Sisyphus

Posted on November 14, 2013 by sutterlearn

The new banner to my blog site is a picture of a paperweight my dad kept on his writing desk when I was a child. The original allure to me was that a GI Joe action figure was about the same size, and it made a great boulder to hide them behind. My dad must have told me the story of Sisyphus each time I played with this statue, though I don’t remember specifically listening. It’s one of those pearls burned into your psyche by someone who really cares for you, though neither of you realize when the true meaning will be revealed in your life. Remember, buy canada viagra it’s not a magical pill. Many people do not want people to live a happy sexual life and that’s why free sample of viagra HerSolution has increased in popularity over the years. A portion of the straightforward watchwords to pursuit ED pill rapidly, for example, purchase order levitra online http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/featured/page/16/?filter_by=random_posts, purchase levitra on the web, online order levitra online and so this medicine becomes even more effective for the users. A lot of companies are now producing the medicine and supplying them generic cialis online continue reading to find out more now with the lowest cost all over the world. For me it was close to 20 years later.

Struggling in work or life, or maybe both, this image of Sisyphus popped into my brain and I called my dad to ask if he still had the paperweight. One day it will sit on my own writing desk to remind me, not just of my dad, but of the hard work that is life, that the reward is not getting the boulder up the hill, but the strength gained by pushing it; the frustration of it repeatedly rolling back down is resilience not yet recognized; seemingly immovable objects or people don’t defeat us, but prepare us for even greater challenges…and that’s life. Keep pushing.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Parenting | 1 Comment

Drop I, Add THEY

Posted on November 14, 2013 by sutterlearn

Back when Garth Brooks was an international musical star, he gave part of an interview from the nosebleed section of Cowboy Stadium in Dallas, TX. He explained how he likes to make the trek up to those seats to get the perspective of what the show will be like from there and to remind himself that it is his responsibility to somehow make the person in that seat feel something through the music.

This interview popped into my head recently whilst sitting in the dentist’s chair. I found myself wondering how often a dentist sits in his own chair to interpret the experience of a filling, a cleaning, or any other procedures. My Dad’s sermons were full of illustrative nuggets of theological wisdom at his typewriter, but I’m sure a few created pew-squirming when they went too long, or wandered too deep on a humid, southern Sunday morning. Some of my “best” classroom lessons and written musings have garnished painful (to me) responses and reviews, usually when I didn’t consider my audience long or widely enough.

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For this reason I gather feedback constantly by using exit slips and really listening to the kids and teachers I learn with when they reflect their experiences. Team teaching with a partner was the most effective professional development for my practice, because two to three times each week, my partner and I took turns delivering lessons we created together so one of us could experience it as a kid. I’ve also videoed myself, a charming experience, to make the connections between what I meant to do and how it came across, learning that I’m much more animated in my mind than I convey with my body…something I can change, but wouldn’t have realized had I not intentionally shifted from the framework of my mind to the lens of those whose thinking I am here to support.

Posted in Coaching, Professional Learning Conceptions, Teachers | 2 Comments

Testing Ourselves

Posted on November 13, 2013 by sutterlearn

The last cartons of standardized state test booklets were just shipped back from the school buildings I serve, hopefully marking the end of an asinine era of high-stakes test administration in the Fall. Michigan is rumored to be moving to a Spring testing schedule, using more advanced and frankly harder assessments next year, but at least it will be after children and teachers have shared mostly a year of learning together, rather than a summer apart, a new teacher, and content from the prior year.

But testing’s not all bad and it’s hard to articulate why. Some folks believe learning shouldn’t or can’t be measured because it’s experiential and contextual. Others believe that we must measure things receiving tax funding, regardless of validity of the results, so that we can filter down to only the “best of the best”.

Who hasn’t been in this scenario? Two people are in a car, not yet to their destination. One, usually the passenger, is holding a map or GPS that indicates the vehicles location. One or both are fervently fussing about where they are versus where they should be. Perhaps someone is also pointing out all the details of where they went wrong and reiterating how they aren’t at their destination. What the white-knuckled driver really needs is clear feedback on where s/he is and guidance on the next step to get there. Do either of these people blame the map or GPS? Do they question its validity? Could they take ownership and control of the situation, knowing what they know now?
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To be effective at anything, people use indicators of success and feedback for adjustment toward ultimate success of a goal. If one starts with a clear goal, one should be able to exhibit progress and completion of that goal. “Where do I want to go? How am I doing? What am I doing next?” are the questions John Hattie summarizes about how an individual, or a system, makes learning visible (Visible Learning, 2009).

The real question is not about the testing itself. The real question is how do we enculture continuous improvement without inciting fear, or affirming reality, of ulterior motives to sort and select people? It is a complex proposal that we gather evidence to guide teaching and learning, knowing full well that the same evidence that showing where we need to go, defines where we are not yet. How do we measure student learning and our own work? Testing, as it were, is not a simple activity and not simply an activity, but a measurement device or a map if we are to take responsibility for the next generation of humans, or someone else’s child.

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Flipping Math Workshop

Posted on October 15, 2013 by sutterlearn


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Check out how my buddy flipped his math workshop so the kids get twice the instruction and twice the practice in one class. Let me know if this docu-mini-tary helps or inspires. If you have or know of a practice that should be shared, tell me and I’ll come make one with you!



Posted in Coaching, Teachers, Technology | 1 Comment

The Best Student

Posted on October 15, 2013 by sutterlearn

A conversation with a fellow teacher reminded me of a letter I wrote to one of my students a few years ago. It appears we had shared similar experiences of ego-centric students asking us if they were our favorite. That same day, I watched a series of adult interactions and realized the same things were at play. Age isn’t a sure cure for a competitive nature or insecurity. As we seek a truer professionalism, the advice I gave my fourth grade student not long ago is sound for many of us today:
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In our little classroom, there is space for twenty-some best students.  Some come every day, others peek in for a minute, a lesson, or an afternoon.  They’re usually not all present at once, but sometimes a whole bunch come together.  I love those days.  On those days, the best student learns, loves, and grows.  The best student shows respect, gives best effort, shows encouragement and loves learning.  The best student listens with keen ears and an open heart.  The best student is prepared more often than not and more often than others.  The best student is ready to learn and willingly reflects her understanding.  He knows the difference between arguing and discussing.  She senses when and when not to do either.  The best student smiles early and often.  The best student is friends to everyone, but doesn’t require the approval of anyone.  She is the example.  The best student teaches his teacher.  He understands that a teacher is a cheerleader and a coach, not a boss, not a judge.  The best student figures out routines quickly.  He learns to enjoy the questioning more than the answering.  The best student sets high expectations for herself.  The best student makes me proud, but makes himself prouder.  He doesn’t require a teacher to learn, but he values learning from his teacher.  The best student is organized.  The best student is responsible, accountable, remarkable, memorable, and most of all, unstoppable.

The best student “gets it”, so she doesn’t have to worry about being the best student.

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Equalizing Cultural Capital

Posted on September 12, 2013 by sutterlearn

There are some truths I question. One came up recently when a colleague told me, “You cannot raise the cultural capital of one group by reducing it from another.” In a broader context, you can’t rob Peter to pay Paul when it comes to equity in schools. I was advocating for a baseline standard materials for all students, knowing that some schools have more capable or active parent groups who want to provide extra computers, grants, or whatever for their local building. That is the choice and right of that community. Managing equity is the plight of school districts everywhere that property taxes fund education. No news.

In the flow for stability and equity, what did come as news was an email from a parent, sent to hundreds of teachers and community members around me. The sender was advocating that new school boundaries not be allowed as it would remove our school from the neighborhood that she “purposely purchased a home in” to attend the school. In all honesty and hopefully to the relief of many, the school is not going anywhere despite her confusion; nor are the houses purchased; nor the children currently there; all are staying put. What could occur, and I safely say this as a resident parent zoned for that same school, is that shifting boundaries could allow students from additional neighborhoods to join. I don’t understand why this is bad, but I have a feeling that if one was brave enough to explain it, they would be admitting some sort of classism, elitism, or maybe racism. While they may not need to raise their own cultural capital, there are still people willing to reduce the capital of others by petitioning to not allow them in. Fear of otherness seems alive and well. This makes me sad and I hope I’m wrong.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Parenting, Politics, Teachers | 1 Comment

What do you do?

Posted on September 12, 2013 by sutterlearn

Try this as an icebreaker at your next meeting…Ask everyone to think for just a minute of something that fits this description:What is one activity you love doing, you are relatively good at doing, and you want to get better by doing it more? Now turn this activity into a proper noun and have everyone introduce themselves with this as their occupation.For example, “Hi, I’m a woodcarver.” (This is even more fun to try with a straight face at parties with people you don’t know!I’ve been a writer, a musician, a researcher, a canoeist…all true.)
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Our minds are bound to preconceptions connected to our language.We hear someone’s occupation and we subconsciously assume education levels, financial status, or political orientation.It’s not a lie to say I’m a woodcarver when someone asks what I do.That is an occupation I identify with, though completely separate from my formal education, paycheck or social views.However, when I buck the convention of playing my paycheck occupation as my first card, the conversation becomes much richer and more focused on things personal to me.The relationships I’m able to forge with others become that much more authentic.Anyone can be a lawyer, a teacher, or an accountant, but it is truly the lucky who get to chat with a knitter, a runner, or a photographer, to make connections and learn about them.It also pushes your own self-reflection about who you are and what is important to you, and if done honestly and genuinely, allows you to grow as an individual.

Speaking of honesty, when you finally get around to sharing your “professional” occupation, people will realize there is more to you, to every person, than small talk.

Posted in Icebreakers | 3 Comments

Discipline: Something We DO…or TEACH

Posted on September 12, 2013 by sutterlearn

The first interviews I had for teaching jobs are fun to recall. I often think that probably 90% of the rhetoric I spewed was 100% theoretic, book smarts. Less was based on my experience, than on my understanding of a well-placed buzz word. At the time I thought I knew what I was talking about, but what I really knew was the language that would influence how my get viagra overnight Regular blood flow freshen the body and the bad impacts can enhance the secretion of gastric juices. With enhanced length and thickness of the male organ, you cannot penetrate into lowest cost levitra her genital passage. Most http://appalachianmagazine.com/2015/12/25/national-weather-service-some-w-va-locations-will-experience-flooding/ discount cialis of the times they remain there without causing much trouble. The medication of purchase generic cialis appalachianmagazine.com is available online at many of the risk factors for erectile dysfunction. interviewers think.

Within that small 10% of experience I’d gained at that point, was one truth that I hold until now. I don’t remember the interview question, but I remember my answer clearly and have upheld it in my classrooms, with my peers, and even within my family until now: Discipline is a noun, not a verb. It’s something we teach kids to have, not something we do to them.

Posted in Coaching, Teachers | 1 Comment

The Language We Choose

Posted on September 12, 2013 by sutterlearn

“If we hope to stem the mass destruction that inevitably attends our economic system, fundamental historical, social, economic, and technological forces need to be pondered, understood, and redirected. Behavior won’t change much without a fundamental change in consciousness. The question becomes: How do we change consciousness?”

― Derrick Jensen, The Culture of Make Believe

I’m thinking a lot about language this week. Not literacy or grammar, but the language we choose that constructs our culture. I’m generally not as extreme as the Jensen quote above, but I’ve noticed that the language we choose is important because it has the ability to change our consciousness.

I was looking over an electronic “Discipline Tracking Form” this week (more about “discipline” in the next post) and realized how profoundly numb we’ve become to some language. The form was designed prior to current research on Positive Psychology and Positive Behavior Supports, so I’m not demonizing it (yes, I meant to choose that word). Here are some of the terms used:

Officer – to describe the adult responsible for managing the situation

Offense – to describe the incidence or action being documented

Demerit History – to describe cumulative little infractions in a punitive system

If these sound a little militaristic or prison-like, they are. I’m not one for excusing kids from responsibility or using kid gloves instead of tough love. However, simply changing negative language even on what seems like a bureaucratic pass-through form, has the ability to change behavior because the language we use can change consciousness. Nowhere on the form does it provide space to identify “cause” or “motivation” for the incidence, which might encourage the adults involved to actually reflect upon their roles in why the student had an issue. All other things aside, if despite our teaching a student’s choices are so wrought with infractions that we need to document it on a form, how much better could it change our consciousness, and subsequently our behavior, if we used words like “responsible adult”, “incidence”, or “reteaching history”.

Bad things are going to happen. Kids will make mistakes. The language we use subconsciously informs our behaviors, so if we don’t change language even in subtle, seemingly superfluous places, like forms and hallway conversations, we risk losing touch with our mission as educators…to lift others up to their potential.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, School Reform, Students, Teachers | Leave a comment

Summer Online Academy

Posted on August 16, 2013 by sutterlearn

I’m not a real big video game fan, but I’m very interested in how to gamify a classroom, with or without technology, so that the same elements that engage learners so naturally on video games might apply to social learning. My summer started last Spring Break when I sat down with a fellow teacher and brainstormed how we could create an online learning environment to support kids practicing basic skills that might reduce summer slide. Our process was relatively simple, that we wanted to identify specific skills to practice, a platform to use, and find a way to keep kids engaged, all while measuring if we had an impact.

We looked at classroom data and standardized test evidence across a group of students who would be leaving 4th grade and entering 5th grade where my partner was teaching. Thinking this experiment might be replicable, we started a Google Doc to document our process and ended up creating teacher and parent manuals for how to implement our program, called the Summer Online Academy. Now any teacher could follow our design for any number of students s/he wanted to follow through the summer.

Researching data from students in our district, we soon learned that fluency in math and reading were huge stumbling blocks to advanced application. This was especially apparent in a population of kids across the district who were just beneath proficiency for their grade level. Schools are busy working on bringing the bottom up, ever since policy in Michigan indicated that intensively supporting “bubble kids” (those just beneath proficient) wasn’t sufficient. We chose to evaluate the effects of regular practice for any kids not at grade level, but on a voluntary basis to see if we could create an experience where kids would choose to practice basic skills, even minimally throughout the summer.

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The platform we chose was Edmodo for our Summer Online Academy (where the words teacher, assignment, and school were replaced with coach, mission or work, and academy). Edmodo functions similarly to Facebook, a draw to upper elementary kids, but provides more security, assessment functions, and built-in scoring. It also provides badges, which we learned are the incentive much like points in a game. Kids appear to perform differently when they begin at zero and work up to each next level based on what they can do and what you can teach them to do, than they do when we start them at 100% and whittle them down based on what they don’t know or what we didn’t teach them effectively enough to perform. Hmm.

From Edmodo we provided links and instructions for using RAZ Kids (reading fluency) and Xtra Math (math fluency). Each site has built in reports and performance levels, so we just created accomplishment badges based on these. The basic design was for kids to work just 30 minutes a day using both tools and we would check in weekly to review their work and deliver badges.

We launched the whole event with a pizza supper where we detailed the entire program to kids and parents, demonstrated each site, and outlined how it all would work, but most importantly WHY it was necessary. Ten families came to the supper and by the time we launched the week after school, 15 kids were registered with permission slips with 5 parents who had created accounts as well to be active in their children’s learning.

The Summer Online Academy is a week away from finishing and we are going to have some final measurement of the kids who participated along with a control group. We want to collect survey data from both control group kids and parents and Academy kids and parents to determine how much practice is typical versus how much, or little, they had to do with us and what impact it had on their Spring to Fall reading and math fluency performance. Stay tuned for results and let me know if you’d like to learn more about how to implement this with your outgoing or incoming kiddos…if every teacher identified just 3 kids who could use some summer coaching, think of the difference that investment could make for those kids’ academic performance and the relationship they would have with you!

Posted in Students, Teachers, Technology | Leave a comment