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Download My Goldilocks Zone for Learning Reflection

Fostering the “Goldilocks Zone for Learning” is ensuring your school has the right mix of relationships, high expectations, positive learning culture, and a relentless approach for improvement.  None of the four elements can compensate for the other.  They each are essential at the foundation of any successful school.  As leaders, we need to expect excellence and reflect often.  I have included a reflection rubric for your use as a way to help become better today than you were yesterday at building spaces that are just right for learning.  Let’s create schools that have relationships and positive school culture at the center of all decisions.  Download my FREE reflection rubric today!  

Download My Goldilocks Zone for Learning Rubric

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“It’s Simple: Just Interact with Your Students”

I am on a journey to deliver student perspectives to stakeholders inside and outside of education to ensure student voices are heard.  My hope is that every student is at the proverbial table as we make important educational decisions that will influence the rest of their lives.  This is about bringing young people out of the shadows.

The idea for these posts came directly from one of my students.  After writing a blog about empowering students and asking for feedback, I waited for responses to come in.  I did not have to wait long before I received the best feedback I could ask for and sure enough, the person was a 17-year-old high school student of mine.  He helped me realize that I need to start taking my own advice. I needed to listen to my own message. I was offering inspiration on how we educate our young people and I, too, was forgetting to involve the youth voice.  Once again, I was taking this journey alone and writing about what students needed without including the most important voice of all. I just needed to slow my roll, drop what I felt needed to be done, and listen to my students.

This blog is an interview with that exact student who inspired this journey.  Tully and I spent an amazing two hours talking at a local coffee shop about his K-12 experiences.  This blog post are highlights of our time spent together.

“I had a teacher that probably saved my school career.  She treated me like an individual and celebrated who I was, not who she wanted me to be.”

Tully shared that he would love the opportunity to walk into a teacher meeting some day and have the floor to explain what is so clear to many students.  “There is so much more than just the standards and the curriculum.” “The most memorable teachers take risks and bring in content outside of the traditional classroom.”  “The best teachers teach for the students and not at the students.”

According to Tully, “Teachers need to be resourceful and they need to be aware that the system does not work for all.”   “The system does not contain the right resources to help every student.” Tully believes that a teacher can make up for the lack of resources by truly interacting with their students.  Teachers need to listen to their students and then use this knowledge to individually make a difference with every student. “I had a teacher that probably saved my school career. She treated me like an individual and celebrated who I was, not who she wanted me to be.”  Students have an intuitive sense about teachers. They appreciate when teachers think, act, and teach outside of what lives in the textbook.

“It’s Simple:  Just Interact with Your Students.”

How do we create a school environment where students want to be there?  It seemed simple to Tully. “Just interact with your students,” Tully said.  He did not understand why it was so difficult for so many teachers. “It will take effort, but if you show that you are willing to interact and willing to get to know them, they will relate to you more.”  Tully really made me think. Why is it so difficult to make connections? Are we scared that it will not be reciprocal? Are we afraid that our students may not accept us?

“If you figure out your students’ passions, the rest is easy.” continued Tully.  Students want to know that we care. Students need to connect with more than just our content.  “ I know you will see trust, respect, and motivation in your classroom if you take the time and focus on your students.”  

I dug a little deeper and asked how this has played out in school for him.  “My whole school career felt like the school did not want to deal with me.” He continued, “Unfortunately, this became part of who I was.  I had an attitude that if this school did not want me and the teachers did not want to deal with me, then I would not want to either. There are too many teachers and schools that are not set up to deal with the issues that we are bringing as students.”  This was hard for me as an educator to hear. Please do not brush this aside, and it is not the time to get defensive. Whether or not this is entirely true with you or at your school, it is a perception for so many of our students. How do we let our students know we are prepared for the issues that will arise?  

“Teachers need to give feedback that does not solely center around what we do wrong.”  

If you have never asked a high schooler what they look for in a teacher, you are missing out.  The insights and understanding of what is important are almost intuitive for high school students.  It was not different for Tully when I asked what he would look for. “I would want the teacher to understand the importance of being able to motivate students.”  Tully went on to point out that it should not be about giving grades based on test scores or about expecting students to repeat everything they heard. It should not be about homework completion.  “Teachers need to give feedback that does not solely center around what we do wrong. Spending every day in math correcting the little mistakes caused me to hate math. Students give up on doing homework because we do not think anyone cares about the effort we put into the work, only that the answers are correct. It seems as though teachers only care whether it is done or not.”  Do students leave our classrooms only remembering what they did wrong?  That would be horrible.

“I felt many times in my school career that the school did not want to deal with me.”  

“Thirty kids all in one class does not make sense.”   Unfortunately, this has become much more the norm and not the exception in many of today’s high schools across our country.  It can be difficult for large schools to individualize and get to know their students on a personal level. Tully backed this up by saying, “I felt many times in my school career that the school did not want to deal with me. Many students feel this way and it becomes who we are.  I would guess that 90% of the students that get suspended want to be suspended because they do not feel the school wants them there.” Tully went on to say, “teachers are put into a poor position because they are ill-equipped to handle the environment that they are put into.” He shared that he feels teachers need less pressure to teach to to a scripted curriculum giving more time to teach to the students.

“Thank you, Mom.”

To all of you parents out there, you have no idea the impact that you make everyday.  Never give up on your children. “I made it through school because of my mom,” Tully said without hesitation, when asked how he made it through his difficult years in school.  “She never gave up on me even when I may have given up on myself.”

Thank you, Tully.  Thank you for an amazing interview and for the opportunity to truly get to know you.  You have made me a better teacher and leader of learning. Every student I meet challenges me to rethink my teaching traditions and the way I do things.  You were no different. You helped center me and helped me remember to listen. Have you #listentosstudents lately?

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Listen to Students: “Great Teachers Make Great Schools, Not the Other Way Around”

I am on a journey to deliver student perspectives to stakeholders inside and outside of education to ensure student voices are heard.  My hope is that every student is at the proverbial table as we make important educational decisions that will influence the rest of their lives.  This is about bringing young people out of the shadows.

The idea for these posts came directly from one of my students.  After writing a blog about empowering students and asking for feedback, I waited for responses to come in.  I believe the crickets outside my window made more noise than the readers of that post. However, I did receive one piece of feedback and sure enough, the person was a 18-year-old high school student of mine.  He helped me realize that I need to start taking my own advice. I needed to listen to my own message. I was offering inspiration on how we educate our young people and I, too, was forgetting to involve the youth voice.  Once again, I was taking this journey alone and writing about what students needed without including the most important voice of all. I just needed to stop my roll, drop what I felt needed to be done, and listen to my students.  There is an opportunity to be just like my favorite children’s book character, the Lorax. I need to make sure someone is speaking for the students. I will not stand by and underestimate them. I will give them the opportunity to tell their stories.  I learn and am inspired every day because of them. I hope I can do the same for you.

My first interview was with Jacob.  Jacob is a recent high school graduate.  I was humbled and inspired as we spent almost two hours talking at a local coffee shop about his K-12 journey.  Throughout the discussion, there were four clear trends that appeared very clearly. I will do my best to share these with you:

“Success of a School Should be Measured By Happiness”

According to Jacob, “You can measure the success of a school by the happiness of the students.”  He added, “If a student hates school, they will never learn.” Teachers create learning environments that not only encourage learning, they provide a safe and positive space for kids to be happy.  What is the happiness score at your school? In my opinion, the best teachers understand that we must meet the basic needs before we can worry about the learning. At some point in the journey of education, students move from counting down the days for school to start to counting down the days until school is over.  How do we create schools where students want to be?

“Great Teachers Make Great Schools, Not the Other Way Around”  

Schools do not change lives, the relationships students have with their teachers change lives.  According to Jacob, “If I had to choose between a great teacher or a great school, I would choose the great teacher any day because a teacher can take the focus off a bad school and bad policies.  They create a positive learning environment for all students.” He went on to clearly state, “Great teachers make great schools, not the other way around.” Funny how as we gear up for a new school year, we can get so caught-up in our school philosophies, policies, and spaces, but the power of a strong teacher and student relationship is what truly makes the difference.

We never realize the impact that we make every day.  Students can often be lost in our schools. Students can feel disconnected and unwelcome.  Learning spaces should be inspirational and full of opportunities for connection. Relationships matter.  We cannot be afraid to invest and dedicate time to ensuring every student has a positive adult in their life. One who believes in them and truly listens.

“Students Are More than a Test Score”

“Don’t be hypocritical,” says Jacob.  “On one hand, schools want you to be you, but then it seems as though I was only judged on my test scores.”  Jacob, you are so much more than a test score. The world needs so much more than a test score. We cannot take the humanity out of education.  Making connections and meaningful relationships with students will bring out the best in each of them. Building individual relationships should be the number one priority.  Building powerful relationships needs to be intentional not accidental. Let us help students be noticed, not just recognized.

“You Do Not Have to Know Everything to Inspire Someone”

Jacob was clear, “Students want to learn, and they want to be inspired.”  He continued, “Students do not need their teachers to know everything or be the smartest person in the world.  Students want teachers who are engaging and make the learning interesting.” Jacob also felt compelled to include, “Be patient with us (students) as we make mistakes because we do not all learn at the same speed.”  

Our students deserve to be listened to and they deserve to have a personalized opportunity to learn.  Jacob promised me he would help some other students and me write a book. Until then, I hope you can connect with a young person and find the time to truly listen.  I am a better person and teacher thanks to Jacob.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts!  My guess is that Jacob would as well.  

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Why is it scary to give the power of learning to the student?

Empower.If we present learning content as tasks or “to do’s” then we only develop learning followers.  A transformational learning culture gives autonomy and purpose to our students for them to master their learning.  We need to be developing student learning leaders.  We cannot create a culture of passive learners where knowledge is only passed along.  Students should not be passengers along for the ride as adults drive the learning.  This kind of learning often results in poorly motivated students who do not apply what they know.

Why does it scare us to give the power of learning to the student?  If we can create systems in our learning spaces where students are given clear objectives about the content, but the freedom to demonstrate competency, then we will witness the true power of learning.  If we give an overly complex sets of directions and guidelines to the learning, we will only experience simple learning results.  Unfortunately, we see low order thinking in many learning environments today and then are upset by students’ negative behaviors and overall lack of drive.  If we expect high order thinking and give our students the runway to make it happen, we will begin to see learning at a completely different level.

This cannot happen overnight, but the transformation can begin to happen tomorrow morning.  It will be messy and is may even be chaotic.  Deeper learning does not follow a specific path.  However, I can promise an amazing ride from both student and teacher.  Let’s buckle our seat belts and provide the opportunity for students to become learning leaders.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

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Competency Based Education (CBE)

I will be presenting at the Midwestern Workshop on Effective Education for the At-Risk held at Marian University in Fond du Lac, WI on July 17-18, 2019.  I will be discussing Competency Based Education (CBE).  CBE has been receiving much attention, and is being implemented in many educational arenas: primary grades to higher education. Have you or your institution started a dialogue about CBE?  If you are new to CBE, or if you have already begun implementation, this workshop is designed to build on your understanding (or lack thereof) of current CBE trends and practices.  The goals for this workshop are to broaden your understanding of CBE, and how CBE can raise learning expectations for all students. Secondly, we will explore how CBE can be used to foster student equality, autonomy, and engagement.  I hope to see you there!