Some Thoughts on Bullying in the School Setting

I think it’s stating the obvious to say that bullying is a complex problem facing schools today.  As such, complex, integrated solutions are needed.  I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but in reflecting on a recent paper that I wrote for my EDU 414 class, I do have a few ideas that I’d like to share on this sad and all too common behavior.  First, I believe that teachers need to be more alert and strive to really connect with their students.  If an educator can get a sense of a student’s personality, they can better pick up on the behavior variances that might allude to a deeper problem such as bullying.  Secondly, I think that teachers and parents should try to help victims develop the skill set needed to stand up for themselves and be strong in the face of a bully.  Also, on an administrative level, if bullying has become a problem for a school, principals should consider mandating hall monitoring between classes, as many of the bullying incidents occur during that time.  In addition, teachers covering the lunchroom should be encouraged to refrain from too much socializing with one another.  Instead, they should monitor the cafeteria carefully, “table hovering,” if needed.  Finally, many schools have cut back (or cut out entirely) the position of bus monitor.  A lot of bullying behaviors take place on the school bus, while the bus driver is busy driving, and there is no monitor available due to these budget cuts.  Reinstating bus monitors can help make a child’s ride home a safe one.  

PALS : Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies

Looking for an interesting reading strategy for use in grades two through six?  You might be interested in trying PALS.  This acronym stands for Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies.  It is used in addition to, as opposed to in place of, the regular reading program that is implemented within your classroom.  This three-part strategy takes a little over a half hour each session and may be used two to four times each week.

The first thing a teacher needs to do is assess his/her students’ reading abilities and list them in order, from highest to lowest.  The list is then divided into two parts:  the top half of the class and the bottom half of the class.  Students are then paired by matching the first person from the top half with the first person from the bottom half, the second with the second, and so forth.  If the class should have an odd number of students, there can be one group of three.  These pairs work together for three or four weeks, at which time the students are reassessed and new pairs are made.

The pairs work together on three different strategies.  The first is called Partner Reading with Retell and should take about 12 minutes.  The better reader begins by reading an assigned passage.  Then the lower reader reads the same passage, benefiting from hearing it read by his peer.  Once they have both read, the lower reader summarizes the passage with help from his partner, if needed.  Reading fluency and summarization are the two skills covered during this first strategy. 

Next, they move on to Paragraph Shrinking.  This part should take about ten minutes.  Here the better reader reads as much of an assigned passage as possible in five minutes.  He then identifies the main character and summarizes what was read in ten words or less.  Then the lower reader picks up where his partner left off, following the same procedure.  The comprehension skills targeted here are identifying the main character and the main ideas and summarizing. 

Finally, the students play Prediction Relay.  In this ten minute strategy, which targets the skills of making predictions, identifying the main ideas, and summarizing, the better reader predicts what will happen, reads the next half page, and assesses whether the prediction was a good one.  Then his partner does the same.

The PALS strategy is successful because it works for students of all academic abilities.  It is also cost effective and is easy to implement.  Most important, children enjoy it, because they are working together and having fun.

The Power of Picture Books

              My EDU professor recently finished a lecture on picture books.  He started his lecture by asking us to think of the picture books we read as children that were memorable.  Personally, the stories that I found the most memorable were the ones that contained illustrations that captured my imagination and added a whole new dimension to the text/ plot.  The first one I can recall is Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.  I can still envision the “wild things”…their faces, their teeth, etc…which really brought Max’s visit to the island of the wild things to life.  It’s no surprise that this picture book sold over ten million copies in the United States alone.  Later, when we were reading fairy tales in the upper elementary grades, I recall reading the Paul Zelinsky retelling of Rumpelstiltskin and being awestruck by his illustrations.  His paintings, which were actually oil paints layered over watercolor underpaintings, dominated the book and inspired me to take up painting.  Picture books like these grabbed my attention, and through their strong visual component, held my attention.  These books helped to instill a love for reading in me that carried over to chapter books without illustrations in the later grades, and finally resulted in my love of reading today.

Why Do You Read?

Why Do You Read?

            My EDU professor posed this question to my 307 class this semester, and I thought I would attempt to answer it here on my blog. 

I read for enjoyment.  I also read to acquire knowledge.  Maybe I can learn about a culture I don’t know much about or a period of history.  I read to become informed…informed about politics, and political platforms so I can make an informed decision when voting.  Similarly, I read when I am about to make a significant purchase, so I can make an informed choice.  I read for escapism, for stress relief.  I read because I appreciate writing as an art form, as something that can teach me something about myself or about the world.  But this question got me thinking about the reasons why a child reads during his/her elementary years.  Unfortunately, I think that in many cases, these children are not reading for enjoyment.  They are reading because they have to, because they are practicing reading and the strategies they can use to become better readers.  They are reading in a content area in order to acquire that content (science, history etc.)   I think it’s incredibly important to try to instill a love for reading in the classroom, especially in the elementary grades, as research shows that if a child leaves the elementary setting for middle/ high school without that love of reading, there is a good chance they will never develop it.  But how can we as educators, or hopeful educators, achieve this goal?  One way would be to try and substitute rich literature or high interest stories for the dry basals that can be all too common in many reading classrooms.  Another idea would be to try to supplement any content texts that might be a dry series of facts with more interesting sources.  Beyond these suggestions, I think teachers should always try to model their own “love of reading.”  Their modeling can help to create a reading (and writing) community within the classroom.  I plan to talk to my students about my own reading habits, including my own favorite books, poems, etc. with the hope that this modeling and my own enthusiasm for reading will influence my future students.

Phonics vs Whole Language

           This semester, my edu class at SCSU debated which is the better way to teach reading:  the whole language approach or the phonics approach.  As often is the case, I don’t think there was a clear-cut winner in this battle.  Before I weigh in with my own personal take on this comparison, let me first define both approaches.  The whole language approach to reading instruction emphasizes learning whole words by encountering those words in meaningful contexts.  In this approach, learners are expected to infer what they need to know while being immersed in literature.  The whole language approach still allows for "teachable moments," where educators react to children's needs/ requests for specific guidance.  Whole language is sometimes referred to as a “top down” approach. 

Phonics, on the other hand, focuses on the sounds that the individual letters or letter combinations make.  Once learned, the child can sound out words by putting together the sounds.  This approach is sometimes referred to as a “bottom up” approach.   Detractors of this approach believe that the English language has many words that do not follow the sounds that their individual letters make, and as a result, it could be frustrating to the student.  
            In terms of which is a better method for teaching reading, I believe it depends on the grade level.  I think that the upper elementary grades (3 thru 6 / even late 2 thru 6) can benefit more from a whole language approach.  Above grade three, immersion is extremely important.  Incorporating vast amounts of literature into a classroom fosters more of a constructivist experience, where students are inferring, comparing, predicting, etc.  And if they see a new word...there ARE context clues.  Detractors of whole language will say there is too much guesswork and too many situations where students are making "wild guesses"...but I see these as educated guesses by the late elementary grades.  Whole language encourages students to look at the big picture rather than zeroing in on patterns, sounds, and rules like phonics does.

All this being said, the early elementary school student does need to "unlock the alphabet" and learn the rules of reading from the bottom up.  So I agree with the assertion that phonics instruction is critically important in the early elementary grades. 

Cutting Back on the Arts and P.E. is a Bad Idea

School budget cuts to the arts and physical education have been a nationwide phenomenon over the last two decades.  As someone who grew up with a huge appreciation for the arts, as well as for team sports/physical education, I find this trend both saddening and perplexing.  It confuses me when school systems make these cuts, because it flies in the face of all the research on the importance of both the arts (music, visual arts, theater, etc.) and P.E.  Most academic research supports the value of the arts, finding students who participate do better in the academic areas and are more likely to stay in school than those who don't. Similar findings have been found for students who are physically active.  Exposure to the arts helps broaden students' knowledge bases, which helps their reading skills. I’ve even heard of successful scenarios where elective (specials) teachers have worked alongside academic teachers to help strengthen a lesson. For example, students might do a report on Beethoven in their language arts class and then learn about a symphony in their music class.  Unfortunately, many schools are cutting art/ p.e. in favor of math / reading simply because music and the arts aren't government-tested like reading, writing, and math are.  As a result, school districts are pressured to cut them first.  But this is a knee jerk reaction that doesn't take into account the big picture.  The facts continue to say that cutting the arts/ p.e. will only result in lower test scores in those aforementioned, core, “government tested” subjects. So I guess this blog post is more of a rant than any of my previous posts.  It’s actually more of a shout…STOP CUTTING BACK ON THE ARTS AND P.E. IN OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS! 

A Creative Classroom Seating Strategy

Here’s an interesting seating plan that will help to deter the cliques that can plague students in the upper elementary grades, specifically grades four through six.  When the summer letter goes home welcoming students to your classroom, ask them to bring in a large pencil box/container that can hold all their small items, including pencils, rulers, crayons, pens, colored pencils, etc.  Arrange the desks in clusters of four and name each cluster according to the letters of the alphabet:  cluster A, cluster B, etc.  Fill each desk with all the necessary textbooks.  Designate a small storage area for each student where he/she can put all the materials that belong to them, including their notebooks, assignment booklets, consumable workbooks (the ones they write in and keep), and the pencil box with all their small items in it.

Every morning, as the students arrive, they should come to you (as the classroom teacher), and choose a cluster card from a small basket.  The cluster cards can be easily made from three by five cards with the letter of a cluster on each one (four of each, relating to the desks in each).  They should be folded and paper-clipped, so the students don’t know which cluster they’re choosing.  When they have chosen a card, the teacher should record the student’s name/cluster assignment.  The students then “move in” to any seat that is available within that cluster, by moving all their own materials from their storage area into the chosen desk.

The only down side to this approach is the time it takes to move in each morning and move out at dismissal time.  The up sides are numerous.  First, the classroom teacher will greet each student individually every morning.  It’s a good time to have a short chat, collect any homework or any notes from home, or to respond if the student seems concerned about anything.  Second, if there are any group activities that begin on that day, the group they will work in is the group they’re sitting with.  Third, the anguish that surrounds who sits where is suddenly gone.  Everyone sits everywhere and with everyone as each week progresses.  So every student gets the benefit of the smartest kid in the class and has to deal with the class clown or the difficult student one day or the next.  Also, students would get to know someone they might never have had the chance to know if a seat were assigned and would be theirs for weeks (or even months) on end.  Finally, as they move out, they have an opportunity to organize any loose papers, etc. as they move their own things into their storage area. 

A friend of mine actually tried this system in a grade five classroom, and told me emphatically that she would never go back to the traditional seating she had used in the past.  Her students were more tolerant and understanding of their classmates, and the specialists who worked with her classes year after year could really see the difference.

The Importance of Emotional Competence in the Classroom

What is emotional education and why is it important?  Social / emotional competence is the ability to comprehend, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of one’s life in ways that enable successful management of life tasks, such as learning, forming relationships with others, daily problem solving, and adapting to the complicated demands of development and growth.  Social /emotional competence also includes self-awareness, impulse control (self-regulation), and the ability to work cooperatively with others. Social and emotional learning is the process through which children develop the skills, mind-sets, and values necessary to acquire social and emotional competence.  But how can schools help develop and encourage the emotional competency of the children attending? 

I found one program online that attempts to accomplish this.   It’s called the CARE for kids program and like most SEL (social and emotional learning) programs, it strives to create a safe, supportive environment where kids feel cared about, not only by the adults within the school, but by other students in the school as well.   This program gets children up out of their seats each day, gets them moving, and teaches them (through various games and activities) how to get along with each other.  Taking time to teach children strong social skills and the importance of treating each other with respect pays off not only in better time management for teachers (less time stopping class due to behavioral problems), but also in better academic results for the students.  Schools and teachers need to make academic goals a priority, but they would be wise to devote significant energies to programs such as CARE for kids, which are designed to develop their emotional and social skills as well.

Do Learning Styles Matter?

“Do learning styles matter?”  My EDU professor posed this question to the class this semester, and in doing so, he initiated a heated debate. The consensus seemed to be that learning styles do indeed matter, and that teachers should try their best to cater their lessons to the different learning styles contained within their classrooms (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) But in looking at this issue more closely, I think that what is most important in terms of learning styles and lesson planning is that educators should adjust and fit the modality to the content, rather than the different learning styles of the students.  If teachers ignore this strategy and design their lessons with their students’ preferred modalities in mind (instead of with the lesson content in mind/ best fit strategy) I think they will be selling their students short.  For example, if I were teaching a lesson on Beethoven, I would try to incorporate a strong auditory component, which would ideally make the lesson more powerful and memorable.  The more meaning the students assign to the lesson, the better chance they will have to retain the information that was presented.  If I were putting together a lesson plan on the Pyramids of Egypt, I would incorporate a strong visual component to the lesson.  In each of these examples, choosing the modality that best fits the content trumps the different preferred learning styles of the students in my opinion.  All this being said, I think it’s critically important to mention the role of learning styles when it comes to student responses to instruction.  It's this area where I believe that the students' modalities should be taken into account.  I think students should be able to demonstrate their competency in the modality of their choice, if possible.  For example, if students were studying the Civil War, visual learners might choose to summarize their learning through pictures/illustrations, kinesthetic by constructing a three-dimensional battlefield, etc.

Ability Grouping

           When I learned reading back in elementary school, we were always divided into reading groups.  Sometimes the groups were numbered, and sometimes they were named (the bluebirds, the robins, etc.)  But every student in the classroom knew just which group was which:  high, middle, low, remedial, etc.  I never gave it much thought at the time, because reading was a strength of mine.  Looking back on it though, it must have been hard on those who struggled and were always in that lowest group, irrespective of the name assigned to it.

           Today, there is a much stronger focus on whole-group instruction.  Here, no one is identified as high, middle, or low.  Instead, everyone reads the same story and participates in the same mini-lesson.  Once that lesson is over and the students begin independent work, now their stories can vary according to their reading abilities, challenging them enough so that they can learn something new, but keeping the material at their level, so they are not frustrated.  

            My personal classroom plan will be to assess each student often to best understand exactly what each one knows and what he/she needs to learn.  I will be sure that independent work is designed to meet the individual needs of each student, but that new skills are introduced and modeled to the whole class.  Then I can create small, flexible groups to address weaknesses that certain students might have in common.  In this way, no student has to be labeled as high, middle, or low. No student has to be left wishing that everyone wasn't so aware of who is and who is not in that coveted “high/advanced group.”

Classroom Management

It is sometimes thought that classroom management is synonymous with classroom discipline, but in truth, classroom management covers a wide range of factors.  First, and possibly the most important for any teacher, is to really know your students.  Today, classrooms are diverse social structures.  When teachers know their students, including their backgrounds (cultures), family structures, neighborhoods, etc., they have a better chance of reaching and connecting with them.  Once the students are in the classroom, they need to feel like they are an integral part of that group.  One way teachers can help make that happen is by establishing classroom rules and consequences with the students.  In this way, the students can be a part of the process and will have more investment in the smooth running of the class.  The rules should be posted in the classroom, visible for everyone.  The physical classroom environment should also be carefully considered, because it can be a factor when it comes to classroom management.  Educators should be well organized, making sure that all necessary materials are accessible to themselves and their students.  Everything should have a place, and when materials for a particular lesson are needed, they should be readily available.  An organized environment is extremely important to an efficient classroom.  If the teacher needs to stop or pause a lesson so he or she can look for something, this is when a classroom full of students can disengage and lose focus.  Speaking of engagement, lessons should be carefully developed to not only cover the standards that apply to the grade level, but also to be interesting and engaging to the learners.  The teacher’s enthusiasm for the material being taught is critical.  Lessons should be sequential, so that they build on the students’ prior knowledge as well as prior lessons.  Students should be active learners, interacting with the curriculum and engaging with one another in a learning community.  Finally, student work and successes should be celebrated.  The classroom should be filled with completed work as well as work in progress.  These works can be displayed conventionally on bulletin boards and counter-tops as well as creatively in mobiles or other thematic groupings.  In this way, students can celebrate their own successes and the successes of others.  The integration of all of these factors adds up to a classroom that is a well-managed environment.

Does Collaborative Learning Support Literacy?

             Today, my education professor posed a question to the class: does collaborative learning support literacy?  It got me wondering…exactly how does collaborative learning support literacy?  I think a good place to start is with learning theories.  Proponents of social constructivism have found that it’s motivating to have students actively engage in a lesson within a social setting.  These theorists have found that making learning a part of a collaborative effort motivates children both intrinsically and extrinsically; the internal motivation is derived from doing well and feeling good about it, and the external motivation comes from being a part of a community of learners.  So how would social learning specifically support literacy?  For starters, literacy is improved through meaningful discourse.  Students can share text-to-self connections with their peers, resulting in new perspectives.  Text-to-text connections can widen their understanding of one author’s ideas compared to another, and test-to-world connections can yield enlightened new ideologies.  Collaboration can also improve fluency as students read aloud to one another or choral read in small groups.  Students can broaden their vocabularies through their discussions, or by testing one another on new words.  Finally, collaboration can enhance comprehension skills as students share ideas and answer questions together.  Collaborative learning supports all aspects of literacy and the social aspect of it makes the entire experience enjoyable.

Reader's Workshops and Mini-Lessons

             I was reading an article recently about reader’s workshops within the elementary school setting.  The article made some great suggestions as to how a reader’s workshop should be implemented and organized to best facilitate rich literary learning experiences for the students participating in it.  Personally, I envision an effective workshop as one where students are engaged in all aspects of the reading experience.  The students should have opportunities to work with the teacher, to discourse with classmates, to practice new skills and strategies, but most important, the students should be enjoying the entire reading process and reading in a variety of texts.  I especially liked the role of the mini-lessons within the workshop.  These short, 10-15 minute lessons are a great way for educators to break down bigger concepts into smaller parts.  For example, when introducing a concept like summarizing to a class for the first time, it might be a good idea to start with a mini-lesson on identifying important events(as opposed to less relevant events).  On a subsequent day, educators could follow up that mini-lesson with one on sequencing.  A third lesson might deal with transitional words. Finally, with the skills and competencies developed through the mini-lessons, the children would be ready to put it all together and write a clear, sequential summary.  Rather than completing a series of worksheets, reader’s workshops give students opportunities to learn the skills and strategies needed to become successful readers through interactions and related activities.

The School - Home Relationship

               Today I felt compelled to post about the importance of a strong school and home relationship when it comes to learning.  When I think back on my own elementary and secondary school years, one memory in particular stands out.  In ninth grade, I recall my immediate and extended family all coming to show support for my role in the class play.  We were putting on a performance of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and I had a crucial role in the play, as well as the responsibility of narrating.  I can still vividly recall, prior to the start of the show, standing backstage, behind the theater curtain, stealing glimpses of my family members walking into the school auditorium and taking their seats in the audience.  Everyone was there: my grandparents, aunts and uncles, my brothers, and even a few of my cousins.  After the show ended and the theater lights came back on, I can still picture my family members standing together and showing their support.  Afterward, my family joined the cast and me for a school sanctioned after party, where they had a chance to meet the drama teacher/director, as well as many of the school administrators.  I think the reason I remember this particular occasion so vividly is due to the importance I assigned to it.  In addition to that, it was an experience shared by my family and the school.  What can I take from this as a prospective teacher?  I think what’s most important is that when communication is good, and family and schools come together, it can be a very powerful experience for the student.  It’s these experiences that children retain for a lifetime and never forget.  I hope to really get to know my students and develop strong relationships with their families, so that we can all work together to benefit the children.  In this way, I can instill lasting memories in the minds of my students. 

The Importance of Effective Scaffolding

          As an aspiring teacher, I feel that scaffolding and differentiating will be two key areas of challenge for me.  Lately, I have found myself reflecting on the myriad of ways in which I hope to scaffold effectively in my future classroom, and I'd like to share those ideas today.  I think that observation is a good place to start.  Simply having a good eye and taking the time to observe students and listen to them can aid in the identification of students needing help.  Another way to become more aware of the students' strengths and weaknesses on a day-to-day basis would be to pretest your class in a particular unit of study.  Based on the results, we might get some insight as to who will need help and in what area.  For example, if we are pretesting for a division unit, and we find that we have several students who can not subtract accurately, scaffolding for those students might be a subtraction review before going into that division unit.  Pretesting may not give us information related to the students' learning styles, but it could help us support students with specific weaknesses.  We can also read student records from previous grade levels.  These records can be referenced, and we might be able to find out what has worked in the past with the child's previous teachers.  We can read teacher comments from past report cards in the student's file.  I believe that many schools are also keeping writing portfolios for each student with their other records.  We could (and should) read those.  Another idea is to speak to a prior teacher first hand.  I think it would also be helpful to observe a child who we suspect needs additional support in a different setting (maybe a child we are having trouble connecting to or scaffolding effectively).  We could decide to observe them in their "special" classes (art, p.e., music).  We might discover that the student has a hidden talent or an interest in one of these areas that we were unaware of, and we could then incorporate this talent or interest into the future lesson plans/scaffolding to help us better connect with that student.  One final idea that I think would also be helpful would be to incorporate surveys at the beginning of the school year, possibly one that asks about strengths, weaknesses, and interests.  We could have one for the student to fill out, and one for them to take home and have their parents fill out.  I think all these ideas could help with the challenges of differentiating and scaffolding within the classroom.

Students Deserve Choices

      When I reflect back on my own education, one area that stands out for me...where I consider myself lucky...was in the area of literacy and language arts.  As a child, I was infatuated with movies, watching hundreds of cars fill up the local cinema 1-100 superplex and seeing the crowds and lines form.  I was enthralled with every last bit of it, from the buzz of the people waiting in line, to the sneak previews, to the popcorn and candy.  As a result, at the age of 13, after finishing eighth grade at my public middle school,  I decided to apply for admission to a performing arts high school.  I can still recall my guidance counselor admonishing me that "this was a school for professional actors, for students who were currently working on Broadway, and in New York City in television and film," not for beginners like myself.  Way to almost scare someone away from pursuing an interest!  Fortunately, my guidance counselor's warning only fueled my determination to audition.  With a chip on my shoulder, I  rehearsed my audition monologue daily with a family friend who was a former theater major at SCSU.  About a month later, I received an acceptance letter in the mail.  To this day, it was one of the most satisfying moments of my life!  What does all this have to do with literacy, and how literacy is taught in the classroom?  Well, I pursued acting, it was my choice.  It was never forced on me.  I had ownership of it, and it gave me autonomy.  As a result, all the reading I did at my performing arts high school, from Shakespeare to Ibsen to Arthur Miller, it was all reading in which I had a vested interest.  As a result, I enjoyed the work of reading.  No one had to implore me to read, and I spent a lot of time reading.  I spent a lot of time with each text.  If I struggled with comprehension at times, I was motivated to look up the word or words I didn't know.  Same goes for the writing I did back then.  I poured myself into writing monologues, writing scenes with my classmates, and writing short, one-act plays.  I believe that if students are allowed to make choices in language arts classrooms, they too will be motivated, and their chances for success will increase.

     As someone who grew up with a father who was a principal and a mother who was a teacher, the importance of a strong education was always a central theme during my childhood.  That being said, I never envisioned myself going into “the family business” and deciding to pursue a career as an educator.  All that changed about three years ago, when my corporate job started to feel hollow and empty.  Sure, the money was good…great even, but a white-collar job where I spent most of my life in front of a computer monitor (two per desk actually) with little impact on my community or future generations ultimately left me in search of something more rewarding.  As we all know, breaking from the routines of life is never an easy undertaking, and the friendships I had built with my co-workers made leaving the corporate world to return to college more difficult than I had expected.  After wavering for a while, I finally decided to rip the band-aid off and follow my heart (and family) into the field of teaching.  Three years later, I am currently immersed in the Elementary Ed. program at SCSU.  Focused on this new career path, I have created a blog where prospective teachers (or experienced educators, or anyone with an interest in education) can share ideas and opinions on the art and science (research based, of course) of teaching.