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Having My Students Answer Some Questions!

6/20/2016

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Do you ever feel that you would benefit from more structure? Elaborate.

What was your very first step in creating a student-led classroom?

How do you educate your parents on this shift?

Do you ever feel like some of your peers don’t participate as much? How do you encourage them to participate more?

How do you compare your experiences this year with other years in elementary school?

What does a student-led classroom look like in a resource room?

What is one thing that you would change about the current model?

Does the PE teacher at your school use the student led class model as well? If so, what is their experience?

Do you feel that there is some structure in your classroom?

Do you feel like you are helping your classmates learn or do you think you all learn more when your teacher does everything?

Do you feel that you are learning as much or more in your classroom this year, as you have in the past?

Do you prefer a teaching structure from a previous teaching method?

How do you get students to take more leadership roles in the classroom while treating others respectfully?

How do you make all students feel empowered to take responsibility in the classroom?

How does one stress responsibility of homework completion intrinsically?

How do your introverts handle the controlled chaos and participating in groups?
I am curious about how your classroom environment works for your true introverts. What do you do with the student who is happy to sit back and let others take charge?

Some other resources to help answer some of the questions:

How do you measure growth? How is growth reported out? See screen shots below.
How do you get students to take more leadership roles in the classroom while treating others respectfully?
How do you make all students feel empowered to take responsibility in the classroom?
How does one stress responsibility of homework completion intrinsically?
How do you get parents to come on board with change?
How do your introverts handle the controlled chaos and participating in groups?
I am curious about how your classroom environment works for your true introverts. What do you do with the student who is happy to sit back and let others take charge?
What do other teachers in your building think of your teaching model? Have others adapted your philosophy or resisted? If so, why?
How do these skills translate to other grades that do not use your teaching methods?
What have you heard from primary teachers about successes with a student led classroom and areas of difficulty? Check out the LearnLAP PLN! Also, check out this list of blog posts written about Learn Like a PIRATE, organized by grade level or specialty area.
Did someone encourage you to write this book? Yes, Dave Burgess, my publisher!

3 Comments

Answering Questions from Teachers in a #LearnLAP Book Study

6/1/2016

3 Comments

Question:

How do you explain to your kids that there will not be 'grades' for everything and how do you go about pacifying the parents when they are searching for constant feedback (from grades)? Thank you!! GREAT book, truly enjoyed it by the way!!

Answer:

Hi Alexandra - Thanks for the kind words! I'm very fortunate that our community is one in which parents are extremely involved in school activities. They know what's going on in school and are often involved in making our school an even better place for their children. I've had the pleasure of working here for 17 years, and because of that, parents know me and my methods either through their older children or through their friends/neighbors whose children I've had as students. That has provided me with an automatic, "I'll trust him for now," approach from most parents. Of course, that wouldn't last if I didn't back it up with strong evidence that it results in increased learning, effort, and interest! I've honestly never had a parent or administrator question it since my report cards are FILLED with pages of anecdotal evidence and qualitative evidence that shows where their child is in each subject, broken down by categories and skills. Most parents are so thankful that I know their child so well at the first conference that we generally talk about what is working and how happy their child is to be in a classroom that focuses in on improvement and growth rather than mastery and perfection. Here is my Assessment page: http://psolarz.weebly.com/21st-century-assessment.html - There are several PDF's that you can download to see what some of the materials look like that I give to parents during each report card. Today, there are lots of resources that support eliminating grades or at least downplaying them. I recommend books by Mark Barnes and Starr Sackstein to start with. The real key is providing students with lots of specific feedback that helps them grow no matter what level they are currently at. When parents and administrators see students improving, trying their hardest, and enjoying school, they will support and trust you. As far as the kids go, my students have never batted an eye - they haven't asked me about grades because they know where they stand with me since I give them so much feedback, opportunities to improve, and time to work during Homework Club so they don't fall behind. I'm sure my straight-A kiddos wish they could still be getting A's all the time, but they feel fulfilled in a classroom that appreciates their effort, their focus on constant improvement (even when it's "good enough"), and their willingness to help others be as successful as they are! The following is WAY cliche, but I mean it... ALL students can be successful - we don't need some to fail and struggle so that we rise to the top! We don't step on others to climb the mountain of success, we take turns carrying each other until we all arrive at the top together! That's what our classroom feels like! It makes me so happy that kids will stop what they're doing to help others. That's the way a family works, and that's the way we hope a society can work too!

Hi Paul! I’d like to ask you about station activities. I am fortunate enough to work in an ICR classroom, so for the most part, my co-teacher and I are able to manage both teacher-led and student-led activities within our stations. However, many teachers that are by themselves in the classroom express concern or report a lack of success with station activities. Besides telling them that they should read your book (because they should!), do you have any quick words of wisdom that I can pass on to my colleagues that may not have the time to read your entire book, to help make their student-led classroom more successful? I guess I am asking you to put your book in a nutshell, if possible! lol Less...

I will certainly try! 😀 In our school, students receive services via both push-in and pull-out methods (not ICR, however). The teachers and aides that work IN my classroom join activities already in progress and support as needed. They know that the students they are responsible for know how to get started with their partners, but may need help doing things correctly or at a high enough level. They will look over what's been done and give feedback to help each child improve their work. By creating collaborative activities with random partners each time, students learn to work together and help each other out, often replacing the need for an adult. When it comes to fluency practice, comprehension strategies, or working on basic skills that other students in my class don't need to work on, our teachers/aides pull students to provide those services. This is often more teacher-led, but as students learn the rituals, they take on the leadership of getting everything set up and put away, and often can do certain practice activities on their own and just have the teacher (or answer key/computer program) provide feedback at the end. In a nutshell, I would suggest that ICR teachers set up rituals that allow students to lead as much as possible, and then provide feedback to constantly maintain a proper direction and high effort. Students are often very motivated when they're given responsibilities and independence! I hope that answers your question, but if not, feel free to let me know! 😀

How did you express your form of assessments to your administrators and to the parents of your students?

Ashley - Good question! It was honestly a slow, gradual process where I started to replace tests with other forms of assessments. Then, I decided to stop assigning letter/number grades to assessments and instead focus in on giving feedback that would allow each child to improve gradually. I never thought to tell my administrators or parents right away because I wasn't sure where I was going with it or if it would be successful, to be honest. Now, when I start the year, I tell my new students' parents all about it on Parent Night, give them a copy of "Learn Like a PIRATE" and let them know they can ask me any questions they have whenever they want to. I've honestly never had a parent or administrator question it since my report cards are FILLED with pages of anecdotal evidence and qualitative evidence that shows where their child is in each subject, broken down by categories and skills. Most parents are so thankful that I know their child so well at the first conference that we generally talk about what is working and how happy their child is to be in a classroom that focuses in on improvement and growth rather than mastery and perfection. Here is my Assessment page: http://psolarz.weebly.com/21st-century-assessment.html - There are several PDF's that you can download to see what some of the materials look like that I give to parents during each report card. Today, there are lots of resources that support eliminating grades or at least downplaying them. I recommend books by Mark Barnes and Starr Sackstein to start with. The real key is providing students with lots of specific feedback that helps them grow no matter what level they are currently at. When parents and administrators see students improving, trying their hardest, and enjoying school, they will support and trust you.

How are you able to manage all the student-led activities in your class?

Fortunately, my students do most of the management! I set the purpose for the period and give directions, and then I send my students off to do what needs to be done. They assist each other because they're not competing for A's, time limits are flexible, and collaboration is paramount. I'm free to observe, provide feedback, assist those who need me the most, and teach mini-lessons that keep my students moving forward.

Have you ever had a student that just could not seem to manage in the student-led activities without constant support? How would you handle a student like this?

I truly have not had a student that couldn't manage our activities, but they definitely are successful along a continuum, with some in their comfort zone and others who have to work at it a bit more. (My classroom is often filled with students who have ADHD (I have six students with ADHD this year). In the past, I have had students with Down's Syndrome, ASD, behavioral disorders, etc. I also generally get one of our gifted clusters, as well as an LD cluster.) That's not to say that they figured everything out immediately, but with feedback and one-on-one conversations, each student learned how to be successful in our classroom environment. Some students need reminders. Some students need occasional consequences, but honestly, most of my students appreciate the structure of the class so much that they stop competing for attention or power, and they're never bored, so they rarely act out! Building strong relationships with each of your students is the most important factor in a student-led classroom. I start building relationships with students in the school out at recess and in the hallways long before they're a student in my class. Students know who I am before they get to 5th grade and have some respect for me before they set foot in our classroom. Since I have extra time in my day to connect with students (because my kiddos are generally leading their activities), I really take advantage and get to know each student while they work. My kids seem to really appreciate the attention I give them and show their appreciation by respecting our process.

The idea of moving from a Grade Focus to an Improvement Focus is wonderful as well as necessary and from the POV of the students I see how the change is supported. How do you or would you go about helping to facilitate the parent mindset when it comes to grades? Are there ideas you have that have worked with encouraging more school-home-school communication and understanding?

At the start of each year, I tell my new students' parents all about our focus on improvement rather than grades on Parent Night, give them a copy of "Learn Like a PIRATE" and let them know they can ask me any questions they have whenever they want to. I explain a lot of what I wrote in the book to them on Parent Night so they know my purpose & rationale. If anyone would feel uncomfortable about it, I would make sure to have a conversation with them to help ease their concerns. All that being said, I've honestly never had a parent or administrator question it since my report cards are FILLED with pages of anecdotal evidence and qualitative evidence that shows where their child is in each subject, broken down by categories and skills. Most parents are so thankful that I know their child so well at the first conference that we generally talk about what is working and how happy their child is to be in a classroom that focuses in on improvement and growth rather than mastery and perfection. Here is my Assessment page: http://psolarz.weebly.com/21st-century-assessment.html - There are several PDF's that you can download to see what some of the materials look like that I give to parents during each report card. Today, there are lots of resources that support eliminating grades or at least downplaying them. I recommend books by Mark Barnes and Starr Sackstein to start with. The real key is providing students with lots of specific feedback that helps them grow no matter what level they are currently at. When parents and administrators see students improving, trying their hardest, and enjoying school, they will support and trust you. The school-home connection is an important one. In our classroom, we have a blog that replaces our class newsletter: (http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/), a Daily Photo Journal that shows them what we are doing in class each day that students completely run: (http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/daily-photo-journal), our 2015-2016 Solarz' Class YouTube page with 1,716 videos (as of today) that we create to make our thinking visible: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DeddbaMybPOm66T9TS8wQ/videos), our "Online Yearbook" that allows parents to see just their kids in all of our photos: (https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMVIZChF7dmcWEshi6T7PpcFGXQYkPU_wMSqAo7xferQsDI-gDUAQvod4P_4Cp0mg?key=dGdYaTRDN2ZQWHp0YzJOSF8tRUdlSUZWOTFsT29n), a Google Calendar for homework: (http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/calendar), our weekly schedule to help parents determine best times to pull their child for doctor appointments, etc: (http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/our-weekly-schedule), and I use email often to get out information and to communicate timely information, etc. This eases parents' concerns and gives them a thorough understanding of what's happening in our classroom each and every day!

Do you have a favorite chapter in this book, or one that was the most meaningful for you personally to write? If so, why?

When I wrote the book, I kind of wrote all of the chapters at the same time and moved sections around to where it fit best. When I entered the revision process, I worked hard with my editor to make things flow better and actually did a complete re-write of two chapters (The "R" and "E" chapters in the PIRATE acronym). All of the information stayed the same, but I supported it differently and I connected it to other parts of the book differently. One of the hardest things was writing the "Empowerment" chapter because I had already explained how I empower my students to lead throughout the whole book (I "stole my own thunder!"). But I didn't want to give up calling the "E" "Empowerment" because I felt it was too important to lose! Now that everything is put together, I enjoy the "Peer Collaboration" chapter most for many reasons. Whenever I lead a workshop on my book, I seem to spend the most time discussing that chapter with the group. I think it's the basis for everything else. For example, you can have a completely student-led classroom without eliminating grades, but it would be nearly impossible to do without having your students work together on most tasks. You can have a student-led classroom without focusing on 21st Century Skills as much as I do, but you couldn't do it if the students didn't effectively work with each other, etc. Hope that makes sense! 😀

What inspired you to write this book? Of your strategies which do/did you find the most successful in your own classroom?

My publisher (and author of "Teach Like a PIRATE") Dave Burgess, asked me if I wanted to write a book called "Learn Like a PIRATE!" He and I connected on Twitter and I helped run his Twitter chat for a few weeks and set up a summer Twitter Book Club to discuss it over six weeks. He knew, through our conversations and my old blog (http://psolarz.weebly.com/mr-solarz-eportfolio), that I was an elementary teacher, implementing technology and student-led practices in my classroom and thought it would make a nice companion to his book. He asked me in July or August of 2014 and it was finished at the end of November (although editing/revising took until January). We published in March, 2015 and just celebrated its first anniversary a little over a month ago! Although I don't necessarily have a "favorite" strategy, one of the strategies from the book that I use nearly everyday (and that other teachers find extremely useful) is the idea of "Responsibility Partners." Whenever my students complete an independent task (that isn't an assessment), I partner them up randomly and have them work side-by-side. This is so they have someone to ask questions of, someone who will monitor their progress (I remind them regularly to look over their work and give feedback), and it frees me up to walk around and help those who need me most. Partnerships are even encouraged to go to other partnerships when both kids are stuck and need help. This collaborative work ethic is what keeps our classroom on-task and maximizing our time.

What does the first few weeks/days of school look in your classroom? How much time do you spend on classroom management and team building before you jump into the curriculum?

My publisher really wanted me to be more specific about this as well, but the truth is that every year is very different from the previous one. The things that stay consistent from year to year is that I spend the first day talking with my new students about how our class will be different than in other years and why. I give them the "Give Me Five" powers and ask them to take risks to lead our class. I let them know that I will correct them if they use it wrong, but will appreciate the fact that they tried it without asking me first. We talk about the importance of handling critical feedback from me, because I will be giving praise and compliments, but also constantly on the lookout for ways I can help students get to "the next level" in whatever skill they are working on (this is ambiguous because "skill" might relate to any of the 21st Century skills we work on, an academic skill, a procedural skill, etc.). I ask them to try to get to a place where they can appreciate feedback from me, even when it's corrective in nature. Since I don't use grades, feedback is the mechanism for growth and it's what tells students how they're doing so report card grades are never a surprise. I have the "Marble Theory" meeting in the first day or two and teach kids about how we will need to get along with EVERYONE in the room this year, and respect that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that just because one student may not always get straight-A's, they are still just as "intelligent" as one who does because in our classroom "intelligence" is measured with fictional marbles in our brain that have been allocated to cups that identify skills that we are good at and skills that we need to try to improve on. We set up a bunch of our rituals and routines during the first couple days and I gently nudge students to get them to use "Give Me Five" and other leadership techniques (both active and passive). I teach mini-lessons that focus on 21st Century skills and let them know our main focus should be on effort, collaboration, and revision this year. That's a change from years where they only worry about themselves, try to "finish" things even if it's not their best work, and turn things in and never look at it again. Effort, collaboration, and revision drive our day-to-day practices. Hope that helps!

Is your classroom an inclusion classroom? Have you had any experience with the student-led classroom in an ICR class setting? If so, do you have any advice on conveying the belief and trust in this kind of student run class with another teacher who may not feel the same? Sometimes I feel I struggle with the communication needed in order to keep the classroom norms consistent when I am not the only teacher in the classroom.

We are an inclusion district and my classroom includes children whose least restrictive environment is the regular ed classroom. Therefore, I have students with all sorts of needs including LD, BD, ASD, ADHD, Down's Syndrome, etc. We are also a unique school where students with more needs are integrated into a regular ed classroom for part of their day, while receiving some services in their self-contained classroom. We call this our Integrated Services classrooms. Although I have done this, I am no longer the I.S. classroom for 5th grade. All that being said, I work closely with the 5th grade special ed teacher and assistants to provide push-in and pull-out services to my students. As with any relationship, lots of communication needs to happen so that both parties see eye-to-eye on the educational philosophy of a the classroom. Maybe lend them your "Learn Like a PIRATE" book and see if they are willing to read it and jump on board. I would suggest that your co-teacher is present during all classroom meetings and mini-lessons so they see what you are expecting the students to do. If they are able to support you they will, but most likely you will need to have many conversations about why you are doing what you are doing and will need to ask that he/she try hard to support your style of teaching. If it's not a smooth transition, perhaps you can start with specific directions that they follow during one lesson at a time. Once they "master" that, add another expectation to the next lesson. As I type this, it sounds condescending, but it's not meant to be. Just like parenting, you both need to be on the same page or it's not likely to be as successful! Good luck - I have spoken with other teachers who have gotten it to work despite a slow start!

What is one thing that you love about the classroom? Also we know that we all have had setbacks in the classroom, was there ever a time that you struggled as a teacher and if so what did you learn from that experience?

Every year, I wonder what it would be like to leave the classroom and work in a district office, or as an instructional coach, or with a curriculum company, but as soon as it starts to get "real" I immediately think about how much I would miss the classroom! I LOVE teaching and LOVE being with my students all day! My relationships with each student is the number one reason I stay in the classroom and it's the number one factor in how great my year was. Some years, I connect strongly with each and every student, finding ways to turn their idiosyncrasies and quirks into redeeming qualities that I miss when they move on to middle school. Occasionally though, there is that one child who, for whatever reason, I'm not as effective at bonding with and that drives me crazy! I work hard at it! I spend extra time with these students and find personal interests we have in common. I attend their hockey games and go to their music recitals. I give more smiles and high fives to these students, but sometimes it just doesn't result in a strong relationship for whatever reason. I never give up trying, but I try to remind myself that you can't please everyone all of the time! My goal is always to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment for each of my students and hope that they look forward to each and every day they come to school. I know that if I continue to try my best, it's all I can do, and I can live with myself knowing that I have no regrets! Hopefully, that answers both of your questions! Good luck Bianca!

How long have you taught? What subjects, as well as, levels did you mostly teach? Are you still teaching in the classroom?

The 2015-2016 year was my 17th year (all 5th grade believe it or not), all at the same school (the district I grew up in), and I teach all subjects. I've never left the classroom and have no immediate plans to do so. I just enjoy being around the kids too much! 😀

Where do you see the collaborative classroom in ten years? Will it be strictly student-led?

Although I think the collaborative, student-led classroom looks very different from grade to grade, I do believe that people could take it too far, giving students too much freedom and too much power. One of the reasons why it works well in our classroom is that we have an extremely "structured" classroom. (Think of it as the "S" in "PIRATES".) In some ways, students are expected to do things a very specific way at a specific time, with a specific person. If you were to visit my classroom, you would see my students working, but what you might not know is that I gave them very specific and clear directions, personalized feedback that fine-tuned their actions and behaviors over time, and set rituals and routines in place that have specific steps that aren't often deviated. Although my students make tons of choices throughout the day without coming to me for permission, they are always making decisions that fit within the structure of our classroom. If teachers give too much independence, students might not learn as much, might be off-task, might not care about improving. If teachers allow for too much choice, students may never work with other students (forming cliques or alienating some), might not focus on what's important, and might not make decisions that are the best for themselves. The teacher's role in a collaborative, student-led classroom is as important as it is in a teacher-led classroom, but it looks very different and its purpose is very different. I think this blog post that I wrote really does a nice job of showing many of the differences: http://psolarz.weebly.com/mr-solarz-eportfolio/how-my-21st-century-classroom-has-changed-from-my-classroom-between-1999-and-2010

What inspired you to write "Learn like a Pirate"?

Thank you for sharing your ideas and practices. It is refreshing to get practical suggestions from someone who spends time in the classroom and understands our same struggles. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and cannot wait to start implementing what I've learned! As I read, I was constantly asking, "Can my first graders do this?" I am often told.. yes they can! But I spend everyday with them and know that at this age, they're still working on independence, stamina, focus, maturity, etc. As you know, the beginning of the school, so much time is spent on establishing routines, expectations, and rules. And for us teachers who have the little kids, it takes twice as long before we have the classroom running smoothly. I'm told time after time that children need routine. They need structure. So, I plan my days making sure that it is stuck as close to schedule as possible. They're aware that sometimes things can change anytime because of the tons of things happening in school and unforeseen disruptions. I guess my question to you is, how do I get my students to be adaptable and flexible in their schedules (and learning) without having to really sacrifice their need for structure? I'm sure there's no straight answer, but I am just curious at how you would go about setting up this kind of environment for students of 6-7 years old. I appreciate any thoughts you have on that. Thank you so much for taking the time to be a part of our discussions!

I'll start by saying that you're right - first grade at the beginning of the year is a very different setting than my 5th grade classroom! We focus on the 21st Century skill of "Adapting to Change" a lot in our classroom. I post the schedule for the week online & display it in class all day: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/our-weekly-schedule but students know that it changes often - students adapt! Students are partnered up and their partner has to go to band in the middle of the activity - students adapt. One day, they have one role in our Mystery Skype, the next day they have a new role - students adapt. I mix things up a lot in order to help students work on the skill of adapting to change. I model appropriate responses to changes as they affect me, and I tell stories about how I deal with changes in my life in healthy ways. We have two observable behaviors that we look for in this category: (1) Adapt to varied roles, jobs, responsibilities, schedules, and contexts and (2) Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities. Therefore, I try to provide my students with lots of opportunities to tackle these challenges and show me that they can adapt to change! And to be honest, it comes pretty easily to my 5th graders. How first graders respond is probably much different and requires lots of support along the way from the teacher and their peers. I think that the way you described your classroom planning above is perfect! I would just add that you might want to demonstrate how your kiddos should act whenever change happens. I would suggest identifying the emotions involved and helping them re-frame those emotions. For example, some students may feel anxious, disappointed, confused, or angry when something changes on the schedule. Reassure them that you are not making the change to upset anyone or to show that you are more powerful than they are, but that it is a necessary change for a legitimate reason. Point out how much you care about them, and that you don't want them to feel any of those negative emotions in their school day - you want them to LOVE school! Teach them coping strategies and possibly do some role playing to demonstrate healthy reactions to change. Have them reflect and synthesize this information by having them record a video (maybe with parent helpers if needed) that helps the kindergartners deal with change! After all, we learn best when we teach others!

Here is our #LearnLAP PLN of teachers who are trying out the ideas in "Learn Like a PIRATE" in their classrooms (organized by grade level): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OMH8xBEe_agfWvuxc4Al9pqqiEnmX0EGZRp4IcASxSE/edit?usp=sharing I suggest you connect with some of those kindergarten and first grade teachers to compare ideas and see what's working and what's not for them. Many of them have been active on Twitter raving about the success they're seeing with regard to leadership and collaboration with their kiddos!

Thanks for taking the time to respond to our questions and sharing all of your ideas in LLaP. I’m really working on encouraging my students to focus on feedback and improvement rather than grades. I teach 8th graders who are quite set in their ways and who check their grades online every single day! It’s hard changing their mindsets. You said in your book that you use ePortfolios and you don’t give many tests and quizzes. However, you understand that grades are expected in school today. Can you tell us more about what kinds of assessments you use in your student-led classroom? Is it just e-portfolios and projects? Just how few grades do you give during the year? Have you ever had students who are truly resistant to developing intrinsic motivation for their learning?

Thanks for indulging my curiosity! I’ve been inspired by your book and it’s transforming my classroom in cool ways.

Hi Kristin - thanks for the kind words! Here is my short answer, with a longer one to follow... The only tests I give are end-of-unit math tests and one social studies unit where we work on test-taking strategies (& study skills, etc.). Those are the only things that are graded in my entire class. Everything else just gets feedback, time to improve them, and more feedback. I have to give report cards, so grades on report cards are determined holistically from everything they do in class, but each subject is broken down into several skills/standards and individual grades are identified for each. As for the types of assessments I use, honestly, everything my students do is an assessment to me! We participate in simulations, debates, fairs, projects, performances, etc. My students create online products like timelines, flowcharts, videos, ThingLinks, Vokis, etc. that demonstrate their learning. Because they maintain an ePortfolio of their work, I often have them reflect on the process and what they've learned as well. Although I don't use them enough, self-assessments are great for reflection and help students identify specifics of what they will revise when they're given time in class to do so. Each student also sets individual goals every Friday that they work on throughout the week - most kids take them very seriously and enjoy celebrating their "accomplished goals!" Here is the longer answer: http://psolarz.weebly.com/21st-century-assessment.html (My 21st Century Assessment Page) Be sure to download the PDF's to check them out! Hope that helps!!!

I enjoyed reading your book and hope to implement many of the strategies I learned!!

As a Reading Specialist, I work with small groups of students in grades 1-5. Each group meets for 45 minutes and I typically see 6 groups a day. My question is: How can I incorporate student-led activities when I teach a scripted intervention program and I have a limited amount of time to meet with my groups each day? I want to make the most of their time with me and hope you can offer some suggestions.

When I imagine myself in your position, I envision the students coming in, setting up for me, getting started on something that they can do themselves that maximizes their time-on-task, and when they finish, we get started with the teacher-led portion. This allows for me to arrive a couple minutes late, finish up with another group, deal with a distraction, answer an email, or whatever. This also makes each student feel like they have some control and power in the intervention group and prevents students from goofing off with each other or taking their time getting to the group in the first place. Therefore, this activity should be important to them, important to you (so you will provide feedback until they master all the steps in the ritual), and have a small consequence if not done correctly and on-time (maybe its homework, maybe the group has to go a minute or two into recess, etc.). That last part may sound too strict, but I've found that there have to be consequences for students who aren't trying their best otherwise the students who are most used to slacking will continue no matter how motivational the activity is. I make sure to praise strong effort, show appreciation with an extra minute or two of recess or free-time, etc. and students begin to behave the way that will benefit them most over time! Those relationships are so important! 😀

I have really enjoyed reading your book! It has helped me reflect as a teacher and has given me new ideas to implement in my classroom. I teach 1st grade and have several ESL students in my class. I have tried some student-led activities at this point of the year since my students are more independent. I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to explain student-led expectations within the first few weeks of school for this age. I would like to do more student-led activities next year but am not sure how to make it work if students are not yet independent in September. Please let me know ideas you may have to make this successful! Thank you for taking the time and helping!

Although I'm not a primary teacher and won't claim to know exactly how to be one (😀) I would suggest that teaching students the importance of being observant and aware is #1. Learning to interpret what's happening around them can be hard for primary students (oblivious to kids punching or crying or...), so helping them understand what to do in various situations seems like a good first step. This is a transferable skill, one that will be needed all throughout their lives. Although they won't immediately master this, I would next explain that teachers need help in the classroom - they can't do everything themself. Therefore, "I need your help to help each other and help the classroom run smoothly." This is where you come in. Do you want them to be an extra set of eyes that make you aware of what's happening so you can fix the problem? Do you want them to attempt to fix it? Do you want children helping other children with their work? Do you want kids getting supplies out when they're needed? You get to decide the level with which you are comfortable having them lead. In my 5th grade classroom, it's black and white - I want them ALWAYS helping each other. Since we don't have grades, that means nothing is off-limits except for state testing when it's silent in class! I'd rather have my students learn from each other than get it wrong just so I know that they don't get it. I imagine that many students don't completely understand everything when I set them free to work after giving them directions, but they ask each other questions and help each other, so they learn it in authentic situations and for authentic purposes! You just need to determine what those purposes are in your classroom. Here is what I wrote to Thu, another 1st grade teacher:

Hi Thu - Thanks so much for the kind words! I'll start by saying that you're right - first grade at the beginning of the year is a very different setting than my 5th grade classroom! We focus on the 21st Century skill of "Adapting to Change" a lot in our classroom. I post the schedule for the week online & display it in class all day: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/our-weekly-schedule but students know that it changes often - students adapt! Students are partnered up and their partner has to go to band in the middle of the activity - students adapt. One day, they have one role in our Mystery Skype, the next day they have a new role - students adapt. I mix things up a lot in order to help students work on the skill of adapting to change. I model appropriate responses to changes as they affect me, and I tell stories about how I deal with changes in my life in healthy ways. We have two observable behaviors that we look for in this category: (1) Adapt to varied roles, jobs, responsibilities, schedules, and contexts and (2) Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities. Therefore, I try to provide my students with lots of opportunities to tackle these challenges and show me that they can adapt to change! And to be honest, it comes pretty easily to my 5th graders. How first graders respond is probably much different and requires lots of support along the way from the teacher and their peers. I think that the way you described your classroom planning above is perfect! I would just add that you might want to demonstrate how your kiddos should act whenever change happens. I would suggest identifying the emotions involved and helping them re-frame those emotions. For example, some students may feel anxious, disappointed, confused, or angry when something changes on the schedule. Reassure them that you are not making the change to upset anyone or to show that you are more powerful than they are, but that it is a necessary change for a legitimate reason. Point out how much you care about them, and that you don't want them to feel any of those negative emotions in their school day - you want them to LOVE school! Teach them coping strategies and possibly do some role playing to demonstrate healthy reactions to change. Have them reflect and synthesize this information by having them record a video (maybe with parent helpers if needed) that helps the kindergartners deal with change! After all, we learn best when we teach others!

Here is our #LearnLAP PLN of teachers who are trying out the ideas in "Learn Like a PIRATE" in their classrooms (organized by grade level): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OMH8xBEe_agfWvuxc4Al9pqqiEnmX0EGZRp4IcASxSE/edit?usp=sharing I suggest you connect with some of those kindergarten and first grade teachers to compare ideas and see what's working and what's not for them. Many of them have been active on Twitter raving about the success they're seeing with regard to leadership and collaboration with their kiddos!

It's a nice new perspective learning about how to teach using more group based learning. I work with a lot of ESL students in my First Grade classroom. They are still learning the language and can become overwhelmed and withdrawn with these types of projects. Do you think it is better to group them homogeneously or mix them with different leveled learners in the classroom? My conflict is that when they are mixed, they get exposure to the language, they can have a less intensive job but will they really be learning anything versus if they are in an ESL group they all are around the same level and I can guide them on a level that they will understand much less invasive than what other students are capable of doing at that point in time.

Hi Jessica - Thanks for your question! I have found that if I don't choose random partners, I almost always choose heterogeneous groups. That being said, I sometimes structure it so students have specific roles that they play in their group so everyone participates, but as the class evolves, I no longer need roles and only need to provide feedback to ensure that everyone is an active participant (but I have 5th graders). If you are concerned that your ESL students are not doing everything they are capable of, have a private conversation with them. Explain your expectations and ask if they think they can accomplish those goals. If not, ask them how you can help. If appropriate, speak to the small group together and give them some guidelines on how to do the work (Can they split it up or should they work together? Do they have roles or should they share the workload?). Ask them to ensure that each student in the group is learning and working and that each student is showing good leadership and following skills. Most importantly, teach them conflict management strategies so they can avoid disagreements that derail their progress. We use Rock-Paper-Scissors and Choose Kind the most in our class. If the project or activity is such that you want your ESL students to each have a large role, create a homogeneous group where you participate with them so they don't spin their wheels. Model and explain directions, etc. Good luck!

First, I'd like to tell you that this is my favorite book on education that I've had the pleasure of reading. It's really transformed my teaching.

My question piggybacks off of Elizabeth's. I teach 6th and 8th grade. I have my 6th graders for a 90 minute block for English and they've taken extremely well to the student led classroom. I'm having more of a challenge getting my 8th grade AVID elective students to become more student-led. Any advice for incorporating the strategies into the higher grades? These students tend to resist change.

I'm hesitant to offer much advice here since my background knowledge on this is limited, so first I'd like to suggest you connect with one of the dozens of middle school teachers on our #LearnLAP PLN: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OMH8xBEe_agfWvuxc4Al9pqqiEnmX0EGZRp4IcASxSE/edit?usp=sharing Next, I wonder if grades has anything to do with it. Are they hyper-focused on their grades and really only looking out for themselves? When I got rid of grades, collaboration became much more authentic - kids ACTUALLY wanted to help each other because if they fell a little behind, they knew I would give them a little more time to finish since it was to help others! If they didn't create the PERFECT product, they knew I would provide feedback to help them improve it without penalty and without disappointment. If there are other reasons and factors, please feel free to reply to this and I will try to think what else I would do to try to help them. In the meantime, connect with some of those middle school educators in the PLN, though, because many of them are living it every day in their classrooms!

I've really enjoyed reading your book and am implementing many of your suggestions in class! I am restructuring how I do group work to make sure all students feel a collective responsibility for the process and outcome.
I teach middle and high school and I don't have as much time with my students as elementary teachers do (I see a few classes only 2-3 a week). What suggestions do you have for creating opportunities for leadership and encouraging students to view the classroom as a community when our time together is limited? Thank you!

First, I think I would start with my team. Are they interested in increasing collaborative, active learning in the classroom? Are they willing to turn some of the power and responsibility over to the students? If so, this becomes the culture of our team and it flows from classroom to classroom. If not, that's OK too. Start with rituals that students do when they enter your room. Get to a point where you don't have to remind them to do things, but when they enter, they immediately move furniture or go to a specific web page, or read through their summary, or watch a video, etc. Use this short amount of time to give specific feedback and/or do a short small-group instruction. Turn over some of your clerical/administrative tasks to the students (e.g. mine take attendance, answer the phone, greet visitors, etc.). Transform more lessons into partner lessons where you randomly assign their partners or have them rotate each day so they get to know everyone & respect everyone well. When some assignments are better done alone, assign them a "Responsibility Partner" who is there to answer questions & give feedback along the way. I removed grades from my class and that allowed my students to see that helping their peers was more important than perfection on assignments. They still do great work, but now they know how to manage their time well enough that many know that some of their time can be spent assisting others and giving feedback to their peers instead of hyper-focusing on the assignment. Don't be afraid to have Classroom Meetings (I often refer to them as Mini-Lessons) and teach the skills that you think your students need to be successful in your classroom. I teach many 21st Century skills through videos and Infographics. We also learn about them through non-examples that come up in our reading, as explained by the kids who discover them. It's a mindset that the students need to "feel" from you. Constant feedback and a focus on these skills and behaviors will lead to a collaborative community that treats each other like members of a family (which includes little spats & disagreements, but with respect!). 😀

Thank you for sharing your ideas in the book and joining this book club. My question is about the beginning of your school year. What do the first days/weeks look like as you familiarize students with a student-led classroom? Do you find that your students have any experience with student-led activities? I've been struggling with developing student responsibility and independence this year. For next year, I'm not sure what the balance is between turning ownership over to the students and not overwhelming them with too much, too soon. If you have any advice on this, it would be appreciated. Thanks! Less...

First, the students entering my classroom typically come to me from traditional classrooms where the teacher is mainly in charge. This is slowly changing, but not by all teachers (which is fine - to each their own!). 😀 I have a tendency to throw my kiddos into the deep end right away, so to speak. I don't hold back much, because I know what I'm looking for, I know how to get them there, and I know what feedback they need in order to be successful - that comes with time!!! You should do whatever makes you feel most comfortable. That being said, my students always handle it well and I never feel the need to tone it down or slow it down. I just have to remind myself that students at the beginning of the year behave nothing like the students I had at the end of the previous year. I need to remember that it's a year-long process and that there will be many bumps along the road! But it's SO worth it and the kids get SO much out of it! 😀

Here is what I wrote to another teacher in another thread: My publisher really wanted me to be more specific about the first few days as well, but the truth is that every year is very different from the previous one. The things that stay consistent from year to year is that I spend the first day talking with my new students about how our class will be different than in other years and why. I give them the "Give Me Five" powers and ask them to take risks to lead our class. I let them know that I will correct them if they use it wrong, but will appreciate the fact that they tried it without asking me first. We talk about the importance of handling critical feedback from me, because I will be giving praise and compliments, but also constantly on the lookout for ways I can help students get to "the next level" in whatever skill they are working on (this is ambiguous because "skill" might relate to any of the 21st Century skills we work on, an academic skill, a procedural skill, etc.). I ask them to try to get to a place where they can appreciate feedback from me, even when it's corrective in nature. Since I don't use grades, feedback is the mechanism for growth and it's what tells students how they're doing so report card grades are never a surprise. I have the "Marble Theory" meeting in the first day or two and teach kids about how we will need to get along with EVERYONE in the room this year, and respect that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that just because one student may not always get straight-A's, they are still just as "intelligent" as one who does because in our classroom "intelligence" is measured with fictional marbles in our brain that have been allocated to cups that identify skills that we are good at and skills that we need to try to improve on. We set up a bunch of our rituals and routines during the first couple days and I gently nudge students to get them to use "Give Me Five" and other leadership techniques (both active and passive). I teach mini-lessons that focus on 21st Century skills and let them know our main focus should be on effort, collaboration, and revision this year. That's a change from years where they only worry about themselves, try to "finish" things even if it's not their best work, and turn things in and never look at it again. Effort, collaboration, and revision drive our day-to-day practices. Hope that helps!

I have loved the ideas that you have shared in your book! I am curious to know if you have ever taught with a special education teacher and if you were able to use a student led classroom with special ed students? What suggestions do you have for specific jobs or tasks that would be appropriate for students with cognitive disabilities?

Thank you for this awesome book and for sharing your inspiring ideas!

I have the pleasure of working with one of the best special ed teachers I have ever known! She is flexible with regard to our schedule, caring to a fault, and willing to accommodate my educational philosophy into her own! I get a special ed cluster every year (well, 16 out of 17 years). My special ed students are often some of my best leaders! Their confidence grows exponentially in our classroom because we don't use grades, work is shared by members of a team, corrective feedback is being given to everyone in class (not just them), and students are taught to discover everyone's individual strengths and to appreciate them for their own skills and aptitudes. I've always chosen formal jobs randomly and allowed students to trade up until a cut-off time, so I've never hand-picked any jobs for my students, but typically my students who have had more severe cognitive disabilities have chosen jobs like pencil-sharpener dumper, pillow person, mail distributor, paper passer, etc. These jobs often have a partner or allow other students (or their one-on-one aide) to help them as they do it. That being said, I wouldn't be afraid to see how they handle some of the harder jobs, I just might scaffold it more or allow others to help more. I think that with feedback, each student can improve some and with assistance, can do pretty well! But I would never want them to feel as though it was a failure that they couldn't make another attempt at, so I would use your best judgment! With regard to daily collaborative activities, I treated them like anyone else and partnered them up randomly and asked that everyone help their partners be successful. You should have seen how many times my one-on-one aide for my student with Down's Syndrome left the room because she wasn't needed! The kids know what to do and how to include each other in the process! (As a matter of fact, that year's class was more empathetic than any other I've ever had!)

I am wondering how you would handle challenging students who do not take a role in their learning. Having a student led classroom requires some independence from the children. If a child's behavior does not allow for independence for many reasons beyond your control (i.e. learning disabilities, lack of parental involvement, lack of medication, etc.), what suggestions do you have to accommodate that child's needs in this type of learning environment?

Thank you! I have enjoyed reading your book and am excited to start implementing some of the great strategies I learned!

Honestly, I've had some tough kiddos over the years and the beginning of the 4th grade teachers told me how this particular child would not be successful in my student-led, technology-filled, collaborative classroom. But through relationship-building, a constant awareness of their actions, immediate feedback, and personal conversations, we always had amazingly successful years! That's not to say there weren't challenges along the way, bumps in the road, testing their limits, etc. But whenever I brought it back to our mutual respect for each other, I bought myself another week of good behavior. These students would often take out their misbehavior at lunch, recess, or at specials - I couldn't control them in those less-structured environments. But in class, they were often model students. Some days, they straddled the line (Are they going to misbehave or are they going to make it through the lesson successfully?). I was hyper-sensitive to them on those days, used every ounce of preventative measures I could muster, and reacted immediately with feedback before it escalated further. I taught them strategies for dealing with their emotions, their inattentiveness, their frustration. I spent extra time with them before school, at lunch recess, or after school to do positive things like Science Fair projects and Genius Hour projects. I showed an interest in what they enjoyed, and I took time to listen to them when they wanted to share. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new when I say that "relationships are the key to success in the classroom." They won't respect me unless I respect and care about them! Therefore, I believe that all of my students with ADHD, behavioral disabilities, autism, etc. deserve to be an active leader in our classroom - they just might need extra support in doing so! It's not easy, though, so I wish you luck - thanks for the question!

3 Comments

FAQ

4/28/2016

6 Comments

QUESTION:

What are some of your best math "Pirate" lessons? Which one do you do over and over again that the students love?

ANSWER:

Here you go! 😀
- Money Island is a free financial-literacy program through local banks that my kids love: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/20---alison/money-island-financial-literacy
- Here we use Creately.com to identify differences in quadrilaterals: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/audrey/polygon-properties-math
- Math Games Day: http://psolarz.weebly.com/2013-2014-daily-photo-journal/math-curriculum-snapshot
- Hands-On Algebra: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/daily-photo-journal/math8
- Creating Math Tessellations online and with pattern blocks: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/audrey/math-tessellations AND http://psolarz.weebly.com/mr-solarz-eportfolio/creating-tessellations-online-and-with-pattern-blocks
- Making Sample Size Pie Charts: http://psolarz.weebly.com/blog-4/sample-size
- Extrapolating our Heart Rate: http://psolarz.weebly.com/20---drew-s/extrapolating-my-heart-rate
- Polygon Venn Diagrams: http://psolarz.weebly.com/properties-of-quadrilaterals.html AND http://psolarz.weebly.com/mr-solarz-eportfolio/a-creative-way-to-compare-and-contrast-the-properties-of-polygons

Thank you for joining our book club! I loved your ideas about focusing on improvement rather than grades. I have already incorporated your "tell me more" idea in student responses. Now that we are fortunate enough to be a 1:1 school I have begun to experiment with a "digital notebook." It is a work in progress, and I was interested in your e-portfolios. I was wondering how they have evolved over the years as you have used them, and is there anything you still would like to improve in the way your students use them? Thanks for sharing, and your classroom sounds like an amazing experience for all of your students!

Thanks so much for the kinds words! 😀There is always room for improvement, and I would definitely love for our ePortfolios to continue to grow and get better over the years! What I've found is that I have a very high expectation for our blog posts and not everyone will meet my expectations without regular feedback, so a few times each trimester, I make sure to give feedback and opportunities in class for my students to make revisions (even long after the report card has counted the grade). Since we don't use grades in class other than report cards, students just see it as another task that is expected of them. I think one recent improvement is our "Blog Assignments" page, which organizes most of the blog post assignments in one place: http://paulsolarz.weebly.com/blog-assignments I've also created "Blog Buddies" who are semi-permanent partners who are responsible for looking over their buddy's ePortfolio both on their own and when given class time. These buddies are groups of 3 for us and include a student who struggles with blog posts, one who is average, and one who excels at it. I try to give time every few weeks in class, but also remind them every few days to be checking on their partners' ePortfolio and giving them feedback in person.

Thank you so much for joining our book club! It has been great reading your book and gathering some great ideas for my classroom. While reading your chapter on 21st century skills, a part that stood out to me the most was Making Math (More) Meaningful, since I am a sixth grade math teacher. I loved your explanation of how you were using all of these 21st century skills during your math lessons, even if someone wouldn't know that just by entering the room because they would see note-taking during a lecture. You incorporated cooperation, collaboration, feedback, and more during your 70 minute class period. How do I incorporate meaningful, personalized feedback daily to all of my students in a 46 minute period? Do you have any suggestions of how to incorporate this feedback on a daily basis in such a short chunk of time when I still need to teach a new lesson? What do I do if I am giving this feedback individually as you mentioned, but I have specific groups of children who constantly fool around when left to work in pairs/groups?

A 46 minute period would definitely be harder to do all of the things I am able to do on a daily basis, so I might suggest splitting some things up. None of my suggestions are perfect, but they represent the things I might try if put in a similar situation: Maybe give feedback to students every other day (or do half the class each day). Maybe flip some of the lessons using videos for homework. Maybe provide individual feedback while students are collaboratively practicing that day's skill instead of doing it prior to the lesson. As for the misbehavior, I find that a combination of classroom meetings, individual conversations, and consistent consequences make the most impact. Dedicating one period to discussing the current behavior situation with the class and re-solidifying your relationship with each student to ensure respect goes both ways will prevent many issues. Working hard to bond with students who misbehave the most will make a huge difference, and teaching the class how to redirect their peers effectively will also help. I always start the year telling my students how I promise to "find a way" to like each and every one of them! (I say this in a silly way.) I want them to work hard to find a way to like me no matter what too! I notice the kids who are misbehaving, and I give consistent consequences, but also take the time to talk with them about how important it is that we work on our relationship together and prevent further occurrences. Some students just need to feel the positive peer pressure that other students can provide when they say, "OK - Let's get back to it." and ignore their behavior! Either way, good luck! I appreciate you taking the time to read Learn Like a PIRATE and try to increase the level of student leadership in your classroom!!!

Many thanks for engaging with us Mr. Solarz. My question for you is this: I am an elementary art teacher. I see my students once a week for 45 minutes. I find that over the course of time (especially after a long break or even missing a week due to snow or an assembly for example), the students forget many of the classroom norms that we established. How would you recommend building a self-sufficient classroom with those parameters? As I read your book, I can see and would love to have my classroom operate the way that you have yours. Any advice would be wonderful.

Thanks so much for the kind words! Yes - I definitely notice that each year as well (this year was quite a bit better than most, but I think it's the exception, rather than the rule!). Usually, on the last day before break, I tell them about this "phenomenon" and ask them what they think we could do to prevent this from happening this year. We have a 5-10 minute conversation about it. We often make a plan (a goal) and on the first day back, we remind each other of this goal as we enter the room (it's on a small white board that we use to set daily class goals). This year's "Winter Break Goal" was re-named by my students as our "New Year's Resolution" and it went something like "We need to work hard to remember all of our rituals and responsibilities and try to help everyone get back into the groove." (My words, can't remember theirs.) Yesterday at the end of the day, I told them that although we had some struggles this week, it was one of the best weeks back from Winter Break I've ever had because everyone was trying hard to be responsible. I reiterated that our goal is always to improve no matter where we start, and I saw lots of improvements this week and very few setbacks! Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for joining our mini book club! I have a question about active learning through book clubs. I’ve been working with a friend to elevate our traditional book clubs so they are more technology-centered, but I am also looking for ways to bolster student engagement during this time. I liked the progression of lessons you wrote about with the reenactments followed by the trip to Mars, and I’m wondering if you have any ways to utilize those types of activities and skills in the middle school for book clubs?

Yes! The "Literature Circles" section of the book explains a lot of my ideas (feel free to call it "Book Clubs" - mine is not a traditional Lit Circle!). My students get 10 books to choose from. I select their #1 choice whenever possible (based on how many copies of the book I have, how many students chose that book, and who is in their group). But I rarely base it on ability. My 5th graders are typically able to read all of the books I offer because they read aloud with 1-3 other peers, taking turns each paragraph. (Sounds old-fashioned, but in a collaborative classroom, students respect each others' differences and don't tease slower readers, mispronunciations, etc.) Every time they think of a possible discussion or question, they stop and record their conversation. These conversations are uploaded to our YouTube channel and labeled based on the type of discussion it was. I teach them dozens of types of conversations throughout the year and they teach each other even more! Here are some examples: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DeddbaMybPOm66T9TS8wQ/videos Students are required to record two conversations each 60 minute period. They have 10 periods to read their book and need to read 1/10 or more each day (they do the division of the pages). If they finish early, they select a new independent reading book from our classroom library and can read alone or with one or more of their partners from the last group as long as everyone has their own copy of the book. We do this 3 times per week all year long and my students never complain about it. They really appreciate the time they get to read books that they enjoy in class (without homework). The only thing I ask them to do at home is a summary of the reading each night, but they divide the responsibility so they only have to do one summary a week on average!

Thank you for joining our group! One of the ideas you discussed in your book is the use of the 21st century skills progress report. Do you, in any way, factor this assessment into the students’ overall grade (report card grade)? If not, how do you get the students to “buy into” the goals that they create based on this report? I really love the idea and would like to use it in my own class, but I find that for many of my students, the end grade is what’s important and they don’t always put 100% into assignments that “don’t count” toward that grade.

No - The 21st Century Skills have no bearing on their report card grades. I teach my students that the 21st Century Skills are abilities that they will be able to use in school and out, for the rest of their lives. We talk about each skill and share examples of when they are important in life and students learn the importance of these skills and ultimately WANT to work towards improving in these areas. My students never ask about grades and appreciate when I focus on areas where they can improve because of the culture we have created in our classroom. My students feel that our individual goals are like a scavenger hunt each week: "What can I improve on next?" They collect goals like they do baseball cards! Each one is extremely important to them because they've learned the value of each. They also know that teachers have traditionally stressed goals and skills that haven't been very important to them, so they appreciate that I've spent time to show them why they should value each of these. They feel more respected and more grown-up. Having taught both a traditional "grades-focused classroom" and a "grades-free classroom," I can't tell you how different my students' work ethic and attitude about learning is! And it's not starting in earlier years - it starts in 5th grade with me!

It's very exciting to have you in our group. I was wondering what you suggest for creating a student-led classroom with a group that does not have many natural leaders and does not necessarily have the drive to learn or do on the their own. What do you do when the group is wasting time rather than using it effectively? Have you ever worked with a group like this?

Yes! Many years passed between solid natural-born leaders for me! These past two years have had one each and before that, not really anyone for several years. Both classes presented different challenges. These past two years, I've worked hard to prevent my natural leaders from taking over (albeit in appropriate ways) because I wanted a room filled with students who could lead, not just one student who became the teacher! In those other years, it was more about "planting" leadership ideas throughout each day for individual students (e.g. "Hey Jason, can you do a Give Me Five and say..." or "Hey Nicki, can you show that method to the rest of the class if I gather them?). And then I would follow up that experience with a whole class announcement saying that I'd like to see more students do what Jason or Nicki just did WITHOUT TEACHER PERMISSION! The key is allowing the students to make all of these decisions without needing permission first. Leadership happens spontaneously and can quickly disappear if not acted on. When teachers allow students the freedom to interrupt the class and make group decisions without permission, they become true leaders. Then the only problem moving forward is how you react when a student does something wrong while leading. I always say something along the lines of, "I'm not mad at all, but next time, I'd prefer you say it this way..." or "Next time do this instead..." and I tell them how proud I am that they took a risk! The students always look relieved and often talk with their parents about how proud they were of themselves for attempting to direct the class!

I am so glad that you brought up Mystery Skype in this book. I have done a few and my students love them! I was wondering if you have any other tips or lessons that incorporate that tool?

We love to connect with Skype for Educators and have experts Skype into our classroom on topics we are studying or interested in. Richard Chapman has tailored several of his Yellowstone National Park lessons to match our curriculum like "Geothermal Energy" (with his Sueprvolcanoes lesson) and our "Oregon Trail Simulation" (he taught us about trappers along the trail and the animals they trapped). We've connected with the grand-daughter of Rube Goldberg to learn more about the man who created amazing comics and chain-reaction inventions (we created our own as well). I bought 30 copies of Mission: Mars for use during our Mars Simulation and we Skyped with the author (who is a NASA astronomer) and got a ton of our questions answered! http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Mars-Pascal-Lee/dp/0545565324 I also Skype with many groups of teachers during school so they can ask my students questions about how our classroom runs - we do it while kids are working on something else collaboratively and students come up to speak one at a time when they have something to say to each question! So many great ways to connect with Skype!

Reading your book has inspired me to try to release control and create a student- led classroom. This will not be an easy task for me, as I, like many teachers, fear giving up control. I have a few questions. What inspired you to create a student-led classroom? What are some changes you suggest I make to begin the transition mid year? I teach in an inclusion classroom, and worry that some of my students are a bit emotionally immature for the responsibility of a student-led classroom. I deal with a lot of bossiness, bickering and tattling from these few students. Any suggestions on how to deal with these issues?

Great questions!
- What inspired you to create a student-led classroom? I was raised by a mother who believed in a Montessori style of learning (especially between ages 2-5) which included exploration, making lots of mistakes, independence & freedom from adult interference, etc., but she secretly kept very close tabs on me at all times! She allowed me to make most mistakes (unless they were unsafe) and was quick to assist and provide supportive, immediate feedback after each experience. As a school-age child, I experienced traditional classrooms, but my curiosity and work ethic had already been instilled in me. When I became a teacher, everything screamed: "Do it the traditional way, like all your previous teachers!" but it never made sense to do it that way for me! I had to give my students authentic learning experiences in order for them to make real meaning and transfer their learning! I had to make it fun. I had to give them their independence. And I especially had to give my 5th graders all the attention and power that I could, because they were going to fight me for it otherwise! I found that the more I trusted them to do, the more they did (with feedback)! I never looked back!
- What are some changes you suggest I make to begin the transition mid year? I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter did what you are asking last year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!!
- I teach in an inclusion classroom, and worry that some of my students are a bit emotionally immature for the responsibility of a student-led classroom. I deal with a lot of bossiness, bickering and tattling from these few students. Any suggestions on how to deal with these issues? We are an inclusion school and I often have clusters of students (or individuals) with severe needs. I have found my students with autism, ADHD, LD, Down's Syndrome, etc. to be extremely excited about this style (BD has been tougher). They just require many more individual conversations and feedback to help them fine-tune their leadership skills. If you can get the other adults who work in your classroom on board (I don't currently have any, but...) they can take on a lot of the individual conversations themselves. But the student HAS to respect the person giving them the feedback in order for them to care enough to make the effort to change. But it can be done and at the end of the year, their parents are the ones raving about your style of teaching and the impact it made on their child.

Do you have any advice on creating more of a student-led classroom for teachers that do not see their students for the whole day such as specialty teachers? Not having the time that I feel would be necessary to lead a completely student-led classroom seems to be a disadvantage for me. Any advice?

I guess I'd start by saying you might want to ask some others who are "in the trenches" trying this in their classroom! Here is a list of middle school and high school teachers who are doing some version of a student-led classroom despite only seeing their students for a few hours each week: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OMH8xBEe_agfWvuxc4Al9pqqiEnmX0EGZRp4IcASxSE/edit?usp=sharing I would add that anything you can do as a team or department would go far in helping promote these philosophies across classes. I've spoken with dozens of teachers who are implementing one part of Learn Like a PIRATE at a time and slowly watching the impact it's having on their students. @JoyKirr has been doing a version of the whole-class goal setting and individual goal setting with her 7th graders this year and has been seeing some great progress (although she's needed to give lots of support and feedback along the way). Maybe start small like her!?!?

I have really enjoyed reading your books and have been eager to make a lot of changes- one step at a time. What/who inspired you to become a teacher? Have you taught in the upper grades? If so, have you had more, less, or equal success as your fifth grade class?

Thanks for the kind words!
- What/who inspired you to become a teacher? I never really wanted to be a teacher until I spent a summer being a camp counselor. The kids were happy and the parents told me I was really good with their kids, so I decided to get my degree in elementary education (figuring I could always find a job at some business with that degree but I couldn't get a teaching job with a business degree). Turns out, I loved it and never looked back!
- Have you taught in the upper grades? If so, have you had more, less, or equal success as your fifth grade class? I have spent my entire 17 year teaching career teaching 5th grade at Westgate School (by choice)! I love it! I did do my student teaching in 4th grade and 7th grade science, but found that I really wanted to keep my kids all day and teach all subjects!

I appreciated that you shared so many ideas throughout your book on how to shift to creating a more student-centered classroom. I know it will take a lot of practice and experience, but it seems like making simple changes can have a great impact on creating an active learning environment. As an overwhelmed first year teacher, do you have any advice for making these small changes in order to eventually strive for the type of classroom you have created?

Thanks Melanie! Honestly, I think you should trust your instincts this first year and teach in the way that feels natural to you. Get that baseline and decide what changes should be made next year. If you feel that some of the ideas in Learn Like a PIRATE match with your own beliefs, then implement those and give yourself the credit rather than the book. You are just being yourself! Then, next summer, set aside a lot of time to reflect on the year you had and see how some of the ideas from this book and any others that you read could be integrated into your plan for the following year. My first year of teaching was one of my best and it's because I was left to be myself. I had a mentor who gave me everything of hers and I took time to use that as my springboard for creating projects and authentic experiences that my students would enjoy and get a lot out of. I made a ton of mistakes along the way, but learned from them and grew! My second year was one of my worst, and it was because I started listening to EVERYONE'S advice. They said, don't try to make the kids your friends, don't make everything so fun, don't, don't, don't. And it cramped my style! My connection with each student isn't so that I have a new friend, but so that I have their respect and can ask them to work harder than they've ever worked before. I don't do fun activities just so my kids are happy, I do them because students make emotional connections with those experiences and can transfer their learning to new situations all their lives! All that said, I spent every waking hour my first two years working. You might want to balance it better than I did! (I still spend far too long on work stuff, as evidenced by this long response on a Saturday night!) Good luck!

I've spent a lot of time over break rethinking my classroom and the responsibilities that I'd like to encourage in my students. I came to realize that there are some student behaviors that I used to view as presumptuous or time wasters, that I need to change my view of. Maybe when a student jumps to help someone with a tech problem, it is because they are supportive of their classmates and not nosy. Maybe the student emptying the pencil sharpener is taking initiative and not just avoiding writing his essay. I'm ready to look at things in a new way.
I started with a class meeting yesterday to set goals in support of this new way of working and the students and I are excited. I do wonder what the reaction will be when other adults, who may have the same reservations I did, visit my classroom. Did you ever have a negative reaction to your student-led classroom? What happened?

First of all, wow! I love the reflective comments above! You clearly have a growth mindset and are open to trying new things in the classroom! Thank you for that! Your students will always benefit from the risks you take, even when there are setbacks! Regardless of each students' purpose in the examples above, you have the power to spin it in a positive light! "Jimmy - Thanks so much for taking the initiative to empty that pencil sharpener! I never remember to do that. Do you think you could teach other kids to do that once in awhile (but not every day!)? Is there anything I can do to help you with your essay to say thanks? Let's look at it together.
Other adults have had mixed reactions over the years. Some only heard the noise and decided not much learning was taking place (we are a LOUD class every year). Most, look past that and see the individual learning that is taking place. Administrators have always given me a long leash because they knew I was well-respected in the parent community. I would explain most everything to parents on "Back to School Night" and most would understand and just learn more about it from their child through dinner discussions. Every year though, I've had one or two parents who decided early on that they didn't like my style of teaching & they were going to let me know about it (most likely through email). It seems like all of my peers have 1-2 parents every year who don't like their style either, though, so I think that's just how it is at our school (maybe elsewhere as well?)! Any adult who has worked in my classroom (assistants, literacy teachers, special ed teachers, etc.) have always loved the style and watched the amazing growth over the year. Lots of support from them!

Regardless of the amount of time, it is always difficult to allow students responsibilities and/or control in the classroom. 1. How much time should students be allowed to handle being on their own in the classroom? 2. What one piece of advice can you offer teachers who are reluctant to granting students "control" within the classroom?

Good point! We have to learn to trust our students, but that can be hard at first! And that can be hard after we've been fooled! But we have to get back on the horse, work hard to prevent the same mistakes from happening by building teacher-student trust and respect through conversations and classroom meetings, and give them another chance to succeed!
1. How much time should students be allowed to handle being on their own in the classroom? Although I separate myself from my students for periods of time, I'm never leaving them on their own. I am always listening in to their conversations (usually walking around, but sometimes not), because I want to give them a tremendous amount of feedback on their actions. I want to reinforce the proper behaviors and immediately address the improper behaviors so that the student has another chance to get it right. For example, my students work in groups of 2-4 while reading books of their choice aloud. They discuss and predict together and often disagree with each other. Since I've taught my students how to handle conflict in our class, I expect them to "politely disagree" with each other and use a strategy if their peer is not being respectful. Yesterday, there was conflict in one of the groups during this time, and I did not intervene. Instead, I watched the conversation take place (they saw me watching) and they made some mistakes with how they spoke to each other. When it was over, I walked over to the group, reminded them that disagreements are wonderful opportunities to learn from other people's points of view, and asked them what our conflict resolution strategies are. They recited them to me and I had them re-enact the conversation using one of those strategies. They did, I asked them to remember to use their strategies next time, and we moved on. It was a positive experience and the feedback focused on improving in the future, rather than on the mistake they made in the past (which cannot be fixed).
2. What one piece of advice can you offer teachers who are reluctant to granting students "control" within the classroom? The more control I give to my students, the more control they give me because they respect me more.

Hi, Mr. Paul Solarz!! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to join our book club. Reading your book has been very inspiring. I would have loved to be a student in your classroom. My question is in regards to mindset. My mindset is changing daily as I grow as a professional, however dealing with 7th grade Math students it is by far a difficult task. I see a lot of the students come into class and just want me to tell them what to do and the procedures to doing something. Do you have any ideas on how I can change (or improve) the mindset of these students?

Thanks so much for the kind words Melissa! You are right! It can be VERY hard to change the mindset of students when they've had years of experiences one way and you're asking them to do it a different way. It is further complicated if your team is not on the same page as you. But it can be done! The best way I can explain it involves my theory regarding grades (and if you're not considering minimizing/eliminating grades in the classroom, this might not be as helpful). You described a cause and effect situation where students have spent their school years being given directions that would lead to high grades that would make their parents happy (or they've struggled to do so). If they didn't follow directions, they often were told that they didn't do things right and got poor grades and their parents got upset. We've trained our students to do as they're told, rather than to think for themselves. Now, there's a tremendous value in teaching students to follow directions and accomplish tasks according to requirements given to them by others. Much of our adult life revolves around the same principle, but this process seems to be the only way students "do school." And it's not much better at home, most parents control their children's every move, telling them what to do and when, what to say and how to say it. Parents are just doing what they think they should do to prepare their children, but what they're doing is making their child completely dependent on them! I want to "do school" differently. I want my students to make decisions often and without permission. I want them to trust their gut (which will lead to MANY mistakes because their instincts are often poor) and receive feedback from me helping them refine their approach next time. When grades are removed from this environment, there is truly no negative consequence to bad decisions (which makes me happy because I will ensure that students behave and work hard - I don't need a grade to do that for me). In the end, I have to give a report card grade, and (in math) I do so using end of unit tests and math fact fluency. These are the only things graded - the other things are practice, including worksheets, attempts at leadership, collaborative effort, etc. But in order for this all to work (and be able to convince your students that it will work) is to believe that it will work yourself - that will be the ultimate test of your growth mindset! I did it (and not that long ago) and I'm SO glad I did - immense changes in the way my students learn! Good luck!

Hi Paul. Your book has made a huge impact on me as an educator. I’ve jumped head first into creating a student-led classroom. Since making this change the noise level in my room has definitely become louder. I find myself questioning if the noise is detrimental to students who need a quieter environment to learn. In your book you discuss asking students who are bothered by the noise to move to a quieter space to work rather than get rid of the louder discussions creating the noise. My students don't have the luxury of moving to another space as there are 29 of us in our square shaped classroom. My question for you is this, will my students get used to the noise of productive work? And if not, is it okay to create some kind of noise monitoring system without negatively affecting class productivity? I’m concerned about my students who may need the quieter type of learning environment they’ve been “groomed” to work in up until this point.

Thanks so much for the kind words! They mean a lot to me!
You hit the nail on the head when you said, "my students who may need the quieter type of learning environment they’ve been “GROOMED” to work in up until this point." Some parents won't like it because at first their child will be coming home and saying that it can be hard to learn with the room as loud as it is, but within a short period of time (I'd say a month if it's every day all day), they will be able to completely block out those distractions 95% of the time (assuming you're addressing any unnecessary loud outbursts that are only intended to get people's attention - it may happen once, but if you address it politely, whole-class, students won't do that again). I had 7 students with ADHD last year and all of them were very successful in our classroom, despite the noise level. This year, I have 26 students in our class and we don't really have many places to "hide" from the noise. When they record videos, some go into the hallway, some go behind some file cabinets. Otherwise, they don't seem to mind the noise anymore. I've never used a noise monitoring system because some of my most shy students are shy because their voice is booming or attract attention and I want them to speak freely without judgment from me or others (although I might still give private feedback to help them adjust). All that being said, if you feel it's necessary, please do what you think is best. You are the expert in your classroom and my experiences might not match up with your current reality! We need to be given the autonomy to trust our gut and do what we think is best for our students. Hopefully, your administration encourages a "teacher-led school" where you make decisions based on your needs and abilities! Good luck!

Thank you for joining us in our group discussion. I have been having such a wonderful time reading your book. I envy the children that got to be your students! My question for you is, what is your favorite go-to graded assignment? What I mean by this is; you look for improvement rather than grading, although you know you need grades. So what do you think is the most engaging assessment you use time and time again. I imagine I’d never walk into your room and see the kids all completing one worksheet, so what do you love to use for graded assignments? Your eportfolio? Anything else?

Good point! Although I don't give grades to students (but I give lots of feedback & ask for improvement), I have to determine grades for our report card. Depending on the subject, I do have some go to's:
1. In reading, I rely on my students' video discussions of the books they are reading in their book clubs (I call them Literature Circles, but that's a bit of an outdated term): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DeddbaMybPOm66T9TS8wQ/videos
2. In writing, I rely on a few "core" assignments/projects: The Human Body Research Paper (Informational Writing), State of Nature Story (Fictional Narrative), and Reading Summaries (from Lit Circles).
3. In math, I rely on end-of-unit tests (the only tests I give in any subject other than spelling - which they can take over and over until they like their score).
4. In science, I rely on ePortfolio blog posts that show evidence of process, product, and a formal reflection.
5. In social studies, I rely on the reflections my students write that go with our simulations (colonizing Mars for our Constitution unit and heading west on the Oregon trail for our Westward Expansion unit).

I am inspired by your fresh outlook on education! It is clear to me that each of your classroom strategies aim to achieve the same overall goal: allowing students to learn how THEY do best, while instilling personal responsibility and a sense of urgency to become something significant in this world. I share many of your philosophies, and reading your book helped me feel more confident in giving my fifth graders more freedom.

My question is, how do you take back rules or routines that you want to change once they are set? I am a perfectionist, and am always trying to tweak the flow of the class to ensure that students are as productive as possible. Sometimes, I gather the kids and we discuss what is going "well" and what needs to be improved. Then, we create a new plan together to make sure that everyone is working up to their best potential. It is a totally democratic and open forum, but it takes time! How frequently do you feel comfortable changing the way that things are done in your class?

We change things up often! It's that darned Growth Mindset in each of us! It's not usually a huge change, but sometimes is. Small tweaks, I do a Give Me Five and announce my thinking and how the ritual or routine is changing. I ask for questions and then ask them to remind each other and monitor our progress towards making the change. Most groups do well with this, but occasionally they need a follow-up discussion and I sneak it into a Classroom Meeting when we're all sitting down together so I get a little more focus. Big changes usually require me to demonstrate or have students demonstrate. We might break it up into steps over a couple days. We might try the announcement style I described above but I might scaffold it more and help them ease into the new routine/ritual. Ultimately, I tell my students that I trust them to ensure that everyone is responsible for making the change and that I am only one person who will help. And there's a VERY good chance that I will forget and mess it up more often than they will, so that's even more reason why I need them to help each other along the way!

On a separate note, if I know what I want done, I don't make discussions democratic (I imagine that you probably don't either, but just for clarity...). For example, I don't let my kids write the classroom rules each year, because I think it's deceiving if you're leading them to the same point each year. I really don't like it when district committees are like that - we come to 15 meetings on our own time and then they adopt the curriculum they wanted despite our opinions! If I want my students' opinions, though, that's when we go democratic - and it happens a lot! We do a silent, heads-down vote, where I swear to be honest with counting and I only vote if there's a tie. If it's not a voting situation, we have a solid discussion where students are heard (but it does take time and occasionally we'll break up into "committees" to make quicker decisions!) Regardless of my blabbering, I wish you luck and appreciate you reading the book! Have a great 2016!

I enjoyed reading your book. I learned a lot of great tools that I plan on implementing in my classroom. My question is similar to a few other peoples' questions. What is the easiest way to start utilizing some of these strategies once the year has begun and rules, regulations and routines are set in place? Being that I am a cooking teacher, by nature my classroom has a student led environment. I love the idea of doing a demonstration on how to cook something on a Monday and then having a silent day the next day to see if my students were paying attention to the demo as well as reading the recipes that I put in front of them. The classroom is frequently loud with students busy in their various kitchens so I'm not sure how to implement the "Give Me Fives" strategy; however, it is something that I am willing to give a try. I think all your strategies are beneficial to all subject areas and I appreciate you writing this book. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the kind words Andrea!
- What is the easiest way to start utilizing some of these strategies once the year has begun and rules, regulations and routines are set in place? I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter did what you are asking last year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!!
- "I love the idea of doing a demonstration on how to cook something on a Monday and then having a silent day the next day to see if my students were paying attention to the demo as well as reading the recipes that I put in front of them." The only thing I might suggest is that you allow your students to work up to the Silent Day so that it's not an opportunity for failure, but an opportunity to show their confidence, skills, and willingness to collaborate with their peers. Each day leading up to the Silent Day, you can give feedback with regard to those aspects of the classroom and say, "When you are cooking on our Silent Day, I'd like to see you doing..." and since your students are a little older than mine, you might want to focus on the part where you CAN'T talk all day (or communicate in any way) and the students might enjoy running the show without your help. Students LOVE that I have to "suffer" all day long and not talk! That's their real prize in their minds ahead of time, but on the actual day, they forget about that and focus only on the fact that everything is up to them and no adult can help them! I can envision your students doing "Give me Five's" and asking, "Which drawer do we keep the whisk in?" and "What did we have to do to the flour before measuring it?" which might frustrate you because they don't know it and should, but in reality, they're using their resources to solve their problem and that's what our world is all about! Good luck and thanks again!

Hi Paul! I have a few questions for you, if that’s okay! First of which, I started doing “Gimmie Fives” with my students. I like to think I fostered a classroom where students feel comfortable and respected, but I’m noticing students are still asking me questions and when I suggested to them to use a “Gimmie Five,” they were shy and hesitant. How do you overcome that? Additionally, I reached out to some of my international contacts to do one of those mystery Skype’s, but some of them are in Russia and Thailand, and we’re having difficulty coordinating because of the time change. What do you suggest so my students can still partake ideally during the school day? Thank you!

Thanks for the questions Morgan!
- I’m noticing students are still asking me questions and when I suggested to them to use a “Gimmie Five,” they were shy and hesitant. How do you overcome that? ---- The best way for students to get their individual questions answered is to have the freedom to ask any of their peers around them whenever they want (with some exceptions, I suppose!). If the first few don't know the answer, calling out a Give Me Five is a great next step. If students are just plain shy to ask for help from their peers, you might want to do more work establishing a collaborative classroom community. Teach them the importance of accepting & embracing each others' differences. Do the Marble Theory lesson (or your version of it) to show them that we're all talented and that academics shouldn't be the only judge of our intelligence and ability in life. Get them working together more often than they work individually (or whole-group). Use random partnerships so they don't just work with friends - they need to get to know each other well - familiarity breeds respect. When they spend more time together, they will become more comfortable going to each other for help. At this point in the year, only one student ever comes to me with a question these days without trying their peers first!
- Additionally, I reached out to some of my international contacts to do one of those mystery Skype’s, but some of them are in Russia and Thailand, and we’re having difficulty coordinating because of the time change. What do you suggest so my students can still partake ideally during the school day? If you can stay within time zones that work in school hours, that's the best plan (we've come in an hour early to Skype with Germany - they stayed after school an hour late). If you want to try to have a recorded conversation with those outside of your time zone, try it through YouTube videos! You might not be able to Mystery Skype, but you can still connect and share projects, etc.! There are so many countries and states within the Americas that Mystery Skype can be very impactful still. Connect with more educators via Twitter and see if they're willing to Mystery Skype! Good luck!!!

Mr. Solarz, Thanks for taking time out to join us. Being a Physical Education teacher I started empowering the students to become leaders by first having them lead the warm-ups instead of myself. So that each student gets a turn, I mark it down when they go. I usually get about half the class to raise their hands to lead but once that crew had their turn the others are shy or non leaders and are more difficult to get them to lead. I also have them form groups for discussion before, during, and after games or activities to let them come up with strategies they could or could've used, but its the same students that run the discussions. My question to you is what are some other suggestions or strategies I could use in a Physical Education environment that would enable the non leaders or shy students to step-up and become a leader? Thanks for your time.

Hey Michael - great questions! Thanks! First off, you might want to check with @SchleiderJustin on Twitter - he and I have had several conversations about Learn Like a PIRATE in the P.E. classroom.
- Suggestions: For students who are old enough, have them coordinate who leads warm-ups, but set some guidelines (e.g. it must be written so we can all see the plan/schedule, everyone who wants to lead gets to do so before anyone goes a second time (I'm not sure I would force any students to lead warm-ups as it might cause a power struggle and do little to increase leadership skills), maybe have a few types of stretches/activities for kids to choose from but require a certain amount or a time limit, etc.). Whenever I have a "Jimmy-led Classroom" I ask Jimmy privately to refrain from active leadership and take on a more passive role which should include asking others to do the things they were inclined to do - give them the chance to lead! If they don't make the change on their own, I tell them I'm temporarily taking away their privilege of leading, but that I'm in no way upset about it - I just want to share the wealth! If they still can't help themselves, I politely call them out on it and tell them to stop and let others lead. I also go in and encourage others in their group to step up.
- The gym might be an intimidating place for some students to lead, so I would stick with individual conversations where you spoon-feed what you'd like them to do and have them do it right then and there. If they say they can't, accept that and tell them that you will try again soon. Give them another chance in a couple weeks. Try hard not to make leadership into an uncomfortable thing for those shy students. In our class, it's simply a way of life. In order to go from Step 1 to Step 2, it requires collaboration. Step 2 to Step 3 might involve leadership. Step 3 to Step 4 might involve following someone else's lead. I have some students who rarely are active leaders, but model great behavior, encourage others to re-focus when they're working together, etc. These types of leaders are also very valuable in our world! Let them know you appreciate their leadership style, and are proud of them!

Thank you for joining us. I thoroughly enjoyed your book and feel as though I can naturally apply some of the idea into my classroom. My biggest concern is that I did not do this at the beginning of the year when setting the routines is so very important. I often think about the strategies and wonder about particular students and how reluctant they are. I am thinking mostly about my highest level students and how they feel like their work is perfect and they could never improve because you can't fix perfection. We all know everyone has room for improvement. However, certain kids feel as though they are perfect or have been told for so long that they are the best. How do I get these kids to change try some of the different ideas you presented? Moreover, how do I change their mindsets and show them that it is ok to make changes, ask for help, etc.? I need them to buy into the ideas and changes. Thanks for your time.

Thank you for the kind words!
- My biggest concern is that I did not do this at the beginning of the year when setting the routines is so very important. --- I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Tell them they've earned the opportunity to try out this new style of learning. Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter started this process mid-year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!!
- I often think about the strategies and wonder about particular students and how reluctant they are. I am thinking mostly about my highest level students and how they feel like their work is perfect and they could never improve because you can't fix perfection. We all know everyone has room for improvement. However, certain kids feel as though they are perfect or have been told for so long that they are the best. How do I get these kids to change try some of the different ideas you presented? --- Marble Theory is the way I solve that problem. It levels the playing field and gets everyone to see everyone as an equal if you are able to believe in the idea yourself. Academics shouldn't be the only thing that makes a person smart. Lots of academically smart kids drop out of school because they lack other skills or abilities. Lots of academically disadvantaged students graduate college and become successful due to their work ethic or ability to adapt to change. The quicker students learn that they're not destined for success just because they did well on their report cards, the sooner they make changes in their attitude and effort. They start seeing learning differently. My gifted students are constantly asking my students with learning disabilities how to do things on the computer or what the rule was for ___. They don't seek out other students who get straight A's - they ask whoever is closest! This comes from Marble Theory and daily opportunities to work with each student in the classroom - I ALWAYS randomly (or occasionally purposefully) select their partners because I want them to develop relationships with everyone in class. As a result, my students work well together with everyone 99% of the time. We have occasional conflicts, but they know how to handle them with respect and rarely need me to intervene. I hope you give it a try! Thanks for the questions!

Mr. Solarz,
Thank you for taking the time to be a part of our discussion. This forum was a wonderful way to hear about all of our "best practices" and how we are utilizing the strategies provided in your book as we move toward a student centered classroom. As a Math Interventionist, I am a push in to many different classrooms and grades. When we have teacher-led instruction, the "give me five" strategy has helped to keep students actively engaged so that they can contribute and enhance the lesson. I have used Google Forms in connection with responsibility partners so that students can assess the work being done by group members and hold everyone accountable. In many ways, the middle school classrooms are moving toward a more student-centered mindset. However, grades and test scores are still very important parts of the middle school mindset because they are the factors used in placement. How can we change the mindset of students who are so focused on their scores? How do we convey the importance of the process of learning to these students?

Thanks so much for reading Learn Like a PIRATE!
In our math classroom, students do take end-of-unit tests and math fact fluency checks, so we do have some grades but that's all. Every other thing students do only results in feedback, rather than a grade. It is my belief that when you remove the pressure of grades on all the other "stuff" and focus in on taking everyone from the Personal Point A to the Personal Point B, students become more willing to take risks and willing to help each other rather than focus on completion. I need my students to help each other out, because I'm alone in my classroom of 24 math kids. I can't help everyone efficiently or effectively in the 70 minutes we have together without their support. My students never ask about grades and they appreciate when I focus on areas where they can improve because of the culture we have created in our classroom. Every day, my students check in individually with me and look forward to me helping them clarify their misunderstandings of the previous day's work, re-teach some skills, and get their questions answered. I do this within a minute or two per student, but because it's everyday and because I re-teach the skill & have them practice while I work with another student before ultimately checking that first students' work again, I can get through a lot of students in a short amount of time. Having taught both a traditional "grades-focused classroom" and a "grades-free classroom," I can't tell you how different my students' work ethic and attitude about learning is! And it's not starting in the earlier years - it starts in 5th grade with me! I'm not asking teachers to completely get rid of grades, but stop giving grades for daily work and formative assessments - only give them on summatives. Give feedback on all the other stuff with no consequences for students who struggle (but encourage high effort & responsibility), and help them fix their mistakes. Re-teach often so they don't often go too long being confused about a skill (I do have some kids who don't pick up a skill before I'm forced to move on, but they are an extreme exception to the rule). This will help change students' mindset about learning. Good luck!

Mr. Solarz, I have enjoyed reading your book and am very excited to implement many of your ideas. I have already started using responsibility partners with my students and it seems to be going well. Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned about the effectiveness of implementing the changes in my classroom at this point in the school year. One of my biggest concerns is about changing the mindset about grades and focus more on the process of learning. My question is how do you explain this growth mindset to parents and have them understand it and importantly support it?

Thank you for the kind words!
- I am concerned about the effectiveness of implementing the changes in my classroom at this point in the school year. --- I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Tell them they've earned the opportunity to try out this new style of learning. Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter started this process mid-year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!!
- One of my biggest concerns is about changing the mindset about grades and focus more on the process of learning. --- Only do this if you believe in the philosophy. What is your goal as their teacher? Mine is to help my students transfer their skills from our classroom to future classrooms and the real world and to learn how to learn on their own. Do you believe that grades are what teach students how to improve or how to learn, or do you feel something else might do that better (maybe immediate, specific feedback with support)? Your beliefs should guide your decisions.
- How do you explain this growth mindset to parents and have them understand it and importantly support it? --- I spend "Back to School Night" sharing my philosophy with my group of parents. This year, I bought them all a copy of my book and gave it to them, encouraging them to read more if they'd like to understand my beliefs in greater detail. Most have read it cover to cover! All of my students' parents over the years have supported this style of classroom - not all of them have loved ME, however! (Can't please everyone all the time, right?) Many express their initial concerns or confusions, but long before the end of the year, they see the impact it's had on their child and wish it could continue in middle school. Most of their initial worries are appeased with one conversation. If you agree with the philosophy, it's not hard to defend! If you don't have a Back to School Night, I recommend putting together a handout that details most of your ideas because there will be at least one parent who will really want to read that! If you can get your team on board, even better! It's harder to disagree with everyone! I wish you luck and thank you for taking risks in the classroom!

Mr. Solarz, your book is filled with so many wonderful ideas and I am quite certain they would have been successful had I begun them in the beginning of the year. However, because four months have already passed in the school year, I'm conerned they won't have the same effectiveness. I'm very intrigued by the "Give Me Five" concept and would like to incorporate it in my class now. In the Peer Collaboration portion of the book, you discussed the importance of students showing respect for the child who interrupts the class for a "Give Me Five" moment. My class this year has a very high level of respect for each other, which I have not always had the luxury of enjoying. Today I enthusiastically introduced the concept of "GIve Me Five" and received very questionable responses. I was wondering if you feel it would be beneficial to begin it a different way or make subtle changes with it being that it is not the beginning of the year?

Give me Five typically works best during times where students are not whole-group or working individually. (Eventually, students are comfortable doing it then, but rarely at first.) Ask your students to use it when they are working collaboratively around the classroom. This is when it's most needed. "Give me Five - It's time to transition!" "Give me five - I've asked my neighbors, but none of us remember the website address we need." etc. You might also consider calling it something different if it sounds too primary (my 5th graders have never complained, but other teacher have different callouts). I would encourage planning as many lessons that involve partner work and small group work while students are first trying to use this privilege and do whole-group reminders and plant some individual suggestions to get things going. Whenever anyone asks you a question, direct them to their peers and say do a Give Me Five if no one can answer your question (with exceptions if you're the only one who can answer it).
Additionally, I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Tell them they've earned the opportunity to try out this new style of learning. Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter started this process mid-year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!! Good luck!

I actually had a very similar question as Breanne. I was so excited and inspired by parts of your book that I couldn't resist implementing some of the strategies over the past few weeks. Just opening up a dialogue with my students about how I WANT them to lead has been empowering for all of us. For a teacher who is jumping into this mid-year, do you have recommendations for which of your methods are the most important to implement early on? And, in contrast, do you think there could be any negative effects of starting this way?

I'm thrilled to hear that you just jumped in and talked with your students about it! That's exactly my style (deal with e consequences later - this looks fun!). I definitely recommend doing the Give Me Five, Marble Theory, and Responsibility Partners right away. Get your kids working together and they will become more collaborative (with feedback) and better leaders over time. Teach them to respect each other and go to each other when they need support. Teach them not to be ashamed of asking for help, but that using resources is an excellent 21st Century Skill (and it was important in other centuries as well)! I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Tell them they've earned the opportunity to try out this new style of learning. Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter started this process mid-year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!! I don't think there is any reason not to introduce it, even though we're mid-year! Good luck!

Mr. Solarz, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your book and feel very inspired to implement your ideas in my classroom! In the beginning of your “Empowerment” chapter, you mention that we should make our goals clear from Day one. I’m wondering if you feel that changes toward creating a more student-led classroom can start at any time. I’ve been trying to make small changes along the way as we have been reading LLAP. I’m hoping it’s not too late for this year to make a completely student-led classroom!

Not at all! "Day One" begins when you decide to implement a student-led classroom!

I suggest having a class discussion about what you've read in the book and asking the kids if they are up for trying out various parts of it! Tell them they've earned the opportunity to try out this new style of learning. Start with one idea and grow it. Expand to another when you're ready. Don't do anything you disagree with, because your kids will see right through you and decide that it's not worth the effort. If you show & tell them all the benefits you think can come from this style of teaching, they'll most likely buy in and support you. I just make sure that I earn EACH student's respect before expecting them to be on board! Also, @ARutschke on Twitter started this process mid-year and had SO MUCH success. Please ask her for some more suggestions!!!

As a Gifted and Talented teacher, I only see my students once a week for an hour and a half. I do my best to instill strategies/responsibilities like cleaning up the classroom and making the space their own. I find it difficult sometimes because of the time that lapses in between classes. Any advice to help implement your strategies for a non-homeroom teacher?

Great question! It sounds like you are already embedding the philosophy into your classroom. I would say it comes down to the types of activities you are having your students complete. Are they mostly teacher-directed with lots of directions and guidelines, or do they allow for loose guidelines & student input up front and collaborative exploration (allowing mistakes to happen) throughout the process? Students who are gifted & talented sometimes struggle with making mistakes and loose guidelines as they've learned to "play the game" of school much earlier than many of their peers, therefore they need these opportunities early in their schooling in order to become a flexible thinker and believe in a growth mindset.

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