Think Deeper

One thing I know for certain, most teachers will say they entered education because of their love for children. I think this is true, but not the only reason that they entered the profession of education. I believe most teachers are driven to connect with others and when that desire to connect meets our individual passion for subjects, the real teacher is born. When the desire to connect with children meets the desire to share the subjects that we have found to be so powerful and life giving, miracles happen. The outcome is a teacher that has the strength of a warrior and the heart of a champion. Most of these like minded teachers will seek out colleagues that share this passion and yearn to work in an organization that honors thinking.

At Holiday Park we are no different than any other public education system in America today. The pressure to measure only intellect that is standardized and identified as critical weighs heavy on the shoulders of each of us everyday. Understandably, we accept this pressure in an effort to make sure we are preparing our students for whatever awaits them in their future. I think the problem occurs when we start to focus more on the measured outcome then on the actual understanding and truths that each student develops along the way.

I firmly beleive that most of our students have been taught to look for the “right” answer to please us, the teachers. One very bright student recently engaged in a lesson with me and my first impression was that he was extremely successful in the lesson and confident among his peers. He could speak of the learning he encountered and used vocabulary words beyond his years. On a true or false test he was able to answer every question with no mistakes. Super Star…right? I thought so, until, quite by mistake, I uncovered what he truly learned. After his group presentation to the class, I wondered about something he said and asked for clarification. He just looked at me, repeated the information, and then looked at me longer. When I asked him to explain what that meant to me, he couldn’t. Matter of fact, he didn’t really know what most of the words and/or concepts were that he could spout out and answer. But, he could pass any multiple choice or short answer tests just by repeating what he read and remembering the facts. Not powerful or life giving learning at all. He will shortly forget all he learned and never be able to synthesize this learning across other content areas or life situations. Certainly not what any teacher would intend. How do we move to deeper levels of thinking and understanding for our students? How can we accomplish this along with everything else on our plates? We can, and we will. Because we, mostly you, are awesome!

So where does that put us today? I would say in a great place. We have a staff of teachers dedicated to student learning and structures in place in language arts that are proving to be successful. If we can learn to synthesize that with what we are learning about “depth of knowledge” we would see we are in the perfect place to add Level 3 and 4 opportunities to our structures to ensure deeper learning everyday. This will allow us the ability to uncover each student’s real understandings and truths that they are developing throughout the lesson. DOK level 3 and 4 allow us to engage students in critical thinking without allowing them to focus on the facts or speak concepts they don’t understand in one line answers. This is just what we are ready for, and just what our students need.

Please be thoughtful this week to the kinds of questions you are asking your students. Even more important, pay attention to the kinds of answers you are accepting. Are we assuming they understand what they are saying? Are we looking for just one answer? Do we allow multiple opportunities for our students to explain their thinking? Please use this week to be reflective regarding these questions. We are about to go on a weeklong break that will energize us and allow us to return stronger than ever. Upon return we will be able to continue this thinking and learn more about DOK together.

How do we really know what's important? It is often hard to know for sure. We each come to school everyday with our own perspective, mindset, and view of reality. So do our students. While I can not pretend that what we bring with us will not impact our day, but I do believe it is our job to separate ourselves from our own personal issues in an effort to make sure we positively impact each of our students every day.
As this is our job, the same is true for our students. Our school is a place of learning. Here, at Holiday Park, all students will feel a sense of belonging and safety that is often the only constant we may be able to offer our students. We have no ability to "fix" the outside world of our students. We can not pretend it doesn't matter, but we can let them know that at school the learning environment stays the same. We are a safe place. We care about each student. We expect excellence from each of us. We believe each day is a new day, everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We will ensure caring adult connections for each student. We believe.
With this in mind, set the goal this week to ensure the learning environment for each of your students. Welcome them each day at the door. Speak with respect and kindness. Know that no child plans on coming to school to mess up your day and cause problems. Be prepared to deliver your lessons with excellence and relevance. Do not criticize or ridicule your students. Do no let any other adults on campus criticize or ridicule your students. Hold all students on campus to our expected behaviors. Have your eyes open at all times. See the students around you, even if they are not assigned to you. Show the world who you are, because you are each amazing!

We Must Guarantee The Learning Environment for All Kids...They Deserve It!

There is much that we, as educators actually do agree on. Most of us agree that a safe, positive, and effective learning environment is what is best for all kids. While we agree with the statement, we do not often spend enough time defining what this means in the classroom. We want all children to have a guaranteed curriculum, in order to ensure the learning for all. Is it not just as important to ensure that the environment in which they learn is effective for all?

We are very fortunate to have such an amazing group of teachers at Holiday Park. We each come to school everyday to positively impact every student. None of us leave the house planning on getting frustrated with our students, planning on giving our students down time while we prepare for the lesson, or planning on showing clear signs to the students or adults how upset we are with a student or colleague. While we don't plan on these things, unfortunately we experience them at times at Holiday Park. Partly because we are human, and partly because we sometimes accept behavior from our colleagues that we know should not occur on a daily basis. Now before you think this article is for you personally, please know it probably is not. The best of us always reflect and take responsibility for our every action.

We started the 2015-2016 school year in the right way. We understood that building relationships and a positive community in our classrooms was important. We realized that each behavior and procedure expectations we had for our students needed to be taught explicitly to all. I believe that the time we spent to start off the year on the right foot was well worth the effort. My question is this... was it enough?

In regards to our first few days please consider the following-

How do new students to your room receive the modeling of expectations?

Are all students showing mastery of the expectaions each day?

Are the students showing mastery of the expectations when you are not around?

How do new students to your room build relationships with you and other students?

Are we starting to identify the treasure's and talents of the students in our room?

As you reflect on the above questions, please identify the area's that could to be improved on in your classroom to ensure each student is receiving the support they need to be successful.

While the above is all well and good, there is more to consider. What do we each think of when we think effective learning environment?  Some obvious components are common to each of us. Others are more nuanced and need to be identified. I will deliver my understanding of an effective learning environment below and provide links for additional reading.

The Room/Physical Space -

The classroom and physical space that learning takes place in is an important component of effective learning. Research identifies the following components be addressed-

Clutter Free- Indicates teacher respect of the classroom and learning space

Furniture Arranged For Success Of Each Learner- Indication of teacher reflection about the needs of each learner

Furniture At Appropriate Height And Size For Learners - Indicates respect for physical comfort and optimal ability to focus while engaged in learning

Student Work Displayed - Indicates focus on learning and emphasizes individual student thinking

Anchor Charts- Indicates understanding of concrete models needed for long term retention

Class Rules Posted- Indicates the class worked on rules together and posts them to indicate their importance

Individual Behavior Plans for Students That Need This - Indicates the teacher has taken the time to work with and develop individual plans for students struggling with "school" behaviors. Additionally indicates the teachers understanding that some children need visual clues for optimal success

Supports In Place For Learning Depending on Age and Grade Level - Indicates teacher's understanding of developmentally appropriate supports for students. Example - name tags for all students in Kinder and First grade.

The Teacher-

It is very important to understand that the teacher is the single most important person to set the learning environment in the classroom. Classroom management is important for a successful learning environment. Because of it's importance, I would like to invite you to read the following short article identifying the 8 most common classroom management problems that teachers can learn to avoid right away.

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2010/12/04/8-things-teachers-do-to-encourage-misbehavior/

Outside of classroom management the teacher has other responsibilities in creating a positive learning environment. Both the teacher's attitude and willingness to provide a positive climate for learning impact each of our students everyday.

Research indicates the following components to be addressed -

Respectful Interactions - Indicates teacher's understanding of human motivational techniques

Relationships- Teacher to Students, Students to Teacher, and Student to Student - Indicates understanding of the importance of community and relationships to the ability and willingness to learn

Teacher Empathy - Indicates understanding of outside circumstances that effect learning and willingness to provide support in the classroom when necessary

Teacher Preparation - Indicates teacher understanding of how time on task can influence student behavior in classroom. Clear plans that identify the learning, the grouping of students, and the materials needed to be successful are necessary to ensure reduction of lag/down time for students while teacher is trying to get everything together

Kind Actions - Indicates the understanding that our actions speak much louder then our words. Our body language can deliver a very strong message to students about the teachers attitude toward them. In addition to body language, teacher actions surrounding how they pick helpers, who they call on for answers, and where they stand during instruction are examples of nonverbal messages sent to students everyday

Celebrations of Success - Indicates the understanding of how the power of celebrating success along the way positively effects student learning

Opportunities to Express Learning Safely- Indicates the understanding that all thoughts are important and that it is more important to think then to get the answer right 

Welcomed and Acknowledged Everyday - Indicates an understanding of human relationships and we each have a  desire for a personal connection

We, at Holiday Park, owe it to all of our students to ensure that the learning environment is effective and safe.  If we encounter an enviroemnt that is in conflict with the above understandings, we owe it to the kids, and the adult responsible, to articulate the observations and offer support. Each of us that hear negative, angry words said to children by adults at the school need to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that walk into a chaotic learning space that is filled with clutter and unorganized need to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that know that the teacher in the room next to us does not greet his/her students each day needs to kindly address it. Each of us that knows students are being put down or ridiculed by an adult at the school needs to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that sees resources not available to students in a classroom needs to be prepared to kindly address it. A good example of this would be a colleague you know that refuses to put out more pencils because the students keep loosing them. The conversation each of us needs to be prepared to have is the effect of not having needed tools has on a safe and effective learning environment. It will take us all to ensure the learning environment at Holiday Park. It is not something that I alone can do. It takes us all. the kids deserve it! Each time we look the other way, keep our silence, pretend we didn't hear or see, we are contributing to the negative impact that will have on the students.

Please take a moment and reflect on the rubric found in the link below. How are we doing, both individually and collectively for our students?

http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1531/1568290/rub_temp/Ch%202%20-Learning%20Space%20Rubric.pdf

My commitment to our students is that we will ensure a safe and effective learning environment for every classroom. That is who we are, and this is the line in the sand!

Monday, September 7th, 2015

 Today brings a much needed day of rest for the teachers, staff, and children of Holiday Park. The hard work of learning can be exhausting and we have all earned a day of rest and relaxation. 

It is often in this state of rest and relaxation that our most powerful thoughts and ideas start to form. As I spent the day thinking about our current reality and the work that we do together, I started to synthesize some recent learning opportunities into the start of a fluid thought that I would like to share with you today.

We live in the world of "education". Teaching and learning is what we do. It has been so for almost 100 years. As most of us now realize, the future of schooling and the 21st century are bound to undergo dramatic changes in the next several years and we move away from traditional ways of teaching and into creating learning environments that allow student to engage in collaboration, curiosity, and creativity. 

 Collaboration-
We have acknowledged collaboration for some time in education. For most of us providing students with the structure of working together is something we already do. What I am wondering is how often do we allow students the opportunity to choose who they work with? Thinking about how we collaborate as adults, we search out information and knowledge from each other as well as experts in the field. We choose to collaborate with those that will keep us on target, that share like ideas, and that have different strengths than we do. I wonder if we have set up an environment that encourages and expects students to work together based on the idea of purposeful learning. When we ask our students to collaborate, is it clear that the outcome is learning? Have we shifted to understanding that collaboration means much more than setting up opportunities for grouping, to expecting learners to all share thoughts and help each other make meaning along the way? Have we set up the understanding with our students that different collaborators for different learning would ensure a positive outcome for each learner? 

Curiosity-
Everything starts with a thought, question, or "I wonder..." that is followed up with searching for the answer and discerning what is relevant to each of us. Have we nurtured creativity in public school? I am not sure we have the organizational structure in public schooling that encourages curiosity over fact based learning. Schooling, back in the day, required the teacher to "fill" the students brains up with as much information as possible. This information, which we considered important, was shared through public schooling all across America. Going to school, to the library, buying encyclopedias, and sharing stories was how we gained knowledge. Times have changed. It is now possible to have acsess to knowing literally about almost anything at the touch of your fingers. I believe this changes our role in public education. While some rote information is necessary, our role more than ever is to ignite the curiosity in our students that drives their desire to learn more and search for information. 

Creativity- 
Creativity and knowledge are infinity entwined with each other. Knowledge, in it's basic forms, depth of knowledge level 1, and depth of knowledge 2, can be considered convergent thinking. Convergent thinking does not allow for creativity as it is looking for "the one right answer" the "factual answer" and "the most straightforward answer" If we are basing our teaching on fact based answers, it will be hard to move that knowledge to a deeper level of understanding. While some level 1 and 2 knowledge is necessary as foundations to learning, moving our students to a deeper level will allow for more critical thinking.
Opposite of convergent thinking is divergent thinking. This is the birthplace of creativity. Divergent thinkers always look at things in a new way. They love to think outside the box and look for many possible answers to problems. Divergent thinkers understand the necessity to apply practical analysis to their many options and select the optimal solution that they can defend with precision. Thinking about our work last week with DOK, it seems that allowing for divergent thinking is the only way we will get to the 3rd and 4th level of knowledge. 
This is the fun part; once the divergent thinking is humming away, creativity should easily follow. There has to be a way for the new knowledge learned to be presented and moved out of the head and into the world. Making something with your knowledge is the key to creativity. I once heard a quote from the African Asaro Tribe that went something like this - Knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle. Wow! How do we provide opportunities for divergent thinking and creating? That is the question before us.      

The following is a link to an article that I found interesting.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3031994/the-future-of-work/the-secret-to-creativity-intelligence-and-scientific-thinking

As we work together this week, please reflect on how often you are able to provide opportunities for divergent thinking and creating.

Go Roadrunners!