Wow this class was getting noisier and restless each day. Worse still, some of the pupils were always changing place and their seating plan was still not confirmed after one month of planning. Hence, I could not take it anymore and stepped in to change their seating. Within a week, I changed their seating plan twice and this second attempt seems better so far. Will need another week to monitor.
This class of pupils are very talkative and a handful of the boys just cannot sit still. Hence, teachers teaching this class must be very firm and have to keep reminding them the class rules. However, all of them want to learn though some of them are really lazy to do work. Hence, they need to be push. Some strategies that I used for this class have work rather well so far.
It just happened that their A Math lessons are normally just before recess time. Hence, if I have to wait more than 5 mins before they are all ready for lesson to start, I will release them 5 mins late for recess. Releasing them late happens at least twice a week ... sigh ... and you may think it is not right, but it works well as the class will ensure that the noisy ones are quiet and not disrupting so that the class can be released on time. What's more, all the pupils are able to be very attentive as I do my teaching and they will really wait for me to give them the signal that they can be released before they start moving out of the class for their break.
When I give exercises as seatwork cum homework, they will also have to show me that they are able to do at least one of the questions before I release them (one by one) on time for recess. This method works well so far as the lazy ones become very hardworking (at that moment) trying their best to do the work correctly so that they can go off for recess on time.
For a few weaker yet lazy ones (usually only one or two of them) who do not write down anything or attempt at least one question, I will make them stay on in the class and help them with the first question, clarify their doubts or misconceptions before releasing them.
Though this class of pupils are noisy and mischievious, I can tell that majority of them if not all want to learn and they want to do well. This is seen by their enthusiasm to get confirmation from me that they have done the work correctly. Sometimes, I feel that they seem to be attention seeking but this attention-seeking behaviour is constructive to their learning as they lack the confident to say that their concept is correct. Because of their eagerness to ask and clarify their doubts, I don't dread going into the class to teach and I don't mind if I can't be on schedule as when I teach at their pace, I am able to keep majority of them interested in A Math which is often seen as an abstract subject that is very difficult to learn.
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You have found the effective strategies to get them engaged in their learning: setting expectations about seating arrangement, focusing, practising one question before end of lesson, holding them back from recess. All these seem to have an impact on their learning.
ReplyDeleteYou need to share this with the Form Teacher as well as the other subject teachers.