What If... Our Students Had no Barriers?

I am reading Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner right now, and I have to say, it is inspiring me in multiple ways. Because of what I'm reading, I am driven to both teach and parent differently. Without summarizing the book, (trust me, though, you should read it),  I'll tell the story of how a particular segment has served as inspiration.

In chapter two, the author tells the story of Kirk Phelps, a very successful innovator. His first "real world" job was developing the first iPhone. How he got there, though, is what is deemed unconventional. Having only finished the eleventh grade, Kirk dropped out of high school and was accepted to Stanford to begin a dual BS/MS program. According to the book, when asked why he dropped out, he said that he really wanted to take a class during a free period in his schedule, and the school wouldn't allow it.

Without knowing the full story, we can make assumptions here. It might have been that an academic advisor was afraid the course would be too much for an individual with an already full schedule. It might have been that the course was full. Frequently, though, what happens in high school is that the schedule is set. Students have options about electives they want to take, what year they might take some required courses like foreign language or physical education, but otherwise, (especially if it is a small school), the schedule is set. And if you want to take an AP, dual credit, or college prep class, it's going to be offered once. If you want it badly enough, you'll somehow manage the rest of your classes around that, even if they're courses you don't want to take or with teachers that you know you struggle with.

This is a barrier for a student.

Now don't get me wrong - there are all kinds of barriers for students. Poor home life, learning disabilities, lack of resources, etc., etc. Any teacher could easily rattle off an enormous list of barriers kids face today. But what if our students did not have barriers? What if nothing held them back? What impact could we, as teachers, have if we set forth to change and maybe even remove those barriers?

I know there are many things outside of our control that we cannot change. We can't change the fact that some kids have a poor home life. But we can make their days at school full of care, warmth, respect, and encouragement. We can't change that students may come to us with less academic experience than we'd like, but we can provide learning experiences differentiated to meet their needs. We may feel that students are not motivated, but by designing instruction so that it mimics the real world, they have greater purpose.

If scheduling is a barrier for our kids, can online classes help? If our resources are stretched thin, could we look at eSourcing our curriculum? When we are frustrated by apathy, could we give students just a bit of freedom of choice with tools and design? What could each of us do to help break down those barriers and minimize, or even eliminate them?

Can we make barrier removal 100%? I can't answer that, but there are so many things that we do have control over that we can considerably change those that do stand in our students' way. We have control over schedules, classes we offer (or don't), mutual respect for students, accommodations, lesson design, and even most local assessments.

Several years ago, when I became a technology integration specialist, I was suddenly requested to do all sorts of things that I hadn't considered as job responsibilities. Upon receiving those requests, often, my initial reaction was, "No." But wanting to be a team player and to show my new boss that she had made the right decision in giving me the position, I made a rule for myself. If my initial reaction was no, rather than responding with that answer, I would respond with "let me think about it." In the time that response bought me, I would consider how I could turn my "no" into "yes." Sometimes it was out of my control and the answer was still no. But often, I could find a way to remove the barrier and create a win-win situation. This is another part of teaching with fidelity. It's just about doing what's right.

We can remove many of the barriers for our kids. Let's find ways to open their schedules, develop relationships with them, teach them to create instead of consume, seek alternatives for limited resources, differentiate our instruction, utilize small groups when our class sizes rise, and think - How can I turn my no into a yes? How can I eliminate barriers my students face?

Teaching with Fidelity - p365

A great friend of mine recently sent me a message asking me if I'd like to participate in a new diet challenge. It was promised to be a "diet hack that actually works." Here's how it goes. Get your friends together to form a network of healthy eaters. Take a picture of everything you eat throughout the day and share with your network.

I suppose the idea is that you'll think twice about eating that large slice of double layer chocolate cake if you are not only recording the calories, but also admitting to your friends that you ate it. From what I know about dieting, they say you'll do better if you join a network of others that are eating healthy, exercising, and providing encouragement to each other. This diet "hack" has combined the network idea with p365, another program of discipline, in which photographers take a picture everyday and upload to a designated website or share on their social networking sites with the hashtag #p365.

This got me thinking - if using p365 with our eating habits was supposed to make us eat better, could we use the p365 idea in our classrooms to help us teach better? One of the most valuable experiences I have had as a teacher was setting up the camera in my classroom to record a lesson, then viewing and reflecting later. It served as a gauge for how well I was differentiating, engaging students, and monitoring both the behaviors of my students and myself.

The difference between this practice and what I did in my classroom is that I specifically chose a lesson to record. Often, I even chose the class I wanted to record. So I was reflecting, but it wasn't a completely authentic process. But what if I took a picture of my classroom everyday? What would I gain from that experience? Would there be days that my colleagues were patting me on the back with encouragement? And similar to taking pictures of oneself to document and record weight loss, could I look back over a length of time to see how my students had grown and what they had accomplished?

It occurred to me that using the ideas of this diet hack and p365 in my classroom could really be a benefit and a challenge for teaching with fidelity. From my blogpost a few months ago, I discussed that we should be challenging ourselves to "teach with fidelity," to have high expectations for our students, to personalize instruction, provide challenges, and not allowing failure or second best. We get there through rigorous, relevant challenges, providing authentic feedback, and by developing relationships with our students. But I wonder, would there ever be a time, like my picture of the chocolate double layer cake, that I decided I didn't want to take a picture? What would I figuratively be saying to my students if it was one of those days that I decided to skip the picture?

So, as we begin to prepare our classrooms for the start of school, let's also prepare to share what we're doing. Here's the challenge. Take a picture of your classroom everyday and post to Twitter, Instagram, Vine, or ShutterCal with the hashtag #teach365. Develop a network with other participating teachers to challenge students, to learn, grow, and raise the accountability and fidelity of our teaching practices. Just like in our own lives, our kids can't move forward if we take too many "cheat days." And as a bonus, you'll have a visual representation of the journey your students have taken.

Challenge accepted?