Blog Updates 5 - 9

Greg Mortenson’s Talk - November 11, 2010

I couldn’t agree more with Greg Mortenson’s discussion of the “power of the pen”, a concept that all educators are familiar with, put simply and to quote the old School House Rock mantra, “knowledge is power”. What comes to mind when most think of power is physical strength, natural power such as electricity or gas fuel, or even political or social power? In the loosest terms, the latter is what I believe what Mr. Mortenson was discussing, a kind of social power that gets people acting and talking and making a difference, but it goes much further and deeper than just that. My understanding of this “power” is the power of influence, and how in the right hands and with just the right usage and implementation of words, people with this power can quell wars, save lives, and bring down empires. Knowledge of the world and its workings can grant an individual an immeasurable power.

Ancient civilizations that had gained knowledge by studying the land and the world around them, gained the power to growing crops and domesticate animals, which allowed these civilizations to support more members, grow in size and influence spreading their knowledge and culture to the surrounding lands and peoples. These ancient civilizations with the power of knowledge also had the power of influence on others. Knowledge can be used by an entire society to gain influence. Not only to satisfy their own needs but to spread their knowledge and influence onto others as well as to use others, to gain their others and apply it as their own, to construct a growing network of sharing and gaining knowledge from those around them.

This knowledge, influence, and power can be passed down generation-to-generation, much like that of an heirloom or the passing of power as leader of an empire. As long as the knowledge is kept in practice is power will continue on through the ages to be shared, cultivated, and even expanded upon if used appropriately. If the knowledge is not perused or regularly used in practice the knowledge can be lost, as well as its power.

Mortenson discussed how people with this power were reluctant to share it with others, that if they were to share their knowledge, their power, others would try to take that power away from them, but as I had mentioned before, I believe that sharing knowledge and power can only aid society as a whole, but compassion is needed as well. A desire to share knowledge and power, not to force it or manipulate, but rather influence and aid. Manipulation of others is an act that does not promote knowledge, does not share or aid.

This whole blog update is beginning to run away from me, as I stand here preaching from my soapbox. Simply put to wrap things up, I believe that proper and true knowledge aids and benefits all peoples, it lifts and progresses all people as a whole. There are no haves and have-nots, this knowledge and power is something everyone can share and gain from.

The Resident Artist – November 5, 2010

Our school holds a “Book of the Month” program on the first Friday of every month. The principal will read a book, either over the school’s media network, broadcast in to each classroom or in the auditorium in front of the entire school. If the students have read three books for the past month, they receive a brand new book and a pencil, as well as a handshake from the principal. In the past month, a book I illustrated has been published (“Our World”, http://tiny.cc/3ukls). When I received my copy of the book I showed it around to the other first grade teachers and they suggested that I show the book to the principal. I was skeptical at first that the principal would find any interest in my book, but I knocked on her office door and introduced my book to her and she was very excited and supportive. She asked if I wouldn’t mind sharing the book during the upcoming book of the month program, as well as sharing how I became a book illustrator. I was so… speechless for one, as well as quite honored! I prepared my portfolio of images, and on Friday, the entire school met in the auditorium for “Book of the Month” and I showed my book as well as gave a brief talk on how I became an illustrator. Then the principal read the book to the school, and when it was time to give out the books and pencils, the principal called me back on stage to help her, I was the “guest of honor”!

After that week, every student I would pass in the hall would greet me. I was somewhat of a celebrity. Previously I was known for using my artistic talents for dressing up classroom doors and bulletin boards, but now students can put a name to the face of the man who every so often is cutting out new shapes for the 1^st grade hallway bulletin board or taping a new holiday design to a classroom door. Of course I wave and greet the students back but I have never had this kind of attention before. It’s really a unique and special feeling having peopled you don’t know greet you or remark, “He’s an artist!” Yes, I have greeted students I had never been previously introduced to beforehand while working at the school (mostly siblings of the students in the classroom I was assisting in) and it really does take you off guard. No other job I have wormed at really gave me such a unique sense of community and togetherness as working at an elementary school.

Tootsie Roll Jars - November 22, 2010

We have a behavior management method using Tootsie Roll Jars. Each jar is roughly the size of a 12oz can of soft drink and the lid has a slot for money to be deposited into, like a bank. We award the students plastic play money for displaying positive behavior. A penny for following the rules without having to be told on any occasion. A nickel for receiving a compliment from another member of the faculty or staff outside the classroom for displaying exceptional behavior.

A dime for completing a book report on your own (every morning we read a book to the students and during the day during their free time they have the option of writing a book report based on the book that was read, or even a book that they have read on their own. A book report consists of the book title, author, illustrator and two sentences describing what the book was about and their favorite part). And a quarter if the student has gone the entire day without receiving any checks at all. When the student has saved $1.00 worth of coins they are allowed to “buy” an item from the classroom prize box.

I must say I a quite impressed with this behavior management system. Not only is it based on rewarding positive behavior, but it also teaches students counting/money value as well as the economics of weighing behavior versus consequences and rewards. The students are allowed to count their money at their desks during their free time and can figure out on their own how much more they need before they reach $1.00. Usually, by the end of the week, most students have earned enough to get at least 1 prize from the box (while a few of our exceptional students have enough for 2 or 3 prizes). All of their leftover change is carried over to the next week and they can begin saving up for the next prize box offering. Both my mentoring teacher and me will always have a pocketful of plastic change to award the students for good behavior. I know that this does clash with the school’s “Blue Eagle” reward system (students receive a Blue Eagle when caught being good, they may put their name on their Blue Eagle and place it in a box in the cafeteria for a prize drawing every Friday) but in most cases when we present a student with the Blue Eagle, they request a coin instead (a nickel in most cases), which we allow. While Blue Eagles are drawn and are random (granted the more times you are caught exhibiting good behavior you will have more chances to win the drawing) rewarding coins the students can manage their rewards on their own terms and has a more immediate and direct correlation between good behavior and rewards.

Mr. Sanders in Charge – December 1, 2010

In just a few weeks, I will be in charge of the classroom I have been placed in. The students have already established a “hierarchy” of power in their own mindsets, that the mentoring teacher is “above” me, so the students do not have to show me as much respect. This of course this simply will not do.

Any intern will tell you that as soon as their mentoring teacher leaves the room with just them in charge, an immediate shift in student behavior occurs. When faced with these types of… well, outburst is too harsh a word, but rather, behavioral slips, it is best to nip these problems in the bud. My cooperating teacher had a parent meeting with the principal and I would be in charge of the room between 10:00 to 11:00. At 10:35 the student line up for lunch so at 10:00 I began to line them up to use the bathroom before lunch. I was not pleased with how the students loudly rushed into line, and were constantly conversing with one another, loudly I might add. This was not the kind of line that I would be taking into the hallway. I had every student return to their seats and informed them that we would not be using the bathrooms until the ENTIRE class lined up quietly and calmly.

We practiced lining up again, row by row. The first row walked calmly into line, the second row walked calmly into line, but by this point the first row began to talk in the line as well as the third and fourth row still in their seats. I dismissed the entire line back to their seats. I informed the class that we work as a single team, and that everyone needs to work together to help follow the rules. We tried again, and still there was talking. And again. And again. And again. The clock read 10:26. We had been spending nearly half an hour on lining up correctly. By this point in time, the students were quite… annoyed by the fact that they had to keep returning to their seats, and it was nearing time for lunch. I informed the class that we would be practicing lining up AFTER lunch (the student’s recess time) if they could not line up quietly and properly. We lined up one last time for the bathrooms, which was still only 80% up to my expectations, but a routine must be set. I will not have the students in my classroom embarrass me in the hallways. The first few days I am in charge of the room I will practice routines and expectations until the students see that I am not one to be pushed aside or disrespected. The only person’s time and efforts they will be wasting will be their own for misconduct. I do realize that positive behavior reinforcement will be implemented during my instruction, I am much enjoying our Tootsie Roll banks behavior management plan we are currently using in the classroom, I must be sure to reward good behavior when it is exhibited!

My First PTO - December 7, 2010

Sure I have attended a few parent teacher conferences in the past before, even the back-to-school meet-the-teacher day, but nothing was quite exactly like my first PTO. I had never attended PTO previously because I had always had classes on previous PTO nights, but this was at the end of the semester during finals week, so I had the night open and free to attend a PTO. It was eye opening to say the least. The children so were so excited. The majority of the students form my classroom to show up were ones that were already in the after school WINGS program that runs until 6pm (when the PTO began). This PTO was special, it was the school’s holiday PTO. The students were performing holiday carols, poems, and original performances. I arrived around 5:15pm and the school was relatively empty. We had our 9 students who were attending in the classrooms, my mentoring teacher had given the students dry-erase boards to practice writing or drawing (mostly drawing holiday related pictures, labeling a few of them), while I showed the students how to make paper snow-flakes. At 5:45pm, we headed to the auditorium, which was still relatively empty, but right at 6pm, the levy broke. Parents, family, friends and students poured into the auditorium. Teachers and administration were lined against the walls giving all available seating to students and guests (with even a few guests lining the back walls).

What surprised me the most was the volume. No, not the number of people, but the amount of noise in the auditorium, even during performances. This is what stuck me as the most unpredicted, but when I see the parallels between the social behavior of the community and the behavior of the students in the classroom, it made sense in a way. Volume control is one of our classroom’s most prominent issues and when the community cannot maintain a focus of attention or volume during stage performances, how can one expect the children meet a teacher’s expectation to display volume control in the classroom during instruction. Needless to say, if I were to come up with a new theme for a community advocacy program it would be proper public volume etiquette.

This is something that really struck me, as my first PTO meeting, and just another insight of how the behavior of a community can directly affect the behavior of the children growing up in the community. I don’t mean to impose my own personal standards onto those of an entire community but if it can help with promoting successful classroom behaviors and conduct it is something then I can’ simply ignore.

September 22, 2010 – One on One Instruction

In an old Simpsons episode there is a scene where Marge and Homer visit Principal Skinner to discuss Bart’s behavior in school. Principal Skinner explains that Bart’s behavior and disruptiveness in the classroom “pulls other students grades down” with his, similar to that of a black hole (at which point Principal Skinner holds up a 3D model of the classroom that simulates the effects of a black hole). I found that hilarious that he had such a model present on hand, but never stopped to think of how true a statement this was.

Student placement in the classroom is an important factor in classroom management. Different placements of students can help the classroom environment in a variety of ways. Placing high students by low students can encourage the high students to help with instruction with the low students or placing “like skilled” students together makes it easier for the teacher to them in small groups.

With students with disruptive or behavior problems however I have seen a variety of different techniques used. I have seen them placed together near the front of the classroom so the teacher can keep a constant check on their behavior, I have seen them placed in the back and away from students as to not cause a distraction to others or from the teacher’s own instruction, and I have seen them placed with students with nothing short of immaculate behavior and are not distracted or effected by their actions (immediately anyhow, but personally I see it as unfair that they must shoulder the burden with the teacher of keeping the behavior student “in check”).

It is true though, that the student with disruptive and behavior problems will effect those around him or her. The behavior student may distract them from their work, may cause adjacent students to be disruptive as well, or nearby students may pick up and adapt the actions and attitude of the behavior problem student. This is a problem I have no clear solution to myself. The most effective model I have seen of handing behavior students is placing them in the front of the classroom away from other students and keeping a constant check on their actions. This seems to be a drain on the teacher as a resource to the classroom however I have seen no better or effective solution and it is a managerial technique I will have to learn myself over time.

September 15, 2010 – The Teacher Giveth and the Teacher Taketh Away

I have not yet had the experience to really set a behavioral management system in the classroom on my own yet, officially. I have tried various techniques but I have yet to find one that sticks yet. I am fond, however, of “the prize jar”. A simple jar of educationally relevant goodies (bright and color pencils, eraser ends, pencil grips, mini note pads, mini rulers, sticky notes, crayon boxes, mini work books, etc.) that the students get to pick from if they were well behaved during my small group or pull-out instruction lessons. I would always tell them that if they did not behave or do their work in my class, I would take away their chances of picking from the prize jar.

This prize jar reward system worked well last year, but this year I was having more difficulty with using the reward of the prize jar to keep behavior manageable. I would offer the reward of the prize jar before instruction but when a student behaved in a way that distracted from the lesson or was inappropriate for school I would tell them they had lost their reward of pulling from the prize jar and I would always get the same reply “I don’t care”.

This pattern would go on for the same group of students. Day after day they would behave in a manner inappropriate during instruction and they would lose their reward, and no change would occur in their pattern of behavior, so after a week, I decided to be the one to change. At the beginning of the lesson, I let every student in my small group pull from the prize jar explaining my expectations of them (again, there’s that word!) and that if they could not conduct themselves appropriately during the lesson, I would take their reward away (generally what I would tell them at the start of every lesson, however this time they had the tangible feel of their reward, it was no longer something intangible for the ones who had never gotten the chance to have a reward conceptualize on their own).

And it worked.

When a student began to act in a way inappropriate for class I would warn them that they would get their reward taken from them and they would correct their behavior not wanting what they already had taken away from them. Rarely I have had to take away a student’s reward and place it back in the jar, as students do not want to lose what has been given to them, which is beyond the reward but my faith in the students that they will control and monitor their own behavior with the knowledge of what it is like to physically have a privilege taken away from them. I am still working the kinks out with this behavior management system (having students taking a reward every day can be expensive, the price of the items I fill the jar up with everyday! Maybe I might just use stickers, or maybe a school store where they can buy items using sticks/beans/marbles?) but I think I have a general idea of what I may use when I have to use a behavior management system that will need to work with an entire classroom.

September 8, 2010 – Learning and Application

When I was younger I can’t ever say I really noticed how what I learned was applied to real life. Sure, I would see it, for example in English class if we were to learn the definition of a new word like “adjacent” or “naïve” or in math learn how to round numbers to the nearest tenth, I would see and understand these techniques but I never knew that I was using them. It never it me in a situation and I would think to myself “ah, I can use that new technique I learned in school”, I suppose all my knowledge in school I applied subconsciously and without much thought.

I still have that same skepticism today, or well, used to. In my graduate classes, similar to when I was growing up, I though most of the techniques we were learning were to be taken in a general, and not a “literal” sense: “these are different techniques for teaching students that are effective”… I would think to myself “yes, they can be effective on some students but will they work on the students in the classroom I am placed in?”

I suppose some of this skepticism can be allotted to the school I am currently placed at, which is known for having the highest rate of students living at or below the poverty line in Charleston County. The students lack resources at home that the average student does not so one cannot approach these students as you would your average student, or so I thought.

There is one method of teaching I read about, dealing with difficult students, that I now apply to all of my teaching and that is “let them do what they want”. Now, I know you just read that last sentence and are thinking to yourself, “he MUST be out of his mind!” to let a student do whatever they want to do, but it works… with some adjustment of “expectations” from the teacher (there’s that word again).

In the classroom I am placed in there is one particularly difficult student, and it may be relevant to mention she has Oppositional Defiance Disorder, who will constantly refuse to do her work and simply meander around the classroom as she pleases, which not only distracts other students but lets them think they if they create a fuss and argument in the classroom they can get away with not doing their own work as well. I had read about how allowing students the freedom to pursue their own educational desires works with coaxing them to comply with the classroom educational requirements as well. I was out of options and ideas so I thought, why not give it a shot?

I sat the student down (after much coaxing and intervention) as asked her “what did she want to do” and of course she replied, “nothing, I want to go home”. Well, I couldn’t have that so I began to flip through her student workbook and noticed she had written the word “friend” on a page, a word we in first grade had not covered yet. I asked her to read the word for me, and she told me it said “friend” and I asked her “instead of the spelling words, would you like to write the word ‘friend’ instead” and she nodded. I asked her then “what other words would you like to learn how to spell?” and she told me “princess”. So I wrote the word “princess” for her to spelling and I asked her when she was done spelling the words “friend” and “princess” would she try spelling the classroom spelling words next? She nodded.

This is but one of many example of this working for me. I was quite surprised that this teaching technique actually worked. It is difficult in a classroom filled with students of various wants and needs to stop your instruction of the whole group for targeted one-on-one instruction but when you can find the time to give a student the extra help he or she needs it can make a world of difference for that student and for the classroom environment.

September 1, 2010 – Back to School

When I arrived at Chicora Elementary last year it was the 8th week of school and my first year working in a public school classroom. By that time in the year the students were already settled into the classroom routine and a foundation of classroom rules and expectations had been set. When I arrived at Chicora Elementary this year, I arrived prior to even the first week of school. There was much to be done in the classroom before even a single student-parent visit was made. Folders, desks, nametags, behavior charts, lesson plans, During that 1st week I witnessed so many changes within the classroom environment, in my own mentoring teacher, in the students themselves, and yes, even in myself.

The most important observation I noticed is how students will “size you up”. Everyone tells you this, but until I saw it for yourself, I never realized what this meant, and the same could be said for myself as well. Coming into the classroom I had no idea of each students academic ability, emotional state or behavioral problems (if any). I had my own expectations of the class, but I will write an entire blog entry on “expectations” later, but it is vital that the students know what your expectations are and that they are, well, drilled into them, otherwise how will students know how to meet your expectations, they aren’t psychic and cannot read your thoughts (and this sentence has run on for way too long, besides there will be a whole blog entry on “expectations”, so for now lets continue on with the first week of school). If they break a rule will you enforce a punishment? If you make a promise will you follow through with it?

Students pick and notice if a teacher maintains a stern and faithful to their own word attitude in the classroom, which is key to establishing expectations, and working teacher-student relationship and classroom management in the classroom. I cannot stress this enough, but the teacher is the teacher, not their friend. Adults have to act and carry themselves around children, you are the one in charge of the classroom, and if you put yourself own their own level, they may try to take over that control, and at that point you have lost any management over that particular student.

Does being stern, faithful to your word, and “not” a student’s friend mean you can’t have fun in the classroom either? Of course it doesn’t. Being passionate about your teacher and planning exciting, yet controlled, lessons are the best part about teaching which is watching the students get excited about learning and using that excitement to progress their own education on their own (tell me it isn’t the best feeling in the world when you see a student tackle a learning challenging on their own like spelling/looking up a new word or animal or famous person in history in the dictionary/library/internet on their own, or questioning a math problem or scientific theory in a way not even you have grasped that broadens your own insight as well)?

Children are not the only ones who have to be disciplined in the classroom, but yourself as well. It leads to a more productive and enjoyable classroom environment.

Flying Solo

My mom, who is the Early Childhood Coordinator at Charleston Development Academy also teaches at an after school tutoring program at the school I am currently interning at, Chicora Elementary every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:45pm to 4:45pm with a partner teacher from Charleston Development Academy. Charleston Development Academy does not dismiss until 3:00pm so my mom has asked if I would watch her tutoring class from 2:45pm to roughly 3:15 – 3:30 pm until she can arrive. This past Thursday however 3:30pm came and went and she had not arrived yet, and on this particular day, I did not have my cell phone with me so I was unable to contact her about her whereabouts or any instructions I was to have with her class. The after school class works from assignment books that my mother keeps with her, and usually when I watch her students I will let them read books or give them simple math problems to solve. However by 3:30pm came and went, and the students were getting restless and unruly, and I had find something to do to keep the students from getting, well, out of control. There were a few games and activities I had remembered learning about at different staff professional development sessions that I could try and get the students to participate in (and it didn’t make my situation any simplier that I had to come up with on the spot an activity that a first grader, two second graders, two third graders, and two fifth graders could all find equally engaging). My first idea was “my name is (alphabet letter) and I like (same alphabet letter)” which involved having a group seated in a circle and passing around a ball like a “hot-potato” and each member in the group and beginning with the letter “A” (and continuing though the alphabet) have each student give themselves a name and a “thing that they like” both starting with the same letter. The idea of handling a beach ball while learning got the student genuinely excited and at least cooperative to play, and it worked... for about 10 minutes. By the time we had reached "P" the students were getting

PASS Testing Week

I was able to observe the 3rd Graders at the school I am interning in, Chicora Elementary, during the school's PASS testing week (Palmetto Assessment for State Standards for writing). My first observation, although I was observing in a testing environment, was how quiet the classroom was compared to the 1st grade classroom I regularly intern in. Even before the testing began (the test was administered at 8:30am, I arrived in the room each morning at 8:15am) the class was quietly working at their desks on class work or reading. I quickly observed that older students had much more focus than the younger students! This was also observed during the test and after the test. During the test the students would be predominately focused on their test. There was no shuffling at desks, staring about the room, asking to use the bathroom (!!) or general, well, whining about the test (all of which is quite common during first grade testing). It is also to be noted that many of the students were testing for upwards of 2 hours (there was not time limit to the test, many finished within 2 hours, 10:30am, all completed by 11:ooam, and some of the quicker ones were finished before 10:00am). When a student completed their test, they would read quietly on their own (while the 1st graders I am familiar with do enjoy reading, they love to share/buddy read and read aloud to hear the words, our 1st grade DEAR time - Drop Everything And Read - is no more quiet than our morning meeting/sharing time)! I would love to one day see if I can schedule time and observe the older grades on my own, I would like to see how their everyday instruction compares and contrasts with teaching the younger students. It has occurred to me though that perhaps many of our problems we encounter in the 1st grade classroom is insufficient test modeling and instruction (showing and explaining to the students how a test should be taken quietly so as not to disturb fellow students). Another important aspect of test etiquette is controlling cheating. We stress in the classroom repeatedly that cheating harms the cheater than the one being cheated off of, mainly because the student “supplying the answers” may have gotten the question wrong, so cheating off of them only harms the cheater. Still our students see “an answer is an answer” without thinking for themselves. Our classroom has its share of “Susie Bright-Eyes” types of students however (students who gain attention my sharing/showing off answers) and while these students do tend to get the answers correct more often than naught, we have to teach them to learn to keep their answers to themselves and let the other students learn to think on their own without providing them shortcuts to the answers. There is so much for our students to learn outside of the realm of traditional reading, writing, and arithmetic, such as classroom behavior and self management skills, things one does not think that a student is taught in a classroom, however social skills and interactions would appear to be what children gain the most of about the world around them in a classroom setting.