So, I was reading in Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Tools about students using blogs. It said that one teacher found that if it was a requirement that students would do the bare minimum. Then, the book went on to say that if the blog was not a requirement, it seemed as though the students participated more readily and had more of a community. This seems all well and good, but what will work for the students who just don't do anything? They don't participate in class discussions, they don't complete their homework, they don't go to the library to get materials, they don't use their classroom time appropriately, they don't have computers at home. They just don't.
How am I supposed to engage them enough to want to go and do work that isn't required - work they wont get a grade on. My students, apart from being "bad" students, have a lot of things going on in their lives from work, to harsh family life to meetings for their sobriety every night of the week (for some of them). I am not trying to make excuses for them, but sometimes it seems that these kids are the exception to the glorious work that is being done in the digital world.
I would love feedback or ideas or to sit down and discuss this more in depth with people. I am just getting frustrated because it does not seem like this class will have any benefit for my current students.
Just a thought...as much as we want what we are doing today to apply to our current curriculum, you may not always be teaching this particular population, so perhaps you can plan for the utopia of a classroom? I also wonder the same things. I have 143 students and 40 of them have missing work or have not made up a test during the last 1.5 weeks. I feel like I have to light a fire under their butt to get them to engage sometimes. From what you have described in class, it sounds like they are interested in sharing their feelings about their drug/alcohol history and are surprisingly open and detailed about it. Maybe they create their own monologues or di-logues to share their story (kind of like the "black" girl vcast Rick has on this week's blog suggestion. Perhaps they can create a blog/journal about their days and the crap that happens. In class? probably based on your description of their options outside the classroom. Or a play about their lives Montage of your class? I don't know, but I hear you...does this mean they didn't want to make a vlog about who is their teacher? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think they totally would have done that vlog, but we simply just ran out of time to do that. I am going to do a video project with them after we finish reading our book. I haven't yet figured out all the details, but it probably will be along the lines of the vcast. We have a ways to go before I have to think about that though. :)
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