Dark Sarcasm In The Classroom: Part Two
Welcome back to the ongoing report of one teacher's perspective on the underlying problems of a third grade classroom in New Jersey. Since I already covered discipline in the first installment today's lesson will be on the all important topic of motivation.
At this point I'm sure some of you think I am exaggerating with how many kids in my classroom are problems either behaviorally or academically. Well I will tell you this. The principal finally acknowledged a litttle over a month ago that there is an extreme lack of motivation in the third and fourth grade population. These are also the grades she is most concerned about because third and fourth grades are big testing years. The teachers, point blank are scared that this year we will not pass the tests and thus the school will not make something called AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress.
So we unveiled this new program a little over six weeks ago whose goal was to "REMOVE THE CULTURE OF NONACHIEVEMENT". It goes a little something like this...
Every week, children have a chance to earn ___ amount of tickets for working well. Note, this is not for behavior, but for children who are trying their hardest academically. The first week they had to earn 3 tickets, then 4 and so on. At first, the children seemed to really respond to this program because at the end of the week those students who have the most tickets got to go to an ice cream party.
But the program itself has not been without its fair share of controversy. One problem is when these kids get to go to the party. These students are pulled out of the classroom to go eat the ice cream. So essentially they are missing instructional time to be rewarded for a job well done...in the classroom, which is definitely a contradiction. Some have argued this can be done at better, far less intrusive times during the day such as lunch (when they are eating anyhow) or after school when they are in afterschool clubs (which are mandatory).
Then there is the controversy over the worth of the reward itself. As one teacher pointed out, these kids will be fat and happy, but does the reward really match the effort? If we are praising these kids for working well, can't we praise them with something that has to do with school such as lunch with the principal or winning a prize like a book or supplies? After all, we are supposedly doing this to make the connection between learning and being rewarded for learning, not learning and a sugar high.
Connected to this problem is the problem of variety. Variety, after all, is the spice of life. Giving children the same reward week after week, even if it is ice cream, will eventually become futile. It's just like Pavlov's dog. The longer you use something as a stimuli, the more ineffective it becomes, not to mention that each week it grows increasingly hard to reach that goal. Within the first few weeks, all children were excited because all of the children knew the ice cream was within their reach. But the more tickets you add to the goal, the more children you remove from the realm of possiblity of getting the prize in the end. As soon as the kids realize this they don't bother trying anymore because they know they will never get there, so why bother?
The fact of the matter is although these kids are only in third grade, there is a huge problem already brewing with the kids caring about their work. The children often admit they didn't do their best work but they don't really care. To be in third grade and to already not care about school doesn't bode well for the next 10 academic years in these students lives, much less the future of the country, period.
So as another part of the plan, the guidance counselors got together in an effort to weed out low motivation. They asked each classroom teacher to compile a list of children they felt were either behavior problems or poorly motivated or both. They wanted the worst case scenarios. So in the end, I submitted eight out of 21 of my students for this program. They added another one and then I got a new student the other day who desperately needed to be part of this program. When all is said and done I have 10 out of 22 students being pulled out for motivational reasons.
Nobody else in the third grade has this high of a number.
One teacher has 1, the other has 3 and two others have none. I have 10. Not only were all of these students tagged for needing extra motivation for varying reasons, they are all scheduled to be pulled out at different times. This leads to a sub problem that needs to be addressed, INTERRUPTIONS. Between the phone ringing, redirecting, assemblies etc...my room has literally become a revolving door with children constantly coming and going it's no wonder they don't get what is being taught.
To make matters worse, the children don't get the full grasp of why they are being pulled, they just know it is getting them out of the classroom for awhile which is the last thing an unmotivated bunch needs. So I'm actually finding this program to to be counter productive with children now acting up more in the hopes they can go see the counselor more often. I even have a few children who sit there, doing nothing, literally counting the hours until their appointment with the counselor comes up.
Since I already touched upon how administration is of no help in this department, I decided to approach the school counselors with my concerns. First I talked to the third grade counselor, who I blogged about before. If you remember me blogging about her the first time you will see why I didn't get very far.
So then I went to the school social worker who appreciated me contacting her directly with my concerns. She said that with the children she pulls out I should tell those kids that they cannot leave until they get their work done. I still have a problem with this. These children are being pulled because they need help, a different kind of help, but a help nonetheless. They are disruptive or they have low motivation or both. Is it really right to tell these kids they have to get their work done before they can go see the school social worker? Aren't we then holding the work over their heads and still using seeing the social worker as a reward? To me that's sending mixed messages.
At any rate, she is also concerned about my students and my situation and she now wants weekly updates as to how things are going. She left it off by saying that if need be, we will get administration involved. But you and I both know that until administration consistently cares, that will get us nowhere.
I was having a conversation with a kindergarten teacher the other day who works at my school and she used a great analogy. She said when teachers hand over knowledge to their students, it is like they are passing them something heavy they have to carry. You can only walk around with something heavy for so long before you will drop it. Sooner or later you need to find a good place to put it.
The fact of the matter is until you can get the kids to care about their own futures your caring can only go so far. In third grade they cannot envision what it will be like ten years down the line, but if their work ethic at the ages of eight and nine is any indication, it doesn't look good.
Swing by next Monday for part three of Dark Sarcasm In The Classroom where I talk about another important piece of the puzzle, Grouping/placement.
At this point I'm sure some of you think I am exaggerating with how many kids in my classroom are problems either behaviorally or academically. Well I will tell you this. The principal finally acknowledged a litttle over a month ago that there is an extreme lack of motivation in the third and fourth grade population. These are also the grades she is most concerned about because third and fourth grades are big testing years. The teachers, point blank are scared that this year we will not pass the tests and thus the school will not make something called AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress.
So we unveiled this new program a little over six weeks ago whose goal was to "REMOVE THE CULTURE OF NONACHIEVEMENT". It goes a little something like this...
Every week, children have a chance to earn ___ amount of tickets for working well. Note, this is not for behavior, but for children who are trying their hardest academically. The first week they had to earn 3 tickets, then 4 and so on. At first, the children seemed to really respond to this program because at the end of the week those students who have the most tickets got to go to an ice cream party.
But the program itself has not been without its fair share of controversy. One problem is when these kids get to go to the party. These students are pulled out of the classroom to go eat the ice cream. So essentially they are missing instructional time to be rewarded for a job well done...in the classroom, which is definitely a contradiction. Some have argued this can be done at better, far less intrusive times during the day such as lunch (when they are eating anyhow) or after school when they are in afterschool clubs (which are mandatory).
Then there is the controversy over the worth of the reward itself. As one teacher pointed out, these kids will be fat and happy, but does the reward really match the effort? If we are praising these kids for working well, can't we praise them with something that has to do with school such as lunch with the principal or winning a prize like a book or supplies? After all, we are supposedly doing this to make the connection between learning and being rewarded for learning, not learning and a sugar high.
Connected to this problem is the problem of variety. Variety, after all, is the spice of life. Giving children the same reward week after week, even if it is ice cream, will eventually become futile. It's just like Pavlov's dog. The longer you use something as a stimuli, the more ineffective it becomes, not to mention that each week it grows increasingly hard to reach that goal. Within the first few weeks, all children were excited because all of the children knew the ice cream was within their reach. But the more tickets you add to the goal, the more children you remove from the realm of possiblity of getting the prize in the end. As soon as the kids realize this they don't bother trying anymore because they know they will never get there, so why bother?
The fact of the matter is although these kids are only in third grade, there is a huge problem already brewing with the kids caring about their work. The children often admit they didn't do their best work but they don't really care. To be in third grade and to already not care about school doesn't bode well for the next 10 academic years in these students lives, much less the future of the country, period.
So as another part of the plan, the guidance counselors got together in an effort to weed out low motivation. They asked each classroom teacher to compile a list of children they felt were either behavior problems or poorly motivated or both. They wanted the worst case scenarios. So in the end, I submitted eight out of 21 of my students for this program. They added another one and then I got a new student the other day who desperately needed to be part of this program. When all is said and done I have 10 out of 22 students being pulled out for motivational reasons.
Nobody else in the third grade has this high of a number.
One teacher has 1, the other has 3 and two others have none. I have 10. Not only were all of these students tagged for needing extra motivation for varying reasons, they are all scheduled to be pulled out at different times. This leads to a sub problem that needs to be addressed, INTERRUPTIONS. Between the phone ringing, redirecting, assemblies etc...my room has literally become a revolving door with children constantly coming and going it's no wonder they don't get what is being taught.
To make matters worse, the children don't get the full grasp of why they are being pulled, they just know it is getting them out of the classroom for awhile which is the last thing an unmotivated bunch needs. So I'm actually finding this program to to be counter productive with children now acting up more in the hopes they can go see the counselor more often. I even have a few children who sit there, doing nothing, literally counting the hours until their appointment with the counselor comes up.
Since I already touched upon how administration is of no help in this department, I decided to approach the school counselors with my concerns. First I talked to the third grade counselor, who I blogged about before. If you remember me blogging about her the first time you will see why I didn't get very far.
So then I went to the school social worker who appreciated me contacting her directly with my concerns. She said that with the children she pulls out I should tell those kids that they cannot leave until they get their work done. I still have a problem with this. These children are being pulled because they need help, a different kind of help, but a help nonetheless. They are disruptive or they have low motivation or both. Is it really right to tell these kids they have to get their work done before they can go see the school social worker? Aren't we then holding the work over their heads and still using seeing the social worker as a reward? To me that's sending mixed messages.
At any rate, she is also concerned about my students and my situation and she now wants weekly updates as to how things are going. She left it off by saying that if need be, we will get administration involved. But you and I both know that until administration consistently cares, that will get us nowhere.
I was having a conversation with a kindergarten teacher the other day who works at my school and she used a great analogy. She said when teachers hand over knowledge to their students, it is like they are passing them something heavy they have to carry. You can only walk around with something heavy for so long before you will drop it. Sooner or later you need to find a good place to put it.
The fact of the matter is until you can get the kids to care about their own futures your caring can only go so far. In third grade they cannot envision what it will be like ten years down the line, but if their work ethic at the ages of eight and nine is any indication, it doesn't look good.
Swing by next Monday for part three of Dark Sarcasm In The Classroom where I talk about another important piece of the puzzle, Grouping/placement.
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