Day 114: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was dreading today. My brain had turned to mush. I didn't want to be there. But then things started to go and it wasn't so bad. I started off the day with a journal write about what they did on break. Then I had students share. Many are a lot more into the writing if they have to share it. So much of school is making a kid feel good about themselves. Self-esteem means a lot and so many of my kids don't think very well of themselves. It's sad to be around that energy and feelings.

Next, I handed back students' tests. We went over the test answers together and then I gave them a paper asking metacognitive questions about how they actually did on the test. This was tied into how well they developed and executed their plan of action. I didn't do it, but on Friday I've decided to have them compare their evaluations that they wrote during the test and the evaluations they conducted today. In many cases there was a disparity between what they thought they were going to get and what they got. A good meta question is, "what is the reason for that disparity?" to have a binder check where students keep all their work, especially their metacognitive plans.

After this, I read through the syllabus with them and broke everything down. I've done the very useful thing of posting my syllabi and other stuff on the back wall. Now I be able to deal with less excuses about, "I lost this paper and I didn't know this or that." I'm sure I'll still get them but then I'll be able to bust on them for using the excuse. All my classes were going far faster than I realized they would. Lessons weren't as long as they should have been.

I told them they were going to have a metacog test on Friday and that it was going to be a blank paper and they would write down 3 questions for developing a plan, 3 for maintain/monitoring a plan, and 3 for evaluating the plan. Their homework/quiz grade was to develop a plan to turn in Thursday. Maintain/monitor that plan and turn it in Friday. Then on the test I have questions evaluating their own plan.

With that done, I had about 10 minutes left in classes and so I did contracts and wrote students test grades on the contract. I'm hoping that constantly answering metacog questions will improve their thinking. I have to admit that teaching metacog has made me more aware of it and improved my thinking. I'm not just the president, I'm also a member.