A December Classic AVIDized

'Twas the week before the holidays

And everywhere you'd look

AVID students were studying

With their giant notebooks.

In classes and tutorials

They were doing their bests

To settle their brains

For their end-of-year tests.

The teachers were confident

And beaming with pride

Because they saw the impact

Of AVID schoolwide.

The learning was active,

The thinking was deep,

So nary a student

Would nod off to sleep.

The challenge—how vigorous!

The questions were flowing,

With sights set on future plans

Of college-going.

In study groups, students

Were focused and steady

In hopes that their efforts

Made sure they were ready.

“On writing!  On inquiry!

On collaboration!

On reading, Cornell notes,

And organization!

To the top of the class

With an outstanding score--

With WICOR, with WICOR,

And WICOR some more!”

Your AVID kids thank you

For all that you've done

To make learning successful

And (dare I say?) fun.

They appreciate all

That you do for their sake;

They wish you a restful

And well-deserved break!

"EXAMS": Study tips for students

As the end of the semester approaches, teachers around the globe are giving their students the same piece of advice: “Study for your exams.”  The unfortunate thing is that many students have no idea what this means. Providing learners with a clear picture of what studying looks like will help them develop practices that will yield results on final exams and other assessments. Here’s an acronym you could use with your students as you help them learn to organize their study efforts:

How to Study for Your Exams

Explain:  

Studying is not a passive activity. Many students think reading over their notes or review packets is an effective study technique, when in reality, it does little to reinforce long-term understanding. Study actively! Try explaining the material in your own words. Work collaboratively with a study partner, or tell your dog, your favorite plant, or your little sister all about what you’re learning. If you can explain it, there’s a good chance that you understand it.    

X (focus on the Xs):

Teachers traditionally put an X on a student’s paper to indicate questions or objectives the student answered incorrectly. But when students study for a test over the same material later, they often treat everything equally. Don’t waste your time re-studying all the things you already know. Pinpoint your points of confusion and work on ways to make sure you understand those difficult parts.      

Ask Questions:

Use Costa’s Levels of Thinking to write (and answer) questions about the content you are studying. Predict the questions you think might be asked on the exam. Higher-level questions can help you make connections between the things you’ve learned throughout the semester.  

Manage time and materials:

Schedule blocks of time to study, and turn off your cell phone so you can concentrate on the task at hand. Make sure you have all the materials you need: textbooks, review packet, old tests and quizzes, class notes, and whatever resources your teacher has recommended. Make a plan for how and when to study, and stick to it!  

Sleep and study breaks:   

Pulling an “all-nighter” sounds like a good idea when you’re under pressure to do well on an exam, but a tired brain isn’t a fully-functioning brain. To prepare your brain to do its best, make sure that you get some rest. Also, reward yourself for your hard work by taking short breaks while you study. After mental exertion, your brain needs some time to relax.  

Good luck during exam week!

Reining Them In: A New Year's Tradition

Teenagers think they can make better decisions on their own behalf than they actually can.

This is why adults have to say things like things like, “It’s time to turn off the Nintendo and go to bed,” “Don’t eat that package of Ho Hos; you’ll spoil your dinner,” and, “Put the phone down and finish your homework.”

I’m not saying that teens unilaterally make poor choices. I’m simply observing that oftentimes what a student thinks is in his or her best interest at the time may not be.

For instance, if a teacher decides--in the name of giving students some autonomy--to allow her students to determine where they want to sit in class, a handful of students will consider legit factors, such as where they can best pay attention or where they can see the whiteboard without having to put on their dreaded glasses, while most will seize the opportunity to sit with their besties and put learning on the back burner. Inevitably, this leads to classroom management headaches for the teacher and decreased productivity for the students.

Thanks a lot, you’re thinking. Now you tell me, Craig, after I have spent 14 weeks trying to be the “cool” teacher while struggling with unruly students who sit wherever they please, feel entirely too comfortable, and are now running the place.

Sorry to be the late-breaking bearer of bad news. Don’t fret, though. There’s hope around the corner. In a little over a month, we will be beginning a new semester, and the new year is a great time for a natural readjustment of your practices and procedures.

I’ll let you in on a little secret I have learned after doing this education thing for a while: Young people secretly love structure.

In the same way that many dogs love crawling back into their kennels because confined spaces provide them comfort and security, students seek predictable routines and boundaries, even though they may try to push them at times.

I recently finished R.J. Palacio’s novel Wonder (a “wonder”ful, heart-wrenching read for middle grade children and adults, too) and cringed at the narrator’s description of the horrors of the school cafeteria.

Via had warned me about lunch in middle school, so I guess I should have known it would be hard. I just hadn't expected it to be this hard. Basically, all the kids from all the fifth-grade classes poured into the cafeteria at the same time, talking loudly and bumping into one another while they ran to different tables. One of the lunchroom teachers said something about no seat-saving allowed, but I didn't know what she meant and maybe no one else did, either, because just about everybody was saving seats for their friends. I tried to sit down at one table, but the kid in the next chair said, "Oh, sorry, but somebody else is sitting here."

He vividly describes his anxiety over finding a friend to sit with and his dread of facing the cruelty of the social pecking order. It’s a situation that reappears in books, movies, and on television, so it must be a universal adolescent terror.  

A seating chart is just one way to take that stress out of a student’s day. Imagine being the kid who is trying to do the right thing and make a learning-conducive seat choice while being pressured to sit with his friends who would rather socialize. If the teacher makes that decision, there’s a scapegoat to blame. No one gets ostracized. Everyone has a place. And students learn to work and get along with with others they might not seek on their own.

The seating chart is just one component of a mid-year do-over. My general advice to teachers is to create a classroom environment that is “comfortably structured.” Harsh rigidity doesn’t promote learning. Efficiency does.

If you look around your classroom during these first few weeks of December and wonder how things reached this point of chaos in just three short months, take the opportunity to set some resolutions to rein your students in on the first day back in January. Establish some guidelines for running an efficient classroom. Clarify (or create) expectations. Concentrate on minimizing non-instructional class time. Plan carefully, and take that extra moment to make sure you’ve got everything in place before the day begins. Create routines for partner- and small-group work. Post and explain learning targets and goals for each day. Sure, it’s not as fun for kids as letting them be in charge, but I promise that, even though they may not say it, most of them will be grateful for it.    

When you show up to class looking like you are in charge, your students will respond accordingly. Don’t be a tyrant. Just be a leader who knows what is going on, has a clear direction, and is acting in the best interests of those you are leading. That’s what everyone wants from a leader, right?

Thanks (20 little moments of gratitude)

As a person whose job is to support teachers and to promote and enhance learning for students, I have many things to be thankful for. As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to be mindful of those things and name them. At a time like this when the world around us seems turbulent, remembering the reasons we are grateful seems particularly appropriate.

1. I am thankful for the teachers who and professors who believed in me, nurtured the best in me, helped me see possibilities I didn’t know existed within myself, and modeled for me that “Conveyor of Knowledge” is the least important job of  any educator.
2. I am thankful for time to rest, reset, reflect, and reconnect with my pillow and my Netflix account because attempting to do good and make a difference is hard work.  
3. I am thankful for classrooms that are safe places for students to take risks and to be themselves.
4. I am thankful for teachers (and teams) who thoughtfully plan with student needs in mind and remain solution-oriented, when complaining and making excuses would be much easier.
5. I am thankful for difficult students because without challenges, we would never grow.
6. I am thankful for receptionists, office personnel, counselors, nurses, custodians, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, and the other vital members of the school team who work tirelessly to make sure school runs smoothly so teachers can focus on the important work of teaching.   
7. I am thankful for professional learning, which helps us understand the “why” behind the “what” and provides us with the “how” to make it all happen.
8. I am thankful for vowels bcs wrtng wld b cnfsng wtht thm.  
9. I am thankful for school librarians who foster a love of literacy, put the right books in the right students’ hands, and teach students to find things in an increasingly messy world of information.
10. I am thankful for administrators who provide the resources, the time, the support, and the vision to help their teachers transform lives.
11. I am thankful that I live in a country that denies education to no child and that our schools reflect the full spectrum of our population.
12. I am thankful for second and third chances because we don’t always get it right on the first attempt and some of us take longer than others.
13. I am thankful for teachers who realize that most of the time they need to shut up and let their students do the talking.
14. I am thankful for visionary leaders at whatever level who make decisions from the heart as well as the head and keep the best interests of students in mind.
15. I am thankful for educators who make their students do the heavy lifting but remain nearby to encourage them and swoop in to support them if they falter.  
16. My gratitude also goes to those who, like this sentence, don’t conform to the conventional patterns set by society. May they find a place, too.  
17. I am happy for reflective practitioners who look back on each day and ask themselves, “How did that go, and how can I improve?”
18. I am thankful for students, administrators, teachers, and anyone else who keeps going even when it seems difficult because we won’t get where we want to be without some bumps in the road (and perhaps a few wrong turns and detours).  
19. I am thankful for the opportunities an education provides for me and for the students I have taught.
20. I am thankful for students who remind us every day why we do what we do.