Motivation and Management Archives - Page 13 of 15

How to Keep Students Learning Before a Holiday

December 16, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

We are in the home stretch with only a few days of school remaining before the winter break. Energy runs high and attention wanes rapidly in the days before a holiday. How can you keep students actively engaged in learning that meets curricular targets and achievement standards? Here are a few ideas.

1. Use games

Students love games. Word games such as Scrabble and Boggle, Crossword puzzles and even Bingo offer opportunities for vocabulary review or spelling practice. Consider practicing math skills with card games or Cribbage. Twenty-first century skills such as inductive and deductive reasoning, creative problem solving and logic are developed through games such as Clue, Battleship and Chess.

2. Write a play

Students love to perform in plays. Let students review language arts, science or social studies concepts by working in small groups to write and act out a play. Parts of a cell? The water cycle? Continental Congress? Adverbs? Let students bring them to life with an original play or skit.

3. Create a puppet show

Younger students love puppets. Let them work with a partner or small group to choose a favorite story from their reading to enact with puppets. In addition to recall, comprehension, and vocabulary they will use higher level thinking skills such as summarizing, evaluating, and synthesizing as they choose which parts to act out and how to perform their story.

4. Write New Year’s Letters

As the year winds down, teach students the art of letter writing by having them write New Year’s letters. They can express gratitude, share insights about the best things in the past year or their hopes for the new year. The school janitor would love a letter of thanks, as would the bus driver, the secretary and anyone else who works in a school! Make it meaningful by actually sending the letters.

5. Repurpose songs

A favorite activity of younger and older students is to review content and concepts by working in small groups to rewrite the words of a favorite song to incorporate ideas from the curriculum. We remember a high school group’s rousing version of Queen’s We are the Champions re-purposed to teach Mitosis, and a sixth grade version of the Sponge Bob theme song to teach about Ferdinand Magellan.

6. Practice goal setting

End the year on a high note by setting students up for success in the new year. Practice goal setting by having students determine their goals for the next year or even the next five or ten years. Then have them break down each goal into actionable to-do items. Not only are they practicing a valuable life skill, they are connecting their dreams for themselves to the things they must do in order to achieve those dreams. This can be very motivational and help students see the purpose for the work they do in school every day.

The days before a school break don’t have to be exhausting. With a little imagination, they can be fun and inspiring.

How do you keep students engaged in learning before a break? Do you incorporate special, fun activities? We would love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Happy holidays,

5 Things Children Wish You Would Remember About Childhood

December 10, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 11 Comments

You were once a child, then you grew up. Now, with all the obligations and stresses of being a grown up, you may have forgotten what it is like to be a child. As an adult, you are helping a new generation to grow up. On behalf of children, we would like to refresh your memory, and give you a bit of perspective of what it is like to be a child. Here are five things children wish you would remember about being a child.

1. Children have little freedom.

Freedom is like cotton candy. Kids want it but when they get it, they don’t always know what to do with it. Freedom can becomes a sticky mess because they don’t know how to consume it correctly.

Elementary school aged kids have little freedom. They often have to ask, “Where are we going?” or “How long will we be there?” Can you imagine having to ask these questions multiple times a day because you really don’t know what is going to happen?

Children live a life that is greatly dictated by the adults around them, often for good reasons such as safety or consistency. However, a little freedom is a good thing. It helps children to feel autonomy and to learn to make good choices. Just like cotton candy, it is a sweet treat every once in a while as long as a grown-up helps the child to make sure it doesn’t become a sticky mess.

2. Children don’t get to control what they eat.

Children also have little autonomy in their choice of food. School lunch is a predetermined combination of foods and portion sizes. At home, young kids are generally at the mercy of their parents for meal times and choices. Can you see why it seems like a momentous occasion for children to have any say in the supper choice?

When was the last time you had to ask someone before you could go into your kitchen to get a bowl of ice cream? And if someone told you “no” on the way to the kitchen to get that ice cream, how would you respond? Would your response mirror that of a child? Most likely so. If you want a snack, you get one. Rarely do you have to ask someone. If you are having a particularly rough day, do you ever reward yourself with a chocolate, a latte, or some other special treat?

Remember this the next time kids beg you for a food choice that seems irrelevant to you. They aren’t trying to annoy you, they just want what you take for granted…choice in what they eat and drink. Giving children occasional choices in meals or snacks can bring great joy.

3. Children often don’t get a choice in clothing.

Much like the food example above, kids often have little choice when it comes to their attire. Children’s clothes are bought by adults, often with little input from the child. Sometimes dress is dictated by school uniforms or dress codes.

Adults often request that children change their clothes. Children don’t understand why the purple spotted scarf doesn’t go with the comfy striped, pastel sweatshirt. They don’t understand that certain situations call for certain types of clothes- thus the tank top in January.

Think of how excited adults get on “Casual Fridays” or other days when they get to dress in a way that is fun and comfortable. Adults use clothing as a form of personal expression. Kids want comfort and personal expression too, and don’t understand why they can’t have it. Looking good has a whole different meaning to them than it has to you.

Consider letting them wear Fourth of July bandannas in December and call it their version of Casual Friday. Try and build in some degree of choice for clothing selections on school spirit days. Your students will appreciate it and you might be surprised at the creative styles they concoct.

4. Children find being in school all day difficult.

The school day is long for children. Yes, you did it and “got through it.” Kids today sit longer, test more, have less recess and fewer opportunities in school for unstructured time. Do you remember the times you struggled to pay attention in elementary school? You may have blocked out all of those memories.

Think of days you struggle to pay attention. You may complain and discuss those rough days with your friends. Consider this…your students may understand those days as well as your adult friends, maybe even better.

It is OK to acknowledge that you know how kids feel when they get frustrated with spending so many hours each day sitting in school. Together, brainstorm solutions for being resilient through the tough days. The elementary students in your life may just come up with some ideas that work for you too.

5.Children want and need to talk.

Sharing a room with your friends all day and NOT TALKING is unnatural. People are social by nature. Kids learn through social interactions. Developmentally they NEED to talk. So when we put them in a classroom with 25 peers it is only natural that they want to talk.

Honestly, if you were in a room with 25 of your friends all day, wouldn’t you have trouble not leaning over and telling them about the funny thing that happened over the weekend? Obviously, kids can’t talk freely with their peers all day. However, discuss with them how to find appropriate times and ways to talk with their friends. Let them know that talking is natural. It just needs to be at the right times and in the right places. They love to about their lives and are often eager for an adult to listen when given the opportunity.

Given the demands of adulthood, we may think it is easy to be a child. Our memories are often more nostalgic than realistic, and it is easy to remember the fun parts at the expense of the difficult ones. With a little perspective, you can be aware of and sympathetic to the realities of being a child today.

Hoping you haven’t “grown up” too much,

Attention Issues: From the Other Side

November 16, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 6 Comments

As a new teacher, you may or may not have a history of working with children who struggle to pay attention. The label Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD has been attached to children with alarming frequency and the lines of children waiting to get Ritalin from the school nurse are legendary. Though the label is applied with more discretion recently, many children, with or without the label, exhibit challenges with attention and are often unable to focus on their school work.

I have worked with many children who struggle with focusing. I have a toolbox of strategies to help them deal with the often frustrating inability to sustain focus. As with many teachers, I understand that lack of attention is due to some unseeable workings of the brain, not a lack of willingness on the part of the child.

I thought I understood attention and focusing issues. I didn’t, not really. Now, I understand the issue from the other side, from the perspective of one who has suffered from attention issues.

Recently I underwent a major medical procedure. The resulting hospital stay and lengthy recovery meant that I was taking a large number of pills- including four different types of pain pills as well as a nerve blocker. I also took several medications which induce drowsiness if not outright sleep.

I had a lot of plans for my recovery. I got a stack of books and looked forward to being able to catch up on all my reading. My friend, who spent several months with similar pain meds warned me that I wouldn’t be able to read. He was right.

I tried. The worlds swirled around the page. I tried later and was able to read a few sentences, though my comprehension was foggy. I thought I would try again, maybe when the morphine wore off. I could see the words better, but I was not able to concentrate. Reading made me tired.

It occurred to me that some children go through this process regularly. I have good coping skills, and within one day I was frustrated. I can imagine what they must go through.

Watching television was no better. I tried watching a movie, but it was a jumbled mess of indistinguishable characters and a plot that I couldn’t follow. I started to watch Scandal, but five minutes in, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I gave up on a basketball game. I saw a foul and heard a whistle, but by the time they gave us the penalty I couldn’t remember what the foul had been.

I was able to watch a marathon of Project Runway. One episode bled into the next, I slept through parts and it didn’t matter. Contestants were making clothes, that was all I needed to know to make sense of the show. The same thing happened with a holiday baking show. The contestants were making gingerbread houses. When I woke up they were making pies and there were fewer contestants. I wondered if the rise of reality television was built on the general population’s inability to sustain focus.

I kept thinking about children. I had attention focusing issues for a few weeks. I was not able to function to my usual standards or to use my regular coping strategies. How do we expect a distracted six year old to function well? If I am frustrated after a week, how do children not become overwhelmed with frustration after dealing with this for years? The sad truth is that some children do become overwhelmed and refuse to try or lash out with poor behaviors.

When it comes to attention issues, I understand that in the past, I have been too focused on the cause. It makes sense, that if we can figure out what is causing the inability to pay attention we can fix it. Except for that often, we can’t fix it. The cause doesn’t really matter. We should not focus on the cause of a child’s attention issues, we should focus on helping them to cope.

I have also been too concerned with trying harder- trying harder isn’t helping me. Telling myself to concentrate doesn’t help either. I can’t will it. Telling children to try harder, or giving them a prize or a smiley sticker isn’t going to help. Nor is a punishment for not being able to concentrate going to work.

What we need to do is to find out where, how and when children can learn best, and then let them use that knowledge. For example, I have found that I can follow a conversation better than a book or a TV show. Oral learning might work for me now, though reading has always been my learning mode of choice in the past. Reading is not the only way to gain information. We say we adapt to the child’s needs, but do we really give children a choice in how they learn?

I remember a few years ago, when a student in my class failed an exam. He had been in class every day, listening and participating regularly. He had turned in all of his homework. I was shocked by his low exam score. I called him in to my office, where he told me that his hands just couldn’t write the words in his head, the words got lost between the thinking and the writing. I asked him the questions and he told me the answers. The right answers, every single time. He went from an “F” to an” A. ” I wonder what school must have been like for him, how much he had struggled and how much harder he would have had to work than his peers who do not have attention issues.

I have also discovered that I need to function when and where my brain is working. I wrote most of this at 2 AM. The meds were wearing off, but I was not too uncomfortable. I was also hyper alert. I nodded off before I could finish or do a spell check. This morning, I noticed that I had an error on almost every word. Do we always allow children to use spell check? Do they get to finish later? I think about standardized tests and I cringe. The child has no control over time and place.

The inability to focus is also uncomfortable because you can’t see it. People who talk to me on the phone say how good I sound. I am up, in a chair, dressed and looking competent. If you were to look at me, you can’t physically see that something is wrong with my ability to think. Everyone understands my physical need to use a walker or crutches. You can see the bandage on my leg. It is far less easy to see that I need some mental crutches as well. It has become painfully clear to me that just because you can’t see it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I think about children with “invisible” challenges, and my heart goes out to them.

I expected the physical challenges associated with my surgery. I was not prepared for the mental challenges. I am in awe and humbled by the experiences I have had. I have gained empathy and an admiration for people who deal with attention issues on a daily basis. I have hope of recovering, and I know some people will live with attention issues their entire lives.

I wonder what well intentioned but ill conceived advice I have given children in the past. I am sorry. I can only hope that I will move forward with a keener awareness and a heightened sensitivity.

My best,

Michele

We would love for you to share your comments and experiences with attention issues in the comments section below.

Falling Test Scores: Who is to Blame?

October 29, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers 4 Comments

This week the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores came out. The NAEP, which is often called the nation’s report card, measure proficiency of math and reading in fourth and eighth graders.

The results are not good. Math scores dropped for both 4th and 8th grade for the first time since the US began administering the test in 1990. 8th grade reading scores dropped, while 4th grade reading scores were stagnant. The achievement gap between whites and minorities remains present and strong. These disappointing scores come on the heels of the recent report that the average SAT score fell by 7 points.

Let the blame game begin. Already, fingers are pointing to the Common Core. Teachers will get more than their fair share of the blame. Still others will continue to point to college and university teacher preparation programs for not producing competent teachers. The Obama administration’s Race To The Top is blamed, and in true political fashion is also touted as the savior of our education system.

Carol Burris, a retired award winning principal and head of Network for Public Education, a non-profit organization that is working to improve public education, stated, ” You cannot implement terrible educational policies and expect that achievement will increase.”

Who is to blame for falling test scores? Perhaps we need to look at the “terrible policies” we are implementing.

Let’s investigate the results of one-size fits all curriculum. Everyone is on the same page on the same day. Do we really believe everyone needs to learn the exact same thing, taught it the exact same way and that everyone will learn it at the same rate?

Let’s investigate developmentally inappropriate practices such four year old children being forced to sit in a chair all day, doing worksheets. There is not time for play or exploration. They are expected to be able to read, and if they can not, they are labeled as remedial. Did you read at four?

Or perhaps we can investigate the relationship between lack of recess, little or no physical education, the rise of obesity and the poor behaviors of children who can’t sit still for long periods of time. Does movement have anything to do with learning? Do we really need blood flow to the brain?

While we are at it, let’s look at the rise of the behavior chart, the color- coded day, the stop light and the clip down. Are we asking ourselves why children are exhibiting so many off-task behaviors?

If we want to get serious about student achievement, then we need to get serious about giving children a fair shot. Are we doing what we need to do to make sure all children have a chance? They need food, adequate sleep and healthcare. They need stable, loving families who are supported in raising children. Do we really expect hungry, sick, traumatized, absent children to learn?

Are we really asking the right questions? We can sit around and play the blame game, or we can get busy advocating for children. Sometimes the right thing is obvious. Like the little boy in the fairy tale, we need to point out that the emperor is not wearing any clothes. We need to speak up against practices that are not in the best interest of children.

We know better and we can do better. We are the adults. We are the role models. We are the teachers, the principals, the parents. We are the policy makers and the voters. We are the community.

We are the ones who are failing.

Great Education Advice From A Bunch of Old Dead Guys!

October 4, 2015 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

When it comes to advice about education, the old Hebrew saying “there is nothing new under the sun” seems to be true. Take a look at this advice from some of these teacher peeps who have long gone on to to that great classroom in the sky. It may be old advice, but it is as true today as when it was first uttered in knowing voices by the wise and revered ones!

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. Socrates

We think Socrates would approve of 21st Century skills. With today’s easy access to computers to look up facts, we know we need to focus on higher level thinking- -analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creative problem solving. When thinking happens, the learning takes care of itself.

When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself. Plato

Today we call this metacognition. We know that we need to understand what we know and what we do not know. Verbalizing or writing down our thoughts helps us to understand. Using journals and notebooks as teaching tools helps students clarify thinking and increase learning. If you are talking to yourself, you’re not crazy, you’re learning!

Human beings are curious by nature. Aristotle

If you don’t think this is true, watch a toddler in action. They touch, look, smell and yes, even taste everything. Once they begin to talk they question everything. Why is the moon in the sky? How do the leaves get on the trees? Where do the birds go in winter? We need to remember to encourage curiosity, letting children ask questions and explore to find answers. Curious students are engaged and motivated to learn. Who doesn’t want more of that?

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle

Do you believe everything you read? Do you believe everything you hear someone say? Critical thinking is the ability to take in information and judge its value. You are then able to make informed decisions…about what you buy, who you will vote for and what you will believe. In this day and age of social media with its constant flow of information, this skill seems more important than ever. After all, as Abraham Lincoln famously said, “you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

It is better to learn late than never. Pubillius Syrus

There is no expiration date on learning. Some learn a concept quickly, others take awhile. Some children learn to read at four, some at seven or eight, and some not until adulthood. Some adults go to college at 18, some at 60. Sometimes we have to make a mistake over and over before we learn. It is the learning that matters, not how fast we learn, how much time it takes, or how old we are. The Divas are still learning all the time -not that we are old …

I learned most, not from those who taught me, but from those who talked with me. St. Augustine

Lev Vygotsky said the same thing a couple of thousand years later. Some people learn best by talking. Do you talk to students and give students a chance to talk with each other? Social learning can be a very powerful tool. Try it with strategies such as Think -Pair-Share or Book Buddies. This also speaks to the power of relationships. Children will learn more from someone they have a relationship with. Talking one-on-one with someone is a great way to learn. Hmm..permission to talk in school? Yay!

Your library is your paradise. Desiderius Erasmus

If a library is your paradise, you will never suffer from boredom. You can take a virtual vacation, visiting any time and place in the world. You can de-stress and unwind or get engaged and be invigorated. You can meet the greatest minds that ever lived, be inspired by incredible people, and learn from masters. Just go there already…and take some students with you!

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Consider the students paper with a score of 2/10 correct. A huge red “F” on the top of the paper does not inspire further learning. A score of +2 with a note ” With more practice, you can improve this next time” does. Which grade would you rather have? Which one would make you try harder next time?

The secret of education is respecting the pupil. Ralph Waldo Emerson

We believe that all children deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. That means giving each child what he needs, delivered in a way he can understand it. It means dealing with behavioral issues in a timely and fair manner, without humiliation and shame. It is enacting the golden rule-do unto others as you would have done to you- a basic tenant in almost every culture and every religion in the world.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats

Some people think the purpose of education is to cram your head full of factual knowledge. There is always a place for knowledge, but to inspire a student to love and seek understanding and truth is a much higher calling. We can never teach a student everything they will need to know, but if we can teach a student how to learn and ignite a love of learning, they will always be able to find what they need.

Does all this wisdom make you want to sport a toga and spout out some phrases for the ages? We’d love to hear your nuggets of wisdom or favorite educational quotes!

Go forth, seeketh wisdom and have a great week!

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