Tonight was Back-to-School Night! Last year, we planned way far in advance, organized a potluck, invited our Award-Winning student Mariachi group, showed slides of activities and I think I met with over 20 parents, which is about 20% of the parents, and a high percentage compared to what we usually get. This year, we weren't notified that this event was on the schedule until Tuesday, our student Leadership sold cold pizza and warm soft drinks (but not many!) and the police showed up to arrest one of our students and talk to the parents of three other students they arrested on Tueesday....oh, and I only met with 4 parents.
Remember DJ, who was reported to have been cutting herself? She was sequestered in our office this afternoon and evening until the Police hauled her off in handcuffs. Due to confidentiality rights, I don't know the charges, but I do know she's been stuck like glue to one of our female Security Supervisors for the past two days explaining some difficult situation she got herself involved in. By the way, I finally saw the cuts on her arms...she wears sleeveless shirts everyday and uses pen to outline the scars and fresh wounds. I don't know how I missed them the first time I looked, they're at her wrists and further up her arm. We've gotten help for her, but apparently, it's too little too late.
Yesterday our Assistant Principal called an Assembly at which she addressed the students. Citing confidentiality issues she said she could not talk about specifics of "the incident" but that how the students reacted on the bus was unhelpful and in appropriate and that she was proud of them for sticking up for each other. Confused? So were most of the kids and I. Turns out that Tuesday afternoon, as one of our buses pulled up to the main campus to unload our kids, the driver of the next bus observed a lit "firecracker" being thrown from the bus. An officer boarded the bus and removed the student reported to have done it. (That student was one of the students who was a recipient of a generous holiday donation I previously wrote about.) The other students on the bus were all trying to tell the officer that he was throwing the burning object back out of the bus after it was thrown into the bus from a car that had been following the bus. (Apparently this car had followed the bus before and its passengers threw rocks at the bus and the students, but no one had reported it.) In the confusion, one of my students began having a panic attack, so one of my former students helped him off the bus and sat on the curb trying to calm him down. At this point, the story goes, another officer told them to reboard the bus and when they refused and tried to explain, they were shoved by the officer, so they shoved back (not the brightest response!) and then they were thrown up against a car and cuffed. These two students were charged with felony "inciting a riot" and the first student was arrested on felony charges also (the exact nature of these charges isn't clear). All three spent the entire evening at the Police station in custody and were suspended from school for 3 days. The next day when the other students on the bus began talking with each other, word spread that the Police Officers did not have an accurate picture of what happened, so one of our English teachers asked the students to go see our Assistant Principal and write down what they witnessed....So, four Police Officers showed up to our Back-to-School Night (with their sidearms!) and interviewed lots of people. Our AP spent most of the past two days trying to have our students heard, and apparently tonight the Police were listening.
So, all of this kind of put a damper on BTS Night. Two unexpected happyish notes: one of the students' written statement as so incomprehensible that it led to a referral for learning disorder testing...and today in Biology we focused on the difference between observation and inference, and my students described how in the situation on the bus, different people made different observations and made different inferences! Exactly!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The new quarter
This is the second week of our 3rd quarter of the year, and that means I have all new students in Biology A. The week before the quarter began I freaked out because I saw the rosters. Second period had 35 students in it, about 10 of which used to be called "delinquents", and a cluster of 3 Special Education (SpEd) students. I don't mind having SpEd students in my classes, as a matter of fact, with all of the support they get from our terrific SpEd teachers and aides, these kids are much more focused, diligent and well-organized than regular students. And in my 3rd period class, there were 17 kids, half of whom used be called "delinquents", and 2 SpEd kids. I suffered a crisis of confidence; "Am I good enough to handle this or is it going to be a train wreck until June?" I had been hearing all year long how awful this particular crop of kids was, and I had to go into their classrooms several times when inept Substitutes could not establish a modicum of order. I also dealt with several of them in the hallways where they were roaming, talking on the phone instead of being in class. I tried to get to know them and begin to build a relationship with each one of them in preparation for they day they walked into my classroom. One of them, I'll call her VY, would always look at me with an "Eat $#!% and die, lady" attitude. So, I was braced for the worst!
Fortunately I had just attended a skills-based 3-day training on how to lower students' anxiety levels and build better reationships with them for the purpose of teaching the kids to manage themselves as a high-performing team....and I had been practicing on my existing classes so that I would be prepared. No way was I going to let these kids eat me for lunch!
Well, I have to tell you, it has been a slice of heaven. I told them I was preparing them to succeed in the professional world and that meant they'd be practicing how to shake hands and greet and unknown adult, and how to talk and behave in a professional group. They love it! They love shaking my hand everyday and they seek me out in the hallways to show off to their friends. They love cominng to class and their speech and behavior has been really wonderful. Today they worked together as a class to create their own Social Contract in which they detailed how they agreed to treat each other in class. I told them they did not have to vote for the contract or sign it, but they all did anyway. Last Friday I took the day off (to go skiing at Mammoth!) and the report from the Guest Teacher (Sub) was glowing; she said she'd love to come back to my classroom because the kids were so respectful and hardworking. So, I know this is still part of the honeymoon phase, but I've never had a class with this many clowns and low-skill kids...or any class actually....be this enjoyable and productive.
The "eat $#!% and die" girl? She walked into my classroom the first day expecting the worst...I could tell by the look on her face, the big sighs and the eyerolling and sandbagging. She is now one of the biggest smiles in my day and she speaks to me first when she's in a group of kids...this is huge movement for her. I just love how open and accepting these kids are; I feel so lucky to have this kind of people in my life every day! Wouldn't it be great if everyone were like that?
A follow up on DJ. I've seen her arms and I saw no evidence of cutting, so I'm not sure what the actual truth on that is. She is in one of my new Biology classes, so I can keep a closer eye on her, although she has already had several absences. I just hope those are for counseling...she wouldn't share the reason, just said it was for something she had to do. She's still struggling, but is showing a little spark of happiness now and then. Keep her in your thoughts!
Fortunately I had just attended a skills-based 3-day training on how to lower students' anxiety levels and build better reationships with them for the purpose of teaching the kids to manage themselves as a high-performing team....and I had been practicing on my existing classes so that I would be prepared. No way was I going to let these kids eat me for lunch!
Well, I have to tell you, it has been a slice of heaven. I told them I was preparing them to succeed in the professional world and that meant they'd be practicing how to shake hands and greet and unknown adult, and how to talk and behave in a professional group. They love it! They love shaking my hand everyday and they seek me out in the hallways to show off to their friends. They love cominng to class and their speech and behavior has been really wonderful. Today they worked together as a class to create their own Social Contract in which they detailed how they agreed to treat each other in class. I told them they did not have to vote for the contract or sign it, but they all did anyway. Last Friday I took the day off (to go skiing at Mammoth!) and the report from the Guest Teacher (Sub) was glowing; she said she'd love to come back to my classroom because the kids were so respectful and hardworking. So, I know this is still part of the honeymoon phase, but I've never had a class with this many clowns and low-skill kids...or any class actually....be this enjoyable and productive.
The "eat $#!% and die" girl? She walked into my classroom the first day expecting the worst...I could tell by the look on her face, the big sighs and the eyerolling and sandbagging. She is now one of the biggest smiles in my day and she speaks to me first when she's in a group of kids...this is huge movement for her. I just love how open and accepting these kids are; I feel so lucky to have this kind of people in my life every day! Wouldn't it be great if everyone were like that?
A follow up on DJ. I've seen her arms and I saw no evidence of cutting, so I'm not sure what the actual truth on that is. She is in one of my new Biology classes, so I can keep a closer eye on her, although she has already had several absences. I just hope those are for counseling...she wouldn't share the reason, just said it was for something she had to do. She's still struggling, but is showing a little spark of happiness now and then. Keep her in your thoughts!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
DJ...and a tough day
Today's entry concerns a situation I just learned about today. One of our students, DJ, I learned has been cutting her arm quite severely. We have referred her to counseling, the school psychologist, a social worker...everyone we can think of, but she's really a danger to herself...and the staff is at a loss to know how to help her. Here's some back story.
DJ and her Mom have been living in a shelter for homeless people in Compton all year long. Her Mom speaks no English and Dad is long gone. She has cousins at this school, but the family doesn't really know how to get along with each other, so often these relationships are not only of no help, they are actually harmful. Just before the winter break DJ stole another girl's iPOD. This was discovered because she was unwise enough to take it out and look at it in a classroom, which is strictly against campus rules. The iPOD was a distinctive color and it had some distinguishing markings on it which signalled to the girl from whom it was stolen that it belonged to her. DJ was referred to our Assistant Principal who confiscated it and called DJ's mother in for a conference. Her Mother backed up DJ's story that she had indeed not stolen it, but found it in Compton. Unfortunately, the AP did not follow protocol and file a Police report; the result of that is she had to give the iPOD back to DJ and buy the other student a new iPOD.
A few days later, a friend of mine who owns a company in a nearby town notified me that she and her employees decided to give a couple of our students in need a gift for the holidays. I immediately thought of DJ, because I knew she and her Mother were struggling, and up until that point, she had been so happy to see me every day and so helpful and polite with me. However, after discussing it with the AP, we decided that because of the iPOD situation, we would give one of the gifts to another student. Unfortunately, the AP forgot about that decision and sent DJ to see me about the gift late that day. I felt horrible to be in the situation where I had to tell her that there had been a miscommunication and that I had nothing for her. It was only later that I found out that one of the recipients was her cousin, who she did not get along with, but who is one of my own students. I didn't think much more about it until today when I learned about DJ's cutting and that she seemed to have changed. As a matter of fact, I didn't even recall seeing her at all since we returned to school on the 12th (I've been out attending professional development classes quite a bit these past two weeks). I didn't see her until last period today when I saw her rushing down the hallway to go sit at one of the tables in the lobby area on our floor. Although I was having a conversation with other students, when I saw her I smiled, waved and called out her name. For the first time ever, she looked at me with no expression and just walked on to the table. She put her head down and just stayed like that. Can you imagine being her? Would you even want to come to school? How much pain do you have to be in to cut yourself? If that doesn't change anything for the better, what do you do next? I have a splitting headache right now, just thinking about it.
I also have a headache because today was a very difficult day in all of my classes. I'm implementing a new team-building, student self-management process in all of my classes and it's a challenge for both my self and the students. Yesterday, I empowered my students to create their own Social Contract detailing how everyone is to be treated. Today was the first day they were to live up to their contract and support each other in doing so. Several students already want to give up and stop doing it. A couple of "dears" who were absent yesterday (and most days) are refusing to sign. Almost none of the students is helping to hold other students accountable and I'm still having to do everything. It was exhausting. I did explain to them that this is something new that they have to learn and it will feel wierd and be unfamiliar and difficult until they get used to it and begin to see the benefits. Only time will tell...but I can't stop modeling living up to it because only then will it be a total failure and another demonstration that they can't count on any adult to be caring, appropriate and responsible. It's days like this that I have to really remind myself that it's all worth it. My hope is that I see some improvement tomorrow in how the kids support each other and in my own ability to deal with how difficult it is with more grace, patience and humor.
DJ and her Mom have been living in a shelter for homeless people in Compton all year long. Her Mom speaks no English and Dad is long gone. She has cousins at this school, but the family doesn't really know how to get along with each other, so often these relationships are not only of no help, they are actually harmful. Just before the winter break DJ stole another girl's iPOD. This was discovered because she was unwise enough to take it out and look at it in a classroom, which is strictly against campus rules. The iPOD was a distinctive color and it had some distinguishing markings on it which signalled to the girl from whom it was stolen that it belonged to her. DJ was referred to our Assistant Principal who confiscated it and called DJ's mother in for a conference. Her Mother backed up DJ's story that she had indeed not stolen it, but found it in Compton. Unfortunately, the AP did not follow protocol and file a Police report; the result of that is she had to give the iPOD back to DJ and buy the other student a new iPOD.
A few days later, a friend of mine who owns a company in a nearby town notified me that she and her employees decided to give a couple of our students in need a gift for the holidays. I immediately thought of DJ, because I knew she and her Mother were struggling, and up until that point, she had been so happy to see me every day and so helpful and polite with me. However, after discussing it with the AP, we decided that because of the iPOD situation, we would give one of the gifts to another student. Unfortunately, the AP forgot about that decision and sent DJ to see me about the gift late that day. I felt horrible to be in the situation where I had to tell her that there had been a miscommunication and that I had nothing for her. It was only later that I found out that one of the recipients was her cousin, who she did not get along with, but who is one of my own students. I didn't think much more about it until today when I learned about DJ's cutting and that she seemed to have changed. As a matter of fact, I didn't even recall seeing her at all since we returned to school on the 12th (I've been out attending professional development classes quite a bit these past two weeks). I didn't see her until last period today when I saw her rushing down the hallway to go sit at one of the tables in the lobby area on our floor. Although I was having a conversation with other students, when I saw her I smiled, waved and called out her name. For the first time ever, she looked at me with no expression and just walked on to the table. She put her head down and just stayed like that. Can you imagine being her? Would you even want to come to school? How much pain do you have to be in to cut yourself? If that doesn't change anything for the better, what do you do next? I have a splitting headache right now, just thinking about it.
I also have a headache because today was a very difficult day in all of my classes. I'm implementing a new team-building, student self-management process in all of my classes and it's a challenge for both my self and the students. Yesterday, I empowered my students to create their own Social Contract detailing how everyone is to be treated. Today was the first day they were to live up to their contract and support each other in doing so. Several students already want to give up and stop doing it. A couple of "dears" who were absent yesterday (and most days) are refusing to sign. Almost none of the students is helping to hold other students accountable and I'm still having to do everything. It was exhausting. I did explain to them that this is something new that they have to learn and it will feel wierd and be unfamiliar and difficult until they get used to it and begin to see the benefits. Only time will tell...but I can't stop modeling living up to it because only then will it be a total failure and another demonstration that they can't count on any adult to be caring, appropriate and responsible. It's days like this that I have to really remind myself that it's all worth it. My hope is that I see some improvement tomorrow in how the kids support each other and in my own ability to deal with how difficult it is with more grace, patience and humor.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Microscopes!
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.
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.
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.
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