Crunch time...

I'm feeling the crunch of the Thanksgiving Break deadline approaching. Computer labs are booked, copies are never made, contracts need to be written. I'm feeling a little...phew...pressed for time.

And I find myself making little mistakes that I'm pretty sure are just a product of being tired. Like I scheduled a quiz with a student who'd been absent and then immediately handed out graded quizzes to the rest of the class. I could tell that she hadn't noticed because her quiz had some pretty easy questions wrong. I don't mean to revel in her loss of points, but I was glad to be reminded that students are not always watching out for mistakes to be made and I have some leeway in that department. I just have to be one step ahead. :)

Activity Versus Teaching

Today, I had students answer this bellringer, "Pick something (a person, place, thing) that symbolizes who you are. Draw it." That led into our discussion of symbolism in Frankenstein. In class, I handed out a worksheet and showed them their assignment: they were to find examples of the places where certain symbols were used and explain what they symbolized. I generally reviewed the places each symbol was used and then let them work in pairs to find the examples and explain them. I also explained the back of the worksheet which was about irony. I didn't really like the feeling of giving them a worksheet, but it was necessary because I had grading and other stuff to finish. I think I should have spent more time really teaching symbols, but I'm hesitant to teach something when I think it might bore them. But I'm also hesitant to give them a worksheet because I think it may just seem like busy work. I have trouble finding that balance. I wonder if it is experience with the material (this is MY first time reading Frankenstein, after all) or knowing your students really well.

Skits!

I had a good day!

Last week, I asked the students to take the scene when the creature asks Frankenstein for a female companion and find the places where the creature uses persuasion and then also document Frankenstein's reactions. The students charted these interactions as a group. Then in the same group, they turned that chart into a script for another kind of performance (their choice of commercial, tv show, or court scene). I gave a few examples and gave them time in class to work on it. Despite A LOT of hiccups in the schedule, we presented them today and some were really great. One group did "Real World: Geneva" which managed to be accurate to the story and also included lots of added drama and private testimonials. Other groups did puppet shows, eHarmony commercial parodies, and pretty good courtroom scenes. However, a few groups just read straight from their chart without adding any "scene" to their skit.

I think the groups that excelled were good despite my (again) kind of vague directions. I did give them some examples, but I wish that I had said (during the classwork time), "You need to do more that just read the chart. You can use what they said in your script, but remember that you're imagining this interaction in another venue like a TV show, a commercial, or a courtroom. What kinds of things would be added in the new venue that aren't in the scene in the book?" That statement would have cleared up a lot of confusion, but I didn't see that they were confused until after the skits were prepared and delivered. I kind of assumed that they understood and just weren't that excited about preparing skits. And that assumption comes from having problems with getting students to read, which I wrote about before. I think I assumed that they weren't reading because they didn't care, and they weren't preparing good skits because they didn't care. Today was the first day I read aloud from the book, and it really helped with having control of the classroom and I made sure that they paid attention to the important parts. I felt successful, and I had fun reading with them, too.

Speaking of reading aloud -- Mrs. Solly and I have been reading American Born Chinese (ABC) aloud in our collaborative class and the kids EAT IT UP. They also like when we playfully bicker back and forth about characters and different issues. Anyway, I'm very happy that they're enjoying ABC and so are we.

Colloboration, Preparation

Things seem to be going better in my collaboration with Ms. Solly, who is sometimes unpredictable and sometimes unreliable. I think I make it harder because I never give her concrete responsibilities, which is due in part because she's unreliable (and most often for legitimate reasons like IEP meetings or other responsibilities, but sometimes because she's having an off day) and also because I'm not prepared that far in advance.

And that preparation has becoming a constant struggle for me. I cannot seem to stop brainstorming, which often ends in making concrete plans at the last minute, when they are "due." I have a lot of mental prep work done, but it's a bit stressful to be writing lesson plans on a weekly basis, most of which are either new to me (I just learned the material myself) or new to the classroom (I designed the lesson and have not taught it before). This inexperience often leads to activities that (in my head) are interesting and engaging, but when I honestly appraise them, need more structure and directions in order to be effective. That's not to say that my ideas are unusable, but that (I'll say it again) I just need to spend more time structuring them.
I talked to Mr. Conrad a bit about this and expressed it as "focusing on myself rather than on my students." I think if I took more time to imagine receiving the assignments/activities as a student, I could prevent some of the problems I have. But where do you find that time? And I worry because this has been a consistent problem that I know i need to address, but I continue to make the same mistake.

Test Anxiety

I gave my honors 11 students a test the other day. Before the test, I was confident in my teaching and I "personalized" the test so that it highlighted our class discussions. I gave them a review sheet and told them how to study, but I gave them the responsibility of actually reviewing. I even talked them through my rationale for that: they are honors students and need to practice reviewing in the ways that work best for them. When I gave the test though, most students said they thought they'd failed, but didn't seem to blame me. Upon seeing their grades (spread out in the A to D range), I immediately took responsibility and thought I'd done something wrong. Then I talked to Mr. Conrad who said that the range was predictable and reflected a grade spread that was fairly stable from year to year. Then I spoke briefly with some students who scored below a 70% and reviewed their studying skills/methods. Many of them indicated that they had studied superficially, but had not made sure they really understood the content.

Frankenstein Update

So I started out reading Frankenstein with out of class reading assignments and in class discussion and writing. When I realized that I needed to do more in class reading (which was probably a late realization on my part), I already had some students who had independently read ahead and I made the decision, rather hastily, that I shouldn't burden those students in class with reading things twice, so I kept my system. Now I kind of regret that decision.

It's clear that the students need much more time in class with guided reading. I've been assuming that students didn't want to read or weren't making time -- and though that might be true for some -- I think that a lot of students had difficulty with the text and need more guidance from me. Oh! Another good example of "not enough guidance" -- I was reviewing the vocabulary for a quiz and a lot of students didn't even know how to pronounce the words. I felt terrible because I could very easily have pronounced all the words for them or gone over them and said, "Look for the verb form of this" and just given them more time with the words in class. I know that they are seniors and should be doing more on their own, but I think I overestimated their independent studying abilities. And that's not to say that they can't do it by themselves, but i gave them the task without enough guidance. This is really becoming a theme.... hmmm.

Homework Passes

I have felt like my seniors just aren't reading when I assign chapters in Frankenstein for homework. I tried pop quizzing and announced quizzing, but those aren't improving the class discussion and are hurting grades. So I decided to incentivize reading by giving out homework passes when students answer questions in class. The first day I tried it I noticed fewer students having side conversations and more students (besides those 3-4 really reliable question answerers) volunteering answers. Additionally, students would usually opt not to contribute if a topic had been covered but I asked for additional comments/answers; however, with the homework pass on the table, I received more responses from students who had slightly differing opinions...and that helped to spark more organic discussions as well. The whole operation feels a little hokey because they won't have an opportunity to use the homework passes once I finish with Frankenstein (unless I talk to Mr. Conrad), but for now it seems to be working.