Project Model

I love modeling - the strategy itself is how I learn. I usually have to see someone else do it first so that I get an idea of what is expected. Thus, it's a strategy I use in practically every lesson. I've found that, with 7th graders especially, if I don't model something, I end up answering silly questions like, "How long does it have to be?" or "What are we doing again?" or "So we're writing what?" (Granted, even with modeling, I still get some of those questions).

However, today was an ALL-MODEL Day. I've learned that I can't always work through the gradual release of responsibility model in one class period - who am I kidding, that never happens! But usually I can have one class period of me modeling a skill or an assignment, have the students join me in practice and then have them complete the assignment on their own the next day with a small review.

And things went fine - other than technology cutting out on me every five minutes, though the students LOVED taking notes in their iPads. I just felt like most of them didn't understand WHY I was walking them through those steps. I repeated several times that if they paid attention today, tomorrow's assignment was going to be a piece of cake, but I had a lot of students zone out.

It may have been the presence of the iPads.

It may have been the quality of the example topic they chose at random from the trash bin.

It may have been me.

But part of me wonders if students see modeling as a kind of lecturing. I try to include student participation as I modeled this assignment step by step, but I didn't feel as though I'd reached that epiphanic moment with my students. Granted, that moment happens more often during the last stage of the game when students are doing the assignment on their own, but still.

Oh well.

It wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. I'm working on it.

On a more fun note, my 4th period class was pretty good today (which is actually pretty great). I found myself relaxing around them and was pretty honest about my frustration with them as an audience (we were talking about reading your audience and catering to your audience today in anticipation for their writing project). I told them that they were my most difficult period to cater to in regards to fun and engaging topics. I thought they would like a magazine article about celebrities, but I learned all teenage boys have an undeniable hatred of anything that even remotely relates to Justin Beiber or One Direction. I thought they would like an article about Football concussions, but they snubbed their noses at it and said they preferred basketball. I thought they would like to analyze lyrics from a song by Bruno Mars and they all rolled their eyes. "Obviously," I confessed to them, "I'm out of touch with what you guys like and care about. And, as you can see, when I get it wrong, you don't respond as well to what I have prepared. So you guys have to clue me in on what it is you want to see more of in this class."

What did they tell me?

Food. And sports.

But the atmosphere was different. I wasn't frustrated, I was just being honest, and they were being honest back.

One student must have put the topic idea of "Kit Kat Bars" in my trash bin, because I pulled it out during my modeling time for 4th period. We were brainstorming all of the things we knew about the topic, looking over the list and brainstorming the kinds of people we thought would care about that topic (audience), and then making a list of plans for writing that would speak to the interests and concerns of those specific kinds of people.

As we listed things we knew, the class all agreed that Kit Kat has the most annoying jingle on their commercials. In response, I said, "Oh, you guys don't like the song they sing?"

"Song?" one student replied. "No one sings. It's just a bunch of sounds that go like: da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-, da-da-da-da-da-da-da    DA   DA   DA."

"I know that, but it's a rhythm that actually has words to it." Stupidly, I continued. "It goes, 'Give me a break, Give me a break, Break me off a piece of that.... " I paused waiting for them to finish, but their faces were completely blank. "KIT-KAT-BAR.' You guys really don't know that song?"

"NO." They all replied in resounding unison.

Did I have one student mockingly shoot himself in the head out of torture as I sang the jingle? Yup.

Did I have one student laugh at me and say, "Mrs. Brown, you can't keep living in the 'old' times."

But it was great. Most of them came to the conclusion that they do the jingle song for kids - which was an audience choice - and the song was a decision to play to that audience.

I don't know particularly why this week, but I just feel like nothing can phase me. Are things perfect? No. Do I notice what's going wrong? Oh yeah. But I make plans for adapting and I move on. I don't know how long this feeling is going to last, but oh it is wonderful!