Discovering the Passion

This past week has been so amazing!! Starting this blog has really helped me to look differently at how I teach and how I react to what students are doing. I'd like to say that everything went perfectly and I can now manage my classroom with 100% of students on task 100% of the time. But alas, that is not true. However, I have one story I have been itching to tell on the blog since this morning.

One of my 3 stooges during 4th period was in ISS yesterday. I gave him an assignment to work with a program on the computer building a bridge. West Point Bridge designer - you can download the program for free. Colleges use this program to help with engineering and designing concepts, but it is so simple a third grader could use it. What I usually challenge the students to do is make a bridge that will hold the hold of a truck for as little money as possible.

Judah, the student, was excited for the challenge. He went over to the pre-engineering classroom and constructed a well planned bridge. However, his bridge cost $400,000. I had seen students do a bridge for as little as $135,000 before, so I challenged him to half his cost- making a bridge for $200,000. He tried a few times on his own but was not successful. I showed him a couple of tricks in the program (hoping he would experiment on his own to find some other variables to change), but he did not. He tried my tricks, but got distracted by what my students were doing because he was not willing to push his envelope further to experience success. I eventually dismissed him back to ISS, frustrated that he wouldn't experiment on his own to find out how to make a cheaper bridge. I wrote to his guardians to let them know how he had tried to work on the bridge problem, but didn't find much success and since he was distracted by what my class was doing, I sent him back to ISS. I thought that would be the end of his bridge building.

I was wrong.

This morning I received an e-mail from his guardians in response to what I wrote the night before. I'll quote it because it will be communicate what happened:
"Pastor had a meeting in Denver , however before leaving he visited with Judah concerning his day in ISS. Judah was already on his computer, he is not allowed to be on the computer before supper unless it is school related. He verbalized that you had given him an bridge building assignment. he showed us on the screen many attempts to build the bridge for $2000.00 or less. He said

" Mr. Twining showed me how to lessen the price amount, how to change the type of beans, the thickness," and other things he shared with us that you had taught him, however it was not working.Judah worked on it ,He said that if you said that there is a way, it must be a way, the bridge continued to collaspe, be weak over the budget ,or something. He continued to work on it, His Sister, who is a dental student observed his bridge building as well as a friend of mine who is a School Teacher. They both know that he loves a challenge and encouraged him to keep trying to find a way!"

What a wonderful e-mail to receive to start the day! Not only did he continue working on it at home, but he also brought a netbook to school with the program loaded on it to continue trying! Part of what I wrote back:

"Yes, I will give him a chance, and yes, I believe that Judah CAN succeed at school with these challenges. Typically my goal as a teacher is for students to be able to discover these things with as little interference from me as possible. But sometimes, as Judah has experienced, they hit a wall, and so they need a little more guidance, which I will give. The difficult part is discerning when they have actually hit that wall and when they’ve just given up before they hit the wall."

When I met with Judah (before 1st period even started he came and found me), I showed him some other things he could do to reduce the price of the bridge. By 6th period, he figured it out. $195,000 - he made a bridge for $195,000. Since he is currently failing my class I made a deal with him. Last night he and/or his guardians found a YouTube video that showed a bridge designed on West Point for a bridge that was $166,000. I told Judah that if he could design a bridge for cheaper than $166,000 I would give him 15 extra credit points. That along with extra copies of other assignments for me that I gave him to do should bring his grade up to a C! :) Hopefully I can keep his attention with other projects for the rest of the class so he can get an A. I'm sure after a year of struggling in all of his classes he would be most happy with that.

A healthy dose of discipline

Classroom discipline is probably my biggest struggle. I can't stand sending students out of the classroom, whether to the Behavior Intervention Office (BIO), the main office, or even another teacher's classroom. When the student walks out of my classroom that means that something broke down, that I failed in some way to get the students attention enough for them to be on-task and doing what they are supposed to. I try my best to give students second and third chances, to just re-direct them in an attempt to get them on track. However, most of you who teach middle school know that this approach does not always work the best. Especially when you have students who are manipulative. They'll push that envelope and push that limit as far as they can.

My 4th period class is a class of sixth graders. Typically, sixth graders are the best behaved of the three grades of middle school. They are fresh from elementary school, their parents typically are more involved in their lives, and they are more eager to learn (typically). For exploratory classes at my school, sixth grade classes switch every quarter, so this will be my fourth and final 4th period group of sixth graders. 97% of the class is great- 3 boys in the class are not so great. On Wednesday, I talked with an EA (Educational Assistant) who helps in the classroom about the classroom environment. She helped me to realize that by giving these boys more and more chances to perform in the classroom I was just limiting the other student's ability to work in my class. The boys would harass, bother, distract, and destroy the concentration of other groups in the class. So I finally decided I need to just put my foot down and 'be mean.'

Thursday (yesterday) turned out to be a perfect 4th period. Here's what happened:
Boy #1- in ISS all day. I didn't even have to worry about him. I DID however, write a nice little note to his guardians informing them of his recent behavior in my class.
Boy #2- Within the first five minutes of class received two strikes (on three strikes they get moved to a different location-BIO room, classroom next door, etc.) For 2/3 of the period he stayed with his group and at least appeared to be working. With about 15 minutes left in class he decided to throw a piece of balsa wood with glue on it at another student (it got stuck on her sweatshirt and she didn't even know it was there). I sent him next door to a teacher who he does not like to complete a behavior reflection assignment and write a letter of apology to the student.
Boy #3- Within the first five minutes of class, received 3 strikes, and got sent to the door of the classroom until I was done giving instructions to the class (I didn't want to send him out because I figured if I could impress upon him I was serious, he had the chance of shaping up for the rest of the period). After I sent the class to work, I went to talk to him. I asked if he was ready to work with the rest of the class, to which he responded yes. I told him he would sit in a stool where his group was working and he was forbidden to EVER get up out of that stool for anything unless he had my permission. And he did exactly that. Everytime I looked to find out where he was and what he was doing, he was in the stool, working with his group. Only twice did he leave the stool, and those times he was either coming to find me to get some assistance, or seeking for materials his group needed to work on his project.

At least I had success with 1 out of the 3. Now I just have to remember to be consistent to either keep these 3 boys on track or keep them from distracting the rest of the class and we just might have a successful rest of the quarter.

An award winning discussion

It was the tale of two discussions. The same group of people participated in each of the two discussions. They both took place during relatively the same time period. They both centered on school improvement. Yet, in the end, they were both vastly different.

In the first, a few months ago, a group of staff members were gathered to discuss the problems/issues the school is currently facing and how we can work to solve them. Issue after issue surfaced as weeks of frustration came tumbling out. Solutions were proposed only to be met by other problems to be solved. Unfortunately, in the end, there were more problems than solutions. Most walked away (or at least I did) feeling that the work to do to get to where we needed to be would be insurmountable.

Then, this morning, at the ripe hour of 7 a.m., the same group of staff members met. A warm breakfast was served. The only prompt for this discussion was- what has been done at the school to foster improvement? Everybody brainstormed what they remembered as having happened and then we all shared. For a good hour we discussed everything from RTI to PBS. After the meeting I walked away feeling on top of the world. I knew we were still not perfect, yet I believed perfection was obtainable. The problems still exist, but somehow I knew that together we could master those problems.

I venture to say that our classrooms can be like these two discussions were. One day, nothing seems to go right, and the next, nothing seems to go wrong. What makes the difference? I think that all of us prepared ahead of time before we spoke in the second meeting. We methodically thought about what points we wanted to address. The vision in the discussion was a little different- instead of a 'problem solving' discussion, it was a 'solution' discussion. We focused on the positive, on what had already worked, instead of focusing on what needed to be solved.

Compliments/Praise

Today's challenge for me, is to give as many compliments as possible. Compliments to the class, to the students, to groups of students. So often all that ends up happening is just yelling at the students who are not doing well. My theory is that if I compliment all of the good behavior I see, then I will be able to focus more on the positive things going on in my classroom. The more time I spend concentrating on and complimenting good behavior, then hopefully the less time the students will spend doing things they're not supposed to. Today during first period, I kept track on a little slip of paper I carried around with me. Each student who completed an assignment I complimented on their good work and I still only had seven compliments. SEVEN! An entire class period and that's all I had. So I'm going to be working harder throughout the day. What do you think? Do compliments need to be given to everybody? Does just complimenting the good kids help others feel incentive to want to get praise?

First Real Positive Post!

I got this article the other day off a list serve I belong to. It is kind of long, but worth the read. Read it and let me know what you think! How many of us have students like this in our classrooms?

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big 'F' at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... He is a joy to be around.'

His second grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.'

His third grade teacher wrote, 'His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.'

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.'

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, 'Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.'

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her 'teacher's pets..'

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, 'Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.'

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, ’Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.'

(For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Rules of the Road

Welcome to the Positive Focus blog! Here are some simple rules to get us started with posting and commenting:
#1. All posts must either have a positive focus or be asking for help to have a positive focus (no whining and complaining here!)
#2. Any mention of a student you must use only their last initial (or no last initial at all). We're not here to single out any student(s) positively OR negatively
#3. Posts should either be of positive experiences in the classroom or suggestions for situations where it is hard to see the positive.
#4. Share this blog and comments to others! The more we have contributing the better our experience will be!