Julia G. Thompson

Julia G. Thompson: At this point in the school year, I always wonder...

2012-01-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

Julia G. Thompson:
At this point in the school year, I always wonder...: At this point in the school year, I always wonder if I am an effective teacher when it comes to classroom management. Even though I have w...

2012-01-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

At this point in the school year, I always wonder if I am an effective teacher when it comes to classroom management. Even though I have written pages and pages about it, I still worry that my own classroom is not as well-managed as it should be and could be. Like other teachers, I want to make sure that every student becomes a self-disciplined success story. With that lofty goal in mind, I spend time each year when a grading period ends to review my efforts at making sure that my classroom management procedures and policies are as effective as I would like for them to be.

With that in mind, you may also want to take a mid-year moment to examine your own classroom management effectiveness. While there are manydifferent approaches to solve discipline problems, some are simply moreeffective than others. As you take this quiz, ask yourself which of the answerchoices would be the most effective way to handle a problem that you and your studentsmay be experiencing.

1. Students take too long to get their materialsarranged for a test.

a. Remindthem to hurry.

b.         Startthe test and let the slow ones catch up.
c.         Tell them they can have one minute to get ready and then
            time them by pointedly watching the clock.

2. A student is lost in a daydream instead offinishing a reading assignment.

a.         Tell the student that if he or she doesn’t get to work,there
            will be more to do for homework.
b.         Stay at your desk and wait to see how long it takes the
             dreamer to get back to work.
c.         Moveto stand near the student.

3. Students jokingly insult each other whilewaiting for class to begin.

a. Ignorethe horseplay. Class hasn’t started yet.

b.         Remind students of the procedure for starting class and the
           class rule about showing respect for others.
c.         Tellstudents to stop and to get to work at once.

4. A studentalways finishes assignments in a rush and then wants to spend the rest of classdoing absolutely nothing.

a.         As long as no one else is beingbothered, there is no real
             problem.
b.          Design instruction so that oneassignment will flow into
            the next. Students can use a checklist tokeep on track.
c.         Give the student more work to do.

5. A few students show up day after day without completed homeworkassignments.

a.         Tell them that they are going to failthe class and that you
             are going to call home.
b.         Ask them to write out the reason andthen work with them
           to figure out a solution. Take a positive approach.
c.         Stop giving homework assignments. Focuson class time
            learning instead.

6. Studentsball up papers and toss them at the wastebasket while

you are giving directionsabout an assignment.

a.         Shakeyour head, frown, and move near them.
b.         Stopwhat you are saying and reprimand them.
c.         Finish your directions. Go to the students and quietly ask
            them about the class rule they violated.

7. A student is constantly disorganized. A book bagfull of

crumpled papers functions as a locker.

a.        Keep the student after class andstraighten out the mess
            together. Work out a weeklyorganization goal.
b.        Call home and talk to a parentabout helping the student
            get organized.
c.        Assign binder buddies to help thestudent find materials.

8. Students chat while you are explaining thehomework assignment.

a. Ignoreit.

b. Stopand wait for them to pay attention. Call them to order

if needed.

c. Tellthem to stop talking and start paying attention.

9. A student lacks a textbook, pen, or paper.

a. Sharematerials from the class storehouse.

b.         Don’t allow student to complete the work in class. He or
             shecan do it at home. This will help all students remember
            to bring materials nexttime.
c.         Allowstudent to borrow from classmates.

10. Students talk back rudely when you havereprimanded them.

a. Sendthem to the office.

b. Reprimandthem privately.
c. Ignoreit.

11. Students turn in sloppy or inaccuratework.

a. Refuseto take it.

b. Takeit but give a lecture about work habits.
c. Requirethat they redo the work whenever practical.

12. Students are tardy to class without agood reason.

a. Enforceyour rules regarding tardiness to class.

b. Refuseto let them in.
c. Meetthem at the door and ask why they are tardy.

13. Some students ignore you when you callfor the class to quiet down to work.

a. Keepasking until they listen to you.

b.         Raiseyour voice until no one can ignore you.
c.         Givethe signal that they recognize as a sign that they need
            to get quiet.

14. Astudent seems to take forever to dawdle over any assignment in class—tests, quizzes,and other written work.

a. Givethe student a timer to self-manage tasks.

b.         Callhome to find out any reasons for the problem.
c.         Talkto the student to find out the reasons for the slow pace
            and to find ways to help the student stayfocused and
            productive.

15. Onestudent refuses to work with the rest of the students in a group.

a.         Makesure that everyone knows the reason for the
            assignment, has an appropriate role in the group, andhas
           been taught teamwork skills.
b.         Ignorethe situation as long as you can so that students can
            work it out for themselves.
c.         Takecare to assign students to groups where they will be
            able to work with friends

Answers:

1. c 6. a 11.c

2. c 7. a 12.a

3. b 8. b 13.c

4. b 9. a 14.c

5. b 10. b 15.a

What Is Your Level of Classroom "Withitness?"

2012-01-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

We've all seen them--those amazing teachers who can write on the board, direct a small-group reading circle, and gently redirect three off-task students at the same time. Their expertise is an inspiration for us all. As amazing and inspiring as it may be, however, no one is actually born with the trait of "withitness."

What is withitness? At all times a teacher knows what’s going on in class.

Teachers with withitness are said to have eyes in the back of their heads. But, since they never turn their backs on the class, this is not really necessary.

Here are some simple tips for cultivating your own classroom withitness:

1. Don’t ever turn your back on a class.

2. Be alert to signs and signals among your students

3. Be prepared so that you can focus on students instead of the lesson.

4. Develop your personal multitasking skills.

5. Stay on your feet and monitor.

6. Arrange your class so that you can see and be seen.

7. Don’t distract students when they are working.

8. Pace lessons so that they flow in a businesslike manner.

9. Quietly correct off task behavior and then move on.

Here's a quick excerpt from the handouts that accompany the professional development DVD. Use it to determine just how you rate as a teacher who knows what is going on in class?

TEACHER SELF-ASSESSMENT 5.7: WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF WITHITNESS?

Use the list of strategies below to assess your level of withitness. Rank yourself on a scale of 1-3 with 3 being as successful as possible. Any strategy that you can’t rank yourself as a 3 should be one that you continue to work to improve.

1. _____Don’t turn your back on a class.

2. _____Be alert to signs and signals among your students.

3. _____Know your students well.

4. _____Greet students at the door at the start of class to scan for potential problems.

5. _____Be prepared so that you can focus on students instead of the lesson.

6. _____Develop your personal multitasking skills.

7. _____Stay on your feet and monitor.

8._____Arrange your class so that you can see and be seen.

9._____Don’t distract students when they are working.

10._____Pace lessons so that they flow in a businesslike manner.

11. _____Quietly correct off task behavior and then move on.

How to Cope with An Overcrowded Classroom

2012-01-18T02:27:00.000-08:00

My classes are overcrowded. Just like thousands of other educators, I teach in a school district struggling with tough choices when it comes to budget matters. The result? There are lots of student names on my rosters...lots and lots of names.

Too many students packed into a room designed for a much smaller class presents some serious challenges. Like other teachers, I struggle with managing the paperwork load. I work hard to figure out ways to return graded papers with meaningful comments in a timely fashion. I work hard to figure out ways to manage the traffic flow so that my students can work with their classmates and I don't have to leap over book bags in the aisles. I work hard at classroom management so no one gets lost in the crowd. I work hard to make sure that an overcrowded classroom is just a challenge and not a detriment. If you are in the same situation, here are some tips for managing an overcrowded class that I have found useful in my own practice.

An Excerpt from Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary Teacher

“In the recent past, many teachers have had to cope with classes that were just slightly above the recommended size for the grade and subject. However, today’s widespread and severe budget cuts have made critically overcrowded classrooms that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. As inevitable as overcrowded classes may be, the discipline problems associated with them are not. Overcrowded classes can be managed successfully by those teachers who meet the unique challenges they present.

Even though we know that smaller classes are the preferred option for our students, a positive discipline climate and a pleasant learning environment are possible in overcrowded classes. The following strategies can start you on the way to successfully managing the problems of overcrowded classes.

· Even if you are not easily intimidated, confronting a large group of students who have been crammed into a classroom designed for a much smaller group can be more than a little discouraging. Unless you immediately assume a strong leadership role, you will be so outnumbered by your students that they will be in charge of the class, not you.

· The room arrangement is very important in overcrowded classes. Make sure you have enough desks. Move all equipment that you don’t need to use right away to storage and do whatever else you can to further reduce the claustrophobic effects of clutter in the room.

· Pay careful attention to traffic patterns and student movement. Try to reduce this as much as possible. Teach your students to dispose of trash at the end of class and to sharpen pencils only at the start of class.

· An overcrowded class requires more monitoring than a smaller one. Teach your students that they are to place their book bags under their desks rather than in the aisle to make movement easier.

· A seating chart is an absolute must in an overcrowded class if you want to reduce the amount of off-task behavior. A structured environment will reduce the number of problems you will face.

· Prepare yourself for the noise level. A large class can be a noisy class if you don’t establish some guidelines early in the year with your students to help them control the noise level.

· Be extremely organized and a model of efficiency for your students who could be tempted to use overcrowding as an excuse not to do their best. Keep your personal space in good order and insist that your students leave their area tidy at the end of class. Encourage them to check to make sure their classmates don’t leave personal belongings behind when class is over.

· It is important for you to avoid confusion and the discipline problems caused by failure to return papers promptly. Although it takes longer to grade papers for a large class, your students may feel lost in the crowd if you allow papers to pile up before you give them the feedback that all students need in order to stay focused on learning during class.

· Routines are very important in a large class. Establish and teach them early in the term. Students should be able to predict what they are supposed to do in your class even though there are many students in the room.

· Allow no horseplay. Even though you may be inclined to allow students some leeway in playing around, this is not a good idea when there are too many students in the room. Horseplay in a crowd is wasted time as well as dangerous. Stop it at the first sign it is about to begin.

· Be especially careful in a crowded class to prevent the cheating that can happen because students have to sit close together. Provide a cover sheet and monitor carefully to prevent problems.

· Enlist your students in a sense of togetherness and encourage a spirit of cooperation in solving the problems caused by an overcrowded class. A sense of humor and a positive attitude on your part will set a pleasant tone for your students to model.

· It is important for you to speak with every student each day. Greeting them at the door is a good beginning to solving the problems of having to keep in touch with many students. Make a point to let your students know that you are aware of them as people, not just as faces in a crowd.

· Creating permanent teams of study buddies is a good way to give students a sense of togetherness and connectedness in the midst of the larger group. When students have a few partners to turn to for help and support, they will feel like a part of the class instead of being just one of many.

· Courtesy to each other and to you is especially important in a large class. Teach the importance of courtesy to the students in a large class and insist that they treat everyone with politeness. A large courteous class is much better and easier to deal with than a small rude one.

· Your attitude is the most important factor in coping successfully with the demands of a large class. It’s not the number of students occupying seats in the room, but the careful planning, interesting lessons, and sincere effort to connect with each student each day that will determine the success or failure of the discipline climate in a class.

Student Lies, An Almost-Free Book, and Fostering Positive Relationships

2011-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

A GIVE AWAY OF A BOOK!

If you find the advice at this site and in Julia's books helpful, you can have some more of it FREE--or almost free.

You can receive an "almost-free" copy of Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary Teacher if you:

1. Are one of the first ten educators to respond

2. Are willing to write and post a review of the book at Amazon and any other online site that you would like before the end of January, 2012

If you would like to participate in this "almost-free" give away, send your name and address to Julia Thompson at thompson_juliag@yahoo.com. Remember, only the first ten people to respond will get a book--and plenty of thanks for posting a review!

Lies and Lies and Lies

Although there have been countless studies about the prevalence of academic cheating and its negative effects on students and teachers alike, another facet of the same impulse is even more widespread: students lying to us at school. While even the most jaded teacher may laugh at the old “The dog ate my homework” excuses, none of us finds a steady barrage of student lies nearly as amusing. Sometimes it seems as if our students lie to us so openly and frequently that we are engaged in a unpleasant daily battle with them.

It is a sad and sometimes unsettling fact of our profession: our students will sometimes lie to us. The reasons for their lies are as complicated and numerous as our students themselves.

“I did my homework, but I left it at home” is perhaps the most common lie that students tell us. It is so common, in fact, that many of us reflexively do not accept these words as true after hearing it for the fifth or sixth time in one day. Woe to the poor student who really did leave his or her paper on the kitchen table or in the printer—no one will accept that as truth.

Lies can have a seriously damaging effect at school as well as on other aspects of life. The biggest negative effect of student lies is the destruction of trust between teacher and student. When that relationship is damaged by lies, it is not easy to recover it. No teacher finds it easy to be constantly on guard against lies. At the same time, no teacher finds it easy to be taken advantage of by manipulative students.

So, what are some of the most effective ways to manage student lying so that you can maintain a positive relationship with your students and not feel as if you are wearing a sign that says “I am a sucker for any excuse” across your forehead?

1. Strive to find a mental middle ground in your attitude. Yes. Some of your students will not be truthful. Others will be. This seems to be one of the less pleasant things about our profession that you really can’t control as completely as you would like.

2. Strive to see student lies as a problem that you can cope with instead of just reacting to the issue in an emotional way. Remove as much of the negative emotion you may feel at being tricked and redirect your energies in a positive way.

3. When you find that a student has lied to you, privately deal with that student. Don’t compound the problem by humiliating the student in front of classmates with an angry confrontation.

4. Instead of accusing the student directly, ask questions that will lead him or her to admit the truth of the matter. This is especially important and effective with students who have had momentary a lapse of judgment and integrity and who will self-correct when given an opportunity.

5. Contact the student’s home when necessary. Sometimes it takes a united front to tackle the underlying issues that have encouraged a student to lie.

6. Once you and the student have completely worked out the problem, assure the student that the matter is resolved and that you intend for both of you to move forward. Be matter of fact and friendly in your dealings so that this can really happen.

7. Be a role model of integrity yourself. This is crucial if you are to be able to successfully tackle the issue with success.

Fostering a Positive Relationship

At this time of year, you and your students have probably settled into the various routines that you need to make your classroom run smoothly. They know what to do at the start of class, how to hand in papers, and how not to pack up at the end of class until you give the signal. Although there is a great deal of comfort in this familiarity, it is all too easy for busy teachers to overlook another kind of familiarity that is crucial to the success of a classroom—the endless stream of positive connections that good teachers work hard to foster each day.

Because our students are infinitely complex beings, making a positive connection with them is not only a necessary action, it is one that needs to be made and remade every day. Every encounter with students has the potential to make them feel confident and successful and willing to work to achieve their goals and master the material you have for them. Unfortunately, each encounter can also be one in which you lose the fragile respect you may have gained earlier in the term through neglect if not through actual missteps. Here are just some of the many small actions that you can take to make sure that you have fostered a positive relationship with as many of your students as possible.

It does not take a long time or much effort to do the things in this list, but the rewards will be more than worth it.

1. Tell students that you do not intend to give up until they are successful in your class.
2. Celebrate birthdays and other special occasions.
3. Focus on your students’ strong points. Too often teachers focus on correcting weaknesses instead of encouraging students to take advantage of their strengths.
4. Break long assignments into smaller, more manageable chunks of work.
5. Place students in mixed-ability groups. When teachers group low achievers separately, it sends a message of defeat.
6. Provide opportunities for students to self-evaluate so that they know the extent of their progress.
7. Teach your students the skills that they need to be successful students. Good time management, organization, and efficient study skills will all make it easier for them to achieve.
8. Offer a mixture of assessment types so that students can demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways.
9. Acknowledge it when a student is having a bad day and offer to help if you can.
10. Make sure that you use plenty of formative assessments so that students can know if they are on the right track.
11. Invite inspirational guest speakers to encourage your students to work hard.
12. Instill a sense of responsibility for their own success in your students. Teach them that they control their own destinies.
13. Ask about an event that a child is anticipating.
14. Differentiate your instruction so that all students can reach success.
15. Write students personal notes. Be brief. Be positive. Show that you believe in them.
16. Set aside time periodically for students to set goals and then assess their progress in achieving them.
17. Help students determine and then work with their learning styles. This awareness will help them work to reach their potential.
18. Students need specific encouragement as well as praise if they are to continue a positive behavior.
19. Display encouraging mottoes and slogans from achievers who struggled early in life.
20. Provide ongoing support for less-proficient learners as well as enrichment opportunities for all students.
21. Harness the power of positive peer pressure! Have students work toward common goals.
22. Build intrinsic motivation into every lesson. Offer small, tangible rewards occasionally, too.
23. Have students share successful study strategies with classmates. Informal peer support can be a powerful tool.
24. Make it a point to monitor frequently. This will allow you to help students when they first experience difficulties.
25. Consider holding periodic ceremonies to recognize students who have reached goals or who have otherwise been successful.
26. While you should never water down the curriculum, you should alter the way you teach it so that all students can learn.
27. Use wall charts, stickers, and other motivational tools to make student success visible to all.
28. Use positive labels as often as you can so that students know what to call their success and how to repeat it.
29. Take time to discuss the dangers of substance abuse, gangs, and unprotected sex with older students. This will help them stay focused on their positive goals.
30. Call on all of your students and not just the ones you think know the answer.
31. Attend after-school games, performances, and other activities.
32. When a child speaks to you, stop what you are doing and really listen.
33. Assign the work groups in your class. Don’t let cliques choose their friends.
34. Schedule team building activities when you place students in groups so they can learn to work well together.
35. Set class goals and work together as a team to achieve them.
36. Let your voice be the kindest one your students hear all day.
37. If a child is ill, pay attention. Send him or her to the nurse. Call home.
38. Let your expression reflect the pleasure that you take in your students’ presence.
39. Have no invisible students in your class. Speak every child’s name every day.
40. Contact a child’s home with good news.

Going Global--But Some Things Never Change

2011-10-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

October 24, 2011

"Hell is empty. The devils are all here." ~Shakespeare

One of the most amazing aspects of modern life is how easy it is to reach out to other people in faraway places. In two days, I will be making a presentation about classroom discipline via the magic of a nifty company called Behaviours Needs in England and Skype. Except for the time difference and the wonderful British accents, I could be talking to teachers in my hometown.

One of the things that has always struck me as I have had the opportunity to listen to teachers in workshops in the various parts of the USA and abroad is what we all have in common--a sort of universal teacher language. From wonderful Worchester County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the equally wonderful city-state of Signapore and many places in between, I have had professional conversations with teachers who are concerned about their students. We worry about their lack of skills in reading, math, and writing. We worry about their social skills and their unrealistic goals. We worry when they want to sleep in class and when they sass us. We worry...And we especially worry about discipline issues. I worry about it so much, in fact, that I wrote my first book about how to make students behave themselves while they were in my class.

So, with that common language in mind, you may want to check out the free Webinar. In it, I address twelve key strategies of classroom discipline. You want want to join in and listen. At the end, I've put together an ebook of successful strategies to help teachers motivate students. It's a small compilation from all of my books and the new DVD for teacher trainers due out next month.

Here is what the cool folks at Behaviour Needs have to say about the Webinar. Feel free to join in. There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone in your classroom discipline issues--in fact there is an entire planet of educators who worry along with you!

Attention teachers: Need help with classroom management?

One of our most popular education authors, Julia Thompson, will be sharing the fast-acting, super-effective strategies she has written about in three tremendous teaching books and personally uses to successfully manage her classroom with ease.

You can join this exclusive free LIVE teleclass called "Instant Solutions For Your Most Frustrating Classroom Discipline Problems" on Wednesday, October 26th at 5pm EST, 10pm GMT.

Julia will open your eyes to new strategies and tactics for preventing problems and taking control in the classroom and the best bit – you can listen from your favourite comfy chair at home.

You can register or learn more here:

http://www.classroom-expert.com/julia-thompson

Problem 5: Are You Wasting Valuable Class Time?

2011-09-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Scenario: You have too much curriculum and too little useful class time with students. Not only are you required to cover enormous amounts of information, but you are expected to do so in ways that ensure that all students are engaged and able to master the material. You feel as if you just do not have enough time in each class to get ever thing done. To make matters worse, although other teachers complain about the lack of time, they seem to be covering the material with greater speed and more success.

Your Goals:

To eliminate the ways that you personally waste class time

To eliminate the ways that your students waste class time

To figure out ways to cover material so that your students master it quickly

Some commonsense suggestions for using school time wisely:

Have all handouts and other learning materials prepared before class so that students do not have to miss instructional time waiting for materials.
Check to make sure that all equipment is in good working order before class.
Be flexible. Interruptions happen. Things do not always go as planned.
Don’t allow small misbehaviors to continue or escalate.
Raise your students’ awareness of how they use class time. Be open in discussing what went well and what did not in class.
Hold students accountable for how well they use the time that they are in class. Promote self-discipline and time management.
Establish and follow a routine for the start and ending of class so that students use every minute that they are with you.
Delegate as much as you can. Students are often eager to help and can be surprisingly good at managing classroom chores.
Don’t ever call roll out loud. Use a seating chart and look around the room as students are working.
Try to photocopy extra copies of handouts for those students who lost theirs or who left them at home.
Make sure students know the rationale for studying a particular topic. This will encourage them to stay on track.
Prevent as many interruptions as you can.
If a misbehaving student has caused a disruption, do your best to keep the disruption small so that valuable class time is protected.
Establish routines for predictable interruptions.
Know what to do in a fire drill. Students should be able to exit the building and return in a timely fashion and with a minimum loss of class time.
Give students a long-term project (sometimes called an anchor assignment) to work on if they finish an assignment early.
If you place students in study teams, often they will work more efficiently together than they would if they were working alone.
Set time limits for completing tasks within a class period. This will encourage students to work toward a goal.
Have students pick up handouts and other materials as they enter the room rather than waste time tediously passing back papers.
Give students checklists of assignments so that they can work on a series of assignments rather than having to check in with you after each step.
Ask students to stop every now and then and share questions or what they have learned with classmates.
Make sure that the activities you plan to cover the curriculum will meet the learning needs of your students.
Be sure that your students know that you are the person who will decide when class will end—not a bell. This will ensure that they work productively and not fall into disorder near the end of class.
Monitor constantly so that your students stay on task.
Don’t waste time assuming that you students will all learn at the same rate. Assess your students’ readiness levels and differentiate accordingly.
Stay on topic. Resist the temptation to be drawn off topic during a lesson.
Overplan. Overplan. Overplan. Always have a backup plan.
Make learning to follow directions a focus point until your students have mastered this important skill. Students who know what to do and how to do it will not be as likely to waste time as those students who are not sure what to do.
Create and then enforce a reasonable policy concerning how your students may leave the room. Students who lollygag in the hallways during class are not learning anything.
Reduce the distractions that may be drawing your students’ attention away from a lesson.
If an upcoming event is causing distractions and subsequent misuse of class time, then make use of student interest in that event. Channel energy when you can instead of opposing students.
Pace lessons so that there is another assignment waiting for students who finish early.
Assign an appropriate amount of work. Students should not waste time practicing what they already have mastered.
Realize that students of all ages can have trouble changing from one activity to another. Plan effective transitions between assignments.
Teach to an objective. Focused instruction will be much more efficient than merely covering material.
Use formative assessments to determine your students’ readiness for a particular unit of study.
Use signal words to call students to order, direct their attention, or change tasks. This will save time by making sure that students know what to do.
Use exit tickets to ask students to reflect on how well they used their time in class. This will help raise their awareness of the importance of making every minute count.
Display inspirational posters and reminders to help students use time wisely.
Use the small blocks of time that are available to you and your students. Often the time at the beginning and ending of class is the most productive time for student retention of knowledge. Take advantage of this and pack those few minutes with interesting activities.

Problem 4: Your Handouts Could Be Snooze-Inducing, Ineffective, Time-Wasting Exercises in Futility

2011-08-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

In recent years, handouts and worksheets have undergone much well-deserved criticism for their mind-numbing effects on classrooms filled with students who deserve more than a dull exercise in filling in blanks.

Even though there are some dreadful handouts out there, not every handout is bad. In fact, engaging, well-thought-out handouts are a useful way to practice, review, encourage critical thinking, enhance creativity, and help students assume responsibility for their own learning.

Designing handouts that will help your students learn instead of just scribbling wannabe answers as fast as possible takes a bit of effort and a little bit of time. The payoff in student engagement and learning is well worth the trouble, however.

· Thoroughly proofread every handout you create for grammatical, factual, and typographical errors. If you want your students to take care with the neatness and accuracy of their work, then you need to model that behavior when you create handouts for them.

· Keep the appearance of any worksheet uncluttered and readable. Use no more than three different fonts on a page. (Three fonts may even be a bit much for some students.)

· Check to make sure that the font size is large enough for everyone to follow.

· Take care that the page breaks don’t make it difficult for students to keep on track when answering a question that begins on one page and ends on another.

· Pay attention to format and spacing. If students are expected to write on the handout, allow plenty of room and provide lines for them to do so.

· Number each page so that students will be able to stay focused as they work through the handout.

· Provide space for students to head their papers with their name, the date, and the class or subject. Many teachers neglect to do this and then complain when students forget to put their names on their papers.

· Use text features such as clip art, text boxes, or underlining to emphasize important information.

· Label each handout with a distinctive title or other type of label so that students can find it quickly when searching through their binders.

· Make all directions easy to find. Use a bold font and place them right before the assignments they refer to.

· All directions should be very, very easy to follow. Step-by-step directions written in clear, brief sentences are easier for students to read and understand than jumbled, complicated ones.

· Some teachers have found that estimating the approximate length of time that each section should take to complete tends to make a longer handout less intimidating. Doing this together at the beginning of the assignment teaches students valuable time management skills and is a friendly and encouraging way for you and your students to collaborate.

· Consider writing directions in the form of a checklist to accompany a handout if the handout is lengthy. You should still include directions for each part of the handout, but a separate checklist will make it even easier for students to know what to do and how to do it well.

· Don’t neglect to provide examples or brief models with directions.

· Allow students options when it would be appropriate. Even something as simple as asking students to choose between doing the even or the odd questions in a section of a handout would add interest and relieve potential tedium.

· If you are going to grade an assignment, help students focus by including point values.

· Build student confidence by adding encouraging notes, hints, reminders, and bits of advice. You could even ask for their advice as you go over the directions before students begin working.

· To capture attention and build community, refer to their interests, past or upcoming class events, and use their names in positive ways (always only positive ways!) in examples or questions.

· If you require students to maintain a notebook, make this task easier by punching holes in handouts before you pass them out.

· Be careful not to waste paper. Maximize the way you prepare a page by using print preview, creating narrow margins where appropriate, and using both sides of the paper.

· Vary the types of questions that you ask students to do. If you include open-ended, higher-level thinking skills in the various types of assignments that you ask students to complete while working on a handout, then you will find your students more likely to be engaged and learning.

· Consider adding a question or two at the end of a handout asking students to reflect upon what they have learned and what they may still be confused about.

How to Cope Successfully with Grade Grubbers

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the third in the series of problems that classroom teachers have to manage successfully in order to help every student succeed. Even young students can surprise us with this one.

Problem 3: Grade Grubbing

One of those awkward moments that educators learn to dread can occur when a student either is unhappy with a grade on an assignment or wants to raise his or her overall average. It usually begins when student asks to speak to you about a recently returned graded assignment. Often he or she will begin by telling you how many hours went into studying or preparing the assignment. Then, the request to change the grade comes. If you refuse right away, then the student will counter with a request for extra credit, a reference to another student’s paper, and maybe even a charge that the work was too difficult, too confusing, or that you are unfair. Sometimes, students will even request that you offer them extra credit to pull up their grades.

The grade grubbing student is obviously not interested in a better grasp of the material, just in a higher grade. Often the situation is made worse when the student does this in front of his or her classmates, forcing us to have to respond quickly and appropriately in front of a crowd of very interested onlookers.

Although it is our responsibility to make sure that every assessment is fair and that our students understand how their grades are calculated, teachers can’t be expected to just abandon our standards when students protest their grades.

Student anxiety about grades has many unpleasant causes and regrettable effects. It is our responsibility to make sure that every student’s concerns are treated with dignity and respect even if we find ourselves impatient with the request.

Your Goals

To help these students understand the importance of learning the material and not just getting a grade

To avoid conflicts with students and their families over grades

To encourage students to work to their potential

To maintain a positive relationship with every student

To help students manage their anxiety about grades

To make sure that you are perceived as a fair teacher

To avoid future requests from students who are only interested in grades

Mistakes to Avoid

Allowing a student question about a grade to develop into a conflict

Not establishing a transparent classroom grading policy

Not taking student concerns about grades seriously

Dismissing every student question about your grading practices as grade grubbing

Assigning a subjective grade for activities such as class participation, paying attention, being on time to class, or even effort

Strategies to Prevent Grade Grubbing

Make sure to publish your standards for success on every assignment so that students are clear about what they need to do to succeed.

Make sure that your standards are reasonable and in keeping with your school district’s policies.

Be meticulous about how you grade papers and then record those grades.

Take care to present yourself as a competent professional who has made sound decisions about how an assignment should be evaluated.

Be as objective as possible about the way that you assign grades.

Make a rubric available to students before they begin work on an assignment.

Offer plenty of models, samples, and examples so that students will know what you expect of them.
Make sure that your classroom is transparent: students and their parents and guardians should know what they need to do and how to do it well.

Show students how grades are calculated on various assignments as well as how to average their own grades. Make it easy for them to understand the grading process.

Strategies to Use When Students Ask for Special Consideration

Be sure to aside enough time to sit down with the student and work out a solution.

Stress that you want to work together to make sure that every grade is as fair as possible.

Be careful to let students know that you take their concerns seriously. Treat them with dignity.

Even though you probably have already shown the entire class how to work out their grades, take the time to go over this again to make sure the student knows exactly how you arrived at their average or the grade on the assignment.

Don’t offer extra credit to just one student. It is not fair to do this for just one. If you do adjust grades by offering additional work, make sure that the work you offer is not just a quick fix that will skew grades.

Don’t just give in when a student requests special consideration regarding grades. You will open the door to future unpleasant scenes if you do not proceed with caution and care.

You're Finished Already? Are Your Sure You Want to Turn It in Just Yet?

2011-06-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

Some of the problems we experience in class may be all too easy to overlook, but doing so will only harm students in the long run. Problem 2 is just one of these. Most of us will have students with this poor work habit at one time or another in the course of our professional lives. Fortunately, with a bit of time and effort, we can usually redirect our students' energies in a positive direction to stop this bad habit.

Problem 2: Some of Your Students Rush Through Their Work

Some of your students are always the first to finish every homework or classwork assignment, every quiz, and even every test. These students do not take the time to check for accuracy or careless errors in their rush to get their work over with. Often these students do not misbehave when they finish their work, but quietly go to work on the next assignment. The problem lies not in their efficiency, but in the poor quality of the completed work.

Your Goals

To help these students understand the importance of taking the time to complete assignments well

To work with students to improve their task management skills

To encourage students to continue to work efficiently

To help students manage their anxiety at not completing their work on time

Mistakes to Avoid:

Not working with students to help them understand the importance of checking their work before turning it in

Not honoring the students’ legitimate attempts to complete work quickly and efficiently

Not addressing this issue quickly when it first appears to be a negative work habit

Not helping students develop their own methods of making sure their work is of good quality

Arbitrarily refusing to accept work that appears to be done in haste

Confronting or embarrassing students in front of the rest of the class

Not having an accurate clock in your classroom so that students can learn to time themselves

Discouraging students from working quickly and efficiently when they are confident that they know the material

Strategies to Consider

Provide checklists for all students to complete and staple to their work when they turn it in. (See Sample Checklists You Can Adapt for Your Students below.)

Hold a conference with speedy students to discuss their task management skills. Focus on showing them how to use their strengths at working efficiently to improve the overall quality of their work. Praise them for the techniques that appear to be working well and work with them to overcome the ones that are not as positive. (See Suggested Conference Talking Points below.)

Be sure to provide feedback on assignments as quickly as you can so that students can understand the negative effects of their haste.

Sample Checklists You Can Adapt for Your Students

One of the most productive ways to manage this issue is to help students learn how to double check their work before turning it in. Just advising them to “look it over” will not work as well as giving them more specific help in the form of checklists. One of the advantages of a simple checklist is that you can easily adapt it to meet the needs of your students. Another even more important advantage is that using a checklist will encourage students to develop the habit of checking their work before turning it in. Finally, checklists appeal to those students who like to work quickly and efficiently because they provide specific and concrete directions.

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in a test with an answer sheet to be bubbled in.

____ Did I put my name on my paper?

____ Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?

____ Did I check my answer sheet for bubbles that may not be correctly filled in?

____ Did I use the correct side of the answer sheet to answer questions?

____ Did I check to make sure that I did not skip any questions?

____ Did I erase all stray marks that could confuse the scoring machine?

____ Did I reread all of the directions for each section of the test?

____ Did I double check any question that I may have found confusing?

____ Did I write and sign the honor code on my paper?

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in an assignment to be completed and turned in during a class period.

____ Did I put my name on my paper?

____ Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?

____ Did I check the directions one more time?

____ Did I make sure that my paper is neat and easy to read?

____ Did I follow the directions for formatting my paper correctly?

____ Did I check for misspelled words and grammatical mistakes?

____ Did I check for careless errors by skimming each part of the assignment again?

Provide this checklist for all students to complete before turning in homework assignments.

____ Did I put my name on my paper?

____ Did I put my papers in the correct order so that they can be graded easily?

____ Did I check the directions one more time?

____ Did I make sure that my paper is neat and easy to read?

____ Did I follow the directions for formatting my paper correctly?

____ Did I check for misspelled words and grammatical mistakes?

____ Did I check for careless errors by skimming each part of the assignment again?

____ Did I make sure not to leave any papers in the printer?

____ Did I make sure that I packed this assignment so that I won’t leave it at home?

Suggested Conference Talking Points

When you begin talking with those students who are inclined to rush through their assignments, consider these talking points. You should allow about ten minutes for this conference.

Ask students to tell you how they approach their assignments so that they finish so quickly. Be positive about the efficient techniques that they use. Their productive efforts should be honored and not discouraged.

Ask students to tell you some of the negative effects that they have experienced from turning in their work hastily.

Ask students to tell you some of the ways that they could improve the quality of their work. Work together on creating a list of suggested ways to improve so that students can learn to manage this for themselves.

Show students how to time their work in sections so that they allot enough time for each part. Be aware that some students work quickly because they are afraid that they will not finish on time.

Discuss the importance of double checking work before turning it in.

Show students how to use a checklist or how to develop one for themselves.

Be sure to recap by discussing the positive techniques that they are using wisely and the techniques that they can use to improve their papers.

Thinking Ahead...One Problem at a Time

2011-06-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

For most of us, school is over for the summer! Even though this happy time provides a chance to sleep a bit later and at least some relaxation, it is also a time of renewal for many teachers. We spend this time thinking through the events of the last school year and making plans to improve our teaching practices. Most of all, we tend to mentally work through the problems that we had to manage during the past year and try to work them out.

In the blog posts that follow, you’ll be able to read about some of the issues that teachers face during the course of a school year and perhaps learn some quick strategies and techniques for solving classroom problems while making sure that all students achieve the success you want for them.

Problem 1:

You have a student who is convinced that he or she already knows the material and does not want to participate in any activities that you have planned for the day, the week, or even the unit.

Goals:

To engage all of your students in meaningful and relevant learning activities
To make sure that all of your students have mastered the material in the mandated curriculum
To work with the student so that he or she can demonstrate mastery and then move to enrichment material

Mistakes to Avoid:

Confronting the student directly in an effort to prove him or her wrong
Allowing the student to opt out of mastery of necessary material
Offending the student by not taking his or her claim seriously
Allowing the issue to have a negative impact on other students

Strategies:

The easiest way to avoid this problem is to make sure that you begin a unit of study by not just activating students’ prior knowledge, but also by giving an overview of the material that will be covered. By doing this, your students will know that while they may have a good grasp of the material going into the unit, there is much more material to be learned. Showing students the “big picture” of what they are going to learn is often an effective way to direct their thinking so that they can focus their attention on learning new material.
A brief pretest of skills and content at the beginning of a unit of study is another way to assess your students’ knowledge and to focus their attention. It does not have to be long or extremely difficult in order to engage your students.
Be flexible when you can. By differentiating instruction to meet your students’ needs, you will be able to individualize as much instruction as you possibly can. Remember that it is not your place to enforce compliance, but to reach as many students as possible.

A Final Word:
While it is tempting to just ignore a student with this attitude, neither of you will gain if you do this. It is reasonable to assume that you will have students who feel this way at various points during the year. With that in mind, try to prevent the problem and to honor the students' concern by assessing prior knowledge and using differentation strategies for instruction.

Standardized Test Madness Is Officially Here

2011-05-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

Are you as stressed out about standardized tests as most of your colleagues appear to be? Few events in a teacher's professional life can arouse as much angst as knowing that your students will be taking a test that not only covers what they were supposed to learn, but also how well you taught them. Did you cover everything? Did you cover it in such a manner that every student mastered it? Few us us escape the stress of testing. To make it safely through this rough period with your career and your sanity intact, try some of these brief suggestions. Many teachers have found that adopting positive, proactive attitudes about testing make it easier to keep standardized tests in perspective and reduce harmful stress.

• Work hard to be a good teacher every day and you should feel confident that your students will perform well on standardized tests.

• Make test preparation part of the every day business of your class instead of a time-consuming event several weeks before the testing date.

• Instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of testing, determine how being held accountable for your students’ learning has improved your teaching.

• Accept responsibility for the part of the test that you can control and prepare your students for that, reminding yourself that you are also responsible for the entire instructional performance of your students and not just the test.

• Remind yourself that standardized tests do not drive your curriculum, state standards and guidelines do.

• Students will vary in the way that they respond to tests. Accept that some of your students will do well and others may not be as successful.

• Don’t go overboard in your attempts to scare students about tests. Help them deal with test anxiety and focus on achievement instead.

• Remind yourself that standardized tests are just part of what you accomplish each day. You are in the business of educating and inspiring students.

• Offer magic pencils with great erasers and the correct answers packed inside just waiting to be bubbled in.

What Parents and Guardians Expect of Their Child’s Teachers

2011-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

At this point in the school year, parents and guardians can either be valuable allies who work with you to ensure the success of every student in your class or they can be unpleasant and demanding adversaries. As an educator committed to the academic success of your students, it is up to you to make sure that the relationship between home and school is professional and positive.

One of the most important ways to establish this relationship is to make sure that you are aware of the expectations that they may have of you as their child’s teacher. While not all parents or guardians will have the same expectations of their child’s teachers, there are some similarities that you can anticipate and plan for. Your students’ parents or guardians will expect you to:

1. Ensure their child’s safety while in your class

2. Be fair in your treatment of their child

3. Recognize their child’s unique gifts and talents

4. Be reasonable in the amount of homework that you assign

5. Follow school and district rules and policies

6. Focus on positive qualities more than negative ones

7. Contact them quickly if a problem arises

8. Be courteous when you speak to their child

9. Maintain an orderly classroom

10. Be alert to the misbehavior of other students and how it may affect their child

11. Look and act like a confident, skilled, professional educator

12. Keep them apprised of scheduled events such as field trips and due dates for projects and tests

13. Know when to involve other education professionals such as a social worker or counselor

14. Work closely with them for the benefit of the child

15. Be able to meet with them before or after school

16. Return phone calls and emails promptly

17. Be aware of any health issues that their child may have and act accordingly

18. Protect their family’s privacy

19. Make it easy for them to stay in touch with you

20. Stay within the boundaries of your role as teacher

21. Be honest with them

22. Respect the confidentiality of their child’s school records

23. Be willing to listen to their concerns

24. Respect their insights about their child’s needs

25. Talk to them before going to an administrator for help

"A School with a Heart" Destroyed by a Tornado

2011-04-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

On February 9, 2008, I posted an article on my Website about an exceptional school in a rural, high-poverty area of North Carolina where staff members strive to make a difference in the lives of their students. That school was destroyed by a tornado last Saturday.

No one was hurt. But in an already impoverished area where so many children already struggle, this new obstacle is particularly hard for students and the teachers who care for them. To learn more about this school and how they are coping, visit their Website: http://gcms.gcsedu.org.

Here is an excerpt from that 2008 article about the school with a heart and how the staff there makes a difference in the lives of at-risk children.

"Poverty has no pity. It strikes hardest at its most vulnerable victims—our children. Few other professionals are more keenly aware of this sad fact than teachers. Even those educators who do not teach in high-poverty areas will work with children whose home lives are marked by scarcity instead of comfort. In fact, according to the Children’s Defense Fund, one in six children in our country lives in poverty.

The implication for educators is profound. We are often the first defense in the battle to protect our students from the cruelties of privation. We are ones who watch for the child without a winter coat on a frigid day and who check to sure our students have lunch money or field trip fees. We listen to stories of life without books or museums or summer vacations and come to understand why school success is just a dream for so many. We are all too aware of the contrast between what life in the richest country in the world should be and what it actually is for many children.

In an occupation that is considered one of the most stressful of all, poverty takes its toll on educators, also. Trying to reach students who come to school unprepared to cooperate, listen, read or even plan for the future is stressful. Teachers in all too many schools, in both urban and rural settings, burn out quickly because of the helplessness they feel when faced with the almost insurmountable odds that many of their students face.

In one rural middle school in the heart of southeastern North Carolina, though, educators have made a decision to fight back—to work together to ensure that the lives of the children in their classrooms are better at the end of the day than at the beginning. The personnel of Greene County Middle School in Snow Hill, North Carolina, come to work with the conviction that what they do matters. During the course of the school year, the children of this school are not the only ones who benefit from the compassionate kindness inherent in the staff. The spirit of caring extends past individual students to touch everyone in the building. The result? A school with a heart.

When visitors enter GCMS for the first time, they notice the large banner over the front door announcing the school’s motto: “Creating a School of Significance.” The staff at GCMS works in collaboration with nearby East Carolina University in Project Significance to make sure that local schools are significant factors in creating successful lives for all children.

In addition to the school’s motto banner, at strategic areas visitors notice large signs with the same message: “It’s Not If You’ll Go to College, It’s When You’ll Go to College” to remind students of the larger purpose of their education. Because children pass these signs repeatedly throughout the day, the message is driven home.

Then there are the homemade signs just like in any other school across the nation. Only at this school, the signs remind students of good-will activities such as to bring in “Gifts for Guatemala” at Christmas or coins for a Special Olympics fundraiser in February. There are other child-friendly signs, too, as well as bulletin boards with messages supporting students as they move towards a better future. Students see photographs of their peers winning awards, reminders of after-school programs, notices of sports events, and other encouraging reminders of what school offers.

One of the best ways to help children of poverty is to extend the school environment into the community. At Greene County Middle School, the connection between the local communities and the school is strong. For example, Relay for Life events are now part of the American existence. This is true at GCMS also. Hoops for Hope is a much anticipated event for eighth graders as they come together to help fight the battle against cancer. Other school Relay for Life events include the seventh grade Ram Fest and Put a Cap on Cancer. In a small, impoverished rural community, the outpouring of funds from limited budgets is noteworthy. Students at this school do more than just sit in a desk; they develop a compassionate attitude towards those less fortunate.

At GCMS, the students are typical of many schools in high-poverty areas: they are an appealing mixture of cultures, experiences, backgrounds, and they sometimes come to school with innumerable problems. The Child and Family Support Team actively forms a strong bond between the school and home. There are two school nurses and a social worker who seem to know every family in the area. They visit homes, make sure students take prescribed medications, help in a crisis, provide transportation when necessary, and sometimes just offer comfort when life is too hard.

Another one of the sound educational practices that researchers and theorists offer to help children of poverty is to include as much computer-assisted learning as possible. At GCMS, the one-to-one laptop initiative allows every child a computer for his or her own use. Recently the school has even garnered the prestigious Apple Distinguished School award for the extensive technology use throughout the school. In class and in their free time, students log on to a much wider world than the rural life around them.

There are also many programs designed to help students improve their competency in learning basic skills. Individualized instruction in classrooms, cooperation among team teachers, grade level support, and after school programs are just a few of the ways that educators at this school work hard to make sure that all students catch up to their peers in more affluent areas.

One of the most important programs to help students acquire the tools they need to become self-sufficient learners is the schools’ balanced literacy program. Although teachers at many other schools give lip-service to the need to improve their students’ reading skills, at GCMS, every teacher is a teacher of reading. From the universal independent reading time every morning to the frequent professional development activities conducted by the school’s literacy team, the emphasis on the importance of good reading skills is inescapable for students and teachers alike.

The shared vision of the instructional practices at Greene County Middle School eliminates much of the confusion and professional competition that teachers at other schools can experience. As a result, at GCMS, students are not the only ones who benefit from the spirit of cooperation and mutual collaboration in the building. Staff members also extend their caring support to their colleagues.

Successes as well as the routine tasks of running a school are shared. Walk through the halls of GCMS and you will be greeted with friendly smiles. “Can I help you with that?” is the informal dictum at this school. The compassionate professionalism of the staff combined with the far-reaching vision of its motto creates a faculty buy-in that ensures that this school is indeed a school with a very large heart.

What lessons can this outstanding school offer the rest of us who struggle to teach the children of poverty?

• First, work to make the connection between what happens in your classroom and the home lives of your students as strong as possible. Move the information from textbooks to useful skills that students need now and in the future.

• Make the bond between school and home a strong one. Reach out to the families of your students. Don’t wait until a problem occurs to contact them.

• Build your students’ pride and confidence in their school work. Celebrate successes and keep aiming higher.

• Don’t allow students to just get by. Maintain high expectations for all students.

• Teach basic skills. Make sure students know what to do and how to do it well.

• Teach reading. Students should read in every class every day.

• Work to make sure that students have the financial support they need when you arrange field trips and other extracurricular activities so that no one is left out.

• Focus on school work as the way to a brighter future. While many students see celebrities with great talent as role models, they tend to overlook the role models standing in front of the class. School work, not dumb luck, is the way out of poverty.

To learn more about how you can become a successful teacher in a high-poverty area, try these resources:

• Dr. Ruby Payne’s Web site: http://www.ahaprocess.com/. Here you can learn specific strategies, more about Dr. Payne and her work, and how to purchase resource materials including A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

• Another useful site is http://www.tolerance.org/. This site, sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, contains many useful resources, links, strategies, and activities for teachers."

Finding Meaning in What We Do

2011-04-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

One of the hallmarks of a dedicated teacher is the almost unshakable belief that teachers can change the world. We want to believe that what we do is meaningful. That what do we does make a difference.

Some days, though, it’s easy to be so caught up in the papers to be graded, the assessments to be created, and the emails to be answered that we can lose sight of the meaningfulness of our work. And lately, the hateful tone of so many pundits who are not classroom teachers, but who are quick to tell us what we are doing wrong, wrong, wrong is discouraging and degrading. The result? Burnout.

Burnout is different from the insistent plea, “But I don’t want to go to school today!” that is the morning mantra for teachers everywhere. Burnout is a pervasive sense that there is not much point to what we do. Certainly, the negative aspects of our work outweigh the positives for teachers who are going through burnout.

One of the surest ways to combat the sense of despair that accompanies burnout is to reconsider what having a meaningful career looks like when you teach. What does it mean when we say we make a difference?

Teachers who stop kids from picking on each other, being rude, and making fun of classmates protect students who are powerless to defend themselves. We stop bullies from winning. We empower kids when we tell them to talk to an adult if they have a problem; and we empower them when we praise them for the right things. We empower them over and over when we use our adult power to stop bullies.

We make a difference when we show kids how to be lifelong learners. We make it okay to be curious. We take them to the library to check out books and show them how to read and write and think and work together. We make it cool to be a nerd in a tough world.

For all teachers, and especially those of us who teach the children of poverty, we find meaning in the way that we try to guide our students to a better life. Few veteran teachers have not known the despair that comes when we realize that even our most (seemingly) ordinary students can struggle with terrible home situations—an ill family member, an alcoholic parent, or a guardian who has been out of work for too long, just to name a few. For these kids, teachers are a touchstone of normalcy in a rotten world. We show our students how having an education can make a life far more comfortable and easy than a life of ignorance.

We offer comfort and guidance to those students whose lives are chaotic and dysfunctional for whatever reason. We can soothe the edges for those kids and guide them to cope, to make good choices, to succeed somewhere. We give them the encouragement that the rest of the world does not.

We show our students how to read, to write, to think, to have a life of the mind. Without us, many students would not possess any of these crucial skills. When we show students how to read and write, we give them safe passage in the big world.

Finally, perhaps the most important gift that we give students is the one that is most frequently reciprocated; we teach students to believe in themselves. Whenever you doubt that teaching is a meaningful profession, consider that you spend your days encouraging young people to take charge of their lives and to make gigantic leaps of faith—all dependent on the belief that we have instilled in them that the future is theirs for the taking.

HOW TO PRESERVE YOUR STUDENTS’ DIGNITY

2011-03-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

Students are particularly sensitive people. They spend their lives in a push-me-pull-me world longing to be independent and part of the crowd at the same time. Whatever sets them apart from their peers in a negative way can be exquisitely painful.

With this extraordinary sensitivity in mind, it is easy to see how quickly an unintentionally demeaning word or deed can wound our students’ fragile pride. The dilemma for educators is that we have to correct our students’ behavior while protecting their self-image at the same time. While this is not always an easy task, it is one that is vital to the cooperative relationship that should exist between teacher and student. In the two lists below you will find advice on what you should be careful to do and what you should be careful not to do help preserve your students’ dignity.

To preserve a student’s dignity, be careful to

• Take the student’s concerns seriously

• Use a kind voice when talking with the student

• Be as patient and understanding as possible

• Listen carefully to your student

• Try to be as fair as possible when delivering a reprimand

• Ask sufficient questions to be sure that you have an understanding of the incident

• Work to resolve problems and not just punish the student

• Assure the student that you believe that the misbehavior will not happen again

• Make every effort to see the entire child and not be affected by brief moment of bad judgment

To preserve a student’s dignity, be careful not to

• Call a student a name, even in jest

• Compare one student to another

• Reprimand a student in front of the class if at all avoidable

• Allow a confrontation to build in front of others

• Ignore a student who needs your attention

• Raise your voice

• Be sarcastic or insulting in an attempt to have the student learn from a mistake

How to Build Persistence and Confidence

2011-03-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

One of the most frustrating situations for any teacher occurs when seemingly capable students won’t finish simple assignments or, even worse, won’t even attempt assignments that appear to be even slightly challenging. Students who stop working at the first moment of perceived difficulty are even more perplexing because their lack of persistence is often confused with laziness. While it may be tempting to just advise students to keep trying, this advice seldom resolves the problem.

There are many reasons for the unwaveringly feeble effort that many students present at the first sign of a challenge. For many students, the fear of their work not being “good enough” is paralyzing. Rather than earn a failing grade from a teacher, they give it to themselves by just not doing the work.

Other students are so accustomed to overly helpful adults who respond to their learned helplessness with so many hints and clues that they do not really have to think for themselves. Unfortunately, this pattern of behavior is all too recognizable. These are the students who ask others for the page number rather than check a table of contents, ask dozens of anxious questions rather than read the text for information, of who put their heads down on their desks rather than work independently for any length of time.

Whatever the reason, it is possible to mitigate the patterns of learned helplessness. Below is a list of strategies that you can use to help your students develop into persistent and confident learners.

1. Start a unit of study by activating prior knowledge. Students who can connect new learning with previous knowledge will be far more likely to persist in facing learning challenges than those students for whom each concept in the material is unfamiliar.

2. Begin a unit of study or even smaller assignments within that unit with work that easier than it will be near the end of the unit or assignment. Once students see that they can do the work, they will be less intimidated.

3. Break longer assignments into smaller, more manageable ones so that students won’t be overwhelmed at the thought of a long task.

4. When students work in pairs or triads on even part of an assignment, they tend to do well. Working with a study buddy allows instant support when students are not sure of an answer or a procedure.

5. Nothing succeeds like success. Design activities where your students can shine, and they will want to continue the positive feelings generated by that success. Use differentiation techniques to reach as many learners as you can.

6. Help students see the connection between effort and success. Often less persistent students believe that good students somehow are just smarter or find the work easier than they do. Learning that everyone needs to work hard at times can be an epiphany for some students.

7. Teach students how to accurately estimate the time that it may take them to complete a task. Students who think that it will take them hours and hours to do their homework will be far more prone to quit than those students who realize that a shorter time commitment is required.

8. Offer plenty of rubrics, models, samples, and demonstrations so that students know when they are on the right track.

9. Have students set reasonable goals and work to achieve them. When students work to achieve a personal goal, they have a vested interest in working.

10. When you see students struggling with an assignment, use one of the most powerful questions in your teacher’s toolbox: ask, “How can I help you?”

11. All learning should have a clear and pragmatic purpose. Students who know why they have to complete an assignment will be more willing to do so if they know how it will benefit them now and in the future.

12. Have students write their questions during independent work in a certain area of the board or on the Smartboard. Answer these questions at predictable intervals.

13. Formative assessments serve a dual purpose. They not only let you know what your students do and do not know, but they can be useful tools in making sure that your students know exactly how to proceed to be successful. Frequent small formative assessments can be very useful tools in helping students stay on track.

14. Teach your students that their work does not always have to be perfect to be acceptable. Sometimes “good enough” is really good enough.

15. Harness the power of peer pressure. Having students work together in a class challenge to reach a specific goal can encourage those students who are willing to shortchange themselves, but who don’t want to let their classmates down.

16. Many teachers find that stopping periodically and having peers make brief checks of each others’ work can help students stay on the right track.

17. School success is not a big, flashy event. Rather, academic success lies in a pattern of small accomplishments. Work with your students to help them internalize this idea though brief class discussions, reflections, and other shared conversations.

18. Some students benefit from seeing a visual representation of the sequence of assignments that they are required to do. A bar graph or chart with spaces to be filled in as students complete the various steps of a unit of study will make it easier for students to persist until they complete the big task.

19. Frequent praise and even more frequent encouragement will keep students on task far longer than brusque corrections will.

20. Careful and close monitoring of students as they work will allow you to catch problems when they are manageable. Small problems are not roadblocks to confidence building—big problems are, though.

21. Encourage students who are working independently to signal that they are having a problem and then to keep working until help arrives. Some teachers offer a desk sign that is red on one side to signal for help and green on another to signal that they are on the right track.

22. Some teachers do not answer oral questions when students are working independently except at set intervals. Used correctly, this technique encourages students to keep working because they know that their questions will be answered at a predictable time.

23. Offer students time to reflect at the end of a lesson. Have them write responses first and then encourage them to share what went right and what caused stress during an assignment. Sharing the results of their metacognition can be a powerful way for students to learn how other students overcome their learning problems.

24. Often older students who have mastered the material current students may find difficult can be helpful resources. They can offer quick, informal advice and encouragement from a student’s point of view.

25. Providing opportunities for students to look back on how far they have come in their learning--to review their past success—allows students to see the big picture of what they have already accomplished and encourages them to continue.

26. Be sure to offer a sufficient amount of appropriate practice before moving on to the next topic of study.

27. Offer a variety of different activities to review material. At the end of each class, when you provide a quick review of the day’s lesson, use a variety of different activities that appeal to the various learning styles among your students.

28. Work with your students to focus on their strengths. Once they know what they are doing right, what individual study techniques work well for them, then students will be able to use those techniques and strengths to work quickly and efficiently.

The Ten Principles of Motivation

2011-03-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Motivating students is a complicated business no matter what age they may be. When students want to complete their work and want to succeed, things will go well in your classroom--they will learn and you will have a rewarding day at school. Here are ten very brief ideas that I find useful in my teaching practice.

All learning must have a purpose. Teachers and students should work together to establish long-term goals so that the work is relevant to students’ lives and driven by a purpose. I have rarely met a student who wanted to work just for the sake of working.
Students need the skills and knowledge necessary to complete their work and achieve their goals. Help students achieve short-term goals to develop the competencies they need to be successful. Keeping binders in order, learning to listen carefully, paying attention...these are just some of the skills that students need to make learning accessible.
Specific directions empower students. When students know exactly what they must do to complete assignments, they will approach their work with confidence and interest. Giving good directions is an art form. Keep them simple, brief, and logical.
Students want to have fun while they work. Teachers who offer enjoyable learning activities find that students are less likely to be off task. (Teachers also want to have fun when they work!)
Offer activities that involve higher-order thinking skills. Students find open-ended questions and critical thinking more engaging than activities involving just recall of facts. Rote drills do have a place in any learning environment, but few kids are really inspired by them. Work that requires higher-level thinking skills will move your students in the right direction.
Curiosity is an important component of motivation. When students want to learn more about a topic, they will tackle challenging assignments in order to satisfy their curiosity. Even something as simple as asking a provocative question to get students thinking in a new way can spark curiosity.
A blend of praise and encouragement is effective in building self-reliance. Teachers who offer sincere praise and encouragement establish a positive, nurturing classroom atmosphere. When students know that they are on the right track, they will want to continue.
A combination of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards increases student focus and time on task behavior. When used separately, both types of rewards motivate students. However, when teachers combine them, the effect is much greater.
Involve students in collaborative activities. When students work together, motivation and achievement both soar.
Students tend to work harder when they believe that their teacher likes them. This is probably the most important principle of motivation. Why should students work for a grouchy teacher? If your students know that they matter to you, then they will be much more inclined to stay on task than if they believe that you are not invested in their success.

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Your Students: "I Knew You Could Do It!"

2011-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

Although most teachers are aware of their responsibility to serve as role models, counselors, and advocates, we tend to underestimate the effect that we can have on our students. The reasons for this lie in the daily struggles that happen in classrooms everywhere. We work in a formidable flux of constant decisions, difficult demands, and hard-to-manage problems. With all of these facing us as soon as the bell rings, it's not always easy to remember that your attitude about your students can really change everything.

You have enormous power over the lives of your students. In fact, you can make the children in your classroom into successful students or you can make those same children into failures. Your beliefs about your students create this power in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The self-fulfilling prophecy begins with the expectations you have about your students. These expectations are your unconscious as well as your conscious attitudes about your students’ ability to succeed. You constantly communicate those expectations to your students in many subtle ways such as though your body language, the assignments you make, the language you use, and how much time you spend with individual students.

Because humans tend to behave as they are treated, your students will react to the way that you communicate those expectations to them. If you think highly of your students, they will tend to behave better for you than for the teachers who obviously do not enjoy being with them. If you act with a calm assurance that conveys your belief that the students in your class are capable of good behavior and academic accomplishments then your students are highly likely to behave well and strive for success.

If you doubt this power, consider the alternative. Why would students struggle to learn, to behave, to come to school without a caring adult who appears glad to see them succeed? For some students, a teacher is their only lifeline.

How can you use your expectations to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that can create a classroom climate for success? Every day, you can pass along transmit your belief in the abilities of your students in a variety of ways.

Start with assignments that your students can achieve with ease. Success builds upon itself. When students see that they can accomplish what you ask of them, they will want to continue that success.
Celebrate often with your students. After all, their successes are your successes.You do not have to dedicate lots of time to formal celebrations. A simple posting or display of good news, a class signal that allows classmates to acknowledge each other in positive way, or a quiet word with individual students will all establish a positive tone.
Be as consistent and as fair as you possibly can. Students of all ages are quick to react negatively when they detect even a small hint of suspected unfairness. They will shut down quickly when this happens.
Post motivational signs, mottoes, and other messages to encourage students to give their best effort.
Reward effort as well as achievement. It is important to make sure your students see the link between success and effort.
Create an risk-free environment in which students can risk trying new things without fear of failure or ridicule.
Tell your students about your confidence in their ability to succeed. Tell them this over and over.
Teach your students how to set measurable goals and how to achieve them. Model this for students. Set goals as a class and have students set small daily or weekly goals until it is a habit and part of the culture of your classroom.
At the end of class ask students to share what they have learned. Often, they are not aware of how much they have really actually achieved until they have the opportunity to reflect.
We all know that open-ended questions and assignments can serve as sparks to deepen critical thinking skills. They can also serve to motivate students to work hard because of their intrinsic interest and risk-free nature. Open-ended questions and assignments are a respectful way to demonstrate your faith in your students' ability to tackle tough work.
Teach your students how to handle the failures that everyone experiences from time to time. Help them understand that they can learn from their mistakes as well as from their successes.
Formative assessments can be helpful tools for those teachers who want to empower their students to believe in themselves. Use a variety of assessments to help students evaluate their progress and determine what they need to accomplish to finish assignments.

How Well Do You Motivate Your Students?

2011-02-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick quiz to test your knowledge of motivational strategies. Since we all need to be sure to include motivational activities into every lesson, it is imperative that we do this as effectively as possible.

Test your knowledge! The answers to this True or False quiz are given at the bottom. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment or suggestion.

1. It’s never too late to attempt to motivate even the most reluctant learners.

2. Students should have plenty of options, even on tests.

3. Grades serve as an important motivational tool for most students.

4. Using a classroom economy of tokens has proved to be a successful motivational tool for many educators.

5. Assignments that involve competition are more effective motivators for male students than assignments that require cooperation or collaboration.

6. It is better to say, “How can I help you?” instead of “You should…” when attempting to motivate students.

7. Using class time to read or do homework is an effective way to motivate students.

8. When students ask for answers to problems or questions during independent practice work, it is okay to give them the correct response.

9. Dealing with student anxiety about how to correctly complete their assignments is one of the most important considerations when attempting to successfully motivate students.

10. Negative comments can often influence motivation in a positive way.

11. Showing models of work done well by their peers can be a powerful motivator for many students.

12. Instructional expectations should become more difficult as the year progresses.

13. Rewarding their effort builds student self-esteem.

14. Calling or emailing a student’s home with positive comments is a good way to get students to do their work.

15. Students tend to perform better with a predictable routine.

16. Many students like to learn just for the pleasure of learning.

17. If their teacher is bored with a subject, then students are likely to be bored also.

18. Extrinsic rewards work well for almost every student.

19. Using food treats as rewards is now regarded with disfavor in many school districts.

20. Younger children are easier to motivate to succeed in school than older ones.

21. A positive relationship with their peers can be a powerful motivational force for many students regardless of their age.

22. It is possible to create a negative environment by praising students too highly.

23. A risk-free classroom is almost impossible to achieve in high school and the middle grades.

24. Girls are easier to motivate than boys.

25. The best way to motivate and challenge students is through a careful combination of a variety of motivational tools.

These statements are all TRUE.

1 It really is never too late to try to make a difference in the life of a student entrusted to your care. If you don’t make the effort, who will?

4 Using tokens in the classroom has proved very successful for some teachers. The best practice would be to use a token economy as a stepping stone into more intrinsic motivation techniques.

6 The difference in tone is the key. One is friendly and helpful. The other is judgmental.

7 While some students enjoy time in class reading or catching up on homework, that time could be better used in more focused instructional activities.

9 Often students will do their work and then not turn it in. Still others will agonize over each problem in an assignment. Make sure students know how to do their work and about how long each activity should take to help reduce anxiety.

11 Models, demonstrations, and examples are all effective ways to make students confident about how to do their work well.

12 Since small successes lead to bigger successes, it only makes sense to make work easier for students to do well at the start of a school term. You can then raise the level of expectation as the year progresses and your students develop and learn new skills.

14 Once students and their families see that it is possible for them to succeed, then they will tend to want to continue to experience that success. It is always a good idea to have the parents and guardians of your students working along with you.

15 Students who know what to do and how to do it well are much more likely to succeed than those who attempt to learn in a chaotic classroom.

17 A caring and enthusiastic teacher is the key to a successful classroom. If you don’t like a topic, you can be sure that your students won’t like it either.

19 With the high levels of childhood obesity, it only makes sense to use other rewards than food to motivate your students.

21 Students who feel that they are a valued part of a group will want to live up to the group’s expectations for success. Try to connect your students to the positive aspects of your class’s culture as often as you can.

22 When students are lavishly praised for things that they should have done well as a matter of routine, their achievement level drops significantly. The impact of sincere praise is immeasurable.

25 There is no magic bullet. A technique that works well for one student may not be effective for others. Good teachers constantly use a wide range of motivational strategies to reach out to every student.

Four Nifty Little Ideas

2011-02-06T05:29:00.000-08:00

It is not always easy to find the time to make changes that are not vital to the well-being of our students, but that would still add a bit of fun and motivation to our daily routines. Recently, I was able to find that time in the form of a three day snow event. As a teacher, I love snow days. I’ve always used the gift of unexpected time to recharge and explore new ways to accomplish mundane tasks.

While you may live in a part of the world without snow days, you still have lots of nifty ideas for the little things that can make a big difference in a classroom. From fresh bulletin boards that instruct as well as decorate to ideas to make simple tasks easier, motivational, and just plain fun, please feel free to share your ideas and suggestions.

Here are a few things that I found the time to do during the snow days to make my class just a bit more fun and interesting for my students. I hope the four nifty little ideas can help you and your students!

• To deter students from being tempted to look at each other’s papers during assessments, like many other teachers, I have my students use cover sheets. Instead of the plain recycled paper ones that they had been using, however, I created cover sheets using bright paper, cool clip art, and motivational quotations. It took about thirty minutes and has been worth every second of the trouble. It’s fun to see students read their cover sheets and compare their sheets with a classmate’s.

• I checked out this nifty site in an attempt to find new ways to motivate my students to overcome their learned helplessness: http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/Dream/BurialSite.html. While this site may not appeal to every grade level, it is certainly an idea worth tweaking.

• I also wanted to start the new grading period with a fresh bulletin board or two in place. By using Google’s “Images” search tool, I was able to look at hundreds of photos of classrooms and bulletin boards around the globe. What creativity teachers have! If you would like to give your classroom a midyear spruce up, it’s worth a try.

• My students love to play Free Rice. I’ve challenged my classes to race to donate one million grains of rice. Currently, the donations are going to help Haiti. Playing the games at http://www.freerice.com/ is a wonderful way for students with computers to use every minute of class productively. Because I believe in making success visible in a classroom, I used my snow day time to create a giant bar graph for each class. Student captains are responsible for keeping score on their bar graph. Students working together to solve a problem in the world while learning vocabulary words? Worth the energy for sure.

Are You a Good Teacher? Quiz Yourself!

2011-01-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

If you've read my survival guide for first-year teachers, you will recognize my belief that teaching is a profession that allows us plenty of opportunities to learn from our mistakes. I know that I have certainly learned a great deal--often in front of a captive audience, too.

Recently I was asked to construct a quiz for teachers who visit one of my favorite Web sites: theApple (http://theapple.monster.com). It was easy to think of questions about good teaching, but not as easy to limit the choices to only fifteen questions and even harder to devise answers that were complicated enough to make readers think about their teaching practice. After struggling for a bit, I thought about my first years as a teacher and the many mistakes I made. I had a wealth of material once I took that approach.

You can check out the result and even take the quiz at this link:
http://theapple.monster.com/videos/quizzes/124?utm_source=nlet&utm_content=tap_c1_20110127_goodteacher

If you are not a member of theApple, you really should consider joining.. You'll find it is an enormous teacher forum filled with great advice and helpful suggestions for novice and veteran teachers alike. Since we teachers all spend most of our professional lives in the pursuit of improvement--ours and others'--sites like theApple make it easy for us to accomplish just that.

Whenever I meet someone who wants a teaching position, I always steer them to theApple. The information about interviewing and job seeking is invaluable.

If you have a moment, visit theApple. You will learn a great deal. Oh, and take the quiz. I hope it will help you become a better teacher as well as help you find enjoyment in the your profession.

After you take the quiz, come back here and let us know how you did. What qualities would you have included in a quiz about good teaching?

How to Show Your Students that You Care About Them

2011-01-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

How important is it to connect with your students in a positive way? Crucial. A productive teacher-student relationship can make a class run smoothly. Without it, nothing will. Students of all ages need to feel that their teachers like them and approve of what they do. Fortunately for teachers everywhere, there are many, many ways to show that you care about your students while still maintaining a professional attitude.

Here are a few quick suggestions for those teachers who want to project a postive, productive attitude while working with students. Please feel free to add your comments! We all learn from each other.

• While you don’t want to be a pushover, try to find common ground as often as you can. The simple act of agreeing with your students as often as you can sets a pleasant and cooperative tone.

• Set responsible behavior limits for everyone, and be fair when you enforce these limits.

• Use a kind voice when you speak with your students.

• Listen to all of your students. Encourage them to share ideas and opinions.

• If one of your students is in the newspaper for something positive, clip out the article and display it.

• Stress the things that you and your students have in common: goals, dreams, and beliefs.

• When a student speaks to you, stop and listen.

• Respond to emails from your students promptly and courteously.

• When you display student work, don’t just display the best. Display everyone’s work.

• Have students create study buddy groups so that they can be connected to other students and to you. Students who feel as if they are part of a class tend to want to remain in school longer than those students who feel isolated.

• Maintain a birthday calendar for your students. Celebrate birthdays with birthday messages on the board.

• Attend school events. If your students play a sport or perform in a concert, go and watch them to show your appreciation for their hard work.

• Use good manners when you deal with your students and insist that they do the same.

• When students confide in you, follow up. For example, if students have told you that they were worried about a test in another class, take the time to ask about how they did.

• Make it very clear to your students that you want to help them achieve their dreams.

• Ask about a student’s family. If you know someone is ill, show your concern.

• Show your sense of humor. Laugh when funny things happen in class—especially when they happen to you.

• Speak to every student each day. Leave no one out of class discussions.

• Write notes to your students. Use plenty of stickers, and write positive comments on their papers.

• Make a positive phone call home when a student’s effort is paying off.

• Pay attention to your students’ health. If students need to go to the clinic, send them. When students have to miss several days because of illness, call to see how they are doing, or send a get-well card. Be prompt in sending work to the student’s home

• Use this sentence to convey your concern: “What can I do to help you?”

• Talk with students when you notice a change in their behavior. For example, if a normally serious student is neglecting his or her work, find out why.

• Take the time to tell your students what you like about them.

• Take photographs of your students. Use these photos on a wall of pride.

Activities that Can Energize Your Students

2011-01-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

Are you in a teaching rut? Are your lessons just a little blah? The winter months can be long if you and your students are stuck in routines that are all too predictable. If you find that your students are taking a lackluster approach to their assignments, try something new and fun to help them achieve more. Here are five easy activities that will make learning fun for your students.

Tingo Tango:

Students stand in a circle rapidly passing a soft ball around the circle as the teacher repeatedly says, “Tingo.” At random intervals, the teacher will say “Tango” instead of “Tingo.” The student holding the ball at that point will have to answer a question or call out a fact.

Two Minute Questions:

Pose a question and give students two minutes to write responses before sharing with group members, the entire class, or study buddies.

Whip Around:

Seat small groups of students in circles. Hand each group a sheet of paper and ask one student in each group to write a response to a question or idea about a topic. That student then passes the sheet to the next and so on as quickly as possible in a specified time limit.

Word Splash:

Students generate a list of words associated with a particular unit of study before beginning the unit to increase background knowledge. Students can also be given a list of words to be alert for as they begin studying.

Work Stations:

Students work in various areas of the room at the same time. They perform different tasks at each station. Students do not have to complete the same work or complete it in the same time period. Even older students have fun with this approach to their work.

Now for readers everywhere: what do you do to add a bit of interest to your classes? Share learning activities that you use to energize your students!

Three Classroom Problems...Three Solutions

2011-01-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

One thing is certain: to be a good teacher, you have to be able to solve porblems quickly and with confidence. While most of us are very good at solving serious problems such as covering massive amounts of curriculum and convincing a roomful of students that we really do have their best interests at heart, sometimes it's the small problems that can be energy zappers. Perhaps the suggestions offered here can help!

Problem 1: Heavy Backpacks Blocking the Aisles

Your school does not have a policy concerning student backpacks. Your students carry around all of their school belongings in backpacks that sometimes seem to weigh more than they do, and their backpacks block the aisles in your class.

SUGGESTIONS

This is a problem with two parts that you must handle separately. First, deal with the weight of the backpacks. Then, tackle the issue of the obstructions and disruptions in your class.

Backpack Weight

• This situation certainly requires collaboration with other teachers. When you speak with colleagues, suggest that you stagger homework deadlines so that students can leave some of their belongings in their locker, in the classroom, or at home.

• Talk to your students to let them know how concerned you are about their health and their stress level. Ask for their suggestions on how to solve the problem.

• Consider involving parents in finding solutions.

• Find out why students feel the need to carry so much. Do they need more time to go to their locker? Do they need advice on how to manage their materials?

Obstructions and Disruptions in Your Class

• When students have backpacks in class, expect them to place their backpack under their desk or as close to them as possible in order to leave a safe aisle.

• Take a team approach to keeping backpacks stowed safely. If they are involved in creating the solution, students will be able to police themselves and each other. Working together on the problem will increase the chances of successful resolution.

• See if you can provide a safe place for students to keep their backpacks other than near their desks.

• Teach students that it is disruptive to constantly search for materials in their backpack during class. Encourage them to keep their belongings as organized as possible in order to reduce search time.

Problem 2: Lost Papers

Problem: You hand back a set of homework papers and notice that some of your students do not have their papers. You tell them that you never received their work. They, in turn, assure you that they did the work, turned it in on time, and you must have lost it.

SUGGESTIONS

• Be very organized about how you manage student papers. By appearing very organized, you will prevent many false accusations because students will not think that they can take advantage of your disorganization.

• Grade papers and hand them back as quickly as you can. The longer you delay in returning papers, the harder it is to keep track of them.

• If you use an in-basket for students to hand in their work as they finish it, be sure to move their papers to a labeled folder before the next class can add theirs to the stack.

• If you are unable to check a set of papers within a day or two, at least check to make sure all students have turned in work. This will preclude any surprises for students who are expecting to receive graded papers.

• Do not be absolute in denying your guilt. Instead, try to solve the problem by first asking students with missing papers to check their own notebooks or lockers to see if they could have taken them from the room accidentally. If the papers do not turn up, then offer the students more time to redo the work and turn it in.

Problem 3: Students Without Supplies or Materials

Problem: Some of your students have problems keeping up with their materials. They come to class without pencils, pens, papers, or books. You find yourself growing increasingly frustrated as you wait for students to borrow the necessary tools to do their work, wasting valuable instructional time.

SUGGESTIONS

Off-task behavior and discipline problems are just two of the things that can go wrong when students come to class unprepared. Keeping extra supplies on hand will help you avoid many problems. You should implement a system that works for you and your students—one where students can settle quickly to work without fuss. You can do this without having to spend a fortune of your own.

Try to have extra textbooks on hand to lend to students if they forget theirs. When you lend a book to a student, make sure the student writes his or her name on the board or another safe place so you have a record of where the books are. You could also assign a responsible student to be in charge of issuing and collecting borrowed texts. Other teachers have found that expecting students to provide collateral is also effective.

If missing pens or pencils are a problem, set up a system where students can borrow from a shared bank of supplies. Here’s how:

Step 1: Select one or two students to be in charge of the supplies bank.

Step 2: Ask every student to donate a new pen or pencil.

Step 3: Mark the pens and pencils with a number.

Step 4: When students need to borrow a pen or pencil, the students who are

in charge of the bank can record the number and the name of the student who borrowed it.

Step 5: The students who distribute the supplies are also the ones who should remind the borrowers to return them at the end of class.

Eleven Quick Tips to Help You Be a Better Teacher

2011-01-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we all just need a quick reminder to get on track and stay on track. Maybe there's a reminder you can use in this list of quick tips. These tips are not about teaching, but rather about the business of being a teacher,

Plan your lunches. Stock up on items that are easy to toss into your lunch bag as you rush out the door: cheese sticks, crudités with hummus, fruit cups, apples, nuts, the teachers’ staple: peanut butter, crackers, plenty of water, green tea, and anything else that you find enjoyable and healthful.
Dress the part. Even on casual Fridays, you should not dress as if you just finished mowing the lawn.
Plan how you are going to manage the intense stress levels that can occur when you have too much to do and too little time. Even simple actions such as a brisk walk, a completed to-do list, or getting enough sleep will make it easier for you to enjoy your school days.
Take your successes home with you, but leave your problems at school.
Don’t listen to those teachers who are negative.
Act confidently.
Over plan.
Start your day with a neat desk. End with a neat desk.
Use a digital recorder or write notes. You won’t remember.
Wear comfortable shoes.
Be early. Stay a bit late. You will feel better if you give 100%+ while you are at school.

Save Time and Save Your Sanity

2010-12-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Scenario: You are constantly rushing at school only to find yourself falling farther and farther behind. Every teacher you know seems to feel the same way. The hectic pace is really taking its toll.

Your goal: To free yourself from the stress of the constant rush of a typical school day

Quick Tips: You can save time with some of these strategies.

• Create assignments for student viewing when you preview films or Internet sites.

• Never lose your classroom keys because you keep them in the same location each day.

• Have an up-to-date set of emergency plans ready—just in case.

• Keep your school email folders organized.

• Use a daily “To Do” list you keep on your desk in a bright, easy-to-see folder.

• Teach class routines for activities such as handing in papers, sharpening pencils, or disposing of trash.

• Set up equipment early just in case there are problems.

• Give clear directions to your students so you do not have to repeat them.

• Maintain order in your classroom so you do not have to spend time dealing with behavior problems.

• Learn how to use school equipment efficiently.

• Use a checklist or rubric to grade papers quickly.

• Teachers students how to tidy their work area and pack their materials.

• Don’t arrive too early or too late to meetings or duty assignments.

• Keep receipt books and the other materials you need to collect money on hand.

Still feeling rushed?

In fifteen minutes you can:

• Grade the objective portion of a set of test papers.

• Create a quiz.

• Create a review sheet.

• Answer e-mail.

• Create motivational activities for the entire week.

• Post homework assignments to your class Web page.

• Find at least one helpful Web site to enrich your students’ learning.

• Create a crossword puzzle for fun and reviewing.

In ten minutes you can:

• Call a parent or guardian.

• Write a lesson plan.

• Grade some essay questions.

• Average grades.

• Check homework papers.

• Create a quick diagnostic measure to check prior knowledge.

• Create a model or example for students to use as they work.

In five minutes you can:

• Create a dynamic closing exercise.

• Write a positive note and send it home.

• Make notes on your “To Do” list for the next school day.

• Write a quick reflection about what went well and what you need to tweak in a lesson.

• Use the hole punch on a set of papers so students can stay organized.

• Write a positive comment on at least five papers.

• Review key points in a lesson.

In three minutes you can:

• Record grades.

• Drill your students with flashcards.

• Put stickers on a set of papers.

• Display student work.

• Praise a class for good behavior.

• Have students write an evaluation of the day’s lesson.

• Show a motivational slide show.

In one minute you can:

• Erase the board.

• Display a cartoon about the day’s lesson.

• Have students tidy the room.

• Select the student of the day or week.

• Write an inspirational message on the board.

HOW TO SAY “NO” WITHOUT BEING NEGATIVE

2010-12-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick exerpt from Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary Teacher. I hope it will make it easier for you to manage your classes as winter break looms and students become more restless than ever.

"Classroom teachers spend their days bombarded by a steady stream of requests from students who want to go to the restroom, the office, a locker, the clinic, or to call home, open a window, shut a window, sharpen pencils, and hear the directions just one more time. Fielding these entreaties tactfully requires that we make quick decisions not only about whether the request is a sound one, but also how our response will affect the entire class as well as the student making it.

One of the most useful skills that a secondary teacher can develop is the ability to refuse a student’s request without causing offense. Although it may seem impossible, this is not as difficult as it appears. Instead of abruptly refusing, try one of the statements or questions below. Each one is designed to deny a student request in a pleasant, non-confrontational way that preserves the student’s dignity.

• Let me think about that for a little while.

• Let’s talk about that after class.

• Let’s finish this first.

• I don’t think this is really necessary at this time.

• I don’t think that is the best decision because…

• Are you sure that’s a wise choice?

• What do you think?

• Could you give me a moment?

• Can this wait?

• What are the pros and cons involved in your request?

• How are you planning to do that?

• How will you accomplish that?

• Can you tell me what that would not work?

• Would you ask me again in a moment?

• Have you finished your assignment?

• How will that help you achieve your goal?

• Who else have you asked about this?

• Are you sure that’s wise?

• Why don’t you give that some more thought?

• Why are you asking?"

A Thanksgiving Post from Jill Hare at TheApple.com

2010-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

One of the most useful Websites for teachers everywhere is TheApple.com (http://theapple.monster.com/). For several years now, this Website has provided teacher forums, great ideas, links to even more great ideas, job seeking advice, resources upon resources, and countless ways for teachers from across the globe to interact with each other in a positive way. Jill Hare, a stellar editor at TheApple, is a guest blogger this week as Thanksgiving holidays approach. Enjoy!

Jill Hare, Editor, TheApple.com (http://theapple.monster.com)

It's the time of year when we think about what we're thankful for. And while some words are spoken in thankfulness, a lot goes left unsaid. While I was watching an episode of Glee a few weeks ago, this quote reminded me of why I got into teaching.

"All of us were scarred by high school. Next to our parents, nothing screws a person up more. And people like us (teachers) are stupid enough to come back here and relive that pain everyday."

And why do we chose to relive the pain of school all over again? Because we want to provide better opportunities and foster kinder students than those that taunted and hurt us. We want the smart kids to feel cool, the glee club to not feel like outcasts and everyone to be on equal ground. Many of you out there are doing just that: creating a better school environment than you had, and doing it all with out any proper thank you.

So here it is. Thirty things you probably never get thanked for. It's just the tip of the iceberg, so write in more here.

Thank you, teacher, for….

1. Believing in me when no one else does

2. Trusting me to behave when your back is turned

3. Taking time to help me when everyone else gets it

4. Listening to my problems when no one else cares

5. Spending tons of time preparing lessons

6. Staying up late to grade papers

7. Giving up time on weekends to prepare and plan for class

8. Making a lower salary than you’re worth

9. Working in and trying to improve an archaic education system

10. Learning what technology I like and using it to help me learn

11. Loving what you do and showing it every day you have fun teaching me

12. Learning new techniques and tricks that help keep me engaged

13. Letting me have options and choices to drive my learning

14. Fostering collaborative learning, because I always remember what I learn with my friends

15. Caring enough about me to form a relationship with my difficult parents

16. Teaching me things I will use in the real world

17. Setting goals you know I can reach and be proud of

18. Being proud of me even when I accomplish only small goals

19. Encouraging me to be better and reach my full potential

20. Respecting me even when I don’t always show my respect for you

21. Being fair even when I don’t deserve it

22. Being my advocate so I get the services and help I need to be successful

23. Keeping my blended family straight, even though it’s complicated

24. Giving up your lunch to help me study, learn or just sit with me so I’m not alone

25. Knowing I’m not the coolest kid in school but treating me like I am

26. Giving me responsibility to prove I can be leader

27. Pushing me to dream I can be anything I want

28. Sticking up for me when others put me down

29. Noticing when I’m upset and asking me about it

30. Helping me try to avoid mistakes that may hurt my education and my friendships

What other “thank yous” go left unsaid? Leave them below in the comments.

How to Cope with Excessively Talkative Classes

2010-11-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

One of the most frustrating feelings that any teacher can experience is the hopelessness that comes when our students are so busy talking that they don't listen to us or work productively. Unfortunately, having a class that is excessively talkative is one of the most frequent complaints that many teachers--experienced and novice alike-- share. It is disheartening at best to plan a wonderful lesson that no student is interested in.

The problem of the talkative class is also one that is amazingly uniform across all grade levels and subjects. Large classes, small classes, very young students and sophisticated seniors can all be so talkative that little learning can occur. After all, they outnumber us by thirty or so noisy people to one teacher!

Luckily, there are a few easy approaches that can help your students take charge of their own talking patterns and learn to work well with each other and with you. Try some of these to help control the talking in your classroom.

Scenario

You have a class that talks and talks and talks. They talk indiscriminately to you and to each other. While you certainly don’t want a class that is silent and dull, the excessive talking in this class prevents students from accomplishing everything you have planned for the day’s lesson. You are not just tired of trying to cope with the noise, but even more tired of trying to teach over their constant din.

Your Goals

• To raise student awareness about the harmful effects of excessive talking

• To encourage appropriate talking and discourage inappropriate talking

• To empower students so that they can cope with this issue themselves instead of being nagged by a teacher

Approaches to Take

Spend time observing your students to find the cause of the problem. Are they excited because of the time of day? Bored and restless? Unaware of the effect of their talking? Unsure of how to do their work well? Once you have determined some of the causes for their talking, work to figure out how to turn this into an advantage instead of a class failing.

Be very clear with your students when you discuss this issue. They should know when it is acceptable for them to talk and when they should be working silently or listening carefully. Setting clear limits and communicating those limits reduce your students’ tendencies to test the boundaries of your tolerance.

Be aware that sometimes you may be the cause of the problem. Once your students are settled and working, be careful not to keep talking to the whole class. Work with individuals at that point instead of distracting the entire group.

Take care to pace instruction so that once students finish an assignment they have plenty of other work to do with a minimum of transition time. Students without enough to do will find time to chatter.

Establish signals with your class so that they know when to stop talking. Many teachers find it helpful to enlist students in this process because it promotes student ownership.

If students are excited about an upcoming event, allow them to spend a timed minute or two talking before settling down to work. Clearing the air this way shows students that you are willing to be fair.

Teach students that they must be responsible for their own talking. Use positive peer pressure to your advantage. Chart their successful attempts at managing their excessive talking with a large bar or pie graph and then provide a small tangible reward for those students who are successful. Once students see that they can be successful at managing their own noise levels, they will be likely to continue in a positive trend.

Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid the sound-wave cycle of a loud class time followed by a quiet time followed by a loud time again by being very consistent in how you enforce the rules you establish about when it is acceptable for students to talk. Set clear limits and stick to them instead of appearing the least bit fuzzy on this issue.

Don’t allow students to have a great deal of down time where they don’t have anything to do but chitchat loudly with their classmates.

Don’t forget that it is important to help students focus on an assignment at the start of a lesson and then periodically throughout the class period. Reasonable timed wiggle breaks make it easier for students to not only stay on task but to talk appropriately with their classmates.

Don’t expect students to be quiet all class long. Build in a variety of activities so that their interactions can be positive ones.

A Quick Way to Help Students Begin to Build a Positve Self Image

2010-11-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

We teachers often complain that we just don't have enough time to do anything extra in class because we have so much content material to cover. Unfortunately, this is true. Most teachers already feel the pressure that comes with trying to cover enormous amounts of curriculum material without trying to add self-image improvements to it.

However, when students feel competent and confident, they tackle the work with so much more enthusiasm and motivation that minutes of valuable class time are not lost each day. The few minutes that you spend on little motivational project such as this one will reward you in improved class efficiency and better performance from you students.

Additionally, too often we focus on the weakesses our students have. This will allow them (and you) to focus on your students' strengths.

This little exercise should only take a few minutes to complete at the start of class or even at the end of class in preparation for the next day. You can adjust it to meet the particular needs of your students or even of your curriculum. For example, if you are planning an independent reading project, the four corner adjectives could be ones that relate to your students' strengths are readers or independent workers.

Here is how to do this quick exercise that can lead to very positive results:

1: Have students fold a sheet of paper so that it makes a tent that can stand alone. While the size of the tent can be as large as you would like, a piece of notebook sized paper works well.
Step 2: Ask students to write their first name in big, bold letters on the front so that everyone standing near their desks can see what they have written.

Step 3: Ask students to choose one word that describes them from each column below. They are to write each word in a corner on the same side as their name.
Step 4: On the back--the side facing the student-creator--ask students to write one very important goal that
they have for the class. This constant reminder will serve to help them stay on task.

Column 1: dependable forgiving compassionate curious self-controlled

Column 2: flexible humorous resourceful enthusiastic organized

Column 3: positive honorable dedicated friendly courteous

Column 4: tolerant sympathetic confident sensible cooperative

Why Do We Have to Learn This?

2010-11-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

Scenario: After carefully planning a unit on information that, according to your state’s standards, is absolutely necessary for you to cover, your students appear bored and restless. Finally, one of them asks the question that all teachers dread: “Why do we have to learn this?”

It can happen to even the best of teachers. Somehow, in the rush to photocopy and round up resources, we can forget one of the most important components of any lesson: the motivation that students need to want to learn the material.

Your Goals:
• To answer the question truthfully and thoughtfully
• To make sure that students have a purpose for their learning
• To resist the urge to say, “Because I told you to!”

Steps to Follow:
• Take questions such as this one seriously. If students are wondering aloud about the purpose of a lesson, you have failed to make it important to them. Spend a minute or two whenever you introduce new material to connect it to what students already know as well as to future lessons.
• Never underestimate the intense need that students have for a practical purpose for their hard work. Have them set goals for themselves and their learning. Make a point of showing students how they can use their knowledge and skills now and in the future.

Mistakes to Avoid:
• Don’t be defensive. Take the question seriously and answer respectfully.
• Don’t assume that students know why they should learn something. It’s up to you to provide relevance if you want students to want to do their work and be successful.

The Grace of Children

2010-11-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Getting to know our students is one of the greatest perks of being a teacher. We educators don't roll out of bed each morning in hopes of a fat paycheck or lots of downtime during the day. Instead, we manage the paperwork and tedious meetings and emails and the poor pay and crowded classrooms and long hours so that we can enjoy the best part of our school day--our students.
     Few of us have not been touched by the grace of our students--those small and unexpected kindnesses that can surprise even the most jaded educator. From the tiny first graders who volunteer to help their teacher collect papers to the seniors who offer to carry heavy loads for us, we all benefit from being around children.
    The first time that I was on the receiving end of this grace was as a student teacher being observed for the first time. I was incredibly nervous even though I had just the perfect (to me, anyway) lesson ready to go. In the midst of my presentation, with my supervising teacher in the back of the room recording my real and imagined mistakes, I turned away from the class to write on the board. When I faced them again, there was a tiny, hastily written note: "Your pants are unzipped!" One of my students, aware of how nervous and unsure of myself I felt, had offered the most practical help possible!
     Since then, my students have continued to offer the best parts of themselves in countless ways. Recently, a colleague lost a dear family member and missed school for several days. I watched as our shared students passed around a condolence card so that each one could write a brief message of sympathy. When their teacher returned, she was treated gently for a few days by even the most demanding students. Our students forgot their own adolescent issues for a little while and treated her with dignity, affection, respect and, yes, with grace.
     I have never made it a secret that I enjoy being with my students. I hope that attitude is reflected in the books that I write as well as in the workshops that I give for other teachers. I want everyone who chooses education as a career to feel the same way I do. Sometimes, though, in the relentless press of the daily grind, it is hard to remember why we teach. On those days, I remind myself that I don't teach a subject, I teach students. Each one of them deserves the best from me.

Check Out My Author Page at Amazon.com!

2010-10-31T07:29:00.000-07:00

My author's page at Amazon.com contains two previous posts that may interest you if you are a teacher!

Welcome Teachers!

2010-10-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a Blog that has been a long time in the making!

I have been writing about teaching for a long time. As a practicing teacher, it is not always easy to find the time to write about school, but I have found that thinking about my day and how to be a better teacher is always easier when I can write about it. Although my books are intended to help other teachers, I find it easy to use them myself.

The event that has sparked this blog is my newest book--the one pictured here. Like the my previous books, it is intended to help teachers not just reach every student, but enjoy their school days as well. When school goes well, everyone--teachers and students alike--wins.

In addition the normal sorts of Bloggy topics that many other educators write about, I intend to use this site to publish suggestions about how to handle some of the most common discipline issues that classroom teachers face every day. Look for a fresh scenario each week. The first one, published here, is one that we all have to manage successfully from time to time--dress code violations.

Scenario 1--Dress Code Violations

2010-10-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

What to Do? What to Do?
This is the first in a series of weekly bits of advice regarding some of the most widespread discipline problems that can confront even the most prepared teacher. Each one will feature a common discipline scenario and some suggested solutions.

Scenario: A student comes to class wearing inappropriate clothing, conspicuously in violation of the school’s dress code.

Long gone are those days when a dress code violation meant that a student had hair that was too long or a skirt that was too short. Even in more recent years when students began to attend class proud of their newest piercing or tattoo, dress code issues continue to plague teachers and administrators. In fact, there are far more students in proud violation of a school’s dress code than those who do not teach could ever imagine.
Trying to deal tactfully but effectively with boys in tee shirts with appalling puns or references to drugs and alcohol to girls in too-revealing outfits, dress code violations can be a difficult situation for many teachers.

Your Goals:
• To minimize the distraction and potential for disruption
• To preserve the offending student’s dignity
• To prevent the situation from reoccurring

Steps to Follow:
• Try to prevent the situation by making sure that students are aware of the dress code and that you do intend to enforce it. Making this clear before a violation happens will make it easier for you to enforce the rule.
• Ignore whatever you can when you can. Sometimes calling attention to a minor infraction can cause a major class disruption as the student attempts to argue with you.
• Speak privately with student violators whenever you can. Calling down a student in front of other students will only cause humiliation and anger.
• Be as matter of fact and succinct as you can. Simply state the rule and ask the student to correct the situation if at all possible. For example, a male student wearing a vulgar tee shirt can just be asked to wear it inside out. A female student without a change of clothes at school can just be reminded not to wear the offensive garment again. Make your point, but be as kind and dispassionate as possible at the same time.
• Often male teachers are uncomfortable at the thought of approaching a female student who wears revealing clothing to school. If you are not comfortable with talking to a student about his or her clothing, enlist a colleague to help you.

Mistakes to Avoid
• Be sensitive to a student’s self-image. Do not belittle or attempt to embarrass a student who violates the dress code.
• If you suspect that a student is wearing clothing that identifies him or her as part of a gang, do not attempt to manage the situation yourself. Involve an administrator.
• Be careful not to place yourself in a difficult situation where you could be accused of wrong doing.
• Do not touch a student who is dressed inappropriately. Such an action on your part may be misconstrued.
• Be careful that you do not violate your school’s dress code yourself!