Doug Lemov's field notes

Emily Steffan, Assistant Principal at Batiste Cultural Arts Academy, a ReNew School in New Orleans, recently attended one of our Train the Trainer workshops in which we analyzed and discussed 8 or 9 key techniques for raising academic expectations and increasing engagement and practiced, practiced, practiced them.  After the workshop we had a great conversation about positivity, how so often teachers “go negative” because they don’t really know how to solve an interaction or challenge in the classroom and that results in frustration that often gets pointed at students. Emily noted how much practice could help with ensuring positive interactions with students. She was so insightful that I asked her to write up some thoughts.  Here’s what she shared.

At a recent Teach Like A Champion Engaging Academics training, Doug, Colleen and Erica demonstrated some non-examples of the techniques we were learning and practicing.  Basically they showed what it looked like when a good idea was implemented not-so-effectively. I had a recurring thought; for nearly every Champion technique, the model showing a non-example sounded frustrated, annoyed, sarcastic or even angry.  Before the TLAC strategy No Opt Out becomes your natural reaction to a wrong answer or disinterested student, your response might sound like:

Teacher: “Can you tell us why you divide instead of subtract here, Shanice?”

Shanice:  “No.”

Teacher “Come on.  Don’t be lazy” or “But we JUST learned that” or the more combative, “Yes you can. Answer.”

After watching non-examples over the course of our two day workshop and reflecting on their commonalities, I told Doug, “All of these techniques seem to boil down to positivity.  Just about every technique has a, ‘Do this so you can stay positive’ component.” Smile.  Nod.  Wait.  Breathe. Celebrate.  Communicate that you believe students CAN get the correct answer.  While this idea may seem over-simplified or implied, it should be repeated.  Champion teachers are positive – they exude belief in and respect for their students.  And that goes a long way.

Imagine you’ve arrived at the ever-dreaded last period class.  There’s a full moon, or too much sugar in the school lunch, and it feels like you’ve been playing whack-a-mole all day to harness your students’ energy.  You finally dive into your text for the day and ask, “Carolyn, can you tell us what the word ‘predicament’ means in this sentence?” Carolyn replies, “I dunno.” After a long day and with the final bell in sight, any variety of things might pop into your head and inadvertently come out of your mouth.  Fortunately, you’ve been practicing Champion techniques with your coach, your co- workers, or your mirror, and you have other options:

• – You respond using a No Opt Out strategy by saying, “Ok – go back and reread the second sentence.  I’m coming right back to you.  I know you can get it.”
• – You’ve just circulated while students’ worked, gathering data as a Check for Understanding, and say, “I saw a great answer Timothy wrote in his reading journal– would you please share that answer with us Timothy?”
• – You employ the Call and Response technique by saying, “Class, here the author uses ‘predicament’ to mean a difficult situation.  It means what, class?”  Your class responds with a chorus of “A difficult situation.”  You follow-up with, “Great!  Hold that definition in your head.  This character is going to find themselves in quite a few predicaments in this story and I’ll be asking you again.”

While these habits are developed with time and practice, perhaps the simplest place to start is with Wait Time.  Scanning and smiling are techniques you could implement in your class tomorrow.  Take a brief moment in class to look around, make eye contact with each student and smile.   So often we stumble out of bed at predawn hours, trudge into our classroom and keep our head down and “just teach” (which should truly never have a “just” in front of it.  This work is no small potatoes).  If you feel your day or lesson starting to unravel, I challenge you instead to stand in your class, ask a great question (or even just start with a good one), and take a few extra seconds to smile and scan.  You’ll get more hands and more students perking up, looking at you trying to figure out why you’re quiet.  Your scan will let your students know that you see them and your smile will tell them you’re glad they’re there.

Teachers make more than 1,500 academic decisions a day.  As our day passes and patience wears thin, our ability to make the best decisions can waver as well.  I propose that we take a few of those million decisions off our plates by making these Champion techniques automatic.  Practice till they’re perfect, and then the next time a student says “I dunno” (genuinely or sarcastically) you don’t have to think or decide.  You just execute, and your response is positive. In that moment when a student presents a challenge – academically or behaviorally – it’s in that moment when your reaction can say so many things.  Make sure it says, “I care about you and want you to be successful, so I’m not letting you slide. I respect you too much to let that happen.”

Emmily Steffan