Today I gave my first quiz. Some would call it a pop quiz, considering I failed to mention it to my students the class before. I claimed that it was not. Whether or not they believe this claim is up in the air. I gave the speech... I'm not trying to punish you, I'm not out to get you, I just want to make sure you understand the content and whatever you don't understand I am here to help you with. I am by no means saying my speech was untrue, but I don't know if I would have believed a word of this when I was in 6th grade and my teacher gave me a quiz on the 3rd day of class. Jerk. Now I'm that jerk. I'm the teacher that gives homework over the weekend too. Jerk. The difference is, these kids want homework. Can you believe that? They actually ask for it. They are used to teachers who don't care. The teachers who would rather not grade their homework, so they would just never give it to them. The difference is, I do care. I will grade it. I want to grade it. No matter how laborious it is (ha, my new favorite word). Not only will I grade it, I will leave comments. I will ask questions. They need to know I'm invested in them so they, in turn, will be invested in school. More specifically science.
Year after year kids struggle in science. Or at least that's what the state test, the TAKs is telling us. This system is flawed though. The kids don't take the science TAKs every year. They take it in 5th grade and then again in 8th grade. So, that 8th grade test has 6th, 7th, and 8th grade material on it. Not only that, but the kids have trouble reading and that then affects their scores, obviously. A student could understand almost every lesson a teacher gives for 3 years but still fail the Science Taks because they can't read. I shouldn't get into venting about this because I could go on forever... seriously, forever.
Anyway... today was a good day. They listened, they walked in straight lines, they followed procedures, good day. Some received a warning (a yellow card) but after that they got it together. At the end of each class I had them do an exit ticket. I asked them to put their name and period on a notecard. Then I asked them to write 2 things on it. I prefaced this by saying... "I am not going to get mad at you for writing anything on this. I'm not going to like you more or like you less because of something you write. Okay?" Okay. "I need you to write 1 thing that you like about the way I teach, or one thing that I have done in class that you really like. Then I need you to write one thing that you don't like or you think I should change or improve." They did this pretty willingly. Of the 55 kids I had today (tomorrow I have 86) there were a few answers that stuck out... Deisy wrote: 1)I like how she respects all the students. 2) I like that she asks me for help when she needs it 3) I like how she says she wants us to learn.
She didn't follow the directions at all but it still made me smile. Jocelyn did though, she said... "I like the tone of her voice. Not too high, not too soft, soft and smooth :) I think she should give us candy for having the right answers :)" Smiley faces included.
Surprisingly, there were no complaints about the quiz and no complaints about homework. A few said they don't like how I don't let them go to the bathroom. This is understandable, but no one has peed their pants yet. I did let a girl go today. I looked her in the eyes and asked if it was an emergency. She nodded intensely. She was back 2 minutes later. My thing about the bathroom is that you let them go whenever and they roam the halls or don't come back. She came right back. I truly believed that it was an emergency, I trusted her, and she proved to me that I should trust her.
A few minutes later a gentleman, Noe, asked "may I please use the restroom Miss?" It took all of me to look past his immense politeness and stick to my policy. "Is it an emergency?" "Ummm..." "There are only 20 minutes left in class, and if you go you are using your 1 emergency pass for the whole semester." "Ummmm... I can wait, thank you Miss." Five minutes later another student asked if he could go to the bathroom. Noe called out, "Is it an emergency because you only get one emergency!" They are beginning to get all the policies. Some they understand, some they don't, but for the most part they get that it is for their benefit. THEY ARE TOO SMART TO WASTE TODAY! That is the last line of my class pledge. I have videos of it but I believe that I am not allowed to put it online, so I am in the process of ripping the audio!
There were so many good moments today, and hopefully there will be more tomorrow too.
Until then... Hasta Luego
Carolina
No comments:
Post a Comment