Critical friends and the like … I warned you in my first posting that I am not computer savvy. Indeed, I managed to effectively keep myself from logging onto my original blog by either losing my password, writing it down incorrectly, or entering an entirely different email address all together. So I must begin anew.
I think it becomes very hard to keep any personal drama away from the classroom, particularly if it is something serious and out of your control. What happens when you simply have no emotional or mental energy to deal with your students – even though they are acting as they have been all semester? I had long week with my 9th grade class last week, and I am happy that I have next week off because it gives me some time to reflect. What do you do when your students flat out refuse to do what you’ve asked them? My first reaction was to say “Do it because I told you.” But I know that if I were in their position, I would get frustrated, perhaps even laugh, at that type of response. In fact, I would probably laugh now. I think the challenge becomes figuring out a way to 1) Make whatever activity you’re doing in the classroom relevant for the students (all things we’ve talked about) and 2) Communicating to the students that the skills they are learning will somehow be important in the future. So I suppose the answer to my questions is figuring out the best way to talk to my students without freaking out. I am not so sure about those answers … any suggestions?
