Early in my teaching career, I attended a staff development where a speaker pointed out that the most innovative thing that has occurred in schools in the last fifty years was the use of block scheduling. The speaker shared this in jest to point that our schools are often slow to innovate and change. As a science major, I was exposed to the idea that when organisms experience disruption in their environments, they must respond according to this disruption or risk extinction. LeChatelier's Principle states that when a system in equilibrium experiences a change or stress that the system responds in a way to establish a new equilibrium. Both of these statements connect to scientific processes that result in a new way of being for both the organism and system. If we consider schools today to be either or both an organism or system, then we must realize that innovation is one of the best ways for both the organism and system to adapt and change. However, as initially stated, if block scheduling is one of the most innovative things that have occurred in schools in the last fifty years, then we are way overdue for a major disruption. The status quo for many schools continues to result in students disconnecting from education, the loss of creativity, and the proliferation of apathy.
During the holiday break, I had some time to think about what exactly innovation looks like. As I reflect on this, I firmly believe that much of what we are doing with the relaunch of North Rowan High School is truly some of the most innovative work that has occurred in Rowan-Salisbury Schools in the past twenty years. When researching about innovative schools, I ran across a blog post from AJ Juliani where Juliani describes the five habits of highly innovative schools. He mentions that highly innovative schools are not afraid. With our restart here at North Rowan High School, we have definitely embraced new ways of doing school that are more beneficial to students. With the creation of Design / Challenge Based Learning, we took a huge gamble to break away from the status quo and create a totally new learning experience that can truly benefit all students. Our visionary principal, Meredith Williams, did not let “traditional ways” of thinking about education deter the creation of this new experience. We still worked within confines of our schedule and space but we kept our minds and ideas totally open and did not discard any ideas without careful diligence and discernment. Too often in education, schools let fear paralyze their ability to create powerful and engaging learning experiences for students. It also stifles innovation. I am so elated that we have not let fear stop us from making the necessary changes and do what is best for our students. Juliani also discusses that innovative schools make mistakes. That is very true in our case. We are still learning about best practices in our new way of serving students. I feel like I have made more mistakes in these first six months of being a Design / Challenged Based Learning instructor than I ever made as a beginning teacher. But our principal has stressed and encouraged us to own our mistakes and to learn from them. It is refreshing to have a leader who reminds that we are human and we will make mistakes. Further it is empowering to know that we, as teachers, are not expected to always be perfect. Instead, we show the true spirit of progress by making mistakes and learning from them. One thing that I like about our design course is that I can model this for students. I am no longer the “holder and dispenser of knowledge;” instead, I am a co-learner along with my students. In this way, I can model for them what it is like to be wrong and mistakes. Many of our students do not often this in their real life. It also allows me the opportunity to show students a positive model in which we own our mistakes by first acknowledging them and using that experience to learn. Life is really messy and it definitely cannot be scripted. For many our students, I think that it is important for them to be see and learn from adults who provide positive experiences of making mistakes and growing from them. Innovation can be an overused term for schools these days though. I think that we must really look the driving force for the changes that create innovation. In the case of North Rowan High School, lower student performance coupled with some major curriculum roadblocks drove the school to really think differently about what our students really needed. This would be the challenge that our equilibrium mentioned earlier in the post experienced. We responded by ideating many possible solutions to establish a new way of being. It was this process of thinking hard and extensively that allowed North Rowan High School to truly innovate and create some different and of better value for our students. As we stress the importance of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, student agency, and creativity, our students have started to realize that they all have values. Their ideas matter. Their previous experiences matter. Their ability to work with others matter. As North Rowan High School begins an uncertain future to our district’s potential school consolidation, it is important that we call consider the amazing change that has occurred at North Rowan High School in just a short period of time. If left intact, I am confident that the use of Design and Challenge Based Learning at North Rowan will continue to disrupt a status quo that never really served many students well. Rather, we will create a new experience where all students are successful and valued. It is my hope that the best innovation ever to occur in Rowan-Salisbury Schools will be allowed to continue to evolve and flourish.
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Today was an amazing day. Our students have been working collaboratively with their English II class to select a story, remix it, and add value to it. In doing so, our students had to read children's literature, short stories, and poems. Students then had to analyze their work and determine a new way to remix the story by adding value to it. This process takes time and is not easy. Many of our students found this process to be more challenging than they originally thought. Adding to this challenge was the fact that the students had to present to 6th graders at the middle school where I previously worked. I honestly was nervous the night before as our students had not made as much progress as I would have liked to have seen. But, in true North fashion, our students rose to the top when it counted.
One of the students who I am most proud of wrote the poem below based on Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. I am particularly proud of this student as she has made incredible progress in our Design Class. She remixed several ideas from the original poem and added value by connecting her own thoughts to the struggles that we face when we must make decisions. Below is her poem. This young lady has grown tremendously this year and it has been a blessing to be able to watch her grow. In working with her on the poem, I was impressed with how she was able to connect words and create a good flow. This young lady presented her poem today to at least two classes and it was well received. In helping to provide feedback on her work, we discussed that life is not always easy and definitely not as "pretty" as it is laid in a lot of stories and shows. I am very proud of this students for sharing her work. She took pride in what she created and employed a variety of skills to create an effective poem. Words really escape how proud I am of this young lady and how much she has grown during this school year. It is experiences like this that shows just how important the relaunch of North Rowan High School is. Our visionary principal has truly put North Rowan High School on the cutting edge of creating a school experience that will serve our students and prepare them for an ever evolving life that we cannot even imagine now. I am proud to work at school where we are creating students who will be better critical thinkers, collaborators, communicators, and creators. The innovation that is occurring at North Rowan High is truly revolutionary and is a model that is on the right track. It is my sincere hope that the progress and changes that we have made here are recognized, celebrated, and allowed to continue. As we close out 2018, this year has been a tremendous year of change. But this change is definitely the kind that we need to disrupt the traditional role of school that celebrates those who do traditional school well and tears down those who do not do school well. Wrong Road Taken By T.M. Three Roads Diverged in hollow woods And I couldn’t travel all There in the woods I stood And thought as hard as I could There I stood without a fall Then I took the first road As I start walking I start to see things As if I was ending up at the wrong place There I stood looking with doubt on my face No telling if I took the wrong road I decide to turn around and go back Thinking if the next road would be right I stood there and stared for almost a night I began walking toward my starting point I go down the next road I begin walking thinking I took the right one But then I start to see things again I think to myself this road might not end I feel like giving up, wondering if I should go back and try once again I get to the end of the road and stop, I see that it doesn’t end at all I continue walking to see if I made it So, there I stood tall Telling myself I’ve made it, after all my big falls
So this weekend I had an epiphany. It is the weekend before Thanksgiving and most teachers are worn out. Students are also ready for a couple of days away from school. We are only about 4 weeks away to end of the semester so you can imagine, we are all tired and worn out. Upon the recommendation of my principal, I watched the video Most Likely To Succeed, a documentary that focuses on the shortcomings of our current educational system while exploring innovative ways that schools are reinventing educational experiences that will prepare students for the future. In short, the movie and the companion book Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids For The Innovative Era, document the ways that students tune out to traditional education approaches.
Perhaps the most chilly point of the book and movie that resonates most with me that many schools have become simply test prep machines. These tests ranging from End of Course and End of Grade tests to SATs have created a culture in which students who test well are celebrated and those who may not test well are left to navigate through a system where they may never be successful. Further, it creates a learners who only see the purpose of education is scoring high enough to get to the next stage or step. In the movie, a group of students is asked if they would rather be prepared for the "test" or taught skills that will serve them in their future careers and aspirations. The students look at each other uncertain about how to answer. And then one student says "the test since it controls my future." This scene was a telling moment to me when I realized that we have done nothing more than to reduce education to a test taking / preparation factory. There is a lot of pressure put on students doing well on tests. There is a common perception that if a student does not do well on a test, then their future is drastically altered. As a teacher who taught his first ten years with a state end of course test, I was guilty of focusing too much on test preparation. I tried to ensure that my students were adequately prepared for the next phase of chemistry whether that was in college or in a company as a technician. However, I defined the success of a year based on how my students tests. It really is ridiculous to equate 180 days of learning into how my students did on a two hour test. Sometimes my students scored really well and I was so proud of them. But there were years when my students did not do as well and I naturally blamed it on myself. After all, had I failed them as a teacher if they did not score a level 3 or 4 on the test? Later in my career, our state introduced EVAAS data where a complex model factors in previous testing experiences of students and predicts the influence of the teacher on the student's learning. If students test well above what they were predicted, the teacher is coded "blue." If students met the testing prediction, the teacher is coded as "green." And if students fail to met the growth expectations, the teacher is "red." The day that EVAAS scores are released is one of the absolutely worst days in the school year. Imagine being a teacher how is literally putting in every bit of effort that she / he can to help students. The teacher is staying after school to help students, staying in touch with parents on a regular basis, and providing lots of encouragement to students. So imagine if you are that teacher who literally stays 1-2 hours after school most day to tutor students and is heavily invested emotionally in the students's success. If you are this teacher and the EVAAS data comes back as red, you are crushed. Further, the effort put in by both the student and teacher is not acknowledged since the student did not make the necessary growth prediction. Additionally, no one can simply explain how EVAAS is determined (trust me, I have spent hours watching the tutorial videos and asking questions). But in the end, the process is as abstract as unicorns. To adequately understand EVAAS, you have to have an extensive background in statistics and data analysis. Since most teachers chose to teach students instead of taking advanced courses in statistics, it is difficult to comprehend the complex models used in calculating EVAAS. In the world of education, if an idea is so complex that it cannot be explained in less then three to four sentences, then most likely the average person will not understand the idea. This is the challenge of EVAAS. As I think about the movie and the work that we are doing at North Rowan High School, I am even more certain that what we are doing now matters so much more than any curriculum standard. The skills and experiences that we are provided to our students in our design challenge courses are allowing to prepare for careers and job opportunities that do not currently exist. We cannot even imagine them. Earlier today, my Facebook feed included an article "The Future of Work Won't Be About College Degrees, It Will Be About Job Skills." The article highlights that the rapid changes associated with evolving technology coupled with increasing higher education costs have resulted in many freelance workers realizing that college degrees are no longer a guarantee of job security. Many large corporations, such as Google and Apple, no longer ask about education credentials not GPA. Instead they seek to find employees who can exhibit various skill sets. No longer is an education credential the "be all end all" that it once was. The article also points out that freelance workers realize the need to learn new skills periodically in order to stay relevant. As we move toward more innovation where we see previously unrelated fields beginning to intersect, then innovation is much more likely. I had a discussion last week with a colleague about helping our students find job opportunities that a computer or robot will not be able to replicate. Currently, technology has advanced so that computers can now write legal documents. As we consider what our students really need for the future, we must move away from giving them problems or work that can be easily googled. I am very guilty of that. We must allow our students the opportunity to developed skills for jobs and tasks that cannot be googled. We must provide authentic opportunities for students to share what they learned in a ways that demonstrated more than surface level understanding. Instead, we must push for experiences that result in deep, sustained learning where students can demonstrate what they learned and use these experiences to expand skill sets. As I reflect back on what I have learned, I am guilty of teaching to a test and helping students see education simply as a test prep. We must work collectively to ensure that all students have the opportunities to develop deep level learning that results in enhanced skill sets. Further, we can no long discard any student simply because he/she does fit the mold needed to meet a test prediction or score. We have to move back to valuing students as people and keeping empathy as a focus. We must work tirelessly to provide opportunities for students to create and share authentic work that is meaningful. I am pleased that we have embarked on such as journey at North Rowan High. We are definitely learning as we go. We are consistently ideating what is best for our students and fixing what what needs to be repaired. We will continue to press on with this journey even though we don't know the destination. It is sincere desire to help our students learn the necessary skills to be successful in the future and we won't stop until we get it right.
For the past three weeks, our students have worked in Design Challenge to create Rube Goldberg machines. Most of our students have never heard of Rube Goldberg machines much less designed one. The truth is that neither of my co-teachers nor I had designed them either. So, like much of our design challenge experiences, we learned along with our students. And it was every bit of an extraordinary journey. There were times when we really considered abandoning the idea altogether but we (our students and ourselves) hung in there. In the end, I continue to be so proud of our students and what they accomplished.
Creating these machines posed challenges that forced ours students to think differently and shift their paradigms. Perhaps the biggest shifts in paradigms involved helping our students understand how to measure success. Most of them identified success as the machine completing the identified task. However, they quickly discovered that they may need to reevaluate the metrics that they used for success. Instead. they "pivoted" and modified how they measured success. This kind of pivot is also very true in life. Sometimes, our original purpose and way to measure success has to be altered. Many of our students have never had the opportunity to fully be immersed in designing machines with a specific purpose. A lot of them are deficient in some aspects of physics. However, they learned how to improvise and quickly find ways to work though emerging challenges. A lot of our students have experienced a lot of challenges in their personal life. While we, as teachers, may never fully know the true impact of these challenges on our students, we do know that we must support and encourage our students to continue to persevere through these challenges. We must ensure that our students have developed the necessary coping mechanisms to process these challenges and identify proactive solutions. There were times when some students even gave up and said that they would take the failing grade. However, these students returned the next day ready to try again. There was something that I saw with our students that I did not expect. It was a willingness to not let the problem or challenge get the best of them. There were times when group communication deteriorated and I was certain that this group would most definitely split up. However, these same students returned after a break to begin working together once again. As I thought about these experiences, it made me wonder "What is it that is driving these students to complete these challenges?" Many appeared to be so willing to give up so readily but yet they returned back to try again. As we approached our deadline, our students worked harder and harder. They relied less on us for structure and direction. Our roles shifted to providing resources such as pulleys, yarn, and cardboard. We also became cheerleaders and supporters. In short, our students had transformed and so had we. I did not even realize it. Too often, we get "stuck" in our "factory model of education" where we don't allow our students the opportunity to show us new and different ways of thinking. Our principal reminded us today that for the longest time divergent thinking was not encouraged and celebrated in public education. As we clearly saw with this challenge, all of our students (regardless of their academic ability, motivation, and background) have so much to offer us. They reminded me of the importance of letting them do things their own way and finding their own solutions. It was so gratifying to see the pride that so many students showed in their final designs. Most students were genuine proud of what they had built and accomplished. It was clear that students took ownership of this challenge and find innovative ways to solve problems with limited materials and experiences. The purpose of a Rube Goldberg machine is to complete a simple task in a complex way. In this case, our students proved that they have the skills and ability to solve a challenge and "stick with it" (grit?). They proved that student ownership is huge motivator. Many of the students were initially less than enthusiastic about this challenge. However, there was no lack of enthusiasm today as we concluded this challenge. To my students, I say "Thank You" for helping me to experience the power of divergent thinking to create solutions and I applaud each of you for sticking with your challenge. The pride that I have in each of you far exceeds any words that I could write.
At North Rowan High School, our faculty and staff have identified the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity) as core components that we want our students to have upon graduation. These core components are essential to preparing them for a future in which we cannot accurately predict the types of jobs that they will encounter over the course of their lifetime. Additionally, much research has been conducted to determine the skills and competencies that employers will value in employees. According to research conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, these are several of the core competencies that employers want in hiring potential employees. The 4Cs are often referred to as the “soft skills” in that they are not official standards taught in the North Carolina Essential Standards or Common Core Standards. Upon inspection though, most managers would agree that these skills and competencies are what they value in employees.
At North Rowan High School, our design courses are centered around helping our students further develop and expand the 4Cs so they are work force ready upon graduation. In our paradigm of change, we view the 4Cs as the necessary skills for our students to be able to exhibit after graduation. But like any good skill, practice is needed so that our students become better. During the various challenges that ours students undertake, they are constantly evaluated on some combination, if not all, of the 4Cs. Students are encouraged to apply them at various times throughout their challenge and to be able to provide evidence of growth in the 4Cs. Evaluating the growth in each of the 4Cs is very challenging. It often involves measuring something that is not very measurable. In fact, we often struggle with developing metrics to measure many of the 4Cs. We are finding that many researchers are struggling with some of these same challenges. Imagine trying to determine how to measure creativity with 150 students? This can be challenging. To better assist, we are evaluating different pieces of research and anecdotal evidence to develop rubrics that specifically gauge how our students are doing in developing these skills. Our work is challenging and it is not always perfect. Sometimes we fail miserably. But that is okay as it demonstrates the importance of prototyping since we often learn more from failure anyway. In the end, we know that our work is important as it has the power to change our students and their trajectories. Additionally, any opportunities that we can provide our students to further develop their skills and aptitudes in the 4Cs will pay dividends at some point in their future. As we continue to evaluate and reposition ourselves to better serve our students, we continue to be excited about the opportunity to more fully prepare our students for a future that no one can predict. While we value the learning standards that we are charged with in educating our students, we must remember the implied curriculum standards such as the 4Cs since they will serve students well in the future. Imagine not being able to attend school for over a month due to a hurricane that flooded your school building? Consider how you would support students impacted by a school shooting where a student died? How can educators support students and colleagues who live in homes where domestic abuse issues occur frequently? These are issues that many of our students and educators face in North Carolina.
Earlier in October, I attended the Western North Carolina Digital Leaders Coaching Network (NCDLCN) meeting in Asheville. This group, which has two additional cohorts across North Carolina, invites educators from across the state to attend sessions that will transform them into stronger instructional coaches for both students and fellow educators. I have been blessed to be part of this group for the past three years as both an attendee and a mentor. The synergy produced at a NCDLCN meeting cannot be adequately described but this opportunity is one of the best professional learning experiences that I have ever attended. During my time with NCDLCN, I have learned many new instructional, research based instructional strategies, innovative ideas, and emerging technology tools for classroom use. I have been invited to many additional professional learning opportunities as a result of being part of this amazing group. One of the most interesting opportunities involves our monthly twitter chats which are typically the first Tuesday of the month. For the month of November, I will serve as part of an extraordinary three person team for our first twitter chat of the year. I will be working with the incredible Holly King (@hollysking) and stupendous Lauren Boucher (@BoucherLauren). Both of these educators are amazing innovative leaders who have worked to transform their districts and schools by helping teachers redesign many current educational practices and creating learning opportunities that prepare students for an ever changing future. One first twitter chat, scheduled for Tuesday November 6 at 8 PM, will focus on the importance of building resilience among educators. For many of our students, resilience is one of the most important life skills that educators can impart to students. In her book "Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators," Elena Aguilar define resilience as "how we weather the storms in our lives and rebound after something difficult." Her definition is definitely right on target with my experience with working with students, regardless of various backgrounds. Life is hard and challenging. We, as educators, may never fully know the challenges and tribulations that our students (or even colleagues) face on a daily basis. While the standards that we are charging with teaching are important, I would argue that resilience is one of the most important life skills that we can teach our students. The way that we respond to critical set backs is so important for the quality of life that we will lead. In our twitter chat, we will explore various ways that educators can support building resilience among students and other educators. I invite all interested educators, not just NCDLCN members, to join us for an amazing hour that will help you transform your practice into one that will support the building of strong resilience. We look forward to you joining us for this amazing twitter chat. For the past two weeks, our students have been learning about poverty in Rowan County. Poverty is a significant challenge for many of our students in Rowan-Salisbury Schools. While individuals living in poverty can definitely change their circumstances, living in poverty can be challenging for many. Often poverty presents itself as hungry students in our classroom, high rates of absenteeism, and underachievement for students. North Rowan High has a high percentage of lower socioeconomic students. The school offers free breakfast to all students as a result of a this higher percentage of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch. The challenge of poverty is something that our society continues to grapple with and finding solutions to end it are very challenging. Often, students living in poverty are part of an on-going cycle where many of their parents and even grandparents grew up in similar circumstances. I am so proud of our students for choosing this topic to study especially given that it hits really close to home for many of them. This past week, our students heard from the executive director of the Meals on Wheels for Rowan County who shared a lot of information about poverty in Rowan County. Rowan County continues to see increased rates of poverty compared to surrounding counties. Further, there is a challenge with finding affordable housing in Rowan County, even with support, for many families. Our students also heard from the homeless student liasion who shared that last year, Rowan-Salisbury Schools have over 300 identified students who were classified as homeless as defined by the McKinney-Vento act passed by congress in the late 1980s. She reminded us that these 300 students were only the one that had been identified and that most likely the value is higher. Students learned about the services that Rowan-Salisbury Schools provide for students as well as their families. Hearing from expert speakers such as these was amazing. But our students experienced an even more extraordinary experience when they visited Rowan Helping Ministries. Rowan Helping Ministries is our county's local homeless shelter and crisis assistance center. The organization does amazing work to support many individuals living in poverty in our county. While there, our students heard from Wayne. Wayne, originally from New Jersey, moved to North Carolina to change his life. He has previously been in prison for drugs and other crimes. He grew up on the "streets of Camden" as he put it. One day while in prison, he decided to change his life and moved to North Carolina where he could start new. He eventually ended up living in the homeless shelter in Salisbury. While there, Rowan Helping Ministries provided him with support to change his life's trajectory. At the time, a new facility was being built for Rowan Helping Ministries and he walked across the street to speak with the project supervisor for the construction company. After sharing his story, Wayne told the supervisor that he really wanted a chance to prove himself and change his life. So the supervisor sent him to the temp agency where he was hired. Wayne showed up early to work and did everything that he could to prove that he was a valuable worker. He often beat the supervisor to work. He never complained about the job that he was doing and rose quickly to be a valuable employee. After the project was complete, he took a position as a full time staff member with Rowan Helping Ministries. He is living proof that anyone who wants to change their trajectory can but they must be fully committed to that change. He spoke at length with our students and really emphasized the importance of focusing on their goals and finishing high school. In addition to hearing Wayne's inspiration story, our students had the opportunity to volunteer and serve in different capacities at Rowan Helping Ministries. Most of the students had never visited the facility, let alone, serve others. Many of them helped pack bags of food for students to take home on the weekend. These are students who may not have anything literally to eat over the weekend. Several of our students remarked that they did not realize we had people living in our community who would have not food over the weekend. They also helped pack and distribute food for families who would not have enough food for the entire month. Again, many students shared that they did not realize that we had families living in our communities that they did not have enough food. Several students who helped sort and fold donated clothes that would be used for needy families. With each service performed, our students seemed to become aware of the needs of individuals living in our communities. Many students remarked that their favorite thing about the trip was serving others. I had several students share with me that they never realized how much of a difference they could make. After returning back to campus, many students asked about going back to serve again at Rowan Helping Ministries. We are coordinating to make this reality again. Interestingly enough, many said that they want to help on their own time as well. I was really astonished by this as some of these students had not shown a lot of interest previously in our topic. It seemed that learning through serving others helped to connect many of our students to our topic in a way that simply just sitting in a classroom could not. The students had experienced many of the faces of poverty and served in helping others. As a I reflect on this experience for our students, the students were able to connect to our topic in a way that will impact their life for many years. I potentially can see them thinking about the experience of the trip and what they learned that day for years to come. I can see them sharing the story of what they learned during this trip with their own kids and grand kids. Further, I envison them becoming more empowered individuals who now know that they can make positive changes in their community through serving others. Here are a few things that our students shared about their experiences:
As I consider what the students learn, I am so pleased that we were able to provide them with an opportunity in which they learned so much more that they can apply to changing either the quality of their own life or the quality of another person's life by serving others because in the end, isn't this really what matters? I am excited to see how their final challenges will turn out this week. Our students learned more valuable lessons through serving that I ever could have taught them by simply staying in the classroom. Three weeks ago, I had a major life changing experience an an educator. Having worked in public education for over twenty years, I was pretty sure that I had seen and experienced almost everything. But I was not prepared for what occurred three weeks ago. My colleague and I were in our classroom planning for our first challenge based learning (CBL) opportunity with our students. We had been planning for over nearly a hour and a half. As this is a new experience for us, both of us are burning the "candle at both ends of the stick" trying to ensure that we develop the best learning experiences for our students. As we were trying to put our already tired heads together, our principal pops in to check on us. She asks where we are in our planning process. We provide some cursory answers with the hope that she will soon move on so we can finish planning. However, she stayed and actually participated in our planning process. I found this somewhat unexpected and refreshing. Having worked in public education for over twenty years, I have had some amazing administrators and some great experiences. But I have never had an experience or administrator like this. Our principal instantly transformed into an instructional coach who provided guiding questions to help us plan for the upcoming challenge. Honestly, I was more intrigued by her actions than I was with finalizing our planning for our first CBL. She was genuinely interested in what we were planning for our students and asked questions that forced us to think deep. She provided some gentle reminders about things that we were overlooking. Due to the nature of her probing questions, we were able to create something much organized and effective for our students. She challenged us to think harder and with more intently that I thought was possible. Even more amazing to me, she was authentically listening to our responses and was invested in the success of what we were doing in our classroom. Again, I was not prepared to have such a profound experience especially at 5 o'clock in the evening.
As an educator, it meant a lot to me that my principal was so invested in our planning and success. She guided us in our journey in the same way that yellow brick road guided Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She was supportive and helped us to focus on our goals and identify resources that we needed for our students. As I reflect more on this experience, it makes me wonder what all educators could and would accomplish if they had a champion such as this invested in their success. Our principal spent over a hour with us to create something that she knew was there but we did not quite realize. She empowered us to think differently and create experiences that we never would have otherwise. In the past, most administrators have simply trusted me to do what I was trained to do. I figured that if there was a problem, they would contact me and we would "work through it." And I have been okay with this in the past. I now realize that I may have missed out on some amazing growth opportunities by not expecting this from my previous administrators. Further, I may have cut my expectations short of what I truly expected from my school leaders. I know that administrators are busy and have many things to do. However, that simple act of sitting down with us to plan our lesson has spoken volumes to me about how this principal views us. She probably had a million things to do both at school and at home. But she took the time, even late in the day, to sit down and help coach us through the process. I am still quite emotional at her investment in us. This was a really extraordinary experience for me and not one that I expected to have. Her actions that day spoke very loudly to me about how she values her teachers and staff. She truly seeks to help them get better. There is a book that I have used in the past, "If You Don't Feed The Teachers, They Will Eat The Students" which chronicles the importance of administrators investing in their teachers to maximize the learning experiences of students. My wish is that all teachers have a champion administrator like this who will invest in them like she did in us. It shows the importance of valuing others and the many positive things that can occur when administrators are invested in supporting their teachers. We are nearing the end of our first rotation in our Design Challenge course. Our students have been working on their first challenge for the past two weeks. The students chose to focus on athletics/sports for their first challenge. Since our course is built around challenged based learning (CBL), students follow a process where they select their big idea, in this case, sports/athletics. In the next phase, they generate what is called an essential question that students connect to the big idea. The essential question is open ended, complex, and provocative (we defined this as a question that makes one think). We stress that essential questions are not simple yes/no answers that can be found by using google. Instead they are the questions that ultimately drive the challenge that our students develop.
We have stressed that the role of the teacher is very different in CBL. Traditionally, the role of the teacher is the dispenser of knowledge. However, in CBL, the role of the teacher is drastically altered. Teachers now learn along with students. Teachers are no longer the definitive experts. For example, I have learned that high school athletics receive no funding whatsoever from the school system. Instead. athletics must be raise their own money. This means that every uniform, bus ride, and piece of equipment must be purchased out of athletic funds. Athletics must generate their own income which is usually accomplished through gate admissions and booster clubs. Further, only a handful of sports contribute to necessary revenues of the entire athletic program. Basketball and football generally carry most school's athletic revenues. Without their revenues, other non-revenue sports such as tennis and golf would not be supported. I had never realized how important gate receipts and booster clubs were without being part of this CBL. In our CBL process, we also work to provide experts in the field for our students. We had two guest speakers visit our class. One was a former athlete at North Rowan High who is now playing both basketball and baseball at Catawba College. He shared the importance of having AEDs available to athletes as well as being determined and always pushing forward. Another guest speaker was the district's athletic director who is a former Division 1 basketball player who has served as a coach, teacher, and principal. He shared the importance of making sure that high school athletes have access to quality athletic trainers who can assess and diagnose any problems that athletes may experience. He also stressed the important of safety in sports especially in football. One key component of CBLs involves onsite visits to facilities and organizations that are connected to the Big Idea. We visited Catawba College and spent a few hours with the school's athletic director and lead athletic trainer as they responded to various questions that our students generated. Several of our groups are working on challenges associated with making sports safer for athletes especially for concussions. When asked about what is necessary for athletes to be safe, the head athletic trainer responded the number one way to improve the safety of athletes is research. I found his response to be particularly interesting and not what I expected to hear. I would have presumed that the focus would have been more on better protective equipment. However, his response was spot on. If more research is done, then it is more likely that better ways to protect the athletes will be developed. He also added that we need to consider how to change the game so that athletes are not as likely to be hurt. This illustrates another particularly insightful way to improve the safety of athletes that I would not have considered if researching this challenge. We also explored what gender equality really looks like at Catawba College. The athletic director explained how he ensures that the sports, despite their differences, was treated alike. For example, if the baseball team takes a bus to Tennessee for a game, the softball team takes a bus to their game in Tennessee. In doing so, this guarantees that all teams are treated equally. We also learned about athletic scholarships. Catawba made it very clear that almost all colleges first look at academic scholarships to support athletes before evening considering athletic scholarships. Athletic scholarships are much more limited and there is only so much to go around for each sport. Had our students not chosen this big idea, I never would have learned these things. Further they would not have either. In implementing Challenge Based Learning, our students get to see a seldom exposed side of their teachers. Teachers cannot be experts in all subjects and areas. I would also dare say that they should not be either. I feel that if our students are able to see their teachers learn along side them, then the students benefit from seeing that learning is nonstop. Our students see a cycle where we continue to learn and expand on previous knowledge while leveraging resources and other individuals to expand our understanding. In Challenge Based Learning, teachers work to support the learning needs of their students as a "just in time" model where students tell us what they need and we work to find the resources or individuals to support meeting that need. I left school Friday thinking about powerful it is for our students to see us, their teachers, learning alongside of them. I hope and pray that this will be a transformative model that will encourage students to realize that learning never truly stops for those who wish to continue to learn. As a previous technology facilitator, I believed in the importance of teaching Digital Citizenship to students. They are the first generation of humans to grow up in a completely digital world. They have the potential to have their entire lives recorded and captured digitally. With this technology comes a tremendous responsibility to ensure that they understand the digital world and participate in it in a way that uplifts and benefits all of humanity. One of the best ways for students to really understand the lasting impacts, both good and bad, of their digital actions was to develop empathy for others. Empathy is so important for students today. We cannot over emphasize its importance with our students. In my experience, our students today struggle to understand connotations in our voices. I have seen my six year son struggle with this as well. To him, the statements "come over here now" or "stop doing that" are interpreted by the same way regardless of the tone or inflection that I put in the directions. However for those who understand that the tone and inflections of this command by a parent can often have very different consequences if not followed. In teaching Digital Citizenship, I stressed the importance of students understanding that their actions online impact real people. If we sent a flaming email, there is a real life person who receives that email. If we make bad comments about a picture of person that we see online, thee is a real life person who may be hurt by those comments. By teaching our students empathy, the condition of understanding how others feel, we often create experiences in which our students think through their actions and make better decisions. By helping our students connect with others, they see that their actions have a real world lasting impact. So we must #changetheequation in education and teach all students empathy. It is empathy that has the ability to change the lives of others.
When I took my new position as a Design Thinking instructor at North Rowan High, it was this idea of teaching empathy that really excited me. I have seen the tragic impact of what happens when students do not use empathy. They create challenges and negative situations for others. Sometimes this results in low self esteem, depression, or even suicide. With the proliferation of digital devices in our lives, we often forget that we are connected to each other. Over the past two weeks, we have introduced the Design Thinking module to our students. The first stage in Design Thinking is empathy. While Design Thinking is focused on solving problems, it is this brilliant incorporation of empathy that really separates it from other problem solving methods such as the scientific method. Instead of starting with the problem like most methods do, Design Thinking focuses on understand how the situation impacts others. It is humancentric since the focus on solving problems to benefit humans. As a result, Design Thinking has the potential to allow students to explore and practice empathy in a way that is conducive to them becoming caring adults who value others. Over the past two weeks, we have spent a tremendous amount of time on practicing empathy. Yes, practicing it. Many of our students struggle with understanding others and we have really focused on defining empathy as well letting students practice it. They have done various activities ranging from discussing gifts that each other have given. In this simulation, students ultimately construct a special item that means much to their partner. The students take the time to ask questions and dig deeper in understanding their partner's likes and passions. As our students completed this simulation, I saw students just light up with appreciation and gratitude over the gifts that their partners made for them. It was at this point that I realized that each partner felt that he/she was valued and important. It is these feelings that have the ability to change trajectories and help others develop positive self images. I would argue that of all the things that we teach our students from curriculum to citizenship, empathy must be at the core of what we do as educators. In the end, it is our understanding of how others feel and our appreciation of others that makes a positive difference. We must never forget the importance of this and continually stress this with our students. Having worked in education for over 20 years, I have a lot of students that I run into our community. Most never mention how the chemistry that I taught them benefited them. Instead, what they recall is how I understood them and encouraged them to work hard and pursue their dreams. I definitely count this as my greatest accomplishment as an educator. |
Brian's Blog
The ideas shared here are my own and do not necessarily represent my employers, associations, or organizations. These thoughts are entirely my own. Archives
February 2024
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