Avoiding the “Waah, Waah, Waah” Effect

Sometimes I feel a bit like a broken record.  Or maybe it’s more like the “Charlie Brown Teacher” version of an instructional coach.  Why does it feel like no one is really listening to or doing what I say?  If you feel like this too, maybe you’re making the same mistakes I did.  Before you blame your staff, take a look at yourself to see if a new approach would be more effective.

Let’s take a closer look at the problem: I generally start out very excited about implementing something in the school that I think will make a huge difference for the students.  I spend time preparing great professional development sessions to support research-based teaching best practices.  At the meeting the staff seems receptive and excited as well.  Then as a follow-up, I send out friendly reminders through emails and morning announcements.  I provide the teachers with handouts and schedules and everything I think they need to make the initiative successful.  I provide feedback on lesson plans and walkthroughs.  To my dismay and frustration, I realize that despite my best efforts (and hours of prep on my end) only a small percent of the teachers are implementing the initiative the way I intended.  Why aren’t all the teachers implementing this new technique or strategy?

One thing I have been learning as an Instructional Coordinator is that doing too much for the teachers is almost as bad as doing too little.  My boss encourages me not to do all the thinking for the teachers, but to ask the right questions to get them to discover my message.  This is hard for me!  I try to make life easier for the teachers by showing them everything they need to do.  Unless the teachers discover for themselves the significance behind why they need to do something, it will be just another chore that they are being made to do.  This is where the “Waah, waah, waah” (Charlie Brown teacher) effect comes into play.

This method of instructional coaching really sounds just like discovery learning that we encourage teachers to use with their students.  This approach can be like having the students discover the effects of weathering and erosion instead of just talking about it or reading about it in a book.  In my opinion, when teachers learn by doing they are more likely to apply the skills taught and understand the significance or adopt the teaching practice as their own.

As a practical example, last week my principal and I sat down and found a new way to unpack the TEKS (grade level standards).  The goal is for teachers to better understand what they are to teach and create a calendar for teaching the upcoming grading period.  Rather than just showing the teachers what we came up with (which would be much quicker), we met with each grade-level team during planning times and walked them through the same process we completed last week.  It took a long time, and we are still not done (we plan to meet again Wednesday), but the teachers are really connecting to the process and voluntarily putting in extra time without my need to email or nag incessantly.

Learn more about our discovery learning technique for unpacking the TEKS (or your state’s standards) in our upcoming book and/or PIER-R trainings!

Staying Sane in the Classroom during the Holidays

Oh teacher, oh teacher what do you see…….

Overly energetic students, ungraded papers stacked high, programs to attend, students to facilitate and unexpected work waiting to join the ever growing team. These are just a few of the things that the coming weeks may bring. Wait, did I say overly energetic students? As the winter break becomes a reality, so does the close of a semester.  It is normal for exhaustion to set in during this time of the year.

Just because we are educators does not mean we are not human and won’t get tired sometimes. However, it is up to us to set the tone for our students while the clock ticks to end the semester or head home for a short break.  About six years ago, as a second grade teacher, exhaustion was setting in for me during the early days of November. I quickly begin telling the students if they wanted to receive a gift from me they needed to be on their best behavior.  Because my nerves were on edge, every little thing irritated me and I complained to the students about the appropriate behavior that I wanted them to exhibit. I used a gift as a means to keep the students on their best behavior.   It was unrealistic for me to expect second grade students to not be second grade students. One of my “best” (we all have that one student who is the “best” at what they do. I mean best as in the one student who teaches you more than you teach them. You know the one who knows how to push all the right (wrong) buttons.), he calmly made a comment…..”I try not to make mistakes, but everyone will make mistakes sometimes.”

Can you imagine if the principal told us we couldn’t eat at the Christmas party because we were late all the time or did not turn our lesson plans in on time? You get my point. Everyone is entitled to a few mistakes (that are minor or that do not cause harm to themselves or others).

Ask yourself, what is your attitude like? And what really matters the most? I am not saying that the students will be on their best behavior all the time or that you will not be irritated at times. What I am saying is that we set the tone for our students.

So during this season have a little compassion and remember the 5 tips listed below:

  1. Be kind and try not to punish students but instead discipline. Remember you wouldn’t like it if you had to sit in a staff development meeting and watch everyone eat because you did not turn in your lesson plans on time.
  2. Be patient, they are excited about receiving gifts, and wouldn’t you be? So the students will be a little more energetic than normal, or you may have tons of things that need to be complete before the close of the semester. This time of the year only comes once.
  3. Be understanding, some students will not have a great break and gifts waiting on them during this time of the year.
  4. Be an example, don’t be scrooge and think the students will mimic a different behavior.
  5. Be consistent, just because you are tired it does not mean you slack and change the routine. Once students notice the difference, they will take advantage of your inconsistencies. This is a quick way to lose the control of your class.

Oh teacher, oh teacher what do you see…….I see a break waiting on you to be energetic with glee!! Happy Holidays

The 24-Hour Work Day

At last Thanksgiving Break is here….   Time for five days of rest and relaxation…   Hmmm.. let’s see, since I’m off, I could get a few things done that the schedule of my principalship won’t allow me to do.  Monday, I will take care of the yard work and plant some pansies.  Tuesday, I can clean the garage and fix that leaky faucet that the wife’s been nagging about.   Wednesday, I have to smoke the family turkey.  Of course Thursday is Thanksgiving.  And Friday, well that’s the best day to shop and there is no way I’m passing up the opportunity to save money (a survival trait I’ve acquired while squeezing nickels from pennies with the campus budget).  I guess I can get some real rest Saturday and Sunday since it appears my week has been consumed before it began.

My superintendent called and I have an important meeting in 15 minutes.  How did I miss that email?  While headed to the meeting, my secretary sends a text and tells me that I have 2 angry parents headed to the campus to protest their son’s mathematics average of 87 instead of his usual 90+.  The Sup’s meeting was brief and while headed to meet the parents, my mother called to chat about Thanksgiving “back home.”  As we reflected on how well smoked and flavored the turkey was, I get a text message:  Please get here ASAP.  I forgot about our kickoff program for the campus reading initiative.

The next day I get out the car and I’m greeted with joyful smiles and “Good morning[s]!”   Maybe today will be less hectic than yesterday’s fiasco.   I get one foot in the door and I am stopped by a “teacher in need.”  Note: I did not say a “needy teacher.”   This time, it was the heater in her room that seems to always default to 72 when she prefers it at 74. I get to my office and I have a message saying that the latest report is due ASAP. (And what is the ASAP on everything all about).  More importantly, the “latest report” on what?  Needless to say, there’s another deadline that must be met.  My eyes pop open and I jump up.

It’s Monday morning!!!  You mean to tell me that I been asleep and the last 2 crazy days have been my Saturday and Sunday night dreams.   Thanksgiving break is officially over and I am as tired as I was the Friday before.  In this position, even when we are off, we are still on.  So the question is, how do we cope with those 24-hour work days?   Answer:  Keep Calm and let PIER-R Handle It.    Coming soon….

Motivation

As an educational leader I’ve heard it so many times… “The students just don’t seem to care.”  “I keep telling them that they need to work harder.”  “They are so low that they can’t do the work.”

You can see it in the teachers’ interactions with students… “How many times do I have to tell you to be quiet?”  “We are going to stand here until you can be perfectly still and quiet.”  “If you don’t sit down and get quiet I’m going to call your parents.”

It is so easy for teachers who are on the front lines of education to run out of ideas to motivate their students.  Some call it “Teacher Burn-Out,” but I call it “Teacher Run-Out,” when we’ve run out of ideas.  We often don’t even realize that we are blaming the students, their parents, the curriculum, or “whatever” when really the problem is we need to try something new to motivate our students.  Even the best teachers with the best intentions will reach their limit at some point.

How can you tell when you’ve reached your limit?  How do you know when students have lost engagement and motivation?  Here are some warning signs:

  1. Your students are talking in class about things that have nothing to do with your lesson.
  2. You find yourself repeating directions constantly.
  3. You feel your blood pressure rising.
  4. You think your class is “so low,” “so slow,” or “so loud.”

So what can we do when we reach our limit?

Engagement, one of the five pillars of educational success according to PIER-R, is a living, growing, organism.  What motivates students today may not work tomorrow due to a million different factors that influence our classes every day.  Truthfully, this is why I love education – each day is different than the one before it.  This means that we, as educators, need to be sensitive to those changes and willing to try new things when the old “tricks of the trade” stop working.

The number one BEST thing you can do is ask your colleagues about new ideas.  My last year in the classroom I worked with an amazing team of fourth grade teachers.  We would share ideas every day which really helped to fill in the idea “gaps” when one of our teammates hit their limit.  Just yesterday I saw one of these teachers, and we visited for a few minutes before she had to go to a meeting.  She shared with me a video that she used the other day with her students, and I would like to share it with you.  We need to remember that every day is our opportunity as educators to make a difference with our students.  We also need to teach our students that every day is their opportunity to become something great.

Enjoy the video, use it with your students, and thanks, Mrs. Deguchi, for sharing!