Friday Focus - November 4th

"What you accept, you teach." 

"What you permit, you promote."

"People behave as they're expected to behave."

 "Be proactive, not reactive."

I am enjoying reading Hal Urban's book, Lessons from the Classroom and agree with those of you who were sharing reflections on it--it is an easy read, with practical, common sense things great teachers do in the classroom.  (Hal says "good", but I'm going to stick with "great"!)  I'm sure that as you're reading the book, you recognize many things you already do and it is just reaffirming of why it is effective and how it makes you a great teacher.

Since I spend an hour in the lunch room each day, Lesson #5 "Good teachers teach manners and the Golden Rule" really stood out to me.  I have been in conversations myself with colleagues (and my husband) regarding the lack of manners people (children and adults) show these days.  Hal Urban states his theory that "90-95% of the time in which kids are being rude, they don't even know they're being rude. They're acting out of ignorance...simply not knowing better...because no one has taught, reinforced, or trained them in what is used to be known as common courtesy."    Urban goes on to talk about moving from a reactive position (complaining about it, referring back to the "good old days," allowing rude disruptions in the classroom) to taking on a proactive approach to the issue.  You'll have to read that chapter to find out how he did this (I'd love to hear if anyone tries his activity or has done something similar).

As I read this, I also made the connection to Todd Whitaker's books and my previous Friday Focus post on how great teachers know they can only control themselves and when children fail, they look to themselves to look at what they can do differently.  Even though I have worked hard at home as a parent to instill manners in my own children (I'm proud to say that Alex has said "Thank you" since 15 months) I had never made the connection to how important our role is in teaching students these manners each day and that complaining about their lack of manners is a waste of our time. 

Since reading this chapter, I have been using some of Urban's ideas in the lunch room. When a student says, "I need ketchup" I no longer say "you need to say please", I simply just smile and pretend I don't hear them.  When they repeat "I need ketchup!" louder, I react the same way.  It doesn't take long for even the kindergarteners to ask, "Can I have ketchup please?" 

Something to reflect on in your reflection journals (someone in the feedback survey asked for this to be added, so feel free to respond in your journals or just think about it--I'm not checking):
How are you being proactive to teach/model manners and the golden rule for your students?  Are there any behaviors that you are "promoting" in your classroom, because you are allowing students to behave that way?  What would you like to differently.

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Thank you for your feedback on the Friday Focus/Monday Memo survey. It does take me extra time to write these each week, but from your feedback, it seems to be something you enjoy reading.  I appreciate the suggestions given, like trying to shorten them and adding a reflection question.  Several of you appreciated the links/resources/thoughts shared from articles I've read. A couple asked where I find them all...I find everything shared from other educators on twitter.

A couple people said that they would prefer to receive this on paper.  Since it was just two I am not going to print this for all, but please just let me know who you are and I have no problem printing it out and putting your mailbox.