Glue-gate

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I'm back in September now. I have spent a few days preparing some nice lessons for my year 9 class that I am due to meet next week.

The University trained me, sometimes it felt like they brainwashed me.

"Rich tasks, open tasks, matching tasks" when I was at school I worked from a text book. "No text books" said the Uni. "Take a couple of hours...make a matching task..the students cut them out, match them and stick them in their books"

So I dutifully did exactly that. My students looked at their sheets of paper, scissors and glue. They looked at me. "I don't get it" they said.

"Cut them out, match them stick them in your books"

And the is was as if someone blew a whistle at the beginning of a madhouse show. They got the scissors and started cutting their exercise books, themselves, their clothes, some tried cutting the task out. Then they used the glue to stick themselves to each other, cutting the glue to flick around the classroom.

The task ended with a fight in the middle of the room between Alphamale 1 and Alphamale 2 with glue sticks used like swords.

I was traumatised. I had not been trained for this.

It has now been 7 months since glue-gate and I have just started letting them use glue again. But they have to have finished cutting first. Glue + scissors = a step too far.

It is only now that I realise that I have to spell out exactly what I expect of them with each task. "I expect you to use the glue to stick in your work not each other" and there has to be a consequence. Otherwise why won't they muck around? "If you do not meet my expectations, then I'll be explaining them to you again at lunchtime today during your detention"

Now that works just fine.