October 2011 Archives

I spent Sunday afternoon talking to a new teacher, Anne Morgan. Anyone who has worked with new teachers is probably familiar with the Phases of First Year Teachers.

True to form, this new teacher feels she is reaching the end of her resources in the survival phase and is careening down the hill into the disillusionment phase. She is in her second month of teaching and is suffering from what mentors sometimes refer to as Black October. I've seen it so many times before and it didn't surprise me. But this was a new experience for a lot of reasons.

I've mentored on-line before, but I have never had a mentoring conversation on Skype. I could see the exhaustion in the slump of her shoulders and the near tears in her eyes. I could hear the weary sighs and the tremor in her voice. I kept wishing I could hug the monitor.

It was the first time I had ever mentored an international teacher. She is an American citizen who has world travel experience, and is is fluent in French and functional in Spanish. She had never been in South America before signing up to teach third graders in an English immersion classroom on the coast of Chile.

Most new teachers I work with come through a traditional teacher preparation program. A few are career switchers who went through alternative programs with abbreviated field experiences. Anne did summer session of introductory teacher prep courses; her field experience consisted of babysitting and sporadic substitute teaching.

Like many of the new teachers, Anne is young and just out of college. She is dealing with those experiences associated with a first full-time "grown up" job. In her case, those are complicated with immersion into a new culture. She's had to deal with immigration regulations and work permits. The job came with housing, but the housing came with two new roommates that she had never met. She has to figure out how get along, how to get around, where to buy things, how to use new currency, and a million other little everyday issues that go with adapting to an unfamiliar country.

Anne didn't have the luxury of the anticipation phase of first year teaching. She was offered the job on a Monday. She left for Chile the next Saturday. She reported to work the following Monday morning. Why the rush? Because she is a "replacement" teacher. Her Chilean students are beginning their 3rd quarter. Taking on a class mid-year is a challenge for a seasoned veteran--it's a staggeringly difficult job for a rookie.

Anne's worried about classroom management. She says they talk too much, but she also says that after a month they are listening more. She is sometimes overwhelmed by parents with high expectations and small concerns, but she makes herself available even when communication is difficult. She says that she struggles to meet the needs of all learners, but she was proud of developing differentiated activities that are beginning to engage her struggling learners. She's exhausted, but she stays up late trying to planning with lessons and grading papers. She tells me that she wants to scream most days, but that she loves her kids.

So talked about what works and what doesn't. We identified the issues had a real impact student learning. We explored ways to motivate those reluctant learners. We analyzed which classroom management issues were priorities and which ones might not matter so very much. We enumerated and celebrated her successes--because sometimes new teachers are so concerned about what went wrong that they forget how often it went right. We managed to laugh a little.

She told me that she felt better. I told her how much I love her. No, that's not standard mentor communication, but there's one more unique thing about this mentor/mentee relationship. This new teacher, Anne Morgan, isn't just a new teacher. Annie is my god daughter. I am so proud that she is committed to becoming a teacher who makes a difference and I can only imagine what a challenge this must be. Teaching is such demanding physical, emotional and intellectual work; and it may be the most important and gratifying work there is. Surviving that first year is hard for any teacher. Surviving it against these odds is a Herculean task, but I think she can do it. I hope so, because the the world needs teachers who are willing to make a difference.

A Note to Readers: In 2007, Teacher Magazine gave me a public voice with A Place at the Table. I've retired from my classroom and now it is time to step away from this space and make room for other voices to be heard. I've invested a great deal of time an energy as an educator in the pursuing knowledge. Now, in retirement, I think I'm ready to expand that quest. If you have the time and inclination, you are invited to join me In Pursuit of Wisdom.

Posted by Susan Graham at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I love trivia games.

My favorite TV show is Jeopardy. Have you ever noticed when a player seems to have trouble working their buzzer? I found out about that. You can't buzz in until Alex finishes the question. It's not enough to know the answer. You have to have fast reflexes and a sense of timing. In fact, I've noticed that some of the best players buzz in first without knowing the answer, but anticipating that they can figure it out before their time runs out. One could argue that speed may matter more than knowledge in some cases. Buzzer insufficiency is my excuse for never trying out for the show.

I don't usually listen to the radio, but I love NPR's Wait Wait....Don't Tell Me. I regularly pull it up on my computer and listen. Wait Wait is an interesting contrast to Jeopardy because the right answer is secondary, there is no buzzer that cuts you off when time is up, there is no penalty for being wrong, and the prizes are minimal. It's the engagement of the game that motivates the player and appeals to the listener.

Wait Wait is more about wondering than knowing. The possibilities are more engaging than the absolutes. It's also interesting that there is only one short segment, the Fill in the Blank Lightening Round, that is timed at all. Most game shows are about reaching the goal of winning a prize by providing the correct response faster than the other contestants. Wait Wait is more about the thinking out loud journey of problem solving than arriving at the "right" answer.

As I listened this week, I thought about wait time in the classroom. Wait time is one of the hardest things about teaching. Mary Budd Rowe's research on wait time revealed that teacher wait time between asking a question and redirecting was often less than 1.5 seconds. But when wait time was extended to a minimum of 3 seconds these differences occurred.

For students:
The length and correctness of their responses increase.
The number of "I don't know" and no answer responses decreases.
The number of volunteered, appropriate answers by larger numbers of students greatly increases.
The scores of students of academic achievement tests tend to increase.

For teachers:
Their questioning strategies tend to be more varied and flexible.They decrease the quantity and increase the quality and variety of their questions.
They ask additional questions that require more complex information processing and higher-level thinking on the part of students.

When I talk to teachers these days, they often mentioned feeling rushed. They have so much content to cover, they need to keep up with the pacing guide, they need to keep everyone motivated, and they need to make sure the kids are ready for that big test. Recalling the teacher's information is so much faster than taking time for students to puzzle out their own understanding.

There's probably not a teacher out there who has never had a student say "Wait, wait. Don't tell me!" Wait time is a hard skill to learn and in our current teaching and learning environment, there is a great deal of pressure to move on and move faster. It may be counter-intuitive, but sometimes the longer you wait, the faster they learn.

Posted by Susan Graham at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I have mixed feelings about Education Nation's panel with students.

First of all, I wonder if these six young people, only three of which are currently enrolled in P-12 schools, are really a clear reflection of student perspective. And while his contributions to education are admirable, I didn't really understand why a professional athlete was included in the panel group. At times it seems that Ann Curry's questions tended to lead the students to endorse certain positions and as she summarized, she seemed to do a great deal of interpreting what they said. But eventually, the young people began to talk more freely. As they sort of took control of the discussion, they spoke from their hearts; and when they did that, do you know what their conversation centered around? Their teachers.

Lisa Neilsen at The Innovative Educator summarized the panel in as 20 Things Students Want the Nation to Know About Education. I acknowledge that she may have imposed her own perspective in identifying what the top twenty points were; but having watched the panel myself, she wasn't far off.

Since Curry took some liberties in directing the conversation and Neilsen took some liberties in summarizing as well, I've taken the liberty of rearranging her list by categories and here's my take on the list. Here's how I sorted what these young people had to say:

About Community:

• The community should become more involved in schools
• Even if you don't want to be a teacher, you can offer a student an apprenticeship.

About Curriculum and Instruction:

• We learn in different ways and at different rates
• Teaching by the book is not teaching, it's just talking.
• Us youth love all the new technologies that come out. When you acknowledge this and use technology in your teaching it makes learning much more interesting.
• We appreciate it when you connect with us in our worlds such as the teacher who provided us with extra help using Xbox and Skype.
• Bring the electives that we are actually interested in back to school. Things like drama, art, cooking, music.
• You need to use tools in the classroom that we use in the real world like Facebook, email, and other tools we use to connect and communicate.

About Teachers:

• I can't learn from you if you are not willing to connect with me.
• Caring about each student is more important than teaching the class.
• Every young person has a dream. Your job is to help bring us closer to our dreams.
• We need more than teachers. We need life coaches.
• You should be trained not just in teaching but also in counseling.
• Tell me something good that I'm doing so that I can keep growing in that.
• When you can feel like a family member it helps so much.
• Our teachers have too many students to enable them to connect with us in they way we need them to.
• You need to love a student before you can teach a student.

About Reform:

• I have to think critically in college, but your tests don't prepare me to do that.
• Education leaders, teachers, funders, and policy makers need to start listening to student voice in all areas, including teacher evaluations.
• We do the tests to make teachers look good and the school look good, but we know they don't help us learn what's important to us.

The list was both encouraging, heartbreaking at the same time. These kids know what they need and can articulate it. They want education to be relevant to the world in which they live. And they want to make that world a better place.

But above everything else, they talked about teachers. Specifically, those teachers who make a difference. One was named Mrs. Murphy and they all had a Mrs. Murphy in their life. They all identified the importance of a relationship with teachers who acknowledged students as people; who listen and care about the dreams of those student/people; and who help students acquire the knowledge and skills they need to realize those dreams. These are not the ambitions or dreams of education pundits, policymakers, school administrators, or those teachers. They are the dreams of students themselves, just like those on the stage---whether the dream was to be a builder, a dramatist, a business owner, a president, a journalist, or a teacher. One young man said "Every student has a dream and with the right teacher, they can get as close to dream possible."

And the interesting thing is that they saw teachers as being powerful enough to help them do that. What power! What trust! Students believe their teachers can help them make their dreams come true. Or perhaps even more important, since most of us don't realize the full extent of our dreams, some meaningful adaptation of their dreamscape--a viision balanced by reality. Why? Because they know their teachers and their teachers know them. "You have to love a student before you can teach a student." It is a breathtaking, if, perhaps, unrealistic expectation, but I believe that it is the inspiration that lead most teachers to invest their career in the classroom.

Don't decisionmakers realize that the possibility of that impact is what motivates us? That we push back against some policies not because we're afraid of accountability but because we believe that our first accountability is to our students and their dreams? I am not saying that teachers are all knowing, but I have to wonder, "Can policymakers really know what's best for students if they do not love them as individuals, and how can they love them if they do not look into their individual faces, listen to their personal thoughts, and share their unique dreams?"

Trust their teachers to know them, to love them, and to help them accomplish their dreams. Students do and they know us.

Posted by Susan Graham at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend