Change Your Mind

On Tuesday evening, I got to witness something so well connected to the things I have been reading and writing about, that it was almost too good. At the varsity boys basketball game at North Lenoir, I watched a quick play under the basket that led to a layup from BJ Corbitt. It wasn't showy or set up. Just a short pass and a basket without any cheer. But I noticed that the points never went on the scoreboard. I glanced at the scorer's table to see if there was an issue with the board and noticed our bookkeeper, Andrew Fraboni, visibly upset. He also saw the layup from BJ, but the home scorekeeper hadn't and despite his pleading and the acknowledgment of some people behind them, she refused to change her mind and add the two points. She stood her ground on the belief that she was right.

A few weeks ago I wrote about truth and then about lies. We like to look at those things as two very distinct things. But in the case of the layup, the scorekeeper for North Lenoir did not believe that she was telling a lie at all. But if you saw the play, you knew that she couldn't be telling the truth. Science says that what we saw is actually pretty normal. It is very hard for us to change our minds. It's very simple and rational to think that we should just be able to look at evidence or information and determine if we are right or wrong in our thinking. But humans just don't do that and if you've ever had a political conversation at a family gathering, you know what I'm talking about. Our brains can look at information and pick out what supports our ideas and literally ignore any information that opposes it. Evolution has programmed us to not change our minds because it impacts our confidence and ego and overall makes us weaker psychologically. Being wrong makes you a loser. Our opinions create social circles that have developed a consensus and disrupting that can be very bad for us.

We are not always this way. Apparently, you become more rigid in your thinking as you age. By your thirties, you have developed a taste for foods and music and all sorts of things that you believe are "good" or "bad." After that age, not much changes. Younger minds are still developing and are much more open to information. Also as we age, we adopt a false sense of knowledge based on the people that we know and trust. For example, we don't need to know how our car engine really works if we know a mechanic. But I'll bet most people have an opinion on the dependability of a major car brand that we think is right. We do the same things with our opinions on all sorts of things from politics and climate change to consumer goods.

So here is what we know about truth, lies and changing our minds:

• Truths can collide and two people can be right and against one another.
• We all lie (usually daily) to promote our interests and teenagers lie more than anyone.
• Changing your mind about a truth can be really difficult, even if you have a mountain of evidence in front of you.

Undoubtedly, this semester, we have all encountered a situation where our truth conflicted with someone else's truth. (I know my child vs I know what I saw) We've probably also told a few lies to promote our advantage over a situation in our classroom or program. (Yes, I looked for your assignment and I didn't find it) Science says that we can't stop either of those. But what we can do is focus on changing our minds. Being rigid in your thoughts is known as a fixed mindset in the educational world. This is something that we do our best to teach students not to do, but we should practice this one as well. At the end of the semester, you have an opportunity to sit back and be objective about your teaching, your content, your expectations and all sorts of other things. But when you do, you can either look for only evidence that supports what you want to see or you can consider your class from all points of view. It's harder to do, but it also keeps your brain young. Before we start a new semester in January, try making a list of your practices. Consider those from the point of view of colleagues, students, parents, administrators or counselors. Do they still make sense? If not, try to change your mind. I promise we won't call you a loser, but we just might call you a better teacher.

Dare

Dare Johnson was a student in my American History class during my third year teaching. Dare was a friendly girl and one that I knew outside of school. As her youth pastor, I had gotten to know her well. Dare was not athletic and not a top academic student, but was one that everyone seemed to like because she liked everybody. Born to hippie parents, her first name was Sunny. And while she went by Dare, I always thought that Sunny fit her personality better. Her first car even had two sunroofs so that "she could see more of the sun." 

One week, I had been on her to complete some makeup work that was hurting her grade pretty bad. Dare was that kind of student. I was out of work for some reason one day and received a call that  Dare had passed away in a car accident that afternoon. That evening I called several members of our class and of the youth group. I remember sitting up that evening writing out what I thought I should say to our first-period class the next morning. I got to school extra early to talk with our counselor and went over what I was going to tell the class. When I entered the room, the very first thing I saw was a stack of papers and a workbook laying on my back table with a note from Dare. She had left me all of her makeup work. 

When class started that morning, my notes were quickly forgotten. I stood in front of the class and cried. I laughed and cried as I told them all about a ski trip that we had taken that winter with our youth group and how miserably bad Dare had been as a skier. Her fluorescent coat could be seen rolling down the slopes all day. All I knew to do was to celebrate what we loved about her and to show my students that it was ok to be upset about our loss. 

Since that year, I have unfortunately lost several students and it never gets any easier to deal with. As an educator, you sometimes invest more time into some students than you do your own families. Those that usually get the most time are the ones with the biggest needs. They have academic or social behaviors that require special attention. When those students are lost, you often feel it on a personal level. 

The loss of TyMear Dodd rang true on all of these feelings. TyMear was not a student that we will remember for his academic or athletic contributions, but he is someone that his teachers knew for his ability to make things right when he had done wrong and how he checked in on those that he cared for often. He was one of the students that needed extra time and attention, but in giving that, you somehow understood him better. And if there is anything that we all should learn from him, it's that we do care for one another. None of us is a perfect member of our school community, but our attachments to one another are not based on our shortcomings. Instead, we are linked by what we give to each other. 

Lie to Me

I like to joke to people that I feel like I am the most lied to person on Earth. Between working with teenagers that are in trouble or seeking to convince me to give them something, parents seeking to get their way and employees seeking to gain advantage or get out of something, I know that not everyone tells me the truth on a day-to-day basis. Last week's blog about truth, led me to dig a little deeper into why we lie. (For more on this, read here.)

It turns out that everyone lies and most of us tell some kind of lie on a daily basis. Most lies are harmless. We lie to gain an advantage or make ourselves seem better than we are. Sometimes we even lie to protect someone's feelings. On the other hand, social scientists believe that most people tell at least one major lie in their lifetime. They use falsifying a college application or an affair as examples. As it turns out, humans learned to lie about as soon as we learned to talk. Telling a lie to gain food or a mate was just easier than hitting a competitor over the head with a rock.


How, when and why most of us lie depends on our age and our intelligence. Adolescents tend to lie much more than younger or older adults. As we get older, our ability to lie evolves and we get much better at it. There are even studies that show dramatic increases in neural fibers in the brain among good liars as compared to those that do not lie as much. Other studies strongly tie advanced abilities to lie to advanced cognitive function and intelligence. On the other hand, tests on children with autism show a very low ability to lie.

So if we know that everyone lies to us and that they do it to deceive us to gain an advantage, why do we believe it? You would think that as humans we would have evolved to detect a lie. Instead, we have done the exact opposite. Because we are creatures that greatly depend on a social group, our need to believe and trust those in our group outweighs the harm done by most lies. Therefore, humans have continued to be gullible. The onset of social media has only multiplied our lies and our acceptance of them. As we use social media to spread lies about ourselves we have also begun to intentionally believe lies that confirm our opinions of the world around us. 

So what does all of this mean for us as educators? As we spend our days with the "Keep It 100%" generation, we probably need to keep in mind that they are doing everything but that. We need to know that even when we present them with evidence against a lie, they will likely dismiss that evidence. Teenagers lie to us and each other daily to improve their self-image, make excuses for their shortcomings or just to get what they want. If they are successful in fooling us, it's not our fault and may even show signs of intelligence. But also remember that all of us believe that we are good at lying and that when we do perceive that someone is not being truthful, we should trust that instinct because it is strong enough to defy our genetics. 

So as the guy that is lied to more than anyone in the world, I say "Lie to me!" I may or may not believe you, but I do have a pretty good formative assessment on how smart you are.

Truth

Every now and then I get to read a book for fun. My favorite author is Malcolm Gladwell (I'm a dork, I don't read fiction) and he recently released a new book, Talking to Strangers. If you're familiar with Gladwell, you probably recognize some of his ideas in my blog posts. The new book takes a look at several current events and why we have misinterpreted the people within them. The premise of this is that while our brains want to believe that everyone is telling the truth, that doesn't always happen, at least in our interpretation of what truth is. Truth from my perspective may be quite different than someone else's truth based on our background and experiences. When we encounter events where truths are mismatched, bad things can sometimes happen. The book uses examples where this has happened time and time again in major events covered in the media. The point that Gladwell is trying to make in these examples is that while we blame individuals when our truths mismatch, we probably should be looking at the backgrounds and systems that cause that mismatch instead.

I enjoyed the book and finished it last weekend. Since then I have been hit with examples all week where I saw this to be the case. In a principal's meeting, we discussed behaviors that lead to suspensions and how those suspensions can be disproportionally assigned based on race and gender. In the cases of the suspensions for things like disrespect insubordination and language, my gut told me to look at the individuals. Who are these kids getting suspended and who are the teachers and administrators dealing with them? Instead, if I want to fix it, I should have been looking at the systems. Systems of code-switching at-home behaviors that are unacceptable to the cultural expectations of the school. These are mismatched.

While that was validation enough for me to start thinking differently, the school shooting at Santa Clarita, California yesterday hit me with the mismatch again. Each time this happens, we look to the individuals. What motivated a 16-year-old to kill others and himself on his birthday? What failure in school safety protocols allowed this to happen? These questions soon migrate back to the gun questions that Americans grapple with. Rights to own guns versus access to guns by those that should not have them for malicious reasons. We want to blame individuals and we should be looking at systems. Each side has a truth in their own right and it is nearly impossible for someone to argue you out of your truth. But if we want to be better, if we want to keep kids from dying from gun violence and we want to make schools safe, we are going to have to take a hard look at our systems that mismatch. Neither side can get all of their truth. We are going to have to consider each other, our backgrounds and experiences and decide what we can give up to make things better. Otherwise, no one wins.

While we may not be able to tackle the problem of school shootings here at our school, we can create an environment that works best for teachers and students. We have to consider how our experiences and expectations mismatch from those around us, and we have to teach kids to do the same. We need to see how our expectations impact our rules, consequences, and systems in classrooms, ball fields, and hallways and understand where that goes awry for some so that we can help them. The goal of schools is to educate people to make them better and hopefully, that's one truth we can all accept.

Parents (It's Not What You Think)

This week I've talked a lot about parent contact and making sure that parents are informed about what is going on with their children. As high school educators, we often look to defer some of that communication under the guise that our students are young adults and should learn to start taking some responsibility for themselves. When you pause to think about that, you can quickly see how strange our culture is in regards to teenagers. Consider the following:

At 14 they can legally work (many of ours do earlier than that)
At 16 they can drive
At 18 they can vote and in some cases, hold an elected office
At 18 they can live emancipated
At 18 they can serve in the Armed Forces
At 18 they can gamble in a casino
At 18 they can establish credit, take out a loan and have credit cards
At 18 they are legally adults
Also at 18, they still need permission to go to the bathroom in school.
At 26 they can still be on their parents' insurance

Being a teenager in America comes with a strange set of rights of passage that are often contradictory. One minute, a teenager can be treated like a responsible adult and the next, they are treated like a child. No doubt, this dichotomy of expectations can create confusing situations for a student. But just take a minute to consider things outside of our culture.

This week I reconnected and had some time to talk to a 2017 graduate. He is Hispanic and we spent some time discussing what schools, communities, and families can do to help more of our Hispanic students get into college after high school. He took a minute to frame Hispanic culture, especially the culture of immigrant families whose parents did not grow up in the United States. He remembered his mother being supportive of his schooling but never involved. He was smart enough to know that other students in his classes had parents that spoke with teachers and counselors and helped advocate for their child being in the right classes. At about 14, he knew that he was considered old enough to handle those things for himself.  I asked him if we should do more to reach out to Hispanic parents. While I expected a simple "yes," his response shocked me. He told me that Hispanic parents don't know how to navigate that relationship because they didn't have it themselves and that if we wanted to help Hispanic students, we were going to have to teach their parents how.

It is easy for us to write off disengaged parents as people that do not care. However, by doing that, we assume that all parents are like us or grew up like us. That is far from the truth in most schools today. Helping students has to be an academic, social and cultural approach in diverse schools. Understanding this means that not all of our parent contact can be due to negative behaviors or bad grades. Most should be around supporting students and giving parents options and choices on how they can help, not just problems that they may not see as ones they should fix. We have to teach them how to help sometimes. Luckily, teaching is what we are good at.

Think Positive

This week I had several ideas about what I should write about in my blog. For the life of me, I can't recall them this morning because I have been wrapped up with the fact that our legislature hasn't passed a budget and that as of last night, they went home. It makes our jobs harder and literally takes money out of our pockets and it infuriates me. But I'm letting myself focus on the negative.

October is traditionally a tough time to teach. The newness of school has worn off and things got difficult. Students get too comfortable and their bad habits become irritating. If you didn't hold out on expectations or communication like you should have, October hit you hard. It happens every year. But today starts November and all of a sudden, the end of the semester seems like it is just around the corner. Teachers start talking about getting ready for exams and before you know it, you will be sitting in test training getting ready for the end of another semester.

So with the start of a new month, it's time to think positive. It's time for encouragement for students to give their best to finish better than they started. It's time to support colleagues as they push hard to be leaders in our building. It's time to check in on those beginning teachers because we all remember what they were going through. It's time to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work to finish. We have to think positive and let the negativity of October go. We owe it to our students and ourselves. Happy November everyone...let's do this!

Five Things I Learned in Peru

My trip to Peru last week as a study abroad experience with ECU was truly an experience that I will never forget. I learned so much about the culture and the people there and the struggles that people experience in trying to keep up with a modern world, especially in the field of education. So many of you have asked me about my trip, and I seem to think of something new each time I answer the question. So here's a list of five things I learned in Peru:

1. Poverty is relative to where you are. So many people in the cities of Lima and Cusco live in conditions that we could never imagine for ourselves. Homes without heat or air conditioning are the norm for middle-class families with good jobs. Sanitation is an ongoing problem everywhere except in tourist areas. Lower class families have "apartments" with tin roofs, missing windows and no running water. And this is in the cities, where it is best. Public school teachers there earn about $600 (US money) a month and that is double the minimum wage. A family of four can probably survive the month on that.

2. They have common problems with us. In regards to the advancement of education, they seem to share common problems with the southeastern United States. While we know where jobs and the future of employment are headed, we also find ourselves holding on to many outdated things in our schools as a last-ditch effort of preserving our way of life. In Cusco, schools are forced to teach the indigenous language of Quechua.  If you speak to the students, they are eager to learn English and other world languages (and most speak at least two languages) and want to study outside of Peru to experience the world around them. Meanwhile, the ones that control schools and curriculums speak one language and have a more narrow view of what students should learn. We are probably guilty of the same.

3. We could learn some things from their university systems. Peru offers free college to students after high school. (They finish high school at 16 there). While this offer is limited to a certain number of students with high enough test scores, it does provide access to thousands of students each year. There are private college offerings as well. Some families that can afford private schools prefer it because they feel that the school is superior to the public option, however in most cases, the public college is the best educational option. What I found unique was that the colleges only offer degree programs that relate to jobs that are central to the economy of Peru. There are no communications degrees or liberal arts programs that are not connected with an industry. Simply put, college education equals jobs.


4. Children can learn whatever you teach them. One of the most impactful experiences I had was visiting an after school program for young children whose families work on the streets. It provides them with a place to be and someone to feed them and help with homework. In this place, there is no running water, so when it was time to clean up from snack time, I saw children walk to a five-gallon bucket and wash their dishes and then rinse them in a second bucket. Each child did this without being prompted and then put their dishes away. Also, schools in Peru are mandated to have one psychologist for student mental health needs for every 500 students. This is dramatically more than what we provide for students and you can tell it in how students interact. While their school curriculums may be behind ours, they are beating us in this arena, and it's our own fault.

5. Experiences change people. While I saw this trip as a unique opportunity to see the world as a part of my university experience, it quickly became something that changed my outlook on the world and my profession. A person's experiences change how they view the world around them and the opinions they have about others. As educators of one of the richest and most advanced nations that has ever existed, we owe it to our students to provide them with experiences that cause them to think globally and act locally. While we may not be able to take students on foreign excursions, we can expose them to the world around us in so many ways. We need to do more of that.

World's Best Driver

On Tuesday evening I was leaving my daughter's tennis match and headed to get food before going home. I got behind a slow driver that was obviously confused about where they were going and it was annoying. I followed them all the way to the drive-through, where this must have been their first experience with a drive-through line as well. I tried to get over it and headed home, only to get behind another car that refused to go faster than 15 mph BELOW the speed limit. I was stuck behind them almost the whole way home and I was furious. Bad driving has always been a pet peeve of mine. So much, that I would work driving questions into my history tests as a teacher.

That evening I read about something called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Put simply, it's the psychological belief that you know something that you really don't. Because of this feeling, we trick ourselves into thinking that we are above average or superior at something, when in fact we are just average, or maybe worse. When I read this, I realized that my judgment of everyone's driving is based on the fact that I believe myself to be the world's best driver. Everyone slower than me is an idiot with nowhere to be and everyone faster than me is reckless. Apparently, I'm not alone in this belief though. It's actually VERY common and can be seen in everything around us, especially our jobs.

Studies show that close to 50% of people believe that they are greatly superior in their jobs when compared to their peers. It doesn't take a math teacher to know that everyone can't be better than most. Most people have to be average. That's how statistics work. The crazy thing is that when we study this effect more deeply, we find that often the people that do the worst at a job, tend to overrank themselves the most. Inversely, the people that are actually the best, tend to under rank their abilities. This is true in assessing leadership, raising kids, constructing an argument and lots of other things, including driving. People with a little bit of knowledge tend to think that they know a lot more than they actually do.

So how good are you as a teacher? What are you really good at and what do you just think you're good at? Chances are, you don't actually know unless you're willing to look at data that shows you. And you can't pick and choose which data to accept and which to ignore. Great teachers are more likely to be humble and constantly seeking to do better and learn more. Average or below-average teachers, just proclaim that they have this teaching thing down. That's an important thing to know when we are talking about personal growth related to your strengths and weaknesses. We can all be better than we are if we are willing to accept a growth mindset and let go of the voice in our brains that fills us with confidence.

Maybe I'm not that great of a driver after all.

Trust Me

A recent report published by the Pew Research Center examined the public perception of trust in people that hold various positions of power. (You can read the Washington Post article on it here) The report found that the public has lost trust in many traditional positions of power. Despite that, one position did surprisingly well in the survey. School principals rated consistently high or highest in all parts of the survey. That's interesting, but I don't think that the story should stop there. School principals are extensions of the school. Nothing that I say would matter, if the teachers and other adults in the building did not validate those words through actions. I can say that we want the best for your child, but it is usually others in the school that perform the tasks of teaching, caring, feeding, clothing and all of the many other aspects expected of educators today for students.

In a world that seems more divided and jaded than ever, the public seems to have a renewed trust in the adults that their children spend the most time with. This is exactly why we have to continue communicating with families, no matter how hard it is to fit that into our schedules. It is easy to be anxious or nervous about calling home, with thoughts of what may happen on the other end of the line. And while every experience may not be a great one, that shouldn't stop the important work of talking to families about their child's progress in school. This has been something that I've tried to push for a few years now, and since then, I've had numerous teachers who either did or did not receive information from their own child's school tell me how important they realized communication was as a parent.

People believe what I say, because of what you do. My words without your actions would lead to distrust. This survey simply validates the work that our school and so many others are doing to include families in the education of their children, rather than it being our responsibility alone. So trust me, your efforts matter.

Teams

I recently read that basketball was the sport where teamwork and coaching mattered least, and individual talent mattered most. The argument was that while a football or soccer team of average players can overcome a team of less than average players with one star, a basketball team with one star can often do very well. I talked with Coach Edwards about this and he quickly agreed, especially in today's NBA. He talked about how NBA players often get confused when they play international teams because the international teams still utilize a more teamwork-styled play.

Despite the fact that a star can make a difference, it's still very important that the star be with the right team. Victor Oladipo is a great example. While with the Magic, he averaged between 13 to 17 points per game over three years. He then goes to the Thunder for one year and averages just under 16 points per game. But when he moves to the Pacers, he finds the right fit on the right team and the same player now averages 23 points per game. That's a huge difference. Being on the right team has been studied quite a bit in the working world as well. One study showed that surgeons perform much better at one hospital over another despite their years of experience. The same can be said of pilots. A study found that 75% of airplane crashes happen when the pilot is put with a new crew. Even sleep-deprived flight crews and pilots dramatically outperform crews that do not usually work together.

So with all that this tells us, why do we focus on individual success and improvement? Doing that seems a little counter-productive. If we take lessons from the research, we should probably be focusing on how well our teams work together. Everything shows that this leads to individual improvement of all of the team members and wins for the group as a whole. This concept in education probably isn't that strange for elementary or middle school teachers. But the higher up in grade levels you go, the more you start to see teachers focus more on what is going on in their own rooms. But when you do see high school teachers that reach beyond their rooms to build a functioning team, great things tend to happen. So the next time you are sitting at a department meeting, ask yourself what all you are doing to build your team. Chances are, it's the single most important thing that you can
do to improve your own performance.

Disagreeable

When is it ok to disagree with your boss? It's a strange question and probably has more to do with the relationship you have with your boss and the culture of the organization than it does with the reason for disagreement. While this question usually brings about the idea of a confrontational or uncomfortable meeting, employees also do this in many other ways. Perhaps the most prevalent method is being passive-aggressive. We've all done it. We find ourselves putting off a task or doing a particularly bad job at something that we didn't agree with doing in the first place. We all have to admit that we have probably been guilty of that at some point and getting called on it is never fun.

But aside from being passive-aggressive, there are constructive ways to disagree with the boss of your organization in general that can lead to greater productivity. Most organizations fall under one of two categories. They can either be relational-oriented organizations that care most about the people or they can be task-oriented organizations that care most about getting stuff done. Despite the fact that they may not fit in, having people that are the opposite of the culture can be pretty important. Having leaders that are opposite of the organization culture can produce huge results. The problem is, we don't usually like those people. The principal that only cares about test scores would be hated by the teachers that work hard to build relationships. Likewise, the principal that worked hard to love and care for everyone, may not get good results for the school or value the teachers that do
. Every organization needs balance.

This week we will elect our School Improvement Team that will help guide our decisions for the next two years. I always like it when there are one or two people on that team that have the guts to question decisions and make us think about why we do the things that we do. I don't always agree, but I enjoy having to think about whether the decision is worth defending.

I encourage you to think about your classrooms in the same way. If you're getting pushback on an assignment or a practice, think about why we do it. If your only defense is, "because I said so" or "because I'm in charge," you might want to think about the practice a bit deeper. Sometimes having that misfit can make you improve in ways that you didn't quite understand before.

C.B. Aycock, Moral Licensing and You

This week our football team played C.B. Aycock High School. If that name doesn't ring a bell for you, then I'll give you a short history lesson. Charles B. Aycock was governor of North Carolina from 1901-1905 and is largely regarded as North Carolina's "Education Governor." As a former teacher and superintendent of Wayne County Schools, Aycock took North Carolina from one of the worst states in the nation in regard to schools, to one of the best in the South. During his four years, NC constructed 690 new schoolhouses and increased state spending on public schools by 1200%. Today, elementary students throughout eastern North Carolina visit his birthplace in Wayne County and glamourize his contribution to our state.

But there's another side to the story. Aycock was also a key player in what would become a systematic political regime that sought to restore white supremacy to politics and life in North Carolina. Aycock and others in the Democratic Party openly used race-baiting and overt calls for segregation to change the nature of state politics. Before his rise to power, there were 126,000 black North Carolinians registered to vote in 1896. By 1902, there were only 6,100 due to things like literacy tests and violent intimidation that were openly designed to restrict blacks from voting and holding office. Aycock helped start a political machine designed to "keep blacks in their place" for the next 30 years.

So why don't we remember him as a racist? It might have something to do with moral licensing. Moral licensing is a psychology term that simply refers to allowing yourself to do something wrong or immoral because you have just accomplished something good. Your self-confidence for your good deed gives you permission for the bad deed. Aycock's good deed of improving schools (even black schools) was a tremendously good deed, especially for its time. North Carolina went from one of the very worst states for education to a very progressive state that would lead the way for reforms for almost all southern states. In turn, we appreciate the good that he accomplished and tend to ignore the bad. But if you were a black voter in the early 1900s, you probably don't remember him for the good that he did.

This year we started off by asking what teachers as individuals and all of us as a school wanted to be known for. Much like Aycock, our reputations might depend on who you ask. But rest assured, there is something you can do about it. In what ways are you guilty of moral licensing? Are you a great classroom teacher that puts off grading or contacting parents as much as you should? Do you pour yourself into building relationships and put off the tough work of examining curriculum that best grows students? There are a million different things that we all do that can fall under this idea. It ultimately comes down to building our strengths and working on our weaknesses. Choosing to ignore a weakness in our profession, much like politics, can deny someone else of an opportunity.

You Don't Get It Both Ways

There have been so many things that I started to write about for my blog this week. I've started several in my head and decided to hold off for one reason or another. I believe that waiting to say things at the right time and place can dramatically change the impact of the message. Right now everyone is tired and ready to start summer break. Students are eager to be done and I know that the adults in our building are as well. For that reason, I decided that some of what I wanted to say would come across as "preachy" at a tough time to digest it. But I'm wrong on that.

This week, I started by visiting our Math 1 classes to reiterate the importance of their upcoming exam. For these students, it is the last regular EOC they will take in math and it carries 50% of the school's growth scores and 33% of our proficiency scores. At the end of the year, 9th graders traditionally revert back to some more middle school behaviors and need a little reminding about how important finishing strong is for their grade. After my talks, a few didn't take me seriously within the next day, and I had to make a strong example of their actions. There is no place for apathy or redirection of immature behaviors right now. We have important work to do.

And that's when it hit me that I was wrong. I had decided to hold back on a "preachy" message to the adults in the school, but I had no problem sending that message to the students. That doesn't work. I cannot expect students to be on time if their teacher is often late. I cannot expect a student to remain in their class if their teacher slips out early at the end of the day. I cannot expect students to complete all of their work on time if their teacher doesn't adhere to deadlines. Most importantly, I cannot expect students to take their final exams seriously if their teachers have checked out for the school year.

So here I am, being preachy. Not because I think that all of you need it, but because I think that all of US need it. I'm in that boat with you and your students. There is a lot of important work to be done next week and we ALL have to be mentally in place to do that work. Like most things in life, it's not how you start, but how you finish that matters most. Make an impression with your students that next week is some of the most important work that we do all year. The end is close, but we can't quit now.

Everything's Going to Be Alright

Almost exactly two years ago this week, I wrote a blog about the story of my grandfather and the unusual circumstances surrounding his graduation from high school. (You can find it here) As many of you know, we laid my grandfather to rest this week at 89 years old. I spent some time with him during spring break this year and when I arrived at his house, I found him in the back yard working on his lawnmower. He had taken the deck off to sharpen the blades and just physically couldn't put it back on by himself this time. You could tell that it bothered him and it was the only time I can recall hearing him curse. He hated having to ask for help because he was one of those people that didn't mind doing everything for himself. He was very prideful about that and while pridefulness isn't always a good thing, I think that this quality is becoming rarer. Just that same day I had taken my own lawnmower to a service place to have someone else do that job for me. We laughed together about that and he replied, "I guess it will be alright." That was always one of his favorite things to say. While I could create a long list of valuable things I learned from him, it wasn't until this week that I realized that the most valuable lesson was that saying. Things do not go the way that we want them to sometimes. Bad things happen. Bad days happen. But if you take a step back and look with a broader perspective, everything does tend to turn out alright. I surely wasn't ready for him to leave me last weekend, but just like everything else, it's going to be alright.

Very soon, our students will take exams and some of them will walk across a stage to earn a diploma. Some of these students will perform well and some will not live up to what we hoped. It's going to be alright. Some of our Seniors might not quite be ready academically by June 8th, but it will be alright, we will celebrate them when they are ready. Your test scores might be amazing this year, or they might leave you scratching your head. It'll be alright as long as we learn something from them and put that knowledge to use next time. A student's school years with us are a short part of their life and even a teacher's 30-year career is hopefully just a short part of theirs. Remember to take a broad look at your accomplishments and those of the student's that you teach. If we've all tried our best, neither of those will be perfect, but I can almost guarantee that everything's going to be alright.

65 Years Later

We are at the 65th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. This shortly worded ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court has probably done more to change schools in America than any other case. 65 years later, I think it is still changing us. As a history major and former teacher of US History and African-American History, I loved to dig deep into this case. It's a good one to teach students about how the Supreme Court works and how social change comes from this branch of our government. As a school administrator, however, I've gained a newer understanding of how this court case changed schools and how we still haven't gotten over the impact of Brown vs. Board. Strangely enough, I think that we are still struggling with the implications of the court's decision and probably will for some time.

I've linked several sites below that chronicle the aftermath and experiences of the Brown decision. There's also a great podcast that talks about teacher impacts of the decision that I highly suggest. The overarching theme you get from the data and the experiences are that while we forced integration in schools, we probably didn't do it correctly and that has made a difference in what teachers look like, how students are disciplined and which students get AIG services. One of the arguments made to link these statistics with the Brown decision states that it is the language of the decision itself that has created the issue. While the justices may have had the best intentions, their decision was grounded in their belief that all black schools were inferior to white schools at the time and thus, separate but equal, was not equal. That language went on to impact which teachers would be hired when schools integrated. Overwhelmingly, few, or in most cases none, of the black teachers were hired because it was believed that they were providing an inferior education. This completely removed a generation of black teachers from the profession altogether. And we all know the impact that a teacher to student connection has on the outcome of the student.

When we fast forward 65 years, it is safe to say that we have made a lot of progress in seeking to educate all students. In schools like ours, two-thirds of our students belong to a racial minority group. Last year in Greene County, Hispanic students were the highest growth sub-group in every school and African-American students were the sub-group with the highest graduation rate. Personally, I have tried to have a staff that is as diverse as our student population and I think that helps students of every demographic because it is representative of the world around us. Private and charter schools currently catch criticisms of their re-segregation by race and I often wonder how those students learn and work after their schooling years in a world that doesn't reflect their school experience.

It's almost safe to say that the world of school then has little to do with what schools look like and the functions that we have today. Progress is never at the pace that we want it, but I applaud each of you that take the time to connect with students because you share a characteristic of some type, racial or otherwise. The lessons learned outside of the curriculum do more to prepare young adults to function in the world around them. Change does not come from courtrooms or from lesson plans. Social change comes from caring about one another and teaching one another how to be better. That's where the Brown decision got it wrong, but it's also where we have a chance to get it right. I think back to my elementary years and what I refer to as my "first black mama," a teacher assistant named Mrs. Suggs. Later that torch would be carried by Mrs. Lindsey, another teacher assistant. An African-American math and science teacher in 8th grade, Mrs. Chesson, will forever impress me with how smart she was and how I wanted to understand things the way that she did. When I struggled in high school math, she was who I came back to. Those educators taught me about race without ever teaching me about it intentionally. It was those interactions and the ones you share with kids today that help us fix things around us. In those ways, teachers are much more powerful than the justices of our Supreme Court, and I'm grateful.


Links to some great info on Brown vs Board:

Revisionist History Podcast
Data on School Progress Since Brown
Experiences of Students that Integrated our Schools

Rumor Has It

By Wednesday of this week, I didn't know what my message in the week's blog would be, but I did know that somehow, some way, it would center around rumors. To a degree, I'm used to rumors in a school this time of year. Teachers wonder if their administrators will be back next year or if they will be moved, promoted or choose to go to another school. Many of you know me well enough by now just to ask me. Likewise, administrators hear rumors about teachers leaving as well. Those are the normal May rumors. This year you can sprinkle in rumors about changes in teacher responsibilities for next year, class assignments, and budget impacts. Most of those rumors and what you hear are based on no fact at all, just conjecture or someone's opinion taken as fact and spread.

By early this week we added in a few "unnormal" rumors as well. I had a phone call inquiring about the school being for sale. This rumor was based on a prank by a student that posted an ad on Craigslist with a picture of the school for sale for $5000 and my personal number attached to it. (I'll give it to them, this was a good one.) Since then, the kids have been having fun with my phone throughout the week. Added to that there was the rumor that the whole school was infested with bed bugs (again not based in any fact) and it's been a fun week of rumors.

Some rumors are silly and harmless. Some are based in fear or insecurity. Some are hurtful to those that are implicated. No matter what the rumor is, rumors impact the reputation of people or organizations. The difference between a rumor and a fact is that there is evidence to support a fact. They also don't usually contain good news or a positive image. But maybe we can change that. In the spirit of this week's wild rumors, here are some that I'm starting. Feel free to spread these!

Rumor has it that Mr. Greene is pretty proud of Greene Central and thinks a lot of the students and teachers that come here.

I heard that Mr. Ginn got picked for Teacher of the Year because he does an excellent job balancing content and student relationships.

A student told me that their teachers and counselors are like family to them.

Mrs. Willis said that teachers at Greene Central do a great job with limited resources.

Mr. Jones thinks that teachers that take time to communicate with students and their families deserve a medal.

Who's To Blame

Most of us remember the hysteria about five years ago surrounding Toyota cars and a "glitch" that caused them to suddenly accelerate without warning. It was all over the nightly news reports, led to millions of recalled cars and a historic fine for the world's largest automaker. At the time, my wife owned a Camry, and I remember us discussing if we should trade it in or not.

Years later there has been a great deal of follow-up research on the event and the results would likely surprise you. There has never been ANY proof that there was EVER a software or mechanical defect in Toyota cars that led to sudden acceleration or accelerators sticking. There have even been contests that offered up to $1 million for anyone that could prove it. Most test believe that the casue of several incidents had nothing to do with the cars. In some incidents, all-weather mats were placed on top of the regular carpet mats. This led some to slide under the accelerator and possibly stick when pushed to the floor. In most cases, however, it is believed that people simply were pressing the accelerator when they thought that they were pressing the brake. It was also proven that even if the accelerator had been stuck wide open, simply pressing the brake would have stopped any Toyota vehicle.

So why is it that we never heard this? Why did countless news stories promote a a false story? Why did Toyota have to pay a fine? The answer lies in the fact that, as humans, we often find it much easier to blame something or someone rather than accept that our own actions cause our misfortune. In short, it is easier to blame. We are all guilty of it. As educators we've all acknowledged a change in the test or curriculum, a deficit in the students, a lack of parenting or a lack of supplies when things don't quite turn out like we had hoped. This time of year, I get to hear the blame from students on why they missed too many classes or why their grades are not passing.

Passing blame is often the opposite of growth. In fact, it is the resistance of growth. Despite what life throws at us, we often want to do what we have always done and we resist change. Metaphorically, we refuse to take our foot off the accelerator becasue we want to believe that it is the brake. So as we work with students and their last minute efforts to achieve and as we all look through Standard 5 of our Summative Evaluations, let's all try to look past the blame game. Reflection on what we each do and what we didn't do is the only thing that can lead to growth.

Granny Shot

I recently heard the story of Rick Barry. Rick was an NBA player in the 1970s and is probably most famous for shooting free throws underhanded or what we might call a “granny shot.” Rick shot at just under 90% from the foul line in his career and in his last three seasons, he led the NBA in free throws and shot just under 95%. To put that in perspective, Rick would only miss 9 or 10 free throws in a season. LeBron James shoots at around 74% and misses about 100 free throws a year. 

So why don’t people shoot free throws underhanded? For one season, one of the greatest basketball players ever tried it. Wilt Chamberlin was an amazing player down low, but when he stepped to the line, he was awful. Wilt shot at 40%. So for one season, he had nothing to lose and gave the underhanded shot a try. He was incredibly better and even had a game where he made 28 out of 32 free throws. His percentage that season went to 61%. After that season, he stopped and went back to shooting overhand and his percentage went back to where it was before. He did it because he said, “it made him feel like a sissy.”

Sometimes we, as people, do things that don’t work because they feel right or we perceive them to be the way we should do them. Even when that is incredibly wrong. I see teachers do it and it’s hard to break a habit. I see students do it when their reputation or sense of self-worth seems to be out on the line. One on one, most students in my office can tell me exactly where they screwed up. They know what they did was wrong when they got a write-up. Yet, I’ll see the same kids multiple times because they only know one way to react. In a sense, they step to the free throw line and miss, knowing that they are doing the wrong thing, but they just can’t stop because of how they look to themselves and to others. 

We tell kids all the time not to worry about what others think, and while that sounds like good advice, it’s really not. Most people are not capable of truly not worrying about how they are perceived, especially most teenagers. If we as educators don’t keep that in mind when addressing issues with them, we are ignoring a biological fact. If pro players that are considered some of the best ever do not have the confidence to ignore their image toward others, we simply can’t expect a 15-year-old to do that either. Being better means that we have to take students and their image into account and appeal to a better image. That involves changing their mind about themselves and how they think others should see them. Unfortunately, that’s a lot harder and doesn’t happen as quickly.

Making Do

This week, I got caught up in politics again. The State Superintendent's announcement of a bill to reroute instructional supply money was one of those things that I just couldn't let go. I spent a lot of time speaking and exchanging emails with elected officials related to this bill in addition to my communications with you as well as my contacts via social media outlets. I have very strong feelings against this bill and I want to do all that I can to voice my opinion that it is bad for schools, bad for teachers and bad for students in the end.

In my discussions, I found myself several times mentioning that teachers and schools currently do not have enough money, but we usually find a way to "make do." "Making do" was a phrase that my grandmother used often. She grew up as the second of seven children to a sharecropping family that found ways to make do every day. They were poor, but because they had always been poor, they didn't know much different. Several years ago, she wrote down her experiences into a book that serves as a chronicle for my family as well as a description of life in poverty.  The central message is that while they suffered from all of the regular ills of families in poverty, they had one another and did always find a way to feed and care for the family.

Teachers, no matter where, become masters of making do. While there are times when some of you do ask for things beyond the normal classroom supplies, I usually learn about your needs when I see a problem or hear about it second hand. Your own reluctance to ask is a symptom of working in a job that regularly understands that there are financial limitations. Instead of asking, you make do. Just like in my grandmother's story, you learn to use the human resources around you to support yourself and the work that you do instead of tangible materials.

In my talks with one senator yesterday, he mentioned several times that education is 56% of the state budget and that much money needs some clear oversight as to what is being done with it. In Greene County, 100% of the state instructional supply money goes to schools. The county adds a considerable amount of money to that because what the state sends is not enough. We hear a lot of rhetoric about wasteful spending from legislators that make claims against schools in general based on "things they hear" from different people. I was clear with those that I spoke with yesterday about what we do with our funds and how you make great teaching happen.

Teachers are caught in the middle of this argument (and ironically were never consulted for the bill). Instead, they should be the ones given the input and voice on this matter. It is their pockets that extra items are paid from. It is teachers that make do when they have to. For that, I want to say I appreciate you. No matter what the outcome of this or any other bill may be, thank you for making do for all students.

Visiting Students

It's about the time of year when graduated students visit the school. Either they are on spring break from college or they've been away long enough to miss their favorite teachers. I'll admit that while I enjoy seeing them, I sometimes think of it as a disruption when they move from teacher to teacher to say hello. Despite that, I see the smiles on their faces and on the faces of their favorite teachers, and I usually give in. That connection is something that they are proud of and maybe in some small way, they are saying thanks or enjoying showing us what they are becoming. No matter what they did or didn't do when they were with us, most do grow up into adults and contribute in some way to the world.

Then there are the other ones. The ones that lose touch or had a bad experience with school. Maybe they hated high school and were truly happy to leave. I think I can understand that over the fear I have that maybe they are not proud of what they are doing or they are ashamed of where they are. This week I learned that an old friend of mine from high school died in a drug overdose. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in years but I did keep up with his younger brother because I had coached him. Part of me had to wonder where the difference in these brothers occurred. Was their relationship with someone that wanted better for them, or lack thereof, a contributing factor in how their lives turned out? The younger brother is now a teacher and coach. He still sends me questions about drills or workouts that he does with his team. It hurt to hear the pain in his voice this week at the loss of his brother, but I was happy that I could be on the other end of the phone to check on him.

Teachers wear a lot of hats, and this week has taught me that even when your students leave you, you still play a role in their lives. They know that you expected the best from them. Some never stop trying to work for your praise and acceptance. Others need you for guidance in their lives more than they needed your lessons. Thanks to all of you that stick with students well after they are gone and well after your paycheck obligated you to give them your time and attention. In some small way, you could be saving their lives.

My Heater

Disclaimer: As I write this week's blog, I need you to know that I woke up at 1:30 am to a cold house for the third time this week. My rambling/ranting may be exceptional this week, but I promise it leads somewhere. Stick with me. 

I moved to Greene County a little over four years ago. I liked the community and despite warnings that I would soon become a topic of the typical small-town gossip, I joined up to live in the place where I work. Erika and I found a great home that had been completely remodeled and after owning a 110-year-old house before, that appealed to me. New paint, new appliances, and a brand new heat and air unit. Four years later, I still think it was a good decision. My girls have friends here and I'm close to the school. The one bad thing has been my heating unit.

Every winter that I have lived in the house, the heater has failed in some way. Losing your heat usually happens when it's inconvenient. You had plans and it disrupts them. You worry about the cost or how it will impact your family and for me, it makes me sleep even less than I already do. Luckily, the cost hasn't been awful (yet). Most of the parts are under warranty and I'm just stuck paying labor for some guy to put it in. In the past, I've used the same company that installed the unit. They've been fairly responsive and understanding that I've grown increasingly perturbed. In three years, it continues to do the same thing, so I decided this winter to switch up and use the company that worked on one at my old house. Over the past 4-5 weeks, they have tried a lot of things.  I had to pay for a part that was out of warranty (a $500 bill) and when that still didn't solve the problem, I lost my patience with this thing. The repair guy has been honest that he cannot detect the true source of the problem and is just going to have to keep replacing a part at a time until we find it.

This heater reminds me of that one kid that struggles to behave, distracts others, demands attention but shows you just enough promise that you keep working with him. You make it through the semester after lots of calls to parents, conversations with him in the hall and referrals to administrators. Then next year he winds up right back on your roster again. Imagine that. Then imagine he was on your roster EVERY year of high school.

What that student and my heater have in common relates to the difference between being efficient and being effective. Being efficient means being good at doing something. When my heater works, it is efficient. When the repair guy replaces parts, he is efficient. When we stick to using strategies with that troubled kid, we are efficient teachers. What all of those have in common, however, is that none of them, in this case, are effective.

Note: It's 6:54 am and my heat just randomly cut back on. I hope to never repeat the string of profanity that erupted from my mouth. I'm fairly confident that I made up new curse words.

Being effective means doing what's important, not just what you're good at doing. Despite their efficiency, no one has been effective at taking the time to determine the true problem with my heater. And despite my consistency, I wasn't always effective at getting through to students that had issues in the classroom. To be effective, you have to take a step back and evaluate the problem differently. You can't just do what you've done over and over because it's all you know to do. Effective teaching requires hard reflection on your practice and changing it when it suits students, not you.

So the moral to the story is this: To be an effective teacher, don't be like my heater. You can't break down every year. You can't just mend things along the way and hope that it fixes you or your students. And you can't be effective until you can take a step back and identify the source of the issue.

Question: Does anyone know if it's an auto insurance claim or a homeowners insurance claim if you use your truck to run over your heating unit? Asking for a friend...

No Place Like Home

With this year's basketball season coming to an end at the Eastern Regional championships last week, I took some time to reflect on the impact of players, coaches, the school and the community during my time as principal at Greene Central. While many were disappointed that we did not emerge with a state championship, it's important to look on the impact students and teachers have had on our school and community through a game. Six years ago, the games were sparsely attended. Some of the regular attendees came just to heckle our players and coaches. I was determined to work on building a more positive atmosphere, but I quickly learned that those cultural aspects had to be taught. I remember putting up the Ram Pen sign to develop a student section and having to show YouTube videos of students at other high schools to our fans. We also focused on promoting the players and coaches doing good things in the community, especially in the elementary schools of Greene County. It was a full-fledged PR campaign designed to change the culture of the school and its outlook in the community. 

A year later we inherited a freshman class with Imajae Dodd, Donte Johnson, and Hysaan Hudson. These young men would grow to become key players on the court and in the change process. Their success helped make Greene Central basketball known throughout the state, but it also started putting fans in the stands cheering and supporting our boys. Students and adults stood in lines and moved their schedules to see them play and those elementary students looked to them as heroes. The tide had changed. 

Over the next few years, there would be people and events that would look to pull some of these young men away. A family issue caused Hudson to move for a short time, only to return home to the support that he needed. Dodd would be sought out at larger schools for more exposure, but ultimately, he felt that he belonged as a Ram. This year, the return to Greene County of our new head coach, Blue Edwards, cemented the idea that there's no place like home. In an era where high school students transfer schools, falsify addresses and even have parents give up custody of them to selfishly build a championship team, this home-grown group gave a community of blue-collar workers something to be proud of. 

It's about more than putting fans in the bleachers. It's about community support. It was at basketball games that I met graduates of Greene Central that had returned to the community and looked to offer something back. I met Greene Central's first African-American graduate, former NFL players, and Grammy nominees. All of these people remarked at how great it was to see the community rally around the school and how they wished it was that way when they were students. What was built on the maple floors of that small gym won't be broken. The culture has changed so much outside of those cinder block walls. And no matter where our students go, I hope that they get the chance to return one day to remember that there really is no place like home. 

Reading to Kids

Amidst a very full week, I had the opportunity to go read to a couple of classes at Greene County's Pre-K Center on Wednesday. This is Read Across America week and in all of the elementary schools in our district, you could see doors and hallways decorated with Dr. Suess themes. Our students also visited several schools to read and in every picture that I saw, the younger students were captivated.

The book that I read was about a little girl that wanted to be a scientist. So naturally, after the story was over, I asked everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up. I got a lot of great answers! Everything from a police officer, to a cowboy and an engineer. Every student was SO excited to tell me, and in typical four-year-old fashion, they were sometimes too excited to even get the words out. On my way back to school I had to stop and wonder where that passion had gone. High schoolers are not nearly as excited to tell you what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They work at it in their classes and talk about it with their counselors, but they don't tend to show the same passion for it that a Pre-K student does.

In the era of high-stakes testing, college debts of almost $100,000 and so much emphasis on competition for resources, have we forgotten to focus on fostering passion? In Angela Duckworth's book, Grit, she dedicates an entire chapter to passion. Passion for one's goals plus perseverance leads to success. I think somehow we missed that first part along the way. Please remember to take time to learn about what your students' goals are and help foster that passion. We will rely on these young people to be our police officers, engineers and maybe even a cowboy or two.

I'm Not Good at Everything

Sitting with the accreditation team last Friday, it was abundantly clear that I'm not good at everything. Some of their suggestions for improvement were made clear that they were my failure to implement. When you hear criticism like that, it's hard not to take it personally. Like anyone, I replayed the conversation over and over in my head. Self-doubt and thoughts of what I could have said (but probably shouldn't have) ran through my brain all weekend and into this week. It wasn't until I was giving some advice to a teacher, that I realized that there are just some things that I'm not good at, and that's ok. I chuckled in my head all week as I started to compile a list of Things I'm Not Good At Doing, here are some of my favorites.

I'm not good at letting things go
Maybe it's my Irish blood, but I feel like I have to fight things. Even when they are small and relatively pointless. The fake news about NC changing student grading scales this week brought that out in me. I just couldn't keep myself from trying to correct every human I came into contact with.

I'm not good at remembering meetings or events.
Many of you know this, especially if you didn't email me a reminder. If it doesn't go on my calendar, it's almost certain that I'll miss it. Even if it does, there's a good chance I'll get distracted. I almost always try to get people to remind me if I know it's important.

I don't treat my children like my students
I have much less patience with my own children than I do for students in the school. Maybe I take my long day out on them, or maybe my expectation is much higher for them. Either way, I catch myself being short with them too often.

I hate fruit
I know that it's good for me, but I really can't stand it. Except for apples, but don't cook those. At times I have exercised and eaten healthy to improve my health, but I just can't bring myself to eat fruit.

I don't sleep enough
I never have really. I sit up at night and over process things in my head. While I normally get 6 hours of sleep, there are days every week that I only get 3. Those days usually compound the effect of the other things that I'm not good at doing.

So here's the thing...I don't have to be good at everything. And neither do you. We are all human and we have different skills and abilities. None of us teach the exact same way. We have good days and bad days. But as long as we work toward improvement and we support one another, we almost always negate each other's deficits. Luckily, I work with some pretty awesome people. They remind me to let some things go. They help me get where I'm supposed to be. They say things that make me proud of my girls. And they remind me to take care of myself when they see me struggling.

Remember, this job is tough and at times, it can take a lot out of you. Take care of yourself and take care of one another. You don't have to be good at everything. You just have to be good for each other.