Shhhhh. Finger raised to lips, teacher looks sternly at students. Once again, “sshsh:
Why?
What message are we sending our students when we shush them?
I recently posed this to some teachers I was working with. I’d noticed it in their classrooms and in others the day before. Now I couldn’t help but hear it.
And I cringed every time.
Look, I’ve done it. We all have. But when have to ask ourselves—what’s happening in a class that leads to the shushing?
Are kids talking “out of turn”? If so, why?
Are they trying to get clarification from another student? If so, why?
Are they shouting out the answer? If so, why?
In the first example, let’s ask—when should they speak?
Why isn’t this the “right” time? When CAN they speak?
More importantly, what happens when kids talk?
They think.
They inquire
They communicate
They make sense of things.
And when we shush, we shut that all down. We reinforce compliance and we make it clear who the class belongs to.
Shushing—that thing that we have ALL done at some point or another—likely means that we haven’t established a classroom in which students’ voice matters, in which they can engage with each other and with the teacher.
Let’s stop shushing and start creating robust classrooms full of meaningful dialogue and chatter. That’s when we think. That’s when we learn.
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“I know you hate this, but let’s plow through.”
“I see lots of anxious faces out there.”
“This is really hard.”
I’ve heard many comments like these over the years. I’m sure I’ve said them as well. Why? When we say things like this, we are probably doing some or all of the following:
- Trying to reassure students/show empathy
- Acknowledging the difficulty of the work
- Acknowledging some student comments.
All of that is well-intentioned. We should find ways to put students at ease and to acknowledge that difficult work lies ahead.
But what else are we saying:
- “I don’t expect you to enjoy this.
- This is objectively anxiety-inducing.
- Hard ≠ enjoyable
Often, we are also saying much more about ourselves than our students. And, as we do that, we are taking away their chance to grow self-awareness and perseverance.
So, what can we do instead? Here are some possibilities:
- Swap out “hard” for “challenging”. We can all get excited about challenges, especially if we are encouraged to create plans to meet our goals.
- Instead of putting words like “anxious” into the atmosphere, use reflections to ask students how they feel about the work. We can use reflections before during and after the work to see how habits and attitude helped us to engage with the work.
- (I use a simple “smiley-face” self-assessment tool that can be modified for any purpose.)
- Try not to assume that all students think the same way about all work. What’s difficult or boring for one student may be thrilling and engaging for another. (To that end, we should try not to put our own biases about any type of work on our students!)
Here’s the bottom line: The more exciting we make the work, the more students will rise to our high expectations. So, go ahead—assign very challenging work. Tell kids it’s challenging, sure, but make sure they see how wonderful it is as well!
Read More“Um, Ms. Smith, is there some extra credit I can do to bring my grade up?”
Such an annoying question, right? And yet, many teachers succumb. They find or create something the student can do to earn a few extra points. Especially when those points are the difference between and F and a D.
No teacher wants her students to fail.
But how did we get here in the first place?
There is no reason for students to earn Fs—or even Ds in a class. I mean , really, why do kids ever fail a class?
Is it truly because they are not capable?
If that’s the case, then there’s a system problem — a need for interventions, guidance,etc.
But, for the most part, any student sitting in your classroom is capable of earning a passing grade and of mastering what is deemed ESSENTIAL for the course.
They may not all excel, but they can and should all pass… And extra credit need not play any role.
Here are 3 steps to take to eliminate Fs—with no extra credit!
1) MAKE 50 the lowest possible grade.
If you haven’t already, do not give scores lower than 50. Or, if you prefer, use a 0-50 point scale.
That simply keeps the grading scale aligned.
The zero-100 scale is flawed:
A= 90-100 (10 point range)
B=80-89 (9 point range)
C= 70-79 (9 point range_
D= 60-69 (9 point range)
F= 0-59 (59 point range)
(See Monte Syrie’s discussion of the harmfulness of this scale here.)
Of course, if you want to keep the 0-100, that’s fine, but only if you insist on multiple retakes until the student reaches the desired level of proficiency. (See #3 Below)
2) Replace or weigh grades over time.
Have you heard the one about the parachute operator? Let’s say you’re going skydiving and you have your choice of two instructors to jump with you. They both received a B in parachute opening. Instructor Jamie did really well at the beginning of class, folding the parachute correctly and doing well on quizzes about the parachute. As time went by, his grades dropped when it became clear that he couldn’t open the parachute quickly. Instructor Jody did really poorly on those early folding and multiple choice quizzes, but toward the end of the course could demonstrate her proficiency in opening the darn thing. Both averaged a B. Which one do you choose?
In my work, we’ve used a Decaying Average so that the later grades carry more weight. There are other options, including a Power Law or Replacing Grades. Erin Werra describes all three better than I can in this post.
3) Allow retakes.
Better yet, insist on retakes below a certain score. You can apply this to everyone so that anyone with X score has to retake it. You can also allow students to individually determine their lowest acceptable grade—with your blessing and, perhaps, with a parent notification form.
This is a shift and there will be grumbling from students (who might prefer to just ask for that dreaded extra credit later.)
Here’s a script:
In this class, it’s not okay to fail. We are working on very important skills and concepts. I wouldn’t be doing my job if any of you failed.
However, you all come to this class with different levels of skill, enthusiasm, etc. So, while it would be great if everyone got an A, that might not be reasonable —or even in your best interests if you need to conserve time and effort for some other classes.
Therefore, I want everyone to share with me your highest desired grade, the lowest you can deal with and your expectation ( a best case scenario, a worst-case scenario and a realistic expectation).
I’d also like you to share why you have this grade goal. Might be something like:
- This subject comes easily to me. I think this class should be an “easy A” for me and will help boost my GPA
- This subject has always been a struggle for me. I know I can do the work with effort and I’d be okay with a C range grade.
- I like this subject and can do the work, but I have to give more effort to some other, tougher classes. So while I think I could get an A, I’ll be satisfied in the B range.
As your teacher, I simply cannot accept Ds and Fs. Luckily for you, we have a retake policy in this class. Anyone who scores below our Desired Level of Proficiency on a major assessment will have the opportunity to earn the DLP by retaking or redoing some or all of the assessment (or an alternate assessment). I have some guidelines about when, where and how that will happen.
EXTRA CREDIT Is just that..
It’s extra…beyond…unnecessary.
Don’t do it! Don’t have them do some throwaway extra something that neither of you cares about. Instead, have them prove that they can do what’s necessary.
Listen, extra credit is additional time, work and energy for you and for your students. So are retakes. Which one makes more sense?
Read MoreEngagement. The magic word. I’ve conducted countless Instructional Rounds, learning walks and other observations focused on engagement. Are kids engaged? It’s a great question. It’s really THE question. And, unfortunately, all too often the answer is no.
Why? Part of it is the sense that stuff is happening TO them—and much of it is a surprise. Many of us advocate for greater student agency—voice and choice over their learning. But first, we’ve need to provide a roadmap.
As educators, we often have the benefit of some curricula to guide us. So, we know what we are teaching, how we want to teach and where we want our students to end up.
Often, though, students are left in the dark. They show up with some vague idea of what they are learning. When asked, they answer with the subject—math- or maybe even the topic (fractions) or the text (The Great Gatsby) but not much beyond that. And we wonder why they are not more engaged, more present, more excited.
Getting kids to be cognitively engaged depends on a lot of factors and lots of hard and great work by teachers.
To start, though, they …and we should be able to answer the following 5 questions. (Templates are at the bottom of this post)
Here are 5 questions that students should be able to answer:
- What will I know and be able to do at the end of this year?
- How will I show what I’ve learned?
- How will we learn?
- What do I do when I struggle?
- Why am I learning this?*
These questions will be familiar to those who have relied on the work of Dufour, et al, on building professional learning communities and those who have engaged in a backwards design curriculum process like Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design.
1) What will I know and be able to do at the end of this year?
Include your content standards—but not all of them. If your district/school has identified power standards, use those. If not, you determine what’s most important and let them know that’s the focus.
Also, include those life and learning skills that they will gain. You might want to guarantee greater collaboration or problem-solving skills, for example.
2) How will I show what I’ve learned?
What are some examples of formative and summative assessments? Does the teacher assess HW? Is there a lot of writing? Is there a major project at the end of the course or each quarter? Will there be an exhibition of learning?
A grading policy is helpful here as well. (I’ve got lots of thoughts on what that can and should look like, but the important thing is that students understand the practices up front.)
If you allow retakes and redos, a clear explanation of how that’s done and the impact on grades is useful.
3) How will we learn?
What are the usual activities? Do we take a lot of notes? Will we participate in socratic seminar? Are we expected to explore via cooperative lab work?
What skills are needed/will be developed? Are we expected to read, speak, explain, draw, act, sing?
Here, I would give students an opportunity to reflect on their level of comfort with each of these and some strategies to ask for and receive help. For example, the painfully shy student or one with a speech impairment might dread public speaking. Knowing it’s expected and how they will be supported allows students and teacher to be proactive.
4) What do I do when I struggle?
This is a great time to reinforce a growth mindset. Let them know and discuss how anything worth doing can sometimes be difficult but that we are all in this together.
This is also where kids need some specifics about their access to additional help. How and when can they meet with you one on one? Do you take email questions? Are they assigned a partner to work with first?
You can keep coming back to this by asking students to reflect regularly on where they got stumped and what they did —or continue to do—to make their way forward. Of course, a grading system that doesn’t punish kids for not “getting it right away” or indeed a PBL system that is built on struggle is helpful here, but even in the most traditional environments, this can be useful.
5) Why am I learning this?*
Arguably, this should come first, But I recommend that you explore this together through the school year. Students can self-assess on this as a part of reflections after summative or formative assessments. This can be a homework assignment once a quarter or every few weeks—ask parents, grandparents, Google, etc—Why should I learn this? What can I do with this now? What will I do with this in the future? How does this tie into what I already know or what I am learning in other areas of school or life?
Come back to this often—weekly, quarterly, at the beginning and end of discrete units of study. The more students know about the what, why and how of the lean ringing, the more they can invest of themselves in the learning.
Templates
Here’s a course overview template teachers can use for their own course planning.
Here’s a template to use with students and families.
Please let me know if this is useful and/or how the templates can be improved.
Wishing you a great year of deep and joyful learning!
Lori
Read MoreI recently caught up with a friend of mine, let’s call her Sheila. We hadn’t talked in some time and I was glad to catch up on her life and, especially, to hear how her daughter, Carolyn, was doing.
A History of Illness
Carolyn, now in high school, has lived with a severe chronic illness her whole life that has increasingly caused frequent and sometimes prolonged hospitalizations, which, of course, keep her out of school. During her freshman year, Carolyn missed four months of school and was just transitioning back when her mom and I spoke. Knowing that working with the school system to accommodate Carolyn has been akin to a part-time job for Sheila, I asked how it was going.
An Empathetic School
Sheila told me the school had been great. They have a program for students with chronic illnesses. Not only does the team work together to provide tutoring, they also support students socially and emotionally. An example of their accommodation, Sheila told me, was that Carolyn was allowed to show proficiency on major assignments, rather than being held accountable (I.e., graded down) for missing assignments.
I was overjoyed to hear this. Navigating schoolwork and missed assignments has been a major source of stress for both Carolyn and Sheila, exacerbated, no doubt, by the fact that Carolyn attends one of the highest performing high schools in her state. KUDOS to this high school for creating such program and by doing so, showing empathy for students whose very real struggles would prevent them from passing their courses if not for these accommodations. Other schools offer similar alternative programs for students who, for a variety of reasons, need a more personalized approach.
Good for one or good for all?
But then, I have to wonder—are some of these accommodations just good practice that can be extended to all students? If teachers realize that some assignments are simply not essential (and thus can be not “counted”) then it stands to reason that they’ve already done the hard work of identifying what is and is not essential—which standards must be mastered, what each student must know and be able to do to be considered proficient in a particular course of study and allowed to move forward. So why not apply this philosophy to the entire school?
This isn’t about missing assignments or not holding students accountable. It’s about how we think about learning in general. If we can allow flexibilities for some, let’s do the same for all. Giving each student what she needs, when she needs it just makes sense. If we do that, the learning will follow.
Read MoreDifferentiating learning for all students is hard enough—now we are asked to think about giving students a choice and voice in their own learning. Seems like more work for the teacher. And, on the front end, it is.
But here are some ways to make it easier.
1) Give students choice in a JIGSAW. Usually, jigsaws are used by teachers looking to differentiate learning for their students. The teacher chooses 3 or more materials related to the topic of discussion. The materials may differ according to reading level or interest or, sometimes, are simply a number of related resources that are valuable, but there are just too many to have each student read each one, so using a jigsaw allows students to get summaries from their peers.
You can also do this with a flipped Jigsaw—in which the students read or view (in the case of a video, etc) their chosen piece at home, take notes and prepare a summary to share with their peers the next day.
2) Then, allow students some choice in how they create a product to share with their peers. Usually, after a jigsaw, I’ve provided a choice board— a menu of activities the group can do to make synthesize their learning. This is great. It gives the group a choice and, done well, teaches students how to make group decisions and then work together. (See examples of choice boards here and here)
But you could do this differently. You could do the meaning making part of the jigsaw in class. Students either read and create summaries in their home group in class or they’ve done some of this work at home in the flipped scenario, and then come together briefly to create a group summary to bring to their rainbow groups. Then, have the rainbow groups come together for discussion of all the readings/resources and make sense of them tougher, engaging in dialogue and debate (structured or unstructured based on their familiarity with the process, age, your preference, etc). After that, instead of working on group projects for the final piece, students might choose to work individually—or some might work in pairs, or you might have a sign up sheet (physical or on a shared document) where students sign up for the type of final product they want to create. So, you might end up with 3 groups of 4 students who want to create a game based on the readings and 2 students working individually to write a poem and others doing any number of appropriate learning tasks. (Note that the options in the choice board should have accompanying rubrics whenever possible in order to ensure rigor).
Finally, I would recommend bringing the class together for presentations (OR having the students make videos of their presentations for their peers to watch at home) and including some sort of feedback sheet from peers. (More on that to come).
One last thing—I don’t think it’s possible to overuse the Jigsaw. If you are new to differentiation, ad/or if you find it incredibly time-consuming, why not return again and again to something that works. You can mix up HOW you assign pieces or give choice, you can mix up the activities or questions in the home group and the rainbow group, you can have students do the final product in groups or individually. The final products can take hours or weeks or days. I would love to see examples from others.
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