Kristin Vesely

Diverse Views Reflection

10-20-14
Often times in education teachers can get so caught up in the day-to-day
stress of teaching they overlook things that are important. One of those important
items is character building. Students of today are coming into schools busier and
more technologically savvy than ever before. While this is good, we often forget
about the small things that make us who we are. For this activity I decided to
include hidden curriculum into my daily classes that teaches kids to be more aware
of others around them and their own attitudes and behaviors.
To do this, I created four goals for my classes that didnt focus on the math
standards of the current unit, but on becoming better at social and personal habits.
Briefly, the four goals I focused on were respect, perseverance, admitting to
wrongdoing and etiquette. It was in teaching or coaching these things to a groups of
twelve to thirteen year old boys and girls that I realized just how important they are.
For many different reasons, kids in todays middle schools are not mindful of others
around them or their own manners.
One of the biggest, maybe most important things I learned in trying this was
that fact that grit and perseverance seemed to be non-existent. This may be
because I am teaching kids with proven learning disabilities, but when things get
hard the kids will usually give up. I also found simple-everyday manners to be
greatly lacking, especially among the females of the classes.
After three weeks of really pushing a growth mindset and using many of the
skills taught in Paul Bernabeis Top 20 Teachers, I did see some growth among many

of the students. I spoke to the students about behaving in school in an Above the
Line way. According to Bernabei, When we are Above the Line, our thinking is clear
and we are aware of what is important. When Below the Line, our thinking is foggy
and we lose sight of what is important (Bernabei et al., 2010, p. 23). This way of
thinking seemed to resonate with many students and I would occasionally hear
them discussing whether they were having a above or below the line day.
This particular project really brought forward the Manager component of
the USF Conceptual Framework Model. According to that section, the educator
becomes a manager when they organize a learning environment, establish and
maintain a positive learning climate and implement effective intervention strategies.
In this particular activity, I think this was really quite successful. The students
started to handle situations of varying difficulty in more responsible ways. But what
really surprised me was they seemed to be more comfortable making mistakes
knowing they were in a safe, Above the Line classroom.
In addition, I felt that this activity touched on Standard 5.2 of the 2011
ELCC Building-Level Standards. I understood what the classroom I was hoping to
see would look like. In some of the classes, I co-teach the class. Having an extra
adult in the room really gave me the opportunity to model the specific behavior I
was looking for. By leading and modeling this change in the students behavior, I
think the outcomes where more successful. It really allowed for the whole class,
students and adults, to show what a morally ethical, positive and gritty classroom
should look like.

References
Bernabei, P. (2010). Top 20 teachers: The revolution in American education. St. Paul,
Minn.: Top 20 Press.
Elias, M. (2014, August 27). SMART Goal Setting With Your Students. Retrieved
October 5, 2014, from Edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/smartgoal-setting-with-students-maurice-elias