Eyes on Me!



Rules and procedures are important in the classroom.  They provide students with the structures they want and need to learn.

Here is a fantastic classroom procedure, which helps the teacher quickly gain students' attention, therein maximizing on task behavior as well as instructional time.


The phrase "Eyes on Me" when stated by the teacher, means students are to stop immediately what they are doing and focus their attention on the teacher.

Having gained the students' attention, the teacher can now check for understanding, provide additional directions, reteach a concept if necessary..... the lesson continues to flow with little to no wasted time.

Three simple words..... yet very powerful when used in the classroom!



Teacher's classroom "High Expectations" through randomly calling on students



Classroom teachers can daily demonstrate their High Expectations of their students, by making sure they call on students randomly to respond to a question.

By using this strategy, a teacher is telling the class that they believe all students can learn and be held accountable through randomly calling on them to respond.





I modeled through the Meynaa School workshops, how to use the random selection process. 

First, I'd pass around a bag with numbers inside.  Teachers would draw out a number, after which I'd ask them to write that number on their workshop notebook.

Once this was completed, I'd randomly call out numbers and ask teachers to raise their hands, to make sure everyone understood how the strategy worked.




With this strategy, it is important that the teacher asks the question, pauses to give the students "think time," and only after these two steps to randomly call on a student to respond.

If the teacher randomly calls on the student first, and then asks the question, the other students feel they no longer need to pay attention, since they are "off the hook" so to speak.



 



So I would ask a question, pause, randomly draw a number, call it out..... and in these workshops with expatriot Indian teachers.... most often they would stand when they would respond.



A workshop waiting to happen.....



The workshop facilitator's tool box:  blank half sheets of paper, markers, half sheets with symbols on them, and the little rolls of masking tape. Thanks Linda Hamilton for giving me this "care" package before I left Redlands!

The little rolls of tape?  To put on the backside of the half sheets of paper, on which workshop participants have written their ideas.  The half sheets of paper can then be stuck to a wall for everyone to see, and they can be easily moved so as to group similar ideas.

Everything is ready.... just waiting for the teachers.



Elementary School Teacher planning workshop at Meynaa School



The first session Mr. T had with the Meynaa Primary School teachers was a planning workshop to determine the specific professional development needs of these teachers.

The following foccus question was written on the board:

"What are your training needs that would help you develop as a professional teacher?"

Mr. T explained to the teachers that they were to take a few minutes and reflect on all they do in their classrooms each and every day.  Then, they should think about those areas where they could use some training and write these ideas down on a piece of paper.



Based on the focus question of the planning workshop, the elementary school teachers did their own individual brainstorming of the types of professional development training they would like to receive.  After the individual brainstorming, the teachers worked in pairs to share their ideas and to then write their ideas on half sheets of paper.



Teachers were to write 1) one idea per half sheet, 2) write in BIG letters, 3) using only two to three words.

Mr. T called on the teachers to give him their top three cards for professional development.  These cards he placed randomly on the board.  Once a number of cards were on the board, Mr. T asked the teacher to see if any cards were similar.  Those cards that were addressing similar training needs were placed together in pairs.

As the participating elementary school teachers gave Mr. T more and more of their training needs cards, the pairs soon become groups of three to five cards.  These groups of cards were then placed in rows.



Mr. T reads through each row of ideas for professional development training.  Across the top, a symbol has been placed, to faciliate the adding of more training needs cards from the elementary school teachers.



The final step, before the reflective conversation on this planning workshop, was for Mr. T to read each of the cards in each row.  He asked the teachers to identify the key words that indicated the direction of that row.  Then using those key words, each row could be given a title, as reflected by the top row titles with boxes around them.





English teachers - "The training is over..... already?"



The last day of the Meynaa School English teachers' professional development workshops, I asked the teachers to reflect back on all the various strategies I'd taught them.




First I had the teachers brainstorm their own individual list of all the different instructional and classroom management strategies I'd taught during the training.

Next I had the students pair up and share with each other their list



Following the pair-share activity, where teachers looked over each other's list of strategies, we developed a collective list on the white board. 

I asked them to star the 3 they could do tomorrow, the two the could do next month and the one they'd do next year.

I asked them to commit to which one instructional strategy they would implement immediately when classes resumed following the end of the term exams, and which instructional strategy they  would implement within the next month.

 

Taking the process one more step, now that teachers had committed to implementing one new instructional strategy, I asked them to develop a mini lesson plan, using that strategy, and presenting it to the group.



Anil decided he wanted to introduce the reading comprehension strategy where students number the paragraphs, double box the title, then they identify the subject of the sentence "who"  with a box, the "what" is underlined, the "when" with (...), etc.



George wanted to begin with giving his students "Explicite Instructions."  In other words, being very clear and specific.



Chinchu would like to begin using the praise with specifics strategy.  This is where the teacher praises a student, and tells them specifically why they are being praised.  i.e.  "I'm very happy with the way your raised your hand today and asked permission to sharpen your pencil.  Good job!"



Aravindan explained how he would incorporate a bell work or start of class activity.





The lead teacher, Ahamed, presented how he'd use graphic organizers.



"If the last five days of these professional development workshops was an animal, what animal would it be and why?"

This was my final reflective question to the English teachers.  As soon as I asked the question, the ear-to-ear smiles were immediate!





"A dolphine because it is so intelligent."
"A baby elephant because it can grow big."
"A rabbit because it hops around."
"A cat because it is so sneaky!"
"A horse because of the beautiful view when riding it."



New way of looking at the work week...





The weekend, here in the Maldives, basically begins Thursday evening.  Friday and Saturday are the weekend.  Friday is the day of prayer, and then Saturday is more of a free day.

The Maldividan work week starts on Sunday...... so tomorrow, Sunday my work week begins too with two workshops scheduled.  The first workshop will be at 10:30 a.m. for about 20 Meynaa School secondary teachers covering issues related to diagnostic, formative and summative assessment.





My second workshop will begin at 8:45 p.m. for some 20 elementary teachers at Meynaa School.  This will be more of a planning workshop, where teachers will discuss their professional development needs. 

The focus question for this workshop will be:
"What kind of training do you need most to advance as a teacher?"

Based on this needs assessment, I will then design and conduct a series of professional development workshops for these elementary teachers.



On stage for English teacher workshop

Today I conducted my first workshop for English teachers at Meynaa School on instructional strategies related to teaching reading comprehension.  The workshop addressed the needs of those students who need extra help with English. 

The instructional strategy I introduced was one where the teacher guides the students through the written text using the three main modalities of visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  So, for example, the teacher firsts has the students number each paragraph in the text.  Next students draw a double box around the title of the text.  The teacher asks questions about the title, to link the text to students' background knowledge.



Now the students are ready to begin reading the text.  Students are asked to underline the "who" or subject of the text; next draw a box around the "what" in the text.  Cirle the word that tells them "where."  A star next to the word that indicates "when."

Once students have identified these words, the teacher can then guide them on how to put the words together to form a summary of the text.



I also introduced "Graphic Organizers" to the English teachers, again explaining that these forms provide a structure for students to organize information.

The workshop went by so quickly..... I forgot to take any pictures!