So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye

So North Shore, this is my last post. At least it will be my last post from NSMS. My family has decided to move to another state. My husband was offered a job that was too good to pass up. It was a very difficult decision for the whole family. We are both thrilled and terrified!

I will miss all of you very much. As the school year starts much earlier where we are moving, I will not look for a teaching position until I am familiar with the area and have a better idea what I would like to do. There are several colleges in the area and I am considering pursuing teaching at the college level. I had the opportunity to teach a grad class from Alverno College and I just loved it. Even after a long day in the classroom and a four hour grad class in the evening, I would leave exhilarated. Teaching teachers; it just doesn't get any better than that. I am sorry that I am missing the opportunity to teach 2 more Alverno classes that Denise and I had planned for next year. Hopefully she will still teach the 2 classes alone.

On the other hand, with Choice Theory, I am also excited about teaching in my 8th grade classroom. Do I pursue another middle school assignment or go back to high school and see if CT would be as successful there?

I just don't know. I will look into all the possibilities and see what happens. Things are really moving quickly and we will see how it all turns out.

Thank you to all of you who made my years at NS so memorable. I have a huge bank of great memories that I will cherish. I have another bank of not so pleasant experiences that I will leave here. I choose to only carry the positive memories with me. Thank goodness for Choice Theory.

I really want to give a special thanks to the staff that I have worked with. I will miss you all. To all my former students I guess I will have to retract my offer to have you come back and visit. I still wish you well and all the best. You are our future.

With warm regards and a few tears,
Vicki (Mrs. C)

Trimester 2 Is Over

At the close of the second trimester, I only had a few students who did not receive a grade. After progress reports, some students with "no grade" thought that is was "no big deal." I had to explain to students that no grade was not a good thing. It means you do not know and understand what I need you to know and understand.

A few students had to do some scrambling to pull it together. As I talked to them, I was reminded of the questions Kim taught us to ask.

1) Do you know what you need to do?
2) Do you know how to do it?
3) Do you want to do it?
4) Is the environment conducive to getting it done?

Two of my "no graders" did not know how to do it. I then asked when they wanted to meet with me to get the help they needed. This really encouraged students to try to get their assessments turned in. Once so much time passes, the students really don't know what they are supposed to do.

I really like this approach. It has always bothered me to allow a student to take the F and be done with it. A very generous teacher might give the student a D or an Incomplete. Most traditional grading systems will convert an Incomplete into an F if it is not changed within a two or three week time period. Then no one really knows what the student knows or doesn't know.

I also like asking the 4 questions. They are non- judgmental and do not make students defensive. Last year, I would have asked," Where is it? Why didn't you do it? " I can see now how that would make a student defensive or angry even if I didn't ask those questions in a threatening way. Who knew that my desire to have kids succeed would have the opposite effect?

Which brings me to the second point of this blog.

When is it too much time to give students a chance to succeed? At this point in my career, I would say before they start the next grade would be the time limit. If we don't get away from the idea that every kid needs to produce a perfect test or paper the first time they do it, we will never get kids to accept responsibility for their own learning. It is so easy to say "well I'm not good in math and so I can't do it." I can't tell you how many times over the years I have heard that from parents. Either about the student or themselves. Just because Mom doesn't know how to do math doesn't mean that Susie can't learn it. If Mom had been in a CBC classroom, she would have learned it and then expected Susie to learn it as well. Evidently, Mom ran out of chances to succeed. As far as I know, they haven't identified a math gene yet. So I think there is still hope for everyone.

Perhaps if students learned what they needed to know before they got thrown into the next class without the skills, they would learn the math; and by some small miracle, perhaps they would like it! If my students know that they can do it, they just might enjoy doing it.

What about Bob?

It was interesting. We are in the middle of parent teacher student conferences. I am adding the word students to parent teacher conferences because we encourage the student to attend the conference. After all, it is their learning, their grade, their performance and attitude. Our 8th grade staff has always encouraged students to attend conferences. I am not sure why some parents don't want their student to go to the conference. Even if the student isn't doing very well or if the student is choosing not to get along, it is better to address the issue with everyone present. That eliminates the he said she said situation. I helps to get to the bottom of things.

An interesting situation occurred at the last conferences with a student I will call Bob. I know Bob's parents because his dad is an old friend of my husband. I knew Bob's dad as well before Bob was born. At the beginning of the year, I made a decision not to reveal this information to Bob. I decided to build a bond with him on my own. Bob has a reputation for being a difficult child. Many of his former teachers did not speak very highly of him. His parents often were informed about his poor behavior. As a part of becoming a practitioner of Choice Theory, I decided that giving Bob the information could be considered threatening to him. He might behave in my classroom, only because he wouldn't want his parents to be angry with him. Bob and his parents came in for conferences. His parents were surprised to see that I was Bob's teacher, but not as surprised as Bob!

I can tell you that bonding with kids is one of the most important aspects of teaching. I get along with Bob and other "difficult students." I asked Bob to tell his parents how math was going. He said, "It's fun!" We have figured out a way to have fun and learn at the same time. I admit that it is challenging sometimes with 8th graders. They like the fun a lot more than the learning and it can be frustrating. But, 8th graders are very forgiving. Everyday is a new day.

What about Bob? Bob's doing fine, and so am I.

Fear and Control are Buddies

You have heard that misery loves company. It is true and fear walks very close to control. As I write this post, I am even more convinced that fear keeps teachers from embracing CBC classrooms and it is fear that causes the student's parents to question and even attack the teachers in CBC classrooms.

We had a parent information meeting recently and only a few parents attended. By a few, I mean exactly 5! Granted, it was on the eve of a huge snow storm which led to a snow day, however, I doubt that I would have seen many more if the weather had been cooperative. One parent at the meeting was there just to voice his disapproval of my CBC classroom. He was skeptical about his son's learning. He wanted to see proof! The next day, I looked up his son's score on the scantron test we give three times a year, to measure growth based on our State Standards. The student's scores demonstrated a steady increase in knowledge. I quickly emailed my principal and asked that the parent get a copy of the test results.

I do sympathize with the parents. As an extremely concerned parent, myself, I want the very best education possible for my child. If a teacher had told me that my child was learning under these new parameters, I would be skeptical as well. There was a time when we trusted our educators, but times have changed. If we don't trust our doctors and police officers anymore, why should I expect parents to trust that I am telling them the truth?

I just hope that the end results will be the proof that will back up our efforts. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. (FDR) What a profound statement! I have been conquering fear in many aspects of my life lately. Since CT has helped me to give up control, I have also had to face my fears as well. Mainly, the fear of giving up control. Glasser says that we don't have control any way, we just think we do.

Invisible Students

Do you have students who want to be invisible? I have two of them this year and they are very difficult to teach. I have one boy. I'll call him Ralph and the girl I will call Martha. The reason they are so difficult to teach is that it would be so easy to just let them disappear into the wall. Afterall, I have many students who act out and demand attention. These two students would never consider being a disruption. If they did that, I would notice them and then they could no longer remain invisible. For Star Trek fans, I think it was the Klingons that had a "cloak" that they could use to become invisible to other starships. I think of Ralph and Martha coming to school each day and putting their cloak's up! When you think about it, it is a very good defense mechanism. If you can't see me, I can't disappoint you. If you don't see me, I don't have to do anywork. If you don't see me, I can make you disappear too.

So what do I do with these students? I was reminded during my Basic Practicum that bonding more with them was critical. I need to make more effort to connect. If I just say, "Hi Ralph, how are you today? Martha, you look tired today, are you doing ok?" I may not be able to make them learn, but I can penetrate the cloak. All the Zen in the world, will not make you invisible. I see you and I care that you are in my class. It is hard, but I celebrate small gains with each of them. I covet the sparse smiles and occassional eye rolls. Any communication is valued.

One day I told Ralph that I see him reading all the time. "What are you reading?" I asked. We had a short dialog about the fantasy books he loves to read. I asked him if he would consider reading his math book in class since he loved to read so much. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. The next day, when I looked at him as he was reading, he happened to look up, he smiled, closed his book and opened his math book. "YES! Victory.!" Did he do very much work that day? No. Did he do more than the day before, yes!


As for Martha, I have seen her come out of the woodwork from time to time. One day I used her name along with a group of other student's name in an example. I was nervous about mentioning her, as I wasn't sure how she would react. To my surprise, her face lit up, and I have never seen her smile so large. Martha is more complicated than Ralph. She will raise her hand and participate some days. Ralph will not volunteer to participate at all.

To all the Ralph's and Martha's that I have had in my classes over the years, I am sorry that I allowed you to be invisible. As much as I wanted you to be part of my class, I really didn't know how to bond with you. I was afraid you would resent me or feel singled out. I didn't want to embarrass you. If I had known Choice Theory then, I would not have failed you. I am sorry. However, with knowledge is power, and I will not fail the Ralph's and Martha's again.

I want to say to all the invisible children, you are valued. You have worth and I see you. I care about you. I see you.

Presenting Choice Theory to the Administrative Team

Dale asked Denise and I to share Choice Theory and the effects it has had in our classrooms to the Adminstrators in our District. Dale has been so pleased with what has been going on in our rooms and the effect it has had on him personally that he wants to pursue becoming a Quality School.

Denise and I were delighted with the idea and eager to present to the group. As we planned an overview of CT and what we would say, I thought, let's get some of our kids to talk about the needs and a CBC classroom. We thougtht about which students we felt knew CT the best and asked them if they were interested in presenting to the Administrators. They agreed but asked if we could go over the agenda with them to prepare for the meeting. We agreed that we would get together during lunch and talk about what we wanted them present. Two students could testify about how blogging was helping them. Another could talk about needs etc.



As our lunch meeting progressed, the conversation began to take a whole idenity. Our students were talking about how they are enjoying learning this year. They like the freedom and choice. They are learning more than they ever had. It was so wonderful to hear. Denise and I looked at each other and said, this is what they need to tell the Administrators. The question is, whether or not they would be as candid as they had been with us.

We came up with a list of questions about homework, testing, learning, all the things we had discussed at lunch and were ready to present to the team. And we did our presentation before we called the students in.

How did it go? I couldn't have been more pleased with my student's honesty and conviction. They really like what they are doing this year and they know that next year will be different. Even with a traditional model next year, they know they will be successful. Every student wanted imput on every question. They could have talked all afternoon, but we stopped them after 45 minutes of discussion. If I didn't know better, I would have suspected that we had prepped them for weeks. The students were that convincing. It was evident that they felt their learning was valuable to them. They expressed how they were being prepared for life and they appreciated that they weren't being babied. I honesty could not have scripted a better discussion. I could go on for pages about what they said.

What is so exciting is that they are only getting this in two classrooms. The rest of their day they are in traditional classrooms, with external controls, behavior modification etc. If we can spark this much excitiment and passion in our classes, what would happen if the whole school taught this way? All 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes. What would it look like if the entire district became a Quality School District?

This is radical teaching! This is life changing!

New Language

The language of Choice Theory differs from my usual teacher language. This weekend as I attended my 2nd meeting with Kim for my Basic Practicum, I was reminded that telling my students I was worried about them next year or that I was afraid for them, was NOT Choice Theory language.

In my attempt to love and care about my students, I was planting seeds of failure instead of seeds of hope for my student's success. I had shared with my Basic group that I was afraid that they wouldn't succeed as well in a traditional classroom next year. However, I was reminded by Kim and the other group members that I should have class meetings to prepare my students for the different teaching styles, but if I used words like scared and worried, that I would be planting the seed for them to fail. It could become a self fulfilling prophecy so to speak. I am really glad that this came up, because my students really do know the math they need. If Glasser is correct, my students will score higher on the SCANTRON tests and on the end of the year Algebra test than former students did. I was reminded to trust the process.

So I shall trust the process and let the students convince me!

Another wonderful revelation occurred when I shared my story with a new member of the group. I was relating to her my point of desperation that lead me to Choice Theory. I was reminded that I had told my principal that if my classroom wasn't radically changed in 5 years, then I would resign. I was sure the process would take a long time and I was willing to allow up to 5 years. I laughed as I shared my observation that I am close to being where I had hoped to be at the end of those 5 years. I never dreamed that I would see such dramatic results in such a short period of time! I can't even imagine what my classroom will look like at the end of next year, let alone in 5 years time.

I was asked if the process was working or if I was different? I think it is both, but I believe that I am very different, and because of that, I am much happier and feeling more successful.
This is really life changing. It is not a tool, it is a philosophy of life. You can't add it on to a belief system, you have to commit to the whole process and I think it is worth the risk.