I got blasted by some trolls on social media for posting this as a great example of leadership, but I stand by that comment. We need more of this.

I have written about this book before, but with the winer sports season ready to resume in a few weeks, I thought I'd highlight it again. Of course, Lencioni is talking about more than athletics here, but it translates regardless of who or what your team is.

The key to being an ideal team player? These three traits in various quantities.

Hungry - you have to want to improve, whether that's getting up at 5 in the morning to hit the weights, reading extra books, or writing your Teaching Thoughts at 6 am on a Saturday morning. You have to not just want to get better, you have to hungry to constantly improve your game.

Humble - an underrated aspect. Are you a glory hog? Brown noser? The one who is upset if you don't get the credit? The first one to talk in a meeting? Or do you stand in the back while others get the glory? If the team goes in a different direction other than the one you want, do you bite your tongue and gut it out for the sake of the team, or do you pout or complain every step of the way? This virtue is easy to fake, but not easy to fake for very long.

Smart - This one isn't about IQ. It's all about EQ. If you're on a team and what you're going to say will turn everyone against you, will you recognize this and change your message? Or will you plow ahead and piss off everyone else? Can you read a room and adjust on the fly?

Lencioni illustrates these in a fable. I'm not a huge fan of that style of writing, but this one really hit home for me. I think the most interesting takeaway is that Lencioni notes how everyone has different levels of these. For instance, I think I'm high on the hungry category but I need a lot of work on the humble part.

Ask someone you trust to rate you on each of these. Think of the feedback you'd get and what you could learn. We all can be better teammates, afterall.

Week #14 – December 7-11

Teaching Thought #58 - Things Successful People Don’t Say

This is an interesting blog post.

For the record here are the things successful people don’t say --

1. “I can’t.”

2. “That’s not my job.”

3. “Impossible.”

4. “That’s not fair.”

5. “I had no choice.”

6. “That won’t work.”

7. “I’ll do it later.”

8. “It’s my way or the highway.”

9. “That can’t be done.”

10. “Let’s wait and see.”

11. “It’s not my fault.”

12. “We’ve always done it that way.”

13. “That’s not the way we do it here.”

14. “I don’t need any help.’’

15. “That’s not my problem.”

16. “I’m not good enough.”

How often do we say this? How often do our colleagues say these? Most importantly, how often do our students hear this from their role models?

Teaching Thought #59 - Focus is a Super Power

I am as guilty as the next person. My attention span isn’t what it used to be. I thought I read somewhere how our attention spans are comparable to that of goldfish! What has happened to us?

I was recently listening to a podcast that talked about how in the current world of work, one of the biggest advantages an employee can have is the ability to focus. In fact, the woman being interviewed said at her company, she considers focus the new super power.

I worry about distance learning and its impact on my students and their abilities to focus. When I’m looking at 25 black screens, who knows what they are doing? Yes, I can call on them. Most of the time they are there. But some aren’t. If I call on a student, and they don’t answer, what am I supposed to do? I usually make a small spectacle as I’m waiting for the student. “Hello? Bueller? Hello?” I’ll call, not sure if anyone gets the reference. Then I move on.

What am I supposed to do? I can’t reach through the Zoom and check if they’re actually there. Such is the life of teaching via Zoom.

I even have more than a few students who mysteriously hang on after the Zoom session is ended. Most likely they logged in and then went away. I waited for an extra ten minutes once and the student never came back. Sure, maybe there was an internet issue, but who knows.

My guess is that kids were bored or just logged in and then did something else, which gets me back to my point - focus is a super power.

What are we teaching kids about focus and discipline and attention during distance learning? Can we even do anything about it? At least as teachers?

As a parent, I make sure that Cash and Kenzie are focused on their iPads and not doing something else. I’ve seen images of students sitting on Zooms with their teachers while they are playing video games or even watching movies! If their parents only knew. I mean kids wouldn’t get away with that in class.

So how can we - in a world of distance distraction - help reel kids back in and help them focus?

I don’t have any answers for you. And I’m sure the answers aren’t easy, for as I stated earlier, I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to losing focus.

This isn’t good in a world where if you can keep your focus, it’s now considered a superpower.

I think one way is to praise focus and hard work. I just saw my daughter, Kenzie, struggle with a science project. She had to create a cartesian diver with a pip\pette and a water bottle. For two days she struggled. She forgot to run to FMS to pick up a pipette from her teacher. So she watched a tutorial on how to create her own pipette (she didn’t trust herself to use a lighter in order to melt a straw, and that is how I was dragged into this whole science experiment ordeal). But that didn’t work. So we went to FMS to get a proper pipette. But still, no luck. She tried to weigh the pipette down with different things. No luck. Then she tried different water bottles. Then she watched more tutorials. No luck.

This morning she finally asked me if I had a specific clip (one of those small black binder clips that word great for longer papers) she could use to weigh the pipette down. After some searching we found it. Then she tried it. Success!

The relief and pride on her face were astounding. She was so happy.

This is what we need to praise more. Not the success, but the grit and determination and FOCUS that it took for the better part of three days to finally get her cartesian diver to work.

The great thing about focus is that it’s a transferable skill. It works in sports, whatever line of work you’re in, your relationships, and every aspect of your life. Yet, how often are our students missing out on building up this skill?

Teaching Thought #60 Choose the Growth Option

I heard this phrase in a podcast recently, and it resonated deeply. How do we get our students to choose the growth option? Luckily, I have many students that do take the growth option. I have a few who when I return their themes and give them the option of revising them, I will have a revised essay submitted with a matter of hours.

That’s choosing the growth option.

For my money, it comes down to a few factors -

1. I try to model the growth option every chance I get. Just today I told my CC class that I was up at 5 am writing a sample analytical paragraph and then filming a tutorial via Loom to share with them in class. I could have slept in, but I had extra work to do. Lean into it.

2. I think we have to have high expectations or norms. In other words, “People like us, do things like this.” If you don’t want to read two difficult novels and then write a 12 page research paper, don’t sign up for CC. People like us, do things like this. It’s a mindset and then it becomes a way of seeing the world.

3. Celebrate the effort. Mr. Zutz showed my class a cartoon that had a chicken holding a violin saying, “Can I just skip to the part where I’m awesome.” We need to celebrate all of that work it takes to get to awesome instead of finding a way to skip it or cheat around it. Unfortunately, our culture celebrates the easy way. Look at The Voice or American Idol. Instead of spending a decade grinding away and getting good and paying your dues, these show seek to skip all that and go right to celebrity. Outside of a couple examples (Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, and Kelly Clarkson), this never pans out. Yes, people win The Voice and American Idol every season. Someone has to, but then they fade into obscurity. Seriously, what happened to Maelyn Jarmon, Jordan Smith, Lee DeWyze, or Taylor Hicks? This should make Carol Dweck very happy. We have to celebrate the effort and growth, not the raw talent.

Teaching Thought #61 - What Every English Teaching Thinks When They Read Posts on Social Media

I’ve come up with my own guidelines for posting on social media. This also applies to anyone who wants to respond to my posts.

I don’t think this is asking too much. What happened to all the critical thinking skills we taught these people when they were in school?

1. Stop with the memes. They are either thoughtless or suggest your lack of mental acuity. No real issue of any substance can be solved with an image and a one sentence statement that most likely has never been fact checked.

2. Stop with the Youtube and TikTok sources. That is lazy research. You might as well site a blog. And while we are at it, you can cite news sources but realize the difference between an “opinion” piece and an actual piece of journalism. Yes, many pieces of actual journalism contain biases now, but there are levels of bias that are acceptable and those that are asinine. Also, if you share a news source that uses slang like “lots” and has typos in it, it is not legit. Ditto if you log on to it and the adware attacks your screen like those bots from the Matrix.

3. Please post content that is original. Nothing is more soul sucking than seeing what appears to be a thoughtful post only to get to the end and see “copy and pasted from . . .” That’s plagiarism, and you’d fail any high school English class for that.

4. While we are at it, if you are responding to a post, please do so in a thoughtful manner. Please spend a modicum of time proofreading your comments. Check for complete sentences with correct punctuation and capitalization. Writing is the highest order of thinking. Act like it.

5. When responding, write more than a pithy one sentence retort that states the blatantly obvious. Rule of thumb – if it doesn’t really add to the discussion, defer to using the “like” or “dislike” button.

6. Avoid both being cruel and vulgar. You’re a role model to someone, somewhere. On social media, you’re a digital role model to everyone. Act like it.

Teaching Thought #62 - Maybe all this distance learning really isn’t that bad?

I have been impressed with how motivated Cash (fourth grade) and Kenzie (sixth grade) have been since we flipped to distance learning.

In fact, Kenzie has stated yet again today that she actually enjoys distance learning more. I’m a bit shocked by this. I know she misses seeing her friends and misses basketball, but it’s been wonderful seeing her fall in love with her subjects in ways that she never would have in the traditional classroom. As her teachers at FMS set up her Zoom classes now, they leave enough freedom and encouragement for her that she is free to seek out and explore new knowledge. In fact, every time I walk by her room, I see her tinkering with some project for science or researching a topic for history. She is just nerdy enough to choose the growth option and delve in to topics all on her own.

As for Cash, I was amazed today when he set his own timer to be sure to log on to the Zoom for robotics. He forgot last week (as did his father), so he missed it. This time, though, he set his own timer so he wouldn't forget. Moreover, when I checked on him, he said it was just him and the robotics mentor, Mr. Faye, together on the Zoom. What an amazing skill he is learning. When I was in fourth grade, I’d never have been comfortable with a strange adult, even if it was not in person. But Cash handled it very well.

Even now as I finish this week’s teaching thoughts, I can hear them both upstairs FaceTiming with their niece in South Dakota as they play some Roblox game (“Among Us” I think) together. They have talked more with their niece in the past week than they have talked to her in her life. Why? Because she is lonely because of distance learning and wants to reach out. I love it.

What are some ways you are seeing your kids blossom under distance learning?

There is just something wonderful about running into students outside of school. Just tonight, Kristie and I ordered from The Wired Bean. Sure enough, I had a student working there who smiled (or at least I think she smiled behind her mask) and said hello as she handed me our food.

The same thing happened when I picked up food from Papa Murphy's last week.

I'm reminded of the fair two years ago. Kristie and I took the kids there one early evening. As we walked around, I kept having former students come up and tell me about how their summers were going and to see what I had been up to.

"I've never seen so many kids come up to you," Kristie said.

"You're right. And they are all my Remedial Reading students too. I thought those guys hated me! I put them through the ringer. We read five novels and they didn't think they'd even make it through one!"

"Well," Kristie said, "I can tell they care."

And that is about as good as it gets if you're a teacher.

Ever since I saw him and met him at TIES in 2013, I've been inspired by Goerge Couros. In fact, he spoke at our district a number of years ago.

He is one of the best speakers/presenters I've ever seen in my life (second only to Dave Burgess), and his messages are as relevant as ever due to distance learning now, but the education world is slow to adapt. I know our administrative team met with him, but as a teacher, I've seen very little trickle down to actual classroom practices.

This podcast focuses on Four Ways We can Share Our Stories to Drive Innovation. I love this concept as it ties in to one of the universal truths about education (and one I stole from my time in the Red River Valley Writing Project): Teachers learn best from other teachers.

What if instead of whatever it is that the state mandates we have to do for our teacher evaluations (that is another universal truth about education - those evaluations (the ones where I have to ask a peer to observe me) have netter me absolutely zero in terms of professional growth and development), we were given some time (two school days) to craft our own digital portfolios that chronicle the story of our year in one of our classes? Then we met either in k-12 groups or in departments and shared those?

This is one of my favorite videos and not because it deals with Star Wars. I love the sacrifice the mother goes through to provide her son with an amazing Christmas. As we head toward the holiday season, just remember, not all students have parents who would do this for them. Thus, this time of year is difficult for many of our students - and that was in the best of times when you could see them every single day. It has to be even more difficult now, and there is, I'm afraid, precious little we can do for them since we are distance for them other than be kind and patient with them.

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.

Kenzie showed me something Mr. Brandt was doing on his Zoom that she thought was so cool. Mr. Brandt set up a Google Slide that every student could see as they joined the Zoom. The Google Slide had his learning targets, reminders of what was due, reminders of what was covered yesterday, a countdown clock to when class would officially start, and he was evening playing music.

I have to steal this, I thought. And I have.

Turns out Lora Rantanen presented to the FMS staff on how to set these up as free 'waiting rooms' for students at the start of their Zoom sessions. I think it's brilliant.

I like this parent's take on how distance learning has positively impacted her children in terms of giving them new found freedom to explore hobbies and passions they never would have had time for with the regular conveyer belt of school, activities, and sports.

As I see parents call for a return to sports, I wonder how much is really for their athletes and how much, selfishly, is for the adult?

I don't know about you, but I can never have enough formative assessment tools.

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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