Our Students and the Self Fulfilling Prophecy: Avoiding Gloom and Doom!

I remember when I was in college a LONG time ago, we learned about the self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't recall the professor who taught it, but somehow it has managed to stay in my head after all these years.  If you believe it, it could happen, good or bad, positive or negative, our expectations influence those around us. When the professor introduced this concept, he wanted to emphasize the damage we could do to our students if we had preconceived notions about them and what they were capable of.

In the education field this is particularly true.  We have a huge impact on what happens to the hundreds of lives who sit in our classrooms, year after year.  How many times have we heard successful people credit a teacher who believed in them? Teachers who refused to believe that  a particular student would amount to nothing?

Too many times I have heard comments about what "the population" of a school is,or is not, capable of.  I have witnessed students who were judged by the behavior that they exhibited in prior years. Trying to get teachers to incorporate technology in their classrooms, and  being told that the students "can't" do it. Determining the intelligence of  a child based on the behavior of a parent or sibling.

I have always had high expectations for my students, I refuse to lower my standards to fit a mold others think they fit in.  I hold them responsible for their education and believe that they are capable of so much. And I have found, repeatedly, that most of my students rise to my expectations. 

  If we continue to teach students according to our expectations of them, and our expectations are low, what will the results be? If the Robins are challenged every day, and the Sparrows aren't, when do the Sparrows get a chance to spread their wings, to fly beyond our enforced limits?

I had a student who was truant the previous school year.  When he arrived in my class, the pattern began again.   He would show up for school twice a week, if that.  According to statistics, the general consensus wass that he would eventually drop out of school, and his life would be pretty bleak. It might be, particularly because he was 13 in the 5th grade, but, I was not deterred by that "prophecy." I chose to believe that he would succeed.   

He missed one day in the weeks that followed. His grades improved, and he was willing to share his thoughts and work. He participated in discussions. He High-fived me every morning and afternoon. (The afternoon High 5 was always accompanied by the word, "tomorrow.") He was so much more than a statistic to me.

I know, it's pretty idealistic. "I believe, and if I believe , it can happen." I realize that this is not always the case. But wouldn't it be great if our prophecies were positive, and most of them were fulfilled?

Originally posted on "Diary of a Public School Teacher"(Wordpress)

The Problem of the Week(POTW):It's Not Just Math!

He ran across the room and yelled, "I got it!
Poking at his head, he said, "I used my brain and I got it!"
What did he get?
He had just solved the Problem of the Week. :)

I decided to use the Problem of the Week (POTW) more diligently this year, and it's a decision I do not regret.  At least once or twice a week, my students form groups, (it changes between assigned and random), and they attempt to solve the POTW. Sometimes they get it, and sometimes they don't. But, that's not what matters.

What matters is what comes from the attempt to solve this problem.  Of course, the Math is important. It's not a bunch of numbers on a worksheet. It's a problem, with real world applications that they have to solve. You want to talk about rigor? There's lots of "brain hurt" going on in my classroom as my students attempt to solve the problem.They have to read, and understand, what the problem is asking them. They have to decide what mathematical skills they are going to use to solve the problem.  They have to work together, listen to, and respect, each other's ideas. They learn the meaning of the adage, "If at first you don't succeed...

I get great joy walking around my room and listening in on the conversations. I am serious, joy. It is wonderful to walk around, by the video chairs, at the back table, (the lucky person ensconced in the "teacher's" chair), the area by the sink and lockers, (I have carpet squares), and listen to them work on the problem. They have learned to use me as a guide, not the person with the answers. Their mission is to solve this problem, and they are serious!

Here's a little history about Problem of the week:(provided byJohn Galbraith)
POTW started in January 2011.  The Centre for Education in Mathematics
and Computing (CEMC) out of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University
of Waterloo has long been known for providing excellent contests and
supporting resources.  But there was a belief that we could involve more
students in regular problem solving (whether or not they participate in
of our contests).  So part of our mandate is to provide resources for
teachers and students that promote mathematics and problem solving.

The great part is that any student or teacher can subscribe to the Problem of the Week. Take advantage of this wonderfully, powerful, resource!

I receive an email once a week with two attached documents. One is the answer to the previous POTW. And one is the latest POTW. My colleagues and I have a good time trying to figure them out ourselves before the answers arrive.

That student I mentioned above, he is a kid with low self-esteem. He's bright, but was not working to potential.Somewhere along the way, he was allowed to believe that minimum effort is all that is required, and if it's hard, quit. Not in my room!:)

 The day he solved the POTW, he proclaimed his news to  teachers in the hallway, the lunchroom, the office, he was so proud!  The Problem of the Week, it's not just math.

Boring Lessons? ReVamp with Videos!

I wanted to spice up my lesson on fact and opinion, but I wanted to make sure I was in the upper echelon of Bloom's Taxonomy. At this point in their schooliverse, my students are well versed in writing F and O on a worksheet. Not because of me, because you know how I feel about worksheets. I wanted to step it up! What to do? What to do?

 Wellllll, now that we have access to Youtube, I decided to take advantage of it! I was already a big fan of using videos in the classroom before our Youtube access was granted. Prior to Youtube, I used, and still do, WatchKnowLearn, which is a great way to watch educational videos, especially if you can't access Youtube. There is also Discovery Education/United Streaming and Youtube Education.

 I decided to locate commercials on Youtube, and show them to my students. They watched the videos, and distinguished fact from opinion. This led to conversations about truth in advertising. And of course, I couldn't stop there. My students are working in cooperative groups, creating original commercials. I gave them a Fact/Opinion organizer so that they could list facts and opinions about their product, and incorporate it into their commercial, which will be recorded. I'm sure watching the videos on Youtube,(commercials), will help them create excellent original commercials.


 And this all started with a video.... 


My class made me play this particular video every.single.day. But, it served it's purpose, everyone knew everything there was to know about a polygon by the end of the unit. Whenever I come across an interesting video, I post it on our class blog and/or Edmodo. We are studying Mount Everest, and the videos we have watched... Well,let's just say, only reading about it, couldn't begin to compare. Videos inspire, teach, entertain, there are a myriad of uses for them in the classroom! 


WARNING! WARNING! Never, ever, ever, show a video without watching it first!!!!! 


 Funny story, well, now it's funny, it wasn't funny when it happened.


 I set up my Mount Everest video that I have posted on Teachertube. I turned on the Smartboard because, well, I was on Teachertube. It was my video, so I knew it was safe. I started the video, and what comes blaring out of our speaker? "Rachel Ray is going to talk about sex!" What the...? 


It was a commercial for the Rachael Ray show! My kids crack up as I frantically turned off the speaker and flicked the remote simultaneously. The remote wouldn't work for some reason, so I placed my body in front of the Smartboard to block the screen, while continuing to frantically hit the off button.!!! I talked to my kids after I turned off the projector, they thought it was quite funny. Thankfully, I did not get any irate phone calls from parents. Lesson learned, do not turn on the projector until the actual video begins! Pass it on.:)


Videos are not a replacement for a lesson, but they can certainly be used as a tool to enhance one!

"Ouch! My Brain Hurts!": Rigor in the Classroom

I watched this video, and cracked up! I was trying to find articles about rigor and bumped into this video. It's a bit long in making its point, but I get it. This poor teacher is being hounded by her principal, to "perform" , so that her students can learn the parts of speech. I don't have a problem with rigor in the classroom, I embrace it.

I love how a contributor to the article, Rigor:What Does It Mean to You?, described rigor. She said,"Rigor makes you want to get up in the morning and learn something new!" However, I can understand the consternation and frustration of the teacher in the video.  Her principal is dead set on making her use "rigor" in her classroom, this magical thing that can make students learn.

It seems as if the principal is looking for "rigor",  as if it's a word that can be checked off on an evaluation form, and it is so far from that.  The teacher explains repeatedly, that she's jumped through hoops to teach the concept, (I'm laughing while I write, thinking about the video). The principal and the teacher, however, continues to equate rigor with  "fun".

 Rigor to me means that my students are challenged.  Rigor is not always fun, not the way we usually think of fun.  A teacher in my school described it the same way one of the authors in the article described it, she said, "It makes your brain hurt."And I believe our students want that. Not all, at first. But they become used to it, used to the challenges offered every day. 


 Why give out a worksheet with 10 figures and ask them to find the perimeter and area, when you can give them a real world Math problem that requires them to, not only determine which they need, but also calculate how much money they will need? Which one will make their brain hurt? 


 Why ask them to read p.456 in the SS textbook about the U.S bombing Japan during WWII, when you can break them up into two teams, who use their notes to debate whether or not the U.S should have used the atomic bomb on Japan. And you know what? They had fun doing it!And even more, they cared! 


 They cared about figuring out the answer to that Math problem, and they cared about making their point during the debate. (Boy, did they care!)  After each of these lessons were taught in my room, my students were hyped!  No, they didn't stick their fingers in pudding, or make up a song( which is a cool thing to do), but they had a great time challenging themselves, and being satisfied, whether they knew it or not. 


 When I was nominated for Teacher of the Year, a teacher that used to push into my class for writing, noted on the nomination form, that rigor was present in my classroom every day. I hope so, because I want my students to care,  and I want their brains to hurt!:)