Boredom

(During the summer months, I like to take the A-Z Challenge and come up with words alphabetically and see how they apply to education. I think it’s a great exercise for teachers and students to give this a try.)

The biggest behavior problem in many classrooms occurs because the student is bored. Boredom makes kids act out. The attention they get breaks up their boredom.

Just because I enjoy a topic or a lesson, does not mean that the students will.

If there are mandatory topics or assignments, I try to find ways that I can make it interesting. If I can get the student engaged, they will interact more. When students are engaged, they don’t have time to be bored.

Whenever possible I try to take into account their interests and their learning styles. I have students fill out a learning style inventory that I’ve made up so I make sure that I’m teaching according to my student’s learning styles and not my own.

I try to give assignment choices that the student can pick from. By having choices, they are more invested in the assignment and will be more successful. I might even ask students to brainstorm possible projects they could do to show me that they understand the material. It is amazing at some of the things that they suggest because I might never have thought of them. They are very excited when I use some of their suggestions.

Once a month, I try to give students time to learn more about a specific topic that they are interested in studying. After they have time to do their research, they have to share their new learning with the class. They can make a brochure, poster, or give a presentation. I have them make a list of topics that they want to know more about. Sometimes I may be able to put them in groups if they have the same interests and have them do a group project together. The students have really enjoyed sharing their knowledge with others. I like to see how students gain more confidence the more they do this project. Most of my students really look forward to this and they have learned to be supportive of their classmates.

How do you keep your students from being bored? Please share.

Photo by THABANG MADNSELA on Unsplash

The Doldrums

Years ago, I used to read The Phantom Tollbooth to my students in the winter. One of the scenes took place in the Doldrums which was a new vocabulary word for my students. It means a state of inactivity or depression. This book was perfect for reading in the winter because it was funny and exciting and many of my students could relate to the main character.

Our weather is dreary with rain, clouds, and possible snow. I think the weathermen say that so everyone will go buy milk, bread, and eggs!

Students are feeling down, tired, and just plain old cranky. So are teachers.

It’s during this time that teachers need to dig deep into their “tool bag” and liven up the class a little.

During this time, I like to do mini-lessons. I get away from the same type of lessons that I’ve been doing and go for the shorter, quick results kinds of lessons. These lessons are usually one class period long instead of a week or a unit. It might focus on an important person, thing, or event from that unit. I can create a whole lesson around that item or I can have students do the research and present it to the class in a way that they would find interesting.

I also like to bring in speakers at this time. Students enjoy hearing from someone else other than me. I can call the American Legion or the VA to find out if they know any veterans who would want to come to speak to my class. I like to invite politicians to tell about how they got their job and what do they do.  I also ask the class what professions they are interested in and try to get a speaker from that field to talk to the class about the requirements and responsibilities of the job.

This is a good time to move away from the textbooks and have the students get creative. Have them make a video or artwork that focuses on your unit. Let them explore the ways they can be creative and bring their ideas to you for approval. They may think of things that you haven’t thought about.

Sometimes, just a little change, can help bring the class out of the doldrums. It is a little break from the routine but well worth the time.

What do you do to bring your class out of the doldrums? Please share.

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

Changing the Way I Teach

In You are boring. What are you going to do about it? From Blogush, Paul Bogush 

“So what are you going to do about it?  Tomorrow just stop.  Stop and look out at your kids.  For the daring amongst you ask your kids…”Am I boring?”  For the daring but not brave, ask your kids to answer the question anonymously on a piece of paper.   For the daring but not ready to make it personal yet amongst you…ask them the question but make it about your lesson or unit.  For those of you who are just curious but not ready to talk about it with your kids…just pause long enough to look at the expression on  each kids face.  Are those the faces you imagined on your kids when you started teaching?  Based on what you see, based on what your hear or read from them…what’s your plan?”

I remember taking a class in public speaking in high school and even in college. I hated it! In fact, I don’t know many people who liked it. Public speaking is hard and scary.

Sometimes I get so involved in my lesson that I forget about my audience. Have you ever told a hilarious joke and then look around and see that no one else gets it? Sometimes I get so excited about my lesson that when I’m done, I look around and no one else is excited like I am. What I am hoping for is that students will pick up my excitement and feel excited about the lesson too.

Sometimes I over practice a lesson and it loses its thrill. Then I teach the lesson and I’m bored before I even get started. Students can pick up these feelings and if I am bored, they will start off being bored.

I need to remember to look at my student’s faces and their body language as I am teaching the lesson. When I see that they are bored or misbehaving, I need to ask questions and check for their understanding. Maybe I’m going to slow and I need to pick up the pace. Maybe I think they don’t understand a concept and I’m over explaining it because they already understand that part. Maybe I’m going too fast and they don’t understand it so I need to slow down. The important thing is that I need to pay attention to my student’s reactions.

I might need to change the activities because I am talking too much and I need to have the students be more interactive. Or maybe there is too much group work and the students are overstimulated and need more direction.

There are no magic solutions to this. The key is for me to gauge my lesson according to how the students are responding to my lesson. If they are bored, I can’t necessarily change their behavior but I can change my own. I can change the way I teach and try to make it more interesting.

What do you do when you think students are bored? Please share.

Image: 'Day 2 - Boring'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45488928@N00/3159607097
Found on flickrcc.net

Fighting the Holiday Doldrums

I loved reading the book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster to my students. When we got to the section on The Doldrums, my students never heard of this word before. We discussed how the word meant a feeling of boredom or depression and many of my special education students shared that this is how they felt during holiday vacations. Many even confessed to having behavior problems because they were bored.

I began to think about how we can be advocates for these students and also help parents by giving parents suggestions for this time. Here is a list of things I suggest to parents:

1. Have a written schedule for each day even if it is your usual routine. Visual schedules help my students feel grounded.

2. Plan an activity each day for the student to look forward to.

3. Start new traditions during this time and share old memories of holidays

4. Give the students one or two choices to do something so they feel they have some control over their lives.

5. Discuss with the student ways to handle boredom, anger, etc. before it happens. Try to find a signal to let the student recognize that their behavior is escalating.

Some activities could be:

· Drawing paper, crayons or colored paper for art work.

· Use old CDs and make an animal. Check out these examples.

· Bake cookies.

· Bake something to give to the local police dept. or fire dept. to show appreciation.

· Watch a holiday movie together.

· Play a board game together.

· Visit a nursing home to cheer the elderly.

· Volunteer at a soup kitchen.

· Create a story book and illustrate it. Donate it to a children’s center.

· Create an animal using Styrofoam balls, yarn, pipe cleaners, glue, uncooked macaroni.

Do you have any fun activities parents could do with their children during the holidays? Please share.

Image: '2007_088_01'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65484951@N00/1420461308