There have been studies done that prove that when you tell a student "Good job!" over and over, s/he will take less risks, and put forth less effort, for fear of messing up their good thing. Telling students empty phrases will not build self esteem. Students don't get self esteem from adults' meaningless phrases. They get it from their own efforts and actions.
What students want from the adults in their lives is to *notice* them. I say things like "There sure is a lot of empty space over there. Is that for a specific reason?" Instead of passing a judgement on their work, (Good job!) which would have ended our conversation, I have noticed and paid specific attention to their work. Paying attention is the ultimate compliment. Saying "Good job!" is not evidence of the adult paying attention; it's hollow and empty statement. You said the same thing when they brushed their teeth, shut the door, helped an old lady across the street- "good job" is like breathing with some parents, and it means nothing anymore, especially to your child.
By answering my judgement-free question about the empty space, the student revisits their own reasons, passes their own judgement, and formulates a plan of action. This is more helpful than empty praise. I actually plan for failure in my curriculum, and for the students to struggle and emerge victorious, because overcoming obstacles, achievement is what builds self esteem, not the teacher or parent who never wants the child to be unhappy, for even one second. Your child will not miss the phrase. And they will adore the fact you actually see and notice their struggles and efforts.
2013/03/12
No Child Left Behind Means No Child is Pushed Ahead
What reformers who aren't in the classroom refuse to believe is that there is a finite number of hours in the working day, a finite number of days in the year, and that teachers are human beings with a finite amount of energy who have to leave the building, shuttle their kids, help with homework, and provide meals to their families. If we concentrate on the lowest 10%, we are not concentrating onthe top 10%, the scientists and engineers and CEO's of university presidents of the future. The ones who will be paying your social security.
If we spend 80% of our time with the lowest of the low, who are resistant, and whose parents will not participate, me might see a slight slight gain in those students. In the meantime, the little time we've spent with the the middling to high kids is less than it used to be, and they stagnate, and wait, and wait. We cannot simultaneously make the curriculum harder and easier for five sections of 35 kids, while the outside library hours and tutoring programs are cut.
At our high school, the only kids who arrive reading at level graduate with a reading level of grade 10.5. Why? because we have to fill out sheets and have meetings about all the kids who failed. Not all the kids that didn't thrive. It's extremely difficult to be part of an entity that enforces mediocrity for 100%, and all but extinguishes exceptionality.
If we spend 80% of our time with the lowest of the low, who are resistant, and whose parents will not participate, me might see a slight slight gain in those students. In the meantime, the little time we've spent with the the middling to high kids is less than it used to be, and they stagnate, and wait, and wait. We cannot simultaneously make the curriculum harder and easier for five sections of 35 kids, while the outside library hours and tutoring programs are cut.
At our high school, the only kids who arrive reading at level graduate with a reading level of grade 10.5. Why? because we have to fill out sheets and have meetings about all the kids who failed. Not all the kids that didn't thrive. It's extremely difficult to be part of an entity that enforces mediocrity for 100%, and all but extinguishes exceptionality.
2012/10/12
Do You Let Students Turn in Work Late?
To DZ
CR Is in my study hall. If he is missing any work that can be made up, put it in my mail box and I will see that it gets done.
To BM
There is no make-up opportunity beyond 1 day late.....he is working on turning his work in on time...thanks for your concern....we are working on improving his attitude towards school.
To DZ
Wow. I'm glad my kid isn't in your class.
To BM
Why is that?
To DZ
Because turning in late work is still evidence that the student learned. My child has ADHD, does most of her assignments, but often has them in the wrong folder or notebook, or at her dad's house. She learned the content, even if she doesn't hold the right paper at the right moment. My job is to assess learning in my content area. If the kid learned it, I measure the learning, even if I measure it on a different day.
Usually teachers don't take lates because it doesn't 'teach responsibility'. Or what they see as responsibility. I haven't taken any classes or found any books about the best practices for learning responsibility, and since it isn't something that is assessed by my content standards or any testing, it seems that 'teaching responsibility' is often done based on assumptions, or what was done to them in their childhood, and not best practice. If you have any good studies or books about the best practices of teaching responsibility, I could use them. In the meantime, most people seem to just not grade late work because that's how it was when they were in school.
Also- imagine what would happen if when, we missed a credit card payment, we didn't 'get' to pay it. We'd all start missing all the payments. By not accepting lates, you're giving them the excuse to never do the work. If the option is left open, they are refusing to do the assignment over and over and over. It is clearly their fault, not the fault of any late policy, or organizational difficulty. Their responsibility shouldn't vanish with the deadline, just like a credit card payment. When my students are late, I increase the amount of work due to get the same points, just like interest on a credit card payment.
To BM
CR Is in my study hall. If he is missing any work that can be made up, put it in my mail box and I will see that it gets done.
To BM
There is no make-up opportunity beyond 1 day late.....he is working on turning his work in on time...thanks for your concern....we are working on improving his attitude towards school.
To DZ
Wow. I'm glad my kid isn't in your class.
To BM
Why is that?
To DZ
Because turning in late work is still evidence that the student learned. My child has ADHD, does most of her assignments, but often has them in the wrong folder or notebook, or at her dad's house. She learned the content, even if she doesn't hold the right paper at the right moment. My job is to assess learning in my content area. If the kid learned it, I measure the learning, even if I measure it on a different day.
Usually teachers don't take lates because it doesn't 'teach responsibility'. Or what they see as responsibility. I haven't taken any classes or found any books about the best practices for learning responsibility, and since it isn't something that is assessed by my content standards or any testing, it seems that 'teaching responsibility' is often done based on assumptions, or what was done to them in their childhood, and not best practice. If you have any good studies or books about the best practices of teaching responsibility, I could use them. In the meantime, most people seem to just not grade late work because that's how it was when they were in school.
Also- imagine what would happen if when, we missed a credit card payment, we didn't 'get' to pay it. We'd all start missing all the payments. By not accepting lates, you're giving them the excuse to never do the work. If the option is left open, they are refusing to do the assignment over and over and over. It is clearly their fault, not the fault of any late policy, or organizational difficulty. Their responsibility shouldn't vanish with the deadline, just like a credit card payment. When my students are late, I increase the amount of work due to get the same points, just like interest on a credit card payment.
To BM
Where do I begin? We should
sit down and discuss this idea of late homework or not assigning zeros
to missed assignments. I did enjoy the PLC conference but they began to
lose me when they started to preach this new
theory on not holding kids responsible. If someone can guarantee me that
other classes in high school or in college have the same rules on
grading, then I may consider changing my rules. It seems to me we are
creating a group of students who are not being held
accountable. So many things in this high school have changed because we
as a group of teachers cant enforce the rules in place. Kids wont follow
the dress code, we don't enforce it. Kids don't follow the cell phone
policy, we don't enforce it. Kids don't do
homework, we change the policies on homework. You have given a lot of
though regarding this, I look forward to exchanging ideas and
philosophies.
To DZ
I have been thinking about it a lot. I am not closed minded. I want to
really investigate this, but I want to find facts! I think this is a
problem that really needs to be solved.
Once, when I worked for another school district, I worked for a principal I LOVED (imagine that). He said something that really stuck.
"Oh, you don't have a pencil? Borrow mine. You forgot paper? Here's a sheet. You left your book at home? Here's one from the classroom set, because....
NO ONE GETS OUT OF HERE WITHOUT LEARNING."
That's when it hit me. Duh. They weren't bringing books and pencils and papers and homework ON PURPOSE. They were abdicating responsibility from the beginning. "Oh, I don't GET to write my report. boo hoo hoo." Not letting them turn the work in is EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED. They didn't care about grades. Should they? yes. Do they? no. What they care about is either being a lazy lump, or clinging to their self image that they just don't 'do' school. Once they missed a few deadlines, they could kick back and relax! Now there was no way, mathematically, they could pass the class, so they could just kill time, since there was no point in doing anything.
I'm not even saying take lates, necessarily, but the way many teachers structure their classes, by October there are lots of kids who kick back and relax. Too late to pass, now it's playtime for them. They sit and do nothing, while other kids work hard. It takes the whole class vibe down several notches. It makes the kids who do stuff feel self conscious.
Unless one of their classes is mine. I take lates on the big projects, (little stuff I only take a little late) but they keep thinking I am going to start ignoring them anytime. Instead, I scoot up a chair and start talking about how they can still pass, and what are they doing for this project. This makes them uncomfortable. They aren't used to it. Why haven't I given up yet? Why do they feel so uneasy? Because I am still holding them accountable. They can still do something. They want me to start looking through them at the kids who can still pass, and instead I am still acting like it's on them.
Inflexible deadlines take the power away from them. Nothing they can do, shrug, oh well. But with flexible deadlines, Work they can still turn in hangs over them. They aren't just refusing to do it that one time. They are choosing not to do it over and over every day. It is STILL THEIR CHOICE.
I think inflexible deadlines work great with kids who come from achievement oriented backgrounds. But with kids who have a hard-wired image in their head that school is not for them, and that's what they're comfortable with, the only thing they learn from inflexible deadlines is that they've been right about themselves all along. They'd rather be right than pass a class.
Once, when I worked for another school district, I worked for a principal I LOVED (imagine that). He said something that really stuck.
"Oh, you don't have a pencil? Borrow mine. You forgot paper? Here's a sheet. You left your book at home? Here's one from the classroom set, because....
NO ONE GETS OUT OF HERE WITHOUT LEARNING."
That's when it hit me. Duh. They weren't bringing books and pencils and papers and homework ON PURPOSE. They were abdicating responsibility from the beginning. "Oh, I don't GET to write my report. boo hoo hoo." Not letting them turn the work in is EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED. They didn't care about grades. Should they? yes. Do they? no. What they care about is either being a lazy lump, or clinging to their self image that they just don't 'do' school. Once they missed a few deadlines, they could kick back and relax! Now there was no way, mathematically, they could pass the class, so they could just kill time, since there was no point in doing anything.
I'm not even saying take lates, necessarily, but the way many teachers structure their classes, by October there are lots of kids who kick back and relax. Too late to pass, now it's playtime for them. They sit and do nothing, while other kids work hard. It takes the whole class vibe down several notches. It makes the kids who do stuff feel self conscious.
Unless one of their classes is mine. I take lates on the big projects, (little stuff I only take a little late) but they keep thinking I am going to start ignoring them anytime. Instead, I scoot up a chair and start talking about how they can still pass, and what are they doing for this project. This makes them uncomfortable. They aren't used to it. Why haven't I given up yet? Why do they feel so uneasy? Because I am still holding them accountable. They can still do something. They want me to start looking through them at the kids who can still pass, and instead I am still acting like it's on them.
Inflexible deadlines take the power away from them. Nothing they can do, shrug, oh well. But with flexible deadlines, Work they can still turn in hangs over them. They aren't just refusing to do it that one time. They are choosing not to do it over and over every day. It is STILL THEIR CHOICE.
I think inflexible deadlines work great with kids who come from achievement oriented backgrounds. But with kids who have a hard-wired image in their head that school is not for them, and that's what they're comfortable with, the only thing they learn from inflexible deadlines is that they've been right about themselves all along. They'd rather be right than pass a class.
2012/09/13
Why are we learning anything, at all?
Untitled, originally uploaded by shawna marie.
After six years of using social media in my classroom, I found it created a community within a community. The little arts/photo tribe went deep, and long. I loved how alumni would come back and post, it added 'cred' to what we were learning in class.
Then, as in many struggling districts, we had administrative upheaval. After the changing of the guard, I was told that Flickr was blocked, and that's how it was. I sent them the link to my Flickr advocacy video, the video I made for teachers in districts driven more by fear, and not by vision, as part of my masters thesis about how an online component deepens and strengthens a classroom community. No response or change. I doubt they even watched it.
LEARNING ALL THE TIME from Brandi Martin on Vimeo.
I have many students who have gone on to become art teachers. others have gone on to degrees and careers in the arts. Others have used the skills in related careers. But most have just used art and photography as part of their daily existence, making life more meaningful. It was important to me that all of these students learn to save their work not on a school server, but in a public place where they could own it, and come back to it, whenever they needed it for any reason.
So. Why will I miss Flickr? What will my students miss? Here's a story I've never put out there before. The first year I used Flickr, one of my students, Shawna, had leukemia. She was very conscientious, but she dropped photo the second semester because it was too tiring for her. That was the semester she started spending more and more time in the hospital. Although we saw her at school less and less, she was still posting to our group. As time went on, the photos she posted were from the increasingly restricted arena in which she found herself. Finally she was posting the flowers that were being sent to her in the hospital, from her hospital bed. She also documented them dying. She was clearly processing what was happening to her. And she shared it with us in real time.
A couple of years later, Shawna's younger sister was in my class. When I opened the group in class, and searched for tags to show examples of a given project, Shawna's work might come up. Her sister, far from being upset, warmed to the idea of being part of this little community that had also held her sister. She was pleased to see the mark her sister had made. She was here. She had done something. She would remind me how short Shawna was for example, and she too, warmed to the class and was enthusiastic.
Many alums who have moved on to a photo class at the college level have emailed me to excitedly share that their professor *required* them to open a Flickr, account, but they already had one, and were now adding their college work to their high school work. I love that they have that ownership. I have always thought of it as a way to contribute to their own future. But there is always an unanticipated use.
Today we celebrated the life of a former student, Sean. In an effort to comfort his family and friends, I found his Flickr stream and posted it where they could see it. I was so glad I was able to do this. Although online, this is another powerful purpose that a real community, digital or otherwise, has: to say "Sean is still here", and is a part of a live document, an unfolding story. He is still a part of the six year collection of postings, of 6,189 items, and countless comments and likes and discussions that is still there. Although it has now ground to a halt.
Now that our district has blocked every photo sharing service online, I am flummoxed. I was told that although they know *I* don't let the kids do or see anything bad, other teachers aren't so watchful, so they have to block everyone. I have to offer my students less, because other teachers don't step up their game, or admins don't make them. The fear that a high school student might see a breast, or that they might meet a pedophile (I doubt it) eclipses the real and human good that made my class so much more than a class.
I am tired of lessening in the name of progress. It's very disheartening.
2012/08/26
Things I Tell my Photo 1 Students
In Order of Importance.
Exactly.
I'm glad you're here, and I hope you enjoy being a part of my best teaching year ever.
- 1. I am so glad too see you here, because you are my work, and I LOVE MY WORK
- Welcome to your best class of the day. What you learn in here this semester is going to improve your everyday life right now, but you will also use these skills the rest of your life to document the things and people you love most. When I am a little old lady, or dead, you will still know and use some of what you learned this semester
- At the end of this semester your family and friends will be handing you the camera, because they will consider you the expert. This happens to almost all of my students.
- At the end of this semester you will know more about photoshop than many college freshmen who plan on studying photography. I know this because students come back from college and tell me they show their peers and their teachers how to do photoshop things they learned here.
- Even if you don't even pass this class, you will still learn some life long skills. Again, I know this because students who have failed this class have come back here to THANK me for what they did manage to learn.
- Why do things like that happen? Because I am committed to your success. I am constantly trying to improve this class and my teaching. I like to have fun, but this is my life's work and I take it very seriously. Five examples of this:
- I will not allow anyone to interfere with anyone else's learning. (What are some examples of that?)
- This class is designed to be easy to pass, although its difficult to get an A. If that's a problem you may take this class pass/fail.
- I am not too good for criticism. If you have a problem with me or my teaching or anything about this class, I really want to know. Of course, tell me at an appropriate time, when it doesn't interfere with the learning of others.
- I am not afraid to call home.
- Learning -no joke- is supposed to be pleasurable. Your brain is supposed to like it. Often school gets this wrong, and I'm sorry about that. I really want learning to be exciting and interesting in here, but I can't do it alone. The more time I have to waste on BS, the less time we have for the good stuff.
Exactly.
I'm glad you're here, and I hope you enjoy being a part of my best teaching year ever.
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