Day 88 - Triangle Perspective

Day 88 - June 9 2020

In February of this year, I read The Courage to Be Happy... by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga. I read it because my library did not have The Courage to Be Disliked, which a Twitter teacher friend had recommended. I figured I could learn something anyway. It turns out that this one was the sequel to the first book, and it was explained enough in the beginning for me to catch on pretty easily.

I took a few notes while driving (I listened to this one on CDs from my library), and one note in particular stands out to me today.

The philosopher talked about a triangle. On each side of the triangle, there were phrases that represented people's perspectives when they came to him...

He realized this and decided to ask those who came to visit -
     Which one would YOU rather talk about?

Since yesterday was my first "official" last day and summer can start today, I'm focusing on what I can DO from here. If you're a faithful reader, you won't see as many posts here, you MAY see more posts here, you'll see less of me on Twitter (I've found it challenging to talk about race with fellow White educators), you MAY see more of me on Instagram (my students reside there), you'll find me reading more fiction for rest and more nonfiction for action, and I'll be taking care of myself more. All of these shifts in what I'm going to do this summer may actually help me DO more for others.

Stepping it up a notch...

Oh, boy. I like calm waters. I don't like to stir things up. But I think it's time for me to step it up a notch...

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to see Rick Wormeli this week. Oh, the enthusiasm that emanates from that man! He came skipping into the room, and even asked, "Is Joy Kirr here?" (No, I'm NOT a Twitter stalker, just an admirer!)

My big take-away from the (stellar) professional development today: I need to bring these ideas back to my team. The strongest question I heard today was, "To what degree will you allow your colleagues to keep doing what they're doing, even if you think it is not right?" Team time can be difficult when there are many strong opinions in the room, and we all think we're right. I feel I need to stop staying quiet (because I get intimidated), and start speaking up.

I'm always the one that supports good ideas - I get on the bandwagon and cheer! I try to help out where I can. I'm not one to challenge others. However, Rick got me thinking. Later in the afternoon, I found myself on Twitter asking someone about their tweet & the name of a contest for students - It's called the "Smart Student Blog Contest." The name just rubbed me the wrong way, so after a three-minute struggle in my mind about whether to even go there or not, I replied to the person who tweeted it out...

As soon as I tweeted it out, I regretted it. And yet, I didn't delete it. I wondered, "What's the worst that could happen - he unfollows me?" I don't follow him (for various reasons), but he was on a list of mine that showed up on my TweetDeck - the reason I saw his tweet. Still, I wasn't looking for a fight. I looked back at my tweet and saw that it wasn't negative, just inquisitive. I received this in reply:

And I replied back, because I was still irked by the name "Smart Student..."

Phew! That tiny challenge took a lot out of me. It was time for met to get off Twitter for the day!

This morning, I saw this tweet from a very well-respected member of my PLN:

I smiled, and replied...

What ensued at 6:15am today was a valuable conversation between Jill and I about what our role is as educators. Do we want the best for only OUR students, or for ALL students?

What am I scared of? I'm worried I'll be known as the teacher who thinks she knows it all. (But if they really knew me, they'd know I have no clue what I'm doing!) I don't want to be the bad guy. I don't want to look like a jerk. I don't want to stir the pot.

Do I have a record for stirring the pot? No. I did one time, two years ago, on opening day. I remember it clearly. I asked another teacher why she would ask the teachers in the grade below her to give her notes on students before she'd even met them. I asked, "Whatever happened to a 'clean slate?'" She has just started talking to me again... I don't want to burn bridges. Heck, I want to be liked - especially where I work.

It is, however, time for me to step it up a notch. I now have Rick Wormeli's question taped to my open laptop. It's there to remind me, while speaking with other teachers in a meeting about students, to challenge ideas I don't believe in. But how? How can I do so - nicely - so as to not burn bridges and keep the conversations going? I think I'm going to start with another tip from Rick and from many others I've heard from in the last two years I've been on Twitter - ask the right question, and then let the answers go around the room. Once it's been discussed by others, reflect what I hear, and ask again, if need be. Or... is it better to have this conversation one-on-one? Hopefully my coworker who attended with me will support my endeavors.

I need your help now... How do you do find this balance at your school? Or do you not? Let's keep the conversation going and encourage each other to do the same!

5/27/18 - I need to add this article about LISTENING here - it goes so well with continuing the conversations from here on out.

8/4/18 - Update... what I left out...
The day after this workshop with Rick, I was approached by a teacher who was upset about a tweet I shared that day that said, "How can I share his messages the rest of my team who decided to not come today?" This person was upset and after tip-toeing around it for a walk down the hall, as we rounded the corner, finally shared, "We won't need to be doing this (standards-based grading / SBG) for years. Why should we care?" I responded, "Because it's best for kids." The conversation ended there. And here we are, four years later, on our way to SBG (still). After being the only one in my school going w/o points and marks through the term for three full years now, I'll be ready. I'll be soooooo ready.

Coach Your Class

I live eight houses away from one of the 8th grade P.E. teachers at our school, Kathy. We've been over to each other's houses many times since I moved to the neighborhood three years ago. She's heard about our Genius Hour, but most importantly, she's caught a little of the bug...

This summer, Kathy and I concocted a way to have students own their learning in P.E. class. She grappled with the idea, tweaked much of it, then felt like she could share it with her 8th grade comrade. He liked the idea, so they sprung it on the kids first quarter! Students may teach about a sport they love, something they practice outside of school, or present on nutrition or exercise. They are beginning their presentations this quarter, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to witness a few.

I thought I'd lay out what she did in this post, because she's not on Twitter and does not have a blog (they just seem to go hand in hand these days)...

Difficulties 
   * setting up the projector for those students with a slide show presentation
   * trying to get kids to NOT rely on the Keynote/PowerPoint slides
   * giving up class time when it's not an ACTIVE presentation
   * giving up class time during a specific unit - they have limited days for each unit
   * SCHEDULING & RE-SCHEDULING - This is the big problem. Each 8th grader needs to be in health at a certain time. What if two students want to present together, but they have health different quarters? Rescheduling if a student is absent is another problem... I can only imagine how they struggle with this issue!

Grading
   See the rubric here. I'm not always a big fan of rubrics, but it's a huge step when two teachers can agree upon one! Feel free to copy and tweak as you please, of course.

Best news to date -
Today, a group of five 8th graders presented on bowling. Each had a script, access to the microphone (they presented in the large gym), bowling lanes, pins, and balls from the elementary school, and a large, very captive audience of two P.E. classes. Each had a subtopic: the history of the game, the ball, the rules, and the adaptations of bumpers and the ramp. What did they practice today? Oh, sure, they had to research the sport, write what they would say, and then show their part in front of the audience. But what did they demonstrate today in front of two classes of peers?

These students had never held a microphone before.
They had never spoken in front of so many people.
They had never taught anyone a formal lesson.

Here's the kicker - these particular students are in the Individualized Learning Program at our middle school.

I really enjoy seeing students share in a different way about their favorite sport or hobby, but today really takes the cake. To see the smiles on these five students' faces when the applause came for their turn was priceless. They are very fortunate their teachers decided to take on this type of learning.

The Spelling Bee

"I'm just going to say D-O-G if my word is 'chair.'"

This is just one of the complaints I heard my students say when I mentioned we were going to have the spelling bee. What could I say to help students try their best? What could motivate students who think they can't spell to even TRY? How can I convince them if I don't really believe it myself? I had to find some way to connect to the event so my students could, too.

24 Hours Later...

I sat students in a circle, and I joined in the perimeter. We had a discussion based on the following questions:

• Why do we have spelling bees?
• How long does the spelling bee last?
• What good can come of the spelling bee?
• Who is nervous or bothered by the spelling bee? Why?

Some of the best answers... 

• We will (at the very least) learn how to spell one word - the word we got wrong.
• ALL of us (except for the one winner) will "lose."
• If we give up on the spelling bee in 7th grade (when all but one of us will lose!), what will we do when something really important to us comes along? On what else will we give up?
• ALL of us are nervous. No one likes to be told they're wrong in front of others. But we will learn from making a mistake.
• Even Mrs. Kirr is nervous - what if she doesn't hear a student right?!
• Mrs. Kirr feels sympathy for all students - the ones who don't want to be in the spelling bee, yet don't want to make a mistake, and the ones who DO want to be in the spelling bee and are very stressed about it.
• A lot of it is about luck - based on who begins, and what words come up next.
• We will exhibit the genius "habitudes" of perseverance and most of all - courage.

Talk to your students about it. Children in different grades may feel differently about it, but I'd bet most of them are scared. Scared of being humiliated... scared of losing. Let's help them tackle the spelling bee like they could any competition.

Side note... One student asked to sit next to me - I haven't really connected yet with her this year, and I'm so glad she asked. I wanted to hold her hand, because I knew she'd struggle. Another spelled "apiary" right - just because he TRIED. I later told him he made my day. Today, during advisory, I received a small note from him - thanking me. These treasures are the ones that keep me heading back to school each day.

Update 8/22/15 - This post talks about spelling as an aid to communicating.