Examining the Peer Relationships Behind Bullying

Bullying can be a response to marginalization, or a way to maintain social dominance. Either way, the peer-to-peer dynamics involved in both of these bullying paradigms is key to whether bullying is legitimized, says Philip Rodkin in "Bullying--And the Power of Peers." Ironically, however, research shows that interventions involving peers (for example, as mediators) are actually associated with increases in victimization. So, peers play an essential role, and yet, interventions often fail to wield peer influence effectively--what can educators do?

Simply identifying children who fall into bully, victim, and bully-victim categories will not get at the peer relationships that feed bullying behavior, Rodkin says. He advises more nuanced conversations with students about their relationships, bullying, and school climate. Assess the hidden social curricula of your school, and find out what norms students accept as part of the school world. Clearly establish, and practice with fidelity, the norms of democratic schools, and know that some bullying relationships will need services beyond basic prevention. Most antibullying programs have not been rigorously evaluated, so know that the most important factor in planning successful interventions is knowing your school community.

How do you study the social world of your school and its students? How do you use this knowledge to create a safe climate?

Structuring Lessons with Learning Goals in Mind

Structuring your classroom lessons lays the groundwork for effective teaching. So when it comes to lesson planning, what's the difference between standards and objectives? How can teachers make the purpose of each lesson clear to their students? How tightly should lessons be structured to ensure students reach targeted learning goals? And when a lesson plan, although promising on paper, fails to work in practice, what strategies can teachers use to salvage the lesson?

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Structuring Lessons with Learning Goals in Mind."

This issue welcomes articles that show how teachers help students grasp the purpose behind a lesson, make lesson content relevant to students, and develop classroom activities that allow students to show both content mastery and understanding of the lesson's goals.

Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by September 9, 2011.

Building Respectful Schools and Individuals

Kyle gets angry at his classmate and blurts out a disrespectful word. Does Kyle's teacher need to teach him some self-control skills? Or does she need to consider the school's general culture of disrespect, which may be fostering Kyle's disrespectful reactions?

My article, "Respect: Where Do We Start?," (in the September 2011 Educational Leadership on the theme "Promoting Respectful Schools") discusses relationship issues that insidiously contribute to a school culture of disrespect. Educators' interactions with one another not only create relationship templates for students, but they also color the way in which educators handle students' mistakes.

For example, are lunch conversations in your school typically problem-saturated and dominated by the latest misbehavior of a student? Do cliques and gossip undermine the staff's morale? How do these issues affect your likelihood of being professional, patient, and resourceful with your students? 

Gently raising educators' awareness of the unintended effects of these habits and increasing experiences of appreciation can contribute greatly to each person making more constructive decisions and creating a respectful relational context. 

In addition to building a school culture that is cohesively structured by respectful and appreciative interactions, we can also help individual students through positive skill-boosting conversations. (Examples of such conversations can be found at www.skillionaire.org.) Neuroscience tells us that evoking positive emotions is a better way to engage people in constructive change than emphasizing the negative.

So with Kyle, instead of just dwelling on the one "bad word" he said, his teacher might talk with him about what strategies he used to restrain himself before saying the second or third "bad word." This approach would build on the self-control wiring that already exists in Kyle's brain and increase his awareness of his own effective self-control strategies.

How do you as an educator increase your students’ and colleagues awareness of habits and skills that build respect?

 

Post submitted by Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin, author of The Skill-ionaire in Every Child: Boosting Children’s Socio-Emotional Skills Using the Latest in Brain Research (Goshawk Publications, 2010).

ASCD Election Goes Online-Only

New this year! ASCD's 2011 General Membership Election will be online only! Election opens this week on September 1. Read about the full slate of candidates and see their photos and bios in the September 2011 issue of Education Update.

Starting September 1 eligible ASCD members will be able to access the ballot by going to www.ascd.org, clicking on the "Vote" button, and entering their member ID and password. The candidates' biographical information and photos will be available online here, as well as in the September issue of Education Update. For more information on the President-Elect candidates, watch the video of the 2011 Meet the President-Elect Candidates Forum at www.ascd.org/candidatesforum.

Can't find your member ID or password? Please contact ASCD's Service Center by phone at 1-800-933-ASCD (2723) and then press 1, or send an e-mail to membermail@ascd.org. You can also contact Governance Director Becky DeRigge at bderigge@ascd.org with any questions.

Common Core Brings Higher Standard to Kindergarten

Palm Beach and other districts in Florida are kicking up the standards for kindergarten students this year as part of the state's move to common core state standards. The new standards place higher expectations on what these young students will be able to do—like counting to 100 by 1s and 10s, and adding and subtracting through 5, some punctuation rules, writing opinion pieces, using computers to publish writing, and higher expectations for reading fluency.

Teachers and administrators quoted in last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief article are optimistic about the move to these higher standards, saying that it's content they've been teaching but that it's just articulated in a more focused way. Opponents are concerned that the standards have not been field tested.

Do you agree with the educators in this article that the common core standards provide focus and an opportunity to go deeper on key priorities?

In Case you Missed It

Here are some recent highlights from ASCD:

• The importance of teaching ethics to students is discussed in this post from the Whole Child blog.
• 2011 Emerging Leader Bryan O'Black offers five simple steps for integrating tech into school curriculum.
• Classroom effectiveness is the focus of ASCD's Fall Conference. The conference is held in Las Vegas on October 28-30.
• If you missed Monday's issue of ASCD's Capitol Connection, you can catch up on the latest policy stories in our e-newsletter archive. 
• A UbD cadre member and EL contributor provides a list of EL articles worth perusing that will enhance 21^st century instruction. 
• One of our OYEA finalists and last year's Annual Conference scholar Eric Sheninger talks about the importance of joining social networks and forming your own PLN.
• ASCD is pleased to announce that Carol Ann Tomlinson's and Marcia Imbeau's author pages are now live.
• The founder of #edchat on Twitter talks about #edchat and its influence. 
• 21st Century classrooms need to become more about participatory learning rather than just passive learning, says David Hall.

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

Can Teachers Increase Students' Self-Control?

Self-regulation is a strong predictor for academic and social success, so how can teachers help students develop self-control? That's the question cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham answered in the summer issue of the American Educator.

While propensity toward self-control is partly hereditary, Willingham notes that environmental factors can grow or shrink genetic predispositions. For example, parents can help students develop self-control by providing a structured, predictable home environment with emotional and cognitive supports, like empathy, meaningful praise, and stimulating conversation.

Likewise, classrooms that help students practice self-regulation are not that dissimilar from home environments that do the same; they are warm and organized and have predictable routines and expectations. These long-term approaches can be reinforced by comprehensive curricula, like Tools of the Mind or Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS), that have shown emerging success in helping students develop self-regulation.

In the short term, Willingham draws advice from research on factors in the immediate environment most likely to break down self-regulation. Negative emotions, lapses ("falling off the wagon"), and cue exposure are the three factors in the immediate environment most associated with giving into impulsive behaviors. Teachers can mitigate these factors by awareness of how a student's emotional state may contribute to a cycle of bad decisions, by encouraging students to put lapses in behavior or judgment behind them, and by removing cues for impulsive behavior, advises Willingham. 

Read the full article for a more in-depth account on what research says about self-regulation and how teachers can help students practice it.

How do you reinforce student self-control in your classroom?

World Affairs Education: A New Role (1968)

Are today's students well-informed about international affairs in an ever-shrinking world? This question was being asked with urgency in 1968 in the pages of Educational Leadership, where James M. Becker describes a new way of teaching world affairs.

Read the article: World Affairs Education: A New Role (PDF)

Just as we hear today how the Internet is making the world smaller and more interconnected, Becker saw mass media such as television and movies as creating a flood of information in need of an educational filter, especially in what he called the "first age where man is capable of destroying his own species."

Becker uses the largely symbolic International Education Act of 1966 as fodder for his argument for reforming international affairs education. He shares a wealth of ideas for both content and instruction, from learning other cultural codes to employing games in the classroom.

If anything, the world is far smaller today, yet international affairs is not a topic much discussed in the national education reform conversation. The call from this decades-old article still has value for those considering the content of our curricula.

Simple Ways to Start the Year Strong

In last week's most popular ASCD SmartBrief story, blogger and high school English teacher Nick Provenzano offers some easy ways to build rapport with students on the first day back to school. Provenzano welcomes students back by greeting them at the door, making small talk about their summer activities, sharing some background on himself, and then explaining the syllabus and expectations for the year.

In a similar post at the start of the 2010 school year, Maurice Elias, director at the Social-Emotional Learning Lab at Rutgers, laid out seven strategies for creating optimism among students for the coming school year. He adds involving students in setting classroom rules, allowing time (daily) for students to briefly reflect on what they're learning, and being patient with students as they adjust to school routines.

In what simple way(s) will you commit to a  great school year?

In Case You Missed It

Check out the latest from ASCD:

• What do small wins in your school look like? Steven Weber explores five of them. 
• Rhoda Koenig writes about helping students better learn to ‘chunk’ material when reading. 
• Get the latest news on helping students with specials needs excel in the classroom from ASCD's Whole Child site.
• The successful implementation of the Common Core is a necessary thing, but it’s missing a key component--money for teachers.

• The latest issue of ASCD Express explores ideas of how students can be successful when they are attending schools in hard places.
• ASCD is excited to present a new interactive map of schools and communities that are taking a whole child approach to education. 
• Check out the new and updated PD Online courses that just came out.

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

Reviving the Read-Aloud

These days, read-aloud time is such a low priority, it's often relegated to the same time assigned for classroom bathroom breaks, write Pérsida and William Himmele in Total Participation Techniques.

While the benefits of reading aloud might not be easily quantifiable, the Himmeles contend read-alouds are valuable for building 'peripheral' or "academic language (vocabulary, grammar, style) that students begin to understand within a meaningful context. With repeated exposure, peripheral language becomes active language that students not only understand but actually use."

Pressure to raise test scores often means little to no read-aloud time in today's classrooms. Ironically, students struggling on tests could probably most benefit from the contextually-rich vocabulary exposure found in read-alouds, add the Himmeles.

The Himmeles suggest strategies for capitalizing on the power of read-alouds, and making sure that all students are engaged in reading comprehension. For example, small-group or Think-Pair-Share discussions provide space for higher order thinking related to the text. Students can also analyze and consolidate what they've heard with a "quick draw" or "chalkboard splash."

In a quick draw, students demonstrate understanding of an abstract term or concept by representing it in a drawing, and explaining it to a partner. In chalkboard splash, each student responds to a prompt related to the reading, and posts their responses (as a whole class) on a large white board, butcher paper, etc. Students then analyze peer comments for similarities, differences, and surprises.

The bottom line, say the Himmeles, is that read-alouds are an important part of a language-rich classroom. Sometimes, you need just survey your audience's faces to tell if students are engaged. But if you're not sure -- try adding one of these total participation techniques.

Do you use read-alouds? How do you ensure all students are engaged with the reading?

The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation Blog

Large foundations are increasingly jumping into education reform efforts in the United States, and now they are beginning to join the education blogosphere as well. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, whose program areas include urban education and childhood health, has launched a blog featuring program officers' postings.

Those concerned about what professional development will accompany new federal initiatives will be heartened to read the recent post "We Need a Systemic Approach to Building Educator Data Skills," in which Joe Siedlecki describes the rationale behind the Dell Foundation's programs to support teachers in using new data systems that were introduced as part of Race to the Top.

Another post describes the difficulty—and necessity—of changing both environments and behaviors in working to improve student health.

The Dell Foundation blog is one to watch, and comment on, for those interested in how foundations make funding decisions as they work to create change in education.

What At-Risk Readers Need

"Two of every three students in U.S. schools have reading proficiencies below the level needed to adequately do grade-level work," cites Richard Allington in "What At-Risk Readers Need," part of the "Best of EL 2010–11."

If we began screening for letter-name knowledge in kindergarten, we could know on the second day of kindergarten who is at risk of becoming a struggling reader and begin interventions, he says.

However, he adds, most U.S. schools have no plan to provide the sorts of expert, additional instruction that at-risk kindergartners need. "This means that most schools deliberately create a pool of students who will become struggling readers," Allington concludes.

To break this status quo, Allington suggests shifting early reading interventions from what doesn't work:

• overreliance on paraprofessionals
• computer-based instruction
• one-size-fits-all

. . . to focus on what does:

• acting on identified gaps and learning needs on day one of kindergarten
• keeping supports going through 1st grade
• lots of opportunities for high-success (fluent) reading

Early remediation would prevent later reading gaps and would cost less than the current patchwork of ineffective programs and policies, says Allington. We know what at-risk readers need; what are we waiting for?

Teaching the iGeneration

Technology can be a source of engagement and a medium for 24/7 content dissemination for today's students, writes Larry Rosen in "Teaching the iGeneration," part of the "Best of EL 2010–11."

With technology delivering content through video, podcasts, images, and text, Rosen says teacher time is freed up to help students analyze, synthesize, and assimilate material. "The point is not to 'teach with technology' but to use technology to convey content more powerfully and efficiently," he adds.

What role does technology play in your school? Which generation are curriculum and instruction serving?

What's Next? Grace Under Fire

Formerly a teacher, now an administrator-in-training, Chris Canter blogs about his yearlong assistant principal internship at Fulton County Public Schools in Atlanta, Ga. Canter was a 2010 ASCD OYEA honoree.

This is my final blog, as my internship has officially ended. Sadly, I have little news to report on the job search. Long story short, a mistake was keyed into my application for more than 20 assistant principal positions that were posted, and my application was never seen by principals or area assistant superintendents.

As you can imagine, I am shocked, dismayed, and very disappointed. In working with our human resources division, I have been told that I will be working next year, but the specifics are still to be determined. I have nothing against returning to the classroom, but I do not wish to invalidate the work in which I have been engaged this year. I'm hoping and praying it all works out. There are still some county-level positions and some assistant principal positions open for which I am a candidate. The situation, of course, places me in a very awkward, uneasy position.

With that said, the constant educator that I am sees a teachable moment in all of this. The current state of affairs has caused me to critically evaluate my work during the past year in order to better market myself. In reviewing each task that I performed, I learned a valuable lesson: despite what appears to be a concerning outcome, I have learned a great deal, and I am a better teacher and person because of this internship.

Working with behavior firsthand has helped me to understand children on a new level; helping teachers evaluate their own instruction has helped me to learn to serve as a coach rather than as a mere supervisor in order to help teachers find solutions to classroom dilemmas. Working with parents has helped me to understand that while we differ on some important parenting skills, we still have one thing in common: we love the children.

I see this final phase as an opportunity to live out my ethics. I can either sit around, angry and frustrated, or I can remain a professional. Perhaps grace under fire is the final lesson that I need to learn to be an effective assistant principal. I know the position will come, although I don't know the path there. I enter into the next phase of my career unknowing, but with my head held high. I have been called into the noblest of all professions: I am an educator!

Best of luck to each of you during the 2011–12 school year!

Connecting Classrooms to the Capitol

One need look no further than the No Child Left Behind Act to realize how much federal policy can shape what happens in schools and classrooms across our nation. That's why it's critical for educators to stay up-to-date on national education discussions and for policymakers to listen to educators about what does and doesn't work in the real world.

ASCD's new and improved Capitol Connection e-newsletter helps bridge the divide between lawmakers and educators, providing educators with updates about the education policies and politics that affect their day-to-day work and opportunities to contact their lawmakers about issues they care about.

The free, weekly newsletter provides the inside scoop related to

• Federal education developments from Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, and the White House.
• Key education issues including teacher effectiveness and evaluation, assessment and accountability, school improvement, whole child education, and common core standards.
• Major legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), and the Child Nutrition Act.
• The latest national reports and research.

All this and more is available in an updated newsletter design and more succinct format that improves readability and makes it easier to choose which stories to explore in depth. And, for the first time ever, readers can access the full newsletter archive on ASCD's website.

So whether you're someone who is new to education policy and just wants to learn a little more about national education issues or someone who has your federal representative on speed dial, sign up now to receive Capitol Connection. ASCD's policy team welcomes your feedback and looks forward to continuing to be your trusted education policy resource.

Five Principal Practices for the New School Year

In last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief post, we read that principal Eric Sheninger is approaching the school year from these five leadership perspectives:

• Make no excuses—Sheninger advises leaders to meet with staff before the school year to identify where excuses commonly arise and collective responses or solutions.
• Be the model of your school's collective vision for excellence.
• Evaluate and revise curriculum and pedagogy for 21st century fluencies and skills.
• Let teacher passions and interests fuel professional development—professional learning communitiess and professional learning networks can be the framework for transformative professional development.
• Connect with other school-based change agents, particularly via social networks.

How will you lead your own learning revolution this fall? Read Sheninger's full post for more ideas.

In Case You Missed It

Here are the weekly highlights from ASCD:

• Let ASCD help you find your next career in the education field with our free Job Ramp^TM jobs site.
• Join ASCD in Las Vegas, Nev., on October 29–30 for the Conference on Teaching and Learning. Hear from experts about how to improve teacher effectiveness and student learning.
• Are you a new teacher looking for tips and tools to help you both inside and outside the classroom? ASCD has a range of free resources that can help. 
• Check out ASCD's Healthy School Communities to find out how you can blend health and learning in your school.
• The August member book and study guide, Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Changes the Odds for Student Success, is available for your reading pleasure. 

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

No Fad Diets for Education Reform

In a new documentary film, Joe Cross, an affable Aussie, decides to spend 60 days drinking only fruit and vegetable juices after tipping the scales at 310 pounds and contracting a rare illness. The film follows Cross as he traverses America, Johnny Appleseed-style, to inform patrons of truck stops and small-town diners about the wonders of an all-juice diet.

At first, Cross seems to be hocking yet another fad diet (unsuccessfully, judging by the puckered faces of juice drinkers) that's based, like many fad diets, on a reductio ad absurdum: fruits and vegetables are good, so cut everything else from your diet. Other diets, of course, proclaim that protein is good, so you should eat as much meat as you want and just cut out carbs. Some food producers would have us believe that fat is the enemy, so eat what you want as long as it's fat-free. (Voila! Guiltless cookies!) The truth, we know, lies somewhere between, with balanced diet and exercise as keys.

Like the diet industry, education has had its fair share of fads, past and present, which similarly, have taken good ideas to their illogical extremes. Here are but a few:

• Too much lecturing is bad; therefore, no lecturing is good.  
• Self-guided learning is good; therefore, classrooms should be completely open—free of uniform curricula, grade-level expectations, doors, and even walls.
• Good teachers help most kids learn more, so better teachers alone will ensure all kids succeed.

Simply Better: Doing What Matters Most to Change the Odds for Student Success offers not a new "fad diet" for education, but rather the education reform equivalent of a "healthy lifestyle"—those things that decades of research says are most likely to have a big effect on student achievement. At the core of the book is the What Matters Most framework (a sort of "food pyramid" for education), which comprises five components that research shows matter most for improving student outcomes:

Notes from an Accidental Teacher

Carol Ann Tomlinson shares how she stumbled into teaching, and and what's made her stay, in "Notes from an Accidental Teacher," part of the "Best of EL 2010-2011."

Tomlinson identifies five conditions that cultivated her passion for teaching:

• Finding the right fit in an environment that nurtures fearless practice and discovery.
• Understanding teaching as a calling, with reverence toward both the content and the students you teach.
• Knowing you'll never know everything but always pursuing new learning.
• Associating with quality, from your peers to professional organizations to your expectations for students.
• Drawing energy to be a better teacher from your work both inside and outside the classroom.

Tomlinson attributes her success as a teacher to these conditions; what helps you be your best self as an educator?