How to get the best out of kids that don’t want to know…

By Mark Goodwin @markgoodwin8

A version of this was presented at New Voices 2019

I have been a teacher for over twenty years, so I am well used to “Teacher Conversations”; the one about the holidays; the one about the short working hours; and the one that goes something along the lines of “WHY?!...other people’s kids?..secondary?…what about the behaviour?!?”   Well now, I’ve got a whole new conversation starter (and a very quick conversation stopper!) because I teach mainly permanently excluded kids. When this comes up in conversation there is usually a look of mild panic, even fear but, to be fair, this is quickly followed by a genuine interest and a degree of respect – at last, in the eyes of some, I might be earning those teacher holidays!

In the past, to be put out of the tribe was the ultimate sanction – it meant no food, shelter or protection so it inevitably and quickly led to death. Currently, kids are being excluded from schools in staggering numbers and at ever younger ages. My teaching experience tells me the ‘what’ to teach these kids but I have developed a whole new ‘how’ to teach them and it is all encapsulated in a Cookie Jar.

The whole process of setting up the Cookie Jar starts with a chat about biscuits. I ask the kids about their favourite…the best for dunking?…cream or plain?...Hob Nob or Rich Tea?... etc. I remind them that biscuits are a treat and that they get stored in a special place, the Cookie Jar. But my Jar is not so much about taking out and stuffing your face with a sweet treat but putting in, building stores and keeping for the future. In fact, its not really about biscuits at all, I’m looking for things the kid has done well, learning or behaviour, and collecting these examples in the Cookie Jar – I am setting out building their self-esteem by recording, remembering & referencing ‘esteemable acts’….and putting them in something a kid can understand - The Cookie Jar.

STEP ONE Once the biscuit conversation is done and the Cookie Jar analogy established I set up the physical Cookie Jar and just creating the jar is a significant step because I am saying to the kid – “I have made this to collect examples of you doing well in the future….the jar is empty at the moment and you may not have done anything noteworthy for a while….but things are going to BE BETTER…. trust me I have faith in you… improvement will come, small step by small step, but it will happen and I will be there to see it and capture it….” By creating the Jar I am saying that I see and believe in them…even if nobody else does (A real demonstration of faith in the possibility of change that leaves me pretty vulnerable if I’m honest!)  What does believing in them sound like? I sometimes start with, ‘some of the greatest human achievements were made by people exactly in your position…sometime much worse positions… so of course you got this!’

STEP TWO I put a LABEL on the jar. I want to really see the kid – there is a wonderful phrase from the Zulu (and popularised by its use in the film Avatar) Sawubona, which means ‘I see you and in seeing you I bring you into being’. So I am REALLY trying to see the kid and find a new label, the opposite of the labels they have heard already….bad, naughty, disengaged, disaffected, pupil premium, free school meals, this estate/that postcode or disruptive, potential NEET etc…….labels that sometimes become an affirmation of the person who their perceived reputation has lead them to believe they now are….instead, I am seeing past this adopted mask, peeking behind the curtain and seeing who they really are….and, more importantly, what they MIGHT BECOME. This simple label on a Cookie Jar is staking out a small claim and planting a flag in their future. So, the new label, clearly placed on the Jar is their name, obviously, but also….Singer, Scientist, Historian, Engineer…king of Kerby!  The story of their future is yet to be written and they now have permission to write a new and better version every day according to who they might be, turning (my) Belief into (their) Action.

STEP THREE I need to prepare the way for the Jar to be filled. What do I need to be thinking? What is my mindset? How am I approaching this kid? I’ve mentioned faith, there is loads of that, but what about the science and research? Well, there is the Pygmallion effect – what I believe the kid is capable of doing will influence their ability to succeed i.e. a self fulfilling prophecy and there is Growth Mindset- and this leads to conversations about potential.

Talking about potential is potent because it is about the future, it is hopeful and potential is strengthened and ultimately realised, by its twin outriders, Responsibility and Relationships. These anchors, built into my approach to the Cookie Jar, allow for solutions-focused conversations when things are going well and the Jar is getting filled but, even more usefully, when things are difficult.

STEP FOUR Fill the Jar! I want something in the Jar so I throw a wide circle – for work and behaviour – I create a space where there is challenge and high expectations but also space for compassion, forgiveness, redemption and second chances. I always double plan the work – Not an OFSTED planning nightmare! – but simply thinking about what this work I’m setting looks like from their point of view, with their experience of learning  and with their needs. And don’t forget What Is In It For Me – I connect the work to their world and make the work meaningful, then it is easier to catch them being good, see the best part of a session and start to fill the Jar.

If I want kids to make positive changes and move from behaviours that I know are limiting and damaging then I have to make the new space as welcoming and engaging as nurturing & compassionate as possible. When they respond positively in this new space, whether behaviour or learning, this is what goes on the slips of paper and then in the Jar! Completed work? – in the Jar. Stayed on task? – in the Jar. Read out loud? – in the Jar…. Etc.

I said at the start about the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of teaching. Well, the Jar reconnects me with my ‘Teaching Why’ it reminds me to be the teacher that I wanted to be and more importantly to be the teacher these kids need, as the mighty Rita Pierson says, to be these kid’s champion. Ultimately, the Cookie Jar is good for me because it is a practice I am working on, my inside job, in particular, getting my ego out of the way and being patient and kind – there are other things far more important than me being right. With the Cookie Jar kids get new choices not cornered. I get to BE PRESENT. HAVE FAITH. BE VULNERABLE – hard to do…. but the payback is second chances, new stories and lives back on track.

  

I originally came across the Cookie Jar Analogy in David Goggin’s unbelievable and inspirational memoir ‘Can’t Hurt Me’.

In summary - Use the Cookie Jar to connect and build relationships…

• Create:  Believe& Be there
• Label:  Don’t Badge
• Prepare the way: Bend it
• Fill the jar:  Bend it
• Works 2-ways: Be you

Building a culture of trust in schools

Post by Ruth Luzmore @RLuzmore

(A version of this was presented at New Voices 2018)

When we are asked about why we do our jobs, for those of us working in schools, the appropriate answer is always the children.  For me though, if I am truly honest, while I do absolutely love working with children and their families, they come and go over the years. What actually keeps me working in schools are the adults.   It is those individuals who make up our teams which make me want to continue to work in schools at the times when I have felt like a career change may be a good move.

Sadly, I know intelligent, generous and dedicated teachers who have left the profession over the last 15 years or so working in schools.  Brilliant teachers who were tired of being patronised, told what to do or forced into ways of working in order to satisfy a middle or senior leader who could tick off whichever box was on their school improvement plan.  I too have also felt all those things at times.  But mostly I have been made to feel confident, supported, challenged and capable.  It is possible to create working conditions for teachers to feel this way.  I was not particularly able to label why this was, until during my MA in Leadership I began to consider how an culture of trust within an organisation could be the key.

So what is trust?

I read somewhere once that having trust is rather like being in love.  You know when you have it, you know when you don’t have it.  But pinning it down is tricky.  

But I’m going to go with this definition that trust is the belief in the reliability, truth or ability of someone.

We need trust because we need to be able to rely on other people to do as they say they will and that we will too will act as we say we will.

Onara O’Neill (2002) asks us to consider whether we do place trust in others, or in fact rely on others.  In some cases, we don’t have many other options than to trust institutions e.g. nearly all of us drink water provided by water companies and eat food sold in supermarkets.  There is no way of opting out of public goods.

The development of accountability structures and standards is perhaps then a reaction to this lack of control we have creating a culture of suspicion.

O’Neill speaks here of an

‘unrealistic hankering for a world in which safety and compliance are total and breaches of trust are totally eliminated.  Perhaps the culture of accountability that we are relentlessly building for ourselves actually damages trust rather than supporting it.  Plants don’t flourish when we pull them up too often to check how their roots are growing…professional life too may not flourish if we constantly uproot it to demonstrate that everything is transparent and trustworthy.’

There is research which demonstrates that a culture of trust in a school setting is beneficial.

When trust is established betweenn people, it allows for people to be vulnerable and take risks as they have confidence in those they are working with (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran 2003).    Where trust is not present, people cannot be open with one another.  The presence of trust amongst leaders and teachers and teachers and teachers is one of the biggest predictive factors in successful collaborative working (Supovitz & Tognatta, 2013) and student outcomes (Bryck & Schnieder 2002, Day et al, 2009; Finnigan & Daly, 2012; Leithwood et al, 2010).   

Trust manifests itself in a school in number of ways:

•       Valuing strong relationships with and between staff

•       Staff feel secure to be open about their practice without fear of judgment linked to accountability.

•       Leaders being a visible presence around the school

•       Leaders delivering consistent messages about what is important and valued

•       Leaders delegating responsibility to staff (though reserve the right to be cautious with some individuals)

So what did I do?

What I read about trust resonated with me and the experiences I and other teachers I knew had experienced.  So when I consciously decided that building a culture of trust between staff at my school was an aim. 

These were the things we practically started with:

1.     I told them about my values and the things I consider important

2. I showed them the school as I had seen it as an outsider and asked for their opinion about whether I had judged it correctly in terms of improvement areas.
3. I asked and listened to what they were proud of and was working well and they did not want to change
4. I asked and listened to what wasn’t working as well and what they didn’t want to continue with
5. Being clear on what I insisted on from them and what was open for debate and discussion
6. I began to find out where their strengths were

From this we began building a vision which we continue to debate, tweak and adjust. 

Next we began to think about the professional development as it was and where we wanted it to go. When I arrived it looked pretty standard

•       Weekly staff meetings

•       Graded lesson observations

•       Book looks for marking

•       Book looks for progress

•       Learning walks (focused and unfocused)

•       Planning looks (medium term and short term)

•       Display checks

•       Classroom organisation checks

•       Homework checks

Where we have moved it to:

Lesson observations:

Yes we still watch lessons.  Why?  Because it is fantastic CPD.  But it is only fantastic CPD if other teachers can get out there and watch them!

•       No grading

•       Two observers usually a member of SLT and another teacher

•       Teachers request the curriculum area/teacher they wish to go and watch for their own development

•       Conversations afterwards with other observer while looking at the work

•       Moving away from tight paperwork so lesson observatuons are a write up of conversation and what might influence the observer

Book Looks

•       No grading

•       Subject leader looks at the books first

•       They report to me and deputy what they have seen – areas of strength and areas of concern. This allows us to guide whether there needs to be support or what questions need to be asked.

•       Subject leader working alongside teacher to go through what they saw

•       Feedback to whole school about general areas of strength and areas to work on

Staff meetings

•       We have breakfast together on Friday morning and discuss the diary for the next week so that the staff meeting is not taken up with admin

•       We do not have meetings every week only when we have something planned in

•       If what is being covered in the meeting is not relevant you do not have to attend

•       We have joint staff meetings with local schools to look at moderating subjects, curriculum planning overlap and best practice

•       Staff who have been on an external course share what they have learnt

•       We use them to write, tweak and debate teaching and learning policies together.  Policies which are shaped by staff gives them some control over them.  It is also a way of having transparency an openness in how the decisions come about.

No other written up checks take place any more.  Everything else is through conversations.

Challenges

There are some key challenges when it comes to building trust within a school

Building relationships takes time.

Some people are not able or willing to hold a mirror up to their own practice. Recruitment of the right people for the right job here is essential.

Building networks with other schools requires trust building with other school leaders, this requires time spent on working on relationships and reciprocal generosity. Our network of schools is doing some excellent work on this.

Sometimes I as a leader get the fear.  What if actually I am wrong to trust people?  What if? And sometimes I’m impatient.  It is easier to just do onto people than to work with people.

Ultimately though the effort is worth it.  How do I know it?  Come and meet the teachers in our school.