Jeffery E. Frieden Classroom Culture, Going Gradeless, Writer's Notebook

Fear of Being Wrong: A Candid Conversation About Calling Out Students

It’s been a while since my last blog post. Welcoming our fourth child into our home has disrupted more than a few of our routines. But I am excited to share this post because you get the chance to listen in on a conversation about what students experience when sitting in our classrooms, waiting to see if the teacher will call on them.

At the opening of spring semester, one of my sophomores wrote an entry in her Writer’s Notebook titled, “The Fear of Being ‘Wrong’.” Shay’s brief 150+ word depiction of what goes through her mind when she shares a wrong answer in a classroom setting was captivating! Shortly after reading it, I asked her if she would let me post it here at Make Them Master It. Not only did she allow me to publish her entry, she also was willing to sit down with me and record a conversation about it. Continue reading “Fear of Being Wrong: A Candid Conversation About Calling Out Students” →

Jeffery E. Frieden Classroom Culture

March Madness: The Anxiety College-Bound Seniors Face This Time of Year

When turning the page from February to March, I was reminded of what many college-bound high school seniors face at this point in the year: an anxiety-filled waiting where students collectively hold their breath as colleges and universities send messages of congratulations to some and condolences to others.

As first period opened on Monday morning, I did not have any plans of discussing this time of anxious waiting. But, per usual on Monday mornings, the router and the internet were not communicating with one another, and the web access my students needed was not yet available. Needing to stall while the network did all of its beeps and boops to grant us access to the world wide web, I took the opportunity to address this expectant waiting many of my students were experiencing. Continue reading “March Madness: The Anxiety College-Bound Seniors Face This Time of Year” →

Jeffery E. Frieden Classroom Culture, Uncategorized

In Her Words

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the week I sat down with all of my students to conference about their letter grades. It was eye-opening! Like, in a career altering change my life kind of way, eye-opening. I don’t know any other way to describe it.

I held about a dozen conversations that week that I will never forget for as long as I teach. Four of the conversations were really striking because the students were all facing similar experiences, thoughts, and emotions even though none of them had talked to one another, and as far as each student knew, they were the only ones who were thinking that way. Of those four conversations, one went so well that this student claims it changed her whole outlook on her place in school.

That got me thinking. What if you could hear her words in her own voice? Well, keep reading. And get ready to listen up because she let me record our conversation.

Continue reading “In Her Words” →

Jeffery E. Frieden Classroom Culture, Uncategorized

How Do You Put It?

Have you been in this scenario before? You’re in the middle of what has unintentionally turned into a long-winded explanation, and you start to feel it: the students are losing focus. You still have a little more to say, so you want to stay on your train of thought just a bit longer. But you’re concerned you’re losing students at one of the critical junctures. Then you think you’ll pause, just really briefly, and check in with them with a simple yes-or-no question. You just want to know if they are making the effort to take it all in, and snap their focus back into place for a few minutes more.

At this point, which version of this question are you likely to use:

A. Does this make sense to you?

B. Does this make sense?

C. Am I making sense?

Let’s think about this from another angle. You’re attending a professional development workshop, and as a member of an audience drifting off, your presenter asks the crowd if one of his points is making sense, which version of the above would you prefer? To what extent does it matter? Continue reading “How Do You Put It?” →

Jeffery E. Frieden Belief, Classroom Culture, Five Key Beliefs

Accelerating the Belonging Belief with Transfer Students

Let me run a scenario past you and see what you think. Imagine you have been teaching for six years. For reasons that you can’t control, you have to leave your teaching position and relocate to another city. You’re fortunate enough to find another job, but you’re teaching a different grade-level and you don’t know anyone on staff, nor do you know any of the students you will be teaching.

How do you think you would feel?

Now, how do you think students feel when they transfer schools? Continue reading “Accelerating the Belonging Belief with Transfer Students” →