I start by giving them a chart that lists the days of the week and the different times of the day and then ask them to record all their activities and the times they would do them. I just have them do it for one week. Then I help them schedule their homework into the open time slots. Amazingly, this works. I help them “see” the available time slots. Sometimes this involves a bit of rearranging of activities on the part of the student, but usually by the time we’re finished the student is satisfied with the homework schedule. They think it reasonable, and that’s half the battle. They don’t feel homework interferes with their life or that life interferes with their homework.

I suggest that the students tell their friends that they’re busy during the time allotted to do homework so they won’t be disturbed at that time. That shouldn’t be a big deal because they already have scheduled time to talk to friends anyway. I also suggest they don’t do any homework after 10 pm.

Some students schedule homework the same day everyday. Others schedule homework a different time every day. I leave it up to them. It has to be their plan for it to work. Of course we revisit the schedule after the first few weeks and rejig it where necessary.

The point I am trying to make here for my students is that homework can be worked into their lives. Homework doesn’t mean they have to give up the things they like or have to do. I talk about doing things in moderation- homework included. I tell them I try to achieve a balance in my life, and I think they should strive to do the same. Being a student is only part of their lives. Being a teacher is only part of mine. I think we understand one another.

After we watch the slide show,  I have my students set their own short term, medium term and long term goals using the graphic organizer below.

Smart Goal Setting Organizer

If you’d like this as well,  just ask and I’ll send it to you as an attachment.

I’ve always had good results with this activity.  We will revisit their goals during the semester to see how things are going and to set more goals.

Sometimes students will work on projects and assignments but for any number of reasons don’t submit the assignments for evaluation. They  seem to run out of energy, interest or whatever  and just give up. I’m always encouraging them to submit things  so I can give them the marks they’ve earned. I’m constantly telling  them if they don’t hand things in it makes it very difficult for me to find marks to give them.  I don’t find it useful to tell them that if they don’t hand work in they’ll fail.  They’re used to hearing that.  They’re used to failing. I take a different approach. I tell them they have to help me find the marks they need to pass them.  Yes, of course it would be nice if my  students just wanted to learn for the sake of learning, but that’s not the way it is for some students.  I have to start where from where my students are.

I used to get very frustrated when I would see my students working on assignments  in class and then not submit  them for evaluation.  In fact, it used to drive me crazy.  I’ve  learned to observe and record their  progress during the time they work in class  so that if for some reason they don’t  submit an assignment,   I still have some sense of their progress and can evaluate what I have seen. Believe me,  there are many reasons why assignments don’t get handed in. Not completing them  is only one reason.

It’s important to know that some of my more reluctant/struggling students are not interested in getting high marks.  They feel they’ve  aced the course when they get  51%.  I know because they’ve told me this.  Of course I encourage my students  to do more than the bare minimum and will often tell them they’ve made a good start.  Then, I encourage them to improve  their work  by suggesting  if they just changed this a bit here or expanded on that a bit there I could find more marks to give them.  Believe me.  It works.

I’ll admit this whole idea of finding marks to give students for assignments they have or have not submitted can seem a bit strange.  But, and this is a big but, I teach students who are at-risk academically, and I need to think creatively to find ways to motivate them and give them the support they need  so they can find their way to success.  That’s what makes teaching so rewarding.

Here’s why I started laughing out loud at myself.

• I love to read books, magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes etc.  Now I download books, newspapers, and magazines from the net and read them on my laptop, netbook or iPod.
• I’m always behind in my reading. So many books and so little time.  Now I catch up on my reading by listening to ebooks I download. (No more excuses about using the elliptical trainer boring)
• I love doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles.  Now I down load jigsaw puzzles and do them on my laptop or netbook.
• I love listening to the radio. Now I listen to it  on my laptop, netbook or iPod.
• I love trivia so I was always consulting my set of encyclopedias.  Now I ask google my questions and download the answers.
• I love to knit but find it difficult to find patterns I like in my local yarn shop.  Now I find patterns I like on-line  and  download them.  Many of the patterns are free.
• I find shopping mostly a frustrating experience so now I do more and more  of my shopping  on-line.
• I love learning new things so I’m forever downloading podcasts and videos.

Are you laughing out loud with me yet?

Those are just the things I do on-line that aren’t work related.  I spend hours on line looking for ways to engage my more reluctant/struggling students.  I’ve downloaded all kinds of teaching tools and learning tools. I spend writing this blog and reading many others.

Tracy suggested I consider the new media in all its  forms as part of students’  lives and not something  separate from their lives,  something that takes away from their lives or something that creates a huge imbalance in their lives.  I guess I’d have to say that the new media is a really big part of my life, a really valuable tool that helps me keep my life balanced.

LOL!!!

Image thanks to mahalo

I

No wonder some of my student seem dead tired in school. School itself is a full time job. Now that kids are spending more time with media these days than time on school, it’s a wonder students have time to do any homework at all. I guess should be impressed with the marks they do get! Research determined that marks for heavy media users are lower than marks for light media users. although, more research needs to be done to determine if there is a definite cause and effect.

Years ago I remember reading that when kids spend 24 hours a week on a part time job their grades go down significantly because it’s too much for kids to manage. Fifry three hours a week on media must be way, way too much. When do kids sleep? No wonder some of my students aren’t coping. I don’t think I could do my job very well if I spent 53 hours on media either. I tell my students school is their job, and they shouldn’t let anything interfere with their job.

Kids spend most of their time on their cell phones checking out Facebook,MySpace, texting, playing video games, watching TV and listening to music. They actually don’t spend much time actually talking on their cell phones. Those 53 hours kids spend on media takes away from family time. Communication between parents and kids is almost non existent. I can remember before my son, Chris, got his license, I had to drive him every where. Bus service was almost non-existent in our community at that time. We used to talk about things while we were together in the car. I can remember thinking it would be great when Chris gets his license and can drive so that I won’t have to take him everywhere. It turned out to be great on one hand, but wasn’t on the other. Since he drove himself to whereever he had to go, we didn’t have that time together in the car to talk about things. I came to really miss that time. I felt I’d lost something precious. I would imagine now if I were driving Chris, we might not have those conversations because he would be wrapped up in his iPhone or Ipod or iSomething or other. That would be a shame.

Parents of course can limit the time kids get to spend on media. Some parents block incoming messages during homework time and after 11:00 pm. that sems like a good idea. I just had a thought. Teachers in schools have been encouraged to use web based tools as productivity tools to teach with and as a cognitive means to support learning. If using web based technology really catches on in schools so that all teachers use it in their classrooms to teach and to have their students create and demonstrate learning, how many hours a week will kids then spend using media 63, 73 ???. It’s kind of scary. Is that a good thing. I’m not sure.

Photo thanks to azureon2

A study

published last month in the Journal of Marriage and Family and funded by The National Institute of Aging, looked at the relationships of 633 Philadelphia-area parents, aged 40 to 60, and their 1,384 children, aged 18 to 33. The authors found that many of the grown children were having trouble weaning themselves off the parental teat: 76 per cent got domestic help monthly, 79 per cent got money most months and 93 per cent got a check-in chat or other emotional support weekly.

How is all that support  helping young adults become independent? Are these parents doing this to fulfill a need they have?   How independent can you be if you are still depending on Mommy and Daddy?  Are these young adults like Peter Pan and never want to grow up?

Educators  are trying to find ways to help students become independent thinkers and risk takers so they can meet the challenges of the 21st century. Our report cards even evaluate kids on things like initiative  and work habits.  Initiative and works habits are valued at school,  why not at home?  It seems teachers and parents like those in the study are working at cross purposes .

Why are some  parents encouraging their children to remain dependent and helpless?  How is this going to help their adult children cope with life?  This major enabling sounds like a recipe for disaster. Are the majority of young  adults going to think the 21st century is a century of entitlement- theirs. ?  Are parents encouraging their children to become narcissistic?  That doesn’t bode well for the future.

I suppose you can argue that life is more complicated now and our children need our support longer, but

If you spend 10 formative years at your peak capacity depending on other people, that has to set up a habit of how you behave in the world,” said Joseph Allen, a clinical psychologist and co-author of Escaping the Endless Adolescence: How We Can Help Our Teenagers Grow Up Before They Grow Old.

I am concerned.  Am I missing something here?

Common sense is not common. It is very subjective.  Let me explain.  I teach in a high school with a student population of about 1 700 students.  You could  easily hear over 60 languages being spoken as you negotiate your way through the halls from one class to the next.  Many new immigrants settle in the area served by our school. These immigrants bring with them “the common sense” that served them in their homeland. It may or may not be the “common sense” of the community they live in now.

Some students in my class have told me that teachers ought to be able to beat their students when students misbehave.  That made common sense to them.  That’s what teachers did  “back home”  and it worked,  they tell me.  Kids behaved themselves because they could be beaten if they didn’t. A few parents have even given teachers permission to beat their kids if they misbehave.  Thank fully, the common sense  that  dictates corporal punishment for student misbehaviour is not common to everyone.

I don’t mean to imply here that it is only the case that some immigrants have different “common senses”.  That’s certainly not the case at all. I just wanted to make the point that common sense can vary from culture to culture, from community to community and even within a community.   There’s nothing common about common sense.

In Ontario, the Education Act, law,  sets out the code of conduct for teachers  regarding  students and for students regarding teachers.  The code of conduct is not left to common sense.  It doesn’t seem to me there are any major problems with the code. If anyone knows of any,  I would appreciate hearing about them.   I don’t want to go into a lot of detail here  except to say that teachers who break the code of conduct suffer consequences for their actions.  Sometimes that means they have their teaching certificate withdrawn; sometimes they  are required to get appropriate counseling or training.

I think it is useful to have a code of conduct enacted in law because it forces everyone to be on the same page about what is expected from teachers and from students. It doesn’t matter what a person’s “common sense” tells them.  It’s what the code of conduct as law says that counts.  I think this gets around the problem of  different “common senses”. What do you think?

Photo thanks to didbyatgraham

]]> I was reminded again about the problem with common sense when  I read that  the Alabama House  of Representatives had  blocked a teacher code of conduct from becoming law. Opponents argued that the standards were too vague.  Supporters argued that they weren’t because they were based on “common sense and something all parents, teachers and legislators should support”.

Common sense is not common. It is very subjective.  Let me explain.  I teach in a high school with a student population of about 1 700 students.  You could  easily hear over 60 languages being spoken as you negotiate your way through the halls from one class to the next.  Many new immigrants settle in the area served by our school. These immigrants bring with them “the common sense” that served them in their homeland. It may or may not be the “common sense” of the community they live in now.

Some students in my class have told me that teachers ought to be able to beat their students when students misbehave.  That made common sense to them.  That’s what teachers did  “back home”  and it worked,  they tell me.  Kids behaved themselves because they could be beaten if they didn’t. A few parents have even given teachers permission to beat their kids if they misbehave.  Thank fully, the common sense  that  dictates corporal punishment for student misbehaviour is not common to everyone.

I don’t mean to imply here that it is only the case that some immigrants have different “common senses”.  That’s certainly not the case at all. I just wanted to make the point that common sense can vary from culture to culture, from community to community and even within a community.   There’s nothing common about common sense.

In Ontario, the Education Act, law,  sets out the code of conduct for teachers  regarding  students and for students regarding teachers.  The code of conduct is not left to common sense.  It doesn’t seem to me there are any major problems with the code. If anyone knows of any,  I would appreciate hearing about them.   I don’t want to go into a lot of detail here  except to say that teachers who break the code of conduct suffer consequences for their actions.  Sometimes that means they have their teaching certificate withdrawn; sometimes they  are required to get appropriate counseling or training.

I think it is useful to have a code of conduct enacted in law because it forces everyone to be on the same page about what is expected from teachers and from students. It doesn’t matter what a person’s “common sense” tells them.  It’s what the code of conduct as law says that counts.  I think this gets around the problem of  different “common senses”. What do you think?

Photo thanks to didbyatgraham

I’ve been teaching academically at-risk teens for well over 25  years now, and I can tell you the reason why kids fail at school is a complex one.  Kids fail to achieve in school for any number of reasons.  It’s easy to point the finger of blame at teachers, at the administration, at the school system,  at  parents or at kids   themselves when they  fail to achieve to their potential.

The  school trustees who think it’s the teachers’ fault when students fail to achieve are misguided. Yes, perhaps some teachers need support to help improve their teaching practice.  I’m not denying that. But some parents also need support to improve their parenting skills, and  some students also need support to help them take ownership for their own learning. The education system itself needs some major changes so that schools offer the programs that better meet the needs of all students.   Kids also need to realize they have to take responsibility for their learning.

We probably all have heard the statement ” it takes the  entire village to raise a child”.  Well, it takes the entire village to educate one  as well. We need to stop blaming.  Blaming doesn’t help. Instead we need to ask  what can the villagers do, what support can they give  to all the stakeholders so that  kids can succeed at school.  After all,  the village will benefit if it’s kids live up to their potential. The way I see it is that the village supports kids when they are young, and then the kids support the village when they grown up. It’s a win-win situation.

It’s been a challenge all semester long to keep these kids engaged enough so they can learn.  I feel as if I’ve been dancing as fast as I can. I have found using the LCD projector or even the overhead projector to  teach the lesson and take up work useful.  I don’t know exactly why kids pay more attention when  my lesson is projected on a screen than written on  the blackboard.  Maybe the screen reminds  them of of a video monitor?  I don’t know why,  but  since it works I keep doing it.  Has anyone else found this to be  the case?

The last couple of days have been pretty hectic.  I’ve been  pushing my students  to do their best, and to be honest, it’s exhausting.  At the end of class today,  I was beginning to think that maybe  I was pushing myself too much, too.  I had spent most of Saturday creating review material and most of Sunday refining the exam so that my students  could demonstrate their learning to the best of their ability.

My husband, not a teacher,  was watching  all this and told me  that I was handing my students  their lessons on a silver platter. He felt I was doing too much.  I told him that I wasn’t handing them their lessons on a silver platter.  I was differentiating instruction. I thought that was funny.  He didn’t.  I guess it’s an inside joke.

Today at the end of class as I was gathering up  my materials, just dying for a cup tea to sooth my throat,  one of my students came over and told me something that had made all that work on the weekend and all those other weekends this semester worthwhile.  He told me that he liked the way I taught because I made math easy.  He had never found math easy before.  If he didn’t get it, I would explain it in another way.   I need to remember those words when I get discouraged or feel overwhelmed. Yes,  making math easy takes a lot of work,  but it is so rewarding. Now,  for that cup of tea.