Musings on Classroom Management

I think back to when I was a teacher...

It’s the end of the school year. Summer beckons, and I put the last school year behind me and look ahead to a relaxing summer…

Fast forward to about August 1st, and that’s when the dreams begin. You know the ones I’m talking about. The “it’s-the-first-day-of-school-and-I’m-not-ready” dreams. Nightmares, really!

Back then, when those dreams began, I knew it was time to get down to business and begin getting ready for the upcoming school year. Each year, part of my routine was to consider what went well and what could be improved for next year, and that always included classroom management.

Why is classroom management so important? If your classroom is well-managed, everything else can easily fall into place. Lessons run more smoothly, tensions are lowered, and everyone is happier. Walk into a well-managed classroom, and you can instantly see the difference. So what does it take to achieve this ideal?

1. Be proactive. For anyone who has read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you know that “Be proactive” is one of the habits. In fact, it’s the first one, and that’s because it sets the stage for everything else that happens around you. Being proactive means thinking ahead and making a plan. How do you want students to transition from one activity to another? How could a particular instructional activity create disruption in the room, and what can you do ahead of time to prevent the disruption? Being proactive, instead of reactive, will make your classroom a more pleasant environment to be in.

2. Choose what works for you. A quick search on Google or Pinterest will provide you with more classroom management ideas than you could ever hope to implement in one year. How do you choose? Think about what will work for you. A plan with too many moving parts won’t work for someone who doesn’t have the time to consistently implement it all year long. A plan that requires a large amount of bulletin board space won’t work in a classroom with limited wall space. When choosing management ideas, think about whether or not you can see yourself effectively and consistently using these ideas all year long.

3. Choose what works for your students. The reason there are so many classroom management ideas is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Consider the age and maturity level of your students. Consider their sizes (height). When possible, talk to their teacher or teachers from a previous year to find out what worked with a particular group. You may find yourself tweaking your plan every year to best meet the needs of your students. And that brings us to the next point.

4. Be flexible. You’ve put a plan in place, and you expect that it will work! But what if it doesn’t? It is important to be flexible enough to identify when something is not working and make a change. Or go “off plan” when the situation calls for it. Or to make adjustments for individual students who may need it.

5. Be consistent. Wait. How can you be flexible AND consistent? Maybe I should rewrite this as “Be consistent in the beginning of the year,” or “Be consistent most of the time.” Consistency is important, because students feel most secure when they know what the expectations are. And because you want your plans to become habits, meaning that they need to be repeated consistently. And also because you’ve spent the time to put plans in place, so of course you should follow them! But if you are mostly consistent, that’s what counts. That leaves room for a little bit of flexibility.

Bonus: I recently read a reminder from one of my favorite classroom management gurus, Harry Wong. In a recent article, he wrote, “Classroom management is not about discipline. It is about organization and consistency.” When you look at classroom management in this way, you will find that, if your classroom is organized and you are consistent, the need for actual discipline is largely reduced.

So as you are enjoying the remainder of your summer, begin to think ahead to how you are going to manage your classroom this year. You’ll find that a little bit of proactivity now can go a long way! Sweet dreams…

Jennifer Caldwell

Executive Director
Standards Solution

Picture It: Getting Excited about Reading

When I was an 8th grade English teacher, I heard it from my students all the time: “I don’t like to read.” My response? “You just haven’t found the right book yet!” And I truly believe what I was saying. I don’t like to read science fiction, and I can imagine that if the only books I ever read were science fiction, I wouldn’t like to read, either.

I encouraged my students to find books written on a topic they enjoyed, in a style they liked. I asked them which books they had enjoyed in the past, and we tried to find similar ones to read. I wanted them all to discover the joy that can be found in the pages of a book.

That’s why I was so pleased to find teacher Vicki Davis’ blog post the other day, “How a School Threw Out Their Reading Program and Finally Got Everyone Excited about Reading.” You can read the entire post and listen to her podcast with Principal Todd Nesloney, the leader of the school referenced in the blog.

At Nesloney’s school, his goal was to raise the students’ reading level and instill a joy of reading in his students. The basic premise? Everyone at the school, from students to teachers to custodians to the principal himself, had to read 20 books over the course of the semester. Here are a few aspects of the initiative that I just love:

1) They could read ANY 20 books. There were no limits on grade level, topic, length, or format. Many schools implement reading initiatives, but often everyone has to read the same book. The idea here is for students to learn to love reading, so they were given the freedom to find books that they would, indeed, love to read.

2) Audiobooks count! This gave students who were interested in a particular book the opportunity to “read” it, even if their reading ability wasn’t quite up to the complexity of the book. And I’m betting that some students who started off with audiobooks ended up reading a few print books as well.

3) There were no prizes or awards given. The flaw of “reading for prizes” programs is that the students who were already avid readers end up winning all the awards. Readers who worked hard to increase their reading ability are left in the dust and discouraged. At Nesloney’s school, instead of prizes or awards, every time a student finished a book, he visited the principal’s office and got his picture taken with the book. The picture was then posted on the wall in the cafeteria. In the podcast, Nesloney mentions that the wall currently has 400 pictures on it! The joy of seeing their picture on the wall with everyone else is the reward!

4) If a student realizes she doesn’t enjoy the current book she’s reading, she doesn’t have to finish it. Has that ever happened to you? You begin a book thinking that you’ll love it, but it becomes a chore to read. One of the reasons students develop a distaste for reading is because they are under the impression that when they choose a book for independent reading, they have to finish it, no matter what. Instead students here have an “out” to move on from a book they aren’t enjoying.

5) Finally, the school is fully immersed in and committed to this program. Everyone is reading. At any time, a student can talk to anyone about what book they are currently reading. Students can see the wall of pictures continue to grow as they eat their lunch in the cafeteria. Every day as part of the morning announcements, a faculty member briefly shares the title and a little bit about the book he is currently reading. The school librarian even started a “Secret Society” where different students are invited (by other students) each week to a clandestine meeting underneath the tables in the library, to talk about the books they are reading.

Now, what works at one school doesn’t always work everywhere. And certainly there are other approaches that also serve to develop a child’s love of reading. But this school’s approach really struck a chord with me. I’m picturing the school where every student is carrying around a book, reading whenever they can, discussing books with their teachers and peers, and loving it all. In the spirit of this school, I’ve posted a picture of myself with a book I just finished. I encourage you to do the same. Post your picture in the comments below. Let’s all share the joy of reading!

Jennifer Caldwell

Executive Director
Standards Solution

They’re Taking the PARCC Test AGAIN???

As a mother of two elementary aged children, the majority of my Facebook friends also have school aged children as well. In the last week or so, I’ve noticed this question popping up: “They’re taking the PARCC test again? Why? Didn’t they already take it?” I’ve even heard it from some of my children’s friends. “Why do we have to take PARCC again?”

Part of the role of a school district is to seek a partnership with parents in order to develop the ideal school-parent-child triangle of success. Districts must do all they can to communicate with parents regarding issues of concern, including the PARCC assessment. In order for that to happen, we must first understand the need for the two administrations of the PARCC test, the Performance-Based Assessment and the End-of-Year Assessment.

The Performance-Based Assessment, or PBA, is administered 75% of the way through the school year. The ELA portion of the test consists of 3 tasks, each of which requires students to read 1-3 texts, answer multiple-choice questions, and complete a writing task related to the texts. The math portion of the test consists of 2 units, each of which includes a variety of items: multiple-choice, multiple answer, and a constructed response. Other math items require students to provide not only an answer but also reasoning or modeling.

The End-of-Year test, or EOY, is administered 90% of the way through the school year. The EOY is shorter, and in terms of student response, simpler. The ELA section consists of reading passages and answering multiple-choice questions. There is no writing on the EOY. For math, all items will be multiple choice, multiple answer, or written answer only. There are no items that require students to write any explanation for answers.

So now we come back to the question of…why? Why two tests? Why is the seemingly harder test in March, when there is still so much learning that will take place between then and the end of the year? And how are students supposed to show growth when the tests are so close together?

Part of the answer lies in the logistics of it all. One of the goals of the PARCC consortium is to return testing results to districts in a timely manner, so that decisions can be made based on the data received. Reading students’ written responses in the ELA section takes time. Evaluating students’ reasoning and applications in the math section takes time. Administering the PBA with these types of responses 75% of the way through the school year allows the time necessary for proper scoring to be completed. Conversely, the EOY consists of computer scored items only. Even completing this portion of the test 90% of the way through the school year, results will be returned much more quickly, and at that point can be paired with the PBA scores for a complete look at how a student performed.

The other reason for having two tests is that the PBA and the EOY are assessing different things. It is not the intention of the PBA to give districts data they can use to inform instruction and therefore improve students’ performance on the EOY. The ELA PBA (have you caught up with all the acronyms yet?) is intended to focus on writing effectively when analyzing text, whereas the ELA EOY focuses on reading comprehension. The math PBA includes those items that require students to provide reasoning, apply what they know to real-life situations, and demonstrate precision. The math EOY focuses entirely on conceptual understanding, fluency, and application.

What can we do to answer the question of why students are taking the PARCC test again? Educate the parents. Through whatever means has proven to be successful in your district, whether it be through letters sent home, website posting, instant alerts, or parent meetings, assist parents in understanding the tasks and item types of the PBA and EOY. If parents understand the reasoning behind the two tests, they will be more likely to support their child’s taking of the test. A parent and a child who understand the test are more likely to take it seriously, which will result in more relevant results to use effectively.  

Jennifer Caldwell

Executive Director
Standards Solution

PARCC from An Eight-Year-Old’s Perspective

Much has been written about the PARCC and the negative effects this high stakes test will have on the students taking it for the first time this year. In the last few weeks, students in nine states, including New Jersey, have begun taking the test, most in the online format. Stories of students opting-out, parents leading social media anti-PARCC rallies, and technological glitches have filled our news feeds and have made us think that there is nothing worse than a student sitting down at the computer and taking an assessment.

But how do the students, especially the youngest students, feel about PARCC? These are the students who have grown up with technology all around them, the ones who have been playing on their parents’ smartphones long before they could say, “smartphone.” To find out the perspective of one of the youngest test takers, I turned to my own eight-year-old daughter. The whole of her standardized testing experience up until this point was the low-stakes, pencil and paper Terranova test, administered in 2nd grade. She enjoys reading, although she would rather play Minecraft or watch Netflix on the iPad than read a book. Math homework is a struggle every night. What would she think of a test that required her to sit at a computer for longer than she usually does, and navigate software, read passages, answer questions, and (gulp!) type?

So when my daughter came home from school each day this week, after a hug and a kiss and a recap of the “fun” parts of the day (recess, Girls on the Run), I asked her, “How was the PARCC test today?”

Day one: Her first response was, “It was confusing.” Hmm. I asked her how it was confusing, and she replied that she couldn’t figure out how to see both stories. She was referring to the final question of the test, when students have a writing task. The texts are both on the screen, but students have to toggle back and forth between them. I probed further, asking what she did. “Oh, I figured it out!” she proudly replied. (Good! Score one for independence and problem solving!) She later shared with me that both texts were stories that were familiar to her, and in fact were stories she had enjoyed reading in second grade. She was excited to see these comfortable texts on PARCC, authentic literature that was well within her reading level. What did she have to write about? She couldn’t remember, but she did tell me, “I wrote 76 sentences!” (Hopefully not all in one paragraph!) And how was the timing? She used all the time, but never felt rushed.

Day two: “Did you have to read two texts or one text today?” It turned out that today was the research simulation task, and they read one text and watched a video. The topic was not one that I would have thought would be interesting to an eight-year-old, but she surprised me by talking about how she made connections as she read. She recounted proudly that today she wrote 86 sentences. I asked her about the paragraphs, and she assured me that she did indeed divide her writing into paragraphs. Again, she used all the time given but she didn’t run out of time. There was no hint of stress, no worry about what the next day would bring, just a calm assurance that she could handle this test.

Day three: She couldn’t contain her giggles as she retold the funny story she had to read for the narrative task. She told me the story ended with “dot-dot-dot,” and they had to write the end of the story. What she wrote today wasn’t quite as long, since it was just an ending of a story. It sounded like what she wrote followed along with the story itself, and, in true eight-year-old-narrative-writing-fashion, it ended with the character going to bed. Today she had twenty minutes left over at the end, probably because she didn’t write as much. When asked about the reading questions, she said they were no big deal, both the EBSRs (two-part multiple choice) and the TECRs (technology-enhanced items like drop-and-drag).

Days four and five: Math. If there is one subject that has caused more controversy during the last few months, it’s math. Opponents have been quick to discount both the Common Core and the PARCC for math; however, I have been pleased with the development of my daughter’s math skills and knowledge under the umbrella of the Common Core. She was tiring of my questions at this point, but she did reference the tools needed to create equations and show her work. Were they any trouble? No. Did she have enough time to finish? Yes.

By the end of the week, my daughter was glad to be finished with the test, but she was no worse for wear by taking it. She said she enjoyed the experience and she liked taking the test on the computer. Once we get the results in, of course, we’ll know whether her assessment of, “It was easy,” was true or not, but for now, she is back to regular instruction and nightly homework, and I’m back to trying to convince her that reading is indeed just as much fun as Minecraft. Until the May PARCC test, of course.

Jennifer Caldwell

Executive Director
Standards Solution

Confessions, Reflections, and an Old Dog

My husband and I are blessed with five children. Our two biological children are grown and living on opposite coasts. Both are very successful in business and have full lives. It’s gratifying to see them thrive. Our three adopted children are equally amazing to watch as their personalities develop. Until recently, all three children were in public school.

As a K–12 educator I have to admit that I had a particular vision of education in my mind’s eye. I saw traditional brick-and-mortar schools. However, one of our children was not doing well in school. While he is very intelligent and on track academically, he is still working out some behavioral issues stemming from his early years before he came to us. One thing I learned as an adoptive parent is that every child is unique in how they experience similar events. Some children shed a negative event as if it never touched them, while other children hold on to the event for years.

After watching our son act out in disruptive and potentially dangerous ways, we decided to homeschool him. We are still hoping that this will be a temporary measure, and that we can reintroduce him to public school next September. The decision was painful to make. I could never have imagined that any of my children would be homeschooled. I am a K–12 educator through and through. I live and breathe brick-and-mortar schooling.

This past December, nine of us spent Christmas together (our children, our daughter-in-law and our soon-to-be-born granddaughter—Who’s a proud grandmother!?). Watching our children as they enjoyed each other’s company made me think of why we put so much emphasis on education. We want our children to grow up to be happy and productive people. The experience made me reconsider my angst regarding homeschooling our child. It also made me realize that we aren’t just preparing him for the next school year; we are preparing him for life! And since that is the case, why would it matter if he took a few months before being ready to return to a brick-and-mortar school?

After all the hand twisting and teeth gnashing as we made our decision, I am happy to report that homeschooling (for this particular child, at this particular time) has been just what the doctor ordered. I didn’t know how far virtual schools have come in the past decade. While I write at my desk, I can hear my husband and my son working together down the hall. I hear rich and interesting stories coming from the computer. I see our son participating in interactive activities and games. While he works, he asks my husband poignant questions, and without prompting explains how different concepts can be applied in other ways. The experiences are varied, challenging, far-reaching, and appropriate for his age.

Who knew that using a virtual school to educate our son would be such a rich experience? I began to realize that there has been another benefit too. I can see my husband and my son’s relationship growing. It’s beautiful to see my son grow as a student and as a person.

I still want him to return to public school in September. But that desire is based on the need for him to interact with other children on a daily basis, not for access to a “better” learning environment. The virtual school is a great learning environment. I have learned a great deal from this experience. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Victoria Pagonis

Founder and President
Standards Solution

A Literacy Guide of High Standards

Recently, while conducting research for a workshop on applying backward design to the creation of English language arts units, I found a comprehensive and impressive literacy guide from North Plainfield. I don’t know anyone in North Plainfield, and we have not conducted business with the district, but I wish we did. I’d like to meet the supervisors that created this helpful guide.

I remember when I first began my teaching career; I looked for curricula to guide my instruction. But all that I found were textbooks and decade-old documents that had nothing to do with the existing instructional resources. When I became a curriculum director in a new district I found even older and even less helpful guides (I soon corrected that). That is why I’m so impressed with North Plainfield’s Cross-Curricular Literacy Guide 2012-2013.

The guide is not their curricula; it is a 176-page document that provides explicit information on the district’s accountability guides, their literacy programs and procedures, their UBD template, and resources for each grade-level configuration. One of my favorite elements in this guide is the emphasis on data. Every grade levels’ literacy profile is displayed in detail. Most impressive is the direction it provides for purging profiles and the exact years that instructors are to send home identified student products.

As an educator that has evaluated literally tens of thousands of student essays, I know the criteria for quality writing at each grade level. Yet I haven’t met many educators that can define the very specific elements that one should see when reading quality text. In North Plainfield’s guide they do exactly that. They define the “Standing Ovation Checklist” for different genres. I have to admit, given the opportunity I would revise some of their elements, but I am so impressed that they provided these documents to their instructors.

I get excited when I discover districts that know how to support their educators. North Plainfield must really care about the quality of their instructional practices. They must know that we all need guidance, resources, and direction. They must also know that when the administration communicates clear expectations for instruction and assessment, that their teachers project that clarity in their instruction.

Lastly, I think that North Plainfield drew many healthy lines in the sand. They included a lot of topics that many other districts consider controversial. The guide presents templates for teaching cursive writing, extending the history, science, and technical literacy standards to mathematics, and using a humanities approach in high school English classes. Many districts struggle with these issues, and make choices but don’t necessarily highlight them in publicly available guidance documents.

Here’s to you, North Plainfield, for defining your instruction and assessment practices. Congratulations on making hard choices and standing by your decisions. Bravo to the smart educators that compiled this thorough, useful, and clear-cut guide.

North Plainfield School District Cross-Curricular Literacy Guide

Victoria Pagonis

Founder and President
Standards Solution

Entrance Activities that Encourage Student Participation

The concept of engaged learning has recently been brought to the forefront in part due to the new teacher evaluation system and theorists that include this concept in their rubrics such as Danielson, Marzano and Stronge. Personally, I am happy that they chose to include this topic in their rubric because creating an engaging classroom is at the heart of learning. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!

Silent Tasks

One technique that I utilized in my classroom was to post a task on the board for students to complete when they first entered my classroom. Quite often, the message would read, “Without talking…” The students then had to apply a concept that would address the concept that I was teaching that day. If we were working on division, the directions might state, “Without talking, divide the class in half.” The students received no other directions other than that. At first, if there 25 students, the students would separate into groups of 12 and then look at me with silent but upset eyes as if to say, “What do we do? We do not have an even number.”  Then I would say, “What are your choices?  Look around the room. Reread the directions. How can you solve this problem?” Eventually, a student would come up and take my hand and lead me to one of the groups. Or the students would motion for one student to pretend to be cut in half and would put his/her feet in both groups. Whatever solution they devised, we often concluded the activity with laughter and discussion of what could have worked and how they could apply the concept to new situations. My silent tasks were a great way to initiate an engaged lesson. My students honed their skills of collaboration and problem solving while at the same time having fun.

Who am I?

Another technique that an instructor might want to try is to create cards with words or names regarding the topic of the lesson plan or unit and play the game, “Who am I?”  When students enter the class, the instructor attaches one of the cards on the back of each student so that he/she cannot see it. Then the students walk around and ask each other questions about their person or name and try to identify who they are. If the student guesses their name or word correctly, then he/she sits down.  For instance, for a workshop that I recently developed I made a list of education buzz words (NCLB, Bring Your Own Device, Student Growth Objectives, etc.). It was a great way to get my participants involved, social and thinking. But this concept could be repurposed for various levels and subject matter. For example, if your class was reading a novel then the instructor could use the names of different characters. If a science teacher was working on a unit in physics, then he/she could use lists of terms and words. In an art class, the students could be famous artists or to represent techniques.

Gallery Walk

One collaborative technique that requires all students to share or apply existing knowledge is to use a gallery walk. Students enter the classroom and are invited to visit each poster board and contribute his/her knowledge to the topic. For instance, in fifth grade students are introduced to simplifying equations. Thus, one gallery walk for this grade level could include several poster board with equations at the top. Students are then asked to simplify one term and then go onto the next poster.  In a history class the instructor might invite the students to identify and write the name of one event or person under the name of each topic or era listed at the top of the poster board.

Perspective Positions

Lastly, one technique that gets students to interact with one another is the use of perspective positions.  The way it works is that you put a question on the board, and ask the students to stand at one end of the room if they believe one thing to be true, the other side of the room for students that believe the opposite, and in-between for those who are not sure.  Next, you would ask the students to take ten minutes and try to convince the other students to stand in their corner.  You listen to the students’ discussions and evaluate if they represented the facts correctly and if they able to employ persuasive techniques to convince their classmates of their position.

There is a lot of value in getting students engaged the minute they enter the classroom. When we employ engaged entrance activities, we initiate learning as soon as students enter the classroom. We get our students thinking and applying existing knowledge. We encourage collaboration. We foster problem solving. And we introduce the topic of the day’s lesson.

Victoria Pagonis

Founder and President
Standards Solution