Austin Mann
Blog Post 2
Dr. Mason
2/21/2015
Hello everyone! I am
continuing my illustrious student teaching this semester, and it is going
fantastically. However, I am very busy with all that I have to do between
lesson planning, studying for my PRAXIS, and working on my KPTP, I am feeling
like Tom Hanks’s character in Cast Away when he is lost at sea on his make
shift raft weeping uncontrollably over losing his volleyball friend Wilson.
Graduation is just around the corner and I have a list longer than Santa’s
naughty list of items that I need accomplish before that fateful (and glorious)
day arrives. Now that multiple classes
have been added to my busy schedule, I am having had a hard and very difficult
time trying to find time for my lesson planning. It has been a hard and
anguishing time over the last several weeks. I have been having trouble trying
to figure out how to get students involved with writing and class discussion
specifically, as many of my students are seniors and already in the mindset of
summer vacation. I have had an especially hard time with my seniors. I cannot
tell if it’s senioritis or if they are just too unwilling to write and
participate.
When it comes to discussions in class, my CT really loves
to get the students involved with the activity of the day. I however am not my
CT, and I am not pronounced with my discussion leading as she is. My seniors
are currently reading The Glass Castle by
Jeannette Walls, and I am having a really hard time getting them to discuss it.
They seem almost afraid of what others might say, but always after class they
come up to me individually and ask me questions on why the author doesn’t just
leave her family, or take another course of action. I am preparing to do a
lesson that Smagorinsky suggests in his book Teaching English by Design. In his book Smagorinsky writes about
how we as educators can put an author on trial. Smagorisky writes “Students who
do not like an author’s or narrator’s deployment of characters may put the author
or narrator on trial, prosecuting them for crimes against the characters.”
(Smagorisky 34)
I feel like this would be a great way to mix
things up and get the students involved in the book like I know they are. Since
the book we are reading isn’t fiction and is the account of the author I would
more than likely place the parents on trial for their misdeeds to their
children. I am reading other ideas that Smagorinsky has to offer, but my
question to you wonderful people is this. What would you do to get your Seniors
who have come down with senioritis to do to get them active in the lessons
again? Would you follow Smagorinsky’s ideas or do you have one of your own? I
hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep doing what you do best and smile!
Work Cited
Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching
English by Design: How to Create and Carry out Instructional Units.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.
Austin,
ReplyDeleteI love that you are using a modern YA text! Are the students responding to the text and just not willing to share this in class in front of their peers? I have had some problems with this myself and some of the issue was related to not having enough background building before text presentation. My CT explained that students may not know “why” they are doing what they are doing and that is why they have a lack of motivation. I now do two things at the beginning of every hour:
1. I tell students why they will complete the tasks: what it means to them and how it fits into my overall plan. I even shared my unit calendar with them today so that they feel like they have inside information about the process I expect them to follow. I want them to feel like they are part of my learning team, so (sometimes) sharing my plan for their learning could be helpful.
2. I make participation a part of their grade and remind them of it. Every single thing they do helps them learn and they should feel like I value their effort. This is especially true for seniors. They don’t actually have to be there. I want them to know that they are not going to come in and go to sleep and still pass this class if they do well on the tests. The tools that I am teaching them revolve less around the plot of a story or the author’s biographical information. I am teaching them how to continue to learn by modeling and asking them to practice the processes by which they will continue to learn and work with others long after they leave my classroom. That is why I value class participation and why they should too.
If you are looking for strategies to try that can help motivate and engage your students, I just posted a tip on Krystal’s blog for facilitating authentic discussion (which I too struggle with). It worked very well for me; maybe it will for you too. What I like best about this is that you can use it to encourage students who are too shy to speak up in class. They are writing, speaking, and listening (core objectives), they are engaged in the lesson, and they are commenting with their own thoughts but they don’t have to post them to the class directly. Instead, they are merely responding to what someone else has said. I think this is easier for them to do and perhaps less intimidating. Check out Krystal’s blog to see the post and get a link too.
I like your idea of putting an author (or for this book, the parents) on trial. Anytime you can do something creative or unusual, you are more likely to capture students' attention. After spring break, seniors have already checked out and are ready for high school to be finished and college or work to begin. You will learn much teaching them the last few weeks of the school year.
ReplyDelete