November 12: Day 2: Introducing the Project

...aaaaaaand only 3 students wound up doing their homework.

My CI told me to expect this, but I guess I didn't take him seriously. I come from a background of advanced education and I'm simply not used to kids just not turning in work. I just don't comprehend that.

Anyway, what I'm fast finding is that in teaching it is important to work with what you have. I was hoping more of the students would offer examples but, such is life. What I'm learning from this is that it's probably best to not rely, at least solely, on homework to assess learning. Really what homework mostly assesses is work ethic and study skills, which are important, but in a class full of standard level students should be used sparingly. The focus ought to be on engaging them while I have them in class.

And that's the other thing I learned during this lesson: the key to effective teaching is to be engaging, and to be engaging a teacher has to make the material relatable. For example, when I tried to lecture to students about the difference between fact and opinion, I used one student's example fromt he previous lesson about an anti-Taco Bell campaign. Teenagers may or may not have opinions about the midterm elections, the environment, etc., but you can bet they have opinions about Taco Bell. And so I used this. I gave examples of facts and examples of opinions, all associated with Taco Bell, and soon enough we were crafting an argument against eating there. It was not only effective, but actually fun, and is the most engaged I've seen the students be so far.

For the second half of class I introduced the project and laid out the expectations. There were a lot of questions which I simply did not anticipate, which I feel is only fixed with time. The more practice I get working with high schoolers the more I think I will be able to remember to think like one. Also, as my professor advised, several questions could have been avoided by not just outlining expectations but offering clear examples of good work, by perhaps creating my own video beforehand to present to the class.