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Learning

Dealing with Homework Resistance

On March 24, 2015 / Learning

Teachers often ask me how they can convince students to do their homework. Many reveal that they have several students who don’t care about homework and refuse to do it.

When it comes to homework, remember that you cannot force learning. In fact, there are thousands of capable, mature, responsible adults who rarely did their homework in school.

As I mention in my book Discipline Without Stress, I do not use the term, “homework.” I differentiate between work and effort. I use the term, “home assignment.” So the question teachers are really asking me is: “How can I get students to put forward the effort to do what I assign them to do?”

The answer starts with the teacher. … >>>

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Motivating Students to Learn

On March 17, 2015 / Learning

If you want students to take an interest in what you’re teaching, begin each lesson by giving students a problem to solve. Grappling with a problem creates interest and curiosity, both of which are great motivators. Students can then share how they solved or attempted to solve the problem. After this discussion, use direct instruction followed by guided practice.

This approach follows the Japanese model of teaching. It’s in direct contrast to our usual approach to teaching, which is to give direct instruction followed by guided practice. The western approach does not consider motivation; it assumes students are motivated by a responsibility to learn what is taught. Of course, what is lacking here is the teacher’s responsibility to create an … >>>

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The Facts about Student Motivation

On February 10, 2015 / Learning, Responsibility

Teachers often tell me, “My students have no motivation!”

When I hear this, I suggest to the teacher that every student attending school is motivated; after all, without motivation, one would not get out of bed. Whether the motivation is prompted by a situation, a stimulus, an impulse, or an urge, the person arising from bed is motivated.

If we assume that simply by being in school there is some degree of motivation in the student, the question then has to do with the type of motivation we are using. W. Edwards Deming—who showed the manufacturing world how to improve quality while simultaneously lowering costs through collaboration and empowerment—stated that problems are more with the system than with the individual. … >>>

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Be Thankful for the Gift of Learning

On November 25, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning

During this Thanksgiving week, I like to take time to reflect on all the blessings I have in my life. One thing I’m always thankful for is the ability to continually learn and grow.

As creatures of habit, we often find that learning a new way to do something is difficult simply because the new way is different. But I try to use the past as a guidepost, rather than as a hitching post. In fact, I think the greatest compliment one can give an individual in our changing world is that he or she is a student of something and constantly seeks to learn and grow. That is definitely something to be thankful for.

I view learning as a … >>>

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William Glasser’s Biography

On October 30, 2014 / Learning, Parenting, Relationships, Responsibility

A fascinating biography about William Glasser has recently been published. William Glasser, M.D. was a renowned psychiatrist and author of many books including Schools without Failure, Choice Theory, and Reality Therapy.

Dr. Glasser made major contributions to the fields of therapy, mental health, and education. His particular contribution to teaching were classroom meetings and having young people responsible for their behavior.

Here are some of the quotes from Dr. Jim Roy’s book that you can find on my website:

“Not teaching students how to function is like asking them to play a game without teaching them the rules.”

“Unless we can get rid of coercion we will never make even a dent in the problems of education. “

Discipline Without … >>>

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Schools as Democracies

On October 22, 2014 / Learning

If Schools Were Democracies, What Would Change? was the topic of a recent conversation between Deborah Meier and Leo Casey of the Albert Shanker Institute in Education Week.

The essence of the discussion follows:

Some people think that schools should be some form of democracy. People who believe schools should be democratic (as in democratic classrooms) often lack experience working in democratic institutions because democracies are so inefficient.

I responded to the discussion below.

2:45 PM on October 7, 2014

The question is inappropriate. Democracy means rule by the people. Schools are established for many reasons, one of which is perpetuate the culture. Teachers are hired because they know more than students. A school based on democracy would, by definition, … >>>

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Teachers Sink or Swim

On October 9, 2014 / Discipline, Learning

In the October 7, 2014 issue of Education Week Teacher, Larry Ferlazzo has a series of articles entitled: Letting Student Teachers ‘Sink or Swim’ Is ‘Not Permissible’

Unfortunately the same can be said for first year teachers.

The teaching profession has long used a sink or swim philosophy and will continue to do so because of the very nature of education courses. Teachers of classroom management (more accurately referred to as “discipline”) at colleges and universities are between a rock and a hard spot.

One purpose of education is to expose prospective practioners to different philosophies and approaches of working with behavior concerns (discipline problems), so future teachers are exposed to various approaches.

But if you ask new teachers, “Do … >>>

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Schools and Democracy

On October 7, 2014 / Learning

If schools were democracies, what would change? was the topic of an interview between Deborah Meier and Leo Casey of the Albert Shanker Institute on October 7, 2014 in Education Week.

The article states,”I’m constantly amazed at how utopian people think the idea of the school being some form of real democracy is. I think that underlying this troubling suspicion about democracy’s efficacy is due to miseducation, plus a lack of experience with any democratic institutions.”

I responded to the the article as follows:

The question is inappropriate. Democracy means rule by the people. Schools are established for many reasons, one of which is perpetuate the culture. Teachers are hired because they know more than students. A school based … >>>

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Get Students Interested in Learning

On October 2, 2014 / Discipline, Learning

One major source of classroom discipline is dealing with students who have no interest in learning. In their frustration, many teachers resort to implementing rewards (bribes) to gain students’ attention, or they use imposed punishments (detention, extra homework, etc.) in the hopes that the youth will take learning seriously.

Here’s a better approach and one that doesn’t involve any stressful classroom discipline techniques.

First, let students know that if they decide not to learn, it is their decision. You will not even attempt to force learning; it can’t be done. But you will not allow a student to disrupt another person’s learning. In this mini-lecture, let your students know that no one suffers from their lack of learning but themselves—that … >>>

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Discipline and Learning in a Multi-Cultural Classroom

On September 2, 2014 / Discipline, Learning

Today’s global society gives our youth a perspective and insights into other cultures that were simply not possible a few generations ago. With so many families moving around the world for employment opportunities, it’s not uncommon to see classrooms with multi-cultural members. Students born and raised in the United States are sharing the classroom with children born in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. And if the children aren’t in the same classroom, they still observe and interact with each other thanks to video conferencing technology.

Of course, this brings up an interesting dilemma for teachers: Since these children come from homes that have different social attitudes toward studying, classroom behavior, bullying, teasing, etc., how can a teacher speak in … >>>

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Thinking, Beliefs, and Learning

On August 14, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning

I often write and talk about helping students avoid victimhood-thinking. But it’s equally important for teachers to avoid the victimization mentality as well. Thinking like a victim is toxically disempowering. Empowerment is so much more effective. And even if it were not, you would still be happier in an empowerment mode than in a victimhood mode.

While many teachers believe that they do avoid such negative thinking, one recent staff discussion demonstrated that a change in mindset would be required for some teachers to leave the victimhood realm. Believing that learning is prohibited because students come from unstructured homes, from poverty, or have some other situation that cannot be changed is a mindset of victimhood thinking—ON THE PART OF THE … >>>

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Success and Positivity

On July 22, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning

Human nature is based on a deficit model—to fix what is wrong. In a very real sense, our attention is geared at fixing others.

For example, after a meeting with teachers, the student said to his mother, “Why didn’t they talk more about my social studies—what I am good at instead of what I am not good at? All they want to do is fix what is wrong with me.”

The mother responded by saying, “They are trying to help you.”

The student retorted, “No, they are trying to fix me.”

Such are the perceptions of the parent and child. What should it be for the teacher? The answer lies in the question, “What optimizes learning?”

Great teachers know that … >>>

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Recess and Discipline

On July 8, 2014 / Discipline, Effectiveness, Learning

I recently read an article in The Atlantic about teaching in Finland. In the piece, an American teacher in Helsinki questioned the national practice of giving 15 minute breaks each hour—until he saw the difference it made in his classroom.

In Finland, teachers send kids outside—rain or shine—for a 15-minute break after every 45 minutes of teaching. And the children get to decide how they spend their break times. There are no teacher-led activities or expected things to do during recess. Usually, teachers take turns—two at a time—supervising the playground during these 15-minute stints.

To Americans, this approach sounds too soft—too lazy. But as this teacher in Helsinki noted, “My students in the States had always seemed to drag their … >>>

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Common Core Losing Support Among California Voters

On July 1, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning, Responsibility

According to the annual PACE/USC Rossier School of Education poll, which questioned more than 1,000 California voters, residents of the state are having second thoughts about the Common Core State Standards.

The poll revealed that only 32 percent of respondents supported the implementation of the Common Core Standards, while 42 percent opposed it. What’s interesting is that these numbers are a complete reversal from last year’s findings, showing that voters are changing their minds about the validity of the Common Core Standards.

As we’ve all heard, the Common Core Standards set expectations for deeper learning by grade level; however, as I’ve written extensively in my blogs, mandating learning objectives nationwide is not the way to improve student performance. If students … >>>

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Washington D.C. Suspends Using Test Scores for Teacher Evaluations

On June 24, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning

Chancellor Kaya Henderson, head the of the District of Columbia public school system, recently announced that the district would suspend the practice of using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance while students adjust to new tests based on the Common Core standards.

The District of Columbia public school system was one of the first in the country to evaluate teachers using student test scores. My hope is that others districts around the country will follow the district’s recent move, and that they will ultimately realize that evaluating teachers based on student test scores is an invalid measure of teacher performance.

Chancellor Henderson went on to say that it wouldn’t be fair to use the new tests until a baseline … >>>

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Teaching and Tenure

On June 22, 2014 / Discipline, Learning

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that California K – 12 school tenure laws are unconstitutional because they compromise student rights to a quality education by protecting incompetent teachers.

The tenure system is a holdover from an era when public school teachers were almost all women and could be fired for many petty procedures and personality relationships that had nothing to do with their teaching competence. Tenure laws were passed to protect teachers from such personal vendettas and from meddling parents trying to dictate what is taught in classrooms.

As an elementary, middle, and high school principal and district director of education, I have learned that good teachers have long been aggravated by the poor performance of … >>>

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PBIS Mandated

On June 21, 2014 / Discipline, Learning, Responsibility

A teacher contacted me about Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) being mandated in her school. The district has a new superintendent who used PBIS in his former district. The teacher has been using Discipline Without Stress for 10 years with great success and asked if there was any assistance I could give her because she does not want to use PBIS. She does not believe that young people should be rewarded for doing things that are expected of them. She asked me to please include the conversation I had with her in my next newsletter. Here it is.

I suggested she ask her students if they feel mature enough to make decisions themselves or whether they want the teacher … >>>

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Can Discipline be Both Simple and Easy?

On May 29, 2014 / Discipline, Learning

I often describe the Discipline Without Stress approach as “simple.” Sometimes teachers question my word choice. After all, it does take continual effort to deal with classroom management and at the same remember to be positive, offer choices, and ask reflective questions.

Realize, though, that “simple” does not automatically mean “easy.” For example, learning how to drive an automobile is SIMPLE, but it only becomes EASY after you have driven for awhile. Likewise, deciding ahead of time not to eat dessert at a banquet may be SIMPLE. But when the plates from the main course are removed and the cheesecake is placed in front of you, your original decision may not be so EASY to implement. The point is that … >>>

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