“It’s Monday! Ain’t we s’posed to watch somethin’ motivational?”
Yep, that grammatically incorrect question is asked every week in my classroom this year. And, yes, I teach math. You may wonder why my students would expect to see something motivational on Mondays. Well, this year, I’ve tagged each day of the week with a byline. I even put it in my lesson plans. My assistant principal commented on it after the first week. She said, “Denise, I saw how you named the days of the week in your lesson plans. Awesome. What are you doing with that?”
Mondays are Motivational Monday. Every Monday starts off with the expected Problem of the Day, as you would expect in any other math class, but this year, I added a little something extra. The first week, my students saw this video: Why? Why not? Why not You? I’ll wait while you watch it…… Kinda stirs something deep down inside, doesn’t it? That’s the point.
The other days have names, too. Teamwork Tuesday. Watch Me Work Wednesday, Throw Down Thursday (aka Thankful Thursday), and Fearless Friday.
Teamwork Tuesday: Students take part in some sort of team-building activity. Their favorite? Don’t Drop the Ball! This game requires students to toss a ball around a circle. Doesn’t sound too difficult? Well, once they have successfully tossed one ball, we start over, adding another ball. The kicker? The balls must always be tossed in the same exact order, one after the other. If either ball drops, then we have to start all over. When they master two balls, then we add a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and so on. My best class has only gotten to four balls so far, while the other classes are still on two. Focus! Focus! Focus!
Watch Me Work Wednesday: Wednesday is the workhorse day of the week in my classroom. Students know we can’t always have motivational videos and team-building games, so I set Wednesday up to be a day of Work, work, work. I didn’t want it to be left out, so it got a cool name, too.
Throw Down Thursday: On Thursdays, we do some kind of assessment. I want students to know they are the masters of their own destinies. When they are faced with an assessment, I want them to put it all out there, lay it all on the line, throw down like there’s no tomorrow. When you can’t change something, then you change your perspective about it. Most kids don’t like tests all that much, but they’re a necessary part of math class. If you can’t change that, change the way you feel about it.
Finally, Fearless Friday: This is the day that kids share about a time in their life when they faced a fear. It could be anything and it is completely voluntary. If we have no volunteers, then I share something. The first week, I shared about the day eMammal hosted the Daily Planet Talk and about applying for the Kenan Fellowship. It’s always scary when you put your foot out there in the great unknown, with people you don’t know, in a place that is new. It’s especially hard, when you have a family that is put on hold while you chase a dream. BUT…isn’t there always a but? But…doing something that scares you also changes you in a big way. Opportunities are there that simply weren’t there before, or maybe you never dared look for them?
Of course, what’s the point of all of this if it doesn’t affect achievement? I am a math teacher, after all. Shouldn’t I concern myself with more practice questions, quizzes, math, math, and more math? Sure, if all I wanted to create were mathematicians, that would be enough. I am a middle school teacher and I produce KIDS. Kids that do math and hopefully do it well, but, first and foremost, are kids. Kids who are interested in the world around them. Kids that ask questions and seek their own answers. Kids that fear and overcome fear. Kids that work together and have the confidence to stand on their own. Kids that are excited about the day ahead and what the day will bring…even in math class.