The Hero's Journey: Failure

Failure and the Hero

Spider-Man, Into the Spider-verse is a wonderful little offshoot of the Marvel Universe.  Miles Morales is bit by a crazy radioactive spider and sort of reluctantly becomes his universe's new Spider-Man after the original dies.  (Those aren't really spoilers).

When this new teen hero comes of age in the movie, a song can be a herd in the background: What's up danger?  The hero, Miles, comes to terms with the fact that a great power has been thrust upon him and he can't simply sit back and let other's take on challenges that are now his by right.

So the song, What's up danger, is indicative of that choice to meet "danger" head on instead of hoping that things just "turn out well".  The line "What's up danger? Don't be a stranger" underpins Mile's decision to welcome the challenges that are inevitable.  That's not to say he goes looking for danger unnecessarily, he simply doesn't shy away from challenges that present themselves as he works toward the common good.

In so many ways, teachers that invest themselves in other people's kids are heroes in the making.  I use the term "in the making" because a hero's journey happens without a final arrival.  Being a hero is an active journey, not a destination.

As educators, we will have a variety of students with a variety of needs who all want to take a variety of pathways in life to reach their various goals. It seems like a herculean task IF we assume that all of this variety must be owned and planned for ONLY by the individual teacher.

THAT IS THE OLD WAY OF TEACHING AND THINKING!

Your task is NOT to take on your student's present and future on your back and think and act for them.  Your task is to develop learning experiences that allow for a multitude of expressions and growth on the part of your students. 

You get bored when you go to PD that is cookie cutter and doesn't speak to who you are.  So do your students!  Variety, differentiation, and individualized learning are a moral imperative in education.

So how do we start this difficult and seemingly complex new calling in our classrooms?

Start small and celebrate the small victories.  You can't know how to hit towering home runs until you understand the nuances of swinging your hips, not dropping your shoulder as you swing, the need for strong wrists, and keeping your eye on the ball.  The small things add up to the big things.

The Hero's Journey

So, whether you are starting off with Blended Learning, Project Based Learning, or some other new fancy pants way to prepare for learning... you gotta start small, celebrate small, and progress incrementally.

As you an see in the image to the right in "The Hero's Journey" image, failure is part of the success.  Odysseus, Hercules, and other great heroes of the past went through very similar trials and tribulations before their ascension.  The journey, though, looks very similar to the many struggles we face and humans beings, demigods or not.  The small victories add up to the big ones. 

How to fail better

1) Break down large tasks into small tasks - the big stuff doesn't happen unless the small stuff happens.  Focus on the small stuff first.  Make sure it's in order.  Make sure you complete small step #1 before worrying about or moving on to step #2, and so on... Small failures are learning opportunities.

2) Keep track of your victories - All habits were originally a choice.  Keep track of your small choices and small victories.  Act on the small victories repetitively until they become good habits.  Document your past failures and how you overcame them.

3) Celebrate - Don't be afraid to "self promote".  Students, parents, administrators are saying things about you (likely good things!).  It wouldn't hurt to add your own voice to the chorus.  Be your own PR director.  Celebrate what you do well and send those celebrations out into the ether! Use instagram to give parents a window into your classroom.  Join twitter chats and share your lessons.  Join FB pages and ask for ideas to make your great lessons better.  Read books.  Celebrate your failures and lessons learned with others. 

4) What's up danger? - When a baby begins to walk and then falls down, you don't see parents chastising and bemoaning the baby's "failure".  We would NEVER learn to walk LOL. We support failing baby walkers until we are celebrating walking baby walkers.  Meeting your "danger" head on. Get ahead of the curve.  Anticipate your challenges.  Don't fret.  You WILL fail at some point.  That's a given.  What isn't a given is how you react.  The hero will never arrive at their destination.  The hero can only be a hero within the context of their journey and struggle.  Be a hero for your students. Meet your challenges and struggle in front of them and continue your journey... preferably with a smile.  Take on your failures head on and make them your friend. 

5) Blended Learning - If your mindset is ready.  NOW go reread our blog posts, attend our Blended Learning Academy sessions, read Blended Learning books... Fail for your students sake. 

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto: Relationships and Data in a Blended Learning Experience

There's a line in the song Mr. Roboto... 


🎶 The problem's plain to see
Too much technology
Machines to save our lives
Machines, de-humanize 🎶

Many of us, including myself, once derided cold data's "over use" because it seemed to dehumanize the student.  My son, Charlie, for example, is more than his STAAR score or IQ or whatever... Grades are incredibly subjective by nature, especially if you consider what gets weighted more and what gets weighted less.

Which is a TRUER indicator of student learning: homework grades, test grades, standardized tests, conversations, exit tickets???  Further, how do we weigh those assessments so that the final number is a true indicator of the student's actual understanding???  UGH!!!

But... the aforementioned data CAN help refine a process to help scaffold learning to push my son to achievement more than he is currently.  Data can help teachers create personalized learning experiences that create greater engagement and frame the learning.

Data is a tool for learning, not the goal of learning.

As you've read through these blog posts, we certainly hope that you've picked up on a concept that some supporters of blended learning under emphasize.  Namely, at the core of the personalized learning experience that blended learning affords is the duality that data tracking and conversations can inform and build relationships and relationships help guide student achievement via data analysis.

The benefits to implementing blended learning lessons, those that incorporate student/teacher analysis of data in order to personalize the learning experience via flexibility in pace, place, path, time are aplenty.  Did I just use the 1930's farmer term "aplenty" in a blended learning blog?  You betcha buttons I did!

Those benefits, which include higher student engagement on tasks, higher student achievement, further development of future ready skills, and so on, are rooted in how teachers prepare for student learning via breakdown of data.  The data, formative or summative, can take on the guise of exit tickets, quizzes, exams, discussions, and other assessments.  In our Blended Learning Academy, we work with teachers on the idea that none of their old quizzes or exams need to be thrown out when blended.  They simply need to be re-purposed.  The exam, for example, can now be used as both a pre-assessment and post-assessment to gauge growth in a blended lesson.

In one of our recent Blended Learning Academies for administrators, Shelly and I did an immersive activity.  Our participants were immersed in a blended lesson that focused on federalism.  We gave them a pre-test on the topic with 5 fairly basic questions.  Used the responses to group our participants.  Each group was then put at one of three stations.  Station 1 was with me, the government teacher where I would walk them through the concept of federalism, introduce relevant topics, and assess via high level questions all the way through.  Station 2 had participants researching five Supreme Court cases that dealt with federalism disputes between the state and national governments.  They were asked on an instruction card to look for patterns and talk about those patterns.  Station 3 had students discussing in small groups what a future federalism court case or issue might be.  They had to talk about the future possibilities and come to a consensus on the topic and how the Supreme Court might rule.

Each group's size was determined by the participants performance on the pre-assessment (the session average was a 65).  The participants who scored higher on the assessment were given more autonomy, the middle group had a scaffolded exercise to guide them, and the lower group was with me, the teacher.  We also rotated.  The first rotation was longer since I wanted to the lower scorers to stay with me a bit longer.  The second rotation was a little shorter. The third rotation was about as long as the second.

We then pulled the group back together after the rotations and had them take the post test.  The session average at that point was a 95 with the lowest grade being a 60 and the next lowest being an 80 and every else scoring a 100.

We then all debriefed, first, about federalism and the lessons we had learned.  Second, we talked about the station rotation model that we used and how it could be co-opted into a variety of classes and resource rich or poor circumstances.

All of these conversations were centered around the particular types of data we had collected.  Pre quiz, post quiz, conversations, peer to peer reflections, and even body language.

At the end of the day, participants stayed behind to talk and the conversations tended to gravitate to that lesson and how the data drove the experience and the experience was a social one where learning occurred at high level.  The participants were very friendly with me, the teacher, and we all felt social connections, but to be honest I didn't ask them at any point about their favorite color or food or where they grew up.  Our social bond presented itself as a tangent to the data break down and my scaffolding of their learning experience.  They learned something new and seemed exhilarated by the experience and felt a social connection to me... but that social connection was steeped in the content and data.  I hope that makes sense.

The data in essence gave the context to a rich learning experience that allowed us to bond over the discovery of surprising facts about federalism.

So in the blended learning environment, data is not an end in and of itself.  The data is used to personalize the learning experience for each student so that they can achieve greater heights in F2F and online modalities.  The two worlds blend better together when data informs what needs to be online and what needs to be face to face.  Relationships grow because student's dendrites are being excited by experiencing success that is hand crafted (by their own hands hopefully) especially for them.  The analysis of data answers the question how should I teach, what should I teach, what should go online, what should be small group, what should be whole group, and so on.

Me gusta data. 🤖❤️

Engaging Online Assignments Not Another Brick In The Wall

The online pieces to your Blended Learning lessons should cary all the personality and excitement that your face to face pieces have.  Online learning portions shouldn't simply be another brick in the wall of a boring virtual structure (see what I did there?!).

One of the difficulties in designing blended learning experiences has to do with your attitude.

Maybe I should say, it has to do more with your personality and how you project that personality into a virtual or online environment.

Since helping to develop Region 11's Blended Learning Academy with Shelly Shaw and teaching some hybrid college government courses on the side, I have wrestled with the concept of portraying my dry, but lovable, personality online.

In a face to face environment, it's easy.  I just tell all of my old jokes always careful to keep timing in mind.  I read my audience to see how far I can take my sarcasm.  I insert analogies or metaphors for the concepts that need scaffolding.  I make sure my body language is supporting the atmosphere, whether it be serious or joking.  Etc, etc, etc.

In blended learning, however, you're not always there when the student is working on your assignment.  If you drop in a joke or sarcastic remark in an assignment like a discussion post, students will not hear your tone or see the body language that you might have been attempting to deliver.  Misunderstandings or, worse, missed punch lines may occur.

So we have a choice, either have a robotic online environment and risk disengaging students at home OR  find a way to convey our classroom culture and our personalities in a way that translates effectively online.

If you simply want to have a robotic online environment, stop here.  You have no need for the rest of this post.

Ok, glad they're gone.

Robotic online environments can be said to be 2D.  Flat might be another word.

In our efforts to create a deeper online experience, a 3D one, we have to really dig into our emotive experiences in the classroom and try to find ways to replicate those experiences online.  That is not to say that telling the same joke in the same way will suffice.

It means we have to find ways to design learning in a way that our personality traits might be felt or duplicated online to keep those emotional classroom connections alive.

For example, in my online discussion posts I want students to think deeply but not be threatened by the possibility of getting a "wrong" answer when they spend their time and energy on a discussion prompt.  To alleviate the tension, I look for meme's or videos that accentuate the questions prompt and ADD to the content as opposed to simply being static. unproductive, or passive side items.  I also ask opinion and value questions, but ask them to support their thinking with citations or other people who think the way they do.  There is NO right answer, but there is a right process.

When discussing federalism in my hybrid college course I ask students to dive into Federalist 51, the Federalism chapter in their textbook  and answer the question "Is federalism still relevant in today's world? Please support your opinion.".

In order to answer this question, students have to a) understand the concept of federalism b) understand what the Founders wrote about it in Federalist 51 c) understand how it works in today's world d) judge whether it is still a viable system.

That's pretty dry.

To import my personality, I don't tell a joke or a funny story.  I find a video that IMPLIES my sense of humor but also adds depth to the discussion post and the content.  In the following clip, I also ask students to explain what the clip has to do with the federalism prompt (answer: Mr. Burns is the US government and the bugs are the states... they are both selfish and interdependent which allows for a stable environment to exist, for the most part.  The door frame can be seen the US Constitution or Congress).

So the video conveys my humor, the content, and furthers the question prompt.

In many cases, asking students to make connections between their experiences and your content is good enough to carry your personality and make an assignment 3D.  Using analogies, metaphors, memes, jokes that lie within the scope of your content is the best place to start.  You can also use lensing activities in this same way.  For example, you can ask students "What would George Washington say if he were a part of this book... or listening to this conversation... or in charge of so and so?"

Creating opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of content via interactions or reflections with you or peers is also useful.  For example, you can post a question in a Padlet and have students reply with images or videos that you leave comments on would be a great way to carry that classroom culture into the outside world.

Creating a hashtag for students to post Instagram images to would be a similar 3D experience as long as you are actively engaging with their artifacts at some point.

Even though it isn't directly your personality that is being projected, the above examples project THROUGH your personality and help develop a better online environment.  

Video Killed The Radio Star: The Buggles and Blended Learning

Sometimes small and innocuous changes in the way we do things leads to revolutions that aren't seen until they are directly on top of us.

Case in point... Go ahead, hit play and listen. :)

Especially the line "and now I understand the problems, you can see. I met your children, what did you tell them?"

  

When the Buggles, a name derivative from mixing the words bugs and The Beatles, released this video and MTv played it as their first ever video, the world was in the throws of change.  During the radio age, all that mattered was the voice and the music.  The Buggles, as implied in the album's name, "Age of Plastic," predicted that the advent of video and VCRs effectively killed the older radio stars.  Now, because of the advent of new technologies, a new generation of artists would synthesize music, technology, and aesthetics (note the oversized sunglasses are meant to portray a "bug's" eyes) to produce the NEW stars.  Stars like Madonna and Prince and stations like MTv and VH1 were now not only possible, but fated.

Video allowed the artist to fully flesh out their vision and music beyond lyrics and sounds.  Their thinking became visible.

Sure... Radio continued, but radio as the main and only medium through which music was sold and consumed was over. Eventually, MTv gave way to CDs, MP3s, and finally Spotify and Pandora.  The consumer's need for personalized access to music, when and where and how they wanted it, could not be ignored or denied.

Video killed the radio star and we ALL celebrated it.

In a very similar fashion, a better understanding of the brain, technology leaps, and the push for equity for ALL students has placed an unyielding amount of pressure on the old "sit and git" and "sage on the stage" way to teach.  I might argue that YouTube killed the old way to teach.

Notice, I did not use the word learn.  Students are learning under the old regime, but in a way that can be characterized as the "soft bigotry of low expectations" kind of way.  In "sit and git" classrooms, when students ARE inspired and excited to learn something new, unfortunately, they are likely self-medicating by turning to an instructor who personalizes their learning: YouTube.

There is a tension in many classrooms between the advancement of the personalization of learning happening all around us and the master of the content who still wants to lecture or show off what they learned about Texas History fro their 1980's college days.  In so many cases, Google and YouTube are better teachers in a fact based, low Bloom's environment.

Blended learning with its emphasis on flexibility, student empowerment, and a nod toward the outside-the-classroom world is the Buggles of today.  "Teaching" is now more about guiding students to not need us (empowerment), because in many cases they really don't need us.

In previous posts we talked about the umbrella visual's portrayal of flexibility in place, pace, path, and time as it is driven by data to create personalized learning experiences for students.  So what are the benefits?

Student Benefits:

• Ownership over their own learning goals
• Learning that happens inside and outside the classroom
• A greater reliance on peer to peer feedback and refinement practices
• An end to the view that the teacher is the "master" of the student's learning and success
• A stronger community fabric with peers and the teacher
• Greater ability to express their knowledge in a variety of ways to authentic audiences
• More retention because the learning is personally authentic 

Teacher Benefits:

• Students are better engaged and less discipline issues
• Students are afforded more leadership opportunities and are less of a discipline issue
• After the front loading of planning, more T.I.M.E.
• more time to guide
• more time to reflect
• more time to build relationships
• more time to become better at letting go
• more time seeing that investing trust in students pays off
• more time to evaluate because students are helping in the grading/evaluating
• Pride in helping to create independent learners
• Inspiration brought on by students who creatively display their knowledge
• Getting help from students in planning lessons and/or integrating technology
• A new way to breath life into old lessons
• Contributing to a skill set that will help small human beings grow up to be successful larger human beings
• Parents will see at home what you are doing in class and they will be thankful for the view

Like all things worth while, becoming a Blended Learning teacher takes time and effort.  Start off small, find what works for you and your students, and build around successes.

The difference between the song and the video Video Killed the Radio Star is a small tweak in delivery and an acknowledgment and incorporation of the new ways.  The Buggles became both radios stars and the harbingers of the demise of radio stars by moving in a new-ish direction.  They carried what worked in the old system and married it to the new system.  You can do the same and your students will thank you for it.