Today was one of my "easy" days--with a conference period. (Wednesday and Friday our team goes straight through, 8:30-3:30 with only 30 minutes for lunch.) I had two of my English classes, and I felt that I made some headway with them. The classes of about 35 are finally organized into groups of 3 and 4. I am beginning to see the students in the groups interact with each other. That means that I can deal with each group semi-independently, thus improving my odds from 1-35 to 1-4.
Here's what I accomplished in these English classes: They each wrote a paragraph about a time when they did something for the first time that was kind of hard or scary. Many of them wrote about riding a bicycle or a roller coaster, starting school, swimming, getting a shot, or something like that. This was pretty straightforward, but then I asked them to read their stories to the other members of their groups, decide which was the most interesting, and choose another member of the group to read that story. This process got a little noisy, but I think most of them read their stories to each other, and all the groups picked one story and another student to read it.
Now came the hard part. The "reader" from each group had to stand up and read the other student's story, and THE REST OF THE CLASS HAD TO BE QUIET AND LISTEN. This is very hard for them. They can barely get quiet for a few minutes to listen to me, and they rarely listen to each other in a formal class setting. (I think that in their view all of that kind of stuff--reading your assignment, answering questions, etc.--is just for the teacher, not for each other. This is a problem because the developmental priorities of adolescents are to build peer relations and assert their own authority.)
Anyway, with much shushing and admonishing, we did get through each of the groups reading one of their stories. I think they sort of liked this process of writing and reading for each other, and if that's true they will be increasingly willing to restrain their behavior for the sake of listening and speaking to their classmates. This is the dynamic that I want to create. Time will tell if I have succeeded. I have my other two English classes tomorrow. We'll see if things work out the same, but I felt that I made some progress today.
The path forward will certainly be steep and rocky, with sudden drop-offs on each side, rock slides, detours, switchbacks, dead-ends, mirages, menacing wildlife, mysterious caves, stinging insects. But there will also be spectacular panoramas on all sides, snow-capped peaks, clean fresh air, beautiful trees, wildflowers, songbirds, chipmunks and lots of good fellowship during the climb. And at the end of the path, a bubbling spring of knowledge to slake our thirst. Isn't nature swell!
I think so many classroom activities seem like strange foreign customs to a lot of kids. Reading a book, for example. For kids that have never seen someone at home sit and read for pleasure or enlightenment, they think reading is something done in a circle where each reads a paragraph aloud while everyone else loses their place, eventually finds it, and then reads the next paragraph aloud.
ReplyDeleteMr. Horton, this post reminds me of the need to continually address our vision and focus for the school and revisit previous learning. Last year we had several professional development opportunities for teachers focusing on single gender instructional strategies for both boys and girls. One point made was the need for boys especially, was building in time for “brain break” activities. Brain breaks are times for students’ brains to recharge, and stimulate the brain to increase energy, which increases oxygen and blood flow.
ReplyDeleteThese are short, simple activities that can be built into the block schedule at least once during the block. A basic example is Simon Says. As well as using listening skills it is body movement, another benefit to students and brain activity.
Each activity should take no more than a few minutes. It may be necessary to establish a routine to end the task and get everybody back on track.
If you Google Brain-Breaks you’ll get a many ideas. Some might be more appealing to boys such as trying to touch their tongue to their elbow or trying to tickle themselves.
Here are a couple more that I found:
Students have to move their right foot in a clockwise circle, and then with their right pointer finger, they need to write the number 6 in the air.
This one will require you to teach the meaning of clock-wise as students are used to reading time digitally.
They have to grab their right ear lobe with their left hand, and their nose with their right hand. Then they switch (grab their left ear lobe with their right hand...).
I tried this one. It wasn’t easy at first but then I figured out a pattern.
There are also some videos that require students to watch a sequence of movements, remember them and try to repeat them (I’ll get that link for you)
If you want to address physical gender differences I remember one from All in the Family (okay I date myself) where the daughter was showing her husband that she could things he couldn’t. Here is a description I pulled from the internet (http://www.pick-up-artist-forum.com/men-vs-women-chair-lifting-contest-vt18418.html) as well as a video link for illustration:
"Here's a cool routine I came up with and field-tested this weekend with good results. This routine exploits the difference in center of gravity between men and women. Because of the placement of their hips on their bodies, women have a higher center of mass than men. For this reason, women can usually perform the following task while men usually can't":
1. Stand exactly two of your foot lengths from the wall.
2. Place a chair between you and the wall.
3. Lean over and rest your forehead against the wall.
4. You must now pick up the chair and try to straighten up without touching the chair to the wall.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRixqIAsXa0&feature=related
Catherine