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#4)   A CO-CREATED EDUCATION IS...

8/22/2019

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Concluding the 4-part series on the secret ingredients that make up a co-created education.

​The recipe is empowering, inclusive, rigorous, and SUPPORTIVE.

​
​Out of the 4 secret ingredients that make up a Co-Created education-- empowering, inclusive, rigorous, and supportive-- this final ingredient is the one with...

... the most information readily available online about it already,
...the most trainings geared in its direction already,
...the most attention paid to it already.  


Yet, when it comes to putting all those things into practice, most schools and classrooms still have a lonngggg way to go in this area.

(So, on second thought, maybe the most lip-service paid to it, would unfortunately be a more accurate statement.)

Spoiler alert:  the “it” I’m talking about supporting here is behavior and discipline.

There are a whole slew of resources and professional developments available on behavior and discipline, which shows that we all see a need.

So if we see the need, and the knowledge is out there, why is it still so rare to see it done really well in practice?

One explanation is that it comes down to mindset; handy tips and tricks can only go so far without addressing the beliefs, attitudes, dispositions, and expectations that we hold about behavior and discipline in our minds.  We have to go further upstream and get to the source.

Before we do all that, let's get some definitions out of the way. 

What does it mean to be supportive from a behavior and discipline standpoint?  What does it mean to cultivate a supportive environment?​


​
​#4)  SUPPORTIVE​
Students feel supported when their whole-person needs are met:  clear boundaries provide security; a tightknit community provides a sense of belonging; and explicitly-taught social-emotional skills and executive functioning skills provide a practical toolkit for finding success.

​Alright, now that we're clear on exactly what it means to co-create a supportive educational experience, let's take a deeper look at the role of mindset.

What's mindset got to do with it?

​Dr. Marcia Reynolds is in the business of changing minds; she teaches leaders and coaches how to help people have breakthrough moments where they examine and challenge their own thinking patterns. 

Check out how she visualizes the way we construct and deconstruct our mindsets:
 
Many things shape our mindsets-- our upbringing, our experiences, our education, our culture... the list goes on.  These formative elements are what make up the "walls" in our minds that sometimes need to be brought down brick by brick so we can make positive change.
​

Self-Assess:  What are the mental walls you've built around your concept of behavior and discipline?
  • Are you the all-mighty power holder in the classroom, or is power shared?
  • Is it, "I'm the adult, you're the child, remember your place," or is it a partnership led by you as the caring authority?
  • Are children meant to be "seen but not heard," or is there generally a buzz of productive noise in your classroom?
  • Does a misbehavior feel like a threat to you, or is it simply a learning opportunity?
  • Are you doling out punishments, or holding students accountable with logical consequences?
  • Do you focus on finding fault or finding solutions?
  • Do you view parents as problems or partners?
  • Are apologies and forgiveness one-way or two-way?
  • Is respect one-way or two-way?

Chances are, your responses to these questions reflect the type of environment you are creating in your school or classroom.  Our actions don't come from nowhere; they come from our mindsets.

​Everyone wants to feel successful and happy in their day-to-day work. Being honest with yourself about the questions above will feel uncomfortable in the short run, yet could lead to greater happiness and success in the long run for both you and your students. 

​If it's helpful to you, you could even draw it out-- literally visualize the mental walls so you can begin to break down any that need it.

Once you've done some big picture self-reflection, then it's time to drill down into the 4 specific mindshifts that will help you become a more supportive educator and help you cultivate a supportive learning environment.
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​​
​TOP 4 SHIFTS TO GET YOUR MIND INTO SUPPORTIVE MODE
​​​
​Supportive Mindshift #1 
Support students as whole people--  instincts, needs, flaws & all.
​
Fifty years ago, legendary psychologist Abraham Maslow said,
When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of a basic human need such as security, love, and self-esteem."
         (A. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, 1968)
Put in simpler terms, no one is their best self when something is missing or something is hurting. 

Trauma, skill gaps, unmet needs, sensory sensitivities, or even unclear boundaries can all contribute to a student requiring some additional support.

Come to think of it, that doesn't just apply to our students-- that applies to all of us!
​
When we look for a root cause instead of looking for a culprit to blame, we move ourselves into a space of curiosity and compassion.​

When we see that our students are just as human as we are and vice versa, we tap into empathy and connection.

​
A bit more on Maslow

Maslow’s work has since been commonly summarized in a hierarchy of human needs, visualized as a pyramid:
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Although not all psychologists agree about the order or hierarchical structure of the pyramid, it still serves as a concise and accurate summary of our basic human needs.
​
It's likely that whatever might be hurting or missing for our students falls into one of the categories of that pyramid.
​
The simple act of recognizing that our students might be missing out on a basic need or hurting on a fundamentally human level helps us reframe the way we work with them, and it better positions us to provide support.

*Disclaimer* -- To be clear, this is in no way a plea to lower our standards based on students' circumstances, or to make excuses for them, or to let them off the hook.  In fact, one of the most caring things we can do is hold students accountable.

​The difference is in making sure they know it's coming from a place of human understanding, coupled with strong belief in their high potential.
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  ​
​
​Supportive Mindshift #2 

Support students’ sense of security & belonging first.

As educators, we of course cannot meet our students' every need all on our own. We need partnership with families and the greater community in order to do that.

However, there are two particular areas of need that-- if we were to actively and purposely target them in the classroom-- could be making a HUGE impact in our students' lives.

​Those areas are security and belonging.

The mindshift here is prioritizing those two areas as highly as any academic goal.  The environment in which students learn makes *all* the difference in what they learn, how they learn, and to what degree they learn. Security and belonging come first if we have any hope of academic excellence.
Would your students describe your classroom or school as a place where they feel both physically and emotionally safe?​

Would they describe it as a place where they belong?


​Here are a few ways to make sure your students can answer "yes" to both those questions.
​
​

​First, Community-oriented classroom management shows everyone they belong.

The dictionary defines community as:

"a unified body of individuals who feel a sense of fellowship with each other, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals."

  ( ...Ok, technically I combined two dictionary definitions to get that one, but still. It's a good one!)

That's the kind of community that will help our students (and us!) flourish and thrive. It's an environment where their innate need for belonging will be met, so that they can focus on learning instead of on survival. (Instincts are powerful things!)

That type of community doesn't happen magically or automatically. It takes purposeful effort and action. It takes working together to explicitly define what common attitudes, interests, and goals you all will share together.

To help kickstart that effort and action, here's a freebie for you, along with an example of the community commitments my class and I made together back in the day:
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​Second, clear boundaries make everyone feel more secure.

"Wow, I'm so thankful my teacher sets such clear boundaries and holds us all accountable!"

 ... said no student, ever.

Yet, even though they don't say it out loud, and even though they're probably not even consciously aware of it, they feel it.

Boundaries provide the safe perimeter that surrounds and defines the limits of the community.  Inside of them is what we do tolerate in this community; outside of them is what we don't tolerate in this community.

As the leader of the classroom or school community, it is your sacred responsibility to ensure that those boundaries are defined, honored, and reinforced.  While you will serve as the main caring authority holding students accountable to the boundaries, if those boundaries are clear enough, students will also hold each other accountable to them. Especially in the elementary years.

In the adolescent years, a hallmark of students' development is the need to push boundaries. So they need something sturdy to push up against!  It is developmentally essential that the boundaries are clear, fair, reasonable, and consistently reinforced. 

This is where natural and logical consequences come in as part of the learning process. A consequence is simply a result of an action; consequences can be negative, positive, or neutral. Students improve their decision-making skills each time they have the opportunity to reflect on what consequence resulted from the choices they made.

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Final key to meeting students' security need:  be the "solid object" in the room.
​

For just a moment, imagine yourself caught in a powerful storm, maybe even a hurricane.

You're out in the elements with no shelter, winds gusting, waters rising, hail pummeling. Just as you feel like the raging winds are about to sweep you away, you reach out desperately, grasping for anything to cling to.  Your hand makes contact with a solid object, and you hold onto it with all your might. It's your lifeline. Over time the winds subside, and your safety is restored, thanks to your solid object.


I once heard an emotional meltdown described as a storm.  During a meltdown, a child loses control-- sometimes emotionally, sometimes physically. Inside their minds and bodies, a storm is going on; everything is in tumult, swirling around in a cyclone of chaos.

​Students need us to be the solid object in their storm, so they can feel safe and secure.
(Credit to the Handle With Care Program for this spot-on term and helpful model!)

Serving as a "solid object" looks like:
  • Maintaining a healthy level of control over our own emotions, even when students are not in control of theirs
  • Remaining calm in moments of stress
  • Being there for students consistently, through the good times and the bad
  • Remembering that a student's behavior is about them, not about us;  resisting the urge to take it personally
  • Acting responsively rather than reactively
  • Showing students we are trustworthy in all 3 pillars of trust: reliability, competence, & motive​​


​
​Supportive Mindshift #3 

Support students’ behavioral challenges as learning needs.


What if the reason a student is behaving a certain way is because they genuinely don't know any better?

We've all been in situations with students where that explanation is true, and other situations where it very much is not.  However, whether it's true 100% of the time or not is something I would challenge us all to let go of, and instead replace it with a new question:
"What can this student learn from this situation, and how can I support that learning?"
​
Or 

"What skill is this student missing that would help them do better next time, and how can I help them gain that skill?"

​​The two main learning gaps that result in behavioral challenges are in the areas of 1) social-emotional skills, and 2) executive functioning skills.  Helping students fill these two gaps can be a complete and total game-changer, for them and for you (hello, regained sanity, reclaimed time, and renewed job satisfaction!)

​
Ideas for Supporting Social-Emotional Learning
  • If you have budget, use the CASEL website to select a program specifically designed for social-emotional learning, created by experts. Their program selection process at CASEL is rigorous, so if it's listed here, it met a range of important criteria.
  • If you don't have budget, try this list of FREE resources.  A special educator curated over 100 free tools, out of the goodness of her huge heart and passion for educating ALL learners well.
  • Teach social skills explicitly, basically as though it were an academic subject. Make it a regular part of the curriculum. When you take it seriously, so will your students!  Here are some sample pacing guides for a social skills course at the Elementary and Middle School levels. The lessons take 20-30min. Could you find 20-30 spare minutes in your schedule somewhere? Homeroom, morning meeting, advisory,...etc. 
  • Borrow a page from the Montessori playbook and set up a "peace table" in your room for conflict resolution
  • Learn more about restorative practices. Start here, then check out my colleague's program RestoreMore (she even offers a FREEBIE to preview what she's about) !

​
Ideas for Supporting Executive Function Development
  • First, learn what the "executive functions" of the brain really are. The 3 main areas are working memory (holding short-term info in our heads), cognitive flexibility (perspective-taking, creative problem-solving, adaptive thinking, etc.), and inhibitory control (self-control, impulse control, selective focus, etc.). 
  • Consider that perhaps a few rare unicorn kids are born with these skills, but more often than not, executive functioning skills are learned skills.  And if for any number of reasons a student hasn't learned them elsewhere, they gotta learn 'em somewhere. ​​​You could make that difference for them!
  • A few programs to look into that support various aspects of executive functioning are The Alert Program (which ties together self-regulation with sensory awareness), the Habits of Mind approach, and The Center on The Developing Child at Harvard's (super practical and useful!) Activities Guide  for building executive functioning skills.
  • Give students tools for managing their time, their assignments, and their materials. Tools like this one, for example, where students timelined out their project completion plan.  Don't assume they'll handle it on their own; support them in these critical organization skills!  Practices like regular agenda checks, locker checks, and binder checks support accountability and habit-building. 
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​To sum up this third mindshift, there are specific skills students can learn to help them excel as students, as friends, and as people.

We can use this knowledge to reframe how we look at behavior challenges.

We wouldn’t kick a student out of class for struggling to read a challenging paragraph.
We wouldn’t kick a kid out of class for solving a math problem incorrectly.

Because those are learning problems. Learning problems don't trigger us the way behavior problems do.

But if we can train our brains to see behavior issues as learning opportunities, we can keep kids in class, learning, where they belong. 


Because depriving a child of learning is not a fair or reasonable punishment for just about anything.
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​In Closing ...

QUICK RECAP

Being a supportive educator and cultivating a supportive environment requires us to shift our mindsets around behavior and discipline in 3 key ways:
​
  • Supportive Mindshift #1 )  Support students as whole people--  instincts, needs, flaws & all.
    • Our students are just as fully human as we are.  We can build our empathy muscles by approaching a behavior challenge with curiosity and compassion.  Channel Maslow and think, "what might be hurting? what might be missing?"

  • ​​Supportive Mindshift #2 )  Support students’ sense of security & belonging first.
    • Students need clear boundaries, a strong classroom community, and a “solid object” adult in the room to feel secure and to feel they belong.
      ​
  • ​​Supportive Mindshift #3 )  Support students’ behavioral challenges as learning needs.
    • Teaching social-emotional skills and executive functioning skills is a time investment that pays off in dividends. It reduces behavior challenges significantly and positively impacts all other academic areas!
​
​
FINAL THOUGHTS


​If becoming supportive educators and creating supportive environments were easy, it would be a widespread commonality.  It would be the norm instead of the exception.

As you and I both know, that isn't the case.


If only there were an easy button for discipline and behavior!  Sure there are several grab-and-go options out there.  And those off-the-shelf solutions sound SUPER appealing when you're a hard-working educator, trying to fit everything in, without enough hours in the day. 

I get it, I’ve been there. It makes sense.

Without the right mindset in place, though, that off-the-shelf solution has a pretty low ceiling of effectiveness.  It can only go so far and can only do so much without a mindset to match.


The trouble with "mindshifting" is, it's inherently uncomfortable. A mindshift challenges our beliefs and paradigms, and brains don’t enjoy that feeling.  Humans are wired to resist change.  Which is why I’ve said it once before: a mindset might be the hardest thing in the world to change. 

I’ve also been accused of being an eternal optimist, because I remain hopeful that we can all do hard things, and that change is possible, even when it comes to mindsets. 

We are educators: we are in the business of shaping minds, literally. 

Let's start with our own.

When was a time you effectively supported a student through a behavior challenge by connecting on a human level and responding with empathy?

This is the final installment of a 4-part series on the foundational pillars of a Co-Created education.
​Check out the full series here:
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Does this sound like the kind of environment you're trying to cultivate in your school or classroom?
​Get in touch-- we'd love to work with you!
​
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#3)  A CO-CREATED EDUCATION IS...

8/10/2019

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Welcome to part 3 of our series on the 4 secret ingredients that make up a co-created education.  Not only is the learning experience empowering and inclusive; it's also rigorous.

​
​You may have noticed by this point in the series that the 4 secret ingredients of a Co-Created Education are all words you’ve heard before. 

In fact, they’re often terms that get overused, misused, or vaguely used, which is unfortunately a pretty common phenomenon in the education world.  We get these buzz words stuck in our heads, we throw them around too much, and they lose meaning.


I really hate it when that happens, because some of them are such good words! 

So instead of spending time hating on these watered-down words or scrapping them altogether, we want to give them new life--

We’re taking them one by one and defining them ourselves so that we can all work off of a shared set of definitions and a common language for the Co-CreatED community. 

(input welcome; let us know what you think, too!)

​


​RIGOROUS
               Defined:
A learning experience is rigorous when it pushes students to think deeply, to stretch their thinking in new directions, and to lean into their curiosity, knowing that the adults around them fully believe in their high potential.

​
AND NOW... MYTHBUSTING TIME :)

​In this article from Edutopia, Brian Sztabnik calls out some of the common misconceptions about rigor.  Despite common practice, rigor does NOT mean MORE work. And it does NOT mean “harder” work (whatever that means).  

These misconceptions have led to what the author cleverly describes as “push-down and pile-on syndrome” --

College-level work gets 
pushed down onto highschoolers; reading fluency expectations are pushed down on Kindergarteners and even Pre-K’ers, before they’ve even hit the developmental readiness window.; so on and so forth. 


Or-- a "pile on" example I observed firsthand when touring schools once--

An admissions professional from a prestigious, elite private school brags about the 2 hours of homework piled onto students each night, starting as early as 4th grade.  Because "rigor."


These “push-down, pile-on” efforts, while well-intentioned, are misguided. They can even be harmful, squashing the love of learning right out of overburdened students.

Luckily, there are ways to reach the pinnacle of Rigor Mountain without overburdening learners and without extinguishing their spark for learning.
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​
TOP 3 WAYS TO MAKE “RIGOR” A REALITY IN YOUR CLASSROOM  OR  SCHOOL:
THE *NEW* RULES OF RIGOR



Rigor Rule 1:  Create a culture of high expectations for all.
​

Ever heard of the Pygmalion effect or the Golem effect?  They are two psychological principles about our tendency as humans to rise to the expectations placed upon us. 

The Pygmalion Effect explains that when others anticipate high performance from us, that’s what we tend to deliver. On the flip side, The Golem Effect shows that the opposite is also true-- when someone expects low performance from us, that’s what we tend to deliver.

Others’ expectations of us often become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is why it is critically important for us as educators to believe wholeheartedly in our students’ capabilities.  Our students need to know that they are surrounded by caring adults who hold them accountable, push them to their highest potential, and believe in their capability fully.

Our expectations must communicate the message,
“I believe in you! I know you are capable! I care enough to push you, and I’m here for you every step of the way! I see your potential and I see you becoming the best version of you!”


You can't have high rigor without high expectations.
​
So how do we do it?

I got you.  Use this free guide.
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​Rigor Rule 2:  Focus on HOW to think, not WHAT to think.

In the digital age, how students think matters far more than what students know. They have nearly infinite information at their fingertips-- they carry tiny computers around in their pockets (that's what smartphones are, really). 

I had a rule of thumb in my classroom:  I’m not going to ask you to memorize something you can easily Google.  That’s a waste of brain space.

​Instead, I’m going to challenge you to think critically, to think creatively, and to apply what you know (or what you Google) to solve authentic, meaningful problems. 

Because that’s what today’s world and tomorrow’s workforce
demands.

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​A rigorous learning experience is one where students either deepen or build thinking skills-- they use their brains in new ways.

No matter your starting point, here's a full buffet of options for you to start from exactly where you are with increasing rigor via thinking skills:
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​Rigor Rule 3:  Go Deeper.  Aim Higher.
​

Bloom’s Taxonomy first came on the scene in 1956, as basically a ranking system for ordering cognitive processes. Then it got a makeover in 2001. 

For reasons unknown, it is often visualized as some version of a colorful pyramid. (?)

​When we use the term “higher-order thinking,” it usually means the upper tiers of Bloom’s pyramid; the higher a thinking skill falls on the pyramid, the more complex it is. 

Bloom’s goal was to give educators a tool and a language for setting rigorous learning goals, and then assessing students’ mastery of those learning goals with the same level of rigor.
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​A second and relatively newer framework for ranking cognitive demand is Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (D.o.K.), developed in 1997. 
​
Webb’s goal was actually very similar to Bloom’s-- to help educators align our assessments to our expectations. In other words, are we actually measuring what we think we’re measuring about students’ learning? 

To figure that out, let's first break down the most basic structure of teaching and learning into its 3 component parts:​​
  1. Learning goal-- 
       what do we want students to learn?
         (and/or what do they want to learn?)

  2. Learning activity-- 
       how will we go about reaching that goal?
    ​

  3. Assessment-- 
       how will we know whether we reach the goal?
​
​Sometimes when we go...

from point 
A  (goal) → to point B (activity) → to point C (assessment)...

the rigor can get lost in translation like a bad game of telephone. 

​Instead, we want to focus on aligning the three, and keeping them all as rigorous as possible.  Both the D.o.K. framework and Bloom’s Taxonomy can help with that.
​

A quick note about verbs...

​One very ironic thing that has happened to both Webb's framework and Bloom's Taxonomy is reducing them down to a list of verbs to match each level. In fact, some people only ever know them to be menus of verbs.

When you stop to think about it, how could a tool about complexity have possibly gotten so oversimplified over the years?!

PSA:
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​Phew!  Now that we got that part out of the way, we can move on to a few tools that don't come with PSAs.

The 3 tools below are intended to be simple enough to be usable, yet meaty enough to maintain the complexity that is measuring cognitive rigor.

The bottom line is, we want all students thinking deeply and doing work that challenges them to grow.

Here's how.
​

​Deepen Rigor Across Subject Areas
​

​
​Wondering how to tell how rigorous an activity is within a certain subject? There's a tool (or 2) for that!

The first is a menu of learning activities, arranged by increasing Depth of Knowledge for each of the 4 main subject areas. This handy chart is just a visualization of Webb's 2002 article "Depth-of-Knowledge Levels for Four Content Areas."

The second is Dr. Karen Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix, which overlays Webb's D.o.K. and Bloom's Taxonomy.  This particular version combines her 4 subject area matrices into one master tool.
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​The trouble is, those matrices are still a bit dense as a starting point. 
To help use them more purposefully, here's a nice "decision-tree" type accompaniment. Together they make a perfect pairing!


Ask these 3  "more than one _______"  questions:
  1. Does it involve doing  MORE THAN 1  step?
    Is it a single-step process, or multiple step process?  Does it go beyond recalling info, and into using that info to apply, explain, distinguish, etc? If so, there’s a pretty good chance it’s at least deeper than level 1— It might be DOK 2, 3, or 4.  Keep going:

  2. Does it have  MORE THAN 1  right answer?
    Is there 1 right answer, or multiple possible answers? Does it go beyond applying info, and into pairing that info with original thought? If there are evidence-based judgement calls and in-depth analysis involved, it’s likely deeper than level 2— it might be DOK 3 or 4.  Keep going:

  3. Does it take  MORE THAN 1  work session to finish?
    Can it be done in 1 work session, or will it take multiple sessions to do it justice? Thorough multi-source investigations, synthesizing and finding connections among concepts, developing novel solutions… these things take time. They’re complex. It might be DOK 4.

Here's a tool to use as you're doing a quick "more than 1" check on your assignments and assessments:
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​These 3  "more than one ___"  questions hone in on the main factors that distinguish one Depth of Knowledge level from another. Used as a quick rule of thumb, they help make D.o.K. a bit more approachable! 

*DISCLAIMER:  This tool is by no means meant to be used in isolation or as a replacement for a full understanding of Webb’s  Depth of Knowledge framework. We’re not here to oversimplify complexity! That said, I also know how much is on your plate as a teacher, so a rule of thumb can come in handy from time to time. You’re a smart, competent, thinking person— use your professional judgement. You got this!​

IN CLOSING...

​Turns out rigor is a pretty daunting topic to try to cover in just one article. It is HUGE!

​So to recap:

Rigor defined:
A learning experience is RIGOROUS when it pushes students to think deeply, to stretch their thinking in new directions, and to lean into their curiosity, knowing that the adults around them fully believe in their high potential.

​
To make rigor a reality:
  • ​Rigor Rule #1)   Create a culture of high expectations for all.
    • ​Believe that students can think deeply, use creativity, and do hard mental work. They will rise to the rigor of the expectation!

  • Rigor Rule #2)   Focus on HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
    • ​​Practice brain-builders, critical thinking routines, mental models, tinkering/making, inquiry, discovery, systems thinking, and design thinking.
      ​
  • ​Rigor Rule #3)   Go Deeper.  Aim Higher.
    • ​Let Webb's Depth of Knowledge framework and Bloom's Taxonomy (or Hess' combo!) be your guide, with a little help from the "more than 1" test!
      ​
Get the COMPLETE new rules of rigor toolkit for FREE here:
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The free New Rules of Rigor toolkit comes with everything you need to make rigor a reality in your school or classroom. Because bottom line, rigor is an equity issue-- it has to be accessible to all. Use this toolkit to make that happen.
​
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NEXT STEPS:

​How will you step up the rigor
​in your classroom or school?


​Leave a comment!
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#2)  A CO-CREATED EDUCATION IS...

7/12/2019

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​The breakdown of the 4 "secret ingredients" that make up a co-created education continues!  
Last week it was all about empowering.
This week, on to #2: 

​It is an inclusive experience.

​
​A sheet of paper rests on the table top.  Two opposing teams lob legal jargon back and forth across the table, staying laser focused on the document between them.  The plaintiff makes their case, and the defense makes theirs. The nonstop clickity-clack of fingers on keys fills the air as the recorder captures every word, every detail.

For a moment I forgot where I was. Was this a courtroom?

No. It was an IEP meeting.

It was the first one I’d ever attended, so I was shocked by how legalistic the whole thing was.

Weren’t we talking about a child? A real-life person who we all knew and cared about?

There was no human aspect to the meeting; it was sterile, rote, mechanical. We were dissecting a document.  It had become all about the sheet of paper. 

​Well, that and making sure no one pulled any fast ones on each other. Which everyone seemed fully convinced was going to happen.  There was no trust, and we’d forgotten all familiarity.


Perhaps as a coping mechanism, I caught myself daydreaming back to what felt like a past life, where students with disabilities were treated like humans, and where educators and families partnered together to collaboratively meet the needs of the child.  Where students took an active role in advocating for their own needs, sitting at the same table as the adults if the conversation was about them. (It was their education, after all.)

It felt so far away.  I let my mind take me back there for a moment.
​

​Flashback to another place and time...

Being part of a school start-up team was one of the most formative experiences of my career.  We had the unique opportunity to build a school basically from scratch, designing every aspect of the experience to reflect what we believed to be best for our students.  

The school we were building was specifically purposed to serve students with a range of disabilities-- ADHD, Autism, and other learning differences. 

Instead of IEPs, students got to know themselves by creating Learner Profiles that captured their unique learning style, regulation strategies, strengths and challenges.  

Instead of high-stakes standardized testing, they curated portfolios of work that they showcased at Celebration of Learning events.  

Instead of stuffy formal menus of accommodations and modifications (that rarely get followed correctly), class size was small enough that teachers could truly know the students and tailor the experience to their needs.

Instead of students with differences being suspended or expelled at disproportionate rates, we designed a school-wide positive behavior support system that met students where they were and helped them acquire the skills they needed to find success in a school setting.
​

But, doesn’t that sound a lot like the things that would be good for ALL kids?  

Yup.
​
​It doesn’t take a diagnosis to benefit from a humanizing, student-centered education.

​
The only trouble with the environment I just described is that it technically wasn't "inclusive" by definition. In fact, it was purposely exclusive-- a whole school built just for students with disabilities.  But I wanted more kids to have access to that kind of education.  I knew it was time to try scaling up and sharing it in the public school world.

As you may have noticed in the first vignette above, I was a little naive with my ambitions and clueless about what it would take to bridge the gaping canyon between education as I'd known it in my tiny bubble, and what was going on in the wider public education world.

Regardless, I still haven't given up hope and I never will. I believe education can be better and can serve all kids well.

So how do we do it?
We co-create an inclusive experience.
​

via GIPHY


​#2)  INCLUSIVE

Let's start with some definitions. At Co-CreatED, we define inclusive a little more... well... inclusively, to be frank. 
A learning environment is inclusive when it meets the needs of all students across a range of differences, *and* it actively honors diverse experiences and perspectives

We're talking differences in any of the dimensions of identity and culture.  
​Because inclusive means just that: it includes everyone.
​
  (PS: Rosetta Lee, who made that model, is awesome!)
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​There are three particular elements of inclusion that if approached differently, could result in radically different outcomes for our students.​

Whether you lead a classroom, a school, a district, or otherwise, these tips will help you do the self-work necessary to reframe your mindset around inclusion.  Change comes from within. That's not to disregard the systemic factors at play-- trust me, I rack my brain about those pieces all the time, too.  I know individual change can only go so far without systemic change.  But ya gotta start somewhere, and looking inward is an important first step.

TRY THESE 3 INCLUSION POWER PLAYS:

​​

1.  Want to be inclusive across ability differences?
​
  • ​​[X]  STOP categorizing kids into three fake buckets.
    • There is no such thing as “special ed,” “general ed,” and “gifted ed.”  Humans don’t fit neatly into boxes, so those categories are made up and unhelpful. Time to ditch them.
      ​
  • ✅  START using Universal Design for Learning.
    • Everything exists on a spectrum. Serve all kids and accept that they come with a range of differences.  If you teach to the edges, you will inevitably reach the middle, too.
      ​
    • It looks like this:​

​Learn more  HERE.
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http://udlguidelines.cast.org/


2.  Want to be inclusive across racial/ethnic differences?
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Credit: Randall Lindsey, et. al., https://ccpep.org/home/what-is-cultural-proficiency/the-continuum/

  • ✅  START bulking up your Cultural Proficiency. 
           (What's that, you ask? Click the link to find out!)
    • Quiz: where are you on the cultural proficiency continuum right now?
      • Answer the questions HERE and HERE to self-assess your cultural proficiency. That will give you an idea of your baseline, then you can grow from there.
        ​
  • ​​[X]  STOP looking outside yourself for the answers...
    • ...until you've done the self-work first. Because cultural proficiency begins within.  We cannot understand others until we examine ourselves: our own biases, assumptions, and stereotypes that we may not even realize that we have (but we ALL do!). ​
Try this activity to discover your own cultural identity:
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(click image for free printable PDF!)

3.  Want to be inclusive across socio-economic differences?

  • ​​[X]  STOP operating from a “deficit model”  (...it’s blamey).  
    • A deficit model focuses only on what students lack, be it tangible resources at best (lack of home technology, lack of food or shelter), or assumed internal attributes at worst (lacking motivation, lacking parental guidance, lack of caring, lack of values, and other harmful stereotypes.)

  • ✅  START operating from a “both/and” model:
    • 1.  Asset-based:  Students living in poverty bring many assets-- especially resiliency-- to the classroom.  They are individual people with a range of unique traits. Build on those!
                                                  *AND*
    • 2.  Poverty-aware, trauma-informed:  Living in poverty can result in trauma for many students, which affects the brain.  Learn how poverty and trauma affect the brain and use it to inform your educational practice.  

      “Both/and” thinking considers the whole person: the assets they bring to the table, along with the very real external factors that can affect their readiness to learn.  Both matter, and neither is as effective in isolation as the two are combined. ​

Buy Eric Jensen's book, Engaging Students With Poverty in Mind.
You won't regret it.  See:

IN CLOSING...

Make no mistake: leading a classroom or a school full of widely diverse learners is  Really.  Hard.  Work.

​One teacher trying to reach students across a range of ability differences, racial/ethnic differences, socio-economic differences, and more is a BIG undertaking, not for the faint of heart.  Then throw co-teaching in the mix and you get a whole other set of challenges to navigate ("you mean I have to share my classroom with another grown up?!").

At Co-CreatED, we don't believe there are easy solutions to complex challenges.  Inclusion is a big deal, and we'll only improve it by combining the necessary self-work with the necessary systemic and policy work.

​
To continue the self-work, check out:
  • https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/whats_sharing_power_got_to_do_with_trauma-informed_practice_2.pdf
  • https://www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/351/Leading-Learning-for-Children-From-Poverty.aspx
  • https://www.cosa.k12.or.us/sites/default/files/images/13th_handout.pdf
  • https://www.cosa.k12.or.us/sites/default/files/images/networkcoachengagementorganize2_27_14f.pdf
  • https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators
  • https://udl-irn.org/
  • https://inclusiveschools.org/classroom-strategies-for-diverse-learners/


​To get involved on a systemic level, check out:​
  • https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/how-can-teachers-influence-decisionmakers/
  • https://educationalequity.org/
  • https://edtrust.org/
  • https://www.crpe.org/
  • https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teacher-activism-education-reform/
  • https://georgiaopportunity.org/

What's been the biggest mindshift for you in making your classroom or school a more inclusive space?


​Up next:

#3)  A Co-Created Education is...
      Rigorous!

​*Coming Sunday July 21*
​
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Comments

#1)  A Co-Created Education Is...

7/2/2019

Comments

 
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Breaking down the 4 "secret ingredients" that make up a co-created education, starting with #1: 
​It is an empowering experience

​THE 4 SECRET INGREDIENTS IN A CO-CREATED EDUCATION

At Co-CreatED, we are in relentless pursuit of making education humanizing and equitable for all students. To do that, we think there are 4 big “secret ingredients.”

A co-created education is:
  1. Empowering
  2. Inclusive
  3. Rigorous
  4. Supportive

These BIG FOUR are where the magic happens. They are the make-or-break difference between education that maintains the status quo and education that disrupts it for the better. 

​The question is, what do we mean by those 4 terms, exactly?


This week, let’s take a look at the first ingredient: empowering.
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​#1)  EMPOWERING

How can you tell whether a learning experience is empowering?

There are two key features to look for:
Students are empowered when their learning is student-centered, and when their learning leads to greater awareness of and action on critical social issues.

​I.   Empowering through a student-centered approach:

  • There's a partnership.
    • Student and classroom leader (f.k.a. "teacher") are co-creating the learning path together. The classroom leader brings professional expertise to the table; the student brings individual passions, interests, needs, strengths, and perspective. Both add value.

  • There's ownership.
    • Students take ownership of their learning path. They set goals, reflect, exchange feedback, and adjust.  They take pride in their work, seeing it as meaningful and important.

  • There's a power-balance.
    • Power is shared.  Students have ample voice & choice, and they also still know what their boundaries are.  The classroom leader is seen as a caring authority, which makes students feel simultaneously valued and secure. Respect is mutual.
      ​
  • Human nature counts.
    • Every element of the experience-- from instruction to schedule to environment-- reflects awareness of the developmental needs and readiness of the child or adolescent.
    • Classroom leaders are well-versed in how the brain works, so they employ brain-based teaching and learning strategies
      ​

II.   Empowering through critical pedagogy:

  • Step 1: Awareness.
    • Critical Issues are integrated throughout the curriculum so that students become aware of what’s going on in their community and in the larger world. Lessons are taught through an anti-bias framework and a social justice lens.

  • Step 2: Action.
    • Students exercise voice and take action to bring about positive change.  Activities are relevant and meaningful to them, so they engage actively.​​
      ​
Pop Quiz!
​         Self-assess:  How many things on the list above are you already doing in your classroom?  ​Calculate your "empowered classroom score."
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Student-Centered Learning visualized!  Everything exists on a spectrum, including learning. Check out these continuums, ranging from teacher-centered to learner-driven. In my experience, aiming for the happy medium on the continuum provides a developmentally appropriate balance. What do you think?  (Credits:  images by artist Sylvia Duckworth;  content by Barbara Bray & Kathleen McClaskey)

​MAKING IT PRACTICAL

While theory, conceptual understanding, and definitions are all necessary, they don't exactly paint a clear picture of practical application. This next section will ​shed light on what an empowered learning experience actually looks like and sounds like in action, including resources and tips that you can try out as early as tomorrow (well...except that it's July... anyway, you know what I mean!).
​
What does an empowering education sound like in real life?
The learning goal I set for myself this unit is to get better at trying when my work is hard instead of giving up.” said Levi.

​“That’s a really thoughtful goal, Levi. I can tell you reflected on the feedback you got from your peers after you got stuck last week. I know you can do it! You’ll have a great chance to work on it when we start our extended writing project next week.” said Ms. Jen.


“Ms. Jen! Did you hear about what’s going on with the children at the border? I’m drawing this picture to send to them. I can’t believe they aren’t with their families. They must be so scared. Can my writing project be a letter to the president about this?!” shouted Alexis.
SEE IT IN ACTION:

​First off, The Teaching Channel is such an awesome resource! They have hundreds of videos showing techniques and best practices put to use in real classrooms so teachers can learn from each other. I used it all the time when I was an academic coach, and it was super helpful! 

Here are 3 Teaching Channel videos that show what some of the key components of an empowered education look like.
Ownership:
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Student Activism:
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Brain-based techniques:
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​*DOABLE* 1ST STEPS YOU COULD TAKE TODAY:
​
  • Ownership.   As you launch your next unit, have students set a learning goal for themselves. Use a simple format like, “I want to get better at ____” or “I want to learn more about ____.” Keep the goal somewhere students will see it (in sight, in mind!).  Students can check in with a partner weekly to monitor their progress.

  • Brain-based.   Connect a concept to a movement. For example, draw the operation sign (+ - x ÷) in the air when you hear a key word in a math word problem (“Wow, you ran 50 meters? I ran 30 meters less than you.” → draw minus sign in air).
    ​
  • Partnership.   Brainstorm a list of “ways we can show our learning” as a class. Students can choose from the list to demonstrate their learning of a new concept. You can suggest a shortlist that matches the task at hand.

  • Critical pedagogy.   Think: “Is there a way I can teach this concept within a real-world context? Is there an issue going on in the world that students would be interested to act on?” Pick a standard you need to teach. Browse Teaching Tolerance, Zinn Ed Project, or Humane Ed Institute. Match them up to make critical pedagogy magic!
    ​

via GIPHY

In closing, we want to hear from you:
​What have you found most frustrating about trying to make your classroom more student-centered or critically-engaged?

​
Up next:

#2)  A Co-Created Education is...
Inclusive!


​*Coming Saturday July 13*
​
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