What Great Students Do Differently: Resolve

For 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.

What do great students do?

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.

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.

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.

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.

What Great Students Do Differently: Utilize Resources

I am currently leading a small group of faculty members in a book study of Todd Whitaker's What Great Teachers Do Differently. 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.

Utilize Resources
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Be The Change

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I see you.
I got you.
I love you.
Be the change.

Not 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.

An Open Letter To The PCHS Graduating Class of 2012

Class of 2012,

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.

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 The Last Lecture, said, “When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a very 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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

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.

Sincerely,

Nathan Ogle

West Side Story

I 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.

First, and foremost, the talent of our student body is remarkable. The singing, dancing, and acting were phenomenal. Aubrie Lamb and Stewart Arp 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 Neibarger 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 Krumpke" by the Jet boys. You could tell that group was having a great time on stage, and Zach Lueken 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 Whitacre 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.

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 Blanford, Kenzie VanSickle, and Emily Turner were beautiful.

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 Hasler.

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 Chrisman High School.

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.

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.

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.