BOOK READINGS Nov 2021
Working Hard, Working Happy (2020)
- Cultivating a Culture of Effort and Joy in the Classroom
Rita Platt
Chapter 1
Working Happy, Working
Happy
The Big Idea
Classrooms that develop a culture of joy and effort are
classrooms where students learn best
What is my philosophy of education?
Every child can learn and it can be fun for them.
1. Every student can
grow, learn and achieve
at high levels. All
students should be
offered a rigorous
curriculum that focuses
on growth.
The Five-part Philosophy
1. Every student can grow, learn and achieve at high levels. All
students should be offered a rigorous curriculum that focuses on
growth.
2. Joy is critical for learning. When students are joyful, they will
take more risks, meet more challenges, and generally learn
better.
3. The best teachers are coaches, not facilitators or bosses.
4. Motivation is key, but the way we think of motivation must
change.
5. Classroom management is absolutely foundational to teaching
and learning.
Identifying a Philosophy of Education
- focus efforts on what is important
- stay true to core values
- rejuvenate love of teaching
- make decisions about change of school
- find allies and thought partners
1
2. Joy is critical for
learning. When students
are joyful, they will take
more risks, meet more
challenges, and generally
learn better.
3. The best teachers are
coaches, not facilitators
or bosses.
4. Motivation is key, but
the way we think of
motivation must change.
5. Classroom
management is
absolutely foundational
to teaching and learning.
Chapter 2
Joy and Effort, Best
Friends Forever!
Joy and hard work go
hand in hand in a
teacher’s efforts to
motivate students to
meet learning goals.
All children want to learn and all crave challenge. Students thrive
when they work to meet challenging goals in supportive learning
environments.
Learners should be coached so that they work hard and celebrate
their own successes and actually make documented growth.
Joyful classroom is not a free-for-all environment.
Coaching is defined as the art and science of helping someone
achieve their goals through explicit teaching, modelling, hands-on
guided practice and lots of independent practice.
The coaching model places the students’ learning efforts at the
center of the classroom, preserving and valuing the teacher’s
expertise in guiding, troubleshooting, and supporting those
efforts.
Real motivation comes from seeing success as possible.
Recognising and celebration of growth toward goals should be
frequent and pointed. Most of the time it means conferring with
students so that they begin to see the results of their own hard
work to learn and grow.
Facilitate student transitions, stay organised, keep disruptive
behaviour to a minimum, and also have fun.
Differentiated instruction has a reciprocal relationship with
classroom management.
 when Instruction is differentiated so that students are working
at their individual challenge levels, misbehaviour is less likely to
occur.
A joyful classroom = students feel happy even when the work
they are engaged in is not immediately fun.
Fun is a temporary state of being or doing whereas joy and
happiness are a long-term sense of well-being that is present
event when a person is not having fun.
Dopamine= when released, provokes development of long-term
memory
Humour = engages students and keeps their attention.
Affective elements – mood, feelings and attitudes can make
learning easier when they are more positive
When students feel fear, pressure, low self-esteem, anger, new
ideas cannot pass through this filter and cannot learn optimally.
Tips to increase Joy:
1. smiling often
2. laughing more
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3. Being kind to yourself
 the teacher sets the tone
Play music! Music and movement elevates the mood.
- Sam and the Womp Bom Bom
- Walking on Sunshine
Record yourself teaching lesson and can split class into 2 groups
and team teach with myself.
 Games and technology
Kahoot
Goosechase (www.goosechase.com) use with iPads create
scavenger hunts
Edpuzzle
Flipgrid
Rigor
It should not mean hard. It should be defined based on an
individual’s learning needs. It should mean instruction, school
work, learning experiences, and education expectations that are
academically, intellectually and personally challenging but not
consistently frustrating or just more work.
Vigor instead?
Rigor means helping students to work hard to grow and learn
within their own academic starting places, levels, interests and
needs for support. Goes hand in hand with GRR.

Gradual Release of Responsibility:
I do
We Do
You Do
**Teachers MUST Check for Understanding throughout entire
cycle.
GRR+
I do
We Do
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You children do it together
You do it Yourself
 Motivation Theory by Dan Pink
In order to be motivated, a person must have
1. autonomy or choice
2. a clear purpose for what they are doing
3. perception that they can achieve mastery
Autonomy: allowing for maximum self-determination
Offer students voice and choice
e.g. thumbs up or thumbs down, offer options for how to
complete work or demonstrate understanding.
Purpose: helping students understand why what they are
learning is important, how it relates to what they have already
learnt and will learn in future lessons and to real life.
Connect prior learning to new concept
- What am I learning?
- Why am I learning it?
- How will I know when I’ve learnt it?
Mastery: allowing students access to content that they can be
successful with and intentionally showing students their success
with data and other evidence.
** When students see themselves learning, they can begin to
believe they are capable of mastery.
 Role of Self Control
Must have a balance.
Day-to-day work of learning, be on task before joy-making
craziness. Have to be ready to come right back into the learning
zone when song is over.
Tips for building hardworking classroom:
1. Make learning targets clear
2. Do less but do it better
3. Breed success
4. Teach Growth Mindset
5. Brand your Classroom
1. Make learning targets
clear
- What am I learning?
- Why am I learning it?
- How will I know when I’ve learnt it?
(Laminate and put in the classroom)
- state learning targets in student-friendly language
- help answer they 3Qs above
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2. Do less but do it better
3. Breed success
4. Teach Growth Mindset
5. Brand your Classroom
Chapter 3
Where Everyone Knows
Your Name
- write on board, get students to write down, post them, recite
(change it up!)
When possible, drop an assignment!
Students are held to a high standard for doing quality work if
there are fewer tasks involved.
How to encourage and highlight success in class
- extrinsic rewards: stickers, post work, handwritten note, pat on
the back
- call parents and share positive stories about them
- remind students of past successes/challenges conquered when
they start new challenges or are struggling.
- tell students failure is often a part of eventual success
FAIL = First Attempt in Learning when effort is put in
- “yet” When student claim they ‘can’t’ , add the word ‘yet’. I
cannot do it yet…
Intelligence and ability are changeable.
People can make themselves smarter through effort.
Convince students that everyone is capable of growing their
intelligence.
Praising effort over ability.
“Well done! You worked hard on this!”
Developing is the practice of developing a unique identity for
your classroom.
Generate positive and specific associations
Develop a brand that can drive students to work hard, achieve
more and enjoy school more.
Continually incorporate your brand into classroom talk
Make it a part of daily interactions.
Use it as a platform to discuss why you do things as you do. Share
your brand widely!
Add it as a running head on assessments, include it in rubrics to
assess assignments
Building relationships is the secret of classroom management and
helps promote a culture of caring and kindness. Classrooms
where students feel safe, cared about, challenged and respected
are positive places to be.
A positive
school/classroom climate
based on relationships is
essential for learning
Positive climate indicators:
- Students and teacher seem happy
- Students and teacher work hard
- All stakeholders are afforded respect
- There are few behaviour issues
- Students freely contribute to classroom discussions
- Students ask for needed help
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- Students report liking the teacher
Tips to Foster Positive Relationships
 Have low-key fun (meet parents outside!)
 Flip the fun on Flipgrid!
 Conduct interest inventories
 Keep Culture in Mind
Building a Safe Climate of
Caring and Achievement
Safety in Routines and
Management
Guidelines for strong and productive student-teacher
relationships
- they must adhere to routines, procedures, expectations and
rules of the classroom
- they can and should behave well
- they can and should work hard to learn
- their teachers will provide guidance and structure they can
depend on
They will get the academic and social support they need to meet
school/classroom standards
Routines
-enter and leave classroom
-what should students do upon arrival
-what materials on desks students need to have on desks
-how do students ask for help
-what to do if absent
-what to do if they need to go restroom or get water
-how work should be turned in and papers passed out
-how and when should students use electronic devices
Do Now
- to do when they enter classroom
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Question/problem of the day, text to read, Review notes, learn
spelling
Getting Attention
- have a signal
Never Done Learning!
- have a list of things to do when you are done
e.g. fall into a book, vocabulary list, talk cards
Absent buddy
- absent tray / file
Asking for help
- ask 3 before me
Class rules guideline
- limit to 5 rules
- positively state all rules
- allow students to participate in making or define rules
e.g.
respect others
be helpful
follow directions
ask questions
work hard
be on time
be prepared
be cooperative
try hard
What does working hard…
Look like, sound like, feel like?
Consequences
- warning
- detention with discussion
- written plan for improvement
- parent or guardian contact
- initiate YH involvement
- verbal reminder
- take time-out to think about how to follow rules
- write letter to parent and tell them what happened
- teacher will write referral letter to YH
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The four main functions
of behaviour
1. Attention:
- tapping pencil, making noise, out of seat, calling out answers,
interrupting,, asking irrelevant questions
 limit attention given to inappropriate behaviour, focus on
positive behaviours and student achievements
 given student positive attention when appropriate to let them
see they can receive attention through positive behaviour
- pat on the shoulder, eye contact and smile, call on student who
knows answer, pass student note with cheerful comment
- give specific praise about student’s work or behaviour
- converse briefly before or after class
- select student to carry out task or regular helper
- make frequent positive phone calls home
2. Avoidance of failure
- stops working
- procrastinations
- becomes easily frustrated
- shuts down
- does work that is below ability
- cries
- puts head down in class
 chunk work into smaller steps to experience mini-successes
 “failure” is perfectly normal part of learning process
 celebrate growth, progress or effort
First Attempt In Learning
- ask students to help others
- work with student to set manageable goals
3. Revenge
- sullen
- withdrawn
- rude to teacher and classmates
- extremely angry
- resorting to violent behaviour
 stay calm and put ego aside, focus on love
 let student know that it is their behaviour that you are
unhappy with, not them
 teach them warning signs of inappropriate behaviour
- Explicitly teach students to recognise feelings and to express
them
- teach students to look for triggers to their anger and to avoid
them
- teach students self-calming strategies, including deep breathing
and slowly counting backwards from ten to one
- ask for help from another adult
4. Power
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Two types
- The ones who want to take over the class
- non-compliant and quietly refuse to do work assigned
 they just want to feel they have voice and choice and to allow
them to share opinions and ideas for the class.
Chapter 4 Mastery
Matters
When students realize
they can master difficult
content, they are more
motivated and more
joyful about learning
e.g. give students options in assignments
DI: modify assignments so that students meet same learning
targets but in different ways
- give students 2 options to choose from based on the behaviour
you expect
Tips for Managing a Classroom
 Use technology tools (e.g. class dojo, Too Loud?
 Character Education Connection
 Visit other classrooms
 Assume best intentions
Motivation can hinge on students seeing themselves as capable
of mastery. Once students learn to set and meet goals, they will
begin to see themselves as successful and autonomous learners
Helping students see evidence of their own learning will make the
classroom happier and more productive.
Mastery = Proven ability to perform a kill or strategy with
accuracy, or to prove a given learning standard has been met.
What does Mastery have to do with Motivation?
1. Visible Learning: awareness of their learning goals and their
progress toward meeting them. When students know what they
are supposed to be learning or how they should be progressing
and then seeing themselves making progress and mastering the
concept, visible learning takes place.
2. Success breeds success: When students see themselves
achieving making progress, meeting goals and successfully
mastering content, they begin to trust themselves as learners.
They are more willing to take risks and put forth effort.
Big Wins!
 Teachers must believe and enact. Must help student to do the
above. Allowing for “big wins”, a focus on standards and an
insistence on high-quality work
Teacher to present students with a learning task that is
reasonably challenging but with a bit of effort can be quickly
mastered.
Doing hard things is important for building a sense of selfefficacy, pride in accomplishments, and a belief in potential. Give
feedback focused on helping them learn to see the process as a
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A Quest for Quality
- how to help students
put forth effort in their
daily work
Ideas for supporting
quality written work
metaphor for all that is possible in their lives as learners.
Encourage them with growth-mindset-focussed ideas:
- If you can learn to do this, you can do anything!
- You must feel so proud of yourself for continuing to try even
when it was really hard!
- I know its hard! I am here for you!
- Can you believe how hard you worked to make this happen?
What is quality work?
- Correct
- Neat
- Thoughtful
Inspiring quality
Teachers must coach for excellence.
See Chapter 2: Branding
1. Assign less but expect more
- Is the work important to overall goals for students?
- Can the work be done orally? Does it need to be written?
- If I ask the students to complete the work, is there ample time
for them to do it well and to revise it if needed?
2. Give student tools
- Letter formation card (For students to be accountable for
writing neatly)
- Spacers (strips to make sure students leave a space between
words)
- Portable word walls (vocabulary lists of frequently used words
printed in alphabetical order. Space for adding new words)
3. Collect work samples to use as anchor papers
- Students need visual examples of what quality work looks like.
When students live up to the standards set, celebrate with them!
Take pictures or tape paper to put inside file.
4. Develop a quality work checklist for students
Tape it inside their folders or on tables and red before doing
assignments and before they submit work.
5. Insist on students redoing work that is low quality
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Focus on standards
- it takes redoing once or twice to realise that it’s easier to just do
it right the first time
- think of the hard parts as a git to the students, a gift that will
pay large dividends in the long run.
- The key is to work with the students. Working with students to
revise and resubmit assignments can be exhausting but with
nurturing and persistence, students learn our expectations and
meet them.
Identify the learning targets embedded in a learning outcome,
share with students the success criteria for meeting them.
Success criteria: marks on a test, rubric, demonstrated ability to
perform a given tasks
Standards can be used to motivate students because they
provide clear ways for students to see themselves mastering
content.
Recall Chapter 2:
1. What am I learning?
2. What am I learning it?
3. How will I know when I have learnt it?
Sample Learning Targets and Scripts for Sharing
Tips to Help Move
Students to Mastery
1. Teach students positive self-talk and a growth mindset
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Words to help keep a growth mindset:
Goal Setting
How to teach Goal
Setting
2. Focus on the power of “yet”!
- the most powerful 3-letter word a parent or teacher can use
Helps build purpose, mastery and autonomy in a simple and very
tangible way. Goal setting allows for visible learning and when
students see their own success, it can open the door to more
success.
Step 1: Telling Students Why
Tell students they can “grow your brain”. Grow your brains
through exercise as your brain is a muscle
(read short article: You can Grow Your Intelligence! (Mindset
Works, 2014)
Step 2: Explain SMART goals
A goal is something that you work hard to be able to do.
It is a promise we make to ourselves to accomplish something.
I will get fit! ( What is fit? No numbers, no date included)
I will exercise at least 3 times a week byt walking 30 minutes each
time. By the end of the month, I will have lost between one and
two pounds. (What to do, how often and for how long, can check
and when to check)
Step 3: Practice with SMART goals
Share goal statements and check them to see if they are SMART
Step 4: Write SMART goals
Allow students to set their own goals
Ask them to think about the types of goals they would like to set
Step 5: Help students be accountable
Have the students write down a plan to meet their goals.
Remind them to check on their goals frequently.
Pairs students with ‘accountability partners’ and they can check
in with each day
Tap Out strategy
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Students walk out the door and tap on numbers 1 – 4 stuck onto
the door frame
4= I have already met my goals
3= I am well on the way to meeting my goals
2= I need to revisit my goals and get busy
1= I am way behind on my goals! HELP!
Tips to Motivate Learners
Through Goal Setting
Chapter 5: Have it Your
Way! Differentiated
Instruction
Voice and Choice
Take note of students tapping 1 – 2 and confer individually to get
the students back on track.
1. Celebrate
- inform parents, give students high five, fist bump, meaningful
praise, post on media site (Google Classroom)
2. Keep Families in the Loop
- allow parents opportunity to share in goal setting process
- students revised goals with parent support when needed
- Helps parents feel more connected to the class
3. Use goal-setting forms
4. Model by setting and sharing your own goals
- model setting and meeting your goals
Differentiated Instruction is simply about helping each student
move forward as a learner. It does not have to be labour
intensive or time consuming for teachers.
It is the way teachers meet the different learning needs of
students in their classroom, or the way instruction is tailored to
meet individual learning needs.
The way the teacher modifies the content, product, or process of
teaching so that all students are challenged and can demonstrate
academic growth, regardless of where they started.
Offering students Voice and Choice  Student agency.
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Tips to allow for Voice
and Choice
Formative Assessment
Tips for Formative
Assessment
- The most joyful and hardworking classrooms are those where
students are able to participate in making choices about how and
what they learn, within the scope of the identified learning
targets.
One size does not fit all when it comes to learning.
1. Surveying students
2. Build Choice into assignments
Formative assessments are quick learning probes that help you
answer the questions
What do my students know?
What do they still need to learn?
- Observe students as they work
- Listen to the questions students ask and the answers they give
- Give quizzes
- Grade or check worksheets
1. Exit Tickets
E.g.
English: Describe a character trait
Science: Summarise a concept, diagram a process, sketch a map,
compare and contrast 2 points
Math: Explain how to solve a problem
 must target key information, help teachers gain insight into
each student’s and the entire class’s knowledge and level of
understanding in relation to a given learning target
 must be quick and easy to develop, administer and grade
 does not have to be at the end of the lesson, can be anytime
of the lesson “entrance ticket” or “check-in tickets”
2. 3,2,1 Quick Write
Can be used orally or in writing and can happen at any time in
any subject with any topic
- Teacher asks students to share by telling 3 things, then 2 things,
then 1 thing
3. Self-Assessment
- helps teacher learn about how each child understands a topic
but also to give students a sense of voice and self-efficacy.
Students can share their reflection on how well they understood
in a variety of ways. E.g. numbers on the door jamb
4: I get it! I can teach others
3: I understand it and am confident
2: I need a little help
1: I do not get it! Please show me again
Stickers on quadrant charts, flip toolkits
14
Types of Differentiation
Working Differentiation
into the classroom
4. Simple Checklists
List skills to reach a target
Teachers can observe and confer with students the skills they
have mastered and check off
5. Google forms
Kahoot! Quizziz, Socrative, Poll Everywhere
By Content: What students are learning and the materials the use to
learn it
Process: How students learn content, the methods and activities
that are used to support learning
Product: How students demonstrate their learning, how they are
assessed, what projects they complete
Learning Environment: Where and how students learn in the
physical environment
1. Define your Learning Targets
- have end goals in mind
- What am I trying to teach?
- What should students know and be able to do as a result of the
lesson or unit?
- Why am I teaching it?
- Where does this fall into the scope and sequence for the whole
year?
- How will I know when my students have mastered the learning
targets?
2. Assess your students in relation to the learning target
- must know what the students’ needs are
- find out what your students already know and still need to know
 Use a pre-assessment e.g. pretest, quick write (See formative
assessment)
3. Review the assessment results and think about your students’
needs
- What do I expect my students to learn?
- How will I know when they’ve learnt it?
- What will I do for those who do not learn it?
- What will I do for those who already know it or learn it quickly?
4. Develop plans to meet the needs using differentiated content
and/or process
Categories of Differentiation
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16
Tips for Differentiation
Role of Reading in
Differentiated Instruction
Tips for Differentiated
Instruction with texts
1. Tic-Tac-Toe boards (differentiation by process and product)
- students are required to pick and complete at least 3 activities
and may choose to do more if they like
2. Hyperdocs (differentiation by process and product)
- Online documents that allow learners to access information and
show their understanding in a variety of ways suing the links to
websites, videos and texts
www.hyperdocs.co/teachers_give_teachers
3. Tiered assignments (differentiation by content, process and
product)
- designed to meet the needs of learners at multiple levels.
- each tier refers to a level of the assignment that meets the
needs of a group of students at certain readiness, skill or level of
proficiency e.g. basic, intermediate, advanced
But never refer to students by a level
4. Flexible Seating
- home bases or assigned spots for students to sit when needed
- varied seating (or standing choices)
- personal touches including photographs, and other homey
items
Students must have access to texts that they can read.
Sometimes that means scaffolding such that students have access
to difficult texts and other times that means using texts that fall
into that sweet spot where they are neither too challenging nor
too easy but are just right.
Students should be exposed to both challenging and just right
texts.
 find a balance that suits the learners and engages them in the
texts
1. Don’t assign – teach
- teach text selection, ask questions frequently and monitor
comprehension
2. Intentional partner reading
- pair readers who struggle with readers who are proficient for
assigned classroom readings
Use partner reading protocol:
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3. Pre-teach vocabulary
- tendency when reading challenging texts to blow past unknown
words. Teachers can teach words that are essential to
comprehending the text. Pre-read the text and underline
essential words that are needed to comprehend the text. Make
mini-glossaries with student-friendly definitions that students can
quickly and easily access.
4. Teach SQ3R
- Strategies used before, during and after reading can keep
students focused.
Teach SQ3R and require and remind students to use it.
5. Use close reading
- mostly used in teacher-led direct instruction of difficult text.
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Tips for using levelled
texts
(Texts at reading levels
for readers)
**USEFUL!**
Chapter 6: Social Animals
Step 1: Pre-reading
- pre-read to determine essential vocabulary, pre-teach
vocabulary, build background knowledge of text
Step 2: First Reading
- read text independently, in pairs or as a whole class
- ponder and talk about main idea of the text
Step 3: Second Reading
- read comprehension questions and restate learning target
- read with questions and learning target in mind
- annotate
Step 4: Third Reading
- reread to fill in gaps in knowledge related to questions and
learning target
- think about how text connects to previous learning targets or
life experiences
Step 5: Post Reading
- Write and discuss answers to questions using direct textual
evidence
1. Individualised and all together thematic reading (IATT)
- challenge to find texts of correct reading level for students so
can use content-adjacent texts. This means similar content may
be used e.g. texts about moon vs sun / planets but they have
similar themes
2. Resources for levelled (differentiated) texts
- www.readinga-z.com (must pay subscription)
- www.getepic.com/ (free!)
- https://newsela.com/ (free but must create classroom and
assign information texts to students. Each text can be modified
by reading level by clicking a slider. Offers short tests
- www.tweentribune.com/ (similar to newsela)
- www.readworks.org/ (free short texts and fiction stories. Has
sorting tools to choose content, subject, genre. Has carefully
crafted question set.
- www.weteachwelearn.org/2015/07/highlow-books-to-engagereluctant-readers-from-4th-grade-through-high-school/ (High
interest level, low reading level)
- www.fbmarketplace.org/ (Must pay but cheaper online store)
Teachers can harness the power of social proof and collaborative
learning to engage students such that learning is joyful and
students put forth maximum efforts.
21st century skills / future
ready skills
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Students learning from
students
Social proof
Tips to harness the power
of social proof
(suggest to Gage?)
Future-ready students must be good communicators. We must
give them opportunities to practice communication skills by
interacting with one another as a regular component of the
learning experience.
When students see their peers and the wider community
engaged in effortful learning, they see it as a social norm both
inside and outside of school.
1. Big Read, little read
Community and students read similar themed books.
2. Look who is reading!
Ask students, families and community member to take pictures
( including selfies) of the reading they do outside of school.
Print and post them on a prominent board. Sharing itself is social
proof to the community.
3. Reading friends
Pairing community members with reluctant or struggling readers.
(Reading Mums)
Adult friends are encouraged to bring their books to the school to
show students that they choose reading as a way to relax and
enjoy life.
4. Writer’s conference (Like Library Fest)
Invite local / international writers to spend time talking to the
students about their lives as writer.
5. Virtual visits
Cooperative and
Collaborative Learning
Ties in with point 4.
Skype in the Classroom pages has pages for visitors or virtual field
trips you can bring to your students
Collaborative structures: one student proves mentorship to
others
Cooperative learning: all students are equal partners.
MUST lay a foundation for collaboration with a strong classroom
climate of safety, mutual respect and kindness.
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3 common mistakes
made
Be very intentional about developing student pairs and teams so
that they heterogeneous and primed for productive interaction.
1. Team size was inappropriate for the class
2. Team membership was not carefully, thoughtfully and
purposefully decided
3. Team building was not adequately done
PIES principle by Spencer Kagan
Tips for using
Collaborative and
Cooperative Learning
1. Cross-age tutoring
Older kids tutoring younger ones (SMM cannot lor!)
2. Kagan Strategies
- Quiz-Quiz-Trade: write questions on a card and answers on the
other side. Each student gets a card. Students find a partner and
one quizzes the other. Correct – praise. Incorrect – encourage
and share answer.
Trade card and trade partners. Good for test review, math facts,
vocabulary.
- Numbered Heads together
- Rally Coach: A and B. Each work on a question and then take
turns coaching, checking answers. Good for math problems, short
written answers and simple project-based learning.
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- Give One, Get One: share prior knowledge or review content.
Share ideas and information. 2 columns and 1 with known
information and they share one known information and learn a
new one from another person.
- Think-Pair-Share
Chapter 7: Busting Down
the Walls, Building
Community Connections
Tips to Communicate
with Caregivers
Chapter 8: Effort and Joy,
They’re not just for
students!
3. Collaborative worksheets, reviews and lecture
-Think-Pair-Square-Share
- My Mistake: with deliberate and fixed number of mistakes. They
make intentional mistakes and get their partners to look for and
correct the mistake.
When students’ home lives are connected with their school lives,
they are more likely to work hard and be happy.
- Parental involvement has a high positive effect strength and is
strongly related to increased student achievement. (Hattie)
Positive Phone Calls
Call families to say something good
Positive phone calls breed positive feelings
1. Be transparent
- make your expectations and the happenings in class clear and
easy to access.
2. Judge less, love more
- cast judgement aside
- every parent is doing their best. Treat them with respect and
that will be reflected back to you.
3. Look approachable!
4. Watch out for RBF (Resting Bitch Face) and smile smile smile
If a teacher is to cultivate a climate of joy and effort, he/she must
cultivate it in her/himself too!
Define your core values.
Start and end every day with your core values.
Knowing core values helps to make decisions and also determine
the reasons I am making them.
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Continued learning
1. How will the action inspired by the decision help me live out
my core values?
2. Is the action really important?
3. Will it help students be more independent?
4. Will it help students be more successful?
Education is a kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel –
Socrates
- need to be self-starters and autonomous learners much in the
way most of us hope for our students
MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses)
- www.coursera.org/
- www.edx.org/
Free and pick and choose from videos, readings and online
discussions
Tips for Focusing Your
Efforts in the Classroom
Practice self-care
Edcamp
-www.edcamp.org/
Free conferences for teachers by teachers (FTF)
1. Collaborate and Communicate
- internet and colleagues!
2. Stay in the Power Zone
- teach from the middle of the class
3. One sentence lesson plans
- What am I teaching?
- Why am I teaching it?
- What methods will I use?
- How will I know when students have learnt it?
4. Purge
- spring cleaning (hahahaha)
5. Divide your to-do-list
- Today: things that must be done ASAP (e.g. meetings, phone
calls, job-related due dates
- This week: priority but can wait, getting ready for events
- This month: things that need to be done on timely manner,
changing bulletin board, finalising grades
- Someday/Maybe: things that do not make or break the
classroom
Humour
- www.gerrybrooksprin.com/
- www.youtube.com/user/BoredShortsTV
- www.cc.com/shows/key-and-peele
- www.loveteachblog.com/
- https://tattooteacher.wordpress.com/
BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal
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Getting the Buggers to Write (2011) 3rd Edition 230pages
By Sue Cowley
NOTE: Companion website is no longer available: BAH!
Part 1: Starting Points
Chapter 1: First Steps to
Writing
Reading and Writing: The
vital link
Speaking/Listening and
writing: The weakest Link
Structure and young
writers
To be a confident, fluent writer, students need:
 An understanding of when and why they might need or
want to write
 A desire to communicate their ideas through writing
 The confidence to believe that what they say matters
 The resilience to keep going when it’s hard work
 To have moved from forming letters to words, the
sentences, to paragraphs and then longer pieces of text
 Engaging and inspiring resources with which to express
themselves
Teachers can encourage reading by:
 Engaging parents or caregivers whenever possible
 Getting students reading anything and everything
 Making sure there’s a clear reason for reading
 Showing students that texts and reading are a natural
part of life
 Teaching students to read as a writer and write as a
reader
 Showing them that you are a reader /writer too
Writing is about Communication. Writing to your audience via the
written word. Students who find it hard to listen to others or to
articulate themselves in speech, will have problem in doing the
same for writing.
To develop student skills, aim to:
 Build their confidence
 Make activities fun and engaging
 Set lots of challenges
 Talk about how speech is constructed
 Identify formal and informal language
 Develop the use of Standard English
 Use lots of different listening tasks
 Teach good listening behaviour
Using writing frames
- provides support
- often used for non-fiction pieces e.g. newspaper report,
instructions, recipe, menu, crime scene report
Aim for a creative focus for your frame e.g. a letter to Santa, a
recipe for a perfect day
Retelling stories
- take a well-known/well-liked story and retell or rewrite a story
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Chapter 2: Building Firm
Foundations
Back to basics
Spelling
Every piece of writing needs firm foundations – accurate spelling,
punctuation and grammar.
Why do students need to write properly?
 Build confidence: with basics right, students can focus on
content and expression
 Accurate communication: the writing can be interpreted
correctly
 Technique matters: as in sport, need correct technique to
achieve a good performance
 Hiding the technique: a skilled story writer immerses
audience in the fiction
 Exam success: an error strewn piece will distract the
examiner from the quality of what has been written
 Career success: accurate writing is important as
impressions will last
Practical strategies for learning to spell
Visual Strategies
 Look at the shape of the words: tall and short parts of the
word – what kind of shape does it make?
 Small and big: hunt out small words inside larger ones
e.g. out and stand in outstanding
 Prefix/suffix: work out meaning of the prefix/suffix to aid
memory and comprehension
 Highlighting: highlight the bit of the word that is likely to
be tricky. Focus on the tricky bit
 Cut and colour: divide up the word into syllables, write
each syllable in a different colour
 Visual associations: link the word with a visual image or
picture
 Visualisation: practice seeing the word in your mind’s eye
 Does it look right?
For the teacher:
 Use visual aids: label resources and equipment in the
classroom. Offer lists of subject-specific words
 Think big: when creating labels and displays, go for large
clear fonts
 Introduce linked vocabulary: utilise patterns and
visual/aural links within words
 Use spelling tests: repetition of spelling tests, use their
competitive nature
Aural Strategies
 Cut up words: to spell longer words. Practice splitting up
the words. Different post-its for different syllables
 Use rhyming word families: groups pf rhyming words
 Sound as spelled:
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Physical Strategies (kinaesthetic approach)
 Sculpt the word: create artistic displays for really tricky
words
 Use invisible writing: write with fingers in the air, on your
hands, on the desk  creates a physical memory
 Use physical memory devices: can use index fingers and
thumbs
Etymological strategies
 Study the words: talk about how language changes and
develops
 Figure it out: figure out where a word originates e.g. Tshirt (www.krystaal.com/borrow.html )
 Student Greek and Latin roots: e.g. hypo, psy
(www.etymonline.com )
Independent Learning strategies – encourage students to learn
independently whenever possible and devise their own favourite
strategies for learning spellings
 Use mnemonics: e.g. stationery uses an ‘e’ for eraser
 Make use of spell checkers: on the computer
 Find relationships: relate new vocabulary to words they
already know eg. Obedient and obey
Teaching strategies – approaches that teachers can adopt in
teaching
 Use imaginative resources: e.g. props, learn spelling of
new equipment and give anyone who can spell the
reward of using it first
 Have reference books available: equip classroom with
dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar reference book.
Encourage students to use
 Create a sense of ownership: get students to create their
own lists of spellings to learn for a test
 It’s not all about spelling: set activities where students
write freely with worrying about spelling
 Respect good mistakes: 2 types of mistakes – one where
student has tried to use prior knowledge and those which
are a guess. When giving feedback, differentiate between
the two
 Supply the vocabulary: when approaching a new topic,
supply students with words they will need. Short list of
key words
 Encourage them to read – anything and everything!
Repeated exposure to correctly spelled vocabulary
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