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Chapter 1: I Hate School and I'm Not Wild About You Either

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Chapter 1: I Hate School and I'm Not Wild About You Either

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We have all encountered students who make it known that they don't want to be in school, let alone your classroom. This text is about learning how to reach those students.

The first chapter begins by posing the common questions and concerns that teachers have concerning their disengaged students. For example:

"What do I do with kids who won't read and write?' and "How do I get kids to care about their learning?'

Tovani continues by proposing that kids wear different masks in order to cope with different situations in school. They are the walls students build around themselves. These masks serve a variety of purposes including avoiding embarrassment and fitting in, but they're main purpose is to serve as armor against failure. These are the masks:

Anger
Apathy
The Class Clown
Minimal Effort
Invisibility

Our job as teachers is to identify the masks our students are wearing and respond accordingly in order to ensure effective engagement in their own learning. Tovani proposes the "Circles of Engagement" idea as a way of categorizing the areas of student engagement. These are behavioral,  emotional, and cognitive. The aforementioned masks are barriers to inclusion in these circles. However, Tovani will provide us with CYA (Curriculum You Anticipate) structures that can help the teacher remove the masks students wear and promote active engagement within the three circles.

Furthermore, we need to rephrase our initial questions and concerns to fit this new approach:

"What do I do with kids, who are wearing the masks of disengagement, who won't read and write?" and "How do I get kids, who are wearing the masks of disengagement, to care about their learning?"

By thinking in this way, we can see the newfound potential in our dealings with disengaged students.

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Chapter 2: Wedgies, Drunken Bears, and the Stress of Shortsighted Planning

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Chapter 2: Wedgies, Drunken Bears, and the Stress of Shortsighted Planning

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In this chapter, Tovani recounts an observation between two class periods that emphasize how lesson planning is crucial to ensuring student engagement. Without getting into the specifics, the first period that focused on a meaningful task contextualized within a clear long-term goal was successful. The second period, which included random short texts and haphazard reading strategies, did not go smoothly at all.

Sam, the observer, made it clear to Tovani in her notes that the students in second period were only engaged for about 1/3 of the class time while she was lecturing and "playing whack-a-mole" in trying to keep students on track for the majority of it.

The message here is clear; students need to feel like their work is intertwined and connected in order to be engaged in the lesson. Furthermore, they need to believe that the end result is something that transcends the here and now or just simply getting a good grade.

With this in mind, there are plenty of reasons outside of lesson planning that explain why students put on the masks of disengagement:

Parents divorcing
Hunger
Boredom
No idea what success looks like
No purpose for learning

As teachers with a limited scope of influence, we must change what we have control over and accept that we can't solve student hunger or family issues, but we can set a clear purpose behind tasks and alleviate student boredom with intriguing topics and materials. Fostering student engagement is worked on both inside and outside of class.

When planning a lesson, ask yourself, what would hook you?

Using the experience gained from her two observations, Tovani continues by accentuating the benefits of long-term planning (ensuring student choice and differentiation) and the pitfalls of short-term planning (lack of meaning and engagement). Here are some of the questions that Tovani asks herself when conducting long-term planning:

What standards do I want my students to hit?
How will they show me that they hit these standards?
What topic is worthy of my students' time?
What learning targets will support daily learning?

Long-term planning isn't about ironing out every detail of every class, it's about setting a clear destination.

Moving on, Tovani devotes the next section of this chapter to the idea of curriculum. Differentiation is key when implementing the curriculum, as there isn't a "one size fits all" approach to instruction. Just like doctors preparing for surgery, teachers need to have all their tools prepped and ready for different situations. Curriculum is akin to pedagogy, it isn't a set of guidelines, it's the living breathing implementation of learning standards that relies on fit "planning structures" that are ready to engage students throughout the entire unit.
This brings us back to CYA structures known as "The Six Ts". These are the tools that Tovani uses to engage students and differentiate the curriculum. When planning around a curriculum, educators need to be aware of four Ts:

Topic
Task
Targets
Text

In order to provide a safe and equitable learning environment, Tovani added two more Ts to the list:

Tend to me
Time

The essence and purpose of designing instruction around the Ts is to ensure student engagement (lifting the masks) and so that Tovani can ensure interconnectedness and direction among her lessons. These are also categories where student differentiation can occur. For example, does a student need a different text to achieve the learning goal. Or, do they need a different task in order to show their thinking? By altering one of the Ts, the long-term unit train can keep running.

The rest of this chapter is dedicated to illustrating the specific remedies for student disengagement in association with changes that can be made within one of the Ts. For example, if students don't see the reason behind learning certain material, more provocative questions can be asked pertaining to the Topic or Task. Another remedy concerns scaffolding the daily learning Targets with minilessons and summative assessments that support the instructional needs of students. Is a student struggling with a certain text? Tovani promotes the idea of having a variety of sources and modes of information ready to go at all times. Every one of these remedies is a question of accessibility, and if students have an "in" they are more apt to engage.

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Chapter 3: The Masks of Anger and Apathy

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Chapter 3: The Masks of Anger and Apathy

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After sharing a brief anecdotal story about a student named Stephen who tried to incite a power struggle over seating arrangements on the first day of class, Tovani also introduces a student named Mack who feigned apathy during a lesson on the civil war and her response to his lack of questions surrounding the topic by modeling her own questions when observing civil war-era photos. Despite this effort, she expresses a need to connect with Mack and show him that his thinking matters.

The first step in allowing students to take off the masks they wear is recognizing the ones they have chosen to wear. In preparing for the first day of class, Tovani remembers asking her students to write a letter to her where they express and introduce themselves with the help of some guided questions that prompt what type of information should be included in the letter. Before asking students to write their own letters, Tovani shares her letter to them as a way of expressing vulnerability. She also allows her students to call her by her first name. These practices disarmed her students and therefore rendered the masks of anger and apathy null and void on that first day.

This letter activity had a deeper purpose than simply creating a welcoming classroom culture, it allowed Tovani to recognize the needs of her students. As the teacher, she is the "chief connector." In other words, the information gained from this activity allowed her to design and implement curriculum accordingly with the goal of connected students to the content, to each other, and to the text.

Of course, these connections don't happen magically, and there are specific strategies to assist students with connecting to a text:

Use an Anchor Chart to Model Reading Strategies
Choice of Different Text Structures
Let Students Reread
Find Text That Addresses What Students Care and Wonder About
Don't Make Students Read The Whole Thing

It's also crucial that we are selecting texts that are relevant to student's personal lives and offer commentary on issues that they are passionate about. That is how we offer students the opportunity to build connections with a text. For Tovani, this meant allowing students to choose which text they would like to focus on and building her inventory of texts around what she grew to know about her students as well as their initial letters.

In the final section of this chapter, Tovani discusses how these connections dispel anger and apathy and are useful pedagogical approaches. By relying on the background knowledge and interests students already possess, we can establish a sense of satisfaction in students when they are working together around topics they feel matter.

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Key Strategies from the Chapter in accordance with the Six Ts

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Key Strategies from the Chapter in accordance with the Six Ts

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These strategies are taken directly from the end of Chapter 3 and pertain to securing engagement in students who wear the masks of anger and apathy.

1. Try a little Tenderness by slowing down an taking time to explain why.
2. Tend to students by showing an interest in their lives both inside and outside of school; confer with individuals to learn what interests  each of them.
3. Model the Task you want students to engage in. Demonstrate a variety of thinking strategies so students have multiple entry points into a text. Help them build a vision for how interesting the world can be. Learners who ask questions they care about, even at the beginning of a Topic, build relevancy.
4. Spend planning Time reading student work each day, and respond immediately and authentically, using learning Targets to guide you.
5. Collect a variety of Text-types and perspectives-connected to the issue or topic so that students can build their background knowledge about the topic and share what they are curious about.

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Tovani begins this chapter by considering her experience with a student named Caleb and his tendency to distract students during class. These practices were done in the name of avoidance, as Caleb did not enjoy reading or writing. However, Tovani made an adjustment to the task she assigned Caleb by offering him a different modality from which to consider the Syrian Refugee Crisis; a picture book. She did this because she noticed that Caleb enjoys photography and relied on differentiation derived from Text within the Six Ts. Due to her long-term planning skills, she was able to find the right entry point for Caleb in regards to this topic and improve his engagement thereby diminishing the need for the class clown mask.

In further support of why text matters, Tovani recalls her experience in teaching science to a class of students she had no prior experience with. The teacher assured Tovani that all the kids were very well-behaved and polite, and that there should be no issues encountered during class time. As it turns out, the students in this class were quiet and polite because they had no idea what they were doing. When Tovani handed out the science article, she quickly realized that many of the students were unable to read English. A major aspect of the CYA structures is ensuring that you have different text choices ready to go, and this includes something that non-native English speakers can access.

If we select texts with care and consider what the students find compelling and relevant, class clowns are less apt to engage in their disruptive behavior. It is also necessary to adjust texts accordingly with how student interest develops and changes throughout interaction with a given topic.

Another way to take the class clown mask off of students is to show them that their writing and work transcends the boundaries of school and impacts the real world by speaking to an authentic audience. Tovani has asked her students to write an open letter to the Trump administration concerning the border crisis of 2020. To support their writing, she has brought in examples that differ in quality and serve as benchmarks and models from which students can gain a better idea of what their letter should look like. This project was the ultimate goal of long-term planning, and roped students in with purposeful texts pertaining to current issues in the world.

But, what do you do about class clowns when you don't have an engaging topic? In regards to this question, Tovani shares her experience in teaching another teacher's students about the rock cycle for one of her professional observations. She focuses on a student named Rodderick who immediately vaunts the question "why do I have to learn this" at the beginning of the lesson. In response to Rodderick, Tovani points out that she was thinking the same thing. This obviously surprises the student and she continues to think aloud while annotating the scientific text. She pushes forward during the lesson by creating questions about the rock cycle that are based in real-world issues that are all based on Rodderick's initial inquiry. Even though she gets students to engage in the lesson by questioning its importance, this technique is not well-received by her colleagues as many are focused on the fact that the lesson didn't necessarily prepare students for the test. Asking students to pay attention to a topic or work through adversity because it will be on the test is not a compelling reason according to Tovani.

Calling back to the points made in Chapter 2, Tovani reinforces the importance of "top down" unit planning where all the work is focused around a meaningful purpose. Lacking this end goal, the class clown can run free because the topic is seen as irrelevant. Compelling topics are emotional topics that hit on the very essence of what it means to be human and are great ways to quell the behaviors of a class clown because it "dares them to care." They must be controversial topics and students must have an avenue from which to express their voice.

While top-down planning is essential, thought must also be dedicated to the street view. On a day-to-day basis, what are the most important activities a student can be engaging in? If you have a compelling topic with provocative questions, then these activities should be clear and straightforward and aligned with the values/lessons derived from studying the given topic. For example, here are Tovani's focus areas that keep students engaged when it comes to her unit on the Syrian Refugee Crisis:

Learn more about the world outside of the student's neighborhood
Argue politely and logically with someone who has a different point of view
Increase students' reading and writing endurance and proficiency
Grow students' sense of themselves as learners

Each day in the classroom should have a compelling purpose that is illustrated to students effectively. It's also important not to forget how student choice can help the class clown stop their rebellious acts as they feel more control over their learning experience.

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Five Key CYA Strategies for the Class Clown

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Five Key CYA Strategies for the Class Clown

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1.  Do your own research to figure out why your Topic matters. When you can articulate why the topic matters and find different and interesting ways for students to uncover content, the class clown mask-wearers are less likely to try to steal the show.
2. Authentically model how you might get started with the Tasks you want students to attempt. Model how to ask authentic questions that you care about. Show students how they can use those questions to drive engagement
3. Tend to student comments seriously and answer with honesty and vulnerability.
4. Don't shy away from controversial issues. They give students Targets that will encourage them to examine differing points  of view and engage in critical thinking.
5. Strive to structure every class period with two-thirds of the Time for students to practice reading, writing, and discussing.

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Tovani begins this chapter by presenting her student, Johnny's, barf draft which should include his initial questions and concerns regarding the Syrian Refugee Crisis. It was completed with minimal effort. In order to combat this mentality and cement the importance of the work her students are doing, Tovani reminds the class that their letters will be featured at the Awareness, Empathy, and Action summit in eight weeks. This project is in accordance with her long-term planning targets.

Using this project as the contextual framework for her advice on how to remove the mask of minimal effort, Tovani continues by recalling her own experiences with mask of minimal effort in college. She wore this mask because the expectations for her work were unclear and she is determined to provide students with clear expectations and examples.

The importance of using models when trying to effectively teach students who wear the mask of minimal effort cannot be understated. Tovani cites how the coaching she received from her father in regards to her tennis technique not only gave her guidelines from which to improve, but also gave her father core points from which to base his feedback. Without models, students have very little chance of success and the standard of achievement is up to interpretation.

Speaking of feedback, the quality of comments students receive heavily impact their conception of success. Tovani suggests that feedback should be based off of rubrics that are aligned with learning targets. By giving students connected feedback in between drafts of their letters, Tovani is able to differentiate her instruction and remove the mask of minimal effort. Furthermore, by providing specific feedback and noticing student responses, Tovani was able to design minilessons on the fundamentals of writing accordingly.

Beyond this cycle, another great way to remove the mask of minimal effort is to give students an authentic audience. If students know that their work will be a reflection of themselves and their school to complete strangers, they are more apt to be engaged in the lesson and try their best.

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Five Key CYA Strategies That Remove The Mask of Minimal Effort

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Five Key CYA Strategies That Remove The Mask of Minimal Effort

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1. Do your own Tasks. Determine whether or not an assignment is worthy of a student's time. Decide which models and mentor Texts are needed to provide examples so students can get unstuck.
2. Use real-world writing to craft product-based learning Targets and rubrics. Spend Time unpacking the rubrics and using them to assess and critique a variety of strong and weak models so students start to internalize what high-quality work looks, sounds, and feels like.
3. Start with a compelling Topic and plan backwards from a combination of authentic products and performance based assessments.
4. Build Time into your calendar for students to write and revise in class.
5. Tend to students by noticing patterns in their daily work.

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At the start of this chapter, Tovani states how fond she is of introverts; they are never disruptive. Yet, they tend to slip by all to often. In her words, we need to give students "a way to show to show what they know and need next to grow." Student talk is important, but many students need other modalities in order to show their thinking effectively. Differentiation and the Six Ts are just as helpful with these types of students as well.

Tovani then discusses her interactions with Alexandra and, more specifically, her trepidation to converse about her learning. Unable to harness any meaningful responses, Tovani shifts her focus to Alexandra's think sheets. These are different from worksheets in that they "nurture student agency" and let students work without worrying about the right answer. Here are some more benefits of thinksheets:

Students focus on a few aspects of text that strike them the most
Students hold facts and evidence to infer meaning
Students track their own understanding

By using thinksheets in the classroom, teachers also create a pattern or routine that can help these types of students feel more comfortable and in control of their learning. Here are some different types of thinksheets:

Double-entry diaries
Inner-voice sheets
Exit Tickets

Thinksheets can also be based around provocative questions for the topic, and may serve as anchor charts to help students move forward. Double-entry diaries are helpful for students who need some help starting their writing. Another way to engage quiet students and track their thinking is by noticing their annotations and responding appropriately.
This goes hand-in-hand with inner-voice sheets, as they both make thinking visible and organized. In short, all of these strategies encourage active comprehension when reading and, if used correctly, can serve as helpful resources when writing.

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Five Key CYA Strategies for Students with the Mask of Invisibility 

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Five Key CYA Strategies for Students with the Mask of Invisibility 

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1. Use thinksheets to assess if students care about the Topic.
2. Use thinksheets to assess and adjust the Text, Target, Task, and Time for students who are disengaging.
3. Use thinksheets to give a little bit of attention to everyone. If time is short, Tend to students' thinksheets that you didn't confer with during class.
4. Do your own assignment. Then you can use your thinksheet as a model. When you do this, you send the message that the Task is worthy of students' Time.
5. Respond directly on the thinksheets. Share how thinksheets help you to adjust students' Texts, Targets, and Tasks the next day.

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Given everything Tovani has discussed in her book, she leaves us with the following guiding questions:

How do I structure Time, Text, Tasks and Targets every day and over time so each student has agency to think for themselves?

How might I Tend to each student to help them find connections so they care about their learning? Who needs tending most?

Which Texts might provide each student with entry points for background knowledge, or a model of craft, so no one refuses to read and write?

What authentic Task might I ask each kid to care enough about to revise over Time?

What variety of Texts might help each kid eventually read grade-level material over time?

What Topics do I harness to help each student to care and motivate all students to be critical thinkers, world-focused citizens, and problem solvers?

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Pros:
Published recently
Compelling narrative structure
Real examples of student work
Effective strategies
Thematically organized

Cons:
Little to no inclusion of new technology

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1. Academic Tenacity Mindsets and Skills that Promote Long-Term Learning

Both of these texts embrace the growth mindset and recognize the importance of long-terms goals. They also speak about nurturing student's self-regulation strategies. Finally, the authors have similar viewpoints on the need to adapt learning strategies for continued engagement.

2. Intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and classroom engagement as longitudinal predictors of adolescent achievement

Tovani's entire text is centered around increasing intrinsic motivation and perceived competence in students. Every strategy and story she includes is based on heightening the engagement levels of students in the classroom. These two texts also share the same perspective on how important it is that students consider the work they are completing to be of value.

3. Tyler DeWitt's TedTalk

When considering two of the adjectives I chose to describe that video's interpretation of successful instructional methods, convincing and sensible, it's clear to see the parallels between these two informational works. Students must be convinced that the topic and tasks they are being asked to do are worth their time and effort. Moreover, sensible adjustments must be made in order to remove the masks students are wearing on a given day.

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https://www.edutopia.org/blog/golden-rules-for-engaging-students-nicolas-pino-james

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-response-the-best-ways-to-engage-students-in-learning/2014/12

https://www.3plearning.com/blog/20-student-engagement-strategies-captivating-classroom/

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ir43_qzPU

This interview concerns one of her previous works, but many of the points are still relevant.

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Cris Tovani and Samantha Bennett: So What Do They Really Know?  Interview, Part One