Prove It!

It's that time of year again when we start the slow painful process of passeging our students to death. If you're a new teacher--or not a teacher--you may not know what I'm talking about, so let me explain. This is when teachers give students as many passages as they can find that might possibly have some characteristics in common with the state assessments--which are coming up faster than we can believe or control. Everyone hates passages--students hate them, teachers hate them, administrators hate them, parents hate them. (Maybe the people who get paid to write them like them, but they are the only ones.) But we often feel this is a necessary evil because we want our students to "practice" before the real test....
So, if we insist on making our students stare blindly at mundane passages about topics they have absolutely no interest in, the least we can do is let them have a little fun with the answers.  Today, my fifth grade group played a little game called "Prove It!" and it was a hit. It's pretty simple, too. We read a very short passage from Istation entitled, "Exploring Space." Then, the kids answered the four questions at the end of the story, citing their evidence as they did so. After that, I gave them each an answer choice  for the first question, and they had to come to the board and write whether or not their answer choice was correct and how they knew. This was simple, quick, and the kids had fun--because kids like to write on the board. They all went at the same time, too, so no one was sitting back judging handwriting or word choice. We continued this activity with the other four questions, rotating answer choice letters.

This is actual student work from my group today.

Anyone with a white board and dry erase markers (or butcher paper and markers) can do this, and it reinforced the idea to my students that we don't only have to prove the right answer--we have to show why the other answers are wrong as well.  This is difficult for a lot of our kids, but if we don't get them in the habit of disproving answers, they will end up settling on a mediocre answer choice or using "fake proof" to justify the wrong answer.  This is a quick and easy way to get them practicing proofing their answers.
What activities are you using to keep your students engaged and focused in this season of reading passages?

Why Teachers Need Two Weeks Off at Christmas

This is my fifteenth Christmas as an educator.  Having worked in both retail and corporate before this, I know that everyone deserves a break this time of year--time to spend with family, time to reflect on the events of the year, time to get some things done (like bake cookies with little ones who are growing up too fast or build a snowman with your sister).  That being said, here are five reasons why I believe educators have earned their two weeks off:
1) Christmas is magical--and your kids have been under a spell--for weeks.
I know your children are perfect angels at home, but at school, they've been a little distracted ever since they visited the mall a few weeks ago (who am I kidding--months ago) and noticed the Christmas displays were up.  They seem to have only one thing on their minds: presents--and lots of them.  Not only do we get to listen to sweet little Susie tell us over and over again how her elf on the shelf flushed mommy's favorite perfume down the toilet, after spilling a bag of marshmallows in the dog bowl, we don't have the luxury of telling your kid to stop or Santa won't bring him or her a present.

Your kids are under the spell of Christmas magic.

2) Our brains are like sponges--in that there are holes in them.
Let's face it people, school is hard, much harder than it used to be. If I had to teach third grade math, I think it would take me three or four hours to plan a thirty minute math lesson. Anything above third grade? Forget it. If you're like me, one worksheet of math homework can take up to two hours, and by the end of it, not only is your kid crying, so are you.  This is our day. Most of the time. Now, I'm not saying that we don't have competent teachers, but as the standards continue to get harder and we keep pushing curriculum down the grade levels so that our kindergartners are experimenting with algebra, our teachers have to adjust as well. There's no more pulling out last year's ditto sheet and asking the kids to complete the problems. Planning takes time, and energy, and brain cells. And ours need a break!

Our brains on school.

3) We've been in survival mode for so long, we are longing to be voted off the island.
The honeymoon was over somewhere in September. Since then, that one kid who, while he has some admiral qualities, for the most part is driving us out of our ever-loving minds--is on overdrive these past few weeks. He's learned how to push our buttons, and he's doing a fine job of it.  If I hear the chorus of "The Final Countdown" one more time (complete with guitar solo) I'm going to lose it. Asking him to stop has done no good, sending him out of the room has done no good, asking for help from parents has done no good because they can't make him stop either. What we really need is a vacation (and not in Europe!)

Just send us home already.

4) Early mornings/late nights.
Have you ever driven past a school at 6:30 in the morning? There are cars there. (Notice that was plural. It's not just the custodian.) Have you ever driven past the school at 7:30 at night? Still cars. Some of them are the same.  Teachers work long hours. And even the ones who have to run home as soon as their after school duty is over are still working. We are grading papers while we watch reality TV. We are reading books for lit circles instead of Danielle Steele. We are researching effective ways to teach multiplication to six-year-olds instead of calling our mothers to chat about whether or not we will have a white Christmas. I know people in other professions work hard as well. They put in long hours, too.  Maybe we all deserve a long break!

It's been so long since I've seen a sunrise from anywhere other than my classroom window.

5) The weight of the world is on our shoulders.  
When I worked at Walgreens, I got yelled at for things like running out of blueberry Poptarts. When I worked for corporate America, if I didn't get a certain person or company to pay a bill on time, it meant our company wouldn't have quite as much interest on the money we had in our bank account. The world would go on. If I don't teach little Johnny how to decode CVCe words, it may ruin his life forever. He could end up living on the streets or become completely dependent on the system for the rest of his life. He may turn to a life of crime--all because I failed to arm him with the tools he needed in order to be successful in life.  Obviously, he would need a lot of teachers to fail him for lots of years in a row in order for this to happen--but I see it everyday. I see kids who are slipping through the cracks--the unprepared and the underprivileged. I do what I can to help them, but it takes a village, and it's a lot of responsibility.  Our kids are the future and our teachers are the Jedhi Knights who must teach them how to use the Force. It's not an easy task, and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

This is getting heavy!

This is why--this is why--we need a few weeks off to make some magic of our own, to fill in the holes in our thinking, to learn some survival tips, to get some sleep, and to rest our weary shoulders.  And maybe build a snowman with our sister.

5 Ways to Communicate Better with Language Processing/Autistic Students

As the parent of a child with autism, my patience has multiplied a thousand fold since she joined us on this earth some eight and a half years ago.  I can now calmly say, "Do you want ketchup?" in an even tone ten to fifteen times before I start to get irritated.  This didn't come over night, but with love and patience, I realized that my daughter wasn't "ignoring" me or "tuning me out" on purpose. Sometimes, as teachers, it's more difficult to reach our students with autism, or other students with difficulty in the area of receptive language processing, because we don't live it all day long every day, and we may not have a firm understanding of exactly what is going on in those cute little noggins of theirs. While I am not a speech pathologist (or a medical doctor!) I do know what works for my daughter and what I have seen work for other children who are listening but just can't process what is being said to them. Here are five things that might make your life a little easier.

1) Say the child's name first in the sentence.
If I want my daughter Imma to hear what I'm saying and to know that I am speaking to her, I need to say her name at the beginning of the sentence.  With other children, we can take for granted that they will hear the sentence and realize we are talking to them without saying their names first, but not for these kiddos.  It is far more effective for me to say, "Imma, how was your day?" than it is for me to say, "How was your day today, Imma?" Because if I slip up and follow the second pattern, my next sentence will be, "Imma? Imma?? How was your day? Hey, how was your day today? Did you have a good day...?"

Say the child's name first.

2) Leave out unnecessary words.
Sometimes these precious kiddos can't keep up with all of the words we are throwing at them at once. It's much  better if we leave out the words we don't need. For example, when Imma first started kindergarten, even after two years of PPCD, she still had problems following simple directions in the classroom. Her kindergarten teacher quickly figured out that, "Imma, backpack!" worked a lot better than trying to say, "Imma, get your backpack and put it on. It's time to go home."  Imma knew enough to infer that if she didn't have her backpack, it was time to get it. Likewise, if she had her backpack already, it was time to put it away. Think about trying to learn a foreign language. Don't we learn (and then use) key vocabulary words first? It's the same with this situation. Less is more.

Keep it simple.

3) Don't start over.
My daughter used to have about a fifteen second delay in her processing. That's a really long time. (Try slowly counting to fifteen if you don't believe me.) So, if someone asked her a question, she needed a solid fifteen seconds to think about it before she could start to answer. Over the years, it has shrunk down to where she can answer most questions in about five seconds--which is still slower than most but not bad.  The thing is, if you try to ask her (and all children with language processing struggles) the question again once she's started to process, she's going to have to start her processing over.  In her brain it's a little like this:
"How was your day?"
Hmmmm, Mom asked me a question. Something about my day. I wonder...
"How was your day?"
Okay, she's saying something else. I think it's something about my day...
"Did you have a good day today?"
I heard something about good.  I wonder what she wants to know. Am I being good today?
"Imma? Are you listening to me? I asked you a question."
Okay... does she want to know if I listened to questions today...
You get the idea. Every time you open your mouth, the processing starts again. So, even though it's hard, give them time to think--without talking.

Give them a chance to think.

4) Use visual aids as much as possible.

A lot of times language processing students need visuals to support their learning, especially with vocabulary and new concepts. Any time you can show them a picture--or physically demonstrate--what you are talking about, not only will they have a better understanding, they will also retain the information longer. Visuals are good for all of our students, so incorporate them as much as possible.

Demonstrate and use visual aids.

5) Be patient. 
This might be the most difficult one of all, but it is also the most important one. We have all been in situations when we know that children are ignoring us on purpose, and it's very difficult to stay calm when we know kids are making life more difficult for us on purpose. However, it is important to remember that most of the time, these kids are not understanding us even though they are trying their best to do so. With that in mind, try to keep your voice even and friendly, even when you're starting to feel frustrated or upset. Try to smile and be encouraging.  Back to the ketchup--it is a true story. I once sat in a McDonald's at repeated the phrase, "Imma, do you want some ketchup?" at least ten times, with a smile on my face and my voice as chipper as possible, leaving the ten or so seconds between requests. She just wasn't with me.  The people at the table next to me were looking at me like we were both crazy (and that's okay, let them look) but eventually she answered. And, no, she didn't want any ketchup.

Love is patient; love is kind.

I have noticed an influx of language processing referrals lately, and I'm not exactly sure what to attribute it to. But the more students with this difficulty we identify, the more patience we're going to need as educators. If you suspect a child in your class, or someone you know, may be struggling with language processing, contact your speech pathologist or Response to Intervention team coordinator as soon as possible.
What experiences do you have with students who struggle to process language?