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.