I've become Charlie Brown's teacher. You know--the one no one can understand. But then again, I just might have always been. It only just now came to my attention...
"Wait. We weren't supposed to write on this?"
After I said it three times and wrote it on the board. But that's normal.
3rd period. Freshman geography. I explained the assignment and went over the first question with them. I explained that the assignment was due at the end of the period. Then I let them loose to work on their own.
40 minutes later I told them to exchange papers...
They were shocked. Several of them were nowhere near finished, even though the assignment should have only taken them 20 minutes. (And I did walk around offering my help if they needed it.)
But they spent the period socializing. Not even my pointed looks got through to them.
Although, to be fair, about half the class did finish. After they left, I thumbed through their papers. Half the class scored 37-40 (out of 40 possible). The other half?
I found several papers half done. Scores of 10 or 20. Clearly, they weren't making good use of their time.
Sigh. I guess I am Charlie Brown's teacher.
Monday, March 17, 2014
5 comments:
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Sadly, that is normal. I once had a group of kids that were so bad about listening that one day I said, "Let's get ready to leave for lunch" and they absolutely nothing but continue to talk. So I just sat in my chair and waited. About 30 minutes later, one kid said, "Hey, weren't we supposed to go to lunch? Why didn't you say anything?" They ended up missing the vast majority of their lunchtime. And never ignored me again.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just saw your Veronica Mars tweets on the sidebar...THE Wallace Fennel! How freaking awesome that must have been!
I like your approach MJ!
DeleteThe reason Charlie Brown's teacher sounds like that is because the kids don't pay attention. They brought it on themselves. If they paid attention and got their work done, they probably would have had plenty of time to talk. Time management, people!
ReplyDeleteHa! We all are! I don't think there's a teacher on the planet who doesn't have to repeat themselves and still finds students who didn't hear it either time.
ReplyDeleteSo, what you're saying is I'm not alone? Thanks. I needed that.
Delete