As I was reading this chapter, I thought about what my students experience and what I experience each day with them. One comment by Christensen resonated with me so much -- I even stopped reading half way through the chapter and when I picked it back up later I was still thinking about this idea. She writes: "I've heard teachers, myself included, talk about lazy students who just don't do their work. And certainly this is true at times, but in recent years I've tried to look more deeply at the roots of students' resistance to essay work. 'Laziness' is a lazy explanation. There is always something more at work. Some students have had bad experiences writing essays, some have no experiences. Even before I taught untracked English classes, this was true...Some don't have a clue. Sometimes, especially early in the year, students get stuck because they are still in the ' one draft and then a grade' mode of writing" (72).
Right now, in my placement, we are writing research papers. It is a four week long unit. We are spending two weeks on MLA citations and citing sources. It is grueling and important; however, the students aren't seeing the point. Reminder: these are seniors. We are still spending two weeks teaching something that I remember learning as a ninth grader. I'm uncertain whether or not these students are exposed to MLA in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade... but I am sure that even if they were it did not stick. Similar to Christensen's experience, I am seeing every level possible within two classes, 40 students. I have some who don't even need the MLA handbook. I have others who can't use the index to find the word "article" -- it is frustrating and emotionally challenging for me. The first day we began looking at MLA format one student was totally aware of the situation. He asked, "Shouldn't we already be familiar with this? I mean, I'm not, so am I behind? Why haven't I learned this before?"
To be honest and blunt, what is even more frustrating than these students qualms, anxieties, and anger, is the teachers who claim it is "laziness." I want to be different, and I want to reach the student at whatever level he or she is at and challenge. I don't want to be ‘lazy’ and use the excuse that my students are lazy. I want to be better than that. I feel that I am lucky to experience this and at the same time my seniors are lucky to have my mentor teacher and I. We are teaching them these foundations regardless of the knowledge they hold about the topic and regardless of the level they are at. We are making sure every student will succeed.
I think it's much easier to place the blame on the students than to take ownership or fix the problem. I have heard many teachers place the blame on middle school or primary school teacher for students not knowing the foundations. I always struggled in math growing up. When I think back on that time now, I always wonder if my math grades would have improved if only I had had a teacher that stopped to help me with my individual needs. Many times teachers are rushing to get through each unit before the year/semester is over. Sometimes it's easier for the students to just "give up" rather than "catch up".
Traci, I have heard that so many times "it starts at the elementary school and middle school." From what I have heard in Professional Learning and department meetings things truly aren't happening at the middle school level for these students either. There is no vertical communication happening and there should be. I hope in the next few years things improve for the sake of our students. Until then, so much about what happens is blamed on others when we ourselves can do something to change is. Attitude has a lot to do with it and unfortunately, from my standpoint, the attitudes are a lot of times negative. More people need to think of the glass half full rather than empty-- work with what you've got -- kind of thing.
I agree that there needs to be more of an investigation into "why" the students aren't performing rather than placing blame. I have found that my assumptions of where my students "should be" is often to gateway to frustration. It is much easier to do an initial assessment to see where students are instead of assuming they know things that I think they should know by high school. I also agree that communication from middle to high school is essential to developing student success. It seems that we don't have a formal system of communication, but with professional connections we could create our own. It would only take an effort on my part to make connections with the English teachers from the feeder schools to have a way to understand the motivation of students, or lack thereof. I had not thought of this type of informal contact until reading your posts so I will definitely put that on my list of things to work on for the upcoming school year.
Cat, I agree. Writing argumentative papers (for Georgia Milestone test) has really set off a flurry of blame this year. Today, I had to teach several sixth grade students how to use a dictionary. I was so surprised that they needed help. Instead of scolding the students or blaming past teachers, it was much more practical to have this "mini-lesson" and learn from the experience. I have been baffled by teachers that talk about how poor our students' spelling and vocabulary are, yet don't include spelling and vocabulary in the weekly lesson plans. I look forward to having a classroom and realize that I will be getting students at all levels of learning. I want them to all leave my classroom as prepared for the next as they can possibly be, whatever that may entail.
Teresa, I have also found that students (in high school) don't know how to look up information using the dictionary, or the index of a text. Many teachers are not focusing on spelling and vocabulary because they aren't sure how without using the traditional methods of lists-which we know don't work. I understand your hopes of doing the most possible for your students, just don't get discouraged when you find the task much larger than you anticipated. Just remember that every little thing you do, regardless of whether you get "finished" with all you plan to accomplish, will make an impact-so keep your head up and keep trying!
The same quote stuck out to me, Cat. I have been combating "Lazy" students this past week as we have begun researching and writing research papers. Often I feel that the reason students do not want to write stems from the fact that the students do not want to appear stupid or are afraid of having whatever they have done ripped apart. It is a scary thing to have another person look at your writing and only point out the flaws in it. Therefore, part of my day is dedicated to helping the students write. I refuse to write for them, but I do like to sit with them and help them brainstorm how to begin, how to rephrase, etc. I love doing this and the students love the help.
I have the same range of students that Cat does. Some students do not know hot to navigate an index or even where to find it while I also have students who know all the ins and outs of setting up a paper in MLA format. Having the students research at the beginning of the week was extremely difficult because I wanted to do the work for them because it would go so much faster. However, I had to remind myself to have patience and help them discover how to navigate the research and writing world. I am their guide, not their hands and feet.
I am in agreement with the problem of the standardized tests. This year we have to stop teaching three weeks earlier due to all the testing needed. EOCT, SOL, GA Milestones, and then finals for the semester. I feel this is ridiculous. the students will be so wiped out testing they will not remember anything for the finals. During these testing weeks the schedules are so out of whack i might see one class for 6 hours while I do not see a different class all week. I also want to comment on the questions given on the standardized tests. Last year they students had to read and answer questions for a presidential speech. The language in this selection was way over my students heads and belonged in a college level tests not ninth grade. Here again though we have a problem of teaching to the test. Teaching this level of reading and writing is not in the curriculum so why is it on the tests?
I think the testing schedule is ridiculous also. The students will be completely wiped out before finals, yet we are expected to give them one. I plan to conduct mini-lessons on grammar, prefixes, and suffixes as reminders for the testing, but my main focus will be reading workshop. I want students to continue to focus on reading for pleasure in an attempt to increase vocabulary and comprehension on a more relaxed level. I plan to continue my review of how to breakdown those questions with the advanced vocabulary so that students may be more comfortable in answering the testing questions. I will also be using current events articles from newsela as a way to review for the comparison portions of the tests. Good luck Gloria!
High stakes testing is one of my biggest issues with education. Before I completely my student teaching last week, the entire school was already preparing for the GA Milestones. Actually, let's be honest, they had been preping all year. Almost every unit my host teacher covered (and teachers I observed) was to address some aspect of the Milestones. I could tell the students were terrified and this type of testing only turns them off further from school. I think we have to teach our students how to beat the system and that this is just something silly they must do. You have to make the tests less threatening and don't give in to teaching to the test. Teach them how to beat it. Good luck with this year's tests!
I couldn't agree more about how much we are testing these kids. I genuinely feel like high stakes testing has hijacked the education process. I can still remember a history teacher or two that I had say something along the lines of "this is really important stuff... or this is really interesting... but it won't be on the test" and then spend five minutes on something that may have a huge impact on our interests or learning. All because it wasn't on the test. And what do these tests really prove? For the most part... it just shows that we have learned to teach to the test and our students have learned to game the test if they are good. What real learning is taking place?
The part of this chapter that stood out the most for me is that many of my students cannot see themselves in college. As stated by Christensen, "for many students, there is no culture of college in the home," so many of my student have no reference to attach to as a way to strive for college. I liked her lesson on college essays because many students are overwhelmed with what they think admissions boards want so they give up before any effort is made. I also agree that the "lazy' students are ones who have faced failure over and over, so they feel that no effort will keep the disappointments to a minimum. When I was student teaching I had a student who refused to write. He explained that he wasn't good in English so there was no sense in trying. I asked him why he thought he wasn't good at writing and he said that teachers in the past had told him so. I offered that he hadn't written for me yet, so why not give it a try-I might see something different than those other teachers. He did begin writing-one line answers, but the amazing thing was that those one liners were on point! I continued to encourage him when I told the class to write 1/2 page answers, except for him since he could write 1-2 lines to sum up his thoughts very effectively. I feel that this singling out as an accomplishment built him up just enough to motivate him from "laziness" to productivity. Two years later, as a new teacher at the school, I found this student and he was an active member of the drama club, as well as an outstanding football player. I can't help but feel that my prodding him to try, rather than accepting his defeat, made a difference in his remaining years in high school. I clapped loudly when I watched him walk the stage at graduation. I know first hand that "laziness" is often a low self-efficacy, and while many students may still struggle-they are more likely to go down swinging if given the opportunity to try.
Thank you for sharing the story about that student. It's always nice to hear success stories. Too often, teachers have that "lazy" student and don't dig into the deeper cause for those behaviors. I had a student who would just refuse to do any work. It didn't matter if it was writing, typing, a game, an engaging activity, a song, hands-on, nothing worked with him. He would either sleep through class or when he was awake he did everything in his power to distract the rest of the class. I even tried starting small, asking him to just write ONE word, ONE sentence, ANYTHING and still...nothing worked. Like I asked in my post, how can we reach a child like that? I hope he one day has a teacher that breaks through like you did.
It bothers me immensely how a few critical words from a prior teacher can set a student down the path of low efficacy and learned helplessness. We need to be working towards building up a student, even (or especially) with their weaknesses. I have net to meet a kid that can't do something. They have just been convinced they can't. We can still work to build these kids back up, but it is a much steeper climb if someone has been overly critical of them in the past.
Probably one of my favorite quotes from the book came from this chapter. On page 63, Christensen says, "I no longer tranquilize their pain through writing; I'm helping them develop the tools to understand the causes of those wounds." It is one thing to have students write about things that have effected their lives and tough issues; it is something different to teach them to learn something from their pain and draw conclusions from their own writing. When students begin to see the value of writing (not just for a grade or to practice for a test), that is when true change and learning can occur.
I also love the idea of dialogue journals. I have noticed that students become resistant to reading because they don't find the text relevant to them. It is so important to have them reflect on what they have read and find ways to connect the material to their own lives and the world around them.
I also needed to read the section on deadlines. In my student teaching we would have an assignment due and would remind the students more times than I could keep count. The due date would be written on the board and we would acknowledge it every day. When that deadline came, it never failed, there would be at least 5 students who would not turn in their assignment. Some students were just forgetful and would bring it the very next day, others would never turn in the assignment at all and honestly could not care less. I'm all for having students work at their own pace and everything but there is a difference between a student wanting to turn in perfection and a student who refuses to do work. How can we reach those students who are just defiant? Once they have been given extra time and every opportunity to succeed, where do you draw the line? You have to be fair to all students. Like we mentioned in a previous post, how do you encourage them and give them opportunities without teaching them they can take advantage of you?
I was in the exact same boat. I reminded the students over and over again that their projects were due. I gave the two days to work on them in class. I even reminded them for three days after the due date! There was still that small handful who simply would not turn their work in. I stopped taking projects after the third day because at that point, it would be impossible for them to receive a grade over 60 (I deducted 10 points for every late day). I decided that I needed to follow through with this if I wanted the students to take me seriously. When grades came in, many of the students saw how much the zero affected their grade and asked if they could bring in late projects (keep in mind this was over three weeks after the projects were due). I had to tell them no. I felt I was being fair. Unfortunately, my host teacher told them that they could turn in projects (OVER THREE WEEKS LATE!). I felt like this just solidified the fact that deadlines don't really mean anything.
I am somewhat conflicted on deadlines. I come from a journalism background. Consistently missing deadlines led to unemployment and a reputation to follow you. That being said, deadlines are extremely important. However, we are working with kids. School is intended to serve as a buffer to prepare them for the real world while having that safety net to fall back on. Now, do kids abuse that concept? Absolutely. But, we still can't treat them like adults... because they aren't adults yet. It is a balancing act. I really liked how my host teacher treated late work. There would be a heavy penalty but she gave students opportunities to earn "insanity passes" throughout the semester. They were used to turn in an assignment a day or so late without penalty.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, relevance is key to successful learning and education. While it is fine and dandy for teachers to encourage students to write about their personal experiences, it is even more beneficial for students to decide what has been learned. Reflection is good, growth is better. Many students know that they have had tough life experiences. They even know what these experiences feel like. It is important that we as teachers show them how to learn from these experiences. After all, analysis is one of the deeper forms of learning. Students need to know that they can learn from their own lives and not simply the archived experiences of people in their literature textbooks. I feel that pushing relevance can really help to eliminate 'laziness' in some students. However, I can say that I am guilty of calling a student or two lazy due to refusal to complete assignments. There are two cases in particular that I came across that are a little bit different from pure apathy. In a lower level class that I taught, there were two boys who are very intelligent and pick on new concepts with virtually no trouble. I often found myself wondering why these two were even in this lower level class. The answer to this quandary came to light every time an assignment was presented. Neither of these boys would ever do their work. However, I honestly believe that they felt as though the work was way too easy for them and, therefore, not worth their time. When I asked one of them why he had not turned in his paper on the due date he told me, "I'm just lazy and your honestly probably not going to get it." What does a teacher do in a case like this? Give the boys harder work to challenge them more? Won't they then complain that their work is harder than everybody else's? How do I teach these students on a higher level while still catering to the ones who are struggling in the same class?
Grace, I had a similar situation. I had a boy that thought he was so much smarter that he didn't need to ay attention. He spent much of class reading his library book. However, when the students were finally given an assignment that had true expectations, he didn't perform any better than anyone else in the class. In fact, some of the less capable students did better than he did. Like you, i question why he was in the group he was in. But, in reality he should be challenged no matter what class he is in because every student should be challenged.
The perspective this chapter gives students about giving power to their voice and to the world around them is a very powerful perspective if students will believe it. There are many injustices in our world and in the worlds of my students. The lens I want to teach all of my students through is one of social justice. In order to do this, we must discuss issues that are very sensitive because they have caused pain for many students. The issues discussed in each classroom would be different according to the issues that most affect your students. In my student teaching experience, this issue is poverty. The majority of my students are African American and they come from homes of poverty. I love how the teacher in the book attached the issue of standardized testing. Students still learned all of the skills required by the standards, but they were able to learn them through material that meant something to them and to the world they lived in. One problem to watch for, and it is a problem that I have already found myself falling into, is focusing too much on the negative. While I already have an established and firm hope in each of my students despite their backgrounds, they do not have this hope yet. Because of this, many students can become overwhelmed by the negativity of the issues discussed in class. One solution to this problem is putting students in touch with real people who haven’t lost their hope, who still fight for the brawl and who plan to win. I also like the idea of forgiveness poems, because many of my student harbor hate for things done to them in the past. Another way to focus more on the positive is by having students write essays with attitude. These are essays that have a direct connection and impact of the students who write them. Also, having students write positive essays about themselves and their strengths forces them to focus on what makes them special. Asking students to contemplate “what makes them significant” and “who has impacted their life in the most positive way and when did that moment occur” causes students to become uncomfortable, which means they are exploring and learning new territory.
Forgiveness Poems stood out to me the most from chapter 3. It has less to do with how strong and engaging of unit it is. Instead, it stood out because how much it unsettled me. Just reading the title “Forgiving My Father” makes me shift in my seat. I can hardly think about writing my own forgiveness poem for him… because I cannot seem to forgive him yet. For what? He has given me everything and every opportunity he could afford. He never beat me. I never went to bed hungry. Instead, he is one of the most critical individuals in my life, even when my own self-criticism is almost paralyzing. He downplays my mental health issues and devalues my ideals and views. Am I ungrateful or bitter? Should I be able to forgive him and appreciate all that he has done for me despite his transgressions? And I am a 26 year old “adult.” I can only imagine what kind of hatred or hurt some of my students harbor in their still young lives. I feel they have real grievances with the world. Some have been beaten or neglected by loved ones, hurt by individuals they thought were friends, or otherwise forsaken by a society bent on leaving the world in ruin by the time it is their responsibility. And yet, do they have the strength and grace to forgive where I can’t? I feel that this unit could be transformative, even for me. Isn’t that how we should engage students in writing? Rather than mindless standardized essay response.
I really enjoyed how Christensen had her students write "Essays with an Attitude." I think that oftentimes, students don't want to write because the topics are irrelevant and because essay writing is presented in such a formal, uninteresting way. However, by leading into persuasive writing by telling students that they can write about something that they are passionate about and by letting them have a little authority on how they express themselves, we can make them more interested in writing their opinions. Christensen also does a great job on allowing the students to give feedback to each other. I plan on using the Student Essay Response Sheet in my classroom because students can check their peer's work, give their own opinion with certain guidelines, and even learn how to better their own writing by seeing others' writing. The techniques that she introduced to students for writing their college essays were also very interesting. I can tell that this assignment was meaningful to the students. When they get to write about themselves, then they have more to say. In addition, since these essays are so personalized, I think students would want to do their best. Sometimes I wonder if students always have to write on the same topic as the rest of the class. Wouldn't it be better if we gave students choices for every writing assignment?
As I was reading this chapter, I thought about what my students experience and what I experience each day with them. One comment by Christensen resonated with me so much -- I even stopped reading half way through the chapter and when I picked it back up later I was still thinking about this idea. She writes: "I've heard teachers, myself included, talk about lazy students who just don't do their work. And certainly this is true at times, but in recent years I've tried to look more deeply at the roots of students' resistance to essay work. 'Laziness' is a lazy explanation. There is always something more at work. Some students have had bad experiences writing essays, some have no experiences. Even before I taught untracked English classes, this was true...Some don't have a clue. Sometimes, especially early in the year, students get stuck because they are still in the ' one draft and then a grade' mode of writing" (72).
ReplyDeleteRight now, in my placement, we are writing research papers. It is a four week long unit. We are spending two weeks on MLA citations and citing sources. It is grueling and important; however, the students aren't seeing the point. Reminder: these are seniors. We are still spending two weeks teaching something that I remember learning as a ninth grader. I'm uncertain whether or not these students are exposed to MLA in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade... but I am sure that even if they were it did not stick. Similar to Christensen's experience, I am seeing every level possible within two classes, 40 students. I have some who don't even need the MLA handbook. I have others who can't use the index to find the word "article" -- it is frustrating and emotionally challenging for me. The first day we began looking at MLA format one student was totally aware of the situation. He asked, "Shouldn't we already be familiar with this? I mean, I'm not, so am I behind? Why haven't I learned this before?"
To be honest and blunt, what is even more frustrating than these students qualms, anxieties, and anger, is the teachers who claim it is "laziness." I want to be different, and I want to reach the student at whatever level he or she is at and challenge. I don't want to be ‘lazy’ and use the excuse that my students are lazy. I want to be better than that. I feel that I am lucky to experience this and at the same time my seniors are lucky to have my mentor teacher and I. We are teaching them these foundations regardless of the knowledge they hold about the topic and regardless of the level they are at. We are making sure every student will succeed.
I think it's much easier to place the blame on the students than to take ownership or fix the problem. I have heard many teachers place the blame on middle school or primary school teacher for students not knowing the foundations. I always struggled in math growing up. When I think back on that time now, I always wonder if my math grades would have improved if only I had had a teacher that stopped to help me with my individual needs. Many times teachers are rushing to get through each unit before the year/semester is over. Sometimes it's easier for the students to just "give up" rather than "catch up".
DeleteTraci, I have heard that so many times "it starts at the elementary school and middle school." From what I have heard in Professional Learning and department meetings things truly aren't happening at the middle school level for these students either. There is no vertical communication happening and there should be. I hope in the next few years things improve for the sake of our students. Until then, so much about what happens is blamed on others when we ourselves can do something to change is. Attitude has a lot to do with it and unfortunately, from my standpoint, the attitudes are a lot of times negative. More people need to think of the glass half full rather than empty-- work with what you've got -- kind of thing.
DeleteI agree that there needs to be more of an investigation into "why" the students aren't performing rather than placing blame. I have found that my assumptions of where my students "should be" is often to gateway to frustration. It is much easier to do an initial assessment to see where students are instead of assuming they know things that I think they should know by high school. I also agree that communication from middle to high school is essential to developing student success. It seems that we don't have a formal system of communication, but with professional connections we could create our own. It would only take an effort on my part to make connections with the English teachers from the feeder schools to have a way to understand the motivation of students, or lack thereof. I had not thought of this type of informal contact until reading your posts so I will definitely put that on my list of things to work on for the upcoming school year.
DeleteCat, I agree. Writing argumentative papers (for Georgia Milestone test) has really set off a flurry of blame this year. Today, I had to teach several sixth grade students how to use a dictionary. I was so surprised that they needed help. Instead of scolding the students or blaming past teachers, it was much more practical to have this "mini-lesson" and learn from the experience. I have been baffled by teachers that talk about how poor our students' spelling and vocabulary are, yet don't include spelling and vocabulary in the weekly lesson plans. I look forward to having a classroom and realize that I will be getting students at all levels of learning. I want them to all leave my classroom as prepared for the next as they can possibly be, whatever that may entail.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I have also found that students (in high school) don't know how to look up information using the dictionary, or the index of a text. Many teachers are not focusing on spelling and vocabulary because they aren't sure how without using the traditional methods of lists-which we know don't work. I understand your hopes of doing the most possible for your students, just don't get discouraged when you find the task much larger than you anticipated. Just remember that every little thing you do, regardless of whether you get "finished" with all you plan to accomplish, will make an impact-so keep your head up and keep trying!
DeleteThe same quote stuck out to me, Cat. I have been combating "Lazy" students this past week as we have begun researching and writing research papers. Often I feel that the reason students do not want to write stems from the fact that the students do not want to appear stupid or are afraid of having whatever they have done ripped apart. It is a scary thing to have another person look at your writing and only point out the flaws in it. Therefore, part of my day is dedicated to helping the students write. I refuse to write for them, but I do like to sit with them and help them brainstorm how to begin, how to rephrase, etc. I love doing this and the students love the help.
ReplyDeleteI have the same range of students that Cat does. Some students do not know hot to navigate an index or even where to find it while I also have students who know all the ins and outs of setting up a paper in MLA format. Having the students research at the beginning of the week was extremely difficult because I wanted to do the work for them because it would go so much faster. However, I had to remind myself to have patience and help them discover how to navigate the research and writing world. I am their guide, not their hands and feet.
I am in agreement with the problem of the standardized tests. This year we have to stop teaching three weeks earlier due to all the testing needed. EOCT, SOL, GA Milestones, and then finals for the semester. I feel this is ridiculous. the students will be so wiped out testing they will not remember anything for the finals. During these testing weeks the schedules are so out of whack i might see one class for 6 hours while I do not see a different class all week. I also want to comment on the questions given on the standardized tests. Last year they students had to read and answer questions for a presidential speech. The language in this selection was way over my students heads and belonged in a college level tests not ninth grade. Here again though we have a problem of teaching to the test. Teaching this level of reading and writing is not in the curriculum so why is it on the tests?
ReplyDeleteI think the testing schedule is ridiculous also. The students will be completely wiped out before finals, yet we are expected to give them one. I plan to conduct mini-lessons on grammar, prefixes, and suffixes as reminders for the testing, but my main focus will be reading workshop. I want students to continue to focus on reading for pleasure in an attempt to increase vocabulary and comprehension on a more relaxed level. I plan to continue my review of how to breakdown those questions with the advanced vocabulary so that students may be more comfortable in answering the testing questions. I will also be using current events articles from newsela as a way to review for the comparison portions of the tests. Good luck Gloria!
DeleteHigh stakes testing is one of my biggest issues with education. Before I completely my student teaching last week, the entire school was already preparing for the GA Milestones. Actually, let's be honest, they had been preping all year. Almost every unit my host teacher covered (and teachers I observed) was to address some aspect of the Milestones. I could tell the students were terrified and this type of testing only turns them off further from school. I think we have to teach our students how to beat the system and that this is just something silly they must do. You have to make the tests less threatening and don't give in to teaching to the test. Teach them how to beat it. Good luck with this year's tests!
DeleteI couldn't agree more about how much we are testing these kids. I genuinely feel like high stakes testing has hijacked the education process. I can still remember a history teacher or two that I had say something along the lines of "this is really important stuff... or this is really interesting... but it won't be on the test" and then spend five minutes on something that may have a huge impact on our interests or learning. All because it wasn't on the test. And what do these tests really prove? For the most part... it just shows that we have learned to teach to the test and our students have learned to game the test if they are good. What real learning is taking place?
DeleteThe part of this chapter that stood out the most for me is that many of my students cannot see themselves in college. As stated by Christensen, "for many students, there is no culture of college in the home," so many of my student have no reference to attach to as a way to strive for college. I liked her lesson on college essays because many students are overwhelmed with what they think admissions boards want so they give up before any effort is made. I also agree that the "lazy' students are ones who have faced failure over and over, so they feel that no effort will keep the disappointments to a minimum. When I was student teaching I had a student who refused to write. He explained that he wasn't good in English so there was no sense in trying. I asked him why he thought he wasn't good at writing and he said that teachers in the past had told him so. I offered that he hadn't written for me yet, so why not give it a try-I might see something different than those other teachers. He did begin writing-one line answers, but the amazing thing was that those one liners were on point! I continued to encourage him when I told the class to write 1/2 page answers, except for him since he could write 1-2 lines to sum up his thoughts very effectively. I feel that this singling out as an accomplishment built him up just enough to motivate him from "laziness" to productivity. Two years later, as a new teacher at the school, I found this student and he was an active member of the drama club, as well as an outstanding football player. I can't help but feel that my prodding him to try, rather than accepting his defeat, made a difference in his remaining years in high school. I clapped loudly when I watched him walk the stage at graduation. I know first hand that "laziness" is often a low self-efficacy, and while many students may still struggle-they are more likely to go down swinging if given the opportunity to try.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the story about that student. It's always nice to hear success stories. Too often, teachers have that "lazy" student and don't dig into the deeper cause for those behaviors. I had a student who would just refuse to do any work. It didn't matter if it was writing, typing, a game, an engaging activity, a song, hands-on, nothing worked with him. He would either sleep through class or when he was awake he did everything in his power to distract the rest of the class. I even tried starting small, asking him to just write ONE word, ONE sentence, ANYTHING and still...nothing worked. Like I asked in my post, how can we reach a child like that? I hope he one day has a teacher that breaks through like you did.
DeleteIt bothers me immensely how a few critical words from a prior teacher can set a student down the path of low efficacy and learned helplessness. We need to be working towards building up a student, even (or especially) with their weaknesses. I have net to meet a kid that can't do something. They have just been convinced they can't. We can still work to build these kids back up, but it is a much steeper climb if someone has been overly critical of them in the past.
DeleteProbably one of my favorite quotes from the book came from this chapter. On page 63, Christensen says, "I no longer tranquilize their pain through writing; I'm helping them develop the tools to understand the causes of those wounds." It is one thing to have students write about things that have effected their lives and tough issues; it is something different to teach them to learn something from their pain and draw conclusions from their own writing. When students begin to see the value of writing (not just for a grade or to practice for a test), that is when true change and learning can occur.
ReplyDeleteI also love the idea of dialogue journals. I have noticed that students become resistant to reading because they don't find the text relevant to them. It is so important to have them reflect on what they have read and find ways to connect the material to their own lives and the world around them.
I also needed to read the section on deadlines. In my student teaching we would have an assignment due and would remind the students more times than I could keep count. The due date would be written on the board and we would acknowledge it every day. When that deadline came, it never failed, there would be at least 5 students who would not turn in their assignment. Some students were just forgetful and would bring it the very next day, others would never turn in the assignment at all and honestly could not care less. I'm all for having students work at their own pace and everything but there is a difference between a student wanting to turn in perfection and a student who refuses to do work. How can we reach those students who are just defiant? Once they have been given extra time and every opportunity to succeed, where do you draw the line? You have to be fair to all students. Like we mentioned in a previous post, how do you encourage them and give them opportunities without teaching them they can take advantage of you?
I was in the exact same boat. I reminded the students over and over again that their projects were due. I gave the two days to work on them in class. I even reminded them for three days after the due date! There was still that small handful who simply would not turn their work in. I stopped taking projects after the third day because at that point, it would be impossible for them to receive a grade over 60 (I deducted 10 points for every late day). I decided that I needed to follow through with this if I wanted the students to take me seriously. When grades came in, many of the students saw how much the zero affected their grade and asked if they could bring in late projects (keep in mind this was over three weeks after the projects were due). I had to tell them no. I felt I was being fair. Unfortunately, my host teacher told them that they could turn in projects (OVER THREE WEEKS LATE!). I felt like this just solidified the fact that deadlines don't really mean anything.
DeleteI am somewhat conflicted on deadlines. I come from a journalism background. Consistently missing deadlines led to unemployment and a reputation to follow you. That being said, deadlines are extremely important. However, we are working with kids. School is intended to serve as a buffer to prepare them for the real world while having that safety net to fall back on. Now, do kids abuse that concept? Absolutely. But, we still can't treat them like adults... because they aren't adults yet. It is a balancing act. I really liked how my host teacher treated late work. There would be a heavy penalty but she gave students opportunities to earn "insanity passes" throughout the semester. They were used to turn in an assignment a day or so late without penalty.
DeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again, relevance is key to successful learning and education. While it is fine and dandy for teachers to encourage students to write about their personal experiences, it is even more beneficial for students to decide what has been learned. Reflection is good, growth is better. Many students know that they have had tough life experiences. They even know what these experiences feel like. It is important that we as teachers show them how to learn from these experiences. After all, analysis is one of the deeper forms of learning. Students need to know that they can learn from their own lives and not simply the archived experiences of people in their literature textbooks.
ReplyDeleteI feel that pushing relevance can really help to eliminate 'laziness' in some students. However, I can say that I am guilty of calling a student or two lazy due to refusal to complete assignments. There are two cases in particular that I came across that are a little bit different from pure apathy. In a lower level class that I taught, there were two boys who are very intelligent and pick on new concepts with virtually no trouble. I often found myself wondering why these two were even in this lower level class. The answer to this quandary came to light every time an assignment was presented. Neither of these boys would ever do their work. However, I honestly believe that they felt as though the work was way too easy for them and, therefore, not worth their time. When I asked one of them why he had not turned in his paper on the due date he told me, "I'm just lazy and your honestly probably not going to get it." What does a teacher do in a case like this? Give the boys harder work to challenge them more? Won't they then complain that their work is harder than everybody else's? How do I teach these students on a higher level while still catering to the ones who are struggling in the same class?
Grace, I had a similar situation. I had a boy that thought he was so much smarter that he didn't need to ay attention. He spent much of class reading his library book. However, when the students were finally given an assignment that had true expectations, he didn't perform any better than anyone else in the class. In fact, some of the less capable students did better than he did. Like you, i question why he was in the group he was in. But, in reality he should be challenged no matter what class he is in because every student should be challenged.
DeleteThe perspective this chapter gives students about giving power to their voice and to the world around them is a very powerful perspective if students will believe it. There are many injustices in our world and in the worlds of my students. The lens I want to teach all of my students through is one of social justice. In order to do this, we must discuss issues that are very sensitive because they have caused pain for many students. The issues discussed in each classroom would be different according to the issues that most affect your students. In my student teaching experience, this issue is poverty. The majority of my students are African American and they come from homes of poverty. I love how the teacher in the book attached the issue of standardized testing. Students still learned all of the skills required by the standards, but they were able to learn them through material that meant something to them and to the world they lived in. One problem to watch for, and it is a problem that I have already found myself falling into, is focusing too much on the negative. While I already have an established and firm hope in each of my students despite their backgrounds, they do not have this hope yet. Because of this, many students can become overwhelmed by the negativity of the issues discussed in class. One solution to this problem is putting students in touch with real people who haven’t lost their hope, who still fight for the brawl and who plan to win. I also like the idea of forgiveness poems, because many of my student harbor hate for things done to them in the past.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to focus more on the positive is by having students write essays with attitude. These are essays that have a direct connection and impact of the students who write them. Also, having students write positive essays about themselves and their strengths forces them to focus on what makes them special. Asking students to contemplate “what makes them significant” and “who has impacted their life in the most positive way and when did that moment occur” causes students to become uncomfortable, which means they are exploring and learning new territory.
Forgiveness Poems stood out to me the most from chapter 3. It has less to do with how strong and engaging of unit it is. Instead, it stood out because how much it unsettled me. Just reading the title “Forgiving My Father” makes me shift in my seat. I can hardly think about writing my own forgiveness poem for him… because I cannot seem to forgive him yet. For what? He has given me everything and every opportunity he could afford. He never beat me. I never went to bed hungry. Instead, he is one of the most critical individuals in my life, even when my own self-criticism is almost paralyzing. He downplays my mental health issues and devalues my ideals and views. Am I ungrateful or bitter? Should I be able to forgive him and appreciate all that he has done for me despite his transgressions? And I am a 26 year old “adult.”
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what kind of hatred or hurt some of my students harbor in their still young lives. I feel they have real grievances with the world. Some have been beaten or neglected by loved ones, hurt by individuals they thought were friends, or otherwise forsaken by a society bent on leaving the world in ruin by the time it is their responsibility. And yet, do they have the strength and grace to forgive where I can’t? I feel that this unit could be transformative, even for me. Isn’t that how we should engage students in writing? Rather than mindless standardized essay response.
I really enjoyed how Christensen had her students write "Essays with an Attitude." I think that oftentimes, students don't want to write because the topics are irrelevant and because essay writing is presented in such a formal, uninteresting way. However, by leading into persuasive writing by telling students that they can write about something that they are passionate about and by letting them have a little authority on how they express themselves, we can make them more interested in writing their opinions. Christensen also does a great job on allowing the students to give feedback to each other. I plan on using the Student Essay Response Sheet in my classroom because students can check their peer's work, give their own opinion with certain guidelines, and even learn how to better their own writing by seeing others' writing.
ReplyDeleteThe techniques that she introduced to students for writing their college essays were also very interesting. I can tell that this assignment was meaningful to the students. When they get to write about themselves, then they have more to say. In addition, since these essays are so personalized, I think students would want to do their best. Sometimes I wonder if students always have to write on the same topic as the rest of the class. Wouldn't it be better if we gave students choices for every writing assignment?