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Brené Brown's Role in our Quest to Become Stronger Educators....Part 3 of a Series on Learning

7/13/2019

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​In my first two posts about our professional learning journey, I shared our  shift in mindset and practices surrounding professional learning as a school community.  In our annual 2018 Spring survey to staff, an interest in social-emotional learning and how, as educators, we could learn more to help our students.  Our journey was super charged with the opportunity to work with Dr. Brene´ Brown and her Daring Classroom's team. If you are not familiar with Dr. Brown's work, please watch the video below taken from a keynote address she gave at SXSW in 2017.  
Our three days of learning with Dr. Brown's team was hard and deep at many points.  We quickly learned that we were not just going to be learning about ways to support students in our school, we were going to be learning about ourselves. We have a very large faculty, close to 200 people, and as with any learning, there were teachers that were not in a place where they could connect with and engage with the topics we were learning about. And that was OK.  If you have read my previous two posts about our learning journey, you might be asking how this fits into our shift in mindset to encourage autonomy, choice, and risk in professional learning. Our work with Dr. Brown opened our minds to what some of the barriers can be in adult learning and in fostering learning mindsets in our students. We began our work with Dr. Brown and her team by identifying our own core values and then spent time reflecting on how our values shape and guide us personally and professionally.  

​What we quickly learned was that everyone comes with a story...EVERYONE. And learning more about vulnerability and empathy were the first steps in helping us to enter classrooms and look below the surface at our students.  
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`Vulnerability is defined as the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. Each of us is unique, and the feelings that we experience with vulnerability are also unique. For me, vulnerability begins in a conversation between my head and heart, a queasy feeling in my stomach that comes from the fear of being emotionally exposed. Brené Brown talks about vulnerability being “…based on mutuality and requires boundaries and trust. It’s not oversharing, it’s not purging, it’s not indiscriminate disclosure and it’s not celebrity-style social media information dumps. Vulnerability is about sharing our feelings and our experiences with people who have earned the right to hear them. Being vulnerable and open is mutual and an integral part of the trust-building process” (Daring Greatly, p.45).

Creating a safe space within our classrooms for students to feel safe is something that we need to actively seek to create. When we are vulnerable with students we are showing that not only do we respect them, but we trust them. The thing about learning is that it's hard, and if we want students to show up and give us their best we have to work to create a that space where they can share openly. Mr. Houle, a new member of our staff, shared how he would approach a sleeping child in one of his classrooms. He spoke about first getting down on the students level, rousing them from their sleep and then he "would do his thing". He went on to share, "because if you don't have your thing, you won't be able to connect with the student.
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We learned from Dr. Brown that “Empathy is… communicating the message of, "You are not alone.” And in that moment of realizing you are not alone, you feel a connection to someone else. Dr. Brown goes on to explain what connection is; "Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued: when they can give and receive without judgement."  Brené Brown's short film below is the best source that I have found to explain empathy.
In our work with students extending empathy can mean:
  • To simply listen
  • Acknowledge that what is being shared must be difficult
  • Thank them for sharing 
  • You do not need to try and fix anything

A key take away for us was that rarely can a response make a difference when interacting with a student, it is forming a connection that ignites a relationship. 
In addition to the three days, we spent with Dr. Brown and her team, as a faculty, we read Daring Greatly,  Rising Strong and Dare to Lead by Brené Brown. Our learning throughout the year encompassed a more in-depth understanding about empathy and vulnerability.  We saw, heard and felt the impact our knowledge was having in some of our classrooms.
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I captured an assignment that Ms. Oertli, an English 1 teacher created for her students below.  It's just one example of our time with Dr. Brown's team being integrated into a classroom. 
Many students have never taken the time to define their core values. Although they are familiar with ​terms like loyalty, respect, or humor, they have not constructed an identity around them. Based on our work with Brene Brown, I have created an assignment that prods students to set intentions for the year through a vision board where they define their core values and identify strategies to live according to their values.

And so our learning journey continues...  As a faculty and staff, we have embraced a culture of growth and learning, and that is exciting.  I am grateful for having had the opportunity to learn from Brené Brown and her team.  She is funny and smart and just REAL. As a school, our greatest asset is the people that walk through our doors every day. If as adults, we commit to continue to learn and serve our students in better ways, we can't help but get better.  This blog post gets us to date as to where we are in our professional learning journey. I am excited to see where new learning takes us in the future! #BHSLearn


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Our 2018-2019 Learn Shirt!
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When You Empower Teachers... #IMMOOC

10/1/2017

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This Fall I am excited to participate along with over 1000 other educators in the third #IMMOOC. This experience is focused around George Couros' book “The Innovator’s Mindset”. I read the book last summer, but this is an opportunity to reflect and learn alongside educators from across the globe through a series of  Twitter Chats and YouTube Live sessions. Additionally, participants are encouraged to write weekly blog posts from prompts that are provided in the days leading up to each session. This week's prompt: Why is innovation in education so crucial today? . 
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Innovation in education is crucial because traditional practices in education are failing today's students. Couros defines innovation as "creating something new and better". Change has to address both facets of the definition. Changing to change does not produce something better for learners. The change has to make the learning go deeper/richer. The hard part is that to get to better, we have to embark on change that sometimes isn't neat. The change doesn't necessarily make us better immediately in a measurable way. However, simply initiating change can produce an energy and an idea cycle that moves the depth of learning forward in a way that cannot be predicted.  And many of the changes begin as small pivots contributing to the mindset of innovation. 

Many traditional classrooms require a high level of student compliance for the classroom to operate. These same classrooms are also usually teacher centered.  The role a teacher plays in learning directly affects the level of ownership that a student invests in his/her own learning. I use to struggle with expecting teachers that are already good and getting measurable results to take on the risk of change. I don't struggle with that any more. I have seen the very best teachers in my building change their practices and create innovative learning experiences. They know curiousity is a necessary ingredient to make them think and go beyond what has been done in the past
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In chapter one Couros shares, "it is becoming increasingly clear that we don't need to transform the role of teachers, rather create a culture that inspires and empowers teachers to innovate in the pursuit of providing optimal experiences for their students." If this remains our focus, and we invest in empowering teachers, innovation will follow.  I work on a campus where this focus is spreading through our culture. By listening with genuine curiosity and empathy, we are beginning to build a foundation of trust and an environment in which our teachers feel safe being vulnerable. Innovation, creativity and collaboration occur on the flip side of vulnerability. We need to encourage the teachers we work with every day to push themselves into being uncomfortable. Not because we want to add to the difficult job they have, but because we want to see them grow. Few things are more rewarding than seeing teachers and students reactions when they complete and create something they never thought was possible.  I'll end with what our principal, @m_squaredBHS had on our leadership meeting agenda last week. He simply had written "Affirm-Cubed" under Student Learning, conveying his expectation that those taking on growth, new learning and risk to move student learning forward need affirmation for the work and learning they are taking on.  Culture can breed "new and better" creating innovation in education.  
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Leaving things better than we found them...

3/27/2016

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As the week comes to a close I am reminded about living life passionately and leaving things better than we found them. This past week was a tough one at my high school. A senior and her sister, that graduated in 2014 both lost their lives in a car accident on the way home from Spring Break. Death and tragedy are never invited, wanted or something that makes sense to any of us. 

Following the accident I witnessed a student population come together and work for the greater good and honor the students that lost their lives in the accident. We talk a lot in education about authentic learning and allowing students space to create real world solutions and connect their learning.  This situation was real and what this group of students did was move into problem-solving mode to do something that would honor and help the surviving members of these girls families.  As they came together, they found a passion, basketball and came up with an idea to hold an event to benefit the families affected by the accident.  The accident also took another student's life that attended a local high school, and left a student in critical condition yet from another school. The group planning the event wanted to make the fundraiser about all victims and not just the sisters from their high school. They came up with a basketball event that would have a team named after each victim in the accident, and they reached out to our large city to get the best players from area high schools to play. They did more than that; they also connected with athletes that had graduated and are now playing in college. The planning team launched their idea on social media and were blown away by the response that they received. Real ideas, real communication, real results, all done by students. 

Now I have to admit when they showed up at school with their enthusiasm and plan in motion with no viable venue, I thought oh goodness I hope there is a field house available. The district I work for graciously provided a venue when our principal reached out to them. The rest of the planning....well let's just say was amazing. The planning committee all took on different roles, from coordinating basketball players, bringing on help to organize the athletic event from a major university in our city, students to advertise, students to get media involved and students to bring sponsors on board. The students even appointed a point person to make sure the school's administration was  up-to-date.  
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My post cannot begin to document or detail all of the work they did. What I can offer is...that it has been fantastic to see students work together and make a difference. I heard more than one student say this week, "I can't believe that we have been able to reach so many people and get responses...." These students felt the power of hard work, planning, vision and what can happen when a group of individuals come together and work for a common cause.

After the funeral, I happened to come across a Twitter post that shared the following video with Inky Johnson. Knowing your why, how and what ignites your passion and puts you in a lane to leave things better than you found them.


A family laid to rest two beautiful young women today.  Both of these girls time on earth was brief but powerful. They left all of us better than we were before they came into our lives. The student group working to honor them is following their lead and making us better as a community.  The event will take place this week, and I can't wait to see and experience it with them.​

As educators, how can we encourage our students to find their voice and experience the power of making a difference through their learning and actions? 
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