No Opt Out: Classroom Management, Self-Esteem, and Differentiation

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

-Michael Jordan

If you mess up on the first day of school, there is no going back. Your entire year can be ruined instantly.

The first weeks, days, hours, and even seconds are crucial to a successful school year. Your students will pick up on your mannerisms. They will "size you up" and assess your competency in classroom management, whether or not you are ready for it.

First day of class. You are shaking students hands at the door and introduce yourself. Now is the time to begin teaching procedures. Many teachers begin with "icebreakers". (These activities are a good way for students to get to know each other, but I strongly recommend that you stress the procedural component of the activity and not the classroom environment. You can create that environment of comfort between your students, but I strongly recommend with beginning with procedures.) Let's say after you model how to enter and exit the classroom (which I refer to as First Five and Last Five) you have your students stand in a circle and say their name one at a time, and then something they like beginning with the first letter of their name. ("I'm Mr. Friedberg and I like mangoes.") The next person says their name, something they like, and the person before them. ("He's Mr. Friedberg, he likes mangoes, and I'm Gabriella and I like guitars.") But what happens when you get to the student who refuses. What do you do? Whatever words you say will indicate to the class your authority; are you going to maintain it, or are you going to give it up to a student who is trying to test you?

This is where No Opt Out comes in. It's the first technique in the controversial Teach Like A Champion, which is essential to my classroom. When I was in college, student taught, and became a substitute teacher, I knew all the slogans and catchphrases to use in interviews. I knew to mention "data driven instruction" and "high expectations". But what exactly do "high expectations" look like, especially in an urban classroom? No Opt Out is critical to maintaining strong behavioral standards, in addition to helping build students' self-esteem. Here is how Lemov defines the technique:

A sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that question as often as possible.

Let's first examine defiance and return back to our icebreaker scenario. A student may say, "I don't know", "I don't want to do this", or "I don't like anything". In all three instances, the student is trying to take control of the classroom. Power should never be negotiated. Before I became a teacher I worked for years at a local community center. My former boss was one of the best disciplinarians. I have ever seen. As she put it, "Either you're in charge or the kids are. You decide."

Like Cold Call, the technique is incredibly simple with deep implications. Essentially, use the technique to have a student answer your question or respond to your direction.

It's important to realize that when a student says, "I don't know", they may be unsure of an answer or they may be defiant. Identifying this circumstance is crucial to rectifying it.

In a successful urban classroom, or any classroom for that matter, power is never negotiated. This does not mean that you need to be punitive; you should not be. In fact I strongly use Positive Framing in everything I do. I want my students to feel welcomed and excited to learn. Simultaneously, that does not mean that I let up on  being "strict". That term often has a negative connotation. I view being strict as making my expectations crystal clear and holding my students high to what they need to do. It does not have to be anything more or less than that.

Let's return to our first day scenario. You get to a student who tries to test you. He responds, "I'm not doing this,"

What is happening? He's trying to take power from you. This is where you cannot negotiate and where you can use No Opt Out. Calmly say to the student, "Alex, I'm going to ask you one more time. Either you're going to participate or you're going to be in detention after school. Now, what is your name and what do you like?"

Now it's become clear. You refuse to give up power. The majority of the time, most students should probably respond to your request- that is, if you have developed a strong classroom climate where you are the clear authority. If you have not done that, your power can begin to crumble. If the student still won't budge, it is imperative to follow up with your consequence. Whatever we do, we send a message to our students. The message sent is either this teacher means business or this year is going to be a joke.

Now let's begin to examine using this technique for when a student actually does not know. Let's say you're cold-calling students. Lemov asserts that there are for ways to respond when they cannot (or refuse to) answer:

Format 1. You provide the answer; your student repeats the answer. 
Format 2. Another student provides the answer; the initial student repeats the answer.
Format 3. You provide a cue; your student uses it to find the answer. 
Format 4. Another student provides a cue; the initial student uses it to find the answer.

In my eighth grade language arts class we are reading The Book Thief. Let's say you do a close read on a passage in the beginning of the book. Liesel Meminger finds out that her father was taken away. After the students respond with sticky notes based on Common Core question stems. You begin with a simple question using cold call. "Why was Liesel's father taken away (pause) Fabian?" The student replies that they don't know. Using all four formats, here is how you could possibly respond:

Student: I'm not sure.
Teacher: He was a communist.
Student: Oh that's right,
Teacher: What was he?
Student: A communist.
Teacher: Excellent.

Student A: I don't know.
(Cold Call another student) Teacher: Help him out (pause) Janine.
Student B: Her father was a communist.
(Teacher points back or gives a brief verbal cue to Student A)
Student A: Her father was a communist.
Teacher: Right!

Student: He was Jewish?
Teacher: Good try, but remember, he wasn't Jewish. What were some of the other groups targeted by Hitler?
Student: Poles, the mentally challenged, trade unionists... oh, communists! He was a communist.
Teacher: Good job, Fabian!

Student A: He was a gypsy?
(Cold Call another student) Teacher: He was not, but he was a member of a certain group. Who else did Hitler target besides those of a certain ethnicity (pause) Carlos?
Student B: He went after gay people and people of different political groups.
Teacher: Good. Now what was one of the main groups Hitler targeted Fabian?
Student A: Oh, communists!
Teacher: Good, give me a complete sentence, please.
Student A: Liesel's father was a communist.
Teacher: Great work!

One of the great things that I love about No Opt Out is that it can be used to build students' confidence. As I mentioned in my cold call post, questioning techniques should not be used to make students feel ashamed, but to help make them feel better. The technique emphasizes having the student answer correctly. That's what it's all about, and when students can answer correctly they can feel proud of themselves.

As you differentiate questioning techniques, you can differentiate using No Opt Out as well. My favorite "format" is 4, where another student provides a cue for their peer, and that the question is answered. (This creates a high ratio.) For example, if you ask a higher level question and the student does not get it, you can cold call a student that you believe could appropriately answer. You can also do this with a lower question. You want to create a "culture of error" where everyone participates and feels comfortable in speaking.

Students need to know that it's not only to try and fail; it's expected. Many students suffer from learned helplessness. The more we can destigmatize getting a question "wrong", the more we can push students to answer questions correctly. Our students won't become Michael Jordans if they are afraid to miss some free throws. And in order to succeed, we need to give them lots of opportunities to take free throws. They will miss some, but with proper support, they will be less afraid to take shots.

Why #Blacklivesmatter is a Part of My Classroom

I can't breathe.

-Eric Garner

Part I- Subjectivity

I had a teacher in high school that became like a father to me. He took me under his wing. He mentored me and guided me, and eventually helped me to get a full scholarship to a private college.

That school was Kansas City Art Institute. I visited it and broke down. Not only did I not want to attend this school (no disrespect to the institution), but I also realized that art degrees are not functional for the most part. I still love to draw, but I did not want to spend four years and lots of money on a degree I would not use. (That said, I never want to discourage my students from persuing their dreams, and if one of them wanted to attend art school I would support them completely.)

But the ultimate fear existed in how I would tell my teacher that I decided not to attend this school. Trepidation seeped into every fiber of my body. 

As expected, he did not take it well. But I also came to realize that he had shaped me in his image. A year later I went to visit the school, only to hear condescending comments from him about the choice I had made. As my hero began to fall from grace, I realized that his AP art history class was extremely subjective- obsessing over the French classisicts and the imagery of Western life, while, with the exception of the Edo woodcuts of Japan, completely ignoring the rest of the world. In addition to the racism rooted in this philosophy, it was clear that he was infusing his own opinion into the class by openly criticizing or praising various works based on his own opinions. There was no objectivity.

Reflecting upon this sick individual, it became clear to me that as teachers, it is our duty to try to have students think independently. Trying to make them copies of ourselves is harmful not only to them, but to us as well.

Part II- Black Lives Matter

Yesterday it was revealed that multiple officers from the Baltimore Police Department will be charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

While this looks like a remnant of hope, not only am I skeptical of the results, but Mr. Gray is still dead. I'm not sure what consolation, if any, this will bring to his family.

Even in death, black men are dehumanized and degraded. Just days ago, there were a slew of political pundits and commentators theorizing that he had somehow caused his own injuries. "Suicide" was too offensive of a word and it was too soon to use, but there were lots of other assertions that redefined ignorance. Rush Limbaugh pointed out, "Look at how many times the police did not kill Freddie Gray." Yes, they should be commended for that, whereas Mr. Limbaugh was arrested for prescription drug fraud, yet it's somehow not "amazing" that he was not killed or is not in jail.

Whites constantly attack the "decline of the two parent household" in black families, black on black crime, or the problems that plague many communities of color. My biggest problem with this sort of logic is this- nobody is saying that black on black crime is not a problem. But for one, as a white man, I don't believe it is my job to lecture black people on what to do in their own communities. And two, this obscures the larger issue- the racist system in which we live; a black man kills a black man and goes to jail, and when a white police officer kills a black man he receives paid administrative leave.

Finally, why black lives matter? Don't all lives matter? Of course all lives matter, all people matter. No one is disputing that remotely. We say black lives matter because those are the ones that clearly do not matter in America today. We do not have a pattern of unarmed white men being killed by police officers. If the problem was equal, if "reverse racism" existed, if somehow Africans had conquered Europeans, then yes, "all lives matter" would be a valid claim. But that's not what has occurred over centuries, and it's certainly not what's happening in America today.

Part III- #BlackLivesMatter In the Classroom

How do we balance these two seemingly different schools of thought based on subjectivity and objectivity?

First, we need to create a classroom environment where all views are tolerated. Kids should be able to express their disagreement without fearing retribution from their classmates in teacher. I saw this in my own classroom this week. A (Hispanic) student journaled about how #alllivesmatter is a more powerful hashtag/concept than #blacklivesmatter. She was the only student in my classroom who had this opinion. Nonetheless, her peers all clapped for her response afterwards for her well-thought response. It was a powerful reminder that all students should feel accepted, no matter which position they take.

One of the ways to do this is to focus on counterarguments in essay writing. When students write, they should be able to take in the totality of views in order to maintain an informed opinion.

We can also stress the importance of compassion. When reading To Kill A Mockingbird, my coworker had the class evaluate all of the characters' courage on a scale of 1-10 during the trail. When Mayella was brought up, the entire class instantly said that she should get a 1. Their teacher emphasized empathy. Look at what Mayella has experienced. Consider what her father has done to her. Look at their living conditions, as well as their stigma in Maycomb. The students saw that courage can take many forms and can be subtle. It's important to recognize that even outside of conversations on race, it's important to be feel compassion even for those we may disagree with. Mayella's actions and their evaluations of her courage show us that our individual experiences form our opinions. This, even if we disagree with others, is critical to remember; the context of the opinions that have been formed on both ends define us as individuals. The more students can view the sentiments of which they disagree with a sense of objectivity, the more respectful classroom debates will be, no matter the subject matter.

Third, we can take into the context of the "pedagogy of the oppressed" into everything we teach. If we look at history through a critical context of those that have disproportionately affected by xenophobia, racism, Manifest Destiny, and genocide, we can teach in a way that honors the realities of history- realities with which many of us did not encounter in school ourselves. This does not mean we do not honor the great achievements of history- it means that this is not the only thing we do, and that we do it beyond the Western World.

Finally, it's hard to argue that saying that unarmed black men should not be killed is subjective. This is a basic fact of human dignity. I have no doubt that in fifty years, white Americans will look back on this period in history with the same attitudes of disbelief that their parents and grandparents carried during the Civil Rights era. Do I believe racism will end? Certainly I am not that naive. I do believe that we are going through some of our darkest days as a country, and one day we shall look back on them with shame and accept the fact that black human beings matter and do not deserve to be killed at the mercy at those who have more power than they.