What was an epiphany you had recently?

Mine occurred today. My sixth graders had fared miserably for their oral practice, so I took to bombarding them with sample questions and harassing them to provide responses via WhatsApp.

So, this kid left me a voice message.

Unsatisfactory! Lacking in content. Repetitive - kept using certain phrases.

Alas! I couldn’t type a model answer for him on WhatsApp. To the left was my daughter, and to the right was my son. So I did the unthinkable.

I left him a voice message, detailing my sample answer.

I am not the kind who likes to leave voice messages. Personally, I dread listening to it when I receive one.

But realisation hit me with jackhammer force.

Maybe voice messages are a better way to get through to my students. They are notorious for not wanting to read even when their study material is placed right under their nose.

So frustrating!

I was quick to act upon my epiphany. Sent my voice message to a student who has blatantly not been replying my messages. Managed to nudge him to give his own response after sending him mine. Ah! It worked. He did try to paraphrase my ideas in his own words