Effective Teams

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. PLC, Teams

What is a team?
“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”  
Source:  Katzenbach & Smith, The Wisdom of Teams

Qualities of Effective Teams:

  • Clear Purpose
  • Informality
  • Participation
  • Listening
  • Civilized Disagreement
  • Consensus Decisions
  • Open Communication
  • Clear Roles and Work Assignments
  • Shared Leadership

Source:  Glenn M. Parker, Team Players and Teamwork

Discussion Question:  Think of an effective team that you have been on.  What qualities did that team have?  What qualities do you think are essential for us to build a stronger professional learning community at GHS as a faculty?  As a department?  As co-teachers?  As colleagues?

Student Self-Reflection

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. student reflection

The following is an excerpt from:  (Zoul, Jeffrey. 2006. Improving your school one week at a time.  pp. 51-53).

Self-Reflection
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.” Ancient Chinese proverb
 
“Teach a child content and he will pass a test. Teach a child HOW to learn all content and he will pass ALL tests.” Beth Richardson
 
A good teacher teaches students how to become their own teacher. Remember that the highest level of learning is evidenced by being able to teach someone else. We not only need to deliver content to students, but also to teach them how to learn the content. Helping them identify strategies for learning teaches them to be lifelong learners. This is teaching them how to learn anything that comes their way in the next 50 years. 
 
One way to help students is to teach them how to self-reflect on their own learning.
 
How do we do this?
1. Guide the students in asking them to discuss questions with each other like:
  • Did I make the grade I wanted?
  • Did the learning stick?
  • Do I need to do something else for myself to make the knowledge stick?
  • Could I use this strategy at home when studying for a social studies test? Science test? French test?
 
2. Attach a self-reflection sheet with each assignment:
  • Describe the learning objectives of this assignment
  • How did you meet these objectives?
  • What areas do you need to improve on?
  • What strategies will you implement to improve in this area?

(Zoul, Jeffrey. 2006. Improving your school one week at a time.  pp. 51-53).
If you use strategies that encourage formal self-reflection on learning in your classes, please share here.  If you do not use this strategy yet, please offer a way that you hope to encourage future self-reflection on learning objectives by students.

Hidden Rules

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. Poverty

Friday Focus: Hidden Rules Among Classes
 
Hidden rules are the unspoken cues and habits of a group. Distinct cueing systems exist between and among groups and economic classes. Generally, in America, that notion is recognized for racial and ethnic groups, but not particularly for economic groups. There are many hidden rules to examine. The ones that are examined here are those that have the most impact on achievement in schools and success in the workplace.
 
 
POVERTY
MIDDLE CLASS
WEALTH
POSSESSIONS People. Things.
One-of -a-kind objects, legacies, pedigrees.
 
MONEY To be used, spent. To be managed.
To be conserved, invested.
 
PERSONALITY Is for entertainment. Sense of humor is highly valued. Is for acquisition and stability. Achievement is highly valued.
Is for connections. Financial, political, social connections are highly valued.
 
SOCIAL EMPHASIS Social inclusion of people he/she likes.
Emphasis is on self-governance and self-sufficiency.
 
 Emphasis is on social exclusion.
FOOD Key question: Did you have enough? Quantity important.
Key question: Did you like it?
Quality Important.
 
 Key question: Was it presented well? Presentation important.
CLOTHING Clothing valued for individual style and expression of personality.
Clothing valued for its quality and acceptance into norm of middle class. Label important.
 
 Clothing valued for its artistic sense and expression. Designer important.
TIME Present most important. Decisions made for moment based on feelings or survival. Future most important. Decisions made against future ramifications;
Traditions and history, most important. Decisions mode partially on basis of tradition and decorum.
 
EDUCATION Valued and revered as abstract but not as reality. Crucial for climbing success ladder and making money.
Necessary tradition for making and maintaining connections.
 
DESTINY Believes in fate. Cannot do much to mitigate chance. Believes in choice. Can change future with good choices now. Noblesse oblige.
LANGUAGE Casual register. Language is about survival.
Formal register. Language is about negotiation.
 
 Formal register. Language is about networking.
FAMILY STRUCTURE Tends to be matriarchal. Tends to be patriarchal.
Depends on who has money.
 
WORLD VIEW Sees world in terms of local setting Sees world in terms of notional setting.
Sees world in terms of international view.
 
LOVE Love and acceptance conditional based upon whether individual is liked.
Love and acceptance conditional and based largely upon achievement.
 
 Love and acceptance conditional and related to social standing and connections.
DRIVING FORCES
Survival, relationships, entertainment.
 
 Work, achievement. Financial, political, social connections.
HUMOR About people and sex. About situations.
About social faux pas.
 
 
Source: Ruby Payne, A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Fourth revised edition. Highlands, TX: aha! Process, Inc., 2005, pp. 37, 42 – 43.
What do the hidden rules of the classes mean for you as a teacher at GHS? Have you witnessed these hidden rules playing a role in a student’s behavior or achievement?

Take a Risk

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. Creativity, Lesson Planning, Technology Integration

 A few teachers have mentioned that they have tried to take a risk with their lessons, either by trying to integrate technology, flipping their classroom, or putting the learning directly in the hands of students. It is important for us to encourage our students to take risks in their learning.  We can encourage them to try out a new presentation technique or to explore their creative side.   Inorder for our students to succeed in the 21st century world, they will need to learn to be creative, innovate, and think outside of the box.  What better way to promote innovation and creativity than by modeling it ourselves in the classroom.  

So here is the challenge for December….take a risk with one of your lessons.  Here a few ideas to get you thinking….

  • Try out a new type of technology–have the students create videos explaining their science lab results or math problems….and then post it online
  • Integrate a new app such as Voicethread for a collaborative online discussion/presentation.  
  • In English, reach out to the offer online of a book the students are reading to Skype with the author.  
  • In Wellness, have the students make movies illustrating proper fitness techniques for a workout of a day video ad.  
  • In history, use Google Earth to track historical events or have them create a timeline electronically
  • In world language–have the students create their own practice examples on the vocabulary, post it online for others to respond to prompts.
  • In business–have students contact business leaders or entrepreneurs or follow them on Twitter.  Do twitter chat.
  • In art–have the students create digital portfolios of their sketchbooks

www.flippedlearning.org/webinars

Please share your risk-taking lesson with us, so we can come see it and share new ideas!

The Purpose of Homework

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. Homework

The following is an excerpt from:  (Rethinking Homework, 2009, Cathy Batterott, ASCD, pp. 96-98.)

Homework supports student learning in four ways:  pre-learning, checking for understanding, practice, or processing.

Pre-learning:  Homework is used to introduce a topic or background to a lesson.  It can also be to find out what students already know.  Pre-learning can be used to create interest in the concept to be studied.

Checking for understanding:  This is used the least for homework, but is one of the most powerful and valuable ways for teachers to get insight into student learning.  Students can be assigned homework that has them explain their understanding of the content.

Practice:  The most traditional use of homework is for the practice of rote skills, such as things that need to be memorized like spelling words.  Keep in mind that teachers sometimes makes mistakes in assuming the work is practice.  For example, if the student did not understand the concept in class, then the homework is really new learning and they become frustrated.  Additionally, if the teacher has not yet checked for understanding, then students may be practicing the work, but incorrectly.  Finally, when it comes to true practice (such as memorizing spelling words), according to Marzano, et al, 2001, practice is most effective when done numerous times, not in one night.

Processing:  Processing homework is when teachers want students to reflect on concepts, think of new questions, apply skills, and synthesize information.  



Discussion Question:  In evaluating your homeowork practices, which type of the four listed above do you tend to assign the most often?

Quality Homework Tasks

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. Homework

The following excerpt is from:  Rethinking Homework, 2009, Cathy Batterott, ASCD,.

Designing quality homework tasks requires teachers to give attention to four main aspects, each of which has an impact on student motivation and perseverance.



1.  Academic purpose--Tasks should have a clear academic purpose.  Student often do not complete homeowrk because the task is not meaningful.  Teachers should ask themselves if the homework assigned is actually helping students learn, if it is not, then it lacks academic purpose.  One way to help students understand the purpose of homework is to share the reasons for the homework with them.

Examples:
The reason for today’s homework is to…

  • Check whether you understand something you have already learned
  • Allow you to analyze something you have already learned
  • Allow you to reflect on your learning
  • Introduce new information to you that we will study soon.

2.  Competence:  Tasks should have a positive effect on a student’s sense of competence.  Homework should be designed to support classroom learning and to instill a sense of competence in the learner.  Homework that cannot be done without help is not productive homework.  Poor grades on homework contribute to students sense of failure.
3.  Ownership:  Tasks should be personally relevant and customized to promote ownership.  Students are often unmotivated to do homework because it is not perceived as important.  Research shows that homework should be inspired by students own interest.  They need opportunities to self-evaluate, to reflect, to set their own goals.  Quality homework allows for choices, offers students opportunities to personalize their work.  It allows students to share information about their lives, tap emotions on a subject, and to create products.
4.  Aesthetics--Tasks should be aesthetically pleasing.  This refers to the presentation of the task and how engaging it appears, uncluttered, visually appealing, and easy to understand.


Diagnosing Homework Completion Problems

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. Homework

When it comes to figuring out how to get students to complete homeowrk, it is important to first diagnose why the homework is not getting done in the first place.  

According to Vatterott, 2009, on p. 126 of Rethinking Homework, there are typically five reasons why students do not do homework:

  • “Academic–Task too hard or too lengthy for the student’s working speed
  • Organizational–Getting it home, getting it done, getting it back
  • Motivational–Burnout, overload, too much failure, frustration with tasks
  • Situational–Unable to work at home, too many other activities, no materials available at home for the assignment
  • Personal–Depression, anxiety, family problems, or other personal issues”

Once the reasons for lack of homework completion are specifically diagnosed, then proactive and strategic plans can be put into place to support your students.

One strategy is called “Homework Chain” and it is used for students with ADHD who have difficulty with organization.  Try to work through this with a student that you suspect may have a series of gaps or links in this chain of homework completion.

Homework Chain:  Which links are weak or broken?

  • Realize an assignment has been given
  • Understand the assignment
  • Record the assignment accurately
  • Understand how to perform the assignment correctly
  • Check to bring correct books home
  • Arrive home with materials and the homework assignment
  • Begin the homework session
  • Complete all homework
  • Check that it is complete, accurate, and neat
  • Set completed homework in a special place
  • Take completed homework to school
  • Arrive at class with completed homework
  • Turn completed homework in on time

Source:  From Motivating the Uncooperative Student:  Redeeming Discouragement and Attitude Problems by John Taylor, 2007.


Student Homework Feedback (Attach to homework)
How much time did you spend on this assignment?    __________minutes
If you did not complete this assignment, please check the reasons why below.
_____I could no longer focus on the task
_____I was too tired
_____I did not understand the assignment
_____I did not have the necessary materials to finish the assignment
_____I did not have enough time due to outside activities
_____Other reason (please explain)


Building positive relationships with students

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. At-Risk Students, Building Student Relationships

Check out this great article on how “Tough Kids Make Better Teachers.”

www.edutopia.org/blog/tough-kids-make-better-teachers-allen-mendler

When I interview new teaching candidates I always ask them the following questions:
1.  Think of your top student in one of your classes.  Imagine I pull them out of class and ask them to describe you in a couple of words, what would he or she say?

2.  Now think of your most challenging student, the one who school is challenging for them. Imagine I pull them out of class and ask them to describe you in a couple of words, what would he or she say?

Would you answer the same for both questions?  Would you talk about how you built strong relationships, while maintaining high expectations for both?  What do you do to engage all students and build positive student relationships?

Learning Objectives

Maureen M. Cohen, Ed.D. learning objectives

 To quote Robert Marzano’s A Handbook for Instruction that Works, “Students learn most efficiently when they know the goals of a specific lesson or learning activity. This makes intuitive sense. If students are aware of an intended outcome, they know what to focus on. When setting objectives, the teacher simply gives students a target for their learning.”

According to the Understanding by Design model, the following four criteria should be established:

  • The objectives are posted where students can easily see and refer to them
  • The objectives are written in language the students can understand
  • The objectives are written to be focused, but not limiting
  • The objectives are used by students and teacher throughout the lesson to monitor progress towards learning

Please check out the following excellent resource on ways to engage students in understanding and interacting with the lesson objectives.  Scroll down to the bottom to view Powerpoints on the concepts and sample teacher developed exit tickets and reflection sheets.  They are excellent exemplars to check out and adapt.
nwrpdp.com/Pedagogy/Objectives_Standards.htm
I have seen an increase in learning objectives throughout classrooms–new additions in the past week seen in the classrooms of Kati Welch, Karla Evers, Deb Cote, and David DellaCioppa.  Go to Jocelyn Fassett’s room to see both learning objectives and unit essential questions.  Check out Tammy D’Amato’s class to see unit objectives and key terms outlined.  Sara Travers makes direct connections between the objectives and the practice problems.  The department with the most consistency in posting learning objectives is definitely the world language department as a whole.  You can see lesson objectives posted clearly for each class everyday.


The Learning Objective Challenge:  To increase the amount of written learning objectives communicated to our students across the entire school.