Alfie and Doug

I'm reading the available free Kindle sample of Alfie Kohn's Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community. I will be buying the book.

First, our blog is officially about our thoughts and experiences with Doug Lemov's Teach like a Champion. Weeks ago on an ed blog (or somewhere on the net) I read Kohn's observation about Champion, that it was about compliance. I won't elaborate now, because that's not my point. I could see Kohn's objection. I am suspicious of anything that leads toward mere compliance-- my own or someone else's.

But I had read enough of Champion to think that isn't what it's about.
Lemov and the teachers he cites are intense about having their students listen, learn, remember, demonstrate learning. Education is a matter of "life or death." In order for this listening, etc. to occur, each student must be giving maximum attention to the class activity.

My sense, what I value in the book, is that it shows me or reinforces ways to increase the probability of my students getting from me what they need, sharing with each other, remembering, being confident... because class activities occur where students are paying attention to the activity. For me that's the value. Last year's classes were ok, but... I'm not pleased to acknowledge that inadequate attention from many students kept the whole class from getting the maximum learning. Frequent (and often useless, stupid) interruptions (bathroom, talking, lead breaking, dress code, lack of materials, someone sneezing.... an endless and unpredictable menu) fragmented momentum and focus.

So what I want and need is to be reinforced that some of what I am doing is on the mark and I want  more options to consider. I'm used to what I do and it's quite effective. But in the flurry of the school year, I seldom have time to cogitate on significant alternate ways of being. I want Doug's and Alfie's help (and Frances's and Dar's and Cynthia's) to get some alternatives well-thought out, and to summon and nurture the inner energy necessary to do differently what I know I already do more than adequately.

sorry if this is vague to a reader. I guess I am writing to get my thinking moving rather than to describe or persuade another.

Back to Lemov and Kohn--

 I am unwilling to accomodate discipline practice that I philosophically disagree with: specifically, discipline practice that is based on the belief that students cannot be trusted, do not care, etc. I don't believe that, and I cannot treat anyone else that way. And I refuse to be be treated that way myself. What Kohn says strengthens my resolve to assert my belief, rather than just give in as I have been doing (with my style used quietly in my class, but not articulated to admin or parents).

still working out my thought on this,
scared to put it out there in case I fail
or give up,
decide it's too much trouble,
the kids won't like it anyway,
on and on ad nauseum,
ad nihil

putting it out there because I really do believe it
that it's worth the effort
that I can do it
that it is what I believe will be best for all directly concerned

and anyone not directly involved doesn't deserve a say.

~ I untied the string ~
Robert Graves "Warning to Children "
Read the complete poem. 

KWL for teachers

for thought:
a-kwl-interlude

“K.W.L.”
by Ms. W, Ms. V, Ms. FB, Mr. K

I know.
I want to know.
I learned.

I know teaching’s hard,
I know the kids are far behind,
I know the challenges I face,
I know it pays to be kind.

I want to change their world,
I want to open their eyes,
I want them to learn how to learn,
to keep their eyes on the prize.

I learned how far I could be pushed,
I learned to hold back tears,
I learned to keep my cool,
I learned to face my fears.

I know I am a champion.
I want to be a champion.
I learned to be a champion.

so many layers to this job-profession-calling

This has my mind today:

If we lack the language, and therefore the awareness, to right the imbalance between the vocational and the civic, if education in America—despite the heroic efforts of individual teachers—is no longer in the business of producing the kinds of citizens necessary to the survival of a democratic society, it’s in large part because the time-honored civic function of our educational system has been ground up by the ideological mills of both the right and the left into a radioactive paste called values education and declared off-limits. Consider the irony. Worried about indoctrination, we’ve short-circuited argument. Fearful of propaganda, we’ve taken away the only tools that could detect and counter it. “Values” are now the province of the home. And the church. How convenient for the man.

How does one “do” the humanities value-free? How does one teach history, say, without grappling with what that long parade of genius and folly suggests to us? How does one teach literature other than as an invitation, a challenge, a gauntlet—a force fully capable of altering not only what we believe but how we see? The answer is, of course, that one doesn’t. One teaches some toothless, formalized version of these things, careful not to upset anyone, despite the fact that upsetting people is arguably the very purpose of the arts and perhaps of the humanities in general.

Dehumanized

In Teach Like a Champion, the schools cited are said to be places where education is a matter of "life and death."

At our meeting Tues., I said I could understand that stance in some schools, but at our site, that essential aspect eludes me.  However, as I read this article, I think I may find-- authentically-- some of that sine qua non. I'll add some quotes after I read and re-read the article.

mastering a skill

continuing the thought from franrod68-- I tried to post a comment, but the blog on which I am an author kept rejecting my comment.   Such audacity and How ironic!

When I was first teaching middle school at Meadowlawn, I assumed the people who made the texts knew what students needed and were capable of. I let that erroneous assumption drive my teaching pace for too long.

Early in my career I started looking into students' eye to see if the kid got it, was about to get it, might get it, or was tuned out. As often as I feel right about it, I use kids' eyes to help me pace.

One of the things I love about our profession is the fresh start we get each year, preceded by several weeks of downtime and re-charging.

s w e e t !!!

Mastering a skill

While reading "Teach Like a Champion", I was reminded that I need to spend more time working a skills and going over material until I'm sure everyone has mastered it. I find myself rushing through material, because I have a time frame in my lesson plans, and not slowing down to see if my students truly understand the material. I know that quite a few do learn in my sometimes frenzied pace, but now I'm feeling guilty about those handful of students who are left in the dust!

I have started to rethink ways of making sure I repeat skills I've taught and am in the process of teaching. I actually have been putting it to action with bellwork that reintroduces concepts we learned early on in the year.

I like the metaphor the book uses of a student going to bat and practicing until they hit the ball. That really resonated with me.

I/we/you

I use this all the time. But I have probably never explained it to students. It's so obviously beneficial to me that I cannot imagine it's not equally obvious to them. But experience indicates they are clueless about how I teach using this structure.

So a near-term experiment is to be explicit about what I am doing and what students should do and get when I use this structure.


down-side-- this structure requires students to give attention to me. So often this year, and increasingly as the year gets closer to its end, I sense many students simply putting in time, thinking they are doing me a huge favor by just sitting and not causing problems. Sensing this is toxic to the spirit of my interaction; I never know how or if I'll be able to get through the cloud to connect with the other hearts and minds in the room.  also I just looked yesterday at the overall results of the three FAIR tests. I am devastated by how many students went down over the course of their year with me. If I am effective, I don't seem to be effective in what FAIR measures. so now what???

planning sequence

Reading Champions about planning p. 58
"plan a unit"
Use the SSS
How do I get a unit from those?
I realize the answer to that question has eluded me since I became aware of it.
Today did lots of good mid- range stuff
But did not get to long-range stuff.

champs are we

This is a post just to get a post. I'll return and edit so it says what I mean.


The technique I have been most aware of is Stand Square.

It has been different making myself stand still every time I want students to attend to my words. But I am pretty confident I detect some increased focus from them.