Rules versus Expectations and What Worked for Me

The first day of school is right around the corner for most of us. It is an exciting time of year for students and teachers, but it can also be quite stressful. I want to share some of the things I learned over the years with the hope that maybe I can help get your year off to a good start.

It is important to recognize there is a huge difference between rules and expectations. So many rules that teachers post in their rooms are actually expectations---come to class on time, be prepared, be respectful, and the list goes on. Rules have consequences where expectations do not. In theory, when a student violates a rule there should be an appropriate and consistent consequence. The problem is that rules create a struggle for power that lasts for the entire year. We write these rules (sometimes very absurd rules) and we expect our students to follow them with very little to no discussion. It isn't realistic and it sets a negative tone from the very first day. (Thank you Louise Morgan for sharing the above cartoon with me.)

For the first couple of years of my career I wrote lots of "no" rules because it was what I experienced as a student. During my third or fourth year of teaching I attended a workshop where the presenter suggested that rules should be written using positive wording. For example, instead of saying something like no foul language tolerated the rule would say speak respectfully at all times. But these were still my rules and it was difficult to enforce consistent consequences because I knew that most of the time when students were breaking rules it was because there were things going on outside of the classroom.

About four years ago someone shared their class rule on Twitter. They took it directly from the Nordstrom employee handbook and it reads, "Use good judgement in all situations." It is so simple yet it covered everything. From that year forward instead of telling students what my rules were for our classroom we took time to discuss what good judgment looked like. I usually dedicated the first two full class periods to this activity because it was that important. During these two days it allowed me to get to know my students and begin to get an idea about what their experiences in school had been to that point. It was the first step in building relationships with my students.

Talking with my students instead of to them set a positive tone for the rest of year. When situations came up where I had to address behavior issues I was not bound by rules and a specific set of consequences. On the surface it might appear that applying the same consequences to each student is fair, but it isn't. By taking some time to visit privately with students I learned a great deal about what was going on with them. Just taking the time to talk to them was usually enough to show them that I cared. While I took the first two days to focus on expectations the discussion did not end there. We would revisit areas that needed improvement throughout the year. Sometimes we did this as a class and sometimes it was one-on-one, but it was always a discussion that allowed students to maintain
their dignity.

I will end this post with a challenge. Take down your rules and consequences that are plastered on your walls and replace them with the one rule about using good judgment. Invest time during the first week to establish a shared vision of expectations. If you really want to leave your students speechless then ask them what their expectations of you are. I can almost guarantee that no teacher has ever asked them that! Trust your students and get to know them. I promise that these two things will change their dynamics of your classroom and make it a much happier place for everyone.

My Addiction

My name is Beth Still and I have a confession to make. I am a junkie with an incredibly expensive addiction. Since 2008 I have been hooked on educational technology conference. During the last seven years I have been to at least 2 dozen international, state, and regional conferences. My husband knows the exact dollar amount this addiction of mine has cost us, but I'd much rather focus on what I have gained. 

I have established thousands of connections of connections with educators from across the globe. Nearly every idea I have had and every project I have come up with over the last seven years can be traced back to an interaction with someone in my personal learning network (PLN). I have been influenced by so many fantastic educators over the years. The people with whom I am connected have challenged me, supported me, and have had a hand in molding me into the educator that I am today. 

For years I have dreamed of bringing a team of passionate and dedicated educators together to share their expertise with teachers in western Nebraska. I wanted teachers from my region to get a taste of my addiction. Teachers and administrators from western Nebraska rarely go to events like ISTE, Educon, NETA, or Google Summits so I decided to bring an event to them. 

With the blessing of my superintendent, Bob Hastings, I began planning the summit last September. (Shout out to Doug Mader from WNCC for being so great to work with!)  I began recruiting presenters who had reputations for being the best in different areas and I bribed them with the promise of covering their travel expenses, good food, and even better company. Registration opened early in April and I held my breath and prayed that we will hit the minimum number of registrations needed to break even by the end of the school year. I cannot tell you how relieved I was when I knew we had enough people registered to move forward! 

There were over 100 attendees and 20 presenters who represented 26 different districts. Take a look at this map to see where they came from. I could not have been more pleased with how everything went. There are a few things with the schedule we will change for future summits, but overall I was thrilled with how smoothly things went. The best part of the two day event was watching participants as they learned new things and listening to the excitement in their voices as they talked about all of the new things they wanted to try. My proudest moment was listening to my good friend Steven Anderson deliver his keynote address. He touched on some sensitive issues and I know there was not a single person in the room that was not forced to reflect on how they teach. 

The most difficult part of attending a conference is keeping the momentum going once the school year begins. People left the summit excited, energized and ready to jump into new things. That same excitement and desire to change what I had been doing turned into an addiction for me. Once I attended my first ed tech conference and connected with an entire community of learners, my entire world was turned upside down. I did everything possible to support my addiction to learning. I went to as many face-to-face events as possible and in between those events I stayed connected through Twitter, Google+, and other social networks. 

I had two goals with this summit. The first was to give educators an opportunity to see what they can gain from being a connected educator. Teachers cannot rely on their school to provide them with the training and professional development they need to stay current. There are not enough hours in the day and the needs of teachers varies too much. Teachers (and administrators!) need to know where to go to learn. Building a PLN is an essential part of taking control of our learning. 

The other goal I had was to push attendees out of their comfort zones. I wanted them to be exposed to ideas that were unfamiliar because that is how we grow. When we are surrounded by people who do everything exactly like we do we stop growing and learning. It is easier to stick with what we are familiar with, but it probably isn't what is best for students. 

I certainly do not believe in changing just for the sake of change, but I do believe that we need to take time to reflect on why we do what we do in our classrooms. It is time we have the uncomfortable conversations about what good tech integration looks like, curriculum, pacing guides, differentiation, flipped learning, student choice, teacher autonomy, and all of the other topics we tend to avoid because we don't always agree on them. 

Perhaps western Nebraska is ready for an Edcamp? 

Follow Up to We Have to Stop Pretending

I'm thankful for the people in my personal learning network that challenge my thinking on a regular basis. One of the people who consistently pushes me is Scott McLeod. A couple of months ago he wrote a post about things we need to stop pretending in education. I was inspired to write my own post about five things we need to stop pretending. This post stuck with me and I have thought about it quite a bit over the last two months. I have thought about how powerful it would be if it was used to kick off the school year. Imagine the conversations that would take place and the possible changes that might happen!

A few weeks ago I was presented with the opportunity to deliver the closing keynote at the TCEA Area 7 conference in White Oak, Texas. I have never done anything like this before and it quite possibly could be the last time I ever have an opportunity like this so I really want to knock it out of the park! After spending hours staring at a blank document trying to figure out what to talk about I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to explore some of the things I wish we would stop pretending. I will talk about some of the ideas from my original list as well as some ideas I have borrowed some other people.


Here are the thoughts of 135+ educators on this topic. I would like to share some of your thoughts on this topic when I speak in Texas. What are some things you think we need to stop pretending? Please share your thoughts on this padlet.

We Have to Stop Pretending---Beth's Take

CC license Jsnape

This morning I came across a post from Scott McLeod. In this post called We Have to Stop Pretending Scott lists five things we have to stop pretending.

Here is my take. We need to stop pretending......

• that we are communicating well. 
• that textbooks are the curriculum. 
• that what we did 30, 15, or even 5 years ago is good enough to teach students the skills they need to survive in the world they live in. 
• that technology is a distraction. 
• there is nothing wrong with remaining isolated. 

I'm tagging Shaelynn Farnsworth, Mickie Mueller, Amanda Dykes, Kristina Peters, and Tina Photakis.


What about you? What are five things you think we need to stop pretending? If you write a post please tag with #makeschoolsdifferent

Voice to Drive

Have you ever wished there was a super easy way to have students record a short verbal response and share it with you? Or have you ever wanted to send verbal instructions to your class but it was just too much of a hassle? There is an easy way to do this!

First you need to download a Chrome app called TwistedWave. Once you the app all you have to do is record your message then save it to Google Drive. In the free version your recordings are limited to 5 minutes each and a total of one hour of total recording time. Once you move your files over to Google you can change the privacy settings then share them or link to them. It is really that easy!

If you want to learn more about the technical side of editing audio clips you will want to read Richard Byrne's post on Twisted Wave and watch his tutorial video.

Trust, Permission, and The Need to Go Out and Do

I was a rule breaker growing up. I was one of those strong-willed individuals who was not afraid to push back and ask why things were the way they were. I was never afraid to do my own thing if I did not like what everyone else was doing. In my very first job interview the principal asked me what I would do if I had an idea to do something great for my students, but he brushed me off. I said I would ask a couple more times then if I still had no reply I would probably just go do it. I found out later on that answer is why I got the job.

My second teaching position was at a different school but under the same principal. I had complete autonomy over what I taught and how I assessed my students. The lack of structure in my school provided me with an unlimited amount of freedom to experiment and change what wasn't working. By "lack of structure" I mean that there was not a particular curriculum or course sequence that we followed. I was the only social studies teacher and I taught four different 9 week classes throughout the year. When I asked my principal which classes and topics I needed to teach his response was that I was the content area specialist and he trusted my judgement. The only mandate was that my lessons had to fit within the Nebraska Social Studies standards. Over time I realized that my principal really did trust me to make curricular decisions and that he respected my professional judgment.

Until I joined Twitter in 2008 and became a connected educator I had no idea that other teachers were not afforded the same respect. I assumed that all teachers had the ability to make professional decisions such as what resources to use and how to assess their students. It was not until I started having conversations with teachers from other places around the world that I realized that I was very lucky.

I have been part of the collective conversation we have been having for year about how "things need to change." Increased access to technology can be a game-changer, but only if teachers change how they approach teaching and how they assess learning. Remember when I said I was a rule breaker growing up? I don't have any research to back this up, but I would be willing to bet that the majority of teachers are rule-followers. They like the comfort and safety of doing things the way they have always done it. People don't typically voluntarily leave their comfort zones---especially people who do not usually enjoy taking risks.

The problem with this mentality is that the world has changed dramatically. The skills that we need today are not the same ones we needed 10 years ago. The way that we consume content has changed forever. If we want to learn something new we no longer have to rely on a teacher in order to learn it. I'm not saying that teachers no longer have a role in education. There will always be a need for teachers. What I'm trying to say is that the role of the teachers has changed dramatically. Those who have not changed how they deliver content and assess learning are doing a huge disservice to their students.

Students who graduate only knowing how to write research papers using information from trusted databases will never develop the skills they need in order to find and evaluate information on the web. Their peers who learned and developed these skills in school will have a huge advantage. Students who spend their days completing worksheet after worksheet will never learn how to make decisions, collaborate with others, think critically, evaluate information, or create projects that demonstrate their mastery of skills and knowledge.

I would like to share a TEDx video where my friend Karl Lindgren-Streicher discusses the role of teachers as change agents. If you are a teacher who is afraid to do something different and innovative because you are afraid of the potential consequences from your administrators then you need to watch this video. If you are an administrator who has the power to encourage teachers to kick the status quo square in the face then you need to watch this video as well. Like Karl says in his talk- plan on doing something every single day to fix education. Even if you are in the camp that doesn't believe education is broken there are always things we can do to give students more opportunities to make choices and to have their voices heard.

If you are a teacher or administrator who has already been doing what is best for students then KEEP DOING IT and share like crazy! I scour Twitter every day for examples to share with the teachers I work with. And please don't ever forget that something that is ordinary to you might be extraordinary to someone else.

Docs to Forms Add On

Google Forms are just starting to catch on in my district. I have worked with several teachers to show them how to create a quiz from scratch using Google Forms and so far they think it is a great alternative to what they had been doing. They love it even more when they discover they can use an add on called Flubaroo to automagically grade the quizzes and send students their results. More about that in another post.

If you are like many teachers you have tests and quizzes already created and stored on your computer. You could copy and paste each question and each answer, but that would be tedious and time consuming. A much better alternative is to use the Docs to Forms Add On. This nifty feature allows you to select text and click one button to move it into a form. Moving the answers is pretty easy as well. The video above will walk you through the process. I hope this helps you as you begin to explore more ways that Google can make your life easier!