Connection is the word of Dr. Jody Carrington. Recently we had the honour of her joining us on the #G2Great chat to discuss various topics that are covered in her amazing new book Kids These Days: A Game Plan For [RE]Connecting With Those We Teach, Lead & Love. This was Jody’s first Twitter chat and it was a gift to learn from her.
At the centre of Jody’s work is the concept of connection and reconnection. What to do when that connection is lost and how to help rebuild. As the chat began the first question set the tone.
I am grateful for both this book and the chat as I was able to go back and reflect as the last few days in the classroom have really required me to dive back in and find some inspiration. Monday was a really hard day. Apparently it is the talk of the school as I have had other teachers come by to see if I was good. In the end, there was an incident where a student was disrupting the room and things really went sideways. On reflection, it was all about connection-seeking but I saw it as attention-seeking. Parent meetings have been had, meetings with admin on how they can support me and meetings with the student. I kept coming back to the same question though, “How can I help you? What do you need?” The student didn’t know at that moment. They were having a hard time even seeing that their behaviour was problematic.
Today we started fresh everything was going well. As students read through a great short story and practice using Notice and Note to support their thinking around the text the student looked up and said “I am bored, this is taking too long I need a break.” This might not seem like connection seeking but after a week of nothing but “I don’t know” I took this as a huge step forward.
Instead of saying, “ok let’s just finish.” I acknowledged that the assignment was a bit longer than I thought when planning. I offered for them to take a break and come back to it later. There were no disruptions just connection. The student felt seen and heard and escalation was avoided. Hopefully, some trust was built. After this happened today I sat back and just pondered how a different reaction Monday might have helped us avoid the blow-up that occurred. Connection.
The first time I listened to Dr.Carrington present I connected with this idea of the Light-up. It has always been something I thought important in the classroom. I want every student to feel as though I am excited they are a part of my community because I am. This light-up can be a simple smile for those who need it and a bigger reaction for those who need that. I have always felt the light-up needs to be differentiated. There is no one size fits all. This was reflected in the amazing answers we received throughout the chat.
So often we (educators and parents) get stuck on behaviours but forget to look at the cause. I am so grateful for the work of Dr.Carrington as she asks us to focus on the cause and look at the behaviours as a result of lack of connection. The light-up can facilitate that connection. It is sort of like leaving the porch light on. When you pull up to a house and the lights are off you tend to take the hint. If we don’t indicate to our students and kids we are happy to see them we have to consider they might be getting another, unintended, message.
There was so much that we talked about in the chat, so please check the Wakelet that is linked above. I wanted to end with some of the responses to question 7. As we go forward, what are the next steps? How do we help our students learn to self regulate? To get the lid back on after it is flipped? How do we show the light-up? How to we, as the adults, learn to move past the behaviours and provide a safe place to find the connection again?
As I go forward I need to take my own advice when days are a bit bumpier than planned. Deep breaths and looking for chances to connect. Going back to the start if I had done these (not always) simple things I could have avoided the lid flip. I could have avoided the embarrassing power struggle for me and moment for the student. When we act with connection or reconnection in mind, we are putting the most vulnerable among us first. We are looking at our students as connection seekers, not attention seekers
I can’t recommend Dr. Jody Carrington’s book enough. Check out the website that is located here and find her on Facebook where most Sunday nights she hosts a live video chat. We would like to thank Dr. Carrington for joining us and leading this amazing discussion. The work she is leading is so important, and we are so grateful she took the time to share with us.
As I sit at my computer basking in the glow of our fifth #G2Great anniversary, I feel a wave of celebratory joy washing over me for collaborative conversations past and yet to come. I still vividly recall the January 8, 2015 maiden chat that launched a long history of inspired conversations. This memorable beginning marked the day I joined Jenn Hayhurst and Amy Brennan for a ten-week discussion of my book, Good to Great Teaching: Focusing on the Literacy Work thatMatters (Heinemann 2012). It seems fitting that I captured the spirit of the book that gave birth to our chat in my fifth book anniversary blog post: 10 Lessons Teachers Taught Me About Good to Great Teaching.
While our #G2great chat began as a short-term proposition, we soon realized that it was so much more than we had anticipated. Within a few weeks, #G2Great transformed into a passionate quest to create a long-term space for shared dialogue that is now entering year six. As our labor of love grew, our team also grew and we welcomed co-moderators Fran McVeigh, Valinda Kimmel, and Brent Gilson. I am so lucky to be surrounded by dedicated educators who are also dear personal friends.
As I glance back at five years of #G2Great chats, the magnitude of our collective impact comes to life in glorious numbers with 234 chats including brilliant authors, student voices, topics and series and 187 blog post reflections that honor each one. These chats now lovingly reside in our Wakelet home soon to be joined by new authors, student voices, topics and series in the coming year. We couldn’t have imagined that someday we would celebrate five years of anniversary collaborations detailed in a rich history:
Anniversary Blog Posts
Year 1: 1/5/16 (Blog Post launch); Year 2: 1/5/17 The Gifts of YOU; Year 3: 1/4/18 (Curiosity Crew collaboration); Year 4: 1/10/19 (Curiosity Crew collaboration)
This impressive collection of conversational collaborations communicate our deep belief in the power of professional possibility so it’s no accident that “WHAT IF?” became the theme of our fifth anniversary. When I first sat down to write this post, I planned to frame my thoughts around our seven WHAT IF chat questions. But as I perused our five-year history of passion-fueled dialogue, seven new WHAT IF themes began to naturally emerge that seemed to support and extend those chat questions with interrelated WHAT IF ponderings.
And so, in honor of a five-year joyful journey, I offer seven WHAT IF queries we have explored across five glorious years within our #G2great community of professional wonderers:
#1: WHAT IF we valued time so much that we filled our day only with the most effective practices?
One of the most common themes in our chat history has been to explore professional beliefs we hold dear and how we bring those beliefs to life in our own learning spaces. We demonstrate what we value by giving those values a place of honor in each learning day. We acknowledge that this requires us to let go of those things that usurp time for what we know is most essential. In doing so, we embrace our role as thoughtful decision-makers who view each precious minute as a gift we offer our children. We do this not for some but for all children so that equitable practices will become a reality in every classroom. In the spirit of Good to Great Teaching, we say “No” to the literacy work that doesn’t matter so that we can say “Yes” to the literacy work that does. This is the heart and soul upon which #G2Great was founded in 2015.
#2: WHAT IF we viewed ongoing professional learning as our instructional superpower?
We are blessed to teach at a time when research offers a readily accessible guide to support that instructional decision-making. Unfortunately, access to research wisdom is not enough as we cannot transform research into practice unless we are aware of the research and its implications and then willing to apply it in our daily practices. The most effective schools create research-based exploratory opportunities as a collective priority rising from a culture of respectful collaborations. Imagine what would happen if every teacher had access to a professional bookroom and that those books were used to inspire invitational conversations between knowledge hungry educators supported by literacy coaches who gently nudge daily learning in action. When teaching and learning work in tandem and teachers embrace their responsibility to seek and enhance their own learning, whether it is supported in schools or not, anything is possible.
#3: WHAT IF we promoted research-informed resources that nurture professional ownership?
Sadly, scripted programs, packages and fidelity-fueled boxes have gained a stranglehold on this profession and created a whole new generation of compliant disseminators in training. If we are ever to become knowledge driven educators who make choices based on our growing knowledge, we must prioritize resources that are designed to support rather than dictate that knowledge. Our actions demonstrate unwavering commitment to those research beliefs but this in turn assumes that any resources we bring into our classroom will serve to enhance our vision for increasing the volume of reading, writing and talking. This obligates schools to financially support classroom and school libraries. We thus encourage volume inducing practices that maximize student inquiry and engagement and instructional opportunities that match rather than conflict with the vision we claim to embrace. If belief drives practices that draw from research and this is then supported by meaningful resources, our students will always reap the benefits of those efforts.
#4: WHAT IF assessment informed child-centered understandings vs. labels that dictate?
Over the years, our understandings about instructional practices have grown by leaps and bounds while the quality of assessments that could support those understandings have barely budged. We find ourselves standing squarely in the center of standardized testing, grading obsessed activities and a fascination with color-coded spreadsheets that label learners with highly questionable computer and speed-driven data. Formative assessment seems to have taken a backseat even though we recognize that assessment-informed instruction is critical. A startling number of teachers have never listened to or conferred with students or taken and analyzed a running record. Over time, we have watched schools pay homage to numbers that reflect a blip on the assessment radar screen, as our responsibility to living breathing children in front of us gets lost in a sea of numbers. Knowing that this assessment-instruction merger is the only way to move past our data blind spot, we make a commitment to do so.
#5: WHAT IF the daily schedule was seen as an opportunity rather than a ball and chain?
Balanced literacy and each of the instructional components that fit within this comprehensive professional perspective have been a common discussion individually and collectively. We consider this an especially important topic at a time when the very term “balanced literacy” is undeservedly on the firing lines by those who are riddled with misconceptions about what it even means. This is particularly relevant at a time when schools are seeking to control the daily schedule with a piecemeal view of teaching rather than how those experiences work in support of one another. While #G2Great chats have looked at the “pieces” that make up a balanced literacy framework, it has been the interplay between them that has always been at the center of our dialogue. Our conversations highlight this interplay while moving us to contemplate how to create a more flexible scheduling design so that one can support, extend and build on the other.
#6 WHAT IF we believed that lifting the collective voices of our students was a professional imperative?
#G2Great chats have championed the belief that students have much to say. We have honored this belief by lifting student voices into the #G2Great professional air through varied #chats that have put students in the talk seat. Over the years, #G2Great has promoted fifteen student-led chats ranging from the elementary grades to college freshmen. We have celebrated our students not just for who they are but for who they could be if given a platform for sharing their ideas in and beyond our chat. We believe that our willingness to honor students for all that they bring to the learning experience adds to our professional wisdom and that those voices can then extend beyond our four walls and into the world. We invite student voices because we are committed to the idea that we have much to learn from them and that listening to what they have to teach us demonstrates our belief that they are equally valuable members of our community of learners.
#7: WHAT IF every schoolwide decision began with, “Is this in the best interest of our children?“
Interventions have been a common #G2Great discussion within and across our chat, even when that wasn’t the main topic. Every chat we have ever had in the history of #G2Great focused on our belief that instructional equity is our responsibility. We know that this is only feasible if we put the unique needs of each child first by avoiding quick fix solutions and practices that widen rather than close the existing gap. We have celebrated Tier 1 as the first line of defense and expressed our concern that our intervention journey will be a blurry one when our focus is on identification over enriching our instructional practices across the learning day. We know that the only way that equity will become a reality in our schools is when we are able to ensure that each child has access to rich opportunities across the day from one side of the building to the other so that excellence is business as usual. In short, we support the notion that every decision we make is informed and guided by our commitment to children and their ultimate success.
Putting What If into Visual Perspective
As I paused to think back to these seven shifts, I realized that our chat has really been grounded in how we can move from NOW to NEXT. In the quiet of my thoughts I was drawn to something my very wise friend Heidi Mills said in an incredible #G2Great chat with principal Mike Oliver. As these thoughts swirled in my head, I captured them by creating the visual below. This image reflects the #G2Great spirit and what we have always stood for:
CLOSING THOUGHTS
#G2Great was created in celebration of collective professional learning and the merging of voices that give us a sense of shared direction. We are committed to creating a space where passion-fueled conversations allow us to stand up for the rights of our children to enter classrooms that represent the learning opportunities they so richly deserve. This is particularly crucial at a time when our values are being called into question by reporters and non-educators as the Twitter we love has morphed into mudslinging directed at practices and people we admire. While it is tempting to jump into the fray, we opt to expend our energy engaging in courageous conversations because we know that speaking up is more productive than engaging in ill-informed verbal fisticuffs on the social media battlefields. We will continue to maintain that stance with our sights squarely centered on our children and research informed practices that support our efforts on their behalf.
As we look ahead to 2020 and beyond, we contemplate how we can continue to grow as professionals and colleagues. We are grateful for the courageous conversations of the past five years, but we also know that we could be even more courageous in the coming years. We make this commitment not only for ourselves as professionals, but also for those of you who join our #G2Great collaborations in honor of your students. We are so grateful to each of you for engaging in shared conversations that inspire us and we thank you for your unwavering dedication to our children…
After all, they are the very heartbeat of #G2great
1. What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?
We believe that the term “balanced literacy” has lost its meaning and we thought it was time to reclaim the term. Originally, the term was coined to ensure that there was appropriate, evidence-based teaching and learning in foundational skills and meaning-making. At the time, the “reading wars” dominated the conversation and this was an attempt to ensure that the field moved forward. Since then, some aspects of “balance” have been lost and we continue to learn about the necessary conditions for students to learn to read, write, and think at high levels. Our hope is that teachers and school systems revisit their literacy instructional models and update them with current evidence about teaching literacy.
This past week we had the fantastic opportunity to chat with Nancy Akhavan, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey about their new book “This is Balanced Literacy” I have a copy and it really is fantastic. In a literacy landscape that is becoming increasingly bumpy as some try to misrepresent the definition work of balanced literacy and so many other terms, we need more texts like this to serve as a tether to the real work we are doing.
I graduated from University in 2010 and in my introduction to Language Arts instruction class I remember discussing the importance of a balanced literacy language arts class. When I started my first teaching assignment I walked into a very traditional classroom that I would share part-time with a veteran teacher in the last year of her career. I learned a lot from her. One thing was that there had to be better ways to engage my students, all of my students, in quality literacy instruction that met their individual needs.
I started looking into different texts and at the time settled on The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. As I learned to structure my classroom in a way that provided my students with opportunities to explore reading and writing both independently and in groups as well as work with them in small groups and one on one I realized what had been missing.
Balanced literacy structures made room for my students to get what they needed from me, in whatever amount that turned out to be, and then explore who they were as readers and writers. It was never a free for all, it was not the wild west of literacy instruction. It was structured, we worked on skills when I taught third grade we had targetted time for those striving readers working on phonics in guided reading lessons while the majority of my class worked in other stations. What sold me on it the most was that even those kids who did still need those foundational skills had opportunities for independent exploration to discover their reading and writing selves.
Words from the Authors
2. What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices?
A few things come to mind. First, learning to read is hard. Every brain must be taught to read. We do not pass down a “reading gene” from one generation to the next. Intentional and targeted instruction is essential to accomplish this. Second, there is evidence for both direct and more dialogic forms of instruction. Both work if they are used correctly and for the right aspects of literacy development. It’s not an either/or, it’s a both/and. As a profession, we are still learning a lot about the ways in which talk mediates learning. Third, the role of practice is widely misunderstood. To learn well, students need distributed, deliberate practice. Planning and monitoring practice is important and something we all need to learn more about. Fourth, students need to be involved in literacy through the gradual release of responsibility. They can start at any point in the gradual release model as the collaborate, practice, work with the teacher or receive direct instruction from the teacher. Balanced teaching is about incorporating all four parts of the gradual release into our students’ literacy experiences.
As the chat took off on Thursday there was so much to just take in.
As Nancy and so many mentioned in their responses to the first question balanced literacy includes so many wonderful aspects of both reading and writing. We are not putting limits on our students. We are guiding them, lifting them up and assisting them in both their skills and passion for literacy work. As I considered this first question the idea of the opportunity to promote equity came to mind.
A1: To me balance is not about equal but equitable. We look at what our students need and craft our work to match those needs. I don't want to say I am going to have X amount of minutes doing this and this before sitting down and learning what my students need. #g2greathttps://t.co/qPtAUUHtBo
I am teaching junior high now and at times the shorter class periods and structure challenges get in the way of the traditional balanced literacy approach I use to have in elementary. Reflecting on how much easier differentiation was, how much easier it was to address individual student needs in a well organized balanced literacy classroom has me back to the drawing board as I reorganize to make the structure work.
So often we see from voices that oppose balanced literacy or have created their own definition of what it is the notion that it is not a place for direct instruction. If we are judging by the chat this is simply not true. Countless teachers agree that direct instruction has a much-needed place but it is the amount of time spent that tends to be a point of difference.
A2 Teachers are sometimes afraid to do this, but it’s foundational to surface learning. The trouble is when it is only direct instruction with little chance to practice and apply. #G2Great
Balanced Literacy structured class provide the opportunity for students to read, write and share but also provides us with multiple different teaching opportunities like whole class, small group and individual. I see a lot on Twitter the idea that “all kids need” and while I agree there are a few things all kids need I love the opportunities that become available when we have a structure that allows us to look at what each kid needs specifically. Small group and individual instruction give us the opportunity to do more. Instead of being guided by what we think they all need we can assess them and plan how best to address those areas where growth is needed.
#G2Great Assessment data helps us plan instruction, especially in small groups so that specific needs are addressed.
I am so incredibly grateful for the community that #G2Great is. I intend on spending some time with this book over the holiday break among a stack of others. Our work is hard. With a constantly changing world of education and different practices being pushed from one voice or another I feel two things remain true. Looking to the authors’ final response we find the first truth,
Words from the Authors
3. What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?
You did not pick the easiest profession, but you did pick one that will have a significant and lasting impact on the lives of others. Learn everything that you can so that you can meet the needs of those students lucky enough to call you ‘teacher.
The second point is that in the end all of this work is, for one thing, the kids. No one child is the same as another and so it only makes sense that our instruction is not one size fits all. As this chat has so beautifully reminded us we need to be purposeful in our decision making, guide our practice with formative assessments and create a learning space where all students have access to what they need. A Balanced Literacy Classroom provides this opportunity.
Inquiry based learning for students is distinguished by learning that is authentic to the discipline (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008) and, you won’t be surprised to know, that what students discover in the inquiry process leads to an increase in autonomy.
For students, inquiry fosters the construction of meaningful knowledge rooted in essential, disciplinary ideas and skills (Clayton, Kilbane, and McCarthy, 2017).
What’s different is that they have flipped their thinking. Where these educators used to worry about covering the material, they now plan how to evoke kids’ curiosity. When they once focused on assigning and assessing finished products, they now teach thinking: problem posing, researching, vetting, corroborating, analyzing, criticizing, and presenting (Daniels & Harvey, 2009).
It’s important to begin this week’s post about inquiry with a few words from some educational leaders in our field. The remainder of this post, however, will be focused on participant educators and, most importantly, bona fide student practitioners of inquiry.
Jason Augustowski and his students led the #g2great chat on
Thursday evening. The questions were designed by students and they participated
in the chat by responding and raising additional questions to promote
reflection on this all-important topic.
Joseph, Jason and Spencer started the chat by posting
questions about the partnership and shared responsibility of inquiry.
In their book, The Curious Classroom, Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels share the origins of inquiry-based learning.
Inquiry
learning is no fad. It has a deep history of research and practice in American
education. The century-old contributions of John Dewey and William Kirkpatrick
built a strong foundation, but other key contributions have come over the past
seventy years. Spurred by development of constructivist learning theory and
social psychology, the discovery learning movement was born in the 1960s, led
by figures like Jerome Bruner. A breakthrough finding of this research was that
traditional learning theories could not explain how children learned their
native language. Normally developing children invent language structures they
have never heard from adults: Daddy goed to work, I have two feets, and so on.
This showed us that learners don’t just receive but actively construct
knowledge by sampling and actively manipulating the information around them.
Not surprisingly, given a hundred years of such study, we can now document
improved academic achievement in a variety of settings and grade levels where
inquiry-based approaches are in place (Buck Institute 2016).
The
setting or environment of the classroom is equally as important as the teacher
and student dispositions that facilitate inquiry learning.
The physical environment is important, but so too are the relationships
in the learning community when committed to inquiry. “Triggering inquiry is
about learning something new, and triggering curiosity is no small feat. It
takes modeling enthusiasm, and learning something new generates our own
enthusiasm, even if it’s something new about the content we’ve covered for
years.” (What
The Heck Is Inquiry Based Learning? Wolpert-Gowran, 2016)
Student-centered inquiry is powerful for connecting “school-work”
to real life. It’s also critical for relevant questions by engaged students
related to content that lead the learning.
At NCTE just last month, Shea Martin shared during a Friday morning session that teachers must de-center the inquiry process from teacher to center it instead on students. They asked, “How does our own stuff show up in the goals and aspirations we have for our students?” Shea went on to caution teachers in the room to be cognizant of our own baggage and reflect on the way it affects our students. We must think clearly about how we define progress, success, equity, and inclusion, among many other topics, themes and real-life issues. Shea challenged attendees to deconstruct a “selfie-pedagogy” and co-construct the inquiry learning with our students.
The goal of grading is to evaluate performance.
Many assume grades are a way to express student learning, but this widely
accepted practice is not the best measure for communicating student growth.
Assessment, however, is feedback that expresses student
learning. “Moreover, assessment
goes beyond grading by systematically examining patterns of student learning
across courses and programs and using this information to improve educational
practices.”
In inquiry-based learning students can
and should be able to create criteria that clearly communicates growth in
thinking, researching and advocacy.
All teachers make choices about how classroom time is spent and what knowledge is privileged. Within critical classrooms, these choices work to empower students. Teachers work with students to deconstruct the world and words around them while constructing words and worlds of their own (Shor, 1999; Freire & Macedo, 1987). This “new literacy,” as Finn calls it, is heir to the tradition of progressive education; it espouses literacy in which the control and the learning shifts from the teacher to the student (Finn, 2009, p. 35). It includes conversations about power and justice, and calls on students to become agents for change (Harste, 2000; Leland, Harste, Ociepka, Lewison, & Vasquez, 1999). (Advocacy at the Core: Inquiry and Empowerment in the Time of Common Core State Standards, Grindon 2014)
The
end goal of inquiry learning is for students to engage in content area
authentic learning tasks. They must be involved in the creation of essential
questions leading to self-directed inquiry.
We are incredibly grateful for Jason Augustowski and the #Bowtie students. The work they are doing is groundbreaking and unparalleled. Thank you, once again, #Bowtie and @MisterAMisterA for leading the learning for the #g2great professional learning network.
We’re listening. We’re learning.
(You can see the other #g2great chats moderated by #Bowtie here.
Thursday, November 14, 2019 was the fifth and final chat in our “Yes, They Can!” series envisioned by #G2Great Team Member Valinda Kimmel. Our focus was on “Empowering Community” and the discussion was lively with some common threads for the evening and the entire series. Basic concepts included: “Yes, They Can”, communication, transparency, and student agency but with that quick look at our end point, I would like to recap the first four chats to establish a sequence of learning and set the scene for this post.
This “can do” theme has been a great source of optimism and positivity so when the following tweet in my Twitter feed stopped me in my tracks before I began to study our Wakelet, I immediately had a lengthy conversation with myself. (Several conversations!) This tweet seemed to embody the opposite of what our series was hoping to initiate, develop, and nurture. Numerous re-readings kept me focused on the concept of transformation and the amount, volume or depth of pressure in order for change to occur. Check it out! What does it say to you?
Twitter, November 14, 2019
In order to empower students, hear from #studentvoices, teachers, leaders, and community, the status quo will need to be disrupted. That process or transformation will take time, work and a desire to “stay the course” in spite of adversity. Keeping Denzel Washington’s words to “trust the process” in times of trouble will serve us well because our “stick-to-it-iveness will be tested. Keeping the end goal in mind will pay off when we encounter productive struggle and yet remain planful and purposeful.
Reprise: Favorite Quotes
This series of chats had some very consistent recurring phrases: Whole Child, High Expectations, Restraints/Barriers, Partnerships, Measures of Success, Advocacy, and Sustainability whether they were worded that explicitly in every chat. In isolation each phrase is specific to empowerment and worth of investment in resources. And yet, layers of high expectations from students to teachers, to leaders and to communities may result in higher levels of success, advocacy and sustainability when the phrases are also interwoven and combined.
Empowering Community
The final chapter. The final chat. I hear Frank Sinatra in the background, “And now, the end is near, And so I face the final curtain . . .” A focus on “Yes, They Can! means that community will need to be defined. Classroom community, building community and district community will all have impact. But what about the relationship between the school components, the people in the school and the community in which they reside. How well do their needs match up? How well do they interact on a regular basis?
Communication was one key factor that emerged from tweets in our chat. Communicating a consistent school mission/message about the importance of learning and the goals of the school. Communication about the roles of the students, the importance of student agency and the role of the community stakeholders on a regular basis in learning. Communication included measuring and reporting success in stories that matter to the members of the community.
Student agency was another key factor in this chat. The role of students, their own voices and their choices in their learning as well as in volunteerism in the community were noted. Real choices. Real roles. Not just checking off volunteer lists but finding, exploring and developing their personal passions.
Transparency also emerged as a third key factor that included many of the topics in the chat. Transparency in measures of success. Named targets are easier to achieve that unknown shots in the dark. What data is reported beyond the required external, summative assessments? Who tells the stories? Do they show in the board reports, local newspapers, and student yearbooks?
And then the most important factor, the “Yes, They Can!” that was the theme for all five weeks. A belief in students. A belief in parents. A belief in teachers. A belief in leaders. A belief in communities. With high expectations, everyone can reach higher. Everyone can dig in. Everyone can struggle, undergo that transformation that Denzel Washington described, and emerge victorious.
How will you use, “Yes, They Can” to stretch and grow?
Date
Chat Title
Wake
Blog
10/17/19
Five-Part Series (Yes, They Can) #1 Empowering Students
Make no mistake, all teachers have it within them to be leaders. It is a teacher’s work to give students a voice to express their opinions on the world. When students first discover their identities in society a teacher is usually behind the scenes making that moment count. Teachers lead students to discover their ideas about themselves, and how to exercise their personal power. A teacher shows children how to set meaningful goals, and those goals may be life-changing. Ask any child who learns to read or write if their goals matter. I assure you, they will have lots to say if they have an engaged teacher leading them on their way. Teachers everywhere are deconstructing walls to access and equity so that all their students see themselves in their classrooms. Their students trust they will be treated with fairness because that’s just what good leaders do. Students in these classrooms understand that they are held in the highest regard not for what they can do, but for who they are.
On Thursday, November 7, 2019, the #G2Great community came together to explore ways to empower leadership in the fouth, of a five-part series entitled, Yes They Can! The kinds of teachers who go out of their way to participate in our weekly chats are change agents. These are the leaders who create agentive environments for everyone around them because they bring everyone up with them. They raise the level of discourse in their faculty meetings, they encourage kids to take risks. All of this is the truth, and here is one more truth to consider – most of these extraordinary teachers are the very ones who might be reticent to see themselves as leaders.
That is why this chat was such an important one. This perception, I’m just a teacher, has to change. Now more than ever we need teachers who see themselves leaders who will advocate for kids. The rest of this post is going to celebrate the teachers who decided to join in the conversation. I let their words stand on their own for your consideration.
Educational Leaders to Follow…
Leaders keep students and their well being at the center of every decision. They also make a point to make personal connections with students every day
Find student strengths and create opportunities for students to excell….the whole child can and should be able to stretch out of the four core subjects!
A better mandate would be a wall of student names and a collection that every adult has of those names until every single one is taken by an adult who knows and has connected with them
Start with a vision, created thru collaboration, of what learning looks like, feels like and then establish the expectations. Important to remember high expectations are attainable by all students.
The only way to increase sustainability is to quit chasing one initiative and quick fix after the other and look for real solutions that will breathe new life into the heart and soul of the school. We have to set our sights in lasting change! @DrMaryHoward
As I read over these quotes, I get a sense of the impact these educators are having on the world. To me, a teacher is the most important kind of leader there is working in public service today. Every time a teacher goes above and beyond they are shaping their students’ perception of what it means to be an adult. Every time they demonstrate having high expectations for themselves they are inspiring a sense of personal excellence that will influence their students. When these remarkable teachers lean in and say, “Tell me more.” when a new piece of research or professional development, they are living a learner’s life. These wonderful people exist in the world and the world is a better place because they exist. This post is dedicated to you readers, and all the teachers just like you, who may never read it. You are leaders to admire, thank you.
On 10-31-19, #G2Great continued our five-part chat series, Yes, They Can! Following our first two chats on Empowering Students 10/17/19 and Empowering Student Voices 10/24/19, we turned our sights to Empowering Teachers. Judging by the inspired tweets, it’s apparent that our #G2Great chat family shares our deep passion for creating learning spaces where teachers can reside within a spirt of professional empowerment.
Before our #G2Great chat began, we shared the words of Eleanor Roosevelt that seem appropriate as I look back at our Empowering Teachers chat experience. This quote is a reminder of the impact teachers can have when given the freedom to take responsibility for their own choices. Professional decision-making driven by deep knowledge is the epitome of empowerment so it would seem that schools would want to nurture this idea, right? Sadly, that has not been the case in countless schools and districts that don’t seem to adhere to this wise proposition – a counter position to empowerment that is destined to shut the door on what COULD be.
Before we can ponder where we went so tragically awry in this professional decision-making quest, it makes sense to begin with a working definition that speaks to the heart of empowerment. To do this I turned to the wise words of Webster and friends:
Empower: to give or delegate power
Several synonyms support this succinct definition including: authorize, entitle, permit, allow, warrant, delegate enable equip with an antonym provided that says it all: forbid. With a little more searching, I found a definition closer to the meaning I was hoping for:
to make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their own life and claiming their rights.
Certainly, confidence breeds action which increases empowerment while the opposite could also be said to be true: lack of confidence breeds inaction which decreases empowerment. I dug a little further until I found the perfect words deserving of a slide:
When schools believe in teachers as decision-makers, they endow them with the gift of empowerment. When that gift comes with a commitment to invest in teachers through professional learning, ongoing support and thoughtful resources – all things that could make a real difference in the lives of children – they bring that gift to life from one side of the building to the other. This happens when unwavering belief in teachers translates to viewing them as professionals deserving of trust. This is Empowerment.
But there has also been a sad flip side to this happy outcome. Districts and schools say that they believe in their teachers and the impact that they can have when they are empowered to make their own instructional decisions. Yet, their actions demonstrate empowerment lip service considering that in the same breath they dole out an endless array of mandates, computerized nonsense and out of the box scripted curriculum, all under the battle cry of “fidelity” as they tether teachers to a ball and chain of dictates. The reality is that professional empowerment will forever remain a myth perpetuated by misinformed task masters until we return professional decision-making to the hands of those who have the greatest potential to transform our learning spaces, decisions that may in fact include choosing not to follow mandated programs.
But this gift of empowerment does not come without a price. Trust implies that teachers will make responsible decisions based on the research that informs our beliefs about what matters most. This gift means that we are in turn willing to make the best possible professional choices in the name of children. Empowerment holds us accountable to assume the role of lifelong learner, opting to read professional texts and articles, attend webinars and other learning opportunities in a perpetual quest for growing knowledge. We engage in collaborative discussions in our schools or through social media. We ask curiosity-inspired questions. We seek understanding rather than hard and fast solutions. We take ownership of our responsibility to make the best decisions for our children rather than to simply reach for time-wasting activity fillers.
Of course, there is also a cost for districts or schools since we cannot empower our teachers unless we are willing to support professional learning opportunities across the entire school year. The only way that we can do that is to make ongoing professional learning our first priority. Yes, that comes at a financial cost but then we would have ample resources to this end if we refused to buy those fidelity fueled programs in the first place. See how that works?
Just last month I attended the International Literacy Conference in New Orleans and in two weeks I will be traveling to Baltimore MD to attend the NCTE Annual Conference. These are growth opportunities that I give myself every year and they always fuel my head and heart while sustaining me until I return again in a state of continual refilling. But year after year, the number of attendees at those conferences have slowly dwindled Why? Because many schools no longer invest in their teachers so that they too could attend these conferences. This demonstrates little value for the very learning that inspires and informs so many of us.
And let’s be clear about the so called financial problem that has become the go-to excuse for this travesty. We don’t have a money problem; we have a priority problem. The powers that be are perfectly content to sign a check to the tune of $500,000 or more for boxed curriculum and a staggering amount for one-size-fits-all skill and drill computerized junk. Yet they’re unwilling to invest in the professional knowledge. It is disconcerting that the investment in money hungry ploys are designed to summarily reduce teachers to market-driven puppets as we continue to waste precious dollars and minutes while demonstrating that we value things above people and the learning opportunities that could be the tipping point for real change.
Of course, our schools then insist that teachers want these things, but as a national consultant who spends a great deal of time with teachers across the country, I can tell you that most teachers want to take back the reins of decision-making that has been so cavalierly stolen from them. We fill their hands with out-of-the-box teaching and then wonder why some teachers beg for more. Why wold we be surprised when we have programmed a whole new generation of educators who want to live out their careers as the professional version of the Stepford Wives depicted in the movies. We have created our own reality and it has blinded far too many teachers, schools and districts to what is possible when we are willing to invite teacher empowerment into our learning spaces armed with the professional knowledge that fuels those choices.
As I come to the close of this passionate post, I think back to the words of John Spencer and A.J. Juliani in their wonderful book, Empower (2017 Impress, LP):
Changing the game of school means actually allowing students to create their own game. This is empowerment.
But I would argue that we will never change the game for our children until we change the game for our teachers. I’m going take the liberty of rewording the words of John and A.J. to make that point;
Changing the game of school means actually allowing teachers to create their own game. This is empowerment.
I was excited for this chat topic and so grateful that my week to blog fell on this date. I start with the term above. When I think about the importance of empowering student voice, the importance of students knowing they are both heard and seen the critical importance of it becomes clear to me as I think about what the alternative might be.
A quick story of my greatest failure as a teacher. Two years ago I was teaching in a small, conservative (religious), mostly white community. In one of my classes, a student made the brave choice to come out as transgender. This was not an easy road, peers did not react with acceptance, bully behaviour was excused by parents as disagreements around morality and as teachers, we worked to try and protect this student from the intolerance that surrounded them. In the end, the student left our school and community. Their voice was drowned out by the voices of intolerance. I still think about if there was more I could do. In a job interview last year I was asked what my greatest failure was as a teacher. I tearfully recalled this moment it sticks with me. I have talked to the student since. They are happy in their new school. They are doing well, despite our failings to build a community that would accept them for who they are.
When we look at the importance of empowering our students so their voices are heard I think we need to consider two essential questions. First, do our students see themselves in our classroom? In our instruction? In our libraries? And Secondly, How does our intentional practice create a culture of community inside and outside our classroom?
Looking at the first, I remember listening to a Heinemann podcast with Lester Laminack and Katie Kelly which can be found here. In the podcast, a point that stuck out to me was in reference to books in the classroom. In what we as teachers choose to leave out. When I was teaching 6th Grade Lily and Dunkin was released. I bought it for my classroom library because of well… diversity( the intentions were good). A student read it and came to warn me that it might not be a good book for our classroom because there was a Transgender student in the text. A coworker and I often discussed if books would be acceptable in our community before putting them in the library. Looking back I wonder how many students struggled to see themselves in our classroom because of this concern of angry parents complaining about literature. I have always brushed off any worries that books might bring complaints but I didn’t necessarily promote the books. My intentional choice to not talk about these important texts gave permission for my students to not read them. This unintentional erasure contributed to my students’ inability to see anyone but themselves and what they viewed as “normal” as a part of their community. Most certainly it contributed to some of my students being unable to see themselves and how does one use their voice when they do not see themselves as part of the conversation?
Even the best of intentions in creating a classroom the reflects all of our students can go wrong. I started last year with the intention of building a classroom library that represented Dr.Rudine Sims Bishop’s ideas around mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors. I was building a library the was diverse in appearance but fell into the single-story narrative for many of the stories that featured lead characters of colour. It reminded me of University when my Professor shared an account of her niece coming home in tears because the “diverse” book they were reading featured African children with a monkey sitting on one of their heads. The kids all teased the lone student whose parents had emigrated from Ghana if monkeys ever sat on her head. I wonder how quick she was to share her voice?
As teachers, it is our responsibility to build a community that empowers our students. Empowers them to use their voices and also empowers them to grow, to learn and to welcome those who might not see the world with the same lens. I spoke about my missteps on this learning journey to highlight the lessons I have learned as a teacher. I am constantly looking at if my actions as a teacher elevate or erase and where to go next. To ensure we elevate I think there are times when holding tight to our convictions, that every child has the right to be seen, to feel valued and be respected and heard, is more important than our comfort. At times we need to speak up against the majority on behalf of the minority. We have to use whatever privilege we have and that might simply be as the adult in the room to be that champion for all of our students so that they know when they speak we will be listening.
As I looked back on this chat I think of my students who have yet to find their voice, who do not feel quite comfortable enough to raise their voice. To participate as members of our community. I look at how I might empower them but also how I can empower those who are in the majority to work in our community to help others to see why this is so important. In the end, what makes us all unique is what makes the classroom so great. Providing a community that empowers ALL students will continue to move this important dialogue forward.
If you missed the chat this week you can take in all the amazing thinking on the Wakelet located here https://wke.lt/w/s/8qfX6R
You can find the Twitter chat from 10.17.19 in its entirety here.
There is interesting research on the effects of positive expectations as it relates to student performance. This is commonly known as the Pygmalion Effect and originates from the character in Greek mythology who fell in love with a creation of his own–a sculpture. The goddess of love, Aphrodite, subsequently fashioned the work of art into a live being.
Researchers Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson shared their findings on this effect. To test their hypothesis, the researchers gave teachers incorrect information about some of their students. They related that a handful of children were high achievers and that teachers could expect performance equal with the students’ intellectual abilities. This information was not accurate as the students of which they spoke were simply chosen at random. Rosenthal and Jacobson returned at years end to collect information regarding the “high-achieving” students.
You might be surprised to discover that–
The students who were pointed out to their teachers by the researchers as high-achieving showed to be those who experienced greater academic gains by end of year. It was found that this most likely occurred as a result of high expectations of students, based on their perceived abilities, which in turned affected teacher behavior.
This Pygmalion effect seemed to be more profound in younger students, ages seven to eight. That particular group of students experienced a gain, on average, of 10 verbal IQ points as compared to student in the control group.
Interestingly enough students’ performance was not dependent upon their skills and ability. Students in both high- and low-ability were equally affected by the teachers’ preconceived notion that students were high-achieving.
So, why is this important and what does it have to do with our series here at #g2great?
It’s important because we often see the opposite occurring in classrooms with which we are most familiar. The antithesis of the Pygmalion Effect is the Golem Effect. The Golem Effect is characterized by teachers having low expectations. These low expectations most often lead to student underperformance and a so called self-fulfilling prophecy, i.e., students fail as they do not see themselves as able to perform academically because sadly, neither have their teachers believed in their ability to achieve and therefore behave as though the students are unable to succeed.
Teachers do have a large part to play in student achievement beyond their content knowledge. Change in attitudes, discovering (and eliminating) bias in regard to what students are capable of achieving and the use of effective feedback to guide students toward realizing their innate potential are all critical for student growth and achievement.
It’s important to note that high teacher expectations alone will not help some students. Additional research findings posit that it is critical for teachers to also challenge (and support) students toward high expectations of themselves in order to see the full effects of positive expectancy.
And so where do we begin?
Few individuals are prone to rise when expectations are low. We must challenge ourselves as educators to maintain high expectations for each and every student. Subsequently, we must provide the most effective and timely support for students to then achieve and grow. Rosenthal and Jacobsonnoted, “when teachers expected that certain children would show greater intellectual development, those children did show greater intellectual development”.
That, my esteemed colleagues, indicates causality.
Can we, as educators, commit to high expectations for ALL students? We must align our attitudes and behavior to express high standards, believe all students can (and mostly certainly will) learn. We must ensure that we provide the most effective differentiation as a means of support, and most importantly, never allow ourselves to lower our expectations of how learners can and ought to achieve.
Rosenthal, R, and L. Jacobsen. Pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectation and pupils’ intellectual development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
The #G2Great team exuberantly welcomed Melanie Meehan to the October 3, 2019 chat two days after Every Child Can Write: Entry Points, Bridges, and Pathways for Striving Writers entered the world. As I pondered both entry points and organization for this post, I decided to begin with Melanie’s words in response to our three basic author questions.
1. What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?
Every day I get to work with writers across all grades and across all levels. Because of my work, I have seen the impact of increasing access and entry points for writers that has led to growth for these students, regardless of functioning levels.
Very few people enjoy a struggle when they don’t believe they will overcome it, so we have to figure out ways to make the learning and growth seem possible to everyone in the community– especially to the writer. There really is a big difference between thinking about students as struggling or thinking about them as striving, and I hope that people who read this book come away re-examining their beliefs about students.
So often our beliefs become our truths. I want everyone– including and especially our children– to believe that every child can write, and then I want teachers to have practical strategies and resources to help make that happen.
2. What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices?
Not everyone is ready for the same curriculum and instruction on the same day, but it’s overwhelming to deliver an entirely separate lesson for students who aren’t getting it. That being said, the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development as described by Lev Vygotsky is a game changer for me. We can’t keep asking students to try out tasks and strategies that are way beyond their reach and ability, and it’s exhausting to create scaffold after scaffold that helps writers create a product without understanding the process. When we do that, we’re sending messages over and over that they can’t do it without us or the scaffolds we create. With those consistent messages, it’s human nature to stop trying and avoid the task or situation all together. So how do we change it up in ways that empower students, but is within the realm of possibility for teachers? That’s where reconsidering entry points may welcome students into the learning process. Or maybe it’s constructing bridges so that students have different ways to join the process. That’s where those metaphors that make up the title come it. I hope that teachers see practical and possible ways to teach all students to write.
3. What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?
Our job is to find the entry points and provide the access so that students are challenged and moving forward without being overwhelmed and over-scaffolded. We live in a world where being able to write is a critically important and empowering skill. We can all teach them to write when we believe they can and we have the tools and understandings.
So many times even when students look like they are paying attention, they have no idea of what the lesson is really about. Engagement, interest, caring about something– those have to be in place for not only behavior, but also for academic growth. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but the message of the book is that all children can write.
Why this book?
I am a bibliophile. I probably need a 12 step program because I am addicted to books. I love to explore the ideas in a book through multiple readings. I also love to meet authors and hear about the books in their own voices. So when an author that I admire professionally writes a book, I study it pretty carefully. I was waiting for this book for months. I asked Melanie about it in March over coffee. We put the chat on the schedule in June, and Melanie submitted the quotes and questions in record time.
And then I finally had a copy to read. Every Child Can Write had me hooked from the first reading of the Table of Contents – written in complete sentences. Thorough. Thoughtful. Timely. With provocative yet practical ideas. Well organized – so well organized that I read it from cover to cover, TWICE, before I drafted my first blog post. I reread some parts, read the Blog Tour posts, revised my draft, and studied the blog posts again. I was worried about capturing the essence TWICE and doing justice to this gorgeous addition to the professional world.
This book is based on these beliefs:
1. All children can learn to write. 2. It is a fundamental imperative that we do everything in our power to teach the students in our care how to express themselves through words and through writing. – Meehan, M. Every Child Can Write. xviii.
Who has to have those beliefs?
Students and teachers alike have to believe that all students can write and that is fundamental to every chapter in Melanie’s book. It’s also fundamental to the literacy instruction in classrooms around the world. All students. All teachers.
What are obstacles that interfere with student writing?
Beliefs are the beginning. Then instruction has to match those beliefs. Sometimes the instruction does not meet the students’ needs. What obstacles might interfere with learning? Check out a sampling of responses from our twitter chat. Have you heard these from your students or teachers?
Knowing “potential obstacles” can help you address obstacles confronting writers in your classroom. Do the students need practice? Do they need choice? Do they need confidence? Crowd sourcing these possibilities from a #G2Great Twitter Chat is one way teachers can step outside their current practices, sharpen their focus, turn their gaze back to their students, and study them anew. (The responses to “perfectionism” as an obstacle can be found in the Wakelet link.) You may also have collaborative conversations with your grade level team to explore improvements in environment, routines, practices and usage of charts through a book study. Every Child Can Write provides support for instruction and problem solving with entry points, bridges and pathways to help striving writers gain independence.
What do you need? Entry points? Bridges? Pathways?
