Teachers calling students out is something we have all experienced or have witnessed at some point in out lives. When I say, “call out,” I’m talking about a teacher correcting, reprimanding or being overtly negative towards students in front of the whole class. This public display happens all of the time at most levels of education. Do all teachers do this? Of course not, I know one 3rd grade teacher who never calls kids, but rather uses more subtle signs to the students to get them to change behavior.
I’m probably like most teachers. I call kids out almost every day. I don’t like doing it, but I feel it’s a necessary part of classroom management. Lately I’ve been thinking more specifically about when it is appropriate to call a student out and when it’s not okay.
This is what I’ve figured out. It’s only okay to call a kid out when they are behaving in a disruptive and rude manner. That’s it. Here’s my reasoning: when does public humiliation actually help change behavior? Does pointing out to a whole classroom that one student didn’t do her homework motivate that student to do her homework? Does reprimanding a student for providing an incorrect answer make them more likely to give you a correct answer? Basically what it comes down to is: when does negative reinforcement actually work?
Being a teacher is kind of like training a dog. There are so many ways to run a class and the key is finding a system that works for you and your students. I’ve seen many teachers be successful teaching in ways that I do not feel comfortable. In the three schools I’ve taught in I’ve found that different things are required of me to be a successful teacher.
The one constant in my teaching (and my dog training) is that I’m not successful in dolling out negative reinforcement. I do better and my students do better if I spend more time capitalizing on the positives. Part of this thinking is really reflecting what you are trying to accomplish as a teacher.
When I ask a class a question, I’m not always looking for the right answer. More than anything I want my students to engage in the material, so I welcome wrong answers and try to point out what was good in what they shared with the class. It’s all about the exchange and when you call kids out, you aren’t welcoming a dialogue and even with problems with students’ behavior, I feel they have the right to express their perspective.
So why do I still call kids out? I think some things deserve being called out. If a student is being rude to another students, getting reprimanded by a teacher and embarrassed provides a little bite that sometimes kids need. Moreover providing public feedback on students’ behavior both good and bad helps the entire class understand where the boundaries are and sometimes students have to try to cross that invisible fence and to get shocked.
I’m not sure about this issue. I hate calling kids out but I feel like some of them give me no choice when they act a certain way. When a student does something that is inappropriate you have to let them know know immediately. The softest way to do this, asking them to leave the room is pretty public as well, so I do think calling kids out is a necessary evil.
What I worry about are kids who feel bullied by teachers and whom a level of public humiliation that does nothing to correct behavior, simply hurts feelings. I don’t mind if a kid feels bad for not doing their homework or cries because I reprimanded him for misbehaving. What I don’t want to happen is for a student to think that I don’t like them and that I don’t care about them.
I'm really concerned about this. So I’m setting a rule for myself that I think we all need to think about. If you are going to call a kid out for whatever reason, you must follow that up with a talk with that student after class to explain why it was necessary for you to cause public embarrassment. Maybe it’s because they were being rude, distracting other people or not living up to their potential.
Whatever it is, that kid deserves one minute from you to be reassured that you acted not out of meanness but for out of respect for their potential as a human being. We can never remind our students enough that the only reason we get frustrated with them and feel a need to call them out is because we care.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
634-5789 Vs. 867-5309
Best songs featuring a phone #?
Wilson Picket's "634-5789"
or Tommy Tutone's "867-5309"?
Wow, this one is tough. Picket is one of the greatest soul singers ever, but Tommy Tutone's name using alteration. I'll leave this one for the ages.
Wilson Picket's "634-5789"
or Tommy Tutone's "867-5309"?
Wow, this one is tough. Picket is one of the greatest soul singers ever, but Tommy Tutone's name using alteration. I'll leave this one for the ages.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Against All Odds by Phil Collins
“Against All Odds” is one of those songs that continues to be omnipresent in our culture. I heard it last week at a J. Crew store and just the week before it was featured on Up All Night. We often overlook music we hear all the time as being musically insignificant. For years, “Against All Odds” was one of those songs for me.
On the surface “Against All Odds,” is a cheesy 1980s ballad. The instrumentation immediately dates this song and while many people like Phil Collins’ voice, it’s doesn’t hold a universal appeal. The way I began to really understand the subtlety and depth of this song was listening to Mariah Carey’s version.
It’s not that Carey’s version is all that different. The studio recording of her cover is exactly the same length as Phil Collins'. I would not argue the Carey does a better performance. That simply isn’t a fair comparison as these are two singers who sing in completely different styles. What Mariah Carey allowed for me is to hear this song fresh after years of hearing it as background music.
Break-up songs cover a wide complexity of emotions and Collins manages to encapsulates so much of them in this song. The first line of the verses starts with anguish that immediately melts in sentimentality. This juxtaposition of emotions immediately draws us in as pain and joy come crashing together.
The plea of the chorus is “take a look at me now” which contrasts “the memory of your face.” He hope that if the other person looks at his face she will be drawn back into the relationship. However, it's against odds.
As the song journey’s forward there is another plea to just turn around but it’s to no avail. As the second chorus enters, the song becomes more desperate. Heartbreak sinks in, as all she can do is “wait.” He can’t make her turn around. At the end song not against the odds that they will get back together, it’s against all odds. It’s not going to happen. Where there once was a slim chance of this working out there is nothing.
There are no lines in this song like in many songs about relationships that talk about love directly. Instead Phil Collins goes deeper into what it means to be loved and what that feels like. The one-line that expresses the love between them is “you’re the only one who ever knew me at all.”
Think about the people in your life that you truly love. They know you in ways that other people don’t and allow you to not have to “be” anything but yourself. Being able to be that open and free with another person is liberating and beautiful. If you’ve got this you can’t let it go without a fight. Even if it’s against all odds.
On the surface “Against All Odds,” is a cheesy 1980s ballad. The instrumentation immediately dates this song and while many people like Phil Collins’ voice, it’s doesn’t hold a universal appeal. The way I began to really understand the subtlety and depth of this song was listening to Mariah Carey’s version.
It’s not that Carey’s version is all that different. The studio recording of her cover is exactly the same length as Phil Collins'. I would not argue the Carey does a better performance. That simply isn’t a fair comparison as these are two singers who sing in completely different styles. What Mariah Carey allowed for me is to hear this song fresh after years of hearing it as background music.
Break-up songs cover a wide complexity of emotions and Collins manages to encapsulates so much of them in this song. The first line of the verses starts with anguish that immediately melts in sentimentality. This juxtaposition of emotions immediately draws us in as pain and joy come crashing together.
The plea of the chorus is “take a look at me now” which contrasts “the memory of your face.” He hope that if the other person looks at his face she will be drawn back into the relationship. However, it's against odds.
As the song journey’s forward there is another plea to just turn around but it’s to no avail. As the second chorus enters, the song becomes more desperate. Heartbreak sinks in, as all she can do is “wait.” He can’t make her turn around. At the end song not against the odds that they will get back together, it’s against all odds. It’s not going to happen. Where there once was a slim chance of this working out there is nothing.
There are no lines in this song like in many songs about relationships that talk about love directly. Instead Phil Collins goes deeper into what it means to be loved and what that feels like. The one-line that expresses the love between them is “you’re the only one who ever knew me at all.”
Think about the people in your life that you truly love. They know you in ways that other people don’t and allow you to not have to “be” anything but yourself. Being able to be that open and free with another person is liberating and beautiful. If you’ve got this you can’t let it go without a fight. Even if it’s against all odds.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Year 2: Week 25 - The Problem With Business Cards
Around the age of third grade I thought business cards were really cool. I collected them from places I went and people I met. So last year when I a box of business cards arrived in my mailbox of school I was ecstatic.
In my previous two jobs we didn’t have business cards so these were my first. If you ask other teachers around my school most would say that they don’t really use their business cards but I decided to. I’m proud of where I work and it’s nice to have something to gives someone you meet who may have a reason to contact you later.
Naturally when one of my third graders made a business card and gave it to me I gave him one of mine. He was really surprised with this exchange. I explained how business card exchanges work when you are an adult and he thought it was really cool.
Over the next couple weeks, this student’s classmates started making business cards to trade for my own. These things were made on scraps of paper with their name and made up jobs. My favorite is a business card for a chair company that is shaped like a chair.
The teacher of these third graders asked to talk to me about this business card exchange. At first, I thought that she objected to this activity for some reason, which seemed like a pretty ridiculous thing. In my mind this seemed completely harmless. When I went to talk to her, I explained the first exchange and how, in order to be fair, I needed to make exchanges with other students. She looked at me and instead of being upset, simply laughed.
She understood that I had to follow through in this way, but she did have a concern. Third grade students like most ages contain a variety of skills and abilities. In order to get a business card from me the student would have to make a business card with no directions, be confident enough to come up to me outside of a classroom context and interact with me independently. These are not skills that every student at this age possesses. Because a student may lack the comfort level of talking to me outside of class they were not able to connect to me in through the exchange of a business card.
It’s great to make personal connections with students and have them see you as more than a teacher. What you need to remember and what I forgot, is these opportunities must be equally accessible for every student in the class. For students who were not as comfortable approaching me outside of class, this business card exchange was not as accessible.
Does this mean I can’t share parts of myself with my class? Of course not. One of the things I do is show students videos and pictures of Buffy, my dog. My students love viewing these things and hearing stories about her. This is a personal connection that I present to the whole class that they can all share with me.
Where these connections are most meaningful are through the curriculum. When I teach a class the techniques to write a song on an instrument and then they write their own song, I’m giving them the tools to interact with me in a personal way through the lesson and my response to their song.
What was the solution to the business cards? How did I make the other students who didn’t make a business card feel involved and connected with me as a teacher? Their teacher gave me the answer: give everyone a business card. Now everyone has something special and personal from me as a teacher. What was amazing was the fact that I saw the same excitement in the half of the class who hadn’t gotten the card as the first students who traded me his own card weeks earlier. It didn’t matter that everyone was getting one, it just felt good to get something special from me as their teacher. Of course, I ended up giving my card to the rest of my third graders.
As much fun as it was to do the individual exchanges, it felt a lot better knowing that I had made all of my third graders, not just some, feel special through the simple act of giving them my business card.
In my previous two jobs we didn’t have business cards so these were my first. If you ask other teachers around my school most would say that they don’t really use their business cards but I decided to. I’m proud of where I work and it’s nice to have something to gives someone you meet who may have a reason to contact you later.
Naturally when one of my third graders made a business card and gave it to me I gave him one of mine. He was really surprised with this exchange. I explained how business card exchanges work when you are an adult and he thought it was really cool.
Over the next couple weeks, this student’s classmates started making business cards to trade for my own. These things were made on scraps of paper with their name and made up jobs. My favorite is a business card for a chair company that is shaped like a chair.
The teacher of these third graders asked to talk to me about this business card exchange. At first, I thought that she objected to this activity for some reason, which seemed like a pretty ridiculous thing. In my mind this seemed completely harmless. When I went to talk to her, I explained the first exchange and how, in order to be fair, I needed to make exchanges with other students. She looked at me and instead of being upset, simply laughed.
She understood that I had to follow through in this way, but she did have a concern. Third grade students like most ages contain a variety of skills and abilities. In order to get a business card from me the student would have to make a business card with no directions, be confident enough to come up to me outside of a classroom context and interact with me independently. These are not skills that every student at this age possesses. Because a student may lack the comfort level of talking to me outside of class they were not able to connect to me in through the exchange of a business card.
It’s great to make personal connections with students and have them see you as more than a teacher. What you need to remember and what I forgot, is these opportunities must be equally accessible for every student in the class. For students who were not as comfortable approaching me outside of class, this business card exchange was not as accessible.
Does this mean I can’t share parts of myself with my class? Of course not. One of the things I do is show students videos and pictures of Buffy, my dog. My students love viewing these things and hearing stories about her. This is a personal connection that I present to the whole class that they can all share with me.
Where these connections are most meaningful are through the curriculum. When I teach a class the techniques to write a song on an instrument and then they write their own song, I’m giving them the tools to interact with me in a personal way through the lesson and my response to their song.
What was the solution to the business cards? How did I make the other students who didn’t make a business card feel involved and connected with me as a teacher? Their teacher gave me the answer: give everyone a business card. Now everyone has something special and personal from me as a teacher. What was amazing was the fact that I saw the same excitement in the half of the class who hadn’t gotten the card as the first students who traded me his own card weeks earlier. It didn’t matter that everyone was getting one, it just felt good to get something special from me as their teacher. Of course, I ended up giving my card to the rest of my third graders.
As much fun as it was to do the individual exchanges, it felt a lot better knowing that I had made all of my third graders, not just some, feel special through the simple act of giving them my business card.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wrecking Ball is Here!
Bruce Springsteen's latest album "Wrecking Ball" came out yesterday. For the past week I've been looking all over for the best articles about this album. The Rolling Stone Review is without a doubt the best review I read. It's not because they gave it a favorable review but because it looks at this album and analyzes it for what it is, not what it's not. It's a beautifully written work of music journalism that Wrecking Ball deserves.
One of the things that the review mentions is the connection to political issues. Politico has a fascinating article that address Springsteen's politics in his music from a Republican viewpoint. Bruce Springsteen's lyrics give GOPers reason to believe is a great article that discusses the power of his music and why people shouldn't be turned off of it just because Bruce has left-leaning views. One of my closest friends who is a Republican and a huge Springsteen fan said it best, "Springsteen doesn't sing about politics, he sings about reality."
There's no better example of this than "Jack Of All Trades," which Bruce performed on the Jimmy Fallon show. This achingly beautiful ballad is one of Bruce's finest and one of the many highlights from "Wrecking Ball."
If you have any interest in Wrecking Ball, buy it. Don't just download a song or two off of it, buy the whole album. This is not just a collection of songs, it's an expression of the soul of America.
One of the things that the review mentions is the connection to political issues. Politico has a fascinating article that address Springsteen's politics in his music from a Republican viewpoint. Bruce Springsteen's lyrics give GOPers reason to believe is a great article that discusses the power of his music and why people shouldn't be turned off of it just because Bruce has left-leaning views. One of my closest friends who is a Republican and a huge Springsteen fan said it best, "Springsteen doesn't sing about politics, he sings about reality."
There's no better example of this than "Jack Of All Trades," which Bruce performed on the Jimmy Fallon show. This achingly beautiful ballad is one of Bruce's finest and one of the many highlights from "Wrecking Ball."
If you have any interest in Wrecking Ball, buy it. Don't just download a song or two off of it, buy the whole album. This is not just a collection of songs, it's an expression of the soul of America.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Buffy & Diana
There’s a lot of things I love about Buffy but one of the most endearing things about my puppy is what she does for my wife Diana. The fastest way to earn someone’s respect is through the people that they love. When John Lennon was looking for a record company to produce his solo albums, the company that won him over was the one that talked to his wife, Yoko Ono during the initial meetings.
I feel very much the same way with my wife Diana. Buffy’s continued care and affection for Diana is one of the reasons I love my puppy so much.
Diana and Buffy’s relationship has evolved into something very special over the past three years. When we first got Buffy, Diana quickly fell in love with the little fuzz ball.
Her cuteness overwhelmed Diana and her puppy charm was simply irresistible. As Buffy grew older the connection started coming the other way as she would excitedly greet Diana as she got home from work.
Now of course Buffy can’t do things for the way that Diana can for her, but Buffy tries in her own way to take care of Diana. There’s the little things like how Buffy curls up next to the bathroom door whenever Diana is in there. If Diana lets Buffy in the bathroom when she is showering, Buffy will try her best to dry her off afterwards licking at her shins. Buffy almost always watches Diana in the house to make sure she is okay and tries to accompany Diana wherever she goes. 
Buffy’s does what she can for Diana and while most her actions for Diana and small she tries. And it’s the effort that makes expressing care mean so much.
In the crazy moments when Diana and Buffy are running around outside together they make each other so happy. Then there’s the quiet moments when Buffy brings such a center, a feeling of peace to Diana. Buffy is able to do so much for my wife by simply being there, really being there for and with Diana.
I've learned that it's not my job to make Diana happy and I don't think that Buffy see's this as her sole purpose. But when someone is part of your life, their happiness, their mood and their well-being is tied into not only how you feel but who you are. We feel so strongly for Buffy and there are moments when I look into her brown eyes and know that she feels this for us. It truly is an amazing thing to feel someone looking at you with such a strong connection but seeing Buffy connect with Diana in such a profound way feels like . . . hope.If I didn’t have a relationship with Buffy and all I knew of her was through her relationship with Diana, I would do anything for that puppy. There's a pureness, a devotion and faith between them. I feel it every morning when I gently pick up Buffy from her dog bed and place her next to Diana as she sleeps and I see them curl up together before I leave for work. No matter what else in going in my head, I can't help but smile feeling the love between them.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Year 2: Week 24 – The Assistants
I didn’t even know his name.
This teaching assistant came into my band class every day with one of my students and sat in the back with him. This student had special needs and this teaching assistant worked with him during class. Once in a while this teaching assistant would nervously ask me a question but beyond that we didn’t really interact. I didn’t value him as part of my professional community and never got to know him.
Two years later I was an associate teacher, which was basically the same thing as a teaching assistant. I followed kids around as a one to one aide, did lunch and recess duty and other clerical work. The person who I was working with saw my abilities as a teacher a quickly had me doing some teaching.
Here I was with two years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree in music education doing lunch room and recess duty. I never thought that this was where my teaching career would end up. At first it was a little disheartening to be doing the work of an “assistant.” However, I quickly got over that as I realized how much I had to learn from my fellow associate teachers.
Being an associate teacher was kind of like being part of a club. They knew things about the school that other teachers and administrators didn’t because they worked with different teachers and had been around longer than other faculty members. It was through them that I learned how the school worked.
Even though I was had the highest educational degree of all of the associates, they knew so much more about what it really meant to teach. One associate in particular didn’t have a teaching degree but understood elementary school students in a way that I never considered. She knew when to give them hugs, how important it was to decorate the room with their work and while I understood how to teach them, she knew how to know them and show that she cared. Out of all of the people who have taught me to teach, this associate ranks as one the most important influences in my life as a teacher.
As I entered my second year as an associate, I was really proud of my job. Other people when I told them about my job would question my pride, but I simply explained how important what we did was to the school and how much I was learning by being an associate.
Now, I’m a teacher again. I no longer have recess or lunch duty. I don’t follow kids around as a aide and I don’t make photocopies for other teachers. While I don’t have an assistant myself, I work with an amazing staff of assistants who help the homeroom teachers and grades as a whole who I teach. It’s not just about enabling teachers to do their jobs and give them prep time. These assistants teach, observe and create relationships with students and faculty that are critical and fundamental to the vitality of the school community.
I respect the assistant teachers on the same level that I do my principals and other teachers. I am proud of the work of these assistant teachers, I'm proud to call a couple of these assistants friends and I know every single one of their names.
This teaching assistant came into my band class every day with one of my students and sat in the back with him. This student had special needs and this teaching assistant worked with him during class. Once in a while this teaching assistant would nervously ask me a question but beyond that we didn’t really interact. I didn’t value him as part of my professional community and never got to know him.
Two years later I was an associate teacher, which was basically the same thing as a teaching assistant. I followed kids around as a one to one aide, did lunch and recess duty and other clerical work. The person who I was working with saw my abilities as a teacher a quickly had me doing some teaching.
Here I was with two years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree in music education doing lunch room and recess duty. I never thought that this was where my teaching career would end up. At first it was a little disheartening to be doing the work of an “assistant.” However, I quickly got over that as I realized how much I had to learn from my fellow associate teachers.
Being an associate teacher was kind of like being part of a club. They knew things about the school that other teachers and administrators didn’t because they worked with different teachers and had been around longer than other faculty members. It was through them that I learned how the school worked.
Even though I was had the highest educational degree of all of the associates, they knew so much more about what it really meant to teach. One associate in particular didn’t have a teaching degree but understood elementary school students in a way that I never considered. She knew when to give them hugs, how important it was to decorate the room with their work and while I understood how to teach them, she knew how to know them and show that she cared. Out of all of the people who have taught me to teach, this associate ranks as one the most important influences in my life as a teacher.
As I entered my second year as an associate, I was really proud of my job. Other people when I told them about my job would question my pride, but I simply explained how important what we did was to the school and how much I was learning by being an associate.
Now, I’m a teacher again. I no longer have recess or lunch duty. I don’t follow kids around as a aide and I don’t make photocopies for other teachers. While I don’t have an assistant myself, I work with an amazing staff of assistants who help the homeroom teachers and grades as a whole who I teach. It’s not just about enabling teachers to do their jobs and give them prep time. These assistants teach, observe and create relationships with students and faculty that are critical and fundamental to the vitality of the school community.
I respect the assistant teachers on the same level that I do my principals and other teachers. I am proud of the work of these assistant teachers, I'm proud to call a couple of these assistants friends and I know every single one of their names.
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