A Challenge to Start This School Year Different

It's that time of year when I really miss teaching - the start of the new school year where everything is fresh, exciting and new. There is so much hope for what lies ahead.  I remember going in with all these great ideas and new things I was going to try and being filled with the thought that I was really going to be better this year and my students were going to have amazing experiences that would just spark their learning.

I miss that.

Some years it really did pan out the way I hoped. Most years, there were ups and downs. But - every year was a new challenge and every year I tried to do things differently.  Granted, I was usually teaching the same subjects, but that didn't mean I had to do the same thing, did it? I certainly didn't believe so. Sure, I may have used some of the same projects or activities, but I had different students, I had learned some new things over the summer, and I didn't want to be bored repeating what I had done before.

The same old thing. Doesn't that just sound boring?

I know you teachers out there know some folks, if not yourself, who basically open up their file drawer and pull out the lesson plans from last year and just start all over again. Another year, just a repeat from last year. (Which I think explains some of the teacher burnout we might see or the stagnant student achievement). I personally, even in my current position, which is supporting teachers technology integration, don't do the same thing every year or even every day. Change is great and makes life more exciting, so why not embrace that in the classroom?

Here's my challenge to teachers. Try to change at least one thing you do in your classroom this year, change one thing about your instructional strategies, and change one thing in the resources you use.  So - three things.  Clearly, changing more is great, but very few people like change, so starting small is better. And these are not changes that might be hoisted upon you from the district or standards - those are often out of your control.  The change I am talking about is a conscious effort to change yourself and your practice to create an engaging environment and help your students learn.

1) Changing one thing in your classroom.  This might mean the way you arrange your desks, how you decide on and enforce the classroom rules, or where you put your desk. For example, if you are a by the row kind of teacher, try arranging the room in small groups instead. Classroom environment goes a long way in creating a place that is exciting to learn in.

2) Changing on thing about your instructional strategies. This might mean changing from lectures to inquiry once a week. It might mean focusing on improving your questioning skills so you are asking rather than telling.  It might mean incorporating small group or pair collaboration. It might mean increasing your wait time. There are little things you can do that will make the learning in your classroom more engaging and provide an avenue for students to have a voice in their own learning.

3) Changing one thing about the resources you use. This can mean many things - for instance, trying to use hands-on manipulatives or using a visual demonstration of a concept rather than reading a definition.  What I would really like to encourage is adding some type of technology into your resource choices, whether this means starting a class blog, or using some videos to spark learning or questions (great idea to launch lessons), or using the computers with some relevant software for what you teach. Introduce something that is going to spark the students interest (so not just a replacement for a drill-and-kill worksheet) and get them thinking in new and interesting ways. You want them involved in their learning, not passive receivers of information.

Not a lot to ask - change 3 things about yourself and what you do.  I believe it will give you new hope and excitement about the coming school year. And it will definitely benefit your students - who wouldn't want to come to an open, inviting classroom where thoughts matter and learning is about exploring and engagement? School should be fun - for you and your students. Not the same old boring thing AGAIN.

Planning for Hybrid PD (Part 5) - Make the PD Learning Their Own

This week I meet for the fifth face-to-face with my two Sketchpad cohorts. It's only been 3 weeks since our last face-to-face meeting and it is also the beginning of their spring break, so planning for this week has been interesting, since I know their minds will be elsewhere!

As I posted in last weeks online community development posting (part 4), the teachers have really begun to think about student needs as they consider using Sketchpad and the Common Core Standards, so I want to continue to foster that in our face-to-face meeting.  As I did last time, I had participants make suggestions of content/topics they wished to focus on in this weeks face-to-face. Our content focus, based on their input, will be on learning some more about the multiple-representational capabilities of Sketchpad as well as some of the animation capabilities.

In addition to teacher input as I planned, I also really wanted to think about addressing student needs, since in their online discussion forums participants are definitely considering their students as they plan and think about appropriate lessons utilizing the technology. What I think is a very important capability of Sketchpad is the ability to modify a sketch to address various student needs, and so that is my focus as well for this face-to-face. The lesson for this part 5 of the face-to-face - help teachers make connections to their students and provide them with suggestions and the ability to modify what they are learning in the PD to fit their students needs.  Connect to their students and encourage them to make the PD activities their own.

Brief summary of previous Lessons Learned when planning for PD (complete description of each can be found in the links below to full postings):

Lesson One: Begin professional development experiences assessing background skills of participants.

Lesson Two:  Work on building a sense of community and support among participants, where they feel comfortable sharing their struggles, their experiences, their ideas and expertise.

Lesson Three:  Make the activities and learning relevant to the teachers every-day teaching practice.

Lesson Four: Provide teachers with a choice in what the professional development focuses on.

 And this weeks lesson:

Lesson Five: Provide suggestions and examples of taking the activities/content of the professional development and modifying (adding to, deleting from, etc.) to meet the diverse needs of their students. By helping teachers consider how the activities might need to be altered to differentiate for students, you provide them with power and control over what they are learning, and help them make the PD learning and content their own.

I do think these five lessons are sequential. This is the power of a long-term, hybrid PD experience because it allows for you to work through building confidence, community, relevancy, ownership, and reflective practice that is not usually possible in shorter term PD.
 
For the complete Hybrid PD series, click on the links below:

Planning for Hybrid PD - Comfort Level and Confidence First
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 1 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 2
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt 1 
Planning for Hybrid PD (part 2) - Develop Community and Supportive Environment 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD (Part 2) - F2F Feedback 
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt. 2 
Planning for Hybrid PD (part 3) - Make it Relevant 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD (part 3) - F2F feedback 
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt. 3 
Planning for Hybrid PD (part 4) - Teacher Input  
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD (part 4) - F2F Feedback 
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt. 4 - Student Focused!

Take some time to remember a teacher

In my perusal of Twitter postings this morning, I ran across this link "What's the Most Important Lesson You Learned from a Teacher?" Touching story about remembering teachers who have impacted your life.  If you haven't done it, with Facebook and Twitter and other social media avenues, it's easy to find that teacher (or teachers) who made some impact in your life.  Admit it - there's at least one - so go find them and thank them. With the constant bashing teachers get for the failed education system, it would be nice to get some positive feedback that yes, indeed, they did make a difference in at least one of the hundreds of lives they have touched.  We know it's more - but they they usually never even hear about one.  So...reach out.  Let a teacher know that in fact, because of their hard work and dedication and caring, you are who you are.

I did this last year - found Senora Frances Pettigrew from McLean High School and let her know that in large part, because of her, I became a teacher.  And it wasn't the Spanish, since I became a math teacher - it was the humor, the dedication and caring she showed me as a student, and the way she taught - allowing her students to express their thinking, creativity, and respect. She put up with me for three years, but her influence I hope helped make me a dedicated, caring teacher who showed respect for my students and taught math with creativity and humor.