Week 2:
Absenteeism:
I’ve taught three lessons of Business Education 9/10 so far to my Day 1 class, but never met a certain student. He’s been absent. Tried calling home without luck (nobody there, nor voicemail). So I had a chat with the Grade 9 counsellor and turns out this student has missed over 50 lessons in the past few months, and will follow up with an attendance strategy. I’m discovering just how important something as small as attendance can be, with respect to student learning, wellbeing and safety. **Update as of 12 February: the MIA student has appeared (and has a “blue card”, which requires teacher signatures to prove he’s attended class). I brought him up to speed on the last three lessons (during work period) and assigned him to a group. The thing is, what should I do about his missed exit slip and assignment? Does he qualify to earn those marks, even if – by the end of the unit – he has learned just as much as others?
Class sizes:
The lesson sequencing for the two Business Education 9/10 blocks that I teach is starting to diverge. The bigger block (29 students) has had 50 minutes less lesson time, due to an unplanned-for 20 minute quiz for the school store and the short blocks on Thursdays. Compared to the other Business Education 9/10 class with 19 students, I’m feeling the pinch. To resolve this, I’m getting students to do more of business idea brainstorming on their own time. I’ve also been reiterating how important it is for students to reach out to me if they have any questions, either in person or by email.
Classroom management:
Today (Thursday 11 Feb) I had students in the back two rows come and sit up front, for the 15 minute lecture on social enterprise and stakeholders. I think this is an effective strategy, because it gives me a direct line of sight to some of the “usual suspects” in the back, and fosters a more communal, discussion-oriented environment. The downside is that there is a temporary disruption in moving seats, but students were surprisingly easygoing about it.
Students often seem intimidated by me (is it that they don’t know me yet? Or that I have a resting frowny face?). I try hard to make small talk and greet students coming into and leaving class, but I think there’s a cultural expectation from some students that they don’t engage in chat with teachers. Whatever the case may be, I will keep striving to display open body language and a friendly demeanour.
Google Drive:
I’m getting student groups to share their business case folders in Drive with me, so that I can track progress. This is one of Mr Kam’s strategies and works brilliantly for formative assessment.
Orchard and Gardening:
I spent some time with Leadership students, helping them to shovel wood chips around the orchard. A few of the students are in my business education classes, so it was a great connecting experience.
Music before class:
It helps me focus. I’ve asked three students to choose music to play before class, but they all said they don’t listen to music. Are they just evading the scary student teacher? I’m skeptical.
Week 3:
Gaining class attention: Mr Kam showed me a useful way of gaining student attention, by holding up five-fingers and counting down:
5 : Heads up
4 : Quiet
3 : Finish what you’re doing
2: Eyes up
1 : “Thank you!”
I used a light version of this today (I just counted down and said eyes up front, then thank you) and it worked well. I think it’s better to use for grades 8 – 10, but will try it with older students if they’re quite rowdy.
Unit planning: Things are going slower than I anticipated (not surprising). Today (15 Feb), my larger Day 1 class did two minute pitches of their ideas. A few students have changed their ideas: I think being flexible with students is key here, and taking the extra time so they feel comfortable and interested in doing well in the her competition is worthwhile.
Formative assessment:
I had a super lesson on Friday the 20th: I gave students a quiz on survey methods (the lecture topic from the previous class). Then- and this was key to the lesson’s success – students discussed in groups what answers they thought were correct or not. It was successful because there was broad student engagement and I was also in a great mood (we’d played some music at the beginning of class).
Google drive:
More and more, I am falling in love with the Drive. Kids get to see my comments on their work in real time – brilliant.