Final-What is a strength you can blog about?

“Ultimately, the strengths were the first focus to help us move forward…”

 When we focus so much on weaknesses and how to improve them that we forget to look at what we do well and take time to celebrate our strengths.  I’m guilty of being critical of myself and looking for improvement.  I get worn down listening to negative feedback (as many do in education) and have to sit down and make time to see the good.  I have a box that I keep filled with positive notes and cards that I’ve received over the years.  I call it my “happy thought box” and I sit down and read the notes when I’ve had a really bad day, week or experience.  Over six years of teaching I’ve been able to print emails from parents, save letters from graduating seniors and screenshots of texts from parents and students that have kept me in education. 

In order to complete this final blog I’ve asked four colleagues what they think are my top three strengths and will be reflecting on what they replied.

Responses received to the questions, 

“What do you think are my top three strengths as a teacher?

1. Connection to and genuinely caring for your students

2. Knowledge of subjects and Organization (averaged out to a tie for #2)

3. Make learning fun

As my peers sent me their responses a trend emerged and I began to smile. 

 “They don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” 

I’ve always felt that building relationships with my students was a top priority and want to believe that it is truly reflected in my life.  I think that every group that I work with is important and that the children that I serve are precious and loved.  I strive to build relationships and connect with students over all parts of their lives.  As a teacher I put so much time into professional development and putting together lessons that I can be a distraction to what really matters.

At the DELTA conference I was challenged with the thought that a bee pollinates flowers as a consequence of doing their job well.  You see, a bee's job is to collect pollen to bring back to the hive and they have no idea that their job leads them to pollinating our flowers and vegetation.  This illustration made me think about what my job really is and what other positive consequences flow out of doing "my job" well.  My motto is "with purpose" and when I apply that to building relationships with students then all of my other jobs as an educator fall into place and give me open doors to do more with students.  When I lose focus of building relationships and start focusing on meeting state expectancies, FFA competitions, lessons or any other parts of "the job" then I start to feel overwhelmed and ineffective.

Every time a graduated student sends me a text or stops by during class I remember that it’s about more than teaching agriculture lessons but about being there when students really need you.  At times it is emotionally exhausting to want to be there for students when things are happening in my own life.  I always regret noticing a kid that is “off” on a given day and not pulling them aside to ask, “what’s up?”  I have never regretted seeing the sadness in their eyes or the change in behavior and taking the time to talk with that student. 

I love my students and they are my “why.”

I'm proud to say that my number one strength as an educator (as evaluated by my peers) is connecting with and caring for students.

Chapter 11- Embracing an Open Culture

One thing that Agricultural Education does well is sharing information and ideas.  Some days it feels that we all are so excited about what is happening in our classrooms that it is over sharing.  On the flip side there is always some that is struggling with some part of the job and looking for advice, encouragement and ideas.  One of my favorite places that this happens is on the Facebook Agricultural Education Discussion Group. Teachers from around the nation post questions and seek help with lessons, managing students and balancing life.  Every post is quick to get responses from experienced teachers and others that have “been down that road.” No one is too shy to ask and it is comforting to have others facing challenges and finding answers so that we know we aren’t the only ones.

"As educational leaders, we must promote and capitalize on open, connected learning."

Within the school, students share their experiences in other classes and with other teachers and that prompts me to connect teachers and see what is happening in other parts of the building. We don’t have a teacher’s lounge but we gather in different classrooms to talk about what has been happening in the lives of students and passing along advise and sharing highlights.

Chapter 10- Less is More

I never thought that the day would come where I was the one needing help with students to figure out technology.  But it happened. My school is big on Google Drive and Chromebooks but there is a world of Google Apps for Education that I’ve never even heard of.  Using Google Drive allows me to see real time the progress of students and monitor give instant feedback. However, kids are finding the "hacks" around some of the best features like review history and making it more difficult to make sure they are doing their own work. I know that this is the area I need to get on board with and hate to admit that I just can’t make the time to get things online and off paper. I’m old school and still prefer reading a book from the library and not off a Kindle so it’s hard to accept that everything is moving that direction.  

As far as blogs go, I am leery of opinions over facts.  I think blogs are great way to “journal” for students but don’t like the idea of them being used in a science based learning environment.  I thought that Twitter was going to be a fad and it seems that it was a place for people to complain without having to face their problems.  It is the same as with blogs where people believe someone just because of who they are and don’t fact check to make sure they are even telling the truth.  While I can see some educational value (I use these where I teach about validity and fact checking) and have social media on a personal level, I don’t think it will become a prominent part of my classroom until students are taught that just because they say it online it doesn’t make it true.

Chapter 8- Strengths-Based Leadership

"Great leaders practice balancing trust and autonomy while providing strong mentorship."

As a coach and advisor of a student club I get to work with some great kids and mentor them to reach their potential.  My greatest stress and failures came when I micro-managed these kids. Each group needed guidance but flourished when they were given responsibilities and taught to lead and not follow.  Yes, they needed help but I had to learn just how far I should let them struggle before helping (even when they didn’t ask). As they matured as leaders they were better at coming to me before they got overwhelmed and unable to complete tasks.  It was a critical life skill. To help them be successful in leadership (and membership, really) we take time every year to look their strengths and weaknesses and how that impacts the entire “team.” Every student I’ve taught in my last three years knows their personality (using https://www.16personalities.com/) and how that plays into their relationships with others.  As FFA officers they take it a step further and look at how that plays into a successful year of leadership.

The author mentions in one example that "exploring our strengths and passions, along with sharing and learning from one another, provided some of the most innovative and empowering professional development." I don’t know how many teachers within our school take time to evaluate their strengths or are using them to better the staff “team” but I would be interested in seeing how that could make us all better if we did.

Chapter 7- Creating a Shared Vision

As a whole there is a lot going on in the school and district.  Some is good and all can use improvement. On a 1-5 (1 being poor and 5 being awesome) scale I’m going to rate the high school based on my experience and observations.  I acknowledge that I’m not in these classes daily and hear most information from students and not the teachers.

Voice-2

Many of the teachers liit the voice of the students and don’t allow or require them to share.  They are asked to parrot information and not process and respond. Some classes this is the base of their daily lesson but most seem to be sit and listen classes.

Choice-3

Some teachers have integrated choice into projects and learning but the standard worksheet and homework is still king here.  The English teachers offer more choices on demonstrating learning but several other classes have so much room for these activities in their lessons.

Time for Reflection-3

Students are being asked more to reflect on their choices and the consequences of those choices through the SEL program and the connection with a mentor advisor through Career Cruising.  In all honesty, I don’t know what reflection other teachers do. It seems that in staff situations many are defensive when asked if what they are doing is effective.

Opportunities for Innovation-2

We are incredibly reluctant to any change.  As a staff they doubt that new can be better and like the tradition and way that things are done.  This is evident through the KESA process that the state is requiring schools to conform to.

Critical Thinkers-2.5

I think this is a reflection of choice and voice that is given to students.  I believe that the pressure to perform well on state and national testing is what keeps teachers from being able to really do better in this area.  We are concerned about the numbers game (test scores, college scholarships and the likes) that we forget that these are kids and they are so much more than numbers.  We label students that ask questions and challenge ideas as rude distractions instead of teaching them to be respectful question askers that are able to articulate their opinions.

Problem Solvers/Finders-2

We give information and they give answers.  I would love to see more service projects and demonstration of problem finding and solving.  I don’t think this falls on the shoulder of the educator but is a parent issue in this community.  Parents solve problems for their child and limit their opportunity to learn and develop the skills needed to find and solve bigger problems.

Self Assessment-4

We are making some great strides in this area. With the implementation of Career Cruising we are providing one-on-one conversations with students about their classes, life and life after high school.  They are evaluating interests, careers and schools through a realistic and systematic assessment process with the guidance of a teacher.

Connected Learning-3

So many educators feel that they have to be the expert.  I wish that more teachers would take the time to seek out professionals to come in virtually or physically to the classroom to give students the real life, up to date information they will need about topics and careers.

Chapter 6- Engage Versus Empower

School Verse Learning

I love my school and the teachers I work with.  However, I'm not blind to the way the school has been designed to reach certain test scores and criteria on a rubric during an evaluation.  I'm sad to admit that we lean to the school side of the spectrum more than the learning side more often than not.  We require students to recall information and not apply it. We try to engage them in a process and don't prompt them to go out and use what they learn.  As an elective teacher I have more freedom in lessons I teach and the way I teach them.  I can't imagine the strength and ingenuity it takes for a core teacher to take the state standards and make them something that empowers a student.

Many teachers are scared to flip the learning so that the students start with their own questions because they don't know how it will turn out.  When you spoon feed information you can assume that it will look fairly similar when it is regurgitated.  The longer a teacher is in the profession the harder it is to change how you do things in your classroom but it is the teacher willing to take risks and keep doing what is best for students (and not just easiest for them) that will be more influential in a student's life.

I can only imagine how much more learning would occur if we focused our energy on empowering students and not just engaging them in a check list of skills.

Chapter 5- Learn, Lead, Innovate

In a teacher these characteristics look similar to what they look like in other individuals.

Imagine with me...

The teacher is sitting in the empty classroom in a discussion board online for ag teachers.  She is sharing her experiences with the hands on lesson that her eighth graders tired that day.  A teacher from Kentucky responds with a suggestion to add another method of testing to make the experiments more exploratory for students (Networking, Observant).  Our ideal teacher takes that suggestion and tries it with the second group of eighth graders the next day (Open Risk-Taker).  The teacher admits to the second class that what they had tried the day before didn't work and that she was trying a different way after doing some research (Models Learning).  The teacher gets back on the discussion board to tell teachers what went well and what she would try different if she had a third class to try it with (Team Builder).

Later that week the teacher notices a story on SnapChat about genome mapping in sharks and tells her plant and soil science that just finished learning about GMO's.  As a student walks in early to first hour the teacher notices sadness in their eyes and makes a reason to keep them after class to let them know she is there when they want to talk about whatever it is.  Two days later the student comes in over lunch to talk about what is happening in their personal life (Empathetic, Always Focused on Relationships).

This teacher is focused on being a great teacher for her students and gives generously of her time to make sure that they have a safe place to fail and learn.