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Chapter 1 - Discussions for creating change 

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Chapter 1 - Discussions for creating change 

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"Real change often means sitting with a youngster who breaks rules to have a discussion." pg. 9 - If we can't use "I" statements with our students, we cannot expect them to

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Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes. by Jimmy Casas

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Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes. by Jimmy Casas

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Another PD book that is on my Amazon List after this one. Jimmy Casas on Twitter has very similar views and strategies to help students. @casas_jimmy

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These Action Guides are a tool intended to help educators take an honest look at what it means to invest in, influence, and improve their overall school culture in order to inspire one another to bring and give their very best every day both personally and professionally.

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Giving Students Choices (Ch. 1 continued) 

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Giving Students Choices (Ch. 1 continued) 

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Ways to offer students choices academically.

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My kids participate in an amazing hands-on learning experience every summer. It's called home. It's where they write stories, paint pictures, go on expeditions, visit parks, read books, and build things with duct tape and cardboard.

For the entire summer, they own the learning process. There are no tests, no benchmarks, no curriculum maps, and no bell schedules. It is an educational anarchy, where they tear down the walls between ideas and subject areas as they make and tinker and explore and curate the learning on their own terms.

Don't get m wrong. It's not perfect. Just yesterday they were at each other's throats over "creative differences." They have had moments where they complained about boredom, only to discover, minutes later, that boredom actually leads to creative breakthroughs. They have had days where they walked away from a project in frustration and binge-watched Netflix.

And yet . . .

They are developing into life-long learners. They already view themselves as geeks who can figure out anything over time. They pursue creative work with passion. Yes, that passion sometimes leads to arguments. Our home vacillates between looking like Phineas and Ferband VH1 Behind the Music. But most of the time, it leads to a state of flow, where they are lost in their work. Most of the time, it looks more like Phineas and Ferb.

In a little over a month, they will return to school with the bell schedule and the benchmark tests and the prep packets. While I realize that schools cannot operate under the educational anarchy of summer, I can't help but wonder what it would look like to empower students with more choice and agency in their learning.

Student choice is more than simply choosing a topic. It is about empowering students through the entire learning process. This is especially true in classrooms that embrace creativity, design thinking, and project-based learning. Here are a few of the ways we can incorporate student choice:

1. Let students choose the topic. When I first had students blog, I would post a writing prompt on the projector. However, when I had students explore real blogs, they pointed out that outside of school, bloggers write about topics they care about. So, I told them to choose a topic or theme. They could create foodie blogs, sports blogs, gamer blogs, etc.

2. Let students ask the questions. I believe students should question answers as often as they answer questions. This is why inquiry is such a critical component of design thinking. Students need to move from awareness to curiosity in a way that will fuel their creative thinking.

3. Let students decide the content. I love sustained silent reading. I get it. It's old school. It won't make the list of trendy new maker space learning. However, it works. A few years ago, I taught 8th grade self-contained. The school librarian and the upper grade teachers had cultivated this love of silent reading. So, when we went to the library, it was like going to a candy store.

4. Let students pick the materials and resources. In design thinking, students work through an ideation phase and then begin building a prototype. I love the idea that they guide not only the concept of what they will create but they also figure out what materials they will use in order to build their prototype. This goes beyond physical products. In digital content, they can choose what applications they will use and what type of media they will work with. When designing an event or a service project, they can determine the venue, the materials, and the resources.

5. Let students choose the strategies. When I think of the most tedious things kids experience in school, there is a high likelihood that they don't get a chance to choose the strategies. Take close reading. The rigid approach says, "use these symbols and follow this recipe." Students focus on doing things the "right way" and they fail to make sense out of the actual text.

6. Let students choose the scaffolding. I remember requiring students to use a set of scaffolding for the research process. A handful of students loved it because they needed it. The rest of the students viewed the scaffolding like a cage. I should have treated the scaffolding as an optional resource that they could access when they found it necessary.

7. Let students choose the format. When possible, allow students to choose the format for their creative work. It might be a video, a podcast, or a blog post.

8. Let students choose the audience. When students define the audience, they are able to clarify what they are doing and how they are going to do it. This honors student agency.

9. Let students choose the groups. This is the most controversial. People will often point out that in the real world, you don't always get to choose your groups. I get that. But when you work on a cool, voluntary collaboration, you often get to choose your groups. In my experience, our most functional groups were the ones where students worked with their friends. At first, they were too social. But then the challenge and the excitement of the tasks kicked in and they were able to tap into their mutual trust and go deeper in their work. While this might not be necessary for every project, it is something teachers can try out.

10. Let students manage the projects. This was the hardest thing for me to let go of. However, I believe that project management is a powerful, transferrable skill. Students need to learn the art of project management. Over time, I have learned to allow students to own the project management and to build their own systems to monitor their progress.

For all the talk of the "guide on the side," the truth is that guides are still guides. Even in a student-centered classroom, the teacher is still the expert. There are times when limiting choices actually increases creative thinking. Students work within the constraints to find solutions that push divergent thinking. Moreover, there are times when students don't have as much prior knowledge in an area and you, as the teacher, will expose them to new ideas, approaches, and content that they might have otherwise ignored.

However, when we incorporate choice, students own the learning process. We honor their agency and empower them to become the life-long learners we want them to be. At some point, they will leave the classroom and they won't have a guide right there by their side. They will have to take charge and make decisions about their own learning. This is why student choice is so critical.

When I embraced the idea of student choice, I had a ton of questions:

What about the standards? What about the curriculum map? What about the test?

Do I have permission to do this? What will my principal think?

What are the dangers in student choice? What about the whole idea of the "paradox of choice?"

If I embrace student choice, won't things get crazy? How do I manage all of this chaos?

How do I assess the learning if students are choosing to do such different things?

Should I try something like a Genius Hour?

Over a decade later, I am still thinking through those ideas. I don't pretend to have all the answers. However, I plan to share what I've learned along the way in a series on student choice.
Here are some resources I've developed that you might find helpful:

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10 Ways to Incorporate Student Choice in Your Classroom

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My kids participate in an amazing hands-on learning experience every summer. It's called home. It's where they write stories, paint pictures, go on expeditions, visit parks, read books, and build things with duct tape and cardboard. For the entire summer, they own the learning process.

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Giving Students Choices (Ch.1 continued) 

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Giving Students Choices (Ch.1 continued) 

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From Choice Theory.

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Principles of Discipline with Dignity - Offer choices. Offering student choices reminded me of Choice Theory in general. There is some pretty amazing information on this site.

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The 1998 book, Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, is the primary text for all that is taught by The William Glasser Institute. Choice theory states that:

all we do is behave,

that almost all behavior is chosen, and

that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun.

In practice, the most important need is love and belonging, as closeness and connectedness with the people we care about is a requisite for satisfying all of the needs.

Choice theory, with the Seven Caring Habits, replaces external control psychology and the Seven Deadly Habits. External control, the present psychology of almost all people in the world, is destructive to relationships. When used, it will destroy the ability of one or both to find satisfaction in that relationship and will result in a disconnection from each other. Being disconnected is the source of almost all human problems such as what is called mental illness, drug addiction, violence, crime, school failure, spousal abuse, to mention a few.

PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW

1. A person is basically GOOD. "No one sets out to be bad."

2. All behavior is purposeful. This means that each person is "Doing the Best He Can" to meet his needs at this time.

3. A person can learn a better way to meet his needs.

4. A person needs to be able to make choices even in a setting which limits freedom.

5. A person will not change if there is nothing in it for him/her-no payoff.

6. By changing what we are doing, we change our thinking, feelings and our physiology.

7. An environment which reinforces positive behavior facilitates change more than one which focuses on negative behavior.

Relationships and our Habits

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The 1998 book, Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, is the primary text for all that is taught by The William Glasser Institute. Choice theory states that: all we do is behave, that almost all behavior is chosen, and that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun.

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"Recognize that being fair does not always mean treating students equally" (Mendler 12).

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Chapter 2 made me really think about Dr. Nadine Burke Harris' TED Talk on Adverse Childhood Experiences.

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童年創傷如何影響一生健康

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童年創傷不是一件長大就能解決的事。兒科醫生娜汀‧哈里斯 (Nadine Burke Harris) 解釋虐待、忽視、和父母精神健康不良或有藥物或飲酒問題，都會影響兒童的大腦發展。童年經歷影響終身，在高壓環境下長大的兒童比他人得到心肺疾病的比例高三倍。這是一位慷慨激昂的兒科醫生祈求眾人面對、預防和治療心理創傷的演講。