Teacherscribe's Teaching Thoughts
Week 1 - September 8-11
This is the start of the school year for us
The Sage on the Stage
I then asked them what the new phrase should be. They came up with - we need a teacher not a preacher. That is, they need someone who isn't going to just tell them how to do it but someone who is actually willing to be a co-learner with them.
I like that.
Great goals
The World is a Fine Place and Worth Fighting For
We need more kids like this!
Book of the Week - How Successful People Think
It's a quick read. But it's packed full of great content. It was first published in 1973, so it's a bit dated, but the tips still hold true. I think it's actually more relevant today than it was nearly 50 years ago.
Thinking is often totally absent from social media today that it's disheartening. Not everything - especially the huge, complex issues we need to actually address and solve right now - can be discussed or solved with 140 character tweet or a pithy meme on Facebook. In fact, I've started to automatically unfriend anyone on FB who fools me into reading a long post (I literally think, great! Someone has finally written something, only to realize that, nope, they were lazy and just copied and pasted it. No wonder kids struggle with plagiarism!
You can change your thinking process and your thinking habits.
Teaching Thoughts
Week #1 - September 8-11
Teaching Thought #1 – Make it an amazing day
I love the first day of school. It’s my favorite day of the year. By far. Even after 22 years of teaching, I still toss and turn all night long from excitement.
The Thought for today is to personalize it. Don’t just leap into the syllabus. There is plenty of time to do that. Strive to make a connection with the students first. Then focus on the content.
Think of it this way – remember those awful safety training videos the district makes us sit through? Don’t lie. You hate them. You click on them and let the play out while you do something else, paying zero attention.
Well, that’s how most students think of our classes on the first day.
Why didn’t you pay attention to the air borne pathogens training video? Or the Materials Data Sheets training session?
Because it has nothing to do with you, right? It’s because when will you ever really use or even need that information?
Well, our students think the same thing about American History, Algebra, Biology, and even dear old College Composition.
The key is to make a connection with kids and then show them how what they will learn in your class will pertain to them and their lives. Show them how they will use it or need it in the future.
Make it a great day for kids so they want to come back for the remaining days.
Teaching Thought #2 – Offer students A.I.R.
This is difficult to do on just the second day of class, but put this away for the end of the first week or the start of the second week: students need A.I.R. OR – appreciation, inspiration, and recognition.
The sad fact is that for the majority of adults, the last time they received any applause at all was at their high school graduation! People love to feel appreciated, inspired, and recognized.
Have you ever heard of anyone leaving a job because they were so damn tired of all the appreciation their employers were showing them?
Yeah, right! That’s why upwards of 80% of Americans dislike their jobs. Can you imagine?
Now, if adults feel that way, how must our students feel? Let’s work to ensure that they don’t become part of that 80%.
Think of ways to show students how you appreciate them. I start doing this as soon in the school year as I can. This might be just remembering something about them and then having a conversation with them about it. If I know a student likes the Vikings – for example – I’m going to give them grief as soon as they lose. How is this showing them I appreciate them? It’s showing them that I remember something about them and that I’m going out of my way to talk to them about it. That’s vital! And it’s so easy to do.
Inspiring kids is another easy thing to do. This, in fact, is probably what I spend most of my time on. I want students to grow up to be just like me. Wait. Let me explain. What I mean by that is I want them to grow up and love life and being an adult and having a job they can’t wait to come to and having Monday be their favorite day of the week (that’s true for me).
So I seek to inspire my students with my passion and positivity every single day. I do this in simple ways – I will write T.G.I.M. (Thank Goodness It’s Monday) next to my learning targets. I will walk around and talk to each kid, giving them grief and making them smile. I’ll return work with positive comments (and even stickers – yes, high schoolers still love stickers) on it. I’ll even show an inspirational video or tell them an inspirational story from my own life that somehow relates to what we will be doing in class.
Finally, recognition. Maybe the most difficult one. I can hear some detractors now accusing me of creating snowflakes.
Well, when it comes to your kid – you want them to be a snowflake! Admit it. If you don’t, you’re a liar. Period.
There are a couple of ways I’ve found to recognize kids. Since I teach English, I often have students read snippets of their essays. When I come across a particularly excellent piece or passage, I’ll ask students to share it with the class (or I’ll share it for them if they are too shy to read in front of the class), and after I’ll explain how awesome it was and recognize them for it.
Another way is that I’ll send home a postcard highlighting something a student did in class that week. I won’t address the postcard to the student. It will be addressed to their parents. How often do parents get positive letters home from school?
I’ll email parents too. But I’ve found that isn’t quite as memorable as a postcard.
Another way, that I haven’t tried yet but want to this year, is to cold call parents. Since most don’t answer their phones anyway, I’ll just talk for a minute about how awesome their son or daughter is and focus on one great think they did in class. I want to do this on Friday afternoons so the kid will have a great weekend when their parents hear the message.
A final way to recognize kids – and probably the easiest route – is to simply leave great comments on their report cards. But this isn’t enough! This should be about the 100th time you’ve recognized them.
Everyone needs A.I.R. Especially our kids.
Teaching Thought #3- Let Your Freak Flag Fly!
Let your freak flag fly.
What?
That’s right. Let the students see your weird, goofy, obsessive side.
Why?
Because it shows them that you’re one of them. You’re human. You have passions and interests and a uniqueness. Just like they do.
I never really Thought of this. But it’s what I do.
Spend five minutes in my room, and you’ll see my freak flags flying high.
But I didn’t do it consciously, and I never Thought about it until one day I was sending a text to a student, Naomi, who had missed class.
I texted her that class just wasn’t the same without her and that we missed her leadership and contributions.
She texted me later thanking me for my contributions and leadership. She said she loved the class and was having a great time. Then she added a line that blew me away: “Plus, you’re weird. That helps.”
The light went on for me.
Let your weirdness show.
If you love cooking, let your students know. Who knows? They may bring in recipes for you.
If you love Seinfeld, quote from it all the time. Who knows? You might be inundated with Kramer memes via Facebook and Instagram.
Have a passion for sharks - as I do - and who knows? You might get inundated with tweets when Sharkweek is on or get videos of some surfer crossing paths with a Great white that a student saw on the news.
Win them over by letting your inner freak or geek out.
Teaching Thought #4- 111 Things About Students
One of my favorite assignments is given out on the very first day of class, the 111 Things About You list.
I simply ask students to list 111 things about themselves. Why 111? Well, it’s not the easiest number to get to, which is part of the charm of the assignments. Students will list trivial stuff (I’m left handed, we live in St. Hilarie, I have two cats, or we have a lake cabin in Mentor), but right around the 50 mark or so, students run out of that stuff. Sooner or later, they will put down a nugget that really shows me a window into their world or they will list something that I can comment on with “I know just how you feel” or “This happened to me too!” or “This would make a great essay topic. Revisit this.”
The benefit is that I learn so much about my students. I even write one right alongside them and they can get to know me.
I assign this on the first day and have it due on the Friday of the first week. Then over the weekend, I read it and take note of the things that stand out to me. That way when students come back for the second week, I’m armed with so much knowledge about them and their lives and their passions that I can start making connections to what we read and write to their own interests and lives.
For example, if a student happens to write that Captain America > Iron Man, I will say, “If you love Captain America, wait until you meet Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.” Or if a student mentions they love horror films, I’ll say, “You might want to think about reading The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining for your final novels paper” or “Wait until we read ‘A Rose for Emily’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ your mind is going to be blown.”
In 22 years of teaching, I’ve found that the more I know about my students and their lives’ the better I am able to connect with them and personalize content for them.
Why I Teach
The passion from my students
This is a great litmus test for my students. Most turn it in on the very first day. A rare few turn it in late. And several turn it in early. Yes. Can you believe it?
Abigail, in this case, texted me to let me know that she finished writing it the very first night I assigned it! That is a record!
When a student shows such passion, it's not hard for me to get fired up to teach them!
Podcast of the Week - "Four Laws of Learning"
For the record, here are the four laws of learning (and note that these aren't the ONLY four laws, just four (of many) laws that help learning). I will just delve in to the first way for the sake of brevity, though.
1. Keep the GPS on - Juts like when you're traveling somewhere, it's vital to keep the GPS on the entire time. Now, when I drive to Minneapolis, I always use my GPS, but I've been guilty of just turning it on only when I stop at the Clearwater Travel Plaza. But the danger with that is how my GPS will adjust my course based on traffic flow and accidents. One thing I love about my GPS is that they will re-route me to avoid road work or traffic accidents.
Why wouldn't we want to use that same principal for our students?
In the classroom, thanks to formative assessment, it's vital to keep tabs on kids to help them attain the skills and standards we want. As we are working on something - say reading To Kill a Mockingbird - I can keep the GPS on for the students and adjust our course. Maybe they struggle with why Atticus would have Jem read to Miss Lafayette Dubose and how they relates to one of the core themes of the book. Then we can spend more time on that until the theme is clear. Or maybe students are struggling to grasp how to write a literary analysis of a short story. So instead of plowing ahead and hoping for the best, I adjust the GPS and slow down and listen to a story, say "Young Goodman Brown" or "The Yellow Wallpaper" twice. Once just to get the story down. The second time to call out examples of theme and to have student led discussions around the examples.
2. Classify, Connect, and Compare.
3. To learn we need to churn.
4. Better to retrieve than receive.
This episode is gold. Please check it out. Best of all, it's really short (only about 20 minutes).
Video of the week - Excellence is the Next Five Minutes
Instead, what Peters offers is a mindset to make excellence your goal in short, manageable bites. As in the next five minutes.
What if after you walk out of a meeting, you set the goal that your next conversation is going to be excellent? What if you get to school, and you set the goal that the next person you talk to will be an excellent interaction? What if during class, you set the goal that the next time a student asks you a question, you're going to deliver some excellent feedback.
Do that often enough over time, and you'll have your long range goal of excellence.
Thoughts from Twitter
Give this a try in your classroom . . .
Then leave the classroom.
I'm serious. Turn the class over to your former students. This gives them 100 percent transparency since you aren't in the room. They can be honest with your new class and the new class can feel free to ask questions they might not want you to hear: does he have favorites? How hard is he on cheating? What really is his late work policy? And so on.
The first time I did this, my former students talked for about ten minutes. The second time I did it, the former students talked for at least half an hour!
Is it worth it? I don't have any hard evidence either way, but I love doing this because it sends a great message to my new class: he trusts his former students so much that he leaves the room so they are free to say whatever they want about his class. That is trust. And confidence.
Article of Interest - Three Necessary Things for Young People Who Feel Their Future is Unraveling
This article offers teachers some advice for helping students navigate this difficult time.
1. Offer them a chance to become part of a community. People always need to be part of something larger than themselves. More now than ever.
2. Offer students choice in what they learn. In a time of uncertainty, giving students some choice and control is powerful.
3. Allow students the chance to voice their concerns and ideas. Again, in uncertain times, let kids talk their way out of confusion and into understanding.
Bonus content of the week -
In this crazy distance learning and hybrid system we are in right now, how could you share content like this? A minute with Kurt Reynolds or Jessie Hickman? What kind of impact would that have on students instead of reading (boring and unengaging) learning targets or lesson plans?
Or what if you had each of your students - as an exit slip - send you a minute video in which they tell you something you need to know about the content or summarize what they learned in class or even share what they are struggling with?
In Case You Missed it: Link to Last Week's Teaching Thoughts Newsletter
Chief Inspiration Officer of Room 205
I am married to the most amazing person in the world, Kristie. It was love at first sight. At least for me. And it still is.
We have four wonderful children, Casey, Koko, Kenzie, and Cash. And now we have been blessed with five grandchildren!
I also happen to have the greatest job in the world: teaching English to high school students.
I am in my 23rd year of teaching at Lincoln High School. I graduated from Lafayette High School in Red Lake Falls in 1992. I decided to enter the field of education because of two amazing teachers, Mr. Mueller, my fourth and sixth grade elementary school teacher and assistant baseball coach, and Mrs. Christianson, my 9th grade English teacher.
I attended Northland Community College, and had my life changed by the amazing Dr. Diane Drake. Then I transferred to Bemidji State University in 1995. There I had amazing professors who further inspired me to teach English (Dr. Helen Bonner, Dr. Mark Christensen, Susan Hauser, and Gerry Schnabel). I graduated with my BS in English Education in 1997.
I student taught with the wonderful Lisa Semanko and then began teaching full-time at LHS in 1998.
I took a year's leave of absence in 2001-02 to return to BSU for my MA in English. There I had the privilege to teach and work closely with my greatest mentor, Dr. Mark Christensen. I earned my MA in English in 2006 and was honored with "Thesis of the Year" for my creative non-fiction, braided, multi-genre memoir, "Meeting Myrtle: A Biography."
In 2013, thanks to my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Jodi Holen, I was offered an adjunct teaching position fall semester at the University of North Dakota. Tuesday nights I teach Intro to Education: Teaching and Learning 250 from 5-8. Those three hours fly by in about ten minutes.
Then in 2016 I was blessed to win a WEM award (thanks to a nomination from a former student (and now an elementary school teacher), Ciera Mooney).
In 2017 I became part of the #pineconepd podcast club along with Brian Loe, Jeff Mumm, Kelsey Johnson, Kelly Weets, Josh Watne, Tevia Strand, Megan Vigen, Mariah Hruby, Laura Brickson, Loren Leake, Katie Hahn, Melora Burgee, and new members all the time. This has been one of the best forms of PD I've ever been a part of. They make me a better teacher every time we meet. Please think about joining us in the summer at the Pine Cone Pub from 6:30 - until we've solved all the world's problems. For that evening anyway.
Thanks to the inspiration of Shane Zutz (our former principal) I devised this as a way to distribute my Teaching Thoughts and add more content to, hopefully, help out and inspire others.
Email: kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org
Website: http://teacherscribe.blogspot.com
Location: 101 South Knight Aver Thief River Falls MN 56701
Phone: 218-686-7395
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Twitter: @teacherscribe