Teacher that coaches or Coach that teaches

My last post touched on the issue of academics vs athletics, questioning why we celebrate our athletes so much more than our academics. As an athlete and a coach, I have been praised for my prowess on the field of interscholastic sport, but now I look at this and question why we do not do a better job focusing on academics.
Recently, I have thought about what do I want my legacy to be. Will I be remembered as a Coach that happened to teach, or a Teacher that happened to coach? Being effective in both areas is possible, increasingly though in our hyper competitive athletics the time it takes to run a successful program has become a time consuming beast.
Though I love spending time with students outside the walls of the classroom working with them towards a common goal in a shared passion like sports, my first concern is about the work that they and I are doing between the first and last bell of the day. This fall my role as a Teacher-Coach has been solidified with my teaching in one building and coaching in another as the focus of my time and energy is toward what accounts for 98% of my salary. This perspective that I have gained has been useful in reflecting upon my career to date and where I want to take it.
The classroom has always taken precedence, however it feels like this shifted further by not being connected directly to players on a daily basis.

Academics vs Athletics

For the past while I have wrestled with the relationship between academics and athletics in our high schools today. As a coach of a sport (lacrosse) that is ever expanding on the national scene, gaining notoriety and seeing massive spikes in registered participants I wonder if we need sports in school. The overhyped, glamorization of prep athletes today has made me question whether academics truly remains the number one priority of our society.

Too often in my teaching career I have been approached by students and in some instances coaches about being able to help a student out to be eligible for a game that week. In recent years this pleading has increasingly annoyed me that an opportunity should be provided to a student who (often) was unwilling to take care of what should be their first priority...academics.

Instead of honoring those that win the big game, why don't we do a better job of celebrating those that perform well in their field of excellence, academics? I love sports and wouldn't be the same person without them, however it is my knowledge and skills that I acquired over the years that pays the majority of the bills!

Part Deux: Rebooting Digital Natives

The other week I lamented about the lack of technological "know how" demonstrated by my students when starting to integrate Google Drive into class along with Google Forms on top of Moodle. The frustrations experienced were based upon the assumption that students would have a better background then they did.

Reflecting upon where to go after this initial experience, I went back to the drawing board as the first problem based learning project was introduced this week. By ensuring that I better model and demonstrate the technological tools that are being pushed in class, it is hoped that students will become more comfortable using technology for academic purposes.
Thus this project will have students use Google Ed Apps for writing their annotated bibliographies and writing their argumentative paper, and building a site that will host their pieces of propaganda. In terms of research students will utilize the databases that are subscribed to through our library.
Despite the recalibration of how this was delivered there were still frustrations from my perspective in getting students to effectively use Google Ed Apps and perform formal research instead of simply "googling" it. My oft-repeated mantra is that this is a new experience for most of these students and that we are on a journey towards where they need to be at the end of the year. Having students solve "low hurdle" problems is part of this frustration, where if there isn't an answer/solution immediately then they give up.
After this initial first week, I am looking forward to seeing what they have come our first conferences this week and how this project continues to unfold.

Rebooting Digital Natives

The past few weeks I have been starting to further integrate technology into my classes of freshmen and sophomores in Social Studies as I have navigated what has been at my disposal in my new building. Most interesting to me has been the students' learning curve when it comes to accessing information on the internet, simple Google searches has been the general response provided when asking them about how they conduct research.

This didn't surprise me as much as how foreign these students were to how Google Drive aka Docs worked. As I had each class work on a collaborative document using Drive, the students were "amazed" by how we could type at the same time on the same document! Multiple students asked what they had to do to save this document so that they could work on it at home later/have a copy of it...
As I explained the concept of the cloud, many students were still perplexed about using a collaborative document and how to access the hyperlinks that were provided in the template that was provided to them. I have realized that I need to check for understanding on how to use some forms of technology that I had mistakingly assumed students knew how to use. Thus I will be looking to reboot my digital natives!

Changes...

“Fear, uncertainty and discomfort are your compasses toward growth.”

I am four weeks into a new teaching assignment away from the comforts of the past six years that I have enjoyed. In leaving the “nest”, I have reflected about where I have come as an educator since I took my second teaching position and helped to open a brand new school and establish some of the “traditions” associated with my former building. The individual that writes this today is much more polished, serious, and dedicated to his profession than in 2006. Having had the opportunity to develop as a teacher, work with great educators in other content areas and pursue a graduate degree the individual I am today has evolved greatly.

The decision to leave my old school and district is another post for a different day, the focus of this is to think about the past six weeks total (two for orientation, four with students).

The paradigm shift in beginning a new teaching job was culture shock to begin with, my orientation process was beneficial, but left me questioning my decision to leave the warm, familiarities of my last job. To steal an often mocked line from one of my last administrators, I had to learn about the new school’s “system and processes”. This introduction was overwhelming and challenging as my first thoughts:

1. Try to remember all of this!
2. Don’t screw it up!!
3. Don’t get fired in the first week!!!

The new environment appeared much more rigid and it worried me that I might now be able to “experiment” the way that my former “hetero-teaching partner for life” Michael and I had. Having enjoyed carte blanche to now being the “new guy”, I was concerned about making sure the waves I cause aren’t tsunamis that put me behind the proverbial eight-ball.

My reservations were put to rest once I was able to get into the classroom and work with students. There have been challenges though in the first four weeks from getting used to a new schedule (alternating block from straight block), sharing and having more than one classroom, and not having the same access to a wired classroom as before.

The new schedule is wonderful, not having to sprint through classes day to day has left me more relaxed and feeling prepared, teaching 5 of 8 classes over the course of two days is more manageable than 3 of 4 everyday. I feel better prepared to meet with my students and that my lessons are more thorough and complete.

The sharing of a new classroom and not being around the teachers from all content areas has been different. Working with multiple Social Studies teachers on a daily basis is great for discussions for content, but I do miss the cross-curricular conversations and ideas that develop from working in the academy model. With fewer wired machines at my disposal on a daily basis I am working on becoming better at having students use their own personal devices, while working within the parameters of the school policy regarding such use. The challenge is having students buy into what is/isn’t acceptable use and to have them model the right amount of etiquette.

Overall, the new building has been great and I am truly enjoying the opportunity. Working with new people and students though awkward at first is the same as any other situation, it takes time for all to adjust. The diverse population of the student body is a welcomed change from the homogenous one that I previously worked in.

Where do I go from here? The first challenge I have to continue pushing the envelope as an educator and find creative ways to create the student-centered learning environment that I had worked in the past year and a half.

Change is difficult, but as Michael and I have told our students numerous times, “if you aren’t uncomfortable then something is wrong”.

Should I pledge allegiance...

To the United States of America? This is a question that I have pondered many times over the past couple of years as I approached my eligibility to move my status from being a "Permanent Resident Alien" to a citizen of the country that I have essentially spent my entire adult life living in.
Having married an American and had my "anchor baby", I am not too worried about ever having my Green Card revoked, but do think about the idea of attaining my citizenship. Other then having to cut the checks for the required lawyer and processing fees, there really isn't anything that is an obstacle, having taught American history and civics during the past six years I am pretty sure that I can muster 6 correct answers out of the 10 that are asked!

In teaching civics to students, I am always encouraging them to exercise their constitutional right to participate in the democratic process once they are of age. Is it hypocritical for me to not participate as well? The scary/sad thing is that I am able to pass the citizenship test (all 100 questions), yet know many "natural born citizens" that would struggle to!

As we see the never ending campaign process ramp up with further rhetoric about the voting rolls and who should be allowed to vote in the upcoming election cycle, I continue to weigh the decision about if/when/why I should become an American citizen. Bumper stickers like the one I saw yesterday only makes me want to distance myself from the concept of being American, it read "Welcome to America! Now speak English! If only I could have pulled up next to him ala Wayne's World and made mention that the United States does not have an official language and explain that the ability to communicate effectively in English would be beneficial in this country, however it is not requisite!

All I know is that I if the day comes that I attain my citizenship we won't be playing Lee Greenwood, rather we'll be playing and watching this from my youth!

Putting the Professional in Teaching Part II

In my previous post, I suggested a potential model for teacher compensation that took ideas from the professional sports landscape. Before I began to put words to the digital page, I knew there would be issues with such a model because it would be a radical shift from the current model and today I want to address some of those issues.  I don't necessarily have suggestions, but want to identify the holes in my thoughts and maybe there is someone else who can provide further ideas.

Funding
Under the current system of funding schools, there is no way that this system would be tenable. What a great thing though if we could forecast the actual amount of money that schools would be allocated for a period of five years. The long range planning that a school could do would allow for a true vision to take shape and allow a pool of money to be saved for those years in the future when a shortfall is envisioned.
As with "market based pay plans" funding is going to be an issue. When I hear of this market based pay in our district, I question where the money is going to come from when teachers hit the benchmarks that trigger a pay increase when there is no money in the district to begin with! 
Does the proposed system potentially set up a rationed education in subject areas that aren't considered as important as another subject?

Subjective Negotiations
How we evaluate teachers would have to be reconsidered, I am not a proponent of standardized testing that suggests the effectiveness of a teacher merely upon a test(s) that students may or may not have an incentive/buy-in to perform well on. Another part of this would rely upon Admin to be very aware of their staff and perhaps bias would infiltrate this examination about the importance of one teacher versus another.
Another aspect of this that is potentially flawed is that by offering contracts to teachers is it based upon their abilities as a teacher or is it for additional credentials that they bring with them (say coaching). However, one's involvement in activities that extend beyond the school day should/could be valued under this system in that they are helping to mentor students beyond the classroom. The glaring issue with this though would be a potential loophole that leads to schools rewarding say their football coach with an excessive teaching contract that isn't necessarily "earned" for their performance between the first and last bell of the day!

Union
This might be the big obstacle, having been a member as a teacher and as a former professional lacrosse player change is always difficult. If pro sports can have differentiated salaries based upon an agreed upon pay scale system, why can't teachers? As a Social Studies teacher, I realize that I am very unlikely to ever top out with a "maximum dollar" contract in the proposed system, but feel confident in the abilities that I demonstrate that I would warrant a quality salary.

Simply put these are a few issues that I have with my own proposed system. Could it work if we really worked on ironing out the issues? Why not, however the first step is getting a funding system that doesn't limit the education that we provide our students. To remain at the top, we cannot simply rely upon a small percentage of our students to achieve, the better educated a society the more productive it can be.

Putting the Professional in Teaching Part I

Nearing the end of a fourth year of a salary free with no cost of living adjustment, while probably entering a fifth year of the freeze and hoping there are no furloughs there are many frustrations as a teacher in my school district. This issue is prevalent in many districts throughout the United States and today my teaching partner Michael (@schneidermf) re-tweeted a blog post by Justin Baeder on Ed Week which discussed the flatness of teaching whether one is in their first or thirtieth year of teaching.
As we discussed the post today, I simply asked Michael if he was trying to prompt me to blog about an idea that I have had for four or five years about revolutionizing the payment system for teachers...which he was. This idea isn't perfect and there remain flaws in this system, but here are some thoughts that use professional sports as inspiration. This first installment will outline the plan and a follow up post will address potential areas of concern.

The Entry Level aka "Rookie" Contract ($35,000-$40,000)*
Contracts for teachers with 0-3 years of experience can be renewed on an annual basis and our given a modest salary increase each year that at least reflects a cost of living adjustment and slight salary increase from the previous year.  This will provide time for a young teacher to work at developing their craft with input from peers and administrators about how to improve. Part of this plan though needs to include a mentoring program from experienced teachers who are willing to work with those new to the profession and help them adjust to the ins and outs of the profession.  Similar to Mario Lemieux having Sidney Crosby live with him and his family for the first few years in the National Hockey League as he learned the ropes.

*These numbers are just hypothetical for the sake of having a specific dollar amount to look at.

Years 4-10 ($40,000-$60,000)
Upon entering the fourth year of employment, teachers would be able to negotiate with their school administration a contract extension that would last for x number of years at salary x, with an annual raise of x. In this time period there would be a range of salaries that can be earned and it would be up to administration to determine the value of a teacher to their building, thus a teacher entering year four could make less, the same or more as a teacher in year ten based upon the perceived value of them to the school, similar to the way a professional team does with players on their roster.
Teachers that are considered strong might be offered longer contracts to keep them part of the school, while others could be offered shorter term contracts.
The caveat to this era of a teaching career is that it would be the start of a teacher's "free agency" other schools both in and out of the district could make offers to teachers that they want to join their staff. If a school or district presents an "offer sheet" to a perspective teacher, the current school of that candidate can offer a matching or better contract offer in order to retain their services.

Years 11+ ($50,000-?)
During this portion of a career teachers would once again be working within a set salary range and contracts would be negotiated for a specific time period. This system would retain some aspects of the current system in that the pay scale does rely upon longevity to some extent, but would put a responsibility upon building administration to be in touch with the work of their staff as it related to negotiating. Again, "free agency" would play a role with other schools/districts being able to find those shining stars that they feel would be a solid addition to their staff. What the metrics are that determine one's value aren't exact as I don't believe that bubbling a test on one day provides a true representation of a teacher's "value or worth". Thus measurement of teachers would be a mixture of objective and subjective evaluation, similar to that of a general manager deciding the value of player at the professional sports level.

The Fine Print
This system could provide incentives in contracts that would include providing funding for graduate programs and PhD studies, Professional Development funding for conferences, release time to pursue school related matters in exchange for a commitment from that teacher for a specified amount of time.
Moving to such a system though would require a consistent source of funding for schools that would provide them with an ability to budget for an extended period of time (say five year increments) to ensure that they remain fiscally sound.
Separation clauses would need to be developed for instances in which a teacher decides to leave prior to a contract being up (spouse changes jobs, change in career, retirement) if schools were to cover the cost of a Master's program and the teacher leaves prior to fulfilling their obligations.

Throwing It Out There
Thus is my loose idea about how to put the professional in teaching, there are some new concepts presented and the preservation of traditional pieces in the way that teachers are compensated. In no way is this plan without flaws as mentioned above, hopefully though it provides some food for thought. In the sequel post to this topic, I will address the some of limitations that I potentially see and offer some thought about how to shorten gaps that are present. 

Let's Get Digital

In the past few days conversations with colleagues about where we are with technology in our building have been bothersome as our building which was opened six years ago with the idea of being a 21st Century school remains behind the curve of integrating technology into our classrooms.  During our PLC time over the years it seems like the word technology is taboo even with younger teachers who should be part of this "digital age".  Yet, like many Social Studies teachers they continue to lecture like many of our professors did in undergrad.
Having studied e-learning during grad school, I have been a large proponent of integrating more technology into our classrooms.  Cellphones, I used to confiscate all the time, fast forward to today and they play a role within my room.  This article from the Washington Post's Answer Sheet discusses the alleged "digital natives" and the fact that they are vast consumers, but not creators or curators of content.  Teachers are no better in this area either as we seem to either consume or control with our use of technology. If we want them to use it effectively and efficiently then we cannot assume that students are technologically able to do everything we ask of them from creating a presentation riddled with bullets and as much text as possible to discussion forums for class where "I agree with..." is considered a post.
Thus my building goal is to integrate more teachers into integrating technology by continuing to put the bug in Admin's ear about mandating a teacher technology boot camp for our staff.  Likely this will face resistance from some colleagues, but if we as teachers who are supposed to be lead learners will not model life long learning, why should the same be expected of students!

I'm just sayin'...

"I can get a hell of a good look at a T-Bone steak by sticking my head up a bull's ass, but I'd rather take the butcher's word for it." - Big Tom Callahan (Tommy Boy, 1995)

Instead of telling me what new directive we are taking this week, it would be nice to be asked given my position each day in the classroom if there are suggestions for how we can revamp the education of our students. Hence the quote, if new directives are going to be given, give classroom teachers a voice.

The discussions that I have with like-minded colleagues are exciting, but hamstrung by a system that doesn't necessarily allow our voice to be heard. Increasingly, I wonder if putting the ideas that we have conjured up together is worth searching for potential support somewhere to create a school using ideas of schools like High Tech High and Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.

Previously being in an official capacity as a school leader hasn't intrigued me, however working in a redesigned school created and driven by teachers would be a unique and fun adventure. The next question to ask about embarking on a search to make this a reality then comes from Jerry Maguire "Who's coming with me?"

The Game of School

The old adage about how everyone can be knowledgable of schools because they attended one is quipped quite often in the comments from parents at Parent-Teacher Conferences about "how school was when they were students". Such comments are funny because if we always did things the way it was once done, there would be no innovation with students sitting in rows, hands neatly folded.

Breaking down walls of the traditional classroom environment at the high school level doesn't come with resistance from other adults both in and out of the education field, but includes the students that consume the learning.  As @schneidermf and I have found with the redirection of our classroom, many students are pretty good at playing "the game of school" in that they have always come in, absorbed the information, drilled the information on worksheets, then took a quiz and a test to demonstrate that they could regurgitate said info/skills.  

Talking to parents about the game that school is/has been for many of their students is eye opening.  Many are bewildered by the idea that the students are actively pursuing their learning, that we don't have spelling tests for vocabulary and offer many opportunities to collaborate even on exams! When the connection is made to making school more applicable to real world conditions is when the light bulb switches on and the chaos that we have described to them begins to make sense.  

Emphasizing the process of learning has been one of the paramount topics in class this year and continues to be an uphill battle.  Trying to stop the obsession with grades is like any habit that has been formed it is hard to break and taking our students outside of those comfortable settings has made them uneasy, but as they begin to find their bearings the demonstration of skills and knowledge has been rewarding to see.

The next step in the process is building upon the conversations with colleagues about how they too can/need to rethink how they are delivering their instruction to students.