Many moons ago, as a part of my grad school endeavors I had to follow a student around from class to class for an entire day. It was the longest day of my life! BUT… I realized some pertinent things –
- Students SIT ALL DAY! (Except for that 3-4 minute break heading to their next class).
- Students WRITE all day or TYPE and then in between classes they TEXT. Basically, their hands hurt by the end of the day.
- Students see different peers in every class and don’t know the names of who they spend their day with.
- Students are mentally and physically exhausted by the end of the day.
During my day shadowing a student I realized students today miss out on the socialization process we had in school. They don’t call up their friends and ask what the missing homework is – they text them or message them on Facebook or Snapchat or Twitter or whatever the new flavor is of the week. They don’t even know how to properly talk to one another – they are so used to being on their phones!
My goal – in my class – was going to put the social back into social studies. No phones. Just good old fashion face to face discussions. How?
- I asked them to find a study buddy. They had to meet IN PERSON at least once a week and talk about the material in my class but also ask them about their LIVES. and this year they will have even more time to do that since I am giving up homework in my classroom. See my other post on that!
- No facebook group for my class. and no tweeting about my class. You have a question for your peers – CALL THEM ON THE PHONE.
- During class, students need to move around. I design my classroom to be interactive – don’t forget about the singing, dancing, seminars, shark tanks, baking etc. I want students on their feet at least once a day during my class.
By the end of the year students always tell me that they find value in my social experiment. Or at least a date that they made via a phone call and not a text message.
Reblogged this on .
Now I need to figure out how to do it in my math classroom.
Hi Jamilouise!I hope you do! Get your students up and moving. They will appreciate it by the end of the year. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for the re-blog @jpokol! I hope your first year of teaching goes well! Let me know if you are able to find my tips useful!
Can’t wait to try this out for this year. Great tips!
[…] SPEED NETWORK. Along with the marketing idea of Shark Tank, students should know how to “sell themselves”. Teach them how to make business cards and resumes of historical figures and do a speed round of networking. This will set them up for when its time to interview for college and other jobs! They should come dressed up as their character and stay in the character the entire period. Students LOVED this when I had them sit with figures from the Progressive Era and Gilded Age. Think Teddy Roosevelt sitting across from and chatting it up with John Muir or Jacob Riis. What kind of conversations would they they be having? Wrap it up by having students pick their favorite “date” for a follow up study session. […]
[…] to prepare for the workforce? Should students have a rigid structure or should students have flexibility and Freedom in the classroom? Should teachers give homework? Should teachers and students have the summer […]
[…] to my post on History’s Great Mystery (How can I make my classroom more interactive?!) and Why I put the SOCIAL back into SOCIAL STUDIES! so you can try out this awesome technique in your classroom. This lesson can be modified for […]
[…] all left the class asking when is the next time we can do this again? One more way to put the SOCIAL back into SOCIAL STUDIES! and to Make your classroom more […]
[…] by introducing yourself with a meme. From there you participated in Constitutional Conventions, Socratic Seminars, debates, mannequin challenges. You have spilled the tea, sang and danced, made pop up cards, […]
[…] by introducing yourself with a meme. From there you participated in Constitutional Conventions, Socratic Seminars, debates, mannequin challenges. You have spilled the tea, sang and danced, made pop up cards, told […]