Who's Party Is It?

So, we have a date. We've had it for a year and to be honest I had to look it up because I didn't remember. My eldest son will have his Bar Mitzvah on June 4th, 2016. I was hoping we could have one of those drive-by Bar Mitzvahs. However, after ignoring it for a year, I said it. It's coming. For some of our friends, the reality is closer than two years off. They have older children and they are working on their portions with cantors and tutors. They have themes and center pieces. There invitation lists and planners. It's an event, but who's party is it? As we stressed with our friends last night over the event, like all Jewish families, we reached out to our friend Netflix and watched Keeping Up with the Steins. We see the battle of strained relationships, the anxiety of the event, and the guest list battle between work clients and family. Each reminding us, what is really important here. Through this, we see the child eventually take over and help his father and grandfather find value within their own relationship. Only through this ownership, does the event take proper perspective and the family move forward.

This week a principal shared with a group of colleagues and associates the biggest shift she had seen during the past five years. She described classrooms as changing places where learning began with the student rather than the teacher. She walked us through a series of situations from lesson design to implementation in which it was no longer the teacher's activities, the grade level resources, or the common assessments which guided the learning, but rather the questions generated by students, the products developed individually or collectively, and the needs of the child that guided the learning practice. As the associates questioned her, she provided sample after sample in which it was a student question or a student learning level that drove the decision regarding how to move forward rather than some curriculum map, pacing guide, resource manual, or district ideal.

See, in the classroom, our students and teachers are figuring out who's party it is. As we discuss Common Core, State Assessments, and other global ideas, the revolution is occurring before our eyes and we are missing it. It's happening through Genius Hour and Twitter, through Explain Everything and Coach's Eye, through Movie Trailers and Chatterpix. As we figure out seating charts and themes for our Bar Mitzvah's the children are already discovering a brand new world around them. If we blink, we might miss it.

Last June, when we first kicked off our 1:1 program, we brought 60 teachers to Longfellow, our district professional development center for "Launch Parties." Through our wisdom and guidance, as district administrators and instructional coaches led teachers through a variety of tools and activities that they could do in a 1:1 classroom. Like the father in Keeping Up with the Steins, it was the adult's Bar Mitzvah. Teachers were pleasant and excited to walk out with the new devices. We did a cool bingo activity. Looking back, it was a mediocre experience at best.

On Tuesday, we kick off this year's "Launch Parties." We are welcoming over 80 more teachers to our 1:1 team. However, this year the parties aren't in the district professional development center but in the classrooms. The instructors aren't district administrators and instructional coaches. Rather, this year we are in the buildings. Our students, and their teachers, will be sharing what they can do, what they like, and what they would want to explore. The topics are ones generated by teachers regarding what they want to learn about as they enter this journey. It's their party and as coaches and administrators we are just guests.

It has been an amazing adventure this year. Both personally and professionally. There have been exhilarating moments and tearful farewells. The most moving moment of the year for me was my friend Jen who as an adult decided she wanted to become Bat Mitzvah. She didn't have one as a child, she knew very little Hebrew, and she made the choice to study and learn. She took a journey of personal growth for herself and chose to stand before the congregation and chant Torah. For many of us, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah is an activity we had to do. Just like the Common Core or State Assessments it is a required obligation. For Jen this learning was a powerful act of choice. An adventure of personal sacrifice, challenge, and fulfillment. The more I learn this year, the more we try to to control things, the more that slips through our fingers. We need to recognize that schools are for students just like the Bar/Bat Mitzvah is for the one who chants the Torah. We are just guests. Its their party, lets enjoy the celebration with them.

Havah Nagila from Keeping Up with the Steins