I think I'm losing my mind.
Last year, Mrs. Eagle and I piloted science notebooks in a few of our classes to see how they went. Well, they went great so we're going full speed ahead with our science notebooks for all our classes this year.
The problem is, apparently cutting and gluing (correctly) is a bit beyond some of my kids this year.
I have never - never - seen such a disaster in the making. These kids, despite me modeling it over and over and over on the document reader, can't seem to cut and glue things into their notebook without making a disaster out of it. I had foldable flaps glued in upside down, inside pockets glued all the way shut rather than on two sides only, notebook tabs cut in half and glued upside down, you name it. It's been, shall we say, a challenge.
And then when you get my seventh period (which, I'm starting to think is the class that all the rather "interesting" and quite low kids got stuck into), you get an absolute nightmare. When Happy Boy is the star student in the class, you've got issues.
Obviously, the million times I say, "look at the screen and watch what I do!" is going in one ear and out the other.
And then of course you get the goober who decides to see what happens when you pour glue in the palm of your hand.
(What happens is Mrs. Bluebird pulls you into the hall and explains to you that we do not act like four-year-olds in seventh grade, and that we use the glue for our notebooks, not for decorating our hands, and if you ever do anything like that again, I'm calling your mother. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING. )
Oh good gracious.
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5 comments:
I think, between focus on the TEST, so anything that looks like arts & crafts is crowded out of elementary regular classrooms, and shrinking budgets so that arts classes are shortened or elminated. . . you get middle schoolers who can't use scissors and glue properly.
Maybe use the camera to record yourself doing it before class? Then play the video on a loop and go around and help kids (or at least keep them from eating the glue... I still remember the kid that did that in my K class).
This is why I said no glue. We did tape for our notebooks. I still had kids to did it the wrong way, but it was fixable...and actually it wasn't my idea, but I got it from the book about notebooks I bought. lol ;) :D
Funny how different "experts" give you different advice - at the Dinah Zike workshop at NSTA we were told nothing but glue, no tape, no gluesticks. They apparently felt that they didn't hold up to use over time. But hey, they're going to have to learn..and the glue is a lot cheaper than tape.
They'll get the hang of it! Afterall, it is only the second week, right? And folding is one of those things you have to reteach each year. Hahahaha! Jk!
One of the supplies on my daughter's list is tape. Thanks for enlightening me on why in the world she might need her own roll of tape. Don't know if that's the reason, but makes sense.
LOL. I'm still debating about using a dedicated notebook for my history students....I guess I better decide soon as they arrive to class on Monday. Have a Great School Year!
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