House Calls

Should teachers make house calls? Absolutely!

When I first meet a school leader (teacher leader, AP or principal) in a social setting and they find out what I do, a common question (whispered quietly) is “what can I do to address the needs of the (insert the smallest represented demographic group) students on my campus?”

My first answer is, “you and the staff need to make regular home visits.” The person looks at me and makes some excuse about why that’s not feasible or necessary and asks for another idea.

My second answer is, “you and the staff need to make weekly phone calls to the parent.” Again, more excuses. To which I respond, “You asked what you can do, but you’re right, your situation is probably different.”

But the situation at that school isn’t different. The key to meeting the needs of your academically fragile student populations is to first change adult behaviors. And not the behaviors of their parents, but the behaviors of school personnel. We have to reach out to build relationships and change the status quo. If we’re not willing to do that, are we really serious?

I’ll finish with this example: My first teaching job, I was a 22 year old white teacher at a predominantly African American campus, with some students that were 19 and 20 years old. In the first week, my mentor teacher came to my room and said, “Starting this afternoon, we’re making home visits.”

I asked why and she said, “Because if you don’t reach out to these parents, the kids are going to eat you alive and the parents will dismiss you as a racist.”

So we started making visits, just knocking on the door, introducing ourselves and sitting down and talking to the parents of my students for 10 to 20 minutes over a Coke. I told them who I was (one of their child’s teachers), what I taught (math), what I expected (their child to come to class and work hard everyday) and what I wanted (their child to graduate).

The results from the visits were almost instantaneous. After I visited a home, the student started working harder and started to behave better. When there was an issue and I called home, the parent was responsive and worked with me. With the parents I hadn’t visited, the students were a little more lackadaisical, behaved a little worse and when I called the parent to report an issue, the response was less than enthusiastic. And whenever the defensive “racist” label was thrown out, it was always from a parent whose home I had not yet visited.

Looking back at my days in the classroom, the home visit was the most powerful and best thing I did as a teacher.

Thank you Ms. Campbell.

T.W.A. - Your turn…

Staff Presentations - Autopsy of a Failure

Recently, I was working with some assistant principals who are in a Principal Development Program. Specifically, they were presenting staff development modules that they would use on their campuses when the need presented itself. The presentation that was the most valuable was the one that was a complete failure. The failure presented an excellent teachable moment and this is the synopsis of the subsequent discussion:

1) Have a point. Know your main idea, and stay focused on that topic.
a. This presentation had four major components. Each which could have comprised a stand alone presentation.

2) Stay within the time constraints.
a. The time frame was 20 to 30 minutes. This presentation had enough material to fill a couple of hours.

3) A PowerPoint slide represents 5 to 10 minutes of discussion.
a. Don’t talk faster, either break the presentation into smaller chunks or edit. I recommend that you edit.

4) One embedded video is ok, 3 back to back to back is not.

5) When the computer freezes (and someday it will), know your material well enough to go on anyway, or end the presentation with an apology.

The AP was of course embarrassed that everything that could go wrong, did. But I told him, and I honestly believe, that this failure was a good thing. First, it was a safe room. Second, to learn to quickly adapt to adversity requires that you deal with some adversity. Third, better this happen now, instead of in front of 100 staff or the Board and Superintendent.

Does anyone out there have any failure lessons they want to share?

T.W.A. - Your turn…

Dealing With Tragedy

I recently was scheduled to be on a campus first thing in the morning and as I was on the way I got a call. The call was to see if I could come later in the day; the school was dealing with a tragedy.

Of course, I said yes and offered assistance.

The facts were that a very young student had passed away due to a car accident. It was horrible and sad. The only reason why I bring this up is that in the face of this, the students and staff were dealing with it. There was grief, crying and discussions; but there was also real human teaching and learning going on. Life hurts, but we still have to live.

For all the second guessing that schools, teachers and administrators face everyday, I can promise you that the second guessers weren’t there that day.

I did show up later that afternoon. But mostly to hold some hands and give some hugs. It wasn’t much. But it was all I could do.

Here’s hoping that you never have to deal with this at your school, but if you do, you’ll do the right thing.

Your turn…

Get Stuff For Free

I just read, How to Get Free Classroom Supplies: Educators share tips for stocking up - without reaching into their own wallets. By Tamar Snyder.
http://www.edutopia.org/free-school-supplies-fundraising-donation

It’s a quick and timely read. As budgets get tighter, classroom supplies always get squeezed. This article reminds us that showing a little initiative can go a long way in solving the little problems that slow us down.

There were a couple of interesting factoids in the article. One of the example teachers who is well know for his students performance on AP tests, points out his need to copying access due to the considerable amount of formative assessment that he does in his classroom.

The article also provides a number of links to organizations that help supply classrooms.

At the very least, you may want to send the article to some of your more motivated teachers.

T.W.A. – Your turn…

Recommended Book - "Outliers"

As I was flying to Utah today, I finished “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. An excellent read, as are his two previous books. This time he is examining the ultra-exceptional. I’ll have some posts in the near future concerning some of his more interesting points. Put this book on your must read list!

T.W.A – Your turn…

Final Exams - Make a Good One

So what would make a good final exam? I suggest going in one of two directions. Option one is the essay version. For essays, I recommend a test that consists of one to three short essay questions based on the major themes of the course. But here’s the catch, give the students the grading rubric and the essay questions prior to the testing date. That way they have time to organize their thoughts and create a product that best reflects the depth of their understanding of the course material.

Option two is the multiple choice test. But here I recommend that the test questions come from the items that were missed by the most students on the short-term, common assessments. That way it is possible to determine if the critical areas of the content that needed to be re-taught, were or not.

This series of posts reflects my general thoughts on final exams. What did I miss?

Your turn…