Stop telling me that it's ok to fail

In my world, failure is not an option.

Within the educational realm, the currently hyped idea is "to allow yourself to fail." Proponents of this mindset tout the idea that failure as a professional is fantastic. By failing, teachers will be more successful. We will be better teachers, because we can show students shining examples of people who once failed, or who failed over and over again, but succeeded. Edison and his lightbulb, Graham Bell's telephone, and the oft repeated lore that Einstein was a failure at school before he was a recognized genius come to mind. By allowing ourselves to fail, according to this philosophy, we are bettering ourselves as educators.

I am here to take a stand. In my world, failure is not the option. 

Stop telling me to fail because it's good for me and for my students. Why? Because many of my students ALREADY FAIL. They don't need to be taught this or to see teachers fail to know that they can succeed out of it. My students do not know who invented the light bulb, and know very little about Einstein. Why? Those geniuses are dead, white men, far removed from today's reality, and thus from the mind of my students.

If you want to be successful, FOCUS ON SUCCEEDING. 

One of my favorite Ted talks is entitled, "Every child needs a champion" and was given by Rita Pierson. Pierson gave an example of a student who got 3/20 questions on a test correct. She wrote "+3" and a smily face on the paper. When the student asked why she wrote these things on a failing test, Pierson replied, "+3 says you aren't all bad. You are on the road." That is celebrating student success.

Look around your room. Celebrate the successes that are occurring, even with just a word. Leave the sarcasm at home, be upfront, honest and sincere. Students learn from the teachers they care about, and who care about them, regardless of the content. Look for the students who:

--did nearly nothing yesterday, and has a couple of items answered today.
--has been down/depressed all week, but is smiling today.
-- never turns in his/her homework but did so today.
--has been in ISS for 2 days for poor behavior, but who brought all of the work you assigned yesterday to class today.

Be tenaciously successful in your school.

Teaching is a profession of fluid success and fluid disappointment. Every, single day we lose and win. Don't be satisfied with losing. Is there a great lesson in failure? Of course. But until students get consistent, heaping helpings of supported success, they won't begin to win. Do not allow failure to be the norm. I am here to say, take back the championing of classrooms and schools. Stand up for yourself, your students, and your school.

Focus on winning.

Digital Bathwater: A Plan for Bridging Tradition and Technology

"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". 

It was Christmas, 1990, and my brothers, sister and I received our first digital gaming console from Santa Claus—an original Nintendo gaming system. Although we were several years behind the original release of NES, we were ridiculously excited to have one of our own, and many hours were spent mastering the flying tail feature in Super Mario Bros. 3 and learning the ins and outs of digital football (back when the Buffalo Bills were led by Jim Kelly).

We were a family that spent far more hours outside than indoors, yet this addition to our family sparked an interest in digital systems that was far reaching into the future, and at some level, is likely responsible for my continued interest in computing/digital work, now through the focused lens of digital education.

Every new teaching technique results in both praise and criticism, and technology integration is no different. As in every facet of education, there is a whole set of technology acronyms to be learned and mastered, or at least defined, in order for one to seem knowledgeable at the next leadership meeting! And yet the speed of novelty in educational technology is so rapid, that teachers and administrators might be willing to throw GAFE, SAMR, and even IT out the window, ASAP!

Critics of educational gaming and digital learning often fall back on their own ability to learn without “those things,” claiming that the use of technology hinders the hard work of learning and thinking that were required of students 20-40 years ago.

As teacher-leaders, it is our responsibility to validate the tried-and-true teaching methods of the past. After all, the “traditional” ways many of us were taught were once novel as well. The seasoned teachers among us who struggle with technology are no less teachers than the tech-savvy, who are coming to their own in this digital civilization. As one former principal I worked for stated to me, “I don’t think we need to throw the ‘baby out with the bathwater’.” There is room for progression and tradition in teaching.

There is room for progression and tradition in teaching.

In a recent district committee meeting which I attended, the needs for validation of traditional teaching as well as bridge-building into technology were both discussed. The constant creation of new technologies must go hand-in-hand with tradition, not simply replace it, for in doing that, the wealth of educational pedagogy is cheapened.

In the end, schools and districts need to talk with teacher-leaders, and develop progression plans for professional development in technology. At each level (elementary, middle, high, and even post-secondary), leaders should develop a table of applications or programs that they would like teachers to explore or learn for a finite amount of time. Keeping this limited to something like 3-5 would be manageable. At the semester or year break, reflect upon these, keeping what works, letting go of the rest, and giving a new set to teachers at that time. Using the teachers as the source for these suggestions will allow every content and need area to be addressed as well.

Time and manageability are the keys to continuing to bridge tradition and technology.

This kind of scaffolding technology development would allow for sharing in buildings or districts, keeping teachers on similar pages, while offering a concise and manageable amount of technology immersion to already busy teachers. By giving several months for teachers to learn each set, there is no rush and teachers are able to try one or two at a time, finding what works for their classrooms. Consequently, time and manageability are the keys to continuing to bridge tradition and technology.

There's Education....and Then There's Learning

     This week, our school is finishing state-mandated testing in grades 3-8. For students, this amounts to approximately two hours of computer-based assessment for three or four days (depending upon the grade level). Despite the fact that proctoring this testing elicits a feeling akin to mowing my half-acre yard with a reel mower, I do get moderate satisfaction out of watching middle school students choose the correct spelling of diagnose and choose the author's purpose for a piece of writing.

     During my recess from testing, I returned to my classroom to open the latest package sent by the fine people at the ASCD office. The book inside was Suzy Pepper Rollins' Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put ALL  Students on the Road to Academic Success.  The everydayness of teaching always puts me up for a fresh perspective on education, and I got it right in chapter one.

     Pepper Rollins quotes a 2004 study which stated, "What students already know when they enter the classroom—before we [educators] have even met them—is the strongest predictor of how well they will learn the new curriculum." (Marzano, 2004). 

     As an ELA teacher, I struggle every year with the idea of assigning summer homework. There is a delicate balance to be found between keeping up with academic rigor and allowing students time to step away from the very grind that teachers experience. Many of my peers have concrete beliefs in assigning summer novels or other work, and research backs the idea up. Students are said to lose anywhere from 20-40% of their previous year's education over the course of the summer. (I would argue that in the balanced schedule system found in our area of the country, in which summer is now less than 8 weeks long, this percentage might be slightly lower).  Regardless, loss is loss, and only requires review again in the fall.

    In light of this loss and the research mentioned previously about life experience, I would like to offer this assignment to my students, for the summer:

Go out and add to your life.

Become better at something for the next 10 weeks.

Try to make it something that doesn't require internet access for more than 10 minutes at a time.

     I read an article today about a local brother and sister who have rejuvenated their grandmother's for-profit fishing lakes. I would rather my students use the summer to fish, kayak, play neighborhood kickball, learn to knit, take-up playing the guitar, woodwork, build a treehouse, or participate in a hundred other "old school" activities than simply reading a novel because I told them it was required. Learn a skill that was important when your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were young. Become good at it, good enough that you would be proud to demonstrate it for a grade next fall. Choose something that is interesting, nay cool, because of its novelty in antiquity and tradition. 

    Come back to school in the fall (or in our case, July), with something to write about (other than the thirty-nine different skills needed to play volleyball, how to bake a cake from a boxed mix, or how to succeed at "Clash of Clans"--these subjects alone made-up 80% of this year's procedural essays in my classes).  Be ready to share your findings, your failures, your successes. 

     Students will not appreciate Tom and Huck sneaking away to a swimming hole if they themselves don't know what a swimming hole is (hint: it doesn't generally involve chlorine, and there are probably frogs everywhere). How can I expect students to love and appreciate Karana's loneliness and strife for survival on a desolate island if the only islands they know lie between city streets? Can one cry for joy when Albert and Joey are reunited, if one has never actually known a horse, or the love of another wounded animal? 

So students, your summer work has been assigned thusly. I will await your stories with wonder and excitement.


Until the next bell,

~K.

Inspiration from mediocrity-- finding joy in the invisible students

Have you ever had a class that came with a, "warning label"? My current 8th grade class came with just such a label. They were presented to me as a lazy, uninspired, middling-talented group of students, who would never match up to the class before them, and who were already being passed-up by their 7th grade peers. What is one to do with such an overture?

I did what every good teacher I have ever known does for such a group...

From the beginning of this year, I told them exactly how talented and special they are. I loved them all, not despite their flaws, but because of them. I have looked for, and found, the artists, writers, athletes, and super-heroes in each of them. Why? Because teachers are called to find those who are invisible.

My class last year was full to the brim with talent-- athletes, would-be scholars, school council politicians, you name it. Every possible type of potentially-successful personality was part of that class. It's easy to teach a class like that, where 90% of the students are already successful.

Yet within that class came some of the most memorable stories of my 9-year teaching career. There was a young man in that grade who didn't seem to particularly like school. He was a slight, cautious boy, who had generally avoided coming to class as much as possible the previous year. I found him intriguing, and began asking his opinions in class. Almost immediately, he began showing up more often. Suddenly, the other students in his grade realized the intellectual maturity belonging to this young man, when they'd never seen it before. He was involved in class, spending hours on literature and writing projects that he never had in previous years. At the end of the year, he received the, "Most Improved Student" award at eighth grade graduation. He had been invisible, and was no more.

One of the girls in this same grade was a sweet young lady with an incredible talent for drawing (a skill I envy). She was beautiful and talented, yet she looked upon this as a curse. I will never forget reading one of her compositions, in which she privately screamed at her classmates that the utopian world they believed they had created at our school was a sham-- that her classmates were mean, vicious, unforgiving people, and how she couldn't wait to get away from their school and their judgements.

I was given the honor of calling the names at 8th grade graduation, and watched as each student came forward to receive their certificate and hug their 8th grade teachers. There was no lack of enthusiasm, excitement, joy, and a few tears. I didn't feel particularly drawn to emotion until the afore-mentioned young lady stepped forward, sobbing uncontrollably. Her lament at leaving this place, her "friends", her youth, suddenly came pouring out as though a well-built dam in her soul was giving way. Her emotions, so raw, came flooding into my voice, and my own tears appeared as I called her name-- another invisible brought into the light.

May we always see those students who are overshadowed by the radiance of their peers.

Until the next bell,

~K

Teaching Logic

There seems to be a lot of "Teacher Lounge" Discussions these days that reference the inability of students to think or reason.  Most tests, as a matter of fact, seem to focus little on problem-solving or logic, and place the most emphasis on what I refer to as "vomitous learning".  This kind of learning is what makes parents expect every student to be an "A" student--it is the kind of fact-remembering (not problem-solving) education that continues to encourage our students to just memorize everything, then effectively "vomit" it onto a test.  Recently, I found myself grading a bunch of blackline master Science tests (which I use seldom, because I feel that the multiple-choice questions are writtent to "trick" students), and saw very interesting trends in my classes.  In the first two sections of the test, students were getting very high scores (85-95 percent correct), while those same students were scoring only 60-80 percent in the final two sections.  How could this be?  The first two sections were multiple-choice or vocabulary/definition with matching opportunities.  The last two pages were short-answer/essay questions, which required deductive reasoning and attention to details. 

I cannot say I was very surprised by these results, but it did make me want to do two things.  First of all, I make a point to only give credit in essays for the points that are adequately addressed.  If students do not answer all parts of the question, they will receive only the credit they deserve (rather than no credit at all, which would really throw the parents for a loop!). I am also explaining which parts of the questions they missed, to try and build their essay-writing abilities.  I don't know who taught me to address all of the parts of an essay question, but I am grateful to those teachers who did.

I have also ordered a logic book to begin working with my 5th grade students (maybe a logic club in the morning, 2 days per week?).  I ordered "Logic Links", and will blog about how that logic training goes.

Until the next bell....

~K

Teaching Divisibility Rules

So we are finishing up our unit on multiplication and division (remainders as fractions & decimals, division by multi-digit numbers, etc.), and will complete the unit with divisibilty rules.  I don't know about you, but I cannot remember a single teacher ever teaching me these rules.  To be honest, I didn't even know they existed (as a set of rules) until I began teaching math.  If you don't have to teach divisibility rules, or you just want a quick refresher, here they are:

2:  If the last digit is even
3: If the sum of the digits is divisible by 3
4: If the last two digits form a number divisible by 4
5. If the last digit is 5 or 0
6: If the number is divisible by both 2 and 3
7: Take the last digit, double it, and subtract it from the rest of the number; if the answer is divisible by 7
8: If the last three digits form a number divisible by 8
9: If the sum of the digits is divisible by 9


I don't know about you, but some of my students have difficulty even dividing 3-digits by 1, so to ask them to do the mental math for 7 or 8 is a huge challenge. Even if they get an answer, the possibility of making an error along the way is so great, that it is almost easier for them to just do the long division.  Regardless, the curriculum demands it, so I wanted to pass something along.  While searching through Smart Exchange (the website for Smart users, but can be for anyone--no sign-up fees), I found an AMAZING presentation on these rules.  Whoever put this together gets my respect medal of the day.  I hope this helps you, if you are teaching these rules!

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=db76013b-040a-4fa5-8703-8af6942c4793

Until the next bell...
K.

As 2012 begins...teaching the value of setting goals

As this new year begins, our televisions, newspapers, and digital media are flooded with encouragement/advertisements to begin anew.  Taking this into consideration, I wonder if the value of setting and achieving long-term and short-term goals is being taught in intermediate classrooms across our country, in a manner that will instil these values for life-long purposes in our students?

Classrooms at all levels are no strangers to goal-setting, usually in the form of  token economies or other classroom-management techniques.  Even in my own classroom, we have a class "compliment" chart, that the students "earn" free time or other incentives for excellent behavior that is noticed by myself or other teachers.  There are many positives and negatives to this idea, and I would be interested to hear how other teachers use positive-reinforcement techniques with older students.  Although this does have value in building community in the classroom, it does not have any real value to each individual student.

It has become increasingly clear that the United States culture of adults also has, for the most part, little understanding of long-term goals.  Very few people are saving for houses or other large purchases anymore, choosing instead to make larger payments on large interest rates, in order to get what they want immediately.  

Even the government seems to have lost the idea of long-term thinking, as it struggles every few months with paying its bills or facing a shut-down.

With so few examples for students to draw from, what can we do to show them the value of goal-setting? The first step with students of this age (who are working out their understanding of the concrete vs. abstract) is to give them some reasons to make goals.  Intermediate students still have a desire to prove their worth and goodness, especially those students who feel undervalued in their home environments. By providing some ideas for achievable academic goals, then relating these goals to long-term and life-long goals, the teacher begins to create a classroom of distant gratification.  It is important for teachers to really be a guide in this journey--a student may be able to come up with a goal, but the difficulty becomes figuring out the path to completion.  Helping students to create a practical calendar with very specific check-in points (and sending a copy of this calendar to both the parents/guardians and the resource teachers) will help the students stay on track for success.

The next step is to get the parents involved.  Conferences are the obvious time to get parents on board, but the initial set-up is always the easy part--parents are always on board for improving their child's education.  The hard part becomes staying with it, especially for the teacher who is trying to keep up with 30 or so students. Creating a goal-file for each student to keep in their desks (or for those students who have organizational problems, in their classroom mailbox), and making a point to check-in with students regularly (no less than weekly) will go a long way in keeping students on track and motivated.

Finally, and perhaps, most importantly, is the celebration of reaching the goal.  This is a big deal!  If many students reached a goal all at once, celebrate that achievement together.  Invite administrators, special area teachers, and parents when possible (I have found that many times, they love just as much to have a reason to celebrate the students as I do!). If successes are individual, celebrate each student in a big way.  You want them to desire success and feel valued in the class, what better way then to let every child be an example of success, whenever they have completed the goal.  Remember, not all students learn or complete work at the same pace, so it is important to give as much attention to the last student as to the first-- it is possible that those students need the accolades even more. 

I would be very interested to hear how you help your students to be goal-achievers, what kinds of impact this has in your classroom, and how you keep everything organized and together.

There is an abundance of research articles that relate goal-setting to academic achievement.  Just a few include:

Self-Motivation for Academic Attainment: The Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Personal Goal Setting (Zimmerman, Bandura & Martinez-Pons, 1992)

Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey.

Locke, Edwin A.;Latham, Gary P.  American Psychologist, Vol 57(9), Sep 2002, 705-717. 

Improving the compositions of students with learning disabilities using a strategy involving product and process goal setting.  (Graham, MacArthur, Scawartz & Page-Voth) 1992.

Until the next bell...

K.