Making Sense Of It All

In this commencement speech the Seal Commander gives outstanding advice to the graduating class.  Navy Seal Speaks About The Secret Purpose of Seal Training Everyone knows how amazing Navy Seals are.  Nobody ever mentions the Seal Instructors that put the seals in terribly difficult situations.  The Seal Instructors hold their students accountable and force them to complete the trials or quit.   No help.  Because helping them would make the training ineffective. I love the part of the speech where the Commander says, "There were many students that couldn't accept the fact that all their efforts were in vain.  That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right it went unappreciated.  Those students didn't make it through training.  Those students didn't understand the purpose of the drill.  You were never going to succeed.  You were never going to have a perfect uniform.  The instructors weren't going t...

I know what you're thinking.  I'm not saying kids should be ignorant.  I'm saying, some kids don't need to have the order and lessons and the supervision that comes with our current models of education.  I would probably fit into that group. I'm saying that, without compulsion, students will learn about their world if they are given the resources.  There's been hundreds of studies and at least 10 TED talks where people have taken resources into poor and underprivileged areas and the kids willingly sit down at the computer and do math and English exercises for the fun of it.  No lesson plans, no supervision. You might ask, "What would motivate a kid to learn the material on his/her own?"  Great question! More teachers should ask that question.  Then we'd see real change in student behavior and learning.

Don’t be mad about the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do. --Jeanette Jenkins What would happen if I taught school the way that a business is run?   School is a place.  Teaching is an act.  Learning is a process that begins with the student, not the teacher.   You can go to school and get good grades and not learn anything.  The culture of education has damaged the act of teaching. The courage it would take to make changes is monumental. 

Obviously this is a title to get the blood pumping.  Kindness is a huge part of caring for people, including the little ones.  All of this is written with a kind heart and out of caring even if the tone in some places sounds a little abrupt.  I've had more sit down sessions with teenagers than our local psychologist so I feel like I know what the kids want and need deep down.  Here's just a few ideas:  They need to eat.   Seriously.  They are hungry all the time.  I've handed out parts of my lunch to students on a number of occasions when a student didn't get breakfast.  Here's the deal though.  If you're going to eat at the school, you get to clean the toilets and wash the windows.  That's not meant to be demeaning.  My kids at my house are told the same thing.  Now that I think about it, all the kids are going to school for free.  They should all have to work.  We could replace the custodians with kids a...

This is not a knock on teachers.  Teachers are taught that all content, curriculum, schedules, etc, need to be under close management.  The delivery and ideas for learning must be their brainchild (or stolen from someone) or else they aren't good teachers. I'm starting to question that. Are teachers a bottleneck for learning?  Do they, out of necessity, trim down the learning experiences into manageable sections and, by so doing, limit the opportunities for their students?  Without a doubt.  Is that the most productive way for our kids to learn in an age with limitless resources of information on Google? What would a classroom look like where the kids were on Khan Academy "learning" math?  Some kids would be on lesson 5 and some would be on lesson 50.  The teacher wouldn't have to come up with individualized lesson plans because the software does that for you.  The teacher could then be free to really teach. 

I love the expression that we are able to see what we can see and do what we do because we "stand on the shoulders of giants." It's an elegant and accurate way of saying that we shouldn't be too full of ourselves.  Students have always struggled with gaining their own identity but I feel like this generation is not rebelling because they want to be independent of their predecessors.  Instead, they are ignorant to the struggle that has gone on before they arrived on the scene.  They believe that because there are a few clouds obscuring the way forward, it would be better to jump back down and trudge through the muck and grime all over again to find a better vantage point. My students need to pause and look back on the progress that's been made.  They stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before but they insist on jumping from their current position and trudging through the quagmire of poor decisions and disrespect.   I want to shake my students...

Necessary Pieces 1.  Vision 2.  Expectations 3.  Accountability 4.  Autonomy 5.  The Right Personnel Principles Education will be protected and respected.   Just because it's been done a certain way doesn't make it the best way.  HOWEVER, chaos is unacceptable.  Decisions to step outside the box should be well thought out and plans should be made to aid in the results of change.    Good people that are highly qualified and motivated have a better chance to make good decisions and get good results.  

Good Start To Discipline I've used this technique in my classroom and in my home with my own children.  Accountability starts with setting expectations and is followed up with a heavy dose of courage to follow through.  Leadership, whether in the home or in a fortune 500 company starts with vision and expectations.  Nothing can improve the trajectory of an organization if expectations, accountability, and courage aren't in the mix.  

I'm not a fan of homework as a general rule.  I believe it's misused by teachers.  Teachers feel pressured to have additional data points in the gradebook.  I heard a great comment the other day on a podcast that said, "Originally, grades were used by teachers to communicate with students in a quick and efficient manner.  Now, grades use teachers and have totally overrun the education process.     I like practice.  Kids should practice a lot.   Practice reading.  Practice drawing.  Practice solving word problems. As a coach I used to carefully plan practices.  I would plan out practices to the minute and I expected that with the correct practice my athletes would get good results.  I never sent the kids home and said, "Okay, we weren't able to get to everything today so I want you to take your mom in the backyard  practice your form tackles for 30 minutes." If you told me that an athlete found a coach that would work...

My wife just came back from the meeting with the new football coach.  He seemed nice, had a good vision, was positive about his philosophy toward kids keeping their grades up, etc.  He also handed out the schedule and told the parents that there would be a two week window for parents to plan their vacations during the summer. What? I want my son to participate in sports but since when does that mean that we need to let the sport dictate the schedule my family will keep?  That got me thinking.  Why is sports such a big part of my family's time?  We spend more than 4000 a year on sports when you factor in fees, travel, babysitting etc.  It's a major investment. Shouldn't we have some say in our child's participation?  I guess we do.  We can keep them out of it.  But then you're the weird Dad that won't let their kids play sports.  I'll accept that there are benefits to participating in sports.  Learning to work hard, sacrifice, re...

I heard a parent tell me they wanted to make sure their teen had the freedom to choose for themselves.  It's a seductive idea.  Teens are becoming independent and want to test their limits and try new things. What better way to let them grow than making their own choices. I believe the teen years are the time when teens need the most involvement from parents.  They need clear lines and firm expectations as well as consequences.  This is a time when parents need to be at their most aware but, sadly, too many step back and expect their teens to navigate the turbulent waters of young adulthood alone. Imagine a time when you were at your most vulnerable.  These were the times when we needed guidance the most.  I believe we make a mistake when we step back from our kids and their parenting in an effort to give them "freedom". 

The voucher system is a free market system meant to encourage competition in schools and I support the idea from a "free market" point of view.  The problem is that people think that a voucher system will have an immediate affect on kids and improve their test scores by giving them access to "better" schools.  Most of the kids that are looking for vouchers are in a system that is broken and have been raised in that system for such a long time and are so far behind that a voucher won't help them much. When a student moves from a bad school to a great school the effect is like trying to jump on a moving train. The recent study that found that student who move from bad schools to good schools still struggle in math.  Duh---  The study assumed that the problem was the teachers.  You take a student that is 2 years behind in math competency and you put him in a class where everyone is on level.  Is it any real surprise that he's going to struggle?  If an...

Geoffrey Canada says culture plays a role in the way kids learn.  There is a culture that has it's own rules and if educators don't understand the rules they will continue to take action without results.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uIQVTZHQzA    

I thought that this list would help me be a good teacher.  I thought that these general principals would help me keep my perspective on teaching and really help kids.  Here you go. 1.  Kids are not small adults.  I assume that kids don't know the basics...about anything.     2.  Teaching takes time.  Repetition, repetition, repetition.  Skills are not learned overnight.   3.  Every kid is different.  Enough said. 4.  Growth is only possible if success and failure are a part of the equation. 5.  Most parents have no idea how to teach their kids.  This is more a statement of fact than a condemnation of parents. 6.  You can't force a student to learn.   Over the past few years I've had to add to my list so I could continue to be effective.    7.  Most kids don't know how to work. 8.  Most kids are addicted to their electronic devices (this IS a condemnation of pa...

I love teaching people.  I think it's the look on a student's face when they finally get the material that keeps me coming back. The flash of confidence and self-efficacy is worth all the struggle. Then why do I want to leave the profession?  That's simple.  I don't like it.  The "profession" of teaching is far removed from the "act" of teaching.  It's kind of like saying, I love the water but I hate sailing.  Sailing is complicated.  There are ropes, rudders, and chores like scrubbing the deck and scraping barnacles that make sailing more tedious than simply swimming.  On top of that, there are regulations that make sailing overly complicated.  You have to go a certain speed and you have to stay in a certain lane and you have to check in and out of a harbor to make sure you don't have contraband on your ship.  You get the idea. I am becoming an administrator because I believe I can help teachers enjoy the profession again by throwin...

What are the incentives for a teacher to teach to the best of their ability?  There are none.  They, like other government employees, get their pay regardless of the quality of their work.  That isn't to say that they are bad people.  They simply meet the expectations to keep their employment, which is the same thing any other person does.

The first governing principle is Freedom. The constitution is a document inspired by God that will protect the freedom of the people.  It correctly outlines what Government will not do, and in so doing, limits the power that government has to encroach on the freedom of people.