OK, I started out the day really down and out, pretty bummed out about the way my classes were going, i.e.: behavior, work getting done, etc. I love, eat, breathe, and live Social Studies/History. However, I am bored to tears with my curriculum. If I am bored, you know the kids are. Solution? Ask the kids what they want to see changed in order to make the course more enjoyable for them. They probably don't get asked their opinions very often as it is, I know I sure didn't when I was a kid, but then that was so long ago we didn't have 26 letters in the alphabet, and we still thought the sun revolved around the earth. :)
So, after my bell-ringer and some minor housekeeping, I ask them: "What do you want to see changed in my classroom in order to make this course more enjoyable, and make sure you learn more?" Universally, across all five of my sections, they asked for more group work, more films, more projects. I was surprised that they wanted more films, I thought they found them boring. The other answers were not so surprising to me.
Well, I totally scrapped my lesson plans, and quickly assigned the kids into groups. Instead of a "jigsaw", (I told them I was too warped and crazy to do it that way) I assigned each group one of our terms for this section, and told them they would have to teach the rest of the class that term, but they would have to do it by one of three ways: a song (rap,etc.), a poem, or a skit, and that they had only 15 minutes to come up with it. With few exceptions, they really took to it. Unfortunately, I have a small smattering of uncreative students, or some that just have trouble working in a group. This will be worked on. We are studying about Mexico right now, and the most moving one I heard was one group which has a Latino boy in it. He "rapped" their definition in Spanish, and the others interpreted for the class in English. Guess you just had to be there.
We'll be doing more of the same tomorrow, and I will give a quiz on Wednesday. I've got a feeling that my quiz grades will go up. Hope so! OH! I'll be showing a film on Thursday.