The Six Pillar Educator

1. The Six Pillar Educator Unit on Classroom Management

2. Enhancing the Impact of Your Teaching • Our commitment to the “growth mindset” and the notion that “you don’t have to be sick to get better” led us to identify specific strategies and techniques that will provide every teacher with the tools to get improve the management of your class. • This unit will help you to increase the effectiveness of your teaching by suggesting classroom management strategies that will allow you to create an environment conducive to learning.

3. Classroom Management This unit is designed enhance a teacher’s classroom management skills by sharing: • Key concepts associated with managing an effective classroom • Specific techniques and strategies to help “The Six Pillar Educator” be more effective in managing a classroom where student involvement and cooperation in all classroom activities is fostered that ensures there is a productive leaning environment.

4. Classroom Management • Research confirms that learning outcomes can be substantially enhanced when the teacher creates a classroom atmosphere where maximum focus is placed on individual learning. • A Six Pillar Educator creates an orderly, safe setting that engages, encourages and challenges students to learn. • The Six Pillar Educator realizes that subject matter expertise and even exceptional teaching techniques can not produce optimum results if the context of the learning is not fully conducive to learning.

5. “The best lesson plans in the world won’t succeed if student misbehavior hamstrings an educator’s attempts to teach. Good classroom management practices are vital to creating an environment where students can learn.” - Dave Foley, from the Introduction to the UCCH

6. Goals of Six Pillar Classroom Management • Evertson and Weinstein (2006)

8. An Exemplary Classroom is Orderly

9. An Exemplary Classroom is Safe

10. An Exemplary Classroom is Engaging

11. An Exemplary Classroom is Encouraging

12. An Exemplary Classroom is Challenging

14. Techniques and Strategies in Creating a Six Pillar Classroom

15. Classroom Management • Research confirms that learning outcomes can be substantially enhanced when the teacher creates a classroom atmosphere where maximum focus is placed on individual learning. • A Six Pillar Educator creates an orderly, safe setting that engages, encourages and challenges students to learn. • The Six Pillar Educator realizes that subject matter expertise and even exceptional teaching techniques can not produce optimum results if the context of the learning is not fully conducive to learning.

16. Using the Six Pillars of Character, you have the foundation for an orderly classroom

17. Be specific in your expectations for appropriate behaviors

18. Orderly Classroom Interventions • Avoid reacting personally (such as shouting, challenging, becoming agitated) • Maintain calmness, respect and detachment (teacher modeling role) • Pause and focus on the student behavior (“That language…” • Design individual contract with student that addresses the problem behavior • Conference with the parent(s), describe situation and appreciate support that parent gives to help understand and resolve problem • “Think time” strategy - remove student to another teacher’s classroom, provide a “Six Pillar” debriefing form: what pillar was violated? what behavior do you need to display upon return?

19. Pillar Intervention Debriefing Form • How did your violation of a Pillar of Character get you in trouble? • How do you feel about being held accountable for your actions? • What effect did your behavior have on yourself and others? • How do your classes help you to reach your educational and personal goals? • What can you do to build a better relationship with your teacher? (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring or Citizenship) • Who are the people in your life affected by the decisions you make and how are they affected? • What could you have done differently in this situation to have kept it from happening? • How can you show to your classmates and teachers that you care about your class(es) and your progress in it (them)? • How will you show your teacher that you are trustworthy and willing to take responsibility for your actions in class?

20. An Exemplary Classroom is Safe

21. Specific Things you Can Do to Have a Safe Classroom • Create a culture of kindness by encouraging pro-social behavior. • Emphasize that inclusion is the standard in your school. • Expect students to understand that they treat each other with respect, kindness, and empathy in all communications and actions. • Help students develop a sense of responsibility toward their class and schoolmates. • Enable students to share the responsibility for holding all class members accountable to agreed-upon rules for their safety • Have students take responsibility for their own actions. • Teach students how to be good to one another, how to cooperate, how to defend someone who is being picked on and how to stand up for what is right.

22. An Exemplary Classroom is Engaging

23. Specific Things you Can Do to Have an Engaging Classroom Provide a productive learning environment that promotes a positive classroom atmosphere Non-Verbal Cuing can be effective to show the class that the noise level is too high. • Tell the students up-front what is your cue, and use it as needed. • Cues can also be facial expressions, body posture and hand signals. Focusing • Teach positively and show enthusiasm. Passion is contagious. • Operate with a sense of purpose in the classroom. • Be sure you have the attention of everyone in your classroom before you start a lesson. Don’t attempt to teach over the talk of students who are not paying attention.

24. Engaging Classroom • Meet students at the door as they come into class and saying hello to each child, making sure to use his or her name first. • “Good morning, class!” – when students are greeted by an adult, it takes less time to complete morning routines and get first lesson started. • Attribute ownership of ideas to the student who originated them “Carleta has just added to Cristobal’s idea by saying that…” • Talk informally with students before, during and after class about their interests • Be aware of and commenting on important events in students’ lives • Compliment students on important achievements in and out of school

25. Creating an Engaging Classroom Community Relationship with Adults • Initiate behaviors that let students know they are respected and cared about • Remembering details about a student’s life • “Knowing my sister’s name” • Writing notes to students • Visiting their homes • Holding private conversations • Asking students what they think and listening to the answers

26. Creating an Engaging Classroom Community Relationship between and among students • Interdependence and cooperation • Respect for different points of view • Listening to what others say; reflecting back what they hear • Learning about one another • Understanding and accepting how others feel • Students’ relationship to the what and how of their learning • Class meetings can be context for generation of questions to pursue in the next unit of study. • Cooperative learning processes help build positive relationships between different groups of students. • Real-life, everyday problems serve to connect students to the curriculum.

27. An Exemplary Classroom is Encouraging

28. Specific Things you Can Do to Have an Encouraging Classroom • Develop a connection – a relationship with students • Verbalize descriptions of behaviors and never make value judgments about individuals or place labels (good or bad) • Use a variety of techniques to keep students interested and involved including experiential activities and vicarious experiences of stories told orally by book, video or movie. • Minimize the power differential in everyday communication. Sitting behind a desk or standing behind a podium can send the message that you want to create some distance between yourself and the students. Get down to their level when working with them.

29. Encouraging Classroom • Encourage students to be part of classroom discussions • Provide appropriate “wait time.” • Emphasize right parts of wrong answers • Restate or rephrase the question or give hints and clues • Provide the answer and ask for elaboration • Give appropriate teacher praise (public vs. private) that focuses on accomplishment and effort. Praise should be: Contingent, Specific, Sincere, Varied • Maintain at least 4 to 1 positive to negative responses • Promote recognition by displaying student work, awarding certificates, verbal encouragement, giving of stickers for improvement or conduct. Reported in Classroom Management that Works

30. An Exemplary Classroom is Challenging

32. Motivation and Effort • Praising the persistence of students and the strategies they have used to overcome an obstacle, we reinforce a “growth mindset” — one where students feel energized and knowledgeable about how to get beyond problems. • A “fixed mindset” praises intelligence (“You’re so smart for getting that project done quickly”). Students tend to want to look “smart,” value that image more than learning, want to do easier work or might cheat to avoid making mistakes. Making mistakes is not part of their self-image. They believe it may make them look not smart.

33. Recommendations for Classroom Practice Students need to be taught that effort can improve achievement. • Share personal examples of times you have succeeded because you did not give up • Share examples of well-known athletes and others who succeeded mainly because they did not give up • Have students share personal examples of times they succeeded because they did not give up. • Have students chart effort and achievement as this will reveal patterns and help students see the connection between the two.

34. Motivation and Effort In giving feedback to students use this guideline: “describe or question.” Here are examples of praise that develops more of a “growth” mindset: • It’s impressive that you did two drafts of that essay. What made you want to put that extra effort into it? • You worked on that project for the entire period without getting distracted, just focusing on doing the best job you could. That’s great! • How were you able to come up with such an interesting opening to the essay? • To a student who might be facing behavior challenges: You were really focused on classwork today. Can you tell me what you did or thought to help yourself not get distracted? It would give me some ideas that I could suggest to other students.

35. Motivation and Effort • Doing a simple 15-minute writing activity three to five times during a school year can result in long-lasting academic benefits. • Having students write about values that are important to them develops resiliency and a greater sense of self-worth resulting in them working harder and getting less discouraged by setbacks. Geoffrey L. Cohen

36. Strategies to Teach a “Growth Mindset” • Students are given the Six Pillars of Character.” They are asked to circle the one that is most important to them. • They are then asked to think about a specific time when the circled pillar was important and write a few sentences about it: When was that time? Why was it important to you then? • Finally, students are given three phrases:
“This value has influenced my life.”
“In general, I try to live up to this value.”
“This value is an important part of who I am.”
They are asked to write one of five ratings next to each one — Very Strongly Agree, Strongly Agree, Agree, Strongly Disagree, or Very Strongly Disagree • Students can then share their responses in small groups or with the entire class.

37. Think, Pair, and Share

38. ACTIVITY • If students were asked as to what the classroom rules should be, what do you think they would say? • The Six Pillars of Character should provide both content and structure for the rules of your classroom. Divide into 6 groups with a pillar of character assigned to each. Determine a set of classroom rules for the pillar.

39. Behavior Scenarios • How you handle misbehaviors will matter in your stress level and that of the class. • Nearly 8 in 10 teachers say they could teach more effectively if they didn’t have to spend so much time dealing with disruptive students. From a 2004 study conducted by a New York based public policy research organization, Public Agenda • Activity will include using a number of behavior scenarios

40. Think about • Can you identify specific situations where you developed a special connection with a student? • What factors created that connection • Could you do this with more students or the class as a whole? • How are positive relationships developed and maintained? • What makes for a “difficult”’ relationship with a student? Focus on positive and replicate, not negative • What can you do to establish positive relationships with all students in your class?