Ch. 3: Expect to Get Your Students There

When I first started writing this post, I had typed the chapter name as “Expect Your Students to Get There.” I didn’t think this was such a big deal as I began to review the text, but then I realized something was very different:

• “Expect Your Students to Get There” focuses all the responsibility on the kids.
• “Expect to Get Your Students There” focuses on what teachers can do to help kids achieve.

Looking at it another way, the first idea puts the pressure on the kids alone. If they don’t get it, it’s “their fault.” Frankly, anyone who believes this shouldn’t be in education in the first place. And, to be quite honest, there may be times in a teacher’s career when one might drop to such a low level of professionalism. Teaching is stressful, and sometimes it’s easier to blame the kids for their scores instead of asking ourselves, “What could I do differently?”

Our society used to accept this. Used to be, if a kid couldn’t make it in a regular classroom environment, they might have taken a vocational track instead. That’s what they do in various European and Asian countries, isn’t it? Perhaps they were referred for special education services. Maybe they just dropped out and went to night school at the local community college to get their GED or what-not. Not such a bad fate. It used to be easy to get a minimum wage job and work your way up through the corporate ladder. Pull yourself up by those proverbial boot straps and make something of yourself. Our parents did it. Why can’t these kids do it too?

That dog won’t hunt today. If you’re still teaching with this mind-set, nostalgia has blinded you from reality. No longer is it acceptable to just sit back and let kids fail. Period.

Kids come to our classrooms with a myriad of background experiences and a wide range of learning styles. If you go into teaching each year thinking that every kid will jump through your hoop the exact same way – the way you tell them to – and that it’s their fault if they can’t figure out how to get that done, then what kind of relationship are you going to develop with that kid? If the child thinks that they cannot do it, many times they simply won’t try. They won’t turn in homework. They won’t come to school. They may get oppositional. They’ll fail and they don’t care, because maybe next year they’ll get a different teacher. Or they will simply drop out when they get old enough.

However, if you adhere to the expectation of the chapter’s title as written, you’re sharing the responsibility with the kids. You are expecting to work with them, as members of the same team, to help each other achieve the same goals. Kids know that you’re going to help and support them even if they struggle to meet those expectations. You’re the coach and they’re the players on your team, all working together toward common goals, and they want to be there. They want to be a part of this thing called school.

Now, let’s clarify for a moment:

• Is anyone telling you that high standards are wrong, or that we should lower our standards for some kids but not others? NO.
• Is anyone saying that the entire responsibility for student achievement lies with the teacher only? NO.
• Is anyone telling you to don your rose-colored glasses, grab your pompoms and turn your class into a love-in? NO.

The point here is to take a realistic view of students and their ability to achieve realistic standards & expectations: You can’t control what every child in your classroom does or does not choose to do. You can only control how you choose to respond to what happens around you at any given moment. Professional life or personal life, the concept is the same. We are responsible for the choices we make as we respond to those around us. No one makes us do anything, and likewise, we cannot make our students achieve. Our job as professionals is to foster in each student the desire to achieve, through the way we choose to interact with them.

As the author of this book states, we have to start where our students are; we must set reasonable expectations for their progress while they’re in our classroom, within the larger view of the whole curriculum; and that WE will use our knowledge, skills, and professional abilities to help them get there.

It’s not about, to use the author’s term, making “a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” (p. 83). It’s about taking a realistic view of the situation. It’s about controlling what you can control. It’s about being a professional. It’s about doing what’s best for each and every kid you work with.

So, how do we do this?

Well, this is a team effort, right? You’re the coach, students are the players, right? How would a coach approach this problem? How would that relate to a classroom?

A coach would:	A teacher would:
Learn everything possible about the game as a whole.	Be highly-qualified to teach, and seek professional development to improve the craft.
Study the challenging team’s players in order to gain as much knowledge as possible about the opposition.	Become experts in local curriculum expectations, state standards, and assessment measures.
Get to know each player and what their individual skills were, assigning them to the positions on the team that were the best fit to their demonstrated skills.	Develop relationships with kids to learn each student’s entering knowledge/skills, developing appropriate classroom interventions as needed to support each child’s needs.
Teach each player additional skills needed to excel at their assigned position.	Differentiate instruction to provide each child with opportunities to demonstrate individual learning success and uncover needs for future lessons.
Teach routines (“plays”) to the players to help them adapt to different situations on the playing field.	Teach each student how to learn and be successful in the classroom environment.
Teach different plays to different groups of players based on their individual skills and functions on the field.	Group students when appropriate to provide appropriate challenges and instructional interventions while still contributing to the class as a whole.
Rely on the help of assistant coaches as needed. (They can’t do it all!)	Seek assistance from other teachers, principals, parents, and community members for help when the going gets tough. (We can’t do it all!)
Practice, practice, and practice those plays every day in the time allowed before the game, always focusing on how each play will eventually lead to the team’s common goal of achieving success.	Practice, practice, and practice needed skills every day, always focusing on how each lesson will help students learn the knowledge and skills needed to be successful, be it in school or in life.
After a game, they look for ways to improve their performance so they can be even more successful during the next game.	Teachers examine past assessment results to identify ways to improve performance, and they teach kids how to self-examine their knowledge & skills and seek ways to improve, too.  (Metacognition)

But when it comes down to it – Game Day, if you will – the coach stays on the sidelines while the players go out of the field and make it happen.  The coach is always there, offering guidance & direction as appropriate, but the players will perform as they are taught. 

Remember the old adage: it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.  As teachers or coaches, we develop appropriate supportive relationships with kids. We tailor our approach to teaching knowledge & skills to the individual needs of each child. We teach kids the importance of how little things contribute to overall success every day, every play.  We instill in them the desire and the confidence to do their best.  We offer them all the support we can as they demonstrate those skills. 

Win or lose, the kids perform as coached, and they come back for more, looking for ways they can improve the next time around.

And that is the part that makes a good coach proud.

Know Where Your Students Are Going

Okay, so we know to start by understanding the standards, breaking them down into achievable learning targets that are worded in kid-friendly language (“I CAN” statements), and posting them in the room so that all can see. 

Unpacking Standards

The author discusses “unpacking” the standards and objectives.  Think of the standards as a final destination, and decide what steps (skills, knowledge, etc.) are necessary to get each kid from where they are now – Point A, if you will – to where they need to be – Point B – which is achievement or mastery of the standard.

Ms. Jackson identifies 2 types of goals: Content and Process.

• Content: What students need to know and understand
• Process: The skills students need to use or demonstrate

Content and process goals often overlap or are embedded in one another.  For example, in order to write a paragraph students must know how what elements (topic sentence, supporting details, conclusion, connections, etc.) are involved in creating an effective paragraph.

Teachers can tell the difference between content & process goals by looking at the verb in the goal statement.  If the verb is something like “know,” “tell,” or “understand,” it’s likely a content goal.  If the verb implies action, like “create,”  “write,” “analyze,” “compare,” etc., you’re probably reading a process goal.  It’s not always easy to tell the difference, but it’s important to think about what you’re asking kids to do in the classroom and how those activities lead kids toward mastery of the standards.  Here’s why:

1. Analyzing your goals helps you figure out what’s really important to student learning.  It might be fun for kids to create paper dolls in class, but is it an effective way to help kids analyze cultural differences (for example)?
2. Examining process vs. content goals is a great way to open the door to differentiated instruction.  If it’s a content goal, think about different ways kids can use to gather and master that content.  If it’s a process goal, think about the different ways kids can demonstrate those skills.  make a list, and give kids a degree of choice in how they show their mastery of content and skills.  That little bit of flexibility on your part can create a whole lot of ownership for kids, making them more likely to get deeply involved in your lesson.
3. Once again, this process of identifying the types of learning goals you use in your classroom helps you figure out what smaller steps students will have to take in order to master each learning target.  To build off the example above, writing a paragraph is a big deal to a 2nd- or 3rd-grader.  Breaking it down into its elements and helping kids learn how to put them together is much more achievable.

Making Learning Goals Concrete

So we’ve discussed how to figure out what kids need to know and be able to do.  How will we know when they know it?  How will we know that they can perform the skill with mastery?  We do so by making those goals as clear and concrete as possible.

Start by thinking about what kids will be doing in class.  Where can you assess content knowledge?  Where can you assess skills or processes?  It doesn’t have to be at the end of class, with a homework assignment, or through a test at the end of a unit.  The knowledge or process should dictate the assessment.  Never give an assessment just because you need to put points in your grade book! 

The author suggests we avoid vague statements in objectives or learning targets.  Get rid of the wiggle-room!  Use specific criteria and descriptions in your targets.  Tell the kids exactly what they need to know and be able to do.  Instead of “Students will measure a number of different objects,” have kids “determine the volume of three-dimensional objects by calculating linear measurements and measuring liquid displacement.”  This way, kids will know exactly what skills they need to use to demonstrate mastery.  Plus, you know exactly what to teach them, too!

Set Goals in Terms of Minimum Performance

Don’t let this section fool you!  Learning targets should be rigorous and challenging for the kids in your classes.  They should be achievable as well, though.  The author takes great pains to point this out, and I would like to reinforce that here, too.

Meeting or achieving the standard is the minimum acceptable level of performance, the author says.  Moving beyond the standard, once again, allows an open door for differentiation.  They author’s simplistic example, a jumping over a string, describes a standard.  The way a child jumps over that string is how the challenge occurs.  For some, stepping over the string is challenge enough.  For kids who have no problems with that, some may jump and turn 180 degrees in midair to show appropriate mastery for their skill level.  Or, the author says, raise the string higher off the floor and try it again. 

Keep in mind that this is an author’s example.  There are vast numbers of ways this might be applied to your classroom experience.  The point seems to be, everyone should be expected to achieve the standard.  We differentiate in the way they show mastery, and the degree to which they master, each standard.

Designing Appropriate Assessments

OK, so, back to the question: How will we know that they know it?

First we develop criteria and decide on degrees of mastery.  What is the assessment task?  What elements – knowledge and process elements – make up the assessment task?  Will you ask kids to create something new or retell information?  Will kids perform a task with guidance or without assistance?

This discussion takes be back to rubrics.  Not checklists of quantifiable information that we can circle on a page.  A real rubric.  A matrix with descriptive statements in every box.  See Rubistar and other online rubric generators for examples.

Match Activities to Learning Goals

And now, back to the paper dolls mentioned above.  Some call it the “Crayola Curriculum.” The activities that are fun for kids to do, but may or may not demonstrate the knowledge and skills that you’re teaching in the classroom.  The author encourages readers to remember that the standards and objectives should always be the primary driving force behind every classroom activity.  If you look at an activity and cannot describe the target or standard addressed in one sentence, re-evaluate the activity.  Is it the best activity you can develop to help students understand a concept or practice a skill?  Could something be done differently?

Communicate Goals Effectively

Once you’ve done all this “behind-the-scenes” work, how do you communicate the goals to kids?  Kids may know WHAT you’re teaching, but are your students aware of the WHY behind your teaching?  And what about their parents?

The author suggests that the learning targets be discussed in kid language.  If you’re not good at kid-speak, stop and ask them to explain what they’re learning and why in their own words.  You’ll catch on.

Posting learning targets on the board is a nice start.  So is printing it on the worksheets or assignments.  Doing both is better.  When a student enters your room, the environment is all about learning, and kids will know exactly what is expected of them because it is reinforced wherever they look.

Help kids make the connections between their learning and their lives.  If you can’t do it, how will the kids do it?

Email or send a letter home to parents explaining the learning goals in advance of beginning a new chapter.  Want to post a web site?  I can help you with that.  However, this is passive – it relies on the parents’ abilities and willingness to access the site.  Pushing something out to them is more effective.

Get kids involved with their learning by designing ways to chart their progress toward mastery of objectives.  Use pre- and post-assessments, use assessments as formative tools to help kids grow.  make learning personal for kids to help them develop ownership in their achievement.

Ch. 2–Know Where Your Students Are Going

Some questions to guide your reading:

1. What is the difference between a content goal and a process goal? Why is it important to know the difference?
2. What are three ways to make your learning goals more concrete and why is doing so important?
3. How can you communicate your learning goals more effectively?

Chapter 1: Classroom Currencies

Okay, Chapter 1, here goes…

There’s a lot of emphasis these days on “data-based decision making” and “data-informed instruction.” The process of collecting and sorting through data IS valuable, simply as one facet of getting to know your kids and to make sure you can locate relevant baseline data for students. Using data is a jumping-off point. It should not be thought of as a substitute for building positive and educationally-appropriate relationships with students.

This chapter discusses the “classroom economy,” by discussing what “currencies” kids bring to the classroom environment and how they choose to “spend” them. A classroom currency can be thought of as a student’s resources. (Some may like to call them a student’s resiliencies.) The author defines them as, “any behavior that students use to acquire the knowledge and skills important to your grade level or subject area.” (p. 31) She also states that these resources & behaviors are, “actively negotiated and traded in every classroom interaction.” (p. 31)

So how do kids acquire the currencies that are needed for success in the classroom? Simple: We give it to them. We teach them what our classroom expectations are, we show them what they need to do to be successful, we reinforce positive and accepted/expected behaviors (see – gaining classroom currencies is like getting a paycheck), and we stop and reteach when the expectations are not met. Through building relationships with kids, you discover what currencies they have or need to build. (You can’t find that stuff on a spreadsheet!)

Here’s an interesting point: Sometimes kids choose not to “spend” their classroom currencies. When we were kids, we viewed doing homework like adults view taxes – it is an expected and non-negotiable expenditure of currency. Kids today, especially older students in high school and middle school, view homework more like a trip to the store – they’re not buying it. Some may chose not to spend their classroom currencies on doing homework or participating in class activities because those things hold no perceived value to the student(s).

So, how do you create the perception of value to the student? Well, how do stores and businesses do it? They may have focus groups examine a product and gather feedback on how to improve its marketability. Through advertising, they explain the benefits of the product to the consumer. Some develop rewards programs to encourage consumers and build a strong customer base. They constantly improve and update products to keep buyers coming back for more.

What does that mean for the classroom? Build relationships with kids to find out what they want and what they need. Explain how important the activity is to kids. Show them how the activity relates to the real world. Develop classroom incentive plans, and consider individual incentive plans for the more reluctant students. Don’t settle into the rut of complacency – constantly look for ways to make so-so lessons better and ways to make good lessons great. Most importantly, ask yourself if the activity is relevant to kids’ personal experiences – past, present, and future – and make sure you develop assignments that have meaning to kids for more than just a grade in a classroom. Make them want to spend their classroom currencies on the activities you lay before them.

Alternatives To Collective Punishment | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Let’s face it.  We’ve all done it.  We know it’s wrong and useless, but we do it anyway.

Collective punishment – punishing a group for the actions of on individual – is a topic with which we all struggle occasionally. It rarely produces the effect we want – ceasing of the behavior in question or the “confession of the culprit,” etc.

What collective punishment often does is reduce the mutual respect we have developed with those students who are innocent (or at least not guilty in that particular instance) of the behavior.  Sure it’s helpful in the short-term to blow off some steam, but does it really help?

No, not according to this post by Larry Ferlazzo.  However, there are different ways to handle the situation, which are also detailed in Larry’s article.

I must say that I’ve had similar results with similar methods.  As a 12-year veteran of middle school, the tried and true ignore-the-negative-behavior-while-reinforcing-the-positive-behavior often worked wonders. I’ve also used Larry’s approach of quietly discussing or privately conferencing with students – with good results.  And, there have been times when I’ve made a blanket announcement about respecting one’s self and one’s classmates to help stave off future occurrences, which has also worked well.

Here’s a situational tactic I’ve used in the past after a substitute or guest teacher has been covering my class.  When beginning the class, I would ask the group, “Here is the note that the substitute teacher left for me.  I haven’t read it yet because I want to hear your side of the story first.  For today’s bell-ringer activity, please write down what YOU think the substitute’s note says, and what you plan to do next time to help the sub.”

First of all, these things are all lies, of course.  I have indeed read the sub’s notes and I know exactly which kids the sub has fingered as the trouble-makers, but the kids don’t need to know that.  Subs work hard, but often they don’t know the kids like I do, and sometimes they don’t know what I do or do not allow in my classroom. That’s not the sub’s fault, and it’s often hard for the kids to understand & adapt to the sub’s expectations.  Writing about how kids perceived the classroom activities will either confirm the sub’s notes or, more often than not, shed more light on what was occurring in the classroom environment when the behavior-in-question occurred.  Then I can conference with the “perpetrators” about their behavior and dole out consequences or praises as needed.  And, since they’ve already written about how they might behave differently next time, when I conference with kids they have either already thought things through or they’ve sealed their fate by trying to hide things even further, and we now have deeper, more important issues to deal with than who farted or who threw the paperwad.

Would Larry’s method work in your classroom?  Maybe.  Maybe not. Would my method work every time? Maybe. Maybe not.  But maybe teachers will read about these ideas and add whatever is relevant to their individual classroom toolkits and avoid needless group punishments in the future.

Cross-posted at the Technology & Learning in District #205 blog, Feb. 1, 2011.
Alternatives To Collective Punishment | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...