One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching for me is that moment when I finally feel like I've gotten through to a student-- possibly making a difference in their life by helping them to feel good about themselves. Such a moment happened to me on Friday...
As teachers, we've all had those students who've tested us, to try to figure out our limits and to push our buttons. For me this year, that student is Sam. Sam enjoys making off topic comments to make his peers laugh and laughing at inappropriate times. Then he has difficulty getting back to task. At first I tried talking with Sam, explaining why his behavior was problematic. He seemed to understand. I asked Sam what he could do differently to change his behavior the next time. Although he always seemed to have the right answers and even apologized, inevitably, the behavior remained the same. When asked why he was acting that way, he would reply, "I don't know."
After talking with Sam's classroom teacher, the three of us sat down together, to talk with Sam about how he would be held to the same expectations by all teachers. That didn't work. Since the classroom teacher had had Sam in third grade as well, she had already established a close working relationship with his mom. Sam's mom was very supportive when the teacher called her and then she had a long talk with Sam. Still the behavior continued. A few days later, I called Sam's mom. Once again, she was very supportive and asked me what I thought we should do. I explained that I thought it was very important for Sam to know that we are all on the same page, that we are all in communication with one another. Although this was a crucial part of our conversation, it wasn't what interested me the most....
As a dyslexic student, I work with Sam on both reading and writing, especially in elaborating upon his thoughts. In third grade, he was not very expressive in his writing. So at the beginning of the year, I was thrilled to witness Sam's voice shining through, loud and clear on a piece of paper, whatever form it came in. Sam's class had been required to write what Lucy Calkin's calls a small moment, taking an individual event and writing about it descriptively so the reader can picture what happened in their mind. When I read Sam's piece it wasn't written in this style, however, it was a good piece of writing.
Not wanting to squash Sam's enthusiasm for this piece, I borrowed a technique that I had learned about this summer from reading Katherine Bomer's book (Hidden Gems: Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student's Writing) In her book she talks about providing students first with feedback about what they are doing well in their writing before giving constructive criticism. Sam was using a technique that Bomer discusses that good writers use-- modeling their writing after a style that a good writer uses. Sam had written his paragraph in the style of Jeff Kinney, author of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Sam's small moment was funny, filled with commentary and a huge dose of his voice.
After complimenting Sam on his writing style, his body seemed to swell with pride-- he sat up straighter and a smile spread across his face. Afterward, I had to explain to him that in fourth grade, he needed to practice the more descriptive style of writing in school. But outside of his assignments, he should continue to practice writing in Jeff Kinney's style. Although Sam was disappointed, he seemed to understand. However, for some weeks later, I did not see that same spark or enthusiasm in Sam, or in his writing.
In talking with Sam's mom, I mentioned to her his first piece of writing. Unbeknownst to me, that very afternoon, he had shared it with his mom. Sam's mom, proud of him, sent a copy of his piece to his grandparents. She told me that he had been very excited about it. This story inspired my second piece of advice to his mom about what would be helpful for Sam-- providing him with plenty of positive reinforcement about what he is doing well.
The next day, Sam came into school, completely turned around. He was attentive, polite, dutiful in focusing upon and completing his work, and even resisted his peers' attempts to engage in inappropriate behavior. Usually one to complain about having to write and to ask how much more until he was done, that day, Sam wrote an entire small moment paragraph. His voice appeared back within the lines of the page, but this time, also included the descriptive style required of fourth grade students. Sam enjoyed my praise of his piece, responded well to constructive criticism, and even thanked me at one point in the session. He asked if he could begin a second small moment and was excited to hear that he could.
In my ninth year of teaching, I'm not naive enough to think that Sam's fooling around behavior and testing of limits will never again rear its ugly head. In fact, I am confident that it will resurface from time to time. What I do know is that my opinion of Sam changed that day. I saw a student in front of me who could control his behavior and genuinely did want to do well, as all students do.
At the end of the session, I called Sam into the hallway. I told him that I had talked with his mom the day before and she had told me about sending a copy of his story to his grandparents. Sam's body once again swelled with pride and he looked up at me, smiling, his eyes wide open as I explained to him that we were going to xerox a copy of his most recent small moment so he could go home and share it with his mom.
About 45 minutes after the last bus pulled away from school that afternoon, I called Sam's mom to thank her for talking with him and that whatever she had said to him had worked. She was glad to hear it and thankful for my phone call. When I mentioned that we had xeroxed his newest great piece of writing to bring home, she told me that it was already hanging up on the refrigerator.
Questions to Ponder-- Choose one or both of these to think about.
1. What is a breakthrough moment that you've had with a student?
2. How do you use positive reinforcement to help students feel good about what they are doing in the classroom?
i was a ta in a 7-8th grade special ed math class. they all believed they were stupid and could not learn math...that is why they were not in normal math class, and were learning remedial math. They were learning math at least 1 year behind grade level, more often 2 years.
ReplyDeleteI got them to learn the FOIL method of multiplying binomials (we just worked through several problems together on the whiteboard), it was what they were suppose to be learning in math class. A light bulb went off in those kids head. They could learn the same things that other kids were learning, the did not need to learn remedial math, they just needed to learn in a different way.