Watch what the good players do.

My freshman year at Port Angeles High School (go Roughriders!) my dad and I finally convinced my mom to let me play football. I had the gear, I formed my mouth-guard, I looked the role. And I ran. I ran slants, and fades, and I ran out and ups, and posts. I ran as hard as I could and I caught all that I could. I was finally a football player!

After a few days of practice, Coach Floreshinger called to me, "Dynamo! (that was my nickname, meant I was amazing) Come here!"

I sprinted over the sidelines, eyes wide open, ready for praise.

"I want you to stand next to me for a bit and watch what the good players do."

It took a couple of minutes to sink in. But my 14-yr old brain finally saw the scene: I was standing on the sideline watching the good players.

Ouch.

Even though I lost my battle to fight back the tears, WHAT HAPPENED NEXT MADE ME BETTER.
Flor pointed out how one player swam the defender to create distance between them. I watched another run a route, use his head to mislead the defense, and get inside of the defender. Granted, this was a bunch of freshman, but they were still better than me. I had a lot I could learn from them. I just had to stop spinning my wheels and working so hard, focused on my own two feet.

And I needed some timely individualized feedback. It took 10 minutes, it hurt for a bit (still smarts, 26 years later) and I got better. That day.

You don't know what you're doing wrong until someone points it out. And not just says, "Hey, you're doing it wrong." They show you what you're doing wrong (as a teacher: video recording of you teaching, student assessment data, number of office referrals, student feedback to you, etc.) and they show you what the right way or better way looks like (peer observations, modeling in your classroom, training on intentional grouping and discussion techniques, teaching framework rubrics).

My last post talked about allowing people to problem solve. But if they don't know there is a problem, they're just doing the best they know how, as fast as they can. But with little results. And a lot of frustration.

Problem-solving is chemically addictive. Like drugs.

Remember those anti-drug commercials? This is your brain (egg). This is your brain on drugs (crack into sizzling frying pan.) Any questions?

Short, visual, simple.

Here's one for you:

This is your brain (growth of neural networks) when someone solves the problem for you:

This is your brain (neural network growth) when someone allowed you to problem-solve and innovate:

Any questions? 

When you successfully complete a task, you are rewarded by your brain. It releases dopamine. Problem solving recruits pleasure pathways in your brain. A variety of addictive drugs increase dopamine neuronal activity. Successful problem-solving can become addictive. 

How often do you problem-solve for your students? Your teachers? When someone comes to you with a problem, do they leave with the first neural growth picture or the second? What impact does your instruction or professional development have if you're just throwing information at them? 

**Thanks to Mari Fedrow from Cognitive Solutions for visual and insight. 

Acquiring a new language

We acquire language only one way: when we understand the messages. 

Great little video here: http://youtu.be/VjAHPl1ACmQ

When my older sons were freshman (in a different district) they spent a whole year memorizing and conjugating verbs. 

Not good instruction. 

Translating words does not cognitively improve a student. It does not create new neurons. Experiencing a language (or any academic concept), creating experiences related to that word, skill, concept, actually creates new neurons, increases cognitive capacity in students. 

Celebrating student and staff success publicly

This was in the hallway @pascohighschool. Not yet where they want to be but imagine the pride this gives students and staff. And imagine how much harder teachers and students will try because of this success! Success breeds effort breeds success. 

The more mistakes, the better (Golf balls and kids)

Golf balls used to be smooth. But they found that it was their more "beat up" balls (more dings and dents) that went truer and farther. "Dimples on a golf ball create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball's surface. This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball's surface a little farther around the back side of the ball, thereby decreasing the size of the wake." (internet)

The more "mistakes" there seemed to be on the ball, the better the ball became. The longer it flew.

As a parent, as a teacher, as an administrator, are you allowing your child/student to make mistakes? If not, you could be significantly limiting how far they can fly. 

"Mistakes are the stepping stones to success." Abraham Lincoln. (-he ought to know, he made a few. He also did a few things right.) 

Errors are those moments when they tried and failed.
Mistakes are those opportunities where they tried, failed, rose up, and learned from it. You don't need to be there for the during the "tried and failed" portion. You may have to help them rise up. You most certainly will need to guide them through "learned from it." That's why you're there. 

Celebrate their mistakes. Celebrate yours. 

George Couros and I are now best friends!

For some of you, that name doesn't mean much. But many people in education know that George Couros is an education and ed tech leader from Canada who is discussed and shared all over the world through social media. His messages are fantastic, you can even catch him on TedTalks.

I reached out to him yesterday about this blog. I simply asked him for advise on how to increase my audience and reach more people. He replied this morning with a brief email and advice, and also sent me this link. Click here.

All he did was tweet my question: What would you suggest to someone who wants to develop an "audience" for their blog? 

Lazy? Um, yes! (Geez George, I thought we were closer than that!)

Effective? Incredibly!! 

In a matter of seconds, he reached out to the experts all across the world; people who are in our same field who actually read blogs searching for useful information and relevant trends in education. I (he) received 25 responses, each one authentic, honest, and most importantly, 100% accurate. 

We exchanged a few emails after he sent me the link and I realized (you'd have  thought I would have had this epiphany years ago) what a powerful professional development tool social media, specifically Twitter, can be! 

Honestly, Twitter was something I wasn't too excited about. Great for sports updates, but I didn't see the application for me, my teachers, and education. My other best friend, Trevor Greene , tried to get me to see this earlier last year. 

But thanks to my new best Canadian friend, I'm upping my game. 

Blog readers, you'll be seeing more posting from me, keep checking. 

Twitter, get ready for my 144 characters of fury!  @darling_rt

Don't let the corn drop...

Farmers in Agentina couldn't figure out what was going on with their corn crops. They would come out in the mornings to find trails of ears of corn leaving the crops, heading off towards the forest. The corn had obviously been picked and the distance between each plucked ear was almost exactly the same, morning after morning. It appeared someone was picking corn and dropping it in orderly fashion.

After a few nights of hiding out the mystery was solved.

Monkeys. 

Monkeys were picking and stealing corn. The problem was: they couldn't carry very many ears in their small arms. So after holding 4-5 ears of corn, the next one they picked forced them to drop one. As they made their way through the rows of corn, they thought they were working feverishly, picking corn after corn. But in reality, after the first four or five ears everything else fell to waste. 

I think we do this a lot in education. We try so many strategies or programs that are evidence-based, that we see our peers are doing, other districts doing, or that another country is doing. But we don't realize how much we are dropping behind us. 

How do we avoid this? 

Whole system: Have an organization that is goal-centered and has clearly-defined foci. All decisions are centered around this agreed-upon work. 

Building-level: identify the strengths and weaknesses of the building and teams. Exploit the strengths. Hire people who can strengthen the team's weaknesses the minute they show up. Collaborate vertically. Somebody in your building is an expert in your weakness. Exploit them. 

Teacher-level: be really good at a few things and collaborate with others who are really good at the things you're not. If you are always focusing on your weaknesses inevitably your strengths will dim. 

Student-level: assess your load of corn. How much of what you're picking up directly impacts student learning? How much of your work day is centered on student learning? Would a new bulletin board help students or could you spend that 30 minutes intentionally planning deeper level discussion strategies in your math lesson? 

What's my point with all this? Assess the priorities of what you're carrying. Don't drop the corn just because there's more you can pick up. Be intentional and be an expert. Prioritize your district and building initiatives so you have a purpose and direction. This will make it much easier to know where to direct your efforts and resources.