Transistor Radios

You knew that you arrived in the middle 1960’s when you had your very own transistor radio.  For those of you who were not even kicking the slats out of your cradle at this time, ask your parents…or grandparents. Transistor radios allowed “instant on” operation since there were not filaments to heat up.  They could fit in your pocket, weighed less than half of a pound, ran on 9-volt batteries, and sometimes came with a real nifty earplug for ONE ear.  While the sound of baseball cards clipping the bicycle spokes was, as still is, about the best sound in the world, you moved up the ladder with your very own transistor radio.  Being able to listen to the game while actually playing the game made you feel tuned in to the world around you.  On a really clear night, being able to pick up a game with legendary players involved, well, that was just way cool.  You could listen to the music of The Beatles, The Byrds, The Stones, The Beach Boys, (ever notice the groups of the 60‘s had “The” in each name…that’s another Friday Outlook down the road)  anywhere you wanted with this device …IF you could get reception.  It seemed that invariably just when the 3-2 pitch was being delivered or the best part of a song was coming on, or when Jack Snow was wide open for the Irish, or the New Year’s Eve countdown of the WLS Top 100 songs of the year was reaching the top 10, everything went fuzzy. You had to adjust the antenna, point it in a different direction, stand on one leg with tin foil (old school for aluminum wrap) on the tip, and pray to God that this interference was short-lived.  Here’s the lesson in all this:  to hear to music, you had to stay tuned in…and you still do.

It’s that way in what we do.  We have to be tuned in to where kids are.  That’s the beauty of things like Acuity testing that while done properly, you can gain a great deal as to the progression of your kids.  That is what formative assessment is about = forming your instruction to meet the needs of the kids that you have assessed.  Formative testing is for the sake of the teacher. You will hear about that in next Friday’s “Lunch & Learn”.  This gives teachers a chance to “tune in”, to get your antenna up, to pick up some insight into what your students need to get them to where they need to be.  Sometimes you may have to point in a different direction to get the signal.  Often, you will make adjustments to fine tune some learning.  Maybe you will have to tighten your antennae to take the fuzziness out of what you are hearing from your students.  While you probably won’t have to stand on one leg with aluminum foil, you may have to bend over backward to get reception.  Largely, we do just that here at Col. Wheeler – whether it be in the classroom, reception desks, or in custodial duties.  Thanks for that.  As we approach the ISTEP, keep working to get clear reception along the way.

After Further Review...

At some point in most NFL games, you will hear an official state the following:  “After further review, the ruling…”  This is in response to a call by a game official being challenged or the replay booth official believes the play should be reviewed so that the absolute right call can be made.  The referee usually retreats to a small replay machine under cover while he looks at the play again.  Football is not the only sport that reviews human decisions. “The previous play is being reviewed” is growing more and more while taking more and more of the “human element” out of the equation.  When I was a kid, we had our own sort of replay booth at the neighborhood Park.  This was called a discussion, which was sometimes a heated one over a fair or foul ball, whether a touchdown pass was really in bounds, or if the other player had a “R” or an “S” in H-O-R-S-E.  After considerable bickering, the result was something called a “Do-Over.” “Do-Overs” would be loudly announced if it was in your favor or barely audible if you were getting the short end of the stick.  Throughout the years, we may have had a lot of “Do-Overs” in areas too numerous to list.  Maybe you were on the good end or bad end of a “Do-Over”, but either way, you experienced at least one.

Make no mistake – kids don’t get “Do-Overs” in school.   Kids get one chance under our tutelage…or do we get one chance with them?  36 weeks to make a difference in a kid that you may never work with again.  That 36 weeks quickly turns to 35, then 18, then 9 and before you know it, they move on.  You will get another group next year.  They won’t.  Most kids will be in your class only one time.  You get that time span and that time span only to make a difference.  There are no “Do-Overs”.  That is why I consistently implore you to make the most of every opportunity that you have with kids. You can make them or break them.  You can mold them or let them be shapeless.  You can prepare them for what lies ahead or let them sink.  Either way, it has to be a choice by you.  Yes, you have to choose to make a difference; difference-makers do not happen because of luck.  It is an intentional decision.  Every day is another opportunity to make a difference.  At the end, there are no “Do-Overs.”  You will want to hear from these kids down the road that you did indeed make a difference in their lives.  And yes, confident that you have made a difference and, after further review, the ruling stands.

The Pig and the Chicken

As you will recall, our first group meeting in August included a story about a pig and a chicken that wanted to honor the farmer by providing breakfast for him.  As second semester begins, remain cognizant of our commitment (think pig) and daily contribution (think hen) to our kids, our parents, our colleagues, and ourselves. The small toys of each animal were given to you as a visual reminder of our work.  Remember that there is a distinct difference between being committed to something and just being interested in something.  Interest means you only do it when time permits.  Committed means accepting no excuses and choosing to make a difference.   Your commitment will come from your daily contribution. 

I had two questions posed to me last weekend that I now pose to you:  (1) How important is it to you to maximize the remaining days of your life? and (2) Why are you here – not why are we here?  Relate this from a career point of view.  So, how about it?  What drives you from the inside?  Forget for a moment that we all get paid to do what we do.  What drives you on the inside, what fuels your fire?  Don’t over process what your heart is telling you.  Working with kids is really a matter of your heart’s desires.  If it is not, then I would suggest backing away and evaluating what your heart is telling you.  Yes, this goes against conventional wisdom that tells you to think with your head and ignore your heart.  Guess which people tell you that? – the very ones who truly don’t enjoy doing what they are doing.  Things are external in that world.  The same ones who mark the days off on the calendar to some date when they are finished, when they don’t have to go back anymore.  Working with kids isn’t something we “have to” do; it is something we “get to” do.  If that doesn’t fuel your tank, then use your head.  If it does, feel your heart.  This isn’t a career by default ; it is a career of design.  Yes, continue to be both the pig and the chicken.  Maximize every opportunity with every kid.  Know that there is a purpose to what you do in this school no matter what the job description is. 

Legend Journalist

Over the recent break, I finally got around to reading a book that my mother-in-law gave me over two years ago,  the memoirs of Walter Cronkite, a famed journalist whose career spanned half of a century. The book detailed his life from childhood to his retirement in the 1980’s and chronicled his love for telling “the story” to viewers and readers.  Walter Cronkite was the CBS Evening News anchor for a few decades and was admired by millions.  One of his early career influences was a journalist by the name of Paul White.  When asked his advice of how to deliver material, Mr. White simply said, “You tell them what you’re going to tell them, you tell them, and then you tell them what you told them.”  This will surely defeat any attempt at subtlety. Walter Cronkite followed that advice throughout his career and if you are old enough to remember – he was very good.  If not, find a clip of him (yep, it may be black and white).

Teachers often follow the example above throughout lessons. If you follow the “oldie by goodie” style of Madeline Hunter, you give the class an anticipatory set, you present information, let them work it through some sort of guided practice, and then you close with a summary.  That is fine, but there are a few things to add along the way.  As I have said at every “Lunch & Learn” throughout the year, often the last people to know what the goals are the very ones that we want to achieve the goal – the kids!  It is wise to tell your classes at the beginning of a unit just what it is that you want them to “get smarter about.”  It should not be a secret.  People have a much better shot at achieving something if they know what that something is. I saw a great example of this on Wednesday during 8^th period Read 180 as Amanda Tuel and Ginger Weilbaker had kids doing things that they were not able to do a few months ago.  However by establishing what it was they desired as a result, providing instruction-review-relevance-instruction-review-relevance and so on, really good results are being achieved.  The student growth just smacks you in the face.  Give that some thought as you present your units of instruction – tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.  In the end, the chances of your kids reaching those desired results will being enhanced.