Teach Students to Quit (Episode 38)

       Today, we�re gonna show you how to teach students to quit. 
       Watch the YouTube video here >>> https://youtu.be/2_wc-a2blyk
       If you�re like me, you had teachers, coaches, parents, and other well-meaning people tell you, �Quitters never prosper.� And I believed them � because it sounded wise and encouraging. I think the heart behind the idea is good, not wanting us to be quitters and building up a strong work ethic and grit, which are great qualities that we want in our kids and ourselves.
       Yeah, and we still have the problem of kids not having enough grit. So much softness and willingness to quit, expecting it to come easy to them. This is definitely an issue and something to keep teaching, but as I�ve been a teacher and gotten older and had my own kids, I�m learning that I think we�re going about this the wrong way.
       I was reading Seth Godin a while back and he said: �Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.� And that really resonated with what I�ve been feeling for a long time and even teaching with my students.
       It�s funny because while at the same time we�ve been telling them to try hard and not quit because �Quitters never prosper,� we�ve been giving everyone a trophy to protect them from bad feelings when they try really hard and fail.
       Yeah, and I think there�s a contradiction here. I think what would be a better approach is teaching our kids to quit the right things. I straight up told my middle school students, �Maybe you�re good at that and maybe you suck at that. There�s no shame in sucking at something. That just means that thing isn�t your strength. You�ve got strengths...lots of them...but that one is a weakness or something you don�t care about.
       So what if we could find a way to teach our kids grit and how to quit? What would that look like? How would that give our students (and maybe even ourselves) a greater self-awareness of our strengths and weaknesses?
       I think the students would feel more free to find what they�re passionate about. I think they�d feel less shame for sucking at something. I think they�d feel more freedom to leave things they don�t care about and hunt for the things they�re great at. Yes, internal grit is important, but isn�t it so much more valuable to have grit in something you love? I know I make so much more progress and grit is easier when I love something.
       "You're totally killing their dreams?" a student once said to me. I responded, "I'm not killing their dreams. I'm asking them to think about whether they should." And that's real. We need people in our lives asking us to think about what we're good at and what we're not. It's one of the reasons I like Simon Cowell from American Idol. For all his lack of loving tone, what Simon Cowell did well is tell the truth. Sure, someone could have bought him some tact for Christmas, but he wasn't going to let any delusional person leave that studio thinking they were a good singer if they weren't.
       Now, we need people asking and saying those things in love, just as badly as we need people urging us with love to get more gritty.
       What if you suck at it, but need to be good at it? Then get as good as you need to be, but be a realist about how good you can get. Make sure your weaknesses don't take you down, then double down on your strengths.
       What if you really love it, but you suck at it? There's no reason we shouldn't do things we love, but we might need a reality check about whether we can earn a living doing it. Maybe we need to teach and learn the difference between things we can do for a profession.
       So all said, let�s certainly not abandon teaching grit, but let�s round it with teaching when to quit. Because we need both.
       Conversation of the Day: What is something you quit doing? And how did it feel?
          Hop on over to watch the video and share your thoughts in the conversation.

Goldfish Minds

       On some days, it can be so hard to inspire our students. Or even get their attention. The latest research attention spans of humans might give a glimpse into why.

       For the first time in the history of keeping track of such things, humans have a shorter attention span than a goldfish.

       So you had better believe it that I showed my student this nonfiction document and discussed what it means for them and their studies.

       And since we have talked about it, I have used it to refocus them every once in awhile. "Class, or should I say goldfish," I will start saying and regain their attention. And by lumping myself in with them, I've made sure to communicate that this isn't condescending ... just eye-opening and a reminder to be all that we can be...and a group recognition of what technology and the flow of society is making us. We must resist! We must swim against the flow!

       So what do you think about this research? These Ideas? Is this true for your students? What age are you teaching?

       Read the statistics on human/goldfish attention span here >>>

       Your thoughts?

The Perfect Seating Chart

 

        What goes into making the perfect seating chart?

       Likelyhood to disrupt classroom learning. Vision and hearing needs. ADHD. 504 plans. Effectiveness of group work. Efficiency of handing back papers. Troublemaker quarantine.

       Not until recent years did I include respect at the top of my seating chart  attributes.

       A quick word on my view of respect. I tell my students that they start the year with 100% of my respect. I respect them from the start, and they should respect me from the start. Why should they respect me? Not because I'm a teacher. Not because I'm in authority. They should respect me because I'm a person. A magnificent human being like each of them is.

       It is from this starting block that I let my students choose their own seats. "You know how you are. Do you tend to get 'Talks Too Much' on your report cards? If so, don't sit by your friends that you'll want to talk with. Choose wisely."

       And most of them do choose wisely. This year, I have only had to do two students. And both of those moves, I told them were temporary, that I want them to earn the spot back.

       Maybe you are thinking there is no way that will work in your classroom at your school. I get that feeling too. The desire to have control. But I am pretty certain that control and respect are not symbiotic. In order to have control, the teacher must withhold some respect for a lot of respect. And to give your students unconditional respect, the teacher must relinquish some control or a lot of control

       What I have found and am still finding is that the more respect I give them, the more they learn to self control. And self control always better and teacher control.

       We welcome your thoughts, ideas, and improvements.

Photo Copyright by Frankes (used with permission)

Surviving the Paycheck Desert: How to Save for Summer

       The end of June has arrived, and you are gaping at your bank account balance, trying to figure out how you're going to survive July, and maybe August too. You're considering whether those Starbucks barista position or Pizza Hut delivery jobs are worth your time. But the money has to come from somewhere...

       Perhaps you know the feeling?

       For half my teaching career, I have had two months of unpaid summer. For the other half, one month. So I know the struggle.  I thought I would share my solution, which on the surface might seem like a simple solution, but all the years we have done it, we survived the year and the summer.

       First, we build a budget. We spend every dollar on paper before the month begins. We give every dollar a name. This $51 dollars goes to home internet. This $550, groceries and living expenses. We've been using the truly amazing Good Budget app for 4 years now, and we absolutely love it (they didn't even pay us to say that!). On the iPhone and Android, we've been on budget the whole time, which has helped us get out of debt and save for those bone dry summer paycheck months.
       To make sure we save the right amount, we figure how much we need to survive a month. Then we divide by 11 months ... not 12, since we don't get that extra paycheck. Then, as simple as this sounds, we save that much each month and by the time that no-paycheck month arrives, we have a whole month of $$$ saved up!
       And if your school district doesn't pay you for 2 months, you've gotta divide by 10 and save accordingly.
       You're welcome to get a job over the summer too to get a little extra spending money, but we always made sure to save enough, in case we couldn't get or didn't want to get an extra summer job.

       A follow-up topic is "How to save for summer traveling too!" And the strategy ain't that much different. In addition to your summer dry-bones month, you've gotta sock away money each month for your summer traveling plans. It's hard, but you can do it without throwing it all on the plastic cursed credit cards. Slow and steady wins a vacation.

Photo Copyright by Moyan Brenn (used with permission)

Most Powerful Thing in Your Pocket

          Anybody out there have the classroom rule: No cell phones allowed? Or maybe your school set up that rule? My school has that rule too, and so does my classroom... 

          Kind of.

          See, I've been rethinking that rule lately. I understand why the rule exists. Kids will be kids. They will text, Instagram, askFM, Snapchat, Doodle Jump, and anything else during my precious teaching time. So no phones. At. All.

          Except when we do that, haven't we taken away perhaps the most valuable tool in the history of mankind? I mean, what would previous generations have given to carry such a powerful tool around in their pockets?! Einstein? Newton? Caesar? All that research? All that information? Right there at their fingertips. Wouldn't they be blown away that we have such powerful tools but usually use them to look up cat videos and play Candy Crush?

          So a kid is reading her book and gets to a word she doesn't know. Most students skip those words because it takes too long to walk to the dictionary and look it up. Well, why not let her use her phone and the dictionary.com app?

          Another student is done early with his class work. He wants to keep working but the only work he has left requires him to go online. Why not let him use his Edmodo app to access his PDFs and PowerPoints and blogs from his teachers?

          A student is done handwriting her first draft of an essay, while the other students are still writing. It seems a little silly for her not to be able to start typing her essay out in the notepad on her phone so she can email it to herself later. Or typing it in Google Docs for easy access on her computer that evening at home.

          How about those students in creative writing class who need to do in-the -moment research for all kinds of random stuff in their story or movie screenplay or novel chapter? 

          I know it's hard to trust them. They work so hard to lose our trust. They might starts using Wolfram           Alpha you solve their math problems. They might just steal vocabulary sentences from other websites instead of creating them themselves.

          But I, for one, have always thought it's a little backwards for us to make our rules the cheaters instead of empowering the winners. What if we just call all of them to a high standard, give them the tools, then figure the rest out. 

          That's where I'm headed. 

          What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear your ideas on this journey.