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Message board > School material
School material
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flo84
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School material
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Hi everybody
I discovered this wonderful site 2 months ago and now for me school year is nearly over. I am working on my next classes and I don �t know what school material I am going to use with my students (I mean notebooks ...) So I would like to know how you use all these wonderful worksheets . Do your students have notebooks and paste the worksheets on it ?If so doesn �t it take too much time ? Do they use a file? In France there is a debate about the weight of schoolbags and I must admit that I am reconsidering the use of files at school because they are heavy. Well you can see that it is quite a problem for me so any suggestion or advice will be welcome!
Flo
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24 May 2009
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_babz
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Bonjour,
My students have a binder, where they put sheets that they receive from me (some from eslprintables), they also have a notebook, where they take notes, write texts, and they have 2 books, activity book and a grammar book.
Their bags are always heavy, but during lunch time, they are asked to prepare for their afternoon classes, so they have to empty out their morning stuff..
Ils sont jeunes et capables.
I should say that binfers can get heavy, and you always have to remember to make 3 holes, so I would have them buy a pocket folder.
Bonne chance! |
24 May 2009
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flo84
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Hi Tbabz
Thank you for replying. The problem with my students is that most of them can �t go home for lunch and as I am not their only teacher , they can be asked to carry 2 or 3 files/binders in their bag for the day. Anyway it is interesting to know how you work with your students.
Tr�s bon dimanche !! Have a great Sunday!!
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24 May 2009
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Abdelhadi
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Yes, the subject that you raised is a real headache not only for students and their parents, but also for their teachers. The problem is that it is worldwide. Wherever you go, you find the same problem with few differences, of course, according to the time table management in a specific country or school.
There are few mini-solutions to this problem, suggested by a number of teachers but they don �t really improve the situation, esp for those students who usually study the whole week (morning & afternoon) and who have more than one teacher each time they go to school.
I just think that this problem would mostly disappear if students are provided with light, cheap and effective laptops where they will keep all their ws and files stored, then they will no more be bothered with that annoying �compulsory � weight lifting activity. This suggestion can see light starting from next year if all the govs agree on a set of rules for the tangible benefits of all the students in the world. It is easy to make a light cheap effective laptop for students. India has lately made one and it is so cheap. However, the greedy developped countries and their gov �s ill pragmatic methodology is always in the way.
Until then, we can only stick to the mini-solutions. My students are always free to choose whether to stick the ws I give them in their notebooks or to keep them classified in a folder (no binder cuz I think that adds some more kilos). Well, it �s up to them. I usually suggest few things at the beginning of each year and then they choose what they think is better to them, since at the end it �s them who will carry all that.
I just hope things will change for the benefit of all students in the world. No one likes to see the others, esp children, suffering from a problem which can be solved if there is some determination and if we think of those students as if they were our children.
Thanx and have a good day
Abdekhadi
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24 May 2009
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Choli
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Hi Flo
How old are your students? If you teach young learners you can keep their notebooks or portfolios at school and send them home once in a while so that parents can see their progress.
If they are not so young, it shouldn �t be time consuming the pasting or filing moment.
Don �t you have some shelves to pile up their books, notebooks or whatever they can leave at school so as to lighten their schoolbags?
Hugs
Choli |
24 May 2009
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flo84
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Thank you Abdelkhadi and Choli
I am sorry for not replying immediately but I leave my computer and come back from time to time. My students are between 14 and 20. I can �t store their notebooks at school because I change classroom every two hours so It would be too much trouble for me to move their things before each lesson. I was thinking about using a folder like Abdelkhadi because it is lighter or maybe using a binder that I would keep at school and a folder that they would carry home. Of course I agree a laptop would be the best option but ....
And concerning the pasting moment, Choli, it is time consuming because after a week or two of good resolutions , then nobody has glue anymore and we have to wait until the only tube of glue (sometimes mine or one student �s) passes from one student to another. This is something I would like to avoid. And please don �t suggest I just have to punish them because I would spend my time punishing them since nobody never has what I asked for. I work in a vocational school that means that my students don �t like school and they are eager to stop it very quickly in order to find a job. If I keep punishing them for one thing or another they won �t even wait to pass their exam and stop school earlier. This is why I am always trying to find new ideas and school material is also something I need to improve for the benefit of my students but also to improve the quality of my teaching.
Thank you both of you for sharing your experience with me.
Flo
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24 May 2009
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Abdelhadi
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Hello Flo
Yes it �s IMPOSSIBLE to store the students � notebooks at the classroom since you don �t have your own classroom. I have the same problem at school. I usually teach in different classrooms during the week, so you can �t control everything. You never know what may happen when another teacher and students are there!
I teach in a public/state school and my students are btwn 14 and 19/20 which means that they are old enough to deal perfectly with the question of school material weight. I always give them the choice to decide for themselves whether to stick the ws with glue, to put them in a folder or to do whatever they like with them on the condition that they always bring them to class and do the ws �s exerices whenever I assign any. You can �t oblige all the students to keep their ws using one thing (e.g. folder) bcz some students prefer to use other methods. All what you should care about is that the students don �t make noise in class, so pasting the wss at home can be a good way out rather than wasting minutes doing that in class. Also they should be responsible for whatever method they choose bcz at the end they themselves will have to keep the ws clean and classified so that they can use them whenever you ask them to do so.
Punishing students is not always a solution. In specific situations, you may punish some students for doing specific things that they SHOULD �NT do in class at all, and of course that comes after the steps of discussion and warning. The real problem is when you have students like yours, those who have no real hopes to study, those who have enough with most things around them, those who know that they won �t be �important people � in society, those who don �t study for the sake of studying but for the sake of getting a small job in the recent future. If you have this type of students or similar then I just advise you to forget about punishing them about matters related to ws specifically. Rather, what you should focus on is how can you motivate them to do what you ask them for. I think besides adopting an attractive, good way of teaching, using interesting materials and different activities alongside being kind and open with the students will always have very good results for you and for your students.
Have a good night
Abdelhadi |
25 May 2009
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