The THINK Acronym

This simple little acronym has been around for a while, though I've revised it a bit for IB purposes.

Before you speak: THINK

T   Is it true?

H   Is it helpful?

I   Does it promote inquiry?

N   Is it necessary?

K   Is it kind?

I've found it's quite helpful to introduce this acronym at the beginning of the year and post it in a prominent place in the classroom, reminding students when they stray from the Think Before You Speak agreement.  Sometimes I just have to point at the poster, a student will stop in mid-speech, and either steer their comment in a more positive direction or just say something to the effect of, "never mind."  For students who have a challenging time with impulse control, it can be helpful for them to have a laminated copy on their desks as well. Useful on the playground?  You bet!  I haven't seen it used in secondary schools, but I bet it would come in handy there as well.

At home with your own kids?  I haven't posted it yet, but I might just put it on the wall beside our dinner table.  Too bad there isn't an M for manners in the word THINK!

Why CAN'T Students Get 100% Every Time?

Here's a thought-provoking question that may prompt a fair bit of debate:

Why shouldn't students be able to get 100% on every percentage-based assessment that you do in your classroom?  Most of my assessments are not formal and many are based on rubrics that I usually design along with my students so they know exactly what is expected of them and how to do the best that they can.

When I do, however, give a quiz or exam that is easily graded (mathematics being a good example), why should a student not be allowed to take that test again until they get 100%?

I am a teacher who believes in success for every student (as I am sure you are), but we often let a one-off test be the judgment of how well a student knows a particular area of study.  If it turns out they don't understand it, then it's game over.

But should it be?

I always tell my students that they are welcome to repeat their assessments as many times as they wish until they get it perfect. (I change the tests slightly (unless it's spelling) but stick with the same concepts) Why?  Because it's NOT about the grades.  It's about learning.  If a student doesn't do well, it means they haven't adequately learned the material presented to them.

If a lot of students don't do well, it probably means I haven't done a good enough job of helping them understand, and then I've got some reteaching to do; if there is a small number of students who need specialized help, that's also my responsibility to get some small group time with them and perhaps scaffold the assessment after some more practice together.)

I am always happy to tutor in the mornings (I have 15 minutes set aside for this before school each day), to send emails home to parents requesting specific help, or to do what it takes to help students achieve their personal best.

I'm not claiming perfection here: I am not as consistent as I'd like to be in this practice or many others.  Time and countless other things get in the way of me achieving star teacher status.  I'm sure you get it.

But if students want to achieve their personal best, who am I to stop them?  In fact, isn't it my job to make sure they do so?

What do you think?

Run Around the Field For Five Minutes Routine

I'm in the middle of P6/Grade 5 exhibition with my students.  They are intently focused I would say about 80 percent of the time, but sometimes their eyes roll back in their heads or I actually catch them passed out in front of their computers.

(In another blog I'll write about how important it is during exhibition for teachers and mentors and parents to help in the finding of sites related to their research so students can actually focus in on the research rather than spending the entire six to nine weeks on google fruitlessly culling through millions upon millions of useless sites...)

Meantime, when my students get exhibition fatigue, I give them permission to step out of the room and go for a run.  They just need to look up at me, give me a nod, I give them a nod back, and they know they are allowed to scamper out onto the field for five minutes to clear their heads.  I have some students do it two or three times a day; some students never do it, and most students do it a few times each week.

What I do know is this: each time a student comes back, they're ready to get right back into what they were doing with renewed vim and vigor.  Either that or they've realized they need to be doing something else, and they get going on another aspect of their work.

Giving students permission to take responsibility for not only their own learning, but their own need-to-take-a-break time is important.  My ten and eleven year old students can handle it.  I trust them.  They haven't let me down yet.

Making Stuff With the Kids: It's Not Always About Technology

With all the hi-tech electronic gadgets and the all-consuming iPad, I am gratified that our children are still excited about making the modern-day version of the tin can telephone.  They could be playing on our iPhone and texting back and forth, but instead they are downstairs with their daddy stringing some communication devices together with thread and paper cups.  I love it!  And how do you like this bouquet of construction paper flowers we made yesterday?

My hubby is the crafty parent in the family.  Yesterday he and our eldest daughter made paper chain Chinese New Year decorations; then he and the two kids made "love guns" with Lego, the only kind this mommy will have in the house.  I'm sure they are real guns when I am out of hearing distance, but I get sprayed with bullets of love whenever I enter the room!

Charlotte also made a wand using a pencil, construction paper and a glue stick.  This gave our daughters hours of enchantment.  They were also inspired by recent forays in the movie and book worlds to craft their own "light savers" and Nimbus 2000 broomsticks out of Christmas gift wrap tubes.  It's fun to watch Star Wars and Harry Potter merge into their version of fantasy play.  (Light sabers trump broomsticks.)

At brunch on Sunday, Don taught the girls how to make cartoon figures on the paper tablecloth with chunky crayons, and we followed it up with  a rousing game of Xs and Os. We haven't given in to arming our daughters with iPhones on our dinner outings just yet.  So long as there are tablecloths and crayons, we'll be okay.  Last year, Charlotte made herself an XBox out of a tissue box and happily carried it out with her to restaurants so she could feel like part of the in-crowd.  She wasn't disturbed in the least that hers didn't take batteries.  She's outgrown her XBox, but the girls occasionally bring their knitting needles along when we go out so they can work on their never-ending scarf projects.

No doubt, they will be clamoring to playing "Dragon Vale" on the iPad sometime in the next few hours, but so long as we keep that down to 15 minutes segments we're hoping our kids can continue to embrace their imaginary play with their taped-together weapons and Sharpie microphones and tin can phones.

We're not perfect parents and they're not perfect kids; the apps and the computer will always have their attraction (for all of us), but it's gratifying to see kids having fun without having to resort to electronic entertainment every minute of every day.

The Thinking Questions

My very favorite visible thinking routine is probably the simplest one: the thinking questions.

What makes you say that?

What do you see/hear/read, etc that makes you say that?

What does that tell you, then?

I keep these questions laminated and have students use them with each other during discussions about ANY topic/subject/discipline.  It deepens their level of thinking and makes them justify their opinions.

The simple act of  just saying, "What makes you say that?" regularly in class is a big game-changer.  If you just start with that and make a point of doing it whenever you can, students will get used to it, and their thinking will automatically grow deeper with little planning on your part!

I also use these questions for writing prompts.  Below is a piece a student wrote regarding puberty using the thinking questions.  You can do the same with any topic.  This is written by a grade five student with quite strong writing skills, but I believe this sort of thinking, brought forth through speaking and writing can be encouraged and developed at any level.

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An Example of Using the “THINKING QUESTIONS” to write:

Introductory Sentence:

I think puberty is going to be a challenge.

What makes you say that?

From what we have read, it seems I am going to have to learn some new strategies for getting along with my parents, some new ways of communicating with my friends, plus I am going to be dealing with all my hormones at the same time.  I’m a bit worried about getting my period and all the stuff that goes along with that.

What do you see/hear/feel/read etc. that makes you say that?

I see people like my brother who are already in puberty and the way they act.  They try to be cool, but I can see that he feels insecure and uncomfortable with himself.  His voice is changing and he’s got pimples.  He sometimes talks to girls on the phone, but he always seems embarrassed around girls.

What does that tell you, then?

Watching my brother and other teenagers tells me it is going to be fun, especially since he gets to do way more things that I do, but also rather embarrassing and sometimes a struggle.

Final Paragraph:

I think puberty is going to be a challenge.  From what we have read, it seems I am going to have to learn some new strategies for getting along with my parents, some new ways of communicating with my friends, plus I am going to be dealing with all my hormones at the same time.  I’m a bit worried about getting my period and all the stuff that goes along with that.  I see people like my brother who are already in puberty and the way they act.  They try to be cool, but I can see that he feels insecure and uncomfortable with himself.  His voice is changing and he’s got pimples.  He sometimes talks to girls on the phone, but he always seems embarrassed around girls.  Watching my brother and other teenagers tells me it is going to be fun, especially since he gets to do way more things that I do, but also rather embarrassing and sometimes a struggle.

Ms. Rempel's Office Hours

I usually get to work at 7:30: I greet my colleagues, check my email and do my last minute preparations for the day.  The kids start filtering it at 8:20.  It's a good way to ease into what is always an incredibly busy day of "school stuff."

Last year, I instituted "office hours" from 8:00 to 8:20 where students are welcome to pop in and ask me about anything they're baffled, befuddled or downright confused about.  Alternately, they can chat with me about anything that is on their minds.

While I spend many of my mornings with me, myself and my coffee, a few times a week a student will pop in for a one-on-one session.

I'm all about "personal responsibility" so I never say anyone has to come and see me about academic concerns.  Obviously, I use best practices as best as I can on a daily basis and try to meet students' individual needs, but I don't profess to be a mind reader nor to know every little issue that a student is struggling with.  As teachers, we get the big picture, but it's sometimes hard to put one's finger on that one thing that could make all the difference between perceived failure and success for a student.

I really believe that by P6/Grade 5, students are ready to start taking initiative for their own learning; if it means giving up 10 minutes on the soccer pitch in the morning or sacrificing some hang out time with friends in order to figure something out with a teacher, it's a small sacrifice for what can pay big dividends academically, socially or emotionally.

Last week, L. had an "aha" moment about rounding with decimals; a few days before that E. finally figured out how to move the decimal points in division.  I. has grasped the complexities of the comma when list-making and M. has some idea about how to prepare for her period which she thinks is going to spring on her any day now. S now has a checklist we made together in five minutes flat that will help him be sure he takes everything home he needs for his homework each evening.

Often these little mini-lessons take less than five minutes and the students walk away feeling like they have just mastered the universe, and I continue sipping my coffee thinking, "Hey, I'm not a bad teacher after all."

It's those little moments that can make all the difference.  Try to make room for them in your day.  Let your students know you're willing to take the time.  They may take you up on it, they may not.  That part is up to them.

Permission to Write Rubbish

Why are so many people afraid of so many things, but they’re never afraid of mediocrity?

Alex Bogusky and John Winsor

My students all have writer's notebooks that they carry around with them so whenever they get inspired or hear some juicy conversation, they can quickly jot down their ideas or snatches of talk in their little incubator notebooks, and use their seed ideas to create stories or poems or narratives later on.  They have pages reserved for favorite words, memories, feelings, and list of all sorts that will inspire them to write.

I've been keeping a writer's notebook of one sort or another for the better part of 40 years now and probably have tens of thousands of pages of nonsense, most of which is moldering in my storage locker outside of Seattle, some of tucked in my desk at school and others in safety vaults and storage boxes all around the planet.

Truth be told, most of what I write is inane: my guess would be that at least 80% of it is detritus.  But there's gold in "them thar hills," and the job of a writer is to keep writing no matter what, and then be willing to sift through the sh#@t and find the flecks of gold.

I'm not saying everything I publish is anywhere near the gold standard or even silver: most of it is more like costume jewellry, in fact.  But then again there's nothing wrong with a bit of flashy, cheap jewelry that attracts attention and looks pretty.  I'm not looking to be the best of the best (I'll save that for the likes of John Irving and Alice Munro), but I am looking to entertain and put out some modicum of literature that does not prove distracting by its poor punctuation, prosaic by its overbaked metaphorical allusions or just plain predictable and banal.

Because, yes, I write for myself, but I also write for an audience.  Those 10s of 1000s of pages mostly deserve to be buried under the volcanic ash of unwanted paraphanalia in my storage locker, but some of it also deserves to see the light of day and to be seen by the enlightened reader.

So I tell my students to let go of their monkey minds and let their pencils bleed onto their writer's notebooks or their fingers tap onto their google docs as the case may be, but not to censor, just to write. The hard work is what comes later: the editing, the culling, the finessing. I love that part too.  How gratifying it is to watch a piece evolve from so-so to stellar; how great is it when you can toss out all those tired metaphors and replace them with figurative language that sucker punches you with its vicissitude rather than simply "jumps off the page?"

I'm all about just getting it down, throwing a lot of it out, finding the shiny gems that are sunk in the shite, polishing them up a bit, and getting them out to whatever person who happens to choose to or at least stumble upon my humble attempts at writing.

Because what is writing for if not to share?

PS: One of the most inspiring people I have read as of late is Seth Godin.  His premise is that it's important to not only write something every day, but to share it; that it's not about waiting until perfection finds itself hidden in your product or your writing, but that after a bit of polishing, you actually take the risk and put it out there.  In the age of Internet, you can edit and revise and repost your work, but it's good to step off your jagged cliff and share, even if you've not reached your impossible-to-reach pinnacle of perceived perfection.

Be willing to have an audience, even if it is a critical one.  Godin cites Steve Jobs and how he put out his products, flaws and all, and that later how his team improved on them and put out more and better products based on the earlier ones.  But if he never would have put them out in the first place, Apple would not be the multi-billion corporation that it is today.

Worth considering, right?  For those of you who are writing but not sharing, take the risk and start a blog today.  It just takes a few minutes to set one up.  Cull through some of your old writing, spruce it up a bit, and share it with a few friends to start with.  Who knows where it could go?