Thank you very much for visiting our post. Feel free to read it on our new blog, HERE.
Hey there Super Teachers! Welcome to the third article in our series How to be an Educational Superhero. Our first article, Why This One Basic Teaching Principle is Holding Your Students Back, talks a bit about the motivation behind this series. In order to be a superhero in your classroom, it is important to facilitate and not dominate. Our second article, 10 Ways to Stop Sending Kids to the Principal, talks about the most basic way to shift from teacher-directed to student-directed in the classroom: classroom management. Today, I want to talk to you a little about a word that's been buzzing around: Project-Based Learning
So sorry for the inconvenience...we've relocated. Continue reading HERE!
We are so excited about our new addition to our word of the day products! We are adding these books each month that will include our calendar words. Your kiddos can highlight the word of the day as well as sing the words in their books, which they love to do! Each book comes in color and black and white. There is also a teacher guide. We have these books as well as everything on SALE in our new Educents store! We hope that y'all will check them out while they are on sale and please click on the little red heart to follow our store so you will be notified of all the new resources and sales that are happening there. We would also greatly appreciate your kind comments if you do purchase any of our products there! Thank you so much!!!
My kiddos love having their own copies to read to each other! It is so cute to hear them sing the song as well. They make great book basket books!
This is a fun craft that my kiddos loved doing last year! I will definitely do this one again this year:)
Just click on the picture to see the directions as well as some more ideas for teaching about George Washington.
Thank y'all for checking out our Educents store!
Be looking for our next blog post on Project-Base Learning!
Last night, I hit my breaking point. Same thing over and over and still feel as though I'm running across an endless plateau. Will I ever see the end? Or worse, will I suddenly drop off and never ascend again? I decided to take today off, to take a break and clear my mind. Then I got to thinking...how many of you probably are feeling or have felt the same way? So, I thought I should reach out and show you we're in this together.
So what do I do when I'm stuck in a stale routine?
1) Do something different
Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I'm sure you're all thinking "no, duh what else you got?" It's important to remember this simple fact though. Our routines become comfortable, familiar, predictable. Many of us are creatures of habit and we like to know what to expect. That being said, what if our expectations are too low?
Start simple. I know most of you are teachers and depending on your principal, you may only have so much wiggle room. That being said, see how you can switch things up just for a day. Add a math game, ELA game, or song to the day(That's the only shameless plug you can expect, I promise.) You can also just pause and have a brainstorming session or Q&A forum. Think about a subject your kiddos aren't getting. Tell them you're going to talk about it and see what questions they have. I advise sitting in a circle for this as it will make for a more familiar, open, and comfortable platform. If you have a class mascot, like we have with Quentin the Quality Penguin, you can pass it around and they can take turns asking questions or explaining why they don't understand. You may even find that one of your stronger academic children has an answer you haven't thought of. Or, see how they might like to spice up the day. You can start the morning by telling them they are in charge of how they learn today and they will be like the teacher. See what is feasible given your schedule and try to incorporate as many ideas as possible.
2) Be Purposeful in Your Routine
Have you ever stopped in the middle of your routine after some time and just thought, "why is it that I do this?" I was reading the book Break Through Your BS, by my college friend Derek Doepker yesterday, and it mentioned the danger of disconnecting from your routine. He had certain practices throughout his day that had become stale because he was no longer intentional about them. His heart and mind weren't involved anymore. It is so easy to do this with routines because our brain becomes familiar and checks out. It's almost like muscle memory takes over or like we're operating through our subconscious. There have been some days where I have gotten through the day and couldn't tell you much of anything that happened. Sound familiar to anyone? So STOP. Think about what you do and why. Keep the practices that bring value to your day and your students' day. Throw out the fluff, and replace it with something more meaningful or effective.
3) Ask Someone Else
Your pride will have to take a back seat on this one. You know that teacher that has it all together? His or her kids are perfect, his or her room is perfect, and he or she never seems to break a sweat. You can't stand this teacher because how can they just get it? How can they never seem to have issues? Now I'm going to ask you to do something and you're going to hate me. Then, hopefully you will love me. Ask this teacher for advice. Something he or she is doing works in the classroom. You hate it, but it's true. Here's the value to asking this loathsome person for advice: it will go a long way toward quelling that bitterness you have inside, and it will make that teacher feel really good. Maybe you'll even develop a quality relationship. Maybe that person is struggling with something you can help with. You never know until you try. Reaching out and being more vulnerable helps you become more approachable, thus welcoming new relationships and making people more likely to reach out to you. We all have the same goal anyway, right? We want the kids to learn.
Well, I hope this was enlightening, helpful, at least thought-provoking. We are doing our best to break our routine as well. You will be seeing more posts like this about how to rethink things in your classroom. We already have 2 posts included in our Be an Educational Superhero series that are worth a read(Why This One Basic Teaching Principle is Holding Your Students Back,10 Ways to Stop Sending Kids to the Principal). Subscribe to our newsletter for juicy extras and of course, those freebies y'all love so much. We want to bring more of these to you and accomplish our universal goal of making education better one day at a time.
Have a great week and break through those routines!
“I wish I could just get my students to behave!”Does this sound all too familiar?It’s a common issue we face as educators, and
let’s face it, parents too.The rules
are all too clear.Why is it that the
kids can’t just follow them?We feel
frustrated and angry, and sometimes we truly believe that one “difficult child”
is just out to get us.The truth is,
sometimes that is completely accurate.So what’s the solution?Give
students more responsibility for their behavior.This article is part of our series on How to
Become an Educational Superhero.You can
find the premise outlined in our first article.Now, on to avoiding the principal’s office:
1. Introduce Must-Haves
What are must-haves?They are the goals you have for your classroom.Come up with 3-5 must-haves on your own that
you desire for your classroom.Think of
it as your classroom mission statement.You want all students to learn right?That’s a must have.Many of us
like to create a positive environment.That is a must have.Bullying?Not on my watch.Kind friends are a must-have in my
classroom.You get the idea.The key is to get your students on board, so
find goals they will likely agree with.Make
this list and discuss it with your students.Then ask them what types of behaviors lead to achieving these
must-haves.You can write them down to
post in the room without using the word “rules.”
Assignment idea-have each of them write a
sentence describing a desired behavior in the classroom and post them around
the room.
You can employ a token system
to encourage desired behaviors.We have
a post that goes into more detail on that HERE.This creates an overall classroom culture that students want to
maintain.We use the idea of Quality
students.You can watch a video about
that below or just type “quality” into our blog search for
a number of articles.It often helps to
have students sign an agreement to uphold the must haves in the classroom.
What you achieve:
-This page by apa.org has a number of articles on why it is important for students to take
responsibility for their actions.Giving
them responsibility makes them more likely to desire a harmonious classroom as
it is now their choice.
-By challenging students to come up with
their own ideas about what actions lead to your “must-haves,” you are
encouraging them to think more closely about cause and effect relationships,
and to strategize to accomplish a goal.These as you know are important life skills.
2. Teach Empathy
Help your students understand how important it is to
consider their fellow classmates or friends.If you want to make it simple and use the golden rule, go for it.Challenge them to think about how their
actions might affect others.Would they
want someone to make them feel that way?The likely answer is no.
What you achieve:
-Students recognize a natural consequence when they behave a
certain way.Instead of seeing how it
affects the teacher(aka frustrating the teacher or making the teacher angry),
they see how they are affecting one another.
-You remove yourself as the “bad guy.”You’re not imposing, you’re facilitating.
3. Explain Consequences
You would be surprised how many children just want to
learn.Again, I refer you back to the
apa.org page.I can’t tell you how many times teachers
would dismiss me in school when I asked how a formula works.They would often respond with “just learn
it,” or “it’s too complicated.”How many
times have you either heard or said, “because I said so?”Students do not respond well to this because it
still leaves them with questions.Instead, explain to them why we have consequences.You’re not “punishing” them to be mean, you
are trying to achieve your “must-haves” in the classroom.If they are doing something that affects the
classroom culture, there has to be a solution that puts a stop to it.Encourage them to think about what would make
them stop.Use this example: “if there
wasn't a consequence in your house for eating cookies before dinner, would you
eat them?” They will likely say “yes.”You
explain that this is why there are consequences for our actions, to keep us
from doing certain things that aren’t good for us or others.I actually did this with second graders and
it was amazing what they came up with.
What you achieve:
-Students again see an example of cause and effect
-Students better understand the purpose of certain
consequences, and try to avoid them.
4. Empathize and Understand
As the adult, you have a responsibility to first try and see
where your student is coming from.If he
or she is acting out, attempt to determine the cause.Is this student looking for attention?Is he or she distracted?Is he or she upset by something that happened
before and is lashing out?While
children may not reason quite like adults, they do feel more than we
realize sometimes.Once you are
able to determine the cause of the student’s behavior, target it.
If it’s attention, ignore it to the best of your ability and
wait to praise the student for desired behavior.You can also distract him or her by
delegating a certain responsibility.Once he or she accomplishes the task, deliver praise.Once the child is feeling positively, he or
she may obtain the desire to work and achieve more praise.
If it’s distraction, try to remove the distraction.Gently encourage the child to sit elsewhere.
What you achieve:
-You pull ideas of misbehaving and acting up from the
equation.Instead you objectively see a
problem and strategize to resolve it without the student’s knowledge.This eliminates argument with the student.
5. Discuss Consequences
Use this step if the child’s behavior persists or if he or
she begins to argue with you.It is
highly non-productive to have a disagreement with a student in front of the
rest of the class.It generally provides
attention that the student wants in the first place, or causes undue
embarrassment.
·Call him or her over to your desk.
·Explain to him or her the behavior you are
seeing and how it is affecting the must-haves in the classroom.Remind the student of their signed agreement
to uphold the must-haves.
·Remind the student that a consequence must occur
to discourage him or her from continuing this behavior.
·Strategize with him or her to come up with a solution.
For example, if it is distraction, see what he
or she thinks will lessen the distraction.Sometimes, this means removal from the room entirely.See if you can collaborate with another
teacher or your librarian to have a “quiet space” available for distracted
students.
What you achieve:
-Teaching the student to strategize while taking
responsibility for his or her own actions
-Making the student feel respected when you ask for his or
her input
6. Remove Anger from the Equation
I know this is the most difficult step for me to
follow.For me personally, my pride gets
in the way.The student isn’t listening
to me, they are disrespecting me, and that makes me angry.The trick is to
remove yourself from the situation.The
student’s behavior is not directed at you.It is simply a response to something
else.
What you achieve:
-When you are not angry, you can objectively look at the
best way to solve the problem in front of you
-Removing yourself from the situation eliminates the
fulfillment of the student ’s desire for attention and it removes you as the
source of “punishment.”
7. It’s a Collaboration, Not a Power Struggle
This goes hand in hand with removing anger.Many times, a student is challenging your
authority.Again, this isn’t
personal.The student is testing his or
her boundaries to see what you will allow.He or she may also be testing how to get your attention and push your
buttons.Sometimes it is a matter of asserting
his or her independence and not knowing quite how.Collaborate with the student on how to remedy
the situation rather than chastising him or her about a specific behavior.
What you achieve:
-Collaboration gives your student a voice, making him or her
feel respected and grounded
-Allowing your student choices gives him or her personal
responsibility, and removes the response that you dislike or are being mean to
him or her.
8. Ask Your Student “Why.”
Sometimes it’s as simple as asking a student why they did
what they did.Now I know you’re
thinking “well my student always just says ‘I don’t know’.”If your student responds this way, pry
further.Give him or her a list of
feelings to choose from.Was he or she mad
at a friend? Upset about something? Bored?Ask in a way that makes them comfortable to answer without judgment.“Why” can also be a dangerous word because it
prompts defensiveness.Be aware of this
and proceed with care.Once you and your
student identify the cause of the behavior, give him or her alternative actions
that are appropriate responses in the future.
What you achieve:
-Asking open questions promotes reflection and
self-awareness in a child, while promoting critical thinking.
-Asking questions makes the child feel heard, and thus cared
for, leading to a greater respect for you as an authority figure.
9. Open Up A Little
In addition to asking your student to be open, be willing to
be open yourself.Tell the student how
his or her behavior makes you feel.Again, this one is tricky, because you have to assess how the student
feels about you.He or she may not care
about your feelings.Try something like
“That makes me sad because I see how it hurts your friend’s feelings,” or “I
get frustrated when you act that way because I know you can do better.”
What you achieve:
-When you open up, it builds trust between you and your
student.He or she is again more likely
to respect you and your authority if that trust is there.
-It brings attention to natural consequences that are a
result of the student’s behavior.
10. Tell Them Something Positive
Find a way to convey a positive message to your
student.Help him or her to understand
that you don’t see them as “bad” or “naughty.”Highlight something good he or she did earlier or how you know what he
or she can accomplish.Build your
student up.You can even motivate him or
her if you are using a token system in your classroom.Encourage your student to work harder towards
a reward of some kind.
What you achieve:
-Making a child feel positive helps build intrinsic
motivation.He or she will want to do
better and will work harder as a result.
-You avoid making a child feel your opinion of him or her is
less than favorable, or worse, that he or she is a “bad kid.”
Classroom culture is the first step toward creating an
environment that promotes success through student-centered learning.Once you foster a sense of responsibility in
your students’ behavior, you can develop that into an overall sense of
responsibility for their educational success.Stay tuned for our next post on project-based learning.
Follow us on social media by clicking the buttons
above.Subscribe to our newsletter and get a bonus 11th step in our Friday email!
This post is actually a long time in coming and was inspired by the rising popularity of our 5 Teaching Habits That are Hurting Your Students post. I was incredibly humbled, excited, and overwhelmed by the huge amount of support this post received. It is still our most popular post today and seems to have helped a lot of classrooms. One day, I was floating in the euphoria of all the "attagirls" and "kudos," and I came across this from a gentleman on Twitter(now I'm paraphrasing here because I was so annoyed I deleted all his comments). "You have totally the wrong idea and you're completely missing the mark. This post is useless." At least, that's certainly how I felt. I decided to write the guy off, but his words stayed with me. I pondered them, and then pondered some more. Then I realized he was a radicalist on one side of a much larger movement, which made me ponder even more. After some time I realized something: my thinking was skewed. My entire perspective of what education should be was encapsulated in this one foundational teaching principle: The teacher is meant to control the classroom. Now, you may be wondering how I came to this conclusion, because maybe some of you feel you allow your students a great deal of freedom in the classroom. The keyword in that sentence is "allow." You "allow" your students a great deal of freedom in your classroom. Give this some thought for me; What if you didn't see them as your students, or the classroom as your classroom? What if you didn't control whether or not students passed the test, but instead motivated students to want to learn? Please understand when I say "you" and "your," I am immediately pointing the finger back at myself because I was in the EXACT same place you are now. The post I got so much traffic on talked about how to "allow" students freedom within the teacher's classroom construct.
Fast forward a few months. I was introduced to the philosophy of a man who put his job on the line teaching the way he felt was right. His name is John Taylor Gatto, and his courage earned him the title New York State Teacher of the Year. In his talks and literature he lays out the history of education and reveals that the structure we use today was historically designed to keep the masses in check by giving them countless facts to memorize and regurgitate...sound familiar? He goes on to talk about the concept of "open source" learning and how bells and desks don't facilitate a real education. He states examples of extremely successful individuals like Diablo Cody and Danica Patrick who dropped out of school early to pursue their passions. According to him, life is the classroom and everyone is a teacher.
Now, that's all well and good from an idealistic perspective, but what can you do with that in your classroom right now? Rather than a teacher-controlled classroom, strive for a teacher-led classroom. Not everyone can be a teacher because not everyone has that unique gift that allows them to relate to someone, and help them understand something. This is your most powerful tool as an educator and will make the most difference in your students' lives. Aristotle had Socrates, the Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi, and your students have you. Some students have natural born drive. They have the intrinsic motivation to move toward a goal with dogged persistence. Other students are easily distracted or completely lack drive. Your greatest goal as a teacher is to propel the self-motivated, and motivate the unmotivated. That is what your students will remember whether they graduate with a 4.0 GPA or drop out of high school. What you teach them is how to learn.
Yes this is different, and sometimes that's good. All of us want our students to learn, and that's what this is all about. If you agree with this line of thinking, definitely SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter. There are going to be more posts about how this philosophy looks when applied in your classrooms! Thanks so much and have an awesome day,
As promised, we will be doing our first-ever HASHTAG HUNT starting Friday, February 5. What is a hashtag hunt, you ask? We will be hiding pieces of this cute little image on our Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, along with our website. Each Friday, we will give you a hint on this post as to where the newest piece is. All 4 pieces together spell out a hashtag that represents something which is very important to us as a company. The first 4 people to post the hashtag to our FB page will win a $25 TPT gift card! One gift card per winner. It's that simple. Tune in right here for the first clue on Feb 5.
This clue is lots of fun, search our website pages for Clue #1!
Clue #2 is fast so hurry and flock to our twitter page around 5 o-clock!(5:00pm EST on Feb 12)
Clue #3 is tricky to see. Check our first Pinterest board that starts with "B!" Hint: you may have to click on it to see it...
Clue #4 is going live. Try our Facebook page around 8:05!(8:05pm EST on Feb 26)
Did you find them all? WAY TO GO! Click this post to let us know!!
So we're trucking along through January and realize...we need to have more fun! We are serious about quality education, but we know you probably have enough seriousness in your days. We want to bring back FUN FRIDAY. This was a series of Friday posts we used to do with tips on fun activities you can do in your classroom. Not only that, but we are going to play some teacher games with you on Facebook. LIKE our page to stay updated on the new Friday games we will be rolling out starting in February. The first is called "S.O.L. Train Swag Scavenger Hunt." Tune in in February to see what it's all about!
Also in February, we will be doing our very first Hashtag Hunt. More on that next week...
