Poem In Your Pocket Day

My MissionMonday family, this is another video/podcast/blog that is not a mission. This is just me giving you a heads up on a day that's really important to me. This Friday is Poem In Your Pocket Day. In the past I have made this a week-long mission. Though it's not a mission specifically this year I still wanted to give it a signal boost. I had mentioned before that April is National Poetry Month which is a thing that is very important to me. The culmination of National Poetry Month is Poem In Your Pocket Day. This is an opportunity for you to carry a poem in your pocket and share it with the people around you. I have thought about making a mission where we ask people What is something you carry with you everyday? There are things that I physically carry with me everyday and there are things that I carry in my heart and in my mind and in my soul every day. However, I have struggled with that as a mission. It just seems a little too abstract. But Poem In Your Pocket day is an opportunity for you to carry something both in your heart and physically in your pocket that you can share with the people around you. If you would like to know more about Poem In Your Pocket Day here is more with resources and explanations and poems that you could carry. Poetry is something I carry with me on a daily basis. I could not escape it if I wanted to. I encourage you to embrace this, to share it with somebody and have an interaction that you might not have had without this holiday. And, as always I would love it if you would go to MissionMonday.com and I love you guys.

You can talk about connectedness or you can connect.

Hey MissionMonday Fam,

This is not a mission post. This is me processing some things and then posting my process. This might be the Sam thought equivalent felt cute might delete later. I follow an entrepreneur, a gentleman in the entrepreneur space if you will, by the name of Gary Vaynerchuk. He's made a difference for me in my approach to both my personal and professional life. When I first started listening to him years ago he made me realize I had been neglecting some of my own perspective. Sometimes we need an outside source to remind us of what we already know is important. Anyway, a quote of Gary’s I frequently mention in regard to doing the missions “You can talk about push-ups or you can do push-ups. One of those gets results.” I really believe what MissionMonday does is the cultural enhancement equivalent of doing those push-ups and getting results. That being said I’ve struggled exactly how to express that in the context of MissionMonday. Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Elli of Spencer Community Schools and in our chat I referred to Gary's quote and said “We like to talk about school culture but it's not enough to talk about school culture. You need to do school culture.” I really liked the way that that sounded but it wasn't quite right. Shortly thereafter I listened to a story on NPR about students struggling and the things schools can do. It was all about being connected. If students feel like they have a connection to someone in the school that makes a big difference. That connectedness was one of the most important factors in student success, maybe even student survival. I posted the story and commented “You can talk about connectedness or you can actually connect.” I think that's the translation. Go forth MissionMonday fam. Tell everyone. Take the random out of Random Acts of Kindness and connect rather than talk about connectedness.

Public Service Announcement - Sam Stecher

Greetings #MissionMonday family,

This isn’t exactly part of what MissionMonday does. Not directly anyway. But since I thought it was important enough to share with my own staff and community, it’s probably worth sharing with you all as well. What follows is the notifications I sent my staff today.

Greetings educators,

I wanted you to know I received an unusual and concerning phone call today. I thought it best that I share this information with our staff so we can protect ourselves and our homes from similar threats. A rather irate sounding citizen called to report some of our students had been trick-or-treating in a neighboring community. It seems two delinquents presented themselves at the irate sounding citizen's door to trick-or-treat last night. Since the irate sounding citizen didn't know them an inquiry was posed. The ruffians identified themselves as our students. When asked why they were trick-or-treating in a neighboring community rather than their own, the miscreants said they did not have the opportunity to trick-or-treat in their own community due to attending the out of town play off football game on Halloween. To that end they thought it best to give trick-or-treating in this community, hosting our play off game, a try. The irate sounding citizen expressed the reprobates were too old to be trick-or-treating and that, regardless of age, they should limit such activities their own town.

I let the irate sounding citizen know that if I could be provided with a description of the degenerate offenders I would be happy to seek them out and dispense immediate and severe corrective measures in response to this heinous offense.

The irate sounding citizen responded with "The girl didn't have any sort of costume. The boy was something fuzzy. Maybe a bunny. Both real respectful kids. Guess it's not the worse thing that could happen."

When I said "I'll do my best to track them down and make sure this doesn't happen again next halloween" the irate sounding citizen became less irate, laughed, and said this was an enjoyable conversation.

Unfortunately, unless local law enforcement can present me with some DNA evidence I fear that this investigation will result in a cold case file and these atrocious acts may spread to surrounding communities. As next Halloween quickly approaches please be vigilant and ready to defend yourself against respectful, possibly teenaged trick-or-treaters, who may or may not be wearing a fuzzy costume, perhaps a bunny.

The Missions Will No Longer Take Summers Off - Sam Stecher

It has been my practice to give the Missions of MissionMonday.com the summer off. As the school year comes to a close in May I’ve always closed up shop on the Missions for the summer vacation. This habit has its roots in the place MissionMonday.com had its start. As educators focused on the interaction between stakeholders in the school community it just seemed natural to close up shop when the weather got warm and kick it up again in the fall.

As the scope and reach of the MissionMonday.com has grown I’ve become more active with its voice in the summer. So the keeping the Missions in full gear year round fits in the with momentum already in place. More importantly, that reach and scope, it keeps growing. The Missions were fundamentally based in teachers connecting with students. What I’ve learned in practice (and probably always intuitively known and believed) it that this about people interacting with people, regardless of who they are, and uplifting the community, workplace, and individual relationships they are invested in. So these Missions, full blast all year round from hence forth because these interactions, these relationships, matter all year.

Help us keep what's happening in 2019 going.

Let's start this with a thanks #MissionMonday family. If you check out The Events link at MissionMonday you will see the most substantial line up in our history. 2019 is taking us more place than we have ever been. It's also the most diverse. We are speaking at schools and businesses, rural and urban settings, locally and nationally. And there is more in the works. We couldn't do this without all of the support and love we get from our MissionMonday community. So thanks family. We appreciate it.

That said, let's keeping it rolling. When we have the opportunity to speak, people are going to laugh and learn. It will be time well spent. It will positively impact your culture and climate. More importantly it's just a jumping off point where we connect for a sustainable relationship. After finish speaking the Missions and the engagement keep coming. An hour of inspiration and validation is great but the motivation and tools to stay driven is what we are all about. That's what you get when MissionMonday brings the message to you.

So family, please keep liking, sharing, retweeting, rating, subscribing, posting about, and telling people face to face about MissionMonday. Tell people that MissionMonday is worth it. Tell people to bring us in for events and conferences.

We would love it if making the world a better place one interaction at a time be could be our full time endeavor. 2019 is bringing us closer than ever to that becoming a reality. We firmly believe that all of you out there are the difference in what makes that that happen.

You are awesome.

Keeping being awesome.

A Fascinating Failure - Sam Stecher

Everyone Needs A Mud Season - Sam Stecher

All of Education is really Only 3 Things - Sam Stecher

Positive thoughts lead to positive actions? Audio Blog - Sam Stecher

"He couldn’t have done what he did without you.” - Sam Stecher

Our Honors & Awards Ceremony is about to start here in Tiger Town. A father of one of our students just came up to me and said “I want to thank you for all the help you’ve given my son. He couldn’t have done what he did without you.” 
It humbles me to no end when someone thanks me for helping their child in any capacity. 
However, it’s important for me to acknowledge that it’s just not true for two reasons. The first being that the young man he speaks of, his son, has significant assets working in his favor. He’s intelligent, driven, hardworking, respectful, and self aware. Truly that’s just the tip of the iceberg for this kid. He will be successful at whatever he chooses to put his mind to whether Mr. Stecher is around to make a contribution to his efforts or not. 
Here’s the other thing, he couldn’t have done what he did without all of the people around him providing support. My contribution to his success was pretty nominal. I saw an opportunity where I could lend a hand so I did. So did a lot of other people in much more significant manner starting with his parents who have done more than anybody to provide both a foundation and the momentum critical to his success. Along the way there have been countless contributions from family, friends, teachers, community members, support staff, coaches, and other individuals who might have flown under the radar but were no less important. That’s a lot of belief supporting one kid. 
It all adds up. 
We can’t all make the same contributions and not every student has the same people for support. But we all have a responsibility to do what we can for who we can when we can. Like I said, it all adds up. The more it adds up the more likely our students are to capitalize on the support. 

“He couldn’t have done what he did without you.”

Forgive me for disagreeing but I believe he would have made it happen without me. I’m just happy I had a small part. I’m more happy so many others made sure that they made the contributions they could as well. And I am unabashedly proud of all of our students who put together all of the contributions from so many people to build their own successes.

I just realized that I may have just written my graduation speech for this year and for that I have a Dad and his Son to thank. 
So thanks fellas, I couldn’t have done what I just did without your help.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Do You Talk To Yourself? Audio Blog - Sam Stecher

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Don't Feed The Trolls - Sam Stecher

I totally abandoned one of my hard and fast personal policies.  

Do not feed the trolls.

In case this notion of not feeding the trolls isn’t part of your lexicon I will toss out a quick primer. Trolls are people who make comments on your social media posts with the primary intent of inciting conflict. Feeding the trolls would be engaging the trolls by commenting back. In doing so you don’t win. You don’t develop a meaningful dialog. You don’t change hearts and minds. When you feed the trolls the trolls just gain the fuel to do more trolling. When you feed the trolls the trolls multiply.

The issue I was trolled on was the role of addressing mental health needs as a part of the mission public schools. The state senator who serves as the chair of our education committee in Nebraska expressed a philosophy decidedly different from my own. I decided to comment on twitter about it. Really it was a pretty grand social media interaction with some people I really respect contributing to the conversation.  Then a troll showed up. And I fed him. I’m not going to going any further into the specifics. If you are inclined to look at the unproductive mess it won’t take you long to find it at @samMMstecher. But I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m only mentioning its location for transparency of my own errors.

The reason why I wouldn’t recommend reading back through it is because it won’t help you make a difference. I doubt that you will even find it amusing.

What I would like you to do instead?

I guarantee someone you know needs some help. Someone is in it up to their ears and and is just short of the support they need. Reach out to that person. Give them a hand. Give them a second chance. Give them a thank you note. Give them a goal. Give them access to a resource. Give them what worked for you.

Give them any of the ideas we’ve suggested here at MissionMonday.com.

Don’t feed the trolls. Feed someone’s soul.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

We Don’t All Walk At The Same Time - Sam Stecher

In a previous blog I wrote about my son’s efforts at walking. Here we are four months later and the throttle on that kid’s motor is wide open. Once he got bipedal mobility figured out walking went by the wayside. In place was a constant forward leaning momentum with ever increasing speed.

He wants to get where he is going and isn't shy maximizing the velocity from point A to point B.

That being said the process to full fledged walking was not something which occurred with the same kind of rapid pace.  

When I Google “when do babies walk?” I get an answer of 9 to 12 months with some outliers at 14 to 15 months as well as an assurance that “Some perfectly normal children don't walk until they're 16 or 17 months old.” Sometimes I think they have a Google search algorithm specificly designed to provide answers which may both incite and alleviate potential panic based on of the inquires of parents.

Ezra was decidedly into the 13 month range before he had this particular skill on lockdown. Solidly in the tail end of the normal range.

Absolutely nothing to worry about.

But when you know that things could start to get real at 9 months every day has you on your toes about the kid being on his feet. Mostly this is out of excitement. That first step is, well, a big step.

Another thing is that other people have babies. They might be the same age as your baby. They might start walking before or after yours. Try as you might not to, you can’t help making comparisons. Even if you can avoid the comparison trap other people around seem to bring it up. And they are all experts based on the anecdotal research their experience with children has provided. They have also probably read a post on Facebook on this topic which they would be glad to tag you in.

What was also odd to me was that there was no bright line distinction between walking and not walking for what I was observing in my own child. I’m certain I was around for Ezra’s first step but I’m not sure which of the the things I witnessed was the legit first step. I can remember lots of standing up followed by a foot heading forward in a definite stepping motion with a quick return to the floor and a happy resumption of mobility via crawling. This happened all the time in varying degrees of increasing and decreasing proficiency.

First step? Just not sure.

He also shuffled along and lunged between furniture.

Walking? Sorta? I think?

There just wasn’t that movie moment with the clarity of those first steps.

But he sure has it figured out now.

And though this was no absurd and heart wrenching challenge I had to watch my son overcome I was still was happy with how I handled it.

I knew I was taking care of him. I knew his mom was doing an exceptional job of taking care of him. Even with the perils of Google searches and unavoidable comparisons both Elle and I just kept saying “We are doing the right things. He will figure out walking when he is supposed to.”

I’d like to see us adopt more of this attitude in education. We are so schedule and deadline driven that sometimes I think we operate on a schedule at the expense of what is best for the student. I realize that our school calendar and our school day works for most students and we need to accommodate the schedules of our parents as well as the long held cultural norms of the school experience. We also have standardized testing schedules to adhere to.

I’m not calling for a revolution and complete reform of how we schedule our services and expectations.

What I would like to do is advocate for more application of the perspective “He will figure out walking when he is supposed to.”

This is far from a laissez faire “when it happens, it happens” attitude. We cannot expect things to happen when they are supposed to unless we are doing what we are supposed to.

But if we are doing the right things in terms of instruction, accountability, and support for our children/students yet seeing they are not quite getting things on the prescribed schedule it doesn’t indicate failure on anybody’s part. Giving yourself and your children/students permission to let it happen at rate that is best for the child is what good parents/teachers do.

I know Ezra gets walking and made it happen when it was best for him.

I’m pretty sure I got things right in my role as Dad during that skill acquisition.

I hope I have the courage, wisdom, and patience to keep it up with the infinite number of things he’s continuing to learn. It’s my hope we can all make this happen more often for more kids.

If you’re not quite ready to make the philosophical jump to “He will figure out walking when he is supposed to” that’s O.K.

I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to walk as well.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Kids are great BS detectors- Mark Johnson

At Mission Monday we do a lot of work providing you with weekly missions to help make your school a better place by developing a strong culture and positive climate. One of those missions is telling a chosen student that you think they are awesome, or giving them some sort of affirmation. This is one of the most powerful missions we preach, and it makes a very big impact on the students with which you interact.

All that being said, you can royally screw this mission up by doing one thing: Not believing the words you are saying to the student as you are saying them. If you tell a student they are awesome, you need to believe they are awesome. If you tell a student you believe in them, you need to honestly and genuinely believe in them. If you are just saying it to say it, but don’t believe it, the student won’t believe you either. They will see right through you. 

Kids are great BS detectors. They know when they are hearing something that doesn’t seem quite right. They are experts at calling someone out who isn’t telling the truth. Some of our students have been lied to their whole life. They have been told things and promised things that haven’t happened. They have been let down. And they are tired of it. So tired of it. 

What I’m saying is, don’t be just another person in their life they can’t trust. Don’t be a person in their life that shares worthless comments that just sounds like endless amounts of “blah blah blah” in their heads. Be a person that changes lives. Be a person that means what they say. Be a person that finds a student, and says, “Has anyone told you yet today that you are awesome?” Or “I believe you will do amazing things today.”

Don’t just say it with your words. Say it with your smile. Say it with your eyes. Say it with your heart. Help defuse their BS detectors. And hopefully when that students walks away, they believe it, too.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Sharp or Shopworn - Sam Stecher

Most often when I write a blog I am trying communicate as an authority on the topic at hand. I like to draw upon my experiences, perspective, and reflection to present you with an opinion that I did not arrive upon lightly. I want you to know where I stand, what I think is a good idea, and the action I believe you should take because of it. A friend of mine has given me the compliment (or leveled the accusation) that confidence is not a problem for me. When I post here I’m pretty confident in what I am saying.

This time I’m writing from a different perspective. I’d like to hear from you. I’d like your advice and perspective. It would do me good to have your expertise.

What I would like to know is how you do you stay sharp? I am asking because it’s become apparent to me that they same things which keep us shap can also take that edge right off.

A couple of things I read over the weekend led me to this question. Our high school wrestling season just wrapped up in Nebraska and two teams, the Spartans of Lincoln East and the Bearcats of Kearney, had quite a year competing with each other. This weekend I saw this tweet-

Iron sharpens Iron. I get that. The head coaches of both teams wrestled for my collegiate alma mater so I know they have lived the Iron sharpens Iron axiom. I know and appreciate the philosophy. It’s a good practice. A blog on the subject would be something I would present with the confidence I mentioned early. Writing that blog is something I will leave to Coach Swarm, Coach Rutledge, and Coach McCurdy.

Another thing I read this weekend was a poem by one of my favorite authors, Ted Kooser, in which Ted used the word shopworn. The poem didn’t have anything to do with the Iron sharpens Iron idea but that word, shopworn, caught my attention. As Ted used it, it meant something which has lost its edge of effectiveness as a consequence of being used for its intended purpose.

There’s my quandary. The difficult work we signed up to do, the very nature of those often stressful opportunities, can give us the edge or take the edge away. The things which challenge us, which call us to go above and beyond the expected effort, can make us better at what we do or they can wear us out.

We all find ourselves in these situations. This isn’t unique to the world of education. Everyone who deals with stress as part of their job rides that line of sharpening or losing their edge.

My empathy for this is boundless. I have had high stress circumstances where I felt absolutely invigorated, cutting edge sharp, and more prepared for the next challenge. I’m also privy to those situations which take it all out of me, leaving me dull, feeling sorry for myself and sorry for the next person I need to help because I know they won’t get the best I’ve had to offer, dulled by what I had to deal with.

So again, sharp and shopworn, are both consequences of the work we do. I’d like to stay sharp. It’s my belief that what I do with MissionMonday.com is essential to what keeps the dull edge away. Even with that I still struggle sometimes. It would mean a lot to me to hear what works for you. Comment and let me know how you make sure the iron of work that matters sharpens the iron of your skills and effectiveness.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Teachers Are Not Superheroes - Sam Stecher

I have noticed a tendency to call teachers superheroes and it’s been bothering me lately.

If you are one of those people calling teachers superheroes I would really like you to stop. You’re hurting the profession and doing everyone in education a disservice. I’m not saying this because I don’t value teachers. It’s just that I think it’s more important to value teachers for what they are rather than attempt to value them by saying teachers are something they are not. I’d even go so far to say that the more we think of teachers as superheroes the more likely we are to take advantage of them.

I see why you might want to say teachers are superheroes. Great teachers have a substantial set of skills.

The exhaustive list includes but is not limited to:

Child psychology

Content area knowledge

Differentiated instruction

Human relations

Conflict resolution

Social and emotion wellness

Diversity and inclusion

Nutrition and physical health

Standardized assessment

Formative assessment

Test preparation

Brain development

Time management

Lesson planning

That’s what came to mind in the first minute or so of thinking about it. If you sit down with the students of a great teacher that list will probably quadruple in a hurry. You might be thinking it’s a list worthy of superhero status. Again, I get why you would think that but you’re wrong.

There’s a very important distinction between the skills of a teacher of the powers of a superhero.

Superman showed up on Earth and had the ability to fly.

Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider and could then climb walls.

Wonder Woman was gifted her powers by Greek Gods.

Batman and Iron Man? Those guys had genius level brain power and unlimited inherited wealth to buy their way into superhero status.

Everything on the list of skills for teachers had to be learned and earned. They had to do research and engage in hours of practice to develop the expertise to apply all of those skill. They were not born with the skills nor did they inherit any unique circumstances which made them preternaturally easy to acquire.

Teachers worked to gain the skills they use every day. Not only did they do the work to develop these skills they did so with a normal human brain and a normal human body, with all the limitations those things impose.

Teachers don’t possess some superhuman ability to acquire and apply all this expertise. They push through to do so with the same difficulty as all non-superheroes. They don’t have a superhuman ability to go without sleep. They simply skip a lot of hours of recommended rest to do what they need to do and then suffer the same impact of sleep deprivation as any human. Teachers don’t have super human bladder capacity. During the school day they get to the bathroom when they can and take a sick day to go to the doctor for a UTI when they need to.

Even if teachers had the superhuman speed of The Flash they couldn’t use it to their advantage because teachers model the behavior they want to see from their students. Teachers can’t model good hallway behavior while going mach 2 on the way to the office to make copies.

I get so frustrated when teachers are referred to as superheroes because teachers do far more with normal human limitations than you can find in the most fantastic comic book account of any superhero adventure.

Teachers make amazing things happen, not with superpowers, but with knowledge and intelligence and caring and grit and courage all while being just a vulnerable as anybody.

Teachers are not bulletproof. They don’t have any such superpower.

Still, without that superpower they have stood between the bullets and their students.

Not as an invincible superhero, but as a teacher.

So yes, I get why you would want to call teachers superheroes. It’s easy to look at what they do and think it’s superhuman. Just remember they are doing all of it while facing the same limitations as anyone else, without the benefit of any uncommon strength or sci-fi technology. In my book that makes recognizing someone a teacher a far greater honor than calling them a superhero.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Pender Gets It - Sam Stecher

Last week you may have noticed a post on our Facebook and Twitter pages from Pender Public Schools. They had a mission about speaking with good purpose. I’ve included a picture and here is how our friends in Pender described it-

“Our Mission Monday this week has been "Speaking With Good Purpose". Here is a little example. Every student K-12 had a sticky note with their name on it. A caring adult took the time this week to jot a note to them, reminding them they are valued and loved. Gotta ❤ an empty board! :) It's a great day to be a Pendragon!”

We here at MissionMonday.com absolutely love this mission. After I saw the post I texted Mark and asked him to record a video making it our official mission for this week. Speaking with good purpose is something Mark applies with great success at his own elementary school and I knew he would be able to add some great perspective.

Props to the Pendragons for a great mission.

But Pender Public Schools deserves credit for more than just a great mission. They deserve credit for sticking with the plan and that’s no small thing.

When Mark and I speak, whether providing professional development or a keynote, we strive to be both entertaining and inspiring. We want you to laugh and we want to motivate you. When we part ways with the audience we hope they feel it was time well spent.

But Mark and I want more from our time together. Being entertained and motivated for an hour just isn’t enough. The work you do is too important. As we see it, the value of our time together increases exponentially if what we talk about becomes a sustainable part of how you interact with those around you. We want our time with you to be a call to action. We want to support that call with ideas and interactions every week. It’s why we push our interventions all week long. We want to continue to connect you with what works long after we have finished sharing time in the same room.

Unfortunately it’s too easy to let that sustainability drop. Most people will listen for the time we have, leave with good intentions, and then go back to the old routine. Sure, they might look back and think “That was really funny when Mark told the story about the second grader kicking him in the shins” but that’s about it. And I get it. You have more priorities than I can count. My empathy for letting something slide is boundless.

But if you stay committed to the sustainability of MissionMonday.com, if you remain dedicated to walking down your hallway with a planned purpose, then you are one of a select few. Again, I get that can be easy to enjoy the laughs for an hour and dismiss the weekly interventions.  Some people can’t imagine doing even one more thing.

For those that do that one more thing the investment is worth it.

My guess is that for the committed these missions reach a point where they can’t imagine not keeping the commitment. It becomes part of the routine and culture of where we serve our students and communities.

Mark and I spoke to the staff of Pender Public Schools back in August. This picture is from February. Way to stick with it Pendragons. You’re getting it right.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

Seven Crap Hours of Our Lives - Mark Johnson

A few years ago my son, Sammy, said he wanted to help me write a blog, so he grabbed my computer and typed for a bit. When he handed it back, this is what I saw at the top of the screen: “School is very boring. Here, let me prove to you how boring it is. This is what it stands for - Seven Crap Hours Of Our Lives.”

As a principal, this was immediately discouraging. It felt like being that preacher who has that kid who is always getting in trouble and somehow as a parent you should have been able to contain that rebellious spirit. But before you jump to any conclusions or make judgements about my son, let me tell you a little bit about him. First of all, when he wrote this he was a freshman in high school. Secondly, he was a teenager. Thirdly, he thinks he is pretty funny. (Which he gets from me.) Last of all, he really does like school, but only on two conditions.

Condition One:

He has to know that the teacher likes him. This has always been the case for him. He will not try in a class if he feels like the teacher does not care about him. He will sit there, fake attention, not contribute, and give the minimal amount of effort required each day. However, on the flip side, if he knows the teacher does like him, he will go out of his way to prove his worth. He will always be to class on time, he will study hard, he will share this thoughts, and he will share funny stories with me about the class, and about that particular teacher. And this part is key - He will do this even if he doesn’t enjoy the subject being taught.

Condition Two:

He likes to be interested in what he is learning. When he was much younger, he had a crazy love for football. He used to collect football cards and read about all the players and watch as much football on TV as possible. Every year at the Scholastic Book Fair, I would buy him all the latest books on the NFL stars. He could rattle off stats about almost any team and player. He didn’t even have to try to remember all of this information. It was just fun for him so it came easy for him. That’s exactly the way it is for him now. The subjects he likes in school, he devours. He spends extra time trying to learn more about what he is introduced to in his classes. He attacks the content just like he attacked football statistics. However, if he is bored or doesn’t care about what he is learning, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to study.

In my opinion, one of these conditions is more important than the other. If only “Condition Two” were in place, Sammy’s success would depend upon whether or not he liked the subject. Each semester he likes about half of the subjects he is required to take. So with those odds, he would only pass half of his classes. But if only “Condition One” were in place, regardless if he liked the subject, he would still work hard because of the relationship he has with his teacher, and for the respect and care the teacher shows him.

I don’t think this is exclusively true for my son. I think many students operate under these conditions. And I think most students are craving teachers who like them. Teachers who don’t have favorites, but who genuinely care for each and every one of their students. Teachers who let the students know that no matter what they do or who they are or what their background is, they are a part of the class and part of the school community, and therefore a part of the family.

So if you are that kind of teacher, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sammy can’t wait to get into your class.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

You don’t get to give up - Sam Stecher

“Failure is not an option.”

I’ve lost track of the number of times someone has said that to me. And I get it. It’s fun to say. It conveys passion and dedication and a sense of badassary. I get wanting to say it. I get wanting to inspire those around us to succeed with those words.

The problem is its prevalence is only matched by its folly.

Failure is always an option.

I’m not the only person saying this. Just give “failure is always an option” a web search and see just how much comes up. I don’t want to use this space and this time to argue for my philosophy on failure. You just need to know that fundamental to what I say next is the acknowledgment that failure does indeed exist and is an ever present option. It is true in life and it is true in teaching.

Again, it is true in teaching.

I started thinking about this because of the tweet pictured. Stay in this game long enough and you will fail a student. You will try and try and try. You will change up your instruction strategy. You will pilot new inventions. You will use the best tools you have which have given you high percentage success in the past. You will talk with the student’s former teachers for advice. You will seek out your mentors for counsel. You will do this and more.

You will still fail this student. The process will be exhausting and demoralizing. The result will be heartbreaking and make you question yourself.

Knowing all that there is a luxury we are not afforded- giving up.

Everyday you gotta come back and bring your best again. You don’t get to give up. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that, just like failure, giving up is an option but once you do you are no longer that student’s teacher. You are just a placeholder.

I know how difficult this is. Like I said in the tweet, this is one of the most difficult lessons for teachers to learn. I know I said heartbreaking before but let’s throw in soul crushing as well. Failing, especially a student, hurts.

You know what hurts worse? Living with the fact that you gave up on someone.

This has been an exceptionally gloomy post so let’s get to the sunshine.

Stay in this game long enough and you have a student you were ready to give up on come back and see you. In your mind you not be able to recall anything approaching your definition of success with this student This student will tell you about their life. They will tell you you were the best teacher ever. They will say “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Heart mended.

Soul restored.

Just a little shiver about how close you were to giving up.

From me to you far in advance of that student showing up, thanks for not giving up.

You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here. 

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You can read more of what Mark and Sam have to say in their book It Happens In The Hallway. Just click here.