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Pandemic Recovery: Observations from K-12 Classrooms

While many media outlets point to the  learning loss  students have experienced during these long months, and others point to the  social emotional factors  that must be addressed first, teachers and administrators working on the inside, struggle in many ways to keep their heads above water.  As I am out in my district observing what teachers are living with and working with classes K-12, I can see the toll the pandemic has taken on everyone. It manifests in a million small ways that add up - not all of them are bad . While many will point to the impressive technology skills, the creativity in pursuing individual interests, and the problem solving many students employed to maintain social interactions, these skills haven't always translated well back into a classroom. Our teachers have always done an exceptional job of meeting a student where they are. In a normal, non-pandemic year, teachers consider a student's performance in the previous years, work to uncover their current
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What Would Ted Lasso Do?

As we are firmly entrenched in a new school year, the words Ted Lasso utters, as he heads to England, to coach a sport he has no experience ring in my ears: Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong When I first heard him say this my initial reaction was "Who is this guy?! Has he ever ridden a horse? And what kind of false sense of entitlement do you have to have to think you can coach at high levels of soccer with no experience!" But, then I paused. And thought. That sense of discomfort is exactly what we need to grow. How often do I tell people: I try to take on a challenge each year that scares me - that makes me uncomfortable - that makes me push through to learn something new. At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, that horse-riding-challenge is exactly what we've been facing for the last year and a half as COVID has forced some pretty significant chang

A Pandemic Letter to my Colleagues

How we doin', Fort Thomas?  We're coming up on a year of teaching through a pandemic, and the journey has been the greatest test of our careers. We can compare most years to a marathon: a race to the finish, that we're prepared for, and can find ourselves looking up and enjoying the downhills and the crowds.  Photo by Artem Verbo on Unsplash This year is more like one of those ultra triathlons, and at times, you might feel like you're swimming through shark infested waters, barely coming up for breath. And, remarkably, when I look around at what is happening in the world, I know you are in the lead. You have found strength inside of yourselves you might not know existed and have treaded through impossible waters to reach kids. Disillusionment to Rejuvenation In a traditional year, according to the book  Mentoring Matters , February and March are a time for "rejuvenation". We've spent some long months in disillusionment, and we're cruising downhill on

Inspiring Creativity through Digital Storytelling

In his book On Writing , Stephen King says "Let's get one thing clear, now shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Best Sellers; good story ideas seem to come from literally nowhere, sailing right at you out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up." Helping students to connect to storytelling and recognize those ideas sailing at them through digital means could be a very powerful experience. Presentation Resource   Get your own copy of the presentation here . An Invitation to Create In the book Tinkerlab: A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors , Rachelle Doorley points to the idea of creating invitations to creativity for learners. As an educator and Digital Learning Coach, this idea has stuck with me as I try to help learners to engage in the learning process. We can use traditi

Shadowing a Student: A Walk in their Shoes

Who are you? You fill the seats of our classrooms every day. I am told, you are “neurologically processing information in a fundamentally different way than the “older generations”. I am “paper trained” logical, linear, left to right, top to bottom, beginning to end. You are "media trained"VISUAL nonlinearTRANSFLUENT scrollingHYPERLINKED. In the last year - as of today at about 1pm -  there were well over 300 BILLION mobile YouTube view You were watching a lot of those -- Over 30 billion photos were added to Instagram You posted a lot of those photos -- In the month of August alone there were almost 80 million of you playing Fortnite And let’s not forget the videos you are watching about it and the dances you were practicing from it and the conversations you were having about it. You love with your whole heart, so we see that we must protect it. You put your everything into your day, and we push you bey