conflicting ideas
seventh and eighth grades seem to be making huge amounts of progress lately. but i cant help but wonder how much of it is growing maturity, and how much is submission to strict rules?
i AM very insistent on quiet while people are working, but i also have fun alternatives for students to do quietly if they finish their work early. and students are now finishing their work earlier and earlier. so either the games are a good incentive, or they are being more mature and focusing on their work. since i do allow them a choice of things to do, i dont think im being overly strict by requiring them to be quiet.
i also wonder how much im really teaching them in science. every test theyve taken so far has been a different style because none of them seemed to assess their knowledge very well. also, my tests tend to assess their memory of vocab terms moreso than their ability to actually do science. but i think thats ok because their earth science textbook is geared towards middle school students with low reading abilities, and gives opportunities for increasing vocabulary and testing comprehension moreso than learning the scientific method. so my tests also assess vocabulary and comprehension of the vocabulary terms. this past test, on which they performed better than the other tests, was an exact repeat of their mid chapter vocab review, as well as some matching activities they had not seen before. so while the first part may seem like it only tests their ability to memorize the vocab review, i feel like the second part of new matching activities tests their ability to apply their existing vocabulary to new situations and examples.
so despite these misgivings, i really think theyre doing very well.
i AM very insistent on quiet while people are working, but i also have fun alternatives for students to do quietly if they finish their work early. and students are now finishing their work earlier and earlier. so either the games are a good incentive, or they are being more mature and focusing on their work. since i do allow them a choice of things to do, i dont think im being overly strict by requiring them to be quiet.
i also wonder how much im really teaching them in science. every test theyve taken so far has been a different style because none of them seemed to assess their knowledge very well. also, my tests tend to assess their memory of vocab terms moreso than their ability to actually do science. but i think thats ok because their earth science textbook is geared towards middle school students with low reading abilities, and gives opportunities for increasing vocabulary and testing comprehension moreso than learning the scientific method. so my tests also assess vocabulary and comprehension of the vocabulary terms. this past test, on which they performed better than the other tests, was an exact repeat of their mid chapter vocab review, as well as some matching activities they had not seen before. so while the first part may seem like it only tests their ability to memorize the vocab review, i feel like the second part of new matching activities tests their ability to apply their existing vocabulary to new situations and examples.
so despite these misgivings, i really think theyre doing very well.