A former teacher is discovered to be living in his car. So his former students raised thousands to help him get back on his feet.

I was obsessed with Hyatt's podcast for a few years. One of the best things I got out of his was his book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Here are the notes I took when reading it -

Get attention, opens the door for influence.

A compelling product (our subjects)

But you need a significant platform - your online presence (social media).

The product (what) and the platform (who)

Blogger

Youtube

Pinterest

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

5 elements for a personal brand

1. Defined audience

2. Clear value proposition (what are you offering them?) - what sets your teaching apart from everyone else? #tlap - my trailer for CC 2

3. A compelling brand slogan (teacherscribe and #livingthedream)

4. Engaging headshot (not the Twitter egg)

5. Graphic components (logo and fonts)

3 insights into branding and marketing

1. Create products that you’d personally use. - model constantly how you use the skills in your classes - What I spend a lot of time doing on social media.
2. Create products that solve problems in unexpected ways - show how what you teach impacts students - this is where Twitter is a life saver for me.
3. Create products that exceed your customer’s expectations. The WOW factor.

* Talk about the boring crap we do for safety training on line. No one enjoys that. We all jus suffer through it. Too many kids, if you ask me, treat our classes just like that.

Week #27 – March 15-19

Teaching Thought #116 - Arguing vs. Questioning

In a podcast featuring the author, Adam Grant, I heard a great quote from Grant. He advised others to “Stop arguing to win and start questioning to learn.”

That stopped me in my tracks. Literally. I was over in the bread aisle at Hugo’s. I had to stop, fish my phone out, and type down that quote and some thoughts on it.

Just watch an interview on a major news network - pick your poison, Fox or CNN - and you’ll see previous little questioning to learn groin on.

But how can we teach our students to adopt this approach? I think we can begin by modeling it ourselves. I am starting with this - instead of just responding with my advice, with my experience, with a reference to the syllabus, I will respond with asking questions first.

For example, I met with a football player interested in rejoining the team. We had a short visit in which I explained the direction of the team, fees, and the summer lifting policy.

The next day, the player emailed me saying he was wondering if he could just lift on his own as he was uncomfortable around others.

Instead of just responding with, “It’s the policy that you have to lift in the LHS weight room,” I asked these questions, “What makes you feel uncomfortable about lifting in the weight room? How can I help you? Are you in a strength training class now? Can you get in before or after school now to lift? How can you practice with your teammates in the fall if you can’t aslo lift with them all summer?”

He responded with two words. “I understand.” Now, he didn’t answer any of my questions, but I sought to at least understand what he is going through. I don’t know if I would have gotten that same response if I would have just said, “It’s the policy. Maybe football isn't’ for you.”

Teaching Thought #117 - “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is . . .

Maybe you should set up a life you don’t need an escape from.”

That’s a quote from one of my all time favorite writers and thinkers: Seth Godin. Now, I’m not implying vacations are bad. I don’t actually focus on that part of the quote.

What intrigues me is the second half of that quote.

Right now, it’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m doing school work (well, sort of school work) for fun. If I was on a vacation right now, I still would be typing up these Teaching Thoughts to try and get them published for Monday. This is just part of life for me. And that’s why I love my job. In that way, I have a life I don’t need (or want) an escape from.

What would it take for you to have a life (or job) that you don’t seek to escape from?

Teaching Thought #118 - How do you Maintain your Enthusiasm

Back to Adam Grant. In the podcast I was listening to, Grant noted that he knew things were going to change when it became clear the shutdown and shelter at home mandates were coming. He knew he had to adapt his work and life to the isolation ahead.

And this is what is so great about Grant - he also knew that he had to keep his same enthusiasm that he had pre-lockdown.

So what did he do? He reached out to Scott Kelly, who once spent 340 days in space. Grant figured if Kelly could survive that kind of isolation, handling the COVID mandates would be simple.

In talking to Kelly, Grant learned that the number one thing that motivated Kelly was that he wanted to return to earth with the same kind of enthusiasm that he had when he left. So all that time in space, he worked and trained to keep his spritis high.

I realized that I’ve failed at this. I don’t have the same enthusiasm for hybrid learning that I do for regular class. In fact, I keep looking forward to the day we will all be in class together again. I’m saving my enthusiasm for that day!

I felt ashamed. I need to bring it even more if I’m to have the same enthusiasm I had pre-COVID to what I’m doing with my hybrid classes tomorrow.

I’m not sure how I’m going to do that yet, given the soul-sucking nature of Zoom, but I’m going to find a way.

How have you maintained your enthusiasm for teaching throughout all of this?

Teaching Thought #119 - Motivation

I watched this TED Talk by Daniel Pink, the author of Drive, a long time ago. After writing the previous Teaching Thought, I searched for it as a reminder on how to find my enthusiasm for teaching.

Pink does a masterful job of exploring motivation, most importantly what works and what doesn’t work to motivate us.

Teaching Thought #120 - Think about a “Challenge Network”

Back one more time to Adam Grant. I know, I’ve written a lot about him recently, but his work is just too good not to dwell on for a few moments.

Grant says that support systems are vital, but so are ‘challenge networks.’ What a challenge network is is simply a group of people - trusted people - who will tell you all the reasons your idea won’t work. It’s not that they want you to fail. It’s simply that they want to make sure you think your idea through fully. It’s their job to poke holes in your plan. It’s the job to dig deep into the flaws that you are too blind to see because the project is your baby. They challenge the status quo, and, most importantly, don’t let you rest on your laurels.

Had Kodak had a challenge network in place, they wouldn’t be a relic anymore. Had Blockbuster had a challenge network, they would have taken their option to buy Netflix far more seriously. The same is true for Barnes and Noble when they had the chance to gobble up Amazon early on.

I think you can see why it’s vital to have a challenge network in place.

Seeing former students in their elements!

I'm a little late to the party with this podcast, but it looks excellent, especially the first few episodes I have checked out. This one resonates deeply with me: "Students Should Share their Processes Not Their Products."

In graduate school studying composition theory, I became obsessed with the writing process. it was then that i began to realize that what really counts is the process, not the finished product.

Why?

Well, anyone can get lucky once and produce a great final product. Second, if you focus just on the product, you don't pay enough attention to the process and you get frustrated and quit or suffer through a crappy final product. Third, how the hell can you grade anyone of their 'process;?

But if you pay attention to what works for you and what helps you arrive at the final products, well that is where the magic happens.

This is where formative assessment is so vital. This is where we can all learn from each other. This is where we get to 'reverse' engineer that final product to see how it all came together.

I saw this best when I was in robotics. There was always that moment on the morning of the tournament when everyone is set up in the back of the auditorium and you walk around and see all the different ways other teams chose to reach the same goal, build a robot that accomplishes a specific task.

What I enjoyed most was seeing how the other teams used their time and tools to create such vastly different products.

I thought, why can't we have things like this in class more often?

Well, this podcast is preaching exactly that. We need to share our processes rather than the final products.

I love that he takes something most of us - well, when we were kids anyway - love to destroy (or, at least pop) and transforms it into art. Innovation at its finest.

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.

Improv Day.

I owe this one to Mrs. Hruby who shared a Tik Tok with me from @the_mr_steiner and his practice of starting a new quarter with an 'improv day.'

Essentially, he says to his class, I have a large assignment that we could do. But instead, why don't we have a discussion day. You guys talk about whatever you want. I listen and guide the conversation.

This gets him great buy in. It engages the class as they get to talk about stuff that matters to them. It doesn't have to be school related, just interest related.

There are some great nuggets in here.

1. Set boundaries - The most successful people say no to almost everything! I know this runs counter to one of my favorite sayings, "Default to yes," but I think you only start saying 'no,' once you've established your success. It's hard to get their if you turn down every opportunity that comes your way.

2. Invest in your personal growth. If you don't focus on getting better, who else is going to make you any better?

3. Steal from the best. How do the best leaders around you lead? Do what they do.

4. Build a positive reputation. It's not who you know. It's who knows you. How do people get to know you? By positively impacting them!

I'm all for holding teachers accountable. I'm all for measuring progress. I am not for sucking the love of learning and school out of our younger students thanks to the obsession and focus on standardized tests.

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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kurt.reynolds.5?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: @teacherscribe