Interacting & Collaborating with Students
Lighten the Load by Training Students to Be Tutors
“A classroom of students helping other students has been found to be an efficient and effective method of enhancing achievement” (18). Not only does this empower students who demonstrate proficiency, as teachers we know that we learn the most when we teach others; it truly prompts mastery. The key here, however, is training, just as it is with teaching. Students must understand behavior expectations, ethics, and demonstrate mastery of content before they can be called upon to peer tutor. Also, not all students have the disposition to be tutors; this should be an opportunity to assist, not a punishment for high-achievers who have no interest. The most successful application of this I have seen was elective credit offered to high school students for serving as a peer tutor for math and/or English in a Tutoring Center on campus. It was modeled after the college Writing Center.
Managing the Classroom Environment, Time, & Discipline
Recruit a Teaching Partner as a Peer Coach
“Districts that inaugurate fundamental changes in the ways that teachers work, learn, and interact are also presumed to be more effective in addressing students’ learning needs and capacities” (43).So often we are forced into coaching situations that don’t always turn out to be helpful. Take it upon yourself to recruit a peer that you respect to support you with classroom management issues that may arise. This is not content-specific; the most successful peer visitation and mentoring I have observed was completely voluntary and cross-discipline. We can learn so much from people in our own buildings! Tap into that expertise.
Organizing Curricular Goals, Lesson Plans, & Instructional Delivery
Recognize that Less Is More and Streamline
“Eylon and Linn reported that, cognitively, students respond better to a systematic, in-depth treatment of a few topics than they do to conventional in-breadth treatment of many topics (53). Less is more, and you’ve heard it before, I know. SO DO IT! Work with your teams to choose essential competencies and teach them thoroughly. The best time-saving work I ever did was with Core Advocates. We chose essential standards based on what we would guarantee students would leave us doing well. The rest of the standards were important, of course, and included, but they were secondary. This works very well in English courses because the standards are on-going across grade levels.
Using Student Assessment & Feedback to Maximize Instructional Effectiveness
Interface Assessment Strategies to Instructional Goals for Powerful Learning
“If assessment is considered and addressed before beginning instruction, teachers will find peace of mind and security as they move the students toward final assessment. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there” (94). I would also argue that students will find that same peace because they will feel prepared for the summative assessment, no cramming necessary. A key to making this successful, however, is collaborating with teachers in your same grade/content levels to develop the assessments and discuss instructional strategies you can share to get students there. If you are a singleton, branch out to other schools. More minds make this better, and this is coming from a fiercely independent teacher (me).
Celebrating Diversity in the Classroom
Be Aware of the Wide Range of Specific Factors Associated with Underachievement
“It is common for many teachers, as they become more experienced and acquire a little political power within their schools, to try to isolate themselves from underachieving students rather than try to work with them” (113). Please don’t do this. Please. The more experience you have, the more underachieving students need you. It is criminal, in my experience, to place brand new teachers in the toughest situations when veteran teachers may have so much to offer, as have dealt with and understand the factors that contribute to underachievement. The top ten factors identified in this section are teacher behavior, teacher expectations, curriculum relevance, class size, engagement in school activities, academic confidence, student mobility, parental expectations and involvement, level of parental education, and poverty/low-income. Notice that there are multiple factors that educators can positively affect…
Integrating Technology in the Classroom
Balance the Demands of Traditional Teaching with Technological Tools
“Perhaps it is now time to recognize that getting teachers to integrate technology into daily teaching and learning is more than UPS delivering machines to the schoolhouse door; it is more than having workshops for teachers or pressing universities to change their teacher education programs” (Cuban, 162). Key words here are integrate, teaching, and learning. Technology should always enhance the learning experience for students, not merely be a method of delivery to reduce paper and ink costs. If students are not actively using the technology to demonstrate learning, after all, there really is little return on the cost of having it in the first place.
Enhancing Reading & Literacy Skills
Explore What it Means to Be Literate
“To be comprehensive, literacy needs to be integrated within the literacy curriculum itself. It must be integrated into all facets of the classroom and the school’s learning environment. It is more than just balancing classroom strategies; balance and comprehensiveness go hand-in-hand in all aspects of the students’ lives (including home)” 189. This means that your school-wide literacy plan needs to be a living document that students, teachers, and all staff need to know and use. This means that the support staff in every part of the building should be incorporated into the plan. Students need to see that the one common thread in all content areas is literacy. It may have different applications and uses, but it is present in all things that we do. Capitalize on this and significant positive change will occur with far-reaching long-term effects.
Developing a Professional Identity
Surround Yourself With Mentors
“In most schools, almost without exception, teachers work in settings where the socio-cultural context, if not the actual physical structure, encourages little interaction among adults and can contribute to feelings of isolation and frustration” (217). Y’all, this work we do is TOUGH. We cannot do it alone. The single best advice I can give you is to #FINDYOURTRIBE. I would be nowhere without mine except burnt out and working at Target. Seek out people who have the same values, teach the same content, share the same passion for learning. Those people will feed your soul when it seems like you just cannot do it anymore. This, more than an initiative or dangling carrot, keeps teachers in the classroom.
Fostering a Positive Relationship with Families & Community
Maximize Social and Emotional Teaching and Learning Opportunities
In Massachusetts, “Embedding social and emotional literacy skills in the routine daily practices made a big difference. They still teach explicit social and emotional skills but now provide opportunities to see the skills modeled, to practice the skills, and to apply them in everyday and new situations” (230). Many times we feel powerless to involve parents and the community due to a lack of response from them. One thing we can definitely do is to incorporate social and emotional competencies into our daily work. When backwards planning from assessment to instruction, think about the deeper learning that can naturally be integrated. Just as anything else, if these important skills aren’t being taught at home or in the community, it is our duty to at least try our best to fill in the gaps. We owe it to our students.
Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey
Kristie Hofelich Ennis, NBCT
Email: kennis@murraystate.edu
Location: Dublin, OH, United States
Facebook: facebook.com/kristie.hofelich
Twitter: @KristieHEnnis
