For the last three weeks, we’ve started class each day with an Appetizer; something quick and accessible to every student to get the math juices flowing.
Last week’s Visual Pattern was a textbook example of how I hope Appetizers get students thinking critically, attending to precision, critiquing the reasoning of others.
…and some other stuff, too.
Here’s the thing, though; we’re three weeks into class and beginning to settle into a routine (aided heavily by Music Cues). But… the routine is stillB really front-end heavy. When I timeB out each of class next week; I’m betting that the start-of-class routine still takes between 15 and 20 minutes (Work on Appetizer while I stamp HW, go over Appetizer, glue stuff into your math notebook, discuss last night’s HW, announce the daily Learning Objective).
That’s… like… a thirdB of class minutes spent on the structure of the notebook and building critical thinking skills. Your teammates are leaving the freshmen to structure the notebook themselves; am I treating them too much like the 8th graders they were 4 months ago?
I confess; I’m feeling some doubt.
We took and graded a test on Thursday/Friday. I haven’t recorded scores yet, but my peeks over shoulders made me wince as I walked around. In 6th period, two students straight-up said, “Mr. Vaudrey, we didn’t get this far in class. Problem 10 goes into stuff we didn’t do, and I don’t think it’s fair to test us on that.”
In an attempt to model being wrong and keeping our class a safe place to speak one’s mind, I said, “Huh… yeah, you’re right. Let’s make this test out of 9 instead of 10.”
They both got high-fives for respectfully standing up to an authority figure, but the sinking feeling of Guilt (one of my Three Friends) is making me wonder:
Am I spending too much time on stuff that Mr. VaudreyB thinks is important? And not enough time on stuff that the math department and curriculum guide says is important?
It’s easy to give excuses:
The teacher editionB doesn’t match the student edition of the textbook.
That chapter isn’t aligned to our pacing guide.
We don’t have enough time to plan as a department.
I’m just a sub; I can do what I want.
The truth is far more haunting:
These students are accustomed to straightforward instruction where they sit in rows and take notes.
They will likely score better on tests that way.
They will definitely be more pleased with the pointsB they earn that way.
Claire, you might not do Appetizers with your class regularly. It’s way easier to march in-step than to drag 36 freshmen off-course forB 53 minutes every day.
*sigh*
Okay.
Claire, I’ve written this advice in a book, on blogs, on tweets, and now it’s time I heard it myself:
Yeah, it’s hard to change the culture. Our students need to engage math in meaningful ways, and for many, they haven’t before. They might revolt, parents might complain, and the pacing of the course may suffer, early on.
But it’s worth it. I believe that chasing the SMPs is more important than chasing discrete skills, and they will be better prepared for the Common Core standards if math class is more… mushy… than it was back when it was Algebra I.
Days, weeks, months, or years from now, these students will be more likely to persevere in their problem solving and theB rest of the content we cover in class will be easier for them and they’ll be more likely to dig in. Further, the “pure math” will come easier when they’re more motivated to tackle foreign-looking problems.
Claire, I just hope I’m around to see it. You’re back from maternity leave in 9 weeks.
Wow, that last post came out much darker than the week felt. There was plenty of good stuff, even some times where I was laughing out loud while students were learning. One of the highlights from Week Two was:
Back to School Night
I found your old Powerpoint from last year and, since it was all fromB the syllabus, made some new slides instead.
Families in attendance were asked to guess what these numbers meant. After a short musical cue to stand and talk to those around them, I took guesses, celebrating each person who volunteered a guess.
Since the students haven’t met you yet, they were on equal footing with theirB families, trying to guess how these numbers could be related. I asked, “Why?” for each suggestion and there were some beauties:
74 couldn’t be your birth year; you’re not nearly old enough.
Any of those besides the first one could be number of years teaching, except that middle one.
Is the second one your shoe size? Is Mrs. Verti, like,B really tall?
“Hours of sleep last night” led us nicely into pictures of you and Vicky, plus pictures of my kids. Students were pleased to see what you look like, since their only evidence of you so far has been what I tell them (all good things, of course).
(It occurs to me, I should have asked you first before ripping your Facebook profile picture. Sorry about that.)
After that, I gave them the code to sign up for Remind updates, a QR code for the school website, and then we did some actual math.
“Students might be familiar with this method; we’ve done a few of these. Everyone, when you hear the song, you will choose a corner. Stand in the corner for your choice; which one of these shapes doesn’t belong with the other three?”
The parents stood uncertainly and, en masse, chose letter C,B moving to the corner by the door.
The song ended, and I asked, “Okay, herd. Why did you choose C?”
They chuckled awkwardly until someone said, “It’s curvy.”
That person got two claps, then we turned to the lone two or three people who chose E. “It’s the only vowel.” Two claps.
I stood. “Can I tell you what some kindergarteners said? In a Kinder class, the studentsB said, ‘If it rains, H is the only one that will fill up with water.’ Isn’t thatB adorable?”
They all chuckled.
“Tess’s dad, you asked something right when the song started that I want to mention. You asked Tess, ‘What’s the right answer?’ That’s a natural question for many of us. Years ago, when we were in math class, it was focused on who could get the right answer the fastest in the fewest amount of tries.”
Several nods around the room, a deep voice in the back says, “Yep.”
“It’s possible that some of your students have come home and said, ‘Math isB weird this year.’ That’s a natural feeling, too; the class isB less focused on theB right answer and more focused on the why, aB question you heard me ask several times this evening. You can ask that question at home all the time, just get your students talking.”
Claire, it’s possible that students will be more comfortable under your more-advanced tutelage, and I’m hoping they’ll at least be interested in explaining their reasoning.
I stumbled (re-stumbled?) upon Fawn’s post about the first two days. Sprinkled with her usual wit and orneryB charm, the visual pattern process struck me, especially since we’re hitting that hard next week as we “create equations and inequalitiesB and apply them to solve problems.”
(You might recognize that language from the pacing guide you wrote.)
Anyway, we started with Visual Pattern #2:
The projector was on the fritz (#RealTeacherProbs), so I drew the four steps on the board.
“Look over here. Pencils down, fold your hands. This is step one. [pause] This is step two. [pause] This is step three, [pause] and this is step four. [pause] On your yellow paper, please draw me step five. Go.”
After one round of the “talk to your neighbor song,” I drew playing cards (read: popsicle sticks) and asked students to describe their drawing to me as I drew it.
“Okay, draw five squares and then four squares.”
“No, like… the four squares are connected.”
“No! Just… look at step four and draw that first.”
I smirked, “I can’t see step four. Describe it to me.”
“Ugh! The four squares are going vertically.”
“Okay, now connect them to the bottom row.”
“No! Mr. Vaudrey! Connect them to the last one!”
“Dude, Mr. Vaudrey is trollingB hard right now.”
Jayla couldn’t take it any more. “Okay! Listen and doB exactly as I say!” She stands up.
I put on my best hurt puppy face. “But… IB have been doing exactly as you say.”
Jayla holds up a hand. “Shh! Draw the line of five squares horizontally, touching each other. Then, from the last square on the right, draw four squares vertically, all connected.”
“There! Was that so hard?” Jayla drops back into her seat.
Although the class was loud this whole time, I submit that every student was … maybe notB engaged, butB invested in the problem. The discussion of which squares go where also helped the rest of the class access the problem. We spent maybe seven minutes describing in great detail how the squares were arranged.
Visual Patterns are an example ofB doing fewer problems, but making them count.
The whole class understands the structure, so when I ask them to fill in the table, and describe how they found steps 10 and 27, they can describe their reasoning.
Step 10 has 18 squares because step five has 9 squares and I timesed it by two.
Step 10 has 19 squares because it’s increasing by two and I just counted.
Step 10 has 19 squares because it has a row of 10 squares on the bottom, then nine squares going up vertically from the last one.
Step 10 has 21 squares because I increased by two each ti–wait.
Step 10 has 19 squares because it’s like two rows of 10, but minus one.
For each of these answersb right or wrongb I erased what I had written and re-wrote what the student said. Understandably, students who were confident in their answer were upset whenB the teacher wrote a different answer on the board.
I share Fawn’s love of student struggle. If I were featured in the next Avengers film, I’d be a super-villain who gains power off of the furrowed brows of teenagers.
~Matt “For anyone who doubts my excitement at returning to the classroom, this is the fourth blog post in a day and a half” Vaudrey
In a post last week, I described wondering if I was working hard at the wrong thing. Several students were comfortable solving one-step equations like this.
“Subtract one on both sides, then divide by 3.”
They were less confident, but able to solve, problems like these.
“Add five to both sides and divide by…. minus two.”
“I minused three on both sides, then I used a calculator.”
But their methods would prove too weak by the time we got here:
“I got stuck. I don’t get fractions.”
Claire, it would have beenB easy to praise their standard-algorithm style on Monday and Tuesday, then give them another standard algorithm on Friday.
Soon, math class is a tool box with a bunch of tools, but students are unable to match the tool to theB function.
For most students, it’s just a big box of metal.
image: teresaphillips1965
Instead, I wanted them to seeB why we solve equations the way we do, and Double Clothesline seemed to provide method to the madness.
Naturally, students who had been praised for their use of the standard algorithm were hesitant.
I don’t get this way.
Do I have to draw the number lines?
I like the other way.
The Desmos Activity on Thursday seemed to make some more connections. Some students blew through it quickly, but the questions they asked betrayedB the appeal of aB formula or rule in math class.
Then on Friday (with no devices, #RealTeacherProbs), I used Desmos Activity Builder to structure the lesson (pulling down those equations as PNG from Google Draw).
“Look, class. Two thirds of x is six. There are twoB chunks between two-thirds x and zero. How wide is each chunk? Yes, so one-third of x is three, where does x go?”
“If one-fourth of x is 12, where is x?”
“Give me a number, just call it out. [Listens for a number divisible by 3.] Okay, I heard nine, so three-sevenths of x is 9. Talk to your neighbor, where does x go?”
Claire, hopefully you see what I’m trying to do here. Offering aB visual cue for equations with fractions. The language that students used to describe their work went like this:
I can see that each of the three chunks takes up three on the number line, so one seventh is three. Then I multiplied that by seven to get 21.
Fabulous. Now, when I show them this:
It makes sense.
I consider it a good day when the standard algorithm makes students say out loud, “Oh! That’s way less work.”
I’ve recently become re-acquainted with three friends.
Since I left the classroom, my three friends and I haven’tB talked as much. We just… had less common ground; the time together gotB more cumbersome and more full of awkward silence.
You know how it is; eventually, youB start ignoring their calls.
“Oh… hey guys…” (I’m the woman in black, looking for any excuse to ditch these three.) image: David Woo
Since subbing in your class, these three have kicked in my door, demanding we get reacquainted.
Guilt
image: tishamp
It was probablyB Tuesday of this week. Seventh period had just clambered out the door after a clumsily-ended lesson. As I collapsed into the desk chair and felt the presence of Guilt leaning over my shoulder.
“That didn’t go so well did it?” I could feel Guilt’s smug grin and thinB eyebrowsB peering at my plan book, which readB Double Clothesline – Equations.
There wasn’t much else in the book.
Guilt continued, “Perhaps you could have prepped a little better. Some of these students are taking this class for the second or third time, you know. Don’t they deserve anB excellent teacher?”
Guilt straightened and folded his arms behind his back. “If they were your children, what kind of teacher would you want for them?”
As Guilt turned for the door, he shrugged and called back over his shoulder with a smirk, “And Claire is counting on you to get these kids ready for her when she comes back.”
Then he left.
Before the door could close, a knobby set of knuckles grabbed it and swung it open again.
Time
image: Terry Chapman
I didn’t see herB at first; my head was in my hands, staring down at my planning book.B Dammit. I take a deep sigh.B I see exactly where I botched 7th period. If I could do that lesson again tomorrow, it’d be way better.
“No can do, Matty-O.” I look up to see white-haired Time leaning against a student desk, her wrinkled skin bunching below herB smile. “Tuesday’s done and you’ve got to finish the Solving Equations Unit before the test on Thursday.”
She tapped a large watch on herB wrist. “I wait for no one. Tap them feet; you’ve got progress to make.”
“Okay, hold on.” I complain. “I didn’t start 7th period the same way that I did 6th, so now I have classes with two different depths of understanding. Can I get a do-over?”
“Ha! Nope,” barks Time, her head shaking back and forth onB her frail shoulders. “Plan tomorrow’s lesson, not today’s again.”
I leaned back in my chair as the watch on herB wrist began to chime. “Oops! Gotta run!”
And she sprinted out the door.
Adrift
image: DaiRut
The door clanged shut just as the A/C hummed on. It’s been 80 degrees during 7th period since school began last week, so the students get squirrelly and crotchety. OfB course, it kicks on now, at 2:57.
I tiltedB my head back and stared at the discolored ceiling tiles.B The pacing guide is good, but the textbook and standards are new. I thoughtB to myself.B It’s natural for teachingB to be hard… should it beB this hard? Am I working hard at doing it wrong?
“Wurf.” The third friend, a lazy St. Bernard, plodded in and collapsed below the vent in the middle of the class.
She first joined us mid-WednesdayB afterB a fairly traditional lesson. We did a warm-up, then notes, then practice problems on the whiteboard. The students were more orderly and more comfortable following orders and solving equations using the standard algorithm than they were using the Double Clothesline method.
I looked down at my plan book.B Is it worth it to attempt to un-learn the standard algorithm so they can seeB why it’s important? Am I doing more harm than good here?
Adrift shrugged her shoulders, vacantly looking around the room, as if counting the lights or wondering if all the pieces ofB notebook paper could fit together to make one whole piece.
I pulled up a Twitter window on the computer and typed,
Teaching is the best and hardest job in the world, in large part, because the goal posts are nebulous/can shift in the 5-min passing period.
Adrift coughsB and makes eye contact for the first time.B Really? She rolls over, not waiting for my response.
“This is good,” I say out loud. “It’s good that I’m feeling this again; the whole point of me stepping back into the classroom was to remind myself of what teachers feel on a daily basis. The feeling ofB plotting my own course through the curriculum, even when I co-plan with some teammates is a natural feeling for teachers.
Adrift yawns and flops her head down on my Teacher’s Edition.B If you say so.
Claire, my three friends weren’t welcome additions to my calendar this week; in fact, I’ve quite enjoyed being free of them since I took the job as Ed/Tech Coach two and a half years ago.
Yet for my teammates, for the few hundred who have sat in my workshops since I left 30 months ago, and for you, Claire,B I should really do a better job of keeping up with them.
“Credibility” was one of the reasons I volunteered to pick up a long-term sub job, toB remind myself what teachers feel.
The title of this post is two real things that were written in students’ name tents this week. I saved them all, so you can learn a bit about your students when you return.
The first week went off without a hitchb & mostly. The issue that I relayed to you over the phone has already been repeated enough by me. I’m bugging myself that I’m so quick to share that negative story, so I’ll keep it out of print here and focus on the positive:
Students are beginning to understand that:
A)B High school math is different and
B) They will have to talk to each other in class. Quite a bit.
“Now class, you may mumble, ‘Fascinating!’ as you return to your seats. In rows. No talking!”
I think I have done aB satisfactory job of framing the class as yours, with me as the long-term substitute. You are such a Classroom Chef, you will have no issueB taking over and adaptingB the class culture and routine to fit what you want.
And it’s a mark of your own risk-taking nature that you’re willing to let another cook in the kitchen. Well done.
Even after one week, the students begin to sort themselves based on the expectations of previous math teachers. Using the name tent, students were able to share information about their past math experience with me discreetly. I also got some great data from the math attitude survey, but I will save that for my talk at the CMC SouthB in November.
Here’s a hint.
This week, I’m hoping to get students’ math notebooks started, begin a math journal (Fridays, maybe), and try the Double Clothesline for solving equations.
This will be the first of hopefully many lessons that will either surpass my expectations or fail grandly with someone watching. Either way, yee-haw! Taking a risk!
Unrelated: Since I’m still an instructional coach in addition to this sub gig, I got to walk classes the first week of school. After witnessing a classroom that’sB sure to make students hate school, I unloaded on Kris.
In her usual composed, empathetic way, she patted my hand and encouraged me to “pick the battles worth fighting.”
“But, but,” I stammered. “Like, you see and hear about bad teaching more often than I do, plus you sent two of your own kids through school! How do you not burn the classB down in frustration?” I pleaded.
Teaching two periods of Integrated Math I while Claire Verti takesB maternity leave, these are my public letters to her, as part of a 12-week series. Hopefully, she starts a blog when she returns.
Dear Claire,
I’m sweaty. The air conditioning went out around lunch, so the temperature soared pastB 80B0 for sixth and seventh periods.
My voice hurts. Leading a classroom based on discussion is stillB a lot of work.B It’s a lot of talkingB to do in the first day of school; even with only two periods, my teacher voice is a little horse.
I’m busy. I’m wondering how I will be able to stay on top of the prep and still be out the door with time to play with my kids. That wasB kinda one of the conditions my wife laid out before we started this. It’s the same amount of prep for not much fudge.
I’m a team player. I found out that our classroom is being used for fifth period, which is fine; it’s a great class and it shouldn’t sit empty half the day.B The bummer is that I only found this out when students began to line up at the door after fourth period. I had planned to use that time, instead I helpedB that teacher make a seating chart based on my desk arrangement, which you can see here.
I’m annoyed. Adriana and I are still not listed as co-teachers for your class, which means we can’t take attendance or post grades. I think I just got an email from the IT guy. Hopefully there is some good news there.
I’m giddy.
Let there be no doubt:
I am GIDDY to teach two periods this quarter.
I’m excited. Both classes took a survey on their math ability today. There were three or four students in each class that didn’t have a smart phone with them, which means (if I supplement with Chromebook and stuff) it should be encouraging when we try to do entry and exit checks later this year. The data from that math attitude survey will (hopefully) show growth when I re-survey them in late October.
(I really hope it shows growth. I’m kinda presenting on that very thing at CMC-South the following week.)
I’m pleased with myself. An enormousB freshman in seventh period was wrestling with the Open Middle problem, and he blurted, “This is harder than Pre-Calculus!” Now, there is no way heB could know that, but it felt good it just the same*.
I’m feeling more and more confidentB in the classroom we’re constructing; itB shouldB be handed to you seamlessly in early November when you return. I’m figuring out ways to smoothly sample all students, use musical cues, and maintain a focus on the process of mathematics, not the result of the process.
Andrea told me this weekend, “I am really glad you are not in the classroom full-time anymore. In the last two weeks, I’ve heardB you frustrated by a lot by things teachers can’t control. It’s one of many reasons I’m glad you’re a coach, where you have greater influence toB help kids learn.”
She gets me.
These next 12 weeks might shove me into in school administration credential yearsB soonerB than I expected.
In all, you have 72 delightful students that should be trained well in the process of risk-taking, explaining their thinking, and working as a group.
And a lot of them are white! My schools in MoVal and Pomona had a 6% white population; I am not accustomed to so many students named Madison or Jacob.
We have four of each in our two classes.
~Matt “Another White Name” Vaudrey
*I later found out, he’s a Junior, so… never mind.
Yesterday was great. I had forgotten how fantastic it feels to put on some loud music and move furniture.
That’s not to say that I’mB glad your entire class was boxed up and moved to the middle of the room; that was… not ideal. But it made our conversation necessary; weB had to ask the question, “What’sB the best setup to help kids learn?” Your attention to setting the table makes me smile, since we both know what a big deal it is for freshman on the first day of school. For your/our class to be a place where risks can happen, we have work to do before students arrive on Monday.
And, thanks to the magic of FaceTime, you could give me directions from the comfort of your own home, comforting a squalling infant while I ditched the T.A. desk in the corner and moved the Algeblocks into cabinets.
Oh… and the power went out
Yeah. Right in the middle of Principal Bub’s Welcome Back address, just BEEoooooo. Darkness. He rolled with it, though. The School Resource Officer (why do we have cops in schools?) had to leave to direct traffic, since the entire city of LaVerne lost power.
Anyway, the real reason I’m writing is to reiterate what I mentioned briefly on the phone.
I’m so stoked that we agreed on everything.
It would have been awkward if you insisted on the desks in rows and plenty of counter space for worksheets. Absolutely, it’s your class and I’m just the long-term sub for the next 12 weeks, so I will do what you want. But it’s so much easier when you say, “Yeah, if we move that file cabinet, there’s more room for whiteboard walls.”
If it wasn’t a FaceTime call, I could have hugged you. I’m so glad you recognize the need for the class to be an inviting place for students to learn, and even more excited you’re willing to sacrifice that tiny, black table whichB you’ve had forever in order to get there.
Anyway, here’s the before and after for Day One. I had some help from Mr. Eckler, a fridge-sized ASB student named Logan, and Kendrick Lamar.
I’ll let you know how the rest of the organization goes on Friday. Oh, and I haven’t even touched the syllabus yet; I’ve been so excited to set the table for your/my learners on Day One.
Tomorrow will be colorful paper and positive-attitude phrases like “Be Sincere” and “Take a Risk.”
More to come later as we get our kitchen ready. I’m getting hungry and Monday is getting closer.
Thank you for being so willing to let me be your long-term sub while you’re out on Maternity leave. Of course, I’ll work closely with Adriana to keep our lessons and class culture consistent, something that you can swiftly absorb when you return in November.
I gotta be honest. I’m equal parts thrilled and terrified.
Thrilled
Two and a half years ago, I left the classroom in March to become a P.D. Specialist. Since then, I’ve found ways to stay connected to classes and get student contact several times a week.
But.
It’s just not the same.
Don’t get me wrong; I love my job. I have the freedom to do whatever teachers need done, to travel through the 13 schools in Bonita USD as often as needed, and to write blogs and prep workshops on the clock. I love being a tech coach and getting home before 5:00 every day with emotional energy left for my family.
And.
I really miss the high highs and low lows of teaching. Youb Claireb have asked me if I like coaching more than teaching. There’s no comparison; teaching is the best and hardestB job in the world.
As a coach I have less days that are 10s, but I also have less days that are terrible.
Black points are teaching days, orange are coaching days.
I miss those high highs a lot.
But
Terrified
I’ve been out of the game for 30 months. In the time since I’ve left the classroom,
One Direction lost a member
Pokemon GO has been invented
The Pauly D haircut has phased out in favor of the Macklemore haircut
#blacklivesmatter has given voice to the oppressed around the world
I’ve had two more kids
I’ve written a book and given a few dozen workshops to teachers across the country
Donald Trump has become a viable candidate for President
Shortly after college, the captain of my college Ultimate team called me. “There’s a beach Ultimate tournament in January. Wanna play?”
The whole team was “wicked stoked.”B We got together in the early morning to warm up, high-fiving and spinning discs in the sand.
Six minutes later, half the team was wheezing and begged the captain to slow down. “Dude, you might still be in shape,” an accountant from San Jose huffed. “But the rest of us aren’t as fit as we were in 2007.”
I haven’t had a parent conference, offered a test retake, or debated the fairness of aB senior’s grade in years.
Is this quarter in my class going to be a beach Ultimate tournament? How much have my teaching musclesB atrophied in the last 30 months?
After Fawn’s recent post about Jerks and some of the earnest frustration and heartache coming from the Classroom Chef book club on Voxer, I had a chat today with one of our administrators about some struggling teachers.
These teachers have unruly classes that don’t cover the required content and regularly send students to the office for discipline issues.B Obviously, I won’t name those teachers or give any hints, but my chat with the Admin was meaningful, so I present portions of it here for your feedback.
“If I had to boil it down to one thing,” Admin leaned back in her chair, “it’d be Classroom Management.”
Having been in these teachers’ classes before, I cocked my head sideways and said, “Yeah… but that deficit looks different in each of these classrooms. I think–generally–effectively managed classes have three things.”
High Expectations
“Kids are smart,” I explain. Admin nods from her seat. “Kids will figure out exactly what the teachers expect them to do, and will rise (or fall) to meet the bar we set.”
Admin exhales slowly, “Yeah, I’ve seen a few who truly don’t think their students can learn. It’s a real bummer.”
Teachers who struggle with high expectations might say:
“Ugh. It’s one of those years. I’ve got someB low kids this year.”
“I don’t know what those <one year below> teachers are doing; these kids don’t knowB anything. They’reB so unprepared for <this grade>.”
High Expectations is first on my list; it’s theB entire reason we are teachers. Why on Earth would you sign up to help students expand their minds if theirB instructor believes they can’t?
That sounds exhausting.
Conversely, the best classes I’ve seen have teachers who are excited and energized by students’ ignorance. Huzzah!B these teachers cry,B I’ve found another place I can help my students!
A class where the teacher expects miracles will likely garner a few.
A class where the teacher expects “little monsters” will have dozens.
Respect for Students
“Why do you say it like that?” Admin asks me.
“I taught in low-income, gang-affiliated neighborhoods and those students taught me quite a bit about authority and respect,” I said, closing her door. B “A common mantra among students was, ‘You gottaB give respect to get it.’ It was often just an excuse to be little turds to the teachers who treated them like… well… like little turds.”
Admin laughed, “We have a few kids like that.”
“But that same kid then comes to my class, puts forth effort, and speaks to me with eye contact in full sentences.” I paused, thinking about Eddie, who had his Mexican hometown tattooed on the back of his neck.
I smiled, “And he only rarely asked stuff like, ‘Where the fuck is the Y= key on this thing?’ ”
Teachers who struggle with student respect might say:
“*sigh* Well, I kicked Fernando out again. He’s just soB defiant.”
“I had a parent conference for Erika from 3rd period on Tuesday. Surprise, surprise; her mom’s a hoochie, too.”
Effective Use of Instructional Time
“Omigod, yes,” Admin nodded fiercely. “There is so much wasted time in these classes.”
“This is the big one,” I agreed. “A class where students go from task to task, bell to bell, is least likely to have those issues we talked about earlier. That doesn’t mean they’re wasting time doing boring work, the ‘effective use’ has to be based on high expectations and delivered with respect.”
Admin leaned forward and pointed at my paper, where I’d sketched our conversation. “And all three of these go hand in hand. A really strong set of high expectations won’t be enough if there isn’t respect and good use of time.”
I nodded, “Yep. Even a medium amount of all three is better than a bunch of one and none of the other two.
Teachers who struggle with effective use of instructional time might say:
“It’s so hard to get them motivated.” “Frank calls out, ‘Boring!’ right in the middle of class. What a little shit!”
“They’re just so disrespectful.”
Light to Drive Out Darkness
Classroom Management is my favorite example of the duality of discipline; focus on decreasing negative behaviors doesn’t work. Focusing on increasing positive behaviors drives out the negative behaviors.
It’s easy to find stuff to hate when visiting classrooms or describing particular students. The challenge is finding what my psychologist sister calls the “positive opposite” and focusing on that, instead.
When my 3-year-old daughter hits her brother, instead of saying, “Don’t hit!” we say “Use nice touches.”
This morning’s podcast from Cult of Pedagogy had an excellent list of 10 Ways to Sabotage your Classroom Management, and #6 hints heavily at the focus above. It’s a clever twist that I’ve come to expect from Jennifer Gonzalez, the author.
Click the image for a link.
Your feedback is–as always–welcome.
~Matt “The Y= key is next to the WINDOW key, and watch your language, please.” Vaudrey
P.S. Unfortunately, all of those quotes are from real teachers. Thankfully, I haven’t heard them in years, and thankfully, my professional circles now include several times as many awesome teachers as miserable ones.
UPDATE 9 JUNE 2016: David Butler shares the new-teacher perspective on those three items, with some honest frustration and helplessness.
These are all great points, but I think there are some (possibly a whole group of) teachers who they miss. When I was a teacher, I really really struggled with classroom management and Ib d say my big three issues were (based on your list):
High Expectations of Myself
Looking back, I did not have high expectations of my own ability to help all the students learn, or to help them manage their behaviour when they needed help to do so. It quickly became a vicious circle as the less success I had with classroom management I had, the less I expected myself to be able to do it.
Respect for Myself
I didnb t give myself the permission to change the classroom environment for my own teaching purposes. I didnb t respect myself enough to ask the students to stop or do other activities. I didnb t trust that the things I was choosing to do were necessarily the right things to do. When I did feel passionate about something that didnb t match with other teachersb way of doing things, I didnb t have the confidence to do it anyway. I didnb t respect myself enough to ask for help from other teachers or my superiors (partly because in my first school I learned no-one was willing to give me help). Without this respect for my own place in the classroom, how could the students respect me?
Skills to make effective use of time
I didnb t have a good feel for how much time an activity might take or how engaged students might be with it. I didnb t have a big enough repertoire of different activities to fall back on if my first choice fell through. And I didnb t have a list of routines I could fall into to help me and the students know what to do next. Often I felt over pressured to make my own resources rather than find out what existing resources were there or ask others to use theirs. (It didnb t help that at my first school I was explicitly told there were no resources and that I did have to make them myself.)
If someone had told me to have higher expectations of my students, respect them and make more effective use of instructional time, I would have thought internally, b Yes but how? I have to be in there tomorrow and I donb t know how.b What I needed was guidance in the day-to-day and a friend to help me learn, which for some teachers in some schools is not the easiest thing to find.
