Protect His Smile - An Open Letter To My Son's Kindergarten Teacher

September 2016

Dear Mrs. K.  -

It was great to briefly meet you this afternoon at our son’s Kindergarten orientation! Matthew left feeling incredibly positive about the learning environment you have created, and for that my wife and I thank you. We understand how much time and effort went into getting everything ready for the children, and at such a momentous occasion in his young life, your warm and inviting classroom meant the world to him and us!

We wanted to write a quick note to add onto one of the prompts from the Kindergarten questionnaire that you sent home. On it, you had asked parents to share what we hoped would come out of this Kindergarten experience...

The truth is, we only hope for one thing this entire year. Matthew is a compassionate and thoughtful child with big ideas and even bigger heart. He loves learning. He loves school. He looks forward to it each and every day. He’s generous. He’s inquisitive. He’s determined. He’s our heart and soul. Every child in your class is someone else’s entire world. He’s ours.

The only hope we have for this school year is that you will protect his smile.

We hope he walks out of Kindergarten in June with even wider eyes, a more positive perception, and even greater enthusiasm for school than he already has today. For my wife and I, academics are secondary. Sure, we want him to read fluently and develop a conceptual understanding of mathematics. But our priority this year, and every other year he’s enrolled at Jefferson Elementary School, is to nurture his passion and foster his love of learning so he continues to see the classroom as a place full of joy, opportunity, and fun.

Thanks, in advance, for an amazing year!

Sincerely,

Steve Figurelli

Lean On Me - A Reflection On #ECET2

Music was a theme this weekend at the national Elevating & Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers convening in San Diego, CA. From Shawn Sheehan’s opening keynote to Dr. Irvin Scott’s closing remarks, music provided a soundtrack to the passion, inspiration, and camaraderie that is #ECET2. As I sit here reflecting on the message and meaning of the past 2.5 days from 35,000 ft. in the air, I can’t help but come back to the melody.

To me, the song that truly captures the emotion and heart of ECET2 is Bill Withers’ classic, “Lean On Me.”  Truth is, no matter how strong we seem externally or how prideful we feel internally, we all need somebody to lean on. And, to me, that’s the true power of ECET2. I now have the ability to lean on like-minded educators from across the country who unequivocally put kids first and are cultivating their calling to positively impact our future. I have a global network to celebrate my successes and elevate me when faced with challenges. I’m not sure I’ve felt as supported as I do right now in my entire career. 

I can lean on the NJ/PA ECET2 Steering Committee (Barry Saide, Josh Zagorski, Natalie Franzi, Lisa Hollenbach, Scott Totten, Kate Baker, Liz Calderwood, Kathy Suk, and Glenn Robbins). 

I can lean on Table 25: (Becky McBride (TN), Ryan,Eisele (MI), Alli Hancock (WA), Samantha Hull (PA), Kati Pearson (FL), and Brenda Meyer)

I can lean on Julia King from DC.

I can lean on Leigh Cooksey from TN.

I can lean on Starr Sackstein from NY.

I can lean on Pernille Ripp from WI. 

And, even more importantly, I hope they know they can lean on me too. 

Thanks Bill & Melinda Gates and #ecet2 for surrounding me with positivity, energy, a rejuvenated spirit, and a support system of amazing educators I can lean on.

#OneWord2016

As a parent, I often find myself living vicariously through the lens of my camera. I relentlessly try to preserve moments as milestones and stages pass by and time slips away.

To celebrate NYE and close out 2015, my wife and I took our son to Sesame Place for one last hurrah on Captain Cookie’s High “Cs” Adventure, the Monster Mix-up ride, and fireworks to close the evening. As thunderous explosions and brilliant colors filled the air, my son sat and watched completely awestruck. Rather than being in and enjoying the moment with him, I instinctively reached for my phone to capture it for the future. And though I was able to seize this breathtaking instant, reflecting on the experience caused me to pause.

My #oneword2016 is present. Be present for those around you. As a parent. As an educator. As a friend. There will always be time to access the world of information and connection that lies in the palm of your hands - emails, texts, tweets, Facebook updates, photo ops… But it all can wait. Distractions abound… but the most important and thoughtful gift we can give others is our time. Commit to making those around you feel like the most important people in the world. Listen attentively. Speak genuinely. Compliment others. Live in the moment. 

Dr. Haim Ginott said that children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression. As we look forward to 2016, our kids deserve our full attention, energy, and effort. They deserve our conversation. They deserve to be listened to. They deserve 100% of you. Let’s commit to always do what’s best for them and be present.

National #StuCamp

“Meaningful student involvement is the process of engaging students as partners in every facet of school change for the purpose strengthening their commitment to education, community & democracy.” ~Adam Fletcher

This past Thursday, December 3rd, 2015, was one of the most inspiring and rewarding days in my 13 years as an educator. Alongside an amazing team, we brought together over one hundred secondary students from Florida, Missouri, Iowa, and New Jersey for the first ever National #StuCamp!

Our mission was simple: to elevate student voice and empower kids to lead the conversation. It’s been said, “The ones most affected by education are the ones least consulted.” We wanted to provide a platform for students to share, learn, and grow together while having conversations around content that mattered most to them.

Surrounded by a passionate team of game changing educators - Meg Roa from Florida, Dane Barner from Iowa, and Srishti Sethi from Massachusetts (whose Unhangout platform served as the foundation for the event) - we planned the specifics of #StuCamp for several months driven by the simultaneous fear and exhilaration of the unknown. We structured the event true EdCamp style - no planned presentations. Students would create the session board the day of!

We went into #StuCamp absolutely not knowing what to expect. I imagine the feelings swirling within me were some of the same experienced by Kristen Swanson, Kevin Jarrett, and the rest of the initial EdCamp organizers before their first conference: uncertainty, anticipation, trepidation, and excitement. We had no idea what was going to happen, how the event would manifest. And we were ok with that.

At 1pm EST on 12/3, over 100 students entered our #StuCamp room on Unhangout. After viewing a quick welcome video, we opened the session proposals and the Steering Committee held our breath. It was happening! We gave up control to our students - and they didn’t disappoint! The topics proposed were poignant, thoughtful, and authentic. Sessions included science, dress code, school start time, sports, and over-testing among others. That moment, the shattering of the unknown, was one I’ll never forget. Students interacting and collaborating with peers across state lines, children driving the conversations around content that mattered to them; and, most importantly, adults letting go in a learning environment. It was transformational.

We were incredibly honored to be joined by Hadley Ferguson, Executive Director of the EdCamp Foundation, and best-selling author and staunch student voice proponent, Dr. Russell Quaglia, who both shared a few words with the students before they headed into breakout sessions.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all perfect - things in life rarely are. Reality hit home about 40 minutes into #StuCamp when we crashed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology server causing everyone to be bounced from our room. Ultimately, the event, in it’s entirety, didn’t go precisely as planned, but that’s fine. As with anything in life - especially when you take a risk - there’s potential for failure. We modeled the vulnerability of risk taking and will be using this as a learning experience.

Despite the technology difficulties, we still consider the day a success. We were able to connect students from across four states and provide an opportunity for kids to learn from one another. The incredibly powerful potential of this cannot be underestimated. The sessions and conversations were both authentic and thoughtful, even if only for a short time. We believe in kids: their voice; their potential; and their genius. And this past Thursday confirmed how proud we are of them and how confident we are for the future.

My sincere hope, our sincere hope, is that this event serves as a launching point. In the same manner that the EdCamp movement has redefined teacher professional development, it is my hope that #StuCamp spurs international urgency to connect and empower kids across the globe to lead the conversation to change education from the inside out. This was only the beginning. We want to see #StuCamp events popping up all the time. The Unhangout tool is free. Sign up HERE to host your own and connect your children with the world! The EdCamp model is such a wonderful mechanism to amplify teacher voice… Let’s give our students the opportunity to amplify theirs and start a revolution.

Two Words That Changed Our World

For three days I’ve been trying to find the right words to capture the moment I experienced this past Monday. Three days to capture the energy; the passion; the enthusiasm; the positivity of the first district professional development day in a long time that actually mattered. 

I’m sure if you’re in education and you’re reading this, you know the traditional model for those in-service days: mandated district trainings, uninspired presenters, and supremely disinterested staff. Our team worked to create the antithesis - a meaningful learning opportunity that would serve to not only celebrate our teachers but elevate our students. I was beyond thrilled when I got the ok to pursue the only person I felt could create this transformative experience for our staff: Angela Maiers. 

Angela has been an absolute source inspiration for me over the past few years. I’ll never forget watching her TEDxDesMoines talk back in 2011, hanging on every word, as if she was somehow speaking from my heart. It changed my professional life. I connected with her on Twitter, sought out and shared mind-blowing examples of kids changing the world, and stood in awe of her genius. With every subsequent article and blog post she published, I felt even more connected because I share the exact same fundamental belief about the magic and potential of all children. Meeting with Angela face-to-face and speaking with her personally was definitely the highlight of ISTE 2015. She is certainly at the top of my #EduHero list. Coordinating and organizing her visit to Edison was something I had been looking forward to for several years.

So there we were, 425 elementary educators gathered together in the high school auditorium. The buzz of the teachers was draped with uncertainty and an unwitting confidence that this PD Day was going to be just another one of those days. After a brief introduction, Angela took the mic, looked the room in the eye, and unequivocally and unapologetically told everyone there that they matter. It was at that point that the energy and emotion in the entire room began to change. It was truly incredible. The change was evident in the eyes, the body language, and all over our district hashtag on Twitter. Teachers started to believe - in Angela; in the message; and in themselves.

Angela continued on to share the perils of the Mattering Gap and how we, as educators, had the ability - the responsibility - of closing it with three crucial components: hope, wellbeing, and engagement. She echoed the words of another #EduHero Rita Pierson by reminding our teachers to secure a student’s heart or you won’t have a shot at their brains. And closed the keynote speech with an impassioned plea for everyone in the room to be somebody’s somebody.

I have been in education for a little over a decade and I have never felt as much passion, energy, and positivity at a district-sponsored event than I did this past Monday as Angela spoke to our elementary staff. This experience gave me significant hope: for our future, for the work, for our teachers, and, most importantly, for our students. I think Angela has given our district new life. All from two simple, yet immensely powerful words: You Matter.

I had two key takeaways from Angela’s presentation that have renewed my spirit and my drive as a disruptor:

• “The moment we use words like ‘just, can’t, if, and only’ not only do we lose...but the world loses.” Inherent in this amazing quote is a mindset shift that has to occur on the part of the adults in education. You aren’t just a teacher. As Gemar Mills says, “You save lives daily.” It’s incredibly important work - a calling that cannot be underestimated, diminished, or taken for granted.
  
  I also believe we all have to make a concerted effort to shift the conversation from asking “why?” to asking “why not?”. From giving reasons something can’t happen to finding potential solutions as to how it can. This is the approach that we owe our children. We owe it to them to take risks, to push the envelope, and to reimagine what education looks like in the modern classroom. But, most importantly, we owe it to students to believe in them. Each and every one of them.
  
• “Our kids change the world because you changed their world.” What we do in the classroom is about people and pedagogy - not programs. I believe part of our reflection each day ought to be how we changed a kid’s world that day. Perhaps it was a smile and a fist-bump, a two-minute conversation in the hallway, a positive phone call home, or a dynamic, personalized learning experience. Erin Klein says, “Every child in your classroom is someone else’s entire world.” Well, if we’re in this game, I would argue those children should be our entire world too. I ask you to ask yourself: How did you make an everlasting positive impact today on your students?

The takeaways of our staff have been incredible. The effects of Angela's message have transcended the high school auditorium that housed us this week. Below are a few examples of how these words have impacted and transformed our teachers and students. I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Still Behind...

Summer is a time for teachers to reflect, recharge, and reinvent themselves. It’s a time for educators to seek out professional development opportunities to enhance understanding of pedagogies and technologies to facilitate more meaningful learning experiences for our students. Hours this summer will be spent gaining familiarity with strategies, devices, and tools for September: GAFE, iPads, various web tools, flipped learning, etc… And while I believe this learning is important and, in and of itself, positive, I am left wondering if it only serves to widen the gap between our schools and the world.

By all accounts, the wearable technology industry is set to explode. From devices that simply monitor heart rate on our wrists, to a patch that alters mood through neurosignaling, to headphones that track sleep and improve memory, to “smart” clothes that expand and constrict to keep body temperature regulated...this is the future of technology.

Meanwhile, in education, we have just become familiar with Google Docs and Padlet.

Please don’t misinterpret my point: there is absolute value to exploring and utilizing these tools in the classroom. But the excitement teachers are feeling over collaborating on a Google Doc or embedding a screencast in Videonot.es or exploring the world with Geoguessr should instead be felt examining phenomena like ThinkMelon or ChooseMuse - cutting edge technologies that are changing our culture and our world. Excitement should be shared around the unconventional and forward thinking that made these advances possible - the kind of thinking that must be commonplace in schools.

Perhaps the time spent learning this summer for teachers ought not be devoted to what can arguably be considered the established norm, but instead be invested creating circumstances in our PreK-12 space that provide conditions for moonshot thinking and learning. A space that values the intersection of STEAM and passion and serves to awaken the curiosity and ingenuity that is inherent within children. A space that cultivates the progressive conditions that make the development and production of the wearable technology described above a reality.   

Perhaps administrators ought to consider flipping the schedule, building in more time for STEAM with integrated literacy. At what point do we say students have had enough exposure to personal narratives and lessons on author’s purpose? All children (starting at the elementary level) should have experiences with new literacies, entrepreneurial endeavors, and opportunities for a larger global impact. It’s crucial these experiences mirror outside-the-classroom expectations.

Truth is, slightly modifying an existing system doesn’t foster true change; it only serves to reaffirm and enable the glacial pace at which education evolves. If we are constantly a step behind, how will we ever deliver on our moral obligation to provide children the opportunity to leave our schools a leap ahead? Collectively, this begins with being at the forefront of the revolution, technology or otherwise. It’s about being proactive for our future, as opposed to reactive based on our past. I just wonder how long we can keep playing catch up in education…

Please share thoughts and ideas. I’d love to hear your perspective.

The Matthew Effect

Below is the extended version of my ASCD InService post: http://inservice.ascd.org/the-matthew-effect/

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the Core Advocates convening in Denver, Colorado. The experience, facilitated by Student Achievement Partners, offered participants not only a forum to share and collaborate with educators from across the nation, but also an opportunity to learn from lead writers and contributors of the Common Core State Standards. The sessions throughout the conference afforded an in-depth look at the Standards, the Shifts, and how America’s schools can best serve, challenge, and prepare her students.

As I reflect on my experience and the incredibly informative sessions I attended, I continue to be profoundly struck by the notion of the Matthew Effect and what I believe is America’s missed opportunity to close the achievement gap. Though I had investigated the Matthew Effect in the past, listening to the data presented by David Liben and Silas Kulkarni was so staggering it reignited my passion to help solve this crisis for kids.

So what is the Matthew Effect and what does the research say? The term Matthew Effect refers to the notion that “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Essentially, research has identified (and any teacher can attest to it) that some children enter school “wealthier” than their classmates when it comes to literacy foundational skills. As students move forward, those children who start out with advantages, in terms of early reading skills and vocabulary, tend to thrive and grow academically, while those “less wealthy” students tend to languish.

With alarming studies like the 30 Million Word Gap reiterating the catastrophic long term effects on students that do not possess these foundational skills, it is incumbent on our country to stem the tide. Consider this graphic below that illustrates this point:

And that data just represents the first three years of a child’s life. Now compound this divide over the next three, six, nine, or twelve years (when the children would be sophomores in high school). Research is clear: knowledge of words is knowledge of the world. So how can we, as a collective, curve some of the Matthew Effect and level the playing field. Below are a few ideas with which to start the conversation:

1) Early intervention is crucial. High quality preschool is absolutely essential. All children deserve the opportunity to start their school career on grade level - or at least relatively close - instead of several years behind as they take their first steps into kindergarten.

Additionally, we must advocate and instill programs that intervene in the primary grades to bridge gaps and support student development. All too often I see intervention programs attempting to mend disconnects children face in grades 3, 4, and 5. It’s disingenuous. Generally speaking, intervention in grades 4 and 5 is about targeted skill instruction to help pass a test. But if we don’t begin intervention programs until students hit the intermediate grades in elementary school - we’ve missed our opportunity. Our programs should focus on students in K-3. Identify gaps and provide remediation early! Without this intervention, the gap widens over time until by 4th grade it is almost insurmountable. Research dictates that in 5th grade and above, literacy intervention programs are only successful with about 13% of struggling readers.

And it makes sense because there’s a dynamic shift that occurs in 4th grade. From birth until grade 3, children learn to read. Oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, etc… But from 4th grade on, we read to learn. And when students are disfluent and lack depth when it comes to vocabulary, it sets them on a path to underachievement for the rest of their school careers. Negative sense of school and self are amplified, dropout rates increase, and therefore graduation rates decrease. It’s an absolute stark issue that we must stop ignoring.

2) The research is clear: students must be exposed to words early and often, as this is proven to increase vocabulary. So whether that’s via conversation or song or a read aloud, kids need to hear words all the time. How can we, as educators, support this? Here are a few ideas (not the end all be all, but a start):

• Have opportunities for students to come early or stay late and let them listen to and be immersed in music. Let children hear the poetry in lyrics as a means of modeling fluency and increasing vocabulary. Music is multidimensional and magical. It connects to us auditorily and emotionally. Use music to expose children to language (and reap additional benefits of exposure to rhythm, tone, mood, and timing).
• Create buddy situations with upper elementary students or even middle/high school students. The Matthew Effect is not simply an elementary school problem. It’s a system issue. Our children need a concerted effort from all levels and stakeholders. Buddy younger children up with older children and allow them time to talk; to ask questions; to engage in a conversation. With the advent of technology, this idea isn’t simply limited to face-to-face sessions. Give kids an opportunity to engage in a Google Hangout or Skype chat. Regardless of the medium, just give kids an opportunity to talk to develop oral language.
• Host information day/evening sessions for parents and other stakeholders. Live stream them via Google Hangouts on Air - enable folks to attend virtually! The research I presented above is sobering. The more we can spread the word of the challenges students face, the stronger our potential to remedy it. Share strategies that parents and stakeholders can employ at home, in the car, or even at the park to help kids develop language.
• Read aloud to children everyday. Experts recommend 15 minutes per day of a sustained read aloud. Reading aloud to children (of all ages) is vital to developing vocabulary and comprehension while modeling fluency.
• Create initiatives in school around words that are meaningful. Reading a word, definition, and sentence over the PA during morning announcements doesn’t add value for children. Rather,
• Put the word of the day on the bathroom or hall pass. And as children head to their destination, engage kids in a dialogue around the word.
• Use Remind to send an alert to students and parents that contains the word of the day and then have the students use the chat feature to share an example of how they used the word in context outside of school! Further, to amplify this opportunity, don’t take weekends off! Send alerts on Saturdays and Sundays to keep the conversations going.
• This idea may be a little unorthodox, but get your students and parents on Voxer! Allow them to engage in conversations around the word of the day through their device. This would provide students and parents not only an opportunity to connect to classmates beyond the school day, but yields valuable formative assessment data for teachers.
• Finally, we need to rethink vocabulary instruction. Research suggests that “most words are learned by reading or being read to.” NOT by completing workbook pages. Vocabulary books that present 20 words per week are not simply devoid of context, they’re devoid of meaning for kids. By utilizing a Google extension like Read & Write For Google and providing some autonomy, students can create personalized vocabulary lists based on the texts that they are reading. This, of course, isn’t standardized...which is why it creates a more meaningful experience for students.  

The ideas above were meant to simply start a dialogue. The Matthew Effect is detrimental to our students’ future. And if one thing became abundantly clear to me this weekend, we cannot simply sit idly as the issue continues to manifest. We must all work together to help bridge this gap - not only for the sake of these children, but for the sake of our nation.