Dear colleague,
In my general-level World History courses this year, I've started running an “Article of the Day” experiment. Students grab the printed article as they come into class and then:
- Circle any unfamiliar words (we define these before we're done)
- Read the article
- Paraphrase the article
- Pose a question they still have after reading the article
Each of those bullets are skills I've been Woodenizing through modeling on the doc cam — again and again and again. I do, you do, we do, etc.
That's the short take. For a longer play-by-play explanation, check out this video I made about it last week, in which I discuss the pros and cons of the experiment. (For a list of the articles we're using in class, check out this page; for a more comprehensive discussion of Gallagher's Article of the Week assignment that this is based on, see pp. 80-85 of These 6 Things.)
But for today's purposes, let's talk about how I link this Article of the Day activity to the September Invitation: Tracking Attempted Moments of Genuine Connection (MGCs).
How to Use MGCs to Stoke Student Work Ethic
My whole methodology of student motivation was born out of a simple reality: students can only grow toward mastery if they 1) do work, and 2) do it with care.
When my students are working with the daily article, their work typically falls into just a few categories:
- They're not doing the work at all.
- They're doing the work, but without care.
- They're doing the work with as much curiosity and endurance and care as they've got.
Each of these situations lends itself to a brief, one-on-one check-in (AKA an MGC).
For a student who is not doing the work at all:
When I see this scenario during the warm-up, I pull the student into the hallway:
- “Paden, I'm noticing that you're not working on the article. Is everything okay? What's getting in your way? Is there anything I can do to help? I'm having this conversation with you because I have high expectations, and I know you can reach them. I'm glad you're in my class.”
- Notice that I've worked some of what Dan Coyle calls “magic feedback” into my language here. See this section of my Normalize Struggle article (or pp. 237-238 of Will to Learn) for more on that.
Now notice, by this point in the school year (week 4), being pulled into the hallway for a brief MGC has been normalized. Students know that everyone gets pulled out, and the word on the street is that it can be a simple check-in, it can be Stuart asking a question, it can be Stuart redirecting behavior.
And also notice: I can't address all of the not-working scenario kids via an MGC. For most of them, I just redirect them to the work at hand and linger until I see them beginning. (Lots more on the classroom management approach I use here.) MGCs aren't always possible for all kids at all times. This is a slow-and-steady strategy that reaps its fruits when we use it for one, two, or three kids a day, keeping track to make sure all kids get a moment every month or so.
For a student who is doing the work, but without care:
When I see this scenario during the warm-up, I pull the student into the hallway:
- “Lionel, I noticed you're doing the work in my class, but it seems like you are kind of rushing through it. Am I right on that? Do you think you are putting your best effort forth here? Why do you think that is? Is there anything I can do to help you push just a little harder to be curious and careful in your work? My goal is to help you enjoy the process of growing stronger each day.”
In this kind of MGC, I'm genuinely curious about what's going on inside the student. Sometimes they'll share with me that they're tired or that they hate reading articles or that they are bored. I use this information to build a more accurate representation of the student in my brain (more on that concept in this article from last week).
And as I'm doing that, I'm signaling to them that I see them, value them, respect them.
For a student who is doing the work with demonstrable care:
These are the ones where we get to have fun, still pulling the student aside or into the hallway:
- “Kaylin, when you ask those great questions during our article work, I've got to tell you: it is awesome. You're leading the charge of curiosity in this class, and the results of your questions are almost always more questions. It's something that makes me smile every day. Thank you for bringing that kind of care to your work.”
It's really important to look for these last kinds of MGCs because they feel amazing to both the student and to us teachers. Energy boosts all around — good stuff.
I hope something in here helps you in your work. Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.
Teaching right beside you,
DSJR
Leave a Reply