“Own” every lesson

“Own” every lesson

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” – Stephen Covey

Early in my teaching career, I leaned heavily on colleagues when I was lesson-planning.  I don’t think I could have designed adequate curriculum without their help.  The synergy that is possible with collaboration can continue throughout a teacher’s career, but in those early years it is imperative if you want to thrive instead of simply survive.  Years later when my family made a move and I landed in a new district with a completely different assignment, I spend many evenings piecing together lessons so that I could lead a group of students the next morning and avoid looking like a fool in the process.  Perhaps your experiences were similar or perhaps you are experiencing these things right now.  Whether you lean on other teachers, stick closely to a textbook, research online, or find downloadable curriculum, nothing works as well as owning your lessons.  By “owning”, I don’t necessarily mean that you created it from scratch and have copyrights on it, but rather that you have scrutinized and adjusted the lesson so that it is has become uniquely your own. 

From textbooks, graphic organizers and worksheets, to activities, projects and documentaries, teachers have used all sorts of resources to develop curriculum.   Nowadays, collaboration is common in departments and grade levels, and downloading lesson plans from “edupreneurs” (educational entrepreneurs) has become normalized as well.    By all means, beg, borrow, download or purchase lessons.  But then own it.  Don’t leave it unexamined.  Go through it with a fine tooth comb.  Break it down and build it back up.  Spice it up with your own flavor.  Make it better.  Tweak, add, delete, and adjust.  Make the lessons distinctly and unapologetically yours.  When you own your curriculum, you are bound to teach with more confidence, more passion, and more energy.  Your students will notice and flourish as well.

The First Week of School: build a culture without wasting time

The First Week of School: build a culture without wasting time

“It’s the first day of school.  Teachers, put on your capes.” – Unknown

“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” – James Corner

Many teachers take advantage of the first days of school to do one or more of the following undertakings related to classroom culture-building: ice-breakers, team-building, scavenger hunts, get-to-know-you games, and classroom rules and routines. These activities aim to ease anxiety, develop study habits, cultivate classroom culture, or establish procedures. I knew one colleague who would spend four full weeks on this.  It was a significant sacrifice of instructional minutes in his math class.  However, he enjoyed overwhelmingly positive relationships with students, he made the most of the remaining 160 school days, and he could push them to new heights.  

I’ve also been at schools where “teach content on the first day” was the motto.  This was a schoolwide initiative not to use instructional time for procedures and other fluff during the first week of school. With an emphasis on high stakes testing, it makes sense to take full advantage of the time you have with students. For better or worse, state testing is a necessary evil that isn’t going away anytime soon.  Beginning in August, the days are numbered.

The need to tend to classroom culture collides with the need to dive right into content.  Both perspectives have their merit, and they don’t necessarily have to be in opposition.  There is a middle way.  Take the get-to-know-you game “Four Corners” as a case in point.  This game presents a question with four options, requiring students to go to one of four corners in the room to signify their answer.  The idea is that students not only reveal things about themselves, but they also get to see classmates with common interests. Instead of just asking questions like, “What is your favorite flavor of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or mint?”, you could ask, “How do you like to learn: independently, in partners, in groups, or as a class?”  In other words, culture-building games could incorporate questions that reveal learning modalities, cover classroom rules, identify your leaders, frontload curriculum, informally assess, or do anything else you need it to do.

Here are a few other ideas to blend culture-building and content.  A scavenger hunt could require students to find items, locations and information in the classroom related to both content and to routines and procedures. Students could form teams to contribute to a list of classroom rules, or a competition between teams of students could quiz them on classroom expectations, both of which also allow you to guide and model your own expectations for student interaction. The first writing assignment could be about student strengths and weaknesses, about goals for their academic performance, about their favorite memories from the previous school year, or about their hopes, dreams and expectations for this year.

The key here is to be thoughtful about culture-building activities and do them with purpose or with multiple purposes.  In the first days of school, not only can activities serve as culture-builders, they can also emphasize content and learning.  Yes, a productive classroom culture is essential.  Yes, instructional minutes are precious and should be used for teaching and learning.  There are plenty of ways to accomplish both at the same time. 

Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose: What motivates our students

Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose: What motivates our students

“Allow your passion to become your purpose, and it will one day become your profession.” – Gabriel Bernstein

Conventional wisdom would suggest that workers are motivated by factors like money, power, or recognition, but the research suggests otherwise.  For simple work tasks, monetary incentives work well.  But for tasks that require cognitive skill or creativity, monetary incentives don’t make a lick of difference.  Best-selling author Daniel Pink has studied motivation in the workplace, and he boils motivation down to three main factors: autonomy, mastery and purpose.  These three factors are the key to productivity and fulfillment.  Autonomy refers to our professional and creative freedom.  Instead of a manager saying, “Here is the incentive for completing a creative task”, they should say, “you probably want to do something really cool, let me just get out of the way”.  Mastery refers to conquering something.  It’s why we like to get better at things.  It’s why we climb mountains, study languages, play sports, or learn songs on a guitar. Purpose refers to the greater significance of our work.  We do it because it matters.  We do it to improve things, to make a difference, or to make the world a better place.  All three of these are highly motivating in and of themselves.

As working teachers, we know this to be anecdotally true.  We don’t want to be micromanaged by our supervisors. We are a professionals who bring amazing effort and creativity to the table.  Administrators may just need to synchronize the opportunities and get out of the way.  We are also motivated by mastery.  It is highly satisfying and motivation enough to improve our craft and become more effective classroom teachers.  It is a wonderful feeling at the end of a school year when you know you and your students nailed it and had a fantastic year.  We are motivated by purpose as well.  The teaching profession is perhaps one of the easiest to connect to a larger purpose as we are shaping the youth, and by extension, shaping the future of the world.

Naturally, we ought to apply these truths to our students, who are pretty similar in terms of what motivates them.  If you want them to do amazing things, they aren’t best incentivized by money, rewards, or good grades as much as by autonomy, mastery and purpose. Carrots and sticks work for simple tasks such as establishing routines or managing behavior, but not for complicated tasks.  Our students are going to better perform and find greater satisfaction the same way working adults do, through autonomy, mastery, and purpose.  They want to do something amazing anyway.  Use your executive ability to carve out a space for them to do just that; and then get out of the way.

Want to impact your students? Notice them and say something nice!

Want to impact your students?  Notice them and say something nice!

“Effective teaching is not a simple matter of executing specific behaviors and strategies, because effective teaching is grounded in human relationships” – Robert Marzano from Managing the Inner World of Teaching

I was recently approached by the parent of a former student from three years prior.  She paid me a compliment that I won’t soon forget. “That was really amazing when you wrote that thank you note to my daughter.  It’s actually still on our fridge and she still talks about it.”  I would occasionally wrote thank-you notes to select students who had either put in great effort, set positive examples, or excelled in my class.  These notes would say something like, “Dear student, Thank you for being such a great presence in my class.  I really appreciate that I can always count on you to bring your best every day.” Honestly, the practice of writing notes had become somewhat routine and I hadn’t thought much of it.  This encounter was a reminder of how powerful my words can be for a learner.  

Even for your most challenging students, there will be opportunities to report something good. All students can have good days, good moments, slight improvements or something bigger.  Take the time to let them know that you noticed.  If you aren’t a “thank-you-note” kind of person, send a message on their email or through your digital classroom, or call the student aside to let them know that you are thankful for them, that you pay attention to their successes, or that you care.  Doing so will cultivate teacher-student bonds and strengthen your learning partnerships.  For such a small investment you can reap such mammoth rewards. 

In the same way, positive communication with parents is one of the best practices you can implement. A quick email or phone call letting a parent know that their child did something wonderful only takes a moment. This is especially handy when you might have to contact that same parent later with negative news to report.  By that time, the parent already has had a positive first interaction with you and knows that you care about their child. Similar to positive notes or conversations with your students, positive parent contacts are a small investment of time that can generate a sizable return on investment.

My thank-you notes took just a few seconds to write and I needed to be reminded of how powerful they were.  To at least one student, it meant the world.  It is likely to have had similar effects on other students as well.  I needed to be reminded of that.  Teachers, you are hereby reminded as well.  Pick up the pen, the phone, or the keyboard and let a student know that you care.  And while you’re at it, let their parents know, too.

Do you love kids, content, both or neither? A K-12 Perspective

Do you love kids, content, both or neither?  A K-12 Perspective

I have heard it said that educators choose to teach elementary school because they love kids, they choose high school because they love content, and they choose middle school because they love both… or neither.  Obviously, these are generalizations and there are plenty of exceptions to the rule.  There are, however, plenty of teachers that fit these typecasts.  I’m sure you can think of a few.

The aforementioned stereotypes partly find their origins in another stereotype about students; that elementary students are enthusiastic and excited to learn, that middle school students are curious, sassy, awkward, and impressionable, and that high school students have largely made up their minds about the world and about how they learn. These are of course more generalizations and exceptions abound.  But there is plenty of truth here as well.  

Have the teacher stereotypes caused the student stereotypes or is it the other way around?  For good or bad, students can influence the views of their teachers, and teachers can do the same for their students.  Seeing as these are thoughts for teachers to consider, I would encourage you to be the one actively and consciously doing the influencing.  Show your students that you love them, that you love to learn, and that you love to see them succeed.  They are sure to follow, liable to value the same things that their teacher does (even the older students who you think have already made up their minds about things). 

So what?  Now what?  Take a moment to consider where you fit on this K-12 spectrum of stereotypes. Do you love kids while finding content to be a drag?  Are you enthusiastic about your subject, but your students make your job miserable? Whether you teach Kindergarten, high school seniors, or somewhere in between, kids need to be supported and loved.  There is no good reason why teachers and students at all levels should not be geeked out about learning at every turn.  If you don’t love your students and your content, think about what you need to do in order to change.  If you have a healthy love for both, consider how you might affect positive change on your school culture and help others around you. 


Love your students?  Show them something really cool!

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If you haven’t already, lose your Cool Jacket

If you haven’t already, lose your Cool Jacket

“There is something exciting about being in an environment in which it’s really cool to be smart.” – Freeman Hrabowski

My high school basketball coach used to refer to athletes with egos as having “cool jackets”, meaning they walked around wearing arrogance that was so obvious, it was like an article of clothing you could see on them.  He encouraged his players to lose their cool jackets on and off the court, and I have found this directly applicable to the classroom as well.  Whichever grade or subject you teach, kids benefit from connecting with their teachers.  If you have a glaring haughtiness, your students are likely to pick up on it and will have a difficult time connecting with you.  Let your students into your world, assuring them that you aren’t too good for them.  Show them your humility as well as your humanity.  

One of the easiest ways to lose your cool jacket is to do something intentionally silly in front of your students.  It not only entertains them, draws them in, and opens them up to learning, but it also humanizes you.  I know teachers who sing to their students.  Some performed cover songs for a mental break, some did lyric analysis lessons, and others did goofy, rhyming, pneumonic device ballads.  I even knew a no-musical-talent P.E. teacher who still sang to his students; they loved it anyway.  I have known teachers to annually dress up as Abe Lincoln, Dr. Seuss, or Albert Einstein, staying in character with accent the entire day.  

I personally remember running up and down the aisles, screaming and high-fiving my students as we watched a clip of the 1982 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.  The U.S. Hockey team beat the heavily-favored Soviet team in what was dubbed the “Miracle on Ice”.  I regarded hockey with a hardly benign interest, and of course I already knew what was going to happen.  My ridiculousness puzzled them however, and captivated their attention as they latched on for the rest of the lesson.  

A teacher’s excitement is contagious; embrace that truth and take full advantage.  Take the vulnerable step to do something outside your comfort zone, something that may be silly.  If you are still wearing one, take off your cool jacket for the sake of your student connections and for the sake of their learning.

Here's a guide for the film Miracle and other Cold War resources...

Miracle-film-guide-background-level-123-Questions-primary-sources-and-more-1253726

Cold-War-40s-50s-ALL-9-engaging-highly-visual-PPTs-171-slides-in-all-1114359

Cold-War-60s-70s-ALL-9-engaging-highly-visual-PPTs-285-slides-in-all-1194709

Cold-War-80s-90s-ALL-5-engaging-highly-visual-PPTs-85-slides-total-1251072

And here's a few fun ice-breaker games for the first days of school...

FOUR-CORNERS-Get-to-know-you-game-ice-breaker-for-6th-grade-history-class-1884466

FOUR-CORNERS-Get-to-know-you-game-ice-breaker-for-7th-grade-history-class-1884470

SUPERHERO-THEMED Elementary Grades Ice Breaker FOUR CORNERS get-to-know-you game

3rd Grade Ice Breaker - "FOUR CORNERS" get-to-know-you game

The Power of Pictures

The Power of Pictures

If it's true that pictures paint a thousand words, why do teachers still try to use thousands of words explaining things to their students?  Cue memories of Charlie Brown’s teacher here.  If you are not doing so already, stop talking every once in a while and show them some pictures!  Pictures are not superficial.  On the contrary, the right pictures are out there to help you teach the content and increase depth of knowledge in student tasks.  Your students want to analyze, comment on, critique, enjoy, and critically think, talk, and write about images.  Trust me.

Granted, some courses are easier than others to use images.  For example, High School U.S. History courses can refer to photographs of the world wars, the Great Depression, assassinations and more.  On the contrary, any topic prior to the early 1800s would have no photographs to analyze.  But even when studying ancient civilizations, there are certainly photographs of artifacts, artwork and structures that could be used.  Teaching math concepts can take advantage of geometric shapes in the real world.  For science, the possibilities are endless for using pictures related to physics, astronomy, biology, and more.  Language Arts should also be taking advantage of pictures as students are expected to analyze, predict, summarize, argue, and defend their positions.  Any elective or enrichment course can do the same.

Using pictures can be powerful.  For the sake of time, or because of a misguided attempt to help them learn, you might be tempted to break it all down and explain everything for your students.  Remember, it is wonderful to model expert thinking for your learners, but don’t forget to leave room for them to practice the analysis on some of the images as well. One of the easiest classroom activities is to encourage students to use context clues as they analyze an image.  What is this?  Where is this?  Why…?  How do you know?  Discuss with a neighbor.  Students can even come up with their own questions.  Comparing multiple images for similarities and differences will likewise allow for prolific discussion.  
The gallery walk is another useful activity as students circulate the room to discuss what they see.  Using images also allows for successful classroom experiences for those to whom success does not come easily.  Print copies if you must, project them on the walls, or share them in the digital classroom.  Get images in front of them to practice critical thinking.  

Here are some resources to consider when using pictures in the history classroom:

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Egypt-Guess-the-artifact-game-engaging-PPT-with-pictures-clues-answers-1648524

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ALL-TEN-Guess-the-artifact-games-for-7th-grade-history-200-slides-in-all-1648753

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Historys-Most-Famous-Photographs-56-slide-PPT-video-links-graphic-organizer-1270139

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Most-Famous-Photos-from-US-History-56slide-PPT-video-links-graphic-organizer-1271423

  

The Sage on a Stage

The Sage on a Stage

“Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.” – Indiana Jones

Students asking questions is a crucial part of developing knowledge. 1994 study found that the average student in the United States only asked a question to their teacher once every ten hours.  This is largely thanks to the centuries old Western educational model that exalts the teacher as the keeper of wisdom, the all-knowing professor; the sage on a stage. 

Wiktionary defines sage-on-a-stage as "an educator, especially at the post-secondary level, who imparts knowledge by lecturing to an audience".  There are reasons why this method has been in vogue since the first European universities emerged in the Middle Ages.  There are also reasons why the educational pendulum has been swinging away from this approach for a while now.

Specifically in the world of social sciences, sage-on-a-stage has worked for centuries because people like stories.  It's the reason we follow things and people on social media.  It's why movies will never go out of style.  It's what drives us to binge-watch on Netflix.  It explains Indiana Jones and his day job as a professor of archeology.  Teachers of History are in a unique position since History is about stories, and children (even adults) are hard-wired for stories. But sages-on-stages can be found across content areas and grade levels, as well.

In recent years, educational leaders have frowned upon the sage-on-a-stage, noting that the teacher often does the lion’s share of the critical thinking, leaving student-engagement and questions largely optional.  The saying, "it's my job to teach and your job to learn" can no longer apply to K-12 classrooms.  The saying should now be, "it's my job to teach and it's my job that you learn".  In the words of Doug Lemov, “You haven’t taught it unless they’ve learned it.”  You may speak like Teddy Roosevelt, about whom it was said, “afterward you have to wring the personality out of your clothes”.  But merely lecturing, however good you may be, don’t guarantee that they learn.  Merely lecturing, however good you may be, don’t guarantee that your students learn.  The pendulum has swung away from teacher-led learning and toward student-led learning as students are expected to read, write and talk about content with deeper complexity in the classroom.

However, it is possible for the teacher to capitalize on students' love of stories without being the sage-on-a-stage doing all the critical thinking for the class.  Students might get the story in a variety of ways, including watching clips, listening to direct instruction, or reading primary sources.  There are lesson designs that blend beautifully the love of stories with a student-focused environment, including high rigor and high engagement.  By all means, use stories to your advantage, just design your lessons to focus on learning, too.

In your quest for balanced lessons and units, consider some of the following:

* Storyboards or comic strip activities to allow students to summarize or retell historical events
* Graphic organizers such as 4x4s (4 causes, 4 figures, 4 details, 4 effects) to hang information
* text-dependent questions that require students to dig deeper into primary sources
* Evaluating, discussing or debating images of historical art, artifacts or photographs
* Guiding students through map activities to bring context to a lesson

Looking for something more specific?  Consider one of these resources...

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Indian-Removal-Act-Trail-of-Tears-MAP-activity-engaging-step-by-step-lesson

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Russian-Revolution-4-causes-4-figures-4-events-4-effects-23-slide-PPT

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/War-of-1812-Highly-Visual-PPT-and-Comic-Strip-Activity

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Egypt-Guess-the-artifact-game-engaging-PPT-with-pictures-clues-answers-1648524