Category Archives: Day by Day in the Classroom

Day by Day in the Classroom

Progress Doesn’t Always Come In Through the Front Door

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Photo by Roni Epstein

Remember the 10th grade girl that CAME TO ME three weeks ago to discuss the fact that she hasn’t been doing any homework? Well if you expect to hear that everything has been “hunky dory” since that conversation then you are reading the wrong blog…

The progress report, up to a few days ago, was that we had begun exchanging emails. No actual homework task had been done, but now we were “connected”.

Then, during our last lesson, I discovered that for some reason this girl, whom I will call T, hadn’t worked at our Y.A.L.P word station yet. I asked another girl, whom we will call G to be here tutor there. G and T are friends and have a lot in common – they are both loud and noisy, both weak students who tend to balk easily at a task.

But G has worked 7 times at the Y.A.L.P word station already.

Out of the fifty irregular verbs in the past she is working on, she now knows thirty two. She began with three.

T didn’t want to go to the word station. She kind of waved her hand in the air and said that I must be crazy if I think she’s going to work with a pile of words. I didn’t say anything. G dragged her over and kept saying:” You got to see how much fun this is, I laugh all the time. And look at my progress chart – see I didn’t know the words either!”.  T knew that the alternative was doing something with me so she opted for her friend.

The girls really worked the whole lesson (which, by the way, gave me much needed quiet to work with others!) and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Today my colleague sent me a message that T had left me a homework assignment on my desk!!!! Assignment number one!

Note: One of the joys of having my own blog! So much happens in the classroom every day, about some of which I’m pleased and some of which I’m not. It is good to sit down and write about progress – reminds me that I need patience for those other issues!

Day by Day in the Classroom

How do I make a “Stop Doing List”?

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Photo by Omri Epstein

I really enjoyed Robyn Jackson’s practical approach to teaching as presented in her book “Never Work Harder than Your Students”. So now that I’ve just read her piece titled “Case Study – The Stop Doing List”, I find myself wondering if I could do that.

It sounds like the right thing to do. It makes sense – I’m sure there are things I shouldn’t be wasting energy on when there is so much else I should be doing. But how does one eliminate those things?

Dr Jackson talks about 4 categories:

Time Wasters

I don’t grade unnecessary assignments or do pointless warm up activities but the example of getting into pointless arguments with students made me pause. I actually have a problem with students who AREN’T in my lesson who keep coming into my classroom. They want to talk to me about their schedule (which seems to change constantly) or have discovered that a different class was cancelled and they want to have their lesson now (even though 10 minutes have passed!). I spend precious time and ENERGY getting them out of the room! This doesn’t happen every lesson but yesterday it was a real pain! Would love to eliminate this from my day but HOW?! The other teachers on my staff are unsympathetic – I’m the one who decided to teach in the format of a learning center…

Time Consumers

The advice is to automate these activities. Once again, I’ve caused myself a great deal of trouble by having a learning center. The school has upgraded the online system into which attendance, grades etc. must be entered. The other teachers can link the calendar to the class group saving time when typing in the information. However, my groups on the computer are simply divided by the students level. The students who are on the same level do not necessarily learn with each other. Consequently they are absent on different days.To make a long story short, I have to locate each student separately in the computerized system and it is MUCH slower. Certainly a time consumer but a way out of it has yet to be found.

Empowerment Failures

Which work to delegate back to the students? This is a very important issue and the one I’ve had limited success in implementing. Maybe I should go back and read the chapter in the book again. I’ve tried using color coded feedback for correcting reading comprehension exercises (similar to ones given on the students exit exams) but it didn’t work well enough. LONG story – another post! I HAVE begun experimenting (with some students) with “flipping the classroom” and that seems to show promise!

The Important

The real teaching is supposed to stay!

At the moment I don’t know what I can eliminate from my “To Do” list – do you?

Day by Day in the Classroom

Sometimes Being a Teacher is the BEST Job in the World!

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highres wild

                                                                                                              drawing by Alice Axelbank

Some days are simply amazing – everything seems to fall into place. Friday was such a day.

It isn’t quite something that can be explained – I strive to “push the right buttons” every day yet the outcome varies.

I’ll take the fifth period as an example, though the highlight of the day happened before that (yeah, wait for it!).

I had the two weak 10th graders, who are particularly fond of punching each other on the shoulder, working up by the white board. I wrote two sentences on the board, a sentence with each of their names (using vocabulary they need for their test) and left them to figure them out. Every five minutes or so they called me to see what they had done and give them two more sentences. They weren’t exactly quiet (and they did punch each other on the shoulder) but that didn’t bother anyone and they were working!

Meanwhile,two students were practicing their vocabulary at the Y.A.L.P word station. We discovered a new “tutor” star – seems this student is very creative at giving helpful tips to remember words! Two more students were working at the computer on their literature log (we’re learning “An Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins). The remaining three students were doing review sheets for their upcoming exam and I was moving from one to another. Kids talked and laughed but everyone was working and we got a lot done! The atmosphere was so relaxed and productive!

The highlight  of the day was when one of the ‘”problematic” 10th graders sought me out during the break. She wanted to discuss her homework, or rather lack of homework. She hasn’t done homework once since the beginning of the year even though she got several demonstrations of what to do. I even let her begin one of the tasks in class so as to get her going. Nothing.

However, I think peer pressure began to influence her. She sought ME out to discuss homework on her break! Since the class computer was hooked up to the Internet, the students can easily get as much help with their online homework as they need (either extra explanations before handing in the task or quick feedback on their work afterwards) the number of students who do homework regularly has improved dramatically. Only 5 pupils out of 59 don’t do homework!

She told me that she doesn’t have WORD on her home computer and that she can’t seem to do it at school I suggested a solution (have done this with another student and it worked really well) – I paste the task into the content space of an email and  she replies there. Still, this student has to take action first – she must send me an email!

Miracles don’t happen over night (haven’t received an email from her yet) but I feel the classroom culture has changed in regards to homework and it is such a good feeling!

Day by Day in the Classroom

Double Vision – How do I get students to stop using the word TO too much?

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Photo: Omri Epstein

This is a classic problem of language interference. Many Hebrew speakers, with perfect hearing, say such things as :

“I want to help to the man.”

“She gave to the man his money.”

They say this because this is exactly the way it is said in Hebrew.

If the hearing students have such trouble with this, it comes as no surprise that my pupils really have a problem with it. It is a question of remembering rules when you don’t hear the language spoken.

This came up again in class today because we were correcting students’ answers on the worksheets related to the video “The Power of Words”  . The students used the words “help” “give” frequently in their answers, along with those extra “to” words.

HELP & GIVE are such “warm”, “rich” and strong words. Has anyone used some sort analogy, imagery or mnemonic device to help students to remember not to add “to” after them?

Day by Day in the Classroom, The Visual Corner

Using a “Homework Video” for Homework

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I discovered this short video on Sandy Millin’s blog as part of her excellent summary of the #ELTCHAT on the topic of homework.

I always check out a video without sound to see if it is suitable for use with my students. In this case I actually recommend using this one without sound for hearing pupils – I think it is more amusing (and less stuffy) this way.

I liked the idea of discussing homework habits at the beginning of the new school year. I prepared two simple tasks, the “blue” version and the “red” version. As always, there is more L1 in the  “red” version and the task is even easier.

You can find the tasks under the Downloadable Goodies tab on this blog, included in the category “reading videos”.

I’d love to hear what you did with this video, if you decide to use it!

Day by Day in the Classroom

What Do You Talk About in the Staff Room?

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It’s funny how things tie in with each other.

I hadn’t thought much about our staff room since the school finally purchased more chairs. Since I’m not one of those teachers who is in the staff room the moment the bell rings I often could not find a free chair. But that has been taken care of.

Tyson Seburnt’s interesting post “What’s a Staff Room to You?” made me realize that there are other kinds of staff rooms, reflecting a whole different approach to a staff room, one used for collaborating on school issues, for instance. Our HUGE room (there are approx 140 teachers at our school) is mainly used for eating /drinking coffee and talking. Although the room is enormous most teachers sit around specific tables, in sub groups. During the so-called lunch break (25 minutes at 10:40 in the morning!) the noise of conversation is loud. But what are teachers talking about?

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If you had asked me that a week ago I would have said: Teachers’ offspring, fashion and television. Maybe some politics.

Right after reading the post, the head of our deaf and hard of hearing staff department implored us not to talk about students during our breaks around the table.

Hmm, that’s right. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but we do talk about student. or rather “vent” our feelings about them.

She’s worried that sensitive information we know might be overheard by people who shouldn’t be privy to that information (not that you can hear much with the noise level during the break…)

The same day I read an article in EL (ASCD) magazine called “Respect – Where Do We Start” by Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin. The author talks about the negative influence of teachers sitting and complaining about their problematic students during lunch breaks. She says that these kind of conversations do not lead to the creation of constructive suggestions on dealing with students. The reverse may be true – hearing other colleagues also complain about a pupil makes the teacher feel more entitled to her negative feelings about that pupil. In addition, the author also claims that when teachers spend their free time talking about what brings them down and not what they feel good about it encourages our brains to think in more negative ways.

From what I understood, Beaudoin calls for a “no-talk-about-students” rule for lunch hour.

I see the author’s point but I’m not sure I agree. In fact, I’m not sure it is a rule we could live by. With all the support systems such as my AWESOME PLN and my patient husband who listens to me in the evenings, there is nothing like the support of your fellow teachers, who actually teach the same pupils, as you exit a lesson ready to tear your hair out.

Do YOU agree?

Day by Day in the Classroom

Amazing! He Knows My “back-to-school” Dreams!

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I was really amazed to read Scott Thornbury’s post “D is for Dreams” – he seems to have looked into my dreams!

Although I am about to begin my 26th year as a teacher, I have bad dreams during the second half of every August, like clockwork, every single year.

I wasn’t aware that other teacher do too. Although I teach in a very large high-school with many teachers, the subject has never come up. When we meet during “preparation days” before school starts one either talks about the fun one had on holiday or gripes about the new timetable or changes that have just been intoduced  for the upcoming school year.

My dreams would fall into the “loss of control” category.

Nightmare on the road

The odd thing is I don’t dream about the REAL “loss of control” issues I am worried about when I’m awake. Such as the 12th grader that goes from being sweet and working nicely to saloon-type fighting in about 30 seconds if someone sets him off.  Or the two 11th graders who kept all levels of the school administration on their feet dealing with their disregard of anything their teachers tell them (for instance – you cannot enter a class that isn’t your own in the middle of the lesson!). And what about all those unknown 10th graders?

Instead I dream that I can’t seem to be able to get to the classroom. The car won’t start, the bus won’t come, there is trouble on the road, people keep obstructing my path and forcing me to stop, etc.

There are also the dreams when I DO make it to the classroom but the pupils keep coming in, more and more and more and they don’t seem to stop. I can’t manage to talk to any of them as the door keeps opening…

So, thank you Scott Thornbury! I found your post on dreams very encouraging!

Day by Day in the Classroom, The Visual Corner

How Can I Bring Personal Travel Experiences into the Classroom?

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(click on the photo to enlarge and read)

 

There is a part in me that objects to the question I myself have just posed. Being on vacation, traveling (or doing something totally different from ones daily activities) is important to any person’s well being. There is no need to translate everything into classroom terms – I believe that a happier teacher is a better teacher!

And yet…

I saw the sign above, with the poem, on the very first day of our family trip to Alaska. Beluga Point was our first stop after leaving Anchorage. I found that the poem “stuck with me” throughout the trip, because it connected to the very strong sense of awe I felt while visiting Alaska. We are not intrepid backpackers who spend a week in a tent in the rain or hike in inaccessible areas. We stayed in cabins or B&B’s with hot showers and went on hikes on familiar trails.

Nonetheless we had awe inspiring experiences.

Not only are the vistas along the roads stunning, the close encounters with glaciers incredible, the bald eagles whizzing past majestic (and of course there are the bears and the moose!) consider experiences such as the following:

* On a guided boat ride in Kenai Fjord we saw humpback whales collaborating together in what is called bubble-net feeding. They all exhale at the same time and create a bubble that sucks in the fish.

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* On a small hill next to the B&B we were staying at, we saw (at close range!!!) a herd of about 400 caribou migrating from their calving area to their winter area. The next morning we saw them fording the river.

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So, I think it is clear why the feeling I feel the strongest from this trip is a sense of awe.

If I want to think in classroom terms I need to define what is it exactly I want to share with my students and a sense of awe regarding nature is not a very clear definition to work with.

I’ve had an unsuccessful experience with travel tales in the past.

A year and a half ago our youngest son went on an amazing youth trip to the ANTARCTIC!  After our son returned, he made a slide show and lectured in different classes at his high-school. In the slide show you could follow the stages of his long journey on the map, see icebergs, penguins and life on the boat. So, I decided to create a suitable worksheet (with answers to be found in the slideshow) in easy English for my pupils and bring it to class. The level of general knowledge and world geography knowledge is pretty low in many of my high-school groups of deaf and hard of hearing students.I had hoped that the fact that this is a true story about my own son would capture the student’s interest and something about the Antarctic might sink in.

The results were mixed. Some pupils did react as I had hoped. But others basically only reacted to the fact that the teacher’s son was lucky enough to get a full scholarship and THEY would never be so lucky (luck, yeah, my son found the organization himself, filled out forms, wrote essays, got recommendations, got the scholarship only the second time round, but for them it was like winning the lottery). They weren’t interested in the rest at all.

So, any suggestions (beyond sneaking some of these photos into online worksheets) on what to do in the classroom with my strong sense of awe of the natural wonders of Alaska?

Day by Day in the Classroom

Notes from a Short Summer Course

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between a rock and a hard place

* Photo by Gil Epshtein

I just finished teaching a short summer course for ninth graders who will be my new 10th graders this September. Only five children (out of 8 that the course was intended for) attended the course. I will have 17 new students but the others come from mainstreaming and were not included in the course.

I’ve been teaching such summer courses for many years. We always devote a lot of time to activities related to the “ABOUT ME” topic as it is a good opportunity for me to get to know the pupils, their learning styles and interests, while learning about their level and abilities. I’m very flexible about stopping to talk about anything that comes up. As Fiona Mauchline writes in her terrific post   “A place of Greater Safety” , I think that such discussions, even though they are in Hebrew, contribute to building a good relationship with these pupils. Many of my pupils have a lot of emotional issues. If they don’t feel “secure” in a class that deals with a very frustrating subject (for children who don’t hear well!) then we get stuck at first base.

However, do these discussions, for some of the children, really have that effect? Brad Peterson’s interesting post “Do you share your values in the classroom?” made me feel proud to know teachers like Brad and sad about the discussions I had this past week in comparison, particularly with one of the girls.

This girl hears comparatively well but comes from a linguistically (and otherwise) impoverished background. That was clear from this story she related the first day. The girl told me she knows how to ride a horse. I was duly impressed and asked her where she rides as I know she live in a city. She explained that she has relatives in a village and she goes there almost every holiday and rides horses. When I asked this 15 year old the name of the village she goes to so regularly, she didn’t know! We were using fun worksheets from abroad that have Monday as the first day of the week and write the date differently from the way we do. I explained about that but her attitude was that she does things her way and the rest of the world better copy her because she’s certainly not interested in the way they do things!

This is not new to me. Like the students who insisted that zebras come from the Safari Wild Animal Park and not Africa or the one who refused to accept that it rains in the summer in other parts of the world. I call these pupils the “don’t confuse me with the facts” pupils. Sigh. Brad is discussing values with his pupils and these pupil argue about where  zebras come from!

Important to note that there are others. Not only are some of them bright and curious, some come from backgrounds where everything seems to be “against” them (profoundly deaf, poverty, immigrants etc.) and they are still amazing.

Does the fact that I’m constantly trying to expose these kids to the wider world that exists out there just intimidate those from the ‘don’t confuse me with the facts” group”? Am I shaking their teenage world by confronting them with facts such as people don’t work on Sundays in many places in the world? Because members of this group (thankfully, NOT A HUGE GROUP ) fight me every step of the way with such information.