The Biggest Bang for your Buck!

The Biggest Bang for your Buck!

In education, we talk a lot about there not being enough time. No matter what we do, there will never be enough time. The question we need to focus on is, “What are we doing with that time?” Are we utilizing every second we have? Have we intentionally planned to maximize the time we do have? The facts are this; the teachers I work with are working as hard as they can; they cannot work any harder. The answer is not working hard; the answer is working smarter. We need to use teaching practices that give us, what John Hattie calls, the highest effect size in Impact: Visible Learning for Literacy. Hattie defines the “effect size” as “the magnitude of the impact that a given approach has.”  (Douglas Fisher, 2016) By looking at our practices and refining what we do, we will make large impacts on the gains our students make. By looking at the “best practices” and the effect size it has on students, we can look at what we need to be doing as teachers to get the biggest bang for our buck. There is no one-size-fits-all or magic answer, but there is a way to make informed decisions on the instruction in our classrooms that will make giant impacts on our students learning.

Collective Teacher Efficacy

The belief that the teacher matters and the belief that the teachers are affecting student learning in a positive way. To have collective teacher efficacy, teachers on the team fully adhere in the idea that your students are learning more than they would in another class at another school because of what is happening in their classrooms. According to Hattie, teacher self- efficacy can give you 3 yrs. growth in just one year (Douglas Fisher, 2016). For this to be possible, it all starts with a team. A group of teachers that set out to do what is best for kids; they set aside distractions, they plan with intentionality, they base all planning on data, and are willing to try new ideas to better meet the needs of all their students. There is student ownership by the collective team and not by any one or two teachers.   We need to build trust in our teams; we need to be able to rely on each other to help all our kids. This is where we need to be to help each of our students make gains and be successful!

Every Kid, Every Day

                                                                     Every Kid, Every Day.

This is at the heart of what we do. We want every kid to feel heard, loved, and successful. Students need to know that what they are saying is important. As educators we need to listen to what our students are saying both verbally and non-verbally. Listen to what they are telling you through their actions, their writing, their silence. Kids deal with a lot of issues that we, as adults, often write off as frivolous or unimportant. These are important, and by acknowledging the student’s struggles we are able to show the student we understand. 

Schluter has been using Morning Meetings as a tool to help build relationships since the building opened. It is rooted into our culture, but each year we have new teachers to the campus that need help in how to make this time meaningful. The are many ways to structure your Morning Meetings, and there is no one way to do it; however, it is important that we all have the same purpose, to build relationships.

As a campus, we place a large focus on the importance of relationships in education - “A student doesn’t care about what you are saying, until they know how much you care.” We have heard this statement many times. Morning Meetings are the perfect opportunity to check in with your students. Ask them how they are, what is important to them, how they feel. Show them how interested you are in their lives.

We also know that the teacher matters most when it comes to student achievement. We have placed an emphasis on students owning their own learning, through differentiated instruction, goal setting, and leadership building; it is important to see that if students don’t trust us and don’t believe us, then these pieces will not make the impact we intend them to have.

Many resources exist to assist you in your Morning Meetings, including videos, articles, and checklists. We have the basic Morning Meeting book on campus and I am ordering a copy of 80 Morning Meeting Ideas, both the K-2 version and the 3-6 version. There are ways to incorporate content into your Morning Meeting to add a place for students to connect the lesson to. Kasey has a copy of Doing Math in Morning Meetings and Doing Language Arts in Morning Meetings that include ideas for K-5.

Back to School

Back to School

It is that time of year that we are all working to get ready for kids; from setting class lists, organizing classroom libraries, to sitting in professional development in hopes of gleaning a bit of knowledge to help our kids. For me I compare it to the feeling I get at Christmas, the anticipation for what is to come. Every year I feel the same way, I am going to make a difference, I am going to be the teacher that gets that one student to pass the state test for the first time, I am going to be the teacher that gets that student to have confidence in their own skills.

 At the beginning of every year I have the same confidence I did in August of 2004; it never falters and I hope it never does. I know I have “pie in the sky” dreams that some will look at and say those aren’t realistic goals. It doesn’t matter; I will reach every kid! It may look different than it did in 2004. I may not fully attain my goal, but I know I have made a difference, and I will never stop working to help each child reach their potential.

 The only difference is now my focus isn’t just on my kids, but on my teachers as well. My perspective has broadened. I know we have the best teachers in the district, state, country- I have seen what you do, I have seen what you get our kids to do. Now, I think- my teachers are going to reach that student that struggled last year, my teachers’ kids are going to score the best in the district, our teachers are going to help our kids show gains, we are going to be asked “what are you doing that we aren’t?”

Some people say I am competitive. It is true I am, but if there is one thing that I want even more than winning myself is for my teachers and kids to win. Learning is not a Spectator Sport, and we aren't going to let a kid sit by and watch.