Sometimes I look back on my past successes and feel less than before. Am I still not the same successful teacher I was back then?
I suppose that I could blame this new climate of student learning on the missed learning moments during Covid, but surely after this long we should be reaching the end, right?
I had to take my son to the doctor last week, and I decided to leave them with a packet with guided questions, and I even provided them with an oral reading. Me reading to them.
I was very proud as I felt as though I had truly accommodated my students who needed more help, and I even gave those who didn’t need it access to the same. It should have been an easy assignment that they could finish up the next day if they needed more time.
What happened?
The entire day I was bombarded with emails stating that they didn’t understand the assignment (read and answer the questions provided in the document- a document that had even more specific instructions on how and where to find the answers). They stated the assignment was too hard. Too difficult. They needed more information on how to answer. They had other assignments to do, as well, so it wasn’t like they had nothing to do. They had 3 to choose from.
How did I feel? I felt like a failure. My good feeling dispersed into the wind like scattered ash.
On Friday, when I returned, I decided to give those students who needed it (mainly everyone except for my honors class) a thorough modeling of what I had expected (i.e. I did it for them). I gave them the answers to the questions. We did things as a class. They answered the questions with great details. They knew this! They did it.
When it came to building the essay, I modeled introductory paragraphs, a body paragraph, and a conclusion. Things that I saw they needed based on their last essay for me. I gave them the formula. I typed it out with their help. For the body paragraph, you do the same with a topic sentence, evidence, and an explanation. They were responsible for only TWO body paragraphs! They could use mine or use mine as a reference to build their own. I wouldn’t mark off points if they used MY paragraphs. Everything would be due on Thursday. Planner (which we did as a class on Friday and Monday) and essay (which I did 3 of their 5 paragraphs for them) should be submitted on Thursday. As of yesterday (Friday) I still didn’t have them all turned in.
I had students who didn’t even have one of the paragraphs written and their planners were empty. How? How does this happen?
I gave them out grade reports for my class with a list of missing assignments. I warned them that progress reports come out in two weeks, and many of them had an 8 in my class. Most didn’t care. They knew we would be changing that to a 50 when report cards come out, and then to their parents it would look like they did so much to bring up that grade. (Except that some of us teachers now list the actual grade on the report card in the comments section)
Why the lack of motivation?
I feel like trying to motivate students is an exhausting uphill climb. Students are neither extrinsically nor intrinsically motivated to perform their best. They don’t care about anything other than their phones which they sneak to look at 30-40 times during a class. I’m not stupid. I know what they are doing. I really need to find a way to get them to perform to their potential. I need to get them to do their best each and every time. Trying to find a solution to this is going to be a long, uphill climb.
