Student Ownership of Feedback

This week, I want to zoom in on student feedback. The teacher rubric of the MA Educator Evaluation System mentions providing feedback to students at several different points. Standard I, Indicator C asks us to consider how often we provide feedback to students based on assessment results and to think about how this feedback is shared -- I like to think about whether my focus when providing feedback to students is on growth and improvement or on a summative-type grade (and don't we all get frustrated with our students' tendency to focus only on the latter?). Standard II, Indicator B stresses that opportunities should be provided for students to regularly reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses, to goal-set, and to monitor their own progress. Providing such opportunities would definitely help us keep our feedback focus on growth and improvement rather than on just a grade. So, how can we set this up in our classrooms?

It starts with making sure our students know what their learning goals should be for a given lesson or unit. In Robert Marzano's Becoming a Reflective Teacher, he suggests providing students with a proficiency scale (or even having students help construct such a scale) that aligns with the objective(s) of the lesson/unit such that students are aware (ideally with the help of exemplars as well) of what it looks like to have met this objective or to still be working towards meeting the objective.

Once we've enabled students to be fully conscious of what skill or knowledge they are aiming for, we can ask them to keep a running record of their own scores from assessments given throughout the lesson/unit. In addition to keeping track of their scores, we can also ask them to record what it is they currently understand well, what they're getting better at, and what they still need to work on (all based on the objective's proficiency scale). In doing so, we've sent the message that meeting the objective through growth and improvement has been the true learning goal of this lesson/unit (versus getting a particular grade). And we've placed some ownership with the student -- we've created a system in which the student is reflecting and goal-setting based on meeting the objective.

Want to flesh out some specific ways to implement this, like what a proficiency scale with exemplars might look like for a given unit's objective(s), or how to set up a record-keeping tool for students? Let me know -- I'm still pregnant, thus not on leave YET -- I'm happy to help!

It's Self-Assessment Time!

Well, here I am, posting another blog entry. You know what that means? My maternity leave hasn't started yet. Yup. Still pregnant over here.

In another news, it's time for all of us to think about our SMART goals for this year (even if you're on a two-year plan carried over from last year, it's still a good time to reflect on how it's all going). Now, I know it's tempting to jump right in and just get those goals drafted, but I want to urge you all to go through the self-assessment process before drafting specific goals for yourselves. But, I also know that that teacher rubric that's part of the educator evaluation system is a bit verbose and cumbersome, and doesn't always paint a picture of how what it's measuring all breaks down inside the classroom walls. So, I've been fooling around with the idea of adding bulleted questions for each indicator on the rubric as a resource to use when self-reflecting. A couple weeks ago, I posted the questions I'd drafted so far. Recently, I've added substantially to this, so thought I'd re-post my new and improved version.

These questions aren't meant to be judgy or nit-picky or anything else. Just look at them as a way to make the standards and indicators come to life a bit more. In answering them, it's my hope we'll all be pointed in the direction of some really effective and impactful goals for our educator practice. (Plus, they could be helpful when determining how to provide evidence per indicator.)

(Also, I'm available -- well, primarily after I return from my maternity leave, whenever that starts! -- to provide instructional coaching in any/all of these areas!)

Here you go (note -- these are just for the first two standards of the teacher rubric, as these two standards focus on instruction and assessment, which is my thang, y'all):
 

The Goal/Vision	Focus Questions
Curriculum & Planning: Knows the subject matter well, has a good grasp of child development and how students learn, and designs effective and rigorous standards-based units of instruction consisting of well-structured lessons with measurable outcomes (Standard I, Indicator IA)	·      How rigorous are the tasks you engage students in? ·      Are students working within their zone of proximal development (ZPD)? ·      What assessment practices do you use that help you to determine where each student's ZPD is? ·      Are students working towards completing a task that’s too easy, too hard, or just right (for the time allotted in the class and for their readiness/skill level)? ·      How comfortable do you feel with your lesson planning formats and structures? ·      Do you consistently include challenging, measurable objectives (and do these objectives end up being "lived objectives" during the lesson)? Are these objectives truly measured/assessed (whether informally or formally) during each lesson? ·      Are all tasks students are asked to do during the lesson preparing them to meet the lesson’s objective? ·      Do your lesson plans consistently include structures like activators and summarizers? ·      Do your lesson plans consistently include opportunities for students to learn in groups, using a variety of different grouping strategies? ·      Are there opportunities for assessing student understanding during the lesson? ·      Are there opportunities for all students to practice and to receive feedback during the lesson? ·      How do you preview new content? How do you chunk content into “digestible bites”? What do you do to help students process new information? What do you do to help students record and represent knowledge? ·      What do you do to review content? ·      Is (lively) pacing ever an issue? ·      Are there built-in opportunities for students to receive support during the lesson should they need it, or to be challenged with extensions should that be their need? ·      What do you do to scaffold students to meet success?
Assessment: Uses a variety of informal and formal methods of assessments to measure student learning, growth, and understanding to develop differentiated and enhanced learning experiences and improve future instruction (Standard I, Indicator IB)	·      What types of assessments do students experience in your class? Is it a wide range? ·      How often do you use formative assessment data (this could be informal or formal) to inform your instruction for the next day(s)? Are you able to do this on a regular basis (weekly or even, ideally, daily)? ·      What do you typically do to track student progress? ·      How often do students learn through differentiated experiences in your class, whether they be differentiated by interest, learning style, or readiness? Are these differentiated experiences planned as a result of informal and/or formal assessments you’ve used to measure student learning and understanding?
Analysis: Analyzes data from assessments, draws conclusions, and shares them appropriately (Standard I, Indicator IC)	·      How often do you analyze student data (formal or informal) in order to improve student learning? ·      What do you typically do to track student progress? ·      How often do you provide feedback to students based on formal or informal assessment results? How is this feedback shared? Is the focus on student growth and improvement from both your perspective and from the student’s perspective, or is it more based on a summative-type grade?
Instruction: Uses instructional practices that reflect high expectations regarding content and quality of effort and work; engage all students; and are personalized to accommodate diverse learning styles, needs, interests, and levels of readiness (Standard II, Indicator IIA)	·      Are students provided exemplars and rubrics that help them understand assessment criteria and expectations? Do students know what “good work” looks and sounds like for the lesson? ·       Do you model as often as possible? ·      Do you use a "gradual release of responsibility" (I Do, We Do, You Do) so that students are scaffolded towards success? ·      What do you do to scaffold students to meet success? ·      How engaged are your students during lessons? ·      Is time on task an issue? Are students doing what you want them to be doing? ·      Are all students given chances to practice during lessons (not just those who raise their hands)? ·      What do you do to manage student response rates to questions posed? ·      What do you do to use physical movement? ·      How often do you tier your instruction in order to meet the needs and readiness levels of all your students? ·      Do you feel comfortable planning tiered instruction based on formative assessment data? ·      How often do students learn through differentiated experiences in your class, whether they be differentiated by interest, learning style, or readiness?
Learning Environment: Creates and maintains a safe and collaborative learning environment that motivates students to take academic risks, challenge themselves, and claim ownership of their learning (Standard II, Indicator IIB)	·      Do you use rituals and routines consistently in your classroom? Do these rituals and routines enhance opportunities for learning in your classroom? ·      What do you typically do to establish and maintain classroom rules, routines, procedures? ·      What do you do when there is a lack of adherence to rules, routines, and procedures? ·      Are your expectations so communicated and enforced (through rituals, routines, and appropriate responses) that students eventually "own" them as well? ·      Do your lesson plans consistently include opportunities for students to learn in groups, using a variety of different grouping strategies? Do you teach your students how to effectively work in groups so that these opportunities are as impactful as possible? ·      Do you provide regular opportunities for students to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses? To goal-set? To monitor their own progress?
Cultural Proficiency: Actively creates and maintains an environment in which students’ diverse backgrounds, identities, strengths, and challenges are respected (Standard II, Indicator IIC)	·      What do you do to understand students’ interests and backgrounds? ·      Do you consistently enable students to demonstrate respect for their own and others’ differences (related to background, identity, language, strengths, and challenges)? ·      Are you able to anticipate conflicts or misunderstandings that might arise from differences in backgrounds, languages, and identities? Are you then able to effectively respond to these conflicts or misunderstandings?
Expectations: Plans and implements lessons that set clear and high expectations and also make knowledge accessible for all students (Standard II, Indicator IID)	·      Do your students clearly understand your expectations of them? ·      Could they describe these expectations to someone else? ·      Are students provided exemplars and rubrics that help them understand assessment criteria and expectations? Do students know what “good work” looks and sounds like for the lesson? ·       Do you model as often as possible? ·      Do you use a "gradual release of responsibility" (I Do, We Do, You Do) so that students are scaffolded towards success? ·      What do you do to scaffold students to meet success? ·      Do you model ways students can set challenging goals for themselves? Do students have opportunities to set such goals for themselves in your class? ·      Are you able to consistently adapt your instruction and/or assessments in order to support all students (including ELL students and those on IEPs)?

Anticipation

I was speaking to a wise teacher this week about his goals to increase his use of formative assessment in the classroom, specifically by adding more formative assessment tools to his repertoire. What makes this teacher so wise is that he realizes he needs to anticipate what may go wrong with the use of some of these tools, and then take instructional steps to ensure the tools are used as effectively as possible.

For example, let's take a look at a beloved formative assessment tool, the good ol' Think Pair Share. Tried and true, right? But I've encountered lots of teachers who have had frustrating experiences using this deceptively simple check-for-understanding. Let's anticipate what could go wrong. You're asking students to pair up and share their thoughts for a few minutes on a question or topic you've provided, while you circulate the room and then, later, there's a whole class share. But here are some possible pitfalls: Students pair up with someone who may not be the best choice for them to work with. Students talk to their partners about the topic for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and then run out of things to say. While circulating, you get caught up with 3 to 4 students who need help, so you never really get around to check on everyone. During the whole class share, you call on students to share what their partners' ideas were, only to discover that students don't know or remember what their partner said.

Any of this sound familiar? But what happens when we anticipate that these issues will pop up? What can we do to prevent these pitfalls, and instead ensure that our Think Pair Share will be as effective and as impactful as possible?

We can ensure some accountability to the task by providing a Think Pair Share template handout to students. This handout should require students to, first, individually write down three answers or ideas they have about the question or problem posed. Then, once students have shared these ideas with their partners, the handout should prompt them to check off any of their original ideas that their partner also shared, as well as to write down ideas their partner had that they did not. Finally, there should be a section on the handout that students can use to jot down ideas picked up during the whole class share. The use of a handout like this helps students gather their thoughts before being expected to share them with anyone, hopefully leading to a more effective discourse with their partner. It also encourages them to actively listen to their partner's ideas, as they will need to be recorded. Same goes for the whole class share. Also, if you get caught up working with just a few students when you attempt to circulate, you now have a physical handout that you can collect from everyone in the class if you should see that as necessary for continuing to check for understanding.

Are students not making wise choices when picking a partner? Or maybe you just want to ensure that students work with a variety of different partners rather than the same one each time? Anticipate that you might stumble across these problems, and you can solve them in advance. One solution could be to use clock buddies, ensuring that each student ends up with 12 possibilities for partnership depending on what "time" you call out to the group. There are some fun ways to personalize the concept of clock buddies for your class, too. For example, instead of using the hours of the day to distinguish the 12 different partners, you could use 12 different chemical elements, 12 different book titles, colors, math terms, etc.

If you'd like a copy of a Think Pair Share handout, contact me -- I've got a template I can share with you. Or if you want to further explore how clock buddies might work in your class, let me know -- I'd love to help! The main takeaway here is to anticipate what could potentially go wrong, so you can nip it in the bud. I mean, who doesn't want to avoid the frustration that ensues when something doesn't go as planned during your lesson? Want a second pair of eyes as you lesson plan to help you anticipate problems and plan to avoid them? We can work together on this -- shoot me an email!

On a personal note, this is my second blog post of the new school year. For those of you new readers, I typically post once a week, usually on Fridays. But, there's nothing typical about my life right now, as I am expecting the birth of my first child any day now. I'll be working right up until the end, so you can expect a blog post from me next week (I'll still be a little ahead of my due date then). But don't fully count on it! Everything I plan right now is filed under "tentative."  :)

Happy New (School) Year!

Hello educators! I hope you all had wonderful summers!

For my first blog post of this school year, I'm recycling a bit and stealing largely from my final blog post of last school year. So, if this sounds familiar to you loyal readers, that's why! 

As I'm sure many of you have, I've been using some time lately to reflect on what my goals and hopes are for this year. I've even begun thinking about what my SMART goals might entail. I'm already getting excited about my plans, which include developing and implementing a more formal coaching model for our school district, which I believe will help me ensure my coaching is as effective as it can be, benefiting teachers and students alike. After two years of coaching, I feel ready and energized to tackle this goal!

If you're having trouble reflecting and thinking about goals (SMART or otherwise) for this year, I suggest turning to the Teaching Rubric that's part of our new education evaluation system here in Massachusetts. This rubric is designed to aid in your reflection on your practices and in your goal-setting. But it can feel a bit cumbersome and verbose, can't it? To better navigate it, try considering these questions as you skim through the indicators (I'm going to focus on Standards I & II here, since they're so instructional in nature and that's my thing, y'all!):

Standard I:

• How rigorous are the tasks you engage students in? Are students working within their zone of proximal development (ZPD)? What assessment practices do you use that help you to determine where each student's ZPD is?
• How often do students learn through differentiated experiences in your class, whether they be differentiated by interest, learning style, or readiness?
• How comfortable do you feel with your lesson planning formats and structures? Do you consistently include challenging, measurable objectives (and do these objectives end up being "lived objectives" during the lesson)? Activators? Summarizers? Opportunities for assessing student understanding during the lesson? Opportunities for all students to practice and to receive feedback during the lesson? Is pacing ever an issue? Are there built-in opportunities for students to receive support during the lesson should they need it, or to be challenged with extensions should that be their need?
• How often do you use formative assessment data (this could be informal or formal) to inform your instruction for the next day(s)? Are you able to do this on a regular basis (weekly or even, ideally, daily)?
• What types of assessments do students experience in your class? Is it a wide range?

Standard II:

• Are students provided exemplars and rubrics that help them understand assessment criteria and expectations? Do you model as often as possible? Do you use a "gradual release of responsibility" (I Do, We Do, You Do) so that students are scaffolded towards success?
• How engaged are your students during lessons? Is time on task an issue? Are all students given chances to practice during lessons (not just those who raise their hands)?
• How often do you tier your instruction in order to meet the needs and readiness levels of all your students? Do you feel comfortable planning tiered instruction based on formative assessment data?
• Do your students clearly understand your expectations of them? Could they describe them to someone else? Are your expectations so communicated and enforced (through rituals, routines, and appropriate responses) that students eventually "own" them as well?

The above questions don't cover everything Standards I & II delve into. But I think they are a great starting place for examining our instructional practices and determining where we'd like to improve. As you do so, please consider working with me as your instructional coach. The coaching model I'll be developing and implementing this year will help me to even better guide the teachers I work with towards the efficient, effective meeting of their goals.

Here's to a great school year!!

Teacher Reflection

Well, my friends, we've made it to the end of another school year. This will be my last blog post for awhile as I head off to enjoy my last summer vacation as a non-mother! I'll see you back here in late August/early September as we prepare to begin the 2014-2015 school year (my 15th year working in education!) and I'll begin my weekly blogs again (that is, until my maternity leave starts!).

As I'm sure many of you have, I've been using some time lately to reflect on how my year went and what my goals and hopes are for next year. I've even begun thinking about what my SMART goals might entail. I'm already getting excited about my plans, which include developing and implementing a more formal coaching model for our school district, which I believe will help me ensure my coaching is as effective as it can be, benefiting teachers and students alike. After two years of coaching, I feel ready and energized to tackle this goal!

If you're having trouble reflecting and thinking about goals for next year, I suggest turning to the Teaching Rubric that's part of our new education evaluation system here in Massachusetts. This rubric is designed to aid in your reflection on your practices and in your goal-setting. But it can feel a bit cumbersome and verbose, can't it? To better navigate it, try considering these questions as you skim through the indicators (I'm going to focus on Standards I & II here, since they're so instructional in nature and that's my thing, y'all!):

Standard I:

• How rigorous are the tasks you engage students in? Are students working within their zone of proximal development (ZPD)? What assessment practices do you use that help you to determine where each student's ZPD is?
• How often do students learn through differentiated experiences in your class, whether they be differentiated by interest, learning style, or readiness?
• How comfortable do you feel with your lesson planning formats and structures? Do you consistently include challenging, measurable objectives (and do these objectives end up being "lived objectives" during the lesson)? Activators? Summarizers? Opportunities for assessing student understanding? Opportunities for all students to practice and to receive feedback? Is pacing ever an issue? Are there built-in opportunities for students to receive support should they need it, or to be challenged with extensions should that be their need?
• How often do you use formative assessment data (this could be informal or formal) to inform your instruction for the next day(s)? Are you able to do this on a regular basis (weekly or even, ideally, daily)?
• What types of assessments do students experience in your class? Is it a wide range?

Standard II:

• Are students provided exemplars and rubrics that help them understand assessment criteria and expectations? Do you model as often as possible? Do you use a "gradual release of responsibility" (I Do, We Do, You Do) so that students are scaffolded towards success?
• How engaged are your students during lessons? Is time on task an issue? Are all students given chances to practice (not just those who raise their hands)?
• How often do you tier your instruction in order to meet the needs and readiness levels of all your students? Do you feel comfortable planning tiered instruction based on formative assessment data?
• Do your students clearly understand your expectations of them? Could they describe them to someone else? Are your expectations so communicated and enforced (through rituals, routines, and appropriate responses) that students eventually "own" them as well?

The above questions don't cover everything Standards I & II delve into. But I think they are a great starting place for examining our instructional practices and determining where we'd like to improve. As you do so, please consider working with me as your instructional coach. The coaching model I'll be developing and implementing next year will help me to even better guide the teachers I work with towards the efficient, effective meeting of their goals.

In the meantime, have wonderful summers, educators! See you for 2014-2015!

Expanding our "Teaching Menus"

“Some classes, it’s like peanut butter and jelly for lunch every single day. But in this class, it’s like my teacher really knows how to cook. It’s like she runs a really big restaurant with a big menu..."

The above is from an interview Carol Tomlinson (DI guru and my academic crush) conducted with a student. Besides her nice grasp of simile, this kid really gets the need for variety in a classroom.

I'll be the first to admit, there were plenty of days in my own classroom where PB & J was the only thing on the menu. To extend the metaphor . . . PB & J was what I was good at. I had mastered it. Plus, I liked PB & J. It was one of my own favorites.

But when I read the above quote, I am forced to ask myself: What about those students I had who didn't like PB & J (still with the metaphor here)? Maybe some who hated it? Maybe some who liked it sometimes, but were pretty sick of it when it was the only option most days? Was I providing them enough variety? Was I providing them enough "nutrients" -- what about all those other foods I could have been serving? Veggies, fruit, even the occasional ice cream?

You know what? I wasn't growing as a "chef," either. Sure, my PB & J was darn good, but what else was on the menu? I wasn't stretching myself to learn to prepare new things -- I was stuck in a comfort zone rut.

When we think about differentiation, we should embrace it as an opportunity to expand our teaching menus, to grow so that we are also running "really big restaurant[s] with . . . big menu[s]." It will benefit our students -- after all, we're trying to nourish everyone, but they don't all have to eat the same thing at the same time to get that nourishment. It will benefit us as teachers, too, enabling us to grow.

The focus of my upcoming summer workshop is how to plan this kind of "menu," including the use of different types of assessments, different options to offer our students, all while keeping their "tastes" and "dietary needs" in mind. It's still not too late to sign up -- if you're interested, and/or have questions, just let me know. Or, if you can't make the workshop, we can plan on working together in a coach/coachee capacity towards this end. 

Happy cooking!

Establishing a Classroom Culture for DI

Many teachers understandably fear what their students' reactions will be to a differentiated classroom. Will they notice that some students may be doing different work than they are? Will they feel "on display" if the teacher calls them to the side for some small group instruction? Will they feel differentiation is "unfair"?

These are, as I said, understandable concerns. We want our students to feel comfortable in our classrooms. But we can't let these concerns prevent us from delivering effective instruction to all students.

Carol Tomlinson, noted DI expert and a personal academic crush of mine, recommends bringing our students into a conversation about differentiation in order to establish a classroom culture conducive to and accepting of DI. Here are some questions she suggests (from her book, Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, co-authored with M.B. Imbeau, 2010) teachers pose to begin this kind of dialogue with students:

O Who are you as learners? (Are you all alike or are there important differences?)

O Given the differences we see, how should I teach you?

O If our classroom is going to work for all of us, what will it be like? (How will it need to function? What roles will each of us play?)

O How can I learn more about your starting points, interests, & best ways of learning?

O If we have a differentiated classroom, can it be fair? (What will “fair” mean in this room?)

O What will success in this class mean? (How will I know if you’re succeeding? How will you know?)

 

Think about the students you had this past year. How would they respond to these questions? In my 

experience, students recognize and understand the need for DI much more than we think they might.

So, if you're planning on including DI in your classes next year, think about beginning the school 

year with this kind of conversation with your students -- be upfront with them, bring them on board.

It should lead to smoother sailing for all of you when the time comes for some differentiated lessons. 

 

Shameless plug alert: The above is just a slice of what my summer workshop will offer this year. You

can still sign up -- let me know if you're interested and/or have questions! 

Summer Reading -- Teacher's Edition

I've got two book recommendations for you, but you might think I'm crazy -- they're both about teaching. Perhaps you think that reading a book about teaching is the last thing that will relax you over summer break. But these aren't your everyday books about teaching.

(Disclaimer: Both of these books have been around for awhile. I read them years ago. But that doesn't make them any less good, does it?)

And now, without further ado, the titles. Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (yes, the Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt). Yup. These aren't books espousing a bunch of educational theories or pedagogy (though, if you know me, you know I love those books, too!). They are, rather, memoirs (Codell's is actually written in the form of a diary) and both chronicle the beginning of their respective teaching careers, Esme's as a fifth grade teacher in Chicago and Teacher Man's as a high school teacher at a vocational school in New York, NY.

I can't really say, based on these books, that Codell and McCourt are good teachers (or bad teachers, for that matter). But I can say that they are honest teachers. There are lots of ups and downs portrayed in these pages. Many I can relate to, and I'm sure you can, too. Many I can't. I've never taught in the types of schools Codell and McCourt taught in. So, I guess what I like about each is that I gain an appreciation for the struggles of teaching in urban/inner city schools; I like the authors' candor; I like when the books make me laugh or nod along when I can relate; I even kind of like when they make me cringe if I disagree; I like how they remind me of what it felt like to be a beginning teacher.

Happy reading this summer! Feel free to share any titles you recommend (they can be dorky books about teaching, or, if you're cooler than me, not!).

Games in the Classroom: Not ALL Fun & Games

Do your students play games in your classroom as part of the content and skills they are learning? Great! Games can be an excellent venue for formative assessment because they provide awesome opportunities for immediate feedback and support.

Check out this post from Edutopia for some specific examples. This is a wonderful time of year to think about introducing games to your classroom to keep up that student engagement and motivation as the days get sunnier and warmer.

Concerned about just how you can use games as formative assessment, using the informal data you gather by observing your students to inform future instruction? Give your district's instructional coach a holler -- she'd be glad to collaborate with you on this! 

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

Yup. It's mid-May. State-testing is just about wrapped up. Educator evaluations are being finalized. June, and, with it, the end of the school year, is literally right around the corner.

It can be hard to stay motivated and engaged at this time of the year, for students and teachers both. But we must, mustn't we? After all, there are still weeks and weeks left of learning (don't shoot me; I'm just the messenger, y'all!).

If you're having difficulty holding onto a feeling of excitement for the classroom right about now, maybe it's time to throw caution to the wind and try something new. It might be just the thing to give you that burst of energy and enthusiasm to carry you forward until that last bell rings.

The great thing about trying something new now is that you know your students SO well at this point. It can be tricky to "experiment" earlier in the year, especially when you're just getting a handle on who's who in your classroom. But if you try something out now, with students you know well, you may feel comfortable enough with it in the fall to begin the year with it!

So, if you're interested, think about the following possibilities:

• Maybe you've never felt quite comfortable with -- or never even tried -- a workshop format with your students. Why not try it out now?
• Perhaps you know you should use formative assessments more often to inform your instruction, but the day-to-day life of a teacher has slowed you down and distracted you from this. Now could be a great time to play around with it a little more.
• Maybe you find yourself using the same ol' activators and summarizers you always use -- or maybe you find yourself having strayed away from these valuable tools. Now could be the time to learn about some new strategies to use at the beginning and/or the ending of a lesson.
• You've always thought about trying to tier a lesson, but you're just not sure how. Now's a great time to learn more about this, especially with your knowledge of your students!

The possibilities are endless! If you'd like some guidance and collaboration, you can always contact your district's friendly instructional coach. *wink, wink.*

Dealing with Defiance

It's not overly fun to think about, but sometimes we have students who can be defiant in the classroom.

My number one piece of advice in this kind of situation is to not take it personally. Usually, there are a myriad of factors leading to a student's defiant behavior, most of which probably have little or nothing to do with you as the teacher. That said, sometimes the best starting place is to try and explore what is causing the defiant behavior. Who can you talk to about this that may have some insight? The student's guidance counselor? The school psychologist? The parents? Other teachers who have had success with the student? Often, knowing what's causing the behavior can be a good way to begin to know how to address it.

In the meantime, it's best to think of how you will approach classroom management with this particular type of student. Here are some pointers from my own experience and research:

Address the behavior as privately as possible.
This is crucial, especially with adolescents. If you reprimand a defiant student in front of the entire class (even if the reprimand is rather "gentle" from your perspective), you have placed that student in a situation where he or she feels the need to "save face" in front of his or her peers. This need to "save face" may very well cause the student to engage in defiant behavior with you -- often, an adolescent with defiant tendencies sees no other way out of this kind of situation other than to escalate it.
However, if you pull the student aside after class to have a private one-on-one conversation with him or her, you'll often find the dialogue to be much more effective in helping to change student behavior. He or she will typically not be defiant in this kind of situation, because there will be no need to "save face" with no peers around to witness your dialogue.

Use positive, versus negative, statements.
Instead of telling potentially defiant students (or any students, for that matter) what not to do (i.e., "Stop talking"), try telling them what they should do instead (i.e., "Please listen" or "Focus"). In this way, you'll be giving the students expectations of how they should be behaving, which some may truly not be aware of. And you'll lessen the likelihood that they will react defiantly.

Use "I" statements.
Try stating things in terms of what your needs are as the teacher, instead of imposing what you see as the needs of the students on them. For example, instead of saying "You all need to stop talking so you can learn better" (something your students may, unfortunately, try to disagree with), try saying, "I find it difficult to keep everyone's attention when there are other conversations going on. That's why I need you to be quiet at this point and focus your attention here."






If you're interested in reading more about how best to interact with defiant students, check out this link, which goes into a nice amount of detail on causes of defiant behavior and approaches to dealing with it in the classroom. Or work with your district's instructional coach (wink, wink) to see how you may be able to turn things around in your classroom.

It's That Time of Year!

Happy almost May, readers! It's graduation season, and tomorrow I get to be part of the festivities at Northeastern University.  I have the honor of being the guest speaker at the pinning ceremony for NEU's undergraduate education majors.

Since I've been hacking away at my speech this week (it has to be ten minutes long!!!), I thought I'd do myself a favor and double dip here on my blog. So, if you'd like to read some sappy inspiration, I share with you my speech (sorry -- it's kind of long -- did I mention it has to be ten minutes?!!?):

"Good morning. I’d like to thank Dean Caron for the opportunity to speak at today’s ceremony. It is a true honor.

Congratulations to all of you. Certainly, congratulations on graduating and on earning your degrees. The completion of an academic milestone such as this deserves a lot of praise. But I’d also like to congratulate you on your choice to pursue the field of education. In my fully biased opinion, it is the best field out there. Working in education will provide you with challenges large and small; if you let them, these challenges will motivate you, inspire you, and fuel your passion for making a difference in the lives of your students and, perhaps, for making a difference in the field of education at large.

When I first began my educational career in September of 2000, I had a lot of expectations. And I was right about a few things – teaching was going to be awesome, and it was. I would love my students, and I did. But there were boatloads of things I never saw coming, situations that my incessant watching and re-watching of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society and Michelle Pfieffer in Dangerous Minds couldn’t prepare me for. So, today, I’d like to share with you a few things to expect as you enter this wonderful profession.

First, what to expect from the students.

Sometimes, your students will be smarter than you. I’ve taught high school students who have had insights on literature that I would have killed to have come up with. And I’ve worked with first graders who have devised routines and structures for how the classroom should best operate that were way more effective than the teacher’s original plan had been. Don’t let this throw you. Invite your students’ voices in. Expect to learn as much from your students as you hope they will learn from you.

Some of your students will hate school. Don’t take this personally. Some of them will be struggling against a structure of schooling that doesn’t work with their learning style, or with where they are developmentally. Invite these students to become learners. Discover what kind of learning environment will work best for them – do they need the freedom to be able to move around a bit?; Find out what they get excited about – is there a way to work basketball into an upcoming math lesson? Expect your students to learn in different ways from one another and to be interested in different things – learn from these differences and allow them to make you a stronger teacher, someone who can teach all children, not just those who thrive within a traditional classroom setting.

Some of your students will have accomplished amazing feats just by making it to school in the morning. Some are dealing with unimaginable home lives, some are working part-time or even almost full-time hours to help support their family, some are struggling through substance abuse and addictions. Expect to be needed desperately by these students – expect them to need compassion, expect them to need a hug, or the occasional granola bar for breakfast. Most of all, expect them to need you to believe in them, to need you to give them important work to do and important things to strive for.

And here’s something I can promise you to expect from ALL of your students. They all want to succeed. It doesn’t matter if they act like it or not. It doesn’t matter if they’re acting up in class for a multitude of reasons, reasons that can sometimes be seen, but are often unseen. No child comes to school hoping to fail that day. Help them to succeed.

There are a few things you should expect from adults, too.

Expect lots of advice and expert opinions (even from those who have never stepped foot in a classroom as an educator). You may or may not have noticed that I’m five months pregnant. And as a woman who is in the middle of her first pregnancy, I now consider myself a bit of an expert on getting a lot of advice thrown my way, often unsolicited. And most of that advice seems to be designed to scare the living daylights out of me.

It’s not all that different from the amount of unsolicited advice and opinions that come your way as an educator.

I’m not always sure why so many people prefer to focus on the negative. But, oh, they are out there. You’ll find them in the staff room among your fellow educators, and you’ll find them on social media among your Facebook friends. There seems to be a lot of negativity floating around out there – there are some people and some sources that will want to fill your mind with all the perceived barriers to being a good teacher. They’ll tell you you can’t teach effectively these days because of the Common Core, or because of standardized testing, or because of a certain school’s discipline policies.

And I won’t sugar coat it – these things can get in your way at times. They can be frustrating. But they do not have to limit your effectiveness as a teacher. I work with teachers every day who teach engaging lessons, who find ways to motivate and challenge all students. They find ways to do this because they have kept their eyes on the prize. The students themselves.

You’re in education to shape young minds. You don’t have to let anything stand in your way of this. You can start, in big and small ways, to break down some of the barriers that traditional structures of education have put in place. You can encourage girls to pursue studies of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You can inspire them to be leaders. And the young boys? I’ll be the mother of a young boy in about four or four-and-a-half months. You can encourage him to love learning. You can provide structures in his elementary school classroom that are developmentally appropriate for a seven or eight year old boy. You can make it possible that learning doesn’t have to be about sitting still and quietly listening for 45 minutes.

I’m here to tell you that this is possible. Maybe you’ll work in a non-traditional school that’s finding exciting and new ways for classrooms and for learning to function. Maybe you’ll work in a public school that is committed to the Common Core and to standardized testing. I’m here to tell you that, in either setting, you can be an effective educator.

How? First, take a lesson from my pregnancy and don’t listen to the naysayers. They’re going to be out there. Avoid them. Surround yourself with strong mentors. And I’m not talking about just your first year or so of teaching, here. Surround yourself with strong mentors throughout your career. I’m 14 years in, and I still meet up regularly with positive, strong educational influences.

And don’t stop there. Insist on being a lifelong learner. Continue your education, formally or informally. Read, read, read. Read stuff by people who are on the same page as you. And read stuff by people who stand for things you think you may disagree with. Be open to having your mind changed. Go to workshops. Take classes. You can be the positive voice the field of education needs now. More importantly, you can be the positive voice our students need now.

Thank you, and, again, congratulations."

Thanks to all the educators in my current and past school districts for teaching me about a lot of what I included in this speech -- that there are effective, wonderful educators in this world doing great things and changing students' lives!!

Take Some Time to Relax

Let the countdown begin! There are mere hours left between us and April vacation.

I suspect that most teachers will use at least some portion of their vacation time getting some grading or lesson planning done. But my wish is that you all take some well-earned time to relax and reset. After all, once April vacation is over, we'll be in the "home stretch" -- filled with beautiful days, spring flowers (and showers, most likely), and lots more learning to do!

Here's a one-minute video to start your vacation off with a chuckle -- how do students think we teachers relax?

Enjoy!

Flipping the Flipped Classroom

Lots of teachers are interested in the flipped classroom model, but are concerned about a few issues:

• What happens if/when some of my students don't watch the online tutorial or lecture in preparation for class the next day?
• What about my students who may not have access to the Internet at home?

While there are several ways to address these valid concerns, in this post I'll share one education blogger's solution -- to actually flip the idea of the flipped classroom so that the flipping still occurs within the walls of the classroom.

Since the word "flip" and its variations made too many appearances in that last sentence and I've now probably left you with more questions than answers, please take a look at this Edutopia blog post by Jennifer Gonzalez. While she admits there are pros and cons to her method as well as to the traditional flipped classroom method, she provides good food-for-thought in examining how to solve the above concerns.

Interested in flipping your classroom, either the traditional way or via Gonzalez's approach? Give me a holler -- I'd love to help you out!

Scaffolding for Reading Comprehension

Let's face it: at times, we ask our students to read some pretty sophisticated stuff. Some of our students are advanced readers; they don't need our support. Others really struggle with reading challenging texts, and may need a framework designed to guide their comprehension. Eventually, this framework can be altered as students need it less and less -- the teacher can scaffold the support so that she gradually releases responsibility to the student.

What follows is a fiction example using Romeo & Juliet that I'm borrowing from Kelly Gallagher's (2004) Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12. But, I truly think this type of scaffolding could also be quite impactful for non-fiction texts as well, across the content areas.

The Romeo & Juliet example:

As they begin reading this challenging play, students are given outlines of the upcoming scene, but the outline has some gaps in it. For example, for Act I scene i, students might be given the following outline:

• Sampson and Gregory, two of Capulet's servants, fight with Abram and Baltazar, who are servants from the rival house of Montague.
• Tybalt, a quick-tempered Capulet, enters the fight.
• 
  
• The Prince enters and, enraged, stops the fight.
• The Montagues express concern about their son, Romeo.
• Romeo confesses to Benvolio that he is in love with a girl who is indifferent to him.

Here, Gallagher has only left the third bullet blank for students to complete.

As students become more familiar with their study of Shakespeare's work, provide fewer bulleted details on the given outline, requiring students to provide more and more plot points. For example, for Act III scene i, students might be given the following outline:

• 
  
• Tybalt and other rivals arrive. Tybalt wants to find Romeo.
• Romeo arrives. Tybalt calls him a "villain."
• The Prince enters and, enraged, stops the fight.
• Romeo says he now "loves" Tybalt.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

By Act V, students are much more proficient at reading Shakespeare, so they may be asked to provide all of the bulleted statements. Remember, you may be differentiating for readiness, so not all students in your class would opt to use such scaffolded supports.

Again, don't limit reading instruction to the ELA classroom. This same kind of outline scaffolding could easily work with a chapter from a challenging textbook for a social studies or science course.

April is National Formative Assessment Month!

Okay, I lied. April is not officially National Formative Assessment Month. But you can't blame a girl for dreaming.

How about we make it happen anyway? If you'd like to focus more on formative assessment, make it your April goal (could help pass the time until school vacation, at any rate).

Want to increase how often you check for student understanding? Want to think about and try out some ways to quickly analyze some student data? How often do you find yourself using student data to inform your teaching, either that same day or for the next lesson? Want to increase how often you're able to do this?


Trust me -- there are ways to do this without adding an enormous amount of work to your already busy plates. It's amazing the information you can get from flipping through a stack of tickets-to-leave. Assessing a longer piece of student work? Try out an error analysis. Or you can use student self-assessments in formative ways. You could even try out on-the-spot formative assessment -- talk about quick and easy!!

Once you've done your pain-free analysis, you may or may not see the need for differentiated instruction. If you do, your options are many: you could split the class in half, you could decide on small groups, a tiered lesson, partner work, etc., etc., etc.

If you're interested, let me know. Let's make this National Formative Assessment Month thing happen -- maybe we'll be responsible for the start of a movement!  :)

Happy Spring (again, a girl can dream)!