What works and what doesn't

Last week I made the students mad because of grades plus I got parents all worked up because of grades but in the long run it all worked out. At least for all but one. I gave the students their Native American group-booklet back and a bit more time to work on it – one their own time – and then I re-graded it. It worked! Their grade came up big time.

They also learned that I am not the big bad wolf, just the teacher that expects more from them. It was amazing what a couple of extra days did. They also have not been late on any other project since. Maybe it did pay off.

The mid-quarter grades are posted tomorrow and grades look much better. I think they will like some of the next projects that or coming up. Even today’s won’t be bad. I am not one to do the same thing over and over again. Every day is a new day with something else in store for them to work on. Tomorrow they owe me their 5-paragrahs on John James Audubon and on Wednesday they own me their Explorers cards modeled off the old baseball cards. Last Thursday we read a play that I wrote years ago.

It is always a new item that has worked in the past. A few items I have posted in my store and a few things I am still tweaking before I post them for others to try.