Suggestions for Teachers: Maintaining a Structured and Purposeful Classroom Community

Hello Everyone,

I am actively working in the classrooms with teachers and their students.  It's exciting work and I feel honored to be able to encourage them to in what they are doing as well as inspire them to reflect on things in a fresh and new way.  Here are some of the recent reflections I have shared with some of the teachers.  Let me know what you think!

The following are general reflections that I’ve compiled as I am getting to know teachers and students in the New York City area. What I do to support teachers is respond using a strategy I created called TAG (T-Tell what you like; A-Ask questions; G-Give ideas).  I use TAG because it helps the conversation stay focused and also presents ideas and suggestions in a positive way. So, of course, I start with:

T-Tell what you like:

 Classrooms that display many pieces of literature (i.e., poetry, music lyrics) on the wall really gives a sense that there is real literacy happening in the community. It also gives students a sense not only of things getting done but also that learning is a process and literature can always be revisited and connected to again in different ways.

Deep connections and caring that teachers have for their students help students feel comfortable and very safe. When they know at a deep level that their teacher cares for them true risk taking necessary for real learning can happen.

Helping students be independent and focused i.e, “Get your binders” gives them a sense that something will be accomplished this period.

• Varying full class discussion to small group really helps students stay focused and on task.
• Open-ended questions (“What do you think…..?”)and gave everyone an opportunity to connect in their own way and thus be successful.
• I think typed questions are an excellent way to give the message that these questions are important enough that time was taken to type them. They also give the message that the teacher is organized and expect these questions to be addressed.
• Genuine questions, i.e., “What do you think- Why would a kid be called X-Ray?” are crucial.   They illustrate respect for their opinions and enables the teacher to truly participate in the conversation. It also shows that the teacher is not just checking to see if they know the correct answers.
• Raising hands help keep the conversation focused, positive, and respectful to all community members as it allows everyone time to think and not have to worry about someone calling out an answer before they have formulated their thoughts.
• Integration of music, poetry, acting into the curriculum is powerful it keeps learning dynamic. It also gives literacy a real purpose—performance.
• Really caring about students allows a relaxed feeling in the room and enables students to feel comfortable and thus more likely to take risks necessary for learning.
• Good knowledge of the subject enables a teacher to teach with ease and fluency.
• ·         Physical arrangement/set up of chairs influences atmosphere and discussion.   Varying ways that students sit should depend on the task and goal at hand. This variety and flexibility helps to keep students engaged.
• Materials easily accessible to students enable them to work independently without awaiting help from the teacher.
• Voiced goals of lesson and consistent sharing and monitoring of their completion with students help students feel empowered and purposeful. This also helps students know what is expected of them and what needs to be accomplished.
• Holding students accountable to complete work through discussions, logs, sketches etc. is crucial to lending importance to the work.
• Giving warnings, “finish up your last line,” “You have 3 more minutes,” etc. Helps students monitor and pace themselves. You gave them a warning.
• Book talks puts students in control and helps keep reading purposeful.
• Genuine questions (vs. questions that just check simple comprehension) are crucial to have real and deep discussions.
• Helping students elaborate with comments such as “What do you mean by that?” show that you are really interested in what they have to say.   Comments such as “I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you. Could you repeat that?” also exhibit genuine interest.
• Type written questions about what is expected of them for the next day are powerful way to show you have high expectations. It is so important that students know beforehand what is expected of them and given enough time to complete the task successfully.
• Circulating around the room (vs. sitting at desk waiting for task to be completed) help students stay on task and keeps teacher more a part of the community.
• Comments such as “Thanks for raising your hand,” are respectful and when done consistently help maintain a positive classroom.

Now I’ll get on to A: Ask Questions. I don’t ask questions in the traditional way and I don’t have a “correct” answer in my head. I ask questions because I either don’t know the answer or to inspire teachers to see certain things from a different perspective. I like to clarify this because I know that often people tend to be defensive when they are questioned or asked “why.” I ask “why” because I really want to know and because I want to encourage teachers to see that decisions and actions become more clear when the “why” behind them is reflected upon and voiced. One of my goals is to move teachers to say, “Wow, I never thought of that/saw it like that before” or “Oh, yes, that’s what I believe” or “Maybe I need to rethink that.”

A-Ask Questions:

• What are the major goals you are working towards? Do the students know where you (and the whole community) are going? Is there a final culminating project/activity that will tie it all together?
• Why do you call on certain students more than others? How can you be more balanced?
• When do the students have a choice of what group they are in or what they want to read/write, etc?
• How are you differentiating some of the activities for those who need to be challenged?
• How are you making sure that you hold all your students accountable to appropriate behavior?
• What is displayed on your walls? Why? How do you use these displays over time?
• What kind of choices do students have? Can they choose sometimes what groups to work in? Whether they want to be in a group? What kind of culminating project they might want to work on?
• How do teachers communicate the goals they are working on to their students and the administration? Are they expected to daily, weekly, monthly?
• How are you holding students accountable for completing tasks? Discussions? Role play?
• What ways do you hold them accountable to their reading?
• How are you ensuring that all students have equal opportunity to service the community through jobs, etc?
• How is it decided who does book talks, lead discussions, etc? Is there a sign-up sheet, rotating order?

 Now on to G-Give suggestions and ideas.   Just as the questions, I hope they either confirm what you already doing and/or inspire you to reflect on your decisions and actions. Generally, my suggestions are based on the belief that the more we empower our students and respect them as learners the more successful they will become. My suggestions and ideas are also founded on this major question: “How can I design my classroom/curriculum so that all students are enabled to be successful as they participate in purposeful work?”

    * Students can write up the charts for type them on the computer as posters. In this way, they are contributing to the classroom and are also engaged in purposeful work.

    * To help struggling readers-type written charts would be easier to read. ESL and struggling readers need to do more choral reading to increase in fluency so they need to be able to read charts without struggling.

    * Deciding whether students work in a group or not will depend on the activity but whatever the decision it needs to be enforce  uniformly.it or you lose authority in your room. If students are asked to work in groups but then some are allowed to work alone authority is lost. If it is important for them to work in groups then this needs to be reinforced. If it doesn’t matter one way or the other students can have a choice of working alone or in a group.

    * If students are working in groups instead of having every group answer all the same questions, each group could answer a different question. This helps focus the groups, saves time, and keep things moving. This also helps keep the work as purposeful as possible so that students feel like what they are doing is important. When they know that their answer is important because they are the only ones with that specific question they will more likely do a more thorough job.

• When students are in groups the teacher needs to systematically walk around to hold groups accountable and to facilitate conversations. Teacher needs to remain focused and not allow late students to distract them.   In this way, again, business-like efficiency will be communicated in a consistent manner.

    * Think about sometimes allowing students to come up with their own questions for each other. This is a great way to help them feel empowered and active. So, for example, So once in awhile after reading  aloud some class time can be taken for students to write some questions for each other.

    * Students can contribute texts to edit by picking pieces of texts out of their reading and taking out punctuation marks, changing a few words, etc for their peers to correct. Again this keeps them empowered and contributing members of the classroom community.

    *  Keep questions as high level and as genuine as possible and teach students to do the same. Students know that you know the answer, right? So do you see how they might see this as a waste of time?  You can measure comprehension through questions that enable them to connect. Some reading comprehension strategies to teach students include: -make a connection to yourself; -make a connection to the world; -make a connection to another piece of literature. These enable students to talk about a text in a much more meaningful and purposeful way. (Think of the questions we ask each other in book clubs—What did you think..? Why do you think….?, etc)

    * Be consistent about holding students accountable to raising their hands.   In this way, we are enabling all students time to think before anyone blurts out an answer. We all think at different speeds and when students realize that we will wait for them to think (and hold them accountable to thinking—“Don’t worry. Take your time. We’ll wait until you formulate an opinion”)-they will start thinking.

    * Welcome silence. Do not be afraid to wait for answers. Many teachers, because they want to just keep things moving and get things done, call on the student who will always give an answer. Remember, the important questions take time to answer because they require deeper thinking and not just recall. When we allow for silence more people are enabled to be active participants.

    * I would suggest that teacher and students only speak when there is silence and eye contact. To speak over people or allow them to do other things while anyone is speaking is giving the message (whether intended or not) that what is being said is not important. If what is being said is not important then maybe it shouldn’t even be said.

    * Allowing students to call out is not enabling most students to really express themselves.

• Watch who is getting an excessive amount of attention. Scan the room so that all students get equal opportunity to respond.  With students calling out the students raising their hands are often ignored.
• Only respond to people who are raising their hands this is more effective than saying “shhh” When you only recognize people with hands up consistently over time the calling out and extraneous noise will be extinguished.
• To give independent reading, or any activity, more validation the teacher needs to be genuinely involved in the same activity. In this way the students really understand that the activity is important.
• In many classrooms I work in each student has a book baggie with a collection of reading pieces so if they are bored with one for awhile they are able to pick something else from their baggie.
• Systematic and consistent statements of positive recognition are crucial!   Make sure these statements of positive recognition out balance your statements of correction –Thank you______, you already started reading vs there’s already too much talking.
• Consistent positive recognition really goes a long way. “______ I see you are raising your hand.” “Thank you for giving me eye contact.” “Thank you for waiting patiently.”
• Watch who you are giving an excessive amount of attention to. Scan the room so that you are assured that you are giving all students equal opportunity to respond. With students calling out the students raising their hands (sitting along the window) are often ignored.
• Students need to get their own logs/materials/tools when they walk in and put them where they belong as they leave. This allows them to help themselves, saves time, and keeps it organized.
• Place books, and other materials in such a way so that when students enter the classroom they get what they need without disrupting other members, including the teacher, of the community.
• If a student is speaking inappropriately to another there must be a way to hold he/she accountable. If the student speaks inappropriately while leading a discussion he/she does not need to continue to be in the spotlight and needs to sit down.
• A structured system of response will help with keeping discussions respectful. I strongly suggest implementing TAG. (Tell what you like; Ask questions; Give ideas) It helps students stay positive and constructive.  
• During book talk conversations help student discuss more successfully by guiding them to use connection strategies, i.e., “What connections have you made to your own life?” “….to the world?” “…to another piece of literature?”
• Allow students to know where they’re going next. This will help empower them and allow them to understand some of the goals connected to the activities you are having them engage in. It also enables them to prepare-if only mentally-for the next day. All students need to know the plans (daily and long term) so they know where they are going. Again, this helps them feel like part of the community, empower them, etc.
• To teach for the future instead of just to get through the day we need to reflect on the real importance of the work we ask students to complete.
• One way to help students feel that the time with you is important is to let them know the final goal. Will they need to perform some aspects? Will they write a commercial for it? Will they make a movie of certain sections of a book? These goals not only gives purpose to the work but also helps you differentiate instruction (i.e., letting them choose their final project for this work) and keeps them focused.
• Type up questions to be discussed for students to have the minute they step into the room. In this way students get a sense that there are things to be accomplished.   It also gives the message that these questions are important and not just busy work.
• Typing up an agenda for the class would help students know that the work at hand is important and serious. A sample class agenda might look like this:
• Presidential Election—Full group discussion 1:00-1:15
• Choose one of the following issues ( taxes, racism, sexism, economics) and debate it with a partner 1:15-1:30 Be ready to debate in front of your class.
• Full group sharing of debates 1:30-2:00
• Closing: Think about a conversation between you and one of the candidates. Come in ready put this conversation into a small skit with a classmate tomorrow.
• This kind of agenda helps focus the student and teacher. It also, again, gives the message that what we have to discuss here is important and purposeful. Notice that the last item helps students begin to focus for tomorrow.
• When students walk in late typed agendas, questions enable them to know what to do without the teacher continually repeating the directions/questions over and over again.
• Have specific goals in mind that connect to a longer term goal or project.   Communicate these goals to the students. When students know what they are working toward the work becomes more purposeful.
• Think about students being involved in long term projects. In this way, they are working toward something concrete. This is an excellent way to differentiate instruction because students can choose their projects.