Getting Excited

Welcome to a new school year!

Every year I get to start over with a new group of students. But before they enter my classroom, I spend a lot of time in my head. I reflect on the previous year and make sure my mindset is ready for a new group of learners. Dedicated readers to this Substack know what my 2023-2024 school year was like. So, how do I get excited about starting a new school year after such a challenging one? I believe that the beginning of any school year is a fresh start for everyone, including myself. The best way for me to start anew is to begin imagining new experiences for my soon-to-be students. I don’t need to have everything fleshed out in June, but I do let the subtle bubbling of excitement begin in early summer. I take time to sit in my excitement and think about the what and how of my classroom. I think about what my classroom will look like and how I will rearrange the furniture to create an inviting space. Most importantly, I imagine what my pedagogy will feel like for my students. I think about what new learning experiences I want to try, and how I will design those for my new students. Since I believe that I’m charged with helping my students see their fullest, human potential, I need to manifest some fearlessness. Jean Case, author of Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose and CEO of The Case Foundation defines being fearless as “setting audacious goals, acting urgently and boldly, being unafraid of risk, being willing to strike unlikely alliances, and accepting the possibility of failure while still pressing forward.”¹ Case’s Be Fearless Framework for Action outlines five principles I find helpful to get excited to start a new school year.

1. Make Big Bets and Make History

Doing what I did last year, in exactly the same way, will not work for my new students. Before I can jump into designing new learning experiences, I make a commitment to get to know my students and build relationships with them. The only way to do that effectively is to take time and make personal connections with each of my students, both individually and as a classroom community. This is a big bet for a classroom teacher, especially considering the increased pressure to immediately begin teaching content. I know that if I can connect with my students on a deep level, then when I want push their thinking and their abilities, they are more likely to work hard for me and for themselves. I want my students to be authentic and vulnerable in their learning, so I make sure that I work to create a space where they can do that. My authentic and vulnerable promise to students is that if I share my teacher-story with you, and let you push my thinking, then I want you to share your story with me and let me push your thinking. This is a form of constructivist listening.² I agree to listen to you and think about you in exchange for you doing the same for me.

Trying to be a good teacher every day is difficult. Trying to refresh your pedagogical practice every year feels daunting. I never begin the year with the intention of only getting through academic content, moving students along. I try to think bigger, creating a schooling experience that my students will remember forever.

History suggests that the most significant cultural transformations occur when one or more people simply decide to try and make big change, rather than move incrementally.

Jean Case

This year, I’m practicing confident humility. I may not know what my upcoming students will need from me, but I’m confident that I will work my hardest to help them fulfill their potential. What other big bets will I make for my students? I’m not sure yet, but here are some guiding questions I use from the Case Foundation:

• Can I categorize my learning experiences into big bets versus small ones?

• What is my riskiest idea for a learning experience? What do I hope my students gain from it? What might be the benefits of an attempt or a partial success?

• If fear wasn’t an option, what are some big bets I would take in my classroom?

2. Be Bold. Take Risks.

Both in life and in school, it’s difficult to go first. It is more comfortable to let an early adopter test out a new product or an idea before you decide to spend your time or money on something brand new. Teachers feel the same way. We are often inundated with a new “best practice” almost every year. New ideas in education can feel more like fads than pedagogy. When a new opportunity presents itself, I try to have an open mind and respond creatively so that I can experiment with a specific new concept or technology tool. This is what it’s like to teach in beta mode. It isn’t just picking up any new idea and running with it because it sounds cool. Having a software developer mindset means treating my attempts with a new learning experience like the first of many iterations. Jennifer Gonzalez discuss how having an iterative pedagogical practice allows teachers to use process repetitions in order to make improvements each time around. What helps me get excited for a new school year is thinking about how I will be bold and take smart risks in my classroom. Here are some guiding questions from the Case Foundation:

• Could I apply the minimum viable product concept to new learning experiences?

• What changes can I make that will allow my students to experiment more freely?

• What processes and procedures do I have in place that encourage or impede experimentation? How can I make experimentation the norm in my classroom?

• Why am I doing what I’m doing when I know it’s not working? How can I be bold enough in my pedagogical practice to be maladjusted?

3. Make Failure Matter

There is a difference between failing and being a failure. John Spencer and A.J. Juliani describes the importance of learning how to fail. “We want [students] to revise and iterate based on what they learned from failing — all on a path to real success.”³ Failing is temporary; failure is permanent. This applies to both students and teachers and requires support, guidance, and most importantly, the time and space to reflect on our failings. I create a culture where failing is normalized. I frequently ask my students (and myself), how did you fail today? This subtle shift from failure to failing helps me reduce the unease of judgment or acceptance that oftentimes holds me back.

The Importance of Permission in Creativity

Here are some guiding questions from the Case Foundation:

• How much do I honestly talk about failing with students? How do I respond to failing in front of my students?

• How can I create a forum for my students to discuss and learn from failing?

4. Reach Beyond your Bubble

Teaching and learning are team sports. We may fantasize about being the lone teacher who helps a reluctant reader gain two grade-levels of progress in one year, but having a saviorism mindset, especially for white teachers, is harmful to students. There is a misconception that when a student finally understands a concept, they have a Eureka! moment while sitting alone at their desk. This isn’t the way the real world (or the human mind) works, and it isn’t how I structure my classroom. Reaching beyond my bubble requires me to break through my building’s silos and reach outside of my comfort zones. The Case Foundation calls for “forging new partnerships and collaborating within and across various domains, fields, and sectors.” I call it collaboration. Forming connections with all you wonderful Substackers, allows me to gain fresh new perspectives and execute ideas in ways I couldn’t have imagined alone.

Here are some guiding questions from the Case Foundation:

• Whom do I admire in public education? How about outside of education? How can I collaborate with them?

• What are my most common needs for improvement? What partners can help fill these gaps? How might I co-teach and plan with other teachers?

• How might I get to observe and collaborate with other teachers in the building?

5. Let Urgency Conquer Fear

I am tired of waiting for change in public education to happen from the top. Whether it is the government’s legislation to “improve” schools, or school districts buying technology and fancy furniture in an attempt to innovate, things are moving painfully slow. Too slow compared to the rapid pace of change in the world. The challenges we face in public education are dynamic and complex. They can seem daunting and almost impossible to address. It’s hard to remain optimistic. If I continue to do the same thing in the same way, year after year, I’m robbing my students (and myself) of opportunities to be creative and innovative. In the first months of school, I recall my just cause and reflect on how I can make my classroom relevant to my students.

Here are some guiding questions from the Case Foundation that I ask at the beginning of the school year:

• What are the most important issues for my students right now? Why?

• How might I help my students heal from past classroom trauma?

• What can I do today that will help my students have a positive classroom experience?

---

The rhetoric of Silicon Valley startups, technology companies, and philanthropic organizations is often full of ridiculous, over-hyped sound bytes. At times, I wonder if every new organization is trying to sound like Steve Jobs, disrupting, transforming, igniting, unleashing, revolutionizing; always trying to challenge the status quo. It’s easy to get caught up in these dopamine statements. I, too, have written about how I transform my classroom for students while trying to disrupt the status quo. While I recognize that public education does, indeed need to change, I find these verbs are only helpful in motivating me out of stagnant slumps, especially after challenging school years. I do structure my classroom differently from other teachers and I absolutely believe in re-humanizing teaching and learning, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not always fearless. I’m a teacher, not a tech-bro, and my job takes time and faith in the process and patience and lots of reflection and love. I’m getting excited for this school year! I’ve got some new ideas. I’m looking forward to thinking through them with you all over the next few months. Welcome back to school!

Have a great week!

—Adrian

Resources

Be Fearless Framework for Action

• Although this framework is not written for teachers, I found many of tenets helpful. If you’d like to learn more about any of the above principles, I recommend you read PDF and even check out Jean Case’s book, Be Fearless.

• I watch a lot of John Spencer’s videos, especially at the beginning of the school year. He does a wonderful job inspiring me and motivating me to tackle another school year. I even have a This Could Fail sticky note attached to my whiteboard.

• I could listen to Dr. Emdin speak all day! Every interview I watch, I learn something new, deepen my pedagogy, and improve my craft as an anti-racist, Rachetedmic teacher.

From White Folks Who Teach in the Hood by Chris Emdin and sam seidel

• Did you know that Dr. Emdin has a new book out? Check out From White Folks Who Teach in the Hood: Reflections on Race, Culture and Identity, his follow up to his 2016 book For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education.

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood (2016) & From White Folks Who Teach in the Hood (2024)

1. The Case Foundation

2. Adapted from Becerra & Weissglass, 2004. Take It Up: Leading for Educational Equity).

3. Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning | John Spencer & A.J. Juliani