Month: January 2018

Leadership And Humility

There is much to be said for making a principled stand, especially in hostile territory.

There’s also much to be said for considering the possibility you might be missing something.

 

Basketball officiating is a rough job. In my state we’ve had a spate of veterans hang up the whistle recently, with not quite enough youngins coming up behind them. And that’s no surprise: bad pay, no home games, no appreciative crowds, not only is everyone your enemy, but everyone thinks they can do your job better than you. And God help you if you are indecisive or easily intimidated.

I’ve heard stories of young officials in their first-ever game handing out a technical foul to a veteran coach just to prove that they can’t be pushed around. Word travels fast. Every official has to earn his cred, with players, fans and coaches. The visuals are a big piece of that.

Friday night in an intense, fast-paced, physical game, I saw a relatively young official stand his ground on a game-changing call. It turns out, based on video, he was exactly…. wrong.

That was a last-second shot in overtime by Valparaiso to win a game on the road. Only problem was, the shot came after the buzzer. Shouldn’t have counted. I had the play-by-play call on the game, and that’s how I described it in real time on the air. I was as stunned as the Merrillville fans and coaches when the official emphatically signaled the basket good.

The official was roundly criticized online for missing the call. And it’s true. He blew the call. Thing is, he called what he saw. His right arm went up (signaling shot attempt) as the player pulls the trigger on the shot. Once it went in, he had no choice but to call it good. Technically speaking, in the heat of a game, he did everything right. Some folks thought he was being too emphatic with the “shot good” signal, but that’s part of having control over the game.

But…

Did he know he was wrong as the ball was in the air? Is it possible he recognized he was wrong as he walked off the court? Could he have asked for a consult with the other two officials? Could one of the other officials come to him and said, hey, I saw it different? In a case where there is no video replay, did any of these guys have a better look in real time, conclusive enough to overturn it?

I honestly do not know what is protocol there, who initiates a consult between officials. Each official has a responsibility for a section of the floor, and the official responsible for the shot made the call. The place would have gone up for grabs if they waved it off. But at least they would have got the call right. And that’s not nothing.

 

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Image via fbfuedguide.com

Teachers, especially new teachers, fight that same battle to earn cred with their students. An out-of-control classroom is not a fun place to be. And I say this from experience. For 50 minutes a day, 180 days a year, with those 30 or 100 or 180 kids, I have to be in control, undeniably and without question.

So I make my lesson plans, and execute them, and adjust on the fly where needed, but I am the boss. The pushback from kids is to be expected. Of course they don’t like the way I teach. I’m mean. I’m not like the teacher they had last year. They can’t learn in here. The grading system isn’t fair. And and and and and and and.

Every teacher, rookie or veteran knows: If you don’t exude confidence, they’ll eat you alive. They don’t need an explanation for every little thing. All that does is drag out the conversation for half the class period, decimating your plan for the day. Again, speaking from experience here.

But….

What if they’re right? What if they do need me to teach a different way? Am I confident enough, and do I care enough, to get the call right?

When I was doing rotating critical thinking bellringers last year, my students begged for more time in class to do practice sets. They didn’t see the value in estimating, or deciding which one didn’t belong, or pondering which of two options they’d rather select. I stood my ground, adamant that the process of thinking about these things would benefit them at some point in the future. They just knew they needed to be able to regurgitate math info on a quiz for a grade to graduate. We eventually settled on an uneasy truce when we needed to plow thru like 23 sections in the last 29 instructional days.

But what if they needed more reps and more 1 on 1 time? Would a more traditional classroom have been better? Would that make me a more effective leader of instruction in my classroom? All I know is I went to school on myself at the semester break and decided to flip my instruction. I gathered up some info from my online PLN and teachers in my building, and ran it by my department chair. Did I make the right decision? Like the referee in that basketball game, there’s no video replay. Unlike him, no one is plastering video of my classroom errors all over Twitter.

That’s a judgment call I’m going to have to be humble enough to make myself.

The Doldrums

Current status:

The stops and starts of the second semester are killing my motivation. One of my students pointed out today was our first full school day since last Thursday. We went: Power outage –> three days of school –> Ice Day –> MLK Day –> early release due to lake effect blizzard –> two hour delay.

The doldrums of the school year are here early. And I’m dead in the water.

Doldrums
Image via The Goog.

 

That Phases Of First Year Teaching thing applies even if you’re in your 15th year.

Wise people have suggested a makeover of the school calendar:

What if we just took January off? Let’s miss all the worst parts of winter altogether.

I gotta admit, it’s tempting. It’s still butt-dark at 7:00 am these days. Cold, snow, wind, ice. Gotta build in extra time in the morning to scrape car windows and let the car heat up. Just crawling out of bed is a monumental challenge.

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It’s that time of year, even if you aren’t the praying sort:

 

All I know is: momentum is real. Inertia too. I need a push. Maybe helping my POE class learn to code will turn the tide. There are some glimmers of hope from the move to flip my instruction in Algebra II: students who have struggled are getting some small-group attention and it’s paying dividends. More than once I’ve heard a student say, leaving class, “hey, I learned something today!” I’m about to break out DIY Kahoot for a review activity. Because the one who does the work does the learning. Also, this is definitely the kind of group that keeps score. At this point, hey, anything to turn the sails.

Because just sitting here stewing and wishing ain’t gonna move the ship.

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Stock photo via Pexels.

 

 

 

Snow Day

Then…

And now..

E-Learning Day email

It’s not our first go-round with e-learning days. My son’s school did a practice day at the start of the school year, and their half-days for teacher PD are afternoon e-learning days for the kids. My school doesn’t return from break until Monday 1/8/18, so I thought this might be a good day to take in this one from a parent perspective, rather than a teacher.

And I’m off to a flying start, natch:

Having just finished Matt Miller’s Ditch That Textbook virtual summit over break, my head is filled with fantasies of all kinds of cool, techy, collaborative activities his teachers will offer as we sit together at the laptop in the front room.

I think realistically I should prepare myself for standard assignments, delivered electronically.  Time will tell.

Image result for liturgy of the hours
Image via Divine Office

OK, not quite 9:00 am and the Religion assignment is here. Actually, Liturgy Of The Hours would be a very cool way to start every day. Collect, prayer, daily scripture, reflection time, intercessions.

Math might kill us both (spoken as a math teacher). We’re gonna practice solving systems of linear equations by elimination, and work through some systems word problems. He totally gave me the combination “Ugh, With An Eye Roll” when I showed him the assignment.

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That prayer time is gonna come in handy. So is Desmos.

Teacher Me is like, “OK, he’s gonna need help, and motivation, to get this math done. Let’s do this.” Parent Me would be reaching for a Valium sandwich and keeping his teacher on speed dial. Actually, the teachers are all available by email from 10:00 am til 2:00 pm to provide help. But if I wasn’t a Highly Trained Math Person™ this assignment would make me panic.

Note to Self: when my school starts E-Learning days, we need to provide guidance for parents on how to access online help. We’re all embedding help inside Canvas for our students, but we need to train up mom and dad as well.

 

Shortly after 9:00: Health, Social Studies, and Science assignments are all “read and outline”. He’ll power through those without much need for guidance. Pro-tip: save them for last.

Now, where is that online book again?

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Via gifimage
What good is being a 1:1 G-Suite school if you don’t know how to offer your kids new ways to connect learning? Ditch That Textbook blog to the rescue!

So this email popped into my inbox yesterday. Matt Miller teamed up with guest blogger Laura Steinbrink to offer some cool Google Drawings tips:

  • Annotate
  • Caption This
  • Caption and Comment
  • Picture This And Take A Stance

I immediately saw uses in my math classroom. These would be an ideal way for my students to show their thinking during “Estimation 180” or “Would You Rather?“.

But man, would these have been awesome ways for students to show their learning from home on a snow day. Or a way to offer some student choice – make an outline or caption the Big Three Ideas from the reading or Flipgrid your reaction to the reading (or Flipgrid your solution to one of the math word problems – crowdsource an answer key!).

So, I’m a little spoiled. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with playing it straight. Here’s a worksheet, do some math. Here’s a reading assignment, take notes. At least until you know better. I didn’t know better for the first few years in the classroom. It took a lot of digging and connecting and trial and error before I could use all these tools. And I’m for sure not here to tell other teachers how to do their job.

But man, a Desmos activity and some opportunities to create and connect and learn would have been awesome for kids staring out the window at the Frozen Tundra. Sounds like all of us who are learning and sharing together online need to keep reaching out and spreading the word. Presenter proposals for South Shore E-Learning 2018 are opening Monday.

 

So, let’s go teach, and learn, together, on a day when Lake Effect Snow is a distant memory.

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Animation of the New Years Eve lake effect storm that dropped like a foot and a half of snow, via weather.gov.

Hello, 2018!

I love it here in the future. I’ll never go back. And this morning I woke up one year farther into the 21st century.

Hello, 2018.

New Year's fireworks are seen along the Strip from the top of the Trump International, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. (Richard Brian/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Image via Las Vegas Review-Journal

One of the benefits of modern life is the support that comes from connectedness. When you scratch out that list of resolutions, you don’t have to look far for resources to help you along. You might still stumble and fall along the way, but you know someone’s got your back.

A few years ago the great Jen Fulwiler put together a Saint Name generator for folks who are looking to jump-start the search for a patron or intercessor. This year I got St. Francis de Sales (patron of writers and journalists).  He spent three years of his life going door-to-door throughout the French countryside trying to teach the faith. No one would listen. He had door after door slammed in his face.

I can relate. As Dan Meyer famously said, “I teach high school math. I sell a product that people don’t want, but are forced by law to buy.” At least in St. Francis I’ll have someone to commiserate with.

As an added bonus for 2017, Jen built a word generator. Perfect for those “One Word” or “word of the year” people who are everywhere today.

Of course, because Children Must Play™, some of Jen’s online connects mashed up their saint and word. Hilarity ensued:

I’m not that cool.

I’m Francis Presence. No editor or producer would take that character name seriously.

But, “presence.” Hmmm. Hold that thought….

spring break party GIF
Image via Giphy

A few weeks back I stumbled across a blog post by Allyson Apsey suggesting folks make a playlist for the new year, rather than making resolutions. I have the usual resolutions, yeah, but I also have a #2018Playlist. As I wrote when I first encountered Allyson’s post, I wanted a playlist in chunks that could be selected to fit a mood.

We’re at a place in the school year and just life in general where everything is a grind. Fitting that mood perfectly is a song I borrowed from one of my oldest son’s playlists, “Hurricane” by Band of Heathens (covering a Levon Helm tune)

Back that up with “All These Things I’ve Done” from the Killers, and a pair from Tenth Avenue North: “You Are More” and “Losing”, and we’re off to a low-key start to power through day-to-day frustrations.

The mid-section is designed to provide a power boost, or at least an upbeat accompaniment to housework or grading, anchored by Jet’s rave-up “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” (which is also my go-to running song when I need to dig deep):

Queens Of The Stone Age and Greta Van Fleet both deal in an updated 70s sound, providing a bridge from past to present before the Church and Lord Huron bring the thing in for a landing.

 

So, I’m self-aware enough to build a playlist that is in tune with my needs. What about when we turn the tables? Can I shift gears to meet my students’ needs? Can I be “present” for them? It should be part of the package, like a basketball coach adjusting his playbook to match his players’ talents.

The turn of calendar brings soul-searching and goal-setting in many areas; the classroom is no different. And  this year, my tribe has some backup in the form of Indiana Connected Educators. ICE Indiana is offering teachers here a chance to jump-start their 2018 with an “I will” sharing challenge:

I responded:

We’re at the point of the Algebra II curriculum where everything is new and challenging, and more theoretical. My track 3 students are not likely to move on to Pre-Calculus as seniors, almost all will take either probability & statistics or a college readiness bridge course that hits the power standards of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry. They need more time in class to work through practice problems and get help. Looking back to last year, the opposite happened. We would spend almost the entire period on warm-up, homework questions (numerous, because they didn’t get enough time to practice and ask questions in class), and new notes. By April we were all miserable.

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Image via Tenor

So what am I going to try in order to fix this issue?

I am already embedding a video of me working through my notes into the Canvas page for each lesson. My hope is that students who are absent or want to work ahead or need to see the examples worked again can refer back to the video, as often as they need.

What if…. I followed the lead of several teachers in my department who are flipping their instruction? Students watch the video on their own, take notes, and write a brief summary (picked that up from Pooja Agarwal‘s Ditch That Textbook Summit session with Matt Miller). Then the bellringer is a quick formative assessment to gauge their understanding and engage prior knowledge, and the bulk of class is spent on working through the practice set. As Matt Miller and Alice Keeler point out in their book Ditch That Homework, this gives them access to a trained professional teacher when they need help.

OK, so now we’re building in work time in class, but what about my kids who need extra help? There’s still one of me and 30 of them.

Divide and Conquer, baby. Divide and conquer.

I picked up a strategy about 10 years ago at a workshop. Two downstate Indiana teachers who paired up to share their two classes developed a differentiated instruction method they called “Island – Peninsula – Land”. Based on a quick formative assessment (walking around and peeking over shoulders, even), the teacher quickly sorts his students into three groups:

  • The Island group is completely self-sufficient. These are the “just give me the assignment so I can get it over with” students. They don’t need my help, so they can go off and do their thing.
  • The Peninsula group can mostly do the work, but might need a boost from time to time. They can send an envoy to the Island group to ask for help with a specific question.
  • The Land group does not know how or where to start. They need the most help, so I sit with that group for the session.

It’s been awhile since I’ve used this tactic. The last few years my classes were all “Land” – I really didn’t have anybody who could work through a set of problems on their own, so I shelved I-P-L. This seems like as good a time as any to resurrect it.

Image via Women In Product

Gonna run this by my department chair and get ready to roll on 1/8/18.

And don’t be bashful. Jump on the #ICEindiana hashtag on Mondays and Try, and Share, and Encourage, and Remember, and Learn.