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Kendrick Thomas (KTTeeV) is an Asst. Principal in Houston, certified life coach, speaker, mentor,  podcast host of Daily K, and the host of the KTTeeV Radio show. KTTeeV is all about bridging the gap between the school and community through information. Kendrick takes his passion for showing young people that through intrinsic motivation there is a way out of every situation to another level, a level that is life-changing.   

Let’s go right into your WHY …

I was the oldest of 3 born in Shreveport, Louisiana to a single mother at the age of 15. I faced violence, murder, drugs, and gangs daily. With all this going on around me, I knew that I would need to find the intrinsic motivation to one day leave Shreveport and do great things for the world I lived in.

Located in the community of Alief in Houston Texas, KTTeeV is dedicated to building the community through information, resources, and opportunities. Through videos, blogs, and forum discussions, we welcome you to engage, learn, and share these resources to build and grow the community in which you live.

Kendrick is not only a school administrator in Houston, Texas, but a certified life coach, speaker, and mentor. He leads the G.R.E.A.T. Boys Club in Alief ISD and works countless hours speaking with At-Risk youth, leaders on his campus, in his district, and throughout the city of Houston. 

Kendrick’s passion is showing young people that through intrinsic motivation there is a way out of every situation you’re placed in.

Through his podcast, Daily K, and the KTTeeV Radio show which reaches thousands weekly,  Kendrick speaks to school leaders, community members, and entrepreneurs across the world about how vital giving back to the community is. The skills, the passion, the first-hand applicable experience, and the interconnections Kendrick brings is what makes him one of the most sought after speakers in education and advocacy in the city of Houston.

Kendrick’s Contact Information

Email- Ktteev@gmail.com 

Website: https://www.ktteev.com/ 

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Interested in checking out more of the Rethinking Learning podcasts and reflections, click on the podcast tab at the top, the logo below, or go to https://barbarabray.net/podcasts/

For more information about Barbara’s new book, Define Your WHY, go to this page or click on the image of the book for resources, questions, and links.

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Craig Shapiro has been teaching for 30 years. He is a health and fitness instructor at William Tennent High School in the Centennial School District, PA. Craig also coaches Cross Country, Wrestling, and Track at William Tennent. Craig is the host the #teachpos on Sunday evenings at 7:30p ET, and, I have to say, Craig is one of the most positive people I know. 

Your background

I was in elementary school in Philadelphia, then in 5th grade, my parents moved to a suburb of Philadelphia where I lived throughout my high school career. I went to Penn State University and then Arcadia for Grad School in Educational Leadership. When I went to Penn State, my father wanted me to go into business. I didn’t know any better. At the end of my freshman year, I will never forget this, like one of those Karma moments. I was taking Economics and we were in this large lecture hall with 300 people. I was sitting in one of the top seats with one of my friends and the teacher was not there that day. The TA (teacher assistant) was teaching and I couldn’t understand him. All I remember him say was something about supply and demand. I turned to my friend and said, “there is no way I am doing this for the rest of my life!” I came home and told my parents that I wanted to be a gym teacher. 

What was it like for you as a student

I hated high school!  Boring every day and of little value. It wasn’t engaging to me.  I found it ironic that something I disliked I ended up doing for a career. I think it actually helped me because I knew when I became a teacher exactly what I didn’t want to do from my experience in high school. I loved sports and hanging with friends and my girlfriend. There were three teachers who had a positive impact on me.

In 5th grade, I didn’t know anyone being new to that school. We were playing kickball in the schoolyard and I slid into 3rd base. I thought I was safe and my teacher, Mr. Betz called me out. I was so upset. I’ll never forget what he said to me. “Craig, I’m so proud of you for taking that risk. Don’t ever be afraid to do that.”  

My high school Spanish teacher, Mr. Black, was also a neighbor of my relatives. He was just funny and would always tell a silly joke. He was so engaging and different from most of the other teachers who just wanted us to take notes or do worksheets. He cared about us. 

I had a calculus teacher at Penn State, Mrs. Gold, who probably had the largest impact on my teaching career. I wasn’t doing that well and we had this one moment where my friend and I were sitting in the back of the room and we had a laughing fit. Mrs. Gold said, “Craig, are you okay? It’s okay that you are laughing. If you need to go outside, go ahead and take a break.” 

Being in her class made me not want to disappoint her because she cared so much. Teaching 101 is not about teaching the objectives on the board, it is about making the class comfortable for the kids so they want to learn. We need to tailor our learning to kids, not have them tailored to us. We should be connecting to parents and their kids so they have the most positive experience in their lives. We need to connect with kids, encourage them to take chances, and reach out so they learn something new. Try to make this about discovery, not something they have to learn during the school day. You’ll not be able to replicate a school day. Let’s not make this more complicated than what it is. Reach kids and parents where they are and try to build a community of learners together. 

My focus as a teacher is not on what a person is doing wrong, it’s what they’re doing right. When you give your students something to do, are they happy to do it or are they just compliant? I want kids to do something because they want to do it not because I asked them to do it. 

Whatever we ask kids to do, it’s got to
be better for kids, not better for us.

Your family

I’ve been married for 23 years with 2 children: Alana, a freshman in college, and Cole, a junior in high school. Alana went into school planning to be a History teacher and at the end of the first semester, she decided I want my children to make a good living, get a good job, but above all other things, I want them to be happy. If you asked my kids if I ever had a bad day at work, they would say no. I’m doing something I love and also I believe I’m doing something that is making a difference for people. This is not just about me loving what I do, it’s also about helping others. Not just as educators, but as people. We all have choices. We can make the world a better place or leave it alone and do nothing or we can make it worse. In my world, I think we should make it better. If we’re not going to make it better, just don’t make it worse.  By the way, we also have three dogs – Boomer, Bella, and Zoey

Your view of teaching

My view of teaching whatever the time it is in, it’s all about kids and what is going to impact them and for them to enjoy the learning experience that is happening for them. I try to tailor my teaching to what I believe kids want. Instead of me saying we’re going to focus on this assignment, I try to give them choices that will help them still learn the material but learn it in different ways. They could make a video, PowerPoint, FlipGrid, paper, poster, and give as many options to make it as accessible to them and enjoy it. The quote I say to kids is…

 This is your class. Make your class special.

I say to teachers, remember there is one of you and there is a lot of them. Are you the person making the decision for all of your students when there is only one of you?  I’m not saying that they should make all of the decisions for children, but shouldn’t they have a voice in what happens in their class? I’ll ask my students, “what do you think of this?” Most kids because they were trained say nothing. I tell them that if they don’t say anything to me, then you are forcing me to do it the way I think we should do it. I think to teach especially when kids are older, there has to be this idea of giving kids options to be partners in learning. 

Teaching during the Pandemic

This is going to be challenging. I just went for a run with an administrator from another district and we were bouncing ideas off of each other. No district that I’m aware of has prepared for this. This pandemic is something new. We have to embrace this and realize there’s going to be mishaps. Learn from them. Make change. That’s going to fall on kids, parents, and all of us. I’m going to do my best to try to make parents and kids comfortable. 

Twitter chat #teachpos

I started #teachpos in November 2018. I had never been on Twitter and I became friends with a new librarian at our school. She recommended joining a Twitter chat. First, we tried it with some of the kids. It worked for some and not for others, but I loved the immediate feedback. So I decided to go online and looking at chats. I love education. It is a noble profession. I joined a chat at 7p on Sunday nights. After participating several times, the hosts recommended I host a chat right after their chat. It took me some time to figure out the hashtag but I was always talking about positivity so that’s how I came up with #teachpos. The first time flopped, but now I’m connected to all these amazing people. Because of the name #teachpos, it generally gets people who are positive about teaching to join in. 

So join in the conversations at #teachpos every Sunday at 7:30p ET

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I’ve been a teacher for three decades. It’s a choice that has totally shaped who I am as a person and something that I truly am grateful for each day. Besides teaching, I’ve coached about six different sports and still coach three today. A few of my passions are: exercise, writing, teaching, helping others, and trying my best to be happy each day.  

• Website: https://cmsdreambig.com/
• Twitter: @Shapiro_WTHS  #teachpos
• Facebook: wtcccoach
• instagram – wtcccoach

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Tonya Gilchrist is an internationally experienced educator, presenter, consultant, instructional coach, and curriculum specialist. She specializes in amplifying inquiry across reading and writing workshops and effectively utilizing the workshop model in host country languages.

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Tonya helps schools around the world powerfully launch reading and writing workshops and create balanced literacy programs. She currently resides happily in Tokyo with her husband, a fourth-grade PYP teacher. Hope you enjoy the post below and our conversation!

Growing up

I grew up in Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley which is about an hour from Washington D.C.  

Most of my family was in West Virginia as well as so I grew up around lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles. I have one sister, Tabitha who goes by Tabby and is a few years older than I am. All of my cousins and family were close, and it was wonderful to have that support growing up.

Starting at the age of seven, my sister and I were raised by my father and the one big thing that shaped me was having him be such an important presence in my life. He died when I was just about to graduate from university. That was so hard because he was my dad, my best friend, my minister, and my example of servant leadership that I strive to emulate today. My sister and I are so close and are there for each other.

What it was like when you were a student

I had incredible teachers that inspired me when I was around third grade when I was 9 to become an educator. I had excellent experiences in that sense with supportive and fantastic teachers who were caring in positive cultures. Reflecting back now, I dealt with perfectionist tendencies—a “straight A” student, but still dealing with a need to be “perfect.”  That was challenging for me then and into my adult life because I put so much pressure on myself because of the systemic nature of the school. It meant that to be “good” meant all straight As and doing things perfectly. In other areas of my life, I felt like trying to be perfect left a mark, not necessarily in a positive way. I was always feeling like I’m not quite “good” enough and not being able to embrace my imperfections. That has impacted me now because I don’t want other students to have to feel that pressure. It should be about the process, joy, and curiosity, not the mark you get at the end.

How are we helping to free ourselves and our students from this harmful expectation? The magic happens in our so-called imperfections—that’s where we learn and grow through the exploration. That’s how they are going to discover their genuine, authentic self. That’s what creates a lifelong learner.

Your journey as an educator

I went to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, then to Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. I started teaching in Fredrick County, VA and had a great experience there for about four years. I had an incredible administration that taught me in my first year of teaching about what it means to be an educational leader. Then I met my husband, Nathan, who was in Texas, which meant we had a long distant relationship for about a year. We realized we needed to be together so I moved to the Fort Worth area to be with him and taught there for about 4 years with wonderful colleagues and leaders.

Nathan and Tonya Gilchrist

It was then when the focus was on standardized tests and standardized teaching. It seemed like all the joy was sucked out and all the creativity was gone. I was really struggling with that and hitting a professional low. It wasn’t joyful anymore and I was literally googling what else I could do with my teaching degree. That’s when I discovered the world of international teaching and IB schools that are all inquiry-based. I knew this is what I needed. So after my husband and I agreed, I started applying for jobs. I received several offers and decided on Bangkok, Thailand.  That was 2013 and staying in Thailand for 2 years. It was phenomenal and definitely recommend it. The students and the people there are incredible. It was a wonderful experience and exactly what I needed. It was like a breath of fresh air. I was given autonomy and developed agency to have a voice and choice in how I wanted to teach.

Living in Tokyo

We have been in Tokyo now for four years and love it. I am a middle school literacy coach at Tokyo International School, a, IB (International Baccalaureate Organization) Prek-8th-grade school for English and Japanese literature classes. Nathan was a web designer and started subbing at my school. He is now a 4th-grade teacher at the Canadian International School in Tokyo. I also teach English and Literature for 6th and 8th grades. What I found is that skills are transferable across all languages. There’s a term called “Translanguaging where there is lots of research regarding it. We need to respect and honor the native language while we are learning a new language.

What are we doing in education to honor all languages?  

[Listen to Tonya’s analogy about languages, translanguaging, and cooking at 25:55.]

Literacy Coach & Consultant

I am on a mission to empower amplifying inquiry and honoring agency—for teachers and students, valuing all languages in literacy instruction, working with schools around the world

To celebrate my joining the incredible @ErinLiKent Consulting, here’s a “quick guide” to two of her favorite things: Amplifying Inquiry & Honoring Agency in R/W Workshops. To access the whole document, go to  http://www.erinkentconsulting.com 

Classroom Culture: It’s All about Relationships

https://tonyagilchrist.com/classroom-culture-relationships/

It’s all about relationships.

Are learners disengaged?  Work to form stronger relationships.  Are they off-task, possibly even misbehaving?  Work to form stronger relationships. Are they itching to leave your classroom?  Work to form stronger relationships. Are they reluctant to share their thinking, even one-on-one?  Work to form stronger relationships.

What is Agency? Should it be Measured?

https://tonyagilchrist.com/measure-agency/

For most of us, agency is something that we have always valued. We became educators because we want to instill a lifelong love of learning in our students. We want our students to develop the skills they need to have agency over their own learning and over their own lives.

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Tonya Gilchrist is an internationally experienced educator, presenter, consultant, instructional coach, and curriculum specialist. She currently serves as a staff developer for Erin Kent Consulting. In addition to helping schools around the world powerfully launch reading and writing workshops and create balanced literacy programs, she specializes in amplifying inquiry across reading and writing workshops and effectively utilizing the workshop model in host country languages.

Along with her experience as a classroom teacher and educational leader, she also holds an IB Certificate in Leadership Practice and an IB Advanced Certificate in Leadership Research. Moreover, she is certified by Results Coaching Global and also as a trainer for ISTE’s Coaching Academies. She also served as a curriculum designer at Pearson’s CCSS Summer Institute with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has presented at EARCOS as well as numerous international literacy conferences. She also presents annually at Shenandoah University’s Children’s Literature Conference.  She currently resides happily in Tokyo with her husband, Nathan, a fourth-grade PYP teacher.

Contact Information

Website: https://tonyagilchrist.com
Email: tonya.renae@gmail.com
Twitter: @Mrs_Gilchrist
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyagilchrist/

Tara Martin is an inspirational speaker and author of Be REAL: Educate from the Heart. Tara firmly believes machines and artificial intelligence will never replicate an individual’s REAL identity–the unique strengths, talents and life experiences of every human. Her story will touch your heart. 

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Tara’s ambition is to lead a culture of innovative change and to motivate others to become the best they can be, all while staying REAL and yet never reaching a plateau. Listen to the podcast and check out the resources and excerpts from the podcast below. Enjoy!

You and your family

I grew up in Southeast Texas where we didn’t have seasons only hot, humid, and rainy. I moved to Kansas eleven years ago with my husband, Darrell.  I met my husband when I was in high school and he was in college. As high school sweethearts, we have been married this past November 20 years. We have a sweet boy, Kaleb, who is 17 and a senior who got accepted into his first choice college so we are embarking on filling out scholarship applications. We live in Kansas out on a farm with no animals and absolutely love it here. We have four seasons in Kansas and my boys love the outdoors where I’m more inside, cooking, or traveling.

What it was like when you were a student

As a student in Texas, I grew up in a home life that was less than stellar. It was an abusive home life. School became my safe place. It was the place, like Dave Burgess says, that I wanted to get in, not out. It didn’t matter if the teachers were engaging. It was my favorite place to be, ever. I got hot meals, hugs, and more. The school was a place I loved going to. Unfortunately, as an early elementary student, I struggled in school. It wasn’t easy for me. I wasn’t reading even when I got into second grade. My second-grade teacher, Mrs. S, was fantastic. She just saw this little girl that wanted to learn more than life herself and taught me to read every day when I got off the bus. It was so cool because I got to go straight into class when all the kids were lined up outside the class. I thought I was super special and didn’t realize that was getting tutored.

I learned to read that year. I wasn’t aware of how she taught me, but that year I leveled up with my peers. From that moment forward I’ve always been a high achiever and excellent student. She saw something in me that inspired me all along to believe in kids and not to place them in a box or that their family is like this so they’ll automatically be like that. She gave every individual the chance to be the real them. That’s where BE REAL has been so embedded in my heart because every single individual has their own identity. They get to be what they want to be.

Mrs. S told me, “I believe in you, Tara. You are an overcomer. You are not defined by your circumstances.” I am so thankful that she changed the wiring of my brain to make me think differently so I could believe that I could become whatever I wanted to be. I can still remember when she told me that, and I can still smell her perfume. It is so vivid in my mind.

I think as adults that serve others I need to express that to them “You’ve got this. You can help people follow their dreams. It is possible. Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it.”

I call the words “I believe in you” HEART words. When people that matter to you say that to you, it means something. You can anchor your thought process on those words.

Tara Martin – Be R.E.A.L. – Episode #20 …

Your journey as an educator

I wanted to be a doctor, actually, a neuroscientist to study the brain and all facets of the brain. I went to school to be a nurse first because I needed to get a job to sustain myself. It turned out that I cannot handle blood and I almost passed out multiple times in the clinic. I realized that this was not for me. My scholarship also wasn’t going to be able to handle nursing school, med school and going on to become a neuroscientist. So my counselor worked with me to change my major. When I told her that I taught Sunday school and loved it, she mentioned that maybe teaching. So that summer I got into an intro to teaching class. One month in, I loved it. The coolest part is that all of the science I studied with the brain applied directly to education. Because you’re dealing with students and all these ways of thinking. It was cool to combine the two worlds together and to get into the field I belong to.

I started teaching in an inner-city school in Topeka, Kansas with kids with 90% free and reduced lunch and a variety of socio-economic backgrounds and worked there six years. The students that I got to work with were much like me growing up. It was cool to be able to give back to children who were facing obstacles even greater than what I had to face. And being able to help them as Mrs. S encouraged me. I was a third-grade teacher so I had them young and I got to experience what it’s like to go into their houses that had no phone or email. I was able to meet the parents and just talk to them to help them to understand that I get it. I told them that I experienced something similar. I may look like I have it all together now, but this is not how it always was for me. I told them that we’re a team and want to help you. I’m very grateful for my experiences in Topeka. Parents watched out for me and each other. We became a classroom family. It’s so wonderful that my students stay connected with me through email and Facebook messages.

On my website, I share resources called Real Talk Treasures. Click the image below.

Becoming an instructional coach and administrator

I worked for four years as a teacher and then two years as an instructional coach in Topeka. Then I moved to my home district, Lawrence, KS, as an instructional coach. I loved coaching. It was my favorite. I first was trained by Laura Lipton and then later trained by Jim Knight who is in our home town. If you can learn to have effective conversations to help people recognize their strengths and strive for the next best thing in their own life, then you are really serving your purpose and the world. Coaching has always been something that I hold dear to my heart. I think no matter what role I am in, being a coach is ingrained in me.

I later became an administrator of coaches at the last district I worked at was Auburn Washburn. I loved being able to start a coaching program from the ground up actually training them with this hybrid approach and a little bit of what I learned along with good conversations. Coaching is something that always happens you lead with a humble inquiry to tell me a little about yourself. Coaching is ever present no matter what role or professional you are in.

I journal daily and even coach myself just like I do when I coach others.  I’ll point out a few things they mentioned that we could take into bite-sized chunks to uncover things that clutter our lives. Educators have so much that is pushing on them and coach them to chunk it up to find out what they are already good at to accomplish some of their goals. It’s worth it to put in the time to listen and sometimes it is after hours. Taking to listen and learn at the onsite is worth that time.

About Be REAL: Educate from the Heart

New Role at DBC

I now work for Dave and Shelly Burgess for their the Dave Burgess Consulting company as a coach and speak around the nation. My new role is Media and Communications Director and only work with educators. In the publishing and media side is completely different but I love the challenges. I am building this job from the ground up. Now YouTube is my new BFF.

BookSnaps Creator

[This is Barbara. Listen to the podcast for the entire conversation I had with Tara including how she started #BookSnaps after George Couros @gcouros encouraged her to join Twitter in 2016. You won’t believe she started with 2 followers and now has people from over 20 countries following her and #BookSnaps.]

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Tara Martin is an enthusiastic educator, speaker, and author who thrives on change and refuses to settle for the status quo. She has served as a classroom teacher, an instructional coach for several years, and most recently as a district administrator who leads district staff and school communities to meet the curriculum and instructional needs of the student body. Tara also mentored and supervised instructional coaches and provided job-embedded professional development for certified and classified staff. She is a well-rounded educator. 

Tara’s Contact Information

• Email: tarammartin.real@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.tarammartin.com
• Twitter: @TaraMartinEDU

Tara is a passionate educator who speaks at various conferences to invigorate teachers, administrators, and staff members to apply instructional practices that foster creativity, personalize learning and increase student engagement. She is passionate about discovering the neuroscience behind instructional strategies and believes individualizing adult learning will enhance their ability to flourish and empower students to be the key drivers of their education.

Tara is a connected leader who continually strives to grow professionally. She is always seeking unique ways to make learning fun, relevant and meaningful. In fact, she is the founder of #BookSnaps, the latest reading comprehension strategy that utilizes Snapchat for EDU-awesomeness, and has taken the world by force in less than two years! Currently, schools in seventeen different countries have embraced #BookSnaps to increase student engagement and reading comprehension.

Tara is an inspirational speaker and author of Be REAL: Educate from the Heart. She firmly believes machines and artificial intelligence will never replicate an individual’s REAL identity–the unique strengths, talents and life experiences of every human. Tara’s ambition is to lead a culture of innovative change and to motivate others to become the best they can be, all while staying REAL and yet never reaching a plateau.

Here is Tara’s Visual Bio (https://www.tarammartin.com/tara-martin-bio/)

Heather Wolpert-Gawron is a middle school ELA teacher, 21st Century Learning Instructional Coach, curriculum design geek, and PBL coach. She has written many books including her latest, Just Ask Us: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement. Heather blogs on her site, TweenTeacher and is a staff blogger on Edutopia, a Fellow of the National Writing Project, and a National Faculty member of the Buck Institute.

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I was fortunate to spend some time with Heather at the CUE conference where we geeked out. I just knew I had to learn more about her. It was a hoot having a conversation with Heather so I hope you get a chance to listen to her podcast and read the post we put together. Enjoy!

About you and your family

I am wife to Royce, whom I met in 2nd grade, after karate-chopping him at recess. Additionally, I am a mom to two boys, both of whom always have leaves in their hair from some adventure or other. She lives with all of her boys and their boxer/corgi mix, their laughter, and chaos, in Los Angeles, CA where they play Dungeons & Dragons every week, building their cross-over stories and adventures together.

You know how you never can find a picture of the whole family because someone’s always the one taking the picture? Well, here’s the most recent of us four. I was away presenting at the AMLE conference in Florida this year, and I end each night when I’m away either reading to the boys via Facebook or listening to them and their day. This was a typical day’s end moment of Royce trying to hold down the fort before signing off for the night.

What education was like when you were young

I was a real disengaged student. I went to some great schools but I found ways to do the minimum. I got easy Bs if I like you and tried harder and got some As, but I also got Cs and even a couple Ds in my time. I understand those kids who skirt through school never really being triggered by something exciting. So it was kind of a surprise for me when I realized I wanted to be a teacher which I found kind of late in life.

Your journey as an educator

I went back to school for my credential again was another eye-opening experience because I sat there listening to how to collaborate and do hands-on learning by reading about it in a book. I realized that this lack of engagement was a theme not just in K-12 but beyond. That became a huge focus for me and fueled my interest in project-based learning. It also propelled me to write my latest book and to this passion for engagement. This quote from Kerry Gallagher stuck with me: “Engagement first, then content, then rigor in that order.” You can’t have it any other way. That’s why I am trying to bring engagement standards to the same level of importance as content standards. You can’t teach kids if they don’t want to learn. If we want to be a voice in their heads, we have to be applicable to what’s going on.

What do we do with the kids that do not know how to play the game of school and are disengaged? Being boring is offensive to me. I mean, you are in front of kids. Some teachers heard a message early on that misled them. I think that they just have to rewind to who they were.

Video Trailer for “Just Ask Us”

Let’s talk about your book “Just Ask Us”

In the book, “Just Ask Us,” I share the results of my nationwide survey of 6th-12th graders. In that survey, I asked one simple question: What engages you as a learner? No matter what model of school, what state, what type of environment (rural, suburban, city), every response that came in could be sorted into the same 10 categories of strategies. One of those strategies is that they just want to know you, their teacher.  Some teachers believe they need to be that academic authority. The kids really want to hear your stories, what makes you laugh, about your family, and your similarities. The research showed that can decrease the achievement gap just by sharing commonalities between the students and the authorities in the room.

PBL and Loving to Learn

This is why I love Project-Based Learning (PBL). It gives us an outlet as teachers to embed some of the things that we love into the curriculum itself so we are excited in a different way than we like the content area. I love literature but I have to tell you that there are some books that make me yawn. How do I get jazzed about what I am doing all the time? Being jazzed trickles down. Loving to learn trickles down to the kids. So how do we make that happen in the classroom if we’ve been teaching the same thing for 10 or more years?

Examples of PBL Secret Sauce

For me, the answer is PBL and bringing the kids along on this story of learning. They get to be the characters and they can learn about each other and from each other. Let them teach each other. I think role-playing has a huge (no pun intended) role to play in school. If we can trigger role-playing in these kids, whether they are in the role of teacher, journalist, architect, artist, or whatever it might be, then they can be learning through the research what it takes to do that role. Then they can share that expertise with other students.

School as a Failure Sandbox

In the chapter, “We want you to be human” the kids wanted to hear not only how you failed and got up again but how you are currently doing that. So one of the things I encourage teachers to do it to take on something they’ve never done before so they can model the learning in a more genuine and authentic way. For example, I got a grant for a 3D printer and did not know how to use it. So we went through the process to learn how to use this tool together. The kids became the experts by reading discussion group threads, reading how-to manuals, and talked to the vendor. Our job is to keep a school safe for them to fail. Todd Finley said that “School has to be a failure sandbox.”

That means you have to be in the sandbox with them. I’m looking at PBL from the lens of design-based, passion-based, genius hour, 20% time, and all the various incarnations that bring in student-centered research-driven learning. It’s about breaking down the wall of school life and real life. Our kids are in school for 12 to 18 years and to think that school is real life to them. It is up to us to make it authentic. PBL plays a wall in the authenticity of school. The evidence shows that if we want the content to stick, we have to have it more student-centered and have kids be engaged.

The way we have been teaching isn’t working. If our goal is for kids to learn more deeply, it seems to me that we have to be evolving in our practice.

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This is Barbara. There’s more… make sure you listen to the entire podcast with Heather. I learned so many great ideas and giggled with her. Hope you take time to learn, read her book, and maybe geek out like we did.

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Heather Wolpert-Gawron is an award-winning middle school teacher, coach of one of the largest middle school Speech & Debate teams in the country, and enthusiastic curriculum design geek. She coaches teachers in developing their own Project Based Learning units and works to help tech-tentative teachers become more tech-tenacious.

She is passionate about educational technology and its role in helping students communicate all subjects. Heather helps her students become agile in 21st Century technologies so that they can be a part of the conversations to help develop the technologies for the next century to come.  A 21st Century ELA teacher must focus, she believes, on communicating curriculum in an engaging way while teaching students strategies to communicate their passions themselves.  Students must be able to communicate any content in a meaningful and current way; teachers, she believes must move beyond teaching content and must become more agile in focusing on strategies to communicate that content.

Heather writes a popular education blog as Tweenteacher and is also a staff blogger for The George Lucas Educational Foundation’s Edutopia.org. She is a Fellow of the National Writing Project and a National Faculty member for the Buck Institute.

Heather has a Masters in Instructional Design and Technology with an online learning emphasis, and she believes that the teachers’ Maker Movement is in original curriculum design. Heather tells stories through her curriculum units, and her students help to craft the content’s tale.

Heather was the featured educator for the USDOE Connected Educator Profile of 2013 and the San Gabriel Valley Computer Using Educators Outstanding Teacher of the Year for 2009.

She is a professional speaker, appearing at many educational conferences.  She also has designed and presented webinars for multiple educational organizations, websites, and publishing companies. She has worked with numerous districts and schools to help all grade levels to develop, implement, and enjoy their adopted curriculum.

Contact info:

Twitter: @tweenteacher
Website: http://tweenteacher.com
Email: heather@tweenteacher.com

Heather Wolpert-Gawron is the author of these books:

Just Ask Us: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

DIY for Project Based Learning for ELA and History

DIY for Project Based Learning for Math and Science

Writing Behind Every Door: Teaching Common Core Writing in the Content Areas

˜Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers

She has authored three series of workbooks:

Internet Literacy for grades 3-8

Project Based Writing, grades 3-8

Nonfiction Reading Strategies for the Common Core, grades 1-7

Guest post: Susan Zanti, M.Ed. Secondary Instructional Coach, Loudoun County Public Schools, VA

Education and the way we teach have changed. There is no doubt about it. Are teachers keeping pace with the changes? Is professional learning known historically as professional development (PD), meeting teachers’ needs? PD has been for too long, “One size Fits All”, but we are learning the futility of providing PD that teachers and administrators don’t find relevant for their school and the students in front of them. I, like many of you, have sat through PD that was often laden with jargon and catchphrases, designed to give teachers the competitive edge.

Competing with whom? Edge over who?

Growing and Stretching Every Day

Teachers need only to compete with their own limits; growing and stretching every day, learning to leave their comfort zones, and redefining their thinking and teaching. Teachers today value collaboration. They know the power of collective efficacy, and working together to help kids be successful. Here are a few questions to think about for the future of teaching and learning:

How then, do we keep pace with our continuously changing learners?

Where do we get the professional learning we need right here, right now?

What if we change the focus and wording from professional development to professional learning?

Social Media as Professional Learning

Districts are seeing the value of social media as professional learning. They are looking at social media as a means to get daily professional learning and development, on their time, in the way they need. Educators are encouraged to use Twitter, Instagram and FaceBook to reach out to others and share instructional strategies and best practices.

Becoming Future Ready

Teachers are connecting, communicating, collaborating on a global scale, seeking the expertise of others, owning their learning needs. Many experienced veteran teachers are embracing the integration of technology, and forward-thinking, future ready teaching, learning and thinking ahead with intentionality.

Right now, in our educational history, is the last time that educators who are in the classrooms and trenches with our youth, will be required to learn the technology skill set. Students today and going forward have the savvy tech skills that they can and do teach one another. Facilitating relationships with students and their learning is crucial if we are to keep pace with ever increasing needs of students, as their skills often surpass those of teachers. Teachers will remain life-long learners; however, never again will they be taken from no technology in teaching and learning, to where we are currently. Imagine the learning curve. Thinking ahead, the skill set will grow and develop, but here and now educators need professional learning that bridges the gap and grows with them.

Building a Personalize Learning Network (PLN)

Educators in every school and administration are being called upon to personalize and blend learning, they are encouraged to and supported in connecting to other educators globally, it is an exciting time! Research proven strategies press teaching and learning forward. Children will never again know life, let alone school, without technology. Teachers need professional learning at all stages (beginner, intermediate and veteran) to meet these needs.

In schools everywhere, teachers and administrators are tapping into the best resource out there to develop teachers—> other teachers! Teachers and teams are sharing their expertise via in-school, embedded professional learning. In personalizing learning for students, we must also rise to meet the ever-changing needs of our teachers.

How are you getting your professional learning needs met?

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Susan Zanti, @SusZanti5

Susan Zanti is a M.Ed. Secondary Instructional Coach at Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. She is certified in Administration and Supervision from Shenandoah University, and has served as an LCPS mentor, lead mentor, drama sponsor, PBIS team coach, BTI presenter and Best Practices instructor, and homebound and summer school teacher. Mrs. Zanti is currently in her third year as a Secondary Instructional Coach for Loudoun County Public Schools. In her position, she supports teachers in PBL, OTTW, Personalized Learning, Whole Child teaching and learning, alternative learning environments, Instruction and Classroom Management, and is creator/co-host of #lcpsTchat, #LCPSedchat team.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SusZanti5 – https;//twitter.com/lcps_Tchat

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-zanti-a02403129

Sway: Digital Resume https://sway.com/AGPGBZcp8yNeQBFx