10 conversations you need to have in your school

1). How would teachers respond if we did a monthly ‘lunch learn bash’ during their lunch time? A specific topic would be selected (based on teacher need/request), teachers would have a sign-up sheet saying they plan to attend during their lunch time, and the district would provide lunch for the teachers.

2). Are we offering enough ‘parent’ events that encourage dads to take an active part in their child’s education and learning experience?

3). Most education innovation dies of ‘domestic violence.’ How do we ensure we are keeping #educatoroneducatorcrime to a minimum so new ideas aren’t crushed before inception?

4). How often do we remind our students of their deficiencies rather their strengths, interests, and passions? Are we making sure we include time for kids to find success, or are we constantly throwing their weaknesses in their faces?

5). Are we doing a good enough job of sharing our moments of ‘genius,’ or are we keeping them secret because we are afraid of what others might say? Are we making it safe for folks to share their moments of genius…?

6). We ask our teachers to ask our students to take risks and take chances as part of the learning process. Are we creating a safe and supportive environment for our teachers to take risks and take chances?

7). The influence of technology and social media on learning is undeniable, and it is only going to increase. As educators, are we modeling appropriate usage of technology and social media?

8). Those kids in our classes that are invisible… are we helping our teachers to make sure they are providing opportunities for those students to become visible? Are we helping those kids to find their voice and find their niche? This goes the same for our teachers…

9). Doing a PDF/word document worksheet on a laptop is like driving a Ferrari 5 miles per hour on the autobahn. How are we ensuring that we are using technology to reshape and redefine learning experiences rather than simply doing the same types of things we have always done?

10). Are we doing enough to honor the work of our students by ensuring it’s published and viewable for the masses? Are our students working just for their teachers, or are they working for the benefit of society? Does their work matter to people other than their teacher…?

Increasing student engagement

If you've worked in education for more than 5 minutes, you've probably had a conversation about ways and strategies to increase student engagement. For the record, I applaud all efforts and all initiatives that assist our schools in becoming more engaging. I think it's also safe to say that increases in student engagement are directly related to a more relevant and more purposeful learning environment for our students.

Perhaps I'm wrong and totally going in the wrong direction here, but I feel we aren't making nearly as much progress as we could be...

What I mean by this is that I think we have too many varying definitions of what 'engagement' actually looks like. I also think we are too varied in our beliefs about what 'relevant' and 'purposeful' really mean in the classroom setting.

via +John Spencer (@edrethink)

I have no doubt that educators are all committed to doing what's best for our students. My only concern is that since we all have varying and different definitions of what engaging, purposeful, and relevant mean, we are having difficulty moving forward with these initiatives and at times are spinning our wheels.

Now, one of the beauties of education is all the varying backgrounds and experiences that educators have that ultimately enrich and strengthen learning opportunities for students. We all bring a certain 'flavor' to the classroom and it's because of that unique flavor and perspective, we avoid possibly being replaced by robots!

So, when we sit down to talk about increasing student engagement, when we talk about making education more purposeful, and when we talk about making education more relevant, we first need to discuss what we as educators mean by engagement, purpose, and relevance.

We need to actually describe what we believe student engagement looks like in a classroom. We need to agree upon what a purposeful education actually means for students in the 21st century. Lastly, we need to come to some kind of a consensus of what is relevant for our students when it comes to preparing them for a successful life.

So, before we talk about strategies to increase engagement, strategies to make education more purposeful, and strategies to make education more relevant, we all need to agree upon what we believe they mean and what we believe they will ultimately look like.

Agree upon a mutual meaning and definition and then begin the strategies discussion... if we don't all agree upon a meaning, then the strategies aren't going to have much meaning and they will have a very inconsistent impact on student engagement.