#STEM for ALL, not just Some: How do we make this a Reality?

As I finish my 3rd year as a principal in SE Ohio, it continues to be more and more of a concern about the lack of equity for students across this region. A simple look at the map below shows a void of STEM opportunities for kids in SE Ohio. Our region might mirror your region if you are in a rural area. For decades, rural SE Appalachian schools have received little more than lip service about the need for equity. Due to the geographical setting, the exposure to learning opportunities simply is not there. This has to change. While I am fortunate to have my son attend our district which is a STEM-designated district, how do we increase opportunities for all students in our region? How do you increase opportunities for students in your region? We all have similar challenges in rural America. How do we create access and opportunity for all students regardless of their zip code? 

There are so many excuses/barriers for "why" we can't do things:

Location and distance:

My district for example is 289 square miles, yet does not have a single traffic light (Although my tech coordinator has pointed out we now have one in our cafeteria which is a talk light). We have around 1000 kids in grades K-12. You look around the region the majority of our districts are less than 1000 students in grades K-12. I know in some regions of the United States, districts are even smaller in terms of students. We have a career center that focuses on many STEM careers, but students are reluctant to attend due to the distance they have to travel. For our students, they may ride a bus for an hour to get to our district and then ride another bus to the career center. This is a recurring theme across much of rural Ohio and rural America. 

Size and Limited Staffing:

Another barrier for STEM is that with the small number of students, you have limited staff. For a high school or middle school like ours where we have approximately 70-80 students at a grade level, that makes it challenging to add additional courses when the cost of a staff member puts a strain on your budget. It makes it a hard sell to offer a program or career pathway when you have to hire an additional staff member and they serve a small number of students interested in that pathway.

Lack of Qualified Teachers

All rural schools face the challenge of recruitment. Oftentimes, trying to fill those already difficult positions such as a course like robotics, IT, etc... becomes a challenge to find someone willing to relocate to take a position or commute closer to an hour. 

Need to Focus on Core Subjects

We have to prepare our students by ensuring they are able to master the basic core subject areas. We don't have time to focus on STEM. Many districts are simply chasing scores on a report card. I have mentioned this before, a colleague moved to a new position in a different district and he said it best, "We (their old district) were perceived as great because of our report card; however, our kids were being trained to be good test-takers." This is an easy trap to fall into. I get it. Test scores are what is reported to the public.

I could go on and on about all the reasons that you can't increase STEM whether that is in your district or your region. It is much easier to sit down and make a list of reasons why you can't do something. It is much harder to be creative and come up with ways around these roadblocks which is exactly what they are. They are nothing more than roadblocks and or excuses. We have to stop making excuses and do the real work of creating opportunities for kids. So how do we do that? We start by getting out of our own little world, our own little box, and we think of education like never before.

Collaboration

School districts are sacred and I get it. Growing up, I had cross-county rivals. The idea of consolidation leads to mobs of upset people attending board meetings so that is probably never going to happen and really should not happen. Tradition is tradition and our small schools are the hubs of the community; however, WHAT IF...

What if we were able to sit down at the table from districts across our regions and talk through the programming we need to offer for our kids. If we were able to sit down as a group and discuss shared staffing or even sharing students. Maybe district Y or high school Y is going to offer a program in advanced manufacturing, yet only has 15 kids that want to take it. Why can't district A send 15 kids to that school? In return, District A will offer a medical pathway and serve students from district Y. Rather than again making a list of red tape items that make this impossible, we make it happen. Students who go to district Y from district A still graduate from their hometown school and attend their school for everything else, there is simply a shuttle bus that runs back and forth. This process is repeated across the region. If District Z is too far for a student from District A, why can't we do remote learning except for a couple of face-to-face days a week if it is critical for them to be on the other campus for a lab or hands-on experience? OR what if courses were blocked and we scheduled students like a college schedule where I may only have to be on a different campus 2 times a week.

I know this is not a new idea; however, it is time for the adults in all of these districts to figure it out and make it work in order to give our kids the same opportunities as a larger comprehensive HS could offer. It is the only way we can match the opportunities and put our kids in rural communities on a level playing field.

The biggest issue always becomes with staffing, who is going to pay for it, and how do we grade? How do we give credit for a class taught at another high school or middle school? You know what though, all of these issues are adult issues that we create with statements like, "we can't do that" or "we have never done that and it will not work". We need to stop creating roadblocks and rebuild what school looks like.

So if I attend district Y and I take 3 courses or a program at District Z, I still attend my home school and I graduate and get my grades from my home district. If we can have kids move into our district and we accept grades, why can't we simply accept credit like a student who transfers? We can make this happen if we just get out of our own way and collaborate. We could probably take some of our high school students and give them a day or two to plan and they would have a working solution. We just need to throw away the box and do what is necessary for our kids.

Business and Parent Advisory

Not just small rural districts, but all districts need to leverage their communities in the educational process beyond requesting new dollars when it comes around to levy campaign season. Go to your local businesses and find out what they need in future employees. What can we offer as a district to prepare our students to walk out of high school with the necessary skills to help our local businesses? Again pull in all of your local districts and work together. At Noble Local, we have an award-winning business advisory council that has driven many of the changes to our district and our approach to what we offer to students. When it comes to adding programs, you have to make sure you add the right programs. Second, by creating strong partnerships between your local businesses and your families, you are able to explain your "why". When you begin asking business partners how you can help them rather than simply asking them to write a check for this program or that, you develop collaborative relationships that support one another. From a parent perspective, the parent advisory allows for input from families. My current parent advisory team consists of business owners, engineers, social workers, medical personnel, and other fields. So not only do they provide a parent perspective, but their backgrounds are diverse. When we meet, I can share current challenges and seek input; however, I also share our "why". At the most recent meeting, I started with a video about SMART manufacturing and how programs such as coding and robotics are critical to the careers of tomorrow. So while I am gaining input on issues, I also create a "tribe" that gets an in-depth look at our "why" who can then hopefully explain it at the ball fields or in the bleachers if they are asked about a program. When your community understands the why and that school has to look different than when they were in school, your message ripples through the community. Support for new programs grows because your why becomes their why: preparing their kids for their future regardless of what that might be.

Empowering Your Team

When I look at our current middle school course offerings, I would say it rivals some small high schools by the number of opportunities that our students have to explore various career pathways. It all started though by going to our team and asking them to think of a course that they would like to share with our students. What is a passion they have that we could build a course around? From there, we developed multiple electives for our students that range from advanced PE, Green Jobs, Creative Arts courses, Intro to Outdoors, Food and Nutrition and many more. Teachers have a voice in the creation of courses and they are able to share their passion with students. It has been very well received by everyone. The other option to look at is how you look at your current staff and utilize them to increase course offerings. One of the most unique staffing adjustments we have made is how we utilize our school nurse. Our school nurse was approached and asked to teach some courses that are part of our medical pathway and lead to an STNA certification. Her transcripts were reviewed by our local partner university and they approved her to teach the necessary courses. This has been a win-win for everyone. We increase opportunities for our kids while we also support our local partners and that is not to even mention that our kids now have increased courses they can take for college credit with little to no expense to the students. Then add in our business partners and our students in the medical pathway can be employed by one of our local hospitals and work on their nursing license that will be paid for by the hospital. Now, not only are we creating employable students, we are opening up a career for them where they can better themselves and do so with little to no cost to them.

STEM for All

The bottom line is STEM has to be more than a fancy elective. It has to be a cultural shift in our schools in order to prepare our current students for their futures...and we can't wait. We can not have a 5-year plan to have STEM courses in year 4. What do we do for our current high school students when the data suggests that 90% of future jobs are STEM-related? What do we tell our current high school students...do we tell them we are sorry? We have to remove the barriers. We have to rethink education in general and in most cases that means a complete overhaul of what we consider "traditional" schools. If we looked at scheduling like a college, we could have 2-3 days of core content and 2-3 days of career pathway work. Our middle schools become career exploration centers where students get a taste of each pathway available. Think if I am a small rural school and offer 5 career pathways...now think if I partner with a neighbor school and they offer 5 different pathways. Now our kids have more options based on their interests. Our schools move to a block schedule and students are transported for their career pathway/STEM courses 2-3 days a week. Maybe it is 2 days of core academics, 2 days of career-based education, and 1 day of off-site externship or a day that is a WIN (what I need) day. We just have to rethink what "school" looks like and our purpose. If we do that, these changes become easy.

We can do this, we just have to collaborate, work with our partners, and not be afraid to disrupt the status quo while maintaining our small schools found around the United States. We can have the best of both worlds and our kids deserve it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. STEM and career-based education are my passion. If you would like to discuss further, maybe bounce ideas off of each other, you can reach out to me on twitter @PrincipalCMill or by email at principalcmill@gmail.com.

STEM Designated Schools in Ohio

STEM is the Way! (Strategies that Engage the Mind)

 My superintendent is constantly saying "I hear you talk more about student engagement than anyone". There is a reason. I feel like we are losing our kids due to the lack of engagement across all of our schools. In some schools that are perceived as excellent due to their report card data, they look fantastic when you look at the test scores. Recently, I spoke with a new superintendent who had been a principal in another district and he said it very well when he stated his previous building was "perceived" as excellent because of their test scores...however, here he was with his new team and visiting our building for the programming and how we were preparing students for the future because he knew "excellent" was more than a test score.

At a state conference with a team of great educators from across Ohio in 2018, I was fortunate to get to present "Future Ready" and the importance of preparing our students for future careers. About midway through the discussion, the question was posed, "Will this improve my test scores?" As a group, we responded that they were in the wrong session if they wanted to talk about test scores. Here is my challenge to you, I believe that if you increase student engagement and give students a purpose for being at school, the test scores will increase as well. Unfortunately, this is the greatest challenge for us as educators. We also feel the pressure of state report cards and we fall into the trap of "teaching to the test" and making sure we cover every standard in order for us to feel like, "I did all I could". We have got to change. We have to connect students to purpose to be engaged in their learning.

Look at this graphic from Phillip Schlechty and it really holds true. A lot of our kids fall into the strategic and ritual compliance area. They are good at playing school. They do so to avoid negative consequences from home and complete tasks/assignments for their grades. Unfortunately, we also have students everywhere in the lowest levels of engagement. These are the students who not only have stopped doing the work but also are now making it difficult for others. In some cases, they have little hope or desire. They see no purpose in what is being asked of them and would rather spend their energy avoiding the work.  When they have no hope or cannot connect to a purpose, you might as well forget it. This is often why incentivized programs fail.

So how do we increase hope and engagement?

STEM is the way! STEM is more than Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is an engagement tool and a paradigm shift in how we present material/content to our students. We have to shift from being the "givers of knowledge" to the facilitators of exploration and allowing students to connect to their personal emotions. Heather Sherman, with the Ohio STEM Learning Network and Battelle, has called STEM: Strategies that Engage the Mind. When you look at both approaches which are both critical to our student's future, we can develop an engaging learning experience. First, 90% of jobs in the future will be STEM-related so these areas are critical to be embedded into our daily practices. When you think of STEM as how we engage our students, this is the key. How do we move a student from strategic compliance to truly being engaged? To take the famous speech from Jim Valvano at the ESPY's, "If you spend time each day where you laugh, think deeply, and are moved to tears...that is a heck of a day". We have to engage our kids emotionally in their learning where they can connect to a purpose.

Our kids are not interested in sitting in their seats and listening to someone go on about pollution, independent variables, or a civil war. IF they can Google the answer, why not let them? Then go deeper. Why not bring STEM into the classroom through authentic real-world problems. Recently, our 8th graders partnered with a local business, Micro Machines, and helped the owner by creating ideas on how he could recruit and retain additional employees. Students created videos, social media posts, sweatshirts, and signage as part of their proposals. Mr. Yost, the owner was blown away by the presentations and quality of their projects. How did this happen? How did our 8th grade ELA teacher, Miss Goolie, take a bunch of 14 and 15 yr olds (that many write off as incapable) and inspire them to help Mr. Yost? Through engagement. This was not a fake project. This was authentic learning and students went above and beyond to develop proposals and ideas for Mr. Yost because they had a real audience. STEM is the Way.

We need a paradigm shift across the country. Give them a sense of purpose. Give them the responsibility and they will rise to the occasion. When they become authentically engaged at the highest level, test scores will go up and discipline issues will go down. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. If you want to connect, or feel strongly about disrupting the traditional school and all things STEM-related, please follow and connect with me in the Twitterverse @PrincipalCMill.

Looking for resources around STEM and student engagement. Here are a few of my favorite. I am receiving nothing for these recommendations but find them all to be powerful resources.

Dave Burgess' book, Teach Like a Pirate. Dave's book will give you various ideas for "hooks" and how to up your engagement game. This is a great start.

Buy Teach Like a Pirate on Amazon

Dr. Lori Elliott's book, PBL Anywhere. Dr. Elliott's book will give you a framework of going from standards to authentic learning through PBL. An amazing resource for blending standards and transforming your classroom.

Buy PBL Anywhere on Amazon

Jason Learning: This is a great resource for authentic problems. While you can align to standards, there are so many Problem Based Learning scenarios ready for you to blend your standards into.

Podcasts: Meet Your Kids Where They Are...On Social Media

     Whether we like it or not, our kids are growing up with social media. While I am not a big fan of all of the platforms that are out there. I am cognizant that if we do not rethink how we engage students. Walk around the mall, or even in some hallways of schools, and probably 80% or more of students have cell phones and they are checking on social media, texting, etc... While we can teach the appropriate use of technology, the idea that you can outlaw cell phones is only going to set you up to become the cell phone police and you will have to create a very large jail for all the phones you confiscate. Rather than outlaw cell phones, let's rethink how we engage kids through the use of technology. One way is through a podcast that involves students.

    Podcasts are a fantastic way to engage students. Recently, my son and I started a podcast titled "Principal and the Kid" that is co-hosted by my middle school son. While it started as a way to engage him in my role as a principal and be able to spend more time with him after he has asked me many questions about what I do, it has continued to evolve. After three episodes, we have talked about student leadership in our school, he has interviewed 2 classmates regarding a service project, and I have had a conversation with 8th graders regarding their 8th-grade experience. As things happen around school, we will continue to add episodes. Kids are excited to share their stories and excited to share their experiences.

    A Podcast is simple if you make it simple. For a podcast, you only really need a couple pieces of equipment: a computer and a microphone. Many options are available on Amazon for under $50. Do your research and pick what works for you. For me, there is no editing, retakes, or redos. We hit record and roll. Using a platform like Anchor will allow you to upload the audio clips with a simple click of the mouse. While adding music limits where people can listen to your podcast, I have found this to be very important to a middle schooler so we add music intros. Again, Anchor does this seamlessly and really does all the work for you.

    Your podcast does not have to be a dissertation. Keep them brief. A lot of podcasts are 5-15 minutes. Focus on a topic you feel comfortable discussing OR talk to the kids in your building and let them select the topics.  Find something in education you are passionate about and hit record. While I am focusing on engaging students and sharing their stories, I hope it helps us connect with other educators and schools. I definitely don't have all the answers but hopefully can connect with others who do.

    So grab a mic, hit record, and get rolling with your podcast. Consider letting your students tell the story of your school in their own words. As a classroom teacher, set up a podcast station and have your kids discuss topics and describe your classroom activities and share out with your parents. They will be excited for the opportunity and what better ambassadors for your school and the great things you are doing than your kids. Besides, they can probably figure out a podcast quicker than we can. Meet your kids where they are on social media and provide them with a voice while being a cheerleader for your school.

Principal and the Kid Podcast

If you are looking to connect and grow your network, give me a follow on twitter @PrincipalCMill. 

    

I Teach Kids...Not Standards. PBL Can Get You There.

     Student engagement is the key to transforming our classrooms and our schools. When we do not engage students in learning, they find other ways to engage themselves. When you look at classrooms, you often have students that look engaged: they complete their work, perform well on assessments, and don't cause issues for the teachers. However, in many cases, they have just figured out how to play school and they fit the mold of a model student. They know the routine. The teacher introduces the lesson, take notes, complete questions, study the unit guide, take the assessment, maybe complete some homework along the way and then move on and repeat. I have seen the file folders of teachers where the unit is planned one time and taught over and over. The same books are read year after year and the same worksheets are pulled out and completed each year. This style of teaching is driven by the feeling that we have to cover standards. It is compounded by the number of standards that we have to cover each year. Joe Sanfelippo has a great clip from a discussion regarding things we should "unlearn". We don't need the traditional system any longer.

    We need to transform our schools and our classrooms in order to engage our students. Recently began reading Project-Based Learning Anywhere: Live It, Learn It, Love It! by Dr. Lori Elliott and it has really simplified the idea of student engagement and learning. PBL is not a place or thing (See the graphic below based on Dr. Elliott's book). It is the thing. Dr. Elliott has a quote in her book:

"It would be tough for students to live in a worksheet world and do just 1 or 2 PBL units a year."

    The big issue for most when it comes to increasing PBL is the idea that PBL does not cover standards.  The issue is that we often take our personal favorite concept and we try to cram standards into it when the process of developing a PBL should start with the standards. See the graphic below that is outlined in Dr. Elliott's book. The standards and the essential questions are the foundation of the PBL. When you begin with the standards first, you are able to cover the curriculum plus provide authentic learning and increase authentic engagement through student voice and choice. 

    Voice and choice are also a downfall or hurdle. As teachers, we are comfortable when we have this roadmap to our lesson. With voice and choice, the students create the roadmap for their learning. They do the research and create the finished project that is often undefined. That takes us out of our comfort level and often leads to the worry of if students learned. We have to get over this hurdle and understand that we transform from a lecturer to a facilitator. We don't have to be the expert in regards to the topic of the PBL, we have to be the experts on the standards and guide the learning through our questioning. We can still guide students through the standards. Instead of reviewing the standards and practicing problems or learning content, we are applying the standards and skills. If we get out of our own way and allow students to select the content and weave the standards into it, we not only engage students but also reduce the work effort as a teacher. I don't have to have a script for every minute of the day. Allow the kids to create the scripts. 

    We can still have ongoing assessments embedded into the PBL. We can have students journal or complete exit tickets in order to gauge understanding the covered standards along the way rather than waiting until the end. If in the middle of a PBL, you see students struggling with a standard, THEN take some time to direct teach and intervene and guide your kids back on the right path to mastering the standards. The difference is we are teaching kids and letting them guide us rather than teaching standards and letting them control us. Your kids will tell you where they need to go (Elliott, 2020). 

    Here is the key though, you are intervening for standards, NOT PBL. We are allowed to make mistakes so why are our kids not allowed? Think of a team working on a problem in an office somewhere. They analyze the issue, make changes and sometimes the changes work and sometime they do not. Yet, the team learns and makes additional adjustments and continues to improve. Too many of our kids do not know how to persevere. Our top students typically understand and grasp concepts easily and perform well on assessments; however, when challenged many cannot grasp not excelling immediately. Allow students time to critique and reflect, make adjustments and learn from failure. While you may need to put on your cheerleader hat to keep students motivated through their failures, we can still have amazing learning with failure. Maybe, the next project is done differently due to the failures just like we do in real life. 

    Dr. Elliott got it right. The worksheet world is painful. We have to change this and it will take a paradigm shift away from schools being driven by standards. Schools need to be driven by kids...who happen to learn a few standards. We teach kids the standards. We don't teach standards to kids. We can do this. All it takes is for adults to get out of their own way and do a PBL of the learning process in their classroom, their school, or district. Learn what works and what does not. Your kids will tell you.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. Let's connect and give me a follow on twitter @PrincipalCMill. Look for my podcast, "The Principal and the Kid" hosted by myself and my local expert on student engagement, my 11-year old son to be rolling out soon or when he thinks it is cool enough.

Elliott, L. (2020). Project-based learning anywhere: Live it, learn it, love it! 

    Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

The Principal and the Kid

     I spent the other night shooting baskets with my son in the pouring rain. I don't push my son to ever practice extra, but I will anytime he says let's work on something. He will often get philosophical on me as we spend time together and ask big questions whether that is about sports in his future, or life in general. I love those conversations and cherish them. Last night, as I picked up Teach Like a Pirate and began reading through it again for about the 100th time, I realized that I am not the expert on student engagement. Dave Burgess is well qualified but the real expert was sitting next to me working on making himself in NBA 2K21 so he could play with "'Bron and Brow". What better way to learn about student engagement than from the lens of an 11-year old middle school boy!! So I asked him, "Cale, what engages you at school?" 

"It has to matter to me and I have to learn something new. I like when I get to pick the topic."-Cale Miller (or any student)

    Think of the simplicity of this statement...but the power in it. Teach me something new and something that matters to me. That is all it is. Sheniger (2015) wrote about the importance of student engagement and being relevant. When you can tap into the passion of students, whether that be in the topic that is covered or in the options students have for presenting their learning; you create that purpose for learning. When you can connect passion with purpose, you have a slam dunk lesson/activity. Imagine a school or classroom where every student is connected with a purpose. What would discipline look like? What would student engagement look like? What would the authentic learning experience look like? That is my Utopia of schools...and Cale's too.

Reference

Sheninger, E. (2015). Uncommon learning: Creating schools that work for kids.

    Corwin.

"We Don't Have Time for That"

    As I wrap up my latest blog post, I find myself reflecting on my writing, my thoughts on education, and life in general. First, I am passionate about education and I believe the key to successfully raising the achievement gap is by increasing student engagement.  Second, I believe that we increase student engagement by increasing opportunities for authentic personal learning experiences (Murray, 2019). If we can't connect the "why" of an activity with a purpose for our students, they are checking out. 

    Third, I believe that we have to do a better job of loving our kids (Fullan, 2008). Our toughest kids often have the biggest walls to tear down. They will cut you to the core as a defense mechanism, yet we have to see through this. We have to be more empathetic and work to build their trust and hopefully earn their love and respect along the way. Unfortunately, we still have a society that sees some of our kids as "expendable". As a public educator, I still believe I can reach every kid. I can't walk in their shoes always and to say that I understand everything that every child has gone through because that would be disingenuous. However, I can try to build relationships and break down their defenses and try to understand what makes them click, and figure out a way to engage them. That is often the toughest work. 

My point is, if you begin to read my blog, you will see a theme or may seem some repeated thoughts; however, this is my passion and my "why". This is what drives me. Thanks for reading.

"We don't have time for that"...how many have heard that before? I get it. Really though, when you hear this excuse or roadblock to something new, it really is code for "I don't want to change what I am doing". That is really what no time means. Whether you are a superintendent, a principal, a central office administrator, a teacher, I want to push back a little (maybe a lot) and ask, "Do you have the time not to change?"

    Let's start with my 11-year old son who is upstairs right now playing Fortnite with a bunch of his buddies. He is connecting with friends from his old school 3 hours away and with new friends here. When not on Fortnite, he is on Youtube watching sports videos, videos of 4-wheelers, and so on. Before you condone me for the screen time, etc..., COVID has changed how he interacts with kids. Rather than having them over, it is all virtual. At the same time, he has found that if he has questions, he can typcially find a "how to" video on Youtube. So that is my point. We can't continue to run our schools like knowledge factories. Our kids don't need it. They can find anything they need on Google. What we need to teach them is how to find it and how to determine if the information is credible. Rather than a lesson on fossil fuels where we list them and read out of a book about fossil fuels, why can't we challenge our students?  Pick a side whether pro-fossil fuels or pro-"green" energy and set parameters for a presentation...Think of a lesson like this:

"What is the future of our energy usage in the United States?" 

    In groups of 5, select three types of energy sources and research the benefits of each type of energy, one energy source must be renewable or considered "green". Find three credible sources to develop a presentation where you develop a sales pitch for the local county commissioners where you have a proposal to build a new facility to produce the energy source of your choice. In your presentation, compare your energy source of choice to at least two other energy sources and convince the commissioners to choose your energy source as the best option for their community.

    Look at the possibilities from this project for integration of language arts, math, STEM, environmental, etc... The list could go on and on. On top of that, you are giving students a voice and choice. They have to collaborate with their peers which brings in another set of soft skills. You have presentations being developed that are a component of 21st Century Literacy Skills. Plus, I just did my "plans" for probably a week at least. I don't have a stack of quizzes to take home to grade or a stack of worksheets to grade. I just took on the role of facilitator, the role of a coach to help students with suggestions without giving them the answers.

    If you were to give a pre and post-assessment of their knowledge and application of this knowledge to make develop the reasons for their selection, I believe students would outperform the students that read about fossil fuels in a textbook and answered questions, and took quizzes. Especially if you were to bring out the same subject the next semester and check for retention. As Murray (2019) suggests in his book, we have to create learning experiences that impact a lifetime.

    We have to find ways to engage our kids who are experiencing a much different childhood than we did. Our kids are exposed to technology like never before whether we like it or not. Their futures are going to involve technology that may not even have been created yet; however, many of our schools and classrooms still look like 1990 (or 1980). Too often, educators spend too much energy on reasons why we can't do something. Leaders will make grand announcements of reasons why they can't do something. A roadblock is only a roadblock or an obstacle if you choose not to go over it or around it. We have to stop hanging on to the traditional school setting and rethink how we teach, how we engage, and how we are preparing our kids for a future of unknowns.  

Thanks again for taking the time to read my ramblings. Follow me on twitter @PrincipalCMill if you want to connect.

References

Fullan, M. (2008). Six secrets of change:What the best leaders do to help their

    organizations thrive and survive. Jossey-Bass.

Murray, T. (2019). Personal and authentic: Designing learning experiences that 

    impact a lifetime. IMPress.

Innovation and Engagement Ends with Worksheets

     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.