I spotted Never Work Harder than Your Students, by Robyn Jackson, on a friend's bookshelf, but didn't have time to read much of it; took it out of the library; didn't have time to read much of it; and finally ordered a copy, which I am now quickly skating through.
First impressions.
The form of the book is self-helpy. It starts with a quiz; it has its own website; it occasionally breaks out with a term like "Master Teacher" that you sense the author is just waiting to trademark.
But:
The content of the book is great. Some of it is obvious but all of it is getting good ideas crackling.
So, so far, I recommend it.
(The title is misleading -- it's not a book about keeping teachers from working too hard; it's a grab bag of pedagogical insights.)
Showing posts with label classroom management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classroom management. Show all posts
The Power of Knowing that You Know Something
One of the lessons I learned in my first year of teaching - fortunately before the end of the year - was that it's not enough for students to learn; they have to see clearly that they are learning; and for this purpose, it is not enough to give them ways to apply the new knowledge & skills; you have to really spell out for them here is what you have learned.
This morning, I saw an interesting illustration of the power of feeling that you do know something, in Oliver Sacks' account of one of my favorite stories of scientific discovery.
Dmitri Mendeleev had been playing with arranging and rearranging cards representing the various known elements, trying to discern the underlying pattern; one night he fell asleep and dreamed the Periodic Table, more or less as we know it.
Here is Sacks' footnote to the story:
This, at least, is the accepted myth, and one that was later promulgated by Mendeleev himself, somewhat as Kekule was to describe his own discovery of the benzene ring years later, as the result of a dream of snakes biting their own tails. But if one looks at the actual table that Mendeleev sketched, one can see that it is full of transpositions, crossings-out, and calculations in the margins. It shows, in the most graphic way, the creative struggle for understanding which was going on in his mind. Mendeleev did not wake from his dream with all the answers in place but, more interestingly, perhaps, woke with a sense of revelation, so that within hours he was able to solve many of the questions that had occupied him for years.
(Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten. New York: Random House, Inc, 2001. p. 198)
This morning, I saw an interesting illustration of the power of feeling that you do know something, in Oliver Sacks' account of one of my favorite stories of scientific discovery.
Dmitri Mendeleev had been playing with arranging and rearranging cards representing the various known elements, trying to discern the underlying pattern; one night he fell asleep and dreamed the Periodic Table, more or less as we know it.
Here is Sacks' footnote to the story:
This, at least, is the accepted myth, and one that was later promulgated by Mendeleev himself, somewhat as Kekule was to describe his own discovery of the benzene ring years later, as the result of a dream of snakes biting their own tails. But if one looks at the actual table that Mendeleev sketched, one can see that it is full of transpositions, crossings-out, and calculations in the margins. It shows, in the most graphic way, the creative struggle for understanding which was going on in his mind. Mendeleev did not wake from his dream with all the answers in place but, more interestingly, perhaps, woke with a sense of revelation, so that within hours he was able to solve many of the questions that had occupied him for years.
(Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten. New York: Random House, Inc, 2001. p. 198)
Instructions for the Total Unknown
I've always been charmed by Thomas Jefferson's instructions to Meriwether Lewis in preparation for the Lewis & Clark expedition.
It is such a clear bit of writing, meant to cover every contingency of a totally unknown situation.
You can read the letter here: Jefferson's Instructions to Meriwether Lewis.
I've since read that others have found this letter equally intriguing and it is often held up as an example of good management.
It is such a clear bit of writing, meant to cover every contingency of a totally unknown situation.
You can read the letter here: Jefferson's Instructions to Meriwether Lewis.
I've since read that others have found this letter equally intriguing and it is often held up as an example of good management.
Elokai Neshama
This flew in today on a mailing list for teachers.
The mailer asked me not to share her name, since it's not her original thought. She said she thinks she heard the idea from Chevi Garfinkel.
I once heard someone say so beautifully that the Bracha of “Elokai neshama she’nasata bi...” can also be interpreted not only as our own individual neshama given to us by Hashem but also as the neshama meaning each students neshama that Hashem has placed in our hands for the year is tehora and Hashem formed that student exactly how they should be and Hashem specifically chose me to be the Morah of this student and eventually the student won’t be under my care yet kol zman that the student is with me Modeh ani...etc. it was a beautiful thought and perspective of the zechus, privilege and responsibility it is to be a Morah.
(Here is the text to which this refers, with a translation: Elokai Neshama)
The mailer asked me not to share her name, since it's not her original thought. She said she thinks she heard the idea from Chevi Garfinkel.
I once heard someone say so beautifully that the Bracha of “Elokai neshama she’nasata bi...” can also be interpreted not only as our own individual neshama given to us by Hashem but also as the neshama meaning each students neshama that Hashem has placed in our hands for the year is tehora and Hashem formed that student exactly how they should be and Hashem specifically chose me to be the Morah of this student and eventually the student won’t be under my care yet kol zman that the student is with me Modeh ani...etc. it was a beautiful thought and perspective of the zechus, privilege and responsibility it is to be a Morah.
(Here is the text to which this refers, with a translation: Elokai Neshama)
A Montessorian on Motivation
"But do you think it can really be done, to have students studying different material simultaneously in one classroom?" the principal asked.
"Absolutely!" I said, and started ticking off - Montessori, and Sudbury, and the local middle school math class, and the entire history (and present) of the one-room schoolhouse in America, and -
"But," she said, cutting into my description of Montessori, "what if you have a student who just doesn't want to learn?"
I have some memories of what I've observed Montessori teachers doing for specific kids, but - does Montessori have a general prescription for this? I was curious.
So, I wrote to one of my Montessori teachers to ask her.
Here's her answer.
Her phone inserted its own line breaks; I've left them in because I like the found-poetry aspect of it.
You asked about discipline at the High School level — this probably will sound elitist but
It all begins with 2 1/2 year olds and builds on what is learned at that level through
Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary and into Jr High.
As you might remember one important aspect at any level of Montessori is learning to make good choices.
At all levels, students make mistakes and
***learn from these mistakes — are encouraged to work through them, talk them out and decide to try again.
Another important aspect is adult guidance to steer EACH INDIVIDUAL toward exactly what s/he needs (academically, socially,
and as an individual).
Montessorians try to instill a love of learning
In each student while guiding each student toward learning the basic skills needed in life.
Learning how to learn is VIP. As well as discovering what turns each person on
— what is their passion? But also realizing
that those disciplines that are not so interesting/more difficult, must be tackled as well.
At all levels our Montessori students are encouraged to pursue their interests;
work hard to overcome their weaker areas;
learn how to work with others in a variety of activities; and really care about the world around them.
My inner mantra was always:
Everything is connected.
We are connected to everything.
Anyway, I found this info from Cleveland
about their High School program and thought it might be of interest.
https://www.
"Absolutely!" I said, and started ticking off - Montessori, and Sudbury, and the local middle school math class, and the entire history (and present) of the one-room schoolhouse in America, and -
"But," she said, cutting into my description of Montessori, "what if you have a student who just doesn't want to learn?"
I have some memories of what I've observed Montessori teachers doing for specific kids, but - does Montessori have a general prescription for this? I was curious.
So, I wrote to one of my Montessori teachers to ask her.
Here's her answer.
Her phone inserted its own line breaks; I've left them in because I like the found-poetry aspect of it.
You asked about discipline at the High School level — this probably will sound elitist but
It all begins with 2 1/2 year olds and builds on what is learned at that level through
Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary and into Jr High.
As you might remember one important aspect at any level of Montessori is learning to make good choices.
At all levels, students make mistakes and
***learn from these mistakes — are encouraged to work through them, talk them out and decide to try again.
Another important aspect is adult guidance to steer EACH INDIVIDUAL toward exactly what s/he needs (academically, socially,
and as an individual).
Montessorians try to instill a love of learning
In each student while guiding each student toward learning the basic skills needed in life.
Learning how to learn is VIP. As well as discovering what turns each person on
— what is their passion? But also realizing
that those disciplines that are not so interesting/more difficult, must be tackled as well.
At all levels our Montessori students are encouraged to pursue their interests;
work hard to overcome their weaker areas;
learn how to work with others in a variety of activities; and really care about the world around them.
My inner mantra was always:
Everything is connected.
We are connected to everything.
Anyway, I found this info from Cleveland
about their High School program and thought it might be of interest.
https://www.
Charlotte Mason on Report Cards
This (Victorian-era) approach to grades makes a lot of sense to me:
"The good marks should be given for conduct rather than for cleverness -- that is, they should be within everybody's reach: for punctuality, order, attention, diligence, obedience, gentleness."
"The good marks should be given for conduct rather than for cleverness -- that is, they should be within everybody's reach: for punctuality, order, attention, diligence, obedience, gentleness."
The Beecher Sisters on Education
Here are two thoughts on education from Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catharine, from the textbook they co-authored, The American Woman's Home, first published in 1869, and apparently widely read at the time.
I. A Caution on Classroom Management
(Actually, they're addressing parents, not teachers; but this is how I read it.)
"In regard to forming habits of obedience, there have been two extremes, both of which need to be shunned. One is, a stern and uncompromising maintenance of parental authority, demanding perfect and constant obedience, without any attempt to convince a child of the propriety and benevolence of the requisitions, and without any manifestation of sympathy and tenderness for the pain and difficulties which are to be met. Under such discipline, children grow up to fear their parents, rather than to love and trust them; while some of the most valuable principles of character are chilled, or forever blasted.
"In shunning this danger, other parents pass to the opposite extreme. They put themselves too much on the footing of equals with their children, as if little were due to superiority of relation, age, and experience. Nothing is exacted, without the implied concession that the child is to be a judge of the propriety of the requisition; and reason and persuasion are employed, where simple command and obedience would be far better. This system produces a most pernicious influence. Children soon perceive the position thus allowed them, and take every advantage of it. They soon learn to dispute parental requirements, acquire habits of forwardness and conceit, assume disrespectful manners and address, maintain their views with pertinacity, and yield to authority with ill-humor and resentment, as if their rights were infringed upon."
II. A Lament on Curriculum
"The race of strong, hardy, cheerful girls, that used to grow up on country places, and made the bright, neat, New-England kitchens of old times---the girls that could wash, iron, brew, bake, harness a horse and drive him, no less than braid straw, embroider, draw, paint, and read innumerable books---this race of women, pride of olden time, is daily lessening; and in their stead come the fragile, easily-fatigued, languid girls of a modern age, drilled in book-learning, ignorant of common things."
I. A Caution on Classroom Management
(Actually, they're addressing parents, not teachers; but this is how I read it.)
"In regard to forming habits of obedience, there have been two extremes, both of which need to be shunned. One is, a stern and uncompromising maintenance of parental authority, demanding perfect and constant obedience, without any attempt to convince a child of the propriety and benevolence of the requisitions, and without any manifestation of sympathy and tenderness for the pain and difficulties which are to be met. Under such discipline, children grow up to fear their parents, rather than to love and trust them; while some of the most valuable principles of character are chilled, or forever blasted.
"In shunning this danger, other parents pass to the opposite extreme. They put themselves too much on the footing of equals with their children, as if little were due to superiority of relation, age, and experience. Nothing is exacted, without the implied concession that the child is to be a judge of the propriety of the requisition; and reason and persuasion are employed, where simple command and obedience would be far better. This system produces a most pernicious influence. Children soon perceive the position thus allowed them, and take every advantage of it. They soon learn to dispute parental requirements, acquire habits of forwardness and conceit, assume disrespectful manners and address, maintain their views with pertinacity, and yield to authority with ill-humor and resentment, as if their rights were infringed upon."
II. A Lament on Curriculum
"The race of strong, hardy, cheerful girls, that used to grow up on country places, and made the bright, neat, New-England kitchens of old times---the girls that could wash, iron, brew, bake, harness a horse and drive him, no less than braid straw, embroider, draw, paint, and read innumerable books---this race of women, pride of olden time, is daily lessening; and in their stead come the fragile, easily-fatigued, languid girls of a modern age, drilled in book-learning, ignorant of common things."
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