The focus in our school is currently on boys' literacy. One of the first things we were "told" to do was hand out booklets: one a reading journal, the other a writing journal. I detest journals for boys. Although it was a long time ago, I remember being 13 and if someone would have given me a booklet which clearly says on the front, "80 Pages", I would have immediately lost it and risked the wrath of my teacher rather than face the prospect of filling those pages.....times two! I passed my thoughts along to one of my more enthusiastic (and very new) colleagues, and she scoffed that perhaps our standards were too low if we couldn't expect ALL boys to complete the booklet over the course of the term. "It's not like we're asking them to complete 80 pages in a day", she replied. But to me, when you're 13, next week is a long time away, and 80 pages is 80 pages, whether you get months to do them or not. Blank pages are a mountain to climb - 80 blank pages is a trip to the moon.
Anyway, one week later when 13 of her students hadn't completed a couple journal entries, all heck broke loose. Students were talked to, phone calls made home, journals to be signed.
I tell this story not as an "I told you so" gloat, but to emphasize that as educators, we must make our goals with our students in mind, not a Ministry of Education designed program to be completed "by the book"!
I changed the assignment a little. I took the five boys and one girl in my class who I knew would quietly rebel against this (as I would have too) and cut them a deal. They would be able to email there journal, so keep an electronic journal, if you will. I'm fortunate in that I have the computer lab next door to me, and thus am able to send students in there when there's room. I also have two old Macs in my room. If no computers are available, students dot-jot their thoughts (by hand), show them to me, then take them home and email me their finished product later that evening. So far we've only NOT had computer access twice, and things worked out OK.
So far, three weeks in, so far so good. It probably wont last, once they figure out they're still reading, and still writing, but I'll get something from them, with few hassles, and perhaps allow them to learn our FirstClass email system a little better along the way.
There is another, perhaps unrelated "incident" that occurred because of this. It taught me a lesson. I'll explain that in my next post.
1 comment:
This is a good demonstration, Mark, of how we need to be flexible in our thinking about what we expect from students not only in content, but in presentation. And how the presentation mode can effect the potential content.
I see two presenting problems. One, teachers need to understand and embrace the fact that technology can be a key tool in the classroom to assist many students in achieving their academic goals. This requires a paradigm shift in our approach to planning and implementing classroom programs, which leads me to problem number two. In order for teachers to be able to effectively actualize this new approach, they need access to the tools. You are lucky to have more ready access to your lab than other teachers do. We dismantled our lab this year, and distributed computers in the classrooms. In addition to this, we have laptops that teachers can sign out to use in class. Some teachers weren't thrilled with this plan, but as we're getting used to it, I think it's panning out to have been a good decision.
Bottom line...we need to make all attempts to remove the barriers (financial being a tough one)that are impeding the use of technology as a viable tool, on a routine basis, for our students.
Lori
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