Cause I Ain't Got a Pencil

A fellow colleague shared this poem with me and I absolutely loved it.  I shared this with our staff during inservice training. This piece is a great example of what some of our students deal with on a daily basis as they get ready for school. We have no clue what they go through just to get to school.

Some of our students have to get their siblings ready for school, wake themselves up, wash their clothes, get to the bus location in time to catch the bus.

When they get to school, they get to eat a good breakfast because they have no food in the pantry.

Even though, they did all this stuff to get ready, they forget their backpack at home. They have no pencil. Because they have no pencil, they are not prepared for class. The teacher fusses at him because he did not come to class prepared.

You know the rules. You better bring a pencil to class. You need to go to the office because you are not prepared for my class.

Have you ever seen this before?

Unfortunately, I have. We need to remember we do not know what our students home lives are like. We have no idea what they had to go through just to get to school on time.

Every Child Has A Story

I was reminded today as I drove a student home about something we often forget. This child reminded me that every student has a story. We get so caught up with teaching that we forget listening is just as important.

As I brought this student home, I listened to his story. He told about his summer. I asked him about how the school year has gone so far. I started the conversation very slowly. He started to warm up and tell me about his family life. He told me about his cat. He also told me about his mom and something she is struggling with.

When everything slowed down, I sat down to reflect about the day and wondered something. Would I have found this important information out if I would not have brought him home? I wonder if any of my staff would find out this information about him.

As a new school year begins, it is important to get to know our students. We need to know how many brothers and sisters they have. Do they live with their grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles? What do they struggle with? What are their strengths? weaknesses? What are their hobbies? What is their favorite subject? What is their least favorite subject? How do they learn the best? Or they visual learners? auditory? etc.

How can we help our students if we do not know anything about them? It is about relationships. I enjoyed the 20 minutes in the car with the student. It put things in perspective for me.

We need to know what makes them tick.

I thank my lucky stars that the mom did not pick up. I would have missed out on this opportunity to get to know this kid. Take advantage of teaching moments.

Beginning of the School Year Thoughts to Teachers & Staff

Teachers and staff,

The new year is upon us. It has happened so quickly. You are about to meet new students, and welcome new opportunities. How exciting is that! 

You are about to meet children who need you more than you can ever imagine. You do not know what their summer has been like. Most of our students probably did not go on any type of vacation or get out of Sour Lake this summer. 

The child that you are about to meet has failed more times than they have succeed. They try hard, but never can get there. You are also about to meet a child comes to school so they can get breakfast because they do not have it available at home. They can not wait to get here to get two nutritious meals.  

You are also about to meet a child who needs to be challenged and pushed. They know most of the information you are going to teach them this year. How are we going to challenge them? What are we going to do differently for them to help them not be bored in your class? 

You are about to meet a student who can not make friends. They can not work well with other students, but they need to learn how to work collaboratively. They need your guidance.

Every student is different. This age is so difficult. 

You will have students with different needs, goals, and different past experiences both good and bad. 

You will have an opportunity this year to make a difference. We have 36 weeks with these students. Please do not take this time for granted. 

Children need to feel loved and supported. They need to have a caring adult in their lives. It is so easy to love the lovable. These are the kids who always do right. They make good grades, they answer all the questions in class. Most of the time these students already have someone in their lives who care about them. 

Show all students that you care.

Characteristics of Digital Learners

I am in the process of reading Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times by Eric Sheninger. As I am reading this particular book, there was something that struck me. 

Ian Jukes, Ted McCain, and Lee Crockett (2010) provide the following characteristics of learners today and the resulting disconnects that they are experiencing in schools:

• Digital learners prefer to access information quickly from multiple-media sources, but many educators prefer slow and controlled release of information from limited sources. 
• Digital learners prefer parallel processing and multi-tasking, but many educators prefer linear processing and single tasks or limited multitasking
• Digital learners prefer random access to hyper-linked multimedia information, but many educators prefer to provide information linearly, logically, and sequentially. 
• Digital learners prefer to learn "just in time," but many educators prefer to teach "just in case."
• Digital learners prefer instant gratification and immediate rewards, but many educators prefer deferred gratification and delayed rewards
• Digital learners prefer to network simultaneously with others, but many educators prefer students to work independently before they network and interact
• Digital learners prefer processing pictures, sounds, color, and video before text, but many educators prefer to provide text before picture, sound, and video.
• Digital learners prefer learning that is revenant, active, instantly useful, and fun, but many educators feel compelled to teach memorization of the content in curriculum guide. 

When we read all of these characteristics of learners today, why do we keep doing the same thing that we have always done in our approach to education? Why are we so afraid of change? How do we connect with our students? 

We must provide our students with learning experiences they prefer. Our students are digital learners. They want and need us to adapt to the changing times.  

Jukes, I., McCain, T., Crockett, L. (2010). Understating the digital generation: Teaching and learning in the new digital landscape. Kelowna, Canada: 21st Century Fluency Project [copublished with Corwin.]

Framing the Lesson

This year, I plan to focus a lot of my attention on the Fundamental Five with my teachers. This is a book written by Sean Cain and Mike Laird. It is a quick and easy read, but has a lot of good information.

The five fundamentals are:

• Framing the Lesson
• Teach in the Power Zone
• Recognize & Reinforce
• Frequent Small Group, Purposeful Talk
• Write Critically

Let's start by looking at how to frame the lesson. 

As educators, we must give our students a clear picture of what will be happening during class and what they will do with that knowledge. In the hallway, it is so funny to hear students ask one another, "Hey, what are we going to do in Mrs. Smith's class today?" Students want to know. They need to know exactly what they are going to be doing. This approach helps to avoid or minimize information overload. Think about all the new information that students receive all day long. They must find a way to sort, categorize, evaluate, prioritize, and make decisions about what is and what is not important. If we tell them upfront, then this will increase the chances of students getting to where we want them to end up.

I love it when a hear a presentation and the speaker identifies what the objective of the workshop is. It helps me to mentally filter the information I need to know. It helps me focus and set priorities on new learning.

Before a teacher prepares the lesson, they should have a clear idea of where they want to go and what they want students to accomplish. What should the students be able to do, understand, care about as a result of the teaching?

This is typically done in two ways.
1) Daily Learning Objective
2) Closing Question, Product, or Task

The learning objective should be very clear, concise, and student friendly. 

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to recall/recap what you have taught them, telling, or showing you what they have learning. 

Examples of Learning Objectives: We will review lab safety practices and procedures.

Closing Question, Product, or Task

I will create a 3-5 minute lab safety skit with my group about how to properly clean a test tube.

End of the Year Reflections

As I am finishing up my third year as principal, I have a lot to be thankful for. We have a lot of great group of teachers, support staff, students, and parents. Together, they make my job easier. Running a middle school is the hardest job by far. 

These years are extremely difficult. It is a time when students are trying to discover the person they are and are meant to be.

I loved this comparison that I am about to share with you. 

The middle school years are a time when the bud of the flower first begins to open, and we see the shape of the petals and the colors within. 

How cool is this? This is something that we are apart of. 

I want to help students blossom. I want to find ways for them to develop into the men and woman they are destined to be. Greatness is in all of my students. It is up to us as educators to unleash that potential. 

I will not give up on these children. 

I will work each and every day not for myself, but for each student that I have the pleasure of educating. 

Thank you for this opportunity. 

Digital Learning

Our goal at Henderson Middle school is to develop a learning environment that gives students the ability to engage in meaningful work using the tools they need for the world in which they live. Do iPads or tablets play a part in this belief? Absolutely. It is a tool that is designed to allow our students to communicate, collaborate, create, and critically think.  

At Henderson Middle School, we are now in our 4^th year of the 1:1 iPad program.  We have experienced learning curves (both students and teachers) and have seen struggles and successes. We continue to adapt our classrooms in hopes of helping ALL students to flourish as 21^st Century learners. Our students are doing creative things with these learning devices, and that is why we want to share our student’s work with you.   

Please check out the Digital Learning tab on Henderson’s web site and our YouTube channel. Our Youtube channel is HENDERSONmsHAWKS. We hope you are amazed!  http://www.hms.hjisd.net/digital_learning