June is a month of extremes. The Northern Hemisphere will have it's summer solstice with the most daylight hours while the Southern Hemisphere will have it's winter solstice with the fewest daylight hours for the year. In ancient times, mid-May through mid-June was not a good time for marriage, but in recent history June has been the most popular. In the teaching profession June is also a time of extremes with the last days of school packed with events and activities followed by the absolute quite of not having a room full of students.
In researching what to tie into this month's blog I came across an interesting fact about the month of May. No other month in that calendar year starts nor ends on the same day of the week. Completely obscure, but cool to think about standing out in the way that fits you. No one else has the mixture of what makes you unique: your life experiences, your talents, your interests, your cares/concerns, ... As we bring this crazy year to a close, let us see what needs to be done to recharge so we can be the best us. For me personally, I plan on putting more smiles on my face. Here's the background story.
I like to own that complement, however, there are times that I don't feel like I smile at all. Life gets in the way with stress and other things I cannot control. I want to make my smile a reason others look forward to seeing me. In my position of instructional technology support, people need to feel comfortable seeking advice or help with what they don't know or understand. If I came in all sour faced I would not have many repeat customers, if any. "Decades of research bear out the basic truth: your mood is elevated and your stress is reduced if you plaster a big smile on your face, even for a short period of time. (Frowns have been shown to have the opposite effect.) The smile doesn't have to be based on real emotion - faking it works. And while the research details vary, I'd recommend going with a full, true smile that involves your eyes as well as your mouth. That's almost certainly a more potent mood changer." Roger Dooley, Forbes Magazine, Why Faking a Smile is a Good Thing, Feb 26, 2013 I love that the simple act of smiling, which does not take that much energy, can improve my spirit. No matter what happens around me I can control this one thing, my attitude. Just put a little, or big, smile on your face to see what it does for your day.
The traditional etymology for April is from the verb aperire, "to open". How absolutely appropriate as the educational world is going through so many changes. I have seen teachers across our district open their classrooms up to students by being available during lunch as well as before and after school, creating classes that have both in-person and remote learners simultaneously, starting with remote and then moving to in-person, and a myriad of combinations of these. I'm going to jump on my soap box for a bit and just say that the groups that are calling for openness of thought are themselves very closed to that very thing. We have become a society, and frankly an industry, that does not celebrate different thoughts. We also have lost the drive to support the learning of how to handle opposing views. As the father of 4 little people, now 10 years old, I want them to feel comfortable discussing and arguing their thoughts to come to a more vetted conclusion. Being open to hear what others are saying goes both ways and as a parent I'm not seeing that play out in our educational system. Side note: 5 of the 6 Merriam Webster dictionary definitions have "argue" associated with giving evidence or weighing the pros and cons. As a mathematics teacher I have a love hate relationship with statistics. This area of study allows for multiple viewpoints of the information that can lead to conclusions about correlations being misinterpreted as causations. Lately, there have been many quoted statistics on what makes students achieve based on factors that cannot be helped (race, gender, etc.) “Every child needs to be able to see their hopes and dreams realized and see real-life role models of folks that look like them doing things that they love, having success." Washington Post Article versus "If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney Allowing students the excuse that they did not like, understand, relate to, etc. their teacher as a reason for the student's failure is unacceptable. Our students deserve better than this and should be held to the standard of the latter quote above. This freedom, that no matter what life has thrown at us, allows us to overcome every obstacle. Every child needs to be opened to the fact that they are important in the world and need to find what they will do to make it a better place. We should not be putting barriers in their way by saying you can only succeed if you see someone that looks like you succeed. March is the month that holds the Spring Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere and the Fall Equinox for the Southern Hemisphere. This time of new beginnings is a great time for us to think about how to keep things fresh in our classrooms. With all the mess we have had to deal with getting in the way of teaching, now might just be the time to shake it off and start something new. Not everything, but just something to keep you and your students enjoying your time together. With testing season coming around the corner, teachers and students could do with a little change in the status quo. Reminding ourselves of the need to be relevant and keep our teaching relevant can be extremely powerful at times like this. Here are some questions that I posted back in my time in the classroom during this season
We have teachers that have run with this idea of starting something new by creating the hybrid brick and mortar remote classroom models here in Santa Rosa. Since some of the remote students wanted to return to school, but also wanted to keep their teacher, a few have taken the dive into having both students in class as well as students still at home. This new adventure has given teachers the freedom to try new things with the understanding that they are pioneering them. They are blazing the trail and are finding the pitfalls for those that may end up following them. Please give yourself the freedom to start something new and keep things fresh. December stands for the 10th month (which was the last month of the year at the time) but because of societal changes January and February got added to the end which then became the beginning, and thus December is now the 12th month...I know, my head hurts too. I did not realize that our history as a people was as inside-out and upside-down as this year 2020 has been. I think it ironic also that 2020 refers to perfect vision, but this year has been nothing shy of completely and utterly unfocused. With all that being said, I am in AWE of what my friends and colleagues have been able to do with what the world has given them.
I am amazed at the grace our teachers have shown their students while still holding the bar high. I admire their patience for rules and regulations forced upon them by powers that do not seem to understand. I am astonished to witness the flexibility of lessons and the support of students' learning. I hold in high esteem the teachers who have stretched their own minds to make sure they have the tools needed to reach our students in this digital time. And I stand in wonder at the fact that we are not caving to what many across the nation would have us. During this time of awe, find some things that you can be in reverence of. During this time of year, I'm always reminded to take all the information/activities that have happened from the beginning of school to this point and put a twist on them to find what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for having a job, when so many others do not. I'm thankful for the appreciation I receive when supporting (or all too often trying to support and spinning my wheels). I'm thankful for the patience of our educators and specifically my children's teacher. Being open to bring all four of my beautiful, crazy, funny, loving quads into one classroom is such a weight lifted off us as a family. And I am so thankful for having a teacher like that to help mold my children into the people they are meant to be. We educators are an amazing bunch of people. I'm thankful for the tenacity and resilience of the people I work with everyday. You all lift me higher and push me to be better. I'm thankful for the willingness of my teachers to reach through all the crazy and connect with our students in meaningful ways. I'm thankful for all the people around the world that I get to meet up and share stories with in the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert group. It feels so good to be able to list things like this to reset my mind. I hope you too are able to have a list of thanks that bring peace to your heart.
This Halloween season I wanted to explore the idea of what makes me scared as a teacher. One of the main reasons I became a teacher was to help children grow into the productive adults they wanted to be. And there in lies my fear. I work diligently and want to make sure that I have not put a stumbling block in front of any of my students that would hinder their progress towards the amazing things they have to offer the world. Before I left the classroom to work in this wonderful world of instructional technology training, I had a student in my Algebra 2 class that finally passed the Algebra 1 state exam. Yes, after 7 tries and being passed onto Geometry and then onto my Algebra 2 class, she finally passed what many would say should be a prerequisite. When she told me she passed, the next words out of her mouth were "This is the first time I have not been told by a test that I'm stupid." I could not believe that our educational system had so totally defeated this beautiful mind. She was definitely not planning on being a mathematician, but she felt like she had nothing to offer the world. I will tell you, she had the potential to be an amazing fashion magazine editor, and I hope she still has that light inside.
Another fear I have is letting my boss down. I began my teaching career with a principal that supported me in every way possible, but I did not understand how to accept her support in the classroom. I was afraid that having her in my room was a sign of weakness. Even though I understand that weakness can only be overcome by "working out", I was not feeling the confidence of bringing in the expert to show me the ropes. I was speaking with a middle school admin recently and she let me in on her philosophy on this subject. "If I'm not in their classrooms, that is when they should be worried. As my employees, I am invested in their growth, so I need to be in the mix with them to see how my investment is doing." What are you scared of in your educational practice? What worries keep you up at night? The beginning of this 2020-2021 school year has been difficult at best. With COVID restrictions, offering the Remote Learning Option, and HURRICANES to begin our year, we have no place to go but UP. I am trying to remind teachers that they technically have second-semester of the previous grade students coming into their classrooms, and it is taking its toll. This is where my favorite part of my job comes in. I get to work with the teachers to take a bit of their stress and tech issues off their plate and bring back answers to support them.
We have found that students are all over the place with their understanding of how remote learning is supposed to work. Some are working hard and growing as intended, but others are thinking it is a mixture of spring break and school (leaning more towards the spring break mentality). We have had students reporting late to their remote classes because the family was busy figuring out where to go for breakfast. This thought process on the side of the home, aka parent figure(s), has to be fixed so that they understand what is at stake. Their decision to keep their child(ren) safe by choosing the remote option shifted many facets of the educational support from the school to their home. Most people did not realize how much the school and its personnel put into each and every child's educational career. I'm hopeful that the families we serve are seeing now more than ever the need for a productive relationship between the home and school. We have also found that brick and mortar teaching has changed quite a bit. I used to be so frustrated by students missing my class for a day here and there for testing or extracurricular endeavors. But my fellow teachers now are having to deal with students missing upwards of 2 weeks at a time for any quarantine due to exposure. The nice thing is that teachers are seeing the need for synchronous teaching using the amazing features we have through Microsoft Teams. I even have NJROTC units doing uniform inspections through that platform. At the end of all this, we will have grown tremendously and stretched our wings to soar to even greater heights. Good things come to those who wait, but sometimes better things come to those who push on and endure. Whether you are feeling powerful like the image on the left or relaxed like the image on the right, we are quickly reaching the end of the school year. Or maybe because of how our educational system got turned inside-out and upside-down you feel more like the picture below. Either way, this spring has been no less than a whirlwind of change. Moving to distance learning in 1 week was quite the feat, but we did it. I have seen teachers and student grow like never before due to their desire to better themselves through this adversity. Seeking advice from others that have found the path of least resistance. Becoming part of the "Geek Squad" of Santa Rosa County to get our students and parents tech working. All of this to keep Santa Rosa County Schools tops in the nation. We really do know how to show our student love.
Our students are now learning without being in our brick and mortar schools. We are adapting to not having physical proximity (one of the pillars of classroom management) with our students. We are learning how to control online meetings, create learning opportunities for all students to engage with, and working longer hours than we did before (which did not seem possible). As we enter this last month of the 2019/20 school year, we can see a summer break more important than any other in our time of teaching. Let's finish with a great push to the finish line and know that we have done the best for our students during this historic, unprecedented shut down of our great country. I look forward to seeing what you all come up with and give to your students. "Lucky" per Merriam-Webster definition 3: producing or resulting in good by chance : FAVORABLE.
Sometimes our chance happens by chance . A word softly spoken to a nervous child, a stern holding of the line for a child testing the boundaries, or even quiet listening to a child sharing part of their life. These are things we can possibly plan for, but occur when we least expect it. I hope that we educators are able to see our potential for influence and take that part of our job most seriously. Most children will not remember what a past-participle is, nor how to simplify a radical. However, they will remember how we made them feel while they were struggling through these concepts. We as teachers have such a great opportunity to influence our communities. Not many professions allow for such interactions with community leaders, families, students, businesses, and volunteer/philanthropies. Tying together the link between what we are charged with teaching our students and the world outside/after their school years is so crucial. Sometimes our chance is something we create by cultivating the relationships aforementioned. I have been able to work with Microsoft and their team that builds the Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE). Our relationship with them has allowed for direct lines to the programmers so they can hear from teacher users what needs to be fixed/changed. Having the M:EE programmers in a chat session available almost at any time is a powerful tool that continues to help us with our use of the "game". Relationships are only beneficial if both parties are giving, so to cultivate the Santa Rosa side, I will be presenting how we have rolled out M:EE in a session at the International Society of Technology in Education conference. An Irish Blessing for you as you continue to the finish line of the school year: |
AuthorSpencer Lunsford gets to travel throughout Santa Rosa County- helping teachers integrate technology. Archives
June 2021
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