Organization: What exactly does that mean?

This week's reading assignment has gotten me to think about the idea of "organization". I like to think of myself as a fairly organized person. What does that really mean though? I know I need to make some improvements in this area. This isn't just some new year's resolution, made in September, to benefit myself. Rather, because disorganization is the breeding grounds for challenging behavior. If you are not organized, guess what? The students won't be either. I need to remind myself to take a page from Harry Wong's book when he compares a successful classroom to a successful restaurant. According to Wong, a successful restaurant is ready when "the table is ready, the dining room is ready and the staff is ready". Accordingly, a successful teacher is ready when, "the work is ready, the room is ready, and the teacher is ready." I need to do a better job of getting rid of those piles and organize into a state of being "ready" to use. If I'm not going to use it, I'm going to lose it. Maybe I should stop looking at it as being "organized" and instead look at being "ready"? Either way, I think I need to head to school. This is my Life on Lewis after all.

Chapter 3 Letter of Advice

The next assignment for the book club was to compose a letter of advice to yourself addressing 2 of the 7 teaching mistakes discussed in Chapter 3. There is a lot of great advice in that chapter. It is the precipitating event for some major self reflection! Dear Self, As we prepare for a new school year in a new district and new building, I hope to offer you some advice. Who better to offer you advice than yourself? No one else knows you better, right? You have never been a "yeller" or a "screamer" when it comes to addressing student behavior. However, you can lose your temper. Remember the last time the lawn mower wouldn't start? (Enough said) It is important to remember to "keep calm and teach on". Yelling and screaming at the students is completely ineffective because students with challenging behavior often come from homes and classrooms where that is the norm. They do not know any better so they will not act differently. To combat this the solution is simple: good teaching. You have said before that "the number one deterrent for bad behavior is good teaching". Now it is time to take your own advice. You know what good teaching is, and with the help of Coach B's book, you know how to take that to great teaching. The students have been allowed to develop some pretty bad habits by though. You have been "warned" about their behavior on more than one occasion. So when those difficult situations arise, remember not to be confrontational with an audience. You know how the function of many inappropriate behaviors is attention from peers. How many functional behavior assessments have you written to address attention maintained behaviors? The solution again is simple: remove the audience. Flood them with positive attention for appropriate behaviors and address the inappropriate behaviors in a non-attention maintaining way. So, this year don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution. Keep calm and teach on! Best wishes for a fabulous school year,

Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids Chapters 1 and 2 Assignment for Book Club

My first assignment for Whole Brain Teaching Certification is complete! I'm not really sure how or why I came to the decision to take on the WBT certification but apparently I have. My task this week was to address 3 points from Coach B's book at the first faculty meeting of the year as a new principal of a charter school. The mere thought of being a principal gives me panic attacks even though I do have my principal's certificate. Today, I think administrator's are crazy for the responsibilities that they take on. Ask me in a couple of years and I may have a very different answer. Below is my first assignment. Good morning and welcome back. I'd like to start today's meeting with a quote from one of my former principals. "He's your problem. Deal with him!" These were the words written on a Post-It that was handed to me upon the return of a middle school student who had been sent to principal's office for inappropriate classroom behavior. I do not use the quote today as a warning for what may happen if you send a student to me for inappropriate classroom behavior. Rather, I use this as a challenge to all of us that have or will have challenging students. After I calmed down after my initial shock of reading the Post-It, I was able to recognize that there was a clear message and an ounce of truth there. However, I did have one lingering question. How do I address challenging behavior in the classroom? It was at that point that I realized I had to play by a different set of rules. The Whole Brain Teaching movement offers us those rules, in five simple statements, and a new game plan. Upon reflection, I realized that the lecture model doesn't work. Coach Chris Biffle addresses this idea in his book, Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids. He says, "the more we talk, the more students we lose." As a result, I had to tell myself to shut up before the kids had the opportunity. Upon more reflection, I realized that the student was not my "problem" but he was my "responsibility". We may only have our students in class for 180 days but we impact the rest of their lives in that short time. We must examine our instructional practices and determine if we are part of the problem. Coach B states that "challenging kids can't be challenging when they are busy learning." I feel the number one deterrent for "bad behavior" is good teaching. This is why Whole Brain Teaching works, it is brain friendly! We will examine these ideas from Coach B, along with numerous others, as we begin a new school year and book study. Whole Brain Teaching is a journey that we are set to embark on this year that will offer us challenges and successes, but no Post-It notes. I have to be honest. I was not actually the teacher that received the Post-It note but rather a teacher across the hall did. I had to include a personal story and as I was reading Chapters 1 and 2 I couldn't help but think of the "Post-It Note Incident of '05". It was epic. If we had only known about WBT then, we would have had a much more successful school year. While I think the Post-It notes with discipline directions are a thing of the past, students with behavior challenges are not. I'm ready for a great year!