I haven't written for a long time. I have had the worst first half of a year teaching that I've ever had. I'm not going to explain why other than the fact that I had 20 students that were in my pre-Algebra classes that were getting well below 40% on tests. They had no chance and it was so extremely hard to watch them fail every day in a class they had no chance to pass in. The problem was this was the lowest class for them to take.
After many meetings and discussions and frustrations clear up to the Superintendent and the School Board about these students, there finally came a change and I was allowed to have them all in one class twice a day. I have been given the chance to work with these students for 1/2 of a year and get the ready for Algebra next year. This is an impossibility! I am scared but I am also excited. I am praying that these students will all improve so much that the only explanation will be is that it was a MIRACLE. I want their improvement to be beyond my capabilities as a teacher. I want God to be glorified. I want my students to change their beliefs first so that their desires and behaviors will change. I want my students to know that I am praying for them about this. They need to believe that they can learn, that they a capable, fearfully made and loved. I tell them this all the time. It has been about 5 weeks since I started with them and I am seeing improvement in almost all of them. But I am praying for all of them to blow my socks off in their improvement.
I miss writing and I'm glad to do this again. I need to do this again. Lord, help my students to know they are loved. Help them to know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. Help them to forgive those who have hurt them. Help them to respect themselves so they can respect others. Help them to believe they can learn so they can learn how to act like someone who believes they can learn. Perfect love casts out all fear. Lord they need your love. We all need your love.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Sunday, May 24, 2015
frustration
Recently I had a student who was just sitting there in class and not showing his work. The problem was, he wasn't sure how to completely do the entire problem. So he did nothing. He kept doing this even though I talked to him and the entire class about how to proceed when working a problem. The key is to start with what you know and keep asking questions you can answer until you have answered the question. You also need to be organized and label what you are doing so you don't get lost in the midst of the problem. I have him twice a day, so when he was in my other class for the day and doing the same thing, I reminded him and the entire class about how to proceed, but he kept showing no work. In his mind, he was working. But in my mind, he was not following directions. After about 15 minutes I noticed that his paper was blank, I lost my patience and rudely told him to get out. I was frustrated. I was rude and impatient with him. He was wrong for not following directions, but I was wrong for how I treated him.
The next day, I apologized to him and the entire class and used my failure as an opportunity to teach a very important lesson about reconciliation, responsibility and forgiveness. I get so caught up with wanting my students to learn that I struggle with my patience. When I do, I can feel it inside and I know I have crossed the line from hope to expectation. I need to continually remind myself of my goal which is to love, encourage, exhort and challenge all of my students relentlessly and unconditionally.
The next day, I apologized to him and the entire class and used my failure as an opportunity to teach a very important lesson about reconciliation, responsibility and forgiveness. I get so caught up with wanting my students to learn that I struggle with my patience. When I do, I can feel it inside and I know I have crossed the line from hope to expectation. I need to continually remind myself of my goal which is to love, encourage, exhort and challenge all of my students relentlessly and unconditionally.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Gabby and Peer Teaching
I am amazed at how powerful 'Perfect Tests' are. I make them 9 questions long and my students have to get all 9 correct including the work. It is only 9 questions... so they are believing they can learn and they have to be perfect ... so they are learning that they have to consciously develop ways to avoid mistakes (Behaviors of Intelligence). In the past, these low kids would be thrilled to get 7 out of 9 right. Now they are bummed when they miss one and they are learning from their mistakes faster.
Peer teaching is the best way. It is insane for me to keep standing up there day after day doing the same teaching thing and expect different results. I know I can teach some and I am counting on those that learn to teach their neighbors. They are getting better and better at this. We have only been doing this for about a month. Their test scores are showing dramatic results. I gave a test last Thursday to my two low classes over the first 2 perfect tests, and the results were: 1 D, 1 C, 3 Bs and the rest As!!!! These are classes where in the past the results were basically flipped. Peer teaching is transforming them because of the focus of the perfect tests. I spent all year trying to teach them concepts from my 4 posters and I felt like my results were just OK. But now... I am literally seeing them blossom before my eyes.
Gabby is a low math student. She has a hard time paying attention. When she doesn't understand, she doesn't even try... so often times she is not even trying to learn. She has her head down and is simply going through the motions. When she finally got perfect on her first perfect test, she became the BEST peer teacher of all my students. She was patient and very good at explaining how she did something and why. The students she helped learned and they got perfect on their tests. I watched her teach and was simply surprised at how good she was. I talked to her after class. I told her what a great job she did. I told her she should be a teacher. She beamed! She has struggled with making poor choices personally and I told her that she needs to learn, do her best and take care of herself, so that she can be in the place to help others. In the past she hasn't minded not taking care of herself... but maybe this new found power, skill and enjoyment of teaching others will help her to take care of herself and learn so she can have the opportunity to be a good teacher.
I told all my students the next day that I was very proud of the job they were doing together working with each other. I told them that when I coached wrestling, I encouraged and challenged my wrestlers that they should want to be the toughest, strongest, best endurance and best technique ... so they could be the best teammate. "I want to be my best so I can best help my teammate be his best."
What a servant and selfless attitude to learning.
I think we all struggle with this idea of being more willing to let ourself down than others. I am trying to teach myself and my students to respect ourselves and do our best so we can be best able to respect others and help them do their best. I need God's love, grace, wisdom and forgiveness everyday. "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."... I believe I can teach all my students through Christ who strengthens me... the real question isn't can but what... what am I teaching them? And how can I be more effective at teaching them. If I am teaching them, then they should be learning...DUH!? The best way to learn something is to teach it. I am very hopeful that this new approach will have even better and better results as they: get more and more confidence; improve their teaching skills; improve their learning skills; improve their Behaviors of Intelligence.
Peer teaching is the best way. It is insane for me to keep standing up there day after day doing the same teaching thing and expect different results. I know I can teach some and I am counting on those that learn to teach their neighbors. They are getting better and better at this. We have only been doing this for about a month. Their test scores are showing dramatic results. I gave a test last Thursday to my two low classes over the first 2 perfect tests, and the results were: 1 D, 1 C, 3 Bs and the rest As!!!! These are classes where in the past the results were basically flipped. Peer teaching is transforming them because of the focus of the perfect tests. I spent all year trying to teach them concepts from my 4 posters and I felt like my results were just OK. But now... I am literally seeing them blossom before my eyes.
Gabby is a low math student. She has a hard time paying attention. When she doesn't understand, she doesn't even try... so often times she is not even trying to learn. She has her head down and is simply going through the motions. When she finally got perfect on her first perfect test, she became the BEST peer teacher of all my students. She was patient and very good at explaining how she did something and why. The students she helped learned and they got perfect on their tests. I watched her teach and was simply surprised at how good she was. I talked to her after class. I told her what a great job she did. I told her she should be a teacher. She beamed! She has struggled with making poor choices personally and I told her that she needs to learn, do her best and take care of herself, so that she can be in the place to help others. In the past she hasn't minded not taking care of herself... but maybe this new found power, skill and enjoyment of teaching others will help her to take care of herself and learn so she can have the opportunity to be a good teacher.
I told all my students the next day that I was very proud of the job they were doing together working with each other. I told them that when I coached wrestling, I encouraged and challenged my wrestlers that they should want to be the toughest, strongest, best endurance and best technique ... so they could be the best teammate. "I want to be my best so I can best help my teammate be his best."
What a servant and selfless attitude to learning.
I think we all struggle with this idea of being more willing to let ourself down than others. I am trying to teach myself and my students to respect ourselves and do our best so we can be best able to respect others and help them do their best. I need God's love, grace, wisdom and forgiveness everyday. "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."... I believe I can teach all my students through Christ who strengthens me... the real question isn't can but what... what am I teaching them? And how can I be more effective at teaching them. If I am teaching them, then they should be learning...DUH!? The best way to learn something is to teach it. I am very hopeful that this new approach will have even better and better results as they: get more and more confidence; improve their teaching skills; improve their learning skills; improve their Behaviors of Intelligence.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Perfection
It's been a long time since I last wrote. I've been learning a lot this winter. I feel the need to write again because of what I'm doing and learning.
I have started doing 'Perfect Tests' with my low students this winter. The results have been nothing short of amazing. These students were consistently scoring very low on chapter tests. In fact, I had to brake up those that got F's into 2 categories, those in the 40s and 50s and those that got below 40%. I was only getting 7 to 10 students that were earning a test score of a C- or above. Over 2/3 of my class were getting D's or F's... I call them Dogs and Frogs. I was pouring out my heart and soul trying to teach them my 4 posters but I was not seeing much growth.
In January, my students took a practice test of the state assessment they will be taking this May. I broke the concepts of the test into 4 groups and I made up a 'blank' test for the first set of concepts. I called it Perfect Test #1. It has 9 questions. We practiced the concepts and I gave them their first chance at taking it. No one passed. We practiced some more and I gave them a similar test and a couple of students passed. To pass, a student has to get all 9 problems correct and show their work perfectly. If I saw the slightest mistake, SLASH, they got nothing. My students were terrible at learning and ever worse at avoiding mistakes once they had learned the concept. They had a really hard time getting perfect. It just was so foreign to them. They lacked the Behaviors of Intelligence to
eliminate errors. They lacked the expectation to achieve perfection. They lacked the skills to quickly master new concepts and learn from their mistakes. It took about 13 tries... but in the end, they all got perfect(except for one SPED student who is absent a lot and refuses to try even when he is here. I haven't given up on him. I will write about him some other time.).
It was so cool to tell each student, "You are perfect." when they passed. They would smile a very deep and proud smile. When someone didn't pass, I would simply encourage them to learn from their mistakes. The goal was to be perfect or do better... everybody could always do this. After a few days of slow improvement, I started encouraging my students to pair up and teach each other. The results weren't very impressive at first, but once we got to around 30% that were perfect, it just snowballed. It was like positive peer-pressure kicked in and they just took off. They rooted for each other. They clapped for each other at the end as the last ones would get perfect. When they get perfect, they get to tape up their test on the back wall. They are so proud and happy to do it.
This week, we started Perfect Tests #2. Only a few were perfect on Monday. I had given them practice tests for home work last week to give them extra practice in the hope of shorten the number of tries they would need to be perfect. Tuesday was much better, I had about 30% perfect by the end of the day. Wednesday, when they took their test, I gave them back their test to fix their mistake if they made only one. Each day their score would drop 5%. Wednesday was awesome. Almost everybody was perfect by the end of the day. They improved greatly in learning how to learn new material and avoid mistakes.
Thursday, today, I gave them a test over Perfect Test 1and 2. They were only getting this one chance. They could make one mistake for 'free' and after that each mistake was -5. Out of my 2 classes combined, I had 1 D, 1 C, 4 Bs and all the rest got an A!!!!!
I am so very excited!! They are learning how to learn by teaching, persisting and expecting it of themselves. They are also learning how to avoid mistakes as they put into practice some of the Behaviors of Intelligence. Perfection forces these students into a place they have seldom been. In this place they need to quickly learn from their mistakes and also consciously decide to implement behaviors and strategies to avoid mistakes because they know they have to be perfect and now they also know that they CAN BE PERFECT. I believe that soon they will expect to be perfect.
I praise God for the joy of teaching. He never gives up on us. I am so thankful for this new idea of perfect tests. It is very powerful, especially when combined with the 4 posters. I am already getting excited about next year and how I can do such a better job by starting with perfect tests right off the bat. But I still have a long way to go this year. I am very hopeful for what will happen these last few months. I am very hopeful that my students will continue to improve and do great.
I have started doing 'Perfect Tests' with my low students this winter. The results have been nothing short of amazing. These students were consistently scoring very low on chapter tests. In fact, I had to brake up those that got F's into 2 categories, those in the 40s and 50s and those that got below 40%. I was only getting 7 to 10 students that were earning a test score of a C- or above. Over 2/3 of my class were getting D's or F's... I call them Dogs and Frogs. I was pouring out my heart and soul trying to teach them my 4 posters but I was not seeing much growth.
In January, my students took a practice test of the state assessment they will be taking this May. I broke the concepts of the test into 4 groups and I made up a 'blank' test for the first set of concepts. I called it Perfect Test #1. It has 9 questions. We practiced the concepts and I gave them their first chance at taking it. No one passed. We practiced some more and I gave them a similar test and a couple of students passed. To pass, a student has to get all 9 problems correct and show their work perfectly. If I saw the slightest mistake, SLASH, they got nothing. My students were terrible at learning and ever worse at avoiding mistakes once they had learned the concept. They had a really hard time getting perfect. It just was so foreign to them. They lacked the Behaviors of Intelligence to
eliminate errors. They lacked the expectation to achieve perfection. They lacked the skills to quickly master new concepts and learn from their mistakes. It took about 13 tries... but in the end, they all got perfect(except for one SPED student who is absent a lot and refuses to try even when he is here. I haven't given up on him. I will write about him some other time.).
It was so cool to tell each student, "You are perfect." when they passed. They would smile a very deep and proud smile. When someone didn't pass, I would simply encourage them to learn from their mistakes. The goal was to be perfect or do better... everybody could always do this. After a few days of slow improvement, I started encouraging my students to pair up and teach each other. The results weren't very impressive at first, but once we got to around 30% that were perfect, it just snowballed. It was like positive peer-pressure kicked in and they just took off. They rooted for each other. They clapped for each other at the end as the last ones would get perfect. When they get perfect, they get to tape up their test on the back wall. They are so proud and happy to do it.
This week, we started Perfect Tests #2. Only a few were perfect on Monday. I had given them practice tests for home work last week to give them extra practice in the hope of shorten the number of tries they would need to be perfect. Tuesday was much better, I had about 30% perfect by the end of the day. Wednesday, when they took their test, I gave them back their test to fix their mistake if they made only one. Each day their score would drop 5%. Wednesday was awesome. Almost everybody was perfect by the end of the day. They improved greatly in learning how to learn new material and avoid mistakes.
Thursday, today, I gave them a test over Perfect Test 1and 2. They were only getting this one chance. They could make one mistake for 'free' and after that each mistake was -5. Out of my 2 classes combined, I had 1 D, 1 C, 4 Bs and all the rest got an A!!!!!
I am so very excited!! They are learning how to learn by teaching, persisting and expecting it of themselves. They are also learning how to avoid mistakes as they put into practice some of the Behaviors of Intelligence. Perfection forces these students into a place they have seldom been. In this place they need to quickly learn from their mistakes and also consciously decide to implement behaviors and strategies to avoid mistakes because they know they have to be perfect and now they also know that they CAN BE PERFECT. I believe that soon they will expect to be perfect.
I praise God for the joy of teaching. He never gives up on us. I am so thankful for this new idea of perfect tests. It is very powerful, especially when combined with the 4 posters. I am already getting excited about next year and how I can do such a better job by starting with perfect tests right off the bat. But I still have a long way to go this year. I am very hopeful for what will happen these last few months. I am very hopeful that my students will continue to improve and do great.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Like riding a bike
It amazes me how the struggling student struggles because they just sit there and don't try. In their heads they may even think they are trying but from my perspective it is such a predicter of failure. When I see a student sit there and not copy down an example of how to do a problem, I know that student has done nothing to learn. When I encourage the student to follow directions and do the problem or at least copy down how to do it, they sometimes tell me they don't understand and that is why they aren't doing anything.
You don't learn to ride a bike by sitting there and watching others ride a bike. You have to get both of your feet off the ground and peddle.
Often, the struggling student makes sure to work slow enough to never do the problem. They walk along side their bike and never throw a leg over it and jump on.
I challenged my struggling students with this analogy. I desperately want each of them to believe they can learn and want to learn. Then they each need to follow directions and try the problems. At a minimum, this means copy down the correct work. Similar problems are given and with meaningful and successful effort the learning will occur. I am praying that God will help me reach all of my students.
You don't learn to ride a bike by sitting there and watching others ride a bike. You have to get both of your feet off the ground and peddle.
Often, the struggling student makes sure to work slow enough to never do the problem. They walk along side their bike and never throw a leg over it and jump on.
I challenged my struggling students with this analogy. I desperately want each of them to believe they can learn and want to learn. Then they each need to follow directions and try the problems. At a minimum, this means copy down the correct work. Similar problems are given and with meaningful and successful effort the learning will occur. I am praying that God will help me reach all of my students.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Dog poop on my shoe
When a student makes a mistake, it is like stepping in dog poop. When you step in dog poop you notice it right away. It really stinks and you want to do whatever it takes to get it off the bottom of your shoe right away.
When a student keeps making the same mistake, it is like they have dog poop on their shoes and they don't even smell the stink anymore. Our bodies are able to eventually ignore a bad smell if we can't get away from it. In the same way, students are able to avoid the pain of not understanding math simply by getting used to it.
I challenge my students to clean the dog poop off the bottom of their shoes and let the stench of not understanding and making mistakes really stink again in a fresh new way. When they make a mistake or they don't understand, it should really stink and bother them. It should motivate them to learn. The failing student is so used to not understanding and/or making mistakes, they simply are not bothered by the stench. The successful student is very sensitive to the stench of a mistake and/or not understanding. This painful smell motivates these students to learn and develop habits that enable them to avoid mistakes.
When a student keeps making the same mistake, it is like they have dog poop on their shoes and they don't even smell the stink anymore. Our bodies are able to eventually ignore a bad smell if we can't get away from it. In the same way, students are able to avoid the pain of not understanding math simply by getting used to it.
I challenge my students to clean the dog poop off the bottom of their shoes and let the stench of not understanding and making mistakes really stink again in a fresh new way. When they make a mistake or they don't understand, it should really stink and bother them. It should motivate them to learn. The failing student is so used to not understanding and/or making mistakes, they simply are not bothered by the stench. The successful student is very sensitive to the stench of a mistake and/or not understanding. This painful smell motivates these students to learn and develop habits that enable them to avoid mistakes.
Catch them
I have not been writing for quite a while, but school started last Wednesday and I am ready to start writing again.
I have a student two periods a day who failed most all of his classes last year. He got in a lot of trouble last year. I am praying that God will use me to help him learn to respect himself and others. The first day I talked to my classes about forgiveness and confession. These are essential to maintaining relationship. I believe learning is best accomplished through good relationships. If my students learn that I care about them and they start caring about me ... Well look out! I will call him Julio, this student who has struggled in the past. He is very distracted and impulsive. He blurts out answers without much concern for whether they are correct or not. I have already got to where he is listening to me correct him about being impulsive and he is improving. Friday he got some problems correct. He left with a big smile on his face and he even told me that he liked me. I wrote the principal a positive referral. He will call Julio down to his office tomorrow and read the positive things I wrote him about Julio and thank him for his great behavior and effort. Then he will call his parents and do the same. This is a great idea our new principal has brought to our school... Catch a student doing good and praise him for it. I can't wait to find out how it went with Julio and his parents!
I can't change lives. I tell my students that all the time. I tell them that I want to change their lives, but that is between them and God. I am not God.
I have a student two periods a day who failed most all of his classes last year. He got in a lot of trouble last year. I am praying that God will use me to help him learn to respect himself and others. The first day I talked to my classes about forgiveness and confession. These are essential to maintaining relationship. I believe learning is best accomplished through good relationships. If my students learn that I care about them and they start caring about me ... Well look out! I will call him Julio, this student who has struggled in the past. He is very distracted and impulsive. He blurts out answers without much concern for whether they are correct or not. I have already got to where he is listening to me correct him about being impulsive and he is improving. Friday he got some problems correct. He left with a big smile on his face and he even told me that he liked me. I wrote the principal a positive referral. He will call Julio down to his office tomorrow and read the positive things I wrote him about Julio and thank him for his great behavior and effort. Then he will call his parents and do the same. This is a great idea our new principal has brought to our school... Catch a student doing good and praise him for it. I can't wait to find out how it went with Julio and his parents!
I can't change lives. I tell my students that all the time. I tell them that I want to change their lives, but that is between them and God. I am not God.
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