Lessons learned

A long weekend means students forget more than usual regarding how the schedule works and the expectations of the classroom.

This week I asked my students to:

1. Take home a parent letter of expectations in the classroom and bring it back signed.
2. Read each night for 20 minutes
3. Do math corrections for homework
4. Bring home and return a planner daily, along with any assigned work.

Responses I got were such as:
1. I can’t bring it home, I ride my bike to school
2. My parents can’t sign it; they work late and sleep in.
3. This is Bunk! (As my co-worker pointed out, it’s an improvement over flat out cussing)

I also partook in this conversation:
Student: “Why do we have to read and do math. It’s not like you need it in real life.”
Teacher: “Well what do you want to do for a job when you grow up?”
Student: “I dunno, I guess science.”

Points go to Grandpa for this one… his oh so witty reply: “Ok, how about Latin and Chemistry.”

Today I upped the anti with having them create binders to organize their class work. I also used my new math text books (aka copied pages put in a binder) and had them work in leveled groups. Foolishly, I was unrealistic in my goal as I thought that they:
1. Could handle working cooperatively in groups of two and three.
2. Could handle not writing on the copied pages, even after multiple reminders.
3. Could read the varied assignments on the board and relate that to the pages in the textbook.
4. Could understand the concept of reviewing the example pages to help them understand the problems.
5. Could handle the idea of mental math, where I’m looking for quick answers and not looking for work.
6. Could write their answers on a blank page of paper, and turn it in.
7. Understood how to use a textbook.

I assigned each group 28 math questions to complete in an hour. Out of my 14 students only two accomplished this task. And this is after I placed them in leveled groups based on their assessment tests.

The result: four write ups, a few cuss words, and two students who walked out. It was a fruitful hour.
In addition I now have 14 students. I interviewed, rather gave orientation, to a returning student. The highlights: he’s having trouble in the other school, he likes to start trouble, and his mom fully supports me if I need to call the cops. Joy.

The irony… he was one of my best students… I only had to motivate him to do work once, absolutely no redirecting, reprimanding, reminding to stay in his seat, writing up, arguing with, or anything... Gives me a whole new outlook. Of course today was his first day. I’m sure he’ll find a way to add to my idiosyncratic little class.

A wise man once told me to find one student to focus on. A coworker asks me constantly to find the good part of the day. Here goes:

1. My student, while writing back to his pen pal wrote, “My teacher is cool.”
2. That same student, in order to reduce the drama, volunteered to lose points to keep someone else happy.
3. My former student, in his pen pal letter to my class, wrote “Be nice to your teacher or I’ll be there in four hours.”

(I also won three dollars on my scratcher… and here I thought I was having a bad day)