Kids Ran the Show Today (And It Was Great)

Today's after-school 4H Reflection started with the best part of my week. Our students ran the Veterans Day assembly. They set it up, gave the introduction, played in the band, sang in the choir, and spoke. One eighth grader played taps.

If you're new here, the 4H Reflection is four questions I use to close the school day: Highlights, Horizon, Hiccups and Harvest. Five minutes, and the day stops replaying on the drive home.

Highlights

When adults step back a little, kids show you what they can carry. Leading something real builds ownership, and I think it builds belonging too. I've handed out bigger student jobs in past years. This time I want to start smaller: one visible job each week, like running the opener or a routine.

We also started six-word stories in Crew. I showed students where six-word memoirs came from and a few examples, and they wrote their own on a shared Google Slide. Some were funny. Some went deep. I'll turn them into a short video so we can watch them together and celebrate each other. I'm halfway through my own 30-day challenge of writing one every day.

Horizon

Science test tomorrow on energy and energy resources. I'm trying a test talk, something I picked up from high school science teachers. Students see part of the test first. They can't write anything, but they get a few minutes to talk with each other about what they saw. The goal is to take some of the fear out before they start. I've also let students build brain dumps through a unit and use them on the test.

I'm checking science and social studies notebooks more often, with quick spot checks during the Do Now. I want to catch confusion before a kid falls far behind. Today was the first one, and it went well.

Our school is also starting to learn about restorative practices. I'm reading Better Than Carrots or Sticks by Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey. My first goal is one affective statement a day. That's an "I" statement about how a behavior affected me: "I feel ___ when ___ because ___." It works for praise, too. Circles come later.

Hiccups

Late work. I keep homework light and leave time in class, and some students still fall behind. One new step: when students write down an assignment, they also write when and where they'll finish it. If you've found something that works, tell me in the comments.

Patience. To everyone else, I probably look patient with the same behavior on repeat. Inside, things get to me.

Harvest

Less screen, more paper. I'm not anti-technology. But a middle schooler can spend a large amount of time on a Chromebook if we're not paying attention. Screen time needs a scope and sequence like anything else we teach, especially since kids are on screens so much outside school. So every class gets at least a short block with laptops closed for thinking, writing, and talking face-to-face.

Focus on what you want to see more of. This is my answer to the patience problem. I walk the room looking for kids doing the right thing and say so: "I noticed you're working really hard on this." Researchers call it behavior-specific praise, and it's linked to more time on task. It makes my day better, too.

Closing the day

Before I leave, I write tomorrow's top three on a note, set it down, and call it done.

Want to try this after school? The STRONG Teacher 4H Reflection is free on my site. If you'd like more like it, the STRONG Teacher Newsletter comes out every Wednesday, also free.

Stay STRONG. And remember, strong is a state of mind.