I now know what it would take to get rich. All I need is a nickle for every story I have read or heard about an individual who is anywhere from mildly to wildly creative and successful who has tales of frustration in K-12 school. Don't get me wrong, most of these stories include that "one teacher who . . ." Not all of them, but most of them speak of the teacher who recognized and developed the talent, the spark, the what later became a life story of creativity and success. I am reminded of movie producer Spielberg who needed to skip school to take photographs at sunrise in the desert, so his mom drove him to do that. Country singer, Marty Stuart tells a story of getting in trouble in a history class as he retorted to his teacher, "I don't want to read about history, I want to make history!" He went on the road at 13 years of age to start a prolific music career. In a hospital emergency room, the physician was chatting it up with me about what I do for living and then went on to tell me it wasn't until he was in 7th grade that he earned his first "A".
This tells us a few things. It tells us as educators to be that "one teacher who . . ." It tells us that there is bubbling potential in students that goes unrecognized and later erupts as undesired classroom behavior. It tells us that the "one size fits all" approach to education is about as realistic and attractive in our industry as it is in the fashion industry—it's not.
We have the power to customize.
As always, comments welcomed!
Stef
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mean, Cranky, Yelling Behavior
This is a short entry today because it is simply a report of what a middle school student told a colleague of mine after school. He said, "I have never liked school". My colleague is one of the "cool dudes" after school and kids like to swing by and help clean up his lab or just hang out. After the boy made his announcement, my colleague asked the boy why he wasn't happy with school.
The boy went on to explain that at home his mom is always mad and when he goes to school his teachers are always mad too. My colleague was empathetic, but tried to reason with the boy as well. He explained that kids' behaviors often cause "mean" or "cranky" behavior in adults and sometimes they yell, even though they shouldn't. The boy just replied that he couldn't take it anymore. This worries me.
Interested in your thoughts.
Stef
The boy went on to explain that at home his mom is always mad and when he goes to school his teachers are always mad too. My colleague was empathetic, but tried to reason with the boy as well. He explained that kids' behaviors often cause "mean" or "cranky" behavior in adults and sometimes they yell, even though they shouldn't. The boy just replied that he couldn't take it anymore. This worries me.
Interested in your thoughts.
Stef
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Power of the Unknown, or Know When to Ear Bite
The beginning of a new academic year is our own version of "Happy New Year". We are filled with anticipation, hope, and even resolutions (i.e., "This year I won't let those kids . . ."). The students on the other hand simply wrestle for a day or two with the "unknown". Then that charming timid behavior that borders on the polite begins to dwindle. Take advantage of it—but in a nice way.
Let's take a lesson from packing or herding animals. I talk about this frequently while teaching pre-service or coaching in-service teachers. One of my favorite examples of getting the "young ones in line" is the wolf pack. Remember, discipline is "for their own good", in the wild it is a matter of survival. Wolves don't think about it, they just know it instinctively. When one of those youngsters starts to "test" (like students on the 2nd or 3rd day of school, once they have you all figured out) the alpha wolf just bites an ear—message sent, "get back in line", no love lost.
Find your own way to "ear bite" straight away before a bad behavior becomes a habit or spreads like a pandemic disease. Initially they'll respect you, ultimately they'll thank you.
Comments and stories welcome!
Stef
Let's take a lesson from packing or herding animals. I talk about this frequently while teaching pre-service or coaching in-service teachers. One of my favorite examples of getting the "young ones in line" is the wolf pack. Remember, discipline is "for their own good", in the wild it is a matter of survival. Wolves don't think about it, they just know it instinctively. When one of those youngsters starts to "test" (like students on the 2nd or 3rd day of school, once they have you all figured out) the alpha wolf just bites an ear—message sent, "get back in line", no love lost.
Find your own way to "ear bite" straight away before a bad behavior becomes a habit or spreads like a pandemic disease. Initially they'll respect you, ultimately they'll thank you.
Comments and stories welcome!
Stef
Monday, September 7, 2009
Body Language
I have a confession. I am one of those people who really likes that roughly 3 feet of space around me at all times. It's not that I am unfriendly (at least I don't think I am), it's just that personal space is important to me, I just don't need to be that "up close and personal". I have learned, however, in my never ending quest to determine the perfect combination of conditions to optimize classroom teaching, "up close and personal" is often preferred by students of certain cultures and especially at the middle school level. I have learned to adjust.
So, that's my body language issue—and we all have them. In my credential courses and while coaching classroom teachers, I spend time on this topic. Pre-service and in-service teachers are surprised to learn a few things that I am about to share with you. What follows is a brief, by no means complete (but it's a start) list of body language "messages" we send, here goes:
1. Shifting your weight to one side communicates being unbalanced, so center your weight.
2. One or both hands on the hips is "posturing" if you stand that way too long (especially with both hands and while raising your voice) this communicates agitation and is provoking.
3. If you want others to speak up, especially after you have been talking for awhile, "turn it over" to the class (or audience) by extending your hands, palms up.
4. Breath deeply and walk slowly when something goes wrong, class gets noise, kids horsing around, whatever—never rush over to an incident, or it will worsen.
5. Never touch a student, just make contact with the desk, you will get the compliance you're looking for, especially if you keep on teaching while standing there leaning against the his/her desk.
6. When you want someone's attention, like the kid in the back who just cannot reign it in and quiet down and stop talking, square your hips and shoulders toward that student and look directly at her/him without speaking. You'll get the compliance and most likely another student or the rest of the class will tell her/him to stop interrupting the class. Be sure to always say, "Thank you" when you get compliance you seek.
That's enough for now. There is a huge amount of research on this topic and some fairly good videos on U-Tube to illustrate some these points. Become a student of body language, observe your peers, both the "pro's" and the "strugglers", I'll bet their body language is very different from one another.
When you have moment, share some of your body language observations with us!
Stef
So, that's my body language issue—and we all have them. In my credential courses and while coaching classroom teachers, I spend time on this topic. Pre-service and in-service teachers are surprised to learn a few things that I am about to share with you. What follows is a brief, by no means complete (but it's a start) list of body language "messages" we send, here goes:
1. Shifting your weight to one side communicates being unbalanced, so center your weight.
2. One or both hands on the hips is "posturing" if you stand that way too long (especially with both hands and while raising your voice) this communicates agitation and is provoking.
3. If you want others to speak up, especially after you have been talking for awhile, "turn it over" to the class (or audience) by extending your hands, palms up.
4. Breath deeply and walk slowly when something goes wrong, class gets noise, kids horsing around, whatever—never rush over to an incident, or it will worsen.
5. Never touch a student, just make contact with the desk, you will get the compliance you're looking for, especially if you keep on teaching while standing there leaning against the his/her desk.
6. When you want someone's attention, like the kid in the back who just cannot reign it in and quiet down and stop talking, square your hips and shoulders toward that student and look directly at her/him without speaking. You'll get the compliance and most likely another student or the rest of the class will tell her/him to stop interrupting the class. Be sure to always say, "Thank you" when you get compliance you seek.
That's enough for now. There is a huge amount of research on this topic and some fairly good videos on U-Tube to illustrate some these points. Become a student of body language, observe your peers, both the "pro's" and the "strugglers", I'll bet their body language is very different from one another.
When you have moment, share some of your body language observations with us!
Stef
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Diagnostics: Teachers are Good Medicine
Your case load is high, I know that. For high school teachers a case load of 180+ students is a norm, for middle school teachers 160+ students is business as usual. And, much like a physician you are expected to administer treatment of one sort or another to each of the individuals with which you come in contact. The big difference though between you and the medical practitioner is that you see all of your "patients" in one day and in clumps of 30-40 at a time.
Under these conditions triage is the order of the day. There are times when the classroom becomes chaotic like a hospital emergency room, but the triage "team" is you and nobody else. We need to ask ourselves, even when we are consistently successful with this seemingly impossible situation, how long can we continue without wearing ourselves out? At what point does our own health begin to degrade? When does our unfaltering commitment to resolving our students' "ills" erode our personal relationships? This is serious stuff. We need to take care of ourselves.
The secret is to become really good with diagnostics. As quickly as possible we need to figure who falls into which segment of the "80/20%" categories. Let me explain. For the most part, 80% of our students are in no immediate danger—they may develop symptoms later, but for now, they're fine (just keep an eye on 'em). Then there's the remaining 20%, of them, 15% are showing symptoms, while not acute, they are chronic and deserve your attention. The final 5%—they're the one's showing acute symptoms, either instructionally, behaviorally, or most likely both.
That 5% is 2 or 3 students in a class—that's manageable. If we really work on diagnosing those students and prescribe appropriately, we can begin to get a handle on the situation. We'll have many more conversations about this on the blog throughout the year. For now, remember this, teachers are good medicine.
Stef
Under these conditions triage is the order of the day. There are times when the classroom becomes chaotic like a hospital emergency room, but the triage "team" is you and nobody else. We need to ask ourselves, even when we are consistently successful with this seemingly impossible situation, how long can we continue without wearing ourselves out? At what point does our own health begin to degrade? When does our unfaltering commitment to resolving our students' "ills" erode our personal relationships? This is serious stuff. We need to take care of ourselves.
The secret is to become really good with diagnostics. As quickly as possible we need to figure who falls into which segment of the "80/20%" categories. Let me explain. For the most part, 80% of our students are in no immediate danger—they may develop symptoms later, but for now, they're fine (just keep an eye on 'em). Then there's the remaining 20%, of them, 15% are showing symptoms, while not acute, they are chronic and deserve your attention. The final 5%—they're the one's showing acute symptoms, either instructionally, behaviorally, or most likely both.
That 5% is 2 or 3 students in a class—that's manageable. If we really work on diagnosing those students and prescribe appropriately, we can begin to get a handle on the situation. We'll have many more conversations about this on the blog throughout the year. For now, remember this, teachers are good medicine.
Stef
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Liberated Teacher
If teachers are "respected professionals" (as they are told they are in the intro of a professional development session) why do we keep telling them what to do in "professional development" workshops? I am still focusing on classroom management/ discipline here, but I think we need to think about this phenomenon. All workshops provided for teachers feed into the classroom conditions and teachers need to speak up when they know for certain that a strategy may spell disaster in the classroom.
It is professional to contribute in a professional development session if a teacher has direct experience with a strategy (whether good or bad). That is what "development" is, anything else is merely indoctrination and that is not professional. Any professional development that allows for collaboration between teachers only around what is presented says teachers don't know enough to collaborate on their own about what they know—man that bothers me! Let me tell you why.
Initially, I have done more professional development workshops than I care to count and it is always extremely critical to me to learn about my audience ahead of time. I want to know what they already know—taking nothing for granted. Now we can develop and that goes for me too because it is always an matter of exchange.
Secondly, while coaching teachers, I have witnesses some difficult classroom situations where teachers have jumped in feeling pressure to implement an instructional or management strategy before they are ready to or before they understand why it is appropriate or not. In the end the teacher tells me with disappointment, "That's what I learned in a workshop".
So teachers, liberate yourselves. Weigh the outcome of a professional development. Make the strategy your own, question it, tweek it—you're a professional and you know stuff. You are either experienced in the classroom or you have recently come out of an accredited teacher preparation program—either way, you know stuff. Share your stuff.
That's enough from me, now it's your turn.
Stef
It is professional to contribute in a professional development session if a teacher has direct experience with a strategy (whether good or bad). That is what "development" is, anything else is merely indoctrination and that is not professional. Any professional development that allows for collaboration between teachers only around what is presented says teachers don't know enough to collaborate on their own about what they know—man that bothers me! Let me tell you why.
Initially, I have done more professional development workshops than I care to count and it is always extremely critical to me to learn about my audience ahead of time. I want to know what they already know—taking nothing for granted. Now we can develop and that goes for me too because it is always an matter of exchange.
Secondly, while coaching teachers, I have witnesses some difficult classroom situations where teachers have jumped in feeling pressure to implement an instructional or management strategy before they are ready to or before they understand why it is appropriate or not. In the end the teacher tells me with disappointment, "That's what I learned in a workshop".
So teachers, liberate yourselves. Weigh the outcome of a professional development. Make the strategy your own, question it, tweek it—you're a professional and you know stuff. You are either experienced in the classroom or you have recently come out of an accredited teacher preparation program—either way, you know stuff. Share your stuff.
That's enough from me, now it's your turn.
Stef
Friday, September 4, 2009
First Impression
Ever wonder what you look like to kids? Do you think about what you want to look like to kids? I'm actually not sure where I'm going with this, it's just that I've been thinking about it. When I get around a bunch of teachers I don't know, I wonder about it. Oddly enough, the same thoughts go through my head when I get around a bunch of teachers I do know.
One thing's for sure, teachers are always the ones in comfortable shoes. That in itself sends a message. I am fairly certain (at least I've read plenty of research to support this, so I talk about it in my teacher credentialing classes because I want my "teacher-in-the-making" students to be aware) we can enhance our ability to manage a class by the way we dress, our body language, the tone of our voice, and as strange as it may seem, lastly by the words we use. More on this another time.
It concerns me that teachers (many of them) don't put much work into preparing their "professional image" for the day. Then they wonder why kids don't listen to them, respect them, defy them. It matters what you look like (unless you have a major rep' and then you can get away with more). Secondary students especially take note of the last time you wore the blue plaid shirt, the overly relaxed nature of your outfit, the "datedness" of what you're wearing.
If you mean business in the classroom, and you should, then dress the part. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It should fit well, be coordinated, up to date, and age appropriate. It says you care. The truth is, kids don't really concern themselves with what you know, it is whether you care. The skillfully prepared lesson says you care, so does how you present yourself.
One thing's for sure, teachers are always the ones in comfortable shoes. That in itself sends a message. I am fairly certain (at least I've read plenty of research to support this, so I talk about it in my teacher credentialing classes because I want my "teacher-in-the-making" students to be aware) we can enhance our ability to manage a class by the way we dress, our body language, the tone of our voice, and as strange as it may seem, lastly by the words we use. More on this another time.
It concerns me that teachers (many of them) don't put much work into preparing their "professional image" for the day. Then they wonder why kids don't listen to them, respect them, defy them. It matters what you look like (unless you have a major rep' and then you can get away with more). Secondary students especially take note of the last time you wore the blue plaid shirt, the overly relaxed nature of your outfit, the "datedness" of what you're wearing.
If you mean business in the classroom, and you should, then dress the part. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It should fit well, be coordinated, up to date, and age appropriate. It says you care. The truth is, kids don't really concern themselves with what you know, it is whether you care. The skillfully prepared lesson says you care, so does how you present yourself.
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