Devaluing Diversity?

Once again, Sir Ken Robinson has helped me to see the light. Not only have I watched his MANY motivating and thought-provoking TED talks (Are Schools Killing Creativity? and Bring on the Learning Revolution to name a couple), but I've spent the last month reading The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything with a few colleagues where we've used Twitter (#SLelement) to share thoughts along the way as well as some face-to-face conversations.  It's been a thrilling ride to see Sir Ken's words through the eyes of my colleagues. Mostly, we think he sheds light on some pretty vital issues in our schools.

Personally, I've highlighted over 100 lines in the book.  But, NONE as important as the one I read last night. My jaw dropped and my eyes got wide when I read this sentence from Chapter 11: "...two things that most people eventually discover in their education. One is the hierarchy of disciplines in schools that we discussed in the first chapter. The other is that conformity has a higher value than diversity."

Is this true?

In under a minute, I came to the conclusion that, yes, it was. Until this year, when a student had an extreme view on an assignment, it would often get docked in the rubric and the idea would not praised in the classroom. In fact, I find it rare that a student even ponders a unique thought about an assignment because that's been beaten out of him/her since he/she started school.

This is a major problem. This CANNOT go on.

Let me clear about how I understand Sir Robinson's statement: he's not talking racial diversity or even fashion diversity. He's talking about a diversity in thought, a diversity in creativity.

So, let's get straight to the fix. We need to get straight to the fix. We cannot simply point out the problem and walk away. So, here it is:

WE CANNOT EXPECT THE SAME OUTCOMES FROM EVERY STUDENT. (I know, educators. It's hard to do when those are the legislations from on high--the same standards for every student.) So, let's pay attention to the standards and make them the MINIMUM, not the end all-be all. We must PRAISE students who see assignments differently and investigate pieces of a problem that even the teacher might not have considered.

Too often, as educators, we talk about the problem students coming up (and, yes, the students do have to own some of their behavior), but we MUST ask if we are doing everything we can to have the student succeed.

• Are we accepting and praising different learning styles?
• Are our assignments prepared so that every student can succeed within it?
• Are we prepared for the diversity that is OBVIOUSLY in our classroom?

If the answer to any of the above questions is 'NO', then we must look at our teaching practices. 

• We must get rid of that single rubric which does NOT fit every student.  
• We must allow choice within the assignment, so the student can have invested interest in discovering his answers. 
• And we MUST celebrate each child when he/she has success which is not solely defined by the state, administration, or individual teacher.

We must celebrate diversity of thought in our students.

When Schools & Communities Connect, EVERYONE WINS

This week, two of my students were published.

Two or three months ago, a friend, Dr. Brian Stork (connect with him at www.drbrianstork.com OR on Twitter: @StorkBrian) and I connected over breakfast when, individually, we were dreaming up the idea of trying to connect the community to the schools. As it turns out, we didn't see what was right in front of us: a connection between OUR fields and OUR communities & schools.

Dr. Stork is a urologist in Muskegon, Michigan and I am a public school teacher in Spring Lake, Michigan--only twenty miles away. Our connection started over Twitter by sharing each other's successes and sharing links to articles we thought the other would enjoy.

Then, the collaboration stepped up to physical presence and support.

Just ten days ago, my class hosted a 19th Century Literary Museum--and Dr. Stork showed up and gave comments on the student work.  (See the recording of our live stream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/19th-century-literary-museum)

Then, just last week, Dr. Stork wondered if I had any students who would want to compose a poem for Nurses' Week. (He wasn't too confident in his own poetic skills, but he wanted to honor his colleagues in this unique way and he knew where to look.)

And that is how my students were published to a much larger audience than I could provide.

This kind of collaboration is essential to the future of education. In this kind of connection, everyone wins:

• Students Win--by being published, these two poems have the potential to be seen by anyone in the world. Once Dr. Stork published the two poems, I received an email from a local hospital asking if they could post the poems to their Facebook page. Now, the students' work has been read by over 200 people--that we know of. This entire experience never would have happened without the connection to Dr. Brian Stork. The students win.
• Communities Win--Through these connections, students can learn so much more about their community that they might not have known otherwise. In this particular case, it was nice for my students to recognize nurses through their writing and it was good to take a look at Dr. Stork's blogs, to see that professionals who are non-writers still write.  It was real-life writing before them. This could, should, and hopefully will happen on a much bigger scale in the years to come. The community wins.
• Educators Win--There has been a lot of grief given to teachers lately through the lambasting of unions and the shame of our national test scores. Of course, we know the good work we're doing, but much of the press is negative and assumes that our work is dry or meaningless. The community will only know of our great work by giving it to them, by asking them to be involved with our students. When that happens, the tone will change. The educators win.

So, finally, please check out my students' work at one of these two spots. I'm proud of them for their great connection with the community.

Dr. Brian Stork's Blog: http://www.drbrianstork.com/blog/student-poems-national-nurses-week/

Mercy Health Partners: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mercy-Health-Partners/210798948955506?hc_location=timeline

Let's press this issue, everyone. Let's connect public schools with the community because, when that happens, EVERYONE WINS!

Fun is the Byproduct of Rigorous, Meaningful Learning

Who said learning couldn't be fun?  Who said learning shouldn't be fun?  In my year of transformation, especially towards the end of it, my classroom has been called fun--AS A DEROGATORY WORD.

To that, I'm offended.

The truth: I NEVER think of fun when planning an educational unit; it's simply a byproduct of genuine, meaningful work.

And the fact that something "fun" is not learning is just wrong. Anyone with that view should get out of education. Do people NOT have fun when coming up with a new invention? A new idea? Practicing for a sport, a musical instrument? Why, then, shouldn't a classroom be that same kind of fun? Sure, it can be frustrating; learning often is. Sure, it can be time-consuming; learning often is. Sure, it can be rewarding; learning often is.

If it can be all of those things, why can't it be fun?

This week, both of my English classes wrapped up with projects: Advanced Composition created digital personal narrative essays and Survey of American Literature invented a 19th Century Literary Museum.

My students, on their journey to meaningful work had to slug through some pretty deep thinking, deep reading, and deep criticism.

Advanced Composition students deleted multiple beginnings before finding the right choice of topic. Then, they had to voice record themselves multiple times because the readings weren't quite right or they continuously stumbled on a word. After that, they had to work through some major video editing issues including how to add music to the piece without it being distracting. This is not fun. This is rigor. This is challenge. This is creation. The fun comes in the creation when, at the end of the process, students realize that their voices have power as many of the videos now have close to 100 views on YouTube.

Fun is a product of purposeful work.

The link to our playlist: Advanced Composition Digital Personal Narrative Playlist

Survey of American Literature students had to read challenging literature including Poe, Dickinson, and Hawthorne. Then, they had to contextualize it, figure out why it was important to the time and why it's lasted all these years. Then, the students had to figure out the best way to show their learning to an audience that would be in the room gawking at their creations. This stressed a lot of students out. Students were asking challenging questions: how do I connect literature to life? how do I make this meaningful for people who come in to spend fifteen minutes of their life looking at my work? This is not fun. This is rigor. This is thought. This is creation. The fun comes, again, in the creation when, at the end of the process, students realize that their creation made our superintendent think and made a woman in Cleveland comment on our live stream.

Fun, again, is a product of purposeful work.

The link to our recorded live stream: 19th Century Literary Museum

Don't just take my word for it.  Here are some comments from the students.

"I think I did pretty well on making a connection with people because I had at least 4 people come up to me later and ask me questions and that's never happened to me."

"Let me begin- with my love for video editing and writing. I'm constantly dreaming up new ideas on imovie and writing down all my thoughts on anything and everything I come across. I consider myself a writer and an amateur movie maker. To say the least- one of my favorite projects I've ever had in school. (It didn't even feel like homework!) During this assignment my writing evolved from little picture to big picture. I learned to say everything I wanted to say from 100 words to 10. I believe this was so effective with the help of the music and pictures. The whole time I was clearly thinking my audience was my family or anyone who knows my sisters and I. BUT- I just happen to have a very supportive Advanced Comp. teacher who shared my work with the whole district. Then my mother and aunt emailed the link to all of my family members. And the results... have been very rewarding! I've gotten so much excellent feedback. All great writing will lead to more great writing. So, moving forward I want to improve myself as a writer my pushing myself outside of my comfort zone."



What can I say? The students see the rigor. They feel the challenge.

And they have FUN while doing it.

The Final Bow

Last night, after our final performance of our all-school musical production of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, I took my final bow.

I've directed at Spring Lake High School for ten years now and it's time for me to be done.

I thought I'd take this time to just remember some of the great moments.  There were hundreds, maybe thousands of great moments over the years, but these stand out.

Here's the breakdown of the emotions:

• I've laughed like never before.  During Beauty and the Beast (show #3), our Lumiere played marvelously by Brett Newsted, was going through his normal routine.  The hit song, "Be Our Guest" took about a whole week to choreograph, but it was good.  Really good.  At the end of the song, Lumiere does a running slide downstage, arms out, and stops on the final note.  The perfect end to a perfect number. Rehearsal after rehearsal, Brett had been doing the number in his denim jeans. Then, it was our first night in costumes and his pants were not denim. Oh no! His pants were smooth silk. So, we run the show and Brett hits everything perfectly, but those new pants let him keep right on sliding until he was on top of our pit pianist. After the initial dread and once I knew he'd be okay, I laughed like I had never laughed before.
• I've cried like never before.  When Emily Roberge and Jack Newsted sang "A Little Fall of Rain" on the final performance of Les Miserables, I flooded. That is the song that brings out so much emotion for me. In that song is love, respect, compassion--and those two actors hit it perfectly. Their beautiful voices and performances made me cry like never before.
• I've been angry like never before.  We perform the third weekend after spring break and that's the same time we'd add running crew, orchestra, lights, sound, and more.  The actors, who up to this point have had five weeks of rehearsal, always needed to have lines memorized that Monday after break.  I was forgiving--for one day.  I won't name names, but there were students still calling for lines on the Thursday after break.  I remember whipping my notebook against the back of the chair--a really good smack--only for one of the young children we used in the production to be sitting close by.  She looked at me startled.  I demanded greatness and got frustrated and angry like never before.
• I've been afraid like never before.  Annie. Anyone involved in this production knows with just one word why I was so scared here.  It was the night before opening (maybe two nights before) and we were in Warbucks' foyer with all of the staff welcoming the tough red head into the home when a loud pop, then two and three.  Before you know it, the bridge we hung on the bars above to set the scene for the Hoovervilles came crashing down.  The bridge (I don't know how many pounds, but many) came within two feet of a singing Warbucks' servant.  A close call which made me afraid like never before.
• I've dared like never before.  In my ownership of the department, I decided to push myself in what I thought could be possible. I brought Shakespeare to our high school stage proving that The Bard belongs in the lives of teens. I made it rain, I used a rotating stage, I used projections to set mood, we performed in Theatre in the Round, I brought in a Holocaust Survivor, a judge, and a special education student who told us what it was like to be different.  I used theatre to push myself and the students involved. It allowed me to dare like never before.

Though I use a lot of first person in this blog, it takes a village: great parent volunteers and an amazing team of directors--some of whom came and went (Jenn, Tom, Mary, Jaime, Lydia, Mike, Addison, Nick and more) and others who were with me the whole time (Robin, Shay, Mark, and Aaron)--thank you!

Finally, I leave with this.

If I have enriched the lives of these hundreds of students half as much as they have enriched me, I've done a pretty good job.

Collaboration is Real, Not Just an Idea

Committing to blogging every week has proven a challenge when in the throes of drying out a basement and trying to put up a sweet musical next weekend, but a promise to the self is a promise to the self.

The revelation this week is that collaboration is real and, with the right partner, it is fun and energizing and engaging and challenging and--

Over spring break, just two weeks ago, I made a Twitter connection with a Drama teacher from Illinois, Ms. Sukow (@Steph_SMac). It started like I imagine most Twitter connections do: one of us said something interesting, the other made a reply, and it ended with a statement suggesting we make a classroom connection. Though not through Twitter, this has happened before.  At conferences or at meetings, "let's connect" has been thrown around plenty without any intention of coming to fruition.

But, the two of us didn't stop there.  The connection continued with Twitter Direct Messages, emails, and Skype conversations.  Over the course of our discussions, we learned that we'd be teaching "the monologue" at roughly the same time.  So, we lined them up.

First, we'd have the students create websites that shared some basic information about themselves and allowed them to get to know each other (the whole time developing very important 21st Century literacy skills, but don't mention that to the students).  Then, we'd draft, share, revise.  After that, memorize and film. Post to YouTube. Link to the websites. Finally, leave comments on the results of the monologues.

(Check out our pages here: Mr. Theune's Drama Class Website)

Since Ms. Sukow and I have been working on this, our classes have Skyped two times and it's been great fun watching the students (at least on my end) light up.  Just minutes before the connection goes through: How are we going to present ourselves?  You talk, Jonah, because you'll represent us well.  Let's make sure we show them we're not creeps.  Be cool everyone, be cool.

And, BAM!  It IS cool!  It's fun.  And I think I speak for my students when I say this (I KNOW I speak for myself), this connection is making me be better.  I'm modeling the monologue for audience and purpose.

So, thank you, Ms. Sukow and class.

Because of you, I'm teaching with more clarity.

Passion In Extracurricular Activities, But Not Our Classroom?

Sunday morning. 9AM. And twelve students show up to film part of a scene for our upcoming production of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka. Why? The easy answer (and maybe all that has to be said, though I won't stop here) is because they're passionate. These students (and all 95 students involved in the musical) are passionate about creating something for an audience.

They understand the value of working hard, putting in volunteer hours, all for the rush of a performance and to feel the sense of accomplishment and creation.

Theatre students are not the only ones who put in the time, though. Basketball players put in ten hours of practice every week (plus whatever time they give on their own) for the thrill of the competition and the attention of Friday night.  Cross country runners push their physical limits because they're passionate about beating their personal records. And on and on and on, in all of these various extracurricular activities, students volunteer their time to follow their passions.

Now, the million dollar question: why can't we find that in the classroom?

Why do our students NOT give the same passionate efforts?

I know that extracurricular activities are made by choice and I know that does account for some of this reason, but I have to believe that we can make some changes to our classroom that allows for more passion from our students.

If we look at the common threads of extracurricular sports or art, the major similarities are obvious: students are active, they are creating something, and they end up performing for a real audience.

As it turns out, these have been the biggest transformations in my classroom. We are no longer students; we are CREATORS.  And we share to real audiences: parents, the world via web, corporations, politicians, local publications and more.

As educators, we MUST utilize the passion that lies in our students.  It's obviously there. They show it to us in these extracurricular activities. Now, we need to foster that student passion in our classrooms.

Spring Break Learning

So, I learned a few things over spring break:

• Ken Robinson asked me, in his book, to look at the question differently. NOT "How intelligent are you?" but "How are you intelligent?" Just by switching a few words around, we give every person value.  There is no standardized scale on intelligence. The first question is the wrong one to be asking.
• I need my friends.  I was able to get away with some good friends and talk through some important things in my life. And they just listened.  We had plenty of fun, too.  Lots of laughs.  Laughter is strong medicine.
• ...But I need my wife and children more.  Simply put, I'm most myself when I'm with them.  I'm barrier free.  I thank them for that.
• Twitter is a powerful educational resource. I got in on some great educational chats and connected with some strong folks.  It has changed my classroom and will continue to do so.  I also learned that I MUCH prefer fellow Tweeters who share about their classrooms and experiences than people who simply post links to other articles and blogs and all that. (I know that I post links to this blog--please don't judge too harshly.)
• My colleagues inspire me. Over the break, I connected with three colleagues (one elementary school teacher, one middle school teacher, one high school teacher) and we decided to set up a district book club.  The book club is up to fifteen already--and that was during spring break. Spring Lake Public Schools is loaded with dedicated staff.  If anyone reads this and wants to jump in, join #SLelement on Twitter.
• Finally, this...
• I need to continue to follow my passions. Henry David Thoreau once said, "...that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
• I've lived by this in the past. I've road-tripped across the country at age eighteen when others said it was silly, I've quit grad school to follow my passion of teaching when others said it wasn't smart, I've adopted an Ethiopian child when people wondered if it was the right time. Every single one of these decisions has made my life better. It might be time to make another unexpected decision to follow the path of my dreams.

In all, I've learned a lot this spring break and the future is bright--very bright!