January 21, 2025 • 37 mins
A productive classroom environment doesn't just happen. It takes consistent and focused effort throughout the year. However, the year can take a toll on any teacher and cause a slippage in execution. In this episode of #TMBS, I share with you a framework to follow in order to make sure your classroom environment stays productive all year long.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As a leader in the classroom, you are the architect
of the environment. Now, as the year goes on, things
can be it can be challenging for teachers.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I know for myself it was around February that's when
I began to become I was a little fatigued, a
little worn out, tired, and frustrated with some students who
I may have been working with and I'm trying to
get them to make good decisions, and just frustrated with
the decisions that they're making, feeling like I'm not making
(00:34):
an impact with this student. And so I just I
felt all of those things. And I know, just looking
back on my career that sometimes what would happen was
it would affect my it would affect my execution in
terms of in terms of maintaining a productive classroom environment.
(00:58):
So here we believe that teachers are leaders, and so
there are a number of things that we have to
focus on outside of the content. There's a content piece,
there's the lesson planning that is important, but there's also
this other part, this leadership part that is important as well,
and part of leading a classroom is you have to
(01:21):
be the architect of the environment. You have to build
and maintain a productive classroom environment. But what I found
during my career was there were times when there was
there was just slippage and execution of that duty. I
got tired, I got frustrated. I needed a mental health
two weeks off to recharge my battery. So what I
(01:45):
did was just reflecting on my career, I decided that
I was to put together just a little framework, three
bullet points, something that you can check check off, check
yourself against these three bullet points to make sure that
you're not slip being in terms of building and maintaining
that productive classroom environment. That is what I'm going to
(02:06):
give to you today. Welcome to the Marvin Bird Show.
Here we believe that teachers are leaders, and so we
talk a lot about things that are going to help
you and equip you with the skills, tools, information that
you need in order to lead your students to success.
So again, three bullet points, I'm going to give you
(02:28):
three things to check off to make sure throughout the year,
make sure that your on point, you're doing your job
in terms of building and maintaining that productive classroom environment. Again,
these things they have nothing to do with content, but
they are very important.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Let's get started. Number one, we want to.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Make sure that students feel safe. Now there's a number
of things under this umbrella, but let's start with the
first one.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Students.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
They need to feel This is a big sic need.
This is a basic need that everyone has. They they
want to feel safe. And you know, just with this
day and age we have, we have.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Seen a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We have seen a lot in terms of crisis situations
in schools, and it's just it's really sad because now
we have social media, like you see the images, you
see the video, you see the headlines. It's they're they're
more accessible. It's more accessible now, and so it's good
(03:33):
that we're aware of the need to to be safe
and put plans in place, but it's it's sad that students.
It's sad that students are well aware of the aftermath
of these crisis situations.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
They're well aware.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They've probably seen the images, seeing the videos, and yeah,
it can be it can be very hard to pay
attention to to the to the content when there is
that the there's that that fear is out there. So
what you want to do as administrators, we we have
(04:15):
it's it's our job to do those drills for UH,
intruder drills, fire whether or and and all and those
different kinds of things. We do those at the beginning
of the year so that everyone understands this is what
this is what we're doing. This is the plan that
we have in place. But I want you, as a teacher,
you I want you to go above and beyond and
(04:36):
talk to the students ahead of those drills and let
them know, hey, there's a plan on top of a
plan on top of another plan to make sure that
you are safe in this classroom. There is a there's
a plan to make sure that you are safe. And
all I ask is that in a crisis situation is
that you give me your full attention and and listen
(04:58):
to my directions. F all my directions and everything is
going to be fine. So let the students understand, make
them feel safe and knowing that you have a plan
and you are committed to making sure that everyone is safe.
(05:20):
It's a really basic need. Again nothing to do with
the curriculum, but as a leader in the classroom, that
is your responsibility to make sure that you drive that
point home, that safety and security that is your number
one concern.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You want your student.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You care about your students and you want all of
them to feel safe and okay, So there's that under
making sure students feel safe. Also, we want students to
feel safe to speak. You want students to feel safe
to speak in the room, to put their voice in
the room.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What does that do?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That gives them the invitation, the opportunit unity to join
in to be a part of this community. And when
they're at ease here that that's only going to benefit
them when it comes to the content. So here's what
you want to do. You want to you want to
teach students to respect others ideas and especially if if
(06:21):
others have if they have differing opinions you you wanted
you want to teach that respect. You want to teach
students to to to to accept and respect others opinions.
And if they have a differing opinion, then there is
a there is a respectful way. There there's a there's
(06:44):
a respectful uh, there's a respectful manner in which to
to let your your your disagreement, let your disagreement be known.
So but that but students, they shouldn't they shouldn't be belittled,
They shouldn't be laughed at if they have and and
outside the box idea, if if there's something there's a
(07:06):
way that they do things in their family that that's
that that's different, So all of those things. As a teacher,
you you need to make sure that students feel comfortable
in putting their voice out there, because oftentimes students have
have told me that they didn't want to say anything
because they didn't want to look stupid so in the
(07:29):
eyes of their peers. So there is that fear out there.
There there is that fear out there amongst students. And
I remember feeling this myself when I was a kid.
So you need to to make sure that you're you're protecting,
you're protecting students, you're you're value, you're validating, you're validating
(07:51):
them their their thoughts and their ideas. And so when
students who are really hesitant to speak, when they see
that you're going out of your way to protect to
protect students and uh and and their feelings and you're respecting,
respect respecting their thoughts and other students are respecting different
thoughts and ideas, then yeah, that's student who's really hesitant.
(08:14):
They're gonna feel like, oh, okay, maybe maybe I can't throw
a little something out there and I won't have to
worry about feeling bad. Safe to speak. Students need to
feel safe to put their voice in the classroom, to
really belong to really to really participate in this classroom community.
(08:34):
Next up, students, what you do in order to make
sure students feel safe to speak? Because you can celebrate mistakes.
Celebrate those mistakes, those mistakes that means that we're one
step closer to getting it right or one step closer
to getting to the solution. And what this does is
(08:56):
what goes along with this, is it encourages students to
take risks as well when we celebrate these mistakes, because
these mistakes, there's opportunity here in these mistakes. What I
tell students is that you know, when we make mistakes,
we get feedback, and feedback is it gives us the
(09:17):
opportunity to try again with better information. And that's all good.
That's all good, and then other thing under that. In
order to make sure students feel safe to speak, we
want to emphasize the process. Emphasize the process, the process
by which we attain the information that we're supposed to attain,
(09:40):
the process by which we get the right answer that
we need to get if we're really emphasizing that process
and not so much the answer. If we're emphasizing that process,
what that's going. What that does is that gives us
all a universal language to speak, universal language to speak,
(10:02):
and then it also builds that habit for it. And
I like math is really good for this. Like step one,
step two, step three, step four, These are the steps.
These are my habits. These are the things that I'm
looking for. That's universal, that's universal. Everyone can follow these steps.
(10:23):
Everyone can develop these habits. No matter who you are,
no matter where you come from, you can follow these steps.
You can go through this process and speak this universal
language of these steps. If you can do that, if
the student can do that, then their teacher can work
(10:44):
with them on using that process in order to arrive
at the correct answer in order to acquire that information.
And I think that when students, when students understand that,
when they really see that, when that light bulb goes
off in their head, they're gonna think, oh, wow, this
(11:06):
this really does work. If I really do dig in,
then I can be good at social studies. Oftentimes I
had students come into my classroom. They say oh, I'm
not good at social studies.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And you know what they were doing.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
They were laying the groundwork, the foundation for lack of
effort or I'm just gonna I'm gonna goof off in
your class. And that was that was definitely a mistake
because doctor Bird corrected that behavior real quick. You're not
gonna sit in my class and not do work and
to start my class. That's just that's not gonna happen,
(11:40):
not gonna happen. So anyways, but no, it was just
so cool when you when you saw that student who
had that, they had that low self esteem about about
their ability to succeed in my class, and then you know,
you just these are the steps. Follow the steps, do
the steps, and then that will go off and they
(12:00):
will say, oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I can't do this. Yes you can, Yes you can.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And again this helps students to feel safe. So they're
basic safety. We want to make sure that they feel safe,
and then we want them to we want them to
feel safe to speak like it's just learning is just
now it's just such a communal. It's a communal.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well what am I looking for? I can't think of it.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But anyways, it's uh. You're building a learning community. That's
what you're doing. And that's why it's important that students
feel safe to speak to put their voice in a
room because we're building a community. Because ultimately, what's going
(13:00):
to happen is, you know, students are going to learn
from you as their teacher, but they're going to learn
from each other. They're going to learn from each other,
They're going to challenge each other. So that's what I
want you to do. I want you, I want you
to I want you to make sure that your students
(13:20):
feel safe. You know. The other thing under safety, what
I want you to do is I want you to
don't lose.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Sight of offering students choices.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Now, this comes from love and logic, which we're a
big fan of here. Love and logic, you want to
offer them choices. When students feel like they have choices,
they feel it puts them at ease and it empowers
them to take risks. And it also increases the trust
that they have in you as their teacher, as the
(13:49):
leader in the classroom. When when they feel like they
have some they have some control over things, when they
feel like you're investing it in them and not in all,
not only their growth as a student, but their growth
as a human being as well, from from from child
(14:10):
to adult. You're invested in their development, makes them feel good,
It makes them feel good as people. And then what's
going to happen is they're gonna they're gonna feel comfortable
with you, they're gonna feel at ease with you, they're
going to trust you, they're going to feel safe. And
then the bonus on top of that is they're going
(14:33):
to learn what it's like to make a decision, read
that feedback, and then.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Learn, learn from the.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Feedback, and use that learning in order to make their
future decisions, which are going to be they're gonna have
better outcomes because now they're open to evaluating that feedback
because it was their decision. It was their decision, and
you as a leader, you as a leader, when you
offer them these choices, you have to sit down with
(15:03):
them and help them and make sure that they're evaluating
that feedback. Make sure that they're evaluating that feedback, because
there's there's nothing better. There's nothing better than watching a
student look at the feedback, try observe the feedback, learn
from the feedback, try again, and they do it a
(15:26):
little bit better the next time.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Then with you as a.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Teacher, you can be their cheerleader. You can say, hey,
look what you did, Look what you did this. You
made these decisions. You made sure that you were gonna
dig into this feedback and you're gonna try again with
better information, and.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You did better. You can do this.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You absolutely belong here, absolutely wonderful job. You can do this.
You can succeed in this classroom. You can succeed in
this honors level classroom. I know there was some doubt
at the beginning, but you got this. You can do this,
all right. So that's that's number one. Again, we're looking
at a framework. This is a framework that you can
(16:11):
look at throughout the year to make sure that you
still have excellence in your execution in maintaining a productive
classroom environment. Students are succeeding. That is the mission. Okay,
that's the mission. Next up, you want to make sure
that your students they feel they feel seen seen. I
(16:35):
used to I used to show clips, extended clips from
the movie Joy Luck Club.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Joy Luck Club.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Really really loved that movie. This is around the time
where we're studying World War two and there is a
scene when the mother and daughter are having a discussion
and the daughter is an adult, and the daughter is
just really upset with the mother and just telling the
(17:06):
mother that, oh, you favor my you favor my older
sister over me, You don't, you don't like me, And
it's just a really emotional scene. And then once the
daughter gets all of that out, the mother says, what
are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Your your sister?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
She always she's just basically she's just so selfish. She
wants the very best, she wants the best of everything.
But you you want to make sure that everyone else
is taken care of. You'll take the least so that
everyone else can be taken care of. You're awesome. I
see you. You've done that your whole life. I see you.
(17:43):
And that that moment, you know, perhaps the mother should
have said that a long time ago to the doctor,
but to the to the daughter, but that moment was
just so pivotal in their relationship. The daughter needed to
know that the mother saw her, saw her, and that
made the difference. That made the difference. There was a
(18:05):
change on the on the inside of the daughter once
she realized.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That the mother actually saw her.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So what I want you to do under that when
we talk about making sure students feel saying, you need
to see them as individuals and this is basic self.
You know, just take take an interest and incorporate You
can incorporate that in future conversations or even your lesson plans.
I remember her first day of school for me, A
lot of that was just filled with just drilling student names,
(18:36):
just drilling what'd you do this summer? What things you liked,
and just really practicing student names. And then there was
a card that I passed out that asked them, you know,
just different things.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Like what are you interested in?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
What do you what do I need to know about
you as as a student.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Just different things.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Take an interest, go out of your way to take
an interest in them as individuals. And you know, like
I said, you can incorporate those things in your future
conversations lesson plans.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Follow up.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
When you have a conversation with a student, if they've
got something coming up, you can ask them the following week,
hey how did that go? I love that stuff when
they feel like you actually you meant it, like, yeah,
I'm interested in you. What happened? What happened with that?
I know you were nervous about some performance. Speaking of performance,
(19:28):
I know it's it's definitely difficult for those of you
who are parents. But you know, before I had kids,
I did the best that I could to at least
make an appearance at student events. I taught high school,
so a lot of my students were involved in activities
after school, and so I did the very best I
could to go to their events. And it made a
(19:51):
big deal. Like I have students invite me out to
their events. Now, I didn't stay the whole time, but
I made an appearance, and I got my points for
showing up. But students need to know that they feel
seen by you. By you, that's what's going to make
a huge difference. They need to feel seen by you.
There's only one teacher in the classroom. There's only one
(20:14):
person in the classroom that's addressed by their sur name.
Like off the bat, there's just so much respect and
expectations from you as the teacher. And so I think
most students they want to feel good about their relationship
with you. They want they want you to see them
as individuals. Also, what I want you to do is
(20:36):
I want you to take time to share and celebrate
together throughout the year, there's number numerous opportunities to celebrate birthdays.
That's a big one, Like you should know your students' birthdays,
not at the top of your head, but definitely student
information systems they can easily print out a list of
(20:57):
student birthdays.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's just you have.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You've got to do that. Student birthdays, that's that's an
easy one. Take time to share and celebrate together. Next up,
what I want to share with you is this, you
need to be an active listener. You need to be
an active listener when when it comes to when it
comes to your students.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What I've what I've seen over the years is I've
seen I've seen issues in the classroom escalate to issues
where I have to get involved in. I think because
the teacher didn't practice good listening skills. You know, especially
in times of conflict. You need to be an active
(21:45):
listener who seeks to understand right. And there were I
I can recall just a hand few handful of teachers
who didn't who didn't really master this. And one thing
that I would I would tell students is that, hey, listen, guys,
teachers know better than the student, right. We just have
(22:07):
different responsibilities in this classroom. But we're all going to
respect each other and we're we're gonna work and and
I'm gonna give I'm gonna give the best I got
and I expect you to give the best you you got.
And that's that's the way it that's the way it
should flow. That that's the way it should flow. But
when it comes to going back to when it comes
(22:29):
to being a being an active listener, what I want
you to do is this, Well, no, here's again. The
why is because it's it's an it's an it's an
act of respect. It's it's an act of respect. And
you know, oftentimes students feel like, oh, just because you're
(22:51):
you're the teacher, they're not going to get a fair shake,
they're not going to be heard. And so what we
want to do is we want to we want to
get that out of their mind. We want to have
an open, an honest conversation with them, and whether it
could be a crisis situation or not, we want them
to feel like, hey, we're having we're having a one
(23:12):
on one conversation. Respect is flowing both ways, and we're
trying to we're trying to figure something out.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Okay, So what I want you to do is I
want you to listen with your body. Number one.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
When we talk about being an active listener, listen, listen
with your body.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
A lot of students are not.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
They're just not masters at having face to face conversations,
and so you're gonna have to model for them what
that looks like.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
It could mean, give a head nod.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
As teachers, we talk a lot with our hands, and
so I'll do this to show someone that, yeah, I'm yeah,
I understand, I understand what you're saying there, Just to
show that, hey, I'm in this conversation, right, I'm I'm
engaged in this conversation. I'm listening to you, right. And
(23:59):
then number two, which you want to do to be
an active listeners. You need to ask questions. You need
to ask clarifying questions, so just to make sure that
you understand exactly what they're saying, because ultimately, what you
want to do at the end of the conversation is
you want to be able to summarize Okay, this this,
this is, this is what I'm hearing. Correct correct me
(24:20):
if I'm wrong. Okay, Again, we want to make sure
this is because we want to make sure the students
feel seen, I see you, I'm listening to you, I'm
understanding everything that you're telling me. I'm so into this
conversation that, like you got, my body is listening to
you and tuned in to what you are telling me
(24:43):
right now. And then number three, you know this is
especially applies to if there's a there's a disagreement, potential crisis.
You want to make sure that you're not planning on
what you're going to say while they're talking. Okay, it's
it's not a debate, and that's that's something that you
(25:03):
don't you never want to be in.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You don't want to be.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
In a back and forth with students as teachers, as leaders,
we don't argue with students. Let me say that again.
As teachers, we don't argue with students. Now, what we
will do is we will have a conversation with students
at an appropriate time, appropriate place, especially if it's one
(25:29):
that where we're talking about a disagreement could be possibly contentious.
It doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be
because with your leadership, if you're if you're you're an
active listener, you know you've been leading the classroom with
with with empathy throughout the year. They should understand that, hey,
I'm not I'm not I'm not your enemy. I am
(25:52):
listening to you in this moment, and I'm not trying
to debate you, not trying to win an argument. So
again that's important. Ladies and gentlemen, don't be thinking about
what you're going to say next as they're talking. If
you want to be an active listener, and I'll tell
you it just it goes a long way when the
other person feels like you're actively listening to them, especially
(26:16):
for students, when they feel like you're giving them a
chance to speak, You're processing what they have to say.
Now the oh outcome it may not be what they like.
And I've done this many times as administrator, Like when
I know, I know, based off the information and evidence
that I have, all this student's being suspended. But you
know what, let me let me listen. I'm gonna be
(26:39):
an active listener. I'm gonna hear you out and I'm
gonna head and nod listen with my body. I'm gonna
ask questions. I'm not planning on what I'm going to
say next as a person is talking to hear them out.
But at the end of this conversation, you know, I'm
calling your mother because you're going home. You're gonna be
suspended for three days. So I know all that, but
(27:03):
remember that student is coming back to school. So what
I'm doing by listening to them, being an active listener,
is I am planting seeds for the future. Okay, planting
seeds for the future. Man, doctor Bird treated me with
so much respect. He listened to me. You though, I
knew I was gonna be suspended, but he listened to me.
He engaged me, didn't debate me. So I mean, he goes,
(27:28):
I'm gonna serve my three days of oss, but when
I come back, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna behave
in that teachers classroom. That that's the purpose, that's the payoff,
that's the fruit when we change that student's mindset based
on the conversation that we had. It wasn't a back
(27:50):
and forth, contentious conversation.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
No, no, no, no, no respect. You're a student in
the school.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You will continue to be a student in the school
after you serve these consequences, all right, So that's number two.
That's number two. We want to ensure that student make
sure that students feel seen. And then number three, ladies
and gentlemen, number three, we want to make sure that
students are self confident, self confident, all right. If a
(28:21):
student struggles with their confidence and achieving success with your content,
then nothing positive comes as a result.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So you have to you have to attack.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
This area, this area of mindset, this area of mindset.
Famous quote Henry Ford says, whether you believe you can
or you can't, you're right. Again, whether you believe you
can or you can't, you're right. My ten year old,
my ten year old daughter came home and told me
(28:53):
that she learned that quote from her teacher, and I
was like, yes, that's what I'm talking about. That's our job.
Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right. Mindset,
that's your job. You got to touch on that as well. Now,
be honest, primarily, this is the job. When we talk
about mindset, that's the responsibility of parents. No sugarcoating that.
(29:19):
You know, student kids are born, they spend first five
six years at home with their parents, or maybe they're
in preschool. But parents should be doing the work on mindset.
Parents should be doing the work on mindset. Now the
reality is the students in our classroom or the students
in our classroom, and we have to work with what
(29:40):
we have, and so that's why. So then it falls
on us as teachers, as leaders in the classroom, to
take that baton and run with it and do what
we can. Remember I talked about, there is the content
and then there are those other things. There's a classroom
a leadership, and you need that. You need actually you
(30:03):
need both in order to build a positive, a positive classroom,
a positive and productive classroom environment. So let's look at
I'm gonna give you three quick tips to assist in mindset,
assist in the acquisition of that growth mindset. So number one,
(30:24):
we need to empower them with the right language. Empower
them with the right language. Language is important. Language is important.
From here comes this when you speak, you're speaking what's
up here? Oh, I've never been good.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
At social studies.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
So you have that in your mind that, Oh, I'm
not good at social studies. I'm not good at social studies,
doctor Bird, I've never been good at social studies. Again,
whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right.
Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right.
So now what we need to do is we need
(31:05):
to flip this and give them the right language. Remember
we talk about there's the power of yets. I can't
do this.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Period.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
No no, no, no, no no, as as teachers, as leaders,
as an architecture of our environment, I can't do this yet.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Period. I can't do this yet. Period.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
So you have to correct students with their language. Just
like them, they just said the f They just dropped
the F bomb. If they say something negative about their
ability to succeed in any and any process in your classroom,
if they're negative, if they come with that negativity, you
(31:50):
smack that negativity down and say no, no, no, no,
no no, let's correct your language. Your language is not right.
You can't do it yet. You're not yet there. You're
getting there, You're almost there. You're you're closer than you
were before. You have to you have to correct that language.
(32:14):
And when students see that consistency, that's gonna stick in
their mind. That's going to stick in their mind. And see,
this is what I was talking about. Like when we
it's important to make sure that you're checking in with
with this framework because students are watching you. They're watching
you for that consistency. Are you the same in August?
(32:38):
Are you the same in April as you were in August?
Are you the same in February as you were in August?
Like they want to see that the way you start
is the way you're going to finish. Like if we're
not going to accept any negative talk in August, we're
not accepting any negative talk in March. Okay, you need
to clean that up. You're not there yet, but you're
(33:02):
getting there, right, So we need to make sure that
we're empowering students with the right language. Okay, And there's
a there's a number of well, now, oh, here we go.
Let's affirmations. Okay, there's a number of affirmations of things
that you can do. And I'm gonna actually in the
(33:24):
in the description section there, I'm gonna link to a
number of class of affirmations. You can lead your classroom in,
or you can just give it to them and then
just make sure, you know, just have a mindful minute,
just have them say things to themselves before class starts.
So you need to empower them with the right language.
(33:48):
And again, consistency matters. Consistency builds that habit and this
all goes to helping students feel self confident. They need
to be self confident in your classroom, because when they're
self confident, what this is going to do is this
is going to prevent a lot of issues before they
(34:11):
even have a chance to pop up. There's a battle
up here in the mind. Now, if you can come
along with your consistency, you're fixing the language and the
way that they think you can. You can destroy that
inclination on some students to be kind of apathetic, to
(34:31):
be kind of lazy, to not try. Okay, next up,
you need to model it for students. You need to
show them, Hey, this is what it looks like. Hey,
I haven't yet arrived. Okay, there's some things that I'm
working on with my mindset. Okay, and this can be
through personal stories about yourself. Hey, just this, this happened
(34:51):
this past weekend. I had to fix I had to
fix my mind I had to adjust my mindset because
I was fixed. I had to I was the fixed
mindset mode. So this is my story, right. Kids love
that when when you share them, share with them your
stories when you're when you're vulnerable about challenges that you had. Okay,
(35:15):
and then Also, there's numerous stories out there about famous
athletes celebrities that you can pull upon as well to
drive that point home.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
That this is what it looks like.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Okay, you're not you're not Lebron James, but you can
do it. You can do you can succeed in this
classroom using the using the methods that Lebron James use
to be successful on the basketball court. The just the mindset,
(35:48):
all right, and then next up what you want to
do is to help them assist and grow in that
mindset is goals.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Goals.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Have them goals in your classroom. They can be goals
for the quarter, they could be monthly goals. However you
want to do it, have them set goals, because when
it just feels so good, it's just so empowering. When
you set a goal, time goes on, you're taking care
of the action steps, and then you look back and
you see how far you've come along as a result
(36:21):
of writing that goal down, as a result of stating
that goal. And then what that does is that gives
you the opportunity to celebrate them, to celebrate their success.
And then also it gives them valuable feedback that they
can study and Remember what we talked about is that
feedback gives us the opportunity to try again with better information.
(36:42):
All right, so let's sum that up. I gave you
three bullet points. We want to make sure that students
feel safe. Make sure students feel safe, make sure students
feel seen, make sure they feel seen, and then make
sure students are self confident. Well that's it. That's our
framework for helping to build and maintain a productive classroom
(37:04):
environment throughout the year. I thank you so much for
tuning in to this edition of the Marvin Bird Show,
and until we meet again, please don't forget that teachers
are leaders.
As a leader in the classroom, you are the architect
of the environment. Now, as the year goes on, things
can be it can be challenging for teachers.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I know for myself it was around February that's when
I began to become I was a little fatigued, a
little worn out, tired, and frustrated with some students who
I may have been working with and I'm trying to
get them to make good decisions, and just frustrated with
the decisions that they're making, feeling like I'm not making
(00:34):
an impact with this student. And so I just I
felt all of those things. And I know, just looking
back on my career that sometimes what would happen was
it would affect my it would affect my execution in
terms of in terms of maintaining a productive classroom environment.
(00:58):
So here we believe that teachers are leaders, and so
there are a number of things that we have to
focus on outside of the content. There's a content piece,
there's the lesson planning that is important, but there's also
this other part, this leadership part that is important as well,
and part of leading a classroom is you have to
(01:21):
be the architect of the environment. You have to build
and maintain a productive classroom environment. But what I found
during my career was there were times when there was
there was just slippage and execution of that duty. I
got tired, I got frustrated. I needed a mental health
two weeks off to recharge my battery. So what I
(01:45):
did was just reflecting on my career, I decided that
I was to put together just a little framework, three
bullet points, something that you can check check off, check
yourself against these three bullet points to make sure that
you're not slip being in terms of building and maintaining
that productive classroom environment. That is what I'm going to
(02:06):
give to you today. Welcome to the Marvin Bird Show.
Here we believe that teachers are leaders, and so we
talk a lot about things that are going to help
you and equip you with the skills, tools, information that
you need in order to lead your students to success.
So again, three bullet points, I'm going to give you
(02:28):
three things to check off to make sure throughout the year,
make sure that your on point, you're doing your job
in terms of building and maintaining that productive classroom environment. Again,
these things they have nothing to do with content, but
they are very important.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Let's get started. Number one, we want to.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Make sure that students feel safe. Now there's a number
of things under this umbrella, but let's start with the
first one.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Students.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
They need to feel This is a big sic need.
This is a basic need that everyone has. They they
want to feel safe. And you know, just with this
day and age we have, we have.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Seen a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We have seen a lot in terms of crisis situations
in schools, and it's just it's really sad because now
we have social media, like you see the images, you
see the video, you see the headlines. It's they're they're
more accessible. It's more accessible now, and so it's good
(03:33):
that we're aware of the need to to be safe
and put plans in place, but it's it's sad that students.
It's sad that students are well aware of the aftermath
of these crisis situations.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
They're well aware.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They've probably seen the images, seeing the videos, and yeah,
it can be it can be very hard to pay
attention to to the to the content when there is
that the there's that that fear is out there. So
what you want to do as administrators, we we have
(04:15):
it's it's our job to do those drills for UH,
intruder drills, fire whether or and and all and those
different kinds of things. We do those at the beginning
of the year so that everyone understands this is what
this is what we're doing. This is the plan that
we have in place. But I want you, as a teacher,
you I want you to go above and beyond and
(04:36):
talk to the students ahead of those drills and let
them know, hey, there's a plan on top of a
plan on top of another plan to make sure that
you are safe in this classroom. There is a there's
a plan to make sure that you are safe. And
all I ask is that in a crisis situation is
that you give me your full attention and and listen
(04:58):
to my directions. F all my directions and everything is
going to be fine. So let the students understand, make
them feel safe and knowing that you have a plan
and you are committed to making sure that everyone is safe.
(05:20):
It's a really basic need. Again nothing to do with
the curriculum, but as a leader in the classroom, that
is your responsibility to make sure that you drive that
point home, that safety and security that is your number
one concern.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
You want your student.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
You care about your students and you want all of
them to feel safe and okay, So there's that under
making sure students feel safe. Also, we want students to
feel safe to speak. You want students to feel safe
to speak in the room, to put their voice in
the room.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
What does that do?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That gives them the invitation, the opportunit unity to join
in to be a part of this community. And when
they're at ease here that that's only going to benefit
them when it comes to the content. So here's what
you want to do. You want to you want to
teach students to respect others ideas and especially if if
(06:21):
others have if they have differing opinions you you wanted
you want to teach that respect. You want to teach
students to to to to accept and respect others opinions.
And if they have a differing opinion, then there is
a there is a respectful way. There there's a there's
(06:44):
a respectful uh, there's a respectful manner in which to
to let your your your disagreement, let your disagreement be known.
So but that but students, they shouldn't they shouldn't be belittled,
They shouldn't be laughed at if they have and and
outside the box idea, if if there's something there's a
(07:06):
way that they do things in their family that that's
that that's different, So all of those things. As a teacher,
you you need to make sure that students feel comfortable
in putting their voice out there, because oftentimes students have
have told me that they didn't want to say anything
because they didn't want to look stupid so in the
(07:29):
eyes of their peers. So there is that fear out there.
There there is that fear out there amongst students. And
I remember feeling this myself when I was a kid.
So you need to to make sure that you're you're protecting,
you're protecting students, you're you're value, you're validating, you're validating
(07:51):
them their their thoughts and their ideas. And so when
students who are really hesitant to speak, when they see
that you're going out of your way to protect to
protect students and uh and and their feelings and you're respecting,
respect respecting their thoughts and other students are respecting different
thoughts and ideas, then yeah, that's student who's really hesitant.
(08:14):
They're gonna feel like, oh, okay, maybe maybe I can't throw
a little something out there and I won't have to
worry about feeling bad. Safe to speak. Students need to
feel safe to put their voice in the classroom, to
really belong to really to really participate in this classroom community.
(08:34):
Next up, students, what you do in order to make
sure students feel safe to speak? Because you can celebrate mistakes.
Celebrate those mistakes, those mistakes that means that we're one
step closer to getting it right or one step closer
to getting to the solution. And what this does is
(08:56):
what goes along with this, is it encourages students to
take risks as well when we celebrate these mistakes, because
these mistakes, there's opportunity here in these mistakes. What I
tell students is that you know, when we make mistakes,
we get feedback, and feedback is it gives us the
(09:17):
opportunity to try again with better information. And that's all good.
That's all good, and then other thing under that. In
order to make sure students feel safe to speak, we
want to emphasize the process. Emphasize the process, the process
by which we attain the information that we're supposed to attain,
(09:40):
the process by which we get the right answer that
we need to get if we're really emphasizing that process
and not so much the answer. If we're emphasizing that process,
what that's going. What that does is that gives us
all a universal language to speak, universal language to speak,
(10:02):
and then it also builds that habit for it. And
I like math is really good for this. Like step one,
step two, step three, step four, These are the steps.
These are my habits. These are the things that I'm
looking for. That's universal, that's universal. Everyone can follow these steps.
(10:23):
Everyone can develop these habits. No matter who you are,
no matter where you come from, you can follow these steps.
You can go through this process and speak this universal
language of these steps. If you can do that, if
the student can do that, then their teacher can work
(10:44):
with them on using that process in order to arrive
at the correct answer in order to acquire that information.
And I think that when students, when students understand that,
when they really see that, when that light bulb goes
off in their head, they're gonna think, oh, wow, this
(11:06):
this really does work. If I really do dig in,
then I can be good at social studies. Oftentimes I
had students come into my classroom. They say oh, I'm
not good at social studies.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And you know what they were doing.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
They were laying the groundwork, the foundation for lack of
effort or I'm just gonna I'm gonna goof off in
your class. And that was that was definitely a mistake
because doctor Bird corrected that behavior real quick. You're not
gonna sit in my class and not do work and
to start my class. That's just that's not gonna happen,
(11:40):
not gonna happen. So anyways, but no, it was just
so cool when you when you saw that student who
had that, they had that low self esteem about about
their ability to succeed in my class, and then you know,
you just these are the steps. Follow the steps, do
the steps, and then that will go off and they
(12:00):
will say, oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I can't do this. Yes you can, Yes you can.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And again this helps students to feel safe. So they're
basic safety. We want to make sure that they feel safe,
and then we want them to we want them to
feel safe to speak like it's just learning is just
now it's just such a communal. It's a communal.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well what am I looking for? I can't think of it.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But anyways, it's uh. You're building a learning community. That's
what you're doing. And that's why it's important that students
feel safe to speak to put their voice in a
room because we're building a community. Because ultimately, what's going
(13:00):
to happen is, you know, students are going to learn
from you as their teacher, but they're going to learn
from each other. They're going to learn from each other,
They're going to challenge each other. So that's what I
want you to do. I want you, I want you
to I want you to make sure that your students
(13:20):
feel safe. You know. The other thing under safety, what
I want you to do is I want you to
don't lose.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Sight of offering students choices.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Now, this comes from love and logic, which we're a
big fan of here. Love and logic, you want to
offer them choices. When students feel like they have choices,
they feel it puts them at ease and it empowers
them to take risks. And it also increases the trust
that they have in you as their teacher, as the
(13:49):
leader in the classroom. When when they feel like they
have some they have some control over things, when they
feel like you're investing it in them and not in all,
not only their growth as a student, but their growth
as a human being as well, from from from child
(14:10):
to adult. You're invested in their development, makes them feel good,
It makes them feel good as people. And then what's
going to happen is they're gonna they're gonna feel comfortable
with you, they're gonna feel at ease with you, they're
going to trust you, they're going to feel safe. And
then the bonus on top of that is they're going
(14:33):
to learn what it's like to make a decision, read
that feedback, and then.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Learn, learn from the.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Feedback, and use that learning in order to make their
future decisions, which are going to be they're gonna have
better outcomes because now they're open to evaluating that feedback
because it was their decision. It was their decision, and
you as a leader, you as a leader, when you
offer them these choices, you have to sit down with
(15:03):
them and help them and make sure that they're evaluating
that feedback. Make sure that they're evaluating that feedback, because
there's there's nothing better. There's nothing better than watching a
student look at the feedback, try observe the feedback, learn
from the feedback, try again, and they do it a
(15:26):
little bit better the next time.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Then with you as a.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Teacher, you can be their cheerleader. You can say, hey,
look what you did, Look what you did this. You
made these decisions. You made sure that you were gonna
dig into this feedback and you're gonna try again with
better information, and.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You did better. You can do this.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You absolutely belong here, absolutely wonderful job. You can do this.
You can succeed in this classroom. You can succeed in
this honors level classroom. I know there was some doubt
at the beginning, but you got this. You can do this,
all right. So that's that's number one. Again, we're looking
at a framework. This is a framework that you can
(16:11):
look at throughout the year to make sure that you
still have excellence in your execution in maintaining a productive
classroom environment. Students are succeeding. That is the mission. Okay,
that's the mission. Next up, you want to make sure
that your students they feel they feel seen seen. I
(16:35):
used to I used to show clips, extended clips from
the movie Joy Luck Club.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Joy Luck Club.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Really really loved that movie. This is around the time
where we're studying World War two and there is a
scene when the mother and daughter are having a discussion
and the daughter is an adult, and the daughter is
just really upset with the mother and just telling the
(17:06):
mother that, oh, you favor my you favor my older
sister over me, You don't, you don't like me, And
it's just a really emotional scene. And then once the
daughter gets all of that out, the mother says, what
are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Your your sister?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
She always she's just basically she's just so selfish. She
wants the very best, she wants the best of everything.
But you you want to make sure that everyone else
is taken care of. You'll take the least so that
everyone else can be taken care of. You're awesome. I
see you. You've done that your whole life. I see you.
(17:43):
And that that moment, you know, perhaps the mother should
have said that a long time ago to the doctor,
but to the to the daughter, but that moment was
just so pivotal in their relationship. The daughter needed to
know that the mother saw her, saw her, and that
made the difference. That made the difference. There was a
(18:05):
change on the on the inside of the daughter once
she realized.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That the mother actually saw her.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So what I want you to do under that when
we talk about making sure students feel saying, you need
to see them as individuals and this is basic self.
You know, just take take an interest and incorporate You
can incorporate that in future conversations or even your lesson plans.
I remember her first day of school for me, A
lot of that was just filled with just drilling student names,
(18:36):
just drilling what'd you do this summer? What things you liked,
and just really practicing student names. And then there was
a card that I passed out that asked them, you know,
just different things.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Like what are you interested in?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
What do you what do I need to know about
you as as a student.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Just different things.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Take an interest, go out of your way to take
an interest in them as individuals. And you know, like
I said, you can incorporate those things in your future
conversations lesson plans.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Follow up.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
When you have a conversation with a student, if they've
got something coming up, you can ask them the following week,
hey how did that go? I love that stuff when
they feel like you actually you meant it, like, yeah,
I'm interested in you. What happened? What happened with that?
I know you were nervous about some performance. Speaking of performance,
(19:28):
I know it's it's definitely difficult for those of you
who are parents. But you know, before I had kids,
I did the best that I could to at least
make an appearance at student events. I taught high school,
so a lot of my students were involved in activities
after school, and so I did the very best I
could to go to their events. And it made a
(19:51):
big deal. Like I have students invite me out to
their events. Now, I didn't stay the whole time, but
I made an appearance, and I got my points for
showing up. But students need to know that they feel
seen by you. By you, that's what's going to make
a huge difference. They need to feel seen by you.
There's only one teacher in the classroom. There's only one
(20:14):
person in the classroom that's addressed by their sur name.
Like off the bat, there's just so much respect and
expectations from you as the teacher. And so I think
most students they want to feel good about their relationship
with you. They want they want you to see them
as individuals. Also, what I want you to do is
(20:36):
I want you to take time to share and celebrate
together throughout the year, there's number numerous opportunities to celebrate birthdays.
That's a big one, Like you should know your students' birthdays,
not at the top of your head, but definitely student
information systems they can easily print out a list of
(20:57):
student birthdays.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's just you have.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You've got to do that. Student birthdays, that's that's an
easy one. Take time to share and celebrate together. Next up,
what I want to share with you is this, you
need to be an active listener. You need to be
an active listener when when it comes to when it
comes to your students.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What I've what I've seen over the years is I've
seen I've seen issues in the classroom escalate to issues
where I have to get involved in. I think because
the teacher didn't practice good listening skills. You know, especially
in times of conflict. You need to be an active
(21:45):
listener who seeks to understand right. And there were I
I can recall just a hand few handful of teachers
who didn't who didn't really master this. And one thing
that I would I would tell students is that, hey, listen, guys,
teachers know better than the student, right. We just have
(22:07):
different responsibilities in this classroom. But we're all going to
respect each other and we're we're gonna work and and
I'm gonna give I'm gonna give the best I got
and I expect you to give the best you you got.
And that's that's the way it that's the way it
should flow. That that's the way it should flow. But
when it comes to going back to when it comes
(22:29):
to being a being an active listener, what I want
you to do is this, Well, no, here's again. The
why is because it's it's an it's an it's an
act of respect. It's it's an act of respect. And
you know, oftentimes students feel like, oh, just because you're
(22:51):
you're the teacher, they're not going to get a fair shake,
they're not going to be heard. And so what we
want to do is we want to we want to
get that out of their mind. We want to have
an open, an honest conversation with them, and whether it
could be a crisis situation or not, we want them
to feel like, hey, we're having we're having a one
(23:12):
on one conversation. Respect is flowing both ways, and we're
trying to we're trying to figure something out.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Okay, So what I want you to do is I
want you to listen with your body. Number one.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
When we talk about being an active listener, listen, listen
with your body.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
A lot of students are not.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
They're just not masters at having face to face conversations,
and so you're gonna have to model for them what
that looks like.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
It could mean, give a head nod.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
As teachers, we talk a lot with our hands, and
so I'll do this to show someone that, yeah, I'm yeah,
I understand, I understand what you're saying there, Just to
show that, hey, I'm in this conversation, right, I'm I'm
engaged in this conversation. I'm listening to you, right. And
(23:59):
then number two, which you want to do to be
an active listeners. You need to ask questions. You need
to ask clarifying questions, so just to make sure that
you understand exactly what they're saying, because ultimately, what you
want to do at the end of the conversation is
you want to be able to summarize Okay, this this,
this is, this is what I'm hearing. Correct correct me
(24:20):
if I'm wrong. Okay, Again, we want to make sure
this is because we want to make sure the students
feel seen, I see you, I'm listening to you, I'm
understanding everything that you're telling me. I'm so into this
conversation that, like you got, my body is listening to
you and tuned in to what you are telling me
(24:43):
right now. And then number three, you know this is
especially applies to if there's a there's a disagreement, potential crisis.
You want to make sure that you're not planning on
what you're going to say while they're talking. Okay, it's
it's not a debate, and that's that's something that you
(25:03):
don't you never want to be in.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You don't want to be.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
In a back and forth with students as teachers, as leaders,
we don't argue with students. Let me say that again.
As teachers, we don't argue with students. Now, what we
will do is we will have a conversation with students
at an appropriate time, appropriate place, especially if it's one
(25:29):
that where we're talking about a disagreement could be possibly contentious.
It doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be
because with your leadership, if you're if you're you're an
active listener, you know you've been leading the classroom with
with with empathy throughout the year. They should understand that, hey,
I'm not I'm not I'm not your enemy. I am
(25:52):
listening to you in this moment, and I'm not trying
to debate you, not trying to win an argument. So
again that's important. Ladies and gentlemen, don't be thinking about
what you're going to say next as they're talking. If
you want to be an active listener, and I'll tell
you it just it goes a long way when the
other person feels like you're actively listening to them, especially
(26:16):
for students, when they feel like you're giving them a
chance to speak, You're processing what they have to say.
Now the oh outcome it may not be what they like.
And I've done this many times as administrator, Like when
I know, I know, based off the information and evidence
that I have, all this student's being suspended. But you
know what, let me let me listen. I'm gonna be
(26:39):
an active listener. I'm gonna hear you out and I'm
gonna head and nod listen with my body. I'm gonna
ask questions. I'm not planning on what I'm going to
say next as a person is talking to hear them out.
But at the end of this conversation, you know, I'm
calling your mother because you're going home. You're gonna be
suspended for three days. So I know all that, but
(27:03):
remember that student is coming back to school. So what
I'm doing by listening to them, being an active listener,
is I am planting seeds for the future. Okay, planting
seeds for the future. Man, doctor Bird treated me with
so much respect. He listened to me. You though, I
knew I was gonna be suspended, but he listened to me.
He engaged me, didn't debate me. So I mean, he goes,
(27:28):
I'm gonna serve my three days of oss, but when
I come back, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna behave
in that teachers classroom. That that's the purpose, that's the payoff,
that's the fruit when we change that student's mindset based
on the conversation that we had. It wasn't a back
(27:50):
and forth, contentious conversation.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
No, no, no, no, no respect. You're a student in
the school.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You will continue to be a student in the school
after you serve these consequences, all right, So that's number two.
That's number two. We want to ensure that student make
sure that students feel seen. And then number three, ladies
and gentlemen, number three, we want to make sure that
students are self confident, self confident, all right. If a
(28:21):
student struggles with their confidence and achieving success with your content,
then nothing positive comes as a result.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
So you have to you have to attack.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
This area, this area of mindset, this area of mindset.
Famous quote Henry Ford says, whether you believe you can
or you can't, you're right. Again, whether you believe you
can or you can't, you're right. My ten year old,
my ten year old daughter came home and told me
(28:53):
that she learned that quote from her teacher, and I
was like, yes, that's what I'm talking about. That's our job.
Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right. Mindset,
that's your job. You got to touch on that as well. Now,
be honest, primarily, this is the job. When we talk
about mindset, that's the responsibility of parents. No sugarcoating that.
(29:19):
You know, student kids are born, they spend first five
six years at home with their parents, or maybe they're
in preschool. But parents should be doing the work on mindset.
Parents should be doing the work on mindset. Now the
reality is the students in our classroom or the students
in our classroom, and we have to work with what
(29:40):
we have, and so that's why. So then it falls
on us as teachers, as leaders in the classroom, to
take that baton and run with it and do what
we can. Remember I talked about, there is the content
and then there are those other things. There's a classroom
a leadership, and you need that. You need actually you
(30:03):
need both in order to build a positive, a positive classroom,
a positive and productive classroom environment. So let's look at
I'm gonna give you three quick tips to assist in mindset,
assist in the acquisition of that growth mindset. So number one,
(30:24):
we need to empower them with the right language. Empower
them with the right language. Language is important. Language is important.
From here comes this when you speak, you're speaking what's
up here? Oh, I've never been good.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
At social studies.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
So you have that in your mind that, Oh, I'm
not good at social studies. I'm not good at social studies,
doctor Bird, I've never been good at social studies. Again,
whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right.
Whether you believe you can or you can't, you're right.
So now what we need to do is we need
(31:05):
to flip this and give them the right language. Remember
we talk about there's the power of yets. I can't
do this.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Period.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
No no, no, no, no no, as as teachers, as leaders,
as an architecture of our environment, I can't do this yet.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Period. I can't do this yet. Period.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
So you have to correct students with their language. Just
like them, they just said the f They just dropped
the F bomb. If they say something negative about their
ability to succeed in any and any process in your classroom,
if they're negative, if they come with that negativity, you
(31:50):
smack that negativity down and say no, no, no, no,
no no, let's correct your language. Your language is not right.
You can't do it yet. You're not yet there. You're
getting there, You're almost there. You're you're closer than you
were before. You have to you have to correct that language.
(32:14):
And when students see that consistency, that's gonna stick in
their mind. That's going to stick in their mind. And see,
this is what I was talking about. Like when we
it's important to make sure that you're checking in with
with this framework because students are watching you. They're watching
you for that consistency. Are you the same in August?
(32:38):
Are you the same in April as you were in August?
Are you the same in February as you were in August?
Like they want to see that the way you start
is the way you're going to finish. Like if we're
not going to accept any negative talk in August, we're
not accepting any negative talk in March. Okay, you need
to clean that up. You're not there yet, but you're
(33:02):
getting there, right, So we need to make sure that
we're empowering students with the right language. Okay, And there's
a there's a number of well, now, oh, here we go.
Let's affirmations. Okay, there's a number of affirmations of things
that you can do. And I'm gonna actually in the
(33:24):
in the description section there, I'm gonna link to a
number of class of affirmations. You can lead your classroom in,
or you can just give it to them and then
just make sure, you know, just have a mindful minute,
just have them say things to themselves before class starts.
So you need to empower them with the right language.
(33:48):
And again, consistency matters. Consistency builds that habit and this
all goes to helping students feel self confident. They need
to be self confident in your classroom, because when they're
self confident, what this is going to do is this
is going to prevent a lot of issues before they
(34:11):
even have a chance to pop up. There's a battle
up here in the mind. Now, if you can come
along with your consistency, you're fixing the language and the
way that they think you can. You can destroy that
inclination on some students to be kind of apathetic, to
(34:31):
be kind of lazy, to not try. Okay, next up,
you need to model it for students. You need to
show them, Hey, this is what it looks like. Hey,
I haven't yet arrived. Okay, there's some things that I'm
working on with my mindset. Okay, and this can be
through personal stories about yourself. Hey, just this, this happened
(34:51):
this past weekend. I had to fix I had to
fix my mind I had to adjust my mindset because
I was fixed. I had to I was the fixed
mindset mode. So this is my story, right. Kids love
that when when you share them, share with them your
stories when you're when you're vulnerable about challenges that you had. Okay,
(35:15):
and then Also, there's numerous stories out there about famous
athletes celebrities that you can pull upon as well to
drive that point home.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
That this is what it looks like.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Okay, you're not you're not Lebron James, but you can
do it. You can do you can succeed in this
classroom using the using the methods that Lebron James use
to be successful on the basketball court. The just the mindset,
(35:48):
all right, and then next up what you want to
do is to help them assist and grow in that
mindset is goals.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Goals.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Have them goals in your classroom. They can be goals
for the quarter, they could be monthly goals. However you
want to do it, have them set goals, because when
it just feels so good, it's just so empowering. When
you set a goal, time goes on, you're taking care
of the action steps, and then you look back and
you see how far you've come along as a result
(36:21):
of writing that goal down, as a result of stating
that goal. And then what that does is that gives
you the opportunity to celebrate them, to celebrate their success.
And then also it gives them valuable feedback that they
can study and Remember what we talked about is that
feedback gives us the opportunity to try again with better information.
(36:42):
All right, so let's sum that up. I gave you
three bullet points. We want to make sure that students
feel safe. Make sure students feel safe, make sure students
feel seen, make sure they feel seen, and then make
sure students are self confident. Well that's it. That's our
framework for helping to build and maintain a productive classroom
(37:04):
environment throughout the year. I thank you so much for
tuning in to this edition of the Marvin Bird Show,
and until we meet again, please don't forget that teachers
are leaders.
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