Going through the motions

This week I received my second observation of the year and on it was the phrase "teacher and students appear to be 'going through the motions.'"  Anyone who is doing the Flipped Classroom knows that it is very difficult to simply "go through the motions."  Being the scientist that I am, I decided to test a hypothesis and start doing what the observation said I was already doing.  I discovered some interesting things about myself and the class:

1. I hate going through the motions.  When I reduced the amount of effort that I was putting in each class, I became frustrated.  I felt like I wasn't being myself and, in turn, wasn't giving my students the best version of me.  On a related note, it is really boring sitting at a desk and just watching people work, even if it was for only 5 minutes.  How do people do this on a regular basis?
2. I was far more frantic getting things ready for class when I wasn't preparing properly beforehand.  I found I needed to print out material right in class that should have been copied, the advanced students were always waiting for me to get to them and therefore wasted valuable class time, and I ended up cleaning up the lab benches after my students were done because I wasn't making sure they were doing as they went along.  In the end, I felt more overworked while attempting to do less.  This led to feeling exhausted at the end of the end; drained of energy for the wrong reasons.
3. My students are hate not going through the motions.  Whenever they encountered something that required real thought or directions that didn't clearly state every single thing they needed to do, they balked at it.  There are guided inquiry activities in each unit we do and those represented the biggest struggles for my students.  I had known this was the case already, but it was more obvious when I was spending more time behind my desk simply observing them at work.  This isn't true for all, but the majority (even many of the "A" students) kept asking for me to "just tell me what I need to do next."

This last part really disturbed me.

Why is it that students are frustrated when they have to think/problem solve in school?

So it comes down to expectations.  Is what we expect students to do during the school day too low level for them?  Do their brains really want more?  From their teachers? from the school? from the curricula?  From society?  

Somewhere along their path to my class, they learned the wrong message about what school should really be.  Now, how do we unlearn them?

There's always a need

http://goo.gl/8fScy

When it comes to what's in the best interest of the kids, there's always a need.  In fact, as educators, we should go out of our way to make it a need.

Kids are hurting.  Families are struggling.  Schools need to be a beacon of strength and hope; the crutch and foundation that the community leans on in times of trouble.

When did that change?  When did the school stop being the center of the community?

The better question is:  How do we get that back?

Normalcy

I am an educator in NJ.  If haven't been watching the news, NJ and NYC were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy exactly one week ago.  The district I teach in is right on the shore (just north of Seaside Heights where many of the pictures of the destroyed boardwalk are from) and my students are going on 7 days without power.  Many were evacuated and are living with relatives in other parts of the state or country.  Many stayed and currently are either running on generator power, living in shelters or have no electricity at all.  Now they are predicting a Nor'Easter to hit on Wednesday with sub-freezing temperatures and possible flooding.  Luckily, no snow is predicted for our area.

In NJ, we have to complete 180 school days for it to count for a year.  We schedule 183 to account for 3 possible "snow days."  My district has been closed for 5 days and is not scheduled to reopen until the 13th which would give us 7 days missing (there were vacation days already in these weeks because of the NJEA Convention).  So, IF the schools have power again and are repaired, the students will have been off for a over 2 weeks.

http://goo.gl/s9Kca

Some of my Facebook friends are saying that if a school can't open then the students should just be allowed to go to whatever district they can to get back "normalcy" to their lives.  Or, if the school can bring in trailers then they should just run classes in them.  Here's my problem:

When did going to school become what "normal" kids do?

I think what people are trying to say is go back to a routine because kids function better on a routine than without.  Schools provide that (sometimes) safe environment to escape to because what happens in a school day is predictable.  But let's create 2 scenarios that buck this notion:

1.  Samantha's lives near the shore and her home was badly damaged during the hurricane.  Luckily, her family evacuated to her grandmother's house, which is 1 hour away in another part of the state.  The district her grandmother lives in has decided to allow Samantha to take classes there until she can return home.  The problem is, none of Samantha's classes match the district she is now living in because they use a very different schedule and teaching model.  Samantha is placed in classes well below her ability, or in several cases, needs to enroll in classes she has never taken before and catch up on all the work she missed in the first 2 months of the year.  Three months of being at her grandmother's, her house is ready and Samantha returns to her home school, but is now extremely behind in every class, causing her grades to drop.

2.  Riley's school was able to obtain trailers while they repair the building so classes are in session.  Unfortunately they have half the number of classrooms they had before so his class has doubled in size even though the classroom is smaller.  His house, on the other hand, still has no power and he must do all of his school work by candle or lamp light.  His family eats out every night so they can have hot food, but return to a dark home.  Because there is no electricity, there is no heat so he also shares his bed with his two younger siblings.

Where's the normalcy?  Are these extremes?  Absolutely.  Are they happening right now or going to happen starting this week when schools resume?  Yes.

I understand that your kids have needs that are met only during the school day, but please find a way to make that happen at home.  My son is in Kindergarten and to keep him active we gave him assignments to do which he will show his teacher on Wednesday when classes start again.  He is even going to volunteer with me to help kids like Samantha and Riley so he can better understand what they are going through.  We need to provide structure in the home first and let school be school.  

We rely so heavily on school to provide "normalcy" for our kids, no wonder teachers are so frustrated in September.  The kids have been "abnormal" for 104 days while on summer vacation.

Life's too short for hate

Since I encourage my students to follow me on Twitter to see the interesting things I am saying, I follow them as well if they follow me first.  As the school year approaches I am seeing more comments that look like this:


I don't think I'll ever fully understand why anyone would want to go back to school. Am I the only one nauseated by the thought? #ItsHell


Thinking of going to school in a week actually makes me sick


Now I know that students have been doing this basically since public school was invented.  The problem I see is that social media intensifies the problem.  Before it was 1 person in his/her room or maybe with a small group of friends complaining.  Now they are making a general post on FB or Twitter and 400 other "friends" are seeing, then liking it or commenting on it, and suddenly it is a misery party.  Others are jumping on there to share sob stories.


The worst part is school hasn't even started!!  This is just what is going through their head; garbage that they are inventing with their imagination.  It could be the greatest year of their life coming and they think life is over.  Sure teenagers are melodramatic, but there is something else going on here.


I feel schools educators parents hell everyone needs to take advantage of opportunities like this.  Let's nip this in the bud and do crazy, memorable things to start the year off every day!  Somewhere, every day, every student needs to find joy in school.  Teachers need to throw the curriculum out for 10 minutes and do an activity, lab, video, ANYTHING that keeps kids wanting to come back tomorrow to see what curve ball we are going to throw at them.


I love the following videos, and they will definitely make an appearance the first weeks of school, but what things do you do with your students to make them love being in school?

Their vision of school

We are trying to develop a new vision for the school.  My principal put out a survey asking for our opinion, but I realized that I couldn't make an informed response until I had talked to the most important part of the school:  my students.  So, I tweeted out the question yesterday and followed it up with a polleverywhere.com question. Here are the most common responses:

1. More and better technology--this makes a lot of sense when our laptop carts are over 5 years old and the classroom desktops are older than that.  Plus, these teens don't know a world without computers or the Internet so technology really needs to be part of everything they do.
2. Classes focused on specific careers--you would think this would come from my Honors students, but just as many of the College Prep students wanted this.  They said they are tired of taking classes that never seem to help them get any better as students and want classes based around their interests.  Having started my career in a Magnet school, I completely agree with them.  I feel the school-within-a-school or academy model is something that traditional public schools need to investigate and embrace.  If a student wants to be a doctor, they should take classes focused on medicine.  If someone wants to pursue business, why shouldn't they be allowed to take management, finance and entrepreneur classes?
3. Hire better teachers--I don't encourage students to talk badly about other staff members, but sometimes they need an outlet.  Some of the stories they told me made me cringe and I don't believe it is appropriate to share them here.  However, the class that really focused in on this came up with a list of qualities that they feel every great teacher should have.
1. Enthusiasm--get excited about what you are teaching no matter how boring it is
2. Content experts--or at least have confidence that you know what you are talking about
3. Classroom presence--be the mayor. Move around, talk to everyone, demonstrate control
4. Outgoing--get away from the desk and get in with the students
5. Have fun--enjoy what you do
6. Involve the class in the lesson--even during lecture remember they are more than just note takers
7. Class plan--don't wing it and if you do, make it look convincing
8. Clever--be able to think on your feet and develop innovative ideas
9. Classroom management--both enforcement of rules and keep control of the class
10. Treat students as equals--never talk down to them
11. Be open to criticism--and don't attack students who try to offer it

What I found the most surprising was the lack of a specific comment.  Not a single person said "less homework" or "fewer tests."  They always seem to complain about the amount of work they get, but no one really wanted that to change.  Maybe it wasn't at the front of their mind because they were focused on instruction and assessment is usually not seen as a form of instruction.

No matter what, this little exercise demonstrates clearly that when developing a vision for a school, it is absolutely imperative that you review the comments of every part of the school community.  Students want to know their opinions matter.  Give them a say in how the school and I am sure the school will be a better place for it.