I sat my piggy upon the scale to see what she did weigh.
I noticed then her weight was light.
"We'll weigh again soon," I'd say.

I took her home to quiz her well.
Her knowledge I did plough.
Did she know the skills it'd take to turn into a sow?

She rattled off the facts and stats so pleasing to my ear.
I drilled her 'til the sun sank low,
Next weigh-in drawing near.

We'd practiced all she'd need to know
To pass this simple test.
To fatten up my pretty pig, had been my only quest.

Sweat dripped from brim to brow 
As my piggy took the scale.
This was it.
THE BIG WEIGH-IN.
I hoped we would not fail.

Trembling steps my piggy took
As she met her final test.
Then panic as I epiphanized:
I'd forgotten what was best!

Too busy quizzing information.
One thing I did conclude.
How could I not have realized?
I forgot to give her FOOD.


My classes have been studying poetic elements for the last few weeks, so I thought it'd be fun to create a symbolic poem for my Week 5 #IMMOOC post. This week, I've really been focusing on the idea that we need to prepare our students for the real world not just for tests. My PLC has set a goal this year to make sure that we're asking our students to make meaningful connections and provide evidence of their own learning through different mediums. So far, I feel like it's been much more powerful and meaningful in our classrooms. To see some of the ways we've changed things up, check out our Classroom Page. 

Megan Gordon
7th Grade ELA

   If you've been following my posts about George Couros' #IMMOOC, you've probably noticed that my posts get longer and longer as I try to put words to all of my thoughts. It's difficult. So, today, I'm going to keep it short and sweet.
  I'm going to address the idea of strengths-based leadership, and how that's affected my classroom and my teaching.
  First, let me say that my principal is the bomb.com. He is what you would call a servant-leader. He leads us by serving us and our students. Just like George Couros writes about, this actually creates a desire in our school's teachers and students to work harder and be better people. He trusts us, and he encourages us to use our strengths, which in turn, enables us to take more risks. I can't remember a time when I asked him if I could try something (as long as it aligned with our standards) and he said no. He always says yes if I have good reasoning for trying something out. 
  I try to do the same things in my classroom. My goal is to make sure that every student believes they have a voice, believes they have a choice, and believes they can progress. Here are a few things I've done so far this year to try and empower my students, allow them to use their strengths, and allow them have some choice in the classroom.

- Give students a choice on projects. I wanted to assess that my students could analyze and identify mood and tone. Instead of giving them a formal test or assigning them one "recipe" to be completed, I gave them several options. They could create a mood/tone book page, write their own short story that clearly created a certain mood, or create a digital thinglink.com submission to display their knowledge. It was great. Students who felt strong in writing chose one, students who were better at drawing chose another, and students who were better at using technology chose the other. I even told the students if they had a better idea to let me know. I was open to suggestions!
- Give students a choice on tests. Since we are required to give at least two major grades each grading period, we try to alternate the formats of those major grades. Sometimes we do projects or activities, and then we'll usually end up giving at least one, more traditional, style test. This last one I gave, I allowed my students the option to take it online or to take a paper copy. An easy addition that enabled students to choose the format in which they felt stronger.
- "Create-A-Space" I have a new area in my classroom that is about to be transformed by the votes of my students. I couldn't decide how to decorate a corner of my classroom, so I ended up making a big poster for it that says, "Our Space. What will we create?" So far, I've taken a few polls on what they'd like it to become, and we're about to narrow it down this week! I've received great ideas that I never would have thought of. My favorite so far--a DJ booth where table groups get to create a playlist for the week and play it during class.

  While some of these ideas might not seem that innovative, they are getting there. You have to start somewhere. If you wait for the perfect opportunity, when you have everything carefully planned, and your idea is the most innovative you could ever create, I fear you'll be waiting a LONG time.

  What are some ways you give your students use choice, voice, and strengths in the classroom?

Megan Gordon
7th Grade ELAR

I'm really enjoying my weekly viewings and interactions with George Couros' Innovator's Mindset Massive Open Online Course. If you're interested, check it out HERE! 

Continuing the conversation this week on Part II of the book, The Innovator's Mindset, I'm going to focus on something that Kaleb Rashad touched on in this week's YouTube chat. It was so brief, but it really resonated with me.

The Cross-Pollinator
Kaleb referenced the book The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley. Apparently, Mr. Kelley has identified 10 innovative personas within an organization. It's definitely on my list of books to read now. The one that Kaleb referenced was the cross-pollinator. (You can read about all of them here.) 

According to Kelley and Rashad, the cross-pollinator draws inspiration from other organizations and seemingly unrelated concepts or companies to help inspire innovation in their own field.

WHAATTT?? That's me! 
I'm a cross-pollinator.
I had no idea.
It all makes sense.

The Proof
I always wondered why I was so intrigued and interested in other careers and types of organizations out there. I'm a cross-pollinator. This whole web site is actually a product of attending something called Circles Conference last year. It's a conference in Dallas, TX for creative designers. Most people who attend are graphic designers, artists, videographers, and the likes. I knew this going in, but I also knew that I have a genuine interest in the power of design, and I knew I could find something that related to my field. After-all, my degree is technically in advertising. I've always used that in the classroom as well. How can I advertise and design lessons that will engage and empower my students?

Circles' Twitter profile says, "Circles Conference is a place to learn from world-changing thinkers & innovators for the creative community. "

I want to be a world-changer. I believe myself to be an innovator. I'm a member of the collective creative community. Why couldn't I attend this conference?

Some teachers might think it's a waste of time to attend something that takes me out of the classroom for two days and, at first glance, has nothing to do with teaching.

Aha! This is where they'd be wrong.

I even had several attendees give me the crazy eye at first when they found out I was a teacher. "So...why are you here?" I explained that even though I'm not designing cool gift cards for Target or designing the next ad campaign for a fortune 500 company, I have clients who depend on me every day. They require empowering lessons and activities, and I have to deliver. My students are my clients. 

​My world was rocked when I saw and heard from these epic designers. You should have seen some of the their presentations. They were so seamless and smooth and beautiful. "That's what needs to be happening in classrooms," I thought. Not that we lecture and present that often, but how can we apply these design principles to our own classroom design? This was happening in the real world. Why shouldn't my students get these same experiences? How could I apply it to my classroom? My school? My students?

Teachers Who Design was born from these thoughts. It was born from taking myself out of the normal teaching environment, disrupting my routine, and seeing how things were run in different sectors of the world. Why not have a place where educators who value purposeful design can meet and collaborate? A place where we can post and share lessons and activities that we've passionately designed. It's still a work in progress, but it's already taken me down so many different roads and has introduced me to so many different people and information.

Cross-Pollinator Tips
Since I don't just want this to be a reflective blog, I'm going to wrap up by sharing some of my cross-pollinating tips/ideas that also tie back into ideas expressed or encouraged in The Innovator's Mindset. I believe these questions and thoughts can help us create more innovative classrooms:

1. What are you passionate about on your own time? Is there a way to bring that into the classroom?
2. Where do you like to hang out? Have you ever thought about adding elements of that environment into your classroom?
3. What is going on in the music scene? political scene? pop-culture scene? current event scene? sports scene? that you could pull into your classroom or lesson design?
4. What's your favorite restaurant? Why? Could you pull in elements of their service or offerings into your classroom?
5. Think about other jobs and careers. What do people in other jobs do on a daily basis that you could add into your routine or agenda.

These are just a few questions to get you thinking like a cross-pollinator. I hope they help. Let me know which persona you connect with in The Ten Faces of Innovation and how you apply that in your own classroom or school. I'd love to hear from you.

Megan Gordon
​7th Grade ELA

*Photo from www.urbanfoodgarden.org