Pushing Through to the Other Side

I set out to publish a series of short posts over the holiday break. This is the last day of break, and only my fourth post, so we'll call it a short series.

I first thought about this post when I read this short article from Relevant about how we turn to social media to avoid boredom. The point is that maybe boredom is exactly what we need. After skimming over their referenced study, I could see it was a bigger topic. I didn't get my thoughts on it together before I started seeing the same idea showing up in more places.

In general, this (possible) problem is we avoid some things that annoy or stress us, yet healing and discovery of a true self is really on the other side of that temporary suffering.

I'm going big with this idea after only reading a bit of these source articles I've seen, yet I've found this to be true in own life. (Or more or less, I've found it. I certainly have not mastered the art.) 

Think about this. Much of the noise of our world is driven by a need for someone to sell us something quickly, and one surefire way to do that is to promise fast relief (or even better, pleasure). So we are pummeled with ads and apps to pull us away from annoying things like boredom or (maybe the most frightening) time to reflect on areas of our lives that need improvement. We have endless options for distraction and plenty of messages telling us we're good enough.

Have you seen those social media posts about marriage, where they say lasting marriage is not all glamour and fun, but sometimes holding on through the tough times? (Certainly not all ideas on social media are bad.) That's another example of what I'm getting at.

In general we know this idea of pushing through to succeed is true. We all can think of stories of artists (creators of all kinds) who pushed through hard circumstances--addiction, abuse, poverty, etc., and then they found renewed energy to create. It wasn't in spite of the trial, it was because of the trial. 

But obviously you have to move past those things, right? You're trapped until you get through.

But when it comes to something like daily boredom, a dull marriage, or maybe a sense that you should be more productive or something, we don't want to face it. We grab a quick fix from the outside. We look to move back or around it.

So many questions abound. Maybe true success is on the other side of trial, and we often don't get there because so many of the messages we hear tell us to just avoid the trials. But should we always push through pain? Probably not, but then when should we and when shouldn't we? How does one (especially as educators, as we are) lead others to answer these questions...and live the answers?

These are deeply personal questions. We'll answer them alone, or maybe with a few who are close to us. Certainly with God, if we're people of faith.

One thing I know is that if the message is true, only those who lived through it can sell it.

And if we do push through and find something better, well, that would be a story worth sharing. 

The moral of the story won't always be a popular one. Some won't want to hear it. Some will think it's dangerous. 

There will always be more resistance to push through.

Is It Worth Telling the Average Story?

Does anyone care to read a story about someone who decides to live a mostly normal life? Would you sit through a movie about a person who had big dreams, but ultimately life squeezed it out of them and they just went along with a dull day-to-day routine? I mean, maybe if the routine started at the very end of the movie, you might watch it. But what if most of the movie was about the uneventful life?

I wonder about this because stories are supposed to be relatable. And what's more relatable than being normal? But for some reason we prefer to hear about the special cases. The ending needs to stand out, or it wasn't worth our time.

And this also makes me think about the vast majority of us who don't have an amazing "dream came true" story to tell. See, for the "dream come true" story to be special, it has to mean most of us don't have one.

So if we take all those people without such a story, how many had big dreams that didn't come true? How would we know, since people don't care to hear those stories? 

Do most people with average stories simply not have big dreams? Or do they just learn to accept reality and stop dreaming? And are a lot of those people privately pretty bummed about the whole thing, but again, who wants to hear it? Do they just keep it to themselves?

I was thinking about this because of a project I didn't complete. Back in December I put a lot of work into an updated Teaching Like an Artist Journal. In my usual way, I was super excited about it. I was actually getting close to finishing it. I planned to do the final touches after a big conference in March, 2020. But that's when schools closed and I got crazy busy helping everyone teach online. 

I returned to the project a couple times, at least in my mind. But teaching seemed so different. I started questioning the value of what I had written. I eventually lost steam and haven't done anything else with it for almost four months now.

I read the introduction that I had written for the new edition and it took on new meaning, considering I didn't finish the book. Here's what I wrote:

There are times the artist considers throwing out the work. You might feel that way as you reflect on the questions [in this journal guide]. I know I did as I wrote them. But if you are reading them now, it means I didn’t give up. And maybe my small example (with the help of a little backstory) can be encouragement you need. 

So the finished book would have been a sign I didn't give up. But I didn't finish the book. Like a million other unfinished projects we could all tell about, I let it sit. Does it mean anything? Not much, if average stories aren't worth much.

As I reflect on this, here's my conclusion for now: We are pulled along by the happy (and special) endings we hear about, because we hope our own stories are not yet finished.

I'll try to get back to that journal.

No One Could Blame You

Last year I read a tip on the Faster to Master site has been helpful. The author suggested reflecting on your wins from each day. I've been terrible about doing it on a regular basis, but I've been more conscious of the wins since then. I want to share a story about one of them.

The win is what mattered to me, not the details of the surrounding story. So forgive me if I'm being vague about what might seem like the juicy parts. I'm trying to be brief and avoid naming names.

Last month I'd been dabbling in fiction writing and (as always) reflecting on how we can use those same ideas to make meaningful stories in our lives. At this time I was thinking about theme as opposed to the plot of the story. What would be a good theme for a story? What's the theme of our lives?

One morning before work I was musing on all that. I considered a story with the theme of pressing on when the going is tough. (I didn't say I was a very original fiction writer.)

I had time for no more details than this:  At a key moment, someone would say something like, "No one could blame you for giving up. But maybe that's why the choice has come to you."

That seemed potentially epic, so I wrote that down just to remember it. Then I went on with my day.

Two hours later I was helping a teacher prepare for student presentations in one of our collaboration areas. We were chatting about work as we set up. We've known each other for years and we usually talk openly. I mentioned a particular task I was consciously avoiding at work. In fact, I probably said I refused to do it.

Without explaining, she well understood my resistance to the task. It was because of an awkward moment that happened in a staff meeting months earlier. That's the part of the story I won't elaborate on, but we've all been in staff meetings. You know about awkward moments, right? I'll just mention "power struggle" and "poor communication" and leave it at that.

Probably every person who was in that meeting remembered the moment. I bet most of them would have caught my implication that it was still an obstacle for me months later.

Then after I said I wouldn't do the task anymore, this teacher said the thing that caught my attention.

With a knowing chuckle, she said, "No one could blame you."

Well, there it was. No one could blame me. In that second my life intersected with the fiction I dreamed up earlier. What fool would I be if I didn't act on it?

I decided I better talk to the principal and make plans to do that that task I'd been avoiding. A few weeks later I did it, in front of the same staff, in the same place as the awkward meeting. Though I didn't mention any of the backstory, I'm sure at least four of us in the room understood the significance of my brief presentation. 

I don't know if the particulars of those events will ever matter or if anyone will remember them besides me.

I do know I was paying attention and I didn't give up. That's a win in my book.

Seeing Our Lives as Stories That Matter

Here's a powerful video I came across over break that I think every teacher should watch as we head into 2020. It's about a story I've referred to several times here and on my other blog. It's about how Erin Gruwell used the power of story to reach students that most other teachers had given up on.   

It happened nearly 30 years ago, but she's still telling the story and inspiring the new teachers she trains.

I'm sure many factors in Erin's classroom were different from where you teach. I know they're not exactly like mine. The world has changed in a lot of ways. But the principles that led to her success come through: 

• Everyone has an important story worth sharing for the sake of others. 
• Amazing things can happen when we are fully committed to a mission. 
• It won't be easy.

I'm glad to see this story told well in about an hour. Please consider watching it, even if it's over a few sittings. It also has several shorter clips you could use in class or with your staff. Click the image below or click here to visit the page on PBS.org.

Show Your Work - Inspiration from Austin Kleon

The past year has been a rough one for me in a lot of ways. If you follow my work here or over on my ed-tech blog, you'll know the work output really dropped.

Recently I was reminded of Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist. It was a huge inspiration to me six years ago as I was forming the thoughts that birthed this blog. 

I decided I needed another boost, so I finally read his follow-up book, Show Your Work.

Like his first, this was a quick read and I highly recommend it if you're into creative work. Some of the ideas certainly aren't as fresh as when it came out, but it definitely kick-started my interest in getting my work out there.

I loved this one quote especially, as it strikes squarely on my "teaching like an artist" rally cry. Kleon is talking about art as a story. He quotes another author first:

Author John Gardner said the basic plot of nearly all stories is this: 

“A character wants something, 

goes after it despite opposition (perhaps including his own doubts), 

and so arrives at a win, lose, or draw." 

Then Kleon adds his thoughts:

I like Gardner's plot formula because it's also the shape of most creative work: 

You get a great idea, 

you go through the hard work of executing the idea, 

and then you release the idea out into the world, coming to a win, lose, or draw. 

Sometimes the idea succeeds, sometimes it fails, and more often than not, it does nothing at all.

If you've been to any of my conference presentations the past four years, you've most likely seen my slide where I define "the way of the artist". I call it the three no-so-simple steps to inspire:

Dream big

Do the work

Share it

As I said, the past year has been hard. Seeing Kleon's statement parallel my own observations is a small thing, but helpful at this time. I'm not ready to give up yet!

Theme vs. Plot in Life

I was reading Write or Wrong, by Dirk Manning, this morning. I've been into comics the past few months and vaguely considering writing one (or five, depending on the day). I was intrigued by the author's advice early on. He proposes that most aspiring writers get too focused on plot when it's the theme that will set their work apart in the vast ocean of comics.

Plot is what happens in the story, but theme is what the story is about. 

While plot is essential, the theme the plot is set in capture the hearts of many more readers.

He uses the example of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Almost everyone knows the highlights of the play's plot. What rich themes can we see woven through it, however? He lists:

• The destructive power of love
• How far people will go to escape fate
• Sins of a father passed to the sons
• Individual rights versus society's norms

He claims the themes make it timeless. What I find interesting, though, is that a lot of people probably read or watch that story, they might even enjoy it, but not everyone really thinks about the theme. It's the invisible message you might feel strongly, yet never put into words.

It's like knowing the lyrics to a favorite song, singing the melody, but never considering the chord structure and rhythm that ties it together.

I've written about viewing our lives in terms of stories before (see here and here). It's something I frequently consider, but Manning's thoughts on theme opened my eyes to a deeper level. 

Most people are caught up in the events of their lives. We could say it's the plot. It's what happened or what's happening. 

But what is the theme of our lives? Do we even have a theme other than what we impose upon it? If so, is it important to recognize it?

I'll leave it at that for now. I have some thinking to do.

When You Wonder If You're Crazy

This is an honest post. As I set out to write it, I'm not sure it will end on a hopeful note. The best I can say is I'm not completely giving up. Maybe it can connect with another teacher who sometimes feels this way. Maybe it will provide contrast to a positive story later.

It's been a rough school year in ways I never anticipated. I decided last month (again) that as long as I'm in the district, I'm going to give it 100%. I'm going to keep believing even if I'm the only one.

So a couple weeks ago I signed up to present at the 6th Grade Orientation. It's the event where we tell the fifth grade students and their parents what to expect at our middle school. I wanted to talk about the exciting opportunities that our technology program offers students.

That Monday morning I was thinking about this when I heard Vicki Davis' interview with Angela Maiers. (If you only want something positive, stop reading and just listen to that. It's good.)

I love Angela's message that every student matters and her passionate talk in that interview was a bit of encouragement to me.

I actually had already considered using the quote that launched her mission (which I believe first came from Seth Godin.):

"You are a genius and the world needs your contribution." 

I tell that to students a lot when I talk to them about technology. It's a great starting point to grab attention, since they generally expect me to talk about apps, how to use Chromebooks and what will happen to them when they break the rules.

I decided to modify it slightly for my talk at the orientation. I wrote on the slide, "You have a gift and the world needs you to use it." As I developed my presentation, I have to admit I wondered if I still believed that for every kid. I considered leaving the quote out. Even moments before I spoke, I thought about deleting the slide.

But I left it in. I told them all--parents, students and the other teachers--that I believed it. I explained that technology offers connections that will allow students to learn and create so their genius can be unleashed in exciting ways.

I continued the talk, then ended with that same slide. Gifts, contribution, etc.

No one said a thing about it when I was done. To be honest, I didn't know if I encouraged anyone or if I looked like an idiot. I wasn't even sure anyone heard me, since the sound system wasn't great. .

The next morning, even before first hour, a couple teachers teased me about it. They weren't being terribly negative. To them it was just good fun, worth a laugh that Mike still thinks every kid is a genius. I expected that response, so it in no way hurt my feelings. I was somewhat relieved to know the sound system actually came through.

I told them it's what I have to believe if I'm still going to keep at it after all these years. For me it has been 23, longer than any of the others in the huddle. I think one of them sort of understood that I was taking it very seriously. She later said she was just kidding, so at least she was thinking about it.

I wish I had a better story to tell, but that's the real one so far.

Learning as a Story - A Google Drawings template for digital posters

When it comes to learning, we focus too much on the end product in school.

Instead, think of the whole process from initial curiosity to the struggles along the way and the final insights the learner gains. Could we start to see it as an interesting (maybe even exciting) story?

That's the basis for this digital poster activity I created as a Google Drawings template.

When it comes to telling a great story, I always start with Donald Miller's concise framework. He uses it as the basis of his Storyline book and conferences. There he says a story is...

• A character
• Who wants something
• And overcomes conflict to get it

Whether it's your favorite movie,  that last page-turner you couldn't put down or how your grandma tells of winning your grandpa's affections, I bet the story fits that model.

What would happen if we helped students to see learning as a story within this framework?

To accomplish that, I made a list of questions and a template in Google Drawings for a Learning Story Poster that students could complete after a learning experience. These resources require them to consider four questions based on those parts of a story:

• A character (or characters) - Who are they?
• Who wants something - What do they wonder about?
• And overcomes conflict - What challenges did they face?
• To get it - What did they finally learn in the end?

Click here to open a copy of the question sheet. It has a link to the Google Drawing template, which you can also find at the link below.

Click here to open a copy of the template in your own Google Drive. Students will easily complete their poster by...

• Adding or changing the text prompts as necessary
• Deleting the shapes and inserting their own pictures in those places
• Cropping the pictures into interesting shapes to make it visually appealing
• Changing the background colors and elements as they like
• Including images of any products they create, including physical charts or graphs
• Adding a table to the Google Drawing if data needs to be included
• Downloading the final product as a PNG or JPEG image

Here's a sample one I made using some pictures I had from our video announcement team. (Click here to see a larger version that you can zoom in on.)

A complete learning story poster like this requires students to consider a few things right from the start of the project. They will need to:

• Make note of what they wonder or are curious about
• Develop or be aware of the team identity (if working in groups) - Don't underestimate the importance of the "character" part. A team name and picture that represents the group personality can foster strong social connections that benefit for learning.
• Get photos throughout the process - If they forget, some quick posed shots make an acceptable substitute.

Other Possibilities

If you don't want to use Google Drawings for this, you can still using the questions and have them present it in these ways:

• Written Reflection - Just have students record their answers as a short written journal.
• Infographic - If you want to take more time, students could make a more attractive final product with Piktochart. Here's my guest post on their blog for some tips to get started using that tool.
• A digital slideshow or webpage - Adobe Spark can be a great tool for older students to tell a digital story as a video or as a webpage. See this post from my other blog about Adobe Spark.

Learning as a Story

Imagine you’re in science class. After a few days of studying cells, the teacher asks you to make a digital slideshow with some online tech tool. Let’s say it has to combine pictures, minimal text and some narration.

Think about what types of projects students would submit.

It’s a safe bet we’d get a lot of pictures of models of cells with some narration telling what the parts are and what they do. It’s the updated version of a PowerPoint presentation, which too often is an uninspiring display of information.

For the teacher, these final products serve as an assessment of what was learned. Nothing more, just the facts. 

That’s an important aspect of final products, but can we do better? Lately I’ve been encouraging teachers to push for more than just the final learning. I suggest we have students document the process.

In project-based learning, this often looks like a series of pictures showing the project coming together. What I’m thinking now, though, is something much more personal.

What if we asked students to document their learning experience throughout the process? 

Yes, in that science lesson it would still include those important parts of a cell. But what if we asked them to keep a record of what they looked forward to or what they were curious about before the lesson started?

How about their challenges, surprises and disappointments?

What new questions came up throughout the learning experience?

And then the most important part, which we rarely seem to have time for:  What did they learn about themselves and their place in the world?

What I’m hoping is we can see (and share) the learning experience as a story. Would it be a story students like to discover? Would it be worth telling? What effect would it have on school culture if learning stories were told as if they mattered?

Could we start with a learning story of our own that's worth sharing?

Let the Students Create

Photo from Pixabay

I asked my son, who's 15 years old, what classes he looked forward to in school. Without hesitation he said, "Woodshop." He assured me everything else was a bore. (He doesn't go to school in the district that I work in!)

This didn't surprise me. I see it over and over again in my work. Students get excited when they're making something. From Art to our Woods classes to our STEM Lab, they love to create a final product.

And making isn't just something that gets the students engaged. When it comes to human beings, I believe we were created to create. Look at the world. It is changing rapidly because people love to create things that didn't exist before. We can't help but create.

It can't just be any old thing that gets us going, of course. It has to be a final product we are proud of. It has to resonate with our passions (which are one of the great things make us unique creations ourselves). It has be be something valued by our social groups.

But don't think of this only as some physical object we will show our friends. Whatever work we do, we can view it as making something. Whatever we love to do, we can think of it as making or creating. As teachers, for example, we make lessons, but we also make exciting classes. We make laughter and moments to remember.

And most of all, we make a difference.

Seth Godin said, "You are a genius and the world needs your contribution." Angela Maiers latched onto that thought and made a life changing movement in thousands of classrooms. There's isomething powerful there.

In the end, every person wants to make a difference or a contribution. For too many people, that desire has been buried by life's events and forgotten. Some still want it badly, but are misguided in the pursuit. They will make any difference, even a negative one, as long as they played a part.

I got into teaching because I wanted to make a difference. I'm sorry to say that for the first 14 years, I too often forgot that dream. I let the system wear me down. I ran a very traditional high school math class where I made decent lessons. Sometimes I made some fun classroom games, but I didn't let my students make anything interesting. They made pages and pages of math problems.

They probably remember making a lot of mistakes.

Thankfully my dream was revived when I was asked to teach a class about career and college planning. Slowly doors opened and now my days are filled with helping teachers and students make things worth talking about.

And that reminds me. Stories are something we can make too. We usually don't make those alone. We team up with our colleagues and our students.

There's much to think about here, but you get the point. I'll leave it with some questions.

• What do you love to make in school?
• Do your students get to see the things you love to make?
• What do you encourage your students to make?
• How do you let them show it off beyond the classroom?
• Do you remind them they were created to create?
• What stories are you making with your students? They are being made and told whether we think of them or not!  

Resources for the Classroom on the Power of Story

Thanks to Lisa Johnson for her list on Listly to get me thinking of compiling these resources.

Who could argue that great teaching and great storytelling go hand in hand? When it comes to motivation, inspiration or just getting the information to stick, we all know from experience that a powerful story gets the job done.

I have been a big fan of Donald Miller's work with the power of story, especially his books Storyline and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Miller's point is that we can even live more meaningful lives by evaluating our goals and decisions in terms of what makes great stories. His books helped me through some personal struggles, so he's had my attention on the subject for years now.

Of course, he's not alone in these insights. It seems everyone from sales people to motivational speakers is learning to harness the power of stories and honing the skill of telling them in the best ways.

I'm just starting this list for use in the classroom. I'll keep adding to it as I find more.

Nancy Duarte's TEDx Talk - She reveals a story structure used in great speeches like the "I Have a Dream" speech and Job's introduction of the iPhone

Donald Miller's Free eBook - How to Tell a Story

Erin Gruwell's TEDx Talk - She tells the Freedom Writer's story, which itself illustrates how our stories move us and others.

Coming Soon - My creative classroom game of movie trailers - It uses Donald Miller's short recipe for a great story.

Harnessing the Power of Story - A shorter video focusing on finding your "signature story"

Storytelling the Stillmotion Way - Part 1 of a great series on Vimeo from a group that makes documentaries

Please add your favorite resources on story in the comments below or you can email me.