The First Days of School By Harry Wong Quotes
The purpose of school is learning. Teaching is not what you do to fill up a day. Teaching is the outcome you get from students.
The ineffective teachers began their first day of school by covering the subject matter or doing a fun activity. These teachers spent the rest of the school year chasing after the students. The effective teachers spent time explaining to students how the class was going to be organized and structured so they knew exactly what to do to succeed.
“Because I immediately implemented my procedures, I quickly gained the respect of my students. Having procedures set in place relieves the pressure off of me as the teacher. When a student forgets a procedure, all I have to ask is, ‘And what is the procedure, please?’ There is no hassle, no confusion and, most importantly, there is no arguing. It only takes but a moment to redirect the student.
The major effect that does work is “feedback.” Effective educators know it as “checking for understanding” and then reteaching until the student learns the objective of the lesson. Hattie said, “Students should be able to visibly see the intention of each lesson (objectives) and how to know (rubric) if they were successful.” Student success comes from feedback, but a teacher can only give feedback if a lesson has a set of objectives and a rubric to form the basis for feedback.
Simply tell students what they will be learning (objectives) before the lesson begins and student achievement can be raised as much as 27 percent.
Additionally, provide students with specific feedback (rubric) about their progress and achievement can be raised as much as 37 percent.
New teachers, and all teachers, need access to good leadership and good colleagues. Peer learning among small groups of teachers is the most powerful predictor of improved student achievement over time.
Wait time: Pausing after asking a question in the classroom results in an increase in achievement.
Research findings: Students are usually given less than one second to respond to a question. Following a question, particularly a high-order question, increasing wait time to three to seven seconds results in students responding with more thoughtful answers and an increase in achievement.
Then look at their teachers. They know that their charges cannot read, write, count, or even speak correctly. Some of these students do not even know how to eat properly, use the bathroom, or hang up their jackets without help. Yet these teachers do not complain that they have a bunch of low achievers. Instead, their demeanor and their classrooms sparkle with an invitational attitude toward learning.
My comment: This needs to be matched with the high expectations writing teachers and administrators often see and hear. You cannot let the high expectations get you down in the dumps about yourself and your students. You have high expectations for improvement and making the year rewarding for yourself and your students.
“People care when they know you care about them.”
Love is life . . . And if you miss love, you miss life. Leo Buscaglia
Love is the reason for teaching. It is the most effective and inspirational quality a teacher can possess.
Classroom management refers to what teachers do to organize students, space, time, and materials so that learning takes place.
Begin the year with a clear, compelling plan of how you want to organize your classroom, how you expect students to participate, and what you will accomplish together. Then explain this plan to your students. Make them part of your plan. Students want to know your plan, just as they want to know what they are to do to achieve and succeed. Truly, students want to please their teachers. They want teachers to guide them to success.
Management is what managers do. They have the capacity to produce an effect by transforming resources into function and results. Teachers who organize, structure and coordinate classroom events to maximize time for teacher instruction and student learning are much more effective than teachers who believe that classroom management has to do with forcing students into compliance.
Management is the organization and coordination of work, people, resources, and technology to achieve a well-defined set of objectives, without wasting materials, time, or energy. Classroom management consists of the practices and procedures a teacher uses to create and maintain an environment in which instruction and learning can take place most effectively. Learning is the result of good management.
People expect procedures for everything they do in life: going to the movies, waiting in lines, in the workplace, etc. Teaching children the procedures they need to follow in class gives them life skills and makes teaching less stressful. When procedures are in place, the teacher can focus on teaching. Students know automatically what needs to be done. They know when and how to do it, because you have taught them until they get it right.
My comment: And by easily being able to see their work at a table and in print (instead of them on the ground or bean bag or couch on a computer) you can see if they are following procedures and can help them course correct.
A work-oriented environment is what you want to establish during the first week of school. The first week of school should stress large group organization and student procedures. Spend the first week of school on classroom management.
An effective teacher creates an environment that facilitates teacher instruction and student learning.
The labs consist of students developing their philosophy of education, creating classroom layouts, rules, consequences, procedures, assessments, communicating with parents, components of an effective lesson plan, and the final management plan.
Karen has a Classroom Management Plan that creates a predictable and consistent classroom, and with consistency she earns her students’ trust.
Don’t overcrowd and over clutter. Limit the amount of furniture and technology equipment.
Research proves that a school’s and classroom’s cleanliness, orderliness, and character influences the student’s behavior and the ability of a teacher to teach.
Even if you plan to have a different classroom arrangement during the school year, it is wise to begin the year with desks facing the teacher. Desks do not have to be in traditional rows, but chairs should face forward so that all eyes are focused on you at the start of the school year. This minimizes distractions, allows you to monitor behavior more readily, and helps you become familiar with the students in your class.
Students Who Face the Board Learn More - Seating arrangement impacts student learning and student health.
Arrange work areas and desks so that you can easily see and monitor all students and areas no matter where you are in the classroom.
Arrange the space so that students can easily see you, as well as frequently used whiteboards, bulletin boards, screens, demonstration areas, and displays.
It is where they receive appropriate attention, it is where there are people who believe in them, it is where they are expected to achieve and succeed.
Structure, mixed with care and love, is what every child needs in his or her life. Structure, mixed with care and love, is what every student needs in the classroom.
have the classroom ready with students’ names or numbers on their desks.
Learn to use volume effectively. The most effective teachers have a firm but gentle voice. Learn to “speak loudly” with your tone, not your volume.
Learn to communicate control effectively. Your manner and voice should be gentle and calm. Smile generously, but be firm. Your voice should communicate that you are not the least bit flustered or angry by what is happening. You are simply in control of yourself and every student in the classroom. Students know what you expect from them, and you are communicating this expectation.
Your mission is to establish student habits or routines, called procedures in this book. Students will develop their own habits or routines in classes where teachers do not teach procedures and communicate expectations. These patterns of behavior can spread, and soon the entire class develops its own agenda, its own curriculum, and its own set of procedures. Perhaps it’s only the third day of school, and you have already lost control of your class. The effective teacher has a classroom management plan from the very beginning to prevent the classroom from becoming a breeding ground for confusion and discontent.
At the beginning of the year, however, the only way for students to learn how your classroom is organized and structured is to have the seats arranged so that every pair of eyes is focused on you. Procedures, routines, and rules are best taught with the chairs facing you, not with the room arranged in a series of centers or circles in which half the students have their backs to you. (Procedures, rules, and routines are explained in chapters 15, 16, and 17.) During the school year, the different activities your students engage in will require a variety of seating arrangements. Students must be in the seating arrangement that helps facilitate the task you want them to accomplish. Change the seating in your room as frequently as you deem necessary for your purposes.
You will have a much more effective class, most of the time, if you assign students to their seats. Seating assignments sometimes need to be made for social and behavioral reasons.
Reasons for a Seating Chart
1. Facilitates roll taking
2. Aids with name memorization
3. Separates potential problem students
4. My addition: Reduces distractions - students with their buddies next to them will be more focused on their friends and their chats instead of the classwork.
Information about the first opening assignment, which is on the desks or posted for all to see, is clearly stated and tells students to get to work even before the bell rings. The message an effective teacher conveys is that the classroom is a safe, positive, work-oriented environment where every second will be devoted to learning and success.
Any employee at any workplace knows the time when they must be at their desk or workstation ready to commence working, not chatting with fellow workers or getting another cup of coffee.
My comment: I can say that they can be on a beanbag/couch before the bell, but once the bell rings they should be in their seats.
Each day of the school year and at the beginning of every class, your first priority is to start students working immediately. It is not to take roll. This is no different in the private sector. Employees do not stand around waiting for directions or asking questions like, “What do you want me to do?” They are expected to know what to do and to begin working at the appointed hour.
Watch students in an effective classroom. They start each day or class with a structured routine that sets the tone for the day and prepares them for the scheduled activities. The teacher doesn’t have to tell them what to do. Starting on time yields these results: It maximizes instructional time. It establishes a learning environment immediately. It reduces tardy and referral rates.
Post the agenda in the same consistent location every day.
An agenda consists of three basic parts—the Schedule, an Opening Assignment, and the Objectives for the day or class. More parts can be added, such as homework, but the three basic parts are the essential ones and should be clearly stated. The Three Parts of an Agenda 1. Schedule: What will occur Opening Assignment: What to do immediately 3. Objectives: What will be learned
Once students have looked at the day’s agenda, they know what they have to do. They are ready to tackle the opening assignment. If there is one thing that ensures an effectively run classroom, it is an opening assignment. It makes no difference what you call it. It goes by many names …
Students are more productive throughout the day if they have an assignment to work on as soon as they step into the classroom. It sets the tone for the day—students are there to work and learn.
Essential Requirements for the Opening Assignment: Common sense and research on effective classrooms concludes that you should do this: Post the assignment before students enter the room Post the assignment in the same location every day.
Keep bellwork simple. A bellwork assignment is short, typically five to ten minutes long, and manageable for students to work on independently while the teacher completes the attendance and other duties at the beginning of class.
A teacher in Arizona has a set of bellwork assignments prepared for the entire school year. These are printed copies, one for each day, and are stored in a binder on the cart under the document camera. Each night before she leaves, she places the next day’s assignment beneath the document camera ready for the next morning. She also has a student trained to turn on the document camera if she is late coming into the classroom.
Opening assignments can be posted as a PowerPoint slide, on the whiteboard, a bulletin board, a document camera, a flip chart, or they can be distributed as students enter the classroom.
My comment: not on the computer because the students can get easily distracted.
Classroom procedures tell your students these things:
How to enter the classroom
What to do when they enter the classroom
What to do if they are tardy
Where to find the assignment
What to do when you want their attention
How a paper is to be done
Where you want the paper placed
What to do when they finish work early
What to do if they want to sharpen a pencil
How to use electronic media in the classroom
Where to find assignments if they have been absent
What to do when they have a question
What to do when they need to go to the restroom
What to do if they have a personal emergency
What to do upon dismissal of class
What to do when they hear an emergency alert signal
Encourage a student who follows a procedure by specifically affirming the action or deed. Be SPECIFIC when telling a student what he or she did well. Say, “Marvin, I see you know where to put your backpack when you come to class,” rather than “Good job, Marvin.”
Avoid giving generalized compliments that carry no specific personal meaning, such as “Nice work,” “Great kid,” or “Good job.” When students hear vague praises like these, they often have no idea what the teacher is referring to.
When you praise the deed and encourage the student, you help the student do two things: 1. Accept responsibility for having done the task. 2. Develop a sense of accomplishment. The key words are responsibility and accomplishment, two things that all people must develop to be happy and successful in life.
My comment: I do it with my Success Orientation(SO) chart and record keeping of SOs.
The bell is not directed at students. The bell does not dismiss the class. The teacher dismisses the class with a consistent signal and a pleasant expression of farewell.
By establishing procedures in the classroom, you are also preparing students for a disciplined, fulfilling, happy, and successful life.
With this technique, students signal the teacher with a predetermined number of fingers. The number of fingers raised corresponds to a request established by the teacher. When you see a signal, silently respond to it with a nod or shake of the head or a hand gesture. The important thing is that the class is not disturbed.
My comment: For me, pretty simple. Could be two fingers (peace sign) for bathroom and show your water container to me for water. But really, it’s not too big of a deal with 13 students.
Benefits of Working in Groups - Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget is credited with saying that students learn best by doing and then thinking about what they’ve done. Hands-on, minds-open learning in structured groups is one of the best methods to engage students in their own learning. Analyzing data from A Policy Information Center Report on 14,000 eighth grade math and science tests, Educational Testing Service found this to be true: Students whose teacher conducted hands-on learning activities outperformed their peers by about 70 percent of a grade level in math and 40 percent in science.
All rules should be discussed so students know that they are not orders or punishments. Explain that the purpose of rules is to set limits or boundaries, just as there are rules in games to maintain order and achieve a certain outcome. Rules are used to define what is acceptable and what is not. Students expect teachers and school administrators to set boundaries. They need to feel confident that someone is in control and responsible for their safety and that of their environment—someone who not only sets limits but maintains them. It is also important to state the rules in your classroom very clearly because different kinds of behavior are expected or tolerated by different teachers. For example, some teachers permit wandering around the room, but not others. School must be a safe, protected, and controlled environment where students come to learn and interact with each other without fear.
Rules must have consequences. Some students think they can break certain rules because the aftermath is consistent and predictable: nothing will happen to the violator. The responsible adult may find this hard to accept, but many people—children and adults—believe they have done nothing wrong until they are caught. There have to be consequences, both positive and negative, for rules to be effective. Rules and their consequences require consistency and constant vigilance.
Help students understand that if they break a rule, they are not being punished. Rather, they have consciously made a choice to accept the negative consequence of their action. A consequence is the result of a person’s chosen action. The key to understanding consequences is CHOICE. People who cannot accept choice as part of responsible living cast themselves as victims.
Victims blame others for their actions or circumstances. Discuss this openly with students so that they clearly understand that they are responsible for their actions and the choices they make and that those actions or choices result in consequences. It is far more helpful to spend time examining choice and consequences than it is to emphasize rules. Successful people accept that one’s life is formed by choices and consequences, and consequences can be positive or negative.
Actually, punishment does not improve behavior, because it does not cultivate cooperation or respect. Trying to rule over students by threatening them with a nasty consequence invites rebellion and resistance. Punishment might work as a last resort. But in general, its costs outweigh the benefits.
My comment: Okay, but the author was just discussing the need for consequences. It sounds like in this example suspension isn’t working as a consequence or they should update their suspension policy so that students cannot be on school grounds and have an even more severe consequence if the child violates the rule. Or send more kids to alternative schools with less freedoms. The authors would have done better if they would have listed some effective consequences systems. But unfortunately, they don’t want to fall into politically incorrect images, so they remain vague. And it is the low performing, poor schools who hurt the most because of this vagueness and lack of courage to be specific.
Research has shown that rewards do not necessarily increase desired behavior, and that in some situations rewards can, in fact, have negative effects. Rewards can be considered a way of controlling a student’s behavior and when students quickly figure out that they are being controlled or extrinsically manipulated, it will decrease intrinsic motivation, the inner satisfaction of a job well done.
Neither carrots nor sticks teach students how to make responsible choices.
My comment: Okay. But teachers can also talk to students about the importance of these expectations, but for kids it does not sink in. And some kind of consequence is needed in order for the student to stop and recognize the expectation’s/rule’s importance. And wonder if parents did not have carrots and sticks? Wonder if parents just talked to their kids? We now have a bunch of misbehaving, irresponsible kids because of that attitude.
My Action Plan is a simple technique that addresses specific problems and simultaneously teaches the student responsibility, problem solving, and self-discipline.
Step 1. Show the student a copy of My Action Plan, and be prepared to work with him or her on answering these questions:
What’s the problem? -> State the rule or rules the student has violated.
What’s causing the problem? -> Have the student list all the factors that are causing the problem to occur.
What plan will you use to solve the problem? -> Work with the student in a PROBLEM-SOLVING mode. Tell him or her that the only way a person can solve a problem is to first isolate and identify it.
You are not interested in degrading or scolding the student. You want to teach the student how to analyze and rectify a problem, a technique that the student can use throughout life.
If the problem is not being corrected, go back and work together again to modify the action plan. It is much better to put effort and energy into teaching problem-solving, responsibility, and self-discipline than to yell, criticize, and flunk.
Learning has nothing to do with what the TEACHER COVERS. Learning has to do with what the STUDENT ACCOMPLISHES.
That’s the essence of The Learning Triangle. It shows how the beginning (objectives), middle (instruction), and end (assessment) of a lesson are all related and must all be aligned to be effective. It provides the solid structure needed to prevent a mumbo jumbo, smorgasbord of classroom activities that fill in time but are not achieving any continuous, coherent, or consistent content.
the foremost and most powerful method for improving student achievement is to make students aware of what they are to learn.
The research of Kevin Wise and James Okey showed that “the effective classroom appears to be the one in which the students are kept aware of instructional objectives and receive feedback on their progress toward these objectives.
For students who may need even more support, give the page number or location where the answer may be found next to each question.
My comment: This would be a scaffold for lower level B-level students. While these students are working on the B level with this scaffold, the higher level students are working on the A-level assignment.
Assessment is one aspect of learning; it is not an endpoint. The word should not be in any way intimidating or daunting. The purpose of assessment is not to rank, rate, humiliate, or sort students. The purpose of assessing and providing feedback based on assessment is to improve instruction and promote student learning. Assessments should be happening continually during lessons, day after day, throughout the school year.
The effective teacher uses these techniques for assignments and tests:
Posts many good examples of past assignments and tests so students can see what they are to do and what the tests look like
Explains how a finished assignment should appear and how test questions are correlated to the objectives of the assignment.
If a student MASTERS an objective, do not assign more work to that student. Give the student enrichment materials, or ask the student to help another student.
Enrichment work could include puzzles, games, software, or leisure reading. If a student DOES NOT MASTER an objective, give the student remediation or corrective help.
After the student has completed the corrective activity, another formative or summative test should be given to determine mastery. It should be the same kind of test as first given, but the questions must be asked in a different way.
The schools that beat the odds and consistently achieve results for their students are ones where teachers employ these three strategies: 1. They assess and reassess student work. 2. They use the results to teach and reteach. 3. They do not stop until they find a way for every student to grasp each lesson.
My comment: At the same time, students can procrastinate and they will continue to procrastinate if there is not a consequence. You don’t want to get into the situation of not moving on till the student has mastered the standard and then the student has only worked on 10 percent of the standards for the year and you want to do whole group activities and instruction so everyone has to be kept at the same pace broadly speaking. Within each unit, you can give the completed students A-level work while the B-level students are still working on revising the original B-level assignment.
The phrase “Get the job done” is often used in every aspect of life. Simple changes in seating arrangements between students sitting in rows or around tables can bring significant changes in every student’s on-task behavior and ability to “get the job done.” Although students can learn from each other through discussion and cooperation, the assignment must be a group activity requiring collaboration. This is not to imply that sitting in rows is better than sitting at round tables—it depends on what you are trying to do. Group seating can be appropriate for team projects. Whatever the nature of the activity, a procedure can be put in place and implemented in a minute to change the classroom layout to reflect the sort of work students are doing.
In reality, much of the assigned work is still individually based, and students are expected to work by themselves. Consequently, much of the talk in groups tends to be chatter, and unrelated to individual work. When there is no relationship between the nature of the assignment and the seating arrangement, it leads to less time spent on-task and less work being completed.
My comment: Yes, makes sense to have smaller tables with pairs looking toward the board or even individual desks and then they can be combined for group work. This also helps with individual accountability for cleanliness.
In a classroom, when we want students to be on task on an individual assignment, we should give each student their own “island of time.” The easiest way to do this is to increase the space between students. Results clearly show that an increase in physical space between students leads to increased on-task time and decreased disruptive behavior.
Along with increasing the space, aligning the students to face in one direction will improve on-task time. Students who face the board learn more. A 20-year study at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom confirmed that pupils who sit in groups are at a massive disadvantage compared to those who face the board. Students find it harder to concentrate when they are sitting around tables. Many have their backs to teachers and waste more time chatting—misusing as much as a quarter of the lesson time. The distractions do not always involve talking. They can be passive, as when students just sit and watch what somebody else is doing. According to Nigel Hastings, professor of education at Nottingham Trent, anything but group seating is considerably better for individual work.
Hastings says, “We know from research already done that when the task is an individual one, if you switch the arrangement to something other than group seating the effect is to increase the amount of time the average child spends actively engaged in the task. For students who are most easily distracted, you could double the work rate. Exactly what alternative formation you use is less important than that it isn’t groups. “The implication of this isn’t a return to rows,” he stresses. “You can have a horseshoe or an L-shape or another formation. The crucial thing is that for individual tasks, students aren’t sitting opposite one another. “The students who made the biggest improvements when they were moved out of groups were the ones who were the most easily distracted. For the most able students, there isn’t much difference. But, the ones least engaged in their work were affected dramatically, in some cases doubling their concentration.”
My comment: For QSI rooms and furniture, it seems horseshoe or small tables (with pairs) facing the board works.
In both groups, on-task behavior rose by about 15 percent overall when the students were placed in rows; it fell by nearly as much when they returned to sitting around tables. Individual students with the most improvement (over 30 percent) were those who typically had low on-task behavior. The improvement was less among those students who had higher on-task behavior. Subsequent studies have replicated these findings many times and have also shown that on-task behavior remains high even after several weeks of sitting in rows. In addition, the quantity and the quality of work produced are greater when students are seated in rows and their task is individual work. This is not an avocation of moving back to rows for all students for all work. Rather, consider the task, and then vary the seating arrangements to suit the task at hand.
The results showed that on-task behavior increased by 15 percent when students were seated in a mixed-sex seating arrangement. Disruptive behavior in both classes was at its lowest when boys and girls sat together.
To introduce your discipline plan, this is what you might say: Step 1. “We are all here for YOU—for you to succeed and to enjoy this class. Because I care about each of you, I am here to help you. So I will not allow you to do anything that will interfere with your success in this class.”
Show the administrators what YOU plan to do if the students violate the rules. Show the administrators that you plan to refer the student to the office after a certain number of violations. Ask the administrators what they plan to do when you refer students to the office. It is imperative that your plan be clear, consistent and fair, that the office knows what you plan to do, that you know what the office will do, and that the students and their parents know what you and the office will do. A predictable school environment is created when administrators and teachers work together.
The relationship between a teacher and an instructional coach is much different. The coach is a colleague and a peer. The teacher is a professional and an equal. It’s the teacher’s classroom, not the coach’s, and the coach is invited to interact—by the teacher.
My comment: Coaches need to hear this, particularly university coaches. True, the students are still getting their teaching certification through an alternative method, but they are still full-fledged teachers and should be treated with the respect given to a teacher. A coach comes alongside the teacher. A coach shouldn’t evaluate from on high. And isn’t the advice earlier in the book that the teacher should come alongside a student and problem solve instead of yelling and scolding? This advice applies even more for a mature, fully-grown adult. It is shameful that there are coaches who scold and judge teachers “from on high”. Teachers already have enough stressors on their plate. They don’t need a university coach (who is supposed to be helping them out and making their life easier) adding one more stressor to their life.