Monday, February 4, 2013

Day 89: Discussion

Still a a loss for what to do with my 5th & 6th hour. 2nd hour whiteboarded the worksheet and got through a discussion of every problem with time to spare. I knew a traditional WB presentation wouldn't work with my later classes, so I opted for the "WB Parade" instead, and even that didn't work. Students are off task and loud, simply choosing to do absolutely nothing. 

In the end, the problems to all 14 problems were posted and displayed, and students had ample opportunity to look them over, but I only had time to talk about a couple in a whole class setting, which I'm predicting will be used against me tomorrow during the quiz (the old "you never showed us how to do this" defense). 

I'm considering keeping a blank checklist roster along with my HW list and my Class Monitor list and simply having students initial on days that they're choosing to not work. I'll have a basic 'pledge' at the top of the page that will be something along the lines of "I'm choosing to not participate in the class work today and accept full responsibility for the grade that I will receive."

I hate resorting to guilt trips like that, but it seems to be the only type of reinforcement that works, and most students themselves would agree. 

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