Each year, I've tried to impress upon my advisees that they must stay mindful of the digital footprint they've made. Instead of the usual talking to, this year I decided to make it "for reals" and stalk their social media profiles to collect potentially-incriminating items they never thought were public, where prospective employers might find them, should they do a simple search. The idea was to spend no more than five minutes searching for each of my twelve advisees, so that when it was time to show them (privately) what I'd found, I could say, "And this (points to compromising picture) was only after five minutes of searching!" Don't worry, it never got to that point. I set out to search and I braced myself for shock and/or alarm (we're talking members of the teen species here). It was very easy to find them, especially the ones with unusual names, but finding potentially embarrassing stuff was a whole other matter. There wasn't anything to find except the usual and mostly-innocuous shared stuff of adolescent lives. But as I was searching those first few minutes, reading through bad jokes, glancing quickly through pics of friends making faces, getting distracted by cute sleepy kitten videos, clicking through all those awkward selfies, something started happening. I started seeing my students-- seeing them in ways they wanted others to see them, I could see hints of insecurities, their frustrations, their fears, and their aspirations. It was both humbling and deeply moving at the same time. Jason, a student new to our school, is quite the artist with a gift for portraiture. He seems able to hone in on whatever it is about his subjects that reveal their humanity. I wanted to see more of his art than what was on his Tumblr. Then there's Mona, whose anti-authority persona at school is tough as nails, and yet her Facebook stream was chock full of Buddhist quotes and messages of inspiration. "How you make others feel says a lot about yourself," says one of 'em. Indeed, Ms. Mona, indeed.
I got lost in Lena's joyous collection of photos, including that of her recent quinceañera (a rite of passage for Latina girls). She looks incredibly happy in each picture, surrounded by loving friends and family. There is so much pride in her heritage, and in all the pictures of celebrations, she's surrounded by children looking up at her, adoringly. She's shared with me how incredibly anxious she is about her struggles with reading and writing and getting into college. Now I can see a little more of that story; how she may be taking her family with her on that dream, and how she may fear letting them down should she fail. Suddenly, the role I play in her life takes on more weight and possibility. I can help her. I will. One hundred students a year; that's one hundred beautifully-flawed, sad, joyous, lonely, witty, hopeful, and complex human beings under the same roof with me every day and yet, I don't know much about them aside from a few surface facts and their reading and writing needs. That's okay, they're teens and so they have secret lives that even their parents don't know about. I'm good with that, and honestly, I don't want to know everything. But a lot of what they shared was public for a reason, and if there's any take-away from that ill-fated search for potentially-embarrassing photos, it's that (just like me, doing what I'm doing at this moment) they're all reaching out in the hope they'll be seen on their own terms. As a Humanities teacher, I can do more to make room for that in my classroom and at my school. I can and so I will. I end with this last little find: It's what one student tweeted about the project we were doing (Pan-African music analysis):
The truth is out there, and it ain't always pretty...and-- invariably, someone will retweet it.
I stumbled upon a process for launching a class blog that was non-threatening to struggling writers and yet, still engaged the more confident scribes in the room.
For our first post, I had students collect ten images (self-created or not) representing different aspects of their lives or personalities. They then created a slideshow with the images and embedded it into the main page of their blog. The only requirements: (1) images must be "appropriate" enough to show a roomful of grand-folks, and (2) no text. No text piques readers' curiosity and prompts them to comment with their questions, thereby inspiring the blogger to draft another post in response.
The next day, I had students create a list of "Top Ten" (any topic of their choosing). I used my own blog as an exemplar, sharing my list of "Top Ten Moments of Bliss" (in no particular order):
Snowboarding with Tommy, my nephew
Receiving my Bachelor's degree- my whole family was there.
Falling in love and realizing it for the first time
Rock climbing, making it to the top, breathing, and then turning around to take in the view
Biking down the Sandia Crest trail
Backpacking around Cuba, up to the mountain valleys (lush)
Bungee jumping off of a New Zealand mining bridge (where bungee jumping first originated)
Walking along the Nova Scotian coastline
Waking up on mornings after a big trek along the New Zealand coast (Akaroa)
Floating on a river through a cave- looking up and seeing glow worms (they looked like stars!)
I asked the class which item on my list was most intriguing to them and conveyed how I could use their feedback to determine the topic for my next post. Happy blogging! P.S. I use Google Sites as a platform for our class blog. If you'd like a template that you can simply copy, leave a comment and I'll kick it your way.
Matt Cutts, in his short TED Talk, shares how he was inspired to change one little thing in his life and commit to it for at least 30 days. It changed him in ways he didn't anticipate. Since my advisory students were setting academic goals, I decided to share Cutts' Talk with them since it validated my own advice about how changing habits takes time and a commitment to being consistent over a period of time.
I love moonlighting as an advisor. Sure, I'm an englush teecher at heart, but I chose that path as a career because it held the most potential for positively impacting the lives of others, and being an advisor significantly ups that mojo. Also, much of what we address is stuff I need reminding about to keep my own house in order, which brings me back to the 30-Day Challenge.
What I hadn't anticipated was how inspired my students would be after veiwing Cutts' Talk. They proposed we each take on a goal for the next month just as Cutts had done. I loved the idea, especially since it furthered my own advisory agenda! That evening, I built a group blog using a Google Site as the platform. First we used it to brainstorm ideas for goals, then once they were decided, we chronicled our attempts to either rid ourselves of our habits or develop them. We spent roughly ten minutes at the start of each class crafting our posts and providing supportive feedback to one another. Those students who had a hard time deciding on a goal found it easier to piggy-back off of an idea that was already started, like turning in work on time, or drinking a certain amount of water each day. Shortly after, another advisory class joined us and our blogroll grew to 37, including the other teacher, who had a newborn infant and felt the family pet was being neglected, so her daily goal was to spend at least 5 minutes playing with her dog. Even though the challenge was optional, most of the students joined the blog by the second week, having been inspired by the other class joining us or by the attention given to bloggers whose pursuits from the very first day became a topic of discussion among peers.
Looking back, I can see there was a wonderful burst of organic energy around this endeavor. Teachers know this kind of momentum is pure gold when it comes directly from the students themselves, inspired by their own ideas and interests. Still, there are times when that energy requires the invisible hand of the facilitator to ensure the flow, intensity, and direction of the energy so that it's sure to be sustained. And that's where I kind of dropped the ball.
As the month rolled on, it became difficult for some to keep up with their daily posts, especially during the weekend when it wasn't a part of their usual day to post to a blog. A few students had set some high-maintenance goals and started falling behind. Admittedly, I was a slacker myself when it came to maintaining consistency since I let the blog time slide if there was a school-wide event or grade-wide activity we had to complete. The other advisor's dog got the ball thrown a few times but by the end of the month, it was clear that tug-time on the rope would remain a rare treat.
There was definitely a loss of momentum by the time we reached the finish line. Many had already dropped out of the race and watched as the remaining goal-setters hobbled in. Regardless, throughout the challenge, some really cool things emerged that helped me to see it as something worth replicating and improving upon.
Something I hadn't anticipated was how much (and how quickly) I could learn about my students through their chronicles. The goals they set served as a formative assessment, conveying their interests, values, and a sense of their personalities. A few wanted to publish a photograph each day, and their pictures were like a window into their worlds. Oftentimes, I was taken aback by the beauty they had captured, which conveyed a special connectedness to the natural world.
One of Noah's photos
Others set athletic goals, like jogging a mile each day or doing something at daily dance practice that would push them further toward a longer-term goal. Dominic went from a 7:18 mile to ending the month at 6:27. Ashley wanted to be sure and say something nice to someone each day. She told her mom how much she meant to her and she blogged that her mom wanted to know what she did wrong. Ivan set out to compliment five people a day, telling them how much he admired them for their humor or athleticism. Curious about the reaction he kept getting, which was a mix of suspicion and gratitude, he began wondering if people, across the board, were under-appreciated. Christina decided she'd "try not to be mean" to other people, and in the process, she realized it wasn't as hard as she thought. In my comment to her post, I wrote, "Could it be that being more mindful of our own actions toward others helps us become better human beings? Does it help us see ourselves in a light that's closer to who we actually are? Or is it a way toward becoming more compassionate, toward others and toward ourselves?" Rayne decided to go meatless and curse-less. It didn't last the month, but after a couple of weeks, he noted there was a change in his mood and wasn't sure if it was the lack of meat or expletives that was doing it. Mikaela tried to break her habit of saying, "I'm sorry," something her friends told her she did all the time. She wrote about how they began helping her with the challenge since, even though she tried, she couldn't catch herself saying it. It compelled her to reflect on where it was coming from, which lead to some interesting insights around her own self-concept.
So, I'm going to try this again at the start of the Spring semester with the same advisory group, and I'll build on what worked and change what didn't. What worked:
Making it optional and not attaching a grade to it
Inviting other advisories- perhaps this time, inviting the entire sophomore class!
Supportive commenting
What didn't:
Inconsistency. We'll make it a for-sure start-of-advisory ritual, no matter what's on our plate.
Weekend lag. We'll decide, as a group, to give ourselves a break over the weekends, unless otherwise compelled to keep it up. I'll try to be a model for the "keep it up" crowd.
What I'll add:
Reflecting on the experience of the first round so that we can address goals that might've been unrealistic or impractical, what worked, what didn't (their perspective)
Adding resources on the blog for generating ideas and how to set realistic goals, with students' contributions
End of writing time share-out to the class, for those who'd like to, or for those who'd like to give kudos to someone deserving whose blog they read
Amp up the public spin on it with students' permission, sharing kudos on our school's Facebook page.
Discussion around the quality of comments and the effects they have on bloggers' motivation
Allowing for students to set their blogs to "private" if they want (Google Sites makes this possible)
End-of-week celebration, in some form
A reflective written piece, or a video blog for their ePortfolios: "take-aways" around goal-setting
End-of-month wrap-up party, and possibly the launch of a third round...?
I started seeing my students-- seeing them in ways they wanted others to see them, I could see hints of insecurities, their frustrations, their fears, and their aspirations. It was both humbling and deeply moving at the same time. 
I got lost in Lena's joyous collection of photos, including that of her recent quinceañera (a rite of passage for Latina girls). She looks incredibly happy in each picture, surrounded by loving friends and family. There is so much pride in her heritage, and in all the pictures of celebrations, she's surrounded by children looking up at her, adoringly. She's shared with me how incredibly anxious she is about her struggles with reading and writing and getting into college. Now I can see a little more of that story; how she may be taking her family with her on that dream, and how she may fear letting them down should she fail. Suddenly, the role I play in her life takes on more weight and possibility. I can help her. I will. 
