Fifth Week (Oct 8-11, No School Friday)

What a week in the Pac Rim class!

I graded like a madman all weekend in order to have everything ready when the students walked in Monday morning, and it was immediately apparent that they are not used to such a quick turnaround. I prefaced handing them out with explaining that I didn't feel the quiz represented what they actually knew about the subject, that I was taking responsibility for that, and what the makeup quiz options were. I handed them back, repeated the makeup quiz options, and tried to settle down the upset students. We then reviewed the entire quiz, and I was glad to see that many students took notes as we did so.

I then began an activity to create a graphic representation of the culture changes in China. Three columns, cut out descriptions of various aspects of culture in different time periods, arrows and similar language in the descriptions to communicate relationships. Some confusion on how to attack it at first, but they caught on after a bit. I attempted to create a sense of urgency by having a short amount of time allotted. For most this worked, but for some of my struggling students (and especially my LEP students, they began to disengage at first. But then, and this is HUGE, they realized (despite the fact that I had addressed it) that I made the cut out pieces front/back, English/Spanish. Suddenly a few them seemed to feel like they could do the task. Self-efficacy went up, activity went up, and I wasn't about to shut them down again by ending the activity and giving them low marks because they took a while to start. I had to explain it to them a second time once they realized they could do it, and this set them behind.

So we continued the task the next day, and they became even more involved, although it was taking them a bit longer to complete. The second part of the task was to explain the chart, either verbally or in writing, so the quicker workers had something to do while others finished up. Most people were done when i wanted to move on, but those who weren't came up and asked if they could take it home to finish it. Which means they WANTED to finish it! Success!

We moved on with a little textbook reading on Chinese communism (I felt dirty doing it, but they needed a break from constructivism for a bit, and they actually seemed happy to be using a textbook for once) and a question at the end of the section. Some didn't have time to finish it, so I told them we'd pick it up tomorrow.

The next day (Wednesday) I passed out a letter I wrote that mocks a Communist recruitment essay. It pretends to be from a student group, and I actually fooled some students to the point that they thought it was real. I let them in on the joke, and we reflected in journals on what communism would look like if it was implemented in a school. As I let them go back to the textbook reading, as they wanted to know more (look at that!) in order to answer the journal question, and some went back to doing the charts, I realized that there seemed to be a work ethic developing. Some students were coming up with their charts in hand, others wanted to retake the quiz, etc. I called the class to attention, and, despite my fears that it would turn into a social hour, I announced that the whole period would be used to complete work assignments. I put the assignments I wanted done up on the board, and said that I was available for grade conferences, quiz make ups, help on the work we were doing, etc, but everyone had the period to work on what they needed to do.

I have not seen such engagement since the first day of school. It kept me rushing all over the place, getting materials for students, helping students, giving conferences, encouraging students worried about their grades and making plans on how they can improve it, on and on. The hour and a half flew by and felt like three hours all at the same time. My students who were previously completely disengaged were now coming up and asking what they could do to make up work that they 'missed' while they were in the classroom. It's as if they suddenly felt that if they had all this time, they could catch up, they could do it, and they would.

Thursday we watched a short piece of a film, wrapped up Communism, and started talking about the research project they'll be starting next week. More requests for make up work. I've logged everything that each student is missing and I'm making 'make up work' folders for each one this weekend, which will double as student research folders to keep in the room when they start their projects next week. Time will tell, but I think I've managed to turn a degrading situation into a high expectation work environment. Last week I was down, this week I'm totally jacked, and it feels great.