Monday, June 27, 2011

Subtle Messages Shape Students, my June 16 blog post on Teaching Tolerance
I have made so many mistakes over my many years of teaching--but I have also had lots of inspirational moments. This blog post is as much a call to action for myself as for other teachers.

"I just don’t know what to do about Jordan," confessed Mary, whom I’d just met. I don’t know if she was confiding in me because I teach English or because that’s just what one does at a nail salon. “Last year, he spent hours filling his journals and talking about being a writer when he grew up. Now he hardly writes at all. He says he’s not any good at it.”

Mary explained that during the previous school year, her son’s English teacher praised him for his writing and encouraged him to keep a journal. It was filled to the brim by the last day of school. Unfortunately, this year’s writing teacher focused primarily on mistakes he’d made. The constant criticism caused him to believe that he was not a good writer. Jordan soon began to dread English class. He stopped journaling altogether.

I don’t believe that Jordan’s teachers differed in their intentions or motivations—both wanted him to excel at writing. But something was subtly different between the two. Neither explicitly labeled him as good or bad, but their attitudes, words and actions yielded wildly different outcomes.

This particular phenomenon is not an isolated occurrence. The power of suggestion or expectation has been labeled as self-fulfilling prophecy. If someone just believes he or she will fail then failure is likely.

A 2010 study found that even slight hints about expectations can influence a student one way or another. In this study, researchers gave several students the same test. Test takers were divided into three groups. Members of one group were told to identify their tests with an A. The second group used an F. The third group used a J. The test takers who used A outperformed the F and J students, and the F’s ranked the lowest. These differing scores reveal how vulnerable students are to even subtle suggestions about their performance.

We need to be aware of the many subtle ways that we communicate approval and affirmation—or the opposite. This requires reflection on our part. But it also requires vigilance in day-to-day interactions with students.

Consider where particular students sit: Are they physically far away from you?

Do you smile more often at some students?

Do you call on everyone or just a select few? Do you give each student equal time when answering a tough question? Do you feed hints to only certain students and then lack patience with others?

It is impossible to be aware of all the unintentional messages we send students. However, we must do our best to use the power of the unsaid for students’ benefit. We must ensure that Jordan will continue to fill many more journals.


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Thursday, November 02, 2006

Our new nightly routine is reading Sophia's "oga" (Yoga) book. The alligator pose and lion pose are her favorites. Photos will soon follow....

I know... The suspense is killing you.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Sophia is officially a little, tree-hugger hippie in the making. She likes to run around naked, eat tomatoes raw of the bush, and tonight she was eating hummus by the spoonful. A mother could never be prouder. :)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

My beautiful girl... who loves her "natos"... or otherwise known as tomatoes.

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My sweet Sophia

She is now throwing herself head first on the floor when she gets upset. It is like she's going to sleep, but she cries instead of snores. Her version of a tantrum... truthfully, it is more funny than anything!

Her newest toddler word invention: eye-lips... you know that flap of skin that covers your eyes. They aren't eyelids, but rather eye-lips...
makes sense right.... we do give butterfly kisses with our eyes!

:)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

I've been too tired to write anything lately. :( Though, I am working on an article about naming traditions around the world, but it is coming slowly during the bits of freetime I have.

Other news... My good friend Kate just had a home birth to a beautiful 9 lb and 5 oz. boy! YAH!


And compltely unrelated to my personal life is this article I just read.

Monday, July 17, 2006



This article focuses on how technology can be used to implement certain teaching principles.

It focuses on how teachers can better interact with students, but I believe it left out parental involvement which can be sometimes very essential. Using newsletters, on-line grade books, teacher web pages, can keep parents more in touch, which has been proven to help students be more successful in the classroom. It talked mainly about, though, e-mail being a great communication tool in which students can respond quickly to students' homework, the speed of the response helping aid the learning process.

Technology can also help create a more active learning atmosphere. This article is dated, so it only stated one example: the word processor. However, in this day and age, there is so much more out there! These include SmartBoards, AlphaSmarts, Web quests, Reading Pens, Etc.

Technology can also be used to communicate high expectations of students and keep them more on tasks. An example in the article is the use of web publishing of student projects helps keep pupils "honest" since their work will be displayed for all to see on the World Wide Web. Other uses come to mind, like "spy ware," used by administrators, teachers, or librarians to monitor student activity on a computer.

Finally, technology helps us teach a diverse class, everyone with individualized needs. Technology has allowed more effective inclusion of special education students better than ever before. There are devices now so that all hearing- and/or visually-impaired students can participate in the classroom like everyone else.

Although this article is dated (1996) like the previous article posted, it has good points/principles that can be applied to teaching and technology available today.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Seriously Considering Play by Lloyd P. Rieber

This article's main purpose is to emphasize the importance of play in the learning process and integrating technology in order create a more "playful" atmosphere.

After reading it, I first thought of this book, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson. I then thought about my daughter Sophia.

I read education articles differently now that I am not just a teacher but also a mother. I can't help but relate everything to my daughter. The above article reminds me of a different article from one of the myriad of parenting magazines that I have read in the past three years.

It talked about the lack of free time for children to play, to explore their world, because parents fill up kid's days with different programs from sports, karate, piano lessons... you name it. "Seriously Considering Play" also addresses this in that "play" has a bad reputation as being frivolous and useless. It says this is perhaps due to lack of a universal definition of play.

However, I believe as both articles discussed that "play," can be defined as using one's imagination and is important because a child needs to be creativite and essentially create. One point from the parenting magazine that really stuck in my head was that inventors and inventions would not exsist if "play" or using one's imagination ceased.

After reading both or these articles, I ask myself how can I help my daughter as well as my students learn through games?

I know that at home I try to have elements availble for her to play with, such as foam alpabet and numbers that she rearranges. And sometimes educational toys are atypical. For instance, she is learning the difference between left and right when she puts on her play shoes.

Also, I try to give her space when she is pouring milk into another cup. Yes, it will make a mess, and it is necessary for her to drink milk out of a different cup. However, she is learning to refine her motor skills and about pouring. Also, I try to be patient when she wants to put on the lid of every sippie cup she owns or when she wants to buckle and unbuckle her doll over and over again in her high chair.

As for my students, I try to be open to discussions that come up in the classroom. I have many props that we use when discussing/acting out literature. I love to allow them to illustrate vocabulary words with their own idea of what they should look like. Nontheless, I know that I should be always looking how I can do more!

Oh, the places we will go.... Dr. Suess is my inspiration; the world is my playground. Let's explore and learn something new!