Teacher self-care is a hot topic for
good reason. Teachers face pressures from accountability measures that focus on
testing and evaluation. Increasing diversity requires thoughtful teachers to
differentiate – a time-consuming process.
Public education takes regular blows in the media, but teachers’ heroic
efforts to reach each child each day are seldom heralded. All this for
significantly less pay than those with similar education and experience. As teachers and coaches of teachers, it’s
important to prioritize self-care outside of the classroom. But there are also changes teachers can make
in their classrooms that will lighten their load.
Giving
Worksheets the Old Heave-Ho!
Let’s start with worksheets. If you
could help teachers change only one thing about their practice that would
lighten their load and increase student learning, this could be the thing! Although worksheets make for easier classroom
management while students sit independently filling in the blanks, teachers spend
time copying and collating, and then lots of time grading, all for little
impact. Worksheets are those tasks that
require students to copy, regurgitate, fill in the blank, or supply a single, very
short answer. They are closed tasks that give students no choice in how they
will learn. Worksheets waste valuable
class time and usually focus on rote skills.*
When my daughter was a stressed
first-year teacher, I travelled to her state for a visit to see how I could
help. One of the first things I noticed
when I walked into her classroom was a stack of papers on the corner of her
desk. A high stack. A very high stack. While she busied herself tidying the room at
the end of the day, I took a peek at the dates on papers in that stack. The ones at the bottom of the stack had been
done over two weeks ago. I set the top few inches of the stack aside and asked
my daughter, “What would happen if I pushed this stack into the trash?”
“You can’t do that. I have to grade
them!” my conscientious daughter exclaimed, hurrying protectively toward the
stack.
“Why?” I asked. “Will your students notice if they don’t get
these back? Will their parents?”
“I guess not,” she said. “They’ve probably forgotten about them.”
So, I gave that stack a big push, and
they landed in the trash can conveniently located next to her desk. No one – students, parents, or administrators
– ever said a word about that stack of papers.
They never noticed. That would
certainly not have been the case if that stack had included students’ own preciously-crafted
words or carefully thought out ideas. But
for a stack of repetitive practice work, the trash can was a worthy home.
Rather than taking stacks of
worksheets home to be graded, teachers can instead do more of the things that
do make a difference – and, thankfully, these practices also reduce teachers’
grading time. Here are some things
teachers can do instead:
Reading,
Writing, and Conferring
Give students time to read. While they read, students learn content and
improve skills. Through reading,
students can learn about a topic from a variety of viewpoints. And giving students time to read helps them
improve this important skill. The best way for students to get better at
reading is by reading!
Reading time provides the perfect
opportunity for teachers to confer with students about their understanding.
Whether it’s a social studies text or a novel, as the teacher checks in one by
one with students, understanding increases.
Conferring is also a research-based practice
for improving writing instruction. Writing can be an open-ended opportunity for
students to build understanding. Then, while students write, teachers confer,
talking first about content and then about craft.
Conferences provide opportunities for
teachers to seize a teachable moment and provide focused, individualized instruction.
Following a student’s lead, the teacher
moves the student forward by providing a just-right nudge aimed at a student’s
developing insights or abilities.
Individual student conferences are short and powerful, happening one-by-one
as the teacher moves around the room while students work. During conferences,
teachers teach. Both the student and
the teacher jot down a note or two as a result of the conference, but there’s
nothing to take home and grade!
Collaboration
Learning increases when knowledge is
socially constructed. Teachers who build
time into the day for students to talk, think, and work together build students’
collaboration and social skills while targeting academic content.
When Lisa decided not to include a
worksheet during her math lesson, she looked for a different way to build in
lots of practice, because she knew repetition was needed to build students’
mental math skills. So she took what
would have been a worksheet and chopped it into separate problems. Then she
gave each student a problem, set the timer for 5 minutes, and told students to
meet with as many partners as possible during that time frame, each time
reciting the problem and solution, listening to their partner do the same,
switching problems with their partner, and going to find a new friend. The lesson was a face-paced flurry of
problem-solving!
Collaboration takes many forms:
turn-and-talk, STEM challenges, peer feedback, case studies, jigsaw reading, fishbowl
debates, and more. What these activities
have in common is that they put the work in the hands and minds of the
learners.
Lighten
the Load
Reading, writing, conferring, and
collaborating lighten teachers’ loads while engaging students in meaningful
learning experiences. Are you working with
a teacher who is disappearing behind stacks of ungraded papers? Consider how your coaching can encourage them
to take care of themselves in ways that also enhance student learning.
This
week, you might want to take a look at:
5 ways to encourage student
collaboration:
New narrative non-fiction:
The relationship side of coaching:
Anchor charts for text evidence:
Effective
use of questions as a teaching tool:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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