Teaching Tip #2

Word Walls!

Though memorizing vocabulary definitions doesn't register too high on the famous Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid, it is often the foundation for understanding and higher order thinking. All students benefit by building their vocabulary in every subject area. Unfortunately, the 10th grade students I inherit every year in the South Bronx have significant vocabulary handicaps, which makes it even more imperative that I push for it in my global history classes. How else will my students debate the pros and cons of capitalism and socialism, or analyze the responses of the Industrial Revolution if they don't know what a union is or who Karl Marx was? Vocabulary is not only foundational, it's also really fun and it's an amazing differentiation tool anyone can use in his/her classroom across all disciplines. The pictures are from my own classroom. Take a look at them as I explain how my word wall works in my classroom and with my students.

1. I give every student whole punched index cards with a ring to hold them all together (I suggest all students to carry the cards in a ziplock bag so they don't get destroyed).
2. I put up all the words they'll need to memorize at the beginning of each unit. Every unit is a different color so they are easily distinguishable.
3. At the bottom of the word wall I have four identical stacks of vocabulary cards in rings that contain all the terms and definitions that are on the word wall. (These cards are made by various students who earn extra credit points for creating them) The words are written on one side and the definition on the other. Some of these cards have pictures drawn on them to help visualize the meanings.
4. Students are allowed to flip through these note cards whenever they need to check their own definitions. These ringed cards are also great for group study sessions and serve as a great resource. Students never have an excuse for not having their own updated vocabulary cards!
5. Lastly, having a word wall that is visible and attractive allows me to easily access students' prior knowledge and to review terms and concepts we've covered in the past. I point to it almost every single day.

I encourage you to try this in your classrooms. It's a bit of work to get it set up initially, but it's worth it and students feel the immediate gratification of knowing and remembering things they didn't know just the day before. Of course, I give tons of vocabulary quizzes which always includes new and old terms as well as other activities that hold students accountable for retaining all the definitions. Any questions? Fire away.

Giving Dreams Faces

I think I've mentioned before that I coordinate and teach a program called AVID at my school. It stands for advancement via individual determination. I'm not crazy about the name, but that's exactly what it is; a program for students who are determined to succeed...not necessarily the brightest and the smartest (although they are in most cases), but definitely the most driven. It's my first year teaching it and it was rough going at first. I made sure to give the impression that the program is rigorous and meaningful, but had a hard time living up to my promises in the beginning. Since then, I can gratefully say that our AVID students have grown significantly already and are starting to grow attached to each other as well as with me. We've written personal mission statements, organized a fundraiser walk to donate to Stop Child Trafficking Now, we have student-driven tutorials twice a week, everyone takes amazing cornell notes in all their classes, and now we're writing personal statement essays focusing on different aspects of our life goals. They complain they have to do extra work, but they secretly love it. I've never known what it feels like to teach a class full of enthusiastic students until this year, and it's really refreshing.

Something else I've been doing for my AVID students is bringing in special speakers from different professions and backgrounds. So far we've had our principal, my sister who's a consultant, a friend who works for a major advertising company, and a co-worker's contact who works for Jet Blue's marketing department. Besides the fact that I make my students feverishly take notes during these presentations, they love it and learn things they've never even heard of. I've been shocked how amazing my friends and family have been to be willing to give up a part of their work day to speak to my students, complete with sophisticated power point slides. All of our guests are helping my students to connect real faces and stories to careers they've only seen on TV (you'd be amazed how many kids say, "I want to be CSI," but don't even know what the acronym stands for). Thank you guys so much!

Next, I also want to take my AVID students beyond our school walls and into different work places and colleges. One thing I know about dreams is that it's much easier to dream and pursue goals when you've see them. Any takers? =P

Like All the Others, But Not.

I just got back from a school leadership retreat that was sponsored by a private education organization in Stamford, CT. After working all day at school, I drove up and worked with my fellow team leaders and administrators until 10pm. We then woke up this morning and worked from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Needless to say, I'm tired, but I feel like we accomplished a ton. Awesome.

Still, I would like to say a word on these sponsored conferences for educators because I find them amusing. Every one of these events inevitably has us checking into a large hotel like a Sheraton or Hilton, and then registering at one of the lobby booths where we pick up our free not-so-manly tote bags (pretty insensitive, if you ask me) that contain the weekend schedule and a stress ball along with a pen and notepad stamped with the hotel logo. They also include many hours of sitting in freezing conference rooms with cream colored walls and no windows, corny banners that scream weird mantras like G2G - Good to Go!, and motivational speakers who passionately remind us that we do what we do because we love "our kids." And of course, we can't forget that every one of these weekends end with some sort of party where drinks and loud music begin to blur lines that separate co-workers from love interests. Awkward.

Well, this trip was no different and had the likings of all of the above except that I ran into 'John', a friend whom I haven't seen in a year. God's been putting him on my heart from time to time and I've been praying for him. I was so excited to have lunch with him today and I prayed on the elevator ride down that God would use me to really minister to him. Turns out, God had plans to minister to me through him. After catching up, I learned that he's being mentored by an amazing christian principal through a program he applied and got accepted to. When I shared with him my hopes and dreams he said a couple of things that got me writing this blog today. He said to me that in his short experience as a school administrator he's learned that it's easier to give and serve when you don't have much than it is when you have much. He also said in response to my frustration of not knowing what God wants me to do next in pursuing the vision God's put in my heart that sometimes we need to let go of whatever it is we are holding onto in order for God to move us forward. What do you need to let go? He asked me.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

One of my students today explained to me that high school (and graduating from it) held no motivation for him. We'll call him Ivan. Ivan told me that he was interested in "other things."

"Like what?" I said. "A girl?"

"Nah, I don't sweat girls like that," he replied.

"You work somewhere?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Bojangles?"

"Nah, bra! Nasty."

(At this point, it's slowly dawning on me what he means.)

"So, do you make a LOT of money at your job?", I prodded.

"Yeah."

"Is it something you might get in trouble for?"

"Well, you a teacher, so..."

The conversation continued, and he basically intimated to me that he is a drug dealer. After the initial anger and disappointment had subsided in me, I remembered something I had learned in a Bible study I did with some of my best friends.

Men, young and old, want two things more than anything else in the world:
1) To be respected
2) To feel accomplished

While I'm devastated that Ivan is on that road right now, it made total sense to me. He's very smart, but school work doesn't come easily to him. It offers no prestige or profit. Its tangible benefits are essentially long-term.

On the other hand, his growing enterprise brought him a sizable paycheck -- or at least, sizable to a 15-year old who's never held a $20 bill by any other means. Even more importantly, he gains the respect of his peers as the "guy who can get it for you." (See Morgan Freeman's character in The Shawshank Redemption.)

Most high school teachers will tell you their toughest job is not planning lessons or developing themselves professionally. It is, by a mile, motivating teenagers who struggle to envision a time beyond the immediate moment. Our continuing goal is to paint our students a picture of a future where they are respected, competent, accomplished, and successful... all on terms which benefit not only themselves, but everyone around them.

p.s. My beautiful little girl, Lily Paige Jones, is here. That's a picture of her at the top of this post.