Information from Formation

This year I have been experimenting with teaching US History thematically rather than taking the traditional chronological approach. Each term has a theme: Immigration, Foreign Policy, Economics/Race/Social Class, and Power Struggles (the 4th term is purposely vague and may change going forward, but I wanted to have a "catch all" theme in case topics didn't fit neatly into the other themes). Each term many topics are presented in pairs, with past events presented in comparison to a current or more recent event. Truly my students are learning the past to better understand a contemporary issue. Some stellar examples so far have been comparing Mexican immigration in the 1920s and today, US responses to the Holocaust and Syrian refugees, and US actions after Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

With this approach every presidential debate provides new opportunities to learn from the past, and current events can take center stage instead of being relegated to "off topic" status. We began term 3's Economics/Race/Social Class looking at family income data for the past 100 years to draw some general conclusions that we could spend the term analyzing. Then we had some lessons on industrial revolution technology, social problems and awareness campaigns, with all the relevant analogies and comparisons to life today which began to merge nicely into the Gilded Age vs today's "1%" when our first two snow days hit before and after last weekend. When we finally came back to school, we had a half day for PD, then 3 full days leading up to a week off for February vacation. I knew the 4-day weekend would have lulled my students into early vacation mode, and this would be a challenging week for student motivation. Then, in the midst of my lesson planning, seemingly as an answer to my prayers, this track dropped:

So here's how the week went:

Tuesday (half day, shortened period):

Activator: We Wear The Mask  Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1896 poem, with discussion about why someone would smile even when experiencing emotional pain, and the implications of this. How do we know when someone else is experiencing pain? Do we have an obligation to look more closely at others' experiences, or can we simply rely on what we see at first glance?

Progressivism then and now, video playlist (with handout to take notes, and answer guiding questions) ‘

      
Closing: What were the concerns of progressives then and now? What concerns were/are not addressed? (Students should recognize that progressivism is most concerned with income inequality--but not specifically gender or racial inequality)

Homework = Désirée’s Baby by KateChopin, draw conclusion about race and gender in antebellum Louisiana.

Wednesday 
Activator: Beyoncé “Formation” listen to just the song, not the video, ask students to predict how this song relates to topics of The Progressive Movement, Women's Rights, Struggle against Jim Crow Laws.

[tbh Classes needed to watch the last 1-2 of the clips from yesterday]

Antebellum South Assessment (because I need data, and this assessment of students' ability to source a document is on point as we consider Beyoncé as a source, plus the topic relates to Désirée’s Baby)

Désirée’s Baby  discussion; connections to Progressivism, Formation, and issues of race and gender.

Women’s Rights, African American Rights, and the 15^th Amendment, primary source analysis think around with table mates, using quotes and ideas from a SHEG powerpoint and lesson.

Closing: Everyone noticed the connection between women doing hard labor, and hard work and attaining the right to vote--first in noticing that western states were the first to grant women suffrage, and then finally the 19th amendment passing in the wake of WWI where many women went to work in place of men who were fighting. So, we all can conclude that there is a precedent in the US for hard work leading to attainment of rights.

Homework = Read excerpts from After Hurricane Katrina, A Man-Made Disaster in New Orleans and write a response essay (3 paragraphs: author’s point, your reaction to author’s point, how article has changed you/your thinking)

Thursday

Activator: Students read The One Formation Lyric That Sums Up The Song's Biggest Theme is Unforgettable ; collect essays from each table group and discuss their thoughts on the reading.

Explain tomorrow's class will be a modified EdCafe, where students will lead sessions of discussions about the themes presented in Formation. Remind students who did not turn in essays of the importance of the reading in understanding one of the main themes of the song.

Background: Ida B. Wells Anti-lynching crusade

Clip #1 from Many Rivers to Cross: Old stereotypes vs new stereotypes for African Americans until 21:15

Attaining Rights through hard work, or education? Compare arguments made in docs from the Booker T. Washington vs W.E.B. DuBois SHEG lesson.

Chris Rock Rich vs Wealthy (until the Bill Gates/Oprah reference)

Clip #2 from Many Rivers to Cross:Harlem Renassaince, to 25:30

Clip #3 from Many Rivers to Cross: Oscar Micheaux films vs D.W. Griffiths' Birth of a Nation to the racial incident in Tulsa, OK in 1921 that destroyed the Black community of Greenwood (37:24)

Closing: Begin to compile list of topics to discuss for Ed Cafe (list will stay on board for other classes to tweak or add to: Hurricane Katrina, Rich vs Wealthy (Bill Gates), Black communities and danger of success, use of art to bring awareness to social problems, African American stereotypes reclaimed/re-imaged in Formation lyrics; "yellow boned" and "bama" in particular, Police/#blacklivesmatter, gender equality/inequality, information vs in formation -- meaning of pun; Getting in formation, before an action takes place what steps are needed? 

Homework: Prepare for Ed Cafe discussions, compile notes, write 5-7 questions to discuss with peers

Friday

Activator: 2 Katrina videos. First an overview from CBS news, then first hand accounts of the horrific conditions after the levee broke, to 5:38 and photo of submerged police car.

Beyoncé's Formation Video (I showed the clean version, but gave students the dirty lyrics. They are juniors in HS, and to me listening to curse words is worse than reading them.

Students take 5 minutes to fill the Ed Cafe Board (just a chart I made on the board); we had 4 discussions, lead by students, on topics from Thursday's list. When I have Ed Cafe, I almost always include a snack break, with some type of food that relates to the topic. I made the students corn bread muffins, which they enjoyed.

The bolded topics above were most popular and were discussed in every class. My honors classes had 2 sessions, my college prep classes could only manage 1 session. Other than having slightly shorter readings (I had shorter excerpts from the Katrina reading, and a different version of Désirée’s Baby that included a plot summary) the college prep students kept pace with honors this week.

Assessment: Students earned 3 grades this week for the sourcing HAT, the Katrina response essay, and the EdCafe rubric (largely self assessed, along with my observations as I eavesdropped on conversations) and notes they passed in with the rubric. 

The students' did fairly well in their discussions, and were clearly able to read much more into the lyrics at the end of the week, than at the beginning. We did not get into the Civil Rights Movement, or any of the references in the Super Bowl performance to Malcolm X or the Black Panthers, that have sparked a backlash. These are really topics for the Power Struggle theme next term. I get the sense that Formation is a gift that will keep on giving--students were motivated and will continue to be motivated to understand what all the fuss is about.

Social Media Saves the Day

This year Weymouth High School began a new practice called "The Wildcat Way Period," Once a month we have an extended homeroom that last 55 minutes. The main purpose is to give the seniors, who work all year on an independent Capstone Project, time with their capstone advisors. It's been less clear what the other students will be doing for this extended period, but administration decided that within the first two months there would be grade level assemblies, with one class meeting in the auditorium, and another in the gym.

The juniors were scheduled to have their class assembly the last Monday in October, and as junior class advisor, I have been working with the officers to develop their meeting presentation. Initially, administration told us that we would be showing a powerpoint or video, but then we were told we would be in the gymnasium with no A/V beside a microphone.

The class president pictured above had the daunting task of not only speaking before almost 500 classmates, but engaging them in the class mission to raise $40,000 toward graduation expenses the following year. Students are expected to pay dues, purchase a class t-shirt, and volunteer at several fundraising events held throughout the year. The class officers also wanted to promote class pride and school spirit, things that had been noticeably lacking during the previous week's spirit week activities that lead up to homecoming. For the fundraising activities and class events to be successful this year, many students will need to take part, come to planning meetings, and promote among their friends. The officers decided that a class twitter page would be the best way to share out information, but at the time of the meeting they only had a few dozen followers.

To sell the class on the twitter page, students were given a raffle ticket when they arrived at the assembly. After brief announcements by each of the 5 officers students were told about the class twitter. Students were also told that if during the assembly they got more followers than the seniors, who had 244, then there would be a raffle. Next students were told about the class t-shirt options. Four choices were posted to twitter, and students could vote using PollEverywhere. Once students realized the twitter had some valuable information, students started to follow. Perhaps about 90 or so joined. Then the class vice president came back out, reminded the students about the raffle, and showed them what they "were playing for." He pulled out a chair from under the bleachers that had three whipped cream pies on it. "If we get over 244 followers during this assembly, we will pull 3 raffle numbers and those students will get to toss a pie in the dean's face!" That got the students' attention, and more started following and tweeting out the address to follow on their accounts. When the follow number broke 200, the class officers decided to pull one number. A girl was chosen to toss the first pie. It was hilarious! The students had never seen anything like this before--and everyone was taking pictures and snapchatting. The officers announced that there would be 2 more students chosen, but only if the follow number surpassed 244, and now the students were all over it!

Kudos to @deanbalan for being a good sport at today's Junior class assembly 🐾

A video posted by @buellhistory on Oct 26, 2015 at 12:08pm PDT

The officers got their message across, the students had a memorable class assembly, Students got to voice their opinions about the class shirt, and this coupled with the fact that the junior class just had a bonding experience, will hopefully lead to robust shirt sales. The next day the officers held a meeting for those interested in being on the "junior committee" to help plan and execute events. Almost 20 students showed up, which compared to previous years is a very high number.

A class assembly in the gym could have been a recipe for disaster, but thanks to social media, and an administrator who didn't mind getting a little messy in the name of class spirit, it was a great success. Meanwhile in the auditorium, there was another class assembly, and many students were also using their phones, but not in an intentional productive way, but rather to just kill time until the hour had passed. 

The Secret to Student Engagement lies in the #1st5days

After careful study, lesson planning, professional development, and review, you have decided to take an inquiry based and student centered approach in your classroom this year. You have done your homework, You are prepared. So, things will go smoothly, right? Not so fast. Did you consider the students? Are they ready to take control of their learning? If not, instead of being intrinsically motivated by the autonomy you are presenting, they will be skeptical, anxious, and rebellious.

I learned this the hard way. Regardless of our pedagogy, all teachers seek engaged students, and will go through numerous hoops in an effort to motivate our charges. After reading Daniel Pink's Drive and watching his TED talk, I was convinced that the reward and punishment approach that was successful early in my career, would no longer be optimal for my millennial students. So, in the Fall of 2011 I plunged into problem based learning along with a flipped classroom. This transition made even more sense given that my department was developing a curriculum based upon essential questions. In addition, the Common Core Standards were being "unpacked" in preparation for implementation. It seemed like the perfect time to implement a major pedagogical shift.

I should have known that all would not go as planned when only a handful of students watched my first video homework assignment and those who did were not particularly excited by my efforts. Students also did not know how to behave in the new learning environment. They did a lot of talking and not nearly enough listening. Classmates would get frustrated with each other when their ideas were ignored by peers. Students pushed back when asked to read and research their own answers. They begged for me to "take control," but then bristled at my interventions. There were moments of success, typically when students got to make their own flipped class videos, but many more failed plans.

That first student-centered classroom resulted in a stressful year. I was criticized by administrators for not lecturing, for letting students use cell phones in class, and for attempting to give "those students" autonomy. Basically, that year was like the beginning of every inspirational teacher movie: teacher's heart is in the right place, students don't trust her methods, and the administration isn't supportive. So, how to follow up the next year to ensure the movie trope continues toward a happy ending? The answer to student-centered, inquiry based success lies in taking the #1st5days approach to the first five days of school.

The #1st5days concept was articulated by Alan November on his November Learning website, and at his Building Learning Communities conferences. The summer of 2012, as I was preparing for a second attempt at inquiry pedagogy, I started to see the hashtag #1st5days appear with #BLC12 on twitter. Cue the movie theme music. This was the missing piece to all of my planning and efforts of the year before. It became obvious to me what I needed to do, as well as what my students needed to do, before we began to study the curriculum. In the process of developing my own #1st5days routine, I established a framework that I believe can be replicated in any classroom that wishes to take a pedagogical approach using the trifecta of motivation according to Dan Pink's research: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy

One of the first things I tell my new students is "I am not a source." I let them know that I will help them find sources, and understand the meaning of sources, but that I will not provide any answers...ever. To illustrate this I give them an assignment to figure out who I am. Students are seated in groups and each is given a large envelope with my personal documents: photos, letters, newspaper clippings, event programs, invitations, ticket stubs, certificates, and postcards. From these documents, students must construct a timeline of significant events from my life. Some information is misleading as I am referenced by maiden name, or it relates to a family member and not myself personally. College acceptance letters from schools I chose not to attend also throw the students off a bit. When all is said and done, and the "truth" about Ms. Buell is revealed, students learn not to rely on any single source, in addition to not depending on the teacher. 

Mastery

Toward the end of that first disastrous year my school began testing students for reading comprehension. When I got the results back in May I was astounded to learn that my most reluctant learners were several grades below the norm. Here I was asking my students to read and take evidence from multiple primary and secondary sources, but because the texts were at grade level they were much too difficult for them. No wonder they rebelled! In hindsight it seems obvious, but in the days of copying notes off the PowerPoint presentation, or memorizing names, dates, and events from a study guide, poor reading comprehension wasn't a problem. It never even occurred to me that there were students in my high school who tested at or below 4th grade as readers! It made a huge difference at the end of the year when I rearranged learning groups and gave each student a reading partner.

Now that I have access to reading comprehension and other standardized test scores at the beginning of the year, I review this information before I begin teaching the curriculum. By the second five days of school, I have a pretty good idea of my students' strengths and weaknesses, and I am able to group them and provide them with reading materials appropriately. 

Another piece on the road to curriculum mastery is helping students understand the expectations of each content skill they will be assessed on during the year. In my subject, history, The Stanford History Education Group has excellent introductory lessons that teach the historical thinking skills they will be expected to master. We also take some time to practice lesson routines, like learning stations or carousel reading, and to introduce terms, like primary vs. secondary sources, by using familiar content before we hit up the challenging historical content.

Purpose

As we get closer to our first "real" lesson, toward the end of the first week, we address the purpose of taking the class. Typically, I connect the course content to a contemporary issue: Trayvon Martin, Obamacare, Boston Marathon bombing, Ferguson, Donald Trump's presidential campaign. I choose issues that students are familiar with, but also have questions about, so we can tie the topic not just to its historical relevance, but also the purpose of inquiry itself. 

Regardless of the subject content, the end of the week should introduce the curriculum content with an application relevant to the students' world. At this point my history students complete an autobiography lesson, where they use the skill set they've been introduced to as a means of explaining an historical event. When I teach psychology, a more science-like subject, students research the work of a contemporary scholar and a problem, like distracted driving, that is currently being researched. 

Setting the Tone

In between these primary lesson drivers, are opportunities for activities that will set the stage for a happy and productive year. If you "teach like a PIRATE" now is the time to try an outrageous hook. Complete some "ice breaker" activities to get to know your students. See if the data you have on them is accurate by giving some low pressure reading and writing tasks. Do things that are fun and memorable, but also work on classroom routines, like what to do if  your pen explodes, that have the potential to derail a content lesson. Practice the technology programs and apps that you plan on using in order to work out as many bugs as you can before they impact learning. 

It may be tempting given the curriculum demands to cut the #1st5days short by a day or two, but don't. If you take this approach, you will be saving time in the long run. I have found I need this many days to observe the students and how they react to and behave in different learning situations. Then, I can prepare the best classroom management strategies, for each of my classes. Also, by the time the week has passed your students will be ready to meet your curriculum demands. They will understand the expectations, they will have overcome any hesitations, and they will be feeling comfortable with both you and their classmates. Students will have internalized the value of your pedagogy, and if you have really done it well, they will be excited to come to your class each day.

 The #1st5days approach has been my secret to a successful and productive school year. I can't guarantee that 100% of the students will be engaged 100% of the time, but even on their "bad" days students will trust you and they will trust your methods. The odds of success will be greatly in your favor.

Summer Vacation: Education Interrupted or Not?

Picking the cursor up after ignoring this blog for many months is daunting. Trying to get school related work done while on summer vacation is another challenge. When school ended on June 30 I had so many good intentions. I was planning to formally write up the successful unit plans from the previous year, But then this happened:

My husband and I celebrated our 15th anniversary with a weekend in Martha's Vineyard, Don't all teachers get married in the summer?

I was hoping to read the stack of young adult books I collected at The Book Con. I did manage to read All the Bright Places, Everyday and half of the companion Another Day, I also read parts of Paper Towns, and am a few chapters into Saint Anything. The ability to read while relaxing at the beach helps get this summer task completed!

I wanted to read the stack of educational books I had downloaded to my Kindle, and am making some progress. I am leading a Voxer book club with school colleagues on the book 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom. I am doing most of the talking, which tells me that I am not the only teacher struggling to be productive during vacation.

I need to plan for the upcoming school year. I had ambitions to make folders for my students with all of the SHEG lessons I will be using with them. This involves downloading the 50 or so lessons from SHEG's Reading Like A Historian curriculum onto a flash drive, and then bringing to the print lab back at school. It's just a matter of sitting down and doing it, but then things like this happen:

 

Since I was a child I have spent the whole summer on Cape Cod. My childhood friends' children, including a friend from Honduras, are now friends with my children. My children, who put up with a lot all year having a busy school teacher mother, take center stage in the summer. Their scheduled and unscheduled activities and fun are the focus of July and August. 

Another goal is to refocus my attention on health and exercise. I participate in boot camp and cardio tennis, and my 10 year old yellow lab, Lucy, gets back in shape too by swimming.

 






I look for ways to "kill two birds with one stone" by hiking to the dog beach and reading after Lucy gets tired out playing fetch in the waves.

I packed The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables to read to my rising 4th grader, but then my rising 7th grader needed help with her assigned summer reading, so we put Mary Lennox and her garden on hold to tackle I Will Always Write Back: 

Our local book store 8 Cousins attracts some great authors to their events, and so we got to listen to Sarah Dessen and David Levithan, and my youngest has been once again searching for Waldo.

                      

So, while July hasn't been the most productive in the traditional sense of teacher professional development, in hindsight, it has been an mentally stimulating summer. August, the Sunday of the summer, is right around the corner. Once the calendar changes, the little ones will begin to work in earnest on their summer reading and math packets, and I will plan curriculum. But for now, our favorite lifeguard/big brother is waiting for a visit!

NCSS 2014

In my world today is Christmas morning! I am heading into Boston today for the National Council of Social Studies annual meeting. A national conference! Right here! And since my hometown is such a historical place, this conference has attracted an amazingly large crowd of "rock star" educators. I can't wait for the learning to begin!

Poor District Evaluation...Now What?

A team from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education visited the school district where I work last January, and recently published the report of their review. The report was an incredibly accurate account of the state of education in my building. Like, my "Struggle is Real" post, in many ways I feel validated. When I have challenged our practices, or lack of appropriate practices, I have made to feel like chicken little at best, and was actually called out in a meeting for being "the most divisive person in our department" for suggesting a change in practices.

Some quotes that jump out at me:

The town of Weymouth is not providing necessary and required resources to meet the needs of 
students, schools, and facilities throughout the school district (page 22).

In observed classrooms, the use of technology to support and enhance instruction was limited. 
Students did not have frequent opportunities to access technology as a tool for their own 
learning...In 75 percent of observed classes at the high school level, students did not interact with 
technology in the classroom. Student use of technology was limited to using calculators and 
observing content displayed by an LCD projector...When technology is 
not used consistently to support and enhance classroom instruction, students are not benefiting from a critical 21st century tool that will be required for future success both at school and in the workplace (pages 16-17). It has long bothered me that teacher evaluations have praised teachers for using technology in instruction, when really they are only using calculators and PowerPoint.

The district does not have content specialists at the middle and high schools (page 20).

Teachers said that, while they had access to multiple forms of data, they were unsure of 
how to use it to improve their instruction...Some teachers said that they could access data results from MCAS, DORA and DOMA, but they reported they did not have sufficient time to meet and lacked a data support structure to help them effectively interpret and use the information they had...Teachers’ association officers [at the time I was the union president] cited “professional development in data analysis” as the first of three key issues they wanted to bring to the attention of the district review team (page 19).

After the 5 minutes of "I told you so" gloating has worn off. Now what? I have been advocating for years in personal conversations with 4 of 5 central office administrators, that they need to publicly communicate the problems before the town will understand why they need to pay more. The administrators ask for huge budget increases, but also continuously say everything is going great, and our poor graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and MCAS scores are simply the result of a bad economy. If you have fallen down, and someone asks you if you need help getting back up, and you say that you are fine...do you expect the person to help you anyway?

This document has the potential to be game changing for my district---or swept under the carpet like all bad news. What is the next step?

Teaching Like A Pirate

Based on the year I have had so far (see previous post), it was excellent timing to have read Dave Burgess' book Teach Like a Pirate this past summer. The book describes a philosophy and pedagogy that challenges educators to teach with the following elements: Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Answer, Transformation, Enthusiasm. Dave provides practical tips and tricks for creating engaging lessons including about 30 "hooks" to gain students' attention, and techniques to keep their attention once you have it.

Many of Dave's suggestions are similar to things I have done in the past. Although, I must confess, that even as a veteran teacher, who strove to be a PIRATE in the past without knowing it, I learned dozens of ways to improve upon the techniques I was already using. Nevertheless, there are a few ideas that seem really out there, especially "The Costume Hook." Dave writes, "I know that of all of these techniques, this is one I most often have people, especially men, say they wouldn't be able to pull off, but you won't know until you try it."

Even though I am not a guy, the thought of dressing up and teaching class in costume is far out of my comfort zone. I will occasionally dress up for Halloween to be a good sport, but am always very uncomfortable doing so. Nevertheless, I went for it yesterday, and the results were phenomenal!

1. The challenge: Teach the French Revolution to my 9th graders in 1 day! Somehow this topic appears nowhere in the history curriculum in my district. In the past I have included it anyway--but the curriculum demands are already extensive, and as my students were assessed last year as among the lowest 12% in the state, I shouldn't  be adding (too many) topics. There are common assessments my students will take, and while I do not overload them with trivia, and focus on just the most crucial skills and content, it is still usually more than my students can handle. 

2. The plan: Give the students a two page handout reading that summarizes the events leading up to the French Revolution and the Revolution itself, invite  "guest speaker" Marie Antoinette to class to answer students' questions about the French Revolution, spend last 20 minutes of class close reading primary sources on the Reign of Terror, for homework students write a short essay that either defends or condemns the Committee of Public Safety.

3. The execution: The lesson came in the midst of a unit on Europe in the 1800s. We have been examining SPRITE conditions, one factor at a time, and the French Revolution lesson came under the umbrella of politics. I began class by informing the students that every political event of the 1800s was inspired, influenced, or responded to as a result of the French Revolution. I explained that this topic was not really part of our curriculum, but that it will help them understand future political actions if they have some understanding of it. I told them that to help them today, I invited a special guest to come to class to answer their questions. I said I was going to leave them for a few minutes to get the guest, and while I am gone they are to read the handout summary, and each student was to write down one question. I then opened the door between my classroom, and a colleague's who kept an eye on the students while I was gone. About 4 minutes later this is who returned:

I am not exaggerating when I say that jaws dropped. I introduced myself to the "American students" and asked them if they had any questions. And they did! Some classes were more on the ball than others, and if questions lagged, I told them stories about "my" life. But basically, the students were pouring over the reading looking for things to ask me! AND, when I was speaking, they were riveted. In two of my classes a student asked why I looked like Mrs. Buell, to which I replied that I am Austrian, and Mrs. Buell has some Austrian relations so that must be why there is a resemblance. But, that was really the only off-topic question I was asked. I was able to "lecture" in the form of stories and Q+A for 10-15 minutes, and I had every student's undivided attention. Actually, out of the four 9th grade classes I teach there was 1 student who was not engaged--and that is a tell-tale sign of some bigger issues I will need to address with this student. As Marie Antoinette I was acting over-the-top, and the stories I was telling about the things I did and said, were meant to help explain the causes of the French Revolution, including telling the students they should be thanking me because they would never have been able to defeat the British in the American Revolution without our help. I could see the lightbulbs going off in their brains!

I did not stay too long. Once there were no more questions, and I was satisfied that the students had an understanding of the causes of the French Revolution, I again opened the door to my neighbor's classroom and I left--getting out of the wig and long skirt took only a minute (I pulled the long skirt over the short skirt I was wearing that day, and wore a sweater over the corset, so changing was pretty quick). The last half of class was the challenging work of reading primary sources and ultimately being able to make a claim about the events of the Reign of Terror. Amazingly, the students remained engaged. And, while I have not finished reading all of their homework essays, most students wrote a fairly extensive amount. I had given them a paper with the prompt, and expected them to complete one side of the page. Often I get barely a few sentences from them on assignments like this, but this time I got full pages, and many went onto the back side of the page as well!

4. Advice and Conclusions: Just do it! I came very close to backing out of it right up until the second I crossed the threshold of the first class....I had moments of anxiety before I walked into every class....but inspired by Dave Burgess, and the #sstlap crew, especially Matt Barry I gave it a try. Based on some of my earlier shtick (I chug a bottle of Sprite when I introduce SPRITE conditions, and we "travel" to an exotic beach in Spain where the students have to decide whether to visit the textile or non-textile side of the beach so they never forget what a textile is), my students know I will do whatever it takes to help them learn. Not only was this a terrific technique for student engagement, but it was a bonding moment between myself and my students, and the students with each other, We had an unforgettable experience as a class. The students know I am working hard, and going out of my comfort zone for them, how can they not return the favor?