Listening to Students

Everyday my students come in the classroom and work on their "Do Now" activity. (For teachers, that is a warm-up, dispatch, etc activity) I am moving my students into the Persuasive Unit and asked them to list two ideas/things that would make school/classes more interesting and then write two paragraphs.

I am glad I waited until now to give them this prompt. They were very thoughtful and had some amazing ideas. One was to make a game out of our vocabulary that allowed them to get out of their seats. So the next day I used their specific idea. Crossword Puzzles handed out to them with no clues. The clues were posted all around the room. They had to solve the puzzle first. Then the clues were the actual definitions which they then copied into their journals. Most of them appreciated the effort and they appreciated that I listen to them.

Tomorrow is idea number 2 -- allowing them to teach mini lessons to the class. So tomorrow we will be reviewing some grammar and on Tuesday a student will teach a lesson to follow up on the review. Hopefully this will work out.

Another suggestion was to read something (a book) that they understood! We just finished Romeo and Juliet and they had to work hard to understand the story as they read it. So, now I am in a quandary. I need a book for all of us to read and I have one in mind The Wednesday Wars, but I would love other suggestions, so if you have any please let me know.

All in all I am enjoying listening to their ideas and attempting to follow through with them.