The Teacher As Facilitator: Student Voice and Choice Part 2
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide by Alfie Kohn
Optimized Learning by Paul Solarz
Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz
The Pomodoro Technique Article
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:09
It's hard to believe this is my last episode of season five. This season I interviewed educators, authors, a poet, a Pilates instructor and a runner up from Project Runway. Speaking with Candace Fleming, Jane Reynolds and Burgess and Janya knowledge were especially exciting moments for me this season. As always, I had to have a chat with Dr. Nicki Newton and Ann Elise Record this season as well. I do recommend checking out this season's episodes. I have Zooming in on the Engineering Design Process with Michael Bycraft, Zooming in on Teacher Mental Health with Ryan Pelkey, Zooming in on Curriculum Collaboration with Heather Leonard and Erin Burchilll from my district Well, one is still from my district, Zooming in on Balance, Boundaries, and Breaks with Evan Whitehead, Zooming in on Teacher Creativity with Jane Reynolds, Zooming in on Narrative Nonfiction with Candace Fleming, poetry with Penelope Pelizzon, Zooming in on a Mindhunter with Dr. Ann Burgess, Cult Education with Janja Lalich, and of course Math Puzzles with Dr. Nicki and Ann Elise. I also had some kind of miscellaneous ones. I had a Pilates instructor, and that was Ali Marie Moniz, my Pilates instructor who got me ready, one on one to be on in the actual group classes. I also had Zooming in on Adult immigrant Education with Sara Lodgen. And of course, Zooming in on Kelly Dempsey, and her design and teaching process from Project Runway. My minisodes I'm not going to go through each one. But my minisodes were my filmmaker series about Spike Lee, Jodie Foster, David Lynch, and the connections to the classroom, and to education, Film Editing series Connections Education, I had an episode about chess, I had an episode about logic puzzles. And then there was the powerful poem, there's a hole in my sidewalk. I recently did a reading successes this year, episode, the importance of read alouds and silent reading as well. And then, of course, I just recently did the teachers facilitator, student voice and choice reflecting on this article. And I'm going to be continuing that reflection in this episode. But I wanted to first share something that I just learned about that I really think could be implemented in the classroom. And then I also want to share something that is, I think, directly related to the Alfie Kohn article. And that is Paul Solarz, new, amazing book of 180 mini lessons for self directed learners. It's called optimized learning. And it's for grades three to eight. And I can talk more about that as well before I jump into the article. So this will probably be a longer minisode than usual, the end of the fifth season, you know, I got to do a little bit extra.
Melissa Milner 3:01
So what I wanted to share that I learned about I just happened upon it is something called the Pomodoro effect. So the Pomodoro effect is a method for staying focused and mentally fresh. So this is how the method works. Step one, pick a task. Step two, set a 25 minute timer. Step three, work on your task until the time is up. Step four, take a five minute break. Step five, every four pomodoros take a longer 15 to 30 minute break. So that step one through step four is a Pomodoro. I'm thinking that's what they're saying. And then step five is to repeat the process. But taking longer breaks. I just thought that was fascinating. longer breaks 15 to 30 minute breaks, as you as you're doing the work and continuing to, you know, spend the time you need to give yourself longer breaks. It says the Pomodoro Technique is a time management method in which you do focus work during 25 minute intervals known as Pomodoro. And take a five minute break. We love this method because it improves focus, minimizes distractions, prevents burnout promotes accountability and boosts motivation. I mean, we sort of do this with kids we know not to, you know, to too long of a work session without a break. But this just makes me even more aware of giving those breaks. And just sticking with that 25 minutes, take a break, then go back. I love it. I'll share this on the minisode page. This goes into the history of the Pomodoro Technique and rules for maximum productivity. So we really it really goes into it. So you know even if you have a different kind of job. It's pretty cool. It's kind of cute. If you scroll down it says a day and pomodoros and so It says it has a cute icon of a tomato. And it says tomato equals one Pomodoro, which equals 25 minute focus work session and a five minute break. So for Pomodoro is a 20 minute coffee break. And then another four pomodoros is a 30 minute lunch break, and then another for her father Doros as a 20, minute walking break, etc. I just saw this and wanted to share it. It's not really related to the Alfie Kohn article. But I think it's certainly related to optimize learning as far as how you might implement optimize learning and give those breaks.
Melissa Milner 5:37
All right, so I'm going to talk about the article, I'm going to share the second part of the article that is this, you know, student choice in practice. And again, I have lots of highlighting. Once I'm done sharing that I will talk about Paul Solarz book. The first section is academic issues. And it says, but even when compelled to teach a certain lesson, a teacher might open up a discussion in which members of the class in which members of the class try to figure out together why someone apparently thought the subject was important enough to be required. The next step would be to connect that topic to students real world concerns and interests. When teachers have themselves decided, for one reason or another, to exclude students from the selection of the subject matter, there's still room to give them choices about the specific questions within a general topic to be explored. There's, you know, this K WL, which of course, you know, has been updated to get to know what they want to learn. There's also just that idea of, you know, Candace Fleming talked about it where you have a research project, and they do get a choice in what they research within that topic, and how detailed they want to go. And there's lots of choices from then on. It says the entire constructivist tradition is predicated on the idea of student autonomy, which is to say, the chance for students to view learning as something quote, under their control, rather than as disembodied objectified subject matter. And in later, it says, students ought to help determine the criteria by which their work will be judged, and then play a role in weighing their work against those criteria. So that's, of course, the use of rubrics. So that's the academic part. And then it says social and behavioral issues when implementing this, having the students vote. It says a structured opportunity for members of a class or school to meet and make decisions provides several advantages. It helps children feel respected, by making it clear that their opinions matter. It builds a sense of belonging, and community. And it contributes to the development of social and cognitive skills such as perspective taking, conflict resolution, and rational analysis. And then there's a section about reasonable limits when you're putting this into practice. So it says restrictions are not as simple as they first appear, take the question of age, it goes without saying that a 16 year old can can approach a decision in a more sophisticated way than a six year old. But this fact is sometimes used to justify preventing younger children from making choices that are well within their capacity. So I think a lot of teachers do incorporate voice and choice. The teachers were listening, they're probably like, Aha, we get it.
Melissa Milner 8:25
Second rationale for restricting choices time. And it says in class meetings, for example, teachers would do well to remember that at least to some extent, the process is the point. The idea isn't just to make a choice, reach a decision and move on. So allowing the time for the students to talk things through. Third, the importance of choices often weighed against the fact that children need some structure or limits for their behavior, if not for their learning. The critical question, as Thomas Gordon has put it, is not whether limits and rules are needed, but rather who sets them. The adults alone are the adults and kids together. That's pretty much it. He does have a whole section on barriers. So he talks about struck structural impediments, resistance by teachers. parting with power is not easy, if only because the results are less predictable without control. Talks about student resistance, this I do have highlighting and asterisks. So refusing testing, parroting there's these behaviors that he talks about? Yeah, this is a pretty thorough article, getting our ideas to come out of their miles is a ventriloquists trick, not a sign of successful participation, or student autonomy. It represents an invitation to ask students about their experiences with saying what they knew would please an adult, and how different that feels from taking the risk of making a suggestion that someone might not like and then emphasizing that the latter is what we're looking for here.
Melissa Milner 9:57
So that is a perfect segue. A into my friend Paul Solarz, his book that his whole book is about this. First of all, I did write a review, that's in the front of the book, which is really, really an honor. And Paul sent me a digital copy so that I could skim through it, read through it, and write the review. And then he just recently sent me a copy of the book, it is monstrous. It's, oh, my gosh, let me see. It's very heavy. It is wait for it. 400. And including the about the author at the end, it is 430 pages. It is let me just share with you the sections. So you have the introduction. And then you have planning, and then metacognition, and then synthesis, and then reflection, self assessment, goal setting and feedback. So it's hard for me to describe this without you seeing it, I'm just going to flip to a random, I think I think I want to do planning, because that's sort of what the article was about. So let's do planning page 32. What he does, first of all, he has a great Abraham Lincoln, quote, give me six hours to chop down a tree. And I will spend the first four sharpening the axe, I love that. I'm just going to read. First of all, there's this whole section. In the beginning, he just lays out everything about that unit. He talks about resource gathering, chunking sequencing, choosing where to work, estimating time prioritizing, anticipating potential problem, anticipating potential problems, preparing for collaboration, knowing success criteria, selecting goals, contingency planning, that's for E he has that for each one. He also has room for post, it's which I think is great on the side.
Melissa Milner 11:58
So I'm just gonna read this just to give you an idea of what the lessons are like, This is Unit One planning. So these are the mini lessons. How strong Am I at each of these planning skills? So it has the students, it says effectively prioritize the planning skills you need to address most through self assessment and increased awareness? How do I plan and prepare for an assignment? Why should we take time to plan? I mean, these are these are lessons. What do others think about planning? How many marbles do I have in each cup? So it says learn how marble theory levels the playing field intellectually, and shows how effort is the main determining factor? How do I plan a huge complex assignment? How do I create a plan? Each one of these again are lessons? How do I create a plan for learning experience? What are my teachers expectations? Success Criteria? What's my priority? Why is it important? How long might it take me to complete everything? How will I know if I'm on track to finish on time? What should I do when I'm confused? Where should I work so that I can focus best at a lesson directly taught? What goals? Do I plan to work on? What prior knowledge might help me on this? What are some elements of true collaboration? Learn that true collaboration involves working together valuing and building on others ideas, and finding common ground? How do I apply the elements of true collaboration? And how should I handle conflict when it happens? How can I organize myself better? What distracts me and how can I overcome it? What should I do when I'm having a bad day? And how much time should I dedicate to planning and I'm just going to zoom in because I love this one, what distracts me and how can I overcome it, which is on page 74.
Melissa Milner 13:51
And then it's got like student facing handouts. So it's got what distracts me and how I can overcome it. So it's like a picture of students sitting at a desk and there's a squirrel in the tree. It says I'm so tired. The pencils down my stomach is growling look a squirrel. And then there's this whole page that says planning. And it says what distracts me it's what distracts me and how can I overcome it. And so it has my inner my own inner thoughts, the clock, the temperature of the room, worry, sadness, or other distracting emotions, a song is stuck in your head. Other students could be distracting you the lighting or sunlight thinks outside our windows, hunger or thirst, tiredness, friendship issues, sounds, clicks, buzzing, trying to do too much all at once, zoning out or staring and then there's a one that says what else? And then there's a chart what distracts me and how can I overcome it. So this distraction is in the first column, and then within my control, or influence is the next column and then the next column can I prevent this or avoid this? And then the next column How can I overcome this? I highly recommend I will put a link on the episode page for optimized learning. Paul's largest work also learn like a pirate. If you haven't read that. It's unbelievable. I am going to be attacking this thing this summer, and planning. You know how I'm going to do this in my classroom next year. So I'm very excited. There's also over 600 editable downloadable color slides or handouts included. There's little, what do you call them QR codes. I'm psyched to take the summer off, and just relax and recharge and I hope everybody does the same. And I hope to see you in the next season. For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.