What does being On Task mean? My teacher has a video she found that explicitly explains how to be On Task. But when should I introduce this to my students? The first day and then reteach it as needed.
What are the differences between 5th and 2nd grade? The last classroom I was in was 2nd grade. I do have to remember that the teacher I was with was intimidating and had a completely different teaching style than I would ever want. She was not very organized and did things that she had been doing for the last 20 years. Sometimes those things work, but with other things... it is time for a change. As I have been in this 5th grade classroom I have realized... there is not a whole lot of difference. When I ask for deeper thinking I still get blank looks. When I expect something it normally gets done. When I ask for attention, no one looks at me. The attention getters like "One, two three, eyes on me!" "One two! Eyes on you!" I think that would work so well with this class, as long as I taught them explicitly how it worked. "When I say 'one, two, three, eyes on me.' You freeze and find me in the room while you are saying 'one, two! Eyes on you!' "Then make them practice it over and over and over. Maybe that is what this class needs. They need to know we are serious about doing things right the first time. Mrs. Burton is very strict, sometimes I am amazed at how strict she is, but maybe she is not strict enough? At least right now. Maybe sticking them to the little procedural things today would make it easier tomorrow. But then again, she has been doing this a long time. I'll think on that some more.
At every school I have ever taught at or attended, if the work is not done, the student stays in for recess until it is done. I strongly disagree with that. These are children. They aren't made to sit still for 5 hours with one 30 minute break and one 5-10 minute break. No wonder these poor fifth graders can't focus in the afternoon! Today we gave them a 20 minute recess and made them run two laps around the grass. Those kids can run, and they needed to get their heart rates up. I know that unstructured play time in necessary, however I also think that these 5th graders might not actually get moving without me telling them to do some sort of activity.
So, it is now established that children need to move. But if they can't stay in from recess, then when else do they get their work done? There is not enough time in the day, there is not always someone at home who is going to help them do their homework, and many times those students who don't get their work done are having trouble at home and can't get their homework done there anyway. So when?
When do I reteach? If there is not enough time in the day for regular things, how do I put MORE things into it!
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