In all of my classes, I'm trying to incorporate more pair or group learning. I've found, in some cases, that I'm having to teach my students how to work properly as a team. Most pairs/groups do very well. There have been those teams who do not perform well together. I've found two main reasons for this lack of productivity:
1. The individuals have a personal aversion to each other (for whatever reason), and do not want to work together.
2. The individuals are too friendly and get off task easily.
3. The individuals refuse to communicate because of lack of fluency with English, embarassment because of their language ability, etc.
4. The classic: one person does all the work and everyone else copies his/her paper.
In response to questions like: "Miss, can I work by myself?" or "Miss, can I switch partners or work with that group over there?" I've come up with 3 rules--The 3 C's of Team Work:
1. Communication (about the topic)
2. Cooperation (to stay on task)
3. Collaboration (to do the work)
If they do these 3 things within their team, they will be successful in the end. Plus, these three rules take care of all of the problems listed above! I tell them that they MUST learn to do things things to be successful English speakers and students. If I see a group not following the rules, I threaten them with a lower participation grade for that day. (I don't actually give participation grades, but the threat works anyway. LOL)
So, with that in mind, here's what's going on in my classes this week:
SOPH WORLD LIT
I thought we were moving into Oedipus the King, but I forgot that we have to do Sundiata and African proverbs first! So, this week the students took their test on Gilgamesh and "Noah," and were then introduced to the next unit: Epic Heroes and Tragic Heroes. Today and tomorrow, they are working in small groups (3 people), to learn about proverbs. In the text, there are 4-5 proverbs each for 6 different African countries. So, the students are choosing 1 proverb from each country, discussing what each means, and creating a table on poster paper to show their understanding of that proverb. On the table, they list: the proverb, their translation of the proverb (its lesson), and a picture to represent the lesson.
They are actually doing much better at the translations than I thought they would! It's been fun to listen to their conversations about phrases like: "One falsehood spoils a thousand truths." :) Their understanding of proverbs will assist them as we read Sundiata in this unit. The epic story teaches a couple of important lessons through the use of proverbs.
LA II
These students have been working on the usual textbook, activity book, grammar book, and writing assignments. Their focus on their work since the seat assignments has improved a bit, and I'm realizing that there are a few students whose language ability is FAR below most others in the class. Classes that contain students with such varied levels of ability are taxing on the teacher because 1/3 of the class is yelling out "Miss! Miss! Come here please!" because they have questions about improving their vocabulary, extending their sentences, and other big language concepts. Another 1/3 of the class is quietly on task, doing what is asked of them, making a few mistakes, and needing minimal guidance. The lower 1/3 of the class is yelling out "Miss! Miss! I don't get this!" or are sitting as quietly as possible so the teacher doesn't see that their assignment is all wrong because they had to write something--anything--just to look like they understood and could keep up with everyone else. It can get frustrating, and sometimes I catch myself getting irritated. But as soon as I think of how hard they are all trying, and the fact that they are at least on task, I can take a breath and focus on helping each student in the way he or she needs.
LDC III
This class did not do well on their prepositional phrases handout earlier in the week, so I handed back their graded papers and asked them all to do corrections on a separate piece of paper. But THIS TIME, they had to label the parts of speech in the preposition phrase (e.g. prep, article modifier, noun). I do not play when it comes to grammar. Especially when it's something basic like prepositions. Come on!
Anyhow, today the class separated into pairs to do an introduction activity to a supplemental text called "The Navajo." The handout asked them to look at different parts of the book (the title, TOC, headings, glossary...) and answer questions from that basic information. It was interesting to see how many students did not know what a "heading" was. These types of activities may seem basic, but are obviously necessary to help them learn/remember how much information is provided in texts.
There were a couple of pairs that weren't working well together, so I had to manage those situations and remind them about the rules of the 3 C's of Team Work. In the end, though, they all did a great job of completing the assignment as a team. Those who need a bit more practice will get it tomorrow because they'll continue working with their partner to read Chapter 1 aloud and complete a comprehension handout. :)
JR AMERICAN LIT
Students in this class will finish their autobiography projects this week and turn them in on Friday. Using Google Docs to help the students edit their work as they went turned out to be very successful. I was able to pinpoint recurring problems for various students and offer one-on-one tutoring to assist them and help them improve. For instance, one student had whole paragraphs that only included commas until the end of the paragraph! I sat her down and gave a brief run-down of proper punctuation for simple, compound, and complex sentence. Then, she looked at her own paragraphs and inserted appropriate punctuation where needed. Not all students particpated in the process, but that was their choice. Those who did participate were very excited about the opportunity to improve their writing by using the process of proofreading and revising.
As for the content of the class, we've been studying journals and narrative accounts of the earliest explorers and settlers to North America. The texts contain somewhat antiquated language, so I've given students the adapted versions from the Reader's Guide text companion. These are great because there are questions that make the students analyze sections of text as they read. It slows them down, and forces them to focus. Right now, they are working on of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford: his narrative account about the journey on the Mayflower and their first experiences in the New World. Next week, we'll finish this unit with a slave narrtive by O. Equiano. This is one that the students often have strong reactions to because Equiano was such an impressive person and talented writer. Even today, his descriptions of his experiences get the students talking about how unfair it was for Equiano and others like him!
This Week's The Bad/The Good:
The Bad: I am SO TIRED of telling students to sit down in their chairs, get out their materials, and be ready to start class when the bell rings. Even if I am standing at the front of the room, obviously ready to speak, students don't seem to understand the cues and continue walking around, carrying on conversation, stuffing their faces with chips/candy, etc. I've had to start handing out detentions for people who aren't seated at the ring of the bell! I told them: "The bell is not a magical sound that only teachers can hear. You hear it, too. It's more for you than for me, so be seated and ready to learn as soon as you hear it!" So aggrivating!!!
The Good: I've had quite a few former students contact me or stop by in the past couple of weeks. One sent me a Facebook message that said: "You were the best teacher I ever had. I know that now. And I regret sleeping so much in your class." LOL :) Well, at least he finally learned the lesson, right? A couple others have stopped by just to talk about their lives and how things are going. Others have contacted me for letters of recommendation for jobs or college. On days when my CLASSES are not going so well, these are the things I should think of because being a Lit/ESL teacher is not just about teaching content. It's also about caring for these individuals and being another adult who helps guide them.
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