Rewards Plan

I've been thinking about our discipline plans: the rules, the consequences, and the rewards. I'd love to know your thinking and suggestions for videos in your content area that might actually be inspiring treasures that might serve as rewards and motivate students to learn more on their own. The real work in such a reward process is the amassing of the treasures and deciding how best to use them and evaluating their effect on the students. Under helpful links here in our blog you'll find "Teaching with TED." This is where we might start the search for meaningful, standards-aligned and content-topic related videos. These videos can begin a conversation in your classroom and send some of your students off in search of more to learn about the topic. For example, I recently watched "Arthur Benjamin Does Mathemagic" and was motivated to find out more about Vedic math calculations. When the reward is, perhaps, also the seed for learning more or building respect for the learning, then I think students begin to see that learning is its own reward. I hope you'll explore Teaching with TED and share those video clips with us that might be appropriate as a reward or for inspiration within your subject area.

Image from (CBS)

Do Our Children Lack Creativity?

I read a post in Public School Insights, a blog written by Claus Von Zastrow for the Learning First Alliance, where he interviews noted researcher and author Ashley Merryman. She recently co-authored a Newsweek cover story titled "The Creativity Crisis." Merryman argues that there's a science to nurturing a creative mind and we're just not doing that in this country.

She cites the declining scores our children are producing on the TTCT (Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) in the last 20 years. The test measures curiosity, hypothetical thinking, imagination, emotional expressiveness, humor, boundary breaking, and more. She says those scores were on the rise from 1958 to 1990. She blames some of it on television watching and computer usage among our youngsters. "For every hour kids watch television, their participation in creative activity drops 10%" She informs that it's not like you have to have knowledge first and then you are creative in the use. Rather knowledge and creativity are constantly working together in a creative child's mind.

Merryman also says we have no national strategy to address this crisis but holds out hope. We do know how to reverse this trend. "Creativity training actually changes brain function. On the neurological level we can actually change how the brain responds." This combination of encouraging both knowledge acquisition and creativity has implications for every classroom teacher.

What are your thoughts about this "crisis"? We might even ask our students to read the Newsweek article and propose solutions or view the video presentations posted on TED that also address the issue of creativity and our schools. Better yet check out the many outstanding resources available on this topic at Teaching with Ted.

Spoiled Kids?

Recently, I began our work session with this acronym "WIIFM" and asked the group to consider why we're examining effective classroom management practices. Each of us came up with specific benefits for ourselves, for our well being.

Then the other day, I read in a blog I subscribe to about a book titled Motivating the "What's In It For Me" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits. And last Sunday, Alfie Kohn wrote a column in The Washington Post headlined "Complaining about a generation of spoiled kids -- again." Kohn believes this American pastime that targets one generation with such criticism is, frankly, getting old.

We teachers-- veteran or young-- certainly want to consider what's in it for us, don't we? So are we the "Me Generation"? And if we, too, are guilty of WIIFM thinking and attitudes, what should we do and how should we think about our students? Don't they need us to teach them that their education is its own reward? Don't they need us to teach them by example that life's greatest satisfactions come when we act in ways that consider others before ourselves?

What generation is the “What’s in it for me?” generation? The answer all depends upon where you sit and how old you are. In fact, every generation at one time or another has probably been seen by the preceding generation as the WIIFM generation. Doesn’t society tell every member of every generation from a very young age to look out for number one?

The young grow up being socialized by an older generation that sets the example of “So what? Who cares? What’s in it for me?” Perhaps a reason elders blame things on youth is that there is only one other place to blame our discontent. When we point our one finger out at others, three other fingers are pointing back at us.

The WIIFM attitudes are the signs that we and our students have a ways to go in changing our attitudes, empathy, and habits so that we consider others' perspectives. Our attitude toward our students will show up in our actions and language in the classroom, in our conversations with our colleagues and parents, and in how we speak about our work outside of school.

What's you thinking about teaching students altruism, empathy and perspective?

You Are Part of the Change

There's a quote -- we're all probably familiar with -- from Mahatma Ghandi that goes "Be the change you want to see in the world." And that applies to our schools nationally and our school and each campus specifically. Some of the goals of Rigor and Excellence are embodied in the title. We want the children closest to us to be in a classroom that offers rigorous learning that leads to excellence, to successful lives. And as second year teachers, you must become the change you expect and want for the students on your class roster. We all need to become learners who expect rigor and excellence of ourselves.

In the video trailer of the upcoming documentary "Waiting for Superman," and in the comments section on YouTube, we see two big ideas that are essential for rigor and excellence: caring teachers and engaged students. I don't know what the spin on this movie will be -- another attack on the profession or a call for a campaign we can all support. But I think we should be aware that we must be committed to learning about learning and that our work is a matter of equity.

What's your thinking about these two big ideas? And how can we be supported to become the change our students need to learn and lead successful lives?

Blogs I follow (when I can)

Below is a sampling of the feeds I read related to teaching. Although many are math related, you may find something that you like. Please add your sites to the comments.

Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere
I Want to Teach Forever
Pissed Off
f(t)
Mr. L's Math

Fun Stuff
xkcd.com

I'm Not Gonna Try It! You Try It

In the 1980's the Life Cereal ad featured Little Mikey, who "hates everything," digging into a bowl of the product. I'm not pitching cereal in this blog post rather free online opportunities for professional development.

They can be found in many places. One that I've listened to is at Classroom 2.0 and the one I'd like to suggest here is from ASCD (The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

I subscribe to their e-newsletter, which announced a webinar titled Ask Dr. Judy - How Can I Motivate My Students? This one will take place on Tuesday, July 20 between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. Usually, the host of the webinar will archive the conversation so that even if you miss it, you can take advantage of the questions and expert advice and opinions at your later convenience.

After listening and perhaps participating, I think it's valuable to then reflect on one's own experiences and jot down the reflection -- perhaps in our blog, inviting comment from others who may not have yet heard the archived session.

You're probably too young to recall the 1970's Alka Seltzer catch phrase "Try it! You'll Like It." But I think you will

Shhhhhhh!

In my Google Reader I subscribe to Larry Ferlazzo's blog titled Websites of the Day. It's quite informative and interesting. Recently, the author writes

"I definitely don't subscribe to the notion that students have to be silent in the classroom most of the time. Part of the reason is because we do lots of partner work. Another reason is because I subscribe to General Douglas MacArthur's perspective about never giving an order that you aren't sure is going to be followed.

There are two times that I am pretty strict about it, though. One is during our "practice reading" time when students are reading books of their choice for the first fifteen/twenty minutes of class time (of course other time is given where they can talk about what they've read). The other is when they are writing -- either an essay or a "quick-write" (though sometimes -- if they whisper -- I'm okay with someone asking another student for help).

It tells students that quiet is important during reading and writing times so our minds can focus and concentrate. Generally, they respect those guidelines.

However, an article in this month's Discover magazine titled "What Do Urban Sounds Do to Your Brain?" got me wondering if there were any studies that I could actually share with students to show them that reading and writing in silence really does help learning. That same article has a link to a study -- A Quieter School: An Enriched Environment -- but both primarily talk about the negative effects of environmental noise. The second one does mention another study that found that students who came from quieter homes were more academically successful but I haven't been able to find anything that specifically talks about the effect of quiet on reading and writing.

I haven't gotten around to check my book on brain-based learning yet, but I thought I'd put it out to readers -- Are you aware of any research on this question? When and why do you think it's important to have silence in the classroom (if you think it is at all)?"

You might consider subscribing to Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day blog because he puts out lots of ideas and links you might use. So what do you think about best ways to teach students about your procedures on silent time?

Hi Ann,

In response to your request for things that have worked for me. I've had mixed results with a few different methods, but what seems to work the best is having a file folder with the days of the month in it and a couple extras in the back for logs and tool kit pages. Each day a few extra pages will be placed in the file under the date they were distributed. This way the kids learn that they can pick up their missing assignments when they return to class. The second thing I've done that worked was letting them know that they will get a 50% discount if the assignment is one day late. After that the assignment is no longer given credit.

In anticipation of doing a presentation on procedures for making up missed work, I would appreciate any advice from this group or its viewers. What has worked for you?

Q/A: Procedures

From time to time we can post questions we come up with and think about ways to respond or comment to support one another's practice. We've brought up many interesting questions so far and these two are a synthesis from several:

1. How can students process a lengthy list of procedures like the list we see in Wong's book The First Days of School or the list we brainstormed in class?

2. How much time can I spend teaching and practicing routines as opposed to teaching content?

Dr. Fred Jones says, "Pay me now, or pay me later. Do it right, or do it all year long." Research has repeatedly shown that teachers with the best run classrooms spend most of the first two weeks of the semester teaching their procedures and building them into routines. Teachers who do not make this investment deal with the same behavior problems over and over all semester long. Few teachers actually make the investment, especially at the high school level where the teacher attitude is "You've got to be kidding. They should know how to behave by now. I don't have two weeks for that. I would never make up the time."

"The students do know exactly how to behave in class. They always have. The question is, do they have to? The standards in any classroom, to put it bluntly, are defined by whatever the students can get away with. If teachers do not take the time to carefully teach their rules, routines, standards, and expectations, they will get whatever the students feel like giving them." (Tools for Teaching 147, 148)

I would say a high school teacher with only 40 minute periods needs to spend the first 4 to 6 weeks explaining, rehearsing, and reinforcing procedures for at least part of the period (10 to 15 minutes) every day. The next concept is called "gradual release of responsibility" as more and more students become independent with a particular procedure. Responsibility will gradually shift from my teaching/reinforcing the routine to their acting as "independent doers." Then I will deliberately cut back on the amount of time spent. When I've posted certain procedures and routines, they serve as reminders, which also helps my students manage themselves.

I would decide which procedures to teach at "the point of instruction" when that procedure is most needed and appropriate. They can't process them all at once. The difficulty is also showing students with my movement and voice that I mean business -- that these procedures are not optional, that these are the ways to success in my class. Even after the six week mark, my consistency and reinforcement of the routines is crucial. The language I use to convey my expectations must also be rehearsed so it sounds like I've been expecting this procedure from all my students for years. This is how we do things here.

The axiom "Less is more" never made sense to me until I began to see how much more learning can and will happen in the long run if I don't give in to the temptation to teach more content early on.

Building Capacity, Building Community

Today we began our first work session for Rigor and Excellence. The keynote presentation was a 20 minute look at building capacity in human beings. And that's what all teachers do! We viewed, reflected, and shared our thinking on the Doorpost production titled The Butterfly Circus. A huge element of effective practice is regular reflection. Then we talked about the importance of building community -- a community of fellow teacher-learners as well as a community of student-learners in our classrooms. John modeled how to get a class to do a basic 'silent lineup.' Our outstanding group of eleven was 'in line' in 30 seconds. Not a word was spoken until we shared about one thing we all have in common -- a birthday.