Revolution@ries See Learners
In our schools, you will find revolution@ries who want things to be different because they know our students deserve and need someone who understands learner needs. Revolution@ries embrace alternatives because every learner needs something different. I (Derek) think about my own kids, Gary and Imari, and how we had to take different approaches to teaching them to read and learn in their formative years. When it came time for kindergarten, Gary needed a caring teacher who set high standards for his empathy and character, because he came into kindergarten as a strong reader, while Imari did well with a no-nonsense, goal-driven nurturer. Different learners have different needs, and revolution@ries accept that.
Revolution@ries Use Their Spaces
Revolution@ries don’t limit themselves to the traditional use of spaces—they see opportunities! They can completely reimagine their learning spaces by bringing in more color to stimulate creativity in the middle school brain (How’s that for contradictory thinking?), tearing down walls, removing lockers, and making changes to give students space to do revolution@ry work!
We’re going to share stories about how some middle school educators are empowering middle school learners through personalized learning and relevant, rigorous experiences, and how the different spaces play a critical role in creating opportunities to empower learners. Bean bags, lawn chairs, coffee tables, and high chairs provide more than a different aesthetic—they give flexible minds a physical landscape that encourages them to be all they can imagine being.
We’re going to share some great examples of how revolution@ry educators are embracing different paths and different ways of thinking to get out of the traditional trappings of “how we do school.”
Revolution@ry Idea
How are you being intentional about setting a stage for learners to share their stories?
It’s Time for a Revolution!
We think you picked up this book for two reasons: 1) you want to start a revolution where you are, and 2) you want to see what other revolution@ries are doing. It goes without saying that a reimagined middle school won’t happen unless we reimagine the role of the teacher. In this book, we want to focus on shifting our thinking and language towards learning and learners. Something as simple as changing a title can be the start of adopting this new approach to changing lives.
My own K–12 experience has permanently imprinted in my mind that students are passive, compliant, and waiting for the teacher to give directions. In most of my classrooms, the teachers were great people who cared about their students. They were great storytellers. They had to be. It was a different time and age for our teachers. But today, revolution@ries want learners to be the storytellers. Revolution@ries don’t want to be the sage on the stage—they want learners to build their own platforms and share their inventions, stories, and dreams with the world.
Revolution@ries empower learners by allowing them to create and innovate in any number of ways:
Produce writing that can be shared globally and receive feedback from any device around the world
Record videos to start dialogues with other learners in the classroom, school, or around the world
Explore their interests and have the space and opportunity to consume
Create content in a way that best fits their learning styles
Use unique ways of demonstrating mastery of concepts
Given this glimpse into what revolution@ry work involves, are you satisfied with your title of teacher? If you are already doing revolution@ry things for your learners, we encourage you to continue that great work and possibly find inspiration and new ideas in this book. But if you aren’t satisfied, we hope you will question how things can be different and explore new opportunities. We hope you see the need to shift your understanding of what students do in our schools and begin questioning what empowered learners can do. We hope you want to question the traditional understanding of teacher and embrace the role of facilitator and designer. After all, you aren’t the gatekeeper of all knowledge, doling out information to students working quietly in desks arranged in perfect rows. That was the classroom of thirty, forty, even fifty years ago. Today’s classroom should look vastly different. This is your moment to decide to do it differently, to do better for your learners.
Revolution@ry Facts
When you look at revolutions in history, you see people who committed to social and political change. They committed to difficult talks and actions to bring about a real transformation. And it is a risk. While there won’t be life-or-death risk here, there is significant risk to changing our fundamental educational beliefs, thoughts, and practices. That kind of change can feel personal and threatening. Remember when you decided to switch from regular soda to diet soda? It was tough, impacting various parts of your day and leaving you mildly disappointed or irritated, but it was totally survivable. Remember when you gave up soda altogether? Now that was a life-altering change, a fundamental shift in how you chose to hydrate your body. What about the first time you integrated technology into a lesson in your classroom? Fundamental shift. Or the first time you differentiated your students’ learning activities? Another fundamental shift. None of the changes were entirely comfortable, but you made the effort and commitment and followed through, reaping great rewards as a result.
Revolution@ries don’t shy away from these big changes. They size up the risk and step forward with hope and confidence. Here are a few more truths we have come to understand about revolution@ries:
Revolution@ry Fact #1: They embrace different skill sets.
Revolution@ries are educators who:
Listen with empathy
Motivate others
Move beyond polite conversation to authentic relationships
Take risks and abandon safe practices
Embrace relevancy, particularly in the area of instruction
Revolution@ry Fact #2: They build fantastic cultures in their learning environments.
The term “classroom management” holds us back. It leaves us trapped in a time when we valued quiet and control over everything else. Some educators still hold quiet and control as prerequisites for a dynamic classroom—but that certainly isn’t the case. Have you ever met a teacher who uses statements such as “My classroom always has noise” as justification and assurance that learning is taking place even if you hear learners moving around inside? When teachers make this statement they are giving an excuse for noise in the classroom. That’s a shame. We should not have to excuse activity in the classroom like movement or talking or not sitting, and we definitely shouldn’t have to explain it as a part of the learning process. We should all have the expectation and belief that activity in the classroom is necessary and a critical component of the dynamic learning experience. Let’s not make excuses, let’s design active learning.
Revolution@ry action
Embrace the fact that your teacher desk can be a significant barrier between you and your students, and then get rid of it.