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#DBC50Summer 42/50: All 4s and 5s

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

As a high school student, I was pretty driven. I knew that when (not if) I attended college, I would be the first in my immediate family to attend a four-year university. My dad dropped out of high school (later obtaining his GED) and my mom took some courses at the community college, but went into the workforce and was married soon after high school graduation. Knowing that my family would be stretched financially, I tried to complete as many college courses as possible before attending the university.

Advanced Placement, or AP, courses were becoming a thing of the past in my state when I was in high school. Our state has an articulation agreement between community colleges and public state universities (like University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, etc). There is also an agreement that students currently enrolled in high school can take college courses at no cost through dual enrollment, many even renting textbooks and courses being taught on the high school campus by high school teachers who are qualified by community colleges to teach the course.

Regular courses held a GPA of 4.0 for an “A”, while honors were weighted at 5.0 and AP and college level courses were 6.0. In order to obtain the 6.0 GPA for the Advanced Placement course and college credit, students had to score proficient or above on the AP Exam. Therefore, students were opting to take college courses and show proficiency through classwork rather than through College Board exams. I left high school with something like 24 credit hours for college completed. I never took an AP class.

I had been excited about Book 42 for quite some time! Coming up on its 6 month “publish-iversary” is Andrew Sharos‘s book All 4s and 5s!

all4sand5s

Andrew straight up brings it in this book! There’s another acronym, which I’ve just about come to expect from DBC books! Knowing that Dave Burgess has a (slight) obsession with acronyms, and being that he’s the President of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc – it would make sense that so many of the authors he publishes share an affection for acronyms. In Andrew’s book, SCORES is not just what he’s aiming for, but it’s also his acronym of choice. You’ll have to purchase his book in order to find out what his system is for increasing AP scores as an AP teacher.

And increasing scores, he does!!! To go from a 1.96 class average on the AP US History exam with an 18% pass rate to a class average of 4.45 with 100% pass rate in just 3 years… that’s incredible by any standard with any group of students! His students outscored students with much higher socio-economic status and more privilege than these kids could ever dream.

There was this point in the book that I was just highlighting. I could have highlighted every single word Andrew said. There was so much truth and I couldn’t get enough.

It was just that good. (By the way, this guy knows how to hook the reader… he sucks you into a story, then right before he delivers the punchline, he switches gears to fill you in on a backstory or whatnot. I may have skipped ahead in Chapter 4 just so I could hear what Guadalupe said to him after class the day he got emotional. Yeah, that may have happened.) I love the passion exuded in this book. You can tell that the author is truly passionate about believing all students can succeed. Not only succeed, but succeed at the highest levels in one of the notoriously toughest exams available to them.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is a reminder that we are the adults in the situation. This doesn’t always mean that we’ll have it all together, but that we are the grounding force in the classroom. This isn’t a responsibility to take lightly.

Throughout the book, Andrew talks about the culture of his classroom being “us against the test”. He speaks to the stress of taking these advanced courses and the sense of community that can be created within these students. In a survey given to my students at the end of last year, the word “stressed” or some variation was noted 15 times by 14 different students. Middle school students who are stressed about the workload they endure.

Teaching at a middle school, we don’t offer AP courses. However, we do offer a “younger cousin” (if you will) by offering high school courses while in middle school. The middle school I serve offers the opportunity for 8th grade students to take Math 1, English 1, Earth & Environmental Science, and World History. These are all 9th grade courses. These students are still responsible for learning the content and showing mastery on the 8th grade work as well. This is an incredible opportunity for these students (many who which elect to take all four advanced courses) because this translates to a semester of college courses for free through dual-enrollment on the back end!

Like Andrew says in All 4s and 5s, “AP Students are often among the most stressed out in the entire school. They are also the most overcommitted students who rarely turn down an opportunity to play, act, compete, participate, serve, or belong.”

When asked what they wished teachers knew, one student at my school replied: That we (or try/want to) have a life outside of school. Also that we can’t handle so much work at once. Stress, especially at this age, is NOT something easy to cope with. I know from personal experience.

For this reason, I love Andrew’s advice to teachers to be flexible.

Coordinate with teachers of other higher level courses to plan your tests, essays, etc around their syllabi. This is true of all content areas and not just for advanced placement.

I love this thought and believe we should all be participating in cross-curricular planning so we don’t stress students more than necessary. We have to remember that these students aren’t just going home and playing video games all evening. Many of them support their families through working a job, taking care of younger siblings, being the adult in the house for various reasons, and worrying about an essay due in this class and a large exam in another, while a culminating project is due in a third, all within the same day… that kind of stress can be avoided. Yes, they will experience this as they are adults – we all have stress like this. But their brains and emotions are not yet mature enough to handle this. Remember, even at 14, 16, 17, even 18 years old… they’re still kids.

My implementation plan for this book excites me! I used to do more of this as an elementary teacher, but then I had children of my own and wasn’t able to commit to this as much, so I dropped it all together. Now that both of my personal children are in elementary school, I am able to pick it back up and as soon as I saw Andrew Sharos mention it in All 4s and 5s, I knew this was the implementation route I had to go!

Andrew speaks to making “relationship deposits with students in academic and non-academic ways whenever we can.” We can connect with our students…”attending their games, performances, and activities after school or on weekends.” That’s exactly what I plan to do! Some of the greatest looks I’ve ever seen on the faces of my students are when I show up at their games after school. Knowing that I support them both academically and athletically establishes trust that cannot be replicated any other way. Therefore, my plan is to attend at least one game in each athletic season of my middle school students. This will be quite a feat as we have multiple sports at my school – cross-country track, volleyball, soccer, and football are happening now. Then we’ll have basketball and wrestling, swimming and golf, tennis, softball, baseball, and track and field. I think that’s all of our teams – that’s quite a bit in middle school, right? I’m so excited to cheer my students on as they take the field (court, diamond, etc) this year! Having my own daughters there and knowing that they will be yelling their support for their educational brothers and sisters (because they’re all “my kids”) makes it all the more meaningful for me, too! I can’t wait to see the dividends this pays throughout the year!

All 4s and 5s is definitely a book for planning a successful AP program in your school, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a book for any educator who wants to see the best from every student. It’s a book for educators who believe that every student can be successful. I believe any school with accelerated classes, academically/intellectually gifted, etc programs would benefit from this book, as well as classroom teachers who refuse to “teach to the middle”. I am a firm believer that if you teach all students with high expectations, they will eventually rise to those expectations. I’m excited to see the impact of Andrew’s book as it continues to make its way across the country!  I highly recommend you go grab a copy – don’t let the “AP” on the front deter you!

You can follow along with Andrew on twitter at @AndrewSharosAP and the book at @All4sand5s. Ideas are tweeted to #APTeach. I especially love the pictures of the signs in the yards of students. You can see the pride on their teachers and parents faces as well! It’s truly a team effort! There is also a chat you can join on the first Wednesday of each month at 9:00 pm EST. Use that #APTeach hashtag on Twitter to join! Be sure to check out Andrew’s website here. Vicki (@coolcatteacher) Davis interviews Andrew on her 10-Minute Teacher Podcast here. You can also search for #LeydenPride and see the incredible stuff this school and district are doing in Illinois! As always, you can join the fun (or start the fun) on the flipgrid copiloted by Andrea Paulakovich and me. Andrea sent me a DM a few days after #DBC50Summer started and she was eager to begin her own journey with the addition of Flipgrid. I was so blown away that she’d share this experience with me and I’m honored to copilot the flipgrid that was her genius idea! Use this space for global collaborative reflections on all DBC, Inc books!

*Fun story: I just realized that Andrew is in the same district as a fellow I met in 2015 named Jason Markey. Jason came to NCDLCN to present about Empowering Students and the power of a hashtag! Such a small, small world! Jason likely doesn’t remember me, but I was so inspired by the discussion that day that I immediately wanted to create a blog and write every day for 180 days and create a school and/or district hashtag. We did eventually create a school Twitter account at the elementary school I served at the time and our district has a hashtag that is used to share the awesome in our district. What a small world!

I highly enjoyed book 42. You may be wondering if I’ve forgotten the secret I was going to share in the last ten blogs. I’ve not forgotten. I’m just not ready to share it. Soon though, soon. Book 43 is up and I’m thrilled to share Shake Up Learning by Kasey Bell!

#DBC50Summer 41/50: Be The One For Kids

/ Alicia Ray / 4 Comments

Today I was able to tell a student “Yes, I can sponsor the up-cycling club you want to start.” I was able to connect another of our students who needed support with a like-minded teen on the other side of the country. I was able to tell a new student who was visibly distressed about something going on at home that I would always be there to be a listening ear whenever she was ready to talk because I noticed something was off in her demeanor in our media class. A student in In-School Suspension (ISS) had his hood over his head with an obvious chip on his shoulder. After a short chat and telling him I believed he could do better, the hood was off and his entire body language changed. A new teacher came to ask me about two young men who got into a scuffle in her classroom and I had the privilege of changing her mind about the two, as she was obviously frustrated with their actions. She’s planning to take a closer look into the backstory and what circumstances led to this unforeseen hostility in the boys when they return to school.

Today was a good day. Today I feel like I did some good in my little part of the world. Not every day is like today… but today was a good day. And I’m going to celebrate it. What allowed me to go from the crazy Chromebook lady from a few days ago in The Principled Principal by Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell blog to this? I was in the middle of reading the 41st book published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc which reminded me to Be The One For Kids! Ryan Sheehy shares how to be the one for kids in relation to culture, creativity, empowerment, and continued learning.

This book was the get-up-and-go that I needed to kick the year off right! You can feel Ryan’s passion radiating from the words on the page. In two-three page mini-chapters, Ryan challenges us to be the one for kids in various ways. Some of my favorites were:

Be The One Who Knows Kids’ Stories

Be The One Who Show Kids How To Have Fun

Be The One Who Puts A Smile on Someone’s Face

Be The One Who Tells Your School’s Story

Be The One Who Stays Positive

Be The One Who Teaches Kids It’s Okay To Fail

Be The One Who Loves The Job

Be The One Who Changes The Game

Each of these challenges encouraged me and spoke to my heart! In fact, just rereading the titles gets me pumped all over again! I was about 1/3 of the way through the book this morning and just finished the book. I am motivated to get back to work tomorrow and continue spreading positivity! Ryan says to “Focus on the good and spread it like wildfire.”

I’m looking forward to continuing that tomorrow, and the next day, and the next…

This book wasn’t without some punches to the gut, though! Ryan speaks to being balanced. He tells a story of when he was interviewing for a position and told them that if they wanted someone to be there in the evenings, they needed to find someone else because he was going to be home with his family (paraphrasing his words, of course). He also speaks to being organized and flexible. At this moment, I am poorly organized at work, and at home. There are stacks of bills, papers, books, Lego bricks, etc piled up on nearly every surface I see from here. I know a big portion of my stress can be attributed to the mess around me. I function much better when I am organized. The disorganization is also a sign of the lack of balance in my life at this point. It seems like I never slowed down this summer for the annual “get my life back in order before school starts” house cleaning party. You educators know exactly which one I’m referring to!

With these two hitting me the hardest while reading, I have no choice but to make these my implementation plan! It was a fairly easy decision. Next week I will be shadowing students and cannot wait to spend a few days in the life of a middle school student! I will choose students purposefully with the goal of being in every classroom and shadowing a variety of skill sets. This gives me time to get organized again at work as well. I will not have classes to plan for, so I can spend my afternoons finishing up many of the projects I have floating around the media center and in my Cloud.

I will be using Google Keep to create a checklist of the things I need to accomplish by the end of the month to be sure I am organizing my time and efforts in the most beneficial manner. Creating checklists has always proven to be of benefit to me, so I’m excited to use Google Keep so I can color-code my checklists and organize as needed. (I’m also planning to share Google Keep with my students as they do not have planners in 7th and 8th grade to keep up with all work that needs to be completed. Some students will use this daily while some will never look again. If it positively impacts even just one student, it’s worth sharing with the student body.)

My other implementation feels like I’m cheating because it was booked a long time ago. In July 2017 when the new itineraries for Fall 2018 came out, my husband and I booked a Disney Cruise for our family. We kept this a secret for almost a year. We’ve been saving since our last Disney Cruise (multiple years ago) and despite purchasing a new home and more medical bills than we ever expected, we were able to book this cruise for November 2018. We will be enjoying all the magic Disney has to offer on our 7-night adventure. Because we booked early (and I scoured the Disney Moms website) we were able to book a massive balcony (about three times the size of the oversized verandah we had on our last cruise) and just booked a few excursions while in the Caribbean. This is going to be my balance time. I am very much looking forward to turning off all devices and disappearing for a week, enjoying my family and spending some much-needed time away with them. My daughters certainly get the worst of me. By the time we get home, I am exhausted and the last thing I want is more questions and silliness. I certainly don’t want to do homework and review sight words or argue about whether the reading assignment is completed. I am excited to give them the BEST of me while we’re gone. We will have fun, relax, and they will get my undivided attention and I am so excited to spend this time creating memories with them!

Be The One For Kids is an extraordinary book! It is inspirational and makes you want to do all you can to reach those kids that feel unreachable. I love Ryan’s passion and energy and I can’t wait to meet him one day! Every Wednesday night at 8:45 pm EST, Ryan hosts a fast and furious fifteen minute chat on each chapter of his book (currently on chapter 17 if you want to join tomorrow night)! You can join these chats (and follow along with educators every day of the week) by using the hashtag #BeTheOne. These chats are inspirational and allow you time to reflect on how to better serve your students. You don’t have to have read the book to be successful in the chat! Ryan hosts a fantastic website that you can access here.

Ryan supports foster and homeless youth through the proceeds of t-shirt sales. (Another example of how fabulous the DBC, Inc authors are as humans!) You can order your t-shirt here (they run for a limited time each month). I definitely recommend the tahiti blue long-sleeved t-shirt with a hood. It’s SUPER soft!

Ryan was a guest on multiple podcasts including the Teach Me, Teacher podcast (access parts one and two) and the Pondering Education podcast. He also chats with Teach Better Talk and #ShareMOEdu. He is constantly sharing amazing stuff on Twitter, so I’d definitely be sure to follow him at @sheehyrw! Definitely grab yourself a copy of his book Be The One for Kids! You won’t regret a second of reading his passionate words. His enthusiasm is contagious! Check out the flipgrid, a collaborative space for global reflections on each DBC, Inc book and share your thoughts on Be the One for Kids! I am ever-so-grateful that Andrea Paulakovich messaged me just a few days after my beginning #DBC50Summer and jumped on board with me! Soon after her first post, she suggested copiloting this amazing flipgrid space! Thank you for letting me be part of this, Andrea!

Book 42 is a book I had never heard of before my research in #DBC50Summer. It would make sense that I’d never heard of it though because it’s about Advanced Placement (AP) classes and my experience is at the elementary and just recently the middle school levels. I’m looking forward to reading this one through the eyes of a non-AP teacher and seeing what I can apply to my students in middle school. Also – the author, Andrew Sharos, is a HUGE inspiration to me on Twitter (I adore him) and I’m thrilled to finally reach his book! We’ve been counting it down for a while, and it’s finally time to take on All 4s and 5s!

 

#DBC50Summer Book 31-40 Recap

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

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I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! Here we are – entering the final stretch for #DBC50Summer with books 41-50. The official end of summer is on September 22 at 9:54 pm EST. Are you thinking there’s no way I can do it? Are you thinking that this lady has less than 14 days to read, develop an implementation, and blog 10 more books? I have a secret! You’ll have to check out the next ten blog posts to find out my secret(s)!

This journey was born out of creative alchemy. I had probably half of the books published by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc on a shelf and came home with five more after meeting Dave in April. I thought my husband would flip his lid when I came home with five more books to essentially fill space on a shelf. I’d wanted to read them, but never had the opportunity. There was always something else to do. I also wanted to get back into blogging. I remembered the growth I experienced the summer that I did the EdTechSummer series on my blog. It reframed my mindset and provided an opportunity to be intentional about viewing “outside” technology as tools for use “inside” of education. Sharing it allowed me to expand my PLN that summer as well. Finally, I desperately wanted new ideas for the new school year. After my students shared their hearts in a survey at the end of the year, I realized that I wasn’t doing all I could to make school the very best experience they could ask for. New ideas would motivate, inspire, and excite me as I prepared for 2018-2019 with them. Put those three things in a cauldron and stir it up… you have the ambitious plan for #DBC50Summer – reading, choosing at least one thing to implement, and blogging reflections about each book. See Summer Recap 1 on books 1-10 here and Summer Recap 2 on books 11-20 by clicking here. Summer Recap 3 on books 21-30 can be found here.

Since I’ve been back at work several have asked why I did this journey with #DBC50Summer. I’ve been given “the alien look” from Kids Deserve It. They want to know why I put so much time into it? “What’s in it for you,” they’d ask.

Seriously? What’s in it for me? It just sounds so selfish. Yes, #DBC50Summer was my idea (an insanely crazy one, but mine nonetheless). But it’s not about me. This has never been about me! This has been about my students, my staff, my school by making myself the best educator I can for them! It’s been about knowing there’s a lifeline out there and grabbing hold with all my might. It’s been about relationships. It’s been about bettering teaching practices. It’s been about inspiration and motivation. It’s been about making 2018-2019 the very best school year I possibly can for those around me. It’s not about me. It’s about them. Dave Burgess has his six words that drive him crazy… I guess I have my own version now… five little words.

What’s

In

It

For

Me?

Well… if you really want to know – here’s what was in it “for me” as they say.

*#DBC50Summer is in order of release dates according to authors, blogs, and tweets. This was intentional so I didn’t just grab the books I was interested in reading first and neglect the others. There have been so many books that surprised me – books I probably wouldn’t have read due to content that was seemingly irrelevant to my current position. Now I can look back on the past 40 books and say that they were all relevant.*

31 – Ditch That Homework by Matt Miller & Alice Keeler: Giving students an authentic audience pulls them deeper into the learning. Homework isn’t a bad thing if it’s relevant to the student. It’s not about the philosophy of homework, but the type of homework given. If my homework after reading these books was to fill out a worksheet sharing the title, author, theme, conflict, setting, etc, I would have never even started. I have an authentic audience and am making the content relevant to my world.

32 – The Four O’Clock Faculty by Rich Czyz: Giving teachers opportunity to have choice and voice in their professional development makes a world of difference in attitude and experience for adults, just as giving students choice and voice does the same. Reflecting on the best professional development I’ve had, it’s been voluntary, collaborative, relevant, and has had some sort of follow-up. This book gives oodles of examples to make PD better for educators by taking charge of your own learning.

33 – Culturize by Jimmy Casas: This entire book was an eye-opener. It tore me apart, then put me back together. It’s a must-read for every educator. It makes us take responsibility on the individual level for the culture of our schools. Rather than complaining about our culture, if we start with the “(wo)man in the mirror,” we can make effective change toward a positive environment for students and staff alike.

34 – Code Breaker by Brian Aspinall: I am fortunate to be able to provide my students and teachers with incredible opportunities to develop coding skills through robotics, computer science discoveries, and MinecraftEdu. We have evolved way beyond “Hour of Code” and are starting to work toward coding being about the critical thinking and problem solving. This book gave me multiple ideas for lessons as I work with teachers to create cross-curricular project-based learning opportunities for students.

35 – The Wild Card by Wade and Hope King: Every student has been dealt a different hand in the cards of life. How can we be that wild card for them to make their hand better, not worse? How can we give them the extra boost to get to the next round? There are no excuses for mediocrity. I should want to go all out for my students, doing everything I can to make middle school the best years they’ve ever had. What advantage can I give each student and teacher I work with?

36 – Stories from Webb by Todd Nesloney: So I’m going to write a book. This book is about my epic fails in teaching – from fails with parents, other teachers, administrators, and my students. We all know that hIndsight is 20/20, but what should I do differently next time? What could other teachers learn from my failures? What could they identify with and realize someone else has done something similar? Todd and his teachers, parents, wife, and other stakeholders inspired me with their stories, and I look forward to writing mine. It may never see the light of day in its entirety, only living on my Google Drive. Some of it will likely work its way into a new blog series though! Stay tuned!

37 – The Principled Principal by Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell: I have to be the calming voice of reason when others are in a frenzy. When people talk to me when they feel as though they are in a hurricane, I should be the eye of the storm, calm and peaceful. Hopefully I can help with whatever is on their mind, but if not, I certainly don’t need to add to the wind and rain, but be their few moments of sunshine. This was one of the unexpected gems of DBC for me. With no desire to be an administrator, I expected to get nothing from this one. Instead, I identified with almost every single chapter in the book! Don’t let “Principal” scare you; it’s about leadership, and if you’re an educator, you’re a leader.

38 – Google Apps for Littles by Christine Pinto and Alice Keeler: If you get nothing more than logistically managing devices from this book, that’s enough! Christine blows my mind with all that her transitional kindergarten students (four and five year olds) can do! This book is about believing in kids. Give them the opportunities to prove they can do something rather than shutting the technological door as they walk up to it. So many excellent strategies and tools in this book, no matter the age of the student!

39 – The Limitless School by Abe Hege and Adam Dovico: These North Carolina boys brought the house down with their book. Removing limitations by breaking down barriers is what Abe and Adam do. They show you how to do it, too! Another must-read for all who want to improve the culture of their school for your students and staff – and let’s face it. We should all want to improve.

40 – The EduProtocol Field Guide by Marlena Hebern and Jon Corippo: I loved my second trip into this book! Listening to my students’ feedback, I knew I needed to revamp some of my media lessons and I’m thrilled to have read this the weekend before having my first media lessons of the year. Overhauling this week’s lessons, with the help of Marlena herself, to include Smart Starts and fast-paced mini-lessons has me enthusiastic about heading back to work tomorrow! It’s a fresh start and an immediate look into things to come for students and staff from my #DBC50Summer journey.

Well… isn’t that interesting? Every single one of those books gave me something to change, do, or continue doing for my students and teachers. What’s in it for me looks pretty good if you’re a teacher or student that I have the privilege of serving, doesn’t it?

If you want to see what’s in it for you by hopping on the #DBC50Summer journey with me, do it! You don’t have to commit to reading the first 50 books published by DBC! You can read just one! Just one book and implement something you learned. Share your reflections, your implementation plan, and then reflect on it upon completion. It’s that easy!

That leads me to two things I need your help with!

A) The flipgrid that Andrea Paulakovich and I are copiloting is silent. When Andrea mentioned this digital space for global collaboration for all DBC books, I was blown away by her creativity! Still am! Would love to have your thoughts added to the flipgrids. We will release the link to the grid itself once we are finished with the books and blogs. (We’ve also got a couple of awesome things in the works so stay tuned for that, too!) For now, you can use my implementation plan which includes the links to individual topics within the flipgrid!

B) Summer is over in less than 2 weeks. I will finish the final 10 books in the first 50 books published by DBC. I have no plans to stop reading, reflecting, and implementing something from DBC books after book 50. There are incredible books waiting to be read and shared after book 50! So how do we rebrand #DBC50Summer? Help me think! Tweet out your ideas for a new hashtag that can remain relevant no matter the season or book number, or add your ideas in the comments below.

When I started this journey in June, I had no idea what it would look like. I figured no one would ever read these posts, and that it would essentially become a notebook of reflections that I could refer back to as needed when supporting teachers and students. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined my summer would turn out the way it has. My PLN is incredible. Absolutely, mind-blowingly (not a word, I know), insanely spectacular! I am beyond thankful for each person who has read even one word, tolerated my incessant tweets (and e-mails for those who are subscribed to receive emails for each new blog), encouraged me, and supported me. You have inspired so much growth through your conversations and kind words and I can never thank you enough. But it’s not time to get sappy yet. This isn’t the acceptance speech, because we’re not finished yet.

Just as the first 40 were, these last 10 are for my students and staff. What’s in it for them?

Ten books, less than 14 days… and I’ve got a secret. Let’s go!