Aug

30

Nine questions I ask my students on the first day of school

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management | 28 Comments

You’ve probably heard that expression that goes something like “you only get one chance to make a good first impression”. The first impression, that’s what concerns me about the first day of school. I want, no make that I need my students’ first impression of me and my classroom to be a positive one because I know that if for some reason things don’t get off to a good start it’s going to be an uphill battle for a long time.
As a Special Education teacher, I teach students who need extra support in some way or another to help them be as successful as they can be. Some of my students are so disconnected from teachers and school that they are at-risk of failing classes and even dropping out all together. I certainly don’t want that to happen ,so I need to engage these kids right from the first bell.

What do I do to try to make a good impression on the first day? You know part of me thinks it’s amazing that I’m even talking about the teacher making a good first impression. That part of me is thinking isn’t making a good impression something the student needs to be concerned with? The other part of me realizes that of course times have changed since the days back when, and I know from experience that it is important to set the right tone on the first day. I’ve had kids come and tell me they hate their teachers after just one class. There’s that first impression. We all do it. We make our first impression within seconds of meeting someone. Well maybe it’s longer than a few seconds. Don’t quote me on that one. I do remember reading some statistic about the length of time it takes us to make a first impression , but I’ve forgotten exactly how long that was but was an astonishing short amount of time. Maybe someone can remind me.

Now my challenge is that the students who come to my math class on the first day are specifically placed in my class because they haven’t enjoyed very much success in math thus far. Most of them come hating math and hating my class because , as so many of them keep telling me , it’s a class for losers. So you can appreciate why I’m a bit concerned about making a positive impression on the first day. If they already hate math, and if if they already hate the idea of coming to my class because they perceive it as a class for losers , if they decide to hate me too how much am I going to be able to teach them? How much are they going to be able to learn?

So, what do I do the first day of class. Well, for one thing I want them to leave that first class respecting me. How do I do that? Demonstrating competence never hurts. So I’ll start by be organized. Me, being organized is so crucial on the first day because the first day of school is so confusing for my students, especially the grade nines who are new to the school. Oh sure, they have been to orientation activities but still their heads will be spinning. Since they probably won’t be organized, I’ll have to be organized for them. I’ll have extra supplies for them to use. I’ll have an outline on the board of what we are going to be doing for that class, and I’ll greet them at the door and welcome them and introduce myself. That sets the stage.

One of things I ‘ll do that first class is get to know my students better by having them answer nine questions about themselves. I tell them that I would really appreciate it if they could answer some questions about themselves because their answers will help me plan the lessons and the activities we’ll do in class. I really do use their answers. The questions are

1. When have you felt particularly successful in school?

2. When have you been the most proud of learning something?

3. What is the easiest part of school?

I ask these questions first because I want the first thing they write for me to be about something positive. I want them to remember that they have been successful at something in the past because I want them to be open to being successful in the future in my class. Remember these kids think of themselves as “losers’. I want them to remember they have been winners.

Then I go on to ask about challenges they have at school because the sooner I know about the challenges, the sooner I can teach kids strategies and give them support so that they can help themselves cope with whatever. So I ask

4. What is the hardest part of school?

Next, I get subject specific. When I teach a math class, I ask about math. When I teach a literacy class, I ask about reading and writing. so because I’m teaching math the questions are

5. What do you like about math?

6. When is math easy or fun for you?

7. When is math difficult for you?

Believe me, the kids like having the opportunity to tell me what they like and don’t like about the subject.

Then, I go on to ask the following questions. I want my students to realize that we are a team. We each have our part to do in the learning that goes on in class. I need to know what I can do to help my students be more successful, and my students need to know what they can do to help themselves be more successful. These questions focus on the team aspect of the student/teacher relationship , and I discuss this with them.

8. What three things can I as the teacher do to help you become more successful as a student in this class?
9. What three things can you do as a student to help yourself be more successful this year?

Usually I get good cooperation. Sometimes, not often, a student will answer all questions in a negative way. That, in itself speaks volumes about that kid, and I respect his answers, and I don’t ask him to change them to positive ones. At the end of the semester, I’lll have the kids answer these questions again, and we’ll discuss the second set of answers vis-a-vis the first set of answers.

After completing this activity, I’ll tell my students that since they are in grade nine, by now, they are experts at knowing what makes a classroom work so that it is respectful and learning can go on. Given this, I want us to come up with some rules for the classroom that are stated in a positive way. For example, “come to class on time” and not “don’t be late for class”. Once we have decided on the rules for the classroom , we’ll create posters and post them around the room to remind us of what we need to do. The posters in the classroom are like the signs along the highway. They tell us what the appropriate thing to do is. In my last post , I talked about my theory about rules for the classroom. I don’t want to repeat myself here.

I just want to say in closing that I hope by the end of the first class the students realize the following:

1. The students and I are a team

2. They have their job to do

3. I have my job to do

4. Certain behaviours are conducive to learning and these are to be encouraged

5. Certain behavior in the classroom are not conducive to learning and these are to be discouraged

6. Their input is valued

At least the way I see it.

At this point I’d like to thank Mathew, Sarah, Tracy, Emily, Peggy, and Ron for their insightful comments about my last post Nine things my students taught me about classroom management and teaching. Please keep those comments coming. It’s important to hear other points of view on a topic, not just mine. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I’m not always right. I’m open to other points of view. So please, don’t hesitate to make a comment. Discussion is healthy. I’d also like to thank three feet up and the podsafe music network for my theme music.

Aug

21

Nine things my students have taught me about classroom management and teaching

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Dealing With Stress, The way I see it | 56 Comments

School is about to start again and of course I’m wondering what challenges I’ll be facing teaching the kids I do. I’m sure lots of other teachers are wondering what’s in store for them, too. I’ve been thinking about all that I have learned over the years about classroom management and teaching . Some of it I’ve learned the hard way believe me.

1. I’ve learned that students need me to be a teacher and not their friend.

Almost every year students complain to me about teachers trying to be their friend. They don’t want teachers to be their friends, but of course they do want teachers to be friendly and to treat them fairly and with respect. Kids want us to be the good adult role models they need in their lives. I work hard to make sure that they realize that although I’m friendly, I am not their friend. If kids think teachers are their friends, then when teachers have to do the tough things like call home because of something, the kids feel betrayed because they thought the teacher was a friend and friends don’t snitch on one another. Once a kid feels betrayed by their teacher , that’s it. Some kids will stop learning just to spite the teacher, and the teacher has lost the opportunity to be that positive adult influence kids need.
Over the years, I’ve had kids try to black mail me emotionally by saying that if I call home about some issue , they won’t be my friend. It’s that relational aggression thing. They are trying to bully me into not calling home or whatever I was going to do that they don’t like. That’s when I tell them that while I have a friendly teaching style, I’m not their friend. I’m their teacher. There’s a big difference. As their teacher, I have an obligation to let their parents know how things are going. I have an obligation to see that they learn as much as possible while in my class and out of respect for them , I have to call home. Kids understand that. They don’t like it, but they understand it.

2. I’ve learned that it’s better to catch students doing good rather than catching them doing  bad.

I’ve learned that students respond better when I catch them being good and comment on it. I say things like oh, good, you’re on time for class, or you’re sitting in your seat with your work open or you’ve remembered your pencil etc. I make sure that my comments are authentic. Kids can detect it if I’m not.

I’ve also learned that I’m happier catching my students being good instead of the bad.

I ‘ve use different reward systems for kids who I catch being good. One I particularly like is giving kids Hartjes dollars. How does this work ? First, I designed a dollar bill using my name as part of the design and made lots of photocopies of it using green paper. Then whenever I catch my students doing   good, I give them a Hartjes dollar and congratulated them for being on time, getting their work done or whatever and shake their hands. Students really liked getting their Hartjes dollars and put them in their wallets right next to their real dollars. What can kids buy with their Hartjes dollars? They can buy any of a number of things. I usually ask the class what they would like to buy. They make all kinds of suggestions, and we choose some appropriate ones like having free time to play dominoes, having free time to draw, not having to do a quiz , getting out of class three minutes early etc. We also set the price of these things. I’ve even been able to get some really cool things that kids like from local business like CDs, movie passes, movie rentals, etc . For these more valuable items, we’ll have an auction at the end of a month or a certain time period. The auction generates lots of excitement, as you can imagine.

I’ve shared the idea of Hartjes Dollars and catching kids being good with other teachers, and they’ve created their own dollars with their classes and have found that the idea worked with their students too . It seems to work with all ages from grades three to grade twelve.

I also really like using stickers to motivate kids. My students will be more likely to hand in their work if I put stickers on them. I go to my local dollar type store and stock up on stickers that appeal to my students- even my grade 12 students like stickers. I’ve noticed it’s a bit harder to find stickers that appeal to boys. I’ve used racing car stickers , motorcycle stickers , Halloween type stickers with skulls and guitar stickers for them but they are harder to find so my advice is if you see any of these stock up. I’ve even used heart stickers on their work, come to think of it. I put the bigger stickers on the level 3 and 4 work so that the kids will continue to do a good job. It’s amazing to see the great big 18 year old guys comparing the size of their car stickers or looking at my collection of car stickers to see which one they would like next. It adds an element of fun to the class and a bit of harmless competition. Sometimes if I forget to put a sticker on someone’s work, he or she will come and tell me that I forgot the sticker and present their work for me to put a sticker on. Sometimes , my students even want to renegotiate the size of sticker I put on their work. Stickers are fun.

I’ve also learned that no matter how good a strategy is, it doesn’t work all the time. That’s why it’s important to have an assortment of strategies so that when one goes stale you can quickly pull out another one. Usually though, I don’t need any special strategies the few weeks before report cards go home. Gee, I wonder why?

3. I’ve learned that class rules need to be developed by the class and the teacher and then posted on the wall for all to see

I tell my students on the first day that because they’ve been going to school for such a long time, they are experts at knowing what makes a classroom work or not work. So, I want them to help me come up with classroom rules so that our classroom can work. I get them to share their ideas ideas about what a classroom that works looks like and sounds like and what students need to be doing so that learning goes on. I make sure that school rules are included in the list. I try not to have too many rules , so we work at reducing the list to include only the really important rules. Also, I’ve learned that the classroom rules should be stated in a positive not negative way-, for example be on time, not don’t be late. Then, I get the kids to make posters listing the rules and then we put them up in the classroom in several spots. I usually ask for someone to volunteer to have his or her poster displayed. There are always volunteers.

Displaying the classroom rules in several places , usually on each wall somewhere, is really important. The posters are like signs along the highway that and tell drivers what to do while traveling on the road. The posters in the classroom remind kids what to do while in the classroom on their road to learning. If someone is having a problem behaving in class, I can catch their eye and just point to the poster and they get the message. We all need reminders.

4. I’ve learned that teachers are human beings first and teachers secondly.

I’ve learned not to take myself too seriously. I make mistakes like anyone else because like everyone else I’m human. I tell my students that teachers are human beings first and teachers second so once in a while they do make a mistake too, and it’s no big deal. Everyone makes mistakes. What’s important is that we learn form our mistakes.
5. I’ve learned to remember tomorrow is another day

Some days when nothing seems to go right, I try to remind myself tomorrow is another day, and I’ll have another chance to do it right.
6. I’ve learned to be prepared because my students might not be

I have a few containers with pencils, pens, markers, paper, erasers etc available for students to use when they forget their supplies. I refuse to get bent out of shape because they’ve come to class unprepared. That’s what at-risk students do. That’s why they are at-risk. I swear they arrive to class, not just my class by the way, like rock stars expecting their handlers to take care of every little detail. I used to get annoyed, but now I save my energy for more important things and simply ask them to return whatever they’ve borrowed to me at the end of class so I can lend it to someone else who needs it. This actually works most of the time. I do label things with masking tape. I put my name on everything. If my students think the school supplied it, they sometimes don’t care about returning things, but if they think it’s mine they will return it.

I’ve also learned to be prepared in yet another way. Sometimes the lesson I’ve planned for the day goes over like a lead balloon. Why? Who knows. It doesn’t take much to distract these kids . I keep emergency lesson plans on hand for just such a time. Usually my emergency lesson plans involve a review of skills that I have already taught. It can take the form of puzzles, word searchers, crossword puzzles for math as well as English. I have a nice thick file of activities that I have collected over the years. The internet is a wonderful source . Just google whatever you are looking for and you will have a good choice. I personally like edhelper.com. It’s just gotten better and better over the years and the activities from there have saved my sanity on many occasions.

7. I’ve learned to call home when things are going well

Calling home to talk to parents about their kids when their kids are doing well is very important. It just takes a few moments and makes all the difference in the world. You don’t have to do the entire class at once. Spread the calls out over a week. Of course my at-risk classes usually have less than 15 students in them so calling home doesn’t take forever. Parents who get these calls are usually delighted, and the kids are surprised that I’ve called home telling their parents that they did something good. They’re used to the opposite. Since I’m catching my students being good, it isn’t hard to find something good to share with their parents. Calling home with good news buys all kinds of goodwill because it tells parents that you care about their kid. Parents of at-risk kids need good news.
8. I’ve learned to ask for help when I need it

If I’m having serious problems with a student in my class, I’ll go and talk to his guidance counselor, his vice-principal and his other teachers to see if they know something that can help me reach this kid or if something happened at home that the kid is having problems dealing with. Then I’ll call home. I used to call home first, but then a few times something had happened and the parent told the school but the message hadn’t got to me yet. The parent was annoyed, and I felt stupid so now for serious problems I ask at school first and then call home.

9. I’ve learned that my students have different learning styles and different multiple intelligences and this is important to keep in mind when I’m planning my lessons.

If I take into account the fact that my students have different learning styles and different multiple intelligences and plan my lessons accordingly, I will have more success engaging the kids. It’s quite easy to determine what a student’s learning style and multiple intelligences are through different inventories. For example, last semester I determined that the kids in my math class were strong visual learners and very weak auditory learners so there was little point in me standing up at the front of the class telling them what they needed to learn and what I wanted them to do because they weren’t going to get it. So I used a lot of activities that involved graphic organizers and that worked. It pays off big time for a teacher to know what strategies work for each of the learning styles and each of the multiple intelligences. Kids learn better if a teachers teaching style and their learning style is the same. Kids who complain about teachers not teaching them are often really complaining about a clash between the teacher’s teaching style and the kids learning style. Teachers really need to teach to all the different learning styles using different multiple intelligences and allow students to demonstrate their learning using their strong multiple intelligences. That skill takes time to learn, but there lots of PD on learning styles, multiple intelligences and graphic organizers. There’s lots of information on line as well. I’m forever googling to see what’s new and works.

Now, I’ve shared nine things that I’ve learned about teaching. I invite you to share what you have learned. Please keep those comments and questions coming. I really appreciate them because they challenge me to think.

Aug

14

Can anyone help this student?

Filed Under The way I see it | Leave a Comment

Dear Readers,

I’m asking for help here regarding securing a laptop computer for a needy student who lives in El Passo, Texas. I’d like to help her, but I don’t know the area at all because I don’t live in the area. Does anyone know of an organization that could help this student obtain a laptop for school. Does anyone who lives in that area have or know someone who has a decent laptop they no longer need that could be given to this student. If you have any information that I could pass along, please advise.

Thanks.

Aug

14

Let’s give homeless students a hands-up

Filed Under "At-risk" students | 2 Comments

I bet you’re like me in that from time to time you come across a word or term that you haven’t heard before that intrigues you or tickles your fancy. Recently, well actually yesterday, I came across just such a term- couch surfing Now, maybe you’ve heard the term couch- surfing before , but I hadn’t. Couch-surfing, I thought. What’s that? I’d heard of surfing the net, I do that all the time and it’s great fun. In fact, that’s how I came across the term couch-surfing in the first place. As soon as I read the term, I found myself trying to visualize someone couch-surfing, but all I could see in my mind’s eye was kids on surf boards riding the waves as the waves crashed onto the beach. Then it dawned on me. Couch-surfing is a term used to describe the phenomenon of kids sleeping on the different couches of different friends because they are homeless. I may not have heard of the term couch-surfing before, but I ‘ve known kids who’ve had to couch-surf, and it isn’t much fun for them. They weren’t riding the waves , but their lives were certainly crashing down around the them.

I had a student in my class last year who couch-surfed. I don’t know all the details of his family’s problems that lead to him having no place to call home , no place to take a shower, no place to have dinner, and no place to sleep except that his dad was violent and his mom was an alcoholic and things had not been good for a very long, long time. It was so unfair. He, I’ll call him Tommy, was caught up in the middle of an adult mess, and was not coping well. That wasn’t surprising since Tommy was just a teenager with limited coping skills. himself. I felt so badly for him because this was a kid who over the semester had develop goals , had a plan and was optimistic for the future, had a future now , for pete’s sake, when before he didn’t think he’ d had one . But that was before, before his life came crashing down around him.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I have a soft spot for Tommy. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. I just do. The more I got to know him, the more I liked him. Tommy reminded me of a cactus- all prickly on the outside and all mush on the inside. You just had to get past those prickles. Now, Tommy’s choices didn’t always make life easy for him. He was chronically late for his classes, didn’t hand work in on time, etc. You know, the behaviours that make students at-risk in school and drive everyone crazy.

In my class, Tommy learned that he had strengths and talents that gave him choices. He was an expert on cars. You could show him a picture of a head light, and he’d tell you what model and year of car that headlight belonged to. It was amazing. Especially for me because when someone asks me to identify a car I’ve seen, I’ll tell them it was a little blue one or a big black one. Tommy was also a very good cook and often did the cooking at home for his family. At first, he decided he wanted to be an auto mechanic because he loved cars so much but then changed his mind and said that he would rather become a chef. Why? Because, be told that if you were a chef you would always have something to eat.

Now, Tommy wasn’t really into school- if you know what I mean. I try to hook him into staying in school by encouraging him to start an apprenticeship that would lead to him becoming a chef. He could start his apprenticeship next year in grade eleven as part of a co-op program at our school. Being in co-op was usually a good choice for kids that weren’t into school. In the past, kids that I talked into going to co-op instead of just dropping out have been very successful in the work place. Co-op is usually for the entire semester so the kids get a break from school, and come back more mature for having been in the world of work with adults. Tommy was very enthusiastic about going into co-op. Hey, I was so enthusiastic about this. Who doesn’t like seeing at-risk kids start to turn things around. The future looked rosy.

Then, suddenly his parents split and Tommy was surfing the couches in the living rooms of his friends’ homes. If that wasn’t bad enough, since his parents weren’t living within the school boundaries any longer, Tommy was asked to transfer to another school. I guess the administration has to do what it has to do. I don’t know all the details. Tommy sometimes didn’t make the best choices for the best outcomes. Maybe his prickles were just too much for them. I don’t know. I just felt badly for Tommy because he was being forced to do more than transfer schools. Tommy was being forced to transfer away from his support system just at a time when he needed it the most. He had found kids and adults at school who could and were giving him the positive emotional support that he needed to help him turn his life around. People at school were there for him even if he felt there was no there for him at home. Now, he would lose all that. I guess that just the way life is sometimes.

Before Tommy left, I encouraged him to stay in touch with me through his friends at school. He wasn’t allowed to come to school to visit because our school has a no visitors policy. I learned from his friends that things just got worse. Because he couldn’t stay at a friends all the time, he ‘d been sleeping under the bleachers at the school. I can’t begin to describe how I felt about that arrangement. But, he was sixteen and his parents weren’t responsible for him any more, and he was too old to get support from children’s aid. There he was. I often wonder about him. I hope that he will still pull it together. You never know.

While I was reading the article about kids who couch-surf because they are homeless, I was delighted to learn about proposed plan to provide housing for certain homeless teenagers so that they could attend school and focus on their studies because they had a safe roof over their heads and a place at a dinner table. I immediately though that’s just what Tommy needed because he fell through the cracks in societies’ support system. He was too old to get support from children’s aid but too young to be on his own. Some type of group home might just give him the support he needed while he finished his apprenticeship.

Providing housing for homeless students is a controversial idea. Is it a good idea for schools to get into providing housing for homeless students? Depends on who you ask.

Shaquillia Meadows, 16, who spent the last school year bouncing among friends’ homes, sleeping on air mattresses, said she would benefit from a residential program at the school, where she is a sophomore.

“There would be people who care about me,” said Meadows, whom friends and teachers nicknamed Skittles because of her ever-changing hair color, currently green.

Her mother is a drug addict who has locked her out on several occasions. Her grandmother could no longer take care of her after moving into housing for the elderly last year. Meadows now lives with a foster family.

“I felt like dropping out, but, honestly, I don’t want to end up like my mother,” said Meadows, who wants to study forensics in college. “If I had somewhere to go home to and eat and shower and rest my head, I would be like, ‘Ok, now I could finish school.’ “

I encourage you to read the entire article. I’m not going to go into it in any more depth except to say that research has shown that there is a greater need for this type of support than was imagined. I believe society has a moral obligation to support these kids so they can be the best they can be. Maybe you don’t agree with me on this. That’s OK. Maybe you don’t think your taxes should pay for providing homes for homeless student. Maybe you think you’re already paying too much tax. But, let’s look at it another way, one that may help change your mind when you think about it. Providing housing and support for homeless students is an excellent monetary investment for society. Students who want to continue school who get this housing support will graduate and most likely be able to get better jobs, earn more money and pay more taxes than students who drop out of school because they have no home to give them stability. So if we just look at this issue from a dollars and cents perspective, we can see that for a relatively small monetary investment now, society will gain a huge monetary benefit later.

You know, sometimes because of the vicissitudes of life we need help. We’re looking for help in terms of a hands-up and are not asking or expecting help in the form of continuous hands – out. We are not looking to sponge off society; we just looking for a boost to get us through a bumpy time. I think for homeless students who want to continue school, this is a case of needing help in the form of a hands-up, not a hands-out and as such deserves societies support- at least that’s the way I see it.

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