NOHS

Teaching World History 3rd hour

Return and Conquer

Made it back from fall break today in one piece and tried to get my students going again with a pep talk. since we are starting a new nine weeks, I reminded the students about the importance of participation and my willingness to do anything I can to help them succeed. I have also raised my expectations a little to try and improve their writing skills by forcing them to answer every question in complete sentences if possible (exceptions for listing, numbers, etc.). I even went so far as to break down the components of a sentence and to give them some grammar pointers as some of them read and write on a 5th grade level or below. I am hoping that by increasing some of the challenge in the classroom but letting them know we are in it together I will see some positive results. I guess only time will tell.

Sunday Funday

Alright, so i have successfully defeated an infection in my foot and food poisoning in the course of the past 5 days.  If I have one recommendation from all of this, don't eat Jimmy John's!  This is my 2nd case of food poisoning from them and I know at least three others who have gotten sick off their "Freaky Fast" delivery. That being said, I did have some time to complete and look over my lit review and am pretty happy with it.  The more I looked at it, the more ideas I got regarding measurements, scope, and focus of my project. Looking forward to actually drawing out the plan and implementing it next semester.

Fall Break and a Hole in My Foot

Just my luck.  I was supposed to be spending today at Keeneland today for a "team-building exercise" with other teachers from my school, but on Tuesday I got the news that a sore on the arch of my foot had become infected, so I am now confined to the house with my foot elevated an painful.  On the upside, I was able to complete my literature review for my action research project and feel okay about it. I always end up writing to much, so i had to go back and revise to ensure I wasn't overdoing but was still covering the necessary issues. I feel like my approach is coming together and I am starting to develop an idea of exactly how I can implement the plan. Gonna keep on the work train and get the discussion done for class so i can quit worrying about the work I have to do.

Portfolio Fun

I've been sitting here for a few hours working on getting things together for our portfolio review on November 1st and I really just felt like stopping to reflect on what I have been doing (sarcasm intended!). Now that I have settled on motivation as my focus for action research, I am taking it a step further to focus in on motivating African-American students to increase their performance in schools. My thoughts are to find a way to collect data on 2 African-Americans I currently teach based on their perceptions of the school, education in general, and their vision for their future.  I will use this data to analyze an approach, developed through the analysis of several research-based methods and to see which one I think will work the best.  I will then use this strategy to measure any increases or decreases in performance with a final survey that revisits goal-setting and motivation.  I think this is where I am heading so I am taking some steps to identify an analyze research focused on this area.

The Grind!

After a weekend that went by way too fast, we were back at school today finishing up the final week of our first quarter grading period. As I ran the tests from Friday through the scanner, I was pleasantly surprised by the high scores from a majority of my students.  However, thinking back to discussions on Thursday, I noticed that some students performed very poorly on the test and I believe it is due in large part to a lack of motivation. I have football players who just want to pass in order to play, kids who are grounded and just want their phones back, and students who refuse to do anything regardless of any attempt I make. As a result, I think I am going to do my research project on fostering intrinsic motivation in high school students by working with a small number of students who seem to be lacking motivation. I will need to determine their level of motivation, what their goals are, and push them to find an internal motor to drive them in their education. I am currently in the process of looking for measurement tools to help me (surveys, questions, etc.) to guide me in the process. I am glad that I am taking this route and hope to find some answers to the question of "What happened to intrinsic motivation in high school students?".

Back on the train!

Tonight's class got me thinking about the next step in my research project.  While trying to whittle down the various factors that relate to student motivation, I am left with two options that peak my interest: 1) the effects of relationship building in improving student behavior and 2) developing intrinsic motivation in high school students. While I am still not sure which direction I am going, both of these subjects are very important to me as I attempt to address the challenges facing teachers and students in the classroom. I have several low achieving students whose main problem (from what I perceive) seems to be a lack of belief in themselves or a lack of direction for their future.  I have found it difficult, year in and year out, to motivate these students who don't believe that they can achieve at a high level since their peers have passed them by and those who lack any direction in planning for their future.  On the other hand, I find that students of mine who I get along with well (since I focus on respect and a non-confrontational approach) often misbehave in other teachers' classes.  Not to say these students act perfect in my class, but I really do not have the frequent issues with disrespect that many other teachers seem to have with these students. I am looking for a way to develop tools to track student self-efficacy or goal-setting as well as trying to wrap my head exactly how I could measure student behavioral improvement that is correlated to a specific fostering of a positive teacher-student relationship.  Any ideas would be appreciated:)