What do we value?

Last week, I had arranged for a sub for a planned absence.  Two days before, the substitute stopped by to check in on what the day would look like so I gave her a rundown.  She then proceeded to give me (and my students) such a sweet compliment, that when she's subbed for me earlier in the year, students knew what to do and were great to sub for.  At this point in the year, students are ready to engage in the work. AND, coming off a year of distance learning where they were independent learners EVERY DAY, many students are ready and able to work independently for an hour here and there. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. BUT, they do pretty darn great for 15 year olds. 

Students do well when the know what it looks like to do well and when we create routines and structures in our classrooms (and school) that lead to success.  Teaching is hard because we have to be "on" all the time.  We have to pay attention and be alert to our classroom, continuously reinforcing the routines, behaviors and such that will ensure students will be successful.  My students don't do well because I just make tests easy or help them through questions during a test.  They do well because they know what is expected of them and they rise to the occasion.  My expectations are HIGH, and they reach them.  This doesn't mean I'm constantly nit-picking every small act/mistake/misbehavior, but that I capitalize on routines and habits and reinforce them. The goal is not to never look at your phone, for instance; the goal is to be able to look at your phone for a moment, then get back to work.  You might have a bad/off day, but the goal is to do your best that day and keep striving to do better.  Conversely, when I see routine behaviors by a student that are not in line with what leads to success in my class, I follow up, reaching out, trying to remedy the problem.  

This is true for entire school systems.  We need to be "on" reinforcing good behaviors and keeping our expectations high.  It's ok to be tardy here and there, but are you tardy ALL the time? Then we've got a break down in the adults in the system and missed out on creating structures that reinforce behaviors we hope to see.  

Do we value students being in class? Then we need to show that value by creating expectations of being in class, creating accountability when the expectations are not reached repeatedly.  Students are ready to rise to the expectations we place upon them with the proper support, but if we don't reinforce our expectations, then what? 

Additionally, reinforcement can't just be stating the expectations over and over again.  We need to walk the walk, and model the way.  We also need to talk to individuals, instead of just hollering into the void.  Not every kid needs to be reminded of being to class on time.  One-on-one conversations are so important and 100% necessary.

When I was Dean of Students and would talk to students who were sent out of class, I always had to weigh the rights of the student with that of the class as a whole.  That student's right to an education is important, but so are the rights of the other 29 students in that class.  I called it maintaining the integrity of the classroom.  We valued the ability for the whole class to learn on any given day.  If a student was impeding the right of others to learn, it might require them to miss an opportunity for them to learn that day.  Additionally if the student is getting in their own way to learn, that also warrants a pause.  This cannot be 100% on the teacher to do that work because, again, you are now pulling them away from the other 29 students. 

If we value ALL students learning, we need to show that and start expecting all students to be in class, expecting all students to put their phones away so they can engage in the learning, AND recognizing when this isn't happening and do something about it. 

This year, I don't see us doing something about it. I don't see us expecting all students to be in class. I feel like a frazzled teacher who doesn't have support in keeping expectations high.  I feel like kids are slipping fast and there's no one there to catch them.  It's slowly breaking me. 

9th graders

I really like my 9th grade class.  They are full of energy and truly are nice students.  But man are they busy.  They just love to talk and get up out of their seat. They keep me on my toes to make a stellar lesson that keeps them engaged.  There is no 'work time' if it doesn't involve some sort of reason to stay engaged in the work.  A review lesson on a Thursday, a block day, where classes are 90 minutes, started out as a carousel.  In a carousel, students typically rotate in teams around the room solving problems.  The goal is to review tough problems as a team before a test and get a chance moving while doing so.  This lesson could easily take 55 minutes, equivalent to a regular day's schedule, but I knew keeping them engaged in this work for 55 minutes is a large stretch.  Additionally, they need to do these problems and I needed to harness the intelligence of the top students to support the low students in better understanding the concepts we were reviewing.  But there was no way just having them do the problems standing and rotating would be enough of a motivator to stay on task...until the magical popsicle sticks.

I don't know where I learned this strategy, but I'd be wise to never forget it's power.  Each team started out with a yellow, three point stick.  The instructions were simple.  Work together on the problems for 30 minutes.  When you finish a problem, check your answer and ask for another problem.  While the teams worked, I would swap out their sticks to move them up or down based on how well they were working as a team.  As a team their goal was to get up to a five point, blue stick. I must never forget the power of the sticks...

And, yes, this is a short post.  I created it weeks ago.  Life gets busy when you are passing on the classes you're teaching and starting a new role.  I'm going to miss teaching these 9th graders.  More on that later.