Journal 4-1

English 11

Students today were engaged in their first peer editing process with a full length essay. Enough students had their work done that I was able to have tables of four students with three essays. I asked students to check mostly for the mini-lessons we've covered in the past four weeks, and then to check for general questions and areas of difficulty.

Observation

Students were hesitant again, and some groups didn't even start until I approached them. For the most part, though, students worked well. In my first class of the day, students worked well. There were some clarifying questions about spelling ("Is 'slave ship' one word or two?" "Do you spell 'voluntarily' v-o...?") and other small issues, but students seemed to know what to do. My second class of the day was not so focused. There were more students who didn't have their work done, so it was harder to find groups with more than two essays for four people. Students were also much more needy. One student raised his hand every time he spotted an error in order to let me know (gleefully) that he'd found a mistake. I finally had to ask him to stop sharing - "It's clear to me that you are able to spot mistakes. There's no need to inform me of every error - you should raise your hand only if you have a question." His response? "But I am asking you questions!" We talked for a few minutes so I could clarify the difference between a question and a comment (he really wasn't clear on the difference), and then he was able to move on with his work. As a side note, three students in this class (and only this class) who said that they hadn't written an essay because they didn't know what the prompt was. I redirected them to the unit syllabus (which has the prompt choices) and asked if they remembered talking about the choices on Friday. They had, but none...NONE of them had believed me when I explained they had a choice. Every student thought that they had missed something because they couldn't possibly be allowed to choose what they wanted to write about! My last class (so far) went well. Students were able to share and the class was small enough that I was able to place students according to ability level (I made sure each table was homogeneous). There was one student who was full of procedural questions, but he's the usual questioner. The rest of the students went right to work! I handed out grades in all classes, but this last class (I discovered) has my nitpickers. At least three students challenged me on their assignment grades even though they had the rubric in their hand with the reasons for the grades clearly marked. One student challenged me on every point - I finally had to tell him to come in during activity period to talk.  I'm happy to discuss grades, but not at the expense of teaching time...

reflection

I want to do reflections for this essay, but I'm not sure the students are ready to really examine their choices yet. I feel like they're in survival mode for my class and just not used to my teaching style yet. In terms of writing, I feel like students still equate correcting mistakes with revision. I want to help them see the difference, but I think I'm going to have to just give it time. I really think students still look at writing as a hoop to jump through and not as something that's crafted over time. Maybe they view it as a checklist...

Since we're finishing up the Pre-Colony unit this week, I need to return to the surveys students filled out on the first day of class. I'm wondering if they have learned what they wanted, or if they just wrote something nice that I would like. I'm also wondering if I keep giving pre- and post-unit surveys, the answers will start to change. Will students take their learning more seriously, or will they continue to hoop-jump? I'm thinking of dividing my classes in to two groups: a control group who will receive my lessons as planned, and a reflective group who will complete my lessons as well as various reflective and survey writings (thanks M. for that idea!).

What questions can I ask to prompt deeper thought about the writing and learning process?

Will students make the connection between the questions I ask and the writing they are doing?

Are surveys better, or should I ask students to journal/free write about their learning?

Will this process help the nitpicker? Will it help the nitpicker more or less than the apathetic student? What about the over-achiever (not to be confused with the nitpicker)?  

I need to go back to my Human Learning book and look up reflection and how it impacts learning.