Teacher Talk

I apologize for talking about my work. 

I'm thinking about how I can become more or a hard-ass of a teacher. I'm not talking about being mean and getting kids in trouble, I'm talking about pushing them. I admit, I felt a bit rude during a conversation with my highest reading group. They had two days to read three chapters and do an assignment. I met with them and they had to share with me what they wrote.

One kid, who was the Word Wizard, tells me the word and page number of a certain word. We read the word, make a prediction, and then I ask him what the dictionary definition is. He tells me he just knows it. I say unacceptable, you still need to check the dictionary. I ask him if he has another word (he's supposed to have at least 3). He tells me the word, and the page number, but then says he didn't look it up in the dictionary.

I say, in front of all the other kids in his reading group, "N, you are telling me that you had two days to do this assignment, and that you were reading a book of your choice this afternoon because you said you were done, but you are not really done? You were not able to look up three words in the dictionary within two days?"
He looks at me, kind of drags his head, and realizes he can't get away with that crap. Similar conversations happened with three of the other kids. They need to get it together.

I realize kids work a lot harder and faster when you put an immediate due date on it. For example, for math today, I listed the assignment on the board

Math
Pgs 43
       44
      46
      47
      51

Due by 12:00

It was 11:15 when I wrote this. I always tell them their work is due by the end of the day, but for some reason, writing 12:00 really got them motivated. Kids asked me "What if it's not done by 12?" I tell them "It needs to be." And they say "but what if it's not?" and I say "stop taking time talking about what if and just do it." And they get to work.

It reminds me about a quote that I read about how it takes as long as you have to do something. The shorter amount of time you have, the shorter it will take you. If you have ten days to write a paper, it will take you ten days. If you have two hours to write a paper, it will take you two hours. Cut them off. Give them a short deadline. It creates a sense of urgency. Get it done.

There are two days of school left, and then we have a two week winter break. All I know is that we are starting January off hardcore. They need to be more responsible for their learning, and I need to raise the expectations. Our class is going to kick 2010's ass (if they don't kick mine first).