tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7363356760450940988.post8061794628535271279..comments2023-05-22T10:24:47.725-04:00Comments on Re-Learning To Teach: Day 123: Migraines and Man-HugsJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13309915942161862912noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7363356760450940988.post-49489050707571516032014-03-20T01:32:51.833-04:002014-03-20T01:32:51.833-04:00Whoah with the man-hugs! No way!
Actually my firs...Whoah with the man-hugs! No way!<br /><br />Actually my first year of teaching I was so scared all the time that I probably never would have hugged anybody, even if their puppy died in their arms right in front of me. (Well, if their puppy died in their arms, I wouldn't want to hug them because they wouldn't be able to hug me back, because ... okay, enough)<br /><br />Anyway. I want to share my day a little here because some of what you shared above sort of resonates. I also have a lot of students who kind of stare and don't ... they just don't follow directions very quickly--I guess next year I'm going to make a big deal out of that at the start--just the little habits of good students. Following directions. "When I say get out a piece of paper, the best students get out a piece of paper." That kind of thing. I'm not trying to create an army of order-followers, but the struggling students are the ones who just stare off into space or who are overcome by their own lethargy and inertia. When you talk about attending to a task, this is what I think of. It reminds me a lot of the word ATTENTION, which is a big important word in some mindfulness talks I've listened to. If we could teach our students to ATTEND to the present moment like a nurse attends to a sick patient or like we all would attend to our sick relatives, I think we'd have pretty awesome students.<br /><br />Your Period 8/9 is my Period 6. The majority do nothing and then there are some who bait me. <br /><br />... (took a break from writing this comment to watch videos and veg for a few minutes)<br /><br />ANYwhoo, what I guess I'm finding is that ... the progress I'm making does not come from getting them to go from 10% participation to 12% participation--although that is where most of my energy has gone--to pushing them, cajoling them, making deals, just trying to push that 10% to 12%. And so most of the time, we're all frustrated with each other and nothing good is happening.<br /><br />But today, I was relatively successful because I wasn't trying to argue or cajole. I'm starting to see that argument is wasted breath, and that the best I can do is to design lots of tasks and keep jumping from one to the other. My old habit has been to stay on one task, and when I sense they don't get it, I work on it a little more until I'm frustrated and they're frustrated ... And what I'm starting to learn is: teach it, assess whether it worked, linger on it IF SAID LINGERING IS PRODUCTIVE, and then move on. That last part, that moving on, is what I'm just starting to get the idea about--I had no idea. I always beat every lesson to death. <br /><br />It's not just academic lessons, either. It's behavioral lessons. My strategy up till now usually involves a lot of cajoling, pleading, and then ultimately accepting defeat. Now I'm still accepting defeat, but I'm getting in their face and getting loud every so often too. And the epiphany is that the argument is not going to be won or lost right there. It's going to continue, one battle at a time. So I better brace myself for the long haul. So today, my class participated at about a 10% level, but this wasn't really bothering me (the grace of God allowed this--tomorrow it will probably drive me crazy and I will make a fool of myself fighting it). It wasn't bothering me, and yet I did yell and stomp and so on, and some (not all) of that yelling and stomping was effective.<br /><br />You can read more about this at my new site, effectiveyellingandstomping.blogspot.comDarko Mittmerichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04277138678915717582noreply@blogger.com