Catching Up

I've been having some trouble keeping up with my posts, so today I decided that I would fill you in on everything that has been going on in my classroom since we completed Pete's Pathogram.

Vicki and I surveyed our classes about their middle school experience prior to this year late in September. Despite the fact that we asked them to focus on their 6th and 7th grade experiences, we got a few comments on changes to the lunch program and advisory program that took effect at the beginning of the year. Since they brought up these two issues, we felt that it would be important to do another survey that just pertains to this year.

We discovered that a few of our students felt that school was boring....teachers either went to fast and they couldn't keep up, or spent too much time on one idea that they became bored. Overall however, they reported a positive experience here at the middle school.

With those results, I decided to ask my students to write down why they came to school every day. They could list as many reasons as they wanted, but once the list was finished, they had to rank them in order of importance.

57% of the students reported that the most important reason they come to school was for social reasons. Given the nature of the middle school student, this was not surprising.

13% of the students said they come to school because the "have to". It is mandatory that they be here. They would do something else if they had a choice, but since they don't, they come to school....It would appear that this group has a high need for freedom, but I would need to talk to them to learn if this is true or not.

28% reported that they attend school for an education. Many stated that they had plans to attend college and their future careers depend on more education. It was interesting to see that some reported that their future earning power depended on a good education. Power and again freedom seem to be the needs driving this group.

2% reported that they come to school to avoid boredom...it is something to do. I wonder if this same group sees school as fun?

We have decided to ask the same questions at the end of the year to see if there is any shift in their responses. Vicki and I are the only teachers using choice theory with the goal of making learning fun and creating quality classrooms. Their answers to the same questions will go a long way in helping us determine how effective we were. It will be interesting to see how classrooms affect their opinions of school.


Class Meetings

I have been conducting class meeting since mid September, but just recently put a name to our discussion time. It is a time when we push the tables out of the way and pull the chairs into a circle. The student have said they like the arrangement because they can see every one's face and because I seem to be more a part of the group, than their "teacher" I really try to keep this time non-threatening and encourage everyone to share their opinion and I will tell them what I see as well...without blaming or accusing.

During this time, we have discussed school policies that they like and dislike, as well as science and lit related curriculum ideas and issues. The results have been awesome.

One of the things that came up during a discussion was the new food program we have here at school. They reported that often when they get to lunch (they have the last lunch time) the food they wanted was gone. They would also like to see ice cream back on the menu once in a while. Once their suggestions were compiled, they were sent to Dale and he recognized their ideas and discussed it during advisory time and assured the students that he would look into their concerns. That really gave the students a boost. They felt that their opinions mattered and that someone in "charge" would help them out. I was impressed with their ideas and suggestions for improving the lunch situation. We'll see where it leads.

Another issue that was covered in a class meeting was their talking while I was trying to teach, or while another student was responding to discussion questions. I really wanted to know why they, in some cases talked continually. I learned that they were trying to satisfy their need for fun, freedom and power. The power need came out slowly, but they realized that when they talk in my class, they usually get 4-6 other students off task and listening to their conversation. We then talked about needs and I asked them if their needs were more important than mine or another student in the class. They quickly responded NO. I then asked how their need satisfaction might be interfering with others need satisfaction. They quickly noted that they were keeping others from learning and me from teaching. I was impressed, but I really wanted to know if they would take responsibility and come up with a way that we all could have our needs met. They asked if they could have 5 minutes to chat either at the beginning or end of the class. I asked what they would be willing to do for that time. Their response was that some would choose to sit at different tables and that they would listen when the lesson was being given. Worth a try...we all would win if this solution works. I'll let you know after we have worked on this for a while.

The main way I have used class meetings is to get the students more involved in their own learning. In Science, I have used the class meetings to share the learning targets with them. I explained that a learning target was a written statement of what I expected them to learn through a unit of study. I then had them break into groups to look at the three learning targets that have been established for the chemistry unit. I had them talk about what the targets meant and how they would like to show me that they have mastered the target.

Once each of the four groups came up with ideas, we got together in a class meeting format and everyone shared their ideas. I asked questions of clarification and took notes on what they said. I then had them brainstorm more student friendly language for the targets. Once they had that finished, we got together again and chose the one that we all felt best fit our needs and the original targets. The work that they have done is posted on my school web page, and I think/hope that it will help the students not only master the material, but have fun doing it since they had a hand in designing the learning.

I've used much the same process in Literature. We have used class meetings to format our book discussions and our written responses to the various readings that we do in class. I am currently working through what good writing looks like in a response to literature by having class meetings.

I really love this format. I learn so much more about what students value and want. It has made the start of this year one of my best. I feel more relaxed and comfortable with all of my students. They seem to know that I value their ideas and suggestions and they really like determining how and what they need to know. Whenever they come into the room and see the tables moved, they know its class meeting time and have told me how much they enjoy it. I will be collecting a great deal of data over the course of the year to determine how effective this format is in improving student learning.