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Bonus: Summit: Connecting with Students for Greater Well-Being w/ Monte Syrie
12 Plays5 years ago
Join Monte Syrie - a proponent of student relationships who operates a daily educational reflective blog at LetsChangeEducation.com. Monte serves as an adjunct professor of education at Eastern Washington University, and as a high school English teacher and department chair at Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington.
In this interactive discussion, we will discuss connecting and relating with students to improve well-being, both from a resource and systemic perspective.
Participants will be posed with these questions, but the conversation will take us on a journey of its own:
What are some practices or systems that get in the way of connecting, or are disconnecting, students and educators?
How can we foster a class/school culture where students listen, learn, and support one another?
How can we systemically change our class/school to support learners and their social/emotional well-being?
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
So let's go ahead and get started, folks.
00:00:05
Speaker
So welcome to summit number five here at Humanistration Project with Monte Sairi.
00:00:10
Speaker
So today we're going to be talking about connecting the students with the focus on not only making students more better in general, not just academically, but socially, emotionally.
00:00:21
Speaker
etc, but also teachers, because it's not just enough to talk about students doing better overall.
00:00:27
Speaker
It's also about teachers doing better overall.
00:00:30
Speaker
But before we get started with that, I just want to give a brief shout out to our Patreon supporters and to kind of chill here for a second.
00:00:38
Speaker
The Human Restoration Project is involved right now.
00:00:40
Speaker
It's November funding drive.
00:00:42
Speaker
We're looking to expand our opportunities through micro-credentialing as well as IRS 501c3 funding so we can expand our operations.
00:00:50
Speaker
If you enjoy the summit and you like what we're doing, as well as all our free resources, podcasts, etc., visit our website at humanrestorationproject.org.
00:00:59
Speaker
we really appreciate it.
Presenters' Backgrounds
00:01:02
Speaker
But now diving into kind of the format of this, essentially Monte and I are going to be talking about student well-being, but we really, really, really want you all to get involved.
00:01:13
Speaker
So either through the chat or even better through talking to us, either through audio or audio and video, if you click on the bottom of your screen, there should be a raise hand button
00:01:25
Speaker
At any point, if you want to chat, if you want to respond to one of us, just hit that raise hand button and then I can invite you up.
00:01:32
Speaker
By default, I'll turn on your audio, but you can turn on video if you'd like as well.
00:01:36
Speaker
But having you all involved in our conversation really adds a lot to this discussion because it's kind of the whole point.
00:01:42
Speaker
Before we turn the cameras on, Monty and I were talking about how
00:01:45
Speaker
Really, we're all in this together.
00:01:47
Speaker
And sometimes it seems like some people have it figured out, but really none of us have it figured out.
00:01:52
Speaker
It's just that shared collective discussion that drives us all forward so we can start to figure things out.
00:01:59
Speaker
So let's go ahead and do some introductions.
00:02:02
Speaker
First off, my name is Chris McNutt.
00:02:04
Speaker
I teach digital art and design at a public school in Springfield, Ohio.
00:02:09
Speaker
I am one of the founders of the Human Restoration Project, which again, we offer free resources for progressive educators, including the summit.
00:02:16
Speaker
And then, Monty, I'll let you introduce yourself.
00:02:18
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:02:19
Speaker
I'm so excited you're here today.
00:02:22
Speaker
So most of you know, I suppose, but if you don't, I'm a teacher out here in Washington State.
00:02:26
Speaker
I teach at Cheney High School.
00:02:29
Speaker
I teach 10th grade ELA.
00:02:32
Speaker
I spend quite a bit of time on my blog,
00:02:35
Speaker
let's change education or project one 80.
00:02:37
Speaker
And I'm pretty active on Twitter and I'm just so excited that I become connected with all of you guys.
00:02:42
Speaker
And I have an opportunity with, with Chris and, and the rest of the human res folks to have this conversation today.
00:02:49
Speaker
So I'm just really excited.
00:02:51
Speaker
Awesome.
00:02:51
Speaker
Awesome.
00:02:52
Speaker
So let's just dive right
Engaging Discussions on Education Systems
00:02:54
Speaker
into it.
00:02:54
Speaker
So we have three questions today that we're going to be focusing on and all of them kind of relate to get together.
00:03:00
Speaker
But feel free to ask additional questions as they come up because the conversation will naturally flow.
00:03:06
Speaker
But let's just start off with the first question and then see where it goes from there.
00:03:09
Speaker
Again, hit the raise hand button if you have something to add or a question to ask or you disagree with one of us.
00:03:14
Speaker
Any of those things is fair game.
00:03:17
Speaker
So the first question, Monty, and I'll have you start us off, is what are some practices or systems that get in the way of connecting or are disconnecting students and educators?
00:03:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:31
Speaker
So guys, bear with me here real quickly.
00:03:33
Speaker
I've kind of have an opening statement, if you will.
00:03:35
Speaker
As I'm prone to do, I kind of sat down this morning, put some of my thoughts together and I asked myself the question, what gets in the way or what creates disconnect?
00:03:44
Speaker
And so I'm just going to read from my phone here really quickly.
00:03:46
Speaker
It won't take me very long, but I'm hoping it can kind of set the stage for our discussion on this first question.
00:03:52
Speaker
So here we go.
00:03:52
Speaker
Thank you for bearing with me.
00:03:54
Speaker
What gets in the way?
00:03:55
Speaker
Generally, but significantly, I think it's the edifice of education.
00:03:59
Speaker
We too often facilitate classroom experiences based on what we think should be rather than what is.
00:04:04
Speaker
We seem to have this weird worry that there's a set of eyes casting doubt and shame upon our practices if we don't comply with the system of beliefs, which in the end, I believe is largely imaginary.
00:04:18
Speaker
For example, many enter the system with little or no training on grading practices, and so they, out of necessity, put into play practices based on what they think is supposed to be.
00:04:27
Speaker
Take late work penalties.
00:04:28
Speaker
Many teachers think they have to punish late work, that the system expects it, supports it for reasons ranging from fairness to responsibility, and the system becomes a fictional facade that gets in the way, creates a disconnect by creating acceptance among educators, students, parents, and society that this is how things should be.
00:04:47
Speaker
It's how they've always been.
00:04:48
Speaker
It's how they'll always be.
00:04:49
Speaker
Of course, it doesn't have to be.
00:04:51
Speaker
And for many of us, we know it shouldn't be.
00:04:54
Speaker
I suspect that's why we're all here this morning.
00:04:56
Speaker
But despite our growing resistance from this recognition, it still largely is.
00:05:01
Speaker
And as such, it creates artificial experiences with unfortunate, and I believe unnecessary side effects, apathy, stress, confusion, competition, resentment, resistance, distrust, and misbehavior.
00:05:12
Speaker
And the list goes on.
00:05:13
Speaker
These effects create disconnect.
00:05:15
Speaker
We can address them
00:05:16
Speaker
but we have to first set aside this adherence to the idea of what education is supposed to be and focus on what can be.
00:05:23
Speaker
The kids will show us the way.
00:05:25
Speaker
And so Chris, that's really what I believe is that this disconnect is created by this idea that we have to adhere to the principles of education.
00:05:38
Speaker
And I'm not suggesting there aren't some important principles of education shared globally, nationally,
00:05:44
Speaker
Locally, etc.
00:05:46
Speaker
But I think by and large, when it comes to connecting teachers and students, those things get in the way.
00:05:51
Speaker
And and I think that we can do something about that.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm completely with you.
00:05:58
Speaker
When it comes to systems that tear us apart, you mentioned specifically grading practice.
00:06:03
Speaker
Right.
00:06:04
Speaker
When you start ranking and sorting students and making students basically feel bad when they do bad or feel bad if they do something that you don't like or just like simple things like if you don't allow for retaking a test, if you're giving tests, you're basically saying one shot is all that matters and then you get into anxiety, depression.
00:06:26
Speaker
serious issues that are rapidly growing, especially in the United States, that really is not being addressed at a systemic level, at least in the education system.
00:06:37
Speaker
One thing that I know that we've written about and I've spoken about a lot is how
00:06:42
Speaker
Mindfulness practice is good in theory.
00:06:44
Speaker
I like the concept of yoga in school and being mindful with oneself and taking time to reflect.
00:06:51
Speaker
All those things are very good in theory.
00:06:53
Speaker
But when you're using them as a tool to fight against state testing or a tool to fight against...
00:07:02
Speaker
all the issues within the education system, that's not the point.
00:07:06
Speaker
The point was for SEL and mindfulness to help students realize themselves and recognize the place they're in and deal with social emotional issues.
00:07:16
Speaker
But you should also be trying to get rid of the systems to begin with that are causing set issues.
00:07:21
Speaker
So systemically, it
00:07:23
Speaker
trying to find ways that teachers can go around these different problems, um, is very much needed.
00:07:28
Speaker
Um, so let's dive into some specifics of ways that we can support students or some specific ways that we can fix these systems within our own classrooms.
00:07:37
Speaker
Um, so something Monty that we've spoken about in the past is what happens inside your classroom.
00:07:43
Speaker
Um,
00:07:44
Speaker
So to most extent, most people don't care about.
00:07:47
Speaker
What I mean by that is, is that if you allow for retakes in your class, you probably can get away with it for a pretty serious amount of time if you've built relationships with your students and they trust you and they go along with what you're saying.
00:07:59
Speaker
So outside of just a gradeless learning, what are some other ways that you see to connect students together or to tear down systems?
00:08:10
Speaker
Well, I just, I think what we have, well, I've,
00:08:13
Speaker
I don't think there's a simple answer, Chris, and I know that you know that as well.
00:08:19
Speaker
And as I think about my own experiences and I think about, you mentioned,
00:08:25
Speaker
what goes on in our classrooms and what we can and cannot get away with and what we're willing to try, what we feel like we have to continue to honor, even though it really stems from nothing substantial.
00:08:38
Speaker
I just think that we have to first, and this sounds maybe silly to this group, because I think everyone in this group practices this on a daily basis, is we just first have to, we have to consider kids.
00:08:53
Speaker
And I think
00:08:53
Speaker
you know, you talked about dismantling systems a little bit or, or circumventing them and going around them.
00:08:59
Speaker
And I think we just have to not only consider kids, but we have to, we have to walk our walk with kids.
00:09:05
Speaker
And I feel like, you know, when we, when we do things like when we, when we do mindfulness, when we bring yoga into the classroom, if you will, if we bring, if we bring meditation into the classroom, even bringing smiles and frowns into the classroom as I do, or,
00:09:21
Speaker
Or, you know, let's say the way to do this is to talk about growth mindset with our kids and to make it a collective thing that we're doing in our buildings, we're doing in our districts.
00:09:32
Speaker
But I think where we fall short on all of those things, in particular with disconnecting with kids or creating that disconnect, is that our talk doesn't match each.
00:09:42
Speaker
or our walks, excuse me, doesn't match our talk.
00:09:45
Speaker
You know, it's just like, okay, we're going to do this because state testing is coming up and stuff like that.
00:09:49
Speaker
And the kids are like, oh, they care about me.
00:09:51
Speaker
We're doing all this mindfulness stuff where we're connecting.
00:09:54
Speaker
And then it's just like,
00:09:55
Speaker
oh, but by the way, we're still going to stick to this.
00:09:57
Speaker
It's like we can't deliver on our promises half the time is what I feel like.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, we talk about, we just recently in my building talked about growth mindset with kiddos.
00:10:08
Speaker
And, you know, I think you and I have even talked about this in the past.
00:10:10
Speaker
And it's like, I think...
00:10:13
Speaker
I think we perpetuate a fixed mindset in the K-12 system that begins from the day the kids enter the system until they leave it.
00:10:21
Speaker
And so I feel like we talk a big game with it.
00:10:26
Speaker
You can't be the teacher who says, hey, you have to have a growth mindset.
00:10:30
Speaker
You have to embrace your mistakes.
00:10:32
Speaker
You can't fear failure.
00:10:33
Speaker
And then not have our walk, match our talk when it comes to the next test.
00:10:40
Speaker
And you're punishing and penalizing kids.
00:10:43
Speaker
for making mistakes and not allowing retakes and doing these other things.
00:10:46
Speaker
And so for me, it's not necessarily coming up with the practice or a set of
Balancing Relationships with Standards
00:10:53
Speaker
practices.
00:10:53
Speaker
It's about letting the walls break down, if you will, between us and the kids, shooting them straight, being real.
00:11:00
Speaker
That probably wasn't a great way to say that.
00:11:02
Speaker
Being real with kids.
00:11:04
Speaker
Um, and then just making sure that whatever we're promising, we're, we're delivering on that.
00:11:08
Speaker
You know, um, I, I, I think it goes back to this idea of like most of us to embrace relationships in the classroom and, and, and people have heard me talk about this before.
00:11:17
Speaker
Um, and we, we can't just be those icebreaker teachers, you know, because we have to consistently let kids know that they're the most important thing that we're working with each day.
00:11:28
Speaker
And, and that's why I do smiles and frowns, you know, and, and, um,
00:11:32
Speaker
I think that initially kids thought that I was full of it, that we weren't going to become a community, that we weren't going to sit around and talk about these things or talk about each other, but I've stuck with it.
00:11:44
Speaker
And I think it's had a huge impact.
00:11:48
Speaker
Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling right now, but I don't even know if I'm answering your question, Chris.
00:11:52
Speaker
No, no.
00:11:53
Speaker
I think that what you're talking about here about intentionally building relationships with students is a very valid point.
00:11:59
Speaker
And smiles and frowns are, in my classroom, we've transformed it to yeehaws and yeehaws, which is a much funnier terminology to me.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:09
Speaker
The idea that you are spending intentional time every single day solely focused on building relationships with students, not surrounding academia and not surrounding some ploy to get them to get something done.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:22
Speaker
Because I feel like the traditional way of looking at student relationships is by building rapport, quote unquote, you're
00:12:30
Speaker
like avoiding a discipline issue or going to have students achieve something in your class, which both of those things are definitely true.
00:12:38
Speaker
But if the way that you're walking into building rapport with students is so that your classroom runs better, I think you're kind of missing the point of being an educator.
00:12:50
Speaker
The purpose of building the relationship is that you're building a relationship.
00:12:53
Speaker
There isn't a nefarious or side purpose to it.
00:12:57
Speaker
At least not as its main objective.
00:12:59
Speaker
So, I think that part of the system that we're looking at here when we're trying to solve this problem is the fact that we have to be willing to say that we're not going to meet all the standards of our class.
00:13:11
Speaker
Because, I don't know about you, but whenever you do something like smiles and frowns, which is where you're asking students something good, something bad that's happened recently and talking about it as a community.
00:13:21
Speaker
That takes a lot of time.
00:13:22
Speaker
Like that takes, I mean, sometimes 20, 30 minutes.
00:13:26
Speaker
And if your class period is only 45 minutes long, you're going to, you know, not keep up with pace when it comes to the standards.
00:13:36
Speaker
So how do you balance the fact that you have these standards, you have this time that you know is set while still making sure that your community is being built?
00:13:46
Speaker
Or do you not worry about that at all?
00:13:50
Speaker
I worry about it every day, you know.
00:13:53
Speaker
But for me, you know, it came down to this.
00:13:58
Speaker
If I'm going to tell the kids that they're the most important thing in the room, then I have to daily show them that.
00:14:04
Speaker
Does that come at the cost of coverage?
00:14:07
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:14:08
Speaker
I don't get through nearly as much content perhaps as some of my other colleagues.
00:14:15
Speaker
But again, that's going back to making sure that that walk matches that talk.
00:14:19
Speaker
And so for the kids, every single day, it's non-negotiable.
00:14:26
Speaker
No matter what we're doing, we sit down together and we spend that time.
00:14:30
Speaker
That being said, some of my colleagues are reluctant to do that because they think it's a waste of time.
00:14:38
Speaker
And I
00:14:41
Speaker
even if they do see, well, and not even if they think it's a waste of time, they just don't think they can, they can, they can sacrifice the time if you will.
00:14:49
Speaker
But for me, I think it's, it's the most important time I spend each day.
00:14:54
Speaker
You know, I think about all the things that I put in front of the kids and I think about all the things they're going to forget more than they're going to carry with them in terms of the content that I'm teaching them.
00:15:03
Speaker
Just frankly, because we just don't, even if I didn't do smiles and frowns, that's the truth I believe.
00:15:07
Speaker
And that's been the truth for, for the entirety of my career.
00:15:11
Speaker
And so for me, it was just like, you know what?
00:15:13
Speaker
They're gonna take a few important things with them this year.
00:15:16
Speaker
The most important thing I hope they take with them is that they've learned something about themselves.
00:15:20
Speaker
They've learned something about their world and they're carrying forth that.
00:15:24
Speaker
And if I can add some skills and some content in there with language arts, that's fantastic.
00:15:31
Speaker
But for me, the balance is we've got to give and take.
00:15:36
Speaker
And I think giving to the humans in the room
00:15:39
Speaker
there's nothing more important than that.
00:15:40
Speaker
So I give the time, you know, some days we'll go for 12 or 15 minutes with smiles and frowns, depending on where the kids are and what their needs are.
00:15:49
Speaker
And I'm okay with that.
00:15:50
Speaker
I'm okay with that when I'm being observed.
00:15:52
Speaker
I'm okay with that when I'm not being observed.
00:15:55
Speaker
You know, I have the principal and the superintendent's sons in my class this year.
00:15:59
Speaker
They know what I'm doing.
00:16:00
Speaker
They value what I'm doing.
00:16:02
Speaker
And, and for me, that's, that's,
00:16:05
Speaker
that's all I need, you know?
00:16:07
Speaker
Um, and I don't even need that.
00:16:08
Speaker
Uh, you know, as I've said before, I'd get, I'd get fired for smiles and frowns.
00:16:12
Speaker
Um, I'm never not going to do it again.
00:16:14
Speaker
Um, it is a forever part of my classroom.
00:16:17
Speaker
Um, because we can't serve the humans in the room.
00:16:19
Speaker
If we don't know the humans in the room, we have to bring the humans to us.
00:16:21
Speaker
And the only way we can do that is to talk to them and communicate with them and connect with them on a daily basis.
00:16:27
Speaker
Um, all the other stuff is extra as far as I'm concerned.
00:16:29
Speaker
And maybe I'm, I'm going to go to teacher hell for that.
00:16:31
Speaker
I don't
Challenges in Progressive Education
00:16:32
Speaker
know.
00:16:32
Speaker
But, um,
00:16:33
Speaker
That's how I feel.
00:16:34
Speaker
And that's the hill I'm willing to die on.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's very interesting to note that.
00:16:41
Speaker
I wonder how much of our concern with teaching to the test or meeting all of our standards is actually backed up by what administrators...
00:16:51
Speaker
actually wand our school.
00:16:52
Speaker
Although it might be said at professional development events or in a meeting after school, as you just said, you have a direct relationship with administration in your room right now and no one's, well hopefully, no one's calling you into some backroom and saying you have to do this right now or else you're gonna get fired.
00:17:10
Speaker
And I've had the exact same experience.
00:17:12
Speaker
Administrators praise what I do even though they know that I'm going against some of what they're saying when it comes to standards.
00:17:19
Speaker
And I'm curious if anyone that's in this session right now has a different experience with that, because I imagine that it would be very stressful to know that someone's constantly kind of looming over your back and has specifically called you out for doing these types of things.
00:17:36
Speaker
In the same exact space too, I wonder if it would even be worth it.
00:17:40
Speaker
Teaching there which might sound a little little direct, but I'd be curious Speaking of oh wait, it disappeared I don't know Kevin if you were going to say something there, but your hand raised for a split second And then when I went to click on it, it went away.
00:17:54
Speaker
But if you want to speak I'd be happy to invite you on So yeah, hello Kevin.
00:17:58
Speaker
How are you?
00:17:59
Speaker
Good Hey, Monty.
00:18:01
Speaker
Happy birthday.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, thank you Kevin.
00:18:03
Speaker
Hey nice to finally hear your voice.
00:18:05
Speaker
Happy birthday.
00:18:06
Speaker
Well yesterday.
00:18:07
Speaker
So that's all yes bygones
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, what you were saying about the smiles and frowns and how administration looks at it.
00:18:18
Speaker
I do pros and cons, same thing.
00:18:22
Speaker
And they like that.
00:18:24
Speaker
But the whole student-centeredness and all of that, they talk about it.
00:18:29
Speaker
But my experience this year is that our government test scores went down last year.
00:18:38
Speaker
So now lots of things have been dictated that I must do, that I do not see student-centered, anything like that.
00:18:50
Speaker
You know, I have to submit lesson plans.
00:18:53
Speaker
We have to do common assessments.
00:18:56
Speaker
They want everything pretty much locked in.
00:18:59
Speaker
And, you know, Monty, you were saying earlier, you were talking about talking the talk and walking the walk.
00:19:05
Speaker
Sure.
00:19:05
Speaker
We do all the talking.
00:19:07
Speaker
We do none of the walking.
00:19:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:12
Speaker
You know, I have this fantasy book, you know, that's this kind of, you know, always circling around in my head.
00:19:21
Speaker
And it always begins with the line, they came for me at three o'clock, right?
00:19:27
Speaker
And, and, and, and what I imagine in this, in this fantasy world, um, and, and maybe, you know, as we're discovering, uh, Chris, it's, it's, and Kevin, it's, it's not, um, uh, such a fantasy is that at some point, all this stuff that I'm, I'm doing is, is not going to be okay, you know, and, uh, the admin's going to come from me and I'm going to have to support and defend all of the things that I'm doing, you know?
00:19:54
Speaker
And whether that ever comes to fruition or not, it's always in my head.
00:19:56
Speaker
And maybe that's that imposter syndrome kind of, you know, seeping in a little bit.
00:20:01
Speaker
But as I think about those things, I try to come up with my defense for why I'm doing things the way that I'm doing them.
00:20:08
Speaker
And, you know, I don't know.
00:20:12
Speaker
I just.
00:20:12
Speaker
Part of me wants to have that happen.
00:20:14
Speaker
You know, back when I did the A's for an entire year, I was hoping for more pushback so we could sit down at the table and have an honest, open discussion about grading.
00:20:24
Speaker
And I'm kind of feeling the same way now about the whole SEL thing.
00:20:28
Speaker
I think, you know, it's become kind of like the thing to do in most districts.
00:20:33
Speaker
I mean, at least in our state, SEL seems to be a big deal and that's cool.
00:20:38
Speaker
But I don't know if we necessarily have the
00:20:42
Speaker
the conviction to commit to it as fully as we need to.
00:20:46
Speaker
I mean, I feel like we're doing kind of just drive-throughs with it right now.
00:20:51
Speaker
And people talk a big game about student-centeredness and connection and stuff like that.
00:20:56
Speaker
But yet when push comes to shove, they set those things to the side and they go back into the same old rut of we got to get kids ready for state testing, yada, yada, yada.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:06
Speaker
That's the, that's the easy out.
00:21:08
Speaker
I think, you know, you fall back on, on what you've always known, what you've always done.
00:21:15
Speaker
Uh, and when, when you were back to that edifice of ed that I talked about, I think at the beginning, and I don't know if you were there with us when I, when I kind of shared my opening statements, like we just seem to always think that, you know, we've got to go back to this, this, this thing.
00:21:29
Speaker
Um, and I don't know why, you know, I, I, I mean, I do know why, but, um,
00:21:36
Speaker
The longer I do these progressive kind of radical things, if you will, the harder it is for me to just go back into that rut and routine.
00:21:44
Speaker
And, you know, and it's been a hard year for me in that respect.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think they get, admin in particular, get that when they talk about these things, these aren't things you can do halfway.
00:21:58
Speaker
Right.
00:21:59
Speaker
You can't straddle that line.
00:22:00
Speaker
Like you're either in or you're out.
00:22:02
Speaker
Right, right.
00:22:03
Speaker
And they want to try it.
00:22:04
Speaker
They try to want to be both.
00:22:06
Speaker
And it just doesn't work that way.
00:22:07
Speaker
Right.
00:22:10
Speaker
So in that situation, I think about like Jonathan Kozl's work when it comes to that concept of building the coalition, which is in a situation where the administration is not necessarily on board with the tactics.
00:22:26
Speaker
It falls back on the teacher, the parents and the students to understand why your actions are important and why fighting against that system is very important.
00:22:35
Speaker
And by building that coalition, you will have the necessary support to at least push back with some common cause.
00:22:44
Speaker
Um, and I know that's, that's easy for me to say, but very hard to put into practice coming from someone that's in a different location.
00:22:53
Speaker
Um,
00:22:54
Speaker
But I find that, for example, when we became much more project-based at our school, we were project-based, but we weren't really project-based.
00:23:03
Speaker
And when we switched to two to three hours of instruction every single day doing PBL, that was a radical shift, a completely radical shift.
00:23:11
Speaker
And administration was not very happy about it, to be honest.
00:23:15
Speaker
They were very concerned with the amount of quote-unquote free time that was occurring.
00:23:19
Speaker
Because what we don't often talk about with progressive education is, and it's kind of the exact same thing with the concept of building that community with middle school, as Brian was talking about in chat, is not only does it take a lot of time to do these things, it takes a lot of time to do it very well.
00:23:36
Speaker
When you give a student three hours to work on something or you have students talk to each other with something inside one of these communities.
00:23:44
Speaker
It's not going to go well the first time it's going to be mean gross.
00:23:47
Speaker
You're going to have arguments, you're going to have a lot of wasted time like with kids like goofing off doing weird stuff.
00:23:53
Speaker
You're going to have probably some weird behavioral things going on because students aren't used to it.
00:23:58
Speaker
And the only way that you learn to be responsible and to manage time and to think about what you're going to do is by practicing it.
00:24:04
Speaker
You can't just hear a lecture about it.
00:24:05
Speaker
You have to do it.
00:24:07
Speaker
Of course it's going to be gross and it's going to take a lot of time and that scares a lot of people away.
00:24:14
Speaker
To me, finding that coalition of people that can back you, as well as finding ways that you can kind of just kind of pinch at it in your own room as far as you possibly can is the first step, as well as contacting parents and students.
00:24:28
Speaker
And then I guess in a more radical sense, it would be like, well, where is my coalition?
00:24:33
Speaker
Is it not here at all?
00:24:35
Speaker
In which case it's like, well, what else, what other options do you have?
00:24:38
Speaker
Monty, I don't know if you have anything to add to what I was just talking about there.
00:24:42
Speaker
No, no, not really.
00:24:44
Speaker
I mean, I, you know, I agree.
00:24:45
Speaker
I agree with you and that's just,
00:24:48
Speaker
I don't know, man.
00:24:50
Speaker
You know?
00:24:52
Speaker
I would say... It's really hard when you're just a single class.
00:25:00
Speaker
If there's not a group of people doing the same thing because the kids just get used to, at least in my school, if the teacher's not running the show, then it's recess.
00:25:13
Speaker
And when they only experience that
00:25:17
Speaker
one period out of six in a day and uh that and it's easy to just blow off and and think we're just not doing anything in here yeah you know chris i think back to your earlier comment about time and you know i think about you know most of us i think well maybe not all but most of us um in this in this uh group right now are probably uh secondary either middle school or high school um maybe a few elementary but you know i think about
00:25:46
Speaker
we have to undo all that's been done to some degree.
00:25:49
Speaker
You know, I think about how the kids are conditioned to respond.
00:25:53
Speaker
And Kevin just made me think about when he says like when the teachers run on the show, I mean, that's what kids come to expect.
00:25:59
Speaker
You know, kids come to expect that we're just gonna give them a grade, that we're gonna complete the transaction.
00:26:03
Speaker
You know, and so when we do things differently, it takes a long time, not only for us to iron out the wrinkles, but for the kids to get accustomed to.
00:26:11
Speaker
And I think beyond even getting accustomed to, coming to trust
00:26:16
Speaker
that we're really in it.
00:26:17
Speaker
We're, I mean, we're, we're fully invested in this and like, we believe in this and, and, and we're supporting this.
00:26:23
Speaker
And, um, but then we get to a day 179 and I feel like I finally have them and then schools out the next day.
00:26:29
Speaker
I mean, you know, and then they're just back to where they go and, and then five other periods out of their day, they're just doing the normal, what they've always done.
00:26:37
Speaker
And that's what they expect from us.
00:26:38
Speaker
And it's, and it can be, it can be hard and disheartening, um, for those of us out here, daring difference, if you will.
00:26:44
Speaker
Um,
00:26:45
Speaker
because, you know, not, it's not only about not having that, that internal, you know, close support system.
00:26:53
Speaker
It's just having the, the endurance sometimes, you know, to, to, to see it through when we have all of these factors going against us, but, you know, we keep coming back, you know, I keep coming back, you know, I, I, this has been a hard year for me.
00:27:07
Speaker
This is the first year I've begun to think about, like, maybe I just, I, I can't do this anymore, you know, and maybe it's time to get out of the classroom, go do something else.
00:27:14
Speaker
And,
00:27:16
Speaker
And it's just that noise from the outside.
00:27:18
Speaker
You know, we're hot and heavy into PLC and common assessments right now.
00:27:22
Speaker
And even though I feel like our district pretty much walks the walk, I just feel like there's always that go back to the state testing and that's going to be what rules the day.
00:27:33
Speaker
And I just don't know if I can do it anymore sometimes.
00:27:36
Speaker
Right there with you.
00:27:39
Speaker
You've seen my issues throughout the year on Twitter.
00:27:46
Speaker
And it is tough.
00:27:47
Speaker
I think a lot of it gets back to what you were talking about with the grading, too.
00:27:51
Speaker
We can't constantly tell kids, failure is how you learn, go out, try something new, all of that, and then screw them with the terrible grading.
00:28:05
Speaker
And that happens all the time.
00:28:07
Speaker
So I think it's really interesting to note too that what we're diving into, even though it's not necessarily what's on the screen, which is I think a lot of times when we look at social media and we talk about these things, we get the interpretation that it's all very easy and that someone just like flicks a switch and all of a sudden like your grade list, okay, everything's great now and these teachers doing some amazing stuff.
00:28:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:33
Speaker
Especially in like September, October, November, those first few months of school, it's draining and hard and depressing, honestly.
00:28:43
Speaker
Like there are a lot of days where I come home like, my God, like, what am I doing at school?
00:28:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker
Because these things that we're trying to solve are not only not quick fixes, they are systemic
Reality of Educational Reforms
00:28:58
Speaker
problems that are very like we're just making like the smallest little inch into solving that problem on our own, which is a needed inch.
00:29:08
Speaker
But it's not going to solve the problem in its entirety.
00:29:11
Speaker
And I
00:29:12
Speaker
And I make the point to think that even by making that small little inch is worthwhile for the student because not only does it impact them, it impacts potentially other teachers or building administrators who see what you're doing and they can make their own little contribution towards solving that problem.
00:29:30
Speaker
And it's a really scary thing to think of it that way, but it's kind of what keeps me going.
00:29:35
Speaker
Otherwise, I would just be out.
00:29:37
Speaker
I mean the whole reason why I shifted progressive education in the first place was that I was disillusioned with the education system.
00:29:42
Speaker
It's the only way that I can balance out the fact that what I'm doing on paper doesn't necessarily align with my viewpoints.
00:29:50
Speaker
Well, the way that I solve that as I start rewriting the paper, I work in a different sheet of paper and hope that that works.
00:29:55
Speaker
All right, so I got Nick here.
00:29:57
Speaker
Let me pull Nick up.
00:29:59
Speaker
Hello, Nick.
00:30:01
Speaker
Hey, Chris, am I up?
00:30:02
Speaker
Yep, you are up.
00:30:03
Speaker
Awesome.
00:30:04
Speaker
Excellent.
00:30:04
Speaker
Monty, how are you doing?
00:30:05
Speaker
I'm well, Nick.
00:30:06
Speaker
Thanks.
00:30:07
Speaker
Good, good.
00:30:08
Speaker
I'm kind of glad I'm not on the video right now, so that's nice.
00:30:11
Speaker
But I was just thinking about this whole conversation, you know, about culture and, you know, those risks that we take as teachers.
00:30:19
Speaker
And Monty, I understand, like, your My Room message, you know,
00:30:23
Speaker
And it's really interesting just to see in the last few years how, you know, like the number of your followers have grown and the number of people sharing those messages.
00:30:32
Speaker
So at a certain point, you would think it would be less about my room, you know, and more about our schools.
00:30:39
Speaker
But I don't think that that shift has happened.
00:30:42
Speaker
And, you know,
00:30:43
Speaker
And kind of to get what I was talking about to some folks in the chat here, one of the things that I still see, I tried the community circles to kind of take a step towards that this semester.
00:30:51
Speaker
And kids were really resistant to it because of the culture that is more about competitiveness.
00:30:57
Speaker
It's more where kids don't see the value of working together and collaborating because, you know,
00:31:04
Speaker
by the point that I have kids as seniors, they're so stratified, not just in terms of education achievement or future goals or whatever, but it trickles into that social identity.
00:31:16
Speaker
And kids internalize those messages when the systems talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk.
00:31:23
Speaker
So I just wanted to say if we
00:31:27
Speaker
If we value coverage more than collaboration, then kids are going to see that as their path to success.
00:31:32
Speaker
And every single year, if they're going to get further and further away from that, it's going to be more difficult to bring them back to that idea that collaboration is the path to success.
00:31:42
Speaker
And I just think...
00:31:43
Speaker
from an adult perspective, we need to do a better job, not just as teachers, but as just adults in communities.
00:31:51
Speaker
And it's really maybe that message of humanizing again, that the value of the curriculum is so limited outside the scope of school, but what's going to carry you into success, into adulthood and in the future are going to be those social connections that you make.
00:32:06
Speaker
you know, to the community, to each other, you're going to go further together than any, you know, a on a test or anything else is gonna, is gonna, is gonna do.
00:32:15
Speaker
So yeah, I just, I was just thinking about that.
00:32:17
Speaker
I thought maybe just saying it would get it all out there all at once rather than taking up too much space in the chat.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:25
Speaker
Whose turn is it?
00:32:27
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:32:28
Speaker
I'll be done.
00:32:31
Speaker
I mean, I agree with you wholeheartedly, Nick.
00:32:33
Speaker
And again, I just think, you know, you mentioned that, that, you know, you have seniors and by the time, you know, I have sophomores.
00:32:40
Speaker
And again, by the time they get to us, they're so, they've been so conditioned to expect, you know, that school is going to be what it's been.
00:32:47
Speaker
And so when those of us who, who try to make changes you know, it's just, it doesn't always go well with kids.
00:32:54
Speaker
But I will say this, guys.
00:32:56
Speaker
I think, and again, cheap plug for Smiles and Prounds here.
00:33:00
Speaker
And I, you know, maybe it's not the cure-all that I hope it is.
00:33:03
Speaker
But this is my fourth year of doing this now.
00:33:07
Speaker
And I feel like the longer I have done things like Smiles and Prounds, Community Circle, and created those classroom connections, the more buy-in I get from kids,
00:33:19
Speaker
for doing some of the non-mainstream things in terms of grading, learning, and other things.
00:33:27
Speaker
And I think the reason for that is because of that daily connection, they've come to trust me.
00:33:32
Speaker
But I think they've also come to look at their peers differently.
00:33:37
Speaker
And I think that they have developed a sense of empathy that I think
00:33:45
Speaker
maybe in elementary, maybe, I'm not sure, you know, but by and large, they just continue to go through the system.
00:33:52
Speaker
And again, it becomes about this isolated, you know, thing for each kid.
00:33:57
Speaker
And the only time it goes outside of them is when it becomes a competition on who did what on the test, who has the better grade, who's getting treated more fairly or unfairly by the teacher.
00:34:08
Speaker
And so it's not about this, we it's about, it's about I, and then the only,
00:34:13
Speaker
you know, we becomes that competitive piece.
00:34:16
Speaker
And I think those of us who are involved in this more progressive movement have, have come to discover that it is, it is, it exceeds competition.
00:34:22
Speaker
It's about, it's about collaboration.
00:34:24
Speaker
It's about empathy.
00:34:25
Speaker
It's about, you know, humanity and just coming together.
00:34:29
Speaker
But I think we have to create those, those connections.
00:34:32
Speaker
You know, we just did recently did an activity that I've changed.
00:34:35
Speaker
I used to call it choose a champ, but I changed it to kindness cards.
00:34:38
Speaker
And I have kids writing kind messages to other kids that they've never talked to in their entire lives.
00:34:45
Speaker
And I think without that opportunity, you know, that they have had to build some community and culture through smiles and frowns, they never would have done it.
00:34:54
Speaker
They wouldn't have cared about the girl who sits across the room that they never talked to.
00:34:58
Speaker
But now those kids are making those connections.
00:35:00
Speaker
And I'm not sharing this to pat myself on the back.
00:35:04
Speaker
I am sharing it because it's evidence, I believe,
00:35:07
Speaker
that when we intentionally create systems in our classroom for kids to become connected, pretty cool things can happen.
00:35:16
Speaker
You know, I've shared with some of you via Twitter that my third and fifth period kids from last year after Smiles and Frowns created their own Instagram group for Smiles and Frowns so they could carry that on throughout the summer.
Building a Progressive Educational Reputation
00:35:30
Speaker
They are still doing it this year, even though they've gone on in their juniors.
00:35:34
Speaker
And so I just think
00:35:35
Speaker
we underestimate the power of human connection.
00:35:38
Speaker
And I think that when we underestimate it, we're afraid to give it a try because we think either it's not going to work.
00:35:45
Speaker
And this is going back to where Chris is talking about things just take time for them to come to fruition.
00:35:51
Speaker
And so I have found, I'll cut to the chaser really quickly, but I have found that the more connected I am with my kids,
00:35:59
Speaker
the easier it is for us to do the more radical things outside of the confines of traditional education.
00:36:07
Speaker
It's interesting to note too that
00:36:10
Speaker
it was brought up earlier, this idea of developing a reputation kind of precedes yourself.
00:36:14
Speaker
Like as in, if you start these trends, even if it's with a different group of students, by the time the next group of students gets to you, they kind of know what to expect because they hear it down the grapevine.
00:36:25
Speaker
And that makes it easier for you to get away with some quote unquote weirder things.
00:36:29
Speaker
Right, right.
00:36:31
Speaker
And I think that helps a lot too at building connections before they even get into the room.
00:36:36
Speaker
Like one thing that is huge at my school is that I teach in like Trump country.
00:36:41
Speaker
It's a very conservative area.
00:36:43
Speaker
So by being very intentional about talking about things like LGBTQIA plus rights or about like seeing oneself in the curriculum, which is something that probably hasn't happened for the last 10 years.
00:36:57
Speaker
Some of these students have been in school.
00:36:59
Speaker
that makes a huge difference.
00:37:02
Speaker
Um, it's not because I'm trying to like, like, I don't know, like co-opt the curriculum in order to like get these kids high standardized test scores.
00:37:12
Speaker
It's because I think it's a disservice to anyone to not see themselves inside the curriculum.
00:37:17
Speaker
Um, so it's a win-win for everyone.
00:37:19
Speaker
You are making more connections with students.
00:37:21
Speaker
Um, the test scores will probably go up because they actually care more.
00:37:25
Speaker
And, uh, you have, um,
00:37:28
Speaker
just this intentional motivational connection.
00:37:31
Speaker
Something that you were talking about earlier, which I think is a really important point is what is the purpose of one's class?
00:37:39
Speaker
Is it test scores or what is the other thing?
00:37:41
Speaker
And in my opinion, it's motivation, intrinsic motivation, as in,
00:37:47
Speaker
Content-wise, what I want students to walk out of the room knowing is that they were valued, but primarily from a content perspective that they think it's interesting.
00:37:54
Speaker
That some students will take that information and then pursue it more in the future.
00:37:58
Speaker
Because I think most people learn way more outside of the classroom than they do inside the classroom.
00:38:03
Speaker
My goal is to go, this is the thing that's out there.
00:38:06
Speaker
If it's cool, then you can figure it out on your own or pursue it in the future or connect to something that you care about.
00:38:11
Speaker
But my goal is not to teach you every single little semantic about this content so that you can regurgitate it.
00:38:17
Speaker
My goal is to teach you 20, 30, 40% of what I have so that way you're inspired enough to continue on with it and you'll care about learning it.
00:38:28
Speaker
I think it's really interesting too, inside the chat, Katie's in chat, who is an administrator who has this different perspective about what we're talking about.
00:38:39
Speaker
Changing the narrative, I think is a really key point, which is figuring out what is the purpose of school, what is the purpose of our classroom, and making those connections probably should be at the forefront.
00:38:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:54
Speaker
So let's build into then more of these ways about systemically changing things.
00:39:00
Speaker
And I like to try to figure out ways that even though we're a small group and even though it's hard to do this, trying to figure out ways where we can...
00:39:11
Speaker
recommend options for teachers to explore, even if they're very hard things to do.
00:39:17
Speaker
Because it's very easy for us, especially in November, to get into the whole, everything sucks, let's try to fix things, the world's collapsing in on myself.
00:39:27
Speaker
But there are ways that we can at least find a beacon of light on the horizon that can at least attempt to remedy these issues.
00:39:35
Speaker
Monty, do you have any suggestions for people that are
00:39:38
Speaker
systemic things they could do to their class, even small activities that could start to make this change in narrative in the education system?
00:39:49
Speaker
Oh, boy.
00:39:51
Speaker
You know, this is just a small question for you.
00:39:53
Speaker
It wasn't on the, you know, this is where I have a little bit of a hard time.
00:39:59
Speaker
You know, Chris, is where that philosophical becomes the practical, right?
00:40:05
Speaker
And how do I just hand this off?
00:40:08
Speaker
you know, to another teacher and allow him or her or them to just, you know, run with it.
00:40:13
Speaker
And I think that's really hard to do, you know.
00:40:17
Speaker
And for me, I think it's a bigger consideration, you know.
00:40:25
Speaker
I have shared with folks via my blog and some other places.
00:40:31
Speaker
I think if we want to systemically change our classrooms or our schools,
00:40:36
Speaker
we have to start with the thing that makes us most human.
00:40:39
Speaker
That is our feelings.
00:40:41
Speaker
And I know that that sounds kumbaya.
00:40:42
Speaker
I know that sounds like, you know, out of touch, liberal, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
00:40:48
Speaker
But that's not what I intended to mean at all.
00:40:50
Speaker
You know, I think that if we want people to feel that there is value in human connection, then we have to meet them
00:41:02
Speaker
where they are and I think that that means meeting them and their feelings.
00:41:05
Speaker
I'm not talking about meeting them academically.
00:41:07
Speaker
I'm talking about meeting them where they are socially and emotionally with their being.
00:41:15
Speaker
Earlier this morning, I had an aha about a school system and when I think about our school system, when I think about them checking on students, I think about them coming around and asking them in an observation, what are you learning?
00:41:31
Speaker
What is the learning target for the day?
00:41:33
Speaker
And that's what we seem to place importance on.
00:41:37
Speaker
And, you know, I had an aha this morning.
00:41:39
Speaker
It's like, why don't we ask kids instead, how are you feeling in this class?
00:41:45
Speaker
How is your stress level in this class versus like, what is the learning target in this class?
00:41:51
Speaker
And
00:41:51
Speaker
And for me, I would love to see administrators approach it from that point of view.
00:41:57
Speaker
And then I thought further, like, why would that be such a hard question to ask?
00:42:02
Speaker
And the more I thought about it, I think it's a sticky question.
00:42:05
Speaker
Because what if a kid says, you know what, I feel disrespected in this class, or I don't feel supported in this class, or I feel lost in this class.
00:42:11
Speaker
I mean, the list goes on and on and on.
00:42:12
Speaker
But...
00:42:15
Speaker
that to me is a more important question than can you recite the learning target that your teacher wrote on the board because he or she's having an observation today, you know?
00:42:24
Speaker
And so I think it has to go back to how we want people to feel in our classroom.
00:42:29
Speaker
And then we have to make all the decisions from there.
00:42:32
Speaker
I want kids to feel connected to my classroom.
00:42:35
Speaker
If I'm going to do that, then I have to walk the walk.
00:42:37
Speaker
And that's why I do smiles and frowns.
00:42:40
Speaker
I want kids to feel empowered in my classrooms.
00:42:43
Speaker
And so that's why I do select and support grading and do a feedback only classroom because I want to empower them to be part of their learning stories.
00:42:50
Speaker
So when I think about giving advice to other teachers about what they can do to systemically change or challenge or move their own classrooms is they first have to start with how do you want people to feel because it has to be about the people.
00:43:04
Speaker
If it's not about the people, then I don't think you're really going to arrive at any significant place with the work that you're doing.
00:43:11
Speaker
And I think that that can be expanded out to an entire building.
00:43:15
Speaker
I think principals should ask or have the staff ask, how do we want kids to feel in this building?
00:43:20
Speaker
And then let's build our plan around that and let that hold not only us accountable, but also let it create those connections with kids.
00:43:29
Speaker
If this is our shared agreement, this is our shared responsibility.
00:43:33
Speaker
And I'm not talking about a mission statement.
00:43:34
Speaker
I am talking about really wondering about how the people in the
00:43:40
Speaker
building feel about how people in the system feel.
00:43:43
Speaker
And I know that sounds, I know that sounds kumbaya, but I don't know how we move forward with doing anything substantially more effective or, or, or differently, more effectively or differently.
Reflecting on Teaching Purpose
00:43:57
Speaker
If we don't first start there, I feel like it's just more of the same and it's just spinning the cycle as we've always done
00:44:04
Speaker
And I think that that's why we just continue to come back to the same places in education and never really get too far.
00:44:09
Speaker
And now I'm off my soapbox.
00:44:11
Speaker
Well, I think that point of establishing emotional connections first is a really key point.
00:44:17
Speaker
And in order to make that happen, I think it's really important that a teacher is very honest and transparent about what's going on.
00:44:24
Speaker
So in the case where the teacher is forced to do something or else face being fired, for example, state test prep, letting the students know that to a certain extent, I think is valuable as in letting students know like, Hey, you have to take the state test.
00:44:40
Speaker
I have no control over it.
00:44:42
Speaker
I don't like it.
00:44:42
Speaker
I don't think it ranks you well.
00:44:44
Speaker
I don't think it has any purpose, but just know that I have to do this to keep my job.
00:44:49
Speaker
It's part of the point.
00:44:50
Speaker
And when you build that coalition with your students, the
00:44:53
Speaker
they know it too.
00:44:55
Speaker
It's kind of like the exact same thing.
00:44:56
Speaker
Like if you have a good relationship with your students and they know you're being observed by someone, they're going to be extra good in that observation.
00:45:02
Speaker
I think it's tell me that.
00:45:04
Speaker
This year I am getting like a special certification.
00:45:07
Speaker
I have people from the local university coming down and observing me.
00:45:10
Speaker
And I had a student who normally is a little, not a bad student by a stretch, but a little bit loud, who literally said, I'm not going to be loud today.
00:45:20
Speaker
Someone's watching us today.
00:45:21
Speaker
I was like, I wish you would be less loud less often, but that's okay.
00:45:24
Speaker
I'm glad the fact that you are going along with the fact that you recognize the importance of what's going on and you understand how to play in the system when necessary.
00:45:32
Speaker
Because as bad as this sounds to say, there is great value in understanding when you have to go along with what's going on versus when you need to revolt.
00:45:43
Speaker
Because the...
00:45:44
Speaker
One of the quintessential skills of someone who's going to be a revolutionary is you can't just go against every single thing that pops up.
00:45:52
Speaker
You have to know when to go against it and when not to go against it and walk that fine line.
00:45:58
Speaker
Something else I wanted to say too, which is inside the chat, I was noticing a point about how much structure students need.
00:46:06
Speaker
And I teach ninth grade and what it means to be student-centered and support these different systems.
00:46:12
Speaker
And
00:46:13
Speaker
Essentially, I think it's important that when we're talking about progressive education and systemic change, we understand that student-centered does not mean that you no longer can do anything teacher-centric within your classroom.
00:46:27
Speaker
It's very dangerous to deal with absolutes, as the Sith would say, in any case.
00:46:34
Speaker
So, uh,
00:46:36
Speaker
I see this as a point like with restorative justice.
00:46:39
Speaker
One way that you can build connections with students is if a student does something wrong, do not send them out to the office the first time.
00:46:45
Speaker
Because if you send them out of the office, you lost any chance for rapport.
00:46:48
Speaker
However, that does not mean that no matter what a student does, they should never go down to the office for something.
00:46:53
Speaker
If you have a student, you have to use your own judgment.
00:46:55
Speaker
It's complex.
00:46:56
Speaker
If a student comes up and does something really bad, like this has happened before, a student says the N word in class, that's probably not a good time to just have like, oh, you know, we should probably rethink about how we say that.
00:47:07
Speaker
That's probably something that should be taken seriously.
00:47:11
Speaker
So understanding when progressive systems are in play versus when there are some systems that have been done a certain way for a long time that do work need to come into play.
00:47:22
Speaker
And that's kind of up to,
00:47:24
Speaker
you and your own classroom environment and the culture of the building and all of these different rural things because teaching is hard.
00:47:31
Speaker
If we want respect as teachers, we have to recognize the fact that teaching is incredibly abstract and difficult.
00:47:38
Speaker
There's no easy silver bullet or one strategy that always works.
00:47:42
Speaker
We just have to have the mindset, which is what you're talking about, Monty.
00:47:45
Speaker
All right, so that kind of pulls us into probably a final question here.
00:47:49
Speaker
I don't know if anyone else has anything they want to add.
00:47:52
Speaker
I would like more questions if possible from the audience.
00:47:57
Speaker
Dana, the recording will be available online on YouTube as well as our podcast and will be posted on our social media pretty soon after, probably a couple hours after we wrap up here.
00:48:10
Speaker
I wish somebody would ask a question or two.
00:48:11
Speaker
Maybe they have.
00:48:12
Speaker
I cannot keep up with the chat and this.
00:48:14
Speaker
And so I'm sorry if I seem like I'm a little woo because I can't make my way back and forth.
00:48:19
Speaker
But are there any questions as we wrap up?
00:48:21
Speaker
That's what I would like to...
00:48:23
Speaker
So I will speak to something which I think is a question that I would ask inside this conversation, which is a very blunt question, but I think one that's needed, which is Monty, why should we continue doing this job if things are so difficult and so hard and there's so much doom and gloom when it comes to these kind of topics?
00:48:43
Speaker
Because it's hard.
00:48:48
Speaker
Wow.
00:48:49
Speaker
That's an easy question, Chris.
00:48:50
Speaker
Thanks.
00:48:52
Speaker
I mean, I, I, I want to give the, you know, it's for the kids and it is, you know, because I think somebody has to make our society better.
00:49:01
Speaker
And I think teachers have to have to be that support system.
00:49:07
Speaker
You know and, and, and, you know, I just, I just think that there's so many parts of our, of our life out there inside and outside of school that can be better.
00:49:18
Speaker
You know, I believe in public education.
00:49:20
Speaker
If not for public education, I wouldn't be where I am right now.
00:49:24
Speaker
I believe in the promise of public education.
00:49:26
Speaker
I don't necessarily believe in the Institute of Public Education as it now is because I think it can be better.
00:49:33
Speaker
But I think we do the most.
00:49:35
Speaker
I mean, again, I feel like I'm just throwing cliches out here.
00:49:37
Speaker
I think we do the most important work of anyone and everyone.
00:49:42
Speaker
And I just think we have to continue to do it.
00:49:46
Speaker
I think the fact that we're here this morning tells us we know we have to continue to do it despite how hard it is sometimes.
00:49:52
Speaker
And I just hope, you know, I just hope, Chris, that by having these kind of chats as clunky and as cluttered as they might be, we come to discover that, you know what, there are so many of us out here fighting the good fight, so many of us out here who believe in better,
00:50:09
Speaker
who dare different.
00:50:10
Speaker
You know, I was talking to my wife this morning and she asked me like, what do you hope to get out of this stuff?
00:50:15
Speaker
I mean, like, what do you hope to get out of today?
00:50:18
Speaker
Right.
00:50:18
Speaker
And, and I, you know, she's a teacher too.
00:50:20
Speaker
She's an art teacher, maybe the best teacher I know.
00:50:23
Speaker
And, and I just told her, you know what, hon, I just hope at the end of the day that I can inspire people
00:50:29
Speaker
to dare different and chase their own betters and not just to settle for what's been because it's what's been, that there is a better out there for our kids.
00:50:39
Speaker
I think we're all here because we're kid centered.
00:50:42
Speaker
You know, and I think that we believe, at least I believe, and I think most of us do, that I am defined by the kids.
00:50:49
Speaker
And so when I stay student-centered, I am defined by the kids because if I don't center on the kids, I'm not really sure what it is that I'm doing.
00:50:57
Speaker
And as long as I think we keep doing that, we will find that energy to sustain us and that belief that we can make a difference.
00:51:06
Speaker
And damn it, I think we are every single day.
00:51:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm completely with you.
00:51:11
Speaker
I think that a lot of this too is in kind of a self-centered approach, which is discovering one's purpose.
00:51:20
Speaker
I think the reason why most people become teachers is because they feel an innate connection to making the world a better place.
00:51:29
Speaker
I mean, that's very kind of dorky, I guess to say.
00:51:34
Speaker
But there's a reason why teachers are willing to go through many years of school, not get paid very much, not really have a lot of respect in some circles, but yet continue to do this job day in and day out.
00:51:47
Speaker
And those that put a lot of purpose into their work are also sadly the ones that tend to leave the profession early on.
00:51:54
Speaker
Because it is really difficult to do.
00:51:57
Speaker
But what kind of keeps me going is recognizing those little blips of, wow, a student did this, like that Instagram story that you said.
00:52:05
Speaker
Or like in my case, my win for last week or the week before was a project that we've been working on, which is,
00:52:12
Speaker
entrepreneurship and social ventures and all these different things.
00:52:16
Speaker
A group of students who are raising money for sustainability while operating our new school coffee shop had an investor give them a thousand dollars.
00:52:24
Speaker
Like not giving them the space for that.
00:52:26
Speaker
In a normal class, I would just be like, oh, you got an A on the test.
00:52:29
Speaker
But the fact that you have like a legitimate thing that you did that could impact you for a long period of time, giving those little blips and seeing those little blips keeps me going.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:40
Speaker
All right.
00:52:41
Speaker
So I think that actually is probably a pretty good stopping point.
00:52:46
Speaker
If you ever have any questions or want advice or want us to point you to something that we have, feel free to email.
00:52:53
Speaker
I'm sure either one of us.
00:52:55
Speaker
My email is chris at humanrestorationproject.org.
00:52:59
Speaker
Monty, yours is montysyrie at gmail.com, right?
00:53:02
Speaker
Sure.
00:53:02
Speaker
Yes, sir.
00:53:03
Speaker
So, uh, feel free to reach out or, you know, get involved in our different PLNs.
00:53:08
Speaker
And so it's not, not just a one-on-one conversations.
00:53:10
Speaker
I certainly don't have all the answers, um, but, um, reach out and ask for help.
00:53:16
Speaker
Um, that to me is a huge part of connecting and wellbeing as teachers, recognizing that it's okay to not have all the right answers because none of us do.
00:53:24
Speaker
Um,
00:53:25
Speaker
I often tell that to the students that you have to self-advocate and you have to build upon these skills of asking for help.
00:53:31
Speaker
But then again, I'm not always the best at asking for help.
00:53:34
Speaker
So in terms of walking the walk, we also have to be better at connecting to one another for assistance.
00:53:42
Speaker
Okay.
00:53:43
Speaker
Cool.
00:53:43
Speaker
So I will post this soon.
00:53:45
Speaker
Monty, thank you so much for joining us and I hope everyone has a great day.
00:53:49
Speaker
Okay.
00:53:49
Speaker
All right.
00:53:50
Speaker
Take care, everyone.