In Episode 2 of the Eduspeakeasy, I discuss the radius of excellence.

I’ve been teaching for 15 years, which is not a lifetime but it’s a decent amount of time. Long enough for me to realize the importance of developing what I’m calling (engage heavy reverb) a Radius of Excellence.

The radius of excellence, or perhaps the radius of quality, is my name for the environment that we create for our students. The environments that we expect them to enter into and have success. I talking about the room, the building, the individual spaces that these students call home during our class.

With the radius of excellence, I’m referring to a set of expectations and putting those expectations on display in everything we do as teachers.

My students are using costly audio production equipment — cameras, lights, microphones, tripods — lots of stuff that’s as expensive as it is breakable. When they step into this space they need to see those things organized and well maintained. They need to see those items put back in the same spot every time.

It seems so obvious, doesn’t it? I don’t think first-year teachers realize just how little students come prepared to do on their own accord and just how much the teacher has to build into daily routines.

If we want to talk about routines, the thing that springs to my mind is my wife’s class. In Mrs. Harrel’s 1st grade class, they have a specific routine to start the day. I’ve heard about it many times, and I might even be able to accomplish it myself. They unpack their backpacks, they put away their backpacks, they take their green folder, and they put it in the mailbox, they put their Chromebooks in the drawer, they get started on their morning work.

This is their routine, and it’s essential to success in Mrs. Harrel’s class. (I should point out that Mrs. Harrel is by far better than me at everything except audio/video editing and production). At any rate, that’s the routine, and that’s the radius of excellence that surrounds Mrs. Harrel’s class.

Back to those first-year teachers. As a first-year teacher I don’t think I knew that the students needed to be instructed on what seems like basic information – repeatedly – and the importance of keeping the classroom radius of excellence intact.

I have a little bit of a story that I’m embarrassed about. When I was in my first year teaching during a jazz band rehearsal, I didn’t put the saxophones in the correct order. I let them sit in an odd arrangement — altos together and tenors together – because I thought maybe that would make them feel more comfortable on their parts. What I needed to do was start setting expectations of what it looks like to be in a jazz band. If there’s one thing we can do during our first rehearsal it’s sit like a professional jazz band.

Why do all these little things matter? Why are they important?

Before I get to that, I want to speak to what happened recently in my classroom. Just before Thanksgiving break, I had to miss a good chunk of days for professional development. I was a little bit nervous about it, but if I don’t have my students trained at this point, then I’ve probably already failed. I had multiple substitutes on different days. I really need to trust the students more than the subs. When I came back, I was pleasantly surprised. There was only one little thing that I would say wrecked the radius of excellence. It was really small and I can work with that. This time last year it was five different things when I came back. This year there were just some microphone cables that were not correctly wrapped and put in the right spot. Guess what? It was my fault – but I’ll get to that in another post.

I’m trying to establish with my students a professional work environment. Part of my classroom space includes a recording studio. In that space, we’re trying to replicate the look of a professional recording studio. If a client comes into a recording studio and they’ve got a few hundred dollars to spend, the studio needs to make a good impression. Clients will walk into a studio and their eyes are immediately going to assess what’s taking place in front of them. If there are microphone cables all over the place and 18 different mic stands leaning this way and that, they’re not going to want to do business there. They may not even be able to describe why.

We’re trying to establish a habit of professionalism. I think of the places where I like to shop. Consider the Apple Store. When I walk in, I immediately get a sense of everything that Apple is about. When I walk into a K-mart I know exactly what Kmart is about. No thanks, I’ll try another option.

I think we can bring a similar mindset to our classroom space. I think it does matter and I think that it translates to students knowing that they expect quality work. They need to understand that when they use expensive equipment, there’s an expectation that you have to take care of it. For me, this radius of excellence represents keeping things organized and maintained.

It’s a never-ending battle, and it’s going to come back again next year. Just when the kids get good this year, we’re going to start it over again next year. That’s education for you.

What does the radius of excellence look like in your class? Is it about a daily routine that establishes good work habits or about maintaining organization and care of equipment and belongings? No matter what it looks like, I say you draw a radius and welcome students into it so they understand what’s important to you and the work you do every day.