Saturday, January 10, 2009

teachersetc

Is testing the end all we are looking for? My school is sharing past scores with all 3-5 grade students in an attempt to motivate them to do their best on the state mandated tests in May. Is this what we have resorted to? I want my students to want to learn. I want them to be excited to come to my science lab. They will learn if we give them opportunities. To quote one of my favorite movies, "If you build it, they will come."
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4 comments:

  1. MarkJanuary 11, 2009 at 7:44 PM

    Great blog. You must like pink. Have a great week!

    Mark

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  2. UnknownJanuary 13, 2009 at 1:31 PM

    The difficulty comes in motivating those students who do not have their own intrinsic motivation. I do my best to comprise lessons that are fun and engaging, and I give my students choices in regard to their own education whenever possible. Yet I always have some students who seem to not care. Any suggestions on how to help those strugglers? I believe every student wants to succeed and I work hard to find what motivates each one. I try to attend their sporting events, or learn about their families and hobbies. This year, in particular, I have one student who is extremely witty and bright, yet completely unmotivated. He is gifted, but failing all of his courses. I would love some ideas on the best ways to motivate students. With him, I have tried being honest, showing concern, even asking what his goals are and how I can help. Nothing. Any ideas? I agree with you that past scores will not motivate these students. How do you create excitement to come to your lab?

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  3. susanJanuary 17, 2009 at 8:57 PM

    I am lucky this year, in that I get to see almost every one of our 450+ students. I have come to realize that there are a couple of elements that must be present in most of my lessons in order to reach students. First, I try my best to always make my classroom active and hands-on. Second, I have relaxed enough with age to learn to go with the flow. If the students are excited about what we are doing, who cares if we run out of time to finish the lesson. They dictate the speed of my classroom to some extent. Lastly, I love pulling in music, art and even PE into my lessons. While I am a math and science teacher, I feel the arts are extremely important. I'm afraid students are losing their arts education with each budget cut we make.

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  4. susanJanuary 17, 2009 at 8:58 PM

    I live in an all male household (even the cat.) Pink has become important to me.

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