Think Time for Planning Lessons and Life

September 3, 2010 Ina L. Comment

What exactly is think time? For me it’s a block of time that I actually set aside to just sit and think. What, you ask in shock? Who has time to just sit and think? Isn’t that just a waste of time, sitting and thinking? The short answer is no. Think time makes me more efficient so my job is easier. Therefore my life is more enjoyable.

But why do you have to just sit and think? Can’t you think while out walking or doing something else? Of course you can, but real think time for me can’t come with any distractions. It really requires all of my concentration. It’s meant to let me focus on one major problem. It makes all the gray matter work very hard. I sometimes visualize it as a fusion of all my brain cells coming together to problem solve.

I have been using think time for years. When I was in the classroom think time was a tremendous asset. Sometimes I would have a student who was having problems. I would allow myself a 15-minute block of time to just ponder about a particular child. I always started with questions, What was the problem? How did it manifest itself? Was there a trigger? Was I the trigger? Could something be re-taught to make it easier for the student? Was a behavior problem part of the frustration of not learning something? Or was there a problem at home I wasn’t aware of?

I’ve actually created a model for myself for think time. I start with a question and then think through the answer. This of course creates more questions and that creates an interior dialogue. I don’t allow myself to refer to experts or read about the problem, although that might eventually be part of the solution. I just let my mind move, although not aimlessly wander. It’s extremely important to stay focused on the problem I have posed to myself. Often times I recall some small detail that I had not remembered and it was all I needed to realize how to solve the problem.

One of these think time problems was a 7th grade student named Gilbert. Gilbert was really one of the worst behavior problems I’d ever encountered. He didn’t finish anything, took no responsibility for bringing any supplies to class, and thought nothing about talking back. You know it was good day when Gilbert was called out of class which was quite often. Since we were both going to be together in class for a whole year it behooved me to think about Gilbert and what I might do to help him.

I remember staying in my classroom one day during my lunch period just to think about Gilbert. I realized I had never met his parents. They never came to school functions. It took a lot of work, but finally one day I got Gilbert’s mother to school. There was no dad. I invited Gilbert to join us. To say it was an eye-opening experience is an understatement. Gilbert’s mom was just like her son. She had trouble sitting. What came out of her mouth was astonishingly rude. But at least I understood where he learned his behavior. Talk about modeling.

Did I solve Gilbert’s problems with my think time. I’m afraid I didn’t. But did I understand this boy better? Absolutely. I understood what some of his limitations were and why. We both got along much better after this, making my class a much happier place to learn. My think time had a positive outcome.

I still use think time. At TCR I often use it to concentrate on books and other editorial projects that just might need a bit of help when they are stalled. In my personal life it helps me to make decisions about all types of problems including some as simple as why the laundry isn’t getting done to whether we really need a new internet service.

Do you have your own version of think time? How does it work and how do you use it to help solve classroom problems?

Teacher Resources

Teacher Appreciation Week: May 2-8, 2010

April 23, 2010 Ina L. Comment

Did you love school when you were a kid? If you did then chances are you had at least one favorite teacher whose memory makes you smile every time you recall that special class. No doubt mine was Johnnie Williams. Mrs. Williams was my homeroom teacher for three years in junior high. (In those days junior high was grades 7, 8, and 9.) We had homeroom for half-an-hour each day. During that time we took care of school business. We also used it as study hall. We worked on community service projects. Mrs. Williams was always our leader and inspiration. She showed so much caring and kindness to all of us. We were able to really build a relationship with her during the course of three years. She followed most of us through our high school years and beyond. She came to my wedding and baby showers. A few years ago I went to her retirement party. When I think about her, I am both happy and thankful.

I have been fortunate that through the years I have been able to let Mrs. Williams know how much gratitude I have for what she has done for me. I know one of the reasons that I became a teacher has to do with her. Which teacher inspired you to become a teacher? Have you let that person know?

This was my husband Michael’s favorite activity of the year when teaching high school. He always did it with high school seniors during Teacher Appreciation Week, the first full week in May. He would have the students write a letter to a former elementary or middle school teacher. They needed to recall something done in the teacher’s class that had a major impact on their lives and to explain that the experience contributed to their staying in school and graduating. He would have the letters delivered to the teachers. Both the students and Michael would often hear back from the teacher. What a win-win for everyone involved!

So what about your students? A wonderful assignment would be to have them write a letter to their favorite teacher and mail it. Granted you might have to do a little homework to help kids find addresses, but often if the teachers are in the same district or building it’s easy to deliver letters via “school mail.” You can make this a formal lesson on letter writing if you want. (TCR #3007 Writing Workshop has some excellent examples of how to do this.) Imagine how thrilled one of your colleagues who receives a letter will be. And wouldn’t you want someone to do the same for you?

Miscellaneous

Book Titles

March 18, 2010 Ina L. 2 Comments

Recently I got a terrific manuscript submission. It was timely, practical, standards-based, and really well-written. It was definitely a manuscript I wanted to pursue in terms of publishing. Only one major problem with it–what would it be called? The author had not given it a title. When I called and spoke with her about the project and asked her what the title would be, she drew a blank. She is definitely not the first author to respond that way.

Since the material that we publish comes from classroom teachers, very often they don’t have a title for what they submit. Their books are what they have done in the classroom that has proven to be very successful. So they send it in and leave it to us to come up with titles. In my next life I want to be a nail-polish-namer because you can really make up any name for nail polish. “Blissful Blush” or “Vivacious Verve” still don’t tell you the colors, but they make you want to buy the product. But what works for one industry may not work for another, especially educational publishing. Teachers need to know immediately what they are buying. They need to know if it will fit into their curriculum at a glance. So the title becomes very important.

So how do we finally come up with a title? We are limited by space, so that becomes one of the major hurdles to overcome. Sometimes it’s as easy as reading through the book and having something really pop out at you. Other times, we might brainstorm and choose the best title. If we’re on the fence about a title, I may go to our Online Advisory Panel and ask their opinion. Eventually we’ll find the right title, but it can take months sometimes.

Are we being successful with the titles of our books? Do you buy them based on the title? Is there something we can do to make them more appealing to you? Do you have a favorite title of one of our books? I’d love to know.

Teaching Tips

Making Kids Think

January 18, 2010 Ina L. Comment

How do you make kids think? Really it is a question we need to ask ourselves as educators. How often did I hear myself say to my students “You need to think that over before you answer,” or “Think before you begin writing”? The thing about thinking is that you really can’t watch it happening. Yes, we do have lots of research that explains how it’s happening, but we don’t have machines in our classrooms that show just what kids are thinking about. I know sometimes I would watch a furrowed brow or someone tapping a pencil and “think” they were thinking about the classroom task at hand. Then I’d read the answer that was written or listen to a response and realize that, while thinking may have taken place, it wasn’t really about the subject. But then how many times have you slipped away on a short break in your brain when you should be paying attention to what is being talked about?

Therefore what students put on paper or talk about becomes really important because we can see what they have been thinking about. We can keep their brains activated by giving them engaging work to do. There are so many ways to present the same lessons. It might be something oral or visual. Perhaps you read to them or they watch a short video clip. Pencil and paper activities work well, too, especially if they are designed to get students involved. For a great example of this, look at TCR’s Puzzles and Games that Make Kids Think! series.

What about higher-level thinking? If you take a look at Bloom’s taxonomy, you can see how thinking can be somewhat framed by the types of questions you ask. It was one of my favorite things to do when I would change up the type of questions. As I moved upward in the taxonomy, I realized which kids were still with me and which were on a “thinking vacation.” Sometimes I would realize that no one was thinking about the assignment, and I’d need to start all over again. While not fun, it sure was a reality. I might just change tactics like start at the end of the story and talk about it and how the author got us there. It would make kids “think” differently and get them back on task.

All teachers have to “make kids think.” What do you do to help your students?