Thrivapy: Live, Learn, Have Fun

C ommunication. Its importance in education has certainly NOT been minimized.  After all, how often are you told (or tell others) that communication needs to improve?  Communication is so important that it found its way on the list of important 21st century skills (with creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and in some schools - character). I even wrote a book about improving communication . However, I wonder if communication alone misses the mark.  Maybe the reason communication is consistently among the most criticized "Cs" is that the need is not really better communication.  Maybe, the need is related to communication, and because the actual need isn't on the list of "Cs" we chose the closest "relative" on the list.  Communication is still important and needs to remain a focus of schools, but maybe what we have been seeking is a cousin of communication. Maybe what we really desire is a better connection.

R arely do I go more than two or three days without posting some article here, but I have been busy in the last few days finishing a piece I call The Golden Apple Manifesto . The Golden Apple Manifesto is the result of a blog post I wrote in August 2012 titled, The 10 Standards of Thrivapy .  Since then, my Thrivapy concept has evolved into a method of student/teacher engagement based upon 7 principles: Foundation Development (mission, vision, beliefs, philosophy) Setting goals Taking Action Developing/Changing Habits Growth Mindset Taking Ownership Building Relationships/Making Connections While Thrivapy has evolved, the original 10 "standards" are still very much applicable and, I believe, essential to the success of teachers and students. The Golden Apple Manifesto is not a "How to" guide.  You will not find any exercises, examples, checklists, templates, etc. for how to implement these ideas into your practice. What you will find are the ten beli

O ne of the principles of Thrivapy is taking ownership of one's work.  Essentially, operating under the mindset that an individual is the " CEO of Fill in your name , Inc. (or .com, etc.)."  For students, this change in perspective forces them to reexamine their role in school.  Under the new view point, students become producers of educated work (an active role) as opposed to a receiver of an education (a passive role). This redefining of the student's role has further implications.  As CEO, the student should also understand that the current "business model" is based on making and strengthening connections with your audience.  The student begins with an "empty page" and when finished, has created a new work (of art) .  Essentially, the student CEO is also an artist seeking feedback from her audience (teacher, classmates, parents, etc.). Each response from a teacher, classmate, or parent can be measured against the question, "Did this wo

I n a connected world, we are rewarded less for what we know than for what we do with what we know. I've presented an argument before about how knowledge creation answers the question, "What is school for?"  Part of that argument is the understanding that knowledge creation is a social function.  It requires connections to be made between the person with information and an audience whose level of understanding and ability to use the information grows as a result of the sharing of said information. Of course, by taking the brave and bold action to share, the presenter is transformed also.  She gets feedback that can be used to be a better presenter next time.  She learns more about how the information she shared can help others.  She absorbs the created connections and they now are part of her collective understanding.  In other words, she learns too. Creating knowledge, while social, is also very personal.  The creator only knows what she knows.  The audience will

D uring the Q/A part of my recent presentation on student goal setting , a participant commented that adding pieces to the process such as knowing where and when in addition to what is like adding pixels to a TV screen.  The more pixels, the clearer the picture.  The clearer the picture, the more likely the student is to fully understand how to achieve the goal.  He said using the ideas I presented was like moving from a big screen TV circa 1980s to a 1080p HD LED set today. I liked that analogy. More pixels, please.

O n Monday (January 21, 2013), I gave a presentation to a group of teachers about how to help students set goals.  Setting goals is one of the seven principles of Thrivapy and is often an area that teachers, parents, and students benefit most from some guidance. Embedded below is the Google Presentation I created for the day.  Included in the presentation is a checklist of questions to use as a guide for helping students set goals. Want to learn more about helping students set goals, create an appropriate plan, and take action?  Feel free to contact me at: troy@thrivapy.com or troy.roddy.phd@gmail.com Click here for an overview of how Thrivapy encourages school success .

  T here's a void. It exists in the lives of many students.  The size of the void is not the same for all students, but for quite a few, it largely goes unaddressed.  The assumption being that, in time, the void will be filled by life experience. The void exists in the space defined by teachers and parents telling students to work harder, ask questions, take ownership, and strive for better. The problem is that no academic curriculum specifically addresses those skills and many parents are too far removed from being students that they are not able to clearly articulate how students would go about filling the void.  Lessons from adulthood often falling upon confused ears.  The end result is often frustration over potential untapped, effort less than ideal, and students who do not learn some of the most valuable lessons a connected world demands.  Sure some of these students are making good, if not excellent, grades.  However, are they developing the habits and skills necessary

T here is comfort in knowing.  Comfort is fine.  Comfort is good.  There is nothing wrong with being comfortable. Except when you are looking for passion and excitement. Discovery, art, trial, error, try again, the journey to "better" are driven by excitement and passion. As a teacher, what is your goal?  What drives you?  Comfort or passion? What drives your students?  Discovery or knowing? The answers to these questions may speak volumes about any potential disconnection in your class.  The answers may also explain why your class succeeds where a colleague is struggling.

I believe I was paid a compliment recently. A colleague of mine referred to me as an "idea guy."  I wasn't sure exactly what she meant, so I asked.  So she explained about how I was all about change, the change leader, the guy who is always talking about how we can improve what we do, how I am always thinking about what the next best version of the division is like. Wow.  I wasn't expecting that. I thanked her and thought about the concept of being the "idea guy" for a little while. Here's the problem.  Sometimes, people want to be the "idea person" then realize the "idea person" is also the one fighting the status quo (and those who have found a false sense of security in the status quo). In addition, the value in being the "idea person" is in bringing the ideas out in the open for others to see.  There is uncertainty in being the "idea person."  Maybe the ideas don't generate much support.  Maybe t

E very response from students in your class is a piece of feedback that you can either choose to ignore or incorporate into your lesson.  For example, you had a plan to give students the chance to brainstorm ideas for a new project, but when you opened the floor to discussion, the conversations quickly turned away from the task at hand.  Soon, you had a classroom management issue to handle.  This was not what you expected when you decided to facilitate this exercise. So, what do you do? Do you cancel the idea of student brainstorming and choose the project for them?  Do you ignore their lack of engagement?  Do you stop the class and begin to ask why the class is having trouble staying on task? Maybe, your class needs to be told that their responses to your lessons are data points that you use to make decisions about future lessons.  The ones that work are repeated.  The ones that do not are adjusted or eliminated. Going back to our example, ask the students if they really inten

A sure way to count on not being successful tomorrow is to refuse to learn from yesterday. What will you do today?

T here is rarely a shortage of things that a school could do better.  Maybe the garbage cans in the restrooms are too small and are perpetually overflowing with trash or the garden started a few years ago has been overrun with weeds.  Your campus may need better signs to help people figure out where they are and how to get to their destination or the dining hall doesn't serve enough fruits and vegetables. These are only a few examples of things that, in the big picture, are often overlooked.  However, their presence is a detraction from the overall experience.  These are the little annoying things that, if improved, could make a larger impact on the life of the school. So, here's a proposition.  Find one "minor" thing that annoys you at your school and instead of being annoyed and complaining about it, empower yourself to lead the effort to fix it.  Take on a project that falls between the cracks, doesn't necessarily have a formal way to address, or is thirsti

F ear of the unknown is a natural emotion. When people are afraid, they generally do one of two things: They attack. They hide. You may get a similar reaction from students when you try something new in your class.  Maybe what you have planned wasn't new to you, but new to the student?  Next time students get angry (attack) about an assignment or, if as you are explaining it to them, they start to slouch down or divert their eyes (hide), consider this: Their reaction may be based on fear of the unknown. How can you help ease the anxiety? Recognize their emotions are valid Provide a few examples Guide them through a practice exercise Praise their effort and reward their growth Model appropriate risk taking and provide genuine behaviors Ask them to help you define the fear.  Put a face on it (very likely to be failure) Create a "failure free zone" where students can take a risk and be evaluated based on individual progress rather than by compariso

O ne effective exercise I use with students to help them find more success is to use "if/then" statements.  "If/then" statements help students think beyond simply knowing what they are supposed to do by bringing a more complete focus to their attention. For example, you may have a student who routinely forgets to bring his notebook to class.  He knows the notebook is a requirement, but seems to have issues remembering to bring it with him.  In this situation, using "if/then" statements may help. Ask the student to do the following exercise for one week and help him track his progress. Step 1:  Just before entering the classroom each day (or whenever according to your school schedule), the student pauses for a moment outside the door. Step 2:  During that moment before entering, the student tells himself, " If I am about to enter (name of teacher's) class, then I need to have my notebook and place it on my desk at the start of class."

S ometimes, the best question isn't, "What is more important?"  Likewise, it is probably not, "Who's more important?" Sometimes, maybe more times than we want to admit, the best question is, "What can I do to make the person in front of me feel more important?" Certainly, this question is not a bad way to approach conversations with students, preparation for classes, or conferences with parents.

I received an email today from Sarah Fudin announcing that The Art of Education was included in teach.com's initial rankings for Teach100 .  You may (or may not) remember that Sarah wrote a guest post here about professional development  back in September, 2011.  Since then, we have maintained contact periodically and I was aware of teach.com developing a list of educational blogs worth checking out.  Teach100 is the product of that effort. Here is some information about Teach100 taken from the teach.com web site: Teach100  is a resource to help educators and those in the field of education find the most relevant blogs from across the Web. The list is compiled based on blogs you recommend to us, and is meant to reflect the quality of education blogs that are available. You let us know about a blog with relevant, insightful content about the field of education. The blog is then added to our database for review. Every 24 hours, we scan the Internet for blogs in our database,

 I have purposely avoided writing posts about blogging tips until I felt more comfortable with my own blogging. Basically, building some credibility before making any claims is a quality I like to maintain.  At a minimum, I owe you, the reader, that much. However, having written my first post in July, 2010, and observing a natural evolution to the posts I share, I felt it was a fairly good time to offer a few tips for bloggers - particularly bloggers who write about education. Here are a few tips that I find very useful and, I believe, would help enhance your own blogging experience. Tip 1:  If you write a post that is list based, keep the list fairly short. Lists are popular blog subjects.  Some of my most popular posts are suggestion lists.  However, if you are going to share a list of suggestions, keep the list fairly short.  My rule of thumb is to keep my lists no longer than five items.  If more are needed, break the post up into a two or three part series. Related to

 T he extra mile is easy to see.  They are hard to miss because when you don't go the extra mile, the distance is obvious.  Going the extra mile is, for serving others, the status quo.  If your job involves helping others, you are expected to go the extra mile. The extra inch is easier to overlook.  As a matter of fact, at certain angles, you can't even see a gap that small. Here's the problem for educators. Often, students needing the extra mile are obvious.  The ones needing the extra inch?  Not so much.  Sometimes, the "extra inchers" are the students who are performing satisfactorily, but should achieve the next level of success. Unfortunately, because their challenges are less obvious (they don't need the extra mile, at least not any more), the "extra inchers" are sometimes misunderstood.  Their passive, content, and I'll say it (but not like it) because we have all heard it - lazy, approach to school is often misunderstood.  You hav

E asy to remember advice that will serve every educator well in practically every situation: In everything you do, never leave any doubt that you are personally invested in the success of the student. Easy to remember. Not always easy to deliver.