Fast Llama's and a Fresh Start

Fast Llama's

I am sharing this free resource from Doug Curry today.  His writing is so good, I can just hear his voice.  Doug Curry has tons of free resources that I am beginning to share with you, coupled with the OTFD session we had with Jenny, there is a lot of good things happening for our students at Labay!

Here is one of the free resources Doug wrote about the greatest gift teachers have; a Christmas Break RESET! 

Enjoy!

Your Christmas Gift: A Fresh Start

Have you been such a slow llama this year that it has been months since you have even seen the pack?

Are you so slow that the pack conspires to avoid you?

Are you now doubting that the pack in fact even exists?

Has this year caused you to seriously question your career choice?

Do you have one wall of your classroom dedicated to marking off the days as if you are awaiting parole?

You are not alone!  This is particularly true if you are new to this profession or new to your unique circumstance.

There are very few jobs in the world that allow for an opportunity to completely start over and thus correct all of the mistakes that one has made.  The world of sports comes to mind.  As long as a football player has not yet been run out of the league, each new year offers a chance for redemption.  You see this all the time in sports.  A player who last year basically stunk now turns into this year’s hottest superstar.

Fortunately for us, teaching is one of these professions that offers the opportunity for, shall we say, “rebirth.”  Every year, unless you loop with the same kids (and thus bring along all of your mistakes in the same way that we carry viruses with us from room to room), you have a completely new opportunity to start over and correct all of your mistakes from the previous year.

Why are we talking about starting over when only half of the year is completing?  Fair question.  

However, never underestimate the power of the holiday break!

Granted, it is not summertime.  We don’t have the opportunity for complete redemption.

If done right, your two weeks off along with the return of your students in January offers you the opportunity to hit a very important button:

That’s right!  You can definitely hit the reset button. 

When the kids come back in January, they can be met with the “new you!”

How do you make this happen?  Here are the steps:

1.    Be quick to forgive yourself for whatever mess you may have created during this first semester.  

In any type of leadership position, which of course includes teaching, leaders inevitably make mistakes.  Great leaders take responsibility for their mistakes, but they don’t dwell on them.  They learn from their mistakes, adjust, and move on.  Picture a great quarterback who throws an interception early in a game.  Did he mean to throw it?  Of course not.  If he dwells on the mistake, he may become reluctant to do all of the things that come with being the leader of the team, which in this case means:  Throw the ball!  It takes real courage to continue to lead after you have made a mistake.  Guess what?  No matter how good you become at this job, you will still make mistakes.

2.    While forgiving yourself for the mistakes you made the first semester, own them.  They are yours.  You did it.  Your classroom will be whatever you want it or allow it to be.  If it has been terrible, you did it.

When we fail, we will do everything we can to justify our failure.  It’s human nature, but it’s a losing strategy.

You can try and convince yourself and others that everyone else in your school is failing at classroom management, but I’m sorry.  It’s not true.  Folks like me who get to visit all different classrooms can tell you.  There are teachers on your campus who are succeeding.  They are succeeding with the same students who seem to enjoy seeing you suffer.

It’s you.

Have courage and accept it.  It’s the first step in overcoming any problem.

 

3.    Make a list of all that has gone wrong related to your classroom management during this first semester.  Here is a resource that will help:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rgdxyqY6O-Xx_ShcUPW6Q0CJHNNhT89_  

4.    Now make a list of what you are going to do to make it better.

Does it involve your:

•   Classroom Systems?    https://drive.google.com/open? id=14MWj0f3dE08GUdXKOVc32a-7E9FHQlnN  

•   Teacher Presence?   https://drive.google.com/open? id=1bFv52GUPY0nICrHpB_NV20LRntOECJK1  

•   Your Beliefs?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnEpFoh9gnI

•   Your Relationships with your Students?

5.  Prioritize.  You won’t be able to do everything.

Pick the most important things.  

•   Your room arrangement • How you have your materials stored.

•   How students enter.

•   How you dismiss.

•   How you gain and keep their attention.

•   How they respond in class.

Your classroom will be whatever you want it to be.

If it is great, it is because of you.

If it is terrible, you allowed it.

Kids will rise to whatever level you expect.

They will also sink as low as you let them go.

The new year is a gift!  Take advantage of this opportunity!

Thank you for what you do!  - Doug

Have a wonderful break!  We have just 5 days to make a difference to the life of a kid.  Make them miss us! Make them look forward to coming back in January! Make them and each other believe there is no better place to be than to be together at school!

-Tracy

Staying on the Side of Hope for All Students

 Fast Llama's,

There are many reasons for the attraction I hold for Doug Curry and his "How to Train Llama's" protocols and ideals.  But, the one thing that hooked me was his treatise on hope, and more specifically staying on side of hope.  When I first read his words in 2013, I was 900 miles away from my home base and I was struggling physically and emotionally.  I didn't realise (or give myself time to process) how difficult is was to move across the state.  My husband had gotten a great job and I had landed in a school with warm and friendly teachers who welcomed me and my son into their circle quickly.  I had however, focused on the physical part of moving, getting my house ready to put on the market, applying and getting an interview, getting my school age son enrolled and of course the physical packing and unpacking involved.  But, I did not reflect on the emotional toll moving would have on me and my classroom culture.  

*side note - switching schools in the middle of the year is challenging even if you have been teaching for 20 years! My new principal let me in the building the Sunday before the students returned on Monday.  The class had had a sub for 6 weeks and it looked that way! The goggle cabinet alone... oof 

In many ways, unpacking my classroom decor helped get me settled back in, but, have you ever moved and an old item doesn't quite fit in your new space?  That's how I was feeling. I had lost my identity somewhat of who I "was".  I kept trying and trying to instill my traditions into a new place without really thinking about "why" I was instilling them in the first place.   I was spinning, trying so hard to be who I thought I needed to be, do ALL the things I thought I needed to do, but, somehow couldn't.  And there was a constant barrage of trainings, paperwork (including mistakes) and updates that needed to get done. I perceived nothing as working and I just felt miserable and most importantly, ineffective at teaching.  

When I read Doug's words, it was the food my soul needed at a time when I was mourning my old life and it gave me the words and phrases I needed to activate a part of my brain that needed to hear it for my new life.  You have to understand, my new home was lovely, my kids were flourishing, my husband and my careers were solid, but something was missing.   I had lost my "why", the meaning behind why I was a teacher and what impact I could have on the next generation. I often blame the "big move" as me feeling this way, but, some small part of me thinks that Doug's message would of impacted me even if I had never moved.  Proof that we are forever learning new things and when we open our hearts and let the light in, it can change us in ways that we could never imagine, even after 20 years of classroom teaching.

Here is his message, I hope it inspires you to reflect on your "why" and the impact you can have on your students.  

Hope or Hopelessness-

The Deciding Factor in your School Two Sides 

When you enter any school as a teacher, in particular a school with special challenges, which by the way, all schools have, there will always be a struggle as to which you side you take. There is the side of hope and the side of hopelessness. There is the side where you look at a child who comes from difficult circumstances. He may not have a mother or a father. He may have been abused. He may just now be learning the language. He has lived in generational poverty forever, and both he and his family really don’t know any other way to live. He may have siblings already incarcerated. His parents may be in and out of jail. Perhaps neither of them wants him anymore. He may come from a family that only sends him to school because it is the law. Education is not a priority. It is not seen as the way to anything. The family may be hungry, and so is the student. It may be all the family knows. Coming from this situation, the student may express, “I don’t care about this stuff” when faced with any educational task you lay before him. The student may appear to be hostile. The student won’t read in class because he never did learn to read, yet somehow he is in your 8th grade Language Arts class. When faced with this student and others like him, which side are you on? There is one side that thinks, “You know, this student only gets one chance at life. He may have been dealt a lousy hand of cards. 

But you know what? Our school is the answer for him! Give him to me! I will help him see what his future can be! I will help him learn to work hard and experience success! If he doesn’t know how to read, our school will teach him. If he is hostile, we will win him over. We will love him. We will show him the first light he may have ever seen in a life of darkness. If we love him unconditionally, and we refuse to ever give up on him, all of the bad things that have happened to him will become his strengths in the future. Collectively, as a school we can do that! 

We have that power to influence kids. He will be successful! We won’t have it any other way!” The other side thinks, “What do you expect me to do with him? I can’t change what he’s been through. I can’t make him care. I have no power to make his life better.” Which side? In every school you will find folks representing both sides. 

Most teachers begin the profession on the side of hope. However, teaching is hard, and challenges occur. Many teachers, when faced with adversity, slowly start moving to the other side. If they don’t choose to leave the profession, they believe that the only way they can survive is to stay on the side of hopelessness. This way they won’t get their feelings hurt. This way they won’t feel like a failure. There’s kind of a protection that comes with being on the side of hopelessness. When you stand on the side of hope, you risk failing. You risk failing and having everybody know it, because you were out there on a limb for everyone to see. Sometimes young teachers leave the side of hope because there is pressure from their coworkers to join the side of hopelessness. These are the grizzled veterans who can’t wait to tell the rookie “the way things really are” in this school. These grizzled veterans have a real stake in bringing others to the side of hopelessness. Deep down these veterans hate themselves for having abandoned the side of hope. It soothes the pain a bit when they successfully recruit someone else to come to their side. 

Many teachers enter the profession at an age where they are far from complete in their own personal growth. They are still learning who they are and what they want from life. They may have never even learned how to be assertive and stand up for themselves in their own lives. Now they stand in front of 30 high school students every day during 3rd period. 

Being able to successfully manage a classroom is often about how you view yourself. Are you confident in yourself? Are you able to acknowledge your weaknesses and faults? Are you comfortable when you realize that others know all too well your imperfections? If you are not comfortable, you are in danger of going from the side of hope to the other side very quickly. You are in danger of feeling personally attacked every time a student makes a bad decision or challenges your authority. 

That normal little game that occurs in every classroom now becomes something much bigger to you. It becomes more about you and protecting who you are. When this happens, the side of hopelessness beckons you. If you don’t care, it’s much safer. You won’t get hurt. If your expectations are low or nonexistent, they are much easier to reach. Some young teachers end up on the side of hopelessness because they have a series of bad experiences due to poor administrators. Maybe they are thrown in a rowdy class of 7th graders and offered no help or support. Instead they are blamed for the chaos that ensues. 

The choice now becomes one of leaving the profession or going to the side of hopelessness. Many teachers enter the profession burdened by warped or unrealistic expectations. They are weighed down by the “shoulds” such as “kids should act this way” or “things shouldn’t be this way.” “Kids should come to school knowing how to act.” “We shouldn’t have to teach kids how to act—I am a history teacher.” Teachers like this either leave or move to the hopeless side. As you read this, do you find that you are on the hopeless side? (Is this beginning to sound like the concluding moments of a church service?) I am not here to judge you for being on the side of hopelessness. You may have a very good reason that you went there, and it may very well have happened because of classroom management. 

Keep going. We may get you to change sides. 

Until Next Time...

http://www.fastllama.com/free-resources

How Wearing a $6.99 Server Apron Leveled Up my Teaching Game for the Win!

Fast Llamas,

Today I want to talk about how wearing a $6.99 server apron ordered from Amazon revolutionized and improved my classroom management system. This is an old post, but such a good reminder of how innovative and creative thinking can go a long way. This also puts the idea of "shift". When things are not working, what can you do in yourself to exact change. This was one of those times fo me and I hope it inspires you.
While teaching in Amarillo ISD, I came across an idea that I decided to try and it worked tremendously. It was probably the simplest idea ever, but it made my life in the classroom much easier. It was a server apron.



The teacher who gave me the idea was actually wearing a Home Depot apron.



But, I couldn't find at the time, so I ordered an apron from Amazon and it worked just as well. My school colors at the time were dark green, so, I ordered mine in that color. I think two came in a pack, so I gave the other one to my teacher partner. She used it with success too.
Here's a list of successes.
1. No more pencil problems, it was loaded with sharpened ones. “Need a new pencil? Here ya go...” This is actually an idea born from kids who were bored constantly getting up and sharpening their pencils and being a disruption. So, I changed the system to an exchange one for one. One broken or dull pencil to a sharpened one.
2. Passes – we weren’t allowed to use a permanent pass in my building, so this worked nice
3. Reward tickets – “boom! caught you being good”
4. Erasers - mistakes happen
5. Need a pen to sign passes? They're in there too as are dry erase markers and sharpies
6. 'Magic erasers' – we weren’t allowed to give jolly ranchers… so, this was a secret between me and the kids.
7. Warning cards – “boom! caught you needing some help” … “show me your P.L.A.N” *see warning cards blog...
8. My phone… because I used timers and music a lot.

Using this system allowed me to never leave the power zone when it was super important not to do so.
Did administrators and fellow teachers make fun of it?... kind of, but, I am not there for them, I am there for the kids. And honestly my own sanity… And, I own my weirdness… And there are teacher aprons on Pinterest, so I know there are other nerds like me who wear server aprons when they teach. Be brave and a good sport about it.
Putting it on each morning was like putting on my armor. It geared me up for the day ahead and aided in the 'be there, play, make their day, choose your attitude' attitude needed to lead students.
Try it... you may like it

Finding Our and Our Students' Possible Selves

 Hey Fast Llamas,

I am sitting here enjoying a chocolate bomb hot cocoa that my friend Melissa gave me at school. I have been saving it a slow Sunday morning and today is the day!  I was up early this morning and the house is quiet no tv on yet, so it is a good time to write.  

I found a strategy from Jim Knight called, "Power With Rather than Power Over" and I was intrigued by it. The strategy speaks to having high effect sizes for goal setting, building student relationships and improving classroom behaviors and management.  In speaking about negative behaviors there is good new and there is bad news.  The bad news is if you ask any teacher, they will tell you that negative interactions with students is the most frustrating thing about our roles as educators.  And negative student behaviors show up in many differents ways on the spectrum, from outbursts to shutting down.  The good news is there are ideas and strategies that we can use to change our students behaviors.  We have a lot of power over our students, and we can use this to our advantage and inevitably our students favor.  This strategy keeps us on what Doug Curry says is the "side of hope" for all kids.  

Let's think about it:

1. few people have more direct power over others than teachers.  Don't think this is a bad thing, we are in the job of changing lives!

2. Students are served well when a teacher recognizes students need for autonomy against their own need for power over them (even when we are trying to change their behavior for good)

3.  Teachers can avoid the idea of "Power Over" when they reflect on how their students see their classroom culture and see it through "others' eyes"

Power Over can show up as:

1. subtle ridicule or talking about a kid's behavior like they are not in the room

2. lecturing students on "who is the boss" - "this is my classroom"

3. using the "teacher glare" - the kid already thinks you don't like them...

4. "show up" students when they show they have greater knowledge and experience in a debate

5. not allowing students to have roles in the classroom and carry some of the workload

6. not allowing students to have a say in the norms, procedures or systems

7. "Rounding Up"... this is when a teacher finishes a kids answer or adds to their answer instead of just eliciting more from the kid... Sometimes this shows up as being in a hurry to move the conversation along, or as excitement... the teacher is so excited that the kid is correct they join in... stop doing this

8. being inconsistent with affirmations.  If you say "great job" to one kid, and "wow, that was fantastic" to another, it sends a message that you have favorites, or that some answers are better than others... this is why giving snaps is so good, can't judge it... I guess avoid giving one kid one snap and another 25... 

All of these actions breakdown relationships with kids and make kids lose their desire to learn.  They will not work for you if they think you do not like them. And trust me, they latch on to this idea immediately.   I don't mean liking them as  "friends".  I do not want to be best buds with my students, I am talking about being kind, nice, fair and consistent.  These are things that make students "like you" and think you like them.

To the teachers who say, "I am only here to teach my content", yeah, we know that already... and so do the kids... When kids leave your classroom, they tend to remember two kinds of teachers... 

1. teachers who were kind, they have fond memories of  the learning, yes, even if it was challenging

2.  teachers who were mean, they don't remember learning anything useful and they class was awful

3.  sorry mediocre teachers... they don't remember you at all

We can build our Power With by:

1. asking about our students day

2. by listening and giving students your full attention when they are talking (grab a chair and get on their level, kneel down to get on their level, face and shoulders face the speaker, teach others to do the same)

3. connecting with students with one to one conversations and affirm their contributions (celebrate their effort)

4. refraining from "rounding up" don't interrupt kids when they are talking and finish their thoughts

5. avoiding sarcasm and singling students out - no power trips 

6. communicating consistent respect for all students

7. empathizing with students and seeing the world through their eyes 

    - thinking about your class culture from their perspective

   - is your content and lesson delivery providing meaning while knowledge is being applied? 

 “How does this actually relate to me, how does this work for me, with my understanding?” "What's in it for Me?"

 5.  focusing on building our students "Possible Selves".  

   - this occurs when we take time to teach students how to write goals they believe are achievable, support those desires to achieve the goal and help students develop a plan to achieve the goal

- these goals can be short term or long term

When we talk about goals with kids we are sharing with a highly valuable life skill and we are instilling with them feelings of hope.  On lame duck school days (days at the end of a semester or the day before a holiday) think about having student complete a Possible Selves activity.  Because envisioning their future selves can be very motivating. Here is a great survey to use: 

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/chapters/Student_Survey_Middle.pdf

What are their hope for their Possible Selves, what are their dreams? 

What are their short term goals (today's expectations)

What are their fears (what do they want to avoid)

We can also reflect on ourselves and our behaviors.  

We can:

1. Think deeply about our student's needs and emotions

2. Think about the student's experiences during class, when planning, picture your students in your class. What are they doing? How are they feeling?

3. Think deeply about the meaningful learning experiences we are providing for students.  Are we challenging them appropriately?

4. Reflect on these questions: 

When we stop and reflect about who we are and who we want to be, it can do wonders for us and our students.  

Until next time...

references:

https://www.slideserve.com/denton/possible-selves

https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/toolkit.htm

Fast Llama Teachers and Making the Days Count

Hey Fast Llamas!

Somebody shared with me this Saturday that they could not believe how the month of November seems to be flying, I agreed, September took what seemed like 2 years to get through and now we are making our grocery lists for Thanksgiving!  I have "Friendsgiving" with my neighbors next Saturday!  

Here is a quick reminder to avoid "counting down" to the holiday and how this thinking can  send a message to others and to our brain to not "make the most of every moment."  Why is this detrimental?  Let's break it down...

All learning and thinking is as Eric Jensen says, "is state dependent".  Three states that we encounter daily (and hourly) is our cognitive, emotional and physical state. (in Quantum Learning, we call it a "congruence") What's interesting is that when one is changed, all three change as they are interwoven in our brain's neural networks.  Here's an example, you are working on a task, you start feeling sleepy and droopy, so you sit up, take a deep breath, raise your eyebrows, turn on some music or even get up and get a drink.  This changes your physical state, and thus, your cognitive and emotional one too.  (you become more capable of thinking and your emotional state gets fed with a favorite song and in my case, a Diet Coke, which makes me happy).  Our state is our frame of mind or our mood and we do have control of it.  

What does this have to do with "counting down" to a break?  Well, our words and thoughts influence us tremendously and they have the power to inspire us in negative and positive ways.  When we count down, we are sending a message to our brains that where we are and what we are doing is equated with something bad.  I know I am teetering in the "toxic positivity" realm that is super popular right now, so I will be mindful about it.  I am not saying to tell your brain to avoid negativity or squash it down or ignore it.  What I am saying that we have tough roles and careers right now and we embrace it everyday.  We need to tell others when we are hurting, tired and needing help, that's the only way others know to step in and be helpful.  But, counting down the time that we are at work so that we can spend time away from it, just reinforces those connections in our brain toward negative feelings. We already know it's tough, why send another message reinforcing it?  

No way am I telling to you to "turn your frown upside down" which actually makes be blech just typing it.

We don't have to be happy or peppy all day long, but the time we are at school is what is it, time that we are together with our colleagues, our students, and our friends.  They are opportunities to be a shining light in someone's bad day, to find a new way of doing something that makes it easier for you or someone else or share a laugh with others. We don't silence our feelings when they are negative, but, seek out others for help and vice versa.  This is the good that have for each other.  

A person I admire at school posted an article about "toxic positivity" on social media and I am very mindful of it... here is something I found that frames responses to avoid it.

Our words and actions also influence our students too, they are watching and listening.  What message about our learning and our classrooms do you want to send? Do we want to send a message to our students that we don't like the time we spend together with them?  I don't think so.  We have control of the messages we send to students about the learning that goes on in their classrooms.  We also have the opportunity to instill this life-long skill of making the most of every moment.  That the time we have together is just as fun and important as the time we spend out of school.  School is not a place to avoid, but a place where they belong.  And we belong there to for each other.  

So in bringing it all together, we can do things to change our state of mind in the moment to get through tough times.  We can also support one another during the day to help our work colleagues (and students) get through those tough times too.  

https://thepsychologygroup.com/toxic-positivity/

Fast Llamas Witness the Good

Hey Fast Llamas,

Is it just me or is everything that used to be normal seems so extra this year?  Just the fact that it was a Full Moon, Halloween, Daylight Saving Time ending and a new month starting, seemed so much!  I have to change the clocks and the calendar?  UGH!  I don't know, it seems like I wouldn't of even bothered me if this was a "normal" non-Covid-19 year, but, everything feels like it takes more energy.  So when my sweet neighbor texted that she had breakfast tacos for me, I jumped on over next door.  I was just too exhausted from all the clock changing to cook this morning.  In reflecting on this feeling, I do believe it is a perception thing.  I think we are holding tight to everything, waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next new thing to do, another procedural change.  (and even when our procedures change for the GOOD, we still react).   For the month of November, let's make a conscience effort to be more optimistic, more grateful, more thankful, more reflective and more proactive. (Whoa, Tracy, that's a lot!) 

In simpler terms, let's stop and think about the good we have and make plans to change the things we can (or at least reduce the stress they are causing us).

Jim Knight has a strategy called, "Witness to the Good" and just the title alone gives me hope.  The objective for this strategy is to create a positive environment for learning in which constructive student behavior is reinforced and destructive behavior is corrected.  

Let's do a Hattie Check:

This strategy would match with numbers many of the 12 Influences listed above.  While we break down this strategy, come back to the clock above and reflect on where it aligns.  

Two things to consider: First, just because some influences are pretty high in effect size, we shouldn't ignore effect sizes close to .4 (the hinge point).  A lot of time, small reflections of our own orchestration of our interactions with students do have lasting impacts (it's a marathon, there are no quick fixes with students). And second, the word CONSISTENCY is not listed above, so please remember, without it students won't know where they stand and this can lead a chaotic learning environment. 

So, here comes the work on our parts, the reflective and proactive things we do before we see behavior and then our reaction to it.  (because we interact with humans and not robots)

In order to be a witness to the good, teachers are reflective about what students actions they want to see that foster learning.  Teachers strive for a higher ratio of reinforcing this attention compared with correcting it.  If the teacher is constantly only correcting inappropriate behavior, then all the attention unintentionally focuses on it... let's shift it!

"Where attention goes, energy flows"  James Redfield

Let's focus our attention what we WANT to see, putting our energy toward that goal!

Where to get started:

1.  make a list of of behaviors you want to see

2.  make a list of how you will celebrate/praise these behaviors when you see them

3.  make a list of behaviors you are constantly correcting

4.  make a list of how these behaviors will be corrected (first, second, third time)

5.  work on ONE behavior at a time until it is consistently seen the way you want to to see it

6.  commit to saying hello to all students as they enter, especially those you have negative interactions with

7.  seek out positive interactions with students not involved with behavior or academics

8.  find out about things your kids like outside of school (what's the thing they love right now)

9. thank students for good behavior, both academic and behavioral

10.  praise effort (effort creates ability)

11.  remind yourself to praise and set praise goals, (put a number of sticky notes on your desk, each one is a praise reminder, for example, put 7 sticky notes down for 5th period, remove as your praise)

12.  double praise on certain days

13.  vary methods of praise - know what kind of praise your kids like

14. set praise goals based on prompts, like "if someone walks in the room, I will praise two kids"

15. Display student work

16. call, email or mail postcards home describing the "good" (talk to me about postage)

17.  ignore attention seeking behavior by praising those doing right

18. never miss an opportunity to talk to a kid in the hall, in the cafeteria, even if they are not your students

Have a great first week of November! And remember, as Doug Curry would say, "Students will do whatever you ask of them, if they know you love and respect them".  Until next week...

References

For more on this seek out https://www.safeandcivilschools.com/

High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching by Jim Knight (2013)

Using Proactive Strategies to Make Connections with Students

Hey Fast Llamas! 

Last week, we talked about a "learner-friendly culture" and I mentioned "learning maps" as a way increase student and content connections.  Let's take a deep dive with this strategy, in which we use our content to make our learning outcomes, expectations and our clarity of purpose more visible to students.  

A Learning Map is a graphic organizer showing all of the skills and ideas students are to learn in a unit.  Students use learning maps to review, monitor their learning and gain confidence in what they have learned.  Teaching students how to set goals, reflect on their learning and use the feedback they are receiving to improve their learning are all good practices. We are teaching "learning how to learn" principles and it is so good for students. Teachers can use learning maps to ensure clarity which has a high effect size.  

 Here is an example of one for a 7th grade science unit "Biointeractions".  

or here: 

Learning maps can also be drawn like a concept map.  

Why bother?  Learning maps are useful because they provide a visual depiction of a unit that keeps everyone on track and they can be utilized as a study guide as well.  Teachers should devote about 35 minutes at the beginning of a unit to introduce the unit by modeling it with students.  Throughout the unit, teachers and students revisit the map to see how their progress is going, recording new learning as needed.  At the end of the unit, students have built their own study guide.  Learning maps teachers skills in goal writing, note taking, feedback, reflection, and ownership of learning.  It also increases the connections students have to the content and their own learning.  Teachers benefit with reflection of their own clarity of learning targets and goals.  Learning maps are intended take students from point A (the beginning of the unit) to point B (the end of the unit), with interactions with the learning along the journey.  

Tips:

1.  be sure to answer the guiding questions otherwise remove them

2. learning maps are one page only

3. show connections

4. organized with the sequence of the unit

5. revisit Big Ideas often

Lastly, there is a commitment to this concept that needs some "sticktoitness".  We often lose sight of the "why" due to time constraints.  Honestly, I came to Labay in my role 5 years ago, blazing to do these with teachers and students, and time was always an issue. I also can reflect that with the MLD the district provides, these seemed an over abundance of information. I have many learning maps (which I unfortunately called Anchor Charts) that are written and are not being utilized at the moment.  However, after revisiting Jim Knight's work on this strategy, I have come to embrace it once again.  This is definitely a strategy to keep in mind as we move forward this year, as student connections are more important than ever.  Try learning maps... you just might like them!