I was in a great mood today, and I really needed it to make it through Monday. Because of the inservice day on Friday, the kids had a 3 day weekend, which always makes for an interesting return to school on Monday. It is amazing what that one extra day of freedom will do to middle schoolers - they forget things amazingly quickly. The great lesson you taught on Thursday is merely a distant memory to the students who enter your classroom on Monday. You need to reteach material, revisit expectations, and remind students of upcoming tests and due dates. I haven't found a good way to lesson plan for Mondays yet. I seem to either plan too much by trying to move forward too quickly, or I plan too little by expecting a review activity to take longer than it does. Either way, Monday's are just plain tough.
To make matters worse, we are 1/6 of the way through the school year, and the honeymoon period is definitely over. I'm not that new, fun (charming, handsome, talented, etc.) teacher anymore; I'm just another one of their teachers who expects them to come to class prepared and ready to work. I cannot just use the force of my personality to make these students behave anymore. I need the structures and classroom procedures I have in place to work better so I don't have to.
My philosophy around classroom management is that students should always be treated as if they are intrinsically motivated and that extrinsic motivators should only be used as a last resort. I really do believe that every student wants to feel successful, and that most misbehavior is just an attempt to gain attention from me or from the student's peers. I've seen so many students completely turn around in class once they start understanding the material and participating with their group. Nobody likes feeling stupid, so it is easier to slack off and be off task than it is to honestly confront your confusion.
The trouble I am having is with other students. I'm making (slow, painfully slow) progress with a few tough students who never contribute in class. I know that they can be a part of the classroom, and that success is an addictive feeling. I have elicited some (short, semi-articulate) responses from these kids, which feels like a huge success to me. The next step is trying to help them integrate into their groups, which is extremely challenging.
If there are 4 kids in a group where 3 understand the assignment while the last kid is barely holding onto the material, then the 3 kids who understand will want to just complete the assignment themselves. It's natural to want to finish the work at a higher quality and quicker pace, and it's natural to resent the student who is slowing everything down and making it look bad. This makes the 4th kid feel bad, resent his or her group member, and not want to participate. All the gains I made with a student can be erased in a second by a harsh word or look from a peer. Middle schoolers care much more about peer approval than adult approval, so peer-to-peer relationships are incredibly difficult to manage in the classroom.
Here's my quandary: how do I respond to behavior from students who are on task but are being rude to the kid who is slowing up the whole group? It is especially hard when one of my on-task students points a finger at a kid who is off task, because I can relate with the student who resents being slowed down and I can understand the response of the kid who is struggling with the assignment. I can't allow students to be mean to each other, but I can't baby the students who are consistently off task.
How do other teachers handle this sort of issue?
Can you turn it back on the kid at all? Here is a dialogue that comes to mind,
ReplyDelete"what are you doing to help the student contribute more? Is being negative working?"
"How could you be more helpful to that student?"
" so-and-so would like you to be more productive in this group, what can the group do to help you?"
getting the students to be proactive about the problem can flip the switch on them sometimes
The greatest success for me with students who (in my case at least) under perform usually for failing to TRY is giving them purpose and setting them up for success. I have many students who don't engage fully because they think they are dumb or think they aren't going to get it right. If I can boost their confidence by choosing them for the level 1 questions they might be more likely in the future to volunteer their thoughts and ideas. Also, I truly feel if students understand the purpose and see an outcome they will make the choice to be more involved. I know that isn't totally intrinsic motivation but the idea that I MIGHT have to share what a group member said in a discussion means that I better pay attention instead of just spacing out.
Just some thoughts from your sister in arms at the middle school :) We are coming off a 4 day weekend...tomorrows going to be fun!
Megan! Thanks for your comment. Middle school is tough, right?
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right - it's all about giving the kid a purpose to participate. It is just so hard to keep having a meaningful purpose every day for students who have little interest in science. I really like your first question, which is so direct and to the point. Students resort to negative behaviors when they don't know what to do, so just asking the question "is being negative working?" is so simple and to the point.
Thanks for the advice!