Cause for Celebration

We’ve reached the point where you can count the days remaining in the school year on the average person’s fingers. Exhaustion, fatigue, and perhaps delirium have set in. You and the students are racing one another out the door each day. Congratulations on making it through another year.

Before you roll down the windows and blast “School’s Out for Summer” on your stereo, take a moment to think back to August, when you first encountered this year’s crop of students. Think about what they were like back then. You looked at them and thought to yourself, “These kids will never be able to [insert name of thing you were supposed to teach them to do].” Now think about them today, about all the skills, abilities, knowledge, and competencies they have now that they didn’t possess at the beginning of the school year. You’ve got a lot to celebrate.

Don’t keep your celebration to yourself, though. Make sure your students know how far they’ve come. As students creep through the school year day-by-day, they may not realize all they’ve learned during that time. It’s like dieting (so I’m told); if you weigh yourself every day, you may not notice much change, but when someone sees you after being away for a while and comments on how much weight you’ve lost, it feels really good.

In the same way, students need us to point out to them how much they’ve grown during the time they’ve spent in our classes. Or at least they need us to prompt some reflection on their own progress. Maybe you’ve kept a beginning-of-the-year writing sample that they can compare to their current work. Perhaps you can show them a “hard” test from the first of school that they now find ridiculously simple. Making a list of all the new learning from throughout the year can bring about a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Celebrating successes, big and small, ought to be happening all year long; it’s a key to motivation. At the end of the year, though, celebrating growth can plant a seed that will lead to continued growth and curiosity in your subject area. Leave students feeling successful, and they will hunger for future success.

Looking for Potential

Energetic. Enthusiastic. Hyperactive. Uncontrollable. Impulsive. Eager. Rambunctious. Vibrant. Wiggly. Kinesthetic. Athletic. Rowdy. Unfocused.

Curious. Questioning. Challenging. Defiant. Inquisitive. Searching. Intrigued. Intrusive. Disrespectful. Interested. Complaining.  

Chatty. Talkative. Verbal. Charismatic. Mouthy. Communicative. Motor-mouthed. Conversational. Social. Gregarious. Interactional. Unreserved. Rude.

Everyone has a series of lenses through which they view the world. We see what we want to see. We identify good in the things we value or that match our own viewpoints, preferences, and experiences. We frequently overlook the positive in what is unfamiliar, is different, or challenges our own ideas and views. What one person sees as a negative could be viewed as a positive by someone else.

Does society place the same value on an assertive man and an assertive woman? Do some groups of people receive praise for questioning or challenging authority while others are criticized for it? Do you look differently at a person who speaks passionately about political ideas you agree with while disparaging those who oppose your stance?

I worry that as educators we allow ourselves to get in the way of seeing the potential in every student we teach. Worse, we find fault in places where we could be looking for greatness. What if we could train ourselves to look for potential in spots where we previously ignored it? What impact could that have on the kids we teach and how they view themselves?

I am not a confrontational person. I tend to avoid conflict, hate engaging in an argument, and am more likely to back away from any kind of disagreement until I am able to speak calmly. Furthermore, I’ve never been especially physical. Horseplay was never my thing. I wasn’t one of those kids who squirmed. I’d rather sit for hours with my nose in a book or at work on a creative project.

As a teacher, it’s easy for me to see the greatness in a student who comes to class, engages, and plays along. I can find a million positive things to say about students who are eager readers, thoughtful writers, and deep thinkers. I appreciate student creativity, especially if it makes me laugh because of its cleverness.

When things get heated in class discussion, however, my first inclination is to retreat into my shell. When students get uber-competitive in a game or get a little rambunctious during a class activity, I become a little nervous. I have to remind myself that the students who seem argumentative, confrontational, rowdy, and unruly to me during those activities could be passionate, principled, persuasive, engaged, energetic, and eager if I view them through a different lens.

  

Identifying and acknowledging our own biases is the first step in learning to seek the potential in everyone we encounter. Some biases are easy for us to spot; others exist on a deeper, unconscious level.

A 2016 study found that students of color are underrepresented in gifted programs nationwide. More specifically, black students are about half as likely to be identified as “gifted and talented” as their white peers with comparable standardized test scores. The researchers crunched all sorts of numbers to try to determine the cause for this disparity. Only one factor made a significant difference in identification of “gifted” black students: the race of their teachers. The put it more bluntly, white teachers aren’t good at spotting giftedness in non-white students.

This study has so many implications for the world of education. Not only does it underscore the importance of having teacher demographics that mirror student demographics, but it also invites all of us—regardless of our race—to examine our own implicit biases. It’s easy to shift the blame for this inequity to other people, but the data indicates that those of us who are pointing the fingers also need to take a look in the mirror.

Implicit biases are natural. Everyone has them. And because they are implicit, we usually don’t know we have them. These biases exist on an unconscious level. I’m not sure we can ever identify every bias we hold, but I do think that the important work for each of us involves acknowledging the existence of these biases, trying to become more aware of them, and then taking action to correct them.

Project Implicit, a non-profit research project led by professors from University of Washington, Harvard, and University of Virginia, has a number of tests you can take that are designed to help identify implicit biases. The information they gather from participants helps further their research. Always one to contribute what I can in the name of learning (but mostly because I was curious), I took a few of their tests. Of course, I was certain that the results would indicate that I was without prejudice or bias. That’s what we would all like to believe about ourselves, right? I was wrong. The tests pointed out some things that I’d never even considered to be biases I held. I have since shared the website with others, and what we uncovered made us uncomfortable and uneasy but opened up some extremely worthwhile conversations about our biases and, more significantly, what we should do about them. It was easy to beat ourselves up for having those biases, but we soon realized that our self-criticism was counterproductive without taking steps to change.

Trying to make the shift toward actively looking for potential in others—students, coworkers, strangers I meet at Kroger—has positively altered the way I see the world and the results I get from those around me. I’m not always great at it, but I’m working at improving. I’m sure it’s something I will have to keep working on forever. If it leads to finding more of the good in others and helping them find the good in themselves, the perpetual work will have been worth it.

Thank you for all the work you do to look for potential in places where it’s not easy for you to spot.   

Your End-of-School Checklist

With a little over a week to go before your summer break, you don’t have the time or the motivation to read anything too long or too thought-provoking from me, so this one is going to be short and sweet. It’s a checklist of 5 things I want you to do before you leave for the summer.

1.  Find a student who has worked hard and has improved in your class this year—not one who received the highest grade on his or her report card but one who should be proud for having come a long way. Privately let that student know that you are proud of his or her hard work and have noticed the improvement and growth. Students get so focused on grades that they don’t often feel validated or noticed for their progress. Be intentional about pointing it out and you might provide some momentum that carries over into the next year and beyond.

2.  Leave yourself a note somewhere where you will find it when you return to school in the fall. Tell yourself something nice and motivational, but, more importantly, remind yourself of something you want to make sure you remember to do differently next year to impact student learning or to help you maintain your sanity. The beginning of the school year can be a blur. Let this note be a reminder of what is most important to your wise end-of-school self that your harried back-to-school self needs to know.

3.  When you sign students’ yearbooks, don’t put comments about anything that reinforces a fixed mindset. Don’t write about how smart, creative, athletic, talented, or beautiful your students are. Those seem to imply fixed abilities that students either possess or don’t. Provide descriptive feedback about traits that are under their control and show the positive choices or qualities they have demonstrated. Most of the time, praising the behaviors you like to see when you see them brings them to the attention of the students and causes them value those behaviors in themselves.

4.  Say thank you to a colleague and to an administrator for something they do or have done to make your year better. Everyone likes to know they’re appreciated, and busy times are when people need to hear it most.

5.  Peruse the bookshelves at work and find one book you can read over the summer to help you grow professionally. Don’t take too many. You mostly need to read things for fun during your vacation, but a little professional learning during your break might give you some new ideas to start next year afresh. If you’re not a reader (yet you’ve managed to make it to bullet point 5 in my list), maybe you can commit to some professional learning online.

Thank you for all you do to improve the lives of students, to build community in your school, to change the trajectories of lives, and to support your fellow educators. Thanks for the late hours, the early tutorials, the after-hours event attendance, the feedback providing, the parent phone calls, the positivity, the perseverance, the problem solving, the patience, the planning, and the other duties as assigned. Your hard work and dedication make a difference. You are a hero.  

Enjoy a well-earned summer break.  

A Discouraging Word

            Home, home on the range

            Where the deer and the antelope play,

            Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,

            And the skies are not cloudy all day.

The range must have been a pretty happy place. Not only did the deer and antelope want to be there, but they also wanted to play. It felt like home.

 

Can the same be said about our classrooms?

It is so easy to notice the negative. I’m the worst.

I can read a wonderfully written essay and become fixated on one fairly insignificant comma error. I will sit through an exciting and engaging concert and come away thinking, “If only they hadn’t chosen that song as their encore. . . .” The one item out of place on an otherwise tidy kitchen counter makes me feel like the entire house is a mess. And that kid in the third row who is staring off into space while all the other students are reading makes me a little bit insane.

For most teachers, it’s so much easier to notice the students who are not meeting expectations than it is to notice the ones who are.

When we notice the negative, we often feel compelled to correct it. Once we start, it’s hard to stop. Our class becomes a dysfunctional family, and we are the nagging parent:

“I told you yesterday to bring your textbook. Why did none of you remember?”

“You don’t have a pen? What did you think we were going to do today, just sit here and do nothing?”

“What part of ‘Be quiet!’ was confusing?”

“You didn’t bring your homework again? You need to learn to meet deadlines and follow through. The real world has deadlines.”

“If you don’t start working and paying attention, you’re going to find yourself in summer school or taking this class again next year. And let me assure you, we don’t change it up and make it more interesting for those who come back a second time.”

“Stop. Talking.”

“You know where notebooks are stored. You’re not new. Go get yours. You’re holding up the entire class.”

“I’m waiting….”

“Susan, turn around and pay attention. Joel, we are on page 147. Get out your books, everyone. I don’t want to have to tell you again. Lisa, stop talking! Page 147, Jennifer! Michael, this is not gym class. Sit down!”

The discouraging words fly with such velocity and frequency that no deer, antelope, or human would want to spend time in this maelstrom of negativity.

It’s so easy to slip into the routine of letting the toxic negativity spew. This kind of negativity, unfortunately, permeates the lives of many of our students. They hear it at home; they hear it from peers; and then they get to hear it at school. Some of them have learned to tune it out. Others let it beat them into submission. No one thrives in its presence.

Some researchers believe that the human brain responds to negativity and criticism by shutting down. The “fight-or-flight” impulses of the amygdala take over, and the brain enters into a self-preservation mode during which no learning occurs. We can all think of times where criticism or negativity has affected us to such an extent that we could focus on little else. Teachers’ well-intentioned efforts to correct negative behaviors may be blocking student learning.  

Pay attention to the negative and positive comments you make in class. Perhaps you can record a class and count the interactions, noting the ratio of negative to positive interactions. Or ask a colleague or instructional coach to visit your class and tally them for you. If you’re like many teachers, the negative will outweigh the positive in a big way.

Once you notice that you’ve fallen into the rut of pointing out the bad, you can take steps to change your own negative behaviors. It’s time to become a celebrator of the good.

In his book High-Impact Instruction, Jim Knight devotes an entire chapter to becoming a “witness to the good.” He writes,

We are a witness to the good when we are attentive and intentional about noticing everything our students do--not just the misbehavior. We are being a witness to the good when we are especially attentive to the times when students are making the best of learning opportunities. We are being a witness to the good whenever we recognize and encourage students for acting in ways that are consistent with expectations. (316)

Becoming a witness to the good helps build connection with your students. Students who feel this bond of attachment, loyalty, and comfort will be more willing to do what you ask them to do in your classroom.

Praise should significantly outweigh criticism. Some experts recommend a six-to-one praise-to-correction ratio; some even advocate for more positive comments than that.

The type of praise matters, too. Praise can actually be harmful or counter-productive if students perceive that it’s insincere or hollow. One of the best ways to give productive praise is to make your comments descriptive rather than attributive. Praise students’ work, efforts, and behaviors rather than their traits and characteristics. Instead of saying, “You are such a kind person,” consider telling a student, “People seem to respond favorably to you,” or, “The words you use to speak to your classmates are very respectful.”  Telling a student that she is smart is less helpful than telling her that her thinking shows depth, that her analysis is specific and thoughtful, or that she understands the material and is able to think about it in a complex way. Thanking a student for having his materials on his desk will have more impact than giving negative attention to his neighbor for not being prepared.

Using praise effectively--becoming a witness to the good--can reduce classroom management issues while simultaneously transforming your classroom into a happy oasis of learning for the students...and any stray deer or antelope that might wander in. 

Thank you for keeping it positive and squelching the discouraging words.