The Science of New

Do you remember when you were seven years old and the six month waiting period from the Fourth of July to Christmas Break seemed to take a millennium? Now, as an adult, the same six month stretch seems to happen over a three day weekend. Turns out: there is science behind this. It is the same reason that the trip to a new place seems to take an eternity, driving down unfamiliar roads, searching for street signs or keeping one ear open for the sweet voice of Google Maps to audible your next move in 1000 feet. The funny thing is, on the way back from a first time trip to an unknown destination, the drive home can seem to happen in the blink of an eye, even when the trip out felt like forever.

Neuroscientist David Eagleman explains that “Brain Time,” is effected when we are experiencing something new. As we engage in new activities, we have to slow down, mentally, and take inventory of all the building blocks that make up this new experience. To a child, the memory of Christmas morning is vivid and filled with detailed recollections of joy: these memories are clear because on that morning, a child’s mind is racing to take in every detail of this once a year magical event.  As a seven year old, time doesn’t fly throughout the year because so much is new, so many events across the calendar are having to be deconstructed. A day in the life of an elementary student may hold as many new experiences as a grown up experiences in a month. Imagine, the less new that we experience, the faster we get old, and too often it seems the older we get the less new we create.

For those who have more than a couple decades of roads well traveled under their belt, it takes effort to create new experiences. Often we find ourselves pulling together a unit plan, a lesson, or even a conversation starter that we have used successfully in the past, and why not, common sense says that if it worked well the first time, why wouldn’t it be a home run again? Here comes the science: The first time you launched that lesson plan, it was new, and that was exciting, not only for the students, but for the person who created the plan. You paid attention to every detail, the excitement of the unknown caught your attention and that is why your memory of the event is vivid as a success. The kids were so deeply engaged, during the first time launch of that lesson, not because of the lesson itself but because you were so engaged. There is something powerfully attractive about seeing a grown-up experience something new. So, if we want to slow down the treadmill, bring excitement and memorable joy to our classrooms, we should make a commitment to trying something new.

Dear Admin: Let's Fail Together

Dear Admin,

I want to start by saying that I watch how hard you work. When others in the lunchroom assume that you are just wandering aimlessly from room to room - I defend you. I'm an observer. I see that you are working hard, with all your heart, to keep our school all moving in one direction, and I know that you are doing your best to do right by our kids.

I have been in the classroom a long time. I am good at my job. I build relationships, with kids, and their parents. I engage. I empower my students to grow; I track their growth using data; I share data with my collaborative team. I have perfectly angled borders on my bulletin boards, my room is decked in parent pleasers for Back to School night, I don't fill your office with kids, I attend every staff meeting and I sit somewhere in the middle. What I am saying is - I like the direction our school is heading, I'm following your lead: I'm in.

Ok, well, there is one thing...

Technology freaks me out. It is not that I don't think that I couldn't learn a few slick tips and tricks. It is just that I know, that the minute the tech genie comes out of the bottle, I will have lost my power. The thought of my 30 kids clicking in 60 different directions with every passing minute makes my head spin. I know that in the blink of an eye, and the stroke of a keyboard, students will be down the rabbit hole of flash games and unmentionable keyword searches.

I know this is the pendulum that has everyone swinging, but I somehow stepped off the ride and I am not sure how to get back on. So, I am asking you for help.

I will take the plunge into the icy waters known as the fear of failure - if you will too. I will get the kids on the Chromebooks, creating rather than simply consuming, if you will take the same leap with me.

As the learner charged with leading our staff, It must be scary: the thought of trying something new in front of all of us adults can be a little intimidating. What if you tried some new tech trick to engage staff at a staff meeting and it bombed? What if you stood in front of the staff and committed to using a Google Doc, as a staff meeting agenda, and you set the sharing permissions wrong? What if our staff meeting got completely derailed because we had to stop the meeting to make sure everyone could access the agenda? What if you used a Google Form to get feedback from the staff and you accidentally shared the editable form instead of the viewable form?! What if you asked staff to place their names on a Google sheet indicating which Adjunct Duty they prefer and somebody accidentally deleted everyone else's work?! What if you spent hours taking pictures and editing a video that you placed on youtube to show the staff, and on the day of the meeting, the internet went down?

The answer to each of the horror story questions above is this: you would fail in front of our whole staff...and that would be a good thing.

You would be showing our staff your willingness to try something new. You'd show that you weren't afraid to experiment, innovate and use technology to leverage the creativity of the entire staff. You would fail, you'd struggle, you would feel a flash of embarrassment and a sense of shame, then you would smile, then you'd shrug, then laugh. Then we would smile, then we'd laugh, then we would all realize that it is ok to fail. The whole staff would recognize that if you had the courage to fail in front of the adults, then we should have the courage to do the same in front of our kids.

I'm am looking forward to taking your lead on failure. I will only embrace failure as much as my leader does, so, for the sake of our kids, I hope you are a huge failure this year with technology! Good luck, we are all counting on you.

Sincerely,

The teacher who sits in the middle of the staff meeting.

Opening Night Jitters

Each of us has rehearsed the raising of the curtain in our mind more than once. Summer has come to a close, and whether you are the teacher standing in the front of the classroom, the student in the back seat closest to the door, the parent dropping off at the curb or the principal standing at the flagpole, we have each built up Day One in our minds to be possibly our greatest victory or our grandest failure. What is it about the first day of school that makes even the seasoned veteran second guess the most well laid out plans?

From every vantage point, the opening day of school is filled with firsts, and firsts can be filled with anxieties. The first time you meet your new teacher, the first read aloud to a new class, the first school-wide announcement, the first morning line up in a new line. I have been on the staff side of opening day for almost 20 years: I still toss and turn the night before opening just praying to not oversleep!

When I used to direct school plays, I would have to coach young actors through the opening night jitters every season. It never seemed to matter how well rehearsed the show was, and you never knew who was going to get the biggest set of jitters: one show it might be the lead and another you may have to coach a spear-carrier off the ledge just to get him to walk on stage in a single scene to announce the coming of the king. Regardless of the position within the cast, one sure-fire method I always found useful was this: If you have the jitters, you are probably focusing too much on yourself; you are not aware that you are surrounded by people that are just as nervous as you and maybe need your help even more than you need theirs. Walk out on that stage, make lots of eye contact with the people around you, be a comfort to others, help them by speaking slowly, smiling, and really listening when they speak. The best cure for the opening night jitters is to focus on finding someone to comfort.

So, for each of us who are preparing to raise the curtain on a new school year, I wish us all good luck and a safe journey. If anyone is feeling a little case of the opening night jitters: walk into school on Day One and find someone more nervous than you, make a little eye contact, and let them know that they are going to be just fine.

Have an amazing 2016-2017 Launch!