Building Relationships With Students

Building long-lasting bonds with my students through our mutual respect requires giving them consistent expectations and boundaries, so they know what the outcomes will be for each of their actions.  I work hard to help students understand our well defined roles as teacher and learner. I use language like: This is my job as your teacher, and this is your job as a student.  I reinforce our roles constantly and consistently through rewarding wanted actions and creating natural consequences for unwanted actions. My goal is to construct mutual respect, which leads to interdependence. This interdependence has proven to build trust.

Image Credit: www.childrensministryleader.com

Building a strong and life lasting relationship between teacher and student is as simple as creating trust, providing you take the steps to grow the trust.  Primarily, through trust, mutual respect is developed, fostering an interdependent relationship.  That relationship allows students to trust you, not only as a professional, but also as a real person who shows love and safety.  As a result of building this relationship, students will continue to return to you for guidance, leadership, and nurturing.  

Finally, students in my class have visual and oral signals as we end our day reminding them of my deep concern for their well-being.  As they fill out their planner, the last thing they see on my board is, “Love you”, “Love ya”, or “Heart you” followed by my cell phone number.  Our day concludes as my students walk out the door with me saying,  “Call me if you need me.”  My students know that they can call me for homework questions or how to survive the night when things aren’t going well at home.  Sometimes they remember that statement later in life, even in their 20s and 30s, and they call to let me know they are graduating from physical therapy school, or that they are in active duty with the military and just need to touch base, or they are getting married, or they had their first baby. Not only am I connecting with these students to ensure their happiness and well-being (after all, we all want to be loved and needed), but I love having an impact on their future and making a difference in their life. Creating these relationships fulfills me as both personally and professionally, and I feel a sense of accomplishment in helping students to develop motivation to succeed in everything they do. Developing relationships in the classroom is critical to community and bonds that ensures learning for all.

Bill Buyarski

5th Grade Teacher

Embracing the “Innovator’s Mindset” as a Pre-Service Teacher

Critical and creative thinking: necessary elements in any classroom. As a pre-service teacher, I have heard these terms repeated from one methods course to the next. “Teachers need to require their students to think critically,” and, “Teachers must inspire creative thinking,” (Although we hear less about the later type). These are required elements for true learning to occur. Sometimes, it is difficult to prescribe exact formulas to see these desired outcomes. We’ll come back to that in just a minute.

Often, there is a disconnect between my college courses and what is actually happening in my field of study. This could be for multiple reasons, which, for the purposes of this blog post, do not necessarily matter. Rather, this is a story about a course that made a significant impact on my educational philosophies and overall future career in education. I arrived to my Educational Leadership 325 class (Better known as “Ed. Tech” class) with the expectation that my professor was going to “teach” me about the same old things that I have been doing since I was about twelve-years-old. Skills like using a computer or maybe a SMART board (In the dark ages, it could be comparable to taking a class that simply taught bulletin board design.) However, as you may have guessed, I was happily surprised and challenged as a learner in my #EdLdrsp325 class, and, I have managed to condense my very long list of takeaways into three main points for those of you who may appreciate them.

  One of the first and greatest takeaways from this course had to do with technology use. On day one, Mandy Froehlich (@froehlichm), the adjunct professor teaching this course, introduced the class to George Couros’ (@gcouros) book, The Innovator’s Mindset. College kids don’t get particularly excited over required texts--we’re usually just wondering if there is any possible way we can make it through a class without having to purchase them. I, however, am a self proclaimed bibliophile and like reading textbooks. So, I bought the book. I assumed, since this was an Ed. Tech. course, that this would try to shift my ideals about technology use in the classroom. Which, it certainly did, but not in the ways that I expected.

Pre-service teachers are constantly hearing opposing views on technology in the classroom. We hear things like, “It’s too hard to keep up with,” and, “Screen time isn’t good for kids,” or, “Find a way to fit technology into your lesson plan.” It is hard to know what exactly we are supposed to do with technology. Should we use it minimally? Not at all? Or should class be a total instructional video? The answer is, none of these. Rather, technology needs to be used efficiently and intentionally as a tool to reach higher learning. In his book, George Couros stressed this idea that technology is a tool, not an outcome. “Squeezing” tech into a lesson plan happens when you just have students slap a prezi or slideshow together for no particular reason--thus, technology is used as an outcome as opposed to a tool used to encourage the learning process. Prior to his book, I planned multiple lessons with the mindset of just squeezing technology in because that seems to be the expectation these days. This use of technology is not creative, and does not help students reach higher level learning. However, not using technology in this world is almost like being an illiterate now. Technology is so common, that it is nearly necessary to understand it in order to function within society. Teachers need to offer technology experiences to their students--what better way to utilize such a tool than through learning? I’m not convinced that there is a higher purpose for tech than that of learning!

The next aspect this course stressed to me is the importance of forming relationships and pursuing professional development within one’s field of expertise. Mandy Froehlich introduced the class to utilizing Twitter professionally. I was extremely skeptical about this at first. The young adult age group is known for utilizing Twitter as a way to complain about almost anything. I had actually stopped using this form of social media a number of years ago because I got tired of seeing negativity on my feed. But, I gave the idea of a Professional Learning Network (PLN) a shot. I was amazed by how many excellent educators were connecting through this medium, and how many were utilizing Twitter chats as a way to learn through inquiry and discussion. It has actually blown my mind! I started joining in on some Ed. Tech. Twitter chats (#edtechafterdark), and I could not BELIEVE the kind of excitement involved in participating in an hour-long chat. I started to discover other chats of interest (#ntchat, and #wcchat), and I have already learned so many practical philosophies and creative approaches to multiple aspects of education! Seriously, let go of the scepticism for a minute, and give a Twitter chat a shot--if nothing else, you will be encouraged by the obvious passion demonstrated by so many teachers all around the world!

 As the title suggests, George Couros’ book had a lot to do with innovation. Innovation, what a fun buzz word! But, what does it mean? George defined it as, “a way of thinking that creates something new and better” (p.19). Much like the aforementioned critical and creative thinking, innovation is necessary within a classroom. I am a critical thinker. I like logic, questioning, philosophy, and research, but it is much harder for me to think creatively. For years, I have wondered if I could be good teaching students to be creative thinkers. I realized that often times, I provide myself too much structure to think creatively. This book taught me that innovation--which requires one to think both creatively AND critically--can be fostered by one’s environment. That is, teachers need to create a classroom environment that doesn’t punish students for trying something new--one where failure can, and will, safely happen and where risk-taking is highly encouraged. Creative thinking grows when someone has direction but also has freedom to pursue that direction through his or her own ideas. This is one reason why choice is so unbelievably powerful for students.

So, how do we get students to think critically and creatively? What does that look like? There is no exact method--it will not be the same for every group, in every subject, but we can start by implementing some of these ideas. We intentionally and efficiently utilize the tools (like technology) we have around us to reach relevant, higher learning. We learn from other professionals in the field in order to maintain our own passion for teaching, learning, and to offer our students the best learning experiences we possibly can, and we create an environment where innovation can THRIVE by being open to new ideas, allowing for choice, and by continuously questioning how we can make our own practices better. If we want our students to learn, we should also be modelling learning. Critical and creative thinking will flourish when we all choose to learn together.

Jessica Anderson
@jfandersong
Pre-Service Teacher Candidate
Dual Education & Psychology - University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

References
Bill Ferriter/
Edutopia - Willingness to Learn Correlation (Image)
George Couros - The Innovator’s Mindset (Print)

Traditional vs. Flexible Seating - Creating a Classroom that Works

I've always tried to give students options about where to sit, but I just recently learned the term "flexible seating." In case you haven't heard, flexible seating is the new, hot trend for the classroom. It takes the idea of a Starbucks-like atmosphere where teachers create a variety of different zones, work spaces, and seating options while students can sit where they choose to work comfortably. I have to say that I've struggled with this concept all year. I've been on and off and flexible-seating trend.

At first I was adamantly against it! Where would all their supplies go? How would I organize the room? Where do I start? It all seemed so overwhelming. Plus, I strongly held the opinion that students needed the ownership and responsibility that came with having their own desk. Then the pendulum swung...

I felt myself getting pulled over the the flexible seating side. I could see a vision of it working. Pinterest made it look so easy! I could imagine how my next year's classroom could be set up! I could conquer all my seating woes and rock at this! Students would be sitting and learning and it would change the world! (Yes, my visions and expectations get a little dramatic!)

Then I had an epiphany...I spent so much me time - thinking about my expenses, my set-up, my classroom. I forgot the most important part. Ask the students. Duh! It seems so obvious, it is their classroom and their learning, but it was the one part that I had missed in my whole back-and-forth, figuring-it-out-myself-process: I needed to involve the very people that would be using it. So I did.

I talked with my second grade students about what flexible seating was and we talked about the seating we had now. I wanted their opinions. I may have been a bias (I was fully on the flexible seating bandwagon at this point) as I really tried to talk up flexible seating - "It'll be great...comfy spots everywhere..free to go where you want..." I felt like Oprah, "You get a seat, you get a seat, EVERYBODY GETS A SEAT!" But, boy oh boy, did the students have an opinion.

They want desks. 

- They liked the storage (one of the first comments a student said was, "Where would we put all our stuff?"). 

- They liked the responsibility (they usually graduate from tables to desks when they come to second grade so it's kind of a big deal to them)

- They liked the personal storage and freedom (some students store treasures or trinkets and most take great pride in maintaining their very own desk)

And they want flexible seating. 

- They like extra space to work.

- They like the options of different places to sit and different things to sit on.

Desks and seating and tables and chairs and teaching, oh my! How could I do this? 

Then I realized I already was. 

Here's what's been working for me for the past few years. Apparently, it's what working for the students too. I use combination of traditional and flexible seating. Although I've never really called it flexible seating, in my head it was always just "extra work spaces." You know, for when students needed to move away from a distracting neighbor, or they wanted more room to work, or they just needed a change of scenery.

Students have desks, but we also have different areas around the room and different seats to use within the room for independent work time.

Here's what's been working for me:

I started small. My school had 3 bumpy seats for students and I inherited 2 stadium seats when my grandparents moved out of their apartment. 

This was a little table that another teacher removed from their room. I thought my students might like to sit on it, but they really like to work at it, even though it's short. One of my students (who's a little shorty-pie) exclaimed with glee, "It's just my size!" The scoop rockers are stored here. I purchased them at Wal-Mart and they're used all around the room.

This is the back wall of my room with my short table in the middle. The other two tables are tall tables and were acquired from a seller on a Facebook site. Unfortunately they are not adjustable, but the students like to use large chairs with them or stand at them. They've also been very popular this year to work under. 

This is another tall table on another side of the room. The red chairs are leftovers from a kindergarten room (my students love to sit on the little chairs or sometimes they use them as a table). The rolling chair I purchased at Goodwill. I thought it was excellent because it wasn't plush so I could easily wash and disinfect it from time to time. I also came across an exercise ball at Goodwill. I've seen posts where teachers put them in crates to keep them corralled, but it's never been an issue for me. Sometimes students will use it around the room or they'll roll it over to their desk or another table they work it. It works well and it is DURABLE!

Isn't this awesome?! This is a small part of our library, but the chair was from a first grade teacher who said it was too big for her students. I gladly took it off her hands. The students love it! We made expectations for it (2 students max at a time) and it's been a great addition in our classroom. 

I've been fortunate to accumulate vinyl beanbags throughout my teaching career (thank you rummage sales and back to school sales). They always go flat, but I've been slowly stuffing extra plastic bags in them to try to beef them up - there's always a surplus of plastic bags around my house so this helps instead of buying all the beans that go flat! I was lucky enough to have 2 desks with swinging bars for feet (you can see one in the picture). They don't belong to any specific student, but they are probably the most sought-after spots. The students can silently swing their feet as they work or listen to a lesson.

I'm also missing a picture of a hexagon table (well, 2 trapezoid tables if you want to get technical) that are tucked by my mathboard to create another work space. 

With all these work areas you might think I'm crazy to also keep 21 desks in my room. I might be. But it's not cluttered (unless you count my desk!) and students work so well throughout the day. How do we manage it all? Together we've created expectations for using our work spaces and special seats. 

The students had a voice in helping me craft this. I was nervous and included the bit about giving a warning or taking the spot back, but honestly, I've never had to (I've given a warning, maybe). We followed our Franklin Way - Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe. We kept the expectation that we could revisit and revise these rules if we needed, but it hasn't been necessary.  

Thank you for taking a little glimpse into my classroom seating and reading about what works for me. It has served me well over the years and I keep accumulating a little at a time to add to or replace the options. Call it flexible seating, call it traditional seating, call it work spaces. Whatever it is, it works for me...and my students!

Katie Tennessen

Empowering Students in Assessment

As an educator I am always setting new goals for myself. How can I improve my teaching to better help the students? Being reflective about my own practices is not an easy task. This year I was challenged by my technology coach to become more of an innovative teacher. Finding out what this meant to me personally was my learning journey this year.

Part of this journey was reading and reflecting on The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros. One section of his book has us compare engaging students versus empowering students. We are always taught to create engaging lessons to keep the interests of the students in our classrooms. These lessons help get the children excited about our content. Mr. Couros challenges us to empower students. Empowering students gets them excited about their interests and passions. We have to find ways to give students the knowledge and skills to to pursue what they are interested in. According to Couros, "Kids need to be empowered, NOT engaged."

After reading this section of the book I decided to try this theory out. We had just finished a science unit on light. I had an assessment all set to give to the students where they had to answer questions in a test format. Instead, I used the benchmarks for the unit to create a rubric. The students were shown the rubric and then had to decide how to prove to me that they understood the expectations for this unit.

Wow! The excitement was immediate. Even though the topic was set for them, the children were given the power to choose what platform they would use to show their knowledge. I had students create posters, articles on Seesaw, Animotos, Google Slide Presentations, and speeches. I was amazed at how much information the children presented to me. The depth of their knowledge went beyond what I would have assessed them on in a written test. The fact that they had control over the sharing of their learning brought out creativity and innovation.



I am using the "empower not engage" theory in my reading groups now. Students are given a choice as to what they want to learn more about. They then research the topic and create a presentation of their choice with which to share their new knowledge. By helping to empower my students I am setting them up to be successful in their future endeavors.

Patty Luft