Hello everyone,
I know I have contributed to the idea that "managing a classroom" is "having total control over the classroom." It's time for me to set the record straight.
Teachers must be able to command unwavering attention periodically; they must have students be respectful to them and others; they must make absolutely certain that the classroom is a safe place to be.
However, teachers who focus inordinate attention on control become tyrants, and tyrants don't make good teachers.
As you plan for the new year, remember the story of a new tree being planted. The growth of a new tree may be easily directed by tying a string around the trunk. If you let the tree grow of its own accord with little early direction, though, you won't be able to redirect its growth without damaging the tree.
Establish the standards of behavior for your class at the beginning of the year, and your students will rarely deviate later.
Once you have established standards of behavior, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of time riding the students. Sometimes you will want the class to be loud; sometimes it needs to govern itself; sometimes a dose of humor will go a long way.
That last notion--the notion of humor--is a powerful one.
I think a sense of humor is the most powerful of all teaching tools. Cultivate your sense of humor, your sense of fun, of joy, of finding happiness in youth. Learn to laugh without cruelty at both yourself and your students.
I confess, it is sometimes difficult to keep from hurting their feelings if they have a sense that you are laughing at them or making them feel ridiculous. (Sometimes they ARE ridiculous. If you point that out to them, you might need to be gentle.) It is also difficult to avoid the temptation to get into a battle of wits with them. Don't do that unless you're certain that you'll win, and you'll win at no cost to them.
If they are honestly funny, honestly laugh.
Additionally, learn that sometimes you need to act on things, and sometimes you need to ignore things. I cannot give a detailed legal discourse on when "acting on" is more appropriate than "ignoring.". I just know that, when I started teaching, I felt that I couldn't ignore anything. I have since learned that, in a normal classroom, a certain amount of innocent shenanigans is best ignored.
I'm trying to get at a fine balance here.
I think that, if your students learn early in the year that you mean business, you won't lose complete control when, later in the year, they learn that you also mean fun. If you respect them as individuals, and discipline their actions not their souls, then you will create a classroom environment where trust, learning, and innocent laughter reign, and tyranny is forever banned.
Jeff Combe
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Some practical considerations at year's end
Hello, everyone,
There are some practical things to consider as the year winds down.
Many of you (especially in the middle schools) will find yourselves teaching for some time after grades are submitted and your text books have been returned.
If you're normal, this may irritate you a little. Don't let it. It's a typical part of the process of closing the school year.
If you know that you'll be without textbooks for a time, plan accordingly. Reserve materials that you can use without the textbook; give assignments that won't require it. Know the day that the textbooks are due, and assume that you won't have much instructional time on that day. Have activities planned that will be engaging and fill time in as interesting a way as you can manage while being productive. (That would be a good day to play a review game, for example.)
After you return the textbooks, you must still teach; just do it with other materials.
Late in the semester, there are days when the grades have been submitted and the year is not over (this happens more in the middle school than the high school). Of course, you won't want to broadcast to your students that the final grades are submitted. At the same time, you will have given summative assessments, and they will not be ready for anything new unless it's VERY interesting or fun. Once again, this is a good time for academic games, enrichment activities, field trips (next year--they must be planned a year in advance), and similar activities.
Your principals would like me to say that parties and non-curricular films are not appropriate.
If you're at the high school, you have finals that you must prepare your students for, so when the textbooks go, be ready to prepare them for the finals from other materials. Once again, it does no one any good for you to rage about it. Plan for it and be prepared. (It's wise to plan for the new year the same way.)
By the way, students love to help put things away. Let them help you with the work of shutting down your classroom. Just keep them in manageable groups.
Another note: Don't let unknown students "kick back" in your classroom without a pass from their regular teacher. Wandering packs of students will occasionally ask for this privilege. Just tell them, if you want to welcome them, that they must have a signed pass from the regular teacher, and that they must remain in your room for the rest of the period. (If you accept them, you're legally liable for them.)
Best of luck at the year winds down.
Jeff Combe
There are some practical things to consider as the year winds down.
Many of you (especially in the middle schools) will find yourselves teaching for some time after grades are submitted and your text books have been returned.
If you're normal, this may irritate you a little. Don't let it. It's a typical part of the process of closing the school year.
If you know that you'll be without textbooks for a time, plan accordingly. Reserve materials that you can use without the textbook; give assignments that won't require it. Know the day that the textbooks are due, and assume that you won't have much instructional time on that day. Have activities planned that will be engaging and fill time in as interesting a way as you can manage while being productive. (That would be a good day to play a review game, for example.)
After you return the textbooks, you must still teach; just do it with other materials.
Late in the semester, there are days when the grades have been submitted and the year is not over (this happens more in the middle school than the high school). Of course, you won't want to broadcast to your students that the final grades are submitted. At the same time, you will have given summative assessments, and they will not be ready for anything new unless it's VERY interesting or fun. Once again, this is a good time for academic games, enrichment activities, field trips (next year--they must be planned a year in advance), and similar activities.
Your principals would like me to say that parties and non-curricular films are not appropriate.
If you're at the high school, you have finals that you must prepare your students for, so when the textbooks go, be ready to prepare them for the finals from other materials. Once again, it does no one any good for you to rage about it. Plan for it and be prepared. (It's wise to plan for the new year the same way.)
By the way, students love to help put things away. Let them help you with the work of shutting down your classroom. Just keep them in manageable groups.
Another note: Don't let unknown students "kick back" in your classroom without a pass from their regular teacher. Wandering packs of students will occasionally ask for this privilege. Just tell them, if you want to welcome them, that they must have a signed pass from the regular teacher, and that they must remain in your room for the rest of the period. (If you accept them, you're legally liable for them.)
Best of luck at the year winds down.
Jeff Combe
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Stress
Hello everyone,
I received an email reporting that Health Magazine lists "inner-city high school teacher" as the number 1 most stressful job. While other lists report other jobs as most stressful, and while the middle school teachers among us would be willing to go head to head with the high-schoolers on which is the more stressful job, I think it is fairly safe to say that our jobs are stressful, regardless of who's number one.
I did some other reading after receiving the email (I include some links at the bottom of this email), and I've thought of my own levels of job stress over the years, and I think I can give some advice on this issue--more from personal experience than from hard research, but with some research to back me up if you need it.
Many people rank job stress as a major challenge, and the symptoms of job stress (yelling at each other, physical threats, susceptibility to sickness) have a way of creating more stress.
It's interesting to note that the stress of a job is not always the job itself; rather, it is the milieu that the job happens in. For secondary teachers in East LA, apart from the normal stress of teaching teenagers, there is the additional stress of helping them through such problems as pregnancy, drug use, and gang affiliation--not to mention the stresses of working in a large bureaucracy.
Still, an important thing that I have discovered is that, for me, it is more stressful to have things be easy than to have things be challenging. I thrive on challenges--less now than maybe twenty years ago, but I still prefer a job that requires something out of me over a job that allows me to sit around and do nothing. The latter is extremely stressful for me; the former is more exhilarating than stressful.
That leads to an important idea: We don't necessarily want to eliminate the stresses of our lives. We really want to manage them.
In LA Unified, that can be difficult sometimes, but it's possible.
For me, the most important tool for relieving stress is exercise. Really. I obviously haven't been exercising enough to lose much weight, but I have learned from sad experience how essential it is to manage stress. Even 15 minutes a day is sufficient to de-stress.
Along with exercise is diet. If you're not eating a healthy, balanced diet, you will feel your stress levels rise. Of course, when my stress level rises, I eat more, and I seek "comfort foods," which are high calorie. (When I figure out how to conquer this completely, I'll let you know--meanwhile, my girth is a testament to my struggle). Still, the more I eat of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, the less I have room for the more unhealthy foods that represent my downfall, and the better I manage my stress.
I think it is very important to have a cut-off line between work time and personal time. Teachers are sometimes made to feel that they must give every minute of every day to the profession or they are inferior teachers. Don't fall into that trap. Be the best you can be at work; give yourself fully and professionally; enjoy what you do at high intensity--then end it when the time comes.
Finally, seek friends among your peers and co-workers. Have someone to talk to. My friends at Garfield have been filter and purifier of all my negative stress, and many times they have given me a kind word when I was at the brink of discouragement (or across the brink). Have someone that will do that for you, then go BE someone that will do that for others.
Listed below are links to some websites that have information on work-place stress.
Jeff Combe
Information on job stress and how to cope:
http://www.health.com/health/library/mdp/0,,ta5662_ta5662-sec,00.html
http://www.stress.org/job.htm
Various interesting lists on stressful jobs:
http://cord.acadiau.ca/documents/StressFacts.pdf
http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/17373899.html
I received an email reporting that Health Magazine lists "inner-city high school teacher" as the number 1 most stressful job. While other lists report other jobs as most stressful, and while the middle school teachers among us would be willing to go head to head with the high-schoolers on which is the more stressful job, I think it is fairly safe to say that our jobs are stressful, regardless of who's number one.
I did some other reading after receiving the email (I include some links at the bottom of this email), and I've thought of my own levels of job stress over the years, and I think I can give some advice on this issue--more from personal experience than from hard research, but with some research to back me up if you need it.
Many people rank job stress as a major challenge, and the symptoms of job stress (yelling at each other, physical threats, susceptibility to sickness) have a way of creating more stress.
It's interesting to note that the stress of a job is not always the job itself; rather, it is the milieu that the job happens in. For secondary teachers in East LA, apart from the normal stress of teaching teenagers, there is the additional stress of helping them through such problems as pregnancy, drug use, and gang affiliation--not to mention the stresses of working in a large bureaucracy.
Still, an important thing that I have discovered is that, for me, it is more stressful to have things be easy than to have things be challenging. I thrive on challenges--less now than maybe twenty years ago, but I still prefer a job that requires something out of me over a job that allows me to sit around and do nothing. The latter is extremely stressful for me; the former is more exhilarating than stressful.
That leads to an important idea: We don't necessarily want to eliminate the stresses of our lives. We really want to manage them.
In LA Unified, that can be difficult sometimes, but it's possible.
For me, the most important tool for relieving stress is exercise. Really. I obviously haven't been exercising enough to lose much weight, but I have learned from sad experience how essential it is to manage stress. Even 15 minutes a day is sufficient to de-stress.
Along with exercise is diet. If you're not eating a healthy, balanced diet, you will feel your stress levels rise. Of course, when my stress level rises, I eat more, and I seek "comfort foods," which are high calorie. (When I figure out how to conquer this completely, I'll let you know--meanwhile, my girth is a testament to my struggle). Still, the more I eat of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, the less I have room for the more unhealthy foods that represent my downfall, and the better I manage my stress.
I think it is very important to have a cut-off line between work time and personal time. Teachers are sometimes made to feel that they must give every minute of every day to the profession or they are inferior teachers. Don't fall into that trap. Be the best you can be at work; give yourself fully and professionally; enjoy what you do at high intensity--then end it when the time comes.
Finally, seek friends among your peers and co-workers. Have someone to talk to. My friends at Garfield have been filter and purifier of all my negative stress, and many times they have given me a kind word when I was at the brink of discouragement (or across the brink). Have someone that will do that for you, then go BE someone that will do that for others.
Listed below are links to some websites that have information on work-place stress.
Jeff Combe
Information on job stress and how to cope:
http://www.health.com/health/library/mdp/0,,ta5662_ta5662-sec,00.html
http://www.stress.org/job.htm
Various interesting lists on stressful jobs:
http://cord.acadiau.ca/documents/StressFacts.pdf
http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/17373899.html
Friday, May 23, 2008
A bit of sentiment
Hello everyone,
Maybe it's the cloudy weather, but I'm feeling a little sentimental today.
I've decided it's time to officially announce that I won't be in the position of PSP adviser next year. In fact, the position won't exist in the Garfield cluster because of budget cuts.
Since Garfield is losing so many teachers because of dropping enrollment, I have decided to bow to reality and look for a teaching job in another school. When I know where I'm going, I'll let you all know.
I told you that to tell you this:
I've been at Garfield for 17 years. Most of the class of 2008 were in their early infancy when I came to Garfield in July of 1991. I came with some students who had been in my classroom at Belvedere, and I had the chance to watch them grow and mature over the next three years. Two of them teach at Garfield now.
I have served under five principals and at least two interim principals. During those 17 years, I saw riots, fires, terrorist attacks, budget crises, school shootings, two major schedule changes, the transition to digital record keeping, SLCs, dozens of improvement initiatives, and a state takeover. I have directed or helped direct more than 30 plays and uncountable videos; I have seen several score students take the AP exam; I've had students succeed and fail at both the best and worst universities in America; I've had triumphs and disappointments.
I confess that my work lately has been a little melancholy. I'm not retiring, nor do I have the investment of time here that many of my colleagues have. Still, I can't help but love this place that can't decide if it's going to be the best or the worst in America, and fights for the privilege of being both.
I have chosen now to write this, but I'm going to be around for another month, and I'm frankly happiest when I'm busiest, so I intend to work. You'll see me around carrying my notepad and a novel for the next month. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. There's still a chance for Garfield to decide to end the fight and just be great, and I wouldn't mind working for that.
But the clouds are gray, and--today--I'm a bit sentimental.
Jeff Combe
Maybe it's the cloudy weather, but I'm feeling a little sentimental today.
I've decided it's time to officially announce that I won't be in the position of PSP adviser next year. In fact, the position won't exist in the Garfield cluster because of budget cuts.
Since Garfield is losing so many teachers because of dropping enrollment, I have decided to bow to reality and look for a teaching job in another school. When I know where I'm going, I'll let you all know.
I told you that to tell you this:
I've been at Garfield for 17 years. Most of the class of 2008 were in their early infancy when I came to Garfield in July of 1991. I came with some students who had been in my classroom at Belvedere, and I had the chance to watch them grow and mature over the next three years. Two of them teach at Garfield now.
I have served under five principals and at least two interim principals. During those 17 years, I saw riots, fires, terrorist attacks, budget crises, school shootings, two major schedule changes, the transition to digital record keeping, SLCs, dozens of improvement initiatives, and a state takeover. I have directed or helped direct more than 30 plays and uncountable videos; I have seen several score students take the AP exam; I've had students succeed and fail at both the best and worst universities in America; I've had triumphs and disappointments.
I confess that my work lately has been a little melancholy. I'm not retiring, nor do I have the investment of time here that many of my colleagues have. Still, I can't help but love this place that can't decide if it's going to be the best or the worst in America, and fights for the privilege of being both.
I have chosen now to write this, but I'm going to be around for another month, and I'm frankly happiest when I'm busiest, so I intend to work. You'll see me around carrying my notepad and a novel for the next month. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. There's still a chance for Garfield to decide to end the fight and just be great, and I wouldn't mind working for that.
But the clouds are gray, and--today--I'm a bit sentimental.
Jeff Combe
Friday, May 16, 2008
Writing objectives: some late year review
Hello everyone,
I think a sign of a great teacher is the ability to take a difficult concept and make it understandable and memorable.
That begins with a clear objective.
You should have two things in mind when you write lesson objectives: 1, what will the students know or be able to do at the end of the lesson, and 2, how will they demonstrate their knowledge?
(The second part of the objective will be your assessment.)
Let me show you the process I might take to develop objectives for a lesson in English.
Let me pretend that I'm teaching 10th Grade English, second semester. Let me pretend that Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is still one of the required works of literature for 10th grade. At the end of this email, I have included all the California State Standards for Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text. Right now, pretend that I've chosen Standard 3.4: "Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy."
I have chosen this objective because in our class reading, we are approaching Act III of Julius Caesar, and I know that Antony's famous funeral speech ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!") is a perfect time to teach Standard 3.4.
Here is the first half of my objective: "Students will be able to determine Mark Antony's character traits (ie, duplicity, manipulation, cynicism, and political opportunism) by what he says in his dramatic monologue at Caesar's funeral." (Note how easy it is for me to reword the standard to reflect my objective.)
The second half of my objective will show how I will assess them: "Students will demonstrate this ability by giving oral responses to teacher questions requiring the students to interpret clues to Antony's character in the final portion of the speech with 80% accuracy or better after being randomly selected to give an interpretation." (It's a long speech; I can save the last hundred lines or so for my assessment and use the rest to teach the standard.)
Put the two elements together, and that will be my objective. It will also tell me my assessment. In between, I will need to plan a variety of things. There is some language they won't know, including the words I'm using to describe the character traits (we'll have to do some vocabulary scaffolding); they might not understand the historical setting; they will likely assume that Antony is being straightforward, and that since he has been called a "noble" Roman, he really is (we will have to review some of his previous actions); and they won't notice or understand why Brutus spoke in prose, but Antony is speaking in poetry (and how that gives the lie to Antony's declaration that he is not a great orator like Brutus).
I see that we might have to go slowly. I may need to take a few days, and then it will get really boring if I'm not careful. What can I do to make it interesting? Staged readings? Rewritten speeches in modern language? Improvisations based on the characters Brutus and Antony? Games based on the scaffolding I'll be doing with vocabulary? In all of this, I will need to leave the last part of Antony's speech untouched so that I can use it for my assessment.
I have enough possibilities in mind now to go ahead and plan the rest of the lesson, including some of the activities that I had in mind.
But I've started with a two part objective that is clear and specific and based on the state standards and includes an assessment.
And there's a much better chance that they won't be confused about what I'm trying to teach them (despite all the scaffolding and side tracking over vocabulary and versification) because I can tell them right from the start where we're headed with all this.
Of course, when I'm finished, I might find out that I'm not yet a great teacher (my students might be totally confused), but I know where I was supposed to go, and I know what I wanted from the journey, and if my students don't get it, I'm at least smart enough to try to figure out why.
Besides, it's a long play. I can reteach in Acts IV and V if I have to.
Jeff Combe
3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They conduct in-depth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.
Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
3.3 Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in a literary text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot.
3.4 Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy.
3.5 Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work.
3.6 Analyze and trace an author's development of time and sequence, including the use of complex literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks).
3.7 Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal.
3.8 Interpret and evaluate the impact of ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and incongruities in a text.
3.9 Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.
3.10 Identify and describe the function of dialogue, scene designs, soliloquies, asides, and character foils in dramatic literature.
I think a sign of a great teacher is the ability to take a difficult concept and make it understandable and memorable.
That begins with a clear objective.
You should have two things in mind when you write lesson objectives: 1, what will the students know or be able to do at the end of the lesson, and 2, how will they demonstrate their knowledge?
(The second part of the objective will be your assessment.)
Let me show you the process I might take to develop objectives for a lesson in English.
Let me pretend that I'm teaching 10th Grade English, second semester. Let me pretend that Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is still one of the required works of literature for 10th grade. At the end of this email, I have included all the California State Standards for Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text. Right now, pretend that I've chosen Standard 3.4: "Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy."
I have chosen this objective because in our class reading, we are approaching Act III of Julius Caesar, and I know that Antony's famous funeral speech ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!") is a perfect time to teach Standard 3.4.
Here is the first half of my objective: "Students will be able to determine Mark Antony's character traits (ie, duplicity, manipulation, cynicism, and political opportunism) by what he says in his dramatic monologue at Caesar's funeral." (Note how easy it is for me to reword the standard to reflect my objective.)
The second half of my objective will show how I will assess them: "Students will demonstrate this ability by giving oral responses to teacher questions requiring the students to interpret clues to Antony's character in the final portion of the speech with 80% accuracy or better after being randomly selected to give an interpretation." (It's a long speech; I can save the last hundred lines or so for my assessment and use the rest to teach the standard.)
Put the two elements together, and that will be my objective. It will also tell me my assessment. In between, I will need to plan a variety of things. There is some language they won't know, including the words I'm using to describe the character traits (we'll have to do some vocabulary scaffolding); they might not understand the historical setting; they will likely assume that Antony is being straightforward, and that since he has been called a "noble" Roman, he really is (we will have to review some of his previous actions); and they won't notice or understand why Brutus spoke in prose, but Antony is speaking in poetry (and how that gives the lie to Antony's declaration that he is not a great orator like Brutus).
I see that we might have to go slowly. I may need to take a few days, and then it will get really boring if I'm not careful. What can I do to make it interesting? Staged readings? Rewritten speeches in modern language? Improvisations based on the characters Brutus and Antony? Games based on the scaffolding I'll be doing with vocabulary? In all of this, I will need to leave the last part of Antony's speech untouched so that I can use it for my assessment.
I have enough possibilities in mind now to go ahead and plan the rest of the lesson, including some of the activities that I had in mind.
But I've started with a two part objective that is clear and specific and based on the state standards and includes an assessment.
And there's a much better chance that they won't be confused about what I'm trying to teach them (despite all the scaffolding and side tracking over vocabulary and versification) because I can tell them right from the start where we're headed with all this.
Of course, when I'm finished, I might find out that I'm not yet a great teacher (my students might be totally confused), but I know where I was supposed to go, and I know what I wanted from the journey, and if my students don't get it, I'm at least smart enough to try to figure out why.
Besides, it's a long play. I can reteach in Acts IV and V if I have to.
Jeff Combe
3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They conduct in-depth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.
Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
3.3 Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in a literary text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot.
3.4 Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy.
3.5 Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work.
3.6 Analyze and trace an author's development of time and sequence, including the use of complex literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks).
3.7 Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal.
3.8 Interpret and evaluate the impact of ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and incongruities in a text.
3.9 Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.
3.10 Identify and describe the function of dialogue, scene designs, soliloquies, asides, and character foils in dramatic literature.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Some thoughts on technology in the classroom
Hello everyone,
A teacher sent me the following email:
Dear Dr. Combe,
I went over your past e-mails and I noticed that you have not written anything about the use of technology inside the classroom. Please enlighten me in this matter especially
a. What specific role does technology play in my class? b. How could I maximize the use of technology to my students who do not have access to the Internet at home?
In my box this morning, Ms. Karpin handed out fliers giving a list of computer terminologies to teachers who are technologically challenged like me. When I went over the list, majority of the words are so alien to me.
My concern is that I am one of those teachers who is content with the use of just one or two programs in the computer (Microsoft Word and Excel). For me, these are enough for my teaching needs. I find it very challenging to use the more advanced technologies in the market today because I feel that they only get more and more updated everyday and as soon as I have finished studying one, a bigger and more advanced program comes in.
Am I denying my students the chance to be technologically ready when I myself find it difficult to do so?
I must confess that I have a lot of ambivalence to the idea that we must use technology in the classroom. First, I'm an English teacher, and I maintain that all that's required to teach English is a book, a pen, and some paper. Second, I've learned from hard experience that a heavy reliance on technology can easily backfire when the technology fails, which it frequently does. Third, I must acknowledge that I am an immigrant to the Country of Technology; my students, however, are all native born; therefore, there is little that I can teach them that they don't already know, except for a few applications which they rapidly learn to do better than I.
On the other hand, I recognize that technology is a tool. Some forms of technology are better tools than others, but taken as a whole, modern technology (computer applications, communications, video, and audio--specifically) is the greatest collection of classroom tools the world has ever seen. Certainly I can teach my subject with only a book, a pen, and some paper, but why would I want to when I have so many other tools available to me?
Here are some ways I used technology:
In my classes, my students learned the language of video, then produced their own videos. I downloaded and printed books in the public domain for use in the classroom. I taught the proper format for research papers, then allowed my students to do the research online and have their computers arrange the format. (Then I used the Internet to find out who had plagiarized; I may be an immigrant to the virtual world, but I'm no fool.)
I have seen technology used well in other subjects while I've been visiting classrooms. I saw delightfully animated PowerPoint presentations introducing math concepts. I've seen film clips from YouTube used to introduce concepts in social studies and science. Every exotic or bizarre concept in every science can now be seen online, and the most recent advances in knowledge are available almost immediately. Calculators can perform amazing functions now. Experiments can be simulated--even dissection can be virtual.
For management tools, there is an electronic rollbook, which I have used for more than a decade, and which I can't imagine abandoning for the old handwritten variety. My students regularly email me (still! after all these years) to help correct their essays (from college!). I call parents with my cell phone, right from class, right when their child is misbehaving. I have used my cell phone camera to catch taggers and ditchers in the act.
For teaching, projection devices are far better than they were only a few years ago, and I would use them to project papers for peer editing, photographs, documents, and short videos. I kept my computer open to online dictionaries so that I had immediate access to a lexicon in twenty languages.
For students who don't have the Internet or a wordprocessor at home, I invite them to the library after school--or my classroom at lunch. Access is now universal.
And if it breaks down? I always have what I always had: my books, some pens, some paper, and a blackboard.
Jeff Combe
PS. When I don't know how to do something, I just ask my students. They know.
A teacher sent me the following email:
Dear Dr. Combe,
I went over your past e-mails and I noticed that you have not written anything about the use of technology inside the classroom. Please enlighten me in this matter especially
a. What specific role does technology play in my class? b. How could I maximize the use of technology to my students who do not have access to the Internet at home?
In my box this morning, Ms. Karpin handed out fliers giving a list of computer terminologies to teachers who are technologically challenged like me. When I went over the list, majority of the words are so alien to me.
My concern is that I am one of those teachers who is content with the use of just one or two programs in the computer (Microsoft Word and Excel). For me, these are enough for my teaching needs. I find it very challenging to use the more advanced technologies in the market today because I feel that they only get more and more updated everyday and as soon as I have finished studying one, a bigger and more advanced program comes in.
Am I denying my students the chance to be technologically ready when I myself find it difficult to do so?
I must confess that I have a lot of ambivalence to the idea that we must use technology in the classroom. First, I'm an English teacher, and I maintain that all that's required to teach English is a book, a pen, and some paper. Second, I've learned from hard experience that a heavy reliance on technology can easily backfire when the technology fails, which it frequently does. Third, I must acknowledge that I am an immigrant to the Country of Technology; my students, however, are all native born; therefore, there is little that I can teach them that they don't already know, except for a few applications which they rapidly learn to do better than I.
On the other hand, I recognize that technology is a tool. Some forms of technology are better tools than others, but taken as a whole, modern technology (computer applications, communications, video, and audio--specifically) is the greatest collection of classroom tools the world has ever seen. Certainly I can teach my subject with only a book, a pen, and some paper, but why would I want to when I have so many other tools available to me?
Here are some ways I used technology:
In my classes, my students learned the language of video, then produced their own videos. I downloaded and printed books in the public domain for use in the classroom. I taught the proper format for research papers, then allowed my students to do the research online and have their computers arrange the format. (Then I used the Internet to find out who had plagiarized; I may be an immigrant to the virtual world, but I'm no fool.)
I have seen technology used well in other subjects while I've been visiting classrooms. I saw delightfully animated PowerPoint presentations introducing math concepts. I've seen film clips from YouTube used to introduce concepts in social studies and science. Every exotic or bizarre concept in every science can now be seen online, and the most recent advances in knowledge are available almost immediately. Calculators can perform amazing functions now. Experiments can be simulated--even dissection can be virtual.
For management tools, there is an electronic rollbook, which I have used for more than a decade, and which I can't imagine abandoning for the old handwritten variety. My students regularly email me (still! after all these years) to help correct their essays (from college!). I call parents with my cell phone, right from class, right when their child is misbehaving. I have used my cell phone camera to catch taggers and ditchers in the act.
For teaching, projection devices are far better than they were only a few years ago, and I would use them to project papers for peer editing, photographs, documents, and short videos. I kept my computer open to online dictionaries so that I had immediate access to a lexicon in twenty languages.
For students who don't have the Internet or a wordprocessor at home, I invite them to the library after school--or my classroom at lunch. Access is now universal.
And if it breaks down? I always have what I always had: my books, some pens, some paper, and a blackboard.
Jeff Combe
PS. When I don't know how to do something, I just ask my students. They know.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Mark 'em up
Hello everyone,
A long time ago, I was talking to a brilliant young musician who was still in high school. Our conversation drifted to his school experience, and he spoke about an English teacher he valued.
According to him, the most useful thing the teacher did was give many detailed comments on his essays--so much so that he joked that the papers looked bled on.
He confessed that he sometimes felt a little chagrin about the amount of marks on the papers, but it was a matter of personal necessity for him. He could not progress unless he knew what he was doing wrong, and he couldn't know what was wrong without the marks. He hated teachers that gave him papers with no specific comments on them.
Other students I have spoken to have talked about the frustration they felt when they went to their teachers to find out what they had done wrong, only to be told by the teacher that they should find the error on their own. (This might be a legitimate teaching method for times when the teacher is trying to get the kids to practice peer or self editing. In this case, the teacher used it for all occasions. There was an absolute refusal to help the student know what was wrong, so the kid gave up.)
Practically speaking, a teacher will not have time to thoroughly mark every single paper that crosses the teacher's desk, unless the teacher severely limits the amount of work the students do for the class.
I think that students need lots of practice--especially with writing--and that teachers ought to give frequent and explicit feedback.
Choose specific and regular assignments and tell your students that those will have complete comments. They may be interactive journals, labs, essays, research projects, or exercises. (I don't recommend detailed correcting of essay tests--they take too long to correct, and students are anxious to get tests back. Invite students with questions to have more detailed analysis of their test scores if they'd like. Keep feedback brief, or you'll be grading tests forever.)
Should you use red? There have apparently been complaints from some parents and students that using red means gang association or recalls the trauma of seeing real blood. I personally never had that complaint, and always found red an easy color to see. Whatever you choose should have enough contrast from the students' own papers that your comments are easy to read. If red is a problem, use something else.
If comments become repetitive, feel free to say something like, "Errors continue as noted above," or general comments such as "Please correct your spelling."
My handwriting was practically illegible for my students, so I gave a five minute course in how to read my shorthand editorial symbols.
As an English teacher, I noticed that my students often handed in their rough draft as a final draft. When they got it back full of marks, I gave them the option to rewrite for a higher grade. (They had to improve the paper for the higher grade.) I did not mark rewrites or papers handed in late.
Let them know what they need to do to grow. Don't be afraid of explaining their grades to them. Positive or negative, let them know where they stand and what the path to improvement looks like.
Jeff Combe
Friday, May 2, 2008
What to do when they have senioritis
Hello everyone,
I was talking to someone the other day about what to do with students that have given up.
It's the end of the semester--for seniors it's the end of high school. You all remember what it's like. The sports metaphors work best, maybe--the runner's hit the wall. The second wind hasn't come yet. The endorphins haven't kicked in. It's painful, and the end seems too far away and too difficult to attain.
What would a coach do to a runner in that situation?
Most of the coaches I know relentlessly shout encouragement at their runners. They try to refocus the runner's thoughts away from the pain of it all toward something else. I think the shouting helps in that refocus. "C'mon! You can do it! Don't give up! Watch your form!"
Many--maybe all--add psychology, pleading, cajoling, threats--anything that accomplishes the dual purpose of taking the runner's mind away from the pain and toward the goal.
Teachers can't do all of those things, but I wonder if the dual purpose (taking the mind away from pain and pointing the mind toward the goal) isn't the same.
Taking the mind off the pain can be done in a variety of ways: fun classroom activities, more frequent shifts in teaching strategies, breaking large goals (ie, semester end research paper or portfolio) into smaller chunks (portions of the research paper due at different times).
Moving the mind toward the goal is pretty straightforward, I think, except that the goal may not always be clear, or close enough to seem attainable. Make sure that the goal you're helping your students achieve is a clear, reachable one, and one that would actually be desirable for the individual student: graduation, advancement, proper entry into the workforce, avoidance of mother's wrath. Sometimes the goals need to be broken down into more achievable goals: make it through this week; just finish this assignment; write one more essay; put one foot in front of the other.
Despite the best coaching and teaching, some students will choose to quit. Some don't care about failing; some don't care about graduating; some can't be motivated to do anything. That's the reality.
It's also a reality that many of those kids--with a little more encouragement--WILL come around and do what they need to do. Don't despair that, despite your encouragement, some still fail. Just do your best to make it hard for them to give up.
At the same time, don't lower your standards. Make them come up to the level they need to be; don't drop to the level they would rather. I often pleaded with students to come in and just do a little more work. I called their homes and begged their parents to get them to do more. I went to their girlfriends and boyfriends and asked them to help. I tutored at lunch. I wrote emails. (Full disclosure: I didn't spend all my time doing all of these things for every single student. After writing the paragraph, I see that I might make myself look better than I was. I tried those tactics for students I believed were likely to pay me back for my time and effort by trying. Most of them responded.)
If in the final analysis, the student fails, make sure that you know that it was the student's choice, not yours.
This is a tough thing to write about because there's so much guilt and emotion tied up into it. There are intangibles, and things that we can't control. The best we can do is control what's in our power and allow our students to learn from their decisions.
By the way, I learned that a powerful motivator is hourly wage. Our students have little concept of annual income and benefits, but they understand hourly wage. I was talking to a student once who wanted to drop out of school for what looked to him like a great job. "How much does it pay?" I asked. "$10 an hour," he said proudly. "That's not bad for a high school dropout," I said. "How much do you think I make?" "$8 an hour," he said. He had heard so many teachers gripe about their pay he assumed it was really that bad. I told him my true hourly wage, and he was astounded. When he realized how few hours I had to work to earn the same amount he got in a day, he reconsidered dropping out.
Whatever works, coach.
Jeff Combe
I was talking to someone the other day about what to do with students that have given up.
It's the end of the semester--for seniors it's the end of high school. You all remember what it's like. The sports metaphors work best, maybe--the runner's hit the wall. The second wind hasn't come yet. The endorphins haven't kicked in. It's painful, and the end seems too far away and too difficult to attain.
What would a coach do to a runner in that situation?
Most of the coaches I know relentlessly shout encouragement at their runners. They try to refocus the runner's thoughts away from the pain of it all toward something else. I think the shouting helps in that refocus. "C'mon! You can do it! Don't give up! Watch your form!"
Many--maybe all--add psychology, pleading, cajoling, threats--anything that accomplishes the dual purpose of taking the runner's mind away from the pain and toward the goal.
Teachers can't do all of those things, but I wonder if the dual purpose (taking the mind away from pain and pointing the mind toward the goal) isn't the same.
Taking the mind off the pain can be done in a variety of ways: fun classroom activities, more frequent shifts in teaching strategies, breaking large goals (ie, semester end research paper or portfolio) into smaller chunks (portions of the research paper due at different times).
Moving the mind toward the goal is pretty straightforward, I think, except that the goal may not always be clear, or close enough to seem attainable. Make sure that the goal you're helping your students achieve is a clear, reachable one, and one that would actually be desirable for the individual student: graduation, advancement, proper entry into the workforce, avoidance of mother's wrath. Sometimes the goals need to be broken down into more achievable goals: make it through this week; just finish this assignment; write one more essay; put one foot in front of the other.
Despite the best coaching and teaching, some students will choose to quit. Some don't care about failing; some don't care about graduating; some can't be motivated to do anything. That's the reality.
It's also a reality that many of those kids--with a little more encouragement--WILL come around and do what they need to do. Don't despair that, despite your encouragement, some still fail. Just do your best to make it hard for them to give up.
At the same time, don't lower your standards. Make them come up to the level they need to be; don't drop to the level they would rather. I often pleaded with students to come in and just do a little more work. I called their homes and begged their parents to get them to do more. I went to their girlfriends and boyfriends and asked them to help. I tutored at lunch. I wrote emails. (Full disclosure: I didn't spend all my time doing all of these things for every single student. After writing the paragraph, I see that I might make myself look better than I was. I tried those tactics for students I believed were likely to pay me back for my time and effort by trying. Most of them responded.)
If in the final analysis, the student fails, make sure that you know that it was the student's choice, not yours.
This is a tough thing to write about because there's so much guilt and emotion tied up into it. There are intangibles, and things that we can't control. The best we can do is control what's in our power and allow our students to learn from their decisions.
By the way, I learned that a powerful motivator is hourly wage. Our students have little concept of annual income and benefits, but they understand hourly wage. I was talking to a student once who wanted to drop out of school for what looked to him like a great job. "How much does it pay?" I asked. "$10 an hour," he said proudly. "That's not bad for a high school dropout," I said. "How much do you think I make?" "$8 an hour," he said. He had heard so many teachers gripe about their pay he assumed it was really that bad. I told him my true hourly wage, and he was astounded. When he realized how few hours I had to work to earn the same amount he got in a day, he reconsidered dropping out.
Whatever works, coach.
Jeff Combe
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