October 5, 2007

Friday, good old Fridays. I was more than happy to see the weekend come. It was defintily a stressful week as per the class had been reviewing how to write an effective introductary paragraph, reviewing grammar, and going over the assessment test that the students must complete in their 8th grade year. Friday consisted of taking two exams, one vocabulary test and the assessment itself. This assessment task asked for students to read "Paul Revere's Ride" and complete an essay in which they pick 2 literary elements and 2 literary techniques and explain how these enhance the meaning of the poem. I went over this task all week and I was fustrated to see that there were students who asked "What do we do" or "I don't understand." I felt as if they need everything spoon fed to them and if it isn't they will not do it. I was happy to see however the few students, the higher excelled students finish both tests in the short alloted time period. I can understand where test taking is difficult for some individuals, I for one stuggle a little, but I felt they weren't even trying. They were ready to give up before even beginning. How can I help change this attitude in these students, especially the students I am most concerned about. The class room management has its days, a colleage told me that I should try leaning against the board in silence and waiting for them to settle down, then proceed to say "For every minute I have to wait, I'll keep you after class." I tried it with one class and it seemed to work but I definitely think that management all comes with the class, whose in the class and what kind of lessson are you doing? All in all Friday was spent testing and next week we are going to start a new short story "Charles" by Shirley Jackson. The purpose of next week is to complete character charts and analyze characters deeply.