Goal #8 - Rethink Student Behavior and Classroom Management

Rethink Student Behavior and Classroom Management

Quote

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

by Dr. Haim Ginott

Goal

Short-term-

Option A

During at least one class period have your students discuss how they deal with stress and have them reflect on positive ways to react to the stresses that surround them. During this time, listen as the students tell you the stress they deal with at home, from their peers, and just in general.

Option B

Reflect on your classroom rules and the punishments outlined for breaking them. Do these consequences really correct the behavior? If not, think of ways to change the consequences so that the student understands how to correct the behavior. Have students help you come up with consequences. Listen to what they think.

Option C

When the student that usually breaks a rule does, handle the situation differently. Talk to the student and figure out why this student reacts negatively to the situation. Try helping this student deal with the root of the problem.

Long-term- Make it a goal to get students to reflect on the rules, come up with the class rules, and think about appropriate consequences. Also, get students to develop ways to handle situations they know will arise. For example, have students think about when they are tempted to cheat, pick on another student, or participate in other negative behavior. What are ways they can reflect on the action in order to make better choices about their behavior. What are ways they can try to relieve their own stress before making decisions based on emotions or hormones?

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Maximize student potential with daily positive attitude!

We just had a teacher workshop with a fantastic speaker - Charlie Applestein talked to us about "No Such Thing as a Bad Kid" and how to manage number one (the teacher).  Some of my notes:

• Make sure to RESPOND rather than REACT
• Leave your baggage at the door
• Body language can make or break communication (are you towering over student?)
• Remember please and thank you!  Simple but teachers need to use this too!
• Use HUMOR not SARCASM

Charlie advocates a strength-based approach which is all about ATTITUDE and ACTIONS.  In 20 years, your students will not remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.

My plan is to have some chats with my middle school students about stress.  Specifically, how the online world and stress come together in their lives.  There are online rules both spoken and un-spoken, for example.  Bullying issues can even play into this type of discussion.  How do they feel about their online presence and what rules do they feel are necessary for living life online?  This could get quite interesting!

Perhaps we can come up with a student based AUP for online life!

Goal #7 - Play and Have Fun!

Play and Have Fun!

Quote

“We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.”

by Phyllis Diller

Goal

Short-term- Observe a child not in school play for at least 5 minutes. Notice how the child learns before the influence of school. Find a way to incorporate play, fun, and movement into a lesson this week. Ditch the worksheet! Also, reflect on how to integrate play that supports learning.

Long-term- Think about limiting the amount of textbook work and worksheets used in class. Using less paper is environmentally friendly as well as offers the opportunities for students to move around and have fun with the learning. Try integrating fun and play into one lesson a week regularly.

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Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.

Diane Ackerman

With a title like this, how can Goal #7 not make you smile!

I love to let the students play and explore with technology.  Once I can get them past some of the structure they are so used to, we see the creativity and innovation come out.  But it doesn't happen immediately and this is sad.

It seems that students get so stuck in what they believe is expected of them, that they are not willing to take risks.  I don't mean the "jump off a bridge" risk, rather the "wonder if I can make all the images bounce" risk.  Does that make sense?

My students were creating presentation slideshows for a large project.  I emphasized over and over again that they should not use a lot of text in the slides, that the slides should be very visual (like motivational posters) and the words come from the speaker.  It took soooo long to get them to let go of their bullet lists, definitions, etc.  They are programmed to think that the audience needs to "see" their intelligence through text, the more the better.  Finally, they let go and the majority of slideshows were fantastic - very visual, little text.  However, I did make a concession to lessen the stress.  I let the students put their words in a handout or brochure that they could give to the audience.  They really seem to need that tangible and viewable proof of their intellect.

That is with middle school students.  The younger ones are not stuck in that structure yet and I see them try new things and explore in a different approach.  Do we lose the ability to play in our work as we get older?  Is it squeezed out of us as we are all set on the same learning track?

I hope to be that teacher, the one that helps break that pattern and allows students to explore, to play, to learn through failure as well as success.

MUST it be a typed paper?

Must it be a typed paper, assigned as homework, and passed in for assessment?  All the time?  How incredibly stifling.

Let's give students unique options to express themselves and their learning.  Here is an example from an 8th grade Social Studies class in which students used ZooBurst to create "pop up" books of their research.  Using text and visuals, they express their learning.  For the next project, maybe add some audio!

What creative options do YOU give to students?


Alexandra



Micaela

Goal #6 - Invite Them In

Invite Them In

Quote

“There is no persuasiveness more effectual than the transparency of a single heart, of a sincere life.”

by Joseph Barber Lightfoot

Goal

Short-term- Brainstorm ways to invite a teacher, parent, or administrator to see the learning taking place in your classroom. You can do this by publishing your students’ work online on a wiki, blog, or school website. You can Ustream a lesson. You can create a video with the kids and have a movie night where you invite the staff and parents to watch the class videos while eating snacks!

Long-term- In what ways can you be more transparent? How can you make your instruction transparent to others at least once a week? Do you currently publish students’ work online or have your lesson plans available for the parents to see what is happening in the classroom?

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Today, my 7th graders had big presentations that they have been preparing for over a period of weeks.  They were presenting in front of their competitors (it was a challenge to win) and a "Board of Investors" who would determine the winners.  The Board was comprised of volunteer staff members from throughout the school.  We had, for one session, a 2nd grade teacher, the librarian, a 5th grade teacher, and a 3rd grade teacher sitting on the Board (an administrator stopped by to watch, but not participate).  The 8th graders get their turn tomorrow!

It's great to have staff members see the students in an environment they don't usually get to view.  Students knew that this presentation was "official" with this authentic audience and took it very seriously.  A win-win situation.

I have published some work from my 6th graders - they had a lot of fun with Jenuine Tech's holiday card project!  We participate in projects such as the 6 word memoir.  Students create their own websites (6th graders use Weebly and 7th/8th graders use Google Sites) to keep reflections, projects, and their own creative interests.

It is so important that students get the chance to share and view learning.  I do not have an environment in which we can post student pictures online at will, so videos and the like are not an option right now.  We could do, however, some audio (and every student has an avatar or two ready to go!).  My 6th graders are enjoying adding Vocaroo audio to their websites for a project on Egypt.

One of my goals is to do some projects with Skype, such as the Around the World with 80 Schools project.  That is one way to invite fellow students in!

And... as much as possible... my door to the Media Lab is OPEN!  This invites anyone passing by to take a peek and see what we are up to!

Goal #5 - Reflect, Step Back, Act

Reflect, Step Back, Act

Quote

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

by Peter F. Drucker

Goal

Short-term- Reflect on your best and worst lesson this week or last semester then share this reflection. Want to go the extra mile? Read comments on the blog and respond to some of the questions and struggles of others in our community!

Long-term- Try recording a lesson live and having a colleague evaluate it. Also, develop a routine to take one day to reflect on your communication with your colleagues, students’ parents, or administrators!

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One of the worst things I have found is when I take material from other sources (rubrics, tables, etc.) and do not personalize them enough.  In the middle of an activity, I realize that the students are confused and the material isn't working the way I want it to.  This is completely my fault as I try to save time or try to "wing it" too much.

It's much better for me to take the extra time and really think through the activity and modify materials for my needs.  Even when this means starting from scratch, which is honestly what I do the majority of the time!  I just never seem to find activities and materials for what I want to accomplish in my media lab!  One of my own personal goals is to publish some of my lessons and activities online.

The best activities have been ones in which the students are given some free rein to be creative and expressive in their learning.  Giving them the freedom to have control over the technology is empowering, shows that I trust them, and can get them exploring further than they would otherwise.

We draw monsters in PowerPoint, create tables of data from the roller coaster database, take apart computers to see the "guts", manipulate pictures of ourselves with gimp for art projects, etc.  If I can get all the senses involved, the kids have a better chance of taking in the information!

I invite staff into the media lab and encourage them to sit in a class at any time.  I tend to chat and introduce the activity at the beginning of class, then let the students go to the computers to work.  It is very much a "guide on the side" style.  However, I would like to get more feedback on how this is working.  There is always room for improvement.

Immediately, I would like to implement more opportunities for students to evaluate me.  Their voices need to be heard and they need to have outlets for their opinions.

It might be interesting to utilize the resource OhLife as a means of reflection.  The free service will email you a reminder to add an entry to your "diary" which you accomplish by writing and sending a reply to that email.  It's very simple and could be scheduled for a convenient time.  Maybe I will try using this to write quick reflections on what happened in the lab that day.

 

Goal #4 - Leave it Behind

Leave it Behind

Quote

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ”

by Plato

Goal

Short-term-
Option A: Make a list of ways you can leave your stress behind and not carry it with you into the classroom. To take this a step further, try one of these stress relievers today and share the experience with us.
Option B: Take a class period and have your students develop their own stress relief plans. The idea is that when they begin to misbehave in the classroom they are able to have time to implement their plan before they are punished.

Long-term- Develop a stress-relief routine that will ensure that even during the most stressful times of the year (i.e. testing time, grading time) you won’t be in a bad mood in the classroom. How can we begin to show our students how to develop stress routines for themselves? Spend a class having students work in pairs or groups to share their stress-relief plans. To go further, when the students are stressed and act up then remind them of their plans and allow them the time to try this out instead of just punishing the student.

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How will I be pro-active about stress this week?

• Clean out those drawers (yes "those" drawers) in my desk... c'mon you have them too!
• Bring back plants into the Media Lab (a great way to soften the edges of the tech world)
• Identify more ways to delegate work to students (they can learn to upgrade FlashPlayer!)
• Be sure to chat a bit with students when class begins instead of jumping right into the work
• Add the latest student pictures to the walls
• Simplify, simplify, simplify

I found some articles with lists that may give some further ideas:

50 Quick Ways to Reduce School Stress

11 Ways I Reduce Stress in My Academic Courses

10 Ways to Reduce a Teachers' Classroom Stress

Goal #3 - What do you believe about learning?

What do you believe about learning?

Quote

“The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught,as that every child should be given the wish to learn. ”

by John Lubbock

Goal

Short-term-Make a bullet list of what you believe regarding how you and others learn. In this reflection, think about how being part of online professional development has redefined the way you learn.

Long-term- In what ways will you ensure that your belief of how your students learn is reflected in your classroom?

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I do not wish to make a list of how we learn that is obvious.  We are familiar with Multiple Intelligences, Bloom's Taxonomy, etc.  Regardless of our learning styles, I believe that some things are shared commonalities when it comes to learning.  This is my quick list... bet you can think of things to add to it!


We learn by

Getting our hands dirty
Indulging our curiousities
Failing, falling, and getting back up again
Asking questions - endless questions
Putting away the ego and jumping into the fray
Being open to other perspectives, views, and ideas
Feeling safe enough to open eyes, ears, and minds to possibilities



The online development opportunities are phenomenal and I have taken advantage of many!  My Masters degree in Technology in Education was conferred through a program conducted completely online at Lesley University.  Additionally, I completed an Advanced Professional Certificate (APC) in Online Teaching through the same format at Lesley.  My Twitter PLN is strong and I try to participate often, including the #edchat discussions.  I have attended online conferences, presentations, demonstrations, book clubs, training, and even a children's summer camp!

Obviously, there is a monetary savings when I can attend a conference without leaving my house.  There is a global audience to tap into that would never happen this easily without the online component.  For me, however, is the simple fact that I really stink at small talk and I find it awkward to become part of a live group when at a physical conference.  I tend to stay in the shadows and listen (OK, OK... I lurk).  The online world allows me to open up more and be a part of the conversation.  I have time to think about an answer or response before I type it - much longer than what happens in regular conversation.  This is a bonus for me.

Freedom of Choice

I have my students hands-on doing projects for the majority of their time with me.  I let them explore, be creative, see me fail (and recover), and find how the technology works best for each one individually.  We talk about what works, what doesn't, and the bumps in the process.

I get them online to get their feet wet in an online class environment so they can be comfortable choosing that option in the future.  I show them how educators conduct webinars and bring them in to add their own opinions.  I am passionate about opening up the world to students, giving them options, and helping them find what works best for their own learning styles.

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Photo by:   Krzysztof Poltorak