Quit the stick... 1) I am of the firm belief that we do not need to stress kids out with our policies. Our policies. As teachers we decide what’s possible and what’s impossible. So, whenever I can, I choose possible. And though I know some would argue that I am not preparing
2) kids for the “real world,” I am not inclined to subscribe to that line of thinking. In fact, it has been my experience that most deadlines, including tax deadlines, can be negotiated, can be extended. Teachers negotiate their evaluation/observation deadlines with principals
3) all the time. In fact, some who wield the “real-world” stick for teaching kids responsibility are among some of the worst when it comes to asking for leniency from their supervisors. Real world, indeed. It has also been my experience that those with the harshest
4) responses to kids’ not meeting deadlines only ever offer up the real-world defense. And this suggests to me that they have not really thought their policies through, that their policies are not about the students; their policies are about them and their inability to motivate
5) and inspire kids to learn. Any teacher can use a “stick” to make kids comply. There is nothing remarkable in that. And, too, there is no golden guarantee that just because a kid complies with a deadline that the work is worthy. In fact, it is often sub-par, because
6) it’s more about done-on-time than done-well. Oh, some kids accomplish both, but my experience suggests that when kids are forced to comply, for many, their work lacks commitment and quality suffers. But when kids are committed and self-driven, quality flourishes.
7) And that I believe is the better real-world lesson. When you commit to something, you accomplish something worthwhile. When you half-ass something just to get it done, you generally accomplish something that’s half-assed. And I believe this is true in any world.
8) Teachers need to let go the real-world stick. It unnecessarily elevates stress, and it can also lead to an unintended decrease in quality. In truth, the world is real no matter our age or stage. And it’s time that teachers quit posturing, quit hiding behind this facade.
9) Make learning, not deadlines the focus in your classroom. Things only become impossible when we make them so. Choose possible. What’s the worst that’s going to happen if a kid misses a deadline?
You’ll have to assess it at a different time?
10) But weren’t you going to assess it anyway?
The kids won’t be ready to move on in the content? Don’t we already move on whether kids are ready or not?
It won’t be fair to the other kids who turned it on time? Did they not have the opportunity to learn and benefit
11) from the assignment? Doesn’t every kid deserve that benefit? Is he really winning something over on the other kids if he does it later?
Our policies create our worlds, worlds in which we co-exist with kids for a significant chunk of their lives.
12) They will be shaped by that experience in one manner or another. And in that time, we should not rely on threatening the real world to scare kids straight. We should rely on our worlds, over which we truly have power to influence, over which we have the control of choice.
13) And as such, we should choose to make it a world where kids discover what really matters: themselves. We should provide that promise. We don’t need a stick. And if we do, shame on us, for we have chosen to wield it. We don’t have to carry it. In my world,
14)there is still stress, but I think it’s different. I think it’s the stress of commitment, not the stress of compliance. I think it’s because they care, not because they're scared. And I want to believe it's because I choose to make it that way. My world. My choice. #Project180
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1)On learning. For 23 years I’ve taught a lot. That I know. But whether that meant my kids learned a lot...I don’t know that. Well, at least not with the certainty I’d like. If I teach, does that mean they learn? I’m not so sure. Recently, on a date with my wife, the art teacher
2)I found myself at the pottery wheel. The goal: learn to throw a piece of pottery. I had patient, expert instruction. The instructor, not my wife, modeled for us in a step-by-step process, pausing to check for understanding, fielding questions, giving tips, etc. Once we
3)sat down at the wheel, there were also other instructors to give us personalized instruction and support. The “ teaching” I suspect could not have been much better. Did I learn to throw pottery? Yes, if by that, we mean I experienced throwing pottery. No, if we were to
1) Ate--choked on--some humble pie today. Long story, but stumbled upon a recent comment from a former student (13 years ago) on Facebook, who remarked that she found it funny that so many regarded me so highly when she thought I was a bully who made fun of her. Bully. Me?
2)The notion that I had hurt a young lady hit me hard. It hit me harder that I had no idea. No idea. That's terrifying. As I thought back on our experience, what I thought was banter, she thought was bullying. It hit me hardest that she had been living with that all this time.
3)I responded and apologized most sincerely, sorry that I didn't know, sorry that I couldn't fix it. Went to school with a heavy heart, feeling the fraud as I wrote my MyRoomMessage and Sappy Sy Rhyme. I shared my weight with my students during Smiles and Frowns, and they were
Long Thread🤷♂️1) There is no one way in education. Of that, I am certain. For 23 years I have been looking for it, but in my search, all that I have found is a way, which becomes my way, until I find a better way, which then steps aside for the next way. There is no WAY.
2) Today, we see more ways than ever because of the work we share, ranging from the conventional to the crazy. And platforms like Twitter have revealed this in ways unthought of when I began my career in the fall of ‘96. Then, “ways” were found in books and PD pushed and
3) proffered by those with generally little time in the actual classroom, and we generally (sometimes reluctantly) settled for that because our options and worlds were small, and we had not the communities we do today. The eduTwitterverse and other ed communities did not exist.
Meg fell asleep in class yesterday. I let her. I didn't take it personally. She has zero-hour math, farm-girl chores, state-qualifying 4X400 fatigue, adolescent angst, and various other things to deal with. My class is only a part of her life, not her life. No, she did not use
her time wisely in class yesterday. She didn't get her essay turned in. She knew that. I knew that, but I didn't beat her up about it. Didn't have to. She emailed it to me last night at 9:00 PM. On her own. I know we all somewhat subscribe to this notion that there's a right way
of doing things, and letting kids sleep in class falls outside the boundaries. I get it, and I'm not suggesting that we make it a permanent part of repertoire /routine, but I am suggesting that we sometimes trust our instincts, even if it goes against the grain, maybe especially