I’ve been teaching high school students almost thirty years and still love teaching. I’ve chosen to teach high school students who are at-risk academically for most of my career because I felt I could make the most difference teaching academically at-risk students. When my students ask me from time to time, why I teach high school instead of university, I always tell them I teach high school because I love teaching teenagers. So what happened? Why did I crash and burn that Tuesday after school?

Why did I crash and burn? I think the following contributed to my burnout:

• students’ disruptive behaviour in class;
• students’ verbal abuse and threats of cyberbullying;
• students’ considerable, constant emotional demands;
• students’ special  needs and the expectation  to differentiate teaching and assessing and evaluating students’ work;
• heterogeneity in abilities of my students;
• conflicting demands made by my students, parents, and administration;
• ever increasing  paper work, reports, and report card comments ;
• new discipline policy for students regarding lates, incomplete or unsubmitted assignments that some students think the new policies absolve  them of the responsibility they have for their own learning.

Now, of course I know I also contributed to my burnout.  I’m just a teeny weeny bit type A personality.  I worked hard to do my best and  try to motivate my students to do their best, but despite my best efforts I couldn’t motivate many of my students to take more responsibility for their own learning. In desperation, I tried to ignore these troublesome, troubles and troubling students, but I couldn’t.  I felt it my job to get them to do their best, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I ignored them. When I called home for support,  many of the parents were not surprised by their  kid’s behaviours and tried to be supportive but most said they didn’t know what to do. Sometimes when I called parents, some parents  didn’t return  any of my phone calls. I learned to call cellphones and not leave a message at home because the kids would just erase my message  before their parents got a chance to hear the message.

Anthony (not his real name) , one of my students,  skipped almost a third of my classes, repeatedly came late to class, and didn’t submit most of his work.  When I talked to Anthony about all this, he asked  “What is your problem?”. My problem I thought?

Another one of my students, Darren (not his real name) told me repeatedly he hated my classes and that I wasn’t any fun. I was giving the class too much work. I should be more like his teacher last year and let the class  watch movies on Fridays- in a math class?

Tom (not his real name) another student in my class had a hair trigger temper and would throw things around class.  Students were afraid of him; I was afraid of him. You just never knew what would set him off. He asked me one day as he came into  the classroom, what I would do if he refused to go to the office when I asked him to go to the office.   I told him I wasn’t even going to consider that question because I didn’t expect to have ask him to go  to the office.  I really try hard to start each day with a fresh slate. So, what happened yesterday does not affect today. I don’t usually send students to the office.  I try to deal with any issues myself in class. But on rare occasions, I feel I have to send students to the office. Later in class that day, Tom  chose to behave inappropriately, and  I asked him to go to the office. He refused. Two behaviour support teaching assistants came to escort him to the office , he wouldn’t go either. He refused despite everything. Then five minutes before class was over, he announced, “Now I am going”.  The learning environment was totally destroyed in that class and in future classes.   Students were either waiting to see what Tom was going to do and couldn’t focus on their  work, or after an incident  they were afraid and couldn’t focus on their work  or  they talked about the incident after it happened and couldn’t focus on school work.  I admit, I had a difficult time myself focusing.

Another student, I’ll call her Jenny, would skip classes, come late to class or sneak out of class when I was helping another student. One day I noticed Jenny was out of class and went into the hall to see if she was there.  I saw her and told her to come back to class.  Jenny just laughed and ran down the hall laughing more loudly as she opened the door and ran down stairs. I called home and left a message on her parent’s cell phone , but never heard back from the parent.

Other students have come to class high on some substance or another and have destroyed the learning environment as I dealt with the situation.

These are just some of the things that happened this semester in class. I don’t want to discuss any more hings that happened in class  because I find it too upsetting.

I’m just thinking  how much teaching has changed over the  years. I’m surprised I still like teaching, but right now I can’t even think about teaching.  That’s so sad.  I’ve been teaching for so many years and have loved it.  I’m a life long learner myself and keep on top of things by doing my own research on how to improve my teaching practice. I’ve had students who were at-risk academically and have graduated from high school come back and tell me how much  I  helped them while they were in school. I’ve even had students who didn’t graduate from high school tell me how much they appreciated what I tried to do for them.  And, now all I can do is cry when I think about it all.

I can’t believe after all these years of loving to teach I’ve crashed and burned and can’t do it anymore originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on December 8, 2011.

Just today I got an email from Kevin Phang who is a media associate at on-line schools. He thought I might be interested in sharing the info graphic about cyberbullying with my readers. The info graphic was created using data gathered by Professor Andy Phippen of the University of Plymouth.  I’ve shared it below. Thanks Kevin.

What do you think administrators need to do to protect teachers from cyberbullying?

Courtesy of: OnlineSchools.com

Teachers are victims of cyberbullying originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on September 21, 2011.

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, school starts in a little more than two weeks and just like so many other teachers I’m starting to think (reluctantly ) about preparing for the new school year. Usually I go into school the week before school starts and ready the classroom, organize the supplies I’ll need and photocopy the handouts for the first few days. I’m going to do that but this year I’m also making a conscious effort to protect myself from teacher cyberbullying. I’ve seen and heard all kinds of horror stories about teacher cyberbullying. You probably have too.

Teacher cyberbullying is the deliberate use of information and communication technologies by students, parents, teachers, administrators etc. with the intention of insulting a teacher or teachers, harming reputations, spreading hate or discrimination based on race, colour, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, or disability.

How am I going to protect myself from cyberbullying? I’m going to know the law, the code of professional ethics, my school board’s policies, and I’m going to follow them.

I know that teacher cyberbullying is against the law and can have serious consequences for the bully.

Much of my class takes place in cyberspace. I use information and communication technologies as teaching tools for myself and learning tools for my students. I don’t want my students to misuse these tools and demonstrate a lack of respect for anyone, me included. The new technology is really cool but it is a double edged sword. The cameras in cell phones for example can be  used to complete assignments or it can be used for teacher cyberbullying.

Last semester I overheard students  laughing and reminiscing about how a couple of grades ago they’ve deliberately provoked their teacher Mr. Johnston (not his real name)  and then filmed Mr. Johnstones’ reaction. Students know how to push teachers buttons, and since teachers are only human  just like everyone else, they can  loose it at times.  The students shared the video with other students and poor Mr. Johnston was not even aware of it, but here it is two years later and the students are still laughing about provoking Mr. Johnston and filming his reaction, the reaction they were hoping to get. Sometimes these videos end up on YouTube .  There’s even a term for that kind of bullying: you’ve been YouTubed.

Last year, cell phones were banned in school.  This year,  allowing cell phones in the classroom is at the discretion of the teacher.   I’m of mixed minds.  I’m going to  discuss a cell phone policy in my class with my students .  The discussion will be centred around respect for the learning environment and respect for people in the class, including me. Have you had a discussion like this. I’d love to hear how it wen,t and what the outcome was.

Cameras in cell phones are a concern but so are emails. I correspond with parents and students by email. I don’t want to say something in an email in a mindless moment that could cause me grief down the road. I don’t want to be inappropriate even if it is unintentional. So I intend to always

• maintain exemplary professional standards whenever I send a work related email to anyone,
• use a professional voice when communicating with anyone,
• keep a copy of all my emails,
• use a signature that includes my name, my work assignment, and my school,

I will not

• share any passwords with students or colleagues,
• leave my computer on when I’m not at it,
• use my home computer to send any work related emails to parents or students,
• use any cyberspeak ( lol, u, btw),
• post criticism of students, parents, colleagues, administrators,
• allow pictures to be taken and posted without knowing that appropriate safeguards are in place.

I realize despite my best efforts I could still be a victim of teacher cyberbullying.  The thought of it makes me shudder. Sometimes there’s not much I can do about it because teacher cyberbullying has moved out of the classroom and school environment.  Students can use a site called Rate Your Teacher to say vicious things anonymously about teachers.  Teachers don’t even know who is bullying them.  Kids are protected by their anonymity. I’ve talked  with  teachers who were victims of teacher cyberbullying on Rate Your Teacher.  Believe me, they were extremely upset and stressed about the situation because Rate Your Teacher wasn’t willing to remove the comments.  I’m told that sometimes Rate Your Teacher does remove the comments, but I personally don’t know of this happening.

What can I do if I’m a victim of teacher cyberbullying?  I can defend myself  by

• making copies of all messages/web postings or other related data including the URL,
• telling the sender to stop the behaviour and tell the sender such conduct is inappropriate and unacceptable,
• not  discussing the situation beyond tell the sender to stop becasue the conduct is inappropriate and unacceptable,
• seeking  support from my employer and local teachers’ federation,
• advising  My Occupational Health and Safety Committee if my safety is threatened,
• get in touch with my federation if things aren’t resolved effectively or if I need more information

It seems that a teacher’s life is getting more and more complicated.  It’s not just about the 3 “R’s” anymore.

Do you have any things to share about teacher cyberbullying?  I’d love to hear how you plan to protect yourself or deal with it if you are a victim.  Have you been a victim of cyberbullying?

Resource:

Cybersafety- important information for OSSTF/FEESO members

I’m going to start the new school year by protecting myself from teacher cyberbullying. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on August 21, 2011.

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Sometimes we can get the wrong idea about what it takes to successfully teach kids who are academically at-risk.  You don’t have to be a superhero like Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers. You just have to be “good enough”. I’ll explain what I mean by “good enough” in a minute.

For those of you who have seen the movie Freedom Writers, you’ll know what I mean when I say Erin, the teacher in the movie, is a superhero.   For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I’ve embedded a trailer here so you can have a better idea of what I’m talking about.

I mean no disrespect to Erin Gruwell, the teacher Freedom Writers is based on. What she did with her students was truly extraordinary. I’m in awe of her. But I think because she’s a superhero, teachers who watch the movie might get the mistaken notion you have to have super-teacher powers to teach students who are academically at-risk. You don’t. You don’t have to be a super-teacher. You only have to be “good enough”.

When I say teachers of students who are academically at-risk don’t have to be superheros they only have to be “good enough”, I don’t mean they can be mediocre. Far from it.  Let me explain what  I  mean by “good enough” teachers.  ”Good enough” teachers

• • have good  emotional intelligence
  • establish inviting student centered classrooms;
  • have excellent listening skills;
  • willingly treat their students with respect and demand the same from their students ;
  • have expertise in the teaching subject;
  • can differentiate teaching, assessment and evaluation strategies to suit students;
  • help students be successful using the students’ strengths;
  • are firm but fair;
  • are creative;
  • are life-long learners;
  • are flexible;
  • are skilled at teaching and assessment;
  • realize and accept they’re not perfect;
  • realize tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to get it right.

 

“Good enough” teachers realize it’s not their job to “fix” students who are academically at-risk; it’s their  job to help students realize better choices will lead to better outcomes and help them develop their critical thinking skills so they can make better choices.

Erin Gruwell did all this and more. She is a superhero who teaches, but we can be just “good enough” and still be successful at teaching students who are academically at-risk. We don’t need to be superheros ; we can just be humans who teach. I want teachers to realize that.

If you’ve been teaching academically at-risk students, what do you think it takes. How would you define “good enough”?

You don’t have to be a superhero to teach kids who are academically at-risk originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on July 8, 2011.

Ages ago, I learned about Glasser’s Behaviour Choice theory.  The idea is that students act certain ways to try to meet certain basic needs.  Sometimes these students try to meet their needs by inappropriate behaviour. These needs are are

• Survival- the need for for, shelter, clothing
• Power- the need to feel important
• Love/Belonging- the need to feel accepted and loved by others
• Freedom- the need to choose what we want to do with our lives
• Fun- the need to find enjoyment in life by learning and playing

For example, a child might try to meet his need to feel important by getting undue attention.  When my students are off task and go to other sites online and turn up the volume so that everyone crowds around them, they’re getting undue attention from other students and from me.  They might be thinking they’re only important when they  keeping me busy and keep getting the attention of other students.   That scenario seems to fit a couple of kids in my class.

Students could try to meet their need for power by going off task repeatedly and promising me when I try to redirect them that they will stop going off task and stay focussed but don’t, and I have to continually refocus them.  They may think that they only belongs if  they can be boss and prove I can’t make them do anything. I see that explaining some of the behaviour I see in my class.

Some of my students have profound learning disabilities that makes school difficult for them, and they don’t do as well as some of the other students.  They often feel stupid even though they have average or above intelligence. Since they have difficulty learning or demonstrating their learning,  learning isn’t much fun and they meet their need for fun by amusing  themselves by going to other sites like YouTube which they find entertaining.  When I ask my students why they go to other sites, they  tell me the other sites are fun. I can see why they think that  that because these fun alternative sites don’t expect anything from them like the sites I assign that support the curriculum. For at least one student,  learning how to take tests or write a strong paragraph can’t compete with  the fun of listening to various body sounds (farting sounds)  on www.soundboard.com. No, I’m not kidding.  A student, a grade 9 student, went  to that site and played back farting sounds to amuse himself while while other kids worked quietly on task- quietly, that is, until they heard the farting sounds.

Students could meet their need to chose what they want to do with their lives by refusing to do the assignments in class because they don’t want to be in a special education class. They want the freedom to choose what to do, and they don’t have it. They don’t want to be in my class so they choose not to do the work.  I’ve  heard students tell their friends my class is another English class even though it isn’t.  Students will even ask to keep the door shut because they don’t want their friends to see them in the learning strategies class because it’s a special education class.

When I think about some of the behaviour  goíng on in my class ín light of  Glasser’s theory, the behaviour makes sense to me. I now understand why some of my students act the way they do when they are completing assignments online.

Since I use computers  in my class, students are not sitting in the usual classroom configurations of rows or  tables.  They’re  sitting at computers facing the outside walls of the classroom. They don’t have the opportunity to  interact with me or their classmates in the same way as before I had computers in the classroom, so they have to figure out how to meet their emotional needs in the new context of a classroom with computers.  Students are trying to meet their needs in this new context  in inappropriate ways and this leads to a less than a positive learning environment.  The challenge for me is to help students  meet their needs in positive ways using appropriate behaviour in this new context. .

Any ideas?

photo thanks to sanjoselibrary

New classroom management issues arise when students who use computers in the classroom try to meet basic emotional needs through inappropriate behaviour. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on June 5, 2011.

It’s getting near the end of the semester, and I feel as if I’m being buried in paper work. There seems to be an endless flow of emails to read and answer, forms to fill out, and reports to be written. I find it very stressful trying to keep on top of all the administrivia when I’m trying to cover course content before the end of the year and trying to prepare my students for exams.

You know how sometimes you can forget to do things that can be really helpful. Well, I forgot about the one minute rule.   The one minute rule is  an excellent strategy to help reduce the stress of dealing with much of the paper work I have to do that is trivial but deemed essential.  Of course, I have to remember to use the one minute rule.

What is the one minute rule?  It’s a strategy that encourages me to complete any administrative task that I can complete in a minute. Often, a minute is all  it takes to read an email and send a reply or complete a form and return it to administration or guidance.  The one minute rule  helps prevent small tasks from piling up and becoming  giant chores. I have to thank Gretchen Ruben for making me aware of the one minute rule.

The one minute rule is an antidote to stress and resentment. It helps me change the way I look at the demands on my time and energy. When faced with yet another administrative  task <sigh>, I tell  myself  it’ll only take a minute to complete the task  and  because a minute  isn’t a very big commitment  it’s no big deal.  I can relax. I don’t dwell on the fact that those minutes can add up.  That would be counter productive. Positive self talk is  important in helping reduce stress.

I think I’ll put a post-it note on my desk tomorrow  to remind me about the one minute rule.

photo thanks to  Morton Fox

Managing stress and staying on top of administrivia by using the one minute rule originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 25, 2011.

Walking is my favourite way to relax, but I also like doing jigsaw puzzles to relax. I just get lost in the puzzle and forget everything.

I invite you to relax too for a few minutes too by completing the mini daffodil jig saw puzzle below.

There that’s better. Now back to work.

What do you do to relax on a rainy day when things get a bit much?

Relaxing for a few minutes when things gets to be a bit much originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 18, 2011.

I believe parents and teachers need to work together to support students so they can do their best and achieve their potential. As a special education behaviour specialist, I support students who are troubled, troubling and troublesome. Sometimes parents will ask me for parenting advice because they don’t know what to do with their out-of-control children. I’m reluctant to give parenting advice.  My training as a behaviour specialist has been how to help students control their behaviour at school, not at home.

In the past when parents have asked me for parenting advice, I’ve  usually suggested  they seek help  from a therapist for parenting their out-of-control kids. Often, though,  parents were reluctant to go that route and didn’t seek help.  I’m not sure why. I know that some parents, especially sole parent families can’t afford the therapy. Therapy can be very expensive and some families just don’t have the money for therapy.  Some parents asking for parenting advice have told me  they have gone the therapist route but have found it didn’t really help much. I didn’t know what to say to them and always felt frustrated because I believed there must be a way to help parents develop effective parenting skills.  It’s amazing that we get such little training about how to be an effective parent when being a parent is such an important job.

Happily, now when parents ask me for parenting advice I can  recommend a parent training program that’s effective and affordable- Dr. Andrew Gibson’s Parenting Angry Children and Teens (P.A.C.T.) Training Program”.  After speaking with Dr. Gibson, reading his book Got An Angry Kid?, reviewing his program and his newsletter,  I believe that  parents of families who  live in conflict and have kids who have psychiatric labels like

• ADHD,
• oppositional defiance,
• conduct disorder,
• bi-polar disorder.

can learn effective parenting skills. Over 500 families have gone through Dr. Gibson’s program, and the success rate has been high.

I’ve never been excited enough about a parent training program to endorse it, but I’m excited about the P.A.C.T.  parent training program. What Dr. Gibson says makes so much sense to me as a behaviour specialist, special education teacher and parent.  Dr. Gibson has agreed to offer my readers a special free one month trial membership, a month free trial membership in Spike Club as well as  his book  ” Got An Angry Kid? Parenting Spike: A Seriously Difficult Child”. You only need to pay a $7.95  shipping and handling fee for his  book.

You can see and hear  Dr. Gibson tell you about his program in more detail, and the 8  benefits you will get from the program. I’m know you’ll be as impressed as I am about the level of support his program gives parents.  If you know anyone who might find the  the P.A.C.T. program useful, please tell them about it.

Parenting angry children and teens training program originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 9, 2011.

I’ve had  ”teacups”and “crispies” in my classes. If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably had them in your classes too.  Last semester a student told me that his Mom considers a mark of 78% a fail and dreaded taking his mid term report home. A colleague told me a father of one of her students actually made a point of arguing   about the loss of  one- half percent on his child’s  test.  I had a student whose  mom overprotected him by insisting he come home for lunch everyday even though he was in grade 11 and wanted to stay at school with friends.  She would also visit  the school during the day to check and see that he was O.K. His Mom was driving him crazy.

These over anxious moms, it’s mostly moms, don’t limit their over-management to school. They do things like test for radon in the home, provide lists of food their children can’t have when going to visit friends. They carry their kids backpacks, lunch boxes, and class projects to school.  It seems to me  that most kids get driven to school now or drive themselves to school;  hardly any kids seem to walk to school. Walking to school is a great opportunity to get some exercise.  Parents are afraid of predators, fear that kids are having oral sex at  bar mitzvah parties, or that there are only 10 colleges worth going to( Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011). One school even had red washcloths so that if  students got cut, they would be protected from the sight of blood (Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011 ). Oh my goodness!

photo uploaded from Flickr

Some parents are so scared of doing the wrong thing they over-manage their children and make them fragile or push them to the limit so they burnout. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on March 23, 2011.

I’d never thought about it that way before.

How a teaching staff is like a sports team originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 12, 2011.