Bret’s $.02

Starting in August of 2013 I began writing a small piece for our weekly staff notes. The not-so-clever name for this section became “Bret’s Two Cents” as it wasn’t a long write-up (they’ve gotten longer, sorry!) but rather some brief thoughts usually tied to a professional reading or video. These writings were my first foray into regular professional writing. Over time this practice has become one of the most important parts of my professional growth. I’ve continued these writings because I enjoy the process and also because I believe that sharing great resources is part of my responsibility as an educator…enjoy, and I’d love to hear your two cents worth of feedback :)

Positive School Culture: The Importance of School Spirit

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There is an exciting week ahead at AC!  Saturday is the PTO Family Fun Run and all of next week is a school-wide Spirit Week sponsored by the High School Student Council.  Personally, I couldn’t be more excited to dig through my closet and come up with some spirit-wear for the week…it’s going to be awesome!!  

School spirit doesn’t depend solely on a positive school culture but these two things are most certainly correlated.  We’ve worked hard at Academia Cotopaxi to build a positive school culture.  Whether thinking about the collegial atmosphere in the staff room or the positive student relationships, AC has a great vibe and is a positive place to learn and work.  We’ve introduced the “I See AC” uniform policy this year, in part to increase the sense of school spirit among our students.  I’d love to see the ‘battle’ over uniform become a thing of the past, with our students so proud of their school that a uniform is a badge of honor instead of a nuisance!

This weekend we have the PTO Fun Run happening.  Our parents have worked very hard to create a wonderful community event that will bring together students and families for a wonderful morning of exercise and community building.  The beautiful t-shirts designed by one of our very own high school students have sold out!  The amount of people clamoring to get their hands on these shirts is inspiring, the sense of spirit behind the Fun Run is exactly the kind of feeling we want to be generating here at AC!

All of next week, for what I think is the first time in a very long time, we will have a school-wide Spirit Week.  This event was put together by our High School Student Council.  Their vision was an event that brought the whole community together to celebrate our amazing school.  Each day has been well thought out, with all age levels considered.  The grade level that shows the most spirit throughout the week will even be rewarded with an ice cream party in the future…yum!

The importance of school spirit on the learning environment has been well documented but it’s important role is frequently over-looked.  In fact, some of the people who believe most strongly in the power of school spirit are the students themselves!  An interesting paradox often arises amongst our teenagers as they struggle between ‘fitting-in’, ‘being cool’, and ‘standing out’.  As some of the most important adults in their life, one of the best things we can do is model the behavior we would like to see from them.  To that end, we need to demonstrate school spirit for our students and continue to build the positive atmosphere that will lead to, not only a happier school, but also a more productive learning environment.

So, come on out to the PTO Fun Run and show your spirit.  Join the run (even if you missed the early sign up, you can still run!)  It begins at 8:30 with registration starting at 8:00.  If running isn’t your thing, then be sure to join for the free breakfast beginning at 9:30.  It’s a great way to get your Saturday started and a fantastic way to support our PTO’s efforts to brighten our community!  Finally, start rummaging through your closets and planning your outfits for next week…let’s be the best dressed ‘class’ out there next week 🙂

Monday:  Pajama Day

Tuesday:  Nationality Day

Wednesday:  Fandom Day (Who are you a fan of?  Sports teams, People you admire (Einstein), etc.)

Thursday:  Wacky Day (Crazy hair, clashing clothes, backwards clothes, etc.)

Friday:  Costume Day (Book characters are best, please nothing too scary!)

Learning Beyond Academics

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This past week sure has been busy and a good microcosm of the school year as a whole so far.  Wednesday in the High School was PSAT testing for the 10th and 11th graders and Group 4 project time for the Seniors.  I was lucky enough to spend my time working with the 9th grade class during this time and we had a blast working as a whole grade level group!  Our 9th grade class is certainly a strong bunch but they are also very nervous about what the future holds for them.  As they look to the future and see college looming they begin to quake ever so slightly.  What are they most worried about?  Academic success?  Yes, certainly.  However, they’re beginning to realize that they’re going to have to make it in this big, scary world on their own and they’re curious about what they have termed “life-skills”.  This revelation has made me step back and think, “what are we doing to prepare our kids to become ‘free-range’ adults?”

Our 9th grade students, when asked what they’re most interested in for mentor time lessons, overwhelmingly said ‘life skills’…but where to start?  And, is four years really enough time to teach them all they need to know?  So we started here, close to home, in our community.  The focus was on community building and the importance of communicating effectively with those around you.  We had lessons on introducing yourself professionally, engaging in conversation with new acquaintances, and discussed the importance of understanding differences (cultural or otherwise.)  Our aim was to start working through some of the things that just don’t seem to get taught within the course of a normal workload during the school day.  This all culminated in a huge pot-luck brunch (life skill: following a recipe and cooking) which allowed them to practice and improve their conversation and community skills, it was awesome and the feedback from the kids is that they really enjoyed and took a lot away from this opportunity.

Take a moment, no matter what level you teach, and think back to your days in school.  Think back beyond university or high school if possible.  Who was that teacher who had the biggest impact on your time in school?  Maybe there are a few names that come up.  Now, WHY did their name come to you so quickly?  What was it that they did to make you remember them after all of these years?  I have a strong feeling that it wasn’t something academic, they may have had a huge impact on your academic success but I would guess that their impact wasn’t specifically academic in nature.  They probably influenced you in more of a ‘life skills’ sense.  In your classroom there are plenty of opportunities for teaching students skills that will transcend your subject area and stay with them further on in their lives.  

Have a look at this article, it’s an interesting view on some things that we may or may not explicitly teach our students during their academic time (some may be more relevant to our context than others.)  How can lessons like these be incorporated into the things you do on a daily basis?  I would also suggest that there are a lot more ‘life skills’ being taught every day in your classes…what are some of those skills?  I’d love to hear from everyone about the amazing opportunities that our students have to grow beyond the classroom!

Take the Leap, Get Connected!

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For the last four years I was living in Shanghai, stuck behind The Great Firewall of China, and it was frustrating!  The government restricted internet access to the sites that they wanted people to view and nothing else.  This meant that social media sites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and many blogs were considered off limits.  Fortunately for communication purposes with my family and friends back home I was able to find a way to access Facebook 🙂  An even better break was that I learned to access and take advantage of Twitter and blogging as a tool for professional growth.

Over the last few years I have slowly built my Personal Learning Network (PLN) in what, I’ve come to realize, is a very close knit and supportive educational network organized on social media sites.  It was no accident that I came to be involved in this network, it was very intentional and motivated by the tremendous amount of articles I was reading about Twitter for educators.

As I continued to read about the power of social media, specifically Twitter, as a tool for educators to grow professionally I realized I needed to investigate further.  I started my Twitter account and began lurking, it was intimidating for a long time, so I just kind of watched.  Then things slowly started to come clear and Twitter became a tool for my personal growth.  At the height of my use I was interacting with people all over the world on a regular basis including standing, hour-long, Twitter chats twice a week.  I’ve slowed down a bit with the transition to a new job but I continue to use Twitter as a resource for professional growth.  The power of social media to help educators find the tools, resources, and support needed to grow in a very individualized way is truly inspiring.

Next week we will hold our first SIPs of the year and I will be offering a SIP on getting your Twitter network up and running.  I plan to supplement this session with follow ups and perhaps more intermediate level sessions in the future.  If you could use a solid resource for growing as a professional, come check out my SIP.  If you’re at all intrigued but just not sure of how or what to do, please come to this session.  If you’ve heard of this “Twitter thing” and just want to learn more about the possibilities, come investigate!!

This past summer by PLN led me to some amazing opportunities that, without Twitter, I would’ve never discovered.  I attended a free edcamp, I was given a free book and wrote a review for Middleweb, and I was able to meet some of my virtual PLN friends in real life…it was really cool!!  I’m still learning, growing, and expanding my PLN – the process will never end.

At this point in time, with the power of the internet and social media, there’s just too many amazing ideas out there for you NOT to go explore and discover.  Take the leap, get connected.

“Feedforward” not back!

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Making the transition to a new teacher feedback tool, while slow and often cumbersome, is an exciting process.  As a new member of this community I have no previous experience with teacher feedback at Academia Cotopaxi.  However, over the last couple years I’ve made the supervision and evaluation process a professional focus of mine.  It’s an incredibly powerful tool for improving student learning and the conversations that come from frequent classroom visits and follow up conversations are, honestly, one of my favorite parts of my job.

As a former Language Arts teacher, I often equate the process of teacher supervision to helping students with the writing process.  Being the outside observer, there is only so much one can do to push the process forward.  Just as I was never the one doing the actual writing, I can’t dictate where the classroom (or story) goes.  The goal of the supervision process is much the same as guiding a writer; through observations and conversations we hope to lead a teacher through a reflective process that allows them to grow and improve as a teacher…leading to an overall better story of success in the classroom.

At the end of the day the process of reflecting and growing as a teacher shouldn’t really be any more work than normal.  Through reflective conversations we hope to help teachers think about their classroom and the teaching process on a deeper level by providing ‘outside’ observations and feedback.  Similar to how you might guide a writer through the reflective process of revising a piece of writing, the aim of teacher supervision is to take something that is already well developed and help move it to the next level.  We’re all working every day to grow and be better at what we do, having someone along to help with the reflective process shouldn’t create more work but rather ensure that the process of reflecting is an even more valuable use of your time.

We’re currently at the beginning stages of the reflective process (as far as our school year is concerned) and have been asked to self-assess and set some goals for professional growth.  I recently read a fantastic blog post about the concept of “feedforward” as opposed to the over-used “feedback”.  The concept is simple, instead of focusing on the past, look forward instead.  The concept of feedforward is rooted in the idea that growth should be driven not by the supervisor looking from the top down but rather from our own goals and desire to improve.  In the context of “feedforward” the goal setting process becomes even more important, as the goal(s) you choose will have a direct correlation to your growth throughout the school year.  Have a look at this fantastic post, it’s not too long and written with educators in mind (it’s from edutopia.com)  As you go through the self-assessment and goal setting process please keep the idea of “feedforward” in your mind; the power of growth comes from within.  

This great quote from the blog post says it all (and sounds very similar to what we hope to see with students in the classrooms):

“Feedforward means that teachers are not simply empty vessels waiting to be filled, but change agents waiting to be launched.”

Good luck and happy reflecting 🙂

A Parting 2 Cents

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It seems like a long time ago that I started writing my 2 Cents!  For the last SCIS version of my 2 Cents I’m going to be a bit more long winded than usual.  However, I want to offer a few summer time options for those who haven’t already ironed out every single minute of their holiday.  I’m not advocating for any one idea over another but I think any successful summer will include at least one of these four things.

Personally, for my summer, I’ll be working on organizing a visa to Ecuador, spending time with family and friends in America, getting back to working out and eating healthy, and acting as the Officiant in my sister’s wedding just days before Amy and I take off for Quito.  During all of that time I’ve also committed to reading two professional books (one for an online book chat and the other to review for Middleweb) and attending a 1-day “Ed Camp” in Chicago.  I’m excited for these professional opportunities which have all come via my professional learning community (PLC).

My recommendations for the summer:

1.  Hit the beach, mountains, trails, parks, ocean, lake, or whatever you can find outdoors!

Get outside and enjoy the fresh air (I’m hoping you can get away from a polluted city for this one).  Spend a few days camping next to a river with no wifi or mobile phone access, unplug and enjoy Mother Nature at her finest.  Give yourself some time to just enjoy all that nature has to offer without the hustle and bustle of the ‘outside world’.  If camping isn’t your thing then take a walk, go for a bike ride, or just sit and enjoy a park…but do it often.  Take a road trip, see a new place, and get out of the city-life for a while.  All of these things will help rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit!

2.  Take care of yourself.

Remember that New Year’s Resolution…yeah, I know the feeling…I was too stressed and too cold in the winter to really get anything productive going.  It’s too dark in the mornings and dreary at night, who wants to work out?  I wanted a nice warm meal full of comfort food and some wine on the couch at the end of those days, not an exercise class and salad!!  However, now the sun is shining and we can sleep past 6AM!  So track down your trainers and get moving…10,000 steps a day is a lot easier to manage in the summer when there are no papers to grade or meetings to attend.  Cook some homemade meals for your friends and family who still have to work through the summer, enjoy a nice dinner together and help them relieve some stress too.  The summer is your time to take care of yourself and feel great!

3.  Read, read, read!

If you’re like me you might feel like summer is the perfect time to squeeze in some of that professional reading you’ve promised yourself you’d do.  That’s fine but don’t skip the reading for pleasure too!!  (I’ve got Game of Thrones book 5 waiting for me)  Whether you’ve got a book waiting or not, you might also consider reading some of the books that are hot with our kids right now.  This article is a great one and lists five young adult books that adults would also enjoy.  I’ve read a few on this list (Book Thief is awesome!) and agree that knowing what our kids are into is a great way to connect and relate to our middle school age kids.  If you’re thinking that professional reading might be in the works for the beach then have a look at this article, some great tips there too.  The old saying of “don’t mix work with pleasure” goes out the door here…when it comes to summer reading, mix away!

4.  Reconnect at your own risk!

It goes without saying that living overseas requires a long time away from friends and family who are back ‘home’ or elsewhere.  However, if you’re like me it only takes a week or so at ‘home’ before you feel like it’s time for a break!  There are a lot of family and friends who want to spend as much time with you as possible and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the attention.  In a sense it’s almost like teaching…there’s only one of you but there’s a seemingly endless number of people who want/need your time and energy.  Be sure to take some “Me Time” this summer and don’t let yourself get run down while trying to connect with everyone.  I often joke at the end of summer that “I need to get back to work so I can relax!”  It’s easy to feel that way, especially if you’re bouncing from couch to guest room all summer.  Enjoy the time with family and friends but be sure to enjoy some time alone as well.

Enjoy the last week with our kids, it’s going to be a wildly emotional ride for many of them (and us!!)  Hang in there and enjoy the laughs and memories and embrace the inevitable tears.  Everyone has made a lot of strong connections here in the SCIS community and it will be tough to part ways, no matter how long you’ve been here.  Say what you need to say to those you’ve grown close with, trade contact info, and be confident that you’ll connect again soon!

It’s Who We “Be”, Not What We “Do”

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Talking with our students often brings my mind back to things that are important but for one reason or another I’ve lost focus of.  The other day I was reminded that if we aren’t living up to the standards expected of us we won’t be tolerated and the same goes for our students.  However, and here’s the really challenging part of all of this, we have to do it ALL the time!  It was that conversation with a student the other day that opened my eyes to something that I think is really important…it’s not who we “be” in the good times but who we “be” in the face of adversity.  Can we “be” the person we want to “be” when faced with people we don’t respect, like, or have patience for?

Our best can only be measured by our worst.

I had a great conversation with one student in particular the other day.  He is a ‘frequent flyer’ in my office and we were speaking about why he was there on this particular day.  He started off with “I didn’t DO anything!”  Which is how our kids think 99% of the time  – they think about what they “do”.  I, however, didn’t want to hear about what he did or didn’t do.  Rather, I wanted to know who he was “being” instead of what he was “doing”.  It took him a minute to go along with my questions but eventually he explained that “when he is my age” he wanted to “be nice, respectful and kind”.  He acknowledged that he was not “being” any of those things during class that day.  I asked him if he thought he’d just wake up one day and “be nice, respectful and kind” which really made him stop and think.  As we continued to talk he mentioned that he was very upset with a few classmates because they weren’t “being” very nice and this is why he was “being” mean and rude.

This is it, this is the point where we need to meet our kids beliefs head on and help them grow.  They need to understand that who we “be” isn’t something that we flip on and off and find excuses to “be nice, respectful and kind” sometimes and “be” a jerk other times.  We can’t “be” the person that we strive to “be” only in good times and resort to some lesser version of ourselves when we encounter people we don’t respect.  In fact, it’s for these people that we need to “be” even better, to rise up instead of come down to their level.  If we don’t change that in ourselves first and then guide our kids to this understanding through modeling, conversations, and consistent reflections, then we can’t expect to see them become the kind of adults who we and they want to “be”.

This change can’t happen over night but as I’ve written before it starts with us and who we “be” for our kids, as their role-models we have a HUGE responsibility to always “be” awesome!!

The Middle School Balance

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A couple weeks ago we sent out applications for the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) to all of the students who qualified academically.  We sent out just over 90 letters in the Middle School congratulating those students on their academic efforts.  Along with that letter went an application to share all of their awesomeness with the NJHS Faculty Committee who would be voting on this year’s NJHS class.  What we got back was inspiring to say the least!

56 students returned applications for the National Junior Honor Society which focuses on the five pillars of: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Citizenship, and Character.  We are all well aware of the academic capabilities of the students.  It was downright impressive, however, to see the amount of opportunities our students have to get involved (in our school AND community) on display via these applications.  These are opportunities that wouldn’t happen without you, your time, and your efforts!  Our students are flat out lucky to have such amazing people working at their school; people who are willing to get involved to make the community a better place for the kids.

Being away on China Trips last week and hearing all of the positive comments from kids about how much fun they were having as well as seeing them push their limits and learn new things was a very positive experience.  Then to follow it up this week by looking at all of these amazing student applications and all of the wonderful stuff they’ve gotten involved with really strengthens my belief that we’ve created a well rounded and balanced program for our Middle School students.

When we look at how we live our own lives we can appreciate the importance of balance.  Whether it’s finding time to workout, read, enjoy the city around us or try new things we all find ways to manage our lives in a healthy way that doesn’t allow work to take over completely.  This important part of living a successful life is what we’ve used as the foundational belief for how our Middle School functions.  Creating a program that guides students toward living balanced lives is at the core of our Middle School.  As our students move to high school this balanced approach to life becomes even more important as they learn to tackle the rigors of independence.  Looking past high school we can all attest to the need for balance in our lives as college students and beyond, into the “Real World”.

Thanks to your willingness to offer amazing opportunities for our kids to get involved with leadership, service, and other amazing after school activities we’ve put our Middle School kids on the path to successful, balanced lives!  All of your efforts, both inside and outside of the classroom, are what make SCIS an amazing place for our students to learn and grow through their middle school years!!

What Are You (Not) Saying to Your Students?

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By now we are all well aware of the essential role that feedback plays in education.  We create tremendous opportunities for our students to both give and receive feedback which allows them to improve their learning and drive them toward success.  The feedback we give our students is extremely valuable in their development as middle school students and budding academics.  However, this is formal academic feedback I’m talking about.  What about the informal feedback your students are receiving from you throughout the day?

Our students are receiving feedback from you whether you intend it or not.  Maybe you laughed at their joke as they walked into class…feedback (my teacher finds me funny).  Perhaps you compliment their new shoes or haircut…feedback (my teacher notices me AND thinks I have style, yay!)  Consider the other side of the coin.  Feedback (my teacher thinks I’m stupid)…the teacher only calls on a couple kids for the ‘hard’ questions.  Feedback (my teacher doesn’t notice me)…the teacher focuses on the “loud” kids.

What feedback are you sending without even thinking about it?

As I’ve been moving around the school this last week I’ve tried to think about the potential feedback that our students are receiving from the (un)intentional messages we are sending.  Some are AMAZING, some leave room for growth.

Some of the positive feedback kids are receiving that may or may not be intentional includes:

  • My teacher really likes this class and group of kids.
  • My teacher has high expectations for all students.
  • My teacher knows me and cares about who I am outside of school.
  • My teacher values SSR and enjoys reading!
  • My teacher enjoys working at SCIS.
  • My teacher is happy 🙂

All of these things are impressions that can be implied from the way that we engage with their students.  I’d like you to think about how a teacher may be sending the above messages.

Take a few minutes to think about the feedback your students are receiving from you.  What are the positive messages?  Is it possible that you are unintentionally sending any negative feedback?

I think you’re all amazing educators and wonderful people.  We all work very hard and as I’ve mentioned before, we’re all at least 90% awesome 🙂  I believe strongly in looking in the mirror and working to grow each and every day.  Thank you for all that you do for our students and our community.  We have an amazing middle school and we get better each day!!

What a Great Community!!

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Recently I’ve been struck by just how much of a community our school truly has become for our students.  I know ‘Community’ is part of the name of our school and we most certainly do a lot of ‘big ticket’ community things.  Our PAFA events from the International Food Fair, to the back to school picnic, to market days all bring our community together.  However, I’ve noticed a lot of things that are much more subtle indicators of the community we’ve become.

It’s obvious that our school is from all over the map, literally!  We have students from over 50 countries speaking well over a dozen different languages.  Yet that mix of students doesn’t result in clashes or arguments relating to culture, language, or other misunderstandings.  Our kids get along, they’re friends with everyone and they’re open to new experiences.  This may be something that we think is obvious and perhaps it should be.  It’s not unusual to find students who’ve grouped themselves together by home culture.  However, as an example of how kids are building community, I frequently find one of our newest sixth grade boys (who is Korean) on the field playing with a group of almost all non-Koreans.  It’s awesome to see kids out of their comfort zones and taking risks.  Culture is not a barrier to community at SCIS.

Each morning as I wait for the kids to come off the buses I get to observe a whole variety of what I’ll call “proof of community”.  The other day I asked a high school student if the little second grade girl she walks and talks with every morning was her sister.  I was shocked when she said, “No, she’s just a girl that rides my bus.”  This very social high schooler walks in chatting away with a tiny little second grade student as though they’re best friends…and she’s not the only one, this happens quite frequently between students of all ages at our school.  I can’t imagine the confidence and feelings of safety that our younger students must feel because of these relationships.  Age is not a barrier to community at SCIS.

The culture we’ve created at SCIS fosters these community bonds.  Activities and events create relationships between students who would otherwise not engage each other.  House games in the Middle School bring our kids together across grade levels for friendly competitions.  The swim team brings kids from all grades together to train, compete, and grow together.  The bonds I’ve witnessed between high school and middle school swimmers created because of the team are very positive bonds and fortunately they happen frequently.  As the Upper School production comes to production night (go see Midsummer Night’s Dream tonight or tomorrow!!!) it’s wonderful to see the bonds and relationships that have grown between high school and middle school students, kids who normally would have no reason to interact with each other.  We build community at SCIS.

Shanghai COMMUNITY International School truly is a community.  Our students are happy when they come to school.  They feel safe, confident, and they feel welcome.  The community that we’ve become is thanks to all that you give back to our students.  Without your efforts our students get on the bus and go home but thanks to you we have a bustling after school activities program and our kids are engaged.  We are a community at SCIS!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

All week we have been celebrating the outstanding teachers we have here at school and it has been a very positive atmosphere everywhere around campus.  It was great to see so many of you sitting outside enjoying your food and a little sunshine at lunch today.  There were smiles, laughter, and good feelings all around…a great way to finish off a terrific week 🙂

Right across from my office is a HUGE thank you note from all of the Middle School students to you for being so awesome.  The notes and messages on that big yellow paper are inspiring.  For all of those days that your students come and go without a word of thanks, it only seems to take that one bit of appreciation to strengthen the fire.  This week of celebration and thanks couldn’t have come at a better time.

As the weather begins to turn and we come off of such a great week, enjoy your weekend!  We’ve got two weeks left and then we are on Spring Break…before you know it we’ll be on China Trips and shortly after that we’ll watch our students leave us for the summer.  If there is one message I could give to our kids at this point in the year it would be to cherish these last few months with your friends and teachers.  For many of them, and us, there will be tears and hugs at the end of the year as they go in separate directions.  Enjoy your time with your students and colleagues, they’re all wonderful people (even that kid, you know, the one who you just thought about…the one who might drive you up the wall most days…even them, they’re pretty cool too when you stop to think about it!)

I’m a big sports person, I grew up playing all sorts of sports and enjoyed coaching even more…I LOVE sports!  One of the all-time greatest coaches (at least in basketball) was John Wooden.  He coached at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) where he helped them win 10 national championships in 12 years, including 7 in a row.  At one point his team won 88 straight games.  No doubt he had some of the best players in the nation BUT he was still renowned as one of the greatest teachers of the game ever.  Anyway, I want to leave you with a quote from Coach Wooden, he understood just how important all of you are to our students and the future.  He nailed it when he said:

“I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.” – John Wooden

Thank you all for being so awesome for our students, no one can say it enough…you’re all incredible and you change the lives of our students every single day!!