Chapter_2

= // To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher // =

Chapter 2: Seeing the Student

(Scannell) I like that Ayers (2010) says that teachers need to be one part detective, one part researcher, and one part puzzle master. I think that the Ayer’s quote regarding strong students succeeding despite our treatments and students with challenges having their weaknesses attacked does occur in schools whose cultures lack vision, focus, and student centered collaboration. The schools that I have been a part of that have collaboratively generated a vision and are actively working to develop strong, positive professional learning communities are the exact opposite of this. These schools find ways to engage and push the thinking of their high achievers and draw upon the strengths of their struggling learners as they work to improve deficit areas.

In chapter 2, Ayers (2010) states, "the irony is that the students who tend to succeed in school learn in spite of--not because of--our treatments. And those who fail in school are subject to the most relentless and concentrated attack on their weaknesses--often to no avail" (p. 45). Definitely a strong perspective, and one that may (or may not) be shared by each of you. What are your thoughts, and what have you observed in your experience that leads you to those specific thoughts?

(O'Donnell): I don’t agree with the first part of the statement, “students succeed in spite of not because of our treatments”, but I do agree with the second part, “students who fail are subject to the most relentless and concentrated attach on their weaknesses.” I feel that some students come to us at a disadvantage. Most of the time these issues are outside of our control, i.e. poor home life, divorces parents, ADD, etc. Especially at the secondary level, we need to think outside the box to help school work better for these students. One example that comes to mind is a student of mine. She goes for dialysis in the mornings three days a week. This student has a schedule just like any other student. There is a lot more we could be doing to help this student be successful. For example, we could give her a schedule where she doesn’t miss core classes three times a week.

(Pfaff, N.): Well, I can understand were Ayers is coming from, in fact, I have felt this same way, "I've got thirty other children, and have to think of everyone, not just those not doing well" (p. 45). As a first year teacher, I remember having an energy that I was going to save, reach, and inspire every child I come in contact with. However, as they years go by I realize that isn't always going to be true. I think in may ways I inspire many of my students, I reach many of my students, but sadly I don't feel as though I save them. Maybe for a short time, while they are within the four walls of my classroom I somewhat feel as their saviour (not in a biblical sense) but I feel as though I have some control of their actions while they are in my presents. I do know that when they go home for the evenings they tend to fall back on their poor habits and make bad choices again. When I think about the Ayers quote above I tend to think more about those students who are crying for help. Out of the thirty students in a class maybe 5-7 of them are really struggling academically or socially. As teachers, I feel we need to work with those students who need our help, the 5-7 students who are really struggling are at much higher risk of failure than the other students. As a teacher I teach all my kids, however I worry less about teaching the meeting the needs of TAG kids than the struggling kids, why? Because those TAG kids have what it takes to make it, they will be fine, I don't ignore them, I meet their needs, but I focus more on the students I feel are at a higher risk of failure.

(Langenfeld): This is an interesting quote that really drives at our philosophical beliefs regarding instructional leadership. Consider how NCLB and high stakes testing drive a deficit model for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. For most schools, this outside force determines the daily schedule, identification of students for supplemental and intensive support, a complicated pull-out schedule, and whether fine arts, PE, recess, science, and social studies are included. When I was a Title I reading teacher, we worked hard to make the pull-out "book clubs" positive experiences but for many it was drudgery--day after day. When a student did not perceive he/she was capable of achieving through effort and hard work, he/she made minimal growth despite multiple goals and plans. I believe that students that have a sense of agency or are self-motivated to work hard and inquire will most likely succeed in any learning situation. So...what if the majority of pull-outs were stopped, and we increased co-teaching or reduced elementary class sizes? What if we focused on providing explemary core instruction in the classroom and emotionally supporting our students in a loving, supportive environment?

(Weires): Yes, there are students who will succeed no matter what and there are students who will fail despite our great efforts to help them succeed. I think there are far more students, however, who are influenced (probably more than we know) by our actions. Coming from a Gifted Ed background, I feel the need to advocate for those bright students who some feel will "succeed in school" no matter what. Yes, they may do well on tests, but how much are they learning? That topic that the class spent 5 days on? Well, the kid in the corner got it figured out, made generalizations and connections on the first day and then spent the rest of the week waiting for the other kids in class to catch up. When that student gets 100% on the test, the teacher may consider the lesson a success, but how much could that student have learned in those 4 days with some extra attention and opportunity? I guess it comes down to what we mean by "succeed in school." Does it mean master the 6th grade curriculum? Get good grades? Work to potential?

(Sebring): Very strong perspective indeed. We have witnessed a variety of students and the various learning styles. All students learn differently, so isn't it the job of the teacher to find out really what makes the student 'tick'? From the teaching perspective, that is the beauty of being in the spot we are. We have the opportunity to learn about our students... find out what really drives their learning. We have the capability to make the adjustments to help meet their learning style. We also want to know what the students already know and build our instruction around that. On the other hand, I'm not naive and I understand no matter how much we try to help students that there will always be some that seem unmotivated. Maybe the way to combat that problem is for teachers to demonstrate what a caring, self-aware teacher looks like and performs like? (Marty) I like your philosophies. I imagine all your students see you as caring and understanding of their developmental issues.

(Wendler): I thought that this was a very powerful statement by Ayers. As I thought and reflected on it, I realized that to culture of our schools have created this monster. As an instructional coach, my daily work focuses on creating and monitoring interventions put into place to help students improve in areas that we see them as being deficient. Recently our intervention system has changed names, it used to be known as "problem solving" and is know know as instructional decision making. I think that this change in names represents what Ayers says in chapter two, that we are not in the business of "solving kid problems" academically, but rather in the business of making instructional decisions based on students strengths to help them improve in their areas of weakness. If we are going to be successful in this work, we need to learn about each kid, what they like, how their brain works best and how they respond to instruction. By doing this, we will be able to meet the needs of each child by giving them tools that they can use, rather than jamming information down their throats and expecting them to learn the way we want them to learn.

(Pfaff, N.): Commenting on Wendler. Well said Dan! Helping students improve on their weaknesses is something,we, as teachers and coaches, were hired to do. Much like building leaders are highered to improve the weaknesses and build on the strengths of the teachers in our building. We must tap into how the brain works and functions so that we can pull out the good, support the weak, and create an environment for learning.

(Marty) I agree that we test, and re-test, and look for weaknesses then keep trying to find new ways to turn everyone into high test achievers. I had a recently entitled individual make an 11 point increase on the Measure of Academic Progess (MAP) test, which I thought was tremendous in one semester, but it wasn't enough to put him at grade level. I praised him in front of the whole class, and he was proud of himself for his gains. He is not an underachiever; he just started with less than others and has farther to reach. But, just the other day I said, "What is wrong with average?" What ever happened to accepting that some students will be C students when they get to middle and high school? I certainly believe we need to work to give students every advantage we can, and diversify learning to meet their needs. I do not, however, believe that all students can exceed grade level expectations any more than I believe that all students who are slightly below grade level are doomed to failure

(Weires) comment to Marty - Well said, Paula. What is the definition of average anyway? And how are grade level expectations set? If everyone exceeded expectations, wouldn't our expectations then rise? I would hope so, but this would then put a group back into the "below expectations" category.

(Van Heukelom) This quote makes me think of the individual time I spend with each student. I have often said and thought to myself that I spend more time with my struggling students and that I feel bad for those students who are doing well. They don't receive as much of my time and yet, still do very well in school despite of this. I wish that I could spend as much time with all my students as I do with some. Ayers gave some incredible ways to get to know your students better and although most of his ideas are easy to do, it seems that we still pay more attention to those who need the extra assistance. And I'm not sure why I do this... because my struggling students are usually still struggling when they leave me at the end of the year (hopefully they have made some great improvements, but most of the time, they are still behind their peers). That probably seems like a harsh statement... I'm not saying I shouldn't spend as much time with the struggling students, but I do know that all my students deserve my every effort to get to know them and how they learn best. They all deserve a chance to have a fantastic year with a teacher who is willing to build on their strengths and truly SEE each student.

( Bischoff) I agree with Ayers’ statement that some students will learn no matter what. There are not many of those students in a class of 24-28. I am the At-Risk coordinator at my school. A big part of my job is talking to my students and explaining them the importance of completing all their assignments. If the assignment is hard most of my students give up and don’t do it. At my school we have two teachers for American History. They are both good teachers but there teaching styles are very different. One teacher really challenges the students with class discussions about the assigned reading from the night before and the other teacher has group activities that explain the reading during class and never gives reading assignments. If a student is not a good reader they will probably struggle in one class but not the other. It is important for the counselors to identify these students and make sure they get in the class that will give them the best opportunity to learn.

(Lowery): I definitely had to perform a self-check when I read this quote by Ayers. I realize that a lot of attention is given to the students that are struggling and that the time is spent only in what they are considered low-performing in. Within my building, we have numerous programs for the students are performing low, but not a lot of programs for the students that are exceeding the expectations that we have for them. Thus, those students has built system that does not require the teacher's attention all the time. I hope that the students that are performing low within my school will have the opportunity to explore what they are good at and use it as a bridge to work on the items they struggle in. I am guilty of not taking the time with some students to find out what they are good at doing or like to do so I have an authentic connection with them. From the quote, the same can be said about the high-performing student as well since I believe the teacher is the main variable in the classroom.

(Pfaff) I thought this was a powerful quote from Ayers. Since I work with lower achieving students I feel that these students can go either way. Some will succeed (both at home and at school) and some will fail (home and at school) no matter what we as teachers do. I feel it is our job as teachers to find what can help each student succeed and show the student that someone cares about them and what they do with there lives. I have one particular student who is very quiet but loves to draw. I like to have him make drawings for particular things for the class and he loves to show the class what he has created for the room. I think things like this can help students even though it is something small.

(Pfaff) commenting to Sebring- I agree with your statement about finding out how your students tick. I feel you have a whole school year to build a relationship with your students so you can always find at least one thing that interests the child and build off of this.

(Hawkins) When I read this quote, I was thinking about how we divided our Wellness students by test scores to help improve their cardiovascular endurance. Kids would pre-test, we then placed them in a class with students of the same ability, which gave kids a sense of comfort. They then worked to their ability and worked at a pace that was best for them. Last year, 91% of our students, increased their fitness levels from pre-test to post. Now, were some of those going to improve no matter what, YES, but others were motivated by teachers, classmates, pace of the class etc..So when people ask if it was a good thing to divide the students, I always say yes because kids perform better or work harder when they aren't intiminated by their peers. This makes the high/more fit kids work harder too because they were doing different activities to increase their fitness as well. We also found that fewer students failed wellness once we switched our curriculum.

(Hach) I found this quote a little disheartening. It makes it sound like teachers aren’t successful at what they do or that what they do doesn’t really matter. I understand why someone would agree with this quote, but I believe there are many teachers out there who do many of the things Ayers described in this chapter to get to know their students better and try and meet their individual needs. I know at my school there has been a big push to “know your students better” - to better meet their needs at school. Our school wide focus has been differentiation for more than a year as we strive to find ways to allow students to be successful in different ways. It takes a new mindset to believe that not every child has to (or can) learn in the exact same way. I also believe it is okay to believe that not all students will achieve that A+ grade level status in every subject, but as long as we don't give up on any student and they continue to learn then we are doing our job as teachers.

(Hach) commenting to Bischoff - I liked your comment that counselors at your school actually try and place students with teachers who might best meet their learning styles. I teach in a district that has only one teacher per subject in the high school where that is not an option, but what a great example of knowing your students and striving to make their education a successful experience.

(Jones) - In my opinion there are some students who will be successful no matter what happens in the classroom on a day-to-day basis. However, I would argue that the success or failure of the vast majority of students is dependent upon many factors-of which one of the most important is the actions of the students’ classroom teacher(s). As students we have probably all had teachers who were able to get more out of us because of the way that they taught, what they taught, how they treated us, or some other connection that they made with us. As teachers we have probably had students that we were able to get more out of than one of our colleagues or had one of our colleagues get more out of a student than we were able to. I think that this shows that most students do not learn in spite of the way we teach or treat them-they learn because of the way we teach and treat them.

I would agree with Ayers that the educational system often focus too much on student weaknesses. Obviously there are certain skill deficits that have to be addressed and remedied but what Ayers calls a deficiency-driven approach creates unmotivated students who are likely to fail and perhaps dropout. When educators focus on the strengths, interests, and skills of students rather than weaknesses, students are much more motivated to learn and much more likely to be successful.

(Wendler commenting on Hach): Megan, you got it exactly right, its all about keeping progress going with each kid. We do a MAP test 3 times per year, and we don't get as caught up on what a student scores as much as if they made progress. A student may be 20 points behind expectations, but if they grew 10 points, we are happy with their progress, because we know they are headed in the right direction with that childs learning.

Hawkins commenting on Marty) I agree Paula. We have become a society that doesn't handle "average" well at all. Parents who have an average child will do whatever it takes to find something they "master". I do believe that students who are lower achievers do get a slower start to the educational activities, that should not be held against them as they continue the educational system.

(Merritt) Comment on Weires: I think what you said about "how much are they learning?" is exactly right? They may get the test stuff and the academic side of things, but what else are they learning? That by being smart, authority figures will leave you alone? That if you want attention you have to act like a goofball or just not be very bright sometimes? Very good observation.

(Merritt): It is very unfortunate, but very true in what Ayers is saying. We are so focused on making sure the lower end kids catch up at times, that we push the top end kids to the side and they get by with just coasting through. I know that when I look at my classroom, I unfortunately do that at times. I should be much better at providing enrichment activities for those high-end kids, but find myself constantly working with the lower end kids to get them to understand or even just finish the work. I'm not sure there is a teacher out that could honestly say they spend equal time between the two sides. One reason we don't see the big push to even out that time is that the parents and kids on the top don't have anything to complain about because these are kids that are receiving A's all of the time. Not very often do we see parents say, "My kid's getting an A, you need to push him harder." However, we do hear a lot from parents, administration, and students about the kids with D's and F's and working to get them pulled up. I wish I had an answer for this issue, but I'm not sure what it would be. As much as I'd like to say it's as easy as just evening out the time, I'm not sure how possible that really is.

(ODonnell commenting on Merritt) I agree with your perspective on this topic. We spend a large amount of time planning for a small percent of our students. We need to put equal effort into enrichment and remedial. I feel that NCLB forces us to focus on remedial. I also think our grading system discourages challenging students. It used to be that a C is average and you would need to be challenged to get an A. Now I feel, A's and occassionally B's are the only acceptable grades for most. It no longer means above and beyond- it means average.

(Baldry) This quote made me think about how we place our ESL students as we schedule them each year. There are certain teachers that we want them to have and certain teachers we really try to avoid. There are some teachers that work well with certain types of students, and some that work better with others. We work to place ELLs with teachers who are willing to take the time to explain their assignments in a variety of ways, teachers who are willing to work with the ESL para-educators and ESL teachers, and teachers who are willing to exercise flexibility in their expectations (not lowering expectations, but allowing students the extra time they need or allowing them to do some work in the ESL room, etc). I really think our special education teachers advocate for their students in much the same way that I do as an ESL teacher. And then there are the students who have parents that know how to advocate for them. Unfortunately, there are too many more students that don't have these advocates. These are the students I worry about...the ones who can really become lost in the mix...the ones who may not even understand what they need to do to become successful...the ones who really need positive relationships with adults at school.

(Rial) I have to disagree wit hthe statement "students learn in spite of". If anything most students I come across refuse to learn in "spite of". I tend to beleive those students that are learning are learning because they motivate themselves to learn or form an ouside source (TEACHER, parent, coach etc.). Those students that are failing, yes, tend to concentrate on weaknesses rather than their strengths. As educators I believe we must work on those weaknesses not attack like Ayers said. We must also promote new strategies for learning while helping in those weak areas. Yes, a daunting task but this is why we are educators. The tasks are great but the rewards for our students are greater.

(Hughes) This is a strong statement, which I feel speaks to the need for a teacher to understand each student as an individual. Gifted and struggling students alike deserve respectful tasks. I believe this is why Differentiated Instruction has surfaced as an urgent intervention to help all students make growth. That is really our goal as educators, to help each child grow and learn. At times, I feel educators spend more time with students who struggle knowing what they are up against as they continue through school. As a kindergarten teacher, if I send a student on who does not have basic letter awareness and high frequency word knowledge, I feel I am setting them up to disengage more as a learner in 1st grade. The pace of the curriculum does not speak to the needs of each individual student. So I agree we tend to point out the weakness of skills a student demonstrates, not with the intention of pointing out failure, but because we want them to succeed. Ultimately, as educators we need to look at our own mindset and how it is reflected to each student. Celebrate the growth each child makes with the child, focus on core skills needed in life and always consistently express care to every child.

(Wylder)––Some students do learn in spite of their teachers, but all students learn from their teachers regardless of what gets taught. For example, Mrs. Terrible routinely designs her class as a study hall––assignment on the board and teacher present if students have any questions. The students wander around the room and pick up a book to read, have a conversation, play a game of cards, etc. Mrs. Terrible never walks around to check on student work, occasionally she sends a student to the office for discipline. Students in this classroom are learning, as Ayers suggests, but not what the school intends for the students to learn. However, there are also teachers that structure their classrooms, differentiate their instruction, and provide support for students that have significant deficits in their learning. All students in these type of classrooms experience learning because of superb teaching with-it-ness. There are moments with in my own classroom where I know that I've taught a student a particular skill because I can watch them use it the exact way I taught it in a much more generalized way. Those are the moments that make teaching a rewarding experience.

(Wylder commenting on Jones)––Just the other day I had the same thought that you posted, "most students do not learn in spite of the way we teach or treat them-they learn because of the way we teach and treat them." One of the biggest behavior issues I had at the beginning of the 2009-10 school year made the most amount of growth academically and behaviorally. This year his behaviors have been more exacerbated. I recognize a key difference between that ways his teacher this year interacts with him and how I interacted with him last year. I think students do need that relationship portion––built on respect––which some teachers can pull more out of students than others.

(Griswold) Some students are resilient. They will succeed no matter who they have as a teacher. The reasons can be due to their intelligence, parents, or perseverance. However, as we have discussed in several classes, the more poor teachers a child has, the more likely they are to struggle. As a leader, we need to make sure we focus on the whole student. But we also need to be sure that our teachers are performing well so that we don’t let this happen to any of our students.