Differentiated Lesson Planning
Lesson planning is an art form. Every teacher wants to use his or her unique talent or brush stroke when presenting and planning a lesson or a unit. However, many teachers must incorporate steps that come from their school district, principal, department chair and possibly a lead teacher from their grade level or team in the plan. Many teachers are required to divide up units and design lessons that they must follow. These parameters often squelch the unique talent that every teacher brings to the profession. How do teachers and parents who see each child as an individual follow the rules and still use their talents to reach all the unique needs of children?
There is no escape from the requirements of the school division or the school. Most teachers must follow the rules for the traditional lesson plan because it is part of their evaluation. The traditional lesson plan starts with an objective - which can be found in the curriculum guide for the district. There may also be a state guide with a larger blueprint for objects to be taught, as well as a timeline. Next, the materials are listed. Then the teacher must raise the interest of his or her students. Teaching the objective using multiple methods to reach all learning styles is next (visual, oral, and tactile). Next is practice while the teacher circulates to make sure the students have gotten the objective, sum up the material one last time and finally closure. Closure may be in the form of homework, a quick quiz or an exit pass question, but the idea is to give the student meaningful practice with the objective and the teacher a measurement of student knowledge.
Before school starts, creating a plan for the year teachers make sure that all objectives that will be on the state test will be taught before the test date and class time will be set aside for an in-depth review. Work sheets are pulled from workbooks that come from the text as class work and homework. Chapter questions are assigned from the textbook and tests from the textbook data base are used as well as other data bases. Films that show the content of the curriculum objective are used and children’s heads are filled with facts. Projects as usually limited to reflect the information being taught. There is some, but not much of an attempt to make the lessons or projects relevant to today’s world. There is little chance for a child to use his or her particular talent to present material. Teachers justifiably feel pressured and that they don’t have time for such activities.
THERE IS A WAY TO DIFERENTIATE YOUR LESSONS AND MAKE THEM RELEVANT!
1. Throughout the year when you are engaging student interest, teach a skill set
and use it in a cooperative practice follow-up. A lot of text books have these types of
lessons, but they may be too long or not have enough focus on the skill so be sure to
evaluate them :
For the little ones: Grouping like objects, Compare-Contrast, Simple Sequencing,
Reading a graph, Finding Opinion Words, simple presentations, simple outlining
For the older ones: Grouping like objects with a strategy for memorization,
Compare-Contrast for research/debate, Arranging Ideas for effective communication
(Outlining), Reading graphs – maps – identifying quality resources, bias, fact-opinion,
Critical reading of contracts and statistics, quality public speaking
*All teachers of every subject should be teaching these skills over and over again! Please realize is how hard it is to make informed choices without these basic skill sets. Our “A” and “B” students may come by them fairly easily. Our students who are having problems do not make the connections between different subjects. They don’t graduate with the necessary skill sets to read the fine print on contracts, fully understand the impact of our political system or move forward in reaching their full potential especially in the current drive to measure student learning in terms of baseline knowledge of facts.
2. Go global! When I taught my masters class, Foundations of Education, for Old Dominion University, my grad students had to do 30 hours of observation. Normally, the professors of the course just have students do journal entries. Instead, I modified a teacher evaluation form and added some of my own directions to focus my students on other areas that can make or break a classroom and had them make a PowerPoint on the best lesson they observed. It was a real eye opener for me. The lessons were well-developed, but were what I like to call, flat. They didn’t demand critical thinking. The lessons wonderfully reinforced the objective, but that was the end of the story.
Going global or avoiding flatness means: The lesson has to relate to some relevant issue in the student’s lexicon of knowledge or one that is currently in the news that you can share with the students. This is easier than you think. I read the newspaper everyday before heading to work or jumped on the computer. Luckily, I had live streaming video and a white board the last three years I taught – what a gift. There was always some story that had a connection with what I was teaching. I had a copier at home and bought some transparency film so I could make overheads. I used these to raise audience awareness. I was always on the lookout for graphs or something up-to-date to use in class.
This becomes easier if you have a theme for the unit or for the year – one year we were pirates (don’t ask). While teaching world history, it was always the haves against the have nots.
I had newspaper print in my room with markers and when it was time for the class to practice, I had them work in groups to complete an assignment and give an opinion about the current news article.
Additionally, I believe in teaching research skills. Opposing viewpoints is often a way to get students to avoid just repeating data. Also, designing projects that have choices and bonus points to encourage students to make their own plan helps students use their gift to surprise you with a better than expected outcome. It is in your presentation, student practice and project planning that you can truly differentiate your lessons. My next blogs will be examples of grading rubrics and after that some student projects I designed to meet the needs of my students.
I’d like to end with an example of just how hard it is to learn and retain knowledge and how a diverse group of students ends up learning a skill at different rates.
One night, I was teaching my graduate level class “Foundations of Education” and I asked them: “How do you know when somebody has really learned something you’ve taught them?” One person said, “A passing grade on a test.”
I said indicated we were going to do a little experiment. I used to teach folk dancing and so I brought along some music and taught them a folk dance. We did it several times until everyone seemed to have a pretty good handle on it. So I sat down and had them do it without me leading the way. Well, it was a disaster. Only two people out of twenty got it right.
So I got up and led them again – three more times and then sat down. This time when I had them do it on their own, five people were successful. I told them we were done for the night and I let them go home.
The next week, near the end of class, I put on the music. My two stars got it right and the other three can pretty close, but the rest were lost. I got up and led them three more times and again the group was looking great. I sat down and this time fifteen people got it right. I had them practice one more time and sent them home.
I’m sure by now you can see where this story is going. The next week ten people got it right. The week after that fifteen and the last week all but one person got it right and he was just not musically inclined at all. So it took five weeks for all but one of my students to learn a fairly complex folk dance.
Over my long teaching career, I have learned that depending on the objective/skill the teacher must find many ways to repeat important material for the students. Learning and retaining material is a long process for some people. This does not make them dumb or lazy it is just how learning a particular piece of information occurs for that person. If I had a magic wand, I would wave it over every school so that all teachers taught reading and the same valuable skill sets that I mentioned above. I would also have literature linked to social studies content. My intuition tells me this would improve learning by leaps and bounds. I know some systems do this, but wouldn’t it be grand if all school systems did?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Classroom Management – Rules that Work for Teachers and Subs
Teachers can do themselves the best favor by establishing clear classroom rules that are posted prominently in the classroom. Once I retired, I had the time to analyze past problems. I was also doing some subbing. This led me to realize that a few students had developed specific, aggressive tactics for gaining control of the class. I have found that the following rules and consequences serve as the basis for creating a classroom climate of fairness and respect. These rules work for substitutes even if they differ from the teacher’s rules. This is because they are the responsible adult for the day (see rule 9).
The Rules
Talking, making noise or other sounds while someone is speaking or it is time for the room to be quiet is not allowed
*Sarcastic remarks, putdowns, noises, faces, or rolling eyes is not allowed. The teacher/sub is the judge of what is sarcastic, or what constitutes a putdown.
No touching of anyone, anyone’s property, or anything else in the room that does not belong to you.
Do not throw anything.
*Do not become a lawyer for another student when I am disciplining him or her. The teacher/sub will deal with any misbehavior.
*Ask questions that are specific to the classroom topic or daily lessons.
No food/drink/gum in the room except for plastic bottled water.
No cell phones or other electric devices unless specified by the teacher.
*When a guest or sub is in the room, he or she may do things in a different way. The person in charge is responsible for your safety, the maintenance of the room and the equipment so he or she will make decisions as needed.
Consequences:
Students will not be warned because these rules are school rules and deal with fair
play (equal treatment) and respect. (A side note about this specification which is a
personal preference. I don’t give warnings because I have seen parents in malls start
counting to get their child to stop misbehaving which allows the bad behavior to
continue during the countdown.)
Students may try saying sincerely, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” This may or
not work.
Students will be sent to in-school suspension or to another teacher’s
classroom and it is possible a referral will be written. Note: If the school doesn’t have
in-school suspension, then find a near-by teacher who is willing to take in a
misbehaving student. A lot of teachers will help you if you don’t make it a habit.
*At the end of letting students know the rules and the consequences ask:
Are there any rules you didn’t understand?
Is there any rule you wish to modify or change in a way to make it better or clearer?
None of my students has ever responded to either question when I sub. This means if they break a rule, they have no recourse because they had a chance to alter the rules. You may want to print out the rules with a statement that they have been offered a chance to modify the rules and obtain their signature.
All of the starred items are extremely important because they represent blocks to the tricks students have used to get around the controls that teachers attempt to establish. If these rules are in place and have been enforced, then students will not be able to pull any of the troublesome behavior I used to read about on my substitute reports. Students can’t complain about that mean, unfair substitute.
Many teacher training courses promote spending time having students generate the rules and the consequences. This is to get the students to buy into following the rules because they have been part of the process. My experience is that this creates the idea that the classroom is a democracy and students feel empowered to jump in when you are disciplining someone. Students should not feel that powerful. You are the authority in your classroom and that’s it. Besides you need the time to be an effective teacher with a manageable class.
The Rules
Talking, making noise or other sounds while someone is speaking or it is time for the room to be quiet is not allowed
*Sarcastic remarks, putdowns, noises, faces, or rolling eyes is not allowed. The teacher/sub is the judge of what is sarcastic, or what constitutes a putdown.
No touching of anyone, anyone’s property, or anything else in the room that does not belong to you.
Do not throw anything.
*Do not become a lawyer for another student when I am disciplining him or her. The teacher/sub will deal with any misbehavior.
*Ask questions that are specific to the classroom topic or daily lessons.
No food/drink/gum in the room except for plastic bottled water.
No cell phones or other electric devices unless specified by the teacher.
*When a guest or sub is in the room, he or she may do things in a different way. The person in charge is responsible for your safety, the maintenance of the room and the equipment so he or she will make decisions as needed.
Consequences:
Students will not be warned because these rules are school rules and deal with fair
play (equal treatment) and respect. (A side note about this specification which is a
personal preference. I don’t give warnings because I have seen parents in malls start
counting to get their child to stop misbehaving which allows the bad behavior to
continue during the countdown.)
Students may try saying sincerely, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.” This may or
not work.
Students will be sent to in-school suspension or to another teacher’s
classroom and it is possible a referral will be written. Note: If the school doesn’t have
in-school suspension, then find a near-by teacher who is willing to take in a
misbehaving student. A lot of teachers will help you if you don’t make it a habit.
*At the end of letting students know the rules and the consequences ask:
Are there any rules you didn’t understand?
Is there any rule you wish to modify or change in a way to make it better or clearer?
None of my students has ever responded to either question when I sub. This means if they break a rule, they have no recourse because they had a chance to alter the rules. You may want to print out the rules with a statement that they have been offered a chance to modify the rules and obtain their signature.
All of the starred items are extremely important because they represent blocks to the tricks students have used to get around the controls that teachers attempt to establish. If these rules are in place and have been enforced, then students will not be able to pull any of the troublesome behavior I used to read about on my substitute reports. Students can’t complain about that mean, unfair substitute.
Many teacher training courses promote spending time having students generate the rules and the consequences. This is to get the students to buy into following the rules because they have been part of the process. My experience is that this creates the idea that the classroom is a democracy and students feel empowered to jump in when you are disciplining someone. Students should not feel that powerful. You are the authority in your classroom and that’s it. Besides you need the time to be an effective teacher with a manageable class.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A way to STOP the BULLYING in our schools
Why Children Bully and How to Stop It November 16, 2010
“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can break your heart.”
Robert Fulghum
After watching the many show(s) about bullying, I felt compelled to write. about the topic. The best sources of solutions to this problem – experienced teachers have not really been tapped. I am passionate about offering solutions because, like many teachers, I have dealt with bullying and bullies. You can not lecture, preach, teach kids and/or set up a course to stop it! I learned this the hard way. In fact, you may have the opposite effect of your desired goal by trying to teach students to be kind or empathetic.
By shinning a spotlight on the problem, you give the bully more power and attention. No one can have eyes and ears on a child 24/7. You may create more pain because bullies will work relentlessly to find an opportunity to strike again. Now, they feel even more satisfaction when they score, because you have emphasized the pain of the victim. No courses please.
These are the more common reasons bullying occurs:
• Gives the bully power
• Gives the bully control over situations
• Gives the bully an audience and often encouragement from peers through
laughter/entertainment value
• Gives the bully satisfaction – often bullies feel like failures, however, they can succeed as bullies
I am not going to site sources on this, but years of observation, experience, training and caring will have to serve as an expert reference and must serve as a basis for my observations and recommendations for solutions.
How can society stop bullying in our technological world?
Teachers, administrations, school districts, parents and children all have rolls to play. It’s all about creating simple, enforceable rules and enforcing them. Three positive statements that can guide everyone in creating and enforcing rules that may be effective are:
OUR SCHOOL PROVIDES A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYBODY CAN DO THEIR JOBS EFECTIVELLY.
OUR SCHOOL IS A SAFE PLACE FOR EVERYBODY PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY.
OUR STAFF SUPPORTS PARENTS AND GAURDIANS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO RAISE SUCCESSFUL CHILDREN.
Many districts have fundamental statements like these. These foundation statements have failed because the adults employed by the school system have been stripped of their ability to enforce supporting rules. This has happened slowly over a period of several years. People involved with the school system have turned these types of statements into clubs to beat people up and media frenzies have helped. Often individuals obtain more influence than the school population as a whole, creating an imbalance of power or an endless power struggle pitting one group against another.
To illustrate this point 2041: Twelve Short Stories About the Future by Top Science Fiction Writerst to you and to others, I refer you to a short story titled: MUCH ADO ABOUT [CENSORED] by Connie Willis from Jane Yolan’s collection . It’s about extreme politically correct behavior and censorship. The Drapery Defense League objects to Hamlet because Polonius is stabbed while he's hiding behind a curtain. The National Coalition Against Contractions protests because they feel that the use of contractions is directly responsible for the increase in crime rates. The CD containing the play, Merchant of Venice, is kept in the school safe and Portia, a student, must jump through all kinds of paper work and hurdles to get final permission to perform even a portion of the play.
Offending anyone is not an option and yet, incongruously, a young lady is allowed to protest outside the high school wearing a bikini. I used this story to let eight-grade students draw conclusions about the dangers of censorship and the potential scenarios that could play out should general society continue to respond to the calls of the few making lots of demands that on first glance, seem to require attention. It is only as time passes and more and more demands are met, that society realizes it has restricted what was worthwhile in the first place. Most of my colleagues thought I was engaging in risky behavior. I called it teaching critical thinking.
A few people, who make a lot of trouble, have gained an unbelievable amount of ability to control what happens in public schools. Who should decide when something is interfering with any school rules and/or harming a child attending a particular school? 99.9% of time it must be the adult employed and trained by the school system. Too often bullies, people who wish to control the education everyone’s child receives and others find a technical loophole to get away with breaking sensible rules or changing well-developed curriculum. Why do you think teachers don’t discipline or write students up for cursing or other verbal abuse? Why do you think teachers have demonstrated safer teaching strategies and slowed down in developing lessons that might be viewed as allowing divergent thinking?
I hope people watch the reality show, Teach on A&E starring Tony Danza. I’m not sure, but in all his promos, it looks like he’s getting the full treatment. He will probably score a breakthrough, but for most new teachers, that is not the case. They are gone within the first two to four years and not necessarily to higher paying jobs. If teachers disciplined students solely for objectionable language, they would spend all of their time writing reports, on the phone explaining their actions in detail, or worse - in guidance or the administrator’s office meeting with angry parents. This is on top of teaching, training, meetings, grading papers, recording grades, testing, assessing, additional duties as assigned and more.
I was once called a five-dollar-crack whore. I had moved some tenth-grade girls’ seats because they talked while I was talking. I don’t tolerate talking while I teach because I’m a big ham. My response was that I thought I was at least worth ten. Then, I deducted points from the young lady’s conduct grade which she was allowed to earn back. I earned a great deal of respect from her clique and the class that day because I didn’t have a hissy fit, lecture or write her up for a discipline meeting with the administration. We discussed the problem after class. I was not called a bitch (even mumbled) for the rest of the year by anyone in that class. I thought that was a big win.
Believe me – students know right from wrong. You have no idea of the time students subconsciously or consciously enjoy eating up with these disruptions and veteran teachers earn their reputations. Many of these teaching marvels flunk kids, call home, don’t smile in the first nine weeks and take a lot of heat. However, even the toughest of them have come under fire. I used different tactics, but in the end even gentle humor, quick wit, anecdotes and positive reinforcement lose their luster. Some of my quick sound bites landed me in administrative hot water. Being a drone and single-minded task master is the safest way to earn a teaching pay check these days.
Some children have been together for years and have learned to defeat most school districts’ lengthy Codes of Behavior. Teachers, administrators, superintendents and school boards have been put through hours of grilling and lawsuits. This has effectively hampered a lot of school personnel’s ability to handle even the simplest cases. Phoebe Prince’s case is not unique in terms of bullying and if you delve into the details you find the high school’s administration admitted they had not enforced their Code of Behavior equitably. If you give one student a pass when he or she breaks a rule, word gets out in the community and that’s when discipline, which is a shield for the bullied, fails.
There are horror stories of teachers, staff members and administrators who abuse their power when rules are strictly enforced - adults are not without faults. To solve any potential misapplication of purposeful adult authority, the adults involved have to come to consensus. Staffs must brainstorm, role play and decide what it means to be have a satisfactory learning environment, what it means to provide safety and support. They must agree when parents will be notified and the like. Everyone must reasonably follow what has been agreed upon.
Then students must be trained to meet expectations. Taking a written test doesn’t cut it. I mean students must be walked through the halls, brought to the cafeteria and more. A pep rally should be used to introduce all staff members to the student body and explain the rules using music and a slide show. I told my grad students to spend the first week lining up all students and to do this no matter what grade they taught. After lining them up, walk them back into class quietly and quickly. Next, have students sit at their desks and pull out homework, pencil and paper. Then ring a bell and give a grade for perfectly completing the drill as a class. Explain that the following week, individual conduct grades will fall for each failure, but can be fixed if the rest of the week is perfect.
I realized from raising my very intelligent daughter that telling her what to do was me presenting the information in only one format. Even my little genius, who now has her C.P.A. would say, “Duh, I forgot.” It was a game, but adults have to be smarter these days and remove excuses. Only then will the three to five percent of troublesome students be stopped from hampering the education, physical and mental health of other children and staff. Adult judgment calls have to become the final word.
Caregivers and extended family must be invited to potlucks and trained and given tons of support. They must know that they can contact teachers, guidance, or any staff person that strikes their fancy. Return calls are not optional, must be made within three days and documented. My Spanish speaking custodian helped me out lots of times. At one school, the staff designed a general form to use and copies were sent to guidance, kept in a teacher-made file and sent to the appropriate administrator.
This will take tons of time and some principals claim they can’t get staffs to agree about discipline or much of anything (especially high school staffs). We don’t have the luxury to ignore this problem any more, allow a few contrarians to dominate a staff, or claim it can’t be done. Once they are in place – the best plans can be adopted to cover the elementary, middle and high schools in a district and children and parents in these areas will find that expectations are uniform, fair and consistently applied. I have seen a staff use a process that got 80 plus staff members (all staff) to agree on the top 5 discipline problems and how to tackle them in two meetings, but this is not the place to go into detail about how this miracle was accomplished.
Tragically, this system fell apart because administrators caved into parental pressure and pressure from district administration. Teachers had put into place a point system that, up-front, let students know that they would be dropped or denied the ability to try out for sports teams and clubs after a certain number of offenses and points had been reached. In-school suspension was having an effect. Everything was working until exceptions started being made and teachers were pressured to withdraw discipline reports and even change conduct grades.
The least everyone connected with a school system can expect is a uniform application of discipline. Jocks, nice kids, the smart kids are not exempt . . . you break a rule, you pay the same price. No telling mom, dad, grandparents or others that the teacher is picking on you or that is not exactly what you did. Conduct grades should be on every report card and calculated by the teacher with a fair system that is consistent with school policy and communicated to students and caregivers. I am not plowing new ground with any of my opinions or facts. This is what sane people have known for years and years. I hear reasonable people say it all the time until it affects them or their child. Ellen, this will work as well as any curriculum. Denial and confusion is the heart of the problem.
We need a positive focus. Teachers are often mocked when they try and stop bullying or when they try and give examples of how it can affect a person’s whole life. I found, to my dismay, it caused the student who was being picked on to be picked on even more. That is why the failure of schools and parents to recognize that every child has a gift is so important. Teachers spend most of their time telling students at all grade levels they must study to pass minimum competency tests and diagnosing students’ failures.
I never taught a child that didn’t have a talent. I hope we can start to look for the gifts in children and adults alike, smile, let teachers have the time to focus on what’s right with children and be in the halls between class changes and place security cameras where adults can’t be positioned. It is imperative.
Kids will be kids and it’s time for adults to take back their ability to enforce rules. Parents, monitor all electronics and if you find one slip up - turn off the computer, take away the cell phone and find some positive way to spend time with your child. Don’t turn your home into a battleground. I have taught over 3,000 children from grades 3 to 10, as well as grad students. All of them and I mean all of them could be very, very good and wonderful. I know why most of you love your kids so much; I love them, too.
At times students could break mine and other’s hearts. It often happens repeatedly with the same students, groups of students or a child can actually initiate being bullied for the attention. That is not a reason to give up or be discouraged. Many times folks wouldn’t believe that nice Jimmy or Suzie would do anything wrong and their parents would not take my word for it. You are not a failure as a parent if your child does something really bad or has problems doing school work. Caregivers should not go directly to the administration. Adults have eyes and ears and deserve to be asked their side of the story before anyone leaps to any conclusions.
Please have the common sense to realize that with cell phones and other electronic forms of communication, it is easy to coordinate plausible “stories”. Cell phone videos are like sound bites and can show only part of a story and not the whole scenario. If children, adolescents, young adults and adults are determined to make mischief, they can and will use every available tool and if others jump in with both feet, you have succeeded in training others to play you, beat the system and have unbelievable power to ruin lives.
It is hard to be filled with hate, fear and anger when you are allowed to be yourself, valued for who you are and then encouraged to be the best you you can be.
For example, Jim Carey’s school days weren’t happy. He was a self-described loner and struggled with dyslexia. Then he found he could make friends by making people laugh. One teacher wrote on his report card: "Jim finishes his work first and then disrupts the class." At home, he thoroughly enjoyed making faces and mimicking in his mirror. He perfected his memory and his seventh-grade teacher, Lucy Dervaitis, gave him time at the end of class to perform stand-up comedy recognizing his amazing gift and hard work. (Copyright Dec., 2003 by Legacy Educational Resources. All rights reserved. Source: Martin Knelman, Jim Carrey: The Joker is Wild, Firefly Books, 2000, pp. 14,15.)
Imagine the uproar if any teacher took the time away from teaching to do that in today’s educational climate. What we must recognize, however, is that igniting the first spark of success creates more success. Without some small celebrated success and hopefully large successes, no matter how old you are, you are shouldering the effects of society’s personal overdoses of stress, incredible negativity and the misdirected focus of cruelty as entertainment without a safety zone.
It’s up to the adults to stop it. One of the best books for teaching values that will not bring the wrath of parents down upon a teacher’s head is: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.by Robert Fulghum. I read selected stories aloud to students for years. I believe some could be used in science classes, in math classes, in language arts classes and in other disciplines. In other words, any teacher who wanted to be clever and pick out a great essay with a message about being accepting and tolerant that matched his or her curriculum could do it.
There are many well-developed values and ethics curriculums in the educational world. Many parents do not want to turn over the teaching of right and wrong to school systems. I taught values and Kolberg’s moral theory of development as a beginning teacher and it was tolerated. We used small groups to discuss solutions to moral dilemmas. There were no right or wrong answers, just group discussions. Eventually, this curriculum became an anathema to parents and teachers alike. It was like herding cats because developmentally, we were asking children to make decisions without enough life experience, without enough information and we were playing with fire.
One other reading that middle and high school students (only for these grades and only with caregivers’ permission) love is: A Child Called It. by Dave Pelzer. It is an autobiography about a child surviving terrible abuse. Remarkably, some of my worst bullies read that book and were disgusted and moved to tears by Dave’s mother’s forms of torture and how long it took for Dave to be rescued. Empathy is not dead; it is just that the reward for successful bullying has more allure because children and adults alike have become worn down by what I, and perhaps others, have labeled: “The Lord of the Flies Syndrome”. Without order there is chaos and that is what we have and that is what we have created. The children are not the ones we should blame.
I hope you can use some part of this information as you move forward in your quest to address what many children, young adults, adults, educators, parents and others will tell you is a terrible disease that seems to have no cure. This has been a growing problem for many years and many studies have been conducted and lots of time and effort has been put into trying to put a halt to bullying in its many forms with little success. Bullying is easily hidden and victims find that telling adults, as well as turning to the law is often ineffective.
Is it any wonder that victims choose suicide or extreme violence as a solution? In a totally free society, citizens can’t turn to the government for protection. In effect laws and rules are an exchange of freedom for safety. Ironically, students and others now use “rights” or “freedom under the law” to circumvent school rules, demand their right to free speech and their actions related to free speech. Sadly, our effort to provide legal and educational protection to children, valued freedoms and privacy haven’t worked. Our society has been immobilized by those willing twist our hard won freedoms into personal weapons or a right to exercise cruelty with impunity.
If adults lack authority, bullying will continue to take a heavy toll on everyone who sees and feels the pain, dries the tears and binds the wounds. Martin Luther King, Jr. had many dreams for America. He wanted a place at the table for everyone, for everyone to be able to climb to the mountain top and equality for all. I believe if he could see what American schools were like today, it would break his heart. He knew that it takes everyone having the same clear vision of the future and achievable goals to bring about success. We can end most of the bullying if we act like adults are supposed to act. I’ve provided some suggestions and my dream is that small steps will lead to big ones and I won’t weep for someone else’s children or families when I turn on the television or open the newspaper ever again.
“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can break your heart.”
Robert Fulghum
After watching the many show(s) about bullying, I felt compelled to write. about the topic. The best sources of solutions to this problem – experienced teachers have not really been tapped. I am passionate about offering solutions because, like many teachers, I have dealt with bullying and bullies. You can not lecture, preach, teach kids and/or set up a course to stop it! I learned this the hard way. In fact, you may have the opposite effect of your desired goal by trying to teach students to be kind or empathetic.
By shinning a spotlight on the problem, you give the bully more power and attention. No one can have eyes and ears on a child 24/7. You may create more pain because bullies will work relentlessly to find an opportunity to strike again. Now, they feel even more satisfaction when they score, because you have emphasized the pain of the victim. No courses please.
These are the more common reasons bullying occurs:
• Gives the bully power
• Gives the bully control over situations
• Gives the bully an audience and often encouragement from peers through
laughter/entertainment value
• Gives the bully satisfaction – often bullies feel like failures, however, they can succeed as bullies
I am not going to site sources on this, but years of observation, experience, training and caring will have to serve as an expert reference and must serve as a basis for my observations and recommendations for solutions.
How can society stop bullying in our technological world?
Teachers, administrations, school districts, parents and children all have rolls to play. It’s all about creating simple, enforceable rules and enforcing them. Three positive statements that can guide everyone in creating and enforcing rules that may be effective are:
OUR SCHOOL PROVIDES A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYBODY CAN DO THEIR JOBS EFECTIVELLY.
OUR SCHOOL IS A SAFE PLACE FOR EVERYBODY PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY.
OUR STAFF SUPPORTS PARENTS AND GAURDIANS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO RAISE SUCCESSFUL CHILDREN.
Many districts have fundamental statements like these. These foundation statements have failed because the adults employed by the school system have been stripped of their ability to enforce supporting rules. This has happened slowly over a period of several years. People involved with the school system have turned these types of statements into clubs to beat people up and media frenzies have helped. Often individuals obtain more influence than the school population as a whole, creating an imbalance of power or an endless power struggle pitting one group against another.
To illustrate this point 2041: Twelve Short Stories About the Future by Top Science Fiction Writerst to you and to others, I refer you to a short story titled: MUCH ADO ABOUT [CENSORED] by Connie Willis from Jane Yolan’s collection . It’s about extreme politically correct behavior and censorship. The Drapery Defense League objects to Hamlet because Polonius is stabbed while he's hiding behind a curtain. The National Coalition Against Contractions protests because they feel that the use of contractions is directly responsible for the increase in crime rates. The CD containing the play, Merchant of Venice, is kept in the school safe and Portia, a student, must jump through all kinds of paper work and hurdles to get final permission to perform even a portion of the play.
Offending anyone is not an option and yet, incongruously, a young lady is allowed to protest outside the high school wearing a bikini. I used this story to let eight-grade students draw conclusions about the dangers of censorship and the potential scenarios that could play out should general society continue to respond to the calls of the few making lots of demands that on first glance, seem to require attention. It is only as time passes and more and more demands are met, that society realizes it has restricted what was worthwhile in the first place. Most of my colleagues thought I was engaging in risky behavior. I called it teaching critical thinking.
A few people, who make a lot of trouble, have gained an unbelievable amount of ability to control what happens in public schools. Who should decide when something is interfering with any school rules and/or harming a child attending a particular school? 99.9% of time it must be the adult employed and trained by the school system. Too often bullies, people who wish to control the education everyone’s child receives and others find a technical loophole to get away with breaking sensible rules or changing well-developed curriculum. Why do you think teachers don’t discipline or write students up for cursing or other verbal abuse? Why do you think teachers have demonstrated safer teaching strategies and slowed down in developing lessons that might be viewed as allowing divergent thinking?
I hope people watch the reality show, Teach on A&E starring Tony Danza. I’m not sure, but in all his promos, it looks like he’s getting the full treatment. He will probably score a breakthrough, but for most new teachers, that is not the case. They are gone within the first two to four years and not necessarily to higher paying jobs. If teachers disciplined students solely for objectionable language, they would spend all of their time writing reports, on the phone explaining their actions in detail, or worse - in guidance or the administrator’s office meeting with angry parents. This is on top of teaching, training, meetings, grading papers, recording grades, testing, assessing, additional duties as assigned and more.
I was once called a five-dollar-crack whore. I had moved some tenth-grade girls’ seats because they talked while I was talking. I don’t tolerate talking while I teach because I’m a big ham. My response was that I thought I was at least worth ten. Then, I deducted points from the young lady’s conduct grade which she was allowed to earn back. I earned a great deal of respect from her clique and the class that day because I didn’t have a hissy fit, lecture or write her up for a discipline meeting with the administration. We discussed the problem after class. I was not called a bitch (even mumbled) for the rest of the year by anyone in that class. I thought that was a big win.
Believe me – students know right from wrong. You have no idea of the time students subconsciously or consciously enjoy eating up with these disruptions and veteran teachers earn their reputations. Many of these teaching marvels flunk kids, call home, don’t smile in the first nine weeks and take a lot of heat. However, even the toughest of them have come under fire. I used different tactics, but in the end even gentle humor, quick wit, anecdotes and positive reinforcement lose their luster. Some of my quick sound bites landed me in administrative hot water. Being a drone and single-minded task master is the safest way to earn a teaching pay check these days.
Some children have been together for years and have learned to defeat most school districts’ lengthy Codes of Behavior. Teachers, administrators, superintendents and school boards have been put through hours of grilling and lawsuits. This has effectively hampered a lot of school personnel’s ability to handle even the simplest cases. Phoebe Prince’s case is not unique in terms of bullying and if you delve into the details you find the high school’s administration admitted they had not enforced their Code of Behavior equitably. If you give one student a pass when he or she breaks a rule, word gets out in the community and that’s when discipline, which is a shield for the bullied, fails.
There are horror stories of teachers, staff members and administrators who abuse their power when rules are strictly enforced - adults are not without faults. To solve any potential misapplication of purposeful adult authority, the adults involved have to come to consensus. Staffs must brainstorm, role play and decide what it means to be have a satisfactory learning environment, what it means to provide safety and support. They must agree when parents will be notified and the like. Everyone must reasonably follow what has been agreed upon.
Then students must be trained to meet expectations. Taking a written test doesn’t cut it. I mean students must be walked through the halls, brought to the cafeteria and more. A pep rally should be used to introduce all staff members to the student body and explain the rules using music and a slide show. I told my grad students to spend the first week lining up all students and to do this no matter what grade they taught. After lining them up, walk them back into class quietly and quickly. Next, have students sit at their desks and pull out homework, pencil and paper. Then ring a bell and give a grade for perfectly completing the drill as a class. Explain that the following week, individual conduct grades will fall for each failure, but can be fixed if the rest of the week is perfect.
I realized from raising my very intelligent daughter that telling her what to do was me presenting the information in only one format. Even my little genius, who now has her C.P.A. would say, “Duh, I forgot.” It was a game, but adults have to be smarter these days and remove excuses. Only then will the three to five percent of troublesome students be stopped from hampering the education, physical and mental health of other children and staff. Adult judgment calls have to become the final word.
Caregivers and extended family must be invited to potlucks and trained and given tons of support. They must know that they can contact teachers, guidance, or any staff person that strikes their fancy. Return calls are not optional, must be made within three days and documented. My Spanish speaking custodian helped me out lots of times. At one school, the staff designed a general form to use and copies were sent to guidance, kept in a teacher-made file and sent to the appropriate administrator.
This will take tons of time and some principals claim they can’t get staffs to agree about discipline or much of anything (especially high school staffs). We don’t have the luxury to ignore this problem any more, allow a few contrarians to dominate a staff, or claim it can’t be done. Once they are in place – the best plans can be adopted to cover the elementary, middle and high schools in a district and children and parents in these areas will find that expectations are uniform, fair and consistently applied. I have seen a staff use a process that got 80 plus staff members (all staff) to agree on the top 5 discipline problems and how to tackle them in two meetings, but this is not the place to go into detail about how this miracle was accomplished.
Tragically, this system fell apart because administrators caved into parental pressure and pressure from district administration. Teachers had put into place a point system that, up-front, let students know that they would be dropped or denied the ability to try out for sports teams and clubs after a certain number of offenses and points had been reached. In-school suspension was having an effect. Everything was working until exceptions started being made and teachers were pressured to withdraw discipline reports and even change conduct grades.
The least everyone connected with a school system can expect is a uniform application of discipline. Jocks, nice kids, the smart kids are not exempt . . . you break a rule, you pay the same price. No telling mom, dad, grandparents or others that the teacher is picking on you or that is not exactly what you did. Conduct grades should be on every report card and calculated by the teacher with a fair system that is consistent with school policy and communicated to students and caregivers. I am not plowing new ground with any of my opinions or facts. This is what sane people have known for years and years. I hear reasonable people say it all the time until it affects them or their child. Ellen, this will work as well as any curriculum. Denial and confusion is the heart of the problem.
We need a positive focus. Teachers are often mocked when they try and stop bullying or when they try and give examples of how it can affect a person’s whole life. I found, to my dismay, it caused the student who was being picked on to be picked on even more. That is why the failure of schools and parents to recognize that every child has a gift is so important. Teachers spend most of their time telling students at all grade levels they must study to pass minimum competency tests and diagnosing students’ failures.
I never taught a child that didn’t have a talent. I hope we can start to look for the gifts in children and adults alike, smile, let teachers have the time to focus on what’s right with children and be in the halls between class changes and place security cameras where adults can’t be positioned. It is imperative.
Kids will be kids and it’s time for adults to take back their ability to enforce rules. Parents, monitor all electronics and if you find one slip up - turn off the computer, take away the cell phone and find some positive way to spend time with your child. Don’t turn your home into a battleground. I have taught over 3,000 children from grades 3 to 10, as well as grad students. All of them and I mean all of them could be very, very good and wonderful. I know why most of you love your kids so much; I love them, too.
At times students could break mine and other’s hearts. It often happens repeatedly with the same students, groups of students or a child can actually initiate being bullied for the attention. That is not a reason to give up or be discouraged. Many times folks wouldn’t believe that nice Jimmy or Suzie would do anything wrong and their parents would not take my word for it. You are not a failure as a parent if your child does something really bad or has problems doing school work. Caregivers should not go directly to the administration. Adults have eyes and ears and deserve to be asked their side of the story before anyone leaps to any conclusions.
Please have the common sense to realize that with cell phones and other electronic forms of communication, it is easy to coordinate plausible “stories”. Cell phone videos are like sound bites and can show only part of a story and not the whole scenario. If children, adolescents, young adults and adults are determined to make mischief, they can and will use every available tool and if others jump in with both feet, you have succeeded in training others to play you, beat the system and have unbelievable power to ruin lives.
It is hard to be filled with hate, fear and anger when you are allowed to be yourself, valued for who you are and then encouraged to be the best you you can be.
For example, Jim Carey’s school days weren’t happy. He was a self-described loner and struggled with dyslexia. Then he found he could make friends by making people laugh. One teacher wrote on his report card: "Jim finishes his work first and then disrupts the class." At home, he thoroughly enjoyed making faces and mimicking in his mirror. He perfected his memory and his seventh-grade teacher, Lucy Dervaitis, gave him time at the end of class to perform stand-up comedy recognizing his amazing gift and hard work. (Copyright Dec., 2003 by Legacy Educational Resources. All rights reserved. Source: Martin Knelman, Jim Carrey: The Joker is Wild, Firefly Books, 2000, pp. 14,15.)
Imagine the uproar if any teacher took the time away from teaching to do that in today’s educational climate. What we must recognize, however, is that igniting the first spark of success creates more success. Without some small celebrated success and hopefully large successes, no matter how old you are, you are shouldering the effects of society’s personal overdoses of stress, incredible negativity and the misdirected focus of cruelty as entertainment without a safety zone.
It’s up to the adults to stop it. One of the best books for teaching values that will not bring the wrath of parents down upon a teacher’s head is: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.by Robert Fulghum. I read selected stories aloud to students for years. I believe some could be used in science classes, in math classes, in language arts classes and in other disciplines. In other words, any teacher who wanted to be clever and pick out a great essay with a message about being accepting and tolerant that matched his or her curriculum could do it.
There are many well-developed values and ethics curriculums in the educational world. Many parents do not want to turn over the teaching of right and wrong to school systems. I taught values and Kolberg’s moral theory of development as a beginning teacher and it was tolerated. We used small groups to discuss solutions to moral dilemmas. There were no right or wrong answers, just group discussions. Eventually, this curriculum became an anathema to parents and teachers alike. It was like herding cats because developmentally, we were asking children to make decisions without enough life experience, without enough information and we were playing with fire.
One other reading that middle and high school students (only for these grades and only with caregivers’ permission) love is: A Child Called It. by Dave Pelzer. It is an autobiography about a child surviving terrible abuse. Remarkably, some of my worst bullies read that book and were disgusted and moved to tears by Dave’s mother’s forms of torture and how long it took for Dave to be rescued. Empathy is not dead; it is just that the reward for successful bullying has more allure because children and adults alike have become worn down by what I, and perhaps others, have labeled: “The Lord of the Flies Syndrome”. Without order there is chaos and that is what we have and that is what we have created. The children are not the ones we should blame.
I hope you can use some part of this information as you move forward in your quest to address what many children, young adults, adults, educators, parents and others will tell you is a terrible disease that seems to have no cure. This has been a growing problem for many years and many studies have been conducted and lots of time and effort has been put into trying to put a halt to bullying in its many forms with little success. Bullying is easily hidden and victims find that telling adults, as well as turning to the law is often ineffective.
Is it any wonder that victims choose suicide or extreme violence as a solution? In a totally free society, citizens can’t turn to the government for protection. In effect laws and rules are an exchange of freedom for safety. Ironically, students and others now use “rights” or “freedom under the law” to circumvent school rules, demand their right to free speech and their actions related to free speech. Sadly, our effort to provide legal and educational protection to children, valued freedoms and privacy haven’t worked. Our society has been immobilized by those willing twist our hard won freedoms into personal weapons or a right to exercise cruelty with impunity.
If adults lack authority, bullying will continue to take a heavy toll on everyone who sees and feels the pain, dries the tears and binds the wounds. Martin Luther King, Jr. had many dreams for America. He wanted a place at the table for everyone, for everyone to be able to climb to the mountain top and equality for all. I believe if he could see what American schools were like today, it would break his heart. He knew that it takes everyone having the same clear vision of the future and achievable goals to bring about success. We can end most of the bullying if we act like adults are supposed to act. I’ve provided some suggestions and my dream is that small steps will lead to big ones and I won’t weep for someone else’s children or families when I turn on the television or open the newspaper ever again.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
That First Bulletin Board and Beginning the Year Hints
Topics I see posted on NEA bulletin boards ask about time management. In reality this means you need to think about the following as you do your planning: How many learning objectives do you meet with this lesson plan/project? Are you doing this as a one shot wonder or is it more of a template that you can use again and again with minor changes? Will you be able to store the materials and is the final size of the product easy to manage? Can you get someone to help you with this or must you go it alone?
I do not know the resources you have in your classroom, your home or in your particular situation, but I did start teaching when there were large class sizes, multiple levels of abilities and learning styles, no computers, no copiers, no phones in classrooms and very few supplies so I have experienced being a "have not" and a "have" so I try to write my suggestions so that they can be modified to fit most environments, student abilities and grade levels. A friend of mine laughs at me because I develop things to be "high tech" and "low tech".
New teachers and experienced teachers know that it is imperative to learn each student/child's name as quickly as possible. Also, the first week is filled with giving out books, lockers, letters home and so on. Parents have inspections of backpacks and the task of reading letters to determine: supplies, rules, rubrics/grading scales, school policies, types of assignments, homework load, P.E. requirements and so teachers you need to KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid. One page letters, less is more on the supplies, ditto the homework and save homework requirements and grading details for later. Pretend the parent has at least three children of various ages when you are making anything you send home. I have a friend with exactly this situation and there are days I don't know how she keeps up.
What about that bulletin board?
The Prequel - Lots of Hints: Before school begins - Take your class list to the teachers in the grade below you (or guidance counselor if it's transition from elementary to middle or middle to high school). Ask them to identify helpful parents for you. My list of volunteer jobs was putting up bulletin boards (make a rough diagram to avoid lots of fretful questions), cutting out block letters (try and get your school to buy one of those machines with the die cutters), copying, taking groups to the library for research to be carried out by the librarian, proofreading, editing and adding graphics to project directions, guest speakers and field trip volunteers.
Never allow a parent (or other students) to grade papers - do not have parents come to you on your planning time. During class is fine if you make a template memo before school starts, then just fill in the blanks and print or write directions - it's done. Step out into the hallway with the door open and hand them the memo. After their initial meeting and assignment, my volunteers had an outbox and an inbox on the bottom of the tv cart which was at the front of the room by my desk. With school security what it is, it's important to check on these parent volunteers with guidance.
Once we were communicating smoothly, they would come in, find their memo, read it through and off they'd go. Remember your goal is to save time - that's why your planning time is precious - save it at all costs. Of course, you won’t use volunteers during formal testing.
Grading - A Hint: I had red pens in the front of my room in a plastic, steamer basket with a handle - I had students put away all writing implements, a student passed out the red pens and they graded their own quizzes, homework, etc. - papers I felt they were able to correct. They had to write the corrections on their own papers. No parental complaints because it was instant feedback and I gave these papers less grade weight than tests, essays and projects. I still reviewed them to see how well students were doing and corrected obvious errors in student corrections, but it was a real time saver.
Try and call all of your parents before the first day of class and when you get to a suggested volunteer ask them if they'd be willing, tell them the possibilities and let them choose. I keep this information with their phone number in my grade book for easy access. Many teachers don't use volunteers effectively for a couple of reasons. They feel they may gossip in the community. Trust me - parents gossip anyway and having them see you in action may put them on your side. Another hitch for teachers is how do I thank my volunteers. Here are four ideas. Some bookstores will donate books to you that you can give to your volunteers as thank you gifts (just ask), hit the cheap table in the bookstore with the lovely travel/coffee table books for $5.99 and use your teacher discount or go to your local library and buy a gently recycled book for a $1.00. This one's a real secret - my hospital gift shop has lots of inexpensive treasures that are really useful. Use Hallmark thank-you notes that cost ninety-nine cents at winter break and then at the end of the school year go to Walmart or some other flower mart and buy a simple plant (often for $2.99) - then use the Hallmark card again and voila, an inexpensive solution to the problem of how do I thank my volunteers without spending too much money or time. Parents call school and introduce yourself.
I used to think that volunteers were more trouble than they were worth until I noodled out the objections I had to using them. I saved tons of time. Another tip: If you can make a month by month list of your projects that will require help from the librarian - use your major objectives in your core curriculum to create this list so it will be used every year and only require fine tuning. My librarians were my superstars, even when they were cranky (put yourself in their shoes and you'd be cranky, too) because I had my list, approximate dates and each year sought their advice on how to improve the assignment. They started buying material to support my projects. Librarians can be an outstanding asset. Additionally, I have found the buyers for the children's and young adult literature sections in Barnes and Nobles bookstores to be fountains of great suggestions. Believe it or not, my local Walmart has a great buyer. They know what's hot and appealing to kids of the ages you are teaching and what is fresh and it's their job to be helpful and usually - they love it.
The Bulletin Board: Materials needed: (See the example above) A picture of the student (This may be one the students bring from home or one you take with the school's camera and use ink provided by the Parent-Teacher Association). I had a digital camera and got a parent from my list of students to volunteer to print the pictures with ink I got from school supplies. A school aid (a parent volunteer can do this) came and took the students out one by one to take the pictures and I used my own money to buy photo paper for $15. Donated Magazines with filled with appropriate material and ads. Have parents double check your donations for inappropriate material or ads and remove any address labels. Do not have students do this even in high school.
Organization of Supplies - (More Hints): You will need the following to be organized to create fantastic Visual Projects:. In my classroom I had a series of plastic drawers. Each drawer had a designated supply in it. Glue/Clue sticks (Dollar Store); Scissors ( Nice ones on sale at Walmart); 2 drawers of Construction Paper of various color (Teacher store for solid packs of various colors and Dollar Store for multicolored),; Colored Pencils/Rulers and Markers (Walmart) = 6 plastic drawers stacked near my desk so I could control access. I also had a large tote of magazines, a roll of bulletin board backing(more about that later) and a broom and dust pan for clean up after projects that created messy floors. My bottom desk drawer contained various types of tape, and paper clips. My center desk drawer contained push pins, tacks, rubber bands and hall passes. No one was allowed to touch my center drawer, ever!
Students knew there was a place for everything , they were welcome to use it and they also knew where to put things back.. I also had yard sticks in my coat closet to be checked out (very tempting to use to hit someone). One student from each group would gather needed supplies in order of their table number and after that individual students could get what he or she needed during the making of his or her project. Some supplies the school supplied, some I bought and some were donated. On top of the 6 plastic drawers, I had ruled three-holed paper, blue and black ink pens and sharpened pencils. To be prepared for class, you had to have paper, pen and pencil and be in your seat before the bell rang. As I indicated earlier, I also kept a steamer basket filled with red pens on the bottom of the tv cart which was also near my desk in the front, back or best location in the room I had for the year.
Teachers do not need to hand out supplies. Students can be trained to do this. In the younger grades, teachers should handle the scissors, but think about a system so the younger students can hand out the rest of the supplies. While students wait for their materials, they should be drawing a rough draft of what they plan to make or read silently! No idle hands. Of course you need a model. Take a rectangular sheet of paper - the size of project is determined by you.
The Bulletin Board Layout:
Here are the written details -
Picture of Child (Centered Near the Top or Middle)
Child's Name Written Under Picture with the Phrase:
Child's Name likes puzzles and . . . (or whatever he/she likes)
(subject) (verb) (noun)
Child's Name Written Under Picture with the Phrase:
Child's Name likes puzzles and . . . (or whatever he/she likes)
(subject) (verb) (noun)
This should be large and easy to read. You can use the computer to generate this.
Correctly label parts of speech and subject and verb under the name.
Have the child cut out pictures of their hobbies and favorite things from your stash of print media in magazines or other print medium and have them lay it out their paper.
They can also bring pictures/stuff in a plastic baggie from home. Before a student glues anything down, you must approve the layout and if you give the OK, he or she glues everything down. Please make this a rule for the year so that you will not have all the pictures grouped in one corner of the paper.
Correctly label parts of speech and subject and verb under the name.
Have the child cut out pictures of their hobbies and favorite things from your stash of print media in magazines or other print medium and have them lay it out their paper.
They can also bring pictures/stuff in a plastic baggie from home. Before a student glues anything down, you must approve the layout and if you give the OK, he or she glues everything down. Please make this a rule for the year so that you will not have all the pictures grouped in one corner of the paper.
One objection you may run into is that parents/guardians don't want to let pictures out of their hands. I copied things like this and returned them a.s.a.p.
Then they take it to your "turn in your project place "or to someone stationed at the bulletin board who places it on the board. (Try to find a good place where students can turn in their finished projects that will work for the school year.)
To grade the project, review the poster on the bulletin board and check student work to see if he or she understood the assignment.
This assignment kills several birds with one stone. It helps you learn your students' names, learn about their likes and hobbies, assess fine motor and listening skills, review basic parts of speech and create a great "Back to School Night” bulletin Board. While your students work on their projects, you get to know your students, how well they work in a group and solo. You get to see their imagination at work as they define themselves graphically.
For older students, the bulletin board backing comes into play now. Cut out a larger piece for the older student. Demonstrate for the whole class how to cut the bulletin board paper evenly and neatly - if you have some responsible students, then they can do this for you.
To grade the project, review the poster on the bulletin board and check student work to see if he or she understood the assignment.
This assignment kills several birds with one stone. It helps you learn your students' names, learn about their likes and hobbies, assess fine motor and listening skills, review basic parts of speech and create a great "Back to School Night” bulletin Board. While your students work on their projects, you get to know your students, how well they work in a group and solo. You get to see their imagination at work as they define themselves graphically.
For older students, the bulletin board backing comes into play now. Cut out a larger piece for the older student. Demonstrate for the whole class how to cut the bulletin board paper evenly and neatly - if you have some responsible students, then they can do this for you.
When the projects are completed, ask to keep the best ones because they can be laminated and shown as examples of what an "A" project looks life. Also, you can expand the project for older students by having them divide the poster into three sections: Early Years, Now and What They Want their Future to Be (Middle School). For High School, the sections can be: Early Years, Middle School and the Present.
Back to School Night Hints:
Give points for parents/guardians attending "Back to School Night" or signing the invitation. When they do come, give them a 4' by 6" card and have them write their names, the best number and time for contacting them, their e-mail and correct address. Finally, ask them to write something really good about their child. Something he or she is proud of or they (the parents or guardians) recall that is special.
Before collecting the cards, I ask them to put a number on them. that matches their last name. A = 1; B = 2; C = 3 - this made alphabetizing a breeze! Students can learn to put their numbers on papers as well. If a parent or guardian is unable to attend , give the student the full points if he or she brings back the 4" by 6" card. Guess what? It takes time to fill out the card so you don't have to talk so much and there is also less time for questions. Be sure to have a sign up sheet for volunteering and one for conferencing. Do not get trapped into an conference on back to school night!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Developing Your Unique Teaching Style - Getting Started
Teachers, parents and thoughtful people, this blog is designed to share the many stategies, lesson designs and projects that I created while teaching for 37 years. Teaching was an advocation for me. I worked many long hours to create a rich, vibrant, student-centered classroom environment by using flexible room arrangements, effective classroom management techniques and innovative lesson plans and projects.
My background is varied and I have taught in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools in two different counties in Virginia. Working with the "Troups to Teachers" program for Old Dominion University meant that I created masters level courses in Methods of Language Arts, Classroom Management and Foundations of Education. Additionally, my daughter and I were responsible for starting the men's and women's lacrosse teams at her high school. I also placed as a finalist for teacher of the year in both counties. I plan on sharing the knowledge and experience I gained over the years to engage other "teachers" in the process of creating their unique style. (teachers are also parents and life-long learners)
I have been known as an agent of change and viewed by my peers and principals as a creative teacher who used multiple strategies and research-based educational ideas to bring out the best in all of my students. All students can learn, but sometimes it can feel as if helping a child grasp a new concept is like using your nose to push a pebble up a tall mountain. However, when the light bulb does turn on, it is a very rewarding experience. I told my grad students that I felt I could literally see the light bulb light up over a child's head.
Enough background - here's your first tip. During one parent conference, the child's mother explained to me that her child was too shy or embarrassed to ask a question. That bothered me because I wondered how many other students might feel that way. The solution came to me like many of my ideas - it flashed into my brain while I was taking a shower. In fact, many of my creative ideas came to life while I was taking a shower.
I decided that the students needed a "cool" way to let me know if they had a question. I had a painted rock that a student had given me as a gift and it had a colorful yellow smiley face on it. I put the rock on my desk near a corner and told my class to leave me a "rock note" if they had a question or a comment. I even allowed unsigned notes because I wanted to improve something if I could. It worked like a charm. The "rock note" proved its worth many times. One of my seventh grade students wrote: "What is incest?"
I was able to find out who it was and get social services involved. Her stepfather was abusing her and the "rock note" paved the way to ending her problem.
I put information about the "rock note" in my parent letter and both students and parents knew they had a way to communicate with me.
Communication is the cornerstone for building a unique learning experience. In my next posts, I will continue to share information that I hope will be successful for you.
My background is varied and I have taught in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools in two different counties in Virginia. Working with the "Troups to Teachers" program for Old Dominion University meant that I created masters level courses in Methods of Language Arts, Classroom Management and Foundations of Education. Additionally, my daughter and I were responsible for starting the men's and women's lacrosse teams at her high school. I also placed as a finalist for teacher of the year in both counties. I plan on sharing the knowledge and experience I gained over the years to engage other "teachers" in the process of creating their unique style. (teachers are also parents and life-long learners)
I have been known as an agent of change and viewed by my peers and principals as a creative teacher who used multiple strategies and research-based educational ideas to bring out the best in all of my students. All students can learn, but sometimes it can feel as if helping a child grasp a new concept is like using your nose to push a pebble up a tall mountain. However, when the light bulb does turn on, it is a very rewarding experience. I told my grad students that I felt I could literally see the light bulb light up over a child's head.
Enough background - here's your first tip. During one parent conference, the child's mother explained to me that her child was too shy or embarrassed to ask a question. That bothered me because I wondered how many other students might feel that way. The solution came to me like many of my ideas - it flashed into my brain while I was taking a shower. In fact, many of my creative ideas came to life while I was taking a shower.
I decided that the students needed a "cool" way to let me know if they had a question. I had a painted rock that a student had given me as a gift and it had a colorful yellow smiley face on it. I put the rock on my desk near a corner and told my class to leave me a "rock note" if they had a question or a comment. I even allowed unsigned notes because I wanted to improve something if I could. It worked like a charm. The "rock note" proved its worth many times. One of my seventh grade students wrote: "What is incest?"
I was able to find out who it was and get social services involved. Her stepfather was abusing her and the "rock note" paved the way to ending her problem.
I put information about the "rock note" in my parent letter and both students and parents knew they had a way to communicate with me.
Communication is the cornerstone for building a unique learning experience. In my next posts, I will continue to share information that I hope will be successful for you.
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