Monte Syrie invites all teachers into a lyrical, inspiring conversation on learning and doing better. Sharing his characteristic wit and vulnerability, he asks us to question grading, learning, and relationship practices—and with his book in our hands, he’s a welcoming, supporting mentor beside us on our own journeys. ~Nicholas A. Emmanuele, HS ELA Teacher and Dept. Chair
Morning, all. So excited to share the cover of my book with you.
What has been years in the making is finally nearing its completion. Blessed to have such a solid support system in my publisher CodeBreaker. As blessed to have such an awesome audience in you all, for you have helped me stay the course with Project 180 over the years. Thank you for always being here. Could not have done this without you. Thank you.
The book should be available around October. I will keep you posted.
I have chased many “betters” around the bend over the past six years with Project 180. It, as my regular readers know, has been a dizzying dance of Doing, Reflecting, and Doing Better, for just as soon I brave and build one better, I am already off after the next better around the bend. Indeed, better never ends; it only bends. And as I come to this next big bend in the journey (Year Seven) and take stock of where I’ve been and what I carry with me, I can only find one constant companion–a better with an end, a better without a bend: Smiles and Frowns.
It’s my hill to die on. It’s my ride or die. It’s the only permanent in my practice. And though it would likely never play out, if ever I was told that I could no longer do Smiles and Frowns, its end would be my end. They’d have to fire me. With Smiles and Frowns, there is no bend. To put a more positive spin on it, Smiles and Frowns is the best thing I have ever done in the classroom. And it always will be–no matter how many more years I have ahead of me. It is where I hang the hat of my career.
That said, let’s talk a bit about the what, why, and how of Smiles and Frowns.
Of course, I did not create Smiles and Frowns. The idea of it has been around for a long time, and it answers to many names: “Roses and Thorns,” “Peaches and Pits,” “Happies and Crappies,” “Ups and Downs,” and the list goes on. Regardless the name, the general purpose is the same: to connect the people in the room. It’s a simple, go-around-the-room activity where people share a positive and/or a not-so-positive part of their lives.
Why
To connect the people in the room. Nothing connects humans better than shared experiences, so when we share our experiences (Smiles and Frowns), we see ourselves in others and others see themselves in us. And, eventually, “I” becomes “We.” A classroom becomes a community, a shared space where we struggle, we grow, we laugh, we cry, we learn, we live. A community. Our community.
But community is a commitment. A daily commitment. “We” takes time.
How
Here’s the general format of the activity along with some specifics I believe are key to successfully implementing and sustaining Smiles and Frowns.
Make time. Find a consistent time for the activity. I do it every day right after I take attendance. Some do it on Mondays. Some do it on Fridays. Some do it on both Mondays and Fridays as bookends to the week. I am a big advocate for doing it daily–no matter what. But I realize for some that may be a leap too far, especially for those just starting out with Smiles and Frowns. Regardless what you choose to do, consistency is key. Consistency leads to habit to routine to ritual. In my room, Smiles and Frowns is a ritual–a sacred one.
Invest time. Relationships are investments. Not gonna BS ya here, Smiles and Frowns takes time.
To be fair–and honest, I fretted the time commitment when I first began doing daily Smiles and Frowns. I know I claimed in the “Relationships Are Not Accidents” post that it only takes five minutes, but that’s not true. Some days, it does only take five minutes, but other days (most days) it takes ten or more. It depends (on so much), but I have learned to let go my old fears of “wasting instructional time,” and now I focus on the fact that I am investing in connections, in community, in us. As I said, “we” takes time. I invest in us.
Find a frame. Frame it for your kids. Here’s the gist of how I do it.
We are going to learn a lot in here this year, but of all the content we will consider, there is nothing more important than the people in this room, and so, we will spend time each day considering each other. We will “learn” each other. Every day, no matter what, we will begin our time together by connecting through an activity I call Smiles and Frowns. Here’s how it will work…
Or something like that. I encourage you to find a frame–for everything you put in front of kids, but especially for something as sacred as Smiles and Frowns (or whatever you come to call it). Feel free to use/adapt my frame, but please make it fit you and your kids, or it won’t work.
Pick a name. The name doesn’t matter. As I said earlier, there are a number of names for this activity. I like Smiles and Frowns. Pick one you like. Or, even better, make one up.
Consider configuration. I have my desks in a circle, which I believe is the best arrangement–we can see each other (a key to connection). But this can also be achieved by having kids stand in a circle if you don’t have your desks arranged in one. Please note, this does not need to be a deal-breaker. I know several who successfully conduct Smiles and Frowns with a variety of arrangements (including rows). As with everything, make it yours.
Go around the room, inviting each person (by name) to share a smile and/or frown from their lives. Typically, kids will “tag” their responses with, “Smile…” or “Frown…”
Promise the “Pass.” I cannot overstate the importance of letting–even encouraging–kids to pass. I write about it here in “The Power of the Pass.” Of course, I did not arrive at this understanding immediately. For too long, I took the pass personally, but now I see it and embrace it differently. For many, this seems to be the biggest, can’t-get-over-it obstacle to sustaining Smiles and Frowns. I got over it, by getting over it. Please let kids pass.
Community Circle
In addition to daily Smiles and Frowns, on Fridays we add “Community Circle” to the mix. My kids love Smiles and Frowns, but they LOVE Community Circle. And so, to any who are looking to up their community-connections game even further, I highly recommend adding this activity to your repertoire.
I run it the same as Smiles and Frowns. But, with Community Circle, I present specific prompts like the ones below.
I typically come up with four prompts on Friday morning, which I also share on Twitter (if you need prompts).
Yes, we still do Smiles and Frowns. Have to. Every day. No matter what.
And, yes, Community Circle takes even more time.
And, yes, happily, I invest.
I Guarantee It
It’s the only practice I guarantee. Everything else I do forms and fades as each better bends, but this is a better with an end. It changes the entire experience for everyone in the room. And it will for you, too. I guarantee it. I have had too many others tell me so over the years after they have made it a part of their practice. Smiles and Frowns is profoundly simple and simply profound. It will change you, your room, your kids–for better, forever.
“Do” is still a dilemma. Five years ago I wrote “The Dilemma of Do,” a post that dove into the “do” and “don’t (won’t) do” in the classroom through the lens of compliance v. the lens of commitment. Having purposefully placed myself in a position where I no longer had the control of compliance (I gave all my kids an A for the year), I had to rely on kids’ commitment to their learning. It is the path I chose, which was a path less-traveled to be sure, so as I made my way, I longed to learn about the do of commitment, for as I believed then, and as I still believe now, it is the only path to an authentic learning experience. As you’ve likely heard me say many times, I have no interest in compliance. My interest lies in commitment.
I am committed to commitment.
Seems simple enough. Simple, yes. Easy, no. The commitment course has not been and likely never will be easy street. It is fraught with challenges. Kids are accustomed to (conditioned for) the compliance course. Just because I have set the compass to Commitment doesn’t mean kids readily race ahead, embracing the “open road.” For most, it is a freedom (and responsibility) not familiar. Even more, the commitment course is no longer about “all kids” (that’s a compliance concern), it’s about each kid. Each is in a different place when their commitment journey begins, continues, and ends. I can teach all (compliance). But I want to reach each (commitment). In short, each ain’t easy.
Reach
Reach is the active process of meeting kids in their learning. It is “reaching out” to discover not only where they are but also who they are in the context of their learning journeys.
Their learning. This is key. It has to be. Authentic learning experiences necessitate student ownership. They have to believe they own it. We have to believe they own it. And to that end, we must first acknowledge and then accept that “ownership” is not something given but honored. Kids come to us with their learning. They work with us in their learning. And they leave us with their learning. They are never not learning. As such, we have to honor their learning, which simply is where we find them.
So, we have to find them. We have to reach them–where they are, which is the only place they can ever be. And more, despite our (vain) efforts to force the fit for all, we will never find any of our kids in the same place at once, which leads us again to the challenge of reaching each: each ain’t easy. So, it follows, then, that reach ain’t easy either.
But, reach is real because it’s a look beyond convention. That is not to say that it obviates convention. There may still be some value in looking at assessment data, diagnostics, academic history, and so on, but–at least in my experience–there may be less there than we want to admit. So, when there’s less, we have to seek more. We have to reach. We have to. And we do. I think many of us practice “reach” intuitively because we know there’s more to the story than conventional considerations which seek to describe the students in front of us, but this is seldom enough because it fails to consider the humans in front of us. As I suggested earlier, I can teach all students (transaction and compliance). But that isn’t enough. I want to reach each individual (connection and commitment).
So, I reach–every day–to find first the humans in the room, for I believe that without that human connection, I will never find each. As most know, I do that with Smiles and Frowns. I want kids to take seriously the notion that they are important individuals, for I also want them to take seriously the notion that they are the stewards of their learning. When kids feel seen as individuals (not just students), they seem to better see themselves in the context of their learning. And I believe this connection for them, for us, is an important first step towards commitment, that place where we meet and commit to their learning.
Of course, there’s more to reach than this first step. Reach is routine. It’s not something I do sometimes. It is everything I do–all the time.
I imagine our rooms, our work, a realm, a place where we exist to seek (reach) and serve (teach) the kids with whom we share (I believe) a sacred space. Their learning is sacred, and I believe–to the very depths of my being–it an honor to be a guest in their space. They are not in my space. This discovery has changed my entire view of our work. I, we, are in their space. And this belief–for me–has given rise to the idea of “reach.”
And it is an idea, an ideal–still in development. In fact, this post has become a “real-time” processing experience for me, as it was not my initial intent to explore the “realm of reach” here. I just wanted to share an idea, “Plan Me,” designed to help kids act with agency (commit) when my plan (Plan A–if you will) doesn’t fit. And I quickly ran into “reach.” And while I have had “reach” on my mind for some time now (can’t teach them until I reach them), I felt compelled to try my hand at an iteration to make more formed (if not formal) my idea of “reach’s role” in our work.
Above I mentioned that reach is an all-the-time act. And it is. Reach is always in play. As such, I could probably write a series of lengthy posts for all the ways it’s in play, but I have run around in this realm far longer than I ever intended, so for now, suffice to say, from Smiles and Frowns to Daily Discussions to tASK and Learning Check design to the Feedback/Response Process to Select-and-Support Grading and far beyond, I use reach to find each.
Limits of Reach
I am an experienced “reacher.” And though I don’t like to frame things in “good,” for the sake of simplicity, I will here say that I am a good reacher. I work hard at it, using my Project 180 approach (Do, Reflect, Do Better) to its fullest. I have to. It’s how I build better. So, maybe, I should just stick to the script I prefer, “I am a better reacher.” Meaning, simply–as my longtime readers hopefully know–I am better than I was, not better than anyone else.
Regardless the adjective (experienced, good, better), reach has its limits. For, try as earnestly as I might to reach each, there’s always a “me” for whom the plan doesn’t fit, and my earnest efforts fall short, which inevitably impacts the “do” (where I began with this post). I still have kids who don’t/won’t do. And this won’t do. It didn’t when I conducted the compliance classroom. And it can’t while I “conjure” the commitment classroom. So, I have to do better.
Of course, there are myriad reasons beyond my control which impact a kid’s doing. I accept that. But, in my room, there are things I can control through flexibility and opportunity, both of which are “reach routines.” And it was with both in mind when I tweeted this out last week. When a plan doesn’t fit, I have to come up with a different plan. Well, somebody does. And here, I have decided to ask the “actor” to change the script for a better fit–to commit with “Plan Me.”
The Form
Here’s the draft document that I will use with my kiddos this year. I say “draft,” for I will likely reflect and do better in the coming days and weeks and modify it to fit my new thinking.
The goal here was to keep it fairly simple for the kids. But I also wanted to challenge them a bit as agents of their learning to step up to the plate, so to speak, by keeping some of the more technical terminology in learning experience design: Purpose, Learning Targets, Task, Content, Product.
Of course, before the kids ever get their hands on this document, I will frame the idea of “Plan Me” (see below). As such, this was designed with the assumption that kids will understand the purpose before they get to the process of designing an alternative learning experience.
Ideally, most kids would independently design the experience, but realistically, many will want to collaboratively design the experience with me. With this in mind, I offered that option.
I included the “Original Plan” details to ground us in the intent of the original plan. I want kids to consider (and copy) the framework that went into my planning before they begin their own planning. More, it will push me to be even more explicit about my proposed plan, particularly with purpose. I generally do a “good” job of this, but as is the 180 way, I can always do better. I will do better at considering and communicating the purpose of our learning experiences this year.
For the most part, though some modification may be necessary, the purpose and learning targets will be the same in their plans, for they reflect the “Priority Standards” for our grade-level curriculum, which I must honor. So, really the alternative plan (kid choice) takes shape with the task, content, and product of the proposed experience, which I also feel I must honor–kinda the whole point of the “Plan Me” idea. I want them to consider and communicate what alternatives will better fit, so they can better commit. And so, the “rational” becomes key, for I want my “agents” to articulate their reasons for revising the experience.
The end game/goal is approval. It is my commitment to their commitment. I am committed to commitment. And, here, I expect and accept that this will be a largely collaborative commitment to come up with a path (plan) for an authentic learning experience.
The Frame
I believe in frames. I believe that framing our work is as important as doing our work. So, I work hard on how I frame everything. And though it will likely change some as I continue to reflect, this is how I might frame “Plan Me” for my kids.
To the kids…
I will try. I will fail. But I will keep trying. I have to. That is my commitment to you and your learning this year. For every learning experience I offer, from Daily tASKs to Learning Checks, I will try to design them with you in mind. I want them to be meaningful to you. I want you to see that they have value (now and later) in your lives. I want them to fit you. But try as I might, there will always be some (maybe many) for whom my plans will fail to fit, and as a consequence you may not fully commit because I failed to reach you. So, in an effort to reach even further for your commitment, I am offering a plan B when my plan A fails. I am calling it “Plan Me.” It is an opportunity for you to design an alternative learning experience with a better fit, so you can better commit. Here’s what it looks like…
This is at least a rough sketch of how I will likely frame this opportunity for my kids. I put it together a bit hastily, for I needed to get this post published this morning, but it reflects the essence of the plan.
Of course, this will not fully fix the “do dilemma,” but I hope it’s a reach in the right direction to conjure the commitment classroom of my dreams.
Hope you are all well. It has been nearly eight months since my last post, and for that I sincerely apologize. But that time allowed me to finish my book which is in the publisher’s hands at the moment and should be out early fall. It’s good to be back. Sorry for the long post.
