Week ten has been a good week. It started out with the PSSA's. It felt like a very long week because of that I think. The aspect of this past week that I found most beneficial is that I feel like I am finally getting into the grove with all of my classes. I feel that I am creating better lessons, which makes the students more interested into the content. It does make it easier with accounting because I am teaching payroll. I created my second bulletin board and it is based on the entire payroll chapter. I am having the students fill out time cards everyday for the time that they are in school. They seem to really like this and are getting involved. I have noticed that some students will come in even before class to fill out their time card. Some even come at the end of the day to put what time they are leaving. It will get the students away from doing the book work for the entire chapter. At the end, all the different content that was taught to them they will need to complete with the project as a group. They are all in suspense about finding out if they are married and how many withholding allowances they have. They seem to really enjoy the project so far.
If I could go back and change anything about this I think it would be slowing down some of my lessons of Friday. I felt that Friday I had a very off day. I felt like I had no clue what I was doing. I think that just came along with the very long we that we had because of the PSSA's. I also noticed that the students did not want to do anything this week. They were very lazy and not motivated. I have noticed a big change in the senioritis kicking in also. The seniors just want everything to be finished. This is the last week for the third quarter so they are seeing the end close. So are all of us!
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Vicky, I did the same thing with my students and Accounting. They seem to like the project that I'm doing with them in their groups as well going through the entire payroll process. I agree with you that the senioritis is definitely kicking in with the students as well. This can make it harder but it just means we have to try and come up with more activities for them to do. Keep up the good creativity!!
ReplyDeleteI think we are all starting to get a good dose of senioritis. Some of my students will even look up at me during the middle of an activity that they don't feel like completing and they will say "Mr. D, haven't you ever heard of senioritis? Because I'm a senior, and I've got it..." They make no bones about letting me know that they don't have any interest in school these days, but as Chris says, we just need to be creative and try to find ways to make learning not feel so much like learning. It's the greatest challenge for me, but as I have said before, it's always one that is worth the effort in the end. Keep up the good work! The end is near! :)
ReplyDeleteRead what I posted in Maribeth's blog about senioritis. It's a given in K-12 education, and understanding that it comes every year, to every class of students, and every teacher makes it just one more entity we have to work around in our planning and preparation.
ReplyDeleteTesting does wear out the students. I think the best measure an administration could practice is to ask every teacher in the district to take the PSSA's one year in exactly the same environment with the same time restraints as the students. It, like following a student for a day, is a real eye-opener.
Students definitely have more on their plates than I had when I attending school in the seventies. I always try to find ways to connect to these demands and understand them rather than fight them...for my students' sakes. It always about the students! :)