You see many people posting about starting the year off on the right foot. Many talk about fitness or eating right. Some even talk about how they are going to do less with their time, relax a bit more, or spend time with family. As a learner/facilitator we need to think about how we can start the year off with students that will change their attitudes towards learning. What if we start with the question, “Would a student purchase a ticket for this class?” We need to start the year on the right foot. We’ve just had a break that has given us time to rejuvenate and re-energize and refocus on the 2nd semester. Our students are depending on us to come up with ways that will energize them, focus them on ideas that can help bring curiosity and wonder to each day.
Would students purchase tickets for your lessons? Would you purchase a ticket for your lesson? If not, what will you change?
What would you do so that students purchase a ticket to your lesson? Think about what each lesson holds during the day and how those lessons can build student passions. Why do we continue to go down the path of worksheets, when we could be using Lego, Minecraft, Robots, Makerspaces, Coding, Collaborative writing, and many others. What would it take for us to take one lesson in the next week and change it so that students would purchase a ticket for that lesson.
Take a look at this design possibility that could help students to become more engaged in their learning. Called the Ready, Set, Design it can get your students thinking and creating in multiple different ways. It takes 45 minutes, 45 minutes that can blossom into a whole semester of high quality student learning. Would students purchase a ticket to this lesson? Would you purchase a ticket to this lesson?
Many times we start the beginning of the semester with a lot of energy, but do our students? Do they feel energized to get started each day? My guess is when I step back into the classroom on Monday students will come dragging in, but by them time they have been in the room for 10 minutes they will be pumped to be there. We are starting our computer science unit where students will learn about coding, creating characters and telling stories.
Do students feel energized to get started each day? What can you do with learning to drive that energy?
When we give students choice then we start to see those big amounts of engagement, (article on engagement from ASCD) the desire to stay after to finish their idea, to take it home and share with others outside of school. What kind of choice and desire will your students have on Monday? What will you choose to do…..?
If you wouldn’t buy a ticket for your lesson then what good was that lesson? How can you change so that students want to come every day and are excited to learn? Think about that as you plan, as you begin to let go of control and give students more choice.
In the comments, share an idea that you have done with your class that has excited a student.
Curiosity, Exploration, Wonder 
Wonderful post…great way to look at things. I have seen this cycle happen all too often to students. I see too many teachers use mandates and standards as an excuse as to why they can’t do more. We all can do more and have to for the sake of the children we serve. One of my fears for my own son is that school will take away his natural love for learning. I wrote about that here: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/04/14/custom-makerspace-862/ The creation of my makerspace has allowed me the opportunity of capturing and engaging even our most disengaged learners. A cornerstone of my library makerspace is that it is a unique learning environment that is focused almost solely on informal learning. What does this mean exactly? It means that my students are not told that they have to visit the makerspace, nor are they told what they have to do when they get there, and almost always, they are not assessed on the skills or knowledge they gain in this space. This approach has ensured that we have a learning environment that is self-directed, highly personalized, student-driven, and one that require little to no direct teacher facilitation. More here: http://worlds-of-learning.com/2014/12/12/making-for-the-sake-of-making/
I live the idea of Ready, Set, Design. It fits well with several things we are doing at our school. First, we have been working on fostering Academic Conversations (we are easing a book by that name) and this process would encourage thinking, problem solving, and talking! We are also exploring New Tech for our school which puts students at the center of their learning. Again, this activity helps students understand how to work collaboratively to solve a problem. Exciting!
I personally love it when students don’t even realize the time has passed so quickly and it’s time to leave. I always try to leave for the end something that will end on a high note and leave them wanting more. They’ll always come back to the next class in good spirits. The trick though is to keep it up, doing this for just one class is not enough. It’s an everyday task.
We definitely have to do this for more than one lesson. We are not there to entertain students with our talk, but to engage them through the questions they might ask, the paths they might go down, and the collaboration they might have with their peers. It’s so important to get students to think, explore, and create and if we, as adults, wouldn’t want to be there than why would want students to be there? Thanks for reading!