“Always Try Your Best” – Impossible? Unreasonable?

Yesterday was the first rough school day ever for our 5-yr-old, Emily.  She had to move her monkey down to ORANGE…  (kids start at green, can move up to blue or purple…or down to yellow, orange, or red based on behavior throughout the day).  She had been removed from her small group for talking and being silly and she had played with and pulled another girl’s arm late in the day.  For Emily the ultimate rule-follower, this was just horrible.  So at the end of the day, our little Emily broke down and was very upset with herself.  She shed many tears before she got home, my wife and I huddled up to talk about how we wanted to handle it, then we went to talk to her.

As we spoke to her, I found myself saying something I’ve said to many, many kids over the years “We want you to always try your best.”  Sounds simple and I’m sure it’s something many of us have said to our students…but later I started thinking about it more and more.  Is this an unreasonable request?  Has any human in the history of mankind actually ever done this?  I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t always try my best….Most of the time I try to do really well, sometimes I try my best, and well sometimes I coast a bit on things (flag football  games with our church come to mind….).  Isn’t this what we all do?

So is it damaging to tell kids to always try their best?  Or is it good to place that high bar in front of them, even though they will never achieve it?  Could we change it to “always do your best on the things that truly matter to you?”  Or does adding a qualifier take away the simple impact of the phrase by itself?

Just some things I was thinking about and thought I’d share.  Oh, and Em bounced back- she insisted on writing cards to her teachers and the girl whose arm she pulled and today came home on purple and was thrilled…pretty sure this setback won’t end up in a life of crime...

Em on a much happier day, rolling around in the leaves...

Unsolicited Educon Advice

I saw the most amazing thing the other day while I was driving to work.  It was a grey and windy day as I was putzing along behind another couple of cars and I happened to notice something out of the corner of my eye.  As I rounded a bend there were three leaves gliding perfectly along the road in front of me, weaving in and out between one another as if they were completely choroeagraphed.  It was really beautiful to see them glide like this- just enough wind to make them glide, but not enough to lift them off the ground.

As I drove away I started to think about just how complex of a thing this was that I just witnessed.  The conditions had to be absolutely perfect- just the right amount of wind, coming from the right direction.  The cars in front of me had to be in exactly the positions they were in and moving the exact velocity they were moving to create the effect. The leaves themselves had to be an exact size and shape, and had to have fallen and been blown into the exact position they were in for this seemingly simple beauty to happen.  And I had to notice it (perhaps the most incredible part, as I've usually got "driving to work" blinders on)...

This seemingly simple thing was in fact an incredibly complex and delicate balance, working together to create something incredible that couldn't possibly be duplicated.  It is with this that I reflect on the Science Leadership Academy, led by Chris Lehmann alongside his incredible group of staff, students, and parents.

I've only been to Educon half a time, last year.  I say a half because the night after I arrived I came down with a stomach bug that just wrecked me and kept me away from SLA until the last half of the experience.  I'm by no means an expert, but I know an excellent group of staff and students when I see one - and of course SLA has this in spades.  But my advice is this- don't go into Educon trying to duplicate or "scale up" SLA back at your home schools.  You can't.  It won't work.

You see, a great school is very much like those leaves- a complex group of leadership, staff, students, parents, funding, resources, curriculum development, philosophy, support, politics, and timing in the community (and so much more).  You can't recreate a great school like SLA, no matter how hard you try- because you can't scale up people.  You can't scale up the precise environment they impacted their world within.

So what would I suggest you do at Educon?  First, keep your eyes open and notice the beauty of a great school.  Then, go into it thinking about how you can take the ideas shared, the work presented, the students you experience, and make these ideas your own in your school or school system.  Don't try to do school like SLA- try to mold your own school into it's own greatness and then work hard to make it happen!

I'm going to miss Educon and all my friends this week, as we are getting ready for our 3rd child, due in the next 2 weeks- I will miss you all and am really looking forward to reading the ideas presented.  Have fun and I'll see you soon, I hope!

-Steve

The Beatles' Decca Audition and Why We Should Be Open to Genius in our Schools

The Beatles Van in 1963, after Pete Best was replaced by Ringo (2nd from left)

New Year's Eve, 1961.  Around mid-day, the Beatles piled into their road manager Neil Aspinall's Commer Van for a trip to London.  It was frigid and they were driving through a snowstorm, which turned the trip into a 10-hour lumbering journey of missed turns.  They got in at 10:00 at night, "just in time to see the drunks jumping in the Trafalgar Square fountain", as John put it.  They were on their way to London to make history, although they didn't quite know it yet.  More specifically, they were on their way to the London Decca studio for a now-historic and infamous audition.


The next morning, New Year's Day of 1962, the 4 young men (John, Paul, George, and their drummer at the time Pete Best) showed up to Decca for their audition.  They started at 11 and played for about an hour.  Having been an already-seasoned club band, they chose 15 songs directly from their act- 12 covers and 3 Lennon/McCartney originals.  The boys were nervous (this was a big deal- an audition for a major record company) and tired.  

The order of the songs at the session:

1. "Like Dreamers Do" (Lennon/McCartney)
2. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Gordy/Bradford)
3. "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson)
4. "The Sheik of Araby" (Smith/Wheeler/Snyder)
5. "To Know Her Is to Love Her" (Phil Spector)
6. "Take Good Care of My Baby" (King/Goffin) (not released)
7. "Memphis, Tennessee" (Chuck Berry) (not released)
8. "Sure to Fall (In Love with You)" (Cantrell/Claunch/Perkins) (not released)
9. "Hello Little Girl" (Lennon/McCartney)
10. "Three Cool Cats" (Leiber/Stoller)
11. "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" (Buddy Holly) (not released)
12. "Love of the Loved" (Lennon/McCartney) (not released)
13. "September in the Rain" (Warren/Dubin) (not released)
14. "Bésame Mucho" (Consuelo Velázquez)
15. "Searchin'" (Leiber/Stoller)

(copied from Wikipedia entry)

The tapes have since survived and been bootlegged/released in various forms throughout the years.  Here are a few samples, pulled from Youtube:

Besame Mucho

Like Dreamers Do

Searchin'

The Sheik of Araby

The songs were selected by Brian Epstein to show the range of the band- they were plainly eclectic selections, from ballads to obscure songs, to flamenco, to blues, to rockabilly.  But this was exactly who the Beatles were- eclectic.  Paul's father had been a trumpet player and jazz pianist- Paul had grown up listening to a huge variety of music and it clearly impacted his eclectic tastes.  John had a troubled childhood, was an artist and player with words.  George joined the group as a friend of Paul's, had been hooked by Elvis, and was obsessed with guitars. Pete Best was....well, Pete was just along for the (short, as it turned out) ride.  It was this rich, eclectic, varied background in music and poetry that set the stage for 7 years of creative, world-changing impact.

Decca took a few months to decide on whether to sign the Beatles and, ultimately, passed on the greatest band in the history of music.  Explaining their rejection of the Beatles, they used these now-famous words: "Guitar groups are on the way out" and "the Beatles have no future in show business".  As far as historical mistakes go, this one ranks right up there with starting a land war in Asia.

As the magnitude of this mistake became clear, we've now come to know that one of the main reasons Decca passed on the Beatles was because of that very eclectic nature that they actively sought to put on display.  The songs they presented were so varied and sometimes obscure, that, as Paul said years later, "they just didn't know what to do with us."  

And Decca wasn't the only one and certainly not the first to overlook the genius that the Beatles brought to the table.  Not by a longshot.  Sir Ken Robinson related these stories from Paul in his recent book, The Element:

Paul said "he'd always loved music, but that he never enjoyed music lessons at school.  His teachers thought they could convey an appreciation for music by making kids listen to crackling records of classical compositions.  He found this just as boring as he found everything else at school....(Paul) went through his entire education without anyone noticing that he had any musical talents at all."  (p. 11)

(in Paul's words)- "The music teacher completely failed to teach us anything about music.  I mean, he had George Harrison and Paul McCartney in his classes as kids and he couldn't interest us in music.  George and I both went through school and no one ever though we had any kind of musical talent at all." (227-228)


Here was a teacher who had 2 of the most gifted (and passionate) musicians the world would ever know in his music class, and he never noticed a thing.  How many kids are sitting in schools right this moment, geniuses ready for the making, that we aren't recognizing?  This brings a lot of questions to mind:

• How do we recognize the early signs of genius?  
• Why do we miss these signs?
• Early signs of genius will often look like nonconformity.  Breaking out from the pack.  How do we encourage this?  How do we move away from stifling this in schools?
• How are our procedures and rules impeding kids from expressing themselves?
• How do we foster an environment of mutual respect so that kids feel safe expressing themselves, even if they will be looked at as different?
• How can we make "different" safe, and celebrated?

The most important thing we can do as educators is to keep an open mind and recognize genius within our students, in all it's forms. We need to expose our students to a myriad of experiences, let them dive in deeply, then pay attention to them and be open and receptive to what they come up with and what direction it leads them.  


So the question for us really is- Do we know what to do with these kids?

Crowdsource Me

I've started a new, hopefully 50+ year project, and want to share the journey.  This year I've been thinking a lot about how I want my girls (Emily, 5, Kenna, 3, and Hannah, 0 in February...) to grow up with a love of learning and trying new things.  I kept trying to think about how to model that and engage them in that process. What I came up with is this "Crowdsource Me" project- a lifelong, annual learning adventure in which I'll keep my learning open, transparent, and in public at http://crowdsourceme.wordpress.com . I'm excited to get started and I think as I go through it I'll be able to make a lot of connections as to how to introduce ideas like this to our students to foster this same love of learning.

You can vote here for what I should learn in 2012

Here is the rationale and nuts and bolts, cross-posted from that new blog space:

This is a learning adventure that I plan on carrying with me until the day I croak.  Every year, around Thanksgiving time, I’m going to put out a survey asking people what they want me to learn in the following year.  Topics can be wide ranging, but may have some restrictions based on how much money I have to spend, how much time I may or may not have, etc.  Once I gather a bunch of ideas of what people want me to learn, I’ll pick 5-8, give my thoughts on each and how I might go about giving them a shot, then let folks vote.  The winner of the vote is the one I’ll start learning about in January of the following year.  I’ll learn all the way through the end of November, when I’ll be crowdsourcing the next topic!

This whole process will take place, published for all to see, on this blog.  I’ll post video, possibly audio, and will write about what I’m trying, what’s working/not working, and reflect as I go.  Depending on the topic or task, I may “pretest” and “post-test” myself at the end of the year.  I’m a big believer in being open and transparent.  All material will be backed up in several places so I never lose it.

Why am I doing this?

• I think it’ll be a blast to see what people come up with and then give it a shot.
• I want to model a love of learning for my girls (Emily, 5, Kenna, 3, and soon-to-be Hannah).
• As my girls get older, I’d love to have them join me (my wifey too).
• I think open, transparent, published learning is important.
• It’ll make it easier for people to buy me Christmas presents for the rest of my life….just buy me something to help with the coming year’s topic!  I always used to feel bad for my Grandpa- all we ever got him were peanuts and carpenter’s glue…
• Maybe some others will give this idea a shot- who knows?  Maybe others will try it, love it, find a subject they love and follow it, learn with their own kids
• I believe that the more diverse your knowledge and interests, the more creative you will be…the more connections your brain can make to truly innovate.
• Why not?  Life’s too short not to jump in.

How this came about

I’ve been interested in the idea of crowdsourcing (defined by the ultimate crowdsourced resource Wikipedia as “the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community (crowd) through an open call”) for several years now.  This past spring as I was floating in the pool in my Mom and Dad’s retirement community, I started thinking how cool it would be to, once I’m retired myself, take on an entirely new learning project every year.  Learning to speak Spanish, Learning about Greek Mythology, figuring out how to create things out of wood…just countless possibilities.  Since I’m always crowdsourcing my ideas over Twitter to get new perspectives and input, it was a natural link to think that it’d be cool to let people tell me what I should try, then let them vote on what I’d be learning for the year.  Then I’d document it all via video, audio, and blog posts…

So I shared the idea with my wife and she says….”Why not do it now?”  Not only is she gorgeous, but also brilliant (I married way up).

I also think that all my life I’ve been intrigued by sharing decision points and getting input.  When I was a kid I absolutely devoured a series of books called “Choose Your Own Adventure” (remember those???).  I loved not only seeing the effects of my decisions but also the effects of all the other options within the books.  When I taught 2nd grade, I bought a whole case of these old books on eBay and read them to my students- letting my class vote on which choice we’d go with.  They loved them as much as I did!

So the idea mashed together with old Choose Your Own Adventure Books, being interested in crowdsourcing, being interested in learning, and wanting to model a love of all of this stuff for my kids.  And I’m stoked to get started. 

Thoughts on plagiarism, social media, etc.

I got this email from an intern at Maupin House, asking me for some thoughts:

I’m currently working on a blog post focused on the ethics of digital plagiarism.  It’s based off of an eSchoolNews article that states students are increasingly using social networking sites for their essay material.  In the article, Turnitin.com has made the discovery about these newfound sources of plagiarism, but the interesting thing is Turnitin is owned by the same company that owns a program that allows students to check their papers for plagiarism, WriteCheck.  In this program, students can put their essays into WriteCheck and figure out a way to manipulate their plagiarism to make it undetectable in Turnitin.

I’d love to get your perspective on all of this. Please check out the eSchoolNews article and the WriteCheck article and tell me what sticks out to you.  Here are some questions to consider:

-It seems that students have forgotten (or have not been taught) the value of critical thinking and original writing and have instead sought to get the most amount of work done with the least amount of effort.  Why do you think this has happened?  Has social media played a part in this?

-What resources do you think teachers (technological and otherwise) could use to impress upon their students the value of that mentioned above?  Where do you think teachers’ focus should be in lessons that warn against plagiarism?

-Any additional points you think should be made?

***************************************

Here was my response:

1. Students have always searched for and have found the path of least resistance.  Social media has just made it much easier to share that path with a hundred of your friends.  I think the real issue at hand are the assignments themselves- if you're assigning something that is easily plagiarized or you don't know your students well enough to tell when it's their voice or someone else's, then that's on the teacher.  The critical thinking aspects have to be built into the assignment themselves.  Instead of just asking kids to regurgitate an essay on the civil war, ask them to compare it to a modern event.  Ask them to analyze two things together.  Basically, if you're giving an assignment that can be easily plagiarized, then you're not creating an assignment that provokes critical thinking in the first place.

2.  I think the focus needs to be on students creating impactful, meaningful products.  Products that show their own personal creativity, passion, and thinking.  If you get something from a student and you can't tell which student created it, that's a problem.  It should scream their name!

One more additional thought- I think a lot of these issues stem from an over-reliance in the past decade-plus on grades, tests, bubble sheets, etc.  Kids have been told for quite awhile now that there is one right answer to everything, and one way to solve a problem.  That, of course, is far from the real world truth.  There is a focus in schools on "getting it right" instead of learning.  Which is a shame!  It's not about getting it right- it's about the attempts, the mistakes made, the growth, solving problems, looking at things from different perspectives, and all that other good critical thinking stuff that has been too often shoved to the side.

Introducing TeacherTechVids.com

So I've been working my little fanny off on a project and am now ready to finally share it out! It's TeacherTechVids.com.

So what is this? It started off as some tutorial videos I was creating for my staff at JN Fries Middle School. As I created this resource for their use this coming year, I thought these videos should be things I should share out. So I bought the domain name last spring and started creating more videos than I ever intended to create (whoops)...

To focus the videos I put up, I decided to align them with my book and put them into three main categories- tools for newbies, tools for developing users, and tools for advanced users. Then I pulled a sampling of each section of the book and went from there. I think the pages turned out well, plus I put links to download any of the tutorials for your own use (mp4, wmv, and ipod versions).

What I would really LOVE to see happen with this site, however, is for teachers to have a hub of classroom ideas that they can learn from and also contribute to- real ideas with examples of how each tool has been used with students. So each tool page has 2 links- one to a Google Form, where we can submit ideas for classroom use. The other link is the output of those submissions and should update automatically for each tool. Let's see if we can make this grow! I shared the site with Kyle Pace while it was still halfway done about a month ago and wondered if folks would actually start contributing. As he said, you never know until you try....so let's give it a try. =)

I also started a blog for people to subscribe to, to stay aware of any updates or additions that are made to the site going forward. Find that at http://teachertechvids.blogspot.com .

So there you have it! Please share with anyone you think will benefit and I will start spreading it around my school system so we can start generating ideas!

Reform Symposium Session - Let's Talk About Kids That Come To Us From Poverty

I'm honored to be a part of the Reform Symposium this year and am excited to lead a conversation that I feel has fallen by the wayside too often in education conferences, for whatever reason. The conversation will be about how we can build empathy instead of pity in teachers who work in high-poverty areas and then what specific actions we can start taking to have a larger and longer impact on these types of students. This will be a conversation, so if you plan on coming PLEASE also plan on thinking and contributing some ideas. I'm selfishly hoping to get great strategies from folks who attend and I know we'll all benefit from learning together.

What: Let's Talk About Kids That Come To Us From Poverty

When: Saturday, July 30th at 21:00 (9:00 PM) EST

Where: Elluminate Room: Direct Link

Who: Anyone that wants to talk more about this issue and walk away with more ideas of how to have a greater impact on the kids that need it most

Here's the survey I'm asking folks to submit prior to the session

Here's the presentation/questions I'm using to drive the conversation:

Here's a video of me describing what I hope we can do in the 30 minutes we have:

Hope to see you there!