Disagree Agreeably

I have a rotten, awful, racist teacher...and I'm going to sit in his class and do nothing!

That is what we call 'stinkin' thinkin'!'

They get paid, and you have to take the class all over again.

They win...you lose.

Designing the SCORE program, I had a version of that conversation many times.

When our students (or children) are angry at us, they either "wall off" or "act out."  Using our study skills curriculum, we ask them to "build a bridge back to learning...not a wall, and not a war."  We teach them to "disagree agreeably."  To do that, they are to:

1. Ask non-threatening questions
2. Provide new information
3. Put assumptions into words and ask for clarification

Our middle school students are especially excited to learn this valuable skill.  We have to tell them they won't win every argument that way, but they'll win a lot more.

Eventually, we teach them about "win-win."  When they learn how to question or disagree without accusing, they're on their way.

"Communication Skills" is what we call the "forgotten study skill."  We tell our students to listen and take notes; but to do that without the skills to discern what is important and to ask for clarification sets them up for failure.  They may get something down in writing, but it won't always be an important point.

Check out our Study Skills Curriculum.  It will help you empower your students to learn so you can spend your time with them doing creative things instead of reviewing the basics.

Less is More

A Biology teacher, following a SCORE Study Skills workshop, decided to test my theory that when it comes to studying, less is more.  After teaching her students the keys to memory, she said, "Promise me you won't study longer than 5 minutes tonight!"

Test grades went up in every class.

It works!  The taxon part of our brain tires quickly.  When we cram information into it, after about 15 minutes, our brain says, "nighty-night!" and quits processing information.

When we started SCORE, we thought we would turn students on to learning and they would spend more time studying.  Wrong!  They actually spent less time studying...but they studied more effectively, turned in homework more often, and earned higher grades.

Less is more.

Check out our study skills curriculum.  Click here.

The "Uncommon Core" Success or Failure?

As a beginning teacher, I was always reading the textbook and thinking, "No wonder the kids don't understand this!"  I would re-write the instructions and pass out a handout that explained what the textbook had muddled.

I didn't know then that I was a writer.  I just knew that I could do a better job of explaining the "how-to" of my lesson than the textbook authors had done.

It is rare that I read an article and think, "Well done!  I couldn't have said it better."

Enter the exception:  From Edutopia, Andrew Miller's article entitled "4 Lessons Learned from Common Core Implementation."

You'll want to read the entire thing.  Here is the link: 

Let me quote from his final paragraph and shout Kudos!  Yes!  Amen!  Wow!  You name it...however you shout about something that grabs you, here it is:

 

"All teachers should know how professional development relates directly to their practice. 

All teachers should be given practical tools for implementation. 

All teachers should receive ongoing, embedded professional development. 

They should be leveraged for their expertise and leadership. 

We should focus on assessment and move away from our focus on standardized testing."

Andrew Miller

Educational Consultant and Online Educator

From my years in staff development and endeavoring to bring about success to all students, I quickly realized that top-down staff development doesn't work...nor does teacher-driven change.  Change must be a collaborative.  

I asked a principal who had managed to fully and successfully implement SCORE in less than 6 weeks how he had achieved it so quickly.  He said, "I was the new kid on the block, and I knew the teachers would shoot down what I brought to them.  

'The entire first year, I used my staff development monies to send teachers to observe what other schools were doing.  When they came back, they said, 'Why aren't we doing that?!'  I responded, 'we could do that.  I'll look into how to bring it to our campus.'  

'By year two, they were ready and had hand-selected what they wanted to do.  Interesting...it was what I wanted to do, too."

Kudos again! Thank you, educators and students, for keeping my learning curve alive and growing.

Is college for everyone?

I want to weigh in on this age-old debate. I've been at this game of education for a long time now.  I know the answer.

No, college is not for everyone.

Yes, the responsibility to prepare everyone for college belongs to every teacher.

Everyone will not go to college, but it will often surprise you who does and who doesn't. I have watched valedictorians drop out of college. I have watched high school dropouts change their mind, earn a GED, and go on to earn a PhD.

The bottom line: an educator's responsibility is to make sure that every high school graduate has the opportunity to go to college whether they choose to go immediately after graduation, wait a year, or wait 20 years. Children have been known to graduate with their grandparents, you know. Our job is not to determine who will go but to make sure that everyone has that choice.

Am I in favor of arts education? Of course!

Am I in favor of vocational education? Of course!

Am I in favor of advanced placement and honors? Of course!

Am I in favor of accelerated learning? Of course!

Am I in favor of remediation? Absolutely not. It doesn't work. It never has. It never will. It is based on the faulty premise that if I tell you what you're bad at, you'll get better. In reality, when I exploit your weaknesses, you enter a downward spiral. When I, instead, celebrate your strengths, you gain the self-esteem power to compensate for your weaknesses.

Does this work? You bet! Using the strategies of accelerated learning, common core curriculum, multiple intelligences, and mentoring, Lockett Learning Systems has helped schools graduate thousands of high-risk students who can now choose whether or not they enroll in higher education.

Is college for everyone? No.

Does the right to choose college belong to everyone? Absolutely.

Does the responsibility to make this happen belong to every educator, parent, and student working in partnership?  Yes.

Need our help?  Visit http://www.LockettLearningSystems.com.

Freedom Isn't

A few years ago I was privileged to travel to another country.  Every time our tour guide began to talk, strangers would join our group.  I thought that was a little bit odd…even a little bit rude.  I might stand near another group’s tour guide and “eavesdrop” to hear part of the information for one or two items…but to join another group wouldn’t be, in my mind, appropriate or ethical.  It happened at every stop.  Toward the end of the tour, I mentioned it to a fellow traveler…and learned they weren’t tourists.  Those who visited our group at every stop were the Secret Police.

We Americans will never truly understand what it is like not to be free.  I hope, though, that we value our freedom and that we understand the high price that was paid to gain it.   

I hate the fact that we protest; I hate it when we exploit the weaknesses of our leaders; I hate the back-stabbing political campaigns.  But I would fight with my life to defend my right to do it.

 

For our freedom, thank a Veteran…and thank the families of the veterans who didn’t make it home.

God Bless America.  Happy 4^th of July.