Can you get 30 teens, to successfully complete a task, five days a week, without complaining and make it a routine?
Thirty seniors, clean room, chairs in, and supplies stored neatly. Dismissing time or near dismissing time is always a time for shenanigans. What has been an arduous task in the past is now becoming a point of pride.
Reflecting upon this unique portion of time has caused me to change things up this year and the results have been wonderful. I have been very impressed as the dismissing time routine is becoming an automatic practice for my students. Not to say it never happened in the past, but it was always a little struggle. Now students leave my room, it is picked up, chairs are pushed in, supplies are put away, and I thinking wow, this is great! So, I wanted to share this week hoping it might save you some future frustrations.
As you might read in an earlier post, I attended a Kagan Cooperative Learning training for a week last summer. The philosophy I learned at the training is redefining my classroom practices. Not only are the structures bringing more order to my dismissal routine but they are also driving the delivery of content in an impressive way too. At the same time students are more engaged, practicing social skills, improving achievement, and interacting with other races/ethnicities in a safe and supportive environment.
An open mind has allowed this veteran teacher to make the jump. Surprisingly, it has not caused more time to be invested into content creation. I have only spent a little time reviewing how I would be unwrapping the structures and chunking the content.
This training has made me a better teacher and I am excited to build upon the progress. It is keeping me fresh in a profession where doing the same thing every year leads to decay. Would be happy to share more of the journey, contact me to collaborate.
Have a great week!
Mike
P.S. The first unit is coming to an end and I have a great structure for a movie that ends the unit. Four students, four colored pencils, and one assignment. Can’t wait try this one with my Psychology class. If you are interested in the activity, please feel free to reach out.