This week I placed my students in small groups. I actually gave students numbers and placed them in groups by those numbers. It worked out perfectly. It cut down on excessive talking in MOST of my classes. My students are completing group assignments and I am holding them more accountable as a group and individual. We completed a Gallery Walk this week that was very successful ! I felt like we were really in an art gallery. Students were very quiet, stayed on task and were very excited about reviewing the answers.
Now, that was the good, my bad is that its hard to keep two students motivated in my second period class. I teach them the same lessons as my other classes. They have portfolios and present their work during class but its boring to them (of course no audience) All of my other classes are pretty nice sizes. Its a hard transition for me to teach my first period class of 28 students and then 2 students. The flow of this class is very fast and both of these students are very focused. I am looking for a way to keep these two students just as excited as my other classes. Does anyone have any suggestions for this situation?
Rhonda, you find yourself in a difficult situation for sure. I think we've all had this scenario come up with more advanced students and keeping them engaged.
ReplyDeleteMy administrator would quickly tell me that I need to be differentiating in my class. Thus, I need to be taking the time to design lessons to meet the different content level at which my various students are at. Easeir assignments on the same content for my more challenged students, and more difficult assignments for my advanced students focusing on the higher level Divergent Thinking skills that we learned about last week. I'd need to focus on making those advanced students analyze and evaluate the same material and set goals for them in that area. The students on the lower end would merely be required to repeat definitions and the litany of anacronyms that you guys teach.
Don't know if this helps at all but there's a ton of information out there on differentiating student content and activities. The internet is awesome for things like that.