Sooooooo I tried the Who Done It with my kids. My third period rocked it, and my sixth period...well, not so much. My third period class is so well behaved that when I started off with "I need some help. There's been a crime committed in this very classroom," they were absolutely offended that something had happened either to me or in my classroom. They had fun with it once they figured out it was a review game, and most of them figured out that .6 repeating was the culprit who had stolen the answer key to the quiz from my desk.
Sixth period did not behave the same way. As soon as I said a crime had been committed, they all started pointing fingers at each other and claiming that they were innocent. Can't you just tell that my sixth period is not the best behaved class in the whole wide world? When my co-teacher and I calmed them down, I explained that the numbers on the board were the suspects and started to tell my story. Before 1 or 2 sentences were out of my mouth, they were pronouncing this as "lame" and "stupid". So I hate to say it, but I gave up and continued on with the regular review and quiz. Needless to say I was frustrated with them, especially when they complained today that they heard 3rd period got to play a game on Friday and they didn't. ERG to high schoolers sometimes. Just plain ERG.
I hear you, Kate.... Sometimes things just don't work like we think they are going to work.... Even the best plans aren't always successful, especially with every class, every time.
ReplyDeleteI realize that your students are different in each class, but....
What could you modify about your design for the Sixth period class? Think about your students, their personalities, their needs, etc...Could you create a different authentic problem that would capture their interest?
Very interesting!!! Usually things go better the second time around!
ReplyDeleteHowever, you would never have known until you tried and this is an important lesson for designers.
We can design all the lessons in the world for this program but we'll never understand the impact until we take the big leap and then spend some time dissecting the successes and challenges.
It may have only be a few strong personalities in the 6th period who started the disruption so this might lead a designer to consider the use of small collaborative groups.
As Amie mentioned, this group might need a more realistic authentic problem. There are many experts in the area who really do have problems that HS students can solve. It takes some research to find these problems, but sometimes in reading the newspaper, one problem will just present itself. Don't shy away from actually contacting a professional to have a part in your problem.
Consider also that student misbehavior may be a sign that they need a different challenge. The hook needs to come quickly for some students, as they are walking in the classroom, a bit more theatrics might be necessary. Enlisting a school security person to be in on the activity may add some authenticity. Or even a letter from an area mathematician might hold more authenticity.
I have discovered from working with teachers in the ITS program that many begin the process of adopting authentic problems as a teaching strategy by looking to a familiar setting to get those problems--the school. "The English teacher down the hall needs our help," "The cafeteria manager needs us to develop a new menu for the month of Octber," "The Principal has a challenge," etc.
This is totally understandable because embracing authentic problems as a teaching strategies requires us to change beliefs, habits and attitudes...certainly not something that happens quickly or without some testing of the waters first. But thinking of problems outside of the school environment is more realistic. If we don't do this, students get the idea that they are simply students helping people in the school system rather than transforming their role of student to one of professional who needs to use content knowledge learned to solve a real problem.
Jumping into the waters is the first step and you have done this brilliantly. Now the next step is to evaluate your design and reflect on modifications. Its all part of the design process :)