In my science class, I have created a really structured routine. There is homework given on a certain day each week (Monday), and due on another day (Friday). The homework always follows a certain format - it is a science article of some sort with questions that go along with it; the questions are also in a certain format. The kids do the same thing when they come in every day (a warm up). The lab activities are presented in an outline on a power point, and the power point is color coded so the kids know what to do: if the words are black, they should copy it down. If it's blue, it's something that they should do (I say "blue is the boss of you"). Green is a question that should be answered in a complete sentence.
There are places for work to be turned in, rubrics for work...everything is routine. I'm getting kind of bored with it. I threw the kids for a loop today when I threw some red into the power point. "What's the red? Do we copy it? Do we answer it?" Panic all around. I said it was just for my entertainment. It was actually just a little background information that I didn't want to forget to tell them about!
So I'm wondering...am I turning the kids into robots? I'm trying to give them skills to seek and find information on their own, to become more independent in their quest for knowledge and ability to figure things out (rather than always needing the teacher to tell them every last thing). But am I only making it worse?
No comments:
Post a Comment