I've noticed that often, as I've moved through life, when I've been open to change or growth or experience something comes along right when I most need it. So it was with my wife, I had decided to stop purposely seeking out someone to share my life with, and was rewarded with the woman who has helped me find purpose, given me 3 amazing children, and been my rock and strength when I felt I had no more.
I stopped forcibly seeking a career path, and discovered a hidden passion for education and teaching. I found a deep passion for my job as Academic Interventionist which has surprised me and left me gratified for the organic flow of life.
So to is it now: Over the last year I've been experiencing a journey of growth in my self-knowledge which has led me to the understanding that I can always strive to be a better person, a better father, a better teacher. No matter how good I may feel, there is always room to grow, to achieve higher levels of positivity and success.
Because of this desire for growth, I searched the AEA library for books which would help me find success in my job as Academic Interventionist; books which would help me inspire, motivate, and lead.
Because of this search I found and have begun reading "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. This has been a book "on my plate" for quite some time, but the time was never really right to read it...until now.
As I've begun reading this book I have come to some realizations: that contrary to my best intentions, I have "given up" on some students. Before, I would have reached out more to some of the most difficult students in an effort to get to know them better, to know the "why" that drives them to be difficult. It was one of these students who opened my eyes when he told me that I seemed to be more willing to talk last year and wasn't so focused on focusing them on their work.
Now, given the nature of my position, I was at first somewhat dismissive of this as an attempt to become off-task (which may have been part of it!); but I also reflected upon this idea as I began my reading...and I came upon the idea of P/PC or Production/Production Capability.
This idea, in brief, is the idea of finding balance in pushing for production (in this case, the student's work) and attending to the needs of production capability (student morale and relationship building). This passage truly struct a chord with me...resonating at the perfect time with a reflective look at myself and my practices as a teacher.
Hopefully, such self-analysis and reflection will help me to continue to grow and achieve success in helping my (OUR!) students push themselves to triumph in school and inspire prosperity outside of it.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Reflection and Response
Teaching Is a Process: Student/Teacher Relationships: A Process Requires ...: by Clint Heitz
I love this post from my colleague and good friend! As a relatively new teacher, who came to the career late, I can tell you how disheartening it can be to deal with curmudgeons. As an Academic Interventionist, I can tell thoroughly empathize with teachers whose students aren't working; I know how frustrating dealing with a lack of will can be. However, since I recognize this I do my utmost to use that frustration to fuel my drive and passion for my profession; to try and push myself to new heights with my students, and to work harder to create and maintain a good relationship with my students.
Everyone has days when they hit the door running, I feel like the difference between a curmudgeon and everyone else is that the curmudgeon has too long of a memory--they allow the negativity of yesterday to drag down the possibility of today. Even worse, they often drag down other teachers' possibilities as well.
In the heat of the moment, it can be very difficult for educators to pull away from the negative feelings we sometimes feel. That is why reflection is an absolute must for educators, if we are to maintain sanity and passion for the profession. Viewing the events of the day through the lens of reflection allows us to put into perspective these experiences, and refocus our energies and attention so we can (hopefully) prevent these negative interactions from recurring.
Collaboration with our colleagues is a great way to deal with these feelings. Instead of simply complaining for the sake of complaining, sharing our troubles and difficulties with our teammates with the goal of finding resolution is a great way to find support and hope, even if the answers continue to be elusive.
Thank you, Clint, for inspiring me.
I love this post from my colleague and good friend! As a relatively new teacher, who came to the career late, I can tell you how disheartening it can be to deal with curmudgeons. As an Academic Interventionist, I can tell thoroughly empathize with teachers whose students aren't working; I know how frustrating dealing with a lack of will can be. However, since I recognize this I do my utmost to use that frustration to fuel my drive and passion for my profession; to try and push myself to new heights with my students, and to work harder to create and maintain a good relationship with my students.
Everyone has days when they hit the door running, I feel like the difference between a curmudgeon and everyone else is that the curmudgeon has too long of a memory--they allow the negativity of yesterday to drag down the possibility of today. Even worse, they often drag down other teachers' possibilities as well.
In the heat of the moment, it can be very difficult for educators to pull away from the negative feelings we sometimes feel. That is why reflection is an absolute must for educators, if we are to maintain sanity and passion for the profession. Viewing the events of the day through the lens of reflection allows us to put into perspective these experiences, and refocus our energies and attention so we can (hopefully) prevent these negative interactions from recurring.
Collaboration with our colleagues is a great way to deal with these feelings. Instead of simply complaining for the sake of complaining, sharing our troubles and difficulties with our teammates with the goal of finding resolution is a great way to find support and hope, even if the answers continue to be elusive.
Thank you, Clint, for inspiring me.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Building "Rule-ationships?"
In teaching, there are many, many philosophies: about classroom management, discipline, rules vs. expectations, etc. "Don't smile until November" is one that comes to mind. In my current position as an Academic Interventionist I've got the privilege to be a part of several PLCs (Professional Learning Community) as well as the MTSS (Multi-Tiered Support System) group. This provides me with a wonderful chance to collaborate and discuss philosophies of teaching quite frequently.
One of the driving philosophies of successful PLC groups is the idea that all students should be learning, not all teachers should be teaching. On the surface, this is an obvious idea, and we teachers all say, "Duh, of course that's true!" But it is interesting to consider that this idea, when deeply considered, can bring into conflict one of the most integral parts of any classroom and school: rules (or expectations, if you prefer).
Specifically, this brings into conflict the essential need to build good, functional relationships with our students, and the idea that we must have a certain type of classroom for students to achieve successful learning. Now, most students will inherently function within the expectations for success in our classrooms; but some won't.
These few students are (usually) the students who most need good relationships with their teachers in order to find success. This creates a major issue for teachers, because many of these students have been singled out or even attacked (from their point of view) for their behavior. Their behavior is usually an impediment to their learning, as well as other students. So how do we create a better rapport with these students?
The easy answer for this issue is to selectively enforce the rules for these students in order to create a greater trust and better relationship. Unfortunately, this creates resentment among other students who are the rules followers, but who see these students getting away with it.
So I put the question to my colleagues in the Twitter- and Blogosphere: Do you feel it is possible to have a good relationship with At-Risk/Troubled students while still holding them accountable for classroom and school rules or expectations? How do you do it?
Please share with us your ideas, strategies and thoughts!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Random Acts
Yesterday, for no real reason at all, I decided to write notes of congratulations and encouragement for my students who struggled so mightily last year, but are managing to Take Care of Business (TCOB: my motto and favorite saying!) much more successfully.
I felt that their hard work and success needed to be recognized, and while I do so verbally fairly often; I know that the feeling I get when I get a hand-written card or note is much stronger than when someone verbalizes the same thing.
Giving my at-risk and potential dropout (PDO) students this kind of recognition had a much larger impact than I expected. A great many of them responded with a note or quick visit of their own expressing how wonderful it was to have their hard work recognized.
Reflecting on the success and impact of this simple gesture, I hope to continue this practice in the future. It felt good on my part to give positive feedback and recognition to students who are all too often on the receiving end of negative feedback. In the end, it was very selfish of me to send these brief notes, and I hope everyone finds the time to be equally as selfish, as it is a great feeling!
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Gamification: Easy vs. Right
After travelling to ITEC this week and listening to Mike Matera speaking about gamification, I've come to the realization that I have to create my own system. The reasons are many, but they all essentially boil down to the fact that when I create my own system, it's exactly what I want it to be. That is to say, I will have complete control over every aspect of my own system; anything I'm unhappy with I can change!
I also came to the realization that I was breaking one of the rules or ideas I communicate to my students on a daily basis: oftentimes the right thing to do is not the easy thing to do; instead it usually involves a deal of work, and trying to avoid that work because it's hard or there is a lot of it, is an almost certain way to fail at the endeavor. Luckily, my eyes have been opened before I rolled out a program I would've been displeased with, which would've led to disappointment and a lack of ownership on my part, and thus on my students' part as well.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Success isn't easy.
The other day I was talking to one of my students about success. He has been working very hard to turn his school career and personal life around, and had been having a lot of frustration and depression about what he sees as a lack of progress. I told him that none of us start out as experts in anything we do, and to take heart in the progress he has made so far; his grades were better in the last quarter than they had been before, and he was consistently making better decisions in his personal life.
He responded by telling me that he had made a mistake in his personal choices and it was apparent that he was beating himself up over it. I told him that he needs to understand that he is human; mistakes happen. Instead of beating himself up over it, he should reflect upon what led up to the mistake and role-play, mentally, how he could have reacted differently so that he knows what to do the next time this happens.
I reiterated that success is difficult, and we often fail many times or make many mistakes before we can find consistent success. I suggested he write out his feelings and concerns when he is feeling down so that he can get past the self-criticism and move on to the self-reflection. He agreed to try it and seemed to move on.
But what I said seemed to stick with me; all too often I beat myself up over the mistakes I make, or the failures I perceive as my fault. Instead, I need to reflect upon the changes I can make to avoid these mistakes again. I need to be proactive and reflective rather than reactive and overly critical. This is a key point to finding success in the field of teaching as well as in more focused job of academic interventionist--I already view students who succeed with me as their success, I just help bring it out; likewise I can't view students who fail to find success as my fault, could I do things better or differently to help them find success? Likely so, but I can't take their lack of success personally. Instead I should reflect on the small successes they had and focus on different ways to help them.
I don't think I can ever be a true expert Academic Interventionist, because every student is different--there is no cure-all. Instead, I can become an expert at reflection and adaptation so that I can do everything in my power to give students the chance to find success in their own way.
He responded by telling me that he had made a mistake in his personal choices and it was apparent that he was beating himself up over it. I told him that he needs to understand that he is human; mistakes happen. Instead of beating himself up over it, he should reflect upon what led up to the mistake and role-play, mentally, how he could have reacted differently so that he knows what to do the next time this happens.
I reiterated that success is difficult, and we often fail many times or make many mistakes before we can find consistent success. I suggested he write out his feelings and concerns when he is feeling down so that he can get past the self-criticism and move on to the self-reflection. He agreed to try it and seemed to move on.
But what I said seemed to stick with me; all too often I beat myself up over the mistakes I make, or the failures I perceive as my fault. Instead, I need to reflect upon the changes I can make to avoid these mistakes again. I need to be proactive and reflective rather than reactive and overly critical. This is a key point to finding success in the field of teaching as well as in more focused job of academic interventionist--I already view students who succeed with me as their success, I just help bring it out; likewise I can't view students who fail to find success as my fault, could I do things better or differently to help them find success? Likely so, but I can't take their lack of success personally. Instead I should reflect on the small successes they had and focus on different ways to help them.
I don't think I can ever be a true expert Academic Interventionist, because every student is different--there is no cure-all. Instead, I can become an expert at reflection and adaptation so that I can do everything in my power to give students the chance to find success in their own way.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
30 Day Challenge: Day 14: Feedback.
Day 14: What is feedback for learning, and how well do you give it to students?
Feedback is any information given to a student in response to work done. It can be written, verbal, or body language. This last is why it's so important to be aware of our body language when reviewing student work--including facial expression. A student who sees utter revolt or contempt on the face of his teacher while that teacher reads his work is utterly undercut, and no matter what is later said by the teacher, he will remember that look or initial reaction.
Giving timely feedback is something which is hammered into preservice teachers as they progress through teacher college, but it isn't enough for it to be timely. It must be timely, relevant, and constructive. We can't just identify where a student went wrong, we must also show them how do it correctly next time. To do anything less is as useless and almost as damaging as purposely shattering their self-confidence.
The student will become frustrated and angered at the teacher--worse, they will think of themselves as stupid and unable to do the work. "If it's so obvious that the teacher just marked it wrong," the student will think, "and didn't bother to tell me how to fix it, then I must be to stupid to get it right." If the feedback isn't productive, then the teacher is failing to help the student grow and learn, but is instead cropping and stunting the growth of the student.
I am always growing in this department. As a social studies teacher, there were many times that I was simply attempting to tackle a massive pile of work which needed graded. All to often I skipped altogether giving extended (or even any) feedback. As someone who prides himself on being reflective, I now know that I assigned too much work to my students to complete; there were ways aside from what I used that could have been utilized to ensure understanding.
As an Academic Interventionist, I am much better at giving feedback; albeit mostly oral. As I don't grade any work, I instead discuss success with my students. I work with them to improve and learn from their mistakes by demonstrating or working them through the issues they are having.
Feedback is any information given to a student in response to work done. It can be written, verbal, or body language. This last is why it's so important to be aware of our body language when reviewing student work--including facial expression. A student who sees utter revolt or contempt on the face of his teacher while that teacher reads his work is utterly undercut, and no matter what is later said by the teacher, he will remember that look or initial reaction.
Giving timely feedback is something which is hammered into preservice teachers as they progress through teacher college, but it isn't enough for it to be timely. It must be timely, relevant, and constructive. We can't just identify where a student went wrong, we must also show them how do it correctly next time. To do anything less is as useless and almost as damaging as purposely shattering their self-confidence.
The student will become frustrated and angered at the teacher--worse, they will think of themselves as stupid and unable to do the work. "If it's so obvious that the teacher just marked it wrong," the student will think, "and didn't bother to tell me how to fix it, then I must be to stupid to get it right." If the feedback isn't productive, then the teacher is failing to help the student grow and learn, but is instead cropping and stunting the growth of the student.
I am always growing in this department. As a social studies teacher, there were many times that I was simply attempting to tackle a massive pile of work which needed graded. All to often I skipped altogether giving extended (or even any) feedback. As someone who prides himself on being reflective, I now know that I assigned too much work to my students to complete; there were ways aside from what I used that could have been utilized to ensure understanding.
As an Academic Interventionist, I am much better at giving feedback; albeit mostly oral. As I don't grade any work, I instead discuss success with my students. I work with them to improve and learn from their mistakes by demonstrating or working them through the issues they are having.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)