What if we are going along and, as often happens, things are getting flat and it is hard to maintain the kids’ interest? Usually, we internalize that and say that we are not good teachers. That is the wrong reaction.
The truth is that we teach an army of largely unmotivated, electrified kids who are hard to please on a good day. I invite all of our group members to just ask the group what a good shift out of the doldrums would be.
For example, my kids are getting tired of Houdini. We are toward the end of the book and have interspersed each chapter with a preparatory story from Anne. Yet the class is beginning to drag, or did today.
Our DPS exit exam is next month, with the pressure on that test to teach the level one kids to write, even though they can’t really do that in the real way in their first year, especially the unmotivated kids or just plain tired kids who work two jobs and try to go to school in the same day.
Any advice for me? What should I do next? I do know that I have the Big Ideas category to choose from, which is a great lifeline, but I’m fishing around here for potential ideas from the group that would help me get my students prepared for the (mainly listening, reading and writing) district test in April and not be too boring. Merci d’avance for any advice!
(I like the idea of group members feeling free to ask other group members for advice on “what to teach next”. Just tell the group – send me an email at benslavic@yahoo.com – what you have been doing in the past week or so before you request the advice and I will make it into an article and maybe we can get a thread going that will help you choose the best strategies to do when the boat is starting to sink in the water a bit.)
Ben