The text below by Alisa Shapiro is written about really little kids, but applies to all of us at all levels:
“By ‘affective filter’ can we include such slippery states of being as, say, hungry, hot and tired? For over 20 years I’ve been teaching 1st through 4th graders. Often, I repeat the same lesson to the same level 3+ times in a row. I can get tremendously divergent response and ‘vibe’ in the classroom depending on whether the class takes place, say, right before/after lunch, or right after gym, or in my balmy, no A/C classroom on a Friday afternoon (before a long weekend…).
“Then there’s the group dynamic. Some groups have great energy, a natural leader, a loud ADHD distractor, lots of kids pulled out for violin and re-entering 15 minutes into class in a most obtrusive way….
“Then there’s my mood, how funny the picture prompt or source material is – to me, to them – again all influenced by hunger and exhaustion, and what just happened on the playground.
“On a good day, most of the students are tuned in and have the where-with-all to play along, rejoin the rejoinders, offer a detail, pretend to be bunnies that run like crabs, while the rest cheer them on, etc. On those days I’m confident that CI went in…what happens to it in there? I’m not so sure, but I’ll keep plugging away until anyone comes up with anything even close.
“Though I can use very little written input with the youngest groups and am often frantic looking for a break from my own cloying voice, I definitely see the value and the novelty of literacy activities. It’s so hard to take in, take in, take in all the time!
“Can we see such activities through the lens of novelty and give ourselves a break?
If only I could have my lil guys read independently and write once in a while!! The devil is in the how much/how frequently (for novices) detail.”