The Paradox of the Early Days: Building Trust and Respect

image from Uberallburo website

A few weeks ago, as summer was winding down and the new school year loomed, I came across this quote from Brenda Powers of Choice Literacy: "It’s a paradox that the early days of school fly by so quickly, yet it is still such slow, hard work to build trust and respect."

This resonated with me so much that I printed it out in large font on colored paper and pinned it to my (actual, real, physical) bulletin board by my desk as I started the year. I posted it because building trust and respect early in the year is such vital work, work that sets the tone for all other work for the rest of the year, and can easily get lost in the rush to jump into the business of curriculum. And I didn't want to forget to do it. 

Oh sure, the first week was full of get-to-know-you games and setting the expectations for all things school. But that's not enough. Here are some things I do to build classroom community throughout the first 6 weeks of the year:

image by hrlab

1. Share, share, and more share. Yes, part of the workshop structure already includes share time. But early in the year, share time IS the work. Write a little, share. Read a little, share. Reflect a little, share. "Pair-share with your elbow partner" is easiest, but it's important to get kids to share with others that are not in their immediate friend circle if you want to build classroom community. Other structures are: share across the table, two members of a table switch with two members at another table, mingle with music and share with whoever is closest when the music stops, make an appointment calendar with four other people and share with one of them, whip around the room so that everyone shares one small thing, and of course the classic (but scary for most middle schoolers) whole class share.
2. Reader-Writer Poster: Students make a poster introducing themselves as readers and writers. This includes a short About the Author bio, favorite quotes about reading and writing, an excerpt of a piece of recent writing, and 3 favorite books with blurbs and justification for inclusion. We do a gallery walk connection activity (another share!) where students look at each others' posters and have to find 4-6 commonalities between their own poster and others' posters (no repeats!). 
3. Six-Word Memoir: Students think about how they can capture their life philosophy, their hopes for the year ahead, or their past into six words. After drafting a few possibilities, they pick their best one, write it on a colorful sentence strip and share with others (remember #1?). These are posted on the wall for the first few weeks.
4. Writer's Workshop: I start the year in English Language Arts by launching Writer's Notebooks because we write about ourselves in our Notebooks, and then... yep, you guessed it, we share those stories with others! Students write memories, beliefs, entries about identity and pet peeves, important times in their lives, and rewrite earlier entries to practice craft. Although this is challenging for those students who are new to Writer's Notebooks, it is a great way to learn about each other through the first 3 weeks of school.
5. Reader's Workshop: Although it is already week 4, we are still building community and trust. Students think about their reading identities and... share those identities with others. What books do you like? What reading habits do you have? When do you like to read? What books made an impact in your life? This sets us up for a year of independent reading and book conversations. Students find others who like the same kinds of books (even if they are not "friends" socially), so that they can get recommendations and share their reading life with others who can relate.
6. Add in fun. Building community, trust and respect can be fun, and having fun together builds community. We know the get-to-know-you games during the first week are fun. But we often forget about fun after that. Share time is a great time to incorporate fun, even if it's just playing upbeat music while they talk. Get students out of their seats, have standing conferences instead of seated. Play rock-paper-scissors or a variation (I love gorilla-man-net instead) to see who goes first to share. Have kids high five or give an exploding fist bump after sharing as thanks to their partner. Build in stretch time after focused work by playing Simon Says. 

   

   image from Rizomatica website

English Language Arts is a scary place without trust and respect. I ask kids to write personal stories, take creative risks, bare their thinking, work collaboratively in groups. None of that important work will happen unless class is a safe place, not just with me, the teacher, but also with their peers. Building classroom community is important work early in the school year, and it takes time. Find the time, take the time, and your classroom will be a better place for it throughout the year.

Thoughts About Mentoring a Student Teacher

I hosted a grad student in my class last week. She is a second-career education student who is finishing her last course before her student teaching experience. She visited my class because she needed 10 hours of Observation and Participation. In her 10 hours with me, she observed four hours of my teaching and she taught two 55-minute lessons. The other four hours consisted of break, lunch, planning time and study hall. She was required to plan the lesson she taught (twice) and write a journal reflection on the 10-hour experience. I was required to sign off on the hours.

There were some outcomes from this experience that surprised me. First, she had never heard of the workshop approach to teaching literacy. Her undergrad major was English Literature and Composition, and she is majoring in secondary education, so I assumed she had taken a literacy education course along the way. I know there are many many ways to teach literacy, and workshop is not the usual method in secondary schools, but I would have thought she had at least heard about it. I gave her an everything-you-need-to-know-about-workshop-in-1-minute-or-less lesson so she could understand what she was observing.

Next, she didn't take notes during, or have any questions after, the observation. I wondered what she had gotten out of the lesson. Through our follow-up discussion, she seemed to be impressed with how well the students behaved and how nice the room was and how each student had their own computer to use. These were not the observations of someone about to take over a classroom, clued into the subtleties of classroom management, instructional technique, and creating classroom climate. Rather, they seemed to be those of someone in culture shock.

On the day that she taught, using my lesson objectives and a modified workshop structure, her passion for teaching came through. Like any substitute teacher, she was faced with a room full of students who's names she didn't know, who's personalities and learning levels she didn't know, and plopped into the middle of a unit she didn't know. However, I suggested the kids make simple name cards when they came in, and she used their names during the lesson to connect with the students. She was personable, and seemed to enjoy the content and the students.

We had a debrief between the first and the second lesson. We talked through what went well and where the rough spots were. I helped her consider things such as how to get students' attention back after releasing them to an activity, prioritizing lesson parts when things are dragging on too long, questioning techniques when kids are reluctant to share, and immediate application of learning. The second lesson went better.

When we debriefed the second lesson, she was amazed at how something as simple as an attention cue can make transitions go quickly and smoothly. She said that she was in her last week of her behavior management class, and never had they talked about cues. They talked about making rules and consequences. I shared with her other things I do that contribute to classroom management: seating choices, lesson variety with active engagement, walking around while kids are working and holding kids accountable.

This young woman is eager to get into the classroom and make a difference in children's lives. It was refreshing to see that passion. Sometimes I forget that I was the same way starting out. I was just as nervous and just as ill-prepared to step into a room full of kids. I wonder if teacher prep courses could up their game, however. The accountability piece for this particular Observation and Participation requirement seemed really weak. I've read articles advocating for a medical-student-like preparation course for teachers: classwork followed by internship followed by residency followed by full certification. It is the on-the-ground experience while being mentored by an expert that creates competent practitioners.

I don't think I want to be her mentor teacher for her student teaching experience next year. Not because I think she is hopeless, but because I already have a lot on my plate. I will recommend her to another teacher who would be willing to take on that responsibility. And I wish her well on her journey into the joys of teaching.

Building Classroom Community

The first week of school is over. This past week has been filled with community-building activities, communicating rules and procedures, and establishing routines. I'm itching to get started with curriculum, but I know that these past four days are vital preparation for a smooth year ahead. Here are some of the things I did last week for Get-to-know-you/ Community-building games: 

• Seating Challenges: Middle school students tend to stick to the people they know, especially early in the year. If allowed to choose seats on the first day, they would sit next to their friends, leaving the new kids and those who may not have any friends in the class to fend for themselves and feel left out. Not good! The series of seating challenges in this article makes sure that every day for the first 5 days of school, seating is mixed up and students work with different seat mates. It takes about 10 minutes of class time, but by the end of the 5 days, students are better able to work as a group, I have a good sense of leaders and followers, and the set-in-stone seating friendship spots are never allowed to start. It also gets students in the habit of looking at the front of the room for any instructions they need to do right away.
• Gorilla-Man-Net: This is also known as Gorilla-Man-Gun but I am trying to reduce violence in the world so we use nets instead of guns. Basically, this is a variation on
  
  rock-paper-scissors. Students stand back to back, say, "Gorilla, Man, Net, Go!" and on "Go", they spin around, assuming one of the positions-- monkey arms for the Gorilla, fashion-model pose for (hu)Man, or swing an invisible net for Net. Gorilla beats man, man beats net, and net beats gorilla. As students are preparing to play, I shout out a category, for example "food", and the winner has to tell their favorite/best, and the loser has to tell their worst. Students find new partners while music plays, and then go again with another category (movies, books, bands, vacation spot, sport, color, etc.). It's fun to end up with a whole group share, "What did you learn about someone that you didn't know before?"
• Alliteration Name Game: Although this is an old and familiar game, it quickly teaches everyone's name to everyone in the room--including me. Students think of one thing they like that starts with the same sound as their first name, for example, "Ms. Pohl likes playing piano." Students sit in a circle. One person starts, then the next person has to say the first person's name and likes before saying his/her own name and likes. This continues around the circle until the last person has to say all the students' names and likes before his/her own.
• Six-Word Memoir: The idea of telling one's story in only six words appealed to me as a quick way to learn something meaningful about each other. We studied a selection of six-word memoirs and analyzed the kinds of stories they told: passions, recent activities, life philosophies, past lives (memoirs), feelings. I shared a few of my own: "So many books, so little time." (passion), "Changing 'should' to 'am' is hard." (working on some life goals this year), "Setting up house for college boys." (the story of my summer). I had students work with partners to write one or two six-word memoirs about the first day of school as a way to practice the genre without any personal risk. I read a few aloud (anonymously). Finally, we watched Gigi McAllister's class video sharing their fourth grade end-of-year six-word memoirs to look at more examples. Students were then let loose to draft several that captured a passion, a life philosophy, or a memoir. I asked them to choose their favorite to write on a brightly colored sentence strip, which they read out to the class before sticking to the wall around the room.
• Where in the World? As international people, one of the hardest questions we get asked is,

  

  Image from 4shared.com

  "Where are you from?" On the surface, it seems easy enough, but to those of us who are expatriates, there are lots of different angles to it: Where were you born? What passport do you hold? Where do you live now? What's your "home" country? Each question could be a different answer. For those students who have mixed-culture families, it becomes even more complex. For this activity, I have students answer each of those questions above on an index card. I post continent signs around the room (excluding Antarctica). Then I call out one of the questions, asking students to go to the continents where the country of their answer resides. Once in those groups, they share where they lived, learning something new about each other. I finish with the whole group, asking, "What did you learn about someone that you didn't know before?"
• Workshop Agreements: This came on day 3 after students had done other community-building games both in my class and in other classes. We are starting the year launching Writer's Workshop, so I asked the students to think of a time when writing was going well for them, when they were immersed in their writing, ideas were flowing, it was all good. What were the conditions that allowed that writing to happen? Think of environmental conditions, mental conditions, etc. They brainstormed a list in their writer's notebooks for about 5 minutes. Then I turned it around and asked them to think of a time when writing was bad for them, stuck for ideas, unable to focus, not productive at all. What were those conditions? They wrote for another 5 minutes. Students shared out while I made one list of conditions for good and conditions for bad. I reminded them that we were a community of learners, and we needed to make some agreements for how our class would be run so that everyone was able to do their best work, which meant doing those things on the "good" side and trying to avoid those things on the "bad" side. I asked them to notice that not everything on the "good" side was something we as a class, or I as a teacher, could control, such as having a plan before writing or having too many thoughts to settle on one. But there were several things on there that we could control, so we highlighted those: quiet to work, time to get help from partners (talk time), comfortable seating/ temperature/ lighting, organized materials, good seating choice, focused and on-task behavior to meet deadlines, participation in conversations. The next day I wrote them up as agreements and went over the list, giving them an opportunity to ask clarifying questions or to object to any of the items. Finally, I asked them to give a thumbs up if they could live with those agreements. These agreements will form the foundation of my classroom management for the rest of the year.
• Reader-Writer Poster: One of my main objectives as an English Language Arts teacher is to promote lifelong habits of reading and writing. The Reader-Writer Poster is a project to
  
  showcase who students are as literate people (and as a message: Everyone in this room likes to read and write! You are a member of the literacy club!). The components of the poster are: a photo of yourself, an "about the author" blurb, a self-written one-sentence philosophy statement about reading and another one of writing, a quote from someone famous that you like, a piece of writing from the past 5 years (or excerpt), and 3-5 favorite books, each one with a short summary and a quote (and a book jacket picture if possible). One of the books is marked "favorite", and that blurb needs to explain why it's your favorite. Any program can be used to make it (a technology diagnostic assessment!), or it can be done by hand (also a piece of technology diagnostic information). Students lay them out on top of their table, and then go around the room for a gallery walk looking at others' posters. They complete a graphic organizer finding connections to other people in the room who have similar taste in books or life experiences, etc. I like finishing the class with a whole group share: "Who did you find a connection with? What was that connection?"

I had a lot of fun last week playing the games, learning bits and pieces about the kids, and watching their personalities. I will continue to learn more about them academically over the next couple of weeks as we do beginning-of-year assessments. I feel good, though, about getting the year started on a positive and fun note. We have plenty of time for seriousness!

Making Values Visible

Last week I was the Middle School rep on the Strategic Planning Task Force for our school. The SPTF consisted of representatives from all stakeholder groups: school board members, administration, teachers, parents, and students. As a group, we reflected on our school's mission and belief statements, identified values, and wrote strategic goals with indicators. 

Conversations were rich and varied as we each approached the tasks with our own biases and perspectives. Amazingly, there was very little bickering about what is important to us as a community. I found this to be a positive sign that we have a shared view of what our school wants to be, and that we are consistent in moving toward that vision. 

Today, I read a blog post by Christopher Lehman, a member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project of Columbia University, called "Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve (and Walls and Actions and)" (Feb. 10, 2014). In this post, Chris challenges us to take a critical look at our school and see if what we value is reflected on the bulletin boards, in our teaching, and in our communications. He specifically suggests:

"Step back and take a look:

• When you look around your classroom, what do you see the most of?  Is it what you value?

• When you look through your students notebook and folders, what does their work say to you? Do you see evidence of why you are an educator? Evidence of why you love what you teach?

• When you walk through the hallways of your school, what do classrooms and displays have in common? Can you see the heart of your community or is it unclear?

• If you talk with your colleagues, is your community’s heart visible in conversations?"

Lehman's challenge made me connect back to the Strategic Planning conversations and wonder: If I were an outsider taking a tour around our school, what values would I see reflected? Would I be able to see the same things that the SPTF identified? So I took a look.

The walls of my classrooms display lots of books. One bulletin board is devoted to book recommendations from other students and me. Shelves hold books both spine out and face out, and book holders display recommended books on tops of surfaces. Signs promoting themes, genres, and lifelong reading surround these displays. I think it's obvious I value reading.

Another bulletin board displays anchor charts from our current English Language Arts unit. These stay up throughout the unit because students refer back to them for strategies while they work on their personal projects. Surrounding these charts are signs with the enduring understandings and essential questions for the unit. This board shows that we are a community of learners and that learning is a process. 

A third bulletin board holds posters, vocabulary words, and a timeline for Social Studies. Enduring understandings and essential questions are posted alongside the visual display. The most interactive piece is the timeline, to which events are added as students learn about them. To be honest, this board shows that I have materials related to the topic, but it is mostly a display for decoration more than anything else. Perhaps this board shows that I value a decorated classroom!

As I walk through the hallways of the middle school, I see a lot of photos of students engaged in learning or service activities as well as displays of student work. I see posters advertising upcoming service initiatives. I see announcements and schedules. I see art projects and the student newspaper. I see recycling bins and trash cans. These displays reflect our community's focus on student learning, service, and the need for middle school students to stay organized!

I feel pretty good about how our school wears its heart on its sleeve. Our building is old and not particularly attractive, but we know what we hold dear and we show that in our displays. We are proud of our students and their achievements. The SPTF identified areas for growth and improvement, and as a reflective and forward-thinking institution, we will meet our targets.

In the meantime, I need to re-think my Social Studies bulletin board!

Show, Don't Tell: Reflections on Back to School NIght

Now that school has begun and the first frantic two weeks are over, I can return to this blog. I feel guilty for missing last week's post, but I just didn't have the energy or creativity left to write. Sad but true.

I've done most all of the things teachers do at the beginning of the year. I learned my students' names. I gathered some personal info through get-to-know-you games. I gathered some academic info through surveys and reflections. I set up files and data collection systems. The final beginning-of-the-year hurdle looms on Monday: the dreaded Back to School Night, also known as The Night of Speed Talking.

image found on the online schools website

I've presented at a lot of Back to School Nights over my almost 30 years of teaching, at various schools, and for various grade levels. Somehow it all boils down to the impossible feat of conveying my entire curriculum, grading practices, and expectations for both students and parents-- for two subjects-- in about 12 minutes. Thus, I have developed the ability to speed talk. At the end of 12 minutes, I am left breathless, the parents look dazed, and I am inevitably hit with a handful of parents who linger to ask, "How's my kid doing?"

I wish there were another way to show parents what we do all day with their children. I wish I could capture the excited energy of last week's Language Arts lesson when students were ranting--in writing-- about issues they were passionate about ("parents coming into my room without knocking" was a popular one), and then looking at the other side and thinking about a possible solution. I wish I could show them the kids' faces when they heard Martin Luther King III speak at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, explaining how far we've come and yet how far we still have to go for an equal and just world for all. I wish they could sit in my comfy green chair as I read aloud a short story in the reading corner and listen to the kids respond to the beautiful words and make connections to big important ideas. I wish they could listen in on my kids talking about what they are reading and books they love. I wish they could read the annotations in the margins of the article we read about why sports teams named "Indians", "Redskins", and "Braves" are a racist slur, annotations that basically said, "Wow, I never thought of it like that!" I want them to see moments when new ideas crash into students' minds, and their eyes light up with the possibilities.

That's what my class is about. That's why I am still teaching, and why I am still passionate about it. I wish parents could be the proverbial "fly on the wall" so they could see the magic happen.

I don't have the time this year to do anything but Speed Talk during my 12 minutes with parents. But maybe next fall, during the first two weeks, I can capture some of the excitement with photos and short video clips. After all, how many times have I voiced "Show, don't tell"?

Class Climate: "You're like our second mom!"

It was the last day of the school week, the period before lunch. We had just completed a role play activity in Social Studies where delegates from the Constitutional Convention "signed" the Constitution (or not), and the students were getting started on their Ratify the Constitution advertisement poster. The natives were restless: lots of talking, laughing, poking with rulers, jumping up for markers or tissues or just because they couldn't sit for another minute. One eighth grade girl got a little hysterical about a mistake she had made on her poster. Her laughter cracked up everyone else around her. Ten minutes to go before the end of the lesson, and I'd hoped for a little more productivity. When I voiced this thought to the class, the ensuing conversation went something like this:

Boy: "Do you see how comfortable we are in your classroom, Mrs. Pohl? We are letting you see our true selves. We are acting way different than we did at the beginning of the year!"

Hysterical Girl: "Yeah, you're like our second mom!"

Me with a teasing tone: "Great! Does that mean I can ground you?"

Hysterical Girl: "NO!"

Another Boy: "But you could give us pocket money!"

Me: Smile and chuckle and wrap up the lesson

Here's what this conversation said to me: My students feel safe. My students feel loved. My students respect my authority over them. My students know I have a sense of humor.  My students like me as a person. This really is the classroom climate I've been working for all year.

But has it gone a little too far? Are students TOO comfortable in my class? All teachers struggle with classroom management at the end of the school year. Students are getting into "summer mode" and have trouble focusing. They are restless and tired of working.

I know this and fight against it nonetheless. I want students to feel comfortable and safe in my class, but I also want them to take the work seriously and get things done. We still have six weeks of school left! Whole units are just starting! Sometimes lessons feel just a little out of control and then I get cranky and yell a little bit. Other days, they are completely smooth sailing and I marvel that everything went so well. At this time of year, it's a little unpredictable which way the wind will blow.

So I do my "tough love" thing: Keep my expectations high. Hold students accountable for the work they are supposed to be doing. Pull all my management tricks out of my hat (last week I resorted to "One two three, eyes on me!"- a mantra I learned from my first grade teacher friend). Have quiet discreet conversations with those who need individual invitations to focus and work. Rearrange the desks.

And I tell the students I love them and they know what to do.