Boys will be Boys

The other day, as I was driving home from work, I heard a radio personality talking about the Miami Dolphin's Jonathan Martin case.  Jonathan Martin had been harassed by a teammate Richie Incognito.  This talk show host's solution for Jonathan Martin was to "be a man" and "punch Incognito in the face."  He went on to talk about how men aren't allowed to be men anymore.  

Similarly, I have sat in on several meetings with a parents who have made the comment "it's just boys being boys" in response to their male children's misbehavior.  

Is it really true that boys simply can't behave?  Is it true that "boys are boys" and therefore do not have the ability to control themselves?

Is it really true that the way to be a man is to punch someone in the face as a way of solving conflict?

I've been alive for 36 years.  For a good portion of my life, I was a boy.  For the remaining time in my life, I have been a man.  I'm having a bit of an identity crisis.  In the 8 years I have been in school administration, I have had plenty of opportunities to deal with conflict, yet I have never solved any conflict by punching someone in the face.  Nor have I had a situation where the male teachers solve conflict by punching each other.  

I have dealt with many boy students.  Successful boy students do not regularly misbehave.

Why then, do we hold this standard?  Why is it that people accept that men are supposed to act like animals even though we rarely see this as a way successful men act?  Why do we allow behaviors that are inappropriate in children by saying "boys will be boys" when we don't see examples of successful students coming from these behaviors.  

This seems to be setting a standard that will lead to unsuccessful male students.  In my school, nearly 90% of all behavior referrals come from our male students.  It seems time that we begin talking about boys as in control of their behaviors and not accepting or perpetuating the idea of "boys will be boys."

Staycation Field Trip

Break out of the box
Schools are time based organizations.  We go to school for 7 1/2 hours per day for 180 days per year.

School schedules drive the way we teach.  If you have X minutes to teach math, we are essentially forced to fill that time with math, even if the lesson is not really an X minute lesson.  Can our focus be truly on student learning if we are limited to a certain number of minutes?

Schools develop schedules because students have to eat lunch.  Students go to Explore classes.  We can't have 55 minutes for Math and 90 minutes for Reading and still have the students rotate between classes (unless the same teacher teaches both subjects).  The bus has to pick kids up at a certain time.  In other words, the reasons we need schedules are for logistical reasons.

These constraints are real.  How can we find ways to lessen the restriction of the time barrier?

The Staycation Field Trip

What if a team of teachers who taught Math, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, and Science (interdisciplinary team at the middle level) decided to throw out the schedule for a day or maybe even a couple of days.  They could still send their kids to lunch at lunch time and still send kids to explore classes at the appropriate time.

• What if kids were required to solve a problem or create a product?  Force students to think differently.  Allow kids writing to be published (do you take more time writing when you know others are going to read it-I know I do).
• What if the students were required to use skills from all subject areas to complete the project?  Are any projects we do as adults actually so isolated that you could say "Today I spent 46 minutes doing math."  Or do real life projects force us to go back and forth constantly from reading, to writing, to doing math, to working through social problems or issues?
• What if the project wasn't time based but learning centered? Overcome obstacles like time.  Allow time to learn.

Overcoming Obstacles
Yes, it takes time to do an authentic, learning centered, problem based, product oriented projects.  Yes, this takes away from time giving direct instruction and completing tests and worksheets.  However, the product could be amazing.  Instead of thinking of it as a day off, think of it as a Staycation Field trip.  Most of us are fine with taking a field trip.  We realize the value of removing ourselves from the building and the benefits of learning in a different location.  In a staycation field trip where we aren't rigid to the pacing guide but instead provide a lesson valuable to the student.  We will still cover material for the state test, but we will take time to provide real life, authentic learning opportunities along the way.

Why a staycation field trip?

Wouldn't it be better for kids to learn than for teachers to teach?  What will students remember?  What will be authentic?  What will have lasting value?

Think Outside the boxes on the schedule

Let go of making everyday exactly the same.  Allow for flexibility in scheduling and find ways to engage kids.

Collaborative Culture: Moving Away From "Just Tell Us What to Do"

Creating a collaborative culture can be difficult.  It's messy.  The answers aren't always black and white.  It takes time to come to resolution.  Discussions can be tense.  People will disagree. Collaboration is iterative.  It's never ending.  It's a process.

In a collaborative effort, titles don't matter.  Everyone possesses the ability to create change.  Everyone has the ability to influence decisions.  Completely collaborative environment probably never fully exist.  At some point, a hierarchy always develops.  However, moving as far on the continuum from hierarchy to true collaboration should always be the goal.

Think of the power of the group.  Ideas coming from collaboration are truly exponentially better than the idea of one person.  As one person comes up with an idea, another person builds on it.  This process happens over and over. People learn from each other and build on each other in a collaborative environment.

At times, a final decision has to be made.  However, when you have the ability to be collaborative on a decision, never wish for somebody to "just tell us what to do."  If somebody just told you what to do, think of all of the opportunities your organization would have missed.

"If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together."-African Proverb

Authentic Learning: Making Space for Quality Instruction

Authentic learning is the way we actually learn in real life.  In order to create authentic learning opportunities, we must find ways to make space in our day to do the things that really matter.

Let me pose a scenario.  Your child is learning to read.  You have 3 goals for your child.  You want your child to comprehend what is read, increase his/her vocabulary, and improve his/her spelling.

Now, thinking of your own child, which of the following ways do you go about helping your child meet these goals?

• A) Read to your child.  Have your child read to you.  Discuss what was read.  Find interesting books to read together.  Model reading.  
• B) Give your child a list of words to memorize and then spell them at the end of the week.  Give your child a list of words to define.  Fill out a worksheet where the child matches definitions on the left with words on the right.  Do a crossword puzzle.  

In order to create the most effective learning environment, we must do it in the way people actually learn.  We clearly understand that increasing the amount of time reading will have a larger impact on vocabulary, spelling and comprehension than the alternative.  As we consider how to create authentic learning opportunities in the classroom, we have to make decisions of what we will give up to make this happen.  We can't do everything, so we must make space for authentic assessment, powerful feedback, quality instruction, and a focus on learning rather than teaching.

Making Space for Quality Instruction

• Increase the amount and quality of feedback. Decrease the number of graded assignments.
• Increase authentic learning experiences. Decrease worksheets and quizzes.
• Increase student engagement through choice.  Decrease direct instruction (not eliminate).
• Increase problem based learning.  Decrease memorization.
• Increase connection to the learning target. Decrease busy work.
• Increase creating tangible products. Decrease tasks that don't lead to a final product.
• Increase focus on the student.  Decrease focus on the teacher.

Building Positive and Respectful Relationships

Relationships will make or break your ability to be an effective educator.  Relationships establish a classroom and school environment where students feel safe and can learn.  In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, once a students physiological needs are met and he/she feels safe, that child must then feel he/she belongs.

Some teachers naturally develop positive and respectful relationships with students. What is it about these teachers?  Michael Linsin says that all students "are drawn to teachers who exude a calm, friendly demeanor."  Rather than using "relationships" as a strategy, simply show you care with all of your actions.

Eric Jensen says "There's a huge difference between an orderly school where things run smoothly and an ordered school, which follows a top-down authoritarian model.  The former respects the students; the latter treats them like second class citizens." Treat all students as people deserving of respect.

Here are some ideas that are important to developing relationships.

Give respect first-Don't expect students to respect you because you are the teacher.  While we wish all students came to school with great social skills and an understanding of simple, basic manners or cultural norms, not all do.  We are teachers, let's teach them by role modeling.  Give respect even when they least deserve it.  If a student is in the office for a negative behavior, give respect even while giving a consequence.  You can't control if they give you respect.  Lecturing them on the virtues of respect will likely go on deaf ears.  Start the respect cycle by modeling respect.

Be consistent-Show no favoritism to students.  Students should be shown that you care about them no matter what.  While certain student actions might elicit a positive response from you and other student actions will elicit a negative response, these actions must be consistent regardless of who the student is.

Show that you care-Don't tell kids you care, show them.  Don't single kids out to show you care, simply listen when they come to you to talk. Treat all kids with respect and dignity.

Speak positively about students- Avoid making a negative comment, joke, or negative remark about a student.  Other students, even ones that are well behaved, will infer that you don't care about that student.  It will affect your entire classroom culture.

Treat students with dignity-One of the best football coaches I ever have been around treated all kids with dignity.  His athletes knew that he cared about them no matter if they were a 5th string Sophomore or an all-state caliber running back.  How did his athletes know? Because he reacted and interacted with both athletes in the same way, regardless of ability.

Authenticity-Be yourself.

Let students come to you.  Don't go to a student and ask about their personal lives when you were not invited by the student to do so.  Instead, give respect first, act in a consistent way, show that you care, speak positively about students, treat students with dignity, and be authentic.  When you do these things, students will be drawn to you.

Relationships will happen naturally.  Will they be positive and increase a sense of belonging, creating a great learning environment? It's up to
the adults to create and nurture this environment.

Homework and Grading Philosophy Hits Home

My 6th grade daughter is learning to do percentages.  She has worked hard on this concept each night for the last several nights.  She simply struggles with this concept.  As she practices, I see her improve.  Each night she has gotten a little better.

If she were to be graded on her homework, what would this prove?  It would act, in many ways, as a punishment for not "getting it" right away.  But isn't that the point of learning.  If you "get it" in the beginning, then you aren't learning.  Instead, you are just proving that this didn't need to be taught.

Fortunately, she is in a class where students are given feedback.  They are not given a grade that can't be improved upon.  She will be able to prove that she has learned the concept through an assessment.  If a student doesn't get it the first time, they are given chances to redo their test.

Some teachers have expressed that students won't do homework unless they grade it.  As a teacher, I remember worrying about the same thing.  So, I asked my daughter, "If you don't get graded on the homework, then why do you do it?"  She told me "So I learn it, and so I do good on my NeSA (Nebraska State Accountability)."   The second part of that answer makes me sick (which is a post for a different time), but the first part nailed it right on the head.  When students start to see the work they do as directly related to learning, then we start to make real progress.

She struggled on percentages last week, but I am now seeing real progress in her homework.  The confusion that is involved in learning can be quite stressful for a student.  Being able to make mistakes, learn from mistakes, and improve from mistakes allows for real learning.  Instead of a game of collecting enough points to earn an A (as in many traditional classrooms), students work on concepts until they master the concept.  What a concept!

Feedback: Making Time for What Matters

Don't confuse grades with feedback.  Traditional grades don't encourage improvement.  Grades are not intended to help you improve.  Grades are final, even when we say they are formative.  Once a student sees a grade, they move onto the next subject.  This is proven out in research.   Feedback is a part of the learning process.  Feedback tells you what you are doing well so that you continue to do those things.  It also gives suggestions of what you can do better.  

And Now, A Statement from the Confused Teacher

It's easier to simply check problems correct or incorrect on a test.  Then this works out into a percentage grade.  That grade can then be converted into a letter grade. As a teacher, why waste my time on writing comments and giving suggestions?  That takes much more time and is less efficient.  What a waste of time.  I'll teach them, then I will grade them.  Then, bam, I'll teach them again.  The perfect system-Efficient.

Efficient or Not Efficient, That is the Question

The above would be true, unless you look at the definition of efficient.  Then you've got yourself a problem.

Efficient: 1) achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense 2) working in a well-organized and competent way.

Maximum Productivity

Feedback is shown to have a great impact on learning.  Nothing has a greater impact than good feedback.

Minimum Wasted Effort-

Use in-class formative assessments and provide immediate feedback regularly.  
Well Organized-Have systems in place to organize feedback.  Formative assessment such as quick checks for understanding using a randomized way to collect answers from students.  This could be as simple as using popsicle sticks to choose who will answer next.  You could also use a clicker system but technology, in this case, does not necessarily make it better.  Maybe you have a system at the end of class for student to put sticky notes on the door as they leave the room.  

Competent

A great teacher understands the research.  The research tells us feedback correlates in a very strong way to learning.

Making Time for What Matters

Grading without feedback does not enhance learning and therefore by definition is not efficient (or effective).  Since the goal is learning, spend your time where you get the biggest impact on learning----Quality Feedback.