Wednesday, June 28, 2017

This I Believe


I was recently asked to compose my own This I Believe essay relating to Educational Leadership. This I Believe is an international organization engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing their core values that guide their daily lives. (http://thisibelieve.org) What good is a This I Believe essay if it can’t be shared? Enjoy. :)


Thirteen years after teaching my first class of fourth-grade students, one of my former students, now an adult with a teaching degree, asked if I would meet her at a local Starbucks to discuss tips for landing her first teaching job. While waiting to place our coffee orders, we noticed a familiar face as we approached the register at the front of the line. What a coincidence when we realized that the young man taking coffee orders was also a member of that very same fourth-grade class! Immediately, an impromptu reunion commenced as we joyfully reminisced about that year of fourth grade and many of our experiences together.

Moments later, as I sipped my cappuccino and shared advice with my former student, I happened to notice a small group of teenage girls seated at the other side of the coffee shop. As my eyes caught theirs, a few of them waved and smiled at me. Based on their age and their reaction to seeing me, I quickly realized that these girls were former students of mine from my brief stint teaching 6th-grade language arts at one of the district middle schools just a few years ago. Waving back at them, I wracked my brain for their names, but nothing came to me.

Thirteen years had passed, yet memories of students from my first 4th-grade class ran deep as I easily recalled details about my students’ lives, their families, and their classmates. Middle school students that I taught far more recently left only an ephemeral impression due to the small amount of time that we spent together each day. Why must our older students spend their school days drifting from teacher to teacher rather than have fewer teachers with whom they spend more time and get to know far better?

As an educational leader, I believe that strong relationships between students and teachers are critical for student success. Resources, technology, and funding are inconsequential without meaningful and lasting relationships between our students and their teachers. To further develop the teacher-student relationship, we must rethink how we use time in our schools. Rather than maintaining traditional school schedules where students scramble from classroom to classroom to account for the mandated hours of seat time in each core discipline, why can’t education look different? I believe that if we provide more contact hours between teachers and students, we increase the likelihood for more substantial relationships that impact student success. I believe that if we integrate courses together, teachers will find more opportunities to develop students’ skills rather than solely focus on content knowledge. I also believe that if teachers can view themselves as teachers of children rather than as teachers of a particular grade level or subject area, our students will all receive a personalized experience with the proper conditions for academic/social-emotional success.

Education is profoundly impacted by the experiences we have with our teachers. Insufficient time with a teacher will result in a missed opportunity to build a relationship that could make a significant impact on a student's life. It's time for more educational leaders to challenge status quo, rethinking how we use our time in schools to aid in the development of stronger student-teacher relationships that will impact learners for years to come.

My First 4th Grade Class, May 2004


Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Space to Do Their Own Thing

At the beginning of this school year, I wrote a letter (okay, it was more of a plea) to my daughter's fourth-grade teacher asking her to refrain from assigning nightly homework. On Twitter, I received some harsh criticism for my letter, which I also published to my blog, suggesting that I was being confrontational. Luckily, my daughter's teacher could not have been more open to the #NoHomework conversation, telling me that she, too, had similar feelings about how students spend time outside of school.

Ironically, I think that my daughter did more learning this year without assigned homework than in any of her previous years in school. Certainly, we could argue that she is getting older and becoming a more independent human being, but upon careful reflection of her year as a fourth-grader, I am struck by how much I have seen her grow as a student and as a whole person. I asked my daughter about her year as a fourth-grader, and she told me that fourth-grade was her "best learning year." She explained that she felt that she was able to learn more this year because her teacher provided daily challenges inside the classroom but also gave her "space to do her own thing" when she went home every night.

This past year, the hours of time no longer occupied by homework became a blank canvas for my daughter to fill with her own ideas, passions, interests, and choices. Because she never had to race home after basketball or softball practice to complete nightly homework assignments, she had opportunities to talk to me about what went well at practice and what areas needed more attention. Because she did not have a single reading log sucking the joy out of nightly reading, I found that she actually read more often and more willingly than in years past. Because math worksheets were absent from our home, she spent hours of time on Khan Academy, learning JavaScript and other math concepts that pushed her thinking and piqued her curiosity. And because not a single book report or poster board was ever assigned to be completed outside of school, my daughter began a passion project where she recorded original digital music that she published onto her own YouTube channel. At the end of the year, my daughter's assessment results proved what I had hoped for...academic growth despite no assigned homework from her fourth-grade teacher.

Parents of elementary-aged students, we cannot be afraid to stand up for our children and advocate to reclaim their limited free time. If homework has caused tension in your home, stress among your children, or an intrusion on your child's sleep, remember that you can say no to homework. Try it!

If you are a teacher, please trust that you make a tremendous impact inside of the classroom where you are physically available to challenge, nurture and guide your learners to reach new heights. The skills and experiences your students gain from inside your classroom will be used outside of your classroom in ways you may never have imagined.

After an entire school year of homework-free, stress-free evenings in my household,  I want to publically thank this very special fourth-grade teacher who provided a rigorous classroom experience balanced with time and space for self-discovery. I am hopeful that future academic years prove to be as fruitful as this past year has been for my child, and I hope that other parents and educators will continue the conversation about what our kids really need to be successful learners in today's world.