Ballerina in a Minefield

Posted on | May 15, 2012 | No Comments

Usually, we think of parent-teacher conferences as something that comes close to the beginning of the school year, or at least somewhere before the middle. Parent-teacher conferences often loom large on the calendar. I don’t know how your school or district works it out. When I was in the classroom, we had early dismissal, ate lunch, and then quickly launched into a long afternoon and evening of conferences. I remember once trying to wrap up my final conference as 10:00 PM came and went. But when it comes time to work with parents, you have to make accommodations.

Harder than the standard parent-teacher conference is the parent-teacher-principal conference. Happily, I only had to do a few of those. And when a parent-teacher-principal conference comes at the end of the year, it often means the subject up for discussion involves some heavy lifting and uncomfortable decisions. I don’t think the recommendation that a student repeat a grade comes easy to any teacher, any principal, and certainly very few parents. Yeah, there was that one time when I had a set of parents practically begging the principal and me to have their son repeat a grade, but there were a lot of reasons why that was a unique case.

As a teacher, working with parents—whether they are classroom volunteers or largely absent from their child’s school life—requires all the deftness of a ballerina in a minefield. Some days you can do no wrong. Other days? You can’t seem to avoid causing an explosion.

What are your suggestions for how best to work with parents in both good and difficult situations? Your colleagues value your input. Share your tips with us.

Slow Down, 2012

Posted on | May 9, 2012 | No Comments

Is it just me, or did someone set the 2012 calendar to “Stun”?

Really? It’s the middle of the second week of May already? Where did this come from? I’m stunned. If you’re feeling the same way, then I think it’s a good idea if I get a few items of looming summer business out of the way.

The first thing I want to mention is that The Mailbox never closes (well, we do send employees home for the weekend). Open 24/7, themailbox.com is always ready when teaching inspiration strikes. So whether you teach year round or on a traditional schedule, if you’re thinking about a lesson plan, we’re here to help. Or, if you have a few free minutes to browse before heading to the beach, come see what we’re featuring and you might find yourself planning a decimals and fractions drill you won’t need until next spring!

Second, this summer we’re planning to do things a little differently. In summers past, we’ve offered summer-themed activities on our Featured Resources pages. During the summer months, we’ll spotlight plenty of ideas and activities you can use in your classroom any time. Stop at The Mailbox in June and July to see the kinds of resources you’ll want to keep for those unexpected moments, as well as resources you can plan an entire unit around.

Third, in recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week and all the talented and dedicated teachers in The Mailbox family, I want to tell you now to enjoy the remainder of the school year with your students. Have they been a joy? Have they been a challenge? Has this year’s class been as unique as every other one you’ve taught? I’ll bet they have been!

Finally, I hope you’ve got a restful summer planned for yourself. Get out in the sun and recharge your batteries. (You are solar-powered, aren’t you?) Read a good book that has nothing to do with school. See some movies that don’t require you to think. Or see some movies that require you to think differently. Laugh a lot with your family and friends. And if there’s a topic you wish I’d cover here, please let me know.

Rest easy. The Mailbox “has your back.”

Ten Ideas for a Classroom That Fosters Thinking

Posted on | May 3, 2012 | No Comments

I like to read people’s ideas. Sometimes, it doesn’t even matter what the topic is, except perhaps for such things as Internet marketing analytics and reality shows about people who don’t seem to ever actually work. Ever. Here are ten ideas about teaching from Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), the late British philosopher, mathematician, historian, and social critic.

In a 1951 issue of The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Russell summed up ten ideas about the essence of being a good teacher and, just as importantly, a good thinker. I have taken the liberty of editing Russell where necessary (changes in italics) and explaining how I think his ideas fit in an elementary classroom. Tell me what you think…

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. – Do you know a good elementary teacher who is?

2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. – Especially in a roomful of amateur sleuths, as elementary students naturally are.

3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed. – A teacher’s job is to encourage students’ thinking at all times, especially critical thinking.

4. When you meet with opposition, even from your students, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent on authority is unreal and illusory. – Teach your students the value of thinking critically, even about the ideas and people they might not otherwise question.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. – This does not mean it is okay to be impolite, but to be critically skeptical of authority and be prepared to challenge it from an informed, respectful position.

6. Do not use your power to suppress opinion you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you. – Translated: you’ll always reap what you sow. Plant positive seeds!

7. Do not be afraid of having an eccentric opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. – Allow your students to be themselves, allow yourself to be the teacher you want to be.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter. – This does not mean you should always be in disagreement, but that, when you do disagree with something, embrace the disagreement and your reasoning fully and intelligently.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it. – Value truthfulness, even when the truth hurts.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think it is happiness. – Don’t kid yourself.

As always, I invite and welcome your input. What do you think of Russell’s ideas about teaching?

Inducing Anxiety

Posted on | May 1, 2012 | No Comments

You could probably wield even your most rudimentary Psychology 101 skills to write a 400-page case study of me when I tell you that the last six weeks of the school year filled me with dread and anxiety. A Teacher’s Plan Book stuffed full of notes, remarks, reminders, failures, and successes took center stage on my desk. It gently prodded me, “Hey, Mr. S., don’t forget about all the cool things we were going to do this year!”

Cool things. Yes, like the poetry lessons under the old umbrella oak, right?

“Hey, Mr. S., don’t forget that the students need to reach correct point levels in Accelerated Reader.”

Ah, yes, thanks, Plan Book. Independent reading goals, I must not forget them.

“Hey, Mr. S., don’t forget you have to sit down with the other teachers and make class assignment recommendations for the next school year.”

Right. Thanks, Plan Book.

“Hey, Mr. S., now would be a good time to figure out how to better manage your students’ writing folders.”

Plan Book, take a hike, will ya?

“Okay, Mr. S., but one last thing. You need to be at the year-end ceremonies by 6:30, in suit and tie. The forecast is calling for a humid night, highs near 90. The gym isn’t air-conditioned, so stay cool.”

Plan Book, I am burning you in the patio fire pit this summer, so enjoy your final days.

Well, that’s how I remember it, anyway. Like the beginning of the school year, the final weeks were generally a blur of smiles, activities, wrap-up, and testing. Not to mention grading, report card writing, meetings, parties, and continual prodding of students who were thinking about everything but school work.

After a year or two, it was easier to slip into a routine and plot the final weeks. What suggestions do you have for the best way to handle the rush at the end of the academic year? And if you teach year-round, what is it like as you ready yourself for a new class?

The Upper Grades Exchange wants to hear from you!

Thoughts on Pineapplegate?

Posted on | April 26, 2012 | No Comments

I never would have thought that one of my favorite exports from Hawaii and the animal that inspired my favorite cartoon character would play such an interesting role in the discussions surrounding education reform. Yet there they were, the pineapple and the hare, driving students and teachers to distraction. In a bit of absurdity that would have made even Bugs Bunny during his wild years shake his head in amazement, something called Pineapplegate reared its ugly head in the world of education.

Are you familiar with Pineapplegate? Because if you’re not, you really should hear what this is all about. (Go ahead, google pineapplegate.) Although the reading selection—an extensively edited version of a brief scene in a Daniel Pinkwater novel—and its accompanying questions have appeared in standardized ELA tests since 2006, it was only recently that this test selection made its way out of the classroom and onto the desks of a few well-connected education bloggers and journalists.

In the selection, the reader encounters a handful of talking forest creatures. Among them is a hare. The hare is challenged to a race…by a talking pineapple! However, the whole thing gets even more absurd when a student must answer questions which are almost unanswerable, as they require the reader to make sense of a nonsense story.

Well, the whole thing has been quite an eye opener for parents, teachers, education reform advocates, and others. Many have tried to make sense of what the publisher has done in this case. One thing is clear: New York State alone paid the publisher of this test more than $32 million to implement it statewide and has now withdrawn the question from the test in the wake of the furor.

Do you oversee student testing in your classroom? Have you found something as absurd as “The Pineapple and the Hare” in your students’ test booklets?

Share your story with us.

Light Dawns on Marblehead

Posted on | April 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

In college in the previous millennium, I had the pleasure of becoming good friends with a fellow New Englander out of Concord, Massachusetts. These days he’s a physical education teacher in Pennsylvania, but back then we were simply undergrads who liked robust, raucous, and challenging dialogue. We were once engrossed in a conversation with some other friends when I or someone else in the group suddenly had our A-ha! moment. My friend recognized the sudden understanding and said, “Light dawns on marble head.”

This, of course, is an expression with a double meaning. If you are from the area, you know this could simply refer to the fact that on the north shore of Massachusetts, rays of the sun first set foot on the shores of Marblehead, a wonderful small town with classic seafaring roots and all the photogenic appeal that goes along with it. Light dawns on Marblehead. On the other hand, whether from the north shore (written as North Shore by anyone from Massachusetts) or Cheyenne, Wyoming, you know that light dawns on marble head also means “Hey! He got it. He understands now!” The aforementioned A-ha! moment.

Light dawning on marble head is an exciting thing to witness in the classroom. It is one of the (we hope) frequent perks of being a teacher. Whether we recognize it through a student’s arched eyebrows, suddenly upright posture, exuberantly raised hand, unsolicited burst of “I get it,” or some combination of all these, we want to witness it as often as possible.

The question I have for you today is this: when is it appropriate to spotlight an individual’s A-ha! moment? Perhaps it is something to make note of with the student one-on-one at a later time. Perhaps it is something you want to highlight immediately so that the rest of the class might also find light dawning on their own marble heads.

Take on me with your own thoughts and opinions about A-ha moments. Your ideas and stories are eagerly awaited in the comments.

*The first teacher to correctly identify in the comments section my pop culture reference in the previous paragraph wins an autographed photo of yours truly and a free book from The Mailbox.

How Green Is Your Classroom?

Posted on | April 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

There is a saying in the world of graphic design and, specifically, page design that says, “the eye likes white space.” A reader shouldn’t have to struggle and strain to pick a sentence or a paragraph out of a jumble of competing images and words. That’s a tough maxim to balance against the importance of efficiency and the need to not consume one’s fair share of resources. In other words, don’t waste paper just because you want more white space.

Teaching in the inner-city school where I strolled the third floor and was responsible for middle school language arts meant making peace with the odd-shaped paper we received by donation from local businesses. One local print shop, in particular, supplied us with the bulk of our paper. It was great if you wanted odd colors and heavy stock. Not so great if you had something more like printer paper in mind.

With prime resources in high demand, you can bet we teachers made every effort to reduce our waste and reuse whatever paper we could. As someone prone to doodling on clean paper myself, it was important that I made sure my students did not draw on or deface paper they might see again.

Earth Day is nearly upon us. Careful and thoughtful use and reuse of classroom resources, including paper, is surely something you’re aware of on a constant basis. What are your tips for creating a green, earth-friendly classroom?

Do Small Groups Work?

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 2 Comments

Whether back in the Stone Age when I was a student or in that other millennium when I was a teacher, the small-group thing never quite worked for me. As a student, unless I was in a small group with kids who were not my close friends, it was always too easy to spend too much time gossiping and joking around before getting down to the real work. I’d like to think that I helped the group and did my part and contributed equally. However, in truth, I suspect that might not have been the case.

That’s not to say I didn’t participate. I can recall instances when I was the group member doing the bulk of the work, for example. Being in that position will certainly leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Throughout my school years, I’d say I evenly divided my participation among all groups, averaging out as slightly-better-than-average.

From my perspective as a teacher, I have both similar and quite different feelings about the effectiveness of small groups. Whenever I would bring a small-group project to my classroom, I was inevitably left with two questions: Who is doing the lion’s share of the group’s work? Why is it so loud in here?

You’re out there in what’s called “the trenches.” Do you like assigning small-group projects? What are your best tips for making sure small groups function properly, reasonably quietly, and equitably?

The readers of the Upper Grades Exchange want to know!

The Language of Math

Posted on | April 11, 2012 | 1 Comment

Obtuse and acute, am I right? I mean, median and mode. On average, I’d say I only get a fraction of the decimals divided and the remainder carry on. Maybe we should table this discussion before it multiplies out of control. The cardinal rule I am certain of when it comes to math literacy is that I do not have the capacity of even a closed figure to earn a degree. So terms such as denominator, isosceles, and quadrilateral leave me uncertain of an outcome I can predict with any probability.

The language of math is intense and unique. Used improperly or inaccurately, it is sure to leave students confused and struggling. However, placing an emphasis on top-notch math literacy only helps create an ever-more-solid math foundation. While this is not why I became a language arts teacher, it is certainly one of the reasons I am glad I did.

Achieving high math literacy in the upper grades classroom requires skill, creativity, and dedication. So what are your tips that will help all math teachers reach this essential goal?

Math literacy. What are your classroom-tested ideas for reinforcing tricky terminology?

And speaking of math, Diane wants to know what’s your favorite math skill to teach at our “Be the Difference” blog.  Comment and be entered in her latest giveaway!

More Math Excitement, Please

Posted on | April 3, 2012 | 3 Comments

Something I noticed while looking at my calendar: There’s always a day or a week or a month devoted to books or literacy or something language-artsy. Sure, on March 14 (3.14) we had Pi Day. That was a tough one to explain to a lot of people, but it was mathematics-related nonetheless.

It may be hard to believe, coming from a writer/ELA teacher such as myself, but I just get the sense that math is getting the short end of the stick on celebratory days during the calendar year.

Keeping this a short post, I wonder what math-themed days I may be missing. And how do you celebrate mathematics in your classroom?

Share your ideas now! Maybe we can even start a worldwide math celebration movement right here at the Upper Grades Exchange.

Next up: math literacy.