Accountability, Participation, and Bonding with Students
I want to start off this post by saying that I had the BEST
day at my placement on Wednesday and to be honest, I needed it. I needed to
have a really good day to remind me that I’m still doing the right thing; that
I’m not always a complete failure.
Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do. But I am also
extremely self-critical and if you can’t tell (by the mention of anxiety in
practically all of my previous posts – I know you’re tired of it), I’m basically
a picnic basket full of anxiety filled baked goods (you know, like the chocolate
chip cookies that are a little crispy around the outside but have the gooey,
almost under done center. Or is that just me? Anxiety = gooey center). And like
everyone in every job, I struggle. There are of course good and bad days. But
Wednesday was wonderful.
What did we do? I’m glad you asked! We were working on one
pagers which I’m sure at this point in our careers sounds a little tired and
played out or as some of my students put it “bunk”. But there was a twist! They
worked in groups. Each person at the table got to choose one of the tasks
presented for the one pager: What is the theme? Draw a picture that represents
the theme, Find two quotes (evidence) that support your theme, Write the title
and author of the book and draw an illustration, Write a question pertaining to
the novel, then answer it, etc. Tables with less people had more work, tables
with more people had less work (this is still something I’m figuring out how to
adjust point-wise) but each task got its own piece of paper! (I had a total
a-ha moment. DING! Accountability!!) And even though they groaned and
complained, my students LOVED it. After each piece was done, they taped them
all together and they were PROUD of their work. They were able to collectively create
a summative representation of their knowledge of the book.
Now, this may seem a bit ordinary but the best part for me
was, they asked for my help, and I was actually able to help them. (Selfish, I
know.) I helped them but I also bonded with them. We made small talk as they
hunted for the right quote to represent their theme. They asked intelligent and
informed questions and then answered them… get this: WITH EVIDENCE FROM THE
TEXT (without being asked to provide that evidence)! – can you tell how excited
I am? I was so proud (and a tiny bit sad that I hadn’t thought of the activity
myself, but it’s not about me. It’s about them).
It was the ideal win-win situation. They were productive and
we were able to laugh. We talked about non-school related things. They asked me
life questions, silly questions, and text relevant questions. And the girls who
normally looked at their cell phones once every five minutes didn’t check their
phones as often. And the boys who play video games during class weren’t playing
video games. And the girls who use class time to freshen their makeup didn’t have
their makeup out. It was glorious. BEST DAY EVER. And I hope that someday I’ll
be able to recreate that in my own classroom.
As a further extension of the topic of accountability, I’ve
been pondering the idea of participation points. I like the idea of having a
small portion of student grades allotted for participation and behavior. Should
they start with a certain number of points and lose them for misbehavior or
lack of participation? Should they earn them as extra credit? What happens when
a student is absent? As far as I’m concerned, if they’re not in class, the
situation is beyond their (and my) control. There should be an opportunity for
students to make up those points. What does participation look like? Is it
always contributing an answer?
Maybe this is a topic that has been addressed in the last
few cores but I’m finally at the point where I can actually see it. I can see
how it could help behavior. I can picture it in my placement.
For the most part, I want to leave this open as I’m still
figuring it out (And I’m sure I’ll never have the perfect answer that never
needs revision). But I will say, I think trying out participation grades is a
good thing. I think that students should have some opportunity to make up
points. And I know that participation isn’t always contributing to discussion.
Sometimes being on task and listening are more than enough.
