James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement

Last summer, I got the writing bug again. There have simply been so many ideas that have emerged during my tenure as an Education instructor. In this episode, I introduce my brand new book Even More Hacking Engagement.

This episode is about Constructivist Learning. Here's a definition from the University of Buffalo:Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct knowledge rather than just passively take in information. As people experience the world and reflect upon those experiences, they build their own representations and incorporate new information into their pre-existing knowledge (schemas).I grew up in the pretty rolling eastern part of Ohio. We had beautiful woods behind my house. As a boy, I'd wander those woods. I couldn't tell a maple from an oak, but I loved being in those tall trees. In science class, my attention often wandered and my grades suffered. But the hands-on parts engaged me more. One project I actually loved and it made a lasting impression. In one of my high school science classes, I don't even remember which, we were tasked to collect leaf specimens for a display and a presentation. For a week after football practice, I would wander the woods behind our house and collect colorful leaves. It was exhilarating. I learned a bunch about the trees that I had always appreciated but knew little about. I filtered my new knowledge through my extensive experience of walking in those woods. I developed a new understanding of how the forest functioned. As I learned about the trees I became passionate about sharing my new knowledge, my passion, and my interpretation of the natural beauty behind my house. I became curious about trees and sought more information. I still vividly remember this project and virtually nothing else about that science class. This project was assigned to me over 4 decades ago! When I ask students to recall powerful learning experiences, they often point to something similar. It could be a capstone project or a breakthrough where they finally learned how to do something or mastered a skill. In most cases, students point to a memory where they were actively making sense of something—like the differences in the trees in the woods behind my house. . Now, consider every class that you've been assigned to teach. If you're like me, and I'll wager that you are, you must figure out the curriculum guide or the syllabus. It becomes like a hands-on science project and is often confusing at first. It only starts to make sense once you implement your spin informed by your perspective. When I teach a new class, my lessons generally end up looking quite different from whoever taught the class previously. Of course, in the opinion of your humble narrator, my version of the class is always superior. The process that I just described is Constructivist Learning. All learners, including teachers preparing to teach a class, construct meaning from their own perspective. This may lead to diverse understanding and creations, but that's okay. We educators should embrace this variety. On the other hand, I often ask my students, “How would you do if you had to retake last semester's final exams?” Most grimace and predict that they wouldn't do well. This is depressing. It points to the reality that many educators assess a lot of short-term memory. I'm not trying to come off as superior. I've done my share of it too. However, such learning events don't make much of an impression. And this dear listener is where Kennedy Borcoman makes a dramatic appearance.

Summer vacation is getting long in the tooth. A number of years ago, I would've been staring down the calendar because football practice starts next week in Ohio. It's sad to see summer wane, but it is what we do for a living. And, even though it's hard to go back, as soon as you step in front of those students—it just feels right.Today, I'm going to give you a magnificent idea for the first day of school. I'm teaching a brand new class this fall. It's EDUC 313 Curriculum and Design. I'm determined to engage my 3rd and 4th year students right out of the chutes. I'm also determined to demonstrate to them how they can start creating an outstanding learning environment once they become the teachers in the very near future. I want to read from the Ohio Teacher Evaluation Rubric. This is under the domain Classroom Environment. To score accomplished on the rubric, you had to do the following: The teacher and students have collaboratively established consistent use of routines, procedures and transitions that are effective in maximizing instructional time. On-task behavior is evident and ensured by students. Students initiate responsibility for effective operation of the classroom.I think this is a great objective. Congratulations Ohio. I'm going to certainly attempt to do that starting on Day 1. I'm going to draw inspiration from the British Isles and 807 years ago. The Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215. By doing so, he became a monarch whose power was limited. He agreed to certain demands of his nobles in the process. Since then, the United Kingdom has been a beacon of good government. I had a pretty rugged Biology teacher in high school. On the first day, he informed us that the class was not a democracy and he was a benevolent dictator. Certainly, there's a middle ground. I'm guessing that Magna Carta Jigsaw lesson will inspire you!

Liz Jorgensen is an all star high school English teacher from Wisconsin. Her brand new book Hacking Student Learning Habits just hit Amazon's virtual shelves. I'm confident that you'll be inspired to check out this book after listening to this interview. Liz articulates how she utilizes empathy to inspire learning. We also talk a lot about assessment—hence the title of this podcast episode. What I particularly love about Liz is that she's not self-promotional. She supplies oodles of examples of inspirational tactics from various subjects and grade levels. You'll hear us discuss: why she decided to write the bookher ideas on assessmenthow to help students thriveinspiring intrinsic motivationstudent feedbackauthentic purpose growth mindset Just maybe, Liz has an idea that'll transform your classroom. So sit back and absorb and consider.

It's sad to hear reports of so many educators becoming discouraged. Some are considering leaving the profession. If that's you, or you have a friend or colleague who's struggling, you selected the right podcast. In the last episode I interviewed Jim Mahoney and we addressed this theme of the teacher exodus. I feel so passionately about this topic that I decided to dedicate an entire episode to it and I have the perfect guest. Michale Brilla made a move from classroom instruction to technology coach in 2019. Last year, he was given the option to stay in that role or return to the classroom. He obviously chose the latter and this episode is why he opted to return, everything he missed in exile, and what his triumphant renaissance has been like. This is an important episode. Please consider Michael's compelling message as you go through your evaluation.

It's heartbreaking to hear about all of the talented educators who are strongly considering cashing in their chips and exiting the classroom. This is not a good thing. Their students need them and quitting may not be the right move for discouraged educators. I can say this with confidence because I vamoosed from education after my 7th year. I was fortunate to be able to hightail it back into the classroom after just a 6 month hiatus. If you quit now, you may never return even if you want to. A few years after my rather intense exile. I had the opportunity to hear Jim Mahoney speak at a professional development. I was excited to hear him because he was the superintendent at my home school. I hadn't met him yet, but my mom and dad knew him and they liked him. 2 sentences into Jim Mahoney's presentation, I was hooked. This guy was engaging, funny, and highly relevant. I vividly remember one animated part of his presentation when he was talking about teacher frustration. He clenched his fists, scrunched his face, and then he empathized. As he was clenching and scrunching, he said the following: When you folks (we were an audience of k12 teachers) start wondering, Why do I keep doing this?The rest of his presentation was a powerful answer to this rhetorical question. It was a pure shot of educational areniline. I left that auditorium thinking, Man, I'm glad I'm back in the classroom. I'm not leaving again till retirement. Jim and I later connected. We catch up with one another at least annually. I love the guy and I'm not alone. Jim Mahoney is education royalty in Ohio. His resume is as impressive as it is diverse. But that's not why I invited him on this show. Jim just authored a book called To Lead is to Teach. If you, or anyone you know, are considering leaving the classroom, this book will probably give you hope and will at least give you pause. If you're not considering leaving, read it anyway and be inspired and feel great about being part of this magical calling.

It's been a while since I published an episode. There's a reason for that. I've been busy developing a new podcast. The Retired Teacher Coach Podcast debuted in the last week of 2021. It's based on my coaching practice. My elevator pitch for my coaching goes as follows:I help retired educators make awesome health and lifestyle choices.While my niche is retired educators, I work with clients that are not educators and clients who are not retired. Each episode of my new show follows a template similar to the Hacking Engagement Podcast. I'll identify a problem and offer solutions. Please don't worry about the Hacking Engagement Podcast. It's not ending. There'll be more episodes in the future.But for today I wanted to share an episode of my new podcast. This episode has been very well received and I'll wager that it'll inspire you regardless of your age or your occupation status. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to The Retired Teacher Coach Podcast on Apple, Google, or Spotify.

One of my passions since the semi-return to normal instruction in hopefully the receding wake of COVID, is to retain successful aspects of virtual instruction and then to include them in-person instruction. I've heard a lot of students and instructors say, “I never want to be on another Zoom call again.” Well, that's not realistic. There were aspects of virtual instruction that facilitated learning. We need to keep those. In this episode, four powerful virtual tactics will be explored. Granted, each of these ideas is much older than the pandemic and had been utilized extensively in in-person instruction, but they were particularly well-suited to virtual instruction and they should absolutely be included now in face-to-face learning. Here are the four tactics:the use of a virtual interactive syllabuspopulating the virtual syllabus with highly interactive HyperDocsincorporating higher level thinking promptsutilizing landing pads where students can submit work and then collaborateTo help me explore these ideas, I conscripted Ethan Miller—a primary source. Ethan is an education major at Muskingum University. He's been in a class I taught in-person and one that I taught virtually. He's passionate about how much better in-person instruction is, but he's coming around to virtual learning's potential. He's the perfect guest for this episode and he's going to be a magnificent teacher.

Imagine a high school girl from Texas deciding to venture to Denmark as an exchange student. Talk about a culture and a climate shock. I'm describing the young Jennifer Burke-Hansen. What's interesting about Jennifer is that she became enchanted with this tiny nation of 6 million on the scenic Jutland Peninsula. So much so that she's resided there for the last three decades and taught high school for the bulk of her stay.Jennifer embodies the growth mindset. She continually pushes herself outside of her comfort zone. Teaching school is hard enough in your hometown. Imagine teaching in a different culture where the students don't even speak your native language. The challenges of returning to in person instruction this fall is making many anxious. Jennifer is here to help. She's offering free training entitled How to create your personalized back-to-school reEntry plan! Just click on the link to access. Here's also a post from her reEnchanting Teaching Blog. The post is titled Redefine your Normal. I love this idea and we talk about teaching in the post-COVID world a lot in this episode. I also love the theme of her blog reEnchanting Teaching. I was a successful teacher, but there were seasons in my career where I had doubts. Jennifer's blog addresses questioning educators. You're not alone and Jennifer is here to help.

I'm going to describe a student. I'll bet you can picture one similar. This kid seems unenthused by many of the prompts and activities that are issued or done in class. It isn't that they are incapable, in fact just the opposite. They master directives quickly and effortlessly. Unfortunately, they complete their efforts without much enthusiasm. The student feels stuck in the endless wave of mundane requirements that overpopulate the typical k12 experience. They are disillusioned with the one size fits all approach to education. I'll bet you can think of a student like this. Picture that young person in your mind. I'll bet you worked hard to personalize this their instruction to give them room to grow and explore. Such efforts on your part are noble and I applaud you for it. But the fact remains that we probably don't offer students enough intellectual freedom. We probably don't leverage curiosity enough.And this dear listener is where Collin Jewett makes a dramatic appearance. Collin was a classic bored student, but he doesn't come to my podcast to vent. He'll vent a little, but he's more interested in helping. Think of Collin as a customer who actually completes a consumer feedback prompt and does so in the spirit of constructive criticism. We can learn a lot from students and former students like Collin if we have the courage and humility to listen.

I think that every educator has heard the following, “I didn’t do well on this assessment because I have test anxiety.” The fact that every teacher has heard this should be a red flag. Certainly, a bit of test anxiety is healthy—I mean you have to be motivated enough to study. The problem is when test anxiety results in diminished performance. Not only is this stressful and demoralizing, but it also creates inaccurate results. We need to do assessment better. Assessment should be less like judgement day and more like growth events. And this is where Aaron Cook, the Director of Secondary Curriculum and Assessment at the Delaware City Schools in suburban Columbus, makes a dramatic appearance. Aaron is an assessment savant. In this episode, he’ll promote assessing the whole child. My wife and I strive to eat a whole foods diet. We feel a lot better when we’re not scarfing down all of those preservatives that we can’t pronounce. A whole child approach to assessment will be just as healthy. Not only will Aaron’s ideas inspire you to empower your students through assessment, but he’ll also guide you to creating much more accurate probes.

I went to grade school in a small town. Our school was right on Main Street in the town center. A few of my most vivid memories were the brief class excursions into town. On various days, we visited the post office, the dairy, the glass blower, and the bakery. I had no aspirations to be a postman, a dairy farmer, a glass blower, or baker. Regardless, I loved these field trips. It got us out of the stale classroom. It unveiled to us how products that we regularly consumed were produced and distributed. I loved these experiences and my classmates did too. We’d cheer every time a new scenic detour was announced. Those experiences happened 50 years ago. And here, dear listener, is where Brent and Molly Watson make their dramatic appearance. Brent and Molly have created the Garden Learning Lab. It’s an awesome community resource. It’s exciting and humbling to think that in the year 2071, some old-timer will be waxing eloquently about the trip they made to the Garden Learning Lab all the way back in 2021.

The bubblefication of the United States is much written about and much talked about. We tend to live around, interact with, watch media outlets populated, and are entertained by...people who think like we do and probably look like we do. That’s too bad, because while bubbles can feel safe, they are also limiting. The scary part of our bubbles is that they are reflected in our schools. Many American students learn in monochromatic settings. Their peers largely look like they do and probably think like they do as well. Youth should be a time of healthy exploration. What can be done? Today I’m going to talk to David McCullough. He has an interesting idea on how to get students at your school out of their bubbles. His creation, the American Exchange Project offers a 10-14 day summer experience for graduating seniors. It’s like a mini gap year. Students will live and experience, for a brief time, a community that’s different than their own. This experience is:FreeOpen to All

This seems like a totally incongruent title. How in the world can you use assessment to forge strong relationships with students? And yet in this episode. My guest and I will attempt to answer this question. The key is student revision based on teacher feedback. Two tech tools that are instrumental in this process are the Google extension Mote and an app called Voxer. Both will be featured in this episode.Educators need to stop conducting assessment as an event and transform it into more of a process. Students learn so much when they go back and fix and improve. Successful revisions typically take a healthy collaboration between students and teachers. That, dear friends, is fertile ground for relationships to evolve. To help in this interesting exploration, I conscripted one of my students. Layne Neuhart is a wonderful person. She has a bottomless intellectual curiosity and is a blast to interact with. She’s going to be a champion at forging positive relationships with the lucky students that will one day be in her language art class.

The attack on the capitol should be a wakeup call for educators. We have a moral obligation to help students evaluate online sources. Perhaps through our efforts, kids will develop a healthy skepticism about all sources. Unfortunately, many contemporary adults have trained their young to reserve their skepticism only for those sources that emanate from the other side of the political divide. Contemporary media literacy should encourage a healthy skepticism toward all sources.

I’ve always been fascinated as to how calamities, such as war, lead to innovations that benefit humankind long after the conflict abates. WWII, for example, sponsored all of the following:AntibioticsRadarJet AircraftComputersSatellitesThe old adage Necessity is the mother of invention could be applied to each of these quantum technological leaps. In each case, one side in the conflict was attempting to develop advantages that would lay waste to their enemy. The unintended consequence, however, was that these inventions vastly improved civilian existence after the conflict. I could not fathom my life without any of these WWII byproducts. This realization got me thinking. I wonder if the catastrophe of COVID will spawn better ways to educate kids. To help explore this rhetorical question, I tapped a former guest, Ryan Mocarski. 5 years ago, on Episode 31, Ryan promoted the idea of self-directed learning. In this episode, we’ll speculate about transitioning out of COVID.

The best thing about social media is that it keeps you connected with significant people. It’s kept me connected to many former students. I’m going to talk to one today. Ty DeLong was a student in my Economics class almost 2 decades ago. Ty lives in Nashville. He’s a software engineer. He’s a devoted husband and father. I’m really proud of him.A few years back, I ran into Ty’s parents at a local store. My wife and I caught up on the doings of Ty and his siblings, but at one point in the convo, his parents mentioned the positive impact of a lesson from my class on Ty’s life. WOW–that thrilled me. Today’s episode is going to be on that lesson, why and how it impacted Ty, and the incredible responsibility and potential for every educator whenever the bell rings each period and each day.

Last week was exhilarating. My wife and I had become determined to install a subway tile backsplash in our kitchen. I thought to myself, There’s no way I’m going to pay someone to do that. I’ll learn how and do it. Of course, I went to the greatest educator in the world–YouTube. I watched a number of how-to videos, gathered my courage, and then installed that backsplash. It was a profitable and empowering exercise. I love my new backsplash and the experience gives me confidence to take on more such challenges.Are you willing to gather your courage and try something new in your classroom? Covid has forced us to adapt and take risks and wouldn’t you agree that there have been experiences over the past few months that have evolved you as a teacher? I’ll wager that when this crisis abates that you’ll find yourself teaching differently than before Covid. Times such as these afford you the opportunity to try new things and take risks. And this, dear listener, is where Shane Neiffer makes a glorious appearance. Shane is a middle school science teacher in Eastern Pennsylvania. She’s developing a sparkling reputation as an innovator. She takes a subject that many students dread–Science and makes her class the one her students are gabbing about around the dinner table that evening. In this episode, we’ll talk about exactly HOW she does it. It’s one thing to hear about someone doing something, but it rises to a whole new meaningful level when they demonstrate. Think back to my subway tile backsplash example. Without YouTube, I’d have been lost. That is the magical thing about what Shane has done for you in this episode. You simply must navigate to my show notes and then access the link to Shane’s Resources. This doc is a student engagement roadmap. She indicates the objective and then provides the tool to fix it. She’s compiled 30 different tools that can be utilized to achieve the various objectives she has listed. This is a powerful resource that I’m going to apply in my classes next semester. I challenge you to take a look and NOT find something that you’re going to use tomorrow. That is why in the title of this episode the word HOW is in all caps. Shane, like YouTube, gives you the how. This is a magnificent resource for Covid and beyond. If you’re an administrator and you're looking for PD for your teachers, Shane would be an excellent choice. I definitely see instructional coaching in her future. But after having said all those wonderful things about her, I would be remiss if I left out the most important part–she’s a really neat person. I’ve known her for a grand total of two weeks and I feel like I’ve known her most of my life. This woman is a technocrat and a highly engaging person. That dear friends, is a wonderful combo. I love this interview!

Covid has forced educators to take portions of their instruction, or all of their instruction, online. It’s quite an adjustment for all concerned. But imagine, and perhaps you’ve faced this, that a significant portion of your student’s home technology setup is inadequate, or non-existent. What do you?In this episode, we’ll ask Jalen Wells this question. Jalen teaches history at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland. Many of his students have such technological obstacles. Covid has multiplied exponentially this digital divide. Jalen will talk about what his school has done and what he has done to help these students.

The first time I was a participant in a Zoom call, I was so impressed. It felt so futuristic. I thought highly of it and was excited to do another.Covid however, like with many things we treasure, wiped out this euphoria. Zoom calls sprouted up everywhere. I grew to dread the dreaded Zoom call invitation. Here are some reasons why:They’re too many participants.They’re not engaging.They’re too long.Most are time and place bound.In this episode, I’ll offer a remedy to each of these problems. Here are four objectives that I follow in my engaging Zoom call quest:small intimate experienceshighly engaging preparation and discussion prompts30 minute call limitrecorded and made available to non-participantsI’d like to take each of these objectives and go into a bit more depth

In the fall of 1979, I was a freshman in a college dorm trying to adjust to my new surroundings. One thing that I’ve always done to ground myself has been to play the music that I love. I grew up in a small town in Southeastern Ohio that was not diverse. And yet, my musical taste was totally urban. I loved the Isley Brothers and the Brothers Johnson and Earth Wind and Fire. One transformational afternoon, I put on some of my jams, which inspired a guy a couple of doors down to walk to my room, pop his head in, and then joyously proclaim, “I can’t believe you're listening to these jams. I didn't think anyone on this floor loved the Isley Brothers.” That guy was Vince Trocchia and a lifelong friendship evolved from this initial interaction. In October of that magical year, Vince invited me to his house for dinner. I eagerly accepted. I was treated to a magnificent Italian meal and met Vince’s wonderful family. I was so intrigued by his dad Robert.Robert was the iconic local music teacher at Fairfield Union High School in Breman, Ohio. His choir from a small Ohio town:Performed in many of the great cathedrals in the western worldAppeared on nearly fifty TV showsAnd was named one of the top high school choirs in the United States.It was evident from the moment that I met him how much Robert loved his life. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my future at this point, but his example impacted me. I viewed him as immensely rich. This evaluation had nothing to do with his stock portfolio.Robert is now 86-years-old. You would never guess that when you listen to his powerful voice. He seems exactly the same to me as he did forty years ago. When I learned that Robert authored a book about teaching, I knew that I had to get it and that I had to have him as a guest on this podcast. Mountaintop Moments is a wonderful book for any teacher, at any grade level, teaching any subject. Embrace the message of this wise sage!

In the fall of 1979, I was a freshman in a college dorm trying to adjust to my new surroundings. One thing that I’ve always done to ground myself has been to play the music that I love. I grew up in a small town in Southeastern Ohio that was not diverse. And yet, my musical taste was totally urban. I loved the Isley Brothers and the Brothers Johnson and Earth Wind and Fire. One transformational afternoon, I put on some of my jams, which inspired a guy a couple of doors down to walk to my room, pop his head in, and then joyously proclaim, “I can’t believe you're listening to these jams. I didn't think anyone on this floor loved the Isley Brothers.” That guy was Vince Trocchia and a lifelong friendship evolved from this initial interaction. In October of that magical year, Vince invited me to his house for dinner. I eagerly accepted. I was treated to a magnificent Italian meal and met Vince’s wonderful family. I was so intrigued by his dad Robert.Robert was the iconic local music teacher at Fairfield Union High School in Breman, Ohio. His choir from a small Ohio town:Performed in many of the great cathedrals in the western worldAppeared on nearly fifty TV showsAnd was named one of the top high school choirs in the United States.It was evident from the moment that I met him how much Robert loved his life. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my future at this point, but his example impacted me. I viewed him as immensely rich. This evaluation had nothing to do with his stock portfolio.Robert is now 86-years-old. You would never guess that when you listen to his powerful voice. He seems exactly the same to me as he did forty years ago. When I learned that Robert authored a book about teaching, I knew that I had to get it and that I had to have him as a guest on this podcast. Mountaintop Moments is a wonderful book for any teacher, at any grade level, teaching any subject. Embrace the message of this wise sage!

Formative assessment is not done enough. I believe that part of the problem is that teachers simply don’t know enough about it, or how to do it. I was unclear on both of these counts a decade ago. It makes me sad to think of all the students who matriculated through my class before I became aware of this powerful tactic. Hopefully, this episode will inspire and enlighten you. I finally have students joining me once again. Aurora Dollins, Brianna Pasco, and Alex Staton are students in my Assessment class at Muskingum University. I love interviewing Education majors because they have a unique perspective. They get what it’s like to be a student, but they are constantly evaluating how they will utilize approaches and tools once they become instructors. 

Dr. Dorothy VanderJact and I have recently become friends. Dorothy is veteran educator from the great state of Michigan. She’s been a middle school teacher, an elementary principal, a central office administrator, and a college professor. That’s, a lot of perspective. Two months ago, her brand new book Permission to Pause was released. Her timing was perfect. This book will help discombobulated teachers get their bearings and evolve into a state of well-being. While her timing on releasing this book is perfect, it’s worthy COVID or not. Dr. Dorothy wants teachers to pause and reflect. I’m a big fan. In this episode, she’ll tell you why it’s important to pause and reflect and how you can do it!

Path 9 in my new book Teaching in Magenta is about Venerating a Veteran. I’m going to read Path 9:One negative aspect of aging is the feeling that you’re losing relevance. I’m fortunate in that younger teachers sometimes reach out to me for guidance. When they do, it makes me feel awesome. I try to give them solid advice, and many are grateful. What they don’t realize is how energizing it is for me when they ask. Today, seek out an older colleague and pay them a compliment or ask for advice. You’ll be doing them (and you) a great service, and they just may give you a wonderful suggestion. Today’s episode is in the spirit of Path 9. Recent episodes that I’ve produced about specific paths in my book have been short. This one, is an exception. This is an extensive conversation with Pennsylvania teaching and coaching legend David Crowell. So–while I’m certainly venerating a veteran, we delve into the provocative topic of motivation. How can educators motivate students? Because this topic is so rich and important, we went on for a bit. I learned about Coach Crowell from my friend the innovative instructional coach Michael Brilla. Michael has been a guest on this podcast twice and like a lot of my guests, we’ve become friends. Michael predicted that Coach Crowell and I would hit it off. He was right! There was only one divergence, however. Coach is more nostalgic than me. But other than that, I found myself doing a lot of head-nodding as I listened to David stress the transformational potential of relationships. While David has retired from the classroom, he’s still coaching wrestling, and is a frequent presenter with the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

Well–ready or not, school will be starting soon, For some of us, it's already started. My first day is next Wednesday. Many colleges, like mine, are in session for 3 months, they then adjourn at Thanksgiving, and then don't resume till January. It'll be the longest winter break that I've ever experienced. That actually sounds pretty awesome. If you're like me, the idea of jumping back in the saddle comes with joy, but a few mixed feelings. There have been aspects of my life over the last few months which have been positive. I'll touch on some of those in this episode. Last spring, I taught virtually like everyone else. This fall, I'll be teaching a blended class. It's a new challenge for me and I'm excited about it. Without a doubt, I'm mostly glad I'm returning next week. But, I haven't been physically in front of students for months. While I'm looking forward to it, there's a small tinge of, Can I still do this? I imagine I'm not alone in this emotion. My prediction is that the vast majority of us will feel totally at home and thrilled to be back in our natural habitat. This program might stoke some ideas for that first week with students. Are you going to talk about the long absence from school? Are you going to address virtual learning last spring? On a TYPICAL first week of school, educators often incorporate some type of prompt which challenges students to reflect on their summer vacation. This first week of school year won't be a typical.

For the next five weeks, I'm going to try an experiment. My new book Teaching in Magenta was inspired by Niki's gift. My book is divided into 5 sections based on qualities of magenta:CompassionOptimismBalanceAdaptabilityContentmentI'm going to read 1 path from a different section each week. Today, I'll focus on Path 57, which can be found in the section on Balance.

Imagine that you and I step into an elevator together. Secured under my arm is a copy of my new book Teaching in Magenta. You notice the book and ask me about it. Your question instantly makes me realize a couple of things:This is a classic scenario for an elevator pitch.I better make these next few seconds count before the doors open and you disappear. So–I lay on you my elevator pitch for Teaching in Magenta: This book provides 100 ways to CREATE a magnificent day in the classroom. Once you start stringing some Magenta Days together, you and your students will experience profound well-being and deep joy. Thankfully, you receive my pitch positively and then inquire, “That sounds interesting. Why did you write it? Why is Magenta in the title? How does one teach in magenta?” This podcast answers those questions. I’m so excited to bring you this new book Teaching in Magenta. Over the next few weeks, I’ll do 5 short podcasts which detail paths directly from the book. I’m going to help you create 5 magnificent days in your classroom. But today, I’m going to lay some groundwork. Today’s episode will: Explain why I started writing books a decade ago.How I got that book published. Explain why I wrote Teaching in Magenta.Describe Teaching in Magenta.Please check out my book Teaching in Magenta. And if you’re not ready to hit the buy now button on Amazon, but you’re intrigued and you’re willing to listen more as we ride the elevator up a few more floors, check back soon and I’ll describe one path to create a magnificent day for you and your students.

I was a Poli-Sci and History major in college. My senior year, I made the decision to obtain a teaching certificate. I wasn’t certain what I was going to do, so I decided that I could teach a few years while I sorted it out. One of my first Education classes was Audio Visual Resources. We learned such mystical skills as using a laminator, threading a movie projector, producing copies on a mimeograph machine, and manipulating a film strip. Even at the time, these technologies seemed dated. I couldn’t believe that I was paying tuition for this. That was an easy A. I had other Education classes that were relevant and challenging, but I secured my teaching certificate without too much sweat and promptly forgot about my preparation experiences once I got my first teaching job. Many educators have similar stories. I’ve heard many a colleague describe their teacher preparation majors as a series of irrelevant hopes that they had to jump through. And this, dear reader, is where Dr. Traci Tuttle makes a dramatic entrance. Traci is the Education Department Chair at Muskingum University. Traci totally understands frustrations with educator preparation programs. She experienced them too. Consequently, she's highly motivated to create a different experience for the Education majors at Muskingum. In this episode she talks about this some, but what really motivates her is her objective to foster partnerships with K-12 educators. I believe she gets this because she spent many years as a K-12 teacher.You’re going to enjoy this convo and hopefully it will inspire you to seek out a partnership with an institution of higher learning.

I enjoy conducting professional development, particularly when I’m commissioned to present on teacher wellbeing. I take the audience on a journey of various challenges a teacher faces during different stages of a 30 year career. Because I logged 34 years in a public school classroom, I have plenty of material. I enjoy describing my struggles at various junctures. Generally, I recreate a challenge that was unique to a phase I was navigating. Rarely in these stories, am I the hero. I love to talk about learning valuable lessons–that I often learned the hard way. One such lesson happened 7 years into teaching. I call it my 7-year-itch lesson. I was 32, and I felt stymied. All the incentives in education were internal. Your compensation was based on experience and education level. There were darned few avenues of advancement. You could become an administrator, or a head coach, but neither of those options appealed to me. I felt trapped. So I left teaching and went into the private sector where I’d be compensated based on what I did, not who I was. I have a good skill set for being successful in sales. But just because one has potential, does not mean one should select a certain career path. I had no idea how much I’d miss my students. The interactions I had with sales clients could not compare. These interactions were highly transactional and sometimes confrontational. I desperately missed my students and went hightailing it back. This experience was immensely valuable, because I learned that my love for the relationships that blossomed between students and me far out shadowed frustrations I had with the job. My sabbatical, consequently, was hugely beneficial to my wellbeing. I bring this up, because today I’ll interview a teacher that took such a similar hyattus. This episode is also special because Dora Riggs used to be my student. She not only left a cushy teaching gig in an affluent suburban high school, but she returned to an urban district. Her students and the community where she now teaches, while only 10 miles from her previous school, could not be more different. Dora will talk about her teacher gap year–and more interestingly how it and her new surroundings have impacted her. She loves her new school. She’s become a trauma informed teacher and a disciple of restorative practices. She’s a different teacher–a more empathetic teacher. Dora is going to explain why and how.

When I retired from teaching high school last year, I worried about losing all of the social interaction that I got from teaching 150 students daily. So, I secured an adjunct position teaching aspiring educators at Muskingum University. I also teach refugees how to speak English. These teaching gigs have been a joy, but it’s a different life because I’m only teaching 3 days a week–which is also a joy. My new-found freedom affords me the opportunity to explore, grow, and take risks. I also want to keep expanding my human capital. Relationships make life worth living and I love forging new ones. One area of growth that I’ve been exploring this year is fitness. I have so much more time to workout now and I love it. I researched ways that I could challenge myself physically and grow myself socially. At the end of my exploration, I concluded that I should join a Crossfit gym. Crossfit significantly challenges you physically and promotes community. Crossfit gyms are highly social places. That was exactly what I was looking for. I found an excellent local gym–Crossfit Polaris . Kristi Eramo is the owner and a prominent games athlete. I love her teaching style and was excited to learn from her and the other coaches at Polaris. Unfortunately, the Covid 19 Pandemic short-circuited my plans. After just 3 introductory classes, the gym was forced to close. I was left high and dry. So, I got busy coaching myself. I pulled the workout of the day (WOD) off the Crossfit site and started doing them. I watched training videos and listened to podcasts hoping to improve my olympic lifting form. Lifting is a key part to Crossfit. I decided that I was going to take one of the most challenging olympic lifts–the snatch, and learn how to do it. Here’s a description of a snatch:The snatch can be described as jumping a barbell through a range of motion and receiving it into an overhead squat. And here’s a brief video if you’d like to see a young woman perform one expertly. You have to be strong, mobile, explosive, coordinated, and courageous to perform this lift. I’m starting from ground zero, but I’m determined to learn this lift. When I searched for Olympic lifting techniques on Google, YouTube, and podcasts, one name kept materializing–Mike Burgener. Now all of you who’re inclined to exit this podcast because you’re not interested in learning about performing an olympic snatch, stop yourself. This program is not about lifting, it’s about teaching. And Mike Burgener is one of this nation’s premier educators. Here’s a bit about Coach Burgener:He has a BA from Notre Dame and played on their 1966 National Championship Football Team.He has an MS from the University of Kentucky in Exercise Physiology, where he was also the strength coach.He was a captain in the Marine Corps.He’s a Senior International Weightlifting Coach for the United States.He’s considered the Godfather of Olympic Lifting for Crossfit.And for decades, Coach Burgener was a proud public educator–teaching high school physical education in California.I got to know Coach Burgener because I sent him an email asking a question. The next thing I knew, I was in his Level 1 weightlifting class. This is a special man and he’s going to talk about his mentors and challenge you to not only listen to the ones you already have but to be open to new ones.

I just checked the human toll of Coronavirus before I wrote this sentence. The US is on the verge of 20,000 deaths and the world has surpassed 100,000. It’s been awful to watch these numbers climb. And I, like hopefully you, remain isolated in my home reading way too many news stories about what’s going on in largely isolated cities and towns and overcrowded hospitals. The whole thing is sad, weird, and unsettling. I will say, however that during this dark time, I’ve gotten myself into a routine with some positives. I’m getting more sleep because I don’t have to set an alarm. I’m eating healthy because my wife and I prepare every meal, with the exception of our once a week pizza night. I workout for 90 minutes most days. And my wife and I enjoy sitting down and watching a program together each night before bed.But those are the only positives I can muster. Man do I miss interacting with people. I get really sick of interacting on my computer or phone and also sitting at my desk. I’m seriously thinking about purchasing a standing desk just to keep moving. Now if you’re getting sick of social distancing–think how sick your students are of navigating online lessons. Sadly, they have a ways to go till school is out. This situation reminds me of a January in the late 1970s. I was in high school and the Midwest got clobbered by a catastrophic blizzard. We were out of school for a month. There was no interaction between the school and students at home. There was no internet and no social media. My friends were able to walk to one another’s houses. There was no social distancing, but the snowy environment did lead to a lot of cabin fever. My friends and I treated the entire time like summer vacation. We played in the snow for a month and forgot about school work. We desperately missed seeing our friends and going to basketball games and school dances, but otherwise we just rolled with it. Please remember that although your students are probably bored, given the option between watching Netflix or doing school work, for many, would be an easy choice. When crafting lessons, starting from that understanding will help. I recently participated in a Times 10 Roundtable Webinar offering ideas for teachers on how they could instruct their students remotely during this bizarre time. I was joined on the panel by Joe Sanfelippo a superintendent from Wisconsin and Chrissy Romano-Arrabito an elementary teacher from New Jersey. The panel was moderated by Mark Barnes who’s the founder of Times 10 Publications. The discussion was well balanced because we got a broad perspective from Joe, and a younger student and economically disadvantaged perspective from Chrissy. I focused on specific ways you could stay connected with students. I’ll expand on those ideas in this episode. I’ll focus on 3 tools that can maintain and perhaps facilitate deeper relationships with your kids during this challenge. These platforms will also help you teach your classes. I’ll offer these tools as suggestions, if you have something you’ve utilized that works better for you, go for it. I’m more interested in ends and not means.

Well, for at least the next 2 weeks, I’m forced to teach my class in a virtual fashion. All teachers in the great state of Ohio are in the same boat. A few years back, Columbus State Community College commissioned me to create an online version of one of their history classes. It was a tremendous learning experience. When I embarked on that journey, I kept reciting a mantra, Make lessons impactful and engaging. I was able to achieve this throughout the creation process and it’s guiding my efforts over the next few weeks. I learned last week that Muskingum, like all higher ed institutions in Ohio, would be closed until the end of March. My experience creating online content gave me a dose of confidence that I could weather this storm. In this episode, I’ll share my template. This template is grounded in Bloom’s Taxonomy and you can use it every week until the crisis eases and we get back to normal.

I always referred to February as the Dog Days of Education. The weather, at least for those of us who reside in the northeastern quadrant of these here United States, is pretty bleak. Any newness of the second semester is long gone. As the weather warms, at least just a bit, your opportunities for snow days diminishes and even if it’s still frigid and snowy, perhaps you’ve already used your allotted quota. Spring break, that magical academic elixir, is still a ways off. Students, teachers, and even administrators are starting to get, as my mom used to say, a bit bucky. All of these factors make the topic of this episode a perfect antidote for the February blahs.About a month ago, my publisher Mark Barnes tasked me to evaluate some of x10 Publishing’s books. One of my assignments was to assess Quit Point. As part of the review process, I first checked out the Amazon author’s page. I was floored to learn that Adam Chamberlin and Svetoslav Metijic live only 20 miles from me. My old school competes against theirs in sports frequently. Because of our proximity, I was immediately intrigued by these guys. I was further intrigued as I reviewed their book. Quit Point is all about how teachers can spot when students are about to give up and then what teachers can do about it. I cannot imagine any educator who possesses an ounce of empathy not being fascinated with this topic. And isn’t mid February a perfect time to take action when the symptoms of apathy are often acute? If you feel that way...and hopefully you do, please give this episode a try and then check out these guy’s book. As you listen to them articulate their ideas, I’m certain you’ll find them engaging, funny, and totally on point.

The State of Ohio, where I’ve taught my entire career, is not unique. Students in certain classes that the state considers essential are subject to end of course exams. Student performance on these standardized assessments are a key ingredient in their instructor’s evaluation. If you teach one of those classes, you’re hopefully all about progress monitoring. The last thing you want is to get a terrible surprise when your student’s performances materialize. Throughout the semester, you want to make darned sure your kids are on track. I was one of those teachers, however, that did not have a state-mandated end of course exam. I taught electives. In Ohio, the alternative for teachers who teach electives is for them to complete an SLO–which stands for Student Learning Objective. You were asked to demonstrate with data that your students grew during your class. Sadly, and I feel badly confessing this, this requirement was a bit of a joke. All you had to do was to give a really hard preassessment. The students would struggle on this benchmark and then do much better on their finals. It was therefore easy to demonstrate with data student growth. As a consequence, and once again I’m not proud to admit this, I didn’t do much progress monitoring in my elective classes. I felt really guilty about my past efforts when I began teaching assessment to college students. I was upfront about my slacker efforts in the past and I then became passionate about encouraging my future educators to frequently monitor student progress regardless of their curriculum. To help in this endeavor, I brought in a guru. Ryan McLane was a high school social studies teacher, the principal at a middle school, the principal of an intermediate building, and now he’s an elementary principal and the district director of special education. He’s also the author of Your School Rocks. He’s observed, managed, and conducted progress monitoring at various levels and in diverse subjects. He also does a magnificent PD on progress monitoring. My students loved his presentation, but more importantly, they felt empowered. They’re now anxious to answer the following questions in their upcoming job interviews: How do you know if students are learning?What are you going to do for those who struggle?These are important questions for any teacher–particularly if you teach an elective. Ryan will talk in this episode about how elective teachers can become progress monitoring officinados. And before you start wondering, This is a podcast on engagement. What does progress monitoring have to do with that? Stay tuned. Ryan is all about engagement. He’s going to explain how you can take a concept that seems dry and clinical–progress monitoring, and make it engaging and empowering for students and teachers.

When I was in my early 30's, I got the 7-year-itch. NO, NO, NO...not to split from the lovely Mrs. Sturtevant, far from it. I was questioning my commitment to education. I was an ambitious competitive young guy. My college peers were climbing corporate ladders. They were wearing suits to work and bringing in some serious bank. They seemed so much more adult.I've always been goal-oriented, which was fine for the first few years in teaching when I was still figuring out the job. But my early 30's I found myself wondering, Can I be satisfied doing this till my mid-50's?I've always been a person of action and so I determined it was time to take some. I left Education to become a salesperson in the private sector. I reasoned that I possessed a good skill set for sales. I was right, but guess what? I was miserable in my new role. On my hasty exit from my classroom, I totally failed to inventory the wondrous positives of being teacher. I was a popular guy in my school and I loved my students. The first 5 minutes of every class was always devoted to bonding. I would describe what was going on in my life and the students would share about their existences. I totally took this magnificent bond with my students for granted. In the private sector, no one cared what I was reading, what workout I was doing, or what I made Mrs. Sturtevant for dinner the previous night. Instead my interactions were highly transactional. After a 1-year sales gig, I hightailed it back to the classroom. It was so good to be home. It was a magnificent learning experience that I still value and it helped me become a much better and more content educator. But my early frustrations with teaching were certainly not unique. Let's face it, teaching doesn't possess many extrinsic motivators. I don't know that that is necessarily a bad thing. Merit pay has never really delivered on its mythical promises. But there are darned few career advancement opportunities. You could become an administrator, a head coach, a department head, or a guidance counselor. If you're ambitious, you must content yourself with creating the best classroom experience for your students. That's wonderful objective, but perhaps, we need some more options. And this dear listener is where my buddy Michael Brilla walks on the Hacking Engagement stage. Michael is a passionate social studies teacher who's been on this program before. He starred on Episode 105 promoting StoryMaps as a marvelous platform. I loved his energy and I utilize StoryMaps every semester, even with my college students. Michael is creative and ultra-approachable. His students just love him. So why in the world would he leave his magical classroom and assume a new role? Please stay put dear listener and learn the what, the why, and the how. Who knows you might come up with an idea to explore this new year.

I once had a veteran colleague lament about the state of teaching. He meditated, WIth all the that they're making us do, if I was in college today, there's no way I'd major in Education. Apparently, he's not alone in this sentiment. If one searches "Decline in Education Majors", one will find plenty of evidence that many undergrads feel exactly as my colleague expressed. Here's a link to 2019 Forbes article which relies heavily on data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Over the past decade, Education has suffered the largest exodus compared with other majors–a decline of 19%. While I'm sad that declining numbers of young Americans consider teaching a wonderful career path, this phenomenon does create wonderful opportunities for potential teachers. In the future, jobs may be easier to secure. Teacher pay may have to increase because of supply. This episode will feature one of these aspiring teachers–Joce McBurney-Buell.Last summer, I traveled to Muskingum University to meet with the my dear friend the outgoing Department Chair Rae White. In the midst of our day, she invited me to lunch in the gymnasium which was hosting freshmen students who were also being oriented to campus. Rae and I plopped down at a table full of young people to break bread. Seated beside me was a young woman who seemed to know a lot more about Muskingum than an incoming freshman. As you probably guessed, Joce was my table neighbor and was about to embark on her junior year. She was on campus that day to help ease freshmen with their significant transition from home and high school. As we interacted, I was thrilled to learn that Joce is an Education major. As I observed her and interacted with her, it became quickly apparent that this young women had it going on. I just knew–and it's been confirmed by future interactions, that she was destined to present to my Intro to Education students, which she did last week, and appear on my podcast, which is this episode.We'll discuss her goals and motivations, but what really excites me is what Joce represents. Students such as her point to a bright future in American education. The young people that I interact with in the Education major are excited, driven, and passionate about the calling. Don't get too discouraged about the Forbes article. There are some magnificent young teachers on the horizon.

2 years ago, I was teaching high school and our building principal setup the Remind App for our staff. I must confess that at first I found the app annoying. The flurry of messages I was receiving from our fearless leader was invasive. Granted, many of the messages were germain to being a teacher at our school and some of them were essential such as, We're on a 2-hour delay and Don't forget, I'm observing you tomorrow. Grudgingly, I began to acknowledge the value of this new mode of communication and collaboration.This fall, I embarked on a new education journey as an adjunct at Muskingum University. I decided to give Remind a try with my students. I quite simply embraced the old cliché, When in Rome, do like the Romans. Over the past decade, I'd experienced the frustration of unrequited emails sent to students. Young folks aren't big fans of emails, but they text the hell out of one another. Remind embraces this proclivity. The messages come through the recipient's device as a text and the receiver can then respond. But Remind isn't just a group thing. Teachers can message students or parents individually and then carry on conversations just with them.On its surface, Remind may seem like it's ripe for inappropriate communication between students and teachers. If those anxieties are stirring in you, please visit this page to read what Remind has to say about its commitment to security and protecting students.To help describe how this app works from the student perspective, I conscripted some of my current primary sources. Taylor Clemons, Rader Felumlee, and Macy McAdams are my current students. These magnificent future teachers will also speculate on how they'll utilize this app in their eventual classrooms.

Last year, I was teaching high school and our administration assigned a book study to the staff. We read and collaborated on 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O'Connor. This iconic book is an interesting and provocative read. It challenges standard operating procedure in terms of the way students are assessed. The fix that stirred the pot the most amongst our faculty was Fix #2:Don't reduce marks on work that is submitted lateIn the program, I mistakenly refer to Fix #2 as Fix #4. On its face, Fix #2 makes sense. You don't want to punish a behavior academically. But, wouldn't Fix #2 encourage procrastination and irresponsibility?Interestingly enough, during my first day this past week with my college students, i challenged them to collaborate in groups on the creation of class norms. One topic that all struggled with was how to deal with late work. To a group, students were in favor of score reduction. I found this fascinating and so we embarked on a magnificent tangential conversation on should an instructor, which they all hope to be one day, punish a behavior academically? The ensuing conversation caused a titanic paradigm shift in many of my students. This episode might be similar to the discussion in my class last week in the sense that you might think about this issue differently.I'll discuss this fascinating idea thoroughly this week with Josh Frame. Josh is a middle school principal and he embraces the idea that students should not suffer academically for behaviors.We'll talk about how he sold this idea to his staff, how he managed the pushback, and how he's adapted his school's response to students who are not appropriately pursuing learning.

I wanted to produce an episode before school started and I wasn’t sure if it was going to materialize. Starting next week, I’ll be teaching all new classes, at a new school, and at the college level. It’s been a busy summer, but I’m excited to embark on my next teaching journey. This episode is short and simple, but it has tremendous potential to positively impact the way your class operates and student learning. 10 years ago, my room was cluttered. My wife has a label for people like I was...He’s a piler. That label was true. I did have a lot of piles of paper stacked in chaotic places around my room. I wasn’t proud of this, but when all of my students filed into my class each morning and the day just erupted into frenzied activity, my energies turned towards engaging them and not organizing the flurry of papers that I distributed and then collected.This unsatisfactory situation changed when my school started using Google Drive. The piles of paper disappeared, my drive was organized and easily accessed, and my uncluttered room took on a Feng Shui-like character. I was transformed into such a paperless fan that I decided to create a Landing Pad for many assignments. This virtual collaboration igniter is what I’ll highlight in this episode. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s powerful. I thought it would be useful to share a great and simple idea on the last week of summer vacation.

There's a significant potential that 2 things may happen when you return to school in a couple of weeks:1. Your classroom may be more diverse2. Donald Trump's Send her back tweet may just come up in class discussionIn terms of diversity, the demographic trends towards a browner America are indisputable. Sadly, many American schools both urban, suburban, and rural are defying this trend and remaining largely monochrome. If you teach in such a school, you do your students no favors by ignoring America's increasingly diverse trajectory. Your students will most likely work in highly diverse environments in the future. And if you teach in such a school, you also have a moral obligation to make certain that students whom are different are not marginalized.Fatima Dahir certainly felt different when she entered her largely, white and conservative public middle school classroom in suburban Columbus wearing her hijab. Today, she's thriving as a student leader at Ohio State University, but middle school was brutal. In this episode, she'll talk about her significant struggles, along with her social and academic metamorphosis. She'll discuss how teachers can embrace ostracized students. She'll also provide interesting perspective on the controversial statements by Donald Trump and how an educator might cope with classroom debate inspired by this issue. Please listen. This is an important show!

Even though it's only June, start thinking about specific ways to create an outstanding school year next fall. That's what I've done throughout my career. Summer gives you breathing room. It allows you to reflect, adjust, and then speculate and plan.One thing that I'm passionate about is teacher well-being. Aside from job satisfaction being a wonderful thing in its own right, happy teachers are better for kids. But acquiring profound job satisfaction may indeed take some planning, adjusting, and paradigm shifting on your part.In pursuit of helping my dear listener obtain that noble goal, I recorded this program. It includes 4 learning targets that will lead to greater teacher fulfillment. Each target will be accompanied by suggestions on how to manifest the target into your professional life. While some of my suggestions may not move you and many you probably do already, it's my belief that you'll be exposed to at least a few ideas that you'll love and want to implement. By doing so, you may just transform next fall. I hope you enjoy the program. It's good to be back behind the mic!Teacher Well-Being Learning Targets:I’m a positive citizen of my schoolI embrace delayed gratification.I prioritize my well-beingI’m grateful to be a teacher

In the late summer of 1985, I experienced my first day of teaching at Mount Vernon High School in North Central Ohio. That steamy summer day was the inaugural faculty meeting. You know...the one where all the veteran teachers stare at the newbies as they're introduced. Before my principal, Mr. George Perry began the unveiling process, he paid homage to a retiring teacher. Up stepped a nondescript middle-aged man named Art Cassell. Mr. Perry began, "When Art started teaching in the fall of 1955..." Those were the last words I heard. I panicked! 1955...1955...I wasn't alive in 1955. How in the hell does anyone teach high school for 30 years, I thought. Then, I started to project into the future, "Will that be me in 2015? Will I be the old guy waddling up there to get my official pat on the back? I'll be like a museum exhibit." I quickly learned, however, that teaching is a wonderful adventure. I couldn't get over how much I loved the work. I couldn't fathom in 1985 that I'd still be teaching high school in 2019, but here I am, at least, for a few more days. At the end of this week, I'll no longer teach high school.This episode will explain exactly why at this juncture in the spacetime continuum I'm transitioning into a new role. Rest assured, this podcast will continue. In fact, in my new role preparing tomorrow's educators at the college level, I'll be inspired to dive even deeper into what creates engaging instruction. And, I'm thrilled that I'm simply migrating to a new classroom. I'll still be in front of students teaching. Rest assured, this podcast will also continue.Thanks for listening so far and there's more to come!

I remember late April of my rookie year as a teacher. I was toast! All my great teaching strategies were worn out. I was scrambling trying to find innovative and engaging ways to present lessons. It was a loooooong 6-weeks till summer vacation.In early June when I did my post-mortem on the year, I vowed to always keep some ideas in the vault for that last 6-weeks home stretch. In fact, I’ve always encouraged rookie teachers to do the same.I have 5 weeks left of school. The weather is warming up here in the Buckeye state. The springtime panorama, which is the window of my classroom, is getting darned inviting. Conversely, reliable teaching strategies are becoming a bit stale. They’ve worked brilliantly all year, but now with the end in sight, I have to change things up in order to maintain that crucial student engagement.This episode will focus on using Plickers as a classroom discussion tool. I first learned of this rather amazing platform while I was conducting PD 2 years ago. I was helping teachers individually when one of the attendees asked, Jim...have you ever used Plickers? I responded, No. I listened to her describe the platform and thought, That sounds fascinating and easy. I want to give it a try. I finally got around to it. The last 9-weeks of the year I love experimenting with new platforms. It was high time for my Plickers' maiden voyage.

I remember my first teacher evaluation. I was nervous! I tried to put on a great show. I felt I did okay. Then, a few days later, I remember walking toward the principal's office to hear the verdict. I wasn't sure how this meeting would go. I thought my lesson went well, but I couldn't tell how my principal felt because he always played them close to the vest. Thankfully, he said positive things. I was thrilled and relieved.Decades later, I'm still being observed. But now, all my administrators are younger than me. It makes the entire process a lot less intimidating. I still take observation day seriously, but I'm more relaxed about the process. I wished I would have had the courage to try what I tried last week earlier in my career. I approached my principal about attempting to address a weakness during a formal evaluation. Because he's a good principal, he welcomed my idea. My weakness is personalization. It's something I don't do enough and I'm confused about the nuts and bolts. I'm not opposed to personalizing lessons, I think it's the direction in which the world...and certainly education, is headed, but I needed help. And this, dear reader, is where Jen Wilson enters the scene. Jen is an instructional coach in our school. My principal sent me Jen's way. I've worked with her before and she's great. She suggested that I take my lesson and apply the SCAMPER method.  My experiment of addressing a weakness as the focus of an evaluation was a success. My principal heartily endorsed the idea, he provided awesome resources like Jen Wilson, I gained confidence in terms of personalizing, and my students experienced a solid learning opportunity.

I stopped coaching football in the fall of 2000. That’s a long time ago. In the spring of 2018, Eric Myers, who’s the Track and Field Coach at our school, surprised me with an unexpected proposition, Jim…you need to get back into coaching. I need an assistant. Coach with me. We’ll have a blast! I was totally unprepared for this solicitation. I responded, Wow…thanks, but I’m long removed from the coaching mindset. It’s been years since I’ve coached. I’m sorry!I was surprised by Eric’s proposition. That was a problem. I said no instinctively without giving it much thought. I promptly dismissed the idea and went on with my busy day.Our minds, however, function in mysterious ways. Last summer on a gorgeous Ohio day, I needed something to do. My wife had an obligation, so I was free to entertain myself. I decided to go hiking at Mohican State Park near Mansfield, Ohio. For some odd reason, as I strolled over the beautiful trails surrounded by sun-dappled hemlocks, I started thinking about coaching again:Man, it would take a lot of time out of my day.Boy, parents become spastic whenever their offspring are even remotely engaged in competition.I’m not as young as I used to be.But these thoughts were overwhelmed by others:When I was coaching I had a relational advantage in the classroom because I bonded with kids on the playing field.While I’m not as young as I used to be, I’m still very fit and coaching might make me feel even younger.I had a lot of fun coaching and there’s no reason to think that couldn’t be the case again.And finally and most importantly, I have a lot to offer those kids in the role of a coach.On my way home from the hike, I called Coach Myers and told him that if he needed me next year, I was available.Now, fast-forward to February of 2019. Eric informed that he did need me to help coach running events, but he really needed a discus coach. This introduced a fascinating new variable. I was a speed guy in high school. I’d never picked up a discus in my life. Eric assured me that I could teach myself and clarified that practice started on the 4th of March, so I needed to get cracking!This is a perfect example of self-directed learning. Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve researched, watched video, interviewed experienced throwers, and practiced the movements. To the amusement and annoyance of wife and offspring, I’ve thrown a lot of things against my basement wall mimicking throwing the discus. My form has evolved. I’m now excited to teach others. Please…repeat after me, When we teach ourselves, it sticksDeanna Hess teaches dual enrollment English at Dover High School in Dover, Delaware. My story about self-directed learning dovetails perfectly with her story about a prompt she recently gave students. Deanna challenged her kids by placing the learning objective at the end of the prompt! In other words, the learning objective represented Point B in a journey. Point A and how students got to Point B, was totally up to them. If this sounds fun, courageous, powerful, and something you’d like to try in your classroom, then you, dear friend, have downloaded the right podcast. Deanna describes her evolution in thinking about the assignment, the twists and turns of its execution, her interesting observations during the process, and the potential as a future instruction tactic. There’s no doubt that this lesson was a powerful learning experience for Deanna’s students.

It's so gratifying when you had a student with whom you were close, they graduate, and then years later you learn that they've achieved much. Mo Ross is a marvelous example of this phenomenon. In college, Mo was an integral member of Otterbein University's 2002 National Division Three Championship Basketball Team. I was still keeping tabs on Mo in 2002 and I was impressed with this lofty accomplishment.But then, I lost track of him. Certainly not on purpose, but I've taught over ten thousand kids in my career. It's hard to follow them all. I reconnected with Mo this past fall due to a tragedy. I coached Mo in Freshman Football many years ago. His best friend, Randy Russell, was also on my team. Randy passed away this past year and Mo and I talked frequently in the wake of this awful development.I was thrilled to learn that Mo had become an educator. In fact, Mo had became a principal. He's the perfect blend of ability, disposition, and vision. As you listen to this talented young man, you'll spot his leadership skills immediately. Those skills were evident to his teammates and me. He guided our freshman football team as the quarterback. His skills are now evident to his teaching staff. His common sense approach and calm supportive demeanor are major assets.This podcast is in need of more administrative perspectives. I frequently interview teachers and students. An administrator can describe student engagement from the objective perch of the classroom evaluation. This episode will give the listener a behind the curtain peak at exactly what's going through an administrator's mind as he watches you matriculate through your lesson.

Every morning, I spend some solitude on a meditation cushion. This has been an on and off again routine for many years. Over the past 6 months, I've been diligent. The rewards have been palatable:I sleep betterI eat betterI notice thingsI'm calmerI'm much kinder and more tolerantI'm less critical of myselfI've mended fencesI add a minute to my practice each week. I'm working up to 30 minutes. I'm currently at 22. If back in October someone would have told me that I could sit calmly for 22 minutes by mid-January, I would've dismissed them.I certainly don't mean to imply that I bliss-out each morning. Some sessions are a train wreck. My mind resembles a trapeze act. But even on those spastic dawns, I benefit. Perhaps, I need my mind to perform its gymnastics routine in a safe place and then I can move on with my day in a more present fashion.Recently, I was presenting at a local school district's professional development day. After my presentation, I had some free time so I thought I'd duck into some breakout sessions. One, in particular, intrigued me. Monica Lewis is a 4th-grade gifted teacher in Pickerington, Ohio. Her session on Mindfulness in the Classroom was at the top of my dance card. After Monica's fine session, I introduced myself and invited her on my podcast. This episode will mirror her presentation and give me the opportunity to ask questions that many of you may have merely based on the title.

Do you have a class that you probably should get a little extra in the paycheck for coping with on a daily basis? Do you have students who dominate your thoughts...and not in a good way, when you're away from school? Do you catch yourself having imaginary confrontations with certain kids? Do you have a class that causes you great anxiety as they roll through the door each morning? If you do, join the club. I had such a class last semester. I was wondering, Do I still have it? So, I set to work bonding with these challenging kids. This episode will describe my approach. What I love about this episode, is that all my suggestions are totally in the teacher's control. You're not reliant on student compliance in order to implement these strategies. My hope is that over time your calm, consistent, and persistent efforts will be rewarded. Give my ideas a try. I have confidence in your success! 

This past summer, I interviewed Michael Brilla about creating timelines on an amazing platform called Knight Lab. I had my students such create timelines this past September. It was a solid experience for all. The only issue we had with this application was that kids had to fill out a Google Spreadsheet and then submit that sheet to the Knight Lab platform. This one variable caused some frustration with my students. Imagine that!What I love about StoryMaps is there are no spreadsheets involved. Your kids create the entire StoryMap right on the Knight Lab platform. It's totally web-based...which is magical. When kids are done, they hit the share button and they have the link. This is a perfect activity for any lesson that involves events taking place in various locations. I had my students create a StoryMap on the Mongols. To help me tell this story is Max Muhlbaier and Matt Rease. These two articulate young students (primary sources) will describe utilizing this platform.