Model Behavior

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     Looking for model behavior from your students? Then why not model the behavior?

Modeling has become (thankfully) a fairly common practice in today’s classrooms. Teachers model via think alouds what to do when encountering a challenging text. They model the writing process by projecting sample paragraphs and essays for the class to look at together. They model which steps to take and in which order to take them in order to solve an algebra problem.

     We do all these types of modeling as educators because we understand that, often, our students need to see what the process looks like, or need to see what an end product should be, or need to hear what an active reader’s thought process sounds like.

     So why not also use modeling when it comes to behavioral expectations in the classroom? Perhaps, sometimes, students’ inappropriate behaviors are a result of students needing to know what it looks like and feels like to behave appropriately.

     I’ve been doing some reading on muscle memory, thanks to the famous sister authors of The Daily 5 and CAFÉ books, written to promote classroom structures that enhance elementary students’ literacy independence. These are great reads, in my opinion, for both elementary and secondary educators alike, so don’t be surprised if they are the subjects for future blog posts.

     But, for now, I want to zoom in on what the sisters have to say about muscle memory and its connection to behavior in the classroom. Some students, particularly those who are kinesthetic learners, learn best by experiencing the same physical task over and over until it becomes an ingrained way of being because it has become a part of their muscle memory. We’ve all experienced this, actually. Take driving a car, for example. As adult drivers, we no longer have to concentrate on each physical aspect of driving a car; we don’t consciously think, “Now I put the car key in the ignition, now I turn the key clockwise until the car starts, etc.” But we probably did need to think through these steps much more consciously when we were first learning to drive. The difference now is that, through much repeated practice and experience, these tasks have been ingrained in our muscle memory.

     A student in our classroom who is learning a new behavioral expectation from us (how to behave during a mini-lesson, for example, or how to behave when the teacher is busy conferencing with a small group of students) may just well need two things: 1) he or she may need to experience a model of the behavior so he or she knows just what is expected, and 2) he or she may need to practice the appropriate behavior repeatedly until it is part of his or her muscle memories. Muscle memory does not happen overnight, or even after three practice runs (again, think of the driving analogy).

     A great suggestion from the sister authors is to include the students in the behavior modeling. They suggest beginning by discussing with the whole class what student behavior should be during a particular activity, brainstorming a list of behavioral criteria. Then, the sisters ask for a student volunteer to model for the class what this behavior looks like. While the student models the correct behavior (which could include sitting correctly, listening, nodding along in agreement, taking notes, etc.), the teacher points out to the rest of the class how the model student is doing everything on the previously-created brainstormed list of expected behaviors.

     But – wait for it! – here’s my favorite part. The sisters don’t stop there. They then call on a student whom they know will find it challenging to display these appropriate behaviors. They ask this student to model for the class the incorrect way to behave. As they insist – and I’m sure most of us can relate to – “Remember, give that student an audience now, or he or she will certainly take it later!” (from The Daily 5, 2006, p. 88). Modeling incorrect behavior typically results in some laughs from the crowd, and this student has now received the attention he or she typically craves.

     But – wait for it! – here’s my actual favorite part!!! The sisters then have this same student model the correct way to behave. I tried this out just the other day in a classroom I’ve been working in as an instructional coach and I can testify to its effectiveness. After modeling the incorrect behavior and getting some laughs, the student was able to completely shift gears and model the correct behaviors, giving him a chance to further instill these behaviors in his muscle memory, and also proving to himself and to his teacher that he does, in fact, know how to behave correctly and is, in fact, capable of doing so. This modeling exercise provides the teacher with great evidence to bring up with this student should he slip away from the expected behavior later on.

     I do feel I’ve oversimplified the concept slightly. The sisters do get into a lot of stamina-building practices that are very conducive towards building muscle memory that I haven’t talked about here. But I hope, readers, you’ll walk away from this post thinking about one more thing that could – and should – be modeled for students. Even if they are secondary students, they are still in your classroom for the first time and may need to learn your expectations for behavior during certain activities.

     Modeling. If it works for writing assignments, algebra problems, and thought processes, then why not for behavior, too?

     Bye, readers! I’m off to the gym. Gotta work on that muscle memory!

Got a Bad Back? It Might Make You a Better Teacher.

     I read a blog this week that, in my opinion, really hits the nail on the head. Educators, you need to read this:

What My Bad Back Taught Me About Teaching

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Seriously. Click on the above link to the blog first, and read it. You'll need to register (which is free and super easy and quick!), which the site prompts you to do. Then we can discuss.

Thanks for doing that! Wasn't it a good post?

     What I love about Colucci's post is twofold: 1) I love that he finds himself reflecting on his life in terms of a metaphor for teaching, and 2) I love that he does something with this reflection, namely -- changes some of his practices to reflect his new understandings.

     As educators, sometimes we can forget what it may be like to be a student in our classrooms. When Colucci found himself in the position of needing help, he was able to introspectively realize what that experience is like for him. More so, he was able to think about whether or not he was providing an optimal environment and optimal strategies for his students to be able to learn and to be able to seek help.

     I've had some Colucci-like reflective experiences in my day. The more obvious ones are when I've taken a class or attended a workshop and found myself in the position of student once more. I took a course several years ago during which the instructor stepped way back and we the students were left to struggle with some pretty complicated tasks together. But as a group, we collaborated and eventually discovered some pretty insightful solutions to the problems with which we were grappling. I realized I had learned much more through this experience than I would have had my instructor simply delivered the information to us via a lecture. And I was forced to think: do I provide enough experiences like this for my students? So, I began to, more and more. Luckily, I had a great model to follow.

     But what's so great about Colucci's post is that these metacognitive opportunities need not only present themselves in a classroom. When was the last time you needed help, and what was that experience like for you? When was the last time you were really close to mastering something, and you experienced a final push in the right direction that helped you to do so? What did that push consist of? When was the last time you were in an environment that was getting in the way of your concentration or your learning or your thinking or your emotions? How can you avoid such an environment in your classroom?

     Be present. Take note when life is going to teach you a lesson about yourself as an educator. Put yourself in your students' shoes as often as possible (even -- especially -- the sweaty, grungy-looking shoes). Share your reflections with others.

     Thanks, Anthony Colucci!

Oh. And now that you've registered for free for Education Week, you can read all kinds of interesting education blogs about all kinds of interesting education-related topics.

But don't stop reading this one, please!  :)

    

The G Word

Disclaimer: I am about to bring up a bunch of issues that I don't necessarily have solid answers to. Consider this post a collection of ideas in the making, not a collection of solutions (just yet, although I'd LOVE to get there someday).

     The G word. Something that for many teachers, especially those practicing or considering the practice of differentiated instruction, is becoming increasingly exasperating. Grading. There, I said it. 
     Now, there are a lot of reasons why bringing up grading with teachers might be synonymous with cursing. It can feel like a never-ending process. It can take up lots of time. True, and true. But today I want to focus on what, for me -- especially in light of my recent obsession with differentiated instruction [DI] -- is most frustrating about the traditional practice of grading.
     As I read book after book and article after article on DI, I grow more and more in love with the philosophy behind it. But this little voice in the back of my head will insist on asking questions, like "I get how teachers can teach in a DI classroom, but how can they grade in one?" I am not alone in this concern. I've had several conversations with several teachers during which they express the same concern.
     Luckily for me, I just finished reading Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe. And when I reached chapter 8, "Grading and Reporting Achievement," I became a very excited reader. What follows is what I gleaned from the chapter, my reactions to this, and some questions I think all educators need to consider if DI is truly going to function fully as a means of providing the best education to all students.
     Here's the overall problem: traditional grading and reporting practices as we have known them for decades do not mesh well with the philosophy and practice of DI. Why not? Because traditional grading practices require teachers to keep a rank book (paper or digital) in which the perception is that teachers will record a significant number of grades for the given term. I know many teachers who fret over not having enough grades in their rank book, so, trust me, the quantitative aspect of it is something teachers focus on. Sometimes the more grades one has recorded for a term in one's rank book, the more armed they feel should they ever have to defend a particular student's grade. Now, I get all that. I've lived all that as a teacher. But in embracing DI, I've had to face the ugly reality that this doesn't make sense. Why not? The biggest factor rests in the practice of beginning to assign grades to students at the very beginning of a marking quarter and continuing throughout the quarter to add more and more grades. The issue here is that, at the end of the quarter, the teacher then averages all these grades together, culminating in one final term grade. Here's the rub: Should a student's assessments from early in a term really impact his or her final grade for that term? What if they didn't understand the material during the third week of the term (thus doing poorly on assessments) but made great strides, and had come close to mastering the material by the term's end? Perhaps this student's understanding of the material during the last week of the term looks like a B+, but, when averaged in with those early assessments, the grade for the term becomes a D+. Isn't there something wrong with this? Shouldn't a student's grade be indicative of performance on summative assessments only, summative assessments which are designed to assess what the student has finally learned by a unit's end (versus the formative assessments given prior that really should only be used to inform further instruction and goal-setting)? As Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) suggest, ". . . the student should not be penalized for failure to demonstrate mastery in the second or fourth weeks. . . . In other words, what a student learns should be more important than when he or she learns it" (p. 132). 

     I did begin this post with a disclaimer, stating that I personally have no solid solutions to these problems as of yet. I recognize that changing how quarter grades are determined and how they are reported (which is currently on a report card for most districts) would be a huge undertaking for any school or district. But, Tomlinson and McTighe, as well as grading expert Ken O'Connor, have made suggestions that I think are well worth considering.

     O'Connor (as cited in Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 132) "suggests that grades should be 'determined' from various sources of evidence, rather than 'calculated' in a purely quantitative manner." He goes on to suggest that, should averaging be required by the district, teachers should use "the median or mode -- not the mean -- as the basis for arriving at a grade." 

     Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) present a total alternative to the report card as most of us know it. They recommend that schools and districts switch to using "reporting systems that support standards and differentiation" (p. 135). Rather than using a single grade to try and report "all that we need to say about a student's learning," they propose "that at least two, and preferably three, separate factors be reported: (1) grades for achievement of goals, (2) progress towards goals, and (3) work habits." When I read this, I almost fell out of my seat. This notion is so thrilling to me. I can't think of a better way to communicate a student's individual achievement and progress, not to mention placing value on work ethic. 
     So, what do you think? I'll leave you with the questions Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) share at the beginning of this inspiring (to me, at any rate!) chapter:

How will we know that we are providing high-quality feedback to parents and students?

How might we ensure that the information we transmit in the grading and reporting process is useful in supporting the learning process?

How should we grade and report in ways that encourage learner success?

Important questions! I'd love to hear what you think, readers.

Potpourri

     Ah, yes. Potpourri. It's the Jeopardy category that pops up from time to time, letting you know that, either the Jeopardy writers just couldn't think of one more category, or, as I like to think of it, they got excited about a bunch of different things and wanted to throw them all in there.
     Well, for this week's blog, I am borrowing from the Jeopardy writers due to my own excitement about a bunch of different ideas, reflections, and experiences I've had lately due to my most recent readings, research, and work in classrooms. Please enjoy the potpourri!

How Cool are Socratic Circles?

     This week, I had the amazing opportunity to help launch the use of Socratic Circles in a fifth grade class. In preparation for this, I decided to take a second look at Matt Copeland's Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School. I love a lot about this book! The best is how positive Copeland is about students' abilities to maintain a thought-provoking and meaningful discussion. Having seen Socratic Circles function smoothly in a high school setting, I was intrigued to see them in an upper elementary classroom. The discussions were mind-blowing. Not only was the content of the discussions great, but even better was how reflective the students were in terms of how the discussions were going, and what they could do to improve. Granted, there is preparation and instruction that goes into this. But the overall moral of the story? Your students can do this, can do it well, and can learn a lot from these types of experiences. Try it out! 

How Cool is Carol Ann Tomlinson?

     Okay, I know I'm getting into a little bit of hero worship here, but, seriously, she's just great. I just finished her book on Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom and it is a must read for anyone who needs to take their own pulse on how they feel about the philosophy of DI. The best chapter (although it's really hard to choose one!!) has to be chapter three, in which Tomlinson writes about how to invite students to be a part of the vision of DI. What makes this the best chapter, arguably, is that most other books on DI seem to ignore this, allowing for the reader to assume that students will just automatically go along with a differentiated classroom. Tomlinson's points about developing a classroom community that embraces the DI philosophy are spot on. In order for this to work, why wouldn't we involve our students as part of the plan?

How Cool are Teachers?

     As an instructional coach new to the job, I have been and continue to be inspired by the number of teachers in my new district who have reached out to me in order to collaborate on trying something new in their classrooms, or on reaching certain goals they have set for themselves as teachers. What an amazing profession of lifelong learners! What amazing role modeling for our students.