Week One Review

Week one of school is in the books and I have learned a few things in my new position that I wanted to share. I understand the first week of school can be crazy with so many things going on, students excited to see their classmates again, the welcome assembly, devices being passed out, among other things. Here are those couple of the things I learned during the first week of school.

We Have 180 Days

Yes I am well aware of how many days I will  be working with students but the principal at Wasatch High put a new focus, at least for myself, on those 180 days. During the welcome assembly he shared a video from the previous school year about all the great things that happened at the school and then asked the student body what they were going to do with their next 180 days. He shared a quote by Teddy Roosevelt "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." He then told the students you have 180 days here at school, what are you going to do with it? I realized that I had not thought about what I was going to do with my 180 days. Am I just going to make it day to day or am I going to reach a little higher and try a little harder to help someone and allow someone to help me? After the assembly I resolved to make a difference in my students lives each day. I want to take my 180 days and take more opportunities to learn, laugh and create, and help my students do the same.

What are you going to do with your 180 days?

Technology Is Great Except When It Isn't

One of the reasons I came to the Wasatch School District is because of all the great things they are doing to bring technology into the classroom as tools to help students succeed. Reflecting on my first week using technology in the classroom exclusively I realize I had more than a couple issues to overcome in order to use those tools effectively. The first thing is that the student population has grown so much since the school opened 8 years ago (Wasatch County is the fastest growing county in Utah) that there are not enough classrooms for all the teachers so I teach in 5 different rooms for 6 different classes. This situation brings its own challenges, my organization is going to have to go to the next level in order to stay on top of things.  I am excited for this challenge though because I often talk to students about their need to stay organized in order to be successful. Here are a couple of the other things I faced this week; my device is new (being a first year teacher) as a result the connections are different than the other teachers so most of the cables I need to plug into, in the classrooms I teach in, do not work for my computer, yet. In the first full day of teaching my internet did not work during 3rd period, the sound wouldn't work in 5th period and the students devices were slow in 7th period.

Although all of these things happened and it could be easy for someone to say "get rid of the technology and go back to paper and pencil, it is more reliable," we were able to still get things done. I realized the need of preparation on my part and the ownership I need to instill in my students for our class. When something doesn't go according to plan I need students to have enough ownership in the class to care to fix the problem when something goes wrong because they don't want to waste one of their 180 days. There will always be issues and obstacles it is how we react to them that matters. However we teach we will have issues of some sort, I would rather mine be with technology.

Empowering Students

This week I had the opportunity to start teaching at a new school. This opportunity has given me a chance to step outside my comfort area and do things differently. Here are a few things I did that, reflecting back, made a difference for students.

• Greeted Student At The Door- I have always stood at the door and said hello to students as they walk into my classroom but this year I made a point to shake each students hand and tell them "Hello I am Mr. Marsing, what is your name?" As students told me their names I could see their faces go from nervousness or fear to a smile and a sense of relaxation. It was probably the best thing I did to give students a sense of belonging, so simple but so profound.
• Demand Greatness- To start class this year I spoke to students about the importance of trying new things and being willing to learn. I shared with them Teddy Roosevelt's "Man In The Arena" quote and then asked them to fill out a paper with their passion and three goals they have. This year I want to make a focused effort on bringing students passions into the classroom. I let them know that I was going to demand greatness from them and they must demand greatness from me if we are each going to be successful this year. We, as teachers, must treat every student with respect and high expectations if we want them to succeed.
• Give Students Ownership- This year I want to make sure that my history classes are not "my" history classes but rather "our" history classes. In an effort to do this I took some time the first class meeting to ask the students, what about history they wanted to learn about and then made a note of them so I can add them to our class plan. I also spoke to the students about technology and then asked them to tell me what type of technology they like using the most in class and why. These students have been using 1:1 technology since 5th grade and know better than I do what helps them be successful. For example one type of learning technology that I was all hyped about using and was already making plans to implement I quickly realized that they absolutely did not like using that type of tech. If I had not asked them and given them a chance to take ownership I would have implemented technology which would have turned students off. Giving students ownership in the class made a better connection between us and hopefully a more successful learning environment down the road.

It has been a successful use of the first 4 days of the 180 I have the opportunity to work with young people this school year.

Today is the Day!

Today is the first day of the 2016-17 school year at Wasatch High School and I am super excited to get started. It has been a whorl wind week, with new teacher meetings, getting a device and learning how that device can be used as a tool to help students; on top of all that I just closed on a new house so my family and I have been moving this whole week, I am exhausted!

With all of that being said I feel blessed to have the opportunity to teach at Wasatch and be a part of the Heber Valley community. Wasatch School District is doing great things to integrate technology as a tool to help young people achieve success. I appreciate, as a new teacher in this type of environment, that there are multiple people whose job it is to help teachers use these technology tools to their fullest in order to help students. I have never been in a district where the support staff for teachers has been so comprehensive.

Here are a couple of things I am looking forward to as we begin today!

History- Yes I am a history teacher so it may seem normal to be excited about this but the history I am thinking of is the history of Wasatch High School. The school is now 108 years old but just 8 years old in the current building. The school has done a fantastic job at making sure, that history is on display and that students understand what it means to be a Wasp at Wasatch High. Today in fact freshman are the only ones who will be here and one of the reasons why is so they can be educated on the history of this school and understand the culture and what it means to be a Wasp at Wasatch High. I believe it is important to understand our own history to know where we have been in order to help us get to where we want to go.

Technology- I am very excited about the tools that have been provided to teachers and students here at Wasatch High School. The school is a 1:1 learning environment, this environment will provide students more opportunities to explore and learn more than before. I have been shown so many different tools that it has been almost overload. What I have decided to do is take only a few of the tools and concentrate on them for a couple weeks and then move on to something else. In order to give students choice I have also decided to talk to the students first and hear from them what they feel are the best tools to help them learn and start with those. If students are on board with what is being taught and how it is being taught I believe they will work harder and achieve more.

Swimming- As part of my responsibilities I will also be the Head men's and women's swimming coach. I love coaching because I feel I get to work closer with student/athletes to help them achieve their goals. Being a coach has taught me so much about how to differentiate learning for many students. Coaching has also taught me classroom management, communication skills, planning, listening and other skills that put me "ahead" of the teaching game. If you have not had the opportunity to coach a group of young people you should take that opportunity when it arises, even if you don't know much about the sport. Just take the chance and gain some skills that can be brought back to your classroom, you will not regret it.

What are the reasons you are excited about starting another school year?