And just like that, it was gone...

Farewell to these sandstone hills, full of jasper and agates, Farewell to these statuesque rocks caressed by the tides, Farewell to these Sitka Spruces, shaped by the storms, Farewell to Seal Rock, Ona Beach, and Newport, Crossing the Newport Bridge, I watched a trawler heading for the open ocean, My heart drifting in its wake, like a net into the sea, and as we climbed the hills into Toledo, I saw the Pacific Ocean, looking back at me, What utter finality, the solemn slate grey sea, Looking back in my rearview mirror, the day that we left, I still remember the suddenness of the clear blue sky, The golden light of the sun glinting on the waves The hope cresting as I drove out of the hills, Now recedes, and fades away

The moment it really hit

Even though I've been building up to this moment for a few weeks, the reality that my life is about to completely change again hadn't hit me until we came into the home stretch. The smallest things will set you off when you're avoiding confronting the emotional rollercoaster. Turns out that today it was going to the library.

Yes, the library.

The small-town library that I'd been in and out of a thousand times. The place where I took my toddler on rainy Saturdays to keep him entertained when we couldn't go outside. The place where I had checked out CDs to play in my classroom. The place where I got all the free magazines that were eagerly devoured by 20-year-old boys. The place where I had checked out tons of books to supplement my classroom library. The library was my low-budget entertainment destination of choice.

I was hit by a sudden wave of strange and utter devastating finality while turning in those last straggling library books. I barely stammered through the process of surrendering my card: "I won't need this anymore, I'm moving back to Portland." I hadn't realized how much I had grown to love the place until that very moment. I had to blink back a few tears to make it out the door, and once I was outside, I let it hit, all the held-back emotions that I had managed to contain, about leaving this small magical place that I've been living for the past year and a half. It seems strangely appropriate that as a reading teacher, and a former library worker, the library would be the place to finally trigger that sense of loss.

You miss the little things the most

Always finding agates lying on the beach on my way to work in the morning

Eagles flying over the Alsea bay

Finding tons of edible mushrooms in the woods

Finding pieces of driftwood with pleasing shapes

Finding random shells and sand in my pockets

Finding treasures from afar washed up on the beach (sometimes tsunami debris)

Watching the herons stalking along the rim of the Alsea Bay every morning

Picking huckleberries in the fall and teaching my son to enjoy it too

Watching the seals laying on the sand spit at Bayshore

The funny croak of the blue heron flying over the house every evening

The croaks of the frogs in the spring time

The gulls flying home at sunset

The distinct smell of seaweed drying on the beach

The sound of boats coming and going out in the bay

The sound of the wind blowing through the shore pines

The way that sand feels as it slips through your fingers

The way the air smells (briny!)

The way the clouds get tangled up in the trees in the morning

The way the sunbeams pierce through the fog and spruce trees driving up Blodgett

Watching all the locals dig for clams during the low tides of June (while I'm stuck going to work)

Watching the waves slam and pound against the rocks in Yachats

Last day at Angell

Today was my last day at Angell Job Corps. I was too nervous to sleep much the night before, so by morning, I was pretty much a train wreck of nerves, and unbelievably tired after a whole week of poor sleep, but I got out of bed and made it to work somehow.

This morning was the student/staff breakfast (a quarterly event where the staff serves the students breakfast), but I had so much to do still, that I didn't have time to really go. I just made a brief guest appearance (I was too stressed out to eat anyway), so I went and took pictures (and took advantage of the fact that everyone was there to say goodbye to) then I went back to packing until the students showed up.

The last two days, I devoted to watching movies in class. I really needed the time to do things like data entry and grading and going through my files and such, and since school was actually still in session for another week, I had to do all of it with kids in the room. Movies were the obvious solution to the problem. I had my students bring movies and as long as they were appropriate, we'd watch them in class. It worked beautifully and kept everyone out of my hair enough to get my work (mostly) done. (I strongly recommend watching movies in class at the end of the year, it makes the behavior so much more bearable.)

After the end of the school day, I had a couple of kids stay and help me pack and clean the room up a bit (after a week of normal use). *R* elected to stay awhile longer and wanted to draw me "one last picture". I let him, understanding that in his own quiet way he just wanted to say goodbye in that fashion. Since I'm not good at goodbyes anyway, that made sense to me.

Before I left, I walked around the campus, catching whoever I could before I got into the truck and drove off. One of the last kids I saw was one of the very first kids I met when I started working at Angell--he was sitting in the office of Admin. Most kids come and go within 9 months to a year, but for whatever reason, he is still here a year and a half later, working on whatever it is that he's working on. It seemed highly appropriate that he would be one of the last people I would see as I left.

The weather was completely lousy, and it was raining pretty hard. I drove past the smoking gazebo and waved goodbye, past the dining hall (that was dark, being empty of students), and admin (where everyone had gone home an hour ago), and past the education building where I worked for a year and a half. I drove past those iconic wind turbines that Cedar has always found so fascinating, and looped out of the drive and pulled out on the highway, flying past Tillicum Beach, where I had spent so much time walking on the beach during my lunch breaks looking for huge pieces of Jasper, and tsunami debris from Japan.

I drove home feeling that way all teachers probably feel after finishing another school year, a small part relief, but mostly tired, nostalgic, and a little teary.

It's still really hard to believe that this is real, and that I won't be sitting in my classroom next week doing exactly what I've always done...teaching Reading and Health (and Life Skills, Social Skills, and a little bit of everything else!) It's hard to believe that it was over so fast, and that so many people have come in and out of my life in the past year and a half.

As a teacher, you always wonder what kind of impact you have on your students. How does the time you spend together affect you both? What things will they remember about their time in class? What was important to them? What did they think was memorable? What did they get out of being there? I always ask them at the very end, and this year's responses were a little something like this: "I loved all the cool books there were to read in this class", "I really liked going for walks during health class", "I loved that we learned about so many different things", "This was my favorite class", etc.

Classroom Relationships

As we reach the end of the year, I've been doing a lot of reflection on the practice of teaching. This is part of that series. Today's topic is classroom relationships and their importance in teaching and learning. "Do you believe you should build rapport with students? If yes, how?" For me, this is an important part of the overall orchestration of how I run my classes, and is the key weapon in my classroom management arsenal. The reason, of course, is that when you have established a positive relationship with someone, you can ask them almost any "favor" and have a reasonable expectation of getting it--the favors in this case being cooperate with your teacher, do your work, and so forth. Relationships are important. Humans are social animals, and barring a serious psychological disorder, most of us find relationships inherently motivating. We want to do things for people we like and respect. So as a teacher, I use this basic knowledge about the innate power of relationships as the basis for almost everything that happens in the classroom. Students show up because they have to, but they learn because they want to. If the intrinsic motivation to learn is missing, you have to create a reason for the student to "want to". And sometimes that reason ends up being, "I'm going to put forth some effort in this class because I have a positive relationship with my teacher". Of course no student on earth, much less an adolescent student, will ever tell you something like that. But it's pretty apparent when it happens. This basic idea is demonstrated every time I get new students. Working at an open-entry open-exit program like Job Corps, I get new students all the time--almost every week! It may be just a handful, or it may be that 15 people at once drop out of the clear blue sky (should such a miraculous thing occur on the Oregon Coast where it rains most of the time) and land right on my roster. New students are people who are in need of training on the most basic aspects of classroom life. New students could be from anywhere, and may have an unimaginable array of fascinating life circumstances that have been known to include drug/alcohol withdrawal symptoms, recently homeless, extended time out of school, time in prison, or strategic retreat from gang involvement. Even when less extreme than the above examples, most of the kinds of students that I get were not the honor roll kids. They were probably not kids who had illustrious high school careers, and their relationship with school is often sketchy at best. They've already experienced school and found it not to their liking. So they show up with all of these prior experiences, and it's my job to sell them "school" again... When you get the kinds of students who don't like "school", your job isn't to sell them more "school" but rather more of the kinds of experiences they didn't get before coming to you. In my case, I am selling them a place to feel comfortable, accepted, and respected. In other words, I am selling them a relationship based in a particular setting, within certain parameters presented by the subject matter. This particular relationship is a mentoring relationship built within a group context, but it begins at the individual level and gradually expands outward as the student integrates and finds his or her place within the learning community. The two pieces I have the most control over are my relationship with the student, and the tone of the learning community itself. Establishing a relationship with a student, even when you're working with the "tough cases" is actually pretty easy, and involves some very basic moves any salesperson would recognize. You greet the customer right away, you strike up a conversation to get your foot in the door, and you move in for the sale. With students, you greet them early and often, you notice little things about them and comment on them (e.g. I like your shirt), and you ask them about their lives (how was your weekend?). Once you've had a few of these basic conversations, you have planted the seeds for a relationship. This works with even the most difficult students because it ensures that you have interactions with the student that are non-disciplinary in nature (which nukes the feeling of "the only time my teacher ever talks to me is when I'm in trouble). The follow up is trickier, but at its heart, the building of a relationship involves demonstrating respect and empathy in all of your interactions with students. This is something that is a long-term project, and is driven by processes that building loyalty and trust. One could write an entire book about how this works, but in short, I find that if you are consistently fair, empathetic, and respectful towards students, they will almost always cooperate with you and do the things you need them to do. The trickier part, in my opinion is managing the group dynamics of the overall learning community. This is where negativity can cause the most damage. This is your most public forum for creating and cultivating the kind of climate you want to have in your room. To use another analogy, the relationships with the students are the seeds, but the climate of the learning community is the entire field, and that field must be carefully tended to prevents pests like negativity, drama, etc from taking over. Creating a good learning community means you have to do a lot of weeding--you have to deal with things that have the potential to ruin your environment right away before they have a chance to take root. In my class, I do this by ruthlessly prohibiting things like the use of profanity, talking about others behind their back, insulting anyone, using racist/sexist language, inappropriate conversation that creates discomfort, and general complaining/whining. When these things occur, I crack down on them immediately, and with the kind of inevitability that makes it clear that such things do not have a place in my environment. The students are so familiar with the "weeds" that they often will correct each other (you can't say that in here!), basically doing my job for me. This helps keep the environment safe for everyone. If the problem is based on a demonstrated lack of awareness or knowledge, it becomes fodder for learning opportunities. The main thing is to create the kind of learning environment where things are as comfortable as possible, people feel safe being together and working together, and students are relaxed enough to learn. Building positive relationships in the classroom makes it much easier for me to do my primary job: teaching a specific content area. Time invested in relationships pays dividends because the students tend to be more receptive to learning, and spend a lot less time resisting, causing disruptions, and arguing with me. Taking the time to build positive relationships means that I get to spend way less time on discipline, and way more time actually working with students. Aside from making my job easier, it's also more pleasant to be in a room with cooperative adolescents who don't have to be compelled with force. Because, lets face it, as teachers, we are definitely in the business of getting people to do things they don't want to do. For most adolescents, sitting in an uncomfortable desk, doing lengthy assignments all day long, is about the last way they'd spend to choose their time. The fact that we can get them to do it at all is borderline miraculous. What's amazing, is that it often feels quite effortless, and the reason for that is you have created an environment where it feels quite natural to be doing just that, and because it feels natural to be doing what everyone else is doing, you don't have to spend nearly as much time "making" anyone do anything (you can save that energy for the one student who needs a lot more in terms of behavior management), and the rest of the class takes care of itself, based on the power of group dynamics, and respect for you. Because that's absolutely what you get when you invest in positive relationships with your students: respect. You don't have to demand it at all...it will be given to you freely, but only after you've successfully modeled it day in and day out for everyone to observe and learn from. Respect is the heart of the student/teacher relationship.

the Art of Peace

The Art of Peace is a book of maxims by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. Much like the Tao Te Ching, the Art of Peace is applicable to almost any situation in life, and makes for a good daily meditations for teachers. With the magic of substitution, I will demonstrate:

“One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Teaching. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to teach.” (No matter how underfunded your school district may be, that is where you have chosen to work, and in spite of the rundown facilities, and mostly Title I eligible student body, here is where you will do your great work.)

“If you have not linked yourself to true emptiness, you will never understand the Art of Teaching.” (This is where you find yourself in the zone, when everything is going right, and your passion for the subject takes hold. It feels almost like you are having an out-of-body experience…the learning becomes this tangible thing, and for one instant, instead of having a collection of individuals stuck in a room, you have something more like a communion of minds. It never lasts very long, and the magic fades almost as soon as you become aware of it.)

“Learning is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead. The Art of Teaching is a celebration of the bonding of heaven, earth, and humankind. It is all that is true, good, and beautiful.” (The purpose of learning is a lifelong pursuit, and isn’t necessarily about “knowing stuff”. There is a much deeper purpose to learning, and part of teaching is helping students see past the “stuff”, and experience life itself.)

“Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life. Breathe in and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe; breathe out and bring the cosmos back inside. Next, breathe up all fecundity and vibrancy of the earth. Finally, blend the breath of heaven and the breath of earth with your own, becoming the Breath of Life itself.” (Teaching is a job full of constant demands, and the tension of never having enough time or energy to do all that one would desire. Consequently, you will find yourself getting burned out from time to time. When this happens, it’s good to unplug for a while, forget about everything, and go outside where there’s no distractions. Sometimes you just need to let go of the tensions, the frustrations, and the aggravations, and just be alone.)

“Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout. Just as a lotus flower springs from the mire to bloom splendidly, the interaction of the cosmic breath causes the flower of the spirit to bloom and bear fruit in this world.” (This quote speaks to both the teacher and the students. Teachers have tremendous gifts to share with others, and can do so in the most unlikely of circumstances. Likewise, students are often like rough diamonds in need of polishing. Underneath the most unpromising exteriors, often lurks a great deal of potential. Students need encouragement to “bloom”.)

“As soon as you concern yourself with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you.” (Don’t worry about what other think or say, do what works best for you. Likewise, don’t compare your students to each other. It’s not fair to them either.)

“The Art of Teaching does not rely on punitive discipline or power to succeed; instead we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent destruction. The true meaning of the term teacher is one who serves and adheres to the power of love.” (You can have the kind of classroom you want without resorting to fancy classroom management plans or punitive disciplinary sanctions. By working with your students, rather than against them you do not have to needlessly expend your energy.)

“Study the teachings of the pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom. The pine is evergreen, firmly rooted, and venerable. The bamboo is strong, resilient, unbreakable. The plum blossom is hardy, fragrant, and elegant.” (These are metaphors for the different attributes of your students, who come with different strengths. The key to working with students is understanding what their strengths are, and working with them.)

“Always keep your mind as bright and clear as the vast sky, the great ocean, and the highest peak, empty of all thoughts. Always keep your body filled with light and heat. Fill yourself with the power of wisdom and enlightenment.” (Teachers are almost always constantly innundated with the needs of others, and often forget to take care of themselves. It’s a good idea to take a break, de-clutter the mind, and regroup as often as needed.)

What do you like most/dislike most about teaching?

As we reach the end of the year, I've been doing a lot of reflection on the practice of teaching. This is part of that series. Today's topic is what I like most/least about teaching.

"What do you like most/dislike most about teaching?"

I think the thing I like most about teaching, is the same thing most other teachers mention when they're in the teacher's lounge and having a really good day: It's that magical moment when students "get it". That moment when it's obvious the student has figured out something, learned how to do something, or finally understands something that's been elusive. You can see the lights go on, they get that "look" and it's just a beautiful thing to watch. It's really wonderful to see another person learn how to do something new for the first time--it's the same thing that makes parenting enjoyable--watching the world recreated every day through another person's eyes.

As adults, we tend to get jaded, but thankfully the students keep the world alive and fresh, and full of possibility, and as teachers, we get the privilege of watching this process unfold time after time. It's wondrous, and it's the thing that makes all the bad days, failed lessons, unruly students, fire drills, and other madness that also is a part of the job, worth it.

The thing I dislike most is the polar opposite of the above: the student who is completely unmotivated. I vastly prefer students who literally can't learn how to do something to those who could but choose not to. Motivation is everything in learning, at a certain level, you have to want to learn. Students who don't want to learn drive me crazy because it's not something I have ever really experienced, so I can't relate to it at all. I love learning. I think learning new things is inherently enjoyable. I like to figure things out, and discover new things. I literally cannot imagine what it would feel like to be any other way, so students who sit there and choose to do nothing drive me crazy because I just can't relate to the mindset. I know some of the factors that contribute to the problem: low-self esteem, belief that they can't do something, etc, but it doesn't make it any easier for me. For me, this is one of the hardest things to overcome. I have a number of things that I try when presented with these students, but ultimately, the only thing that seems to make the difference with these kinds of students is a shift in their own attitude.

Instructional Technology

As we reach the end of the year, I've been doing a lot of reflection on the practice of teaching. This is part of that series. Today's topic is technology. "How have you used, or how will you use, technology in the classroom?" Since I tend to work mostly with Title I students, I've mainly worked in low-technology environments (schools where technology was either non-existent, or usually inadequate/outdated), so I haven't had much practice using the kinds of things that teachers in wealthier districts would take for granted. For example, although I have seen a Smartboard, I have never used on in my life. My current job, for instance, is teaching in a classroom that has a grand total of 2 computers for student use (1 of which malfunctions regularly), and a TV. I don't even have an overhead projector! This doesn't particularly bother me, since I don't generally do a ton of whole class instruction, and am not prone to lecturing, but there are times when I think it would be nice to have a projector of some kind. In previous jobs, I've worked in classrooms that had digital projectors, and it's a nice aid to have for whole class instruction. You can use a lot more visuals when presenting information to students in Powerpoint, than you can, for instance, by writing on a board or an old-fashioned overhead projector. In my ideal universe, I would use a laptop and projector more often. I would like to be able to use more visuals in class, and for my health class in particular, there are tons of wonderful video clips I would love to be able to show my students. There are some really wonderful online resources for educators, and it would be nice to be able to use those with my classes. So more technology would be a plus. On the other hand, I think sometimes that as wonderful as technology is, sometimes it becomes such an emphasis in and of itself, that the basics of learning can get lost in the shuffle. One teacher I met told me her district requires teachers to incorporate texting into their lesson plans! To me, that's a bit ridiculous. I also think that some forms of technology work better for some students than others. Some students find it very motivating, and others find it very distracting. My students tell me all the time that they wish they could take their standardized tests the old-fashioned way (with pencil and paper). I also don't like the fact that it sometimes creates additional problems (things not working as expected, slow networks, students getting distracted by social media options, etc). I tend to think of technology as an option in learning, but not necessarily the only option for obtaining, using, and presenting information. At the same time, I think it's important to have some access to technology, since it is expected that students would have some exposure, and if it's not present in the student's homes, school is the one place that has the potential to level the playing field in terms of access.

Classroom Management

As we reach the end of the year, I've been doing a lot of reflection on the practice of teaching. This is part of that series. Today's topic is classroom management.

What type of classroom management structures do you implement? This depends in part on the setting. The overall principles are the same, regardless of the environment, but the specifics depend on the context and realities of the school and the kinds of students I have.

For me, discipline, and classroom management are a proactive enterprise, they're all-pervasive, and so entwined within the context of the entire classroom experience that they are in effect nearly invisible to the students (they're only really aware of small pieces of the entire puzzle). To me though, classroom management structures and routines are very much planned out and executed very deliberately. Once in place, they're strategically fine tuned until they're almost inevitable.

The first piece for me happens at the environmental level. Whenever possible, I arrange the room so that I can see absolutely everything happening in it. I put supplies where the students can access them easily, but where I can monitor what's happening with them. I create a mix of different types of seating possibilities, so there's something that will work for nearly everyone. I have a lot of student-created material posted on the walls, and have the students decorate the room, so it feels very student friendly when they come in. I put little bits of my personal life around the room so students can get a sense of who I am. The room, although very much a classroom in appearance, also tends to develop a very home-y feel to it.

The second piece is in the routines. I learned the importance of routines from Special Education teachers, who are the undisputed champions of routines. The specific routines depend mightily on what I'm teaching and what kind of schedule we're on, but overall I tend to do things in a very predictable sequence that changes very little. Once students have been in class for a few days, they could tell you exactly what to expect because the routines are very simple and seem completely obvious. During my last class, the daily routine consisted of the following:

1. SSR (Silent Reading) 15-20 minutes for students to unwind, relax, and read something of their choice. 2. Warm up exercise: A short exercise to introduce the day's topic, sometimes in the form of a game. 3. Main assignments: The main work period where students work (mostly) independently. 4. Review/Vocab quiz: A time for either reviewing assignments, or doing a short vocabulary quiz. 5. Question of the Day (an end of class exit slip procedure that was a transition cue, review, and behavior management tool wrapped into one)

Conveying expectations are the key to managing all of the routines, so this is a time to set up parameters for expected behavior, and how it varies depending on context. These are the occasions when students get to hear my most famous behavior management "lines". For instance, silent reading is not a time for talking, so I might say something like, "You can tell her about that in 20 minutes." Another example, is that work-time is prime-time for getting work done, so if a student is off-task, I might say something like, "You are more than welcome to enjoy that when you're finished." The idea, then is to reinforce the routine, not make a big deal out of the behavior itself. It's a subtle difference, but it basically a way of reinforcing the importance of the routine, and staying on track, without giving the student an opportunity to discuss the occurrence or non-occurrence of a specific behavior. For instance, if you tell a student to stop talking, they may argue and say, "But I wasn't talking." This puts an end-run on that game.

Relationships are the third ingredient, but I've written about that topic elsewhere, so won't rehash it here. It's the key ingredient to buying a great deal of cooperation, and worth any time you invest in it. Routine number 5, in particular, addresses this piece because it's a communication tool.

The importance (or non-importance) of rules: aside from the school rules, I don't tend to have a lot of "rules" because there's really only about 3-5 things that are terribly important at any given time. And I don't do the democracy in action thing where I let students "vote" on the rules. I know what it is I'm looking for, and you can sum it up with one phrase: "Doing the right thing at the right time." So generally, I don't have lists of rules posted on the walls. Students know the rules, especially by the time they're in high school. The main things I'm interested in, as a teacher, are is the room a safe place for everyone, and are people able to learn without unnecessary distraction. Anything that detracts from those two considerations is dealt with in a variety of ways.

Generally, the discipline stays pretty subtle, and the focus is always on the behavior, not the person. So I usually use pretty low level moves to deal with the common stuff: If a student is talking, I ask them to get back to work. If a student says something rude, I inform them that this is not a place for saying that. If they're off-track because they really need more help, then I address that issue. The importance of this is that I usually get what I need (cooperation), without having to expend much of my arsenal of moves, and without creating an opening for conflict or defensiveness. This takes care of 85% of the room, and leaves me more energy for dealing with the serious stuff.

More advanced moves: Naturally there are those times when subtle isn't working and a student is creating a serious disruption by their behavior. They didn't respond to the lower level hints, and seem to need something more from me. Or maybe they went from 0-60 in record time, and committed a capital offense out of nowhere. Usually in either case, the real issue is a personal one, and has nothing to do with class, but the student's inability to deal with it, means they've brought it to you and dumped it on your desk, so to speak. My number one objective is to avoid putting on a good show for the class, so I quickly separate the student from his or her appreciative audience, go outside and have a private talk about whatever's really going on. If the student can't or won't talk about it then, I either give them space to cool off, give them the option of talking to someone else, or going to another classroom for awhile. This gives them a chance to calm down, and gives me a chance to really analyze the situation and figure out how I want to deal with the problem from there. Usually the outcome of these incidents is the student apologizes to me for causing a scene, and I tell them "it's okay, it happens, we can move on", and things go back to normal. Chronic situations (where the student has dramatic blowouts on a regular basis) work a bit differently, but the underlying principles are the same. The difference is that you have to do a lot more training on "how life works" (social skills training) with these kinds of students, and your overall tactics are geared towards long-term improvement, rather than addressing short-term behaviors.

The end result of all of this, is that I get to spend most of my time in class actually teaching students, and overt discipline is kept to a minimum because most of the time it doesn't take much to get students back on track. I don't have to resort to fancy incentive systems, class behavior charts, assertive discipline, or anythings that's fancy and time consuming. The rewards for going with the flow are a bit more subtle, but the students usually enjoy the overall experience of being in class, and I don't usually have to do anything real fancy to earn their cooperation. The beauty of staying on track for the students is they get more free time if they finish their work, and they realize that pretty early on, so it makes my life a lot easier.

Teaching Reflection--on students

1. What kind of students do you like to work with? What type of students could you teach most effectively?

I mainly prefer to work with at-risk youth, but honestly I can work with almost any kind of student. I've pretty much done it all, but I enjoy working with at-risk kids the most because they're so unaccustomed to success, and it's very satisfying watching them become more confident as learners. They need you in a way that the "easier" students usually don't, and I find that gratifying.

2. You give an assignment. A student ridicules the assignment, saying it doesn’t make sense. What would you do?

This happens fairly often. The number one reason a student would say this is that they don't understand what to do, and rather than risk looking stupid, they take this tactic. Usually, I find that if you don't react to the surface statement, and probe a little bit, you'll figure out what it is they didn't understand, and they'll settle down and do the assignment.

Once in a blue moon, you'll get a student who's really too smart to be there (your amazing child prodigy should really be sitting in a college classroom somewhere, but for whatever reason, they're in a public high school), and they have the opposite problem--the assignment is really too easy for them (but unfortunately, their vast intellect takes up some space that should have been allocated for social skills such as tact). In this case, you can either force them to do the assignment (I'm sorry you feel that way, but this is still due by tomorrow), or have them do an extension activity (this is why differentiation is a good idea) instead. This is one reason why I like to have things like National Geographic and college textbooks in the room--depending on what your topic is, you can simply have the student read something out of National Geographic or the college textbook on the same topic, and write you a summary of some kind. (These kinds of students often like having "special" assignments anyway.)

3. How do you help students experience success?

I do this mainly by figuring out what works for them. Being aware of their learning styles, preferences, and so forth, I can usually design learning experiences that work for most of my students and move them forward academically. I keep things varied so that chances are pretty good that I'll have something that will work for everyone, and have resources for individualized instruction if one or more students needs something completely different from the rest of the group.

Aside from the curriculum itself, I also make a point of monitoring how students are doing as they work, and make myself available as a support for students who need it. I also encourage students to work together on things that may be too difficult for a student to do alone, so that they get more of a challenge (while filling in each other's holes). I encourage them to push themselves a bit, and try things that may be unfamiliar. I also encourage them to take pride in the successes, and do lots of little things to recognize personal growth.

For instance, I have a "wall of personal bests"--assignments that I received that I have posted on a wall near my desk where the student has hit a high water mark for them--for some students, it's that perfect score, 100%. For others, maybe it's 85%--it totally depends on the student. I make a big deal out of it, but usually only with that student--it's not intended to be a class-wide competition for grades, it's more of a "personal best". So almost every student in the room has something on the wall. Students seem to like it, and they pay attention because most of the time, if they've exceeded a previous "personal best", they'll let me know.

4. How would you individualize instruction for students?

It depends on the situation, but I have a number of different tactics that depend on the reason why it would be necessary. In my last class, about 80% of the students were fine with doing the "regular program" and didn't seem to need differentiated assignments. The other 20% or so (the outliers) either needed things that were easier or harder, or just in a different format. In these cases, differentiation could be temporary (the student does different stuff some of the time, but not always) or permanent (the student always does something different from the rest of the class).

Some reasons for differentiation would include: the student has a severe learning disability, the student is an ESL student, the student learns very differently from other students, or the student is gifted and needs more challenging assignments.

Ways in which I individualize instruction include providing accommodations (based on the student's IEP), modifying existing assignments in some way (usually reducing them in some way), changing the format of lessons, changing the reading level of the assignments (the student works on the same topic, but with material that's easier or harder than the textbooks that the rest of the class are using), or having the student on a completely separate program from the rest of the class (rarest, but I've done this several times). Sometimes a student learns best by using technology, and that's a possibility some of the time.

Less obvious ways that I provide individualized instruction (even when using the same curriculum with the whole class) are allowing for maximum flexibility in terms of how the student does the learning. Students are free to work at their own pace (I usually don't do a lot of direct instruction, so there usually is an initial explanation of what needs to happen, then students are basically turned loose to work at their own pace, so there's very little of that waiting for the rest of the class to catch up). Students can work alone, or with others if they prefer that. There's a variety of learning aids that students are free to use while learning. Students can learn while sitting at a desk in the tradition fashion--or they are free to try other ways. Students can work continuously, or take intermittent breaks if they need that. Students can write their answers down in the usual fashion, but if that doesn't work for them, they can come up to my desk and talk through their assignments instead. Even when students are essentially working on the same thing, they are free to do it in a wide variety of ways, all of which work for me.

5. What procedures do you use to evaluate student progress besides using tests?

Some of my evaluation is based on direct observation--I pay attention to what students are doing in class while they're working, which tells me whether or not they get it at the time. Otherwise, I collect a lot of work samples (primary method), and frequently spot check for understanding by having discussions, short quizzes, writing prompts, etc. I also pick students who are at-risk, and pay real close attention to what they're doing overall. Testing is important too, and we do spend time on it, but overall, I prefer shorter, more frequent types of assessment because students can get hung up on the word "test" and worry about it too much.

In terms of evaluating a student's overall progress, I measure progress in terms of both effort and achievement. So if two students score the same thing on an assignment, but one had to work significantly harder for that score, I weight it differently.

6. How would you challenge the slow learner and the advanced learner within the same class?

Mainly through differentiation techniques I mentioned above. Aside from the methods already mentioned above, I also keep a variety of extension activities in the classroom that support the topic of student and both types of students are free to enjoy these when they are finished with their work. This is great for times when students are finished with everything (which happens a lot with the advanced learners), or need a change of pace (slow learners). I have puzzles and games based on various aspects of the curriculum, extra-credit projects, and pictorial resources. Also, based on whatever we are studying in class, I go to the library and check out books/materials that support the topic, and these come in an enormous range of reading levels. I put these out where students can access them, and because they are "different" they are inherently interesting, and students like browsing through them, which gives them another "angle" on the topic, and supports their overall learning experience.

7. What would your students say about you?

My students say they love my class (even the ones who act like I am totally ruining their lives by making them do work), and seem to like me a lot too. They leave me little "love notes" on my board (Mrs. Q is the best teacher ever!), they draw me pictures, and give me little surprises all the time. Even when they're less overt about it, they are often hanging around my door waiting for me to arrive, and have to be kicked out at the end of the day, and spend a lot of time between classes hanging out in the room too.

Things they tell me that they like are that my classes are interesting, they like learning about interesting things, like my collection of books/magazines, they enjoy my sense of humor, and they like that they can talk to me about whatever. The tell me that "you are different" and they seem to like that about me.

Classroom Management and PBIS

It turns out that most of the principles underlying my preferred approach to classroom management are basically the same principles advocated by PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach. Granted, these were developed for the elementary school setting, but they’re equally appropriate (with some adaptation) for a secondary school environment.

My number one goal (priority) for classroom management is to minimize the presence of problem behaviors so that I can focus more on teaching (and so that my students can focus on learning). Using the framework outlined in the PBIS White Paper (http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/ default/files/pdf_files/PBIS_whitepaper.pdf), here’s what some of these principles look like in practice:

#1 Use positive strategies:

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, a lot of my ideas about positive behavior management and training were actually inspired by dog trainer Victoria Stilwell (http://positively.com/) who is host of the TV show "It's Me or the Dog" on Animal Planet. Victoria is a dog trainer, but her ideas about positive reinforcement seem equally valid in working with troubled teenagers (after all, humans and dogs are social animals). Years ago, when I was searching for solutions for rehabilitating my rescued dog (who had a number of behavior problems in need of immediate correction), I stumbled across her show. Her philosophy emphasizes using positive training techniques, and reminded me a lot of the PBIS principles I had seen implemented in schools. While she is working with dogs, her ideas about reducing anxiety, building up self-confidence, and so forth are just as applicable to teenagers with behavior problems.

Ultimately, the point of PBIS is to use positive reinforcement as a tool to bring about desired behaviors. You are basically giving students a reason for doing the things you want them to do. This makes sense. With dogs the rewards are simple: praise, play, food, toys. Believe it or not, adolescent students actually like similar things: recognition (praise), earned free time (play), snacks/treats (food), or books/pencils/pens (toys). While this would seem to support token systems of classroom management, it actually doesn’t require anything that fancy. I personally am not that big on such overtly behaviorist approaches to discipline, but to use a metaphor from that field, the key is to keep the reward schedule intermittent: you don’t literally reward the student every time they do what you want them to do, but a pleasant surprise now and again works wonders. Let’s illustrate what this looks like in practice:

Beginning of Class Behavior

As a teacher, what you probably want is for your students to come in the room, sit down promptly, and get ready to learn. Unfortunately, students like to use this as a time for socializing and end up wasting the first few minutes of class “getting settled in”. A few minutes doesn’t sound like a big deal, but over the course of 180 days, those 3 minutes of “settling in” at the beginning of class result in 9 lost instructional hours. Yikes!

There’s two ways to get that time back: The most common way teachers do this is to yell at the students, which might speed things up a bit, but mostly results in you being annoyed with your class from the get-go, and possibly will result in a sore throat. Method two, which uses the positive reinforcement method involves training the class to do what you want in the first place (going over the expectations), practicing the new routine, and rewarding everyone when you get it consistently.

The training part takes the longest, but once you’ve communicated what you’re looking for, and practiced it a few times, it should be easy. After all, by the time they’re teenagers, they’ve had plenty of practice with this sort of routine in a school setting. Now the next step is to reward the “early adopters” (the ones who catch on quickest). If one of the early adopters happens to be a problematic student, so much the better. Make a big deal out of it—I keep a bag of candy or gum in my desk (that I use for prizes for games) and keep a few pieces handy. Without saying anything at all, the minute you spot someone doing what you’ve just trained the class to do, waltz over to that student’s desk, and say “congratulations” and give them the prize. The other students will wonder what on earth just happened, and once they figure it out, will probably outdo themselves to be “first” next time since even teenagers like free candy. At first, it helps to do this regularly, but after a while, you can let it fade out, or convert tangible rewards like candy into free time, or some other no-cost reward. It doesn’t take long for the class to figure out what kind of behavior you want, and you’ll have an entire group coming in and getting settled in without having to do a thing. Instead of trying to settle students down, you can get on with the business of teaching.

In a nutshell, the way this works is when you see behavior that you like, you instantly recognize it in a positive manner, and that dramatically increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future. Although punitive or assertive styles of classroom management are fairly popular, and tempting at times, most of these strategies are either unnecessary (I’m living proof that you can get the toughest kids to cooperate without having to resort to any of these methods), or are actually counterproductive and harmful.

#2 Establish a positive environment

Both PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach focus on changing children’s environment in ways that support positive behavior and discourage negative behavior. I have written about this extensively elsewhere, so will move on to item three.

#3 Teach skills

An assumption shared by both PBIS and the Responsive Classroom approach is that when in doubt, you should be prepared to teach your students how to do everything you expect them to do. This may seem really silly if you are working with older students, but high school students need a “refresher” courses as well. Special Education teachers know this (and thus are much better at it), but all teachers should be prepared to teach ANY desired behavior necessary for the furtherance of learning. In fact, due to the magic of scheduling, you may have entire classes where it feels like all you teach IS behavior (before you throw up your arms in despair and ask, “When am I going to be able to teach math/literature/science/etc.,” realize that if they learn nothing else from you, functioning in a group setting (team work) is one of the greatest employment skills a person can ever learn in school (no kidding!). So all this time, you were laboring under the delusion that you thought you were hired to teach Social Studies, or AP Physics, but now you find you are suddenly in the position of being a social skills trainer. Here’s how to go about it with finesse:

Identify the source of the problem: What is causing the student/s not to be successful in this environment (your classroom)? You cannot deal with a behavior unless you know the root cause. Sometimes the cause is the teacher (lack of clear expectation, ambiguous/unclear directions), and other times the cause is the student (a simple acronym that explains a lot of student behaviors is “SHALT”: meaning the student is sick, hungry, angry, lonely, tired).

Once you know WHY the student is acting this way, then you can ask yourself HOW to address their problem behavior. Ask the student for insights into the problem—give them the opportunity to take ownership of their problem. Often their responses will surprise you. Students, particularly adolescent students, are often grappling with difficult situations and realities. It’s good to be aware of these, even though they should not be used as an excuse for bad behavior. Good communication is important when you are trying to solve a problem, and it never hurts to ask for input from the student/s.

If it appears necessary, you may need to do whole class social skills training. There’s a variety of curricula out there for that if you need it. On a smaller scale, when it appears apparent to me that the entire class (or maybe just certain individuals) needs to spend some time on a particular topic (e.g. effective communications, lying, disrespect, bullying), then it becomes the regular curriculum. In reading, this is easy to do because you can read about ANYTHING. There’s no reason why you can’t have students read about the very things they need to work on to become more productive members of society. Over the years, I have developed a whole series of didactic reading assignments on topics such as racism, bullying, homophobia, the “r” word, appropriate language in the work place, and so on. Whenever there’s a need for impromptu social skills training, then out they come.

Part of teaching behavior is very overt, and done direction instruction style: “Class, while we’re watching the movie, I expect everyone to stay awake, keep your feet off the desks, and take notes without talking.” Part of teaching behavior is more subtle, and happens one student at a time, where everyone watches and learns from the way you interact with individuals. What seems like a collection of minor moments in student/teacher interaction are actually my way of sending my students the message that it’s worth taking your time to do things well, it’s a good idea to be on task, and sometimes REALLY good things will come of it.

When you are teaching behavior, the key thing to keep in mind is Be Kind! Keep in mind that no matter how aggravating your students may seem, they are people who have feelings. There’s no need to yell, get sarcastic, or be rude to get your point across (save the “power moves” for big league (major situations) so your students won’t become desensitized through their overuse). Anything that needs to be addressed should be done in a way that isn’t personal—the student will only hear “I don’t like YOU” when what you’re trying to say is “I don’t like it when you talk while I’m giving directions to the class”. I have a number of really cheesy lines I use on my students that I say in kind of a comically exaggerated voice: “My dearly beloved fourth period class, I need you to stop talking and get your work done” and “Bob, you know you’re my favorite person on earth, but I need you to finish your work and stop talking to John so he can finish his work too, thanks a million.” Totally corny, but it gets me what I want with zero resentment (you would not believe how well this works…).

Behavioral/Social Skills training may seem like it takes a little longer and requires a bit more time and patience on your part than kicking kids out of the room and writing referrals, but the positive changes you’ll see over time are totally worth it. Eventually you get to a place where you rarely have to remove anyone from the room, and almost never have to write referrals.

#4 Reinforce positive behavior

Speaking of training, an important part of training is working with a student’s natural inclinations. Find what things motivate your students and use this to your advantage. Everyone likes rewards of some kind. They don’t have to be tangible, but primary rewards (food, praise, free time) are powerful motivators. Some teachers tend to take very polarized stances about rewards either overusing them or refusing to use them at all (students should be self-motivated). My own view is that the middle ground is the best on this issue. Not everyone needs “rewards”, but some people are more extrinsically motivated than others, and even students with high levels of intrinsic motivation like being recognized for their successes at least once in a while. The best way to recognize positive behavior is to do it in the way that works best for that student. Some students like publicity and fanfare. Others would vastly prefer a private conversation when no one else is watching or listening. Honor those preferences.

My primary reward in the classroom is verbal praise. Sometimes I’ll praise the whole class (“Thanks for staying on track, we got a lot done today”), but usually it’s private matter. Most people like to be told they’re doing well, but adolescents rarely like public recognition, so I don’t usually announce these things in front of the whole class. Either I’ll go talk to the student one-on-one (“Hey Jeff, I noticed you took your time with this today, and you did really well as a result”), or write comments on their assignments or write them a little note (for instance, “Hey Bob, I appreciate the fact that you’ve been working harder this week, and not getting distracted as often.”) With trouble makers, this is especially critical because they need some positive feedback, but often aren’t publicly associated with academic achievement.

Another common reward is time for free reading (or other free choice activities): “Hey you did a really good job on finishing your assignments today, so you’re welcome to enjoy other things for a while.” On a whole class basis, a common reward is, if people are working quietly and staying on task, I’ll let students listen to music once in a while. Sometimes I go into “surprise” mode and catch people being good: If it’s been kind of a rough day and my classes seem a bit off track, but several people are still hanging in there and doing well, I’ll quietly walk around and hand out some sort of surprise treat to the people who are on task. Sometimes I’ll really up the ante, and make an “example” out of someone (in a positive way): I’ll announce in front of the whole class “Bob, since you are working really well today, you are welcome to go read outside for the next 20 minutes” (my classroom is situated so that working outside is a realistic option—and this is a much coveted privilege).

#5 Respond to inappropriate behavior

Kind of a no-brainer, but along with all this positive recognition, comes the fact that once in a while, you’re going to have to deal with inappropriate behavior as well. PBIS doesn’t necessarily eliminate all the inappropriate behavior, but it does lessen the need for students to use negative behaviors to get noticed. PBIS, with its various avenues for public recognition and various incentives for positive behavior, makes it more attractive to be recognized for positive contributions and academic achievement. However, there is still that 5-10% core group of kids who have poor social skills, psychiatric disorders (ODD/CD), or other barriers to successful participation in group-oriented environments like a school setting. These are the ones you will still have to deal with.

Most of the time, in a PBIS environment, it’s pretty easy to deal with the low-level stuff. You can use whatever teacher moves you prefer because PBIS is a whole school model, so therefore doesn’t prescribe a formula for dealing with student behavior in the classroom per se.

In my particular case, I use “remind and redirect” for about 80% of the minor things that happen (simple off-task behaviors). Usually a pointed look or signal is enough. If it isn’t, here are some of the common lines you would probably hear in my classroom. You’ll notice the positive (and indirect) phrasing of these:

#1 (Josh is talking to a neighbor and appears to not be working) “Josh, are you finished with your work?” (as opposed to “Josh, stop talking to him!”)

#2 (A student has started whispering to a neighbor during SSR) “We’re in silent reading right now. You can tell her in 10 minutes.” (as opposed to, “Quit talking!”)

#3 (A student is staring out the window and hasn’t started working) “Do you need a pencil?” (As opposed to, “You need to get to work now!”)

#4 (a student is planning on leaving the room during the last 5 minutes of class) “You’re welcome to use the restroom in about 5 minutes.” (as opposed to, “You know you can’t go to the restroom during the last 5 minutes of class, right?”)

I basically prefer that the initial verbal encounter be subtle, indirect (so that it is nearly impossible for the student to argue about what he or she was or was not doing), and ultimately face-saving. For instance, in #1, if I had said, “Josh, stop talking to him!” you can be sure the very first thing Josh is going to do is say, “I wasn’t talking.” The purpose of this statement is to remind Josh of the big picture—he needs to get his work done. They all work the same way—the clue the student into the big picture (this is a time for a specific activity) and remind them that they need to change their behavior to be successful, without stating any assumptions about the behavior itself. This is usually enough to get the student back on track, but if not, I’m always free to use a more direct approach. It’s harder to describe the more serious or chronic situations that come up in my classroom and how I deal with them, but the main principles that apply to these scenarios are move in swiftly, remove the audience, and restore order.

One example in this category of fun, is the student who does not want to be in class, and proceeds to spend his or her time in class creating disruptions to pass the time. This may be sporadic, or it may be daily, depending on how maladjusted the individual is. The reasons for this vary, but the most common underlying cause is low self-esteem (student feels he or she is incapable of being successful in class like the other students, and rather than being perceived of as inadequate, prefers to play the role of the class rebel). These kinds of students are best viewed as long-term projects, but in the day-to-day, you have to put out their fires to keep their contagion of negativity from spreading.

What PBIS emphasizes is that it’s important to deal with the lowest-level behaviors at the lowest level, and triage the more serious stuff to an intervention team. When you have students with chronic behavior problems, you can’t expect to deal with them by yourself. At a minimum, when you recognize you have a problem student, you should get together with their other teachers and see if you are seeing the same pattern, and come up with a plan for managing that student’s behavior that’s consistent across multiple settings. If the student has an IEP, involve the SPED teacher/s he or she works with. If it’s a school-wide problem, involve other parties as well—anyone the student has contact with. Definitely involve the family, but keep in mind the dynamics that lead to the problem may come from those quarters.

Whether you work in a school that has adopted PBIS and/or use the Responsive Classroom approach, the basic ideas behind them (positive behavior is a community goal and is worthy of recognition) is the same. While both were developed with the elementary school environment in mind, I find they both work equally well (with some adaptation) in secondary school environments, and I have used aspects of both in my work with adolescents. The principles are basically common sense, but surprisingly they aren’t as widely implemented outside of elementary school environments. If you work in a school setting that has not adopted PBIS (or something similar), it’s worth implementing on your own--I highly recommend cultivating an atmosphere where positive behavior is rewarded and becomes the norm for the group because it makes discipline a lot easier, and leaves you with more time to actually teach. As unlikely as it sounds, the basic ideas behind positive reinforcement work just as well with the most difficult students as they do with everyone else. Baring serious psychiatric disturbance, anyone who can handle being in a public school setting (least restrictive environment) can benefit from this approach. I have applied these principles when working with some very troubled teenagers, and can vouch for their effectiveness. No matter who is in the room, if you create an environment geared towards reducing anxiety, building up self-confidence, and cultivating an atmosphere of acceptance, you can use PBIS approaches as an effective framework in working with teenagers with or without behavior problems.

Classroom Management, some thoughts

Classroom Management 1. Describe the management strategies and techniques you use to maintain an effective classroom environment.

The simple answer to this is that most of what I do is proactive in nature and operates “under the water”, so to speak. The students for the most part are completely unaware of how it all works, but for me, classroom management is kind of an overall paradigm that includes the environment itself, the procedures, messages/communications, and my overall framework for teaching. I don’t think of it so much as something I do, but rather something that I create that kind of takes on a life of its own. It becomes more obvious in the things that I say and do (the techniques), but the entire premise behind it is that I know exactly what I want to happen in the room (self-directed learning), and I’ve set up the environment to foster more of that. I maintain that environment by weeding out things I don’t want: distractions, drama, disrespectful behavior, and by fertilizing (or encouraging) the things I do want: productivity, effort, and self-management. I acknowledge the good (“You did it!”), redirect the ugly (“You guys can talk later, now you need to finish your work.”), mediate the conflicts that inevitably arise (“Yes, he was using the computer first, but in 5 minutes, it will be your turn.”), and debrief (“What worked? What didn’t work?).

2. In what ways do you keep students on task and well behaved during collaborative group activities?

The primary way I ensure things go well is to be very clear from the beginning what it is that we’re doing, and what I’m expecting to see while we’re doing it. I remind them that this is an attractive alternative to other kinds of work that we could be doing instead (collaborative work is way more attractive than Plan B). Once the students know what to do, and how to do it, I turn them loose, but I do a lot of circulating/monitoring to make sure they stay on task until they’re finished, and not getting bored/distracted/off-track. If for some reason it’s not working, I stop everyone, ask if they think they can continue, and if so, what needs to change. If it’s not looking like it’s going to work out (Sorry guys, it doesn’t look like you guys can handle this today, maybe next time), we move into an alternative activity (I usually have those—and they’re usually sufficiently boring to drive the message home). Later we discuss what wasn’t working and what will need to improve for the future.

3. Describe your expectations for student behavior? In other words, if I were to enter your class on an average day, what should I expect to see with regard to student behavior?

I expect students to come in, get settled, and be ready to work diligently. I set up the whole class along those lines. I don’t expect uniformity in the execution however, as long as it’s clear to me that people are working productively, they are free to do it in a variety of ways, so it won’t necessarily look like students sitting silently by themselves at a desk. My normal way of doing things is to have a set routine that teaches students to be fairly self-directed and work at their own pace and in their own way. I do a little bit of logistical talk in the beginning, but otherwise, students are expected to work in their own way and accomplish as much as they can. I circulate the room and make sure everyone is working, but students are free to work alone, or with others, and sometimes on individualized tasks.

4. Keith is your busy seventh-grader. He is constantly moving in your class and always ready to throw spitballs. Although his behavior is not seriously disruptive, it is annoying. He is especially active when he believes that you cannot see him. How would you deal with this situation?

I seem to always have a least one student like this, if not a couple. I usually equate “busy” with ADHD, so assume that the kids that I have that are like this have a higher need to move around than the other kids, and are often very tactile/hands-on learners.

I would deal with the overt behavior (throwing spitballs) by cracking down on it early—“My classroom is not an optimal place for throwing spitballs,” and have Keith clean up the mess (logical consequence), with the warning that future incidents would result in some more extensive restitution cleaning activities after school (kids rarely take me up on this threat).

Then with that out of the way, I would look at the other side of the coin—how’s the work going. After all, students who are working, rarely have time to cause trouble. One thing that would probably be needed is breaking longer assignments down into manageable chunks. I would focus on how he’s using his time in class, and where some natural opportunities for a movement break could occur. Usually students who have trouble sitting still are great at doing errands/chores for you, so if you redirect their energy, it can actually be a positive thing. The way I usually do that is intersperse work with breaks. Have the kid work for 15-20 minutes (or any interval that they can be successful at), then have them take a break at a specified time and do something for you. I have my students sharpen pencils, take out the recycling, make half-sheets, return papers, whatever…then they go and do more work. Then try to increase the intervals if you can. I like to do this by having the student work for some privilege they’d like to have.

The beauty of this, is that the most obnoxious behaviors usually disappear. Instead of having verbal exchanges about behavior in class, the focus moves to work, and how it’s getting done. The student won’t be causing major disruptions in order to get their needs met, and you’ll probably get way more work out of them. Students like this tend to be less hostile/defensive once they realize that you’re willing to work with them (instead of just yelling at them to sit down/be quiet/whatever), and will often end up being your most helpful students. The idea is that you train them to look at class as a pleasant place to be where they can get what they want some of the time, as long as you get what you want first.

Who are at-risk youth? Case Studies

Who are at-risk youth? Case Studies

Who are at-risk youth, and why are they so challenging to work with? At-risk youth are individuals below the age of 21 years who:

Are drug or alcohol abusers Are economically disadvantaged Are pregnant or parenting Are the children of substance abusers Are victims of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse Have a history of chronic failure in school Have attempted suicide Have committed a violent or delinquent act Have experienced mental health problems Are at high risk of dropping out of school

Combine the above with any of the following demographic characteristics: race, ethnicity, gender identity/sexual orientation, immigration status, limited English proficiency (LEP), or disability (physical, emotional, or behavioral) Basically the more of these factors the student has, the higher the likelihood that he or she won’t make it to graduation.

For instance, let’s look at a few of my past students:

B. (Male, 17 years old): risk factors: current/prior drug or alcohol abuse, economically disadvantaged, child of substance abusers, history of chronic failure in school, have experienced mental health problems. Outcome: dropped out of school.

M. (Male, 18 years old): risk factors: current/prior drug or alcohol abuse, economically disadvantaged, history of chronic failure in school, has committed a violent or delinquent act (gang involvement), ethnicity, immigration status, limited English proficiency, Outcome: expelled from school.

J. (Female, 18 years old): risk factors: drug or alcohol abuse, economically disadvantaged, parenting, child of substance abuser, victim of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse; history of chronic failure in school, has attempted suicide, has experienced mental health problems, gender/sexual orientation, disability (learning). Outcome: still enrolled in school, but still at risk of dropping out.

Behaviors of At-risk students: These are the manifesting behaviors of at-risk students, and are the reason why they can be challenging to work with in a school setting. These behaviors are also the same behaviors that will tend to make employment elusive later in life.

1. Absenteeism/poor attendance, cutting classes (I would argue this is the #1 behavior that leads to dropping out. If you aren’t there, it’s hard to be successful.)

2. Failure to complete assignments (The student is there but hardly ever does anything in class, and never completes homework. If you have large populations of at-risk students, you should aim to do as much of the work in class as possible since home factors may sabotage the student’s ability to do school work successfully at home. Otherwise, it is beneficial to start an after-school tutoring program/homework club of some kind so that there is both an environment conducive to the completion of academic work and assistance available to students who may have neither at home.)

3. Comes to class unprepared (For a variety of reasons, these guys usually just show up, but often without any of the things they need. Don’t bother lecturing about personal responsibility—your student may come from a situation where nobody is aware of the need to procure school supplies, or financially able to do so If you have large populations of at-risk students, whenever possible, it’s better to allow students to keep most of the items needed for learning in the classroom (especially textbooks), or keep extra sets of needed items for student use (pencils, paper). The savvy teacher will take advantage of the end-of-year locker clean out when hundreds of free school supplies will suddenly appear, and keep a stash handy for students who won’t or can’t provide their own.)

4. Lack of involvement in extracurricular activities (This may seem like a minor detail but it’s telling—the student is not connected with school. Sometimes these extra-curricular activities are the things that keep these guys coming to school when all else fails, so it’s important to try to connect at-risk youth with something they will enjoy. For kids who don’t succeed at academics, extracurricular activities may be the student’s one avenue of success in a school setting. This is particularly true for ELLs or students with disabilities).

5. Acts up in class (This is where it all starts to coalesce. Early in the at-risk student’s career they’ve tried one or more of the passive forms of resistance (1-3). Those aren’t cutting it however, so the student steps the game up a bit. The reasons for acting up vary, but the student’s behavior often conveys the following themes: a general dislike of school (I hate school), or the student feels they do not belong in school (school is not for people like me). What this looks like on the ground is the student has trouble getting along with their teachers, peers, or both. The student appears to lack social skills and deliberately behaves in a way that irritates and annoys others, however, this is usually a smokescreen for the real issues: the student feels inadequate in some way (I can’t do this stuff), or feels like they are out of place (school is not for people like me). Eventually the behavior results in suspensions, or even expulsion.

Let’s look at our three students again with their behaviors in mind:

B. (Male, 17 years old): Was usually present in class, but often saw him skipping his other classes throughout the day. He did very little work in class, but liked to read. Didn’t usually act up, but had trouble staying focused and engaged in a lot of passive resistance around getting his work done. Only seemed to interact with a few other students.

M. (Male, 18 years old): Was absent a lot, and would try to make up for it while he was there by doing more work—seemed very motivated in the area of work, and usually completed work when he was present. Liked to store things in the room (notebooks, belongings) because he was concerned about having them later. Acted up a lot when I first met him, but settled down a lot later. His behavior in class was pretty good overall—events outside of class eventually caught up with him though.

J. (Female, 18 years old): Usually present, but often mentally elsewhere. Liked to get out of class by volunteering to do things to help out around school. Work completion was hit or miss, sometimes she’d do very little, sometimes a lot (has a learning disability, so the work was difficult for her). Over time, her work completion increased. Didn’t usually act up, but had off days occasionally and would distract others. She had a history of expulsion and alternative school placement when she arrived, and the first couple of months were rocky with us, but she did settle in. She had trouble getting along with her other teachers, but liked school well enough. For the most part, got along with her peers, but had some issues with appropriate boundaries with the opposite sex. Heavily involved in extracurricular activities, which were probably an outlet for her.

Things I tried in working with these students:

B. (Male, 17 years old): When B first arrived, I noticed he was fairly withdrawn, and preferred to sit alone. I had seen his file, and noted he had a lot of issues. Of course, I pretended to be completely unaware of these, and made a point of greeting him whenever he arrived, and saying hello when I saw him around the building. I noticed he liked to read, so I asked him about the things he was reading. The overall idea was to make him feel welcome, which paid off because he rarely skipped my class.

Also, B needed a lot of prompting to get started on assignments, and would often start daydreaming about halfway through, and would have to be reminded to get back to work often. It is for students like B that I reconfigured most of the curriculum to feature shorter but more frequent assignments, that way students are more likely to complete something while they are in class.

I noticed that B only interact with a few other students. Since some of them were in my other classes, I rearranged his schedule so that he would have someone in the room that he felt comfortable with. It seemed to help a little bit. Gradually, his social circle widened a little bit.

Unfortunately B had extensive prior involvement with some pretty serious drug abuse, combined with ADD and other mental health problems. With such heavy risk factors, he did not make it because he needed much more support than was available, and dropped out of school. B seemed very fragile overall, but given the scope of his issues, I’d like to think that at least his time in my classroom was mostly a positive experience for him.

M. (Male, 18 years old):

Basically M was absent a lot. Part of it was clearly by choice, but part of it may have been beyond his immediate control. He had this odd pattern where you wouldn’t see him for days, then suddenly he’d show up and work frantically while he was there (like he was trying to make up for lost time). Basically this never changed in the time that I knew him. When he was present, I encouraged him to use his time effectively, and gave him books to take with him, since he was surprisingly good at bringing them back with completed work. It’s almost as if he really wanted to be a good student, but things in the outside world were pulling him very hard in the other direction.

Basically, until we had a working relationship, I was just another person there to tell M what to do. He behaved accordingly, and acted up quite a bit. Once he learned that I would treat him respectfully (while still insisting that he get with the program), he settled down a lot. I basically had to win his trust first. I noticed that he was artistic so I encouraged that quite a bit. I gave him nice paper/pencils to use for drawing, let him borrow art supplies liberally, and encouraged him to decorate my room. He communicated best through his art, and I learned a lot about him and his troubled life through his artwork. To this day, I still have a huge collection of his drawings.

M was one of those kids who you desperately wanted to make it because he was so likeable. Unfortunately, M got caught up in the undertow of his past and as much as he tried to leave it behind, it caught up with him. Gang involvement was a deciding factor. While he was still in school, he made a ton of academic progress, and experienced as much stability/safety as was probably possible at the time.

J. (Female, 18 years old):

Much like B, J had a lot of trouble staying on task and finishing long assignments. Due to a learning disability, most academic work was probably very difficult for her. Her productivity varied, so when she was productive and motivated, I’d have her do a ton of work. When motivation was low, I’d set a minimum target, and have her do something different the rest of the time—she liked to be helpful, so often I’d have her do clerical tasks for me.

To address her emotional/behavioral issues: J really liked to be in charge of things, and was motivated by working with other people, so a lot of times we would put her in charge of supervising various tasks. These kinds of tasks were used as incentives for less-preferred activities (e.g. doing work).

J had a tendency to distract others, so I had to do some explicit social skills instruction in this area. It was a really interesting process to work on. As far as the boundary issues go, I tried to hook her up with other students who could be good role models for her, and help her work through some of her issues in this area.

J was an interesting person to work with. Of the three, academically, she was the least promising at first glance, and she had a ton of issues, but has a survival instinct that kept her in the game long after most other people would have given up. She has huge issues with consistency, but of the three has managed to stick it out longer in school, and I feel fairly confident that she will finish school successfully.

These three students help illustrate some of the issues involved in working with at-risk students. Often their problems are huge, and no matter what you do, it will not be enough to save them. As a teacher, you generally can’t improve their home lives, or change their past. My number one motto when working with at-risk youth is the Hippocratic Oath: “Do no harm”. All work with these guys begins with the understanding that before anything academic is possible, you have to make sure that during their time with you, they are safe (emotionally and physically), and to the extent possible, that their basic needs are met. Once you are able to do that, academics can move to center stage. From there, you are free to address as many of their issues as you have time and energy for. Realize that even if they ultimately don’t make it, they will appreciate whatever you are able to do for them, and that they do indeed appreciate your efforts, even if they are unable to communicate that at the time.

Teaching and Collaboration

1. What kind of teachers would you prefer to work with? Why?

I prefer working with people who are secure about themselves and what they do, and are open to new ideas. I've worked with a lot of different teachers (and some pretty amazing ones at that), and the easiest ones to work with are the ones who are confident about themselves, feel good about teaching, and yet are open to other ways of doing things. People who are negative, burned out, don't care, or who only see the merits of their particular way of doing things, are challenging to work with because they tend to belittle the success of others, or create a hostile work environment.

2. What are some personality characteristics you find undesirable in people?

I get along well with most people and am pretty open-minded about other people. My general assumption is that whatever they do works for them (even if it's not for me), but having said that, people who are negative, complain a lot, are self-centered, or very insecure are hard to work (so I try to avoid these people).

3. Who should be responsible for discipline in a school? Why?

Everyone! Discipline only works when it's a team endeavor. You need a united front when it comes to creating the kind of atmosphere you want to have. Otherwise, the kids basically run the show, and you spend all your time putting out fires. This is why it's important to decide what's important, and to have time to meet periodically to discuss what's working and what's not.

4. What needs and/or expectations do you have of the school administration?

I think of admin as being there to look at the big picture, so I can focus on the microcosm that is my classroom. I need an administration that will be there to support what is happening at all levels of the school. The administrators I've most enjoyed working with were good at communicating with both staff members and students (and their families), and were in touch with what was going on in the building, but did these things in a way that communicated that people were given space (and trust) to do their jobs, and the had the resources they needed to be successful.

5. How do you collaborate with your colleagues?

In a variety of ways. Sometimes it's as basic as just sharing resources. Other times, it has been based around students we have in common (for instance at my last job, I did a lot of collaboration with vocational instructors around particular students who were struggling either in my classroom, their classroom, or both). Sometimes it's been to synchronize areas of the curriculum (knowing what students are working on in other classes makes it easier for me to plan what they will work on in my classroom. For instance, if I know they are reading about WWII in history, we can be reading things that support that. We had a math teacher who made a big deal out of Pi Day every year, so I did stuff with my classes to commemorate Pi Day too). Sometimes it's been to plan school wide events. And other times, it's just to familiarize myself with what it is that they do--especially true for specialists, SPED teachers, and ELL teachers, who are a good resource in and of themselves.

For instance, I worked with another reading teacher last year, who was hired to fill in as an overflow classroom. We worked together to create a basic program, and I provided the curriculum. We came up with common work expectations, and he shared data with me (since I was in charge of scheduling student testing and doing the evaluations). Because we were right next door, and could easily share common resources, we started an informal arrangement between us where students could rotate between classes, and swapped students at times (when you had bad combinations of kids assigned to particular blocks). It was great because we could talk to each other easily being that close, and do a lot of problem solving about particular kids and situations. It was a great arrangement.