Student Achievement Best Practices Thanks to Collaboration

When Children Help Others, Everyone Benefits

 by Renee Heiss, Retired Teacher

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image courtesy of thedoodlerz.com

So often, teachers focus on the student and the learning, but forget about the value of helping others to change student behavior.  The mind set for today’s youth appears to be one of guided egoism. I say “guided,” because most teachers, counselors, and parents help children to achieve high grades through a rewards system.  Honor roll certificates, stickers, National Honor Society membership, and other grade-based rewards force the child to focus on the grade.  While there’s nothing wrong with this system, it’s not the total package.  When children learn that there are others who are less fortunate, and that they can help those people, the children become more responsible with everything they do.

When children think of others first, everyone benefits. There will be fewer fights in schools and fewer bullies in the hallways. A child's boosted self-esteem usually carries over to better class work and regular attendance. Philanthropy empowers children to be positive members of the community. According to Dorothy A. Johnson, President of the Council of Michigan Foundations, “The earlier we introduce the concept of giving and public service, the more successfully we incorporate it into a child’s daily behavior, and the greater the impact on society as a whole.”

Whatever children learn when they are young generally carries through to their adult years. If they learn that you need to get all that you can to become successful, they will probably become greedy adults. If they learn that in helping others, they help themselves, these children are more likely to grow up to be responsible members of the greater community.

When children are responsible for the welfare of others, they also learn the value of commitment. Teens learn punctuality, for example, when a senior citizen waits patiently for a visit and then is disappointed when the youth is late.

Sacrificing time or money for a charitable cause shows the young person that personal needs may not be as critical as they once thought. It is gratifying to the child and his parents when he spends a Saturday morning volunteering at a soup kitchen instead of playing video games. Again, everyone benefits.

Volunteering also teaches the child to budget her time wisely so that she can find time for her own activities and the charitable project. When young people have less free time, they are less likely to cause problems for teachers, parents, and the community. Surprisingly, they also manage to get their homework done in record time with more accuracy when they know that their “cause” waits for their help.

Teens who volunteer regularly become more self-assured in their ability to make a difference in other people’s lives. This same mentality carries over into their own lives. They may find ways to help family members. They should be able to present oral reports with confidence. They will probably become proactive about their future. They contribute positively wherever they go.

When kids work in the community, they see people of many different ages and ethnicity. They learn that senior citizens have unique personalities just like their friends. They learn that people with a foreign heritage have amazing life stories to share. They learn that everyone is different and should be respected for those differences.

So how do you help your students reach their potential?  By showing them how to help others reach theirs.  Organize a buddy system with younger grades.  Arrange for a planned field trip to a nursing home.  Create books for children in hospitals while using the vocabulary words for the week.  Have a fund raiser that incorporates concepts in your science or social studies classroom (imagine a toga car wash, for example!) The possibilities are endless if you have some creativity and a dedication to helping others while you help your students to help themselves.  Try it - I think you’ll like the change in your classroom!

 Renee Heiss is the author of several books for teachers (Feng Shui for the Classroom, Helping Kids Help, and The Kinetic Classroom), and three books for children (Somebody Cares!, Woody's World, and Ducklings in a Row).  Although retired from public school teaching, she keeps active in education as an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature.  Visit her website to see all her activities: www.reneeheiss.com and her blog for tips for teachers and parents from her experience and research: http://parent-teacher-child-connection.blogspot.com/.

Teacher of the Year's Perspective on Student Achievement Best Practices

 Student Achievement Best Practices

By Dorothy Mendiola, BS in Multidisciplinary Studies, 3rd Grade Teacher

Teaching is about making connections and making the lessons meaningful to students.  Facts and skills are important for students to learn.  But before a student chooses to learn these facts and skills, they need to have an understanding of why they need to learn them. With these student achievement best practices in mind both the teacher and students can accomplish so much in the classroom.

image courtesy of kmbeing.com

As a 3rd grade teacher there are high expectations for my students because of the statewide assessments they have to take at the end of the year.  These assessments test their knowledge and skills of the core subjects.  I can easily teach my students facts and skills through rote memorization.  But so long as students do not understand the ‘why’ behind each lesson, they will have a difficult time as they pass through the next level.  I always explain to my students why they are learning certain things in my class.  I create scenarios where they can apply what they learned in their daily life.  I provide opportunities for them to reflect on what they learned and how they can use that skill at home, at school, and in the community.  When students are able to make that connection between content knowledge and their personal life, the lessons are much more meaningful and everlasting. I created a classroom economy where students are expected to add items, count money, read labels, and go shopping in my class.  This excites them and motivates them to learn math because they too like to go shopping with their parents and families.  They soon realize the importance to shop for food or necessities and the need to learn math.

 I am a strong supporter of cooperative and collaborative groups.  I love to see students work together and apply problem-solving strategies.  To learn from their peers and teach each other in groups is one of the most powerful strategies I use in my classroom.  I have my students work in cooperative groups a lot.  I explain to them that when they grow up and enter the workforce, they will be expected to work in teams and know how to be a team player in order to succeed.

I encourage students to become independent thinkers.  Knowing the answer is half the battle.  Being able to explain the reasoning behind the answer is a powerful way to have students begin thinking critically and independently.  It’s never too early for students to learn how to be responsible for their education and learning process.  I create a positive environment where students can feel successful.  I have my students create goals in class and they monitor their goals.  My students are more motivated when they can visually see their progress as they work towards meeting their goals.

At W.S.R., we have a 2-week Read-a-Thon competition twice a year.  The class that reads the highest number of words (based on the Accelerated Reader from the Renaissance program) wins a prize.  At first, I was just reading out the numbers to my class.  “Oh great job class, you’ve read 37,468 words so far.  Way to go!”   I get a couple “Wow’s” and others just gave me confused looks.  There was very minimal effort and participation for the rest of the week.  Monday comes and this time before I read the number of words out loud, I posted a thermometer the size of a chart paper on the board.  The thermometer had increments of 10,000.  I suggested we create a goal for the Read-a-Thon and use the thermometer to monitor the class progress.  Next, I announced the number of words they read so far, which was 38, 941.  I asked a volunteer to color the thermometer and they were stunned to see how far below their progression was from the week before.

At the end of each day, we checked how many words they’ve read and colored the thermometer.  There were a lot more effort and participation throughout the rest of the week.  After the contest, students asked if they can get a thermometer of their own to monitor their own individual word count.  They visually saw and monitored their progress, their success, and even their lack of effort.  They reflected, we discussed areas of improvements, and revised their goals when needed. This is one great way to let students take responsibility for their learning.

Sometime it’s not enough to tell a student “I believe in you!  You can do it!”  They need to experience and feel that success themselves.  I provide opportunities for students to test their skills and succeed in the classroom.  Once they see and feel that they can do it, the possibilities are endless.  When levels of self-esteem are increased, it’s like lighting a Christmas tree.  When children start feeling positive about them, academics are improved, behavior issues are resolved, and they become respectful and peaceful social contributors.  They become bright stars at the top of the tree!

I am a 3rd grade teacher at William S. Reyes Elementary School in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.  I’ve been with the CNMI Public School System for 9 years.  I am currently the 2012 Teacher of the Year at William S. Reyes Elem. School.  

Data-Sharing is Key to College and Career Readiness

Every day, we hear “data this,” and “data that,” being told “the data” will show us how to get students college and career ready. Although data is powerful, its power lies in what we do with it. Kentucky educators are discovering how data really makes a difference in the education of their students. It’s no secret that collaboration is a vessel for change, but it wasn’t until university professors and high school teachers began comparing notes about their expectations in class that real changes began to occur.

According to an article in Education Week, transition courses were developed in high schools to help lagging students avoid remediation in college. Advanced Placement restrictions were lifted to expose more students to college-level courses. As communication lines opened, other changes followed. The percentage of college-going students in Kentucky went up, and the need for remediation in college went down.

Kentucky is at the forefront of collecting and sharing P-20 data, information that spans preschool through graduate study. Since the 1990s, it had been tracking the performance of students over time. But not everyone knew it.

Sam Evans, the dean of the college of education at Western Kentucky University, in Bowling Green, was part of the group that sketched out how the new P-20 collaboration would work. "Everybody had their data sets, and they weren't speaking to one another," he said. The focus of the discussion, he said, was practical: "What do we need to know?"

The driver for everyone to work together was economic development. There was agreement that the only way it could be achieved was with more college degrees and well-prepared high school graduates, said Mr. Evans.

How can we improve the use of data in our schools?

To learn more and to read the full article, click here.

Is Collaboration Essential for Students to Learn?

“If school isn’t about doing things together, just about everyone has better places to spend their day.” Ira David Socol declared this statement in his blog post about the necessity of collaboration in creating and sustaining real learning. The dilemma of students becoming prepared for careers in the 21st century and centuries to come in what Socol calls a 19th century school (a classroom with a bunch of kids doing the same thing in the same way on the same device) is not a new one, but while many discuss the problem, Socol outlines what he believes is a solution.

He explains that classrooms where, “educators think the information of the world still moves via paper and pencil, that there are ‘correct answers’ to everything, and that there is a structured cultural norm of learning behavior, best exemplified by the silent child bent over a wooden desk with a thick physical book, which must be duplicated if a student is to succeed in their learning spaces” is an environment that impedes the desire for students to come to school at all.

Instead, Socol gives four ways to provide an environment that promotes self-motivated learning:
1. A learning environment in which students make most decisions
2. A time environment in which students learn and work along a schedule which makes sense to them
3. A technological environment which supports collaboration across every barrier
4. A social environment where adults do not rank students according to their oppressive standards

To learn more about Ira David Socol’s solution and improving collaboration in schools, click here.