Five Firsts in my Fifth Year

I've never been someone that's had a five-year plan. That just... doesn't give you the chance to be flexible. 

-Eric Bana

It's the first Monday of my summer vacation and I just returned from my first morning run. In a few hours, I'll be seeing my first (of many, thanks to MoviePass) movie of the summer - Incredibles II. Due to my school district moving to a pre-Labor day start for the 2018-2019 school year, this summer is rather short. This year marked my fifth year as a fourth grade teacher. While five years seems like a really long time and doesn't leave much room for "new," I realized that there were five major "firsts" this year. Since I hate blogs that are just personal reflections, I'll also be sharing how these can impact your classroom.

It was my first year in yet another new classroom

First day selfie on top...
Final day on the bottom

For those of you playing the home game, this year marked my third classroom in five years. My first move was due to relocating in Virginia, and this one was so I could be closer to home. I have to say, a ten-minute commute (compared to my previous 45-90 minutes) is a beautiful thing. 

A new classroom means a new set up, different expectations, and more. I can definitely say that this school was the best fit for me. My students and team were great (I'll expand on these both more later) and my administration was incredible.

How this can impact your classroom

Don't be afraid to try for a new position. Whatever your reason, be it closer to home, a desired change in vision, or anything else, this shift could be a wonderful thing for you. That being said, I do not necessarily recommend moving classrooms every year, though lugging around so many boxes is a great workout. 

It was my first year without 1:1 Chromebooks

The only real "downside" to my new classroom was that I was not permitted to use my DonorsChoose class set of Chromebooks, due to district policies. While I totally get the rationale (devices not owned/managed by districts can become a nightmare), it definitely was a big shift in my instructional practice. I had to share a cart of Windows laptops with another teacher. 

However, around the holidays, I realized this ended up being a good thing. It forced me to switch up some lessons, explicitly teach how to effectively collaborate with partners while using devices, and refine my whole group/small group skills.  

How this can impact your classroom

Technology is the tool, not the lone savior. Do not become too reliant on computers, since you never know when they might go away. Focus on the teaching and use technology to augment the lessons, but never make it the only way you instruct.

It was my first year of having nicknames for every student

Nicknames have been a hallmark of my teaching since I began way back in 2013. It's always fun to say, "Youngblood, your reading teacher is here" and watch the shocked look on her face. However, I've never had a year where all my students have had nicknames. In the past, some students just straight up didn't want them, and in some cases, I couldn't find a organic fit. Nothing is worse than forcing a nickname.

This year, all 25 of my students had nicknames, from the reasonable "Tiny" for the smallest student in the room to the ironic "Trouble Family: Trouble, Double Trouble, Triple Trouble, and Quad Trouble" (the four quietest girls in the room) to the completely random "Jim Boy" for a student whose name was not Jim nor even James. This is a small thing, but helped create a sense of community and belonging in the classroom. Even my "Nemesis" loved her nickname and was in tears at the end of the year when it was all over. 

How this can impact your classroom

It doesn't have to be nicknames, but do something that make your students feel special. There are a billion viral videos of personal handshakes for each students, or create something that is you. No matter what - students need to feel welcome and embraced in your classroom. It doesn't have to be a major endeavor, but it has to be noticed by the students. You can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn from you.

It was my first year that I got along personally and professionally with ALL members of my team

Super teachers!

This isn't to say I actively disliked past teams. I still keep in touch with many old colleagues, but this is the first year that I felt like all members of my team let me do things "The Justin Way", without pushing their ideas onto me. (The Justin Way is hard to accurately describe, and I have been trying for three years on this blog to define it, to no avail.) We shared ideas and helped each other grow, but in a way in which everyone's ideas were respected and no one was criticized.

How this can impact your classroom

If you're on a team like this, be grateful. If you're not, see what you can do to change the culture. Team dynamics are hard to balance, but pays off in great dividends when they work. Put the time in to ensure it works and be open with your communication.

It was the first year I felt I had good work/life balance

Teachers suck at work/life balance. Not a controversial take, and I was among them in the beginning of my career. This year, I made a commitment to take care of me more and to enjoy my life outside of work. While teaching is a career that requires it to be a true labor of love, it's also important to realize that it is a job, and you work to live. There's no purpose in working yourself to the grindstone if you have nothing outside of work to look forward to.  

How this can impact your classroom

Find a hobby that has nothing to do with education. For me, it's writing about testicular cancer and men's health, but that's probably not your thing. (Though if it is, hit me up!) It's important to be a person first and a teacher second. After all, you cannot give them your 100% if you're not at your own personal best.

Set limits on yourself. The ones who should be working hardest are the students - not you, furiously lesson planning and grading papers at 1 am. 

A bonus point as I look to my sixth year in education  

It was my last year as a fourth grade teacher

One last selfie in the classroom

It's been a great five years as a fourth grade teacher, and I would say that this year was my best, between the above five points, the end of year academic gains my students made (including the highest pass rate on end-of-year assessments I've ever had), and more that didn't make it in this blog. That being said, this past Friday was my last day in the realm of fourth grade education. 

Starting on August 1, I will be transitioning roles to an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (also called a tech coach, technology integrator, TOSA, or other titles depending on where you live). While I will still be within my same school district, I will be at a different school, meaning this is the fourth change for me (and fourth workout thanks to carrying around boxes). 

I have wanted to pursue this position for a few years, but kept putting it off. I had opportunities the past two years to make the change, but turned it down on both occasions (apparently you cannot get a mortgage if you don't have a signed work contract - who knew). I almost decided not to apply this year since I was having such a great year, but it felt like a good time to make the switch. I am beyond excited to start this new role, but I will miss working directly with my own class. 

How this can impact your classroom

Like I said in the first point, if there's a change in assignment you've been eyeing up... go for it. There's no time like the present. The great thing about teaching is that there are so many different things you can do and still be within the realm of education. If you want to try something new, give it a whirl and know you can always go back if it's not what you thought. 

And while you're changing roles, purge things that won't be directly related to your new job. Hand it off to colleagues or the teacher taking over your room. 

They (and your back) will thank you. 

I Stepped Back

Around this time of year, EduTwitter is flooded with end of year reflections, goal setting for the next year, and #OneWord blog posts. I even did one in 2015. I contemplated writing one for this year and went back and forth on it for a few weeks. As I sit here on New Year's Eve day, I suppose this serves as an end of year reflection post.

Students working together to create a new flip video

To be quite honest, I have not done anything "new" in my classroom this year. Many of my mainstays have remained constant, but analyzed to a higher degree and implemented better. Most notably, my ability to do flexible grouping in small group instruction has improved. I regularly switch up my math groups as we enter into new units, based on informal pretests. Right before we let out for winter break, I assessed all students' reading progress through Fountas and Pinnell and will make some changes to groups as we begin 2018. I've been fine tuning my flipped classroom videos instead of just recycling old ones, in addition to having students create videos for their classmates, which was something I never got around to last year.

Technology integration continues to be a focal point of my classroom, but with one major change: I am no longer 1:1 Chromebooks. I have to share a Windows laptop cart with another teacher. At first, I hated it, but now I am learning to embrace it, though I do still hate how slow the laptops are. It forces me to be more intentional in how I am using the technology, which is always a good thing.

I've used Breakout Edu boxes and digital games, a handful of HyperDocs, and other things I love using while teaching. I continue to connect with my students on a regular basis and truly love my class and all their unique qualities. The families are very supportive this year and engage through Remind frequently. Within the walls of my classroom, things are par the course, which is totally ok with me.

A major change has occurred outside the school building in my life. If you're a regular reader of Mr. B's Blog, you may have been disappointed to see that there was only one post published this school year. Technically speaking, that wasn't even a new post; it was a holdover that I just published late. Besides not blogging about education, I've also stopped tweeting about education. In November 2017, I opened a new Twitter account for educational tweets, but really don't use that one anymore.

However, I haven't stopped writing entirely - I just write about a different subject matter now, namely men's health and testicular cancer awareness. As you probably know, I was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, underwent chemotherapy for three months, and was cleared in remission in March 2017. I've been sharing my journey at my testicular cancer awareness blog, A Ballsy Sense of Tumor. My original Twitter account was retooled to focus on testicular cancer awareness. As always, I highly encourage you to check out both the website and the Twitter.

Is this to say I am not passionate about education anymore? No. I certainly still have very strong feelings about education and what needs to improve about it, but I'm focusing my energy on what I can do in my own classroom with my own students in my school. Those kids deserve my 100% effort while I'm there and I will give them my best. Furthermore, I needed better balance in my life. Education was my day job and my night hobby. EduTwitter was turning into an echo chamber, with platitudes and more of the same, and losing its luster with me. I needed to make a change.

There are literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of teachers who are tweeting and blogging about education. I don't feel like the community needs another voice, least of all mine. This isn't a vie for headpats or attention. I know I have some cool ideas, but writing about it and endlessly promoting it isn't necessarily how I wanted to spend my time anymore.

While there are countless educational blogs, there is a huge lack of testicular cancer awareness sites. In writing about my experiences and raising awareness, I've found a passion that does not relate to my profession (although I do have a project in the works that blends the two, so stay tuned) and I feel it has improved me as a person to have separate interests. It makes me a more well-rounded person and a real individual.

If education is your job and also your hobby, I'm not disparaging you. If it works for you, that's awesome. This is what works for me. I'm also not saying that I won't be writing or tweeting about education ever again. I still have over half a school year to go, and some ideas are swirling around that I want to try out, and may write about when the mood strikes.

So this is probably a different kind of end of year post than the norm that is being shared on Twitter today, and I am well aware of the irony that I'm writing a post about not wanting to blog about education and then tweeting it out. For now (and the foreseeable future), I've made the decision to spend my non-working hours working on my own passion project and dedicating my time and energy into doing a different form of good.

When it comes to educational blogging and social media,

I stepped back.

One Four the Books

"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."

-Vladimir Lenin*

I'm a sucker for puns. My "goals" post for my fourth year of teaching in 2016-17 was called "Going Fourth Into a New Adventure" and now I'm laying down "One Four the Books." Go ahead, you may groan. I'll wait four it. At least I had the four-sight to warn you.

Last day on top, first day on bottom

Be-four (last pun, I promise) we reflect, let's recap my goals for this year:

• Continue with student-led learning
• Amp up 20Time
• Improve my instruction/assessment practices
• Model growth mindset and help develop it in students
• Vlog daily

My "One Word" for 2016-17 was REFINE. However, in mid-October, that word changed to CANCER. 

I had (and beat) cancer this year. I was out of the classroom for three months, which made many of these goals hard to meet. To be honest, I fell short on nearly all of these goals. I did not amp up 20Time. It basically was an independent research project again. I started daily vlogging, until October when my life basically fell apart. I tried to get back into it after returning to work, but never found my flow. 

Student-led learning and my instructional/assessment practices did improve, but not to the degree I wanted them to. I started strong with growth mindset and it remained a theme throughout the whole year. I would say that is the only goal I fully met that I had set for myself.

I didn't get to try too many new things either. Among the few new ideas were some new review games, continual tweaking of Choose Your Own Adventure experiences (read about first method, second iteration, and student-created versions here,) using Autocrat for communicating digital assessment results home, an emphasis on number talks, revamping Reader's Cafe, and some other ideas I never wrote about. Maybe it seems like a lot of new things, but to me, I feel like I could have tried something more.  

Am I disappointed? Maybe a little. Those were important goals to me back in September, but new opportunities arose from facing cancer (not something you'd expect to hear from a cancer survivor). I got to model resiliency, grit, and a real-life example of growth mindset. I had a perfect example of sharing vulnerability and honesty with my students. They're now prepared to realize that cancer is not always a death sentence.

It helped me build strong relationships with my students, stronger than they would have been without having time solely dedicated to writing back and forth to them every day as I went through chemo treatments. In this post on Dave Burgess's blog, I share about how I learned new things about my students and their lives. I wasn't concerned with their academic growth at that time; I wanted to get to know them deeper as young people. When I returned, I was able to keep these bonds going, but not to the depth I could do then.

My end-of-year evaluation from my principal said, "Mr. Birckbichler had a school year that would best be characterized as one he will never forget," which is certainly an understatement. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this year. My state test score pass rates were the best I've ever had, and their growth from third to fourth grade was similar in regards to other years. Pass rates have never been important to me, but it's always worth noting that according to the state, I was proficient in my teaching. Growth has always been the metric in which I measure myself in, and I'm pleased to see that I met that goal this year. 

One thing I did much better was achieving balance between personal and professional life. Cancer taught me many lessons and chief among them was to focus on my personal life before teaching. If I'm not taking care of me, I can't take care of them. I made a conscious decision to not work on school work after school. I went in an hour earlier than normal, and once I left the building, it stayed there until morning. Occasionally, on a Sunday, I would work on lesson ideas, but only if it was something that truly inspired me.

Towards the beginning of my diagnosis, I made the decision let go of many side projects I had been working on, such as the EduRoadTrip podcast, Breakout EDU Digital, and others, to focus on my health. After finishing chemo and being found in remission, I decided to make that choice permanent. While these were fun projects and I enjoyed working on them, they took up a great deal of time - time I could better spend focusing on my personal life or my students. If it wasn't something that had a direct benefit to my classroom or to my own life, I let it go. While this may come off as a selfish statement, I think teachers (especially those on Twitter) have a huge tendency to overcommit themselves to projects that ultimately won't have a meaningful impact. These were my first steps in a concrete plan to be less busy. 

Next year, I'll be teaching fourth grade again, but at a new school. While this is two classroom changes two years in a row, it's important for me to be closer to home. My school was amazingly supportive of my medical leave and I am forever grateful for that. However, part of my goal with buying a house was to have a shorter commute, but I ended up with a longer one (curse you, I-95). My new school next year is 8 minutes from my house, and I passed it every day on my way to chemo. It seemed like a sign I needed to be there. 

I know I referenced cancer multiple times in this post, but it really defined my year and will continue to have a large impact on my life going forward. I try to keep my identity as a cancer survivor on a separate blog (A Ballsy Sense of Tumor, which I highly recommend reading and sharing with the men in your life) but for a reflection post, I couldn't ignore the elephant in the room. It had a large impact on me, and changed my outlook a great deal.

So what's the plan for year five? I have no idea as of this writing. My wedding is in less than a month, followed by a honeymoon to Hawaii for some much needed relaxation time (even though I missed three months of work, it certainly wasn't relaxing). I just had another set of scans and I'm still cancer-free. Next year is far from my mind. I know I will make the commitment to maintain a balance and set goals, but right now, I am perfectly happy to embrace the end of the year and the start of summer, just as my four-fathers would have wanted (ok, I lied and this is the last bad pun).

*Bad guy, good quote

Going Fourth Into a New Adventure

"Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty."

-Jacob Bronowski

Just as I like to close each year with a reflection, I like to begin each year with goal setting. These posts are more for me to get my goals out on paper and to hold me accountable to a larger audience. So, if you’re reading this, check in with me on Twitter or email and ask me how I’m doing.

In addition to starting my fourth new school year, I am also starting at a new school in a new district (still in fourth grade!) Over the summer, I left my old district for a variety of reasons and joined my new one. After two weeks of teacher days, I am even more confident that I made the right choice. Stafford County Public Schools embraces the 4C skills (while also adding Citizenship and Wellness for a C5W framework,) promotes innovation, and supports a holistic and realistic view of teaching beyond testing. I got a chance to meet my new class during Open House this past week and I’m thrilled to spend the next year prepping my Agents of SHIELD for their future.

Without further ado, here are my goals for 2016-17:

1. Student-led learning - Last year, my primary goal was to develop a student-led classroom, based on Learn Like a PIRATE by Paul Solarz. On the whole, it was a success, but I might have started too strong too fast. It did force the students to step up and take ownership of their learning at an accelerated rate, but more scaffolding may have been necessary. At the end of the year, I worked more purposely with groups and students worked independently with each other. I want to refine this so we hit the group running and keep up with it. I have a very different population of students this year and I already know they will do a fantastic job with it.
2. 20Time - As I shared in a prior post, I have been constantly tweaking and adjusting Genius Hour in my classroom. This year, I want to do a major pivot. I want to have the students focus on one problem and develop a solution. I have completed reading The 20Time Project by Kevin Brookhouser and want to scale his ideas to elementary. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure exactly what this will look like. My schedule has larger chunks of time in it that will allow for uninterrupted time, but I do not know when it will be. Will it be a set day or will it be fluid? I want to start with the Bad Idea Factory and then move into brainstorming from there. I want to empower my students to be change agents from an early age.
3. Instruction/Assessment Practices - I want to explore more purposeful usage of flipped classroom. Last year, I flipped my classroom for math and saw dramatic gains in students’ academic growth. (Side note - I really need to write a reflection post on my flipped classroom experiences.) I want to continue this, but it may look different. Some students may do the in class flip depending on their access and home, but I want to use the information I gather from observing flipping in a more intentional way. In general, I want to use small groups in both reading and math more purposefully. After three years of doing small group, I am finally coming to terms that I don’t need to meet with every differentiated group the same amount of time. I can meet with some groups more than others; as long as I am meeting each student’s individual needs. To further this, I want to refine my assessment practices. I am currently reading The Truth About Testing by James Popham and it has an interesting idea on pre/post testing. I am still trying to wrap my head around it, but I think it will allow me to be more purposeful in my instruction and quantifying growth.
4. Growth Mindset - Although this has a tendency to be a buzzword when not used correctly, I am still including it as a goal. Our staff read Mindset by Carol Dweck this summer. My principal says that “it’s not a theme; it’s a practice.” I dabbled into growth mindset last year after taking an online course through Stanford and witnessed incredible things from my students. That was only for half the year and I was amazed. This year, I am starting with growth mindset on Day 1 and will continue all year. We’ll make an anchor chart and reinforce it, but I know it will make a difference.
5. Vlogging - This goal is more for me than within the classroom walls. I did some vlogging during my Google Innovator experience and enjoyed it. This year, I want to vlog weekly as a powerful reflection tool. I’m not entirely sure what it will look like, but my general idea is a one video per week. This would include video snippets from the day, daily reflections, and other thoughts. These would all be strung together and posted on YouTube. I started a site (vlog.justinbirckbichler.com) to post all of these, but as I said, I’m not sure what it’ll look like or anything else. It’ll be brand new and I am looking forward to it.

As you may have noticed, I am not looking to redefine or implement a lot of new things this year. I think you can be good at many things or great at a few things. If I had to choose one word to define this next year, it would be REFINE. I want to refine my teaching and provide the best for my students. As the year goes on, I’m sure I’ll discover new ideas and I’ll add those in, but these five goals will be my guiding light for the year. I’m looking forward to a brand new fresh start and cannot wait to see what my students achieve this year.

Year 3 In Review

"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action." 

-Peter Drucker

I have been out of school for about two weeks now, and have been dragging my feet on writing this post. I have been reflecting on what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it, and how to best format my thoughts. I decided to structure it similarly to my end of 2015 blog post - sharing successes, challenges, updating on my resolutions, and sharing new goals for next year.

1. What went well?

First and foremost, my students greatly surpassed my academic expectations for them. Each student showed at least a years worth of growth in reading, and much more in math. I am not one to harp on data, but in comparing their end of year tests in third grade versus fourth grade, I saw drastic improvement in nearly all students.

Reciprocal teaching in math

Furthermore, my students showed a greater maturity and developed strong growth mindsets. While growth mindset seems to be one of the latest education buzzwords, I saw my students achieve and excel while demonstrating growth mindset principles. One of my students struggled severely in math in the beginning of the year. He couldn't seem to grasp the concept of regrouping/borrowing/exchanging/whatever the correct term is in subtraction. I worked with him with physical manipulatives, with numbers, computer programs, peer tutoring, and everything else imaginable, but what made the difference was him. He recognized a weakness, wanted to get better, worked at it, and ended up teaching other students how to do it. Another time, my students were working on a Breakout EDU box and one kid stopped the whole class to remind everyone to use their growth mindsets and not give up. I had it on Periscope, but Katch decided to shut down so I can't link the video here. 

We spent a lot of time in class developing the soft skills and other skills needed for life. We had three parables I constantly came back to: "Making Changes, Building a Bridge, and Digging a Hole." I'll explore these parables more in my next post, but they had a definitive impact on my students.

Controlled chaos on a STEAM challenge

I tried a whole lot of new things in class, including student led learning, flipped classroom, Breakout EDU, coding, higher integration of STEAM/Makerspaces, HyperDocs (introduced to me by the wonderful Karly Moura,) and 1:1 Chromebooks. All of these were successful (to varying degrees) and I will use elements of each in my next school year.

2. What challenges did I face?

While student led learning was my main goal for the year, I think I went at it too hard too fast. Hindsight being 20:20, I should have scaffolded it more. I added more scaffolding around the midpoint of the school year, and next year I need to start with more scaffolding and then pull back. I do not think my students suffered from this though. It forced them to learn new skills (that they need) at a rapid pace. Sometimes, you've got to run before you can walk.

A reluctant reader reads Kid President at Morning Meeting

My timing/pacing was off this year. We started earlier than ever before, and our semester break was before Christmas and our end of year tests were in early May, as compared to last year when the semester ended in January and our end of year tests were in early June. It was definitely a transition, and I will need to be cognizant of that in the future. I was still able to teach all of the material, but I felt rushed at times and did not get much time at the end of the school year to do some of the activities that I've done in the past (like Reader's Cafe.)

All in all, the year was different and challenging at times, but I feel it was extremely successful. 

3. Updates on resolutions

I had developed four resolutions for 2016 and this section will serve to update progress on them. 

The proposal

• I will continue to hold my students to high expectations: I would say this has been achieved and will continue to be a focal point of my teaching. Students need to know they are going to be held to high standards and they will meet them.
• I will develop better systems for testing/grading and time management: I developed better systems for testing and grading. When a student finished their test, they brought it up to be and I graded on the spot. I gave them a second chance or gave some brief remediation. This system seemed to work better for the students and for me. It also allowed me to follow up with more focused remediation later. My time management has gotten better, but I still need to work to carve out chunks of time to work and time to relax. 
• I will continue to develop professionally and look for new opportunities: I have left my position in Warren County and will be starting as a fourth grade teacher in Stafford County for the next year. I am extremely excited for this new opportunity and can't wait to see what it brings. Additionally, I co-created Breakout EDU Digital with Mari Venturino in March and that has been a wonderful opportunity. Attending the Google for Education Innovator Academy in late February left me with many takeaways (check them out here and here.)
• I will take more time for my personal life: I realized this was the biggest goal I needed to work on. In February, I proposed to my girlfriend, and now she is my fiance. We are buying a house closer to my new school this summer and I have enjoyed taking more time to spend with her and create more memories. When Mark French came to visit me in March, he shared that sometimes you've got to unplug and make a commitment to spend time. With this, I learned how to say no to other things and have had to cut things out of my "online life" to make room for enjoying what is real.

4. So what's next?

While I will miss my old fourth grade team, other colleagues, and seeing my old students, I am extremely excited for my new career adventure. I have met with my new team and they seem incredibly supportive and easy going (plus, there is another guy on the team!) This new school should be a great fit for me.

I want to get into standards-based grading (which my new team does a version of) and a more integrated/cross curricular teaching method. I think this is the best way to truly assess the students' understanding and maximize instructional time. I want to still continue doing elements of the above things from the successes paragraph, with more scaffolding in student led and revamping some elements of flipped classroom. 

Room 22 Family 2015-2016

Above all things, I want to refocus. Over the past year since I joined Twitter, I have been dabbling into many things and doing a good job with them. I don't want to do a good job of many things, I want to do a great job of a few things. I will be focusing on teaching, my personal life, EduRoadTrip, Breakout EDU Digital, and #FlyHighFri. (After some thoughts, I have lessened my involvement with various Twitter chats and completely dropped #Teach20s.) Sharing these responsibilities with the awesome team of Mari and Greg Bagby will also help in the time commitments. I would also like to continue to carve out time for reading (both personal and professional) and writing. 

Last year, I closed this blog entry with a snippet from a student's end-of-year survey, and I feel this is a good way to end it again:

"It was the best year of my life. I made new friends and I had some drama. Mr.B is the best teacher ever and I learned a lot from him. Also if you focus you have know Idea what you can do. When you make class fun, students learn more and are much more happy to go to school."

Innovation Across the Nation (Part 2 - Professional Reflection)

"A key ingredient in innovation is the ability to challenge authority and break rules."

- Vivek Wadhwa

Over the past 6 days, I have been fortunate enough to travel to California to attend the Google for Education Certified Innovator Academy at the Googleplex in Mountain View. This has been a life-changing experience, and to fully do it justice, I need to split the experience into two parts. This is my professional reflection and you'll find my personal reflection here.

While all of the sightseeing and memory making was incredible, the real reason I was in California was to attend the aforementioned Google for Education Certified Innovation Academy. To get you up to speed, I applied for the Innovator program in January. The process involved designing an ideal classroom, proposing a problem and innovative solution, a video, and other tasks (you can read more about the process in this NVDaily article.) After being accepted into the Academy with 33 other extraordinary people (who you can meet on this episode of the EduRoadTrip,) we began connecting and soon enough, the time was here. Our flights landed, hotels checked into, Ubers ordered, we were ready to come together and innovate. 

In a word: WOW. It was an incredible learning experience. I recorded a rambling reflection the day after the Academy which I think so shows how much I have rolling around in my head. We learned about moonshot thinking, mindfulness, happiness, qualities of an effective team and management, how to motivate others without overwhelming them, and a whole laundry list of other topics. The speakers were inspiring and motivating. It was an invigorating breath of fresh air with every new person who took the podium.

Team Black Eyed P.E.A.C.E.

Part of the expectations as Innovators is to design and implement an Innovation Project. This Project focuses on a meaningful problem in education and how we plan to solve it in a meaningful way. A large amount of time was dedicated to working on our Innovation Projects. My initial vision for my Innovation Project was an expansion of the Home-School Connection Nights to aid families in helping their children with math. Right now, the HSCNs are working on a varied basis. I really believe in the power of a family partnership and think that can make the difference in education. After discussing with my team, The Black Eyed P.E.A.C.E., and coach Jay Atwood I had an epiphany.

Perhaps my greatest passion in education is student empowerment. We discussed if the two could be combined and loved the idea. Within the next month, I plan to prototype this in my own classroom. The students will teach their parents (a twist on the Student-Led Conferences from the fall) and I will act as a facilitator. I'll be getting a Theta or Swivl to record these experiences to share them with other interested parties. I also want to implement some sort of gamification and more fun into these evenings.

UPDATE: My project has changed to Breakout EDU Digital, which you can read more about here. I did implement a prototype of my initial plan, which you can check out via KidsDiscover.  

All the Innovators

I am really excited to see how it goes. As the Academy showed me, there may be a need for iterations (minor course corrections) and pivots (large changes.) It's sometimes hard to let go of our ideas because they are so near and dear to us, but change needs to occur to maximize impact. Part of the Academy included opening up our idea for feedback from everyone, and now I have even more to consider as I continue developing my prototype. There is even a possibility that the project may be scrapped and revamped entirely as I grow and expand my horizons.

Beyond the Academy, EdCampSV also got the wheels turning in my mind. This was one conference where I am not walking away with a ton of instructional ideas, but with more ideas and lessons to ponder. In the “Things That Suck” session, we had some great debates about homework, testing, professional development, and mayonaise. I was able to defend my position on each, while also respecting the thoughts of others. These kinds of conversations are what push education further ahead and we need to be having them more.

This trip also helped me to think critically about my own self, especially in my interactions with other teachers. I am incredibly energetic and talk a mile a minute, especially when it comes to discussing technology integration. I often get frustrated when others don’t seem to innately understand seemingly easy tasks or are resistant to learning something new. However, traveling halfway across the country put it in perspective. The roads here in San Franscico are very overwhelming to me. Even riding in a car caused me anxiety. Now I can see what others may be feeling when I am getting super excited about technology integration. Just like I was out of my element, so are they. I need to remember this when helping others and help them overcome it, just like I did with embracing the traffic.

This resonates with what one of the speakers said about fear. We can resist fear and get hurt , let it run our lives, or we can “dance with it.” Change is coming and it needs to happen.

With Coach Jay Atwood

You’ll notice that these two blog posts were very lacking in discussion about technology, which you would think you would have found in this particular post. While we did talk a lot about the impact of technology, I believed the Academy was more about mindset. We have big problems in education and we need even bigger solutions. We need to empower students, families, teachers, and everyone in education to innovate every single day. Only then will we get where we want education to be.

To EdTechTeam, Google for Education, the coaches and mentors, the #MTV16 cohort, and everyone who supported me in this endeavor, thank you. It was well worth the money for this experience. You can check out the vlogs I made about the experience on YouTube. I hope to continue connecting with you all and look forward to big things from us in the future.

Innovation Across the Nation (Part 1 - Personal Reflection)

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ― Terry Pratchett

Over the past 6 days, I have been fortunate enough to travel to California to attend the Google for Education Certified Innovator Academy at the Googleplex in Mountain View. This has been a life-changing experience, and to fully do it justice, I need to split the experience into two parts. This is my personal reflection and you'll find my professional reflection here.

Typical pose with Mari

The best personal memory from this trip was the chance to spend a day with my partner-in-crime Mari Venturino. Mari has probably been mentioned in more than half of my blog posts and we have become super close over the past year. However, we had never met before this week. On Saturday, she picked me up and we went to EdCampSV in Palo Alto. After the EdCamp, we went to Windy Hill, which had some incredible views. We recorded an on location EduRoadTrip, which you can check out here. Finally, she took me for my first In-and-Out experience. It was amazing, to be blunt.

Karly, Mari, and me

The EdCamp was fun (with lots of learning to be covered in Part 2) and I got to meet some of my Twitter friends (Karly Moura, Craig Yen, Ben Cogswell, Joe Young, and probably more that I am forgetting) and make some new ones!

Outside of preexisting friends, I made a ton of new close bonds with the #MTV16 Innovator Cohort. (Team Black Eyed P.E.A.C.E. represent!) I could list all the people I consider friends at this point, but then I would just retype the entire Innovator list. I have memories with each of these people and I look forward to continued friendship with them all. I will give a big shout out to my German-South African roommate Adriaan van der Bergh, who brought Lindsey, Natalie, and Ari to our room the first day. To #TeamES and #Team378, thanks for making the hotel fun!

Jump shot attempt 187

While I was in San Francisco before the Innovation Academy officially started, I got to visit the Golden Gate Bridge with Jess, Chrystal, David, and Jared. After about 273 attempts to make a jump shot picture, we finally got one great one of us over the Bridge. We wandered around San Francisco, talked about life and education, and got to just generally enjoy our time together.

With Bill Baker at Alcatraz

The following day, I channeled my inner Sean Connery and visited The Rock (Alcatraz Island.) I am ashamed to say I forgot that The Rock was in San Fran, but as soon as I found out, I dropped all plans to go to the Full House house (sorry Mallory) and went here. I was joined by Katie, Angie, Maggie, and Erica (only one of which who has seen The Rock.) The audio tour was extraordinary and it was surreal to be inside the actual prison. The entire experience came to a head at the end of the tour. A former inmate named Bill Baker was on site talking about his experience and signing copies of his memoir. I bought one and had a wonderful discussion with him. He told us that the average IQ of the inmates was actually higher than the US national average at the time. In his words, "they were the dumbest smart people in the nation."

Credit to Mattcopter for the incredible photo

But by far the coolest place I got to visit was the Googleplex itself. I got to ride the famous Google bikes, tour the campus, drive Google Earth in the Holodeck, eat some incredible and unique food, take a nap in the nap pods, and take all the selfies. I quite literally felt like I was in The Internship. This is definitely crossed off my bucket list and now I need to find a way to get to the Marvel Headquarters.

On a personal level, this trip has been an amazing experience. You can check out the vlogs I made about the experience on YouTube. It is honestly hard to go back, but I am excited to see Mallory, Conner, and my students again. I will never forget the memories, experiences, and people I met along the way.

Successes, Challenges, and Resolutions

As 2015 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on our first semester. I ask myself three questions:

1. What went well?

Merry Christmas from Room 22!

I made some major changes to my classroom this year - most notable being developing a student-led classroom and flipping the classroom for math. Both have been successful for the most part. It is definitely a huge shift in paradigm for the students but they have adapted well.

On the student-led side of things, they pretty much run the classroom. I give them their directions for activities and then they take off from there, leading themselves and each other. We have had discussions and role plays of how to help others make good choices in team work. The students announce and manage transitions and inspect the room for cleanliness and such. Around Thanksgiving, students began leading morning meeting. I post my lesson plans online and they are familiar with the format of morning meeting, so it seemed like a logical progression. It has gone pretty well so far. Another part of the student-led classroom was student-led conferences, which you can read more about here. It is hard to let go of control in the classroom, but it helps to empower the students and teach them how to self-manage. 

Flipping the classroom has also been a great new endeavor. I wrote a piece on how I flip the classroom for Participate Learning, and I will write a longer post dedicated to my reflections on flipping the classroom in early 2016. Overall, parent and student reception has been very positive to it. I can target instruction better based on gauging their understanding from the prior night's video and help challenge or remediate students accordingly. Students actually create videos for each other, so that is another cool part I like about flipping the classroom because I can assess how well they know the material by their ability to teach others.

BreakoutEDU success!

In addition to these two major changes, I have also integrated a lot of new ideas into the classroom, including coding, Google Cardboard, BreakoutEDU, a larger focus on STEM, and other activities. While these don't always fit perfectly into the curriculum, these are the activities the students look forward to and help teach good skills for life.

I have also taken great efforts to maintain a positive mindset, with the #FlyHighFri movement and the Friday Five calls. While not every day is perfectly positive, I have seen a big difference in my attitude this year. 

Finally, my class is fantastic this year. I have been fortunate to have had two pretty great classes the past two years, and this class continues the pattern. They have impressed me with how well they have adapted to each other and the various changes from previous years. As with any class, there are some students who may be more challenging, but I have seen growth in all of them. They truly have lived up to our mantra: "We don't make excuses, we make changes."

2. What challenges did I face?

Coding during the Hour of Code

Despite all the awesomeness going on in Room 22, I have encountered some challenges too. One of them revolves around testing. As I said in the Halloween Rest Stop of EduRoadTrip, most my feelings on testing are not the most positive ones. I think students are overtested, but that could be a separate post by itself. I did find one good moment from testing recently, which I shared on the Christmas episode of EduRoadTrip (check it out around the 6 minute mark.) I've tried to make testing more kid-friendly this year, but allowing the students to choose when to take their tests. (Side note here: we call tests "opportunities" because they are opportunities to show me what they can do. It seems to relieve stress for the students) The first quarter, I said, "All of these need to be done by the end of the quarter, but you can choose when." The majority of the students waited until the last day of the quarter. The second quarter, I gave two week windows, but many would still wait until the end of the windows. It is not a perfect system and still needs tweaking, but I like the idea of putting them in control. 

Along with this, I am struggling with time management this year. I moved over the summer, so I now have a 35 minute commute each way. This isn't terrible, but I've never had to commute more than five minutes in my life to any job. I essentially lose over an hour every day to driving, (although I do enjoy the drives because I listen to podcasts and audiobooks.) However, between time being taken for meetings and other events, I have a hard time keeping up with grading. I used to be really good at turning around grades in a day or two, but now sometimes it takes me a week or more. I use my nights and weekends to develop engaging lesson plans, but the grading time seems to have been slid to the back burner. I am human and I recognize that I need to develop a better system.  

Using Google Cardboard

The final challenge is more internal. I struggle with some of the national, state, and local mandates because I don't see the direct benefit to the students. Often times, I feel conflicted; do I do what I am told or do I do what I think is right for the students? I don't have an answer, nor do I think I will have an answer for a long time. I do spend a lot of time thinking about this, and in nearly all cases I will side with the students.

3. What are my resolutions for 2016?

I have consistently made resolutions for the past 15 or so years, but have a hard time following them. Hopefully by writing them down, whoever is reading this will hold me accountable.

Presenting at VSTE15

• I will continue to hold my students to high expectations: Sometimes, it is easier to say "good enough." Our second class motto is "Good enough is never good enough." I will continue to push all students to grow, both socially and academically. 
• I will develop better systems for testing/grading and time management: These are two struggles I identified and they need to be improved. Using before/after school times and planning periods more efficiently will help me with this. I also want to eventually shift to standards based grading and giving feedback versus grades, but that is a long term goal.
• I will continue to develop professionally and look for new opportunities: This year, I co-founded the EduRoadTrip podcast and the #FlyHighFri positivity movement. I want to continue to create new things (including a major idea for another collaboration with Mari Venturino, but you'll have to wait and hear about that one) and continue to find the best fit for my philosophies and mindsets. I'll continue participating in Twitter chats and conferences to advance my knowledge base. One goal for 2016 Twitter is to have more real conversations on Twitter versus echoing all the fluff. I already have some professional development lined up in January- attending a Residential Weekend at Mt. Vernon and presenting at a #gafesummit!
• I will take more time for my personal life: This seems like a direct contrast to my previous resolution, but it's possibly the most important. Between school/commuting, EduRoadTrip, #FlyHighFri, Twitter, blogging, and other educational related things, I have been missing out on spending time with my girlfriend, cat, friends, and family. I will intentionally set aside time to strengthen these connections, because without those four, the rest does not matter. I also need to get back into a workout routine and take more time to relax. This also ties into better time management. Nothing will necessarily be eliminated, but more streamlined efficiency is necessary.  

These are my thoughts from 2015. I am looking forward new adventures in 2016 and can't wait to see what it holds. I laid out my successes, challenges, and resolutions for the world to see; hold me accountable.

What are your reflections from 2015? What do you hope to achieve in 2016?