In my classroom the majority of my students ask me or my mentor what to do and how to do something before the look at or read directions. They also do this after something has been explained to them and they may have missed the directions because they were talking. This is more common among the third graders than the fourth graders. A this age, the students are less dependent than they were the year before however they are still not as independent as I know they can be. This is not the student's fault. This stems from parents as well as how students are used to being treated. One student in particular always says "Ms. Jones, how do I do this " or "Ms. Jones what am I supposed to be doing?" Although I do not have an issue helping the student when she she asks me to, I would prefer if she took some responsibility in her learning and try to figure things out before she asks what is going on in the classroom at a particular time during the day. This is especially common when the students are supposed to be working in their Everyday Math Journal. When a student asks me "how do you do this?" I respond, "did you read the directions?", the student usually say no. After that, I usually go over the directions with that particular student . After I have clarified to one student what he or she should be doing and another student asks me what should he or she be doing, I simply say, "please ask one of your classmates". When I ask students to ask their classmates for help, they do not object to it. This is instilling responsibility for their own work as well as teamwork for the students.
The problem seems to be that students only want to be told what to do an do not want to look for what to do. Students need to want to seek out information and just automatically assume that the teacher is going to keep repeating what he or she needs to be doing at a particular time doing the day. At this point in the school year the students should know the daily routine and what is expected of them. For example, students should know when to finish eating breakfast, when to line up for lunch, etc. It is clear that students want to be told what to do, but I feel that in order to build a strong classroom community students need to be responsible and know what they should be doing at the appropriate time. When my Mentor Teacher and I ask a student to "Ask 3 before Me", we want the students to be able to ask their classmates what they should be doing and feel comfortable that they are getting the correct information from their classmates.
You could also think of building in structures / routines in which the students routinely check with one another (e.g., you review your math journal with your partner...this way, another student will always help the other student remember what they are accountable for).
ReplyDeleteThis is always a tricky thing to balance, as there is a clear trade-off: you want to be helpful and nurturing, but you also want the students to learn how to be independent. One of the best ways to "resolve" this tension is to have meaningful instruction: the more engaging and meaningful the instruction, the more the students will want to be on task, and the more off-task students will be chided by their peers for slowing down the momentum of the classroom. This will reduce students asking for help just because they want attention. Instead, they will be getting "attention", ideally, from the activities in the classroom, e.g., as they interact with their peers through meaningful instruction.