Hi Bill.
I certainly sympathize with your situation. In my second year of
teaching, I experienced a similar class to yours--eighth period, 25 boys and
4 girls who cared little about anything I had to offer. I cried, pleaded,
and beat myself up for not being able to motivate my fourteen year old
students to love the books, grammar, film, and writing that I held so dear.
After a quarter of getting nowhere, I asked my husband (a non-teacher type)
for advice. He suggested I lower my curricular expectations temporarily and
get to know my students. So for the second nine weeks, I wrote lesson plans
designed to get to know who my students were and to create a more nurturing,
collaborative classroom. I released all expectations of homework and put my
energy into classroom experiences that would let my students reveal
themselves. We made collages, listened to their music, role played scenes,
listed things they loved, and basically got to know each other. It worked.
Because I worked hard to know them, they began to be interested in me. Once
that happened, we were in business.
You might want to read these excellent books about motivating
readers in the middle--LIFE IN A CROWDED PLACE, I READ IT, BUT I DON'T GET
IT (Cris Tovani), and WHEN KIDS CAN'T READ (Kylene Beers).
Beckie
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