student tensions

i had good conversations with all my students that were having talking issues. it's interesting that part of the dynamic is that two of those students is really annoyed by one of the other students and the things that he says. but from my perspective, all of them talk out of turn and none of them is really worse than the other, except different reasons for talking out of turn. but i think i have a much better idea of how indicate to them individually when they shouldn't be talking. so i tried to be very intentional about that during class today and will hopefully be able to keep up consistency in that way and not let things slide.
it's an interesting tension among the students though because two of them just look at me when the other one that annoys them talks when he shouldn't like they're saying "why aren't you making him stop?" (and i talked to that student about specific ways i could get his attention so he understands it's not the right time to be talking--ADD is part of the issue there.) but then five minutes later, they will be the ones talking when they shouldn't. so kind of ironic. we talked about that too. we'll see how it goes!

why???

this is the question that my nine girls in algebra II are asking lately (well, at least some of them are). why do we do math? why does this matter to my life? but their question goes beyond math to school in general. why do i have to write papers? why do i have to go to school at all? these are valid questions and students today are discovering things that are wrong with the school system--that they do a bunch of theoretical things but not necessarily practical things that they will actually need to use in their life. it's a hard question to answer in general, including answering it about math specifically. i said something about how math trains your mind to think in different ways, while other subjects train you to think in other ways, so you can be ready for whatever thinking comes your way in life in the future. they (the people who were being frustrated and bothered by the "why?" question) didn't even want to talk about that though, so we ended the conversation. i think for some people i need a better way to respond than rational reasons why we do these things. i try to be as encouraging as possible in my classes and not say things that put down students or make them feel bad. i think i need to work on affirming more, and then when these why questions come up, offer to talk to individual students (or the whole class), if they are really open to discussing it. when students are frustrated is probably not the best time to have a discussion like that--at least that's why i gather from what happened today. so then how to diffuse frustration that a couple students are feeling and not have the bad feeling spread to the whole class, that is the whole question i don't have an answer to right now.

talking issues

my precalculus class is having talking issues. they feel like they can talk whenever they feel like it. i try asking them to raise their hands, and then i have trouble enforcing it when some of them start talking anyway. i think i need to talk to individual students, but i also need to work on being more form and less "nice." my problem is that i want to hear what they have to say, but i'm allowing them to say things at inappropriate times, when i'm trying to teach. i need to work on "the look" or being more firm when i tell someone they need to stop talking. i think they get the impression that i don't really mean it because i am too nice or i smile when i shouldn't. i don't like feeling mean, so i try to ask them nicely. but that doesn't work because that's when they think i don't really mean it or that it doesn't actually really matter. i never want to be the teacher who explodes in anger, so i think i go the other direction and end up being too nice. i need to find a middle ground somehow. i need to not let things slide, and actually stop the lesson when they aren't acting how they should be.

things to think about

ponder:

• what to say when students feel discouraged about a test
• how to encourage students to be consistent in doing their work and asking questions when they think they can get help one time for 30 minutes when they haven't been getting their questions answered for weeks and then suddenly be doing better....
• what to say when students say during class "i hate this"

good things:

• a student said "her world was falling apart" when i didn't have a quiz at the beginning of class like i normally do.
• allowing students to create their own example problems and situations when it's appropriate--this has brought much joy to my physics class
• i should more often have "competitions" as review before tests. it's been hard to convince myself there is time for this when on a block schedule, but when i did it with a few students after school, they had *fun* and felt more confident in their skills.