First, I have to give a shout out to Mr. Adam Welcome. I have so many drafts of blog posts not published because I sit around looking for the profound proclamation to share and put on the old interweb (Yes, I watch GasMonkey). Rather than being perfect, I am going to use this blog to share my thoughts, my beliefs, and every once in a while I may tell a fishing story or two or share my thoughts on a microbrew or two. More importantly, though, I am going to challenge the status quo of what people think school should look like. So welcome to the new version of #STATUSQUODISRUPTOR.
Second, if you are looking for test prep ideas for your school, go ahead and unfollow me because that stuff has no interest to me. If you are afraid of rocking the boat or want to maintain status quo, then please unfollow me. If you have to ask, "Yeah, but will I have to change the way I teach?" you might want to unfollow me too. However, if you want to blow the doors off the idea of what traditional school looks like and create a school or classroom that every kid will run to, then stick around and let's connect. I don't have all the answers but I believe we can all connect and find the answers for our school, our classrooms, and our communities together. I'm not perfect and never will be. I'm a messy big dreamer who still believes in public education and that we can be the change this world needs. I do believe that we can get it right and leave no child behind. So buckle up and put on your big boy pants or big girl pants (that sounds so wrong) and let's all go on a journey together. Our kids need all of us to be #STATUSQUODISRUPTORS
I think my thoughts on education began to develop in middle school. I was that kid that you either loved having in class because I was engaged in the class or you probably didn't want to see me on your class list the following year if I was not engaged. Because if I was not engaged in the class, I was going to try and engage the rest of the class in whatever I wanted while you were trying to teach the lesson you had scripted out before we did the worksheet or answered the questions at the end of the section. I was not a terrible kid but I was a kid who figured out how to play school for the most part. I tracked my grades and typically came out like gangbusters and started each quarter with an A or a B...then I spent the last half of the quarter or semester keeping track of the minimum amount of work I had to do to keep that A or B. Now, for the classes I was engaged in, I was different. Classes like Mr. Easterday's American History or Mr. Brown's Reading class, or Mr. Nieswinder's (Nice Winder) Government class. Of all my teachers though, Mr. Roy Kelly was when I decided to be an educator and teach kids. I never thought of teaching a subject, but I knew I wanted to teach kids (and maybe take over for Coach K if I could coach).
When I look back, each one of those classes was engaging in it's own way. Some of it was theatrical, some of it was the content, a lot of it was the relationship, but most of all it was the total experience. Mr. E dripped American Revolution from his pores. Mr. Brown had us doing things that were unheard of in the 1980s. We made videos and skits, even made a commercial as part of our persuasive writing. I can still remember my "Slam Jam Leaper Workboots" training infomercial. Then Mr. N just really engaged me because you never knew what he was going to do. When I had Mr. Kelly, he was actually my 7th-grade basketball coach, but he probably had heard about me in the teacher's lounge I am sure. He connected with me and before I knew it, he had me spending parts of my days back at the elementary tutoring kids. He connected me with a purpose. He all of a sudden gave me a reason for school besides getting to play basketball or see my friends. And for that, I am forever grateful. Thanks, Mr. Kelly.
My point is, we have to change the way we are teaching and we have to do it now. Just tonight, Eric Sheninger tweeted the following:
We have to create learning experiences that connect students with a purpose or a reason for learning. Rather than focusing on the standards, the textbooks, the worksheets, and all the other "stuff" we buy to fill the time of the day, let's find out what drives our kids. What is their passion? In cases of kids like me, let's use it against them and hook them into learning and caring about learning. I can guarantee there is not a kid in our schools that is sitting at home right now and telling his Mom, Dad, or whoever, "I can't wait to get back to school to do my stack of worksheets or I hope I get to answer more questions at the end of the chapter." We have to engage our kids and facilitate learning and make it an experience. We have to empower our kids to dream. Allow their dreams to become the content and we have to weave the standards into the learning experiences that engage them.
I get it though...many are driven by the almighty high stakes assessments that we take at the end of the year and we teach out of fear of not covering a standard. Alright then, identify your priority standards and chunk them out but focus on the content and engagement first, then dive into the standards. Problem or Project Based Learning is a great way to engage students in authentic learning while giving them a voice and choice. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is messy and scary. You have no defined assignment, just criteria that evolve. PBL is not just about STEM either. A PBL can be on anything. Think of our current state of our country and the issues you could cover or topics/content you could cover and engage students. The political divide alone could lead to a passionate group of students sharing their beliefs. Climate change, oil and gas vs clean energy, social-emotional needs of students, and the list could go on and on with topics that you cannot find in textbooks but are things our students are living every day. My point is though, we have to rethink how we are teaching our students. We have to get out of the role of being the keeper of knowledge and being the "almighty knower" and become a facilitator of learning. It is uncomfortable, but we have to do something to reengage the students we are losing.
So here is my challenge to you as a teacher or administrator:
Teachers:
First, find out what issues your students are passionate about through some type of survey. Look for common themes that might allow you to develop some groups. Second, pose a problem to your students. While posing the problem to your students, embed the standards into the criteria or the tasks they need to complete as part of their presentation or proposal of a solution (I know I am simplifying but PBL is a whole other blog post). Here is probably the challenging part...LET GO. Give your kids time by eliminating worksheets or anything that can be eliminated.
Principals:
Say Yes. Give your teachers permission to fail, empower them to create engaging lessons. Support them to take risks. Work with your teachers to begin rethinking how you engage students at your school. Here is a place to start...ask your teachers this question: What is your passion and if you could use your passion to teach kids, what would that class look like? Then, make it happen. Last year, pre-COVID, a teacher developed a course called "Whitetail Deer Education" and was going to study the patterns of Whitetail Deer. The content or subject matter was going to be Whitetail Deer, but the skills learned was going to be Google tools. Lastly, principals, forget about the autopsy reports, I mean state tests. Besides, if your state is like Ohio, we get the results back five weeks after school is out and there is nothing we can do about those results except begin to prepare for the following year. Focus on student engagement and a learning experience and I believe the test scores will be just fine. Now...I am not saying throw out Literacy and Math, especially early literacy, but we can do better with student engagement. We have to.
If you are unsure of a need to change, reflect on this question (from Dave Burgess): If kids did not have to come to your class but had a choice, would they choose your class? If kids did not have to come to your school, would they choose your school?
So here it is, my first post of the new #STATUSQUODISRUPTOR. Thanks again, Adam for the encouragement. If you have a comment, want to connect or you think I'm crazy and need to keep tabs on me, give me a follow on the old bluebird @PrincipalCMill.
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