Reading Reflection 5 - I'm thinking...

I'm thinking.... *bwuuuahhahahhaaaa*! It is a dangerous game, inviting me to think. I think, therefore I blog.

I think that group work can be well utilized, or you could flog your students to death with it. I remember being in reading circles in 5th grade and really enjoying discussing a book with just four or five other students. I went to a small school where the class worked as a group simply because we had all been together since pre-school. Group work came as second nature to us all because we trusted and knew one another.

Now when I am observing group work in the 9th grade at Vista High, I am appalled! Who forgot to teach these kids how to share? how to work together? how to communicate? I have my work cut out for me.

I will also have my fair share of setting classroom norms and behaviors. I hear kids dropping "n-bombs" and "f-bombs" like the words were going out of style. I also see so many kids pointing fingers and shouting at each other--when they are only a few feet away. Arguments begin and end with "f- you!" So I will also be utilizing the "I feel" phrases that are touched on in "Designing Groupwork," and which are taught by psychologists (my mom).

Overall the reading wasn't too shabby. I could see some of the groupwork activities working with my 9th graders, and some of they I won't even bother trying.

"Think, think, think...." - Winnie the Pooh