Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

A Handbook for Secondary School Teachers

Alan J. Singer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136286063
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach uniquely addresses three problems that frequently concern pre-service and beginning teachers: classroom control, satisfying state and federal mandates, and figuring out exactly what is the role of the teacher. Integrating practical, theoretical, and critical teaching considerations, it presents a model student-centered approach for designing lessons, developing personal connections with students, and building classroom communities: PRO/CLASS Practices (Planning, Relationships, Organization, Community, Leadership, Assessment, Support, Struggle). Pre-service teachers are encouraged to reinterpret the principles and continually redefine them as they develop their own reflective practice.

Changes in the Second Edition

• Updates throughout with attention to the Common Core State Standards, high stakes testing, the possibilities and limitations of technology use in the classroom, and preparing for the job market\

• Fully revised chapter on literacy

• New interviews with teachers

• Companion Website: Supplemental planning, teaching, and assessment materials; 32 extended essays including a number of the author's widely read Huffington Post columns; interviews with beginning and veteran teachers; Ideas for Your Professional Portfolio, Resume, and Cover Letter; Recommended Websites for Teachers

BOOK II

PRO/CLASS Practices—Planning, Relationships, Organization, Community

An Introduction to PRO/CLASS Practices

On my first day as a high school teacher, a week into the school year, an older adult whom I did not recognize (he probably was not that old, but I was only 28) came into my classroom and yelled, “Why are students out of their seats?” He was referring to three students who were walking toward my desk to hand in assignments they had just completed. As quickly as he had entered, he left the room. The unexpected visitor turned out to be the school's principal.

Later, when I learned who he was, my stomach started to knot. I had waited a long time for this opportunity and now I was worried that I would be fired on my first day. It turned out that my transgression of school rules (students were not permitted out of their seats during instruction) was not considered that serious, largely because students were frequently out of their seats and often out of the rooms. The principal, who was in the middle of responding to an emergency in the building at the time he passed by my room, did not refer to the incident when we were formally introduced. Although I remained unnerved, my job was safe.

Miranda Bellamy, a former student who became a teacher after a career in the military, learned a similar lesson in her first days as a teacher in North Carolina. Miranda took over classes that had already had two teachers who left, and the students were accustomed to not paying attention and not doing work. Miranda, stressed and afraid she would be fired, emailed me for advice just before the Christmas break and I suggested three things.

1. Just hold out until the holiday. When you come back the students will be more responsive because they will believe you are really their teacher and not a temporary substitute.

2. When the students return to school it will be a new year. Establish new class rules and procedures and assign new seats. This will help confirm it is your classroom and you are the teacher.

3. Don't quit on them or yourself.

Miranda felt a little better, especially after she also learned from another teacher that the school administration was rooting for her to succeed. They understood these were hard-to-reach students and that following two teachers who had quit made it an especially difficult situation. Miranda and I have kept in touch and not only did the situation improve, but she actually began to enjoy teaching and experiencing success along with her students.

Student teachers and beginning teachers are often obsessed with the problem of classroom control. They feel they are being judged, not only by the way students perform, but also by the way they behave. Many fear they are one casual observation or parental complaint away from unemployment.

In most cases the fear is unreasonable. I tell student teachers in our program, “If we did not think you could student teach, we would not have let you.” Similarly, if school administrators do not think a “beginner” has the ability to become a good teacher, they do not hire him or her. Most reasonable people do not expect anyone to be an expert on their first day. If they wanted an expert, they would have hired someone with experience.

Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” Deon Mitchell and Michael Pezone, whom you met earlier in this book, developed their own ways of overcoming fear and preparing for difficult situations. Deon turns to prayer, whereas Michael is a Zen aficionado. Some of his favorite Zen stories are included in Chapter 10.

Part of the problem with the fear of failure is that it pushes beginning teachers into self-defeating classroom practices. They frequently end up with scripted, impossibly complex lesson plans that translate into long, boring, teacher-centered lessons. Classrooms and learning become painful for students and they rebel. Teachers respond by cracking down, and the cycle of boredom, resistance, and punishment escalates. As a beginning teacher, you find yourself becoming the kind of teacher you hated. But it does not have to happen this way! Teaching and learning can be fun and exciting. You can become the teacher you want to be. It takes time and hard work, but you can do it.

In Book II, we examine ways that teachers can design lessons, develop personal connections with students, and build classroom communities. I call this approach to teaching PRO/CLASS Practices. We will not be learning foolproof formulas. They do not exist. Instead, we will look at principles of teaching and ideas about teenagers that my colleagues and I think make sense. But you need to reinterpret and refine them as you develop your own approach to teaching. As I think you have learned from the stories told by teachers in Book I, there is not just one right way.

Before we go on, I have to make a confession. People always wonder how you end up with a nice acronym like PRO/CLASS Practices—Planning, Relationships, Organization, Community, Literacy, Assessment, Support, and Struggle. I confess that I cheated. I made a list of key terms and moved them around until they spelled something I thought was memorable. I really did start with “P” for Planning, “R” for Relationships, “O” for Organization, and “C” for Community, just not in that order. At any rate, these four topics will be examined in Book II, chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6. As you examine the list and the explanations that follow, consider which you would give priority to in your teaching and prepare to explain why.

• Planning: Lessons that relate to student interests, involve students in activities, and are appropriate to their academic performance level are more likely to hold student attention and involve students in learning. They may even be fun. For this edition I have added an extended discussion of the new national Common Core Standards.
• Relationships: Students who feel that their teacher cares about them as human beings, and is willing to respond to their needs and concerns, will be more willing to cooperate, even if they do not understand or agree with instructions. When a teacher helps one student out, or just gives a student who is having difficulty a break, somehow all the other students quickly know.
• Organization: As a teacher, you can structure lessons and set up a classroom to minimize conflicts and encourage student participation (e.g., use assignments to settle the class and establish a context for the lesson; shift desks for group, individual, or full class activities; limit bathroom visits so that students can be engaged by class work; involve students in developing reasonable classroom procedures).
• Community: As students develop a sense of relationship with each other and the teacher, an interest in the topics being explored, and confidence that they will not be put down, and as they are convinced that their ideas will be heard, they develop a commitment to the success of the class. Individuals become classroom leaders committed to the class as a democratic community of learners and draw their classmates into the community. As a group, they want to learn and they take responsibility for what goes on in their class.
• Literacy: Preparing students for full participation in a democratic society means empowering them through the enhancement of critical literacies. Please note literacies is plural. Students need to learn how to learn; find and evaluate information available in different formats; think systematically; support arguments with evidence; present ideas clearly, both orally and in writing; and evaluate their own work and the work of others. For this edition, there is a fuller discussion of the importance of technological literacy for both students and teachers.
• Assessment: Nobody makes good choices all the time. The key to growth as a teacher is to think about what you are doing and make the best choices you can. Think of your classroom problems as learning experiences rather than as personal failures. Reflect on your goals and how you can achieve them with this particular group of students. Think of student examinations as tests of what you have taught. It is never too late to change what you are doing. While you spent all night (or all weekend) worrying about a particular incident and its impact on the class, the students probably haven't thought about it since they left the room. Try to relax a little bit. For this edition, I have added discussion of new assessments that are being introduced for both student teachers and teachers.
• Support: Everybody has “bad hair days.” Instead of dumping on students, give them a little space. Treat them the way you would want to be treated if you had just had a fight with your mother, were overtired, or were just plain grumpy. Instead of backing a student into a corner and provoking an explosion, try a dramatic shrug and taking it up later after everyone has calmed down. When a troublesome student or class responds positively, make a big deal of it. Show them that you care.
• Struggle: There is no magic wand. Change never happens instantaneously. Why should adolescents behave any differently from other people? Being an effective teacher means engaging in a long-term struggle to convince students that your goals for the class make sense and are worth examining.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—PRO/CLASS PRACTICES

Question to Consider:

1. Which of these PRO/CLASS practices would you give priority to in your teaching? Why?

Suggestions for Further Reading

Other teachers and books on teaching emphasize similar ideas. These are books that have helped me to think about my work as a teacher, and I recommend them highly.

Au, W. Bigelow, B., & Karp, S. (Eds.). (2007). Rethinking our classrooms, Volume 1. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Christensen, L. (2000). Reading, writing, and rising up. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other people's children, Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.

Haberman, M. (1995). Star teachers of children in poverty. West Lafayette, IN: Kappa Delta Pi.

Kohl, H. (1994). I won't learn from you and other thoughts on creative maladjustment. New York: The New Press.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers, successful teachers of African American children (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Logan, J. (1999). Teaching stories. New York: Kodansha.

Weiner, L. (2006). Urban teaching, the essentials, (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Wood, G. (1992). Schools that work: America's most innovative public education programs. New York: Plume.

3

PLANNING: HOW DO YOU PLAN A LESSON?

In the movie musical The Sound of Music (1965), Maria, the Singing Nun, recommends that we start to learn at the very beginning—when you read you begin with A, B, C and when you sing you begin with do, ray, me. We will begin learning about lesson planning from the very beginning as well, by discussing goals, teaching strategies, and finally, lesson formats.

Section A: What Are Your Goals?

William Shakespeare wrote a play called Much Ado About Nothing. I think much of the debate over education in the United States today would more appropriately be titled, “Much Ado About the Wrong Things.” For example, everybody (politicians, parents, and teachers) is worried about higher standards, the development of what has come to be called the “common core” curriculum, and the assessment of student learning. It seems like every educational organization has its own published list of what children should know and every political unit (city, county, or state) has its own standardized tests that students are expected to pass. But there is very little public discussion of exactly what we mean by standards. Most experienced teachers I know respond to the call for higher standards or the integration of skills-based activities in content area subjects by saying, “This is the same thing we always do.”

I think the general public finds the call for higher standards confusing because the term means different things in different contexts. In track and field, the standard is the record performance that other athletes try to surpass. In baseball, it is the Yankees with a century of accomplishment. In basketball and tennis it is often identified with one player, Kobe Bryant or Roger Federer (or maybe Rafael Nadal). But everybody cannot be like Kobe, Roger, or the Yankees, and that is the problem with using the top performer as a measure or standard.

In education, standards can best be described as goals—the things we hope all students will achieve, the things we plan for them to achieve. Achieving standards is not a competition. In theory, in a well-run classroom with effective teaching strategies, every student should be able to obtain the goals. There does not have to be a “Race to the Top,” as the Obama Administration advocated.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. By December 2011, they had been adopted by 45 of the 50 states in the United States plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If you examine the Common Core State Standards, you can see why I describe them as goals. First, they tend to be very broad with little specificity. According to the general standards, students should be able to “demonstrate independence,” have “strong content knowledge,” “respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline,” “comprehend as well as critique,” “value evidence,” “use ...