I was reading Jason’s blog the other day and I was struck with guilt by something he said:
The downside (of new teacher blogs) is I get that “parent whose daughter is going to be out past midnight for the first time” feeling when a new teacher goes more than a couple of weeks without posting.
Seeing as I haven’t posted almost a month, I thought I’d write to say that at the very least, I’m still here, still teaching, and still (at the very least) reading others blogs.
When I used to post I followed a general principle: regardless of whether org not anyone will ever see it, post as though the whole world is reading. A coworker described first year teaching as drinking from a firehouse. I’ve found that since becoming a teacher I have had a hard time turning down the pressure. I have this fear that if I write a post everything would come pouring out, and much of what I tend to think about is not for the world wide web.
But I that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about a lot of things, working on improving daily, trying new strategies and structures, and learning lots and lots and lots. What I learned discovered most recently is that when I need to intervene on behavioral issues during a task, it’s much more effective to redirect the conversation towards the mathematics than directly address the behavior.
Good (task related questions):
- Have you read the problem?
- Have you drawn a diagram?
- Have you made a plan?
- Have you written an equation?
- Which problem are you on?
- What questions do you have about the problem?
Bad (behavior related directions):
- I need you to be focused/on task/working
It actually appears you have not posted in about four months. Glad to have you back!
If a student is obviously distracted by something, I like to acknowledge it (“yes that WAS a great game last night!”) and then turn attention back to the math. I find distractions become less distracting if the student accepts their presence before committing to the math task.
What do you do when a student says they are confused, and you ask “Well which part is confusing you?” and thier answer is “Everything”
You acknowledge that as a valid response, and show with your body language that you’re ready to listen if they have anything else to add. Sometimes, surprisingly often, they do.
One thing I’ve seen is teachers condition students to say “I don’t know, but…”
For example: “I don’t know what to when students say ‘I don’t know,” but I am going to keep trying things until I get it right.”
Ask them “What do you know so far?” or “Do you know how to start?” and try to walk them through the process.
Sometimes I just start over with my explanation and they will interrupt and ask a more specific question to keep me from repeating everything.
Depending on the student, I might put them off until a time when they are working individually so I can better see their misconceptions.
Or I bring them to the board and make them work the problem but have other students tell them step-by-step what to do.