They Will Not Forget You

Ever thought about how you will be remembered by your students?  I know we might have some years (those first ones)… we’d like to go apologize.  Is that out of the ordinary or is that your ordinary?

This weekend I was talking with my mom about my school years.  I was curious how my teachers would fit into the classrooms of today, and I wondered “What would I think of myself if I were my own teacher?”  (Does that make any sense?)  I came to the conclusion that I remember the teachers that had passion and made a big difference or the ones that hurt me.  Not much about teachers that didn’t fit into one of those categories.  I also decided my teachers could have pushed me a lot harder.  They had no idea how little effort I was putting forward, nor did I.

Tonight, I was on Pinterest and somehow, I ended up at this article.  WARNING…it’s powerful.  BUT, know this…if you feel like you want to add more critical and creative thinking in your rooms…and you don’t want this to be your students… take some baby steps. Trying is a GREAT start.

Is this your student?

Who’s in for 2015?  Show your passion and make the year unforgettable for amazing reasons!!  It’s not too late for the students you have right now.

Two Days As a Student…What Would YOU say?

I love when I get links to amazing articles that stimulate self-reflection.  Recently I got this one…

ARTICLE

One thing that works very well with gifted students (ALL students actually) is teaching them to consider the viewpoint of others.  It’s one thing to TEACH the concept…but what about our belief system…do you believe it with conviction?  Do you LIVE it?  Or just believe this process should be taught?

Think of the benefits of considering the viewpoint of others.  Problem-solving.  Critical thinking.  Compassion.  Patience. Relationship building.  Who couldn’t get better at any of those??  I like to use this document to give students (and teachers or parents) a tool to help create that thinking groove, if you will.  You can see it here.

reasoningevent(1)

This idea is important.  But don’t let the big idea of the article slip by you.  Considering the point of view is a vehicle that delivers you to the important place…the main reason I decided to write today.

Let’s paint a picture that relates to you…long day.  Plans didn’t go right.  Parent email.  Evaluation is tomorrow.  Raining outside.  Oh…it’s a short week.  Students were out on Monday (Why are those weeks always longer?).  You forgot to turn in paper work that was due on Friday.  Your head is killing you.  The headache is probably because you didn’t get to eat lunch which means you are starving.  Good news!  It’s faculty meeting day.  You arrive.  Get an agenda but the first thing out of the principal’s mouth is…the agenda has changed.  We have a few guests coming as well as covering the other 10 items.  Fifteen minutes.  Twenty.  Thirty.  Forty.  On item 3 and 4 guest speakers to go.  OH…DEAR!

Want to scream?  Hard to focus?  Frustrated?  Hate it when people read the PowerPoint to you?  Leave you in your seat for an hour?  Don’t stick to a plan?  Bite off more than you can chew?  Have trouble focusing when you’re tired and hungry…and have a headache?

Wouldn’t it have been nice if the principal re-organized, prioritized, and presented the info in a way that would be easier to absorb?  Frustrating, isn’t it?  What if the principal called you up during your planning with an email that said, “Come see me.  I need your input.  I’d like to consolidate the info for today’s meeting and would like to see what you think.”  Or something similar.  How would you feel?

Why do we forget that our students are people, too?  They need us to hear them and consider their point of view.  Funny thing is…everyone would win if we did this more often.

Don’t get so caught up in the “To Do” list that you lose sight of the purpose and possibilities.  You know how you feel when someone wastes your time, ask you to do busy work or work you don’t see relevant, or how you feel on those impossible days.  Imagine what would happen if you consider the view point of others…and it built…Problem-solving.  Critical thinking.  Compassion.  Patience. Relationships.  Sounds like a really good formula for amazing teacher to me!

What would you write about yourself from your students’ point of view, and what are you going to do about it?

Great Expectations

After recently reading a blog, I began to wonder if the kiddos we are with every day know and understand what our expectations really mean and when is it enough?  The idea of having to live up to someone else’s expectation without a break seems exhausting. Pressure.  Too much of it begins to work against us.  So how can we push our kids without pushing them over the edge?  I like these.  It’s a real good start.

Simple expectations of children…

1) Learn to work hard

2) Put forth reasonable effort at learning and facing challenges

3) Maintain a healthy perspective on what you can and cannot do in your life

Fabulous.  Gee these are good for the “big” kids, too.

Read the rest of the blog.  It will give you language to help kids know it’s okay to not be perfect.  Reassure your children and affirm their value.  You’ll make someone’s day!  Someone’s life.

Great Expectations Original Post

A Tale OR Two of Perspective

Caution:  Read at your own risk.  If you aren’t in the mood for self-reflection and direct discussion, choose another day to read this blog.

Do you ever read an article, blog, or story and ask yourself, “Who am I in the story?”  (By the way, forcing students to consider the story from a different perspective is EXTREMELY higher order.)

With the history of gifted education, it’s not surprising why some seem to be quick to answer in defense (okay, defensively) to justify the needs of these students (I include high achieving with these kiddos in 95% of what I say.).  It dates back to early 1900’s…or earlier.  Funding swings back and forth.  Opportunities swing back and forth.  Acceptance of the definition of gifted or “adverse affect” swings back and forth.

Federal money (Javits Grant) provides little if any (some years $0), and its affect on gifted is indirect but important!  State funding…gifted is protected in the State of TN because the State includes it under the special education umbrella, but actual $ to spend…not so much.

Sputnik changed society’s focus.  No Child Left Behind changed the focus.  Just when it seems something will fall in the favor of these students, another obstacle rushes in front.  Our society seems to have the concept of “I know they need more, and we’ll get there.  But first we need to do this…they’ll be okay because they are smart” replaying on a vicious cycle.  Recently this nation wide concern seems to be getting a little more press.  But will it make a difference THIS time?

To understand why this topic seems to put some on the defense, one must understand that every single inch of progress literally feels like it has been at the expense of someone’s entire career.

So, back to the original question.  When you read stories, do you challenge yourself to look through the eyes of someone else?  The parent.  The teacher.  The news reporter.  The child.  Do you REALLY consider the point of view and ask yourself how you contribute to the success or the stumbling block of others?  Or let’s be more specific. For student learning.

Don’t we want ALL students to excel?  What role are you playing in the lives of ALL the children in your classroom? School? District?  Are you THE REASON for success??  Or for maintaining status quo? Or sadly, failure?  Sometimes the hard questions are necessary to make change.  No.  Not sometimes.  Always.

I’m going to send you to TWO stories.  Ask yourself, who am I in this story based on what you currently do, your views, and your actions.  Then decide if what you are currently doing represents what you really stand for in education.

A Tale of Two Labels

A Tale of Two Trees

In case you are still feeling like Gifted seems like elitism, let’s look with open eyes while we are being honest.  There is so much that goes with gifted (isolation, mental exhaustion, intensities….) it’s pushing it to call it “gift”ed at all.  Different.  It means different. Just like every single child in your classroom.  No one is the same.  Gifted students deserve to learn every day like everyone else in the room.

Make the mind shift.  I guarantee it will amaze you.

Actual Time Reading

Down to the minute…how much actual time do your students read each day? Write?  Not filling in blanks or giving simple responses, but composing thoughts from within his or her own thinking?

A few years ago, a friend and I decided to chart our school day to see actual instructional time.  We used Excel to create a chart showing each minute of the day.  It was eye opening.  I wanted to make sure that I was organizing the day to squeeze every ounce of learning opportunity from the school day and with a few minor changes, I squeezed even more out of the schedule.

This came to mind as I was reading research by Richard Allington.  His paper was explaining what practice they found in highly effective classrooms.  One thing in effective classrooms?  Students were reading and writing 50% of the day.  More commonly, in other classrooms, they found the amount to be around 10%.  This made me think about the previous charts of instructional time. Stopped me dead in my tracks.  I wasn’t sure what my percentage would have been.  I think my “intention percentage”, if you will, would have been high.  Not sure if my actual classroom time would reflect 50%.  Pretty sure it wouldn’t.

If you took your daily lesson plans and accounted for the time students were reading and writing, real reading and real writing, where would you fall?  I think it would be worth the self-reflection.  With Common Core and PARCC, no time like the present to make these changes.

Other great reminders from the report were model, provide open-ended questions, give explicit instruction, and allow time for students to talk about the content.

 

But if you want to read it for your own take-away, here’s the link to his article called “What I’ve Learned About Effective Reading Instruction From a Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom Teachers.”

 

Richard L. Allington

Do You Have Radioactive Spiders in Your Classroom?

Expectations.  How do you know? How high is high enough when setting expectations?  We know about self-efficacy, but do we, as teachers, have the bar high enough to create superheroes (see article below)?

Good question.  One thing to consider is the student’s present level of performance; however, the student may be light years away from his/her potential.  Another thing to consider is the classroom environment.  Do you push thinking in all students by asking open-ended questions, asking students to justify answers, and providing ample wait time?

This article explains more about the “why” of high expectations…and superheroes.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/09/09/why-education-needs-more-radioactive-spiders/

There is also a book, Teach Like a Champion, that has a chapter on high expectations.  It gives strategies for implementation.  Although I haven’t finished the book, I like how each activity or idea is modeled on an accompanying DVD.  The author explains and teachers model the way it should look.  Look for the sample of Chapter 1 on high expectations on this website.

http://Teachlikeachampion.com/

I encourage you to aim a little higher than you think they can.  You can always adjust the bar, but it’s easier to go down than up.  I’ve never had an experience where the students didn’t amaze me with what they could do.

Let’s do some bar raising!