The unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.
―Jon Stewart
The Tough Ones
My son Sam is a senior in high school, and it’s the time of year when everyone begins asking seniors in high school what their future plans are.
Sam’s answer would disturb you—or at least it makes my hackles rise.
Now you really want to ask him, don’t you? But first, take a little walk down memory lane with me.
Sam is the kid who, on the first day of kindergarten, came down the stairs with a clip-on tie that was crooked enough to make it obvious that it was a five-year-old’s fashion statement and announced:
Today is the first day of my adventure to become an aeronautical engineer.
Sam is the kid who in fourth grade mastered paper airplanes and tailored custom designs to any request. He diagrammed each step on graph paper and included them with the comic strip he sold to his fellow bus passengers.
Sam is the kid who in middle school taught himself about lift, flight, and engines and began designing and building airplanes that were bigger than me. They astonished us all when they flew.
Sam is the kid who begged for odd jobs one summer and saved every penny, and then went out and found sponsors (in the form of grandparents) for his own 3D printer. He is the kid who creates his own designs, and prints and sells his creations.
Sam is the kid who explained to me at the beginning of his freshman year, “Don’t worry—I know how to play the game of school. I’ll stop being a brat about busywork and get decent grades.” Each time he was invited to the honor student breakfasts, he reminded me, “If you make me go, I will make sure to never be invited again.”
Sam is the kid who negotiated giving up a technical honors diploma to participate in work-based learning this year. Sam is the kid who gets invitations for scholarships and colleges because of his test scores.
Ask him what he plans to do after high school, and he’ll tell you:
Not spend another minute in school.
Despite his love of and capacity for learning, he despises school. If we were his teachers, we might say, “That Sam Ayres is a tough one.”
The truth is, there are a lot of “tough ones” in school. This week’s collection of articles matters in a really big way, because they address the importance of connections and solid instruction when meeting the needs of “the tough ones”—plus more, as always.
Shine on,
Ruth Ayres
Editor in Chief
Vivian Chen offers useful tips for seasoned and new teachers when it comes to helping students engage in a turn-and-talk.
We are wired for story, and sometimes children living hard lives need to learn how to rewrite their story. Ruth Ayres shares the teacher’s role in the process.
We are meeting Thursday, February 22, at noon Eastern for the FREE Coach-to-Coach Zoom Network. The topic is drop-in visits. Join us and build professional friendships that will help you strengthen the skills and confidence needed to be a changemaker in your school.
Finding books they want to read is at the heart of students becoming powerful, independent readers. This field experience chronicles the way book talks put books into students’ hands that have them begging for more independent reading time.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
Cathy Mere shares the complexities of teaching readers, especially those who are in intervention. She gives the “rules” she’s put in place for herself when a rough patch is hit and little growth is gained.
Matt Renwick defines three archetypes of personalities he has observed who have incomplete understandings about the science of reading. Matt offers approaches to each person, and notes that no one person neatly fits into a simple archetype.
In this video, Dana Murphy meets with a group of fifth graders to help students develop paragraphing skills, using a peer’s mentor text.
New members-only content is added each week to the Choice Literacy website. If you’re not yet a member, click here to explore membership options.
Instructional coach Paula Fiscus finds ways to establish positive momentum in a season of combining two schools into one.
Jennifer Schwanke shares a common experience for principals—meeting with parents who are worried about their child’s progress.
Keeping excitement for the next book to read can be a challenge. This PD2Go offers two ideas to sustain energy for independent reading. Melissa Quimby shares a creative and practical idea for students to name their reading identities. Christy Rush-Levine offers a tried-and-true practice of offering book talks so students can create a robust “To Be Read” list.
Quote It:
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
—Lao Tzu
That’s all for this week!