This past week I moved. Those of you who have been through the grueling experience of packing up your entire life and relocating it to another place know what a hassle this is. Moving becomes exponentially more difficult with each family member you add on. When I went to college, moving myself from one apartment to another was no trouble. A few boxes, a couple of suitcases, and presto! I'm in my new place. Then I got married and inherited a whole bunch of furniture (a couple of beds, couches, we got a dining room table, etc.). We moved from Utah to Colorado with a 17 foot U-haul truck loaded with stuff. I won't go into all of the nitty gritty details of this past move, but let's just say in the 4 years I've been in Colorado we've gained two kids and a whole lot more stuff.
I got back from the three days off to see that my sub had about the same problems that I have with my classes. The same kids goofed off, the same classes were off task, nothing really surprising. My third period, it seems, did next to nothing. The more I read the report the sub left the angrier I got at them. In my mind I started coming up with all kinds of methods of punishment for them being slackers and my mood was just brewing and boiling.
Amidst all of this frustration, I thought of this blog. I thought- what can I do to make this a positive experience and instead of punishing the students for three days of slacking, encourage them to make up the three days of missed work with a week of really hard work? Come third period, I had my plan. First I gave them an opportunity to show that they really did do something. I did not want to get mad at the entire class if there were a few who did do work. Those who did the work showed me the evidence of the work, and I allowed them to continue with the filming of their flight vehicle documentaries. Then I had the rest of the class sit down and I laid into them. I talked about how disappointed I was with their behavior while I was gone and even read to them the comments the sub had left. I reminded them it is the end of the year and the project we're working on has a VERY tight timeline. ANY period at all spent fooling around or slacking and their projects are down the tubes. I gave them a choice- either get to work and make up for your lost time, or write a seven paragraph essay on the history of your flight vehicle since you don't have time to make the video. This was my last ditch effort to let them redeem themselves and do the 'fun' stuff.
The result? 100% participation. Everybody was with their groups, everybody was planning their movies, everybody was doing what they were supposed to. I moved around from group to group reading what they came up with, giving them pointers, and directing them to have a better final result. It was amazing.
Interestingly enough, nobody opted to do the 7 paragraph essay.........
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So what constantly amazes me as a new teacher is that you can explain the project to one class and then explain it to another class and the first class absolutely love it and be so excited about it and the second class not want to do it at all. I always wonder if I missed saying a key word the second time around that made the first class excited.
ReplyDeleteSame idea in your case would you have been able to 'scare' a second class with your speech into everyone being productive like the first class did? Your speech is the key component here, without the students would not have seen the purpose of the you telling them to write a 7 paragraph paper. The speech is where I feel I always trip up on making one group excited and one group not
I always found that each class has its own personality. Some classes you struggle to get them on task while others end up like a finely tuned engine. What is the difference? Some of it can be attributed to the strong personalities in the class, whether they are positive or negative. Other variables may be the time of day for the class, the level of challenge (too little= boredom; too much= frustration), or just an overall lack of student interest and connection to the content of the class.
ReplyDeleteI found addressing students honestly as Kurt did is a good method. When you tell students how you are feeling and express your inner thoughts about their performance, they will often develop empathy for the compassion you have for making sure they do well. Of course it is not 100% fool proof but it works more often than not.