My Random Abstract Reading Detour

The summer PD reading started strong.  I polished off Sarah Lewis' Rise.  Then I was blown away by Peter Sims' Little Bets.  Then I devoured Michael Hyatt's Platform.  All of these led me right into Carol Dweck's Mindset.

And just as I was greatly enjoying Mindset, I went up to my room to grab Dave Burgess' Teach Like a Pirate to return to my principal.

And wouldn't you know it, just as I opened it when I got home and began reading the intro, I just got sucked right into the damn book all over again.

So I'm taking a respite from Mindset to read TLAP over the weekend before I return it to Mr. Zutz on Monday.

When I first read TLAP last summer, it was interesting because when Mr. Zutz borrow it to me, he encouraged me to mark it up and add my reactions to his, which were already in the book.

And that was what I did.

But then something unusual happened.  For one of my College Comp II student's Sticky-Note book report, I gave it to a student who is looking at becoming an English teacher.  I advised her to do just what Mr. Zutz encouraged me to do - mark it up and add her thoughts.

And she did with numerous Sticky-Notes.  I told her that it would make for a very interesting experience as a principal has read it and commented on it; a teacher has done the same; and now a student will also be doing it from her unique perspective.

I find myself enjoying her Sticky-Note comments as much as the book itself.

Here is an example (this one happens to be one of my favorite comments from the student):  When Burgess talks about the dreaded six words many teachers utter ("It's easy for you. You're creative.") as a cop out to why they can't make their classes more engaging, the student writes "'I'm not creative' is an excuse crappy teachers use to 'explain' why they're crappy teachers. There's no excuse; you just suck."

Ouch, but, I believe, true.

Another one of my favorites from the student: "If you were a student in your class, would you be interested?"  How different would our lessons and classes be if we had to answer that honestly every time we sat down to prepare a lesson?

And finally, this one: "Don't be the teacher complain about on social media."

That alone should make you want to follow your students on social media!  Why live in denial?

So give me the next few hours to polish off TLAP before I get back to Mindset.  Actually, though, the books work quite well together.  After all, one reason Burgess hates those six words mentioned earlier is because it discounts all of his years of hard work to develop and perfect his lessons so that they are irresistibly engaging.  That's the growth mindset at work!

And I think this quote from Michelangelo must be somewhere in Dweck's very office:  "If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

That is the total growth mindset perspective.