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July 8, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

School Librarians and Teachers Must Work Together To Make School Fun

This past school year was the hardest most educators have faced in their careers. The word “pivot” is honestly a word I would be okay never hearing again, is anyone with me there? This year, my main goal is to make this year as easy as possible for my teachers on my campus as their librarians. It surprises me year after year that teachers do not realize how their school librarian can support them with instruction and make their life easier with less stress. Together librarians and teachers, through collaboration, can not only help create an environment where the school is even more fun for our students but also librarians can help relieve some of the stress of lesson planning for the teachers.

So how can librarians help teachers, and how together can they make school fun? Through collaboration! The library is the heart of every school, and anytime instruction can move from the classroom to the library is exciting for students regardless of age. Often librarians have a bit more freedom than teachers when it comes to creating lessons out of the box because of the available resources in the library. Most libraries have more access to technology, maker space, print, and digital resources than the classroom, making it easier for lessons with the technology or project-based. Between fun lessons collaborated with teachers and librarians and a change of environment from the classroom to the library, you are on your way to making school, learning, and class fun.

How librarians can support teachers:

Curatining classroom libraries based on units of instruction
Co-teaching
Lesson planning
Lesson support
Curating resources for instruction
Collaboration

With lesson planning, lesson support, and collaboration, librarians can support teachers by creating video tutorials, book tastings, book talks, small group activities, maker space activities, research skills, and lessons on your district-provided digital learning system curriculum content lessons, breakout edu lessons, etc. Recently, with help from another high school librarian in my district, I have started incorporating Google Websites to help create lessons for teachers and students that can be reused and modified year after year for all teachers of that subject. A majority of librarians are very knowledgeable about incorporating technology into instruction and can teach teachers and students how to use these skills.

Librarians and teachers can collaborate to create lessons that empower students to be ethical creators of their content and projects. Personally, project-based lessons and assignments are some of my favorite lessons to plan and implement. Students are given the freedom to choose and create their content based on instruction, and the library has resources to help and technical skills to help create. Lessons and units are more engaging and fun through collaboration, and with two different educators with different background experiences, you can have a variety of ideas to create with. So many of my amazing teachers and instructional leaders are moving towards projects that students have the freedom to create whatever product they want or have the freedom to do a project over something they are passionate about. With projects like these, I get so incredibly excited! Teachers and librarians can create a rubric, and together, the librarians and teachers can help students have as many resources and points of view as possible.

With librarian collaboration, librarians and teachers can create lessons based on the instruction that shows students to be connected to their community, state, country, and the world safely. As a result, students will be able to identify reliable resources, learn various ways to spot fake news through research and create skills that will last a lifetime. With how the internet has become such an important part of our lives, it is a vital skill for students to have the skills to identify fake news, and together librarians and teachers can work to have lessons that teach these skills.

The library is a collaborative space for other teachers and students to use. Using maker space projects in instruction, students can express their creativity and make connections to instruction. Makerspace stations are great for all subject areas to use to add an extra flair to their lessons. In the past, I have had teachers use the legos in the maker space to have students create various things based on their instruction, and I have had teachers use the button maker to create buttons based on a character they most related to. Check out the maker space area that your librarian has and work with the librarian to see what different ways you can use the maker space in your instruction.

Beyond just providing co-teaching and collaboration with teaching, librarians can also help teachers by providing various resources for teachers to use. Various digital resources can provide for teachers and students like ebooks, audiobooks, databases, research articles, various media resources based on units, and digital magazines. Teachers can discuss with their librarian what their unit of instruction is over and what ideas of resources they would like to use and the librarian can provide! The library has so many different resources available and can find something based on your lessons, and if for some reason they do not have the resources, your librarian can and will find them.

Overall when working together, teachers and librarians can improve student outcomes. Almost every librarian I know loves to have students and teachers in the library, and they love to collaborate. Be sure to reach out to your school librarian today! If your campus does not have a school librarian, reach out to your district administration and let them know how vital a school librarian can be at your campus and district. School librarians are so important to every campus. I hope that by using your school librarian this school year, you can have a successful year and much less stress than this previous school year.

November 18, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

When Teachers Become Lifelong Learners, They Recognize Untapped Potential

The easiest student to teach is one that is eager to learn. An enthusiasm for school eases the difficult task teachers face of convincing students their education is worthwhile. While some students develop this naturally, the best way to foster intrinsic motivation in all students is done by demonstrating it yourself.

Educators, by nature, have an obligation to be lifelong students. A teacher’s abilities, like with any other profession, can be measured by their willingness to grow. Even young teachers who lack experience can thrive off determination. Without the desire to learn, the potential to teach declines.

For students, we categorize success mostly by comprehension. For teachers, mastery of a subject is not enough. To be an expert, teachers must be able to communicate that information in a number of ways.

Intellectual growth comes in all forms. For some, reading a book is their quickest path to understanding. For others, they require hands-on experiences. Every student yields a new style, including an infinite range of blended styles.

While every learning model has worth, few educational tools hold the same value as innovation. Teachers inspired to improve every year inevitably succeed.

The Pedagogy Buffet

With more than enough teaching models and classroom styles, it isn’t hard to feel overwhelmed when choosing which is best for you. Our gut tells us to use the methods taught to us, because, hey, it worked for us. But learners, in terms of needs, are like snowflakes: no two match perfectly.

You could continue standing up in front of the classroom to lecture, using old worksheets, droning through online assignments, or flipping through boring slideshows. You could...

But then there are student-led classrooms, model UNs, Socratic discussions, mock trials, business plans, short film production, and website creation, to name a few. It doesn’t matter what you use; strive to keep it fresh.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

-Anonymous

With this goal in mind, we make room for exponential growth--growth that can encompass students of every type. That’s the goal after all.

The more methods you try, the more that they will all begin to work, regardless of which you choose. Don’t let the opportunities remain a hanging possibility. Make them your constant reality. Try new methods. Cycle through them. See what works. The resources are out there.

Connecting with the Classroom

There is a broad spectrum of success and failure in education. As a teacher, It is what you do to move toward success that matters.

We can introduce the fanciest technologies into the classroom, buy the nicest textbooks, and even add classes like Video Game Design or Anime Appreciation, but if that eagerness to learn doesn’t exist, it’s hard to expect a robust learning environment to take place.

Sajan George, the Founder of Matchbox Learning, is someone who is often looking toward the future of education. He recognizes the importance of more advanced technology but reminds us of the incomparable strength of a good teacher. “Maybe we need both,” he says.

Regardless of the technology-to-instruction ratio in a classroom, George believes the key is using both to accomplish the most effective of all learning forms: individualization.

The ongoing process of meeting each student’s needs becomes increasingly possible when a savvy teacher is paired with a well-equipped classroom. Suddenly, when students feel their interests and needs are being considered, connections can be made like never before.

“If we don’t design a system that meets the needs of those children, we’ll never have a future education system that meets the needs of all children.”

-Sajan George

Leading by Example

Education, like technology, evolves over time. Teachers that are resistant to adapting are likely prolonging many difficulties for themselves. This is one of the biggest challenges we face as educators.

I’ve seen new teachers rely on old methods. I’ve seen veteran teachers try new methods I wouldn’t have dared attempt; yet, these valiant efforts managed to act as inspiration for me. I soon began to make similar efforts myself and continued searching for the perfect blend of instruction, paying close attention to what worked for each student.

Researchers at Eastern Washington University recognize the importance of teachers who take risks for the sake of education. Not only are they modeling positive behaviors for students through their innovation, they are demonstrating what it takes to conquer challenges.

These good examples, EWU says, are often picked up by students in the form of beneficial learning habits. Knowing how to answer your own questions through research or how to share your findings properly can add everlasting momentum to any student's academic career.

To create these good examples, we must harness our own eagerness to learn. Ambition--when ignited in students and teachers alike--creates possibilities where there once seemed to be nothing.

“Teaching is not a static profession,” explains Dr. Van Wig. “Educators need to constantly challenge themselves to read and try new methods.”

Becoming a Lifelong Learner

Becoming a lifelong learner is as easy as knowing what your interests are, what you like to do, and being determined to succeed when things get tough. Don’t stop there though. Go beyond your comfort zone. Make new interests. Find new hobbies. Expand your horizons.

The ability to relate, says Betsy Ng, is a powerful thing. Students become engaged with little effort when the material becomes relatable. A little pop culture in your curriculum never hurt anything. This trait, Ng continues, along with teachers who offer challenges and teachers who demonstrate general competency, all make up the profile of a lifelong learner.

The only way to create lifelong learners as students is to be one yourself.

When students watch you evolve over the length of a semester, not only do they feel as if their education has value in the eyes of their teacher, they begin to transform into willing learners.

Accessing Untapped Potential

What we get from all these efforts of innovating, individualizing, and striving to achieve a growth mindset is a road to every student’s full potential. Discover the path yourself and it becomes that much easier to show your students the way.

Fail to make the attempt and students see nothing more than another run-of-the-mill classroom.

As Carol Dweck, intellectual creator of the mindset approach, reminds us: we fail to grow if we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to fail in the first place. If we figure out how to make failures a learning experience and not a defeating one, challenges become conquerable.

From students who take control of their education to students who persevere through difficulty, lifelong learning changes our perception of how we track progress. Effort becomes nothing but a display when there are no results, but the eagerness to learn alone improves the student-teacher dynamic.

As students' learning trajectories begin to change, eventually, they will be able to fill gaps themselves as they are enabled to become autonomous learners--a useful skill when finally entering the world.

We don’t have students forever, but we can be students forever. The best thing we can do is teach our students to want the same thing by aiming high, to acknowledge the benefits of trial and error, and to value hard work as the key to their aspirations.

The aptitude for progress can be a contagious mentality when it is an honest intent, so learn what you love and teach with that same enthusiasm.

November 17, 2021 Adult Learning

Instead of Being the Phone Police, This Teacher Tried A Restorative Approach to Cell Phones

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said “Masks up” and “phones away,” this year, I actually would be in teaching for the money.

After so much time away from in-person school, phones are out more than ever. It's clear students don’t see anything wrong with checking Snapchat while I’m giving directions or playing Madden in between answering questions about “The Raven.”

Like most schools, we have a cell phone policy, but it is not followed consistently. A teacher who sends a phone to the office will be met with groans of “ugh, I can have my phone out in so and so’s class.”

It’s not that the so and sos don’t care. It’s that they’re tired. We all are.

Teachers are already the mask police, trying to avoid class quarantines and jeopardizing our own safety, so we have neither the desire nor the energy to fight phones too.

We’re in survival mode, and we’re choosing our battles. Or, if you’re like me, you don’t want a battle of any kind, at all.

The World at Their Fingertips

I get it. As a millennial, I am no stranger to phone addiction. I, too, scroll mindlessly through Instagram without really realizing I’m doing it. I definitely pretend to answer texts to get out of the uncomfortable small talk. Googling anything that comes up around the dinner table in 3.2 seconds is a favorite pastime.

I also know that students are not doing their best (or any) learning when their phones are right next to them. Part of my role as their teacher is to provide a structured and supportive environment to help them make smart decisions.

Ideally, my lessons would be so engaging and personally relevant to every single student every single day that they wouldn’t even want to be on their phones. But, the reality is, I teach English and we have to read and write, which isn’t always going to be the most exciting thing for my students. I will do them a disservice if I don’t help them become literate thinkers, clear writers, and coherent communicators.

So, besides expecting all teachers to be unicorns, magically able to captivate 100 teenagers despite the entire internet, what do we do?

Student Voice

I start every class with a circle. We check in on life, make connections to our class content, and usually share a laugh. Because they have helped us build our classroom community, I decided to use one to get honest with them about phones.

I explained my concern that phones were getting in the way of their learning. I also shared how tired I am of asking about masks and phones, and I hate feeling antagonistic.

My solution was to have a phone break in the middle of class. But, instead of implementing it immediately, I asked for their feedback. This showed them that I was indeed not here just to do something to them. I want a solution for us.

As we went around, they could comment on my idea or share what would help them stay off their phones in class.

There were lots of answers to the effect of “I know I need to, it’s just hard.” Several shared, painfully honestly, “If I don’t like what we’re doing or I’m bored, I just go on my phone.” But a few confirmed what I believed to be true, “I use my phone to cope with stress, with everything.”

Students are at their breaking points.

Being back with their peers five days a week has skyrocketed their social anxiety. Teachers are jumping back into their “normal” curriculum and they’re crumbling under the stress. Students have lost loved ones. They’re working and caring for younger siblings.

So, they have a, mostly misplaced, belief that there’s a lifeline within reach at all times. Who can blame them for using it?

A Restorative Solution

After we circled, I thanked them all for sharing their feedback. I promised to incorporate more group work and screen breaks. (Things I've been hesitant about with so many students who are quarantined and need to access our work online). I assured them that I would be clear about when phones are okay. (When they’re finished or if they want music during independent reading).

And, most importantly, we’ve tried phone breaks for a few weeks now. I put up a two-minute timer and I don’t talk about anything English-related unless they ask. As the time winds down, I remind them to “snap their last chats” and we dig back into our learning.

Is it a perfect solution? No, a few phones still sneak out, but not nearly as many as before. Do I wish their phones were locked away? Sometimes, but online learning taught us that technology can be an asset in the classroom. It’s much more productive to work with it rather than fight it.

They don’t need me to take their phone if they don’t understand the “why.” If they’re not part of the solution, taking a phone will be a power play, not a learning opportunity. Honestly, I’m just not willing to be their adversary, even unintentionally. I’m not willing to sacrifice our relationship for a mandate.

November 16, 2021 Confessions of a Teacher

How This Teacher Healed from Racial Trauma

Kim Lee is a physics teacher at Pinole Valley High School in West Contra Costa Unified School District. She has been teaching for the last four years. She is the teacher sponsor of the Anti-Racism Club and helps run the Peer Tutoring Program. She is committed to promoting diversity and equity through STEM education, as well as creating an inclusive school climate and classroom.

I had played trumpet for the school band since the fifth grade, but I started my freshman year of high school enrolled in Art as my elective. I tried to stick it out, but by the third week of school, I made the decision to go to my counselor and plead for him to change my schedule. I told him that playing trumpet was my one true passion; I really missed playing it and wanted to be switched into band class. He granted my wish, and soon I was back in the brass section playing the third trumpet with a bunch of baseball players in the Concert Band, where I would stay for the rest of high school.

This may seem like a small scheduling success story on the surface, but in reality, there is a lot more to it. The truth is that I had initially signed up for Art. I never felt confident in playing music and was eager to leave my days as a middle school trumpet player behind. The first day went well - I liked the teacher and was excited to have so many art supplies at my disposal. On the second day, I worked on the assignment when a paper airplane landed next to me. I picked it up to see the words “China Express” written on it. I turned around to a group of boys laughing at me - I recognized the loudest of them, Michael, a boy in my older brother’s grade who was about twice my size. I stuffed the airplane in my backpack and cried myself to sleep that night.

Death By A Million Cuts: How This Teacher Healed from Racial Trauma Click To Tweet

The incidents kept coming - there was the note they left on my desk that said “Go back to China” and then the time they hid my backpack in a cabinet. Finally, one day Michael whispered “Chink” at me as he and his friends walked past me into the room. I still remember what their chuckles sounded like. I knew I had to get out of the class, so that afternoon, I walked into my counselor’s office and told him about my wholly made-up musical aspirations. Walking into the Band room the next day felt like walking into a safe haven.

Fast forward twelve years, and I am back in high school--but this time as a teacher. With the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, the Atlanta spa shootings in March, and the resulting media gaslighting (the words “not a hate crime” still hitting a painful spot for me now 8 months later), several Asian students (including some I never had) have come to me to share their fears and experiences. However, it is disheartening to hear that they still hear the same jokes and remarks as I did when I was a student over a decade later.

Thinking back, what strikes me the most about my own experience is the decisions I made as a 13-year-old to get out of my situation. My Art teacher and my counselor were friendly, well-meaning people. But even though my Art teacher had given me no reason to not trust her, I never once told her what was happening or asked her for help. And even though my counselor never gave me any cause to believe he wouldn’t listen to me, I lied to him with no hesitation.

Instinctively, I made those decisions to avoid any risk of being kept in a class with Michael. To avoid any risk that others would find out and I would be judged. To avoid the risk that, even as they helped me, I would have to hear my teacher or counselor minimize or equate the situation to childish behavior when I knew it to be something much darker - this, in particular, is a risk I have only learned how to put into words in recent years.

The reality is that in my first few weeks of high school, I cried myself to sleep most nights because I did not feel safe in my learning environment. We, as teachers and humans, know that safety is one of the most basic needs for a child.

Twelve Years Forward

This experience makes me wonder - what kinds of things am I missing in my own classroom with my own students who don’t look like me? For example, last year, three in four African American students at my school reported having experienced explicit racism on campus. Still, only one in four Black or African American students said they would report an incident to any adult in the room. Likewise, three in four students of any race reported having witnessed xenophobic comments or behavior on campus. Still, the number of complaints (or lack of complaints) that other colleagues and I have heard doesn’t match that.

To fight hate of any form on K-12 campuses, we first need to realize that the problem-- racial bullying and the use of racist “jokes”-- is one of safety and thus should be a top priority. We also must realize that the scope of the problem is more extensive and more profound, and often more harmful than we see or hear. So what can we do about it?

We can all be more vocal against any and all forms of hate in the classroom. This means more than just inclusive signs on the wall or generic statements. In addition to encouraging inclusiveness and respect for all regardless of background, race/ethnicity, and culture in our rooms, we need to vocally acknowledge the reality that the opposite does exist. It also means acknowledging and giving space for the current events in the country and world that may be troubling for some of us to hear about but are deeply personal and painful for parts of our student body.

I think of my own experience, as that is all that I can speak to - maybe I would have asked my teacher for help if I knew (because she let it be known) that she would do everything in her power to listen and protect students from the hate we see in the world.

I think of how three in four African American students at the school I teach at said that they would be more likely to report a racist incident to a teacher of any race if that teacher was periodically vocal against discrimination in the classroom.

There is more than one way to be vocal. Districts must provide teachers with the tools to create more culturally affirming learning environments to be vocally antiracist in what they teach and how they teach. The devices have changed as the world has changed, and teachers K through 12 should be trained on actual trauma-informed practices. Teachers should be provided time, resources, education, and continued support in creating or adopting a curriculum that promotes healthy conversation about race and identity from a young age. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging this is new to many of us while also acknowledging it’s time, and it’s been the time for many years, that we get to work on this.

At the same time, while being more vocal allies to our diverse students is something we can all begin doing, we should also recognize that it is no replacement for actual representation. I, as an Asian woman, could never be all the unspoken roles a Black male teacher could be in a Black male student’s eyes, no matter how vocal I am against the anti-Blackness I witness in our school. I could never replace the power of having a teacher role model who went through their own immigration journey and experience navigating a new country in the eyes of an immigrant student. So that all of our students can be afforded the basic need of safety and a sense of security and thus belonging in the classroom. We must all advocate for policies that encourage a more diverse teacher workforce. This means more than just hiring teachers of color for the sake of diversity - this means intentionally recruiting and streamlining pathways into the profession while also planning programs for retention that directly address the needs expressed by teachers themselves.

From both my experiences as a student and teacher, I know that a more inclusive classroom and school culture benefits everybody. We can do some of these things mentioned above while consciously maintaining an antiracist lens and purpose, and sinking into the discomfort that sometimes comes with that, we can help address the urgent need of making our schools safer spaces for students of all races.

November 15, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

Do You Still Want to Become a Teacher? – A Student’s Perspective

I remember being in a grocery store line when someone noticed my basket full of snacks and asked if I had a daycare. I smiled and replied, “No, I am a teacher.” The stranger’s smile turned from a friendly smile to a semi-frown, full of what seemed to be concern and pity. She proceeded to touch my arm (which transparently has always made me uncomfortable with strangers) and said sadly, “Oh, wow, a teacher? Thank you for your service.” Service? I felt like I was in the military! But then, I began to think about how people often viewed teachers. Now mind you, this was pre-pandemic, but the perception of teachers pre, during, and post-pandemic has always been a fluctuating relationship of love/hate, praise/punishment, admiration/pity. After all, we have been through in the last two years; I question why anyone in their right mind would want to become a teacher!

“God ordains strength out of the mouth of babes…” – Psalms 8:2 (King James Version).

I had always had students who told me they wanted to be teachers when they grew up, but this has become rarer and rarer as of late. Be that as it may, I still have a few who want to enter this tumultuous and unpredictable world of education bravely. I want to highlight a conversation with my senior, Justin T.*, who wants to be a high school music teacher. He is a member of our school band, choir, multiple clubs, holds two jobs, and is a Student Trustee on our District School Board. This young man is goal-driven and multifaceted, thus my desire to dive into the life of someone who has seen and experienced so much in his young life and still wants to become a teacher.

Can you give me a little about your background? Family, ethnicity, culture, languages, siblings, etc.?

I was born in the [the Bay Area, California] and live with both my parents and my younger sister. My dad was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, while my mom was born in [the Bay Area, California]. I moved around quite a bit. Moving many times made me appreciate the importance of stability and downtime.

Did you always want to be a teacher growing up? If not, what did you want to be? If yes, when was your earliest memory of this desire to enter education?

Growing up, I never knew what I wanted to be. When I was younger, I didn’t have many friends. This led me to talk to adults more. Adults just seemed more interesting because they would actually listen to me. I found teachers specifically to be really interesting. They had a certain sense of humor that I understand to this day.

Has your family encouraged your desire to become a teacher?

My parents always told me, “I don’t care what you do, as long as you go to college.” When I told them I wanted to teach, they supported it since to teach; you most definitely need to attend college. The only issue they had at first was the pay. Teachers don’t get paid very well starting out, and living in the Bay Area as a teacher would be difficult. An aunt of mine is a teacher herself, and she was one of my biggest supporters when I told her what I wanted to do. She taught secondary Special [Education] and gave me advice on options for college to become a teacher.

Who was your favorite teacher in elementary or middle school, what made them a great teacher in your mind, and how did this influence you wanting to become a teacher?

My favorite teacher in middle school was probably my music teacher-he taught me what made playing music so great, playing with others, and challenging each other to do better. What made him a great teacher was how he talked to us as students. He didn’t treat us like we were in middle school. He never once made me question my worth as a music student and gave me room to grow. He let me try out different things and took my recommendations.

Without using specific names or subjects, what were the characteristics of your worst teacher, what made them stand out as bad teachers, and how did this influence what you would NOT do if you become a teacher?

I think a bad teacher does not listen to their students. They feel they always know what’s best and don’t try new things. While I believe favoritism is inevitable, I should not know if a teacher has a grudge against me. Teachers should not hold grudges against students. We are in the developing stages of our lives; we change. I am not the same person I was last year. Not just for teachers, but I think people should generally self-reflect often. If something isn’t going well, find out why. It may not be you. But if it is, you can change that.

How did your love of music influence your wanting to be a teacher?

My love for music inspired me to want to teach. I considered just performing music for a while, but that didn’t seem like the right option for me. Just performing music is not a stable job. Halfway through my sophomore year, and it seemed like things slowly came together. I began hearing the things I wanted everywhere. Hearing things like “you can make a living as a musician,” “community college is an excellent option,” and even an opportunity for a student teaching job….I began to have a clearer idea of what I wanted to do.

How does giving back to the community and/or influencing younger generations play a role in your decision to enter education?

I would like to have a positive impact on younger generations as a teacher. I think it’s important for teachers to be great learners themselves. I think all teachers should evaluate things often. If something doesn’t work, it’s okay to admit you’re wrong. My favorite teachers are the ones who make an effort to understand the [younger] generations. Many teachers of all ages learn one way to operate a classroom and stick to it their entire careers. I don’t want to be that teacher. I want to hear my students out and evaluate what I’m doing wrong.

How has being on the school board made you change your views or made you aware of things in education that you didn’t expect?

I joined the school board because I heard about the position and thought it would be interesting. I had no idea students could participate in politics, which I thought was cool since I was interested. I also wanted to do something different that not a lot of people do. I was already watching the meetings, and I was surprised by the intense drama and decided I wanted to be a part of it since I had a lot to say. When I began, I began to see a lot of issues in our district with textbooks and teachers not having supplies and things in the district budgeting programs that were worse with Covid.

The experience on the school board has made me want to be a teacher even more. I didn’t have a focus before. Now I want to be an advocate for education. What happens in education affects everything else. The people who have gone through the education system grow up and or aren’t given the right resources to be able to succeed or aren’t provided with information as to why things are the way they are. We are just told things are the way they are, and we have to accept them. As a teacher, I would make sure my students know what’s going on because they deserve to know the “whys” instead of the “just because.”

What advice would you give current teachers who are thinking about leaving the profession?

To those who want to leave teaching as a profession due to being exhausted, I would say to think about it more. I could not express the number of important teachers has in this world in one interview. While students may not appreciate you now, they will in the future if you appreciate them in the present. There is so much more to being an educator than there is in the job description. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Advocating for yourself and others is part of being in education. Whether you’re a student, parent, teacher, or community member, nothing will happen unless you speak up. If you feel your voice is not enough, teach others to use their voice. People always talk about student’s voices but I [sometimes] feel like just a token to check a box. I would make sure students have a true voice that actually means something. Give your students the resources they need to speak up. Let them form their own opinions. We need more transparency in education.

What would you say to those who question why in the world anyone would want to enter such a thankless profession?

Being a part of education is one of the most important parts of the future. Education influences every aspect of life. Teachers are more influential than celebrities/influencers, in my opinion. While yes, a celebrity can popularize a certain hairstyle or fashion trend, teachers are there for the most important stages of our lives. We learn the things we consider basic as we get older from our teachers. Our teachers influence what we want to do growing up. Maybe someone who has an excellent physics teacher will go on to become a physicist or physics teacher. One will lead to another, and in the end, we have a society full of people with all sorts of interests.

The world of education has as many flaws as anything else does. The only difference is education will affect everything else. Countries with great education systems prosper. While being an educator can be very thankless, it’s the most important job in a functioning society. The jobs that make the world go around will never get the recognition they deserve, and that’s just a part of life.

“‘Listening is the most difficult skill to learn and the most important to have.”

–African Proverb

I listened, I learned, and I began to fall in love with the idea of teaching, as well as the impact and power of education, all over again. Thank you, Justin. I can’t wait to see the positive impact you will have on generations of students in the future!

November 12, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

The Sad Truth about the Teacher Salary

Teachers are Underpaid and Overworked

No one goes into teaching to get rich. Not with a teacher salary. You probably won’t see a teacher roll up to school in their Ferrari, Chanel bag in hand, strolling across the parking lot without a care in the world.

You are more likely to see a teacher hopping out of their used minivan, speed walking across the parking lot, trying to make it before the first bell. They would have a steaming cup of coffee in one hand (to give them energy after a long night of serving burgers), and a handful of papers in the other.

The reality is that many teachers work second jobs in order to pay the bills. With just their teacher's salary, they've been struggling to pay student loans, rent/ mortgage, and daily living expenses. Teachers are increasingly earning less income than other working professionals. In fact, the income gap between teachers and comparable college graduates has tripled since 1979. (In 1979 teachers earned 7.3% less and in 2018, 21.4 % less than other college graduates)

Teachers often Work Other Jobs to Pay the Bills

To make up for the low wages, there are many full-time teachers that work a second job in the evenings or on weekends. They are the waiters at your local restaurant. The cashiers at your favorite clothing store. They are the customer service representatives when you call your cable company with an issue.

For a short while, I was a teacher with a second job. I taught French during the day and poured cappuccinos at the end of the school day. When I got home from my job as a barista, I would spend what little time I had left to plan lessons or grade papers. I had to supplement my income to support myself.

Has the Importance of Teaching Been Understood?

I, like many teachers, have worked an additional job to pay the bills. The teacher salary just doesn't cut it. It is sad to say that this is a reality for too many teaching professionals. You start to wonder if the American public truly values the work that teachers do.

Why are teachers paid less than their peers? Why is it common for teachers to live paycheck to paycheck or to work a second job? I believe one answer is that society seems to have forgotten the true value of what we do as teachers.

Perhaps, in order to show the true value of what teachers do, we need to have an open conversation about education in our communities. What is the purpose of education? How does education help society? In what ways has the education system failed? What are our plans as educators moving forward? Conversation and clear communication is key to any lasting change.

I believe the first step in building relationships with our community is by being honest as to why we became educators. Most teachers that I know, myself included, became teachers because they wanted to make a difference. Teaching is a profession that can have a profound impact on future generations. Teachers have the privilege of inspiring and raising up the next generation of doctors, scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and even presidents. If families knew that we truly had their child’s best interest at heart, and we teach so that they can create better futures for themselves and the world as a whole, perhaps then teachers will start to be valued for all that we do.

Teachers, Let's Talk about Pay

Now that more teachers are leaving education than ever before during the Great Resignation, it is even more critical that teachers start to speak out regarding the truths of being underpaid in the ever changing world of education. So, teachers, I urge you to speak out! What you do is important and invaluable. Your teacher salary should reflect that.

Politicians and policy makers, open your hearts to hear what teachers have to say. They are raising up and educating your children, grandchildren and the future. What price can you put on the future generation?

November 11, 2021 Ask a Teacher

And a Podcast Shall Inform The Students

Could podcasts kill the video star?

“What the ____ is a podcast?”

An eleventh-grade student who would go on to be accepted at an Ivy League school asked this question in response to my question: “OK, guys, how do y’all feel about creating a podcast?”

Don’t get the idea that this interaction took place “back in the day.” I believe this was 2016...2017 maybe. Podcasts were taking off (again), and the educational program I was working for at the time could have been on the cutting edge of real-world communication education just by taking on this challenge. Why did this endeavor fail?

Answer: the approach was all wrong. In fact, it was so wrong, that this failure epitomizes why and how we fail in many educational endeavors. Fortunately, the accidental success with some podcasts shows how newish ideas should be approached and adapted.

Achieving Failure

The failure needs some context. The students and I were trying to keep a longstanding cultural journalism class going. We put out two eighty-page, ad-free magazines each year that were mailed to international subscribers, some of them lifetime subscribers. The program that once included multitudes of students and support staff--especially when the program included a skeet shooting component--had dwindled to about a dozen students. Selling students on an elective where writing is the main focus has its challenges regardless of how low you dangle student choice and scholarships.

The off-campus program, which worked in tense cooperation with the local school system, had recently replaced a much-beloved administrator with one who loved himself with an equivalent passion. He was, however, a fresh perspective in a program that was starting to buckle under its own traditions, so we asked what he could do to help us get the magazine out to subscribers faster and create content that was more relevant in the modern world.

His answer: “Create a podcast. Print is dead.”

“But we have to get the magazine out to subscribers.”

“Tell the students that we’re going to start a podcast. You’ll see.”

I did. That’s when I got the question above from a student who is probably now (2021) running a podcast about graduating from an Ivy League school. I’m not sure that the students really didn’t want to do a podcast back then. It’s just that we were up to our eyeballs in transcriptions for a magazine with a fifty-year history. The magazine and the program carried with them a legacy and a responsibility that the new program administrator didn’t seem to care about. Print may have been dead, but the subscribers were alive and wanting what they paid for.

Then, the program administrator decided to take the podcast part over himself. None of this worked. Ironically, the program is one that prides itself on student choice, and at the time, the students weren’t really listening to podcasts. The students were caught between the Scylla of having to produce writing for a magazine that their grandparents had chosen and the Charybdis of a podcast platform that meant nothing to them at the time.

Something should have told us that we would eventually lose our entire crew this way.

Achieving Success

“Mr. Blackstock, what if, instead, we created a podcast episode?”

Skip ahead about four years. I was not teaching/facilitating the same program at that time. I was teaching the Dramatic Writing Class (sponsored by the Georgia Film Academy). We were about to start the fourth academic quarter at the high school, and the students and I had, together, experienced several real-world writing opportunities. They had several choices for major projects and could, in fact, invent their own as long as the proposals accomplished our goals and met our standards. One of the students wanted to script and record a podcast.

Not wanting to squelch student choice, I said, “Well, OK, we’ll give it a shot.”

“Hey,” another student said, “I want to do that, too.”

I ended up with three podcasts—scripted, recorded, uploaded, published, and distributed. And I loved them. At the time, they were the best podcasts I’d ever heard. They were educational in that I learned something, they were pleasant in that the students created or even played original background music, and they were relevant, two of them being about art history.

The previous podcasts that I had heard reminded me of the old vlogs and the original YouTube videos where everyone just wanted to complain, no one seemed sober, and none of the conversations had any point or focus.

This made me wonder, “What the ____ is a podcast?” I thought I knew, but I was wrong.

In my defense, I’m old enough to have been an adult when the internet really took off. Amateur websites, in the beginning, were mainly self-serving confessionals of other people’s sins. Then, publishing became even easier as students could share anything on sites like “My So-Called Life” and the “FML Journal.” Then, teachers could include technology in their classes by allowing students to forgo essays. They would, instead, use technology by recording videos of flies finding places to land in their graded efforts to prove they had read and appreciated Lord of the Flies. Skepticism may be understandable.

But there’s a difference today than there once was, especially among students. Many readers aren’t going to like this difference because it sounds elitist, but here’s the difference: Students who have something to add to society often want to be heard, not necessarily to be seen. Even the art history podcasts included links to the paintings and sculptures, so we really didn’t need a video. When students showed me podcasts that they liked, the fictional ones often required imagination and the nonfiction podcasts presented ideas and rhetorical strategies that rivaled the essays in my AP English Language classes. Keep in mind that I wasn’t assigning these podcasts as homework. Students were showing me these podcasts because they listened to them in their own time.

Furthermore, podcasts may have an inherent saving grace: Students who want to be seen but really have nothing to say will seek their fifteen minutes of fame on other mediums and hosts. It’s hard to imagine, for example, a “devious licks” podcast. The people who have those interests have a place to go. If, as a high school student, I want to tear up a school bathroom and/or record flies landing on dog poop, I got Tik-Tok, and next year, I’ll have whatever replaces it. The new kids on the Ivy League block, though, will have podcasts where they discussed ideas that were important to them in a public forum that they can reference on college applications and on resumés.

The prime benefit of using podcasts in education is that we can turn consumers into producers. They work collaboratively, learn social skills, take ownership, produce organized and scripted information for an authentic audience, etc. They still have to read, write, and research, but if they share through podcasts, they don’t just write for a teacher and throw the graded paper into the “Futility Closet” (which, by the way, is the name of a podcast I’ve been listening to lately).

Is the Future Podcasts?

No one should believe that podcasts, themselves, will be the deus ex machina that saves us from having to teach communication skills, but then, no one promised us that rose garden, to begin with. Certainly, helping students learn and share via podcasts has its drawbacks, time constraints, and even some technological considerations. More importantly, as we’ve seen with all the changes, technological or otherwise, human nature remains an obstacle to human progress. With all of the output, will there be any meaningful intake?

I was on an advisory committee with other fine arts teachers several years ago. We met with the superintendent and the architect. We met often. Every time we turned around, we were leaving our classes to meet with the superintendent and the architect, but none of our suggestions ever made any impact on the actual building plans. When I asked why we kept meeting if our ideas were just going to be ignored, I was told that teachers had given plenty of input and that the architect knew what he was doing.

As my dad said when I told him about this, “There seems to be plenty of input but no intake.”

Will podcasts experience the same ironic irrelevance? If everyone is uploading podcasts, will podcasts have any audience for the audience’s sake? Put bluntly, if everyone is talking, will anyone be listening? If no one is listening, will podcasts just become another social media free-for-all that makes no impact and that essentially has no value?

Podcasts would not be the first medium to fall victim to their own success. For example, Noel Coward once said that “Television is for appearing on—not for looking at.” Similarly, we often hear people say that only poets read poetry, and speaking of mediums, many people write for a popular blogging site where the majority of articles are simply about how to write for that blogging site. Ultimately, podcasts may simply provide a way for passionate broadcasters to shout their barbaric yawps into a swirling pool of other similar yawps.

Why, then, would this format have any value in education today?

...because formats rise and set, but communication skills abideth forever.

The skills that we taught—that we learned—to publish magazines, books, radio shows, websites, blogs, vlogs, blogs again, podcasts...whatever...are still valuable. We should still teach standards and set goals, but our future leaders should have input about the format of their output. With a little intake, I at least learned what a podcast was.

November 10, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

Three Tips on How to Create an Engaging Lesson Plan

Need tips on how to make an engaging lesson plan? The truth is, it’s easier than you may think. There are only three key elements necessary to make a lesson plan exciting. Interested to know what the three key components are? Drum roll, please….Here they are: make learning fun, relatable to students' lives, and give them choices in their learning. Want some ideas on how to spice up your lessons? Keep reading to find out.

Tip One: Learning Should be Fun and Never Boring

Did you ever take a class that was the opposite of fun, where all you did was take notes while the teacher droned on, and on… and on? A class so boring that you’d rather watch paint dry? Everyone knows that no one learns a thing during those types of lessons. Why? Kids learn when they are having fun when there is variety and options. I've created a list of fun activities that will be perfect for your next engaging lesson:

Social Studies: Have students dress up in historical figures for a history lesson.
Social Studies: Have students be tour guides for a city of their choice.
Science: Have students be the weatherman/woman for a lesson on weather/climate.
Science: When teaching about density and liquids put honey, oil, water into a cup. And add food coloring to make it look pretty!
Math: Math Bingo! Create math problems on each Bingo square. Allow students time to solve the problems, then play Bingo with the answers.
Math: To practice graphs, have students survey their classmates on a particular topic then create graphs to represent the answers

English: Have students do a book report and create a book in a bag! Have them put objects in the bag that have to do with the theme of the book.
English: When teaching prepositions, have students create a dance or a song !

These are just a few of hundreds of fun activities that you could use in your classroom to spice things up. The important thing is to use variety so students stay engaged.

Tip Two: Make the Lesson Relatable to the Students' lives

Students learn better if they feel connected to the lesson, so make your lesson relatable to their lives today. If you are teaching a high school class about the French Revolution, teach them about teenagers that lived in Paris during the 1780s-1790s. What were their lives like? What did teens do? Can they find similarities in their lives today to the lives of the French teens then?

Science teachers, if you are teaching a lesson on the environment, take the students on a field trip to pick up trash at a park. If students can see how they can make a positive impact on the world around them, their learning will become lifelong. If you are a high school English teacher, have your students practice writing a college application essay, after taking a field trip to a local college. The options for real-life applications are endless. The key is to make your lesson relatable to their daily lives, and students will stay engaged and want to learn more.

Tip Three: Give Students Choice in their Learning

The third way to create an engaging lesson plan is to give students choice in their learning. Learning should never be a one-way street, with one method. Diversity and options are key to having a successful lesson. If you are teaching about World War II, give students options to do a video presentation of D-Day, an essay, or a newsletter written from the point of view of someone from that era. The reason why giving choices is important is because all students learn differently. Some students learn best when they write, some when they speak, some when they do a visual or creative art representation of something. If students are given a choice in how they show their learning, they are more likely to remember the learning and enjoy the process.

Now you know that it is possible to create engaging and effective lessons. Plus, it is pretty easy to do so. Just remember, to keep your lesson plans fun by using variety, making them relatable to students' lives, and giving them choices in their learning. Once you follow these three tips, you will never teach a boring or forgettable lesson again. Looking for even more tips on how to create captivating lessons? See here.

November 9, 2021 Instruction & Curriculum

Opinion: How Teachers Triumph Over Trauma When Battling Trauma Ourselves?

“Can I talk to you?” As educators, we are taught to prioritize being the ones to provide others with a safe space, trusted adult, and potentially be that one voice who can talk someone off a literal edge of a breakdown. But what happens when we need the same for ourselves?

As a colleague, we may be the only ones that others feel comfortable going to for advice, guidance, or just to vent. And yet, from whom do we get these necessary outlets? As humans navigating this crazy thing we call life, we all need someone who will listen. However, we cannot afford to lose ourselves in our endeavor to help others.

We have to examine our own ability to continually triumph over trauma when in fact we are battling trauma ourselves.

How Do Teachers Triumph Over Trauma When Battling Trauma Ourselves? Click To Tweet

As veteran teachers, we are often the ones colleagues feel might have insight when negative situations arise. The truth is, we may ourselves have long-lasting effects of wounds from situations that might have been treated as “not a big deal,” incidents that were “swept under the rug,” or even experiences that never had the follow-up and/or accountability many trauma-inducing harms warranted. Many “isms” have caused harm to many, and colleagues want to know how we dealt with and inevitably overcame them.

Ageism (being only twenty-six when I started), sexism (being a woman), racism (being a Black educator), and tokenism (being the “face” of so much for so many), are experiences that I have been able to share with younger teachers. These days, the more I share, the more I realize that I have never truly healed myself from some traumas. We in no way want to make others feel like they cannot come to us as “the go-to” for all things therapeutic. The teacher’s teacher, the counselor, the mentor, the silent ear to listen…it is a blessing, and you wear these titles with pride. But what happens when you need these services for yourself?

So how can we continue to triumph over trauma when in fact we have yet to heal from trauma ourselves?

Courage in the face of adversity is much more difficult when you are unfortunately triggered by the adversity of others. I have heard racial slurs being targeted at our Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) staff and remember the same feelings of being shocked, violated, and traumatized all too well. I have heard about teachers wondering how to deal with both subliminal and blatant racism by students towards other students. I remember the feeling of helplessness when one tried to keep students from being harmed, only to have a lack of accountability or “who you know” be the determining factor in consequences. I have heard about “not having enough concrete, irrefutable evidence” to prove guilt in hate crimes involving nooses and swastikas, as well as not being able to prove “intent” with the same symbols.

“When adversity strikes, that’s when you have to be the most calm. Take a step back, stay strong, stay grounded and press on.” —LL Cool J

Calm, cool, and collected is often much easier said than done, especially when it comes to protecting one’s peace. The guilt is often self-imposed when thinking about how we can protect ourselves from harm. We need to learn how to navigate these waters of embodying the archetypal empath who takes on the pain of others at their own expense.

I am learning that through my own journey to triumph over trauma, I have many issues I still need to work out within myself. I can listen to the trauma of another and feel myself just as concerned and sympathetic as I have always been, but I have also learned to be continually mindful not to unconsciously compare traumas. While I experienced similar and sometimes worse things, comparing trauma is never a healthy response to someone else who is living their trauma in the here and now. Would I voice any of this aloud as I am striving to be “there” as I have always been for others? Of course not, but the internal dialogue that I have been experiencing as of late is teaching me that some traumas that others are experiencing are eerily familiar and triggering to me.

So how do we continue to protect our own mental health? Mental health has become a two-way street for those of us who value being “there” for others as well as ourselves. As educators, we must know when to step back from any and all situations, but how do we do that without feeling the guilt of not being “there” for someone who needs you more than you may even realize?

“Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.”— Princess Diana

I am learning to pay much more attention to my own bandwidth when it comes to dealing with and healing from my own trauma. There are times when the “go-to” needs truly unplug and be honest with people. Is there a way to ever truly unplug and protect our own mental health without feeling like we are abandoning someone else?

Absolutely! And there is no need to feel guilty about it!

Who cannot take their own advice? Who can be “there” for others if you are not “there” for yourself? Who can pour from an empty well? My advice to those who also hold these titles in education, at your school sites, in your family, or any other aspect of life, is to take time for yourself! If the trauma is too close and happens to be trauma-inducing-disengage! You cannot continue to sustain the responsibility of being “there” for others if you are not “there” for yourself first. You cannot show someone else how to triumph over trauma unless you have done the same for yourself. Listen and be “there” for the person, but also be honest and transparent if you are not able to be completely “there” in the way they need you to be at that time. Give yourself time to reflect and decide if you will be able to revisit the situation in the future, or if you need to totally remove yourself from that experience altogether.

Ultimately, empathy does not mean you have to deny your own feelings. Being “there” for someone else does not mean you cannot make sure to be “there” for yourself. Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes does not mean that you always have to take off your own.