Okay, so I thought I was on a roll with this dicussion thing. The week before last, we were talking about "writerly obsession" with pieces like Jonah Winter's "Sestina: Bob" and Steve Almond's "Dear Oprah" letters. The students had a blast (I think/hope) discussing their own obsessions, large and small, especially when we read "An Open Love Letter to Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme" in class. I had the board filled with a very long and funky list, and everyone left still talking and laughing by the end of class.
But this past week was like the Twilight Zone. It started alright: They were more than happy to read around their exercises from the previous week (obsessive letters written to a famous person of their choice), but when it came around to a discussion of the reading, all went sour.
Where had my loquacious students gone? Everyone was silent, looking down or away whenever I posed a question. I finally had to just pin the little wriggling flies to the wall and go, "What's up, guys?" Several of them eventually owned up to the fact that they hadn't done the reading. In a class that's capped at 10 (a clerical error?), with a couple of absences, and a couple of non-readers, things got pretty hairy pretty quick. I was abashed, fumbling and stumbling through a synopsis of the material so we could get some semblence of discussion under way.
But if they don't do the reading, I can't easily do the teaching. Part of me was pissed and wanted to kick the slackers to the curb; part of me was almost ready to pull a 101 pop-quiz mentality on them. But I know that none of this will create the kind of atmosphere I want in my classroom. Any suggestions for how to enforce reading (aside from, as I warned them, lowered participation points for non-reading?)
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I started making them write about the reading (sometimes a 6 word review, sometimes more) and have those "critical writings" be infused as part of their exercise for the week. That way, if they don't do the reading, they can't do the creative writing, and if they do NOTHING they lose significant checks on daily work, esp. if the assignment has a bunch of smaller components to it that adds up to more points/checks for the day. It's worked so far in my class; lots of people end up doing the reading all the time because otherwise they know they can't do the writing.
ReplyDeleteI am having a somewhat related issue with attendance and participation. I have 7 kids in my class, but have an average of 4 show up each day. To make thing worse, they rotate, so that on average, each student averages 1.5-2 classes per two weeks. This absolutely kills any momentum I am able to build within each class.
ReplyDeleteI have tried bribing them with coffee (also hoping they develop an addiction), reminding them of the attendance policy and their final grade, and threatening them with quizzes and such. None of this is working. I don't want to scare any of them away by screaming and shouting and foaming at the mouth (I wait for them to leave the class for that), but how else can I address this issue?
I have been trying to generate some interest by doing some more hands on exercises in class, and I have them post on the readings before each class so that we do not have to start off from square one and they have some familiarity with other reactions. But unless I get at least 5 kids in class consecutively, I spend half the time going over what we did last class.
That's all for now, I can feel my heart beating behind my eyeballs. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks.