Busy Bees

Another busy day today. We finished all the Fast Testing today.  Their reading fluency has really gone up! Most made improvements of at least 20-30 words per minute! A few students even went higher than that.  And there were a few who scored lower too.  I think they tried to strategize too much. One girl said later that she read slower on purpose so she wouldn't make any mistakes and she still got a low score. The first time we did it she tried to read fast (and then made a bunch of mistakes) and she got a lower score.  So no strategy she's trying is working.  I told her next time she should probably not try to strategize and just focus on reading.  I think she must be a 'how' person.

One of the articles I proofread for my UpWork client (freelance writing I do on the side) was an interview with a guy who specializes in coaching in a gym. One of his theories/philosophies is that there are three kinds of people: Who, What, and How.  You need to figure out who you are and who they are so you can coach them in the manner that will benefit them the most.  For example, a What person just wants the facts. They want you to tell them what to do and they'll do it.  But a 'Why' person wants to know the reasoning behind something before doing it.  So if you give a 'why' person instructions without an explanation, he/she won't do it, or won't buy into it until it's explained.  A 'how' person wants to know how it's done or how it fits in the grand scheme of things. Or how they relate to other people around them.  I am definitely a 'why' person.  I'm always looking for the explanation behind something.  But after hearing that interview, I realized that I should probably be more conscious of other people's styles and try to cater to them more... so I did a survey with my class.  Most of them said they considered themselves 'what' people.  One person said she was a 'how' person, but later told me she meant to raise her hand for 'what'.  It seems kind of odd that they'd all be the same, but I suppose it could happen!  Maybe they're all 'what' people in school and have more variance in different circumstances.  I suppose that means I don't have to explain myself quite so much!  But for me, being a 'why' person, I work better if I have an explanation.  I asked my class if it ever annoys them for me to explain so much.  They said only if I repeat the explanation more than once (ahem, like for science labs).  Since they've said that, I'm going to try to be better about keeping my explanations to a minimum.  I wonder what the 7th and 8th graders are? I haven't asked them yet, but I plan to.

One of the 5th graders said she's done using the exercise balls.  So far the rest of the class is still gungho about them.  When we first started using exercise balls as seating, my mom told me about her experiences with them from the classroom she works in (they use exercise balls too).  She said generally the students love them for about a month, then they get tired of them and go back to regular seats.  And sometimes after another month, they'll want to try the balls again.  It's the novelty of the thing, she said.  Well, it's been longer than a month, but if this 5th grader is ready for a chair again, I wonder how many more will follow suit?

There's a boy whose parents haven't bought into the exercise ball chair phenomenon; they're very skeptical.  But they bought their son a ball anyway. He's the one who needs it the most! He's always wiggly, doing acrobatics on his chair, although I guess the ball isn't much different.  He's gotten it taken away a few times.  Yesterday it was because he was lounging. Today it was because he was kicking another student's ball.  His brother is an 8th grader and asked me how many times the ball has been taken away.  He also said his parents will take it home if this kid gets it taken away too many times.  Hmm, what to do?  This 5th grader doesn't stay in any kind of seat, but at least with the ball, no one trips over the legs.  There was one day I had him sit on a stool (after he got both his ball and his chair removed). He wasn't too bad on the stool.  Maybe that's what he needs to try... I'll have to keep thinking on that.

On the other end of the spectrum, one 6th grader told me he's going to be bringing a ball chair in sometime soon.  Someone from his mom's office isn't going to work in the office anymore and won't need the ball chair, so his mom is going to buy it for him to use at school.  From what I can tell, it's a chair that has an exercise ball instead of a seat.  That should be interesting!

My sickness is still hanging on.  My sore throat is about 80% better, still lingering a bit.  It was hard to talk today; I could still do it, but it hurt after a while.  I had to change some lesson plans around a little so I wouldn't have to talk as much.  I made it through the day!  Now my ears are pluggy and my sinuses are feeling more clogged up.  Lovely. I'm sure that's more information than you wanted to know!  I heard on the radio this morning that this particular cold is pretty much everywhere (the radio guy had it, and so did pretty much everyone he's talked to too). He said it's a virus so you just have to wait for it to run its course, which happens to be a long one.  Most of my class has been battling it, so it's no wonder I got it too!