Over Their Heads

My Writing Workshop lesson went over their heads this afternoon. Flew over like a jumbo jet landing at JFK. Zoom!

Vocab...even with explanation...over their heads. Concepts, over their heads. Task, over their heads. Then when they were good and numb I gave them an activity in groups that were too big, and they had forgotten the persuasive essay format so they struggled with the activity without explicit directions from me.

Lessons I learned:

Give explicit directions with a procedure including step by step instructions, for a simplified lesson written in language they can all understand and give them a writing prompt that will reinforce a simplistic version of the concept I would normally teach to an older audience. No more than 4 people in a group and each group member should have a role.

If you refer back to a procedure you have taught before, have students take a look at it as you are refering to an example, so they can look for it in the text.

In practicum tonight we learned a new sentence to help us remember how to keep students motivated to learn: Children Feel Really Successful in Kindergarten.

Concern, Level of (set expectations, provide them with a useful reason for the activity, homework, test)
Feeling Tone (rapport with students)
Reward (social, non-social)
Success (students are motivated by successes)
Interest (novelty, sensationalism, movement)
Knowledge of Results (giving students explicit feedback on their behavior when you are giving your praise, tell them what you liked that they did so they are more likely to do it again)

K.I.S.S.