Homer Simpson Inspired me this Morning

Image credit:  OpenClips on Pixabay

The first week is in the books. I'm completely exhausted, but not in a bad way. It's that exhausted feeling that comes from knowing you have worked diligently toward a greater good. The feeling that you get when even though 90% of your waking hours have been physically, emotionally, and mentally committed to your career, it's okay because your career is your passion. In other words, I'm feeling that "good tired". 

So, how am I spending my first Saturday morning of the school year? Watching cartoons, of course! Not just any cartoon, mind you, but only the greatest cartoon ever made - The Simpsons. I woke up early and tuned in for FXX's Every Simpsons Ever Made marathon. Not only could this be the greatest 12 days of television in my life, it also has made me think about my class and the upcoming school year. This occurred during one of the commercials FXX aired advertising the Simpsons marathon (during the marathon - it's like a mirror reflecting a mirror reflecting a...you get the point). The ad contained one of my all time favorite Homerisms, "If there's one thing I don't like being taught, it's a lesson!"

I know, it takes a special kind of education nerd to be inspired by a quote from Homer Simpson. Laugh if you must. However, I was inspired by a quote from Homer Simpson. I mean, how can you not see the deeper meaning in these words? "If there's one thing I don't like being taught, it's a lesson!" How many of us felt the same way as students? How many of our students feel the same way today? This quote perfectly wrapped up my summer learning. All the research, reading, conferences, professional development and Twitter chats have led to this:  My students don't want to be taught a lesson, they want to experience learning.

Which leads to a bigger question - how do I make this happen? Unfortunately, in all his infinite wisdom, Homer made me think without giving me the answer. Wait a minute, did you catch that?  Homer made me think without giving me the answer. You've done it again, Mr. Simpson, because therein lies the solution to my problem. If I want my students to experience learning instead just teaching them the lesson, my lesson plans need to pose questions which require students to make connections, explore their surroundings, investigate, and ask questions of their own. Even more importantly, I have to release them to learn on their own and not rely on me. The answers to questions, mine or their own, must be discovered by my students. I must resist the temptation to swoop in and save the struggling learner immediately. If teachers give students the answers, or even too many hints, the learning will not be as personal and it will not become cemented in the learners' minds.

Of course, the solution to my question leads to more questions. What kinds of learning experiences lead to this student-driven form of education? What must I do to make sure my students don't feel like they are being taught a lesson?  This is what my blog is going to be about in the coming months. I have big plans. Plans which scare me. Plans I'm not sure I'm capable of accomplishing. However, these plans are what I believe to be best for children, motivating me to push past those fears I always have and do everything I can to improve my craft.  They include, but are not limited to, problem based learning, flipping my classroom, using the "un-conference" model I learned about this summer as a pattern for my centers and student learning, and incorporating Genius Hour with 4th graders.

This revolution may not be televised, but it will be blogged. I hope you continue to read and keep up to date with the successes and failures of my journey to making learning an experience. I also hope you will comment along the way with suggestions on what I can do better as I go. Join me as I stop teaching lessons and start creating experiences.

One thing I'm really excited about this year...

I'm taking the @MOedchat blog challenge today and, as such, I need to write about one thing I'm excited for this year.  Of course, narrowing it down to one thing is almost impossible, but I will do my best.  Here we go...

The one thing I am most excited for this year is to work with my students to build on the success they had last year.  This year, for the first time in my career I am teaching a grade that is not 3rd.  I was given the opportunity to "loop" with my class from 3rd grade last year to 4th this year.  For those unfamiliar with the term, "looping" means a group of students stays together with their teacher from one school year to the next. It is a concept I believe has the power to change education in the future and one I have always wanted to try.  So, to say I was excited when my principal, Mrs. Herrera, offered me the chance to loop is a bit of an understatement.  I couldn't wait to tell my class - I felt like a child going to bed the night before his birthday party.

Part of this excitement came from the fact I have an outstanding group of students.  The sense of  classroom community with this group is incredible.  They truly care about each other and the world around them.  Every day last year I saw something from at least one of my 3rd graders that would move me or inspire me to be a better teacher - even a better person.  When the day finally came for me to reveal to our class we had been given the chance to stay together for another year, I was filled with an anxious excitement.  I knew I wanted to loop with them, but what if they didn't like me enough to go with me?  How would parents react?

Fortunately, the announcement was the launch of what has become the best season of my career.  I told my students the good news on the first day of our week of spring student-led conferences.  To my surprise and joy, there were actual cheers when I told them Mrs. Herrera is letting us loop to 4th grade together.  I'm not one to show emotions easily, and it was all I could do to choke back tears as I watched kids look at each other, realize what I had announced, and celebrate the chance to stay together as a class.  Let me be clear, they were celebrating that they get to remain together as a class, not to have me as a teacher again.  It's not about me - it's all about that community feeling I mentioned earlier.  As the week continued I heard every night at conferences stories of excited 3rd graders running in the house to tell their parents they get to stay with their classmates one more year.  Even now, months later, I am experiencing the benefits of this opportunity.  Meet the Teacher Night was Wednesday, August 13th.  I wasn't sure anyone would come.  After all, we had met.  Then, as parents and students trickled through the door, Meet the Teacher Night became more like a family reunion.  We all caught up, shared stories from our summer, and discussed the year ahead.

But wait - it gets even better!  Not only am I excited to work with this amazing group of kids, I also get to add two new students to our learning community.  Their minds will bring us more perspectives and experiences and will certainly make our classroom an even better place to learn.  I am excited to move forward with friends old and new as a 4th grade teacher for the first time.  In addition, all this excitement reminds me of the responsibility I have.  I was not just excited when Mrs. Herrera broke the news about looping, I was also humbled.  Many of the parents I am working with are now entrusting me with not just one, but two years of their child's education.  The students in my room are expecting to grow and enjoy new experiences whether they had me last year or not.  My over-arching goal (consisting of several smaller goals, of course) for the year is to give all of these students and their families what they deserve:  my best effort, every minute of every day.

Along with excitement and a heightened feeling of responsibility, this year also brings with it a certain amount of fear.  I have mentioned on this blog before that I struggle with the fear of failure - so much that it has at times hurt me professionally.  Am I intimidated by learning a brand new curriculum?  Yes.  Do I worry about fitting in with a new team of teachers for the first time in 9 years?  Every night.  Is there a hint of anxiety about failing to help my students grow as much in 4th grade as they did in 3rd?  Absolutely...in fact, more than just a hint.  However, my fears can't even come close to outweighing the enthusiasm I get from thinking about how much growth we can make this year.  Here's to a new year and new challenges!

On Positivity and Professionalism

Note:  This post is the result of a lot of reflection.  The words here are not directed at anyone.  If they were, they would be directed at me.  In fact this post is more for me to improve myself than anything or anyone else.

Something has bothered me lately.  It's been there - nagging my conscience, whispering in my ear - this whole summer, really.  I couldn't figure out what it was until a couple of weeks ago when I attended a session at Podstock  (more on that here) about energy leadership.  In this session, Tammy Fellers (@tjfellers) and Tamara Konrade (@tamarakcoach) talked about seven levels of energy and where we might fall.  Level seven is where the perpetually positive person lands.  Their analogy was perfect:  this is the person who would look at a flat tire on a busy highway as a chance to learn a new school.  Let's face it, the level seven people are those we (the normal ones) want to throat-punch first thing in the morning.  Just kidding, sevens...not that you were offended.  Level one people are the complete opposite.  They find reasons to complain and they always feel like someone is out to get them.  Tammy and Tamara encouraged us to "strive for five".  Level five people are those who are committed to the cause, so to speak.

 I'm not an expert on this by any means, but that is the brass tacks of energy leadership.  What you need to know is this:  I fall down to level one or two way more than I ever rise to five, six, or seven.  That is the realization - the one thing bothering me for a few months now.  Those who aren't close friends may never realize this about me, I can be pretty stinking positive outwardly.  But the inside me is not always so optimistic.  The inside me is full of fear, self-loathing, and doubt.  So, I am writing this post to motivate myself with the hope of motivating a few others along the way.

photo credit:  Pixabay

 I suppose I am a bit of a hypocrite here, or maybe I'm just a result of my society.  It's kind of hard to tell.  You see, I can't stand all the negativity out there.  Perhaps I am just noticing it more, but negativity seems to be growing like a weed - especially in education.  It bothers me when I see educators posting such cynical statements on social media.  Every day I see statuses and tweets about the horrors of common core, how much we hate standardized testing, teachers being paid too little, and so on.

I know, I'm being negative about negativity.  However, to me such outward shows of anti-this or that do not help our public relations as educators.  Which brings me to my next realization:  professionalism requires us to be positive.  I'm not saying common core is perfect, standardized tests are the best days of my year, or I feel like we are overpaid.  However, publicly complaining about such things is just bad PR.  I have friends in many professions, and rarely do I see them complain about their careers on social media.  Do they have nothing about which they can complain?  Doubtful.  Rather, they are practicing professionalism.  I believe, as I'm sure you believe, teaching is not just a job - it is a profession.  We often complain (ahem...) about how little respect we get or how we are not treated as professionals.  How can we expect to be treated as professionals when we do not act as such?  Of course we need to vent from time to time, but social media is not the place to do so.

The other place we should practice anger abstinence is in our professional interactions.  My close friends who are also teachers and I will occasionally vent to each other privately - we all do that.  However, a staff meeting is not the place for negativity.  It kills any momentum a school has when someone shoots down or ridicules ideas.  I'm sure I've been guilty of this once or twice in the past, but I have learned from experience to be more open-minded.  Even if I'm not sure of a new program or directive, I must be willing to give it a shot.  Openly hating an idea which someone has proposed for the common good might just be the best way to ruin a learning community.  This is especially true when it is a requirement from administration.  There's no point in openly complaining about something we can't change.  As long as the directive does not hurt students, then what is the point of refusing to buy-in?

Perhaps even more important is to remain positive with parents, students, and the public.  Just as with social media, our interactions with these groups represent our profession as a whole.  Even when we are unsure of a new directive, it is important we present it with a positive spin.  Let's use, oh...I don't know...standardized testing as an example.  (Cue the scary music and screaming.)  If we are negative about state tests, how can we expect our students to do well?  Think about it:  what if I give my kids a test and say, "I can't believe they are making us take this.  I'm sorry to do this to you, but let's just get it over with."  How would those kids perform?  Instead of viewing testing as this horrible, scary ordeal, what happens when we look at it as a way to improve?  Even better, what happens when we communicated this to parents and students?

Like I said, most of us are not going to be positive all the time, but it should be our goal as professionals to remain publicly optimistic.  The only way I see to do this is to think out of the box and practice what we preach.  Educators are creative, intelligent people.  We need to find ways to authentically twist the negative aspects of our profession into positives.  Then, once we have found that optimistic spin, we need to actually believe it and put it into practice.  Of course, this change can only begin one person at a time - so, I am pledging to be more positive this year.  Will you join me?

#Podstock14

Last week was a career-changing week, and those are not terms I use lightly.  I can only describe two things as truly "career-changing":  my principal encouraging me to lose my fear of failure and my first Podstock experience.  What's Podstock you ask?  Where do I begin?  Podstock is, technically, a conference about education and technology.  In reality, though, it is so much more.  It is a family, one which accepts newbies like me with open arms.  It is an often self-directed learning experience inspiring you to new challenges.  Essentially, Podstock is a movement trying to change the world of education.

We all know students learn best when they get to respond to the lesson or learning experience.  Writing across the curriculum is integral to student success.  Since my class will tell you I probably learn more than they do throughout a year, I consider myself a student and am using this post to respond to and cement my learning experience.  Basically, if I don't write about Podstock 14, I might forget it...I'm getting old like that.  (Just kidding, I could never forget Podstock.  I took notes.)

To really capture the week, I would need several posts.  So, this post is just going to be about the three biggest ideas I brought back from Wichita.  I actually waited a few days to write this so I would know which ideas stuck out the most in my mind.  Without further ado, then:

#1:  Problem solving is an important part of learning.

 Easily the biggest takeaway from my first Podstock is the reminder of the importance of letting kids fail and, (much more importantly) fix their mistakes.  Please don't trip over the word "fail".  Go past the traditional educational meaning of "fail".  I don't mean receiving Fs here.  By failure, I mean making errors, diving in headfirst and learning from those critical mistakes.  This was first driven home in the Sandbox session, a time set aside for hands-on learning about new ideas and facilitated by one of my new edu-heroes:  Ginger Lewman (@GingerLewman).  Everyone in the room had great things to present, but my epiphany first came at the Kidwind Project.  Dan Whisler (@danwhisler) brought all kinds of cheap materials with which we were given the task of building what he called, "MacGyver windmills".  (Author's note:  If you don't know who MacGyver is, do some research tonight and thank me tomorrow.)

The goal was to lift as many washers (the little round metal ones, not the ones which clean your clothes) as possible using power from a windmill we built from random items, such as small PVC pipes, wooden rods, blades cut from campaign signs, pool noodles, and other basically household items.  Dan showed us video of a group of kids who built a McGyver windmill which lifted 75 metal washers off the ground.  My partner in crime, Jackie (check out her blog, too), and I set out to lift 5.  We like to keep our expectations reachable.  Our first attempt resulted in a windmill which would not move.  At all.  So, we redesigned it and came up with a windmill that would spin, but didn't lift anything.  Our next modification lifted 5 washers.  After this blistering success, we made one more tweak and doubled our output.  That's 10 washers for those of you playing at home.

Now, I can't say I am an expert in windmills or wind energy.  However, I did learn some basic principals of design and engineering.  All this learning came from Jackie and I failing and fixing our mistakes.  This year, my students will experience this same feeling.  Failure is always acceptable, as long as you learn from it and get better!

#2:  Learning needs to be an experience kids don't want to miss.

 I have to admit, I geeked out more than once when I saw a few of the names involved at this conference.  My favorite "I follow that guy on Twitter" moment, though, was the keynote speaker, Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd).  Throughout his keynote address and his breakout session in the afternoon, he talked about his past two years of making lessons an experience for students by flipping his classroom and using problem-based learning.  I signed up for his sessions because my action-based project is all about flipping my classroom next year and mixing in problem-based learning.  From following Todd on Twitter, I knew he would be full of information about both of these.  Not only did I gain valuable tricks and tips for both these teaching styles, I also gained motivation to be excited about learning and turn my classroom into an "experience".

In his keynote, Todd said two things that stuck with me.  First he mentioned Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess and talked about how students need learning to be connected to an emotional experience.  He gave all kinds of examples, such as turning his classroom into a hospital and an awesome bridge building activity.  These examples will guide my thinking as I go about planning lessons learning experiences for next year.  He also mentioned a quote by Erica Bauermeister:  "Adults need to have fun so kids will want to grow up."  When I set out to teach, I wanted to reach kids like me - the kids who love learning but hate school.  What better way to reach those kids than by showing them I am having fun (real, authentic fun) while learning with them?

#3:  Educators must be connected.

Collaboration has always been paramount to the success of any teacher.  In the not-so-distant past, this meant to be a good team player at school:  work with your team and colleagues within your building and district.  This is, of course, still important.  However, Podstock 14 taught me the importance of being connected to the global education community.  I have been on Twitter for a while now, but my list of followers and people I follow grew by leaps and bounds last week.  It is important to meet those people at conferences face to face and then stay connected with them after the week is over.  I realized this in a session by the aforementioned Ginger Lewman called "Ten Questions, No Answers."  Within this session, Ginger facilitated deep discussions about the present and future states of education.  These were important, eye-opening questions - ones I'm not done thinking about and hope to discuss more on Twitter with some of my new education friends.  Not only do I grow from participating in these discussions, but my colleagues at home and certainly my students will benefit too.

An additional means of staying connected is something I keep trying to get better at:  blogging.  At his closing address, Kevin Honeycutt (@kevinhoneycutt) drove this point home.  Educators are intelligent people.  We all have ideas to share and it is time to actually share them.  The education world can't be a place of trying to out do each other.  The students in my classroom don't just belong to me (and their families of course), they are citizens of the whole world and our future depends on their learning today.  Education needs change and it will only happen when we work together for the common good.  As Kevin Honeycutt said, "Don't be secret geniuses anymore!"  Let's share our learning!

I could go on.  However, this post is long enough already and it could last for pages and pages.   The best way to get more out of Podstock is to experience it for yourself!  However, until next year let's all stay connected - you can follow me here, of course, but also look me up on Twitter (@bmcd25).

Before I stop, I want to thank all the people at ESSDACK who organized Podstock as well as everyone mentioned in this post and all the other presenters I was able to learn from.  In addition a huge thanks to my school district for allowing me to tag along on this trip!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of learning to implement...

With Renewed Vigor

I started this blog about 10 months ago with the hopes of providing insight into the daily thoughts of an educator.  That was an extremely hopeful set of hopes, so I decided to provide insight into the weekly thoughts of an educator.  When that didn't work, I settled for monthly thoughts and, well, you get the picture.  I haven't posted since New Year's Day, and while I have done by best to "become" more as I wrote in that post, I have done a poor job of reflecting on that experience through my writing.

A few nights ago I had decided this blog was not being effective.  I wasn't writing, which means no one was reading - including me.  I hadn't even revisited my own reflections for months.  I was considering shutting it down.  Then, as if the universe knew my thoughts, I participated in Thursday night's #moedchat on Twitter.  (Side note:  if you are an educator, pick at least one ed chat and participate - it will positively impact your teaching.  I highly recommend @MOedchat.)  The topic for Thursday night's chat was, wait for it, blogging.

Throughout the night I was reminded how important reflection is to the teaching process.  We become better by reviewing our lessons and values, evaluating their effectiveness, and making changes to improve our craft.  I am thankful for all those educators who shared their knowledge in the chat because they convinced me, without knowing it, not to shut down this blog.  Instead, I want to blog more than I have in the past - whether anyone reads it or not.  Blogging is my chance to review and reflect - if I don't write it down, I will not truly think in-depth about anything.  So, it is with this renewed vigor that I pledge to write more.  In order to reach that goal (and hold myself accountable), I am listing below, in no particular order, topics I plan to blog about this summer.  If you have any suggestions about my list, please feel free to comment below!  (I also plan to comment on educator blogs more frequently...details on that later.)

My Blog To-Do List
Author's note:  I hate to-do lists.
1.  Connected educators/learning
2.  My year in review
3.  iPads in education
4.  The causes and effects of David Glass buying the Royals organization(sorry, wrong blog)
5.  Importance of background knowledge
6.  Kidblog
7.  Standards based grading
8.  Male teachers in elementary level classrooms
9.  "Looping"
10.  Classroom management

I'm sure there are more...but 10 seems like a nice stopping point.

Are you a blogging educator?  I would love to discuss blogging for reflection and benefit from your experience.  Feel free to begin a dialogue in the comments section!

Becoming 2014

At the end of my last post of 2013, I promised a new post coming that would be a look ahead.  Almost immediately, I regretted this decision.  The promise was made in hopes of it forcing me to post again, instead of waiting so long between writings.  It worked, but I was not happy with myself for what I had promised.

I don't "look ahead".  I don't make new year's resolutions, either, at least not as an adult.  I can vaguely remember making a list of resolutions as a kid, but I have not made resolution one since growing up.  This is not to say there is anything wrong with making resolutions, they just don't work for me.  Like most teachers, I reflect constantly and am always thinking about how I can be better (at my career - reflecting on my personal life is pretty much a lost cause).

With that in mind, I had no clue what I was going to write about in this promised "looking ahead" post.  Then, last night, I read something that had what will no doubt prove to be a lasting impact in my life.  Two of the hobbies I enjoy in what little free time I have are sports and reading.  One of the people I follow on Twitter is Richard Deitsch, who covers sports writing and media.  He always has remarkable insight into how sports are covered.  He also occasionally sends out interesting non-sports tweets, like he did last night.

I always want my first tweet of a new year to have meaning. Take it away, Kurt Vonnegut: http://t.co/lI8theZoRI
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) January 1, 2014

Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, I could write a whole post about Slaughterhouse Five alone.  So, I had to read this letter by Vonnegut to a group of high school students.  I suggest you read it as well.  In case you don't have time to read the whole letter, allow me to share the one line that inspired me:  "What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow."

While I enjoy music and writing, the one art I have chosen is teaching - and it is the one thing that truly makes my soul grow.  Yet, sometimes I find myself looking at it as just my job.  It easy to do - you get lost in the motions of day to day life as a teacher.  There are meetings that I struggle to survive.  Managing the curriculum can be overwhelming at times.  Deadlines seem to loom over every horizon.  These things, among others, make you feel like you are just a cog in the wheel - punching the clock in and out every twelve hours or so.  I needed that letter from Kurt Vonnegut. 

If I don't take care of the small things or the boring things, I can't practice my art to its full extent. I am reminded today that the little details that seem so tedious are part of a greater purpose.  That purpose is to pass on to my students the idea of becoming - of finding something about which they are passionate, be it math, reading, writing, science, music, film-making, investigating, or whatever.  My job, my art, is to help them find their art.  To inspire them to "find out what's inside".  If I am going to reach that purpose I must model this concept of becoming.  It won't be easy, but in the coming semester I am making a goal to live in the moment, to make each moment spent practicing the art of teaching memorable.  I owe it to my class, but I also owe it to myself.

I guess, if I had to make a resolution it would be this:  to "experience becoming" every day, whether I am doing what I truly love (working with students), or having to take care of the tedious items that make those fun days possible.