Hello folks, and welcome back to another exciting edition. Today we'll be talking about mixing work and play at school. Oh, but I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about my students.
It seems that whenever I assign any homework and they don't finish it on time, I get blamed by them for assigning too much homework. Nevermind that I give them 30 minutes in class to finish or that you have several days to do it sometimes. Oh, no, let's not care about that. Instead, they can only focus on the negative. You know what? I'm not in it to be their friend. Sure, they are good kids, no doubt. However, this is not some buddy-buddy relationship. I'm not in there for their friendship and trying to be "cool." I have my cool friends outside of school. Instead, I'm trying to earn their respect and let them know that I want them to succeed. Now, I wouldn't be very good at letting them succeed if I gave them credit when they did not do any work. I would be giving in to their bad habit. Instead, I try to encourage them to work hard through difficult problems. Use their problem solving skills to develop their thinking caps. Be creative with their thought and work hard always. I know it's tough, but they are a good group of kids. Growing pains can be hard, but we all have to go through them.
So today I had make-up exam for chapter 2 in my algebra 2 class. I reminded the students several times every day this week. So today I am talking with a few of my students who did not do so well on the previous exam and suggested that they retake the test today. You know what some of my responses are? One girl said, "Well, I have so much going on and there's just a lot of things happening today." So I told her repeatedly that I have mentioned that the make up exam is today. She then said, " Well, can I take it tomorrow morning?" Uh, no. Today is the only day. Make a priority. Do what you want to do after school or do the retest. What's more important. Evidently her other event was more important because she didn't show up. Her F still remains to this day. Another girl said exactly the same thing. She said though, "I don't want to miss my club soccer game today and my volleyball game later on. I already missed a soccer game on Tuesday. Can I take the test tomorrow morning?" Well, then I asked, why didn't you show up early at 7am today to take it then. "Oh, that's too early. So can I take it tomorrow morning at the same time?" Uh, no. First, the day to retake the test is today, and second if you didn't show up early today what makes me think that you will show up early tomorrow! I reminded her of her priorities and that it is important to do well in school. I expected her to show up, but she didn't. Her F remains as well. What's even worse is that her volleyball coach came to talk to me later that day. He asked if she took the retest (we previously discussed that he wanted her to take the test) and I told him that she refused and decided that it was more important to show to her soccer game instead. Too say he was upset is an UNDERSTATEMENT! I don't know what he said to her, but she will be mad and dissappointed when Monday comes rolling around.
Too much play, I say. Get your priorities straight. I remind these students that school is important and that it will help you develop life skills. It will help you succeed in life. It will help you get into college. Instead, they are only focused on the here and now. Instant gratification is the reward of the day. Why work hard when I can get what I want NOW! If I can't get what I want when I want it, then it simply isn't worth it. And this is a Christian school! These young ones have a lot to learn but I can relate. It's hard to see the world when you are a teenage with ambition. The important thing is not to give up. Take the opportunities given to you. Always strive to do better. On my algebra 2 retest, I told the students that I would average the retest grade and their previous grade to obtain a new score. If they did worse on the retest, then their original grade stands. There is NO possible way to lower your grade on the retest! Still, not everyone that failed showed up. Is it disgrace? I don't know.
Anyways, I have been in contact with several of the parents and have had several conferences with some of the parents. They are mostly negative for the student but they are very thankful that I am trying to help their child succeed. They are surprised of all the effort that I do to help them and shocked that their child hardly utilizes any of them. They are also glad that I was able to spot these trends of them slipping in their grades while it is still October and they have plenty of time to change their grade around. I'm thankful too that I have their support and that they too want their child to succeed. It's good when parents and teachers work together to help the student. Because in college, this just doesn't happen. You have to be self-motivated.
Anyways, all work and no play makes Mark a sad boy, dawg...
4 comments:
Your situation sounds really frustrating. At least you have the adults on your side rather than against you. You must have at least couple excellent students who stand out, right?
Yeah, I have a good amount of students who are outstanding and it's really important to remember that. It's really easy to focus on the poor performing students and ignore those who do good and help out others. Actually I am considering some way to recognize those who help others. If you have any ideas that would be great!
Hmmmmmm. . . . Since it's hard for you to help every student, maybe you could create special sessions where the students who understand the material can help those who are struggling a bit. Maybe just before a major test? I always felt that when I taught my fellow students I really began to understand the material.
Depressing post, until the end when you reveal that there is still hope. Keep on those kids and their parents! Especially their parents!
I don't know if you already do this, but you could write a common math problem on the board and solve it in front of them. But instead of you solving it, you call on students to solve the problem one step at a time. After you solve it, you can write up another problem on the board but this time have each student work on it by themselves for a few minutes on their own sheet of paper. Then review how the students did and make corrections as necessary. Maybe this way of spoon feeding will increase their confidence and help them understand the material.
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