:::Me whispering to him:::  “You’re hired!”

​He joined a panel of students from grades 6 to 12 to deepen this discussion, and boy did they.  Here are a few more nuggets of knowledge from students in our schools:

• Relationships matter
• We need choice, we are not “cookie cutter” kids
• We need agency, but REAL agency to govern our own learning with teachers as facilitators
• We need the opportunity to question each other and share ideas
• We want respect for our individuality
• Stop telling us “you just need a 65 to pass” - raise your expectations, we can do more than you think
• Reduce the testing and see us as equals and partners
• Find a balance with us and take away the fear of making mistakes

Today was the first day of school, and I couldn’t stop thinking about my Summer student ReDesign Team members and their message - We Can Lead Our Learning.  

This profession gives all participants - teachers, students, school leaders, para-educators, parents - a chance for a fresh start every year.  I miss that newness, that energized (and sometimes anxious) feeling that comes with new students and a new school year. I visited many of the schools in my district today.  I needed to get some of that Day 1 hype, even if it was only from the sidelines.  
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In my visits today, I saw students excited and scared for their first day - some couldn’t wait to leave Mom and run to greet their friends while others cried and wouldn’t let go.  I saw older students with bright smiles having brighter discussions sharing their vision for what school could be. And our students have grand visions. Are we listening to what they have to say?

At the ripe age of 43 (which might also be my waist size at this point), I decided it was time to put myself to the test and run a race.  After some "prodding" by my friend and colleague in my school district, I registered for the Abbott Dash to the Finish 5K Race.

Friendly Fire Peer Pressure

I have been going to the gym regularly in an effort to improve myself mentally more than physically.  And I have been feeling a difference.  It keeps me going back.  Having a partner in my office, Elvis, that pushed me to keep going has been a big influence, also.  

Only in my 40s did I begin running at anything close to regularity in my life.  I was inspired by the push for improved wellness by Principal Sarah.  I have grown to love the days I choose to run through the park rather than using elliptical machines in the gym.  The park is beautiful; the run is relaxing and refreshing.

What's really great about my exercising for better mental health experience is the new ways of connecting with the people around me.  I learn about the importance of stretching.  I talk about the improving state of mind.  When you are doing something new, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are at that task.  You will be happy you did.

"... it's amazing what you can pick up if you hang out with bright people."
Ebon Upton, creator of Rasdpberry Pi
from article "Making magazines", page 98, The MagPi, issue 75, Nov 2018
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My Only Competition

I ran the race.  I never expected to win.  My pace has consistently been about 12-12.5 minutes per mile.  Pair that with old knees and ankles, and there is no competition to be considered when thinking about my place at the finish line.

As I began the run at the start line, I started off fast.  I remembered wise words from Sarah about saving some energy for the uphill climb in Central Park, but I was pumped to be off and running.  I had my best friends tunes playing in my ears (see SoundCloud below).  I pushed past the moment I always get at the start of a run where it feels like I can't keep up with my breath.  I stabilized my breathing and my pace, and I was good.

At moments where I thought I couldn't keep running, I had other runners, folx on the side of the race cheering, some dank-ass break beats, and my desire to best my own time all working in unison to keep me from stopping to walk.  I finished this race with my best personal time and mile pace.  Unexpectedly, I ran an 11:37 mile.  Yeah, slow for some, but it was my fastest time since I started running (off and on) about a 6 months ago.  It was significantly faster than my time in the Run for the Wild at the Bronx Zoo about 8 years ago.  And no walking.  I was damn proud of myself.

All of this has me thinking about competitions in the classroom this morning.  They can be fun, but we need to help young people think more about how they can improve themselves, learning to compete against their own "pace" of work - whatever the task might be.  

Alfie Kohn writes frequently about the importance of intrinsic motivation and the research that shows that extrinsic rewards are ineffective at best, and at worst they are detrimental to progress and learning.  Dr. J. Stuart Ablon writes about this effect when working with young people to improve behaviors in his book Changeable. 

How can we create conditions for learning that inspire students to want to better themselves and value their learning experience, not a reward (i.e. grade) they might earn at the end?  

I would love to hear examples of how you have helped create conditions to inspire intrinsic motivation for learning.  How have you set the stage for students to want to learn more?

About two weeks ago, I met with a work group from my community to talk about hiring and developing the best people to work in a learning environment where the learners have significant agency.  

I got a chance to describe, for the first time publicly, my ideal school schedule and my vision for a "learning studio".  We used these ideas as a frame for the conversation about hiring to support agency.  It was really scary opening my ideas up to this level of scrutiny.  I had no way of knowing how it would be received and whether this would push our thinking forward on hiring and development practices.

The conversation generated so many great ideas and important questions to consider.  The first big takeaway is that TRUST must be granted to everyone in the community for the vision to be realized.  Young people can, and should, be trusted with guiding their own learning, knowing what tools they want to use to demonstrate their learning, determining when they want to go to gym, or to read, what they want to read, who they want to work with, how they share their learning with others... The list can go on and on.

But that same TRUST must be extended to adults in the building who deserve the same opportunity to determine their won path for learning and growth, what tools they will use to demonstrate learning, when they need a break or a prep period, what they want to read, who they work with, how they share their learning...

Last week, I shared an experience I had in Boston at a workshop called "Lessons for the Maker Movement from Reggio Emilia".  One of the Provocations at the end of that post has been coming back up in conversation repeatedly this week.  Maybe because it is the last one on the list.  Maybe because it makes an interesting statement that seems to push against our understanding of assessment.  I thank everyone who has engaged with me in conversations about this statement:

I shared some of my thoughts about this statement with School Leaders and colleagues in my district and with learning partners online.  I'd like to share one of my thought-vomits on the above statement.  This is taken from an online thread I contributed to in Change.School.

Assessing My Bread-Making

For the past few weekends, I have been baking bread.  Last week was my best loaf.  Each week, I change something about the original recipe I used to improve the loaf.  And I assess by eating it.  I am assessed by sharing it with friends who taste and share what they liked (or didn't) about my bread.

Today, as I washed the dough from my fingers and utensils, I wondered how this type of assessment fits into the statements I made above.  I am my own teacher.  I am learning and assessing in direct response to something I created.  I modify the next week, and try again based on the results ad notes from the previous week.  Then I eat and share more bread.

It is important for learners to be able to assess themselves during the process of learning something new.  In tuning into the point of it being the "teacher's problem", I realized that inauthentic assessment is the teacher's problem.  Assessment for the point of identifying what standards are met, what skills are gained, what box can be checked for proof to whatever governing body that needs evidence of working at a level that is deemed ready for a next level or grade, that's the responsibility of the educator.  Learning to assess yourself and your creations as good enough to share with others int he world, that should be part of the learning experience of the student.

The science teacher in me says that my adjustment of the bread recipe to coax more gas creation by the yeast would allow me to check off boxes about metabolism of living things, fermentation, and single-celled organisms from the Eukaryotic Kingdom of life we call Fungi.  I can check off math standards around measurement (Imperial, not metric) and combining fractions.  There are non-biological science content standards about heat transfer, specifically convective heat from air circulating in an oven and conductive heat as it moves to the center of a baking loaf, that I have explored.  Oh, and I am writing to an audience in a particular style and format.  This type of assessment is the teacher's responsibility.

But the creation and assessment of some dope-ass garlic toast?  That's all learner assessment, friends.  I'm happy to assess that kind of progress every weekend! 

What kind of personal experiences do you have that you assess?  I bet if you really look around yourself, you'll find you assess more than you think you do.

Many years ago, I was given a chance to teach a mixed-age group of high school students in an after-school program. My official title was Lead S.T.E.M. Instructor. With my strong background in Biological Sciences coupled with my desire to build real relationships with the young people I serve, I knew this after-school gig was gonna be a breeze. I just needed to do what I do, and I would be fine.
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I made some great relationships with those young people. One is still my buddy, an aspiring baker who is returning to school again to learn about accounting. What I didn't really expect was to be the Coach of a High School Robotics Team. I knew bacteria, DNA, genetics, not 'bots, coding, and circuits.

Being the kinda learner that I am, I got online and started my research. I found out about Arduino boards and coding, which became the foundation of my day-to-day learning experiences with them to prep for the Robotics Competition. But the more I dug into the work, the more I began to read about the Maker movement, which was still very new at the time. As I dove into the Maker life, I began to learn more about the ideals behind this movement, central being access to tools and experts with agency to determine your learning and design path.

Whoa. This shit was deep. And it changed me. It changed how I thought about my students. It changed how I thought about my role as an educator. I began learning with and from the young people I served rather than trying to always teach to and at them. I believe young people can lead their learning path. I believe I can learn from and with them.

​One of the authors that helped me remodel myself, helped me to rethink my practice and embrace iteration and change and risk-taking was Gary Stager. His book, Invent to Learn, with Sylvia Libow Martinez, came to my attention as I researched and learned about Seymour Papert, the father of Constructionism. This book was a turning point for me. It grounded me and helped me think through my changing perceptions and perspectives.

When I saw that he was leading a workshop in Boston titled, "Lessons for the Maker Movement from Reggio Emilia", I jumped at the chance to learn from and with him. I was happy to find like-minded colleagues with whom I had connected online around our shared belief in learner agency and changing school - from online video chats and written discussions to face-to-face connecting.

We all started the morning learning about Reggio Emilia. It doesn't take too much imagination to realize that the approach of Reggio Emilia, meant for 0-6 year olds, can be applied to much older children. Perhaps adults, too? Reggio Emilia believes that children are competent. Teachers should be researchers, trying to learn about each child's learning progress, and thinking about how new ways approaching the world might help a child learn something new. The environment is filled with authentic and deliberate materials. Children explore authentic problems. And there is documentation of their learning, lots of it, and it tells a story about the learner.

Gary also connected the Reggio Emilia approach to the Maker movement and computing. I spent the day learning with a teacher team from an independent school in Connecticut. My friends from Mass were at neighboring tables. We explored a variety of materials and resources for making any number of things we could imagine. I made a pig mask, originally meant to be a dog, but the pig came to life as I built it, so that's what it was. The materials made my decision for me.

A good prompt is worth a 1000 words. And we got one of the best prompts I've heard, "Make a bird. Singing and dancing is appreciated." I want to be clear about this folx, we had explored materials for 45 minutes. We were given Hummingbird Duo kits to build our bird 'bots - none of us had used these kits before. We were given 2 hours to build and a small set of instructions for the 'Bot kits. And we were given feathers. Lots of feathers. Each team of 4-5 educators made some pretty spectacular birds. Not all birds worked, but all had a plan to share and next steps to make it even better. We helped each other, we laughed with each other, and we were inspired by each other. This is what learning can look like.  I believe all students should have opportunities to learn and make and explore their inherent curiosity.
(Check out the slideshow at the end of this post to see our bird creations)

I love getting out into the community and finding new things to do and new connections for young people.  There are so many resources available to support learning, and to support good fun.  

New Community Resource and a Bit of Science

This was a pretty low-key week.  It ended pretty spectacularly for me, though.  I had an end of Friday meeting scheduled with our District community partner, the BioBus.  I have used them in my time as a science teacher, and have been happy to help support their strong connection to our school district. 

To build upon this partnership, my BioBuddy colleague asked me to meet with her at the Lower East Side Ecology Center and learn about their space.  The BioBus and LES Eco Center have partnered together for some time.  I walked through my district to get to the Eco Center so I could see what it was like to travel there by foot.

Walking over the foot bridge, I was met by a nice little park space with paved courts and lawns.  There were a variety of landscaped areas and others a bit overgrown.  The park space extended right to the East River beneath the Williamsburg bridge.  At the water's edge is a large, red brick building where the Eco Center is housed.

I entered the Center and found myself surrounded by various aquaria and other habitats.  My excitement level grew when I noticed a BioBus microscope set up in a corner of the room.  My science-y brain went into overdrive, and perhaps sensing I was already not in planning mode, the educator from the Center decided it was a good time to tour the space.

I found myself revisiting knowledge I had acquired in my days of working with NYC's biggest little zoo, the Staten Island Zoo.  I was observing aquatic animals living in aquaponic habitats.  I learned about an invasive species of crab and got to see a spider crab up close.  I learned about the oyster toadfish, glass shrimp, and other natural NYC denizens.

A New Ecological Issue

In our conversations around the Eco Center, I learned that once ceramic tiles are fired and glazed, they can not be reused.  I had no idea that this was a problem.  When tiles are pulled from homes, unless they are used in mosaic tiling or other art installations, they are typically unusable and end up in landfills.

The Eco Center serves as a site for the Billion Oyster Project in NYC.  They have oyster baskets hanging in the East River where they grow oysters for the BO Project.  These baskets end up as habitats for other organisms.  We pulled one basket up, and I was able to observe the growing oysters, as well as some baby oyster toadfish, a few invasive crabs, and some glass shrimp.

But the ceramic tiles caught my eye.  I asked how they were being used, and we brought one in to the microscope.  The surface was covered with a variety of organisms.  Bryozoans created a network of cells on the surface of the ceramic tile.  Once these organisms died, their exoskeletons remain on the tiles and serve as substrate for other organisms to colonize the tile.  It was an interesting way to use a resource that otherwise might end up in a landfill.

Microscopic Fun
Perhaps the most fun was exploring the structures of living things we found from the oyster basket.  There were hydroids, one of which had caught a Daphnia in its tentacles.  WE zoomed in on the eye of a Daphnia and were able to see its golf-ball like structure.  There were nematodes and flatworms, and copepods, oh my!  (see pictures below)

The visit wasn't all about microbiological good times.  After seeing all that I had seen that afternoon, we panned time to bring science teachers from across my district down to the Eco Center to have these same experiences and to help them plan the same for students across all of our schools.  

How do you use community resources as a space for inquiry and curiosity?

Side Note:  I finished the painting from last week.  It is no masterpiece, by any means, but I was pretty damn proud of myself for finishing something that looked vaguely like the photo that inspired it.  I'm excited to try again.  See the reference picture and painting below, if interested.

This past week, I was inspired by two pieces that caught my eye.  The first was an article on Medium.con by Rafranz Davis describing why she chooses to Tweet about something she cares about (#BTSArmy) and not always about education and EdTech.  It is important to remember that educators are more than a brand or a single line of expertise.  We have interests and passions in other areas, and we should be able to explore those interests and passions.  

I also found myself perusing books on Amazon by Seth Godin.  I already read Linchpin, and I was thinking about getting another to read.  I was caught by the sub-title of Godin's Poke the Box - When was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time?  

When was the last time I did something for the first time?  I decided it was too long, and it was time to start learning something new for fun.  Some of these forays into learning over the past few weeks have been based in my own interests and passions, others are things I thought I might be interested in, but just never took time to meddle with.

Unfinished 'Bots and Builds

I have a bad habit of starting really cool projects to build, and then working on "contractor time" to complete them.  I have been building a Raspberry Pi photo booth for about a year (as written about HERE, HERE, and HERE).  More recently, though, I was inspired by one of my favorite 'bot builders, Simone Giertz.  I wanted to build a ridiculous robot.  I asked my colleague, toni, "If you could have a robot to do any stupid or ridiculous task for you, what would you want it to do?"

"I want it to unroll toilet paper for me while I'm in the bathroom."

YASSSS!  That was exactly the kind of ridiculousness I was looking for!  Of course as soon as I heard this idea, ideas for a robot came flooding into my mind.  And so began the conversation, planning, sketching, and prototyping of the Pussy Cat Toilet Paper Pusher.  

While this is unfinished, it gets me thinking and reading about things I normally might not venture into learning.  I wasn't super interested in creating a feline form, but the Ridiculous Challenge hooked me.

Tuning In My Inner Artist

I have an apartment full of random supplies for making a variety of things in life, from sewing to robot building to painting.  I decided it was time I tried my hand at being a painter.  I selected a picture from the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam.  I got most of the background in place, and my next step (probably tonight) is to get the flowers on the canvas.  (Picture of actual flower below, not my painted version.)

First, I no longer want my walls as bare they are.  I want pieces on the walls of my apartment that represent my ridiculous tastes and interests, and then I want them spread through the apartment along the ROYGBIV color spectrum on the walls.  

Beyond this, I have been thinking about the process for my first efforts into the painting world.  I am going to try again to paint this same picture, hoping, of course, to improve upon my first attempt.  I will add pictures of each attempt to paint this flower after each is finished.  

Baker Maker

I spent this weekend diving into the world of baking.  I am trying to cook more for myself so I can stop eating all the processed foods that are shoved into our faces at the grocery stores.  So with flour, water, some oil and a lot of time, I took a chance and tried to bake my first loaf of bread.

I love the connections between cooking and science.  And baking takes the cake in science connections (see what I did there).  Watching the dough bubble away with the fermentation of sugars by my yeasty friends made me really happy.  My kitchen smelled great.  I used some whole wheat flour in my flour blend, and the bread came out a little dense, but it came out, friends.  Warm, with a crunchy crust, chewy interior.  I'm pretty damn proud of that loaf.

Circling Back

Balance in your personal life is important.  Sometimes educators forget that they are more than their classroom selves.  I did for a long time.  Exploring new ideas can help you get unstuck from yourself when you're in a rut.  It can help you learn something new about the world and about yourself you might not have known was there.  

I enjoyed doing these new things for the first time.  I am going to enjoy circling back to the Pussy Cat Toilet Paper Pusher.  I hope toni can deal with my delayed completion time as I play with other new skills and ideas.

And thanks to Rafranz and her passion for the Bangtan Boys, I enjoy listening to BTS now.  I'm not necessarily BTS ARMY material, but more than a few of their songs have a thumbs up in my playlist.  I'm always happy when they come up in a random shuffle of music.  

When is the last time you did something for the first time?

I was inspired by a colleague in Illinois, Mark Heintz, who spent a year writing about his learning and teaching process for an entire year.  I'm going to try and do this myself.  I hope those that join me on this journey will learn something from this journey.  

This week, I spent the entire week in professional learning.  New York City has given education leaders an amazing opportunity to learn together this summer about Equity.  I have already taken part in Mentoring for Equity, Beyond Diversity, and in many equity-based conversations with my critical conversational friend, toni.  I knew I had more to learn, and I was excited to take part in the learning this week.  

Day 1 - Solving Disproportionality

My expectations were being fully met on Day 1 as I learned from Dr. Ivory Toldson about disproportionality.  I already had seen important data about disproportionality in New York City schools when I dug into the Calculus of Race article.  I learned a lot by examining schools' data in the Civil Rights Data Collection about Schools and Districts.  I had never seen this data source before, and excitedly examined a variety of schools from across New York City and in my District.  There are definitely stories being told in this data, and some of these stories are not pretty.

I am pretty intentional about defining words in education that we often take for granted.  When Dr. Toldson asked us, "What is the achievement gap," we had time to talk through what we thought was a best answer.  When he then asked, "Shouldn't we first ask ourselves, 'What is achievement?'," I was really happy.  I love to tackle ideas like this with colleagues.  You learn so much about your own beliefs and the beliefs of others when you start to challenge yourself to really define what you think you know and often take for granted.  

I spent a little time thinking about my "Why" in this work.  Why am I working to dismantle inequity and oppression?  What drives me to get out of bed, even in the deepest of Winter, on the most unfortunate mornings, to push through these days and still come in to work and do my best to lead education and schools to provide the best learning conditions for all students?  What gets you to work every day when it's -2 Celsius, sidewalks packed with dirty snow and unseeable ice, and you spill your coffee down your shirt before you have even left the house?  What drives you to want to do the work?

I was worried on Day 2 that I might not be that into Python coding.  I just wasn't able to engage myself in the work of practicing the code.  My frown has been turned upside down.  All that I was missing was my Raspberry Pi!

After a few missed days of learning, I reinvested in the process and decided to spend some extended time on the project to see if I could get into the learning flow.  I spent almost 2 hours hooking back into my Pi, reading through some of my older screenshots, and then continuing the Instructables Class on Raspberry Pi (see my previous post for the link).

I learned a lot of new code.  I learned about connecting the Python Shell to the Linux Shell in the Raspberry Pi so that I can code in Python and affect the overall system.  I pushed the "Conversation" code to interact in Linux, and I launched a video stored on the Pi from the Python Shell.  I was feeling excited again.

Now I'm pumped!  I was feeling energized and wanted to do more.  I was asking myself questions to learn more about the code structures, and I used my resources to find the answers to most of my questions.  I still don't know what stopped me from accessing the pygame.mixer to play sounds, but that is a task for another day.  I was able to access the Pi Camera through the Python Shell and take a few pictures.  I even coded for increased brightness.  It wasn't always a perfect code, but I learned a lot from practicing.

I'm already thinking of ways to use this setup once it is done.  Of course I will create a photo booth as the class shows, but I also am thinking about a portable document scanner to document learning from around my district.  

I also learned about dealing with my frustration and boredom.  Finding new ways to engage int he work helped me.  I think I might have also been helped if I were learning this with someone.  (If anyone want to join me on this journey, feel free to reach out.)  

I have also been very aware of mental downtime (AKA Distraction/Off-task) and how it helps processing of new information, as well as providing some needed breathing room to alleviate frustration.  Do we do this enough for students?  Is there something that can change about a classroom's culture to account for the need for mental downtime and percolation time? 

I spent time today introducing myself to the programming language Python.  After only about 30 minutes of reading and trying a few lines of code, I'm definitely still unsure of my python-ability, but it seems pretty intuitive.  Bear in mind, years ago I did use the Arduino microcontroller for a variety of projects in an after-school physical computing class.  I feel like this experience has made the reading of Python code much easier for me in this early stage of learning.

My plan today was to bring my Raspberry Pi gear to the Saturday school where I was serving as a substitute Site Director for the day, and try to find 30 minutes to continue the Instructables Raspberry Pi Class that leads to my project goal of the Photo Booth (see Blog Post Day 1).  As is par for the course when I try to function without enough coffee, I completely forgot to pack my Pi.

I had my personal laptop with me, and I logged into the course to see if I could continue the learning process sans-Pi.  It really only required the use of the Python Programming language, so I went to work finding the software for download.  I also wondered if I might find more engaging tutorials outside of the Instructables Class.  Through my search, I learned about the history of Python (began in 1985) and that it was actually named after Monty Python, not the snake.

I also learned a bit more about myself as a learner.  Tutorials that are step-by-step guides on teaching Python through learning basic code do not engage me.  I learned how to get basic things to pop up like, "Hello, World!" and how to code for a basic conversation with formatted answers in response to inputs from a user.  I also learned how to write a basic mathematical formula calculating interest.  But it was SOOOOOO boring to me.

I'd like to say I know myself as a learner, and I like to learn by doing.  Let me jump into the mix.  The more abstract the task, the less I like it.  To cook something new, I will read a little, and then try the recipe.  When I was a teacher, I wanted to put stuff into practice.  I wasn't afraid of trying new things, and learning from the experience with my students.  We

With Python, I need to do more than recreate code with inputs and outputs.  I know, technically, that is "doing" something with code.  I'm sure that works for some folks, but it was frustrating me because I was boring myself.  As I'm writing this, though, I'm wondering if I would have been as bored if I weren't in a room alone trying this out.  Would the experience have been different if I were learning socially?

I am going to try and find more interactive, physical computing projects, or maybe I will breeze through the Instructables Class Python Intro Lesson and jump into the next one which involves coding for physical computing.  I feel like I need to see more than just a few lines on a computer screen.  I want to build something. 

I'd love to hear about your process.

• Do you know any great sites or YouTube channels that might inspire my learning of Python? 
  
• Do you have the same issues when learning code? 
  
• How do you combat the boredom I felt?  Or do you fight it at all?  Switch to a different project?  

I said I would try again, so I"m going for it!  I met with a group of Assistant Principals from around my school District this week.  We discussed our beliefs around learning, what it means, and what conditions are best for learning for our students and ourselves.  This prompted me to bring up again the 30 Days of Learning Challenge with them.

30 Days of Learning Challenge

Basic Challenge Rules:  Thinking about the discussion we had about conditions for learning, make one simple change in your school community or classroom that will bring your closer to living your beliefs.  Try this new condition for 30 days.  Document your journey in whatever way works best for you.  Share with colleagues during and after the 30 days for feedback and reflection.

Step Up Challenge:  Expand your learning journey by stepping up the challenge intensity.  Document your journey through a blog or other online posting to share your learning journey for feedback and reflection with a global audience.  Actively seek feedback from new readers, leaders, and learners.

Step Out Challenge:  Forget about school and education.  Learn something new you have always been curious about an interested in learning.  It could be a new cooking style, an instrument, a mindful moment, creating, coding... anything, really.  Practice this new skill for at least 30 mins a day for 30 days.  Document your journey for feedback and reflection. 
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And so I begin again, with some new colleagues, on a learning journey.  The last 30 Day Challenge for me, I attempted to improve both my questioning technique for coaching (Basic+Step Up) as well as trying to learn American Sign Language (Step Out).  Scroll through my previous posts to see how that went.  It was definitely a fun experience.

For this 30 Days of Learning, I'm only going to focus on a Step Out Challenge.  I am going to spend at least 30 mins a day for 30 days learning with a Raspberry Pi.  I have a project that was started and never finished, and I have been wanting to learn more about these boards for a long time.

For Day 1, I am reflecting on the progress I already made with my Raspberry Pi photo booth project and planning next steps.  I already did a lot of coding in this one, so for today, I recap what I have already accomplished in my Photo Booth project.

I haven't decided if that is going to be the only focus of my work during the next 30 days.  I have been reading MagPi magazine and getting lots of new ideas to try.  I am also reading Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnick, and I want to dig into Scratch programming.  Hopefully finding a way to connect Scratch and Pi together.  I also have a Raspberry Pi Zero to try out.  I am excited about what I can create and what I'm going to learn.  Looking forward to Day 2 tomorrow.

If you have ideas or projects to challenge a novice maker like me to build, please share with me.  And be sure to give me feedback on the work I do as I progress over the next 30 days.

I have been trying a lot lately to put myself into a place of learning something new outside of what we would consider a traditional learning environment.  I have been pushing my learning and reflection on a professional goal of improving my questioning.  I am a solution guy.  I like digging through my brain, finding answers and things to try out to see if they can be answers.  But that is not the best way to coach.  Coaching through questioning is a goal and one I continue to work on.

I also tried to learn something completely new - American Sign Language.  I wanted to see how far I could get in 30 days, and I think I did pretty well.  I tried to share my learning in a new way using videos to try and engage people in either learning with me, correcting my sign skills, or both.  I did get a friend into the conversation, but I have let ASL fall to the side as I began digging more deeply into my work of transforming school.  Check out one of my video blog posts HERE.  

My full-ish journey is documented in #30DaysofLearning blog posts that only made it to day 24.  Yeah, yeah, I know, "Boo!  Boo!  You couldn't make it 30 days?!?"  I'll try again soon.  I just started a new position, and I'm a bit taxed on time lately.  Yeah, yeah, I know, "Boo - No Excuses!"  Anyhoo...

Last night during a coaching session in Change.School, I was speaking with leaders from the US, Canada, and New Zealand while being mentally prodded by the hosts, Bruce Dixon and Will Richardson.  I have been engaging with national and international school leaders for more than 10 months now.  We talk about ideas for rethinking public education so that we are engaging students in our respective districts in a learning environment that is relevant to our modern world and preparing them for our uncertain future.  (A special thanks to Robert Schuetz for prompting this post.)

All of our conversations are pretty thought-provoking, but last night I began to talk about my own Learning Story a bit more.  Will has been adding an interesting hashtag to some news articles that are shared online - #newcurriculum - and I can't stop thinking about some of these ideas.

One new topics that has me perplexed and constantly reading is Cryptocurrency.  What a freaking tough concept for me to grasp.  I like to think myself a pretty smart guy, but the establishment of a completely virtual currency that has seen unprecedented growth in value while using a style of programming called blockchain to ensure it is secure is pressing the limits of my brain power.  I'm trying to get it.  Apparently you can mine coins.  Apparently people can steal your computer's processor  to mine for them.  I read articles about it often on Medium for whom I can thank for nearly all my knowledge about cryptocurrency.  I can't thank their writers enough for the knowledge I have gained, and it still isn't enough for me to feel comfortable talking about it, but I am learning.  Still very, VERY confused, but learning.

And this is the learning story I am using today to make a few points:

1. I didn't use a pre-designed cryptocurrency curriculum to learn about Bitcoin and its brethren.  I used the writers of Medium to learn from.  I may be hitting up some videos soon, because I need to learn in a different way to figure this stuff out.  BTW - if you get IT, please share IT with me.  
2. Our current curricular resources are not giving students the opportunity to explore knowledge relevant to them or their lives.  Cryptocurrency, big data and analytics, internet security, modern agriculture, urban agriculture, green technologies, and hundreds of other relevant-to-our-modern-existence topics are mostly ignored by curriculum writers.  As a hypothetical example Will and I discussed last night, we give 100% of students in a class a course in Geometry, of which maybe 2-3% might use in their lives, and the remaining 97% will likely forget.  I mean, seriously, it's not even connected to something relevant like 3D Printing.  When's the last time most of us used Geometry you learned in High School without just using a computer to compute answers for you?

We need to be talking about this stuff, friends.  We need to be talking about this stuff with our students, helping them to lead their own learning in a meaningful way.  There are still big questions to be asked about how to make this a reality in our current system, but if we never start talking about it and asking questions, things are not going to change.  

The world, however, will continue to change without us taking part in it.  I'm not interested in becoming obsolete.  I don't want that for the young people I serve.  I'm ready to talk about it.  The work of change continues...

All the data in the world can support your reasons why, but it is up to you to give it context and a story.  It is up to you to make connections with people so they are not spectators of your work, but they instead want to be involved in the process with you.

I joined a Facebook Live conversation this week with two of my leadership coaches, and a viewer asked a question of me:  

At first I began to stumble over the question, but then I stopped, slowed my always hyper-active brain, and I shared that complex work often requires simple steps to get things going and to make meaning and messaging clear.  

This moment resonated with me as I worked with district leaders around modern learning practices and common language.  Luckily, I can rely on my colleagues to challenge ideas when the reasons why are unclear.  I listened to the concern about lack of clarity, and then I reset and started again.  Simple, direct, jargon-free messages are easier to get behind.  There is typically no different understanding of meaning when you follow the K.I.S.S. Rule.

​Our conversation continued to build.  We all shared a common vision about the importance of the learning being directed and riven by the learner, whether that learner is a student, a teacher, or a leader.  We also know that these moments are happening in some innovative classrooms around our district.  I hope to bring these pockets of innovation into the light so we can see and learn from them, and build toward a district of innovative practices, not just single classrooms or school buildings.

More collaborative work is planned for the weeks ahead as we develop our district's Vision for Learning.  Good work is happening, and I'm happy to share our learning process as we work to create our vision.  

Playing catch up again.  I'd like to blame the business of life on my lack of writing, but I was just not making time.  So I'm dong a double post catch up series again.  I think once I reach the end of 30 days, I will continue the writing and reflection process, but I don't think it will b daily.  Such is life.  Now, onto days 23 and 24...

Thursday and Friday were driven by thoughts and questions around beliefs and values that I and my district colleagues hold to be true.  We had conference on Thursday and shared our focus areas for the remainder of the school year.  One area of focus in our district is to ensure that all of our school communities represent the diversity of our neighborhood communities.  

To support us in this work, my district is partnering with Paul Forbes and the Expanded Success Initiative.  Paul gave a stirring presentation during our conference that still resonates with me.  It helped us start some difficult conversations among leaders in our district.  It reminded me of the importance of the support I still give to #MyCrew in East Harlem.  

"The system, as it is, is giving us exactly what it was designed to give us.  We don't need to fix the system.  We need to rebuild it from the ground up."

Now I am asking myself important questions about my work to change school:

• What pivotal moments in my life have driven me to do this work? 
• What am I doing to promote equity for all students?  Can I do more?
• What biases are still present within me that affect the work I am doing?  Can I name them so I can fight them?

​I'm thinking about all of these questions.  I know the more I reflect and dig into myself and the work I do, the more intentional I am about equity for all students, the better the outcomes will be for the young people, the families, and the community I serve.

I talk a lot about reflection and the importance of looking inward at your learning and your journey through life.  Take time to take stock of where you've been, where you are, and where you're going.

That being said, I realized that I have a need for some deep reflection about my path.  I realized this because I have been stricken lately with something that affects many teachers and leaders.  It affected me when I was a waiter and bartender.  

I have been having nightmares that wake me up in the middle of the night where I am struggling to teach well in an over-sized classroom.  But my nightmares have evolved as my own knowledge about my practice has evolved.  In my nightmare, I am struggling with how I am teaching.  I was asking myself, "Why did you plan a lesson that has you talking by lecture for 15 minutes?!?  How are you going to fix this, on the fly, with 34 kids in your room, to be more student-centered?"  And then struggling because I couldn't come up with any ideas.

I thought I was done with work-related nightmares.  I guess I was wrong.

They have me thinking about my learning path and asking questions of myself.  My district is about to embark on a change journey to incorporate Modern Learning in our community, from the District Team down to every classroom.  My role is evolving.  Things are changing.  I embrace change.  But it is obviously creating some anxiety in me.

Change brings with it fear.  So what am I afraid of that is the catalyst for the anxiety that creates the work-related nightmares?  I feel like once I can name it, it will not be as scary, and I can hopefully rest easier.

• Am I afraid of not doing a good job with launching our Modern Learning change process?
• Am I afraid of running out of time to do it well?
• Will I have enough time for my other responsibilities?
• What if no one buys into the reasons why?
• Who are my allies/my tribe?  Do I have allies?

I am betting a lot of myself on this work.  Change isn't easy.  I'm okay with that.  I have been wanting this for a long time.  Who would have thought that the guy who has been preaching change for so long would have to confront fears about the change process?  I didn't.  But I know they are there.  I am naming the fears.  I am working to confront the fears.  I am reminding myself of how exciting this process is (there's that crazy inner-dialog issue with me again) and how important it is that the work continues...

Do you have fears you are fighting?  How are you pushing through?  

Monday was a busy day.  I was reminded of varied learning styles as I interacted with very different people throughout a series of meetings with topics ranging from strategic planning, checking in, modern learning, and social-emotional learning.

With all of these interactions, I could hear my internal conversation reminding me, "Listen more.  Talk less.  Ask better questions.  Wait time is okay."  It's becoming internalized.  Hopefully, soon, it will reach automaticity so I'm not noticing me talking to myself in my head.  That's a little crazy, right?  

My district is about to launch into our change process in a move to Modern Learning practices in our schools.  We are starting with deep conversations about learning and success in our district, defining what that looks like and sounds like for our community.  

I am finding myself energized by the change work we are engaging in as a team.  And I am reminding myself that, while I am prepared for and am embracing the change process, this often brings up feelings of fear and loss for all those involved - teachers, students, families, leaders, staff, community members.  

I need my inner dialog (yeah, I guess I am sounding a bit cray-cray) to remind me of this aspect of change, and that using questioning moves to get to the root of our fears together will be a needed skill in the months and years to come.  

Before I write about this week's Name That Tune in American Sign Language Game, I want to write a little about Day 19.  I spent some time at work on Saturday checking in with my District's Saturday school and stopping in at a Parent Engagement event at another school.  I spent some time at the event with my FABULOUS co-worker, toni.

She doesn't really know this yet, but she is fast becoming my questioning coach in my learning journey.  She has an amazing talent at framing even the most awful things in brilliant ways, usually through questioning moves.  It really blows my mind how talented she is in this arena.  

I have been trudging through Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for a while now.  Man this is a tough read for me.  But it is one of Dwight's favorite books, and I am going to finish it, no matter how long and painful the process is.  As always, when I was feeling frustrated with the read, toni maneuvers me to a better place with questioning:

Now, suddenly, I'm seeing this book in a new light.  What songs would be sung?  Which topics would make for a good comedic tune to engage the audience?

I appreciate you, toni.  You rock my world.  If you want to read some of her words, check out her blog, Gold Tokens.

Now, on to Day 20's Name That Tune in ASL, week 3.  This week's tune is dedicated to toni and a conversation we had this weekend while musing over the families that joined us for our weekend event.  I hope to hear more from people about this one.  

And take a minute to appreciate someone today.  Someone that helps you to be a better version of yourself.  Someone that makes you smile and laugh.  Someone that helps you shift perspective and see things differently.


As always, if you can't get to YouTube, you can see this week's video on Vimeo by clicking HERE.

I'm behind in my postings, so I'm going to post twice today.  This post will catch up on Thursday and Friday.  The following post will be my weekend update.  I think I have a good song to sign, so be sure to check out the next post once you've finished this one!

Day 17 was a Snow Day and a slow day.  I spent the day cold, fighting the desire to ignore the things that needed to be done while constantly staring out windows to see how much snow is falling and how the wind is whipping up the trees.  Schools were closed, so the day was spent mostly playing catch up on work that was backed up.

Friday was a much more active day.  It was COLD, but we were energized.  My team is reading Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart together.  I am really enjoying sharing ideas about what we are reading.  We had a really intense conversation, and we were only talking about the first 2 chapters!

My biggest question that I want to share came out of our conversation about common language.  As a team, we are talking through what we mean when we use specific terms.  Our first piece of language that we tackled was the word "Learning".  On Friday, we turned our attention to the word "Success".  What does that mean to us?  How are we defining success in District 1?  And my question that will start to frame my conversations a bit moving forward was:

This is going to be an important conversation for our school leaders and teachers to have with their community.  And I believe that students and their families should be included in this conversation.  When families share their expectations that students should be, I imagine their answers will not include things like:

• "They should sound like an A/B/C."
• "They should look like a 95%."
• "They should be able to raise their hand to speak."
• "They should be able to sit in rows and take a 3 day examination that is the entire basis for their progress to the next level."

​
I would expect what most parents will likely expect:

• They should be appropriately literate and numerate.
• They should be problem solvers working to improve the lives of themselves, their families, and their community.
• They should be curious and creative.
• They should know when to ask for help, and when to offer it.
• They should be comfortable taking the lead and following a strong leader.
• They should be able to work with others in meaningful ways.
• They should be citizens (talk about a word that could use some common language!).

What do you think a graduate should look like?  

When I started this 30 day writing journey, it was meant to focus in on 2 specific areas:

1. Give fewer answers.  Ask more and better questions.
2. Practice American Sign Language and find new ways to share that learning.

I have been trying, and will continue to try my ASL Name That Tune Game.  Next round this weekend!

I seemed to have lost touch a bit with asking questions.  That became apparent yesterday during a meeting with a school leaders.  We were discussing how to build capacity in teachers to begin managing their own inquiry team.  It was mentioned by one leader that she did not want to add more paperwork to the already heavy load of work teachers do on a daily basis.

I launched into problem solving mode.  I knew that school had used Google Forms for other meetings.  I thought, with a little time and a personal refresher in Google Drive Apps, I could design a Form that took meeting minutes, which would upload to a Sheet, then specific parts of the Sheet data - Next Steps - Pluses/Deltas - could then be dropped into a Doc Template to serve as the next meeting agenda which would then be auto emailed to all participants.

Yeah, Son!  

"But, Bryan, then we're doing the work we are asking the team to take control of and manage for themselves."

Right.  This is what I have been fighting in myself for so long.  I don't need to have the answer to a question or task that wasn't asked of me.  Instead, I need to learn how the teachers will best manage the meeting.  I may even disagree with their ideas, but it is their meeting, and as long I there is accountability for minutes and managing their time, who am I to say my idea is the best?  Maybe theirs will work better?  Maybe mine would have?  We won't know until they have a chance to own their processes and make their own sense and solutions.

How quickly I forgot to ask questions.  One break for Winter Recess, and I'm back into the habit of answer quickly and efficiently.  This has been a part of my modus operandi for so long.  It is going to be a real challenge for me to overcome this aspect within my mental processes.  I am up for the challenge.  Dare I say at this time of year, I am resolved to change this?

Reflection is helping me to grow, and writing here is becoming a useful tool as a part of my reflections.  Now it's time to review the previous 15 days, read all about how I was learning to ask more questions, and then try harder tomorrow.

Best wishes to all who are putting in that work to better themselves.  Keep pushing, even if you slip.  Reflect, learn, move forward.

Back to the grind today.  After a week of sleeping in, it was rough trying to drag @55 out of bed.  There really was not enough coffee to get me going.  

Through all of the mental haze, I managed to get a pretty productive day accomplished.  I spent some time with a school leader whose company I really enjoy.  The more we talk, the more alike in mindset I think we are.  Perhaps to be one of the first in my tribe of school leaders that embrace Modern Learning because she truly believes it is the right thing to do.

That is my big take-away today.  People make this work worthwhile.  Having a network of like-minded folks that believe in the best in all young people is very energizing.  Once I made it to the office, one my international buddies invited my District team to her District to observe Modern Learning practices in various states of implementation.  

I'm so happy working in an environment that is embracing change as part of growth.  My new Superintendent and our District Team live in this excited state most days with me.  Thankful to be back in the game today.  The work continues...