Early Morning Hours Seeing How Students Express What They Are Supposed To Have Learned

In less than an hour, I'll leave for the Y, where I'll do strength and conditioning exercises before leaving for a full day on campus for Flex.  But I finally got something on tardiness off to the ESLetter--unsolicted:

     

I'm attaching something from Berkeley Rep about late seating.  I use it with my ESL students to impress upon them the importance of not being disruptive when they arrive late.  It seems to be an unfamiliar concept.  I'm glad we're understanding of our students' complicated lives, but I don't think we should be (pardon the psychobabble word) enablers in the sense of reinforcing bad habits.  Could you include this in an ESLetter? 

Using Tardiness to Teach Courtesy and Kindness

      Google “late seating policy for college classrooms” and you’ll get about 74,300,000 results in 0.61 seconds because late students are a major concern.  See this link, for example:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev088.shtml

      This is what Berkeley Rep prints on its tickets:

“Plan to arrive early.  All shows start on time, and there is no late seating.  Unfortunately, latecomers should expect to watch the show on a video monitor.”

      I know that our classrooms do not constitute a "show."  We all know we should be "a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage."  If students have to be late, I don't want to banish them to another room, as Berkeley Rep does, but why can't they sit in the row by the door?  That way they will be less disruptive, and teachers can see who missed handouts and who should be marked tardy instead of absent.  

      Can students be taught that it’s courteous not to walk in front of other people when they come in late? Can they be taught to wait to get back the work that has already been returned to other students instead of demanding it on the spot?

      When City College had a visiting scholar from Mexico to talk on the Diego Rivera Mural, a teacher greeted a late arriving student by chatting with him and catching up on what he had been doing.  Later our visiting scholar complained about this.  He felt that the teacher was disruptive, compounding the problem of the student's late arrival.  I agree.  We want to be welcoming and understanding.  But we need to communicate the idea that courtesy in the classroom isn't about a bunch of rules; it's about kindness and optimal learning, which thoughtful rules can foster. 

      I put my students in groups and give them a picture from Berkeley Rep with these instructions:

       

     

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      PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON THIS COPY.  Write on your student work sheet.

What is the message that Berkeley Rep (a theatre company) gives about being on time?

What  happens to people who are late to Berkeley Rep?

How does this connect with the classroom and our policy for latecomers?

      Coming soon:  What to do about students leaving the classroom during class.

   I also want to submit something about the heart-wrenching students, the ones who have learning disabilities or are otherwise disabled to the extent that we can't say "Never give up" and have to say "Give THIS up" and find another place for them to succeed.  The question is "Where?"

But...what I first did this morning, after arising at 1:00 AM and reading about less sex (can we say less sexual activisim?) for students at Redwood High School in Marin and CVC's decision to stop selling cigarettes.  I started reading the students' responses to an essay test about several different reading passages:  One from NorthStar about Richard Jewell, SLOs (the Student Learning Outcomes that have become so prominently promoted and studied, Manuscript Rules, and the policy for making up tests.  (You can tell what a great  entertainer I must be in the classroom.)  The students usually concern themselves only with their grades, but I think of my feedback to each of them as a private tutorial, a one-to-one conference.  They just aren't there.  Still, On one I've indicated for her to studeh 1.  the simple past tense.  2 the passive voice  3.  manuscript rules, 4.  verb forms, and 5.  English spelling.  Here's a sample:

Richard Jewell was a security guard at the Olimpic Stadium of Atlanta.  In 1996 the stadium has been under attack by the explosion of a bomb that killed 1 person and ingured 100.  Mr. Jewell was onored to be call a hero at the beginning because he has been helpfull with the resque operation.  After that the FBI had point some suspect on him, and his life was been ruined by the media attention.  When Richard has been accused, his story has become a ppular enterttainment for the news business.  Mr. Jewell's family was contantly spy by reporters that had arranged a camp in front of  his home, and watched his moves.  Richard Jewell passt away by natural couse, but nobody ever apology with him or his family for what has been done to his privat life.  When in 2007 a seriall bomber confess his crime, and has been captuered by the police, Mr. Jewell was relased from the accuse but doesn't changed the damage that he already live.

I've commented, "Your understanding is better than your English usage."  But as I type it up it looks better and better to me.