Subject Self Image II

If you did not  read my previous blog post, go back and read it now or this next step will be meaningless. What follows is the way I began to determine my students’ self image with respect to the subject I teach: (you can adapt it to fit your situation.)

I began simply by keeping a few notes to myself about what seemed to “click” with some of my students. For instance, if I mentioned one aspect of my subject, I noticed that two boys on my right would always perk up and want to enter the discussion. If I discussed another aspect, some other students would want to jump in.  I made notes about who was interested in what and began to intentionally formulate specific questions just to see who would respond and if I was on target. I began to notice patterns which eventually helped me to see how each of my students was responding to different stimuli.

Next, I settled on three categories, or images, which I theorized were valid and gave them names like student, consumer, and performer. I next sat down and gave a lot of thought about what types of questions the students with each of these images would respond to with a “yes.” I constructed ten questions I felt like each group could say “yes” to and then listed them in a specific order: a student question, then a consumer question, then a performer question, then a student question, and so on. to the right of each question I placed a response row based on the Likert scale (disagree, agree, strongly agree, etc) and assigned each a numerical value. In actual practice, these values are finally added up and the question type with the highest number is usually an indicator of that student’s self image.

Next, I actually gave it to several groups of students and was pleased with the results. Although the questions needed a bit of tweaking, the process was sound (mostly based on the Myers-Briggs model, but not looking for Jungian personality traits.) I was able to see clearly what I had suspected all along: that students DO see themselves with different self-images with respect to their subjects.

Now I do some type of assessment  each semester. The students think it’s fun and like knowing “what they are.” They know that I have an interest in connecting with them on a deeper personal level–where their interests truly lie–and they respond (mostly) with respect and scholarship.

The results are manifold: they feel good about my class, it makes a personal and I think spiritual impact (their personal preferences are all-important at this age), it moderates their behavior (no one in the room is an adversary), and these things combine to produce a positive environment where success and achievement can happen.

Give it a try in your academic area. Let me know how it goes!

Subject Self Image

How do students see themselves connecting to the subject you teach? For instance, I have discerned that students see themselves in three major ways when they enter my music class. Some see themselves a students (I’m here to make an A, whatever the subject, because that’s what I do.) Others have the self image of performer (I may not know a sonata from a cantata but I can wail!) Still others see themselves as consumers (O.k., I’m not a musicologist, but I can name and recite the lyrics to every song on all of the top ten charts.)

So how do they see themselves in your math class? or history? or biology? Do they see themselves a competent? Are they engaged with an eye on the future use of what they learn with you? Are they there just for the grade? Do the math students work for enough credits because they have to “get into” college, or because they have a vision of working in research and development and know the subject is essential? The same question applies to the sciences as well.

The purpose of this article is simply to get you to think about how they are thinking. Their self image, their identity with the subject, their internal dialogues as they work are all important to them and can be used as a tool for differentiating instruction. Take some time to reflect on the possible identities your students may have with your subject and then come up with ways to connect with that identity. Work carefully and don’t rush it. This is not a quick fix, just an additional tool to connect with the learner.

And connecting is good.

Opposites

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” By high school you stop asking that question, hoping that students will enter college or career with some idea of their life’s direction. Some settle for what is at hand:fast food, manual labor; whatever can pay their cell bill and car insurance. Others still hold, albeit tenuously, to some dream, all the while watching as other dreams come crashing down around them.

When the answer to what they want to be is “I don’t know,” I play a little game. I ask “OK, then what do you NOT want to be?” Here’s where it gets interesting. “Well, I don’t want to work ALL the time like my parents.”  Or, “I don’t want to be poor.”  “I don’t want to stay here in this town.” “I don’t want to be uneducated.”

They want to be smart, useful, successful, and recognized for their efforts. What better place to practice these attributes than in your classroom. Find a way each day for them to experience these things. Let them be successful.

Make it a habit.

Take a pill…

Follow this train of thought briefly: The other evening I was with several other teachers. Eventually I grew tired of the subject at hand and my ADD kicked in. In a few seconds I found myself piddling with something on a shelf and realized I had simply wandered off in the middle of the conversation. Realizing this, I slowly returned to the group. This caused me to think about my own ADD students. Once one of them said to me “I can take my pill and I’m like another person, all focused and smart!”  Wouldn’t that be great? I thought. Just take a pill and become another person–maybe the person you want to be?

Then BAM! (apologies to Emeril…) I caught myself in the thought: What kind of person would I want to be? If I could do it that easily, what changes would other people see in me? Complete this sentence: “Oh I would be _____________ !” Now don’t misunderstand. I didn’t ask what kinds of things would you have/possess. I asked what kind of person you would be. There is a difference.

Something about asking the pill question gets right to the point. Some students have no idea how to answer the question, while others will give you a knee-jerk response (some of which are quite insightful, I might add!) But the question remains, What kind of person would you become? When you can honestly answer that question, make becoming that person a goal. Do something everyday that brings you one step (even a baby step) closer to it. Keep the image of that person in your mind and imagine yourself already there. Don’t worry about your progress–just be.

Then model that behavior for your students.

An Equity Model

Years ago I came across a communication technique called the “equity model.”  It was a framework for scaffolding conversations in the professional world. We can have productive interactions as long as we adhere to the model and remain at the same communicative level. If, for instance, I want chit-chat, but you want meaningful exchange, there will be some friction. If you want constructive criticism but I want to offer angry accusation there is friction. We must operate at the same level or little true communication will take place.

There is a spiritual equity model as well. We naturally gravitate toward those with interests similar to, and at the same level, as ours. But we also seek out those with spiritual maturity for inspiration and guidance. Sometimes our students do the same. They perceive us, at some spiritual level, as more experienced and seasoned than themselves, but at a level at which they aspire to be.

We must step up and take that responsibility and live out our knowledge and wisdom as best we know how. We can not hide in the shadows and hope no one notices us. We must want to be good in our content area, in our pedagogical practices, and in our ability to mentor students to desire to become both human and spiritual beings.

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. -Marianne Williamson

When we excel at our calling, we show them that it’s o.k. to succeed. Don’t be afraid to show them how good you are at what you do.

Inspire them to model equity.

The Gift of Achievement

I once heard a teacher describe a test as “an opportunity to demonstrate mastery.” I really like that description. In fact I’m looking for ways to change, or redescribe, many of the things I do in the teaching/evaluation process.

The most immediate thing I can do is increase the number of opportunities for celebrating achievement, for instance, by teaching in smaller, more digestible segments. I can teach a new concept and immediately give a pop quiz, or give a short test at the beginning of the next session. I can try to think of alternative response methods. I can include game-like ideas, or some technique which offers immediate reward.

Moreover, I want these opportunities to be easily evaluated, not difficult to grade and hence simply stacked up in my avoidance pile. Enthusiasm is a function of momentum and you want to be able to give fast and positive feedback whenever possible. Yes, it starts off slow, but it picks up speed as you get better at it. These small successes build up and become the norm, excellence is expected, mastery becomes a habit, and achievement becomes a way of life.

What a great gift.

The Big Picture

I once worked for a landscaping company.  I spent lots of time outside so I usually had a good tan but smelled like compost. The work was hard but enjoyable and, in spite of the amount of time I spent digging holes, presented me with some unique experiences.

One of those involved finding our way to a job site. As navigator of the small dump truck, I held the map in my lap and barked out directions to the driver. I spent the entire trip looking down at the large creased paper saying things like “turn left on Poplar” and such. We zigged and zagged through neighborhoods, up hills, and around curves and arrived safely at our destination. I still had no idea where we were.

A few weeks later, I visited a friend at his dad’s office. On the wall was an incredibly large aerial photo of our city. I stood many minutes just staring at it, astounded at the complexity of our simple little town. Suddenly, “Poplar St.” caught my eye. “Hey I was right here not long ago,” I blurted out. I began to trace the trip I had made that day. I could see the streets we took, the houses we passed, I could even see our landscaping office and nursery. I could see so many things on this mural that I had missed on the drive that day that I could only stand in amazement. I finally reached out and touched the photo and  heard myself whisper “I never knew all this was here.” I looked at my friend and said “I never knew it was like this.”

As teachers we spend a LOT of time looking down–at our particular subject, grade books, assignments, lesson plans, test scores, EOC’s, SAT’s, etc. It’s hard sometimes to see how we fit into the big picture. It’s even harder for a student to see it. Ask students about their other subjects from time to time. Talk about how your subject fits into the scheme of things.

Sometimes, look up.

Proof of the pudding…

Several years ago, while in a local grocery store, I ran into a former English teacher,  just a few years after graduation. She sized me up, took an auspicious breath and said, “I know you were one of my students, but I just cannot remember your name!” I felt my heart sink. I thought that I, as one of her prized pupils (I lettered in English after all!) would be immediately recognizable to any someone who had taught me so diligently day after day.

Oh yeah, I forgot that in the intervening years she had taught about six or seven hundred other kids.

Another teacher, by contrast, not only remembered me, but would make her way over to see me if she was at a performance or lecture of mine. She always asked questions and wanted answers and showed genuine interest in what had become of me after I left school. She took real pride in any accomplishment of mine long after the teacher/student relationship had ended.

It would be impossible to show that type of interest in each person we teach, but it is imperative that we be at least minimally cognizant of what happens to our students after they leave us.  It’s one thing to say “I graduated x-number of kids this year,” but quite another to later say “And these went on to succeed in college, these now own their own business, these are teachers,” (or leaders, or politicians, or any number of success stories.)

If I am in some way preparing these young people for life, I need all of the spiritual sensitivity, spiritual generosity, and spiritual transparency I can muster now.

The proof comes later.

Great Expectations

Years ago I had a High School Ed Methods instructor by the name of Dr. James Mintz. We would discuss classroom management, lesson pacing, planning, and student interaction. He was also quite the educational psychologist. In addition to having Bloom’s taxonomy down to every jot and tittle, he was full of handy aphorisms. For instance:

I tell them they are what I want them to be before they actually are. – Dr. James Mintz

He encouraged his students by training them to see themselves as successful even before they actually were. He encouraged me to do the same and so I did, and so it became a habit. He told me once that Mary Kay told her sales-girls to imagine that each one of their customers had a sign on their forehead that reads “Make me feel important.”  When class was over he would pat my shoulder and say “You’re already a good teacher–I can tell it.”

That small reinforcement each day had me believing that I was a good teacher–even before I was. I didn’t realize at the time he was using his technique on me as well. And upon reflection I was amazed at how well it worked.

Each day you must take your students one step closer to what you want them to become.

Start by telling them they’re already there.

Spiritual Generosity

Years ago when times were harder, we did most of our Christmas shopping at one of those $1 stores so at least it would at least look like the kids were getting a few things as presents. A lot of little things was more exciting to them than one large expensive gift. To make it even more exciting, my wife came up with a great idea: a night or two before Christmas, we would have “The Parade of Toys.”

We turned on a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Marche from his Nutcracker Suite and one by one brought the gifts into the room. As each gift was brought in we loudly announced the name of who the gift was for. The response was wild cheers from little kids who were so excited to see something placed under the tree for them.

Did it make the presents any more expensive? No, but they were infinitely more valuable. Did it make the gifts better quality? No, but it did make them more desirable. Did it make the holidays last longer? No, but it made them more memorable. My oldest is 28 now and do you think we can get away with not having the parade? Not on your life.

All we did was make them feel better; about themselves, their home, the holidays, their life as kids. Remember the sticker on my lawn mower:

If motor is running blade is turning.

If your students are conscious, they are receptive to being made feel better. Maybe they didn’t do well today. I’ll still find something positive in it because I know they can never feel bad enough to do better, only good enough. I consider it an investment in their spiritual tomorrow. I consider it spiritual generosity.

And it doesn’t really cost me anything.