I'm pretty excited; 23 microscopes in an old, beat-up, carved-up, tagged-up, sagging wood cabinet showed up without warning in the still uncompleted science lab next door to my classroom. I checked them all out and 17 are usable, 3 are missing key parts (and I can't figure out how to cannibalize them to be able to make 2 of them usable), 1 is an old mirror-operated microscope with no light source (pre War model!) and 1 is a super-dooper, brand new snazzy digital/analog research microscope with a camera that can be attached to a projector or a computer...but there's no power cord or anything that will make it "go". But, still I'm excited because my students can use real scientific instruments to study and learn about life.
I was out all day Wednesday at an all-day Science department meeting, so I gave the students a homework assignment instructing them to label all of the parts of a microscope and paraphrase the steps in using one (from the Appendix in the back of their textbook). I let them know that there would be a quiz on that information the following day and if they didn't do the homework or do well on the quiz, they wouldn't be able to use the microscopes. Only about half of the students bothered to do the homework, and so, of course only about half of them got to do the Introductory lab. I took the students who scored the highest and completed the homework next door to the lab so they could begin work. It was cool! I gave them each a transparency "slide" with some text on it and had them look at a letter "e" in the 'scope and draw it. This is a good one because if they really are able to focus and see it correctly, the "e" is upside down and backwards. Only one student drew it as a normal letter, so I helped her figure out what she did wrong and how to correct it. Then, they got to choose one of the 10 slides I have of human tissue: brain cells, kidney cells, heart muscle cells, bone cells, etc. and practice drawing what they see. They really enjoyed this because they had really learned how to use the scopes and were seeing what their own cells looked like.
I was going a little bonkers because I kept having to go leave the students in the lab to go back and check on the students still in the classroom. I told them as they finished that they could bring their completed homework and corrected quiz to the lab and, as scopes were available, begin the lab. My second period class has 35 students in it, so half of the class didn't actually get to use a scope; they had to stay in the room and work on other homework. I had one student, who has difficulty following any kind of directions, get upset with me because he didn't get to use a microscope...because the last scope was taken by a kid who did follow directions and got the last one. I wound up having to escort the upset student to another teacher's classroom so he would not continue to be a disruption in my own classroom.
Tomorrow and Monday I'll be gone again for Professional Development (the district requires us to take so many classes per year) and now, because of the lack of prepared students, instead of doing more interesting microscope work (seeing cells at the various stages of mitosis and looking at their own cheek cells!) they have to do worksheets on the textbook chapter. Yuk, but not a complete loss because they need to practice reading and comprehension.
I'm waaay behind schedule, and will be getting further behind because of the arrival of the microscopes, but I'm not too concerned. These are important skills and truly engaging tools that are important in the overall scheme of things. I just learned that our district's chief administrators visited our main campus on Wednesday and went into 3 different science classrooms where Biology was being taught. This administrator was "gravely concerned" when 2 of the teachers were behind where the should have been on the pacing plan and the third teacher was teaching something that was not even in the standards (mitosis, which isn't in our standards, but we cover anyway because our students need to know it to learn about meiosis which is in our standards; mitosis is a middle school standard but very few of our students remember anything about it). I can only imagine what the administrator would say if he came to my classroom.
Sorry for the long delay since the last blog. November was really a challenge. On top of all of the usual unexpected urgencies that appear nearly daily in my teaching life, my car was broken into and my "life" was stolen within the space of the 5 minutes it took me to return books to the public library. Even though I am usually very vigilant about leaving stuff visible in the car, I was so preoccupied that day that I left my purse in the passenger footwell, along with a bag of recycling. I lost my purse with my wallet, a good amount of cash, all my cards and ID, my cellphone, my PDA (with all of my contact info for all of you!) and my flash drive with all of my teaching, personal, photos and business files. Fortunately, I filed a Police Report and cancelled/froze all of the accounts before the thieves could use anything, but I'm still mourning my loss. Each day some new file loss comes to mind and I just get irritated. Oh well, time for chocolate pudding with toast for dinner; Okie self-medication.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
38-19 and 1 to 6
If 38-19 were a football score, it could be said that the win was decisive.
It happens to represent the number of students who passed (38) and failed (19) Biology A. On one hand it is a win, in that I have never had so many students pass this course. On the other hand, there are still 19 students who not only failed to come close to learning enough to pass, they weren't even in the parking lot stadium. So, even though I know I did my absolute best, and provided as many captivating learning opportunities as I could, I'm bummed.
I'm very proud of the kids who passed, but even better they're very proud of themselves. Even when they got back homework assignments that looked like a Halloween poster because of all of the red ink, they didn't get discouraged and give up...and that paid off! I'm excited for them because this class is the single toughest required class in the high school curriculum. They know they've achieved something of value; I can see it in their eyes and their smiles and their relief.
Some of them were right on the border between passing and failing, but I told them all along that if they just did their best to do what was next to do, and not worry about the big picture, that they'd find themselves at their goal. They accrued extra credit whenever I caught them reading or doing homework when they finished class work early; they received more extra credit for giving presentations to Homerooms on the acidity of popular drinks and their erosion of tooth enamel (a lab we did, which they loved); they even were awarded extra credit for helping someone else figure something out (without giving them the answer). So, today, about 10 kids passed Biology not only because they did what it took to learn it; they also passed because they went above and beyond what is expected. I respect that!
I always analyze the grade data to look for patterns, trends, ideas for improving my teaching. And today I decided to sort my students' grades by Homeroom teacher and WOW. I saw that 3/4 of the kids who failed were in the same Homeroom. Their teacher, ZO, is notorious for the lack of rigor in his course (homework is often: copy this sentence 15 times until you know it by heart), and famous for his Homeroom's athletic prowess (they play and flag football every week). Needless to say, he's the most popular teacher in our Academy. Despite my frustration with his teaching style, I otherwise have a high regard for him. He can speak to kids in a way that I cannot (yet) and I often ask him to talk to one of the students we share about their performance and attitude in my class. What would piss them off coming from me, they don't mind a bit coming from him. Oh well! Anyway, I published a memo to him and the other Homeroom teachers asking that, since all of these kids will have me for Biology B, which starts tomorrow, they have a conference with all of the kids to discuss their grades. I asked them to acknowledge those kids who did well and to have the kids who failed work on Biology in Study Hall. I'm hoping that seeing the disparity in fail rates between his kids and the other two Homeroom teachers', this will move him to actually have his kids do a Study Hall. (I realize how snarky this sounds, but we all agreed to have Study Hall on Monday and Wednesday and he says his kids aren't settling down to study, so he doesn't push it. Ticks me off. No wonder he's popular.)
As far as the kids who failed go, they will have to repeat, and pass the course in Summer School. Our school used to have the kids just re-take it during the school year, but the classes got so over-crowded that I said I wouldn't do that anymore. I make it possible to pass the class, if they don't want to do what it takes to learn, then the burden and inconvenience should be on them, not on other students and teachers. They try harder in the class now too, because if they miss 3 summer school classes, they're dropped...and there goes their opportunity for a whole year.
1 to 6 represents the wee hours of the morning I spent during the last two nights trying to figure out why the district's online grading software would not calculate consistent grade percentages. I'd enter all of the grading data and then look at it in one view - see the student's grade percentage; and then switch to another view - and see a different percentage reflecting the same data. I wound up creating an Excel spreadsheet of my own to calculate the percentages, then I had to hand enter all of the grade changes. Well, at least I was putting my insomnia to good use! Oh, and I had a few minutes to spare and I calculated that I graded 4500 papers since September 3. So, if I don't check my email or return your call right away, now you know what I'm doing. (Someday I'm going to figure out how to not have to grade papers; it's my least favorite part of teaching, but it helps me keep close tabs on how my students are understanding things.)
Okay, I'm feeling better now that I've gotten this grading marathon out of my system. Today was the end of Biology A and tomorrow is the first day of Biology B....and I'm only 5 weeks behind!
It happens to represent the number of students who passed (38) and failed (19) Biology A. On one hand it is a win, in that I have never had so many students pass this course. On the other hand, there are still 19 students who not only failed to come close to learning enough to pass, they weren't even in the parking lot stadium. So, even though I know I did my absolute best, and provided as many captivating learning opportunities as I could, I'm bummed.
I'm very proud of the kids who passed, but even better they're very proud of themselves. Even when they got back homework assignments that looked like a Halloween poster because of all of the red ink, they didn't get discouraged and give up...and that paid off! I'm excited for them because this class is the single toughest required class in the high school curriculum. They know they've achieved something of value; I can see it in their eyes and their smiles and their relief.
Some of them were right on the border between passing and failing, but I told them all along that if they just did their best to do what was next to do, and not worry about the big picture, that they'd find themselves at their goal. They accrued extra credit whenever I caught them reading or doing homework when they finished class work early; they received more extra credit for giving presentations to Homerooms on the acidity of popular drinks and their erosion of tooth enamel (a lab we did, which they loved); they even were awarded extra credit for helping someone else figure something out (without giving them the answer). So, today, about 10 kids passed Biology not only because they did what it took to learn it; they also passed because they went above and beyond what is expected. I respect that!
I always analyze the grade data to look for patterns, trends, ideas for improving my teaching. And today I decided to sort my students' grades by Homeroom teacher and WOW. I saw that 3/4 of the kids who failed were in the same Homeroom. Their teacher, ZO, is notorious for the lack of rigor in his course (homework is often: copy this sentence 15 times until you know it by heart), and famous for his Homeroom's athletic prowess (they play and flag football every week). Needless to say, he's the most popular teacher in our Academy. Despite my frustration with his teaching style, I otherwise have a high regard for him. He can speak to kids in a way that I cannot (yet) and I often ask him to talk to one of the students we share about their performance and attitude in my class. What would piss them off coming from me, they don't mind a bit coming from him. Oh well! Anyway, I published a memo to him and the other Homeroom teachers asking that, since all of these kids will have me for Biology B, which starts tomorrow, they have a conference with all of the kids to discuss their grades. I asked them to acknowledge those kids who did well and to have the kids who failed work on Biology in Study Hall. I'm hoping that seeing the disparity in fail rates between his kids and the other two Homeroom teachers', this will move him to actually have his kids do a Study Hall. (I realize how snarky this sounds, but we all agreed to have Study Hall on Monday and Wednesday and he says his kids aren't settling down to study, so he doesn't push it. Ticks me off. No wonder he's popular.)
As far as the kids who failed go, they will have to repeat, and pass the course in Summer School. Our school used to have the kids just re-take it during the school year, but the classes got so over-crowded that I said I wouldn't do that anymore. I make it possible to pass the class, if they don't want to do what it takes to learn, then the burden and inconvenience should be on them, not on other students and teachers. They try harder in the class now too, because if they miss 3 summer school classes, they're dropped...and there goes their opportunity for a whole year.
1 to 6 represents the wee hours of the morning I spent during the last two nights trying to figure out why the district's online grading software would not calculate consistent grade percentages. I'd enter all of the grading data and then look at it in one view - see the student's grade percentage; and then switch to another view - and see a different percentage reflecting the same data. I wound up creating an Excel spreadsheet of my own to calculate the percentages, then I had to hand enter all of the grade changes. Well, at least I was putting my insomnia to good use! Oh, and I had a few minutes to spare and I calculated that I graded 4500 papers since September 3. So, if I don't check my email or return your call right away, now you know what I'm doing. (Someday I'm going to figure out how to not have to grade papers; it's my least favorite part of teaching, but it helps me keep close tabs on how my students are understanding things.)
Okay, I'm feeling better now that I've gotten this grading marathon out of my system. Today was the end of Biology A and tomorrow is the first day of Biology B....and I'm only 5 weeks behind!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Gone Surfin'
Two other teachers and I took about 15 of our students for a surfing lesson last Saturday. These were self-selected kids who did fundraising to pay for the $45 lesson and $5 for pizza afterwards. They sold sandwiches, Jack-in-The-Box, candy, chores and donated their own money. Everyone who said they were going to go showed up at 6:00 a.m. waaay before light and was happy to do it.
We all had a blast and every single kid got at least a few good rides on the waves. This was remarkable because there was a big swell that created really powerful, high waves that made it a challenge to get up on your feet before your butt hit the beach. It was also remarkable because we were pretty much surfing on top of each other; it's a miracle no one got hurt.
There were also a few adult tourists from Colorado in our lesson and they often remarked on how terrific our kids were. It's true. Not a single one of them showed any attitude, no one said anything remotely snarky or negative and they were all very supportive and considerate of each other and the adults. The people who ran the Surf School gave us a $20 discount off the price of the lesson for each person, in part because our kids are so cooperative and attentive. The kids all hugged the stuffing out of the Surf Instructors at the end of the lesson and actually said "Thank you" to all of us teachers as we got in the cars to drive home.
The high point of the day for me was when one of my former students almost ran over me on his first ride. I had just ridden a wave and was pushing my board back out to get beyond the break (so I could rest!). HA, a very bright, polite and cheerful football player, just stood up on his first wave and had this glowing look of absolute delight on his face....for a split second....then he sees his former Biology teacher about 3 feet in front of his surfboard...about to get run over...and his face turns to sheer panic and terror! Fortunately, I knew enough to just dive under the wave, letting my board follow on its leash...and a collision was averted. He tried to apologize profusely several times, but I let him know that there was no harm, no foul, he did exactly the right thing and so did I. I let him know that I probably felt just as bad for him....having his first ride turn to panic...as he did for me. One of the other teachers caught the moment in a photo, which I'll post here as soon as he sends it to me.
I was especially glad to hear that all of the kids were as sore as I was on Sunday. Who knew surfing could actually be work? Having lived for the past 6 years in a beach town where most surfers mostly sat on their boards, and having learned to surf in Hawaii where it was easy (until the waves got big), I was surprised to find myself actually working out there.
I really enjoy these opportunities to do fun, outdoor activities with our students. I'm very demanding in the classroom (but funny, warm and goofy too) and it's good for them to get to know me when I'm not demanding anything of them, just enjoying their company and learning right along side them. One of the kids, who I taught for 2 years told me "You're just a kid who's old, right Ms. B; you like to play and have fun!" I told him how perceptive he was and that everyone who really knows me would describe me almost the same way, excepting for the old part. He just laughed and said "You're only as old as you fear." Which, come to think of it, sounds exactly right.
We all had a blast and every single kid got at least a few good rides on the waves. This was remarkable because there was a big swell that created really powerful, high waves that made it a challenge to get up on your feet before your butt hit the beach. It was also remarkable because we were pretty much surfing on top of each other; it's a miracle no one got hurt.
There were also a few adult tourists from Colorado in our lesson and they often remarked on how terrific our kids were. It's true. Not a single one of them showed any attitude, no one said anything remotely snarky or negative and they were all very supportive and considerate of each other and the adults. The people who ran the Surf School gave us a $20 discount off the price of the lesson for each person, in part because our kids are so cooperative and attentive. The kids all hugged the stuffing out of the Surf Instructors at the end of the lesson and actually said "Thank you" to all of us teachers as we got in the cars to drive home.
The high point of the day for me was when one of my former students almost ran over me on his first ride. I had just ridden a wave and was pushing my board back out to get beyond the break (so I could rest!). HA, a very bright, polite and cheerful football player, just stood up on his first wave and had this glowing look of absolute delight on his face....for a split second....then he sees his former Biology teacher about 3 feet in front of his surfboard...about to get run over...and his face turns to sheer panic and terror! Fortunately, I knew enough to just dive under the wave, letting my board follow on its leash...and a collision was averted. He tried to apologize profusely several times, but I let him know that there was no harm, no foul, he did exactly the right thing and so did I. I let him know that I probably felt just as bad for him....having his first ride turn to panic...as he did for me. One of the other teachers caught the moment in a photo, which I'll post here as soon as he sends it to me.
I was especially glad to hear that all of the kids were as sore as I was on Sunday. Who knew surfing could actually be work? Having lived for the past 6 years in a beach town where most surfers mostly sat on their boards, and having learned to surf in Hawaii where it was easy (until the waves got big), I was surprised to find myself actually working out there.
I really enjoy these opportunities to do fun, outdoor activities with our students. I'm very demanding in the classroom (but funny, warm and goofy too) and it's good for them to get to know me when I'm not demanding anything of them, just enjoying their company and learning right along side them. One of the kids, who I taught for 2 years told me "You're just a kid who's old, right Ms. B; you like to play and have fun!" I told him how perceptive he was and that everyone who really knows me would describe me almost the same way, excepting for the old part. He just laughed and said "You're only as old as you fear." Which, come to think of it, sounds exactly right.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Emcee Cain
Okay, after telling you about some of the major frustrations I experience as a result of my choice of teaching assignments, I'll tell you some of the things that keep me hooked. There are many things I love about my students, colleagues and teaching, which is why I am willing to put up with (okay, try to change) the things that aren't so great. Here's something funny that happened recently in my classroom.
LJ began to read an article outlining the major party Presidential candidates' positions on energy and environmental issues. He's typical of many of my students in that his parents don't speak English in the home and had little education themselves, so they do not subscribe to any newspapers or watch news programs in English. When LJ came across the first candidate named in the article he pronounced his name John Emcee Cain; he didn't know it was really pronounced MickCain. Fortunately LJ has a terrific sense of humor about himself and is not easily embarassed or offended....because I and a few of the other students who knew the correct pronunciation couldn't help but laugh. If it had been one of my more uptight students, I would have had to tamp down my laughter and given a short, but serious lesson on the correct pronunciation of the Gaelic prefix. But the big smile on LJ's face and his own laughter at his innocent mistake allowed us all to enjoy the fun teachable moment. Of course, I went on to ask him if he thought Obama was Irish too, but he didn't get that either. Actually, none of them did, so I explained what I meant. (Now can you see why I am always behind on my pacing plans? I'm repeatedly brought up short by the gaping holes in cultural and academic information my students reveal. I typically choose to take advantage of all teachable moments like this.)
I told LJ that I think of him everytime I see Emcee Cain's name printed and it brings a smile to my face. He has since dropped the AP class, due largely to the fact that he couldn't keep up with reading a rigorous college-level science text and engage in analytical thinking. Due to his lack of exposure to news, he has almost no knowledge of what is going on outside of his own community (unless it's on MySpace, of course!). I told him that it would be a good idea for him to read the newspaper regularly for the next year and come back and try the class again next year when he's a Senior. I hope he does!
LJ began to read an article outlining the major party Presidential candidates' positions on energy and environmental issues. He's typical of many of my students in that his parents don't speak English in the home and had little education themselves, so they do not subscribe to any newspapers or watch news programs in English. When LJ came across the first candidate named in the article he pronounced his name John Emcee Cain; he didn't know it was really pronounced MickCain. Fortunately LJ has a terrific sense of humor about himself and is not easily embarassed or offended....because I and a few of the other students who knew the correct pronunciation couldn't help but laugh. If it had been one of my more uptight students, I would have had to tamp down my laughter and given a short, but serious lesson on the correct pronunciation of the Gaelic prefix. But the big smile on LJ's face and his own laughter at his innocent mistake allowed us all to enjoy the fun teachable moment. Of course, I went on to ask him if he thought Obama was Irish too, but he didn't get that either. Actually, none of them did, so I explained what I meant. (Now can you see why I am always behind on my pacing plans? I'm repeatedly brought up short by the gaping holes in cultural and academic information my students reveal. I typically choose to take advantage of all teachable moments like this.)
I told LJ that I think of him everytime I see Emcee Cain's name printed and it brings a smile to my face. He has since dropped the AP class, due largely to the fact that he couldn't keep up with reading a rigorous college-level science text and engage in analytical thinking. Due to his lack of exposure to news, he has almost no knowledge of what is going on outside of his own community (unless it's on MySpace, of course!). I told him that it would be a good idea for him to read the newspaper regularly for the next year and come back and try the class again next year when he's a Senior. I hope he does!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Time!
I should write this one in all caps because I want to scream! I was halfway through my newest entry when I pressed some random key on my brand new laptop and caused my entire entry to disappear without hope of recovery. How ironic that the theme of this entry is about my use of time and how I don't have enough considering how much I need to accomplish by a particular time...and the obstacles I encounter! Well, I guess I just found a much shorter way to say what I just typed in 15 minutes!
Long story short: 2 1/2 weeks left in a 9 week semester. I am 4 weeks behind in my pacing plan. The district says I should have been able to teach what I have taught so far much faster. I say I am moving as quickly as is possible considering all of the non-curricular issues that impact the speed at which my students can learn. Here's an example:
For the first time ever in teaching at my school, I received my teaching schedule and rosters the Friday before school began the following Wednesday. (They were given to us on the first day of school previously, which makes pre-planning a challenge.) I was so excited at the possibility that I would know some important information about my students from the beginning, instead of having to uncover it all myself. So, I went to the main campus and requested all of the data about all of my students from the Student Information office - the keepers of the database. Since I am off-campus, I wrote on my request that they call or email me when the reports were ready. The one time I was on main campus I stopped back by several times to check, but the office was closed every time, so I left a note asking them to call or email me. Two weeks ago I received an email from an English teacher on the main campus informing me that my reports were ready and that I should pick them up. My first reaction was "Why is she letting me know? She's an English teacher, not a Student Information office staffer!" But then people and their job assignments are the only things at my school that changes quickly, so I thought maybe she had changed her assignment. Turns out she has simply been in that office looking for some work for her and she dug into a pile of reports in the "out" basket and saw my request (with an inch of reports clipped to it) and my note at the top asking to be contacted. She saw the date and, since she's a supportive colleague, she asked the staff why no one had contacted me. When it became clear that she wasn't getting through to them in trying to get them to actually contact me, or at least make some effort to put the report in my mailbox in the main office, she sent me the email. I picked up my reports at her home that evening. Since my previous dealings with the head of that office had been constructive and pleasant, I sent him an email outlining the situation and asking him to contact me....and I still have had no response. When I followed up with the English teacher, she told me that he'd been promoted to the central district office the day after I picked up the report and no one has filled his position.
At this point you might be thinking, I don't see how this has to do with you being so far behind in your pacing! Well it does, since I didn't receive any information on my students academic skill levels, English-learner status, Special Education needs, behavioral record, health issues or home lives, I had to uncover as much of that as I could on my own, which takes a lot of time, creativity and effort. In addition, I have to teach basic math because so many of my students do not know how to calculate an average or a percentage. I also have to teach basic science concepts because so many of my students simply don't know them. I also have to teach them all of the class rituals and routines, stuff that makes the class move more predictably, smoothly and quickly as we go along. And I can't teach these things just once and expect them to get it. We have a high absence rate, so I have to re-teach to catch all of those who missed it the first time and to remind all of those who need to hear it again for it to sink in.
Rats! I have a lot more to tell you, but....I'm out of time! My alarm clock just went off and I need to get ready for work. Not surprisingly I don't want to risk being late. More later...when I have time!
Long story short: 2 1/2 weeks left in a 9 week semester. I am 4 weeks behind in my pacing plan. The district says I should have been able to teach what I have taught so far much faster. I say I am moving as quickly as is possible considering all of the non-curricular issues that impact the speed at which my students can learn. Here's an example:
For the first time ever in teaching at my school, I received my teaching schedule and rosters the Friday before school began the following Wednesday. (They were given to us on the first day of school previously, which makes pre-planning a challenge.) I was so excited at the possibility that I would know some important information about my students from the beginning, instead of having to uncover it all myself. So, I went to the main campus and requested all of the data about all of my students from the Student Information office - the keepers of the database. Since I am off-campus, I wrote on my request that they call or email me when the reports were ready. The one time I was on main campus I stopped back by several times to check, but the office was closed every time, so I left a note asking them to call or email me. Two weeks ago I received an email from an English teacher on the main campus informing me that my reports were ready and that I should pick them up. My first reaction was "Why is she letting me know? She's an English teacher, not a Student Information office staffer!" But then people and their job assignments are the only things at my school that changes quickly, so I thought maybe she had changed her assignment. Turns out she has simply been in that office looking for some work for her and she dug into a pile of reports in the "out" basket and saw my request (with an inch of reports clipped to it) and my note at the top asking to be contacted. She saw the date and, since she's a supportive colleague, she asked the staff why no one had contacted me. When it became clear that she wasn't getting through to them in trying to get them to actually contact me, or at least make some effort to put the report in my mailbox in the main office, she sent me the email. I picked up my reports at her home that evening. Since my previous dealings with the head of that office had been constructive and pleasant, I sent him an email outlining the situation and asking him to contact me....and I still have had no response. When I followed up with the English teacher, she told me that he'd been promoted to the central district office the day after I picked up the report and no one has filled his position.
At this point you might be thinking, I don't see how this has to do with you being so far behind in your pacing! Well it does, since I didn't receive any information on my students academic skill levels, English-learner status, Special Education needs, behavioral record, health issues or home lives, I had to uncover as much of that as I could on my own, which takes a lot of time, creativity and effort. In addition, I have to teach basic math because so many of my students do not know how to calculate an average or a percentage. I also have to teach basic science concepts because so many of my students simply don't know them. I also have to teach them all of the class rituals and routines, stuff that makes the class move more predictably, smoothly and quickly as we go along. And I can't teach these things just once and expect them to get it. We have a high absence rate, so I have to re-teach to catch all of those who missed it the first time and to remind all of those who need to hear it again for it to sink in.
Rats! I have a lot more to tell you, but....I'm out of time! My alarm clock just went off and I need to get ready for work. Not surprisingly I don't want to risk being late. More later...when I have time!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What time is it?
This afternoon the teacher across the hall asked if she could send a couple of "students" to my classroom during 4th period because they weren't doing any
work and would not "shut the front door!" I said sure, because I knew she
had her hands full. That class is full of 10th-12th graders that are repeating
Algebra 1 for the second (or more) time. The only thing I can think of that
is worse than Algebra is repeating Algebra!
Anyway, it turned out that one of the girls she sent over had just been in my
3rd period Biology class. I knew that she had very low basic math skills because
I give all of my students a basic skills test in math and English during the first
week. Whatever they get right goes in the gradebook as extra credit, so they
do try their best. The average score on the math portion out of 18 is 5. We're
talking addition, subtraction, multiplying decimals, long division and percentages.
The vast majority of my students cannot do any of the last 3 skills, and that
includes the Seniors in my AP Environmental Science class. Every week when I hand back graded work the students must write down their scores on a log sheet, add up a subtotal to date, calculate their current percentage and write down the letter grades. I have hand-made posters all around my classroom demonstrating the steps involved in all of those skills, but most students still require me to remind them how to set up the long division and where to put the decimal point.
Today the girls were working on algebraic equations that required them to add or subtract negative or positive numbers to solve an equation like: x - 5 = 10. At first they weren't doing anything and then one, who I'll call "I" said the phrase I've banned from my classroom "I don't get it." I went over to see where she was stuck and it became clear that she did not know what to do to isolate x on one side of the equation and, then she did not know how to add five to 10. I helped her solve that one and then she called me back a few more times, but she also did several on her own. I also helped the other girl, my student, TP, who showed the exact same limitations. Once I helped them overcome some obstacles (without doing any of their work for them) they both happily worked diligently and happily. "I" even was smiling because she finally "got it". She was so proud of herself for finally learning how to do it. I told them both that I struggled a lot with math in high school and that I understood how frustrating it was when you did not know what to do, and I offered to tutor them any time.
When I learned that I'd need to leave 15 minutes early to go round up kids for detention (we have 10% of our students late to school or class every day and we make them stay 30 minutes to 1 hour late depending on how late they were). When I said I'd need to leave at 2:45, "I" admitted that she didn't know when that was. I "didn't get it" at first until she said that she didn't know how to read round clocks. She is 16 years old and cannot read an analog clock. She said she gets in trouble a lot because she takes out her cellphone in class to check the time because she can't read a clock. TP also told me that she didn't know how either, so I taught them. Now, that was a first for me. I had no idea that our kids could not tell time on a clock, only on a digital readout. I checked with a few other seasoned teachers and only one of them knew that this was a problem.
My Advisory kids are gonna be mad at me because now I'm going to test them on their ability to tell time on a "round clock". Then, based on that, I'll test all of my students. I'm also thinking about proposing watches as part of our dress code!
....When I got to my classroom this morning...butt cleavage! No, not me! There were two laborers in their finishing painting the walls (they didn't know it was a school day!!!) and they both had on "full moon pants"! Aside from that, I saw that they had taken down all of my posters and student work to install new whiteboards and some fancy wall treatments, called tackboards. Oh man, I had just written a bunch of stuff before I left class the previous day so that I'd have plenty of time to set up for labs. Rats! Now I and the teacher next door, have brand new whiteboards...on the back walls of our classrooms! I also could not locate any of the lab materials I had set out so carefully; turns out they were all piled on the bottom of the overhead projector cart under a sheaf of posters. Okay, so by now, I'm madly planning my Plan Cs for the day. (Plan A was developed last July when I thought I'd have the much-promised science lab. Plan B was the lab-lite I devised because the lab's still not finished.)
Plan B involved students bringing their favorite drinks and liquidy foods (pizza sauce, for example) to test the pH levels and figure out which ones would erode dental enamel and irritate linings of the digestive system. Ingrained student habits were on my side today; no one brought anything to test! So, we wound up using the time to set up an organizer for them to track and review the science concepts they've learned in class...and calculate more percentages. Yippee!
So, tomorrow we'll probably get to do the lab, and we'll only be 1 month behind my district-mandated pacing plan...after 1 month of school!
By the way, remember how excited I was about Parent Night? Our Administrator didn't do anything regarding Parent Night. So, 15 minutes before it was due to start, we teachers reported to the office to sign in and get our name badges and we discovered that she didn't have the phone bank notify the parents, reserve the auditorium, have any chairs or tables set up, make any signs, print any programs...or anything! Many of our parents are on tight schedules with multiple jobs and kids, so many parents were already there watching the teachers quickly set up the auditorium. Luckily one of us had the slide show from last year, so we just showed that, and since most of our parents do not understand English, our Foreign Language teacher talked them through the program. Their unease at our lack of professionalism was assuaged when they learned their kid could have a high school diploma, requirements to get into any UC, Associate of Arts degree and a trade certificate when the graduate from our program. We're the only public school program in our metropolis that can say that! We had several parents come in saying that they wanted their kid to transfer to a local private school and left saying how glad they were that their kid was in our program. Once they talk to us personally, what's not to like?
Next time, maybe I'll tell you about tinyboys!
work and would not "shut the front door!" I said sure, because I knew she
had her hands full. That class is full of 10th-12th graders that are repeating
Algebra 1 for the second (or more) time. The only thing I can think of that
is worse than Algebra is repeating Algebra!
Anyway, it turned out that one of the girls she sent over had just been in my
3rd period Biology class. I knew that she had very low basic math skills because
I give all of my students a basic skills test in math and English during the first
week. Whatever they get right goes in the gradebook as extra credit, so they
do try their best. The average score on the math portion out of 18 is 5. We're
talking addition, subtraction, multiplying decimals, long division and percentages.
The vast majority of my students cannot do any of the last 3 skills, and that
includes the Seniors in my AP Environmental Science class. Every week when I hand back graded work the students must write down their scores on a log sheet, add up a subtotal to date, calculate their current percentage and write down the letter grades. I have hand-made posters all around my classroom demonstrating the steps involved in all of those skills, but most students still require me to remind them how to set up the long division and where to put the decimal point.
Today the girls were working on algebraic equations that required them to add or subtract negative or positive numbers to solve an equation like: x - 5 = 10. At first they weren't doing anything and then one, who I'll call "I" said the phrase I've banned from my classroom "I don't get it." I went over to see where she was stuck and it became clear that she did not know what to do to isolate x on one side of the equation and, then she did not know how to add five to 10. I helped her solve that one and then she called me back a few more times, but she also did several on her own. I also helped the other girl, my student, TP, who showed the exact same limitations. Once I helped them overcome some obstacles (without doing any of their work for them) they both happily worked diligently and happily. "I" even was smiling because she finally "got it". She was so proud of herself for finally learning how to do it. I told them both that I struggled a lot with math in high school and that I understood how frustrating it was when you did not know what to do, and I offered to tutor them any time.
When I learned that I'd need to leave 15 minutes early to go round up kids for detention (we have 10% of our students late to school or class every day and we make them stay 30 minutes to 1 hour late depending on how late they were). When I said I'd need to leave at 2:45, "I" admitted that she didn't know when that was. I "didn't get it" at first until she said that she didn't know how to read round clocks. She is 16 years old and cannot read an analog clock. She said she gets in trouble a lot because she takes out her cellphone in class to check the time because she can't read a clock. TP also told me that she didn't know how either, so I taught them. Now, that was a first for me. I had no idea that our kids could not tell time on a clock, only on a digital readout. I checked with a few other seasoned teachers and only one of them knew that this was a problem.
My Advisory kids are gonna be mad at me because now I'm going to test them on their ability to tell time on a "round clock". Then, based on that, I'll test all of my students. I'm also thinking about proposing watches as part of our dress code!
....When I got to my classroom this morning...butt cleavage! No, not me! There were two laborers in their finishing painting the walls (they didn't know it was a school day!!!) and they both had on "full moon pants"! Aside from that, I saw that they had taken down all of my posters and student work to install new whiteboards and some fancy wall treatments, called tackboards. Oh man, I had just written a bunch of stuff before I left class the previous day so that I'd have plenty of time to set up for labs. Rats! Now I and the teacher next door, have brand new whiteboards...on the back walls of our classrooms! I also could not locate any of the lab materials I had set out so carefully; turns out they were all piled on the bottom of the overhead projector cart under a sheaf of posters. Okay, so by now, I'm madly planning my Plan Cs for the day. (Plan A was developed last July when I thought I'd have the much-promised science lab. Plan B was the lab-lite I devised because the lab's still not finished.)
Plan B involved students bringing their favorite drinks and liquidy foods (pizza sauce, for example) to test the pH levels and figure out which ones would erode dental enamel and irritate linings of the digestive system. Ingrained student habits were on my side today; no one brought anything to test! So, we wound up using the time to set up an organizer for them to track and review the science concepts they've learned in class...and calculate more percentages. Yippee!
So, tomorrow we'll probably get to do the lab, and we'll only be 1 month behind my district-mandated pacing plan...after 1 month of school!
By the way, remember how excited I was about Parent Night? Our Administrator didn't do anything regarding Parent Night. So, 15 minutes before it was due to start, we teachers reported to the office to sign in and get our name badges and we discovered that she didn't have the phone bank notify the parents, reserve the auditorium, have any chairs or tables set up, make any signs, print any programs...or anything! Many of our parents are on tight schedules with multiple jobs and kids, so many parents were already there watching the teachers quickly set up the auditorium. Luckily one of us had the slide show from last year, so we just showed that, and since most of our parents do not understand English, our Foreign Language teacher talked them through the program. Their unease at our lack of professionalism was assuaged when they learned their kid could have a high school diploma, requirements to get into any UC, Associate of Arts degree and a trade certificate when the graduate from our program. We're the only public school program in our metropolis that can say that! We had several parents come in saying that they wanted their kid to transfer to a local private school and left saying how glad they were that their kid was in our program. Once they talk to us personally, what's not to like?
Next time, maybe I'll tell you about tinyboys!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Math Class
I woke up just before 4 this morning dreaming that I was telling someone to get the alligators off the floor because they were trying to eat my feet. I think it's because Dickens (chicken in catsuit) likes to sleep between my feet and I couldn't move them. Or it could be because it felt like my feet were being swept out from under me during 4th period yesterday...a time which is my "prep period". Here's what happened....
I walked out into the hallway to rinse out 2 beakers (my entire stock of beakers!) in the drinking fountain (my "sink") and there were 3 girls standing there talking and one of them was eating a bag of chips. No students are supposed to be in the hallways at all without hall passes, which are bright red Student Agenda books belonging to each student in which they are to record assignments, events, etc. I didn't see any of these. So, I asked them what they were doing and why they didn't have the required hall passes, and one of them, a student in one of my earlier periods of Biology said that she had to leave class all of a sudden because she felt like she was going to throw up. When I asked her how the chips came into the equation she said that they helped her feel better. After she told me that she should be in the classroom next door, I told her I would take her in. The other two girls disappeared, presumably back to their classrooms. No sign of our 3 Security personnel or of the other 11 teachers with 4th period prep.
As I entered the classroom, I saw students had rearranged their desks into conversational areas, with not a single sign of students working. The noise level was pretty high and there was Substitute teacher sitting in the back at the Teacher's desk. I went back to talk to her and tell her about the students' story, and she told me that a lot of the students left class without permission and would not do any work or listen to her. The regular math teacher had not left any seating charts, directions, assignments nor anything that would help the Sub manage the classroom. And this particular class had a combination of students who are well known for disruption, defiance and disrespect. (This is an Algebra 1 class which contains mostly upper-class students who have already failed the class at least once; the only class we allow them to re-take during the regular school year rather than in summer school. But it also has a lot of students' whose names I recognized as causing a lot of trouble for other students and their teachers.) I went to the front of the class and told them to move the desks back to where they should be, which they did, albeit some more deliberately slowly than others. When I went around to each of them to find out where they were with their work (the Sub gave an assignment of "write 2 essays" - I didn't look to see what they were supposed to be about), only 2 students had turned anything in. One girl had her cellphone out on the desk, which they know we will confiscate until after school and she said "Oh, HELL no!" when I asked her to give it to me. She also refused to do any work. Another student said he couldn't do anything because he didn't have any paper, so I suggested he borrow some. He just smirked, having had his success at having made the other kids laugh and the teacher look powerless. One of my own Advisory students (who just barely earned enough credits to be classified as a 10th grader, but is in a Junior class Advisory), also refused to work and ran out of the class early.
Our Lead Teacher then came into the classroom to collect the students who had to serve detention that day because they were tardy to an earlier class, and I asked him if he had ever heard of eating Spicy Doritos to soothe an upset stomach and he said he hadn't. He took 2 of the 5 students he came for; the other 3 had apparently already left in order to miss the detention sweep and it was time for the bell to ring.
I wound up writing 3 referrals for defiance to the 3 students who behaved so egregiously and wrote an email to the regular math teacher describing what I had found and experienced. Our Administrator is not on campus 3 out of 5 days, on average, so I'm not even sure when these referrals will be handled. It occurs to me as I write this that I haven't received my copies of previous referrals from the end of last year (I rarely write any until late in the year, when students who are have done little to no work discover that they will not be passing my class, and react by rebelling in the classroom.) I'll have to ask to see what was done with them. In any case, writing a referral is really all I could see to do in this classroom that wasn't mine, where I didn't know most of the students who were misbehaving and where the students were performing to get laughs from the other students.
I sent an email to the absent Math teacher describing the situation and emails to all of the teachers and staff telling them that I would not be allowing my Advisory student to go to the park on Friday for intra-Advisory games competition during Homeroom because of his behavior, and asking to discuss the situation at our next meeting. It was only after I sent that that I discovered that today is another surprise early dismissal day. (Last Tuesday we found out that that day and last Friday were early dismissal days...not on any schedule we had seen!) So, the good news is that all of this can be discussed between us today, which is always helpful. We're pretty good at coming up with systems to manage students and events in a fair way.
I'm looking forward to today; we're building molecules out of candy and toothpicks with an eye toward studying how molecules store and release energy and what roles each molecule plays in sustaining life and the greenhouse effect.
Time to make coffee, decaf of course, I certainly don't need the caffeine to wake me up!
I walked out into the hallway to rinse out 2 beakers (my entire stock of beakers!) in the drinking fountain (my "sink") and there were 3 girls standing there talking and one of them was eating a bag of chips. No students are supposed to be in the hallways at all without hall passes, which are bright red Student Agenda books belonging to each student in which they are to record assignments, events, etc. I didn't see any of these. So, I asked them what they were doing and why they didn't have the required hall passes, and one of them, a student in one of my earlier periods of Biology said that she had to leave class all of a sudden because she felt like she was going to throw up. When I asked her how the chips came into the equation she said that they helped her feel better. After she told me that she should be in the classroom next door, I told her I would take her in. The other two girls disappeared, presumably back to their classrooms. No sign of our 3 Security personnel or of the other 11 teachers with 4th period prep.
As I entered the classroom, I saw students had rearranged their desks into conversational areas, with not a single sign of students working. The noise level was pretty high and there was Substitute teacher sitting in the back at the Teacher's desk. I went back to talk to her and tell her about the students' story, and she told me that a lot of the students left class without permission and would not do any work or listen to her. The regular math teacher had not left any seating charts, directions, assignments nor anything that would help the Sub manage the classroom. And this particular class had a combination of students who are well known for disruption, defiance and disrespect. (This is an Algebra 1 class which contains mostly upper-class students who have already failed the class at least once; the only class we allow them to re-take during the regular school year rather than in summer school. But it also has a lot of students' whose names I recognized as causing a lot of trouble for other students and their teachers.) I went to the front of the class and told them to move the desks back to where they should be, which they did, albeit some more deliberately slowly than others. When I went around to each of them to find out where they were with their work (the Sub gave an assignment of "write 2 essays" - I didn't look to see what they were supposed to be about), only 2 students had turned anything in. One girl had her cellphone out on the desk, which they know we will confiscate until after school and she said "Oh, HELL no!" when I asked her to give it to me. She also refused to do any work. Another student said he couldn't do anything because he didn't have any paper, so I suggested he borrow some. He just smirked, having had his success at having made the other kids laugh and the teacher look powerless. One of my own Advisory students (who just barely earned enough credits to be classified as a 10th grader, but is in a Junior class Advisory), also refused to work and ran out of the class early.
Our Lead Teacher then came into the classroom to collect the students who had to serve detention that day because they were tardy to an earlier class, and I asked him if he had ever heard of eating Spicy Doritos to soothe an upset stomach and he said he hadn't. He took 2 of the 5 students he came for; the other 3 had apparently already left in order to miss the detention sweep and it was time for the bell to ring.
I wound up writing 3 referrals for defiance to the 3 students who behaved so egregiously and wrote an email to the regular math teacher describing what I had found and experienced. Our Administrator is not on campus 3 out of 5 days, on average, so I'm not even sure when these referrals will be handled. It occurs to me as I write this that I haven't received my copies of previous referrals from the end of last year (I rarely write any until late in the year, when students who are have done little to no work discover that they will not be passing my class, and react by rebelling in the classroom.) I'll have to ask to see what was done with them. In any case, writing a referral is really all I could see to do in this classroom that wasn't mine, where I didn't know most of the students who were misbehaving and where the students were performing to get laughs from the other students.
I sent an email to the absent Math teacher describing the situation and emails to all of the teachers and staff telling them that I would not be allowing my Advisory student to go to the park on Friday for intra-Advisory games competition during Homeroom because of his behavior, and asking to discuss the situation at our next meeting. It was only after I sent that that I discovered that today is another surprise early dismissal day. (Last Tuesday we found out that that day and last Friday were early dismissal days...not on any schedule we had seen!) So, the good news is that all of this can be discussed between us today, which is always helpful. We're pretty good at coming up with systems to manage students and events in a fair way.
I'm looking forward to today; we're building molecules out of candy and toothpicks with an eye toward studying how molecules store and release energy and what roles each molecule plays in sustaining life and the greenhouse effect.
Time to make coffee, decaf of course, I certainly don't need the caffeine to wake me up!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Words and Guns
Last week it was hard for me to settle on something to write about because there was so much happening with our students. I had to take one of my female students outside the classroom to talk because she was simply behaving in a very disrespectful and disruptive manner. A few other of our students, both male and female, got into a fight in the hallway right after school. And one of our former students, who remains on the main campus, was shot to death as he stood in his front yard one afternoon last week. Which to leave in and which to leave out? So, I'll tie them together in the way that they fit for me.
A 15-year old girl I'll call PT, sits in the back corner of my 3rd period Biology class. Although school had only been in session for a week, she already showed up late several times. She also hadn't returned any of the parent-signed papers that were part of our beginning-of-school routine, and she also spent most of her time in class doing whatever she thought was more important than learning, usually digging in her purse for a mirror or talking to the guys around her. Last Monday, she was not doing the work and was instead practicing her stylized signature on a piece of paper and trying to hide it, and she was also chatting with the guys around her and keeping them from doing their work. On one occasion, I asked her to put her purse away and focus on the work we were doing together as a class. She refused and with quite a spiteful attitude replied that she didn't have to because it was her private property and it was none of my business what she did. Since I don't argue with students or repeat myself, I asked her to step outside the classroom to talk about what was going on and figure out what comes next, she again refused. So, I stepped into the hallway and had the Security person (our Academy has 3 patrolling our campus all of the time) and asked her to escort her from my classroom so we could have a chat. (By this time, I had also directed the students to do an activity to keep them engaged and productive while I was dealing with PT.) When I tried to talk with her, it became very clear that her habit was to interrupt me before I could finish a single sentence. In my earlier years of teaching, I would probably have become frustrated or angry, but this time I just found it to be very fascinating; I felt like an observer. When I saw that she was in no emotional state to have a discussion with, I just directed the Security person to take her to the front office to talk to the Assistant Principal. (Later I found out that PT talked the Security person into taking her to her favorite teacher's room where she spent the rest of the period, avoiding the AP entirely.) So, later that day I spoke to PT's Advisory teacher, Mrs. R, to let her know what had been happening. Here's what she told me about PT:
Though only 15-years old, she works as a receptionist and shares a room with a roommate in a house. She has "no relationship" with her Mother, who threw her out of the house several times, the last because she would bring her friends home and smoke dope in front of her Mother's other, younger children. She says she is "independent" because she has to pay for all of her own food, school supplies, clothes, and rent. When Mrs. R asked her if she was Emancipated, she didn't know what that was, but upon hearing about it, was interested in starting proceedings. Can you imagine being "independent" at 15? I can't. I think I'd be pretty pissed too if that was my life. Mrs. R had a long talk with her about her attitude toward me and my class, and let her know that I'm the type of person who everyday, gives her another new chance to succeed, and that I don't hold grudges. Fortunately, PT believed her! Then next day I spoke to her outside of class and let her know that I was aware of what' s going on in her life. I told her she was exempt from the parent-signature things until she could arrange to have an adult share the responsibilities with her. She was very friendly and open and respectful...and has been so ever since. She's since become one of my most focused students, asking questions for clarification and letting me know if she needs assistance in doing something. I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to see students make that kind of movement in their lives. There have been several times when students have made turn-arounds like that and then told me much later that they thought that if they could do it in my classroom, then they could probably do it elsewhere too. (And I get paid for this!)
Imagine walking in the door to work and seeing a lot of your co-workers or customers crying inconsolably. That's what it was like last Wednesday because our students had just learned that one of their school-mates had been shot and killed the previous afternoon as he stood in his front yard. Some gang-banger with a handgun was riding in a car, aimed the weapon and hit his target. This kid was a Junior and was not in a gang; he was just a regular kid who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A couple of my 1st period AP Environmental Science students were so emotional that I just told them to do whatever they thought they needed to do to take care of themselves and get ready for the day ahead. One stayed out of the classroom for about 15 minutes and the other one called her Mom and asked her to pick her up and take her home. Our AP printed up an official memo announcing the event (there is a template for this type of announcement; the name and date is all that changes) and made and announcement during Advisory. We had a moment of silence, which all of the kids in my room observed with respectful silence and gravity. Since I've taught at my school, we've typically had about 2 students killed in drive-by shootings every quarter. The kids don't walk down the streets or hang outside in their neighborhoods. Nobody gets together after school at anyone's house. Hmm, it just occurred to me to wonder how these students are accounted for in our school's graduation rate. We are penalized for every student who moves away or transfers, I wonder if we're penalized for those who are murdered? These kids must either be pretty resilient or pretty numbed by this stuff. The next day, the sadness seemed to be out of their system and they were able to smile and focus on the business of life. But as I look at them I really wonder what remains inside. We offer counseling and our faculty is very active in talking to the kids one-on-one to build relationships with the kids as individuals. But once they sleep on the fact that a friend has disappeared in a punk's rite-of-passage, and awakened the next morning to their own life that seems the same as ever, where do they file that memory? What kind of world view are they building when this happens 16 times during their high school career alone?
As for the fights in the hallway, not much new there. Two "best friend" girls interested in the same guy. Two guys, not friends, interested in one of the girls. Profanity flung, fists flew, on-lookers not cheering them on, but telling them to "stop being stupid and stop fighting...save the drama for your Mama!" Fight over fast, the only thing broken was a friendship. But what came together was the student body to stop the fight. Now that's the way to end a school day!
We just learned today that it was to be a minimum day no 4th period and that we were to go to the main campus for a faculty meeting at 3:15, and that this Thursday is Back-to-School Night, which we'd need to plan, and that Friday was also a minimum day with no 3rd or 4th period. Well now that's a lot of big surprises for one day! So we as a faculty voted that since our union rules state that we must have one day's notice and an agenda of any scheduled after-school meeting, we were going to spend that time instead planning our BTS night. Our meetings are always wonders of cooperation, collegiality and productivity; we actually like meeting with each other! And, I'm thrilled to report that we got so much done we're really all looking forward to Thursday night; it's going to be focused on serving the needs of our students' parents and should be a huge success.
One thing I have to toot our horn about. My school has an abysmal dropout rate, which can easily be seen at all-school assemblies. The Freshman class occupies one side of the football stadium, the Sophs and Juniors combine to occupy the other side. We set out a few rows of chairs on the field for the shrunken Senior class. But, I am happy to report that our academy retained every single one of its Freshmen; no one dropped out, transferred back to the main campus or moved away. That is simply unheard of!!! You won't read about that in the papers, but you read it here! Now we have a great problem, we need to add another teacher to teach all of our Sophomores!
BTW, there is now a door in the hole in the back wall! No door knob, and you can still crawl through the ductwork into the other classroom, but we have quietude!
A 15-year old girl I'll call PT, sits in the back corner of my 3rd period Biology class. Although school had only been in session for a week, she already showed up late several times. She also hadn't returned any of the parent-signed papers that were part of our beginning-of-school routine, and she also spent most of her time in class doing whatever she thought was more important than learning, usually digging in her purse for a mirror or talking to the guys around her. Last Monday, she was not doing the work and was instead practicing her stylized signature on a piece of paper and trying to hide it, and she was also chatting with the guys around her and keeping them from doing their work. On one occasion, I asked her to put her purse away and focus on the work we were doing together as a class. She refused and with quite a spiteful attitude replied that she didn't have to because it was her private property and it was none of my business what she did. Since I don't argue with students or repeat myself, I asked her to step outside the classroom to talk about what was going on and figure out what comes next, she again refused. So, I stepped into the hallway and had the Security person (our Academy has 3 patrolling our campus all of the time) and asked her to escort her from my classroom so we could have a chat. (By this time, I had also directed the students to do an activity to keep them engaged and productive while I was dealing with PT.) When I tried to talk with her, it became very clear that her habit was to interrupt me before I could finish a single sentence. In my earlier years of teaching, I would probably have become frustrated or angry, but this time I just found it to be very fascinating; I felt like an observer. When I saw that she was in no emotional state to have a discussion with, I just directed the Security person to take her to the front office to talk to the Assistant Principal. (Later I found out that PT talked the Security person into taking her to her favorite teacher's room where she spent the rest of the period, avoiding the AP entirely.) So, later that day I spoke to PT's Advisory teacher, Mrs. R, to let her know what had been happening. Here's what she told me about PT:
Though only 15-years old, she works as a receptionist and shares a room with a roommate in a house. She has "no relationship" with her Mother, who threw her out of the house several times, the last because she would bring her friends home and smoke dope in front of her Mother's other, younger children. She says she is "independent" because she has to pay for all of her own food, school supplies, clothes, and rent. When Mrs. R asked her if she was Emancipated, she didn't know what that was, but upon hearing about it, was interested in starting proceedings. Can you imagine being "independent" at 15? I can't. I think I'd be pretty pissed too if that was my life. Mrs. R had a long talk with her about her attitude toward me and my class, and let her know that I'm the type of person who everyday, gives her another new chance to succeed, and that I don't hold grudges. Fortunately, PT believed her! Then next day I spoke to her outside of class and let her know that I was aware of what' s going on in her life. I told her she was exempt from the parent-signature things until she could arrange to have an adult share the responsibilities with her. She was very friendly and open and respectful...and has been so ever since. She's since become one of my most focused students, asking questions for clarification and letting me know if she needs assistance in doing something. I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to see students make that kind of movement in their lives. There have been several times when students have made turn-arounds like that and then told me much later that they thought that if they could do it in my classroom, then they could probably do it elsewhere too. (And I get paid for this!)
Imagine walking in the door to work and seeing a lot of your co-workers or customers crying inconsolably. That's what it was like last Wednesday because our students had just learned that one of their school-mates had been shot and killed the previous afternoon as he stood in his front yard. Some gang-banger with a handgun was riding in a car, aimed the weapon and hit his target. This kid was a Junior and was not in a gang; he was just a regular kid who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A couple of my 1st period AP Environmental Science students were so emotional that I just told them to do whatever they thought they needed to do to take care of themselves and get ready for the day ahead. One stayed out of the classroom for about 15 minutes and the other one called her Mom and asked her to pick her up and take her home. Our AP printed up an official memo announcing the event (there is a template for this type of announcement; the name and date is all that changes) and made and announcement during Advisory. We had a moment of silence, which all of the kids in my room observed with respectful silence and gravity. Since I've taught at my school, we've typically had about 2 students killed in drive-by shootings every quarter. The kids don't walk down the streets or hang outside in their neighborhoods. Nobody gets together after school at anyone's house. Hmm, it just occurred to me to wonder how these students are accounted for in our school's graduation rate. We are penalized for every student who moves away or transfers, I wonder if we're penalized for those who are murdered? These kids must either be pretty resilient or pretty numbed by this stuff. The next day, the sadness seemed to be out of their system and they were able to smile and focus on the business of life. But as I look at them I really wonder what remains inside. We offer counseling and our faculty is very active in talking to the kids one-on-one to build relationships with the kids as individuals. But once they sleep on the fact that a friend has disappeared in a punk's rite-of-passage, and awakened the next morning to their own life that seems the same as ever, where do they file that memory? What kind of world view are they building when this happens 16 times during their high school career alone?
As for the fights in the hallway, not much new there. Two "best friend" girls interested in the same guy. Two guys, not friends, interested in one of the girls. Profanity flung, fists flew, on-lookers not cheering them on, but telling them to "stop being stupid and stop fighting...save the drama for your Mama!" Fight over fast, the only thing broken was a friendship. But what came together was the student body to stop the fight. Now that's the way to end a school day!
We just learned today that it was to be a minimum day no 4th period and that we were to go to the main campus for a faculty meeting at 3:15, and that this Thursday is Back-to-School Night, which we'd need to plan, and that Friday was also a minimum day with no 3rd or 4th period. Well now that's a lot of big surprises for one day! So we as a faculty voted that since our union rules state that we must have one day's notice and an agenda of any scheduled after-school meeting, we were going to spend that time instead planning our BTS night. Our meetings are always wonders of cooperation, collegiality and productivity; we actually like meeting with each other! And, I'm thrilled to report that we got so much done we're really all looking forward to Thursday night; it's going to be focused on serving the needs of our students' parents and should be a huge success.
One thing I have to toot our horn about. My school has an abysmal dropout rate, which can easily be seen at all-school assemblies. The Freshman class occupies one side of the football stadium, the Sophs and Juniors combine to occupy the other side. We set out a few rows of chairs on the field for the shrunken Senior class. But, I am happy to report that our academy retained every single one of its Freshmen; no one dropped out, transferred back to the main campus or moved away. That is simply unheard of!!! You won't read about that in the papers, but you read it here! Now we have a great problem, we need to add another teacher to teach all of our Sophomores!
BTW, there is now a door in the hole in the back wall! No door knob, and you can still crawl through the ductwork into the other classroom, but we have quietude!
Monday, September 8, 2008
AE's story
Today I learned some more details of one of my student's life story and I'm having a hard time getting it out of my head. I'll call her AE. I've had her in my Advisory for three years and last year she was also in my year-long 1st period Biology class. She was absent over 70% of the time and when she did show up, it was always late with a cup of coffee or hot chocoate in her hands, but nothing else. She rarely did anything in class and was in violation of the dress code almost every time she showed up. Actually, at the beginning of the year, she was a top student in Biology and was always participating and would at least try to do the work. But then she met a guy and everything changed. When I had to deal with her about these issues, she usually responded by "dropping the F-bomb" at me. All that aside, she had an amazing capacity to always give me another chance at working with her every day. Since her behavior presented so many opportunities for conflict, I was always looking to create positive connections with her, so she was often the recipient of my silly jokes and warm smiles. Even if we'd just dealt with her rules violations, she was always willing to be amused and smile back. That's pretty amazing that she does that.
When school started last week, she told me that "this year is going to be different" and that she was going to try to catch up. (She is in a Junior class homeroom, but has barely enough credits to be a Sophomore, so she has a lot of catching up to do.) The next day she was "late with coffee but no materials" again. When I asked her what was going to make this year different she just rolled her eyes at me. So, I sent all of her other teachers a note asking their cooperation on communicating her attendance patterns to me so that we could intervene more effectively. (Last year, the interventions were detentions (which she would try to ditch so we had to escort her) and Parent Conferences (which produced nothing but frustration for everyone). Her English teacher shared what she knew about AE's situation with me. As you read this, imagine it is your story and consider what it would feel like to be AE.
She lived with her mother as a child, and was molested for a long period of time by her mother's boyfriend who lived with them. She was raped two years ago (it's not clear to me if it was by the boyfriend or not). Her mother gave her to her own parents to raise, and her mother now pretty much lives on the street as an addict/prostitute. The grandparents are elderly and do not speak or understand English very well, as well as being completely unprepared to deal with AE's behavior and academic issues. Her current boyfriend is 20 and is a drug dealer. He often picks AE up before school and puts her to work for him instead of taking her to school. On days that he doesn't need/want her with him, he buys her hot chocolate before class. She reads and does math at the 5th grade level.
When I hear something like that I always ask myself "If that was my story, how would I think and feel and act?" What kind of strength of character and clarity would it take to make good choices coming from that dysfunctional of a background? I'm never convinced that as a teenager with that going on that I would make significantly better choices and I think that's a good thing for me to think. It helps me have compassion for her and not give up. Yep, this is another week when I'm full of gratitude for my parents and the stable, loving, positive upbringing I had. When I'm in charge of the world, no one will have a childhood like AEs.
Tutu
When school started last week, she told me that "this year is going to be different" and that she was going to try to catch up. (She is in a Junior class homeroom, but has barely enough credits to be a Sophomore, so she has a lot of catching up to do.) The next day she was "late with coffee but no materials" again. When I asked her what was going to make this year different she just rolled her eyes at me. So, I sent all of her other teachers a note asking their cooperation on communicating her attendance patterns to me so that we could intervene more effectively. (Last year, the interventions were detentions (which she would try to ditch so we had to escort her) and Parent Conferences (which produced nothing but frustration for everyone). Her English teacher shared what she knew about AE's situation with me. As you read this, imagine it is your story and consider what it would feel like to be AE.
She lived with her mother as a child, and was molested for a long period of time by her mother's boyfriend who lived with them. She was raped two years ago (it's not clear to me if it was by the boyfriend or not). Her mother gave her to her own parents to raise, and her mother now pretty much lives on the street as an addict/prostitute. The grandparents are elderly and do not speak or understand English very well, as well as being completely unprepared to deal with AE's behavior and academic issues. Her current boyfriend is 20 and is a drug dealer. He often picks AE up before school and puts her to work for him instead of taking her to school. On days that he doesn't need/want her with him, he buys her hot chocolate before class. She reads and does math at the 5th grade level.
When I hear something like that I always ask myself "If that was my story, how would I think and feel and act?" What kind of strength of character and clarity would it take to make good choices coming from that dysfunctional of a background? I'm never convinced that as a teenager with that going on that I would make significantly better choices and I think that's a good thing for me to think. It helps me have compassion for her and not give up. Yep, this is another week when I'm full of gratitude for my parents and the stable, loving, positive upbringing I had. When I'm in charge of the world, no one will have a childhood like AEs.
Tutu
Friday, September 5, 2008
The Hole In The Wall
As I mentioned in my First Day of School post, there is a hole in the wall at the back of my classroom that goes through to the next classroom. Now, you may have some wild ideas about how it got there, but the explanation is pretty mundane. It's a door-sized hole because a doorframe and a door will be put in there, I'm told, within the next few weeks. I'll give you some background information.
As I wrote in my intro, the high school I teach at is so overcrowded (build for 1,500 students, current enrollment 5,000) that my SLC was invited to move off-campus to partner with the local adult school. The benefit to our students would be that our students could also enroll in Adult School classes and Technical College classes. A student could graduate with not only a diploma, but also meeting all of the requirements to get into any university, in addition to having a trade certificate and an A.A. degree. After much thought, negotiation and soul-searching, we 15 teachers agreed to move with our 300 students to the 2nd floor of the Adult School building. It is about 3 miles from the main campus, adjacent to a large city park.
One reason I was induced to go was because they promised to build a state-of-the-art science laboratory and also have demonstration stations in all of the science classrooms. This was very attractive to me because, ever since I began teaching lab science, I have not had access to a lab! I taught in English classrooms for the most part, then I moved for the last two years to an Art classroom...with a sink! It was very difficult teaching real lab science without a lab and with the strictures that I could not use any chemicals whatsover! (Water was okay and so was salt, everything else was pretty much verboten. Acid/base labs were an enterprise in rule-breaking for me! ) I devised a lot of construction paper modelling and activities that simulated scientific processes so the students could learn to understand some complicated ideas. It really was not very effective; I think they need to do real science in order to learn real science.
So, the last week of school in June, we were directed to move everything out of our classrooms by the last day of school (the students were still working for a grade, which made this kind of messy!) because construction was about to begin. Over the summer, the facilities people tore several classrooms apart, subdividing some to make more classrooms (mine got cut in half and is still very large; I think mine was the size of an Olympic swimming pool), and converting "plain" classrooms into science classrooms. The new wall they put up dividing my classroom is where the hole is! (So, finally, you get to know!)
Although were were assured that the lab would be ready for the start of school, it didn't happen. The Friday before school started they had just finished painting the walls and began to install the cabinetry. Electricity and data lines for our computers is supposed to be coming by the end of next week. That's good because I'm required to input attendance for every class period into the computer and I get reminder notes every period because I don't have a computer in my classroom that works. Supposedly the computer network will be configured a week or so after the juice and the 'net cables come in. Yippee!
I foolishly re-wrote my curricula for the Biology and AP Environmental Science classes I teach over the summer to include labs and internet-based research opportunities. Now, I'm getting to revise on the fly. I really should have known and planned better. Fortunately the first three days of school is all about establishing a productive relationship with the students and learning about them and their skill levels, so I've have some cushion of time to do the revisions.
Until then, my students and I get to listen to the teacher next door. He's used to TALKING VERY LOUDLY to keep his students' attention...a fact of which he was unaware. Every time he gets really loud, I just lift up the construction paper curtain in the doorway stick my head in and say "I think I might have missed a word, could you repeat that?" Fortunately, he's really an easy-going, cooperative guy and we can both just laugh about it. I tell my students that we can just be thankful that the federal fire alarm people don't measure the ambient noise level in his classroom and set the fire sirens to 50 decibels above that!
Today in class I had the students take a Basic Skills Assessment so I could find out how much upper-elementary and middle-school math and English they know. The scores were very.....well, you'll just to come back for my next post to find out!
As I wrote in my intro, the high school I teach at is so overcrowded (build for 1,500 students, current enrollment 5,000) that my SLC was invited to move off-campus to partner with the local adult school. The benefit to our students would be that our students could also enroll in Adult School classes and Technical College classes. A student could graduate with not only a diploma, but also meeting all of the requirements to get into any university, in addition to having a trade certificate and an A.A. degree. After much thought, negotiation and soul-searching, we 15 teachers agreed to move with our 300 students to the 2nd floor of the Adult School building. It is about 3 miles from the main campus, adjacent to a large city park.
One reason I was induced to go was because they promised to build a state-of-the-art science laboratory and also have demonstration stations in all of the science classrooms. This was very attractive to me because, ever since I began teaching lab science, I have not had access to a lab! I taught in English classrooms for the most part, then I moved for the last two years to an Art classroom...with a sink! It was very difficult teaching real lab science without a lab and with the strictures that I could not use any chemicals whatsover! (Water was okay and so was salt, everything else was pretty much verboten. Acid/base labs were an enterprise in rule-breaking for me! ) I devised a lot of construction paper modelling and activities that simulated scientific processes so the students could learn to understand some complicated ideas. It really was not very effective; I think they need to do real science in order to learn real science.
So, the last week of school in June, we were directed to move everything out of our classrooms by the last day of school (the students were still working for a grade, which made this kind of messy!) because construction was about to begin. Over the summer, the facilities people tore several classrooms apart, subdividing some to make more classrooms (mine got cut in half and is still very large; I think mine was the size of an Olympic swimming pool), and converting "plain" classrooms into science classrooms. The new wall they put up dividing my classroom is where the hole is! (So, finally, you get to know!)
Although were were assured that the lab would be ready for the start of school, it didn't happen. The Friday before school started they had just finished painting the walls and began to install the cabinetry. Electricity and data lines for our computers is supposed to be coming by the end of next week. That's good because I'm required to input attendance for every class period into the computer and I get reminder notes every period because I don't have a computer in my classroom that works. Supposedly the computer network will be configured a week or so after the juice and the 'net cables come in. Yippee!
I foolishly re-wrote my curricula for the Biology and AP Environmental Science classes I teach over the summer to include labs and internet-based research opportunities. Now, I'm getting to revise on the fly. I really should have known and planned better. Fortunately the first three days of school is all about establishing a productive relationship with the students and learning about them and their skill levels, so I've have some cushion of time to do the revisions.
Until then, my students and I get to listen to the teacher next door. He's used to TALKING VERY LOUDLY to keep his students' attention...a fact of which he was unaware. Every time he gets really loud, I just lift up the construction paper curtain in the doorway stick my head in and say "I think I might have missed a word, could you repeat that?" Fortunately, he's really an easy-going, cooperative guy and we can both just laugh about it. I tell my students that we can just be thankful that the federal fire alarm people don't measure the ambient noise level in his classroom and set the fire sirens to 50 decibels above that!
Today in class I had the students take a Basic Skills Assessment so I could find out how much upper-elementary and middle-school math and English they know. The scores were very.....well, you'll just to come back for my next post to find out!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
First Day of School
I don't know the exact decibel (db, a measure of loudness) level of the Simplex Truealert Fire Alarm siren, but national fire codes require that it exceeds ambient noise levels by at least 50 db. Noise experts say that the typical classroom noise level is around 55 decibels, which the Noise Experts call "Intrusve". Add those up and we get 105 db when the siren goes off, which those experts say is beyond "Very Annoying" and "Hearing Damage", nudging up to "Very Annoying". The level at which "Physical Discomfort" occurs is 110 db. Why am I telling you this? Because we all got to experience covering our ears, wincing in pain and saying bad words well over a dozen times today...every time the fire alarm sirens and strobes went off. In case you're thinking it was a result of a mischevious student pulling the fire alarm (which happened daily when we were back on the main campus), nope....here's how it all occurred.
I arrived in my classroom at 7:15, 45 minutes before class was due to begin to finish setting up my classroom (more on that later) and get ready to greet my students. When I got there, even before I entered the building I heard the pulsing sirens of our campus fire alarm system. I steeled myself to go on in because (1) they go off several times every month for testing, and (2) I had work to do! When I arrived at my new classroom I saw about 8 gentlemen in shirt and tie (and other clothes too) standing in the hole in the back wall of my classroom (where it goes through to another classroom, more on that later too), looking around. I greeted them and proceeded to prepare for my students. At some point, one of the gentlemen asked me if there was going to be any school today. I replied that not only would there be school today, it was the First Day of School, The Most Important Day of the School Year. At that point they left my classroom without saying why they were there.
The individual alarm tests usually last anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes (I know because I like to time them...can't help it, I'm a data freak). We had over a dozen separate alarm tests by 11:00 (I can't believe I didn't keep an accurate count...just goes to show you how it threw me off my stride). We were spared further tests (possibly due to a visit to our satellite campus by our Principal, but maybe for other reasons) until the 3:00 bell...and they began again and kept on until I finally gave up and left. Definitely an Excedrin Migraine day.
By the way, since the noise was so loud and definitely painful and we couldn't hear each other speak, I allowed the kids the freedom to say their own bad words at normal voice levels when the siren went off. I did not model this aloud for them, but I said a very, very bad word at lunch with the other teachers.
So, that was my first day back at school! Tune in later this week to find out why there's a hole in my classroom wall and why I wasn't already completely set up and ready on the first day of school (like any "good teacher" should be).
Oh, one more thing. I plan to make lemonade with this (as I always try to do with the unexpected challenges that occur). My Biology students are required to create a Science Fair project this year and to provide an example of one, I'm going to propose an experiment using a decibel meter to measure the actual loudness of the sirens, the length of time to which students are exposed to them and relate that to national standards published my Hearing Health professionals. I think that all of my new Biology students will definitely relate to that, be able to learn science and pass their meaningful understandings on to their parents and the rest of the community.
Tutu
I arrived in my classroom at 7:15, 45 minutes before class was due to begin to finish setting up my classroom (more on that later) and get ready to greet my students. When I got there, even before I entered the building I heard the pulsing sirens of our campus fire alarm system. I steeled myself to go on in because (1) they go off several times every month for testing, and (2) I had work to do! When I arrived at my new classroom I saw about 8 gentlemen in shirt and tie (and other clothes too) standing in the hole in the back wall of my classroom (where it goes through to another classroom, more on that later too), looking around. I greeted them and proceeded to prepare for my students. At some point, one of the gentlemen asked me if there was going to be any school today. I replied that not only would there be school today, it was the First Day of School, The Most Important Day of the School Year. At that point they left my classroom without saying why they were there.
The individual alarm tests usually last anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes (I know because I like to time them...can't help it, I'm a data freak). We had over a dozen separate alarm tests by 11:00 (I can't believe I didn't keep an accurate count...just goes to show you how it threw me off my stride). We were spared further tests (possibly due to a visit to our satellite campus by our Principal, but maybe for other reasons) until the 3:00 bell...and they began again and kept on until I finally gave up and left. Definitely an Excedrin Migraine day.
By the way, since the noise was so loud and definitely painful and we couldn't hear each other speak, I allowed the kids the freedom to say their own bad words at normal voice levels when the siren went off. I did not model this aloud for them, but I said a very, very bad word at lunch with the other teachers.
So, that was my first day back at school! Tune in later this week to find out why there's a hole in my classroom wall and why I wasn't already completely set up and ready on the first day of school (like any "good teacher" should be).
Oh, one more thing. I plan to make lemonade with this (as I always try to do with the unexpected challenges that occur). My Biology students are required to create a Science Fair project this year and to provide an example of one, I'm going to propose an experiment using a decibel meter to measure the actual loudness of the sirens, the length of time to which students are exposed to them and relate that to national standards published my Hearing Health professionals. I think that all of my new Biology students will definitely relate to that, be able to learn science and pass their meaningful understandings on to their parents and the rest of the community.
Tutu
Why I'm Blogging
For the past several years I have been teaching laboratory science at one of the most-overcrowded high schools in the U.S. Many of my friends and family members enjoy hearing my stories of things that happen in and around my classroom. They always want to know what its really like for someone they know, so they can compare it with all of the stories they come across in the media and contrast it with their own experiences. This blog is primarily for them. My secondary audience is people who don't know me, but are just curious to peek over the shoulder of a teacher at an urban high school to find out what really goes on....the highs and the lows, the joys and the jokes. This is also a stress-release tactic for myself...I like sharing what I do with others and I find writing relaxes me, and this time for reflection will help me put my experiences in perspective. I have a habit of whining and complaining, so I'm also writing this to train myself to do less of those things, which will certainly be beneficial for you and me! (Feel free to point out when I've lapsed!)
My intention is to report what goes on without identifying any individual students, colleagues, my school, district, city and state. The reason for this is that I would be breaching privacy (legally and morally) of people and I think my experiences are not exclusively unique to my location and employer. So, I'll undoubtedly have to come up with fake names for people, places and entities....I hope I can figure out good ones!
So, if this sounds like something you'd like to read, please do. I'm also open to reading your comments and answering questions you may have. I'm thinking that I'll probably blog at least a couple of times every week during the regular school year. We'll see how it goes. If by some miracle, nothing noteworthy happens in or around my classroom (okay, that's not even within the realm of possibility, so I won't even finish that sentence.....
Tutu
My intention is to report what goes on without identifying any individual students, colleagues, my school, district, city and state. The reason for this is that I would be breaching privacy (legally and morally) of people and I think my experiences are not exclusively unique to my location and employer. So, I'll undoubtedly have to come up with fake names for people, places and entities....I hope I can figure out good ones!
So, if this sounds like something you'd like to read, please do. I'm also open to reading your comments and answering questions you may have. I'm thinking that I'll probably blog at least a couple of times every week during the regular school year. We'll see how it goes. If by some miracle, nothing noteworthy happens in or around my classroom (okay, that's not even within the realm of possibility, so I won't even finish that sentence.....
Tutu
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