Sunday, January 10, 2016

Three Pressing Goals to Accomplish This Year

Touching Students’ Hearts


This is always a pressing goal.


Students need to feel valued and need to value others. Each year I try to impress upon them that they are incredibly powerful beings who are capable of making an impact on the world - right now.


IMG_3534.PNGIn addition to day-to-day interactions, I show them examples of other young people who are doing just that. Malala is a powerful example. But I also show them that impacting the world can happen in smaller ways, too. Georgia orphan's mission: Make others smile moved many of my students, and the little boy’s simple actions are no less great than Malala’s.


I also use videos such as The Butterfly Circus to encourage students to see value in themselves and others. Some students are moved to tears.


The students are also encouraged to figure out what they are going to do with their knowledge as they learn in class. Currently, they have been investigating standard of living. I need to expose students to what others experience so the students may appreciate what they have. But more importantly, they need to be moved to consider how their new understandings are important and what they can do: What is their role in the world? What influence can they have? How can they make people’s lives better?


Already, this year, I have started down this path with my students. But I need to continue to move my students - to touch their hearts - so they are empowered to their greatness within and blossom as leaders.


Redesign the Classroom


I want them to collaborate. I want them to have choices. I want them to be curious and lead their own learning.


I think that a redesigned classroom can help facilitate those expectations.


The school district designed my classroom just like all others: one size fits all. They put in individual student desks and those lovely, hard, industrial chairs. There is a front of the classroom, defined by the projector and SmartBoard.


I want my students to be more comfortable in the classroom. I want better work surfaces to replace the desks. I want the classroom to have learning stations that are unique from one another: tables, “work benches,” multiple monitors/tvs from which they can present, places to investigate, places to create, and at least some cushions for those chairs, if not more comfortable spots in which they could choose to learn. I don’t want there to be a steadfast area of focus in the room - the front.


I want to sit down with my principal to talk through my reasons and my ideas. I’m hopeful that my physical classroom can start moving in the direction I would like it to.


Global Connections


I need to do a better job facilitating interactions between my students and the world. There is great value in the students realizing they are an influential piece of the world.


The students maintain blogs, but there is little interaction with them. I have encouraged parents to interact on the blogs with comments, but they seldom do. I need to push myself to tap other resources, such as social media and colleagues, that will generate a wider audience for the students’ blogs - so their sphere is influence broadens and they can see the impact of their positive digital footprint.


Another avenue I have to force myself to take is Skype. I have been hesitant to utilize Skype with my students because it is very much an unknown to me. I can often be very cautious and meticulous in getting myself familiar with something before I take the leap and challenge myself with the risk. This school year I have established a class twitter account (@Mr_dEsClass) through which I encourage and facilitate student tweets, but I feel it is high time I push my classes into Skype.


If you have three pressing goals you want to accomplish by the end of school this year or, if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing about them.


This post is inspired by Share #YourEduStory. The prompt from @bjornpaige was “What are your three most pressing goals between now and the end of the school year?

Sunday, January 3, 2016

One Word: A Focus for 2016

The new year always seems an appropriate time to reflect and refocus.  Although the summer is a great opportunity to do this prior to the beginning of a new school year, educators should remember that improvement is an ongoing process.  To that end, continuous reflection and refocusing throughout the year is powerful.  What better opportunity than ringing in the new year?


One word - focusing on one word as my inspiration in school for the year.  There were several that immediately came to mind: growth, transparency, empathy, student centered, collaboration, reflection.  But upon further reflection, I decided my one word would be LEADERSHIP.


SCHOOL
Tremendous changes have been afoot since the start of the school year. Not only have several teachers left midstream for other opportunities, but we entered the school year knowing our principal would be leaving in November.  After a search a new principal was hired.  A month after she started, the assistant principal announced that she, too, would be moving on to another opportunity.  With the start of school in January, we will welcome a new assistant principal.


The teachers are the continuity.  


The teachers are the consistency.  


The teachers are the ones who have the strongest relationships with the students.  


Leadership JFKEach of us needs to look upon ourselves as leaders.  Our collective leadership skills are what make the transition seamless with a new administrative team.  We can sustain and develop the necessary culture so that the students benefit, excel, and grow.  We do not need to wait for the administrative team, but, instead, can model for them an energetic, creative, enthusiastic, and nurturing environment.


Where others may be feeling out the new administrative team, I believe this is a great opportunity to develop a collaborative relationship within our school.  Each of us are leaders in some way. We can exercise our abilities in this moment to further our school culture.


CLASSROOM
The other draw to the word LEADERSHIP is the students.


I want my students to be leaders.  Not some of them, all of them.


So, I need to develop opportunities in which they can lead and develop their leadership skills.


The following are areas which will encourage their abilities as leaders:


Developing Voice
Students need to have input, both in class and in the world. They need to develop their voice by examining ideas and issues that are meaningful to them.  And they also need to express their thoughts about them so they can gain clarity around their ideas. Without giving them opportunities to develop their voices, students will struggle to exert themselves as leaders.  By emphasizing student voice, students will feel valued as a productive member of our classroom community, the school community, and the community outside our wall.


Challenge Themselves
It is one thing for the teacher to challenge the students, but it is a far greater opportunity for learning when students are challenging themselves.  Within the classroom, I can provide opportunities that allow for students to drive their own learning and challenge themselves.  By giving them options to impact the world, they will not only challenge themselves, but will also use their skills as leaders.  They will need to show the importance of what they are doing, will need to defend it, and will need command of written and spoken language.  


Risk Taking
Leaders take risks, and so should my students.  I want them to explore their own ideas.  I want them to try new things.  If the student hasn’t made a video before, they should try crafting one.  If the student doesn’t offer ideas much in class, they should be encouraged to do so.  If the student has not tried to convince the principal of implementing a new idea, the student should be given that opportunity.  Creating an environment in which students are comfortable to try new things - to take risks - is essential. Risk taking will develop students’ confidence in doing what they did not think was previously possible.


Perseverance
Students cannot give up easily.  Students need to be prompted to go back and rework their ideas with encouragement.  If they are going to challenge themselves and take risks, the work should be difficult.  They could become easily frustrated. They must relish the struggle instead. Promoting the idea that “You can do this,” is essential.  


Capacity
Building capacity in problem solving and skills is important.  Many skills are needed to efficiently consume information. Other skills are needed to efficiently create with this information.  Students need to build their capacity with these skills in order to better learn and better lead.  Giving them opportunities to problem solve - ideally with student generated problems - will build their capacity to come up with viable solutions.  



Each of these can be developed in students to enhance their abilities as learners and leaders. They each must, however, be modeled.


As a teacher, I can model these within the classroom. But I also need to remember that I need to exhibit the same as I demonstrate leadership within the school.


LEADERSHIP will be my focus for 2016, providing my students appropriate opportunities to develop their abilities as leaders and by taking opportunities myself to enhance school culture.

If you have "one word" you will focus on this year or have other goals for 2016 or, if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing about them.


This post is inspired by Share #YourEduStory. The prompt from @AppEducationFox was “What is your "one word" that will inspire you in your classroom or school in 2016?

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