Making Classroom Observations Matter

 I was brought back to my second year teaching today when I read Educational Leadership's article, "Making Classroom Observations Matter" by Lynda Tredway, Mark Militello and Ken Simon. During a classroom observation an administrator recorded who I called on using a seating chart and tallies. Now in college I had been given the three minute make sure you call on everyone speech (boys get ignored in English and girls in math), but hadn't really thought about it. I was delighted that I called on every student a couple of times, but it was not really planned. Over the years I have used Co-teaching time to conduct such observations of my co-teachers. Sometimes they are enlightening. If nothing else, they provide a data point for discussion.

This article provides an insight to Project I ⁴, a project focusing on improving STEM discourse. In the article they provide a coding system for calling on practices that takes my simple tally one farther. They pair the chart with a seating chart to look for patterns in who and where calling on occurs.

abbreviation	Names of practice	total times observed
R	Raised hand
CC	Cold call
CCD	Cold call for discipline (catching a student off guard)
BA	Blurt out that is accepted
BI	Blurt out that is ignored
CR CR/V	Call and response ( ask for a group of response or indicates students should popcorn) Virtual: Use the chat box
ES	Use equity based strategy- popsicle sticks, card, random name generator
TR	Teacher repeats response to call verbatim
TRV	Teacher revoices student response, paraphrasing for emphasis, often in the form of a question.
TPS	Think, pair, share Virtual: Private chat
other

Now the authors note that cold call and raised hand are not equity based strategies. In today's hybrid instructional models, teachers often repeat or revoice a response because student attending virtually might not have heard a response in the classroom or vice versa. I like the idea of coding the types a calls, because we are often doing something unconsciously. Bringing it to our awareness allows us to improve our skills. I know that when I am working with concurrent classrooms, I often do not frequently respond to one group or another. I do not have a mic beyond my machine and toting the machine around as I work with students is cumbersome at best. My question becomes how do I monitor both the physical and virtual spaces. At times I am better than others. In all cases I feel like one group is being denied my attention. Sometimes I can use divide and conquer- I'll do one group, you do the other. This ensures attention to both, but still feels forced. I suppose that is the rub of learning new skills- it is awkward and uncomfortable at first, but with enough practice and feedback, it can become integral to our practice.

How parents can help gifted children gradually return to reality

 Parenting for High Potential hit the ball out of the park with their article from march 2021 entitled "How Parents Can Help Gifted Children Gradually Return to Reality-- Remembering our Goals" by Sylvia Rimm. As we all prepared to send out children back to school in increasing increments, it is not just the gifted children who need help with the adjustment. Much of the advice is similar to those we hear around August and the return to school:

• prepare for changes in daily routine- bedtime adjustments should be gradually implemented, new routines around things like homework and preparing to be ready for the morning (ex. backpacks assembled and outfits selected the night before). 
• monitoring screen and phone time- have a phone charging station not in the bedroom. Instead of the phone alarm to get up, buy an inexpensive alarm clock, use parental settings to control access to phone time and social media.
• Gradual empowerment to positivity- to combat the depression and anxiety that have swollen during this time, encourage children to do things that build confidence like trying new things slowly, engaging  physical exercise and slowly expanding the social circle in safe ways.
• Be coaches not judges- children will look to the models you provide for attitude and behavior. Showcase resiliency- we all stumble, show how to get up gracefully. Sometimes we all need help, don't be embarrassed to ask for what you need. Showcase  flexibility. Help with problem solving instead of judging progress. 

The other element of the article that makes it so strong is it's list of essential elements of organization. These are executive function skills that many students struggle with and need support. They include: putting like things together- practice by sorting clothes, socks, toys, silverware. go outside and come up with a way to sort flowers you see (number of leaves or petals, where they grow, height,...)

predicting time- play a guessing game. How long does it take to.. (brush your teeth, eat breakfast, vacuum the carpet, read a chapter in a book) then time yourself or your child doing it. How close were you?

scheduling- once you know how long it takes to do something, plan a schedule of what needs to be done. This could be anything from bedtime routines to plans on what to do Saturday or on vacation.

remembering- games like memory are awesome at working on this skill. Try a word of the day or week, pick a new interesting word, learn what it means and try to use it as often as you can in conversation.

prioritizing- talk about which is more important buying the groceries or a bigger cell phone plan and why. Starting to clean your room or doing laundry? Saving money for a new video game element or buying candy? Eating dinner or watching TV? Answer your sister's question or helping you with homework? Share how you decide and them have them share how they do it.

Eliminating- it might be time to go through the garage or toybox or closet and get rid of things that you do not use, are broken or do not fit. How do you decide when to throw away leftovers from the refrigerator. How do you decide what papers to remove from a folder and where do they go- trash or binder to store for reviewing for the final. These are all discussions as well as activities. Yes, it is harder and slower to involve the kids, but they need to learn the skills.

reviewing- this goes hand in hand with prioritizing, remembering and eliminating. How often do you need to review your vocabulary words? You made a plan for the weekend, review it Saturday morning to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Establishing good habits- For learning the key habits are health habits not study ones- get enough sleep, eat a balanced diet and exercise. Students who engage in these things do better in school. Then add things in the routines- routines become habits- brush your teeth everyday, wear deodorant, read labels on food, treat others well....

Maintain flexibility- habits and routines are important, but into every plan a wrench can be thrown. Someone needs stitches during someone's concert- it is disappointing to miss, but needs to be done. You heard about a event that means your plans need to change. A homework assignment did not get completed, so plans to go to the park must be adjusted. Just be careful to ensure that the plans and routines are what guide life most of the time. 

Many articles and books have been written about executive function skills. Discover your child's areas of growth opportunity and help them to learn skills. They are likely your areas of weakness, too, so you might need to engage the help of someone who has them- a spouse, grandparent, neighbor, or friend, might be. a great resource and you can show that you are learning, too.  These are the skills that will help them be productive adults in any area. 

Teaching Effectively with Zoom

 Dan Levy's book, Teaching Effectively with Zoom: A Practical Guide to Engage your Students and Help Them Learn, presents a variety of lessons about teaching with Zoom. First, the reader should know that he is writing as the director of the Public Leadership Credential, a Harvard Kennedy School offering focusing on public policy and educational administration. His examples all stem from online graduate school classes. That being said, much of his book applies to other levels, especially on Zoom basics.  

A couple of really important points that hit me including the idea that conversations take longer on in a virtual classroom. As a consequence, teachers need to plan more time for the same amount of discussion. He suggests an online format can cover approximately 80% of the material that an in person class can cover (p. 30). This has huge ramifications in our current educational set up. Think about the idea that 20% of a year's information cannot be covered. That means our curriculum needs to be pared down. 

College Board just released confirmation that this year's AP exams will cover the traditional full year course. Some programs are highly concerned because the students have not covered the entire curriculum. Their rationale is that colleges expect certain things to be covered in their coursework and to be respectful of that the exams must do so. A recent Ed Week opinion piece suggested that end of course grades be used instead to grant credit. There is a reason AP exams are sometimes given credit when dual course work is not. In high school grades are often padded. I once interviewed a student for a scholarship. Her transcript revealed she had received over a ninety in an AP class, but that she only received a 2 on her test. That is why APs cannot allow course grades to count. 

Another element that appealed to me was polling. Formal polling is not allowed on basic Zoom. In some of the paid models, access to yes/no/faster/slower buttons on the participant panel allow for polling in an informal model. As a teacher who is only using the free version, this aspect is not available to me. 

Overall the book suggests good teaching is good teaching. Long lectures without time to process are not good for anyone. Providing time for questions to answered and information to coalesce is critical. Students can input messages into chat, have note pages (like Cornell notes) where they need to summarize the material, and be asked to solve a problem and report back.  Some of this could be in breakout rooms. Working with graduate students, Levy does not worry about inappropriate behavior, where in the K-12 program that would be more of a concern. A 20 minute breakout room could be a great time to disengage or cyberbully if not well monitored. 

Nice White Parents

 My PTA is hosting a program on the podcast Nice White Parents. This is a five part program from New York Times investigator, Chana Joffe-Watt. It sits nicely within my current exploration on social justice, so I was excited to listen. As I expected, this is a sometimes disturbing listen. One thing that resonated with me was the idea that it is offensive for white folks to go into a program and declare that they are there to fix the problems of the minority school. I had not considered this, but it makes perfect sense. Someone labeled it as white knight syndrome- a great description

Another thread that resonated with me that until privilege people decide to fight for change, change will not happen. It was not until the white families fought for change that change happened. White families did not fight for change until it benefited them. We like to think of ourselves as community minded, working toward the common good, but until and unless it positively impacts us, change will not occur. This is a startling revelations. JFK did not fight for the Civil Rights Act until the chaos in the South had become too much negative press.  Johnson finally moved toward the Civil Rights Act when he saw that the black community was creating an uproar that could no longer be quelled. Negative press was bad politics. Trump did not change his mantra because his people supported him in spite of the lies and bigoty he spouted. 

Self-motivation, it seems is the path to change. So the question is, how do we motivate a large enough group of whites to give up some of their power so that marginalized people will gain equity? I have no answer to that call..

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

 We are perched on the possible edge of change. At no other point in our history have we been so ready to examine our beliefs and work to try and create a more perfect nation. Social change is in the air. Will it come to fruition or will it subside to lie in wait for the next group to grab its mantle? Time alone will tell. What we do know is that social change is hard. Even Hitler who was a master at social change was not able to convert the minds of all the Germans and he was willing to use the most brutal methodologies imaginable.

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi crafted the young adult version of Kendi's book Stamped from the Beginning in a book entitled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. This book was, at times, very disturbing to read. It made me want someone to wrestle some the ideas with. The authors characterize their book as not a history book. It is, however, a book examining history through a very different lens than I have. I can see how it would be a great book to share with students as they come to terms with who they are and what America is and should be. 

The only part that I really took exception to was the idea that racism had a date of beginning. In 1415 Gomes Eanes de Zurara published a book justifying slavery of blacks as missionary work. I would argue that racism has a far longer history than that.  3000 years earlier, Ancient Egyptians treated people of different origins as not worthy of the benefits of the Egyptian civilization. Ancient Chinese had a similar approach. The Ancient Greeks and Romans tried to conquer the world to spread their brilliance, religion and civilizations.  You were not worthy, if you were not from the right racial and cultural group.

As humans we are programed to think that people like us are good and those unlike us are suspicious. This was an early survival trait. Our society has, however, outlived that instinct and we need to do better. We can open our minds to the possibility that not only is there no inherent goodness in looking like us, there is residual impact of generational mistreatment to groups of people. We can acknowledge our past, but we must work to be better. Reading and discussing books like this one allow us to become better people.

What Great Teachers do Differently

 Todd Whitaker's What Great Teachers Do Differently: 17 Things That Matter Most showcases things that great teachers do from his experience as a teacher, administrator, researcher, and presenter. He sees the important things as:

1. It's people not programs- new programs do not improve teachers or solve problems. People solve problems and improve teaching. He recommends spending time developing skills in teachers on a consistent basis. Every teacher has place to improve. The best ones know where they need to develop.
2. It's not what you do but how you do it- Every teaching strategy can be used effectively or ineffectively. Every program is the same. Effective is effective.
3. the power of expectations- Rather than rules, use expectations. Present modes of behavior that so that children can be treated individually and their behavior in general, improves. We are learning whatever because it is fascinating and important.
4. if you say something, mean it- so important. With my son I learned this lesson and became uber-consistent. Never say anything you do not mean. If something comes out of your mouth, be sure you can follow through.
5. prevention versus revenge- consequences are often part of revenge. Set up your class to prevent behavior problems (engaging lessons, well- established norms, respect). 
6. high expectations ... for whom- for everyone. If a student cannot be expected to behave or learn because of poor home life, learning problems, physical problems not understanding English, or something else then you are not holding high expectations.
7. the teacher is the variable in the classroom- Children act differently with different teachers, adults or peers. In school it is about the teacher. Great teachers know that their students' success is their responsibility. It is not those kids.
8. focus on students first- do what is right for kids, NOT the adults. I think this is most important now during our COVID reality. We need to do what is right for kids. Learning environments that are ideal for them, not for us as adults. Assemblies mean we sit with the kids- the ones most likely to act out so that our proximity can help control behavior. Great teachers agree on change that improves education
9. praise- personal and private. Praise also should be frequent and specific. 
10. be the filter- hold on the negative thoughts. Express the positive and focus on problem solving. The Debbie Downers need to minimized in their ability to influence. People who focus on complaining are not the best people. 
11. don't need to do repair...always do repair- Never avoid an opportunity to apologize. Be genuine and sincere. Teach kids how to do this with scripts and suggestions. 
12. ignore minor errors- prioritize. 
13. plan- Good teachers plan and implement. This is different from writing beautiful plans for administrators. 
14. base every decision on the best people- do not worry about what the downers and middling people think. Worry about the best people. Best people embrace good ideas and change for the better. The negative Nellies will complain about everything. Do not worry about their reactions.
15. treat everyone as if they were good- this is related to the high expectations listed above. 
16. model the behavior you expect- We are starting on overlapping ideas. If you want students to respect each other- respect them. If you value life long learning, you better be learning.
17. keep testing in perspective- It is not about the test, it is about good teaching. Good teaching results in good result.
18. make it cool to care- Blasé is not acceptable.

This list seems more focused on what administrators can do and focus on than on what teachers need to do. Some of the advice is common to every experience on good teaching. 

I read this as an audiobook. Not a bad one to listen to because it is not super information intense. 

Distance Learning Worksbook

 Kharen Minasian and Debra Kidder's short text, the Distance Learning Workbook: Hands on Approach to Virtual Teaching, is an accessible and easy to read. It's 34 chapters are mostly two pages each. They are to the point and full of first person experiences. It starts with how to approach day one and goes on from there. Importantly, the authors would suggest that any day could be day one of virtual instruction. While consistency is important, improvement is worth the change.

The authors are proposing work for fully remote classes, not concurrent ones. Since my district and many around me are running concurrent models, I read it through that lens. They suggest that students not spend all day in front of the computer, a factor many synchronous programs are requiring. In my district where we are allowed to let students go for independent work after the midpoint of the class, students generally remain tuned in for support with independent assignments. Some of the ideas would work if everyone, regardless of whether they were in a brick and mortar or virtual setting were sitting in front of their device and working. Some of them are just impractical for concurrent programming and need adjusting.

The first thing that the authors assert is that SEL and relationship building take prominence, especially in the beginning of the year. This could become a question of the day- What is your favorite pizza topping?- a Jamboard four corners what you think about x, or write three words that describe how you are feeling in the chat box. The authors assert the importance of saying every child's name every day before lunch, or every period. I have used a roster to make sure I address everyone, but popsicle sticks, random name selectors and moving through the list of names of participants can all be effective for getting to everyone.

The authors argue that virtual instruction truly should be student centered, focused around peer to teacher relationships and real world connections to content. Activities like breakout room discussions, choice boards and virtual fieldtrips allow for students to work collaboratively with choice. Feedback, they argue, should be specific, especially in a space where so much nonverbal contact is absent. Writing feedback should be focused on how to improve- everyone can and should.

I really liked the questions they pose for students to provide feedback to teachers.

• Can you easily find what you need in the digital classroom?
• Have you had any technical issues and do you know how to report them?
• Are my lessons, assignments, and due dates clear to you?
• Do you feel comfortable asking questions?
• Do you feel like you're being heard in this class?
• How would you improve the distance learning experience? (p. 64)

I would like to make the questions a little more open ended, like what makes it easy to ask or what makes it hard to ask questions? While these sorts of questions should not be a daily ask, regularly checking in with student perceptions helps to make the experience more valuable to the students.