Ms. Fletcher

Simile School http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT6_PXXjU94

Metaphor Man and Simile Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a07fQm-TCvs&feature=related

Fun with Figurative Language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfYzp7yiNqc&NR=1

Why “Think Back Thursday?”  Partly it’s the result of a meeting I attended last week with the P Panorama Middle School English teachers. We spent part of our time talking about ideas to help us post more regularly on our blog. And to be honest, Think Back Thursday is my own twist on Mrs. Chili’s Ten Things Tuesday. Yesterday it occured to me that posting to a theme might help.  But what theme?  Nothing I thought of yesterday seemed catchy enough, but this morning as I was deliberately reflecting on my week, it came to me–Think Back Thursday. With two days left in the week, and by looking back at what I had hoped to accomplish in the week, I still have time to git ‘r done. 

The 8th graders are working on revising their book review rough drafts. We talked about the parts of their writing they could improve–sentence fluency, word choice, organization, etc. and we talked about the ways to do that–adding, deleting, and replacing. Thinking back, I realize I didn’t model this, so that’s how class will start today.

The 7th graders, on the other hand, are just getting started their book review rough drafts. We’ve analyzed sample book reviews and “unpacked” the rubric using a web-cluster like the ones I learned at the SpringBoard training two summers ago. Thinking back, I didn’t unpack the rubric with the 8th graders, and now that I’ve done that with the 7th graders, I want to be sure to refer back to their web-cluster. I will do this on Friday and maybe I’ll have students write little sticky notes that reflect on their progress and then put these on the web-cluster.

Some high points… one student who has resisted reading has become totally absorbed with a Frank Perelli book and tells me everyday (sometimes twice a day) what’s happening; the 7th graders are analying commas ala Jeff Anderson and Mechanically Inclined; the 8th graders are taking charge of themselves and getting situated for reading workshop without being told at the beginning of class; I re-structured the music class so that I am working with small guitar groups on a regular basis.

(Some portions also posted at the Panorama B English blog http://panoramabenglish.blogspot.com/.)

Following is something I posted to a question on teachers.net about getting kids under control:

On 9/24/08, Juli wrote:
> Please help me out here. I have 16 boys in a class of 21.
> They aren’t openly disrespectful, but refuse to stop
> talking. When I go through my discipline steps and take 20%
> for each offense, then they get angry and disruptive even
> more so. How do I get these kids under control?

That’s a lot of boys! But back to your question of how to get kids under control…

First off, having control over other people, even kids, is an illusion. Control over another person only happens in two ways: 1) The other person allows it. 2) One person has more power than another. At younger and younger ages, kids are proving that we can’t force them to do much of anything. For sure you can’t force someone to learn. And after a certain age you can’t force anyone to do anything against their will, unless of course there is an imbalance of power.

So how come some classrooms are “under control” and others are not? In my opinion, it all boils down to a balance of motivation and influence–student motivation and teacher influence. Other than their anger over losing 20%, how is your rapport with them? If you don’t have rapport, you don’t have influence. People won’t care about anything you say until they know you care about them.

To what degree is learning being impacted by the talking and anger? If there is very little learning taking place, you need to do something drastic. What you do will depend on you and your unique personality.

My classroom management is based on caring and problem-solving:

1. I take a sincere interest in each student and set a tone that is fun, friendly, firm, and consistent. Kids will do anything for the people they care about–this is the heart of the motivation and influence that I talked about above.

2. I have one rule based on the idea of problem-solving. Choose safe behavior that supports the learning
expectations. If students choose behavior that is unsafe or unsupportive they are creating a problem that gets in the way of learning. The person who creates the problem is the the one who needs to fix it. The students comes up with possible solutions and chooses which one to try. But before it gets to the problem stage, I ask reflective questions to redirect the behavior, “How is your behavior supporting everyone’s learning right now?” or “When might be a better time to do that so that you can support everyone’s learning
right now?”

My ideas have developed from several sources… Marvin Marshall’s Discipline without Stress, Jim Fay’s Love and Logic, Fred Jones’ Tools for Teaching, and the Wong’s First Days of School. Most recently I’ve been influenced by Tom Carter’s ideas about the role of the alpha leader and the importance of safety and support for learning. (http://teachers.net/mentors/classroom_management).

Modified from a post by Artsy One at Teachers.net: http://teachers.net/mentors/middle_school/topic13013/10.15.08.18.35.40.html

To get started:

·         Think about the way a unit is set up, four civilizations to study, sections of a chapter,

·         SOCIAL STUDIES: NCSS themes or state social studies standards (history, geography, economics, civics, critical thinking)

·         LANGUAGE ARTS: Literary devices, story elements, revising techniques, writing genres

·         Design the centers for individual or group work

·         Arrange the room to accommodate activities

Discuss how to work successfully in groups and do team building exercises before beginning the centers.

·         Provide clear expectations for each group member

·         Clarify how to manage conflicts

·         Discuss how the process will work and how to manage time in order to accomplish all assigned tasks

Create a tub or envelope for each center

·         For each center that include:

o   List of objectives based on Bloom’s taxonomy (put in clear page protector

o   OPTIONAL free choice activity such as dioramas, plays, songs, stories, etc.)

o   Copied pages from a text or reading assignment, other resources or links to online materials

·         Keep the materials fairly “straight forward” so that not much is required beyond actually reading it.

·         Include ALL materials and supplies to complete the activities and projects in the tub.

Students experience how to organize time and plan ahead for multi-part projects.

·         Encourage the groups to go through the entire list of objectives and activities FIRST.

·         After reading the list, then they should look through the tub to be sure they have what they need

·         Let them know that they will have X number of class periods to complete the lesson.

Check every so often to be sure the tubs are stocked and read to go—provide a sheet for students to report missing items.

Test students at the end of each center.

Rotate to a new center after testing.

http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html

Sometimes a class just gets out of hand. When this happens, you’re looking at group norms, which are difficult, but not impossible to change. You’ll need a few things–clipboard, paper, something to write with, poster paper, markers, a calm, firm, pleasant demeanor, and the willingness to commit to the rating routine outlined below.

1. Meet the students at the door, with the door closed, and do not let anyone in. Have your clipboard in hand and do not start talking until everyone is quiet. Look at students who are talking or acting out. Write down names and the misbehaviors. (TIP: Use a code T=talking, H=hitting, K=kicking, etc.) It is very important that you stay pleasant, calm, and patient.

2. Kids close to you will notice the clipboard action and will peek at what you’re writing–let them. They’ll get quiet or they might ask, “What’s going on?” Look pleasant and say, “I’m waiting for it to get quiet.” After what seems like an unbearable amount of time, kids will start telling each other to be quiet. Keep looking pleasant and calm. Once it’s quiet, go through a rating routine, as follows:

3. Have the students use a show of fingers to rate the WHOLE CLASS on overall behavior with regard to your expectations and/or rules for the classroom. 5=always on task and appropriate, 1=chaos. Stay pleasant, look at each student’s rating, pleasantly and calmly.

4. Choose a sampling of students to explain their rating (why a 2? why a 4?, etc.). If anyone starts side talk, stop talking/stop whoever’s talking. Write the names of the side-talkers on the clipboard (consider faking it if you don’t know) and wait until it’s quiet again, then pleasantly start your sentence over from the beginning.

5. Next say, “We are going into the classroom now. I need you to enter and be seated without talking or touching one another. Wait for my next instructions once you are seated. Can I count on everyone?” Pleasantly make eye contact with each student.

6. Sure as not, someone will talk as you enter. Make notes on your clipboard and say, “Please rate yourself on how well you entered the classroom and waited for instructions without talking. 5=no talking or touching, 1=chaos.” Call on a few students to explain their ratings. Write the rating range on the board, for example 2-3 or 2-4. If the rating average seems to be 3 or lower, have them leave the room so that they can practice entering again. They will groan. Just stay pleasant and firm and patient and write the new rating on the board. Your attitude should be, “I’m happy to use all class period for this–all year (grading period) if needed–if there’s no learning going on anyway, what’s the dif?

7. When you get back out in the hall, wait until everyone is quiet, make sure you have your clip board and keep making notes as needed. Repeat your instructions for entering the classroom and have the class rate themselves again. You can also have each student do a personal rating.

8. As crazy as it sounds, keep doing this (clipboard, practice, rating/post rating on board/stay pleasant) until everyone can enter correctly and wait for your instructions without talking. Did I say to stay pleasant and calm? :)

9. Have a T-chart ready with a heading on the left that says “Looks Like” and a heading on the right that says “Sounds Like.” Lead a whole class discussion about what a “5″ in classroom behavior looks like and sounds like. Don’t put anything on there that you can’t live with. Have some expectations in mind so that you can ask reflective questions to get what you need on the T-Chart. If at any point there is side talk, write names on the clipboard or say to the open air, “I hear side talk. If it continues, it probably means we need to practice entering the classroom some more.”

10. Next, brainstorm ideas for consequences for individuals who cannot follow the guidelines on the T-Chart (this would be personal ratings of 1, 2 or 3). BTW it is always the students who do the rating–you give feedback on their ratings and try to go easier on them than they go on themselves. Back to consequences. When you get several options for consequences that you are willing to put on the T-Chart, have the students vote their approval of the T-Chart and then have everyone sign the T-Chart and keep it posted in the classroom.

11. Leave the ratings on the board if you can, because you’ll be rating them again and again until they can get themselves in the 4/5 range. The ratings are a concrete, indisputable representation of behavior improvement AS A CLASS. Stress whole-class identity at every opportunity, because this will establish the appropriate behavior as a GROUP NORM, not a teacher imposed notion.  Group norms are far more powerful-–you’ve seen this already with the out of control behavior from so many students.

12. By the time you do all this, you might not have time for instruction–darn, the class work you planned for today has now become homework! :(  But tomorrow’s a new day. Meet them at the door with the clipboard pleasantly in hand, and wait until it’s quiet; then call on a student to remind everyone of how they are supposed to enter the classroom. After entering, refer to the class T-Chart and do a class rating. Write the rating on the board. If the rating is 3 or lower, practice. If the rating is 4/5, have them pat themselves on the back–Hooray! If at any point you observe that a student’s behavior is getting out of hand, have the student rate him/herself. If it’s a 3 or lower, have the student choose a consequence from the T-Chart.

14. Meet the class at the door everyday until they prove they have the routine down. Once they do, meet them with the door open and welcome them to class without stopping them outside. Be sure to continue the rating routine, maybe not as frequently. Try to “catch” them being 5s. If you can pull it off, have them turn and thank their neighbor for being a 5.

15. If the class gets wild again, go back to the clipboard/stop ‘em at the door/rating routine–did I say pleasantly and calmly? :)

(modified from my post here: http://teachers.net/mentors/classroom_management/topic4439/9.25.08.04.30.20.html)

I started school feeling a bit unready–worried about the new music class I would be teaching and wondering about the new students I would be getting. To top it off, instead of a full day the first day, school got out at 10:00, due to a planned power outage.  But so far things have gone great!  I can’t think of a better situation for teaching–small school and community where everyone knows everyone, and where parents care about their students.  I still have some unfinished projects from this summer, and I’ll get those taken care of in the next few weeks.

Following is an excerpt from the Music chatboard at teachers.net (posted by “Tom”). I’d definitely like to try this kind of feedback in music and also see if opportunities come up in other classes, too.

One thing you might consider is using what Leon Thurman (vocal music educator) calls “implicit constructive praise.” Instead of saying “Great job, horns!” give a little more info: “Great job, horns! Your crescendo was so musical, and your cutoff was flawless!”

Then, after that feedback which reinforces their efforts and reminds them of their growth, give them a suggestion which will move them closer to the goal. “This time, folks, let’s see if we can do all of that, and still stay together during the last two measures. We’re so close to really making music with this entire piece.”

This way, each time you stop you’re giving positive feedback (rather than constructive criticism) BUT STILL challenging them to grow even more in skill and ensemble musicality.

Asking them to comment on what they experience will also help to develop their own aesthetic, thus creating both buy-in and more mature understanding of musicality. (”Alright.  Before I say anything, what’d YOU notice? Anybody hear anything different that time? Go ahead and tell your neighbor. Anybody feel anything when we held the fermata?
Anybody want to share with the class?…”)

Now, obviously this is not necessary EVERY time you stop, but if you do it more often than not, the kids [will have a positive, constructive experience].

At the end of the school year the students completed a short evaluation of my grading practices, which are characterized by rubrics and score sheets for language arts assignments and social studies projects. Handouts and short answer assignments in social studies are graded on clarity, accuracy, following directions, and providing support.  In addition to evaluating my grading practices, I had my students give me feedback on three things to never change, and three things to do differently next year. The following is my reflection on their evaluations and a summary of their feedback.

(Read on …)