When It Works, It Works

Lessons that engage and keep student interest= the most difficult thing a teacher has to accomplish. With all the many things that interest teenagers, it is hard keeping students engaged and on task. While I am not always the most engaging teacher, I have managed to be quite successful 85% of the time. The key has been two major things: Lesson variety (movement, individual, partner, whole group, small group) within the lesson everyday and communication. My students are very real and upfront with me about the things they like and dislike. They are starting to learn how they learn best which is a huge accomplishment. Friday's lesson on adjectives had students telling me how much fun they had in class whereas today's math lesson had students leaving accomplished. Most of the students failed my last math test and we pretty upset. We brainstormed together how we could make improvements and fix the problems. We pushed out a vigorous lesson today but many questions and commonly missed issues were addressed. While I am not always able to see such whole group victories everyday, I bask in the small ones. There was one student who was not feeling challenged enough nor adjusting to the other teacher's teaching style who moved into my math class. She was not doing work or participating and made a complete 180 degree turn around in class today. There was another student whose potential was being hindered by another student, moved into my class and has been one of my star performers. I have 5 students still struggling with multiplication who are currently being tutored by peer students who made the decision and sacrificed their homework time to tutor their friends. Im so proud of the work they are accomplishing and the sense of community they are establishing amongst themselves.