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.
Ms. Dawson,
ReplyDeleteI love the excitement in your post! I can tell, as I'm sure your students could, that you have a passion for teaching, and for connecting with your students. Like you, the wins for me in my classroom tend to be those days where I personally connect with students AND they do their work well. Kudos to you for designing an activity that engaged your students and enabled them to be proud of the final product! I was excited about it just reading it!
As for participation points, I am a huge fan. I know that middle school is a bit different than high school, but participation points are huge for my students. In middle school, students are passed regardless of grades. Participation points can help give activities and behavior a quantifiable extrinsic value. I think participation can mean many things, and I think you nailed it when you said, "Sometimes being on task and listening are more than enough." I couldn't agree more. Using a behavior chart is helpful too--which we've discussed before, so I know you know that.
Great questions! And great job with your students on Wednesday. I'm excited to see how your participation point excursion goes! Keep us updated!
Thanks for your post!
Aleisha
Wow! I think it's so funny that you blogged about this because I posed similar questions in my post as well. But before I discuss participation points I would like to bring up what you said about being in the proper place to actually think about the things we learned in previous methods classes. I hit on not appreciating Randy Sprick at the time we were reading his book in Core I in my blog post as well. I agree that it was hard to relate and appreciate the advice we were getting at the time because we had nothing to apply it too. BUT NOW. Now we are ready! We actually have real classrooms where we can experiment and apply the knowledge…that we were supposed to retain from over a year again. But unfortunately I didn’t retain as much as I would’ve liked, so I had to go back and brush up on my Sprick classroom management knowledge.
ReplyDeleteOnce I did go back and reference Sprick, I learned a lot about classroom management and specifically participation points! I learned how to keep track of students’ behavior via a spreadsheet. I also learned the importance of consistency when giving out punishments, and also that you should give out small punishments for first offenses that can then be increased if the behavior continues. I thought this was a clever thought
I don’t remember reading about what to do if the students are absent, but I think that’s an excellent question to pose. I can see myself just giving him all 5 points, unless attendance starts to become a problem.
I appreciated your post Holli! Thank you so much!
Thanks for this post, Holli! And great question about what participation should look like--particularly for English language learners. In my previous research on cooperative learning, I found that ELLs (and other students) may be engaged intrapersonally (rather than interpersonally), and that's okay. Attentive listening, digesting the conversation, perhaps responding in writing -- all good in my book.
ReplyDeleteAnd regarding absent students, my middle schoolers earned their points back if they made time to visit with me before/after school regarding their missing work. No extra papers or written responses, just a demonstration of responsibility on their part. But that's just one way of doing it. You'll figure out what works best for you.
Oh, I'm so glad you had such a special day and that it boosted your confidence. Keep it up! You are going to become an excellent teacher.
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