First Year
Teaching to all students is one of the most difficult and frustrating things about teaching, second only to classroom management. It is also very closely related to classroom management. I feel as though the students who are least on task are the ones who are acting out, which is unfortunately not always the case. The students acting out, who are often extremely smart and ought not to be the ones who are not on task, distract me from some of the SPED students who really need the extra assistance and the extra effort to include them in the classroom community.
Lately I've been trying more spontaneous academic discipline techniques, which sometimes draw students back on task. For instance, I've been cold calling more than I ever used to. Sometimes I use it to attempt to make a student who is acting up come back to the lesson. This works occasionally, but usually accomplishes nothing. I have also done it for students who seem to be zoning out. This usually at least brings them back to the discussion, even if they do not give me a correct answer. My favorite time to use it, though, is to call on a student who is generally very attentive and focused but is too hesitant to raise his or her hand, even though they know the answer. This gives them the opportunity to show their classmates how smart they really are without drawing attention to themselves.
I have also been trying to do more spontaneous informal assessments. This past week I have done a couple of checks to have students put up a number for choosing the correct multiple choice question, or to give me thumbs up or thumbs down for distracter analysis questions. This helps me to gauge how many of the students are grasping the material all at the same time. This is something that I had learned was a good technique in MTC classes but I somehow never got it to work when I actually planned to use it. In the moment, though, it seemed like a very effective way to accomplish what I wanted. With this technique, I sometimes have them put their heads down and then silently give me their answers. Not only does this give them individual and judgement-free answers, but it also calms them down. One time I gave them some instruction while their heads were still down to take advantage of the silence, which was also somewhat effective.
Incentives, though, are typically effective ways to engage the students. They typically look forward to the weekly raffles and will do just about anything for a ticket. This system is pretty reliable in getting students to participate and do something at least somewhat academic.
Lately I've been trying more spontaneous academic discipline techniques, which sometimes draw students back on task. For instance, I've been cold calling more than I ever used to. Sometimes I use it to attempt to make a student who is acting up come back to the lesson. This works occasionally, but usually accomplishes nothing. I have also done it for students who seem to be zoning out. This usually at least brings them back to the discussion, even if they do not give me a correct answer. My favorite time to use it, though, is to call on a student who is generally very attentive and focused but is too hesitant to raise his or her hand, even though they know the answer. This gives them the opportunity to show their classmates how smart they really are without drawing attention to themselves.
I have also been trying to do more spontaneous informal assessments. This past week I have done a couple of checks to have students put up a number for choosing the correct multiple choice question, or to give me thumbs up or thumbs down for distracter analysis questions. This helps me to gauge how many of the students are grasping the material all at the same time. This is something that I had learned was a good technique in MTC classes but I somehow never got it to work when I actually planned to use it. In the moment, though, it seemed like a very effective way to accomplish what I wanted. With this technique, I sometimes have them put their heads down and then silently give me their answers. Not only does this give them individual and judgement-free answers, but it also calms them down. One time I gave them some instruction while their heads were still down to take advantage of the silence, which was also somewhat effective.
Incentives, though, are typically effective ways to engage the students. They typically look forward to the weekly raffles and will do just about anything for a ticket. This system is pretty reliable in getting students to participate and do something at least somewhat academic.
Second Year
There is one particular student that I have now had in my classroom for two years in a row (far right in photo), and I think that she is a great example of a student that is difficult to teach, but an absolute delight at the same time. She hardly tried at all the first year, and I am seeing the same pattern this year. She does not appear to have made any changes in her approach to learning or classroom behavior. There was one day this year, however, that the students had two days to write a narrative essay. They were given the assignment the first day and were going to complete it on the second day. At the beginning of the second day, this same student handed a completed narrative essay to me, written entirely in pink pen. Since then, although she still normally puts in little effort, I keep a pink pen handy because she will often become excited and motivated when I let her use it. She was eventually sent to the alternative school for about half of this year, and returned yesterday (April 21st). She said to me, "Ms. Planchet, did you miss me? When I got here I was like, oh yeah. I bet Ms. Planchet missed me." She was not wrong. I will always have a special place in my heart for this girl.
For classes with multiple hard-to-reach students, it is extremely difficult to make learning happen. My 4th period class, for example, has only about 5 well-behaved students. The others struggle, are far behind the others academically, and do not behave well in class. I have been trying new things with them that I haven't done with my other class, just to engage them and keep them on task with simple things. For example, I have tried pause reading and chorus reading with them. They like being loud, so these methods give them a small opportunity to be loud within certain parameters. I am still not sure that they are learning, but it is progress.
My 7th period class had only 10 students in it at the beginning of the year. This class had an interesting mix of students in it, ranging from a couple really smart and polite girls, some rowdy but fairly well-behaved boys, and some girls with attitude problems. There was one day that I noticed one girl was sitting on the floor, with her notebook on her lap, working intently. I did not make her get up. A couple days later we were writing essays. One of the boys, who rarely does his work, plopped down on the floor to write his essay. The other boy in the class copied him. Eventually I let the students position themselves however they want, because their number is so small and I can see that they tend to learn differently from many of my other students. This alone seemed to have motivated them to pay attention and complete assignments.
Below is a recording of some of the girls doing "choral reading" of an article about the Super Bowl.
For classes with multiple hard-to-reach students, it is extremely difficult to make learning happen. My 4th period class, for example, has only about 5 well-behaved students. The others struggle, are far behind the others academically, and do not behave well in class. I have been trying new things with them that I haven't done with my other class, just to engage them and keep them on task with simple things. For example, I have tried pause reading and chorus reading with them. They like being loud, so these methods give them a small opportunity to be loud within certain parameters. I am still not sure that they are learning, but it is progress.
My 7th period class had only 10 students in it at the beginning of the year. This class had an interesting mix of students in it, ranging from a couple really smart and polite girls, some rowdy but fairly well-behaved boys, and some girls with attitude problems. There was one day that I noticed one girl was sitting on the floor, with her notebook on her lap, working intently. I did not make her get up. A couple days later we were writing essays. One of the boys, who rarely does his work, plopped down on the floor to write his essay. The other boy in the class copied him. Eventually I let the students position themselves however they want, because their number is so small and I can see that they tend to learn differently from many of my other students. This alone seemed to have motivated them to pay attention and complete assignments.
Below is a recording of some of the girls doing "choral reading" of an article about the Super Bowl.
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