#D100bloggerPD #HackingEngagement Conclusion!

I’m so thrilled that you’re here today because we have TWO reasons to celebrate! First, today is the finale of our #D100bloggerPD #HackingEngagement blog book study! If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve had 9 amazing blog posts leading up to today’s 10^th and final post in this study of James Alan Sturtevant’s Hacking Engagement. Colleen over at Literacy Loving Gals started us off back on October 19^th and we’ve had 8 other members of Berwyn South District 100 blogging and sharing along the way. If you missed any of those posts, they are linked in Colleen’s blog at the bottom of her post. Also, if you love this idea of a blog book study, check out our previous studies on Reading in the Wild, HackingEducation, Move Your Bus, Hacking the Common Core, Start.Right.Now, and WhatTeachers Make.

As you can see, this #HackingEngagement study is our 7^th blog book study that we’ve completed as part of #D100bloggerPD. That brings us to our second reason to celebrate- which is the fact that, today, on 11/9/17, #D100bloggerPD is celebrating our second anniversary! #D100bloggerPD has come such a long way in these two years and my fantastic #teachertwin Colleen (@Litlovegal1) want to thank every single person who has had a part in this journey. This all started in the summer of 2015 when Colleen was partaking in a Jennifer Serravallo blog book study and I selfishly loved the idea and tagged along after reading about it on Twitter. At that point, I knew Colleen worked in my district, but with 8 schools and over 400 staff members, we certainly had never met in person or had a real conversation. After that study, we met up at an institute day and had the thought that we could bring this blog book study idea to our district and impact our teachers/students in the same way that it impacted us. From never having met/spoken to one another to instant kindred spirits, Colleen is truly my #teachertwin and someone shares a devotion to becoming better always and bringing that better daily to our students. We gathered some educators for our first study two years ago and the rest is history. We’re in love with what we do and love taking professional development into our own hands while sharing with the rest of the world.

Now, for the final five hacks of Hacking Engagement and the conclusion of this wonderful book by James Alan Sturtevant.

Photo courtesy of @Litlovegal1 :)

As you know if you’ve been reading the book with us thus far, each hack has a fun title with a real problem and hack (solution) attached to it. Then the reader is provided with clear steps to start taking tomorrow to set this hack into motion.

My first hack, number 46, is titled Entice the Students to do Hill Sprints, and is all about how students don’t enjoy taking notes- but would if they could get on board with Cornell Notes. Now, note-taking, especially Cornell note-taking isn’t universally known by all students. Hence the need to be hacked- however- this one does take a bit of background knowledge. In the “What You Can Do Tomorrow” section, Sturtevant explains that you’ll need to obviously teach your students how to do this properly- which naturally makes this engagement strategy not to appealing and flashy as the others. However, as he points out, “some classroom engaging activities are very important, but not necessarily joyful” (Page 186). Teaching students these note-taking skills now will empower them and clear their future path to many more exciting and engaging educational endeavors.

Next up is Peerless Peer Teaching with the Vowel Squad, and the problem here is that students just can’t sit still and this is fixed by implementing peer teaching groups. The logic here is that students need to not only be engaged in the class/activity, but they also need to engage each other. Sturtevant provides us with an anecdote of a teacher engaging students with a iMovie/Vowel Squad/Movement lesson and the whole essence is that when you step out of the ordinary, extraordinary can happen.

There’s even a handy QR code to scan and follow to an in-depth description of this situation- which I’ve provided to the left. If you’re reading this and are a classroom teacher (current/former/in some way involved) I guarantee if I asked you to think of a student who just couldn’t stop moving- it wouldn’t take you long to picture that child. This hack is for that child- but for so many others as well.

Hack 48 is one of my particular favorites- Banish Blogging Blandness and tackles the problem that, let’s face it, some students just hate journaling. This is fixed by the hack of bringing out the best in student bloggers. For me- I’ve always loved writing. It is an outlet, an escape, and quite simply, it brings me joy.

BUT, when I was in school, I’m pretty sure my teachers were out to get me with the most boring, awful journal prompts they could find. Nothing squashes a desire to write like a formulated topic and forcing students to write about it- just like nothing squashes a desire to read than a teacher forcing you to read a certain book and removing student choice altogether. So this isn’t a new discovery- that students need choice- it’s just unfortunately one that isn’t being implemented all the time…. yet. I love how Sturtevant explains that, “Blogging liberates student expression” (Page 192). Isn’t that just SO true? If you haven’t tried blogging yet, Sturtevant gives you a wonderful outline of next steps to follow to get this hack off the ground. Honestly, you just have to start. Not tomorrow, not next week, not when you get around to it. Just decide to start and do it. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

The kid in me loves the next hack, Turn Your Students into Five-Year-Olds, because I honestly don’t draw nearly as much as I probably should be! My almost four and a half year old daughter loves drawing- and I think she’s on to something with the amount of creativity she exudes on a daily basis. This is what Sturtevant sets out to cure- he acknowledges the problem that ‘it’s hard to set creativity free’ and argues that we should simply ‘let them draw’. It’s so obvious- yet so under-done in the field of education. This hack reminds me of a visualization lesson I like to do with my students- where I read them the most engaging text I know (Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac) where a lazy uncle turns into a skeleton monster by eating the flesh off his bones after he accidentally burns his finger in the fire and realizes it’s such an easy way to get food. See what I mean?!? Tell me you’re not picturing that right now!! Anyway, I use this to try and break through to my students that we need to let this movie play in our minds. Stop blindly reading and taking in the world- open up your eyes and let the pictures come inside! I explain that you wouldn’t go to a movie and close your eyes- only wanting to hear it- so why read a book without picturing it? I love how Sturtevant provides, in his ‘what you can do tomorrow’ section, the idea of creating drawing prompts. We make writing prompts all the time- hello Hack 48!- but why not a drawing prompt? Imagine the excitement of that kid who loves to draw- finally feeling like they fit in and have an activity they can succeed with! And yes, there will be those who complain they can’t draw. But come on, I can’t draw, yet I can make a mean stick figure! What better time to encourage our kids that perfection isn’t necessary in life? If we didn’t do something every time we were worried it wouldn’t be perfect…. we’d literally never get anything done! I loved this hack and can’t wait to inject a little more art into my classes!

The last hack of the book, number 50, is Channel Your Inner Yoga Teacher and focuses on the (very common) problem that ‘teachers get busy and forget to be empathetic’. I’ve never once met a teacher who didn’t wish they had more time in everyday because it’s simply impossible to get everything done. Then factor in getting all that done while simply being a nice human and you’re really stretching thin. The hack for this problem is to ‘use compassion to build relationships and foster engagement’ which seems so obvious and yet SO needs to be said out loud for all to hear. Over and over again. On repeat. No teacher sets out to be too busy for students. No teacher sets out to deprive a child of attention. But honestly, it just happens. And you’re being either dishonest or too hard on yourself if you’re saying it doesn’t. Life is busy. Teaching is the absolute hardest thing I’ve ever done. Some days I feel like I’m hitting it out of the park. Some days I feel like I strike out swinging. The trick is that I keep stepping up to the plate AND keep thinking that a homerun is possible. That’s what this hack is all about. Find your inner drive and use it to bring your best every day.

So this brings us to the conclusion- which- if you’re looking for an inspiring two-pages to jump-start your ability to re-engage yourself in your profession and bring your best everyday- you need to read this conclusion. After a whole book of ways to engage students, Sturtevant provides the final push of truly engaging YOU, the teacher, and setting you up for success. It’s a beautiful conclusion and I strongly recommend reading every word so that you, too, can have a magical next five years.

Thank you SO much for reading along with our study of #HackingEngagement and devoting yourself to finding ways to bring your best to your students. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@MrsKRichey or click the link to the right) to stay up to date with #D100bloggerPD and all of our future studies. Thank you to all the #D100bloggerPD members who participated and a special thanks to author James Sturtevant who has been amazing with offering his support of this study, his participation in a special edition of #D100chat on Tuesday 11/7, and his overall desire to make learning the best it can possibly be for our students and for us as teachers.