Newsletter

Rip’s Teaching Tips​

Monthly Newsletter

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Ideas, resources, and inspiration for teachers

 

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Given that I know teachers are incredibly busy, I have two goals for this monthly newsletter:

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1. Ensure that the content is relevant to classroom teachers and school administrators; and

2. Keep it brief. If you can’t read this in ten minutes or less, then I’m being too wordy. Please let me know. 

 

Q: How should I respond when a student asks me a question and I don’t know the answer?

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A: Some teachers worry about what they should do when a student asks them a question and they don’t know the answer. When that happens to me (and it has happened on several occasions), my response is always the same.

 

“That’s a great question, and I don’t know the answer.  How about you and I do some research on what the possible answers might be, and we can discuss what each of us has discovered next class?”

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You’re a teacher, not a god.  You are not omniscient, and no one expects you to be.  I have found when I give this response, most students enjoy the idea of them finding out about something and then comparing what they discover to what my research has discovered. It makes for a great teacher-student conversation. 

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Research Spotlight: Seeing RED: Yes, the color of your marking pen matters.​

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Does the color of the pen you use to mark students’ assignments matter? The answer is, ”Yes!”

In their study “Seeing Red: Quality of an Essay, Color of the Grading Pen, and Student Reactions to the Grading Process” (Dukes & Albanesi, 2013), researchers graded essays and made comments. Some of the comments were in RED pen, others in BLUE. The students exhibited greater negative feelings towards the graders when the comments were written in red rather than blue. Some of them said getting comments in red was like getting a text message IN ALL CAPS. It felt like they were being yelled at. 

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Given this research, you may want to consider using PURPLE or GREEN pens for marking rather than traditional red. These colors serve the dual purpose of standing out from the blue or black ink most students use – so your comments will be easy to see – and these colors are seen as pleasant and non-aggressive.

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Book of the Month: Summary of a Book That Can Change the Way You Teach For the Better

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In Seven Myths About Education, Daisy Christodoulou explores seven beliefs that many educators still have and put into practice in their classrooms, in spite of the fact that these beliefs are false. She argues that these seven widely held beliefs, which are not supported by classroom research or cognitive science, are holding back both teachers and students. The seven myths that she explores are:

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1. Facts prevent understanding

2. Teacher-led instruction is passive

3. The 21st century fundamentally changes everything

4. You can always just look it up

5. We should teach transferable skills

6. Projects and activities are the best way to learn

7. Teaching knowledge is indoctrination

 

What about learning styles you may be asking. Christodoulou explains the belief that teaching to the preferred learning styles of your students has a positive impact on their learning has been so thoroughly debunked that she didn’t even bother to include it in her book. This book is an absolute gem. It fundamentally changed some of my classroom strategies and the way I prepare students for learning. It can do the same for you. 

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TRUE Teacher Story of the Month

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Tom’s first teaching position after graduating from university was as a music teacher at a K to 9 school. He was thrilled because that was what he had trained for and that was what he wanted to teach. When Tom received his teaching assignment, he was surprised to discover that while he would be teaching band to the junior high students – which was what he wanted to teach – he would also be teaching music to grades 1 through to 6.  How hard can that be, he thought. On day one of teaching grade 1, Tom walked into the classroom and printed his name on the board. “Good morning,” he said cheerily to the grade 1 class.  “My name is Mr. Dust,” he said to the class. 

One student raised his hand.                                           

“Yes?” inquired Mr. Dust. 

“But teacher, we can’t read!”

 

This story was told to me by a colleague about his first teaching assignment. I remember it often because it helps me to BE AWARE OF THE ASSUMPTIONS that we make about what our students know.  

 

DON’T ASSUME THAT YOUR STUDENTS KNOW SOMETHING WITHOUT CHECKING FIRST

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Teacher Well-Being Corner

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

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I have come to a frightening conclusion.  I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.

(Dr. Haim Ginott, Teacher and Child, 1976, p. 13).

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TEACHING Q&A

On the Rip’s Teaching Tips website there is a section where teachers like yourself can submit questions and I will answer one or two of these each month in this newsletter and explore some possible answers that I hope will prove useful.

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Since this is the first newsletter and thus there are no questions as yet, I have chosen a question to explore. I hope this is helpful.

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QUESTION:  What can I do when I get extremely irritated or angry with a student or with an entire class?

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A: When I was a novice teacher, there would be occasions when a student or group of students would behave in ways that made me really angry. Typically this was either because they were defying me in some way, such as refusing to cooperate with a well-established classroom procedure, or because they had failed to live up to some expectations that I had in regard to either behavior or academic performance. As a rookie teacher, I took their behaviors personally, as though they were deliberately and with foresight and malice directed specifically at me.

 

Now, as a veteran teacher, I look back on my younger self and realize that this was my ego taking control. Back then, I took the view that when my students were behaving inappropriately, this was a direct challenge to me and the way I wanted my classroom to run. Now, I realize that most of the time when students behave inappropriately, it is for reasons that have little or nothing to do with me. Often their reasons for acting out in class or not doing the work to the best of their ability are motivated by people and events that have nothing to do with me, things that are going on in their lives which most often I know little or nothing about. 

 

Now, when students act inappropriately or fail to produce work at a level commensurate with their abilities, instead of getting angry and taking it personally, I go on a scouting mission.  I now recognize that their behavior likely has nothing to do with me, but there are reasons for their behaviors, nonetheless.

 

Now, I take the offending student to a place where we can have a one-on-one conversation, and I quietly describe to them what I have observed. Statements such as, “It appears that you are having a bad day” or “It looks like you don’t want to do any work in class today” simply tell the student what I have observed. It is important to note that while talking to the student in the hallway like this, I never raise my voice. I am never threatening, never intimidating, and never interested in overpowering the student. I am on a scouting mission, attempting to find out why the student is behaving inappropriately and what their plan is to change their behaviors so that they could rejoin our class.

 

After describing to the student what I have observed, I simply wait. Students are typically uncomfortable with silence when in a one-on-one situation with a teacher. They always start talking. And once I get them talking, we can begin the work of finding out what the reasons for their misbehaviors are, and then for them to develop a re-entry plan that will enable them to get back into the classroom.

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I try to remember, when students misbehave, it is rarely about me. I need to leave my ego at the classroom door and work to help my students understand the root of their inappropriate behaviors and to develop a plan to correct them so they can rejoin the class. After all, that’s where the learning is happening, so that’s where I want them to be.  

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Fun Extra​

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​Why don't teachers trust atoms?​

Because they make everything up!

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If you find this newsletter of value, please feel free to SHARE it with your colleagues.

 

And please remember:

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If you’re not having fun... you’re doing it wrong! 

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Thank you for all that you do to help kids! Teaching is hard, but there’s no doubt that you’re making a difference.  The very fact that you have taken the time to read this newsletter tells me that you want to grow and continue to get better as an educator. My compliments and my thanks!

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