I was recently notified that an article based on my presentation at last summer’s High Schools That Work Staff Development Conference has been published in an online newsletter titled Making Grading and Instructional Changes to Motivate Diverse Groups of Students to Learn.
The newsletter contains several reports from middle and high school educators who have implemented changes to increase student motivation. My article, Tapping Student Effort, and a piece by Dr. Donna Beegle, president of Communications Across Barriers, have application across all grade levels.
In June, I had the opportunity to hear Donna Beegle present to teachers as part of the coaching and mentoring course I taught at Western Oregon University. Donna’s personal history, growing up in generational migrant labor poverty and her studies of communication, poverty, gender, and education bring strong insights to her suggestions for school and teachers serving students living in poverty.
You are sure to find a topic addressed in this newsletter that speaks to something you or your school are addressing.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
TEACHABLE MOMENTS FROM ROME
I recently presented at the Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) Annual Conference (Carpe Diem; Seizing the Teachable Moments) in Rome and had the opportunity to hear a keynote by Dr. William Durden, President of Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. His presentation, A Few Things that “Need Fixed” in Precollegiate Education (with accompanying solution!), generated considerable conversation and provided some connections to my session, Tapping Student Effort: Increasing Student Achievement. (Durham’s speech and my PowerPoint will be available on the MAIS website.)
Durden’s comments centered on these areas:
(1) Self Esteem Movement – Durden suggested that programs have focused on self esteem without performance. Students are missing the connections between “working hard” and “feeling good.” (See Glasser quote).
(2) Accountability – Durden urged the conference attendees to not allow a testing focus to derail the instruction/learning of important skills and values that may not fit into the test. (My session started by having participants define student achievement that they envisioned for their schools, similar to the Fairfax County definition .)
(3) Either/Or’s – Durden defined the trap often presented to educators, forcing the selection of either/or/choices. (Either phonics or whole language, either liberal or conservative approach, either strong academic or life [work] skills.) He encouraged educators to be pragmatists – study, observe, experiment and select what works best. (My words – teachers as thinking problem-solvers.)
My session stressed the value of live event learning to promote/engage student effort. Live events (students running a business, delivering community services, growing a garden) also provide real opportunities to enhance student self esteem through successful execution and to learn real life skills, such as communication, negotiation, and teamwork. Click for info on the PLS Graduate course- Discovering the Power of Live Event Learning.
Durden’s comments centered on these areas:
(1) Self Esteem Movement – Durden suggested that programs have focused on self esteem without performance. Students are missing the connections between “working hard” and “feeling good.” (See Glasser quote).
(2) Accountability – Durden urged the conference attendees to not allow a testing focus to derail the instruction/learning of important skills and values that may not fit into the test. (My session started by having participants define student achievement that they envisioned for their schools, similar to the Fairfax County definition .)
(3) Either/Or’s – Durden defined the trap often presented to educators, forcing the selection of either/or/choices. (Either phonics or whole language, either liberal or conservative approach, either strong academic or life [work] skills.) He encouraged educators to be pragmatists – study, observe, experiment and select what works best. (My words – teachers as thinking problem-solvers.)
My session stressed the value of live event learning to promote/engage student effort. Live events (students running a business, delivering community services, growing a garden) also provide real opportunities to enhance student self esteem through successful execution and to learn real life skills, such as communication, negotiation, and teamwork. Click for info on the PLS Graduate course- Discovering the Power of Live Event Learning.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
WHAT IS STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?
Many of the school improvement, coaching and leadership sessions that I facilitate at some point explore the definition of student achievement that drives the work of the school and teachers. I find two approaches that often emerge. Some schools and educators see the state standard as their goal. Others have a broader, richer picture, and see the state standard as something to be met on the way to the broader goal.
Here are two school settings examining a broader definition:
A. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia
Here are two school settings examining a broader definition:
A. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia
List the following student achievement goals:
1. Academics – all students will obtain, understand, analyze, communicate and apply knowledge and skills to achieve success in school and life.
2. Essential Life Skills – all students will demonstrate the aptitude, attitude, and skills to lead responsible, fulfilling, and respectful lives.
3. Responsibility to the Community – all students will understand and model the important attributes people must have to contribute to an effective and productive community and common good of all.
B. Recently, Miami Dade College announced a plan to examine each of its 2000+ course offerings to determine what key skills are, and are not, being taught. The goal is to make sure that no student can go through an entire program of study without being exposed to the following ten key skill sets:
1. To communicate effectively using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
2. To use quantitative analytical skills to evaluate and process numerical data.
3. To solve problems using critical and creative thinking and scientific
reasoning.
4. To formulate strategies to locate, evaluate, and apply information.
5. To demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures, including global and historical perspectives.
6. To create strategies that can be used to fulfill personal, civic, and social responsibilities.
7. To demonstrate knowledge of ethical thinking and its application to issues in society.
8. To use computer and emerging technologies effectively.
9. To demonstrate an appreciation for aesthetics and creative activities.
10. To describe how natural systems function, and recognize the impact of human beings on the environment.
Click here to view entire Learning Outcomes Covenant.
If you are working with a broader definition or list of skills for achievement, please comment, so others can contact you.
1. Academics – all students will obtain, understand, analyze, communicate and apply knowledge and skills to achieve success in school and life.
2. Essential Life Skills – all students will demonstrate the aptitude, attitude, and skills to lead responsible, fulfilling, and respectful lives.
3. Responsibility to the Community – all students will understand and model the important attributes people must have to contribute to an effective and productive community and common good of all.
B. Recently, Miami Dade College announced a plan to examine each of its 2000+ course offerings to determine what key skills are, and are not, being taught. The goal is to make sure that no student can go through an entire program of study without being exposed to the following ten key skill sets:
1. To communicate effectively using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
2. To use quantitative analytical skills to evaluate and process numerical data.
3. To solve problems using critical and creative thinking and scientific
reasoning.
4. To formulate strategies to locate, evaluate, and apply information.
5. To demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures, including global and historical perspectives.
6. To create strategies that can be used to fulfill personal, civic, and social responsibilities.
7. To demonstrate knowledge of ethical thinking and its application to issues in society.
8. To use computer and emerging technologies effectively.
9. To demonstrate an appreciation for aesthetics and creative activities.
10. To describe how natural systems function, and recognize the impact of human beings on the environment.
Click here to view entire Learning Outcomes Covenant.
If you are working with a broader definition or list of skills for achievement, please comment, so others can contact you.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
LEARNING STYLES AND MOTIVATION
I found a connection this week between two of my presentations on learning styles and a book review for The Motivation Breakthrough.
First, I had the opportunity to spend three days with 4th and 5th grade students, along with their teachers and parents, examining the results of the students’ Kaleidoscope Learning Style profiles. Dr. Christiana Van Woert, principal of the Bragg Elementary School in Chester, NJ, and Dr Larry Feinstod, superintendent, of Cranford NJ Schools, arranged for students to complete the profile and then be empowered to use the results in planning how to study for the greatest return on effort. Both programs invited parents to learn about their child’s findings as well as uncovering information about their own learning styles.
Dr Van Woert- "My goal was to help our students, teachers, and parents to become more self-aware and thereby responsible for how they learn. In knowing more about their preferences, they can naturally seek out instructional activities that support them and which will lead to increased student achievement."
Dr Feinsod-"Teaching and learning cannot take place in an educational vacuum. Teachers cannot teach and children cannot learn unless both understand their respective learning styles. Indeed, differentiation is meaningless unless the teacher truly comprehends the way each child learns."
At the same time, I found a USA Today interview with Richard Lavoie, a special educator and the author of The Motivation Breakthrough : Six Secrets for Turning on the Turned-Out Child. Lavoie offers six motivational strategies: praise, power, projects, people, prizes, and prestige.
Here are the connections I made regarding learning styles and motivation:
Praise- specific, sincere and focused on effort and improvement(Lavoie)
Knowing learning styles of students can cue the delivery of praise: (auditor, visual, tactual, kinesthetic)
Power- offering choices can motivate(Lavoie)
Learning styles can assist teachers in offering abstract/sequential, concrete/sequential, abstract/global and concrete/global options for variety in centers, activities, and assignments.
Projects- can connect disciplines, stimulate and motivate inquisitiveness. (Lavoie)
Simulations and Live Event Learning (real life activities like planting a garden or teaching younger students) provide the most opportunities for many learning style preferences being present in the learning activity.
People- especially important for adults to build positive relationships with people-orientated kids (Lavoie)
Tactual learners need the “comfortable feel” with teachers for the best learning. Empowered tactual learners know about themselves and approach their teachers to speed the fulfilling of these relationship needs.
Prizes- intermittent rewards, not announced ahead of time to celebrate best efforts can motivate.(Lavoie)
In Homework and Kids, author William Haggart lists celebrations that match learning style preferences. Matching the celebration to the students style can magnify the benefits.
Prestige- All children need to feel important. Consistent encouragement and opportunities to showcase talents are important.
As students that I worked with reviewed their temperament styles: intuitive feeler, intuitive thinker, sensing judger and sensing perceiver, I identified why their friends would value the strengths of the preference they had and also explored careers where those strengths are valued.
First, I had the opportunity to spend three days with 4th and 5th grade students, along with their teachers and parents, examining the results of the students’ Kaleidoscope Learning Style profiles. Dr. Christiana Van Woert, principal of the Bragg Elementary School in Chester, NJ, and Dr Larry Feinstod, superintendent, of Cranford NJ Schools, arranged for students to complete the profile and then be empowered to use the results in planning how to study for the greatest return on effort. Both programs invited parents to learn about their child’s findings as well as uncovering information about their own learning styles.
Dr Van Woert- "My goal was to help our students, teachers, and parents to become more self-aware and thereby responsible for how they learn. In knowing more about their preferences, they can naturally seek out instructional activities that support them and which will lead to increased student achievement."
Dr Feinsod-"Teaching and learning cannot take place in an educational vacuum. Teachers cannot teach and children cannot learn unless both understand their respective learning styles. Indeed, differentiation is meaningless unless the teacher truly comprehends the way each child learns."
At the same time, I found a USA Today interview with Richard Lavoie, a special educator and the author of The Motivation Breakthrough : Six Secrets for Turning on the Turned-Out Child. Lavoie offers six motivational strategies: praise, power, projects, people, prizes, and prestige.
Here are the connections I made regarding learning styles and motivation:
Praise- specific, sincere and focused on effort and improvement(Lavoie)
Knowing learning styles of students can cue the delivery of praise: (auditor, visual, tactual, kinesthetic)
Power- offering choices can motivate(Lavoie)
Learning styles can assist teachers in offering abstract/sequential, concrete/sequential, abstract/global and concrete/global options for variety in centers, activities, and assignments.
Projects- can connect disciplines, stimulate and motivate inquisitiveness. (Lavoie)
Simulations and Live Event Learning (real life activities like planting a garden or teaching younger students) provide the most opportunities for many learning style preferences being present in the learning activity.
People- especially important for adults to build positive relationships with people-orientated kids (Lavoie)
Tactual learners need the “comfortable feel” with teachers for the best learning. Empowered tactual learners know about themselves and approach their teachers to speed the fulfilling of these relationship needs.
Prizes- intermittent rewards, not announced ahead of time to celebrate best efforts can motivate.(Lavoie)
In Homework and Kids, author William Haggart lists celebrations that match learning style preferences. Matching the celebration to the students style can magnify the benefits.
Prestige- All children need to feel important. Consistent encouragement and opportunities to showcase talents are important.
As students that I worked with reviewed their temperament styles: intuitive feeler, intuitive thinker, sensing judger and sensing perceiver, I identified why their friends would value the strengths of the preference they had and also explored careers where those strengths are valued.
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