Rewards in the Classroom

I think that rewards have a place in a classroom, but they need to be just one part of a fully-realized philosophy of classroom management. Tangible rewards seem like a pretty bad idea to me; the best rewards are probably privileges: some teachers I have worked with use a communal "marble jar" where any good act--but especially good acts by the class as a whole--can be rewarded. Then, when the marbles reach a certain point,the kids select some kind of reward, like a party or movie day. This system sounds OK, but the teacher has to stay on top of it--it often falls apart in practice: teachers sometimes forget about the jar and the adding of marbles can become very arbitrary.

Another idea I've seen was a teacher who had his students seated in "pods" of four or so desks. When pods got cleaned up quickly, or were working well, he would add points to that pod's score. At the end of a nine-week period, he would see who had the most points and that pod was allowed to choose their next seats. This reward was odd because the kids were not really choosing who they were going to sit with, just where they would sit--the teacher would assign seats to everyone else. Nevertheless, the kids responded well to it enjoyed the idea of choosing their seats. My only problem with this system is the inherent competition. I think setting up this contest could be problematic and possibly create negative feeling (for the other students and the teacher) in the long run.

This is somewhat related, but one of my favorite things I've seen in a class was something the first teacher I ever worked with did: for little jobs and tasks around the class, she had a bucket she referred to as "the fates." Whenever a job needed to be done, she would "let fates decide" and select at random a name from the bucket. This way, it wasn't always the eager or "good" child who got to contribute.

Some teachers I've seen have deeply ingrained--but possibly unconscious or unintentional--ideas about specific kids, which can make any reward system problematic if it's not thoughtful and truly fair. Are you rewarding kids for something that every kid can actually do? The rewards become pointless if only certain kids have any hope of getting rewarded.

Having said this, I think the jar might be something I would try in my class. I like that it rewards group efforts. Even kids who may not always "have it together" can benefit and may see value in participating in positive acts when the whole class wants to succeed. I like that their is no real competition built in. I like that it does not punish or humiliate (obviously I would not remove marbles) anyone. The only caveat is that I would have to be consistent throughout the year. This is not to say that would reward every single good act, but I would try to keep the same frequency throughout the year. (In classroom management, we heard that intermittent rewards have the most long-lasting effect, but they cannot taper off completely, or the connection is severed).

More important than this, though, is the "reward" of reinforcement. That is, the consistent, very low-key verbal recognition of a job well done. After sufficient modeling and practice, consistent reinforcement is a small emotional reward that children crave--and lets them know they are doing well.

I think the key is to consider children's motivations: they mostly want to succeed want to please adults on some level. With this in mind, there are several ways to organize a classroom. The main point is that it needs to be thought out, fair, consistent, and emotionally tempered--not simply thrown together from memories of "what happened to me in elementary school."

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy means how comfortable or confident a person in a specific situation. But it can be difficult to accurately rate our own performance. We tend to compare ourselves--our skills, our intelligence, even our looks--to how others seem to us. But not necessarily how they truly are. It's complicated because we might be comparing ourselves to a distorted image to begin with, which will affect how we see ourselves.

One related example is how depictions of class on television affect what average people think is appropriate: television dramas and comedies rarely depicts middle (much less lower) class people very accurately and TV always wants to make things look "nicer" than they really are. Some believe the result is that average (TV-watching) Americans are made to believe that they are not "keeping up," when in fact they are the definition of average. People are more intimately familiar with the status of television characters than with their actual neighbors. This may not have much to do with self-efficacy in an academic sense, but it suggests that a lot of what we think of about ourselves is defined (or at least influenced) by what we see others doing.

I think it's important to keep these kind of forces in mind when dealing with children; they might tend to be presented with "the best" work as an example of what is acceptable. If the exemplary work is more thorough than most children can achieve, then couldn't that affect most of the kids' notions of how good they are? If they are only familiar with the "gold standard" and their own--average--work, how might that affect their self-efficacy?

This gets especially complicated when we think about modeling. We want teachers to model, but in a way that is approachable, not intimidating, to a child. Maxim discusses assistance in much the same way: too little assistance in the form of truisms like "Don't give up!" are meaningless to a child and may raise anxiety to someone who is struggling. On the other hand, too much assistance quickly becomes a free ride for the child in which she is excused from working at all.

The goal is to have children feel that they can achieve in tasks we assign. The best way to ensure this is through clear modeling, clear expectations, and thoughtful differentiation.

Obviously, children have different levels of self-efficacy in different situations, and we don't want kids to all be the same; some kids are going to be better at some things than others. So, its also important to allow children to explore skills that they already have, things that they enjoy doing because they are good at them. This is how self-efficacy can be transformed into self-confidence.

The prompt for this post actually asks about me. Like most everyone, I have a high degree of self-efficacy in a handful of activities and topics that interest me. And very low in others. For example, I feel very confident in my ability to listen critically to and discuss music. I enjoy this activity, was raised in a household with music constantly playing, am a avid hobbyist musician, and have collected records for most of my life. These experiences (some I chose, some chosen for me) have led me to a place where I feel comfortable and likely to be engaged and successful (even if "success" is simply having an intelligent conversation about music with someone). Maxim says that people "tend to bring a greater amount of effort to tasks they think they will do well." This is clearly true, and I think a lot of it simply has to do with pleasure. Music is profoundly pleasant to me--to listen to, to discuss, to play. So through enjoying something I have increased my confidence that I can perform in many musical situations.

On the other end of the spectrum, my self-efficacy involving computers is somewhat less strong. It has improved over the years because of my high level of exposure to computers (and because computers have gotten a lot easier to use over the years), but I often panic when something goes wrong, unable to clearly think of solutions to the various problems that inevitably come up. This is a good example of self-efficacy that is changing: what was once a debilitating fear of computers and low self-efficacy has grown into a resigned acceptance and low-to-moderate level of self-efficacy in the tasks I have to do.

Both processes (my interactions with music and with computers) have been extremely valuable, and I think they can be useful when thinking about children as well. Let children practice the things they love, but also provide emotionally safe opportunities for learning from mistakes that may come from the low self-efficacy experiences in life.

N.C. History Museum

I really enjoyed our field trip to the Museum; I hadn't been there in many years and this was a great opportunity to see what's happened there since my last visit.

The "Story of NC" exhibit was interesting and laid out very thoughtfully. There were some artifacts which give a good sketch of what life must have been like foe previous generations of North Carolinians. I personally would have liked to see more American Indian artifacts and information about the myriad of tribes who lived (and live) in the area. Looking at the website for the Museum, I see that there is small exhibit that is just about "North Carlina Indians Past and Present," which I guess I missed, unless it was that small display in a corridor that we walked past. I might have to go back and check it out soon.

The exhibits on Thomas Day and auto racing were interesting glimpses of aspects of NC culture which are not, frankly, a part of my life: they were reminders of the diverse interests of people who live here.

Of all the exhibits I saw, my favorite was definitely "The Photography of Lewis Hine: Exposing Child Labor in North Carolina, 1908–1918." These photos were taken for a specific political purpose, but have become something more: a document showing the lives of countless voiceless citizen of NC. The scenes were obviously dated, but also timeless in some ways: these were people (mostly children) doing the best they could given their situation. And they clearly had qualities that transcend time and culture: the desire to be social (many photo showed groups of boys who were clearly friends), the desire to better one's lot (the kids were working to make a better life for their families), and the timeless need to consider the exploited among us (these kids had seemed to almost accept their reality, but Hine's message still speaks to us today: it is our job to be aware of our world and they way we treat each other. This message still resonates with me today: how many of our cherished first-world gadgets are made by the hands of exploited people [and children] in Asia and elsewhere? Would we rather not know about them? Why?)

I think the exhibit might be simultaneously exciting, funny, and troubling to modern-day children. I think this is a perfectly reasonable response. It would be exciting to bring children to this exhibit! It might be able to spark a bit of the Social Action that Maxim writes about in Chapter 2. (I know that the children in Hine's photos are not members of a minority ethnic group, which is the context for Maxim's chapter, but they are certainly marginalized people--and "diversity" cannot simply mean "not white people," or the word becomes a synonym for "minorities.")

Apart from the exhibits themselves, I was happy to learn about all the services that the Museum provides for teachers. I was pretty much unaware of the breadth of the websites they maintain and how I might use them for lesson (for this class and as a "real" teacher).

Overall, a great visit, even if I didn't get to see everything there in one afternoon.

3rd Grade Hook Lesson: Thanksgiving Then and Now

NCSS Standard 2.a: Demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or situation in diverse ways, citing reasons for the difference in views.

NCSCOS Standard 3.02 Describe how individuals, events, and ideas change over time.

This is a 3^rd grade lesson about Thanksgiving; focusing on how the various perceptions about it have changed over time. It is mainly social studies, but includes art as well. The lesson serves to build on students' knowledge about Thanksgiving—mainly the modern, popular conception of Thanksgiving—and looks at paintings, primary sources, and reliable sources to verify and refute various ideas about Thanksgiving. Obviously, this lesson would be best presented in November, while Thanksgiving is ubiquitous in the kids’ world.

Procedure:

Introduction: The lesson will begin with a class discussion of Thanksgiving: Teacher will ask students to describe things they associate with Thanksgiving, being specific. Likely answers will be turkey, eating, Pilgrims, American Indians, football, pumpkins, fall, long holiday weekend, Christmas shopping, time with family, etc.

Then the class will discuss the origins of Thanksgiving—what the students know about the story of Thanksgiving.

Using a projector, the teacher will show various paintings depicting Thanksgiving traditions, mainly paintings of the First Thanksgiving, which were painted in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Most show a small congregation of Pilgrims and Indians seated at or near a table. Foods include fowl, fish, game, etc. Pilgrims are typically dressed in black, conservative “Pilgrim clothes.” The teacher will discuss these details with the students and solicit observations about the various paintings.

Guided Practice: The teacher will present information about Thanksgiving from reliable sources: National Geographic, The Smithsonian’s Plimoth Plantation, and a document from OK state University (which includes reproductions of the only two known primary sources about the First Thanksgiving), and others as appropriate. Children can read these documents and websites (they may need to be presented on a printed page if there are not enough computers for each group to use one) in groups of about 3 students; each group should assign a scribe to note things that strike the group (not just unexpected things—traditions that are based on facts should be mentioned as well!).

Students will regroup and discuss their findings as a class. Some points to note (if students do not) are that Pilgrims probably dressed in colorful clothes, not black; probably did not sit at a table; and maybe didn’t even eat turkey, but certainly ate deer and fish; the number of people at the celebration itself; the duration of the event.

Independent Practice: Students will draw a depiction of a realistic First Thanksgiving, based on what we know and assumptions we can make. Drawing skills are not explicitly assessed in this lesson, so labeling items or a supplemental paragraph to explain is allowed and encouraged if children are not confident in their drawing abilities.

Conclusion: More than a simple recap, the conclusion would be a “child-sized” analysis of the work they just did. We could use the time to explore myths we have about Thanksgiving and expand to think about other myths we have and embrace. How do they come about? Do we need them? Why?

Assessment: The assessment will deal with the thinking and work done throughout the lesson and the finished product of the Independent Practice. If the student can explain her picture and why certain elements were selected and depicted, she will have been successful. [To be honest, I’m not sure of the best objective way to assess this lesson…still thinking about it.]

Differentiation: This lesson is differentiated for learners with written language disabilities already: the Independent Practice is a drawn artifact. The writing is optional, but could be converted to an oral explanation if some learners are unable to accurately commit their ideas to writing.

The lesson is also an opportunity for students from other cultures to learn about American Thanksgiving traditions and myths. The beginning of the lesson thrives on students’ own prior knowledge, but that is also an opportunity for students unfamiliar with Thanksgiving to glean information about it. They might have some difficulty with the Independent Practice (and the resulting discussion), but could be paired with a sympathetic buddy who is familiar with the traditions. The goal is not to alienate any students, but to invite them into these traditions to be able analyze them later!

Students who are achieving above average in art, language, or social studies might find parts of the lesson stifling. It will be important to let these student express their opinions and insights without dominating the conversation; it might be best to use the “Think / Pair / Share” method of discussion for this lesson. This way everyone can be heard and the class can benefit from more advanced students’ input. As far as the actual tasks, perhaps these students could be allowed or encouraged to do more independent research (the research is more or less done for the class in this lesson) with the teacher’s guidance in finding reliable sources, which is a fundamental crux of the Lesson Unit.

Resources:

Text:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/first-thanksgiving/

http://www.plimoth.org/learn/thanksgiving-history

http://agweb.okstate.edu/fourh/aitc/lessons/intermed/thanks.pdf?folder=intermed&file=thanks.pdf

Paintings:

http://www.cardcow.com/images/set301/card00619_fr.jpg

http://jessicacrabtree.com/journal1/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/the_first_thanksgiving1.jpg

http://www.etftrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/zzthx.png

http://www.salesianhigh.org/faculty/wri/thanks4.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-PlblCdGSU3M/SXKnI4v8M-I/AAAAAAAB5hg/PqvcW5LiYvs/Rockwell%25252C%252520Thanksgiving.jpg

Biases in History and Marginalized Children in the Classroom

It is said that History is written by the winners, suggesting that History itself is highly subjective; what we choose to study and deem important enough to learn are the events and people which were able to take hold in the imagination of people who write history books. But facts are objective, and there are countless "small" events and people who have been forgotten--unstudied, undocumented, and unappreciated.

It seems logical to focus on history of "people like us," which is why for so long history has really meant the history of power--of the dominant culture at any given moment: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, then Europeans (and their empires) from the Renaissance until the present. But this "logical" view leaves out countless people, many of whom are a lot like us--if we consider them carefully. Maybe what's valuable isn't really who was powerful, but the common humanity of the disparate cultures of the world. What can we learn about ourselves from learning about others?

In the 20th Century historians seemed to begin to explore previously ignored aspects of history: folk art (and folklore) , subjected peoples, women, obscure cultures, and more. Indeed, I remember learning about the great trends in European history (which includes the mainstream European-influenced culture of the "New World" after European settlements took hold), but I was also exposed to indigenous cultures in school and took classes in junior high school that my parents did not: African history, Asian history, pre-Colombian American history. This trend of re-assessing history is still in progress, I suppose.

This is an admirable effort, I think, but can also make history seem vast, as it is vast. One challenge when teaching children is to present history as something that can be comprehended. That is, how deeply can a teacher cover the history of, say, China's centuries-long history in a way that is not overwhelming and dull? Maybe that's an unrealistic goal, but there are ways to introduce American students to the world and culture of China in ways that are not simply as a "cultural tourist." Maxim suggests integrating math literature, and social studies through a lesson about Chinese tangrams (p. 117). This kind of lesson does not attempt to give a complete view of China's complex culture or history, but presents a snapshot in an authentic, engaging way that is more sophisticated than the "we're going to eat fortune cookies today" kind of lesson that presents Chinese culture as an exotic and slight curiosity.

Exploring history with a wide net is intrinsically related to acceptance of all children in a classroom. And, more than "acceptance," it is the teacher's legal and ethical obligation to accommodate every child that he reasonably can. As we discussed in class, physical barriers must be removed for children who will be denied access. But there are other, less visible, accommodations that must be made as well. One year I worked in classroom with a child who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, meaning that his understanding of social cues and norms was less developed than other children's. He was in fact very bright, but his disability meant that the lead teacher and I had to make certain accommodations for him to succeed: explicit, one-on-one directions, extra help organizing his work, and sometimes behaving in a way that might have looked--to an outsider--as though the child was getting "extra slack" regarding behavioral expectations. There was a lot of trial and error, and not everything we did worked great, but we knew our obligation to accommodate this child.

I've also worked with many English Language Learners, and they present some challenges to teachers as well. Children can fool teachers by seeming more fluent in English than they really are: kids can be quite adept at "playground English," but sometimes get lost in the world of academic English that we might assume they understand. And if kids do not understand, it's often not enough to just ask "Do you understand?" because many kids are anxious about appearing confused.

In my class, I would help these kids by modeling instructions. In my experience, that seems to help a lot because simply telling children how to do a task may not really explain it. (Actually, this is probably good for the native English speakers as well; most people benefit from a demonstration as well as mere explanation.)

Another thing to do is to have intensive word work and intentional vocabulary instruction for these kids. There are English words that kids who seem fluent do not know and cannot hear at home, so they must be taught these words in a way beyond simply hoping that they'll "get it" through osmosis. I hope I am cognizant enough to be able to serve the ELLs in my charge.

G.R.A.S.P.S. Task Design for Students

This is not necessarily the final task of this lesson until; it is more like an example of a large task that might be part of the unit (?).

Goal: Your task is to create a pamphlet or presentation which uses facts to convince a school to adopt a recycling program.

Role: You are a student at the school. You must understand that sometimes adults think that kids are idealistic or "cute," so you need to present your arguments competently and with authority, while being pleasant and informative.

Audience: The target audience includes many different people, and many different kinds of people: fellow students, teachers, the principal, lunchroom staff, parents. All are open to listening to your ideas, but--like most people--they may be a little resistant to doing new things.

Situation: The challenge involves dealing with people who have different reasons for not wanting to set up a while new program for recycling: some may not know why we should; some may fear the expense involved; some may dismiss any "serious" idea that come from a kid.

Product, Performance, and Purpose: You have the choice of creating a pamphlet or a presentation. By "presentation," we mean a written lecture/skit/musical performance, or some combination of these.

Standards and Criteria for Success: If you choose to do a pamphlet, it must have six panels (a two-sided sheet with three panels on each side, folded) and be visually appealing (graphics would be nice), while referring to facts that support your claims. Each point must be presented clearly and understandable by a wide audience.

If you choose to do a presentation, it must be between 5 and 10 minutes--something to be presented at a PTA meeting. It can include entertaining parts, but must use evidence to support its claims--it cannot be merely "silly."

[I'm thinking this isn't specific enough...not sure what to do here!!]

Essential Questions...

These are arranged according to Wiggins & McTighe's "Six Facets of Understanding."

Explanation:

What are some sources for information on climate change?

What might I find in the editorial page of a newspaper (facts or opinions)?

Interpretation:

Is this author trying to inform or convince her audience?

Does a correlation between lots of cars and increasing temperatures mean that cars cause high temperatures?

Application:

How could I use statistics to convince (or even trick) someone?

Can I make information clearer by making a chart or graph?

Perspective:

Why do some people not want to use "cleaner energy"?

What do farmers think about cheap food prices?

How might new information make scientists change their mind about nuclear power?

Empathy:

Did people really believe the earth was flat? Why?

Why does this author want to change our minds?

Self-Knowledge:

How can I know am getting the best information?

Am I being affected by "pseudo-information"?