November 15, 2013

Recent presentation with an inattentive student. In my 4th period I have a group of students that are inattentive to me during class. They go to sleep or talk amongst each other every day. I decided that I needed to find a way to get them involved in the lessons and keep them on track. The first thing that I did was to seperate them in the room to curb the talking. With this they simply slepy. No matter how many times I woke them up they went back to sleep. The next thing that I did in order to get them involved was to call on them more throughout the class when I would ask questions. This got them involved, but I felt like it would at times embarass them also. The next day I tired something new. I gave them tasks to accomplish in the classes. I would ask them to take up journals or pass out papers. This worked for the first half of class but not the second half of class. to help with this I talked to my host teacher and he helped me develope a game that would keep them focused. He had a small foam football that wouldnt hurt at all. Then At the end of class I ask review question or call for participation. This keeps them awake because they want the chance to catch the football. Now they are engaged through the class and it has worked very well. I hope that I can shy away from the football to keep it new, but still keep their attention also.