This school year we have decided to take a risk and be more intentional with our students' daily advisory period. We observed how many of our students have not been exposed to what people refer to as essential professional 21st century skills. So, this school year, we have given themes to each day of the week during "REAL Talk" and we are regularly addressing those skills. REAL Talk is the name of our student advisory time. REAL is also the acronym for our guidelines to success. Each person on our campus, whether they are staff, student, parent, or community member are expected to R = respond with respect, E = excel with effort, A = accept responsibility, and L = learn from service. Our campus culture is to "keep it REAL".
The REAL Talk theme are explained below.
"Map it out Monday"
Currently, our students can accelerate their learning and earn credits to graduate early. Each Monday our students will be monitoring their progress through their academics while also building a digital portfolios. Students, depending on which courses they are enrolled in, might be building resumes or completing research on other topics. This time is about goal setting and assessing what obstacles or stepping stones hindered or supported their successes from week to week. Our students' REAL Talk teachers will be checking with our students weekly to assess progress in the students' course work.
"Club day Tuesday"
I have heard of many schools having genius hour or flex time. This is similar in the sense that our students have choice in which club they want to be involved in at our campus. Some of the clubs we are offering our students are Audio Visual (movie making), Outdoor, Book, Photography, Creative, Maker/Tinker, and StuCo. Most of our students cannot stay after school to be involved in clubs since due to working and supporting their families. We decided to implement these with the intention to strengthen our relationships with our students. Our kids deserve a place to feel connected and we believe through shared experiences in school clubs students will receive those.
"Competition Wednesday"
We are not a comprehensive high school and we do not have any sports teams, but we have multiple students who are/were athletes. On Competition Wednesday we have intramurals lead by our own Coach Aduddell. Coach Aduddell has spent the summer coming up with and finding creative games for our students enjoyment. We are hoping to foster a sense of collaboration and teamwork. Our students are divided up into teams and they compete in some of silly, but competitive games every week. Some weeks are board games, but most are outdoor, hands-on games. Our students who desire athletics, but are unable to participate since they attend Timber Academy High School will still get the outlet they want. By the way, rumor has it, this week we will be playing human sized Foosball! It's going to be epic.
"Workday Thursday" (WDT)
WDT is my favorite! This school year we have invited multiple influential community members to come in and share the skills they need to do their jobs. For example, we had Chris Field, founder of two non-profits and other businesses come share and empower our students to work hard and to remember the little choices we make every 30 minutes can lead to a successful lifestyle. This week we have Mr. Eduardo Mata, a project engineer from Joeris General Contractors, coming to share his journey and skills he has learned in order to be an engineer. We hope our students connect, learn, and grow with and from our guest speakers each week. There are so many great speakers coming this school year. We have tried to invite people from all walks of life. Employees from Discount Tire, a seamstress, chefs, doctors, nurses, professors, personal trainers, a yoga instructor, social workers, after school program directors, and many more. We anticipate the exposure to the multiple types of careers and training will better support our student pursue a successful post-secondary life.
"Food for thought Friday"
This is where we discuss social issues, current events, and challenge our students to be open-minded. With using tech tools like Google Apps, Kahoot, Today'sMeet, and other digital tools we have had provided each person with a voice. We believe our students thoughts, opinions, and ideas matter. So far, this has been smooth. Our conversations will be challenging, but we keep it REAL, understand others are different than us, and respect them all the same. Our desire is through these conversations we can destroy any sense of judgement, and cultivate an environment of open-mindedness and kindness.
Throughout all of the planning I kept having this conversation with myself.
It is their school, so they should enjoy it. What are we doing to make our students want to come to school. Dave Burgess's book, Teach Like a Pirate. Has me regularly asking, "If my students did not have to come to school, would they?" I am optimistic about these changes. Let's keep on making experiences for ours students so they want to be at school.
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You Matter CSISDThis past Tuesday our district pulled off the one of the greatest professional development days I have ever experienced in my time as an employee in College Station ISD. It was called #YouMatterCSISD. Similar to an EdCamp, You Matter CSISD, gave every participant the opportunity to share their expertise, model best practices, facilitate conversations, and etc. Also, like EdCamp each participant could choose what they wanted to learn. Everyone in charge of their own learning. There is something special about watching hundreds of teachers walk around a high school sharing their learning as if what they learned was the hottest topic of the school year. I heard many educators share how they were excited to implement what they learned from their sessions so their success would rise. Others stated how they wish PD was always like this. We truly felt as if we mattered. Giving a teacher choice, customization, and an platform to be creative is like giving a little boy his first bicycle. The feelings are priceless. I had the pleasure of co-presenting with my good buddy and colleague, Josh Bowling. We did a spin off of SNL's Hanz and Franz, and we had a great time. I love making people laugh, it beings joy to my soul. For those wondering, I was Hanz (Dana Carvey). Our session was called "Pumping Up Your Behavior Biceps with Hanz and Franz". We focused on re-framing our thinking about behavior. Taking what Dr. Randy Sprick shares through his Safe and Civil Schools products, we challenged our participants to think of teaching behavior similar to teach an academic skill. Teach what you want your students to look like and sound like. We also shared easy-to-implement tier 1 and tier 2 behavior interventions for teachers, specialist, and administration, and some cheap positive reinforcement ideas. Through humor and our ridiculous accents, our guest were hooked and engaged. During our preparation, I would recall ideas from Dave Burgess' book, Teach Like A Pirate. We wanted to create an experience so entertaining our guest forgot they were in a workshop, and instead, imagining they were watching Arnold Schwarzenegger's cousins, Hanz and Franz, on an SNL episode. The feedback was positive, some more explicit than others, which as a presenter is appreciated, but what was most meaningful to me had yet to come. That evening, Aaron Hogan and I officially launched #CSISDchat. Our topic was on relationships, and I must say it was rich and real. Our guest were not holding anything back. Great transparency! Courtney Wellmann answered our sixth question which is below. Q6: "If you could communicate one message to your students and know they would hear it, what would it be? A6: That they have value & something positive to contribute to the world and doing so can change them & others in powerful ways #CSISDchat Now, when I read her response, I have to confess, I had goosebumps. I visualized hearing that statement as if I was her student. I sat there with my jaw dropped looking stunned. I could not recall a single time when one of my teachers or coaches confessed this to me. I felt invincible. There was nothing that was going to stop me because I can contribute to the world. I can change the the world. I felt empowered to do whatever my dreams would take me. I truly felt like I mattered. My hope is we kickoff this school year by building invaluable relationships with our students, but more than that, I hope we empower our students to feel like they matter. Join me on this journey. It will not be easy. I quote my high school football coach, "If it was easy, everybody would do it." Teaching is one of the hardest professions and I believe is one of the most admirable, too. Educators, I challenge each of us to listen to Courtney's response, it applies to all of us. You have value. You have something positive to contribute to the world. You can change others and yourself in powerful ways. When times get tough, try to remember you make an impact. Sometimes we are only tilling up the dirt for seeds to be planted and other times we are seeing the fruits of our labor. I wish you all a great start back to school. Thanks for being awesome! Recently, my wife and I had the opportunity to watch Disney's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. Thanks, Redbox, we enjoyed it. Many times throughout the movie, I started wondering how many of our students will walk into our schools with similar everyday thoughts? How many of our students question whether or not their family, friends, teachers, and/or principals really understand them or even care about them? It is ignorant to think our first day of school that 100% of our students are going to come in and not have some uncomfortable or negative feelings. Precipitating factors happen, and are out of our control, but in our four walls at school, we can address and support our students as they process through the hard times. Whether your students come from poverty or affluence, one thing is consistent, they need rich and meaning relationships with their teachers. Furthermore, a few summers ago I heard a statement from the Flippen Group (Capturing Kids' Hearts) that has continued to resonate with me. We do not deserve to touch our students' minds until we capture their hearts. How do we capture our kids heart? This is sometimes easier said than done, but simply, we must make them feel like they matter. There is a scene in the movie that speaks into what I heard at Capturing Kids' Hearts. Alexander has wrapped up another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and he is in the bedroom he shares with his brother. Alexander hears his brother say, "I love you" and he lights up like a Christmas tree. Now, what Alexander does not know is that his brother is on the phone with his girlfriend. In that moment, Alexander believes his brother cares for him and that he matters. Please understand, I am not saying we need to verbalize to our students the verbatim statement, " I love you", but we need to make a valiant effort to make each student know they matter. Our students deserve it. I know each teacher has their own way of building relationships with their students and I do not believe their is a secret formula on how to do that, but I hold true to these ideas when building relationships with students. We need to...
Simply, be when your students needs you. Be involved. Connect and watch your students astound you! |
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