />
Since Challenge Day, I have had several students say that I have changed. They have said that they can tell I care about them now. By putting up those barriers that we've been told we have to put up, we have deprived ourselves and our students of one of the only things we have to offer in a world that is becoming more and more virtual: human contact. There are people out there making the case that school can all be done online, and that teachers are becoming obsolete. Kahn Academy has provided a breakthrough in online delivery of content, but Kahn Academy cannot see a kid in the hallway who has been crying and offer them a hug and an opportunity to talk about what is going on their life. If we don't start doing more of that, we will lose the reason most of us became teachers to begin with.<br />
<br />
I know that things will not change overnight. My students know me for who I have been, and it will take time for them to see the man I want to be going forward, but I hope that they do see it, and I hope that I will never again have a student sit in my class thinking that I do not care about them.<br />
<br />
I see you.<br />
I got you.<br />
I love you.<br />
Be the change.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-30659508437444089302013-01-30T17:48:00.000-08:002013-01-30T17:48:08.101-08:00Not cool, Robert Frost!I have had a couple of people post this on Facebook. Some of you may have already seen it, but I thought I'd share it on here. Post your response in the comment section. I'd love to hear what you all think about what this kid has to say.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l-gQLqv9f4o" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-29504434737717243162012-05-16T19:59:00.002-07:002012-05-16T19:59:31.935-07:00An Open Letter To The PCHS Graduating Class of 2012<br />
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Class of 2012,</div>
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<br /></div>
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I am sure some of you realize this, but for those who do
not, you guys are the first class that I have seen go from freshmen all the way
through to graduation. I have looked forward to seeing you guys graduate since
our first year together. You probably do not know this, but those of you who
had me in English I that first year made my first year something that I will
never forget. The next year, many of you were part of my first attempt at
teaching Creative Writing. That semester of short stories and poetry is still
the most fun I have had in a classroom. Whether it was in sports, on the stage,
as part of the band, or just sitting in my classroom, I have thoroughly enjoyed
watching you grow and excel in so many ways. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I know things were not always great. There were times when I
was hard on you. I am sure some of you got very tired of my lectures and bell
ringer prompts about responsibility and work ethic and countless other topics.
There were times when I got upset with you to the point that I did not know
what to do. There were times when you probably wanted to see me take a long
walk and never come back, but I want you to know that the reason I was hard on
you, the reason the disappointment cut so deep with me at times, is because I
saw so much potential in all of you even as freshmen. Your personalities were
so big, and your talent so evident, that as a teacher, I put a tremendous
amount of pressure on myself to make sure I was giving you everything you
needed to be successful, because I knew you had the chance if I could only get
you to see what you had in front of you. Randy Pausch, author of <i>The Last
Lecture</i>, said, “<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's
bothering to tell you anymore, that's a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>very</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>bad place to be. Your critics are the
ones telling you they still love you and care.” I hope you all know that I
never gave up on you. I never wanted to stop telling you to get better because
I could not stand seeing you achieve less than your absolute best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">This time of year is always bittersweet. It is amazing to see
a group of young people achieve a milestone in their lives and knowing that
they are getting ready to embark upon a new and exciting chapter, but it is
hard knowing that the people who have populated my life for four years are
going to be gone when I walk through the doors this August. I have never known
the halls of PCHS without you in them, and that will be hard to grasp next
year. It already is. There is a song that always gets over-played during this
time of year. The song is “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. The
lyrics go like this, “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right.
I hope you had the time of your life.” Here’s the thing; I hope you didn’t have
the time of your life. Here are the things that I do hope:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">I hope you had a good
time, but I hope the time of your life is still to come. High school can
be great, but I hope it serves as a launching point for things so much
greater. The idea of high school being the best time in your life is kind
of depressing for me because you are still so young when you graduate.
Having it be the best time gives the illusion that everything else is down
hill. I hope you continue to climb.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I hope you
learned about yourself while you were here. The teenage years are tough.
It is a constant juggling act of expectations. You have expectations from
parents, teachers, coaches, and your peers. It is easy to lose track of
what your expectations for are for yourself. I hope you found something
while you were here that can help guide you through what is yet to come.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I hope you
realize that your toughest teachers were not tough on you because they
hate you. Teaching is too difficult a job for someone to do if they hate
their students. If someone just wanted to harass teenagers, they could get
a much easier job and just go heckle kids at the mall on the weekend. The
toughest teachers were the ones who saw potential in you that you did not
see in yourself, and they drove themselves everyday to try to make you see
what they saw. I hope you realize that they will always be available for
you if you need them, no matter how many years it has been since you sat
in their classroom.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I hope you
appreciate what graduating really means for you. It means opportunities.
The world is tough, and there are no guarantees, but the more you educate
yourself and make yourself an assett to the people around you, the better
chance you have at always having the freedom to pursue your dreams and
your passion. I hope that when the opportunities in life present
themselves, that you are paying attention and give them everything you
have.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I hope that
anytime you drive by this school, or whatever happens to be sitting here
in the future, you can at least smile a little bit knowing that you made
an impact here. The people you met while you were here, teachers and
classmates, will forever remember you and all that you accomplished while
you were here.</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Graduation is a lot to take in, and it can be overwhelming,
but take the time to stop and reflect on what you have done and what you have
learned from it. The road ahead is anything you make it, and I know you will
make us all proud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt;">Nathan
Ogle</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-54039961071801890942012-04-01T07:16:00.003-07:002012-04-01T08:04:14.887-07:00West Side StoryI had the great pleasure of seeing the musical this weekend... twice. Mrs. Ogle and I attended opening night on Friday, and we were both blown away. I found myself being amazed at so many things that I knew I had to try to write it all down to share it with you, my amazing audience. <div><br /></div><div>First, and foremost, the talent of our student body is remarkable. The singing, dancing, and acting were phenomenal. Aubrie Lamb and Stewart <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Arp</span> did a fantastic job as Tony and Maria. I was in drama club in high school, and we never gave performances like I saw out of those two Friday night. Then, when I came back to watch my daughter, who also did an amazing job if I do say so myself, in the children's matinee, I was equally impressed by Kaitlin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Neibarger</span> as Maria. What a talented freshman, and she's in my homeroom, so I was beaming with pride and making sure everyone around me knew she was one of my kids. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed "Officer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Krumpke</span>" by the Jet boys. You could tell that group was having a great time on stage, and Zach <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Lueken</span> anchored the crew masterfully. Olivia Underwood (and on Saturday, Hannah King) and J.C. White brought the Sharks to life with great skill. I was impressed by the acting chops displayed by Jake <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Whitacre</span> as well. He had a tough role because he wasn't on stage very often, but when he was, he had to deliver some long passages basically to himself, which I know from experience is difficult to do. </div><div><br /></div><div>Aside from the leads, I am always impressed by the shear number of students who put in the hard work and unbelievable amount of time to fill the stage as dancers and additional voices for the large numbers. That level of dedication is remarkable for anyone at any age, and it is great to see so many of our students getting involved in projects like this. All of the understudies did a great job on Saturday, and the solos by Leslie Rush, Meredith <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Blanford</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Kenzie</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">VanSickle</span>, and Emily Turner were beautiful.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, keeping it all running smoothly was an entire crew of students working lights and running the stage. I am still amazed that a student was the stage manager. Way to go, JD <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Hasler</span>. </div><div><br /></div><div>The pit orchestra sounded great at both performances. I'm no musician, but even I could tell that the music was complicated. Kudos to my good friend, Dan Tripp, and all of the talented musicians he was working with to make it all happen. It is a testament to the program he has put together that the orchestra included not only current students, but also alumni and band directors from our middle schools and even <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Chrisman</span> High School.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not everyone who contributed was on the stage. The sets were fantastic. Mrs. Phegley and her Advanced Arts students really outdid themselves. And Ms. Seaton's Desktop Publishing students put together very professional programs. From top to bottom, our students, and the teachers who guide them, really showed their stuff this weekend.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last, but certainly not least, I tip my hat to Dan Lynch and the team he has working with him. I see him in the halls at school, and I know how hard he is working, but his enthusiasm for these kids and allowing them to share their talent with the community is an inspiration. He is what every teacher should strive to be.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, I am so glad that I got the opportunity to go watch both performances. It gave me time to reflect on exactly what I was witnessing, and I'm glad it came when it did. Spring Break is a great time to recharge and make the final push through the last half of fourth quarter, and getting to begin the break with something like this really gives me a boost. It is easy, as a teacher, to get frustrated with students this time of year. They are getting burned out, and it sometimes feels like we are spinning our wheels, but when I see them deliver something like this, it really reminds me of how blessed I am to know them and have the opportunity to help them accomplish their goals, even if it is only in a small, indirect way.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-39691180179524850612012-02-23T09:17:00.003-08:002012-02-23T09:34:53.833-08:00Are My Expectations Ruining My Day?A couple of ideas have been stuck in my head the past couple of days. One is a quote I used in my classes as a short writing prompt:<div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div><i>Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.</i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>~Abigail Adams</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>The other is the idea of expectations. This too came from a discussion I've had recently with my students. We were talking about the things that affect our perspective. It was easy for all of us to see that expectations of an event or interaction has a powerful impact on our perception of it. </div><div><br /></div><div>So these two ideas have bounced around in my head for about twenty-four hours, and since there is very little else in my head, it was only a matter of time before they eventually collided. I've had so many learning experiences in which I've "sought" learning "with ardor", and it is an incredible experience every time it happens. I've seen some students experience this in my class, but it is far more rare. Because it so rarely happens in my class, and I firmly believe it is possible and should happen (You could say I<i> </i>have an <i>expectation</i> that it will happen), I tend to get disappointed. The reality of my students' learning doesn't match my expectation, so my perception tends to be that I am failing my students. My class must not be challenging or engaging because 100% of my students are not inspired to actively engage in the learning process 100% of the time. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I manage to jump off of the hamster wheel long enough to think about this, it really bothers me. As an educator, I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to make learning this wonderful, even magical, experience for all of my students. I know that I am not alone, because as I watch the education reform debate unfold, I see an incredible willingness of my fellow educators to accept massive amounts of blame for the students who fail to learn. Don't get me wrong, we should never stop trying to reach every student, but when I read comments and hear conversations in which teacher react to students failing, I hate hearing it turn into a feeling on helplessness on the part of the teacher, and I realize I do the same thing. As a profession, I think our enthusiasm for student learning sometimes causes us to have unrealistic expectations about outcomes, and when those expectations aren't met, we tend to have the perception that we've massively failed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Do not misunderstand me. I am not advocating for lower expectations for ourselves or our students. If anything, this is just a reminder to me to step back occasionally and try to get a better handle on my expectations and how well I really am meeting them on a daily basis. I need to keep myself from dwelling on each student who fails as an indication that I am ineffective, and I need to spend more time understanding the little victories I achieve on a daily basis. I don't need to change my expectations, I just need to make sure I am looking at them in a way that allows me to achieve a better perception.</div><div><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-19365049904563069692012-01-22T06:31:00.000-08:002012-01-22T07:54:00.637-08:00What Should Learning Look Like?<div>One thing I've noticed since becoming a teacher is that just about everywhere I look, I see things that make me think about how I teach, my students, or education in general. Sometimes these flickers of thought are inspired by the kinds of things you would expect- an article about education, an advertisement on the radio about increasing graduation rates, etc.- but sometimes, the spark comes from an unexpected place. I had this kind of experience yesterday. I was at my brother's house, and he put the movie Dolphin Tale in for our kids to watch. I had heard of the movie, and it is currently on my waiting list with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Netflix</span>, but I figured it was a movie my kids would enjoy, but that I would find fairly boring. I was wrong.</div><div><br /></div><img src="http://images.moviepostershop.com/dolphin-tale-movie-poster-2011-1010702323.jpg" alt="Dolphin Tale - 11 x 17 Movie Poster - Style A" /><br /><div>photo courtesy of www.moviepostershop.com</div><div><br /></div><div>While the movie has a very heartwarming message about helping others and the power of hope, that is not what made the movie worthwhile for me. The thing that caught my attention is the role education played in the film. Here's the rundown:</div><div><br /></div><div>The main character, Sawyer, is a very introverted kid. He doesn't have many, if any, friends, and we learn that he fails pretty much every subject in school. As teachers, we all know kids like Sawyer. For Sawyer, school just doesn't seem to click for him. This is not to say that he isn't intelligent. Early in the movie, we find that he has his own little workshop in the garage where he repairs the remote-controlled helicopters he likes to fly as a hobby, as skill many of us would probably have a difficult time mastering. As the movie unfolds, it is revealed that Sawyer must attend summer school to get credit for the classes he failed. It is while he is on his way to summer school that things begin to happen. Sawyer is riding along the beach when a fisherman yells at him for help. A dolphin has washed up on shore and is caught in the rope from a crab box. Sawyer stays with the dolphin until a marine life rescue unit can come take the dolphin away, during which time he cuts the rope and apparently forms a bond with the animal. </div><div><br /></div><div>After school, Sawyer goes to check on the dolphin and ends up making friends with the people at the marine hospital. Long story short (too late, I know), Sawyer ends up skipping school (where he was learning about prepositions in a way that makes me, an English teacher who does still teach grammar, want to run out screaming) to spend time working with the dolphin on her recovery. While there, he begins learning about the biology of all of the animals in the center and how to care for them. As an audience, we don't even realize he is learning because it just looks like a kid enjoying what he is doing and the people he is doing it with, but when he bring his mother to center, and she sees her chronic F student giving her an expert tour of the facility and interacting with everyone there instead of quietly sitting in the corner, she realizes what we need to realize as educators- learning is more genuine and more real when it applies to real things. She lobbies the summer school teacher to excuse Sawyer from the rest of the class so he can continue his work at the center, offering to have him write a report to receive credit for the course. The teacher, dumbly in my opinion, refuses. Sawyer continues his work and writes the report anyway. In the end, after seeing how much Sawyer accomplished when he wasn't chained to a desk, the teacher, wisely in my opinion, decides to give Sawyer credit.</div><div><br /></div><div>The message here- We, as educators, need to be paying attention to our students to see if we have any Sawyers in our midst. I, for one, have made an real effort to start including more project-based learning into my classroom, and I began a project with one of my senior-level classes last year, which I am continuing this year, that requires them to work with a mentor in the community to learn more about their intended career and work with that person to create a project/product that gives them real-world experience in that field, but that isn't enough. I need to open my eyes and ears to find out if there are any kids in my classes that are doing amazing things on their own and figure out a way to tap that enthusiasm and let them bring it to my classroom. So, to any students who may be reading this (for extra credit, which just makes the whole thing feel tainted), do you have a passion for some kind of learning that you aren't getting in school? Are you like Sawyer in any way? To any teachers who may be reading this, do you have any success stories of helping a kid like Sawyer by plugging into their passion, even when it didn't fit your curriculum? Do you have any stories of missed opportunities to do this? How can use what happened in this movie as an inspiration to allow our students the freedom to really learn while still meeting all of our accountability requirements? The challenge is large, but all of the really worthwhile in challenges in life generally are. I look forward to hearing from you.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-17699344605614225662012-01-16T07:25:00.000-08:002012-01-16T07:57:05.107-08:00Priorities"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>~Stephen R. Covey</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm always amazed when I talk to people with hobbies. Whether it is golfing, making crafts, reading (for pleasure), or just about any other thing people do for no purpose other than the feeling they get from doing, I am always envious of hobbyists. It isn't that I necessarily want to do what they do; the fact is that many people's hobbies would bore the daylights out of me. No, the thing that paints me green is simply that they have a hobby. I've never really had what I would call a hobby. I've flirted with hobbies before, and there are a list of things that I would love to spend time doing, but I have to admit that I have always failed to establish something that I regularly do for enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, I do things for enjoyment, but not many of them are productive. I think hobbies should be productive. The problem I have is that by the time I'm done with all of the productive things I have to do on any given day, I don't have much left in the tank for something unnecessarily productive. Then, while doing something enjoyable but wholly unproductive- watching television- I had an epiphany. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was watching a show called <i>The Middle</i>. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this program, it is a sitcom that centers on a family of five in rural Indiana. The parents both work, and the kids are a strangely familiar mix of people you may actually know. They live in a house that has clearly been decorated bit by bit over a couple of decades of not being able to afford an interior designer, and their dishwasher requires duct tape in order to work. In a sentence, it is a show about my family and quite a few families I know. It is refreshing to see a sitcom that I can relate to. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy shows about Naval Criminal Investigation Service agents and lovable physicists with a passion for all things nerdy, but I don't really connect with those characters. This connection to the characters in <i>The Middle</i> is the source of my epiphany. The mother, Frankie, comes to the realization in last week's episode that they spend so much time doing the unpleasant things they don't really want to do that they don't have time to the things they really do want to do. She references missing fun holiday events to do laundry and passing on birthdays and anniversaries in order to fulfill other menial household tasks. She realized her "To Do" list was out of whack. Her realization became my realization. My priorities are usually listed like this:</div><div><br /></div><div>-Things I have to do.</div><div>-Things I really should do</div><div>-Fall asleep</div><div>-Dream about the things I'd really like to do</div><div>-Wake up</div><div>-Repeat</div><div><br /></div><div>The fact is that I have a hobby. There are a couple of things that I really enjoy doing. In fact, I enjoy doing these two things so much, that I actually majored in it in college. I love to read books, and I love to write. The problem is that I put all of the things that are supposedly more important ahead of doing either of them as a hobby. Do I read? Sure. I read all of the time, but very little of it is based on enjoyment. I read emails, instructions, and homework assignments. Do I write? Absolutely. I write assignment instructions, emails, hall passes, and feedback on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">IEP</span> progress reports. I've spent the last couple of years lamenting the fact that I don't have time to read the books I'd like to read or write the things I'd like to write. I find pockets of time here and there, spread out over months of time for these activities, but I'd hardly call that a rewarding hobby. That is until that episode of <i>The Middle</i> when I realized that much like the characters on the screen, I've had my priorities out of whack. I need to start putting my hobbies higher on the list. It depresses me to look at my two blogs (this post appears on both) and realize that children born on the dates of my last posts are old enough to walk. I am resolving with this post to change that. I am resolving to put my hobbies closer to the top of the list. I am resolving to blog once a week (I require my Creative Writing students to do it, why shouldn't I allow myself to do it?) and read a novel a month (A pathetic goal for someone who used to read a novel in a day, but it takes baby steps). </div><div><br /></div><div>Just to prove that this isn't an empty goal, I am writing this post with a stack of work sitting next to me. I have student work to grade, lesson plans to create, hundreds of pages of assigned reading and assignments from my grad classes, and laundry to fold, but I am taking the time to do something I want to do before I even touch the things I need to do, and I feel better about the day already.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-7455501865174130582011-02-03T13:50:00.000-08:002011-08-24T09:44:18.285-07:00Would This Work?I had a really fun conversation with my principal and a couple of fellow teachers on Twitter last week. It was about an idea that my principal (@phsprincipal for you <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Twitterers</span> or <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error"><a href="http://www.davemeister.net/">www.davemeister</span></a>.net for those who like his blog) and I have talked about before, but this time it felt more realistic, like we could actually give it a try. Anyway, we decided to throw the idea out to a larger audience to get more feedback and maybe even more ideas as we look further into trying to implement this on a small scale to see how effective (or ineffective) it is. Here is the basic idea:<br /><br />1. Form a teacher team of four or five teachers- Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Sciences, and Special Education if we can swing it.<br /><br />2. Assign that team a group of 50-75 students. Students would be enrolled onto teams based on interests or maybe desired educational outcomes.<br /><br />3. The team would operate almost entirely outside of the traditional school schedule. The idea of bell schedules and set patterns for moving from one room to another would be out the window. The team would spend the majority of the day working together as a whole. There would be times when the teachers could pull smaller groups of students aside to provide specialized <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">instruction</span> within their content area, but for the most part, learning would be viewed as a collaborative process that does not recognize the boundaries between subjects. They would tackle projects or explore all aspects of a given topic. For example, instead of kids learning about ancient Greece from a purely historic perspective in history class, the team could spend a large unit exploring the history of the time period while also reading the literature and exploring the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">mathematic</span> and scientific discoveries of the period. The whole unit would be geared towards some final project/product, maybe a student-created documentary about ancient Greece.<br /><br />4. There would be time built into the schedule to allow students to leave the team and participate in courses still maintained within the traditional school structure. This would be used to allow students to take classes that wouldn't be available within the team (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">foreign</span> languages, drivers ed., etc.). The team would also coordinate with vocational and fine arts teachers to incorporate those areas as much as possible.<br /><br />5. With the emphasis on Common Core Standards, the team would obviously make sure that they are meeting learning standards in the core subjects over the course of the year, and on paper at least, students would be enrolled in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">separate</span> classes, but in reality, they would be taking all of the classes <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">simultaneously</span>.<br /><br />This is our basic idea right now. I hope I didn't leave out any key details. Let us know what you think.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-39277303955976788532011-01-27T12:37:00.000-08:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Not Even For Threeeeee Scooby Snacks?I've been thinking about motivation lately. I used to think about curriculum and how I could change my class to make it more engaging, and I still do, but now that I have made a lot of changes toward making my class more student-centered and project/product based, I am left with motivation. You see, the amount of students really "getting into it" hasn't really changed even though my class looks drastically different than it did three years ago when I began. I spend very little time lecturing and try to leave all of my assignments open to student exploration and inquiry. I want them to find their own routes of learning. Yet, a majority of my students refuse to answer the challenge. I give them social media projects, and they complain, asking instead for worksheets. I give them the freedom to explore topics of their own choice, and they ask to be spoon-fed information. I'm told that they probably know more about technology than I do, but they need me to stand over their shoulder <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">every time</span> they attach something to an email. It flies in the face of everything I read about reaching these kids, and I can't help but come to the conclusion that it is all simply a matter of motivation.<br /><br />The problem with motivation is that it is so darn hard to figure out. I looked up the definition on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">meriamwebster</span>.com, and this is what they have:<br /><br />1: a : the act or process of motivating<br /> b : the condition of being motivated<br />2: a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive<br /><br />Even the dictionary can't define motivation without using the word motivation. By rule, if a word can't be described without using itself, it is a tricky thing. Too often we get caught up in thinking about motivation in terms of external rewards. When my students aren't motivated to work in my class, I talk to them about their chance of graduating. I talk to them about their grades. I talk to them about their future job. I talk to them about a lot of things that are external. Not <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">surprisingly</span>, it never works.<br /><br />I've come to realize that motivation is so internal that nobody outside of ourselves can see what it looks like for us. Nobody outside of ourselves can unlock it. The best example I can think of from my own life is basic training. I went to basic training simply to qualify for college money. I joined the military not out of some sense of patriotism or duty, but rather for the very selfish reason of cold hard cash- an external motivator. I quickly realized that money will not motivate you to low crawl through a cactus patch. Money will not motivate you to complete a twenty-five mile forced march on about an hour of sleep. I had to find something deeper within myself to accomplish those things. I found that motivation in a blue cord. The blue cord is awarded to soldiers upon completion of infantry school to be worn on the dress uniform. Our company commander in basic training clipped his on the back of his ruck sack and led every road march we went on. I wanted my blue cord. I was going to get that blue cord, but not because I valued it as an object. I wanted it for what it represented. It represented pride in accomplishing something that few people accomplish, something that most people in my life didn't think I could accomplish. I made up my mind early on that I wasn't leaving Fort <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Benning</span>, Georgia, without that stinking blue cord, and it was a very proud moment in my life when my father was able to pin it to my uniform the day before graduation.<br /><br />I understand motivation... but only for myself. The challenge we all face as educators is figuring out how to unlock something in others that we hold so deep within ourselves, and even if we find it, how do we know what to do with it? If someone had known how much that cord motivated me, they probably would've just bought me one online. Sometimes I think that is what we are trying to do with our students. We shouldn't be <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">surprised</span> that it doesn't work.<br /><br />I don't have the answers. I think all I'm hoping to do at this point is get a better idea of the questions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-41903523643128801952010-11-15T06:39:00.000-08:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Up the Down StaircaseI had the pleasure of attending the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">PCHS</span> Drama Club's production of "Up the Down Staircase" this past weekend. Even though I was involved in Drama Club in high school and whole-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">heartedly</span> support our wonderful Drama Club, it has never worked out for me to come see one of their productions. While I know that all of the ones I missed were equally fantastic, I am glad I had the opportunity to see this one. Not only did the students do an amazing job, but the message of the play is so <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">relevant</span> for many of the teachers in this building, myself included. We work in a profession full of contradictions and interruptions and expectations that stand in the way of what we really want to be doing, something the play illustrates very well with the endless paperwork and announcements being heaped on the new teacher.<br /><br />I know that most jobs are like this, but most jobs don't require the level of passion and belief in the cause that it takes to be a good teacher. I think about professions like those in the medical field, firefighters, police officers, and a few others that I am sure I am missing, and I know they are in the same boat as teachers. Ours is a job where if you don't believe in what you are doing, you will never stay afloat. As I said, this isn't true of all professions. Most jobs that I can think of don't require a passion and a belief to do them well. Sure, if you don't like your job, you are going to be pretty miserable, but it isn't an essential ingredient to doing the job.<br /><br />The play shows how important this belief is in the world of the teacher. Miss Barrett is full of hope and optimism when she awaits the arrival of her students on the first day of the year, but soon she gets bogged down with the realities of paperwork, announcements, shifting schedules, students dropping out, students not doing homework, students seeming to care very little about what she is trying to teach them, and soon she finds herself wondering if what she is doing even matters. I can relate to this. I think most teachers can relate to this. It is difficult to put time and energy into something when you don't get much feedback to show it has even mattered. It always seems to come back to that question, "Does what I do even matter?"<br /><br />Luckily for Miss Barrett, she has a great mentor point out to her that just because the students aren't jumping up and down to read the <em>Odyssey</em>, doesn't mean that she isn't making a difference for them. She instructs Miss Barrett to listen to what the students are <em>really</em> saying in their comments to her. It is then that Miss Barrett realizes that the measure of a teacher's work, the way we can tell that what we do really matters, is not in the homework or the quizzes or the test scores but in the personal connections we make and the impact that we can have on a young person's life.<br /><br />I thank the cast and crew of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">PCHS</span> Drama Club for putting on this wonderful production. If nothing else, it was a great opportunity for me to be reminded of what is really important about my job.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-62252179686074615802010-11-02T11:31:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Share the Good NewsMost of the talk going on about education today is negative. Pundits, politicians, talk show hosts, and just about anyone else they put in front of a camera is more than willing to point out every problem that currently exists in education. This general atmosphere of pessimism has started to make it difficult for students and teachers to see the positive in what we do. Here is a wall I have created for students, teachers, parents, and community members to post good things that are happening at PCHS.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/pchsrocks">www.wallwisher.com/wall/pchsrocks</a><br /><br />Teachers- Post about students who are achieving great things in your class or even non-academic things that make you proud of your students.<br /><br />Students- Post about what you have learned here or about a teacher who has made an impact on your life.<br /><br />Parents- Post about positive interactions you or your child have had with school personel.<br /><br />Community Members- Post about ways you have seen our students contributing to the community.<br /><br />These are just suggestions to get you started. Feel free to write about anything the world should know about what we are doing here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-66621365570574407412010-10-20T12:58:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00New SchoolFrom what I understand, there has been talk of building a new school in Paris for decades, but I've also been lead to believe that it has never been as serious as what is going on now. The school boards have selected an architecture firm to work with (actually, it is two firms who have teamed up for the job), students and faculty have been surveyed, and last night they had a community meeting to begin creating a community vision for the project. In light of these developments, I would like to outline the top three reasons I hope this project happens.<br /><br />#1- One issue that I see in this school on a daily basis is that of students not motivated to do well in school. They simply do not see the value in education, and in many cases, who could blame them? Many of our students travel to other towns for sports, to visit family, or any one of countless other reasons and see communities that have shown the importance of education by investing in it. The physical school building as an obvious and unmistakable representation of the value a community places on education. I honestly believe that many of the issues plaguing our school- and by extension, the community- will be greatly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">alleviated</span> by a new school.<br /><br />#2- The location of our current building has many drawbacks.<br />a-Currently, school property consists of the building and the sidewalk around it. Students are able to simply cross the street and be outside the reach of the school's jurisdiction. This leads to a serious public relations issue. Anyone visiting the town (people looking to move to the area, perhaps) drives by and sees dozens of teens who are obviously students at the high school standing around smoking, swearing, and sometimes fighting in plain view of teachers and administrators who are unable to do anything about it. This does not present a very favorable picture of the school or the community.<br />b-Safety is another issue brought on by the location of our school. When students are entering or leaving the building, they must negotiate heavy traffic on one of the the busiest roads in town. It doesn't take an expert to realize that 600 hundred teenagers exiting a building into heavy traffic is a recipe for disaster.<br />c-This is one of the only schools I am aware of that doesn't provide parking for students and visitors to athletic events. Students have to park on side streets, sometimes blocks away, in order to attend school in this building. Others pay for parking. Fans visiting the school for sporting events in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Eveland</span> Gymnasium face the same parking problem and the same perils of crossing busy streets.<br /><br />#3- Lastly, these facilities have simply become inadequate to house 21st century learners and educators. This building was designed and built over 100 years ago. How many other things in our life are still effective after a century of use? Don't get me wrong, there are a few things that are just as useful today as they were 100 years ago, but a school that needs to prepare its students for a dynamic and increasingly technologically-advanced workplace is not one of them.<br /><br />Please respond by commenting on my reasons or add your own reasons to the list.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-31024979063800766072010-10-12T12:30:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Time For You To Think***Warning: This post asks for absolute honesty.***<br /><br />Okay, many of my students have responded to my post about the frustration I am feeling this year by saying that they love my class and are really learning a lot. That is great to hear, but now I have some questions for them to answer:<br /><br />1. What clues do you think teachers look for to see if students are working hard and learning in class?<br /><br />2. What clues do you give a teacher to show that you are getting something out of their class?<br /><br />3. What could we do differently in class to give you more of an opportunity to show what you've learned?<br /><br />I am also open to any other thoughts you may have on this topic.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-65913206573126837072010-10-07T18:54:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Struggling***WARNING: The following post contains absolute honesty.***<br /><br />I'm not going to lie. I'm having a tough time this year. I don't know what it is, but I sure wish I did. I don't like it. Almost ten years ago, I decided to change my major from business management to English. At the time, I had no intention of becoming a teacher. That lasted for about a year. I was taking classes towards my teacher certification as a "back up", and one of the requirements of the very first class was to go observe high school English classes. It was during one of these observations that the teacher I was watching had to teach a history class (she accidentally had enough college credits to be deemed a "highly qualified" history teacher), and a student asked a question that the teacher didn't really have an answer for. It just so happened that I was taking a history class that semester in which we had spent a majority of the time studying the period they were discussing in class that day, so I knew a ton of stuff about it. I tentatively raised my hand and said I knew the answer. The teacher happily yielded the floor to me (I must remember to do that if I ever have a teaching candidate in my room). I stood and gave an <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">impromptu</span> lesson for only about five minutes. I was terrified at first, but almost immediately felt at home at the front of the class. I walked out of the school that day without a doubt in my mind that I had found my calling.<br /><br />The problem is that now I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job. I enjoy going to work everyday (for the most part), but this year I feel like something is missing. I hear that many of my students enjoy my class, which is great, but I am getting to the point where I don't feel like that is enough. If I am unable to get students to learn-- I mean really learn, then maybe I should happily <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">yield</span> the floor to someone who can.<br /><br />I have friends who are still working away in college right now, and they call me for help when they need to write a paper. They tell me that they don't know what they are doing. Now I know they sat through four years of English class, so I can't figure out how they didn't learn at least the basics of how to make connections and draw conclusions from what they are reading and how to write that information in an organized and at least somewhat grammatically correct fashion.<br /><br />Then I think about my own students and some of the conversations I have with them. When they are being 100% candid with me, they admit that they don't approach school with the attitude that they are going to learn something. They tell me that they are just going through the motions to earn enough points to get the desired grade (for some of them, it is a D). This is where I am running into trouble this year. I went into this year feeling really great about all of the plans I developed over the summer to make my classes something special this year. I just knew that real learning was going to take place, but as we near the end of the first quarter, I'm not seeing it materialize. I still feel like a majority of my students are simply trying to find a way to complete my assignments with the least amount of effort while still meeting the minimum requirements, and I understand that to an extent, but I also know that they will not get what they need that way. It has become incredibly frustrating for me to conduct a class in which I don't feel my students are learning. I feel like a musician playing to a crowd that doesn't really care to hear the music.<br /><br />So this post is for my students. I want you to tell me what you've learned in my class this quarter. Be completely honest. I want your feedback. I need to know if you feel like you are any more prepared for what lies ahead as a result of this class. If you aren't learning anything, we need to take some time in class to figure out what needs to change. I'm open to suggestions because I don't want my students to go off into the real world only to find out that they don't have what it takes to be successful.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-79364660390440532552010-07-23T09:37:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.286-07:00Gearing Up!My last post was about the last day of school. I feel like I just wrote it a few days ago, and yet here I am contemplating the first day of school. I remember being a kid and summer vacations were a seemingly endless occasion for fun and adventure. Now, as an adult, it is just a matter of weeks. I guess that is what happens when we start seeing the world in terms of paydays, mortgage payments, appointments, etc. Everything seems to move faster. When we are kids, we have no real concept of time. It could go on forever or not exist at all, and we wouldn't know the difference. We are amazingly short-sighted as children. I see it in my own kids. If they take a thirty-minute nap, they wake up convinced it is the next day. They refer to something they did two months ago as if it just happened that very morning. I think the reason we feel like time is speeding up as we age is simply because we become more and more aware of it. Whatever the reason, this summer has flown.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I've had a great summer. My wife had our third child only a few weeks into summer break, so her <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">maternity</span> leave has meant that we have spent a majority of the summer break as a complete family with no interruptions for work or other obligations. I've had countless fun times with my two older children going swimming and to ballgames. I'm not sulking about heading back to work in a few weeks or anything like that. If fact, the opposite is true. I stopped by the high school last week and spent a little time in my room. I left feeling excited about the new year. I am looking forward to August rolling around and getting to spend more time in my room getting prepared. I'm looking forward to seeing my students again, and I'm looking forward to the thrill I get when I see them learn and grow.<br /><br />Sure, summer is almost over, but that doesn't mean the fun is over; it just means it is time for a different kind of fun to begin.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-73217866006541546582010-05-28T06:54:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.287-07:00Last Day 2009-2010"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop." -Ovid<br /><br />Being a teacher, I get the whole "It must be nice to have summers off" comment a lot this time of year. It is usually meant in kind of a flippant, your job is such a cake-walk sort of way, but I always look at that person and tell them that it is. I can honestly say that being a teacher is the most demanding and exhausting job I have ever had, and I have had some pretty rough jobs. It is not that it is physically demanding like my time as a factory worker or the time I got paid to tear a barn down by myself (in the hottest part of the summer), but it is absolutely the most mentally draining job I can imagine. I try to explain it to people, but they rarely understand. Unlike most other jobs, you don't get a fifteen minute break every now and again. Every forty-five minutes another group of about twenty students comes storming through the door, and you have to perform. From 8:10 am until 3:20 pm, I am completely at the service of roughly 150 teenagers. Let me be clear, I'm not saying this as a bad thing. I actually really enjoy it. I love the feeling I get when a student comes to me uncertain of something and leaves confident that they understand. It is the most rewarding occupation I have ever had. I also like to point out that most of these critiques come from people whose job only exists in the span of a workday and in the space of their workplace. This is not so for the teacher. I also like to explain that the time I spend at school is not the whole of my work; instead it is the product of my work. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">hard work</span> happens outside of that time planning, creating, learning, and evaluating everything I need to be a professional educator.<br /><br />Now, I don't write all of this as a way of saying, "Woe is me the pitiful teacher who has to work so hard". Again, I wouldn't want to be doing much of anything else (syndicated columnist would be cool). The reason I write all of this is because all of the things I'm doing as a teacher line up pretty closely with all of the things my students go through over the course of a school year. When you think about it, our students spend roughly eight hours a day going from room to room trying to become experts in a handful of different disciplines only to go home and be required to spend another few hours doing homework so they can be prepared to show up the next day and do it again. When you throw in the extra-curricular activities that many of them are involved in and part-time jobs, there are a lot of students who are putting in sixty hour weeks nine months out of the year.<br /><br />For teachers and students, summer is not some frivolous vacation that has been adopted by a group of people who simply don't want to work as hard as everyone else; it is a time to rest, reflect, and recharge so that we can show up in the heat of August and do it all over again.<br /><br />So, to my students, I hope you have a restful and rejuvenating summer, because when you come back in August, I will be waiting, and I'm going to make you work.<br /><br /><a title="Wordle: Last Day 2009-2010" href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2103522/Last_Day_2009-2010"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ddd 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #ddd 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 4px; PADDING-LEFT: 4px; PADDING-RIGHT: 4px; BORDER-TOP: #ddd 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #ddd 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 4px" alt="Wordle: Last Day 2009-2010" src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/2103522/Last_Day_2009-2010" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6365265601732946854.post-34269605627641070712010-04-08T06:40:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:44:18.287-07:00Change, Change, ChangeChange has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. ~King Whitney, Jr.<br /><br />I read a lot of stuff on twitter and blogs about changing education. I talk to students about what they would like to see implemented at our high school. I talk to colleagues about what changes we think would make us more effective in the classroom. I listen to politicians and commentators talk about large-scale, mandated education reform. It would appear to any observer that change is coming for the education system. My belief is that the momentum for that change is building in all of the wrong places.<br /><br />At the national level, people who rarely, if ever, step foot into a classroom are leveraging funding and political clout to enact change in the form of more nationalize standards and testing, but at the local level, teachers and administrators who actually do the work of educating on a daily basis realize that none of those things will really bring about the kind of improvements that need to be made. It would be like setting out to remodel a house and bringing a camera to document your progress as the only tool. Testing does not improve student learning; it only measures it.<br /><br />Time and again, I hear smart people I work with and others I only know online put forth excellent plans for revamping the way in which education is offered to students. Most of it is almost completely budget neutral, so money is not the issue. It is not that we can't afford to try something new; the problem is gaining enough support to give it a shot, or even to settle on which direction to go. The second problem, I think, can be easily solved by taking the time to sit down with all stakeholders and have a long, detailed, and exhaustive discussion until everyone feels that the collaborative plan is the best possible. The disagreements I've had with people end up being matters of semantics rather than actual concrete differences of vision, so I'm sure time and effort could bring those in favor of changes together.<br /><br />The problem that does not seem to go away is that of people feeling the current system works fine just the way it is. For these people, I don't know what to say. Nowhere else in our society does there exist a system that has remained as unchanged as education for as long as education has remained largely unchanged. We are using and education model developed during the Industrial Revolution to prepare students for jobs in the Technology Revolution. We are following a system designed to produce factory workers to educate students who will be entering a marketplace for people with skills we are unable to develop in our classrooms as they exist today. It is not surprising that a growing number of young people are failing out of college and ending up living with their parents well into adulthood.<br /><br />In the back of my mind, I can't help but wonder if these people really believe the current system works, or if they are simply afraid of what a changed system would resemble. Would they be needed? Would they be as good at it as they are at the current way of doing things? Would they go from admired and respected to outdated and useless? I think the biggest hurdle for change in education today is taking those who are afraid and inspiring them to be confident that we can do better. We can be more innovative and effective than the teachers we had. We can be better than the generations that came before us. We can revolutionize education and improve the lives of our students by simply believing that our ideas are just as valid, or more valid, than the ideas of the men who implemented the current system, and by doing so, we are not saying that the old system was bad or flawed, but simply that we have outgrown it the way a child outgrows their clothes. The bottom line is that if we are afraid to venture forward into the unknown on our own terms, we will be forced into on someone <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">else's</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1882603/Change%2C_Change%2C_Change" title="Wordle: Change, Change, Change"><img src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1882603/Change%2C_Change%2C_Change" alt="Wordle: Change, Change, Change" style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13