I have never been so glad to see Friday! This week has been extremely crazy and I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend to catch up on grading and decompress from the weeks events. The week began with the anticipation of the election on Tuesday, students have been chatting away about that on Monday. On Wednesday, I returned to work to students in a whirlwind of emotions. Some happy with the election results, some not so much. Although I only teach science, I felt it was important to allow students some time to discuss their points. My goal with this was to get the chatter done so that we could focus on the content and learn new things. I allowed students about ten minutes to chat about their feelings and was pleasantly surprised that they remained calm and did not attack each other. I think this was successful because the students were able to have their discussions on something that was important and relevant and then were able to come back together and focus on the content.
We began a new topic this week, electron configuration, and I was really hit with the reality that this topic is extremely difficult to understand. This is one of the times I have been blinded by my knowledge and really needed to take a step back when we discussed it in class. One activity that the other chemistry teacher provided me was really good and the kids seemed to like it and it definitely helped them understand the basic concepts. After the second class period of looking at this topic, for some of my classes, a lot of light bulbs went off and students really started to understand. My only hope is that this understanding translates into their assessments, which I have found is not always the case. A lot of times I think this is because they hear quiz/test/assessment and anxiety kicks in.
Finally, I witnessed my first fight of the year and it happened to be between two students that I teach. This has really effected me and I am completely heartbroken. I am heartbroken because these kids live this way, seeing people around them resort to physical violence as a way to settle problems. I'm also heartbroken because these kids actually resort to this behavior to solve problems. I worry about their futures and hope that they are able to mature into adults that no longer see violence as a means to an end. In the end, both students lose out and are no better off then when they started. I honestly think this was the hardest part of my week and hope that I do not have to witness this type of behavior in the future.
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ReplyDeleteYes, it is important to recognize how hard this week was on students, teachers, the community, and the nation. Everyone deals with events differently and each teacher and school did things in their own way. It sounds like you made the right choice for your students. Thank you for recognizing that students need a chance to put their emotions in check before they could focus on their classwork.
ReplyDeleteReducing test anxiety is very prevalent in our society. Our job as educators is to help students understand and retain the content and part of that is helping students overcome test anxiety. Being organized, prepared, and practicing all help in being successful on assessments. Helping students be organized with that they need for the test, reminding them to preparing nightly and practicing the content is our job as educators. We need the students to know that we are behind them and that if they are successful, we, as educators, are successful!
When our students are in crisis, we feel for them. Your guidance as they return to school will be important. Letting them know that they have a clean slate and you are there for them as they get caught up with mean alot to them.
Hope you had a great weekend to recharge your batteries,
SZ and AL