KBAT

KBAT antara cirinya

- thinking out of the box
- non-algorithmatic thinking
- more than one solution
- listening not just hearing
- observing not just looking

What Students Taught Me About Being a Good Teacher

‘What Students Taught Me About Being a Good Teacher’

Awesome educator Ferial Pearson reveals her secret to classroom success. As told to Suzi Parker.September 10, 2013

"Everything I know about being a good teacher, I learned from my students."If students don’t feel safe, respected and celebrated in your classroom, they really aren’t going to learn much. You can know your material backwards and forwards, but it won’t matter. Everything I know about being a good teacher, I learned from my students.Once I was counseling a student from the Gay Straight Alliance Club. I said, “You are so bright. Why are you failing?” He said he was worried about being shoved down the stairs after class. Now, if you are sitting in a class worried about getting from algebra to English without being shoved down the stairs, if you are worried all the time about what is going to happen to you if someone finds out you’re gay, you can’t study or learn.I think that student saved me as a teacher. That became my number one priority: Students can be whoever they are, and they will be celebrated. They are allowed to bring their cultural capital into the classroom.

For instance, a lot of students have names from other countries, and teachers don’t even try to say their names. Your name is the first part of your identity, and so many students have stories about why they are named what they are. You’ve got to know your students’ names.Teachers will often say they can’t get parents to meetings. A lot of parents don’t feel comfortable in the school building. In some cultures, parents only come to the school if a student is in trouble. I ask, “Are you inviting them for a good reason?” I had a parent who was a poet. I invited her to help the students. She gave them some ideas, read some poems, and the students loved it.

I try to never put down a student’s language or culture. If my students speak African-American slang or are cussing, I talk about code switching. There is a time and place for different languages. I tell them that in this class, you are going to talk like you are onOprah. In the hallway you can talk like you talk at the club.

Instead of them just following rules I create, we sit together and make up a list of behaviors that will make us all feel safe and comfortable—and that includes me. We describe what each rule means and what it means in their cultures. I try not to implement my norms, but there are some non-negotiables, like no violence.I encourage humor with the rules, like make sure you keep your clothes on at all times. Don’t tear your hair out if you are frustrated. Because of these rules, I have never had a problem in the classroom.We have to be responsive to their culture, and technology is their culture. It seems everyone has a cell phone, so I try to use cell phones in the classroom. I use polleverywhere.com, a free web application that allows you to create a survey online, and students can text their answers online. It’s a good way to do a formative assessment. Sometimes we have a competition about who can define a word the fastest. I say, “Okay, go,” and they whip out their phone to see who can find the definition. The first one to get it wins a pack of gum or something.Straight Talk From the Stars of 'TEACH'If they abuse the technology, they lose it. (But I would never take a phone from a student. I saw a teacher beat up once over that.)

Teachers need support. At the College of Education at the University of Nebraska, they have created a brand-new initiative. There are four of us, and we are trying to figure out ways to get teachers in the classroom earlier, with more mentoring and support. I’m an “instructional coach.” A lot of teachers waste time in college, spending money and then realizing that teaching isn’t for them. Now we want them to answer the question before they get out: Is this something I love? Young teachers also really need to know they are not alone, and that schools serve students as a team. It’s easy for a young teacher to burn out and feel overwhelmed if they feel responsible for every aspect of a student’s well-being and academic growth, especially if they have students who are struggling.

The number one thing in teaching is relationships. You have to build relationships with basically everyone you come in contact with—students, other teachers, administrators, parents. If teachers communicate well and often with staff, faculty, parents, and members of the community, they can be culturally responsive and make use of the cultural capital students bring to the classroom. It makes things easier on the teachers, prevents classroom management issues, and empowers students.

Ferial Pearson specializes in urban education in Omaha, Nebraska, which has more Fortune 500 companies than any other U.S. city. But it is also a place with intense poverty and a high number of undocumented immigrants. This semester, Pearson is coaching wanna-be teachers at the College of Education at the University of Nebraska on how to be culturally responsive educators.

Lessons From 18 Years Working With At-Risk Kids

Experienced Teachers Teach Us: Lessons From 18 Years Working With At-Risk Kids

Takepart.com By Suzi Parker
Takepart.com

For 18 years Sandra Christenson taught at a continuation school in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to a Greyhound bus terminal. She knows first-hand the trials and tribulations facing at-risk students.“I would often get new kids every week, even if they were bright; who knew if I would see them next year?” Christenson says. Some students at Metropolitan Continuation High School had already seen the inside of jail, some were young parents and many were apathetic about education.Amid this tough environment, she made it her mission to teach English and reading classes in a way that compelled her students to want to learn.

But to accomplish this, she had learning of her own to do. “A student called ‘Monster’ had a heart-to-heart with me my first year teaching at Metro,” Christenson says. “He told me to be stricter. He taught me how to read gang signs and gang graffiti. I learned to learn from my students, and I became a better teacher. They wanted strictness with caring and I changed my style over the years, and it changed all our lives.”At Metropolitan, it was a challenge to help students just find the bravery to read. Most came from families where parents and siblings did not read books at home for pleasure.“My AP English class changed the way students looked at hard work,” she said. “One girl, who had endured sexual abuse, found a way to persevere through her life by using the five hours of reading a night and the Saturday classes as a model of toughness and preparedness. After taking the AP test, she reported her attacker who went to jail as a result.”

Christenson discovered that creating goals for students, inspired them to raise their test scores. She encouraged students and teachers to look at results from other schools and see where Metropolitan ranked. Suddenly, students wanted to get better.“They had never done homework, had never revised,” Christenson said. “I gave them hard deadlines, and students had to stay after school until they were met. We really would hold their feet to the fire. It was transformative for me and my students. Other teachers thought I was crazy, and I should be in another school. But more and more people got on board and the test scores got better.”

Christenson believes teachers must be allowed to bring what they love into the classroom. Her classes followed every election, especially the local ones, and learned about the many sides of the issues. Her students even worked the polls and registered fellow students to vote. Christenson's classes have also followed the stock market, 'buying' stocks, and keeping graphs on their progress.Christenson led opera and theater workshop classes, so her students could attend performances and films of both. She believes, “A teacher opens up the world to her students.” 

Two years ago she left Metropolitan when her partner got a job in Sacramento. Christenson now substitute teaches there, and on any given day she could teach kindergarten or fifth graders in any part of the city at any socio-economic level.“I walk into the skins of other teachers now,” she says. “But it has furthered my education and my humility. I learn something everyday. Either I get something great from the teacher or learn something the teacher doesn’t do, but maybe should do. I’m still very dedicated to teaching. If I get a full-time job I’ll go back to it in a minute.”

Original article from TakePart

Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

edutopia.org | Apr 26th 2012

A while back, I was asked, "What engages students?" Sure, I could respond, sharing anecdotes about what I believed to be engaging, but I thought it would be so much better to lob that question to my own eighth graders. The responses I received from all 220 of them seemed to fall under 10 categories, representing reoccurring themes that appeared again and again. So, from the mouths of babes, here are my students' answers to the question: "What engages students?"

1. Working with their peers

"Middle-school students are growing learners who require and want interaction with other people to fully attain their potential."

"Teens find it most interesting and exciting when there is a little bit of talking involved. Discussions help clear the tense atmosphere in a classroom and allow students to participate in their own learning."

2. Working with technology

"I believe that when students participate in "learning by doing" it helps them focus more. Technology helps them to do that. Students will always be extremely excited when using technology."

"We have entered a digital age of video, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and they [have] become more of a daily thing for teens and students. When we use tech, it engages me more and lets me understand the concept more clearly."

3. Connecting the real world to the work we do/project-based learning

"I believe that it all boils down to relationships. Not relationships from teacher to student or relationships from student to student, but rather relations between the text and the outside world. For example, I was in a history class last year and my teacher would always explain what happens in the Medieval World and the Renaissance. And after every lesson, every essay, every assignment, he asked us, "How does this event relate to current times?" It brought me to a greater thinking, a kind of thinking where I can relate the past to the present and how closely they are bonded together."
"If you relate the topic to the students' lives, then it makes the concept easier to grasp."

"Students are most interested when the curriculum applies to more than just the textbook. The book is there -- we can read a book. If we're given projects that expand into other subjects and make us think, it'll help us understand the information."

"What I think engages a student most is interactions with real-life dilemmas and an opportunity to learn how to solve them. Also, projects that are unique and one of a kind that other schools would never think of. Also something challenging and not easy, something to test your strengths as a student and stimulate your brain, so it becomes easier to deal with similar problems when you are grown up and have a job. Something so interesting that you could never ever forget."

"I like to explore beyond the range of what normal textbooks allow us to do through hands-on techniques such as project-based learning. Whenever I do a project, I always seem to remember the material better than if I just read the information straight out of a textbook."

"I, myself, find a deeper connection when I'm able to see what I'm learning about eye-to-eye. It's more memorable and interesting to see all the contours and details of it all. To be able to understand and connect with the moment is what will make students three times more enthusiastic about learning beyond the black and white of the Times New Roman text."

4. Clearly love what you do

"Engaging students can be a challenge, and if you're stuck in a monotone, rambling on and on, that doesn't help...instead of talking like a robot, teachers should speak to us like they're really passionate about teaching. Make sure to give yourself an attitude check. If a teacher acts like this is the last thing they want to be doing, the kids will respond with the same negative energy. If you act like you want to be there, then we will too."

"I also believe that enthusiasm in the classroom really makes a student engaged in classroom discussions. Because even if you have wonderful information, if you don't sound interested, you are not going to get your students' attention. I also believe that excitement and enthusiasm is contagious."

"It isn't necessarily the subject or grades that really engage students but the teacher. When teachers are truly willing to teach students, not only because it is their job, but because they want to educate them, students benefit. It's about passion. That extra effort to show how it will apply to our own future."

5. Get me out of my seat!

"When a student is active they learn in a deeper way than sitting. For example, in my history class, we had a debate on whether SOPA and PIPA were good ideas. My teacher had us stand on either ends of the room to state whether we agree or disagree with the proposition. By doing this, I was able to listen to what all my classmates had to say."

6. Bring in visuals

"I like to see pictures because it makes my understanding on a topic clearer. It gives me an image in my head to visualize."

"I am interested when there are lots of visuals to go with the lesson. Power Points are often nice, but they get boring if there are too many bullet points. Pictures and cartoons usually are the best way to get attention."

7. Student choice

"I think having freedom in assignments, project directions, and more choices would engage students...More variety = more space for creativity."

"Giving students choices helps us use our strengths and gives us freedom to make a project the way we want it to. When we do something we like, we're more focused and enjoy school more."

"Another way is to make the curriculum flexible for students who are more/less advanced. There could be a list of project choices and student can pick from that according to their level."

8. Understand your clients -- the kids

"Encourage students to voice their opinions as you may never know what you can learn from your students."

"If the teacher shows us that they are confident in our abilities and has a welcoming and well-spirited personality towards us, we feel more capable of doing the things we couldn't do...What I'm trying to say is students are more engaged when they feel they are in a "partnership" with their teacher."

"Personally, I think that students don't really like to be treated as 'students.' Teachers can learn from us students. They need to ask for our input on how the students feel about a project, a test, etc. Most importantly, teachers need to ask themselves, "How would I feel if I were this student?" See from our point of view and embrace it."

"Students are engaged in learning when they are taught by teachers who really connect with their students and make the whole class feel like one big family. Teachers should understand how the mind of a child or teenager works and should be able to connect with their students because everyone should feel comfortable so that they are encouraged to raise their hands to ask questions or ask for help."

"Teachers should know that within every class they teach, the students are all different."

9. Mix it up!

"I don't like doing only one constant activity...a variety will keep me engaged in the topic. It's not just for work, but also for other things such as food. Eating the same foods constantly makes you not want to eat!"

"Fun experiments in science class...acting out little skits in history...if students are going to remember something, they need visuals, some auditory lessons, and some emotions."

"Also, you can't go wrong with some comedy. Everyone loves a laugh...another thing that engages me would be class or group games. In Language Arts I've played a game of "dodge ball. We throw words at each other, one at a time. If they could get the definition, the person who threw the word would be out...Students remember the ones they got wrong, and of course, the ones they already knew."

10. Be human

"Don't forget to have a little fun yourself."

I'd like to end this post with one more quote, this one from my student, Sharon: "The thing is, every student is engaged differently...but, that is okay. There is always a way to keep a student interested and lively, ready to embark on the journey of education. 'What is that way?' some teachers may ask eagerly. Now, read closely... Are you ready? That way is to ask them. Ask. Them. Get their input on how they learn. It's just as simple as that."

Go on. Try it. Ask.