By Sandy LaBelle
Our young adults do not see very far into the future. Two of their frequently asked questions go something like, ?Why do we have to do this? How is this going to benefit me?? Responding how it will be good for them in their adult lives does not seem to motivate them.
How to Increase Students? Desire to Complete Work and do Makeup Work Promptly
I?m going to share with you what works for me. However, it may require you to think differently. Ready? Change the focus of tests. After all, where does the learning take place? That?s right, in the daily work. If we can think of a way to get students to do their daily work with a concern for accuracy, the learning will increase. So, rather than using tests to check on the learning, use the test as a reward for the daily work.
All reward-for-daily-work tests are matching and fill-in-the-blanks. The questions are taken directly from the daily work. Students are allowed to use anything in their handwriting as a reference during the test. Tests are timed, one minute for each question. So, a 20-question test will be allowed 20 minutes. (My special education students have the option of finishing before or after school, or with their special education teacher.)
By amending tests in this way, there is a clear and immediately important reason for why work should be completed?and completed correctly?before test day. For the first time ever, I actually have students making corrections to their papers. The tests are easy to correct, so I can quickly give feedback, which is valuable for the continued on-time completion of papers. Tests are given about every two weeks.
So now if a student says, ?Man, I flunked Mrs. LaBelle?s test,? there is no compassion from the peers. Do you know how nice it is to hear the other students say, ?All you have to do is the daily work. What did you do, nothing??
The unsuccessful student then says something like, ?Hey, I had to work 40 hours last week and I didn?t sleep well, so I couldn?t concentrate on school.?
Now we are getting someplace. You see, as long as the mean old teacher can be blamed, the student is angry at the teacher and feels helpless. Now the student knows she or he is responsible and therefore she or he can be in control of change. The next test?s outcome depends on the student?s choices, not the mean teacher.
With the reward-for-daily-work test, I know what I am testing. ?Did you do your daily work, did you correct it, and can you re-access the information?? These are school-to-work skills.
Test points comprise half the student?s grade in my class. In addition to the reward-for-daily-work tests, I assign ?test points? for reports, speeches and the occasional essay questions. If there is a real need for an essay test, make it a separate test from the reward-for-daily-work test. I?m not saying, ?Make all your test points a reward-for-daily-work,? but do include this type of test and I guarantee you will see an improvement in the quality of daily work and the quantity of daily work completed on a timely basis (or made up quickly in the case of an absence). Students become concerned because it will immediately affect their grades. And that?s about how far ahead some of our young adults can see?immediately!
Use a Grid to Show the Students? Test Results
When I return tests, I make a chart on the overhead that tallies class scores by letter grade. If I have more than one class of the same subject, I chart the results for all classes on one piece of plastic. This really helps me, because I can see at a glance how the whole group of students taking, for example, earth science is doing on the tests. If the reward-for-daily-work test system is implemented, grades will typically cluster around the A-B range or the D-F range, with very few C grades. Either students do the work and do well on the test, or they don?t do the work and do poorly on the test.
In the ?old way,? I would return tests and discuss them. Then the students who did poorly would gripe that the test was too hard, and all their buddies would agree. I would be on the defensive, and the students who did well would not speak up (you know, ?The Code?). By charting the results with no names attached, students can easily see where their scores fit into the totals for all students taking the test.
The Importance of In-Class Breaks
In the longer class periods many of us now experience, I have found it advantageous to structure an ?in-class break? into my schedule. My breaks are usually five minutes in length. There is a specific start time and a specific end time written on the overhead (write it down, write it down?they have to see it).
It?s amazing the difference a break can make. Students will watch the clock and continue working (or ?hold out?) for the break. We cannot stop students from taking a break during a long class period. The reality is, we can either structure a break, or students will take one on their own. I guarantee that students will not all take their breaks together on their own! First the group in the back right corner will begin talking off task, then the one in the other corner, and then?well, you get the idea. If you?re like most of us, you?ve lived this scene before.
During the in-class five-minute break, students may use the restroom, or just chat quietly, or get up and walk around the room. Most of my students get out of their seats and quietly talk among themselves. This is the appropriate opportunity for students to check grades or talk privately with me. (This ?opportunity? is handy to mention if we get the parent phone call that says Oglethorp never had time to find out his missing assignments?responsibility moving-overmanship.) It is also a nice time for me to gather my thoughts for the second half of the period or to take a deep breath or two.
How to Have Students Aware of Their Grades at Any Time and How to Make Them Aware of All Assignments That Make up Their Grades
The computer is a wonderful thing, and I know many of us use them for figuring grades. Please consider this. The computer can make our lives easier, but are we also using the computer combined with responsibility moving-overmanship? I have seen many teachers move into the computer age but maintain the same level of teacher responsibility. If we are to prepare students for the world of work, or the world of college or the world of life beyond school, we need to help them take responsibility. Sometimes, with the best of intentions for helping students, we are enabling them into total dependence on us. That?s not good for them, and it?s not good for us.
With that philosophy in mind, think about this. If all the grades are in the computer, and any time a student wants to know his or her grade, you have to access the program and give them a printout, who is responsible? If Mom or Dad says, ?Oglethorp, did you find out your grade in Mrs. LaBelle?s class today?? is Oglethorp in a position to say, ?I asked Mrs. LaBelle, and she didn?t give it to me?? If the answer is yes, there is a better way. You guessed it? responsibility moving-overmanship.
In my class, students are given a form I call the Personal Grade Book (PGB). This is just a piece of brightly colored paper with lines on it. In my classes, 50 percent of a student?s grade is the daily work (another encouragement to do the daily work?and a place where they have a lot of control over their grades), and 50 percent of the grade is test grades (this is made up of daily-work-reward tests, essay tests, presentations or anything else I want to give ?test importance? to). A vertical line is drawn down the middle of the page?one-half for daily work scores, one-half for the test scores.
Each time student papers are returned or a test grade is shared, I put a plastic sheet on the overhead showing my copy of what their PGB should look like. I tell them, ?These are the total scores possible in my grade book at this time. If someone were to ask what your grade is at this time, these are the scores I would base my answer on.?
With this method, no student has a right to act surprised at his or her grade. Even students who refuse to fill out their own PGBs have seen what they are responsible for on the overhead. If students want to compare their numbers with mine, they must first show me a completed PGB form with their scores entered. I keep extra blanks available, so if they ?lost? or ?left the PGB at home,? they can recopy it from a friend or from my plastic. Be very consistent here. Your ?responsibility resistant? student will try many times to get out of accountability. I have found that some students are very comfortable with having the teacher responsible, and it takes some ?cornering? and ?encouragement? to get them to buy into self-dependence. Keep in mind that some of our young friends are natural experts at shifting responsibility?but we are older and smarter!
Remember, workers know what the manager expects?but they also know what is really valued is what the manager inspects?so inspect the PGB often.
Other Uses for the Personal Grade Book
The PGB is also very handy when a parent wants to support me but has no idea what assignments the student has missed. In the past, I would sometimes feel I was putting more effort into certain students? work than they were! With the PGB, the student has to bring me a copy of his or her completed PGB. I will then highlight the assignments that are missing. Some students are very resistant, but eventually they realize, ?I might as well do this. If I don?t, Mrs. LaBelle will make me do even more work to make it up.?
Parents have been very supportive of this method, and I don?t have to be involved for more than about one minute?just enough time to highlight. By highlighting, I am not saying the student did not do the work; I am saying the work was not turned in. The highlighting also is a nice way for parents to see how much work is not highlighted, and thus they can also see the work that has been done, rather than just focusing on what has not been done.
I encourage students to keep their papers, not only for the tests, but also because, if my grade book does not show a paper?s score, and the student is sure it was done, the student simply shows me the paper. There is no way I will remember a paper on a day from a student. I make sure to share this fact with students early in the course. ?Keep your papers until you are SURE you will not need them.? I never collect notebooks, because different learning styles have different ways of accessing information. However, students quickly see the benefit of keeping papers where they can access them. This is a school-to-life skill. Those who cannot find papers in the home or at the office are in a world of hurt. With all the paperwork that comes to our work and our homes, there is no way we can remember it all. We are doing our students a great favor if they learn how to handle paperwork in a way that makes sense to them.
Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a concept I cover in the first day or two of each class. Sleep deprivation has become such a national problem one sees it featured in numerous national articles (Oprah devoted a whole show to it). In America, we have so much to fill our days.
Back when computers were first becoming popular, we were assured the computer would make our lives simpler. WELL, it didn?t quite work out that way! I once read that the average American receives more information in one day than the pioneers got in one year. Add to that the use of pagers and cell phones and it gets a little crazy. What happened to ?down time?? In order to get everything done, we only have one place to get more time. We rob from sleep time.
Students need to know the symptoms of sleep deprivation. They need to know the symptoms are slow to come on and slow to go away. We need to know it too. It is important for us all to know that maybe everyone else is not irritating; maybe we are just sleep deprived and irritable! I have not found that awareness reduces the number of people who are robbing from their sleep time. However, it does make a difference in how students and teachers react to deprivation symptoms.
I make a short formal presentation to my students the first day of school. Here are the two plastic sheets I put on the overhead:
- Have you had less than enough sleep for two weeks or more?
- Can you fall asleep in 10 minutes or less in the middle of the day?
- Young adults need 8-10 hours of sleep per night (more if they are in a sport or working out).
- One cannot ?make up? the lost sleep in a weekend.
- Impatient
- Irritable
- Less Logical
- Memory Dysfunction
When presenting these overheads, be sure to cover up the data and then uncover one part at a time. This keeps students focused on just what you are talking about.
One of the tests for sleep deprivation is, ?Can you fall asleep in 10 minutes or less in the middle of the day?? This question usually brings comments like, ?Oh no, I?ve got it!??as if it?s a disease. I guess in a way it is an American epidemic.
I have found that students are less reluctant to write reminders to themselves like, ?Test?Earth Science?Wednesday on Chapter 12,? if they feel it is because of sleep deprivation, rather than thinking writing it down implies they are too stupid to remember.
If we are all aware of the signs of sleep deprivation, at least we will realize we are seeing the world through tired eyes, and not how the world may really be. We also can take comfort in the fact that it may not always have to be this way. There is a cure. The cure is ample sleep for at least two weeks in a row. That?s why we feel so much more balanced about two weeks after school is out for the summer.
Use a Separate Manila Folder to Hold the Papers for Each Class.
One of the best ways I?ve found to organize paperwork is to keep a file folder for each class in the classroom on my desk. Inside the folder, I staple a class seating chart and notes from parents, as well as other important papers for just that class.
That way, things may go crazy during the ?doing? of the class period, but I at least have all the period-three papers in the period-three folder. I can sort the papers later. I rarely lose a paper with this method. To keep it obvious?during the sometimes-hectic times?I take a large permanent marker and label the front, back and tab of the folder. If you can use colored folders, all the better.
Epilog
It has been a great blessing to have an opportunity to share ideas with you over the last three Septembers. Your e-mails and notes on how Teaching Smarter ideas have impacted your classrooms have inspired me. Thank you for sharing, and please continue. Together, we can help keep teachers in classrooms doing a quality job?while also having a life outside the classroom.
In my four articles, I?ve shared 28 ideas designed to be easy to implement and to reduce your stress and fatigue. I hope these ideas have also served as a ?jumping-off point? for more ideas of your own. I know your wonderful teacher creativity can take it from here.
Sandy LaBelle has been teaching workshops and seminars to districts and state conferences for the last several years. She has also presented and keynoted at national conventions. Her first book, Teaching Smarter, was published in 1999, and her second book will debut at the five-day ?Teaching Smarter Seminar? in July of 2004. If you would like to order book one, get information about the seminar or arrange for a presentation, visit www.teachingsmarter.net or call 253-630-2907.
