Play, Smile, Create a Sense of Joy

I remember sitting in the staff room in 1997, I was a substitute teacher, trying to figure out the gig and was willing to take any sage advice I could find. One would be mentor told me, "Eat tuna fish for lunch and wash it down with black coffee, then just get right in their face fifth period - they'll never act up again." This was just one of many pearls of wisdom that were doled out to the fresh group of educators looking for that silver bullet solution to gaining the attention, control and approval of our classroom constituents.

When I read the book, Blink, by Malcom Galdwell, it struck me like a rock: within the blink of an eye, we make a first impression. As humans we instinctively make a judgment to determine whether or not the person running the classroom has our best interest in mind, whether the teacher cares about us individually and whether or not this is a person we can make a connection with. Paul Tough, the author of Helping Children Succeed, clearly assembles research that points to the fact that kids, especially those with the highest risk factors for failure, learn best in a room where there is a relationship between the teacher and the learners.

So, on that first day of school, in those first moments, although it may be tempting to, "Lay down the Law," or to get the syllabus completely read through, I would suggest something a little different: Play. Smile. Create a sense of Joy.

After nearly 20 years of working in education, I have found that those who set the rules and regulations aside on day one, and instead, invest deeply in building relationships right away, are those educators that have the most productive rooms in the long run. Rather than single-filing in, finding our seats, learning the procedures for roll call and hearing a lot of grown up talk about the launch of the new year justifying the need for order, imagine if each student were greeted at the door with an individual conversation and a small slip of paper leading her on a personalized treasure hunt through the room, while the teacher spoke to each new entering student. Imagine the delight of students of all ages if the loudest laugh came from the teacher and the first structured activity was a progressive Rocks-Paper-Scissors tournament that ended in the mounting of a plague upon the wall highlighting the name of the champion and signed by all of the tournament’s participants.

In award winning researcher Berne Brown's Ted Talk regarding vulnerability, she unpacks the key to allowing powerful relationships to blossom. She explains that when we close ourselves off, and don't allow for vulnerability, we protect ourself from the pain of rejection and rebuff. However, in doing so, we psychologically have also walled ourselves off from the feelings of Joy and Pleasure that come from truly falling into a meaningful accord with another person.

On that first day of school, when first impressions are not an option but a reality, there is nothing more attractive than looking to the front of the room and recognizing a person seeking Joy rather than control. Be vulnerable, allow the kids to see the kid in you, don't worry about covering the rules right away, because as my friend Phil Boyte loves to say, "Rules without Relationships create Resistance."

Don't be Afraid to Commit to Culture

My son and I built a skate ramp. It is really a mini-quarter-pipe; it only stands 3 feet high and 4 feet across. The idea is to learn the “Drop-in,” the “Kick Turn” and the “50/50 Rock n' Roll,” all in the comfort of our own front yard. The challenge with learning any skateboard trick at my age is a fear of failure. I know, we all talk about failure as a learning opportunity, but in this case, less is sometimes more. Today I must have hit that ramp 50 times trying the same trick over and over. Each time I'd make a run at it, and each time I would come up just a hair short of pulling it off. My 12 year old said, "It’s scary huh? You just have to commit." It floors me when the boy who can never remember to pick up his towel off the bathroom floor drops some Yoda-style wisdom that shifts my paradigm. He was right, and I did, and everything worked out, without any broken bones!

This past week, many of our staff attended a 4 day Responsive Classroom training. Our school is committed to building a high quality and supportive culture both in the classroom and throughout the common areas of our school - Responsive Classroom is one important piece of that puzzle. We could spend our time, energy and financial resources on any number of commitments. In fact, many of us on the leadership team find ourselves saying, "We can afford to do anything we want, we can't afford to do everything we want." So, deciding what to commit to is probably the number one function of our leadership team. It is scary: we are all afraid to fail when it comes to high stakes testing, serving special populations, ensuring the 21st Century soft skills, and the list goes on. The truth is, each is a thread that woven together makes the tapestry of our industry. So, with so much to work on, why are we so committed to culture?

Our commitment to building culture is not a program, it is not about a purchase, nor an adoption, for us it was about a commitment to our students as students first. There is fantastic research that demonstrates our most at risk students do not respond to academic intervention until they have created a relationship with the person delivering the support. These same relationships make formative feedback possible, open the dialog between student and staff regarding bullying and allow for students to connect their hopes and dreams to learning, thereby making academic projects relevant. Our team believes deeply that culture is the garden bed, if the bed is cultivated well, anything can grow.

It doesn't matter if you are trying to master the 50/50 Rock'n Roll on the skate ramp or if you are launching student led conferences: both need a total commitment. Once the ramp-rider believes in himself, and fully commits, any trick becomes possible. Once a school fully commits to building a culture founded on strong relationships - the possibilities become limitless. Every school strives for academic and social success for its students, and these targets become infinitely more obtainable when a school commits to building a supportive culture, where staff and students are connected; a place where each student is involved in the building of successful processes; a place where all adults agree that language matters and logical consequences are only one step in restoring relationships. When a school commits to building this type of culture, all things become possible.

Growing Butterflies

My amazing wife, with a few clicks of the track pad, added a butterfly kit to our Amazon cart. Within just a few days, we were the proud parents to a jar full of caterpillars and within another week, those caterpillars were wrapped up tight in a chrysalis stage, transforming from worms with legs into majestic flying creatures. Our four year old daughter, and even our 10 and 12 year old boys, each stopped by from time to time, while passing through the living room, to peek into the butterfly basket to check in on the transformation.

The lessons of this amazing spectacle are limitless for those of us in education. First, it is important to remember that even though, at one point, the caterpillars look as if they are doing absolutely nothing, to the naked eye it seems as if they have wrapped themselves up in a self-spun blanket and have gone off to sleep for several days; it is at this point that each one is actually rearranging their molecular structure by, at one point, liquefying their current existence and transforming their body into a completely different organism. This first magnificent feat reminds me that I never believe a student isn't learning. It just isn't possible. Even though, to the naked eye, a student may seem docile and disengaged...there is always learning happening. There is danger in assuming a student has stopped learning just because they are sitting quietly in a chrysalis stage at a desk by the window. If I assume a student is disengaged because they are lazy, and I let them out of participation, the student has just learned that grown-ups who don’t believe in her will let her off the hook. What a student learns is dependent on the environment. Just like the caterpillar, when a student is given the right circumstances for learning, a full metamorphosis from kindergarten to college is the outcome.

Next, as a butterfly begins to emerge from this incredible time of transformation, there is an observable moment of struggle for life and death. The head may emerge from the chrysalis, then a leg, maybe an antenna or two, and finally a wing. There is this moment however, when it seems as if the butterfly has given up. Breaking free from its past is just too difficult. It is at this moment, when the butterfly seems that it can not make it alone, that, as a good butterfly parent, you feel compelled to help. It would be so easy to just peel back that last piece of hardened shell of the chrysalis to allow the butterfly to break free - it feels like the ethical thing to do. However, it is exactly this moment of productive struggle that helps the butterfly build enough strength in its wings to eventually fly. If you help the butterfly emerge, it will never fly. In our classrooms we have to inspire the productive struggle. We have to set our students up to do hard work that will eventually lead to individual success. Too often school is a place where children spend the day watching adults work very hard - it should really be the other way around. If we know each student well enough, we can set personalized targets that, with a little productive struggle, we are sure each can meet. Once each student feels the inspiration of success, they will be ready to fly to the next challenge.

I love education. Working with kids and those who help to grow kids has been the greatest honor of my life. Maybe I see the lessons everywhere, but I could not help drawing the parallel between growing butterflies and launching students as productive lifelong learners. I think the lessons I am reminded of are that first, environment is everything, and next, personalizing is crucial to create productive struggle that ends in success. Let’s all spend some time this summer dreaming up ways that we can create an environment that propels students to grow; let’s strive for a classroom that recognizes students are always learning - even when it doesn’t look like it from the outside. Finally, let’s start the year with personalized targeting in mind, to ensure that each well crafted opportunity at productive struggle ends in an affirming success story for each learner.

This week, when the Amazon order arrived, I found out that we are growing Ladybugs! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Project Based Learning and Apple Pie

It is the season of Independence Day, every aisle of every store is stocked floor to ceiling with red, white & blue pool noodles, American-flag emblazoned picnic paraphernalia and patriotic party favors in preparation for backyard BBQ’s across the country. Last night my wife and I got caught up in the season and took the kids to the community theater to see a production of Meredith Wilson's, The Music Man. The show takes place in small town River City, Iowa on the 4th of July, 1912. By intermission the kids were antsy enough to go home, but as I sat in the dimly lit theater, watching the smiling faces sing songs and perform prat falls on stage, it made me realize that each of the players on stage may get far more out of the experience of putting on a show then maybe the patronage that pay the $14 admission. Community Theater is a great form of Project Based Learning.

It seems like a million years ago, but, I began my career as a high school drama teacher - best gig ever. It was like being the chaperone to a publicly funded version of the Little Rascals Clubhouse: we would dream up some scheme and the club would spend countless hours plotting, planning, preparing and producing shows. Although I spent time trying to teach a few standards in between all the dreaming and producing, the truth is, the students learned far more about working as a team, solving problems, making decisions when there was truly no right answer and all this learning was in preparation for a deadline that was publicly known: each of our mom’s would be in the audience opening night when the curtain rose.  I directed that first school play was nearly 20 years ago, and, when I bump into a 35 year old, former drama student in the grocery store, they often explain to me that the skills they learned producing those plays in high school are skills that still help them in their adult life.

Today, as an advocate for Project Based Learning, I realize that back in the old drama room D-103, we were rocking PBL before it was a thing. The power of the modern PBL movement is the weaving together of cross curricular learning and development of the 21st Century, College and Career Readiness Skills, like Collaboration, Creativity, Communication and Critical Thinking.

While the PBL movement is taking on many shapes and sizes within the American institution of Education, most agree that true Project Based Learning is more than the old mission project, where mom and dad help little Bobby assemble a sugar-cube constructed mission that goes from display at open house to the dumpster along with the $50 in art supplies that parents produced to capture the grade. PBL is about creating something authentic, something that includes student voice and choice, projects must offer the opportunity for students to reflect and revise, over time, during the course of the work, and the project must produce a product that is offered up to the public outside the classroom.

Whether you are considering a class play for the students in your charge, or you are a parent with a budding actor at home, I would encourage you to embrace the real learning that takes place when young people are given the opportunity to learn in authentic settings. To be clear, it doesn’t have to be a play, find your passion, connect it to the interests of the kids, create something that is on display for the public to see, and make it an authentic opportunity for learning! For some kids it may be building a website that helps people find lost dogs; another student may share a history lesson only using close up photographs of antiques. It is time to stop believing that college and career skills come only from the drill and kill academy of the academically rigorous classroom. For too long we have believed that standards can somehow be acquired in isolation, then eventually applied in adulthood, by a future version of our students. How will these future adults ever be dreamers of innovations and producers of productivity if we never really let them attempt authentic production until they are expected to also support their own families? Let your son be an actor, let your daughter be a student director, encourage your small group to produce a play as a learning outcome: don’t worry, you are not encouraging future Hollywood starlets any more than PE class alone produces Olympians. Let the computer driven student code and the child who chases light take photos. Structured as an authentic learning opportunity, each of these experiences can lead to a life long pathway of productivity.

As the flags fly and the fireworks flash, I can't help but think that the community theater is one of our American gems, a place where people gather to watch a story, co-constructed, come to life. Classrooms should be the same. Everyday, let's gather our students together, invite them to inspire us with their stories, then we can stand back and let them create, collaborate, think critically and communicate their way into a future that we can't possibly imagine.