Chameleons I. Assimilation Color Codes- Teacher vs. Learner
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society” Theodore Roosevelt
Color Code 2 Character Matters
If you ask anyone of my coworkers about my strength, they will tell you that it’s discipline and classroom management, among other things. Students who complete a year with me are some of the most polite, pleasant, respectful, fun-loving, problemsolving team players. I never set out to be a teacher who emphasizes behavior more than academic content. This outcome was a direct result of assimilation- changing myself to own the aforementioned characters, and making my students see the benefits of being that way (or choosing my way). 當學生的行為規範到位, 各科目的學習自然 到位。
It’s Really Not about ME When I first got my teaching credential, I would lose my voice every year right around spring. I sought help from voice coaches and speech specialists, I drank gallons of honey lemon, but nothing worked. I was frequently talking at the top of my lungs trying to over power the students. I needed to talk over the little first graders so I could be heard. The best way that I knew how to handle the situation was to bring a portable speaker equipped with a sub-woofer into my classroom. I purchased an expensive wireless lapel microphone to accompany the whole set up. At the time, this was quite high tech, and I was proud of myself for coming up with that solution. After all, “Who am I if I cannot adapt, right?” Well, that was what I thought until the more seasoned teachers in school started to question the loud talking voice leaking out of my classroom during the morning language arts period. I told them about my plight and they simply smiled and nodded without much comment. One day, I invited a trusted colleague into my room and asked her about my audio set up. She, a wise senior chameleon, reminded me that it was not about making myself heard. It was more about whether the students were disciplined enough to respond to me and see me as a teacher. It clicked for me. I was working on the wrong end. I was working on ME rather than on the students. The students had not learned the necessary protocols that I set up in the classroom and I was the one who was encouraging that kind of behavior (or misbehavior, I shall say)! I needed to fix that situation!
This was in the beginning of the school year. I decided that, until students learned to respond to me, I was not going to be too concerned about the curriculum
that I was screaming into their mind. I set up a color chart that went from green to red, with the green color denoting good behavior and the red ultimately “in trouble”. Each student had a set of color cards and the colors would move down as their behavior deteriorated. I wrote all of the classroom rules on the wall and had students recite them with me each morning. As soon as a child showed undesirable behavior such as talking out of turn, the color card went down. I required students’ absolute attention with their eyes on me. Otherwise, the color card would go down. I drilled the students about these rules for two weeks. By the end of the third week, it worked. Not a single student dared to talk when I was teaching. Everyone was on task. I was a great teacher again.
Then one day, through an altercation with a parent (whom later became a friend), I learned that there was more to this classroom management business than just having students stay “quiet” when they are in the classroom with me. It was after school and the primary grades’ parents came on site to receive their children. I got the kids in a single file standing quietly with hands on their sides like little soldiers. As we walked out of the classroom, one of my little girls saw her mother and yelled, “Mommy!” as she ran up to mom’s open arms. I immediately shouted out to the child, “Stop! Come back in line right now!” The sweet heart turned, almost teary, and inched her way toward the line. Seeing this, mother was enraged. She called out to her little girl and said, “That’s okay, honey. We are going home.” The girl turned to mom and started running again. I went after the student, pointing at the mother, and said, “She needs to get back in line right now. They go by my rules and they need to learn to
respond to me.” This mother came straight at me, in the mean time scooping up her little girl, and spat out the following words, “Ms. Huang, you may think that they are listening to you, but you are turning these kids into robots. Think about what you are doing!” Before I was able to conjure up a word to say, the parent disappeared into the crowd of parents who were standing by, watching.
Stubborn as me, I was not going to back down from my ways. “My way works,” I convinced myself. The color chart, the posted rules, and the quiet learning environment all spoke volumes about my classroom management. But the incident bothered me to no end. I did not understand what went wrong. I needed an answer. I browsed many books on discipline, consulted many research articles, and spoke with many experienced teachers. I came to a conclusion that, perhaps there was a better way. Being “quiet” does not equate active and engaged learning. Being “quiet” does not even mean good behavior. I was responsible for students’ characters, so they will govern their own behavior without having me raise my voice at them. What is the magic?
Change of Habit, Change of Character I started taking notes about the students’ behavior outside of the classroom. I watched how they interacted with one another and how they acted when there was a substitute teacher. I charted their behavior each time when they attended an event outside of the classroom. After a month, the verdict came. The students were only well-behaved when I was present. Worse yet, the students talked like me, with a
snappy attitude; they acted like me, with no mercy to friends who did them wrong; and they feared doing wrong, therefore did not want to try anything new and only did what was told. These were not good kids, these were good little robots! That mother was right! I felt terribly about my classroom management protocols. If students were only “good� when they were with me, then I have not taught them character and moral. The change in behavior was only out of fear, not of respect, nor the internal motivation to do well. I needed to build character, and it needed to happen fast.
Through the years, I slowly came to realization that the behavior management models sold in the market place or taught in workshops did not work for everyone. The teacher in the classroom needs to take charge of his or her own behavior management plan and adopt methods that work for them. There is not a cookie-cutter solution to discipline until the teacher understands fully who she/he truly is and what works for her/him. Over the years, I tried the color charts, baseball bases, target on a bulls-eye, and a number of other pedagogies that worked for a while, then failed after the initial implementation. It turned out, it was me that needed to adapt. I needed to see beyond the classroom and into the future what these students must know in order to be contributing members of the society. To do that, I needed to become a successful role model for them. I needed to show them an outlook in life that they are motivated to pursue. I changed.
Essential Elements
As soon as I learned that discipline is a combination of various methodologies, I cropped out the top five characters that students must have regardless what they become in the future: 1. Responsibility/Dependability 2. Adaptability/Flexibility 3. Teamwork 4. Positive mindset/ Attitude/Respect 5. Perseverance/Solution-Oriented/dignity
Each of these characters will be addressed in the color codes in later chapters. I must share with you how I pulled my discipline plan together to bring up students who are life long learners. First, I envisioned how my students would be sitting in the classroom, learning with their classmates. I drew on a piece of paper what work-flow would look like in my room and what would be the elements needed to create an environment that was conducive for learning. Next, I wrote about the various types of learning modality, culture, and behavior issue that could arise within the confine of the four walls. I devised a plan to counter all kinds of scenarios. In the event that Plan A failed, there was Plan B. Lastly, I put myself in the students’ seats and considered the way they would see me and possibly challenge me. I crafted my responses to these challenging behaviors, and I wrote down these words to post on my desk: It is NOT about me. Do not get angry, because I have a plan. Do not be anxious, because I know what to do. There is a reason why they behave this way. It is
my calling to find out why and move them forward. I have no time to waste on these emotions, because the KIDS are so important. See their value.
As a result, I no longer had rules in my classroom, because rules were meant to be broken. I set expectations. Expectations are to be met. With positive reinforcement, team- based motivation, task-specific praises, and unrelenting insistence on character, students meet these expectations year after year- Order, “With-It”, and “Respect”.
Suggestions for Parents: You and I have seen children who talk back to adults, interrupt when they feel like it, and are rude to their peers without a second thought. We may have wondered how these children got to that point and why is it that parents did not do anything about it. These are behaviors that can be modified and altered, with time and effort. Pay close attention to how adults interact with these children. Make mental notes about what you see and try to find pattern. Children break rules either because their behavior is not gauged and consequences not matched, or because they model after the significant adults in their life. Give me a student who is consistently well behaved, polite, and on target, the parents are not too far away from these characters. In fact, when I meet with parents for the first time at the beginning of the school year for Back to School Night, I could pretty much get a 90% match between my students and their parents as soon as I see parents in the hallway. Be that role model in your child’s life.
Action Points for Teachers: Believe that parents send their best children to school each day. If there are behavioral issues, it is up to the professional in the classroom to monitor and help modify that behavior. On a daily basis, be sure to praise each child specifically. Children know when we are just offering a blanket and generic remark. But if you say, “I love how you left a line between the words just as I told you. You know how to pay attention. Way to go!” Or, “It amazes me how you hung in there and pushed through when you tried to solve that word problem. Just watching that process gave me goose bumps. Great work with perseverance!” Students hear from you regularly WHAT they are doing right, and they will work so hard for you because they know that they are meeting your expectations. That is the beginning of building their motivation and character. Change generic comments to specific praises today. You will see the difference.
If You Happened to be a Student: Do not work for praises. Work for that internal satisfaction knowing that you have done the best you know how to get to where you are. Even if you have to fail sometimes, fail with honor, dignity, and pride, knowing that you have given it your very best. No one wins all the time. But everyone can win when you empathize, support, and give it all you’ve got.
Chameleon Dialogues (變色龍互動區) The first time I took the color charts and the discipline rules off of the walls, I was anxious. While I was confident with my planning, I did not know what kind of students would be coming through the doors and staying with me for the remainder of the school year. But I knew what I had planned was something completely within my comfort zone, it was something that I could emphatically execute without breaking a sweat. That was truly the key. Find something that works for you. Every chameleon teacher is different. We work to help our kids adapt, so we must adapt first. Make one change in your classroom today and start tracking how and if that change is making a difference in the way you approach teaching. You deserve to enjoy teaching. Do this for your enjoyment.