To New Beginnings!

To New Beginnings!

 

To New Beginnings...

Elaine wanted to be a coroner.  She talked about it; she dreamed of the day when she could solve the problems of the world by uncovering medical truths through autopsy. She was so enthusiastic and persistent that we created a one-person field trip for her to meet the county coroner.

Elaine had one little obstacle keeping her from reaching her dream; she struggled to earn C’s in science and math. When she graduated, I helped her with her college applications. I had to tell her that if she truly wanted medicine as a career, she would have to go to a community college to build her math and science skills before entering the university as a Biological Sciences major. She did....

As I counseled Elaine, I consulted Harvey Williams, then director of Medical School Admissions at the University of California, Irvine.  I asked Harvey when we need to tell a student they're not going to make it; they need to pursue other dreams. Harvey, as always, gave me wise advice:

"You never have that right. 
You tell them what they will have to do.
The choice is always theirs."

Harvey knows about new beginnings.  When Harvey Williams was nine years old, he and his family were accosted by members of the Ku Klux Klan.  They fled in the middle of the night, with horse and buggy carrying all their earthly possessions.  At age thirteen, Harvey Williams started school and flunked algebra –– three times!  Today, Harvey Williams holds three Ph.D's. He recently retired as Director of Admissions for the College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

Harvey is one person I know who might logically hate me because of the color of my skin, but he doesn't seem to have a hate bone in his body. He is at peace with his past. It's sad. Racism is real, but we choose our reactions. Harvey has chosen to make the world a better place.

In SCORE, one of our slogans says "Never put a lid on a kid." Students will have problems as they negotiate life. They will periodically do less than they are capable of doing. They will sometimes make unwise decisions that affect them for their rest of their lives. Our role is to help them see that they have choices. In the words of Zig Ziglar, "Failure is an event; it is not a person."

How did Elaine fare? Last time I saw her, she had completed community college...taken a little detour to have a baby...and entered the University of California, Irvine, majoring in Biology!

"You tell them what they have to do. The choice is always theirs." Thanks again, Harvey.

What To Do When...Nothing Can Be Done

What To Do When...Nothing Can Be Done

 

What to Do When...Nothing Can Be Done

When our students face their life crises, we are powerless to change their circumstances. However, we are not powerless to help. Here are SCORE's Top Ten Strategies for helping a student through tough times:

1. 1.Listen. I know our time is valuable and listening isn't "fixing." But we can never fix their problems. Listening helps them find the strength to take action. Giving advice (even good advice) only makes them angry.
2. 2.Incorporate real life experiences into assignments. When they can explore their dilemma in a writing assignment, for example, they will find answers they didn't know were there.
3. 3.Be there. Jim Kok says 90% of helping is just showing up. A "thumbs up" sign, a nod, or a pat on the back may communicate far more powerfully than words.
4. 4.Take notice. Let them know you miss their comments when they are quieter than normal, their thoughtfulness when they talk aimlessly, and their presence when they are absent.
5. 5.Reach out. When they have withdrawn, sit beside them and quietly ask them for responses. When they disclose something to you, they are begging for someone to be brave enough to talk about it. Be that someone.
6. 6.Offer to accompany them. You may find they need more help than you are qualified to give. Ask if they will go with you to the school counselor or a twelve-step program. Offer to sit beside them while they talk to a parent (but don’t do the talking for them).
7. 7.Keep them focused. Life is full of tragedy, but life goes on. They must somehow learn to merge their grief or frustration with content so they stay on track academically. Teach them how to do that.
8. 8.Beef up their study skills. Learning to use powerful study skills will help your entire class! Give them skills for dealing with distracting thoughts and managing anger.
9. 9.Help them find their own answers. They get angry and shoot down all your great ideas, so don't give them! Instead, allow them to explore possibilities and find their own solutions.
10. 10.Get help. No human being can meet all his/her own needs; we fall short when we try to meet the needs of even one other person. An entire classroom? Impossible. You never violate confidence when you seek guidance from a mentor.

 

Crisis Guidelines

Crisis Guidelines

 

We are saddened and shocked by another school shooting.  Senseless violence.  Our own killing our own.  Displaced anger.  Mis-managed grief. 

We live in a time when our schools must address the issues of grief.  Today, with our condolences to the families and schools in Ohio, I will share an excerpt from our publication: Crisis, Grief, and Loss...and How to Help Your Students Through It.

In times of crisis, when nothing can be done to change the horrible facts, schools must:

Encourage academics.  Do not ignore the crisis; but keep students focused on academics.  Academics is our job.

Encourage options.  Allow flexibility in your projects.  Written assignments, for example, may deal with reactions to the crisis at hand and parallels between your topic, our current crisis, and our students’ personal experiences.

Encourage hope.  The human spirit is incredibly and wonderfully resilient.  We hurt; we’re angry; we’re afraid.  But we will overcome!

Encourage help.  Allow your classes to write letters to the families of the deceased.  Allow projects that provide food, clothing, and shelter for victims.  Endorse related humanitarian projects such as helping at a food kitchen.

Encourage healing.  Allow students to talk and write about their emotions.  Also allow them to periodically ignore what has happened and focus on their passion.

Encourage health.  Use the crisis as an incentive to increase substance abuse prevention programs.  Use your study skills curriculum to help them channel and deal with anger constructively.

Encourage truth.  Keep students informed and squelch the rumor mill.  Keep obsessions with the gory details to a minimum, but tell the truth.  We have a huge capacity to imagine horror scenarios when we don’t know what is happening.  We also have a huge capacity to deal with what is real in creative, constructive ways. 

http://www.lockettlearning.com

College or Career? What It Takes

College or Career?  What It Takes

 

Academic Ed or Vocational Ed?  So often we fight over which should prevail.  Here’s some food for thought:

Colleges want entry level freshmen who can read, write, think, and calculate at a level of content mastery in a rich curriculum. 

Businesses want entry level employees who can read, write, think, calculate, communicate effectively, and work on a team toward a goal.

We’re not really so different.  My ideal is two-fold:  1. that every student graduate eligible to enter the college or university of their choice...even if they choose not to go, and even if they choose to choose to graduate with their grandchildren; and 2. that every student graduate high school with a “sellable skill.”

Often, people ask, "What would it take for our students to be able to go to college?"

We know exactly what it would take. We don't always know how to make it happen.

1. •For students to be eligible for their chosen college or career by the time they graduate from high school, they must participate in a rich core curriculum leading to appropriate content mastery. SCORE students are placed in rigorous academic classes.
2. •If students are to be successful in these classes, they need to learn effective study skills. SCORE students are taught study skills as a formal part of the curriculum. Study skills are reinforced across the curriculum and in tutorials.
   
3. •If students are to be successfully up-placed in the curriculum, they will need academic support. Academic support is available through SCORE classes, tutorials, and group study sessions.
4. •If high-risk students are to be successful in a rich common core curriculum, teachers must use whole-brain, state-of-the-art, multiple modality teaching techniques. SCORE teachers, with study skills as a basis, use strategies that empower students and state-of-the-art methodologies.
5. •If students are to be successful in a rich academic curriculum, they must eliminate negative factors in their lives that would detract from their success. SCORE programs mentor students and enlist appropriate support networks when a student has a need that is negatively impacting academics.
6. •In order to be successful academically, students need support at all levels: family, community, peer, and education. SCORE programs foster positive peer pressure, family communication, community support, and teacher mentorship.

While we’re at it...let’s teach students to communicate effectively and to work on a team toward a goal.  That way they’ll be career-ready, too.

SCORE is committed to the ideal that all students can succeed in our rich content classes. To bring about success, SCORE endorses a comprehensive, holistic approach to educational reform, based on the above assumptions. If any of these elements is missing from a program, the end result will be diminished. When these elements support one another toward a common goal, the results in student achievement are dramatic.

Check us out!  http://www.lockettlearning.com

Love in the Classroom . The Answer to Achievement.

Love in the Classroom . The Answer to  Achievement.

 

In the first edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells the story of a sociology professor in Baltimore who had his students survey boys who lived in the slums and predict their future based on sociological factors. For all 200 students, the reporter predicted, "This kid doesn't stand a chance."

Twenty-five years later, another sociology professor found the study. He had his students find the boys of the study, now adults, to see how, indeed, their lives had progressed. They were able to find 180 of the original 200; 176 of them were extraordinarily successful in their professions.

When asked, "To what do you attribute your success," they all named the same teacher.

When they interviewed the teacher, they asked her, "What magic did you weave? Those children shouldn't have made it!"

"Magic?" she asked. "There was no magic. They were mine. I loved those kids."

It seems love is the antidote to underachievement, according to Butterworth...and love is the antidote to hate crimes, according to the hero we honor this month, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Twenty-five years from now, when a student who "didn't have a chance" is asked, "To what do you attribute your success," may that student speak your name.

Learning to love my students grew out of a difficult personal time in my life. Oh, I had always "loved" my students...but I had a lot to learn about what it meant to love my students. Here are SCORE's strategies for expressing love in the classroom...the kind of love that fosters achievement, drives out fear, and transforms hate into love:

1. •Listen. It is amazing how discounted students feel because, in our busy world, no one takes the time to "listen without judgment or sermonizing." The dividends are astonishing.
2. •Pet the Dream. SCORE continuously watches as students excel, motivated by a dream and driven by a teacher who knows how to "pet the dream" to bring about achievement.
3. •"Hold Up a Mirror" when confrontation is necessary. Confrontation escalates a war. "Holding up a mirror" enables students to see themselves. When they see themselves, they gain both the will and the power to change.
4. •Work for Content Mastery, not just a passing grade.
5. •Shoot Straight. High-risk students don't respect you if you appear afraid to say what's on your mind. You need to "name the elephant" when you are dealing with issues that you believe will cause them learning or life problems.
6. •Demand Excellence. Mediocrity doesn't inspire achievement. Ask more; then empower them to succeed.
7. •Be a Parent and Mentor, Not a Friend. The SCORE motto is, "Every child deserves a pushy parent. If they don't have one, you're it!" It is great if students like you, but they must first respect you.
8. •Validate Strengths. When we hear what we do well, we do better. When we hear what we do wrong, achievement declines.
9. •

When my son entered Point Loma Nazarene University, the leader of the parent orientation said, "We admit average students here; but if we return your student as average in four years, we have failed you because we haven't added anything." I thought, "Wow! A SCORE program I had nothing to do with creating!"

May you add to your students this year until your "average" students excel...your "struggling" students become masters...and your "students with attitude" learn the magic of love.

Our workshops will help you implement these strategies. We're an e-mail away!

So Everyone Shines...

So Everyone Shines...

 

So Everyone Shines...

It's a strange thing about we human creatures. Tell us what we need to improve, and our faults seem to magnify. But when you tell us what we do well, we get better at it...and our faults are less pronounced.

When I started SCORE, I interviewed 600 students who were attending 10 nearby high schools. All 600 were struggling students...some labeled gifted, some learning disabled, but most in that allusive "middle."

The solution to their underachievement was, of course, very complex. One of the major factors, though, dealt with the way they approached learning and how their style interacted or conflicted with that of their teachers. We label it their "personality style." It is another dimension from their learning modality, with subtle differences.

From that difference, in SCORE classes, we learn to "teach so everyone shines 1/4 of the time."

The Melancholy personality is detail-oriented. Since over half of our teachers learn that way, we do a pretty good job teaching to these students (roughly 38%), but they sometimes struggle after they leave us because they haven't adequately learned application principles.

The Phlegmatic personality is relationship-oriented. Approximately 1/3 of our teachers learn this way, and 12% of our students fall into this category. They need to feel valued in order to learn. They struggle if there is conflict of any kind in the classroom. They are best at the gestalt of learning, and many will become our social workers or guidance counselors. They do struggle, however, with details and goals.

The Choleric personality is goal-oriented. Few teachers (approximately 6%) think this way naturally (which could explain why we struggle so with outcome objectives and testing). These students (about 12%) love a good debate and may take an unpopular side to an issue just for the energy the conflict generates. They will work hard for a teacher they respect; they will sabotage a teacher they believe is incompetent.

The Sanguine personality is process-oriented. These students make up 38% of the classroom, but only 2% of our teachers. We don't always do a good job teaching to them; but once we get these students through the system, they become good workers. They are naturally gifted in practical application.

SCORE trains teachers to vary teaching methodology so "everyone shines 1/4 of the time." Every day, in every class, do something that is detailed to energize the Melancholy; something that is relational and reflective to energize the Phlegmatic; something that is goal oriented and allows for decision-making for the Choleric; and something that is interactive and allows for movement and spontaneity for the Sanguine.

When student needs are met, they are more likely to master content. When student needs are met, they are able to adapt their behavior to function as they need to in the classroom.

We study this concept in greater detail in our Study Skills workshop. Why not join us for the next one! Better yet, sponsor your own.  Visit our web site to learn how.

When You Can’t Change Things

When You Can’t Change Things

 

When Nothing Can Be Done...

In times of loss, the holidays can hurt. Our students’ behavior may deteriorate, partly because the holidays bring their own sense of fun...and partly because they are a reminder that someone or something is missing from our own lives.  And...our behavior can change if we have had a tough year.  Instinctively, we want to close our eyes and make the reminders of our circumstances go away. Unfortunately, we can't; the holidays will happen with or without our permission.

Since you can't really forget, plan to remember. There are things you can do when nothing can be done. There are things you can choose not to do if they would be hurtful.

Remember:

• Something from your childhood.
• Something from your adult years.
• Something since your loss.

Do:

• Find a way to remember
• Be good to yourself.
• Spend time with family or friends.
• Spend some time alone.
• Create a new memory or tradition.
• Hold on to an old memory or tradition.
• Give to someone in need.
• Find a way to love your kids/grandkids.
• Laugh
• Cry.
• Ask, “What Would He/She Want Me To Do?
• Give Yourself Permission to Grieve
• Give Yourself Permission to Enjoy!

Don't:

• Don’t spend time with toxic people.
• Don’t forget the “reason for the season.”
• Don’t allow yourself to wallow in the cynical.
• Don’t be “Super-Mom/Dad.”
• Don’t forget to dream.

Oh...and Remember:

1. •“This, too, shall pass.”

Enjoy your holiday season.  January begins another year.

Join us on LiveStream at 9:00 AM PST on November 11 to discuss getting through the holidays.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011