It has been so long since I've blogged. I'm trying to make it a goal of mine to blog regularly because I think it's good to reflect on practices, update everyone on what's happening in the building and hopefully promote an online community. I really can't even believe we are back to school already. Summer just flew by! We started off on our first day by setting the stage for the rest of the year. The IB Team decided that our focus would be on the IB Approaches to Learning or ATLs. The plan is to thread this theme throughout the late start PDs. This will help with consistency and it will give groups a focus for the year. One thing to remember about the Approaches to Learning is that there are 5 skill categories, 10 skill clusters, and over a 100 skill indicators. These DO NOT have to be covered all by one teacher or department. We will collectively be covering these as a building. I'm confident that these are all skills that we are promoting and teaching every single day. The only change is that we collectively and collaboratively need to work on teaching these skills more explicitly. "They are not an add on to the curriculum, but are an integral part of assisting student achievement in each subject." - Diane Mckenzie It's hard to do things differently. Especially if you're in the teacher groove. Some of you may know that I have taught at all levels in this district. I'm not a stranger to switching roles and taking on new challenges. When I first started at the high school, I just came from the elementary. I was laid off from my Response to Intervention role at Keller and Oakland and was fortunate enough to be called back to teach Visual Arts at Northwood and Addams. In late August, there was a last minute change and I was moved to ROHS. To be honest, that was the BEST move for me. I always wanted to teach at the high school level and now I finally was getting the chance. I learned a lot in the first three years teaching Graphic Comm, Visual Imaging, and Web Design. But if I could go back and change one thing about how I taught those first three years at ROHS... I would change my assumption that students come 'knowing' certain things and they automatically come with certain skills. I found myself assuming many things. I assumed that since they were 16, 17, and 18 and that they knew how to save files. They knew how to self-manage. They knew how to submit work. They knew how to team. They knew.... Why did I think that? Well, of course, because I told them to do it. Duh. :) Now being in my 10th year of teaching (Yeah, IKR? Crazy) and my 7th different teaching assignment, I realize that telling and teaching are very different. We all know this, but it's really easy to get into the 'telling slump.' Teachers provide opportunities for learning. They create experiences where students can problem-solve, ask questions, and think deeper. Sometimes this is a good reminder. I'm actually reminded again, now that I'm writing this. It's really easy to get into the 'telling slump' It wasn't until I was given a Web Design class that I fully realized that I had to change my instruction. I had never taught Web Design. I'm not going to lie... I was scared. Coding is not one of those things that you can just teach off the cuff. Well, at least I can't. Those who know me, know that I'm a perfectionist. I have a plan. I'm organized. I wasn't a stranger to writing curriculum. Creating something from nothing is my specialty, but... teaching another language to students? Rut Roh! I realized that I was in a 'telling slump'. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had great moments of awesome teaching. The moments in which you leave at the end of the day and think, "Man. That went sooooo good!" I had to take what I learned from my elementary colleagues and differentiate like crazy. Technology classes are difficult because there isn't a large group that has the same ability level or even close to the same with some outliers. They are allllllll over the place. This combined with constant student absences... (It's really the same story for all classes) what do you do? Well, I know what I had to do. Change.
I had to model like mad, create video tutorials, create different leveled projects and assignments, and have student teams. While one group was working on one task and the other group working on another task, I was able to pull students that needed more one-on-one instruction. Organized Chaos. This. Was. Not. Easy. BUT it felt soooo good. I walked out of work more days thinking, "Man. Today was soooo good!" And whenever that happens... I feel like it's a win. My own story hopefully highlights the idea that sometimes we have to slow down. Be cognizant of the telling slump and find ways to explicitly teach the skills that students will no doubt use the rest of their lives. As we move into our Approaches to Learning journey this year, take a moment to reflect. Are there times in which you could take a couple extra minutes to explicitly teach skills? Are there things you assume students know already? Do you need help? If so, reach out. We are all in this together. :) @ROHS_Reimold [email protected] RESOURCES:
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I started off on the wrong foot this morning. Or I woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Either way, it wasn't an awesome start. I was dragging to get out of the door. Panicked that I wouldn't make the MiGoogle Conference on time. I got dressed super quick. Had a couple sips of coffee (definitely not enough to fuel my soul for the day) and ran out of the house. The drive to Lake Fenton High School was long. A 55 minute drive in perfect traffic, which was not perfect. I noticed I was running low on gas but thought, "What the heck, I'll just get it closer to the conference." Not intending to live dangerously, I drove about 35 miles from the time my light came on and pulled off to get gas. I got out. I opened the cap. I went to grab my card and... I then realized... I had no money. I had no license and was still about 25 miles from the conference spot in the middle of nowhere. Fannnnnnnntastic! So, I did what any normal person would do. I said some choice words, text messaged my friends my sad story, got in my car and drove to the conference with the hope I would make it.
In the car, I decided to get some perspective. After thinking... 'I have no money, I'm hungry, I may not make it to my destination, no one is awake to come get me, I am about to be very late! and wishing I would have charged my phone last night...' I turned on a TED Talk by Shawn Achor called The Happy Secret to Better Work. I guess if you listened to this TED Talk only from only the viewpoint of work, you would be missing out on the core meaning. First, Shawn is hilarious. The first time I saw this was at TEDxDetroit. It was just a nice reminder about things we as people and as teachers forget on the day-to-day. If you haven't seen this video, you should take 13 minutes and watch it. Watch it with an open mind. The points that Shawn made really grabbed me. When we start seeing things through a different lens (whether that be a positive lens, an MYP lens, a problem-solving lens, etc.), we grow. Take a few minutes each day to exercise and shift our mindset with positive thinking. Sounds cheesy? Yeah, I know... but it makes sense. If you can practice and condition your body, why can't you do the same with your mind? We teach children that stretching their minds is important. It's necessary. We want them to be active lifelong learners. When students stretch their mind, that's when learning happens. That's when growth happens. So why is it that when I heard of exercising my mind for positivity, I scoffed at it initially? I thought, "Psh. Ridiculous, you can't retrain your brain that way." I would like to think I'm a thoughtful processor and an inner reflector. Those who know me understand that it takes me time to develop an idea, a direction, a system, a protocol. I don't think important decisions are made quickly. I think they are made thoughtfully. So with this in mind, I thought about Shawn's message after the initial viewing of the video. I thought about it and watched it again, thinking about it in terms of happiness aside from my role as a teacher. And you know what? I saw it differently. When you look through something with a different lens and a *buzz word alert* growth mindset... you... grow. Crazy how that works. So cool coincidence, the keynote speaker Anthony Buza shared this same TED Talk at the end of his presentation. He talked about sharing our successes as teaches. His perspective was that we need to lift one another up. When we, as teachers, are more positive on the job, we have more fun. More fun equals better teaching. The mentality that those who play together, stay together. I agree with Anthony that I don't think we celebrate one another enough. I don't know if that's a high school thing, a building thing, or just a culture thing. I think that's why I like social media (Twitter specifically). I, like many teachers, don't have tons of time to sift through tons of information. Twitter makes it easy to check out what is happening in someone else's classroom. It gives us the opportunity to peek into a classroom and see all of the cool things that teacher is doing, get ideas, and also 'like' something. Give them a digital pat on the back and say what we don't often hear in education enough... "Good job!" I know that we don't really need that as professionals, but it does feel good to know that your colleagues and administrators think that you are doing good things for students. What I really took away from the TED Talk was that I need to be mindful of my perspective. Not just on the job, but in life. I need to take time out of my day and reflect on the good things that have happened, the moments I want to remember, the people, the times, what I said, how I could be better, what differences I made, what differences I could have made... Getting my mind set today in order to move forward and think more positively for tomorrow. Watch the video. What is your perspective? Shawn's recommended exercises for creating lasting positive change...
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