Welcome to Teachers At Risk
An honour
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Edublog AwardsMay
29
Are you blem?
Filed Under "At-risk" students, motivating students, positive climate, Special Education, The way I see it, underachieving students | 3 Comments
Are you blem? Who knew the power of that expression. For that matter, who even knew that expression or what it meant? One of my students, Daryl, (not his real name) in my grade nine math class started to use that expression last week when talking to his friends in class. I hadn’t heard the expression before, but then my students often use expressions that are new and puzzling to me.
I don’t exactly remember how we got talking in my grade 12 class about the fact that teenagers come up with new expressions and words to use that sometimes confuse adults. I mentioned that I thought that the expression “Are you blem?” was the latest one. Well, as soon as I finished saying “Are you blem?”, Chante, not her real name, burst out laughing and said “I’m really glad I came to class today, Miss.” That was saying a lot given it was Friday, Period 1, and Chante often chose not to come to class on Fridays. She told me I had made her day. Later in the day whenever she saw me in the halls she’d shout out “Hey Miss. Are you blem?”‘ and then dissolve into laughter.
I don’t get it. What’s so funny about me saying “Are you blem?”‘ When I asked Chante what was so funny about me saying the expression, she wouldn’t tell me. She’d just double up with laughter.
You know I really don’t care what’s so funny about me saying “Are you blem?”. I do care that me saying the expression led to Chante saying that she was glad she came to my class first period on a beautiful sunny Friday morning- a perfect time to skip class. The fact that Chante said she was glad she had come to class was remarkable given that Chante and I and the VP had had “discussions” about her irregular attendance earlier in the semester.
Early on, Chante told the VP that she hated my class and that’s why she was skipping. The VP made arrangements for her to work in the independent study centre. (It’s a long story, and I won’t bore you.) Chante was to come to class and just get the assignments and then go to the independent centre and work there. She didn’t have to stay in my class for the entire period. The odd thing was that after Chante was told she didn’t have to stay in my class, more often than not she stayed. Go figure.
Although Chante was not a struggling student, she was a reluctant one and was totally disconnected from school this her last semester. I had been trying to develop a positive relationship with her so that she would be more open to coming to class and earning her credit. I didn’t even hope I could get her to do her best. She was so antagonistic. I just wanted her to earn her last three credits so she could graduate and go on to college. Yes, Chante had been accepted to college, and high school no longer seemed relevant to her. She was ready to get on with the next phase of her life, the college phase.
It’s almost June and there are less than three weeks before exams. It’s a tough time of year for students and teachers, and if laughter helps the medicine go down then bring on the laughter.
I just want to share another moment with you. One of my students in my grade 9 math class last week told me she was going to get a tatoo of my name on her wrist and have math questions tatooed around it. Cheeky little thing.
May
26
What are schools doing to engage teachers?
Filed Under SOS for Teachers, Teacher Support, The way I see it | 1 Comment
What are schools
doing to meet the needs of teachers? I don’t mean sending teachers on a pd. session to meet the need of knowing how to differentiate instruction, or how to do authentic assessment. I mean meet the needs of teachers as human beings. Teachers are human beings first and teachers second. What is being done to meet those human needs?
May
15
The motivating power of authentic assignments.
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, motivating students, underachieving students | 1 Comment
I would have never guessed that Sean, not his real name, could write as well as he does if it hadn’t been for the first post he wrote for the blog I helped him set up last week. LOL! Talk about the power of authentic assignments.
Sean’s career goal is to be a critic. Now, to be honest I couldn’t see that happening ( give me a minute to wipe the egg off my face) given the writing, or should I say the lack of writing he has been doing in my class. I couldn’t get him to write more than a few sentences, let alone finish any assignments that involved writing.
I was really concerned on a couple of levels. First, I wasn’t sure that he was going to pass my course. He has excellent oral skills but weak writing skills, or so I thought. Secondly, I was concerned about his career goal. He wanted to be a critic. I thought that career choice was unrealistic given his writing ability. Shows you how much I know.
We were talking in class about what courses my students would have to take given their career goals. Sean said that he would have to take courses at college or university so he could be a critic. That’s when the light bulb came on in my head. Sean could be a published critic without taking any courses. He could write his critiques as posts in a blog and publish them on the Internet for anyone to read.
Sean was excited about setting up a blog so he could be a critic, and so was I. We talked about what he wanted to be a critic of. He wasn’t sure, so I told him to think of something he had a passion for and write about it. Turns out he has a passion for digital games (surprise, surprise) , and that’s what he is going to write about in his blog.
I helped Sean set up his blog, and he wrote his first post and even added an appropriate image. He was delighted to see that he had 10 hits over night. I told him that it would take a bit of time for the magic of the search engines to bring readers to his blog and that it was important that he write posts on a regular basis. That’s when he told me he just finished writing his fifth book. I guess writing regularly won’t be much of a problem for a 17 year old who has just finished writing his fifth book. OMG. Who knew, and this from someone who I thought hated writing and avoided it at all costs.
Sean hated writing all right. He hated writing the assignments I gave the class and avoided completing them as much as possible. It wasn’t until he had an authentic piece of writing to do, the critique in the blog post, that he was motivated to write and demonstrate his considerable writing skills.
There’s definitely a lesson for the teacher in there somewhere.
photo thanks to topshampatti
May
10
Motivating a struggling student by helping him start a personal blog.
Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, motivating students, The way I see it, underachieving students | 4 Comments
OK, so I was at my wits’ end again yesterday. I’m there from time to time! I haven’t been able to get Sean, not his real name, to complete many assignments in my class this semester without a lot of nagging encouragement. I know that often my struggling students don’t have the motivation to complete the assignments I give them, and I have to have the motivation to keep trying to find ways to motivate them- motivation is a big thing in my classroom for me and my students. I hate nagging, so I try to find other ways.
I find that often when I really listen to what students tell me about themselves, I can find the key to getting students motivated. Sean was telling me today that he wanted to be a critic when he finishes school because critics make lot of money- $60.00 an hour. He told me that he needed to go to college or university to take courses to become a critic, but his marks were low and he might not be able to do that. Sean loves writing (not in my class apparently, though) and has been writing a book for some time now.
I asked him what he wanted to write about as a critic. He didn’t know; he just wanted to be a critic because critics made lots of money. I told him I was no expert, but I thought there might be another way he could become a critic without having to go to university or college. He could start a blog and write about what he is passionate about. It’s always a good idea to write about what you know. I had his attention. Then I told him when he finished the most recent assignment, which he could finish by tomorrows class, I would help him set up a personal blog, and he could be a critic and write about what he knows best-computer games.
Suddenly focus was not a problem anymore. He even told me he could finish the assignment at lunch time so that he could start his blog tomorrow. I told him about my experience blogging, and how my blog was read by people (Sage publishing) who asked me if they could publish my work in a book for preservice teachers and pay me for my articles. They saw what I wrote and liked it. I didn’t ask them; they asked me. Sean was definitely interested.
So, tomorrow I’m going to help Sean set up his blog and launch his career as a critic. I suggested that he read other blogs on the same topic and write comments about what he read. Writing comments on other blogs will help him get known because he will leave a link to his blog and readers will come and visit his blog to check him out. I told him it takes time and sustained effort to build a readership and get known, but writing a blog can lead to lucrative things down the road.
His assignments for the rest of the semester will revolve around the writing of his blog, reading other people’s blogs and leaving comments . I’m excited about this and can hardly wait. I’ll keep you posted.
photo thanks to R (Luke) Bryant
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