My dad was always one to give out vague, but strong advice. He was the one that told me “Look them in the eyes and speak with conviction; they will never doubt you.” I use this many times in class. By the end of the year, student’s would never know if my stories were the truth or just a story to make a point. I have been thinking about this and how common advice can translate to education very easily. See if you agree with me.
Photo Credit: Thinking ... please wait by Karola Riegler
“Fake it till you make it” - #KidsDeserveIt
A few weeks ago, a blog post was put out at KidsDeserveIt.com about the power of being positive. I am an avid follower of this blog, and as such shared with the my Twitter followers this post. I retweeted the original share, adding my own two cents of “Fake it till you make it, stay positive”. It was a real eye opener for me. I know I forget this sometimes. Kids are here to learn, not to deal with your own personal issues. I know many days I have had a rough night and morning because of my own kids are sick, or just don’t want to get their hair done or their shoes on. This is not your student’s fault, and they shouldn’t be privy of it. Dave Burgess’s writes in Teach Like A Pirate when speaking of enthusiasm, “Even if you are only acting at first, an amazing thing happens along the way. You actually start to really feel and become enthusiastic.” I think this can be transferred into being positive. If you are having a rough day, try to see the positive. Find the small positives, even if it is you got a little extra bacon in your salad. Take those small wins, and you will start seeing larger ones. If you can’t find any small ones, then find the positive teacher and hang with them. Get them to work on a project with you, and then you both win. It is not your student’s responsibility to make you positive, but it is your responsibility to not let them know you are not.
“Life if what happens, when you are busy making plans” - John Lennon
I don’t know if I cited this to right original speaker, but John Lennon was singing this when I was thinking about this blog post. I was watching Mr. Holland’s Opus, he was struggling with the death of John Lennon, his relationship with his son, and his teaching career. I think this idea can expand to our lessons. Many times it is worth stop focusing on the objective of that day and let your student’s interests lead the discussion. My students knew they could this, and these were some of the most engaging conversations and lessons that were ever in my class. Student’s want to learn, if it something they want to learn. Let them lead the direction of the discussion. If the discussion is close to on topic, let them lead it. Many times it seems like this is not possible with district and state tests bearing down on you. But if you truly listen to what they are asking and saying it will relate. If it doesn’t, then make a Google Board. Put up a bulletin board, with abstract questions and let students find the answer. Require that they supply their citations and rationale behind their finding. Develop a sense of inquiry and discovery in your classroom, and there will be more learning.
“Relationships are the air they breathe” - Dr. Mack Brown
Teaching the African American Male by Dr. Mack Brown, was probably one of the best professional developments about classroom management I have been to. It was obviously about teaching these men, but it developed to more than that. After leaving this I made a commitment to use this one piece of advice to develop my classroom. A classroom is a team, it is a living organism, it will live or die based on one student. Many times I refer to a student that is not following expectations or procedures as a "virus". If they continually do not do what is expected, this behavior will spread to the entire class. Unlike human viruses, this "virus" can be shut down. Purposefully developing relationship, finding what and how this student ticks, will bring you a great distance with eradicating the "virus". If a student feels that you care about them, the will work work for you if they won’t work for themselves. Let them know that you are the one thing in their life that is stable, the one thing that will be there when you tell them that you will be. Understand first, then try to help. If you don’t feel like you can help them, just being an adult that acts like an adult will be a great start. You can probably agree with me, that it is the student’s that you had to work the hardest to love, is the one will always say hello in the hallway in their own unique way. As it has been said many times before “Students do not care what you know, until they know you care.”
“Don’t Let the Tail Wag the Dog” - John Sursa
John Sursa was former Physics teacher colleague of mine. He knew his physics, and he knew his kids. One day after school we were having our non-scheduled PLCs, and he made this comment. I forgot what he was speaking about, but the point was made. Many times I can be so focused on getting the objective done, or find the perfect tech tool to use for a lesson. I would scrounge around Youtube looking for the best video, find the best online simulator, and search through shelves of physics supplies to teach acceleration due to gravity. After all these examples and videos, simply grabbing a textbook and a piece of paper and having them both land at the same time recorded on an iPad is all that is necessary. Tech is a tool, not the objective. If a technology needs to be removed to make it less complicated, then do it. Do not forget though, that tech can open many doors that used to be shut. If you are so focused on what you have done the past 10 years of teaching, and not what you want the students to learn then it is time to adjust your plans.
Do any of these ring a bell to you? What advice would you give? Any of the ones I listed that you disagree with? Let me know.
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