Category: Classroom Environment

A Student Told Me She Hated Nature

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“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Rather wise words attributed to Einstein, someone who identified more with humility and curiosity than wisdom. Yet, I thought of this quote recently when a student surprised me by adamantly declaring, “I hate nature!” I could not stop thinking about it. In the moment, cautious of my tone, I recoiled with “Hate nature? But we and all life IS nature!”  I did not go into a diatribe of how we breathe nature. Eat from nature. Live in (and hopefully “with”) nature. There was a reason for her words and I wanted to know more. Her three words made me wonder if our connection to nature might shape our attention. 

As much as I would rather not admit, surely this student is not the only one who does not appreciate nature. Or doesn’t appreciate it YET.  In a time when many scientists call our era the Anthropocene, humans inextricably are reshaping the planet. Nurture, or lack thereof, and nature both are in flux. Systems are being built which remove us from nature, meanwhile not only harnessing our attention but capitalizing on it.

Nature not only restores my attention but my whole being. Sitting in the garden, the mist comfortably falling upon my skin, birdsong filling the air. Relaxing in a myriad of ways and in direct opposition to the algorithmic battles waged for my attention.  As a teacher, the longer I am in the classroom, the more I recognize how the forces competing for attention grow stronger every year. I wonder, might 2026 be the quiet moment before a storm? Moreover, if yesterday was not “the time,” today is. We can no longer wait for a “tomorrow,” The choices we make are hopefully as conscious as they are powerful. Choices that lead to habits. Habits formed to help guide attention. I wake up thinking, with utmost intentionality, of the importance to influence the next generation (even the “nature haters”) to remember nature. Not something outside of us. Nature is what we are.

 

A decade can pass rather quickly. It is hard to comprehend how it was 2016, and the octogenarian and world-renowned biologist, E.O Wilson, was sitting in the row in front of me. He was about to speak at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress. I didn’t even know who he was. My mom would say moments like these could lead others to believe I possibly was born under a rock. Nonetheless, Wilson made an impression. Speaking about his “Half-Earth Proposal,” Wilson advocated for conserving half of the Earth’s land and sea to prevent mass extinction. This aligned with his integrity, what he knew to be true and with who Wilson was. Akin to Dr. Seuss’s Lorax, Wilson had been “speaking for the trees” for years. In effect, 18 years prior he said, “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” Mind you, this was nine years before the iPhone! Our pockets free of “smart”phones and yet we already were “drowning” in information.More digitally connected but rapidly removing ourselves from what truly connects us. 

 

Attention Is the New Currency

The modern attention economy pervasively captures students through algorithms and constant distraction. I say “students” but none of us really is immune to the design. “When you combine this business model with powerful handheld devices that are always connected to the internet, algorithms being weaponized to extract as much of our time and attention as possible, and hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, suddenly the societal impacts become worrisome.” Author Cal Newport shared this ten years ago in Deep Work. Social Media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are designed to not only capture our attention but to hold it. Essentially, more time spent on a platform, the more money made. If you think your dopamine reward system is not being tapped into, grab a post it note and just tally how many times you check your phone throughout the day. A Washington Post article titled, “Why constantly checking your phone can drain your focus and memory,” cites how  66% of Americans use their phone within 10 minutes of waking up. Further, the article has exceptional graphics to show the data, facts that are contrary to common underestimations of how often one checks their phone. Later in the article, the following is shared, ”German researchers from Heidelberg University found that after just 72 hours without smartphone use, brain activity began to mirror patterns typically seen in substance withdrawal.“ 

Authors Johann Hari and Jonathan Haidt have significantly impacted my thinking. Both also have me reconsidering my own tech use. Hari’s bend is how our attention is not “lost,” but rather “stolen.” Whereas Haidt argues that we delay putting phones in children’s hands due to the detrimental impacts as a result phone-based childhood instead of play-based. In the Anxious Generation, Haidt’s correlational data can be a bit of a deep dive. Yet, there certainly is something to say about the undeniable synchronicity of increased screen time and the uptick in anxiety and depression of girls, but also what Haidt calls, “the retreat from the real world among boys.” Hari and Haidt in many ways are screaming from the mountain tops. But are we listening? 

Some are.

In fact, over 30 states now have policies governing cell phone use in schools. Several counties also have nationwide bans of cell phones in schools. These policies certainly can and do help. And yet sometimes, it feels like just a drop in the ocean.

 

Maybe It Begins With a Seed

The question becomes, if attention is being captured everywhere else, where can students learn to focus again? I caught up with the student who shared, “I hate nature.” It took some probing but I came to find out that her definition of nature is simply, “bugs.” A teen from the world’s largest metropolitan area, her experience outside the city is limited. She certainly is not alone. A growing body of research shows that when children lose regular contact with nature, there tends to be a decline in well-being. Further, creativity and their attention also are negatively impacted. One of my favorite studies by researcher Ming Kuo found how students with classroom views of green landscapes showed better concentration and academic performance. Just looking at nature, passive exposure to greenery, can measurably improve one’s attention. Exposure to nature may not immediately create a love for the outdoors. But it may quietly help restore attention.

 

Our school, here in Hawaii, set against a backdrop of green rolling pastures and clear blue skies possibly is not eliciting a love of nature for my student. But, maybe it is serving her ability to pay closer attention and we don’t even know it! Still, work needs to be done in redefining nature. And this begins with experience. Planned for the fourth quarter is a unit where we spend time in our school’s garden. I already saw the student’s downturned smile when I mentioned how we would be growing plants from seed. Something no student in my high school class has yet to do. I still remember planting seeds in Dixie cups: carefully watering and moving them in the sun and shade throughout the day. When I was in my early twenties I visited my childhood home and was struck to see how the redbud sapling I was given in 1st grade as a part of National Arbor Day had grown to 30 feet. Fast growing, redbud trees often grow up to two feet a year. The intent of our growing plants and being in the garden, is primarily about exposure. It also provides for the opportunity to focus and be away from screens. 

 

I can’t help but think about how these experiences might be seeds themselves. And what if…What if attention grows the same way a tree does? 

Two feet a year?

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Breaking the Habit of Excuse

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I awoke this morning to an email from one of my online students. It began: “Certainly not an email I want to be sending to you, but it’s best to be transparent and let you know what’s going on. My grandfather committed suicide in the house we own just down the road.” My most heartfelt condolences were quickly shared. Shortly after, I contemplated the irony of the theme of this article, which I have thought about for weeks: the nature of excuse. Aside from situations as drastic as this student and his grandfather, I am adhering to what I know to be true: students grow most when adults (teachers, but also parents) stop protecting them from accountability and instead create a culture where responsibility and high expectations are the norm.

The Myth of Teenage Exceptionalism

Too often, I have seen what might be labeled as “exceptionalism.” Instead of a clear recognition that everyone is busy, many students appear to think they are the only ones juggling academics, athletics, work, and everything else that goes with being a teenager. Excuses become almost like breath—involuntary, and often given when not even asked for, as if to absolve themselves of responsibility. Another message this morning from a different student asked: “I still haven’t gotten a response from my partner. Because of this, I was wondering if the assignment due today could be excused?” Truly not understanding where he was coming from, I asked, “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘excused.’”

Extreme Ownership in the Classroom

Like any other teacher, I have heard (and continue to hear) a litany of excuses. In my stuent orientation this past semester, I made a point to share that students could “save the story.” I am interested in them completing the learning, not in whatever excuse they may have. Whether it is “I forgot,” “I had a basketball game that lasted late,” or “we had many tests this week,” I do not need to know the excuse. I simply need them to take ownership. In an earlier post, I shared what Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL commander and author, calls “Extreme Ownership.” He writes, “Once people stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and take ownership of everything in their lives, they are compelled to take action to solve their problems.” Fewer excuses and more action—that is what I continue to encourage students to lean into.

Separating Explanation from Responsibility

In my expectation for students to take extreme ownership, I have needed to make a couple of shifts. The first involves blaming external circumstances. When students share how they are “too busy,” I do my best to help them understand, but I also separate explanation from responsibility. This is a big distinction. I do not simply say I understand; I ask, “Okay, what are you going to do next?” The idea is not to brush it off or fester in the mistake, but rather to make a plan for action. Additionally, when I hear an excuse, I am now quicker to ask a question. For example: “What do you think your next step should be?” In the past, I often met a deadline excuse with, “Okay, just turn it in whenever you can.” Instead, I now ask students to make a specific plan for when and how they will complete the work.

Defining the Line: Reasons vs. Excuses

I still have work to do on helping students delineate between a reason and an excuse. The line is often blurred. Simply put, a reason explains what happened while maintaining the sense that the student will take responsibility for fixing it. An excuse, however, seeks to explain what happened so that responsibility can be avoided. For instance, the student who asked, “I still haven’t gotten a response from my partner. Because of this, I was wondering if the assignment due today could be excused?” followed up asking if the zero on the assignment could be “taken away.” He likely was not looking for the response I provided, “Sure, the zero will be ‘taken away.’ Just as soon as the assignment is turned in.”

The Barbell of High Expectations

I believe accountability is a form of care. When expectations are kept high, students often surprise themselves. Education researcher John Hattie’s synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses found that teacher expectations have a significant positive effect on student achievement. Students often rise—or fall—to the level of expectation communicated to them. I recently heard a podcast analogy comparing learning to weight training. If there is no weight, nothing gets stronger. The weight isn’t there to punish; it is there to develop strength. Students grow by lifting what challenges them, not by avoiding it. Psychologist Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset shows that students develop resilience and motivation when they are expected to confront challenges. To skirt the barbell or make an excuse will not lead to more strength. Furthermore, when students know we care and our expectations remain high, they stop asking, “Can I get away with this?” and start asking, “What am I capable of?” It is critical for a student’s life beyond school to learn that their actions have consequences. They almost always have control over their outcomes. This realization leads students to organize themselves, manage their time better, and solve problems independently.

An Investment in Agency

Though I have always held high expectations, this transition to “extreme ownership” arrived as I neared my third decade in the classroom. I am still navigating how to communicate and execute it. It is in no way meant to be uncaring or harsh; quite the opposite. It is rooted in care because it communicates belief. A belief that students are capable of adapting and moving forward. I know students sometimes have “real” problems, and I want to be trusted to listen. Ultimately, I want to help them understand that, regardless of circumstances, they still have agency. Extreme ownership is about supporting students to develop the strength to face problems, not run away from them.

Holding the Line with Parents

What has gone unsaid is how this may be perceived by parents. I am fortunate to teach high school seniors, but it is still important to communicate the “why” to parents. Otherwise, parents are sometimes too quick to excuse their children. Recently, a parent requested her son be excused from the first five weeks of a sixteen-week course because he was busy with AP courses and a robotics competition. My knee-jerk response was a declarative, “No.”

The Lasting Impact of Ownership

Students do not benefit from a world that adjusts itself to accommodate their excuses. They benefit from adults who care enough to hold the line. I aim to hold that line while listening and understanding, yet still insisting that the student remains responsible. I often tell my students that what they are learning has lasting impacts. Life will only get busier; they will always have deadlines and setbacks. Their response to this “whirlwind” will make all the difference. When they learn ownership, they carry something far greater than a grade. They carry trust in themselves. Long after they leave my classroom, and even if they forget my name, I hope that ownership remains. Quietly shaping the adult they become and the world they choose to live in. A world of empowerment and beauty. #################################

MASTERING FIRE WITH WATER: A LESSON IN CREATING EDUCATIONAL SPARKS

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Many outdoorsy types, including boy and girl scouts, dream of successfully mastering the age-old art of igniting fire with nothing more than a magnifying glass. What if I told you I started a fire with water?

Nurturing Trust and Agency: The Cornerstones of Inclusive Education

As educators, we invest copious amounts of time into planning for the school year and in the first few weeks intentionally creating community in our classrooms. At the forefront, is fostering an inclusive environment where every student’s voice is valued and respected. Listening and truly valuing one another is our hope. As is collaboration and providing multiple opportunities for students to build connections with one another. Yet, at the foundation of everything is a fundamental feeling of trust. A Harvard Business Publishing Education article suggests that activating positive emotions, including trust, among students helps students foster cooperative relationships, build resilience and persistence, and increase motivation. Further, trust is in many ways tethered to agency. Positive and effective learning environments should induce trust. Trust in teachers, classmates, and possibly even in the education system. Of course, however, trust must begin within the individual. Then, there is empowerment. Not being acted upon as if to say, “I am giving you the choice.” But from within. This subtle nuance is the spark. It is the sensing of control, “the world is at my doorstep.”

But beyond trust and agency, what are the other necessary ingredients to creating optimal learning environments?

Learning Language, Breaking Barriers: The Role of Authenticity and Place

Recently I was in a high school language classroom and it took me back to my first experience learning Spanish. The class was held in a lecture hall where I sat passively amongst 200 other students as the professor stood up front and rattled on incomprehensibly. Feeling academically wounded, I would then limp over to the language lab. Here, a teacher’s assistant would open a sliding glass window to enquire about the module. Then, before pushing play on the cassette recorder she would hand over tight-fitting headphones, a #2 pencil, and a scantron sheet. Never was there the ability to pause, let alone stop. The “show” just went on. With a one in four chance, I would guess, weary to have too many Cs blackened. My confusion and being disheartened eventually lost out to a more pervasive feeling. One of repulsion. This is NOT the experience we ever endeavor to create for learners.

Oddly enough, a decade later I would be in the classroom teaching Spanish even though I questioned if language could be learned in a classroom. My sentiment is captured in a timeless parody called, “One Semester Spanish Love Song.”  When I last watched, the first comment below the video read, “I took Spanish all the way up to AP Spanish in high school. This song summarizes how much of it I remember.” Might this be because of relevance? Language often is learned by going somewhere. We learn it when we have a purpose. When it is authentic. Furthermore, might there be ties between place-based education and the learning of language? Certainly, a deeper understanding of local culture and environment is integral. This example of learning a language ultimately can be translated into what it means to learn anything. The importance of place, purpose, an individual’s motivation, and authenticity. Ultimately, getting out of the classroom and into much more boundless spaces of learning.

Even if the reality for many teachers remains within four walls, we know learning is like breathing. Students will learn no matter what. So, let’s keep the “air” as clean as possible.

The Container: Creating the Right Conditions

So I did really light a fire with water. I share this because it showcases what is possible with just the right conditions. Might we as educators intentionally create such similar conditions? Where there is a spark and then a fervent fire for learning. Countless times in the past I have filled a gallon glass jug with water and set it in the sun to allow for dechlorination. Recently, I errantly placed it against a dry wooden stump where in the days to come I would water saplings. 18 hours after filling the jug I received a text from our tenant saying, “There was a small brush fire at a tree stump in the front of the house, all put out now and heavily watered down. It was caused by science and a glass water jug which magnified the sun…” He was being generous, the fire was caused by ME! Well, my negligence along with heat, dryness, powerful morning sun rays, and the water’s reflection. Never in my wildest dreams would I have considered the gallon jar of water a fire hazard. Besides being grateful to have learned the lesson the easy way, I thought about how this example speaks volumes about what is possible. What is possible with the right conditions?

So, venture forth to continue to spark inspiration and kindle the flames blazing within your classrooms!

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LAUGH LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING

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Might May 11 mark a new path forward? For the past several years society has seemingly carried the Sisyphean rock, Covid. The date marks the official close of “Emergency Declarations” in the United States. In effect, this is the end of both the COVID-19 national emergency and the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Emergency, emergency, emergency.

We need not continue to live and learn in such a state.

And this is something to certainly celebrate.

 

Immersed in Crumbling Models

The month of May bears witness to other forms of celebration, with commencements across the nation and abroad. Speeches will soon be scribed and just how many center on the power and importance of transition is left to be determined. Few, however, likely will focus on the importance of humor. In a world quickly becoming more conscious of the crumbling models all around us. Political, economic, religious, economic, even educational model! Resiliency will increasingly be more important. A component of such resiliency is humor.

You may ask yourself, how many times did I laugh today? If you are able to take this inventory, whether 3 or even 17 times, then a more apt answer probably is, “not enough!” Carol Whipple published University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension published how on average, a child laughs 300 times a day while an adult laughs only 17 times a day.  In “Big Think,” a multimedia web portal which “challenges common sense assumptions and gives people permission to think in new ways,” Matt Davis contributed an article titled,  “Why a good sense of humor is an essential life skill.”  Davis indicates how research has shown that humor can improve the physical immune system as well as cardiovascular health.  “Aside from improving your health, laughter can also lead to greater creativity and productivity as well.”

So, if we know laughing is good for us, then why are we not doing it more?

Probably for the same reasons that few philosophers ever have given laughter much thought. Nigel Warburton summed it up well when he wrote, “Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes, who believed that we laugh because we feel superior; Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer who argued that comedy stems from a sense of incongruity…”

 

Thriving as Opposed to Surviving

We seem to be enmeshed in seriousness. In the field of education, administrators concentrated on whatever “fires” need putting out. Educators focused on curriculum coverage and lesson plans, and hopefully student well being.  Students often with centered attention on grades. And all too common, parents operating from a narrowly defined notion of what success looks like for their child. Everyone all the while, seemingly playing the part of pawn. Fixated on the tree before them and not the glorious forest. Or, in a world of Covid, simply surviving.

Yet, we are on the precipices of thriving. It is right within grasp. A ripe fruit ready for the picking.

It is refreshing to see how momentum is being gained as we transition away from knowledge and into competency. America Succeeds, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit is committed to improving equity, access, and opportunity in education. To do this, their focus is upon Durable Skills, a combination of how you use what you know along with character skills.  Yet, I am hopeful they may begin to consider the role humor will play in the days to come because nowhere listed in the 36-page Durable Skills report, does humor appear. Ultimately laughter is essential to success but also especially necessary as “function” dissolves the archaic “forms” in which we have been living. Victor Frankl alluded to humor when he wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning (1946), “another of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self-preservation.”  Author and educator May Kay Morrison asserts to the power of humor, even coining a term she calls, “humergy.” Humergy  as she defines it, is the energy that emerges from joy and optimism of our inner spirit.

A sense of humor is an essential life skill. Brain research backs the power but also importance of humor. Laughter is surely within each of us, yet simply may require a bit more space and time to express. As May 11 marks the terminus of Covid and the end of a state of emergency, let us step forward with even greater joy, lightness, and laughter.

TRY IT YOURSELF:  Jim Paterson shares these few ideas for how you might attempt to use humor.

Get back to work. A bit of humor gets attention and provides a break, but teachers should have it relate to the work somehow, should keep it brief (even if they let students participate) and have a path back to more serious information and a method to bring their students along.

A simple surprise. Just having on an odd hat or projecting a cartoon at the start of a class can get students energized. A simple surprise is also a way that a teacher who doesn’t think they are funny can easily bring some lightheartedness to the classroom.

Let them at it. Have time when students can tell a joke (with guidance about the humor being appropriate) and you will find that even the most introverted ones might be willing to participate. Give them a chance to write about a funny incident.

Game time. Give students a quiz with the right answers mixed in with outlandish wrong ones. Have a game show where the answers are on topic, but the game is humorous and fun.

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BAKE A DIFFERENCE

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Cosmic Cookie Class Recipe:

2 ½ cups community creation

3 teaspoons all purpose empathy into action

2 sticks of “story” 

12 ounces choice

Directions: Preheat classroom with reflection and intentionality. In a large mixing bowl, add community creation.  Combine empathy and action into community creation.  Beat sticks of “story” in medium mixer bowl until creamy.  Gradually combine creamy mixture with community creation and empathy into action mixture. Stir in choice.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto untreated learning pan. Bake for 9 months or until golden brown. 

“Have you tried Mimmie’s Bakery? They have the most incredible Cosmic cookie!”  My octogenarian neighbor recently reminded me of a child, as she hailed my attention while I rushed out the door the other morning. There was something heartwarming about an older person getting so animated about something many would consider so simple, a cookie.  Her excitement was contagious and stirred in me a bit of curiosity.

What made Mimmie’s cookie recipe so different?

As the day went on, I seemingly couldn’t get the Cosmic cookie off or out of my mind.  Instead of heading down to the bakery, I considered how I might transfer this idea of a perfect cookie recipe to what I care most about, teaching and learning.  Could I “bake” something similar in my classroom?

Teaching very well can be just a generic chocolate chip cookie but in reality, it is so much more.  And it has the potential to get people excited. In the case of children, “keep” them excited.  I often remind myself, a big part of keeping students love for learning ignited, is simply not getting in their way.  I think about how knowledge is cheap and with the web we are saturated in information 24/7.  It is what we do with learning that matters most.  After two dozen years “baking”in the classroom, I definitely have learned many lessons.  However, an end-of-year student survey allowed for a sort of distillation or surfacing of a “recipe” for my own Cosmic cookie.

When eating healthy, nutritionists often say to choose those foods with the least amount of ingredients.  I’ve boiled my recipe down to but four “ingredients.”  It would be foolhardy to think I have perfected the recipe, though there are definitely ingredients and/or steps which I feel much more confident about.  Yet, perfection?  Even those cookies at Mimmie’s surely are a work in progress.

Summer is a time of much needed rest for educators, but I trust is also a chance for reflection. So much news in education this past year was about the abandonment of  the noble profession. With a little distance this summer, I remain hopeful that many educators might remember back to why they chose (or were chosen!) to be an educator. And I hope there is a sense of rejuvenation and excitement.  Moreover, if the “Cosmic Cookie Class” recipe is helpful to even a single educator, I will feel a sense of satisfaction.

Cosmic Cookie Class Breakdown

  1. Community creation: Community does not just happen.  Intentionality is of extreme importance. The critical skill of learning how to listen but also how to give and receive feedback are at the heart of functioning communities.  A “we do this together” sort of ethos exists. Routines definitely help.  Ideas for implementation include:

*Philosophical chairs

*Class discussion and occasional  fish bowl strategy

*Feedback loops changed up and in a variety of formats:

~Teacher to student

~Student to student

~Student to teacher (such a gift!)

~Parents (digital notebooks) and segments of conversations recorded with Mote

~Administration invited in at the start and during the process, not just in culmination

~Community (something I especially wish to improve)

  1. Empathy but also action:  This begins with awareness.  Several students commented how social studies class “was about becoming  more aware of what is happening around our world.”  Others suggested, “It is about joy, curiousity, and being inspired to create a positive impact that would affect people’s lives for the better.” And, one of my favorite pieces of feedback was how “the class is more a study of life, all subjects combined. Where we find solutions to problems in the world.”  Three ideas for beginning to transition from empathy into action include:

~Start small and add a Virtual Reality experience or simulation

~Read aloud (a book well read and discussed is appealing to learners of all ages)

~Newsela articles citing students as examples of how youth  are making a difference

*Bonus: Partner with experts in the field and they may even broaden your audience for students (eg: Inspired Citizens)

  1. Integrate the power of story:  “Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution — more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to” (Lisa Cron). Be okay with being vulnerable as you become “known” to students.  Someone who students can connect with.  Sharing anecdotes can add not only “reality” to the classroom but also comfort. The intentional integration of stories, like the time I tacked a horse for a teen my age who had cerebral palsy.  How I was gifted an opportunity to learn gratitude and grace from such an experience. A story like this not only connects with the equestrian lover in the classroom but anyone who might have a beating heart, if the story is one students can re-live with you as you tell it.  Skills learned this past year from a migration project based on story-telling included:

~Slowing down and really practicing what it means to attentively listen.  This can be difficult as habits need to be broken for students and adults alike.  The digital age has sped us up in numerable ways

~As learners listen, challenge them to discern where a deeper “story” might yearn to surface.  Imagine it breaching as a 150- ton whale!

~Developing questions and being prepared to interview but also to design questions on the fly

~Creatively “tell” stories through a variety of mediums (eg. video, stop animation, and podcast)

  1. Provide student choice:  Choice boards can be helpful so there isn’t paralysis amidst a paradox of choices. Further, in an effort to help with scaffolding, suggested tech platforms, as well as process steps are offered as options to follow. The emphasis is always on process yet with sufficient time built in (a calendar proposed), along with feedback, a quality final product is ensured.  Building in a sort of celebration and/or “real” audience helps up the ante and leads to more student ownership and pride of their learning. On my final survey, several students commented with regards to choice.  One student shared, “I love how we get to express our creativity in our learning.”

Power to Make a Difference

It was Maya Angelou who said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  What matters most in our classroom is this.  How students feel. The four “ingredients” above contain tremendous power. Power to be rememembered? Yes.  But more importantly, the power to make a difference.  

Thank you for reading and for continuing to reflect and learn.

Enjoy the summer and happy “baking”!

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I’VE ALWAYS KIND OF THOUGHT GREEK HISTORY DIDN’T SEEM REAL

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Could there be a better time for students to understand the importance of evaluating the sources where they get information?  Not only a common core standard but a valued life skill. One creative hook is to introduce students to an article from “”America’s Finest News Source,” the Onion.  Any satirical source for that matter would work just fine.  One of our favorite articles is titled, “Historians Admit to Inventing Ancient Greeks.”  It was especially near and dear when Percy Jackson books were all the rage.  A teacher might think a students’ precursory examination of the ads on the page, or even the “shop” button at the top, would be a dead give-away.  But they aren’t!

“Sorry Alexis, being from Greece, I’m sure this is kind of a bummer to find out,” I consoled one seventh grade student this year.

“Ah, it’s okay.  I’ve always kind of thought Greek history didn’t seem real.”

Even greater credence giving to the value of learning to evaluate sources.

5 W’s Introduced
Thankfully questions inevitable do however always surface. In response we take the Onion through the 5 W’s of Website Evaluation.  The following table was built on a Britannica breakdown.

WHO Who wrote the pages and are they an expert? Is a biography of the author included? How can I find out more about the author?
WHAT What does the author say is the purpose of the site? What else might the author have in mind for the site? What makes the site easy to use? What information is included and does this information differ from other sites?
WHEN When was the site created? When was the site last updated?
WHERE Where does the information come from? Where can I look to find out more about the sponsor of the site?
WHY Why is this information useful for my purpose? Why should I use this information? Why is this page better than another?

Research, Note Taking and Evaluation

After students designed their own research questions and received feedback, peer to peer and teacher, time is provided to research.  Paraphrasing is practiced in note taking form and sources cited. Then, students are tasked with identifying any one source they used and putting it through the 5 W’s to determine if ultimately they should trust where their information came from.

For the Love of It

I would like to say there was intention in how the lessons culminated but it seemed to happen more organically. Careful not to come off as the boasting type, I wanted to review what was learned and what better way to make this memorable than to look at a professionally published piece by their teacher?  One, where at the top the author was listed as “Guest Author.”

“Sus!” students were quick to blurt, meaning suspicious.

As I scrolled down I asked volunteers to share their observations. They were quick to note how images were credited, the article was recently published, and several active links to find out more were included. The links to reputable sources like the New York Times and Harvard. Then, at the bottom they saw my name and possibly even more surprising to students, was the invitation to click on my Twitter handle.

I didn’t anticipate any further questions but may have guessed someone might ask, “How did you get your work published?” Or, “How long does it take you to write an article like that.”

Instead, the only question was an expected one.

“How much do you get paid to write those articles?”

Remembering back to more than two decades ago and my Masters work, the teachable moment seemed to scream in my ear.

“Get paid?” I quizzically asked.  Honestly disbelieving in a sort of way,

As if artistry and joy are any less meritable than money. Base but also aligned with the experience of many students. The “is this on the test” mentality perverting the wonder and excitement of learning.

“I don’t receive any compensation in the form of money.  Instead, I write because I love it,” I imparted.  Finishing with such a message seemed like the perfect closure. To share out of generosity but also in gratitude for the one reader to whom my words might resonate.

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COMMUNITIES OF BELONGING

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Teaching internationally sometimes is like being inside a cocoon.  School days typically in English. The comforts, routines, and rhythms in our new “homes” are similar; often little difference whether in Cairo, Shanghai, or Rio de Janeiro. Of course architecturally they may differ, yet our lives therein, not so changed.  In most cases, it would be a long shot to claim it is a hardship to teach in accredited international schools.  So comfortable, we may even have to go out of the way to feel vulnerable. Still, the fact remains that always outside the doors of home or school is “the different.”  Or more apt, the reflection that we are the “outsider.”   This possibly is the motivation behind our being abroad.

And we are lucky for this chance.

The fact being, we made the choice. We also have the option of how far we might “dive into” the host culture.  Fathoms deep, we may break the surface, challenging ourselves to begin learning the language.  Yet, regardless we will remain “the outsider.”  A feeling sometimes that could even be distressing.

Yet, we are lucky for this chance (refrain).

For the Times, They Are a Changing

How many people truly have the choice to navigate into and out of a dominant culture? Few I would argue.  Instead, so many are without this privilege. They simply nod their head, stand in line, and follow antiquated systems of organization and inequity.  Forced to play by what some may call, “the rules of the game.”

Singer Bob Dylan probably said it best,

And the present now will soon be the past

The order is rapidly fading

The first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a changing

The times are definitely changing.  So too are the “rules.”

International School Leadership Holds a Mirror Up to Themselves

Many of us were not aware, how during the spring of 2019, the Diversity Collaborative, a voluntary group of international educators, initiated a research study by partnering with ISC Research and George Mason University. “The goal was to survey the field of accredited international schools to establish a baseline of information in the international school sector about school leadership and diversity.”  2,676 accredited international schools received the survey and an informative three-and-a-half minute video summarized the results.

Mind you this is pre-pandemic and more than a year before the murder of George Floyd.  Even earlier, in 2017 The Diversity Collaborative was established, in effort to commit to creating and sustaining a more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and just international school community through our focus on leadership.

In an often myopic world bent on entropy, it is refreshing to have such good news.

Others Help Pave the Way

Within governmental agencies there is even a push for more diversity and inclusivity.  This is evident, regardless of the stir caused by the CIA’s recent recruitment campaign titled, “Humans of CIA.”  According to an article titled, “Unpacking the CIA’s cringey recruiting strategy,” the push for diversity is not new. “In 1994, then-CIA director R. James Woolsey said in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that “the ability to understand a complex, diverse world—a world which is far from being all white male—is central to our mission.”

According to McKinsey & Co, companies spend $8 billion a year on diversity training.  Yet, this is just a start.  Camille Chang Gilmore, Boston Scientific’s global chief diversity officer says it best. “Diversity is a given, inclusion is a choice, equity is a goal. Belonging is our ultimate end point.”

Belonging.

And isn’t this paradox seemingly woven into the fabric of 21st century life?  Always connected but more disconnected than ever; an increasingly socially isolated world.  The belonging Gilmore speaks of is almost tribal, a systemic need. It remains even more paramount when power structures are left unchecked; fraternal in their decisions of who allowed in the “room where it happens.” Or, who ultimately belongs.

But, as we have heard, “The times are a changing.”

In the school where I teach, a recent DEIJ statement was crafted to be used on the school’s website, admissions application, handbooks, etc.  One part specifically attests to the importance of belongingness.

“Our community is actively engaged in reflection and action planning to ensure that our school is creating and maintaining an inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong and where our students leave with the attitudes, values, and tools they need to enrich the world.”

The Survey

The data from the 2019 survey helped form a baseline for The Diversity Collaborative’s work.  This year another survey was launched (closing on May 30th) and is more detailed, requiring respondents to dig deeper into the roles of their leadership teams.  The initial question is a declaration of the region of the school. Following this, nationality and race/ethnicity are defined so there is shared understanding and clarity.  The survey then asks for the respondent to declare the gender, nationality based on passport, and ethnicity of the head of school. Then, questions are asked regarding the number, gender, and nationalities of members on the leadership team, as well as whether or not the leadership team has educators from the country where the school is located. The same questions are asked but this time about the school’s board members. Last, the 22-question survey repeats the questions but as they pertain to schools’ teachers.

Now What?

International schools are definitely interested in keeping pace and walking alongside the global communities they serve. Data gathering is but one small step.  Reflection, policies, professional development, partnerships, advocacy and action are all in process.  Ralph Waldo Emerson attested to the gravitas of action. “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” The Diversity Collaborative shared in a recent presentation a very clear statement of action in this regard.

“We recognize that the changes described will take time and resources,  but that just adds to the urgency for all of us engaged with international schools to act without delay to start to dismantle the systems that have prevented some outstanding educators from becoming international  school leaders and to build a more equitable and inclusive international  school sector so that educators of all backgrounds thrive.”

Helpful Links for More Information
ISS Diversity Collaborative
2019 Infographic of the results
For any survey questions, please reach out to data@cois.org

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GETTING OUT OF STUDENTS’ WAY

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Education often is steeped in compliance as a result of control.  How nourishing the experience can be, when instead of control, context is the driver.  In October two students asked if I might be willing to sponsor a club called, “Green Oceans.”

The name was intriguing, as were the stickers already affixed to the computers of various sixth graders.  Instead of an ocean, the design featured a mountain. Come to find out that the mountains wished to convey a broader message of interconnectedness. The green referred to sustainability.  Needless to say, I gladly accepted the request to act as sponsor.

A week later, twenty-two motivated students filled the room.

The club was born.

Unbeknownst to me, the savvy pre-teens already were immersed in a digital platform called Discord.  They were quick to include and even assign me a “teacher’s chair.” Green Oceans already determined that the club’s two “founders” should help guide the decisions.  Further, two other students were quick to self-nominate to act as Green Ocean’s financial managers.

“Financial managers for what?” I question.  We didn’t have any money!

Though I initially did not know several of the students, it is quite possible that unconsciously I was able to trust in the goodness to come.  This especially so, having students named  Birdie, Whale and Proud in the room.  In Thailand it is customary to have a nickname or “chue len.”  Literally translating to “play name,” in 80% of the cases the chue len is but one syllable. It certainly helps with pronunciation, as official Thai names can be especially long.

At the heart of Green Oceans was an earnest desire to help spread awareness to take care of the oceans.  Furthermore, the club wanted to take action. Students were quick to decide that they should sell something.  One student already was recognized to have a talent for tye-dye, whereas another enjoyed making friendship bracelets.  The novelty of both would be customization.

Over the next month students were part of either the marketing or production team.  Marketing was responsible for creating posters to be hung around campus, as well as digital posters to be shared in both the middle and high school daily news bulletins.  Further, individuals on the marketing team learned how to develop Google Forms for collecting orders and spreadsheets were utilized for organizing payment and also for communicating with the designers.

Just as quickly as the club was born, orders began to stream in.  The production team was all hands on deck, while marketing worked closely with “clients” (student speak) to collect payment and communicate the time and place orders could be picked up.

All told, an equivalent of over $1000USD was sold. True service, not an assignment. The endeavor entirely student driven.  “My favorite thing about Green Ocean Club was we had a chance to lead the club.” A similar version of this comment was repeatedly made in a reflective survey.

In initial club meetings, Green Oceans decided to piggyback on the relationship the school already had with an organization called, Phang Nga Coastal Fisheries, also known as “Turtle Heaven.”  Founded in 1985, Phang Nga Coastal Fisheries is located in Southwestern Thailand, along Thai Muang Beach. The Andaman Sea is home to four species of turtle and Green Ocean club’s monetary donation will specifically help support an effort to protect important nesting areas for both Hawksbill and Green sea turtles.

Becoming a “sponsor” provided for a “guide on the side” approach.  As teachers we seemingly are quick to lead, maybe even control.  Getting out of students’ way may just be the panacea.  One which leads to greater empowerment but also success!

HAVE YOU EATEN?

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                  Photo by Des Récits on Unsplash

Does the perfunctory “How are you doing?” really cut it anymore?

Traditionally, the Chinese inquired, “chī le ma?” Or, “chī fàn le ma?”  Literally translated as, “have you eaten?” One origin story points to the significance of the salutation being attached to people’s emotions through food.  Closer to home, here in Thailand, people in passing traditionally greet one another by asking, “bi nigh krup” or “bi nigh ka.”  Used in place of “hello,” it translates, “Where are you going?” The polite response, as ambiguous as automatic, “down the street.”

How are you doing?

Four words.

At the doorway of my classroom and in the hallways, I might unwittingly string these four words together over a hundred times each day!

400 cheap words, the currency of little value. So, let me try this again.

How are you doing? I mean, how are you REALLY doing? The question, asked in English, goes back more than four centuries.  The actual verbiage being, “how art thou?” Syntactically, various versions of the common inquiry morphed throughout the ages.  The meaningfulness of the genuine salutation seemingly adulterated. Which brings us to today. The response an unauthentic knee jerk, “good.” For any who may contest, when was the last time you responded or heard another respond, “Terrible”?  Instead, the predictable exchange can be chalked up as one of life’s “near miss” exchanges.   Akin to handing off a bill and getting change at a toll both.  Mere pleasantries, if even.

With Social Emotional Learning (SEL) more than ever before on educators’ minds, it behooves us to successfully leverage ways we might more successfully and meaningfully connect with students, families, and colleagues.  SEL dubbed the non-cognitive skills which provide for an holistic and well-rounded education, might feel for some to be yet one more thing.  Yet, amidst a worldwide pandemic and inexorable uncertainty, truly getting to know individuals is vital.  Arguably even more so, in an increasingly virtual world.  A friend recently commented how a professor in an on-line course made the indelible assertion, “SEL is not one thing more on the plate. SEL IS THE PLATE.”  Touché.

So, if connecting with our students is important, becoming more deliberate in our salutations seems to be a sensible initial step. Thinking about what we ask, but also not settling for the generic, “good.”  Instead with compassion, might we look others in the eye, seeking to better understand how each is really doing.  Slowing down and taking a self-inventory to see if we are listening earnestly may also pay dividends.

Five years ago, “thinking routines” rightly were all the rage.  Maybe now, the time is ripe for “feeling routines.”  Challenging ourselves to not only learn more vocabulary but to truly get in touch with how we, they, and everyone is doing.  As we begin to hold ourselves more accountable for assessing the countless shifting tides of emotions, maybe then we can more fully honor and support students. But like all good teaching, first we must model. Additionally, creating space, building trust, developing vocabulary, and truly taking time to genuinely show we care, all are at the core.

The result?

Students who are likely to feel more connection, validation, and belonging.  In doing so, we stand a chance to truly bring out the humanity in this noble profession.

7:25 a.m is Not Too Early to Remember 

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~Understanding Our Own Emotions is Imperative to Building Relationships

It is 7:25 a.m and Mr. Davidson stands at the “threshold,” carefully accounting for how he feels as he encounters each student. Greeting each child by name as they enter class first took root as a habit, after reading Doug Lemovi’s #1 New York Times Best Selling book, “Teach Like a Champion.” That was 2010 and he has since greeted over a thousand students.  However, the pandemic compelled Mr. Davidson to rethink the inherent power behind developing relationships.  And until recently he never really took stock for what he honestly might have been feeling for a student. 

“Good morning Daniela, how did your soccer game go?”

Breathe of fresh air. 

 

“Hello Jeremy.”

Neutral.

 

“Hey Jacob, gooood morning!”

Joy.

 

“Hi Isabella.” 

Irritation.

 

This new attentiveness commenced after a recent reading of, “Permission to Feel.” Author Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University, illustrates how emotions are information.  A first step is to note one’s emotions.  Brackett proposes we conduct an “experiment,” using ourselves as guinea pigs.  He encourages the reader to consider the multitude of interactions they might have in a given day.  What is the instant “top-of-the-head” answer to the question, “How do I feel when I encounter each and every person?” From the cashier at the convenience store and attendant at the tollbooth, to our closest colleagues.  Even more specifically, what about the very students we teach?  Our response to how we might first feel, ultimately has the gravitas to result in our will to approach or possibly, avoid a student.

Brackett shares how in seminars it is not uncustomary for teachers to break down crying once they recognize how differently they treat each child.  The inequity is a simple factor of a teacher’s faulty perception of how a student might “make” them feel.

A simpleton would foolishly chalk this up as being human.  Yet, this would be a futile pardoning of sorts.  One that in the end, absolves a teacher of the privileges and responsibilities of the “superpowers” inherent in being a teacher.  Furthermore, to be controlled by an emotion and not approach a student would be devilishly unprofessional.

Teachers enter the profession with an earnest desire for all students to become successful.  A teacher’s wealth built from the relationships developed with students and families.  Albert Camus touched on this prosperity, “When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

A teacher’s doorway; summer.

There is grave importance in coming to the realization of the near visceral reactions within us. The reactions likely having little even to do with the child.  And children they are, even at 17 years of age!  Malleable lives in the making.  Our influence far greater than might be imagined. Every child, regardless of last class, yesterday, what was said, done, or possibly not done is of little, if any, significance.  What is, is to remember why we are teachers.  The child walking through the door is an invitation, a pending relationship. 

She is hope. 

He is potential.  

They are promise.  A better tomorrow.

 

It would be remiss to discount how teachers might be feeling.  Often stressed, overworked, and possibly frustrated.  But what about the children?  Many share the same feelings but are also bored and locked within four walls. The exit, the same as the entrance.  Eight purposeless hours, autonomy supplanted by control. Yet, some may wonder why schools feel more like prison than innovative places, when in many urban school districts in the United States rigid security measures include metal detectors, police on campus and students under continuous surveillance. 

Meanwhile, millions of learners are fixed to a computer screen for endless hours each day of virtual learning.  The need for relationships and connection even more paramount.

This begs the question, “Do students celebrate coming into the classroom, as much as leaving?”  For this truly to be realized, there is the necessity to replay the greetings and ensuing emotions at the threshold.

“Good morning Daniela, how did your soccer game go?”

Breathe of fresh air. 

 

“Hello Jeremy.”

Neutral.

 

Neutral?  This is inexcusable.

Neutral is neither going backwards nor forwards.  Neutral is going nowhere and Jeremy needs to be going somewhere.

More than ever before, students need teachers.  Negative and neutral responses towards a student simply is irresponsible.  Assuming Jeremy does propose every challenge under the sun, so what?  

There is all the more reason then to reach out to him. The vitality and value of this, far outweighs any emotion within Mr. Davidson. And he knows it. Emotional intelligence attests to the ability to regulate one’s emotions.  Might he (and we!) be poised enough to do this. Powerful and in control.  As opposed to being asleep at the wheel and possibly reacting to how we might feel.

It requires a remembering of why we became teachers.  7:25 a.m is not too early to remember!