Month: January 2018

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Inquiry Into Attitudes: Commitment

This is part of a series of inquiry-based provocations for essential elements of the PYP and the Learner Profile. For more, click here.

Anyone who works with kids knows that much of that effort is a balancing act. And when it comes to balance, commitment involves quite a lot of that balance. Think about it–we want kids to develop the skills to stick with things even when it’s hard, but we also want them to learn to recognize and honor when specific pursuits no longer work for them (ie, notion of abandoning books that aren’t doing it for you, trading soccer for theater, etc). Inviting kids into the conversation about how to build commitment while honoring autonomy is key. So as you take a look at these incredible examples of commitment, you might consider how to invite dialogue on this element of balance as well!.

Resource #1: “Be A Control Freak / Lily Hevesh” by Telia Carrier via The Kid Should See This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=ty8OHwPApOU

Resource #2: Stukenborg by Charles William Kelly

Resource #3: The Genius of Marie Curie by Ted-Ed

Resource #4: “A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights” by Kate Hannigan & Alison Jay

Provocation Questions: 

  • What does it mean to be committed to your work?
  • How does commitment impact our work as individuals? As communities?
  • How do we balance commitment with trying new things?
  • What is our responsibility to be committed in our work?
  • How does commitment change over the course of a person’s life?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

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5 Principles For Giving Inspiring Feedback

I would like to highlight, once more, feedback that I recently received from a friend in my PLN:

Her words inspired me to the extent that I shared a follow-up post last week about how her words led me to a shift in personal action and mindset, and in which I publicly thanked her for being such an asset to my personal/professional learning.

Why? What was it about her feedback that led not only to change, but to even greater mutual respect?

After all, it’s not easy for any of us to hear when we might have fallen short. Yet it is crucial for us to recognize ways we can grow. So the art of giving feedback that inspires is an invaluable skill for us all in this age of information and communication. For those of us educators using social media platforms for some #diyPD, it’s especially helpful to consider the ways that will facilitate the best kinds of connection when we share our insights with one another.

Here are 5 questions we might ask ourselves:

#1: Is there a relationship? This is the #1 question in all contexts when working with people. If we turn up out of the blue without previously having made any efforts to know where the person across the table is coming from, we can bet that our insights won’t be as well received as they might otherwise have been. This is a particularly important question to ask ourselves as we work with our students.

#2: Is there kindness? At first, this seems obvious, but it’s actually easy to take for granted amid the anonymity of social media–easy to forget that there’s a living, breathing, feeling person on the other end of our sometimes-harsh words. I’ve been surprised to read comments on larger educational websites like Edutopia where feedback quickly devolves to personal attacks or scorn. A good rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t give that feedback in person to a colleague in your building, don’t give it on social media.

#3: Have you read the content in full? Whether the feedback is negative or positive, it’s important to have the full picture before imparting. This helps ensure our feedback is as relevant as possible.

#4: Are you genuinely curious? As long as we remain curious about one another’s work and opinions, we are much more likely to avoid assumptions, and to remain centered on growth over correction.

#5: Are you in the arena, too? This is derived from a quote from Brene Brown. Simply put:

Speaking of Brene Brown, I can’t ever write a blog post even remotely related to feedback without sharing her fabulous “Engaged Feedback Checklist.”

I am so grateful for those who have taken the time to give inspiring feedback that has helped me grow. How have you been inspired by others’ feedback as you seek learning in your PLN?

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What Child Autonomy Is Not #TeacherMom

When kids feel constantly acted upon, with little understanding of what’s coming next in their lives, we can expect problematic behavior. This is what autonomy is all about. It’s why I have so deeply appreciated learning about the philosophy of Self-Reg. It’s why I write and tweet so frequently about #StudentVoice and #StudentChoice. And its why I’m always searching for ways I can better help my kids take the wheel in directing their lives.

Most recently, I decided to make little labeled picture magnets to help my 3 year-old organize and understand the flow of his days. It’s still unfolding, but I’m working on labeling or grouping the pictures so he can see which are activities he can choose from (pic below), which are activities that I will let him know are happening that day (library, local recreation center), and which are daily routines (meals, storytime, etc).

In addition building his functional concept of time (including the ability to tell what comes “after” or “before),” it’s already building his comprehension of his personal autonomy over how he can spend his time. He can more clearly see the choices within his reach, and he is learning to understand where those choices fall among the non-negotiable pursuits of each day.

This exercise in building autonomy is precious. It is laying a foundation for better self-awareness and self-determination.

However, almost similar to the way that discussing power is sometimes frowned upon, the concept of honoring and building kids’ autonomy is often misunderstood. So I’ve been thinking lately about what it is not. Autonomy is not…

…letting kids do whatever they want. As described in the above daily picture magnets, there are activities that are non-negotiable (meals, brushing teeth, etc). But even within those non-negotiables, we spend considerable time discussing the why behind them. And we also allow kids to feel the consequences of their choices without rescuing them every time to better help them understand their importance.

…never forcing them. Sometimes, kids do need a nudge for their own safety and development. However, we prioritize intrinsic motivation and “letting them in on the secret” of their development. This helps them to self-regulate their needs so they are not reliant on others for treats, stickers, praise, or compulsion in order to make the very choices that will most benefit their lives.

…the absence of hard concepts that kids might avoid, such as work ethic. Instead, we help kids cultivate a broader view of who they are and who they want to become, allowing that strong sense of identity to drive themselves through hard things.

What obstacles have you encountered in advocating for kids’ autonomy? What benefits have you seen in honoring their autonomy?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

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Inquiry Into Learner Profiles: Risk-Taker

This is part of a series of inquiry-based provocations for essential elements of the PYP and the Learner Profile. For more, click here.

Risk-taker has always been my favorite of the PYP learner profiles. It seemed the most natural of conversations in the classroom as it connected to any new venture on which we embarked. After all, authentic learning takes a large degree of courage. But do how often do we really dive into naming and investigating what it really means to be a risk-taker as a learner? This provocation is designed to help students ponder more the what and why of risk-taking.

Resource #1: The Courage to Invent: A NASA Roboticist Tells Her Story by NPR via The Kid Should See This

Resource #2: Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai

Resource #3: (for a touch of playfulness) Don’t Put Any Coins In This Cardboard Coin Box via The Kid Should See This

Resource #4: Piper short by Pixar 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGeTa4v-LdA&t=3s

Resource #5: Picture Books: I’m Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton; Jubari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall; The Dark by Lemony Snicket & Jon Klassen

Provocation Questions: 

  • What is the connection between risk-taking and creativity?
  • How do we know we are really taking a risk?
  • What’s the difference between positive risk-taking and negative risk-taking?
  • What are the perspectives on risk-taking? Does that perspective change for people over their lifetimes?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

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My #OneWord2018

I don’t remember where I came across this book trailer last year, but the opening line lingered with me long after watching:

“The word power itself is sort of this dirty word. We don’t like to talk about it, we don’t like to name it–it seems unseemly. And yet, if you don’t understand how power works–what it is, how it flows, who has access to it, who does not–you are essentially being acted upon.”

I love citizenship. Digital citizenship, physical citizenship, local citizenship, global citizenship. I like pondering our ever-shifting roles as individuals and as collective groups. And I enjoy considering how our rights and responsibilities can help us facilitate meaningful change.

Occasionally, however, I allow my focus to get side-tracked to the more pessimistic aspects of change: how long it takes, how many naysayers arise, how insignificant individual deeds seem. All of which invariably leads to feelings of frustration and even helplessness.

In those moments, it seems like all the rights and responsibilities in the world still fall flat for a rather acted-upon existence.

I’ve selected power for my one word goal for this year to face those helpless feelings head-on. To remember that all change starts with the individual. To really live the adage, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” To focus on the fact that we truly are more powerful than we think because there are always ways we can take action.

I want to find out more about my personal power. I want to get to the other side of fear and find out what choices are available to me to be the change. For me, this might look like…

…researching how I can better prepare to serve future local students when I return to teaching, many of whom are learning English as a second language (so excited about my book recommendation from Donalyn Miller that is currently en route)–to contribute to a strong literacy approach in our school district.

…volunteering with the local bicycle committee–to make my 7 year-olds’s bike trips to school safer and to work toward cleaner air.

…reaching beyond my comfort-zone to learn more about my neighbors and how we might connect–to build a stronger sense of community and safety, even in a part of town often written off as shady.

…working to better walk the talk of agency and empowerment with my own small children–to build my personal congruity and commitment to growing values as an educator and parent.

I look forward to a year of choosing power over fear. I believe that  as I explore and better understand my own power, I will be better equipped to teach and empower my future students. May this year be only the beginning of a lifetime of choosing to focus on what is most conducive to change and personal peace.

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

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Agency Is Not Just For School #TeacherMom

After sharing my post on employing read alongs to keep my kids from movie-zombie-land for the entirety of Christmas break, a friend in my PLN reminded me,

I immediately knew she was right; while the read-alongs are enjoyed by all, my initial attitude centered more on my own needs than on my kids’. Of course, self-care is essential as parents, but when we consistently turn first to “keeping them busy,” we may miss opportunities to help them develop greater awareness, ownership, and responsibility over their own time–both in and out of the classroom.

All that said, as I started to consider how to bring this kind of autonomous personal planning to life for my 7, 3, and 1 year-old children, doubts sprung up in abundance:

What if they choose to watch movies all. day. long?

We’re still dealing with quite a lot of underdeveloped temporal understanding here–how can I entrust them to planning a couple of weeks worth of time?

What about good healthy stretches of unplanned time/boredom? 

What if my 7 year old plans a beautiful day and then sickness or other unforeseen events cause it to fall flat?

Where am I going to find the time to help her plan her entire holiday time?

But as I continued to consider my desire to apply my learning in all areas of my life (synthesize over compartmentalize), I realized that desire outweighed my fears.

Interestingly enough, at that very moment of resolution, and without any prompting from me, my daughter told me that she was off to write a list of fun things she might do. I took it as a sign–I grabbed some paper to create a calendar as she worked on her list of activities (which, I should add, included our read-alongs). 🙂

As we worked, an idea occurred to me to address the issue of temporal understanding: what if I measured to scale each day based on the number of hours she is awake? I measured the height of a day-square and then divided that by 12, as my daughter is usually awake for 12 hours each day. Then I made a little time ruler for her, with each line representing one hour:

When I explained it to my daughter, it was a huge light-bulb moment; she was so excited to have a way to make her concept of time more tangible.

We filled in some scheduled events we already had planned, and then I let her go with the rest!

As with most authentic pursuits in student agency, its scope ended up far beyond the original project, including mathematics, writing, speaking/listening skills, and self-management. My fears turned out to be either unfounded or minimal; there were no fights about watching movies all day long, we actually got to build temporal awareness, and there wasn’t any fussing when things didn’t work out.

Moreover, whenever holiday boredom hit, I was able to ask my daughter what she had planned for herself that day, which was always a positive exchange.

Once again, I’m so grateful for my amazing PLN for pushing my thinking and helping me stay accountable! Thanks, Olwen!

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto