Monday, November 30, 2009

Tip #300: Lifelong Learning: Shut Down by an Abusive Teacher

This week’s Tip looks at the second example of teachers who do not understand or care about how students learn or what they need to be successful. The first example was a lazy long-term teacher at the high school level. The second example highlighted in this week’s Tip is a brand new teacher at the fifth grade level.

An Emotionally Abusive Teacher

Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? No

A review of Mr. R’s lesson plan indicated that he had a very limited understanding of how to write an effective lesson. The lesson plan was very sketchy and lacked substance, other than the learning objectives, which repeated verbatim the entire learning standards.

Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? No

Mr. R was reviewing a test when the auditor arrived. It appeared to be a math
test, but the entire lesson was focused on the students finding and circling numbers on their pages. Mr. R had written the following answers for #1-4 on a flipchart:

1. 1 &13,
2. 1,2,3, & 26
3. 1,2,4,5,8,10, 20, 40
4. 1 & 23

There was absolutely no explanation of the answers posted on a flip chart and no discussion of how to achieve these answers.

Mr. R then erased these answers and posted the answers for #5-9:

5. 24
6. 60
7. 35
8. 28
9. 6

After posting these answers, he told the students: “If you don’t’ have the same thing as on the board, it’s wrong. It’s self explanatory!” Ironically, immediately after he said this, one student indicated that she still didn’t understand. Mr. R did not respond or coach her.

Instead, this moved him into a tirade about having the students look for #’s 9, 10, 13 and 14. The auditor had no idea why or what these referred to on their pages.

Mr. R angrily grabbed all of the students’ papers and then handed them back to them again, saying: “If we can’t get through this, you going to be stuck on the MAP test. Look through, make sure I can see page 1 in a neat handwriting!”

“If you’re confused, Lord knows...!” “Circle the page number. No, ma’am, neatly please!” Let me know when you’re done.”

Then he snapped his fingers loudly and angrily in the students’ faces: “Show me page 1!” If it was good, Mr. R did not acknowledge it other than to grunt “1-12. Okay.”

This ten- minute rant appeared to be about simply numbering what work they would be looking at on each page.

The auditor chose to stay longer in this class, so then watched a science lesson. Mr. R called on students by last name and asked them: “ What have you learned?” Although some students could answer the questions, at no time did Mr. R either validate their answers or write them on the board as reinforcement for the visual learners. He just repeated the answers given by the students.

There were two times when Mr. R used models to assist the students. When a student was confused about a question regarding the cell membrane, Mr. R showed the student a model of a cell to coach the correct response. Later, Mr. R asked two students to stand in front of the class with their terrariums to answer questions.

He called on a student (by last name only) to read question 1. “Read it again, please. What is the key word in the sentence?” (This was the first use of “please” in the entire class session). Mr. R drew the answer from the student and discussed why it was correct.

When one student had difficulty reading the problem, Mr. R had her sound out the words. He asked her to identify the key word and explain what she knew about it. When she gave the wrong answer, instead of coaching her to the correct answer, Mr. R turned to another student and asked him “Why do you disagree?”

Mr. R appears to lack any understanding of how to structure a lesson and set students up for success. It is highly questionable whether effective learning occurred. If it did, only a few students benefited.

Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? No

Mr. R maintained a highly controlled and abusive environment. The entire focus of the math lesson was on control and discipline.

The first thing that the auditor observed upon entering the class was Mr. R raising his hand, looking at a paper and yelling at a student: “All of those are wrong!”

He told the students: “On page 7, see #1-12. Raise your hand if you don’t see it.” When a student spoke, Mr. R barked at him: “I didn’t ask you to respond!” and then shouted angrily at another student, “Don’t respond unless I give you permission to!”

When some students were confused about what he wanted them to do, he told them in a scolding and condescending voice: “That’s why you’re supposed to be following me,” a statement he repeated twice.

He then yelled at the students: “If you don’t see your number, you write the number and put an x on the number!”

At no time did Mr. R crack a smile during the class. A frown was firmly fixed on his face. He called the students by only their last names in a military fashion. The auditor’s immediate and continuing observation was that Mr. R did not like children.

During the science lesson (which was a review), Mr. R sat on a desk opposite most of the students and wildly swung his legs back and forth. When the auditor questioned whether it had occurred to him that this behavior might be distracting, Mr. R simply responded that he had a lot of energy.

At one point during the class, a new student was admitted into the room. The auditor had been in the guidance office and knew that this was the child of a seasonal worker who, as a single parent, had moved the child from community to community as she followed work. Mr. R did not welcome the child, introduce him to the group, and explain to him where they were in the lesson, or give him any resources or materials. The poor child simply sat by himself at an empty desk for the rest of the lesson.

The room was set up so that all but three students sat on the long side of a U, one student with an aide sat on the bottom of the U, and two students sat on the other long side facing the rest of the class. Mr. R later explained to the auditor that those two students were there because they tend to chat. These two students continually had difficulty understanding what he wanted them to do. He admitted to them in front of the entire class that he confused their names. These students happened to be among the few students who had made terrariums.

There were only two times when Mr. R was somewhat positive and validating. First, he told a student who had her science notebook open, ”Good job, I’m proud of you.” (Since he had earlier yelled at the class to clear their desks of all books and notes, this made absolutely no sense). Second, he asked the class to clap to thank the two students who had held up their terrariums. (However, he didn’t clap, so few of the class did. The fact that he still didn’t know the names of the two students further diminished this gesture).

Mr. R was continually abusive to the children in word, manner, tone, and action. When the principal was surprised by this audit observation, the auditor pointed out that none of the students or the aide in the room appeared surprised by Mr. R’s behavior. It was, therefore, typical and customary behavior on his part. Even so, the auditor would like to stress that 50 minutes of this abusive behavior should be more than enough to warrant Mr. R’s immediate removal from the classroom.

The auditor also mentioned to the principal that the new student, who already displayed low self- confidence and self- esteem because of constant disruption in his life, should be immediately removed from Mr. R’s class.

During the after school feedback session,Mr. R resisted all of the auditor’s observations, insisting that his students “were on point.” He was completely comfortable with the behaviors that the auditor identified as abhorrent. It was clear to the auditor that Mr. R did not understand how children learn, did not see the need for a warm and supportive learning environment, and was doing very real emotional and psychological damage to a number of the students in the class. Mr. R’s teaching style may work in an adult military setting, but it was completely inappropriate and counterproductive in an elementary school environment.

The scary thing about this teacher is that the principal, who had been in the teacher’s classroom several times to audit, had never observed this behavior. As a matter of fact, the principal had earlier identified this teacher as one of the best new teachers in the school! The principal should seriously consider whether she wants to have a teacher who emotionally abuses children continue to teach at her school. Imagine the terrible impact that this teacher is having on the students' potential interest in lifelong learning!

Next week’s Tip will look at what happens when a poor rural school has difficulty finding competent teachers.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Tip #299: Lifelong Learning: Shut Down by a Meaningless Lesson

This week’s Tip looks at the first of two examples of teachers who do not understand or care about how students learn or what they need to be successful. The first example highlighted in this week’s Tip is a long-term teacher at the high school level. The second example of a brand new teacher at the fifth grade level will be highlighted in next week’s Tip.

An Incredibly Lazy and Self-Absorbed Teacher

Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? No

A review of Mr. J’s lesson plan indicated that he did not know how to write an effective lesson plan. He did not even follow the lesson plan that he had written. The principal attributed this to a lack of preparation. The auditor attributed this to a lack of understanding about how students learn and how to deliver a skill-building lesson that sets the students up for success.

Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? No


Mr. J had no lesson. Although he told the auditor that his lesson was about how to build a budget, at no time did he identify key portions of a budget, show the students the steps involved in creating a budget, or give them an opportunity to create a budget.

The auditor attended the entire 50- minute class. Mr. J told the auditor that this lesson was an introduction to creating a budget. What it actually consisted of was a long monologue, liberally interspersed with personal stories and references that mentioned the following topics:

(1) cover letter and resume;
(2) money management;
(3) Cobra;
(4) insurance;
(5) career plan: how much money do you want to make?;
(6) the need for a credit card (but only if used responsibly);
(7) pay bills on time and don’t run up unnecessary debt (personal story);
(8) if a male calls a female while she is studying, she’ll say: “call me back”- but if a female calls a male while he is studying, he’ll talk to her;
(9) your financial id;
(10) lots of tests at psych.com;
(11) for your resume, would you trust a mama’s opinion? (personal story about basic rules in his life);
(12) the need for three references for a resume, most of which will come from school when they graduate;
(13) entrepreneur designer in class;
(14) definition of capital;
(15) how many students have savings accounts?;
(16) how can you save money?;
(17) what could keep you from spending too much;
(18) who wants to go to college (personal story);
(19) how many of you are getting paid today? Your compensation will come later, when you are in college;
(20) (personal story: he teaches 21 students at Emerson College and also teaches on-line);
(21) how can computers help with budget?;
(22) a hidden spot in excel;
(23) what software to use to create a budget;
(24) how many of you know if your parents bank on line or pay bills on line?;
(25) generational differences in terms of comfort paying on line;
(26) security information; and
(27) how to protect your social security number; identity theft leads to bad credit, resulting in companies not hiring you.

There were a number of teaching moments that were handled very poorly.

1. Mr. J played a CNN video in which a commentator discussed two different business problems, one relating to Cobra and one to insurance. Unfortunately, Mr. J spoke over the commentator, making it difficult for the students to hear either the problems or the solutions.

2. Ten minutes into the class, Mr. J had the students look at “your financial ID” in their textbook. Unfortunately, he gave the assignment for the students to complete the survey but kept talking while they were writing. Also, a number of students did not even have the book.

3. Mr. J asked for a show of hands: “How many of you practice money management skills? Who needs improvement? Who is being honest?” Unfortunately, he did not pay attention to how the individual students self-identified, nor did he follow up with them to find out the rationale for their responses.

4. Mr. J asked the students: “Who has bad money management skills? What did you see in your financial ID that needs to improve?” That led to a fruitful discussion with the students about what they can do to get better at saving money or to keep from spending too much. Unfortunately, Mr. J did not write down anything the students said (for the benefit of visual learners), nor did he translate these ideas into budgetary terms.

5. Mr. J went to the computer to show the students what a budget looked like, but unfortunately the school software did not have that capability. According to Mr. J, he usually has a thumb drive with the necessary software, but it was broken. Since he has taught for many years in the same school, he knew this was an exercise in futility without his thumb drive.

No appreciable learning took place during this lesson.

Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? No

To his credit, Mr. J clearly took a personal interest in the (8?) students in the class. He began the class by referring to a student fight the previous day and how proud he was that some students “acted as adults.”

However, Mr. J spent most of the lesson chatting about whatever he wanted in order to be able to tell personal stories about his family, his choices, his work, his ethics, his problems, etc. It was all about him. No student took any notes at any time during the entire class period.

Specific Recommendations

Mr. J needs to TEACH the students real SKILLS. If they are in a Business Finance class, there are specific things they need to learn and be held accountable for learning. He needs to create and execute an effective lesson plan. Mr. J also needs to focus on the students rather than making most of the class about him.

The principal should hold Mr. J accountable for creating and executing an effective lesson plan that gives the students specific, observable and measurable skills. Without this, no learning will occur and this class will continue to be a waste of the students' time.

Next week’s Tip will look at the second example of teachers who do not understand or care about how students learn or what they need to be successful.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tip #298: Lifelong Learning Stimulated

This Tip looks at two new teachers who encourage and nurture learning.

A Wonderful Kindergarten Teacher

Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? Yes
A review of Ms. W’s lesson plan indicates that she knows how to write an excellent lesson. She also assigns homework for independent practice

Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? Yes

Ms. W created a wonderful lesson that completely engaged every student. For the most part, this lesson built on their homework making a calendar. She checked for their comprehension of various characteristics of a calendar (“Who can tell me one thing about calendars?”). As a student answered (numbers, days of the week) Ms. W took the learning deeper: what numbers, how many days of the week, etc. When a child used the pointer to indicate that Monday was the first day of the week, she said, “He’s so hot!” and gently moved the pointer to Sunday. She used the lesson to bring in math concepts and spelling words. She called on volunteers to lead the group in singing Days of the Week to the Munsters theme and later the Months of the Year to the Macarena theme. At the end of the lesson, she checked their comprehension again. The lesson was well crafted and beautifully executed.

Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? Yes

Ms. W had a quiet voice and the students responded exceptionally well. She made transitions and learning fun for them. She used a number of kinesthetic activities to meet the needs of the different learning styles. The students sat quietly, volunteered enthusiastically, and clearly enjoyed being in the class. Ms. W validated their answers. She gave the students a choice of their next learning activity center (tracking their choices on the computer to ensure they went to new centers). She created an excellent rapport with the students.

A Teacher With “You are a Star” Theme

1. Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? Yes

2. Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? Yes


Mr. B was a very effective teacher. His students were actively engaged in the reading comprehension lesson, which was well thought out, interesting, and enjoyable. He pulled out key points about passages in the book with questions. He asked the students to identify their favorite parts of the book and explain why they liked those parts. He posted this list of their favorite parts on the board. Mr. B later used their list to illustrate and check their understanding of the difference between fact and opinion.

Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? Yes

Mr. B used a colorful Hollywood theme to decorate the room, frame activities, and refer to the students. A picture of President Obama on the wall had the label: “He did it and so can you!” When students misbehaved, he got very quiet, looked at them, shook his head, and stayed very calm. On occasion, he referred to consequences: “This team will not have a fabulous Friday if this keeps up” or “If you don’t behave, you will walk around the playground for recess, and I know you don’t want to do that.” In other words, he was caring but firm. It was clear that he respected and liked the students and the feeling was reciprocated. It was a pleasure to watch him interact with the students.

Both teachers clearly believe in learning, hold their students to a high standard, and make learning successful and very appealing. They are launching their students on a satisfying journey of lifelong learning.

Next week’s Tip will look at the first of two examples of teachers who do not understand or care about how students learn or what they need to be successful.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Tip #297: Lifelong Learning Deterred by Burnt Out Teachers

When seasoned teachers literally give up teaching and give in to chaos in the classroom, no learning takes place. Here is the audit of a long term high school teacher whose classes are detrimental to the students who really want to learn.

Seasoned Teacher Who Is Burnt Out

1. Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? No

A review of the one page lesson plan that Mr. H provided during the feedback session indicates that he has a very rudimentary concept of how to write a lesson plan. The lesson plan was also focused on what the teacher would do rather than the students.

2. Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? No

Mr. H had a lesson on line plots, but was unable to execute it because he had absolutely no control over the classroom to ensure that the students could hear or learn from the lesson.

He began by saying: “We’re going to talk about something I think you’ve done before.” The auditor wondered why Mr. H didn’t know if the students had already worked with line plots.

He referred to a line plot on the board that related to Nielsen ratings of television shows. He checked to make sure the students understood what a “sitcom” was and gave examples to make it clear. He also explained that Nielsen uses statistics based on who watches the television shows during prime time in order to know how much to charge advertisers. So Mr. H attempted to make the example relevant and meaningful to the students. He then read off another example on the board, which was apparently also in their textbooks. He asked: “Everyone understand what this data means?” Unfortunately, although he kept shushing them, most of the students talked throughout his lesson so they didn’t respond to his question.

Mr. H asked one student what the range was and she answered correctly. However, Mr. H did not have her explain how she identified the range.

At this point, Mr. H wanted the students to complete problems # 7, 12 and 14-18 in their textbooks. Unfortunately, many of the students did not have their textbooks and some had the wrong volume of the textbook (volume 2 instead of volume 1).
When it became clear that students did not have their textbooks, rather than simply writing out the problems on the board so that all of the students could get down to work, Mr. H started giving out passes for students to go to their lockers. He also asked the students without textbooks to pair up with students who had them.

It became clear from their questions that the few students who were actually paying attention did not know how to work the problems. Mr. H attempted to reteach by going through all of the problems he had just assigned. However, since the students were talking while he was teaching, no one heard him or learned anything. Surprisingly, Mr. H continued to talk, seemingly oblivious to all of the student talking going on.

There was no earthly way that learning could occur in this classroom.

3. Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? No

Mr. H had absolutely no control over the classroom. It was clear that the students did not respect him and equally clear that he did not expect or require that they treat him or their classmates with respect. There was no signaling for behavior change, other than Mr. H’s ineffectual shushing. During the class, two students had their heads on their desks, one student was busy texting, a few were writing notes, one was listening to an iPod, and several were talking.

For a period of more than five minutes, students without textbooks wandered up to ask Mr. H for passes to go to their lockers. Some returned relatively immediately and at least two took 10 minutes to return to the class. Every time a student returned, that student would yell at Mr. H: “What problems? What page?” This information was clearly written on the board in front of the class and Mr. H had pointed it out when he made the initial assignment, but no one was listening at the time. Mr. H told one student twice to take out a pencil or a pen. This student never responded or did any work, even when Mr. H actually handed him some paper to write on.

At no time did Mr. H: teach and adhere to signals to modify behavior; create and adhere to rules of engagement for positive class behavior; stop the lesson and constructively address behavioral issues where necessary; use positive reinforcement; ensure that all students were quiet and paying attention during the lesson; separate students who were goading each other into disruptive behavior; or insist that the students treat the teacher and each other with respect.

Mr. H appeared completely worn out. He was unable or unwilling to manage the class. He did not have the students’ respect and did not seem to care. He did nothing to engage the students or to set them up for success. The resulting chaos in the room guaranteed that no learning would occur. The principal should seriously consider whether this teacher should continue to be in a classroom.

Consider the damage to immediate learning as well as to an interest in lifelong learning when the teacher shows by action and attitude that learning is not worth the effort.

Next week’s Tip will attempt to balance the scorecard by looking at new teachers who encourage and nurture learning.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Tip #296: Lifelong Learning: Encouraged or Discouraged in School

My audit observations of two different third grade classes in the same elementary school exemplify the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of teaching practices. At one end is a long-term teacher who simply does not care if the students in her class succeed. At the other end is a brand new teacher who does everything in her power to ensure that her students succeed.

Uncaring Long-Term Teacher

1. Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? Yes

A review of Ms. F's lesson plan indicated that she knew how to write an excellent lesson. Unfortunately, she did not execute the lesson in a manner that resulted in any real learning.

2. Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? No

Ms. F taught a lesson on story problems. Earlier in the lesson, Ms. F had apparently written clue words on the board that would help the students identify whether to add or subtract to solve the story problems. For some reason, she had chosen to erase this prompt.

As a result, once the students tried to read the story problems and determine the key words that would indicate whether addition or subtraction would be appropriate, they were unsuccessful. Ms. F moved from one student to another, saying essentially the same things to each student. At no time did she stop, recognize the necessity to reteach the lesson, and fulfill that need.

Since the class assignment included problems #1-4, it was obvious that Ms. F had not modeled any examples. Although she may have told the students what clue words or phrases to look for, she must not have actually worked with a complete story problem. It was obvious that the students did not know what to do or how to do it.

It then became apparent that a number of the students had difficulty simply reading the story problem. At least two of the students completely misunderstood what was expected of them and wrote out the entire story problem instead. Most, if not all, of the students did not know how to accomplish the assignment.

Although Ms. F made a number of references for the students to "remember our clue words," it did not occur to her to write them again on the board to help the students.

When Ms. F attempted to debrief problems #1 and #2 of the class assignment, few if any of the students were able to give the correct answer to either problem. However, Ms. F never identified or addressed what might have confused all of the other students.

None of the students had the correct answer to problem #3, which was not surprising since this problem apparently had none of the clue words the students were supposed to find and use. None of the students had the correct answer to problem #4, either, so Ms. F did the problem for them and had the students write down the answers. She then collected their papers and assigned problems #5-#8 as homework. The students did not have the list of clue words. They did not have the class work that might serve as an example. They were totally unprepared to do the homework assignment, because they had been unable to do the class assignment.

When Ms. F asked if there were any questions concerning today's lesson, one student said, "Yes." However, Ms. F did not look to see if any student was confused and never responded to the student who spoke up. She closed the lesson by asking the students to summarize what they had done in class. It came as no surprise to the auditor when the students were unable to do that.

The students did not learn how to read and interpret story problems. Ms. F removed the useful prompts to cue the students as to whether or not the problem required addition or subtraction. She gave them homework that she knew they could not perform. She set the students up for complete failure.

During the feedback session, Ms. F freely admitted that she did not expect that the students would be able to read or do the problems, but hoped that there would be someone at home who could help them! In response to the auditor's assessment that she had set them up to fail, she responded that she was where she was supposed to be in the syllabus. When the auditor mentioned the students' inability to read at a third grade level, Ms. F retorted that it was not her responsibility, nor did she have the time, to teach them how to read.

The students did not have the necessary skills to learn the lesson. Ms. F knew this but made no adjustments to the lesson. She only cared about following the syllabus, not helping students learn.

3. Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? No

The learning environment was very stilted and unsupportive. Ms. F seemed primarily concerned with keeping order and discipline rather than ensuring that any learning takes place. She showed no warmth toward the students. She frowned during the entire lesson and spoke abruptly and sharply to the students if they didn't do what she expected. At least twice she barked, "Get busy!" She threatened to put the names of two boys on the board (for future punishment) if they did not throw away their gum. The names of half of the class were already on the board!

Ms. F was perfectly willing to set the students up to fail and had absolutely no qualms about this. She does not belong in the classroom.

Excellent New Teacher

1. Does the teacher know how to write an effective lesson plan? Yes

A review of Ms. K's lesson plan indicated that she knew how to write an excellent lesson.

2. Does the lesson result in specific, observable and measurable learning? Yes

Ms. K is a very talented teacher. She made every aspect of the lessons relevant and interesting, drawing answers from the very eager group. She helped the students define every key term and concept, providing one example and drawing two more from the students. She wrote their answers on the board, and in order to model the meaning of the word "imitate," acted out (with great humor, fondness and animation) student behaviors. When a student had the wrong answer for what a tradition was, she coached him to discover the correct answer. At the close of the lesson, she checked for their comprehension of the definitions of each new word. She continually related what they were currently learning and doing to previous learning.

3. Does the teacher create and maintain an effective learning environment? Yes

Ms. K had every student actively engaged in the lesson. She used a very light but firm touch when it came to handling over exuberant students. She redirected their attention with simple countdowns and calm statements: "Still my turn, excuse me," or "Put that away. It's a very good drawing, but put it away. It's time to read." During the discussion to define "honor" as a way to show respect, she asked "Do you respect me?" and discussed their answers. Later, in response to a student, she said: "If you're going to ask me that during the lesson, you're not showing respect." During transitions, the students worked quietly.

Ms. K also had the room set up so that she could walk entirely around the student desks. She changed where she stood to create novelty and interest.

Since many of the students cannot read at a third grade level, Ms. K has incorporated phonics to improve their reading skills.

Ms. K is clearly committed to the success of her students.

Two Different Ends of the Spectrum

It is easy to tell which students are likely to value lifelong learning and which students are likely to associate learning with failure and humiliation. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated event. It is happening in schools across the country. Please understand that this is not intended as a denunciation of seasoned teachers. There are many excellent teachers out there. This is also not intended as a commendation for all new teachers. Some are excellent, some are working hard at getting better, and some do not know how to effectively manage a classroom.

It is the teachers who do not care about the students who most concern me. I am also concerned about the seasoned teachers who have given up.

Next week's Tip will look at an example of a long term high school teacher who has completely given up, so that no learning takes place.