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T O P I C : An Antidote to 'Senioritis'? Grace asks the question: I have just moved from teaching eighth grade to teaching seniors. I feel a little bit like a fish out of water. My eighth grade classroom was a Literacy Lab classroom where students had choices and a lot of independent learning. While that classroom came with its own set of problems, my senior level classroom is a traditional English classroom with a traditional teacher (no choice, teaching classics — ick). It is only November, and my seniors already have serious cases of “Senioritis.” I hear phrases like “I don’t need to know this” and “This doesn’t matter.” I have been assigned to teach The Canterbury Tales. Instead of making them write a big fat ugly MLA paper or take some sort of crazy test none of them will study for, I have decided to have them make a life-sized “body biography” of a character from the prologue. What other ideas do you have to engage my seniors and get them excited — or at least wake them up? Posted November 16, 2008
 R E S P O N S E : A Doom-and-Gloom Warning Tara Griner writes: My only experience with seniors is probably a little rose-colored, as it is only one class and most of them are "academy" students, which means (among other things) that they are all likely college-bound and overall reasonably committed students. I have seen the "senioritis" bug creeping in during the weeks I have been there though. My mentor had a firm conversation with them, reminding them that as little as they wanted to be in English class, they would want to be there even less in summer school if they failed this semester. It was a pretty doom-and-gloom conversation, but even the non-academy kids responded to it positively. I got to sub with that class two times this week, and the best responses I got from them came when I treated them like colleagues with my language, tone of voice, and interactions with them. I was fairly straightforward with them about knowing they didn't want to be there, and we had a discussion about "necessary evils." I love your creative project for the Canterbury Tales, and I think the more interactive, out-of-the-box elements you can introduce, the better off you'll be. Posted November 22, 2008
R E S P O N S E : Help Your Students Find Katy Moore writes: I have juniors right now and have not had this problem. I think the best thing would be to try and help them understand that these things ARE important for them. Okay, maybe not The Canterbury Tales specifically, but the ideas and things that are presented: humanity, morality, religion, corruption, etc. I love the body biography (I am stealing it) because it helps them relate to the characters. Anything else you can do to connect setting, history, and theme to music or movies might help as well. When your students read, are they attracted by plot, setting, character? Ask them! Then, figure out a way to connect what they must read to what they like to read, watch, or listen to. Posted November 28, 2008
R E S P O N S E : Be Honest, Seek Connections. Martha Sandven writes: I myself am quite foggy about my freshman year in high school, but I remember my senior year quite well. Most of senior year was characterized by a feeling of urgency and anticipation. I had applied for early admission to college and found it increasingly difficult to focus on coursework as the school year progressed. Remember this: Nothing sounds cooler to high school students than stories about college and other post-graduation experiences. While it may seem a bit late to work on Domain A, senior year is a great time to connect with your students on new levels! Be honest with your students. Let them know that you, too, found it difficult to stay engaged with school because it felt irrelevant and redundant. Show students how you tie the work at hand to their future experiences in life and at college. Emphasize the "how the current coursework applies to the future" aspects of your lesson plans. Give your seniors many opportunities to connect literature with the real world. Those text-self connections fit nicely with the oft-self-absorbed senior student. While sharing our own college and real-life experiences with our students can engage them more fully in the work at-hand, it needs to be done selectively and thoughtfully. We need to be authentic and real. So, while I sound very confident in my response to your post and ponder, keep in mind that I, too, would have to put a lot of thought into choosing my own actual experiences from college and life that would best elicit productive, enthusiastic responses from seniors. You sound like you are really on-track with the project you have going on for now. Good luck! Posted December 1, 2008
R E S P O N S E : Ask Them: Elizabeth Findlay writes: I too have gone from excited eighth graders to sleepy seniors, and I met the same problem. I had no idea how I would start planning my unit on mythology to interest them. Handing them copies of The Illiad wasn't going to get me anywhere. They are at this point beyond doing heavy reading or outside work. So instead I just asked them what they wanted to learn. Surprisingly enough, they told me. I know that professors tell us in class that we should create surveys or hand-outs asking for suggestions, etc., but I just took a few minutes to talk to different seniors from different classes about what they had already read and what they are interested in about mythology. Hearing some of their responses gave me a lot of direction as to what would keep them engaged as well as what they really wanted to know. Posted December 4, 2008
R E S P O N S E : More Choice, More Interest Rachael Gatewood writes: I have never taught seniors either, but I have had to deal with apathy to some degree. Right now I am teaching tenth grade regular and pre-AP English. The contrast in interest between the two levels is starker than I expected. I am in the middle of my unit right now on The House on Mango Street. Like your choice, their end evaluation is a big project. I am having them choose which medium they want to use to complete this project. They are all held to the same standards of analyzing and summarizing information from the book, but they can choose how they want to present it to the class (songs, movies, poetry, essays, pictures, scrapbooks, etc). As expected, my highly motivated pre-AP kids are all over it already, even though it is not due for another week and a half. But surprisingly, my regular kids are already asking me questions about the work they have already done on their project. As has been discussed repeatedly in our MAT classes, the more choice, the more interest. I think your project sounds great because it is engaging in a new, fresh way. Since providing choices has motivated my most disinterested kids, I bet it would do the same for your students. Good luck with everything! Keep up the good work! I'm sure your rotation will turn out well! Posted December 5, 2008
R E S P O N S E : A Time for Brian Lee writes: Senioritis is one problem that can never be easily remedied. In my opinion, senior year is a great time to give students creative assignments. Your body biography sounds like a great creative assignment. My suggestion for activities would be to give your seniors creative writing exercises to explore the classics. For instance, you could have them each write their own Canterbury tale or have them create an alternate ending to an existing tale. You could even have them participate in the dreaded 'role playing.' Posted December 8, 2008
R E S P O N S E : Find Real World Connections. Katherine Collier writes: One solution might be to have your students pick a character from whatever classic you do next and create a resume or write a college admission essay from that character's point of view. If the students can find a real world connection to the exercises you have them do, then they might be more interested in them. Also, you cover more standards! Posted December 8, 2008
E-mail your suggestions and comments to fbowles@uark.edu 
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