RELATIONSHIPS

I am on the “opening day” tour that I take part in every fall…working at schools with teachers during a pre-service day or week prior to students returning from summer break. My first session was August 3rd in Mississippi and the last one will be September 8th in New Jersey.

A common topic of my presentations is relationships and the connection to student achievement. Sometimes exploring teacher to teacher relationships, professional learning communities or vertical teams or peer coaching...all possibilities for teachers to support each other in providing for maximum student achievement.

I worked with the staff at the United Nations International School in Hanoi, Vietnam. One hundred twenty teachers and administrators of the Pre K-12 faculty spent two days understanding teacher collegiality and practicing peer coaching skills. The 20 teachers new to the school were invited to coach in the classroom of returning staff…a great strategy to start building teacher relationships.

At other times I’m exploring how teachers use the opening days of school to lay the ground work for positive relationships with their students.

In Middle Ground (Aug 2010), Tara Brown , the author of Different Cultures-Common Ground: 85 proven Strategies to Connect in Your Classroom examines the power of positive relationships.

“Positive relationships truly have the ability and the power to unleash untapped potential in our students. Relationships and instruction are not an either-or proposition, but are rather an incredible combination. Research tells us this combination will increase engagement, motivation, test scores, and grade point averages while decreasing absenteeism, dropout rates, and discipline issues.”



How purposeful and intentional are the relationship-building activities being conducted at your school as teachers and students return? Last year I was working with 100 high school principals and asked them to list three changes in teachers’ behaviors that would produce the greatest increase in student performance. As I looked over their shoulders I noticed almost everyone had something in their top three related to improved relationships with students: know them better, care, have kids know you care, etc. I then asked them to list the professional development topics they had explored and the issues covered in faculty meeting agendas during the past year. Interestingly relationships often had not been addressed even once.

Leesburg High School in FL had teachers tackle these questions in PLC’s prior to students’ first day:

#1 What should students see and/or hear on the first day and each day of the school year?
#2 What ways can you learn more about your students during the first day of school and each day of the year?
#3 What ways can Leesburg High School reach the goal of being student centered?
#4 How does the 9th week of school compare to the first?

Teachers’ responses were collected, collated and distributed to the staff as a toolkit and resource. A great way to increase teachers’ conscious behaviors as student arrive.

In Simply the Best:29 Things Students Say the Best Teachers Do Around Relationships, Kelly Middleton and Elizabeth Petitt report that after interviewing hundreds of students, as well as reading comments from various studies and authors, the words of students resonate with clarity a profound desire for adults to view them on a human and humane level.(pg 41)

Students say the Best Teachers:

#1 Know us personally.
#2 Let us know who they are as individuals or people.
#3 Smile at us.

A great reminder for starting the year and one to review often throughout the year!

READICIDE

With all of my flying time I recently had the chance to read Readicide:
How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher.

Readicide had been recommended to me in a recent coaches’ workshop but my interest in reading it was enhanced as I just finished working with a high school that has 60plus percent of their students needing intensive reading courses.

Gallagher, a high school English teacher in Anaheim, CA and author of several books on teaching reading and writing, argues that our instructional practices in all content areas as well as in reading and English classrooms are killing reading.

Here are a few of the spots I highlighted in my reading:

In an earlier blog, I noted parents' use of vocabulary with preschoolers and its impact on learning. Gallagher states, ”If those students who enter schools linguistically impoverished — thirty –two million words behind—do not read extensively, they will never catch up. This bears repeating: struggling readers who do not read voraciously will never catch up.” This creates a challenge for teachers who need to convince the students who least want to read … to read a lot. Gallagher’s own survey identified that seniors reported reading on average 13 minutes a day at school (outside of his English class). Generally students who needed reading practice most, read less.

Does it makes sense that many schools have dropped sustained silent reading when data suggest that on average Americans fifteen to twenty-four spend only seven minutes of their leisure time on reading?

Gallagher shares a classroom occurrence of his that illustrates the problem of students lacking sufficient authentic reading experiences. Students reading an article stopped him and asked for help with understanding the phrase, “ the lifeblood of al Qaeda”. His first probing question to the students elicited the concern, ”We don’t even know who this Al guy is.” Gallagher provides other examples from his students and concerns from other teachers that illustrate high school seniors, soon eligible to vote, lack sufficient background knowledge to be full participating citizens.

How can teachers respond?
Gallagher institutes an “Article of the Week” assignment sending students to real world news stories, essays, editorials, blogs, and speeches. (See a listing with links to recent articles he uses) A classroom set of Newsweek provides Gallagher’s students with a real world text reading assignment one night a week.
I have personally seen less authentic reading tasks in classrooms as teachers increase test prep activities.

Readicide concludes with a list of concrete steps teachers can take to develop recreational and academic readers. Both are critical.

Gallagher recommends bringing the books to the students. He has 2000 books in his room and list 100 books his students love in his appendix. Larry Ferlazzo’s blog shares how he has students review 100 books on the opening day of school to identify interest and select a first read for the year.

A teacher like Gallagher or Ferlazzo would have been a great addition to my high school reading practices!

ASSESSMENT AND DIFFERENTIATION

Two weeks back I featured Steve Sassaman’s work on Co-operative Learning that he presented at the High Schools That Work Conference. This week another colleague, Penny Jadwin, shares her work at the conference focused on Formative Assessment and Differentiated Instruction.

Penny’s Bio:

In creating my presentations for the SREB/High Schools that Work 2010 Summer Conference, I focused on providing teachers with a strong understanding of Differentiated Instruction and the key components to making DI a success for all teachers and students. In addition to a session on Differentiated Instruction, the other sessions focused on the importance of using strong formative assessments and learning styles profiles to guide teachers in making data-based instructional decisions to meet the diverse needs of students. In the article, Responding to the Research in May 2010 ASCD Education Update, Harvey Silver and Matthew Perini stated, “We’ve found benefits for differentiation: teachers who assess their own learning and students’ styles are typically more willing and able to implement a wide variety of instructional strategies in their classrooms.” In my work with teachers across all grade levels, this statement has been demonstrated over and over again. When teachers have an understanding of the diverse learning styles in their classrooms, they begin to look for strategies that meet the needs of all learners.
As part of the SREB/HSTW session, we discussed the importance of knowing students’ organizational and perceptual learning styles and how this information can help you understand why that one student has difficulty taking two-column notes, or has difficulty keeping an organized notebook. Look at the following data from a student’s Kaleidoscope Learning Style Profile from a Career and Technical Classroom in Little Rock, Arkansas:

“Gladys” is a great student. She participates in class and does well on classroom assessments but has difficulty keeping up with class assignments and notebooks. If we look at her organization and perceptual style, we see that her highest score was in the area of Abstract/Global. “Gladys” loves talking about what she is learning and discussing the big ideas, but it is difficult for her to organize her thoughts and work into a sequential order. So asking her to take notes using a two-column note taking format just does not make sense to her. I suggested to her teacher to model using a Mind Map for students while she was lecturing. “Gladys” found that she loved taking notes using this format and now her notes make sense as she studies for tests. By making this small addition to her instructional practices, Ms. “Jones” now has given “Gladys” a strategy she can use in different classrooms as well as when she moves on to college. In addition, the teacher has provided her students with choice in how they take notes in her classroom. Choice is a powerful motivator for all of us.
In using the data from a learning styles class profile, a teacher can begin to make small changes in their instructional practices that meet the needs of diverse learners. The information provides you with another piece of the puzzle when trying to connect to different learners in today’s classrooms.

If you would like more information on Learning Styles please feel free to check out our website. If you would like to try an Online Kaleidoscope Learning Style Profile for Educators please email me at pjadwin@plsweb.com.

HOW TO EFFORT...HOW TO STUDY

My most recent read is Whistling Vivaldi And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude Steele. I had the pleasure to attend a presentation by Steele years ago where he highlighted the impact of stereotype vulnerability on African American students and females in math classes. It struck me at that time that if we neglected the impact of these stereotype threats we were fighting a losing battle with our single minded focus on academics.

Steele states,” …for ability-stereo-typed students, reducing identity threat is just as important as skills and knowledge instruction.” (pg 181)

See Steele on video

Whistling Vivaldi would make great book study, especially for educators working with a minority population under threat. Steele labels some of these as black students in an integrated school setting, female students in math and science classes especially with more males than females enrolled, 40 year olds working in a tech upstart company, and white students in an African American Studies class.

Uri Treisman’s work with college math students is included among the many research reports and studies that Steele covers. Treisman spent time with students outside of class, in the dorms, libraries and “hung out” with them.(pg 100-101) He found that:

**Asian students studied in formal and informal groups. This brought more heads to the homework. If someone in the group couldn’t solve a problem, someone else could and would explain it. They spent more time involved in the math and less doing the arithmetic since they split the work and shortened homework time. Misunderstandings were quickly identified and corrected at times with help from the teaching staff. Asian students combined academic and social life so studying Saturday night in their group was a social event.

**White students studied more independently, but sought help from teaching assistants and other students. They talked math outside class and compared notes on difficult problems. Their social lives had less connection with academics than did the Asian students.

**Black students were independent and private about their work. They often studied longer than the white or Asian students but behind closed doors. With no one to talk with they could only check their answers against the back of the book and spent more time doing the arithmetic of each problem and less time on bigger concepts. Often discouraged, they didn’t talk much math outside of class. Separating their academic and social lives, black students were unaware that the anxieties and difficulties they were having were experienced by others. Thinking they alone were struggling triggered the identity threat that decreased performance.

Treisman created a mathematics workshop that recruited mostly African-American and Latino students having relatively high SAT Mathematics scores or intending to major in a mathematics-based field or both. The Model ”replaces regular calculus discussion sections with workshop-style discussion sections, in which the students collaborate on non-textbook, non-routine problems. During these work sessions (which meet for larger blocks of time than traditional classes), "[students] begin working the problems individually, then, when things get tough, in collaboration with one another. These experiences lead to a strong sense of community and the forging of lasting friendships. The Berkeley program has been so successful that it has spread to other universities and colleges throughout the country. Modified versions have entered high schools, in forms designed to fit the particular environment and needs.”
In Tapping Student Effort, I’ve shared my personal experiences discovering at college the effort and work of other students which was unknown to me as a high school student. I thought they were smarter than me. Turned out they knew “how to study…how to effort”. Unlocking the secrets…empowering our students… must be part of our teaching!

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Along with several of my colleagues at Performance Learning Systems (PLS), I had the opportunity to present professional development workshops at the national SREB, High Schools that Work Conference in Louisville, KY. Knowing that many schools, especially high schools, are focused on increased student engagement I asked Steve Sassaman to share some of the material and issues that were part of his session on Cooperative Learning. If you’d like more details about the items he mentions, feel free to contact Steve at ssassaman@plsweb.com .

Steve’s bio

Based on my 25 years experience conducting training sessions for educators, I knew going into the workshop that these teachers would be interested in practical ideas that would work in their classroom.

Cooperative Learning is a thoroughly studied classroom teaching technique researched by such notable educators as Robert Slavin, Spencer Kagan, and David and Roger Johnson. These and other researchers have pointed out compelling reasons for high school teachers to use Cooperative Learning:

Compared to individual and competitive classroom approaches Cooperative Learning tends to result in improved interpersonal skills, greater motivation, increased on-task behavior and higher achievement. Cooperative Learning activities give students valuable practice in speaking and teamwork, two valuable life skills.

Throughout the training session in Louisville, I introduced teachers to a series of Cooperative Learning Starters (strategies that take five minutes or less)
· think-pair-share
· three step interview
· 3 D Model (Direct-Do-Debrief)
· and longer more complex strategies like Jigsaw

We also continually focused on the teaching of interpersonal skills using PALS (Participate, Attend, Listen and Stay on Task) in conjunction with the teaching of content.

Because of teachers’ sometimes less than effective past experiences with implementing Cooperative Learning activities, some questions were raised. Noise, hitchhiking, and grading were issues that came to the surface. These concerns gave us a wonderful opportunity to discuss an important aspect of the Cooperative Learning model --- Structure.

Structure is the glue that holds the whole model together. Structure can be created by planning for the effective use of ROPE-
*Roles
*Obligation to Others
*Resources
*Environment

In this era of high stakes testing and assessment grading Cooperative Learning activities is an important concern to be considered. Cooperative Learning practitioners like Chick Moorman suggest that grades should not be given for Cooperative Learning work, but rather should be viewed as practice of skills in subject matter and interpersonal skills. Others suggest that group rewards and group scores for achieving criteria are appropriate sources of student feedback.

On the whole Cooperative Learning is a time-tested and researched learning activity that has important implications for student learning in content knowledge and life skills. Perhaps it is a strategy that you would be interested in exploring further.

Click or more information and tips and see PLS’s course, Achieving Student Outcomes through Cooperative Learning.

Thanks Steve!

PLANNING FIRST DAY

Recently I was providing leadership skills training for teachers who facilitate professional learning communities at their school. We examined how Questions for Life could be used to create questions that increase the productivity of PLC planning sessions.

As a sample we practiced using the following questions to explore planning the opening week of school:

What will students see and hear in your classroom on opening day?

How are the first three days of school similar and different from the rest of the year?

List activities that you usually do during the opening week of school.

What generalization can you make about “setting the stage” for the school year?

What are the most important messages you want students to sense during the opening days of the year?

What relationship exists between our school vision/mission and the first day’s message to students?

How important is it to set an emotional tone to start the year? Why?

Here are examples of opening day ideas from Wow! Adding Pizzazz to Teaching and Learning.

Sixth grade middle school students find small bags labeled Survival Kit on their desks when they enter the classroom. The teacher assures them that while 6th grade English is demanding, they will survive. Students open the bags to find among other things, a small compass, lifesavers, and a band –aid. As they question their teacher, “What are these things for?”, they find the symbolism:

Compass is for finding direction…critical to quality writing. Lifesavers remind you I’ll be here when you need me.
The band-aid can cover the grade on a writing that looks bloody (I respond in red) and allows you to do it over for a new grade. (pg37)

An elementary teacher has a gift wrapped box delivered to her classroom. As student curiosity rises, she informs them that sure enough it is a gift for them, but the note attached says the box cannot be opened until students identify the volume of the box. Several days of math are spent learning the necessary skills, as measuring uncover fractions. (pg36)

A high school social studies teacher who begins opening day with Billy Joel’s "We Didn’t Start the Fire" states, “I’ll never start the year with rules again, catching them with a WOW- the first day was amazing and powerful. (pg42)

What ideas do you have for setting the desired climate for opening school?

How might we collaborate to set the tone?

Who does what? When?

These questions and examples generated a quick exchange of beliefs, practices, and ideas. What started as a modeling and practicing activity lead to decisions that set some first day plans into action. My experience shows that ACTION tends to motivate teachers to continue investing in PLCs.

Let me know if you experiment with the above.

THOUGHTS ON LINCHPIN

Thanks to a recommendation from a district staff developer I just finished reading Linchpin: Are You Indispensible? by Seth Godin . I’m recommending it for your reading. Here are a few of the statements I highlighted as I read with my comments added.

“The problem is that most schools don’t like great teachers. They’re organized to stamp them out, bore them, bureaucratize them, and make them average.” (pg 29)

Godin uses the term artist to describe indispensible people who do remarkable things. Many students need their teacher to be remarkable. Administrators and coaches should work with teachers to find their voice and spirit in their teaching. Teachers’ individual insights and connections to their students are critical to bringing out student’s artistry.

“The Boss’s Lie…What I want is someone who will do exactly what I tell them to do. What I want is someone who shows up on time and doesn’t give me a hard time…How come the stars in the company don’t follow these rules? (pg 37)

As I read this piece I kept thinking that in many schools and classrooms we have rules that are lies. We suggest that success comes from following the rules.
Signs in elementary schools frequently say, “Always raise your hand.” Yet my observations often show teachers rewarding outspoken students who bring interesting comments or questions into the discussion.

“Being good at school is a fine skill if you intend to be in school forever…It’s nice, but it’s not relevant unless your career involves homework assignments, looking through textbooks for answers that are already known to your supervisors, complying with instructions and then, in high-pressure settings, regurgitating those facts with limited processing on your part…What they should teach in school…only two things: 1. Solve interesting problems. 2. Lead”. (pg 47)

Godin’s two things match closely with 21st Century’s Partnerships 4Cs -

critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. And, with concerns in recent reports identifying that American creativity scores are falling as Newsweek reported:

Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William & Mary discovered this in May, after analyzing almost 300,000 Torrance scores of children and adults. Kim found creativity scores had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward. “It’s very clear, and the decrease is very significant,” Kim says. It is the scores of younger children in America—from kindergarten through sixth grade—for whom the decline is “most serious.”

Are too many elementary students playing school with the wrong rules?

Tapping their own creativity is essential for teachers to create classrooms where students are practicing solving problems and leading. Those kinds of learning options don’t come from textbooks and teachers’ editions.

“Every successful organization is built around people. Humans who do art. People who interact with other people. Men and woman who don’t merely shuffle money, but interact, give gifts, and connect.” (Pg 235)

To coach teachers as artists who do remarkable things, coaches and administrators must function as artists too…giving gifts to staff who give gifts to students.