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Bias, Critical Consciousness, and asking... what IS behaviour? 

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Bias, Critical Consciousness, and asking... what IS behaviour? 

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Wow. I was so excited when I saw my class roll. So much diversity! I could see many students seemed to have South-West Asian names. I’ve always had a special connection with the sub-continent; I went there on a school trip to help build a health centre when I was in Year 10. I’ve always prided myself on helping those less fortunate- whether they're overweight accountants, or underprivileged orphans, and my journey as a teacher will be no different!

Then… what a reality check. 90% of them were born here and have thick Aussie accents. When I started to share my story, and how I was here to help them escape poverty… no one listened!

I thought they all hated me until someone called out “BOORRRRRING!” from the back, and I realised they were nearly asleep.

I realised that I can only really judge students on their observable behaviour, and not on their motives.

In last period, we had a Socratic seminar talking about what family meant to everyone. Sitting back and listening, I tried to understand where my students were coming from emotionally and psychologically, rather than just their cultural background.

I didn't realise I had such a big blindspot until the kids started calling me Professor Teresa! I almost miss personal training, where I can just blow my whistle and tell the client to give me twenty.

Still- no regrets! Keep an eye out for my post tomorrow.

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Welp... my first class this morning was pretty chaotic

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I really wanted to start with an amazing first impression! I started to introduce myself, but the kids up the back kept talking over me! So I just focused on the quiet kids at the front, they were much better listeners. I had to raise my voice to speak over the loud kids, but I think the quiet kids enjoyed hearing from me. Then I opened to the classroom to learn about them, and they just erupted into chaos! UH OH. I froze for a minute, I didn't know what to do!

I wanted to get to know my students, but I forgot to establish clear expectations and boundaries first, it was a lot of uphill work after this, I paid the price.

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I think I know what when wrong in my class! I spent so long planning the content, I forgot to plan my introduction and set some classroom expectations. ACTIVATE TEACHER TRAINING!

I remembered about circulation! I put myself in the middle of the class... "Okay class I need everyone's attention!"; the volume dropped a little. So I walked over to the loudest group; "I'm going to need everyone to be quiet for the lesson to start", almost there.... "Quiet in 3,... 2,... 1!".

Finally, a quiet classroom, all attention on me. "Class, we didn't get off to such a great start today, I'm sorry about that, let's try again ". I then demonstrated the behaviors I expected from the students, modelling quiet and respectful discussions, one person speaking at a time, and putting hands up if we have something to share.

Then I prompted some discussion by asking whole-class questions about their interests in my class, not minding if some students didn't speak up. I took this as a chance to model my expectations by stopping the discussion to get some quiet when I needed, and acknowledging students who raise their hand.

That went a lot better, I showed my students respect and credibility, and they responded well in return.

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I have just entered the 7th ring of hell and just finished a lesson that I made from scratch. We missed a lesson during planning and I've had to pull it from the curriculum. I am delivering it tomorrow. Chookas to me!

All my supervisor told me was that it had to be from the writing content descriptor for Year 7... help. I chose 'Experiment with text structures and language features and their effects in creating literary texts'.

I used the following elaboration to create my LI and SC's: 'transforming familiar print narratives into short video or film narratives, drawing on knowledge of the type of text and possible adaptations necessary to a new mode'.

I am going to get them to turn the plot of their independent reading book into TikToks. The Year 7's have some wild ideas. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

UPDATE: I had to throw it out because I found out I was meant to use version 2.0 :(

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What happens when I do, We do, You do turns into I do, I do, We do a little bit but run out of time? Today I found out the answer.

I crafted a HD level lesson plan with a clear Do Now, Intro to new content (I do), Guided instruction (We do), Independent practice (You do) AND to top it off an exit ticket that encompassed formative assessment. Mike Witter would be proud.

I was feeling 100% confident until I realised that I had missed a key piece of information last lesson. I was attempting to activate prior knowledge that I actually hadn't taught. Sooooooo not my best work. It meant that I spent most of the lesson re-teaching (well not re-teaching but teaching) the foundational knowledge needed.

CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN! whoops.

Do you think anyone will notice if I just try to teach my 10/10 explicit instruction lesson again?

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Motivating students, engagement, and effective feedback

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Motivating students, engagement, and effective feedback

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It was a hot Wednesday at the end of summer, so I knew my class would need a push to get through the day. My regular readers will know that I had a past life as a personal trainer. Now was the time for a pep talk. I stood up square at the front of the classroom and said, “I know it’s hot, but if you’re not sweating, you’re not learning. There’s no success without effort. I have high expectations of each and every one of you!” The look on my students’ faces seemed to say, “why are they speaking to us like that?” I repeated myself; sometimes it can take a few attempts before the message sinks in.

Confident that I’d gotten my point across, I began to teach. I introduced the key concepts and set the main activity for the lesson, an analysis of a textual source. I knew that feedback would be key to keeping my students motivated, so made sure to circulate the room and speak to each student. I tried to find something encouraging to say, even if it was a little off-topic, I admit. One of my students hadn’t written much because he was taking care to perfectly shape each letter, so I said, “your writing is so beautiful, I love that for you! Keep at it.” Another student, one of my best, had raced ahead of the class and was sitting there, pen down. I read through her work and said, “these sentences are great, now give me five more!” I knew she could extend herself if she tried.

As I moved around the room I noticed that a couple of girls were red-faced and fanning themselves. They asked me, “can we get a drink, it’s so hot in here!” I thought now was not the time to compromise. I got down on their level and said, “girls, learning is all in the mind. Give me three finished sentences and you can have all the water you want.”

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Bang! Clang! Smash! These were the sounds as I entered my office at the end of the day. I have had much trouble with my Year 9 students. They are often a boisterous and  rebellious bunch. My goal for today was to create a positive classroom culture. I had been practicing my strategies the previous night, repeating it over and over again in my head, which I admit hardly ever goes to plan. My plan was to do a class activity around TikTok, since more than half the class want to be influences when they grow up. The hope was that this would build stronger relationships for all in the classroom. As the class began, someone decided to throw their shoe at the ceiling fan, hitting another student. This was not positive classroom culture. The classroom immediately became a zoo. I tried a call for attention, but to no avail. As the cacophony of students voices grew louder, I just couldn’t take it any longer and I shouted, “EVERYONE, SHUT UP!” Again this was not promoting positive classroom culture. In fact, it was the exact opposite. But we are only human and we make mistakes. How can I bounce back from this? Will I ever be able to get the students on my side? It seemed like an impossible task. After today, I have experienced significant stress and cognitive overload, and so I tried to combat this using positive affirmations. “You can do this! It’s just a road bump! I believe in you! You’re still growing!” This seemed to calm me down for ten seconds… until I saw a big pile of paperwork on my desk I completely forgot about.

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Things not to say to Year 9's when opening a lesson:

Good morning legenderinos!

Oh what a beautiful morning! *sung as Curly from Oklahoma*

Greetings, students! You've just stepped into the time machine of wisdom. Credit to chat GPT

Put your laptops away. We wont be using them this lesson

Notes to self:

Do now means do NOW not once you have chatted to Jamie about the book he's reading a realised you left the class with nothing to do.

Learning intentions come before success criteria. You've got to know what you're trying to do to know how to achieve it.

Make sure you clearly explain the relevance of the lesson otherwise the lesson will, rightfully, be a drone of 'why are we doing this?' Its much easier to explain it to the whole class at the start than to every student individually over 60 minutes.

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I thought I knew everything about behaviour. As a former PT, I saw client after client who would hit their wall; and then push through, smashing their goals!

So, when in Period 3 Divit raised his hand and said he couldn’t do the task I’d just allocated, I smiled knowingly.

“Divit, you CAN do it- I believe in you!”

He looked stressed; his foot was tapping, and he was playing with his pencil anxiously.

“I’m really sorry teacher, but I just can’t right now. I really need-“

“Divit- stay positive! I can see this work has you worried. Maybe you’re thinking you can’t do it. But- STAY POSITIVE!”

His self-doubt was so clear in my eyes... until...

"I really can't do this. I can't sit next to Jayden anymore. He keeps distracting me!"

I felt so embarrassed that I'd interpreted his behaviour without listening properly.