Are You Dialed In?

To be “dialed in” – what does that mean?  “Dialed in” is slang and means to be very proficient at a given activity.  Perhaps you are dialed in at playing the piano, dialed in as a tremendous cook, dialed in as a financial whiz, dialed in as a skilled nurse…oh, wait, I was describing some skills of my wife.  In drilling for oil, workers determine that a pump is “Dialed in” when the gauges recognize an optimal setting.  That’s where you get your “Gushers”and someone like Jed Clampett makes a bunch of money.  You can be “Dialed In” to a radio station…blasting it…singing like no one is watching and imagining yourself on stage in front of thousands…then the static comes because the frequency isn’t just right.  People can be “Dialed In” to whatever floats their boat from a hobby to studying to solving the problems of the world.  “Dialed In” is an adjective = exhibiting total concentration on AND mastery of the task at hand.  Side note – if adverbs modify verbs, shouldn’t adjectives modify “jectives”?  Just thinking.  “Dialed In” is to be tuned in, to be aware of what is going on, to be perfectly tuned, to optimize the opportunity and to be well-coordinated.

For two months, you have listened to daily announcements from your “93.5 Dialed In Team”.  You have seen numerous signs around the building with “Are You Dialed In?” prominently displayed.  You have heard all of the banter. We have set a school goal. Your have set team goals. The kids, with your help, have set individual goals.  Now is the time!  You have exposed kids to the frequency of skill sets and topics to be tested.  We are trying to provide the optimal environment for them in which to test.  We have encouraged the kids. We have talked with the kids. We have made videos.  We have made deals (I have a long list of kids at lunch who will be smashing my pretty face with pies when we reach our goals).  You have taught the kids.  You have challenged them. You have retaught. You have remediated them. You have enriched them.  Now is the time!  Is it time for EVERYONE TO BE DIALED IN!  We all have to be of one accord and I’m not referencing a Honda.  Our promotion has to be the same. We have worked far too hard to see anything go by the wayside because we were not dialed in.  Here we go – encourage, encourage, encourage!  Be dialed in and assure that your students are.  Let’s hit a gusher!

Winning Synonyms

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” is a quote from Vince Lombardi…or Henry Sanders, depending on who you ask.  Both were successful football coaches at different levels.  Just for poops and giggles, I looked up some synonyms for “winning”. Here’s what I found = victorious, successful, ahead, champion, conquering, triumph, leading, first, top, unbeaten, unvanquished, top-scoring, prevailing, conquering, carry the day, sweep the board, take the prize, achieve mastery, ascending, knockout, checkmate, grand slam, rake over the coals, outplaying, outdoing, dominating, outdueling, routing, subduing, surmounting, trouncing, bettering, and umgadakickbooty (okay, I made that last one up).  Everyone likes to win.  Those who say differently are either lying or have thrown in the towel.  There are thousands of quotes about winning; mostly from the world of sports.  However, not all are sports related. For example, Walt Disney said, “The difference in winning and losing is most often not quitting.” He didn’t run some “Mickey Mouse” operation.  “The extra energy required to take another shot is the secret to winning” was coined by author and motivational speaker,  Dennis Waitley.  I would like to concentrate on just one of the above synonyms for winning – Triumph.

While we were listening to our Pastor preach on the topic of “Mercy” in April of 2013, our youngest daughter took my notebook and wrote something profound in it.  “Triumph = trying plus a little ump!”  Smart girl...just like her Momma.  She’s right – winning doesn’t come to sluggards.  Winning doesn’t routinely exist for those who never break a sweat.  Winning doesn’t come for those who do the bare minimum.  It has been said that the difference of one degree Fahrenheit from 211 degrees to 212 degrees can move a locomotive with the energy produced.  Winning doesn’t come to those not willing to put forth the effort. Plain and simple.  If you, as a teacher, want your kids to win (i.e. Succeed, grow, learn, achieve, reaching goals), you will have to do the “little things” that make the big differences that you may hear me preach about on a routine basis. Everyone does the “Big” things.  Successful people know that it’s the “Little Things” that make the big difference.  So, when you think about wanting to win, remember two things it will take = TRYING and a LITTLE UMP!”

Love Songs

A recent poll named the top “Love Songs” of all time.  Here’s the deal -  you have to either sing or dance to one of these songs on Saturday.  Saturday?  Yes, fellas – Saturday is Valentine’s Day so consider yourself warned. DO NOT BLOW IT!  Back to the songs- here you go: I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles, Best of My Love by The Emotions, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, How Deep is Your Love? by the Bee Gees, and Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross.  In my opinion, this poll missed a few. How about When A Man Loves A Woman by Percy Sledge or Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton?  How about Your Song by Elton John or Three Times A Lady by The Commodores? What about You are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker or Colour My World by Chicago?  The latter was the first slow dance that my wife and I danced to when we were 17 and 18 and would not hesitate to do so today and will definitely do so on Saturday…when she gets home from birthing babies all day.  So, go ahead – surprise your spouse or significant other with a song.  They’ll never forget it and neither will you.

What are the top five “Love Songs” about your teaching career?  What are those moments that you hold special?  You know, the ones you go back to when you need that boost. The days when you think you are not making a difference at all.  Those days when you feel like the bug and not the windshield.  These are different things to different people.  Maybe it’s the kid that you finally connected with.  Maybe it’s the card that you received from a parent, or better yet, from a student that stated how grateful they were to have you in their life.  Maybe it’s that day when every single one of your students scored at the mastery level on a summative assessment.  Maybe it’s the kid that modeled the same positive behavior that you modeled for him. Maybe it is that kid who finally got out of the wheelchair and took his or her first steps.  Maybe it’s the former student who called you up to tell you that you made a difference in their life and while you were tough on them at the time, they finally get what you were trying to do.  Think on these things. Cherish the good more than looking at the not so good.  Hold dear to those lasting impressions that will help you through those days when plans A, B, C, and D just aren’t paying off. Remember that you are making memories for someone every single day including yourself.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hitting the Snooze Button

What is your personal record for the number of times you have hit the snooze button on your alarm?  I mean, in a row.  1,2,12…?  My alarm is set for 3:01 a.m. and I rarely make it to the alarm.  Honestly, I think I have hit the snooze button 3 times in the last 35 years.  But, let’s face it, anyone who says that they jump out of bed with enthusiasm to start the day is lying like a rug.  Of course, we all know that hitting that snooze button too many times can create problems for you and others.  If you are a parent of non-self-sufficient children, then others may be counting on you to prepare them for their day regardless of the preparation needed to start your day.  Don’t lose heart young parent – it does get better. Perhaps you only have to get yourself ready to go, but you still have to deal with getting to school on time while factoring in road construction, traffic, weather problems and a host of other issues. The point is, we just can’t afford to keep hitting the snooze button. From time to time, I have had to deal with students who can’t seem to get to school on time.  My suggestion is pretty much the no-brainer – put your alarm clock on the other side of the room so that you have to get out of bed to shut it off.  Viola- you are up.  Excuse makers will say that this does not work…those are the same folks who make excuses about other things as well.  As the saying goes, if you snooze, you lose.

As teachers, we cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button.  We don’t have the luxury of extra time to get everything completed as our time parameters are set.  We get 180, seven plus hour days to teach all of the standards. It’s really less than that since the state test is given twice – less than 75% of the way through the year and then again about 5 weeks prior to school ending.  Definitely not a end of course assessment.  We have to be good pacers in our lessons.  We have to have an excellent game plan by setting the essential understandings and the long-term goals. We need to establish meaningful daily goals tied to the long-term goals.  We simply do not have time to hot the snooze button of a “free day” or the like.  Our foot has to be on the gas pedal much of the time.  When we see a student in need of remediation, we need to remediate that student without a great deal of hesitation. The same goes for a student who needs to be challenged more deeply with extensions or enrichments.  We cannot hesitate to provide. We cannot put if off. “I’ll do it later” really becomes “never” because the clock is ticking. Take your hand away from the snooze button.

Pitch Counts

In baseball, the number of pitches that a pitcher throws during a game is an important piece of data.  This is known as a “Pitch Count” and it often has limits. This is to save “wear and tear” on the anatomy of the arm and shoulder.  In Little League, the pitch count states a maximum number of pitches in one day.  This increases as the athlete gets older.  For 9-10 year olds, the number is 75. For 11-12 year olds, the pitch count is 85.  High Schools have their own rules about pitch counts. As far as records, the most pitches thrown in a game belongs to Nolan Ryan, who threw 259 pitches in a 12 inning performance in 1974.  Now if a major league pitcher throws 100 pitches, the trainer calls 91 and waits.  The most pitches in one inning was 61 by Steve Trachsel of the Chicago Cubs in 1997.   Side note:  do you know why the Cubs are not on the Internet?  It’s because they cannot put three W’s together. Back to the point…when a pitcher has exhausted his/her pitch count, they are not allowed to go on no matter how they feel. In short, there is most definitely a limit. The manager has to take him out of the game.

Teachers do not have a pitch count.  I am often stumped when people try to explain that they have “done everything possible” to remedy a situation.  I am not even sure what that means because I did not realize that “everything” had a ceiling. Your “innings” are each class period that you get the opportunity to make a difference.  There is no limit to the number of strategies that you use.  There is no limit to the positives that you spew.  No one is going to take you out of the game because you tried too many things.  I could quote, “Failure is not an option” and “If at first you don’t succeed” and so forth, but the point is that we have to find what works and there is no limit to the attempts.  Heck, Edison tried about 1,000 filaments before he found that one that illuminated his light bulb.  This differentiated learning is a real thing and so is differentiating your instruction.  Find a way. Find a way. Find a way.  As a pitcher needs to change speeds and hit his or her locations, you will need to change instruction and hit your targets.  This manager is not taking you out of the game.

Pharmacists

Two of my roommates at Butler University were pharmacy majors.  These guys spent five years (the length of the program at that time; it is now six years) studying their butts off.  Seriously, it was unreal the amount of time they spent in labs and outside study.  I jokingly asked Bob once why so much study time was needed to simply pour a number of tablets in a bottle and, by the way, how do they get that bottle in the typewriter?  His verbal response cannot be written here.  Butler remains as “The Place” to study to be a pharmacist.  A few years back, a pharmacist named Robert Courtney (not a Butler grad) made $19,000,000.  That’s a lot of money.  The problem is that Mr. Courtney didn’t make this legally. He diluted 98,000chemotherapy doses and sold them outside of his company’s knowledge. He watered down medicine.  Sadly, 4200 cancer patients died because their chemotherapy cocktails were not strong enough.  What a scum dog.  Courtney was sentenced to 30 years in prison; hopefully not near the medical section. Ironically, when I initially jotted a few notes on this subject to turn into a post a few months ago, a diagnosis of leukemia was not in my plans…glad that Mr. Courtney is not on my team.

As teachers, we need to ensure that what we are giving to kids is strong enough.  We need to teach kids to critically read, critically write, and critically think.  Those things do not come naturally.  Our kids need to read more complicated texts.  They need to prove answers with evidence.  We cannot dilute the curriculum because it is easier.  Nope. At our school, during core class period, we need to teach at grade level.  A natural tendency would be to “water down” the curriculum so that all goes well.  Fight that tendency.  Use RtI and resource periods as the time to reach down to meet the kids where they are and then continually work to spiral them back up.  If we truly want to make our students critical thinkers then we have to expose them to higher levels of understanding.  If you are a Bloom’s fan (I have the t-shirt), then spend a great deal of time requiring your student toanalyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate.  The new standards dictate that students are educated as critical thinkers no matter what the subject area. So, make certain that your students get a strong enough daily dosage from you with a higher concentration of critical thinking.  Make your students strong enough.

Counterfeit Money

Catch Me If You Can was a biographical crime drama based on the life of Frank Abagnale, who, before he was 19, successfully posed as a doctor, lawyer, and pilot to con people out of millions of dollars. Whoever said that teenagers are slicker than snot on a doorknob was right. Cue the heart clouds – the main role was played by Leonardo DiCaprio.  Abagnale later served as a government employee check fraud expert while under the direction of the FBI.  The FBI also employs many in the field of counterfeit money.  The ongoing training that these agents are put through may surprise you.  Those trained to recognize counterfeit money never study counterfeit money!  Why is that?  Glad you asked. There are far too many possibilities that counterfeiters use and is impossible to keep up with.  So, here is what these experts study – they immerse themselves in studying what true legal tender looks like day after day after day so that can spot anything incorrect that stands out.  Studying the good to recognize the bad – what a novel concept.

A best practice concept to use in your classroom is to display exemplary work of students.  One reason for this is the recognition of the student touching the affective side of total student development.  Perhaps you have your own method of displaying these excellent essays, art work, country brochures, or science fair projects.  Kids develop some personal pride knowing that their teacher thought that their work was so good it just had to be displayed.  The other side of displaying exemplary student work is for the other kids to see.  Displaying great work gives the class examples of what “great” actually looks like so that they understand what “not great” looks like. It give them something to aspire to.  It gives them a goal. It provides an example.  It is a best practice.  Don’t miss this incredibly easy teaching strategy.  Hopefully, you won’t have to chase Leonardo DiCaprio around…guess that is a matter of perspective.