How to Increase Student Engagement: Ask LAURA

If you are wondering why your students do not complete assignments, fail to turn them in on time when they do, or simply seem to not care, then you might want to rely upon a simple learning tool I used with my students to increase reading and understanding, use the LAURA approach. 
Look
Ask
Understand
Review
Assess 

When I began teaching, like many others in education I utilized acronyms as a means of shared understanding. I used a variety of LAURA with my remediation kids as a way to help them find meaning in reading. Now it is about finding meaning in our teaching. If you are frustrated as a parent or as a teacher because your students are simply not turning in work then maybe it is time to use LAURA. 

Recently I had lunch with an HS student and other adult family members. Our conversation slowly morphed into why this student and many other students simply do not turn in their work. They are capable of doing the assignments, but they don't complete the tasks that are assigned to them. This particular student said, "the reasons we don't is different for each one of us! The reason I don't sometimes is because I am overwhelmed! I don't have time to do everything I am supposed to do and be a kid too!" In many cases, the reason our kids are not doing as we think they should is because they feel overwhelmed, invisible, and in short that it doesn't really matter. 

What was said resonated with me? I think far too often we overlook that our kids are juggling so many tasks that they are assessing which ball they can let drop that week and suffer the least level of failure. They are their own project managers and we as educators need to help them both manage their time, look at the expectations that they face, and understand that maybe it is too much. 

Vacant Teacher
This brought up another dynamic in the rationale over lack of completion; "Mr. SoandSo assigns our packets at the beginning of the week. We have all week to complete the packet. It is boring!" I asked, "so, he assigns you these packets and you are expected to follow the lessons online, fill in the answers, do vocabulary, etc., and then you turn it in to be graded at the close of the week?" The answer was "yes." I think inquired, "does he lecture you, go over the work, share the instructional material with you?" This student shared that he spends maybe 10 to 15 minutes on what the week's topics are about and then he sits down at his desk and does whatever teachers do. 

What I took away from that was, this particular teacher has come to rely too much on the simplicity that comes with 1 to 1 computer and the expectation of school districts that all of his lessons are available thru blackboard or other learning delivery systems. My frustration with the high level of copying and paper waste came rushing forward! If it is digitally delivered then it should be digitally delivered. I will blog about excess copying in a future blog. In the meantime it seems as though in exchange for online content/lessons the teacher becomes a passive observer. Passivity brings about complacency. True engagement in learning or teaching is not taking place. Unfortunately, far too many educators took the criticism over teacher lead instruction, ie., "lecturing" too far. They threw the baby out with the bathwater. Students will do more when they see their teachers doing more, and engaged with them on a mentor/leader approach. 

Invisible Students 
When students are in middle school they often want to go unseen. They are not sure of their development or where they fit in the bigger picture and although they peer at themselves as often as possible in mirrors, selfies, window reflections, the truth is they don't want anyone else to see them. Then, comes along high school and they want to fit in, be normalized and they begin to discover who they are in the bigger picture. If a student goes through the day and rarely hears their name called, or rarely has a teacher speak to them, engage them into the classroom setting and simply passes out a packet and says "this week's assignments are on the board, and all assignments are due on Friday" this tells the student that it is all on them and they are alone in the bigger scheme of things. If they only become visible when they don't do as they are told, maybe it is a way to no longer be invisible anymore. 

Overwhelmed Students
When teachers engage their students in discussion, projects, true blended learning processes it sends a message to their students, "I am working, you are working, we are in this together! I've got your back! I won't let you leave empty-handed!" That is a huge step towards the Social Emotional Learning process on the secondary level. Additionally, teachers do need to recognize the workload that our kids have before them. Many are taking care of younger siblings, going to work, engaging in sports and the arts, taking dual credits, overcoming obstacles from their formative years, and in short, being adolescent kids. There are ways to keep our kids engaged, teach them a plethora of content, prepare them for high stakes testing and meet the standards without over burdening them with busy work. "Less time, More time!" 

This particular student shared that one of the teachers would assign the week's work on Monday and because she knew that many of her students wouldn't turn in the work she would set "extra credit" based on degrees of early turn in. Each day was worth a value that decreased over time, with full credit (no extra credit) if it was turned in on Friday. Personally, I do not approve of extra credit. I prefer other ways to encourage extrinsically while we move our students to intrinsic motivation. Extra credit is a false understanding of ability and in the case of this student her family's expectation that she get all the extra credit possible made her feel like no matter what she is still not doing good enough. My take away with this teacher's style was, "if the students complete all of their work early on in the week, what do they do the rest of the time?" 

Conclusion 
I believe that we need to evaluate ourselves as educators. It is our responsibility to always remember that we are there for the betterment of our kids as opposed to our kids are there for our careers or personal economic growth. Like our students, we are also pulled in many directions and we are overwhelmed, feel invisible, and assume it doesn't matter if I do or don't. By not applying simple strategies such as LAURA on a regular basis then we are missing out on a great opportunity to fulfill our original passion as teachers and that is to "make an impact on the future!" 
Remember to rely on LAURA.

Look at your students in the eye, show them that they matter, that they are not invisible. Greet them at the door and call them by their names when you take attendance goes a long way. Also, ask them to respond when you say their name. 

Ask your students how they are, what's new, did you have a good weekend, what would you like to do this week. Encourage them to search for project ideas. Now and then, let them guide your teaching. Don't be afraid to ASK!

Understand your students as people, as individuals. Everyone of them has a story and each of their needs and expectations are independent. Should a large part of your students are not doing, or achieving than be ready to look at yourself as the reason. Be bold and unafraid to challenge yourself. 

Review your teaching and your student's level of engagement. Lesson plans are important, but be willing to revise your lesson plans mid-week, and explore new ways to deliver the same content. Your student's success is your success. 

Assess daily! Take that time to reflect over your day. Did you see student engagement? Was there an increase in productivity and a decrease in discipline issues? Encourage your students to also follow the LAURA method. Take the time to model LAURA on both an academic and a personal level. LAURA is a wonderful gateway to Social Emotional Learning in your classroom and when all else fails, just ask Laura. 

Teaching the Whole Child and Social Emotional Learning

It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self. D. W. Winnicott 

What is it to Teach the Whole Child, and how does that equate with Social Emotional Learning? 

Teaching the Whole Child is about embracing every aspect of, not only what it is to be a child, but a fierce advocate in your own classroom and schools of the individual child. This does not just begin in Pre-K, but it extends on to the 19 year old student ready to graduate or face dropping out. 

Social Emotional Learning is putting into place those key ingredients so as to help form not only the Whole Child, but to prepare each child for developing the tools necessary to be kind, caring, altruistic, self-supporting, self-loving, giving, and at times their own fierce advocate. 

Long before the contemporary terms Whole Child, Play-based Learning and Social Emotional Learning were being used, we were doing "play" as a regular process in our schools. I remember going off to kindergarten and the classroom was set up with a play kitchen and a grocery store. The focus was on how to work together, how to take turns, how to care for toys, how to open up our own milk carton, how to lay quietly so as not to disturb the others in the room, and yes take a nap. We were learning how to function in a our own mini-society. I can smell the paste, crayons, and Mrs. Smith's perfume. I recall what it felt like to learn how to trust another woman (person) other than my mother as she created a place of mutual love, support, trust, and caring among children who were not my brothers and sisters. All of that was me becoming independent from my familial unit. Play allowed me to grow as an independent person and trust a bigger world. (I am still friends with some of those children I met in kindergarten.) 

Teaching the Whole Child - Defined 

TWC is a sensory experience; all of the child’s senses are accessed in order to create a meaningful learning experience

TWC challenges a child academically

TWC engages a child and elevates them to a new understanding of themselves and the world in which they live

TWC provides a safe, secure, healthy, relational reality.

TWC guarantees that a child is prepared as a 21st century learner

Simple ways you can embrace the Whole Child into your learning environments and infuse Social Emotional Learning: 
Don't be afraid to read your students stories to get them thinking. Children's literature is a profound way to get your kids thinking, feeling and responding. Patricia Polacco is a provocative story teller, who gets to the heart of the matter. Imagine being the next TED presenter in your own classrooms or schools. 

Take your students off campus and have an organized, intentional, purpose-filled lesson planned. Don't just go to a park to play, but go to a park with a lesson on civic responsibility in mind and clean up the park. Help them experience the world around them and other than the cost of the school bus it is a free field trip, filled with amazing lessons. 

Invite professionals into the classroom to not only talk about what they do, but how they help other people, give to others and integrate literature, music and art into the lesson. 

Infuse STEM into your lesson planning. STEM integration leads a child into understanding the interconnectedness of the world and themselves. So, if science is the study of nature and mathematics is the universal language used to explain nature, than play is the universal exploration of the unknown that leads to scientific understanding and ultimate explanation. 

Play as the continuous evidence of creativity...play as both a child's language about interpreting the world, cut them off from play and the child is lost in an unintelligible environment. D.W. Winnicott

The picture at the top of this blog is me at the ripe ole age of 5. You can see the joy that is expressed in the faces of my cousin Scotty age 4, brother Ricky age 3 and myself. We were all about play and creating our own world. This is one of my favorite pictures because it reminds me of the wonderful childhood I had and how filled with wonder and experience that we had. It is why I am an educator, because every child deserves the right to freely experience great joy and discover the self!

In closing Teaching the Whole Child and Social Emotional Learning is all wrapped up in a beautiful Play-filled bow! 

Edmentum Educator Summit Recap - GROW

"Innovated to something greater!" and " We don't want to be left out of learning" are two things that resonated with me profoundly. Those words were spoken from the heart of Ja'Davion a High School Junior and a participant in the round table discussion that took place on June 14th, 2019 at the Edmentum Educator Summit, held at the Edmentum headquarters in Richardson Texas.

Ja'Davion like many of the educators who were included in the world of Edmentors was asking, "why can't we do better?" If you are an educator at some point you have used the phrase, "I was called." You see, being an educator, a shaper of lives, a giver of knowledge, you must be called, as it is not a profession for the weak, or apathetic.

For two solid days, my peers and I were given the royal treatment by an organization that leads by example, walks the walk, and talks the talk! (please pardon my cliches) #EducatorsFirst.

But wait, why not children first, or students first? After spending time with Edmentum superstars, Winnie, Dave, Christy and the Dallas team, I can tell you why; they get it! Like the flight attendant on an airplane will tell you, "if this plane loses pressure, place the oxygen mask on yourself before giving it to the child sitting next to you!" WOW, absolutely! On the way home from Dallas I had a boy about 11 sitting next to me and traveling alone. The attendant said, "remember, place the mask over your nose and mouth before offering it to..." At first I had a horrible pang of guilt, and then I remembered why the stronger of the two individuals must have the ability to save others.

Edmentum had the oxygen flowing, (along with incredible food!) and was filling us up with a renewed sense of purpose, belonging and importance. I had forgotten how important it is to engage in "self-care." The Educator's Summit was a spa, Ah, Ah Ha moment for me. I grew over those two glorious days.  As I sat in amazement watching outstanding leaders from neighboring states laugh, smile, joke, cheer each other on, support, high five, and "shake hands" (don't look too long or squeeze too hard!) I sat back and said, "yes, I do belong, these people are my tribe!"

We were encouraged to reflect, plot, plan, set goals, and in the end, put #educatorsfirst with the support of truly committed professionals. Page six of the Educator Summit handbook "Making the Most of Your Summit Experience" is wildly important because I keep going back over it and reminding myself to breathe deep into the survival mask and "innovate to something greater!"

As I was pondering the profound work that Principal Dr. Zach Bost and Principal Kristopher Byam are doing to transform their school communities I wrote a note and pasted it to my handbook "GROW - Gaining Rich Opportunities Within." I realized that it is not just about me and the experience, but what I know and dream of bringing to whatever learning community  I am called to lead.

To answer a couple of the questions that were included on page six: Why am I Here? WOW, we often ask ourselves that question from a literal to a metaphysical perspective. The questions: What is my purpose? "My purpose is to connect, discover, grow in understanding and emerge renewed. Learning from others is meaningful, and purposeful, and seeing things grow is what moves me." What are my strengths? Knowing your strengths and standing upon them makes all the difference. "I know curriculum and instruction and how to connect the dots. I am a life-long learner who looks back at the end of every day to see what I learned, did or experienced that was new.  I dig deep. I am a trouble-shooter and look for "gotcha's" before moving forward. I love improving systems and people. I am a project specialist. I am good at growing things. I am an elevator and a servant." How do I want to Grow Professionally? "I want to impact the lives of as many individuals as I can. I am working methodically on my garden. I have been toiling away at it for a few years now, systematically arranging perennials, interspersed with annuals for the sole purpose of moving to a point of minimal effort and greater enjoyment as I see all of my babies grow to fruition. I have been toiling away in my educator's garden for more years than I can count as a first teacher to my amazing adult daughters, then as a professional educator. Like my perennials, I know what is an immediate aha, and what is a perennial that I will draw upon in years to come.  How can I change my perspective? (have you ever noticed they always save the hardest question at the end?) I need to emerge from my place of fear and stand boldly upon the answers to the preceding questions and GROW - Gaining, Rich, Opportunities, Within!

Remember - Less Time, More Time, ponder that one. Oh and it is okay...#EducatorsFirst 

American Kids Are Still Testing Below the Fifty Percentile

Here is a great article that highlights some of the issues plaguing education and why we continue to have sagging reading scores. The chart below is relatively misleading. Imagine if the 100% was visible in this chart as opposed to having it stop at 60%, and then imagine if it were turned to represent a horizontal depiction as opposed to vertical. The results are actually staggering!

Percentage of U.S. students proficient in reading

My Immediate Response:

It is still shocking that only 36% of our nation's 8th grade students are reading at grade level. That reality has not changed very much since 1974 when nationalized testing began. Here are a few thoughts on that issue:

School has become about far more than giving our kids the basics necessary to survive in a world dependent upon common symbolic representations of language. When Nationwide testing began in the early 70's it was discovered that in theory the majority of the USA was illiterate or maybe, the testing did not really measure the actual ability of the 3rd/5th grade test taker. Nothing has changed! At that time millions - now billions of dollars has been invested into research to understand that our 3rd/5th grade students have not really progressed over the past 40 years, because the research is ignored!

First and foremost, all teachers need to be diagnosticians with the time and support needed to help identify our struggling learners. Additionally, we need to eliminate or at the very least reduce the quantity of standardized testing and all the many tests that do not diagnose issues, but merely give a level of data that only shows a commonality among the students. Assessments must be meaningful, pertinent and purposeful.

It is an imperative that parents along with teachers and association/unions come together to fight the insanity that has become standardized education. I have said for as long as I have been in education "follow the money" therein lies your answers." Then, listen to the warnings out there about the overuse of mobile devices, internet and social media, unless it is purposeful and advancing a student's learning. Failure to do so is setting our kids up for failure. The overuse of testing is taking away from our student's ability to progress. Remember - "Tests do not teach," only one on one time focused on what needs to be learn teaches humans. Data can be used to identify growth, but only when a person is actually being measured specific to what has been taught and that is not necessarily appropriate by way of standardized testing.

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read

Sleep Deprivation - Teens Should Start School Later!

SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND THE TRUTH ABOUT ADOLESCENT LEARNERS

More information below.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artseesdiner/2014/09/06/talk-with-me-sleep-deprivation-and-the-impact-on-american-learners A huge issue facing American Schools. Sleep deprivation. There is a simple fix, so why won't we do it? Our First Lady has made it her priority to end obesity in children by controlling what they eat, but, one of the leading causes in obesity is being ignore AND it also causes learning impairment, and an increase in adolescent disease! 

The Cost of Failure: Why failure is not an option

After spending 2 years as a High School, educator/mentor in a Credit Recovery/e-Learning program as well as over 12 years as a public school educator, I have made some observations, some of them disturbing, some of the hopeful. I want to begin by making a disclaimer in that I did not do any absolute scientific discovery and there may be components that are in fact missing. My attempt at improving the well-being of our students and the financial health is at the forefront of my following commentary.

Cost of Failure

Emotional Cost

“Our desires for our future determine what our past would have been.” m.rapier

That idea came to me in 1998 while I was doing an pre-service observation at  local HS. I noted that the achievers were focused, engaged, and goal oriented, with their goal being college. I also noted that the under-achievers were focused, engaged and goal oriented with their goal being in the "moment." Both had a purpose, a goal, but, their goals were fundamentally different. Student “A” had established a habit of completion, most likely an above average passing - mindset. Whereas student “D” or “F” was led to believe that he/she was a failure and not as smart as "A," long before the second or third grade. Far too often this is also associated with minorities or the marginalized populations. Children are indoctrinated into a belief that they are their circumstance and become focused on the failure aspect of society, even their home life. The emotional strain on children and families who fail courses in school is long-lasting. While we cannot avoid it, we need to circumvent it. How do we avoid failure? We avoid failure by focusing our efforts on failure avoidance, individualized instruction, blended learning, and most importantly holistic, the "whole" child, instruction which identifies “Highly Effective,” “Proficient,” “Working.” (it is also time to focus on multiple intelligence and sound research, which was thrown out with NCLB and a push for increased standardization)

Financial Cost

Simply put, when you fail a course, you throw money out the window. While NCLB eliminated the act of “holding” children back a grade, it did not impact the secondary reality. Secondary school, also known as high school, is a credit based approach towards graduation. Many schools have even gone so far as to segregate students based upon what courses they take and how many credits they can cram into a four year period of time.

How many credits a student needs is independent state to state. You can see anywhere from 38 required credits in Michigan, to a proposed 48 in Indiana. According to the NCES, “Nation’s Report Card” students today now need 3 more full credits to graduate than their millennial peers in 1990. Compare that to Baby Boomers and you are looking at the equivalent of almost an additional semester of school. The very people who are governing have been able to do so on less education than they are requiring of generations behind them. This is in fact putting an undue financial strain on taxpayers and families.

Cost Analysis

By looking at an average required courses needed in order to graduate and the annual average cost per HS-student we can begin to breakdown the overall cost of failure. The average cost in 2014 to educate a college student nationally was just over $9,000. While the cost to educate a high school student nationally is just over $11,000. Every district has a different cost per students. Let's take a look at a school district in Indiana, since that is where I reside. This school corporation had an average cost per pupil of $11,000 in 2009. It is currently at over $15,000 per pupil, based upon their own statistics. High School students are required to take 44 to get an Academic Honors diploma. So, divide that over four years. Students need at least 11 credits per year. That breaks down to: $15,000/11= $1,363.63 per credit. Or should they keep the cost to $15,000 over a 4 year period of time, $60,000/44-$1,363.63 per credit, but as you can see, the costs do not stay stagnant. So, every time a student fails a course $1,363.63 is lost. Taking the example from a school where over 450 students failed math in one semester, that school district lost 450 x $1,363.63 = $613,636.36 in funding. That is just one content area. Now multiply that over 4 years, considering the failure rate in the math department remains steady: 4 x $613,636.36 = $2,454,545.45.

In the past two years I have had the pleasure of helping students overcome those failures through a blended, e-Learning approach towards recovery. In each case when given enough time and proper resources they were able to overcome their failure identification and attain proficiency status or higher. The number of credits that my department recovered equals over 800. But, it barely scratches the surface. Many times we see students entering their senior year with credit deficits. The law says that all children must attend school. NCLB attempted to ensure that all would graduate. Without significant changes in education we will not break down the failure fence that keeps our kids constrained in a belief that they are failures.

Why Standardized Testing Does Not Prevent Failure

Standardized testing costs the states over $1.7 billion a year. That is money that could be used to significantly impact approaches that work, that prevent failure. Standardized testing does only one thing: It looks at how districts are doing from a comparative perspective, not individualizing learners or their educators. It is a measurement that has no real purpose.  The information gleaned from Standardized testing could be done in increments of every 3-4 years. Standardized testing should only be used to identify an overall census, not an annual analysis. Rather, money should be used to look at the statistical rate of breakdown in learning bases upon teacher and program efficacy. While I do believe their needs to be checks and balances, the current trend which believes more is more effective, the grim reality is, most of our curriculum is outdated, misses the point of State standards-based curriculum and does not ensure strong pedagogical approaches.

The cost of failure is a huge problem and it continues to plague taxpayers from local communities to the federal level. How do we move beyond an antiquated approach towards educating our children at the same time identifying what the cost is when we fail them.  

Sleep Deprivation and Low Test Scores

Mobile Devices Are Damaging Learner's Attention and Possible Learning Outcomes

‘Such behavior is typical of “behavioral addiction” and “diminishes our ability to maintain attention'. 

After being in education as a professional for 15 years and as a parent well, let's just say, I am now a grandmother, I have seen the trends and identified what works and what does not work. First of all, let me stress, the old belief that ¨I learn better when I watch television. Or, I learn best when I have loud music blaring!¨ Is a bunch of bologna. While there are many people who come up with whatever excuse they can to justify distraction away from a required task, the truth is our brains are wired in particular ways. If you are using a computer with limited data space and you start opening multiple tabs, stream a video and play a game of (albeit free) online poker, the likelihood the system will run slower and possibly even clog up. So it is with the brain. the younger the brain, although flexible, the greater likelihood that confusion will be an outcome and altered understanding will emerge. 

¨Introduce behavioral addiction principals to our young and you have got a lifetime consumer.¨ Whether it is Saturday morning cartoon advertising which convinces every child what toy to beg for, or it is beer distributors giving it away on college campuses, to now the smartphone revolution, our kids have been groomed to be consumers, NOT, producers.

By the time our kids get into sixth grade, we have convinced them that they cannot survive if they do not have their cell phones on. It isn't just the communication with peers that becomes so important. Parental obsession with communicating with their kids is out of control. As a classroom teacher I cannot tell you how many times I have been in competition with Mommy or Daddy as they are disrupting their own kid's learning by texting them appointments, literally arguing with their kids by texting or even asking why they got a certain grade on a test that just showed up in the online grade books. Kids are texting parents in real time about what is happening in the classroom. I have even had student recording and sending incidents in the classroom out to parents. How this isn't a violation of FERPA, I have no idea! Add into all the parental fanaticism that is rampant these days, facebook, twitter, friend to friend texting and you have little to no learning taking place. Don't even get me started on the boyfriend/girlfriend drama! 

¨NO, it isn't okay to just have it on vibrate in your pocket! Turn it off, put it away and enjoy your smarth phone on your free time, which happens to be before school, lunch and after school!¨ I can tell you the vast difference between the learning outcomes of the kids who do not have their cell phones on their person, or who do not have them on. The vast difference between the kids married to their cell phones and those who do not own one is even bigger. Sadly, what I have witnessed is that their is a racial/socio-economic leaning to the cell phone overuse as well. Could that have been the motivation? Keep the learning gap ever widening by distracting our minority and poor kids? 

If you want to improve the graduation rate, literacy, and mathematics, then focus on teaching students to become producers and leave the consuming to non-academic hours. ¨I just had a great thought, but my text alert just went off and I lost it, sorry!¨ 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3160514/Why-phone-driving-distraction-sound-text-alert-divert-attention-reading-it.html