What makes one professional development opportunity great, while another may be bland and boring? Some of the best PD that I’ve had felt that way because the presenter somehow made things fun. In your classroom, the students are the audience, and while making sure they are having fun is not your primary goal, we all know they are going to pay a lot more attention if the activities that we are doing are more fun. What are some ways we can incorporate fun into our classrooms?
STICKERS – I am continually amazed by what a fifth or sixth grader will do for a sticker (haven’t you noticed the Ham & Cheese stickers that end up on our students foreheads?). Want some more participation? Pull our the foil stars, ask a question, and give out a star for good answers, or to integrate tech, give a foil star to the best response or question on Today’s Meet (see the post on Getting ALL our students to participate in the classroom).
Make it silly – before students hand in a paper, have them do something silly, make a sound like a pirate, do a little dance, etc. Adding a little silliness will up the fun factor by at least 10% (and even more important – if you are being silly with them, they will be even more engaged!).
In a content area, retell a story and make your students the stars of the story (think about last week’s post on titled Put your students into your materials).
When kids walk out of this building, the fun they want is pretty much on demand. Between social media, streaming video and music, video games, and more, our students have tons of ways to do something fun. If we want them to be as engaged in our room as they are with their Minecraft world, we have to be willing to bring in some of the fun.
Think of some lesson you have done in the past that was a bust (even the best of us have had one!). How could you add some fun and silliness to help the students be more engaged? What things have you included that were fun and did help students remain engaged? Share some of your ideas in the comments section below.
I have recently been reading the book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. I’m not sure if any of you have ever read anything by him, but he often picks a story to share, and then spends the rest of the book talking about the psychology behind what “really” happened. He does a ton of research, interviews a wide variety of people on a wide variety of topics, and then puts it all together in a way that ties back to his original message.
If you remember the story of David and Goliath from ancient Palestine, you will remember that David miraculously felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a pebble and a sling. Now, any rivalry game where one team is hugely favored and the underdog wins is often referred to as a battle of David and Goliath. What I have taken away as one theme of the book is that sometimes there are times that the win by David is not as improbable as you might have suspected.
In one portion of the book, Gladwell is talking about classroom management skills. He describes walking into a classroom that appears to be absolutely in chaos. The teacher is at the front of the room doing a read aloud. One student is standing next to her and they are taking turns reading from the story. Kids are making faces, one girl is doing cartwheels, and several students have turned their back on the teacher. The situation is unpacked a little more greatly in the book, and it becomes obvious that the teacher in this situation is using some very poor classroom engagement strategies which lead to the classroom management issues, but something that Gladwell said struck a chord with me:
“We often think of authority as a response to disobedience: a child acts up, so a teacher cracks down. Stella’s classroom, however, suggests something different: disobedience can also be a response to authority. If the teacher doesn’t do her job properly, then the child will become disobedient.” (Gladwell, pg 339)
In the same chapter, Gladwell then shifts to a story about a program based in Brownsville, a residential neighborhood in eastern Brooklyn, NYC. If you were to visit, you might be inclined to refer to this area as the projects. In 2003, a police officer took charge of the city’s Housing Bureau, and their primary responsibility was the Brownsville projects. In an effort to try something new, they started trying to help the troubled youth in the area. They identified all the juveniles in Brownsville who had been arrested in the previous year. They reached out to those kids and their families. Kids who were brought into the program were told that the cops in this group (called the Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program – J-RIP) would do everything in their power to help. They would get them back in school to get a diploma, bring them needed services for their family, find out what’s needed in their household, provide job opportunities, educational opportunities, medical – everything they could. The program would work with the kids, but there was one circumstance. The criminal conduct had to stop. Kids were told that if they got arrested for anything, the cops would do all they could to keep them in jail.
The cops in the J-RIP program seemed to be everywhere these 106 kids went. They’d show up at their home, find them hanging out in other parts of the city, walk up to Facebook friends and talk to them about what they’ve been up to. These cops lived in the world of these kids. Initially things did not go well. The kids didn’t want to interact, the families didn’t want to interact. The cops had the best of intentions, but they weren’t getting anywhere. Finally they had a breakthrough one November. One of the cops decided it would be a great idea to help out one of the kids they were most worried about losing. One the Wednesday before Thanksgiving this officer went out and bought a Thanksgiving dinner for the kid’s family and delivered it. They knew they might not be able to get through to the main target, but maybe they’d have a breakthrough with the kid’s seven siblings. That year, through the efforts of the commander of the unit, they were able to get funds to be able to deliver a turkey to the home of every kid that was on their list for Thanksgiving.
The reason they were so persistent in trying to meet the families was because police in Brownsville were not seen as legitimate. A large percentage of the families in Brownsville had only had negative interactions with the police, and multiple people in most families had spent time behind bars. By taking turkeys to the families of the J-RIP kids, the cops were saying to the families “we really do care about you and your family, and we want to help you make the most of yourself, and most important, we want you to have a good Thanksgiving.”
After this, things in Brownsville began to turn around. The trend line on all crime in Brownsville dropped significantly in the following 5 years. Kids who were in the J-RIP program went from a total of over 350 arrests in the year before being added to the program, to less than 40 arrests. Gladwell argues that what this proves is that
“the powerful have to worry about how others think of them – that those who give orders are acutely vulnerable to the opinions of those whom they are ordering about.” (Gladwell, pg. 356)
As teachers, we are clearly in a role of power. Some of our parents are scared to be involved in school because they may have had bad experiences when they were in school, or maybe their child has had bad experiences in the past. Some of our students are nervous in the classroom because of things beyond our control, maybe a bad experience in another class, or their perception of the teacher. As people in power, what actually matters are the hundreds of small things that we as the powerful do – or don’t do – to establish legitimacy. When power is not seen as legitimate, it can often have the opposite of the intended effect.
We are dealing with the minds of 10, 11, and 12 year olds. Sometimes they struggle to understand the things we say, the jokes we make, or the ways we interact with them. Things like sarcasm and a sense of humor that may make perfect sense to the adults in our building will fly right over the heads of our kids, and instead they will feel that you are actually being serious, or possibly making fun of them. For some of our kids, the direct approach doesn’t work because it only leads to a shutdown.
Think about what you do to build legitimacy with our students. Keep in mind that what works with one kid may not work with another. Also keep in mind that without legitimacy, our students may not see us as people who care for them, but rather as the person who’s trying to keep them down. If you want to build better legitimacy with your kids, give them a voice. Also, give them the time to talk about their interests. Think about the J-RIP program – they took a small group of kids living in Brownsville and truly showed those kids that the cops cared about them, and many of them changed their ways. It also had a larger effect of changing the culture of crime in the entire neighborhood. Who are the kids that you would identify as needing to know you care? How can you show them that you care? How can you build greater legitimacy so that your power has the intended effect, and doesn’t lead to unintended consequences?
Prior to the development of written language, the gatekeepers of knowledge were the village elders who could tell stories about the history of a village or society. Those elders would teach the “smartest” members of the village the old stories so that the history could live on. Once societies began to develop a written record, this role began to phase out. In more recent history, the gatekeepers of information were the librarians, teachers, and college professors. They gave the knowledge to their students through lecture format and rote memorization.
Today the role of a teacher is changing. Our students don’t need gatekeepers to provide them with the knowledge they need. Our students won’t quit playing a video game because they get stuck, they watch a YouTube video to show them how to go further. If they see a reference to someone and they want more information, they grab their phone and find out more from Wikipedia (for base level knowledge, it does a pretty good job!). If they are arguing a trivia fact they can find the answer through a Google search – for some of our kids, the Google app is one of the most used.
Even though students have the ability to find the answer to their content questions, they still need our help. They need us as mentors and guides who can help them discover their passions, and then investigate those passions using the skills that will be valued by our changing world.
How have you noticed your role changing in your classroom as it has become easier for students to find the answer to their content questions? Share some thoughts in the comment section below.
What does a typical school day look like? Get to school on time, go to class, sit quietly, do your work, write all your answers down, listen and take notes, leave at the end of the day, do more work when you get home. This sounds pretty routine, and is exactly the model that Ken Robinson was arguing against in his “Changing Education Paradigms.”
In a recent MIT study, researchers identified two categories of work that have been in a fairly consistent decline since 1960. Those are the jobs that are defined as routine and manual. The jobs that have been growing are the non-routine tasks. Those are the tasks that require problem-solving, intuition, persuasion, creativity, situational adaptability, visual and language recognition, and in-person interaction.
In our school improvement plan we say that engagement and inquiry should be in the forefront of our planning. I believe that it is much more important for our students to know how to ask the right questions, and then how to find the answers themselves, rather than simply answering the questions we ask. In the book Future Shock, Alvin Toffler said “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write. The illiterate will be those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” This applies to education just as well as it does to any other part of society.
I think that as teachers, many of us think that our classroom should somehow resemble the classrooms of our childhood. When I first started in education, I thought it was a good thing for my students to be quiet – especially when my principal came in the room. Now I don’t feel that way. When a classroom is silent, my first reaction is “are they taking a test?” Collaboration and problem solving rarely involve silence. I’m not saying that it should never be silent in a classroom. There’s a time and a place where that is necessary. However if we are trying to meet the concepts of the Best Practice Model, should it be silent most of the time?
Reflect on your own classroom. What does your class look like most of the time? What changes have you made, or will you continue to make, in order to help your students be ready for the non-routine tasks of their future? In the comments share some of the things you’ve tried before, or share something that you feel like you want to try soon.
Today I had my annual refresher in CPI – Crisis Prevention Intervention. The focus of the refresher training this year was on Goals, Power, and Relationships. As I was sitting in the training, I kept thinking how important these ideas are for all the teachers in the building I work in. It seems that some people think that CPI is all about how to put our kids who are in danger of hurting themselves or others into some sort of restraint. Unfortunately there are times that this is part of the process. The reality is that if you are using the strategies put forth in CPI in the best way possible, you are able to avoid getting to the point of using any restraint.
In those early stages of escalation, when students are becoming anxious or defensive, it is all about how we handle the behavior. The analogy that my trainer used today was that it’s like approaching a fire with 2 buckets, one of gasoline, and one of water. The things we say to the escalated student, and how we say those things can act as either the gas or water on the fire.
Sometimes as teachers we get caught up in our own feelings and emotions. We have to remember the Q-TIPs: Quit Taking It Personally! Instead, as a person who is skilled in deescalation techniques, you need to focus on a goal for every intervention, using the power you hold in a positive way, and building relationships with trust and respect.
In a situation of crisis, there are 3 possible outcomes – things can stay the same, get better, or get worse. What we say and how we act can control what outcome we see. If the outcome we seek is for improvement, we have to enter each situation with a goal in mind. As we all know, there are different types of goals – short term, intermediate, and long term. Our short term goal must always be focused on safety. The intermediate goal should be focused on learning opportunities for the student, and our long term goal should be on autonomy. But how do we get to those goals?
Part of the way that we get to our goals is through our use of power. Sometimes power is seen in a negative light, but in the crisis situation, not only is the power that you hold important, but also the power that you give to others is important. By gradually releasing power to our students, we show them that we trust them, and we help them feel empowered to take control of their own situation. Compliance alone should not be what you are looking for, rather you should be seeking cooperation.
Another skill at reaching a positive outcome is that of relationship building. When you have a solid relationship with your students, it is much easier to influence their choices and behavior due to the rapport you have with them. Instead of focusing on rules and regulations, build a positive relationship that makes it easier to have a meaningful learning opportunity for your student. We all know pretty quickly who our difficult students will be. Use something like the 2 for 10 strategy, spending 2 minutes per day for 10 days talking to the student about something that is not directly related to school, or something that they care about. The deposits that you make in a relationship at the beginning of the year will make your life easier later in the school year.
Think about the student that you sense may cause you trouble this year. What steps can you take today, or this week, to build a rapport with that student? At the beginning of the school year this year, I encouraged the teachers in my building to know their kids, and love them for who they are. When they feel valued and loved, its amazing what they will do for you!
What are some of the successes that you have experienced from relationship building? What strategies have helped you to deescalate a student who was feeling anxious or defensive? Share some in the comments below.
In the book The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman says that “today’s workers need to approach the workplace much like athletes preparing for the Olympics, with one difference. They have to prepare like someone who is training for the Olympics but doesn’t know what sport they are going to enter.” When we look at the HSE21 Best Practices Model below, HSE has all the parts necessary to develop students who are prepared for an unknown future.
A lot of people immediately think of HSE21 as being all about a device. This is a misconception that we need to move past. When the HSE21 team created the best practices model, their ideas were based in transforming learning and teaching to better meet the needs of our world. Past models of education were focused on rote learning and memorization because our economy needed workers who were able to complete repetitive tasks successfully. In today’s job market, employers are looking for workers who can problem solve, think creatively, and work collaboratively. By using the best practice model above, we can help our students be more prepared for whatever role they may take in the future. It’s about getting our students to think about the big changes that they can help bring to our future. Check out this video on Moonshot Thinking to see some examples of problems that people are thinking about now:
If you haven’t already done so, print out a copy of the Best Practice model and keep it by your plan book. As you create activities, don’t worry about hitting all the Best Practices, but rather be thinking about what you can add to the activity you are planning so that you are including some of the HSE Best Practices.
What new things have you tried recently based on the Best Practice model? What activities are you planning to do that are new and exciting? Leave a comment below, share it with a colleague, or tweet it out to the world!
The View from 518 
