It's the next to last week of student teaching. April is in full swing. The time to return home to the mothership is upon us student teachers. The sun is shining and the weather is getting warmer. I still have work to do, but any teacher out there can agree with me, that the time of year for senioritis for both teacher and student is here. I've enjoyed my time at Greenwood completely, but one thing that has been one of my greatest challenges I've faced is my unmotivated seniors. It seems that no matter how engaging my projects or how tough my discipline, they simply do not seem to care. Some of them are giving it an honest effort, some of them barely humor me, and some of them are more willing to take a zero than to actually do any part of it. It can be frustrating to try and negotiate to get them to do work, and since I use a lot of projects in class, lack of participation can trip up other students' progress and can be difficult to make up.
This is something I've been really reflecting on lately. I want to continue with project based learning, but it can be difficult to do with students who are simply done elarning. I try to sprinkle in some fun as much as I can, but the moment we start diving into content, they just lose focus. I spend so much time standing in front of seniors that I feel like I'm missing out on time with my other students. I can see where the advice to focus on your freshmen makes sense. The freshman seem to respect authority more so than the seniors, and they tend to be focused on school more. I've had some very positive student to teacher relationships with a number of my freshmen, and I feel as though I enjoy that age group more.
As I wrap up my last week, my goal is to pull back some of my focus from those seniors and give more of my time to other students who are more invested in the classroom. Sometimes we can put our dedicated students on autopilot and focus all of our energy to those unmotivated students. How do other teachers keep their students motivated towards the end of the year? How do you motivate yourself to find heart in these moments as the school year draws to a close? Should you allow students to just take a zero, or do you keep pushing?
Always. Keep. Pushing. Don't ever let up and don't ever stop holding kids to high expectations. Kids know when they've been given up on, and some kids know all too well. Don't you dare give in/up. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat said, you're right to think about triage-ing your energy. Being aware of everyone else in the room is a good place to start. It's cliche, but "Emphasize the good and the bad will take care of itself."
I think the advice to focus on your freshman comes from a good place, but don't put all your eggs in one basket. Treat your kids fairly, engage with respect, and maintain high expectations. Their thoughts towards you and the work probably aren't personal (I say probably, because let's be real, we're not everyone's cup of tea). Don't discount anyone; everyone has something to offer. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to find it.
The other thing I learned much too late is to never make your content a punishment. Pay attention to how you talk about learning content. Do we need to hurry up and get through it so we can get to the fun stuff? Do we need to pay attention so we can get out to the shop? Do we stop the fun stuff if students aren't listening and lecture at them instead? Why do we call the hands on stuff the "fun stuff" and the lecture the "content?" There's a lot of preparation you can do to make things go successfully in your classroom, but at the end of the day, the only thing you can actually change is you. As your attitude changes, so does your students. Maybe it's making a commitment with yourself to try a different content delivery style, maybe it's an agreement that if it's obvious they've "done the homework" (doesn't have to be something they physically hand in) that we'll be able to get right to work. My agreement with my students was this: "My expectation is that you are engaged. But engagement is a two way street. You can also expect me to be engaging. We'll work on this together."
Grab a cup of coffee (set it down for a minute) and clap in the car while you say this when you get to school in the morning, "To be enthusiastic you must act enthusiastic!" We can't think ourselves into a new way of acting. We must act ourselves into a new way of thinking. What can you do this week to leave everything on the mat with this experience? What will you bravely try this week, knowing it's your last shot with this group of students? In what ways are YOU going to intentionally have fun? #BeBrave #YouGotThis #TeamRupert