Do They See the Benefits?

Have you ever sat through a sales presentation?  If you answered in the negative, you are incorrect (see second paragraph).  I recall a sales presentation that I sat through.  The rep rambled on about all of the advantages to the product he was touting.  None of those “advantages” has any use in my life. I amused myself by wondering why the salesman never bothered to gauge his audience.  You see, the features of his product had no relevance as to my needs.  I just could not see the benefits.  If he could have shown me how those features would benefit my needs or my future, then I would have been much more apt to stay focused. Instead I was counting the carpet squares and ceiling tiles.  He missed using transition phrases like “…so that you can…” and “…in order for you to…” There was no personalization.  There was no personal relevance.  There was no connection to my life. Neither viewpoint, interests, nor future goals were brought into the presentation.  I could not see the value. I did not see the benefits.  Better communicators are better sellers. He lost out. By the way, there were 288 carpet squares and 76 ceiling tiles.

To a student, every class period is a sales presentation.  You were a student too, so you remember the sales.  Okay, read this carefully – not every concept that you teach, every text that you read, every story problem that you compute, every project that you require, and every fitness session that you prescribe is not necessarily and inherently heart- stirring to a student.  Just because you personally like to work out linear equations, enjoy sweating like Mike Tyson at a Spelling Bee with a good workout, can paint and draw like Rembrandt, can push nouns and verbs together like Hemingway, see the Periodic Table as a topic for a game night, or your heart rate increases when the History Channel has a special on the making of the Constitution, don’t expect your students to share in your excitement.  You have to be the one to set the table. You teach the subject you do partly because you love that subject.  The kids may or may not share that passion. Some kids end up loving the subject because they love the teacher – think that one through.  Thus, we have to set the table to engage them. First and foremost, YOU have to be excited about what you teaching!    Kids have to see the relevance and you have to be the one to provide it.  However, you will not know how to make it relevant unless you understand the needs of your students.  You can find that out by establishing a great relationship with them and here’s the kicker – actually talking with them!  They may never see the benefits if you don’t provide it for them.  Just another hat for the highly effective teacher = salesmanship.  Don’t lose out.  Besides, you don’t want anyone counting the carpet squares or ceiling tiles.

When Culmination Comes First

When I was coaching varsity Track & Field at Lake Central, we began training for the spring season right after Thanksgiving. We trained right through the snow and cold with a “Winter Warrior” mindset.  The workouts I planned began with the preparation for the week of the state meet in June that was six months away, followed by the workouts for the conference and tournament series in May, then April, March, and so forth. This was a true backward design approach (you may have heard me mention this 5-10,000 times as the teaching game plan.) It is important to plan with the culminating goal first in mind.  It is even more important to plan that you will be there, in this case, the state championships, when that day arrives.  That is the mindset issue.  If your athletes do not believe they will reach the goal, they never will; plain and simple.  You can’t just make it up as you go.  BUT, you CAN make adjustments along the way based on how the training is resulting in performance.  Sure, there were days when weather conditions may not have allowed us to conquer a training session like I had envisioned.  That is where Plan B or C or D were utilized..  We trained in some fairly miserable conditions.  Our practices were never cancelled.  Along the way to the ultimate long-term goal, short-term goals were also set to assess progress.  The data will show that this approach worked as we never failed to reach our goals in my tenure.  Along with reaching team goals, the vast majority reached their personal goals and 56 of them earned “All-State” status.  The backwards approach really works moving forward.

Creating goals has to be meshed with a plan of action.  If you don’t know how you are going to get there, well, you never will.  As you establish long-term goals for your classes, you need to understand what goes into the achievement of reaching that goal.  Along the way toward reaching that culminating goal, a series of assessments is vital. The assessments should tell you if the kids are on “track” and should be used to inform your instruction.  Utilize RtI period and Resource period to intervene.  These are the daily goals that I see in every classroom that I visit…  BUT, if those daily goals do not come with some sort of measurement/assessment, then that goal is nothing more than words written in dry erase marker.  Know that the long-term goals will require a large investment of time with intentional, prescriptive, deliberate, and diagnostic teaching. because if not, the goal will never be reached.  That investment is to be shared by the teacher, students, and parents…BUT understand that does not mean that that the investment will be shared in equal 33.33% shares.  In a perfect word sure, BUT…this is not a perfect world and never will be.  It takes a reality assessment to determine whether or not you are on track.  That also dictates that you have to accept the real possibility that you may have to go back a few steps before you can move forward.  It will be great when we reach our school goal this year.  Won’t it be great when your team reaches its goal and even better when individual students reach theirs?  The backwards approach really works moving forward.

Changes

Rock legend David Bowie passed away this week after an 18 month battle with cancer.  He broke into the limelight in 1969 with his Ziggy Stardust album and had many hits during his career. One of his biggest hits came in 1971 with  Changes. This song is about the changes that many make in their formative years and then later, as a grown-up, they make fun of the changes kids make when they try to invent or reinvent themselves even though they did the same thing themselves. The ultimate in the “pot calling the kettle black” mindset.  Change doesn’t happen at A Time; it happens Over Time.  It’s like sowing grass seed over a vacant space. You won’t be walking on a beautiful carpet of green in a day or two.  It takes time.  The shore line doesn’t erode in a day even though it is constantly occurring little by little. It takes time.  Communities grow from a vacant space to roads, stores, homes, and other buildings. It takes time.  The city of Chicago wasn’t always a sea of skyscrapers. It took time.  People don’t change their persona in a few hours; it takes time.  Change takes time. 

Like a tulip bulb planted in the fall only to be one of the first to bloom in the spring, students take time as well.  What does that mean to us?  It means that, while our expectations should remain high, our reality meter must be employed.  As you progress through the year, it will become vividly apparent that some kids progress faster academically than others.  That’s okay because we shouldn’t expect them to be the same…or do we?  The “whole class” instruction method must be coupled with small group and even one on one instruction.  Just because a student doesn’t get it on day one of a presentation of new material, don’t lose heart.  The task for you is not to let that small fissure grow into a huge skill or conceptual gap.  That is where the beauty of our schedule comes in.  Our RtI period is one of the best things that we created here.  It gives us a chance, an opportunity, to capture kids DURING the school day for remediation that is current and on the spot.  It also gives us that same opportunity to accelerate those kids who not only “get” what you are teaching, they are ready to take it much farther.  We have to be honest enough and courageous enough to move them forward.  I have said and written many times to make the most of every  opportunity.  That’s all these days are folks – opportunities.  You need to choose what you are going to do with them.  Be that catalyst that causes change for your students over time.