Here’s a link to a great article in the New York Times about the sad state of teacher salaries nationwide, especially when it’s compared with three countries that are currently outperforming nearly every other nation.
Want to guess what the teachers’ salaries are in those countries? You won’t believe it!
Here’s the link:
It’s that time of year again when it seems everyone’s getting sick – including me. Just last week, I caught one of those little chest colds that started as a tiny cough and transitioned into such a painful throat that I couldn’t speak.
I didn’t feel too bad. It just hurt to speak. So I wrote that on the board and tried to make it through the day. I could barely manage a whisper.
Something really interesting began to happen. I’d been able to hoarsely give my directions for the day and then let the students work independently on their tasks. When a student asked a question, though, more often than not, that student would whisper to me.
It was as if my inability to speak somehow encouraged the students to speak very quietly too! I chuckled to myself as I listened to the students whisper their questions to me and speak in whispers to each other.
The classes went surprisingly smoothly and the students were able to accomplish quite a bit without my direct instruction. I’m not sure if it was because they were being sensitive to the fact that I wasn’t feeling 100% or if it was simply because we’ve been working together long enough that they don’t need me every step of the way.
Regardless, it was nice to be reminded that you don’t always have to raise your voice to be heard. Sometimes speaking quietly is the loudest way to be heard.
My school just recently has purchased the EVAAS testing and tracking method of student performance. It was quite eye-opening, to say the least. While I’ve always been a good manager of student behavior and a good motivator of students, these results showed me that my top students were performing above what was expected, but my lower performing students were performing lower than expected.
My heads been spinning on how I could structure my classroom to meet all the different ability levels without loosing anyone.
Our school groups students according to their math placement. Would it not then be appropriate to group students by their reading and writing performance? Why are we so concerned with ability grouping of students in reading but not in math?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this as I’m really stumped…
I mentioned in my last post using the Teacher vs. Student tactic to get an unruly class to cooperate. I just wanted to post a quick update on my third block and how things have changed since I implemented this plan.
I introduced TvS on Tuesday, and it’s absolutely amazing how things have changed. The entire class has become much more cooperative. The two or three most disruptive students have become quite helpful. The class as a whole moves much more quickly.
And, most importantly for me, I’m enjoying teaching that group of students a whole bunch more than I was on Monday.
I know it will require my consistency to continue to be effective, but what class management system doesn’t require consistency?
If you’re struggling with a tough class, try the Teacher vs. Students strategy and tell me how it goes.
This year has been quite challenging, which is good in a way since I need to continually work on improving my class management strategies. The last two years were so sweetly simple since I had one of those magical groups of students who really bought in to what I was teaching, and I looped with them after their seventh grade year.
But this year? This year has been a challenge. It didn’t matter to these students that I had been teaching for years or that I’d written a book on how to manage student behavior. This group of students acted like so many of our students act – uncooperative, unruly, and not wanting to learn.
This year, for the first time, my original system of class management (which you can find in my videos at HelpingTeachersGrow.com or in my materials at TakeBackThatClass.com) wasn’t enough to encourage the level of cooperation necessary for all of us to have success. For a couple of weeks, I wasn’t sure what to do.
Then it came to me (and I know this isn’t anything new to many of you veteran teachers out there!).
A new system of management that held the entire class responsible to a level of behavior that rewarded their cooperation and withheld that reward for the times students tried to get the instruction off track.
I call it… Teacher versus Student.
And it works like magic.
At the start of each class (I don’t use this with all my classes. Just the ones that need it.) I write a big T and a big S on the board. As class progresses, whenever a student is disruptive, I put a point under the T (for teacher). When the students are, as a whole, on task and working well, I put a point under the S (for student). I make sure to draw attention to the times I make a point, especially since the times the students earn a point is typically when their focused and not necessarily watching the board.
At the end of the class, if the students have more points than I do, we’ll stop a few minutes early, and I let them socialize or go outside for a minute or something else that they really want. If I have more points than they do, no reward.
This has really helped me change my classes around. I love it when the other students tell each other to be quiet or to stop messing around. When the students start to help manage each other’s behaviors, things are really working.
This little trick has turned my least favorite class into the class I really look forward to each day.
Give it a try! And let me know how it goes for you.
It’s the weekend, and I’m stuck replaying an interaction with a student in my mind.
Do you ever do that? You have a conflict with a student, and now you’ve got that scene replaying itself over and over in your mind.
Teaching is one of those jobs that is very difficult to just leave at work. Aside from the work that many of us bring home to finish, we tend to keep thinking of our students even when we get the chance to do otherwise. Some of these student interactions can haunt us, leaving us wishing we had a second chance to deal with the situation differently.
I had one of those this last Friday.
I generally feel like my students don’t rattle me. My management system works so well for me that most of the time my students and I get along quite well. I give out marks here and there to reinforce my expectations (if you’ve seen my class management video, you know what I’m talking about). And my students respond well to my consistent application of this system.
But each year it seems I get one or two students who refuse to play along with my system. This two percent, as I call it, can take up much of our time as teachers if we don’t handle them appropriately. And it can be so difficult to handle these challenging students.
This Friday I had a minor confrontation with one of these students. During the time we spend silently reading, this student refused to read. I gave him clear directions.
“John (not his real name), you need to be reading. Do you understand my directions?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to follow my directions?”
“No.”
“Ok, that’s a mark.” And I moved on. I noted his mark on my clipboard and then proceeded with managing the rest of the class. He sat there, not reading, but not being disruptive either. Later, when it came time to take a short quiz, he again refused. It was a nearly identical conversation.
“Are you going to follow my directions?”
“No.”
“Ok, that’s a mark for not following directions.” And I moved on. Again he sat there quietly, refusing to take the quiz. I had no further issues with that student that day.
The next day comes and he choose to read during class. But when it came time for our reward time, he had earned enough marks to not receive the fun time in the gym with the other students on his team. He was stuck, with me incidentally, in “Frown Friday” along with about fifteen other “Frowners.” During Frown Friday, all students must either work on any classwork they need to make up or read silently. This student again refused. I reminded him that the marks he received during Frown Friday went toward the next week’s Fun Friday. He began to get disrespectful.
Up until this point, I had been able to adhere closely to my plan. I hadn’t lost my cool or gotten involved in his power struggle. I’ve found that the most effective way to avoid the power struggle is to avoid getting into it in the first place. This situation was heading straight towards that struggle, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to avoid it.
When the student received three marks (all for the next week, putting him into Frown Friday already for the next week- not a good situation), I told him I needed him to move to my isolation desk. He refused. Another mark. Typically when I give a student a mark for something, I simply move on. They earned the consequence for their behavior, and I don’t find it necessary to continue to punish that student. What gets difficult is when that student escalates the behavior, even when the teacher avoids escalating it.
This student began making faces and trying to disrupt the rest of the class. The class was enjoying this student’s clowning, encouraging him with their chuckles. The student at one point stood up to do something. I don’t remember what, but I know it was one of those behaviors designed to draw attention to himself. I told him to sit down, but I did it with one word. “Sit.”
And this is where I wish I could take back my next reaction.
You know how you feel when you’re in these power struggles. Inside you your shouting things like, “How dare you be so dang disrespectful when all I’m trying to do is help you grow into a more capable adult?” or “You little blankety blank. Quit being so immature and simply do what I ask!” Many teachers succumb to this inner reaction and say things they later regret.
As soon as the student sat, I told him, as if I were speaking to a dog, “Good boy.” It was designed to be dehumanizing, and it was. The point wasn’t lost on the student. He immediately reacted, as did the rest of the class.
I had taken some power back from the student, and I had a brief moment of “I got you.” Later I realized that what I really did was make him feel worse to try to make myself feel better. I was supposed to be the adult in this situation, and in that one brief moment, I played down to his level. It wasn’t a big deal. I could have done worse. Many have. I have. But I definitely felt disappointed that I let myself slip into that one ego-gratifying moment.
I then tried a different approach, one I wish I had tried from the start of class. I told the students that if they could remain quiet for the rest of the time, I would let them visit for the last five minutes of class. But if any students continued to be disruptive, I would take a minute off their free time. This worked great since whenever any student would speak, a different student would encourage them to get quiet. This positive peer pressure can be very effective as long as the teacher is there to manage it. And it did work here. We got through the rest of the class smoothly, and the day ended without any further situations cropping up.
I wrote that student up in an office referral, my first of the year. I pride myself on not referring students to the office, and to be able to get through three quarters of the year without doing so was my personal best! I spoke with the administrator about what happened, just so he would know the facts. I then called that student’s father, just so he would also know the facts. Great dad. Was very appreciative that I called. We scheduled a conference for the following week. And hopefully we’ll be able to help this student get back on track.
I regret that one moment. It wasn’t too bad, so I’m not really beating myself up too much. But I could have done better. The nice thing about teaching is that our students can be so forgiving. I’ve still got eight weeks to go with these great kids. I know I’ll have a second chance with that student. And next time I promise myself I’ll do better.
Darren B.
I am always amazed at how these students we work with every day reach out to us in such a special way.
I have two daughters, 9 and 5 years old. They are extraordinary and supremely special creatures, and the connection I feel with them is unlike anything else. I also have nearly 100 12 and 13 year olds in my classes, each one a special, unique individual full of promise and surprise. The connections generated between my students and myself are unlike anything else.
I hope you also feel a strong connection to your students. I’ve occasionally met the teacher who had shut themselves off from this connection. I always was left wondering how they managed to finish each day without that connection. I get so much just hearing the kids say goodbye at the end of a day or laughing at a joke or telling me that I am the weirdest teacher they’ve ever had- a supreme compliment!
Not connecting with your students is like not tasting your food or like just watching the snow fall and never playing in it.
Or like hearing music but never feeling it.
Get out there. Make some real connections with your students. They are hungry for that connection. And when you find yourself most tired and frustrated, they will fill you up.
DarrenB