The Students have Spoken

Every post I feel that my main theme to my DP continues to develop and although I feel that it is in its final stages of developing I would be foolish to say that it will not change in the future.  However, my current main question is, "How do I manage my classroom and still be effective and keep positive."  These two weeks have been very interesting for me in the sense that I have experienced when my students as a whole do not agree with one of my teaching methods they simple do not do the work.  To change it up a little bit a couple of weeks ago I printed out two worksheets per group and told my students that they were to copy the problems on a separate piece of paper and then work together in groups.  In my 3rd ESOL class I typically have 99% completion, my 5th and 6th periods are between 75%-80% turn in on a daily basis.  The next day when I asked my students to take out their homework to go over it my 3rd period had a 50% completion and my 5th and 6th periods combined I had 6 students complete the work, the rest did not do it.  About a month earlier I had a similar assignment where I asked my students to copy the work from the docucam on a separate sheet of paper and I had less then 10% of my students in my 5th and 6th combined complete the work.  In one of my articles they have a Chinese Proverb that says, "I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do, and I understand" (Kelly, 1985, pg 11).  After reading this proverb it made me start thinking of think about those days and how my students were acting.  Part of managing my students is being an effective teacher and keeping them engaged in the lesson.  When they are engaged in the lesson the students learn the material and retain the knowledge more then when they are not engaged.  As a result to their engagement, the students stayed positive and enjoyed the lesson and in return, I had a great time teaching.  "Creating the right kind of atmosphere is paramount for any teacher who wishes to increase student participation" (Kelly, 1985, pg 11).  A few things happened that day when I asked my students to pull out their assignments and only 6 people in 5th and 6th period did, first thought was "Oh Shit, what did I do wrong", Second, this was the first time I had a cognoscente teachable moment because I did not let on that it bothered me, but I asked my students why as a whole has nobody done their work.  The students told me that it was too much work for them to copy down the work and then for me to expect them to do it as well.  That was the same response from both periods and at first I got a little frustrated but I had to remind my self that I am not dealing with students that are motivated my their academic success.   Although these activities were interactive, I apparently cannot ask my students to do a bunch of work prior to getting the work I really want them to do.   This was a good reminder of not treating my students as I might my algebra class and that I need to take into consideration their needs and wants if I want them to be productive and enjoy class.

Kelly, J. 1985. Student-centered teaching for increases participation.  National Education of the United States.

The Students have spoken

Every post I feel that my main theme to my DP continues to develop and although I feel that it is in its final stages of developing I would be foolish to say that it will not change in the future.  However, my current main question is, "How do I manage my classroom and still be effective and keep positive."  These two weeks have been very interesting for me in the sense that I have experienced when my students as a whole do not agree with one of my teaching methods they simple do not do the work.  To change it up a little bit a couple of weeks ago I printed out two worksheets per group and told my students that they were to copy the problems on a separate piece of paper and then work together in groups.  In my 3rd ESOL class I typically have 99% completion, my 5th and 6th periods are between 75%-80% turn in on a daily basis.  The next day when I asked my students to take out their homework to go over it my 3rd period had a 50% completion and my 5th and 6th periods combined I had 6 students complete the work, the rest did not do it.  About a month earlier I had a similar assignment where I asked my students to copy the work from the docucam on a separate sheet of paper and I had less then 10% of my students in my 5th and 6th combined complete the work.  In one of my articles they have a Chinese Proverb that says, "I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do, and I understand" (Kelly, 1985, pg 11).  After reading this proverb it made me start thinking of think about those days and how my students were acting.  Part of managing my students is being an effective teacher and keeping them engaged in the lesson.  When they are engaged in the lesson the students learn the material and retain the knowledge more then when they are not engaged.  As a result to their engagement, the students stayed positive and enjoyed the lesson and in return, I had a great time teaching.  "Creating the right kind of atmosphere is paramount for any teacher who wishes to increase student participation" (Kelly, 1985, pg 11).  A few things happened that day when I asked my students to pull out their assignments and only 6 people in 5th and 6th period did, first thought was "Oh Shit, what did I do wrong", Second, this was the first time I had a cognoscente teachable moment because I did not let on that it bothered me, but I asked my students why as a whole has nobody done their work.  The students told me that it was too much work for them to copy down the work and then for me to expect them to do it as well.  That was the same response from both periods and at first I got a little frustrated but I had to remind my self that I am not dealing with students that are motivated my their academic success.   Although these activities were interactive, I apparently cannot ask my students to do a bunch of work prior to getting the work I really want them to do.   This was a good reminder of not treating my students as I might my algebra class and that I need to take into consideration their needs and wants if I want them to be productive and enjoy class.

Teacher - 2 Students - 1

So last week I decided to try a whole class activity as one of my performance assessments with my students.  I feel that I have earned respect in all my classes and my students are starting to let down on the crazy antics and buy in to my math classes.  Over the last few weeks I have been teaching my students how to solve different types of equations so as a review I had them play a game called "Search & Rescue".  I made 20 different cards with different types of equations.  As they solved each equation the answer led them to a new card.  I allowed my students to get into small groups, I gave them the rules and expectations, and let them go.  As students struggled and their groups could not figure out where they went wrong I was able to help out a bunch of people at once.  "In cooperative classrooms, teachers moves among the groups to monitor progress and provide specific assistance.  In this role, the teacher is 'the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage' (Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1992, p.77) and the language used is more caring and personal as they work more closely with small groups (Gillies, 2006, p. 272)."  I've noticed that a lot of my students ask similar questions over the same stuff and by working in groups, it gave me more opportunity to talk to the group as a whole and accomplish a lot more because my time was better spent.  This allowed me to assess the classroom and see where were as a class and plan for the remaining of my unit.  Shockingly this game provided me with the best day with my 5th period that I have had since I started teaching.  The students were focused, they accomplished what we set out to do, they were able to work on some of their weaknesses, and they had fun.
The next time I had all my classes I asked them all how they felt about the game and everyone said positive things and wanted to do more fun activities.  Because it was such a success I have planned on using clickers on Wednesday and Thursday to help review after we take a quiz.  I'm hoping to see the same results with the level of engagement, focus, and respect.  I don't know if it was a coincidence, but all but two of my students were in my class that day and that has not happened prior to this lesson.  One aspect of my next lesson with a game, I am going to monitor my students attendance and see if their is some correlation. 

Gillies, R.M. (2006). Teachers' and students' verbal behaviours during cooperative and small-group learning. University of Queenstand, Australia.