They don't care about education

Sometimes, the universe converges so we hear the same phrase over and over again. I heard some version of this phrase at DWT, in classrooms, in meetings, overheard in hallways. 

It was teachers, expressing frustration about their students. Saying some version of “they don’t value (or care about) education”. Sometimes it was about the kids’ parents or families. 

And I totally get being frustrated with your students! I wish I could name all the kids who refused to do anything in my class. It sure looks like lack of caring, lack of value on education! But here’s four that stick out in my mind.

• Corey, who literally didn’t put pencil to paper all semester. He had an 8% in my class. 
• Yasmin, who showed up to school so rarely, I had to look up her name when she finally did. 
• Jeremy, who just wanted to goof off and crack jokes all period. He really didn’t take class seriously and was a distraction to the rest of the class. 
• Brianna, who argued with anything and everything I said (or anyone else, really). She didn’t like the assignments or how I gave them or how I graded them -- so she wouldn’t do them. 

So frustrating! 

I keep thinking back about them and about the phrase I kept hearing this week, about kids who “don’t care about their education”. 

Did I say that about Corey? About Yasmin? About Jeremy? About Brianna? I hope I didn’t. But maybe I did?

Did I actually think about the fact that their brains were in development and not fully “done” yet? That their impulse control and their problem solving skills were not fully formed and imperfect because of biology? Did I think that maybe I didn’t have a full picture of what’s going on in their lives? That while my housing and relationships are stable, maybe theirs are not?

Did I actually presume to make judgments about their inner values based on their adolescent behaviors?

Oh dear god. I hope not.

Did I really know what was going on in their lives? Did I know that Corey had executive function struggles, especially with the“task initiation” part of executive function?  Did I know that Yasmin’s mom was really sick and that Yasmin was skipping school to watch her little sister? Did I know that Jeremy lived with his mom but his dad had come back after being gone for a while and Jeremy was acting out because he didn’t know how he felt about Dad being back? Did I know that Brianna was acting tough and arguing with everyone because she was battling a bully? A bully that was making her feel awful about herself so she was making everyone around her feel awful too?

All that was happening to hormone-uneven, social beings with issues. They’re not fully formed human brains. They're still developing. They don’t make good decisions because the parts of the brain involved in decision-making aren’t fully developed until they’re 25 or so. These kids are nowhere near 25! So of course they're going to make bad choices. It’s part of growing up, not a sign of poor values.

It’s like asking an elementary school kid to dunk a basket on a regulation height hoop. Of course they can’t. They’re not done growing! They're not there yet, even if they’re trying. 

Same with asking a 15 year old to consistently make good decisions. They can’t. They’re not done growing. They're not there yet, even if they’re trying. 

That doesn't mean we don't ask kids to make good choices and we don’t expect them to and we don't teach them how to and we don’t reinforce HOW TO make good choices. Of course we do! 

It means we don’t assume that poor choices on the kids’ part equate to poor values. 

Poor choices equate to mistakes. Period.

I made poor choices when I was their age. You did too. 

A kid who skips school might value education just fine. She might just value not getting beat up by a bully that day even more. If I were in her shoes I might value the same priorities. 

A kid who doesn’t do any work might value education but not know how to start. It might be like how I avoid cleaning out my closet because it’s such a big task and I don’t know where to start. It’s called “task initiation” and it’s a real area of executive function. It’s not a problem with his values. It's a problem with his brain development. He might just need some accommodations. Sometimes, I don’t know where to start either. But I have developed strategies. He might not have those yet.  

A kid going through something emotional will act out. So will I. I was a lousy teacher the year I got divorced, all those years ago. Because while I prioritized my job, my emotions got in the way and distracted me. And I even had a fully developed brain at the time! 

(Remember being a teen and going through a break up and not knowing how to handle it because your brain wasn’t done growing and you didn't have experience to draw from? Ugh! That was so awful and heartbreaking!!) 

So I hope I didn’t make judgments about my kids ... but I probably did, because none of us are perfect. I’ve been caught up in negative thinking, too. So I hope you don’t make the mistakes I did. I hope you don’t take the behavior of poor choices and emotions and partially-formed brains and called those “values” or “caring”. 

Instead, I hope you DO the caring. Remember that these are children. They don’t have your experience or your perspective or your stability or your fully-formed brain. 

I hope you give them the love and support and caring  in your class that will HELP THEIR BRAINS DEVELOP FURTHER AND BETTER. Honestly, not to simplify, but feeling safe and loved and supported is like a cast on a broken bone. It supports the brokenness and lets it heal and grow what and where it needs to safely without being further damaged. 

Getting on their case regularly, yelling at them, or writing them up for not working -- it’s like bumping that broken bone. It doesn't let it heal. 

Kids who struggle have hormones and emotional turmoil. They have social media drama that we didn't have. They have family problems we don’t know about. They have romance confusion we have forgotten about. They have executive functioning struggles and learning disabilities many of us don’t know as much about.  

But 94% of them want to go to college. Most of them care about their education. But that other stuff gets in the way, just like my couch (or my last bout of being sick) gets in the way of my valuing my health and exercise. :) 

How can you help them develop their brains and become stronger students? How can you work to see the caring behind all the crap they have to deal with? How can you bring that out of them in a positive way? I love to hear the amazing things you’re doing? Email me newmantr@pcsb.org

Traffic School Fun

So, a couple of years ago I got a speeding ticket. 

I know, I know. It was the beginning of summer, I had just dropped the kids off at the one, only week of camp where they both were gone all day and I was FREE ... and feeling good and cruising along, jamming out to some great song on the radio ... about 10 miles per hour more “free” with the gas pedal than I should have been.

I tried keep the points off my license so I did online drivers school. 

If you have never done online drivers school, there are a lot of options — including one hosted by a stand up comic. 

I chose the stand up comic. 

Why? Because when learning is more fun, it “sticks” better. 

Nobody goes home on the weekend and does worksheets or reads textbooks.

But we do play games, solve puzzles, and talk with friends. Some of us act or make art or do other creative things. Some of us compete in sports or other competitions. Some of us read interesting books and watch movies or documentaries. 

I know y’all. I know a lot of y’all. 

You are some AMAZING teachers. But you are amazing on your downtime, too! You all lead the scouts, work part time jobs, do stand-up, bartend, teach Sunday school, sing, dance, act, paint, build, climb, paddle, run, mentor, hike, volunteer, camp, cook, travel. (This is why I’m friends with y’all)

We continue to learn even when we aren’t at school. 

As adults, we learn through fun things. 

Kids learn better through fun things, too.

I don’t mean entertainment. There’s a difference. I mean actual learning - that happens to be fun and enjoyable, not miserable. 

 I mean when you are enjoying your learning, you experience a little bit of endorphins. When your brain releases a little bit of endorphins, it learns a little better. 

It sounds overly simplistic, but when you can smile through a learning task, you learn better. When you grumble and frown and argue and groan through it, you don’t learn as much 

(No comment about some PD or meetings being more conducive to learning than others)

It’s why I actually learned more from the online Drivers School hosted by the stand up comedian than the plain, dry, boring one, where someone just clicks through slides and narrates them. He wasn’t hilarious. But he was way better than just the slides! 

I believe that adult learners (that’s YOU, the teachers, in this case), learn better with fun and enjoyment, too.

I’m hoping our DWT next week is full of fun and enjoyment, too. We have some cool things planned.

Your colleagues who are presenting and facilitating sessions have some cool things planned. 

I hope you enjoy your learning at DWT. Relax and enjoy learning something new. And then I hope you can take the spirit of that fun and enjoyment and bring that to your classroom so your STUDENTS can enjoy THEIR learning. 

It’s so easy to forget about the fun and enjoyment part. But it can make a huge difference in making the learning “stick”. 

What makes learning enjoyable for you, as an adult learner? How do you make learning fun and enjoyable for your students? More importantly, how do you NOT FORGET, like I do half the time? 

And how do you make sure even something like traffic school can be fun?

I always love to hear from you! Email me your fun and enjoyment teaching ideas! 

-Tracy

Teaching To Who?

Imagine you had a class of 26 kids. Not to get into a discussion about class sizes (nope! Not going there!)  but so we can “name” them Kid A through Kid Z for the purposes of this conversation. 

Now, let’s assume we can rank them according to whatever criteria you think is most important to your class — FSA Reading scores, midterm scores, grade in your class, GPA, etc. 

(I know we don’t actually rank children. That’s a lousy thing to do and a terrible way to treat kids. But since these are fictitious children, will you humor me?)

So let’s assume Kid A is your highest achieving student and Kid Z is your most struggling student. 

Who do you teach to? I mean, when you’re planning your lesson, which achievement level is in your mind?

Let’s assume that you had already planned a lesson that was ON GRADE LEVEL, not below grade level because we think the kids aren’t ready or they need this other thing first. 

Most teachers would say they’re teaching to the “LMNO” region of the class. The middle. Kid M. They plan their lessons to the middle abilities, the middle achievement group. 

I think they definitely start there. And then they groan at the idea of Kid T, Kid U, and Kid V (and let’s not talk about W, X, Y, and Z!) and the struggles those three are going to have. And then they adapt that lesson downward so that Kids  T, U, and V can do it. 

Which is honorable and kind! 

Meanwhile, Kid A is done with the assignment and doing her math homework before you’re done giving directions. Kids B-E are working diligently while you give instructions. 

But Kids F-S ... that’s 15 kids that are acting up. That’s 15 kids (plus the the earlier five, Kids A-E) for whom this assignment is now was too easy. The lesson that WAS on grade level is now below grade level. 

And just like that, we have lowered our expectations of the whole class. We don’t allow the whole class to do on-grade level, meeting-standards level work. 

Because we were kind. Because we were worried about certain kids. 

I remember Kids T, U, and V. I loved them. I worried about them. I got tired of seeing them constantly frustrated. I hated for them to fail, so I set up assignments where they were more likely to be successful.

But in doing so, I cheated the rest of my class. I underestimated the rest of them. When I said “they can’t do this assignment”, I meant “Kid T through Kid Z” couldn’t do this assignment. 

Kids T-Z are struggling for sure. They’re more likely to act up because they’re frustrated. They might be more needy in the attention department. But they’re 7 kids. I have nineteen kids that CAN do this assignment. 

And this is where we talk about scaffolding and opportunity. 

It wasn’t fair of me to deny those 19 kids the opportunity to try to do those assignments. I had low expectations and that was wrong. I cheated them of the chance to excel. Of the chance to learn. 

Those seven who weren’t ready? There are a million ways to scaffold the task so they COULD be successful. I could have 

• Sat with them in a small group to help
• Had them do fewer parts of the assignment (5 questions instead of 10)
• Highlighted some key passages to help
• Frontloaded some vocabulary 
• Let them work with a partner
• Given them extra time
• Modeled the first part of the task
• Given them sentence starters 

Ok, you’re thinking. Maybe I won’t direct my lesson to the “TUV” range. I can just keep it at the “LMNO” level where I started.

That’s definitely a start. But I’d like to challenge you further. 

Every kid deserves a chance to STRIVE. To stretch. To be challenged. Can you take that lesson written at the level where your Kid L, Kid M, Kid N, is now and help them stretch to the next level? Can you challenge those kids to get to where a Level G is? What about a Level D (in this scenario, not a grade of a D)? 

The goal is to continually raise our kids higher, to challenge them further, to push them harder. (Not in a pushy way) 

Every kid deserves to move up, from Kid Z to Kid A, from our “Level Ones” and our “Level Fives”. Every single kid. 

When we teach to the lower level or to the middle achievement level in our class, we don’t help our kids stretch to the next level.

And stretching kids up to the next level is our whole job. 

How do you already do this? How do you remember to stretch your kids and “up” your lessons? As always, I love to hear from you!