This Might Be a Good Time...
To dig a little deeper in the curriculum rather than try to get a little farther down the road. What a crazy week (plus however many days you have class next week....) this will be!! For some students this is just a crazy fun roller coaster ride. There are Christmas parties, Secret Santas, caroling trips, shopping sprees, holiday concerts, etc., etc.. They will have church festivities, family festivities, Scouting festivities and more filling up their evenings and weekends. In our building, students will be excused to sing to veterans, be elves for Santa, deliver food baskets and prepare for concerts. Tidings of comfort and joy.
Other students are experiencing a completely different reality. They are facing the holidays for the first time with a parent deployed or a parent lost to his/her addictions. There are students whose parents are battling cancer and students who lost a parent to cancer in the past year. There are are parents who are divorcing or parents who aren't working. There are families without the money to pay bills much less buy gifts. There are families who will buy gifts but who won't have the money for food or heating oil.
While some students are unwrapping traditions and going through old photo albums, some of their peers cannot remember a Christmas without stress, tension and pain. While some of our students cannot wait for time off from school to play video games and go skiing or four-wheeling, the kids that sit next to them in class are dreading the thought of ten days without the sanctuary that school offers.
For students whose religious backgrounds are not Christian, or for our Christian students who do not engage in the commercial activities of Christmas, this time of year can be stressful or confusing. For many teenagers who have been actively involved in a Christian church, this time of year may bring doubts and challenges for the first time in their lives.
All around us our colleagues are feeling the pressure to "keep up with the curriculum." The vacation is looming and they have a deadline to keep. If they don't reach a certain point in the curriculum by then, the entire rest of the year will be rushed and topics will get shortchanged. They make this work in one of two ways: adding more to the homework pile or cranking up the speed on the lecture treadmill. Either way, the pressure that they feel will be extended to our students.
It might seem like the best way to handle the next week or so would be to just keep on plugging. Heck..with 7 or so days left, we might be able to start or finish a unit/chapter. Check!! Another one off of the list!!
My suggestion though is to go deeper, not farther. Not a review. (ewww...does anyone get anything out of a review?) A digging down and turning over of vocabulary and structures so that we can mix them up in a new way. A time to build on successes and strengths. Familiar material but in a new way. So that when they come in the room there isn't the pressure and pain that the rest of the day might bring. We often plan a time like this AFTER vacation, before midterms...why not now instead?
Just a thought...
with love,
Laurie
Other students are experiencing a completely different reality. They are facing the holidays for the first time with a parent deployed or a parent lost to his/her addictions. There are students whose parents are battling cancer and students who lost a parent to cancer in the past year. There are are parents who are divorcing or parents who aren't working. There are families without the money to pay bills much less buy gifts. There are families who will buy gifts but who won't have the money for food or heating oil.
While some students are unwrapping traditions and going through old photo albums, some of their peers cannot remember a Christmas without stress, tension and pain. While some of our students cannot wait for time off from school to play video games and go skiing or four-wheeling, the kids that sit next to them in class are dreading the thought of ten days without the sanctuary that school offers.
For students whose religious backgrounds are not Christian, or for our Christian students who do not engage in the commercial activities of Christmas, this time of year can be stressful or confusing. For many teenagers who have been actively involved in a Christian church, this time of year may bring doubts and challenges for the first time in their lives.
All around us our colleagues are feeling the pressure to "keep up with the curriculum." The vacation is looming and they have a deadline to keep. If they don't reach a certain point in the curriculum by then, the entire rest of the year will be rushed and topics will get shortchanged. They make this work in one of two ways: adding more to the homework pile or cranking up the speed on the lecture treadmill. Either way, the pressure that they feel will be extended to our students.
It might seem like the best way to handle the next week or so would be to just keep on plugging. Heck..with 7 or so days left, we might be able to start or finish a unit/chapter. Check!! Another one off of the list!!
My suggestion though is to go deeper, not farther. Not a review. (ewww...does anyone get anything out of a review?) A digging down and turning over of vocabulary and structures so that we can mix them up in a new way. A time to build on successes and strengths. Familiar material but in a new way. So that when they come in the room there isn't the pressure and pain that the rest of the day might bring. We often plan a time like this AFTER vacation, before midterms...why not now instead?
Just a thought...
with love,
Laurie
This is why I love TPRS so much. While other classes are either cramming and final-ing or doing nothing but having a good time, we get to do both! We can create goofy stories about reindeer and Santa, using the TL. The kids think we're having a party and not working, when in reality, we are still teaching and reaching our goals of CI. It's awesome. And, without the stress of huge finals, it makes our jobs easier too. Our classroom becomes an escape (I hope!)
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Hi! Laurie , thanks for sharing with us these interesting article, i really impress from your blog.
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Thank you very much. It has really helped me to have a place to play with my thoughts.
Laurie
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Really thinking and playing with thoughts is not an easy job how many peoples really could do this and could think what you have thought i guess few will be there in the world but i appreciate your thoughts and it is really true that there are lots of consequences in every ones family but one who gets top of those consequences and wins over them is the one who builds success and strength over the world. Thanks once again for sharing your thoughts with the world.
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