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Waterlily
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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If you have ever taught at a public school, I wonder if I could ask you a question? A relative of mine recently got his first teaching job in a public high school. He was so excited to start, so eager to share his knowledge with these kids. You probably can guess where this is heading...Three weeks into the school year, he is discouraged and depressed. He says the kids just want to be entertained; they just want to talk and goof off; they dont' want to learn. He can manage their behavior OK, but their total lack of motivation is the real problem. Lack of knowledge is another. He has had to significantly "dumb down" the material so that they can grasp it.
I have searched teacher forums to see if I could give him a place to get ideas, but none of them seem very active, so I thought I might try here.
Any suggestions for dealing with unmotivated high school kids? Should he offer rewards? How can he connect with them? How can he make them care about what he's trying to teach them? He is teaching American Government, Economics, and some introductory courses about Law and Public Service for students supposedly interested in those careers (even thought most of the students in those classes are not! Why do you take a course in Law when you want to be a marine biologist?!)
(A slightly funny aside...he was of the opinion that my homeschooling my kids was fine for their elementary years, but that they really should go to school for high school. I think this experience has changed his mind on that!)
Thanks for any tips you can give me.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 9:35am | IP Logged
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for myself, it seems to me that any teacher who was enthusiastic themselves about their class AND respected themselves enough to demand that students do the same.. that combo of strict but nice.. always got a better response from the class than the ones that didn't.
and with a group you will not reach all the kids all the time..
And the kids always try and get away more with a young teacher.. they don't look that much older so that can make it harder too.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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jawgee
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 10:26am | IP Logged
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Prayers for him.
I had Education as a minor when I was in college. The thought of teaching unmotivated, smart-alek, "I-could-care-less-about-this" teenagers made me decide to change the focus of my degree at the last minute.
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Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
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Angi
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 1:54pm | IP Logged
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Ok, I was a special ed teacher in public school. I would recommend that he begin with demanding respect. Once they respect him, they will naturally want to work hard for him.
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 2:00pm | IP Logged
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I was! I taught 9th and 11th grade English. I loved every minute of it (well except the parts when I was threatened at knife-point in my 7th period class, but that was resolved...)
Ideas? Well, I had very high standards but I tried to tailor the material so that it "felt" more relevant to the kids. I would think that would be easy to do in the fields you list. I listened to what they were talking about.
I asked my students one year if they thought racism was still a problem in our society. They exploded over this question! Half thought that it was no problem and everyone should just drop it, and the other half felt that it wasn't just a societal problem but a very real problem in our school. We turned it into a research project and collected polls, anecdotal information and data from various local sources as well as the district office. They compiled the data, debated it and wrote up their interpretations. They were completely 100% engaged.
We did something like this every year, all the time, depending on what they were talking about. You just need to listen. Kind of like homeschooling...
Our end of year project for my History/English combo classes was:
1. Given: $100 and 100 man hours, what could you do in our community to make the most difference?
2. Students researched local issues, devised a plan and wrote a persuasive research paper.
3. Then they presented their findings and plan to the classes.
4. We voted.
5. The student or student group with the winning plan received $100 (donated by the Student Council) and 100 man hours (all the other students pitched in to pull of the plan) and we usually made arrangements to be off campus for a few hours a day that last week working on the project.
It was fun, but most importantly they learned the skills they needed while learning that they have a voice and can make a difference.
He'll be fine. He just needs to remember that a good leader is a servant; a good teacher is a listener; we cannot force others to learn but we can coach them to begin to consider the possibilities. It is never about what a kid *can't* do, only about what a kid *could* do if they dreamed. A dreamer is easier to teach because they are hungry for the skills needed to achieve the dream. I had lots of kids come to me reading at a 2nd grade level. They didn't leave that way. They left believing that they could learn anything they wanted to learn. They left readers, writers, life-long learners. Not because of me. Because of themselves.
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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Becky Parker
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When I taught junior high a very wise friend, who had been teaching highschool for years told me "they don't care what you know until they know you care". It was true. Once they realized I cared about them as people they were much easier motivate in the learning department.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
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Waterlily
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| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 10:33pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas! I'll pass them on to him. He's doing a little better now, trying to find some topics that interest them (like you said, Michelle! 
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Any former public school teachers?
