Over the years, it has become ever more apparent that I'm doing a poor job of following the course outline which was designed so teachers would know what they were supposed to teach.  If I were teaching English or Math, my performance would have earned "Needs Improvement" ratings when Administrators evaluated my teaching.   One example of the pressure those beleaguered souls are under is a colleague of mine who taught English.  We share some of the same students, and I have been impressed with the strong positive regard they have for her.  If you will bear with me through a long tangent, I assure you I will return to this example of the academic freedom English teachers might enjoy is crushed by their being forced to teach the Standards, and only the Standards.

One of the projects I do with my students is the Water Tower contest.    Student groups lash together long sticks  to create a structure ("water tower").  The final test, performed in front of the whole school at lunch time,  involves placing a 55 gallon drum on top of each tower.  Water is pumped into the drum.  A "gallon-o-meter" measures how many gallons have been added at the crowd-pleasing moment when the tower collapses. See one spectacular example:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rb50l0bKbG0X4nJI5le5SzoFMwAWKB0g/view?usp=sharing

The formula used for ranking tower performance was derived by the class, to address the question:  Which of the towers you build should be awarded the prize for Best of Show?   From an engineering viewpoint,  students came up with several factors which should be either maximized or minimized.  They included:

HEIGHT (maximize because the primary reason for the water tower is to create sufficient water pressure at all the faucets in town.)

STRENGTH  (maximize to avoid catastrophic failure:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxBFRkssKw

COST  (minimize.  Two categories here are labor and materials.  As there was a deadline (the contest during lunch), every teams had the same time.  As construction projects have budgets they must operate within,  the cost of materials must be kept to a minimum.   The simplest way to model cost is simply to weigh the tower.  All 3 factors are incorporated in this formula to rank towers:   

SCORE = (HEIGHT OF TOWER)(GALLONS HELD)/(WEIGHT OF TOWER) 

All three factors interact in complex ways.  If the lowest bidder achieves that status by using cheap materials,  the project may fail catastrophically:  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1rLh2vEnnNM

This introduces the concept of "multivariate analysis" which, though rarely considered by most people, is a critical component in constructing buildings--and water towers.

A search of the California Department of Education Standards for both Math and Science found no mention of "multivariate analysis", except as a tool for analyzing student test results.  But, in the larger sense,  life  decisions involve multivariate analyses. Though I never tested students on their use of multivariate analysis I believe their having experienced this real world example  was worth touching upon, considering how it could inform their making decisions on everything from what to buy for dinner to what post-secondary education path they pursue.

Last year, I built a beam tester--powered a powerful linear actuator (generates 300 pounds of force!) salvaged from one of those Lazy-Z-Boy electric chairs that, with the push of a button, can go from upright to horizontal.  The Beam Buster takes a sample stick (oak, maple, or pine) and breaks it, measuring exactly how many pounds it takes to cause structural failure.   Since pine is light (see "SCORE ="above) but weak, while oak is strong but heavy, each group's choice of wood for their tower is informed knowing the trade offs involved.

It occurred to me that I might work with the English teacher with whom I shared the same students.  In my class, they could do the beam testing, determine their wood choice in my class, and build their tower accordingly.  They would then write a draft of the technical aspects of their projecet.  In their English class they would atatend to formatting, style, clarity, and correct grammar.  Since "cross-curricular instruction"  got 7.2 million hits in .32 seconds on Google, it must be  a hot topic these days, having been defined recently as:

"Cross-curricular teaching is an approach that challenges the traditional view of education and invites teachers of different subjects to collaborate and bring multiple disciplines into a single course of teaching. Mar 14, 2023 "

I approached my English teacher counterpart with a suggestion to collaborate.  To my surprise, she was worried about being caught working with me.  Her reason was as follows:

" One day, I was having my students read what they had written in their journals.  __________ (an administrator) came to observe me and noted that students were reading their own journals, but were not reading their classmates journals.  The admin said  Standards required that students read other students' journals.  Of course, if students know that other students will read their personal journal, they will self-censor, which drains most of the value from a personal journal.  But ____________ insisted that I  change my practices.  Before she left, __________________ said,  she'd be back next week, to make sure  I was following her directive."

So much for a little creative, cross-curricular  fun.

I have explained the Water Tower project at length to illustrate a direction I have been drifting in for years now.  It might be summarized as my having favored Life Lessons over Standards Lessons.  The former are lessons which cannot be tested to reveal student competence; the latter are specifically designed to allow quantification of student competence.  Only when all students can be ranked numerically (GPA, SAT,  AP) can we really be certain.  But certain of what?

For that reason, the trend in my teaching has been away from what I'm supposed to focus on, towards what I believe is far more important.  A Lesson Objective is supposed to be posted each day in a teacher's class.  When the administrator is conducting a teacher evaluation,  kneels beside a student, and quietly asks, "What are you learning today?",  the teacher gets a higher mark if the student can say the Lesson Objective. The Universal Lesson Objective which I have posted in my classroom says, "Students will learn more than I teach them."  This is because has a unique set of   life experiences, into which each lesson, if of value to the student, must be integrated.  But if each student is a unique individual, what test can I administer that will be an equitable way to evaluate their educational progress?

My recent method of choice to evaluate student learning was made possible by administration evaluations not marking me down too severely because of my failure to teach, and test, the Standards which I am supposed to teach.  I don't know why I have been given such freedom, but I haven't asked too many questions.  My solution to the problem of how to evaluate student learning is simple:  Each month, each student writes his/her WIL, which stands for What I Learned.  They can write about whatever they wish, anything from an implication of Newton's 3rd Law of motion that they found particularly intriguing, to how they are doing 3 weeks after the breakup from the Love of Their Life.  They are graded on what I judge to be the value of their WIL to them.  Though this is difficult to quantify, as the year goes on,  I believe students realize that my rubric is based upon how deeply they reflect on whatever it is they choose to discuss.  To make clearer, dear reader, to what that vague "standard" means,  I will now share some WILs, with commentary.

WIL#1

With the WIL being about how I face challenges like the ones life will throw at me For the rest of my life”, Is that yeah life will throw many hard challenges that I may not be able to solve or fix or do anything but, I’ll continue to push ahead with God.

Ever since I gave my life to God life has been tuff but Jesus has sustain me ever since, and even before that Life was still hard and difficult.

As, I continued with life it has been the same difficult always, especially with things going on and bad stuff mostly happening, but now since I walk with Christ on my journey with God everything Changed, He’s like the only person who gets what I go through and He is a God who I can go to, whenever life gets hard I go to God and he delivers me from trouble and when life just simply gets hard.

He truly gave me peace and freedom from stress. And the things I do when life gets hard is that with Christ, I read my Holy Bible, I pray and make a relationship with Jesus Christ everyday by just talking to him, and even if you don’t believe in Him, I just wanna say JESUS CHRIST LOVES YOU. Also, going back to how I deal with life is honestly a good cope when life gets at me which as you know already is Jesus is my first solution.

Teacher Comments:

You are quite right, A_____—I am not a believer.  But you make abundantly clear that your relationship with God is a powerful force for good in a life that has presented you with many challenges—and will continue to do so in the future.  Stay faithful,  stay strong! 

Mr. Ratcliffe

It is apparent to me from her last paragraph that A_____  realizes I do not share her religious beliefs.  And yet, she is not afraid to share her deepest feelings about God and the power that faith has given her: 

“Ever since I gave my life to God life has been tuff but Jesus has sustain me ever since, and even before that Life was still hard and difficult.”

 I can only imagine what she is referring specifically  to, but seeing on Google maps her neighborhood and the house she lives in,  economic deprivation might be among the likely challenges.  I include this WIL for a couple of reasons.  First: A_____ is one of the strongest students I have this year.  She approaches each activity with alacrity, and puts her best effort into everything she does.  Even more important, she shared the most important source of comfort, guidance, and support in her life with her teacher.  That is a remarkable statement about her trust in me.  WILs often have the effect of students revealing things they may have told no one else.  This unburdening can help them through difficult times. I had to think long and hard about how to respond to her WIL.  In the end, I chose what you see above.  I admitted to being an atheist, but went on to say I accept her having beliefs so different from mine that one might fear I would censure her.  And yet, I praise her for finding a source of great strength to navigate challenging circumstances.  With so much intolerance for alternative views endemic in our society, I am glad to make clear that I accept A’s faith, and celebrate the succor it has provided her.

For the first, August WIL last year, I asked my students to:

1) Do something kind.

2) Explain what you did.

3) Describe how you felt afterwards.

4) Explain how you think the receiver of your kindness felt.

Some entries were inspiring.

WIL#2

     During this hot summer, I did something really kind that I can't forget. I was walking down a long parking lot from a WinCo over on Kings Canyon Rd and Peach Avenue, and there was this old man struggling with his grocery bags. He looked tired because of the heat, and I could notice it because of how much he was sweating and shortness of breath, so he couldn't carry them well.

     So, after I helped my mom put the groceries in the trunk of our car, I told my mom if she'd be ok if I went to go help the man.  She said it was ok and encouraged me to go help him. So, I went to where the old man was, stopped and smiled at the old man, he spoke Spanish but so did I, so I offered my help and took his bags gently. At first, he seemed surprised, but then got all thankful and even got a bit teary. It was like what I was doing meant a lot to him. He said that it meant a lot to him because since he’s older now so is his body so he’s not able to move around like he used to, so me helping him made his day.

     Doing this whole thing made me feel something deep. You know how life can be all about rushing and thinking about ourselves and our needs? Well, this was completely different. For those few minutes I didn't care about my own plans; I just wanted to help the old guy out.

     I bet the old man felt all sorts of things—shocked that someone would help, thankful for the relief, and maybe he started believing that people from my generation can be good. This one small act showed that even when life's hard, there are still people who will lend a hand just to be nice as a common courtesy.

     Even though it was just a simple thing, it reminded me that the smallest things are usually the things that have a big impact. I learned how good it feels when people interact and care about each other. And I think it made everyone who was around to witness it stop and think about how anyone can make someone's day better by even doing small things, but only if we want to.

Most of the time, teachers have little idea of what is going on in students' lives.  WILs provide an opportunity for students to tip their hand a bit.

WIL#3  

I wasn’t sure what my plan was for the WIL but I didn’t have to plan something out, which I prefer. I feel like forced kindness isn’t true or from the heart, I was just going to hope an opportunity presented itself, which it indeed did. I don’t want to seem overdramatic, but I might have saved one of my best friend’s life a few weeks ago. For privacy reasons I will keep him unnamed, but here is what happened: I was getting ready to go to bed one night, it was probably around 12 at night, and right when I was putting down my phone, I got a call from him. I instantly picked up, as I knew his mental health wasn’t amazing recently and he wouldn’t call me out of nowhere at 12 for nothing. As I answered I heard him sobbing, almost screaming. I tried to calm him down and have him tell me what happened, and eventually he did. He switched to facetime, and I saw the cut across his chest and multiple more on his arm. Instantly I woke my mom up to drive me to his house. When I got there, I helped him clean up the mess and took him to my house where he spent the night. I was so happy I was able to be there for him and saved him from so much more pain and I am extremely glad he reached out to me. I think he is also glad of my actions and happy I did what he did, the next morning he thanked me and gave me a long hug, which showed me his appreciation. Don’t worry, this has been reported and he is doing better.

As a bonus, another act of kindness that occurred this month happened a few nights ago. My girlfriend had been looking at this sweater for weeks but was not going to buy it because she is very careful with her money. Anyways, a few nights ago I bought it without telling her, but it was an online purchase, so it is not here yet and she still doesn’t know. She was upset to see it had sold, but doesn’t know it was me who bought it, so I can't wait to see her reaction when I give it to her.

This next student underscores the favorable R.O.I. that results from kindness.  (R.O.I. is a term in the financial industry:  Return On Investment--the ratio of how much value  you get back to what you put in).

WIL#4

       One nice thing I have done is write letters to my beloved family and Friends also a few acquaintances, just all the positive things like letting them know there loved and appreciated  to make their day a little bit better It makes me feel a lot better about myself knowing I was able to make someone's day better with just some kind words and maybe even make them smile.  

      When all my people told me how much they appreciated the letter I the nice warm feeling of peace and joy I got from these letters Is nothing less than priceless. It is such a simple gesture, but it can have a significant impact on someone's mood and make them feel appreciated and loved. And doing this simple gesture might inspire whoever to pass along the kindness. I like giving people a simple high-five or an outfit compliment to make someone's day a little bit better. I know when I get a compliment, I instantly feel my day brighten up no matter how small the compliment is. The type of best compliment to give are the ones that are unexpected ones. And I find myself doing more kind things the more I do them so maybe we all just should be kind and respectful towards one another. I really enjoyed and just feel a lot nicer in general after I wrote those simple very kind words to my beautiful people, so I'm looking forward to the next nice thing I do wither it's just holding the door open for someone or saying something nice just something to spread the kindness.

The August WILs were so inspiring, I decided to try a different theme for the following months.

September WIL: Stepping outside my comfort zone. 

WIL#4

My September WIL 

I’ve never been someone who liked talking to other people, I detest it because I get nervous around everyone I talk to, even my own family. Honestly, the thought of having to have a conversation or even make small talk makes me want to throw up. So, when I saw the prompt for this WIL, I decided to do the exact opposite of not talking to people. As you may know, we have two theater productions in a school year and students have the option of becoming crew members. So, I went to Mrs. Ankrum’s first production meeting and signed up to work as a House crew. Which meant I would be talking to a lot of people because I would be doing Concessions, tickets or collecting money. The thought of it terrifies me but my mom has told me that I should try more things and come out of my shell so I thought this would be a great opportunity for me. It doesn’t matter if they are complete strangers, I still get nervous even though I would probably never see them again. When I go out to eat, I struggle to order my own food, I’m always looking to my mother for guidance. The thought of doing something in front of others also scares me so that’s why I was hesitant to work as a House crew in the production until my friend offered to go with me and work as house crew. I hope to get over this fear of mine soon but right now It’s baby steps for me. 

I responded to the author:

Clearly a heartfelt WIL.  Your choosing to do “battle with yourself” is a very hopeful sign.  Too often, people see aspects of themselves as something they desperately want to leave behind—but never do anything to accomplish that goal.  I find it quite promising that you have “taken the bull by the horns” and really gone outside your comfort zone.  The very fact that you’ve taken that step suggests to me you will not regret it when you look back at the positive change you have begun. 

Mr. Ratcliffe 

October WIL was: People don’t see through my disguise.

WIL#5             

I was born into a family with 5 brothers, an addict father and a mother who was always angry. Even though I think of myself as a truthful person, when it comes to people asking questions about my family, I’ve always felt ashamed and embarrassed, so I’ve always lied.  From the ages 8 and up I grew up in poverty with a schizophrenic addict dad who was deported when I was 7 and a mom who has always been mad at the world. Even though I had a lot of sadness inside me since I was a kid I always hid it, I did really good in school I was a straight a student until 8th grade but just like my mom I had been angry at the world. I thought it was normal. I insulted every person I talked to because I thought it was normal, I didn’t know that the sadness inside me wasn’t supposed to be in someone so young. I didn’t know that if I just talked to someone about it and let myself cry about what I had been going through I wouldn’t have been such an angry person.  My mom always expected me to be better, if I got anything below a c she would get mad, she expected me to be girly but with 5 brothers, no dad and a mom who was barely around, it’s pretty impossible but her saying that always made me feel insecure. I grew up insecure, emotionless and angry my whole life until my sophomore year of high school. Even though things at home haven’t changed much I know I’ve changed into a way better, more positive person and i like to think people see me that way too. I know the importance of being kind. I’ve learned that as long as I am happy with myself and who I am I can tune out the bad and focus on the good parts of my day and to only let people in if I feel they’re positive. Knowing how important it is to push yourself to be better can be lifechanging. 

Teacher comments:

--and you are living proof of that!  I’m honored that you chose to NOT lie to me about your past. The challenges you have faced are unimaginable to me (and most people).  The quiet young woman who greets me every day with a smile, gets good grades, participates in all our class activities?–she would seem to be a student who has enjoyed full support from both parents, raised in a stable home environment.  She is someone else entirely.  Your past will always be part of  you.  Yet you’ve managed to distance yourself from its deleterious effects enough to create a bright future.  This attests to your innate strength, your ability, in spite of obstacles, to be on the path to building a life worth living. 

With respect and encouragement, 

Mr Ratcliffe 

Every year, my students are invited to participate in the Egg Drop project--build a device that will project an egg when it is tossed from the highest building on campus.  This wildly popular activity across the land tests if each student's project does NOT break the egg.  In my class,  I introduce the project by demonstrating  how little effort it takes for success: I sequester an egg inside a folded pillow, put a rubber band around it, and throw down, t with a Karate "HIA!!"  on the concrete floor.  The egg never fails to not fail.  I then go on to add to grade-addled students' confusion:  There is no grade for your project.  and, the topper:  You don't have to do this project.  You can sit there all week doing absolutely nothing.  Most (but not all!) students realize this is tantamount to granting total freedom to do whatever they want for this "assignment",  something rarely found in school.   The October WIL  this year was described as follows:

How  did YOU respond to the egg drop challenge?   Did you play Fortnight all week?  Did you finish your project on Monday and sit around for the rest of the week? Did you come in at lunch every day to have enough time to complete your VERY AMBITIOUS project?  For this WIL,  please discuss what you learned about YOURSELF when confronted with that rarest of opportunities:  Total freedom to create something amazing/beautiful/intriguing/funny/impressive, just for yourself. 

WIL#6

       What I Learned About Myself 

This October will be a little different, but for sure it will be the funest one. Having the chance to experiment with the egg drop in your class was very fun. Doing this project made me see how much I was capable of and how much creativity I had, but I realized that I was creative but not as much as I wanted to be. Seeing the video about “School takes away creativity” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBlIVBmZ0gA it made me think about what the guy said and I agree with that because schools limit you in creativity because most teachers are expecting us to do everything they say, doing everything correct and that's how they identify us, if we are smart or dumb, if we obey or we are rebel. That is not all, I think that what defines a person is our creativity as it says in the video “letting the eagle fly”. This is the reason why I love your class because in this class limits in creativity do not exist, you let us be, letting us go beyond our thought of us not being good enough. In this experiment I did not only learn about how much creativity we have, but also how powerful acceleration, force and gravity can be. I loved being part of this amazing project, but I would like to be able to fly higher, having more creativity. Besides that, I feel that I took advantage of it because I put all my creativity into it. Thank you for letting us have a lot of fun and learn at the same time in this Class and for letting us realize what we can do with no limits. 

 There are many more WILs that might inspire teachers to step outside their comfort zone and explore this simple way to develop a closer relationship with their students.  But I think the greatest benefit of WILs is to the students themselves. 

I have run the numbers and noticed that students don’t see WILs like other assignments:

1. Thirty six hours before September WILs were due, one quarter (thirty six) of my students had already turned in their WILs.

2.  On September 18th, I reminded students that the September WIL was due in twelve days.  That day, five students turned in their WILs.

3.  The minimum length requirement for WILs is 250 words.  I don't give more points for students exceeding 250 words.   In a large class (36 students) the average length was 374 words.

Something’s going on here.  Why would  top students, who are burdened with a tremendous work load in their classes, write one hundred and fifty percent of the required word length?  

ANS:  Students are not writing their WILs for the grade.  They’re writing them for the author.

WILs would seem to be more important to students than their other work.  To see if this were true, I  surveyed all my students to see their attitudes towards WILs. 

The poll had just two questions. The first was

TRUE    FALSE     In my opinion, WILs are worthwhile.

110 students said TRUE; 9 said FALSE

The other question, free response, was  I feel that way because:

Here’s a sampling:

They allow you to express your personal experiences that one may not know about you. 

It helps me feel more relief.

Cause some of us can’t put 150 words and it’s to much work.  (One of the 9 “FALSE” votes)

It’s lets me reflect on my life in a safe environment. 

I learn things about myself that I wouldn’t have known if we didn’t have WILs.

We get to express how we feel to a teacher without him judging us. 

Its writing freedom. who doesn’t want that?

I look forward to writing my WIL every month, it feels nice to write about a random topic about me because it's not something I do often.

I never knew you responded to each WIL until I reread one and noticed comments from YOU. And it gives us a way to reflect on what we learned 

It gives the opportunity for you as a teacher to learn more about your students.

It is shows proof as a person that i learned something this month.

I have lots to think about.

I feel the WILs are something that I can look forward to and look back on. I look back on them to see how much or how little I've changed. The WILs are like a personal life process check, which really help me a lot.

The WILs in my opinion honestly is a great way to do reflections on what has already happened in my life.

It lets you really reflect on somethings and may help out a lot like to get out of your comfort zone.

They help people say what they want to say without anyone telling them things about it.

It gives a way for students to express how they feel and say things that they truly want to express and say. It allows students to think more and process what they do and why.

It’s something that’s out of the norm. It helps create opportunities and not forget the basic building blocks of life.

It allows me to reflect on the month and its kinda like therapy.

I feel like the teacher cares.  

They teach us and possibly others, if we get a book published, important life lessons.

It can help change your view on things you never thought of thinking.

I will close with one final student's input that is not a WIL.  Every Friday, at the start of class, we roll out the carpet, turn out the lights, and the whole class sits around the candle while I sing 3 songs.  The only Friday this does not occur is on the Friday before the week long Thanksgiving Break.  On that day, after the requisite 3 songs, students are invited come up  one at a time and say what they are thankful for.  Sometimes a  class will turn Thanksgiving  Campfire into  an Open Mic comedy hour, entirely missing the opportunity for forging a profound connection among class members.  When the magic does happen, I believe it is because, somehow, a level of trust has been established during the semester that emboldens students to unburden their hearts.  The following note was handed to me by a student as she left Thanksgiving Campfire last Friday.