This is leadership. This is having empathy. This is making a connection.

This student was sent to the principal's office for not taking his hat off. The principal - like any good leader - knew the kid and knew that there had to be more to the issue. Sure enough, the kid was ashamed of his haircut and tried to cover it up with his hat.

So what did his leader do?

He fixed the problem. Not by dropping the hammer on the kid, but by giving him a haircut so he wouldn't be embarrassed and so he could take his hat off!

That's brilliant.

Brene Brown is amazing. Well if this book doesn't hit home now after I have accepted the head football coach for LHS, I don't know what book will.

Brown's work has long been an inspiration. But this simple book about being brave enough to step up and lead, struck a cord. Leading isn't about being larger than life or flawless. Brown believe it's simply about willing to see the potential in others and work to help them tap into that potential. We don't need more brilliance or power. We need more courage and empathy and a simple willingness to start.

Week #25 – March 1-5

Teaching Thought #106 - Use the right kind of soil to develop culture

Use the right soil in your classroom.

Cultivate your classroom culture. This podcast takes a very interesting look at culture.

Five Keys to Sustaining and Developing Culture – Entreleadership podcast

What are the things that are tangible or you can measure to show great culture?

Remember, culture derives for ‘agriculture.’ Daniel Tardy, in the podcast, uses this as a metaphor to illustrate strong culture

Element #1 – Soil – what are the values and morals of your classroom or business? What vision do you have for your class (and I’m not talking about standards here)? What is your mission? Are kids excited to be in your classroom? Get the right environment set up. Make the changes you need.

Getting the right soil takes time. I’d argue it happens long before school even starts.

How to get the right soil? Give this TED Talk a list – Simon Sinek – How Great Leaders Inspire Action. Sinek talks about the importance of knowing your why above all else.

Sinek believes leaders and organizations must address three basic issues to be successful: what, how, and why. Most leaders and organizations, however, address these in the wrong order. They start with what they do, then go on to how they do it, and probably never even realize (let alone effectively communicate) why they exist. As a result, they never resonate and impact their audience or customers.

Sinek’s concept applies to education. Schools and teachers often get their what, how, and why in the wrong order and, thus, fail to resonate and impact our students as much as we could. Educators have a great idea of what they do: Teachers equip students with the necessary skills to earn their degree, so they can be successful in the workforce and contribute to our democracy. Educators also know how they do it: Most teachers stand at the front of the class, controlling the assignments, and assigning a grade. Few, however, have any real idea about why they exist: The teachers I had joked about the three reasons they loved teaching: June, July, and August. Others sought to teach because it was the only path that enabled them to coach.

Sinek argues, though, that great leaders and organizations (and I believe great teachers) not only inverse the order, but they also clearly communicate their why, how, and what. I strive to illustrate my why, how, and what to my students every single day.

My why – I guide and inspire students to discover their elements. One of my favorite books to teach is The Element by Sir Ken Robinson. He defines the “element” as the point where the things we love to do and the things we are good at come together. Robinson argues that when you discover your “element,” you find purpose and meaning. Suddenly, work – if you are fortunate enough to find a job that involves your “element” – becomes like play. When you are in your element you are the best version of yourself because you are tapping into your strongest aptitudes and deepest passions.

I live for seeing students discover their element. Students often stop by, text, and email when they have finally found their element. Last summer I received a text from Wendy, a former student interning at a law firm. She informed me how she had just she witnessed a young female lawyer win a big case for a family. Wendy said while watching this young lawyer she knew she found her element because there was no one she wanted to be like in the world that this young lawyer. Wendy thanked me for encouraging her to follow her passion for family law while she read The Element in high school.

My how – I’m not just as a guide for my students, but I strive to be a co-learner right alongside of them. When doing my professional development, which includes attending and presenting at several conferences, like TIES, MCTE, NCTE, and our own district’s own Martin Luther King Digital Retreat, I share with my students my habits for preparation and applying what I learned to what we are do in class. Then while in class, I struggle through all the assignments with my students, modeling the skills I want them to attain. Recently, I was selected for a Teacher Appreciation banquet held by our senior football players. At the banquet each player explained why they selected their teacher and how they impacted them. When Derek, the young man who chose me, got up, one of the first things he said was, “Mr. Reynolds learns right a long with us. In fact, I think he learns as much from us just as we learn from him.” When I heard those words, I thought back to my how. I was ecstatic that Derek saw me as a co-learner.

My what – I don’t simply want to prepare students for college and a career. Instead, I want to help develop remarkable, life-long learners who have been, to borrow a term from Duke’s president, Richard Brodhead, “future-proof,” for I want to help my students develop skills that allow them to adapt to any changes the future may hold. Several years ago, I received an email from Carli, a former student who was on the precipice of applying for the nursing program at UND. She informed me she had been struggling with writer’s block over a one page, personal statement, which was a requirement of the application for the program. She was emailing me, not to ask for help but to encourage me to keep inspiring students to find their voices. Carli wrote that she finally broke out of her funk when she sat down in her apartment and opened her old College Comp II folder, full of dozens of her high school essays. One essay in particular, a personal narrative on an expertise, caught her eye. Carli recalled how much fun she had writing it because I encouraged her to use her voice and style in the paper. I recalled her essay immediately. Carli’s expertise was on “being blonde.” She chose to write the essay in the same random-abstract, mile-a-minute way she talked. The entire essay was one long run-on sentence, but it perfectly illustrated Carli’s expertise. She displayed her wonderful personality with her amazing voice and style. In the email, Carli said she regained her confidence and attacked the one page, personal statement. She ended the email informing me that she had just received her letter of admission to the UND nursing program.

When you know you’re why, it’s easier to cultivate the right soil for your students. And it all starts with the soil. Talk to any farmer. If the soil isn’t right, you haven’t got a shot.

Teaching Thought #107 - What kind of seed are you using to develop culture?

Use the right type of seed in your classroom.

Cultivate your classroom culture. This podcast takes a very interesting look at culture.

Five Keys to Sustaining and Developing Culture – Entreleadership podcast

What are the things that are tangible or you can measure to show great culture?

Element #2 – Seed – This is a combination between the right team and the right opportunity. How are you going to get the students producing what you want them to produce? Are they willing to work? Are they supportive? Do they care? What opportunities are you giving your students?

For me, this comes down two things: expectations and environment. It’s easy for my College Comp I and II classes. Those are the best and brightest. Let’s look at my Lit and Lang 9R class. Those kids dislike English, namely reading and (to a lesser extent) writing.

The moment they walk into my room I have an expectation: we are going to boost their reading skills by reading a lot of really cool stuff and discussing it. We are going to examine author’s craft and using textual evidence. We are going to practice main idea, fact and opinion, inferences, sequence, and drawing conclusions. And we are going to read, read, read, and read some more. We will write too, but my main emphasis is one reading cool stuff and getting you to enjoy English again.

The environment I try and create is one of caring, humor, and fun. I know sometimes fun is a dirty word lately in education, but if you’re not having fun, you are a lot less likely to do something. And the wonderful thing about teaching – or coaching or being a boss – is to get the the hard work to seem like fun.

So I tell my students early on that this is going to be the most engaging English class they’ve ever had. I tell them that we will read at least five books (To Kill a Mockingbird, Winterkill, Curse of a Winterkill, The Thief of Always, and a free reading novel of their own choice). And we do. And the kids like it. I won’t say they love it; some do. In fact, I’ve had my most memorable teaching experiences with my Lit and Lang 9R students. One came as a result of the defunct Kaffir Boy unit. My class, made up of African Americans, Hispanics, and Caucasians had one of the most insightful conversations on race, stereotypes, and perceptions that I’ve had in 20 years. A few years later, I had one student – when the verdict for the Tom Robinson trial was delivered in To Kill a Mockingbird – pull the hood up on his sweatshirt, put his head down on his desk, and bawl his little eyes out at the injustice of it. Broke my heart. And last year when we were at the climax of The Thief of Always. A student – who by no means was a reader – inferred that one of the main characters as going to be released from an evil spell, and, thus, die at long last, she uttered these words, “Oh no! I’m going to cry.” That’s the power of a great story.

In terms of culture, at this stage, I’ve worked hard to make the soil fertile. Now I’ve added the seeds and conditioned them to make the most out of the soil they’re stuck in.

Teaching Thought #108 - Irrigate your classroom culture

Add water to your classroom culture.

Cultivate your classroom culture. This podcast takes a very interesting look at culture.

Five Keys to Sustaining and Developing Culture – Entreleadership podcast

What are the things that are tangible or you can measure to show great culture?

Element #3 – Water – This involves giving your students what they need to grow. This is clear goals and objectives. Are students clear on the learning targets? Do they see how it fits into the larger picture? What is the goal? How do they know if they’re meeting the learning target? What do you do when they meet the target? What do you do if they miss?

I need work here. Not going to lie. I have my learning targets posted. I know how the whole plan all fits together. I just need to do a better job of making students see how every part of our lesson ties back to the learning target. Then I need to do a far better job of illustrating how each learning target fits into the overall unit.

I think of it like this – you’ve got tactical vs. strategic. Tactical is what I’m great at. The day in and day out ‘stuff’ we do in class: dreaming up creative assignments, helping kids individually, leveraging technology, creating engaging lessons . . . I call this ‘hand to hand combat,’ to use another analogy. The problem with this is that I’m too busy duking it out on a daily basis that I lose sight of the overall strategy. If I could rise about the tactical, ground-level view and see the larger picture, I may realize I don’t need to spend three days working on one key concept because I cover it in another upcoming unit, so I could just take three steps to the left and avoid a major obstacle.

And this is what wears on students too when it comes to the culture in my room.

Teaching Thought #109 - Use Sunlight to Foster Culture

This one is a must: Use plenty of sun on your classroom culture.

Cultivate your classroom culture. This podcast takes a very interesting look at culture.

Five Keys to Sustaining and Developing Culture – Entreleadership podcast

What are the things that are tangible or you can measure to show great culture?

Element #4 – Sun – We crave validation and significance. How do you celebrate your team or your class? This is our job as teachers. This involves getting to know your students individually and to show you care. This is where I use cell phones and social media to connect and inspire kids. I can offer praise and encouragement so easily with just a text or Snap. I can take a picture of a student presenting to the class or take a picture of their score on a paper and send it to their parents raving about them. That does more for validation and significance than any conference could.

Teaching Thought #110 - Finally - and this is the most important one for classroom culture - keep the weeds out as best you can.

Finally, weed your classroom culture relentlessly.

Cultivate your classroom culture. This podcast takes a very interesting look at culture.

Five Keys to Sustaining and Developing Culture – Entreleadership podcast

What are the things that are tangible or you can measure to show great culture?

Element #5 – Keeping out the weeds – What do weeds do? Well, to keep up our analogy here, weeds have roots that grow and suck up the nutrients that should be going to the crop. They also grow up more aggressively with broader leaves that block out the sun. If you don’t address the weeds, they will win.

What are the weeds in classroom? Drama. Gossip. Unclear lessons and feedback. Disgruntled students. Anger and sarcasm from the teacher.

Have a clear vision. Grant grace. If I screw up, I let kids know. If I’m pouring it on too much, I’ll communicate with the class and see where they’re at. If they have a Pre-Calc test and it’s Sno-fest and they have three games that week, it might be a good idea to dial back some of the work or give more class time to work on it.

If I do this, the kids will grant me grace.

If I’m just mean, belittle them, and anger them, then no matter how effective my lessons are, they’re going to dislike me and my class. It’s an absolute no win situation.

Communicate your enjoyment and love to your students and start weeding the crop.

This story illustrates what I love about teaching the most: "When we trust our students, empower them to take charge of their learning, and offer the necessary guidance, they will astound us."

Now, Josh, the author, also notes the importance of failure, not just in his own career as a teacher but also in the lives of his students. As he notes - "If you're not willing to fail, your chances of success are severely diminished."

Giving students the safe space to try new things and fail - and here is the most important part - to be there to offer strategies to help them recover - is perhaps what I love most about teaching.

Sarah Lewis is amazing. Her book, The Rise, is one of my favorites. One thing that Dr. Lewis talks about so much is the "gift" of failure. I love that idea.

She talks about the origins of 'failure' as we view it, especially in America today. Every person she talked to in writing her book, spoke on how important failure was to their rise, breakthroughs, and, ultimately, success. In the podcast she mentions how it was relatively recently when "failure" shifted from the banking world to apply to human endeavors.

So much of what Brown and Lewis talks about reminds me of on of Seth Godin's mantras: Fail and fail fast. Who fails the most wins. Every failure not only teaches you so much, but it gets you closer and closer to a breakthrough. String enough of them together, and you get success.

And if you worry about failing, or, at the very least struggling, remember this: Dr. Martin Luther King earned some of his worst grades (C's) in college in public speaking. Yet he would go on to be maybe the greatest American public speaker!

Listening to Brene Brown's podcast with Sarah Lewis reminded me of how amazing Lewis' TED Talk is. So here it is. Give this a listen or two or three. It's deep but so worth it.

As a teacher and coach, I love Lewis' take on failure and success, especially this line about the vital difference between success (which is fine) and mastery (which is true excellence). Lewis is talking about watching a female archery team and their exhaustive, three hour practice. At the conclusion of it, Lewis realizes, "Success is hitting that ten ring, but mastery means knowing that it means nothing if you can't do it again and again."

Too often we celebrate the one-hit wonder or the overnight success. We should be celebrating the slow and steady rise to mastery instead.

Twitter is the best PD I've ever had. I learn more in half an hour on Twitter than I did in my first decade of school sponsored PD.

In what other ways can students demonstrate their knowledge? I've written about this before in terms of having students do 'one-pagers.' But what if you want students to do a deeper dive and demonstrate more knowldgee?

A couple sites I've found that are useful for this are Piktochart (I love it for infographs), Wakelet (a great tool to compile sources and then evaluate them), Loom (great for screencasting), and, of course, Smore (great for newsletters).

My sister sent me this last week. This speaks to a core belief of mine - sometimes 'school' is its own worst enemy. The very system designed to create curious, passionate, life long learners sometimes conditions kids to be cogs in order to keep their precious little 4.0 GPAs or we don't value the areas they are talented in, and kids leave school not realizing how truly gifted they are.

#3, #4, #5, and #7 speak to me the most. How about for you?

I am married to the most amazing person in the world, Kristie. It was love at first sight. At least for me. And it still is.

We have four wonderful children, Casey, Koko, Kenzie, and Cash. And now we have been blessed with five grandchildren!

I also happen to have the greatest job in the world: teaching English to high school students.

I am in my 23rd year of teaching at Lincoln High School. I graduated from Lafayette High School in Red Lake Falls in 1992. I decided to enter the field of education because of two amazing teachers, Mr. Mueller, my fourth and sixth grade elementary school teacher and assistant baseball coach, and Mrs. Christianson, my 9th grade English teacher.

I attended Northland Community College, and had my life changed by the amazing Dr. Diane Drake. Then I transferred to Bemidji State University in 1995. There I had amazing professors who further inspired me to teach English (Dr. Helen Bonner, Dr. Mark Christensen, Susan Hauser, and Gerry Schnabel). I graduated with my BS in English Education in 1997.

I student taught with the wonderful Lisa Semanko and then began teaching full-time at LHS in 1998.

I took a year's leave of absence in 2001-02 to return to BSU for my MA in English. There I had the privilege to teach and work closely with my greatest mentor, Dr. Mark Christensen. I earned my MA in English in 2006 and was honored with "Thesis of the Year" for my creative non-fiction, braided, multi-genre memoir, "Meeting Myrtle: A Biography."

In 2013, thanks to my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Jodi Holen, I was offered an adjunct teaching position fall semester at the University of North Dakota. Tuesday nights I teach Intro to Education: Teaching and Learning 250 from 5-8. Those three hours fly by in about ten minutes.

Then in 2016 I was blessed to win a WEM award (thanks to a nomination from a former student (and now an elementary school teacher), Ciera Mooney).

In 2017 I became part of the #pineconepd podcast club along with Brian Loe, Jeff Mumm, Kelsey Johnson, Kelly Weets, Josh Watne, Tevia Strand, Megan Vigen, Mariah Hruby, Laura Brickson, Loren Leake, Katie Hahn, Melora Burgee, and new members all the time. This has been one of the best forms of PD I've ever been a part of. They make me a better teacher every time we meet. Please think about joining us in the summer at the Pine Cone Pub from 6:30 - until we've solved all the world's problems. For that evening anyway.

Thanks to the inspiration of Shane Zutz (our former principal) I devised this as a way to distribute my Teaching Thoughts and add more content to, hopefully, help out and inspire others.

Email: kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org
Website: http://teacherscribe.blogspot.com
Location: 101 South Knight Aver Thief River Falls MN 56701
Phone: 218-686-7395
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Twitter: @teacherscribe