The Golden Classroom Ratio

I learned about the Golden Ratio last night from some friends–that divine mathematical principle that is behind all forms in nature and truly great art. Symmetries and patterns in the proportion of this 1.618 ratio are called "sacred". Basically, the golden ratio is the structure behind beauty. I think in terms of the classroom, these seemingly tedious strategies are the golden ratio for creating a beautiful learning environment. I always thought freedom and flexibility were the food of artistry, but the older I get, the more I realize that structure is what truly creates a cornucopia of creativity. Structure is a teacher's best friend. These techniques would be best used at the start of the year, but they are still useful now. So, here is the list of techniques that create what I am calling The Golden Classroom Ratio:

#28 ENTRY ROUTINE
#29 DO NOW
#30 TIGHT TRANSITIONS
#31 BINDER CONTROL
#32 SLANT
#33 ON YOUR MARK
#34 SEAT SIGNALS
#35 PROPS

Having a scholarly entry routine is key to moving students quickly and seamlessly into classroom mode. I am not always the best at this. With three different classes in the morning, I'm scrambling to change up the board and arrange my technology (even with my morning prep where I try and make it all as seamless as possible).  But here is what I will do next year: greet kids at the door by shaking their hands and making sure they learn to do this properly and engage with me. Have packets or handouts on a table for them to pick up, or already at their desks.

The DO NOWs are short activities between 3-5 min. that engage kids in the lesson for the day and give them something to focus on immediately. Next year I will teach my 9th graders that being ready and on time means sitting down and working on the DO NOW before the bell rings. Students have an all together different attitude if you don't teach them this. I've been using different reading strategies in the DO NOW's to mix up the vocabulary words I had for most of the year. Doing vocabulary this way was all right, but I think it should be diversified. Creative prompts are fun starters–writing down the time track, or from a different perspective, or with alternate endings for characters, etc...I also see this as a good place to do sentence corrections and grammar warm-ups.

Having TIGHT TRANSITIONS is a way to gain back precious lost minutes that add up to hours over the course of the school year. This strategy needs to happen in the first week of school; it is much much harder to teach students this later, as I should know. The key to TIGHT TRANSITIONS is having a starting and stopping point with the action clearly defined. The best way to enforce these transitions are done correctly is to have them repeat until they get it right. Just keep the framing positive. I found this can work for other classroom behaviors as well. On Friday, I was feeling really frustrated about how little students listen to each other when we are sharing from the DO NOW. I did a round robin around the room, and if anyone spoke out of turn, we started over again. It only took about 3-4 tries on average and they finally were self-monitoring. Definitely something to repeat next year very early on.

BINDER CONTROL. Don't get me started on this one. The only students failing my classes this year have been the product of extreme disorganization. Even with my simple folder & notebook stored in class system, these kids still manage to lose everything and complicate the situation. What this shows me is that I'm on the right track, but I still need to teach this explicitly in the beginning of the year. I will have a binder for class and a folder for homework next year. I'm going to have students separate sections for vocabulary, DO NOWS, and note taking.

SLANT is something I wish our whole school would do. Many kids suck at this, and it puts into concrete actions those intangibles that make a good scholar, a productive classroom, and a school culture of success. SLANT comes from KIPP schools and it is an acronym for: Sit Up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker.  Use this, that's all I have to say.

ON YOUR MARK is being explicit about what to do when class starts. Kids really don't know this if you don't teach them (except for the straight A students). In a nutshell, figure out no more than five unchangeable expectations to start class:

• Paper out
• Desk clear (bags under table)
• Pencil sharp and ready
• Homework in the upper right corner of your desk

Have a time limit of when this needs to be done and a standard consequence for those who don't. Provide tools for those who need things and ask for them before class–I have pencils by the pencil sharpener for them to borrow, for example. Include homework as part of the ON YOUR MARK routine so that students get in a habit of turning it in at the beginning of class. Consequence for not doing homework is staying after school.

SEAT SIGNALS are nonverbal ways of requesting things so as not to distract from learning. We've all had the raised hand right in the middle of instruction that was a totally irrelevant request for bathroom or water. This means teaching when it is okay to request certain freedoms and give students simple signals–two fingers crossed for the bathroom, pencil up if you need a new pencil, pinch nose if you need a tissue, circling finger to get out of seat to pick something up. Sounds militaristic, but it creates structure. I know from how much time I spent this year dealing with these things that it's worth developing these cues.

PROPS means giving props to work well done. Quick, percussive sounds are good. Everybody needs to join, they should be enthusiastic and fun, and students should have a voice in what they want the props to be. Keeps the pace moving and students rewarded for participation. I like snapping fingers and will do more with this next year. Clapping gets out of hand unless you monitor two claps etc...

Kind of dry stuff, but helping take stock of simple improvements that will be a lot of bang for the buck next year. Just organizing myself more as a person right now and seeing how a lot of my frustrations come from the lack of clarity in my classroom structures. Students will always need to be told how to do these things. This is part of being a teenager (especially hard for some teenage boys). So, instead of getting mad, I just need to see this as a big part of my job. A little boring, but structure creates the freedom that creativity needs to flourish. I'm seeing the science behind the art of teaching: the pedagogical golden mean.

Home Stretch

Random reporting from Teach Like a Champion headquarters.  I'm just opening the book at random to finish out the year. In the meantime, I've got myself a writing coach (my 35th birthday present) and am working on young adult fiction, food reviews, the world of womanhood and finding a disciplined writing practice and a more rested mind. The blogging world has ignited a deeper desire to write, write, write. A happy Emily= teacher + writer.  I've decided to stick it out another year in the wacky wake of education. So, in honor of finally embracing my writing life and continued employment, here is #26: EVERYBODY WRITES.

Sometimes we think we are so clever as teachers. We dream up higher level, critical, complex questions and present them to our students. They stare back, eyes glazed over, dumbfounded. Are we speaking Greek? See if you can recognize yourself in this response–slight panicky feeling settles in, glancing around the room you find nothing, no one to help. Not even the top student gets it. Wanting to avoid that not-so-fresh feeling, you proceed to answer the question yourself, and move along. Happy that at least they were quiet. This is cognitively beneficial for only one person in the room, as you may have already guessed.

The antidote to the awkwardness: EVERYBODY WRITES. For me, the Do Now segment that is on the board to start class is an everyone writes activity. Today we were journaling from the point of view of a German solider (reading Night, a nice light end to the year, ha)–an internal monologue, present tense, first person narrative. I knew if I just asked students to verbalize how it would feel to be in the shoes of the oppressors that the responses would not be as rich. This technique is a gold mine for getting discussion to open at a deep level in the room. It also calms down 10th graders who are riled up in the process of getting to class. Other benefits are that you can call on any student to answer (COLD CALL, the maestro of this book coming soon), you can check work over their shoulders, processing happens on a deeper level, you can guide the lesson in the way you want, and they learn more when writing things down (especially their own thoughts and analysis). I know that getting a whole class to write before sharing sounds like a no-brainer, but there are educators out there who do not have their students doing much in the way of writing on a daily basis or any basis.

Many kids hate to write, or say they do. My challenge to myself is to keep finding ways to encourage them that writing is an important, learnable process. When you want to quit or give up, that one or two sentences/paragraphs/pages more is where you will find your best thoughts. When we write, we discover another voice. The writer's voice is often more intellectually astute, engaged and cognizant in the world. I know students, like all people, are moved by the power of words. Trick is to get them to be moved by the power of their own words. Baby steps. Or, when in doubt, reference Tupac. Roses growing from concrete echoes around the globe.

Turning Points

No teaching techniques tonight from the Teach Like a Champion peeps.  I've been unable to pick up the book–a slight feeling of dread emanates from its pages every time I look at it.  Essentially, a good book with good intentions for a system that is falling apart at the seams.  Trying to fix what can be fixed on a microcosmic level–teachers.  But, leaving unchecked the larger systemic issues that put enormous pressure and burden on those teachers.  Public education is an unsustainable endeavor and I'm feeling caught in the web.  I'm wondering how teachers do this for so many years.  How can they find enough satisfaction and reward to compensate for all the trials and tribulations that make up teaching?  Maybe younger students are where it's at.  Teenagers are, in a word, tiresome.  They are wonderful, and they make me weary.  I long for sanity and rhythm and ease.  I want to write, read for my own knowing, give service where it is wanted and accepted.  I've been reading two other books that are bringing wisdom and comfort for this time of searching:

• How to Master Change In Your Life by Mary Carroll Moore
• When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

  

The J-Factor

I've skipped ahead to teach-nique #46, the J-factor, or JOY FACTOR.  Tomorrow is my 35th birthday and I have decided to embrace this principle outside of the classroom by spoiling myself and birthdaying all day long.  Ah, facial and vegan cupcake (they're really really good) here I come.  I'm also setting the intention for this upcoming school year that I be in a place where work is joyful and not a place I want to avoid on my birthday.  Several students told me they had surprises for me tomorrow, so I warned them I wouldn't be there--"What are your favorite flowers?" they asked me (freesia), "What color of balloons do you like?" (all colors).  There is much sweetness if you look for it.

We all like celebrations, songs, games, competitions, nicknames, drama, dance, music, movement, humor, suspense and surprise.  The J-FACTOR is my inspiration for improving my teaching, and my life.  I want to reach for the highest possible place for me to be.  I want to teach the kids who want what I have to offer and the gifts I can give them.  I want to make learning exciting and worth it; I'm open to find new ways to show students that what I can offer will benefit them for their whole lives.  Cheers to the JOY of living & learning.  

More

Total week from hell after Wednesday.  I'm home blasting out to Usher, "More" and pretending I'm an NBA player who can dunk--sliding across the court under a house of lights with Usher busting his groove in the background.  Like some kind of African warrior in a modern day gladiator arena.  Seven feet tall, huge, all adrenaline: "I'm a beast, I'm an animal, The headliner, finisher, I'm the closer, winner, best when under pressure, with seconds left I show up."

I'm about ready to chuck this Teach Like a Champion book out the window, and it's not its fault.  It's like a light bulb has gone on, and I realize the crux of all my management issues with students this year.  Okay, a lack of structure and school wide accountability has been toxic.  But here is the missing element I can control: I am a big softie and that ends up in a scenario with me as doormat, which turns into severe frustration that I generally turn inward onto myself.  As I'm staring the final month+ in the face, this is what I've learned from my students this year in one sentence:  When you are bad, I'm calling your parents.

Okay, and one more thing from my Latina teacher friend, Karla.  In Mexican culture, don't let the kids get a word in edgewise.  Shut down that backtalk immediately.  Forget freedom of expression when it comes to negativity.

I've been trained from my old school that if you called home the parents would beat their kids, not give a damn or act just like their kids, so I always dealt directly with the kid and worked things out.  We had a tight network of support between teachers and administration, and problems rarely escalated.  There was mutual respect and staff members were regarded highly.

Not so at this school.  Gotta call mommy or daddy if their 15 year-olds are talking back, being rude, spazzing out, remaining unfocused, trying their hardest to fail.  I've been busting my butt to improve my planning, hook 'em, engage 'em, let 'em speak and implementing many of these techniques.  I feel I can't really continue until I get a grasp on some things within myself.

This book will only go so far until I get in touch with my inner bitch.  I know it's bad to cuss, and I'm all for an expanded vocabulary usually.  But this word is an important one for me to sort out.  Being a bitch has this ring of terror for me on some level, as a symptom of the peoplepleasingitis disease that I've had most of my life.  The big lie?  Being a bitch is not always a bad thing.  Women who are bitches are powerful.  They are fighting the current of life, not being swallowed in their tears.  They are 5'1" and huge.  They are vocal, screaming: "If you're on the floor, bring out the fire.  And light it up, take it up higher.  Gonna push it to the limit, give it more."  Thanks, Usher.  That's freedom, people.  No wet dish rags.  No more little doll-girl.  No more punching bag for teens.  If you've never been in an inner city school, you'll think I'm crazy.  If you have, yep, you know.

Talk less, facilitate more

Not sure if anyone is really reading this, but here goes.  I am happy to report that as I continue to work with the strategies so far, my students are getting more responsive.  They're getting used to greater accountability and I've been diligent with planning to be more challenging and effective in the classroom.  Some of my strengths are starting to come out from the deep.  A student who had to leave school came to say goodbye to me this past week--a special trip, she said, because I was such a good teacher.  Gotta take it where you get it.

My students were playing Jeopardy today and calling out with the different animal noises from the characters in Animal Farm--spontaneous celebration of literature.  If they were trying to persuade me to give their side more points, I said they were being like Squealer, Orwell's persuasive propaganda pig (we call him the PPP).  Apparently you can insult teens if you do it in the disguise of literary characters.  In this unit, most of my students actually embraced the challenge of reading an antiquated, but important book.  A rarity in today's teen world.

New techniques: BREAK IT DOWN #16 is something I have more of a natural ability for already.  This is giving cues, providing context, rules, missing first steps or eliminating false choices so students can get at a right answer or understanding when they are struggling to master something.  Maybe not perfect, but I got this one, yo, you feel me?

The other technique, RATIO #17 deals with the students doing the cognitive work rather than the teacher.  Finally my shy, lack of spotlight, facilitator nature gets to shine.  Having students be involved throughout the whole lesson is invigorating for me as teacher and definitely for students, many of whom are sadly unaccustomed to speaking during class.  I know my students are happy to be able to participate--it's getting to the point where hands are excitedly raised to answer questions, share their writing, show their skills.  And these aren't the nerds.  These are the so-called problem kids.

Here are suggestions from the Teach Like a Champion guru, Doug Lemov, on how to do RATIO:  unbundle questions into smaller parts so students can answer, make half-statements that they can finish, ask what's next, feign ignorance so they are the "experts", ask for repeated examples of similar topics going deeper into the idea, rephrase or add on to other answers, ask why or how, ask for supporting evidence, and allow for a host of responses before you add comments as a teacher.  Lemov suggests a volleyball game, not soccer.  Sports metaphors are really good for getting boys to understand things!  So cheers to a home run.

P.S. It's teacher appreciation week.  My apple-gift only lasted to sixth period before a hungry student asked for it.

 

Falling Behind is Fun

Slacking off on blogging, living life a little more.  Surprise visit from friends, time with hubbie-lovey, bowling and photo booth pictures this weekend, so I've been catching up on work. Sometimes the little things are the big joys in life.

Here is what is going on in teaching world:  Emily has hit a wall.  Let's hope it's a wall of sound.  My motivation is tanking.  This is what happens when you attempt to do projects like this at the winding down, end-of-year instead of the beginning when all is fresh and your students are not used to your ways.  But, I'm looking at it as a chance to practice and iron out some kinks before next year. I wish my school would do the same and everyone would just take a collective breath and relax a bit.  Wow, can adults be serious.

We're going to have to come back to #13, because it's a bigger one to digest.

Here are the easier techniques to catch us up...

#14:  BOARD=PAPER
Teach kids how to take notes.  Teach them that what goes on the board is what they should write in their notebooks.  It sounds simple, but if you've ever looked at what some kids do to a power point presentation, it's an exercise in minimalism.  They need to be shown explicitly HOW to become students.

#15:  CIRCULATE
Get on your feet teachers.  Get up and make it happen.  No more lazy-bones behind the desks.  I walk my rectangle back and forth daily, like an animal in a cage.  I really want a bigger room, can't you tell?  Why does the caged bird sing?  Because it wants the hell out!  Here are some useful tips for circulating the room.  This means owning the space and having access to every kid, fully, without tripping over backpacks or having to apologize as you step on their toes.  It means breaking the plane from the front of the room to the back within the first five minutes of every class.  This helps!  It really does.  It shakes the habit of hugging the board.  It's claiming territory, like a cat marking turf.  Only less smelly and offensive.  Just walk.  As you work the room, engage with kids, get them to sit up, check work, and reinforce what is good.  Move systematically and unpredictably so that kids don't necessarily know what you are going to do.  Position yourself for power so you can face most of the class most of the time.

All these things are wonderful, but not possible in my school.  I am working on modified versions of the above--that's the best I can do, folks.  It's like reading an abridged version of the book, this teaching in my teeny classroom.

Okay, so if you are still tuned in, here is #13:  NAME THE STEPS
Real mastery, as Kurt Vonnegut said, is being able to teach anything to an eight-year old.  Breaking down instruction into identifiable steps (under seven), making them easy to remember, and then applying the steps to problems is key to supporting student learning is important, important!  This teachnique (my new word for this book) has got me thinking about questions like:  How do you answer a question in literature satisfactorily?  How do you spot a key event in a story?  I am thinking about the thinking process and breaking it down into something I can teach students.  I don't recall having many teachers in my lifetime after Montessori school who would do this.  I'm the student now, and enjoying it.  Contrary to what everyone seems to think, those who can do cannot necessarily teach.  Mastery teaching is a skill set akin to that of a Top Chef Master.  So, dig that, a la flambé.

Being a Champion

Talking to my husband yesterday, he pointed out that it is kind of ridiculous how much I am underselling my abilities as a teacher in this blog.  Both of us tend to do this to ourselves, as we set our sights on mastery.  A noble goal, but there also needs to be a celebration of successes achieved along the way. 

So, I've been reflecting on what it means to be a champion and how that differs from trying to obtain perfection.  Here are my thoughts this morning: being a champion teacher for me would feel like my authentic self was present and expressed in my work; it would also mean that I would be an effective and inspiring teacher for the majority of my students the majority of the time. 

Champions are not pussy footing around.  They are training to go all the way, and this requires much sacrifice of ego, self-discipline and dogged determination.  Champions have to train body, mind and spirit (on this note, I am seeing my health challenges of late as a wake up call to take better care of myself).  All of these elements work in harmony with that extra ingredient that seems to come from some higher place--a flow, a connection, the za za zoom.  There is something about a champion that is akin to star power.  Hard to say what the "it" of that presence is exactly, but it can be tangibly felt.  

True star power, contrary to what many may think, is not egotistical.  In my world, it reminds me of what my spiritual teacher, Sri Harold Klemp writes as a method of building self-confidence...putting the full force of who you are spiritually behind your replies, thoughts and deeds.  That presence can light up a room, and it uplifts everyone around.  Watching a play with Annette Bening at the Geffen Playhouse this winter, I saw just that.  The second she entered the stage the "it" emanated from her.  It made everyone around her greater.

Pour moi, the techniques in this teaching book are like the ingredients in a recipe (I really do just want to blog about food, food glorious food).  The quality of spiritual force or champion energy that goes into teaching with these techniques is like the quality of the raw food ingredients.  Then, of course, the intention, skill and gift of the chef is what makes the true transformation happen.  Bolstering skills and practicing them time and again are key to becoming a better teacher.  A final secret for all truly good cooking is to sprinkle with love.  So this is the one technique that I would add to Teach Like a Champion and to any "how to" book: GIVE LOVE.  Serve warmly and enjoy.

Hook 'Em

#12 The Hook

Start lessons that need to excite your students into learning with these categories of hooks:
~quick stories
~useful analogy
~props
~media (picture, music, short video)
~status (give props to the chops of whomever you are studying)
~challenge

Hooks are supposed to be short, able to yield quickly to the lesson at hand, and energetic and optimistic.  Hooking students into learning is something that I need help with!  Often I just lack the dramatic presentation skills and am going to be more aware of this from now on.  I'm also debating on taking Improvisational Comedy lessons out here in Lala land.  It's definitely the place for it.  Searching for props tonight for Animal Farm.

Double Plan & Draw the Map

Cold sore almost invisible, actual onset of cold present.  Part of a new environment is exposure to new germs.  I've been sick way too much this year.  Time to clean up my stress level and my food act (no more coffee, too much acid, waaah).

Technique #10 is about visualizing how you, the teacher, are going to be in the room, and not only what your role in the lesson will be, but what the students should be doing while you are busy being teacher.  Seeing through students' eyes.  Double planning is planning for both parties.  This one is more obvious.

As an empathic person, I am pretty used to thinking about things from other people's perspectives.  Finally, a cookie for Emily.  However, I still need to have help in hooking students and pacing.  Even though I can sense what is going be a problem spot, I'm still working on finding ways around the potholes.

#11 Drawing the Map is about creating a classroom that functions on a physical level.  The layout needs to maximize on task student work and be structured for learning, not just socializing.  In my little rectangle of a room, I've come as close as I can to the book's model.  The model, you ask?  Yes, it's rows.  Good old fashioned rows of tables or doubled up desks.  Three wide and five deep with big aisle ways.  Not glamorous, but highly functional.

A lot of classroom management depends on a teacher's ability to work the room and access all students.  You should come see how limited my space is at my school--I've lost the battle before it's even begun.  Tripping over backpacks and having to butt check students to get access to the inner seats is not ideal.  Our building was designed for Salvation Army wayward pregnant teens, and I think my room was a dormitory room.  It seems perfect for bunk beds, not a classroom.  Note to self and administration: new room next year.  Let's hope.

Shortest Path

#9: Shortest Path quotes the principle of Occam's razor: "All other things being equal, the simplest explanation or strategy is the best" (64).

Direct routes, less clever, less cutting edge, less artfully constructed IF it will yield a better result.  Hmm, sounds boring, but effective.  Like an assembly line.  Here is where I fundamentally wonder about how I view education as a Montessori-reared kid vs. the demands of urban schools where poor kids are failing.  The shortest path seems contradictory to integrated, deep learning, but maybe it doesn't have to be.  Part of me does really value the clever, artfully constructed, cutting edge lesson plan.  What to do now?

I don't think I can always ascertain what the shortest path to meeting a learning/teaching objective will be, especially when student interest, motivation, and a change in pacing/tone has to be accounted for.  Need some examples to show what this would look like to really understand what they are driving at here.

The Two in One Blog

Technique #7 & 8: 4Ms and POST IT 

I've spent more time reading and revamping curriculum these past few days, less time blogging.  The next series of techniques have to do with planning.  Finding ways to create manageable, measurable, objectives that are getting students prepared for the path to college.  Then posting them in the room for all to see (administrators, peers, students), in plain English.

This seems like common sense, but if you take a look at the California Language Arts Standards, it's not always easy to figure out how to make these objectives manageable or measurable.  But, lo and behold, along will come state testing to make sure that these deeper level skills somehow boil down to multiple guessing testing.  Am I a little disgruntled about upcoming tests in May?  Nah.

What I appreciate about these two techniques is that they call for teacher accountability, and if I really am getting clear on what I want my students to understand, it frames the question better than, "What should we do today?"  Trying to find the harmony between engaging students and challenging them.  

 

Here's a quote for the day, courtesy of Henry David Thoreau:  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." 

With that said, I'm going to go rock out to Glee and watch Rachel kick some ass.

Begin with the End

Another day, another dollar.  Back at work on an overcast Monday (an anomaly in LA).  Nursing this cold sore which led to an interesting discussion with my students who thought that :
1) I got in a fight.
2) I had a sexually transmitted disease.

Gotta love teenagers.  I finally started every class with, "Yes, this is a cold sore on my lip and you get them from stress.  This is only the second I've had in my life, so be nice today."  Better than the alternative: "What's wrong with your face, Miss?"

The next few techniques of Teach Like a Champion are about restructuring lesson planning.  I am an organized, but not structured person is what I've been realizing.  And, an important part of creativity is understanding structure, so I have more to chew on.

I plan out activities and try to mix the methods to reach learning styles, with goals in mind from the State Standards, but I am not creating enough of an infrastructure in my teaching such that each lesson builds on the next moving toward mastery. Trying now to find the objective first, activity second.  Does this sound like life?

Moral of the day: It's never too late to start again.  Just going to act as if I know what the end will be.

No Apology

So, I have a cold sore in the corner of my lip (it's crusty, rustic red, and only the second of my life–hello, stress?), and the more I read this book, the more I feel like a total loser.  The title of technique #5 is to teach with No Apology.  This is not an apology, just a judgment.  I am judging myself, judging myself, and feeling like a crappy teacher in a crappy state in a crazy school with chaos all around.  That's the honest truth.  By the way, if only my family are reading this, I might as well tell them how I really feel.

I started this blog because I was watching Julie & Julia on the same day that Teach Like a Champion arrived.  If I wanted to have more fun, I'd quote Julia Child and start cooking cannelloni and lobster.  At least there would be some good swag from readers and some fattening foods to cheer me up at the end of the day.  By the way, when I figure it out, I've decided to add a Paypal account to my blog, on my sister's suggestion, because she owes my parents an undisclosed amount of money.  Stay tuned...

Format Matters

Kids speak in fragmented sentences all day long. Trying to coach them into whole sentences takes work, lots of work. Some were getting the hang of it, and remembering for later turns. Overall, the quality of speaking is going up.

FORMAT MATTERS means setting an expectation for students to speak in complete sentences using correct syntax at an audible level. Sounds easy, not so much. Especially when they are unaccustomed to this level of accountability.

Here's my biggest issue--my 9th and 10th graders talk over each other like crazy. Interrupting is normal, cutting off even better. Steal the floor, steal the show. How do you create a discussion that flows? It's either too stilted when I try to wrangle them in, or breaks down into chaos when I don't. Only my Honors class seems to get the hang of this, most of the time. I'm hoping this will get smoother with more practice. In many schools, the classes that seem the calmest are often the ones where the teacher just dominates. I'm not a big fan of this, but know that participation needs to be more orderly and meaningful than I have it structured.

If you look at the videos for Uncommon Schools (the schools that inspired Teach Like a Champion), those teachers have their elementary kids whipped into shape with the classroom expectations. Their high school classes had only seven students. How does that work with bigger classes funneled into a small room? My room is a disaster for instruction. I have little access to students and we are all cramped into a small space. Questions, questions. If only I had a mentor to answer them.

Warning Label

This book should come with a warning label that reads: Do not attempt to utilize all these techniques too quickly or you may experience severe indigestion, disrupted sleep, frazzled nerves, and an overall sense of exhaustion. I'm stretching myself as much as I am using STRETCH IT to get my students to talk more.

I've been doing an overhaul and reading ahead while doing these daily techniques and trying to change too much too fast! I just read an addendum chapter on Reading (reading on reading, yes this is a teacher's life) last night and am integrating these ideas as we start Animal Farm. I am still pretty shocked by how my students struggle with reading aloud. Supposedly the gap in vocabulary between kids of privilege and kids of poverty is 10,000 words, and I believe it. This is the one area that I feel I have some strength; we read a lot in my classroom. If they did nothing else in school ever again, continuing to read would be vital.

Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough, I have long realized that my planning is most definitely not organized enough. I have spatial relationship challenges, and mapping the year makes me feel lost in the desert with goat heads in my feet.

I'm like a first year teacher all over again. New school, new city, new grade levels, new books, new tests, new everything. It reminds me of my brother, a professional trumpet player who recently discovered that his embouchure was wrong. This was after almost 18 years of playing and performing this way. He had to start all over again, to learn it right. That's mastery. I'm taking his dedication as my inspiration. STRETCHING IT. Let's hope I don't injure myself.

I like the word implement

Apparently implement is one of my favorite words, glancing over these blogs.

With a few brave followers, I'm going to try to get spunkier with my writing and kill the closet academic. Here's a preview of techniques #3 and #4 to be "implemented" the rest of the week:

#3 STRETCH IT: Rewarding right answers with follow up questions so students get to be even bigger smarty pants and look cool in front of their peers (I don't care what anyone says, even "kids today" respect intelligence and a well spoken person).

#4 FORMAT MATTERS: All ye non English teachers take note--kids need to speak in complete, grammatically correct sentences all day long! Hoorah! Oh, and by the way, if we and/or the class can't hear our students, apparently this matters, gee whiz. A simple, one-word way to get 'em to speak up--use the word VOICE (while motioning to your ear if desperate) instead of taking a survey of the class and delivering a long monologue on the importance of being heard. Hmm....can't hardly wait.

Day Off

It's parent conferences today, and some genius planning landed this in the middle of the week; I'm easing into the Los Angeles morning--sunny (of course) and birds busy composing lyrics in our bugambilia bushes.

Reporting from yesterday and technique 2: RIGHT IS RIGHT

Setting a high standard of correctness in the classroom

While I am busy having pedagogical epiphanies with these simple but structurally profound techniques, some of my students are getting down right annoyed. Apparently accountability is boring and tedious to a select few 15 year olds. I think many many students are used to giving fragmented, surface level answers because teachers are so good at finishing and extrapolating to make their answers fully correct. I've definitely been guilty of this, and in lunchtime conversations with other teachers, most of us have been there. Big realization that I have often settled for ho-hum answers rather than pressing students to be fully right.

It's powerful to see how many more voices are heard by using NO OPT OUT in tandem with RIGHT IS RIGHT. I hear from pretty darn close to every student every day and can really see who knows and who doesn't. We are getting at more specific, complex answers as a class that use vocabulary and larger understandings. I can see light bulbs turning on in most kids, and listening behind the occasional complaining I hear a hunger for real understanding. Maybe learning will be its own reward (dare I dream?).

Day One

Coming home on the plane from an Eckankar seminar in Minneapolis last night, I digested the end of Catcher in the Rye and the first two chapters and 11 techniques of Teach Like a Champion. The guys over the aisle were digesting Bacardi at a rate equal to my reading and getting pretty spunky--made for an interesting trip home.

This book has made me reflect deeply on my teaching practices (and lack thereof), and while it is discouraging to see how futile much of my training was and how high the mountain looks in front of me, I am also encouraged to finally have concrete techniques to incorporate and more importantly, feel like I am shifting into a paradigm of measurability as an educator. The goal is to be able to measure my effectiveness as a teacher in practical ways by the end of this whole venture. I am finding respite from that inner critic already because my mind has something to noodle on instead of beating myself up for all the ways I feel I am failing as a teacher.

So here goes the first key idea: NO OPT OUT

This one is simple, but it is amazing how many teachers let kids slide so as to avoid making students uncomfortable. I've had students ask for a "pass" frequently when it comes to reading, sharing or answering questions, which is really code for skipping them never to return again. I have gone both ways in the past with this idea of letting students not answer, not sure which was honoring their needs the most. I can see, however, how the ability to opt out of answering is a way many kids cover their learning issues and try to just get by. NO OPT OUT means honoring the need to learn first.

I'm not going to lie to you: parts of this chapter were addressed in a New York Times Magazine article, so I've implemented this idea for a few days before spring break in addition to today.

When first implementing the technique, students were eager to help each other out--whispering answers or trying to take the skip me route. They quickly found out how tedious and annoying it was to have to answer the question again after another student gave the right answer. Busted. On the other hand, students who genuinely didn't know had their voice heard, and got to correct their understanding and even add on if they wanted. Some of the more shy kids are also the ones who don't become good speakers, and disengage. Losing that ability to opt out of participating helped me see how my students were gaining accountability and knowledge. I felt a little mean at first, but adapted my tone to still remain encouraging. Technique one, success! FYI--No, these people are not paying me, but I'm open to the possibility, ha.

Twice in One Day

Well, it's quite fitting that I decided to write a blog on the same day that the book was delivered. Friendly Silver Lake mail delivery man just knocked on our door (screen/bar barricade-this is the big city) and handed over one amazon order. Book in hand, I will commence reading, and as of next Monday, I will attempt to implement one of these techniques a day for the rest of the school year. Wish me luck, my longevity as a teacher may depend on it.