Engagement
February 5th, 2008
In my last year of teaching at the high school level, I had a somewhat difficult World Geography class. This class is usually comprised of Freshman who are trying to adjust to the riggers of high school academic life. In my observations of the class and its actions and reactions to my teaching: the most successful classes where the ones where I let the students get on the computers and do research on their own.
Yesterday was the first day in which I allowed the teams to do independent work. Two teams were working on editing videos they had shot last week and the other teams were researching their video assignments. All of the students were engaged in their assignments. Some of the teams were sent to other classes to access computers for their research and they were always engaged whenever I went to check on them.
After the class was over, a couple of teachers who teach in the hall where my class is commented about how hard the students were working on their projects. They were amazed 6th grade students did not need me to stand behind them to keep them on task. I was proud of my students and I am sure this little experiment is going well. While there will be problems, there have been many, this is an encouraging sign. Soon I should be able to share with you the fruits of students’ labors.
