The X Factor

What is it that motivates students to be excited about a project or an assignment? 

I have been on the quest to discover the answer to this question.  This year has been a huge learning process for me as I tinkered with old lessons and activities to make them better.  Sometimes, I have even scrapped what has been tried and true in the past and replaced it with the product of one of my many “lightbulb” moments.  My Achilles heel of lesson plans every year has always been my persuasive unit – it’s a time bomb waiting to explode because as a teacher, you have to pick something the kids can write about that is a happy medium.  I have always been stuck trying to differentiate between using boring, over-used prompts like “Convince your principal to allow vending machines at school.” and prompts that act like magnets, pulling in parent complaints, such as “Is abortion wrong?”  As someone who is never satisfied with the results of the year before, I have gone both routes in the past, and they have led to either boredom or blow-ups.

 In pursuit of finding what it is that makes students excited to write and learn and research, I had a new “lightbulb” moment – authenticity.  Maybe the “X” factor in student engagement is being authentic to real life scenarios.  My thought is that this can be accomplished by creating assignments that mimic actual scenarios that could happen in the all-mysterious “life after graduation”.  Topics should be authentic too…something they can actually be passionate and excited about, not something scripted and pulled from an outdated resource book.  With these thoughts in mind, I came up with the “Do Something Now” project. 

The first thing about this project that I am excited about is that it asks students to find a non-profit organization that they are interested in and develop a five  minute presentation asking others to donate “money” or get involved.  I told them to treat their audience of peers as if they were members of a charity guild.  My students will actually vote on the most persuasive representative and will donate a fictitious pool of money to support the cause!  Instead of an actual check, the winning presenter will get points added to their score.  My favorite part about this assignment is what I call the “built-in bonus”.  If students spend time actually volunteering for that organization or if they mobilize and find a way to donate money, they will also receive bonus points. 

I’m only in year five of teaching, but I am really starting to see that passion is the key to doing anything.  It should be the reason why teachers get up every Monday through Friday and step foot for the umpteenth time through their classroom door.  The same is true for students.  They need a reason to care about why they do what they are asked to do.  They need a “non- scripted” answer to the question, “When are we going to use this?”  I don’t know how this project will turn out, whether it will be another flash- in-the-pan idea that will end up filed away like the rest of my persuasive project attempts.  The proof will have to be in the “X” factor….

The Battle for Positivity

I’ve spent several weeks at work burdened down with the weights of fruitless efforts, monotony, time crunches, and the ongoing pursuit of unachievable balance. Because of this, I recently re-evaluated my pursuits and passions to truly discern what it is I am doing with my life and why I daily return back to the eighth grade classroom, the place I call home for the better part of each work day. In doing this, I made some goals – challenging ones at that – that directly correlate with my perceived purpose in life. One of these goals is to constantly be improving my craft. Another goal is to be more in tune with my students’ interests and needs. Finally, I resolved to add more structure and balance to my day in the form of ultra-organization with the hopeful outcome resulting in becoming more efficient and productive.

Interestingly enough, I heard someone tell me today that “resolutions are made to be broken”. I beg to differ - resolutions are made to be attacked … to have all the powers that be go into battle against the prospect of progress! In my case, this is exactly what happened today. I just came back a few days ago from an inspiring conference on differentiation, a topic that is of particular interest to me. I was challenged and encouraged, revived and reinvigorated - ready to storm the castle doors of my middle school armed with weapons to combat negativity and discouragement. Everything worked like a charm! I spent two days completely re-organizing my classroom. I got my students involved as they gave me suggestions for improving our class creativity blog. We reorganized the desks, assigned classroom managers, took interest inventories, you name it! I even got the timing of my class down to a science. I started writing down next to each part of our daily agenda how many minutes it should take to complete the task – and believe it or not (with militaristic precision)- I actually stuck to it! I have never in the entire school year seen my students more engaged in and attuned to learning new material.

I met with my principal today and told her about all my great plans and reignited teaching passions. I was reminded of how important it is to stay positive and excited about work. Positivity, just like negativity, can be contagious…secretly seeping into the conversations and attitudes of all who are around. It has been a long time since I have been so excited about my job!

Beware: Whenever you are on the mountaintop of success, you must be extra cautious because a sudden plummet to the valley could be in the near future. Right after my encouraging conversation, 6^th period happened. It didn’t just happen – it ATTACKED! My students wouldn’t listen. Every laugh or sideways look from their neighbor distracted them. Like a storm brewing, it all came to a tumultuous downpour at the very end of class resulting in an office referral and several defeated tears shed by me.

It seems that with great progress come even greater tests. God has a plan and purpose for me being where I am. And I know, without a doubt, that God will give me the strength I need to be the right kind of teacher to my kids. Trials and stress may come, but they only prove that I am smack dab in the middle of where I should be. Although it brought me down today, I am determined to be more resolute than ever. To all the “6thperiods”, never-ending paperwork, negative co-workers, and crazy deadlines I shout one thing: Bring it!!!!