What Can We Do to Keep Shining?

Sometimes a school culture can feel a little toxic. The judgements, criticism, burn out, bad attitudes and some just bad days. We are at a time in education where everyone has an option on what success is and they are definitely not the same opinions. Schools are judged on test scores and rankings if they are low we are failing if they are high we are succeeding. But education is so much more than how students score on a test. So how do we stay focused on what is important....our students?

Get out in the halls in the morning to welcome students and high fives on their way out the door. The best part of the day is watching the mob of children head down the halls in the morning. That is my reminder of what I do and why I do it. Not to mention, what other job is out there where people are truly happy to see you each morning and show it. 

Welcome kids back when they have been gone and tell them you have missed them. If you have never said this to a child it try it! They are amazed that you would actually miss them. One of my kids said one time “What? You really missed me?”.

Find a place to recharge. I don’t avoid the teachers lounge because I am antisocial I do it because I need to recharge. My grade partner and I sit in my room in the comfy chairs with soft music playing and sometimes just take a breath. The best part is past students who stop in just to say hi and off they go. 

Meet kids where they are at but first you need to find where that is. We ALL have struggles (an argument at home, a sick child, worried about someone you care about, deaths in the family, financial stress etc) and so do our students. Check in with the kids as they walk in the door and pay attentions to sad or overly tired faces or that little body that is so excited they might explode. Listen to them! Build meaningful relationships. You have no idea then impact they may have. 

Find your tribe and lean on them when you need to. I have those is my building I know I can vent to and let it go. I have access to those who build me up, make me face my short comings, remind  me why I love what I do and encourage me to be the best I can. My tribe makes me stronger and more confident. My tribe is who I lean on even if they don’t know I am leaning on them. 

Remind yourself when others dull your shine it may have absolutely nothing to do with you. You have no idea the struggles people are facing so be patient, be kind and be understanding. 

I wish I had the answer on detoxifying things when they get rough but I don’t. The only thing I know I can do is detoxify my classroom and myself.  

"What If"

As I finish up a book that has helped me see things more clearly one of the very last parts really resonated with me. Lately I have been thinking a lot about those kids who seem to have behaviors that get in the way of learning, but "What If" (thank you Katie Martin) we looked at them differently? Katie talks in her book about Captain Underpants, which is a movie I watched for the first time this year during a spontaneous lunch date with my class (I should not admit this but I giggled more than the students).  The boys in this movie are always in trouble for the antics they pull, but if you really look at who they are you see they are incredibly genius with their ideas.

Just recently I read the book Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt and had that same realization that "What If" we really knew what the underlying issues were. "What If" we took time to look past the poor behavior and saw the real child. In this book the main character has dyslexia and it takes until 5th grade for someone to realize it. Her poor behavior overshadowed her inability to read. Underneath her acting out and pushing people away she was an incredible artist and extremely intelligent. 

This past year I have embraced risk taking, but at times worry about taking the wrong leaps. What if I take some  leaps that harm more than help my students? As I reflect on Learners Centered Innovation, Captain Underpants and Fish in a Tree they all lead me to feel confident my risks are what is best for kids. By providing my students with more choice and empower them to own their learning I am preparing them for more than just school. I had one of those amazing teacher moments this week as we were talking in class one of my students asked me what would happen if one of them made poor choices. I was a little confused at the question so took a second and realized although we had gone over rules and consequences at the beginning of the year we haven't had any issues this year that require discipline in my class. At that moment I knew the risks were completly worth it. I feel as though my class has taken ownership in our room as a community and have had the opportunities to own their learning. This has resulted in less time or desire for poor behaviors. I am not saying my students behave perfectly, but I am experiencing a much different year than I have in the past. I know who my students really are better than I ever have, which allows me to truly differentiate.

Some of the risks this year: 

*Flipping math class using the Grid Method, which focuses on student mastery at the students pace
*Embracing standards based grading even though our grade is the only one doing it 
*Introducing Genius Hour
*Planning lessons around students interests and passions
*Taking risks, which include failing and succeeding in front of my students. 
*Eliminating homework
*More flexible seating
*Blogging and Tweeting (putting myself out there)
*Empowering students!

None of it was easy, but each one was worth it!

Teach the Way I Would Want to Be Taught!

The way I see things is training is to teachers as teaching the content is to students. I have fully embraced being a student as I have navigated my way through new ideas lately. As I think about how I want to learn it directly correlates to how I should be teaching as well. I use to dread our inservice days and still do at times. There was nothing worse than Google training on the last day before Thanksgiving or learning how to use our Smart Boards on the last day before summer break. I was checked out and definitely unengaged. If we were expected to learn and use the knowledge I can assure you it was wasted on me and most of my colleagues. Last summer, I spent much of my spare time reading books, researching and planning on how I wanted this year to go. It was on my own time at my own pace and I learned a ton. I was highly motivated and felt ownership.   Because I see the value in the changes I want to making I am sitting on my couch on a Sunday writing this blog, I participate in Twitter chats and spend time connecting with other passionate educators who help me be a better version of myself. This school year there has luckily been a shift in how our work days are carried out. We spend less time in training and more time in collaboration.  We have a ways to go to completely embrace a culture of learning, but we are moving in that direction and it feels good.

Sometimes We Need to Add but Know When to Subtract Too!

I found myself completely overwhelmed with new ideas to implement in my classroom. I downloaded apps and registered for the newest and greatest ways to engage student learning. The result was TOO MUCH to do. Not to much content to teach, but too much time spent trying new things! I love learning and finding things to make my classroom better for my kids, but I had grabbed on to way too much, which became counterproductive and I was frustrated. If I was frustrated my students had to have been too. I have purposely slowed down and ditched some things as well as let some things that look cool go by. My misconception was that innovation was adding more and in reality that is not true. Coming to understand this was so refreshing. I realized I needed to pick just a few things to focus on and start letting go of the rest. 

"Innovation in education is not just about adding it's also about subtracting" by Katie Martin -Learner Centered Innovation

One of the major changes I made was to spend more time looking at myself and my practices in the classroom. Reflection on what I can do and what I can stop doing for my kids has led me to a place I am so excited to be. I can keep constantly reflection and adapting, I can keep building strong relationships with my students, and I can focus on meaningful rich learning experiences. I can stop focusing on the end result and rather focus on the journey, I can stop giving meaningless busy work, and I can stop answering my students questions and have them find their own answers that will hopefully lead to more questions.

As Katie talked about in her book too often success is defined by test scores. This is definitely a frustration as I have students pulled out to drill-and-kill or engage in less authentic learning experiences so they can perform better on tests. I battle with this because these are the students who desperately need to make a connection and go beyond the standards, but get held back from some of the meaningful learning taking place in the classroom.

A challenge I see in our school is the one size fits all curriculum. I feel very fortunate to be in school district that allows us to take risks and take our own path in how we achieve learning in our students. Our grade level began to step away from our given language arts curriculum, which included worksheets and reading passages the students had no connection to, a few years ago and a little at a time. We restructured our classrooms to provide more personal and authentic learning. We use picture books and the students own reading choices to teach skills and the result is a much better understanding and the ability to actually use the skills in their own reading. This year we have also taken a leap away from our math curriculum to teach in a student paced much more flexible way. This also includes reteaching and retesting to achieve a better understanding of concepts. I feel like there has been growth in motivation and learning.

Yes constraints are in my classroom and in my school, but that just means we need to get creative and be willing to take some risks! 

WHY or HOW do you do your job?

WHY or HOW do you do your job? 

I see the first as a question we ask ourselves and the second is a question others ask us. Especially these days with fear of our safety, demands and frustration growing in the classroom HOW do we do it everyday? WHY do we do it everyday?

WHY is a question I have been focused on as I reflect on who I am as an educator. WHY did I choose this career and WHY do I continue to move forward in it.
                                   
When I think of my WHY I could answer with all the right things like I want to make a difference, I love seeing curiosity form into amazing discoveries and a million other reasons, but although these are all true my real WHY has more to do with what I have experienced.

                                       

I was raised with kids and lots of them! My parents took in foster children my whole childhood. There were times I would wake up in the morning and run into the next bedroom to see if "new friends" had arrived in the middle of the night (which happened often). These children came from unimaginable places and had been through more in their short lives than anyone should have to endure in a lifetime. I came to understand and empathize with them. I also worried about them long after they left us. When they left us they often went back into the same awful situation they were pulled from. I knew that for a lot of them school would be there only safe place. It would be the place they knew they would get a meal, be warm and should be a place where they are loved and feel safe.

My WHY is also my brother who struggled with ADHD in a time when it was not accepted and worked with like it is now in schools. My WHY is my son who told me he felt like noone at school believed in him. My WHY is the kids who stop in every morning on the way to class that come to get a high five or sit and take a breath before starting the day. My WHY is a senior (who I had in a reading program 7 years ago) that brings me a coffee mug that reads "TEACHER, because Badass Miracle Worker is Not a Title".  My WHY is because I don't ever want a child to leave my room feeling like they don't matter and that they know there is always a safe place to stop whenever they need.

If you have ever seen the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun with Sarah Jessica Parker (from the 80'S) there is a scene where she is a high school student introducing herself and she pauses and says "I love to dance" (which is what the movie is all about).  When I was a kid this was much more dramatic in my own head than it really is when I see it now, but that is what I think of everytime someone asks HOW I do my job everyday. I think as I do a dramatic pause "because I love to teach".

I think my love of what I do is apparent to most who know me especially my family. My 15 year old daughter has her first job and she told me the other day how lucky she was to have a job she loved....she works at a child care in an elementary school. Everyday I pick her up she talks nonstop about the kids and what happened that day. Even at 15 I can see her passion for kids and know she will make a difference in so many lives.

The HOW question I feel is a more difficult one to answer, because it is tough to put into words the feeling of seeing kids be curious, daring, innovative, successful and amazing. I know right now with school safety at the front of everyone's mind people are worried and so am I, but we can't live in fear. We have a job to do and it is more important now than ever. Kids are changing and the way we connect with them is changing. We need to change with the times or become irrelevant. So my HOW I do this job is I have found a tribe of people who remind me almost everyday how amazing and important our job is.

I was watching the news the other day and was completely overwhelmed by the students standing up for what they believe in in Florida. What they are doing is EXACTLY what I see as the powerful outcome of empowering kids. George Couros, Katie Martin, Dave Burgess, Jimmy Casas, A.J. Juliani and John Spencer are just a few of the people who I see as huge influences on where our education is going. Because of this I don't see WHY or HOW I could not love what I do!

What conditions are critical to support learning and innovation?

For so long my classroom was taught around compliance and I never even thought about it that way. I have spent a lot of time refectly lately on who I am as a learner and who I want my students to be as learners. I learn best what I am self motivated, part of decision making, see my work as fulfilling and challenging and get to solve problems creatively all things Katie Martin points out in her book Learner Centered Innovation. If I learn best this way why would I not provide all these things for my students? A question I had not spent nearly enough time thinking about in the past. I am amazed at the difference in how my classroom culture has evolved when I plan keeping these things in mind.

This year I have tried to really change my mindset on how the student's in my class are learning. I loved the idea of teaching my students to be free thinkers and owners of their own learning, but in all honesty I had no idea what that would look like or how to provide that. Slowly by the use of Twitter, reading blogs and asking amazing eductors for help I have begun to understand more clearly what that means. A great example was just recently our students needed to learn about matter and to make things a little more difficult I had to teach it. In the past my grade partner would tackle science and I would take on social studies. The more we collaborated the more we felt the value in working together on both subjects. As a team we've talked alot about having a more student led classroom and this was a perfect opportunity to provide that! Each student was given a state of matter and would spend time learning about it and then give a 60 second elevator pitch on what they learned. After that they were grouped in a way in which one solid, one liquid and one gas were members of the team and instructed to find a way to demonstrate all three to the class. I was a little nervous about the direction they would take, but was completely blown away by what they came up with. Each group chose a demonstration along with an explanation of the states of matter. The best part was one of my reluctant learners, who seems uninterested in putting forth much effort in anything, was so excited about the project. He even said "Mrs. Erickson, this is the first time I have been excited about an assignment. I love this and want to keep doing it" followed by a "Science! Science! Science!" chant by the whole class. I think I found what my ideal classroom looks like!

Put Yourself Out There!

Put yourself out there! That is easier said than done as I have found out. The thought of blogging actually made me a little nauseous...and that is not an exaggeration. I have started 3 different blogs on 3 different blog sites, the first couple I never posted or told anyone about so they sit with literally zero views. That worked for me, because I felt like I had tried and that was good enough. I have spent the last year reading every book I can to help me be a better educator and once again I felt like at least I am trying. Only now, that I have committed to really blogging and focusing on myself as a learner can I say I get it! I didn't get here on my own though. The process was pretty eye opening. I reached out for help and became the student. When one asks George Couros for help and he says blog...there is no other choice but to blog. Since I felt like I asked for the help I had to follow through no matter how much I wanted to say forget it! The stages I went through surprised me a little. I was nervous and anxious just like what I see in my students when they are asked to do something uncomfortable. When I would ask questions I did not get direct answers just more things to think about, which is what I have come to understand is how we can spark curiosity and ownership in learning in our students. As I lost sleep and needed constant reassurance I decided it was time to make the leap and really put myself out there. I finished my first blog and shared it not knowing what to expect. When I saw that it was retweeted and the amount of views it made me sick at first...no exaggeration. Once that feeling past I began to feel like I can do this and started to wonder what else I was capable of. I realized that my unpublished blogs and huge amount of reading wasn't enough. I have thought more about my relationship with my students, colleagues and myself, which has forced me to really look at how I can do better. What I have learned through this process is I want to give my students what my teacher (George) gave to me. Spark curiosity, stand beside them and watch amazing things happen.

As I watched George, Katie and A.J. during IMMOOC I am even more inspired to commit to the process of reflecting and getting out there. As I post on my blog and on twitter I put myself in a position for criticism. Our grade level has made changes and we have definitely put ourselves in a position for criticism. I am fortunate enough to have a group of supporters who remind me the risk is worth it, because I am doing what is best for my learners.

I loved the question during IMMOOC about what we can do tomorrow. Talk to kids! Give them choice! This year my team has taken the leap to give kids choices, which was pretty scary at first. That would be tough if we didn't talk to kids and get to really know them. Empowering them with choice and in their learning has been amazing to be a part of. I finally understand what was meant when I heard the phrase "student led". We have so much more to do, but that shift has been so incredible for us as teachers as well as for the students.

I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks as I push myself to even more uncomfortableness with the goal of being so much better for my kids! I am so grateful to have the opportunity to learn from some people I admire so much for what they do for education. There is a lot to learn from George, Katie, A.J. and John and I cannot wait to see where this journey takes me.

Curiosity...Passion...Change IMMOOC4

I think it is critical to spark curiosity and ignite passions in learners so we can not only teach them skills, but provide authentic learning opportunities to practice those skills and take them even further. This will happen when they are truly engaged in what they are learning. Tapping into students passions will result in them putting in more effort, retaining more information and work harder. I know for me I started college without a purpose or passion and my grades were definitely a result...a very embarrassing result. When I started my elementary education classes (my passion) my effort increased significantly and as a result I received grades I was proud of and curiosity in what I loved motivated me to go farther than I was required. By providing learning experiences that allow my students to learn through their passions it will encourage their curiosity to lead them farther. 

I can honestly say I have only recently truly embraced the evolving role of an educator. Each year I am excited to bring new ideas into my classroom, but recently my evolution has taken off. I think I have evolved more in the last couple of years than I have in all of my 19 years of teaching put together. As times and my students needs change I knew I needed to change as well or get left behind. At first I thought technology was the key to keeping up and I learned everything I could, but have come to realized a 21st century educator is so much more that being tech savvy. It has taken time, frustrations, failures along with successes and great change. I not only have embraced my role, but look forward to where it will take me. 

If we change the way we learn and how we see our learning we ultimately change the way our students learn. When we change that, they change the world.-Katie Martin Learner Centered Innovation

YES! I can not wait to see the amazing ways my students change the world!

Authentic Learning Doesn't Have to Wait!

In Learner Centered Innovation by Katie Martin I was struck by a section in her book in which she talks about students having to wait until they master basic skills before engaging in authentic learning. So often I feel like students are held back because they have not mastered a skill that they could authentically practice if we as teachers sometimes got out of their way.

       We shouldn't make lerners wait until they master the basics to engage in authentic learning-I couldn't agree more!

She goes on to say what often is seen in schools:

   *Kids are held back from reading books they are interested in because the book isn't at "their level".

Our school uses the Accelerated Reading program to level and assess our students reading. I often heard kids say they were not allowed to read books they wanted, because it was too difficult for them based on the AR level and what I saw was disengaged reading that the students dreaded. One of my favorite times of the day is silent reading. My goal is to teach kids how to find appropriate books that they love and are able to determine on their own if it is a "good fit". I look around the room and see students engaged in reading and able to discuss a book they are interested in. It is so quiet and most are genuinely disappointed when we need to move on to something else.

    *Students are forced to practice their letters over and over before they can create their own stories. 

I have some pretty creative students who love to write! They may not be the best at grammar and sometimes there stories are a little scattered, but because they are writing and writing a lot those skills will come with authentic work that they are excited about doing. I feel like I would be extinguishing their flame of writing if I got in their way. I can guide them along the way instead of waiting until they have mastered specific skills.


    *In math, learners work on basic facts and rote computation before they can try and love complex problems.

My grade partner and I just had a conversation about this the other day. He came to me and asked what I thought about kids using their multiplication tables when they struggled with solving multi digit multiplication problems. My response was it depends... are you wanting them to demonstrate their math facts or multi step problem solving? We talked about it and agreed that although the math facts are important and need to be practiced that they would be able to use the table to help them so they could practice the process without getting lost in the math facts they were struggling with. As they were working through the multi step problem they were also practicing the facts they needed as well.

Getting out of the way of my students was a huge shift and not always easy. I at one time was so focused on basic skills that some of my students were not having the opportunity to participate in authentic learning. Yes, the basic skills are important, but I love that I can provide opportunities for my students to practice those skills along the way instead of stopping until they have them to move on. It is more meaningful and retainable if they actually use the skills rather than just regurgitate them.