The Essential Skill of Vacationing Well

The Essential Skill of Vacationing Well

skycapnews.com

Introduction:

It no secret that Americans are terrible when it comes to taking vacations. Data and research time and again pay testament to the reality that as a culture we fail to take all the vacation days we are due. Even when we do we all too often take our work with us tethered electronically to our work lives and all the stresses and pressures that we are supposed to be getting away from. As a result, research would suggest that we suffer physically and emotionally as a people, doing great harm to ourselves in the process (Dickey, 2015; Von Drehle & Tulshyan, 2010).

It is also true that the topic of summer vacation is a point of serious and ongoing research, debate, and contention in American culture and education. Many studies have shed light on the negative impact that extended periods of time have on students of all ages. The reality of summer “brain drain” though runs directly into issues related to cultural norms, the physical and labor realities of extending the educational year, as well as a myriad of other issues. For at least now, the reality is that for many American students, and their teachers, summer vacation is a fixture on many school calendars (Dickey, 2015; Von Drehle & Tulshyan, 2010).

There are of course a variety of ways for educators to approach vacation time. For many it is a time for educational pursuits (i.e. college course work, workshops, symposiums, etc.) that are far more easily engaged in than during the busy school year. Summer travels/activities might also be learning experiences as educators visit sights and engage in activities which support subject mastery or build background knowledge or expertise. For others, it is a time to take on second jobs, or summer work to supplement incomes restricted by the dynamics of the education profession. If though, the opportunity affords itself for actual time away the question becomes how best to spend that time? The reality is that vacation time well spent can positively impact professional practices once the busy school year begins again. This is to say, your student’s achievement and advancement might well rest on how well you spend your vacation time during the summer weeks off!

Vacation considerations and best practices.

There are several things to keep in mind if you are fortunate enough to get away from ongoing studies or work and truly want to refresh and replenish yourself.

·         Purposefully disengage: As noted earlier, we as a culture often remain tethered to our workplace (or other aspects of our busy lives) via technology. It might not seem possible, but it is deeply impactful when those who are away on holiday actually get away, purposefully seeking to disengage with those stresses that are common to their daily work/lives. Unplugging and disengaging from stressful communication pathways is vital (Lovett, 2004).

pinstake.com

·         Consider how long is the right amount of time away: Plan enough time away to disengage and refresh. Some research suggests that only a couple days away might not be enough, whereas the benefits fits of vacationing begin to diminish after 8 or more days. Too little time and the benefits of time away is not realized, but longer isn’t always better. There is also research suggesting more frequent short vacations of a week or so might be more helpful than longer trips. Typically, the benefits of time off diminishes within three to four weeks upon return to the routine.

newhotelus.com

·         Plan on engaging in activities which are relaxing: This doesn’t always translate to time sitting on a beach (although it could!). For some climbing a mountain is the type of engagement with relaxes the individual, providing the disengagement with the normal life/professional stresses which prove so taxing (Soojung-Kim Pang, 2016).

·         Consider where and with whom your vacations are spent: At times where we go and with whom we go or visit can be more stressful than our professional lives. The last thing the busy educator needs is to come back to the stresses of a busy academic year more exhausted than when they left. Careful consideration of traveling companions and destinations are in order (Lovett, 2004).

·         Look to refresh physically and mentally/spiritually: The calling of education calls for teachers to serve and meet the needs of others constantly, often at their own expense. As such teachers, can become depleted in body, spirit, and soul. Make sure to plan time to refresh and recover physically. Take time to engage in activities (or lack thereof) geared towards mental and spiritual replenishment. Don’t be afraid to plan time to just be lazy, or relaxed, or just sit under a tree and enjoy doing nothing but thinking (or not!) (Jabr, 2016).

Conclusion:

Americans embrace a culture which worships “busyness” (Jabr, 2016). We worship at an altar which driven in part by our Puritan roots, which believes as long as the individual is busy at something, it is good and beneficial. The problem with life practices which rests solely on such a perspective is that is ignores the reality that we are also physical beings who need rest and replenishment. Such refreshment is in fact foundational to effective professional (and personal) engagement.  Exactly how teachers/educators choose to vacation is as varied as those embarking on such restorative journeys. Yet, it is vital that vacation time is used mindfully and purposefully so as best replenish and restore the educator for the work which lies ahead. The reality is that your students’ achievement next year, might well depend on which beach you choose to vacation on this year.

profitguide.com

***With all this in mind, I will take my own advice

abstaining from blog entries for a few weeks. I return with my weekly blog at the beginning of August. Have a great summer everybody!

References

Dickey, J. (2015). Save Our Vacation. Time, 185(20), 44-49.

Jabr, F. (2016). Give Me a Break. Scientific American Mind, 27(5), 44-49.

Lovett, R. A. (2004). Getting Away from it All (Even if You Can’t Go Far). Psychology Today, 37(4), 54-60.

Soojung-Kim Pang, A. (2016, December 20). The Secrets to a Truly Restorative Vacation. Idean.ted.com.

Von Drehle, D., & Tulshyan, R. (2010). The Case Against Summer Vacation. Time, 176(5), 36-42.

Seeing Your Classroom for the Dynamic Entity That it Is (Part I)

virgil-n.blogspot.com

One of my favorite basketball players growing up was Larry Bird, I heard it said that like may other great athletes the game unfolded for him in slow motion as he played. He knew, studied, and analyzed his teammates and opponents becoming a master of his court environment. He gained insights into their habits and tendencies which allows him to see several steps, moves, moments in the future. He was not blessed with the greatest physical skills but because of his reflective and studious approach to the game he was able to maximize his abilities and potential by not being rushed into mistakes and miscues. With such insight and foresight he was often able to be where he need to be, when he need to be there, prepared to make the great plays that others could only dream of.

The same type of dynamics exist within the classroom environment as well. The issue is this, the classroom is a living organism with movement, interactions, social exchanges, and numerous activities creating a collage of life. This life ebbs and flows in predictable patterns of cause and effect impacting learning and achievement. Such factors can either exist uncheck, unrestrained, and unregulated creating a cacophony of accidental and incidental confusion. Or, the life force of the classroom can be purposefully, proactively, engaged, arranged, and orchestrated to created a masterpiece in which learners thrive and flourish.

Time, experience, and action research within my own classroom environment has led me to arrange my environment in very specific ways speaking to a variety of issues which continually arose overtime. Below I offer three areas/arrangements within my learning environment and offer the reasoning behind their current configurations.

The first area of consideration relates to the supplies which are used daily within my 4th grade classroom. Everything from art/drawing supplies, to writing and math implements are located in one place. Originally these items were located in a variety of points around my classroom. As I observed my students move within the classroom gaining access to need supplies I observed a number of problems.  As students gathered supplies they often disrupted learning by visiting with others in the area of the supplies, disrupted sight lines during lessons, or impacted concentration with their noise and movement.

My solution was to locate my most used supplies in one area, off to the side of my room, in front of my desk. This allowed students to gather supplies with a minimum of disruption to sight lines. Now centrally located, supply gathering activity is restricted to one area rather than throughout the room (I also tried to build an open space around the supply area to speak to the issue of proximity to other students.) In addition when I do ask students to access supplies I control the numbers arriving in this area at any one time by asking for one student per table group, or allowing only one table group at a time to come up for their supplies. A final, unanticipated benefit is by having the supplies near my desk I can better monitor usage and tidiness of the supplies. My students tends to waste fewer less, and don't leave them in the disarray they previously did as they are in close proximity to my desk and front table and under my watchful eye.

 Another problem common to my early classroom related to traffic patterns. I tried a variety of student desk configurations with varying degrees of success. There were problems related to travel around the classroom making it difficult for me and my students to move around the maze that was the student seating arrangement(s). In consideration of this issue (as well as my practice of often having students work together in group activities). I arranged the desks in groups of 4 and 6. Smaller groupings didn't open up enough travel lanes, and larger grouping proved unwieldy for group activities. Now movement in and around the classroom allows me to quickly and easily monitor and assist students working at their desks. In addition my classroom is a safer place, with fewer accidents as  I insist that students push in their chairs, not sit on the edge of their chairs while working (thus pinching off travel lanes), as well as hanging up coats and placing books and supplies in or under desks. A final example of traffic pattern consideration can be seen in where I house my Chromebook cart. By placing is along a side wall and training my students to approach the cart along the wall to obtain their Chromebooks and then continue walking towards the back of the room, I don't have students walking into each other and pushing through clogs of other students, stopping to talk, etc. All of this translates to more time on task as students move quickly and safely in their environment. I also have to engage in far fewer behavior redirects which takes my time and energy and can negatively impact teacher/student relationships.

Finally, I my front table is an important tool in keeping myself organized throughout my day. Each day as I prepare my lessons I stage them from left to right (facing the class) from beginning to end of day. As I progress through my day each stack of supplies, books, etc. speaks to a different lesson during my day. I spend far less time searching for materials wasting precious instructional time and maintaining student engagement. In addition I often use this area for students to check there progress and accuracy as they work independently in groups or alone around the room. I can monitor student self checks and identify how quickly and completely they are working through lessons via this classroom gathering point. This table also often becomes the forum for small group mini lessons for struggling students who come to my attention as they check their own work.




There are a number of other practices and considerations that I apply in my learning environment which removes or minimizes the hurdles for students which often spell the difference between success and failure. It's really not rocket science, rather it's just taking the time to look, listen, and study my students, their environment, and my practices. To be like those great athletes who are students of their game. I try to anticipate and avoid problems while trying to maximize engagement and achievement by as much as possible being one step ahead or the game. It does take work to do so, but in the long run the benefits and results far outweigh the cost and effort required. Classrooms are dynamic living organisms which when crafted carefully are a thing of beauty to watch operate.

Exactly What is the Point of My Student Supports?

Introduction: To mindfully consider the needs of students requires teachers to move beyond simply rolling out one size fits all lesson plans. Rather, education professionals must carefully consider the individualized needs that each student bring to the classroom environment. Providing differentiated and scaffolded supports should require the educator to consider deeply, long held paradigms, and examine practices which on the surface may seem to serve student needs. Yet, often times upon further examination classroom practices may fail to address the true short and long term needs presented by students in need of individualized supports.

Over time just such considerations have confronted me in my classroom. One point in particular relates to the use of various supports for my 4th grade math students as the wrestle with both mastery of fact tables as well as the range of subject matter that 4th grade curriculum presents. One one hand, automaticity of math facts is an essential skills that is foundational to success in future math classes. Yet, such mastery can elude some students for a variety of reasons (including those with reading challenges.) On the other hand my students must also engage in skills development which often rests upon accurate and reasonably quick recall of these same math facts. For years I drilled my students on their math facts, and then turned around and required them to take on daily math activities working without the benefit of fact mastery. Academically speaking I was asking them to work without a net. The results often were deeply frustrated students, who either took exceedingly long amounts of time to work through daily lesson problems, or arrived at wrong answers not knowing if this was because they missed something in a formula or algorithm, or if they simply miscalculated. In either case students often fell further behind their classmates who had attained fact mastery, or simply saw their struggles as further evidence that they would never ‘get’ math.

Finally, after much soul searching I decided to make a radical change in my practices. First, I continued an emphasis on the need and practice towards mastery of math facts. At the same time I decided to provide needed differentiated supports such as calculators and multiplication tables based upon student need and driven by student choice. In doing so I addressed a variety of issues which every educator should consider related to the topic of differentiation and scaffolding to meet student needs.

okclipart.com

Things to Consider:

Consider the goal(s) of the lesson and keep them in mind: What exactly is the end goal of the lesson? In my case was it fact mastery, or working towards mastery of a math skill set? These are two completely different, although mutually depended issues (Larkin, M. J., 2001)?

Work with students to obtain buy in and set expectations, etc.: Each year I fully explain the reasons and reasoning behind with my class about the use of fact tables and calculators at very specific times in the course of our daily work. I never let students (or myself) lose sight of what it is we are trying to accomplish. We engage with each area of our math curriculum (fact mastery and skill mastery) with a clear, systematic approach (Larkin, M. J., 2001).

Establish the needs of the learner and provide student specific supports and when to apply them: The educator must know the issue(s) each student is addressing and how they are best supported. I also ask my students to participate in this process as they make wise choices for themselves with both long term and short term goals in mind. Needless to say supports will change over time as progress is made, or other points of need arise. Flexibility and adaptability are essential (Larkin, M. J., 2001).

Provide conditions for effective, ongoing feedback: Work closely with students, other educators, and support staff to monitor, assess, and provide ongoing feedback designed to best support students differentiated and scaffolded support needs as they arise or change (Larkin, M. J., 2001).

Carefully monitor and temper frustration and risk: Students in need of learning supports are often primed for failure, expecting to once again be frustrated and defeated by skills and curriculum beyond their abilities. One of the key benefits of differentiation and scaffolding is to change the hearts and minds of learners by providing relief from frustration and defeat, as well experiencing much need victories. Confidence is a powerful agent of change and it may be the single most powerful gift a teacher can give to her or his student(s) (Larkin, M. J., 2001).

Clipartfest.com

Conclusion: As it turned out, the changes to my classroom were dramatic. Although I still have students who struggle with fact mastery and automaticity, I have greatly reduced the stress level and dread often associated with skills development. No longer are students fighting a battle on two fronts, rather they can work towards skills development with greater speed and accuracy than they could have without the supports. In the end the real questions for me were as follows. 1) What exactly am I aiming for in each lesson in terms of learning goals? 2) How am I impacting student confidence and growth. Continuing the cycle of defeat for these students is the very last thing that they need. 3) What ultimately speaks to the short term and long term well being of my students? In twenty years is it more important that they understand and can apply foundational math skills and concepts (often with the aid of technology to take care of calculations and computations), or is it to fight an often losing battle to memorize the product of seven times six?

Reference

Larkin, M. J. (2001). Providing support for student independence through scaffolded  Instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children, 34(1), 30.

Your Students' Trust is an Absolute Must!

seanheritage.com

Introduction: As educators/adults we understand that our students love to learn, it's just up to us to find the key to unlock that door. We hold that learning is a natural and basic aspect of childhood, that is innate to each and every student. We have all experienced occasions when our students are swept away in learning experiences, when the subject matter, the mode of learning, time and setting all come together and engage and engross their eager young minds and the magic of learning unfolds before us. This is the wonder of pliable young minds created for just such occasions.

Yet, the reality of what takes place in our classrooms and other learning settings is often a far different reality. In worse case scenarios we march are students in, sit them down and lecture to them, run them through their lessons, stations, and worksheets, question/interrogate them in front of their peers, test them again and again thus institutionalizing the organic experience of learning into the educational equivalent of the assembly line. Even when using  models where we differentiate and scaffold which speak to the individuality of the learner provide learning experiences which speak to the more current understanding of educational best practices, we as educators and adults can lose sight of a foundational reality. Learning can be, and often is a very scary experience!

Learning ask our students to take chances, venture into the unknown, often vulnerable and powerless within the learning environment. Students try things they’ve never tried before, risk being wrong, often again and again. They engage in learning activities which are new to them often being asked to do this in full view of their peers. As the adult, teacher, and authority in the room we as teachers hold all the power, set the rules, and define the parameters of success and failure.

The question therefore becomes, how do we address the reality that learning often places the student in such a compromising and frightening position? Research indicates that addressing such realities and optimize student performance speaks to the development of trust between student and teacher. Such trust is not just a theoretic concept which serves as the bases of catch phrases and professional development workshops. It is in fact a physical reality carried out via chemical reactions in the brains of humans. The release of the brain chemical oxytocin induces individuals to exhibit trust in their relationships. The creation and release of oxytocin is supported when individuals feel as easy and comfortable in their relationships and settings (i.e. they don’t feel threatened or at risk) (Zak, 2017). To cultivate such realities often calls on the educator to employ best practices, taking great care to meet students at their point of need. To mindfully and proactively addressed the reality that trust in relationships is not a given, rather it is gained through purposeful engagement and practice on the part of the educators aimed at cultivating and nurturing it in their students.

coleyoakum.wordpress.com

Hospitality: A starting point to developing trust relates to the hospitality that we exhibit as we invite our students into our classrooms/learning environments. We must greet them unconditionally making clear that they enter the environment without the fear of rejection or judgement. As educators we must throw ourselves into the process of removing any barriers to learning that may speak to the individuality of the learner. Such barriers not only act as natural encumbrances to the learning process, but also may send powerful messages that the student is not welcome or considered in the environment that they are being asked to operate in.

In addition, the teacher must also open themselves up, divesting themselves of many of the vestiges and suggestions of authority that can stand in the way of trust. It is one thing to be the responsible professional/adult in the room leading, guiding, and caring for the learning community. And another thing all together to be an authoritarian figure, lording over those in their charge. Students must understand that learning is a partnership where trust is a two way street where both teacher and learner are trusting the other to fulfill their parts of the learning equation.

algebra1teacher.com

Trust: There are several key practices that foster trust in relationships reducing of stress and lowering of defensive barriers (Zak, 2017). First, is the before mentioned greeting of students into the classroom environment. Next, is to take time to recognize and celebrate successes when they take place during learning. Additionally, it is vital that learning goals be clearly identified, articulated, manageable, and attainable goals. Such goals remove shadows of doubt relative to failure and success and prevent leadership which is never satisfied only fixating on ever extended achievement horizons which frustrate followers. Also, as much as possible allow students choice in how they work and with whom they work with. This is not always possible, but when it is, it speaks powerfully to issues of differentiation and appreciation of individual differences and needs. Next, be as open and transparent as possible in communications. Share feelings, reflections, and concerns openly with individuals and groups. Also look to serve and develop the whole learner. Education is about more than just academic achievement, it’s about all the other lessons and skills needed to succeed in the wider world. Students may struggle to succeed academically but flourish as individuals, this should not be lost to the teacher or student. Finally, the teacher should show vulnerability and humanness. It’s one thing to be a strong, steady, influence in the classroom which students can turn to. It is another thing altogether to disingenuously portray oneself as perfect, immune to the frustrations and fears that students commonly feel. Such portrayals are false and foster distrust, robbing students of realistic role models that they can look to as they develop their own self-image (Zak, 2017).

Conclusion: Trust is a foundational component of the student, educator relationship. Trust, is the byproduct of chemical reactions in the brain, created by safe, secure learning environments, brought about by educational best practices. Simply stated, without trust, students’ brains are not in the optimal condition to learn. Conversely, when trust is present students' brains are primed to engage, embrace, explore, lacking fear and apprehension. They are more likely to establish positive learning relationships with their teachers and are more willing to take the risks and chances which often accompany the learning of new skills. With such realities in place it would seem self-evident that the benefits of trusting relationships far outweigh the efforts needed to establish and nurture them.

References

Hung, R. (2013). Education Hospitality and Trust in Teacher-Student Relationships: A Derridarian Visiting. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 32(1), 87-99.

Zak, P. J. (2017). The Neuroscience of Trust. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from www.hbr.org