Making management fun OR "You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!"

I have reasonable content skills. I teach four subjects and I can safely say I'm not an expert in all of them (which doesn't surprise people and yet we expect our kids to get there - before they turn 14, if they wouldn't mind! Slackers!). I'd like to think I know a lot of stuff but I'm pretty sure a whole bunch of it is mindless irrelevance that I keep stored for trivia contests. Hey, I once won a t-shirt (size small - which I am not) and a voucher for a manicure. Oh yeah.

Anyway, what I think saves me in the classroom is my management structure. Many teachers have commented that the environments I have chosen to teach in (1) (2) appear unstructured. I couldn't disagree more. Structure is about consistency not uniformity, and although the two words are very closely related, they have enough differences for a student to notice subconsciously. By that I mean, some students will struggle under uniformity but flourish under consistency.

Structure comes from knowing your goals, having the means to reach them and valuing them. It can also come from fear or drilling or tradition. What would you prefer?

I believe our students want goals - just not my goals and certainly not some government official's literacy and numeracy based (and little else) goals. Kids want to be better, we all do, but they don't want to be 'us'. And why would they want to be? It's not like we've managed to save the world.

Most of all though, they want direction. Clear, valuable, personal direction.

So here's what I did: (There are two ways to write this next bit, the academic and the realistic. You know, I chose the latter.)

Some pretty clever people directed me to the work of some other pretty clever people. I then borrowed it and made stuff with it. I used a web based tool to give kids a way to connect with it. I gave them a reason to want it. I let them take ownership of it. I patted myself on the back and smiled smugly. Me, me, me!

Actually, the key here seems to be, my classroom's management structure isn't really related to me much. It came from everywhere else. And it looks like this...

Part One: 
Need: Visual, embedded rewards based system***.
Got: Class Dojo. 

It's a little bigger in real life! Click to embiggen.

Others have explained how Dojo works so I will not go into it too deeply. Put simply; you load your class lists, assign behaviours and click on the student's avatar to give them points for demonstrating that behaviour.

I differ only slightly from the site's intended use in that I didn't want to measure 'negative' behaviours and I wanted something for the students to be able to use their points for. To do this, I simply replaced the negative points with a 'points spent' behaviour so that I could see how many points they have spent on the, hopefully fun, rewards. Students can clearly see how many points they've earned and how many they've spent as long as you change the settings to display both 'positive' and 'negative' points. See, it's got a little bit of maths thrown in for good measure! ;) Yay, numeracy.

It's projected on the big screen whenever classes start. Try keeping the kids away from it!

Part Two:
Need: Personalisable (I do not care if that isn't a word) values to improve*.
Got: Habits of Mind pdf here

"What's the point of points?", said Mr Smarter-Than-He-Thinks-He-Is (I think it's a Spanish name) almost as soon as I started explaining things. A whole bunch of games-based learning theory, that I haven't linked to, implies that people love to keep score, even when it doesn't give us a direct reward (the 'throwing paper in the bin' game that we all play in the office is a decent example - especially when we miss and return back to where we took the shot so we can try again) but some kids aren't buying it. We'll get to them in a minute...

I want to help build successful humans. Art Costa's Habits of Mind is a collection of traits that successful people tend to demonstrate. 1 + 1 = 2! 

I've rewritten the habits to suit my student audience, added strategies from around the globe that represent each habit and included a whole bunch of tools students can use to develop their traits - and made it look pretty in poster form. The tools are, not surprisingly, easily available to students throughout the classroom. They are my long term goals - and, quite frankly, they form part of the vast list of things we should assess in schools but that don't, won't and possibly can't exist in standardised tests.

EDIT: You can now find the full set here

Some students have already 'self-diagnosed' and have begun using strategies to help address their concerns. Hearing them discuss their behaviours in a reflective manner while ALSO putting strategies in place to improve (rather than just mimicking the words they know will get them out of trouble) has been fantastic and quite rewarding for me too.

Smaller cards are also available for the student so they can focus on a single strategy. Oh, and they get double points for demonstrating the habit they've decided to focus on!

Part Three: 
Need: Something fun to aim for** - or for which to aim (English skillz!).
Got: A bunch of kids full of great ideas who, in the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper, 'just wanna have fun".

Mr Smarter-Than-He-Thinks-He-Is (I checked, it's not Spanish) was right. Points need to be useful. No student wants to reach for long term goals without a clearly defined path of sub-goals and micro-rewards to aim for along the way. I graciously and humbly let the kids do this bit because I was tired from making all of those posters! Here's what they did...

My personal favourite.

Some of them are quite obvious. Making me teach a class in a dress was... unexpected - their enthusiasm for it was not! Zombie escape is pure awesome (half the kids get made up as zombies and the other half... um, run!) Phone Home is clever (students can spend the points to make us call home and explain how good they've been). I've heard a few kids planning to do this just before birthdays! Movie Madness is kind of sweet, with some students aiming to earn enough points to 'shout' the rest of the class a full film! And let's be honest teachers, there probably would have been a point in the year when there would have been so much going on that the kids would have got a 'free' movie anyway. Not any more! And yes, I plan to have a food fight but the term 'food' might be loose! I'm thinking pie plates and shaving cream?

So that's it. It's been running for a few weeks now and it's really coming together but I'd love to know what others think unless you're from the hopefully shrinking, 'You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!' team!

Oh, and please go and buy the 'Zombie' T-shirt so I don't get sued. And yes, I already have one!


FAQ (frequently anticipated question): Can I have your HOM posters?
RGA (rarely given answer): Yes, always happy to share, just don't claim my work later at a conference that I'm at - I will find you (please read the last bit in Liam Neeson's voice, thank you) - you should find that each poster from this set links to a public dropbox folder. Those files are larger and better for printing on your school's trusty admin colour printer.

* Long term goals.
** Short term rewards.
*** A visual, measurement system.

tldr; We use short term rewards to reach long term goals in a visual way. Ta daaa!

Work in progress - The Educ8 Environment

I promised photos of the classroom and here they are. I've gone with the old fashioned 'Jenny Craig' style of before and after images and not surprisingly I've made sure the second photo looked much better! Actually, that was a mistake but I wanted to acknowledge it before setting you off... oh, and don't forget to click on the images for embiggenment. It's a word!

The room is around two classrooms in length with a wide array of metal posts for that added element of excitement.

The room has been used as a sort of detention centre / restraining room (pleasantly called the 'reflection room') which has now been moved to a less overqualified locale.

The xBox and various other consolely fun machines - and a big open space for kinect fun. I suppose we could also do drama and role plays here...

One of the key aspects of this room was ensuring that nobody could bring a class in here and teach 'traditionally'. In order to force the teacher's hand, none of the spaces can seat an entire class. This, hopefully, encourages teachers to create work that allows for different approaches and/or create lessons that allow students to find multiple ways to respond. At least, that's the plan.

Awesome, huge and bright shield tables to encourage group work and allow easy movement and management - with bonus Langford Tool sheets for extra thinking goodness.

Finally, this is the slowly coming together Problem Base Learning space we call 'The Boardroom'. Students will use this area to solve the many problems we tend to have on this big, bad planet of trouble! I'm hoping to put an Interactive White Board in here when the education fairy waves some sort of magic financial wand. My reasoning is that I don't think an IWB is meant for teacher use, and a multi-touch board would enable many problem solving opportunities.

The Boardroom - where children's lives are shattered by Donald Trump.

Anyway, it's early days - there's much to do - and the iPads are arriving soon too. The walls are still awfully bare compared to my old room but hopefully student work and the Habits of Mind posters I'm working on will start removing the beige soon enough. If you're reading this and wondering if I'd like your opinion, the answer is yes - we're making this up as we go (that's a half truth - substantial amounts of reading have been applied to the decision making process) and every helping hand will be appreciated. Unnecessary compliments will not go astray either! 

You're kidding, right? OR How I learned to stop worrying and love the DEC

"Welcome to the real world", says John Mayer. Week one of this grand project allowed me to believe that excitement and innovation would always prevail, so successful had we been in somehow getting everything up and running while apparently upsetting every human within the detonation radius of a small nuclear weapon. Petty (and sometimes valid) arguments were put aside or overcome, powerful opponents were placated without significant damage to our philosophy and yet... something still lingered.


We have huge obstacles to overcome, mostly formulated by the weaknesses we each bring to the table. We acknowledge that; in fact, we focus upon it. Teaching in a manner such as this; rotating groups, individual student accountability, games based learning, etc - it clearly marks one's shortcomings when the rails and the train no longer line up! And it should. In fact, this should be one of the key ongoing concerns of any decent group of educators. Traditional classroom teachers tend to hide their failures behind common 'it's the students' fault" gripes and "but I have to teach that" moans. It's been pretty clear to us this week that most learning disruptions have had much closer roots than we're comfortable with.


Here's what we shouldn't have to deal with though: pathetic and obtuse purchasing systems that everyone worth their salt tries to circumvent anyway, traditionally styled consultants desperately trying to keep their cushy non-teaching position afloat through constant self-justification and, my personal favourite, the hidden unemployed - or teachers who, in their current form, would be utterly unemployable in any other industry.


I've been learning how to adjust myself to suit the needs of others; I tend to bulldoze when my ideals seem within reach but I'm still thoroughly uncomfortable with the apparent acceptance of mediocrity and heartbreaking apathy within this field.


And so, in week two of this project, I've decided that fitting in with the expectations of a mediocre system and it's supporting cast is much like trying to keep an annoying relative happy at Xmas - you won't see them again for another year, so smile, nod and bring your ideals to life despite, and in spite, of their actions. Especially if they try to stop you!


I'm going to give this project the best chance to succeed - and late/expensive equipment, negative "I've been here fifteen minutes but here's what you're doing wrong" consultants and the background political whispering of 'the veterans' won't be enough to stop me.


So, how do you beat the system you're bound by?


Next week: Making management fun OR "You can't do that, we're teachers not entertainers!"

I Was Wrong OR Proof that he doesn't know what he's doing (Volume One)

My class room is an experiment. Personally, I don't think it's a particularly innovative one but I suppose, in today's educational climate, it is a little bit out there. All I've tried to do is compress as many modern ideas as possible into a single philosophy.


Not sure that's what everyone wanted me to do with their ideas!


So here's what we've got: it's one huge room, at least twice as big as the average, divided into five 'zones'. Each zone represents a different style of learning/teaching but there are no 'written in stone' sections. There's a traditional style* section with group tables and a projector that can swivel between a screen and a whiteboard (no, we couldn't afford the IWB so we went old school). There's an open area with ottomen (nobody could tell me if that was the plural for an ottoman - I'd prefer ottomani because Latin rules), no tables, a huge TV and a kinect ready xBox. There's a group learning area with three huge, shield shaped, adaptable tables - and not much else - certainly no whiteboard or desk for a teacher to hide behind or near. There's a staging area where kids come in and learn their roles for the day, pick up equipment and stow away bags. And finally, there's an individual learning area with bean bags and lounge chairs and lap tables and iPads and... well, it's pretty cool the kids tell me. And each section is colour coded in some sort of deBono's hats kinda way for when we get really clever later on.


Did I say finally? There's also the Project Based Learning room attached to the side of the main class space -  it's currently a gigantic storeroom but I'm working on it! Did I mention I have no official training in this area? Time to hit the books! Can't wait to get this bit running.


Anyway, the whole space fits 50 middle school kids (51 already - yay, late enrolments) and two teachers team teaching their little socks off. I'm teaching them (the kids) four subjects** while experts come in and out to back me up. We'll be doing the cross curriculum thing as soon as humanly possible too.


We teach in waves; 15-20 minutes in each zone before rotating to the next section and resetting. So far, the kids love it but the time might be a little restrictive. Still it forces teachers to shut up and teach - and it really makes you think about your plan. I think we've cut back on teacher talk and wastage.  The problem now seems to be that the kids are getting through far more work than we can keep up with!


We use edmodo to help track some of it and to give the kids their own voice, class dojo to help with motivation and management and I'm working feverishly on a fun online test thingy that should assess where the kids are constantly - none of this two year malarkey manifested by the test that must not be named. I'll be writing about how that goes soon.


So, why was I wrong? Simple really, I got the order of the areas wrong and had the team teachers way too close to each other. Teachers love to project their oh so important voices, so we needed a bit more space to stop them from getting in front of each other. And because this room is all able making mistakes and learning from them, we've already solved the first problem. We've started talking softer and we moved the zones around to create even more space.


Now, about the other 37 problems we've created... muwahahaha (insert evil, "take that traditional teaching" laugh in your mind now, please)


Next week: The wheels fall off OR How to work with the DEC- now with pictures!***


* Kind of traditional but I cheated and made the maximum group size just 16.
** English, Maths, PDHPE and HSIE.
*** I will post room photos ASAP!