Interacting with Farber

I've mentioned in previous posts my love for Steve Farber's book The Radical Leap.  I was so moved by the book's message that I not only adopted the philosophy in my personal and professional life, but I took the time to email Steve to thank him for sharing his message. 

Within an hour, Steve wrote me back and has since used a portion of my email on his personal blog.  It is a great honor to see that Steve not only took the time to answer me, but has publicly presented my story to his many followers.  It is without a doubt one of the highlights of my young teaching career and I am proud to share it in the link below...

http://www.stevefarber.com/2012/05/coach-morrisons-journey/

Take care,
Coach Mo

TGIF Syndrome

In the past month or so, I have finished reading Steve Farber’s The Radical Leap, and I am currently halfway through Jon Gordon’s Training Camp.  Reading these books about extreme leadership, passion, and excellence, combined with a complete overhaul of my classroom philosophy, has opened my eyes to a number of things that now bother me more than they probably should.  The “TGIF syndrome” is one that I see way too often… 

One of the main things that I attempt to encourage my students to do is to “do something that you love, pursue a passion, and to always come to school for yourself, not for your teacher or administrator.”  I see students on a daily basis that have no motivation to improve in any way, shape, or form.  They are trying to just get by these next few years so that they can graduate and… (I end the sentence there because these are the students that either don’t know what they will do, or have a completely skewed vision of what it takes to get where they want to go). 

Fridays motivate me.  Occasionally Thursdays do too, and in some severe cases, the previous Sunday motivates me to continue encouraging students to pursue a passion and to find something they love to do.  I mostly find the motivation on social media from friends, peers, colleagues, and complete strangers in the form of the “TGIF syndrome.”

Disclaimer:  I’m not suggesting I’m innocent of ever wanting to get through a day or week.  The “TGIF syndrome” refers to people who consistently take part in the activity of grinding out their weeks only for the weekend.   

The “TGIF syndrome” is present in that person that posts the traditional “TGIF” or “come on weekend” or “ugh, tomorrow’s Monday” or “how can it only be Wednesday” and so on and so forth.  People that publicly announce their disgust for their chosen work that just cannot wait to get to the weekend. 

Ever since I have made each day at work about what I love, interaction with people, I have removed any trace of that mentality from my thinking.  I love spending time with my family on the weekend like anyone else, but to wake up each day not wanting to go to work so badly that a public announcement of your misery is necessary is no way to live. 

I write this Today to encourage colleagues, friends, and students to find something that you love to do to call a profession.  Don’t just do things to get by.  If you wake up each day and find that the “TGIF syndrome” is real, begin to find what you love in your work and make that a focus, or begin to sketch out a plan to pursue another path.  Don’t get through 5 days each week just to enjoy 2.  Enjoy all 7!

I strongly recommend both of the books that I mentioned in the opening paragraph to anyone, especially those caught up in the “TGIF syndrome.”  They both have changed the way I view my self, my profession, and most importantly my time.  I hope that everyone who reads this post is curious enough to at least examine their purpose.  If you need motivation, read the books.  If you have the motivation, find that positive energy that you get from your life and work, and focus on it, pass it on daily, and let the snowball effect take over in both your personal and professional life.

Take care,

Coach Mo

***A special thanks to my good friend, Mike McDonough, who recommended both books to me.  I am glad I finally took his advice to become a “LEAPer,” even though I resisted it for a couple of years.  What a mistake!***

School Culture Part 2: Pursue Your Passion

If you missed part 1 click here- School Culture: A Mindset

Two weeks ago I was in my classroom having one-on-one meetings with my students.  This is a daily routine for me, but something amazing was happening as the students and I reviewed their projects that they had just completed.   These particular meetings had a phrase in them that I hadn’t heard all that much in my teaching career:  “thank you.”

Students were thanking me for my class.  I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in….

…  Yes, thanking me. 

As we discussed their projects, reviewed their methods of research, and talked about their struggles and successes, I was hearing things such as-

“I learned so much because I actually wanted to learn this” and “I’m so happy that we get to pick our topics” and “I’ve been waiting for this class my entire school career, finally I get to do something relevant to my life.” 

The common theme was that students were learning about topics that they were interested in, and were using methods of presentation that they were good at or passionate about.  This wasn’t just a free-for-all.  Students had to select a topic related to our unit to use as the base for their research with the goal of satisfying the unit objectives.  Then, they could use whatever means they wished to communicate their learning. 

Fast forward to the next period of the day.  I was eating my lunch reflecting upon the theme I mentioned above.  I was putting pieces of a puzzle together as I took what these students had said to me and connected them to previous conversations.  These were primarily upper classmen that had the insight of real-world connections, doing things they loved, and not wasting their time.  A few had communicated to me that they already know what they want to do with their lives, and a few had absolutely no clue what they want to do. 

Then an idea hit me.  I quickly finished my sandwich and left for the front office.  Luckily our building principal was in his office and he was gracious enough to make time for me on the spot.  I pitched to him my new idea and made it clear that I hadn’t really thought it out yet, but I wanted to present the idea even if there was no chance of it happening.  My idea was to teach a new course offering called “pursue your passion.”  My description went something like this…

We have students that know what they want to do with their life and don’t get to practice it each day.  We have students that don’t know what they want to do with their life, but never get to attempt things that may lead them to discovering their purpose without fear of a grade.  I’d like to teach a course that isn’t graded, but is required.  Students would come in everyday and my class would accomplish a number of things…

1.  Students would get to do what they love- too many people get to age 25 or 30 and are constantly told to pursue their passion only to realize that there isn’t much of a future within that passion.  Students would find out what they can do with that passion at a younger age.  By doing this, students also begin to develop that mindset that school is for them (see part 1) and this mindset would be discussed daily so that they may carry it over into other classes. 

2.  Students would get to try new things- students would be challenged to fail.  Fail because they attempted new things, or tried out a project that they never thought they could do.  Students would learn through the failure, and develop new skill sets that they can carry over into their life and also into other courses.  One thing I have discovered in my classroom this past nine weeks is that many students resort to a poster board, a paper, or power point not because it is the easiest thing, but because they don’t know what else to do.  Trying new methods of project presentation would open their minds to alternative ways of skill building and learning. 

3.  Students would develop an appreciation for what school has to offer- I mentioned this in #1, but the goal of the course would be to give students direction in their life.  I wouldn’t want freshman and sophomores to choose their future profession, but I would hope that by trying many types of things in my class they would at least have a base understanding of what is out there.  This would bring us back to the whole goal of creating that mindset within the student that they are at school for themselves, and for the reason of gaining skills and knowledge that they can use to make themselves better in any area of their life that they wish.  Our students need to come to school looking to get better, not looking to satisfy the teacher. 

I could go on and on with ideas for the course, but as I mentioned in #3, it all comes back to creating the culture that school is for the student, not for the teacher’s requirements.  I realize that my course is a long shot at best, but I’d love for teachers to consider taking some of its components into consideration in their own courses. 

Allow students to have a choice, allow them to pursue the things that they love, encourage them to fail by trying something new, learn from failure, apply the concepts to the real world, and so on. 

My principal was a great listener to my course pitch.  He agreed with most of what I had to say, and echoed my desire to have educators everywhere adopt some of the mindset that my course would foster.  I thanked him for listening, just as my students thanked me for my current course.  I am not sure what will come of it, but I hope that because I am sharing my thoughts with him, and sharing my thoughts through my blog, that small changes will be made in many classrooms that create a better culture and learning environment for our students.

Take care,

Coach Mo