Small Ways to Make a Splash and Smile at the Beginning of the Year

 

The first week of school can feel overwhelming. Emotions run high as students and staff learn new rules, set goals for the year, and meet new people. A prevailing feeling of exhaustion and vocal fatigue flood the faculty office as teachers help students to transition back to a school year pace. 

I transitioned to a new role and school in the same district this year. Navigating this change has presented considerable challenges. Even though many faces are familiar and routines are the same, I am not quite at home in my new surroundings. Several students are also feeling out of place during this uncharted school year. How do we help our students feel acclimated to their surroundings? How do we support staff in connecting with their students, schedules, and school-year pace? 

Regardless of our role in the school system, we must remember that we communicate a great deal with our actions and words. Our messaging becomes our mantra as we establish a culture in our classrooms and across the school. As we work to build a positive school culture, it's important to reflect on what we can tangibly do to improve the culture and climate of our school. 

On day two of the new school year, I co-led a breakout session on belonging with my principal, who is also new. Of course, the two fresh faces in the faculty are the ones talking about what it means to belong to our community. I showed a video of the ultimate pool slam dunk to hook my colleagues into the conversation. Nearly a dozen teens working together to create an epic trick shot reinforces the power of collaboration and the importance of making any experience exciting. Teens will spend hours perfecting a basketball pass. Why? Because it is fun. The experience brings them together to complete an incredible feat. We can capture that same energy by challenging our students to see the possibilities in their experiences within our walls.  

It all starts with time and space to adjust. 

At the beginning of the year, to-do lists are long. Adjusting syllabi, refining the curriculum, and preparing for students takes careful thought and effort. Several of these to-do list items help a teacher feel ready to start the year. As such, teachers need time to work. They also need time to reconnect with colleagues who may have gone in different directions over the summer. That time to reconnect holds even more value than the preparation for class - at least for veteran teachers. I am fortunate to have an incredibly experienced crew of teachers, and creating space to share about their summer reenergizes the team and makes coming back to school enjoyable. 

That energy then translates to students who are also given time and space to adjust to a new schedule in the first few days. 

As someone new to my school, I have taken the time to walk the halls, be visible, and meet one-on-one with staff. Time with them helps me recalibrate to my new space and feel like part of their team. These connections help people feel important and seen. Showing genuine interest in others establishes a sense of trust and camaraderie. 

With our students, we must build the same sense of camaraderie by promoting a sense of belonging. Creative icebreakers involving collaboration and problem-solving help everyone feel like a team member. Carefully planned low-risk activities have a lasting impact and unite groups of students. Early in my career, I was worried about teaching content immediately. Now, giving space for students to adapt to their new surroundings pays off in dividends throughout the semester. There is time for content, but first, we make connections. 

How do we make those connections? Show up.

Being present in a given moment is the greatest way to create meaningful connections. When we genuinely stop to listen to others - teachers or students - they feel valued and seen. When we are visible, we show that we are invested in the people and the community to which we all belong. 

While it is easy to become caught up in to-do lists and the bustle of a brand new semester, it is important that when with people, we slow down. When someone enters my office or starts a conversation, my to-do list is immediately out of my mind. The most important person in my purview is the person standing in front of me. The to-do list isn't going anywhere! Allow yourself to stop and cherish moments with others because those bonds will make tough days better and the best days unforgettable. 

Even in the toughest moments or when we feel pulled in multiple directions. Another way to make a splash is to be real.

Being present in the moment is powerful, and so is being authentic. Not every day is great, or experience the most exciting one around. It is absolutely acceptable to wear your heart on your sleeve and share your story. When we tell our story, we create space for others to do the same. We all have different strengths to bring to a school community. When we can identify and share our strengths with others, we promote a collaborative community that recognizes and values each person. 

Transitioning to a new school brings challenges. Even when moments are difficult, I am finding ways to be authentic and embrace my strengths. From discussing blended learning to troubleshooting projectors, I have discovered numerous reasons to smile. I have much to learn from my new people and surroundings, and I'm ready to plunge into the deep end of the 23-24 school year. 

Rethinking Success: Shifting the Focus from Achievements to Personal Growth and Development (Part 1)

My center child profoundly influences the emotional climate of my home. She unapologetically feels her emotions, which is both beautiful and terrifying. She is a powerful force, and I love her fervor for life.

At her first dance recital at age four, she stood on stage cupping her ears, mustering the courage to move only at her favorite part of the routine, which involved jumping. Pas de Bourr - uh-oh. (Mom note - She stood her ground the whole time and didn't run off stage. She even performed the whole dance for us in the living room as soon as we returned home. I loved her won't quit attitude, which has allowed her to continue growing and face her fears.).

At seven years old, she still leaps through life and has shown incredible growth in her confidence and joy of dancing with her friends on stage. Her dance career was not marred by her first performance or even her fifth performance. She continues to gain confidence and is always practicing her skills throughout our house. Watching her discover herself has challenged me to pause and consider how we define success in our schools and how students develop in their journey to achieve benchmarks and goals.

As I watch my children develop as dancers, readers, learners, and people, my understanding of success has been transformed. It is human nature to categorize or label people or experiences, but when we label our students, we inadvertently limit their potential to achieve.

Admittedly, our schools are publicly assessed and ranked based on quantifiable data such as test scores, college readiness criteria, climate and culture surveys, and other measurable factors. While these data points are essential for informing our schools' decision-making practices, they do not provide a roadmap for success. They don't consider personalized learning pathways that help us support every student's understanding of success. As educators, we can utilize this information to guide our next steps, which help students discover their paths to success and foster their growth.

So how might we define success? More importantly, how do we create a space in which students can define success for themselves?

First, we must create a space for students to learn from mistakes.

In Jessica Lahey’s The Gift of Failure, she emphasizes that as parents (and educators), our instinct is to clear away obstacles and provide the most direct path to success. In this process, we rob children of the greatest lesson they could have - failure. Mistakes are inevitable within the learning process and create lasting memories that can shape children’s ability to problem-solve, collaborate, create, and grow.

In a learning environment that is supportive and encouraging, students have many opportunities to practice and apply what they are learning in low-stakes ways. They feel comfortable sharing and showing what they know, even before mastery. Along the way, they might make fail.

What does this look like in a school setting?

• Frequent formative assessments
• Game-based learning
• Small and large group discussions
• Group challenges and low-stakes presentations
• Active learning experiences, scenarios, and project-based learning
• Peer feedback
• Personalized pathways with choices on how students demonstrate mastery

As a speech coach and teacher, I always encourage my students to “fail big.” Make visible choices and actions that we can all see. Some choices may not work or create the impact students had hoped for. Because their work and learning process is highly visible, we all know what needs improvement. As students perform, they also have an audience. They are not only making mistakes in front of an adult but also being vulnerable in front of their peers. The culture is celebratory and collaborative. Everyone learns from each other’s imperfections, ultimately fostering stronger relationships, greater learning experiences, and more confident performers.

In addition to embracing failure, we need to teach and embrace the development of soft skills.

This summer, one of my college students told me more about her high school experience in which she was never expected to speak in front of others because she was a language learner. As an ELL student, she was excused from practicing and experiencing a skill essential to her daily life academically and socially. She has beautiful writing and is very articulate, and she will definitely find that she is incredibly capable of speaking in a formal setting! I know she’s going to be successful in my class. Her statement was shocking and sad to hear. This Thursday’s speech will be the first time she’s standing in front of the class (aside from the few group challenges we have had already this semester).

Students typically despise public speaking. Let's be honest; most adults openly detest it as well. I teach public speaking at the high school and college level every semester. I even spent 15 years tricking high school kids into thinking that it was fun and cool to get on a bus at 6 AM and compete for 12 hours every Saturday in suit jackets. I have to convince them that this skill is essential and help them overcome their fears to unlock their potential. 

One of the first items on my agenda is to be open and vulnerable with my students. Most are only present because the class is a college requirement. They all simply want to cross the course off the to-do list and are secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) dreading my class. Using my persuasive appeals, I illustrate to them the power of public speaking and how communication is the foundation of EVERYTHING we do. Without the skills to share ideas, LISTEN, and collaborate with others, we cannot maintain quality relationships, are less likely to be hired, and might even just end up feeling lonely.

Communication, collaboration, empathy, and general executive functioning skills are essential to our daily interactions. These are the skills that become underdeveloped during COVID lockdowns and remote learning. During that time, not only did students not practice and develop these skills, but our society as a whole seemed to forget the importance of using these skills to relate to one another and work together to solve significant problems. We must explicitly teach these skills to our students. Society actually depends on it.

Growth takes time and is often a slower process than we would like. As we shift our definition of success and focus more on progress over data points on a page, we can help our students take more ownership of their own development, leading to lifelong changes and realized success. Part two of this blog post will address setting goals for personal growth and fostering a culture that maintains a positive mindset. We can help our students achieve their goals; we simply need to shift the narrative and invest in personalizing their progress. 

Rediscovering What You Need (And Stealing from the PIRATE)

What do you need? 

This year was surprisingly challenging. Many educators are struggling with behavioral issues that they haven't experienced since their first few years of teaching, if ever at all. We are all still in the recovery phase of the pandemic despite the feeling that we have closed that chapter. 

After spring break, I like to reflect on what I have learned from the current school year. I also plan my summer personal and professional improvement goals. During early April, I typically explore books I want to read, conferences to present at and/or attend, and what I want to do to recharge. This summer, my focus is both student and teacher engagement. 

My colleagues and I limped to the end of this year, and my students still needed support with their executive functioning and soft skills that were negatively impacted during the pandemic. Many of us have been stuck in a rut where we needed help identifying solutions or a way to restart the creative engines. Instead of looking to recreate the wheel, I realized in this reflection that we just needed to reenergize the great work we are already doing. The pandemic challenged us to shift our teaching strategies, create online resources that can be used to personalize the learning experience in ways we had not prior and explore many different technology tools that have enhanced the student experience. We don't need to innovate because we have spent the last few years pushing the envelope forward at incredible speeds. Now, we need time to reflect, rest, and reignite our passion for teaching. Which led me to the seemingly simple question - What do you need? 

I went to my bookshelf with my professional development books, and a familiar book caught my eye. I was surprised I actually had it on my shelf since I bought this book at least four times. People tend to borrow and not return it, which always makes me smile because I know this book has an impact. Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess caught my eye. This book, full of inspiring reminders about finding our passion as educators and bringing our best selves to our students, is always a hit with teachers. My district hosts a teacher summer camp where teachers and administrators host three-hour workshops on various topics. The summer camp I proposed and presented centered around Teach Like a Pirate and sparking the joy in teaching. When I consider my answer to the what do you need question, I know I need to be in a community with others, embrace my enthusiasm, and feel valued.

 

So what is the PIRATE method, and why does it resonate with teachers? 

PIRATE stands for - Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transform, and Enthusiasm. These ideas are familiar, but we often need to pay more attention to them or remember to incorporate them into our daily planning and practices. In the last few years, we have been so overwhelmed with teaching and regrouping post-pandemic that, as teachers, we don't give ourselves time to slow down and enjoy time with our students. Relationship building and rapport are what lead to classroom transformation. Being all in on a topic, lesson, or idea begets buy-in and success from our students. That "all in" practice looks different for every teacher and can be achieved by everyone if and when we give ourselves permission to jump into the deep end of joyful learning and flounder around for a moment.

What do we need? We need to give ourselves permission to fail, experiment, and play. Those practices lead to significant learning outcomes and more memorable experiences for our students.  

How can we "unstuck" ourselves? 

Simon Sinek has a fantastic TED talk on discovering our why. Why do we teach? Why do we love working with kids? Why are we passionate about the topics, ideas, and relationships we hold dear? As I was reading tweets and articles he's written, I discovered this video: A QUICK Way to Find Your Why

Instead of always trying to work alone and create meaning independently, it is so powerful to remember that we have a whole team of teachers and friends behind us. As Joyce Landorf Heatherley expresses in her work, we have a balcony full of people cheering us on and wishing for us to succeed. In my workshop, I leaned into the idea that we don't have to define our why. Instead, if we ask our balcony people to state our why for us, we can step outside of ourselves and discover something about our skills and gifts that we cannot see while feeling stuck. Asking our teacher friends to answer our why also sparks a conversation encouraging us to reciprocate and help them see their whys. This intentional conversation revitalizes our energy to rediscover our passions and strengths and encourages collaboration, support, and uplifts others. Fueling those collaborative relationships and conversations improves the culture and climate at school and can fuel a spark into a strong flame of un-stuck teachers. 

Where do we begin? 

Another question that Burgess uses in his book that I love is: "Would you want to be a student in your classroom?" This question makes me pause, and I try to ask myself every week. No, not every day is the most memorable and exciting lesson ever. Sometimes we have to provide direct instruction, and those days can admittedly be a little boring. Instead of muddling through it, we can ask ourselves how we might slightly shift the lesson or learning environment to improve the quality of our students’ experiences. 

We can find ways to engage and connect with them - even if it has nothing to do with the lesson. Those small moments and connections lead to incredible buy-in and foster a strong learning community. Burgess uses what he refers to as hooks as questions to guide teachers into considering what this process might look like in the classroom. I made a form to help teachers with the planning process and lead them to hooks that might work for their individual goals. As we recharge and refocus our compasses this summer, may we start by asking ourselves, “What do I need?” We don't need to redraw the map to great teaching completely. We simply have to adjust the sails and rediscover our wind. Passion and enthusiasm will follow. 

Guided-Growth: Developing Strong Connections for Success

The Sukow family was burning for learning this spring break. We completed the McHenry County Library Lovers Expeditions by visiting 13 libraries across McHenry County and exploring the land of Lincoln. We road-tripped with the kids to Springfield, stopping at Illinois State along the way, and added three more libraries to our list. Watching the kids light up as they learned more about Lincoln and have the opportunity to sit on an old courthouse bench reminded me how joyful learning can be - especially when we learn together. Their curiosity and questioning sparked great conversations, and we are already planning our next adventure. 

Watching them explore the world reminded me how powerful our shared learning experiences are. Learning can be fun, memorable, and impactful when collaborating and sharing ideas. 

As an instructional coach, I am blessed with the opportunity to explore and witness all different curricular activities in classrooms around the building. As Jordan enthusiastically asked questions about Lincoln’s dog Fido, I have seen teachers spark student curiosity for math and science. I have witnessed real-world connections in business classes and art classes.

 As teachers, we are all coaches, in a way, guiding our students toward academic success. To help foster this success, we must continually grow through inquiry and professional development. Just like a road trip, professional development involves a unique approach to learning and growth tailored to each individual (or Sukow family’s in our case) needs.

So what does effective instructional coaching look like? How do we all adopt the role of coachee and coach to improve our craft? And what are the benefits? 

At its core, instructional coaching is all about developing strong connections between coaches and their coachees. Through ongoing feedback and collaboration, instructional coaches work with colleagues to help them grow and develop their craft. This process of guided growth is based on the principles of trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to learning and improvement.

Instructional coaching helps teachers and their students achieve success. 

An instructional coach is personalized and can lead to unexpected and exciting detours. By providing individualized support, coaches can help teachers by sharing new instructional strategies, promoting the latest tech tool, or discussing the teacher's ideas. Recently, I have had many conversations about differentiating instruction. Many students still suffer from pandemic learning and gaps in executive functioning skills. Problem-solving together, we can generate ideas to generate lessons more effective and engaging. 

Coaching involves fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning. 

A collaborative approach to learning helps teachers build strong relationships with their colleagues and create a supportive learning community. Instructional coaching experiences can be informal or formal, depending on the needs of the teachers. Professional development driven by teachers' needs and building/district goals should be provided and amplify the voices of quality teachers. Frequent communication and the exchange of ideas help to make coaching more effective as well. 

Like taking children on a road trip, instructional coaching may come with numerous surprises and discoveries. Learning is a continuous process that involves commitment and curiosity. Strong relationships and mutual respect foster those relationships and the connections that lead to student success. 

I can’t wait for the next opportunity to grow with colleagues post-spring break.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start: Lessons from a Wild School Year and a Little Boy Named Jordan

A teacher's life is measured in bells, grading periods, and seasons. As a speech coach, my professional life is defined by my in-season and not in-season paces. My 204-day season ended. Cue the feeling of lightness and the creative energy flowing back into typing fingers. I've recently entered my first "free" weeks of the 2022-2023 school year. Speech team starts the first full week of August and ends the third Sunday of February. No longer having to rush between picking up my three littles from the bus while coaching 30ish of the best wild things around, I took a deep breath and felt a new sense of calm before being jolted back into the roaring world of Cystic Fibrosis.

Jordan started feeling fatigued and had no appetite at the end of February. These past two weeks have kicked me into high alert. CF impacts all organs and can impair the digestive system. Without pancreatic enzyme supplements - Creon - Jordan cannot absorb his food and, more importantly, does not have the fuel to function properly. My heart has been heavy worrying about his health and watching for signs that the bowel obstruction needs more intense medical intervention. As a teacher and instructional coach, I navigate rocky waters with joy and a more focused approach. I could be called home at any moment, so I am compelled to have all of my organizational systems in place in case I need to be absent.

Parenting a child with health concerns has helped me to pause and reflect on how I can better empathize with my students and colleagues, especially as we approach spring break. Transitioning out of the winter months into spring is a difficult time for all. From season shifting and staffing changes to restless students - we are all navigating and fighting our own battles. I realize that whatever beasts we face, we have the power to guide the narrative. No matter how dark the jungle gets, we can find the positives and shine a light on the lessons our students and colleagues must face. Inspired by my precocious son, who is braver than anyone I've ever met, I reread Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are. We all have a little curiosity in us, and our perspectives can sometimes make our challenges feel insurmountable. But again, we can shift the story to gain powerful insights.

When change happens, we should approach it with curiosity.

Just like Max in the book, curiosity can lead to adventure. So often, when changes occur in the school system or even in the curriculum, we become consumed by negativity or resistance, but changes can bring new insights and perspectives. They can shift the landscape of what we learn or how we might learn it. Working with high school students, I have noticed more senioritis as we approached a challenging, research-based unit. The skills they learn in this unit involve:

• Critically analyzing sources.
• Finding and applying information.
• Engaging audiences - all skills that will help them pursue higher education and be more active citizens in the world.

Instead of dismissing their complaints about "how much work they had" for this particular unit, I worked with them to shift their outlook. Getting excited or asking them to seek out topics that sparked their curiosity made an arduous task more approachable and ultimately left them saying, "Huh, that was actually fun."

In addition to sparking curiosity about change, we need to create spaces where people want to belong.

Even in the most ideal places, morale is still low. Navigating a post-COVID world has brought shifts in student behavior, new social-emotional needs of both students and staff, and gaps in knowledge/executive functioning skills. To produce the best environments for kids, we need to ensure staff feels supported and safe to fail. Teachers must feel appreciated and seen, especially as we redefine "normal." Even though there are fewer mitigation procedures to deal with and COVID is not impacting us daily, the effects of pandemic learning and the fatigue that was brought on because of it will be felt for years to come. When teachers feel valued and are given space to cope with their challenges - whatever they may be - they can create the best learning experiences and opportunities for students.

I have cultivated a supportive work culture by creating targeted professional development. This professional development revolves around topics that work in any classroom. More importantly, it is led by outstanding teachers across the building. Giving teachers a voice, celebrating their excellence, and helping them believe in their excellent work has helped spark conversation and encourage people to get involved. My fantastic colleague Cori and I have also started a podcast to amplify the voices of great teachers across our district. These small acts of lifting teacher-leaders boost morale, celebrate excellence, and unite teachers on the most critical cause in education - elevating our students.

We can let the wild rumpus start when we feel safe and have a strong sense of belonging.

No matter what comes our way - whether it be a global pandemic, a shift in learning management systems, ransomware, or challenging students - we can embrace change when we feel like we belong. Teachers need to be supported, they need to be recognized, and they need to be allowed to be authentic. Everyone comes to the table with unique strengths, talents, and passions. When school leaders can see the best quality in each person and use those qualities to create a dynamic team, we all benefit. Education is a journey and not a destination. Even if imminent threats are not filling our newsfeeds or causing us to quarantine, the challenges will still arise. The path may become overgrown and dark at times - even when we least expect it- but our teachers can navigate any adventure when we have support.

These systems involve morale committees, frequent and clear communication, and transparency. They involve weekly emails to bullet point and highlight key changes or needs and necessitate an open-door policy. As a coach, it means that when someone says, "Do you have a second..." I am available and ready to support them. If I cannot at that moment, I set a specific time and make myself available if something is absolutely needed. It also means that I anticipate the bumps and turns in the narrative before they occur so that teachers feel safe, valued, and ready to be their best selves for their students. I know I must be ready to take action and lead in any wild condition.

I need to find time to be still and reflect. My son is early to rise and loves being silly in the morning. Holding a wiggly Jordan whose body is trying to regulate itself has forced me to laugh. Sometimes, life just stinks (literally). More challenges are inevitable. I wonder if it will involve students, staff, computers crashing, or bowel obstructions that force us to journey to Lutheran General. Whatever the challenge is, I will find a way to let my imagination run wild, have hope, and roll with whatever adventure comes next.

 

Getting Started with Station Rotation

As a high school speech teacher, I believe in the benefits of a noisy classroom. Not only do I struggle to sit still myself, but I think my students (Mostly seniors and larger than me) also have difficulty with prolonged periods of sitting at desks. When we moved online due to COVID-19, I tried to incorporate physical or mental movement to allow for brain breaks, increased concentration, and a release of extra energy for deeper learning. As we returned to in-person classrooms, I wanted to continue using these shorter bursts of learning that allow students to acquire knowledge, practice, and demonstrate mastery in various ways.

To do this, I started sharing templates and ideas with colleagues who were also seeking ways to engage students in multiple modalities (online, in-person, whole group, individual, etc.). Through all of the changes related to COVID-19, I realized that I was creating stations for my students. These stations empower students to drive their learning, accommodate different learning styles, and allow me to spend more time with individual students.

Through collaboration with other teachers in my school, I learned more about how stations can enhance classroom learning and how they can be adapted to fit the needs of the students, the lesson, the content, and the context of the learning situation. Stations are flexible and allow teachers to create unique experiences for students and adapt to meet the goals of a particular lesson.

When I started using stations, I felt overwhelmed and thought they would take a lot of time to develop. However, after working through a few mini-station lessons with students, I realized that stations were often just a reimagination of activities and experiences I had already created in the past. I also realized that I needed to train and prepare my students for this learning experience. To help students stay on track and reflect on their learning, I use an accountability sheet (typically digital). This sheet encourages students to evaluate their learning and collect or create artifacts of their learning. These sheets can be used to study for a summative assessment or to support writing an essay later in the unit. The accountability sheets also allow me to assess the effectiveness of the learning experience.

I plan to further explore in 2023:

1. Station creation, 

2. Keeping students accountable during stations,   

3. And turning stations into playlists.

So, why might teachers consider using station rotation in 2023? Station rotation allows for differentiated instruction because activities can be tailored to meet students' needs, abilities, and interests. It also allows for flexible pacing and the opportunity for students to revisit activities or experiences as needed. Stations may include student choice, which leads to even more differentiation.

In addition, station rotation increases engagement because students have multiple activities to complete and a limited amount of time to do so. This can help keep them focused and interested in the various learning experiences they are completing. Station rotation also increases opportunities for collaboration because students are often placed in small groups and asked to work together on tasks. This helps foster teamwork and interpersonal skills.

Finally, station rotation is flexible for both teachers and students. Teachers can craft activities that meet the needs of their students and assess student learning in real time. Students may have flexibility over their pace and place of learning and the opportunity to revisit formative assessments or activities as needed. Station rotation can also be a fun and engaging way for students to learn, leading to increased motivation and retention of information. Overall, station rotation is a useful strategy for teachers looking to engage their students in various learning activities and experiences.

Want to learn more about station rotation? Check out this station rotation PD resource:

Becoming Canvas Certified

My district planned to slowly roll out our new learning management system before the pandemic. Six months later, when the pandemic forced us all to move to online learning, they decided to break the dam, let the waters loose, and dive right into the deep end of the Canvas pool. While the subsequent year was overwhelming and left many teachers feeling like they were barely keeping their heads above water, it was the right decision. 

As the school’s instructional coach, I worked non-stop as I often supported extremely panicked teachers trying to get instruction to remote students during one of the most challenging years of our lives. Ultimately, this experience led to empowered teachers who know Canvas better than they ever could have imagined, progressed our district’s mission, and allowed students to have more access to education from anywhere and at any time. 

To hone my skills even further, the instructional coaches in my district decided to take the Core 1: Foundational Frameworks Course in 2021. While I was familiar with Canvas, taking a course from the student perspective broadened my understanding of the user experience. One of us decided to continue and complete the six-course series to become a Canvas Certified Educator. I paused, overwhelmed with pandemic teaching, but returned to the experience after she finished and won a free course package. 

Being a student and seeking new experiences can always help us grow. Would I recommend this certification for teacher-leaders using Canvas? Yes. Even if you’re familiar with Canvas, the experience can come with unexpected lessons. It took about five months to complete all of the courses, as I took one course at a time, but I found the workload manageable and appropriately paced. 

A person taking these courses may gain valuable insight into our students’ experiences by being a student in the process.

Student view is a helpful feature in Canvas, but it can be limited. Being an actual student allowed me to practice submitting assignments, viewing feedback, and working through a module. I noticed what I liked and would have liked from a course, noted the design features, and observed how the timing of discussions/feedback impacted my learning. During the experience, I also noticed embedded features, including audio and video. I appreciated how these resources affected my learning and started adjusting my courses to improve the student experience. Being a student challenges us to reflect, and I truly appreciated this aspect of taking these courses. 

Exploring and navigating a Canvas course can help us to build more aesthetic and intuitively designed courses. 

Aesthetics impact how much time people spend on a page. The tl;dr of it all can turn students off from using resources. Also, students might shut down or become frustrated if something is hard to find or if there are too many ways to access an assignment. Creating a consistent look and flow to the course homepage, modules, and assignments improves accessibility. Using tools like Canva to beautify or enhance the aesthetics can make pages seem more professional and polished. The better the layout, the more engagement will occur. 

Speaking of engagement, using resources embedded in Canvas pages can spark new ideas about how we might create richer resources for our students. 

I love embedding a Padlet or a Google Slide into Canvas. Creating rich embedded resources that students can explore, reference, and read makes the learning experience more accessible. While taking these courses, I found new ways to share resources with students. Genially is a tool that I had not used before these courses. I appreciated how cleanly it was embedded in the page. I also learned how to create tabs in Canvas, which will take my course design to a new level. I am still working on this feature and exploring how I might use it to share my daily agenda slides, and this feature would only have been on my radar if I had taken these courses. 

While I learned a lot about Canvas from these courses, I was also able to explore instructional design theories beyond a single tech tool. 

In addition to learning more about the LMS, I gained perspective on various instructional strategies. Participating in a self-paced course may encourage Canvas-certified educators to explore blended learning strategies and instructional practices that may not have been used before. I had a choice and voice in what I learned and what I produced to demonstrate mastery. I was able to explore mastery pathways and work at my own pace, and I was able to connect with others asynchronously through Canvas discussions. 

If you’re looking to hone your Canvas skills and are in a teacher-leader position, this certification may be the right fit for you. While, at times, I felt a little isolated working at my own pace, I truly enjoyed the self-reflection process. I also appreciated the aesthetics and course design, which helped me create two Canvas courses for workshops that I led last summer. We can learn from every experience; if you’re seeking to become better acquainted with what might be with Canvas, check out the Canvas Certified Educator courses.