The day started off slow. The kids had to read about magnetism and design a maglev train and a train track. The reading was very frustrating and stressful. The kids were off task most of the time. I had to stop several times to correct behavior and make sure everyone was paying attention. The reason for all the sidetracking behavior, break was coming up and the kids seemed really excited for break. We managed to read through our packet and started to design our maglev train. The kids started drawing what there trains looked like. And what features a maglev train would have. throughout the day the kids were off task and it was an extremely frustrating day. i really want to understand how you teach a kid who is constantly off task? I don't have a "silver bullet" solution. the only thing i can do is to keep redirecting the kids back to there work. Even when i use this strategy the kids still get off task and don't pay attention to what they are learning. I know that copying is a learning strategy but is it really an effective one? Several students in my group copied each other and i don't think they were understanding the material. It just doesn't make sense to me that students can be so distracted, i thought what we were learning about was interesting and fun. It seems to me as teachers, we redirect the kids back to there work, but then we repeat the process several minutes later. This seems to be an ongoing occurrence right up until the bell rings. My question is how do you teach like this? How can you get students excited for what they are learning? In the age of TV, Technology, Gossip, Drama. Its hard to get students excited about learning. And I see a pattern that is going on with teachers, they automatically out the students in front of a text or in front of worksheets and have them do worksheets. It doesn't seem like an effective way to teach. It seems like a cop out way to do things. I like my small group and i enjoy learning with the students but, what we are learning is all paper work. Its not interactive or fun. In my classroom I want my students to be able to interact with things. Answer questions by exploring and using there creative minds to find solutions. Not just plopping them down in front of a text or a worksheet and asking them to fill it out. I wold like my classroom to explore and have field trips!