Engaging Reluctant Learners Linky Party!

Hey Bloggers!

I am on a roll here as I write my 3rd post EVER! Let's see if I can keep this up when school starts back at the end of August.

My fellow blogger, Amy, over at Adventures in Teaching is hosting a really awesome Linky Party on her blog. This Linky is all about "Engaging Reluctant Learners"! I'm no veteran teacher but I will try and share some of the sound advice that I have learned to be true for getting the most uninspired students to love learning new things.

Engaging Reluctant Learners

1. Biggest Kept Secret! Are you ready....I know it sounds cliche' (anyone know how to get that accent mark over the "e") but the best thing that I did to get even the most reluctant students to want to come to class was...I really invested in getting to know my students. More than just their likes and dislikes. Ok...I know what you're thinking..."I do interest surveys and the kids share stories with me all the time!" Sending out that cute little Parent survey or having students fill in the "About Me" posters are great tools, but when is the last time you went home and watched one of their favorite T.V. Shows, watched that "funny" YouTube video all the kids are talking about, or tuned in to their favorite radio station? THAT, my friends is where you will get the most "juice out of the lemons". You see, when you ask them the "favorites" questions, you are only getting the half truth, the "edited" version of their likes. The real information is in the things they do EVERY DAY. It's in the things that make them tick? It's in the rhythm of the song Johnny keeps tapping his pencil on the desk to because it's stuck in his head. These are the types of things that you bring in to the classroom that will remind Johnny of home. Of comfort. Of who he is. And this builds a deeper connection with him. Still not understanding what I'm saying...

Quick story before I end this dissertation of a post. I had a lunch bunch group of students who ate lunch with me once a week. Not because of good behavior or something they earned but...just because! As most of you know, when students get to talking, they really get to talking! To make a long story short , the students decided to tell me about a popular song that someone recorded and placed on Youtube. Needless to say, I went home that night and watched the video (Yes...it was just as corny and silly as you all are thinking!) Later that week when some of the students started singing the song, I began singing it too. We all had a good laugh at the fact that I (the "old" lady who lives at the school) know the song. I then suggested that we change the words and video tape a knew song...That's all I had to say because the students took it from there. Before we knew it we had a full song, complete with a chorus and two verses. All of it had to do with solving one and two-step equations (these were 6th graders). Even at the end of the school year, we were still singing it.

Yes...any song may have worked to revamp the lyrics. But the point is...I cared enough about what was going on outside of my classroom, that my students responded with wanting to contribute more to the class. I had some of my toughest students coming up with the vocabulary words and even going home and creating their own math lyrics to other songs!

So...in a nutshell...it sounds too simple but that's what I know to be true...So friends, I'll leave you with this quote (Author unknown) that really speaks to getting students to want to come to class...

"People [students] don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!"

I'm excited to see what you all do in your own classrooms. Head on over to Amy's blog Adventures in Teaching and Link up with us!!

Happy Blogging!

Miss Milton