Tag Archives: Common Core State Standards

Instructional Technician

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Are you a teacher or an instructional technician?

instructional technician

Which best describes you–teacher or technician?

As our schools are transitioning to Common Core Standards, many teachers are having difficulty.  I realize why:  most of them have entered the profession in the past ten years; they only have experience teaching by opening a manual and following the prescribed sequence.  Common Core State Standards are asking us to do the opposite of this–selecting texts and lessons based on what our students need, matching instruction to our learners.  We have bred a generation of teachers who aren’t decision makers first, and lesson plan-followers second.

Many scripted programs are written so that anyone could pick up a manual and start teaching–any substitute or teacher with lackluster skills.  Master teachers should be able to rise above this and make instructional decisions–how much time to spend on this lesson, whether to omit or revise that one, whether students are ready to move on, and so on.

CCSS are asking us to move beyond simply being a technician who delivers the lessons, numbly following what some team of authors who never met your students and works in California has written.  We are returning to the art of teaching–selecting texts and delivering carefully crafted instruction that has students eating out of the palm of your hand, devouring the text and absorbing the strategies, skills, and ideas you are guiding toward.  The art of teaching requires a lot more than simply following the pages in the planner; it requires thoughtful consideration, pondering, planning, assessment, re-tooling, monitoring, and much, much more.

What will we get for all this extra effort?  We will get students who are self motivated thinkers, readers, and writers. We will get enthusiasm that builds in our classroom and stimulates us as well. We will get students who are College and Career Ready–the ultimate goal.

When you are designing lessons for your students, these are the questions to ask yourself:

  • What do I want my students to learn? Why do I want them to learn this? What are the Common Core State Standards I am addressing?
  • How will I know that they have mastered it?  What assessment(s) will I use to determine if my students have met this goal or if I need to reteach?
  • What will I do with the students who are struggling?  There is an old adage that says, “If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten.”  This applies especially to teaching.  You can’t just repeat a lesson slower and louder; you have to adjust and try a new approach.
  • What will you do with students who have already mastered the skill?  This question is not one that we have traditionally considered.  The students who came to us knowing the letters and sounds will sit compliantly while you “teach” it to them again.  But, we aren’t doing them any favors having them sit and relearn.  They should be learning something new.

Let’s agree to attend the funeral of the Instructional Technician, who blindly plods through a manual page by page, day by day. Join me in celebrating the Teacher–instructional lesson designer, assessor, juggler, integrator, mentor, and more.

 

Let’s Write!

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pencil I have spent a very busy summer writing, writing, writing.  It has occurred to me that we as teachers do not write as much as we ask our kids to.  As I sat down to write my third article for LibrarySparks magazine, I found that it took me a bit longer than the first two.  I am wondering if maybe I don’t have writing stamina.  This got me to thinking: how much do we as teachers really write?  We write lesson plans and emails and letters to parents.  Do we really produce the kind of writing that we ask students to? Do we write stories and poems and even reports or informational texts?

 

This is what our students lack as well.  They are full of ideas, and really want to share these ideas with anyone who listen.  They just aren’t able to write cohesive, thoughtful texts for extended periods of time, as the Common Core State Standards will require.   Writing had been moved to the back burner under NCLB;  reading was tested and writing wasn’t, so we tended to focus more on what was tested.  (Sad, but true in education.)  Now, the Common Core State Standards are emphasizing writing, and rightly so.  The architects know that whatever career path our students choose, they will have to write, and write a lot.  We have to build more opportunities for writing into the school day, and we also have to help students to increase their writing stamina, so they don’t feel like they are fatigued or out of ideas.

When I was a classroom teacher and when I work with small groups of students on writing, I strived to create an example in front of my students. I use a “think aloud” so students could see my wheels turning–the writer’s angst I experienced as I decided how to phrase a certain sentence or whether to move or leave out a part.  I think that this made me a better writer and helped my students realize that the writing doesn’t just appear in my head in its final form–I had to work at it.  Just as some students don’t realize that good readers have to work at comprehension, many don’t realize that writing is a process of choices as well.

So, what can we do as teachers to hone our own writing craft and bring our students along for the writing ride?  What will help our students to improve their writing stamina?  Here are a few of my ideas:

  • Increase opportunities for writing. This means students need to write every day, and all day.
  • Ensure that students have the tools necessary for writing.
  • Provide many examples of good writing for students to read and emulate.
  • Model your own writing in front of students.
  • Encourage collaborative opportunities for students to write.
  • Be sure to teach handwriting, including pencil grip and letter formation. This will help students avoid writing fatigue.
  • Have students talk before they write.  Simply turning and telling a partner ideas before they write it down significantly increases the quantity as well as quality of students’ writing.