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| Pencil photo from the public domain |
Keeping track was definitely the worst of it. Have any of the following sentences ever
brought your lesson to a screeching halt:
Whose pencil is this?
Where did you leave your pencil?
He stole my pencil.
No, that's my pencil.
Nuh uh.
Yes, look, mine had a bigger eraser. Yours had dent near the metal part.
I read blog post after blog post about different pencil
systems, trying to figure out how to fix this daily problem. And yet, now that I teach first grade,
suddenly pencil problems are not interrupting my lessons. What's
my secret? How have I reached Pencil
Nirvana? The solution is actually very simple.
If a student needs a pencil, give them one.
It's not complicated.
Kids need pencils in order to do schoolwork. Unless you are at a paperless/all digital
school, that's just a part of life. If
you vilify the students who are not responsible enough to hold onto/maintain
their pencils, that's just one more step towards encouraging them check
out. It's one small way that, as time
goes on adds up every day and (without you noticing it but the kid feels it) turns
into a big way, to alienate your students who are already not "good
students."
Is there a time and place to teach responsibility? Of course the answer is,
"yes." However, if you choose
to make pencils the issue on which you make your stance, you are only going to
reach those students who care about stationery.
Which my gut tells me is a small percentage of students.
You may be thinking, "But then you're rewarding
irresponsible students by giving them stuff." Well, my way of thinking has completely
shifted. I'm not just a deliverer of
content. Part of my job is caregiver, there's no doubt about it. Part of my job is to
provide for the needs of my students. If
I'm teaching them writing, it's just as much my job to give them a pencil to
write with as it is to teach them to start a sentence with a capital
letter.
And in reality, I am not rewarding the irresponsible
students. Because I don't single them
out. I simply level the playing
field. I give EVERY student a
pencil. Often. I never allow the supply of pencils to run
out. And as a result, students feel
provided for. They have one less thing
they have to worry about before lowering their affective filter and "buy
in" to what you're teaching them.
I know what you're thinking.
This sounds nice, but isn't it more work than those other systems where
students have to bargain with you to get something you are requiring them to
use? Not really. In my next post I'll give you 9 tips to help
you make it work in your classroom.
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