Samurai: An ancient warrior code of strength, honor, and loyalty. ***
Samurai Teaching: Having the STRENGTH to passionately believe in every student; the HONOR to teach them in the way they best learn; and the LOYALTY to never give up on any of them. ***
Sensational Living: How sensationally we do this for them now determines how well they will be able to sensationally do this for themselves and for others as adults.
Showing posts with label Sand Lake Elementary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sand Lake Elementary. Show all posts
*Inspired after receiving an email recently from a parent of a former student (It is not the student pictured below. This was Joadeliz's gift to me this year that she spent her own money on; money she has very little of. It was truly a gift from her heart).
"Dear Mr. Stuart,
________ has mentioned you several times in the past few months. I as her mom am reaching out to you in hopes that you can send her your famous words of encouragement.
She has been diagnosed with the early onset of ______
She has several doctors appointments in the upcoming weeks. She feels down about school, (___A's, ___B's), she needs an uplifting message and trust me I know you're the one that can deliver it and she would openly receive it.
Once again, I deeply appreciate it, if you can do that with your busy schedule."
I am a very unassuming person, which means I don't have an ego thinking I'm great, or worried about others seeing me as great or being better than anybody. I simply see the best in others and in the world and often have no idea of any impact I'm having on others.
Just like any teacher, I do what I do because I am what I am and because it feels real and it feels true.
While moving recently I found a cross a student gave me ten years ago who contacts me now when she feels like cutting herself.
I have worn that cross around my neck every day since finding it.
I also found a letter from another student who told me he had gone through a period of wanting to kill himself, but each time he tried he heard my voice telling him and his classmates to Dream Big, Do Big, and never give up until they Became Big, and if any of them ever did give up they could always come back to me for hope and passion and the strength to fight again because the world needed them and the gifts only they could develop and give to the world.
He is now an incredible poet.
More and more of us are feeling so stressed out by stressed out administrators stressed out by their bosses over-stressing their jobs are at stake by the new protocol that we all forget why we do what we do and don't want to do it anymore.
And more and more of use are dropping out of teaching forever, wondering where we went wrong in our lives.
I came within one day from quitting teaching this year. I was still broken-hearted from a relationship that had ended months earlier, having lost my best friend and wondering where everything had gone wrong.
And now I was teaching at a new school with even tougher requirements because it was a failing school. I didn't feel strong. I didn't feel confident. And I felt so stressed out in meetings that all I heard in my head was, "You can't do this anymore."
And I wondered what a grown man was doing teaching a bunch of kids who didn't do their homework, didn't behave, didn't care.
I felt like a loser wondering again where I had gone wrong.
Then I reached down, deep down, into the only thing I had. The only thing I was and the only thing I was ever good at. Love.
And I didn't quit.
I showed up one day at a time and gave all of me for just one more day at a time. I decided to live again and love again every day I could get myself out of bed again.
I say we don't drop out. Things are tough in teaching. They are overwhelming. They are hard.
Love is tougher. Love overcomes. Love breaks down all obstacles.
And the love we have for our students has an effect we often have no idea just how big it is on them, how long it stays with them, and how long it keeps them alive because it has become a part of them.
Out of full fairness to Izsabella after posting the video showing her playful and pernicious side (Bella....Sneaky Bella), I have to post this picture of her that I just saw on her mom's facebook page. Last year she won the nomination for the most outstanding female student out of the entire school for the 3rd Quarter.
Bella is truly remarkable, as is EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US............with the reality being that very few of us ever have that potential guided and unleashed into the manifestation of its full-blown reality.
Bella has developed her potential into actuality, and I thank her mother and other father (who I think is truly amazing), and all her teachers for helping her do this.
But most of all I thank Bella herself, because no matter how much a parent wants it for their children, a teacher for their students, or a coach for their players.....it always comes down to the individual making it happen....and Bella definitely has.
Way to go Bella. You truly are living an outstanding life!
Assignment: Book Reflection #1 Book: “The NEW Meaning of Educational Change”, by Michael Fullan Chapters: One & Two – “A Brief History of Educational Change” & “The Meaning of Educational Change”
REACTION: Within the first paragraph of the first page I hear one word, “victimization”. Everyone is blaming everyone else for education’s woes, while at the same time feeling their hands are tied to promote any real change because the “other guy” isn’t doing it right or won’t do what is needed to make it right. Policy makers blame school administrators, who blame teachers and parents, who blame students and policy makers. And all we have is a quagmire of the butcher, the baker and the candle stick maker, all trying to row the same boat in different directions, or not trying to row at all.
Certain things jumped out at me:
“Today…it is abundantly clear that one of the keys to successful change is the improvement in relationships.” (Fullan, p.4)
“…our schools need to teach learning processes that better fit the way work is evolving. ..this means teaching the skills and habit of mind that are essential to problem-solving, especially where many minds need to interact.” (Fullan, p.7)
The idea that change with no meaning has no meaning at all. (Fullan, p. 20)
“Reflectivity, purposefulness, and awareness characterized these teachers, but not in a linear way.” (Fullan, p.33)
“Changes in beliefs are even more difficult. They challenge the core values held by individuals regarding the purposes of education.” (Fullan, p. 36)
“Perhaps the most important conclusion of this chapter is the realization that finding moral and intellectual meaning is not just to make teachers feel better. It is fundamentally related to whether teachers are likely to find the considerable energy required to transform the status quo. Meaning fuels motivation; and know-how feeds on itself to produce ongoing problem solving. Their opposites – confusion, overload, and low sense of efficacy – deplete energy at the very time it is sorely needed.” (Fullan, p.39)
RELEVANCE: This book holds promise of great relevance for me. As a teacher/parent for the last eight years, I have felt that the blame for a student failing should be distributed this way:
As a teacher, if one of my students can’t read, it’s my fault.
As a parent, if my child can’t read, it’s my fault.
As a student, if I can’t read, it’s my fault.
As a principal, if one of my teacher’s students can’t read, it’s my fault.
As a policy maker, if a student in a school in my state can’t read, it’s my fault.
With everyone taking the blame, instead of defending themselves from it, everyone can be a part of the solution, and real and necessary changes can be made. I’m hoping this book offers real insight as to how this “safe” environment can occur.
The importance of improved relationships between the teacher and student is of high priority to me. This to me is exactly how a teacher creates a “safe” environment. I have never felt that anyone outside of the classroom controls how that classroom is run. Only the people inside of it do. And a master teacher does not allow the students to control it with the excuse of “That’s just how they are, how they come to me. What can I do?” A master teacher acknowledges the reality of “what is” of his environment, but has a vision of what could be inside of him, and sees his students and the curriculum through this vision. And he holds onto that vision, until the dream becomes the reality. This cannot be done without the cooperation of the students. And the students will not cooperate without a strong relationship with the teacher.
Teaching problem-solving skills and habits of mind takes buying into by both the students and their parents. The master teacher needs to be able to persuade them to change what they have only known, what I call the Sit-Listen- Look- Learn approach, to the Stand-Speak-Think-Do activity that is required to produce skilled problem-solving students. And we have to convince them that this change is necessary.
To honestly do this, we must be convinced that change is necessary for that individual student. If the current approach is truly working for a student, then no change is needed for that student. And if change is needed for another student, then change must occur for that student. Comparing our jobs to doctors, our job is to treat each “patient’s” ailments in the method that best works for each patient. And to me that means analyzing each student’s data and developing lesson plans for each one.
“Reflectivity, purposefulness, and awareness characterized these teachers, but not in a linear way.” (Fullan, p.33) This offers me great relief. I have been beating myself up because I seem to be unable to operate in a Newtonian linear-law of operations; first you do this, then this, then this. I find myself operating in the quantum world of needing to observe a student work first before I can make a reasonable lesson plan for him or her. And I end up combining student’s data with my own intuition to move each child forward. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing, as it’s produces real results for the “whole” child.
But all this does not come without a price. The energy it takes to create this world of happiness, harmony and high achievement for every student reminds me of the time I climbed the highest mountain I could find one summer in Estes Park, Colorado. I passed out three times before I found myself lying in the snow at the top, looking up at the bluest sky and purest white clouds I had ever seen. With each gasp of breath I felt as if I was breathing in truth and beauty, and I think that has become a part of me forever.
After a few hours I was able to climb back down and get to camp. My friend who had given up the climb was sure I had died and was getting ready to leave for help. He told me I was crazy…just as many fellow teachers do today. They may be right, because I climbed that mountain in nature just once. I seem to be climbing the one in education every day. And by Christmas of this year I was passed out, but now it’s time to climb again. Only the moral truth and intellectual beauty I truly see in each child will allow me to find the energy and motivation to increase my know-how and produce the ongoing problem solving solutions to unlocking this beauty inside of them.
RESPONSIBILITY: We’ve seen how a safe environment in the classroom allows for greater student achievement. The classroom is a microcosm of the entire world of education. And it is my job to continue to create these safe environments in my classroom, and through my writings communicate the possibilities of this expansion out into the world. Perhaps I should also find a way to create time to be involved in this opportunity I’ve been given to help develop a new charter school. The more I learn from others equates to the more I can offer others. Absorbing as much insight and new thinking as I can from the chapters of this book and everyone around me will allow me to do this.
The idea of how improved relationships literally create worlds of high harmony and academic achievement must be spread. In a post yesterday, I wrote, “Although my writings have decreased as my energy has dwindled, when I see the looks on our faces I have to share this....this......THIS is what IS possible. Can you imagine our tiny world being duplicated out over the planet? Our classrooms, work environments, and homes would all be incredible places to come to…And it all can be, once the world inside of us changes…It can happen. There's nothing stopping us but ourselves. We're all here to help inspire others and evolve our species. Just be yourself...play your part....and PLAY IT BIG! We literally change the world around us when we do.”(Stuart, The Past and The Present)
I must continue to improve my use of inquiry-based learning that meets the needs of each student. I must do a much better job of documenting my teaching processes in order that they can become duplicated and therefore scientifically validated. And I must definitely work on making the “rebelliousness” of my teaching less threatening and “different” to the parents. I email my parents daily, communicating the best I can the homework I have assigned and the purpose for it. I know I am going against their core values as to how education should be done, and at least one student is removed from my classroom in the beginning of each year by confused and anxious parents.
I will continue to develop individual lesson plans for each student, based on each of their individual needs. My biggest supporter, the teacher of the gifted class at my school, hopes I burn out and fail, before my successful methods become the new job requirement for all teachers. Therefore, my biggest responsibility is to not burnout, which I am dangerously close to due to a lack of knowledge as to how to teach smarter, and not just harder.
- We all have so much to think about. Our minds are already filling up with all we have to do, and all the resolutions we want to keep this year.
This was my response to a friend wishing me well with my final semester of my masters:
Ahhhhhhhhhh! - classes begin 2morrow and I agreed to tutor 4 kids after school so I could pay for this semester - true test for me to close my eyes and envision a world of possibility, letting love emanate from every one of my cells to all those around me and all those back into me - (man surviving under harsh conditions – his evolution and very survival depends on it - and he can't do it alone)
We can't afford to live in the past, thinking about past disappointments or gloating about former achievements.
We learn from both types of experiences and move into the present moment.....the only moment where we have any power to make those resolutions come true.
There is no way to change the past by staying in it, but we can learn from it and change our lives in the present...right now, this very day.
And this makes every day a New Year's Day, and all the failures of the past can't change that. Our future is totally dependent on our ability to live in the present.
This was given to me by a friend. I think it goes very well with this write:
Go Over
Go Under
Go Around
or Go Through
....But never Give Up
- Unknown
*Here we're rockin out to the song at the end of a Bill Nye the Science Guy video....
And then getting to work on what we learned from it. Work Hard...PLAY EVEN HARDER! Our work is our play.
These pics were taken with my new digital camera - a Christmas gift from my students. I think they just wanted better shots of themselves :-)
They have given me something even greater, the gift of themselves. Together we have created a classroom of unconditional love, intense fun, and incredibly high academic growth. I may be tired by the end of the day, but every moment is worth it as I witness them changing into powerful, happy and independent learners.
Although my writings have decreased as my energy has dwindled, when I see the looks on our faces I have to share this....this......THIS is what IS possible. Can you imagine our tiny world being duplicated out over the planet? Our classrooms, work environments, and homes would all be incredible places to come to.
And it all can be, once the world inside of us changes.
It can happen. There's nothing stopping us but ourselves. We're all here to help inspire others and evolve our species. Just be yourself...play your part....and PLAY IT BIG! We literally change the world around us when we do. I'm just beginning to realize (trust?) how much I'm affecting others by giving them my best self. I know I am realizing how much they're affecting me.
Taneicea wrote me a letter over the break telling me all the ways I've helped her. She also gave me a ring. As I put it on next to the rings of my children, I realized she was part of my family now. They all are.
The fact that I love wearing the cap Skyler from last year gave me and still receive text messages from him shows me how much this is true (and not having to worry about how my hair looks is great :-)
A chance meeting with Belle from last year's class made me aware of something else. When you looked at me and almost shouted, "I'm not lying! I mean it", I was woken up from how much I'm still living in my own past, afraid to let anyone in. My heart opens out, but not in. Thank you Belle. I would love to share that story when I can create the time. I owe you for helping me learn to trust others again.
So until we "meet" again........Play hard today and give it your all! Focus on what could be versus what is. Get out of the past and into the Present......and change your life in 2008!
We are all born the same, more or less. We do not all stay the same. Why? Why do so few of us seem to achieve our dreams? Why do so many give up, settle for less than our greatest happiness, and/or blame anything outside of ourselves for our limitations?
I really think it's because so few of us become heroes. Hardly anybody hangs on just one minute longer, hanging on UNTIL that happiness is created in our lives.
We received our national test results on a reading test before Thanksgiving Break. Two students deserving recognition are James, who scored THE BEST in 5th grade IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY...
...and Katie who ranked in the top 5%.
They are heroes, among THE VERY BEST OF THE BEST in America.
However, not everyone did so well. Some students did not do so very well at all and scored near the bottom of the country...and it hurt.
Shaquan started crying, saying he was "tired of always failing and being a mess up." I hugged him and told him his tears showed he had great heart...and I promised him that his heart was what would carry him to success.
“Given the warm, supportive environment of the quality school where there is no failure, and where there is almost always the possibility of tutoring, it would be more need-satisfying for students to work to raise their grades than to give up and receive no credit for the course.” (from the book, "The Quality School - Managing Students Without Coercion", by Dr. William Glasser, p.111)
This is why I feel it's absolutely important for EVERY student to come into a classroom EACH day where they know they'll be cared for, believed in, and as long as they try, leaving at the end of the day more than when they came in. (Taylor was sad because she couldn't eat Thanksgiving lunch with her little sister....
And with Florencia also wanting to eat with her younger sibling....
We went through some special ops training....
And snuck em in :-)
“What doctor would prescribe an antibiotic for a patient with an infection – and also for a patient without one? How is it that such wasteful practice is commonly accepted routine in classrooms nationwide? What should students think of teachers who waste their time and who value the appearance of learning over learning itself?
What do pointless school activities teach students about the value of schooling, the value of doing as the teacher says? What do such activities teach students about how much the school culture values them as unique human beings?” (from the book, "Finding Freedom in the Classroom - A Practical Introduction to Critical Theory", by Patricia Hinchey, p.p. 11-12)
And this is why I write individual lesson plans for each student in reading, science and math. These plans are data-driven based on their individual needs, and allows me to basically tutor each student, providing the right antibiotic or specific strength training regiment much like a doctor or strength coach would.
It is much harder writing 17 lesson plans a day than one, but it produces much more growth than when I used what I call the shotgun, one-size-fits-all approach.
When difficulties are overcome, they become blessings.
-Proverb
Later in the day I noticed Shaquan sitting doing nothing. This isn't allowed. The classroom is like a weight room for the heart and mind.
You can be laughing, moving, standing on your head if you like while learning...but by God you better be struggling to lift the weight (working on improving the skills) you haven't been strong enough to lift up until today.
He said he didn't care, the work was too hard, etc. (just like Malcolm used to do last year, who came back to visit me and tell me he's overcoming all his challenges in middle school, just as I knew he would :-)
Before I knew it I had come up behind Shaquan and pulled him out of his chair, pinning him against me with my arm. I whispered in his ear with a low growl that he was not allowed to EVER give up on himself! I released him and he dropped back down in his chair.
(I wish I had a picture of that moment. I tell the students they can use my phone to take pictures of what's going on in class, but the moment happened so fast it had come and gone in seconds. I likely would have forgotten it ever happened without a picture to remind me, had what happened next not occurred.)
He started crying again....
Malcolm and his fellow classmates, who were one of Orange County's highest growing classes, know how I feel about this. For the past two years I've used a scene from the movie Armageddon to make a point. It's where Bruce Willis and his fellow astronauts-to-be are put in the back of fighter jets to prepare them for the ride into space.
The first clip is in English but takes one minute to get to this part. The second video has it right away but is in Spanish. It's worth seeing the first few seconds to get an idea of what I'm talking about.
Adapted for my students, I tell them...
Life can sometimes be a brutal assault on your senses, and this year I'm going to give you a taste of what that's like.
I'm gonna push you so hard it's gonna suck your eyes to the back of your head.
I'm gonna twist ya.
I'm gonna flip ya.
I'm gonna wrap your body till your bones hurt.
And when you squeal,
I'm just gonna go faster and harder.
(then I add)
But most of all, I'm gonna love ya....
for all the good that's inside of you already...
and all the good that you're capable of becoming.
I have two hands. With one I'm gonna challenge ya...and with the other I'm gonna hold ya.
If given with love, a handful is sufficient.
-Telugu proverb
So as I looked at Shaquan from across the room, crying tears of self-pity and hopelessness, I told him I was sorry. I told him...
I'm sorry that you didn't do well on the test.
I'm sorry you feel so bad.
And I'm sorry that you missed learning key skills long ago that are making it almost impossible for you to succeed now.
(and by this time barking loudly)
BUT I'M NOT GOING TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOU!
I'M GOING TO FEEL STRONG FOR YOU!
I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S HARD FOR YOU!
I DON'T CARE THAT YOU HAVE REASONS TO GIVE UP!
I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE ME!
I DON'T CARE IF I GET IN TROUBLE FOR PUSHING YOU TOO HARD!
I CARE THAT YOU OVERCOME WHAT'S STOPPING YOU!
I CARE THAT YOU START LOVING YOURSELF ENOUGH TO STOP FEELING SORRY AND START BEING STRONG!!!
..........Dead Silence...No one was talking, no one was working, no one was even moving. They were afraid. I had gone too far.
So I spoke to the entire class (now that it seemed I had their undivided attention). I said, "Look guys, from what I can tell almost every problem we face can be overcome in two simple steps. Two steps that will keep us from ever giving up. What are they?"
No one raised their hand. They all looked at me like deer frozen in headlights. I had to lighten the tension so I began telling them a story of how a friend and I were hiking up a mountain one time, long ago.
How when we were at the top, my friend Mo had an idea..."Dream Big", he said.
""Yes, yes," I replied, "and Do Big!"
"That's right", Mo said. "If people just Dream Big and Do Big, they will Be Big!"
We were so excited we wanted to write it down but didn't bring any paper with us. Mo found two stone tablets to use. Excited to turn it into a book, we carried our two "rules" back down the mountain and showed his editor.
Looking at it, the editor said, "Two rules aren't enough. Ten would be better. And instead of rules, we should call them "commandments". Yes, commandments sound much better."
My mother was calling me for dinner so I had to go home, but Moses said he was going back up the mountain to see if he could think of eight more commandments.....
I never saw him again. I wonder what ever happened to him?
Laughing now at realizing I was referring to our class motto of "Dream Big. Do Big. Be Big!" (you can see part of the poster in the background) and incorporating the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments to make a point, everyone, including Shaquan, went back to believing they could learn what they were attempting to, and working hard to learn it.
Everybody wants to be somebody: Nobody wants to grow. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
And then came the next day, Friday's spelling test. For three months Shaquan has never received anything other than an "F". We tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. He has no concept of vowels...I mean this kid missed something long ago in school. But I asked him to not give up, and that knowing what you wanted was more important than knowing how you would get it. The way would show itself to us.
I gave the test, sitting a few feet away from him, knowing that after what happened the day before he needed something besides hope, hugs and hollers to help him keep going. He needed results, and I was hoping he would get at least a "D".
I gave the last word, a bonus word, and we switched papers for grading. I believe in immediate feedback. If there's improvement (Being Big), the student feels good and is willing to go tackle a weak academic area in a spirit of confidence (Believing and Doing Big)
If there's no improvement, the reasons for choosing the wrong answers are still fresh in their minds. There's much less, "I don't know" responses and much more , "Ohhhh. I see now." And the cycle of failure has a better chance of being broken.
When we were done grading, I can't remember if it was Kelly or Katie who had Shaquan's paper, said very quietly,
"Mr. Stuart.....Shaquan got an "A".
I said, "I'm sorry?"
"Shaquan got an 'A'. Actually an 'A+', a 110%!"
She handed the paper back to Shaquan, who just stared at it...as I did. Right there, in black and white, was 110%. I asked him how he did it. He told me he highlighted the vowels of each word every night at home, like we had done on the computer after his first failed spelling test at the beginning of the year.
He said, "I just tried it one more time."
I asked him what the definition of a hero is.
"Someone who hangs on one minute longer", he said.
"You, my friend, have become a hero. And what you've done is nothing short of miraculous, going from three months of "F's" to an "A+", without cheating. I was right there watching you, hoping for you, pulling for you. You have scored a valid 110%! You have created a miracle!"
I wish I had a trophy to give him. All I had was a plastic fork I was going to use to stir my coffee, so I gave it to him while Kelly drew a trophy for him on the white board. You can see in the picture I'm ready to cry.
At the end of the day before he left he said, "Mr Stuart, you know how you wanted to give me that trophy?"
I told him I did.
"I want you."
"What do you mean?", I asked.
"The trophy I want is you. I want you to keep teaching me."
Having unconditional love for the welfare of another means risking being hated in return. Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it doesn't. I lost a stepdaughter over it, being told by her mother I was no longer to consider myself her father in any way. That hurt me a lot, so I don't take this risk lightly. This time it did pay off. A child used to constant failure has now succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams....and is feeling very, very good about himself.
"Leadership is not something that is done to people, like fixing your teeth. Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better." -- Bill Bradley
How is the impossible made possible? How do you develop amazing abilities that make others stand back in awe at your miraculous results... as an athlete, astronaut, artist or anything?
You do what Shaquan did
You try just one more time
You become a hero
Be your own hero, it's cheaper than a movie ticket. -Doug Horton
(Daiquan pumped up after getting a personal phone call from a friend of mine who is the voice of Rock Lee from the cartoon and video game Naruto. He had told me he had good news and bad news. The bad news is he wanted to hit someone on the bus. The good news is he didn't. He's one of the few who didn't get suspended. He has found his real strength, his Inner Strength!)
And this video is for you Shaquan. When you stopped seeing yourself as a failure, you stopped failing!
I am VERY, VERY, VERY proud of you young warrior!
You have become a real-life hero in this world, and for the most important person on the planet....yourself! Promise me you'll never forget this moment!
