Why Career Technical Education Works - A Year of Reflection

"Vocational High Schools: Career Path or Kiss of Death?" reads the headline.

Reading the article got me thinking about career technical education; thinking about career technical education got me reflecting on what I've seen this year in my first year at a career technical school.

I've watched students dissect hearts and walk me through what they were looking at and what function each part of the heart served in our Health Services shop.

I've watched students in the Plumbing shop build a fully functional bathroom meeting all handicapped accessible regulations from scratch.

I've watched students in the Painting & Design shop transform a school cafeteria into an elegant ballroom for a dinner reception. I've watched our Culinary Arts students prepare a six course meal for hundreds of guests for said dinner reception; they built the menu and venue from scratch.

I've watched students from the Drafting, Electronics, Machining, and Welding shops collaborate in the design, construction, testing, and editing of functioning robots.

I see on a daily basis HVAC students fixing heaters or replacing filters on the roof; I see Construction Tech students building stages for the school art show; IT students fix staff computers; the Plumbing students laid the pipes for the renovations to the examining area of the Dental Assisting shop; I've dropped my car off in the Auto Tech shop at least 5 times.

Thinking about what I've seen our students do has got me thinking about why career technical education works.

"School is no longer about the 'quick right answer' but about the ongoing mental work of understanding new ideas and information." - Ritchart, Church, Morrison, Making Thinking Visible, p.28

It works because the learning is embedded in action; I just read in Educational Leadership that the best kind of professional learning for teachers is job embedded; the same holds true for everything that we do; career technical education works because it's what's best aligned to how people learn things.

It works because the students and instructors care for the building inside and out. Ownership is more than a figure of speech.

It works because the acquisition of transferable skills is prioritized. Our Business Technology students will leave Office certified, and soft skills such as professionalism, effective communication, and healthy living are embedded in our Career Enrichment classes.

It works because professionalism is the norm; our Cosmetology students work in a live salon with paying customers. There was a BMW in the Auto Body shop a few weeks ago. Expectations are high. Anything less than professional really can't be an option.

It works because academics are embedded in production; the applied mathematics in our Electrical or Drafting shops makes abstract concepts tangible. I never truly appreciated the Scientific Method until I saw it applied in front of me on so many walkthroughs and classroom visits this year alone.

It works because with mastery comes creativity; I've seen our Auto Body students paint family crests on hoods of a car, Welding students sculpt art, and Multimedia Communication students design brilliant public service campaigns.

Thinking about all of this brought me back to the article linked at the top of the page; the argument goes that if a student spends 3.5 school years in the cosmetology shop every other week alternating with academics but does not enter the field of cosmetology as a profession, then their high school experience was the "kiss of death;" the time was wasted.

The argument is wrong. The argument ignores the transferable skills and habits of mind the student learns in the career technical model that puts them a leg up no matter what path they pursue after high school.

The student learned that skills aren't acquired just by showing up; one doesn't learn how to do an updo by sitting there and watching. Learning is about getting in there and performing what needs to be done; whether it's comparing and contrasting poems or building a circuit, action is required to learn how to do it. Action is embedded in the career technical model.

The student learned that hours of practice go into mastering one thing; they learned that mastery is a marathon not a sprint.

The student learned how to learn something beyond knowing it for a day or two.

The student learned what it takes to be able to perform something successfully on demand with different variables over and over.

The student learned how to make their learning visible.

Many still look at career technical education and academic education as an either or, zero sum game; they see it as students are on one path or the other. It doesn't have to be and, furthermore, shouldn't be that way.

Career path or kiss of death? There are a lot of other possible outcomes.

10 Reflections of a First Year Evaluator

I just finished my first round of summative evaluations in my first year as an evaluator; it was also the first year of the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation; instead of a formal observation with the traditional pre-conference, observation of a full class, and post-conference summative evaluations are based on classroom walkthroughs, teacher goals, and teacher provided evidence related to I believe 33 elements that are on the state teacher rubric.

As I looked through what I had noted throughout the year and wrote the evaluations I jotted down notes for myself for my second year as an evaluator. I ended up with 10 tips that I think will make me more relevant as an evaluator trying to increase student learning and facilitate teacher reflection and growth.

1. I need to do more walkthroughs. I felt like a I did a lot; I tried to get out of the office and into classrooms, but I didn't do enough to have enough data to give as much meaningful feedback as I wanted to. I may have done enough to make claims and issue a rating, but I'm hoping to have more impact than that.

2. I need to be more strategic with how I use my time. The administrative part of leadership really heated up after February vacation; I feel like I haven't left my office since March. There was much more time to get out on the floor and into classrooms in the fall and early winter; I need to use that time next year more purposefully as it relates to observations and classroom visits.

3. I need to make a rotating schedule in advance; I should use time in the summer to make a schedule of pre-planned walkthrough time of all teachers who I'll be supervising and fill my calendar. Furthermore, I need to treat the walkthrough time in my calendar like I do admin meetings; it is time that cannot be negotiated with, and I need to stop what I'm doing and tend to it when it's scheduled.

4. My feedback after walkthroughs should be organized consistently - make a claim, provide evidence from the walkthrough to support the claim, discuss how that impacts student learning, make a recommendation related to the claim, and asks reflective questions. If I keep the format standard, then the focus can be on the content and opportunities for growth and reflection.

5. I need to build in conversation time for each walkthrough; I learned this year that walkthroughs without conversation afterwards make little impact.

6. My feedback needs to be more clear. My words need to be careful and intentional. Sugarcoating is well intentioned but proven through experience to be ineffective. We can't achieve unclear targets.

7. I should include the students in my walkthroughs either during the class or afterwards. I know I need to do more walkthroughs, and I'm always looking for more opportunities to interact with students about their learning; it makes sense.

8. I should intertwine my feedback with our school's PD plan for the year - why not make both more relevant? I can use the PD plan to have pre-planned lenses to focus my walkthroughs each month, and provide feedback related that specific skill or practice of focus.

9. I need to find value in any kind of data. If I walk in on a test or quiz, then I need to find ways to take advantage of that kind of walkthrough. If I walk in on a test or quiz I'm not going to leave; I can ask the following questions to the teacher:

1. how do you use the time when students are taking the quiz?
2. what do the students do after the quiz?
3. how do you plan for students finishing at different times?
4. what are you assessing?
5. how did you prepare for the assessment?
6. how do you differentiate your assessments?
7. what formative assessments have you done to prepare?
8. how will you follow up after evaluating the assessments?

10. I need to be more active in August during the self-assessment process; the self-assessment is my chance as the evaluator to find out what areas of focus are relevant to the teacher. When the self-assessment is more meaningful the feedback is.

Some things to consider for next year. This year went well; I feel I was able to generate some great dialogue and reflection with many teachers I worked with. But it can always improve, and there's definitely a lot of opportunities for me to grow as an evaluator next school year. I'm looking forward to it.

3D Printing for Safety

I took a call from one of our administrative assistants this afternoon near the end of the school day, and she told me that a student was asking to show me something.

When I went out to see the student he asked me to come with him to a teacher's classroom to see something him, another student, and an engineering teacher were thinking about.

I obviously obliged.

When I arrived the teacher told me that he had been thinking about school safety since a presentation was given by our local police department, and that he and the two engineering students thought of a way to better secure classroom doors in an emergency by creating a hinged metal frame to extend across door windows that would not only secure the window but also the door itself. When closed it would stick out no further than boxes that cover wires, and when opened would automatically click on the other side to a latch. A teacher would only need to unclick the frame, and it would open and lock on its own. They had built a quick model out of cardboard.

Obviously an awesome idea. It's great that students and staff are actively thinking about ways to make the school safer. Seeing it and leaving it at that would make this a great vignette about what's beneficial about critical thinking and solution-based learning. It would be a great example of student and staff investing in their school community.

But there's more.

We got to talking about taking it to the next level and building a more authentic prototype, and using the resources we have in our vocational technical high school to make this idea a reality.

One of the students said we could fabricate the metal in our manufacturing shop, and the other student said we could use the 3D printers in drafting to figure out how to build the latch.

The students said they would begin drawing up the designs to begin prototyping, and figuring out the measurements and math required to make the gate expand and move exactly how it needs to and the teacher said he would oversee the engineering. They also said they could figure out how to manufacture the whole thing for less than $10.

We are always looking for ways to make the school safer; the high prices we pay for security upgrades is well worth it if our school is safer, but imagine for a moment if this idea produces a viable prototype.

$10?! Sometimes my lunch costs more.

I don't know what will come from the prototyping, and whether this particular idea will produce as designed.

What I do know is that tools like 3D printers aren't awesome because they're cool; they're awesome because they represent the idea that one doesn't  have to purchase their solutions. 

What I do know is that when you have a community of problem solvers they may come up with ideas that solve problems.

What I do know is that when you have the tools in your school to allow the problem solvers to actually produce the thing meant to solve the problem they just may create the solution.

What I do know is that our first instinct is often to pay for someone to solve the problem, but outsourcing becomes less necessary when we can do it ourselves.

What I do know is that when we have the full capacity to create we're less dependent.

All you need are problem solvers and on-site prototyping.

17 Ways to Go Beyond "Think About It"

A common response to someone telling us that they don't understand or cannot do something is to tell them to "think about it."

Think about it; you'll figure it out

I've just started reading Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners and I've immediately taken notice of how the authors identify specific thinking moves integral to understanding, judgment, and other destinations thinking leads us to.

Rather than thinking about assuming that all thinking moves are instinctual I'm already thinking of generating alternatives to how I can better communicate what type of thinking I'm looking for with students or colleagues.

Instead of giving the vague and often unhelpful "think about it" response I could have made it more tangible and more likely to result in the action I was promoting:

1. Observe closely
2. Describe what's there
3. Build explanations and interpretations
4. Reason with evidence
5. Make connections
6. Consider different viewpoints and perspectives
7. Capture the heart
8. Form conclusions
9. Wonder and ask questions
10. Uncover complexity and go below the surface
11. Identify patterns
12. Make generalizations
13. Generate possibilities and alternatives
14. Evaluate evidence, arguments, and actions
15. Formulate plans and monitor actions
16. Identify claims, assumptions, and bias
17. Clarify priorities, conditions, and what is known

The authors write, "by being clearer in our own minds as teachers about the kinds of thinking we want our students to do, we can be more effective in our instructional planning." (page 15)

Different Types of Thinking

And why is it important to go beyond "think about it" and make the thinking visible and connected to doable actions?

The authors write, "As we make thinking - our own as well as that of our students - visible, we draw attention to the mechanisms by which individuals construct their understanding. To the extent that students can develop a greater awareness of thinking processes, they become more independent learners capable of directing and managing their own cognitive actions." (page 21-22)

Instead of thinking of  generalizing what thinking is we ought to think of  clarify thinking as the result of specific and intentional moves.

"Think about it" isn't helpful and probably doesn't result in what we're looking for; focus in on what you're looking for and direct intentionally.

By going beyond "think about it" we move everyone toward the ultimate goal of independent learning and doing.

5 Reasons to Blog or Tweet Even if Nobody is Reading, Retweeting, or Responding

This blog gets very little traffic, and that's ok. For all I know most people read my posts and X it before finishing the intro; that's fine by me.

Some of my "best posts" in terms of personal value and impact have received less than 20 clicks, and I'm pretty sure half of the clicks I got were me.

Don't worry about the crickets

Most of my tweets get 0 retweets or favorites, and that's ok. Sure, it would be nice to have hundreds of people read my posts or get multiple retweets, but it's not why I do it.

I'm not looking to make money off of my blog, I'm not all that interested in how many people follow me, and I don't need any extrinsic acknowledgement to know that writing about what I'm learning makes me better prepared to implement new knowledge and skills into daily habits and routines.

Even if your blog is unreadable, uninteresting, or unengaging there's still plenty of value in it for you as the writer; there's been plenty of value in it for me.

1. It cements your own learning - blogging and tweeting is the perfect follow up to what I'm reading, thinking about, or experiencing. Instead of sitting and thinking and forgetting or reading, highlighting, and forgetting I write it down. I may forget after I write it, but it'll be there when I need it. Blogging or tweeting takes annotating to the next level; it's like an infinitely sized margin of the book. It doesn't have to be on a blog, and it doesn't have to be published; recording it anywhere do more than letting it go.

2. Your words will be there when you need them - On Friday April 11 I left work feeling pretty low. I had an escalating issue that wasn't fixed by my first two rounds of interventions, and the situation was spiraling. Blame was being thrown my way. I was panicking a little, and frustration was overtaking critical thinking. In reading a post I wrote last June I was reminded of a similar situation I faced last year, and how to proceed became clearer and clearer. I re-took control of the situation, established exactly what my next moves needed to be and by the following Thursday the hostilities had subsided. I hadn't even thought about that post from last June since last June, but it was there for me when I needed it the most.

3. It keeps you in touch with the process of learning, reflecting, and creating - With each new piece comes new perspective on the creative process. It's through this constantly evolving perspective that we're able to provide the most effective guidance or instruction to the students or colleagues we work with trying to do the same thing in another arena. Instead of talking about what we think they ought to do, or what we've heard they ought to do, by staying fresh and continuously producing our own output we're able to talk to them about what we do.

4. You never know when someone is going to stumble across your words - Last summer I started my first full time school leadership position at a new school, and within a couple of weeks of being hired I was with my new colleagues at a summer leadership retreat. I hadn't interacted much with my new superintendent, but when we struck up a conversation he mentioned that he had read my blog and was impressed with what he read. It led to immediate conversation starters, and already established who I was as an educator to my new superintendent. And it wasn't even hard.

5. You'll have more effective face to face conversations - I work in education and I blog about teaching and learning and leading; the topics I write about come up in conversation all of the time. They don't come up because I write about them; they come up because they're crucial topics of conversation in schools in 2014. Reading and blogging about it prepares me for these conversations before they happen, because I've already worked through initial thoughts and synthesized information I've heard or read about. I'm a better resource for the people around me because of the writing I do on the side for sometimes the tiniest of audiences. 

The bottom line is that you ought not quit writing because you don't think anybody is reading.

It's not about your audience; it's about your own learning and creativity and growth.

The crickets are only temporary.

5 Thoughts on Facilitating Better Meetings

One of the items lacking from any of my school administrator preparation courses was how to facilitate an effective meeting, but I've since discovered that we as school leaders facilitate a lot of meetings for a lot of different purposes.

Rare are the days when I'm not facilitating some sort of meeting, and rarely do meetings happen that don't leave me reflecting on how I can do better next time.

When planned right and executed well great meetings can produce important results and generate innovative solutions to persistent problems; the facilitator's role is crucial but also different with each circumstance for meeting. How I prepare will determine if the outcomes match the purpose.

I've learned 5 things about facilitating better meetings this year; please read below.

Prepare like you want your teachers to prepare their classes

• good meetings require the same type of preparation as a good class
• prepare opening remarks beforehand so that you start the meeting off intentionally and don't gobble up too much time up front; use your words to establish the purpose and direction of the meeting
• adapt the principle of backward design to your next meeting
• start with what you want the meeting to produce and plan from there
• base your agenda on your objectives and intended outcomes; use every minute intentionally

NB: using backward design to plan my meetings has yielded great results. The meeting planner template linked above is something I put together adapted from Ubd lesson planning templates.

Facilitate like you want your teachers to facilitate their classes

• post and review the objectives, intended outcomes, and agenda before starting; leave it projected / posted throughout the meeting
• get everybody talking and sharing but always bring it back to the objectives
• settings where a small group listens to the leader talk about something aren't the same thing as meetings
• it can't be your meeting; it has to be everyone's meeting
• just as classes can't be completely teacher-centered, nor can meetings be completely leader-centered
• let them find your conclusions on their own

Communicate for purpose

• don't tell me about the problem; tell me about the solution and actions needed to get there
• don't be afraid to be honest 
• be clear - identify what you need people to hear and do beforehand
• prepare your questions as carefully as you prepare your statements

Identify and follow up on further action items

• establish at the beginning what actions are expected following
• don't make it just about the meeting; what's most important is what happens after the meeting
• meetings that don't produce or lead to anything didn't need to happen
• you'll know how good it was a couple of weeks later after the action items from it are reviewed

Don't get nervous; get prepared

Your response to your own difficulties or problems will go a long way in determining the outcome

— Eddie Evans (@ewevans3) April 22, 2014

• if you're expecting confrontation or hostility, then your best strategy is extra preparation
• visualize yourself responding to certain claims or talking points
• anticipate where the hostility may come from and plan for it
• nervousness is pointless; thinking and dreading is not the same as thinking and preparing
• don't dwell on it, but don't avoid it - be ready for whatever it is
• focus on what you can control; how someone else intends to behave is outside of your power

12 Ways to Use Words to Inspire Growth

Your words matter. 

The way we give feedback, lead meetings, or speak to our teams or colleagues matters. In reading Self-Regulated Learning for Academic Success: How do I help students manage their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions? several selected quotes throughout the book show how impactful or unimpactful our words are and how inspiring or uninspiring they can be.

"Praise is a mixed bag. Although it can increase students' self-efficacy and their expectations of future success, it can also lead them to feel helpless in the face of challenges if their self-worth is tied too closely to being praised." -page 11

Acknowledge effort over result. Don't discuss things outside of their control. Use words that make improvement seem possible.

Be specific with your praise. Identify why they're being praised. Don't use praise as a consolation for disappointment, or because you feel obligated to. Use words for a purpose.

Don't make them reliant on your approval or input. They need to be able to self-diagnose their own problems and solutions. The goal is always to grow and get better; it's not to receive kudos. Use words that promote dialogue.

Visualize later now. Talk about how the praiseworthy incident can be replicated elsewhere. Use words that make connections and promote transfer.

"When a child learns to associate task outcomes with the effort invested,he's more likely to attribute failure to a lack of effort and to adopt new strategies and work harder until he succeeds." -page 11

Acknowledge effort over result. People have to believe their efforts matter or else you won't be able to keep them motivated to embrace the challenge. Use words that will inspire more effort.

Focus on what's controllable. Don't waste time with things that can't be changed or that have already happened. I once spent an entire coaching season blaming our losses on 2 guys who had quit the team earlier in the season. What a blunder, and a waste of energy and time. I shouldn't have used words that caused people to dwell on things they couldn't control.

Action plans have to be achievable. Set them up for quick wins. Don't aim for a target that can't be placed or can't be achieved. Use words that can be realized.

Tell stories of your own failures leading to growth. Empathize with how hard it is to keep getting better. Use words that make it seem possible.

"...teachers can do a lot to further students' self-regulation by creating a warm and supportive social climate, providing collaborative learning opportunities, and giving feedback focused on the learning process rather than the learning outcomes." -page 19

Give them a tangible skill of focus. One improvement at a time. Use words that make it clear.

Include them in the planning and feedback process. Make it their plan and their result. Use words that get them to own it.

Create critical thinkers and decision makers. They need to be able to evaluate their own habits and ideas. Use words that cause them to reflect.

Don't waste time on things they already know. "Good job" or "you can do better than this" or "this is terrible" or "A" alone doesn't help anyone get better. We usually know when it didn't go we'll; tell us how we can improve. Use words that promote growth.

"...it can be difficult to remember that your verbal and written feedback should concentrate not in outcomes but on students' selection and use of learning processes and strategies. Doing this focuses students on what they can do to improve their work and gives them a sense of control over their academic success...." -page 26

Image Source

Think Long -Term : They Won't Be Students Forever

After reading Carrie Germeroth & Crystal Day-Hess' Self Regulated Learning For Academic Success I've been thinking a lot about how brief our time with our students or athletes or colleagues really is in the grand scheme of things.

For our impact with these people to be long-term we have to be building self-regulation skills rather than simple behavior or task management.

We don't want them to rely on us to remind them to put their name on the paper.
We don't want them to rely on us to tell them what to eat and what not to eat.
We don't want them to rely on us to tell them they're doing a good job to keep going.
We don't want them to rely on us to be watching for them to treat people right.

Managing behavior is for the short-term; building self-regulation skills is for the long-term.

"Self-Regulation is an internal process in which an individual uses a multifaceted set of emotional and cognitive skills...to regulate his or her own behavior. Within educational literature, the term behavior management refers to external processes or rules that are imposed on students to manage their behaviors." -page 38

We have to be teaching / showing them how to do it on their own - outside of the classroom or in a different venue or environment.

The goal can't be simply to stop the behavior from happening in our presence or in our classroom; the goal has to be for the person to be able to stop their own inappropriate or counter-productive behavior no matter where they are or who they're with.

They have to be able to thrive in any situation, not just with us or in our classroom or school.

We need to teach lessons that last.

"By drawing on their previous learning experiences, they can assemble a better toolkit of strategies and build confidence in their ability to take on new challenges." -page 4

Transfer isn't something we can take for granted; self-regulation skills like learning from experience need to be drilled and strengthened like critical reading or writing skills.

Build in reflection time; don't just ask content questions.

It's not enough that they can demonstrate something with us around; they need to be able to do it without us and outside the confines of the classroom or schoolhouse.

"Your less self-regulated students may not know the best ways to approach the task or which goals are most appropriate, particularly when they are encountering unfamiliar topics." -page 16

If all we're doing is preparing students for end of the year exams or even preparing them for college, then we're definitely not thinking long-term enough.

There's a lot of life to live and a lot of learning to happen after 22, and it's when they're not doing what they're doing for a grade or because someone is telling them to that we'll see how impactful and how meaningful their time with us was.

What good was my teaching or training if it can't be used anywhere except class or in the school or in an isolated time or place?

I can't be there forever; if it's lost or it falls apart when I'm gone or even some time after I'm gone, then what was the point?

How can I build self-regulating skills in school?

"Now is the time to begin teaching them that they don't necessarily need another person to tell them how well they are doing; they can figure it out on their own with tools that record and track their goals, the learning strategies they use, and their learning outcomes." -page 18

1. Expose students to multiple styles of note taking / information recording and let them choose which to use based on the information that need to be recorded - have them explain why they chose what they chose in their notes. Instead of giving them an outline, or a chart, or a Venn diagram create opportunities for them to decide which one to use; by reflecting on why they chose what they chose and how well it worked they're more likely to make the informed decision next time in a different context. They're not doing what they're doing because someone told them to.

2. In a language class have students create their own unit vocabulary list. Present to them the objectives and topics of the unit, and instruct them to create the vocabulary list they think they'll need the most. It will make the words mean more, and builds prioritization skills. Follow up with your recommended vocabulary list to create multiple reflective opportunities for students.

3. Allow groups to choose multiple platforms for presenting; build in to the process reflection on why they chose what they chose and how well it went. Being able to choose the right tool for the task is a critical self-regulation skill.

If they don't have the tools to do it, then instead of doing it for them we ought to help develop it.

4. Act out a behavior of focus people demonstrate toward others in group settings, both positive and negative, and have students reflect on how the observed behavior impacts others in the group before starting the next team project. 

5. Create opportunities for your students,colleagues, or athletes to log, curate, and interpret their own data. Being able to identify your own areas of need and opportunities for growth is a critical self'-regulating skill. Utilize portfolios, allow students time to really look at old writing samples before starting new ones, let your athletes break down their own film, and make self-assessment and reflection as meaningful as teacher assessment and commentary. 

6.  Get them talking about it. It doesn't matter what it is. If they're talking about it and how it works, or how it can be improved, or how to get better at it, then chances are it'll stick more than it would otherwise.

Think about the long-term impact of your lessons; how can they be used for future learning or to solve future problems? How could they be?

Simple adjustments can yield huge dividends.

What's the Opposite of "Shoosh?"

Quiet is nice every once in a while in certain classroom situations, but it's not the environment that promotes long-term memory or transfer. Get them talking to each other about the material. Devote set intervals of time for interpersonal communication and reflection between students, teammates, colleagues, etc about the topic or lesson at hand if you want it to stick and have meaning.

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Quote Source - page 58

"You want to demonstrate the process of talking through a problem so that your students will begin to see how to negotiate challenging situations." -Germeroth & Day-Hess p. 8-9

You want them talking about it now so that they're talking about it when it matters - when it gets hard.

You want them talking about it now so that they're talking about it when you're not there.

Quiet cuts out critical steps to the process of learning anything. 

We talk our way through questions and problems all of the time, because it leads better performances and outcomes. 

Even the most confident of us bounce ideas off of our colleagues and teammates every day; shared decision making and responsibility are two elements on the Massachusetts teacher rubric; we're not supposed to work quietly.

So let's not teach quietly.

Quiet is orderly; it's easier. But don't confuse order and politeness for long-term learning.

"The overarching goal is to help middle and high school students realize that by using effective learning strategies and study habits, they can control their learning and academic success, even when the work is challenging." -Germeroth & Day-Hess p.34

Dialogue and interaction with others leads toward realization. Dialogue and interactions gets us through the tough stuff.

They have to be able to do it or talk about it outside of the classroom or practice for it to matter; it's not uncommon to hear someone lament that they took a class on something but don't remember a thing. 

It was probably a wicked quiet class.

For different ways to get them talking more, I wrote down 11 strategies last month. 

Get them talking about sample pieces of work discussing ways to improve it.

"Students can typically identify problems in other people's writing more easily than they can in their own, but with guidance, they can start applying what they've learned during peer feedback sessions to their own work." - Searle p. 86

Make today's lesson really matter.

Promote engagement; promote activity; promote the long-term learning and application of your lesson; get them talking about it.

#education #classroommanagement

5 Classroom Management Tips

Last Week I wrote down 9 Classroom Management Tips and since then I read Jane Bluestein's Managing 21st Century Classrooms: How do I avoid ineffective classroom management practices?

16 quotes later, I have 6 additional tips related to what most would say is the most difficult aspect of teaching to "master."

Classroom Management isn't easy, but keep these 5 additional tips in mind...

1. It's Not About You

Don't make it about you; it takes away from the real reason why classroom management is important; behavior that takes away from the learning of others must cease because it's taking away from the learning of others, not because it doesn't please you.

 "...instead of talking about how their behavior makes you feel, focus on how their cooperation will pay off for them." p.41

Making it about you the teacher sends the message that it's your show instead of theirs. 

Making it about pleasing you and complying to your wishes takes student attention away from the prime matter at hand - their education and preparation.

 "Simple recognition...that emphasizes students' efforts and actions rather than how their behavior pleases you is a great way to build morale and positive relationships." p.23

Don't praise students because they make you happy and make you feel satisfied; praise students because their efforts and actions are that of a student who will best learn taught lessons.

 2. Don't Cut off Your Nose to Spite Your Face

You can't react in a way that alienates your other students; you can't be threatening or volatile and still expect students to learn what you're teaching.

 "When we perceive threat, our primary brain functions retreat to the survival centers of the midbrain....Whether targets or witnesses, most individuals exposed to this energy will either shut down or fight back, with a no-win outcome likely for all concerned...." p.37

If they're not asking questions, then they're probably not learning; if they're afraid of your response, then they're not going to ask questions. 

You can't be draconian and expect real engagement.

 "Thus, the harder we try to control or disempower kids, the harder they will push back, whether by exhibiting overt defiance, becoming passive-aggressive, shutting down..." p.7

The brain cannot be in learning mode and survival mode at the same time. Fear is literally and figuratively a four letter word in the classroom.

"Classroom management behaviors that rely on teacher control and students' fear of punishment trigger the brain's survival instincts and suppress the brain functions students need for learning, cognitive processing, and retention...." p.8

There's always a tomorrow; don't say or do anything that you can't take back. 

I highly recommend the book

 3. Own It

Classroom management is not about your rules; it's about you. 

"When you walk into a classroom where kids are busy and engaged, it is unlikely that their cooperation was motivated by rules. And I can guarantee that when students are disruptive, off task, or out of control, it's not because there aren't enough rules." p.11-12 

Don't set limits that you're not prepared to enforce; don't say you're going to do something unless you're going to do it.

"But structure is only as effective as our willingness to follow through on the conditions and limits we use to create it." p.25

Avoid practices that send unintended messages. 

 "Asking for excuses for explanations when students have misbehaved, broken an agreement, or failed to complete an assignment interferes with our goal of building responsibility by suggesting that students can talk their way out of the requirements we set." p.26

You communicate most effectively with your actions; words eventually become meaningless.

 "Another way we sabotage our authority is by reacting to infractions with warnings instead of following through on the conditions we set." p.27

 4. Respond Intentionally

Don't give praise for the sake of praise.

"Although recognizing effort, persistence, or a job well done is legitimate and valuable, there are a number of ways to get this one wrong, with potentially harmful results." p.20

Instead of responding simply because you feel compelled to respond, think about what you want to happen as a result of your response. 

"...if you intention is to elicit a behavior you have not seen yet, you need to use a different approach from the one you use to reinforce existing desirable behavior." p.23

Respond in the manner that the behavior merits - no more and no less. 

"The best way to improve follow-through (and thus maintain respect and authority) is to only allow positive outcomes when they are earned and withdraw them when the conditions are violated." p.28

5. Always Make it Positive

Make sure the work students are doing is aligned with present abilities.

"Students who believe they're going to fail no matter what have little stake in engaging and cooperating." p.17

Use words and phrases that create the culture of cooperation rather than the expectation of struggle.

"Even making a simple change from a threat ('if you don't do this, you can't...') to a promise ('As soon as you do this, you can...') transforms the energy and power dynamic in the interaction and increases the the likelihood of cooperation, especially if the positive outcome is meaningful to students." p.18

Classroom management isn't about responding to bad behavior; it's about anticipating potential cracks that students can and will fall through, and filling them before the fall.

3 Lessons I Learned From Sports

I spoke tonight at our winter sports awards night representing the school's administration. Preparing my remarks gave me the opportunity to reflect on my time as an athlete, and for the first time in a while I thought about what I learned from competitive sports and how it's benefited me as an adult and a professional. Part of the speech is below...

Congratulations to all our winter teams on such a successful season of win loss records, playoff appearances, and league championships; congratulations to all of the individuals who earned all-star honors, and congratulations to all who receive individual recognition tonight.

But rather than use my time tonight to speak about accolades, victories, and the tangible rewards that come with athletics I’d like to share with all of you 3 lessons I learned from competing in high school and college sports that I still apply and still hold true going on 15 years later. More than any individual plaque, medal, or trophy I received. these lessons have proven to be far more valuable and leave me truly thankful that I competed athletically for as long as I did.

The 1^st lesson sports taught me is that gratification is rarely instant. I've played in games and competed in races where I and my teammates did everything we could possibly do as well as we possibly could do it, and we still lost. Similarly as an adult, I've gone for job interviews where I said all the right things and did everything I was supposed to do and still did not get the job. I've prepared endlessly for lessons or meetings that just didn't go as well as I thought it was going to go. And that’s ok. Getting frustrated is pointless, blaming others is toxic, and giving up should never be an option. Embrace the process, keep working hard to get better, and the payoff happens. It may not look exactly like you thought it would, and may not happen when you thought it was going to, but it’s still sweet.

The 2^nd lesson sports taught me is that excellence is a habit. It’s not just about playing, racing, or cheering hard; anybody can do that. Athletic excellence comes from training hard, from practicing perfectly, from not letting your ego stunt your own growth, from taking care of your body. Similarly I’ve learned that excellence in the workplace isn't about just showing up on time and doing my job; it’s about constantly learning new things, keeping up on the latest educational trends and developments, visualizing important meetings or conversations, and doing my homework so I’m prepared act intentionally throughout the day. Worded another way, athletics taught me that long-term success can come only by purposely matching my lifestyle to my aspirations.

Summer 2005 - Rowing with Riverside Boat Club

The 3^rd lesson sports taught me is that trust beats talent any day of the week. The most successful team I coached really took off when I removed our most talented athlete. He had all the physical tools, but he was a loose cannon, he alienated his teammates, and his words and actions did not suggest any sort of commitment to his team. We couldn’t trust him, and all the talent in the world couldn’t make up for it. Similarly, I’ve worked with folks professionally who were highly educated, had great ideas, and a diverse skill set, but couldn’t be trusted. Sports taught me that people are at their best when they’re working together toward a common goal, and that we can beat me ten times out of ten. 

9 Thoughts on Classroom Management

Ought classroom management be easier than it usually is?

A student violates a rule or acts outside of the handbook, and they receive a consequence; the concept should be simple.

But, like with anything involving people, classroom management is arguably the least easy thing educators do.

It's especially hard when you're aiming for more than behavior management and compliance.

When you're going for total learning and the physical/emotional environment required for it classroom management becomes a constant cycle of observation, consideration, and dialogue. It can be cognitively, physically, and emotionally taxing all at once.

Anything that obstructs the clarity, momentum, provisioning, etc of the lesson must be addressed with the end goals of the lesson in mind - your response has to be intentional.

1. It can't be reactionary.

2. It shouldn't be addressed in public, but it ought to be timely.

3. Don't make it about you the adult; it has to be about the student, the class, and learning.

"Parents and teachers can reduce their own frustrations and those of the students by understanding that what appear to be laziness and lack of motivation are often an extreme need for support and guidance." - Margaret Searle, p. 159

4. You have to respond in a way that sets limits on the behavior while also communicating that you're always there to help and that you'll never give up on them.

5. It can't be judgmental.  It can't be insulting.

#fhspantherchat instead of getting frustrated with what you're seeing or hearing you need to identify why it's happening & how to proceed
— Eddie Evans (@ewevans3) March 9, 2014

6. Do some investigating; find out why before moving forward.

7. Reach out to those around you and ask what have others seen and heard from the student; I may not have the right approach but I'm sure we can come up with something.

8. Think about tomorrow. Don't burn a bridge. Don't embarrass.

See the entire presentation here
Read about it here

9. Labeling, getting frustrated, lashing out, giving up, etc. is contrary to what we're trying to do

Each issue and each person is unique. Remember that and proceed intentionally.

6 Easy Ways for a School Administrator to Get Out of the Office

Before I was a school administrator I cavalierly wrote and spoke about how easy it ought to be to get out of the office and onto the floor, and chalked it up as nothing more than time management and possession of mobile technology.

I'm now privy to a bit more reality; a lot more goes into getting out of the office (for non-walkthrough/evaluative purposes) than wanting or even needing to get out of the office.

It's hard. Earlier this year I was 99% of the way out of the door to go out on the floor, and the phone rang; I never made it out.

I love being out on the floor; it's by far my favorite part of the job. I always learn something new; I always find opportunities to connect more with students and staff.

But it doesn't happen by chance.

I've learned that calendars get filled quickly; finding the time to be on the floor and enjoy the school culture I'm trying to build is almost impossible sometimes, but there are quick little practices that get me out multiple times a day to interact with staff and students.

1.Hand Deliver
Instead of emailing documents as attachments that I know will be printed anyway, I'll print them myself and hand deliver. It always leads to 5 minute conversation, and the whatever the document is means that much more. A little bit of efficiency is an insignificant price to pay for the value of getting out on the floor.


2.Follow Up
After a staff meeting, a student assembly, class meeting, etc. I always make a point to get out and engage folks in quick follow up conversations about the content. Any excuse to get people talking and listening is good.

I'll oftentimes follow up an email to a teacher with a pop in during their prep. It usually takes less than 5 minutes and both strengthens the impact of the email and gives me an excuse to intentionally get out of the office and onto the floor for even the briefest of time in between appointments.

3.Collaborate Publicly
If I'm planning something or creating something with another teacher or administrator, and it's not of a confidential or unsavory nature, then why not do it in the media center or school common area?

Some things are private and need to remain private, but a lot of things aren't. Thoughtfully determine whether the meeting needs to be behind closed doors.

Photo Source

4.Go to Them
Whenever I have the choice between my office or their classroom I choose their classroom.

When appropriate, I'll go to where a student is to deliver news or have a conversation rather than call them to my office.

If someone needs to speak to me I'd rather try to go see them than do it over the phone if the timing is right.

5.Say Yes
Anytime a teacher or student asks me far enough in advance to be a guest judge, moderator, speaker, etc. I say yes. It's great to be able to walk in to a classroom or common area and not see folks tense up or lose their place for a second.

Create for yourself multiple follow up opportunities with the students and teacher; take and share photos with the class afterwards. You'll have potential conversation starters for months.

6. Schedule It
You'll never have the time to get out if you aren't purposeful with it.

I've found great results by simply scheduling 30-60 minutes of "floor time" right in my online calendar. The office staff doesn't schedule appointments because it's already blocked off, and once it pops up on my phone I stop what I'm doing and get out. Sometimes it's coupled with walkthroughs or other little errands or chores, and sometimes it's just leading and learning by walking around. It's always empowering though.

Getting out is refreshing; it reminds me of the why. It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be, but priorities are rarely convenient.

#leadership #mobility #education

23+ Ways to Motivate Professional Learning

What motivates learners?

Not just school-aged students but anybody trying to learn something

What motivates people to learn what you're teaching?

The book Engaging Minds in the Classroom: The Surprising Power of Joy is about school-aged students, but it includes 5 motivational generalizations* that identify what all learners need to believe about themselves and the topic / objective in order to be motivated to learn it.

You can teach it, but if they're not motivated to learn it, then it's probably not happening. Learning is a choice.

The 5 motivational generalizations are:

"adaptive self-efficacy and competence beliefs motivate students" (believing in yourself and your abilities motivates you)

"I can do this; I am good at this; I have the ability to become good at this."

"adaptive attributions and control beliefs motivate students" (believing you can do it if you try)

"I am in control of the outcome; if I put effort in, then I will learn this."

"higher levels of interest and intrinsic motivation motivate students" (you want to do it)

"I want this; I am not doing this only because I have to; This interests me."

"higher levels of value motivate students (you think it's important)"

"What I'm doing matters to me."

"goals motivate and direct students" (you know what it takes to get it)

"I know how I'm going to learn this; I know what I need to do to get there."

Instructors who understand the principles of motivation are more likely to produce learners who demonstrate a joy of learning.

"Teachers who understand and use motivation principles may be better equipped to discover ways to construct joyful learning experiences....paying attention to what motivates their particular students will lead teachers to design motivational classrooms including activities that students perceive to be fun as a way to motivate them and spark their learning." p. 15

But what about professional learning?

What can I do as a school administrator to bring the motivational generalizations to the professional learning and development offered to school staff throughout their careers? 

What can I do as a school administrator to better ensure staff is motivated to learn and grow intentionally?

I can do plenty.

At least 23 things 

to motivate staff to learn and grow.

Inspired by pages 12-13, 31
See the chart here

To foster self-efficacy and a belief of competence I can:

• celebrate and promote staff accomplishments and growth
• give specific improvement centered feedback
• find out how staff members perceive their own ability to learn certain things

To promote high attributions and solidify a belief about control I can:

• have clear expectations and benchmarks
• learn new material alongside staff
• use self-assessments to determine professional learning offerings

To tap into interest and intrinsic motivation I can:

• find out what interests the staff
• design PD that models engaging and motivating teaching practice
• build a community of learners
• intentionally set up interest-based interactions amongst staff members

To ensure high levels of personal value I can:

• design PD around shared priorities and values
• participate in my own learning activities
• build in opportunities for individualization and application

To provide a path to success I can:

• model how ideas can be applied to the classroom
• design action oriented PD sessions and meetings
• connect similarly interested staff in purposeful ways
• offer multiple follow up opportunities for interested staff

How else? What else can school leaders motivate their staff to continue to learn and grow?

#motivation #professionaldevelopment #savmp

*Pintrich, 2003

31 Reading Activities by Anchor Standard

Full Document Here

This is something I've been working on over the past couple of months; I haven't even got it to the point where I've shared it with my colleagues. I plan to introduce it, collect feedback, tweak it, and hopefully folks will be able to find use with it in class with their students. Feel free to use it or adjust it as you see fit.

Any feedback, suggestions for improvement, additions, etc is always welcomed!

#ccss #satchat #commoncore

4 Quotes & 20 Questions re: Walkthroughs

Reading Betty Garner's Getting to Got It! got me thinking about the classroom walkthroughs I do and where my attention ought to be during the 5-12 minutes I'm in each classroom. I picked out four quotes that especially stood out to me along with some thoughts and questions I ought to ask students related to the quote.

"Sometimes we are tempted to tell students what to recognize or notice, and then we assume that because we told them, they have learned it." -p. 32

I need a walkthrough form that records what the students are doing and saying rather than simply what the teacher is doing and saying. Instead of measuring learning by what the adult is doing I need to focus on what the students are doing. Just because the teacher is telling the students about it in an effective manner doesn't mean anybody is learning it. I've been writing a lot recently on focusing more on what the output is and that ought to transfer to what I'm observing when I'm visiting classrooms and supervising teachers. What they're doing is secondary to what the learners are doing (if my prime focus is learning.)

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what is the most important thing for me to know about what you're learning?
2. how is what you're learning connected to everything you're doing in class?
3. how would you explain or teach this to a little kid?
4. what questions do you have for the teacher or about the topic based on what you're learning?
5. what have / will you produce or make?

"Students confuse imitation with learning. In the classroom, they may correctly  complete assignments by simply imitating what the teacher models, without making the information their own." -p. 36

I'm a big proponent of modeling; I've written about it a lot in previous posts. For skills like organizing, classifying, communicating, etc. modeling is an awesome teaching tool. But for the learner to fully learn what you're teaching they have to make it theirs. It has to be a little original for it to stick. I need to engage more with the students when I'm walking through classes; I need to hear from them how they interpret what they're learning and how they've adopted what they're learning into practice.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what do you make of what the teacher is telling or showing you?
2. how can / will you build on what the teacher is doing?
3. how can / will you adopt this into your own practices?
4. how could you teach this to a little kid?
5. what would this look like outside the classroom?

"Some even maintain good grades by memorizing information; however, they can't connect , apply, or transfer the information  to other situations." -p. 49

Maybe I ought to take a random student's schedule and walk through each of his/her classes in one day, and then meet with them to discuss how or if they take what they're doing in class A and use it in class D. We know the true measure of learning if how well we use it elsewhere; engaging students in those kinds of conversations after experiencing their entire schedule would be a powerful measure of how much they're learning in relation to what they're being taught.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. how can / will you apply this outside of this class?
2. how does this remind you of something else you've learned?
3. how do this connect with what you're doing in other classes?
4. why is what you're learning important or relevant?
5. what would this look like outside the classroom?

"The students follow directions with little or no personal investment or processing of information." -p. 64

Neat and tidy and orderly is great, but it's not reflective of the process of learning. I need to be more observant than that.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what impact does this information have?
2. how will you use this outside the classroom?
3. how does this fit in with everything you already know?
4. what is the most important parts of the lesson you need to retain?
5. what is the significance of what you're learning? Why here? Why now?