A Video Game About Playing Outside?

Kids control the family--at least in many families.

That is one of the driving forces behind the summer school class I created 9 years ago. I came up the idea for my outdoor summer school class, set in a public school, when my niece was about three years old. Upon getting in the car, if anyone failed to put on their seatbelt, she would begin the shrill repetition of  "Put on your seatbelt or you are going to die." Everyone obeyed her.

My thinking behind creating an outdoor class was that if a kid can get such immediate action from adults through such minimal means, then I could harness that ability for the health and enjoyment of their family.  I decided that kids should be the leaders in their families in getting outside to hike, bike and camp.

The other event which swirled around in my head occurred in the winter of 2008, way before Pokemon Go.  In Wisconsin it was a beautiful winter day, sunny and in the upper 20's Fahrenheit. I was teaching at a middle school that had an attached elementary school and was going outside to do lunch duty on the playground when I encountered a dawdling elementary schooler.  I said, "Wow, what a beautiful day!" To which he responded, "I would rather have a video game about playing outside."

I was shocked that any little kid wouldn't love making a snowman, making and throwing illicit snowballs or any other activity that kids do during recess.

Knowing that no such class existed in my district, I was unsure if the district would accept a course of that nature for summer school.  But, as Seth Godin always encourages, I did not wait to be picked. I did not hope that someone would magically find out about my idea.  I proposed and sold my idea of the Survivor class to an audience that didn't know they needed what I was offering.

I am not sure how many other ideas I have made excuses which cause them not to be put into action, but this one stands out for me because, but pursuing it I have taught hundreds of kids outdoor and leadership skills which have caused families to go to state parks, ride bikes, camp and go outdoors.

I Matter and I Pledge to Choose Myself

In Tom Rath's excellent book Are You Fully Charged, he made a point about self confidence based on the work of Timothy Judge and Charlice Hurst about the life long health and monetary benefits of self confidence. One way I try to instill self confidence is for students to take control of their lives. Instead of telling kids don't do this or that, I created this document I call, "I Matter and I Pledge to Choose Myself" which is based on psychological, educational and leadership readings. My thinking behind this document is to give kids mental ammunition to push forward when encountering something they may find to be difficult.

To choose myself, I will make the time to finish anything that needs to be finished before class starts.  Meaning, I will come to class, on time,  ready to learn.

People like me do things...we are ready, we work,  we finish and we encourage others do the same. One way to ensure this is by appropriate uses of my electronic devices.

One thing I will do to finish is to change “should have” to “did.” I will no longer say “should have” to talk about my list of things to accomplish. Done. Next point.

I will get rid of excuses. Every time I think or say, “but,” it will become “and” in my thoughts, words and actions.  Embrace the power of “and.”

Time out for a quote from Seth Godin:

“People don’t believe what you tell them.  They rarely believe what you show them.  They often believe what their friends tell them.  They always believe what they tell themselves.”  

The last sentence in the quote is why I will fire my old boss (the pre 2016 me).  My old boss used language which cut me down.  I am the boss of what I do and I do not want to work for or with someone who uses language which cuts me down.  If I worked for anyone else who talked to me like that I would hate it.  I will not talk to or think of myself using belittling terms.  Instead of thinking or saying: “stupid,” “idiot,” or “moron,”  I will think something such as:  “How smart am I to figure it out?” or  “I bet there are a lot of people who wouldn’t have solved that!” Come to think of it, I will not use language tearing down others either. No meanness.

When I have a problem I will ask myself,  “Can I do it?  Yes I can, because I have solved a problem like this already.“  I will answer the question...everyday.

My signature below is evidence of my promise to myself, my family, my classmates and my teachers that I will choose myself everyday and that I agree with the points above.  

____________________________________    ____________________________________

student parent/guardian

"When Will I Use This in the Real World?"

In regards to school, if every kid has not asked this question out loud, then they have thought it. How can schools answer the question before students ask it?  By making education something students do because it has meaning to them. The best way is to allow them to take their learning beyond the four walls of the classroom to help real people in a real way. 

Authentic learning involves giving students a way to see what their learning has to do with real life and how their learning can have a direct impact on other people.  They are learning for a reason and will share their learning with others to make their lives better.  Adam Grant, Management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, discusses how, through prosocial motivation, people benefit both themselves and others with powerful results. 

Prosocial motivation, as described by Grant has shown that people who know their work has a meaningful impact on others are happier and more productive than those who don't see or specifically think about the influence their work can have on others. Grant may not approve of my leap from his prosocial motivational studies in the workplace to authentic learning in schools, but here it goes:  

According to Grant's chapter in the ProSocial Handbook, Prosocial Motivation at Work: When, Why, and How Making a Difference Makes a Difference, "when jobs are designed to connect employees to the impact they have on the beneficiaries of their work (such as clients, customers, and patients), they experience higher levels of prosocial motivation, which encourages them to invest more time and energy in their assigned tasks and in helping these beneficiaries."  In the case of students, I take "jobs" to mean "learning," because they both involve daily tasks.  and "employees" to be "students" because of the human element. 

When students learn about how their learning will affect others, they will stop at nothing to make sure they do the best job possible.  One example  was in the 2016 spring semester when students in the Arete Academy at Neenah High School held a Heroes of Neenah Celebration.  Students interviewed, researched, wrote articles which were published on various websites in the Fox Valley, and created permanent artwork installed on a prominent wall of the school where heroes will be enshrined each year.  The amount of time that students spent at night and on weekends working on the project far exceeded what they ever would have done if they were assigned those tasks without any connection to real life, or to actual people they knew.  Because of the prosocial motivation to do something great for others, while also doing something great for themselves, students pushed beyond the requirements of the assignment  and contacted people from the historical society, other family members of the heroes, television stations, along with current and former local and state political figures who lent their knowledge of the heroes and also attended the ceremony. Students also felt there should be a reception following the event for everyone to interact on a personal level, so they took it upon themselves to decorate, provide food and drinks, made a booth for nominations for the 2017 heroes and host the event.  

Had we just told them that they had to write an informative essay about a hero, they would have written it, and we could have checked off the box that indicates, yes, this student can proficiently write an informative essay.  There is no way they would have worked as hard as they did.  Authentic learning gives students prosocial motivation to follow their passions and take their learning and final product to a level that would likely never be equalled in a teacher led, artificial learning environment. 

Rock On

Last weekend I was at a neighborhood party which the police broke up at 11:00 pm.  I think they expected to find 18-20 year olds rather than the 40-60 year olds in the backyard when they came around the corner of the house. All of which made me think of how some people continue their energetic pursuit of life and others resign themselves to wistfully thinking of what once was or what could have been.

In terms of the education world, the energetic pursuit of excellence has revitalized many veteran teachers (see any of the writings of Mark Barnes, Dave Burgess or AJ Juliani among others) and caused them to embrace a new way of thinking and to give students educational autonomy rather than the age old system of lecture, quiz and test.

For those who cling to the legacy educational methods along with many students, it seems like teachers who encourage student control of their learning are taking a lazy way out by making kids do most of the work.  In fact, even the students in our Arete PBL Academy when surveyed expressed the belief that teachers who lecture work harder than those who require students to pursue their interests, and solve authentic problems.  John Koker, Dean of Letters and Science at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh captured traditional school perfectly when he said, "School: the place where kids go to watch adults work."

Even though providing student voice in their education invariably takes more energy, creativity, research, interactions, feedback, the results are invigorating.  Seeing student excitement and engagement with their learning is thrilling for any teacher.  Knowing that students are staying up all night in July talking about project ideas for next year is mind blowing!!

Romeo and Juliet PBL style

Seth Godin says when assessing an audience or creating a culture, the main question is, "Who are we and what do people like us do?" All 9th grade classes at my school read Romeo and Juliet. Our 9th grade PBL students decided that as Problem Based Learners, they needed to go about their Shakespeare experience in a different way.  Students decided they wanted to perform the play but in a different setting than what Shakespeare ever would have chosen.  After much discussion, the groups decided they would do the play in pantomime format.

While it sounds like it may be easier, every student had to know not only what their lines were, but also how to interact with others based on facial expressions and body language. The miming of the play led to greater knowledge of the intracacies of the play than my standard English 9 classes normally do.

Building a PBL Program Going Into Year 3

As we neared the close of the 2015-16 school year, for whatever reason, the Arete PBL program had 66 kids committed for next year and many of our 9th graders were beside themselves that there wouldn't be 4 sections of each core area.  Many accepted the fate that we would have to cut two classes worth of students to fit the prospective class sizes. A few students took it upon themselves to make sure there would be enough students to continue the program as it was this year.  They examined the 9th grade class list, identified students they had gone to school with for the last 10 years and then organized the list of possible students by friend group and specifically talked with each student about joining.

The position of the PBL students is that anyone who is not doing PBL is missing out on a great experience..  Our current students organized meetings with their classmates to inform them about the benefits of PBL and how it will change their lives.

Many people, whether they are students or not, have difficulty presenting to their peers, not to mention asking them tough questions about their goals in their academic career and what they hope to get out of school.  As impressive as our students were in assembling the groups to meet with and composing their sales pitch, some of their target group members were equally as impressive asking great questions. Another interesting aspect of the whole arrangement is that they kids who asked the best questions were the ones who decided to join us.

Thanks to the hard work of a few students, the Arete PBL Academy at Neenah High School will have four sections of each core content area for next year!