Monday Motivator #25 2018-19

MINDSHIFT

Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day

 https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52980/six-ways-to-teach-social-and-emotional-skills-all-day

 (iStock/bowdenimages)

The types of skills required to care for and advocate for oneself and others — self-regulation, responsibility, empathy, and discipline, among others — are becoming increasingly central to the work of schools and teachers, and increasingly relevant to the lifelong success of students.

More and more, educators are recognizing that these skills — often called “social and emotional” skills — are inextricably intertwined with the academic skills. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that social emotional skills can and should be taught. But four out of five want more support to address their students’ social emotional development. How do teachers catch up their practices with what they know is possible?

A new report from the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development draws on a large volume of research on social-emotional learning, three new research reports written over the last two years, as well as surveys with parents, students, and teachers — all generating new recommendations for teaching the whole child and for supporting the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of students. It will take significant system-wide and school-wide changes to make sure every child gets this kind of holistic education; teachers cannot do that work alone.

But with the following considerations and actions, teachers can begin to break the silos that stuff social-emotional learning into a specific unit or class, and instead embed it throughout the day.

Be intentional. Social and emotional skills come up all the time — at recess, in group work, in math class. Be intentional about identifying opportunities to practice the skills with your students. Role play conflicts that might arise on the playground or talk to students about listening and collaboration before group work. Before math class, talk about “mathematical courage,” or the idea that students should ask questions when they don’t understand something, be unafraid to make mistakes, explain their thinking, listen to how other people thought about a problem, and be open to suggestions. Don't worry about taking time away from academic material. Taking time to focus on how students interact with each other, how they're feeling, and how they're behaving, will help create conditions conducive for overcoming academic challenges. Being more intentional and taking the time to name and practice these skills, can help them stick.

Create a warm classroom culture. Students learn best when they feel safe and cared for. Let each student know that you respect and care for her as an individual. Provide leadership opportunities for students, and show them that you trust them, too, but letting them lead parent conferences and letting them make their own decisions, when appropriate, about how to spend their time and pursue their interests.
Focus on relationships. Meaningful relationships — both between students and adults, and between students and other students — help improve attitudes and achievement. To the extent that you can, create structures that facilitate the formation of long-term relationships, like identifying mentors for students or holding class meetings. On a school-wide basis, having teachers follow students to the next grade level or creating advisories, in which the same teacher mentors the same group of students over several years, can create the type of relationships that make students feel cared for and help them to learn to care for others. These smaller group settings also are perfect opportunities to intentionally teach social-emotional skills, like listening and expressing feelings through words.

Make discipline more inclusive. Discipline, too, can be more focused on healing relationships than punishment. When a child misbehaves, frame it as a poor choice — not evidence that he is a bad kid. Discuss behavior with students by working with them to set classroom norms and having regular meetings about how those norms are working. Help students resolve conflict with one another; there's much more to be learned from conflict resolution than a suspension.

Broaden your definition of student success. Broadening the definition of student success is ultimately a community-wide goal, but even in your classroom, you can emphasize to students that test scores aren’t the only things that matter. Recognize and celebrate when students are persistent in the faces of challenges, when they are caring to their peers, and when they are good listeners. By emphasizing social emotional development, students have a clearer idea of what to work toward and why it’s important.

Advocate for change on the school and system level. The best social emotional instruction is borne out of collaboration. Advocate to your principal and school board for social-emotional training. Convene meetings with other personnel in the school so you can talk about students’ needs, and make sure that no student is falling through the cracks. Ask for the time and resources you need to emphasize social emotional learning classroom, and help students develop all the skills they need to succeed.

Monday Motivator #24 2018-19

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https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/language-makeover/

Consider two classrooms: Room 1 and Room 2. The students in both rooms are working in groups on an activity, and in each room, one of the groups has gotten off task.

In Room 1, the teacher approaches the off-task group and says to them, “Get back to work or you’ll be staying in for recess!”

In Room 2, the teacher approaches the off-task group and says, “This is not like you. What’s the problem?” and then, after students explain the problem, follows up with, “Okay, how do we solve that?”

In both cases, the teacher addresses the off-task behavior, but the language each one uses is completely different. The first teacher is threatening a consequence, sending the message that the activity’s only real value is avoiding punishment. By contrast, the second teacher affirms students’ identities as kids who normally behave pretty well, then follows that by inviting them to solve their own problems.

It’s possible that both teachers will get the same result from this interaction and the students in both rooms will get back on task. But the second teacher is likely to get much more than that, shaping students’ self-perception as good kids and problem-solvers, sending the message that their classroom is a respectful place, and fostering a climate where students actively participate in their learning, rather than simply complying with a teacher’s demands.  

And if the teacher in Room 2 is consistently crafting language to send these positive, empowering messages, that impact increases exponentially.

When we look at ways to improve our teaching, we tend to give a lot of attention to the macro-level stuff: curriculum development,  teaching strategies, classroom design, relationship building. There are so many big things to pay attention to, it’s no wonder we spend very little time on small details like how we ask students to get back to work. But to truly master this craft—a craft that requires us to talk constantly—we need to cultivate our ability to shape language to achieve a desired effect.

Two books that can help with that process are Peter Johnston’s Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning and Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s How to Talk so Kids Can Learn, which was actually the very first book I ever reviewed on my site in 2013. Both books take a thoughtful look at many of the things teachers say during typical classroom interactions and show us how to reshape these words for more positive and powerful impact.

Doing a true language overhaul would require a long, sustained effort, so what I’d like to do here is give you a quick start, a mini-makeover of four common classroom scenarios where a small change in language can send a completely different message. After each scenario, I’ll offer a question for reflection to help you transfer each concept to your own day-to-day teaching.

WHAT WELL-CHOSEN WORDS CAN DO

1. SHAPE STUDENT IDENTITY

The words we choose can suggest things to students about their own skills, talents, interests, and character traits, helping them see themselves in new roles.

Scenario: You’re conferencing with a student about a piece of her writing. She’s used dialogue in a few places, but it’s a bit flat.

Instead of saying: “Your next step would be to revise some of the dialogue to make it sound more realistic.”

Try this: “I wonder if, as a writer, you’re ready for more advanced dialogue techniques.”

While the first option is a perfectly fine way to suggest further revision, the second option (Johnston, p. 25) sets up the same task as an opportunity for growth and invites the student to see herself as a writer, rather than just a student completing an assignment. Notice that the teacher in the second option doesn’t try to convince the student that she is a writer; it is simply assumed in the language used.

For reflection: What messages do your words send to students about their identities? Can you tweak those words to help students see themselves in a more expansive light?

2. BOOST ACADEMIC SAFETY

In many classrooms, students feel hesitant to ask questions or take risks for fear of looking stupid. Choosing the right words when we invite student questions and respond to student ideas sends the message that learning is a messy process and that the classroom is a place where we can safely engage in that.

Scenario: You’ve just given directions for an assignment and you’re about to release students to begin doing the work.

Instead of saying: “Do you have any questions?”

Try this: “What questions do you have?

We hear the first option all the time; it’s a perfectly reasonable way to solicit questions after presenting information. The problem is, it often gets nothing as a response. That may be because it implies a yes or no answer—that it’s possible that no one has any questions. Many students have learned through experience that it’s safer not to ask anything. By making a small shift in the way you phrase the question in the second option (which I learned about in a video years and years ago and can no longer find online) you communicate the idea that questions are a natural part of the process, and now is the time to ask them.

Another Scenario: During a class discussion, a student makes a comment that’s slightly off topic or takes things in a direction you weren’t prepared to go.

Instead of saying: “That’s not what we’re focusing on right now; let’s stick to the topic.”

Try this: “That’s an interesting idea. I’ll have to think about it some more.”

While the first option makes the student feel a little embarrassed, the second (Johnston, p. 57) shows that the teacher values the student’s contribution. And rather than treating the comment as “off topic,” the second option actually holds it up as interesting, and worth further reflection. The student comes away from the interaction thinking of him or herself as someone with unique ideas.

For reflection: When you invite questions or respond to comments, are you sending a message that all ideas are welcome, or are you communicating to students that only certain contributions are acceptable?

3. BUILD STUDENT AGENCY

If our goal is to help students become more self-directed learners, we need to build their sense of agency, the belief that they are capable of making their own decisions.

Scenario: You’ve had students working in groups on a task that took most of a class period. Although some groups followed directions and worked well together, some fooled around and ran out of time, and others got stuck because they disagreed on how to complete the assignment. At the end of class, you have everyone go back to their seats for a debriefing. You’re frustrated by how things went and you want things to go better next time.

Instead of saying: “Some groups did very well today, but I was very disappointed by what I saw in other groups. Tomorrow I need to see a big improvement.”

Try this: “What problems did you come across today?” 
And then: “How did you solve them?” 
And then: “What will you do differently tomorrow?”

The first option prioritizes the teacher’s feelings over the learning process, and it communicates the belief that working as a group should be easy: Any problems that occurred were simply due to bad behavior. By contrast, the second option (Johnston, p. 32) sends the message that problems are a normal part of learning, especially in groups, and that students are capable of solving those problems. By inviting students to consider ways they can troubleshoot, the teacher not only gives them the time and space to find creative solutions, but also increases their sense of agency over their own challenges.

For reflection: When you talk to students, what message do you send about who is in control of the learning?

4. INVITE SELF-DISCIPLINE AND PREVENT ESCALATION

Dealing with off-task or disruptive behavior is a normal part of teaching, but how we respond to it makes all the difference.

Scenario: While your class is doing some silent reading, you hear a commotion from down the hall. Peeking out, you see a group of boys sitting outside a classroom a few doors down. They appear to be working on some kind of project, but they are also pretty loud, and they look like they may be goofing around a little.

Instead of saying: “Boys! Stop making all that noise! If you can’t work quietly I’m going to have to ask your teacher to bring you back inside.”

Try this: “Boys, you can be heard clear down the hall.”

In the first version, students are given a directive, then threatened with a consequence if they don’t comply. The exclamation points also suggest that these lines are delivered with some anger. This type of response is not at all unusual, but it’s not the most effective way to handle a problem like this. “Making all that noise” sounds like they’re just out there having a party with no regard for anyone else’s needs, and the threat suggests that the only reason they would quiet down is to avoid punishment.

In the second version (Faber & Mazlish, p. 68), the teacher simply gives information. This neutral response takes the emotion out of the situation and positions the boys as people who would normally not want to cause problems. Especially if the line is delivered in a calm, neutral tone, its message is, “We’re all trying to learn here and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to make that hard for others.” Handling things this way, rather than with a more confrontational style, has the added benefit of preventing the situation from escalating into an even larger discipline problem, because the students will have no reason to argue back or get defensive.

For reflection: When you redirect students, what else are you communicating? Are you sending a message that students are misbehaving on purpose, that they are bad kids, or that they feel no innate sense of personal responsibility? If so, how can you change your phrasing to convey a higher regard for student intentions?

SUGGESTIONS FOR LONG-TERM STUDY

These examples are a good start, but old habits are hard to break. If your goal is deeper, more sustained change in your language choices, you’ll need a long-term plan. Here are a few ideas:

• Form a study group. I’m only scratching the surface of all the ways you can refine your language. Reading Choice Words or How to Talk So Kids Can Learn—or better yet, both—will give you a much more thorough examination of your language and many more options for how to revise it. Find a group of teachers to take it on with you and meet to discuss what you’re learning. If you don’t have time to meet in person, try an app like Voxer to have an ongoing group discussion right on your phone.
• Keep a list. As you start to find new ways to phrase things, write them down to remind yourself and revisit the list regularly.
• Language spotlights: If you’re working on this as a staff, you could dedicate 3 minutes of every faculty meeting to sharing a single language makeover teachers can try in the upcoming weeks. To lighten the load, teachers can take turns being the one who brings a spotlight to share.
• Video: Few tools are more powerful than video for finding ways to improve your teaching. If you really want to find places where your word choice can be improved, record yourself teaching, then watch with a focus on language.

Fine-tuning your classroom talk isn’t something that happens overnight, and once you’ve begun the process, you’ll probably never feel done. But just being aware of the impact is a huge first step, and with every small tweak you make, you’ll get closer to true mastery and more satisfying, powerful teaching.

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REFERENCES

Faber, A., & Mazlish, E. (1995). How to talk so kids can learn: At home and in school. New York: Scribner.

Johnston, P. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse.

Monday Motivator #23 2018-19

The Easiest Way To Improve Classroom Behavior

April 25, 2015 by Michael Linsin

https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2015/04/25/the-easiest-way-to-improve-classroom-behavior/

The easiest way to improve classroom behavior is one few teachers ever consider.

It’s at once blatantly obvious and far off the grid.

You won’t find it in modern professional books and are unlikely to hear about it at conferences.

Yet, it’s as plain as day and works every time.

It doesn’t entail making drastic changes. It doesn’t entail extra planning or specialized training.

It doesn’t entail selling, persuading, or convincing your students of anything.

In fact, they’ll be all for it.

For it is both a universal truth and a welcome balm to any human interaction.

So what is this miracle strategy?

It’s politeness.

Walk into any polite classroom anywhere in the world and there you will find well-behaved students. You’ll find happiness and harmony, smiles and friendship, community and contentment.

So how do you bring more politeness into your classroom?

You teach it. You model what it looks like. You practice and encourage it until it becomes part of the fabric of your classroom.

Teachers who focus on this one oft-neglected strategy have far fewer problems with classroom management. They have fewer problems with disrespect, bullying, bickering, and the like.

If you’ve never taught politeness before, the most effective approach is to focus on just three foundational areas.

1. Please and thank you.

2. Hello and goodbye.

3. Excuse me and after you.

These three alone will change the tone of your classroom, inspire more profound acts of kindness, and result in better overall classroom behavior.

The first step in teaching them is to model what they look like.

Ask for volunteers to help you as you act out how to greet a classmate, how to accept a helping hand, or how to pause and allow someone to pass in front of you.

Use everyday examples from the classroom while emphasizing the importance of tone, body language, and eye contact.

Once you’ve covered each foundational area, break your students into groups and let them practice on their own. Pose common situations and then give them a few minutes to role-play each one.

A tablemate is leaving for the day.

Two students approach the pencil sharpener at the same time.

A classmate helps you on an assignment.

You accidentally bump into someone while lining up for lunch.

Periodic refreshers throughout the year are a good idea, but gentle reminders keep it going. Good teachers are in the habit of  stage-whispering cues whenever a student forgets.

“Please.”

“Good morning.”

“Excuse me.”

These simple words, conveyed with a smile just a few times a week, will sustain and nurture the kind, considerate, and well-behaved learning environment you’re after.

But you must be the leader, the chief role model, the pillar of politeness. Every day. Sarcasm, impatience, and grouchiness will undo any good vibrations you’ve created.

Teaching politeness is a simple little thing. Easily disregarded, quickly forgotten, and too 1950s for today’s educational complexities.

But in the hands of a teacher willing to make it a priority, it’s powerful stuff.

It transforms and uplifts.

It endures and inspires.

It leaves a mark that never fades away.

Monday Motivator #22 2018-19

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Literacy Rights and Responsibilities

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/literacy-rights-and-responsibilities/

Something bad was happening. I looked around the room during reading workshop at my students who should have been eagerly gobbling up the pages of their choice books, and this is what I saw:

Lashawna was folding over the pages of her school planner so that they formed neat triangles all stacked atop one another. Pedro was staring off into space—he wasn’t even attempting to “fake-read” his novel. I had to double-check that the book was actually right side up. Sarah was picking through the plethora of “noninstructional items” (think lip gloss, mini hairbrush, gel pens, and the like) that she had accumulated in her pencil pouch.

Lucy and Cecilia had their heads together in the corner. At first glance, they appeared to be enjoying some picture books and perhaps practicing some reading strategies, but then the note they were poring over accidentally fluttered to the floor. They glanced up nervously to see if they had been “caught.” I looked away. Of all the unexpected behaviors circulating through the classroom at that point, that one was the least of my worries; at least they were actually reading something.

Later on, during writing workshop, things were not looking up. Kids were all over the room doing everything but writing, revising, editing, or publishing. At almost every one-on-one conference, I was met with a whiny “I don’t know what to wriiiiiiite.” Kids were using my “find a place to get comfy and write” rule to find a place and chitchat with a friend to avoid writing. What had happened to my students who were excited to be reading real books that they got to choose themselves?! What had happened to the kids who used to come into my class describing themselves as “hungry for writing time”?!

Something bad was happening, and something needed to change. We were right around the midyear mark. Winter break was a memory as the end of the first semester began to loom. Had I not taught these kids anything this year? Had I wasted all this time? What had we been working on if they were suddenly losing interest in the very things they used to be excited about?

Not wanting to blame myself for the lack of enthusiasm in my students, I did what any great teacher would do . . . I blamed them. They were getting lazy! I decided to nip this little problem in the bud with a good old-fashioned lecture.

“Class!” I rudely interrupted their workshop time (no more cozy/respecting my students’ reading and writing time/two-minute warnings for this crew). “What is going on here?” A variety of gazes met my glare—some shocked, some worried, some confused about why their time had been interrupted in such an all-of-a-sudden-urgent fashion (quite a bit different from my gentle and familiar “Okay, guys, about two more minutes, so try to get to a good stopping point”). Most of my students realized that this was a rhetorical question and listened patiently as I began talking about reading, and bringing choice books to each class, and loss of points if workshop time wasn’t going to be taken seriously, blah blah blah. Many of those shocked, confused, and worried expressions slowly turned into glares that rivaled the one I was directing at them.

As soon as I started, I knew it was a mistake. Whom did I think I was helping with this little rant? I couldn’t even stand the sound of my own voice at this point, so how could I expect this group of sixth graders to listen to me? If I had been in their shoes, I would have tuned out in an instant. As they all filed dejectedly out of my classroom, I felt awful. I sat down to write in my teaching journal, as I often do when I’m struggling to make sense of what’s going on in my classroom.

After writing and pondering and more writing about the responsibility my students have to write and read when it’s expected of them, I also realized that as readers and writers they should enjoy this time they are given each day. Reading and writing isn’t supposed to be something my students have to do because “Miss Doherty’s gonna start ranting if we don’t do what she says.” My students have a right to enjoy their reading and writing opportunities.

Responsibilities Restart

I realized I needed to approach our problem from a different standpoint. As a class we needed to have a chat. I was walking down the halls of my school with these thoughts sitting heavily in my head when I glanced up at the posters our principal had hung on the walls. They’re about students’ rights and responsibilities with regard to how we treat ourselves and each other. It hit me: that’s just what we needed in the classroom! My students and I needed to come to an agreement about our responsibilities for learning, as well as our rights as readers and writers. I know firsthand how hard it can be to write on demand, and sometimes we all need to take a little break from reading and think about what we’ve read, or even gaze out the window for a few minutes. The very next day the conversation happened.

I started with an apology for lecturing the whole class the previous day. I explained where my frustration was coming from. I spoke of the great responsibility that I feel for their reading and writing development, and the pressure I feel because I have only one short school year in which to teach them. I told them we have to share this burden. The progress each of us made in reading and writing would depend on all of us working together and committing to certain responsibilities while enjoying certain rights.

It worked. The class was soon abuzz with conversation about their rights and responsibilities as readers and writers. Through collaboration and some guidance on my part, we came up with our Reader’s Workshop Rights and Responsibilities and Writer’s Workshop Rights and Responsibilities. I wrote all the ideas down from both of my language arts classes. We then consolidated and revised the lists to something manageable and useful. Both lists now hang laminated on my wall as a reminder of what we are all expected and able to accomplish during our workshop time. Here are the lists we came up with across all my middle school classes:

Reader’s Workshop Rights and Responsibilities

My Rights

• Read what I want without judgment
• Read alone or with friends
• Be comfortable
• Talk about and discuss GREAT LITERATURE

My Responsibilities

• Read! Read a lot of literature often
• Respect others’ space and book choice
• Share what I am thinking about literature
• Respond to literature in many different ways

Writer’s Workshop Rights and Responsibilities

My Rights

• Write what I want without judgment
• Write, revise, edit, and publish
• Be comfortable
• Share my writing and listen to others’ writing

My Responsibilities

• Write! Write a lot! Write what’s in my head
• Listen to others’ writing and offer compliments and questions
• Share my writing: hear compliments and questions
• Publish my work

Has this eliminated those frustrating behaviors that set me off in the first place? Not all of them—but they certainly have diminished. And with a simple pointing of my finger at a poster on the wall, I can silently redirect any child who has momentarily forgotten the expectations we all created and agreed on together. 

AUTHOR

Katie Doherty

Katie Doherty is an avid reader and writer. And who better to read and write with than a gaggle of 6th graders in Portland, Oregon? Through reading and writing workshops in her 6th grade language arts classroom, Katie and her students work to build the essential community they need to thrive as readers, writers, learners, and thinkers. Together, they all learn to take risks.