I Am Boring!

[A True Teacher]

Will someone tell me what I am doing wrong, please?

I am an English Language teacher assigned to 3 classes (2 3rd forms and 1 4th form). My role for the moment is to prepare these kids enough to competently sit their exams in 2 - 3 yrs time. As English is a compulsory subject I tend to have a problem with my (let's just say less academically inclined) 3rd formers. The first set (the cream of the crop so to speak) can produce whatever I have them work at without much of a whimper. The 4th formers I got to take an interest in writing, especially short stories, by making things more interesting and meaningful for them. But, my problem is with the other 3rd form.

Just four weeks before the x-mas vacation I gave an at home project to be done by all classes. It was on descriptive writing. Students from this class hardly produced the work, and appears as if they couldn't be bothered. The truth is, most teachers have given up on them, and I have not chosen to treat them any different to the way that I treat my other classes. I love all of my kids. I even went as far as giving them the info on a silver platter, only to have it thrown back into my face. At the end of it all they want to know why they did not do well.

I am at a loss! I refuse to give up on them, because they will be just lost in the system. I, unlike some of my colleagues, try to understand the types of family life (or lack thereof) most studetns of this class come from. I do engage in powerful discussions with them about becoming better individuals. Almost every day I try to instill in them that they must rise above their circumstances and not let them dictate their future. But, it seems like I am in a valley.

Most hate to read, but let them role play and engage in the rubbish they are accustomed to they will surely participate. I want them to rise above that.

I'm not giving up on them!!!! But, how do I get them to become more involved in their own learning? How do I make them want to read and discover?

Running Out of Ideas

[Monique Love]

hi, i have been recently reading this book called the One Minute Teacher. It focucses on how a teacher inspires her students on how to desire learning for themselves and how to teach themselves. You could probably give it a read.

Spencer Johnson and Constance Johnson
the One Minute Teacher- how to teach others to teach themselves.

hope it helps!

[Y-U-H8-ME]

This might sound extreme to you guys, but I have found that when I can't reach the at risk kids anymore, that's when they need me to be saying something else. When I get to that point, I simply point out the truth to them, and that is the fact that many high ranking people in the school, town, state, and country expect and WANT these kids to fail. I explain to them that they are cast-offs in the academic world and are expected to automatically assume that role in life. I show them data that proves how more afluent kids end up getting better grades, not because they are smarter, but simply because money has been proven to be a direct link to quality of education. After I give them this little slap in the face, I explain to them that they can just roll over and let the know-it-all's win, though I won't let them, and they know that, or they can help themselves by proving all these ignoramuses wrong. Plus, it helps that I give them cool assignments that they can relate to, as opposed to reading out of a text book.

I know this may sound rough, but I treat every class as if 3/4 of the students have learing disabilities. I do this because we all know that for every one student who is actually diagnosed, there are two others who COULD be diagnosed. While this is a reality in my class, I also know who my super-bright kids are and how to challenge them. By keeping these things in mind, I develop all of my lesson plans so they are both challenging to everyone, but yet explained in several different ways to reach all learners.

I would suggest you look into multi-sensory and kinetic learning. both have been proven to work well with at risk and IEP students, as well as with "regular" students.

[Mr. H]

Don't you have a Reader's Library at your school? You know, books written with reduced content but about topics that students might actually want to read on their own.. they even have teen romance novel-type books... That way at least the students are reading something of interest and the pressure is off of you. If you need more information shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you some more information.

[gavint]

Try out some ideas from this book, "30 Ideas for Teaching Writing (http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922)." It's free! And the lesson plans are easy to try out. Good luck.

[annettemcd]

To give students the freedom to read what interests them at their level and yet require reading, my children's school is using Accelerated Reader and requiring a certain number of points. This might help by letting students define their own reading, while still encouraging them to read.

I like the idea which a previous post suggested of telling them that they are expected to fail and the best way to "get back" at the "establishment" is to prove them wrong by not failing. Convince them that they are not hurting others by their failures, they are only hurting themselves.

On writing, perhaps try to get them to write persuasion papers to convince you to see their point of view on an issue --the importance of video games or reviews of video games, films, television shows, or cellular phones with information on why it is better than others and why YOU should watch, play, or use it. When they get good at it, switch it around so that they have to defend the other side of an issue, like why there SHOULD be a dress code.

Perhaps change the format of the writing requirement and have them write scripts for commercials or television shows. If they are writing anything with structure, that is better than no writing been done. My son spent many, many hours working on a script, directing, filming, editing, acting, and producing a video about a modern version of MacBeth. It was great and showed a great deal of insight into the play. I was amazed at the number of hours which he put into that project --over three hours per day for over three weeks. (Duncan owned "Duncan (Dunkin') Donuts" and the final scene was a huge gun battle complete with sound effects and slow motion action shots. With an all male cast, Lady MacBeth was in drag (actually a Snow White costume and red yarn wig), talked in a falsetto, and flirted shamelessly by playing with her/his nipples.) It only took a video camera and a Macintosh computer to make the whole thing and burn it to disc.

I found that some students automatically turn off to literature and anything which they think is labeled as "good" by teachers. I once found a student sitting out in the hall because he thought "Romeo and Juliet" was stupid. I went to the library and got the two page summary in a reference book and read it to him. I asked him how HE would feel if he was Romeo and these things were happening to him --the death of his best friend, not being allow to see his girlfriend. He got very excited and went back into class. He had no idea what the play was about, he just KNEW that he wouldn't like it. I told another student that he should read "Beowulf" as though it was written by Stephen King with all of its blood and guts. Then it wasn't "classic literature" to him, but a cool story. Change their attitude towards the classics. Another time, I introduced some students to Hemingway because they were convinced that classic literature was always hard to read with long, difficult sentences. --Nothing like Hemingway for short, clear sentences.

[DarrenB]

Many of us feel like our students should just want to learn, should understand the inherent importance of an education on their future, but so many of our students can't see past the end of their noses.

It's our job to educate, not simply to provide instruction. And there's a difference. Freire said education is simply pouring out information and letting the open vessels get filled. To heck with those unwilling to learn. My philosophy tells me that when a student fails my class, I have also failed that student.

When planning a unit, I think about it in terms of "selling" it to my students. Why would they want to do what I want them to do? A good teacher sales person sets the prospects (students) up at the beginning of the year. We start by working on goals, both short and long term. Inevitably many of these goals have to do with money. I jokingly say, "How many of you are looking forward to being poor?" or "How many of you want to be thousandaires?" "I can't wait to make my first three hundred dollars!" They see I'm being sarcastic, and I follow it up with, "No! Let's try to be millionaires! Let's set our goals as high as possible! You think Bill Gates' goal was to make a thousand dollars? Heck no!"

From here, once they buy-in to this goal process, it's relatively easy to tie in what we're doing to that overall goal. Even standardized tests can be sold on this basis since for many of our students, when they want to earn more money with their job, they'll need to take some form of a standardized test. GRE, SAT, nursing certiications, etc.

I remind my students constantly why we're doing this and how it will help them, both short term and long term. I sell my students on what we're doing. It takes a bit more time, but in the long run, it saves time and increases my overall enjoyment of the students and the classes.

[Unregistered]

i can't belive that those kids don't want to read! I love to read! In fact I got glasses because I used to hide under the covers at night with a flashlight to read a book!
In my class at school almost the exact same thing is happening! And with eqao coming up I hope my teacher can get my class to behave!

[Liane]

Will someone tell me what I am doing wrong, please?

I am an English Language teacher assigned to 3 classes (2 3rd forms and 1 4th form). My role for the moment is to prepare these kids enough to competently sit their exams in 2 - 3 yrs time. As English is a compulsory subject I tend to have a problem with my (let's just say less academically inclined) 3rd formers. The first set (the cream of the crop so to speak) can produce whatever I have them work at without much of a whimper. The 4th formers I got to take an interest in writing, especially short stories, by making things more interesting and meaningful for them. But, my problem is with the other 3rd form.

Just four weeks before the x-mas vacation I gave an at home project to be done by all classes. It was on descriptive writing. Students from this class hardly produced the work, and appears as if they couldn't be bothered. The truth is, most teachers have given up on them, and I have not chosen to treat them any different to the way that I treat my other classes. I love all of my kids. I even went as far as giving them the info on a silver platter, only to have it thrown back into my face. At the end of it all they want to know why they did not do well.

I am at a loss! I refuse to give up on them, because they will be just lost in the system. I, unlike some of my colleagues, try to understand the types of family life (or lack thereof) most studetns of this class come from. I do engage in powerful discussions with them about becoming better individuals. Almost every day I try to instill in them that they must rise above their circumstances and not let them dictate their future. But, it seems like I am in a valley.

Most hate to read, but let them role play and engage in the rubbish they are accustomed to they will surely participate. I want them to rise above that.

I'm not giving up on them!!!! But, how do I get them to become more involved in their own learning? How do I make them want to read and discover?

Running Out of Ideas

Can I just start by saying that you're not doing anything wrong? Teaching is one of the most difficult professions, and the reason for that is that you constantly have to deal with people (i.e., kids) you would never meet in your out-of-school life. What this means is that you are not 100% familiar with their situation and with their culture. I think it's a great thing that you're trying to learn about their situation, as this will undoubtedly have them seeing you in a better light (and they'll pay more attention to you). But listen - I teach in a high-need school, and when I get a class like that - well, I struggle too. Everyone does. One thing that sometimes works for me is to show kids where they're headed, and get them excited about it (i.e., "this book looks scary, 900 pages, but watch, by the end of the semester I'll have to ask you to stop reading and put it down. Now let me show you the first step...").

Of course, some students don't get motivated, period. This is when you change things a little - like making time in class to complete a project, and giving them things in little steps that they can concentrate on.

Finally, and this is probably the BEST idea (I got this from a colleague of mine who has 5 classes like the one you described): bring food to class. Bring a big jug of water to class with little plastic cups. Bring snacks to class. Bring cheapo reading glasses. Bring gum. If these kids are from a disadvantaged background, they are probably hungry. They might not have access to medical care. You can't control the bad things that are happening at home (if they have a home), but you CAN make your classroom a place where they want to be. The more you give them what THEY want, the more you'll get what YOU want.

But listen, just a note on one thing you said - that you've decided to treat them like everyone else... If you're really paying attention to their needs, you'll tailor the class to them. It's not about less planning, it's about reaching as many students as possible. Students with different backgrounds learn in different ways. But you knew that.

__________________
ESL Teacher and Yoga Instructor Liane Carmi has joined with Jay Kubassek of Carbon Copy PRO in his mission to create 100 millionaires by 2012. For information on how you can be part of this opportunity log on to http://better-educated.com (http://better-educated.com?t=teachnology)