temperature check
thursday, december 15, 2011
after the do now, i entered into a time of "what is going on with y'all?" with my kids. ive been deeply concerned with 8B- compared to the other 2 cohorts, homework turn in has been in the 30-40% range and the grade breakdown for this week was:
As 1
Bs 2
Cs 3
Is 15 (34%-66%)
the conversation was meaningful and strong. everything from dealing with personal issues that are getting in the way of being productive in class to just feeling really overwhelmed and burnt out.
JW mentioned how he felt that teachers were coming to class and comparing their lives with the students' lives, making them feel like they weren't allowed to feel tired either. JE expressed that there is no class where they feel like "they are seen as humans. this is the only class where our thoughts and feelings matter...you want to know what's going on in our lives..."
So what do we do from here?
There are obstacles that are in our way that I (as the teacher) have no control over...
- home issues
- feeling unmotivated
- overwhelmed (mandated projects in all class imposed by the administration at the same time- due dates are not negotiable)
DE said it best..."You know like when you take 5 minutes to say "hey what's up?" and then we get to talk about it and then even like when we're learning we get to kind of bring in life into it? well, that makes it work."
My response to my kids: well, this is helpful for me and i appreciate it (tremendously! to share personal concerns in a group setting needs to be validated.) But we can't sit in this and just complain about it.
What are steps that can be taken?
* Learning to communicate with one another (if something is up, don't expect another person to be a mind reader.)
* Revisiting what matters to us (having tangible goals for us as an individual person.)
* Finding opportunities to get things off our chest (not boiling up by keeping things in and waiting for a breaking point.)
I'm definitely hoping that our mini-inquiry project will allow students to interact with topics that they want to voice more. See how that impacts the current climate of the student group...
Maybe even begin doing journal entries with this group?? I just feel like this group especially needs a platform to get things off their chest and begin to know that their voice matters and needs to be vocalized in a manner that is appropriate...
after the do now, i entered into a time of "what is going on with y'all?" with my kids. ive been deeply concerned with 8B- compared to the other 2 cohorts, homework turn in has been in the 30-40% range and the grade breakdown for this week was:
As 1
Bs 2
Cs 3
Is 15 (34%-66%)
the conversation was meaningful and strong. everything from dealing with personal issues that are getting in the way of being productive in class to just feeling really overwhelmed and burnt out.
JW mentioned how he felt that teachers were coming to class and comparing their lives with the students' lives, making them feel like they weren't allowed to feel tired either. JE expressed that there is no class where they feel like "they are seen as humans. this is the only class where our thoughts and feelings matter...you want to know what's going on in our lives..."
So what do we do from here?
There are obstacles that are in our way that I (as the teacher) have no control over...
- home issues
- feeling unmotivated
- overwhelmed (mandated projects in all class imposed by the administration at the same time- due dates are not negotiable)
DE said it best..."You know like when you take 5 minutes to say "hey what's up?" and then we get to talk about it and then even like when we're learning we get to kind of bring in life into it? well, that makes it work."
My response to my kids: well, this is helpful for me and i appreciate it (tremendously! to share personal concerns in a group setting needs to be validated.) But we can't sit in this and just complain about it.
What are steps that can be taken?
* Learning to communicate with one another (if something is up, don't expect another person to be a mind reader.)
* Revisiting what matters to us (having tangible goals for us as an individual person.)
* Finding opportunities to get things off our chest (not boiling up by keeping things in and waiting for a breaking point.)
I'm definitely hoping that our mini-inquiry project will allow students to interact with topics that they want to voice more. See how that impacts the current climate of the student group...
Maybe even begin doing journal entries with this group?? I just feel like this group especially needs a platform to get things off their chest and begin to know that their voice matters and needs to be vocalized in a manner that is appropriate...
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