I'M BUILDING A ROCKET!!!

This week I had the privilege of visiting some classrooms at Snow Hill Primary. I was taking a look at what STEM classes do at much lower grades. One of the first classes I entered, I saw a familiar face at the back table. Kristin White's son, Asher, was with his group and was very busy. The class had drawn balloon-powered rockets and were now starting to construct them. When I went to Asher, he was feverishly cutting at a cardboard box with a pair of safety scissors. The other members of the group were working quietly at their seats. When I asked Asher what he was doing, he was VERY ready with his reply. "I'M BUILDING A ROCKET!!!!" (Now I don't know that printed words can do justice to the level of excitement that needs to be conveyed here. Picture this sentence coming from an early 90s pre-fight professional wrestler and you're starting to get the picture.)

To say that Asher was into his work is an understatement. This lesson captivated him. It led me to think that I had never seen that level of excitement from another student, and while that level may be hard to reach, it is something we can strive for. There's a lot of debate today about education versus "edutainment." While I do not think that it is our job to entertain students on a daily basis or to trade fun work for quality work, there is a middle ground somewhere. Our job as educators should not simply be the delivery of information. Books have long been able to do that and today online programs or even YouTube videos can achieve the same thing. Our job is to unlock thoughts in young minds so that they can accept that information and do something with it. And to be honest, that means it has to be interesting. Mr. Shaw and Mrs. Garcia work very hard to make your professional learning interesting and let's be honest, you're getting paid to sit there.

While Asher-level excitement may not be within reach for all students, it is something that we can work to achieve. Remember that teaching is a service industry. Students do not come to school so that we can get paid. We get paid to do something with them while they are here. Let's do our best to keep student engagement in mind so that we can be better than an online program every day. Who knows, one of these students may just build a real rocket some day.

Move On

The events of last Friday's basketball game at South Lenoir and the subsequent discussions and meetings that took place this week, as a result, taught me a lot. Bad things happen and at some point, we all have bad days, say or do things that we don't mean or are out of our character. As educators and the person "in charge" in our classrooms, we often recognize this from our students. Some have bad days more often than others and some we rarely ever see it at all. You don't have to teach very long to see this behavior from an adolescent. If you work in a high poverty school, you've been told or quickly came to realize that things like hunger, family conflict, lack of sleep, inconsistent home lives and a myriad of other issues can translate to aggressive behavior or a lack of engagement in the classroom. First-year teachers learn this more quickly than they learn how to access their curriculum online or complete their PDP.

Recognizing faults, or the reason for them is only the first step toward correcting that behavior. Most good teachers know to take the next step of counseling with a student or getting help from someone that can connect with them. That is where we usually stop, and this week taught me that it is not over there. You have to consciously make the decision to move on. You have to articulate that to the student as well. When students (and let's face it adult too) mess up, there is often guilt associated with the behavior. Correcting the behavior also involves letting the individual know that tomorrow is a new day and that you're ready to go back to work. It's a principle that is at the heart of most religious teachings. Helping and working with others involves recognizing faults, but also in forgiving them. It expresses care for them as individuals, and that's probably something that we all need when we are having a bad day.

So the next time a student, colleague, parent or administrator has a bad day or moment with you. Remember that improving that behavior and maintaining the relationship involves addressing it, but also in moving on. We are all guilty of this at some point and that grace is certainly appreciated when it is given back.

How You Start

My last blog post of 2018 referenced my last track race in high school. I've written several times about the metaphors I find between running and life and even some of the lessons that sports and competitive running and coaching taught me. One of the most difficult things to figure out (and to teach) as a competitive runner has nothing to do with stride, breathing or the distance of the race. One of the toughest things to figure out is how to start. Starting too slow guarantees you a spot at the back and once you realize it, you spend extra energy making an attempt to catch up or you resolve to do your best another day. If you start too fast, you dictate the pace for everyone else but if you can't hold that, you're likely to burn up your energy and finish poorly. Often, experience is the best teacher for this, but as you improve,  you continually have to remind yourself to change how you start. Starting the same way at the beginning of a season, even for experienced runners, almost guarantees to finish the same way you did at the start of the season. That's not growth or improvement.

Those that figure out how to start, know that you push yourself and you continually monitor yourself. Treat the start of the semester the same way. Beginning teachers need the feedback that reflective practice gives them. Even experienced teachers can fall into the trap of not starting out a semester the right way by not pushing their practice. Simply put, if you want more out of students than you got last semester or last year, you have to do more than you did then. And you have to monitor it.

With 95 days left in the semester, we are very much at the start of a long race. If you don't have a plan, get one now. If you do, monitor it and check for progress often. How you start will dictate how you finish.