Thursday, June 30, 2016

#KidsDeserveIt Part 1

I recently started and finished the book titled "Kids Deserve It!: Pushing Boundaries and Challenging Conventional Thinking" by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome. This book is unlike any others that I have read, as it was first of all one of the first books that I was able to read front to back and be engaged in the entire time. It was jam packed with amazing ideas and stories from both authors schools and what they try to do each day as building principals. 

Over the next few blog posts, I am going to be highlighting some of the key important points of this book, one that I believe every educator should read at some point. It is a book that will get you jacked up for education as well as doing what is best for kids.

1. "What is we dedicated time each day to explore new ideas and took off our kids' training wheels to see how far they could go?!"

This first key point comes from the very beginning of the book in the chapter entitled "Go Big, Be Creative!" It focuses on the idea that learning does not always have to be planned or prepped out every minute of every day. There should be time in each day dedicated to learning something knew not only for ourselves but to help our kids. As someone who is planning on implementing a Genius Hour component in their classroom this coming year, I was especially interested in the idea of giving students time in the day to explore something new. Kids have big imaginations and the more we hinder that by planning every part of their school day the less creative and imaginative they become.

2. "When you are an educator, you have brilliant ideas. And when you are not sharing your brilliant ideas, you are doing a disservice to others in the field who could and want to learn from you."

This quote is actually from Angela Maiers in a discussion she had with Todd. It is has been about two years since I have been "active" on twitter and social media but feel as though my capacity for sharing and growing has really taken off over these last several months. I have been active in several ed chats on twitter including #iaedchat and #aledchat and I have also been introduced to Voxer as a way to communicate. I have been able to connect with educators such as Jennifer Hogan and A.J. Juliani through twitter/voxer and even got a shoutout from Todd Nesloney himself last Sunday on the live #iaedchat blab. That was an amazing thing to hear and really demonstrates the power of connectivity and being a connected educator. I have tried to model this by sharing out things on my blog as well as on twitter and voxer. I don't have all the answers and never will but I feel as though I have a PLN that I can always go to when I have questions.

3. "We have to view every child as a seed waiting to bloom. We may be the teacher who plants the seed, we may be the one to water it, or we may be the one who actually gets to watch it grow."

This is one of many favorite quotes from the book as it focuses on something I am deeply passionate about...reaching every kid. Todd and Adam discuss in their chapter "Never Slam the Door" that we should always be trying new ways to reach kids and help them get to where they need to be. The minute we shut down and give up on kids is the minute that those same kids feel as though they have been given up on. If a coach on a basketball team were to come to you and say "Derek, I know you are our worst free throw shooter so we will never have you shoot them in a game...ever" there would be no reason to practice right? If you knew your coach had no faith or belief in your abilities why should you? Every needs someone in their corner, someone fighting for them every step of the way. "Kids want to know they matter to you. They want to know you see them, hear them, and believe in them - unconditionally."

4. Hats Off to You

I was such a fan of this idea of Todd's that he started at his school. The idea between "Hats Off to You" was to recognize students making good choices in turn possibly limiting the amount of referrals and incorrect choices made. Staff members would get encouragement cards every week to hand out to kids making good choices. If a student received one of these cards they were able to go into the office and one of the administrators gets to call the students parents to explain to them why their child is being rewarded/celebrated. It was such an amazing idea and one that I feel could work at every age group, students and adults. He even mentions doing this with his staff members and calling home to their parents celebrating their successes. As a future admin and even teacher leader, I would love to be able to implement something similar to this in my building. What a great to build capacity, relationships, and culture all at the same time.

For those of you that have not read the book, I would highly recommend picking it up from Amazon, borrowing from a friend or colleague, or whatever other means of gathering the book there are because it is worth it. Listening to Todd talk about the book on Sunday it was interesting listening to him discuss the reasoning behind the book. He basically stated that you can't really come up with an argument against "Kids Deserve It" because how can you go against what is best for kids? I would have to agree that is a pretty sound argument...but one that has been developed over time and put to the test on numerous occasions. These are just snapshots of some of the amazing things discussed in this book and I will write about more reflections in the coming posts.

Until next time...Be A Light!

-Derek

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

"Walking" the Walk

"I will never try that." 

"Don't ask me to step outside of my comfort zone."

"They aren't capable of _________."

"We have never done that before."

"I don't have time for _________."




I'm sure all of you at some time or another have heard some of the phrases that are listed above. A great mentor and friend Jimmy Casas would refer to the people who repeatedly use this type of language as the B3's or bottom thirds. These are people that choose to continuously try to poke holes in ideas and tear others down. Many leaders in education and other professions spend a majority of their time trying to bring up the B3's usually resulting in many frustrating days and nights.

I have recently made a personal commitment to spend more of my time focusing on my own health. For the past week or so I have been trying to walk every day as well as eat better. Now this may seem like a common sense type of decision but for me it was not. I have always put others ahead of myself, including my own personal well-being. I would much rather spend time working with students, other adults, attending conferences, etc... than work out or "eat healthily." I feel as though for the past 2 years I have been stuck somewhere between the first and third steps in the picture above. Maybe every once in a while I may get to the fourth and even possibly the fifth but never to the final three steps. I firmly believed I wasn't capable of it nor did I believe I had the time to focus on me. I felt like in my personal life I was becoming a B3...something I most certainly did not want to become.

I think it's important to realize that all of us start at the bottom step in different situations throughout our lives. What we can't allow ourselves to do is remain in these bottom three steps. The moment you move from "wanting" to asking how is the moment that your mindset begins to shift. Those with a fixed mindset are squarely content on remaining in the bottom two steps. The more steps you take the more you will grow. We have to stop spending so much of our time and energy trying to change the B3's and spend more time building capacity around us with those that are willing to take steps alongside you.

As for me, I will continue to try to "walk" the walk not only professionally but more importantly in my personal life as well. I will not be satisfied until I can stand at the top and say "Yes, I did it!"

Until next time, Be A Light!
-Derek