Flattening Your Classroom

Reflect on the Julie Lindsay & Vicki Davis on "Flattening Classrooms" and post a blog entry that shares an idea you have implemented, or recently discovered, that fosters collaboration and helps to develop students’ respectful and ethical minds. 


     The topic of this week's discussion is Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis's educational approach called "Flattening Classrooms." Let me preface this by saying the original request was to watch a video they did and use it as the basis for this discussion. However, the video was not hearing impaired friendly so I had to seek out what resources I could on the internet and in publications. This in and off itself was rather interesting as there is not much out there which shows just how new or difficult this process must be to integrate in to the classroom.The theory behind "flattening" your classroom is simply removing the proverbial walls that exist and opening your students to a global society. One of the largest skills that this approach requires is being respectful and ethical in communication with the cultures that the students may communicate with. Preparing our kids for this task requires extensive planning and modeling before they can venture in to the global educational adventure that is "flattening" your classroom.

      I find it is easier to teach the aspect of being respectful than it is to teach what is ethical, since ethics are more arbitrary,  in my classroom. I take a multi-step approach to teaching respect in my classroom. When I was a sophomore in college at Kent State, I stumbled upon a book, The Essential 55, by Ron Clark that changed the entire way I approached teaching. Teaching is not about the teacher or assessments but about the kids and relationships; and your classroom is not yours but it is the kids. It is the place you spend eight hours a day together and as such it should feel as if it is both the teacher's and the student's. In Clark's book he discusses establishing the expectations, not rules, of acceptable behavior in the beginning and strictly ensures they are followed. Rather than touch on all 55 Expectations, below you will find a poster of all 55, I only want to focus on the ones I have found are the most successful in my classroom and how I use them to foster collaboration and developing respectful behavior.

      On the first day of school, there are a few things I feel are important to discuss beyond my syllabus and school paperwork. The first thing I do is explain my story. I come from a transient family. At first it was because we were in the military, then because it was what we did. We would move consistently every 1 1/2 to 2 years, mixing in a separation from my parent that landed my mom, sister and myself in Utah while my dad was in Japan. Never establishing a home before we left, we would trade labor for rent in dilapidated houses in cities we moved to. I remember one house had been a squatting place for local homeless and we spent a few weeks cleaning  up broken beer bottles, human feces, and trash out of the place as we fixed it up to live in. I remember this house because before we moved in to it we had spent the past 6 months living in a motel where we lived off a hot plate, microwave and mini-fridge. Growing up I didn't think much of it. I knew we were trying to be better than the family we had. I come from drug users, alcoholics, criminals, child molesters and high school drop-outs. I did not know anyone with a college degree outside of the teachers I had in school. Add to the enjoyment of my childhood, I have been nearly deaf wearing hearing aids going on thirty years. I tell this story not for pity but because the one common factor that I remember growing up was that respect was one of the most important tenets for my parents. It did not matter what clothes I wore, or if I used a sharpie to keep my shoes looking "new" or that I couldn't afford field trips and special lunch items, I had my respect and I would show respect no matter what.  I explain to my kids on day one, no matter where you come from or what you have been through, it doesn't cost you a single thing to be respectful. 
    When I was 23 and a manage at a local Wendy's I committed myself to changing my life by changing the lives of kids by becoming a teacher. I wasn't exactly sure how I would do it but I knew my goal was to teach in an urban district that needed teachers who wanted to be there. It wasn't until I found Clark's book that I discovered how I wanted to do it. I realized that respect has to be taught and modeled, especially in an urban district where respect is something that holds street value.  I thought to myself which of these would be the best and impact my students the most.

The fact is these 55 can really be simplified in to the following:

1. Always acknowledge people who speak to you and respond to them with "Yes, sir," and "No, ma'am".

I set this in motion from the get go. I teach the students that I expect every response to include "sir" at the end of it or I will not respond. In exchange, I model the same behavior to them. When they ask a question or answer, I respond in the same manner.  I still run in to students I had years ago, and they respond to me the exact same way they did when they were my students.

2. Clean up after yourself no matter if you were the person to make the mess.

One of the best things I have found for fostering collaboration and respect in my classroom comes from something I saw when a student in Japan. Every week 8 students are assigned a classroom job. These jobs include sweeping the floor, wiping the desks, passing out and collecting  papers, stamping do nows, answering my phone, being the substitute if a student worker is absent, taking the attendance and issuing rewards. At the end of each week they select the new students who will take their job the following week. This practice gives the students responsibility and a sense of ownership in our classroom. I consistently have the cleanest and most organized room in the building due to their hard work. They feel as if this is their room and they are more comfortable working in it. By doing this they become more comfortable in the room and more active which increases collaboration.

3. Put doing something nice for someone at the top of your list.

This one can be a little harder to model but I find ways. I know many of our teachers spend money beyond what is expected, I am no different. I buy track shoes, coats, candy bars, dance tickets, food and more for students who need it. When they ask me why I do all of these things, I always go back to the motto on the wall "Pay it Forward." I explain to them that you never know if the one nice thing you did for someone may save their life. You can never ruin someone's day by doing something nice for them.  Now in my classroom, students volunteer to sharpen pencils, grab supplies, help with projects and more for student's they never even spoke to before. It's a great sight to see my kids embracing each other for who they are rather than what their popularity status is.

4. Involve as many people in your fun. 

The best thing I have seen in my classroom comes as a result of the entire 55 and that's the belief that you can involve anyone in your project. When we began the year using flexible grouping, I would hear the typical "I'm not working with them," or "I can't sit near her" grumbles and groans. As the year progressed and the 55 took hold, I never heard a single thing from my kids about who they were grouped with. The quality of their work went up, the amount of collaboration increased, classroom problems were nearly non-existent compared to where we started at the beginning of the year. Students seek out to make sure no one is excluded. It rolls over in to the lunchroom. There are no kids sitting alone and everyone is conversing and getting along. It's an amazing thing to see!

At the end of the day, developing a classroom that fosters respect and collaboration comes down to developing relationships with and among the kids and then modeling for them 24/7 what it looks like. We can't enter our classrooms expecting all students to know what being respectful means and looks like. Street respect and classroom respect are not the same thing, and unfortunately many of them do not know it. Put the time in to model for them what you want. I mean after all, like Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see."

from the Ron Clark Academy (www.ronclarkacademy.com)

Spotlight on Strategies: Foldables

https://www.smore.com/sj4s5

The instructional goal/challenge my Spotlight on Strategy, Foldables, addresses student struggles with note-taking and hands on interaction with their materials. Since every curriculum, regardless of technology integration, struggles with students ability to take notes effectively, focusing on foldables is an easy, yet appealing, for teachers to improve their students note-taking. As a teacher you have many options when it comes to using foldables and flexibility finding the best foldable for your method of teaching. I tend to post mine to the class website and students can print them off and complete them as they watch/read the information posted online. I also print out copies for us to do in class as we are learning a lesson. There are also PDF versions available that allow you to edit them online and print them out.  By using foldables combined with digital media, students are able to create 3-D note-taking and study guides that enhance their studies and force them to actually interact with the information posted while creating tangible manipulative that can be used for grades, formative assessments, and practical study guides. 

Do kids know what Creativity means?

After last week's discussion about whether we are schools are killing creativity. That spawned an awesome new approach to the question, "do kids even know what it means to be creative?' What do they think creativity should look like.  I sat down with my 8th grade students this week to discuss what content classes they believe allow them to be their most creative and what exactly in their opinion should a creative classroom look like. What did I find out? My kids really do not understand what creativity means.

Almost all of my students seem to view creativity as doing whatever they want. It's a strange conundrum as in it's most uniform description they are kind of right. Creativity should be allowing students to do what they want in order to show their understanding of a learning target. However, in the way my students presented their responses, they believe that creativity should allow them to do what they want, content-wise, on their own schedule.  I know this fits the Flipped class model or providing pacing that matches up with the students comfort level, but as my kids stated "sometimes we just don't want to do school." That isn't a pacing model that is saying that they value their time more than their education. They want to be able to have "off-days" where they do not do anything. I don't find that creative at all, just lazy. 

As we went on in our conversations we started to discuss what a creative classroom should look like unfortunately my kids only concept of what a creative classroom looks like involves putting their work on display. Once I should them this image of one of the Ron Clark Academy's classrooms, their ideas changed. They couldn't believe that a classroom was allowed to do this. At this point, their imaginations opened a little. I am in the same boat they are, why are we not allowed to do this to our classrooms? If we are truly a student centered teacher then why are we keeping our rooms so sanitary and uniform? We could invite creativity and optimism in to the rooms simply by showing them it's allowed. 

Are schools killing creativity?

    This week I was presented with an interesting question, "are schools killing our kid's creativity?" I wish the answer was an easy one, but the  is it is not. In reality, it is a tough pill to swallow, but schools, legislation and teachers are all killing creativity in our kids.  I know it's not going to be a popular response but the fact is the combination of the three is the perfect storm of creativity drain.        
    Schools have the largest bearing on this fact. Their desire to fall under budget, improve test scores and develop "socially responsible" children takes priority over everything else. It is not a comprehensive across-all-grades attack on creativity, rather a systematic poisoning that starts at the sixth grade level. Prior to the sixth grade, the case can be made that creativity is actually so ingrained in the curriculum and the student's daily school lives that discussing creativity issues only occurs when there is not enough. Think about it for a second, Art classes, recess, holiday parties, and vivid classroom decorations are all the hallmarks of the elementary school level. Once a student hits the sixth gradient is as if we automatically shut off the things that they are accustomed to having that represents creativity. We over them from inviting rooms and schedules that foster creativity in to rigid sanitized rooms that prioritize test scores and "adult" behavior under the false premise that this is the best method to prepare them for 21st century jobs. 
    Legislation, at the state and school administration level, also plays a substantial role in poisoning the proverbial well of creativity. With emphasis on budgeting, test scores and teacher performance in order to either increase their popularity and chances of election or re-election, the priority doesn't seem to be on following current right-brain based educational research but rather on outdated practices and publicity stunts that present creativity as a method for slacking teachers to use.  As long as those in charge do not see the value of creativity in the classroom at all grade levels, the slow death of creativity based lessons will continue.
    I've saved teachers for last. I have been teaching since 2009 and have been in a variety of school systems, from inner city poverty stricken schools to rural Alaskan Bush schools. From 100% school provided lunches to private schools and if there is anything I have learned it is they all have teachers. Yes, I am aware how obvious that statement is. However, think about it. There is no one individual in a student's day that has more effect on their lives than their teachers. The interaction between a teacher far outnumbers the interaction with administrators and legislators. It is this knowledge that we have to embrace. And with this knowledge comes the fact that we, as teachers, are allowing the death of creativity in our rooms to happen. We have become so focused on abbreviations (PBL, STEM, TBT, NEA, blah blah blah), Common Core, test scores, evaluations and more, that the thought of making our lessons creative has drifted to the furthest reach of our minds. We hold the most responsibility for the dearth of creativity in our classrooms as we are the most impactful aspect our creativity implementation in our kid's lives.
   So what do we do to fix this problem? The fact is we do not control our schools or our administration/legislation's decisions, as much as we want to say we do. We do, however, control our rooms and our lesson plans. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the research available and how to apply it to our students. Learning style inventories are a great starting point. Once you have an idea of how you kids prefer to learn you can start creating lessons that appeal to all of them. The next step is to admit that test scores are about as useful as grades. They are simply a measurement tool of standardized information. They are traditional and in reality our kids really do not know their purpose. Saying a student has an F is not always a perfect representation of their intelligence or achievement. It is our job to find the best way to reach in to their potential and help them bring it to the forefront. We need to start thinking of what 21st century skills are and how to prepare them for it. In my humble opinion, the real solution lies in Problem Based Learning approaches. PBL(another abbreviation, I know I know.) offers so much possibility in the realm of creativity. It gives the students differentiation but more importantly it allows them to create solutions to problems presented in a content specific way that not only allows them to be creative but expects them to be! The mindset shift from traditional assessments to one that allows multiple possibilities and outcomes for assessment will be an immediate change in the performance of our kids. 
    The second thing and arguably the most important is we, as teachers, need to demonstrate creativity ourselves in our classrooms. Think back to what a 2nd grade classroom looked like. It was so inviting. Bright colors, artwork everywhere, bean bag chairs, books galore and more. It felt like a creative atmosphere we all wanted to be in. As we grew older, the rooms became more "intellectual." The funny art and cartoons were replaced with pictures from history. The sticker boards and classroom jobs became replaced by straight rows and a ton of rules. We need to make our classrooms creative and inviting. We need to reach back to the fun opportunities that elementary school presented to make our rooms comfortable, inviting and fun so that our students will embrace the ideas of being creative. They need that built in support system that an inviting room creates. If we can model things we want to see from our kids, the chance of them embracing their creative side will explode like a volcano. Ask yourself, is your room an obvious display of your creativity? If not, how can we expect them to be creative?