Part 3: Reflection on Summer Reading
My insight on the book Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students By Their Brains by Louanne Johnson
Part 3 began with power and ended in a bittersweet way. Chapters 9-11 spoke about motivation and persuasion, and the scoop on real questions from real teachers and real answers for real situations. Chapter 12 really brings the whole teaching deal full circle when you can see testimonies from students who were so positively impacted by their teachers. In reading these chapters, I had 4 burning questions that I hoped to figure out before I student taught. Mrs. Pontius, my cooperating teacher at Greenwood, assuaged me that what Louanne Johnson said in her book was true and Mrs. Pontius expressed her own philosophies as well.
What's the big secret??
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| tweakers.net |
Johnson stresses that there is always more to the story than what we see. Sometimes, it's the students that are having issues. Maybe they are not comfortable with their classmates or perhaps they don't understand the content and are afraid to ask. They may prefer to suffer in silence rather than risk being made fun of or facing disappointment. Other times, Johnson has discovered that it could be the presentation or facilitation by the teacher. She talks about group projects and why some students dread them. It could be because the teacher is asking them to do things they haven't learned yet. This may be seen more so in younger students, but if you ask them to do a group project and they've never done one before, they are going to struggle trying to figure that out. Or if they haven't used a microscope before and you ask them to analyze their data, they're going to be more focused on figuring out the microscope than analyzing the data. By first teaching students those skills like teammwork and delegation, or using their tools and resources, they are better able to focus on the content and learning.
Something both Johnson and Pontius mentioned is letting students have ownership not only of their work but of choosing what to do. Pontius suggests letting students decide and design the curriculum. She tells them what topics she wants them to know before the end of the semester and they choose how they want to go about learning it. Letting them decide not only lets you know what students really want, but it gives them the sense of responsibility that they seldom get to practice.
Negative vs. Positive Reinforcement
The next burning question I had was when to use negative reinforcement and when to use positive reinforcement. Both can be really good and helpful for students... but both can also be degrading, unfair, or instant gratification and nothing more if done incorrectly. So how can we use it correctly?
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| 4pawsu.com |
This topic ties in with the above question about motivation. Pontius suggests not relying on negative reinforcement, such as taking away points, activities, or rewards. Instead, she feels that by allowing students to take ownership of how they are learning and letting them be involved with the planning, it will eliminate the need for using reinforcement at all. Students don't like being told what to do and will push the limit. But if they have a say in their own education, they won't have any reason to complain.
Praise craze
Students so strongly desire the attention from their teachers. And that's not always a bad thing. I recall being in school and feeling really confident about an assignment. Seeing only corrections in bright red pen or a simple "Nice job" scribbled on my paper meant little to me. Thoughtful praise and constructive criticism meant much more. Some people might consider that positive reinforcement, but praise used in the right way is just simply being a good human; a good person. It's about boosting someone's confidence and self-esteem. It's about showing someone that even though they might make mistakes, they make progress in other areas.Some of the ways Pontius suggested giving praise to her students is through giving back papers with thought-out notes and even using stickers and stamps (she says even high schoolers crave them!). She also mentioned that trying to visit students in their activities outside of school like sports or theater can be really encouraging to them. If you can't go, she says the next best thing is to ask them about how their game or a recital went. When you take time out to show students that they mean more to you than just a quick scribble of words or seeing them as a number in a classroom, they really value you as a teacher and person.
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| ebay.com |
Johnson also made some genius suggestions. One that I really liked was that she would write the names of all of her students down on a note card. Every day or every week, she would pick out two or three name cards at random. She would put them on her desk as a reminder to herself to pay special attention to those students. She would take note of the things they did well or the small acts of kindness they performed in the classroom. She would then write them a quick little note before they left for the day saying thank you. Those little notes might have been the only praise that student heard all year (hopefully not!). How precious are those moments where students start to see value and confidence in themselves.
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| middleweb.com |
There is one other thought that Johnson shares about motivation and effective means of encouragement. She says: "Praising students for being intelligent results in short-term good behavior and long-term bad behavior; praising them for their efforts results in self-confidence and increased effort" (Johnson, 2015). One thing I will need to remind myself is that there is a difference between student work results and student effort. Usually, they go hand in hand; if you work hard, the results will be good. But there will be students that try their best despite opposition. Others might do well but hardly lift a finger or will cut corners to get there. In those cases, I would have to admire the student that put in an honest effort even if they don't completely understand.
Questions, comments, or concerns
I asked Mrs. Pontius for the burning questions that she had before she student taught and even afterwards. Among the stories she shared, one thing she said was to ask as many questions as you can. In a field like education, other teachers want to help. They know what a young student teacher may be going through and would be more than happy to pass on their wisdom. Even ask questions to your students, she says. Ask them what activities they liked, what they want to learn about, and questions about what's going on in their lives. Fostering that connection with students will make it much easier to approach them when problems and concerns come up. And confidently approaching other teachers will allow you to not go through that struggle alone.Book report
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Leaving Thought
"...for taking on one of the most difficult, challenging, frustrating, emotionally exhausting, mentally draining, satisfying, wonderful, important, and precious jobs in the world. Thank you for being a teacher. You truly are the unsung American hero. You have my respect and my gratitude"--Louanne Johnson
Miranda...you are going to be a great teacher and I'm anxious to be with you during the beginning of your journey!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about how to engage students in the content and giving them ownership over their own learning is something that sounds great. I am still trying to think about how that would actually work in the classroom though. I feel like some students would be really excited for it and others would struggle with it pretty hard. We will have to chat about strategies for encouraging students to take ownership of their learning and designing our teaching to be flexible enough for when students take interest in something and letting them run with it a bit.
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