Encouraging Students to Develop and Share Their Passion

“My own curiosity drives me and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been able to achieve… something with the life that I am leading…My curiosity is what wakes me up in the morning and what makes me think…”. These are sentiments shared by Angela Lee Duckworth on a Scratch Your Itch Podcast no too long ago, talking about “Grit” and “Character”. As the conversation progressed, she and A.J. Juliani uncovered some interesting motivators that sparked my interests (literally) and inspired my sharing with you today. It helped me to reflect on how I am encouraging my students to develop and share their passion through family engagement.

A.J. Juliani said something so profound that emanated from his personal experience with his students:

-A.J. Juliana via Scratch Your Itch Podcast

 

Of course, I had to bring this into context with my PRESCHOOL CLASSROOM:

What does this look like in the preschool classroom?

 

A.J. Juliani talks about choice and allowing students the opportunity to learn about something they were interested in. Well this type of learning is the epitome of my preschool classroom.  As we learn various things throughout the year, we always engage the families and children to add their input to make for more meaningful theme building, and enjoyment of each theme we focus on.

Even in learning about various themes, students have the choice of a theme related center daily; as well as the choice to do something that they are simply curious about. Sometimes other centers are created from the interests of the children, outside of the given theme. However, because my students are so young, we do give guidance and ideas to help cultivate their interests. But at the end of the day, the choice is ultimately theirs, and because families have helped to make props, or have sent in relevant contributions from home for the particular theme in which children can relate and connect, this builds even more curiosity.

 

-A.J. Juliana via Scratch Your Itch Podcast

Those meaningful connections help children to learn better and play with purpose. They always have the opportunity in the classroom to reflect on what they did in play as well, which demonstrates that sharing of their passion.

What does this look like at home now?

As within the classroom, I encourage families at home to continue to reflect with their children during and at the end of their activities throughout the day. Even if it is something as simple as saying: “What did you like about making your favorite strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting?” This statement is descriptive; it reinforces that this was the child’s interest; and gives them a voice—saying that their opinion matters, and they are valued.

A.J. Juliani talked a lot about students’ values and how when you focus on their values, you don’t have to lecture so much. Families can simply learn while enjoying time together making the child’s favorite cupcakes. So much can come from an activity like this: understanding measurement; reading a recipe; back and forth dialogue; comprehending time…and the list goes on and on. But most importantly is that all of this learning is taking place with the interest of the child at the center.

So, how can we encourage students to develop and share their passion while at home?

The same model at school will serve even greater purpose at home. It has the capability of creating even greater connections and opportunities for children to develop and share their passion because who knows or understands a child more than the people that live with them?

 

As we continue with remote/virtual learning platforms, I plan to continue to be transparent with my families, sharing success stories, as well as my struggles I’ve had with my own children. I am making connections and modeling the behavior for them to keep trying with their children.

 

 

I’ve always believed that behaviors are learned, and so it is within my classroom that I model positive behaviors so that my preschool students will be more likely to imitate those behaviors that they learn from me. Especially at this stage, it is age and developmentally appropriate to model the behaviors that you need and want your students to take on. To go even further, I give opportunities for my babies to practice positive behaviors after they’ve been introduced through a social story, or some sort of appropriate lesson.

It is my personal interest to sing, so as I have decided to record daily “Morning Meetings” to share with my students and their families, I am exploring and developing my strengths and interests as a singer. There’s a whole lot of singing going on, trust me. This behavior has lead me to be more curious to want to learn more about special effects; lighting; engagement on screen; sound quality; and so much more that goes into making a video. I am learning more because of my interest to sing and passion to teach, while helping others to learn from the behaviors I am displaying. As I do this, I am modeling behaviors for my parents, and encouraging them to do the same with their children at home.

 

 

After each Morning Meeting, I always invite parents to share with me what special activity they’ve done for the day, or who their child chose to be for the day’s Make-Believe Play time. The responses have been amazing, and this is a way for us all to continue to stay connected while parents and students develop and share their passion. This is fine family engagement right here.

Supporting Family Engagement in the Midst of this Pandemic

The family engagement process has been deemed to be one of the most useful components to help bridge the gap between home and school.  There is research that puts forward the idea that the more family engagement there is present within a school or educational setting, the more student attainment there will be.

What happens when the school setting changes; 
when the roles of the teacher shifts more to the parents, and remote learning platforms are utilized—all to maintain educational successes at each student level? 

The long-term goal here is to continue to educate and help students to develop at their appropriate levels, which brings an immediacy to respond NOW and meet people where they are NOW!

As the world tries to adjust to social distancing guidelines, in the best interest of all stakeholders, schools have been ordered to close.  Transferring to remote and virtual learning platforms has provided an innovative solution to maintain learning while at home.

But how does the role of a teacher shift, NOW?

In recently viewing Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED talk on GRIT, she described teaching as being a demanding job! I cannot help but relate to her sentiments; and I am sure there are other educators that would agree to this.

As I let this sink in, I think about how much more of a demand the “role of teacher” will be as we switch over to remote learning solutions. It calls for even more demand of intentionality within our practices, to meet the needs of our students and their families, as the necessary human element of making connections to others can so easily be overlooked while utilizing technology as a learning platform or tool.

Angela Lee Duckworth says that in all of the very different contexts as she and her research team studied kids and adults in “super challenging” settings, there was one characteristic that emerged as a significant predictor of success: GRIT. 

-Angela Lee Duckworth via GRIT TED talk

So, if GRIT is a necessary characteristic to achieve success (which in my definition is “perseverance to create meaningful outcomes”), then it is necessary for teachers (anyone in the role of teacher: certified teachers, parents, guardians, siblings, friends, etc.), to utilize 

“intentional creativity” to support and maintain learning at home during this crisis and beyond.

I found the Intentional Creativity Foundation to be very insightful and contributive to my own professional development during this time.  Although this organization focuses more on the Arts, I believe the same concept applies to education, as teaching within itself is an art:

intentionalcreativityfoundation.org

So, one might ask: “What does supporting family engagement look like for our schools now?”

I’d say it should look like what it always should have been: relationship building and making connections to real life as it is for the individual. I'd even go as far as to say that one can even apply those real-life situations to create meaningful learning experiences—implemented with intentional creativity. 

My sister shared with me today a daily devotion taken from The Word for You Today, by Bob Gass, with contributions from "Power Thoughts", by Joyce Meyer. In the passage under "An Attitude Adjustment (2)" it read: "Sometimes your greatest blessings come from your most negative circumstances". I believe this with every part of me that this mentality applies to the hope that we have in these circumstances that we all face today; and it is important that we as educators model this mindset to support our families to engage in this same manner.

Shiloh Sophia couldn't have said it better: 

So, as educators, when we connect remotely/virtually, we must remember to utilize this innovative technology tool to reach beyond slideshows, worksheets, and busywork. Give students the chance to express themselves in the assignments you assign; offer families a flexible schedule to adjust to their new learning environments; and be transparent enough to let families know and feel we are in this together, so that they feel even more connected.

We must be intentionally creative to draw in students and families to tap into that persevering mindset that endures even in these challenging times; and that transforms hearts and minds of those families that were not engaged before the crisis to realize the importance of their personal commitment to a lifetime of learning and the success of their children.

We as educators must continue to self-reflect to adjust our teaching practices "impactfully".

We must get to know our families we serve, a little more, to create individualized learning plans that cater to their personal needs and makes room for the content that needs to be received and comprehended.

We must model that GRIT mentality so that all of our families can feel connected as we all are striving to achieve success in, out, and beyond school.