I Control the Tone of My Classroom

I had a tough day today with my kids. They continued to talk over me, they laughed a few times at each other when I gave consequences, and I caught a bit of disrespect from one student in particular who ended up needing a conversation with the principal to get back on track. (I would be more than happy to share the details on that and how I handled it! Just come ask me.)

I typically reflect through conversations with other teachers or people to get feedback and advice. It helps me work through and process everything in my mind. As I was talking about my day and the behavior of my students, Mrs. Hernandez asked me, "When you are reflecting on days like this, what conclusion do you usually come to for why the kids were acting that way?"

My response to her was this:    ME.  I am the reason that they act up. When I am not consistent in my consequences and don't hold them accountable to the norms, they get crazy. When I come in and am in a bad mood and am negative or grumpy towards them, they react in anger. When my lesson is poorly planned and unorganized, my class becomes unorganized and chatty.  I control the entire tone of my classroom. My kids feed off of my energy--both subconsciously and consciously. I have the power and control in my classroom to lift us all up, but I also have the ability, more than any student, to bring us all down to the depths. It's days like this that I remember the full scope of my influence on a daily level. As teachers, we have an immense amount of responsibility. We can crush dreams, and sour good moods with just a few grumpy days and snarky words.

Because we work with people, small or big, its sometimes easy to forget that this is our job. And just like any job, we are charged with putting on a smile even when we feel like crying, with creating rigorous and engaging lessons even when we're tired, and with loving students even when we feel like yelling.

Mrs. Hernandez, Thank you so much for pushing me to reflect even deeper. I continue to grow as a teacher, because of conversations with people like you! And thank you for encouraging me to put this on my blog. :) I appreciate you!

Glencliff Open House

Last night Glencliff Humanities Summer Academy had its first Open House for parents and families.  Each class was charged with creating stations that best showed off the work of their kids and helped get parents involved in the curriculum. As I was walking through the CM classrooms, I saw the most gorgeous uses of space and professional displays of student work. I wanted to take a minute to shout out one classroom in particular and show you guys the student driven and welcoming space that they created.

This was their student work wall. It was downright beautiful. I'm totally stealing it. 

At this station, they engaged the parents and students who came by bringing awareness to a social issue that exists right here in Nashville--Homelessness. They had excerpts of articles from the Contributer, the homeless newspaper, and had their visitors write ideas for things that we can do to make change and help the homeless. 

 They even had a slide show of pictures of them with their kids. :)

They also made the coolest brochures and displayed all of their curriculum! So, shoutout to Room 203 for putting a TON of effort into making your classroom a room that you, your kids, and the entire Glencliff team could be proud of. 

Review, Review, Review!

For the next week or so, most of us will be in review mode. This post is all about review and strategies for how to do it in a fun yet educational way.

1. Students need a study guide. They need SOME kind of handout that tells them exactly what they will be required to know. Study guides can come in various forms. I usually break mine down into question format. (ie. 1. What is a simile? 2. What is a metaphor? 3. Explain the difference between a simile and a metaphor. 4. Explain why authors use descriptive language. etc) I put them in question form, because it gives students directions on what to write for each important term. Sometimes when you just give them a whole bunch of vocabulary terms and skills they get lost and just end up not working through it.

2. Teach students study skills.  Create a mini lesson that tackles study skills and effective strategies to learning and remembering material. For instance, a mini lesson could include instructions on how to make/use flash cards, How to effectively quiz a classmate, or how to best utilize their study guides.

3. Give students  timed mini quizzes (5-10 questions) and grade the quizzes with them. You shouldn't take these for an official grade. These are just for practice. This is also a really great opportunity for teacher modeling and teacher think alouds, so you can show kids how YOU think through and process questions to eliminate answers.

4. Kids LOVE review games. BEWARE: games bring out the crazy, so your framing and behavior management must be really strong. You also need to be strong in your consequences or what was supposed to be a fun game will quickly turn into the worst 30 minutes of your life.

 I'm going to give you a few options:

• Jeopardy: a solid classic. Kids love it. The majority know how to play it, so the instructions won't take as long. 
• This is a link to other popular gameshow powerpoint templates  that you just have to type the questions in. Review Game Templates (Jeopardy, Classroom Feud, Wheel of Riches, Millionaire, and Are You Smarter Than Your Teacher?) 
• Hot Seat: get kids into 4-6 rows (depending on class size). You will have pre-prepared questions on a powerpoint. You will need something for students to write on (mini dry erase boards are the best option but paper could work too.) When you project a question on the board, the student in the back of the row will write what they think is the answer and pass it forward. If the next person thinks the answer is correct, they will pass it forward to the next person. If they think the answer is wrong, they will pass it ALL THE WAY back to the back. The only person that can write answers on the board is the person in the "Hot Seat" (in the back). The first team or row to get the correct answer all the way to the front person in the row gets the point. After question has been answered correctly, students will rotate, so every student gets a chance in the Hot Seat. If one team is taking it away, you can also do the first 2 teams to get it correctly to the front. I like this game, because it holds every student accountable, instead of just that one kid on the team that knows all the answers. 
• Review Baseball: The class is broken up into two teams. The first team "up to bat" stands in a line at the front of the room. The "batter" is asked a review question. If they answer it correctly, they get to move to first base. If they answer it incorrectly, it is an OUT. Once team 1 gets 3 outs, the second team is up. Teams score points by getting team members all around the "bases" to home plate. 

When a Difficult Student Has a Good Day

Today one of my most difficult students had a great day. He was answering questions. He didn't complain about the rigorous work load. He even spent a normal amount of time in the bathroom!

I was so tempted to use positive reinforcement to encourage his newly good behavior.  At first I gave him a ticket (part of my individual reward system) for almost every good thing that I saw him doing. Then I stopped myself. I remembered an article that my mom sent me a while back. It's called "Why You Shouldn't Respond When a Difficult Student Has a Good Day" and was written by Michael Linsin.

In the article, he discusses the risk of external motivation with this type of celebration and speaks of students who begin to "view anything and everything positive as work they deserve to be paid for."

The link to the article is below. It's definitely a thought provoking read.

"Why You Shouldn't Respond When a Difficult Student Has A Good Day."

What Building Relationships Really Means

The article below is called "What Building Relationships With Students Really Means."  It. Is. Awesome if you are still confused with what "Building Relationships" looks like for you and your kids. Read it. It's worth it, I promise.

Click on the link below to read the short article!

"What Building Relationships Really Means"

Building Relationships During Instruction

Everyone is telling you right now that "Building relationships is key." "You have to build relationships first." But some of you may be thinking, "Okay, so how do I do that?"

The first thing we think of when building relationships is one-on-one conversations with students. The reality though is this: We have SO many things to do as teachers, and realistically we may not have time to have a sit-down conversation with every single student in the first few weeks. 

For me, the best way to build relationships with students is during class. Here are a few options that you should implement into your instruction: 

1. Tell personal anecdotes about yourself to show them the PERSON that you are during teacher models/think-alouds. 

For example, today during Poet Warriors, there was a brainstorming activity in which we had to choose a family member to characterize. I took this opportunity to characterize my sister, Emily, and tell students more about my life.  Students were able to ask me questions in real time, and get to know me better. Below is a picture of my brainstorming graphic organizer about my sister. 

2. A second way is to give positive encouragement and feedback as you are circulating that room.  For example, while they are drafting a story or constructing their reader's response, I circulate the room and read their responses. (This is also an example of a silent Check For Understanding) As I read their responses, I point to specific things that are good and say things like, "Wow, (name) I really love that you added that figurative language into your poem. It really helps me visualize what you're writing about. Great job!"  This relationship builder is so easy to do, and means more to your students than you know. They SO yearn to be loved on with words and told they are smart and doing the activity correctly. Every time they are doing any kind of student-centered work, you have an opportunity to do this.  (Be genuine in your feedback though. They won't grow if you just tell them you love them.) 

3. Shout outs! If you see a student helping another student, or you see an exemplary answer, shout them out in front of the class! (ex. "Hey guys, I just want to take a second to shout out something that I noticed Anastasia doing. She came in today and immediately started helping her partner with the Do Now without me even asking her to do it. She's really promoting the idea that we are a family. Let's give her some snaps.")  You will also notice that the more you model this, your students will start to shout each other out and further that community that you're shooting for. 

4. Whole-Class shout outs. If a beautiful moment happens during your instruction, if student participations is way up, or just if nobody fell asleep today in your class (small, but a celebration nonetheless!), take a moment to call that out and tell them how proud you are of them. 

5. Questions. Sometimes I see a student write something that I want to know more about, or I want them to think deeper. I just go crouch in front of their desks and ask them to tell me more about their answer. That quick one-on-one interaction may be content-centered, but it also does a lot for your personal relationships. 

6. Talk about things that are interesting and relevant to your kids.  As sad as this is, your kids have probably not read Harry Potter, they probably haven't heard of TLC, and most disastrous of all, they probably have never seen or heard of Saved By the Bell.  Don't try to force your own interests onto them. Get up to date on what THEY are reading, what THEY are interested in, so that you can participate and lead conversations. You will rarely find me with an adult book. Teen fiction is always in my hands. While I do enjoy the books, I don't read them for me. I read them, because I want to be able to talk them up to my kids and have meaningful discussions about them with my kids. If you are looking for new teen fiction titles to read, look at one of my earlier posts about the books every teacher needs in their in-class library or look on Amazon and pay attention to the ratings of the book. If over thousands of people loved it, chances are you and your kids will too. 

7. Plan for activities that allow students to express themselves and tell their own story. The curriculum for the summer lends itself so well to this, but when you enter into the year, give your students a chance to tell their story and express themselves in a meaningful way. (This can be done in any content area. Not just English!!!)

Pinterest is your new Best Friend

Pinterest is your new best friend. There is an endless amount of resources and websites for teachers on Pinterest, and I don't care if you are a boy. You need one. Now. You can thank me later.

I have already pinned TONS of Teaching materials. My Teaching board is larger than any other by far. (Even the board I had for my wedding. True Story.) 

If you are starting your Teaching Pinterest board, follow me for inspiration and resources.  Search: Caitlin Quandt, and I should be the only one to pop up.  My amazing teacher hero of a mom also has a stacked Teacher board with resources for all content areas, because she is an Instructional Coach in Rutherford County. Follow her too! (Sharron Hofer) 

GO GET A PINTEREST! and then search whatever it is you are teaching next (theme, inference, characterization, even specific text titles) and prepare to be flooded with ideas and even lesson plans!