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!