Advisory Program Practices: The First Few Meetings

Blogger: Denise Wolk

Building community is one of the critical first steps to creating an advisory program with high trust. Establishing trust between advisor and advisees, and among advisee peers is important, and using a variety of “getting to know you” and community building exercises can help. Creating a supportive advisory community allows the advisor and group to offer encouragement and support during hard times, engaging in civil dialog on controversial subjects, having honest exchanges about current challenges or future endeavors, and providing a safety net for individual students.

I am offering some suggestions to build community that can begin with the first few meetings of a new advisory program, or to kick off a new school year with an existing group. 

Be sure to include:

•    Introductory activities so that all students feel welcome and begin to know each other, starting with names and building slowly to sharing interests and experiences.

•    Talking points about advisory to help advisors explain to students what the purpose of an advisory program is, why it is important to participate, how often it will meet, what the advisor’s role is, and other basic information.

•    Opportunities for the advisory group to shape its own culture – identifying group agreements, reflecting on how the group is going so far, its norms, the helpful and not-so-helpful habits that are beginning to develop. This is one of the first things I do with new groups, and it helps to build a respectful community right off the bat.

•    Gathering student contact data and schedule information via a profile sheet or data card including cell or e-mail contacts for students and parents, as well as phonetic spelling for difficult names.

•    Introductory versions of the regular rituals and routines that will be incorporated into advisory (see the post on rituals and routines for advisory).

•    Opportunities for students to lead, organize, and share ownership of the group – gather information about each other’s birthdays, organize a snack calendar, get student input on crucial topics to discuss, etc. For groups that have been meeting for multiple years, allowing students structured opportunities to lead gatherings or even full advisory sessions offers chances for leadership and growth of advisees as well as being a lot of fun.

•    For students who are new to the school, use activities that increase awareness about key school locations, people, services, rules, etc., and that decrease anxiety about where to sit in the cafeteria, what to expect at homecoming, or how to handle other new high school moments.

Advisory Program Practices: Debriefing and Closings

Blogger: Denise Wolk

As I’ve mentioned before, when you are creating sessions for your advisory program, it is important to have a gathering activity of some sort, a debrief, and a closing.  This blog post will focus on debriefing and closings.

Debriefing questions, reflections, or observations deepen the experience that advisees just had in an activity or discussion. Having an experience opens up opportunities to learn; it’s during the debriefing that the learning really takes shape. Advisors can focus on certain aspects to deepen advisees’ skill development.

Debriefings also help to process feelings that may have arisen. Group exercises, role-plays, or discussions sometimes leave an advisee feeling left out, overruled, unheard, or raw. Debriefing offers a chance to articulate what happened, sort out and name feelings, and therefore be more ready to move on to other parts of the school day.

Some debriefings may double as closings. Remember, the most effective debriefings are tailored to the recent activity.

A few samples for debriefing a collaborative activity
Include questions about how each individual contributed and pulled their own weight, such as:

How did each group member participate?

Can everyone explain the group’s answer?

What role did you play in the group? What role do you want to play next time?

Include questions about the group dynamics, such as:

Did anyone have ideas that were ignored? How did that affect the group?

Did anyone opt out? How did that affect the group?

Who showed leadership? If multiple people vied for leadership, how did that affect the group?

Minimally, a collaborative activity can be followed by a pair of questions:  

What were two ways that we worked together that helped us do the exercise (solve the problem, complete the task …)?  

What are two ways we could improve how we operate next time?

A few sample closings:
Intentionally closing the advisory session is another important ritual for marking the transition for advisors to leave the group and go out into the rest of their school day/week. Closings can range from a simple ritual for saying good-bye (examples: a group shout-out, high-five, or popcorn-style vocal reflection on the day’s activity.  Closing reflections can also be more formal such as completing the phrase ”I used to think but now I know…”, or passing out slips of paper to serve as a Ticket Out that advisees fill out and pass in before leaving.

Advisory Program Practices: Gatherings

Blogger: Denise Wolk

Using gatherings is a great way to get your advisory session off to a good start. Rachel Poliner, one of the co-authors of ESR’s The Advisory Guide, recently sent me this on gatherings:

Gatherings are the opening experiences that bring the group together, mark the transition into advisory, are a low-threat way to learn about each other, get everyone’s voice in the room and everyone’s focus united. In the long run, they serve to equalize participation, build comfort and a sense of community. For a particular activity, they can help calm advisees before a serious discussion, energize them before an interactive activity, or get them thinking about the topic to come.

Gatherings set the tone for the whole advisory session, and vary in the tone that they set. In order to choose well, think about:

• The main topic for the advisory session.

• The tone or energy level that will best serve the session’s goal.

Here are a few gathering examples:

Gatherings that help advisees become calm, focused, and quiet
If your advisory meeting will include academic reflections, journal-writing, or a discussion on a sensitive topic, you can help advisees be in a calm mode by using a gathering that is quiet and focusing. Examples:

Ten:  The goal is to count to ten out loud, one digit at a time, with one voice at a time. I will say “one,” someone needs to say “two,” “three,” etc. If more than one person says a number, we’ll start at one again.

Three deep breaths or stretching neck and shoulders.

Gatherings that are lively or energizing
If you are going to do role-plays or tasks that might prompt advisees to feel vulnerable or self-conscious during the advisory meeting, you can help advisees transition to a risk-taking mode by starting with a gathering that is lively and involves everyone.

Stand up / sit down exercises, as in, stand up if you saw a movie this weekend, …if you have a pet, …if you like puzzles, etc.

Go-rounds with a funny question:

What’s the weirdest sandwich you ever ate?

Are you more like a drama or a sitcom?

Gatherings that open a topic
It often works well to connect the gathering to the main topic or exercise of the advisory session. For example:

Before a report card reflection, have a go-round about one interesting thing that advisees learned last week or one helpful study habit.

Before an activity conflict resolution skills, spread out numerous paint chips and ask: Pick the paint chip color that represents conflict to you.

Before a discussion about exclusion and cliques, ask a go-round question: What’s the best number of friends to have? Or What’s the difference between “friend” and “friendly”?

Advisory Program Practices: Planning Advisory Sessions

Blogger: Denise Wolk

Using a standard format for creating advisory session plans makes it simple to put them together.  Whether you are inventing an activity from scratch, or adapting one from other sources (like The Advisory Guide) it is important to have a plan.  Here is a simple format for creating advisory session plans:

Gathering – a short activity to get the group going (see my blog entry on using gatherings for ideas).

Activity – be sure to introduce any activity by explaining why you are doing it, in addition to the instructions so that advisees will be clear.

Debrief – it is important to debrief any activity so that advisees have an opportunity to express what they have learned/experienced, and provide feedback on how it went (this can be useful for assessment) A simple go-round or popcorn share out will usually suffice.

Closing – a ritual that signals the end of the advisory session, and sends the advisees out to the rest of their school day.  Sometimes when I’m pressed for time I fold this into the debrief.

I suggest that you put in time allotments for the different sections so that you stay on track to get everything in.  If an activity will take more time than you have for a single session, look at ways to break it into multiple sessions, but be sure to mention this to your advisees and reflect on the prior session before launching into the next one (I incorporate that reflection into the gathering).

Advisory Program Practices: Facilitating an Interactive Activity

Blogger: Denise Wolk

One of the challenges to being an advisor is making the shift from a direct instruction role (content area teacher) to simply facilitating an activity with students. The following is a simple, step-by-step guide to facilitating an interactive advisory program activity with students.

1. Tell students what they’re going to do (“Now we’re going to an activity called_____________”.)
2. Give directions for how students should arrange themselves for the activity (standing in a circle/sitting face to face in a circle of four/divided into two lines of students facing each other/etc.)
3. Share some of the skills and attitudes that will make this activity a successful one.  (We’d like everyone to participate with an open mind, use your creativity, and listen carefully to the instructions.)
4. Give directions that are clear and specific.
5. Ask if there are any questions about the instructions.  Then ask for a volunteer to repeat the instructions to make sure everyone “got it.”
6. Do the activity.
7. Debrief ANY activity in two ways:
   
   • First, ask participants what they liked, what was fun, what they observed about their own participation or the participation of others, or what they learned about themselves or the group.
   • Second, link what students learned or observed to situations at school and qualities and skills they need to be a successful student.
     

Now that you have the basics, here are a couple of easy activities to try:

Name and Motion
Objective: This is a great way to have everyone learn each other's names.
Materials: None

1. Have everyone in the small group stand in a circle, including the facilitator.
2. One by one, go around the room and have everyone state their name, share something they love to do, and make a sign/mime/motion that represents that particular activity.
3. Go around the circle and each person repeats the names and signs of all the other participants, before they share their name and sign/mime/motion.

Two Truths and a Lie
Objective: This is fun way to find out more about people.
Materials: 3 x 5 cards, pens/pencils

Give each student an index card.  Have each student write down three “facts” about themselves on the card.  Two of the “facts” should be true while one of the “facts” should be false.  Students should try to create three facts that are all credible.  For example: 1) I have lived in 3 states, 2) I have 2 siblings, 3) My favorite food is pizza.  Each student reads the 3 “facts” aloud to the group and individuals in the group try to determine which statement is the lie. 

Advisory Programs: a Key Element in Creating a College-Going Culture, Part 3

Blogger: Denise Wolk

One of the strengths of advisory programs is their flexibility. Schools can select their goals and create their own design. Another strength is their equal focus on a curriculum and the relationships that teachers and students develop. Every student is known well by at least one faculty member. Advisory combines instructional activities for the group; one-on-one conferencing with individual students and contact with parents; and self-perpetuating routines and rituals that make advisory a safe place and help students to become a cohesive group.

The most daunting hurdle that advisory programs face is some teachers' resistance to expanding their own learning and taking on a new role. Lack of solid planning, a coherent curriculum, and adequate professional development can leave students confused about advisory's purpose and leave teachers feeling frustrated and unprepared. Schools that do advisory well make a significant investment of time, money, and resources over many years. The bottom line is that advisory can't be an afterthought in a high school's redesign and school improvement efforts.

For more information about using advisory to build a college going culture, see the ESR white paper Increasing College Access through School-Based Models of Postsecondary Preparation, Planning, and Support.

 

Advisory Programs: a Key Element in Creating a College-Going Culture, Part 2

Guest Blogger: Denise Wolk

Advisory programs offer opportunities for all students to:

• Experience the kind of adult support, academic advisement, and encouragement that fosters success in school and in life
• Participate in an articulated set of grade-level sequenced activities that focus on personal development and career exploration, college preparation, and the completion of a postsecondary plan
• Enhance study skills and metacognitive skills that promote goal setting, self-assessment, time management, and planning
• Learn and practice 21st-century life skills
• Have a greater voice in school life and develop and strengthen their capacity to engage in respectful dialogue and civil conversation about things that matter to them
• Create stronger bonds with peers, usually cutting across the typical exclusionary social groups that form in schools (Poliner and Lieber 2004)
  
  

Successful advisory programs meet several conditions that build faculty investment and sustainability. Although a student development team (which includes teachers, administrators, and guidance staff) needs to drive the design process, the entire faculty needs to be involved in major decisions around the goals, teacher expectations, content, scheduling, and student groupings. More importantly, professional development must be ongoing (at least monthly) to help teachers become comfortable and competent in this new role; strengthen facilitation and conferencing skills; prepare and rehearse the activities they will be delivering; and share best practices, challenges, and successes. One caution should precede any school's development of advisory programs. Agreements and understandings with union representatives and their members must be negotiated regarding instructional minutes, preparation time, consecutive minutes of instruction permitted, and other details, so that a school's plans are not thwarted in the middle of the design process.

For more information about using advisory programs to build a college going culture, see the ESR white paper, Increasing College Access through School-Based Models of Postsecondary Preparation, Planning, and Support.

Q&A with Carol Miller Lieber on Getting Classroom Management RIGHT

Q: Why is it that in ESR's PBS model teachers have some responsibilities for second-tier interventions?

A: You will notice in the pyramid graphic on page 16 of Getting Classroom Management RIGHT, we suggest that teachers should be responsible for some Tier Two interventions. We look at teachers as a first responder when students get off track with behavioral issues. Think of it this way: sending students to the AP for discipline issues that can be handled between the student and the teacher is like a parent sending their unruly child to a neighbor for discipline when they do something wrong at home. Just like asking a neighbor to be responsible for disciplining our own kids, the AP can't be the only one to fix your problem with a student. Look further into Appendix B for worksheets and practice documents to help teachers develop their skills in handling interventions themselves before involving the AP in the mix.

Q&A with Carol Miller Lieber on Making Learning REAL

Q: Personal academic conferencing with students sounds like a good idea, but how and when do I do it?

A: One way to make it possible to provide personal academic conferencing with individual students is to train all of the students in your class to work independently so you can work one-to-one with individual students while others are engaged in their own work. If you plan to bookend the week on Monday and Friday so there are extended periods for independent or group project work time, you can be providing support and academic conference check ins on a regularly scheduled basis with all students. See Appendix A in Making Learning REAL for a variety of strategies for student conferencing.

Advisory Programs: a Key Element in Creating a College-Going Culture

Guest Blogger: Denise Wolk

In some schools, advisory programs are a key structural element to create a college-going culture. Advisors meet with a group of students on a regular basis-once a week, several times a week, or daily-typically for a total of between 45 and 80 minutes during the course of a week. Dedicating a weekly block of time for this type of focused student development has a major impact on high school culture. First and foremost, students' developmental needs, their interests, and their personal and social growth are at the heart of this experience. Students' development is the content of the curriculum. Second, advisory has the potential to personalize the learning environment for every student, ensuring that each student has a relationship with at least one adult who knows them well and communicates, "I'm on your side and on your case." The student development period also provides a unique opportunity for all adults in the school to share a common purpose and experience a set of common activities with students, regardless of professional roles or teaching disciplines. All adults are learners together as they build their own skills. Regarding postsecondary preparation and the college-going process, advisory programs offer the opportunity for an entire faculty to receive the same information and develop a shared expertise about "college knowledge."

A distributive faculty support models help send a powerful message to faculty that teaching in the 21st century entails more than quality instruction in the classroom. Supporting students' healthy social development builds a more respectful and caring learning environment. Supporting students' personal aspirations and postsecondary planning establishes a stronger academic and college-going culture.

For more information about using advisory to build a college going culture, see the ESR white paper, Increasing College Access through School-Based Models of Postsecondary Preparation, Planning, and Support.