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Advisory Hours

This year, my school choose to start the Navigation 101 program. It's a program spreading over the state... those that have joined in in some manner will probably be shepharded in soon or at least that's the way it appears to certain people who worry about these things.

Mine is not working out as well as I had hoped. The class meets twice a month. I really don't know the students in class - I'm still trying to figure out names. I only see three of them on a daily basis in an education class. Generally, I get the "lesson plan" the day before the class takes place. This doesn't give me much planning time and given the resources I have at hand, not much with to spice it up. These lesson plans are generally 15 minutes long, but the class itself is 35 minutes long. They say things like "dicuss whether or not parents use a bank and which one for 5 minutes". Seriously. This leaves a lot of time to argue "why we need to do this crap" and "why should anyone care". The lesson plans are online, but our school does not go in order. It's impossible to say what will happen the next time we meet, because the uber-lords haven't met to decide what we'll be doing until two days before.

Our last meeting was to discuss the student-led conferences. Fourty percent of my students did not attend. Of those who did, only a couple of students actually followed instructions or had anything to say besides "here's my grades". I basically just gave up, handed out the feedback sheets on which a majority wrote "it was stupid" or "gay" and let them talk the rest of the time.

Do you have an advisory? What do you do with them?

Comments

Unemployed educator said…
We have advisements. Our school calls it Guided Study/Advisement. We have the advisement part every other Thursday. Some of the topics are Bullying, Harassment and Peer safety for the 9th and 10th graders; Prom Etiquette for the Juniors and Seniors, stress management; and reflection and goal adjustment. Last week all grades had "spring break safety".
The class last for 23 minutes. The period is split so the go to GS for 23 minutes and lunch for 23 minutes.

Mondays they have silent reading. The rest of the week they use it as a study hall or they can be pulled out for extra help in another class.
Most of the kids seem to like the extra time to do homework but a lot think the advisement lessons are a waste of time.
4:28 AM
Dr Pezz said…
My school is looking into the student-led conferences. I hope it's better than what you describe. Any advice?
9:22 PM
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