What do you do when a class bombs the quiz? Talk about it and reset. Everyday is a new day.
My students have been doing so well recently that I almost forgot that they were students and not superhumans. We've been riding high since the beginning of the semester but today we all came crashing down to earth. What changed?
I assigned them 3 readings last night which is more than I've given them every year. I didn't audio record a lecture over the material like I have done for many topics in the past. Maybe it was that one of the questions was over something we talked about in class but wasn't reinforced in the readings? The answer: kind of.
In addition to doing a real time reteach of concepts they clearly didn't understand according to the quiz, we had a rare but important moment of honesty.
I asked who didn't do any of the reading and about 5 hands went up. I asked who skimmed but didn't understand what they skimmed and about 15 more hands went up. I asked my students to put their hands down if they didn't take any notes over what they read and all the hands went down. The majority of my students either forgot, stopped, or never learned basic reading or studying skills that we have supposedly practicing all year. Whose fault is that? Mine.
I haven't been reinforcing the skills in class and haven't been checking in with them to see how their progression to better students has been going. Sure, they are responsible for their own learning, but if you don't practice a skill, you lose it. If you don't practice a skill you just learned, you never master it. I've allowed my kids to get by on mediocre study skills and they have allowed me to allow them.
Thanks to their honesty both in taking the quiz and talking about it after, we can continue to move forward and get better together.
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Related Articles:
Memorization v. Teaching Concepts in Dallas Schools
Empathizing with Dallas Students on Testing
What is cheating?
I assigned them 3 readings last night which is more than I've given them every year. I didn't audio record a lecture over the material like I have done for many topics in the past. Maybe it was that one of the questions was over something we talked about in class but wasn't reinforced in the readings? The answer: kind of.
In addition to doing a real time reteach of concepts they clearly didn't understand according to the quiz, we had a rare but important moment of honesty.
I asked who didn't do any of the reading and about 5 hands went up. I asked who skimmed but didn't understand what they skimmed and about 15 more hands went up. I asked my students to put their hands down if they didn't take any notes over what they read and all the hands went down. The majority of my students either forgot, stopped, or never learned basic reading or studying skills that we have supposedly practicing all year. Whose fault is that? Mine.
I haven't been reinforcing the skills in class and haven't been checking in with them to see how their progression to better students has been going. Sure, they are responsible for their own learning, but if you don't practice a skill, you lose it. If you don't practice a skill you just learned, you never master it. I've allowed my kids to get by on mediocre study skills and they have allowed me to allow them.
Thanks to their honesty both in taking the quiz and talking about it after, we can continue to move forward and get better together.
Follow us on Facebook; Twitter; iTunes; Soundcloud; Stitcher
Related Articles:
Memorization v. Teaching Concepts in Dallas Schools
Empathizing with Dallas Students on Testing
What is cheating?
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