ST(EM)POWERED

Most everyone agrees this is a crucial component of engaging students and helping them learn, but HOW exactly do we as educators build relationships that empower students? Compliance ---------> Engagement ----------> Empowerment For some of us, this comes easily and/or naturally. These are the "people" people, those with well developed senses of empathy, or other personality types that relate well to others. These might be the popular teachers, the charismatic leaders, the beloved coach, the ones that just seem to get it. I know we can all think of one or more people that fit that category. These people are lucky. For them, student engagement is often not as difficult. But engagement isn't the be all end all . Students can be engaged but not learn or become better at something. It makes it easier to connect with students, and  might make it more likely that they will learn, but it is not a guarantee. We have to move a few steps further and promote empowerment ...

The Real World was a much loved MTV reality show before reality TV all but took over television. But it is also a phrase adults and educators love to use with teenagers, typically in a punitive sense. We tell them that "in the real world" somebody is not going to tolerate their lack of punctuality, or their bad attitude, or their lack of writing skills, or their excuses...and so on. And we have a point, excuses for those behaviors, choices, and lack of skills are not likely to be tolerated in the workplace, or in higher education. But what if we treated school like it was the real world? What if school actually IS the real world? I would contend that it is. Every day, in every school district in this country, there are students who walk through school doors with far more real world experience than some of the staff and students in those buildings. Access to social media means that the very real world is incredibly present and vivid to our children on a daily basis. We will ...

I've touched on this in previous posts, but a lot of people ask questions about HOW to implement what we do at STEM in their own settings. The struggle is often an offshoot of a "yeah, but" statement. "Yeah, it's awesome your upperclassmen have individualized schedules, but we can't replicate that with our block schedule." "Yeah it's great that your students are dual-enrolled, but we aren't located on a college campus." "Yeah, PBL is great but our teachers are too busy writing and posting clear learning targets."  Those concerns are valid...to a degree. Not everyone has access to those options, or a FabLab, or maker spaces, or drones, or robotics teams. That is ok. Those are the bells and whistles, they are HOW we do what we do, not WHAT we do. Instead of a "yeah, but" try a "Yes! How?" The short answer is, match the purpose, not the products . Then embed it in something you already do. This reminds me...