Mid Year Blues...

Mid Year Blues...
While I wondered what the answer to the challenges that our 7th graders or any grade level suffer from during the mid-year is, I stop and consider several possibilities.  At the beginning of the year, students were eager and nervous to start in a middle school setting. They were very attentive and receptive to all the rules and classroom responsibilities.  Now that they have been with us for a few months, they have fallen to old good and bad habits.  The pressure for making grade check at our school is palpable.  Students stress over quizzes and tests as the days get closer to the grade check reward, but soon fizzle out after that.  My usual tutoring sessions have an average of 7-10 students per day.  Now they have fallen to 3-4.  So I considered what has happened?  Where has the interest of my students to improve, and get better grades gone?
During class, students cooperate, share with their partners, collaborate and overall participate.  As the topics in Eureka get more challenging, they get strategies to facilitate their learning. Watching a first-grade Spotlight class inspired me to change a few things I do with my students while doing word problems.  First, I have students set up their paper in four quadrants.  They write “What can I draw/What do I know?” in one quadrant.  In the second quadrant, they write “Show work.”  In the third quadrant, they write, “Patterns, Tables, Graphs.”  Finally, in the fourth quadrant, they write, “Answer in words.”  It is amazing how a strategy such as this can truly affect the attitude towards solving a difficult word problem.  Organizing the information and developing a plan to solve the problem has helped my students in attempting to solve what they perceive as “hard” questions.  Students are given time to digest the problem and place as much information as possible, before I go over it with the whole group.  I see progress in attempting the issues, but most still need help unraveling and solving the math.  Students are more comfortable with the actual operations now.  The challenge often times is understanding how to answer questions that require more than the usual add, subtract, multiply or divide.  Bridging the gap between doing operations or using these skills to get an answer and then reflecting as to what the numbers actually mean, require higher levels of thinking.  This is where I spend most of my time now.  I believe that this is the reason for those mid-year blues.  Students are expected to interpret the information and respond accordingly.  They whine and complain that this is too hard.  Yet, I see many of my SBAC 1’s and several 2’s rising up to the challenge.
	Students aren’t the only ones who are feeling the blues.  I too have to find my own grit to overcome the feeling of defeat at times.  I know what I’m doing for my students is right for them, but occasionally, I too feel tired and exhausted in this ongoing battle to have those productive struggles and push forward.  What gets me through these times is watching just one struggling student ask a question that I know will open the door to the answer they need.  This is my compensation.  There's nothing better than to see a growth mindset in these kiddos.  Here is a link to a TED talk video that I show my students around this time. Feel free to check it out. https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
One particular student made a comment in my tutoring class about what a shame it was for students not to take advantage of the tutoring sessions I provide after school.  He said, “I don’t understand why more students aren’t here?  Don’t they know that they can finish their math homework in class and have more time to spend at home doing fun stuff?”  This young man gets it.  Melody, on the other hand, who on this same day was bitter because she would rather be dancing in the after-school program said, “I don’t need this math.  When I grow up, I’m going to marry a rich guy who will take care of me.”  I couldn’t believe what I heard?!  I was both appalled and sad at the same time.  I gave her reasons to consider when making these statements, but she wouldn’t have any of them.  I finally concluded that she too was suffering from mid-year blues. She was the inspiration for my blog this month.  I hope she comes back from winter break rested and with a better outlook.  She is definitely my challenge this year!
	Feel free to send me your comments after you have read and seen the video.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  Have a fantastic rest of your day! Hilda Castillo