KV Techno Snake

I took my daughter to spend the next month at the University of Columbia, Missouri for the Missouri Scholars Academy. It is for the top .5% of 1% of Missouri's sophomores. The head honcho welcomed everyone by saying," Welcome to Nerd Camp" and sang the camp song: Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda, Here I am at Camp Gernerda.... We listened to previous attendees talk about their experiences and one of them said, "Embrace the next month because you are stepping into a world of endless possibilities." This took me back to the chapter I read in Ben Zander's book, "The Art of Possibilities." The speaker told the students they were the nerds of nerds and asked them how many times they had failed at something in the past month. Only a few hands went up. He told them that over the next month, they were going to make them fail more times than they had their entire 10 years of schooling. Groans came from the scholar section, but cheering came from the parents. He wasn't trying to be mean, but pushing these bright, young scholars into areas they don't enter because of fear. We see nerds and assume they are good at everything. This usually isn't the case. They find what they are good at relatively quickly and stick with that sport or hobby because it is safe. The fear of failure keeps many of these students from expanding. They fear that people won't think they are smart if they fail, and they fear judgement. I am excited that they are forcing my daughter to try endless possibilities and look at the world around her in different ways. I can't wait to see what possibilities my daughter experienced.

Another chapter that fascinated me was the one on giving As.  I taught 6th grade English for 10 years and I rewrote the curriculum when I took the job. I created a "Writer's Workshop" model, and ditched the drill and kill. I wanted my kids to LOVE to write, not just learn how. I kept detailed grades and notes on each student my first year, and I didn't see many flourish like I wanted them too. I wanted students to take risks, try something new, be adventurous. I read lots about grading over that summer and came up with a new solution. I did give everyone an A to begin with. If the students completed their writing tasks for the week, they kept the A. I conference with each student within the week and set up goals with them to work on. If the student showed they worked toward those goals, they kept the A. I received flak from others in my building, even the principal for a short time. Over the remainder of that year, and the 8 that followed, I had students writing 25 page stories, comic strips, songs, poetry and by the end of the year most had written over 200 pages of rough draft material. Most of my students made As. They flourished, took chances, became brave - and in the end... their state communication arts scores went up as well. Now, I am the middle school computer technology teacher and I just wrapped up my first year. I am still in the process of trying to figure out how to Give A, and make them be adventurous with the digital age.