Focus on the one, part 2

Hello everyone,

I received the email below, and I wanted all of you to have a chance to see the things it suggests. I have edited it, and I occasionally clarify or comment in CAPS. You may need to keep in mind that the teacher in question has a background in therapy, and the class size is smaller than an average general education class.

To: Combe, Jeffery
Subject: Re: Daily email: Focus on the ones who want to learn

...My philosophy in this regard (and in general)is "one kid at a time." I take the most egregious offender and work with him/her first, employing whatever methods I happen to have chosen. This may take an hour or days until what I call our "learning bargain" begins to work.

While this intense behavior modification is occurring [with one student], however, many [other] things are happening. Others in the "act up/out" population continue to do so, but without the participation of our current target subject, as I've employed consequences heavy enough (plus whatever therapy/connecting) to neutralize him/her.

Unless the remaining kids prevent instruction, I ignore or teach over them (there is obviously disciplining occurring, but without any deeper cause/effect work)to the rest of the willing learners.

I NEED TO INTERJECT HERE. IN THIS TEACHER'S SMALL CLASS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO USE THIS STRATEGY AS DESCRIBED.

I AM CONCERNED THAT SOME OF YOU MAY READ THIS DIFFERENTLY THAN IT'S INTENDED, HOWEVER. THIS IS NOT THE COMPLETE PICTURE, BY ANY MEANS; I HAVE BEEN IN THIS CLASSROOM, AND THERE IS GOOD CONTROL. DO NOT THINK THAT THIS IS ONE OF THOSE CASES WHERE THE TEACHER DRONES ON AND ON TO A SMALL GROUP WHILE THE REST TEAR THE CLASSROOM APART; THAT'S NOT WHAT'S HAPPENING. IT'S A MATTER OF INTENSITY OF FOCUS BEING DIFFERENT, WHICH IS APPROPRIATE.

IN A LARGER CLASS, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO KEEP THE OTHER KIDS IN CHECK MORE THAN MAY SEEM TO BE INDICATED HERE.

THE IDEA OF CHOOSING A KEY STUDENT AND "NEUTRALIZING" THAT STUDENT IS AN IMPORTANT IDEA.

It's amazing how the removal of the behavior of the lynchpin kid decreases this anyway.

I WOULD LIKE TO UNDERSCORE THAT THE TEACHER IS SPEAKING OF THE REMOVAL OF BEHAVIOR, NOT REMOVAL OF THE STUDENT. THAT'S AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION.

My rationale for stabilizing the toughest (or loudest) kid first, is that the correction for
balance of power of the classroom is most greatly affected this way; biggest bang for my buck. Once the target child begins to enjoy the results of learning and I know he/she has gotten the large message, I move to the next greatest offender and begin the deeper, individually tailored work all over again.

One of the many collateral benefits of the "one kid at a time" approach is that once the first kid has gotten my "special" attention, the other needier ones want "special" treatment also. These kids don't know it, but all any of them really want is to be treated like they're special. Once you've shown that you're someone who does this, they're yours.

TRUE. UNDERLINE THAT.

Special attention or the "learning bargain" is different for each kid, but the place that . . . I [commonly] start, is getting parents involved in a hopeful, sincere way.

THIS USE OF PARENTS IS KEY. YOU WILL FIND THAT, AFTER YOU HAVE THE BEHAVIOR UNDER CONTROL, YOU ARE ABLE TO START CALLING PARENTS FOR MORE POSITIVE REASONS (IE, TELLING THEM THAT THEIR CHILD HAS DONE SOMETHING GOOD, RATHER THAN SOMETHING BAD), WHICH HELP TO FOSTER THE "HOPEFUL, SINCERE" PART OF THE "LEARNING BARGAIN." POSITIVE PHONE CALLS HOME CAN OFTEN BE MORE POWERFUL THAN NEGATIVE ONES.

By the third or fourth week I have a "learning bargain" with every kid, and he or she is reminded of it frequently and with different levels of intensity.

A "LEARNING BARGAIN," OR ANY SORT OF MUTUALLY AGREED UPON CONTRACT BETWEEN TEACHER AND STUDENT, MAY BE WRITTEN OR VERBAL, PRIVATE OR SHARED WITH OTHERS. USE WHAT WORKS THE BEST FOR YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS. SOME TEACHERS HAVE CLASS-WIDE CONTRACTS WITH EACH OF THEIR CLASSES. SOME STUDENTS REQUIRE INDIVIDUAL AGREEMENTS WITH THE TEACHERS. IT'S AN EXCELLENT IDEA.

This does not address everything, but it allows those who want to learn a place to do it. . . Thanks, as always, for an opportunity to think and articulate these things. It really helps me get better at what I do [and get] in touch with the things that make this job not just a job.

WELL SAID.

JEFF COMBE

Focus on the ones who want to learn

Hello everyone,

You must realize that, even in the worst behaved class, there are students who really want to learn.

You have an obligation to these students.

Do not, as some some teachers in movies and literature do, make favorites of your students. Treat all your students with equity--with this exception: Make sure that the good students get the bulk of your attention in the classroom.

What I mean is, if you find that the majority of your time is taken up with taking care of the misbehaving students, then you may be certain something is wrong. If you are not helping someone who really wants to learn because you've gone off to discipline someone who's being disruptive, then something's wrong. If your lesson isn't happening at all because a cadre of students is preventing it, then you have a big problem.

I'm not saying that you should give up and allow the misbehavers to get away with it. Give them their consequence, and move on. It's best if their consequence is given to them quietly while everyone else is working (what's best is not always possible).

You may find that, if you keep the class moving with a good lesson plan, and if you are giving good positive support to those that are trying, and if your attention to the disrupters is minimal (only what is necessary to keep them accountable), then peer pressure will shift toward learning and away from disrupting. It's what one of you called "herd behavior," but it's real.

By the same token, if you let disrupters get away with bad behavior, if your lesson plans are poorly thought out or non-existent, or if your consequences are vicious and arbitrary, you will alienate the very students that should be the core of honest learning in your class.

Let most of your focus and your concern--indeed most of your time--be on those who really want to learn. The others will come around, one by one.

Jeff Combe

The end of post-modernism

Hello everyone,

It's the day before a holiday, so I would like to wax philosophical.

I think we are witnessing the end of post-modernism and the beginning of a new major trend. I propose that we call this major trend "millenialism." That name seems to fit the age, and I'm tired of "-isms" that begin with "post."

It's impossible in the early stages of a paradigm shift to separate all the elements that distinguish the new paradigm from those of the old one, but there are some things that are going on that I think will likely characterize much of the next half-century. I mention only those that I think are most appropriate for general educators to consider:

1. The notion of community is being severely altered. Community is no longer going to be determined by geographical proximity, but by shared interests. Communities will be formed on the web around ad hoc meeting sites such as Myspace or Facebook (the latter of which ironically begins with geographical commonality--ie, the members belong to a specific university--that breaks down almost immediately as new communities are formed with Facebook as the vehicle); groups of "friends" that are collected as instant messages, cell phone numbers, or email address books; groups formed around advertised products (clothing lines, music, films), political issues (not parties), or other fads.

2. Face to face communication is going to be much less common. Even when people are together, they are increasingly communicating in asides to each other as they divide their concentration between the asides and their entertainment. Having meaningful conversations isolated from the electronic background will be rare.

3. Writing will be increasingly important, but not in the traditional sense. Spelling and grammar will be altered to accommodate text messaging.

4. Communal entertainment experiences will become rarer; fewer people will go to theaters or stadia for anything but "mega" experiences (mega-concerts, large sporting events, large extravaganzas). Intimate artistic experiences will be viewed electronically, and that mostly solo. Solo audience experiences (like iPods) will further isolate us.

5. Attention spans will be even shorter. Patience will be a virtue that must be consciously taught; there will be little in the world to teach it.

6. Cheating will be (you may read this "is") endemic.

This may sound pessimistic or fatalistic. I don't intend it to be. I think that we need to look at as much as we can, then see what we can do.

If I were working in the classroom through the trends I believe are happening, I would overtly teach my students the need for face to face communication. I would help them to form themselves into a community. I would refuse to allow them to hide behind their electronic devices. I would try to accommodate their short attention spans while I tried to help them lengthen those spans. I would teach them to appreciate communal experiences. I would not allow cheating. I would not allow them to use text-message spelling or grammar in formal essays.

I suppose I'm doomed to be old fashioned and very post-modern, but there are things that I think are valuable that may be lost to a large extent if we in education don't nurture them.

At the same time, I can continue to love my iPod if I want.

Jeff Combe

My Pendulum Swings

Hello everyone,

I know I seem like a pendulum. One email tells you to clamp down on bad behavior, the next tells you to love the kids.

Think that it's less a pendulum and more a balancing act. You're walking on a tightrope; when you swing too far one way, you need to catch yourself and swing back the other.

Part of the secret is to know when to do the swinging.

Here are a few principles to keep in mind:

You are in charge. You may be a nice person, but you are in charge.

You MUST take charge. If you don't take charge, then you are telling other people that they are in charge, not you.

This taking charge should have happened at the first day of your class. Some of you came into your classes late into the year; some of you didn't take charge at the beginning; some of you are still learning how to take charge. What this means is that the act of taking charge is going to be harder for you than it is for those who took charge in the first moments of the first day. It's not impossible, but it's difficult. (Resolve that next year you'll do better.)

Remember that good planning is essential to taking charge. If your days are bad, look to your planning first.

If you are currently in what feels like a battle for control of your class, and your students are telling you they hate you and you are mean, don't take it personally.

Sometimes in the heat of "battle," you will lose track of what it is you really want. What you really want is to deliver the highest quality, standards-based instruction to all your students. You may have loftier goals of helping your students become fine, upstanding members of this great democracy, and that's all right. You may incorporate the two goals and do well. But if your class is only a constant revisiting of the rules and enforcement of the rules, then you're not accomplishing anything.

As soon as possible, you must move away from the unemotional authority figure toward the warm, caring, nurturing teacher.

If, in the middle of November, you have classes that are not under control, you will likely remain in the unemotional authority figure mode for some time--months perhaps.

Even in the midst of being an unemotional authority figure, you must judiciously find good things that your students have done. Do not lavish praise, but do not withhold it either. You must remember to teach your students what it means to be under control so that they can move toward self control. That means that you must tell them when they have done it correctly. If they have a particularly difficult time doing things correctly, then you should point out when they have done part of what you suggest correctly. ("I asked you to sit down quietly and do your work; I appreciate that you have sat down; now, please be quiet and do your work. I appreciate that you have your materials out, now do your work, please." Etc.)

Above all, however, you must love them. Hate their behavior, by all means, but love them.

In this sense, I'm not swinging like a pendulum. I'm thinking that there are fixed ideas, and as you work with the kids, you must keep the ideas in mind.

Even when you are being the strictest you must be, even when you are firm about severe consequences for behavior, even when you are not giving in to the begging or the whining or the flirting that they will do to get you to give in and let them off free, you should still love them and respect them. Firmly separate the child from the child's behavior. Mercy for the child, justice for the behavior.

Jeff Combe

Education and entertainment

Hello everyone,

When I first started teaching in the dark days before iPods and cellphones, my colleagues and I used to ask each other in wailing voices, "What do they want from us, Muppets?"

What we meant was that our students had spent so much time being entertained that they wouldn't accept a normal education unless it was couched in the imagery of entertainment, much as Sesame Street so successfully did. We couldn't compete with the Children's Television Workshop--or any other professional programmer, and we knew it, and we resented it.

Today, things are both better and worse.

We have much better technology now; there are a wide variety of things we can use in the classroom to hold student attention as we teach. There is more research about education available to us, and we have better training. Our textbooks are more interactive and use web-based resources in ways that were only a dream when I started my career. Students are communicating in writing more than any other time in history.

On the other hand, students often seem less inclined to think abstractly; they are less patient with lengthy processes; they are often less able to concentrate for long periods on complex, abstract thoughts; they read less than ever; their writing is filled with the quirks and shortcuts of text-messaging and email (u r w/ me on this? ;) lol).

Does this mean it's impossible to get students to pay attention without all the bells and whistles of the technology-based classroom? If it is, pity the poor teacher who can't get a projector when she needs it. I think students can still be engaged by a great text (even an old one) with nothing more than a great teacher and enough books and desks to go around.

I just don't think it's necessary to be so Spartan if you don't have to be.

When you plan your lessons, plan to use the widest variety of teaching tools that are available to you. Frequently vary your activities. Acknowledge that what you do in the classroom competes with video games, the internet, text-messages, an enormous music library, and a general lack of independent reading. Plan accordingly.

On a side note, there is a growing concern that today's youth are not learning to socialize normally. They listen to music, they text message each other, they email, they play video games together, they have sexual encounters. But they don't always know how to have an appropriate conversation, with eye contact, over an extended period, without outside stimuli. We need to try to give them opportunities to practice normal conversation. Hence the recent trend toward socialized instruction, giving students the opportunity to practice conversation at the same time providing an activity in the classroom that can be engaging.

Do we have to entertain? No, but who wants a boring class?

Jeff Combe

Lesson plans and behavior

Hello everyone,

It's hard to separate the difference between general classroom management and pedagogy. There is a broad, gray line in which your students' behavior is a constantly fluctuating variation of how well you enforce your rules, how well you teach your class, and how well you manage your time.

After the first few weeks of school, you would normally expect your students to be in a routine that helps them behave and function easily in the classroom. If by now they aren't, you may find the reason in your planning.

There are exceptions that affect this benchmark. If you are in special ed. classes, or if you took over mid-semester, or if your students have very poor reading skills, they may take more time than the first few weeks of school. Still, the idea that your students behavior should be fixed the way you want by mid-October is a useful one to consider.

Now that we are partway into the semester, all things being normal and customary, if your students are misbehaving, you ought to look to your lesson plans for part of the reason.

This is a difficult thing to do, and you may be working on it for the next two years, but you must consider it very seriously.

Is your class rigorous enough? If it isn't, students will finish their work quickly and misbehave.

Is your class too hard? If it is, students will give up and misbehave.

Do you have long transitions between activities? If so, your students will get bored and misbehave.

Do you talk too much; is your language incomprehensible; is your scaffolding inadequate; are you condescending; is your material more appropriate for a different age group? If so, your end is predictable.

To a large extent, managing your students' behavior should be done by managing your instruction. That begins with carefully planned lessons that are tied to carefully planned units.

In the beginning of your career, you may need to plan your lessons out completely, like scripts, from the opening bell to the closing, complete with everything you will say, time limits for each activity, and planned alternate activities if you find that your timing estimate is off. Of course, you should be ready to alter the lesson on the spot if the opportunity provides for a clearer presentation, and you will likely want to alter the script a little as you go through each class, but your original plan must be detailed and specific. (Later in your career, you will know the script well, so you will be able to work from a general outline, or even brief notes. But at first, you must be detailed.)

If you find yourself, in November, going home every day saying how awful the kids are, what criminals you teach, or how unwilling they are to do anything, look first to your lesson plans. Then call their homes after school.

Jeff Combe

Classical conditioning

Hello everyone,

At the risk of sounding crass, I'd like to talk about classical conditioning.

Yes, I mean that our students can be conditioned, and the same sorts of things Pavlov did with his dogs, we do with students.

For example, if, this late in the semester, your students misbehave, it's because you've conditioned them to do so. If they sit silently, you have conditioned them. Ditto, if they do their work, do not do their work, work their hardest, sleep in class, use their cell phones, listen to ipods, participate in discussions, show respect, and so on. (I'm speaking generally, not necessarily specifically.)

In other words, it's very much a part of what teachers do.

Classical conditioning is easy to understand in principle: Encourage behavior with rewards; discourage behavior with negative consequences.

You remember the original experiment: Pavlov rang a bell and furnished food; the dogs salivated at the food. Later, when he rang the bell, the dogs salivated, even without the food.

He conditioned the dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell.

Look at your students when the school bell rings (I can't resist this obvious transition). What are they doing? The real answer is, they are doing exactly what you have conditioned them to do. If you like what they do when the bell rings, then you're in a good position. If you are not pleased with what happens, then you must look to the way you have rewarded them for that behavior. If you want them to change, you must re-condition them.

Don't take this idea in any way other than the most innocent: we owe it to our students to help them learn to behave like professional adults in certain situations. Most of them will be professional adults in only a few years.

So let's talk practically.

There are a few things that I was taught about Pavlovian conditioning that I think are worth remembering when you are trying to affect the behavior of your students.

At the beginning, Pavlov discovered that rewards or punishments must be immediate and constant. This is important so that the reward or the punishment may be immediately associated with the behavior you intend to change. Over time, for positive behavior, the reward must be intermittent if you want the student to behave independently of the reward. If you condition your students to do things only for an immediate reward, they may become virtually incapable of performing without rewards. They need to be taught to function independent of rewards--eventually. If you do not have any system of immediate consequences, you will condition them to seek the easiest way.

Of course, human beings are incredibly complex, and the system of rewards and punishments must be appropriate to the complexities of the individuals you're working with, as well as the culture we teach in.

You must learn to understand what they consider to be both positive and negative consequences. Giving a fail to a student, or sending the student to the deans may be considered positive experiences to some students. A spirited classroom debate may be negative. (For most teachers, the memory of a fail or being sent to the deans is incredibly negative, and a classroom debate is positive. What rewarded you or threatened you when you were a student may not necessarily be the same stimuli with your students.) Phone calls home, praise, and criticism are likewise ambiguous under some circumstances.

If you have conditioned the kids into wrong behavior this late in the first semester, all is not lost, but you must look more carefully, and you must be more specific in your system of rewards and punishments (the word "punishment" makes me squirm uncomfortably, but no other works in this case that I can think of). I still think that the phone call home is the best tool to achieve behavioral change, either positively (viz, get them to do something) or negatively (viz, get them to stop doing something).

Be careful of the power you wield, but don't be afraid to use it. By all means, condition them to do good.

Jeff Combe

"That's boring"

Hello everyone,

I hate it when my students say I'm boring. I hate it when they use any of the variations of that: "I'm bored," "This is boring," "This is bored [from LEP students occasionally]," "I hate this subject."

Apart from the feelings of being personally assaulted, there is always the confusion of just exactly what the students mean when they say it. Are they tired? Do they know the subject already? Do they lack the cognitive ability to understand abstract concepts? Do they lack the background information necessary to understand the material? Am I using enough vocal variety? Am I varying the activities enough? Do they have ADHD? Do they have ADD? Are they addicted to video games or porn? Do they have distracting problems at home? Is my lesson plan confusing? Are they angry at me for something, and are they trying to get back at me by saying the one thing I hate the most? Is the subject boring? Is the subject too easy? Is the subject too hard?

You can't treat the subject of student boredom as a disease when it is really a symptom of a multitude of possible diseases. You also can't ignore that you might be the disease. (That hurts.) Nor can you ignore the symptoms, whatever the disease is. If a student is bored, then something is going on that you need to consider correcting if you can.

You must use formative assessments to find the reason. I suggest starting with the most common problems: the subject is too easy or too hard. A dialog in an English class might go like this:
STUDENT: I'm bored.
TEACHER: (strongly resisting the urge to say something sarcastic) I'm sorry. Did you finish reading?
STUDENT: Yeah, a long time ago.
TEACHER: What did you think of [insert a passage].
STUDENT: It's stupid because [student gives a response that shows understanding].

It's likely the material was too easy for the student. If the rest of the class is behind, let the student either be bored or work on something else. It might be very useful to have the student tutor others, after praising the student's abilities:

TEACHER: Wow, I can see why you're bored. This is too easy for you. Listen, would you be willing to help the others?

An alternate conversation could go like this, picking up after, "Did you finish reading?"
STUDENT: I hate reading.
TEACHER: I'm sorry. Did you finish?
STUDENT: Pretty much.
TEACHER: What did you think of [insert a passage].
STUDENT: [Cannot answer coherently or tries a distracting strategy.]

If the rest of the class is showing the same symptoms, you've likely chosen something that is too difficult for the level of independent study you have them working on. Take them back to guided group practice. (You may have to read aloud and explain as you go along, which will bore some of them, but will provide the needed background.)

If you're teaching grammar and a student says, "This is boring," you don't need to do any formative assessment. Grammar really is boring. You may find it more successful if you break it up into smaller chunks or use games to teach it. I would explain that I understood that it could be boring, but it was necessary.

If you find that the student has personal problems, such as a learning or behavioral disability, family problems, lack of sleep, or a drug problem, then the boredom is just a symptom of something you need to get help with to deal with.

If you find that your vocal patterns are boring, then change your vocal patterns. (Avoid droning; beware of digressions; watch out for repeating yourself; shun "uh.") If your lesson plans are disorganized, organize them. If you're teaching to one modality, vary your teaching (bring something in for the visual and kinesthetic learners, for example).

Above all, don't take it personally. Even if it's personal.

Jeff Combe

Taking attendance and more on middle school

Hello everyone,

I'm dividing today's email into two parts: first, I'd like to talk about managing attendance; second, I'll address an email I received about middle school teaching.

PART ONE

There are a few things with taking attendance that you must keep in mind, and a few things that you may keep in mind. Believe it or not, the way you take attendance has a subtle but profound effect on student behavior.

IMPORTANT: Do not allow students to return to class with uncleared absences. Make sure that all your students go to the attendance office and clear all absences before they come to your class. ISIS will tell you if students have uncleared absences.

TAKE ROLL SILENTLY. Avoid taking class time to call out student names every day. Taking roll should normally take less than 30 seconds, not counting the time it takes to enter marks in ISIS.

USE A SEATING CHART. Require your students to sit in the same seat daily, and take attendance by looking for empty seats during the warm up. To mark absences, all you have to do is mark the empty seats. If you currently don't do it this way, you might want to take a week or so of announcing absences--"The following people have been marked absent"--and waiting for the occasional protest--"I"m not absent!" Simply ensure that the protesting student is sitting in the correct seat, apologize, and move on. (Hint: If students are chronically out of their assigned seats, marking them absent in this way helps to create accountability for staying seated.)

You should also use the seating chart to facilitate memorizing student names, ensure equity in student/teacher interaction, and managing misbehavior.

BE STRICT ABOUT TARDIES. There should be a consequence for every tardy, even if it's a small consequence. With middle school students, you may need to be explicit: "You must be in your seat when the bell is finished ringing or you are tardy," or "You must be inside the room when the bell rings," or "You must be starting the warm up," or whatever fits your situation the best, so long as you aren't lax about it.


PART TWO
I received the following email, which I have excerpted, in response to yesterday's email addressing middle school. My comments are in CAPS:

"...At high school ... the complaints I hear from students arise when teachers are not fair and tend to rely on curriculum to provide discipline."

MANAGING A CLASSROOM IS ALSO MANAGING CONTENT, BUT CONTENT SHOULD NEVER BE USED AS A FORM OF PUNISHMENT UNLESS YOU WANT TO TRAIN YOUR STUDENTS TO HATE YOUR CONTENT. IF YOU HAVE BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN YOUR CLASSROOM, IT OFTEN MEANS THAT YOUR

"Contrary to many teacher¹s beliefs math/science/history (insert subject here) [may] not [be] a student's favorite subject and it takes a dynamic, engaging teacher to make a subject interesting when the initial excitement is not there."

TRUE.

"Having taught/worked at all levels including adult professional development
I would say hands down the best teachers can be found in middle schools. I
think the best content experts are at high school, the best personalizers
are in elem.."

BEFORE ANYONE GETS OFFENDED BY THIS, I WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY WHAT I THINK IS MEANT HERE.

MIDDLE SCHOOL IS WORKING IN INTERMEDIATE CONTENT LEVELS, AND GOOD PEDAGOGY IS OFTEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN UNDERSTANDING THE HIGHER LEVELS OF CONTENT. MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE USUALLY AS EXPERT AS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS AND COLLEGE PROFESSORS IN THEIR CONTENT AREAS, BUT THEY MUST SACRIFICE THE UPPER LEVELS OF CONTENT TO PREPARE THEIR CHARGES TO RECEIVE THAT CONTENT LATER.

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS MUST PREPARE THEIR STUDENTS FOR THE DEMANDING LACK OF PEDAGOGY THAT IS OFTEN FOUND IN COLLEGE COURSES, AND THERE ARE HIGH LEVELS ON CONTENT PROFICIENCY THAT HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE REQUIRED TO DELIVER. THE PROPER BALANCE BETWEEN PEDAGOGY AND CONTENT IS DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN.

"The question is: how do we ... teachers that have a great passion for the content ... [enable] all students, both those passionate about their subject and not so passionate, to appreciate the subject and find something that is interesting to them?

AND THAT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IS NOT A QUESTION THAT CAN BE ANSWERED EASILY. IT COMBINES THE INMUTABLE IDEA THAT TEACHERS MUST MOTIVATE AS WELL AS TEACH WITH THE IDEA THAT THERE IS A LARGE BAG OF TRICKS (LOOSELY CALLED "SCAFFOLDING") THAT HELPS. OVER TIME, WE'LL COVER BOTH.

Jeff Combe

Middle school

Hello everyone,

If you will forgive me, I would like to focus a little on the problems of teaching middle school.

Rather, I should say, PROBLEM.

The overwhelming problem of teaching middle school is managing the classroom. Middle school students are very unforgiving of teachers who don't manage the classroom efficiently. I could phrase that previous sentence to read, "Middle school students punish teachers who don't rule with an iron hand," and not be far from the truth.

At the same time, middle school students are savvy enough to know that teachers have weaknesses; they will look for those weaknesses and exploit them, especially if they a tendency toward leniency. They will tell you to your face that you're mean; they will beg you not to give them consequences; they will smile at or flirt with you; they will throw temper tantrums. In short, they will use the full repertoire of all the techniques they perfected in childhood to get what they want, and they will rarely give in until they either get it, or they learn that you're serious.

The secret, then, is to show them that you're serious. Follow up on consequences; don't defer consequences; make sure they don't escape consequences. NEVER be cruel; ALWAYS be firm; ALWAYS follow up; NEVER lose your cool.

Remember that the most effective thing is to use the parents. Invite the parents to come to your class. For a particularly badly-behaved student, require the parents to come and observe. (Make sure you're not absent on the day they come.)

Don't use the deans as punishment. It's ineffective to use them as punishment. Use the deans to keep students who are suspended from your classroom for exceptionally disruptive or egregious behavior; send students to the deans that are on contracts; send students whose parents will not cooperate. Don't send students for minor offenses, and don't threaten students with the deans. For your worst behaved students (often your least skilled students), the deans' office is more of a reward than a punishment. (Having the child's mother come to class and sit next to him/her until he/she behaves--THAT is punishment. It's also a good, reasonable, logical consequence.)

Your regular attendance is important as well. Every day you have a substitute will cost you a day or more of restoring order. It's not the sub's fault; it's just the nature of middle school behavior.

NOW, once you have order in the classroom and you begin to teach, you can begin to tap into the wonderful energy and spirit of early adolescents. They are terrific to work with; they are moldable; they are curious. They want boundaries (really), and they will appreciate you for setting them, even as they buck against them. What's more, they want to be taught, even as they insist that they know it all.

They're just like growing ponies. They're cute and lots of fun as soon as they stop kicking you. You must teach them to stop kicking, though.

Jeff Combe

More little things

Hello everyone,

I received the following email, which has made me think about a lot of "little things."

"A little thing that makes the world of difference when the kids can't be quiet: I remember that my kids don't talk too much because they're bad kids or because they're disrespecting me, but because they simply forget to focus. I know this because they say, 'Sorry, miss, I forgot.' Then they get focused again.

Plus, it's just more positive, and I don't need negativity in my life."

Personally, I frequently have to remind myself to be "more positive."

This represents a crucial idea in working with kids--that none are really bad. Yes, I know some of them occasionally do some really bad things, but the very worst of them are good in many ways.

You will all note from the email that the teacher in question does not permit the incorrect behavior--the behavior is corrected. But the conscious choice to think of the kids as people who simply need help to focus helps the teacher.

I found, when I was teaching 8th grade remedial reading, back in the 1980's, that I could play a little mind game that helped me a lot. Instead of thinking of my students as immature and illiterate adolescents, I thought of them as extremely mature children. It was a little switch from negative to positive that made all the difference in how I treated them.

These attitude adjustments are, I believe, healthy.

For example, I confess that there have been times that I have hated my job. The kids have behaved very badly, or pressures from on high have built up, or my pay has been incorrect, or (you fill in the blanks). A little switch from looking at the negatives of the job (they can't be denied sometimes) to the positives (they need to be sought out occasionally) does a world of good. Very often, I confess, at my darkest hour a student will come to me and tell me how I have helped in some way. It's amazing; thinking of the one student whom I've helped can pull me through the darkest periods. It's also amazing that there is such serendipity in the profession. Just when I need a boost, a student provides it. Of course, the boost might have been there all along, and all I did was change what I was looking for, which is part of my point here.

For those of you teaching middle school, there is a thin line between the positives and the negatives, and the perspective view is longer (the kids you inspire to go to college won't let you know for a while, for example), but you can find many ways to switch yourself from negative to positive if you consciously work at it.

It'll pay off. You don't need negativity in your life.

Jeff Combe

Stupid little things

Hello everyone,

Jeff Moreton, a compatriot at Garfield High School, and I were talking today about the sorts of things that were helpful when we first started teaching. Jeff called them the "stupid little things" that make a difference.

It's true that even the smallest thing can make a difference in the classroom. As we get older, we often forget the little things that help us keep control of a classroom or deliver instruction more effectively.

Jeff talked about that panicky feeling that you might have at the beginning of a day, and the question, "Oh no, what am I going to teach?" (This is assuming that your carefully laid plans have not worked out as you planned--not assuming that you neglected to plan and you're not ready at all.) Jeff said that it was helpful for him to consciously change the question from "What am I going to teach?" to "What are they going to learn?" For him, that slight attitude change made all the difference.

Little things.

I found that I could control my own attitude in a variety of ways that were helpful to my teaching, and when I struggled with teaching, it was often because I allowed my attitude to drift. If I blamed the awful students, or if I raged against the bureaucracy, or if I got angry over little things, it was usually because I had neglected to control the overall attitude. I don't mean to say that the kids aren't sometimes rotten, or the bureaucracy intransigent, or the world provoking. I just mean that allowing those things to affect the attitude made teaching harder and less enjoyable.

One little thing that you can never forget is to constantly evaluate your own practice. Make sure you do this in light of the students' learning. After you finish a lesson, ask yourself how it went: how was management? how well did the students understand? how interested were they? how excited are they to come back? how tired are you? Evaluate. Never stop reviewing and evaluating your own practice. Be ready to change when things aren't working, or when things are stale, or when you find a better way.

But never forget the basics; and never forget the little things that make a difference.

Jeff Combe