One of my passions about teaching (and there are many) is that my students do well. Usually, with a few rare exceptions, that means two forms of action on my part.
1. I should clearly present the material to them in a memorable, engaging way.
2. I try to encourage them in many ways so that they will want to remember what I'm doing in point number one.
One of my pet peeves (and there are many) is teachers who have the attitude of "It's in the book; I presented it; they are responsible for it," and then later say, "Oh, look at the grades! What slow learners we have-- most of them got C's and D's."
a "piece" of "pie"
This would be an example of number one. I feel that it is my job to present the spelling words in a way that my students can remember them if they try. I have them write and draw these on their papers to aid in remembering as well. And the purpose is not just to do well on the tests. It's so they won't grow up and do things like this.
That was for real, by the way; it wasn't done as a joke.
I checked, sweetly.
Some people say that if most of the students make good grades, then the teachers are probably being easy on them. I say that most of the students will make good grades if the material is presented well and if they are motivated to do well. And that's not being easy on them. (Abeka grammar tests, spelling tests, and writing essays on history tests aren't easy tasks anyway.)
And this would be an example of number two. Here is something close to what I said in class to go along with what I wrote on the board that day.
"Okay my awesome, amazing students-- you did well on the test. ALL of you passed. Yay! Great job. Here is the break down of the grades. We had eleven "A"s and EIGHT of those were 100s. You guys are smart and I know you studied hard. Good job! Two of you got "B"s -- that's good. That puts you on achievement party status. Now, it looks like a few of you could have tried harder. Everyone look at your tests and see what you got wrong. Did you write five sentences on the essay question like I asked? Did you have an introductory sentence, three sentences which logically supported your point, and a concluding sentence? That is where most of you lost points. I know you can do better next time. Fix what you got wrong right now on your tests."
(Hand raise) Me - "Yes, Fred?"
Fred - "Mrs. Swanson, I knew the answer to this question and I still got it wrong!"
Me - "Okay, let's work together and figure out why. Were you going slowly and using your flea comb?" (That's our term for picking carefully at everything on our tests.)
Fred - "I think I did well on the first part, but I lost my focus near the end."
Me - "Great observation. Did some of the rest of you do that?"
Class - nodding heads
Me - "Okay, we figured out something here. Next time, let's focus all the way to the end of the test. Deal?"
Class - nods and smiles
I just affirmed them, encouraged them, and hopefully led them to figure out how they can do better next time. And hopefully they will want to do better, too. That way they can be above the squiggly line and not below it. They do notice those things.
Also notice the pronouns I used: we and us. It's not me pushing them, it's that we are working together. I am on their team. I want them to succeed, and I work hard to see that they do.
All of these will help us teachers have more successful students.
On the left is the secret code we made up for their last Bible memory -- "DOIST RPMs", as in you'll have good RPMs if you keep your engine moist-- only we changed the "m" to a "d" to fit the verse.
I will point out that I'm not their Bible teacher, nor are they responsible to write or say their Bible verse for me. I'm just their homeroom teacher and I care. I know Bible memory can be hard for some of them, so I play the song and sing it with them every morning, and I make up silly hand motions and ways to remember the order and write it on the board for them to look at while we're singing.
And on the right is the way we remember that direct objects and indirect objects follow action verbs, and that predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives follow being (which then turn into linking) verbs. I tell them, "No car wrecks; pick a lane."
And, to remember the "c" in muscle, I draw a sideways "c" in the guy's muscle. And then we pronounce it "mus - cull". I have them point to their muscle, and they get it right on the test, usually.
1. I should clearly present the material to them in a memorable, engaging way.
2. I try to encourage them in many ways so that they will want to remember what I'm doing in point number one.
One of my pet peeves (and there are many) is teachers who have the attitude of "It's in the book; I presented it; they are responsible for it," and then later say, "Oh, look at the grades! What slow learners we have-- most of them got C's and D's."
a "piece" of "pie"
This would be an example of number one. I feel that it is my job to present the spelling words in a way that my students can remember them if they try. I have them write and draw these on their papers to aid in remembering as well. And the purpose is not just to do well on the tests. It's so they won't grow up and do things like this.
That was for real, by the way; it wasn't done as a joke.
I checked, sweetly.
Some people say that if most of the students make good grades, then the teachers are probably being easy on them. I say that most of the students will make good grades if the material is presented well and if they are motivated to do well. And that's not being easy on them. (Abeka grammar tests, spelling tests, and writing essays on history tests aren't easy tasks anyway.)
And this would be an example of number two. Here is something close to what I said in class to go along with what I wrote on the board that day.
"Okay my awesome, amazing students-- you did well on the test. ALL of you passed. Yay! Great job. Here is the break down of the grades. We had eleven "A"s and EIGHT of those were 100s. You guys are smart and I know you studied hard. Good job! Two of you got "B"s -- that's good. That puts you on achievement party status. Now, it looks like a few of you could have tried harder. Everyone look at your tests and see what you got wrong. Did you write five sentences on the essay question like I asked? Did you have an introductory sentence, three sentences which logically supported your point, and a concluding sentence? That is where most of you lost points. I know you can do better next time. Fix what you got wrong right now on your tests."
(Hand raise) Me - "Yes, Fred?"
Fred - "Mrs. Swanson, I knew the answer to this question and I still got it wrong!"
Me - "Okay, let's work together and figure out why. Were you going slowly and using your flea comb?" (That's our term for picking carefully at everything on our tests.)
Fred - "I think I did well on the first part, but I lost my focus near the end."
Me - "Great observation. Did some of the rest of you do that?"
Class - nodding heads
Me - "Okay, we figured out something here. Next time, let's focus all the way to the end of the test. Deal?"
Class - nods and smiles
I just affirmed them, encouraged them, and hopefully led them to figure out how they can do better next time. And hopefully they will want to do better, too. That way they can be above the squiggly line and not below it. They do notice those things.
Also notice the pronouns I used: we and us. It's not me pushing them, it's that we are working together. I am on their team. I want them to succeed, and I work hard to see that they do.
All of these will help us teachers have more successful students.
On the left is the secret code we made up for their last Bible memory -- "DOIST RPMs", as in you'll have good RPMs if you keep your engine moist-- only we changed the "m" to a "d" to fit the verse.
I will point out that I'm not their Bible teacher, nor are they responsible to write or say their Bible verse for me. I'm just their homeroom teacher and I care. I know Bible memory can be hard for some of them, so I play the song and sing it with them every morning, and I make up silly hand motions and ways to remember the order and write it on the board for them to look at while we're singing.
And on the right is the way we remember that direct objects and indirect objects follow action verbs, and that predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives follow being (which then turn into linking) verbs. I tell them, "No car wrecks; pick a lane."
And, to remember the "c" in muscle, I draw a sideways "c" in the guy's muscle. And then we pronounce it "mus - cull". I have them point to their muscle, and they get it right on the test, usually.