Sunday, January 26, 2014

Teacher Dreams Do Come True

In February 2012 I was asked to participate at the national ECET2 conference in Scottsdale, AZ. ECET2 stands for Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers. Aside from the beautiful venue and the thrill of escaping the chilly Kentucky air, I was amazed by how well we were treated. This was the first conference I attended where someone wasn't trying to sell me something. We were told  that we were important and needed. We were sung to, fed amazing meals, allowed time to make connections with teachers across the country, and treated professionally. All of the plenary and breakout sessions were relevant to my teaching. All sessions were led by teachers. There were many sessions to choose from and I had difficulty choosing sometimes. My colleagues and I kept looking at one another and wondering how did we get here.  It was sad that we were so surprised by the attention. Indeed, we left the conference and felt "celebrated and elevated". On the flight home, I began to dream about what it would be like if an ECET2 conference could happen for Kentucky teachers.

Eleven months later my dream started to come true. It began with a tweet. Within seconds of wishing for a Kentucky version of the conference, we had a planning team pulled together. While many logistics needed to be worked out, we were on our way to bringing ECET2 to our Kentucky colleagues.








On January 25, 2014 the dream became a reality as the first annual ECET2KY was held at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky. Despite a wicked snow storm, teachers gathered to be elevated and celebrated.




Like the national version of ECET2, we had a mix of break-out sessions and plenary sessions. We had our very own emcee in Mickey Campbell, a Lexington teacher, who playfully and professionally guided us throughout the day.

We were first greeted by Barbara Bellissimo, the executive director of The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky. The Fund served as the sponsoring group for the conference and supported our planning team with resources and encouragement. She praised the work teachers are doing in Kentucky and pledged to support teachers and innovative teaching practices. 

In the first plenary session, Irvin Scott from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation opened up our conference and told teachers that isolation is the enemy of improvement in our profession. He encouraged us to reach out to our colleagues to problem solve issues affecting our students and schools. 

Next, I spoke to the group about UP³. Teachers need to Get Up. We need to remember why we started teaching and find ways to rejuvenate so we can continue the work. Teachers also need to Team Up. It's important that we connect with one another for support and growth. Finally, teachers need to Speak Up. We need to find our voices and share our experiences with those outside of education.

During lunch we heard from Megan Allen, the 2010 Florida Teacher of the Year. Megan reminded us of several things. School is like a rock to our students, a place of stability and safety. Teaching moments are important and can't often be measured on a bubble test. We need to look within our classrooms for solutions. Finally, we need to build on our commonalities and use our voice to speak up about our experiences.

Our closing speaker was Josh Underwood, a Kentucky science teacher. Josh reminded us of the importance of saying yes to learning and leadership opportunities. He reminds us that we need to broaden our circle to include teachers of all content areas. He told us that there is power in a unified effort and that teachers' voices matter. 

In between the plenary sessions, we attended breakout sessions and met in colleague circles to discuss teacher leadership. The breakout sessions explored how teachers can improve their practice through collaboration, leverage their voices, become teacher leaders, and communicate with policy makers. 

For me, the most rewarding times were sitting in the colleague circles and watching teachers encourage one another. My teacher soul was fed as I watched connections being formed. This is tough, rewarding work and sometimes teachers need a lift. One teacher said she was glad to know she has a group of teachers that she could reach out to when she needed support. This support is important and necessary for effective teachers to remain teaching. Sometimes the support is a kind word, e-mail, or tweet. Other times the support is more tangible, like pushing a colleague's car out of a snowy parking lot. 



Teachers, it is important to dream, and dreams can come true. My ECET2KY dream came true with a lot of help from colleagues and community partners like The Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,  the Center for Teaching Quality, and the Hope Street Group. 

I am looking forward to what my colleagues dream up while we are waiting for the next ECET2KY. If you are on Twitter you can follow the conversation at #ECET2KY. 



Tuesday, January 7, 2014

First Genius Hour Celebration


When I started researching Genius Hour this summer, I had no idea how the concept would play out in my classroom. The idea was intriguing and seemed worth the risk, so I forged ahead with plans to introduce it to my writing class in the fall. I was very honest with my class that this was the first time I had ever tried this out on a class. I explained that we would figure this out together and, at the end of the semester, decide if we wanted to continue.  The process wasn’t without its bumps. Initially, students struggled with the wide-open freedom of choosing how to spend a 90 minute class block. At first, many of them spent time trying to figure out what I wanted and distrusted me when I explained that the students would determine if their project was successful or not. Likewise, I explained that I would not be assigning grades to their work, they would. This was a very different learning situation for them. Some students quickly adapted to the freedom and began working on a project right away. Other students struggled and begged me to tell them what to do. In the end, my students have voted to continue with Genius Hour.
I wanted to recap our first Genius Hour Celebration below.  I learned more about my students’ passions during this process than I could in a year’s worth of classes. They amazed me and my guests that day. I am forever hooked on Genius Hour and look forward to the second semester of work. 

This group of students set out to document all four years of their high school experience. They spent the semester collecting artifacts from their friends to add to this real life collage. These senior students reflected on how they realized that the next few years of their lives would not be spent so closely with one another. They mentioned that the experience of collecting the artifacts, reflecting on the experiences, and pulling together the display was one they won’t forget as they move in separate directions next fall.





Two students wanted to create homemade Christmas gifts for their families. They decided on glass blown ornaments. At first, they tried to create the projects in our school with a collaboration between our science and art departments, but quickly learned because of safety concerns and equipment, it would not be possible. The students then looked around to see if they could apprentice with an actual glass blower. Their research led them to the arts and craft community in Berea, Kentucky about a 45 minute drive from our school. The students excitedly showed us the video of how they were able to not only watch the artisan craft the glass ornaments, but also create their own ornaments. They were the experts as they explained to us terms like thermal stress, glory hole, and marvering. I was most excited when the students said they were going to go back again over winter break and take their families and make the glass blowing outing a family tradition.




Another student wanted to explore how to create a puzzle. The task seemed simple until the student explained how she had to work around several challenges. She first downloaded a program that would help her draw the puzzle pieces only to find out the program would not work and was actually an advertisement. Next, she tried to create the puzzle pieces by hand only to find out that her tools were not effective and only succeeded in making a mess. Likewise, she realized that too detailed a photo was difficult to cut out. She settled on a vibrant, but simple photograph. Finally, she found a template and after a couple of attempts was successful. She said she her dad was a huge encouragement to her and helped her brainstorm through the challenges.




This last project involved students creating mosaics using glass tiles. The project evolved throughout the semester as the students became more comfortable with the materials they used. They created four mosaics to represent the four seasons. This sunshine mosaic represented summer.  This was the first mosaic the students created and the one they said they learned the most from. In the corner you can see tiny cracks. These cracks led the students to research and seek help about how to prevent them. Each subsequent mosaic improved in quality until finally the students were satisfied with the outcome. I find it interesting that the students chose to show our class the “mistake” rather than  the finished “perfect” one.


My students were honest about their work when they shared their projects. They spoke about the dangers of procrastinating and underestimating the time the projects took. Many of them talked about learning lessons of planning their work before jumping into the project. Others talked about how experimenting with their work paid off in surprising ways. Many of them commented on how well they know their classmates now that we have struggled through our first Genius Hour. All of these lessons might not have occurred if it were not for Genius Hour. So, would I do it again or recommend it to others? Definitely. My students’ excitement fed my teacher soul. I can’t wait to start this madness back up again in January.