OK, I'm not gonna lie. Around this time, the honeymoon period between students and teacher is completely gone. And we just look at each other angrily. And I get frustrated with them. Here they are... sitting there... trying their best to do absolutely nothing.
Today is the Monday before the Monday before the first Monday of break. There's pretty much nothing good about this day. I came back from a wonderful weekend vacation from Orlando where I spent Sunday playing mini-golf, eating a 2 hour long breakfast al fresco, and taking a nice swim in the pool. Twenty four hours later: a group of tired teens who hate me. First period did not go well. I dreaded third period. They usually give less effort than my first period, but I decided to try something differently this time. Another teacher reminded me, "It's that time of year. Students are tired and don't want to try. Teachers are tired and don't want to try." I realized how much I had been dropping the ball recently... with grading, with lesson planning, with creating a warm classroom environment. It's no surprise that students would feel the same way in early December. I started third period differently- with empathy. "I know how stressed you've been these past couple weeks. The semester has been grinding. I get it. I want us to be learning today but I also don't want it to feel like there's so much pressure. We're going to go over some things today. Some of you may want to work with me to learn the pre-skills. Others of you will want to try some problems with groups you choose. I don't want this to feel overwhelming." I responded to off task behavior more positively, laughed more, joked around more... The class wasn't perfect, but students did a hell of a lot more than the first period class, and there was so much more positive energy. I had several students goofing off, but I also had 3 students who chose to work with me over their friends so they could feel caught up. I had students teaching other students; some working alone; and some in larger groups. At least for that class, my attitude and my response to them made a LOT of difference. Students are people too (duh).
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I had gone to D.C. to visit a friend last weekend, and while I enjoyed my time there, I came home on Sunday afternoon and knew I was behind. No groceries, no meals prepared, no laundry cleaned, no lesson planned, no grading complete. A lot of no's and Monday was coming fast. Of course, I was overwhelmed by all of this and decided the sensible thing to do is shut down and watch hours of Netflix. Am I proud of this? No. Should I be less harsh on my students who do the same thing? Maybe.
Monday morning, I woke up at 4:00 AM after procrastinating my Sunday away. I quickly prepared a lunch for the day and then sat at my computer. I have a 100 minute class to account for and. one. blank. screen. I was introducing trigonometry that day. Most of my lesson that I had created needed me to guide my students through concepts and notes. It was going to be a boring day for my students. I teach four sections of geometry. I started teaching the lesson and one of my classes was continuously disruptive and challenging to work with. I wasn't in a great mood either because I'd been up since 4 AM. In the last five minutes of class, I shrugged and said, "If you don't want to learn, fine. I'm done." Five minutes passed without me doing anything. They left. I felt... like a horrible teacher. The next day I decided to go to some lecture on geometry and space by a renowned math professor who had a math thing named after him. I had tried to get a few students to come with me, but since I found out about it last minute, they were unable to make it. It's all for the best though. I understood... zero percent of what was said. What was worse, the professor literally read a wall of text at us. I say literally, because there was literally a PowerPoint with the exact same thing written on a giant screen behind him. I looked around at the math undergrads, grads, professors, and teachers. 100% of them were bored to tears and trying to look moderately polite. All of us hoping that it would end soon. Slide 48 of 62. 1 hour in. I secretly high-fived myself for bringing my textbook so I could plan the next day. I quickly went home, glad that I took none of my students. I started the next day telling my students that I didn't like the previous day. They were disruptive. It was hard to get started. Transitions were rough. My kids looked at me annoyed. Then I said, "I'd like to apologize as well. I went to a math lecture yesterday where the professor talked nonsense to us for 90 minutes, and the audience members were all in math related fields. It was really hard to stay focused. In fact, I didn't. Now, I don't think the lecture wasn't QUITE as bad. (Some students scoffed). BUT, I also don't think it was fair for me to just talk at you for 100 minutes. Today, we're going to be doing a lot more problems. You'll spend time trying to understand and not just trying to jot notes down." Some students looked surprise as at an apology. Others nodded. Either way, I had them bought in. My mentor came into my classes a few minutes later. He left me this note: I'll be honest... for every one good thing I do as a teacher, I can name at least 10 things that go wrong (with my help of course.) I was talking to my mentor (Rochelle Gutiérrez) about how we only ever share things about our teaching when its sunshine and roses... or things about our classroom that show we're wonderful teachers. But I think this is the trap that we fell into as students and continue to perpetuate. Failing is not REALLY part success and if you ARE failing, you should keep that secret until you've succeeded. But anyone who examines that statement knows how bogus it is. If we really think failure is going to lead to improvement, then we should be sharing them with others. Just know, fellow teachers, you are not alone.
Well here goes, my failure. Today. In one my classes, I noticed that student motivation was down. They were in class for a looong time (block period) and it was just work work work. But I was frustrated. The kinds of things I was asking my students to do was within their capabilities but they just didn't want to do anything. I noticed one particular group make almost no progress, and in that particular group, a student who appeared to me to be doing nothing most of the time. After 15 minutes, I finally went up to the group, to the student, and said, "Ok, I'm going to ask you to move seats. You're clearly not doing anything." S: No. And there it was. the power struggle had to play out. even as it was playing out, I saw how I had already messed up. I couldn't lose face. T: This isn't a request. You're distracting others; I'm asking you to move. S: No, I'm doing work. T: Why are you making this into a power struggle? I'm asking for something simple. You just need to move. S: I don't understand why I have to. It's not going to change anything. I'm getting work done here. T: I asked you to move please move S: No. I don't want to. T: Don't turn this into larger consequences for something so simple. S: (clearly getting more and more frustrated) fine. If I won, why did it feel like I lost? At the first available moment, I sat next to him and explained my perspective. I asked him if he disagreed. He did. I tried to coax a conversation out of him so I could better understand what he was thinking, but the damage had been done. He did do some work and his group focused better without him there, but the cost was not worth it. Especially for the last 15 minutes of class. I've never really given much thought to how to respond to dysfunctional groups other than useless phrases like, "Get through the work." Instead I either ignore the problem or I split them up. It's not really a good solution. This summer I heard Zach Herrmann talk about an instance when he intervened between group members so that they would be able to function. It got me thinking... maybe this is possible. Students need to be able to work with other people in their future careers... they also need to be able to do it now. They should have opportunities to empathize and settle differences in high school.
On Tuesday, I saw one of my groups unraveling. During group time, they were silently working on their own with scowls on their faces. I decided to intervene. T: So, Ali what's wrong? Ali: nothing. honestly, I dont think we should work together. T: Okay, well you guys are all intelligent competent people. Let's talk this out. Are they not working with you? Ali: Some people in this group don't take the work seriously. (Haily and Jory immediately get defensive.) T: Okay, so what's the deal? Do you think Jory is not taking it seriously? Ali: Yeah. He doesn't really do the work and he's always joking around or doing his own thing. Haily: Yeah, and we asked him POLITELY not to say answers when we're working on something, but he does it anyway. Jory: ok whatever. You guys said "SHUT UP Jory." That's not polite. Haily: That was only after the fifth time we needed to say it. (Mind you this was as they were talking over each other.) T: Ali, tell me what Jory is doing that is bothering you. Jory, I just want you to listen. Ali: He just works with Kim the whole time and doesn't really participate with the group. And he is always messing around or doing something else. (Jory tries to interject) T: Jory, I just need you to listen right now. Haily: Yeah, he just ignores us when we're talking to him. T: Jory, do you agree? Jory: No. I'm working some of the time. And they're NOT polite. They just say, "Stop or shut up." I see I've already spent at least five minutes with this group. I'm worried about time. T: Okay, Ali, Hailey, what do you need from Jory so this group can function? Jory, I want you to just listen. Ali: He should stop playing around so much.. and actually include us instead of just Kim. T: Alright, Jory, what do you need from Haily and Ali so this group can function? Jory: I donno T: Well, what upsets you? Is it that you feel disrespected? Jory: Yeah, they need to stop telling me to shut up. Ali: We never did! T: Okay, that might be true, but that's how he hears it. Right? T: Alright, Jory, you need to stop playing around so much. You have to be able to kick it into gear for your group members. Haily, Ali, I need you to start talking to Jory respectfully so he doesn't feel like he's being singled out. You guys have 10 minutes left. I know you can work together. So, use these 10 minutes wisely. I walked away... hoping it worked. hoping I wouldn't turn around and see another argument. Holy crap! They all gathered onto one side of the table and started working together on some challenging circle problems. They were focused and working together the rest of the 10 minutes. While 10 minutes is a short time, this was a MAJOR success. It was my first time mediating between student groups... and right now I think it's TOTALLY worth it! *names have been changed. |
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