Showing Staff Appreciation

Who doesn't like to be shown appreciation for their hard work? Doesn't it feel good when your contributions to the team are acknowledged in a meaningful way? Showing appreciation for others may seem like a simple task, but how do we know the appreciation we show others has its intended impact? The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White reveals how complex showing appreciation can truly be, but how effective it can be when we get it right!

Different individuals have different values when it comes to how they like to be appreciated. In the workplace, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, and Tangible Gifts are the four languages that team members "speak" when it comes to how they like to be appreciated. Some individuals may have more than one language that are equally effective. 

To see the Languages of Appreciation for Lyon Staff Members, click here. 

Now that you know the Languages of Appreciation of your colleagues, what can you do next? What do our peers desire from communication and actions, and what should we avoid? 

	Communication	Actions	What to Avoid
Words of Affirmation	·   compliments ·   affirmation ·   kind words	·   send notes/cards	·  criticism
Quality Time	·   one-to-one time ·   not interrupting ·   face-to-face conversation	·   celebrations ·   doing things together ·   team-building	·  long periods of being apart ·  more time with friends than spouse
Tangible Gifts	·   positive ·   fact-oriented information	·   give gifts on special occasions and not so special occasions	·  forgetting special days
Acts of Service	·   action words like "I can," "I will," "What else can I do?"	·   helping with projects ·   repair/maintenance ·   acts of kindness	·  ignoring spouse's request while helping others

How will you show a colleague appreciation in the coming week? 

Nine Variables That Affect Compliance

Now that we are nearly two full weeks into the school year, it's the time of year when students try to test our resolve. Will their teachers issue consequences for misbehavior, or allow them to continue? Which class will they be able to "play" in? Will their teacher routinely establish a home-school connection for both positive and negative behaviors?

Sometimes, our students simply don't know what we want them to do because our expectations are clear. Take a look at the following variables and think about which ones you might be able to implement in order to better hold your students to high behavioral expectations.

1. Direct Requests vs. Questions- Direct requests have been found to be more effective for achieving compliance. For example, "I need you to stop teasing." is more effective than, "Would you please stop teasing?”

 

2. Distance- It is better to make a request from up close (i.e., 3 feet , or one desk distance) than from longer distances (i.e., 20 feet, across the classroom).

Middle school students in the cafeteria on the first day of school. 

3. Two Requests-It is better to give the same request only twice than to give it several times (i.e., nag); Do not give many different requests rapidly (i.e., "Please give me your homework, please behave today, and do not tease the girl in front of you,")

4. Loudness of Request-It is better to make a request in a soft but firm voice than in a loud voice (i.e., yelling is less effective when making a request.

The YMCA accommodated our large group
during our power outage on the first day of school. 

5. Time-Give the student time to comply after giving a request (3 to 5 seconds). During this short interval, do not converse with the student (arguing, excuse making), restate the request, or make a different request. Simply look at the him/her and wait for compliance.

6. More Start Requests instead of Stop Requests-It is better to make more positive requests for a child to start an appropriate behavior (e.g., "Please start your arithmetic assignment'.). It is better to make fewer negative requests for a child to stop misbehavior (I.e., "Please stop arguing with me.").

7. Non-emotional instead of Emotional Requests-It is better to make requests in a neutral, calm, non-emotional tone. Emotional responses (e.g., yelling, name calling, guilt statements, and roughly handling a child) decrease compliance and frequently escalate behavior making the situation worse.

8. Descriptive Requests-Requests that are positive, clear and descriptive are better than ambiguous or global requests (I.e., "Please sit down, keep your hands on your desk, and look at me" is better than "Pay attention.")

9. Reinforce Compliance-It is too easy to request a behavior from a student and then ignore the positive result. If you want more compliance, genuinely reinforce the successful times a student complies.

Lyon Academy students gathered at the YMCA on Wednesday, August 19th. 

Setting Expectations for Students- "Strong Voice" and "What to Do"

As we settle into the rhythm of the new school year, it is critically important to establish clear expectations for students from the first day of school. We are already off to a good start, but it is important to continue to keep the momentum and build on early successes. Each week builds on the week prior, but early in the year it is especially important to establish a tone of success and urgency in the classroom.

This year as a staff we will undertake a study of Teach Like a Champion 2.0. Two strategies from the new edition are fundamental for establishing strong culture from day one.

Access to TLAC 2.0 Videos & Resources
If you do not have a copy of this book, access the videos from the video by doing the following:

1. Go to the following website: http://my.teachlikeachampion.com/books

2. At the top of the page, click on “Resources" and then “Your Library”
3. The login information is as follows:

Username-lyonacademypd
Password-champion

Strong Voice- Technique 55, p. 412-416 (previously Technique 38 in TLAC 1.0)
This technique demonstrates the importance of affirming your authority as a teacher in the classroom through intentional verbal and nonverbal habits, especially at moments when you need control.

The 6 elements of Strong Voice are:

• Use a Formal Register: Register refers to the tenor of a conversation, encompassing eye contact, body position, gestures, facial expression, and rhythm of language. Delivering an important message in a casual register can ultimately undercut the formality of the message.
• Use Economy of Language: Follow the principle that “fewer words are stronger than more.” Wordiness communicates that you may be nervous and/or your words can be ignored. Focus just on using the words that are most important for students to hear.

• Do Not Talk Over: Communicate the importance of what you have to say by refusing to speak over students. In some cases, that might require that you interrupt yourself mid-sentence to wait until a student(s) quiets down.

• Do Not Engage: Once you have set a topic for conversation or delivered instructions, don’t change course even if a student tries to divert your attention. This allows you to establish a culture of focused accountability. Students must act first and explain later.

• Square Up/Stand Still: Communicate authority by standing up straight or even leaning in close.  When giving instructions, stand still.

•  Exude Quiet Power: Talking loud and fast communicates anxiety or that you’re not in control. Instead, lower your voice and remain cool and calm.

Other Strong Voice Resources:

1. http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/managing-emotions-dan-cotton-strong-voice/ 

2. http://specialed.about.com/b/2011/02/13/teach-like-a-champion-technique-38-part-one.htm

3. http://specialed.about.com/b/2011/02/21/teach-like-a-champion-technique-38-part-two.htm

Classroom Examples:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s_WwYIKoOk

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kUDyNeiEv0

What To Do- Technique 57, p. 417-421 (previously Technique 37 in TLAC 1.0)
This technique emphasizes the importance of using specific, concrete, sequential, and observable directions to tell students what to do, as opposed to what not to do. This technique is profoundly simple, involving giving directions in a format that clearly describes what you want in concrete terms.

Check out this video to see the technique in action: http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/video-day-recipe-getting-kids-asked/  

The 4 characteristics of What to Do are:

• Specific: Effective directions outline manageable and precise actions that students can take. for example, instead of advising a student to "pay attention," I might advise him to put his pencil on this desk or keep his eyes on me. It is easy to remember, solution oriented, and hard to misunderstand. 
  
• Concrete: Effective directions involve, when possible, clear, actionable tasks that students know how to execute. If I tell my student to put his feet under his desk rather than to "stop fooling around," I have given a tangible direction that I am sure he knows how to follow. Concrete directions require no prior knowledge, and this eliminates the sort of gray area wherein a student might plausibly claim not to know.

• Sequential: Effective directions should describe a sequence of concrete, specific actions. In the case of my student who needs help paying attention, I might advise him, "John, put your feet under your desk, put your pencil down, and put your eyes on me." In some cases, I might add, "When I write it on the board, that means you write it in your notes."

• Observable: It is hard for me to monitor a student's degree of paying attention accurately. In contrast, it is easy for me to monitor whether his legs are under his desk. If I follow up a lack of follow-through with a consequence, my student might protest, "But I was paying attention." It is much harder for him to say, "But my legs are under my desk" when they aren't. I can clearly see whether they are, and he also knows perfectly well that I can see whether he has complied. All of this makes him more likely to follow through.

Other What To Do Resources:

1. http://specialed.about.com/b/2011/02/05/teach-like-a-champion-technique-37.htm

Performance Tasks Professional Development, 4-20-15

The following videos and photos come from Mrs. Williams-Alberty's classroom as students engage in performance tasks from Being a Writer.

See additional resources for performance tasks at this link:https://sites.google.com/site/lyonblowpd/staff-meetings/gradelevelteammeetingsperformancetaskspd-mondayapril20th

Video #1- Mrs. Williams-Alberty Introduces the Task

Video #2- Modeling of Narrative

Video #3- Independent Student Work

In the pictures below, Mrs. Williams-Alberty's students are engaged in independently completing the Safari Narrative task.

Classroom Non-Negotiable Focus: Lesson Includes Assessment

This week's Lyon Academy Instructional Blog Post focuses on the classroom non-negotiable of Assessment throughout the lesson.

Assessment is the way the teacher determines whether or not the student has learned content and whether or not the student has mastered a learning objective. Assessment can be both formal or informal, and a variety of strategies can be used to determine if learning took place and if so, what was learned.

Each week, assessment strategies are provided to teachers in the Principal's Bulletin.

Assessment should be incorporated throughout a lesson for the purpose of learning. Without assessment, it is impossible to determine what instruction a student needs next in the classroom.

Assessment for Learning includes five key components- sharing learning expectations with the students, eliciting evidence of these expectations, feedback to the student, self-assessment by the student and peer assessment by others.

This link includes some additional background and key questions for Assessment for Learning. 



Assessment should not always to be teacher-centered. Students can assess their own learning. This is a key component of assessment for learning. Some strategies for student self-evaluation include:

• Create weekly skills check with a tracking chart: students track their own progress on each skill.
• Go over texts after grading them, discussing, "Why is choice A wrong?" and similar questions.
• Have students grade their own assignments based on a rubric.
• Give students independent practice worksheets with answers on the back so that they can check their work once completed.
• Create a cumulative rubric (adding skills as taught): have students do periodic self-evaluations with the rubric.

Another form of assessment is exit tickets. Exit tickets are brief, class-ending activities to check for understanding of that day's lesson. Here are some strategies to improve your exit tickets: 

• Create a tracking sheet to match the exit ticket.
• Assess the same skills through varied methods.
• Align format to interim assessment.
• Grade immediately.
• Immediately follow-up with students (if possible).
• Answer essential questions on exit ticket.
• Follow up data from exit ticket with the next day's Do-Now.
• Use exit ticket to determine small group re-teach.
• Monitor whether exit tickets reflect scope and sequence. 

Below is more information about exit tickets (or exit slips) from Read Write Think. 

The Exit Slip strategy is used to help students process new concepts, reflect on information learned, and express their thoughts about new information.  This strategy requires students to respond to a prompt given by the teacher, and is an easy way to incorporate writing into many different content areas.  Furthermore, the Exit Slip strategy is an informal assessment that will allow educators to adapt and differentiate their planning and instruction.

• Determine a key concept that you want students to think about or for which you wish to gather information.
• A few minutes before the end of a lesson or class session, distribute the Exit Slips and ask students to respond to a prompt that you pose to the class, related to the day’s lesson or information learned.
• State the prompt orally to the class, post it where students can see it (on the board, chart paper, or projected), or give each student a copy of a prompt chosen from the Exit Slip Printout.
• If you chose to present the prompt orally or post it, provide students with a small piece of paper or index card on which to write their responses, or ask students to record their responses in a notebook or piece of paper of their own.
• You may choose to have a variety of Exit Slips and choose which ones go to which students, further differentiating the process.
• Before students leave the room, collect their Exit Slips.
• Additionally, Exit Slips can be emailed by each student at the end of each session, or they can be a part of an ongoing class blog or wiki.
• Prior to the next session, review all of the students’ Exit Slips to determine how the next class session may need to be structured differently to meet the needs of all learners in your classroom.
• Exit Slips may be collected as a part of an assessment portfolio for each student to document their growth over a certain topic, unit, or school year.
• You may also choose to "publish" your Exit Slips.
  • Cut and paste various responses onto a single page.  Copy and distribute to each student at the beginning of the next class session.
  • Depending on the grade level and time available, ask students to discuss their findings in groups.  The following questions can be posed: Are there comments that you agree with or disagree with?  Did someone write something that surprises you, or is there something you hadn’t thought of?

Classroom Non-Negotiable Focus: Lesson Includes Independent Practice

This week's Lyon Academy Instructional Blog Post post focuses on the classroom non-negotiable of Independent Practice.

Independent Practice provides an opportunity for the teacher to assess student mastery of a skill or objective and is usually attached to some sort of formal evaluation or grade. This is the "You Do" portion of a lesson where the teacher evaluates a student's progress toward a learning target.

This week I observed several excellent examples of Independent Practice throughout the building. In Mr. Wolfenden's class, students responded to "Quick Write" prompts. Posted around the classroom, Mr. Wolfenden posted a generic description sheet for these tasks as well as a rubric for what a 2 point, 1 point or 0 point response includes. This helped students understand their task but also made the evaluation objective.

In Ms. Colacino's class, students worked to prepare for the Smarter Balanced Assessment by completing a performance task. The task included reading, watching a video, recording notes, and completing a graphic organizer to record their findings (see copies of student work below). Students completed their final draft responses using their iPad after the teacher provided feedback and support throughout the process. 

It is important during Independent Practice to differentiate the process and product for students. Here are some strategies that can be implemented to support Independent Practice effectively by using differentiation:

• Create leveled questions for assessments.
• Include a bonus section of challenging questions.
• Prepare different Do-Nows, worksheets, and so on for students at different levels.
• Use data to determine the degree of scaffolding and extra support each student needs.
• Group students according to the skills they need to develop.
• Communicate and collaborate with special education teachers to develop appropriate scaffolding and tasks for special needs students.
• Implement station work.
• Create individual "work contracts" so students have a clear path of what they are working on.
• Use Do-Now, exit tickets, and interim assessment to drive small group re-teach sessions.
• Create assignments with menu options by level (easy, medium, hard)- students can choose or the teacher can assign.
• Have observers sit by lower-achieving students during an observation to provide extra support.

Homework is another form of Independent Practice that can be used to gauge student performance and mastery. All students should receive some form of homework, which counts for 10% of the final grade. Here are some tips and strategies that can be used with Homework in your classroom:

• Develop homework center targeting specific skills identified by assessments.
• Review problem areas within homework assignments in class soon after an assignment.
• Have students fix homework errors and teach them how to scrutinize errors.
• Make tracking sheets for individual skills.
• Incorporate spiraled review in homework assignments: include questions and tasks from previously learned standards.
• Create leveled homework (student specific).
• Design homework that is aligned to the state test, interim assessments, etc.
• Use homework as "open book" quizzes.
• Encourage homework completion with classwide or schoolwide competition.
• Include above-grade-level challenge problems.

Hopefully these strategies and ideas will help you as you push your students towards mastery of objectives as we approach the MAP assessments!