I have read Bill's new problem and some of your suggestions. I also teach
8th grade, and I'm beginning to think that my students would benefit from
a video that shows an excellent book discussion.
Can anyone suggest a video I can buy?
Thanks!
Jan
On Thu, 21 Dec 2006, William Roberts wrote:
> Hope everyone is getting rest and relaxation this holiday season, but I've
> got a problem: I'm not getting any thinking from my 8th graders.....at
> least not anything I want. I know I'm not expecting too much from them
> since other years have not been so....so....mere words can't describe them.
> Let me show you:
>
> I gave a writing prompt to tell me about a favorite movie, TV show, book,
> video game, or CD album. Many tried, but a few MADE UP SHOWS! Once wrote
> about a movie that had "over 200 movie stars!" Others wrote about movies
> that hadn't even seen, but they had heard of them or had seen a trailer
> about them. A few told me that they had no favorite for any of the
> suggested items! I asked, "What do you do for fun?" and got the response,
> "I sleep." I continued with, "What do you do when you wake up?" Answer:
> "I eat." I knew better, but continued, "So what do you do when you aren't
> sleeping or eating?" and was told, "Sometimes I stare at my ceiling fan."
>
> I was finishing a movie unit which included using the strategies on art,
> music, movies, as well as books, and the students were supposed to select a
> movie from the top 250 movies (foreign and American), and write an essay
> about the film. One child wrote, "I didn't do the assignment. It was a
> stupid assignment. You wanted us to write about a movie we hadn't seen. If
> we hadn't seen it, how did you expect us to write about it?" and he was
> totally sincere! One wrote about ROCKY and regaled about the "bloody,
> awesome fights" but not one thing about the acting or music or direction.
> When I asked if he had actually seen it, he said "no, but I did see part of
> one of the fights."
>
> In a class discussion about music, we all made connections when I talked
> about a favorite song coming on the radio ("Everyone turns up the volume!"),
> but when I mentioned a song you didn't like, this class said, "you listen to
> it." I asked if you changed the station (which most classes admitted), but
> this one class insisted you just listen to the song whether you hate it or
> not. I asked why they wouldn't change the station, and they said "if you
> wait, a better song will come on." I asked (you'd think I'd learn to stop
> asking) why they didn't turn the station and was told, "It's too much
> trouble to change the knob back."
>
> They do not infer. They do not think for themselves or have educated
> opinions. Is this laziness? The results of too much state tests? Is this
> group a mutation? Or did they miss the cognitive boat? With state tests
> only a few months away, I'm losing my mind. Any ideas?
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>
>
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