Perspective Detectives

I looked up Cynthia Sandler's email in my gmail this morning and found that on February 14, 2011 she was emailing to see if she could join the Digiteen project. I feel like I've known her for much longer. She was already incredible in her technology prowess and I'd hesitate to stake claim to any of Cynthia's excellence - she did all that on her own. But her knowledge of how to integrate global collaboration into the classroom here - just 365 days later blows me away.

Perspective Detectives
Yesterday, she pitched her global project idea to the Flat Classroom Certified Teacher Group. It was at 10 am Eastern so I was working frantically at our junior class Valentine's booth about that time, but have been taking time to review the final project designs of the teachers who have successfully made it through the course. Cynthia's video is Perspective Detectives:
 

Cynthia (and many of the others) nailed it. Catchy name. Clear story of why we need this project. Strong multimedia "pitching" the project to other teachers. And she also has the knowledge to know the pitfalls and challenges of creating a massive project.

Yes, we've used the draft manuscript of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds as our training material for these teachers (as a result the book is really on its 8th or 9th version but that is a good thing.)

Time to birth new, excellent projects
The goal of our certified teacher program is the birth new projects. Some of them that really want to go global will ask us to provide them with resources and tools as part of our Flat Classroom incubator program and others will just head out and do it on their own. We're not super flashy but those who participate and excel in our projects have a very strong content knowledge coupled with an incredible work ethic.

It is hard to complete this course. It is not something you can just do in a minute or two on your spare time. The teachers go through the book, attend weekly meetings, reflect in their journals, and finally, they produce their own project proposal that they pitch to the group for feedback based upon what they've learned about project design. We want to help work through the kinks in our support group of co-learners before pitching to the world.

Can't hide my pride. To me, teaching is not about the teacher it is about seeing those you teach do incredible things. That is what it means to build a legacy. Many of you build legacies every day because you teach and share.

Just think about this. We don't give tests in our course. What is the point? But you do have to participate, engage in conversation, complete 15 challenges (the Flat Classroom 15) and design your own project. If you can do that, I think you've learned something.

Past Graduates
I have to brag on all our graduates, the class roster of graduates has some of the most incredible collaborators I've ever known so take a look at their bios.

• Graduates 11-2
• Graduates 11-1
• Graduates 10-3

You can do this!

Expect to hear many more of their stories in the future. I know that many of you out there aren't able to participate in the certified teacher program and I still think you're great! Excellent teachers who are strong in content knowledge, love kids, work hard, and behave nobly will always have my admiration. Just pick up the book, join our network, and do the challenges on your own. You can do this.

I hope that Cynthia will find others to join with her to make Perspective Detectives a reality!

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Education needs paper and pavement people

Pavement rubber band (Photo credit: nicolasnova)

When surveying writers, I always scrutinize their resume to see if the person is a paper or a pavement kind of person.

A paper person has read a lot of paper and perhaps written a lot of paper. He knows the theories and how things should work.She read a lot of studies and may know a lot of people. There is certainly a place for paper.

A pavement person hits the pavement every day. She is doing it. He speaks from experiences that are real and that happened yesterday or today. She is very practical.

I think that the most successful educators are paper and pavement. I know college professors who are always talking to teachers. Who are looking at research studies for practical applications. These professors care about their own teaching practice as well and are on the pavement teaching in their own class.

Paper Tigers can devour learning
When we have to be afraid is when paper rules the day. We have too much of this. WE literally have "paper tigers" (pardon the pun but it fits) who are telling us to do things in the classroom that we know won't work. I've seen lesson plans in books that I wouldn't dream of doing. All neat and tidy, I wouldn't even try it with my students.

Pavement people can be a bit more messy and kind of dirty. Their lesson plans may be messy but full of rich learning.

Misapplication of best practice
The danger of best practices is to lose the context of the teacher, student, and local school in the implementation. I may dive perfectly according to a best practice, but if I'm pointing the wrong way on the diving board, I'm going to hit the cement.

Questions for those who spend more time with paper:

• Do you have pavement in your paper? Are you reading relevant, practical examples from those DOING what you're studying?
• Are you reading across a wide variety of people doing the job (not just award winners)?
• Do you talk to or know people who do this job and listen to their thoughts?
• Are you willing to listen when people doing the tasks tell you that your paper doesn't line up with the practice they see every day?
• Do you treat "pavement" people in your profession with respect?

Questions for those who hit the pavement every day:

• Do you read paper and learn about best practice from others?
• Are you willing to integrate and learn from others?
• Do you look at the research and see what you can do better relating to that research?
• Do you know or talk to those who are "paper" experts who can help you see the big picture?
• Do you treat "paper" people in your profession with respect?

On paper... bumblebees can't fly. In the real world, they fly every day. 

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Be THAT

My blog posts are too long. There are many things I do wrong. Maybe you mess up too.

But there is one thing I do right: I love my students. When they are in my classroom, I am WITH them.

Make a list today: what makes an incredible, life changing teacher? Post it on your desk and read it every day. do the list.

Be THAT teacher. You can change the world, one child at a time.

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10 Ways for Living Large in Lunch Duty Land

I admit that I dread lunch duty. But as I stood there talking to a student during my week to serve, it struck me just how important this monthly occurrence is to my personal effectiveness as a teacher and the overall well being of our school.

Photo Credit: Big Stock

You may think it is silly to have thoughts and guidelines for doing a good job at lunch duty but I think you can tell a lot about the greatness of a teacher by how seriously you take this time to interact, supervise, and connect with the students. But I want to start with a word to administrators.

1 - Lunchtime is time for Administrators to show up
Eating together has been a time of fellowship and friendship since caveman ate mammoth over an open fire. The best administrators I've worked for let themselves be seen and interact with the students during this time. I'll see them laughing, talking, and asking questions of students about their lives or sometimes talking about a question that students have.

You may have an open door policy but when you go out during the times where students interact, you open the line of communication. Your presence is a physical deterrent and shows you care at the same time. You may or may not back up that teacher but if you're involved from the first moment, you'll always back up your own eyeballs. They know that.

2 - Find a place where you can see it all.
Where you stand is important. If there is a place you cannot see, that is where the problems will happen. Unfortunately, at our school, this place is at a pole on the corner of the building where the wind whips around like a tiny twister. I grab my jacket, leave a hairbrush in the bathroom and stand there. Otherwise, someone is unsupervised.

3 - Meet and Greet
I don't "butt in" to student groups that are doing just fine, but I do say hello by name to those student who walk past me, particularly those in ones and two's.

To understand the mind of a child who has been bullied, you have to have been one like me. When you're alone and feel like you have no friends, when someone calls your name in a kind way, it is like a drop of water on the tongue of a person dying of thirst.

You are not ominpotent and you don't know who the person is who is having a bad day. Teenagers have a secret world and there is the world they let us see in the classroom and the real world. Don't think for a second you have a finger on the pulse of their real world because you see what they want you to see. Be kind to everyone. Say "hi."

4 - Look at body language and speak with your location
You don't have to hear conversations to know what is happening. Good teachers are masterful readers of body language. If you see a kid with a head down leaning against a wall with arms crossed and several other kids gathered around him talking at him, it is time to move closer to see what is going on.

Big Stock

5- Look for the daredevil doubletake
Kids always give a cutaway glance before they cut loose. I call it the daredevil doubletake.  Watch for it next time!

Just before a child is about to do something he knows he shouldn't, he'll lift his head up and look both ways - usually his head will turn to the right and left and his eyes will scan the full periphery like he's about to cross a street. He's looking for you.

If you make sure this person knows you're watching, you can physically see him shrug his shoulders and change course and abandon the plan he just concocted. Moving closer into his line of sight and making eye contact will usually deter anything from happening and even if it does, you're closer to the action when it starts. They are assessing the damage that will happen to them and if it is worth it to go ahead. (This is why if an administrator is seen during the daredevil doubletake, it is usually enough to abandon the plan.)

6 - Move in before you butt in
Sometimes your read on body language is wrong so quietly move near where they are and start listening in before you butt in. Let them see you. Bullies are empowered by a crowd and a perceived lack of supervision.

7 - It is ok to butt in
You are a teacher. It is your business. It is your job to butt in and put your nose in business that is not yours. Get over it. You're not here to be popular, you are here to do the right thing.

The right thing is to defend the defenseless and to keep these kids safe. If that child were yours, what would you want an adult to do? Butt in and take care of business. Love the kids and defend those who have it rough. That is your job.

8- Never let "just kidding" negate what you just saw
Just kidding is the get out of jail free card for bullies and it works... most of the time.

Trust me, even if one is being bullied, that child will echo that they were both "just kidding" in the vain hope it will ingratiate him/her to the bully because the bully was just saved a trip to the principal's office.

Big Stock

Last time I had this happen, I just said:

"I don't care that you say you were just kidding. What I just saw wasn't something you kid about. It was over the top and we're headed to Coach Ross' office so he can know that you two are completely out of line. Cut it out. You don't act that way at lunch."

I was bullied. If you believe for one second that a child was just kidding then you don't know kids or you were one of those who never was a target. If they really are just kidding, if that really happened, wouldn't you rather be wrong about that side of thing 1 out of 100 times or would you rather be wrong 99 out of 100? Just kidding doesn't cut it. Students do what they mean to do. Hold them accountable for what you see and for what they say.

9 - Take time to connect but stay vigilant
If that student stops and talks to you. Make eye contact as you continue to scan the area. You want to connect with students but you also want to know that students who really want to do something understand the subtle art of "distracting the guard."  In Hogan's Heroes, when the prisoners wanted to escape, the first thing they did was distract the guard.

Some of you will not like the link to a prison guard and that is fine, but the point is that you have a supervisory duty here. If you can connect while you do that, then that is great. I've learned so much about the inner workings of kids who really needed it during these lunch conversations. During class I build knowledge but during lunch, I build relationships.

Usually, I'll only have one on one conversations and not be in large groups of students because it is too hard to watch everyone and have a group of 15 kids around me.

10 - Bring your whole self to lunch duty
I know you  have a thousand things to do and if there is any big flaw with being a teacher, it is that we are never left alone. Ever. Well, hopefully when we go to the bathroom, but that is pretty much it. I've literally gone to the ladies room before just to take a breath, brush my teeth, and look in the mirror to see if my eyeballs were still in my head.

Why I will do my best at lunch duty even though no one notices
But as much as you have to do, lunch duty is important. It is one of those things that no one likes but you've got to adjust your attitude and do it. No one will give you a plaque at the end of the year for "best lunch duty teacher" and no one will even notice.

But the students will. I want the students to know that when I am there that they are safe. I want those who want to act up to know that they will be held accountable and they'd better not do it. I want build relationships with my students, make eye contact, and let them know I care.

My present to them will be my presence and I will be there.

Doing a good job at thankless tasks is what teachers do. We are noble and we care about the things that are important, not about the things that are flashy or showy or get us in the newspaper.

OK, gotta run go pack my coat. I have lunch duty today and I'm going to have a good attitude and see what blessings are in store.

Have a great day! Remember your noble calling, teacher.

Related articles

• The End of Molasses Classes: Book Review (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
• Bullying isn't as simple as you think it is. (allstudentsagainstbullying.wordpress.com)
• Battling Bullying: A Whole-School Approach (education.com)

Photo Credits:

Big Stock

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I am teaching

Image via Wikipedia

I'm tired but today I am going to give all I have to my students.
It isn't much but all I have is enough.

When I look at their bright faces,
part of me wishes I could be a personal one on one Socrates or Plato to each one...
pouring out everything I have but more importantly, helping them extract all of the greatness within.

Great teachers are always known by the great minds they inspire...
if I were only that great.

I doubt Plato had poofy hair that just wouldn't sit down and Socrates probably didn't have a hole in his sock.

The thing we have in common is that they showed up. Consistently and daily, they were there teaching.

And there is the difference.
There is a big difference between being called a teacher and teaching.

That is why some people are so mad about teachers. Some teachers aren't really teaching at all.

Teaching doesn't mean I'm in the middle of a quiet circle of cross legged agape children hanging on my every word.
Sometimes it means they are in the middle of a loud circle of conversation close to hanging on the rafters with excitement.

Many Don't Want Excitement
I don't subscribe to this new model of destroying the classroom and everything it has been because I think that great learning experiences have always been exciting. It is just that we've gotten to the point that many administrators and teachers don't want excitement. They don't want surprises. When surprises happen, they're afraid of ending up on the front page of yesterday's news.

Most educators would rather float quietly in the cess pool of monotony than surf the big waves of learning. Big learning can be scary and have a bit more excitement than you want.

We're supposed to have stoplights on our wall that show the sound level and that get to red when the kids get too loud.

The kids think it is fun to make the light move so they work together to get louder.

Instead it should be fun to learn our topic. Instead of gami-fying misbehavior and thus, making it attractive, we should be gamifying the learning process. Leveling up. Challenges that seem insurmountable. Personalizing learning in powerful ways.

Today, I will be a teacher who is teaching with all she has. I have a plan. I am ready. I am armed with arms that love and appreciate these kids.

I am teaching. Are you?

Related articles

• On Teaching, Sailing, and Swimming (bokcenter.harvard.edu)
• Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/03/2012 (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
• Collaboration 1: Collaboration is the key influence in the quality of teaching (edu.blogs.com)
• The Most Successful Thinkers (espliego.wordpress.com)

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Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 12/28/2011

• Improve Your Learning and Memory.: Your Kid May Be Smart. Just Don’t Tell Him So Too Often

  Every kd isn't smart but every kid (and adult) needs a "growth mindset." Please read this article. "Research by Carol Dweck and colleagues at Stanford demonstrated that the students who are most likely to learn from their mistakes are those who don’t think of themselves as smart as such but smart enough to get smarter. They have a “growth mindset,” a belief system that they can get better if they will just invest the time and effort."
  "In one of the group’s experiments, half of the students were repeatedly praised for “being smart,” and these students were not good at learning from mistakes. It is not clear why. Maybe they thought the problem was in the learning material, not in them. The other half of students were praised for effort and improvement and these students got better and made fewer mistakes. Several months later, all students repeated a standardized test, and the “smart” students’ scores dropped 20%, while the “growth mindset” students scored 30% higher." Praise students for effort not for being smart. bottom line. everyone is not a genius

  tags: education teaching edreform research

• Ignoring What Works in Education, The Umbrella Man, and The Challenge of Framing

  Prepare to be challenged as you read Ewan McIntosh's thought provokingnpost on formative assessment and why it is being ignored or misrepresented. i have some reading to do with the links he gives. this is one of those must reads for thought leaders.

  tags: education edreform teaching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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