My teacher does review on the day that I am in class. This week he was gone and I helped lead the class with the assist of a substitute teacher. The substitute seemed to be a very smart man, but he would go off on tangents. This made it extremely hard to get everything the teacher wanted me to get done. Normally my teacher cuts to the root of things and the students know to get to work. I could have saved a lot of time that way if the substitute had told less stories.
The only time waster in the classroom are the interruptions by the students. They have a habit of blurting out and then distracting the class. He warns the students to stop blurting, but they still tend to get off track. I asked my teacher how he thought he could save some of that wasted time. He doesn’t know how he can curb it any more than he already does. I agreed with him because if he keeps trying to silence them that wastes even more class time. Sometimes he has to let them get what they have to say out so we can get back to what we were talking about.
Hi Kaylee
ReplyDeleteyour class waste of time sounds kind of familiar to mine. In my class room even that my students were high schoolers they still used to blurt out almost about anything. In my class the teacher lets students to share their good news which takes them almost half of the class time. I asked him one time what were the reasons about that and he say "because the whole class listen to the stories very well and then students get into a listening mode for the rest of the class". So, in my class instead the of teacher telling stories, he has the students tell stories. Another differences is, you mention that your students get to work if the teacher is not too disruptive with his stories, and my students does not matter what my teacher does they never finished an assigned work.
Have a great day!
I can't believe how well this seems to work with the students! I was surprised that the students didn't get too out of control. I think this is a smart strategy so they feel as if we care about their day as well.
ReplyDeleteHey Kaylee, I can see your frustration! What grade level are you teaching? I'm in high school and the interruptions are very evident with our students so I can understand what you're dealing with. It's interesting to see the different ways teachers handle interruptions and from what I've seen, I think the students' reactions depend a lot on their trust and relationship they have with the teacher. I hope that your students enjoy their time with you this semester!
ReplyDeleteIt is a 9-12 self-contained CI.
DeleteKaylee! I think its great that you recognize that much of the time wasted in the classroom is not the fault of the teacher, but rather time spent teaching students life skills. It can be discouraging, but it sounds like the teacher can take advantage of these moments and use them as teaching moments. I look forward to hearing more about your experience as the semester goes on!
ReplyDeleteYes, this circles back to taking the time to understand/know your students. It also varies on your classroom and what you're preparing your students for upon leaving school. In some instances, workplace and life skills are the goal. In others, there's more of an emphasis on content mastery.
ReplyDelete