Category Archives: Daily-Ink

Potential

This time of year, the word ‘potential’ resonates with me. There is so much potential in a new school year! What will be accomplished? What surprises await?

What questions can we ask to maximize the potential we and our students have? Here are a few that might be worth asking:

What will I do to build a good culture in my school and my classroom?

What can I do to inspire my students to go beyond the curriculum?

What can I do to support open communication between myself, my students, and their parents/caregivers?

How can I extend the learning beyond the walls of my classroom?

How can I connect my school and my classroom to the community?

What questions and challenges can I give my students to help them become more resilient problem solvers?

The questions we ask help to define the directions we go in, and the goals we want to achieve.

What questions would help you and your students meet or even exceed their potential?

Pocket Watches

My wife owns an Apple Watch. She loves it. I won’t get one because I already feel too tied to my phone, and I don’t want the added distraction. Before getting one, my wife would carry her phone and wear a watch, now they are one and the same.

I have reverted back to the era of pocket watches. No, I don’t own an old-style pocket watch, I just have my phone. But, I haven’t worn a watch in years, and I tell the time by my phone… which I keep in my pocket. I store my ‘timekeeper’ in my pocket.

I’m sure there is still a market for wrist (and even pocket) watches, but excluding phones and phone accessories, that has to be a dying market compared to sales in the last century.

What about in the next century? Surely we won’t be keeping our phones in our pockets, and we won’t be using these phones to tell time. There won’t be any pocket watches of any kind but for novelty. So what will we have in place of these tools?

Will the technology be embedded into us? Will we be wearing contacts that display the time with a simple motion of our eyes, or even by a thought? Will we look at our bare wrist or open palm and ‘see’ data there? And if we achieve this, what other things will become trivially redundant like the pocket watch?

I don’t feel nostalgia when I think of these things. I’m excited about the possibilities, but I do wonder how these tools will adjust our behaviour? After all, I’m not one of those people that just jumped at the idea of putting my phone on my wrist. As we adopt and accept technology into our lives, we do need to think about the unintended consequences. A person only took their pocket watch out of their pocket to tell the time. People looked at their wrists only to tell time. That’s no longer the case. People look at their phones far more than to make phone calls And tell time.

I’m writing this on my phone now. I’m blogging from my phone. I’ve also got headphones on, listening to music from the same phone. Will this glorified phone and pocket watch be something people use 20, 40 or 100 years from now? I don’t think so. It will likely not be a tool we put in our pocket. How will this change our behaviour? I’m sure it will be more convenient, but what unintended consequences will come with these new tools?

Clouded Vision

I have come to realize that very often I see things differently than others. I’m a big picture, rather than detail oriented, person. Yet even when I talk to other big picture thinkers, my perspective seems different… I’m tempted to say off-kilter. The more I learn, the more I realize I’m somewhat clouded in my perspective; somewhat idiosyncratic; somewhat full of shit. 🤪

I am confident, yet part of me wonders why anyone would give someone like me so much responsibility? I am contemplative, yet my thoughts are often scattered. I am decisive, yet I often question my decision-making.

I don’t think I’m the only one that is like this. Many people have clouded vision. When we are angry we are ‘seeing red’ and when we are optimistic we are seeing things through ‘Rose-coloured glasses’. Hmmm.

I’m not sitting here thinking I’m delusional and in need of help. I’m a pretty confident person, rational, and pretty smart too. But I’ve started to realize that my observations of the real world are cloudier than I may have thought. Or at least my ability to observe the same world as others is a greater challenge than I thought. And I think it’s healthy to question how clear we see things, at least in relationship to how others see those same things.

How clear is your vision?

A little reminder to educators

I’m writing this as a reminder to myself as well as to others. This isn’t something I’m preaching, it’s something important enough to keep at the forefront of my mind, our minds, as the new school year is about to begin.

There is always so much to do at the start of the school year, and there is the curriculum that must get started… but above all, there are human beings that are coming into our buildings that we need to get to know.

Human beings who have had wonderful summers. Human beings that lost a loved one. Human beings that arrive to school hungry. Human beings that help take care of their younger siblings. Human beings that love their pets, video games, riding their bikes, fashion, art, history, and science.

Get to know these amazing humans. Start there. Not just with the ones that make this easy, with them all. Take the time, your students deserve it.

Email Workflow- A Generic Response

Email can be overwhelming. Here is something I’m thinking of trying. I plan to make this one of my email signatures, so I just have to select the signature, when appropriate, and hit ‘send’… Then move on.

Please help me make it better!

– – – – –

Greetings,

This is a generic email response to your email below. I receive over 150 emails a day. In my role, running 3 schools, I spend a lot of time away from my desk. This is one of my attempts to direct more of my energy towards my students and teachers, and other parts of my job that should matter more than responding to emails.

If you are receiving this email, please know that:

  1. I read your email.
  2. I thought you deserved a response.
  3. I’m not interested in pursuing what you are offering, or following up on this matter beyond this email.
  4. I am not interested in a response to this email.

Please accept this email with the positive intent with which I sent it… an opportunity to politely respond, while also minimizing the onslaught of emails and email conversations that I receive daily.

Regards, Dave.

Think Good Thoughts, Say Good Words, Do Good Deeds. 

– – – – –

Objective: Reduce interactions

• If I don’t respond, I get a follow-up email.

• If I do respond, I get a follow-up response… even a ‘Thank you’ means one more email to look at.

What do you think? Also, what other email strategies work for you?

“I’m a hard marker”

This is one of the most puzzling statements a teacher can make, and yet some teachers wear it like a badge of honour.

Who does this benefit? What is the gain?

‘Welcome to my class, you will get a lower mark than your peers in other classes because “I’m a hard marker.” Sure this might be your lowest mark on your report card or it might hinder your ability to get into the university you want, but I’m doing this for you! Yes, that’s right, by being a hard marker, rather than a fair marker, I’m going to give you feedback that will make you even better. I’m sure I could mark fairly and give the same feedback but we both know that won’t motivate you nearly as much as if I’m being hard on you. Because it isn’t about how good you are, it’s about never being good enough to meet my unrealistic standards, which are above the expectations of the course. You are so lucky to have me as a teacher.‘ #Sarcasm

Teachers, please have high expectations. Please help inspire students to do the best they can. And please do so and grade them fairly.

—

Two related ideas:

• How important are marks anyway? “The case against grades” by Alfie Kohn

And,

• A recent #Dailyink post: “Start off hard”

Motivational Speakers

Have you ever heard the term, ‘knowing is half the battle’? What a load of crap!

How many people know that:

• Smoking is bad for you.

• Eating poorly can lead to health issues.

• A sedentary lifestyle will take years off of your life.

• Focussing on negative thoughts will reduce your happiness.

How many people:

• Stay in dead end jobs that they hate?

• Remain in unhealthy or abusive relationships?

• Choose to self medicate with elicit or even prescribed drugs?

Most people that do these things, on some level, are ‘in the know’, and that is certainly not ‘half the battle’. I love this quote Derek Sivers, shared on the Tim Ferriss podcast:

“If information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.”

Knowing that you need to change is the first step in the process of actually changing. ‘Knowing’ is the compass that points you towards the battle, as opposed to being half of the battle. Once you have the direction you want to go, then the key thing that needs to happen is taking action towards that change.

Recently I’ve seen a lot of platitudes on Twitter and Facebook, as well as in searches for memes when looking for images to add to these Daily Ink posts. Words of wisdom and encouragement that I’m prone to sharing too. They sound nice. They feel good. They tell you that you are special, ‘You can do it!’, believe in yourself. These are wonderful words of inspiration, but there is nothing actionable about them.

They remind me of Matt Foley in his Saturday Night Live skit, ‘Go for it!‘, where he plays a motivational speaker who essentially says, change your life or you’ll end up just like me, “living in a van down by the river”! While most platitudes and words of wisdom and inspiration do not fall under the category of ‘change or you’ll end up being a loser like me’ they are similar in that they don’t really do more than provide encouragement.

A favourite quote of mine comes from John Grinder and Richard Bandler, the founders of NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming, “What is the difference that makes the difference?” This goes beyond platitudes because it identifies what can be done differently in order to change behaviour. It’s the ‘it’ in ‘You can do it’. It’s actionable.

There are some pretty amazing motivational people out there that understand what it takes to change behaviour in people for the better, and there are also a lot of motivational speakers who understand inspiration but don’t meaningfully inspire perspiration – the work needed to actually change… and to me, this is the difference that makes a difference.

The long game

I’ve never been a flexible person. My hamstrings are tight piano wires and my back often feels 15-20 years older than I do.

Recently I’ve been spending more time stretching during my workouts and I’m seeing positive results. Very. Slow. But. Positive. Results.

Stretching is a good example of a long game. Short term benefits and positive results are only seen in the first week or two, then the improvements slow right down. The stretches don’t get easier, they get harder. And still, the results slow down.

How many things can we put in this ‘long game’ category? I think there are many! Flossing our teeth is example. There is research that suggests this isn’t just good for your teeth and gums, it can extend your life. So why is it so easy to ignore this late at night when you just want to brush your teeth and go to bed? Another example, diets are the quick fix, healthy eating and living is the long game.

I can’t pretend to know the secrets to playing the long game well, if I did, I would be able to touch my toes now, after years of stretching, but I’ve only been focused on stretching for a couple months. And, I’m behind on my goal to be able to do handstands because I hit a plateau and haven’t been as committed.

Part of playing the long game for me is making it public. I need to feel accountable to others, to give myself external motivation, for when the internal motivation just isn’t enough.

So now, it’s time to do 20 minutes of cardio followed by light weights and stretching. Because my healthy living goals are part of a long game.

One upon a meme

If you’ve been following my Daily Ink, you’ll know that I’ve been using meme images to accompany my daily blog posts.

(Images below link to the posts.)

Why have I been doing this? I like adding images to posts, but this daily blog is something that I want to do really quickly. So, by using meme images, I can simply find an image related to the topic, quickly add a few words, if needed, and I don’t need to worry about giving the image creator credit. Searching for the right image, adding text, and making it the featured image on my blog, will usually takes less than 5 minutes.

This is great because I’m starting back at school and need this process to be fast if I want to maintain the daily habit. However, yesterday I used this ‘Change my mind’ meme image that I’ve seen used many times before:

I have this blog set up to automatically tweet, add to my Pair-a-Dimes Facebook Page, and post on my LinkedIn profile, accompanied by the featured image on the post.

Yesterday I got a comment response on LinkedIn from Stephen Downes:

“I’m not sure I would have been comfortable using a ‘Louder with Crowder’ photo for this.”

I googled ‘Louder with Crowder’ and got to Steven Blake Crowder’s Wikipedia page, which said this:

“In June 2019, Crowder’s YouTube videos were investigated over his repeated use of racist and homophobic slurs to describe [a] journalist.”

My response to Stephen:

Just looked him up and totally agree. I have been using meme photos with my Daily Ink posts and admittedly am guilty of not paying attention to the stories behind them. Thanks for letting me know.

I then changed the image featured in the post to the more innocuous puffin meme, generally used to convey opinions that are unpopular:

Both images work for the post, but one doesn’t have a ‘charged’ connection to it. Since changing this image last night, I’ve been thinking about my use of memes. This post was educational in nature and adding the ‘Louder with Crowder’ meme image definitely did not add any value to the post, and for at least one reader was deemed inappropriate, (and I certainly appreciate Stephen bringing this to my attention).

So what now? Do I stop using memes? I’m certainly not going to attempt to check the background of every meme image I use, that would totally undermine my attempt to add images without adding significant time to my posts. So, I’ll be more cautious, use more generic images, with animals, cartoons, and famous/iconic people…

And I will make mistakes. When I do, I’ll own up to them, change them if I see fit, learn, grow, and move on.

This has made me think about some people who might have their image ‘memed’ without them liking how the image is used, and also about cultural or racial appropriation of memes. These are things I should think about before using an image. Now I will be more thoughtful, but again I will openly admit that I might make some mistakes. If I do, I’m hopeful someone will let me know so that I can address the concern and continue to learn and grow… while still having fun with memes. 😃

“Start off hard”

Yesterday on Twitter, I read this tweet by a first year teacher, Ms. Beatty:

Recently got the advice of, “Start off hard, you can always get softer,” in terms of student relationships at the beginning of the year. What do you make of that? Is it good advice? Or misguided?

This was my response:

Start with (your personal) high expectations. This can be hard to start, but it’s not starting off intentionally hard… If you don’t share your high expectations early, it gets harder later.
I think these two things get confused and purpose gets lost in the message.

I understand why advice like ‘Start off hard’ would persist in education. A lot of new teachers come in wanting the students to like them, and wanting students to have a wonderful time in their class. So, these new teachers might go overboard being accommodating in ways that potentially, in the long run, hinder their ability to push students to be their best. You might say that they ‘start off being too soft’, and so the ‘go in hard’ advice becomes the counterpoint.

But what’s the purpose or intention of ‘going in hard’? What is it that is being achieved? Is it a need to manage behaviour? Is it control of the class? Is it that you need to assert dominance?

If that’s not it, then what is it you are trying to achieve… And how else can you achieve that? If you are going into a new class to be especially ‘hard’, what does that look like?

Turn that around now and think of ways that students can buy into your (high) expectations, rather than complying to your hard rules and heavy hand. Can they help create class rules and expectations? Can you share your expectations in a positive way?

Once these class rules or expectations are created, then sticking to them isn’t being hard. What’s hard is doing this fairly.

Students will make mistakes… how is this handled? Has this been determined?

Teachers will make mistakes… such as not being fair – giving one student a break, but not another, or breaking the rules ‘because I’m the teacher and I can’.

I think the hard part of the new school year is:

1. Clearly establishing expectations (hopefully with student input).

2. Being consistent with those expectations.

I also think these can be done without being intentionally hard on kids.