High-quality health and physical education programs help students succeed in life.

by Charlotte Kelso

At the moment, it looks like we’re losing the fight against inactivity and obesity in our young people. We are raising the most sedentary and unhealthy generation in American history: Its members may have the dubious distinction of being the first generation not to outlive their parents.

Meaningful, high-quality health and physical education is one of the best strategies we have to reverse this trend. And, not only does good HPE increase the chances that our young people will live healthier, more productive lifespans, it pays off in the classroom, as well.

Let’s look at some of the reasons we’re in our current physical condition, and how and why we can start changing attitudes, in both the younger and older populations, about healthy living and exercise.

Clearly, we have a problem with childhood obesity in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  over the past three decades the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children (ages 2-5) and adolescents (ages 12-19), and it has more than tripled for children ages 6-11. Our young people are spending way too many hours in front of computer and television screens and way too few hours engaged in heart-pumping physical activity. I call electronic devices such as the Wii, Xbox, PlayStation, etc., the “toys of obesity.” Further complicating matters are programs such as No Child Left Behind and our current statewide budget problems, which often lead policymakers to consider cutting certain programs not seen as “essential,” including the arts and HPE.

Our dietary choices aren’t helping, either. The parents of today are the second generation of families raised in a fast-food culture. Many families find that the convenience of fast food, coupled with the opportunity not to make a mess at home, is the quick and easy way to satisfy hunger. However, as we all know, most fast food falls short in providing the healthy nutrition that children need. And the high fat and sugar contents are helping contribute to growing rates of heart disease and diabetes in young people.

As we ingest fast food, junk food and other menu items of questionable nutritious value, we don’t burn the calories the way our predecessors did. We’ve become a push-button, quick-fix, take-a-pill kind of society. We all have cars and drive them constantly, even if we’re just going around the corner to the store. Instead of walking to the house or office next door to visit, or meeting in the park for a walk, we’re on cell phones, sending e-mails, or hanging out on social media sites. Our jobs have us sitting at desks most of every day.

It doesn’t have to be this way. And it shouldn’t be, either.

Quality health and physical education programs can be life-changing for today’s young people and, in many cases, already are. Such programs offer students a well-rounded opportunity to develop their bodies and minds to gain skills that will propel them to success in both the physical and academic aspects of education—and life. Good HPE programs provide the structure and discipline that young people need to perform in school effectively, make positive choices in their lives, persevere to see a project through to the end, and earn the respect of their peers. Our society seems to be struggling with these things.

Here’s just one example of how physical education can cross academic lines: I teach in Arlington and several years ago, a series of sniper shootings hit the Washington, D.C. area. Schools were temporarily locked down—no students outside for HPE, recess or any reason. Before long, the classroom teachers at my school saw a significant change in the learning capacity of their students: The youngsters could not sit still or stay focused on academics. The classroom teachers approached the HPE teachers and asked for some in-class activities they could use to release students’ pent-up energy and keep them on task. We gladly assisted and asked for their support the next time HPE or other electives were about to be cut. They happily agreed.

The atmosphere of the remainder of the lockdown seemed to calm. Students were more focused and teachers thanked the HPE staff for the suggestions. Throughout the school year, in my class I use cross-curricular activities that bring math, vocabulary and social studies to show a connection to other core courses.

The Goals of HPE
A quality HPE program should offer challenging yet achievable goals and include all students in each activity session. Elementary students should build basic skills, such as skipping and hopping, and work up to developing sport skills. Middle school HPE should continue to build physical skills while teaching students how to apply sports skills and basic sports strategies. High school HPE should review skills and begin to focus more on team-building and more in-depth sport strategy, along with coaching and officiating sport. All HPE programs should also include cross-curricular activities so that students who think that math is not applicable in HPE can see how a football field is measured and how the trajectory of a soccer kick or basketball free throw has math and physics elements. Vocabulary and history of the sport activities should be a small part and, most important, all activities should be fun and rewarding for all participants.

The psychological benefits of exercise are just as important as the physical ones. Not to be overlooked are the positive effects of physical activity on self-image and self-confidence, and on promoting general feelings of health and wellness. Movement develops brain cells and stimulates the production of endorphins, body chemicals that help create feelings of happiness and calmness as well as ease stress and pain. A good workout can leave students feeling better about life and about themselves. An inactive student will feel lethargic and understimulated.

Not Your Mother’s HPE
Traditional “gym” classes used to be all about calisthenics and sports competition. The sport emphasized was usually one in the teacher’s comfort zone, and it would often be introduced with a demonstration by a student the teacher had coached or knew from the community. After that brief intro, students were often allowed to play freely, without much focus on skill practice or rules.

Later, gym classes began to shift to an emphasis on physical fitness, as fewer students came from families where agriculture or manual labor were a way of life. In the 1980s, group activities became the focus. In the 1990s, HPE moved into a more intramural-like curriculum, largely because soccer had become very popular and all age groups were playing it.

Today, we are all about motion. We’re getting students up off the couch and emphasizing lifelong fitness activities, such as walking and dancing. The “lifelong” part of this approach is the key: I want my students to leave my HPE classes having had structured fun and having learned enough about themselves physically to go on to have full, healthy lives. I want them to be able to make positive lifestyle choices that will give them the opportunity to enjoy being active well into old age. Physical fitness is a discipline; students must choose their own path. But I want to equip them with the experiences and information that will help them make wise choices. I want them to feel empowered to believe that they can make a difference, and that contributing to the community and helping others makes the world a better place. Finally, I want my students to take away from my instruction the love of activity and develop the discipline to live a healthy and long life.

One very serious obstacle to accomplishing all this is the competition health and fitness activities face in the lives of young people. Getting youngsters to move away from a shoot-‘em-up video game in favor of riding a bicycle or shooting a basketball is a challenge. Seeing active adults engaged in these kinds of activities would sure help. Sedentary kids need good fitness role models. Once young people are exposed to fun and successful activities, their health improves, health care costs go down, and they live longer.

HPE programs, while often overlooked and sometimes shunted aside during times of economic difficulty, actually hold an important key to life and school success for students of all ages. We all need for such programs to remain a priority in our public schools.

Kelso, a member of the Arlington Education Association, is a National Board Certified Teacher and teaches health and physical education at Swanson Middle School.

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Why Children Need Physical Education

Physical education is an integral part of the total education of every child in kindergarten through high school. Quality physical education programs are needed to increase the physical competence, health-related fitness, self-responsibility and enjoyment of physical activity for all students so that they can be physically active for a lifetime. Physical education programs can only provide these benefits if they are well-planned and well-implemented. Here’s what quality physical education programs can do for students, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education:

Improved physical fitness
Improves children's muscular strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition and cardiovascular endurance.

Skill development
Develops motor skills, which allow for safe, successful and satisfying participation in physical activities.

Regular, healthful physical activity
Provides a wide-range of developmentally appropriate activities for all children.

Support of other subject areas
Reinforces knowledge learned across the curriculum.
Serves as a lab for application of content in science, math and social studies.

Self-discipline
Facilitates development of student responsibility for health and fitness.

Improved judgment
Quality physical education can influence moral development. Students have the opportunity to assume leadership, cooperate with others, question actions and regulations, and accept responsibility for their own behavior.

Stress reduction
Physical activity becomes an outlet for releasing tension and anxiety, and facilitates emotional stability and resilience.

Strengthened peer relationships
Physical education can be a major force in helping children socialize with others successfully and provides opportunities to learn positive people skills. Especially during late childhood and adolescence, being able to participate in dances, games and sports is an important part of peer culture.

Improved self-confidence and self-esteem
Physical education instills a stronger sense of self-worth in children based on their mastery of skills and concepts in physical activity. They can become more confident, assertive, independent and self-controlled.

Experience setting goals
Gives children the opportunity to set and strive for personal, achievable goals.

A longtime educator advises easing new teachers into the classroom gently.

by Dorothy Rich

It’s one thing to train and hire teachers. It’s another thing to retain them. Many first-year teachers are assigned to the toughest situations, plunged into the classroom. The door shuts behind them, and there is no one to help. As a result, many new teachers leave. The turnover costs to school divisions are high; the costs in teacher morale are even higher.

I had a remarkable first year, though I didn’t know it at the time. I stayed a teacher because of it. It’s led me to think, after all these years, that what happened to me by luck could be planned by design for others.

To keep new teachers on the job, let’s give them what only luck is providing now. Instead of sending new teachers to Siberia, let’s send them to Florida. Let’s provide a satisfying first year that provides a cushion of success. After that, these teachers will be able to face more difficult situations. And, they will be more likely to stay on the job.

This is not a crazy idea – it’s even doable. Administrators know well in advance about the better assignments, even in the toughest schools. Now these are saved for those who have been teaching a long time. But if we want to retain new teachers, like me, they need to experience success early on.
 
I was sent to teach senior English at a just-built school in Yonkers, New York. It was just over the border from New York City, but could have been another world. The 11th grade was saved for the experienced teacher who knew how to get the students to pass the Regents exam. Schools didn’t care very much about what happened after that.  Putting me into 12th grade made sense.
 
Before me, in all of my classes, were more high-achieving students than I had ever seen before in one place, or in over 50 years since. The students had all come from the new middle- to upper-class houses that had just been built near the new school. They were “over-achievers” before there was even a term for it.

Opening the school was done in such a rush that apparently there was no time to spread these high-achieving kids around the city. They all came together in my classes. I didn’t know all this at the time. I remember this first year as the most exhilarating of my long teaching life.

First-year teachers are, in many ways, still like me. It was a natural for me to become a teacher. I really had been teaching for a long time. I started out as junior counselor for a community organization and then became a full-fledged summer camp counselor for several years. Plus, and this may be significant, I was “bossy.” After all, teaching is about making change, moving people from one place to another. Teachers do this in variety of ways. In one form or another, teaching is about persuasion and management.

How did I teach? I depended heavily on textbooks. I thought a lot about teaching.  Was I supposed to care about learning? I stood in front of the class and lectured. If there were any students in these classes who had trouble with this type of teaching, I never knew about it.

What I did bring was enthusiasm and it, more than anything, enabled these students to learn, despite my shortcomings as a teacher. To this day, when I am asked about the most important characteristic teachers can have, I always say “enthusiasm.” No wonder: It’s what saved the day for me and my students when I knew so very little about what I was doing.

I remember vividly my first set of report cards. Here I was, a new teacher, probably expected to mark on some form of curve. As I sifted all their papers before me, it was clear that there wasn’t a C in the group. These kids were close to all A,s, with a smattering of B’s. I turned in my marks. The next morning the principal called me aside.

“These marks are all very high,” he began. I invited him to sit in on my classes. The students were at that point studying (if one can believe this and it is hard to believe but true) the Stendahl classic, “The Red and the Black.” As the principal sat in the back of the class, the students demonstrated in their discussions that they understood this book and were enjoying it. After class, the principal whispered, “I’m surprised that you could give anyone in this class less than an A.” 

I didn’t know these kids. I knew their heads, what they talked about in class and what they wrote on their essays. I had no idea about their lives outside of school or even in other classes. I thought only about the curriculum, the books, the assignments, the tests.

Reality hit in my second year of teaching. I began to learn about what I didn’t know. I began to learn that just because I taught something didn’t mean that it was learned. I began to learn that I needed help and that it was OK not to know all the answers. I actually had students who had trouble learning and I had trouble teaching. That’s when I had to start to transform myself into a teacher. But I couldn’t have done it without the cushion of my success-filled first year.

I’m told by those wise in the ways of the schools that my idea for placing new teachers in “good” classes has about much chance as the idea that we should put our best teachers in the hardest-to-teach classrooms. These nay-sayers may be right. But something has to be done. To be sure, we don’t have high-achieving, motivated students for every teacher to start with. Yet, there are softer and harder situations every school.  Let’s give new teachers softer situations. Is this really such a radical idea?

We know that teachers are different, just as students are; Yet a basic need unites us all – we all need a taste of success. It’s only from a solid base camp that we can move upwards on the mountain.

Rich, developer of the MegaSkills Teacher Training Programs, is the author of the new 5th edition of MegaSkills; Building Children’s Character and Achievement for School and Life, founder of the nonprofit Home and School Institute and former member of the National Assessment Governing Board. She can be reached at www.megaskills.org and www.dorothyrich.net.

The ABCs of Motivating Your Students

Always support and encourage students.
Be sure of yourself…backed by research.
Create lessons that are engaging.
Do provide opportunities for student success by assigning tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult.
Ensure content is taught in connection with the “real world.”
Feedback is necessary and should be as immediate as possible.
Guide students to set goals and revise them when needed.
Help when necessary, but encourage self-discovery.
Independent study should be fostered.
Jigsaw. It allows students with different talents and abilities to work on one project that requires all of their gifts.
Knowledge must be built upon.
Look for opportunities to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Motivating students is not the same as requiring compliance.
Never teach students all the same way; they all learn differently.
Organize ideas into graphic organizers—students need to see connections.
Pair at-risk students with mentors.
Quit trying to fill the vessel and instead work to light the fire. 
Remember: You are a trained professional working with students, not simply a subject.
Specific goals should be set, not merely “Do your best.”
Try not to tell students what you should be asking them.
Utilize technology, games or other project-based activities.
Value students’ differences.
Wrest students away from regurgitation and rote memorization.
X–plore culturally appropriate curricula.
Yearn to incorporate best practices into your classroom.
DeZign tests that encourage the kind of learning you want students to experience.

by Aurelia Ortiz-Tyler, a member of the Prince George Education Association and a teacher at J.E.J. Moore Middle School.

Gauging the Quality of
Professional Development

Every educator—and every school—has a stake in professional development. Here are four important questions about effective continuing education, from the NEA Best Practices Brief, “Professional Community and Professional Development”:

Does it address the school’s goals? A key test of professional development lies in its capacity to mount a strong collective response to schoolwide goals. Some goals arise out of a broad policy agenda affecting all schools – raising the bar of educational achievement for all students and closing the achievement gap. Others arise from interests that go beyond academic achievement, such as fostering students’ social, moral and political development or their self-confidence and autonomy. Finally, each school must be prepared to address issues that reflect its unique circumstances, such as meeting the needs of an influx of new immigrants.

Does it teach to high standards? A second test is whether teachers come to know more over time about their subjects, their students and their practice and to make informed use of what they know. Sound hiring practices are one resource for ensuring teacher quality, but hiring practices are not sufficient. Insights into teacher expertise reveal the complex interplay of knowledge, skill and disposition needed to teach well and the resulting need for continuous teacher learning throughout a career.

Does it cultivate professional community? Professional development might also be judged by its capacity for building (and building on) the structures, values and intellectual and leadership resources of a professional community. In strong professional communities that yield higher levels of student achievement, staff members espouse a shared responsibility for student learning, and they collaborate on instructional improvement.

Does it sustain commitment to teaching? A final test of professional development is whether it sustains teachers’ commitment to teaching by affording them satisfaction, support and stimulation appropriate to their stage of career and by making good use of their expertise and experience.

Amherst Members Launch
Consulting, Resource Firm

More effective parental involvement means better student achievement, and success for all involved in the education of young people. So does improved professional development for educators.

Acting on these facts, three members of the Amherst Education Association have formed a consulting firm called Successful Innovations, Inc. to offer a variety of customized resources, consulting services and technical assistance to schools and school divisions. Darlene Mack, Hilda Stevens and Stefanie Prokity, who among them have more than 50 years of combined (and ongoing) experience in public schools, have pooled their expertise to offer educators models of more effective teaching and present parents and educators with tools to help boost the basic skills of their students.

Successful Innovations can provide on-site workshops, newsletters and several kits of CD and DVD multimedia programs. All resources are available in Spanish versions. To learn more, visit www.si4all.com.

Recognizing Excellence
in Math and Science

What an Academy Award is to an actor, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is to K-12 math and science teachers—it’s the highest honor there is. The Awards go to outstanding educators for contributions to both the classroom and the profession.

Each year, the President recognizes up to 108 teachers. Since 1983, over 3,900 teachers have been honored.

Awards alternate between elementary and secondary teachers, with secondary teachers eligible in 2009, and are given to teachers in every state.

If you know a great teacher you’d like to nominate, you can find more information at www.paemst.org. Deadline for nominations is May 1, 2009.

GMU Offers IET
Graduate Program

If you’re an educator looking for a way to create change, both for yourself and your school, you may want to check out the Initiatives in Educational Transformation (IET) program. IET is a nontraditional master's degree program in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, designed to meet the professional development needs of PreK-12 practicing teachers with a central focus on teacher empowerment. IET supports practicing teachers to develop a strong voice as competent and confident educators in their own classroom settings and as transformative leaders in their classrooms and schools. Many of the program’s more than 1,600 graduates say that IET has reignited their passion for teaching and helped them recommit to a career as a classroom teacher; some have taken on a variety of leadership roles in their schools as peer leaders; some have gone on to assume administrative and specialist roles; and some have gone on to earn a Ph.D. The collaborative professional development experience that IET offers opens doors for a variety of career choices.

The IET program is offered at both the Prince William and Arlington campuses of George Mason.  To learn more, visit www.gmu.edu/iet.

Free Accessible Technology

An agreement between the Accessible Instructional Materials Center of Virginia (AIM-VA), George Mason University and Don Johnston Inc., a special education publisher of assistive technologies focused on literacy, will make digital text reader software available to all state students with an IEP (Individual Education Program). The Read:OutLoud Universal Access program is available, at no cost, by becoming a registered Digital Rights Manager with AIM-VA.

Special educators in Virginia can use Read:OutLoud to offer print-disabled students access to a variety of digital alternate formats that best suit student needs.

For more information, visit http://kihd.gmu.edu/aim/read_outloud/.

Three Candidates Vie for NEA Director Slot

Three Association members are running for a position as one of the VEA’s representatives on the National Education Association Board of Directors. Voting will take place from April 25-May 8 and, for the first time, will be conducted both on paper and online. For information about the voting process, go to the VEA website at www.veanea.org and click on “VEA Election Central.”

Here are brief statements from each candidate:

Charlotte B. Hayer
Richmond City
It’s time for a “CHANGE” to come to public education. We are facing some challenging times that will require all of us working cohesively to bring about change. VEA must meet these challenges with experienced leadership on the national level that will advocate for Virginia’s children and public school employees.

I have been an advocate for public education and its employees for the past 19 years in Virginia on all levels of the association. I believe that my experience on NEA Resolutions for six years has helped prepare me for this assignment. Currently serving on ABTEL and my local board of directors, I have had the opportunity to advocate for change. I have the leadership skills, ability and experience to serve you as your voice on legislative issues for public education. It would be an honor and privilege to represent you on the NEA Board of Directors for Virginia.

Tommie McCune
Campbell County
I have always been an advocate for Great Public Schools. As I am presently in my 33rd year of teaching, I continue to focus on the challenges that impact all of our children and all levels of educators. Virginia’s children deserve someone who is dedicated, determined and dependable.
However, the challenges require the efforts of all teachers, educational support personnel, retired teachers, and parents to team together to ensure the success of our children’s future.  I want to be the voice that will carry your concerns and desires to Washington and make it happen for us all. 
I served one year as an NEA Board Member with non-voting privileges and I know how laws are passed. I now ask your support in allowing me to be a part of endorsing the national mandates that spell success for Virginia’s children.  My vision is to move the Association forward.

A. Ramon Moore
Chesterfield County
Change is what we need! As NEA Director, my goal is to unite our organization by encouraging many young teaching professionals like myself to join our ranks to work collaboratively for positive change for educators on the national level. While I have only been an educator for seven years, I bring a fresh perspective that will generate new synergies needed within the ranks of NEA/VEA leadership.

Additionally, I promise to advocate empowerment through the NEA that will engage VEA members and their students and all present and future educational experiences. As today’s educators, we are charged with preparing tomorrow’s leaders. Our student’s futures are in our hands and as an NEA Director, I promise to work tirelessly as an ambassador to restore public education to the forefront of the legislative agendas on the local, state and national levels.
 

Standing Up to Cyberbullies

Can you imagine what it would be like if someone posted a website that masqueraded as your personal site, and used it to embarrass and humiliate you? Or posted your phone number and address somewhere online where a predator might see it?

Those are just two examples of how the bullies of today can use new tools—the computer and the cell phone—to harass their victims. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, almost half (43 percent) of teenagers from 13-18 have been the victim of cyberbullying in the last year. That means that some 7 or 8 million teens have been affected. When pre-teens and “tweens” are counted, the number reaches 13 million.

Add to those statistics the fact that the National Cybersecurity Alliance found that only 22 percent of teachers are comfortable teaching about cyberbullying, and we’ve got a significant problem.

To address it, the Qwest Foundation has created a curriculum called “How to Prevent Cyberbullying: From the Home to the Homeroom,” and made it available to educators as a free download. The curriculum examines typical cyberbullying behaviors, how the problem has developed and become so widespread, and steps that can be taken to make students safer online.

For more information, and to download the curriculum, go to www.IncredibleInternet.com.

EPA Blog Connects
Concerned Students

In “Greenversations,” the official blog of the Environmental Protection Agency, students can find themselves asking and answering questions such as, Do you understand the power of public transportation?, How do you pack a waste-free lunch? or What do you think about conserving water?

Young people today are keenly aware of environmental issues, and the EPA wants Greenversations to be a tool for them to learn more about energy conservation and to share their thoughts and ideas with others. The blog is geared for students in grades 4-12. Each week, a new topic will be presented, and tools for further exploration will be included.

Access the blog at http://blog.epa.gov/blog/category/studentsforclimateaction/.

Catch Your Students
With a Good Book

Research shows (and educators know) that the more children read and are read to, the better off they’ll be intellectually.
 
“Get Caught Reading” can help reinforce this for students and educators, and encourage both to cultivate a lifelong habit of reading. Get Caught Reading is a nationwide campaign to remind people of all ages how much fun it is to spend time with a good book, magazine or other forms of the written word.

May is Get Caught Reading month, and you can find information on how to celebrate it with your students by going to www.getcaughtreading.org. At the website, you’ll find a special section for teachers and librarians.

“Education is life, not a preparation for life.”
John Dewey

“Games are very effective as a way of teaching you how to solve a problem. It’s a habit of mind that games are good at communicating, rather than simply relaying information.”
Henry Jenkins, co-director, Comparative Media Studies Program, MIT

“For most Americans, the term ‘geography’ evokes images of memorizing state capitals, coloring and labeling maps, and other exercises in trivia. But modern geography is very different…it is about planning, problem-solving and decision-making in a complex world.”
Daniel C. Edelson, vice president, National Geographic Society

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.”
Mark Twain

“Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills that are being lost. Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary. Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills.”
Patricia Greenfield, director, Children’s Digital Media Center

"In the 20th century, it was all about memorizing content, but today it's not just about that. It's about being able to integrate other skills like critical thinking, communication and technology skills."
Ken Kay, president, Partnership for 21st Century Skills

"It's just not possible for the average kid who comes to this country in seventh or eighth grade, or even third grade, without a word of English and parents with little formal education, to match the achievement levels of kids whose mom has a Ph.D. in English from Stanford and can afford to stay home and spend time supplementing the education of her kids."
Kevin Skelly, superintendent, Palo Alto (CA) schools

“If you aren’t handling it immediately, it’s important to revisit [bullying incidents] later with the bystanders, so they know you take it very seriously.”
Beth Reis, co-chair, Safe Schools Coalition

“One challenge of teaching to the standards has to do with the volume of content represented. Every teacher can relate to the reality that there is simply too much content and not enough time to teach it all.”
Jay McTighe, education consultant and author

“Growing investments in incarceration are increasingly replacing needed funding for education and other social services that would underwrite productive lives for those now tossed away.”
Linda Darling-Hammond, professor, Stanford University

'Personalized teaching' offers high school teachers an opportunity to engage every student.

by John H. Clarke and Joseph DiMartino

What high school teacher has never looked out over the heads of a class and watched the stifling canopy of boredom drop over the room?

• “Now, people, we are going to continue discussing the death of Hamlet’s father in the first act of….”  Eyes sink toward an array of historical initials inscribed on desktops.

• “Who can remember how we can prove that two lines are actually parallel?” Silence yawns deeply. Illicit phones and computer games mysteriously appear behind a shield-wall of vertical geometry books.

If boredom sets in early, teachers face a long paddle indeed to the end of the period. Some of us may be able to launch an extemporaneous lecture or construct a rough dialogue from examples. Films, exercise sheets, group tasks and homework time may fill the void, but too much teacher time and filler activities means that students have less responsibility for putting thought into their learning. Rather than focusing on content alone, we can generate more learning by preparing students how to use information to solve problems they recognize as real and important in their own lives.

Learning depends on connecting facts and ideas, but few high school students know enough to make connections between academic tasks and personal challenges. Personalized teaching presents students with challenges for which there is no “right answer” – or many plausible answers—then introduces content in such a way that students can use what they learn to propose solutions that reflect their unique skills, talents and aspirations.

Engaging each Student 
Personalized teaching begins with the assumption that each student learns differently. Each has developed a unique sense of purpose, along with a constellation of talents and interests. Even if all students have passed the same preliminary courses, each actually remembers a unique structure of facts, ideas and skills. Professional teachers need an in-depth understanding of their disciplines, but professionals in any field need more than basic knowledge. They need to adapt basic knowledge to the specific array of many different minds at the same time. Personalized teaching, adapted from interdisciplinary teaching, problem-based learning, project-based learning and computer-based learning, gives teachers a framework to use to engage each student in acquiring knowledge they need to manage their own lives in a community where knowing something deeply makes a real difference.

The seven aspects of personalized teaching described in what follows have been part of professional practice for decades. Gathered into one format, however, they form a pattern we can use to engage each student in learning. That pattern flows through these basic phases:
1) Knowing each student: aspirations, talents and interests.
2) Introducing a focusing question: e.g., How do..? Why do..? How can we…? What would it take to…? What if…?
3) Proposing a complex challenge resembling problems from the “real world”: e.g., contaminated water, the loss of habitat, prediction from current trends, conservation of energy in a closed system.
4) Supporting a broad search for answers: e.g., textbooks, library, interviews, work experience, written exercises, observations and websites.
5) Introducing a general thinking strategy or format for presentations: e.g., problem-solving sequences, research report structures, story patterns, design process guides or proposal patterns.
6) Expanding media for student presentations: e.g., news articles, formal papers, websites, exhibits, poster sessions, drama.
7) Helping students understand what they have learned: standards-based rubrics, peer feedback, parent feedback, summary journals.

Within this general framework, many conventional tactics can have a place: quizzes, homework problems, required reading, journals and even essays. Still, personalized teaching keeps the big question and complex challenge in focus, adapts flexibly to student interests and talents, and allows a wide array of different ways to answer the main question. In short, personalized teaching puts students at the center of learning, making teachers into designers, guides, consultants, expert observers – and cheerleaders. Students take responsibility for presenting information and ideas to each other, uniquely organized to reflect their perspectives and talents. But it takes a teacher’s imagination to recognize the range of options that may exist within a specific course.

Designing to Engage
Designing a sequence of content classes is one thing; designing an exploration of a complex question – using content knowledge and appropriate methods– is another. Many young minds do not engage problems that are purely academic, such as the area of a hypothetical rectangle. They prefer problems that resemble adult challenges – such as designing a perfect house for Pythagoras within 2000 square feet. If the teacher insists that the Pythagoras house include eight geometric figures, for example, the students must learn to measure the area of triangles – as well as rhombuses and circles. The criteria for assessment and reflection might include standards from the curriculum, as well as from aesthetics or energy efficiency. Because the problems that give purpose to personalized teaching are proposed as “real” (even if simulated), personalized learning is usually interdisciplinary. What special features should students design to deal with Greek climate? What cite would appeal to the great thinker? Teacher/designers who set up personalized explorations must write out its basic structure in a paper packet or on a webpage so students can manage much of their own work.
 
Evoking Talents, Interests and Aspirations
Despite a notable leaning toward conformity, high school students want recognition for their unique qualities. In classrooms that focus largely on content acquisition, however, they can gain recognition only for grades, or for behavior that can be either exemplary or deplorable. Without some insight into the distinctive individuals they have already become, they grow passive facing new information that could actually extend the trajectory of their growth. Activating self-awareness at the beginning of a class or a school year prepares students to amplify their strengths.

Over a semester or year, many of the interest inventories, learning style profiles or career questionnaires offered on the Web can give students a basic vocabulary to use in thinking and talking about themselves. Googling “learning styles inventories,” for example, yields more than 20 different surveys, each with a distinctive angle that can help students connect prior achievements and talents to a subject area. Such surveys do not give students a hard and fast destination for their learning as much as they help them understand where they are right now – and how they might continue their journey using new knowledge. They give students a way to think about their distinctiveness.

Brief journaling or “free writing” at the beginning of any class provide an immediate jumping-off place and a connection to what they already know. Each reflection starts with a provocative question such as, When would it really pay to know the quadratic equation? or What would happen if you discovered how to make hamburger from zoo-plankton?
 
Focusing and Following Questions
“Big” questions written on the board or newsprint can help students understand the purpose of a whole class – or a whole unit – as well as the many pieces that make up the class as they plumb details and techniques. Focusing questions ask for abstract or general answers, rather than concrete facts: What does it take to mount a successful revolution? What’s the cheapest way to make up a balanced diet? What would happen if oxygen levels dropped to 10 percent of atmospheric gases?
Broad questions such as these ask students to search widely for information, not from one realm but from many.
Following questions then show students a sequence they can use to carry out their search in depth. If a cheap, balanced diet were the focus of a whole unit, following questions could organize the inquiry: What role do minerals play in human health? What sources of minerals are cheapest and best? What role do vitamins play? Where would you go for cheap vitamins? How can you avoid overloading carbohydrates or fats? Do brand names reflect differences in quality?

Whatever the question, students could search the Internet, fast food chains and grocery aisles to gather information. The “big” questions would remain the same; their answers would differ dramatically.

Real World Challenges
Focusing questions work best when they set the purpose for an “authentic” challenge, a complex task students recognize as connected to their own experience. Some challenges call for a new invention or plan: Design a catapult for Caesar’s Gallic wars. Design a small business that would succeed here.

Others call for a scientific investigation: Prepare a report for the City Council on a source of significant pollution in our river. Predict election results by finding out how males and females of different ages see the purposes of government.

Still others ask students to solve problems: Plan a low cost trip to Mexico that explores the idea of culture. Propose a non-fiction book for publication.

At last, real-world challenges can simply ask student to create something new: Create an advertising campaign for a product no longer in use. Create a scrapbook explaining civilian life during WWII.
 
Any real-world challenge should ask students to prepare a unique product that uses skills and information from their class. Lifelike problem situations do not respond to simple solutions from any specific field (otherwise they would not be problems at all). The problems that matter in our experience all require a multi-disciplinary response.

Process of Strategic Thinking
Professionals in any area rely on a strategic sequence of steps designed to solve complex problems, with modification as circumstances demand. We can use those structures to guide student inquiry, while also connecting their work to the processes adults use to succeed. For example, writing a proposal to a local foundation can be represented as six steps in problem solving:
1) Describe the problem situation: What is going on right now?
2) Explain how the problem has happened: How does the problem work?
3) Define the purpose of the solution: What results should we set out to achieve?
4) Describe the steps of the solution: How shall we solve the problem?
5) Describe how we can know if we are succeeding: How can we evaluate progress?
6) Describe the costs: What will each step cost?

The six steps give students a map of a process they can use to see their own forward motion. To save time and frustration, every student should have a process map, with space for notes.
 
Multiple Pathways to Information
The computer age has opened floodgates of information; however, that information may be neither reliable nor complete. Students who face a complex challenge need to be able to select, verify, infer, compile, compare and synthesize information from a wide variety of sources in order to propose solutions or create new ideas. Learning to search the Internet for reliable information takes careful guidance. Learning to scan books for relevant information requires similar care. But books and the Internet are not the only avenues, nor are they the most engaging. Taking photographs of a problem situation allows students to sift very concrete information quickly. Constructing a survey engages them in imagining the possible meaning of different questions and answers. Designing an interview protocol asks them to frame a discussion around their own purpose. Scanning newspapers shows them the currency of the task they face. The world is full of information. Preparing students to reach widely for information shows them that they have become members of a very large community struggling with challenges similar to their own.

Because many high school students don’t question information that appears in print or any other medium, helping them distinguish between reliable and dubious facts -- and between bombast and defensible arguments – should accompany student research. Most librarians have grown accustomed to conducting short classes or workshops on separating wheat from chaff. Teachers may introduce Wikipedia as a fine starting point, but require government reports, mainstream magazine articles or even scientific studies as part of their reporting checklist. Some teachers may want students to verify all the factual statements they find; others may insist on “triangulation,” three sources from different media. Asking students to present a collection of “facts” – even apparently contradictory statements of fact -- may help students recognize the bias built into any data gathering technique.
 
Presentations in Multiple Media
In presenting their inventions or discoveries, students give information to others that could not be included in a conventional lecture or discussion. Asking the audience to take notes that include questions and comments, possibly connected to applicable standards, lays the foundation for healthy clarifying discussions.

The information age has greatly expanded the options for student presentations.  Powerpoint presentations have quickly become the medium of choice in many high school classrooms, despite the constraining format. Websites designed by students to express what they know have become commonplace in some high schools. Blogs offer an interactive setting where students can present their ideas and also comment of the work of others. Some high schools now organize presentation or performance nights at the end of a semester where parents and community members watch project presentations and join in the assessment.

Reflection
When students and teachers work together on a project for a long period of time, feedback, reflection and improvement take place daily. Carefully designed rubrics, scoring guides or assessment criteria show students how to produce work of high quality. The same assessment guide can provide a structure for feedback during student presentations. After a class discussion about presentations by its members, the criteria for evaluation can be transformed from blurry abstractions to useful concepts for any kind of work. When a whole school community begins to use assessment vocabulary in daily talk, we can begin to see what it means to be a “learning community.”

Celebration
The mechanics of personalized teaching, such as free writes, focusing questions, complex tasks, thinking strategies, Web access, blogs, exhibitions and rubrics, do not motivate students: That comes through interactions with others. Students invest their energy in learning when they believe they can earn recognition for their unique personal voice. They need to be trusted to choose their own pathway. They want respect for the risks they are willing to take. They want to develop a purpose for learning that extends the strengths they begin to recognize in classroom activities. Most prominently, high school students want to experience success each day so they can see how their achievement leads toward future success. When different students learn to use information to express their own visions, classroom activities become vigorous indeed.

Personalized teaching aims to engage each student in making learning work. The high school classroom can be a place where each student has an equal chance to succeed. Such a classroom is a community, different people drawn together to increase the well-being of all. Over a year, a personalized classroom creates opportunities for each individual to demonstrate existing talents and develop new abilities. In offering challenges that reflect adult roles, personalized teaching grants freedom and responsibility, with guidance from adults who care about them. They want to see themselves succeeding in a context of high expectations, not just to acquire information, but to use learning to manage their own minds and support the progress of others in their community.

Not long ago, a class of notoriously unsuccessful high school juniors received a gift from their teacher—a 100-acre topographic map of their rural town. Using zoning laws and local planning guidelines, they set out to develop a land-use plan that would satisfy their zoning commission and also represent their own values, talents and personal dreams. Needless to say, the guidelines for their proposals included an enormous checklist of requirements adapted from state and local documents: demographic projections, analysis of water resources, travel access, tax implications and wildlife preservation. These students worked independently on their proposals for most of four weeks, in a classroom that had become as serious as any corporate office. Attendance rose and discipline referrals disappeared. At the end, members of the zoning commission and planning committee arrived to hear the proposals, offering the respect, advice and concern that any adult receives during a regular meeting of the board.

Needless to say, no plug-in pattern such as these seven phases can engage all students in learning. Instead, teachers must make personalized learning central to their teaching throughout the school year, so students can learn gradually how to manage their work for an evolving purpose that grows more clear and compelling as they meet each challenge. We cannot expect any student to begin high school asking critical questions, gathering pertinent information, proposing plausible answers and testing their ideas in the surrounding world. When we begin to expect that all students will be able to gather information and propose solutions by the time they graduate, we will be working in schools where all students become engaged in learning.

Clarke and DiMartino are co-authors of Personalizing the High School Experience for Each Student (ASCD, 2008).

Time to Take a Stand

by Samuel Eure Jr.

Educators, it’s time to wake up and act in ways that promote our causes. We have a responsibility to ensure that others understand what truly motivates us—our students. In sports, it’s sometimes said that “the best defense is a good offense.” It’s time for a little offense.

We cannot presume that people, parents, politicians and the students we serve all understand the importance and impact of a good education. Even though many people have children or have had children attend public schools, it’s quite possible that they just don’t get it. We must do all we can to help them. Schools continue to influence our communities whether we have children in them or not. Schools are an integral part of every community and now the community must become an integral part of the school. Teachers do not teach for the money, the benefits, or the unrivaled acclaim and respect of the profession. Teachers teach to make a difference in our communities and the lives of children. Teaching is something that unlocks potential, cultivates minds, aids in the development of a child’s personality, and helps young people grow into the people they will become. We do this while also educating them in a myriad of academic and social subjects.

As we are busy doing all these things, we connect with our students to ensure that they understand how much we care. Our drive is to make all students as successful as they can be. Our dedication to what we do demonstrates our profession’s steadfast purpose to make our communities better places.

And we’ve got a lot on our plates. In Virginia, we have Standards of Learning tests, SATs and other standardized tests, and we must follow Individual Education Plans.  We comply with 504 plans, along with student assistance plans and behavior modification plans. These are areas that are not negotiable. We must comply, by law.  Who else meets these types of requirements? No one! 

What else do we do? In high school, we teach driver’s education and meet or influence any other need passed down to us. There are also the co-curricular and extracurricular activities teachers sponsor, or the athletic teams we coach. The true value of every teacher is truly immeasurable.

Other professions have some control over the quality of the product with which they work. They’re very selective on what the quality of their starting product will be. This is not the case with teachers; we cannot and should not turn away any child. We cannot choose whom we teach. We work with what we get and make the most of it. Who else can say that? We make a difference in the lives of every student that passes through our doors.

Considering the responsibilities we have been given and the accountability we accept, we have consistently exceeded national norms. We must continue to stand up for the children we teach, request the funding our schools need, and receive the respect we deserve. We must talk to parents and help them understand what our needs are. We must step up and address every elected public official. They must not only know our needs, they must understand our communities. To do so, they must know our students and they must visit our schools and talk “with,” not “to,” our teachers. We cannot allow politicians to shortchange our students. Educating students is the number one priority of every level of our government. A quality education is essential for the economic survival of every state and community. How do we reinvigorate our nation and improve our position in the world without first ensuring we do all we can to prepare our students?

Even during the current economic crisis, we as teachers must ensure that the schools we work in, the students we inspire and the communities we serve do not get unfairly targeted .This is not the time to allow the politicians to use the “biggest pig at the trough” analogy to justify funding reductions. Even in these lean times, we must continue to support the research-based programs we know will improve student achievement, such as the Pre-K initiative. Virginia must strive to remain one of the best states in the U.S. in which to operate a business and raise a child. For that to happen, maintaining and improving the quality of our educational programs must be a priority.

This is not a time for our voices to be muted, or to allow anyone to diminish the professionalism we consistently demonstrate. It is a time to demonstrate the power we as teachers have. We cannot be ashamed or hesitant to teach and reach our students. Teachers, it’s time to stand for what our students mean to us and what impact we truly have on our localities, our states and our nation.

Are you willing to take a stand?

Eure, a member of the York Education Association, teaches at York High School.

Virginia’s Citizens Back
Education Funding in Annual VCU Poll

RICHMOND—In the face of budget cuts being endured by public schools around Virginia, citizens of the state have expressed strong support for education funding in the 2008-09 Commonwealth Education Poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University. In fact, 68 percent of those surveyed said that they’re willing to pay higher taxes in order to protect the level of funding for K-12 schools.

Support for spending in other areas was not as strong. For transportation, 48 percent were willing to pay higher taxes to meet current needs, while 46 percent were not. For higher education; 46 percent would pay more taxes and 49 percent would not; for prisons, 24 percent would pay higher taxes and 68 percent would not. Virginians also said they’d pay more taxes to support funding levels for mental health services (62 percent) and aid to low-income families (61 percent).

Other highlights in the ninth annual poll:
• The public believes that money for schools is very important. Seventy percent of Virginians say that the amount of money spent on schools has a major impact on the quality of education, and about the same amount (71 percent) say that if the state cuts funding for education, it will bring significant changes to their local schools.
• The idea of going to a four-day school week is not popular. Eighty percent of respondents were against a four-day week if it meant a reduction in instructional time; 54 percent opposed it even if the amount of instructional time was unaffected.
• The public supports smaller class sizes in general, but can handle slight increases. Seventy percent say that, in general, adding students to a class hurts the quality of the education the class receives. However, two-thirds say that this isn’t necessarily true if class sizes only grow by one student.
• Virginians are not of one mind on math and science education. Forty-three percent say that the current emphasis given to math and science is about right; a third believes that it’s not enough.
• A majority of respondents is against single-sex schooling. Two-thirds of Virginians say they oppose or strongly oppose public schools for girls only; just about the same proportion (65 percent) say they’re against public schools just for boys.

For the full report, or to see results from past polls, go to the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute website at www.cepionline.org.

‘Get Game Smart’ Aims
for Media Balance

REDMOND, WA—Today’s children are spending more and more time browsing the Web, playing video games and watching television and, since that’s not going to change anytime soon, the Microsoft Corporation has developed the “Get Game Smart” initiative to help young people develop healthy media habits. The campaign is designed to help families and educators teach safe, balanced methods of media use.

The campaign’s website, (www.GetGameSmart.com), collects useful resources, advice and parental control tools in one place, and has sections for both young people and their caregivers.

Virginia’s Milken Winners
Are All VEA Members

Three VEA members are Virginia’s winners of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards, an honor that goes to outstanding K-12 teachers and administrators and includes a $25,000 check. The 2008 Virginia honorees are Laura H. Marshall, a member of the Chesterfield Education Association and a third grade teacher at Grange Hall Elementary School; William L. Sterrett, a member of the Albemarle Education Association and principal at Woodbrook Elementary School; and Recharta C. Walston, a member of the Virginia Beach Education Association and a third grade teacher at Seatack Elementary School.

Maribeth Carmichael, a member of the Frederick County Education Association who serves as an English teacher and head librarian at Millbrook High School, has been chosen as the county’s 2009 Teacher of the Year.

Teresa Hash, a member of the Smyth County Education Association who teaches at Marion Intermediate School, is Smyth’s 2008-09 Teacher of the Year.

Loudoun Education Association members Michele Rzweski-Copeland and Laura Snow, both teachers at Potowmack Elementary School, have received a $5,000 Student Achievement Grant from the NEA Foundation to fund their project, “Living Loudoun County History.”

Martha N. Smith, a member of the Chesterfield Education Association and a first grade teacher at J.B. Watkins Elementary School, has been named Virginia Technology Education Association Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Spotsylvania Education Association member Penny Anderson, who teaches World Geography and AP Human Geography at Riverbend High School, has been selected as a 2008 High School Distinguished Teacher by the National Council for Geographic Education.

Send items to TAllen@veanea.org or to Kudos, Virginia Journal of Education, 116 South Third St., Richmond, VA 23219.

Fuzzy Slippers, A Cup of Coffee and Learning

by Karen Work Richardson

Opportunities for teaching and learning online are everywhere today. According to a recent report from the Sloan Consortium, over one million K-12 students participated in some kind of online course during the 2007-08 school year, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the 2005-06 school year. States and school divisions are busy creating virtual high schools. In Virginia, some 3,000 students participate in Advanced Placement and foreign language courses online, and many school divisions are taking advantage of the program to provide a wider range of courses to their students.

Teachers are also participating in virtual learning for their own growth and development. Online courses allow busy professionals to access professional development any time, any place. No more rushing to class at the end of the day or spending Saturdays stuck in a classroom. Instead of the student going to the course, the course comes to the student. Are you a morning person? You can log on before you head to work. More of a night owl? The course content is waiting for you when you're ready.

How about you? Are you thinking about taking an online course? As you venture into the world of virtual learning, you should be aware that the terms online learning and distance learning can be used to refer to a wide variety of different course formats and schedules. Some courses are completely online with no face-to-face meetings. They may be self-paced modules completed by the individual without a specific time frame and with little or no interaction with other students. Other courses meet during a particular time period, say over a regular semester, and students engage with each other in discussion forums or live chats as part of the learning environment. Hybrid courses, on the other hand, include both face-to-face and online components.

While online courses and face-to-face courses have some similarities, there are some special challenges related to taking an online course. As both a participant and an instructor, I can offer several tips for succeeding in an online course.

First, online courses are not necessarily any easier or harder than face-to-face courses, but they do demand a higher level of independence and self-discipline for the student. The very flexibility that makes online learning so attractive to educators can also make it easier to procrastinate. I recommend to my students that they schedule their online time just like they would if they had a face-to-face class meeting. Particularly in a course that incorporates online discussion, it is important for students to log in throughout the week so they can more fully participate in the conversation. By deliberately scheduling time for the course, participants can be sure to give the course the time it needs.

Second, good communication skills are essential. While there may be opportunities for audio or video conferencing, most interactions in online courses take place through written communications, whether they are e-mails with the teacher or discussion forum posts shared with other learners. Being able to express ideas, ask questions, or respond to others in a clear, succinct manner is essential. Most courses will provide guidelines for how to participate effectively. Be sure to review them at the beginning of the course, but also throughout to be sure you are staying within those guidelines.

Finally, it helps if you are fairly comfortable with using your computer. After all, it will be your interface with the course. You may need to install special software, such as media viewers, in order to interact with the content. You will probably have to create and upload documents as part of the course requirements. Usually, at the beginning of the course, you will be given a list of the technical requirements. Take the time to test your computer so you can participate fully in the course environment.

In short, not everyone will find online courses to their liking. Want some idea of how you would do? Lehigh Carbon Community College provides an online quiz that you can use to assess your potential success as an online student at http://tinyurl.com/c25qn8. It helps you think about how your learning styles and preferences match with the online environment.

One more quick note: All this online learning also opens new career opportunities for educators. Because of the proliferation of online courses, demand for quality teachers has increased. So, if you decide you like learning in your fuzzy slippers, you might consider teaching in them as well!

Richardson has been working as an educator for over 20 years, currently as an adjunct instructor in educational technology at The College of William and Mary, where she is also working on her doctorate in curriculum and educational technology. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education.

One teacher's method of keeping his students attentive, focused on what's important, and looking beyond today.

by Albert Walter Jones III

When you walk into any one of my classes with me, the first thing you’ll notice is that some of my students will immediately sit down, lock their fingers, stop talking and look into my eyes for acknowledgement. I’ll then say to the rest of the class, matter-of-factly, “Smart people can follow simple instructions the first time.” More students sit down. I then add, in a quiet tone, “Check your posture,” and the remaining students have a seat, lock their fingers, close their mouths and focus on the teacher.

How did this happen? Actually, it was pretty easy.

When you walk around your school and watch what students are doing, chances are you’ll see them talking, walking, playing, reading assignments, passing notes, plundering inside the desks, being entertained by other students, daydreaming, being disrespectful, or just having fun. Next time you’re in class, stop and examine the kinds of behaviors students are displaying. You may be surprised. You may be annoyed, to say the least. And you will immediately understand why your work sometimes seems to be in vain. You’ll probably also see why you have to spend so much of your instructional time teaching social and behavior skills.

When I was a student, teachers didn’t have to yell, scream, threaten and punish students to get them to have the correct posture for learning. One teacher I remember distinctly did the opposite: The quieter she got, the more trouble you realized was coming your way. And if she ever called you “Sugar Bee” during that exchange, it was considered the “kiss of death.” It was over for you!

But as everyone knows, times have changed and classroom discipline is not what it once was. So one day, after many high blood pressure pills and many talks with the Lord, I decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with my students. I told them that no one should have to yell, scream and threaten in order to teach them. I resolved to myself that I was not going to say all the negative things teachers sometime find themselves shouting in moments of frustration at these poor, innocent and misguided students. I was simply going to say, “Check your posture.” This became my nice way of saying "Please have a seat, stop talking and let me have your attention."

I explained how I wanted them to respond to “Check your posture” by sitting down, locking their fingers, closing their mouths and looking directly at me. To my surprise, the students responded better to this than I would have ever imagined. I actually think they preferred it. Just having a real-life explanation for sitting and paying close attention to the teacher other than “Because I said so” fed their young, developing egos. My students have told other students about this, and now if I walk into another classroom and say, “Check your posture,” other students respond just like mine do.
  
So how would you introduce the “Check your posture” concept to your students? Explain to them that this is your special coded warning and it means that it’s time to stop and check in with themselves. Sometimes it means that a student is out of order, so please stop and make sure that you are not that student. Sometimes it means, “May I have your attention? We’re ready to learn!” Whatever the translation, students need to stop immediately and check three things:

• Are your fingers locked? People who sit like this are usually the ones who are in charge, in control. I tell students to look at the President, corporate CEOs, attorneys, the principal, business owners and most other important people. You will see that they sit up straight with their fingers locked on the desk or table.

• Is your mouth closed? Today, information and money can be the same thing. Sure, someone will pay you to do a job, but they will pay you much more for what you know. The top salaries today go to people called "knowledge workers": people who are paid for information and ideas. Right now you are saving your knowledge. Your brain is like a piggy bank. One day you will get paid for all the knowledge you’ve saved. But if your mouth is open all the time, then it’s like having a piggy bank with a hole in it. You’ll never acquire all the knowledge you will need to get paid.

• Are your eyes on me? I explain to my students that your eyes are the windows for your brain. If your eyes go into the hallway, then your brain just went into the hallway. If your brain is out there in the hall, then you will not learn everything you will need in this class.  Look at those same leaders and high achievers who sit with their fingers locked: You’ll notice that they also look directly at whoever is speaking and are not afraid to make eye contact. In addition to preparing your brain to take in more knowledge, eye contact also tells others that you are self-confident and assertive and that you expect the same respect when it is your turn to speak.

Using "Check your posture" changed the dynamics of my classes. The classroom environment became more conducive for learning. I didn’t have to teach the lesson over and over again. At the same time, I was also teaching them a very important life lesson: how to behave with dignity and self-assurance in group settings. Individual student attention spans increased noticeably. Student performance and motivation improved. I could see the self-esteem building in their eyes and efforts.   I am still on high blood pressure pills, but I don’t talk to the Lord as often now except to say "Thanks!"

  Here are a few things that I say over and over to my students:

1. Smart people can follow simple instructions the first time.

2. You can learn to be smart by developing a knack for following simple instructions the first time.

3. Check your posture.

4. If I am talking to you, then I should see you looking at me.

5. Information and money are the same thing.

6. You get paid for what you know, if you don’t know enough, you won’t get paid enough.

7. How do you stay on track? Ask yourself this question. Is what I’m about to do going to help me accomplish my goals? If the answer is yes, then do it. If the answer is no, then leave it alone because you don't have time for it. You're too busy achieving your goals!

8. It's all about getting paid. It’s about your job, business, profession or career. It’s about your goals and dreams.

9. Knowing things that most people don't will push you closer to those goals and dreams.

10.  Today's ideas and information are tomorrow's businesses, inventions and top salaries.

Here is an exercise for your students: Ask them, “If you were the only person in the world who knew today that $1 Hershey candy bars would sell for $100 tomorrow, what would you do today?” They’ll tell you that they’d buy as many candy bars as possible today and sell them at a profit tomorrow. Tell them that money and information are the same thing. When teachers speak, it’s the same as though they are passing out $1 candy bars to every student that has the correct posture for learning. Tomorrow, those candy bars will be worth $100 each.

Remember: Check your posture. It works for all ages.

Jones, a member of the Richmond Education Association, is a Title I math teacher at Blackwell Elementary School.