Hello everyone,
When I first started my career, I was taught that teachers should give 1/2 hour of homework per weeknight in the middle schools for academic subjects. I was later counseled to give 45 minutes of homework for high school students.
I looked before I gave any advice to you, and I find that the District no longer has a district-wide policy on the amount of homework; it is left to the individual schools. Still, I can't help but feel that two hours a night (middle school) or three hours a night (high school), Monday through Thursday, is not an unreasonable expectation to prepare kids for the rigors of college.
(Weekend homework was not always practical or desirable, though if you give your students an assignment on Monday, and you tell them it's due the next Monday, the vast majority of them will be working on it throughout Sunday, and will only have it done sometime after midnight that night.)
I judged the amount of time required to do homework based on how fast a typical C student was able to work in my class. That meant that some students would take more, and others less time than my estimated amount.
I gave very little homework in my elective classes.
I have found a few truths about homework that are inescapable.
Homework makes a lousy assessment. Never use homework for an assessment; it's too easy for students to cheat, and you only end up assessing the student that everyone copies the homework from. Save your assessments for what can be done in your presence.
Our students generally will not read independently. In order to force the issue, you must hold them constantly responsible for whatever reading you have them do. If I assigned reading, I always had a quiz the next day, or I would require the students to pass the accelerated reader tests.
It is easy to hold students responsible for independent writing, but you must be careful of downloaded essays. If you know your students' writing ability, it's easy to recognize when they are not working independently. Keep in mind that essays take time to correct, depending on their length.
If you give students a long time to finish something, they will almost invariably wait until the last minute and do the assignment quickly and sloppily. If you break the long assignment into smaller, gradable portions, you can help them avoid that pitfall. (Of course, each portion may be done in the waning moments before it's due, but at least some of the process is being preserved.)
Collect all homework, but don't correct it all. You might try some of these strategies: have the students correct it; correct it together as a class; or audit it like the IRS does your taxes (look at selections only); you might put a checkmark or "OK" if it's done, without giving detail on how well it was done; you might tell your students that you'll hand it back only if they individually request it at the end of class, saving yourself the mountains of papers you have to pass back.
Always carefully grade major assignments that were completed as homework, and always hand them back.
Always hold students accountable for homework, but be careful that you're not turning into the homework policeman. Have the parents police it. Set up procedures, if necessary, that require parent involvement (like having the parents sign a homework check), as long as those procedures don't overwhelm you with paperwork.
Homework must be easy enough that the students can do it independently, but never simply busywork. Make it meaningful practice, but keep in mind that they won't practice it if it's beyond their abilities.
Jeff Combe
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Student-Teacher Relationship, part 5 (Modeling behavior)
Hello everyone,
As you develop an appropriate student/teacher relationship with your students, it's important for you to model appropriate behavior with your students.
This may be different for your individual personality; you may rebel against it; it may be a little difficult for you to. But very often, if you find your students behaving a certain way, you may frequently trace their behavior back to behaviors you've modeled for them. You can't escape the necessity of proper modeling.
If you want them to be polite in class, you must use the niceties of manners with them. Say "please," "thank you," and "excuse me" when asking them to do things. Don't boss them around like animals.
Never swear unless you want to encourage the kids to swear.
Don't dress like a "pimp" or a "ho" unless you want to encourage that in the kids.
I found in English that I always had to use my best grammar in the class. At first I thought that I could be informal and speak to them the way they spoke to each other. Of course, it backfired. The longer I taught, the more proper my grammar became, and the more I saw the need to model correct usage. (I find that I even use "who" and "whom" correctly outside the classroom, and I've grown to be very conscious of my pronoun cases and subject/verb agreement.)
Believe it or not, your students are hypersensitive to your moods and behaviors. They know how you are feeling, and they know if you're being congruent about your feelings or not. You may use those occasions when you feel terrible, or when you're angry, to model for them appropriate behavior during times of strong emotion. If you lose your temper, they will learn that losing their temper is appropriate. If you are able to express your anger calmly and appropriately, then they will see that that is the way authority figures do it. If you are lazy when you have a certain emotion, then you will model that behavior for them. Work when you feel lazy, and you will teach them to overcome a lack of ambition. It's very important that your students learn that strong emotions are controlled in professional environments.
If you teach them to be rebellious, you can't keep them from rebelling against you. If you constantly complain, you will teach them to be complainers. You really can't escape from the old cliche, "I can't hear what you're saying because your actions are speaking too loudly."
Be a teacher. In all your connections with them, be a teacher. They are craving that. That is the true relationship you hold with them, and they will honor it for the rest of their lives if you honor it now.
Jeff Combe
As you develop an appropriate student/teacher relationship with your students, it's important for you to model appropriate behavior with your students.
This may be different for your individual personality; you may rebel against it; it may be a little difficult for you to. But very often, if you find your students behaving a certain way, you may frequently trace their behavior back to behaviors you've modeled for them. You can't escape the necessity of proper modeling.
If you want them to be polite in class, you must use the niceties of manners with them. Say "please," "thank you," and "excuse me" when asking them to do things. Don't boss them around like animals.
Never swear unless you want to encourage the kids to swear.
Don't dress like a "pimp" or a "ho" unless you want to encourage that in the kids.
I found in English that I always had to use my best grammar in the class. At first I thought that I could be informal and speak to them the way they spoke to each other. Of course, it backfired. The longer I taught, the more proper my grammar became, and the more I saw the need to model correct usage. (I find that I even use "who" and "whom" correctly outside the classroom, and I've grown to be very conscious of my pronoun cases and subject/verb agreement.)
Believe it or not, your students are hypersensitive to your moods and behaviors. They know how you are feeling, and they know if you're being congruent about your feelings or not. You may use those occasions when you feel terrible, or when you're angry, to model for them appropriate behavior during times of strong emotion. If you lose your temper, they will learn that losing their temper is appropriate. If you are able to express your anger calmly and appropriately, then they will see that that is the way authority figures do it. If you are lazy when you have a certain emotion, then you will model that behavior for them. Work when you feel lazy, and you will teach them to overcome a lack of ambition. It's very important that your students learn that strong emotions are controlled in professional environments.
If you teach them to be rebellious, you can't keep them from rebelling against you. If you constantly complain, you will teach them to be complainers. You really can't escape from the old cliche, "I can't hear what you're saying because your actions are speaking too loudly."
Be a teacher. In all your connections with them, be a teacher. They are craving that. That is the true relationship you hold with them, and they will honor it for the rest of their lives if you honor it now.
Jeff Combe
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Student-Teacher Relationships, part 4
Hello everyone,
The first step in establishing a relationship with a student is to learn the student's name.
This may seem basic to some of you, but it's a struggle for those who come from other countries or cultures that are vastly different from the Mexican/Central American/North American culture that predominates in East LA. Struggle or not, however, it's essential.
In fact, if you have not memorized your students' names by now, you probably have severe behavior problems in your classes. (There may be behavior problems for other reasons, too, but there will almost certainly be problems if, by October, you don't know the names of every student.)
The easiest way to learn your students' names is to put them into a regular seating assignment. Today, twenty years after I may have had a student, I can remember where that student sat in my class when I hear the students' name. (I don't know if that's good or bad, to remember silly details like that, but it shows the power of mnemonic devices.)
After you memorize their names, you need to memorize something positive about them. Do they play a sport or a musical instrument? Do they skate well? Do they have artistic talent? Are they natural leaders? Are they honestly funny? Do you know their family or their ancestral home? Make sure you know at least one positive thing about each one of your students--preferably a positive thing from outside the classroom. It doesn't have to be something that you particularly like, just something positive that you are willing to talk to them about.
Find something that they can teach you. I know very little about professional wrestling or deth metal. I was introduced to ska, reggae, The Smiths, skateboarding culture, freestyle (lucha libre) wrestling, video games, and heavy metal by students. Some things my students told me about I have discovered that I like; other things I don't like. But my students always enjoyed the conversations we had outside class. (They are much more willing to be taught when you are willing to be taught--just let it be outside class.)
Call them by name; know a little about them; honestly listen to them; ask them about what interests them; talk about your mutual interests. All of those things will bind you together in just the sort of appropriate friendship that ought to exist between a teacher and a student.
Jeff Combe
The first step in establishing a relationship with a student is to learn the student's name.
This may seem basic to some of you, but it's a struggle for those who come from other countries or cultures that are vastly different from the Mexican/Central American/North American culture that predominates in East LA. Struggle or not, however, it's essential.
In fact, if you have not memorized your students' names by now, you probably have severe behavior problems in your classes. (There may be behavior problems for other reasons, too, but there will almost certainly be problems if, by October, you don't know the names of every student.)
The easiest way to learn your students' names is to put them into a regular seating assignment. Today, twenty years after I may have had a student, I can remember where that student sat in my class when I hear the students' name. (I don't know if that's good or bad, to remember silly details like that, but it shows the power of mnemonic devices.)
After you memorize their names, you need to memorize something positive about them. Do they play a sport or a musical instrument? Do they skate well? Do they have artistic talent? Are they natural leaders? Are they honestly funny? Do you know their family or their ancestral home? Make sure you know at least one positive thing about each one of your students--preferably a positive thing from outside the classroom. It doesn't have to be something that you particularly like, just something positive that you are willing to talk to them about.
Find something that they can teach you. I know very little about professional wrestling or deth metal. I was introduced to ska, reggae, The Smiths, skateboarding culture, freestyle (lucha libre) wrestling, video games, and heavy metal by students. Some things my students told me about I have discovered that I like; other things I don't like. But my students always enjoyed the conversations we had outside class. (They are much more willing to be taught when you are willing to be taught--just let it be outside class.)
Call them by name; know a little about them; honestly listen to them; ask them about what interests them; talk about your mutual interests. All of those things will bind you together in just the sort of appropriate friendship that ought to exist between a teacher and a student.
Jeff Combe
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Student-Teacher Relationships, part 3
Hello everyone,
Be patient as you make your connections with students. The sorts of relationships that exist between student and teacher are very complex and develop over a long period of time.
If you teach a subject that a student loves, you generally have a head start on the relationship. (You also will do a lot of good in helping the student feel good about the school in general.) Much of the good you may do is unintentional. If someone comes into your class loving math more than anything, you will be lucky if you're the math teacher.
On the contrary, if a student comes in hating your subject, you will have a difficult time connecting with the student.
If you teach a class that has general behavior problems, you will not be able to form many connections with students until you gain control of the class. Of course, the process of gaining control may make you some temporary enemies. Focus on the necessary mechanics of classroom management and control, and--believe it or not--the other things will gradually fall into place.
I want to digress with a story here: When I taught middle school, there was a rambunctious little boy that caused me no end of trouble for about a month. I gave him trouble right back in the form of regular detentions and low marks in cooperation. In fact, I rode him so heavily that I was afraid that he would hate me. On the contrary, he was grateful for the guidance! He confessed it to me. And he came around (after a few months) and learned to behave the way I wanted him to.
Don't think that establishing a strong connection with your students means that you have to sacrifice discipline; rather, consider discipline an important step in establishing that connection. Believe it or not, students really hate teachers that don't control the classroom, and students often seek the respect of teachers that have good classroom control. Control that is arbitrary or cruel, of course, will never fail to win you enmity, but control that is both firm and fair wins respect.
Teachers often seem impatient to establish close, even personal, relationships with their students. They try to dress and act like the students; they use student slang; they adopt the students' behaviors. This is always a mistake. Please trust me on that one. Further, pushing yourselves into your students' personal affairs will not endear them to you.
Say, for instance, that you notice one of your students looking depressed in class one day. It would be perfectly appropriate for you to speak to the student privately (NOT alone, but in a way that your conversation cannot be overheard). Say that you noticed the student looked down. You may ask if the student wants to talk about it. DO NOT PROBE. It's really none of your business. Your student may want to share some things with you, but don't press if that's not the case. I have seen teachers hound students about private matters, and I have seen students hate those teachers. If the student does not want to tell you anything, ask if there's someone the student has to talk to about it. If there is no one, offer yourself or suggest that there are people on campus that will do it privately. (You will be surprised how many students will come back to you later and want to talk.)
Be patient. You can't rush a blooming flower.
Jeff Combe
Be patient as you make your connections with students. The sorts of relationships that exist between student and teacher are very complex and develop over a long period of time.
If you teach a subject that a student loves, you generally have a head start on the relationship. (You also will do a lot of good in helping the student feel good about the school in general.) Much of the good you may do is unintentional. If someone comes into your class loving math more than anything, you will be lucky if you're the math teacher.
On the contrary, if a student comes in hating your subject, you will have a difficult time connecting with the student.
If you teach a class that has general behavior problems, you will not be able to form many connections with students until you gain control of the class. Of course, the process of gaining control may make you some temporary enemies. Focus on the necessary mechanics of classroom management and control, and--believe it or not--the other things will gradually fall into place.
I want to digress with a story here: When I taught middle school, there was a rambunctious little boy that caused me no end of trouble for about a month. I gave him trouble right back in the form of regular detentions and low marks in cooperation. In fact, I rode him so heavily that I was afraid that he would hate me. On the contrary, he was grateful for the guidance! He confessed it to me. And he came around (after a few months) and learned to behave the way I wanted him to.
Don't think that establishing a strong connection with your students means that you have to sacrifice discipline; rather, consider discipline an important step in establishing that connection. Believe it or not, students really hate teachers that don't control the classroom, and students often seek the respect of teachers that have good classroom control. Control that is arbitrary or cruel, of course, will never fail to win you enmity, but control that is both firm and fair wins respect.
Teachers often seem impatient to establish close, even personal, relationships with their students. They try to dress and act like the students; they use student slang; they adopt the students' behaviors. This is always a mistake. Please trust me on that one. Further, pushing yourselves into your students' personal affairs will not endear them to you.
Say, for instance, that you notice one of your students looking depressed in class one day. It would be perfectly appropriate for you to speak to the student privately (NOT alone, but in a way that your conversation cannot be overheard). Say that you noticed the student looked down. You may ask if the student wants to talk about it. DO NOT PROBE. It's really none of your business. Your student may want to share some things with you, but don't press if that's not the case. I have seen teachers hound students about private matters, and I have seen students hate those teachers. If the student does not want to tell you anything, ask if there's someone the student has to talk to about it. If there is no one, offer yourself or suggest that there are people on campus that will do it privately. (You will be surprised how many students will come back to you later and want to talk.)
Be patient. You can't rush a blooming flower.
Jeff Combe
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Student-Teacher Relationships, part 2
Hello everyone,
I wrote yesterday about how I think that the connection between the student and the teacher is the most important thing (after the parents) in determining success on the California Standards Tests.
If I were reading, not writing, my own emails, I would have several questions, and I want to follow my instincts and answer those questions, just in case you are thinking the way I would be.
First, why focus on the CSTs?
For those of you not at Garfield, I ought to explain that Garfield has one chance this year to raise our CST scores, or we plunge deeper into state sanctioned hell. I've written to the Garfield teachers about it a few times.
I do not think that the CSTs are the most important thing in education, nor do I think that our entire focus should be on how well we do on them. However, I happen to think that it's quite possible for us to do well on the CSTs and give our students the best education possible. I don't think the two things need to be mutually exclusive; I do think that some of the skills applied to one thing carry over to the other.
I believe that a strong connection between students and the teacher is a good thing educationally; I also believe that it may solve many of the problems that high schools have with motivating students to do well on the test. (Believe me, Garfield isn't the only high school in the United States that shows a drop-off in scores from the middle schools. Lack of motivation to do well on the test is a significant factor in causing that drop.) There is a large body of research that shows that students' success in the classroom is directly tied to their attitudes toward their teacher.
This brings up another question: What do I have to do to gain a connection with my students? That question is related to a series of questions: Do I have to parent my students? What if my students hate me? Do I have to try to make my classroom like a video game/TV show/website/party spot in order to gain my students' affection? Isn't this idea like some of the discredited self-esteem training from a generation ago?
With those questions in mind, I want to make it very clear that a teacher who cares does not stop being a teacher. (Remember the old saying, "Students need a teacher, not a friend.") In fact, teachers who try to be friends, who try to be peers, who try to be cool, invariably fail at being teachers, friends, peers, or cool. Still, there is a connection between the teacher and the student that is as powerful as, though different from, the connection between two friends.
Additionally, teachers who try to enter the private worlds of their students without the students' permission will fail. You have no right to the secrets and private dreams of your students. When they trust you, they will share with you, but you can't rush the trust. Once they have shared, if you violate the trust, you will permanently damage all aspects of your relationship. (In some cases, like abuse or imminent harm to self or others, you may have to violate a trust; even so, if you have set your class up properly, students who reveal things that you must legally report will understand why you have reported something--even when they tell you in confidence.)
You must be a teacher; you must control your class; you must teach the content; you must be consistent with your rules and consequences; you must be just before you can be merciful; you must have high expectations; you must not allow laziness; in short, you must be all the things a professional teacher is.
But you must care. And over time, though not always at first, they will come to care, too. They will care what you think; they will care how they seem to you; they will care about you. Then the real teaching begins.
Jeff Combe
I wrote yesterday about how I think that the connection between the student and the teacher is the most important thing (after the parents) in determining success on the California Standards Tests.
If I were reading, not writing, my own emails, I would have several questions, and I want to follow my instincts and answer those questions, just in case you are thinking the way I would be.
First, why focus on the CSTs?
For those of you not at Garfield, I ought to explain that Garfield has one chance this year to raise our CST scores, or we plunge deeper into state sanctioned hell. I've written to the Garfield teachers about it a few times.
I do not think that the CSTs are the most important thing in education, nor do I think that our entire focus should be on how well we do on them. However, I happen to think that it's quite possible for us to do well on the CSTs and give our students the best education possible. I don't think the two things need to be mutually exclusive; I do think that some of the skills applied to one thing carry over to the other.
I believe that a strong connection between students and the teacher is a good thing educationally; I also believe that it may solve many of the problems that high schools have with motivating students to do well on the test. (Believe me, Garfield isn't the only high school in the United States that shows a drop-off in scores from the middle schools. Lack of motivation to do well on the test is a significant factor in causing that drop.) There is a large body of research that shows that students' success in the classroom is directly tied to their attitudes toward their teacher.
This brings up another question: What do I have to do to gain a connection with my students? That question is related to a series of questions: Do I have to parent my students? What if my students hate me? Do I have to try to make my classroom like a video game/TV show/website/party spot in order to gain my students' affection? Isn't this idea like some of the discredited self-esteem training from a generation ago?
With those questions in mind, I want to make it very clear that a teacher who cares does not stop being a teacher. (Remember the old saying, "Students need a teacher, not a friend.") In fact, teachers who try to be friends, who try to be peers, who try to be cool, invariably fail at being teachers, friends, peers, or cool. Still, there is a connection between the teacher and the student that is as powerful as, though different from, the connection between two friends.
Additionally, teachers who try to enter the private worlds of their students without the students' permission will fail. You have no right to the secrets and private dreams of your students. When they trust you, they will share with you, but you can't rush the trust. Once they have shared, if you violate the trust, you will permanently damage all aspects of your relationship. (In some cases, like abuse or imminent harm to self or others, you may have to violate a trust; even so, if you have set your class up properly, students who reveal things that you must legally report will understand why you have reported something--even when they tell you in confidence.)
You must be a teacher; you must control your class; you must teach the content; you must be consistent with your rules and consequences; you must be just before you can be merciful; you must have high expectations; you must not allow laziness; in short, you must be all the things a professional teacher is.
But you must care. And over time, though not always at first, they will come to care, too. They will care what you think; they will care how they seem to you; they will care about you. Then the real teaching begins.
Jeff Combe
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Student-Teacher Relationship, part 1
Hello everyone,
I've been thinking about this for a long time, partly because of Garfield's constant struggle to raise its test scores, and partly because of what I observed at the high school of my own children.
A big problem with test scores is that they don't measure ability in any isolated way. The CSTs measure attitude first and ability second. The CAHSEE is a more accurate measure of ability, but the CAHSEE ceases the measurement as soon as the test-takers pass it. The truth is, when schools try to raise their test scores, they are inhibited by the difficulty of affecting individual attitudes in a school-wide forum.
I am convinced that the single most important thing that affects test scores is the relationship between a student and the student's parents.
The second most important thing is the relationship between the student and the student's teacher.
Third is the relationship between the student and the school community.
The quality of instruction is next.
Test taking skills, or confidence taking tests, would round out the top five.
We have almost no ability to affect the relationship between a student and the parents. Too many factors are out of our control. We may encourage students with good parents (usually unnecessary), and we may support students with poor parents (a limited proposition), but we are not in a position to do much to help the relationship in any way that would appreciably affect the CSTs.
We have an integral effect on the school community, but we are each only one element of a large organism. The best we can do is decide to be a positive force in the school. This is a very nebulous thing, acquired through individual resolve, but most influenced by the administration and the activities that touch the community (like sports and the arts).
We might integrate test taking skills into our instruction, and practice in our classes will give some students confidence in taking tests; even so, they are generally not worth more than the least instructional time. To focus tremendous attention on such trivialities offends me, and I believe it offends most of my colleagues. Further, it undermines any possible validity of the tests.
The things we have complete control over are our relationship with our students, and the quality of our instruction.
We spend much of our time working on improving our instruction. It is worthy of our efforts. It should be a life-long goal. We should never give it up.
However, for the next week or so, I would like to talk about our relationships with our students. (Our quality of instruction will follow naturally, anyway.)
Jeff Combe
I've been thinking about this for a long time, partly because of Garfield's constant struggle to raise its test scores, and partly because of what I observed at the high school of my own children.
A big problem with test scores is that they don't measure ability in any isolated way. The CSTs measure attitude first and ability second. The CAHSEE is a more accurate measure of ability, but the CAHSEE ceases the measurement as soon as the test-takers pass it. The truth is, when schools try to raise their test scores, they are inhibited by the difficulty of affecting individual attitudes in a school-wide forum.
I am convinced that the single most important thing that affects test scores is the relationship between a student and the student's parents.
The second most important thing is the relationship between the student and the student's teacher.
Third is the relationship between the student and the school community.
The quality of instruction is next.
Test taking skills, or confidence taking tests, would round out the top five.
We have almost no ability to affect the relationship between a student and the parents. Too many factors are out of our control. We may encourage students with good parents (usually unnecessary), and we may support students with poor parents (a limited proposition), but we are not in a position to do much to help the relationship in any way that would appreciably affect the CSTs.
We have an integral effect on the school community, but we are each only one element of a large organism. The best we can do is decide to be a positive force in the school. This is a very nebulous thing, acquired through individual resolve, but most influenced by the administration and the activities that touch the community (like sports and the arts).
We might integrate test taking skills into our instruction, and practice in our classes will give some students confidence in taking tests; even so, they are generally not worth more than the least instructional time. To focus tremendous attention on such trivialities offends me, and I believe it offends most of my colleagues. Further, it undermines any possible validity of the tests.
The things we have complete control over are our relationship with our students, and the quality of our instruction.
We spend much of our time working on improving our instruction. It is worthy of our efforts. It should be a life-long goal. We should never give it up.
However, for the next week or so, I would like to talk about our relationships with our students. (Our quality of instruction will follow naturally, anyway.)
Jeff Combe
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Miracle Worker
Hello everyone,
I highly recommend the 1962 film version of "The Miracle Worker," directed by Arthur Penn and starring Ann Bancroft and Patty Duke. William Gibson wrote the screenplay, which was based on his stage play.
This is one of the best "great teacher" films ever made, mostly because it is taken directly from the writings of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. It compresses facts and characters, as all good drama does, but it tells the truth more thoroughly than most other films about teaching.
I find that many new teachers come to the profession with their image of teaching based on an amalgam of what they experienced in school and what they've seen in films. The idea of most "great teacher" films is that a new, inexperienced teacher comes into a troubled classroom, stumbles onto great teaching--mostly because they see contemporary life more effectively than their burnt-out peers--, and turns around the lives of students in one short year--mostly by being cooler than everyone else around. By now, I hope that most of you have found out that this is bunk, even though many of these films are based on true stories.
"The Miracle Worker," though superior, is, to a large extent, the same premise. An inexperienced teacher comes to a troubled student and helps the student. However, part of what distinguishes "The Miracle Worker" over other "great teacher" films is that the teacher helps her student by using sound educational principles, not superficial coolness.
You know the story, don't you? Partially blind Annie Sullivan was hired to live with the Keller family to teach their blind/deaf daughter Helen. Sullivan was able to successfully teach Helen how to communicate with the seeing/hearing world by linking Helen's infant memories of water with hand spelling. Helen went on to attend Radcliffe College, graduated with honors, and supported herself throughout her life by lecturing, writing, and advocating for the blind and the dear.
Here are some of the key points that "The Miracle Worker" makes that I find to be sound pedagogical principles:
First, no learning occurs without discipline. Sullivan took almost two months teaching Helen discipline. She tied it into some elementary curricular needs (the equivalent of modern Life Skills or Community Based Instruction)--she taught Helen grooming, polite public behavior, proper table manners, and homemaking skills. Her overall objective--communication--was integrated into everything she did, however, though her primary focus at first was teaching Helen to behave so she could be taught. (Please overlook the acceptance of corporal punishment in 1880's Alabama. We can accomplish the same ends without wrestling and slapping our students.)
Second, Annie ensured that her instruction was accurate and her methods were continually refined. She constantly sought advice from established researchers; she was scrupulous in making sure that her spelling was accurate (remember that all communication was spelled); she corrected herself when she realized she made mistakes; and she varied her instruction based on her assessments that Helen was not learning what she needed to learn.
Third, Annie allowed her love for Helen to show. The drama emphasizes Annie Sullivan's difficulties with close relationships and trust, but there is a point in the film and play when she literally cannot resist having affection for the child she has struggled with. This is a turning point in Helen's education. There is no hypocrisy; no forced affection or affectation; there is nothing inappropriate or unseemly. In fact, there is resistance on Annie's part to the affection she feels. But as she shows the affection and Helen senses it, Helen turns the corner away from forced discipline toward self-discipline.
Finally, Annie continued. She did not kill herself for a big splash, then leave for a book and film deal. The teacher remained after the breakthrough (the great moment when Helen made the connection in communication that made everything else possible) and continued to teach her gifted but troubled student. She and Helen Keller remained life-long friends and companions.
Keep those things in mind for all your students: discipline comes first; discipline and content are integrated; instruction must be thorough and accurate; constant reflection refines your approach; love your students--even when they don't return the feeling; and prepare yourselves for the long haul.
Jeff Combe
I highly recommend the 1962 film version of "The Miracle Worker," directed by Arthur Penn and starring Ann Bancroft and Patty Duke. William Gibson wrote the screenplay, which was based on his stage play.
This is one of the best "great teacher" films ever made, mostly because it is taken directly from the writings of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. It compresses facts and characters, as all good drama does, but it tells the truth more thoroughly than most other films about teaching.
I find that many new teachers come to the profession with their image of teaching based on an amalgam of what they experienced in school and what they've seen in films. The idea of most "great teacher" films is that a new, inexperienced teacher comes into a troubled classroom, stumbles onto great teaching--mostly because they see contemporary life more effectively than their burnt-out peers--, and turns around the lives of students in one short year--mostly by being cooler than everyone else around. By now, I hope that most of you have found out that this is bunk, even though many of these films are based on true stories.
"The Miracle Worker," though superior, is, to a large extent, the same premise. An inexperienced teacher comes to a troubled student and helps the student. However, part of what distinguishes "The Miracle Worker" over other "great teacher" films is that the teacher helps her student by using sound educational principles, not superficial coolness.
You know the story, don't you? Partially blind Annie Sullivan was hired to live with the Keller family to teach their blind/deaf daughter Helen. Sullivan was able to successfully teach Helen how to communicate with the seeing/hearing world by linking Helen's infant memories of water with hand spelling. Helen went on to attend Radcliffe College, graduated with honors, and supported herself throughout her life by lecturing, writing, and advocating for the blind and the dear.
Here are some of the key points that "The Miracle Worker" makes that I find to be sound pedagogical principles:
First, no learning occurs without discipline. Sullivan took almost two months teaching Helen discipline. She tied it into some elementary curricular needs (the equivalent of modern Life Skills or Community Based Instruction)--she taught Helen grooming, polite public behavior, proper table manners, and homemaking skills. Her overall objective--communication--was integrated into everything she did, however, though her primary focus at first was teaching Helen to behave so she could be taught. (Please overlook the acceptance of corporal punishment in 1880's Alabama. We can accomplish the same ends without wrestling and slapping our students.)
Second, Annie ensured that her instruction was accurate and her methods were continually refined. She constantly sought advice from established researchers; she was scrupulous in making sure that her spelling was accurate (remember that all communication was spelled); she corrected herself when she realized she made mistakes; and she varied her instruction based on her assessments that Helen was not learning what she needed to learn.
Third, Annie allowed her love for Helen to show. The drama emphasizes Annie Sullivan's difficulties with close relationships and trust, but there is a point in the film and play when she literally cannot resist having affection for the child she has struggled with. This is a turning point in Helen's education. There is no hypocrisy; no forced affection or affectation; there is nothing inappropriate or unseemly. In fact, there is resistance on Annie's part to the affection she feels. But as she shows the affection and Helen senses it, Helen turns the corner away from forced discipline toward self-discipline.
Finally, Annie continued. She did not kill herself for a big splash, then leave for a book and film deal. The teacher remained after the breakthrough (the great moment when Helen made the connection in communication that made everything else possible) and continued to teach her gifted but troubled student. She and Helen Keller remained life-long friends and companions.
Keep those things in mind for all your students: discipline comes first; discipline and content are integrated; instruction must be thorough and accurate; constant reflection refines your approach; love your students--even when they don't return the feeling; and prepare yourselves for the long haul.
Jeff Combe
Monday, October 15, 2007
Control
Hello everyone,
Classroom control at its most elemental level means that a teacher can command silence. This is an important thing to be able to do, and the inability to command silence may be a serious safety issue in some conditions.
At its highest level, classroom control is the ability to have students be immediately obedient under all circumstances. This is best achieved when students have such a high level of trust in the teacher that they are willing to be completely obedient. This can also be achieved by using fear and intimidation, but that is a poor--or at best temporary--substitute for love and trust, which accomplish the same feat better and open the door for real learning as well.
Classroom management and classroom control are related, but are not the same thing. Management includes taking roll, timing activities, utilizing space, doing paperwork and balancing other administrative requirements with teaching, as well as controlling the class.
Let me, please, focus on control.
I favor the concept that control should come from trust and respect, but I acknowledge the practical idea that trust and respect are earned, not commanded. That means that when students come into the classroom in the beginning, you can't expect them to automatically trust you and respect you. You must establish both of them, and the highest levels of classroom control will follow automatically.
This all means that, at first, you may have to be willing to allow the students hate you. I've written about this concept many times, but it bears re-emphasis. In the course of ensuring that you can control complete silence when necessary, you may impose consequences on students that will upset them. Don't worry about that if your consequences are proportional and fair.
Once you've established the ability to command silence, there are some things that you may want to be careful of so that you can build the trust and respect necessary for complete control without compulsory means:
Never lie to your students.
Be very careful about coloring things with your opinion; let your students know that, though you have an opinion, you will always give them both sides.
Teach correct principles; be as certain as you can be of your subject; if you are not certain, be honest. (They will accept experimentation and the possibility that a lesson will fail; just be honest with them about it.)
Use control wisely; never be arbitrary; never command silence when quiet is sufficient; never command quiet when noise is preferable; and vice-versa.
Do not let individual students take control of your class; do not let attempts to take control happen without consequence; however, be willing to let dissenting voices be heard if they are appropriately voiced.
Respect your students, despite their immaturity. (Respect, like friendship, is reciprocal.)
Your students want you to control their environment. They want a safe, orderly classroom. Individually, they may seem to want to cause trouble, but--believe it or not--they really crave a well managed classroom.
If you keep these principles in mind, over time, you should start to see control that comes from respect. As you progress in your career, you will begin to have students coming to you in gratitude for the things you taught them and the respect you earned.
Jeff Combe
Transitions
Hello everyone,
As you plan your lessons, don't forget to plan transitions.
Each portion of your lesson plan involves moving from one activity to another: warm up to correcting the warm up (formative assessment) to direct instruction to group activity (with formative assessment) to individual practice with formative assessment to closing class. Each of these movements requires a combination of things, including the transition that the students must make from one activity to the next.
If your transitions are bad, you will likely have a variety of problems.
The overall flow of the lesson is confused and disjointed. Activities don't build on each other. The students lose concentration. Distractions have an opportunity to impose themselves on the lesson.
Part of what happens during transitions is pure management. Hand out and collect papers quickly, so that you can overlap the businesses of the class. (You may recap some key points while handing out papers, for example; or you may ask students to take out their books and open to a certain page while handing in their classwork; or you may have them pass in the homework as they do the warm-up.) Many of the business elements of the classroom require little concentration, so they may be done simultaneously with other elements that require more or less concentration.
It may be wise to give important instructions while the students are listening to you. Say something like, "Do not begin until I tell you to; only listen to my instructions." (One implication of this is that something must be attended to exclusively, and may not be overlapped with other activities.) Before the students begin on the activity that you have just given them instructions on, you may say something like, "Hand in your papers [from the previous activity] and begin [the new activity]."
Dead time in the classroom is like dead air on the radio. When a radio station fails to broadcast anything, people change stations. When a teacher leaves a gap in the flow of the classroom, students "change stations." It may take a long time for them to come back, which causes all sorts of difficulties for your timing.
Consider also the mindset that students have been in before you take them someplace else. "You have been looking at so-and-so," you might say. "Now we're going to consider such-and-such. These two are different in this way . . ." Some students may have finished an activity early, and have already drifted into non-sequiturs. You will need to do a brief (five or ten second) review ("We have just worked on this-and-so. These, you remember, are the elements of this-and-so.") Don't assume as you transition away from an activity that they have been following your every word and that they've understood and remembered everything.
Transitioning from the classroom to their homework is vital as well. Make sure that they really have a chance to hear what the homework is. Don't just shout it at them as they dash from your room.
Keep the flow; use transitions effectively.
Jeff Combe
As you plan your lessons, don't forget to plan transitions.
Each portion of your lesson plan involves moving from one activity to another: warm up to correcting the warm up (formative assessment) to direct instruction to group activity (with formative assessment) to individual practice with formative assessment to closing class. Each of these movements requires a combination of things, including the transition that the students must make from one activity to the next.
If your transitions are bad, you will likely have a variety of problems.
The overall flow of the lesson is confused and disjointed. Activities don't build on each other. The students lose concentration. Distractions have an opportunity to impose themselves on the lesson.
Part of what happens during transitions is pure management. Hand out and collect papers quickly, so that you can overlap the businesses of the class. (You may recap some key points while handing out papers, for example; or you may ask students to take out their books and open to a certain page while handing in their classwork; or you may have them pass in the homework as they do the warm-up.) Many of the business elements of the classroom require little concentration, so they may be done simultaneously with other elements that require more or less concentration.
It may be wise to give important instructions while the students are listening to you. Say something like, "Do not begin until I tell you to; only listen to my instructions." (One implication of this is that something must be attended to exclusively, and may not be overlapped with other activities.) Before the students begin on the activity that you have just given them instructions on, you may say something like, "Hand in your papers [from the previous activity] and begin [the new activity]."
Dead time in the classroom is like dead air on the radio. When a radio station fails to broadcast anything, people change stations. When a teacher leaves a gap in the flow of the classroom, students "change stations." It may take a long time for them to come back, which causes all sorts of difficulties for your timing.
Consider also the mindset that students have been in before you take them someplace else. "You have been looking at so-and-so," you might say. "Now we're going to consider such-and-such. These two are different in this way . . ." Some students may have finished an activity early, and have already drifted into non-sequiturs. You will need to do a brief (five or ten second) review ("We have just worked on this-and-so. These, you remember, are the elements of this-and-so.") Don't assume as you transition away from an activity that they have been following your every word and that they've understood and remembered everything.
Transitioning from the classroom to their homework is vital as well. Make sure that they really have a chance to hear what the homework is. Don't just shout it at them as they dash from your room.
Keep the flow; use transitions effectively.
Jeff Combe
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Be practical
Hello everyone,
Believe it or not, I have kept a personal journal since the 9th grade with only a few lapses. I was reading one of my journals and I came across a passage that talked about the need to be practical and use common sense in teaching situations.
That idea of common sense and practicality was on my mind anyway, and reading it in my journal has emphasized it.
The situation described by my journal was a major epiphany for me.
I have come to believe that being practical is very important in education.
That means that, if your students are talking all the time, and you can't get them to listen to you at all, the practical thing is to get them to teach each other. Use their need to socialize in your favor.
It means that, if your students speak Spanish and you don't, you will work out ways for them to understand you. You may feel like you're in a Chaplin film with all the pantomiming you're doing and close-ups you're showing, but so be it.
It means that you may have to move them into and out of groups to get them to accomplish better what you need to have them accomplish.
It may mean that you have to get stricter; it may mean that you have to loosen up. Some classes need less control; some need more. Sometimes they need to be silent; sometimes they need to talk. Sometimes they need to be quiet; sometimes they must be loud. Avoid asking them to do one when they won't learn without the other.
You may be fighting for space to seat everyone; you should change your seating chart plans.
You may have to consciously plan fun things during certain times of the year, because your students will not, under any circumstances, be willing to buckle down and do work that requires great concentration. (Middle school teachers will find that Halloween and the East LA Classic are often such times.)
Sometimes you need to talk louder; sometimes quieter. Adjust for the circumstances.
I often suggest to new teachers that they put themselves in the students' places. It will help immeasurably in your sense of practicality if you can do this. If you happen to be teaching a class that your students hate, what can you do to help them in the subject? (Did anyone ever help you to appreciate a subject that you hated?) If you force them to learn it the way you did, you may have a struggle on your hands.
It all makes me think of my mother and liver. Our family hated liver. Mother loved it and saw it as an important part of a balanced diet. She experimented for years before she discovered that, if she shaved the liver very thin, fried it until it was unrecognizable, buried it in onions, and poured ketchup all over it, we would be willing to eat it. It wasn't liver the way her mother cooked it, but she got it down us, and we stopped feeding it to the dogs when she wasn't looking.
Be practical. It may not be the way your mother cooked it, but your students may be more inclined to eat it.
Jeff Combe
Believe it or not, I have kept a personal journal since the 9th grade with only a few lapses. I was reading one of my journals and I came across a passage that talked about the need to be practical and use common sense in teaching situations.
That idea of common sense and practicality was on my mind anyway, and reading it in my journal has emphasized it.
The situation described by my journal was a major epiphany for me.
I have come to believe that being practical is very important in education.
That means that, if your students are talking all the time, and you can't get them to listen to you at all, the practical thing is to get them to teach each other. Use their need to socialize in your favor.
It means that, if your students speak Spanish and you don't, you will work out ways for them to understand you. You may feel like you're in a Chaplin film with all the pantomiming you're doing and close-ups you're showing, but so be it.
It means that you may have to move them into and out of groups to get them to accomplish better what you need to have them accomplish.
It may mean that you have to get stricter; it may mean that you have to loosen up. Some classes need less control; some need more. Sometimes they need to be silent; sometimes they need to talk. Sometimes they need to be quiet; sometimes they must be loud. Avoid asking them to do one when they won't learn without the other.
You may be fighting for space to seat everyone; you should change your seating chart plans.
You may have to consciously plan fun things during certain times of the year, because your students will not, under any circumstances, be willing to buckle down and do work that requires great concentration. (Middle school teachers will find that Halloween and the East LA Classic are often such times.)
Sometimes you need to talk louder; sometimes quieter. Adjust for the circumstances.
I often suggest to new teachers that they put themselves in the students' places. It will help immeasurably in your sense of practicality if you can do this. If you happen to be teaching a class that your students hate, what can you do to help them in the subject? (Did anyone ever help you to appreciate a subject that you hated?) If you force them to learn it the way you did, you may have a struggle on your hands.
It all makes me think of my mother and liver. Our family hated liver. Mother loved it and saw it as an important part of a balanced diet. She experimented for years before she discovered that, if she shaved the liver very thin, fried it until it was unrecognizable, buried it in onions, and poured ketchup all over it, we would be willing to eat it. It wasn't liver the way her mother cooked it, but she got it down us, and we stopped feeding it to the dogs when she wasn't looking.
Be practical. It may not be the way your mother cooked it, but your students may be more inclined to eat it.
Jeff Combe
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Lecture and worksheets
Hello everyone,
When I was a kid, I hated teachers who lectured. When I got to college, I endured lectures because many of the great scholars that I studied under were lousy teachers, but I was mature enough to endure their lectures, and educationally wise enough to figure out how I could learn from them. (Because I studied acting, I rarely had to endure lectures in my major subject, which was a comfort to me.)
I always preferred, then and now, discussion over lecture, and I think that I've spent a large part of my career trying to learn how to foster discussion and use it to teach my objectives.
When I was in elementary school, I loved worksheets. By middle school, I hated them, considering them beneath my dignity; in high school I considered them an insult to my intelligence.
I preferred the flexibility of my own blank piece of paper over a worksheet; I liked books more than single pieces of paper (which I always lost); I thought that coloring was for babies. (I did like the smell of fresh mimeograph, but that's another issue.)
It turns out that, this late in my teaching career, the State of California is officially speaking out against lecture and worksheets.
I think that, in your teaching, if you have any of the symptoms of too much lecturing, then you should look for ways to break it up into other activities. (These symptoms include dry throat, sore throat, headache, dazed students, misbehaving students, finding that you have to repeat yourself endless times, and the feeling of frustration that comes when you've told the students something and they haven't picked it up.) Consciously seek ways to avoid lecture.
I'm not saying that you should never lecture. It's useful in limited chunks (say 15 minutes); it can be used for a brief introduction to a subject; it can provide a brief overview. Occasionally, in limited ways, you just need to tell your students something.
Nor am I saying that lecture and direct instruction are the same thing. There are a multitude of ways to provide direct instruction without lecturing (including discussion, demonstration, and analysis).
Simply reading from a PowerPoint is a notch or two worse than merely lecturing (partly because it's often done in the dark where it's too easy to go to sleep); giving a PowerPoint presentation in which the displays provide enhancement of your direct instruction (with key words, pictures, video clips, animated charts, and/or music and sound effects) is better than mere lecturing, and may be acceptable to your students (I'm not saying it definitely will be; it may be).
By all means, if you are going to use PowerPoint, make a presentation that even the partially blind kid in the back of the room could see and enjoy. As a former blind kid in the back of the room, I must tell you that I personally hate PowerPoint and overhead projector displays unless they use very large fonts with high contrast.
I should also point out that templates are not the same as worksheets, but as students get older, I think it's better for them to make their own templates.
Here's a good point to consider: If, when you were in middle school, you would have been bored with your current presentation, then your current presentation is probably boring, which means that it likely has too much lecture and not enough discussion or interaction or interest built in. (If you were a very bright middle school student, then use your elementary or pre-school self as a checkpoint.) If you would have been bored, you should change your presentation.
Now, after suggesting that some teaching methods are boring, I must admit to being sometimes boring. Teaching is a constant cycle of teaching, then reviewing your practice, then adapting, then teaching again. You will be boring sometimes; sometimes you will lecture too much.
Just learn to recognize it and correct it when it happens. Begin by re-proportioning the amount of lecture that happens in your classroom, and cutting out, as much as possible, the too frequent use of worksheets.
Jeff Combe
When I was a kid, I hated teachers who lectured. When I got to college, I endured lectures because many of the great scholars that I studied under were lousy teachers, but I was mature enough to endure their lectures, and educationally wise enough to figure out how I could learn from them. (Because I studied acting, I rarely had to endure lectures in my major subject, which was a comfort to me.)
I always preferred, then and now, discussion over lecture, and I think that I've spent a large part of my career trying to learn how to foster discussion and use it to teach my objectives.
When I was in elementary school, I loved worksheets. By middle school, I hated them, considering them beneath my dignity; in high school I considered them an insult to my intelligence.
I preferred the flexibility of my own blank piece of paper over a worksheet; I liked books more than single pieces of paper (which I always lost); I thought that coloring was for babies. (I did like the smell of fresh mimeograph, but that's another issue.)
It turns out that, this late in my teaching career, the State of California is officially speaking out against lecture and worksheets.
I think that, in your teaching, if you have any of the symptoms of too much lecturing, then you should look for ways to break it up into other activities. (These symptoms include dry throat, sore throat, headache, dazed students, misbehaving students, finding that you have to repeat yourself endless times, and the feeling of frustration that comes when you've told the students something and they haven't picked it up.) Consciously seek ways to avoid lecture.
I'm not saying that you should never lecture. It's useful in limited chunks (say 15 minutes); it can be used for a brief introduction to a subject; it can provide a brief overview. Occasionally, in limited ways, you just need to tell your students something.
Nor am I saying that lecture and direct instruction are the same thing. There are a multitude of ways to provide direct instruction without lecturing (including discussion, demonstration, and analysis).
Simply reading from a PowerPoint is a notch or two worse than merely lecturing (partly because it's often done in the dark where it's too easy to go to sleep); giving a PowerPoint presentation in which the displays provide enhancement of your direct instruction (with key words, pictures, video clips, animated charts, and/or music and sound effects) is better than mere lecturing, and may be acceptable to your students (I'm not saying it definitely will be; it may be).
By all means, if you are going to use PowerPoint, make a presentation that even the partially blind kid in the back of the room could see and enjoy. As a former blind kid in the back of the room, I must tell you that I personally hate PowerPoint and overhead projector displays unless they use very large fonts with high contrast.
I should also point out that templates are not the same as worksheets, but as students get older, I think it's better for them to make their own templates.
Here's a good point to consider: If, when you were in middle school, you would have been bored with your current presentation, then your current presentation is probably boring, which means that it likely has too much lecture and not enough discussion or interaction or interest built in. (If you were a very bright middle school student, then use your elementary or pre-school self as a checkpoint.) If you would have been bored, you should change your presentation.
Now, after suggesting that some teaching methods are boring, I must admit to being sometimes boring. Teaching is a constant cycle of teaching, then reviewing your practice, then adapting, then teaching again. You will be boring sometimes; sometimes you will lecture too much.
Just learn to recognize it and correct it when it happens. Begin by re-proportioning the amount of lecture that happens in your classroom, and cutting out, as much as possible, the too frequent use of worksheets.
Jeff Combe
Monday, October 8, 2007
Groups, part 4 (setting them up)
Hello everyone,
Some more on group work.
Most of you have been trained in Reciprocal Teaching, so there's not much need to go into that in detail. If you don't know how to do it, let me know, and I'll go over it with you and give you some materials.
Reciprocal teaching is generally used for reading/literacy activities, and it is very useful for times when you are having the students do some routine reading and you have trained them to work in groups to do it. The same structure can be used for writing activities as well. "Back in the day," it was called "cooperative learning," and I frequently used it for editorial groups in my English classes. (Students read and graded the early drafts of their essays before writing the final drafts which I graded.) In my film production classes, students worked in production groups, structurally based on some of the major assignments one might find in a normal studio environment (producer, director, writer, dir. of photography). In my drama classes, groups were based entirely on the size of the cast of a given performance; in full production, students worked in a variety of different groups, both in front of and behind the curtain. If I were teaching science, I would have my students in groups to work on experiments; in social studies, students would produce group projects and performances; in math, students would work in tutorial groups; in music, I would use the natural division of the sections.
In each case, the size and purpose of the group may vary, but some principles will remain the same.
1. EVERY GROUP MUST HAVE A LEADER. (There should probably be an alternate, too, when the leader is absent. You might have a structure in place for the group to pick an alternate on days when all the leaders are unavailable.) You may choose the leaders, or you may have the groups choose the leaders (I worked both ways depending on what sort of purpose the group was working for).
2. THE LEADERS MUST BE THE ONLY PEOPLE AUTHORIZED TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU. Give the leader extra credit or extra power for the extra work, but do not allow the group to circumvent the leader. This is important for two reasons: first, it gives you someone that is always accountable; second, it transfers much work from you to the students, where it is better placed.
3. THE GROUP MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOUR RUBRIC. How that accountability is set up may vary, but the group must be accountable.
4. EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THE GROUP MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE BOTH TO THE GROUP AND TO YOU. This is harder, but we have discussed it in previous emails. You choose how you want it to happen. Everyone may get the same grade; the leader may give individual grades; the group may elect to eject members, who then are given zeros; everyone may get both an individual and a group grade; the group may grade the leader. In group presentations, every member of the group may be required to answer questions from the class or the teacher. Feel free to experiment and adapt the circumstances to your personality as well as the needs of the assignment.
5. BE VERY CLEAR ON WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE HAPPEN, ON WHO THE LEADER IS, ON WHAT THE GROUP MUST ACHIEVE, AND ON HOW THE GRADES WILL HAPPEN.
6. DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT THE GROUP IS CAPABLE OF DOING. It's best if the students are capable of setting up the groups and functioning within their own decisions. If you have to set the groups up, you should still leave them to do what they are capable of doing. Let it be the group leader's decision that they need your help, not usually yours.
7. IF NECESSARY, TRAIN THE STUDENTS TO WORK IN THE GROUPS. Practice the behaviors that you expect from them. Don't assume that they automatically know how to create and operate within groups. If your class needs to change their seating to alternate between direct instruction and group work, have them practice how to do it quickly and quietly.
Jeff Combe
Some more on group work.
Most of you have been trained in Reciprocal Teaching, so there's not much need to go into that in detail. If you don't know how to do it, let me know, and I'll go over it with you and give you some materials.
Reciprocal teaching is generally used for reading/literacy activities, and it is very useful for times when you are having the students do some routine reading and you have trained them to work in groups to do it. The same structure can be used for writing activities as well. "Back in the day," it was called "cooperative learning," and I frequently used it for editorial groups in my English classes. (Students read and graded the early drafts of their essays before writing the final drafts which I graded.) In my film production classes, students worked in production groups, structurally based on some of the major assignments one might find in a normal studio environment (producer, director, writer, dir. of photography). In my drama classes, groups were based entirely on the size of the cast of a given performance; in full production, students worked in a variety of different groups, both in front of and behind the curtain. If I were teaching science, I would have my students in groups to work on experiments; in social studies, students would produce group projects and performances; in math, students would work in tutorial groups; in music, I would use the natural division of the sections.
In each case, the size and purpose of the group may vary, but some principles will remain the same.
1. EVERY GROUP MUST HAVE A LEADER. (There should probably be an alternate, too, when the leader is absent. You might have a structure in place for the group to pick an alternate on days when all the leaders are unavailable.) You may choose the leaders, or you may have the groups choose the leaders (I worked both ways depending on what sort of purpose the group was working for).
2. THE LEADERS MUST BE THE ONLY PEOPLE AUTHORIZED TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU. Give the leader extra credit or extra power for the extra work, but do not allow the group to circumvent the leader. This is important for two reasons: first, it gives you someone that is always accountable; second, it transfers much work from you to the students, where it is better placed.
3. THE GROUP MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOUR RUBRIC. How that accountability is set up may vary, but the group must be accountable.
4. EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THE GROUP MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE BOTH TO THE GROUP AND TO YOU. This is harder, but we have discussed it in previous emails. You choose how you want it to happen. Everyone may get the same grade; the leader may give individual grades; the group may elect to eject members, who then are given zeros; everyone may get both an individual and a group grade; the group may grade the leader. In group presentations, every member of the group may be required to answer questions from the class or the teacher. Feel free to experiment and adapt the circumstances to your personality as well as the needs of the assignment.
5. BE VERY CLEAR ON WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE HAPPEN, ON WHO THE LEADER IS, ON WHAT THE GROUP MUST ACHIEVE, AND ON HOW THE GRADES WILL HAPPEN.
6. DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT THE GROUP IS CAPABLE OF DOING. It's best if the students are capable of setting up the groups and functioning within their own decisions. If you have to set the groups up, you should still leave them to do what they are capable of doing. Let it be the group leader's decision that they need your help, not usually yours.
7. IF NECESSARY, TRAIN THE STUDENTS TO WORK IN THE GROUPS. Practice the behaviors that you expect from them. Don't assume that they automatically know how to create and operate within groups. If your class needs to change their seating to alternate between direct instruction and group work, have them practice how to do it quickly and quietly.
Jeff Combe
Friday, October 5, 2007
Groups, part 3 (when not to use them)
Hello everyone,
I think I need to expand some more on the uses of groups in the classroom.
I have found that there are times in the school year when work in groups is not practical or desirable.
When I first started teaching, I had a schedule full of remedial reading classes. The students were undisciplined and unmotivated, and I thought that if I put them into groups, I could individualize their instruction better, and they would have more opportunities to work on skills.
It didn't work.
Without more adult supervision, the students were unwilling to work individually or in small groups, and I was unable to hold them accountable for everything they were supposed to be doing. My class was quickly a disaster area, with books stuffed in unlikely locations and graffiti all over everything.
The next year, I sat the students in a conventional seating arrangement and we read together, and it worked much better.
It was manageable but boring.
If I were teaching those classes again, I would spend a part of the beginning of the year making sure that the class knew how to behave and establishing my rituals and routines. then I would begin moving them into pairs and groups.
Good readers can work in groups independently; poor and unmotivated readers need to be taught skills before they can be trusted in groups. (If you have more adults in the classroom, this is a moot point; the adults can manage the groups easily as soon as the students are able to concentrate in relative noise.)
Writing, on the other hand, is very easy to manage in a group, if the group is focused on the editing process. I organized my writing groups at the beginning of the year, taught them the way I wanted the groups to finish, then let them function.
If you find that the groups in your class are not functioning the way you intend--if in fact they are rapidly spiraling out of control, you ought to consider a few things. Is the class capable of independent work without adult supervision? Does the class have the skills necessary for the level of independent work? Is the work too hard? Is the work too easy? Have you trained the groups in the way you want them to function? Is your accountability system fair and functioning? Are you giving them too much time? Are you giving them too little time? Have you trained them to allow you to work with another group without going berserk? Have you trained them how you want them to come back to all-class activities from their group work?
Having the students work in pairs or larger groups is a good idea that will benefit your instruction; just make sure that you have thought out your management details before you construct your entire year around them.
Jeff Combe
I think I need to expand some more on the uses of groups in the classroom.
I have found that there are times in the school year when work in groups is not practical or desirable.
When I first started teaching, I had a schedule full of remedial reading classes. The students were undisciplined and unmotivated, and I thought that if I put them into groups, I could individualize their instruction better, and they would have more opportunities to work on skills.
It didn't work.
Without more adult supervision, the students were unwilling to work individually or in small groups, and I was unable to hold them accountable for everything they were supposed to be doing. My class was quickly a disaster area, with books stuffed in unlikely locations and graffiti all over everything.
The next year, I sat the students in a conventional seating arrangement and we read together, and it worked much better.
It was manageable but boring.
If I were teaching those classes again, I would spend a part of the beginning of the year making sure that the class knew how to behave and establishing my rituals and routines. then I would begin moving them into pairs and groups.
Good readers can work in groups independently; poor and unmotivated readers need to be taught skills before they can be trusted in groups. (If you have more adults in the classroom, this is a moot point; the adults can manage the groups easily as soon as the students are able to concentrate in relative noise.)
Writing, on the other hand, is very easy to manage in a group, if the group is focused on the editing process. I organized my writing groups at the beginning of the year, taught them the way I wanted the groups to finish, then let them function.
If you find that the groups in your class are not functioning the way you intend--if in fact they are rapidly spiraling out of control, you ought to consider a few things. Is the class capable of independent work without adult supervision? Does the class have the skills necessary for the level of independent work? Is the work too hard? Is the work too easy? Have you trained the groups in the way you want them to function? Is your accountability system fair and functioning? Are you giving them too much time? Are you giving them too little time? Have you trained them to allow you to work with another group without going berserk? Have you trained them how you want them to come back to all-class activities from their group work?
Having the students work in pairs or larger groups is a good idea that will benefit your instruction; just make sure that you have thought out your management details before you construct your entire year around them.
Jeff Combe
Monday, October 1, 2007
Participation grades as management tools
I've been considering a variety of management techniques that might be useful to you all. I recommend that you investigate "Logical Consequences" (make sure you're looking for classroom management techniques, not general logic/philosophy) and the Fred Jones website. Here are two links that might be of service:
Logical Consequence
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=behavior§ion=main&subsection=classroom/natural
Fred Jones classroom management website
http://www.fredjones.com/index.html
I have recommended to some of you the use of a participation grade as a tool of management.
I give a certain amount of points to my students for daily classroom participation. I have discovered over time that it is easiest to give the points on a weekly basis. I construct the points so that they are worth the combined amount of the students' general participation in class plus all the classwork. At the beginning of the week, I give each student the maximum number of points available, and I leave that point total unchanged as long as the student comes to class, does the work, and participates appropriately.
This way of treating the points makes grading work much easier. I don't have to enter a grade for every single assignment done in class; I simply subtract a portion or all of a day's allotted points when the work is not done.
If a student is absent or tardy, I subtract points. If a student sleeps or is distracted, I subtract points. Whenever students come without the proper books or materials, I subtract points.
I suggest that it would annoying to you and your students to announce too frequently that you are taking away points, but it is essential to occasionally let it be known. If a student came without a book, I would say, "I will loan you a book, but you need to know that you are getting a fail for the day," and I would then deduct 50% of the day's possible points. By the way, I always try to emphasize that a fail is better than a zero. Once a student has a zero for the day, there is no motivation to continue doing anything else; a fail was still worth points even as it was a logical consequence for being unprepared.
I must also emphasize that these grades are not for behavior, but behavior influences the grade. If a student were to talk the entire period, but do all the work in the process, I wouldn't feel justified in deducting participation points (unless I made it clear in my rubric that points were rewarded for "appropriate participation," in which case I might drop a letter grade at most). Absence from the class or tardiness of course become reasons for deductions, but excused and unexcused absences are equivalent zeros. Excused or unexcused tardies are worth varying deductions based on the length of the tardy.
I think it's important to point out that the teacher's perception of the grades (deductions as negative consequences) need not be the same as the student's (rewards for appropriate behavior). Feel free to emphasize the positive side of the participation grade more than the negative side ("I gave you an A for the day!"), but think of deductions as a way of simplifying your grading.
It's just another way of making sure that there is accountability in the classroom that is easy for you to manage.
Jeff Combe
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