For the Short Term

I recently had a lengthy conversation with an administrator that believed that critical thinking is the only thinking to be fostered in our students.  He went on the express his belief that there is no room in education, nor is it necessary to work with the use or practice of short-term memory (ie: Memorizing of materials).

As a history teacher, I have to admit, when I started teaching, and looking back at my personal experiences, there was a time that all learning felt like it was memorization.  As I became more mature as a teacher and understood learning better, critical thinking was obviously a next step for students as they reach their abstract abilities.

I  am working on a unit where some basic memorization is essential for my students and they are struggling with it.  They are wonderful and deep thinking and making connections and inferences with materials, both primary and secondary.  Ask them to memorize something, and they struggle!

These are the issues that I have recently run into.

* Students have a hard time organizing their memories.

* Students have difficulty studying for memory.

* Students need to tie what they are memorizing to stories.

* Students have difficulty in confidence in their recall.

*  Students have real difficulties with the memorization of numbers.

Interesting note: These students do not have to memorize their times-tables.

So...

I find this interesting.

Do I pursue it?  Do I simply appreciate their strengths in higher order thinking and use of higher level DOKs?

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites

Skipping the Grade

I have been reading and reflecting on many articles about students doing work in class or for class without a grade lately.  I am a strong advocate for teaching students that there is value in learning and growing and the work that you do in the process should not have a "price" on it to be done.  In other words, I don't think students should need to be bribed and/or threatened with grades to get them to do work of substance and growth.

I personally experienced, as a student a long time ago, a grading system that rewarded compliance as much as it did achievement.  As we move away from achievement and towards a model of growth, I think it is very important to build life lessons of practice.  Practice is how we get to where we are going, to get our goals.  We practice to get better at something.  We practice for the big game or the band concert. The "work" is the practice.  It is the forming or formative work that brings us to our goals.  I am not sure that this type of work needs a grade.

Certainly, to promote growth, this work needs feedback. It desires coaching.  I requires some sort of guidance towards getting better or mastery.

The problem?

Changing the mindset.  For students AND parents!

Grades need to take on a different meaning. As a middle school teacher, I find this is the place to start this transition. Grades should be for the results of the practice. The game, the concert, the test, the final showing of mastery.

As I work though this, I will include my students' reflections in my considerations.  This will take conversations about change.

This will require trust.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites

Noticing the Need

I have long been a

strict believer that students do not learn if they are not connected to their teacher and learning environment.  Students that do not feel good about their learning situation are distracted while students that feel comfortable feel free to be themselves.  There isn't a distractive awareness lingering over them as they try to focus in comfortable settings.  Students that feel confident that their teachers like and care for them can let go of fears and be at their best, unimpeded and ready for learning.

Many of us take this idea very seriously and are very reflective and aware that we are bringing our best selves to the classroom for our students. Most of us are caring by nature as that is simply who we are and why we are teachers of children.  We want all of our kids to be happy, successful, and feel excited to the best them possible.

I have been thinking of 8 students out of my 171 total students in the past week.  They struggle.  They struggle academically. They are disconnected with most of their peers.  They are noticeable to anyone that might come into my classroom when they are in class.  They are disengaged with learning, almost as if it was an allergy- as if they were allergic to learning and growing.  There are times that they seem to try, but little works for them.  They are constantly frustrating their teachers and in the end, they present themselves as behavioral problems and distractions to the classroom environment.

These kids are stuck.

We, their teachers, are also stuck.

I have to wonder, are they stuck because of us?

Have they had that many bad learning experiences that they have checked out and can't find their way back to the learning?  Has it been that long for them by 7th grade that they are so far behind their confidence is also lost?

Regardless of the why or the how...these are the students that need us the most.  The need the connections. These connections are frustrating to attempt for all involved. We have so many other students and obligations that there is only so much time that we can devote to them. We get frustrated that we are not reaching these kids and often give up early.  These kids expect to be given up on.

We cannot continue this cycle for these kids.

I am going to stay with these kids for as long as it takes. They deserve it.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites

From the Past

I had the great fortune of running into two students from the past today.  I had them in my middle school social studies classes over a decade ago.

Both of them were very nice and made similar comments about missing me and my class.  They also, both explained that my class...or I, made an impact on their lives.  They explained that I treated them like people, not like "stupid kids" even though they were not great students academically.  They went on reminiscing about how I cared about my kids- all of them.

I asked them how they knew I cared.

They were both eager to explain to me that it was the ways in which I knew them as individuals and paid attention to the details of their lives.  That I knew what was important to each student and how I noticed right away if a student wasn't okay.  One went on to say that my students felt "loved" my me in a way that their parents didn't always show them.

After I shed some tears and thanked them, I walked away and reflected.

I reflected on my students today.  I wondered if all of my students from 14 years ago until today also felt similarly.  I certainly hope that my current students feel somewhat this way.

As I go back to school this coming Monday, after break, I will be curious to know if I still have that ability, to make my students feel as I did so long ago.

My fears-

What if I don't?

What if I now try to push myself to be this way and I am not this way authentically?

I am a very real person, I don't want my students to see right through me.

I guess me answer to this issue is simply to be mindful. To just be aware of myself and my students. To authentically be who I am. To be the best me.

Thanks for joining me.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy

@LevineWrites

Taking a Moment

As I prepare to go back to school and to my students on Monday, I know I am going to need a considerable amount of coffee.  My sleep schedule is off. My level of daily responsibilities are off. My priorities are off. I am going to need some easing in time.

What I really need to be mindful of...cognizant of...is that my students also need some time to ease into their school heads.  They, too, have been doing other things, thinking about other things.  Their schedules have been off, their priorities have been changed. My students will need some time to shake off the dust that has settled in their brains and slowly and thoughtfully ease into work.

I am thinking about all of this while I plan.

I know that there is data to be looked at. There is curriculum to rush through. There are deadlines looming and district tests coming.

This is not going to get done with any sense of integrity or worth unless we all just take a breath and live in the moment and recognize where we are all at...what we need from ourselves right now.

So-

Monday will come. Monday will be hard.  Monday will not be rushed.  In fact, Monday will be enjoyed.

Why?

Because I will be taking a moment to be.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites

Being More

As I become more involved and engaged in Twitter chats, I am becoming more and more aware of something...

I am a social studies content teacher in an ELA World.

Well, to be fair to myself, I am a very invested in literacy social studies teacher.

I am always drawn towards literacy and ELA chats. I go to many ELA conferences including NCTE, Illinois Reading Council, and I am even the President of the Illinois Secondary Reading League.

My students tell me that my class is as much of an ELA class than any others that they are taking.

I just feel like I fit in this world.

Last year, while presenting at the Illinois Reading Council on the use of literacy standards in the content area classes, a wonderful person, a principal, challenged me to move beyond the walls of the ELA world and bring my voice to the National Social Studies stage.

I have to admit, I was scared. Maybe...I am still scared.

I know my content and how to teach it very well. My students and data prove this to me. To add this apparent natural addition to my professional side of life should seem like another perfect fit.

It feels like more. Almost awkwardly more.

As I am thinking of my One Little Word- Persist, I see and feel myself needing to push forward and take on this challenge.

It's about Being More.

Be Mindful.

Peace.

Mark

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites

Looking Foward

At the end of each school year, I have a heart-to-heart talk with my 8th grade students. I explain to them, after hearing the phrase "I can't wait until..." come from their mouths millions of time a day, that when your life becomes about the "I can't wait until..." that we only tend to pay attention to destinations and forget the journeys.

At this point in their lives, my students are in a hurry to reach the cool and exciting milestones in life- driving, graduating, college, marriage, etc.

I give the analogy of going on vacation. Very often, when we need or want to go on our upcoming vacation so badly, it is all that we can think of. We day dream about it, we make lists about it, we research about it, and we plan about it. This IS the exciting part.  This is the journey.

When we are on the vacation, we are lost in the enjoyment and the time flies by quickly. When we are on the way home from the vacation, we often look at what we could have done differently.  When we return to our lives after the vacation, we are off looking for the NEXT, "I can't wait until..."

I explain to my students the joy in looking forward to...

When you are looking forward to something, you are taking the time to look forward to it. You are noting the journey, the day dreams, the process. It is not just about the end result or destination, but the entire time from idea to destination to back again.

I live these words and ideas, and if I am honest...they have become so second nature, that I am noting that something is missing.

My plan: I want to become more aware of looking forward. I want to put a name to each part and sit with it for a while. I want to look forward, but to also look here, now, in the present. In fact, I want to live in the present so much that I get lost in it.

I am looking forward to living now!

Be well.

Peace.

Mark Levine

#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites