Today was a good day! I restructured the class format from class discussion yesterday, which more or less bombed, to group work in pairs today. I gave each group a set of eight scenes from today’s reading and a piece of construction paper. Each scene was on a small strip of paper. Their task was to arrange the different scenes in the correct order in which they occurred in the reading. I modeled how I would go about deciding what order the scenes might go in based on some text clues and also encouraged them to use their book.
After about 20 minutes we regrouped as a class to organize the scenes. I had printed off each scene in big bold letters on a separate sheet of paper and used magnets to hold them up on the blackboard. In that way, students could see the scene but could also move the scenes around if they felt the scenes were out of order. Then we answered the questions I had tagged on each scene. I asked the students to glue down the scenes in the correct order on the construction paper and cite the page number next to the scene. With a few minuets left I handed out the study guide for tomorrow's reading and asked them to get started on it.
I felt really good about this lesson. Everyone was working and I felt like we were actually getting somewhere. We covered a lot more material today then we were able to on Tuesday or Wednesday. Those first two days felt like we were stuck in the mud. I think the groups of two allowed students to collaborate with another student to generate more ideas but also allow student to move and reason at their own pace. Some groups finished faster than others so I had them answer the questions tagged to each scene. Others took longer to complete the task so simply figuring out the plot line took most of the 20 minutes.
Because they were in pairs, I was able to talk with each student and help with them with individual questions in stead of focus all of my attention on a few disruptive students. I was also able to talk to the girls who were really disruptive (and almost punched each other) yesterday and I think we reached a little understanding. They were honest with me and told me they were not reading the material, which I was pretty much aware of even without the confessions. It was kind of cute the way one student asked me, before she confessed to not reading, "Mrs. L, if I tell you something, will you promise not to be mad at me?" :) I agreed and then she confessed her sin of not reading.
We are now done with the first part of the book and I feel like we're in a good place. I'm going to prepare a packet for them which will basically include the same elements that I wanted them to produce in their notes during class discussion, but I've decided they need a little more help getting to the finished product. Hopefully this packet will help them get there.
I think I've been so use to functioning at the college level and presenting lessons to other college students as practice that I struggled a bit in the beginning to realize what I can reasonably ask my ninth graders to do. It's not that they can't get to the place that I want them to get by the end of the unit, it's that they need more help, more direction and organization to get to that point.
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