McFarland, USA

Over break, my family came across a movie on TNT that had just started.  It was called McFarland, USA.  We had no idea what it was about and the fact that we were all in the same room on a Saturday afternoon was pretty impressive.  My oldest son was quickly drawn into the move and I wasn't far behind.  What a great movie! 

Here is the trailer for the movie.

Here is the movie in whole from Youtube.  I am not sure if this legal but it is on Youtube.

It is a movie about a coach that starts a cross country team.  But it is really a lot more than that.  It is about how the family and community, which were very different, built relationships with each other. 

I recommend watching the movie if you haven't.

Questions To Consider:

1.  In the movie, the students/runners, called their coach "blanco" because his last name was White but also because he was one of the only white things around them.  How would you adjust to moving into a culture that you could not relate or connect to?  What would you do first to build relationships?

2.  Coach White took action to get to know his players.  He went to their cultural events, learned some Spanish, and worked in the fields with them.  Are there ways that we could better assimilate ourselves in building relationships by doing?

3.  How could a movie like this be integrated (or some parts of it) into our curriculum?  What would you ask our students to think about in regards to this movie?

FYI- Two Interesting Articles For You

Welcome to the last week before we get a bit of a break for Christmas.  Thanks for your hard work with our kids.  Especially thank you for your hard work and caring demeanor with them, that is appreciated.

Article 1

Click here to read an article about last month's Ohio State Board of Education meeting.  I would keep an eye on this.  The state board can suggest changes in legislation, but the legislators have to enact the change (design it).  I have been told by ODE personnel that more movement on some of the information presented will happen at the January meeting.

Questions To Consider:
1.  As changes seem to be occurring annually, do we do a good enough job communicating them to you as teachers?  Do you care to know more?  What can we do differently?

2.  Do you see these possible changes as a positive or negative?


Article 2

Click here to read an article about some of the most interesting research that was conducted during 2017 centering on education.  Though all of the research is not strictly has a secondary focus, looking at research in general, is productive for all.  I feel that to be true because it lends an eye to us towards the pedagogy that is moving research in our field forward.

Questions To Consider:
1.  What research was most interesting to you?  How can you use it to affect your teaching practices?

2.  When is the last time you searched for researched-based assistance with an issue you were encountering in your classroom?  Do you know how to do so?  If you would like more information about avaliable resources, I would be glad to show you a couple that helps you locate research easily.

Posting Objectives or Essential Questions/Discoveries?

I bet you are excited after reading the title for this week.

As I visit our classrooms, I see an array of how our learning objectives are or aren't being posted.  Some teachers have shared with students that I feel that learning objectives are important and should be posted.  Students let me know about that when I visit the room.  It is pretty neat.  Seeing some of the objectives posted in very student friendly ways and then seeing that some aren't being posted got me thinking.  Why do some teachers post them?  How do they interact with them?  Why don't some teachers post them?  Do they really think it is pointless?  Just the ramblings in my little brain.

Then I began to reflect further...does the staff know why I think it is important...Does my reasoning make sense to them....so I began to research (not scholarly research but just reading online).

I found some great articles with cited resources and studies but then I came across this blog.  Please read it.  It is an easy read, 4 mins max.

PS- I would never want students repeating standards, as is discussed in the article...

My Objective:  Readers of this blog will understand why I think posting objectives and interacting with them is important.


Questions to consider:

1.  You didn't think the blog would be a negative view of posting objectives, did you?  It just proves that posting objectives is not that important.  Reflect
2.  What was the point of including this blog?  If you don't post objectives or if you do-the main objective is students understanding the "why."
3.  How can you find out if the students understand the "why"  What great informal assessments could you use?  Google tools?
4.  Do you interact with students and the objectives?  Do you talk to students about the "why"
5.  I know it is possible for students to understand the "why" without posting your objectives.  Do you have a systematic manner in place to do that?

Interacting with my objective:  Fill in this exit slip to let me know how we did with today's objectives
Why do I feel posting and interacting with your objectives or essential questions is important?
Do students ever interact with your posted objectives in your room or when you state them to the students?

Expanding Your Personal Professional Learning

No guest blogger this week.

I decided we would go a little bit of a different direction this week.  This blog is designed to be a professional learning opportunity for you each week in some way.  Sometimes it is in the form of an article, sometimes in the form of a video, and sometimes it comes in the form of a peer.

This week lets learn from each other.  Here is a document that you can add a recent resource to for all of us to use.  It can be a website, book, manipulative, etc...This document can serve as a professional learning opportunity for all of your peers.  I have started the document with a few of my own. 

P.S. - It only took me about 35 seconds per resource to add it to the document.  I think you can do it.

Questions To Consider:
1.  What resources can I add? 
2.  Why haven't I done it yet?
3.  Sharing with my peers about some great resources I use feels great.

Guest Blogger- Joe

We have another guest blogger this week, Joe Pennington.  Below is Joe's sharing of his flexible seating set up in his room.
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I have always been a proponent of students working in pairs and groups to share thoughts and ideas that benefit learning.  I found that it was often difficult to provide good work areas for this with the older desks that were in my classroom that are connected to the seats and difficult to get together allowing students their own individual space.  So, that led me to consider alternative seating options.  I started with getting tables and chairs for my classroom that allows students a better opportunity to work together and support each other during their learning.  I was also able to find a number of rolling office chairs for a good price that increased the ease of movement to adjust seating arrangements, and it offered students a more comfortable learning environment.  These new seating options have been a positive change to my classroom in several ways.  

One of the biggest changes has been the excitement that many students now bring to class.  Students can be comfortable and have plenty of room on the tables for all of their supplies, and it is easier for students to share information and ideas with each other with the current setup.  I also was able to create more space in the room for students to stand and move around as needed.  Some students need this space and freedom, and I often have one or two students that choose to stand in the back of the room during class.  A few have also decided to sit on the floor from time to time.  Students also have the freedom to choose where to sit each day, and some students will switch seats to ask questions to other students while they are working on assignments.  Some students prefer working individually, and there are still a few individual desks for students to choose as desired.  Since incorporating the new seating arrangement, student achievement has increased with improved scores on assessments and fewer retakes than previous years.

I know that several other classrooms in the school have been transformed with tables and chairs, and other teachers are seeing similar results with student learning.  However, I realize that my current classroom setup may be improved, and it is still not ideal for all students.  I have been reading more about flexible seating options, and I am pursuing ways to improve the learning environment for all students.  Some of the items I would like to include are additional seating options (such as bean bags, pillows, stools, and exercise balls), and I plan to raise a couple of tables to create standing stations.  This will create more student choice and help provide the best learning environment for my students to feel comfortable and achieve success.  

Questions to consider:

1. How do you decide to set up and arrange your classroom? Why?
2. How do you select student seating?  Do you assign seats or let students choose their own seats?  Why?
3. How can you improve your classroom environment to increase student learning?  

Thankful Teacher

Last year around thanksgiving, I provided a reading about a thankful teacher.  I wanted to do that again.  Here is an entry from a teacher that writes often on his website.  His bio information is below.  Take some time to read what he has to say about what he is thankful for and some questions for you to consider.


Jordan Catapano is a high school English teacher in a Chicago suburb. In addition to being National Board Certificated and head of his school’s Instructional Development Committee, he also has worked with the Illinois Association of Teachers of English and has experience as a school board member for a private school. You can follow him on Twitter at @BuffEnglish, or visit his website www.jordancatapano.us.

Guest Blogger- Visiting a Colleague-Lauren

As part of one of my PGP goals, I am seeking out opportunities to observe fellow teachers in their classrooms. This goal developed when I had the revelation at the beginning of this school year that while I know many of you personally, or I know what students say about you and your classes, I don’t actually know how a typical day in your classroom looks through the eyes of our students. I believe it was during a building tour for the August BLT meeting that we re-entered the school through Gabe’s room and I said, “Wow, this is my 5th year here and I have never been in Gabe’s classroom!”  I decided then that I was going to make an effort to get into multiple classrooms this year. We have a great teaching staff that I know is doing great things, so I want to observe, and hopefully learn a thing or two from some of you!

So far I have spent a period in T-B and Abby’s rooms. While I did not discover anything revolutionary with regard to teaching strategies, I did see a lot of “best practices” being used in a different content area than my own and that really reinforced for me the effectiveness of using some of our basic tools in our teaching toolbox on a daily basis to reach the most students.

I saw T-B have students practice using the language individually, as a class, and by getting up and mingling with each other to practice dialogue. She also used a variety of mediums—text, speech, and (attempted 😉) audio. Again, not a new concept in teaching, and I’m sure she does these things every day without a second thought, but it helped me to reflect on my own classroom; am I providing opportunities for my students to learn the material several different ways with a variety of mediums?

In Abby’s room they were practicing parliamentary procedure. She had warned me ahead of time that it was going to be organized chaos, which is always fun to watch as an outsider. A teaching practice that was reinforced during this observation was student connection/contribution to the content. Students got to make up their own motions and amendments, and while most were silly, the students showed that they understood the process and all students were involved. One thing that really stood out to me during my observation was Abby’s use of a random word list. Each time students were to announce if they were for or against a motion she would use a different random word which kept the students fully engaged in the activity. I enjoyed the list so much that I’ve started brainstorming ways that I can use “random” words in my own classroom to encourage buy-in during certain activities the way it did during Abby’s parliamentary procedure practice. I’m leaning towards the route of content specific “random” words of the week or day in which students will interact.

I know we are all very busy during the day, and giving up a planning period to observe another teacher’s classroom may not currently be at the top of our list, but I encourage you to give it a try. The students enjoy seeing you in their other classes, you learn some things about the students watching them in a different setting, and you just may pick up a new teaching idea, or be reminded of one you haven’t utilized in a while.

Questions to consider:

1. Is there a teacher that you are curious about what goes on in their classroom or you want to see why they are a student favorite…or possibly non-favorite?
2. How can you set aside time to get in their room for a period?
3. After spending a period in their room, what did you take away?

Developing a Growth Mindset-Educators

Here is an article that I found while doing some personal PD.  I wanted to read some articles on Edutopia about educators and growth mindset.  Edutopia is a great site to search for articles that are relevant and easy to get through.

As we move into a time where we start to work with our students on mindset, it is important to reflect back on our own mindset.  The last few delays have been designed to help the staff in that process.

Consider these questions after looking at the linked article:

1.  I find tip #1 very interesting.  I can tell you what those "hard things" are that I don't focus on enough.  What are your "hard things" that you choose not to focus on?

2.  Tip #3 is to seek feedback when possible.  A few of your colleagues have been observing each other (or have planned to) in an effort to see what other people are doing in their rooms and get feedback.  Is that something you could consider?

3.  Tip #5 reminds us to reflect.  Reflecting back on the day, week, month, or year is useful in any field.  How can you spend more time reflecting on what is happening daily in your classroom?

Rick Wormeli- Growth Mindset

Here is Rick Wormeli.  Mr. Wormeli is someone that we have looked at before.  We might have even looked at this video before.

Below you see the break down of what he talks about in this video.  Though I share many of his views, I feel he could more eloquently share his thoughts.   Even though, it is worth a watch as we move into our further discussions of a growth mindset and mastery learning.

Don't be offended by his words if they vary from yours.  That is not my intention.  I want you to hear what he says about growth mindset.

Growth Mindset discussion minutes 2-6
Discussion of redos/retakes minutes 6-9





1.  He uses the phrase (paraphrasing) "We will not put that (apathetic) student in charge of their own learning."  What does that mean to you?  Can you think of a student like that?


2.  Mr. Wormeli talks interestingly about the phrase "failure is not an option."  What do you think about that?


3.  How do redos and retakes play into the growth mindset?

Mindset Quiz and Student Resource

Wonder about your mindset?

Here is a quiz that you can take.  It doesn't have many questions.  When you are done with the first page, click the yellow arrow in the bottom right to get to the next page.

You will get some information about your mindset after the questions.

Here is a resource you can use with your students if you would like.


Questions to consider:

1.  Did your results surprise you?  Are you interested in exploring the growth mindset more?
2.  What other resources do you have about mindset?  Feel free to share them in the comments for this week.
3.  How could you use the student hand out?  What kinds of discussions would it start?

Say Something Week

Staff-

This week we will be participating in "Say Something Week."  You have been emailed the links for the videos on Tuesday and Thursday for PATS.  You have also received some information to read during PATS on Monday. 

Here is their website with more information.

Here is a quick video that is an overview of the program.


Questions to consider:

1.  What questions might you follow up with on one of these days?
2.  How much discussion would you want to have with students about these topics?  You should prepare for those conversations.  Feel free to refer students to the school counselors.
 

Growth vs Fixed Mindset

Growth vs Fixed Mindset

Here is a 5 min video to set the foundation for our beginning discussion on Wednesday about mindsets.

Here is a quick article written by Dr. Carol Dweck.



Questions To Consider:
1.  What do you believe to be the difference between a growth vs fixed mindset?  What do you think it is after watching the video?
2.  What does the video say about the learning style of someone with a growth mindset?
3.  The phrase "fail better" was mentioned a few times in this video.  What does that mean?  This would be a great discussion to heave with students.

A Letter to Freshman

This letter was shared with me.  It comes from a recent PH graduate that attends a local college.  She was given this by a professor.  I don't know if it was for discussion or for effect.  Take a look at it and consider a few questions.

Page 1
Page 2

Questions to Consider:
1.  Could you use a letter like this for discussion in your classroom?
2.  Does any of the perceived notions about high schools apply to us?
3.  What kind of feelings does this letter elicit within you?

Making Sense Of Our Grade

So...district and school report cards were released last week.  I thought this would be a good time to provide you with some resources to help in understanding more of those grades and that process.  At this point, we don't as a district, feel we will spend a PD session going over results.

ODE Spreadsheet of Districts
ODE explanation of report cards
Article in Cleveland plain dealer


Questions To Consider:
1.  Were you able to look at other local districts?  How did they do compared to us?
2.  Over the next few weeks, you will see multiple newspaper articles about this information.  Pay attention to them.  What are some common themes?
3.  Keep on keeping on.  Thanks for what you do.

Mindset- Carol Dweck

Carol Dweck wrote the very popular book Mindset.  This book is about the mindset of successful people across many fields.  One of the fields that Dr. Dweck examines is sports.  In the book, she tells the above story about Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  I read this book over the summer and while reading this chapter, I took pictures of what I was reading.  I encourage you to take a look at it.  Share it with students if you would like.  You are also encouraged to read the book.  I have a copy if you would like to read it.

Questions To Consider:
1.  What good book have you read lately?  If you don't have an answer...you may want to pick up a book.  Reading is a great stress release.
2.  How might you be able to use this story as an example in class?
3.  How does Joyner-Kersee's mindset reflect a growth mindset?

Growth Mindset-GRIT Visuals

As I was about the building this week, it was evident that last week's post was meaningful to a number of you.  I saw post it notes, posters, a good news postcard last week referenced GRIT and growth mindset, and just in general discussion, it came up multiple times.  Thanks again to Carolyn for providing such a great topic for discussion.

Above are a few visuals that are often used when looking at a growth mindset.  A growth mindset is needed to fall into "grittiness" attitude.  Feel free to print these and post them.  Discussing them with students would be even better.  What a great topic of discussion for PATS.  Maybe hand out a copy or share a copy with students a day before you plan to have a discussion with them about their thoughts on mindset and GRIT.


Questions To Consider:
1.  How could you use these visuals to engage students in a discussion about GRIT and growth mindset?
2.  How about personally, what one thing in life do you need to develop a more of a growth mindset in?  How can you do that?  Set a single minor attainable goal in that area for this week?
3.  Do you have any other visuals or resources that would be good to share on this topic?  If so, make a reply to this post and attach it there.

GRIT- Guest Contributor

Josh's Note: The whole purpose of me doing this was to help provide you with thoughts, resources, and things that may "make you think." Why not ask some of you to provide those same ideas to your colleagues. This year, periodically, I hope to have a guest contributor. This week it is Carolyn Hartman.

Start thinking about what you will contribute WHEN I ask you.

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As we start this school year, I have been thinking a lot about the freshman class. Many freshmen have expressed their “fear of failure” not only in their first year of high school, but throughout their time at Patrick Henry. My question is how do we help that fear and encourage them to persevere through it all?

In the YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1uijt3Ydqs) Angela Duckworth comments on the idea of how a growth mindset is the way to do it! Think about the following questions:

1. How do you see your students display grit (in or out of the classroom)?
2. How do you think the idea of grit impacts a student, or teacher’s, mindset?
3. As it is difficult to instill the idea of grit, how do you think we can begin to do this with our students?
4. Is there a way that you have found works best, to build someone up after an experience with failure?

Summer- Break and Learn

LAST BLOG OF THE YEAR...

I committed to doing this for a year.  That was something I wanted to do for my personal PD.

Did you set a personal PD goal for the year?  All of you did in your PGP.  Did you accomplish them?   Did you work on them at all?  What will you do with it next year?

Things To Do This Summer:

1.  TAKE A BREAK AND REJUVENATE.

2.  Make Professional Growth.  Here are some ideas.

a.  Read a book- Not sure what one to read?  Just search online.  Search what books to read in the content area of Fill In The Blank...

b.  Seek out PD- Make it a family trip...sneak in some PD for a few hours while there.

c.  Talk to other educators- A teacher in our building organizes summer meetings with other teachers in the county in the same content area to talk.  Great practice.

d.  Reexamine your curriculum map- Get your map out, make adjustments to it.

Have a great summer.  Enjoy time with your families and loved ones.  

Literacy Across the Curriculum-TECHY

Here is an article from Educational Leadership which is a monthly publication by ASCD.  You can find the online magazine by visiting ascd.org and clicking on publications, you will find Education Leadership (EL) there.

The article you will be looking about is revisiting the idea of how can literacy (reading/writing) being more integrated through all the parts of our curriculum.  As I was reading it, the digital notebook part especially struck me.  I thought it would be a good article for us all to look at.

As a year comes to an end, hopefully, you are thinking of some goals and new ideas for next year.  Especially knowing students will have their own computers to use next year.  This article may help you think about some of those new ideas.

Questions To Consider:
1.  The opening paragraph talks about a resource called Studysync.  As I looked at it, parts of it are free on a trial basis.  Specifically, the online library is free.  Take a look at it.  How could you use some of these resources?
2.  Digital Notebooks seem like a very neat idea.  I know not everyone would be comfortable with them, but I know a few of you could do some cool things with them.  I think that note taking could really change with this method also.
3.  Publishing some of the digital notebooks would be an extensive learning experience for our students.  I know some teachers would really like to explore that.  How could you do that?

Advice for Graduates-Jon Gordon

As we get closer to graduation, I saw this post from Jon Gordon.

Jon Gordon has quite the story.  I know we have read about him before in my blog.  You are more than welcome to search the internet and find out more about his story.

I would encourage you to have a quick read of this post.  It has some really good advice.  Feel free to share some of it with your classes.  There might possibly be some information in it that could be useful to you also.

Questions To Consider:

1.  "Where you are, is not where you are going to be."  This is good for someone of any age to consider.  Maybe it's not your choice of career field or college but maybe it is a relational position, family position or something along those lines.

2.  "You are here for a reason. You have a purpose and you are meant to live and share it."  Not so much a question, but a thought.  It is neat to think about our graduates, what is their purpose?  How will they share it?

3.  " If you believe your best days are ahead of you, they are. The best is yet to come"  How can this be put into practice?  Do we as adults live like this?

Self Organized Learning Environment

Pretty impressive title for this week's blog....

Here is an article about self-organized learning environments.  These types of environment promote project-based learning.  As I have been doing evaluations this year, many of you are enacting some form of project-based learning (PBL) in some way or form.

PBL is a great tool to use in your room.  Some schools do everything in their classrooms using the PBL approach.  Doing this means having some pretty intense training to make sure all standards are being mastered.

Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about PBL.  I know of some places that would allow you to visit.

Take a look at the article and consider the below questions.

Questions To Consider:
1.  From the article "I wanted to empower students to take more responsibility over their own learning, yet so much about the approach went against my teaching instincts. What would it look like if I were to hand over the majority of my XX-minute class period to my students?"

This is a great self reflection question.  How do you feel about it?

2.  The article talks about formulating a "Big Question."  This is very similar to posting objectives.  What is it that students are going to master.  Maybe some of you would like to think about posting objectives this way, posting a "Big Question."

3.  Students grade their own "self managing behaviors."  How would that look in your room?  Could that be helpful to you?

DOK And Google- Alice Keeler

As I was checking in on Alice Keeler's recent posts, I found this one.  This post pulls in thoughts and ideas from multiple areas that we have talked about this year in PD.  She talks about using DOK, GAFE and assessment writing.  I will caution you that the article focuses more on ELA, but the main ideas and use apply to all content areas.

I think now is a good time for us to look at something like this.  We are getting to the end of the year when you will be writing and analyzing summative assessments.

Questions to Consider

1.  While writing assessments, are you still analyzing questions and DOK levels?  That is a great tool in your tool box.  Doing this equates directly to test prep, little by little.

2.  Alice Keeler presents one keyboard shortcut in the article.  Have you ever googled all the keyboard shortcuts for a Chromebook?  How interesting would it be if you could point out shortcuts to your students that they were unaware of?

3.  A section of the article deals with commenting and having a conversation with "yourself."  I know that some of our staff uses this feature in Docs.  Could more use it?  How could you give it a try?

Advice On Being A Love Magnet

Within the last week, I read a newsletter from Jon Gordon that I knew that I was going to write in our blog about.

This newsletter from Jon Gordon was about being a "Love Magnet."  In reading the article, it is mostly based on the business world.  But in reading it, it felt like we could apply some of the principles to the world we live in.

I would encourage you to take a look at the article here.

Questions To Consider:

1.  The first suggestion is to "tap the power of now."  That is really difficult for us because we are all caught up in (fill in the blank).  How can you tap the power of now?  How can you make sure that the power of now is tapped?

2.  Recognizing people for their accomplishments is such an easy thing to do.  I am thankful for the good news postcards that you write for our students.  Please continue to do that.  Do you have any further suggestions how we can recognize our student's accomplishments?

3.  What ways to you demonstrate being a Love Magnet?  Is this something that you can take advantage of?

Back To Graduation Requirements

Here is an article that The Columbus Dispatch published earlier this week.  The article comes after the graduation committee made some recommendations to the Ohio State Superintendent of Instruction about new graduation requirements.

Here is another informational/op ed from The Columbus Dispatch about the new graduation requirements.  This one is more for your reading and thinking on.

Questions To Consider:

1.  What do you think of the new proposal that eliminates the need to "pass tests?"

2.  Does such a proposal really "water down" a diploma?  Is there a better option that doesn't involve a test?

3.  What do you think, is it too hard to graduate with our current system?

Were You Hired To Do That?

This week I would like to present to you another "thinking" article.  An article to make you think a bit about how we talk with our students and help prepare them for the future.  I came across this article during some personal professional development I was doing on Twitter.  One of my colleagues, Josh Clark, shared it on Twitter.  It is a great article.

The article's title sort of explains what is contained in it.  Interestingly enough, many of our students go on job shadowing and could possibly experience such a conversation.

Questions To Consider:

1.  We all have stories about first jobs and starting out, how could those be useful in helping to prepare our students?  Have you ever told those stories?

2.  There is a great quote near the end of the article that includes this statement;
“That’s not my job,” off their lips will have a far greater advantage over those who use it."
Is this something our students hear a lot?  Can we help to address this idea/concept?  

3.  Have you been able to share your experiences in the educational field with someone job shadowing?  You all have great experiences, you are encouraged to do so.

Appreciate What You Have

A few days ago my wife and I were talking about some of the horrible illness that is impacting so many people that we know (mostly cancer).  We then started talking about how no matter who you are, what age you are or what you believe in; bad things will happen to you.  Immediately after this, we started talking about all the great things that is happening in our life.

I am not really sure how this applies to what we do at the school everyday, but I felt like it was the right thing to write about this week.  I decided to search some articles online about appreciating what you have and I found this one.  If you are more of a visual person here is a short animation about gratefulness.

Questions To Consider:

1.  What does gratefulness look like in your life?  How can you model that in your classroom?

2.  Do you think you can impact some of these social emotional factors of students, like being grateful?  Is that important for us to be doing?

3.  How can a student show gratefulness in your classroom?  How could you recognize it?

More Thoughts on 1:1

As we get closer to a 1:1 policy for next year, I thought it would be beneficial to use the blog for some PD on that.  Last week I provided you the SAMR infographic again and had you think about that.  I would encourage you to have that as a reference as you think about how you might want to start to (at your level of being comfortable) incorporate more technology use.

Here is am an excerpt from an article from edutopia.org.  The article outlines 5 steps to implementing a practical 1:1 policy.

Please take a look at the article and think through the questions below.

Questions To Consider:
1.  The beginning of the article says that students should know that technology is an "avenue to learning."  What a great way to think about incorporating the more readily available technology.  How could that be communicated to our students?  Both in your classroom or district wide.

2.  What a great reminder that not all students are as technology advanced as we believe them to be.  Even as adults that haven't been brought up with all the technology some of our students have, we may have more knowledge about technology than our students.

3.  The article talks about our students having to be able to filter information.  How can we help them develop that?  Do we need to measure that?  Do we think our students can do that now?

SAMR- What are you comfortable with?

This is a graphic that we talked briefly about in our last staff meeting. Carolyn explained what this all meant in terms of coffee and that progression.

We started looking at this in our most recent TBT meetings because of our discussion about 1:1. I thought it would be a good idea to use this again in our blog for the week. Hopefully, this gets your brain working about how you might be able to make some of these SAMR things happen in your classroom if the technology is more readily available. Or possibly, you don't want to think about SAMR in terms of technology but just teaching techniques. I would encourage you to keep this handout somewhere you can look at while planning.

Questions To Consider:
1. What simple substitution have you been doing for some time now with technology? Think of a way that you might move that substitution to Augmentation.

2. How about in your teaching techniques, can you think of a technique you would like to build upon? Possibly get it to the redefinition. How would you get there? Who could help you? What PD would you need?

3. Think about what other resources, training or interactions you would need to better be prepared for a possible 1:1 program next year. Let me know what would be helpful.

Celebrating The Successes

Successes come in all shapes and sizes.  It could be that you get that extra hour of sleep that you have been trying to get or that you finally broke that 10-minute mile you have been working on.  Celebrating successes in the classroom, no matter the size is also really important.

Here is a short article about some ways to celebrate successes.


Questions To Consider:

1.  Think about the ways that you celebrate successes daily in your classroom.  How do students respond to that?
2.  Take a look at that list of the 30 ways to celebrate successes, could you use any of those in your classroom?  How about for yourself?
3.  I would suggest taking advantage of suggestion number 30.  That suggestion is free and can be done when you can make it happen in your schedule.

Schedule some time for YOU and enjoy that time.  Tell people that you will not be available during that time.  Be it 5 mins or a full day.

Millennials

In this post, I am going to do something that I told you I would not in this blog.  I am going to give you the opportunity to watch a longer video clip...Monday is a day off, so take a few minutes to watch this video.

The video is around 10 mins long.

I won't take credit for the video.  A staff member forwarded it to me.

How many times do you hear people says "These kids are so different?"   Or maybe "When I was a kid, I would have never done FILL IN THE BLANK."

Often times we hear about millennials and now other generations are being named.  Hear from this person that tries to explain why millennials are the way they are.

Questions To Consider:

1.  Pay close attention to the reasons the speaker gives for the "science behind why millennials act the way they do."  Do you agree?  Can you see it in your students?

2.  Near the end of the clip, the speaker says something along the lines of "We have these people, now what are we going to do?"  What do you think about his next few statements?

3.  Can the information presented help you in your classroom?

#1 Relationships

Recently, I saw this video.

I am guessing that some of you have seen this video clip.

Relationships are the most important part of the learning environment. If you or a student doesn't want to be somewhere or with someone, the result is not going to be positive.

We have the chance, daily, to establish and foster these relationships with our students. Some great times to do this is during class, while in the hallways and PATS.

Questions To Consider:

1. We all know people that fit into both of those categories in that video. What separates the groups, beyond attitude?

2. Does watching the video make you think about some of your practices? Does it make you think about some of your colleagues, friends or others that you might want to show this to?

3. On soo many levels this video has meaning. I would encourage you to take a look at it when things are going bad.

Preparing for Professional Development

Hopefully, you will be looking at this before our PD day on Monday.  Our district offers two full days of on-site professional development that is high quality.  I believe that it is high quality because it is relevant to what is happening in our district and in our classrooms.  You have the opportunity to make it what it is for you.

Google apps for education is not going away.  All of our PD will be spent with items connected to Google.  Please take advantage of the day.  It is not a day to get caught up on grading or other non-essential tasks.  The great thing is that YOU get to pick the sessions you want to go to.  It is not one-size-fits all.

Here is a quick article about teacher PD from Edutopia.

Questions to think about:

1.  If you were to talk to some younger teachers about professional development, what would you tell them?  What have you found the most beneficial?
2.  Most all of you go to doctors.  Doctors are required to attend continuing education and rightfully so...they have our lives in their hands.  You get to help mold our youth, I think we should think about teachers attending PD much like doctors needing to attending.  You should know what the newest research, teaching methods, etc.. are.
3.  Be willing to give feedback on your PD experiences.  Our PD will be followed up with a feedback form.  Tell us what you would like to see next or what worked for you.

Championship Lessons II

This week I decided that I would follow up the reading from Dabo Sweney and Clemson with an article that included a selection from Urban Meyer.  Though Urban Meyer has many people that doubt his style of leadership and direction, he is proven to be able to build relationships.  Those relationships have allowed him much success.

Urban Meyer wrote a book called Above The Line.  It is a book about his leadership style and philosophy.  Though not all of you are leaders of a team or group, you are the leader in your room for the 42 minutes you see your kids 7periods a day.

Here is an article about Urban Meyer's book about leadership.  It is a quick read.  The ending of the artilce outlines some main points of the book.

Questions To Consider:

1.  "Wining behavior will not thrive in a culture that doesn't support it." How do you create a "winning" culture in your classroom?  How can you support it?
2.  "Do whatever you can to reinforce someone's confidence."  Reinforcing confidence in a student is a great way to build relationships.  Think of a time that you helped reinforce someone's confidence, how did they react?  How did it feel to do so?
3.  "There are many distractions that pull leaders away from investing the time necessary to reflect on the issues and challenges facing their organizations."  What things have been nagging at you?  What may be happening in your classroom that you know needs addressed but you feel you just "don't have time to do so?" 

Championship Lessons

After the recent college football national championship game writer Jon Gordon wrote about lessons he has learned while working with Clemson football.  Jon Gordon is someone that I have written about in this blog before.  You have read multiple pieces from him.  He is the author of the well known book "Energy Bus."

Jon Gordon wrote about 10 lessons he learned from working with Clemson.  I am not going to have you read all of them.  Click here to see three of them.  These are the ones that I think are the most applicable to our setting.

Questions to Consider:

1.  The first point is to "Think Big."  Check out Dabo Sweeney's response to the board members statement about creating a great program like other great programs.  How can you employ a mind set like this of expectations in your classroom?  How long will it take for students to buy into it?
2. Success takes time.  Anyone that has had success knows that.  Success without work is not long lived.  What are you working on now? What success are you working towards?  What are you frustrated with now?  Believe. Trust. Work. Grow. Improve
3.  The trophies are great but Dabo Sweeney realizes that it is his duty to do more with his kids.  What trophies do our students see?  What is it that matters more than the trophies in our classrooms?

Tough Conversations

I can't take credit for finding this article.  Ben George tweeted this article out through the athletics twitter feed.  It is an article that seems to be getting some play throughout the high school sports scene.  It is not necessarily an article, but more of a blog post about an experience.

Here is the article.

Though it is a reading about sports, please take the time to read it.  I find it to be more of an article about "tough conversations."

Questions To Consider:
1.  Maybe you are not a sports person, have you felt like the writer in some situation?  Maybe it was in a theater setting or a audition setting.  What would you say to that student that comes to you and starts wailing?
2.  In most all cases, listening is much more important than talking.  Listening leads, most times, into the correct response or answer to a question.  Reflect on your listening practices, are you a good listener?  Do you make your listening productive?
3.  How do you handle tough conversations?  Avoid them?  What way would you like to handle tough conversations?

The Most Important 8 Minutes

I found this article while looking through some articles about student engagement on the edutopia website (edutopia.org).

One of my goals of this blog is to provide you with resources that make you think a little bit.  This article is by an AP English teacher from New Jersey.  A side note, if at any time you feel you would like to write a "look what I am doing article" and submit it to edutopia, that is possible.  Their website gives direction on how to do that.

The article talks about the first and last 8 minutes in a class period and how they are used.  I would encourage you to read the short article.

Questions To Consider:

1.  Do you find yourself using the first and last eight minutes effectively?
2.  Do you have routines for the first and last eight minutes?
3.  What do you think about having students share successes or share out something positive that someone has done for them?