Creating a culture for learning: Bad Habits - Shiny Happy People

Ones facial expressions can be extremely vocal to the point where it can set the tone for an entire lesson. Our students often take the temperature of the mood in the classroom by examining the teachers face. I remember past comments. “He’s on one today” or “He’s switched again” despite not having said a single word to the students. Their comments were in relation to how I looked when they entered the classroom. I am not preaching that all teachers should join the trend of meeting and greeting with special handshakes or a dance. This does happen in the school I teach but it’s the teachers choice:

Courtesy of Miss Carley

What I appreciate about such a strategy is that the child often feels welcome and safe on arrival. What I recognised about my own facial expressions regardless of intent is that the it has the power to project both a welcoming and unwelcoming atmosphere. 

While delivering teacher training seminars I have heard back from teachers that they are not the smiling type. Strange that some teachers dismiss smiling because it is apparently unnatural to them. Since when was waiting 10 seconds for an answer to a question or using multiple choice questions to determine the thinking of students natural? They are pedagogical approaches along with the simple act of smiling. The fact a smile has the power to disarm, the power to promote a safe environment, the power to be contagious, and the ability to help set a positive tone for a lesson should make it one of our daily habits.

In the words of REM: Throw your love around, love me, love me Take it into town, happy, happy

The Ted talk below is also worth a look: 

Creating a classroom culture for learning: Breaking Bad Habits Part 2 - The power of pronouns

 YOU

You need to improve your…….

When will you learn that……

This is your fault. You did this………

Such statements appear regularly both in our personal and professional lives. Language which has been with us since our early childhood. Language which has become habitual and to some degree helps frame our perceptions of the world. But our language also communicates both intended and unintended messages to those around us. In particular the pronouns You or Your can potentially create a sense of segregation - an us and them mentality. We should not underestimate the power of a single word or phrase. As Ron Ritchhart states in Creating Cultures of Thinking:

“And that is the thing about language, it is at once ubiquitous, surrounding us constantly, yet we hardly take note of its subtleties and power. And due to its constant presence, it is shaping our behaviour, interactions, thinking, attention, and feelings in ways that we might not be consciously aware of." 

In any given classroom at any given time of the day how many times will the word you be spoken by a teacher? And what does this say about the relationship between the teacher and students?  Don’t get me wrong there are situations where perhaps the use of you and your are necessary, but there are many other times when we would be better served using inclusive pronouns: We and Our. Over time they will hopefully help create a climate of safety and trust between teacher and student. So in the spirit of creating a sense of community and togetherness in our classrooms below are some possible alternative statements:

We need to ensure that our classroom is left tidy after each lesson.

We have high expectations regarding our conduct. Can you remind us how we should enter the classroom?

Today we are reading the prologue to Romeo & Juliet. 

I know it is a struggle but using our collective minds I am confident we can do this.

Creating a classroom culture for learning: Breaking Bad Habits Part 1 - Wait Time

Sometimes the simplest educational strategies are the hardest to implement. The classic example - wait time. It’s not simply a case of knowing that as teachers we should allow wait time to occur; we know that thinking does not have to be fast and it is not a prerequisite for intelligence; we know that not all students have quick processing speeds and that allowing longer processing time is an inclusive strategy; we know that our students can be shrewd, and quickly realise they can avoid thinking if they don’t put up their hands immediately; and we know as teachers it is part of our role to deal with the uncomfortable pause and the inevitable slowing down of time - yet try as we might employing wait time consistently is notoriously difficult to master. 

How many of us regularly remind ourselves of the importance of waiting up to 10 seconds before asking for an answer to a question - yet despite our best intentions this strategy falls down by the wayside. Simply put  - minimal wait time is a bad habit and habits are ridiculously tough to break because they usually happen without any thought, much like a reflex.

One possible solution is to employ an ‘if-then-plan’ such as the following:

After asking a question have two or three follow up statements to build the idea that hands up it not an option unless a student really does not know: 

• So there are only 4 students who think they have an answer hmm (tick tock)

• I am therefore assuming the if you don’t have your hand up you don’t know (tick tock)

• Fear of providing an incorrect answer should not stop you (tick tock)

  

Some practitioners avoid hands up and instead employ alternative approaches such as lollipop sticks or no hands up which come with their own benefits and pitfalls. Personally I prefer the hands up approach as it provides glimpses of additional information: Who are my slower thinkers? Who doesn’t understand? Which students don’t spend time pausing to think and leap to conclusions? Who worries about making mistakes? 

Q&A is visible daily in all types of schools on the educational spectrum. Due to its frequency of use it is important that we try and get it right.