Successful teaching and learning in 2010 bears little resemblance to the education system many of us experienced. Despite these changing educational times, today’s teachers and students continue to strive together to achieve academic excellence.

 When I began teaching math in 1974, my job description was pretty simple: take the math concepts that I knew, write lesson plans and deliver that information efficiently to the students. Then I would test that knowledge, assess the learning and move on to the next chapter. Thirty-five years ago, I was probably a very effective delivery system for transferring information and data to young people. Over the past fifteen years or so, this process has rapidly become outmoded: technological advances have created far superior, readily-available delivery systems. If it’s all about information and data, then the Teacher of the Year finalists are GOOGLE, Wikipedia and Ask.com. Sadly, Mr. Cody is no longer among the nominees.

 Many teachers have recognized the challenges posed (and the benefits created) by this ever-advancing tech revolution and have embraced their evolving role as educators. Although Spanish verb tenses, the periodic table and the Gettysburg address are still being taught, collaboration, relevancy and curiosity have also become integral parts of the curriculum. The teacher of the 21st century can use technology to deliver a great deal of IQ (intelligence quotient) information, freeing up valuable classroom time to teach relevant EQ (emotional quotient) character education topics like respect, self-discipline and self-motivation. Successful teachers in this century will intentionally create meaningful connections with their students. The 3 R’s of the past (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) retain their importance, but the 3 R’s of the future are just as critical: Relationships, Relevancy and Reasoning

 I have seen hundreds of highly successful students during my 36-year career. Generally, I have found those students to be intrinsically motivated, highly self-disciplined and specially “gifted” in one form of intelligence or another.

 External motivators like grades, honor rolls and “cash for A’s” are effective short-term rewards that promote appropriate behaviors and obedient students. However, today’s life-long learner is looking for relevance and meaning in addition to those outside rewards. Successful students are truly engaged in their learning process… and this real engagement cannot be coerced or manipulated by adults. Curious students learn because they enjoy learning, they know that their own intelligence is not a “fixed” product but a “growth” process.

Do you want to increase the probability of your teen’s success in high school? Promote your son or daughter’s curiosity (not just 95% scores), encourage taking educational risks (not the easy A classes), and praise the effort (not the product).

 Self-disciplined teenagers most often turn into self-disciplined adults. It may or may not be important to learn about parabolas, but the self-discipline required for this task is an extremely vital skill. The 21st century curriculum has to offer students opportunities to learn how to do things that they do not want to do. The ability to overcome the DFLIs (Don’t-Feel-Like-Its) is a crucial element in successful students’ academic tool boxes. In teaching the ninth grade Top 20 class for the past ten years, one of the most popular (and highly effective) topics has been Power Hour. We have tried to help students organize their homework time more efficiently by encouraging them to “power down” their distractions (TVs, cell phones, music, etc.) for one hour each night. We have seen dramatic improvement in the quality of work (and reduced time spent) when students exhibit the self-discipline necessary to create a quiet, appropriate work space for themselves.

Do you want to increase the probability of your teen’s success in high school? Helping to facilitate a Power Hour might be one great way to foster self-discipline in your child.

Traditional, narrow definitions of intelligence are falling by the wayside in many once-successful educational communities. Each year that I teach, I discover more and more students who are “smart” in one way or another. These multiple intelligences have to be deliberately recognized and celebrated in our young learners. Last year in my ninth grade pre-algebra class, it became clear to me that three of the lowest-achieving math students in the room were among the top three when it came to empathy and interpersonal skills. Successful students routinely demonstrate star qualities like these in (and outside of) school.

Do you want to increase the probability of your teen’s success in high school? Look for and praise your children when they exhibit their own unique ways of “being smart”.

 Each class your child attends is financially supported by someone or some agency. With guided support from parents and teachers, successful students get their money’s worth!

To learn more Top 20 concepts, come to one of our summer training sessions in St. Paul on June 16-18, July 28th, or August 16-18.

Students who are engaged possess the power to make a positive difference in their lives. This power stems from their thinking, which impacts the positive and negative ways they experience school, relationships and other life experiences. Consequently, it is by being aware of their thinking that they discover the power of choice.

Top 20 Training has provided thousands of teachers throughout the country with a practical tool to help students become aware of their thinking and discover the power of choice. Elementary, middle and high school teachers are using Above and Below the Line to awaken students to their thinking and their ability to make better decisions.

In doing so, they are providing students with the ability to develop positive mental habits (curiosity, motivation, focus and persistence) and eliminate negative mental habits (blame, procrastination, boredom and self-doubt) from their lives. Fueled by positive mental habits, students take more responsibility in leading their lives in a healthier and more productive direction.

In the process of becoming aware of their thinking, they also discover when their thinking is not working in their best interest. At times that awareness alone helps them put on the brakes and avoid the messes that often come from poor decisions. By understanding when they are Above or Below the Line, students discover their ability to be authors of their lives rather than characters in someone else’s story. By being able to govern their thinking, they are able to govern their experiences.

Although all students benefit from this awareness of thinking, it is particularly helpful to young people who have seemingly given up hope. Hopeless and discouraged youth are prime candidates to disengage, which often has a lasting negative impact on their experiences in school, relationships and life. However, when empowered by the realization that their thinking makes a difference in their lives, the rediscovery of the power of choice encourages them to once again ‘show up’ and engage. 
Click here to learn more about our upcoming training sessions and other topics that will be covered.

An epidemic that continues to go undiagnosed in American schools is how students from all stages of the academic achievement spectrum experience feelings of stupid. Although this disease diminishes the potential of all students, it is deadly for young people who experience feelings of stupid on a daily basis…and many do.

For these students, quitting school or disengaging while attending school is an understandable yet personally damaging response.

Based on research from students throughout the country, Top 20 Training has identified eight ways students react to feelings of stupid and five causes of feelings of stupid.

Reactions to Feeling Stupid:

When students feel stupid, they predictably react in one of eight ways.

1. The withdraw. They quit school or they disengage while they are in school. They find ways to remain invisible even when they show up for school. They don’t raise their hands when they don’t know something. They don’t sign up for classes or participate in co-curricular activities that might be challenging.

2. They pretend. They pretend to know something when they really don’t. They pretend to be able to do something when they really can’t.

3. They become emotional. They are embarrassed, angry, upset, sad, worried, nervous or stressed.

4. They judge themselves: I’m not good enough; I don’t know anything; I’m bad at everything; I am stupid.

5. They attack others. They argue with or challenge teachers. They bully other students in the hallway or cafeteria, on the playground or bus, or online.

6. They become defensive. They make judgments of teachers and classes — “This class is stupid…My teacher is stupid.”

7. They may be motivated to do better in school. They may study harder for the next test. However, they continue to carry within them the feeling of being stupid.

8. They become numb because being numb is better than dumb. They choose to be apathetic or use alcohol or drugs to deaden the feelings of stupid.

Causes of Stupid:

Top 20 Training has identified five causes of stupid.

1. Called: Students are called stupid or other words that mean the same thing like ’dumb’ or ‘idiot’. They are laughed at or experience non-verbal responses from teachers.

2. Comparison: Students are compared to others or compare themselves to others. Typically these comparisons result in students judging themselves: “I’m not good enough.

3. Confusion: Students feel stupid when they don’t get it and are confused. Although confusion is a natural part of all learning, most students have come to believe that confusion is a sign of their stupidity.

4. Can’t: Students can’t do certain things. Their failure or mistakes make them feel stupid. As a result, they often avoid activities or situations where they cannot easily succeed.

5. Certain situations: Students feel stupid when they experience certain situations like reading aloud in class or needing help.

Teacher Tips for Overcoming Stupid:

Top 20 Training is working with teachers in thousands of schools to reduce the negative impact stupid has on students lives and learning.

1. Top 20 Training is initiating professional conversations among educators to:
(a) become aware of stupid and
(b) consider ways to reduce student experiences of stupid.

2. Top 20 Training is encouraging educators to make “stupid” part of the curriculum: 
(a) For teachers to share their own personal experiences of feeling stupid and to teach the 5 causes of stupid.
(b) For teachers to explain how ‘comparison’ can lead to learning and the importance of ‘confusion’ in learning.
(c) For teachers to stress the value of failure and mistakes to learning and growing.

3. Top 20 Training is helping teachers and students be aware of when stupid is more likely to appear. For example, when students may have done poorly on an exam and when new and more challenging material is about to be presented.

4. Top20 Training is challenging teachers to help ALL students discover how they are smart.

Click here to learn more about our upcoming training sessions and other topics that will be covered.

 In her presentation Data-informed Instruction with Professional Learning Communities and Common Assessments at the National Catholic Education Association Conference on April 17th, Heidi will pose the question, “What do we do when student achievement data has not reached the standard we want it to be?”

When teachers know what students have learned and what they have not learned, they can respond as Bottom 80s or Top 20s. As Bottom 80s, they can: 

1. Change nothing and continue to teach their students with the same methods and strategies that failed to get desired results in the first place.

2. Have their need to be right activated and give away power by blaming the students: “The kids didn’t study enough.” They can even see themselves as victims: “There’s too much to do. I don’t have enough time to teach all this and do everything else.” This results in their being stuck in yuck.

 Another option is to operate as Top 20s.

They can get curious and change how they see the situation and their students. They can analyze the data to see what worked in the classroom and what didn’t. They can even check in with their students for their opinion about what didn’t work and what might be more effective. By avoiding blame and maintaining curiosity, they will see it differently and do it differently. As such, they are more likely to make a positive difference in their students’ achievement and experience.

 If you’d like to learn more about the Frame and other powerful Top 20 concepts, register for one of our training sessions this summer.

TOP 20 TRAINING’S TLC CLASS IS FEATURED ON KARE 11 NBC

by Paul Bernabei

Top 20 people develop potential in themselves and others.

What is potential?

Potential is a power inside each person that waits and waits and waits to get activated and, when it does, comes out to make a positive difference in the quality of his or her life, relationships, and experiences.

Furthermore, when potential develops in an individual, it makes a difference in the lives of other people as well. Potential, quite simply, is a power inside each person that wants to come out and make a positive difference in his or her life.

What happens to that potential?

For some people, nothing happens to it. Although they have potential, it never get activated, its’ not developing, and all of our training talks about reasons why that happens. For others, their potential develops at a normal rate. These people are doing okay. We call folks in these two groups the Bottom 80. But for people in a third group, their potential explodes. Their potential develops at an accelerated rate. They are the Top 20.

What makes the difference between Top 20 and Bottom 80s?

When we operate as a Top 20 person, we think, learn, and communicate, or TLC, in highly effective ways. When we operate as bottom 80s, our thinking, learning, and communicating is highly ineffective. In a real sense, each person is a Top 20. At times each person thinks, learns, and communicates in highly effective ways. Likewise, each person is a bottom 80 who, at times, thinks, learns, and communicates in highly ineffective ways.

Consequently, when we use this Top 20 and Bottom 80 language, we are not comparing ourselves to other people. It’s simply a way of our understanding these two dimensions about ourselves: a Top 20 dimension when we TLC in highly effective ways and a Bottom 80 dimension when we TLC in highly ineffective ways.

The purpose of all Top 20 training and materials is to help people become aware of Top 20 and Bottom 80 ways of thinking, learning and communicating. We will all, at times, operate in Bottom 80 ineffective ways. However, with that awareness we can more quickly move back in the Top 20 direction and choose more effective ways of thinking, learning, and communicating.

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