The Bow Tie Teacher

No goals left behind

I like this time of year, December-February. I enjoy planning, thinking and setting goals for the year. I always set aside time during this season to just think, dream and plan. 5 out of 7 years I set and accomplish the goals I set. This year I'm going BIG. I'm going to accomplish 100% of my goals. And, I'm not going to set only 2 goals so I can get it done. I have 9 good, strong, SMART, life changing goals set out with a plan to get each of them done. There are 2 elusive goals, however that have evaded me for YEARS. This year the year I turn 40 I will see them accomplished. No goals left behind. Here we go. Want to know what my goals are for 2014? Just watch...you'll see them soon enough. 

Here's my plan. I will share my goals at the end of January. 

1. Research my goals. I like to know what I'm getting myself into. I'm not GREAT at research, but I'm pretty good. 

2. I Decided that either I'm going to obsess over this or not. If I'm not going to obsess over it, then I'm not going to do it. 

3. Reduce the picture. Small bite sized pieces, daily steps, weekly steps, monthly steps you get the point. 

4. Make it public. I chose to blog about it. You can ask me questions about my goals. I'll gladly share where I am. 

5. Seek accountability. I LOVE to surround myself with people doing stuff. I want them to intentionally and unintentionally prod me on. 

6. I now expect it to be hard, but along with the struggle I expect, seek, look for the strength to get this thing done! 

7. Encourage and seek encouragement. 

8. Visualize the goal completion. I spend a little time daily thinking what it will be like to be as fit as I can at 40, to be debt free, to make my job the career I never hat to work at ever again, to be a multi book author. I like the picture now I need do it so you can see it, too.  

9. Learn from failures. If the goal is worthy of my time then failure isn't a STOP sign. It's a This ain't the way sign. 

10. Focus on 1 goal at one time. I need help on this. I tend to keep my goals in a family so I can do more than 1 in at a time cause they're related. 

11. Practice walking goal out every single day. I have to obsess about being the man God wants me to go. It has to consume my thoughts, words, actions and deeds. Then it will become easy.

12. Take responsibility for all of it. It's all mine. The success, the failures, the set backs the set ups. They are all mine. 

Lucky Number 13. Celebrate cause the journey was well worth it. 

College road trip week

 

 

I've been having a ball during this College Road Trip week. My only goal is; to make college sound like an obtainable goal. I know it's a long shot and most of my kids have a rough time thinking past next week. But if there was hope for me, I can at least hold out hope for them. If nothing else my students won't pull one of these on me. (They don't have a choice, but know where I went to college.) 

To get the kids hyped up I mixed up our Class Dojo for the week. Everyday they want to earn 3 points (which should be pretty easy) to move to the next "grade". They seem receptive to it,which is a major plus! 

• Monday 3= Freshman
• Tuesday 3 = Sophmore
• Wednesday 3 = Junior
• Thursday 3 = Senior
• Friday Graduation Day! We celebrate my decorating these Class of 2027 badges I have and making Coke Floats for our science lesson. 

So far this is what I've done. 

Monday I wore my cap and gown around to tell them that they have to start today thinking about what they'll have to do to get to high school graduation in 10 years and college in 14. 

Tuesday I wore my Morehouse apron all day coupled with that gigantic flag I picked up last week. 

Wednesday I'm rocking the highly anticipated Morehouse bow tie.

Thursday I'm pulling out the Morehouse sweater. A true fan favorite. 

Friday I'm doning the cap and gown to celebrate our kids moving forward in life. I put it out there and I hope some of the other teachers wear their's as well. What else you going to do with it? 

Pictures will follow. I really wish I could've done more. I've already put in some ideas for next year. We do this again I'm going BIG or going home. 

The Longest days

The Longest days are those that the kids tend to grasp the least information. But also I'm teaching, grouping and talking a lot. I did not expect after this amount of time and practice my students would still be struggling with double digit addition with regrouping. It's tough. I just didn't think I wasn't reaching them that much! Wow! Got to moved on and start other skills, though. 

I'm amped up that we're doing a College and Career day in a few weeks. I've been gathering various college banners from friends. I'm decking out my classroom door to look like a huge Morehouse College application. I'm getting my Cricut ready for some grade A cutting. Got a lot to do in a few days. Pictures will follow. 

My foray into the 7 habits has been hit and miss. I'm not getting the students excited about anything. I've tried to review the 1st four habits a lot to no avail. I'm looking at me and my style to see why I'm not getting them on par. There are a ton of good, high quality excuses, but I have to find a better solution. We're just in November. 

How are you keeping the motovation high in your class? Are you? I'm putting up the SOS for new ideas and plans. 

Teachers UNITE!

So now the October stretch has started. This is the time when teachers (ME) question: 

• Am I making a difference? 
• Am I in the profession?
• What the HECK am I doing? 

This week has been a trip. Just a lot of off task-ness and refocusing. I even had a kid steal one of my fidget bands from off the bottom of a chair. #WhoDoesThat!? 

The super frustrating thing is that this week's lessons/content weren't very hard. It was more of a stretch week than a new subject. So there was a lot of room for the kids to grow and feel successful. Can't honestly say that it panned out like that. 

The feeling that I'm getting from the group is "Mr. Whitaker, you're cool and all and I'm going to let you finish this lesson. But you ain't speakin' my language and I don't care to learn yours." I'm starting to get a sense of what it's like for a person from another country to come to America. Total immersion. Is there a Rosetta Stone for teaching in the inner city? 

This week I knew thoughtI was killin' it on my imagery and word pictures. I thought I was breaking it down to the very last compound. I thought I was making my case for them to desire to learn like Johnny Cochran.  What I saw was my words fall flat like a tire. I'm just not speaking their language. Now we can certainly debate culture, but that's another blog post for sure. These babies just don't know how or want to learn. 

All Therosist need not apply. I don't care what a book says or some gal on Oprah. I want trench dwelling teachers to tell me what they do to motivate the unmotivated. Help!

I know a lot of my teacher friends read, but don't comment on blogs. I'd love to hear you thoughts. Pass this question on to others in your circle, cause I cherish the feedback. 

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I might be Teacher of the Year!

That kind of week

Every teacher can feel my when I say it was "that kind of week". Having a challenging time reaching my students. I just haven't found the combination to unlock an appreciation of learning for them. I have a list of things that worked pretty well. Some that surprised me and a lot that just about smashed me into the floor. Needless to say I'm clocking in tomorrow with nothing less than the high expectation that this day I will make it THAT kind of week! 

How are you doing? What's your first 8 weeks of school been like? 

 

A great week in review

This school year has been outstanding. I'm so glad to have this group of kids. They're teaching me just as much as I am teaching them. After 7 weeks I feel pretty confident that I'm not making the impact I'd like to be making. 

Thinking about the 7 Habits, I'm going to make some changes. I've been doing a habit every 2 weeks. So we'd almost go through every habit 5 times this year. My kids really don't embrace it. So we're going to start over from Habit #1 again from ground zero. 

Next week I'm going to do only one thing. I'm going to find a way to get every one of my students excited about learning. Right now I can't say they're inspired to change their lives. 

If you have any clues/ideas on how to spark interest please share you're ideas on getting kiddos excited about learning. 

An open letter to all "Bad Parents"

    Before I get to my letter. Have you seen the article over at Slate.  It contends that parents who send their children to private schools are bad. Wait...stop laughing. Wipe that coffee of your computer screen...she's serious.

 

    So a parent's desire (free will and choice, mind you) to offer their child an education that reflects their values shouldn't out weigh another parents desire for the same if money, ability are the only things that separate the two. Not sure where I've heard that needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few before. Let me check up on that. 

    I'm not writing this because I send my girls to a private school. As a public school teacher and a parent I find this article simply absurd. As a parent my primary concern is to provide my children with the best that I can. That may look different for every family and that's just fine with me. As a teacher I give my very best to my students and my school. However, at the end of the day my responsibility is to my kids. I have said it before and believe it in my deepest being; parents are the 1st teachers. I only strengthen what you value and teach at home. 

Here are just a few points the author is missing:

•  Parents are responsible for their kids not everyone else's child. In the same vain where I send my kids is my business not yours. 
•  She assumes that parents would be lined up at the local school board meeting advocating for better schools. That's not the case at all.  
• She mistakenly assumes that they only reason schools fail is because of the educators and admin of said school or school system. Nope. You can't get race horses from mules. 
•  Public schools get a great deal of money as it is right now. Most private schools run on a very tight budget. Yes, there is excess and over indulgence, but most are very modest. That being said why don't public school systems feel it necessary to court the private school parents who pay taxes and yet send their kids to a private school? Seems like the pressure would be on the government school rather than the parents.  
•  A parent's values aren't being considered at all. It's more than my child learning Bible verses or this being an extension of Sunday School. For many parents religious education is a strong point of their family tradition. That's their perogative. 
• Teachers on both sides of the argument generally want the same thing; a better future for our kids. Why not celebrate and collaborate with Private and Public schools rather than assume they're keeping all the good toys in their sand box? I'm actually trying to glean from all teachers just to get new ideas and insights. 
• Not all private school classes are smaller or have the latest and greatest. My classroom right now has fewer kids than either of my girl's private school classes. They also have less tech than I do in my public school. 
• I don't look sideways at my co-workers who send their children to private or to public school. I certainly don't call them noble for sending their kids to public or less noble for not. I don't ask why because it's none of my business. And I appreciate them respecting my decision the with the same care. 
• Competition causes everyone to step their game up. I feel the pressure everyday. If I don't give my all and do my best me and my bow ties might be on the outside looking in. Every teacher who wants the best for their students knows that they have to do their best with the cards their dealt. 

    I do wonder if the author would feel the same way if the argument was centered around say, cars? Would I be a bad person because I didn't buy an American made car? Or maybe a Foreign car built in America since it supports the local economy. Seems pretty silly to me. 

Dear Bad Parents, 

    You keep doing what you feel is in the best interest for your kids. I think you're pretty cool. I'm going to keep plugging away making a difference in the life of my students. No name calling or finger wagging. I'll keep doing my best to show you that we're all in this together.

Signed, 

    Public School Teacher

    Not to call the sincerity of the author in question, but I don't believe she believes we're bad parents. I mean why else would you resort to name calling? 

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Unique facts about me and my 300th post

No school updates today. If you've endured this many posts by me this and hung in there this long, I might as well tell you somethings about me. Here we go.

• 1. I'm a marketers dream. I get stuck on a brand or product and never seem to change. There are certain brands/stores and products that I've only used my entire adult live. Which leads me to...
• 2. I only wear adidas. It's fair to say that just about EVERYDAY. I'm wearing something with the 3 stripes on it. Yeah, I mean everyday. I actually applied to work for them 3 different times. One time I went to a road race in Portland just to try to get a sales job. Needless to say I didn't get the job. It took me two years to decide to buy a pair of Inov8 to workout in. But...
• 3. I've awaken at about the same time everyday for years. Much to my wife's angst. I get up at 5 am, even on weekends and during the Summer. Now I might go back to sleep after getting up, but I have to get up and out of the bed. 
• 4. I read comic books on a regular. I used to be a HUGE Spiderman fan as a child. After the Death of Spiderman I pretty much became all DC all the time and more specifically, all day Batman. Speaking of that craziness...
• 5. I've memorized "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham". I still hold the book when I read it to my students, but I hold it upside down for laughs. 
• 6. I don't ever want to "retire". I want to be doing something when I'm 60+ that's so fulfilling that I'll just keep doing it until the end. 
• 7. I have a serious phobia about being late to things that are in my mind important. I've been known to be places an hour early so not to be late. If I'm late to something it's mainly because I don't think it's important. No offense to anyone leading a meeting I'm supposed to be in. 
• 8. As much as I joke about TV, I only watch 3 TV shows regularly. Suits, The Walking Dead and Law and Order:SVU
• 9. I read 10-12 books a year. Kind of slowed down this year, but I still can read 5 more. 
• 10. I really like small businesses. If I could I would start a think tank that churns out  turn key unique small businesses. 
• A few extra oddities
• 
  
• 10.1 I like coming up with ideas. I can do this all afternoon and not miss a beat. How to make something better, different or work. But...
• 10.2 I'm not super crafty. I don't get crafts so that's why my Cricut useage is kinda 2 dimensional. 

I might be Teacher of the Year!

That's right if I keep teaching like this I might as well prepare my acceptance speech.

What's that you say?

Oh, wait I have to have more than 5 good teaching days in a ROW to qualify?

Dang, a WHOLE year, you say, huh?

Wow. That's serious. Can I at least get Teacher of the 4th week in August? Thanks. 

I guess I'll just be Teacher of the Year in my classroom. I'd be a shoe in for BOW TIED Teacher of the Year! 

Anyway, this week's been outstanding. This group of kids are really special. I'm positive that they're going to change their family trees and re-shape their destinies. They make teaching fun and exciting. 

To be totally honest this year has been exactly what I expected. My mind has been on the good, pleasing and perfect will of God for me and my family. Needless to say I've not been disappointed. 

I will say that I've read the 7 habits of Successful People before. However, the kids version is serious. The simplicity of the truths really hit home in a new way. I will like I'm must more aware of when I'm being proactive as well as my goals. I know I could go a better job at goal setting, but I'll get better as the class keeps going over the Habits. The students are getting better. They've really embraced the Habits so we'll see when they've gone through all 7 a couple of times.

This is where I think I am as of today. I really wouldn't mind being a 5 in all areas, but all jokes aside I want to keep pushing myself as well as the kids to better results.  

• My classroom procedures, work (4.5 bow ties)
• Classroom routines are pretty special (4 bow ties)
• My basic filing system is ok (3 bow ties)
• Storage is pretty swift (3 bow ties) I need more hangers
• Teaching is in the neighborhood (3.5 bow ties)
• Centers (3.5 bow ties) Not as consistent as I'd like
• Communications (2.5 bow ties)
• Meetings (NO TIE!)
• Lesson planning (3 bow ties)
• Planning sessions with the students (3.5 bow ties)
• Time management (3.5 bow ties)
• Teacher lead instruction vs. Student lead (3 bow ties) 
• Having a system that is keeping me from wearing the same bow tie in the same week (5 bow ties) 

This school year has been rocking along like a well oiled machine. The major things are under control. The little fine tuning issues will be dealt with on a daily basis, but the important things are under wraps. 

Now, I'm not sure if my Libertarian brothers and sisters will accept me for this, but hey. I really like the Fresh Fruit and Veggie program our school is doing. Not sure if this is a part of FLOTUS initiative or what. Everyday our school gets a shipment of a fruit, veggies or both for our kids to taste. It's nothing super elaborate. The school serves it up  as a mid-morning snack. Yesterday was a Pluots and Bok Chow. The day before strawberries and muscadines. Today they had kiwis. The kids LOVE it! My class at least has been very receptive to the snack choices and give everything a good tasting. I like the idea. Seems like they're more receptive after snack time than they were pre-snack. Might make some kind of game or lesson out of it if the schools keeps doing it. I hope so. 

How's your year starting off? What do you do to communicate with parents who aren't as tech savy? You don't want to call after hours, because your time doesn't allow. So what do you do? 

 

Daily update

I have absolutely nothing to complain about. My students are great. My teammies and administration are outstanding. I don't feel behind on anything related to school. This year couldn't have started off better. Not sure why God has chosen to give me so much grace but I'm that guy there taking it all in and stuffing it all in my pockets. #GreddyforGrace

Now life outside school has been, so so. I mean the weeds won in my backyard. The caterpillars devoured my garden and CrossFit South Cobb kicks my backside everyday. Well, at least I have my ties! 

All jokes aside my wife and kids are doing well. We will give the garden another go this Spring. I did win the weed war in the front yard which is where it all begins. 

 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the new school year. No matter what go change a life for the better. Let me know if I can help in some way.