Attorney in Training: A Strategy to Cut Down on Arguments in the Classroom through Writing

                It is early Monday morning and you are excited about today’s lesson.  Your students are listening attentively as you state the essential question.  Then Johnny leaves his seat to sharpen his pencil.  You write his name on the board without saying a word signaling to Johnny that he has broken a classroom rule. 

He immediately rebuffs, “Why did you write my name on the board?” 

You know how this scenario will unfold if you tell Johnny that his name is on the board for breaking rule two—raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.  He will tell you that he had to sharpen his pencil.  You will tell him that your rule does not say “Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat…unless you have to sharpen your pencil.”  He will then look at you like you are crazy even though he knows good and well that he is in the wrong.  He will then retaliate once again with why he did nothing wrong.

You might have noticed that I have had this discussion many times with a variety of students.  In previous years and the start of this one, I have wanted to explain my reasoning to students so they would see that I was not being unfair to them. 

When I moved up to teaching middle school, this strategy did not work.  I would explain my reasoning to the student; certain students would look at me like I was speaking a different language, or they would take my correction personal.  So I decided to come up with a way for students to explain their point of view without destroying the positive atmosphere I have worked hard to create. 

Instead of arguing with Johnny, give him an “An Attorney in Training” writing assignment.  (This assignment teaches students how to write argumentative essay.)  You tell Johnny that you really want to understand his point of view.  This writing assignment encourages Johnny to explain his side of the argument, back his claim with facts, state the teacher’s side of the argument, then write a conclusion.  During this process if Johnny really did not understand what he did incorrectly, he should know by the end of this assignment.  Plus, he is practicing writing an argumentative essay!  This is a win-win for an English teacher.

Another way you may use this strategy is if you have two students arguing with each other.  Give both of the students an “Attorney in Training” writing assignment.  This will give these students an opportunity to empathize with others.  Also the fact that the title of this assignment is “Attorney in Training” places a positive spin on a negative classroom behavior.

Please get your free copy of this “Attorney in Training” at my TPT’s store here, or you may download it from my website here.  Thank you for reading and I hope this strategy will help settle some of debates that are ongoing in the classroom. 

How do I Keep Records of Differentiating Instruction? (This goes a step further than lesson plans.)

Hello everyone!  It has been a while since I have posted a blog, but I try really hard not to overload my blog with information unless it is important to me or I have a new perspective on a topic.  Basically, my blog is mostly where I record my "light bulb" moments and I had another one yesterday.

All teachers should know what it means to differentiate.  My dilemma came when I was to record assignments onto an online grade book like SAM 7.  I somehow felt like I needed to have a certain amount of assignment completed by all of my students so I could give them a grade.  Keep in mind, I would still differentiate these assignments by having my more advanced students complete the HOT {Higher Order Thinking} exercises, my lower performing students completing practice problems, and my average performing students completing a little of both.  But on more circumstances than one, I noticed that the HOT exercises were still below my advanced students' thinking while the practice problems might be too difficult for my lowest performing students.  I felt I was not giving my students what they truly needed to be successful.  

Then it hit me after a conversation with a coworker!  I do not have to be too specific when I record these assignments to the online grade book.  (Before, I would be specific when recording my grades into the online grade book so parents would know exactly how their child was doing with a specific skill.)  So my entry with the assignment title in the grade book might be "Factors and Multiples Practice."  Now, in order to assess each child where they need to be, I might label this same assignment as "Daily 1" with other entries being "Assessment 1" or "Homework 1."  Now, I know if you are anything like me, this idea sounds horrifying.  I hate being general with anything but hear me out.

In the online grade book I use, there is a section beside each child's grade to leave a comment.  In this comment box, type the specifics of the assignment.  That way, you may asses each child with skills they need and their parents will know which skills this grade represents.

Here is the next issue I struggled with for this new idea.  How will I record these specifics in my hardcover record book?  Well, I created my own record book.  My co-teacher and I have divided our students into ability groups throughout the 4th grade.  Her homeroom consist of 19 children and mine consist of 20 children.  We meet with our homeroom classes in the morning, and after announcements, we divide our students into our ability groups:  VIP, Super Stars, and Dream Team. (Our VIP group alternates between being in class with the Super Stars and the Dream Team.)   Now, this set up could be another blog post on its own, but back to the record book situation.

I created a record book with enough pages for each group.  (In this case, 3 pages.)  I will record the specifics of the group's assignment onto their own page in the record book.  Then, I can record the assignment as "Daily 1" onto the online grade book.

So there it is.  I hope you find this idea helpful.  I am including a free copy of the record book I created below.  If you would like the full version, please visit my TPT shop here.

For the freebie version, go here and download.

Also, keep looking back if you are interested in how my amazing co-teacher organized our ability groups across the 4th grade.  :)

Review of the book, Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids by Chris Biffle

I purchased Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids through kindle for only $7.99, and I could not put it down!  I thought this work was absolutely genius!  It is like Mr. Biffle and his crew thought of EVERYTHING!  When I finished this book, I had 6 and 1/2 pages (front and back) of notes. 

With that said, I was a little overwhelmed by the information presented so I decided for this school year to work my way into Whole Brain Teaching.  I almost wish Mr. Biffle would create an instruction manual with day by day instructions of when to present this idea to class or when to teach this strategy; the author does give a general outline of how to use these methods, but I need it spelled out for me.  

Since I have not found such a manual, I do not plan to go 100% WBT for the 2014-2015 school year, but I feel I will use 50% of this incredible information.  

What I liked and think I can implement...

• "The Big Seven"--Class-Yes, Teach-Okay, The Five Classroom Rules, Scoreboard, Hands and Eyes, Switch, and Mirror.  I will defiantly be using ALL seven of these.  I love these so much, and I truly believe these will help my students be the best they can be.  I love how Biffle describes how each of these in regards to how they stimulate different parts of the brain.  I could tell that he researched the brain and knew his stuff when creating WBT.  Also, this book gives scripts for all of these so teachers will know exactly how to present these concepts to their students.
• Micro-lecturing:  "The more we talk, the more students we lose," Chris Biffle says.  He suggest this wonderful strategy of "micro-lecturing" which is lecturing in small doses (no more than 30 seconds).  The same information will be covered, but when you pair this with "Teach-Okay" or "Switch" students are more engaged in the information.
• Daily Test Taking Skills:  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea, and I am a little annoyed that I did not think of this, but Biffle suggests that students need 10 minutes a day in math and 10 minutes of Language Arts of test taking strategies every single day.  I also love how this book gives concrete examples of how to teach test taking strategies.  (There is even a timeline of when to introduce new test taking strategies.)
• Practice Cards:  These serve as a consequence for breaking a rule.  Basically, teachers are suggested to make students practice a rule that was broken instead of a pointless punishment like writing lines.  This part of the book is very detailed and very informative.
• Challenging Students:  Biffle gives practical strategies of how to get through to the toughest kids. 

What I was confused about or thought was too time consuming...     

• This book suggest dividing your class into 4 groups (Alphas, Go Alongs, Fence Sitters, and Challenging Students) and assign points to each student in each group.  Biffle suggests helpful strategies you may implement to move students up the behavior ladder.  You must reevaluate your class weekly using the point system to hopefully move each child to a more favorable category.  Don't get me wrong, I think this is a fantastic idea, but I feel like this might be too time consuming for me.  (You must keep detailed records of students behavior throughout the week to categorize them properly.)  
• Brain Toys:  This concept intrigues me, but I am still a little confused about how to use these.  I do know that this part referenced http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisBiffle to see how these "brain toys" may be used.  

Now you must know, that I only scratched the surface of the information found in this book.  You really need to check it out.  It states in this book that out of 2,000 educators surveyed, 98% thought that Whole Brain Teaching was a better method of teaching.  I really LOVE that statistic.

The freebie for this post is an activity that I created for "Rule 5:  Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy."  This is a cut and paste sort of items that would keep your teacher happy and what would not keep the teacher happy.  You may also find it at my TeachersPayTeachers store here.  I plan on using this the first week of school, and I hope you find it helpful too.  

What does high expectations really mean?

Is it possible that I was the only teacher in the world that was confused about what it means to have high expectations?  I always felt that what one would expect, was a natural reaction that could not be helped.  For example, if I saw that the sky was cloudy, I would expect it to rain.  Or if I ran around outside on the pavement without shoes in the summer, I would expect my feet to burn.  I wrote this post to possibly help others that are confused about having high expectations for students like I was.

Let me back up for one moment.  It seems like the key to being successful in the teaching world is to have high expectations of your students' abilities.  Principal after principal, and book after book would say that your students will not perform proficiently unless you have high expectations for them.  I must admit that I would nod my head and pretend I understood what they meant by this.  I must say that out of everything I have done, the concept of expecting greatness out of my students always left me scratching my head.  

The whole argument is that when you expect that your students will achieve greatness then they will.  Then my thoughts would lead to, "If I expect my dog to 'meow' and I really believe that, will he?"  Or if I expect my pet goldfish to learn trigonometry, will he?  The whole concept of high expectations really confused me to no end.  Like I stated above, I had always believed that this was just a natural reaction and could not be controlled.  

Now I am going into my fifth year of teaching and my confidence with my abilities is greater than ever; I think I am starting to understand what this business of high expectations is all about.  I started with the following questions...

1. Do I believe that every child can achieve greatness?  Yes, I do.
2. Do I believe that every child can learn my content area (4th grade math)?  Yes, I do given that I have enough time to work with these children.

That is when I had a light bulb moment after four years as a classroom teacher.  I HAVE TO BELIEVE IN MYSELF!  I need to have high expectations for myself before I can have high expectations for my students.  

So now, after I have gotten my feet wet in this profession and am not so "green" I am confident that I can teach my students anything.  However, I cannot go into my classroom on the first day of school and just "expect" my babies to achieve greatness without proper planning. I need to plan EVERYTHING and treat each child as if they all have an IEP (Individual Education Program). I need to really focus on my students' unique personalities and learning styles in order for each one to be successful.  

I need to have interventions included in my lesson plans and not allow my students to fail. I plan to tell them, "I will not leave you alone until you get this concept."  

I plan to keep accurate records of each child and what they have mastered and not mastered.  The students that have not mastered a skill or skills, will have interventions with me during silent reading time, during their activity time, practice computer games, or whatever I have to do to get that child to mastery.  I know what I am capable of, so therefore I know that every child I am responsible for can achieve anything I want them to.  (Some students may require more work than others, but they can still do it!)    

In summary, I realized that in order for me to have high expectations for my students, I need to trust in my own abilities to make these children learn.  I hope my little rant was helpful.

Since you were so wonderful to read all of this, I am including a free Individual Education Program template for you.  Create one for every child and really know each baby inside and out so you will know what you need to do to reach them.  
(For example, does Johnny have a person at home that can help them with his homework?  If not, you might want to allow Johnny some time with you or a peer tutor to complete his homework.)

I know this will take some time, but it will be completely worth it!