Monday, September 20, 2010 (11:00 AM)
I don't know how I am going to make it through the rest of the school year. It's only been two weeks and the students already hate me. This is awful. They never do their work and never listen to me when I lecture. I give them candy all the time but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. What student wouldn’t be motivated my candy? That’s the way they did it when I was in school and I finished my work…most of the time. Oh shoot, my prep period is over, here come the devils.
Monday, September 20, 2010 (3:30 PM)
What a horrible day. I didn’t think it could get any worse than it already was but it today was by far the worst day so far. Hope it doesn’t get much worse, I don’t think I could handle it. Today, the students walk in and decide that they can sit anywhere they please. I told them the first day of class, “I assigned you seats so no feelings get hurt. I am the one in charge and you need to listen to me.” I immediately yelled at them and made them go back to the seating chart. Then, I told them to take out the book I assigned the whole class to read and start where we left off last class period. Once they finished chapter six, they were to come get a work sheet from me. I told them to make sure it was absolutely silent and if they needed to ask a question, I was the person for that, not their peers. They didn’t listen. After about two minutes of SILENT reading time, the students started blabbing to each other. I was furious. I already was having a bad day and I did not need them disrespecting me. I yelled at them and then told them, “Whoever doesn’t talk will receive a piece of candy AND an extra credit point.” I knew this was going to keep them silent so I went back to grading worksheets that I handed out the day before. After another two minutes, a student asked me if they could go to the bathroom. I told them they needed to do their work and once they did, then they could go to the bathroom. Another two minutes after that they started talking again. What was wrong with these students?! “EVERYONE WHO IS TALKING GETS DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL TODAY,” I screamed. They looked at me in shock. “I don’t care if you’re not done with the chapter. You’re wasting my time by not doing your work so here’s the worksheet you need to complete. It will be graded so hurry up and finish it before the hour is over. And do not talk to anyone or I will have to take more extreme measures rather than just detention.” When the bell rang, they handed in their worksheets and not a single one was complete. Most didn’t even answer one question. I knew at this point that I was failing as a teacher. I needed something to change otherwise I was going to go insane. I decided that I would talk to my colleague Ms. Jones, another English teacher, to figure something out. I emailed her and set up a meeting for tomorrow morning. She was an experienced teacher and her students always completed their work. I hoped she’d be able to help me out and teach me how to teach.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 (7:00 AM)
I walk into Ms. Jones room feeling extremely down. I couldn’t sleep all night and was constantly wondering what I did incorrectly in my teaching. I told Ms. Jones the whole story. When I finished, I asked what I could do to make my situation better. She started to tell me, “First, you need to walk in there today and tell your students the truth. Tell them you were nervous since it’s your first year teaching and tell them you have some good ideas on how to make this semester better than it has been. Then, tell them they can sit where ever they want.”
“Where ever they want? Why on earth would I do that? They are never going to pay attention to me because they will be constantly blabbing to their friends,” I said.
“Not once you have established how the class is going to be run from now on. Also, make sure you let your students go to the bathroom. They need to take care of the physiological needs in order to learn to their highest potential. Think about this: if you were grading papers and had to go to the bathroom really bad, you wouldn’t grade as well as you should be.”
“I suppose that’s true. I will do that from now on.”
“Once you’ve established how you class will be running from now on, get them into groups of about four and give the students markers and paper. Tell them to write what the rules of the classroom are going to be from now on. Everyone needs to feel safe in your class and establishing rules that they create is a great way to do so.”
“But I am the teacher, I make the rules!”
“Giving your students control in the classroom will help motivate them to do their work. Believe me. Anyway, then hang all of the rules on the wall so everyone can see them. If any need to be changed, ask the students. Whenever someone doesn’t feel safe, make sure you address the rules they wrote that day.”
“Okay, I think I can handle that. Is there anything else I need to do for today?”
“Come see me after school and tell me how it went. We will also talk about what you’re going to do for some lessons the rest of this week.”
“Thank you so much, Ms. Jones. See you after school.”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 (3:40 PM)
“So how was it?” Ms. Jones asks.
“I was surprised but it went very well. Once they got into groups of their choosing, they started listening to me. Once they wrote rules for the class and got to be in control, they really started listening to me. They actually came and asked me questions as I circled the room. I walked around, which you didn’t tell me to do, but I figured I could keep them on task by using my space wisely. Is that a good idea or no?”
“Yes, that is great. I didn’t tell you that because I didn’t want to overwhelm you. Awesome job today! I am really proud that you accomplished that and that you are finally feeling good about your students.”
“Me too, I don’t dislike teaching as much as I used to. Tell me what the rest of the week should look like and give me more advice, please.”
“Tomorrow (Wednesday) you’re going to start something called lit circles (Davis). You will bring in at least twenty different books from the book storage room and let the students choose the book they want to read. Make sure students get in groups of about four for this. They will each read to a certain spot in the book and the next day they will conference about that section of the book. Each person will have a role to play in the discussion. After they choose their book and partners, give them some reading time. It doesn’t have to be silent. In fact, it’s great if they collaborate with their peers because often time they are asking questions about the book and helping each other. Also, let them sit where they please. Thursday is the day they start discussing. Walk around the room listening in on discussions and prompt them if they need it. Don’t tell them answers; just suggest things they could talk about. They need to be challenged. Make sure you remember to never give them candy or extra credit ever again. That type of thing is an extrinsic reward and doesn’t benefit their motivation. Intrinsic rewards are the rewards that do benefit motivation. You are starting to motivate them intrinsically starting tomorrow. Intrinsic rewards are things such as giving the students control and challenging them. Friday, start out with a discussion involving the whole class about how they think their group’s lit circle went. Ask if they liked it/didn’t like it and why. If they like it, ask if they want to continue discussing their books in that manner and if not, ask what they would like to do. Then, either have another lit circle discussion, or take up their suggestion.”
“Wow, it seems like I have no control.”
“Your students have guided control. You are still in control, you just need to make it seem like they are.”
“I understand. I think I can do this. I cannot thank you enough for the time you have spent with me teaching me how to become a better teacher and teaching me how to motivate my student in the correct way."
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This novice teacher had a lot to work on. Once Ms. Jones helped out, student motivation was better understood. She created an environment that was safe and therefore the amygdala did not have to choose to fight or flight. Students got to choose what peers they got to work with which helped them relax and feel in control. Students also got to choose what book they read which made them feel even more in control since they had control over their curriculum. Since students were able to collaborate with each other, it made learning easier since they could ask each other for help if they were stuck, rather than trying to figure it out for the whole class period in silence. When peers teach peers, it seems to be more effective. Peers listen to each other when often they do not listen to what the teacher has to say. Lastly, students were challenged but not challenged so much that they would give up. The curriculum was just right and they were motivated to learn. After the first two weeks, there wasn’t anything that this teacher did that was out of line. She had her students under her control, even though they thought they were in control. Lit circles are a way of enacting scaffold learning since the students meet on a regular basis. They also build comprehension, thinking, and engagement (Davis 64). She learned to motivated her students to learn through intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards.
