Fanning the Flame

I am a firm believer that the little things are the most powerful things. One small action, one minor change, one tiny thought can have a HUGE impact.

We have all experienced this phenomenon. Something unpleasant happens to set your day off on the wrong foot. Then it snowballs. You spill your coffee. Your laptop needs to be restarted in the middle of a lesson. You forget to read an article for a meeting. The day continues on this way until something magical happens. Maybe someone offers you a smile and stops to ask how you are. Maybe you go to get another cup of coffee and find that the person in front of you in line has already paid for your order.  Maybe a student takes the time to thank you. Whatever happens, it helps you to realize that the day isn’t completely lost.

These seemingly small things can influence your entire perspective, which, in turn, drive the decisions you make. This is why I argue that the small things are everything.

Starting small is something that everyone can do. Do you have a goal in mind? We all get bogged down sometimes by the big picture. It may seem overwhelming or impossible to achieve some lofty end; however, if you start small and take just one actionable step at a time, you’ll be surprised at how it propels you forward on the right path.

I recently read something (please forgive me — I can’t remember what or where it was!) about goal-setting in which the premise was to choose three to five steps and stick with them until completing a given task. The author’s example was that of cleaning off her counter.  She kept her steps simple. For instance, making an effort to read the papers  was one step. Sorting the papers into piles and recycling a pile were other steps. The key is that she only committed to those three actions, and in the end, she found that her counter was finally clean. It isn’t that she magically fit everything into only three steps; rather, she found that by starting with three manageable — really quite infinitesimal — actions, she was able to jumpstart the process and tackle the task at hand.

This works with any aspect of life. Do you want to lead a healthier lifestyle? Try swapping one snack for a healthier one or taking a lap around your school. Do you want to feel calmer? You might want to try a daily journal or extra time with your best friend. Do you want to have a bigger impact? Volunteer to serve on a committee or enroll in a professional development workshop that feels like it’s out of your wheelhouse.

I like to give students choice and help them pursue what is meaningful to them. As it turns out, I enjoy doing that for adults, too. I am incredibly grateful to have found Genius Hour. It helps me fulfill the desire I have to help others find their passion and work toward its productive end. Additionally, I was asked to be a part of my school’s PBIS (positive behavior interventions and supports) team. I love the idea of improving relationships and transforming the school culture. So what was my actionable step? Believe it or not, it was checking in on Twitter. Personally, I’ve found that following others with similar interests on a platform like that is immensely helpful. The interface affords me the opportunity to catch up quickly, and what it offers in the way of positivity and inspiration is unmatched. It just so happens that Joy Kirr, the woman who started me on this blogging journey for Genius Hour, is also a huge champion for promoting positivity and for being mindful of how our words impact our students at every turn. By following her, I have built connections with a wider network of educators who feel the same way that I do, and not only has my access to resources grown exponentially, but my faith in the educational climate has been reaffirmed.

The upshot is this: think about your end goal and something small you can do. Whatever it is — just go for it. Ask the questions, read the book, try the new activity, get the certification, smile in the hallway, take a deep breath, and do that one small thing that you’ve been wondering about or meaning to try. Encourage others to do it, too. Remember that there’s really no better investment than paying it forward.

Just brace yourself. Things might never be the same. When you take that first small step, you might find that it leads you to a whole new world. 

Social media is a funny thing.  You can come across information you didn’t even know you wanted to know.  I can be found perusing Pinterest and Twitter on a regular basis. This is where I found two pieces of information that coincide with a message the universe is trying to tell me.

One is Bryan Skavnak’s be the nice kid quote. I am quite fond of this quote. I have it in my Twitter profile and as a decal on the closet doors in my classroom. It seems quite simple and like common knowledge. Yet, it is an important message to remind both children and adults that kindness matters.

The other is that  Mr. Roger’s Cardigan Day is November 13th.

Wednesday is World Kindness Day, and WQED is encouraging YOU to express your kindness by wearing a cardigan sweater in the spirit of Fred Rogers. Happy #CardiganDay! ❤️ https://t.co/j3i8DzClit

— WQED Pittsburgh (@wqed) November 10, 2019

All of this dovetails nicely with an Election Day inservice I had on restorative circles. A vibrant, knowledgeable, sincere instructor, Dara Feldman, walked me through the power of circles.  As a math teacher I understand the technical makeup of a circle where all points are equidistant from a center point.  It creates equality.  Everyone is evenly spaced and no one is more or less than anyone else.  Dara showed me the power of looking someone in the eye and really talking to them. She reminded me of the power of my words. She was a living embodiment of Mr. Rogers.  She wasn’t afraid of talking about uncomfortable topics and really getting to the heart of why it’s so important to give students a voice and choice and how we have such a huge impact on that.

Grateful for the deeply committed and enthusiastic educators @UpperMerionSD who thought deeply and leaned in embracing restorative practices! They started the day with positive affect greeting visitors with our own parking spaces, very thoughtful! @iirpgradschool pic.twitter.com/z6j1FoSnVB

— Dara Feldman (@VirtuesDara) November 6, 2019

“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has- or ever will have- something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.”

– Fred Rogers , You Are Special: Neighborly Wit And Wisdom From Mister Rogers

Mr. Rogers said that we should remind each other that we are each unique and offer something valuable. That’s my number one goal. Letting kids know how valuable and worth it they are. He also said that success and kindness are intertwined.

“There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”

Fred Rogers

See…Bryan, Dara, and Mr. Rogers all have the right idea. Kindness is key. I have never met a person that wasn’t touched by some sort of kindness. We all thrive in that place where we are seen and loved. Imagine the impact we can have if we are kind to our students and we inspire them to be kind in turn. There are simple things that we can do that will an everlasting effect.

Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.

Fred Rogers

So if you need me, I’ll be in my closet trying to decide which cardigan to wear. 

I am stuck. The well hasn’t exactly run dry, but normally the water pressure is a bit better.  

Even though this moment is uncomfortable, there’s something to be said for embracing it, for taking the time to be confused or bored or stuck.  You can take the time to learn about yourself – your strengths and weaknesses. You never know what will come from that.

Getting unstuck isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition; however, sometimes sharing can spark inspiration. I’m going to share what works for me in the hope that it might work for someone else. For starters, I love walking. That activity creates a good headspace for me. I can clear my mind and find that as I move, so does my brain. I feel like my senses are completely engaged and before I know it, something as simple as a cloud or a sidewalk drawing will have me playing the “what if” game.

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know I tend to draw inspiration from quotes and songs and movies. Needless to say, like many others, I can always be found perusing Pinterest. But that’s only one avenue. Inspiration can come from the most surprising places.  I often have ideas while doing mundane things…drying my hair, showering, prepping food. Sometimes the most routine tasks help give your mind the time and space it needs to wander. 

Finding inspiration is critical to forward progress. Absent that drive to tear down walls and blaze new trails, lies the very real threat of stagnation. In an effort to avoid that, I’ve carved out a lot of new paths. I’ve taken Myers Briggs personality tests, attended workshops out of my comfort zone, and experimented with new foods. I’ve become fascinated with how my personality type can help me channel my strengths and improve my weaknesses. I’ve learned that I am super curious about robots and coding and that I enjoy writing. I’ve learned that I like falafel but anything with the texture of cheesecake just isn’t my bag. And I’ve learned that you can find good coffee in surprising places. I didn’t necessarily seek out any of these revelations. They found me when I was otherwise stuck, and through that, I realized that it’s okay to not always know what to do or to anticipate what’s coming. As it happens, getting stuck is a gift — it’s what compels you to break out of where you are.   

Collaboration is also fuel for inspiration. Just talking to other people can spark so much creativity. Take, for example, this post. I mentioned to a friend that I was stuck.  She gave me permission not to write anything or to just write about “acknowledging the absolute, unmitigated torture of the blinking cursor on the screen in front of you.”  With that, I was off and running.

This is a big part of the support I try to provide for my students with Genius Hour. They get a little bit of freedom and find themselves paralyzed by it. It isn’t that they don’t want to be free — they do! — but when given that freedom, they occasionally start to panic. “What do I want to do?” “What do I really like?” For some kids, those are real and haunting questions.

The matters of exploration and inspiration are interesting to me because there seems to be a massive countdown looming overhead, telling students they’re running out of time to do what they need to do to succeed. Get ahead. Try to move faster. Be better than the rest. But why? These days, kids often double and triple accelerate to take bigger course loads so they’re ahead of their grade-level peers. But when they finish, are they really ahead? Aren’t they also just stuck…and even more isolated than before? So, how do we help kids find meaningful ways to explore creativity on their own terms and get “unstuck?”

I’m a big believer in the idea that part of helping them is knowing them. It’s important to foster relationships where students feel comfortable sharing. The more you talk to them and they share their genuine interests with you, the easier it is to draw out an action plan that will set them on a path toward achieving their goals. You can help them hone in on their strengths and the next thing you know — they, too, can be off and running.

This survey was presented to me as a part of my professional learning community (PLC) this year, and I found it really helpful. It asked a battery of questions and concluded with a ranked list of 24 character strengths.

When you pair a survey like this with reflection strategies like these from an Edutopia blog post, some of which include questions like, “What is the one rule that you believe is important to live your life by?” you discover ways to help students find direction and purpose that are tailored to them. That’s a powerful thing.

More specifically to Genius Hour, you can share this list of questions and resources, which gives kids a methodical way to think, explore, and find their passion. There are also so many amazing ideas here that can help guide you through what other teachers have done in similar situations. After all, the key to getting “unstuck” is to keep in mind that it was never bad to get stuck in the first place.  

It’s funny. From a young age, you find things that you gravitate towards. Whether it be a character, a blanket, or a stuffed toy, you find comfort in it. What’s even more curious is that you don’t seem to outgrow some of those “childish” things. As an adult, you find nuance and new meaning in those things that brought you joy as a child. There’s a sense of peace there, but also a little spark of inspiration.

The Muppets characters provide me with both comfort and inspiration. As a parent, I am fortunate to be able to revisit some of these relics of my childhood. It’s amazing how powerful some of the lessons can be now that I am looking through a different lens. Some of the messages went over my head as a child, and I am finding more parallels to my experiences now than I did at a young age. It’s a cool phenomenon, and it never fails to surprise me. 

Kermit is one of those things. He’s kind of amazing! He is kind, passionate, resilient, funny, and real. His experiences aren’t perfect, but he manages to get through them with grit, perseverance, and friendship. He is super successful and yet very relatable. He has starred in movies and TV shows, and made guest appearances on Saturday Night Live. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate, a star on the Walk of Fame, and he even served as Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses parade. He has appeared in a meme, written books, and given a Ted Talk. I mean…that little green frog is quite impressive.

He offers solid advice too.

“When you decide what your Big Dream is, you’ll be bursting with enthusiasm and want to share it with everybody. Most everybody will give you one of those ‘OK, that’s nice, now please pass the ketchup’ looks. Some will scoff, suggesting that whatever your Big Dream is, it’s too big for you. And a select few will whisper words of encouragement. My advice is this: Pass the ketchup. Ignore the scoffers. And remember those words of encouragement ‘cause they’re the only ones that matter.”

“You are all sitting here listening to me – a talking amphibian. That alone is a radical act of creativity. It’s what I call a ‘conspiracy of craziness’.”

I think we could all get in on the “conspiracy of craziness” and find creativity in surprising places. We need to be willing to foster this craziness with simple acts like wondering, and by integrating phrases like “yes and…” into our regular practice. We need to foster that in others, too. It can be difficult to ignore the scoffers because we want everyone to care and to have the same moments and experiences that we do; however, I think the best thing we can do is model this for our students. When you pass the ketchup, find the inspiration in crazy places, and soak up the encouragement, you really begin to shine and thrive. People will react and be drawn to that. You’ll start to glow in a way that casts light on others.

That’s a world I want to live in…one with an infectious glow.

As a child, I was a morning person in a world of night owls. I found myself waking earlier than everyone else and reveled in that quiet time before the world woke up. Maybe it’s the introvert in me, but I find that quiet time magical.  
However, it was quite difficult to be the ten year old who didn’t sleep in as late as everyone else…so I would read. Everything.  I could literally be found reading manuals if I’d already read everything else.  I would even practice reading the directions on the back of the air freshener can.  I would practice until I was able to deliver a flawless Katie Couric-style reading. At sleepovers, I would read through my friends’ books while they were still sleeping. I loved Judy Blume, the Sweet Valley Twins series, Roald Dahl and Are You Afraid of the Dark.

I especially loved Shel Silverstein’s poems.  In “Put Something In,” he reminds us to leave our mark on the world. Any mark. “Put something silly in the world that ain’t been there before.” When you talk to a child, silliness is all around. Anything is possible and creativity and curiosity run wild. We lose some of that wonder and silliness as we grow up. As adults, it seems to return in fleeting moments, and when it does, it feels like sunshine. I love witnessing the “silliness” as I walk through my building.  I’ve seen teachers greet students using silly voices or jump into a TikTok video and dance. It’s authentic and joyful and pure.  We could all use more of that.

I am so grateful that I had a major dose of “silliness” in the form of KTI this summer. I was reminded by one of my favorite colleagues that it’s important to pursue opportunities like that – the kind that renew your spirit and sense of wonder and joy. She is so right. It was great timing, and it inspired me to #spreadthepurple. I LOVE sharing what I learned and helping others in any way I can.  As my seven year old says, it makes my heart glow! 

I’m so grateful that my colleague started me on this path and that my principal nominated me as a Keystone Technology innovator. Even more amazing are some of the people who continue to encourage me. Just knowing that people see something special in you elicits feelings that are amazing. Those are feelings that I’m committed to sharing. 

If you find yourself looking for some silly inspiration, I’m currently loving clothespin bumper cars, the Adele version of the quadratic formula song and speed friending. Props to the people who are already courageous enough to put their something silly in the world. You’re already making my day better.

I recently saw a Facebook post in a math group where the following question was posed:

“If you had a blank check to use towards your classroom, what would you buy?”

I have to admit that I fell into the trap. I started thinking about what I might be missing. Visions of a teacher catalog, similar to the Toys R Us catalog that would always arrive in your mailbox just before the holidays, were dancing in my head. Then I snapped out of it. I recognized how fortunate I am to teach in a district where supplies are plentiful, and if I have an unusual or expensive request, people will work with me to fulfill it. I sincerely wish that was the case for all teachers and students.

Despite all of the trappings of material school culture, when I think about my favorite classroom moments, the ones that really resonate with me as the major AHA! moments or have helped me to bond with students or have simply stoked a fire that can’t be tamed, I realize that I didn’t need the advanced technology. I didn’t need the gimmicks or the shiny toys. I just needed me and the students. It’s that simple.

If you haven’t read one of the “If You Give” books, then let me fill you in on what you’re missing. The basic gist is that you follow a character through a series of events where one thing leads to another. For example, the very first one I read was “If you give a mouse a cookie.” I followed the mouse on his journey with a young boy through their adventures from a cookie to milk to straw to napkin to mirror to scissors to a broom to cleaning the house to taking a nap to reading a book and looking at pictures to drawing a picture to signing his name in pen to hanging the picture on the fridge, right back to milk and cookies. This parallels teaching in a very real way. You hope to lead the mice — or, in this case, the students — through your content; you teach lessons born from a combination of textbook curriculum and genuine life experience. You provide them with the tools and materials necessary to explore and to learn and to grow and to feel satisfied in what they’ve achieved. You just keep giving what you have in the hopes that you’re enriching your students’ lives and helping to mold them into happy and responsible people. You are always there to help and to offer guidance until the school year ends. Then you come full circle and begin the process all over again.

One of my favorite parts of Genius Hour is that I really don’t provide my students with anything tangible. I help them navigate all of the logistics — supporting them as they acquire the necessary materials, choose which avenues to pursue, and figure out how to select the appropriate tools — but I never give them anything and tell them to make it work. They make real choices. They learn from them. It is truly inspiring to watch it all unfold.

What would happen if we applied this approach when thinking about teachers? What if we really asked, “what do you need?” If you stop and let it sink in, the title “If you give a teacher a…” is incredibly fitting. So, how would you fill the pages? It’s easy to presume that if you gave me a classroom straight out of the Anthropologie home catalog, outfitted with state of the art technology, I would be a better teacher; it just doesn’t happen to be true. All I really need is a classroom full of students.  I need time to build relationships with them so that they willingly share their hopes and dreams. I need even more time outside of that to discuss ideas with colleagues near and far, virtually and in-person. I need space to be inspired and to process and plan.

And coffee doesn’t hurt either.

(Shout out to IPEVO wishpool and Starbucks for making that happen!)

 

One of my favorite movies is Ever After. I know it appears to be a cheesy 90s movie about a rather exhausted topic, Cinderella. Maybe initially I just liked that the heroine’s name is the same as mine or that she saves herself. In the end, though, I find myself incredibly inspired by this film. It’s witty and clever with passion and daring and touches of humor…and a resonant message about what you can achieve if someone else’s belief in you awakens a stronger belief in yourself. 

When the movie was first released — before cell phones and social media dominated the marketing scene — the promotional campaign used postcards as advertisements to drum up interest. I loved the messages. They encouraged you to defy, escape, rebel, dream, soar, feel, believe, overcome. To me, they were powerful permissions. You are allowed to go against the norm and introduce something new and different into the world. That is what I wish to grant the students in my classroom – permission. Pursue your passion. It isn’t silly. It might be unconventional, but it’s definitely worth your time. Other people do want to hear about it. I am so fortunate that I get to pursue my passion of taking risks and unlocking potential. I just love having conversations with students that go something like this:

Student 1: I want to create a mural for our school.

Me: Okay. What is the process for making that happen?

Student 1: I sketch something and then make a proposal and continue writing things out, pretending they would happen.

Me: Why are you pretending? We are actually going to make this happen in real life.

Student 1: 😮

…or like this one…

Student 2: Mrs. Sabato, I don’t know what I am passionate about.

Me: I see you in the hallway recording a Tik Tok everyday after your work is done. You seem to really enjoy that.

Student 2: Yes but I can’t do that for a school project.

Me: Why not?

Student 2: Are you serious?

Me: Yes.

Student 2: 🤩

Encouraging students to pursue their passions isn’t merely about validating their unique interests; it’s about incentivizing the hard work it takes to realize their dreams. At one point towards the middle of the movie, Prince Henry makes a revelation to Danielle that speaks to the power of this very idea. He confesses, “I used to think that if I cared about anything, I would have to care about everything, and I’ll go stark raving mad. But, now I have found a purpose. It is a project actually inspired by you. And I feel the most wonderful freedom.”

As my students would say, Prince Henry is woke. That’s what Genius Hour can do. It can help students find their purpose and passion. It is the most incredible feeling when you get a student to realize that you believe in them — truly believe without constraints. Their whole way of being changes. The enthusiasm is contagious, and they set right out to work. All I can say for my part is that I’m extremely grateful and honored to be on this journey with them.

Danielle starts by pretending, but then realizes that she has value. She didn’t need permission to pursue her dreams. She was capable all along on her own. She started to define her life on her own terms. The point was never that they had to reach happily ever after; “the point…is that they lived.”

We can get caught up in the idea of being perfect. In doing that, we invalidate imperfections and miss their inherent beauty. The pressure to be perfect can produce a tremendous amount of anxiety, a reality of modern life that has given rise to the #failforward and #failfabulously movements. It turns out, when you share your humanity and expose your flaws, you give permission to others to do the same. Under those open conditions, people learn to relax, and wonderful things can flow from that.

It’s a very vulnerable thing to share that side of yourself. But like all risks, the potential reward is significant, and revealing yourself – flaws and all – can be more rewarding than I could ever have imagined. I struggled with this early on in my career. Starting out, I was teaching students only four years younger than I was, and I felt it was more important to show the best side of myself at all times. Well meaning as I was, I didn’t have exactly the right idea. Over time, I’ve found that the best thing I can be for my students is real. The best I can offer them is my genuine self. I have had the best classes and the most profound conversations when I let my authentically flawed self show through.

To that end, I’ve vowed to be more present. “Pinterest perfect” isn’t me (unless we’re talking about hoarding quotes, then all bets are off). “Perfectly imperfect” is me – that’s where I thrive. When you’re focusing all of your senses on one task, you become immersed in how you feel about what you’re doing. It sounds so simple. It’s not. We’re so used to multi-tasking, to getting as many things done as possible at one time. It sounds efficient…but it isn’t. When you’re so busy doing everything at once, you miss the connections that bind them together. You neglect to feel all of the feelings.

Being present is something I wish to do more of this school year. Grading can wait. Emails can wait. In a world where efficiency and productivity rule, this may seem counterintuitive; however, if the ultimate goal is to see the classroom and build lessons from all possible perspectives, then you have to be present to truly observe and absorb. Be mindful of the differences we all possess and find a way to make everyone feel accepted and validated. That’s the differentiation that we strive to find. Everyone is at different levels and working at different paces – all a little uncertain if they’re at the right place at the right time. It’s precisely when you take the time to make that connection that you can reassure someone that they’re exactly where they need to be in order to grow into their best self.

I have found that in making connections, I am more willing to take risks and share more of my own perspective. I am extremely introverted by nature, which makes sharing especially hard. I’m always more at home as a quiet observer. But I’m finding that the more that I connect with others, the happier I can make them, and the happier I am in return. With that, I find myself pondering different perspectives. I love to brainstorm and be creative, and I’ve learned that collaborating with others is the best avenue for that creativity – something that wasn’t clear to me until I stepped outside of my comfort zone and started making those connections.

All of this also demands a willingness to reflect and admit fault. Without reflection, you miss the opportunity to improve. This is where I’m trying to take my students – to a place of deeper reflection. I have asked them to regularly respond thoughtfully on their process. I provide prompts, but I leave the parameters open enough for them to find the method that best helps them express themselves. It’s a delicate balance and I hope to find more reflective practices for my students because this is where I believe most of their growth will occur, and you have to know where you’ve been before you can proceed on along the journey. Ultimately, you have to document today in order to do better tomorrow.

Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Welcome to another world!

According to Wikipedia, a ringmaster introduces the various acts in a circus show and guides the audience through the experience, directing their attention to different parts of the arena and helping to link the performances together.

Teachers are ringmasters.

As ringmaster of my classroom, it is essential that I help choreograph the routine. I need to showcase my students’ feats of skill. I need to be the clown who keeps the mood light and reassuring while cheering them on. I need to be the lion tamer who coaches them and helps harness their energy. I need to be the acrobat that walks the tightrope between offering them too much help and not quite enough. I need to be the juggler who holds up all 27 students and their goals at once.

Genius Hour has many acts. It encompasses all of the current educational buzzwords. It promotes social-emotional learning. It encourages real-world problem-solving. It thrives on maintaining student voice and authentic audience. It doesn’t merely lend itself to the practice differentiation — it is differentiation. It’s all of these little things taken together that are vital to a seamless choreography. Without recognizing these little things, how can you possibly understand the importance of the big things? It is always the little things. It isn’t enough to just be there. You have to show up. If you miss the details — the little things — then the bigger picture is harder to see. The whole show could fall apart.

There is a misconception that Genius Hour, student-centered and driven by personal interest rather than common curriculum, is essentially teacher time-off. The class runs itself, right? It’s tempting to think about it that way in theory, but it couldn’t be further from the truth in reality. Students choose to proceed based on what they’re passionate about pursuing. That passion and curiosity propel them to research, exploration, practice, and application. This is an ambitious routine, and as I’ve learned — without the ringmaster, the show will not go on as planned.

It’s an intensely vulnerable thing to pursue your passion publicly. In doing so, you need support every step of the way from someone who is a stable and calming force. You need someone who is all in and totally invested in your success. You need someone to help keep you on the right track. This is why your role as teacher — as ringmaster — should not be taken lightly. By taking on Genius Hour, you aren’t getting time off or expending less energy than usual; rather, I’d argue that the opposite is true. You’re giving 175 percent of yourself.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that “we can live in a world that we design.” Because “they can say it all sounds crazy,” but “a million dreams is all it’s gonna take.”

I must admit that I’m a bit of a hoarder. I never saw myself that way until recently. I was having some trouble choosing an outfit and requested help from a trusted friend. She asked me, very tongue-in-cheek, how many dresses I owned exactly. Naturally curious, I set to work on getting an exact count. Seventy-two! I own seventy-two dresses. I know. That’s an insane number. I am simultaneously nauseated and proud. Somehow, I’m able to organize that many articles of clothing in such a way that it appears as though I don’t have as many as I do. Yet, why do I have so many? The answer is simply that they all fulfill a different need. Whether the issue is size or formality of occasion or season — every single dress was purchased and worn for different reasons. One size does not fit all.

So why am I rambling on about my capacious closet and ridiculous dress collection? The concept of one size fits all applies to my classroom as much as it does to my closet. We all know that every single one of our students is different. Each one has different and often divergent interests. They come from diverse cultural and personal backgrounds, not to mention how much variance there is in their academic levels. We, as teachers, are taught to meet the students where they are and to help them realize the progress that they are capable of achieving; yet, when you have 108 faces before you everyday, each one carrying baggage heavier than the next, it can become daunting.

I have found that trying to create a single experience or lesson that meets the needs of the whole group is nearly if not entirely impossible. I mean have you ever tried to plan a meal that an entire group of people will enjoy? You painstakingly think about everyone’s likes, dislikes allergies, and medical conditions. Then seating comes into play. People who are left handed should not sit at the right hand of the table and you want people who can naturally hold a conversation next to those who are more introverted and shy. In this scenario, this meal happens once. As teachers, we do this daily for approximately 180 days.

So how do we make this easier for ourselves? There really isn’t one answer to that. I think we keep looking for one miraculous outfit that fits every occasion. The thing is that most people need an entire closet with multiple outfits that accounts for every possible scenario. We need to assess our situation and find what works for that particular circumstance. We also need to understand that it might not work the next day.

For me, Genius Hour has come closest to being that quintessential little black dress that you can wear for almost any occasion. It has allowed me to build real relationships quickly with my students. I am able to differentiate with ease because the students have choice. They are engaged because they are passionate about what they are learning. I am capable of tying their interests into my statistics curriculum due to my deeper understanding of what drives them. I am even becoming more skilled at coaching and directing them down their many paths with tools like this one that I have adapted from resources shared here and there.

I hope you feel inspired to try whatever “outfit” works best for you. Keep in mind that it will be different for everyone and every occasion. Maybe give a new style a try. You never know, you might surprise yourself. And if you aren’t finding the right fit, please know that a little tailoring can work wonders!