On the Shoulders of Giants

The 2 Year Advantage

Today was my last day of school (FINALLY), and it was a great feeling to be able to tell my students, see you next year!  I'm used to being an eighth grade teacher and sending my students off to high schools scattered across the five boroughs, to perhaps hear from them via email or Facebook (my teacher page) or not!  That was always a time filled with mixed emotions.  I'd be sad to see them go, but I also knew my role in their lives was short-term, and I was happy to see them graduate.  For some, I was filled with worry about the choices they might make in high school.  

This year was different: I have the two-year advantage.  I will teach the same group of students again next year as their eighth grade teacher.  I got to have have conversations with students today about eighth grade and be excited about the significant role I will play in their lives! I got to tell parents what the curricular focus will be and how the work will develop in the second year.  Best of all, I did not have to say those sad or worrisome good byes. Our story is not over.

I created a survey for students on google about the class this year and their thoughts for next year.  Every year I do this (on paper though--Google survey is new for me), but this time I can actually use the feedback on the very students who gave it to me.  I've been working with a group of students, helping them write their own novels. I was able to send them off to write over the summer, and look forward to seeing that work in September. 

I've written before about how much I like looping and all the advantages I find in the practice.  The 7th to 8th grade loop is a really good one, developmentally, in my mind.  It's been four years since I've done it, though.  Hooray for summer, and hooray for the 2 year advantage!

 

[image credit: denver.org]

 

The Power Behind Our Words & The Wisdom of Years

When you ask kids at the beginning of the year to make up the rules for a productive classroom (this is not something I'd necessarily recommend doing), they will likely be harsher than you'd ever imagine. They'll say things like, "You can never talk. If you do, you automatically get a call home."  And on top of that, they add "If you get out of your seat without permission, you get detention for the rest of the week."  This sounds ridiculous, of course, and even more so when you see all the crazy things the kids will try throughout the year.  The point here is that their words, and in some respect, their intentions, do not match their actions.  But we forgive them. They're kids.

The new/young teacher says a lot of things.  "In this room, we will respect one another."  "I will not talk over you."  "I will not let you fail."  "Every homework assignment will be graded and returned to you the next day."  Most of us have said these things many times.  The question kids are asking, and we need to ask ourselves is, how much power is behind our words?

Sometime last year, a great colleague of mine, Renata Robinson, who taught middle school social studies on my grade team for years, was teaching our students the difference between legal rights and substantive rights.  This was in the context of the post Civil War amendments, and the subsequent Reconstruction era that attempted to make those laws substantive.  She said that kids really grabbed onto this idea when she compared it to school.  For example, if a teacher or a school has a "Zero tolerance policy for physical harm to another student," the strength of the policy is revealed when it is tested and the teacher or school either enforces it or doesn't. Schools are filled with missions, rules, and "non-negotiables" as well as highly critical young people, wired to test boundaries ad the validity of our statements.  

The intriguing thing is that many veteran teachers rarely have to enforce their rules.  Over time, by a certain point in their career, they have already fought that battle and won.  They've enforced said rule enough times that when they utter the words, "You may not harm another person in this room," or "We respect each other here," kids recognize the power behind these words and believe its not worth trying.  

I am noticing some behaviors, values, routines, I don't have to enforce.  For example, my students come to a meeting area every day after the entry routine.  I ring a Tibetan meditation bell to signal the transition.  A long time ago, I decided, so that the bell would have meaning, I would only ever ring it to signal a transition to the meeting area. Though I'd be tempted to ring it to get students' attention I never did it.  After years of using this bell for that one purpose, it is a no brainer in my classroom.  I don't have to fight it.  I'm never tempted to overuse it.  It is not questioned or tested. It has that power.  There are also certain words that may not be used in my classroom.  I've already fought the battles over them in past years.  Kids just accept it at this point, even though I didn't fight the battles with them. It's as if the experience just oozes through.

There are other statements I'm still struggling to develop the power to say and truly mean.  "You must raise your hand to be called on," is one of them.  I can't quite win that battle, because at some point I'm always inclined to accept a comment offered by a student who calls out.  Maybe I should just change the rule.  Maybe I should just deal with my own inconsistency and my students' response to it.  Or perhaps, I should just become a stickler for it, even though I find it difficult.

In my last post I discussed the idea that a teacher comes to understand, "It's not about me," in stages as the career progresses.  Establishing the power of our words takes years too. New teachers are warned not to promise students things they can't deliver. In reality, we all will make this mistake at times--there are mess-ups and legitimately confusing issues along the way.  I'm pretty sure that the more experienced we get, the more we're able to match our words and our actions.  This is also something we model for students, and something they need to build consciousness around.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you remember a time when this crystalized for you?  How do you make sure your words have power in the classroom?  

 

[image credit: missremmersadventures.blogspot.com]

It's Not About Me

My mentor from Bank Street, Madeleine Ray, always emphasizes that a good teacher has to understand that "It's not about me."  When teachers think its about them, we take things personally that have nothing to do with us and get caught in useless battles with kids.  We miss important opportunities that way.  

There are actually stages of the "It's not about me" realization.  It doesn't happen all at once.  I was always fairly good at not taking things personally that students do or say.  But recently, in a conversation with Madeleine, I shared something with her about my teaching--and I can't remember now what that was, but--she said, "On some level you probably still think it's about you."   Madeleine's words resounded in my head, because I really hadn't thought consciously about that idea for a long time.

As if to illustrate Madeleine's point, a few days later I had a funny interaction with a student.  She had been one of my most enthusiastic students all year long.  "I love ELA!" she would often say, skipping into my classroom.  And, "Hi Ms. Sacks!" she would chirp to me whenever she saw me in the hallway. She always strived to do her best on her work.  Then a month or two ago, something changed, as it often does for seventh graders.  She became sluggish in class, wouldn't want to take out her notebook or start her work.  A few times she complained, "Ughhh, this class is borrrring!"  I knew she was probably just going through something, but I couldn't help being a little perplexed.  I didn't think the class was boring, or that I was teaching much differently than I had all year.  I asked her a few times, what's wrong?  She would say, rubbing her eyes, "I don't know. I'm tired." or "Nothing."

Then, one morning last week, she just sprung into class smiling, eyes wide open. "Hi Ms. Sacks!" she exclaimed.  I said, "Hi!" A few minutes later she said it again, incredulously. "Hi, Ms. Sacks!  Wow, I feel like haven't seen you in months!"  She looked confused through her grin.  

I was laughing inside.  I had seen her, of course, every morning, groggy and cranky.  

I said, "What's different? Are you getting more sleep?" 

"No," she said, still smiling. "I don't know!" 

"You just feel happier?"

"Yeah!" 

Who knows what made the difference for her.  Maybe she just finished a growth spurt and her mind and emotions finally had a chance to catch up to her body.  Maybe the boy she liked likes her back.  Maybe a family member came home after a long time away.  Maybe it's just random.  I'm pretty sure, though, the whole thing had little or nothing to do with me.  

It would have been a shame to take this child's prolonged negative mood personally and get into battles that would cause her more strife than she was already experiencing. It reminded me what a big part of working with adolescents our patience and understanding is.  We have the be the grownups, the stable ones, because they are going through so much so quickly.        

One aspect of becoming a mature teacher is shedding more and more of our egos to enter the work more profoundly.  It takes time, I think. Around the new year I wrote a post about wanting to put more heart into my teaching--basically to remind myself to enjoy all of the good moments in my classes. These two thoughts seem to be related.  I like the idea that higher levels of "It's not about me" await my discovery.  It makes the image of being an experienced, eventually master, teacher a bit more clear.

 

Jacqueline Woodson Visits My Kids! (Tips On Guest Speakers for Middle School)

Last week, Jacqueline Woodson, one of my very favorite young adult authors, came to speak to my seventh graders.  Now, if you teach middle school, you know that bringing a guest speaker to 100 seventh graders doesn't just automatically go well.  There is a novelty factor, yes. And though we'd like that to sufficiently ensure that students receive the guest properly, in reality, middle school students pay attention to many more factors than that. So we must too, if we want it to be a positive transaction for all.

Jacqueline Woodson's visit went very well, and students did get the rich experience--of hearing and seeing an author in person share her work with them--that I hoped they would.  In reflecting on the thought and preparation that went into the event, I've come up with a few factors to consider any time I bring a guest speaker. 

Clear Connection To the Curriculum: Students will wonder, why is this stranger coming to talk to me?  The  more connected to their learning or any aspect of the work they do at school, the more appropriate and genuine the connection will be. A guest speaker comes for a quick moment, which can seem unimportant to many students.  But if it is well placed within a curriculum, the guest will be part of a much bigger  conversation and in a sense "last longer."  In this case, we had read and discussed Woodson's novel, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, as a whole class. Many students went on to read many more of her books.  She was known to them, but through her writing. We had spoken about possibly communicating with her or bringing her to our school, since she is from Brooklyn. Her finally coming was a way of continuing the conversation about her novels and a point of comparison for the current novels we're reading.

Relevent to Students: Students will wonder, why this, and who cares?  As with any curriculum piece, the content of the presentation should be developmentally appropriate.  It should matter to the students at their age level.  If Woodson came and talked about her college experience, my students may or may not have been interested. But she presented to them about her books which all deal with developmentally appropriate themes for middle school students. 

Also, the event should be as culturally relevant as possible, whether that means direct identification with students' culturally or through exposing students to worlds different from the one they know.  Either way, identity is a big factor for middle school students, so we need to consider how students will identify or not identify with the guest and the value that could have for them.  One thing that made Jacqueline Woodson's presentation great was that she was a black woman speaking very candidly and confidently about issues of race and  to a group of diverse students who were themselves hungry for fresh perspectives on this aspect of their growing identities.  She also had the attention of many committed student writers, looking to understand the practice better.

Doing Our Homework: It was really important that we did our homework and discovered that Jacqueline Woodson has a great website designed for kids and teachers, which answers the questions she most often is asked by readers.  She also has many interviews available on the web. We took a day in class to explore the website, watch an interview with Woodson about her writing, and create questions we'd like to ask her in person, that hadn't already been answered in the resources available to us.  I encouraged students to ask questions about her use of literary elements, something we'd been looking at in all the novels from this year, to keep.

Participation & Accountability: On the day of the visit, students understood what they were expected to DO during the presentation.  In class we went over the fact that they would receive a grade for ther participation in the event (Yes, I was willing to use any and all measures of control to make sure they did not make fools of themselves or us in front of a guest. I also justified this because it is actually an important life skill to be able to make a good impression on others, especially those who are successfu at something we are learning to do).  The grade was be based on

• active listening throughout the event
• asking appropriate questions at appropriate times
• taking (some) notes on points of interest

Students received a clipboard with a packet as they entered after lunch.  The front page outlined these expectations again.  The next page had all of the questions (with some editing) they had created in class typed up.  This was a great resource for students.  When Ms. Woodson asked for questions, practically every hand went up. The questions were not superficial, and Woodson was also excellent in her ability to respond.  She clearly was practiced at speaking to kids about her work.  She provided a great mix of humor and depth, and had some witty comebacks to occasional seventh grade silliness.  Students were also, quite obviously doing their best to avoid possible distractions (ie. each other;). 

Timing & Space: I spoke to Ms. Woodson before she came, and she aptly noted, "90 minutes for 100 seventh graders in June could be a long time to keep their attention..."  The only scheduling option for the assembly was for the period directly after lunch....groan. I talked over the timing with my principal, and we decided that the whole grade would stay for 60 minutes, not 90, and then students who were interested in more Q & A would stay for the extra half hour.  We also decided on a large meeting room instead of the auditorium, so that she could speak without a mic (more intimate) and where students would not be too spread out and therefore hard to monitor. 

It worked just about perfectly.  Students were just starting to get squirmy at the hour mark, but left wanting a little more, not bored yet--always a good thing.  The self-selected group that stayed for more time was a great mix of avid writers, voracious readers, and students who were just plain curious, for whom this visit sparked something new.

Teamwork & the Teacher Look: It was important to coorinate with a lot of people to make this run smoothly. The admin team helped organize the schedule and the flow of students from lunch to the room, and made sure our tech. director was there to record it and shoot photos.  The other seventh grade advisors each walked their advisees to the event and seated them together.  I gave each advisor a clip board and instructed them to mark down the names of any of their students making any kind of disruptions.  I asked them to tally up the number of times said students disrputed. Students also knew these would become points deducted from their grade (out of 10). I don't do this sort of thing for regular class activities, but when the stakes are high, like during a student poetry reading, or an event like this, and each individual's self-control at that moment really is crucial to the experience of the entire group, I am all for taking points off for talking, humming, poking, etc.  Advisors also did a stellar job of applying the "teacher look" aka "side-eye" to students who may have been tempted to do any of the actions listed above. The united front supported by the system for teachers to share the task of keeping tabs on individual students was effective. 

Follow-Up: We're working on a creative thank you card.  I hope Ms. Woodson will come back next year!  I highly recommend her as a guest speaker for NYC teachers, who read her books with their students. 

 

[The image above comes from ncte.org only because I don't have my hands on the real pics of Woodson speaking to my students!  Soon!]

Guest Post: Teacher Evaluation to the untrained eye

My TLN blogging collaborator this spring, Lana Gundy, creatively responds to the recent teacher-written report from CTQ's Denver New Millennium Initiative on teacher evaluation. Picking up on their recommendations for qualifications of teacher evaluators, Lana offers an Xtranormal video depicting an interaction between teacher and evaluator gone a little wrong.  

Note: I am often wary of evaluators who are unduly narrow-minded or critical of aspects of teaching they do not understand and cannot themselves demonstrate effectively. Lana shows the other extreme... an entertaining as well as thought-provoking watch!

~Ariel

Teacher Evaluation to the Untrained Eye

 I always find it reassuring to read reports about education reforms that are written by educators.  Educators have the experience in the classroom that gives them the insight to find solutions to the problems teachers face daily.  Teachers know what is not working in the school systems, they live it each day.   Educators may also have the solutions for educational changes that would have a positive impact on our nation’s schools.  One of the solutions proposed by the Denver New Millennium that really made sense to me focused on the people who evaluate teachers.

            Denver’s recommendations for qualified evaluators

• Peer Evaluators should  be practicing teachers
• Evaluators should have extensive training and work as an evaluation team
• Evaluators should be assessed and monitored

            Denver’s suggestions for improving the quality of evaluators for teachers are exactly what we need to make evaluators accountable for their observations.  If evaluators are accountable for what they are observing, they may take more notice of what is not happening in a classroom.  Evaluators must be properly trained to look for teaching that engages our students. 

            Below you’ll find an animation that shows what happens when evaluators are not properly trained.  (This of course is a fictional dramatized account.) 

The name of this video is: Teacher Evaluation to the Untrained Eye

 

Download Movie Maker Xtranormal3

 

~Lana