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The last week of school was very hectic. We had to move classroom from the portable into the new building in the hottest two days of the year. Why? That’s another story! Meanwhile, I was also busy shopping for prizes promised to my students. One group of students that I had to shop for was the Cool-lit Club members.
I wrote a blog article about the reading club that I took charge of twice a week after school on May 13. The club finally came to the end on June 14. We had all the students filled out the final survey and organized a big party for the participants. I knew they liked to come to Cool-Lit Club because of the treats and special attention given to them during the small group reading time. As their lead teacher, I was very proud of their consistent effort over those 12 weeks span. So, I promised that any student with full attendance record would be rewarded with a little prize. I tried to avoid the Hawthorne Effect (Note 1), so I did not tell them about the prize in advance. I waited till the end because I don’t want those students attending Cool Lit Club only for the prize.
At the party, I promised all students to return their journal back to them at the year end, and a little prize will be included for the students with perfect attendance record. To my surprise, the attendance rate for the club was extremely high. Honestly, I had to shop for almost 40 students. I got each junior student a cook book, Cooking for Children, and an I Spy book for each primary student. Now you probably would think that what an expensive present for a 10 year old who may not use it at all! Well, I thought so at first; however, the price was right for me, only a dollar each, and it is very well packaged. I did spend a lot of time, maybe too much time, shopping around for my students. It is still a very brave move in my part at the end to get them the cookbook. I did it because I thought they really enjoyed reading the recipes, the cooking and the baking experiences.
A few days later at the staff party, my co-worker told me that the cookbook that I gave them was a good idea. Some kids already commented on what they would like to cook. A few girls were talking about cooking food to sell as a business. (hahahahahaaa). Then they said they can make a flyer to advertise and design their own business cards to promote their food. Oh, my Goodness! What more can I ask for! Those are exactly what I would like to see in the future for our students, to be able to apply their reading to real life practice. During those long twelve weeks, these students, who normally disliked reading, learned to read instructions to cook at one centre and use computer software to design their flyers and business cards at another centre. Now, they could talk about using all those activities to help them pursue a dream, or even just to talk and plan about their dream. That’s amazing for a group of Grade 4 students!
After the survey, my teaching assistant did the tally for me for their pre- and post-survey. The result was amazing! All of them showed positive change on their overall attitude towards Reading. Ten percent of the students showed extremely significant improvement (100% turn around) on their attitude change. What can I say? As a teacher, if I could make a difference on one, one child alone, I would be so happy. Here we have a group of students who seem to enjoy reading so much now because they know there are more to it in reading. They truly understand what reading is all about- it is a life skill! It is impossible for teachers to teach students everything in life. We can only instill the passion for learning and show them the paths and the tools to continue their life long learning of their own in the future. (Note 2)
Note:
1. You probably have heard of this term from your Psychology 101 class. Here is the definition from the plain English Wikipedia site.
Hawthorne Effect: The Hawthorne effect refers to a phenomenon which is thought to occur when people observed during a research study temporarily change their behavior or performance (this can also be referred to as demand characteristics). Reference copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
2. I saw this slide show first at a Teaching and Technology workshop at the Board office on June 18. It has been around for a while apparently. I found it on YouTube. After watching the slide show, I hope you can understand my point at the end. We can not teach skills that have not been invented, but we can certainly help our students “start collecting tools” to pursue their future learning.
I wrote a blog article about the reading club that I took charge of twice a week after school on May 13. The club finally came to the end on June 14. We had all the students filled out the final survey and organized a big party for the participants. I knew they liked to come to Cool-Lit Club because of the treats and special attention given to them during the small group reading time. As their lead teacher, I was very proud of their consistent effort over those 12 weeks span. So, I promised that any student with full attendance record would be rewarded with a little prize. I tried to avoid the Hawthorne Effect (Note 1), so I did not tell them about the prize in advance. I waited till the end because I don’t want those students attending Cool Lit Club only for the prize.
At the party, I promised all students to return their journal back to them at the year end, and a little prize will be included for the students with perfect attendance record. To my surprise, the attendance rate for the club was extremely high. Honestly, I had to shop for almost 40 students. I got each junior student a cook book, Cooking for Children, and an I Spy book for each primary student. Now you probably would think that what an expensive present for a 10 year old who may not use it at all! Well, I thought so at first; however, the price was right for me, only a dollar each, and it is very well packaged. I did spend a lot of time, maybe too much time, shopping around for my students. It is still a very brave move in my part at the end to get them the cookbook. I did it because I thought they really enjoyed reading the recipes, the cooking and the baking experiences.
A few days later at the staff party, my co-worker told me that the cookbook that I gave them was a good idea. Some kids already commented on what they would like to cook. A few girls were talking about cooking food to sell as a business. (hahahahahaaa). Then they said they can make a flyer to advertise and design their own business cards to promote their food. Oh, my Goodness! What more can I ask for! Those are exactly what I would like to see in the future for our students, to be able to apply their reading to real life practice. During those long twelve weeks, these students, who normally disliked reading, learned to read instructions to cook at one centre and use computer software to design their flyers and business cards at another centre. Now, they could talk about using all those activities to help them pursue a dream, or even just to talk and plan about their dream. That’s amazing for a group of Grade 4 students!
After the survey, my teaching assistant did the tally for me for their pre- and post-survey. The result was amazing! All of them showed positive change on their overall attitude towards Reading. Ten percent of the students showed extremely significant improvement (100% turn around) on their attitude change. What can I say? As a teacher, if I could make a difference on one, one child alone, I would be so happy. Here we have a group of students who seem to enjoy reading so much now because they know there are more to it in reading. They truly understand what reading is all about- it is a life skill! It is impossible for teachers to teach students everything in life. We can only instill the passion for learning and show them the paths and the tools to continue their life long learning of their own in the future. (Note 2)
Note:
1. You probably have heard of this term from your Psychology 101 class. Here is the definition from the plain English Wikipedia site.
Hawthorne Effect: The Hawthorne effect refers to a phenomenon which is thought to occur when people observed during a research study temporarily change their behavior or performance (this can also be referred to as demand characteristics). Reference copied from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
2. I saw this slide show first at a Teaching and Technology workshop at the Board office on June 18. It has been around for a while apparently. I found it on YouTube. After watching the slide show, I hope you can understand my point at the end. We can not teach skills that have not been invented, but we can certainly help our students “start collecting tools” to pursue their future learning.
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