...are you okay?

This is how I start my conversations with students when there is a behavior issue:

"...are you okay?"

I looked up the word, "behavior" and I found the second definition fascinating:

"the way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus;"

I find it fascinating that not only does this apply to humans and animals, but the definition actually puts animals first. This helped me think about they situations and stimulus that my 8th graders are dealing with. Some are taking on adult-sized burdens.

Some are helping their brothers and sisters get ready for school.
Some are taking care of things around the home while parents work.

Some have alternate living arrangements. Living with a grandparent, aunt, friend...

The bottom line is when they walk into my classroom, I don't know what has happened over the past 24 hours so I am quick to listen and slow to anger. I wasn't always this way...

At the first school I taught at there was a 6th grader who was tardy every day. Being a young teacher I marked them absent without a question.

This is the rule.

You broke it. 

Tardy.

After about 10 days of this, I decided to take action. We stepped into the hallway and I explained the importance of being on time to class. A great lecture from a great teacher...RIGHT?!
Wrong.

This poor student broke down in tears. It was completely my fault for taking such a harsh approach. A little shook up from her response I asked, "...are you okay?"

They were not.

As it turns out, her mom had taken a new job and was working afternoons, not getting home until almost midnight. Bless this mom for doing what she had to do to take care of her children, but that meant that the burden of getting a 6th grader and a 4th grader dinner, homework done, cleaned up, and in bed was now squarely on the shoulders of a 6th grader. The reason this 6th grader was tardy is because thry would make sure their little brother was eating breakfast (at school) then getting him to class, then head upstairs to my room. 

I never marked her tardy again. That was an adult-sized burden. 

A few days ago I had an 8th grade student who was falling asleep in class. I run a pretty dynamic classroom, but at every chance, their head would go down on their desk, using their arm for a pillow.

After many years in the classroom, my response time has shortened from days to minutes and my approach much more passive and leaningin the direction of compassion.

While the students were in a "Pair-Share" period I quietly took the sleepy student in the hall and asked, "...are you okay?"

This student wasn't willing to open up to their issues, but they did share with me that they hadn't been sleeping well at home because of some family drama. I let them know that if there was anything I could do, I would do it. Two days later this student approached me and explained that some things had been worked out and they were sleeping much better. I was so happy! Happy that I had asked. Happy that things were better. Happy that they trusted in me to tell me things were better!

As we approach the holidays, some of our students are not okay. As we take time off from school, some of our students will be short on food, warmth, and attnetion.

Sometimes the stress of being taken out of the routine of school can overpower the joy of clebration.

It's heartbreaking, but it's reality.
I will never pretend to have all the answers, just making observations.

ENGAGE! Three Tips for Middle School Teachers

How do you get 14-year-old kids who are awkwardly trying to be "cool" to care about whatever it is the state has mandated they become proficient in?  I don't have all the answers and I fail every day...but here are three ways to get your students in the game:

Move: I am a firm believer in getting students up out of their seats and moving. It doesn't have to be long, but a simple, "Stand up and push in your chair" gets some blood moving.

Then...and this is key... Tell them what you want them to talk about before you give them their partner criteria. What I mean by that is once they stand, give them the question they are trying to answer or the topic they are going to discuss first. If you start off with, "You are going to find someone wearing the
same color socks as you and talk about..." they are not listening- They are checking to see if their friends are wearing the same color socks.

The great thing about having them meet with someone from a different table is that they are bringing back "outsider information" when they get back to their original table. Their brain is engaged, their blood is moving, they got to chat with a friend for a few seconds, and life is good!

Academic Freedom: I give a lot of assignments where there are a few different ways to complete them. Mainly they involve some form of writing and/or drawing. My mentor teacher whom I met on my first day in the classroom, and on the 3rd day accompanied me to the superintendent's office (I had left Iraq about two weeks prior and had some "leadership tips" for said superintendent which were not warmly received...but I digress...) taught me that, "If a student can illustrate it, then they understand it." That has stuck with me since 2007.

It's not possible on all assignments, but whenever you can, let students engage the material their own way. Make a poster, pamphlet, or script for a YouTube video (that works better than if you say, "play").

Be Vulnerable: I have tried so many things in my classroom that have failed...it's awesome! I say that because if we only do what we know how to do we will never get better. We need to push our students in that direction and model it ourselves. Heads turn and ears perk up when you say, "I have never tried this before, and I have no idea how it's going to work...but we are going to see!"  This instills a little bit of stress into the class but in a good way. Students don't want to fail and they don't want to see their teacher fail. But the fact that you show them you are willing to fail means a lot. The best part about trying new things is when they work!

I was messing around with QR codes at m
y previous school (probably 2011-2012). They were kind of a new thing and a lot of people didn't even know what they were when they saw one. I had my students in patterns make "flash card videos" with an anti-bullying message. Then I linked those to a QR code, printed it with a title that said, "BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD" and taped them up in the commons area. Most students didn't have phones then, but we had a bunch of iPads in the building. At lunch, there were little groups of students all huddled around an iPad watching an anti-bullying video made by some of their little brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends. It was so cool!

Use your imagination and show some vulnerability!
You are a human too- You are allowed to try things that fail.

So are your students- Read about preparing to fail here!

You have two seconds...

 I look out at my classroom of 8th graders and I see them in various levels of attention and focus.

A few are locked into what we are talking about. I have caught their attention and kept it.

A few were with me for 12-15 seconds, but now they are gone. Their thoughts are somewhere else. I’m not too upset, give it another 12-15 seconds and they will be back.

A few checked out 2 seconds into the topic. Again, I might get them back in a matter of a few seconds.

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…Next.
1…Next.
1…2…3…4…Next.
1…2…Next.
Next.

I watch students drop in and out of focus on our topic. But why?

I believe that students have conditioned their brains to do two things:
First, they only consume content that they want to consume. If something shows up on their screen (TikTok, Instagram, Netflix, YouTube, etc.) that they don’t like, they do not watch it. They scroll up. Next.

Second, they refresh their attention every 15-60 seconds. TikTok videos average 21-34 seconds and Instagram Reels average 15-60 seconds with bloggers and influencers stating (limited sources) that on both platforms the “best” length for video engagement is 7-15 seconds. They will watch it until the end, building up the algorithm better than if they scroll off a 30-second video when they are only 15 seconds in.

In a very small sample size (about 140) in a very unscientific piece of research (I asked my 8th-grade classes to raise their hand to various questions) about 90% of my students used a variety of social media platforms daily with the most popular being TikTok and Instagram.  Based on the hand-raising method of research, a vast majority of my students watched between 1-4 hours of videos per day, more on the weekends and when the weather is bad.

Using some pretty bold estimates: a large number of students sitting in my classroom have consumed between 1000-4000 hours worth of videos that are most likely between 7 and 60 seconds each. That’s how their brains expect to consume content.
Wow.

Most of these videos are on auto-play, so as soon as they hit the screen they start playing.
1…2…3…Next.
1…Next.
1…2…3…4…5…Next.

If they don’t like it…Next.

It was cool for the first 9 seconds…Next.

This applies to not only Social media but television shows…music…games…what else?

As adults who grew up without social media, Netflix, and Spotify, this is new to our brains. Personally, I had about 30 years of brain development prior to my first swipe.

When I was a teenager I would turn on the TV and pick one of the 25 programs on. Whether I liked it or not, I would watch what was on or I would find something else to do. I would turn on the radio and either listen to what was on, try to dial in one of the other 12 stations, or turn it off. I had very little choice. I would make do with what was on. I didn’t have the option to choose what was next.

Fast forward to today.  On Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime I choose exactly what I want to watch and when. I can choose to pause, restart, fast forward, and basically do anything I want to keep things that are entertaining to me in front of my eyes. If it’s not entertaining…Next.

When it comes to music, I have curated playlists to play only songs that I like or songs that are similar to those I like. If I don’t like a song…Next. If I’m trying to get a new personal record in the weight room and I need the right motivation…Next…Next…Next…here we go! Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes have come a long way from trying to guess how long to press fast forward on my first Walkman!

The first video game I ever played was, “Snoopy and the Red Baron” on Atari. I was an Ace. It was the only game my babysitter had, so it was the only game we played. My cousin had a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with Mario, Top Gun, and RC Racing. Those were our 3 choices. That was it. My 12-year-old son will play 10 different games on Roblox within a 20-minute period. If it’s not entertaining or he’s not doing well…Next.

My brain was developed when there wasn’t much choice, and those choices came slowly. Think of the 14-year-old born in 2008 or my 12-year-old son born in 2010. They have never known a world where they couldn’t watch, listen, or play what they wanted to when they wanted to. They never will. If it’s not what they want at the point in time…Next. 

With the video media, after 7-15 seconds…Next.
With a new hit song, after their favorite part…Next.
With a game where they are losing or losing interest…Next.

As I look out at my classroom, I can almost see their brains scrolling. That was a pretty cool sentence we read about the Declaration of Independence…Next. 

“Thomas Jefferson said…” Next.
“What do you think about the third amendment?” Next.

As I was having a social media conversation with my 8th graders, I asked a question of the class. As my student gave their opinion, I watched the rest of the class and watched as they started listening to the response before their brain started scrolling.
Next.

My 8th grader gave a response that lasted about 10 seconds, and in that time 10 of my 27 students started scrolling. In that 10 seconds, 37% of the class didn’t find the answer entertaining and didn’t want to listen anymore. Next.
Wow.

How do I teach in that mental environment?
I have no idea.

My state-mandated content can’t entertain like the videos on TikTok and Instagram. Next.
My energy and passion can’t hook their attention in the first 1.5 seconds then maintain or keep it for the first 15 seconds, then the next 15…then the next 15. 

In a 55-minute class period, there are 220, 15-second periods. I can’t compete with that.
Next.

The mental environment that my students are in isn’t going away. As a matter of fact, it could be becoming curated more for entertainment with less time to between.
It’s my job to figure out how to teach in that space.
I don’t know how…yet.

If you’re still reading, share your thoughts.
Next!