The Quality Teacher: Tip#1 Reflection

We all know that the stakes can get no higher as a teacher. The topic of the quality of teaching is more popular than ever! Everyone has an opinion of what that looks like. And guess what? I have my own ideas as well. So I've decided to share them with you. I'll be sharing one at a time. 

The first thing I feel a quality teacher possesses is the the ability to reflect on their practice. Picture this...

A pro baseball player has a hot streak. He is batting .365 (that's good in case you're not a baseball fan) from the beginning of the season all the way to the spring all star break. He comes back from the break and goes into a slump. He is striking out, swinging at terrible pitches, and his batting average tanks too. He gets with his batting coach and together they look back at what went wrong. They look back at video footage and see what about his swing is working and what is not. They do tweaking to his swing. He goes back to the base and gives it a try. If he continues this process, eventually he'll find that sweet spot once again. 

This scenario is fairly common in baseball. The art of reflection is what propels change. It is what moves you forward. As a teacher you have to constantly reflect on what went well and what didn't. You have to tweak things. Reflection begins with these questions:

1: Did almost my whole class get it and a few didn't or vice versa? If most didn't, I need to make major changes.

2: What was the level of engagement? Was it high? Do I need to change something to have them further engaged?

3: What was their level of understanding as the lesson progressed?

4: Was the day mostly positive or negative? What contributed to each?

5: What lessons were grand slams and which were strike outs?

These are just a few questions amongst a million you could ask yourself.  This may seem like it's the obvious thing to do, right? You'd be surprised!!! You'd be surprised at how many teachers show up year after year doing the same lessons! What if they are strike out lessons and they are being repeated? What is the student performance going to end up like? Reflection is a serious matter! 

My suggestion is to get yourself a journal. It doesn't need to be a fancy schmancy journal. Get one of those black and white ones that are on sale at Walmart at the beginning of the school year. For $2, you can change your classroom drastically. Dedicate one school year to reflecting. Do it after school each day. It doesn't need to be long. Spend 10 minutes to reflect on your day. Do this for one school year and just watch your progress. :)

100%

Ok wait!!! Before you go modeling and practicing your handy dandy expectations, there is one more important factor that I must urge you on. It is the concept of 100%. If you think about that utopian classroom we chatted about before, you would definitely see 100% participation, 100% obligated, 100% of all students behaving and acting a way that is conducive to learning. Now let me just say right now that if you do not believe that 100% of your students are capable of stepping up to the challenge then there is no point in reading on. You can go back to doing what you do and God speed! ...... Now, those of you still remaining, you must make sure that when you get to the practice portion you get 100% of the students following. 

I know, I know. You're probably saying, "What do I do if I don't?!" Never fail. Ninja teacher is here. Kidding. Really. Expect to NOT see all students participating or following every expectation. That is ok.. for now. You will always have that one or two students that will test you and attempt to do their own thing. Your expectation however should still remain that you must insist on all 100%.  If you follow my advice, you will get that result. 

Let me explain further. Close your eyes and picture this scenario. Wait, guess you can't if you're reading this. Scratch that, reverse it. Visualize this scenario, with your eyes open. I have just handed out papers and asked all students to write their name and date on the paper with the expectations that I give them 1 minute to do so and then when I call time's up, stop everything and eyes on me. We practice by pretending to write and me calling time. Practice goes well. It's time for the real thing. The kids pick up pencils and the timer starts. Time is now up and I  need everyone's attention so that I can give the next step. I've given a direction to put pencils down and have eyes on me. Out of 25 kids, I have 5 kids still writing. I have a partner pair talking. I have one child going into her back pack looking for her sharpener. I have two kids with pencils in hand tapping. The rest followed the expectations give. You have a crossroads here. Here is how the two paths can play out:

Scenario 1: I now am upset because my kids clearly did not listen and all are not focused on me.

"Why are you in your back pack? Didn't I tell you to look at me? Stop tapping the pencils! Hey you two, I'm waiting! Hurry up!! How long does it take you to write your name and date?"

I'm now getting louder and louder. While that is going on, the others who were how you wanted them are now losing focus. Not a good situation. I'm frustrated and so are the kids. What I suggest is try this instead. And it may sound silly, but please don't knock it until you try it. Here it goes:

Scenario 2:

1: Stand in a power position. Mine is standing very tall, legs slightly apart, arms crossed, eyes surveying the room.

2: In a deliberate slow and low voice say, "I see 60% ready.....I see 75% ready. Thank you Maria for your eyes. I see 83% ready. Wonderful eyes Brian. I see 90% ready. 97%. I see 2 people not focused on me. Thank you. 100% excellent."

Notice that I didn't say people's names. I didn't nag. I praised students. I kept my cool. Often kids that purposefully lag behind want negative attention. Don't give it to them. Let me also note that sometimes the waiting on the last few can last what seems like forever. DO NOT GIVE IN. If you move forward with that last child or last two will cause headaches later and they won control. They are the ones that disturb others later saying, "What are we doing again?" or trying to get others off task. Now your flow is interrupted. Wait for 100%. It may be slow now, but it WILL speed up.

3: You can now go over the expectations again. Do a fake practice again. And say, "Let's see if we can get to 100% faster!"  Again, it will be slow but it will speed up and you'll have them get quicker at responding the right way. Keep repeating the expectations and wait for 100%

Now if you are in an activity where they are out of their seats, such as walking in line. Make sure you STOP the line when you don't see 100%. Stop and say calmly, "That's unfortunate. We are less than 100% so I'll wait." Wait awhile if you have to. The kids will want to move and come into submission! :)

My final thoughts for you: Do NOT settle for anything but 100%. That 3% can cause havoc in your class the rest of the year. Use the power and pressure of the other 97% to get those final ones on task. If those same kids refuse to not follow along after you've been explicit, modeled,  and practiced, then have a talk with them on the side away from the other kids. Do not let them have an audience. If it continues, get the support of your administrators.

Modeling and Practicing Expectations

Now that you have your expectations written out .... wait ...you did write them out already right? If you didn't, go back to my previous entry and READ! Ok here we go again...NOW that you have your expectations written out and you have visualized your successful classroom, it's time to execute. What does that mean? It's time to get to the modeling and practice portion of the show.

Whenever I introduce something, I always tell them that I do not expect them to be mind readers. For example, I ask them if they have ever had a teacher who said, "What's 2+2?" and you shout out the answer and get in trouble. They of course raise their hands. I then ask them if the teacher told them to raise their hands when answering. If he/she did not, the teacher is at fault because students are not mind readers. However if a teacher told them ahead of time, and they still shout out, then they are at fault. This always resonates with them. I proceed to tell them that I will always be clear and never expect them to be mind readers AND if I ever get on them and wasn't clear, please check me on it. You should see their faces when I say that! From there I introduce the first task.

Let's go back to my example using walking in line!

My expectations were as follows:

You must be standing with your arms crossed.

You must not be touching the person in front of you.

Your shoulders must be lined up with the shoulders of the person in front of you.

Your mouth must be closed.

You must be alert so you don't run into the person in front of you.

You must keep up with the line without running to do so.

It's now time to teach them. How you first present them is up to you. My recommendation is if they you have younger students, they can use a visual. Make up a small sign and have it up on your board. Have the expectations listed. Go through each one of them. For older kids, they probably can handle just hearing them, although visuals never hurt nobody (yes I know...double negative. We're keeping it casual here, right?). Presenting will sound something like this:


"Ok ladies and gentlemen. Throughout the year you will be expected to walk in a line when we travel from place to place. I want to be clear about how a scholar would do it."


I like to say scholar because it makes it sound more like a standard of all scholars rather than just was I feel like. 


"Here is the list of expectations. I expect you to...." 


I go through the list. I have a few volunteers to come up and model it wrong and we discuss why it's wrong. Then I have a few come up and model the correct way. I even have the big kids come up, especially ones that could be potential problems.


Then brace yourself for the next part because it could cause you to lose it. Ask them the following... "Are there any questions about these expectations?" At first you'll get no hands. But then follow up with this statement... "Are you sure it is clear? Because if you do not meet these expectations, there will be consequences." At this point you will get hands with tons of what-ifs. Like I said before, please answer all of them. Take the time. The clearer it can be, the better.


Once that is done, it is time to practice. More on that later! :)

Expectations

I must start somewhere. Let me start with this question. Do you believe it a teachers job to teach? Bueller? ...Bueller? .... Duh, right? That answer is obvious! YES!!! Yet year after year, teachers struggle to do it. Let's face it. It's simply not possible if you can't control the dang class! Some teachers are lucky enough to get down the mysterious art of classroom management in the first few years of teaching and we stand it awe as if they are some teaching ninja. While other "experienced" teachers never seem to get a clue. While I do not profess to be perfect, I do have the basics down of classroom management. Each year I must make adjustments based on the dynamics of my lovely angels. Each teacher however must have some tried and true strategies to go to each year that serve as your foundation.

The foundation of my classroom management starts with expectations. Come on teachers... what is the base word of expectations? That's right. Expect. Let's take a look at how Merriam Webster's defines it:

1: to look forward to

2: to anticipate 

3: to consider probable or certain

4: to consider reasonable, due, or necessary  

5: to consider bound in duty or obligated  

In order to have a successful year, you must start with expectations. The first step in thinking about your classroom expectations, you must first VISUALIZE. In a perfect world ... In a utopian classroom world, if you will ... what do you see? Let's look at the definitions above and how they apply to expectations in the classroom. The following are some questions to reflect on as you visualize:

1: What do you look forward to seeing each and every day, throughout your day in this successful classroom?

2: What do you anticipate seeing through every transition in this successful classroom?

3: What must certainly be seen in this successful classroom ?

4: What do you consider necessary in a successful classroom?

5: What will you obligate your kids to?

Answering these question may be a little vague right now so let's zoom in a bit. You must have expectations for every movement your students make. Consider this list of movements in your room:

Getting in line for lunch

Going to the library

Sharpening pencils

Taking out books

Getting water

Answering the door

Answering questions

Going to the bathroom

Working in partners

Working in groups

Each of these movements require their own set of expectations. Let's focus in on the dreaded lining kids up. Oh come on ... you know it is a pain! I'll share my list of expectations for lining up. Before making them, I visualized what I wanted to see AND I anticipated what the students may do wrong. Look at my list and see if you can see what I visualize and what I anticipated happening.

You must be standing with your arms crossed.

You must not be touching the person in front of you.

Your shoulders must be lined up with the shoulders of the person in front of you.

Your mouth must be closed.

You must be alert so you don't run into the person in front of you.

You must keep up with the line without running to do so.

Now you must create a similar list for every movement. I'll tell you right now. It will take some time. Yes ... stop whining. Good things come to those who ...err...You get the picture. It is better to be proactive then to spend your year being a fireman(woman) all year putting out fires ... and at times what seems to be forest fires. 

Once you have these lists, you must explicitly tell all your students the expectations. Then you must model, practice, praise, model again, practice, practice, practice, praise, practice, model again if needed, practice. Trust me, the time invested reaps a harvest of peace and quiet. 

Your homework: Create a list of all the movements that your students will take. Create your list of expectations. VISUALIZE and anticipate. Got it? Good. ...........................................................................................................................................................................................

You're still here? Go. Make your lists.  :)