Student Feedback

This week was a brief three day adventure with my classes. I had some great feedback, from the students, on what I was presenting to the class.

The first bit of feedback was from my 10 graders. I am introducing poetry to them; I am introducing more modern forms of poetry. Each day for the next two weeks, we will learn about new forms of poetry, some elements that can be found in them, and build each class until they have a steady knowledge of elements of poetry. They will use these elements to apply to hard works of poetry such as sonnets. When I leave, they will be starting a Shakespearian work. I hope they will be able to use the elements that I am teaching to help them understand and actually like Shakespeare.

Anyway, I started my class off with Slam poetry, which just happens to be my favorite. At the beginning of class, I asked the students what their thoughts were on poetry. The majority of comments were negative. After the lesson, as the students were leaving the classroom, I hear them remark how much they enjoyed Slam poetry. My hope is that this gets them excited for the days to come.

The second bit of feedback I received is from my beloved 11 graders. Since we have started Gatsby over, they have been reading and summarizing page after page. Well, I was sick of that. They were sick of that. So I changed it. We did a reader's theater. Basically, several people took different characters and they spoke the dialogue of those characters. I asked them afterward if they liked this method, and the response was very positive. I even had one student come up to me and say, "Miss Turley, I like the way we read today. I actually understood it." This student usually struggles with his comprehension of the novel and leans on other students. He volunteered to read Gatsby.

This week felt good. It felt good to received feedback. I am a fan of feedback, especially from my students. This is their class too. I hope in my future classroom I can utilize their opinions more.

try...try...and try again

The Great Gatsby is a slow moving process for my sweet little juniors, but it is moving. After having to start the book over because no one was reading, I had them read in class in groups. After a few pages, they would have to write a summary of what is happening. Well, that gets old really fast for both them and me.

So, today I tried something a little different. The students need to work on their listening skills for the state standards, so had them listen to the first part of chapter 7. They had to answer some comprehension questions as they were listening and then they had to make claims about the characters and give supporting evidence.

First of all, this made the class so much more quiet. Since they all had their own Chromebooks, they were working silently. I have to admit, it was a little strange to see them all so quiet. After they were done with their task, I asked them if they liked listening to the audiobook and if it was helpful. Their feedback was positive, so I will try and incorporate more listening in future lessons.

Honestly, this was a pretty uneventful week.

Listen up!

This week my cooperating teacher observed one of my classes. One comment she gave me was about how I talk over my students.

As I reflected on that class, I realized that I do. The students know that they need to be quiet as I am talking, yet I was showing them that it did not really matter. The way I let them be set up a precedence for their behavior. I was showing them that it was ok for them to talk while I was talking. It is not ok.

Since I am the teacher, I need to have their attention when I am talking. It is a matter of respect as well as classroom management. My cooperating teacher suggested that I use wait-time. I took this as me sitting there staring at them until they are quiet. I tried it today, and it seemed to work. Students got uncomfortable with me just sitting there staring at them. I would have too. So, they quieted down.

One technique that I have tried lately, because I have noticed this problem as well, is a rather elementary technique. When I say, "And a hush fell over the crowd," they all say "hush." This actually works pretty well. Some of them roll their eyes, but it always gets everyone to stop talking. Though, I am, and I believe my students are, getting a little tired of hearing this, so next week I am going to try a new one. Simply, I say, "If you can hear me say 'shhh'," and then whoever can hear me says 'shhh.' I'm hoping this will have the same effect and the students will shhh each other instead of me having to shhh them.

One a side note...

I did have a good interaction with one of my students. He is a student who I have been trying to build rapport with all term. He had just finished a book and asked me for a suggestion of what to read next. In three seconds, I scanned my mind's library of books I have read. If I gave him a book he liked, it might give me better rapport with him. So, I spat out a book I recently just read and he began reading it.

Fast forward. In one day, he was 200+ pages into the book. He raved about it next time I saw him. It felt good to build that relationship with him. I can only hope that he can keep that trust with me for the duration of my student teaching.