Move, Teach, Get Out the Way

I've referred to Monday morning meeting a few times now in various posts. But if you don't remember, don't worry, I'll explain it right now. The first thirty minutes of the day on Mondays are devoted to Formación. I've been translating it as Monday morning meeting because in English “Formation” means cops surrendering to a black kid with moves, black panther costumes at the Superbowl, and a whole lot more awesome.

Formación is an assembly of the entire student body of each level of school. The preschool has one, Primaria has one, and so does Secundaria. For very important occasions Primaria and Secundaria will have Formación together. Students line up by classroom (two lines per class, one of boys, one of girls) and stand in straight, orderly lines. This is reinforced through some basic military commands like “Attention” and “At Ease.” There's an opening prayer,** singing of the national anthem, a reflection on an important day in that week (e.g. Mother's day, Flag day, International Water day)***, and announcements.

Formación is run by a different classroom each week. I am part of the group of teachers in charge of helping classes organize their Formación. That means that once every 4 weeks I go to the class a few days before it's their turn and tell them what topic they have to cover. Then it's up to the students to come up with ideas. My role, as it was explained to me, is facilitator, not director. Follow the jump to read about my frustrating but ultimately gratifying experience of facilitating the preparation for Formación with an eighth grade class.

Last week, I had to help 2^nd grade A (eighth graders) prepare a reflection on Mother's day. They were excited about the idea of doing a skit. Most ideas involved misbehaving children who, after something happens to their mother, have to do all the work she does and learn to appreciate her more. Ideas for what would happen to the mother to bring about this change ranged from “she gets the flu” to “she gets squished by a truck while crossing the highway.” I hope I wasn't overstepping my facilitator role when I put a blanket ban on any Mother's Day skit where the mother dies.

Anyways, they had agreed on a basic skit, and had to decide who was going to fill what roles. You only need about 8 kids to run Formación, so not everyone participates each time. This is where things got messy. Everyone was eager to volunteer...someone else. I spent 30 fruitless minutes trying any strategy I could think of, but no progress was made. Finally, with 10 minutes left until dismissal I played the only card I had left.

“I'm leaving now. I will wait outside the classroom until you are all ready to continue and finish planning your Formación. We have 10 minutes until the dismissal bell rings. When the bell rings, you will all stay in your seats until Monday's Formación is properly planned.”

And I walked out. I walked out mainly for me. I needed to get away from the students to take a few breaths and get back full control, because after plenty of experience with students last year, I could feel my self control slipping. And I know that losing control doesn't get students to do work. My plan was to wait outside and look at the mountains until I heard the students quiet down, and then return to the classroom and finish things up.

That's not what happened.

“Oi, shut up! Everyone sit down.”

“Why should we listen to you Nilton, you -”

“OI! SHUT UP!” Everyone yelled at each other to quiet down.

“Alright, who is going to play the two kids in the skit? Marco, cool. And one more. Marcelo, you should do it. Come one. Please. Oh, Julio, alright you and Marco are the kids. Now we need a girl to play the mom...”

I realized that instead of quieting down and waiting for me to come back, the students were taking initiative and getting things done. I grinned to myself, and stayed out in the hallway, listening. At 3:30 the dismissal bell rang. I re-entered the classroom and closed the door to prevent any escapees. But I needn't have worried. Everyone was looking at the 3 students standing at the front of the room. On the board was a list of responsibilities related to the Formación and the names of the students who would be in charge of them. Once it was complete I copied it all down.

“It's done, can we go now, Profe?”

“Of course. Good work everyone.”

They rushed for the exit.

Student motivation is difficult. How do I get students to want to learn something? How do I get them to do a good job on a project and not just give me the bare minimum? I don't have answers for those questions. I'm trying all sorts of things out and seeing what works when. The lesson I learned with my difficult and wonderful 8^th graders last week wasn't that the best way to motivate students is to explain the assignment, threaten everyone detention, and then leave the classroom. What I learned is that students don't always need the teacher to help them work as a group. In fact, sometimes the teacher can be in the way.

*After 17 months living in a Spanish speaking country, the four consonants in a row at the end of the word “eighth” look really weird. I thought my spell check was broken when it didn't underline it in red.

**Remember that Fe y Alegría is a privately run, publicly funded institution. But because Catholicism is the official religion of Peru, praying during school ceremonies isn't considered weird or iffy.

***Sadly, “International Talk like a Pirate Day” on September 19 doesn't make the cut.