Monday Mush by Jennifer Johnson

I have always wanted to have a “guest writer” for a mush and flush.  I thought our rock star reading facilitator was a good place to start.  She has passed on several great quotes and videos that I used, so I thought she should write the whole thing.  Thanks, Jennifer, it is great stuff!

“If adults constantly bombard them with speeches they call lessons, then these students have had an entirely passive experience of education that doesn’t allow them to think for themselves.” – José Vilson

 

This week when I ran across this quote, I immediately thought about the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher.  Not a single word is understandable, and it all sounds the same.  “Wua, wua, wua, wua,…”  Poor Charlie Brown sits with his head down on his desk slowly drifting off to sleep. No learning today.

In following the theme of “transferring the learning”, this quote also reminded me of a recent conversation with a teacher.

 

“There’s no excuse for all those kids to be in the red group!  They should know how to do it.  We talked about it for an entire week!”

 

And there, the method of instruction is revealed…talked about it.  Whatever teaching concept “it” may be at the time, talking about it and teaching it are two very different things.  Talking does not equal teaching.  Will students remember it tomorrow, next week, or next year just from hearing you talk about it?  Probably not.  And why should they when next year’s teacher is going to just talk to them about it again and next year’s teacher and so on.  It’s no wonder that after a few years of hearing teachers talk about this and talk about that, they’ve now developed into expert passive learners…just sit and get…wait to be told what to do…can’t think for themselves.   

 

So let’s be real, we talk too much.  The longer we talk, the less students listen.  And if they aren’t listening to you, what are they really doing?  Inferring?  Analyzing?  Creating?  We can only wish…

Take a look at the following diagram and notice how much we learn just from hearing it. 

 

Now look across at the learning outcomes we are able to do just from listening.  If listening is the only form of instruction, then we’re only equipping students to be able to do low level skills such as defining, describing, listing, and explaining.  That’s not enough to effectively learn.  That’s not enough to remember years later. That’s not enough to dig deeper.  That’s not enough for STAAR.  That’s not enough to problem solve.  That’s not enough to think on your own.  We must teach students in ways that equip them with the skills to think for themselves. 

 Don’t misunderstand, every level of learning has its place when scaffolding instruction.  Students must read text, listen to an explanation, see an anchor chart, video, or powerpoint; however, these instructional practices only count for roughly half of what’s required to learn.  If we stop here, we aren’t teaching enough.  In fact, we are limiting our student’s thinking.  We didn’t learn to ride a bike by reading about bikes or hearing an explanation about how to ride a bike.  We learned to ride a bike by doing it…riding a bike!  

A thousand hearings isn’t worth one seeing,

and a thousand seeings isn’t worth one doing.

We must push on and expect our students to explain what they’re learning, expect our students to write about what they’re learning, and expect our students to do the learning.  Learning can be hard.  It can be frustrating.  It can be confusing.  Our students need to feel comfortable with these emotions in order to press on to what’s more difficult. 

 

Today marks the beginning of talking less and allowing students to think and do more.  As with anything, it will take time so don’t give up too quickly.  Be patient and supportive as you provide them opportunities to think for themselves.  It won’t be long before they surpass our expectations! 

 

Friday Flush -- Reversing the lost generation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&sns=em (1:44)

Thank you, Ms. Johnson for passing this link on.  I loved it.  I think it does an amazing job at pointing out 2 factors…one is our preconceived notions about this generation and the second is what they truly can do and become.  We have to reverse the mind-set that is out there.  We get to work with this generation every day…we don’t have to “accept” that the negative stereotypes.  We can choose to change that and instill character, dedication, and work ethic to these kids. 

One of the joys of working in elementary schools is that we get to be so foundational.  I think sometimes when someone achieves something great, they remember those that taught those last skills in specific ways.  Great athletes remember their high school coaches….engineers remember their physics teachers….or a dedicated citizen remembers how a high school teacher cared more about them as a person than “just a student.”  We hear those things every day.  Why I said elementary is a joy is because we become a true seamless part of them.  We are so early in the process that they don’t know anything different.  They get your best every day, and it becomes a part of them.  It is truly powerful when you stand back and think about it.

I appreciate you guys…I appreciate how you can turn the paradigm of this generation on its head….thank you for giving of yourselves in ways that become a part of someone else in a positive way. 

Happy Friday!

Monday Mush

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/can-learn-lot-middle-school-football-team-video/

There is nothing more powerful than when kids really “get it.”  They start to realize that there is more to life than just themselves.  They realize that they can positively impact someone else’s life.  They want to.  That is growing up the right way.

There are no short supply of sports stories like this one, but I NEVER get tired of watching them.  In fact, I love that there are so many like it.  That means it isn’t rare that our kids truly care for others.  That today’s youth are doomed like we might believe in some media circles. 

We have the chance to help foster this for students.  We have the ability and means to help them see themselves are participants in making positive change in the world.   I recently heard that we can’t really change the world…we can’t really change the nation…we can’t really change the city or any organization or institution.  We can, however, change ourselves in meaningful ways that affects others.  That in turn spreads like wild fire as one person affects another and so on….

I hope this week you see the good in these kids…you inspire them to make changes that can affect the world around them.

Happy Monday!

 

Friday Flush -- Challenge

Below is the blog post article that I found about how hard it is to take the 24 hour “no complaining” challenge.  We tried last year for a day, and I remember talking with several staff members about how they didn’t make it 20 minutes.  It is a difficult thing to realize how much negativity we put on others by complaining.  It truly goes beyond “venting” to attention seeking, and it is very subtle.  It takes a lot to be cut off in traffic on the way to work and not complain.  Hard to reframe that to “I sure hope they are ok, and get to their destination safely…I am glad that I am on time to not have to worry like they are.”  But, the positive element vs. negative cannot be ignored.  We can easily get bogged down simply by complaining because we are dwelling in the negativity. We are getting it too much power over us. 

I want to challenge you this weekend to find a day…and just do it!  Don’t complain at all…reframe things to focus on the positive.  See if it provides you with more energy…see if others around you have more energy.  As Jon Gordon says…don’t be the energy vampire. 

 

http://www.chicagonow.com/a-city-mom/2011/09/the-24-hour-no-complaining-challenge/

The 24 Hour No-Complaining Challenge

By Kim Strickland, September 20, 2011 at 9:03 am

Go ahead, try it. I dare you. Try to go twenty-four hours without complaining. I am incapable. I've tried several times. And I don't consider myself a real, true complainer (you know the type). Although regular readers of my blog may beg to differ, seeing as how I can sometimes rant on for upwards of five hundred words. However, being a whiner is not the way I would, or want to, define myself.

We're raising our kids to not be complainers. Whining is not tolerated in our house. And we put-up with very little drama. This is not just because it's all so annoying. (But it is mostly because it's all so annoying.) It's about the power of attraction. Complaining is a form of attention-getting for all the negative things in your life. And who wants to attract more negatives into their lives?

It doesn't sound very hard, does it? Just stop complaining. Yet the dictionary defines the verb "complain" as:

1. to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault.

2. to tell of one's pains, ailments, etc.: to complain of a backache.

3. to make a formal accusation.

By this definition, it would mean most of us would have to cease all conversation completely. Just listen, the next time you're having a conversation. As a fiction writer, I know stories aren't interesting unless they involve conflict, and complaining is a form of describing conflict, I suppose, but maybe we should come up with a better way to make our stories interesting (colorful, fictitious names for the characters perhaps?).

As any good new age woo-hoo knows, the first step in fixing a problem is recognizing you have one and I began to notice how much complaining I was actually doing. I'd find myself dumping all the negative experiences I'd had during the day on my poor husband night after night. I don't know if it was even conscious or not, this need for me to vent as a way to release all the negativity, but recently it occurred to me: Maybe I am a complainer. Not wanting to attract any more negativity into my life, I decided it might be a good idea for me to stop complaining about stuff. (A great idea, says the husband.)

It didn't sound too hard. Until I tried it. When I was paying attention, I realized so much of what I said could be construed as a complaint. I found myself hacking my watch to restart my 24-hour-no-complaining-clock every fifteen-minutes. Finally, I just gave up, vowing simply to try to do better. Of course I'm disappointed in my inability to stop completely, but I suppose I shouldn't complain about it.

Happy Friday!

Monday Mush???

I am not sure the percentage of these that I start with “I love this quote,” but I am sure it is a lot.  I guess it should go without saying that I love the quote, or I wouldn’t take the time to use and write about it, right? 

This quote is really a great summary of my vision for this campus and these students.  We have students that genuinely want to learn and are supported at home in the process.  We have a great opportunity to put this quote in action.  We can transfer the power of teaching into the students hands.  We can ask more questions, instead of providing answers.

You are probably starting to see a theme in my messages and my study topics each week…we need to transfer the learning onto the students.  We need to ask more questions, and then step back and provide time.  Time for the students to explore and discover.  It is hard to not guide students sometimes, but this is a process that solidifies the learning for them.  We all know that things we have “taught ourselves” seem to have stuck more than things we just “sit and get.”

Think of a lesson that you could “test” this theory…put it in your lesson plans and do it.  Have the kids learn something by offering questions.  It worked for Socrates. 

Hope everyone has a great Monday full of questions. 

Friday Flush

Do you ever feel like saying this to someone?  I can assure you that we probably all do, but it probably wouldn’t help us out of an argument too much.  I have heard it said once that “one of the hardest thing about working with people is working with people.”  And, then we compound the issue by working with kids too! 

You guys are truly amazing in what you do.  You can focus your energy, time, and attention on what truly matters even with so many people with their hands in the pot.  There are so many people to get along with….so many “to do’s” to get done…..so many systems to remember and timelines to keep.  But, you do it, and you do it well.  In fact, you know how to stay focused on what matters.

 

 

The “main thing” for us is students….We need to focus on their needs…focus on their strengths FIRST and build up their weaknesses.  Focus on what they can do to develop what they can’t.  We can keep choosing the path that leads to more engaged students by staying focused on the task at hand.  We have to be driven people to succeed, and I know that we can do that.  We need to not focus on why others are wrong or why others don’t think like us, and we need to focus on how to make each day better than the one before. 

I hope everyone has a great Friday and enjoys this time of parent conferences….brag on their kids….let them see how much you truly care for their child….that is the main thing.  

Monday Math Mush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKHBZXgPQU (18:00)

I would say that this is a longer video than I typically like to choose for a mush or flush, but I totally think this is worth it.  We are focusing big time on our math, and we are continuing to focus on how to motivate/teach boys.  We talk often of how to start with the big picture and work to the specific which is how boys typically organize information.

These are two male high school teachers doing at TEDTalk.  It is basically a forum for the sharing of ideas.  There are 100’s of TEDtalks, but this one caught my attention.  These two guys do a great job of showing how important “schema” is in math.  We talk of schema all the time in ELA, but not as much in math.   This idea of schema is how these two teachers work to create critical thinkers. 

They continue to discuss how this method empowers the students to teach themselves because they have a confidence and skills.  They spoke to their improvement on test scores based on the implementation of these ideas.

They put the ideals on putting the power of learning into the students hands, and it seems to be successful.  I like their presentation because it is real.  They aren’t professional speakers or thinkers…they are teachers with a new way to present information. 

I hope you think about how this concept could help your classroom.  I don’t want you to bite off so much that you don’t think you can implement it.  Find practical ways or lessons that you can start with the concept.  Think of something you have taught before…you KNOW how is usually goes….Now try this concept….compare the two.  I think it will be eye opening what we see. 

We all need maps and schema….we need to find ways to put them into our teaching in real and meaningful ways. 

Thanks for watching the longer video and spending time thinking about how schema can better the lives of students by empowering their own learning.

Happy Monday!