There are some things that might not be best for elevating one’s intellectual capacity, but one guilty pleasure I have is watching School of Rock, a movie starring Jack Black who gets kicked out of a rock band and ends up substitute teaching.  He has no educational training or passion for teaching, but winds up becoming this great teacher, instilling passion and drive in his students….so annoying.

I have a love/hate relationship with bad teacher movies.  It’s irksome to watch characters playing teachers who stumble upon some teaching trick, and suddenly they become “Teacher of the Year.” Often there are ridiculous scenes where teachers behave improbably.  In School of Rock, Jack Black’s character walks into the teachers’ lounge where the teachers are earnestly discussing the merits of the Stanford Binet…Yeah, this is how teachers spend their precious fifteen minutes while shoveling in their Lean Cuisines.  Yet, the movie researchers do get some things right, and the things that are right can be added to a solid teaching repertoire.

While Black’s character didn’t demonstrate educational innovations, he did remind me of a few good practices.   He implements project based learning by creating a rock band with the students.  He gives them a real world goal by entering them in the Battle of the Bands contest.  He provides mini-lessons to give students background knowledge on classic Rock bands using complicated webs to show students how the roots of Rock are connected. He gives individualized homework based on the students’ needs, and provides students plenty of time to practice, explore their styles, and coaches the students to refine their skills.

Additionally, there is much student driven activity.  While Black assigns students their jobs, he is open to students who argue their need to fulfill a different role. One student didn’t groove to his assigned role and argued his need to create the band costumes.  Even though this student determined his own role, he still researched, practiced, and demonstrated the skills needed to create a successful outcome. Also, the would-be costume designer was still subjected to criticism (formative assessment) which pushed him to refine his skills.

Finally, it was time for the students to show what they learned (summative assessment); it was time to perform in the Battle of the Bands.  Surprisingly, the students did not win first place, but they learned the big lesson.  They gave a kick %$#@ show, and that, according to their teacher, was the pinnacle of a Rock band performance.  In other words, they passed with flying colors.

I guess we teachers see lessons everywhere, even in some less-than-stellar movies, or maybe I’m just trying to justify my guilty pleasure.

If Julie Andrews were to sing my version of “These are a Few or My Favorite Things,” the happy list would include chocolate, coffee, Margaret Atwood novels, and working with my curriculum and teaching teams.  Recently I partook in all these favorite things on the same day. Life is good.

I don’t get to work with my teams as often as I drink, eat, and read, but when I do, I know I’ll get a shot of energy and fall deeper in love with education…cue violins.  The women I work with are smart, intense, creative, and determined to help students succeed.

I’ve always loved working with a team, but when schools across the country started to push Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), I had an “Are you kidding me?” moment – especially when the incentive phrase used was,”Work smarter- not harder.” Since when has our teaching workload not been increased? Once the wave of skepticism passed, and the teamwork began, everything was magical – well, sort of.  We experienced growing pains.  We argued with each other, each of us unwilling to leave our comfort zone. (After all, I’ve always taught this skill this way…) Once we got over ourselves and started digging into the best way to engage students in learning, and we created effective assessments that were easy to grade, our mojo got rolling, and we trusted each other enough to share ideas.  We still work hard, but we are working smarter.

While my team is red hot, you may be thinking your team ain’t doodley squat.

Doodley squat reason one: What team? I’m all alone; nobody else teaches my subject.  Consider building an online PLC . You can reach out and share professional growth with teachers from around the country.  Imagine the exposure to fresh perspectives.  You may wish to build an online PLC even if you have an in-house team.

Doodley squat reason two:  You’re co-worker tells you he will take his toys and go home if he doesn’t get his way.  You might be tempted to let him, but it’s better to look at the desired learning goal with your co-worker.  Ask him to explain his lesson or unit.  Will his lesson help students reach the intended learning target? If yes, great! Use it!  If not, can the lesson be tweaked to be more effective?  If yes, great! Tweak it and use it!  What if his lesson is a dog? What if he wants to use a coloring worksheet because it loosely fits the theme? Try not to slap him with the coloring sheet, and look him calmly in the eye and ask how his lesson meets the learning goal.  When he utterly fails, together you can explore lessons that will help students meet the learning goal.  Your willingness to try your partner’s ideas should encourage your partner to accept your ideas.

Doodley squat reason three: Your co-worker lacks teaching skills.  This is a mentoring opportunity for you.  Mentoring will help you hone your teaching craft while paying it forward.  (It’s likely someone helped you with a few teaching struggles.)

If you tried everything you can think of, but your PLC still stinks, you might want to consider that you need to do some self-reflecting or seek help from someone who is at a higher pay grade. Once your PLC is red hot, the hills will be alive with teamwork as one of your favorite things.