A motivational speaker last week had San Benito High School teachers and administrators dancing at their tables, hyperventilating over vocabulary and fired up about increasing state test scores in local schools.
Larry Bell spent Thursday in Hollister at the Veterans Memorial Building with more than 100 teachers and administrators from schools throughout the county. He taught them some simple methods they can use to increase test scores – specifically for at-risk students. Bell, a consultant, motivational speaker and author, presented his “Vocabulary: Closing the Achievement Gap & More!” seminar from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a day when most of the teachers were still off for winter break.
“Every teacher has to be a teacher of vocabulary,” he said. “Do it everyday. Six minutes a day on vocabulary with every child. It’s good for all.”
Bell has created a system that has been implemented at schools around the nation – and through a slideshow presentation he showed some of the leaps in achievement made at previously low-performing schools. He showed slides of teachers who had 100 percent of their students pass as proficient in state tests, as well as California schools that experienced leaps in API scores from one year to the next.
“Go back as a member of the Larry Bell leadership team and you can do this,” he said.
While Bell’s methods are focused on getting kids to score higher on standardized tests, one of the keys of his method is also to boost students’ self-esteem and confidence.
“I don’t want to hear you say that your kids aren’t as smart as any students anywhere,” Bell said. “You need to give them the tools to work it.”
One of those tools in Bell’s kit is teaching students 12 words that will help them in test taking. They are words that are often used in reading comprehension questions or math problems, such as “analyze,” “infer,” “contrast” and others that are commonly used. During the morning session last Thursday, he had teachers dancing to a song about the 12 words. He also had the teachers repeating catch phrases. And for every person willing to participate at the front of the auditorium, he gave them one of his motivational posters for free.
The event was free for teachers, with funding from the San Benito County Office of Education. Some of the funding also came from the Regional System of District and School Support.
“The professional development from Larry Bell provided a motivational boost for educators, as well as specific and effective strategies for reading comprehension, math and writing skills,” said Liz Talbot, the director of special programs for the county office of education.
Talbot said that she and some other locals saw Bell speak three years ago at a conference at Asilomar, in Monterey County. The assistant principal at Spring Grove taught the students some of Bell’s techniques for test-taking and they saw the kids using those techniques during the standardized tests.
Bell’s method teaches students to slow down as they approach reading and math problems to increase their comprehension. He uses the word “unravel” as a mnemonic device to help kids remember all the steps – it starts with underlining the title of a passage or underlining the question for a math problem. He has also adapted it for kindergarten students to help them get used to the idea of reading for comprehension. Another of Bell’s components is teaching students to use all the time available for a test, rather than rushing through to the end of the test. He suggests that teachers not allow students to read, work on other homework or do other activities if they finish a test early.
For part of the morning session, he talked with teachers about the types of things they can do in the classroom each day to reach students. He had the teachers work in pairs to come up with 10 things they do to motivate their students.
“We will show you how to get kids to the point where they won’t want to let you down,” Bell said.
After the writing exercise, Bell invited a trio of teachers from San Andreas Continuation High School to share some of the ways they connect with students.
They mentioned such things as greeting students when they come in the door, finding out what they like to do and learning personal things about them. They also said they will talk positively about family members they know, and ask about the weekend or vacations. One of the things they shared that struck a chord with Bell is that teachers say they praise the students for doing the process correctly, even if the answer is wrong.
