Mrs. Bees Reads About Shut-Down Learners

About two weeks ago, I went to the public library looking for books that might help answer some of the “teacher existential angst” questions bouncing around in my head. (That, and a paranormal romance that was just too embarrassing to actually purchase.) One of the books that caught my eye was a slim volume called The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child, by Richard Selznick.

I took it home in the hope that it might provide some insight – and tools – for me as I try to connect with some of my more discouraged (and discouraging) students. Sure enough, the shut-down learners (SDLs) that Selznick describes are frequent inhabitants of my classroom. I have to return the book this afternoon, but I found it helpful enough that I wanted to talk about it here in case it might come in useful to my blog-friends as well. If this sounds like some of your students (or your children) please go check out or purchase Selznick’s book. I think you’ll find it worth your time.

Identifying Shut-Down Learners in Your Classroom

Male SDLs in your classroom will likely be easier to identify.  They’ll be the kid who tries to hide, who slouches, avoids eye contact, and will do anything to keep from being called on. They act up in class, decline to do their work, and end up with single-digit grades in your class. They’ve often been labeled as ADHD. More male students than female tend to be SDLs.

Female SDLs are tougher to identify. They often exhibit “teacher-pleaser” traits: pleasant, friendly, helpful, vivacious. They’ll probably end up with higher grades than their male counterparts because they appear to be “trying.” They’ll often work overtime to fit in or seem more like the popular girls.

SDLs seem unmotivated to learn and become disconnected from the classroom activities. They exhibit extreme dislike for reading and writing, and seem to gain nothing positive (intrinsically or extrinsively) from their school experience. This often manifests as anger toward the school system.

These students are often diagnosed (wrongly, or incompletely) as ADHD.

What’s the Real Problem?

Selznick calls SDLs, especially the boys, “Lego kids.” They tend to have excellent visual-spatial intelligence, and will spend hours doing complicated kinesthetic tasks. They score very highly on tests where they have to discern graphic patterns. Because these skills are emphasized in the earliest grades, SDLs may be initially identified as gifted.

The underlying problem for SDLs is very low linguistic-verbal intelligence. They have severely underdeveloped vocabularies, and significant deficiencies in reading fluency and/or comprehension.

After the first year or two of school, opportunities for these students to shine with their visual-spatial skills decrease while demands on their linguistic-verbal skills increase. They can’t keep up, and then they can’t catch up. Suddenly, the gifted kindergartner is the below-average third-grader, diagnosed with ADHD by a rushed doctor, but medication can’t make up for fundamental holes in language acquisition.

By high school, you have a student who is completely overwhelmed, desperately behind, and (sometimes irrevocably) shut-down. They feel stupid and unable to do the things that seem so simple to other students, so in an attempt to shield themselves from these feelings, they either disconnect entirely or attempt to camouflage their deficiencies through excellence in sports and socialization.

What’s the Answer?

Parents and teachers look at a SDL and tend to believe that the problem is a lack of motivation. No amount of motivation, however, can overcome the fact that the student simply lacks ability. (Selznick has a terrific metaphor for this, wherein he compares SDL learners to runners with heel spurs.) When efforts to motivate the student inevitably fail, the adults in their lives get frustrated and angry. Negative reinforcement exacerbates the problem as the student feels punished for something they can’t control. Understanding that a student truly can’t rather than won’t is a key thing that parents and teachers can do to help these students.

The curriculum is another major obstacle for these students, and Selznick suggests something potentially radical (but, to my mind, pretty intriguing). Selznick suggests that SDL students will not thrive under the regular curriculum, because their language acquisition is so impaired. He recommends a more remedial curriculum for part of these students’ education – instruction that will help them overcome the worst of their deficiencies so that they can achieve their adult goals and have confidence.

The other part of their curriculum should have a heavier focus on those areas in which SDL students can excel and have confidence – classes that utilize their visual-spatial and kinesthetic intelligences.

That translates to something akin to vocational/vo-tech education, which I imagine could raise some eyebrows amongst some educators. I’m of the opinion, though, that we’re doing our country and its youngest citizens a stark disservice by minimizing vocational and practical education. Not all students will be college graduates, and if we don’t have people who are expert welders, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, and carpenters (not to mention hairstylists!) what will happen to our world?

Selznick’s recommendation isn’t trying to compartmentalize SDL learners or say that they can’t achieve a “white-collar” future. The fact is, he shows, that many SDLs are happier in jobs where they can work with their hands. They have confidence and success, and tend to excel, because this is where their natural gifts lie. (Re-reading this, I feel uncomfortable, as if I’ve written something racist, bigoted. I need to dig into that reaction a little bit – I guess I’m more conflicted on this subject than I thought! Looking forward to readers’ thoughts.)

Minor tangent: We’ve created an artificial hierarchy, I think, of “good jobs” and “bad jobs” based on whether you wear earplugs and a toolbelt or a suit and tie. I would argue (and I’d bet Selznick would agree) that there aren’t bad jobs, just jobs that are bad for certain people, and that a vocation that brings you satisfaction and lets you make a living is good regardless of the uniform.

Anyway…. You can get an autographed copy of The Shut-Down Learner for $11.95 through the book’s website, or you can find it for the same price through Amazon (with used copies as low as $3.58). You can even preview the book for free by requesting the first chapter here, or look for it at your local library.

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Selznick or the book publishers in any way, and am not getting compensated in any way for this post – just wanted to share a good find with other teachers.

Second Wind

I was all ready to write “Disillusionment: Part 2” just as soon as I had some time to get my concerns down on paper. Part Two was going to be where I spill my deepest, darkest teacher secret: I’m not sure that I believe in my curriculum. In my very first education classes, my professor told us all that every teacher should believe that his or her subject is the very most important subject – and that if you don’t, probably you shouldn’t be teaching (or at least, not teaching that subject). I’ve always been able to form a great intellectual argument supporting the idea that English (or rather, literature and composition) is the most important subject… but on a more practical level, I’ve never been completely certain. See, I took a detour. While most of my peers stayed in classrooms – their own, or the ones in which they took graduate classes – I took a couple years off and ended up working in a manufacturing plant. Your perspective on education gets a pretty good reality check in a machine shop. These men and women don’t need to know how to analyze a poem, read Shakespeare, or write an essay – they need to know how to do their jobs, and they need to know how the world around them works so that they can protect themselves and be “good citizens” if they choose.

I’m teaching, for the most part, students who are in the same boat.

So yeah, I was all ready to write about that. And don’t get me wrong – it’s still on my mind. But before I could get around to writing it, I read four things:

• Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution by Derrick Jensen
• another teacher’s thought that hit a little too close to home
• an article about Teach for America and what makes a good teacher (blog entry forthcoming)
• little books that my students made that listed some of their goals for the upcoming year (likewise)

I think I’ve caught my second wind.

There are a lot of thoughts flying around inside my  skull. I’m trying to teach my kids to write essays when they can’t even write sentences. Sure, they’re sophomores – they should have learned this stuff by now. But they haven’t. I’m trying to teach my kids to connect to the real world when they have no concept of the real world. I’m trying to teach them to analyze literature when, honestly, I’m not sure they know how to read.

I’m starting over.

Yesterday, after the kids went home and I’d done all of the grading I could stomach, I rearranged my classroom. Before, I had two blocks of rows facing a center aisle. I liked it. It worked pretty well. But I couldn’t get to everyone, physically, and eye contact was a problem with some kids who faced one another, and when we worked in groups there was too much resistance. I’ve rearranged the room into groups – eight groups of four (my largest class is, hypothetically, 32 kids) plus a two-desk group by my desk for kids who just can’t handle being near their peers.

(Can I just pause to celebrate the fact that one of the main students who would have lived in “naughty child land” is NOT on my class roster for next semester! I’m pleased as punch over that, I am.)

I’ve been inspired to revamp my tenth-grade English classroom by something going on in a fifth-grade math classroom in that magazine article. I’m going to use groups to motivate the students. The biggest issue going on – probably because, again, they’re twitterpated sophomores – is missing work. I’m going to give them group accountability. Rotating group leaders. Rewards for everyone doing their entry tasks – and they can help one another. Rewards for everyone having their homework. Decent prizes – “get out homework free” cards, or candy, or school supplies.

Recently, I became horrified at the lack of basic knowledge in my classes. In fact, after discovering that none of my sophomores knew how many feet were in a mile, and that at least one of them thought Iceland was a continent (and the place where you’d find a platypus, no less) I confess I kind of chewed them out. But it’s not their fault that they don’t know anything about their world. They’re fifteen – that’s only two years older than thirteen, and I didn’t expect my seventh graders to know anything about the world. What magical thing is supposed to happen between childhood and adolescence to make kids aware? Uhm: me.

So instead of being aghast that they’re ignorant, I’m going to fight the ignorance. The new opening routine starts with journals and an overhead. Students copy down a fact of the day – “need-to-know” information about our world. I’m thinking one day I’d like them to have to learn how to tie a tie. Then I’m going to move into grammar basics and sentence construction. Practical stuff: subject-verb agreement, comma splices – things that make you look dumb if you do it wrong in the real world. I don’t think most people need to understand transitive and intransitive verbs, but I think everyone ought to know that a car is quick but a car moves quickly.

We’ll do sentence corrections. Individual, small group, full class. My room feels more spacious now, and I can get to every single student to look over his/her shoulder and help with problems. No kid can hide now – they’ll all be in a group that’s paying attention.

I’m hopeful. I’m really, really hopeful. Not only that this will work, but that it will work for me. I don’t like feeling the way I’ve been feeling.

You’re Bluffing!

This is a study game that some of my fellow reading teachers taught me at LMS last year. I used it to good effect with my sophomores this year, and thought I’d share it. It’s good for any subject, as far as reviewing facts goes, and I think you could easily adapt it for math problems as well. It’s also a fun “rainy day” activity if you make a list of fun/silly trivia questions.

Bluff takes a few minutes to teach to your kids, and seems to work better if you do a practice round before you start. It often requires a fair amount of guidance from you at first to make sure everyone understands how it works. But once your students know how to play, it’s terrific!

HOW TO PLAY “BLUFF”

PREPARATION: Come up with a numbered list of questions that you want to review. The number of questions should be a square or the product of two near numbers (for example, 36 questions, or 48 questions) because they’ll be associated with a grid. Draw a grid on the board (or make a PowerPoint or transparency) with the same number of spaces as you have questions, and number them.

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
Three poker chips or other tokens for each student.
Egg timer.
Prizes.

RULES

1. Once the question is asked, players have 5 seconds to decide whether or not to stand.
2. Once the question is asked, no one can speak except for the people who are selected to answer. Talking causes cheating and can result in the forfeit of points or turns.
3. Once your bottom leaves the chair, you’re standing and can’t sit back down.
4. Optional rule: Once someone is selected to answer a question, they have ___ seconds to answer.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Divide the students evenly into two teams. Arrange their seats so that they are in symmetrical blocks or lines (so that you can tell which student is next).

2. The first student on Team A chooses a number off the grid. Erase that number. That number corresponds to a question on your list.

3. Ask that question to Team B and begin the 5-second countdown (using fingers).  

• Students on Team B should stand up if they know the answer.
• The number of students who stand up is the number of points that the question is worth. If ten people stand, the question is worth ten points. If only one person stands, the question is worth only one point.
• Because of this, it is often in your team’s interest for you to stand up even if you don’t know the answer.

4. The student from Team A who selected the question now gets to pick one of the standing students to answer the question. S/he is trying to pick the person who is least likely to get the question correct.

• If the chosen answerer gets the question right, the team wins the number of points equal to the number of students who stood up – SKIP TO STEP #6
• If the answerer gets the question wrong, the team wins nothing – GO TO STEP #5

5. If Team B gets the question wrong, the person from Team A who picked the question and the answerer has the opportunity to answer the question correctly. If s/he can do so, the points that would have gone to Team B go to Team A instead.

6. Repeat steps 2-4, with the teams switching roles.

7. Keep going, moving down the line so that each student has a turn to pick the question and the answerer.

The game is over when you are out of questions or when you are out of time.

VARIATION #1: A wrong answer results in a loss of points equal to the grid number of the question asked. This creates a higher-drama, wildly-vacillating game.

VARIATION #2: To keep weaker students from being harassed, or stronger students from being ignored, give each student 3 poker chips which must be clearly displayed on their desk. Each time they are chosen to answer a question, they turn in a poker chip. This ensures that each student is called on only three times.

Two Online Games for Word Power

If you’re teaching spelling, you’ll probably find something useful at the attractively designed Spelling City.

Plug in your spelling words, and then practice using a wide variety of Flash games (word search, match-it, hangman, an alphabetizing game, word-scrambles, sentence completion, missing letters, crosswords). The website will also create an audio Flash spelling test that says the word and a sentence so that you can type the correct spelling into a form. A fun way to practice spelling!

*  *  *

Boost your verbal-linguistic intelligence with Must Pop Words, the game that you’d get if your Scrabble board drank way too much Red Bull.

Letter bubbles fall from the top of the screen; you type words as quickly as you see them, and the used-up letters disappear. You get points for the words, with opportunities for bonus points. As in Tetris, you’re trying to keep the screen from filling up. Addictive, infuriating, and awesome.

Golden Tickets: A Recipe for an Awards/Management System

Ingredients:

• one roll of raffle tickets, gold/yellow in color
• an enormous pickle jar for each class period, cleaned and labeled
• an even larger receptacle for the full body of your students
• grade-boosting coupons (“Get Out of Assignment Free,” “Add 10% to Any Score,” etc.)
• dollar store trinkets

Preparation:

1. Give one ticket to each student.
2. Explain to them that tickets will be awarded for any number of reasons – having great insight, showing up especially prepared, improvement, excellent score on exam, being on task, etc.
3. Show them their class’s pickle jar and demonstrate the process of writing their name on the ticket and dropping into the jar.
4. Allow them to practice step 3 with their ticket.
5. Explain that each fortnight (hey look, a vocab word) you’ll pull a ticket or two from the jar. The owners of those tickets will receive a prize – one of the aforementioned coupons, or their choice of doo-hickey from a bin of goodies.
6. Begin the term by distributing tickets liberally (but appropriately). Become stingier with tickets as term goes on.
7. After each fortnight drawing, dump all tickets into the larger receptacle. At the end of the year, one student (not one from each class) will win a more substantial prize, at your discretion.

Variations:

• Use a double roll of tickets, and require them to keep track of their half of the ticket in order to win their prize. Teaches responsibility, makes drawing-day more interactive, also makes drawing-day more time-consuming.
• Don’t empty out the pickle jar after each drawing. Increases odds for students who are consistently “good”; decreases odds overall for other students, especially those who did something unexpectedly awesome.
• Sing “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket” every time you hand one out. Demonstrates confidence and cross-curricular connections. Makes you look like a dork, and may highlight poor singing skills.