Ch. 10 QtC's

Talking about modeling in class discussion this week has reminded me of one of the most effective times a teacher modeled a thinking process for me. It was a college professor, three years into my English major. I had spent all of high school and college getting good grades on my papers, and knew how to produce a piece of writing that would please my professors, while still not having to spend too much effort on it. But this particular college professor was not satisfied with my writing remaining stagnantly decent. She presented a very informal, very useful explanation into everything: exactly where to search for research and how to skim through articles, how to begin thinking about a topic (rather than searching through the book for evidence and then organizing a topic based on that, choosing a topic first and then close reading for evidence on that!), and most importantly how to formulate a thesis. The presentation has stuck with me ever since and has provided me with many resources for successful paper writing since. 

While this would be too complex of an issue to discuss with my students, I do think I can model a thinking process through something like writing in my future English classroom.  Many high schoolers do not know how to go about beginning a paper, and see a blank Word document as overwhelming. There is a definite process which can make it so much easier! I would have to present my tips as interesting and beneficial enough to motivate my students to give the correct amount of attention, retention, and motor reproduction to be able to later model this positive behavior.

In my case study, I want to encourage in the misbehaving students the importance of their own self-regulation and self-efficacy. After taking them aside and presenting a behavior and consequence plan, I want to relay to them that to succeed in future important contexts, such as college or the workforce, it is extremely important to be able to self-regulate oneself.  Additionally, I want to impart that the students CAN achieve in my classroom and do not have to revert to clowning around to gain attention or deflect my requirements.