Best Practice

As I was teaching this spring Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde's book, Best Practice: Bring Standards to Life in America's Classrooms, Fourth Edition, was given to me. Its been a crazy busy first part of summer, so I only just now finished it. It was published in 2012, shortly after the release of the Common Core Standards and reflects that time- disillusionment with No Child Left Behind and excitement about the advent of the Common Core. Six years later  we have seen progress continues to stagnate under new standards and people left scratching their heads about how to help American children be more successful in school.

Best Practice urges the use of evidence proven strategies and discipline based consensus about how to achieve success. The general message is that kids need to read and write more and engage in more inquiry and experiential opportunities to better grasp the curriculum. This book had much more of a focus on elementary and middle school programs. Only two examples address high school experiences. This is potentially due to the lack of these ideas being utilized effectively at the secondary level in spite people saying they are the goal.

Best practice begins with the basic principles:

• student centered classrooms
• authentic learning opportunities featuring experiences that allow them to construct ideas and systems
• holistic rather than part to whole
• challenging curriculum
• learning comes from cognitive experiences- based on prior knowledge, emphasizes the role of factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks, full of self-monitoring
• developmentally appropriate and self-reflection
• socially based- friendly and supportive, safe, collaborative, democratic
• multiple forms of expression to engage in ideas

Then they go on to explain the seven structures of teaching that support the principles-

• gradual release of responsibility
• classroom workshop
• strategic thinking
• collaborative activities
• integrative units
• representing to learn
• formative-reflective assessment.

I can find little argument with the ideas except that they are often out of step with how we approach much of our educational program- discrete subjects with a mountain of curriculum to wade through, little collaborative planning time and respect for teachers who want to preserve their silos. As the authors go through the chapters on reading, writing, math, science and social studies, these challenges become apparent. We might be able to appreciate the beauty of the examples provided, but find it nearly impossible to figure out how to implement it in our realities. The best advice, although not written in the text is to go slow and incorporate pieces that work for you and then move forward as you become more comfortable.

The authors support conferencing with students around reading and writing. Many of my peers pondered how to implement this when they had not read the book or student's paper. (After all, my son glories in stories of his peers who wrote about imaginary books or who watched movies in lieu of reading and wrote reports based on the film.) They offer these three questions:

1. What are you working on?
2. How is it going?
3. What do you plan to do next? or How can I help you right now? P. 49

These are springboard questions that stimulate a conversation that should only take about five minutes per child.

I also really enjoyed the description the authors used of an "emphasis on metacognition, taking responsibility for running your own brain" (p. 50). It gives the focus to kids. This past year I worked out a behavior self-monitoring sheet for the kids I had in one class. They had to give themselves a daily rating of how they did- accomplished the task for the day and behaved appropriately. There was a description of what it looked like to behave appropriately to help them gauge their day. I looked over their ratings every day and sometimes added comments about how the student rated himself. Behavior improved in the room. Students were more able to identify what they needed to do and how to do better.

From a reading point of view, they stated the four things children need to do in order to improve their reading:

• read a lot
• access to books they can read
• to learn to read fluently
• and to develop thoughtful literacy (p. 266).

I notice an absence of rigor, grade-level appropriate, or challenging when describing what kids should be reading. This movement of the Common Core is not what they suggest makes for better readers- reading motivating, accessible material does. The message applies to writing- write a lot about things they care about so they can do it easily (both from a graphomotor and text perspective) and be thoughtful about their writing. These are things we can do in every classroom- no need for long papers- a paragraph will do, if it is done everyday in every class.

We can help our children achieve new heights- but we need to look at things differently and we need to engage them in meaningful work.

Uniquely Human

I just finished listening to Barry Prizant's book, Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism. Although I have read multiple articles and receive his newsletter from his SCERTS program, it is my first book by him that I have read. Again I am awed by how challenging it is to deeply read an audiobook. I feel that it is important to engage in this exercise periodically because it creates an understanding with students who use audiobooks as a compensatory tool. If they multitask, as I frequently do when listening, it is not high quality information learning.

Dr. Prizant weaves his years of experience through his book as anecdotes to support his ideas rather than listing research article after article. This makes the book very readable. 

His primary assertion is that there are no "autistic" behaviors, merely human behaviors that are engaged in with an intensity or beyond an expected time. When my son bounced at the arrival of his birthday guests, he was engaging in behavior typical of a toddler, not a middle schooler. When a child rocks to calm himself, he is doing what many do, but perhaps more vigorously or more publically than we might. When a child engages in self-injurious behavior (SIB) because he is overwhelmed, he is aggressively combating the overstimulation by blocking it out the only way he knows how- SIB. We need to modify the environment to reduce the stress rather than try to target the SIB for extinction.

He reminds us that people on the spectrum may experience past events almost the ways a person with PTSD might- full of emotion and experience. A bad experience once, can lead to extreme anxiety about that situation again. That anxiety can lead to outbursts that are seemingly "out of no where" until some careful and thorough detective work reveals the underlying cause. Then, just like a person with PTSD, we cannot eliminate the brain's instinctive response, but we can slowly buffer the traumatic experience with more positive experiences and self-talk. 

He reminds us that each person is developing throughout their life. There is no age beyond which a skill cannot develop. We should not be looking at an average development curve, but an individual one and celebrate the gains each individual makes.

His target audience is caregivers. He is offering a comforting viewpoint that their children are "normal" but on a different trajectory that some others. He recommends finding support howsoever it helps- books, therapy groups, parents of people with autism groups, whatever works for each individual. His book is also for professionals. It urges them to find compassion and look at the strengths of each individual rather than the deficits. He reminds them to understand the monumental task a caregiver has and to remember that they are doing the best they can in that moment. My son had a 1:1 aide with him throughout his schooling. He came home and there I was without that support. There were times when he was young when he had to come to the bathroom with me because I could not trust him with his little sister while I took two minutes out. Teachers recognize that the children in their care go home to their parents at night, during vacations, and the summer. They relish their time away from their jobs. Parents do not have the luxury. Even when their child is at school, they are on edge about how their child is doing and will they get a phone call about some issue. They are in for the long haul. Sometimes their stress says they cannot be the best they would like to be.

The last chapter in the book is a FAQ section. It provides sensible, down to earth answers to some of the most common questions that Dr. Barry is asked.  A nice way to wrap up the text. I would highly recommend this text.

Tips for a summer of play

When my children were in elementary school, I heard an administrator say that gifted kids and kids with disabilities were the same, and our school met the needs of all children. I could not even think of where to begin to address this statement. Yes, gifted is officially a component of special education, but in New York, like many other states I suspect, there is a special certification for special education but only an endorsement for gifted. There is a vast array of assessment, reporting and service delivery requirements for special ed, but none for gifted. The common catch-all term- differentiation- that we use to explain how we meet the needs of diverse students with the classroom does not eliminate the need for special education placements, but gifted placements are, in many places unheard of. All that being said, both groups do share the need for adjustments to be made to the curriculum  to truly benefit from school. Differentiation does meet the needs of many students within the classroom.

When I picked up Parenting for High Potential this month, June, I read an article that highlighted some other commonalities between the two groups in their article by Leigh Ann Fish and Patti Ensel Bailie, "Getting Gifted Kids Outdoors: Tips for a Summer of Play." We have lots of evidence that a lack of unstructured and outdoor play produces a range of potentially negative outcomes from childhood obesity, increased diagnoses  of ADHD, reduced empathy and diminished creativity. Benefits of having kids put down their devices and going out into the world to play include:

• improved social skills- it provides opportunities to be alone, as well advancing "interactions with others and build[ing] resilience in social situations by allowing children to practice social skills" (p.6).
• enhanced emotional well-being- can offer a break from the anxiety of trying to be perfect, allowing children to calm down and relax as well as persevere to overcome obstacles.
• More risk-taking, resilience and grit- when tasks are too easy, kids cannot develop resiliency. Outside they can push physical limits and repeatedly try something until they get it.
• better physical health- gifted children (and many with disabilities) are "asynchronous in their development, their intellect may outpace their physical maturity, leasing them to struggle with fine and gross motor abilities" (p. 6). Many with disabilities struggle with physical development as well. Getting outdoors can improve eating and sleeping schedules as well as eye health and immune systems. This is true for all kids!
• Greater curiosity , creativity and imagination- outdoor environments provide a variety of challenges that require thoughtful decision-making. 
• reduction in ADHD symptoms- for children with overexcitabilities pent up energies can be released in safe ways. Regular aerobic activity can help children with ADHD better control their behavior.

All of these things apply to kids in general, not just gifted ones. Stereotypical gifted kids who are bookworms or computer geeks, are not alone in spending hours on devices. This phenomena is epidemic in our youth who can barely leave their phones for a few moments. we need to get them to leave their tech and do something.

What to do if your kid doesn't want to go outside- and many don't. Fortnite is far more attractive  for many kids than a playground. Some of the author's suggestions include getting out there yourself. I would add that we need to model all the behavior we want our kids to engage in. We need to put down our devices and interact with nature and our kids. If we have our nose in our cell phone, so will they. If we express curiosity about what type of bird, flower or tree that is, our kids are more likely to similarly wonder and investigate. If we read trail markers, our kids will get into the habit of doing so as well. Get kids dressed for the activity- boots, hats, waders are important. Many kids suffer with sensory sensitivities- wet clothes may be problem- have spare dry ones,  gloves may insulate kids from touching things that are overwhelmingly slimy or scratchy. Incorporate tech- take pictures, geocache, identify species. You can even set a time limit. This week you need to go out for at least 5 minutes before lunch and 5 minutes before dinner. Next week we can increase the time. Withhold those devices. My favorite idea was the parent who changed the wifi password every day and the child had to earn it. Apps can limit device time- but again, be wary of your modeling.

These are such genuinely great ideas for all kids. send them out to play. It will be good for them.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 part 2

Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, trainers in emotional competence as measured by your EQ (emotional quotient) wrote Emotional Intelligence 2.0. I wrote about the beginning in part 1. The second half of their book covers strategies for developing the four components of EQ self-awareness, self management, social awareness and social management. I have read many books about developing leadership skills, executive function skills, and social skills. The strategies the authors present are simplistic listings of things found elsewhere.

Keeping a journal of your feelings may be good for recognizing them and how you respond, but the strategy itself, like most of the ones in the book, is poorly developed. Although the text might be a start for self improvement, more explicit training is likely necessary for people with struggling skill sets. The authors propose that months are required to advance skills. Such progress could be narrowed to simple awareness as much as any particular approach that is recommended. This book seems more like a money grab than an honest program for helping people.

juvenile crime and the four day week

Years ago some mostly rural districts in the Midwest moved to a four day school week. The rationale was it would save on costs, primarily transportation, lunch room and utilities. There is mixed results on academic impact. Some studies show no impact and some show a decrease. When Hawaii furloughed teachers the military bases opened a fifth day educational program to mitigate the lost educational time.

There exists, however, a more hidden effect- social emotional. When my children were younger I consistently argued against half days for my kids. Yes, I had one for whom, even as he entered high school I dared not leave alone with his sister, but challenges for others also exist. Parents often have a hard time taking a half day, especially when they need to be home by 10:30am so they are left with painful choices: find day care they can often ill-afford, take a full day of vacation time, or leave the kids home alone. The last one is especially troublesome. We know that small children should not be left home alone, but when they enter middle school, we often let them be by themselves, even if it means caring for younger siblings. When these older kids are left alone they often get up to mischief of one sort or another: drinking, drugs, vandalism, and sex just to name a few. If you think back to your youth, you probably remember when you engaged in behavior that was not appropriate- if you were anything like me, it was on weekends and during vacation.

A new study related to those 4 day weeks confirmed my argument. Juvenile crime increases, especially on Thursday night, when school districts move to short work weeks. Chalkbeat reported on a study of those short weeks in their article by Matt Barnum, "Four-day School Weeks, a Nationwide symptom of Tight Budgets, Lead to More Youth Crime, Study Finds." Why this is a surprise confounds me. Youth crime always increases when youth are less structured and supervised. Unfortunately, our children do not always make wise choices. The question is what is our better choice: teen trouble and crime or increased taxes to pay for those extra days. Wrestling with that one will give some ulcers. I would argue that in light of the increased tendency for inappropriate behavior and questionable academic results, perhaps finding ways to get that extra day of school in is worth it.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 part 1

In 1995 Daniel Goleman published his book Emotional Intelligence, sending shock waves through the community. Not only was intelligence a factor of cognition but there was a critical element of emotional understanding that led to success as well. Research demonstrated that while IQ, intelligence quotient was relatively stable, EQ, emotional quotient, was highly trainable. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, trainers in emotional competence as measured by your EQ wrote Emotional Intelligence 2.0 as a follow up to their first book and an element of their training protocol.

The first thing of note is that they describe IQ as stable from birth. Current research in cognition shows this to be misleading. There are many things we can do to impact cognitive capacity. While they indicate brain injury can have negative impact on IQ, other things can as well: neglect, lack of exposure to speech and environmental enrichment, poor diet (especially low protein), exposure to environmental toxins like lead and drugs, and housing and food insecurity. Other things can maximize cognitive potential. These include things like: exposure to a rich environment (play outside, novelty presented in a safe way, opportunities to travel and be exposed to age appropriate cultural activities like sports games, concerts, and plays, and opportunities to take safe age appropriate risks), a well-balanced diet with adequate protein (think myelination of nerve cells), security in housing, food and caregivers, and exposure to rich language and human interactions. It seems that IQ is more of a window of potential that our environment impacts. As a parent and teacher, I know that we can impact IQ and I fear for our newest generation that are screen addicts from infancy- they are not receiving the attention and enrichment that will develop their brains.

The authors state that "emotional awareness and understanding are not taught in schools" (p.13-14). In part this is true. Especially in this era of testing, we are focused on the academic aspects of education. An increasing number of schools are looking at whole child initiatives, character education and social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to enhance and improve their efforts. Students on the autism spectrum particularly are in need of this type of education and good programs provide it.

The authors point out that most people are limited in their understanding of emotions and include a chart from Julia West showcasing five primary feelings (happy, sad, angry, afraid, ashamed) with three levels of intensity (high, medium, low) A number of face charts are available to showcase feelings and their intensity. One is below:








I have used such ideas in classrooms. Collecting paint chip samples from the hardware store we classified emotions by intensity. This was a great lesson for children who struggle with seeing shades of gray.

Once you can label your emotions the next part is to address them. You cannot control having the emotion, but you can control "the thoughts that follow and emotion, and you have a great deal of say in how you react to an emotion" (p.16-17). Schools accept this as true even if they don't teach it- students are responsible for their behaviors regardless of what prompts it. The key that the authors want to do is grow EQ and help people identify their triggers and "practice productive ways of responding" (p.17). This then is premise of the text: identify emotions, understand personal reactions to them and develop more thoughtful, positive responses to them both in yourself and others.

Comprehension Connections

Delving into a colleague's bookshelf before break, I came across TannyMcGregor's book, Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading. This book captured my interest since I am currently working with a group that has poor comprehension skills. Her premise is two fold: one, reading strategies, like other skills should be taught from a concrete model to an abstract one and two, reading is thinking. She subtitles her book bridges to show how to teach an abstract concept by starting with an object.

The thinking strategies she identifies are:

• use schema
• inferring
• questioning
• determining importance
• visualizing 
• synthesizing.

A chapter is dedicated to each concept. Many of her launching lessons, ideas that are used to introduce a thinking strategy, could be used for more than one strategy with minor tweaking. I would  not try to teach two new ones at once. After the first has been taught, however, new ones should be introduced in tandem with reinforcing the old ones. While the target audience is the elementary market, with minor adjustments, I can see these easily being adapted to middle and high school students.

 One key idea that she suggests is teaching that Text + Thinking = Real Reading. Too many of our students think that reading is merely identifying a group of words and perhaps getting a surface level understanding. What we want them to realize is that reading is more than that. It requires, utilizing background knowledge, making inferences, questioning the author, identifying importance  and more.

I really liked one of her suggestions for showcasing schema. Make a T-chart. Give the students 30s to list everything they know about a topic they know about- a local amusement park, common video game or pop star, or a common experience- and record on the left side of the chart. They should be able to generate quite a list in the short period of time. Then give them something few, if any are familiar with- Tivoli (an amusement park in Copenhagen), Centipede game, or Mansa Musa (an African leader who single-handedly reduced the worldwide value of gold on his pilgrimage to Mecca). Record their thoughts on the right. This chart represents their schema. It will be easier to read about and learn about things for which they know about than those they do not.

Another important item the author mentions is developing listening comprehension. In special education we often use tests may be read as a test modification and audiobooks as a compensatory reading strategy. These are important activities that help our kids move forward, but listening comprehension is different from reading comprehension and needs to be taught. We want students to follow along while they are being read to, perhaps annotating important parts with symbols we have taught. We also need to develop their listening skills. She suggests using songs and poetry as ways to develop these skills. You can, and should, teach all the thinking skills with listening as well.

My biggest area of concern is around visualizing. I do not visualize anything. I think in words and charts. About 10% of the population struggles with this skill as well. Our strong visualizers can be reminded to visual while the read and the impact will be dramatic. (Many people on the autism spectrum are great visualizers. Some, like Temple Grandin, are such extreme visualizers they think only in pictures and need pictures to help them think.) Our mediocre ones need practice making a movie in their head of the story or draw a picture or create a storyboard of the story to show what is important. Weak to non-visualizers need support to understand that many people do this routinely and need alternate strategies. I paint pictures with words. Every thought I have is laden with lots of words. We can teach them constructs like graphic organizers that can be used to help with maintaining order and flow.

I like how she talks about using nesting dolls to begin to discuss synthesizing. There is a surface level or biggest doll, but nested within are many ideas that require deeper thought, and sometimes exploration. Synthesizing means taking all those levels and developing meaning or a complete set of dolls. The analogy works well for showing multiple meanings of text.

This book is not a set of scripts, but a series of jumping points to begin discussions. A list of ways to start teaching about thinking from concrete examples and expand to the abstract. A quick and easy read with major implications.