March 29th and April 5th and 12th - What is the time? - part 3

5th grade

I really want this group to become more responsible and involved with the English classes. I do not like to get their attention by threatening them or saying that an activity is worth 5 or 10 points. On March 29th I gave them a paper about digital and analog clocks. In the next class, on April 5th, I started doing a big circle on the board, to explain again the differences between the big arrow and small arrow of the analog clock. First I let the big arrow on 12 and was moving the small clock to each number and asking them "What is the time?" - "It's one o'clock, It's two o'clock" they answered. I did not have everybody's attention because their desks were already organized in groups of four or five when I entered the room, so I left like that, because I wanted them to help each other during the activity. But some of them were distracted with something else or talking. I was a little fed up that day, so I just ignored. I started explaining how the minutes and the big arrow worked, but just a few groups were paying attention, so I did not fully explain like I wanted and walked around the class checking one by one if they were drawing the arrows of the clocks right. Many of them said that they were not in class and did not have the paper. Again, so fed up that I ignored. 

Most of them, after filling the clocks, kind of ignored the last part of the activity, to write the times in full. So I asked three students to go to the board and write the answers and the clock for letters A, B and C. At least the other students could copy and finish later by themselves. 

One day before April 12th class, I sent a message on the class whatsapp group: “ Good evening, senhores e senhoras! Nas aulas de inglês, estamos fazendo uma atividade avaliativa de 10 pontos sobre as horas em relógio digital e analógico. Nesta terça, dia 12, será a terceira aula e última aula com o mesmo material, que foi distribuído em 29 de março. Em 5 de abril, eu entreguei pra quem tinha faltado.  Se seu filho foi à aula em algum desses dias, ele tem o material. Caso ele te disser que não tem, é porque perdeu. Nesse caso, envio abaixo o que é, pra que o aluno providencie a impressão ou copie a mão. Aceitarei da mesma forma. Na aula de amanhã faremos a correção. Obrigado”

It does not seem to have so much effect, because six students also told me they did not have the paper. I had previously prepared some extra copies and gave them to them. I continued to check one by one, hating the feeling of acting more like a factory supervisor than as a teacher. While I was checking I wrote D, E and F on the board and asked three students to draw the clock and write the times in full (we had done items A, B and C last class). I left a couple of minutes for them to check and then erased the board and asked other three students to write the answers for letter G, H and I. Still some of them did not write the times in full even with the answers right before them. Some minutes before the class, I was talking to their teacher and she said that two students do not even know how to write and read properly. And they are in 5th grade! I was thinking about how to evaluate those students and how many points I would give them, and I decided to not treat them differently from the others. So, they got 5 points out of 10.