Jan. 20: What are you doing this week in your class? As a group we are the lucky few to have this 3 day weekend almost every week. Is it time to reflect on how this affects us from week to week? Is it good for us and not so good for our students? What do you think?
I love a four day school week. Not only is it good for me and my family but it is good for my energy and attitude when I am in the classroom. I also, think that the students like a four day school week. The students seem more rested and more willing to be at school. Unfortunately, a four day week does not solve either teacher or student absenteeism. It would seem like teachers could choose to have appointments on Fridays as well as parents for their students but it is not always possible. Students still do not seem to have an incentive to do homework even though they have all day Friday to do it, which leaves them with the weekend free.
ReplyDeleteI find myself working over weekends on school work and not resenting it. I am more creative and refreshed when I come back to school on Monday. I wonder if we were to shorten the school day and change our focus back to the basics if our students would not be better prepared for a world out of the classroom.
Last week in English 6, students were continuing to conduct research on-line and in the library utilizing "old-fashioned" resources. Considering the big picture, I think it's best to expose students to a broad array of content, but spend most of our learning time in the sixth grade focused on essential skills they will need in life, the rest of middle school, high school, college, and the work force.
ReplyDeleteWhile in this unit, I'm focusing their attention daily on a quality (although simple) thesis, their research question(s), thesis focused research, efficient note taking and note taking strategies, quality sources, plagiarism, and sourcing information. I found only one of this year's sixth graders reported they had ever heard the word "thesis" (I'm not sure if I should expect that or if they should have at least been exposed to it before). To teach what a thesis is and how to write it, I count on analogies that draw from students prior knowledge. This is a strategy I rely heavily on to explain new and/or difficult concepts to students in any class and it helps the student personally connect to any content. Usually I can find something the vast majority of students understand/relate to/familiar with to teach them a new concept. Based on my observation and checks for understanding that strategy seems to be very successful. Additionally, I often add a simple drawing (stick figure simple) to give a visual to the verbal delivery. I throw in plenty of humor and which helps makes our time together learning fun for the students and me.
As I review what I wrote it sounds like warm, fuzzy puppies, but the reality is in a class of 34 (down from 38) I have the lowest and the highest kids together. It’s inherently unfair to both ends of the spectrum and all the ‘middle’ kids, not to mention make a tough job much harder for me. Plus, it makes for inefficient use of our time, and often a disjointed lesson disjointed because of all the stopping and starting to try and make sure everyone gets it. My desire is to do the best thing for the kids and their learning, but is it even possible in class with drastic skill level differences? I don't think any honest and aware teacher would say it is. Can you imagine having students that are learning addition and subtraction in the same math class with students who are doing algebra? There are specific tangible skills in writing and reading, just as math has specific, tangible skills.
It’s time we level English classes, just like we do math!
I would LOVE to see this specific topic for a future blog post/discussion topic. My apologies if I strayed from the intent of the blog post, but it is the reality of trying to teach a mixed skill level English class. This is the daily reality in my classroom first period and third period that hinders all the warm, fuzzy, puppy stuff above. :)
LJ