The Positive Classroom

How to Reduce Violence in American Culture: The Peace Rose

2013-04-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

When I heard the news about the bombing in Boston, I felt overwhelmed with the pervasive, continuing violence in American society. I want to believe that we can change this, and since I’m not a politician, I turn to what I know best: education. How can we as teachers change this culture and move away from such violence? After all, every person who commits a violent crime was once a kindergartener.

What would happen if we put the same amount of effort into helping children learn social and emotional skills that we put into helping them learn academics?

Every day in our classrooms we have the opportunity to make the world a more peaceful place. We must start by teaching children how to be kind, how to care for one another, how to solve problems, and by making sure all children feel a sense of love and belonging. This is not idealistic. It can be done and it is within our control. As we change the culture of children and the culture of schools, this can have a deeper effect on the adults that our children will become.

Here’s one lovely idea that I got from Elizabeth Hickey who works at the Oak Meadow Montessori School in Massachusetts. We met at a conference of the Mindfulness in Education Network. She uses the Peace Rose method to help her preschoolers learn how to problem solve:

"The Peace Rose method of problem solving allows children to recognize and express their own feelings as well as learn respect for the other child’s feelings. A vase holding the peace rose is made available to the children at all times. The children are taught how to handle and care for the Peace Rose. When a conflict arises one child will get the Peace Rose. While holding the Peace Rose the child can express what they did not like or how they feel to the other child. When they are done they pass the rose to the other child. Respect for the other persons turn to talk is stressed. The children are encouraged to use “I” words such as “I didn’t like it when you hit me”. Abusive or unkind language is not used when holding the Peace Rose. When the two children reach a solution or simply get over their difficulty they put their hands on the rose and say, ‘we declare peace’, or ‘friends’."

This excerpt is from Problem Solving in the Pre-Primary Montessori Classroom & The Peace Rose Method by Maggie Natzel. I encourage you to read the full document.

Let’s take some positive action to create a more peaceful culture in the U.S. Please share in the comments any other suggestions or activities you have used successfully to help establish a peaceful culture in your classroom.

Pay Attention! How to Help Children Focus in the Classroom

2013-04-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

My student teachers have just submitted behavioral support plans for children with challenging behavior in their classrooms. One of the things I noticed was the prevalence of children who are having trouble paying attention to instruction. This might be the preschooler who can’t sit still during circle time or the 3^rd grader who can’t stay on task during seatwork, or the 1^st grader who stares into space during group instruction.

Most of my student teachers assume that the problem is one of motivation – that the children are just not trying hard enough to pay attention or they are not held accountable for their actions and need to be pushed harder. They are missing the possibility that these children don’t know how to pay attention.

Some children (and adults!) do not have the skills to maintain focus. This is part of what psychologists call “Executive Function” and it involves the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. When this skill is underdeveloped, it makes it hard for a child to control her impulses, maintain focus, and hold information in her working memory. It’s not really the case that the child can’t pay attention – it’s that she can’t pay attention to what you want her to pay attention to. Many children, especially those with ADHD, pay attention to everything happening around them, and can’t selectively focus on one thing. The good news is that paying attention can be taught.

In order to help a child learn to focus, you need to treat this as a skill that must be learned and practiced – just like learning the alphabet or how to multiply. Here are some strategies you can use:

Chunks & Breaks: Present the work to the child in smaller “chunks” that can be done in smaller stretches of time. If you want a preschooler to focus during circle time, have him participate for five minutes, then allow him to take a break and work at table toys for a few minutes and then repeat the demand to sit at circle. Be sure your circle time activities are interactive! If the child is in primary grades and needs to do seatwork, break up the work into smaller sections. After working on an assignment for five minutes, the child can get up and get a drink, walk around the room, and then sit down and start again. Eventually, when the child is successful at this, you can extend the amount of time before getting a break. If the child is having trouble, shorten the amount of time.

Timers: When used as a self-monitoring device, timers can help children gain some self-control. They can be used to help a child stay focused and take a break, as described above, or they can be set for smaller increments, say 30 seconds or a minute, to help children self-monitor. When the timer goes off, the child can check whether or not he is paying attention and on task. It’s important to let the child hold and monitor the timer so that he gets a sense of self regulation.

Cues: Be sure to give appropriate cues to let children know it’s important to pay attention. Not everything we say and do is of equal importance, so engage in a hand-clapping routine, or ring a bell, or do a call and response chant to be sure that you have all the children focused before giving directions, explaining a new activity, starting a story, etc. There are a number of Brain Based Teaching Strategies that can help with this.

Meditation. Research shows that mindfulness meditation can help children and adults improve attention, focus, and self control. I recently observed an urban, public preschool classroom in which all the children sat cross-legged for about 5 minutes with their eyes closed, focusing on quieting their bodies and noticing their breathing. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it firsthand. Some of the children struggled to quiet their bodies more than others, but all were successful at quietly maintaining their stillness. Here’s a lovely article on meditation techniques that worked for one mom. Here’s a meditation video that gives you the idea of how you might guide meditation when first teaching it to children:

Give Feedback When Children Pay Attention. Often we give children a lot of attention for being off-task: we remind them to pay attention or sit still, we call their names, we walk over to them, we sit next to them, we hold their hands. All of these actions reinforce the children’s off-task behavior. Instead, connect to children while they are focusing. Say things like, “I notice that you are working hard. I see that you are sitting still. You’ve been working for 5 minutes without stopping.” Move next to children when they are focused. Tap their shoulder and let them know they are doing a good job. Ignore the little times that they lose focus. The need your feedback and support.

What have you found helps children to learn attention skills? Please share in the comments what has worked for you or any questions you have.

Calming the Beast: 4 Stories of Classroom Success

2013-03-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last week in my Classroom Management course, my student teachers all chose a social or emotional skill to teach their class. The purpose for this is to help prevent behavior problems. Many children act out because they don't have the ability to express themselves appropriately, to control their impulses or to calm down. By proactively teaching these skills, we can create a calmer classroom with more mature behavior.

I am going to highlight four of my students' work because they had good insights into what the students in their classrooms needed and they came up with creative approaches to teaching the children how to calm down. It just so happens that all of them are working in first grade classrooms.

Soothing Sounds by Vanessa Sanchez: Every time after lunch, the students know they are suppose to enter the class room and put their heads down so they can relax. At this time the lights are turned off. When I first started my internship I saw how well each child listened to the instructions and how well they went with putting their heads down and relaxing. Lately, I was seeing students drawing or play with their pencils, as if a space ship were flying around their desk in slow motion. I decided to continue and follow up with their heads down because I did not want to change the skill that the students already knew. I just thought it would be a great idea to add in the soothing music for about two to three minutes.

The first day the kids came into the classroom and I told them to please put their heads down and relax. The lights were already turned off and I told them that I would like to show them something that will help them relax and calm down and it is called soothing music. I told them there will be times in which I will ask them what they heard and there will be times in which I will not ask them. I went on the SmartBoard and connected on to YouTube and played a relaxing piano piece. At first they began to smile and I could tell by their faces they began to enjoy it. The next day I searched on YouTube for relaxing/soothing music and I found one on river sounds.

The more I kept on reinforcing this new strategy, the more the students began to keep their heads down and they seemed more relaxed. It is as if the students look forward to hearing what I will play. Coming up from lunch some students would ask me, "I wonder what calming music you will show us." With a smile on my face, I replied "I can't tell you but I'm sure it will be something calm and relaxing." I have seen how well it works for the entire class that I decided I will not just do it for a week. It is something that I will continue to do until my internship is done.

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Time to Think by Ibelis Gonzalez: In my class the children always seem to be extra noisy after lunch. Because the weather has been cold, the first graders do not have a chance to go outside and are not permitted to use the gym for recess. They stay in the lunchroom for the whole forty-five minute period where they can basically be as loud as they want. To get the children to relax and transition back to classroom time I created a stillness time when they return from the lunchroom.

Before we go to the lunchroom I ask the children to give me a few topics that they will like to think about during relaxation time. I put a few topics on the board and leave them there until we return. When we come back the children can pick one of the topics and think about it with their heads on their hands. The first time I did this I started with one minute but when I asked the children to pick up their heads they actually said “Ms. Gonzalez, that’s not enough time to think!” I gave them two more minutes and decided to stay with the three minute period. After we walk into the class and everyone settles down, we read the topics as a class, and then I start a timer and say “Ready, Set, Think!” When the timer goes off, I use shuffle cards with each child’s name on them and randomly call on a few students to share what they were thinking. After the children share what they were thinking their card goes to the bottom of the stack so this way each child will have a chance to share at least once a week.

When I first started doing this I explained to the children that the topics they choose should be relaxing topics because the reason we are doing this activity every day after lunch is to relax our minds after we fed them. As a class the students discussed what kind of topics and scenarios would be considered relaxing. We also discussed that what one person may think is relaxing may not be the same for someone else. The children are not limited to choosing one of the topics on the white board; they are free to think about whatever they like. They are also free to just relax with their head down if that’s what they feel like doing for that three-minute time frame. This strategy has definitely made the transition smoother and also gives my cooperating teacher and myself a few moments to relax ourselves and prepare for the next lesson.

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Stillness Time by Vanessa Franco. Stillness Time is a skill that actually worked out perfectly because our weekly reading connection was based on imagination. Before I began this skill I had already taught the students to close their eyes after the reading to imagine the scenario of the current story. At times I would ask students to close their eyes as I read two pages. I would then ask them to open them. My children had done great in closing their eyes, maintaining quiet, and demonstrating a sense of using their imagination to visualize what we had just read.

I was then able to incorporate this in the morning lesson right before our read aloud. I now approached the students with using the same technique of closing their eyes to not only imagine but to listen. The response of a few students was interesting. Some students responded with, “I can’t listen with my eyes closed” or “Closing your eyes is to imagine or dream only.” This was the point that I felt was difficult because I had to find a way to keep the children on task and convince them this was going to be just as fun. Eventually the students closed their eyes as I walked them through listening to the quietness of our class and the quietness of how well we are working together to feel relaxed as a whole class. Somehow, this skill had worked as planned. I began with the starting point of one minute to now starting at three minutes. Perhaps the use of imagination helped me enforce this skill!

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Counting Breaths by Jessenia Acevedo. A child I will call Victor is an eight-year-old boy in my first grade inclusion classroom. He is very bright and friendly, but when he is angry or bothered he is quick to become aggressive both verbally and physically. Most of the time, Victor is a charming student and has a lot of friends. He enjoys helping his classmates and loves working in groups, but if other students don’t agree with him he becomes angry and snaps at them. After he reacts in an unkindly manner, he removes himself from the group and sits in a corner alone.

I decided to help Victor to learn to control his outbursts and to keep his hands to himself. One day I took Victor to the side and told him, “Victor you work well with your friends and you always help others when they ask you for help. That is excellent but sometimes you lose control and yell at your friends or hit them, how do you think that makes them feel?” Victor responded, “I know. It’s just sometimes I get frustrated and I yell at them. They don’t listen to me.” I told Victor that I wanted to help and would like for him to try a technique to control his frustration. Victor was very excited and was willing to try this new deep breathing exercise.

I explained to Victor that being able to control your breath is the easiest and most effective way to keep calm. I told him that whenever he felt himself getting frustrated or angry, to think of a number from one to ten, say it aloud, and take that many amount of breaths to help keep him calm. If he was really angry then he would have a high number of deep breaths to take and if he was not so angry then he would take a fewer amounts of breaths. I modeled this technique with him and role-played a few situations with him by using the flower and candle method.

Victor did well during the role play but when a real situation occurred he still had outbursts. The first two days I stood close to Victor when he was at group and when I saw that he was growing frustrated I shouted a number and he began to take deep breaths. At the end of the day, Victor said “Ms. Jessenia that felt good. It really relaxed me and I didn’t yell.” On the third day, Victor had an incident with one of his classmates and he shouted “Ms. Jessenia – Seven!” And he took seven deep breaths. I walked over to him and gave him a high five. The following day, Victor was taking breaths on his own every time he had a situation where he felt he was feeling frustrated. When he did react in an inappropriate way he said “I apologize” right away and added, “I’ll count to 10 next time!” By the end of the week, Victor was controlling his frustration by the deep breathing exercise and was extremely proud of himself.

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I want to deeply thank my student teachers for sharing these ideas. How about you? Please share in the comments any ideas you’ve tried for keeping your classroom calm!

Need more advice? Check out The Positive Classroom book for more ideas, techniques, and strategies!

How to Help Parents with Homework Battles

2013-02-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

I received the following email this week which got me thinking about how to help parents who find themselves in homework battles:

“Thank you for sharing techniques to calm down children. I am a mother of an 8 year old extremely bright boy. Mario becomes very nervous when it is time to do homework. Yesterday, for instance, he had to copy two pages of math and it took him 4 hours to complete 1 page. He does not want to do it, gets up or gets distracted or draws or whatever. I try talking to him explaining the importance, etc., but to no avail. Then he cries and cries and says it makes him nervous. When he finally does it he finishes in a flash. Is this a common problem? At school he is fine. What can I do?”

When my own three children were in elementary school, I found that this was common. My friends complained frequently of their frustration over homework and the chaos that happened each evening. Here are some suggestions that might help tame the homework beast:

Homework Tips for Teachers:

Teach children how to do homework effectively. Spend time in class “practicing” homework. Skills can include how to get materials out and ready, how to get started, how to take breaks, where to put homework to bring it to school, etc. Parents can reinforce this, of course, be we are the ones who should start the children off on the right track. I’d recommend at least a week of practice in school.
Assign interesting homework activities, NOT just busy work. Ask the children to write down how long they spend on their homework and put it in the corner of the paper. This will help you determine if you are assigning too much. The same assignment that an 8 year old can do in 20 minutes at school might take much longer at home when he is tired.
Make sure the children are capable of doing the work independently.
If you have children whose living circumstances are such that their family cannot provide support for homework, give the child time in school to get the work done. Don’t criticize or get angry. Young children do not choose the parents or family they have! Here are more ideas from the Responsive Classroom.

Homework Tips for Parents

You’ve probably already gotten advice on setting up a quiet area for your child, establishing a schedule, checking the homework, etc. Here are some other important tricks:

Give your child breaks. By the end of the day, most children are tired and can only focus for a very short period of time. You can set a timer for five minutes and then offer break rewards (quick snack, drink, free play) if the child has stayed on task. The break should also be short – maybe 5 minutes or so, and then the child should get right back to work.
Break the work down. Instead of setting a timer, you can have your child do one problem, one line, one paragraph, etc – whatever is appropriate for his age.
Give LOTS of attention to your child when he does a little bit of work. Too often children get attention by NOT working. When they stop working, slow down, or refuse, they get your attention – often in a big way! Turn this around. After, say, five minutes of work, give positive feedback and spend a few minutes talking with your child. Your attention is often the most powerful reward a child can get. DO NOT criticize, cajole, complain, beg, threaten, or preach. Instead, praise, praise, and praise – even little acts like sitting down and getting out the pencil.
Give feedback to the teacher. If your child is spending longer than you think he should on the homework, be sure to let the teacher know. Don’t be embarrassed that it will reflect badly on your child – most teachers will be very grateful to get this feedback.

Finally, don’t make homework too important. In the total scope of things, it’s not that big a deal. Research shows that homework does not affect children’s achievement in the early grades. It’s more important that children learn to work independently for a short while then that they do lots of perfect work.

Please share ideas that have worked for you in the comments!

Need more advice? Check out The Positive Classroom book for more ideas, techniques, and strategies!

5 Procedures for Peaceful Problem-Solving: Learning from Martin Luther King, Jr.

2013-01-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

What is the most important message that young children can get from remembering and celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Peaceful problem-solving.

I recently read a wonderful post by Teaching Ace in which she shared how she focuses in her kindergarten class on Dr. King’s life as a peaceful problem solver. Her class creates a “Peace Book” reminding them of strategies they can use to solve problems. Given the amount of high-profile violence in our country recently, this is a much needed message. Here are some other activities for helping children become peaceful problem-solvers that can be incorporated into your Martin Luther King Day celebrations:

Persona Dolls – these dolls, designed for anti-bias education, have a specific name, personality, and history. They can help you bring up difficult topics and get the children to empathize with being left out, bullied, rejected, or treated unfairly. Through role play, children can learn to defend others when they observe someone being treated poorly, and to intervene peacefully as an anti-bias strategy.
Class Meetings – during the day, have a clipboard available in which children can draw or write about a problem they notice in the classroom. At group meeting time, review the problem and ask the children to brainstorm some possible solutions. Pick one solution, try it out, and review how well it’s working a few days later. Here's a great example from a 2nd grade classroom:

Social Stories or Scripted Stories – these hand-made books are written in first person and focus on a specific problem that a child is encountering – such as expressing anger appropriately. Originally designed to teach children on the autism spectrum social skills, they are an excellent tool for all children. The Peace Book by Teaching Ace is a great example of a social story for the whole class.
Peaceful Words – in order to be peaceful, children need to learn how to use peaceful words. Generate a list of kind things you can say to each other, post in on chart paper and read it daily. Be sure to give positive feedback when you hear children using peaceful words.
Community Building Activities. In the middle of the school year, it can be helpful to revisit some of the “getting-to-know-you” activities that you did in September. Children need to feel a sense of group cohesion and learn to care about the group -- not just a few friends -- in order to want to solve problems peacefully. By revisiting these often, you can build deep respect, caring, and commitment to being a peaceful community.

How are you celebrating the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Please share your ideas in the comments!

The Top Ten New Year's Resolutions for a Positive Classroom

2013-01-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Now that a new year has rolled around once again, it’s the perfect time of year to think about making resolutions in your classroom. Here is my list of the top ten habits to develop so that your classroom runs smoothly, there are fewer problem behaviors, the children learn more, and you find more joy in teaching:

1. Teach and review procedures: Think about the times during the day when things are not as smooth as you’d like. What procedures do you want the children to be doing? What habits do you want them to adopt? Reteach the steps and behaviors you expect and give positive feedback when the children do it correctly.

2. Build Community: Plan activities that help the children develop a sense of community and caring for each other. Play games in which they learn about each other, have class celebrations, adopt a class song.

3. Build More Relationships with Children: Identify the children in your classroom that you still don’t know very well or would like to have a better relationship with. Ask these children about their favorite activities, how their weekend went, and spend some one-on-one time with them.

4. Use Positive Feedback: Notice what the children are doing well – both academically and in terms of good behaviors. Point these out and tell the children specifically what they are doing well.

5. Teach Social & Emotional Skills: Young children will be more successful in school if they have academic survival skills. Pick one skill this week and teach it in depth until you notice the children doing it on their own. Some suggestions are: calming down with deep breaths; saying kind words; taking quick breaks and getting back to work; asking for attention in appropriate ways.

6. Consider Children’s Culture: Spend some time learning more about the culture of your students and consider how this might affect their behavior. A good place to start is looking at the difference between high-context cultures and low-context cultures.

7. Engage the Children in Learning: Consider alternatives to hand raising. Use small whiteboards, choral responses, turn and talk, or calling children randomly.

8. Teach Conflict Resolution: Even very young children can learn to identify the problem when children are arguing or fighting and offer alternatives. Help empower children to practice this important skill.

9. Learn What to Ignore: Every little infraction of your behavioral expectations does not need to be addressed. Sometimes the best teachers know when to let the small things go in order to create a calm and flexible environment.

10. Connect to Families: Think about ways that you can send messages home which share positive comments about the children’s activities and behaviors. Invite parents to visit your classroom and share some ideas about their family holidays. Send home a newsletter. Have a poetry reading and invite family members.

Please share in the comments what your New Year’s resolutions are for your classroom. I’d love to hear your ideas!

Happy Holidays from The Positive Classroom!

2012-12-24T15:06:00.001-08:00

How to Talk about Tragedy in the Classroom

2012-12-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Connecticut, you may be faced with how to talk about this incident with young children in your own classroom. This is such a difficult issue because we all have such strong feelings ourselves, and a classroom shooting in particular is so frightening for teachers. When I think back to fearful incidents in my own childhood, I remember clearly how much my own parents’ reactions affected me. Children will look to us for guidance and understanding, so our own emotional reaction is important. The other difficult issue in talking about the shooting is that as teachers, we don’t know what children have seen, been told, or how it has been explained to them. Above all, I believe young children want to know that they are safe and that the adults around them will protect them from harm. Given these issues, here are some suggestions for handling this unspeakable tragedy:

Get your own emotions under control. Think about what helps you stay calm and avoid exposure to TV or news articles about the shooting.
Speak to your administrator about the safety precautions in your school so that you have some peace of mind about your own and the children’s safety.
Take the children’s lead as to whether to bring up the subject or not. I would not talk about it unless children ask you, or you hear them talking about it.
If possible, talk to children personally and privately since you don’t know children’s knowledge or understanding of the incident. You might start out by asking, “What do you know about what happened?” or “What have you heard?” This will also allow you to dispel any misinformation.
Allow children to express their feelings by talking, writing, or through art or music. Validate these feelings and share how you might be feeling as well – although be careful not to use children to help you work out your own fears. Don’t add to their fear or confusion.
Above all, reassure children that they are safe and that you and your school know how to protect children. Obviously, this is not entirely true because the nature of violent crime is so unpredictable, but children still NEED to know they are safe for healthy emotional development.
For older children in upper elementary school, it is appropriate to review the safety procedures that the school has in place as a way of reassuring the children.
Keep an eye out for children who might need professional support. If children talk about nightmares, or seem obsessed with the topic, or are so afraid they can’t function in the classroom, speak to the family members and check in with your school social worker or counselor if you have one.
Share resources with parents to help them talk to their children. The American Psychological Association has an excellent article on their website.

I wish you all the best and I hope that we can all deeper our compassion for each other. I believe that the path to a more peaceful society begins in our hearts and minds.

Please feel free to share your experiences talking to children about the shooting in your classroom or school. What has been helpful? What are you still struggling with?

P.S. A special thanks to Kenza who asked me to write about this issue!

Are You Harnessing the Power of Rituals in Your Classroom?

2012-11-29T14:50:00.002-08:00

          After a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with my extended family, I reflected on the power that rituals have in our social and emotional lives. For my family, the ritual of gathering together each November, eating a special meal, and playing board games gives us a sense of security, community, and stability.
          People’s needs for structure and routine can be seen in many areas of our lives. The rituals and routines at religious services are a powerful example. These rituals are designed to help us feel comfortable and safe. In most religious services, the ritual is also highlighted by music, and in some cases, incense. This is, essentially, a multi-sensory approach to helping people learn and feel comfortable with the routine. Sporting events are another example of routines functioning in the adult world. Standing for the national anthem or joining in the cheers when goals are scored give meaning and structure to the experience. People’s need for this safe, comfortable routine can be seen in the discomfort with changes in those routines, such as the disruption caused by Super Storm Sandy! Classrooms rituals and routines can provide children with the same benefits.
          First, they help children to feel psychologically safe and comfortable in an unpredictable world. Most people, including children, are more at ease when they know what to expect during their day. It is stressful for all of us to be in settings in which we don’t know what will happen next. This may be a great way to spend a few minutes on a roller coaster, but for daily work, it is unsettling and even frightening to children. Stable routines help children develop feelings of security, trust, and independence and they serve as a protective factor against stressful family conditions.
          The second reason that routines are important is to help us use our mental resources efficiently and to develop self control. If we are using our attention and mental processing to think through what we are going to be doing next, or how to hang up our coat, or move from the rug to the desks, we don’t have that mental processing available for other thoughts. Once routines become established, we don’t have to put as much thought into what we are doing and our minds are available for thinking about other things. They also allow children to learn how to act in social situations, delay gratification, control their impulses, and plan their actions.
          Third, routines can develop into cherished rituals by focusing on community-building and caring relationships. Here are some examples:

A Friday pizza party goes a long way towards bringing the children together and making them feel part of the group. (Which is why the parties should never be a reward for good behavior. Can you imagine a family that only allowed those family members who behaved well to attend Thanksgiving dinner?)

A song that is used each morning to greet the group provides a sense of security and comfort when children transition from home to school.

Read aloud time after lunch everyday gives structure to the day and offers children the comfort of imaginative escape within a safe setting.

A song or special handshake at the end of the day brings closure and helps children make the transition from school back to home or to after-school programs.

Classroom clean-up time at the end of the week helps everyone – including the teacher – to organize their materials, straighten out cubbies or desks, and clear out unnecessary clutter. This provides a clean slate to start the next week and a feeling of stability and control.

Family nights once a month in which parents and other family members come to school with their child for a read aloud, science activities, or other learning experiences. When done on a regular basis, these provide a deep way of connecting home and school.

I’d love to hear about other rituals you’ve used in your classroom or school. Please share with us in the comments below!

The Positive Classroom Book is available now! This valuable resource is a compilation of topics on my blog along with many other ideas and strategies for working with children with challenging behavior which I use in my college courses.

Hurricanes, Halloween, and other Hurdles

2012-10-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

As hurricane Sandy approaches the east coast of the U.S., many teachers are getting a much-deserved break for a couple of days, but many people may also be experiencing the trauma of the storm. In the midst of this challenge, Halloween also occurs, and even for those schools that don't celebrate the holiday, its effect on children and families is still significant.

Children will be returning to school after at least a few days of unusual schedules, anxiety, and perhaps even staying in shelters or with other family members. Natural disasters take their toll on children as they are immersed in the anxiety around them. The added excitement of Halloween can create the perform storm of classroom chaos! Here are some tips to stay calm, productive, and supportive at this challenging time:

Keep yourself calm. Monitor your stress levels and take time to relax and breathe deeply. Spend your break time sitting quietly rather than running errands or getting tasks done. Find a few moments to be still, close your eyes, and imagine yourself in a place that's relaxing.
Retain your daily schedule. As much as possible, keep things running in your classroom as close to normal as possible. Children need the security of a predictable routine. If you are having a party or parade, keep it short and return to your regular activities in between.
Alternate activity and calm. Children have been stuck indoors for a few days and will need to be active. Consider music and movement activities that can guide the excess energy in positive ways. Alternate this activity with times to regroup and calm down. Read your favorite stories, provide art activities, and practice deep breathing with the children.
Build community. Remind the children of how to say kind words, how to care for each other, and let them know you care, too. Natural disasters and holidays are two powerful ways of bringing people closer to each other. Build on this energy by reminding the children how important they are to each other and using community building activities.
Provide extra support. Some children may experience trauma from the storm, in both large and small amounts. Observe children who might need an extra hug, to be listened to, and or who might need more professional support. Some children are very uncomfortable with high-energy celebrations such as Halloween and will need extra support to stay calm or in control. Provide these children time to be alone in a quiet spot, or practice some relaxation activities. They might need your calm, reassuring presence and extra attention.

I wish everyone safe passage through the storm on the east coast of the U.S. - or to those experiencing unusual challenges anywhere in the world. Share with us in the comments how you respond to these challenges in your classroom.

4 Basic Needs That Must Be Met to Learn

2012-10-08T08:15:00.003-07:00

          I just spent 10 days in the hospital with complicated appendicitis, which is why I haven’t posted in a while. This experience helped me realize how important it is to have our basic needs met and how much of a role they play in motivation.
          As soon as I got into the hospital, I stopped caring about anything but my most basic needs – getting rid of pain, getting food, sleeping. Nothing else mattered much to me, although I did call my office to cancel my classes. It was many days before I started thinking about my job, my relationships, or the hundreds of little tasks that make up our regular lives.
          Children are the same way. If their basic needs are not met, they will not be motivated to learn. Who cares about verbs when you are hungry? Who wants to do math games when you are lonely or scared? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be an important reminder for us to consider why children are not engaged in learning?
          Here are the four basic needs that Maslow identified. How well are these needs met in your classroom?

Physiological Needs: Are the children sleepy, or hungry? Have they been sitting too long and need to move around? Is the room too warm, or cold? Are the children able to go to the bathroom when they need to? Are they sick with a cold or asthma?
Safety Needs: Do the children feel safe in your room? Are they afraid of other children? Are they worried about being criticized? Is their home life safe? Is the neighborhood a safe environment?
Love and Belongingness Needs: Do the children show caring behavior toward each other? Do they get enough one-on-one attention from you – especially those children who might not get enough attention at home? Do you carry out community-building activities? Do the children get enough time to socialize with each other?
Self-Esteem Needs: Are the children academically successful or are they struggling? Is the work too easy or too hard? Do they have a sense of competence and confidence in their abilities? Do some children see themselves as stupid or bad?

Teaching young children is such a hard job because we have to make sure these basic needs are met for the children and for ourselves, while also preparing children academically. In some schools this is harder than others and we need more social support systems and school-wide programs to help. But in any classroom, you can help meet some of these basic needs throughout the day by being aware of them.
Please share in the comments how you have been able to meet the basic needs of your students!

Are You Losing Effectiveness with Too Many Whole Group Activities?

2012-09-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yolanda was trying to listen to Mrs. Green as she went over the math lesson. The other 21 first graders were at the desks, sitting in groups of four or five. Yolanda had her back toward the board so she turned in her chair to try to see what Mrs. Green was writing. Then she looked down at the workbook on her desk. She couldn’t find anything that looked like what was written on the board. She turned a few pages in the book, and then gave up. Yolanda knew already that she wasn’t any good at math. Her teacher had told her that last year, and her mom usually yelled at her because she got bad grades on her report card. Looking over at Latonya who sits next to her, Yolanda saw her writing neat little numbers in the boxes up and down the page. Her handwriting was so pretty. But she knew she wasn’t smart like Latonya. Yolanda started to daydream, looking out the window. She knew math would be over soon and she could get up then and move around a little bit before reading groups. Mrs. Green continued to talk, writing numbers and lines on the whiteboard, but Yolanda was lost in her own world.

Whole group activities and lessons have three major problems:

Undifferentiated Instruction. In any classroom, children are rarely on the same instructional level and ready to learn the same material. In much whole-group instruction, only the children in the mid-level academic range are engaged. For some children the material is way too advanced and they zone out or cause distractions. For others, the material is not challenging enough and they are not learning anything new.

Lack of Engagement. It is extremely challenging to manage whole group instruction in a way that keeps all the children engaged, partly because of the mismatch of instructional levels noted above, and partly because it is hard to get 25 children to do anything together smoothly. It takes a very talented teacher to keep all the children on task and learning. When I observe in elementary classrooms, I frequently see children on the wrong page, playing with objects in their desks, looking into space, or even reading their own book under their desk. Whole group lessons require children to learn at the pace of the teacher, rather than their own rhythm.

Passivity. Because of the nature of most whole-group instruction, it is hard to keep all the children actively engaged in the lesson. Often they are watching a demonstration, listening to others talk, or waving their hand wildly to answer a question without being called on. Although there are some simple methods for getting children more engaged in whole group activities, there is still little opportunity to explore, question, experiment, or get deeply involved in a topic.

I recommend that you look closely at your daily schedule to determine the relative percentage of time that children are in whole-group lessons compared to other formats. How many hours each day are children sitting? Here are some suggestions for improving the motivation and efficiency of children's learning:

Use the Guided Reading Model in other subjects. Plan your mathematics, science or social studies instruction along the same lines as guided reading. Set up one group which works with you on the lesson material, then create other groups who work independently at centers during this time. Rotate the groups so that all children get a small group lesson with you which is targeted for their skill level.

Use Cooperative Learning. The trick to successful cooperative learning is providing structure and teaching children the skills they need to work together. Below is a video showing how one teacher does this in his classroom. I also recommend the resources from Kagan Publishing.

Incorporate Problem-Based Learning. Long term projects that the whole class participate in allows for skill and content development, individualized pacing, and self-regulated learning. Here's a wonderful example from a kindergarten classroom:

Please share with us other ideas you have for alternatives to whole group instruction that you have used!

Getting Ready for the Start of School, Part III: How to Build Community and Bully-Proof Your Classroom

2012-08-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder why the children in some classrooms work well together and show kindness to each other, while in other classrooms the children tattle, tease each other, and constantly seek teacher attention? One reason is community-building.

In an effective classroom, the children - and the teacher - feel safe, secure and part of a larger whole. The more the children care about each other, and know that they are cared for, the better they will behave. Here are some ways to ensure that you develop group cohesion and a positive climate from the very beginning of the school year.

1. Help Children Get to Know and Care About Each Other
Starting the first day of school, plan activities that help the children get to know one another. Morning Meeting is a perfect time to build a sense of group cohesion. Here are a few examples of activities:

Classmate Scavenger Hunt. Make a BINGO game board. In each square put a description that might fit the children in your class, such as "Comes to School on the Bus." Children talk to each other, trying to find the child's name to match each square.
Classroom Family Book: Children each draw a self portrait, and depending on their age, either dictate or write something about themselves. The pages are laminated or covered in page protectors and put in a binder and become part of the classroom library. Read the book frequently to the children during the beginning of the school year.
Picture Name Cards.Take a digital picture of each child and laminate it on a small index card. Punch a hole through the cards and put them on a binder ring. Choose one child to start in the middle of the circle. That child looks at one of the cards, finds that child, says “good morning” and then takes that child’s place in the circle. The next child then turns over the next card and starts the process again.
Duck Duck Goose Name Chase . Play by the standard rules for Duck Duck Goose but instead the child who is "It" says the name of each child as he or she goes around the circle.
Who Am I? The children write or dictate something about themselves privately during the day. Then at group time, you read each description without telling the name. The children will play a guessing game to figure out who you are describing.

Here’s a video from the Responsive Classroom which shows a 1^st grade classroom at Morning Meeting using picture greetings as a way of getting to know each other and build community:

In this video, kindergarteners learn more about each student in the class through "Star Student of the Day" writing activities.
Here's another example of morning meeting activities:

2. Teach Children to Be Kind.
Bullying begins with small actions like weeds in a garden and the best approach is prevention. You want to create a healthy, caring environment where the weeds have no chance to grow. The goal is to get children into the habit of saying kind things - and know that teasing and cruelty are NOT acceptable. Have the children brainstorm kind words, put them on chart paper, and refer to them frequently the first few weeks of school. Be sure to acknowledge whenever you hear children using the words. After the children have gotten good at this, you can teach them how to do kind things for each other. The children can brainstorm ideas, then act out the scenarios for practice. Again, be sure to point out whenever you see children being kind. Here is a video of children giving suggestions for being kind:

Here is a kindness song you can use in your classroom:

3. Set Limits on Negative Behaviors
Children will naturally test the limits on what they are allowed to say and do. This includes bullying, teasing and rejecting classmates. In order to create a healthy classroom community, it is critical to stop these behaviors immediately. If you let even the smallest negative comment go unchallenged, you will give the message to the children that being nasty to others is acceptable. It's not.
           For example, you might overhear children say something like: "You can't play with us." "Look at what she's wearing!" " You're stupid." "Oooh, he looks like a girl!" or "I don't like you." When you hear children say these types of things, you have a teaching opportunity.
          I recommend having a quiet, private talk with the child and say something like, "Jenna, I heard you tell Kayla that she's stupid. We don't use mean words in our classroom. I'd like to see you say something kind to make up for that" (See Apology-in-Action). Later in the day, when I had the children at a group meeting, I would tell the children, "I've heard some unkind words today so I think we need to review how we talk to each other in our classroom." Then I would review the poster of kind words, talk about how it feels when others say mean things to us, and reaffirm how wonderful it is to have a place to work where everyone is treated kindly.
        After a few instances of this type of discussion, the children will come to an amazing realization: this classroom really is a safe place! This will help stop the anxiety, fear, and power-seeking that leads to bullying. In other words, if you can jump-start the kindness, it will take off and "go viral". The critical step is to intervene immediately and consistently when children are unkind.

4. Use Positive Teacher Language
          Your words and actions set the tone of the classroom. Notice when children are following procedures, demonstrating newly learned behaviors and showing kindness. This is the old adage of "catch them being good." In a positive, healthy classroom. children should receive many more times as many positive comments as negative ones. Find ways for children to see their strengths and the strengths of others. Children will follow your lead and watch you carefully, so remember you are always modeling. This is hard, so also find ways to stay calm when children push your buttons!
Listen to how this teacher used Multiple Intelligences to help promote the idea that everyone has strengths:

This video shows how one teachers uses body language to create bonds with his students:

Do you have other ideas for creating a positive community in your classroom? Please share your experiences in the comments!

This is the third part of a series on Getting Ready for the Start of School. See Part I here, and Part II here.

The Positive Classroom Book is coming soon! Check back in September to order your copy. A must-have for all early childhood and elementary teachers!

Getting Ready for the Start of School, Part II: Why Some Teachers Have Smooth-Running Classrooms

2012-08-13T10:00:00.001-07:00

I have observed many, many teachers in elementary and early childhood classrooms and the ones that have the smoothest-running classrooms all do the same thing: they teach procedures. Now only do they teach the procedures they need the children to follow, but they also have the children practice and they give them positive feedback until they become automatic routines. They make learning procedures the most important teaching priority in the first few weeks of school, even if it takes time away from other subjects. They more than make up for this time because their classrooms run so effectively.

So the first step in getting ready is to plan what procedures to focus on. It’s helpful to think about them in three groups based on when you will teach them: The first day of school, the first week of school, and the first six weeks. Here are some suggestions:

First Day of School

               Quiet Signal
               Arrival: putting things away and getting started on “do now” work
               Lining Up
               Walking in the Hallway
               Using the Bathroom
   Talking during group lessons
               Dismissal: cleaning up desk and getting materials ready to go home

First Week of School

               Fire Drill or Other Emergency Procedures
               Morning Meeting
               Moving from group meeting area to centers and other transitions
               How to sit during group meeting or circle time
               Sharpening pencils, getting a drink
   Using learning centers
               Cleaning up after work time or center time
               What to do when you’re finished early
               How to say nice things to each other
               How to push in chairs
               How to hang up coats (this might have to wait for cold weather)

First Six Weeks of School

               Working with a partner
               Taking turns
               Turn-and-Talk or Think-Pair-Share
   Getting help when the teacher is working with a group
               What to do when the teacher has a phone call or must leave the room
               What to do when a visitor enters the classroom
               What to do when someone is hurt
               What to do when you need to calm down
               How to take care of materials
               How to take appropriate breaks

Teaching Procedures
               The Responsive Classroom has a wonderful strategy for teaching procedures called “Interactive Modeling.” This has four steps:

Students learn why the procedure is important
Students observe the model and create a picture in their mind of what it should look like
Students do the noticing in describing what’s happening
Students practice and get immediate feedback.

Here is a video that shows the process of Interactive Modeling in action:

You can also try the “I do, We do, You do” demonstrated in this video:

Remember that children at all ages – from preschool to high school – need to be taught or reminded of how you want them to behave. Don’t be afraid to teach very minor procedures. It is better to err on the side of teaching too many than too few. Please share with us in the comments what procedures you think are most important in your classroom and how you teach them. This is the second posting in a four-part series on getting ready for the start of school. See Part I here. The Positive Classroom Book is coming soon! Check back in September to order your copy. A must-have for all early childhood and elementary teachers!

Getting Ready for the Start of School, Part I: 8 Things to Consider in Setting Up Your Classroom

2012-08-06T16:13:00.003-07:00

This is the first posting in a four-part series that is designed to help you think through getting ready for the new academic year. The good thing about the cycles we go through as teachers is that each year we get to start over again with a more-or-less clean slate. This is a great opportunity to reflect on what worked well that you want to repeat and what you want to change.

The first thing I usually think about is the physical environment, since there is the practical need to set up your room before you do many of the other things to start the new academic year. Here are issues to consider:

Seating. Whether you have desks or tables, you’ll want to think through where to put the children for seatwork. The important issue is to consider how much you want the children to converse with each other. Will they be working primarily in groups? Or would you prefer that they work silently and independently? I've seen teachers struggle with getting the children to stop talking and stay on task when the desks are grouped together. It makes more sense to put the desks in rows or separated somehow if you value more individually-focused work. Of course you'll also want to think through where you will stand to deliver whole group lessons and try to ensure no child has her back to you. Check out the great set-up ideas from The School Supply Addict.
Quiet Corner. It's important to set aside some space for a child to go when he needs to regain control or calm down. This should be created as a pleasant place, not an area for punishment. Check out the “Peace Corner” from Mama Montessori.
Teacher space.We all need personal space and it's appropriate to think through the boundaries of your personal are. Then you can teach the children those boundaries and where they are not allowed to touch.
Small group area. Where will you meet with small groups? This area should be somewhat protected from traffic and noise, and it's helpful to mark the area off with tape or a carpet so children have a visual reminder not to bother you when your working with the group.
Learning centers. Do you have enough room to set up some permanent centers like a reading corner, science center, or math games? You'll also want to put together center materials children can do at their desks, and find storage for these.
Whole group meeting area. No teacher ever thinks she has enough room in her classroom! However, your class meeting area really needs the most space you can give. I have seen more behavior problems result from children sitting virtually on top of one another, accidentally stepping in toes, bumping into shoulders, and so on. The best seating plan is to put all the children sitting around the edge of the carpet so they can see each other and you. You can also consider getting individual carpet squares for each child. These provide a natural boundary for personal space. Or try using place mats instead as recommended by Teach Preschool. But don’t think these are only helpful in preschool!
Storage. There are four types of storage to plan for: Children's personal items (coats, books, etc), learning materials that children need access to (manipulatives, leveled reading books, etc), teaching materials that you will use throughout the year, and your own personal items. Here are some creative ideas I found on Pinterest. In my experience, the important step is to visualize HOW movement in these areas will flow. For example, how many children can get to their cubbies or coat hooks at once? How will the children be able to look through the books? Will all of their materials fit in their desk or do you need more storage unit on their chair. Imagine how a child will go through each step of the day before you finalize your plan. Finally, make sure everything is neat and organized. I've repeatedly noticed that the most organized classrooms also have the best behavior!
Decor. If you are not already addicted to Pinterest, then try it out! You'll find hundreds of ideas for making your classroom a warm and friendly home for yourself and the children. Be sure to leave some of your spaces undecorated so that the children can make the room reflect their personalities and work. Check out my “Teaching-in-Style” Board on Pinterest and follow me!

The Positive Classroom Book is coming soon! Check back in September to order your copy. A must-have for all early childhood and elementary teachers!

Tips for End-of-the-Year Success

2012-06-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Teaching is an unusual profession in that we have such pronounced cycles of beginning and ending. For many teachers, June can be a challenging month with end-of-school festivities, field trips, getting materials sent home, and packing up the room. It can also be an emotional time as we change our routines and begin separating from social relationships. Here are some tips to help things go smoothly at the end of the school year.

Keep Routines the Same. Although you will have special activities at the end of the year, the children also need stability. Transitions – even happy ones – can be unsettling and the more the structure of the day stays the same, the more you will prevent stress behaviors. Keep the children busy and engaged!

Plan Goodbye Rituals. The children and you have developed strong relationships with each other. Acknowledge this with rituals to help ease the separation from each other. These might be picnics, parent events, or pizza parties. Emphasize how important you have all been to each other and celebrate your community. Let the children know you will miss them and talk about the emotions they might feel about leaving each other. Concrete ways of capturing the sense of community might include autograph books, t-shirts with children’s names on them, a slide show of the past year, or memory cards in which children write compliments to each other.

Prepare for the Transition to the Next Grade. As much as possible, help the children know where they will be going in the fall, and what aspects might be the same or different. In many schools, administrators do not let families know until right before school starts who the next teacher will be. Although this prevents many administrative headaches, it’s very difficult for families and children. In a perfect world, children would meet their new teacher before school ends, and know what classroom they will be attending.

Review the Year. Take this opportunity to teach children how to reflect on their progress. The children can write down (or dictate) their best accomplishments, and their goals for the next year. You might write a class letter to the children that will be coming in September to give them advice for the next year.

Say Goodbye to Families. Provide the families with some type of closure and goodbye message. This might be a letter to each family highlighting their child’s accomplishments (the children can help with this), or a short meeting to review the school year. Prepare the families for what they might expect for next year. The more information you can give, the less anxiety and stress the families – and children – will feel.

Stay Organized. Think through the steps you will take to get the children’s belongings home, any books or materials you need to collect, and what you will need to put away. Make a list or use post-it notes to keep organized.

Make Plans for September. This is the ideal time to write yourself notes about what you will want to remember when you start the new school year. What went well that you want to continue? What do you want to change? Different routines? Better seating arrangements? Activities that the children particularly enjoyed? We might think we will remember, but over the summer it’s easy to forget the little changes you want to make.

Manage the Stress. This is a busy time of year and an emotional one. You’ve spent 10 months or more with your class and saying goodbye is an emotional process. Although you may be relieved at the end of the year, and glad to have a break (if you are lucky enough to get one!) the process of separating is still challenging. Take care of yourself! Be sure to get plenty of sleep, and plan a few extra self-care activities to help you relax and pamper yourself. You’ve worked hard and it’s important to recognize your own accomplishments!

Share with us in the comments any suggestions you have for making the end of the school year a smooth transition!

How to Ensure a Smooth-Running Field Trip

2012-06-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Do you get exhausted just thinking about taking the children on a field trip? Do you have visions of losing a child, or worry about the children fooling around and being out of control? Do you wish your field trips could be more of a learning experience? Let’s explore some strategies to help turn this around.

The first step is to create a plan that addresses each part of the experience. Take some time to think through each moment of the trip, from leaving the classroom, to returning at the end of the trip. Here are some topics to consider:

Preparing the Children for Learning: Think about your learning goals for the trip. If you’re going to the farm, what are the few overarching concepts you’d like the children to learn? Plan some lessons to give the children the background knowledge they need to better understand what they will be exposed to. If you’re going to a play, you could learn more about the story or setting. If you’re going to a museum, find out what exhibits will be available. If you’re going to a park, think about what activities will be best for your children. Even if you are just going for a neighborhood walk, think about what children can learn along the way and prepare them for the content.

Prepare the Children for Proper Behavior. A few days before you leave for your trip, go over the behavior expectations you have for the children. This might include the following:

Appropriate behavior for sitting on a school bus
How you will line up
How to behave when a guide is explaining information
What they are allowed to touch
What to do if they have to go to the bathroom
Procedures for eating lunch or snack
What to do if they get separated from the group
Who will be in charge

I recommend that you practice these behaviors before leaving. Teach them the same way you’d teach procedures in your classroom. Model what you want the children to do and have them pretend they are on the trip. If you create a sense of play to this, the children can have fun pretending they are at the trip location. For example, you can set up the chairs like a bus and practice appropriate behavior.You can also provide visual supports like photos and additional practice with appropriate behavior for the children who might have the most difficult challenges during the trip. They might need to take the photos with them as a reminder.

Prepare the Adults for the Trip. Decide on who will be your chaperones, if you will have any. Even if you don’t have extra people to help, be sure to work with your assistants to clearly understand your roles. Think through who will go first on the bus, or who will wait with the children while you check in or get tickets. Assign children with challenging behaviors to a specific person to keep on track. If you have parent volunteers, put into writing what behaviors you expect for the children and what the chaperone’s specific jobs are. For example, make it clear that it is inappropriate to buy food for their own child that other children won’t get. Or write out the procedures for helping with lunch. Write down the names of the children they are responsible for, meeting times, meeting places, or other important information – including a contact phone number if there are any problems.You can put these instructions on a clipboard, or laminate them on a card.

During the Trip. Be organized! Have all materials ready before the children arrive, and keep a positive and calm attitude. Remind the children one more time about the behavior you expect on the trip. Needless to say, keep your eye on children who need more support, and be very careful about intervening when you see any agitation in children. Giving a child a quick break to get a drink or a quick walk around for a few minutes can avert a behavioral disaster. Some children will have a great challenge in staying as still as we want them to during presentations, or maintaining impulse control in new and interesting areas. Be positive and firm, and most importantly, intervene before behavior gets out of hand.

Provide Positive Feedback. Most of all, give lots of praise and feedback. Let the children know when they are doing well, and point out appropriate behavior frequently: “I see many children sitting quietly and waiting.” “I noticed how you kept your eyes on the speaker.” “You all did a great job of keeping your hands to yourself.” “Maria, you’ve stayed with your leader the whole morning!” “You have all kept yourselves very safe by following the directions.” These positive statements are much more effective than trying to correct children’s minor misbehaviors. Also provide this positive feedback to your chaperones!

Review the Trip. After you return, review all aspects of the trip with the children. Let them know what they did well, and what areas could be improved for the next time. Continue follow-up activities that build on your learning goals. Field trips are often a wonderful opportunity for children to record their experiences – using their literacy skills in meaningful ways. Create a class book about the trip, make posters about their experiences, or write a story for the class newsletter.

I hope these strategies will help make your trip into a better learning experience and help you stay sane! Please share in the comments any other strategies you’ve found helpful in your field trips!

Why Are We Separating Boys and Girls?

2012-05-21T07:39:00.001-07:00

I’m always surprised to see teachers make a conscious decision to separate boys and girls in activities in school, such as lining up, taking turns, or creating teams. I think this is problematic. It contributes to gender bias and discrimination – and is damaging to BOTH boys and girls.

Imagine for a moment that you heard a teacher tell the children, “Okay, let’s have the Black children line up on this side, and the White children on the other side.” Most of us would think this is completely inappropriate (I hope!). Yet we often do the same thing with gender. The only time this might be acceptable is going to the bathroom, but I don’t think children should line up for the bathroom, so even that instance is not one I would advocate. Imagine saying this: “Good morning, red heads and blondes.” Silly, right? Yet we point out gender differences every time we say, “Good morning, boys and girls” instead of “Good morning, children.” I’ve seen teachers use a pattern of calling on a boy, girl, boy, girl to answer questions during lessons. Why differentiate children by gender during lessons? You might be thinking that this allows for more fairness. But would you be comfortable using a White child, Black child pattern? Probably not, and that raises the question of why we are comfortable separating by gender. What’s the result of years and years of hearing these phrases and being separated by gender?

Children may learn that boys and girls are different intellectually.
Children may learn that they should be considered as different kinds of people because of their gender
Children get locked into gender stereotypes at an early age

Are boys and girls different? Of course! But not intellectually. And the physical differences are not significant for the types of activities done in early childhood or elementary grades.

We’ve made great progress in gender equity – but there is still a long way to go, by any measure. It’s interesting to note that girls and women have made great strides in entering college in numbers greater than men, yet they are still underrepresented in many fields – especially science and math. At the same time, boys – especially Black and Latino – are rapidly dropping in number in college enrollment. They are also psychologically discouraged from entering many “helping” careers such as teaching, nursing, and social work – which have been traditionally female jobs. I wonder why these differences still persist so strongly at a time in which we are so aware of the value of diversity. Perhaps we are still reinforcing those gender differences throughout a child’s early years.

As educators working with young children, we have a unique and important role to play in helping children reach their full potential and overcome early roadblocks of discrimination. I encourage you to consider how you might inadvertently reinforce gender stereotypes by separating boys and girls. Please share with us your thoughts about this – and other ways you’ve been successful at giving all children a positive view of gender equity.

Are You Working Effectively with Teacher Assistants?

2012-05-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

This semester I have a wonderful group of college students, many of whom have spent years as assistant teachers or aides in early childhood and special education classrooms. I asked them this week to reflect on what they would want classroom teachers to know in order to work effectively with a teacher assistant in the future. Here are their suggestions:

Set Clear Expectations. Don’t assume an assistant knows what you want her to do. Be clear and specific: “Could you sit next to Ryan during group time and help keep him on task?” or “While I’m reading to the children at the carpet, please set up the tables for the science project.” Think through various parts of the day and divide up the tasks ahead of time so that you each know the role you’ll play.

Offer Respect. Treat the assistant like an equal. Your roles are different but both are important. The teacher assistant might have more experience in the school or with children than a new teacher does, so be sure to acknowledge this expertise. Speak in a way that is always professional. When there is conflict, clear the air and repair the relationship right away. Don’t let bad feelings fester. You don’t have to be friends, but you do have to be colleagues.

Communicate Frequently. Set aside regular times to meet together as a team and go over plans. Communicate appropriate school information, behavioral plans for children, curriculum goals, etc.

Empower Decision-Making. Give the assistant teacher the power to make decisions on her own. This helps keep the classroom running smoothly and also solidifies that team approach to teaching. Many teaching assistants also pointed out how important it is to teach them how to do your role as the classroom teacher for when you are not there.

Balance Teaching and Non-Teaching Expectations. Most teacher assistants enjoy taking on some teaching duties, such as leading small group activities, collecting anecdotal records, or working one-on-one with a child. However, remember that an assistant is not getting paid to be the teacher, and may not have the training or experience to take on teaching roles. Be sure to check what the school policies are. The best advice came from a long-time teacher who began her relationship with each assistant she’s had by asking her assistant teacher what she would like to do in the classroom. Over time she found that building on her assistant’s strengths was very effective, rather than trying to get her to do what she wasn’t comfortable with.

Use Positive Feedback. Most important of all, perhaps, is to provide high-quality, positive feedback. Just as children need to know when they are on the right track, adults do too. Give plenty of detail in your feedback: “Thanks so much for helping during circle time. When you sit next to Sheena she pays attention much better.” Or “I noticed that you got all the small group materials ready and organized today. That helped the transition to group activities go really smoothly!” This is especially effective when an assistant teacher is not doing as well as you’d like. Remember to focus always on the positive, make clear requests, and avoid getting caught in a negative-energy spiral. Remember that what you pay attention to you will get more of!

Do you have any suggestions for what has worked well in building a team with your assistant teacher? Or are you an assistant teacher who’d like to give more feedback? Please share with us in the comments!

5 Great Online Professional Development Sites

2012-04-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

This week my college students have been submitting their own professional development plans for what they’d like to continue learning after they graduate in a few weeks. In light of that, I've been thinking about the ways that I learn new ideas and stay in touch with other educators. In the last few years many wonderful online learning opportunities have been developed for teachers. The best of these sites offer one or more of these characteristics:

Great content (practical ideas based on research)
Engaging multimedia formats
A community of other teachers to connect to.

Here are my favorite sites that I return to over and over again:

Edutopia is an amazing website devoted to transforming learning. It focuses on the core strategies of Project-Based Learning, Integrated Studies, Comprehensive Assessment, and Social and Emotional learning, Technology Integration, and Teacher Development. There are videos, blog, classroom guides and a section on Schools That Work. It’s a wonderful community of educators who share their talents and ideas. All age groups.

CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge provides free online modules in the following areas: Embedded Interventions, Transition, Communication for Collaboration, Family-Professional Partnerships, Assistive Technology Interventions, and Dialogic Reading Practices. They each have an interesting 5-step process with videos, audio, handouts, and training materials. This is a brand new website and they will be adding more modules soon. Also available in Spanish.

The IRIS Center provides an extensive array of interactive multimedia modules that focus on children with disabilities. They also have Case Studies, Activities, Information Briefs, and Podcasts. Also in Spanish. This is one of my favorite sites because of the wide variety of topics and the practical, commonsense way they put research into practice. All age groups.

The Teaching Channel is my newest favorite site. It’s hard to find high-quality free videos of exemplary teaching, but they do it! There is a wide range of videos, lesson plans and other resources. They are adding new videos all the time and if you sign up for a free membership you can get notified by email when there are new ones on topics you choose. All age groups.

The Center for the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning is absolutely the best resource for helping teachers with behavior problems in preschool children. There are training modules for staff development and lots of practice resources for teachers. This is the best place to go for information on teaching children social and emotional skills. Although it is geared to preschool, many of the ideas are appropriate with elementary school children as well.

Please share in the comments your own favorite professional development sites!

Preparing for Testing without Stressing

2012-04-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Are your children asking to go to the bathroom every ten minutes? Are they sharpening their pencils until they’re just stubs? Have you sent more kids to the nurse in the last week than you have all year? It must be close to testing time!

In schools all over the country, teachers are preparing their students for standardized testing. This past week, I’ve noticed an increase in the complaints about students’ “escape” behaviors like bathroom breaks and pencil sharpening. I’ve also noticed a big increase in teachers’ stress levels. This is a tough time for teachers who often recognize the limitations of the tests in showing how much their students have learned, and who are increasingly being evaluated based on student test performance. Needless to say, this pressure and anxiety will actually hurt student performance and make teaching exhausting.

Here are some suggestions for taming the terror and keeping a peaceful climate while preparing your students for testing:

Take breaks. Plan short breaks frequently throughout the day, especially when children are doing seatwork or practice tests. Physical movement is important and can actually help children learn better. Stretch, jog in place, hold a few yoga poses, and breathe deeply. Set up a chime or timer to help you remember these short breaks.

Lighten the mood. Smile! Keep your own voice calm and assuring. Interject humor and help the children to laugh. Tell a few silly jokes, intersperse some funny comics into your seatwork, or use crazy character voices to give directions. Get out your “magic wand” and wave it around to transform the children into magical learners, or sprinkle confetti “pixie dust” around to provide learning energy. Shoot learning laser beams from your fingers. Have fun!

Stay positive. Point out that tests provide children the opportunity to show what they have learned. Avoid constantly mentioning how important the tests are, or threatening that children will not do well if they don’t work hard. One or two reminders – just to make sure children do their best – are plenty. More than that can cause stress and anxiety which will lower performance. Every five minutes acknowledge something positive that you notice a child doing to prevent misbehaviors.

Go outside. Take a walk around the school or around the block. Sing multiplication tables. Practice spelling patterns, chant compound words. Give yourself and the children some exercise, fresh air, and a chance to learn in a different environment.

Keep your perspective. Children need us to teach them that tests are only a small part of their learning experience. Take the time to show them how much they have learned this year – including their social and emotional skills such as being kind to others, working together in groups, calming themselves down, and staying focused, even when it’s hard! Take time to calm yourself if your own stress level is growing.

Plan special activities. Intersperse your hard work with special activities such as art projects, games, or reading a chapter of a special book. You all need something to look forward to and to reward yourselves with after long periods of focused work.

What other ways have you found to keep your classroom a positive learning environment while preparing for standardized tests? Please share with us in the comments!

Academic Survival Skills for Young Children

2012-04-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

In this past week the student teachers in my class have been sharing examples of the challenging behaviors they experience in their classes. There’s one thread that runs through all of their stories –the lack of social skills. This lack of skills leads children to use inappropriate behaviors to get their needs met. I also came across an online classroom management training program from the California State Department of Education that provides a great overview of social skills.

One of the important categories of social skills they present is Academic Survival Skills. These include:

Getting started on independent work
Looking at the teacher while she is talking or leading a lesson
Taking a short break and getting back to work
Asking for help
Raising one’s hand and waiting to respond
Greeting the teacher
Following what the teacher asks
Organizing one’s books and materials
Nodding to show understanding
Asking the teacher to give feedback

These skills are often overlooked because many children learn them naturally without extra help. But other children need direct instruction. I’ve found that teachers are often angry and frustrated with children who lack these skills – and often make the assumption that the children just choose not to use them. The older the children get, the more difficult it becomes for them because these academic survival skills are building blocks for later learning. Children with disabilities are particularly likely to need support for developing academic survival skills – and especially in inclusion settings.

Are you struggling with children who seem to lack these skills? Try out a simple skills training program. Pick one or two skills from the list above. Designate some time during the school day to model and support the child in practicing the new skill. And most importantly – be sure to give positive feedback when the child is successful at using the new skill. Practice this over the course of a few weeks, at least, because it takes time for children to develop new skills to the point where they can use them on their own. You can also use self monitoring charts to help children track their own progress.

What have been your own experiences in teaching children these academic survival skills? Which have you found are most important? What methods worked best? Please share with us in the comments!

3 Tips for Sharing Concerns with Parents

2012-03-26T18:45:00.002-07:00

One of the most difficult aspects of being a classroom teacher or administrator is opening discussions with parents or family members when you have a concern about a child. The first step is to remember the goal is to help the child. It is not to find blame, complain, or push the problem onto the family. Instead, our goals will include creating a team approach, treating family members with respect, and being treated with respect ourselves – while problem solving. This is a tough job!

Here are three powerful strategies that will help:

1. Empathize. It is very difficult for parents to hear that their child is having problems, and if this is a repeated issue, the parents may very well be angry, defensive, and exhausted. Show caring, kindness, and understanding. How? The easiest way is to listen. Ask the parents what their experience has been, and how they are understanding the problem. Let them know you have heard what they are saying, even if you disagree with them. Understanding and agreeing are two different things. In order for the parents to listen to you, they must feel like they’ve been understood. You are both on the same team so don’t try to “make” a parent listen or see your points. Here's an example:

“I can see that it’s been very hard for you to deal with Daniel’s tantrums. It sounds like you feel that they are happening because other children are bothering him.” (Even if you know other children are not bothering him, you can address this later. The important issue is to build a team first!)

2. Share Information. Keep yourself calm and neutral while describing the behaviors you are concerned about. Do not use a judgmental tone, and give clear examples. Avoid drama in statements such as, “I can’t tolerate Daniel’s tantrums anymore – he’s disrupting the whole class!” This meeting is not about your problem or emotional needs, it’s about the child. Focus on when the behavior happens, when, and how often. “Daniel has been throwing himself on the floor at the beginning of group time. He does this almost every day, and it takes him about 15 minutes to gather control again. We let him go to the quiet corner to calm down.”

If it’s an academic problem, show examples of the child’s work. Remember that the family may not be able to process this information if they are anxious, afraid, or emotionally agitated. Some denial is normal and works as a powerful coping strategy for us all when we are emotionally overwhelmed. You can offer the information again at a later time. Don’t push.

3. Offer Hope. The most important step is to offer hope. Share with the parents the strong belief that, working together, you can help the child. Let them know you have some ideas for what steps can be taken, and how you will get started. This is the part of the process that will solidify the team approach and help the parents to stop being defensive if they have been previously. If parents are very emotional and angry – you might want to start out with the hope step: “Mrs. James, I’d like to talk to you about Daniel’s behavior because I have some ideas for how to help him. Can you meet with me later this week?”

If you can’t offer any hope, then you should not be having the meeting with the family. First, do your homework and find out ways that the child can be helped – even if it is a referral. If you can’t offer hope because you are so angry, frustrated, and exhausted, then do not have a meeting with the family yet. Wait until you can pull yourself together and be professional. Teachers can often forget how damaging their angry words can be to a parent.

In a future post, I will discuss more ideas for working with parents who are angry, and take that anger out on you. But for now, I think you can prevent most of that kind of behavior by using the strategies above. Here are a few more resources for teacher-parent communication:

Communicating with Parents and Families

Tips for Talking with Parents when You Suspect a Developmental Delay

Sample Bad News Letter to Parents

Breaking Bad News to Parents

Please share with us what you have found is the best way to establish a team approach with families!

The Seven C’s of Effective Teaching

2012-03-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

I recently attended an educational assessment conference in which Ronald Ferguson from the Harvard Kennedy School was the keynote speaker. He is an educational researcher who presented his work on teacher effectiveness. This research shows that there are seven C’s that make a difference in the learning environment:

Caring about students (nurturing productive relationships);

Controlling behavior (promoting cooperation and peer support);

Clarifying ideas and lessons (making success seem feasible);

Challenging students to work hard and think hard (pressing for effort and rigor);

Captivating students (making learning interesting and relevant);

Conferring (eliciting students’ feedback and respecting their ideas);

Consolidating (connecting and integrating ideas to support learning).

The most interesting part of his presentation was his work on the Tripod project with Cambridge University in which they survey children about their teacher to assess whether or not students agree with a variety of statements designed to measure these seven teaching practices. Here are some examples of the questions. The children are asked whether or not these statements are true of their class:

Caring about students: “The teacher in this class encourages me to do my best.”

Captivating students: “This class keeps my attention – I don't get bored.”

Conferring with students: “My teacher gives us time to explain our ideas.”

Controlling behavior : “Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time.”

Clarifying lessons: “When I am confused, my teacher knows how to help me understand.”

Challenging students: “My teacher wants us to use our thinking skills, not just memorize things.”

Consolidating knowledge: “My teacher takes the time to summarize what we learn each day.

The researchers have found that asking children about the effectiveness of their teacher is more reliable than observational ratings of teachers – primarily because the children see their teachers every single day, not just for an observational lesson. (In other words, the ratings of different classes of children with the same teacher are more similar than not, and student ratings from one year to the next are more similar than observational ratings). Here are some other interesting findings:

Teaching in some classrooms is much more effective than in others at fostering the Seven C’s learning conditions
Student perceptions of classroom practice on Seven C’s dimensions can help in predicting learning outcomes
The “Controlling behavior” learning condition (culture of cooperation and peer support) was most closely associated with student achievement

So this made me think about how helpful it would be to ask children for feedback to help us improve. Even young children participated in the surveys, which were adapted to be done face-to-face using a simpler rating scale (such as happy and sad face pictures). This could be a great week to listen to your children’s voices and get their perceptions of the learning environment in your class! Have you formally surveyed your students about how things are going in your classroom? Please share your experiences with us!

How to Get Children to Take Care of Materials

2012-03-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

I just got finished designing the costumes for a school play and I was so impressed with how well the children took care of their things during those five days of busy chaos. This got me thinking about how we teach children to be respectful of their property – and classroom materials. Especially when working with young children, this can be a challenge since they have little impulse control, newly developing motor control, and only a rudimentary understanding of social rules.
Like so many behaviors we hope children will do, taking care of classroom materials needs to be taught. Here are some tips:

Be organized. Have a specific place to put things away – markers, books, papers, blocks, etc. Label the area, adding pictures to make it really clear for young children. The more organized you are, the more organized the children will be. This is the critical first step in teaching children to care for classroom materials.
Introduce Materials. Don’t let children use materials until you’ve introduced the procedures to use them appropriately. The Responsive Classroom calls this Guided Discovery. Be sure to model how you want children to care for the materials, whether it is how to make sure the tops of the markers click when you put them on correctly, or how to turn the pages of the class books so they don’t rip. There is almost nothing too simple to model – in fact, teachers typically don’t get specific enough. Next have the children practice what you’ve modeled. Then give them opportunities to try using the materials independently.
Offer Reminders. Children will need many reminders to learn the proper care of materials. Be supportive by repeating the modeling as needed, or just reiterating things to remember, for example, “As you work on your drawings, remember to put the caps back on the markers and push until they click.” or “When you are reading silently, remember how we learned to turn the pages in the books gently.”
Give Positive Feedback. It is critically important that you acknowledge when children do take care of their things. “Bryan, I noticed you remembered how to turn the pages carefully when you were reading.” This way they will begin to pay attention to their own success and know when they are on track. Do this every day!
Use Logical Consequences. If you’ve followed these steps, and children repeatedly fail to follow your guidelines, it is important to set boundaries by using logical consequences. If a child does not put the caps back on the markers, then she can’t use them. If a child doesn’t turn the pages of the books gently, he won't be allowed to use them independently. When using logical consequences, your tone of voice must be calm, and the child should always get another chance to use more appropriate behavior soon. If many children are not following the guidelines, then you should go back and have another group lesson on caring for the materials.

Remember that children will make mistakes and will need time to learn to control their impulses and take control of their bodies. With plenty of modeling, practice, and positive feedback, you should be able to develop a learning environment in which children care for the materials and use them properly. Please share with us other suggestions you have for what has worked in your classroom!