Slipping Backwards

Hello. Today was not a good day in our class for several reasons. We started off with several side conversations from the students while they should be working. During independent reading time, many of the students were playing around with one another, rolling on the ground, and playing hide and seek with one another instead of working on their reading. Students also would sit in their desk, staring at a blank piece of paper until I questioned them as to what they were working on. They would respond with.... My pencil broke. We have an entire cup of pencils that are sharpened for the students to use during the day which have been there since day 1! During writing (which we are now starting our poetry unit) most of the students complained that they didn't want to do poems, though last week those same students were begging me to do poems on their own! Following directions seemed like a foreign concept where students were doing things as they pleased and at a very slow pace, just because urgency clearly was not an option for them. During math when we were practicing math facts students were missing their basic facts that they have already proved they know and were fooling around with one another due to an obvious lack of care for the subject today (normally math is fairly well liked!).

Today it was like the entire class went back to the beginning of the year (or further in some cases!). The behavior was terrible and completely unacceptable for this group of students. By this point in third grade we should be transitioning more responsibility to get ready for next year and following the routines that we have set since the beginning of the year. Instead, students are deciding that now is a good time to fall backwards and act incredibly immature and throw all respect for their work and for others out of the window. It is hard, with the weather being so cold and students being forced to be inside, to get that space from one another that is even more essential with a class this small. However, they are still given recess time and time to relax away from academics during that time. It is important that they are using this time to the best of their abilities to help us all be successful.

I know that I hold these students to high standards, but they are not unrealistic based on this group of students. They are all very intelligent students but are incredibly lazy, especially recently, and need to understand that school is only going to become more and more difficult for them as years pass. The bare minimum is not good enough for me, nor should it be good enough for themselves. I expect much higher things from them and I expect them to rise to that challenge. When students decide they are going to skate by for the rest of the year, it is my job to get them back on track and have them redo assignments if necessary to make sure that they are prepared for their futures. I expect work to be done in third grade quality and if I do not see that, the work will be sent back and redone. This is the time to get our work done, and get it done well. Next week is the end of the midterm and grades will be sent home. For some of the students, these will be shocking because their effort (of lack there of) is showing very seriously in their grades. I can only do so much to help them before the work is in their hands and needs to be done.

Tonight, some of the students have extra homework due to their lack of work being completed in class. Please sit down with them tonight and talk about their grades and effort in school. It is important that they see that these skills are valued at home and at school. I appreciate your support, and so do they. Have a good evening.