Summer Is Not Here Yet - Tips To Stay Motivated and Energized

See that kid walking in; the one who smiles every day and then just kind of retracts into their own world.  yeah that child, well, it is not too late to make a connection.  In fact, now, as the end of the years nears is the perfect time to try again.  I know you are busy, I know summer looms large, but still, how about another try?

With less than 5 weeks to go, some are in summer mode, both teachers and students, and others continue to push on.  At the end of every day with my students I say, "There goes another day in 5th grade but boy we have a lot to do."  In our room there is a sense of urgency; a need for efficiency, hard work and a little bit of pressure because the learning just does not have time to wait.  Students are busy with larger end of the year projects and I work more as consultant than direct instructor.  Sure side conversations slip in but overall there is a sense of mission.    A sense of using the year to the fullest degree, of finishing with a bang rather than a fizzle.

So what can we do to keep ourselves motivated?

• Reach out and speak to someone new.  We tend to retract during this time, feeling that our schedules are overpacked and there is so much to do but there is something about reaching out and making a new connection.  Whether it is with a student, a colleague, or a parent even, now is the time to continue to build relationships.  It provides spark and energy and new ideas, what else could you want in May.
• Get heavily invested.  I am very invested in these end of the year projects and I am in new territory with all of them. Students are acting as teachers in one with an assessment piece even tied in by them.  Another lets us use Adobe Elements which I have never attempted, you get the drift.  Instead of resting and trying something safe, I continue to push it and it keeps me revitalized, which directly translates to the energy level of the classroom.
• Now is the time for conversation.  Although my mind is fully in this year, knowing I have a maternity leave coming up, I want to make sure I set my sub up with the best options, so my students and I speak a lot about what works and what doesn't.  How would they tweak the classroom, how would they alter projects and so forth.  I, in turn, listen and take notes, changing as I go.
• Trust them more.  I see some teachers pull in the reins and really try to control students more as the end of year nears.  And yes, energy levels are up across the board and yet, I give mine more leeway.  I trust them more to make the right decisions, to represent, and to push themselves.  They have grown so much over the year, now is the time to acknowledge that.
• Crank the music.  And don't take yourself so seriously.  Yes, you may be frazzled with so much to do, we all are, but is it fair to give that to the students?  I try to laugh more, smile more, and dance more as the year comes to a close.  We al need the body breaks and you an get a lot of classroom cleaning done with a great 80's song blaring.
• Stay with the kids.  And with that I mean, in your mind and in your heart.  I always have an awful time letting go of "my" kids even though I know they are ready, but it is something I pride myself on.  These kids know I am fully focused on them and on their academics.  They know that I want to hear their stories and I want to support them.  Even though our official year is almost over does not mean our relationship is.  So I continue to work on all of my relationships with them to ensure that they know that they belong, that they are accepted, and that room 310 will always be their home, no matter how old they get.

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How Do I Punish My Students? Umm, I Try Not To

Recently a comment on my post "If We Would Just Stop Talking, We Might Learn Something" has made me think quite a bit.  Short and simple, it asked, "Do you have your non-punishment strategies written down?  Could you please share it?"  And I went hmmm, non-punishment strategies sounds much more fancy than what I have.  The truth is, I don't have any strategies; I simply do not punish kids.  In fact, even the word punish is such a heavily loaded word that I cringe at the sound of it.  It brings to mind canning or  publicly embarrassing children, simply not my thing.  So instead I handle situations as they arise, mostly with common sense.  Let me explain by taking some every day situations in a classroom...

• A student keeps blurting out.  Sense of humor works for me here most of the time and I tend to look at it through a positive lens; wow, that kid can't wait to share the answer because they are having so much fun!  Strategies used to curb or direct it has been to give them dry-erase boards to write down their answers and then flash them to me or have them tell it to a partner.  If the blurting is more like an epidemic I place a blank post-it on their desk and have them make a tally every time they blurt out.  This is used for self-awareness not as a way to reward or punish and I have seen it help kids realize the extent of their blurting who were otherwise unaware.
• Homework is not handed in.  Even in a classroom where I try to stay homework-free, some students do not use their time as effectively as others and may have a page or two to do at the end of the day, mostly math.  So the first thing we speak about is time management; what could they be doing differently in class to curtail taking work home?  Then we also discuss taking responsibility for not having their work; if a child tells me in the morning that they did not do their homework and have a strategy for getting it done such as bringing it tomorrow or spending some time during recess, then I am fine with that plan.  The point to the conversation is; I don't want to be the one that has to come up with the plan or have to find out that they didn't do their work.  They need to come to me, take responsibility for it and then fix it.  Just like we do as adults.
• And yet, the homework continues to not get done.  This does not happen a lot in my room because we just don't have the homework.  And yet it does happen once in a blue moon. Besides a conversation with the student where we discuss things they have tried to fix it, we often do a quick phone call home to discuss strategy with parents.  This is not a punishing phone call but instead a "heads-up" we need to give a little more support here both at school and from home because the work is disappearing.  Often I find the root of this to be disorganization rather than laziness, so my number one point is; ask what happened!
• Students goof off and generally not paying attention.  This is a huge flashing sign to me that what I am doing is not engaging and that the kids need a break.  So unless I for some extreme reason cannot stop what I am doing, I do just that; stop and switch gears.  Whether it just entails giving them a body break or asking them how they would like to learn about this concept something needs to change.  I have also had them do partner share, journaling, or whatever pops into my head to make sure they stay engaged.  Sometimes a lesson is continued but in a different format, sometimes we scrap it for the day.  
• Students are staring into space, reading a book or doing other work.  For anyone who has ever been absorbed in a great book, we know how hard it is to stop reading, so I always smile a little when I see a student reading under the table.  And yet, students do need to be doing whatever it is we are doing at the moment.  Often a quick tap on the shoulder or even just silence and waiting for them to join the rest of us works.  It is not a big deal, nor do I make it into one.  

Yes, I have had students throw chairs and tables in my room, yes I have had students hit each other, and yes, I have had to send students to the office because they needed a cool down moment.  And still, even during those more extreme situations, I always try to keep in mind that there is a cause to this behavior and it is my job to figure it out.  So I do not punish my students.  I do not take away their privileges to coerce them to behave.  I do not threaten, I do not dangle things in front of their nose.  Instead I start out the year by inviting them to create the rules of the classroom and then asking them to responsibility for it.  We help each other out, we steer each other as we do, and we take the time to talk.

So although I may claim to not have any strategies, the one I might have is to listen with not just my ear,s but also my eyes.  Listen to what their behavior tells me, listen to what they tell me, and then listen to my own reflection on how to create better situations.  And that's how I don't punish my students.

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The One Word that Defines Us

Image from here

If there is one word that sums up my classroom management it is "Represent."  It is the word I leave hanging in the air behind me if I have to leave early.  It is the word I write on the board if there is a sub the next day.  It is a word we discuss, we make our own, and in some ways it ends up defining us as a group.  It is not indoctrinated, neither are my students punished if they fail to live up to it.  It just becomes a hole system, without us even being aware of it.  No rules posted, no heavy-handed discussions, just the word and all of the meaning it has.

According to the dictionary one of the many meanings of the words is To stand for; symbolize and that is exactly what it means for us. When my students are on their own they still represent the community we have created, they are carriers of the message we have chosen to nourish; tolerance, respect, politeness, and engagement.  When we go anywhere we represent our community, our school's values and those of our parents.  We symbolize what we strive to be, we stand for being upright citizens, humans beings with empathy who know how to act.

Yesterday, a teacher paid me the biggest compliment I could get, "Your students just seem to get it, when they are asked to clean up they do it right away and they do it as a group."  I couldn't be prouder.  They do it as a group, they take care of where they are, even when I am not there.  I don't force the word, it comes up naturally throughout the year and we never define it formally, but it us and it is who we choose to be when we are engaged in school.  It s what we choose to do whether spoken or not.  I could not be prouder of these kids.

I Have Managed

Image from here

This year, I have managed

• To go without rewards and still have students work hard
• To go without punishment and still be respected by my students
• To shift the focus from "what's my grade?" to "what are we trying to learn?"
• To have 23 responsible students that are learning to self-advocate
• To not teach to the test, in fact, we really don't do tests but show our knowledge in a  different way
• To teach study skills without boring students to tears
• To share responsibility for the room
• To have hands-on learning and still cover all of the standards
• To see growth in all of my students and even better to have them recognize it themselves
• To have students groan at the end of the day because they don't want to stop their work
• To have students discuss without raising their hand
• To not manage my students but have a classroom where we each know our part and responsibility
• To expand my family by 23 students and change

What have you managed?  How can I help?

You Know Those Kids in 5th, They Become Those Kids in 6th...

My 5th grade team met with some of the 6th grade team at the middle school, one of those rare occurrences where everyone's schedule just meshes and you finally get to sit down and discuss expectations.  Hallelujah!  While the whole meeting was a gem to be a part of, one thing that struck me was that the kids who are struggling in elementary are the kids that end up struggling in middle school.  Simple conclusion, yes, but think about the impact of that...

Those kids who have problems handing in work, or don't know how to ask for help, or who sit back and wait for someone else to figure it out, they keep doing it in middle school.  Those kids who don't show up to school, or show up with half of their things, who seem unaffected when we ask where their work is, or why they didn't finish something.  Who horse around, who get in trouble at the blink of an eye, those kids that the whole school seems to know.  Sure ,those kids come to us like that in 5th, much like they came to their teachers in 4th the same way, and yet I wonder; what are we doing to change their habits?

The age old system of losing recess, docking points for late assignments, a stern talking to, parent phone calls, and drill and kill don't seem to be putting these kids on a different path.  Neither does compassion and community, showing that you care and giving them extra time.  We don't seem to be having many eureka moments.  So what can we change?  How can we intervene differently?  How can we stop the cycle?  That's what I left wondering after today.

5 Steps to Letting Go and Learning More

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege to give a webinar for SimpleK12 on the topic of student centered learning.  I am not an expert on this topic, far from it, but I am someone who has done it by following her own instincts and now can marvel at the classroom I get to be a part of.  The webinar was very short and we had a lot of questions, the biggest one being, "How do I get started?"  So here are the first 5 steps I took to give my students more control:

1. Search your heart.  Before you let go of certain aspects of the classroom you have to figure out what you can live with.  Can you live with more noise?  More movement?  More conversation?  Someone asked me if it was a lot more work to teach in a student-centered classroom to which I answered no, it is the same amount of work as I put in before but now I do it in school rather than outside of it.  If you cannot handle more noise you may want to dig a little deeper and try to figure out why, it may be that you fear students will goof off or get off task, which yes that still happens but much less frequently.  If they are engaged they will work.
2. Tell the kids why.  Too often we make decisions and never tell students what led us to those decisions.  Every year I start out with a discussion of why our classroom is the way it is and how I envision it to run.  I set high expectations for my students who are always surprised at the environment and I let them ask questions.  One thing that inevitably comes up is whether they can earn rewards (nope) so I politely discuss why they should not expect that from me.  That also includes limited homework (if they work hard in school I don't need to take up their time outside of school), no letter grades except for on report cards (we have conversations and feedback instead), and no punishment (no lost recesses here most of the time).
3. Then let them talk. I tell the students this is our room and that they need to decide what type of learning environment they want to be a part of.  This conversation is totally student-run, they brainstorm in small groups and then share their results.  They do not post a list of rules or even vote.  We discuss, decide and then move on to bigger things.  Throughout the year we re-visit our expectations and tweak them if we have to.  The level of responsibility and buy-in to the classroom immediately increases without me having to beg for it.
4. I challenge them.  Every year, I have some sort of team challenge right after they have set the rules to see whether they can figure out how to work together.  This year it was the amazing Bloxes challenge that brought my students together and got them excited.  Throughout the year we do mini-challenges to continue working on teamwork and expectations for the classroom. Different students step up as leaders, again without my direction, and they share the success of the challenge together.  And challenges doesn't have to be anything crazy, it can be to give them an extra science lesson to explore whatever they want.  Teachers think there is no time for this sort of thing but there is, because our engagement level is higher we get through our curriculum quicker which gives us time to explore.  The biggest time waster in a classroom is usually the teacher talking at the students - how much do you really need to talk?
5. I ask the kids.  No single thing is more important in our classroom than the voice of the students.  How do they want to learn something, how can we improve, what are we missing?   All of these questions pop up on a regular basis and they add so much to our curriculum.  I know what the goals of learning need to be but the students can certainly work on how we will get there.  Even at an elementary level these kids have incredible ideas and methods for covering curriculum thus getting natural buy-in (no carrot and stick needed) and increasing their enthusiasm for school.

This is how I get started in my classroom every year.  I didn't read a book that told me to do these things, instead I asked, "Would I want to be a student in my own classroom?"  That answer is now a resounding yes!  We do a lot of hands-on learning, student-led exploration, and try to keep school fun no matter what we are doing.  I love coming to school, I love my students, and I am proud of what they accomplish every day.  

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All Hail the Rambunctious Girls - What Will Ever Come of Them?

"Mommy, mommy help...." Thea is hiding in the house and has managed to get herself stuck.  I free her and off she runs; things to do, mommy, things to do.  I look at my little girl, the picture of energy, rambunctiousness, and vitality and I wonder what will school do to her?

At her daycare now she is one of few girls.  She plays with the boys, which suits her perfectly as she likes to climb, explore, and run around.  She also likes to read books and play with dolls but only sometimes.  Most of the time she is on the go, unstoppable, invincible and always headed for adventure.  She is not good at sitting still and being spoken to.  She sometimes wants to help but it does not come natural to her. And yet in two years when she enters school she is expected to embrace quietness, helpfulness, and eagerness to please much like any other girl in our society.  And if she doesn't, she will be flagged.

We speak of how our school system fails boys, much like Josh Stumpenhorst just did in his excellent post, and yet we forget that by making these statements we push girls into the subservient roles we expect of them.  Our traditional classrooms call for quiet compliance and buy-in to whatever we propose.  Girls are trained quicker to fit this pattern than boys.  From an early age society expects girls to be selective with their words, complacent, and eager to help others.  We expect them to do their homework on time, to do whatever we ask of them and to give us whatever we need.  We don't think girls will mind when we take away recess, or when we suggest quiet reading time rather than an activity.  We don't think girls will mind always being the ones we ask for help, mind that they are the ones tasked with mothering other students, mind that we have them so far squeezed into a role that we do  not understand when they fight it.

And yet, Thea is not that girl, and I love her for it.  I see myself in her and I see her personality as a great thing.  She is not one to be quiet, she is nice yes, but she would rather be outside than sit and wait for someone to tell her what to do.  She has ideas, grand ones, filled with ambitious building and tearing down.  There is no plan, she is not meticulous in her details and perhaps she never will be.  How will she fit into the traditional role of a girl?  How will she cope with the pressures to conform that we all place on her.  Boys are not ever viewed as being naughty when they are loud, they are just being boys.  But girls are undisciplined, unruly, when they buck against the traditional role.  Girls confuse us when they don't sit quietly and say please and thank you.  We have such high expectations for our daughters and our female students but maybe we should reevaluate them and stop thinking that all girls are naturally compliant.  Perhaps instead we should wait and see how they turn out and then embrace their personality. Let them be wild, let them be loud, let them be free.

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What Dreams Reminds Us Of

Last night I lost control of my class.  It was a dream, of course, it being Sunday today, but I have had this dream before.  The students are older - nothing likethose  older students to be disrespectful.  The classroom is crowded - poor teaching conditions.  The task is simple and yet they don't understand.  They talk amongst themselves.  They get up and move around to talk.  They are too busy, too bored, to listen to me.

So I raise my voice and I yell at them.  Except in this dream I always start to lose my voice thus leaving me  feeling powerless.  The students proceed with their misbehavior.

They rush into the task I have created, they do it wrong.  I signal for their attention by yelling but I cannot yell over the crowd.  They ignore me and we do not get through what we need to.

They start to answer my questions but they are doing it all wrong and the frustration increases until finally the bell rings; class dismissed. the students are upset, I am ready to quit teaching, and my heart is pounding.

The first time I had this dream I thought it was a reflection of me and it was; how I used to be.  How I used to control my classroom.  Yet this dream is nothing like my now classroom.  The students are the perfect age for me, they are moving around because they learn better that way.  They pay attention when they need to and I barely ever raise my voice.  Instead I wait until I get their attention and then provide them with the task.  But the biggest difference; the task itself.  In the dream the task is meaningless, not tied into anything, and totally controlled by me.  In reality our tasks are building blocks, shaped by the students and with a bigger purpose.

So I wake from  my nightmare shook up but aware that i have changed my reality.  That I no longer thrive on controlling my students but relish the freedom they have in my room.  Relish the community we have built.  relish the learning happening.  My brain may be playing tricks on me but it does serve a reminder of why I changed my classroom philosophy; I did it for the students.

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Why Trusting Your Gut Can Be the Best Classroom Management Course You Ever Take

A year and a half ago, I went through a radical change in the way I am as a teacher. The whole foundation of what my classroom was was discarded and re-born, all on the basis of my gut instinct. It told me that to increase student motivation and increase buy-in that my method of teaching and, indeed, the whole feel of my classroom had to change.  That to see motivation increase and excitement build that the old method I was using was so far away from what I wanted that it simply should not exist anymore. So instead of dismissing what some may have viewed as a crazy whim, unsafe territory if you must, I pursued, I went there and I took the chance of implementing it into my classroom and my unsuspecting students.  

I trusted my instincts and my own desire for how my schooling should have been; projects, team-work, choices.  And now in the second year into this implementation I am the proof that it works.  I am the proof that if you believe in your students, if you believe in their ability to make great choices, to work together as teams rather than as individuals their learning will benefit.  I have students who love coming to school, and not just those 50% that love you no matter what they do.  I have kids that had given up, that believed that they could not succeed, that they were not smart enough to go to school, now tell me that they love coming, that they cannot wait to learn.  That they cannot wait to be challenged.  They may not ace every single assignment but they try and they grown.  They may not get the grades that others get but they participate, they share and they know that their voice is just as important as those who used to be the top-kids, the stars of the room.  They smile, they belong, and they own the community.  School is a place they want to come to, not somewhere they have to go.  

I cannot take credit for all of this because the students trusted me as well.  They trusted me with their dreams of school and of learning.  They trusted me with how they want to learn, how they see themselves as individuals and the paths they want to take.  That speaks a lot of the relationships we have created.  Those children trusted me enough to let me in, and to make our classroom their second home.  So my classroom is the proof that these strategies work, even if you do not know that is what you are doing.  My classroom is the proof that sometimes following your gut is more important than following any college class on classroom management. My classroom is the proof that even though your mentor does it one way, it is ok for you to do it completely different. We can change the way we do school and we can make school all about the children.  We just have to be willing to change ourselves.

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The Story of the Child that Changed Me

If I could go back and undo what I did to a child some years ago I would.  This child, who so desperately needed to feel in control of something in their life, came to me and only got more of the same.  Less control, more demands, more punishment, rather than a safe haven to feel like they was ok, like they belonged, like they were listened to.  They say you learn from your mistakes, and this is one of those kids I have learned from the most.  

    Peter wasn’t always unhappy, as evidenced by the smiling pictures I saw of him from younger years.  By the time he reached the third grade though life had gotten in the way and those smiles were far and few in between. The first time I met him, his mother dragged him into my room late for orientation and started to tell me how I would have a hard time with this one because he was lazy and didn’t care.  I don’t think any child’s shoulders have ever slumped more than that.  As I nodded through his mother’s complaints, I swore that I would be different, that Peter would start to love school again, that I would help turn this kid around.  Looking back, I see now how failed this notion was given the constraints I had placed myself under in my classroom.  I was a novice teacher, someone who still believed that I should run my classroom like those who had come before me, like people I had read about in textbooks, like they had taught me in college.  I believed that the teacher was the power, the one with all of the knowledge, and the best way for students to learn was to listen to me dole out wisdom.  Sure there would be fun, we would have parties and rewards for homework turned in and good behavior.  There would also be punishment for those who misbehaved or dared to not hand in their homework.  Grades would be motivation and threats would be the norm.  Nothing like building a relationship with a child by telling them if they don’t comply they will get an F.

    So Peter put his trust in me and at first I got him to smile, to open up a little, to have some success.  Days passed and I thought I was helping, I was fixing, I was changing this child’s life.  That is, until he didn’t do his homework.  I didn’t take the time to find out why, I didn’t ask any questions, but just told him to put his name on the board and to stay in for recess.  During recess he worked so slowly, punishing me for calling him out in front of the class, that the next day his homework was still not done.  Again, I didn’t ask any questions but just called him out, embarrassing him a little and then told him again that recess would be mine until this math was done.  Again slow and painful work meant that he barely finished.  What I didn’t know was that our power struggle had just begun and it would last the whole year.  Me in the role of enforcer, as supreme teacher that took away instead of gave, that punished rather than asked questions, that wanted more control rather than let him have some.  You see, I think all Peter wanted was control.  He wanted a space where he could come in and feel that he had a voice, that he mattered, that he belonged.  But by removing control from the classroom and even more so for him, I didn’t let him find his voice.  I didn’t let him invest himself into the classroom.  I didn’t change his mind or change his ways about school, I just let him live up to what his mother had so thoroughly predicted; that he was a no good troublemaker.

    Peter made me almost quit teaching because I saw what I had done to him.  I saw by the end of fourth grade how my decisions to run my classroom in a traditional sense had taken all of his pleasure out of learning.  I knew that summer that I had to change and one of the biggest things to go was the passion for control.  Students had to feel they belonged because they had to feel it was their room.  They had to have a genuine voice that listened to their needs and let them shape the classroom.  They had to have room to grow, to fail, and to embrace each other’s strengths through collaboration and hands on exploration.  No more teacher as the sage on the stage, but rather shine the light on the students.  Had I given Peter classroom like the one we create now, he would have had a reason to speak up, to get invested.  He would have loved the choices, how his voice mattered, and how his creative side could be explored.  He would have perhaps taken a small leadership role to show the other kid that he was worthy, to show them that he did belong on the team, he would have cared.

I run my classroom now with the mantra of students first in everything I do.  Their voice matters, their choices matter, and their opinions matter.  I do not punish and I do not reward.  Students work together when we can and always have a choice in how they do things.  They sit wherever they want and we try to eliminate homework.  If you work hard in our room you do not have to bring the work home.  They belong, they own the room, it is theirs and that is what I should have done from the moment I started teaching. I realized it isn’t about me, but about them.  I can never undo what I did to Peter and those other students before him but I can make sure I never do it again.  I have changed my teaching style because of this child and for that I am grateful, even if he will never know how much he influenced me.

No Size Fits All - Some Thoughts on Prescribed Systems in the Classroom

I am sometimes asked what system I used in my classroom; which system do you prescribe to to get them to act this way, which system do you believe in for your philosophy.  I always feel like a disappointment when I tell them, "None."  It is not that I am pioneer within education, or a maverick, but rather that I don't believe in systems.  A system to me means prescribed, a system means rigidity, rules to follow, and scripts to use.  I tried that for 2 years when I first started teaching and it failed, horrifically and miserably.  My classrooms doesn't work that way, it doesn't fit into a book description.   So while some people may say I fall under whatever system they think, I always giggle a little because the truth is much simpler.

I follow the Pernille system.  The one that says to listen to your students, give them a voice, get out of the way, and then change your mind when needed.  The system I use has no book or no guidelines but only common sense and a lot of reflection.  I don't manage my children, they are not stress I must constrain.  I guide them, they guide me and we trade spots more often than I can count.   I do not read a book to see how I should train my students the first week of school; they are not circus animals getting ready for a performance.  Instead we get to know each other and we laugh a lot because laughter is a key ingredient in my life.   I do not hide the "real" Pernille from my students because I believe education must be authentic to be meaningful.  My students share their emotions and opinions whenever they can.

I know that if I wanted a book-deal or masses of followers I should call my system something, my husband jokes about that all the time.  That way people could refer to it and ask themselves, "Well what would Pernille do?"  And then they would be confused as to why my system wouldn't work as well for them, because  a system has to be as personal as your classroom.  You borrow, you steal,  you get inspired by others, but in the end your voice and that of your students is the one that needs to  shout the loudest and it needs flexibility and adaption skills.  So trust in yourself, sure read the books, ask the questions and then reflect; what will you do and what will your students do?  Hint:  It requires conversations with your students to create your own system.  Good luck.

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• 10 Ways to Make it "Their" Room (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• The Real Reason Kids Are Missing From School (coopcatalyst.wordpress.com)

This is My Room - How Controlling Ones Classroom Can Send the Wrong Message

I used to be the ruler of my universe; my classroom, the queen of the systems.  You need to sharpen your pencil?  There's a system for that.  You need to leave the classroom?  Here is the system for that.  How we walk down the hallway, how we get our jackets and backpacks.  How we act when others come into the classroom, how we borrow books from the library, how we borrow supplies.  Don't answer the phone, don't sit in my chair, don't eat your food now, don't, don't don't...Everything had a protocol, rules to be followed, always designated by me, and I was exhausted.  I was so busy keeping track of all my check out sheets and reminders that I forgot to just enjoy what I was doing with the students.  I was so wrapped up in managing my space that I lost focus on what was important and instead wasted time getting upset when my system wasn't followed.  It was time-consuming, overcomplicated, and downright ridiculous.

Yet I feared what I knew had to be the opposite of my contrived systems; chaos.  I feared what would happen if I just let a kid check out a book without having them sign it out and leave it in their desk at the end of the day.  I feared what would happen if I didn't know who had which manipulative, or how many pencils someone had borrowed from me.  Add that fear drove those systems forward until they got me so lost that I didn't know the teacher I was anymore.

So I stopped the endless control.  I "let" students borrow books from my library and take them home.  After all, the worst that could happen if a book was lost was that another child might read it.  I showed the students where I kept all of the supplies and let them grab what they wanted.  I had them unpack and come in from the hallway in the way that suited them best; some need one trip, some need more.  I stopped obsessing over our systems and gave the room to the students instead.

And the result?  Not chaos as I had feared, but ownership.  It turned out that these students knew exactly how to take care of our space and actually were a lot more invested when they felt it was theirs.  They no longer come into my room, but into our room.  They no longer ask permission to use a stapler or use some tape, they just do it.  They fight me over my chair, and take pencils when they need.  They now welcome others to our room, answer the phone with their name, and take over the space every day.  I don't manage them, but instead focus on our learning.   Giving back the classroom to my students righted a wrong I didn't know I had committed; I had taken their space from them.  I often remind myself that teaching is not about me but all about them, and now our room reflects that.  Does yours?

My Barren Wasteland - A Room Without Rewards

A barren wasteland with no smiling allowed.  A silent classroom with a teacher standing sternly at the front slapping a ruler against their palm waiting for the next kid that dares to actually have a good time.  These are all images people tend to get when I say I do not believe in rewards.

Recently I wrote a post detailing how I reward my students through time rather than extrinsic motivators.  One comment I received asked me whether I believed in whole classroom rewards or not, which is a question I often get.  The answer is no.  I don't believe in the idea of rewards and agree with Alfie Kohn when he states that "Rewards and punishment  are ways of manipulating behavior that destroy the potential for real learning."

I believe that rewards twist the focus of the classroom and provides students with a false reason to want to engage.  I believe that rewards always end up benefiting the same students and some are always left out.  I know some will say that classroom rewards are the answer to that inequity, but ask yourself; how often have you taken away classroom points or not given marbles based on the actions of one kid or just a couple?  I know I used to even though it did not reflect the behavior of the whole classroom.  So you still produce an inequity because the other kids certainly know who it is that makes them lose points and believe me that plays into social situations sooner or later.

The bottom line for me is when we perpetually stick a carrot in front of students faces whether it be through points, letters, or marbles, we are teaching them that they should not do anything without a reward.  So while in the short term it may work to have kids get points to earn something as a classroom, in the long run it is not shaping their behavior to want to behave simply for the greater good.  I need kids that want to be in my classroom and I expect kids to take responsibility for their behaviors.  So I do not make kids "earn" anything in the reward sense, and I do not single out kids.  Instead we celebrate class-wide whenever an occasion arises.   Celebrations are given not earned and they can be based on whether we have achieved something or it is a certain time of year.  Often students and I discuss how we should celebrate something and it is never ever taken away from them.    I never use it is a way to manipulate their behavior or to point out anything.  We simply celebrate, and there is always a lot to celebrate!

So while classroom rewards may seem harmless, think of what it projects.  Think of what message it really is sending the students.  Are we trying to tell them that we do not expect them to behave without some sort of reward?  Are we trying to tell them that society will always reward them extrinsically whenever they do what is expected of them, because if we are, those kids will be mightily disappointed in adult life.

Related articles

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• We Say it is All About the Kids (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• Rewards: motivating compliance or learning? (coopcatalyst.wordpress.com)

Peter, Sit Up and Listen - Or Why Using Student Names in Punishment only Backfires

Joe, you need to pay attention.  Sit up, Peter!  Lisa, what happened there?  All day and every day, we use our students names when they are off task, when they are fiddling, sleeping, or simply not performing to the high standard we have set for them.  We make snap decisions, judge them, and punish them as we continue on with our lesson.  We don't always have the time to dig deep so we assume we know why they are fiddling, we assume we know why they are not paying attention, and so we correct, coerce, call out their names until they are with us again.  


Their names.  Something that is so intricately linked with who they are as a budding person.  Their names so linked with their identities.  And yet we use them to our advantage, simply to remain in control of the classroom.  One more tool to make sure all eyes are on me!


This week I asked my students to finish the sentence: "Being a good teacher means..." and what Nathan wrote really hit home: "Don’t yell out the kids name that does something wrong."  At first, I scoffed at this notion, after all, what else are we supposed to do as teachers when our students are off task?  Calling out their names is one of the most efficient ways to re-direct them because that is really all we are doing, right? Wrong, calling out a student's name in front of the whole class means that the whole class knows that the student is not doing what they ought to.  Calling out a name means that what one student is doing (or not doing) becomes the focus of the entire class.  Yes, you achieve your goal of attention redirection, but you also publicly humiliate that child.  It is time to stop with the name calling.


So what can one do instead, because we all know, there are times when even the most attentive student gets off-track


Well, I first re-evaluate myself, after all if they are spacing out, what am I doing to cause it? After all; if I was actually doing something interesting they might be well interested.  


If I find that I am indeed offering up something interesting, I wonder if they need a body break?  Even the most exciting topic becomes mundane after I have spoken about it for more than 10 minutes in my good "preacher" voice.


If this doesn't seem to be the root of the problem, then perhaps, a gentle tap on the shoulder or a silent hand signal can help the student re-direct?  Often, I can do this from across the room, catching only the eye of the student in question and helping them re-focus.


When this fails, and sometimes it does, particularly if the student is quite engaged with the drawing or thing they seem to be doing, then I either walk in their direction and whisper in their ear, or I simply stop speaking.  Silence is one of the greatest tools a teacher has in their toolbox for attention; after all, students are not used to teachers being quiet!  


And sometimes all of this fails, and that is when I am reminded that my students live full lives that sometimes interfere with our school day.  This is when I take the time to stop and talk and ask if everything is alright, is there anything I need to know?  Sometimes they are just so excited about something happening that they cannot focus, other times it is lack of sleep, of food, or they are distracted by life situations.  Sometimes, they will just tell you they are having an off day.  That is alright too, after all, we all have off days.


This isn't a perfect system, nor is it intended to be.  It is rather one more step in learning how to be a better teacher, one that doesn't cause embarrassment for their students, one that takes the time to figure out the real reason behind distractions and then works with the student rather than just dolling out punishment.


So once again, my students teach me how to be a better teacher.  I should not be using their names to call attention to unsavory behavior unless they are in a dangerous situation.  Nathan taught me that and for that I am thankful.  He had enough courage to tell his teacher the wrong of her ways, and lead me to deeper reflection.  When we ask our students questions, we may not like the answer, but there is always a great reason for that answer.  A reason that should not be taken lightly, but rather explored, reflected upon and then acted upon.

So We Breathe

We work hard in my room each and every day.  The students know that to be in a limited homework classroom, they are on the minute they get to school until they leave.  The pressure is on to stay on top of the learning, to be involved, and to grow, grow, grow.  So this week as we finished our dream project, as we inch closer to break, we breathe.  We release, we relax, and we rejuvenate.

As an educator I push my students, I make them reach for the things they are not sure they can touch, that is after all why I am there.  And yet you cannot continue to push kids to their utmost, day in, day out.  And so we breathe, we release, relax, refocus.

Academic rigor still stands, standards must be met, projects must be completed.  Yet our brains slow down, attempt to reconfigure all of this information.  We rewire our thoughts, we charge our spirits and we breathe.

Don't Worry - There's a Routine for That

Image taken from ronnestam.com

Routines, one of the big words in  "teacher school" as we call it in my classroom.  You must set up routines, you must establish them, practice them, train them and share your expectations.  We have routines for everything, and it seems the younger the students are - the more routines we have.  So if you need to go to the bathroom, there's a routine for that, how to hand in homework, there's a routine for that, how to answer a question - you guessed it, there's a routine for that.  And yet as I struggle with keeping track of all of my routines, I wonder; when do the routines become suffocating?

I agree that routines must be in place for the students to know the shared expectations.  After all, accountability is one of the great skills we teach along with math, reading, writing.  Students learn to follow routines because it provides familiarity and safety.  It simply makes school and a classroom more manageable, and more effective.  And yet we can over-routine.  We can ponder and prepare routines for almost everything.  My first year, I spent a whole day preparing a sign for my students, very artistic indeed, writing out routines for what to do when you needed to sharpen your pencil or leave the classroom.  I don't think any student ever read the poster, let alone memorized it. 

So I realized that perhaps routines were needed for the really big things, like morning routine, how to go to specials or lunch routines, and general classroom behavior routine.  But beyond that, I am done.  I am done routining my students to death.  After all, they are equipped with common sense.  I do not think me writing out how and when they should sharpen their pencils is worthy of their memorization or the title of "routine."  I think I am going to stop "ruling" them to pieces and let them develop their inner sense of proper behavior.  Do we trust our students enough to pull back some of our rules masqueraded as routines?  I do.

Put Your Name on the Board - a Tale of Why I Gave Up Classroom Discipline Systems

Image from here

Put your name on the board! Those words spoken in a very stern voice accompanied by a teacher look was enough to whip the toughest student into shape. Except when it didn't which for me was enough times to make me wonder. Could my discipline systems really be thrown out and replaced with nothing? Would chaos then reign supreme?

If you had come by my room last year you would have seen them. Those sticks in the cups or the names on the boards with checks, sometimes double checks and plenty of stern looks to go around. I was doing exactly what I had been taught in school, exerting my control as the main authority figure and if students misbehaved, well, then there was some form of punishment. Oh don't worry; there were plenty of rewards as well. If students didn't move their stick or get their name on the board for a week then their name got entered into drawing for pizza with me. At the end of the month if they didn't have their name in my book for not doing their homework, they could also enter their name, and then I would finally draw names and five lucky students would have pizza with me. Confused? I was! I could hardly keep check Of all those names, checks, and punishments.

However, last year I realized something after reading Alfie Kohn; I knew I had to change. By perpetually focusing negative energy on the same students, who, lets face it, are most often the ones having their name singled out somehow already, I was indeed just adding more to their self doubt. While I believe in discipline for all students, I also believe in compassion and that philosophy simply was not fitting in with my chosen system. So I did as many teachers may do; I threw it all out. However, instead of hunting for a new system, I decided to detox myself, start this year with no system for reward and punishment and instead strive to create a classroom community where students just know what the expectation is.

I was petrified that first month. I run a tough classroom in my expectations for my students and I know that if you do not set the tone those first weeks, it can be detrimental to the rest of the year. And yet I held strong in my conviction that even the more unruly students would eventually figure this out through repeated conversations and respect. And boy, did we talk. We talked about expectations, rules, how to speak to one another, and what to do when something goes wrong. A lot of the time, I just listened to these amazing students come up with solutions to problems, listened to them explain how they envisioned our classroom, how they wanted fourth grade to be. And I was in awe; these kids knew how to behave without me telling them over and over. And they certainly would figure it out without me alternating punishment and rewards.

So after the first month I started to breathe again. I let our new system flex itself and watched the students help keep the classroom stabile. Sure, there are times when I think ooh if I just had a way to "punish" it would fix this and this and then I realize that perhaps I just need to find some time to speak to that particular student. Now instead of an exasperated tone and a system to keep them in check, we discuss, we try to fix, and we reevaluate. I don't run the classroom with a complicated system of checks and balances, rewards and punishments, but rather with an atmosphere of community, of belonging. Is it perfect? No, but neither am I, nor my students. I am just glad I believed in my own skills enough to realize that perhaps, just perhaps, my students would know how to behave without me rewarding them for it. Once again, they blew away all of my expectations.

Related articles

• Surprise; The Biggest Obstacle in The Classroom Isn't Your Students (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• The Story of the Child that Changed Me (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• 5 Steps to Letting Go and Learning More (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• 10 Easy Things You Can Change in Your Classroom Today (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• This is My Room - How Controlling Ones Classroom Can Send the Wrong Message (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• What Would Pernille Do - Some Thoughts on Prescribed Systems in the Classroom (mrspripp.blogspot.com)
• How We Became that Room (mrspripp.blogspot.com)

Are We Forcing Students to be Noncompliant?

Noncompliance; just the word makes me shudder.  So many connotations, so much negativity connected to this word, particularly in a classroom setting and yet you hear it whispered in the hallways, "noncompliance..."  This word means:  The failure or refusal to comply, meaning someone who is not following directions whether intentional or not.  It is a mantra that we repeat, we must have students that comply in order to be successful.  Without compliance our classrooms would simply fall apart.  


Think about your day; you expect certain things out of the students for the classroom to work.  Perhaps these expectations are simple such as signing in, getting to work, hanging your backpack, and handing in your homework.  Or perhaps these expectations are ones that have been taught, such as raising your hand, not interrupting, working hard and trying your best.  Whatever your expectations, sometimes there are kids that do not comply.  I once had a student that didn't comply, it was a tough year, everything was a battle.  And yet, it was not because of a refusal to do so, he simply failed in the act of complying.  He had too many demons to battle that there simply was not enough life energy left over to focus on all of my expectations and demands.   So he was, indeed, noncompliant.  


Think about the heaviness that comes with that word, though, when we label our students.  Is it really because they are truly refusing or is it because of failure in communications or expectations?  Perhaps a child becomes noncompliant because we set up perimeters in which they cannot succeed.  Think of the child that fiddles, that child will not perform as expected if we set them up with nothing to fiddle with.  Or the child that learns kinestethically rather than orally; if we continue to just talk rather than do, they might also not conform or do what we expect.


So when you set up your classroom expectations, think about what you are asking every student to do.  Does every rule need to apply to ever student?  How many rules or expectations does there really need to be?  Don't forget about your hidden assumptions that you have to communicate as well.  What in your learning environment can you change to to give the biggest percent of kids a chance to be compliant?  We often assume that students defy us on purpose, rather than figuring out the reason.  And yet, sometimes the real reasons for students behavior may be something we would have never guessed.  Instead of battling later, don't set your room up for battle instead set up your room for freedom so that students may have choices.  Offer them an opportunity to be successful, to be compliant, to want to learn, after all, most ids do really like school.  Let's not take that away from them.

Why Top Down isn't Always Bad

This letter is part of a series of letters taking place between  Jeremy Macdonald @MrMacnology, a 5th grade teacher in Oregon, and Pernille Ripp @4thgrdteacher, 4th grade teacher in Wisconsin; two educators who for the first time are attempting a no grades classroom, as well as limited homework.  We share our thoughts and struggles with creating the best learning environment for our students so that others may learn something as well.  To see the other letters, please visit us here or here.


Hello again,

Initially I was going to start out with more questions in reply to your post, and yes, it is a total reflection of my personality, and then I thought why not reflect a little and then bombard you with questions later?

So I get the time restraint when it came to sharing student grades with them before report cards went home.  I send mine home tomorrow and getting to all 25 students last week was a stretch but I am so glad I did.  Each child was asked to reflect on their own grades - I have to give letter grades - and then meet with me.  The scale is simple A = Secure, B = developing and C = Beginning.  You know how I feel about students failing in 4th grade so that simply is not an option for a grade.  And besides, aren't we so vigorously trying to push our students further away from equating learning with a grade?  Anyway, this format turned out to be informative and wonderful.  Most students rated their knowledge level at the same point as I would have, some were way too harsh on themselves leading to in-depth conversations about self-esteem and math, in particular.  Some, of course, were not even quite sure what the grades meant and had therefore thought A's looked pretty good.  There were tougher conversations but in the end I felt good and I think the kids did too.  See, there will be no ugly surprises tomorrow.  No hiding report cards from parents.  Or pretending to not care about that stupid thing anyway.  I remember feeling like I betrayed the kids on their report cards in earlier years; where was their warning before this had to be taken home?  Instead, the students feel that they know why they are getting the grade they are getting and also that they have the responsibility for that grade.  No longer is the grade the final product of the trimester but rather the beginning of the next one.  What do we know and where do we need to go with it?  Relief...

Ok, I get the learning is learning and we must be excited about all of it.  But can't we just admit to ourselves that bringing technology into the room does appear more exciting than just plain old paper and pencil?  Of course, this is a broad generalization fore there are times when paper and pen are best, but come on, let's be honest here; those kids light up when they can incorporate anything tech into the lesson.  Perhaps in 20 years, paper and pencil will be the novel thing to do and will reclaim some of its lost glory.  

My final point about setting students up for disappointment leads me to another falsehood that we as teachers love to repeat to ourselves when we worry about passing students on the following year.  "All students will adapt and grow to love that classroom and learning environment!"  We pacify ourselves with that statement enough to where we can find ourselves repeating it when having discussions about different learning environments.  I think it is bogus.  I remember years that I hated going to school simply because the learning environment was stodgy and boring and nothing like what I was used to.  Of course, students are adaptable and flexible and all that, but shouldn't we have some sort of technology consensus or minimum of integration at a school at least?  And yes I am dreaming for I know what I am up against but sometimes top-down decisions can prove to be a blessing in disguise.  Now who to persuade on that?

And hey, Macdonald,"Ripp" is what one of my favoritest students on the spectrum calls me.  No titles, no formalities, just a name.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Perfect Classroom

Did you see those students? How focused and engaged they were? Did you see that quiet classroom, that looks to be the perfect classroom. My insides cringe. Quiet = learning, since when?

I used to be a believer in quiet. After all, if the students were not quiet how could they listen to all of my wisdom? After all, I was the one with the degree, the answers, the path, the years, and mostly the responsibility for any and all learning. I was a trained professional and they were just students, empty vessels ready to be filled.

And then I thought about all that energy put into saying "shhh...." into asking for silence, not to speak with partners, face me, me, me, me. But it wasn't about me and it never should have been. It is about the students and them finding their voice, the knowledge, the confidence to believe in themselves and their brains.

So my perfect classroom now: a little messy, (after all learning is kind if messy), student-owned, pods, choices and that wonderful noise of learning. There are still guidelines, we are not crazy, but there is life, excitement and joy. So if you walk by my room and think we are a little bit loud, hey, that just shows there is learning going on.