Teaching as theater

Hello everyone,

Teaching is theater. Let's get that straight. Teachers are performers, and students are audience.

There are some practical aspects of performance that teachers must always keep in mind.

First is voice. You must consciously make your voice something that is reasonably pleasant to listen to. It must be loud enough for everyone to hear, but not so loud that you're painful. You must be able to "top" the noise in the class without sounding angry.

Second is "staging." Think about where you are in relation to the audience. If possible, avoid giving any of them your back or a part of your back. Place yourself so that they can see your facial expressions. (In all practicality, place yourself so that few of them are behind you.) Make yourself visible.

Costuming is important. Dress in a way that is comfortable, but that commands respect. Look professional within your personality. Avoid dressing like a clown unless you can be funny on cue. Avoid dressing sexy. (Let me repeat that with the proper emphasis: AVOID DRESSING SEXY.) Remember that they will judge you by your appearance, so control that part of your appearance that is within your power.

Consider lighting and setting. Students must be able to see and be seen; remember the importance of contrast when using projection, but don't plunge the room into total darkness, or you'll regret it. The class should be pleasant to look at and be in, and it should contribute to the learning.

Work from a good script. Be aware of what will engage the audience and keep them interested. Plan well. If you are not a good improviser, feel free to write out what you're going to say. Keep in mind, however, that actors who only read from the script are usually very boring; so are actors who fumble around and don't know their lines.

Finally, be aware of your audience. If they're bored, change the show somehow. If they're laughing, and you have no idea why, do your best to find out. (There are few things worse than unattributed laughter. I once taught an entire period with middle school kids in near hysterics, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong until one student was brave enough to tell me my pants were unzipped.) If you need to make a change, do it for future classes. If your students laugh, and you didn't want them to, but you know why they did, there is little you can do but allow the laughter for a reasonable amount of time (assuming it's not cruel laughter directed at other students), then nudge them back to work. I constantly trip over things and bump into things in my classroom, which always makes students laugh. I just let them, and get on with the lesson. Sometimes my students make very good jokes; I usually laugh with everyone else, then get on with the lesson.

Yeah, I admit I'm a former theater person, and that's some of the reason for the theatrical metaphors. But it's impossible to escape the correlation, and things go much better if you just acknowledge the show, and do your best to make it a good one.

Jeff Combe

Last, best chance

Hello everyone,

I know I've harped on this idea many many many times, but I think it's worth harping on again.

Some of you still are struggling with controlling some of your classes. The good news is that you are learning a lot from these struggles. Most of what you're learning will be of most use at the beginning of next year when you approach your students with firmness and fairness, holding them immediately accountable for their work as well as their behavior. You know by now that you are their teacher and not their friend; you know that their parents are your partners; you know (I hope) that your students are capable of great heights, but they are subject to all the ills and difficulties of adolescence, and they need a strong, caring adult to get them through it all.

Your last, best chance to gain control this year is coming. Failing that, your best opportunity to try a new tack is coming.

For those of you on A-track, you are returning at the beginning of a new semester. B-track, has a long break to contemplate rearrangements and strategies. Traditional calendared schools (the middle schools) have Spring Break coming up in mid-March. C-track is in the weakest position, I warrant, but C-track can take a crack at it, anyway.

Come back from a break with a speech more or less like the following:"I have been thinking about the way things are going, and I believe I can make some changes that will help us to have a strong finish to the school year.

"For this reason, some of you will have your seats changed. [Announce the new seating chart at this point, and ENFORCE IT.]

"We are going to have to work very hard during these remaining months to make sure you are ready to pass on to the next level, do well on the CSTs, and [if they're in high school] pass the CAHSEE. Therefore, you will have homework tonight. Make sure you don't leave class today without the homework.

"From now on, if you come to class unprepared, I will impose a consequence. I will impose increasingly strenuous consequences on you until you decide to come prepared. It is very important that I teach you to make good academic choices, so I believe it's important for me to make it difficult for you to slack off in class.

"We must cover the following standards from now to the end of the year. [When B-track comes back, you will have to review, so you will include what you're going to review in this list of standards.] Today, this is the standard we will cover. ]Tell them the standard and GET BUSY.]"

Hold them immediately accountable for your new, higher expectations. Don't give them second chances. Love them enough that you won't be afraid if they think you're mean, so long as they learn from you.

If they have had their way with you up to now, they will not make it easy for you, but hard as it may be, it's nothing compared to how bad it will be come June if you don't take this opportunity to restore order.

Remember, don't get angry; don't get emotional; be business-like and professional. If you give an ultimatum, follow through with it. Avoid yelling or raising your voice; don't be cruel or vindictive; don't control for its own sake. Control to teach; love without showing favoritism; avoid sacrificing the many for the whims of the one.

If you have control already, good. Use this time to fine tune your pedagogy; sprint to the finish; enjoy your students. If you are still struggling with a class or more (and all of us do our first year), then don't let the opportunity pass you by.

Some tunes are worth harping.

Jeff Combe

Focus through the tough times

Hello everyone,

I'm back. I had a nice, though brief, vacation. It's good to see those of you I've seen.

Teaching is a multitude of things, and teachers are judged (often harshly by outsiders) for the things they do or do not accomplish. Teachers in East LA regularly teach their subject, counsel their students, appease parents, prevent violence, prevent drug abuse, prevent pregnancy, increase literacy, prepare students for life, prepare students for careers, acculturate non-citizens, herd cats, and lead horses to water.

The last two were figurative. The rest are real.

Teachers in East LA also frequently fail to accomplish some or all of the things they regularly attempt. It can get discouraging, but East LA teachers stick it out, gain experience, and find much success.

Sometimes, in our discouragement, or in the difficulties of our profession in this little corner of the world, we don't always keep things in focus or perspective. There are a few things that have been going through my mind lately. Maybe naming them will help with focus. (Maybe, also, I'm planting more trees in an overcrowded forest, thereby obscuring the forest with the trees. I hope I'm clarifying, however.)

First, we teach people not subjects. "I teach children, not math," someone once said to me, and I love the beauty of the philosophy. This doesn't mean that we don't teach the math; it just means that we use the math as a vehicle for creating the full human being. If we keep the full human being in mind, then we are able to work occasionally on the counseling, prevention, and preparation that are also part of our job.

Second, we are contracted employees. Read the contract; know it; don't take it on hearsay. If you have questions about it, read the text with someone you trust. Fulfill your contractual obligations.

I do not believe that the first and second points are exclusive of each other.

Third, we are role models. It may make you uncomfortable, but you must realize that you are the most powerful role model your students have apart from their parents. True, many of them may seem to prefer Kobe, but they really know you better, and you really do have more influence. Use that influence well. Be careful not to further your personal, political, or religious agenda at their expense. I'm not saying to stop being yourself; just remember that your job is not to pour your imperfections into the minds of your willing students, it is to free their minds for the mature, considered, educated inquiry that is necessary for American democracy. You have not failed at all if, after mature, considered, educated inquiry they disagree with you. However, you have failed horribly if they agree with you always, but are immature, inconsiderate, and uneducated, and never make inquiry beyond believing in you.

As a role model, you should model the best behavior of which you are capable. They will not hate you for it if you don't include sanctimoniousness with your best behavior. This includes knowing your subject better every time you teach it, but remaining patient with even those who don't know it at all yet.

Don't forget that your students' most important role model is (really) their parents. Do not try to usurp that; augment it rather.

So: teach the whole human being; follow your contractual obligations; be a role model. Believe it or not, falling back on those things has given me much satisfaction--not to mention better focus.

Jeff Combe

Making it through February

Hello everyone,

I will be gone until next Thursday, taking some much-needed vacation days.

In consequence of some conversations with first-year teachers, I have decided to reprint an email from a year ago:

The A-trackers among you won't feel this, but to the rest of the world, February is often one of the most difficult months to teach. I grant that, in a year-round calendar, March and April can be pretty rough, too, but traditionally, February is the toughest. It's after the holidays; Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day hardly compensate for the lengthy time to the end of the year; and things just loom endlessly before us.

I'm not saying this to depress you all. I mean to suggest that, if you feel depressed (even just a little during the next month or three), it's normal. Don't let it turn to despair. This, too, shall pass.

You might consider a few strategies to help:
1. Simplify things. Get back to the basics of your profession. Keep in mind that teaching should not take every waking moment of your life, and many great teachers accomplish their goals working the required eight hours (class plus outside time) a day.
2. Throw away all the old catalogs if you don't have an immediate need for them. In fact, feel free to throw away all the junk mail.
3. Don't forget to get some exercise and eat a balanced diet. It has an influence on stress and depression.
4. Pick one of the standards that you really love and teach it. (This works especially well for English teachers, but I'm guessing that every discipline can find a way to make it work.) I always saved my favorite literature for the toughest time of year because it cheered me up.
5. Find a teacher friend to dump your problems on. They're the only ones who really understand.
6. Don't forget to laugh. A good sense of humor will take you a long way.

Jeff Combe

Handling holidays

Hello everyone,

Holidays that happen on school days, under the best of circumstances, are difficult. Valentine's Day is one of those days, but they include such days as Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, and (that cruelest of days) April Fools' Day. Students come to class for purely social reasons, frequently, and the best students are distracted.

What do you do on days like this?

You do your best.

Keep a sense of humor; integrate the insanity into your lesson if possible; limit the parties (restrict them; cancel them; don't allow them if you can prevent them; postpone them until after school if possible).

Next year (this year is too late--I should have warned you earlier in the week), don't succumb to their pleading for a "kick back day" (one of their favorite things to ask for). Avoid free time. The mere asking for something doesn't require you to give it.

On the other hand, there is no reason to quell every festive impulse they have. I have seen teachers integrate holidays into their curricula. Brief exchanges of gifts or cards are likely to occur, so briefly overlooking them might not be bad.

St. Patrick's Day and April Fools' Day are something to be warned about, I suppose. Make sure you wear green on St. Paddy's Day, because they WILL pinch you if you don't. Watch for tacks on your chair and don't fall for alleged spiders on your back on April Fools' Day. In both instances, if you do fall for their rightful shenanigans, learn to laugh it off. There is usually nothing else you can do.

An attitude of calm, good humor, mixed with more than a little attention to business (or better yet, mingling fun with business) will get you through. Remember, though, that these are not the sorts of holidays that exempt anyone from an honest day's work.

In short, do your best.


Jeff Combe

Gathering information for proper diagnosis

Hello everyone,

In many ways, teachers are like doctors. We diagnose and treat ailments all the time. (I know; we'd love to be paid the same, but that's an issue for another day.) The ailments that we're looking at are related to learning--things ranging from how well the student understood the lesson all the way to recognizing major cognitive dysfunction--and our treatment is usually pedagogical, but the functions are very similar.

It behooves us, then, to be careful in our diagnoses so that our treatment is correct.

Imagine that disaster that would arise from a patient who had cancer but was diagnosed with a cold, or someone that was treated for epilepsy who had eczema.

The same caliber of problem happens when a student with dyslexia is simply thought to have bad parents, or an extremely intelligent child is thought to be slow.

Unlike doctors, we do not need to make our diagnoses rapidly, which is a good thing because our patients seldom come to us begging to be cured. Further, we are required to determine the problems that our students are having--and prescribe and administer the cure--without being able to openly ask many questions or use many diagnostic tools.

Still, there is a lot at our disposal, and we have many advantages that will help us.

We have complete student records available to us, some of which are accessible online in ISIS. Clicking on the underlined student ID number next to a students' name will open a window that will reveal special programs that the student has been assigned to, whether or not the student has had serious disciplinary problems in the past, the student's language level, the approximate socio-economic level (based on Title 1 eligibility), and whether or not the student has an IEP.

For more detailed information, teachers may go to the counseling office and read the students' "cums" (cumulative records), which include the entire academic record from the earliest grade attended in the United States. These may not be copies, and are confidential, so they may not be removed from the counseling office (which makes reading them a little tedious), but they provide an unmatched resource.

Past test scores, available from the computer office, give a good sense of where a student stands--even if the teacher knows that the score is inaccurate (that tells something about the student's attitude, for instance).

Phone calls home and conversations with previous teachers are very helpful.

Now, I have known teachers to avoid finding any information about students in an effort to help all students have an equal footing in the classroom. There is much wisdom in this. Kids make horrible mistakes all the time, and they often need the chance to repent and start fresh (don't we all?). But there are times when, working with a child, we are not connecting no matter what we do; or there are times when we can see that there is a more serious problem than we can deal with without sufficient information; or there are times when we have just been teaching the wrong way, and we know it, and we need a clear path to make corrections in.

Most of the time, I think, it is better to work from the perspective of having the most and the best information. When the information we are receiving in the classroom is insufficient, it is necessary for us to gather from the other sources available to us.

Then, knowing all the possible symptoms, we can diagnose correctly. If we diagnose correctly, we are much more likely to treat correctly.

Jeff Combe

Responses to recent emails

Hello everyone,

There have been a variety of comments on some of the most recent emails. I thought it would be instructive to include excerpts with commentary. My words are in CAPS.

IN RESPONSE TO AN EMAIL ON STUDENTS OUT OF CLASS DURING 6TH PERIOD:
When I was doing campus security for a few weeks I found the biggest problems were intersession students on campus early and PE students who were on teams that weren't meeting.

IN MY ORIGINAL, I FORGOT TO MENTION THE INTERSESSION STUDENTS. INTERSESSION IS A MOSTLY WONDERFUL, BUT MIXED BLESSING. THE WORST PART OF IT IS THE PROBLEM OF INTERSESSION STUDENTS OUT OF CLASS. I WELCOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THAT.

ANOTHER RESPONSE:
I give 20 daily points; 10 for being on time and 10 for 10 minutes of silent reading. On-time attendance has improved.

I LIKE THE IDEA OF ACCOUNTABILITY, AND A PARTICIPATION GRADE IS A GOOD WAY OF CREATING ACCOUNTABILITY. DAILY POINTS ARE A CARROT FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR BECAUSE THEY'RE RELATIVELY EASY TO EARN AND THEY CAN AFFECT THE OTHER GRADES. THEY ARE A GOOD STICK FOR CORRECTING BAD BEHAVIOR BECAUSE THEY'RE EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND IMMEDIATE ("YOU LOST 10 POINTS FOR BEING LATE.")

THE EXCERPT BELOW IS IN RESPONSE TO ONE OF MY EMAILS ABOUT SELF-ESTEEM:
A few days ago I told an emotionally disturbed student she was great. Smirk and disbelief (utter something to that fact) were her responses.

PERSONALLY, WHEN I WORK WITH STUDENTS WHO REACT THIS WAY, MY FAVORED APPROACH IS TO BE VERY HONEST AND VERY SPECIFIC: "YOU HAVE HAD TROUBLE WITH UNDERSTANDING THIS CONCEPT [OR 'WORKING THIS SORT OF PROBLEM'] IN THE PAST, BUT TODAY YOU SHOWED IMPROVEMENT IN THIS SPECIFIC WAY. [DESCRIBE THE MANNER OF IMPROVEMENT.] I THINK THAT THE IMPROVEMENT YOU SHOWED WAS HARD FOR YOU, SO I CONSIDER YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT TO BE GREAT." IT'S DIFFICULT TO SMIRK AT AND DISBELIEVE PROVABLE FACTS.

THE FOLLOWING THREE EXCERPTS WERE IN RESPONSE TO MY DAILY EMAIL ABOUT NOT ENDORSING BAD THINGS:

1. I would caution the blanket statement of you can take away cell phones. Once we take them away we are responsible for them. I’ve been involved in a couple angry parent conferences [about] a ... lost a cell phone or ipod. If they have to be taken, give them to a person of authority (dean/AP) and tell the student to pick them up from them. According to [the District] students can posses cell phones but they must remain off. In my opinion we should take the stance that we will not tolerate use of these devices in the classroom and any infraction will result in confiscation. If the student refuses then it becomes an act of defiance and then it is a disciplinary issue not a cell phone issue.

We live in a world where Ipods/cell phones are as common as opeechee folders. We as educators must learn to adapt because they are not a fad like finger boards or Magic Cards.

POINT TAKEN.

2. I hate getting into a pissing contest over cell phones/MP3s etc. Frankly, it just doesn't seem worth it. After a verbal altercation my first year at GHS over asking a student to surrender a cell phone, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

I CONFESS THAT IT'S NEVER EASY. IF IT LOOKS LIKE AN ALTERCATION, IT MAY REQUIRE TURNING THE CHILD, NOT THE CELL PHONE, OVER TO THE DEANS. YOU MIGHT LOSE THE IMMEDIATE BATTLE OVER THE INDIVIDUAL CELL PHONE BUT WIN THE LARGER WAR OVER CELL PHONE USE IN YOUR CLASS.

3. The biggest point you make is when you suggest that upholding these rules uniformly in the classroom gives the students a perception of the school as a whole.

CORRECT.

JEFF COMBE

Your impact on the community, part 2

Hello everyone,

Occasionally, when I am in classrooms, I get really uptight when I see students with hats. Some of the teachers I visit wonder why--it's no big deal as long as the kids are working, right?

I confess that one reason I react so strongly to hats is because of their history of gang association. For years, Garfield used a dress code--including the banning of all hats except those with a Garfield logo--to help put a damper on gang activity on campus. I enforced that ban in my classroom, and I felt that it helped quell the sort of unspoken gang declarations that certain clothing allowed. I never wanted anyone to come into my class and easily declare affiliation to a crew or a gang.

There is the much less dangerous fact that it's rude to wear a hat indoors under most circumstances (including a classroom).

This is an illustration of one of the ways a teacher's in-class actions have an effect on the outside environment. Even now, if I'm in a class, I make a gesture for students to take off their hats, and they understand that it's inappropriate to wear them. I can't honestly say how often wearing a hat is associated with gangs or crews anymore; probably not as much as ten years ago, but I still think that it is something that should not be allowed.

Invariably at least one student in class will say something like, "Nobody else makes me take it off," or "The deans saw me wearing this and they didn't tell me nothing." That may or may not be true; I suspect that it's frequently true. However, if everyone is consistent in requiring good manners and urging avoidance of gang activity, then the message is more likely to take.

The same thing applies to offensive clothing, especially T-shirts. I have found students who, during 6th period, come into class wearing obscene or offensive T-shirts (racist, sexist, or drug oriented), and I am the first teacher that objected. (Of course, it's easy for things to slip by, and we are not fashion police, after all. But if the shirt is obvious, there's no excuse.) In effect, if we allow it, we put our stamp of approval on it, and that should not happen. Let it be a certain lie when the student says, "Nobody did anything before."

Likewise, don't tolerate or express admiration for graffiti. Don't allow cell phones in class (you may take them away). Don't allow iPods or other MP3 players. All of these things don't just affect your classroom; they affect the tone of the entire school. They carry out into the neighborhood. The kids take them home.

Never allow your stamp of approval on behavior that is rude or disrespectful; never casually overlook illegal behavior.

During one horrible year, early in my career, eight students were killed in gang violence. Never let anyone think that you think that that is acceptable.

What you do or don't do in class spills out.

Jeff Combe

Your impact on the outside campus

Hello everyone,

It's one thing to set rules for your class; it's quite another to keep the entire school in mind.

I give for evidence the Garfield mall area during 6th period.

It's a zoo; it's a madhouse; it's a truancy convention. Pick your metaphor. It's a riot of rowdy lodgemen running from room to room in an out of town hotel looking for a party. When it gets chased out of the mall, it moves to the nearby buildings. It loves the 100, 200, and 700 buildings because there are multiple floors and multiple escape routes. On film it would be funny.

In reality it's a problem.

So, what do the individual teachers have to do with it?

The answer is more complex than a quantification. They have nothing, a little, a bit, a lot, and everything to do with it.

Most students in the mall during sixth period are either there working with a teacher (no problem) or are passing through with a legitimate hall pass (small problem). A number of students are ditching PE (not the PE teacher's fault, but a big problem). Some students are out with an excuse but no pass (major problem). Some have been kicked out of class with no referral (major problem). Some are kicked out of class with a referral to the deans--some of those referrals are lost or discarded (huge problem). A small but troublesome group are chronic ditchers who like to stay on campus and cause trouble (potentially very serious problem).

Don't feel smug if you're not at Garfield. I see similar problems at the feeder middle schools, sometimes with worse results.

What can individual teachers do?

First, be careful about your attendance, and always hold students accountable for their attendance in your class. Make sure students enter class only after clearing their absences in the attendance office. (At first, this might send more students into the mall, but because it holds them accountable for truancies, it will eventually help to clear them out.) Give consequences for tardies, but always allow tardy students in. Call the parents of students that are chronically absent; yhey will want to know, and will usually try to help with the problem.

Second, be very careful and stingy with passes. It might be time to review your pass policy and disallow more than you allow. If you saw the sorts of things going on around the bathrooms during 6th period, you might reconsider freely allowing your students to go. Also, many students hang around with someone with a pass to legitimize their truancies. Certainly never give passes except for legitimate emergencies. (A desperate need for chips is not an emergency; bathroom is rarely the emergency that they want it to seem like.)

Third, don't send students out of your class without giving them a destination; ALWAYS FOLLOW UP to make sure they made it to their destination in reasonable time. After class, it's really easy to call the deans' or the counselors' office and see if the student checked in. If not, then give a more severe consequence (a follow up referral, re-stating the first and including the truancy is usually sufficient; the deans follow up well on those things).

Fourth, NEVER NEVER NEVER (to the infinite power) EXCUSE STUDENTS EARLY. If you're on the west side of campus, don't let them fool you into leaving at the clean-up bell.

Finally, if you're out and about during 5th or 6th periods (6th and 7th at Griffith), and you see students who aren't making determined progress toward a fixed goal, challenge them. Ask to see their passes; urge them to go to class; send them to their destinations. (You won't be able to do this to all of them, but you can ask one or two.

Getting that tough kid out of your class may be good for you, but it affects everyone else. Keep that in mind next time you give a pass--especially at the end of the day.

Jeff Combe

Self esteem, assets, and deficits

Hello everyone,

One last word (for now) about self esteem.

Sometimes our students' self esteem is affected by things beyond their control. They may perceive themselves as being less capable than they really are because they have no clear concept of where they fit into the world.

For instance, students in poverty may have few opportunities to go to museums or sporting events or live performances. They may seldom meet wealthy, powerful people. Their parents might be working long hours just to survive and may be unable to monitor their study or read to them. Lacking the opportunities to immerse themselves in the wider culture (through cultural enrichment, wide associations, travel, or literature), these students may not be able to gain a realistic appraisal of themselves. Hence, either low self-esteem or high self-delusion, both born out of unrealistic self-appraisal.

(Remember that financial poverty does not guarantee cultural poverty; I only allude to the possibility for the sake of illustration.)

How do we as educators overcome the problems of uncontrollable circumstance and unrealistic self-appraisal?

First, we must appraise our students accurately. They have the same inherent assets, on the average, as everyone else. Sometimes it seems that we must periodically remind ourselves of that.

Second, we must help them to see what assets they have. I think of "The Princess Bride," when the heroes are measuring their assets before a seemingly hopeless assault on a castle. The Dread Pirate Roberts listens in despair to lists of intelligence, steel, and strength, and says, "Too bad. If we only had a wheelbarrow and a doomsday robe." His companions reveal that they DID in fact have those objects but didn't consider them important, and he chides them, reminding them that they must never underestimate any asset they have. (The assault is successful, using all available assets.) Our students may be perfectly willing to suggest to us reasons they can't do something; we should help them find ways they CAN do something.

Third, we must not permit excuses. "I can't do it" is rarely true. I had a blind student in my film production class once. I cut him no breaks, but he got a good grade. Of course, he didn't operate the camera, but he was good at script and sound. I acknowledge freely that he really couldn't see; but I required him to do everything he could do, and I expected him to do those things at a high level.

Fourth, we must not let our students get discouraged at the amount of work that is required of them to achieve at their highest potential. What looks like laziness is more often despair. Keep their goals realistic and reachable; encourage them on the journey, and praise them when they reach their destination. Never let them believe that they are as bad as they feel when they've had a setback.

Finally, teach them that failure is a natural part of the process of success. Everyone experiences it. It is a useful, acquired skill to learn from failure and turn it into success. Every scientist knows that failure and success are equally important in discovery, and no success is possible without attendant failure. If they have any failure at all, they must simply press on to the inevitable success.

Human beings are generally able to accomplish far beyond their imagined capacity--despite obstacles--when they have someone who believes in them, especially if that person can teach them the skills they need to achieve those heights.


Jeff Combe