February 20, 2009
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More and more Rule of the Bone web sites are popping up. I fear my students haven't even cracked open the novel... many are on some web site right now reading the summary rather than the book. I want to freak out, but that's not going to help things. What bugs me is that the book is good. It's different. It's written from the perspective of a punk-kid, age 15. Yea. And it appears that almost no one cares to read it.
So, what's a teacher to do? Quiz them "to death"? Print out all of my worksheets and have them fill those in individually for points each day? Delay the project (P3: Visual Analysis of a part of Rule of the Bone - something they can't probably copy) and get them to really read it? I don't know. I'm quite frustrated. And I went and assumed that while I was gone for my conference, they'd read. That was two weeks ago; some aren't even up to page 20 (the book is 390 pages long).
When I had to take the Shakespeare class at NDSU, I dreaded it everyday. I think I read most of the plays that were assigned, but I recall doing my final project on Hamlet - comparing the four movie versions of it. Yea. One was four hours in length. Ridiculous. Anyhow, it was a worthwhile project (comparing who played who; which characters came across as close to the play as possible, etc.) to me & I made it interesting. I feel I am doing that hear, but I READ Hamlet...
*sigh*
Perhaps I should assign P3 AND the test? Was going to just have the test be an option for those who didn't complete P3... but...
Another sore spot: today was a workday (I made a deal that if everyone showed up, I wouldn't quiz them on the book - bad idea I guess), and many took off once I was done with announcements and homework for the weekend. Ugh. I've assigned Monday as another workday, but I think that's going to change. Big time.
Comments (2)
I have figured out that 8th graders don’t know the word “study” or “work” or anything other than socialize. They are late to class because in-between each class they have 58ive minutes but they want more so they can visit. They don’t do homework because it scrimps their style and intrudes on their cell phone time.4 because it scrimps their style and intrudes on their cell phone time. If they can’t “copy and paste” the info for an assignment they don’t want to or won’t do it.
@traveler - Back when I student-taught, cell phones weren't the latest thing... and the eighth graders I had were hyper, but once I did my creative writing unit, I saw potential. I wonder how those hyper grade levels work now... apparently, socializing is getting more chaotic. If only we could channel that into activities... or bottles & sell it.
I guess my issue is that I really try to make my assignments and activities fun (disguise writing as fun, etc. - I'm sure many teachers/profs do this); when they don't even care about the fun stuff, it's like, "MAN! Why am I trying so hard?"
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