Communication is EVERYTHING

Everything my school issues, from coffee cups to tote bags and even our email signatures, has the tagline "Equipping Students For Life."  This is because we recognize that education is about more than academic material.  In some ways, the academic content I teach is a vehicle for the skills a student will one day need, including organization skills, teamwork, perseverance, stress management, and scheduling.  For me, the top life skill I could impart to my students is communication.  The rest of the list matters, but communication is everything because, without it, we do not know about what is happening with the rest of the list.

Sometimes, work is turned in late.  I get it.  Life happens.  Our policy involves some grace for that.  Here's the thing.  You can save your teacher a lot of stress and yourself a lot of emails.  All you have to do is communicate to your teacher that your work will be late with a reason why.  A quick email to your teacher that says, "I know the project is due on Friday.  I have been sick for the past three days, so I couldn't complete it.  I will work on it over the weekend and get it to you on Monday." communicates that you are aware that you aren't meeting a deadline, gives a reason, and offers a plan.  I'm not saying this will result in a teacher delightfully offering you full credit, but it will earn you far more respect from the teacher than waiting for the teacher to email you the day after the deadline, not responding to that email, and then offering your reason only after the teacher has put in the zero for work not turned in.   

Speaking of teachers sending emails, we don't do it because we love it.  We do it because we are attempting to communicate with and elicit communication from you.  For the love of everything good, reply!  You don't have to reply to a mass email that was simply meant to inform.  I don't need a hundred responses with the word "thanks."  But, if the teacher has asked you a question, it is incredibly rude to not reply.  Imagine having a conversation with a teacher in real life in which they ask you a question.  Would you turn around and face away from the teacher?  Of course not, so don't do it digitally.  The teacher asked the question because they needed the answer, and when you don't reply, they still need the answer.  

I know that it is sometimes difficult to deal with a problem, and that makes communication about that thing frightening.  But nothing good ever comes from lying low and hoping it will go away if you ignore it.

Parents, as you partner with your child's school in preparing your children for adult life, let me make this humble request, teach your children to communicate.  It will help them in school, in work, in their relationships, and in life more than any other skill.

Teacher Oath

The Hippocratic Oath is a widely known set of standards that nearly all medical students recite at some point in their process of becoming a doctor, usually when graduating from medical school.  While they are not legally bound by it (you can't sue your doctor for violating it) and it has changed over the years (the original specifically prohibits abortion), it is generally upheld as the standard for medical ethics.

Here it is in its modern form.

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Side note:  I think it is interesting that the words, "First, do no harm" do not appear in it as TV shows make it seems like it starts with that line.

It seems to me that in a job as important as teaching, we should also have a guiding set of principles.  There should be a shared set of promises we make to ourselves, our students, and their parents.  As I have thought about this, I have to ask myself, what qualities are so important and so universal that we could all agree to abide by them.  Here's what I'm certain is only a partial list.  It surprises me how easy it is to make parallels to the Hippocratic Oath.

- I will seek out research about the best practices of my profession, share them with other educators, and strive to implement them for the good of all students.
- I will use as many teaching strategies as are required to provide an understanding of content but will not fall into the trap of confusing kids with too many strategies where one is sufficient.
- I will remember that the best classroom management is a positive classroom environment, which is established by building relationships which outweigh any negative consequence.
- I will not be ashamed to say, "I do not know" when a student's question exceeds my knowledge, nor will I fail to help that student seek an answer.
- I will remember that I do not teach a report card or test score, recognizing that my student is a whole person and not just a receptacle for my content.
- I will do what is, in my professional judgment, best for my student - even when it is not comfortable or their preference.

I am sure there is much to be added to this list.  These are just the things I could think of while sitting here.

Six Things to STOP Saying to Students Today

I will never forget this parent conference.  A student was failing my class and others.  She was in danger of not progressing to the next level.  The parent called a meeting of all her daughter's teachers to figure out a plan.  During the meeting, she said, "Well, she has an older brother, so she knows that 8th-grade doesn't matter."  I sat there hoping that the look on my face didn't reflect the horror in my heart.  This woman just told a room full of 8th-grade teachers whose time she had demanded that their jobs didn't matter.  I assume she has communicated the same sentiments to her son and daughter.  It was all I could do not stand up and say, "Whenever she passes this grade that doesn't matter, I guess we should meet again."  Of course, I didn't.  As professionals, we rarely get to say the thing we wish we could.  I wouldn't even mention it here if the student hadn't left our school a long time ago, and I'm certain neither she nor her mother reads this blog about education.

When you teach 8th-grade, one thing you constantly keep in your mind is that you are training your students for what they will encounter in high school.  I assume 5th-grade teachers have this in mind for middle school, and kindergarten teachers have it in mind for 1st grade.  There is no time at which a teacher is not preparing students for the next level.  We expect this to come with resistance from students, but it should not come with resistance from parents.  Yet, adults often communicate resistance to kids, both consciously and unconsciously.

Schooling is one of the few things everyone has in common.  Whether public, home, or private, all of us have been to school.  We have all progressed from basic reading and arithmetic to complex novel analysis and geometry.  We have all gone from the idea that science is a set of terms to the idea that science is an examination of how and why things work.  We have all moved from the idea that history is a study of the events in the past to a recognition of how those events affect our present.  We all know that we are better and more interesting people because of the things we learned outside of our career path, but we do not communicate that to students.

Here's a short list of things I wish adults would stop saying to students:

1.  I never use algebra anyway.
Yes, you do use algebra.  You use it every single day of your life.  You don't sit down with a pencil and call an unknown x because you have internalized algebra to the point where you don't need to do that anymore.  It's no longer algebra as much as it is algebraic thinking.  When you figure out if you have enough money in the bank to pay a bill, you are using algebraic thinking.  When you figure out which coupon is the better deal for buying a box of cereal, you are using algebraic thinking.  When you decide how hard you need to hit the brakes to keep from hitting the car in front of you, you are using algebraic thinking.  The part of your brain that was strengthened by taking algebra is essential for modern living, so stop devaluing it with teenagers.

2.  When you get to high school is when it matters because it will go on your transcript.
I was guilty of this one when I taught 9th-grade.  The idea that your transcript mattered seemed to be a good motivational tool for incoming freshman to take their classes seriously.  What I didn't realize was that I undermined my own value by implying their education up to that point had no value.  When you underestimate the value of ANY part of a student's education, you teach them to undervalue all of it.  Yes, the transcript is an important piece of one possible path in their lives, but so was learning to share in kindergarten.  The transcript will be looked at by colleges, but a student's work ethic is what shows up in teacher recommendation letters, regardless of grades.  The transcript reflects your performance in classes; it doesn't say what kind of person you are.

3.  Yeah, I hated (fill in the subject here) when I was your age, too.
We all had subjects we liked less in school than others.  There's nothing wrong with communicating that you are a human being.  That is not, however, the context in which this is usually said.  This usually comes about when a student doesn't want to do their math homework or doesn't want to read their history book.  Someone, then affirms their lack of motivation with this statement.  If you, as an adult, take a moment to look back on it, I imagine you can now find value in something you didn't see at the time.  I wish I had paid better attention in history because I can now see the patterns that got us to where we are today; I couldn't see that as a high school freshman.  I spent all of my time in Human Anatomy and Physiology Lab in tears.  I was emotionally overwhelmed by the cadaver on the table, but I never learned more in a class than that one (in spite of the C I earned in it).  I hated, hated, hated, reading Lord of the Flies, but I can appreciate it now that I see it being played out in culture.  When you tell a student you hated a subject and let it rest, you teach them there is only value to things they like.  Perhaps, you could augment your statement with what you learned from it even though you didn't like it at the time.

4.  If a lot of you missed that question, the teacher must not have taught it correctly.
If you are a parent, you know that you can say something, say it clearly, and say it repeatedly and still have your child look you in the eye and say, "You never told me that."  Multiply that by 25, and you might stop suggesting that if students don't know something, it is on the teacher.  We do our best to actively engage students, but we cannot learn it for them.  I have had tests in which student scores ranged between 3% and 97%.  During a review for my last test, every student got a question wrong, which was a great opportunity to talk about how a lot of people being wrong doesn't make it right.  Teachers examine our tests after students take them.  When a large number of people miss a question, we do go to that question to make sure it is fairly worded, has been taught, and has been properly marked on the key.  Then, we go over that question with them in the next class to explain why they were wrong and how they could approach it differently the next time to get it right.  We do not automatically throw it out because that teaches our students that it is okay to be wrong if a lot of people are wrong.

5.  You shouldn't take that class if it doesn't line up with what job you want.
Every teacher has at least one student who tells us why they shouldn't have to take our class, no matter what that class is.  One student, in particular, stands out in my mind.  He wanted to be a musician (although I've also heard this statement from future baseball players, politicians, and writers) and just didn't believe he should have to learn chemistry.  Most of the time, we approach this from a standpoint of needing a backup plan in case the whole musician thing doesn't pan out, but I don't think that is wise.  It is just feeding the idea that education is only valuable if it relates to your job.  I said to this student, who I had a good relationship with, "What if the only thing I could talk to you about was chemistry?  Would we have the relationship we have?"  He replied, "Well, no, I guess  we wouldn't."  The reason I could have a conversation with this student, or any of my less scientifically inclined students, is because I am a human being with diverse interests.  I've learned enough about art and music to hold a reasonable conversation and to be able to learn from someone who knows more than I do on the subject (usually, my students).  I read enough to be able to talk about favorite books with students.  I loved my general ed classes because, while they weren't applicable to my future career, they were making me a more interesting person.  Let's teach our kids to be curious, not to be jaded about anything that isn't in their chosen field.

6.  It's only (fill in the grade here).  It doesn't matter anyway.
This was the one that started it all - this mom who was communicating to her daughter that it was okay to fail because this year didn't matter.  Every day of your life matters.  What you do that day matters because you are trading a day of your life for it.  Every day, you are in training to become the person you will be tomorrow.  I don't believe in preparing for college in kindergarten, but I do believe that kindergartners are capable of preparing for next week during this week.  I do believe a third grader is in training for fourth grade.  I do believe I am teaching my 8th-graders to become high school freshmen and my seniors to become lifelong learners, whether that is in college or a job or just as people.  I am teaching all of them the work ethic that is needed for their current level and preparing them for the work ethic that will be needed at the next level.  That student did not suddenly become a motivated, hardworking learner when it "started to count" her freshman year.   Because she had been taught that she only had to work if she thought it was necessary, she carried poor work habits and study skills into high school.  Even if you think a year doesn't matter, DO NOT let your student hear you say it.

Glitchy Tech - Be the Calm One

It happens every year at the beginning of the year.  My students get their computers.  I am ready to get them enrolled in my class on our learning management system.  I am psyched to get my 8th graders blogs set up and to put my digital textbook on their computers.  I have one day in my first few days set aside just for this purpose.  And then . . .

Two kids have some weird thing that keeps their computer from opening the book.  )Make a note to send him a pdf version while we figure this out.)  Halfway through the day, the filter experiences something that causes two of my classes to be unable to set up their blog because they can get to WordPress but can't confirm their e-mail.  (Send a help ticket to IT for this.)  A student wasn't listening when you gave them the access code to get on the LMS, so he's not getting the information he should be. (Remind him of the code, again.  Don't worry, you'll get to remind him again tomorrow.)

Our IT people are AWESOME, and they work hard to make our system run smoothly.  No matter how good they are, there are just problems they cannot anticipate.  You cannot test 600 computers trying to get to the different websites different teachers use until they try.  Students love drama, so they make out like these tech glitches are the end of the world.  In their minds, this week of troubleshooting tech will cause them to fail, keep them from getting into college, or getting a job, or getting a house; and they will most surely be living under a bridge - all as a result of this filter issue.

Deep breaths, teachers.  You are the adults in the room.  Remind them that this happens every year.  Remind them how great it is to have this problem when so many in the world have no access to technology at all.  Remind them that the IT people are working hard to solve the problem.  Remind them that their teachers are not insane people who wish to see them fail and will, of course, adjust the due date of that blog post or have them submit it some other way.  One more thing, teachers.  Since you know this might happen, have a non-tech backup plan for that day.  When the thing doesn't work the way it is supposed to, do the backup plan.  Then, you can do all that tech stuff after it is fixed.

Two weeks from now, when everything is running smoothly, no one will remember that there were any tech issues at the beginning of the year (except the tech people); so let's not waste our precious energy worrying about it now.

Elements of Successful Innovation - Part 5 - Communication

I almost made this my shortest post ever by saying, "Communication is everything" and being done with it.  I thought you might feel that was clickbait, so I will expand on that.  Communication always matters, but it matters all the more when you are doing something unusual, i.e. innovating.

Communication with Students
If you are doing something new, it is obviously something students have never done before.  You can't expect them to read your mind.  If you want them to present their findings in a specific format, you should tell them.  If you want them to choose the best way to present their findings, tell them that too.  I made this mistake last year.  My physics class was working on their challenge-based learning project on electricity.  These are juniors and seniors, and I want them to make decisions about the best ways to pursue it.  I thought I had communicated this to the students, but the day of the forum, a student came to me in a panic because every other group had made a poster to go with their presentation.  She was worried that she would be graded down when obviously "we were supposed to make a poster."  They weren't supposed to; that was just the choice made by the other groups.  Next year, I will make sure to emphasize the degree of choice they have in this area.  They aren't used to it yet, and it scares them a little.  Most new things scare most of us a little.

Communication with Parents
The more e-mails you send, the fewer you get.  This may be the most important thing I've ever written in this blog.  E-mail (or whatever method of mass communication your school uses) is the greatest tool you have.  Just as students aren't used to things when you innovate, their parents aren't either.  Because we have all been to school, we all think we know what it should be like.  Depending on the grade you teach, most of your kids' parents graduated from school at least a decade ago.  They built dioramas and wrote five paragraph essays.  They did not blog or animate concepts.  When you ask their children to do that, they may not understand why.

It is important to communicate both what their students will be doing and why.  Send them the same set of instructions you give the students.  That will communicate the what and give them the chance to converse with their students whose answer to "what did you do in school today" is usually "nothing."  It is also important that you communicate why you are asking these things of students.  My 8th-grade students blog publically.  Last year, a parent objected to the public nature of the blog.  She had safety concerns, but she also didn't understand why it needed to be public.  "If the point is that he reflects in writing," she said, "why can't it just be turned in to you?"  Let's be fair to her.  She doesn't go to education conferences or attend faculty meeting where "real work for real audiences" is discussed.  She hasn't read the research about why this matters.  She just sees one aspect of "the point" of the assignment.  We compromised by having his blog set to private so that only those people she had approved (his teachers, a few friends) could read it. (I am, after all, not his parent; and she had safety concerns.)  If I had explained the value of public work up front, she could have experienced less stress even though she might have ultimately come to the same conclusion.  In my school, all teachers read the same book over the summer.  We send those book titles out to parents so that if they wish, they can read them as well to get an idea of what the teachers are learning.  If you are innovating based on something you have read, it might be a good idea to include the book title or link to the blog post, research study, or article that explains the value of that innovation.  

When you communicate up front, you get fewer e-mails that begin with "I just don't understand why . . ."  I'm not saying you won't get questions from parents because you always will.  I am saying those questions will come from a place of inquiry rather than doubt in your teaching.