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
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2 comments:
I've just come home from probably the worst day in my teaching career.
Since I've begun taking classes to start my masters degree I've been reading blogs.
This morning before I went to work I looked at your blog and had clicked on "Focus on the ones who want to learn.." For whatever reason I was taken from the computer and was not able to return to read it before I left.
I work with inner city children. In a public charter school. There has been a lack of many things such as, I get one planning period per week for forty minutes, there are no aides and 27% are special needs.
My returning students understand that I want the best for them and therefore are not behavior problems for the most part. I try to focus on them.
It's the new children this year. Many have home issues that come to school with them, they lack respect for authority figures or adults period, and several are emotionally impaired.
Today they got the best of me and I felt like the "biggest loser" in the profession. Did I tell you that this is my second year as a teacher in the middle school?
When I got home this evening I went to the computer to check my email and found the screen showing "Focus on the ones..". I began reading it.
I wished that I could say that I felt uplifted and that I had received "manna from heaven" but instead, I felt worse.
Maybe I need more Professional Development on disruptive students, or maybe on differentiation, heck maybe on how to write better lesson plans so that they work. I don't know. All I know is that this is a darn hard job.
I'll pick myself back up tomorrow and dust myself off and return to try it again because I'm not a quitter. Who knows maybe tomorrow I'll teach them something.
I would write to you directly, but I don't know your email.
I've had days like you describe, and I have no illusions about the power of one blog entry to change things.
I wrote "focus on the ones who want to learn" in the context of other management posts. A large number of my posts are on a variety of management issues, usually based on what I have recently observed in the classrooms I visit. Browse around, and maybe something else will be of more help.
You're right: teaching is very hard. And what works one day may not work another because human beings are so complex, and their lives are constantly in flux.
If it's any comfort at all, my second year as a middle school teacher was full of days that you describe. By the third year, I had my timing down better. This may sound crass, but teaching middle school is like a game of attrition. Either they wear you out, or the reverse.
Jeff Combe
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