Patience

One year ago this week I was on a study abroad trip in Peru. As a part of that trip, I got to visit Machu Picchu. It's truly an amazing place and something that is just hard to wrap your head around when you think of how it was constructed so long ago. Peru is a country that makes its money from tourism and sights like Machu Picchu generate a lot of revenue for them in many ways. For that reason, it's also hard to wrap your head around the fact that no one has visited the site since the middle of March. Well, almost no one. 

A story broke this week about a Japanese man, Jesse Katayama, that has traveling around the world when the pandemic lockdown began. He was in Peru, with a ticket to see the famous site the week that everything shut down. Rather than going home, Jesse decided to stay in Peru, originally thinking that it would reopen in a couple of weeks. That stay turned into six months. During that time, Jesse Katayama opened a boxing studio and taught people of all ages in the city of Cusco. His story caught the attention of many locals and eventually politicians took notice. The people loved his dedication and service to the community and pushed hard for him to be granted access to Machu Picchu. Last week that finally happened as he was granted access, by himself, to visit the site. His patience had paid off. 

I'm not the most patient person sometimes. I get caught being eager to accomplish something and I want results to happen. I want answers now to questions that I have. I think in a lot of ways, our lack of patience is really at the heart of why we still wrestle with the restrictions that we have as a society. When we run out of patience, we look to someone that we believe can or should make the problem go away. Unfortunatly, many of them don't have all the answers right now either. 

I don't know that there is much that I can do to feel less impatient, but I do think that I do have a choice in how I react to it. I really admire how Jesse Katayama decided to make himself as useful as could while he waited. Staying busy and working to improve things around you can fulfill us while we wait for what we really want. When I thought about it from that perspective, I thought about a lot of the people that I work with. We all are likely growing impatient for school and life to return to some semblance of normalcy soon. But while we wait, many of you have been working hard to make the best of things around you. I've seen your attitudes shift and your productivity spike in new areas. To say the least, I'm inspired. Now I'm going to do my best to work on what I can, while we wait.

What Lies Ahead

We have made it to the end of the first 9-weeks of the school year. It's hard to believe that the year is 25% over. In some ways, it is a true blessing that we have made it this far. We have fought against the pandemic and the endless demands on how we change instruction. On the other hand, we know that we have so much more work to do if we are going to make students successful. If that was not hard enough, we have what is perhaps the most contentious election of our lifetimes on us now as well. So many people are passionate about their political beliefs right now. North Carolina has become a battleground state for federal elections and we are inundated with political ads and everything else that comes with candidates spending money and time to try to get your vote. In so many ways the political events of our times have influenced how we feel about the medical and social events of our times and have made them harder for all of us. 

At a recent principal's meeting, we discussed the policy on political statements in schools. Dr. Miller encouraged us to say something to our school staff about being civil and avoiding conflict over politics in schools. While I'm excited that others are excited about voting, it's sad to feel that we have to remind adults to be kind and considerate of one another. But just like the end of the school will arrive, so will November 4th. It will end and when it does, we are going to have to remember what we have in common instead of what we don't agree on anymore. We are going to have to go back to watching regular commercials instead of political ads. We are going to have to get along. And while that may seem a little scary for what lies ahead of us, remember that we made it through the start of this school year and we certainly didn't think that would happen either. 

So I'm not going to send you an email about being careful about voicing your political beliefs. This blog post will suffice. The message that I hope we all get is not to be careful about what we say that may offend each other and instead, think about what you can say to support each other, especially those that are different than you. No matter what happens in a few weeks, we will undoubtedly need one another to get through the rest of the school year. 

Our Bucket is Full

This week we inducted our National Honor Society students. I videoed my message to them rather than delivering it in person and for some reason, I changed what I usually talk about. I wish I hadn't now. My message usually makes the comparison to them as the "Talented Tenth," a term used by W.E.B. DuBois in his plan to advance African American society. My message is the same as what DuBois wanted. The best among the group should rise up and lead the change for the rest. 

When I taught my African American history course, my favorite unit involved comparing DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Both men had strong plans and while they competed to promote those plans, I wish that they had worked together more. Washington's plan included the idea that all African Americans "cast down their bucket" and pull up one another through hard work and effort. Right now, I see so much of Washington's plan in our teachers. 

School works right now because teachers work. Since we began, I have seen so many of you help one another by sharing resources, information, time, and expertise. You have all cast down your buckets, in an effort to pull up one another. Those buckets are full and that is why we are continuing to make progress. Had we relied on a few instructional coaches or admin to try to fix technology, curriculum, or instructional problems, we would still be painfully behind. A talented tenth could not work fast enough to meet the demands that opening school and teaching students have given us this year. Luckily, so many of you have risen to that challenge and I cannot tell you how much I brag on you to every person that calls, emails, or visits our school. While I hope every day that we are moving one step closer to getting schools back to normal, I genuinely hope that your spirit of collaboration never goes backward. 

Unprecedented

By August or early September each year, I find it hard to listen to the radio. The hit "songs of the summer" seem to be in steady rotation on every station as they play what seems like the same four songs over and over again. I just get tired of it. That same thing has happened to me now with the word "unprecedented." This adjective has found its way into almost every conversation over the past few months. Whether people discuss the virus itself, or the many other social issues going on right now during the pandemic, the term "unprecedented" seems to find it's way into the conversation. What I've noticed is that people are using it to justify an action or inaction because we don't really know how to respond to things right now. The claim is that we don't really have a clear path because we have never been here before. 

Maybe I'm unsettled because the history teacher in me scoffs just a little at the use of this term right now. The 1918 flu pandemic presented our nation with some of the very same medical, social, and political challenges that we are seeing today. By definition, that means today's situation isn't "unprecedented." This event is just new to us as individuals and people have a very tough time learning from history as well. In 1918, school systems nationwide struggled with the decision to open or remain closed. Several larger systems like New York and Chicago did decide to open because they felt that children were safer and more sanitary at school than at home or on the streets. Those schools that opened had students wear cloth masks. Schools had nurses and worked with local health departments to symptom-check and isolate students. Students were not allowed to crowd outside of the schools but had to report directly to their teachers each day. Despite their efforts, the absentee rates at schools were out of control. If all of this sounds familiar, then we are not living in unprecedented times at all. 

I don't make this point to compare COVID-19 to the flu or to debate language usage or history with those that probably know a lot more about it than I do. My point in the observation is that we made it through 1918. We returned to normal lives, we prospered again, we grew and forgot all about that "unprecedented" time. You all are doing such an amazing job, and while you're tired from the new requirements that we face, you're learning skills and pushing boundaries that we didn't necessarily have to do before. And while the problems of handling our situation today seem difficult and without an end right now, we will make it through again. 

Say Something

I have dozens of stories about my intern experience. I learned a lot from an amazing teacher with a larger-than-life personality. On top of that, the school was in a cultural upheaval and my clinical teacher was leading the charge. My clinical teacher had tons of quips and sayings that stuck with students and teachers that knew him. One of the most memorable things that he ever taught me was, "If they read it, write it, hear it, and say it, chances are they'll know it." It was his way of enforcing repetition and appealing to multiple learning styles. It sounds simple, but there's certainly some truth in there.

That saying has been on my mind this week as I started doing classroom observations. Classrooms look different, but the content that we are teaching and learning is the same. But the smaller groups seem to be inhibiting one of those things that my clinical teacher mentioned. Students don't seem to be talking as much. I'm not sure if it's the masks, the fact that things aren't "normal" yet, or if the smaller groups tend to make students feel more singled out. Maybe it's a combination of all of that. No matter what the cause, we have to figure out how to bring student voice back into the classroom. 

Studies have shown (see here) that student talk is correlated with their achievement. However, it seems that right now we need to be a lot more deliberate with how we get that. Here are a few recommendations to get students talking more:

1. Start each day with a welcoming ritual. Get their thoughts or ideas on literally anything to open the day.

2. Plan consistent opportunities for students to speak. Use this as your opportunity to introduce higher order thinking skills and more open-ended questions.

3. Ask students about their lives beyond the classroom. This builds their relationship with you and the class and breaks the ice to speak later.

4. Ask for student feedback - and use it. This validates that what they say is important and will encourage more talking later.

Sharing ideas and thoughts is going to be essential to getting small group instruction to work and that means that we have to get students talking. Who knows, they may have something important to say if we do.

The Power of But

I'm guilty. Sometimes I can't help myself either. It takes so much self-restraint. Even when you do hold back, you just want to scream. Most of us have been there. You get frustrated at something you see or some experience you have and you take to social media somehow and you rant about it. I can hold myself back on politics, religion, and lots of other things, but I can't hold my tongue sometimes on supporting kids and schools. I spend too much time on it and I'm passionate about it and sometimes things just set me off. That happened to me last week and I learned something that I hadn't planned on learning. I learned the power of the word "but." 

My rant was simple. I just wanted parents to spend a little time checking in on what their kids were supposed to be doing. I feel like we need parents as partners right now. It's hard engaging kids that we don't have in our classrooms and just having an accountability partner in the home makes a huge difference in what a teacher can accomplish. To my surprise, my eight-sentence rant was shared out hundreds of times and passed along by many people that I certainly don't know. Apparently, I had struck a nerve. I'm curious about people, so I looked at the comments of the people that I didn't know. They don't know me and they certainly don't owe me the courtesy of being polite or agreeing with me. The overwhelming majority was supportive and there also appeared to be a lot of educators. There were a few others that caught my attention though. There were the people that agreed, but not really. Their comments ranged from things like: 

 "So true, but what about the teachers that don't reply back?" 

 "I know I should help, but I'm a single mom and don't have time." 

 "This is true, but Canvas doesn't work." 

There were a lot more like this and most were pretty similar. What I found odd was the use of the word "but." It took me back to a high school English teacher that taught me that when you use the word "but" no one cares about what you said before it. How true that is. Go back and look in the first paragraph of this blog post. I did it. I said, "...but I can't hold my tongue sometimes on supporting kids and schools." Nothing before that mattered to me. I know I shouldn't run my mouth on social media. It doesn't solve anything. I certainly don't think anyone has ever changed their opinion based on a social media rant, BUT I just couldn't stop. The BUT was too powerful. 

So what are your BUTs? What is just to powerful from doing what you know you probably should do? Maybe yours are personal and maybe they are professional. Maybe you're human and have some of both. We grow by addressing those BUTs and by doing our best to cut them out. Do an experiment and try to catch yourself on your BUTs. You might be shocked at how much you use them and what they tell others about you. I'm going to try to correct my social media rant BUTs. Even though it can be so satisfying.

Now What?

An accurate representation of teaching right now

On the afternoon of August 21st, I breathed a sigh of relief. We had made it through a week of school and 
for the first time in a while, I slept through the night. Then we made it through a week of Track 1. We learned a lot, changed a lot, and some of us cursed a lot. The difficulties of tech issues, managing tracked out students, engaging virtual students in real work, and communicating with students and parents occupied all of our time and energy. So many of us left last week deflated and wondering if this was the new normal. Then this week came and while it certainly still isn't perfect, we seem to have found a bit of a groove. We tracked down most of our students and started to get something out of them. At the end of this week, I'm left with one question, "Now what?"

Now that we are settling down and finding ways to mitigate problems, we are getting back to the business of school. We have a School Improvement Plan to update, a testing calendar to review, and all of the usual things that schools do each year. In the hustle to create plans for change, those "normal" things slipped to the background, but they're back now. Most of those things that I listed are administrative things. They are not day-to-day teacher issues. So now what for teachers? I sincerely hope that answer is teaching. 

Your classrooms are smaller and while your kids are focused on completing Canvas assignments, I hope that each of you finds a way to take advantage of the personalized learning that smaller groups give you and uses it to teach your heart out. While we've asked you to get good as technical details and controlling the spread of the virus, please don't forget what you really are. You are teachers and now is the time to teach. The ultimate purpose for choosing to open our school on Plan B isn't to meet a political agenda or to provide daycare for children so that parents can work. Our purpose is to provide them with an education that we know that Canvas modules don't fully replicate. Now is the time to go and do what we are good at. Now is the time to teach.