They're Coming Back

The Independent Variable

or

They’re Coming Back:  A Short Play in One Act

Congratulations. You’ve made it through the beginning of another school year. At this point, the honeymoon period is ending, and some of your students may be showing their true colors. You may have already decided which students or class periods are going to keep you up at night contemplating a career change. Perhaps you’re at a loss for what to do and see a long, long year looming ahead of you.

Two summers ago at an AVID conference, my friend Lisa Johnson, a brilliant middle school teacher who also coaches new teachers in a nearby district, told me something she tells her teachers, something that has stuck with me. So that you can be in on this nugget of wisdom,  I’m going to share it with you in the form of a largely fictionalized play, which I am titling “They’re Coming Back.” Feel free to act this out on your own with friends, colleagues, or loved ones:

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They’re Coming Back

(Scene: A middle school classroom in suburban America. LISA meets NEW TEACHER on a coaching visit after several weeks of school have passed.)

LISA:  Hey, New Teacher. How are things going?

NEW TEACHER: (despairingly) Not so good.

LISA:  (concerned) Really? What’s the matter?

NEW TEACHER: It’s my 6th period class. They’re out of control.

LISA:  In what way?

NEW TEACHER: Half the class won’t do homework at all. They don’t even care when I give them a zero. The students are wild and rude.  I can’t get them to be quiet or listen to each other. Several of them throw things and won’t stay in their seats. I’m sick of the eye rolling and backtalk. I can’t give out detentions quickly enough. And when I do, the kids just laugh. And it’s only the second week of school! Arrrrgggggghhhhhh!  

LISA: (calmly) What are you going to do differently tomorrow?

NEW TEACHER: (confused) Huh?

LISA: (more slowly) What are you going to do differently tomorrow?

  

NEW TEACHER:  What do you mean?

LISA:  (after a pause, matter of factly but gently) They’re coming back. You know that, right?

NEW TEACHER: (stares confusedly)

LISA: Those same kids are coming back tomorrow. And I can pretty much guarantee you that they aren’t losing sleep over this or contemplating any kind of personality transformation. You’re going to have to do something different if you want them to do something different.

NEW TEACHER: (having had her world view shaken up) Hmmmm….You’re right….

(CURTAIN)

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They’re coming back tomorrow. Those four words, which sound a bit like they belong in a horror movie, are a wise reminder for teachers.

In science class, they teach about independent and dependent variables. An experimenting scientist changes an independent variable to see how the dependent variable reacts. For instance, in fourth grade at Jackson Elementary, I did a science fair project in which I subjected bean plants to several forms of light to see which one would grow the most. One plant sat in a sunny window. One lived under a fluorescent light. Another grew beneath an incandescent light. And one spent its short, sad life on a shelf in the back of my dark closet. In that experiment, the bean plants were the dependent variables, and the independent variables were the different forms of light. The independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable. (Spoiler alert: Fluorescent light was the winner. My science fair project was not.)

In the classroom, the independent variable is you. The students aren’t going to change unless you change what you are doing. If you keep doing the same things and expect a different result, you’re fooling yourself. In order for you to change the culture of your classroom or to hit the reset button with that student who’s driving you a bit batty, you’re going to have to make the first move. Their change depends on your change.

If you’ve slipped into a rut of negativity, if you’re relying on threats and punishments, if you’re always feeling like the villain, you still have time to change that. If some yelling didn’t work, I suspect more yelling won’t either. If they didn’t respond to one detention, a longer detention isn’t going to do the trick. If you’re giving homework and they’re not doing it, giving another assignment of the same kind is only going to put more zeroes in your gradebook.

There’s still time to build relationships, to get to know your kids, and to make emotional investments in them. Maybe those independent variables will help you get the results you want.

Lisa’s wise questioning of her coworker helped the new teacher realize that she was going to need to dig into her teacher bag of tricks to come up with a strategy or approach that would cause her students to change their undesired behaviors. Perhaps her colleague sought Lisa’s assistance in a coaching capacity. Or maybe she just endured the behaviors that were driving her crazy for the next 34 weeks. Who knows? The ending of the play is unwritten.

Maybe Michael Jackson said it best: “No message could have been any clearer. If you wanna make [your classroom] a better place, you’ve got to look at yourself and make that change. Sha na na na na na na na na naaaaaa.”

They’re coming back tomorrow. Will you be ready?

Breaking a Bad Habit

I always envied teachers who could lead class discussions with ease. You know the ones. Their students sit raptly as the teacher conducts a discussion, calling on volunteers (or “voluntelling” less eager students) to answer question after question the teacher poses to the entire class. In my first years of teaching, that was my instructional go-to model--whether we were talking about a piece of literature or pointing out the important aspects of a work of art--yet I didn’t feel like I was very good at it. Nonetheless, nearly every lesson of mine featured a section (sometimes a lengthy one) during which I asked questions and the students answered them.

Now that I have a little more experience, I realize that my question-and-answer discussion model was problematic for several reasons.

My classroom Q&A resembled a giant game of tennis with me on one side and the class on the other. I lobbed a question, someone went after it, I responded with the same question directed to another student or backhanded a different one, and the volley continued. If an observer had been charting the interaction, it would have looked like this:

Notice that the students were directing all of their talk in my direction and that some students dominated the discussion while others made it through the period without saying anything at all. While I’d like to believe that those silent students were hanging on their classmates’ every answer as they listened intently, I’m afraid the reality was that many of them were paying only partial attention or were zoned out completely.   

At the end of the period, I would have patted myself on the back for my students’ lively discussion and mastery of the content. If I thought about it more carefully, however, I would realize that all I could say for certain is that someone in my class knew the answer to each of the questions. I would have no idea whether every student understood the material. The individual students, who had caught on that if they didn’t call attention to themselves one of their eager, impulsive classmates would blurt out the answer (saving them the trouble of thinking), would have no idea what they knew or didn’t know.

Furthermore, this back-and-forth Q&A with me always on the receiving end was exhausting. I was doing at least half of the work, which meant my students were collectively doing the other half. Mathematically, the average student in a 25-person class was working for 2% of the discussion time--an unacceptably low number.

Over time, it occurred to me that leading an effective class discussion required me to break one old habit and replace it with new ones.

My bad habit was asking a question that I expected one student to answer in a discussion.

I have worked to replace it with a combination of two better habits.

The first is a pair-share. When I catch myself about to ask the class a discussion-type question, I stop myself and say, “In just a moment, when I say ‘go,’ turn and talk with an elbow partner about this question for 30 seconds. Go!” At that moment, every student is engaged in conversation about the topic, as speaker and/or listener, instead of the handful who would have paid attention to my full-class discussion and felt brave enough to contribute. After students have discussed in pairs, I call on a few of them to share. Students who might not have volunteered to share on their own have now had the chance to try out their answers on another student. They also have the option to share with the class an idea or insight their partner brought to the discussion.  The result? More confident, thoughtful student responses with increased participation.  

My other replacement habit is to precede a class discussion with a quickwrite. I ask a question and then let students take a moment to think on paper about their answer before we talk about it as a class. Sometimes, when I’m feeling extra adventurous, I ask students to pair-share after their quickwrite and before we discuss.

These new habits aren’t fancy or revolutionary. They’re easy to implement. All I have to do is remember to stop myself before I allow a classroom discussion to occur and insert some strategy that requires every student to think and respond. Not only do my subsequent discussions have more depth and buy-in, but I feel content knowing that my students are working at least as hard or harder than I am. 

Start Your School Year Pppppperfectly

Start Your School Year Pppppperfectly

Ready or not, here they come!

For teachers, the excitement-mixed-with-dread anticipation has begun for the first day of classes in a new school year. With only days to go until the students show up in their brand new school duds, you’re probably putting the finishing touches on your plans for the first day.

If you can get them to talk, students will tell you a lot at the end of the first day of school. They’ve already decided which classes they are going to dread, which teacher is the “coolest,” and what class will be their favorite. I’m sure you don’t want your class to be on the List of Doom on Day One.  By paying attention to the Six Ps for a successful first day, you’ll set the right tone for your best year yet.

The first P:  POSITIVE

If you visited someone’s home for the first time and they greeted you with a lengthy list of rules you were expected to follow, you might be rethinking your decision to pay them a social call in the future. Imagine how your students feel when you begin the first day like this: “Welcome. I’m Mr. McKinney. I don’t accept late work without a penalty. Ten points off if you get it in within an hour after the due date. Each day after that, it’s 25 points off. And that’s only on major-grade assignments. I don’t take late homework, EVER. You get one free tardy to class each semester. After that, it’s a 30-minute detention. Three tardies, you owe me an hour after school. Four tardies, I will claim your firstborn child. Don’t talk. Don’t forget your supplies and textbooks. First time is a warning; second time is detention. You’ll have at least 30 minutes of homework a night because you need to learn right now that life is hard and that you are doomed to fail if you don’t develop a work ethic immediately. I’m looking forward to a great year, and I hope you are, too.”

Even if it’s the truth, you probably should avoid trying to give the students the impression on the first day that you care more about order and compliance than you do about kids.

Consider holding off on the negative talk about rules and consequences until the students are convinced you are a likeable, reasonable human. Having a positive experience on Day One sets the tone for an upbeat, productive, happy year.

The second P: PROCEDURES

Bombarding students with a bunch of naggy rules from the outset is a no-no, but--as any good elementary school teacher will tell you--establishing efficient procedures is essential from the get-go. Like new puppies, your students have to be trained. What do I do when I enter the classroom? What’s the desired approach if I have a question to ask? Where would I find the make-up assignment if I miss a day of class? How am I supposed to conduct myself during daily warm-ups? How are papers handed out and handed in? What do I do if I finish an assignment or activity before my classmates? What are the permissible behaviors during silent reading time?

It’s best to introduce each new procedure as it is needed; no point in confusing students by making them learn or practice behaviors they won’t need to use until later. Teach a procedure the first time the first time you need it. Don’t let the students develop habits they’ll have to unlearn. If a procedure or routine doesn’t go as planned, stop, debrief, and practice it until the students get it right. Before you know it, your classroom will be a paragon of efficiency.

The third and fourth Ps: PLAN and PREPARE

Have a plan to keep the students engaged from the moment they enter to the second the final bell rings. Remember that the kids are sizing you up and determining whether the new teacher knows what he or she is doing. I don’t suggest diving into curriculum on Day One, but have something worthwhile for them to do that will engage them in your subject matter in some way.

Keep in mind that by the time third or fourth period rolls around, they’ve had their names butchered by several adults, played a number of hokey get-to-know-you games, and awkwardly introduced themselves to a roomful of strangers. Sadly, they have probably sat in a desk without moving for more time than they have remained immobile all summer and have heard several adults pontificate on classroom rules, school rules, and the importance of their class in relation to the other classes in the school.

If your plan includes something novel and engaging, you’ll be ahead of most. If you keep your students busy until the bell rings at the end of class, you will have established the expectation that you’re a teacher who values students’ time and is going to make the most of it. On the other hand, if, after 30 minutes, you run out of things to do and just let them talk amongst themselves for the rest of the period, you’ve communicated that not every moment is important, that you underplan, and that your class is going to provide plenty of unstructured time. Be prepared, and set the precedent from the first day that your class is worth attending--every second of it.

The fifth P: PERSONAL

Most students aren’t sure whether their teachers are human. It makes sense. Why would a reasonable human voluntarily go to school for an entire lifetime?

Your job--before you can get your students to work for you and learn from you--is to make a personal connection with them. Let them know you’re human, and, more important, that you care about them and value their contributions.

You can’t make other people like you. You can, however, make it clear that you like them. By making an investment in getting to know your students, you can reap the rewards down the road.

I seldom remember anything students tell the class during a get-to-know-you game on the first day of school because after about the tenth student, it all becomes a blur of names and faces and random snippets of information. Furthermore, it doesn’t really matter to me on the first day that I know what a student’s favorite food is, how many dogs or cats they have, and what music they listen to.

What matters to me is that they know that my classroom is a safe place where they can be themselves, take risks, and share ideas that will be valued by me and by their classmates. From the first minute, I’m working to build community because learning doesn’t happen when students are afraid or hesitant.  I don’t tolerate ridicule, name calling, or other disrespect, and I hope you don’t, either.

The get-to-know you games and group building activities aren’t for me to get to know the students; they’re for the students to become more comfortable with one another and perhaps identify some new friends or kindred spirits in the room. I don’t jump into weighty content until I feel that most of the students know that my room is a safe and fun place to learn.

Get to know your students. Greet them at the door. Smile. Say hello. Ask about their weekend. Don’t be a creepy adult, and don’t get too personal. You’re their teacher, not their pal. Sometimes you may need to be the adult voice of reason and order in the room.

The sixth P: PLAYFUL

If you’ve spent much time in my classroom, you know that I believe the line between work and play is a blurry one. This doesn’t mean that I let the classroom become an unruly, unstructured madhouse, though. People, young and not-so-young, love to play, so why can’t we make our classrooms playful places where learning is fun?

I want students leaving my class on the first day of school to say to one another, “I don’t know everything about Mr. McKinney’s class yet, but I can tell you that we’re going to have fun.” It’s okay to laugh, to move, and to look at the world through less-than-serious lenses.

I try never to ask my students to do anything I wouldn’t enjoy doing. Inevitably, what I have to teach sometimes involves things I wouldn’t enjoy doing. In those situations, I ask myself, “What could I do to make this a fun (or at least less miserable) experience?” Approaching my curriculum with a playful attitude helps build student curiosity and often yields creative results.

Try to inject some levity into your first day with a little playfulness: “gamify” an activity, inject some random elements, show a humorous video clip to make a point memorable, or bring in some music to use during transitions or as students form groups for a collaborative experience.

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By keeping the atmosphere positive and playful, establishing clear procedures, showing evidence of planning and preparation, and making your classroom a personal place, you’ve set the stage for a successful year with your new crop of students. They’ll know that you’re competent and caring, and they’ll be eager for more. I wish you all the success in the world! Enjoy what you do; it’s the best and most important job there is.