Day 8: Cracked Expectations

We are beginning Algebra II with a review of linear equations.  This was a topic that was covered in Algebra I, Pre-Algebra and Math 7.  This means it should be a breeze of a review.

It's not going as smoothly as I would like, which is alright.  I don't have a problem with the kids struggling with this topic because I understand how much material was covered in those classes and how long it has been since they worked with the concepts.

It does, mean, however, that I needed to readjust my Monday plans.

Instead of "Any questions on the homework? Cool! Let's start the next section" we ended up with "Anyone do the homework? No? Ok, let's talk!"


We had a brief conversation about how as they get older, the onus of learning passes more to their shoulders.  I explained how I don't want to give them absurd amounts of work just to prove that they know it, but if they aren't doing what I do give, then I don't know what they know.

There are a few reasons why students don't complete assignments on time:

1. They don't understand the material and then give up
• If this is the case, then I need to know about it. Students who are lost can become insanely frustrated. (I saw this last week with my own 2nd grader, but that's it's own post) I want a level of frustration that makes them feel they can accomplish a task if they just knew one more thing, and so they go find that thing. This is a difficult balance and I'm still working on it.
2. They forgot
• Bruh, get yourself organized! You have a school issued planner to write down your assignments and you can always shoot me a message over Remind. In addition, if they are subscribed to my class using Remind, they get notifications for any assignments I give.
3. They don't want to
• As a crappy student myself, I totally get this. I spent WAY too much time thinking that I knew what was going on in class only to get to the test and discover that I was wrong. I sympathize with this completely, which is why I've tried to minimize the amount of out-of-class work I'm assigning and making sure that what I do assign is relevant.  My plan has been to do mini-lessons and then give them time to practice the skills in class where I can help them.  This has been working well in theory, but the majority of the students who REALLY need the practice have been taking too long to get started and too long to complete the tasks, making themselves believe that 10 practice problems will take 6 hours.  ANY task can take forever if you don't start it!
4. Extenuating circumstances
• Mom/dad/grandparent/sibling is in the hospital, they are homeless, they have to work 6 hours a day after school, they have to babysit siblings, etc. etc..  I am, in no way, judging these reasons. Many of them are incredibly valid and many of our students live lives more complicated than I can fathom.  Everyone has their own struggle.

I think that, moving forward, I will need to be much more deliberate about my classroom structure. Today, I gave extension activities to the few students who completed their work for today.  The rest of the students and I went over some examples in great detail.  I worked on some problems using a very clear format and engaging my kids, rather than just having them copy the answers.  I also tried to make it clear that my going over these things wasn't a punishment at all.

It was an opportunity for them to learn note-taking and to create a resource for themselves that they could reference as we delve deeper into the content this year.

I will also admit that this strategy changed over the course of the day. I asked my morning students to work more independently and by the afternoon, I realized that they needed a bit more structure.

Unfortunately, we aren't a point yet where I can say "here's the assignment, go to it" and they will.  I have several students who need me there with them, giving them support and encouragement.  I don't mind doing those things, but too many need that at the moment for independent work to be productive for more than one or two.

We will get there! I have faith in my students and myself.