Let the Light In

I love our school's annual themes, but I have to admit that last year's "Be Brave" is my all-time favorite (so far).  I think it is because I see so many acts of bravery every day at Perry Central.  Maybe part of it is also the Sara Bareilles song that became an anthem for the year.   I am a sucker for good lyrics, and the following lines from the song give me cold chills every single time I hear them.

Everybody's been there, everybody's been stared down by the enemy,

Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing,

Bowed down to the mighty.

Don't run; just stop holding your tongue.

Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live;

Maybe one of these days, you can let the light in.

Show me...how big your brave is.

Yep, cold chills right now.  These lines resonate because for some kids, we can almost see the bars of their cages.  Their cages are made of poverty or violent homes or sexual abuse or hunger or loneliness or obesity or simply not fitting in with their peers.  These cages should make learning, which is our fundamental purpose as a school, a long shot.  Yet learn they do.  Our kids amaze us all the time.  

Just this morning I saw a student (a struggling reader) raise his hand to answer the teacher's question about what a character's actions could tell us about theme.  The young man started out a bit tentatively; then the teacher gave him a nod and smile, and he said the smartest thing.  He said the character showed that it is important to never give up hope.  And he was right about the theme, and he understood the message.  The teacher has created a classroom culture that shines light and opens cages.  And out comes bravery!  I was lucky to see one act of bravery among the hundreds that surely happened today.  Please forgive my sappiness, but the staff and students here are, quite simply, an inspiration.  That gives me cold chills, too.  I am going to have to get a sweater.

What's All the Fuss About Twitter?

At the risk of seeming like a George Couros groupie, I feel compelled to blog once again about something he said on our first day of school.  After showing us the Perry Central hashtag, #pccsk12, and suggesting that we tweet to it often, Mr. Couros said this.  "If you don't know what any of this means (Twitter, tweeting, hashtags) or what I am talking about, you are in danger of becoming illiterate in the world today."

That is a bold statement, and it really made me think.  Literacy is an important word to me--it conjures the ideas of freedom and opportunity and connection and relationships.  I think of literacy as more of a basic human right than a skill.  Without it, how can one survive?  And I think about vehicles for literacy and how those have changed over time--from stone tablets to paper to typewriters to little handheld computers we can slip in our pockets.  What are the vehicles for literacy in 2015?

For our students, a big part of literacy is sharing their reading, writing, videos, and snapshots through a medium that reaches the audience most important to them--their peers.  And for many of them, that means Twitter or Instagram, or (heaven forbid) Snapchat.  If I were not an educator or a parent, it is possible that I could remain literate in 2015 without ever learning how to navigate Twitter.  I could continue to roll my eyes, pronounce it "Tweeter" and log onto Facebook like a normal 40-something.  But I am an educator and a parent, and that means I have to follow the kids where they go, lest I lose wonderful, meaningful ways to communicate with them.

My dad always said that teachers had to "meet kids where they are and then take them as far as possible."  As scary as it seems, the place where kids are is in the land of social media.  And we must meet them there in order to take them as far as they can go.  Let's jump in together.  Come on...it'll be fun.

  

George Couros's Challenge

This is my first ever blog post, and I am scared to death.  To me, writing is personal, and putting it out on the web seems so permanent.  What I think today is likely to change by tomorrow, but today I put it in print, for the love of heaven!  So I am scared, just so you know.  But I am going to do it anyway because last Monday, George Couros issued me a challenge.  "If the only reason you are using the Internet is for research, you are missing the point," he said.  "If you want your school embracing these ideas, you have to model it," he said.  Okay fine, George, if you say so.  Here I go.

Last Monday was what we call "teacher day" -- it was the first day back to school for teachers, and students came back the next day.  We typically allow teachers a lot of time in their classrooms on this day, but this year we brought in a speaker--George Couros--to kick off our year.  I was nervous that people would be upset about losing that precious time in their classrooms and hesitant to hear the message, but I underestimated Couros's charisma!  And his message was pretty awesome, too.  By day's end, we had laughed and cried and learned, and a lot of people entered the world of Twitter.  We learned about the necessity to embrace technology as a powerful tool for learning, but we also heard that all learning grows from the foundation of positive relationships with students and with each other.

Seven days have passed since George's visit, and I am worried the message has started to fade.  There is always so much to do!  How can we tweet to the hashtag (#pccsk12 by the way) and greet students at the door each morning and prepare the lessons and grade the papers and fix supper and make it to the church meeting and, and, and...?  I do not have the answer to that.  Frankly, I am amazed at how much teachers get done every day of their lives with smiles and humor and grace.  The only thing I know to do is set a goal.  Each morning when I take my daughter to her classroom, I am going to greet students with a smile.  Once a day, I am going to tweet to the hashtag, and once a week, I am going to write this blog.  There, I said it.  In writing.  And I am still scared, but also motivated and excited.

I wonder which of George's messages stuck with others.  Are they greeting students at the door each day with a smile or hug or high five?  Are they developing a PLN on Twitter?  Have they used video to show what kids are learning?  My challenge to all of us is to just try something--start somewhere. Let's live out our theme for the year...Relate. Innovate. Create.  And as always, be brave.