A Ladder or a Jungle Gym?

What does the dynamic of your system look like? 

Is it this permissive ladder?

 photo credit: geezaweezer via photopin cc

For the first three years of teaching education, my world was a steep climb.  Teacher firmly in charge.  Students sitting in rows, while one person climbed the decision ladder. I hated it.

There was little joy to be had.   I left education and went to work in the business world.  Not surprisingly, the world there was a mix of both of these ideas. My supervisor wanted a ladder, but the engineers on my team had discovered email and were redesigning and bending the rules without even knowing that the workplace was being transformed wayyyy beyond Six Sigma.  We shared ideas.  My voice was important in design, or in articulation of an idea, and my tech skills were used for that gee-whiz vehicle of the day, Power Point.  And I found myself questioning my leadership, and considering the value of individual ideas in the classroom.

So I came back.  And I have spent the years since in my classroom bending the ladder into a jungle gym.   It's hard.  There are more people who can hang on the curved structure simultaneously.  And people who are on the top of the structure and try to push others off are called, not leaders, but bullies.

Or this collaborative jungle gym?

photo credit: joeldinda via photopin  cc

At this point in my career, my room is messy.  Filled with opinions. Once in a while, someone who is disengaged or angry.  That person might be sitting in the sand and not jumping up at all.  But now that I am off of the top of the ladder, I can walk over, talk to them, and find out why. And they tell me. Stories that say,

How is this important to my life?

It's not you, but my life is falling apart.  

This is boring.

You may be in charge, but I don't think you know everything. 

If I don't do it, will it matter?


At first these questions were difficult.

It gave me pause, and honestly, it forced me to eliminate garbage.

Shifting to collaboration has made a difference.

There are more questions, and there are more answers.  There is more than one way to solve most problems as well.  While I learned this lesson in my classroom, I see it reflected in successful businesses, churches, and district philosophies.

Take a moment this week to think about whatever system you work in.  And think about your leadership style. What's working for your system and what bending needs to happen?

Comparative Learning

Kids don't like my Environmental Science class as well as others, because it is driven by ideas, not by experiments.  I warn them of this on the first day, BTW.  Content reading, self-reflection, and providing evidence of learning are critical pieces.  

I just love the way the kids organized their knowledge of information in this piece.

On Bullying

Amy Fleming via photopin cc

I grew up with some of these labels.  Not all, but enough.  I know the value of one person who cares, or two girls who sit with you at lunch, or what it feels like to hide inside and pretend nothing bothers you on the outside.  The worst part is, often the labels fade, but the hurt scars over. So I do believe that we need to consider the issue of bullying in Iowa, with our students, and within social media.  IT MATTERS.  On that note...

Two pieces related to bullying came out in the Iowa Legislature today.

The first was HSB196, a piece on social media bullying.   It does a better job of defining bullying and harassment then other things I have seen, but I surely hope it doesn't pass in its current form.

Particularly concerning is the section that talks about my Immunity as an Educator, .

I do report situations as I see them to the person(s) I think need to see them.  This has included parents, my principal, my superintendent, my guidance department, and in one case, another school district that was experiencing a rash of Twitter bullying.   I get it.  I do something, not because I fear retribution, but BECAUSE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.  Unfortunately, this language will not enamor new teachers to social media, but probably have the unintended consequence of shutting down some teacher and student interaction...because if you don't see it, you don't have to report it.

Secondly, the way I read the bill, if a student is at home, and another student sees his or her tweet at school, that now is the school's purview for enforcement.  Is that what we envision for schools...becoming enforcers?

The language of this bill came from School Administrators of Iowa, according to ShaneVander Hart's conservative blog.  The bill is well-intentioned.  But once again, we fell into the trap of listening to one group of education stakeholders, rather than the education community, including IASB, or ISEA, or AEA teacher-leaders, or social-media savvy students. Additionally, I'm not sure that I want my administration to have the unilateral responsibilities listed in this bill.  Bullying is a huge problem, and not one group's concern, which it becomes with this bill.

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The second piece of legislation was House Joint Resolution 11, introduced, ironically, within hours of the above bill.  While the first bill keeps people from making comments regarding sexual orientation, this resolution subjugates same-sex Iowans by defining traditional marriage as between one man and one woman, and relegating gay people to a secondary tier.  After working so hard with students to become accepting and respectful to all, I cannot fathom why we would want to move backwards.

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Please, the Legislative Funnel Week deadline for one-chamber passage is March 18.  Talk to your legislator and voice your ideas and concerns.