What happens when a Math, Art and Barbering Teacher find time to exchange ideas?

As this school year draws to a close, I finally have some time to sit down and do some blogging. June has been a whirlwind for me and today was the last teacher day at my school. I finished collecting the laptops for the year, signed out some for the summer, locked up my storage room, forgot my phone, unlocked my storage room to get my phone, locked it up again, hopped in my car and am now ready to start the summer.

This summer will be the first one for me where I have specific goals that I need to focus on completing before September. I always have ideas about what I want to accomplish but this year is different. For school, this summer is about planning for standards based grading, 20% time and project-based learning. For family, it's about spending inordinate amounts of time with my Little Princess and her Mommy at Sesame Place, the Philadelphia Zoo, Cape Cod, Williamsburg and any place else we feel the need to visit. For me, it's all about work on the house, CrossFit and Paleo.

Back to the question that leads of this post.

What happens when a Math, Art and Barbering Teacher find time to exchange ideas?

Only good things!!

Compliance or Learning?

What do we want from our students? 

It's obvious that we want them to learn. That we want them to WANT to learn. For themselves and not just for a grade. But we also want them to do more. We want them to be on time and be in uniform and be prepared and do homework and study and on and on and on. When does this list of demands get too long and start to take away from the most important part?

There has to be a time where we sit back and start asking the same question that the students are always asking us: Why?

And follow it up with this question: How will that affect learning?

My school's uniform policy prompted me to start thinking about this issue. The uniform is pretty simple: black pants and gray school polo shirt. Seems easy enough but there are students who don't wear it everyday. There could be a good reason for the wardrobe malfunction, but most of the time, they are choosing to be non-compliant.

Once that happens, the administrators and teachers have to make a decision about how to handle it. Call home? Suspend? Let it slide for a day? What happens the next time the student is out of uniform?

Where do I go from here?

Wow, it's almost June. It seems like it was September the other day and here I am getting ready for the last 2-3 weeks of school. I constantly try to reflect on what I do and how the year has been going but June always seems to be when I really think about it. Questions abound in my head, like:

• Why did this work?
• Why didn't that work?
• What was I thinking when I tried that?
• Will it get easier next year?
• What can I change for next year?
• Where do I go from here?

Most of these questions are for internal reflection that I can hopefully use to get better. The last two are the ones that take up most of my thoughts.

What can I change for next year?

There are many times that I find myself asking this question. At this point, the list of answers is probably endless. Obviously, there is no perfect environment or school or classroom or teacher but there are some that are close. Each year I try to fix what didn't work in the past. Some changes have worked, others notsomuch. I think my biggest problem has been to pick and choose small changes on top of some aspects that haven't been working. A few weeks ago, I wrote about what I wanted to do next year (after some more reading, standards-based grading is getting added to that list) and now I'm starting to think more and more about how to do it. Using Twitter has opened up my eyes to all of the possibilities for my classroom and has made this year the best for me in terms of my own professional development. 

Where do I go from here?

This is more figurative question than a literal one. I'm not leaving my school and I'm still going to be teaching math next year, but I'm at a fork in terms of my philosophy and practice. I believe that my school and district focus too much on the grade and not enough on the process. Too many of my students worry about what they need to do to get an A, B or C and not enough about how much further to take their understanding. Before the end of this year, I hope to have a clear idea of what I will be specifically teaching next year and a plan on what to do. I'm actually looking forward to the idea of rebranding my teaching style for next year. 

At times I feel like the picture-perfect world of students engaged and wanting to learn is unattainable. Then, I read a blog or follow a link and see examples of it happening everyday. In the end my personal goals as a teacher are to look forward to every day of the year and to be disappointed that the year is ending because I will have to wait 2 whole months to get started again. If I have to change almost everything to get there, I'm willing to take that chance.

What did I take home from EdCampPhilly?

Quick answer: A couple of stickers, a list of smart, resourceful people to follow on Twitter, and inspiration.

This past Saturday, I attended my first unconference at EdCamp Philly. It was amazing! There was so much going through my head that it has taken me until now to finally take everything in and process it. The aspect of EdCamp that stood out the most to me was seeing so many educators learners willing to take their day off to collaborate and discuss ideas and topics relating to our students and careers. That alone was inspiring and refreshing.

Once the schedule filled up, there were so many possibilities about where the day would lead. Because of other plans, I was able to catch half of the first session, half of the third and all of the fourth. My goal for the day was to get as much out of each session that I was able to catch.

What exactly is EdCamp Philly?

I can't wait for tomorrow morning. Not because it's going to be Saturday, but because I'm going to EdCamp Philly - my first "unconference." I'm excited to get a chance to meet a bunch of new people and to hear and see all sorts of ideas about 21st Century Education. Anyone that I know that has gone to an unconference always tells me it's a great experience and that I should get to one as soon as I can. Last year I missed the signup deadline, but this year - IT'S ON!

So, what exactly is EdCamp Philly? To be honest, I'm not sure. 

Here's what I do know. It's about educators and learners getting together to share ideas. It's a place to meet scores of passionate people who want the best for their students and want to help others find that same passion. It's going to be a day of new experiences, inspirations, motivation and ideas for me. 

Finally, and most importantly, I have a good feeling it's going to be fun!

What are my plans for next year?

As June gets closer and closer, I start to think about what I've done this year (and the previous four) and what I want to do next year. Every year I know there are lessons and topics that I've covered that have gone well and others I'd just as soon pretend never even happened. In five years of teaching, I know that I've definitely improved on some of my practices but I feel that parts of what I do are stuck in a rut. We live in an age where the power of technology is everywhere yet I still have not completely harnessed that power for good.

In five years, I've given lectures on topics and asked students to take notes and complete classwork and homework. I've followed the curriculum that my district has set and used that as my gauge of student progress. There have also been times where I've created projects that require the students to do some research or figure main points out on their own. At times, I've turned some classes loose with a basic concept and watched them take it to places that they didn't think they could. I've had boring classes and exciting classes, great ideas and cover-your-eyes-awful ideas. On my own time, I've spent hours reading and thinking about what I want to try in my classroom (20% time, flipped classroom, social media, project based learning, and more) and never completely convincing myself that I can do it. In short, I have been conducting my classes in a 20th Century Classroom and not the 21st Century Classroom I believe I should have. As I look through the list of qualities of 20th and 21st Century Classrooms that Dr. Z has posted, I realize that there are so many opportunities that my students and I are missing out on experiencing.

Five years as a teacher is a big deal to me. I've had multiple careers (not just jobs) and the longest amount of time I have spent in any one of them is about four years. Teaching is what I plan to do for the rest of my working life. I know that I want to be in this field for the next 30 years, but I also know that I need to make it more enjoyable and effective for me and my students.

So, in no particular order, I give you my list of Things to Do Next Year...