 |
| Google Images |
Rigor. Perseverance.
Determination. “I think I can, I think I can.” I wonder where these important
life skills have gone with my students? I often feel like I am working harder than they are. I’ve
had conversations with several colleagues, parents, and friends about the lack
of “I can” attitude.
I wish I knew the
answer. I occasionally see a glimmer of these important attributes in my class;
however, never consistent. I have
wondered if there is a huge desire for this age group for an immediate
reward? The student completes their
task even if it isn’t at the level of expectation, but at least it is complete.
I even have had awkward parent conferences where I have mentioned this lack of
motivation and often I hear in response, “We feel the same way.” That’s a red
flag for me and with so many years of experience, I don’t sugar coat the rest
of the conference as we discuss the issue.
Enter my OLW for 2015:
perspective. “A way of thinking about
and understanding something (such as a particular issue" I have been thinking intently about these or lack of these character traits. But I haven’t been “understanding.” I never realized my OLW is like a coin:
heads (thinking) tails (understanding).
Enter
understanding. Over the past several months, I notice
some common characteristics about my students:
·
Most of
them are totally overscheduled and can’t figure out when to do their homework, read a book or relax and
play outside.
·
Most of
them are attached at the hip to some electronic device. Although this year, I am excited to see Kindles and iPads being used for reading.
· Some of
them are not sure what to do in their free time when they have free time.
When we do our weekend share every Monday, most of the time I hear about
their sporting events. Occasionally girl
scouts/boy scouts.
Which brings me back to
Rigor. Perseverance. Determination. “I think I can, I think I can.” Most successes have been when I model them. I teach them. I share books about them. I ask them to apply them. What I understand now is I need to focus on these traits in order to help my students become problem solvers, cooperative learners, and strong young citizens.
I see this too. Sometimes I wonder if in our "immediate gratification" world...everything open 24 hours a day, answers at our figure tips, everyone gets a trophy..that students struggle with working through problems and tasks that are not completed in a day. Inquiry based methods/experiments would support working on that ! Keep the blog post on this topic coming...students need to be ok with sometimes slowing down to move toward understanding.
ReplyDelete