Developing relationships with our students

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about next year and the focus that should be first and foremost for myself and the staff.  I keep coming back to relationships.  I truly believe the only way to assist students in learning is to have a positive relationship with them.
Oftentimes we find it easy to develop relationships with some students and what motivates them but there are the occasional few that we struggle ever truly connecting with.  How can we find the personal connection with these students when each of us seems to have contact with an ever increasing number of students and responsibilities?  A better question is how can we not find a connection?
Relationships are all about connections, finding those one or two things that are of importance to specific students and then building upon them.  Finding these connections can happen through individual meetings, a time consuming process for middle and high school teachers who are in contact with 100 or more students, or through surveys but I think the best way is to let the students get to know you as an educator and, more importantly, as a person.  Let the students know about your interests, your family, and why you became an educator.  Allowing the students to see you as a person will help them develop connections with you and with these connections comes a better opportunity to assist students in learning.
I have been very fortunate in my career as an educator feeling comfortable sharing personal stories.  I have shared things about my family, my passion for sports, my struggles, and my successes.  This sharing has led to discussions with students in the classroom as a teacher, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, and on the playground as an administrator, and in different sports venues as a coach.  I truly believe that the students saw me as a person first and an educator second so they felt comfortable speaking with me about their goals, their successes, and their struggles.  I have found that the students sometimes see me as their uncle, their father, and, now that I'm getting older, their grandfather.  I may be the only person they feel comfortable speaking with about a variety of topics.
I think, above all, that relationships are fostered by listening.  Listen without judging.  Be an active listener.  As an educator, you need to listen to what your students are saying, however hurtful it may be to you as a person.  Listen to their comments and concerns because they are just telling you how they feel.  Some students don't have a "filter", not because they are trying to be mean or cruel, but because they have an opinion that they need and want to express.  Listen to what they are saying and make the appropriate changes to meet their needs.  This may also lead to personal discussions that can lead to a stronger relationship and an even greater opportunity for learning to occur.
In the May 7th edition of MiddleWeb SmartBrief, there was an article entitled "What if Your Students Don't Like You?"  There are a number of questions posed by Fawn Johnson at the beginning of the article for guest blogger Renee Moore.  Although she is a Language Arts teacher, the responses are applicable to all content areas.  It is well worth the read.
Relationships are the bedrock of education.  In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."  So I have a question for you.  How will you go about developing relationships this school year?

Finding a balance

I must admit that I have a problem and it has created imbalance in my life.  I have a propensity to be on twitter at all hours of the day and night.  I am getting more connected with more educators on twitter and they really push my thinking, validate my thoughts, or present counterpoints that I need to consider.  I guess I just think I'm going to miss an idea or a conversation that is going to push me to the next level.  It drives my wife and daughter crazy and I understand why.  They just want me to be unplugged and spend quality time with them watching a movie or doing yardwork or just sitting around watching "Dance Moms".  I have to let go and be a husband or a dad more often, especially during the summer.  Does anyone else feel this way?  How do you unplug in order to spend more time with your family and friends?  I need your help.  Or maybe I just provided myself with the answer.  I just need to unplug and enjoy those who mean the most to me.

P.R.I.D.E.

On Monday I read a post by Justin Tarte (@justintarte) entitled It's our personal responsibility.  As I read the post, it reminded me of a quote I heard from Lou Holtz, famous college football coach and ESPN college football analyst.  In one of the pregame shows, Mr. Holtz put the following letters on the chalkboard- PRIDE.  Next to each letter was a word that began with each letter.  PRIDE, to Mr. Holtz, means Personal Responsibility In Daily Excellence.  What a powerful message from one word.  I had t-shirts made for each of the teachers (I'm famous for t-shirts and spiritwear in my district) and we often wore these shirts on spirit days.
After reading Justin's post, I began wondering why I haven't brought out my shirt in a while.  I still have PRIDE in all that we do in Merton, but sometimes, with the day to day responsibilities of school for our staff and for me, we forget the PRIDE that we have in our school.  We do great things with our students each and every day.  Why don't we let more people in our district and in our community know more about all of this?  Maybe this is also our personal responsibility, that and providing engaging and meaningful activities in each of our classrooms and schools every day.
I welcome your comments and thoughts.

The "Awesomest Day"

Yesterday, our district took a big risk in providing an EdCamp style professional development opportunity for all of our staff.  Our district has a Primary School with about 450 students in grades 4K-3 and an Intermediate School with about 500 students in grades 4-8.  It was a regular school day, but the afternoon was an unannounced surprise for the students.  The Primary School followed this schedule with a couple of speakers and Jump Rope for Heart with the principal and parent volunteers helping out with the students.  The Intermediate School had a DJ, Wii games, board games, or silent reading time with the superintendent, myself, and teaching assistants helping out with the students.  As the principal of the Intermediate School, I can say that the options for the afternoon were enjoyed by nearly every student.  I got a chance to dance with the students from time to time so I was able to join in on the fun.  During and after, the students asked me questions like, "How long have you been planning this?", "Can we do this every year?", "Can we do this again this year?", and my favorite, "What are the teachers doing?"  I answered this by saying, "The teachers are learning while we are having fun!"  The students thought that was awesome.
The teacher learning was what the day was really about.  We have a team in our district called TILT (Teachers Integrating Learning Today) that planned the afternoon for the teachers.  They divided the staff into four groups that moved to different rooms every 25 minutes.  Each room had a different theme that was based upon the four C's (Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking).  Here is a copy of each of the google presentations that were created during the afternoon.
Collaboration
Communication
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Because I wasn't a part of the teacher learning for the afternoon, I asked some of the teachers what they thought of the day.  The majority of the teachers thought that it was a great afternoon.  The only comment I heard to the contrary about the afternoon was that they didn't have enough time in each session.  Isn't that a great problem to have to solve?  The teachers were able to learn from one another and as we say in Merton, "We are our best resource".
All in all, the day was the "Awesomest Day" for students and staff alike.

And the excitement builds...

This morning, our TILT (Teachers Integrating Learning Today) team met with the entire staff of our district to preview the great learning experiences they will be involved in tomorrow afternoon.  Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication are the four main themes of the afternoon.  The staff buzz around the Intermediate School is evident and bubbly.  They have been reminded not to spoil the surprise we have in plan for the students in the afternoon.  We are having a DJ for the students for two and a half hours while the staff is learning and sharing with each other.  As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, we are taking a risk with this new format of learning for our staff.  I wish that I could learn with them but someone needs to be with the students!  I will, however, get to walk around the building tomorrow afternoon for the last half an hour when the staff will be sharing what they have learned with the students.  I can't wait to be able to share the success of our day!

Anticipating a risk

On Thursday of this week, the staff in the Merton Community School District will be having its own "EdCamp style" of professional development at little cost to the district.  The staff will have two and a half hours to learn from one another while the students are having fun in supervised activities (structured for our Primary School 4K-3rd graders with speakers, Jump Rope for Heart, and other activities and a little less structured with a DJ we hired for our Intermediate School 4th-8th graders).  The principal of the Primary School will have a number of volunteers available to help supervise the activities at the Primary School while the superintendent and I will supervise at the Intermediate School.  The cool thing is that we are not even telling our kids what will happen on Thursday.  The TILT (Teachers Integrating Learning Today) team has organized the day for our teachers and they are excited.  It's amazing what a group of teacher leaders can do when given the opportunity to think like there is no box.
We know the kids will have a great time.  We know the staff will have a great time, too.  But this leads to the title of my blog- anticipating a risk.  I am anticipating a great learning experience for the staff based upon the great teachers we have and the variety of topics they will be discussing but it is also a risk that is fully supported by the administration.  Shouldn't we allow and support all teachers taking a risk in their classrooms?  Shouldn't these risks lead to greater learning opportunities for our students?  Like most school districts, we struggle with providing time for teachers during the school day to collaborate with one another.  I'll follow up with a reflection of the day this Friday.

Create and not regurgitate

While participating in the AWSA Middle and High School Principal's conference this week, I noticed a dichotomy between the message of our keynote speaker, Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal), and the message sent by the DPI regarding education.  Here is what I see as the dichotomy.
Eric spoke about student choice, staff choice, collaboration, opportunity, engagement and creativity.
With no disrespect intended, the DPI message was about teacher accountability, test results, funding and school report cards.
Given a choice, I would prefer to create and not regurgitate.
Given a choice, I believe students would prefer to create and not regurgitate.
Let the students create!