Getting back to into the classroom…

As an educator I firmly believe in creating a learning environment and atmosphere that will empower both the classroom leader and the students.  Professional development opportunities provide time for our teachers to learn, study, and practice with proven strategies, methodologies, and technology. It is very important that we do not embrace change for change sake, but instead use advances in pedagogy and technology as ways to improve the delivery and application of our instructional work.

Two weeks ago I was approached by one of my teachers with a proposal that I could pass up. This teacher is part of the iPad initiative where our school district is working to introduce class sets of iPads for classroom use. She was beginning a unit on Standard of Living and spatial inequalities in her 6^th grade Geography class and wanted to create an assessment that would challenge her students, assess their knowledge, allow for student voice, and provide an opportunity for the students to integrate technology into the classroom.

As a social media and technology enthusiast, I was excited to learn of the proposal. I was going to be able to get back into the classroom and teach for a day. The students were going to learn how to use Prezi to create a multi-media presentation for the “Life is not fair…or is it?” project.

So I developed my lesson and focused on how I could teach the skills that each student would need to so that they could meet the lesson and unit objectives.

Here are a few things that I learned from my day in the classroom:

Model for your staff and students: Often we speak of “best practices”, technology, Social Media and Apps that can be used in the classroom. If you take on the role as classroom teacher (for an hour or a day), you can take the opportunity to put into practice the methodologies, technology, or social media facets that you promote and encourage the teachers to use and implement. For me I was able to teach the students how to use Prezi. The majority of the students were not familiar with this presentation tool.

Get back into the classroom: Each year administrators become “one more year” removed from the classroom. By seeking out or accepting teacher invitations, we must make time to return to the classroom where we can teach the students. It is important that our teachers see us doing this and it is just as important for the students seeing us as engaged leaders in the classroom.

Iron sharpens iron: We learn best when in fellowship with our colleagues. By working alongside the classroom teachers we both can grow and learn. As I was teaching, the classroom teacher remained in the classroom. We became co-teachers. We both offered ideas and suggestions each class period. She learned about the Prezi and how to integrate it into the assessment process. I learned how to work alongside the different student learning styles, personalities, and needs from the academic and student-centered perspective. I followed up by returning the next day to visit with one of the classes. I offered additional information and insights from yesterday’s lesson. The students shared with me the “things” they learned about using Prezi during the last 24 hours since we were in class together. Collaboration and learning from one another is always a great “best practice”.

So, my challenge to you is to find that opportunity where you can return to the classroom to teach alongside or to teach independently. Either way it is a rich, rewarding opportunity for not only yourself, but for your teacher and your students. I am fortunate that I work alongside such incredible professionals and motivated students.

I was able to take a day and return to the classroom and spend time with 150 of my 6^th grade students and a teacher who had the vision to invite me “back into the classroom”!

Connected Educator Month and the 3 Rs: Renew, Relearn, Rejoice

The month of October brings about many changes, choices, and celebrations …the fall season is in full swing, many schools are wrapping up the 1^st quarter of school, Fall Break is here, and it is Connected Educator month. For me October offers a time to reflect on the first part of the school year. It provides a Fall Break (which I immensely cherish) where I can spend time with my family, tend to a few chores around the house, and spend some time learning from my PLN.

This month on Twitter several chats have focused on connecting as educators. #Moedchat has dedicated all four of its October chats to this theme. #PTchat has worked to connect us with and to the different stakeholder groups in within our school communities (e.g. dads, students, ELL families, and even home visits). Also, Edcamps from across the country are focusing on connecting educators to our contemporary issues in education.

Here are my thoughts on the 3Rs:

Renew: Take time to renew your connection with colleagues. Take time to connect with your PLN cohort. Go deeper with your conversations and commitments to education. Join in with a chat that you’ve been missing out on. This week I renewed my connection with #MSchat. It was great getting back into the learning cycle with these middle level educators. Student motivation was the chat focus. During the #StuVoice chat (with #PTchat) it was great to see a renewed understanding of the importance of empowering student voice. The chat and GHO allowed students (and adult learners) to share, provide insight, and offer feedback.

Relearn: It’s ok to say, “I didn’t know that”. It’s even ok to “revisit” and to “brush up” on something you’ve been familiar with for many years. For me I am relearning information about McREL’s Nine Essential Instructional Strategies. I know the impact they have on student achievement. I am finding that I can now go “deeper” with my learning and understanding. Ultimately this means that my students will also benefit from my re-learning opportunities. I am learning that each strategy can truly impact student and adult learning if you take the time to dig deeper into how you can apply each strategy in the classroom.

Rejoice: Celebrate with your educational colleagues. Share the exciting things that are taking place in your school and school community. We learn from each other and we can all grow by learning about our Best Practices! I am finding that with my Twitter and Voxer PLNs that I am able to rejoice more often. I learn from colleague celebrations. @posickj has taught me to make each day the best day of the week. @GenieneD has a unique way of sharing student stories so that we all learn from all types of scenarios. @JoyWright91 has shown me the many ways to celebrate the work of each person I come in contact with. This list could go on and on. So to my PLN --- Thank You for rejoicing in the great works of your students, colleagues, and friends.

I look forward to hearing your stories from this month where we focused on the “Connected Educator”.

It’s time to talk about “Hopes and Dreams”

Several of my recent Blog posts have referenced the six week book study that engulfed my summer professional development. Beyond the Book Sale was the centerpiece of the study, Voxer was the catalyst, and #PTcamp symbolized the leaders who joined my in this journey.

The Understanding

Along the way I learned of a celebration known at “Hopes and Dreams”. Fellow #PTcamp colleagues, Jim Detwiler (@JimDetwiler1) and Chad Caddell (@laughwithchad), introduced this concept to our book study PLN. Every student in your school has both hopes and dreams. Aristotle noted that, “Hope is a Walking Dream”. I learned that by tapping into the hopes and dreams of our students we can serve as the catalyst to set everything in motion for their hopes and dreams to become a reality. After multiple conversations with my #PTcamp PLN I learned that the key to unlocking the door know as communication is to simply ask the question, “What are your hopes and dreams for your son/daughter?”

 The Metamorphosis

From the first six weeks of the 2014-2015 school year I can identify three clear, vivid, and game changing parent conversations. I learned to open the conversation by asking them this “life changing” question.  One parent paused, reflected, then began explaining the desires he had for her son. She had hopes of him breaking past the barriers that were holding him back. It was evident that she was not anticipating this to be the first question that I posed to her.  Another parent began to tear up as she expressed the desire for her son to be able to tap into his full potential despite hurdles that are in his way. Finally, a guardian quietly explained that she wanted to remove all potential obstacles from the path of her son. All three sets of parents opened up and shared their hopes and dreams for their children. These three conversations were honest, from the heart, and eye opening.

The Future

These three conversations helped me understand the passion, drive, and commitment that parents have for their children. The conversations changed the way I begin my parent conversations. I’ll close with words from Henry David Thoreau explained, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.”

Now my challenge for you… Will you begin each parent conversation with, “What are your hopes and dreams for your children?”

Do you need to clean out the garage?

This past June I was working on one of my summer projects – cleaning out the garage! I put my plan in to action and began the task of cleaning out, organizing, scrubbing, and making piles of items to either discard or donate.  This project was long overdue. To help cheer me on, members of my #PTcamp PLN encouraged and checked in on my from time to time.  The task took much longer to complete that expected as I took my fair share of “bird walks” and sometimes stepped away from “garage detail” to attend to other projects and summer professional development.

The garage is now ready for our vehicles, the trash cans, organized storage, and a few new items that can now “fit into” the garage. What a great sense of accomplishment. I can now breathe a sigh of relief as I check this project off of my list.

This summer project has many similarities to our professional careers as educators. Are there things that we need to clean out, re-organize, or get rid of? Is there something new that we need to add to our “garage”? Let’s take a look at these four facets of the Garage Cleaning Experience:

Clean out: Take the time to see what you need and what you do not need. Sometimes we need to clear out the “dinosaur” facets of our pedagogy. Do we need to hang on to the “old” just for comfort sake? It’s is important to authentically evaluate what you truly need for today’s school. You need to make room for new things that will help you as you move along this “journey”. So, what do you need to clean out of your educational space?

Re-Organize: Take the time or streamline your desk, classroom, office space. Making your work space more efficient will help you expedite each project, activity, or assignment. This act of restructuring your work world will give you a greater sense of clarity. Do you need to reorganize?

Get Rid of…: What things do you need to eliminate from your work space? What things are collecting dust? What needs to go to make room for the new? If you haven’t used it in the past six months…get rid of it! You need to remove things that are cluttering your “Plate”. So, what needs to go?

What to add? In looking at your professional development, what do you need to add to your repertoire? In looking at Social Media, I would put the Voxer app at the top of the list.  What PD do you need to add this year? What books need to be added to your list? Take the time to consider what you need to include this year?

So the next time you need to clean out the garage, stain the deck, or take on a home repair project, think of the parallel this project has with our world of education. I look forward to hearing how your garage cleaning projects fair this fall. Take care!

Where everybody knows your name…

It’s all in a name.  Think about it… How do you feel when some calls you by “name”? Be it a colleague, neighbor, or a salesperson. The fact that they know your name or can recall your name means something to you! Name recognition and name identity are both significantly important. Our name clearly defines who we are.

Dale Carnegie tells us that, “A person’s name is to him or her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  In addition, Howard and Kerin (2011) in their article the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology explain, “Using a person’s name acknowledged their identity, massages their Ego, and hence boosting their self-esteem”.

I often think of the famous theme song to the popular television show “Cheers”. The lyrics are so true. We want to be around those who know us, care about us, respect us, and who know our name.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,

and they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see,

our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows

Your name.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

In our schools we have the opportunity and “power” to positively impact not only our students, but colleagues, parents, and community members when we not only call them by their name (and when we “remember” their name). Personally, I make it my goal to learn the name of each student in my school.

As you begin the new school year, I challenge to learn the names of as many students and parents that you can. It will change your school!

Here’s my challenge:

Commit to learning eight to ten new student names a week

Commit to learning three to five new parent names a week

I would love to hear how this challenge impacts your school year!

Here’s a video clip to the Cheers intro Theme Song.  Enjoy!

I’m so glad we had this time together

Just six weeks ago I began a professional development journey that changed the trajectory of my educational career. I will forever look at my role as a lead learner in a different light.

In June Joe Mazza posted that he was inviting 100 educators, parents, and community members to join him in #PTcamp – a six week long book study focusing on parent engagement. Beyond the Bake Sale by Henderson and Mapp was the centerpiece of our study. We used several different Social Media tools as part of our book study.

This summer I learned that:

1.      “Bird Walks” are fine and dandy: Sometimes it is important to bring in a different perspective to a conversation. That you can talk “off topic” or introduce a new concept or strategy to discuss or analyze (and it is “ok”). Some of your best work will come from a diverted conversation, idea, or proposal. Allow the conversation to spin 180 degrees. Then check out this “new” perspective. You might just surprise yourself.

2.      That you can go “off grid”:  To step away from the daily work of being an educator. Then return refreshed, renewed, and ready to join in on the conversation, work, or initiative that is “at hand”. Take time to stop and smell the roses along this journey. There are times when you need to step away from your work. Allow yourself this time (and not feel guilty about it).

3.      Laughter is the best medicine: Learning to laugh with others, at yourself, and at life in general is good for the soul. Take time to step away from the hustle and bustle of your work and enjoy your family and friends. Don’t take life and your work so seriously. You can even create catchy jingle to entertain your friends.

4.      Bigger can mean better: Where two or more (or 100) are gathered you can quickly learn from this incredible talent pool. The PTcamp cohort provided me with a diverse array of individuals all focused on improving education, one person at a time. Working with a larger group allows for more ideas to be shared.  You can gather perspectives that offer insight from a different angle.

5.      There’s more to technology than just “technology”: We must look beyond the initial purpose of the 21^st century tools that we use each day. They can have an even greater impact on our lives that we first realized. Through Voxer, we were able to create professional bonds, friendships, and a cohort that will continue long after our camp ends today. This is just the beginning of our cohort’s mission.

6.      Parent Development is a must: It is our responsibility to meet parents “where they are” and help them along their journey as team members in the educational process. Think about it, education today is vastly different from 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. Parents need different types of PD. Find out the things they need, and begin the process of parent empowerment. You can also learn quite a bit as you get to know the parents of our students.

The Carol Burnett Show is famous for the “closing” or sign off song.  Here are the celebrated lyrics…

“I'm so glad we had this time together

Just to have a laugh or sing a song

Seems we just get started and before you know it

Comes the time we have to say, "So long."

The lyrics encapsulate my feelings for the depth of knowledge that I gained from my #PTcamp cohort. I want to dedicate this blog post and the multitude of things that I learned to this incredibly talented, knowledgeable, selfless group of dedicated ensemble of forward thinking educators.

I must thank the founders of ApprenNet.com and Voxer for proving these two tools/resources for our cohort to use during this six week voyage. Your two organizations allowed our PTcamp to grow exponentially.

Feel free to share your thoughts on what you've learned this summer!

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The Vital Importance of Empowering “Parent Voice”

In the school setting we strive to engage students and teachers in the collaborative learning process. Teacher voice is imperative as they play an integral role in the overall educational experience. Students, as the primary learners in our schools, need “voice” and “choice” as part of the comprehensive learning environment. So parents, who are just as important to the educational formula, are sometimes out of the equation. Sitting on the sidelines, parents can, at times feel isolated and ostracized from the very experience that should serve as an all-inclusive organizational structure. You can guarantee parent engagement and build capacity by sharing the decision making process with your parents. Engage, encourage, and entrust your parents and the rest will become history.

In Beyond the Bake Sale, Henderson and Mapp explain the importance of “Sharing Power” in Chapter 8. They identified three practices that will help schools further engage and involve parents in the educational process:

1.      Provide workable mechanisms for teachers, parents, and students to voice their ideas and concerns, and to take part in decision making.

2.       Build a broad base of involvement by increasing families’ political knowledge and skills, and their connections to other parents and people in the community.

3.       Strengthen families’ links with community organizations and resources.

In reflecting on the practices in my own school, I can share some of the things we are doing to include parents in the voice, sharing, decision making process.

All-School Leadership Team: Working to include parents on this team will offer greater “voice” to your parent community. This team or committee is the group that makes the “BIG” decisions for the building. We call this our BIG Committee (Building Improvement Group).  We meet monthly. Parents share their insight, perspectives, and knowledge on the multiple topics that we discuss. Building-wide decisions are affirmed with this BIG Committee. We set building policy, so it is vital that we have parent voice. In preparing for the upcoming school year this committee set building policy for dress code, BYOD, and back packs. This committee is also responsible for finalizing our School Improvement Plan.

School Improvement Plan: Engage parents as part of this team. Allow parents to help you shape your school’s improvement plan. Their voice is important and they can share another necessary perspective as you discuss and develop the school’s plan.

Celebrations: Parents want to be included in this facet of the school day too. Enlist parent leaders to plan, organize, and facilitate school-wide student celebrations in academics, achievement, and behavior.

Parent Panels: This forum is an excellent way for your parents to share their perspective, roles, and involvement with school visitors. When you have visiting groups, work to host a Parent Panel. This way your parents can provide the parent perspective. We use this format when schools come to visit and during our Summer Survival Series.

PTO/PTA: Use this important parent committee to offer and empower parent voice in a variety of decision making opportunities. Our PTO is responsible for all fund raising and teacher grants. They also focus on technology support. They play a major role in improving, implementing, and meeting the technology needs of both students and staff. Do not take this facet of parent leadership lightly. This is an instrumental need within each school setting.

Parent Development: Engage your parent leaders in providing parent professional development throughout the school year. Every parent has potential to serve the school in one facet or another. Seek out parents to serve in this capacity. Our Parent Involvement Team coordinates our Parenting 101, Summer Survival Series, Round-Table Discussions, Book Discussions, and parent volunteerism.

Within the above identified structures, parents can serve as leaders, learners, and liaisons.  This is important as this allows for greater parent participation and involvement in our schools. The examples I noted are merely the tip of the proverbial “iceberg”. There are so many more ways in which parents can become part of the shared leadership in our schools today. I look forward to learning how you are increasing parent engagement in your school.

As I continue this journey, I want to thank Joe Mazza and my Beyond the Bake Sale Voxer book study cohort for their support, encouragement, and teaching me new ways to engage my parents at Francis Howell Middle!

If you are interested in empowering your parents or looking for ways to improve school to home relationships, I strongly urge you to read Henderson and Mapp’s Beyond the Bake Sale then you can empower your school to move “beyond” where you are today!