First Semester down, one to go…

As the semester draws to an end (tomorrow), I’m thinking about how I can make things better next semester. I have two things to consider. The first is grading. A lot of the classwork we do is practice. Not every single thing really needs grading as much as the body of work needs evaluation. Did the student do the tasks that were assigned? Did he or she seem to get it? How was the finishing rate? Did most kids finish a task and only a few didn’t? If that is the case is the unfinished work because of a slower work pace or is the student one who messes around a lot?

This quarter I have been collecting students’ work in folders. Now, at the end of the quarter I have made a list of all the assignments that should be in each students folder. I review all of one student’s work at a time, check off whether the work was completed, and give it a score. Sort of a portfolio method of grading. The only thing missing is a letter from the student explaining his or her folder. What they feel they have learned, how much effort they have given this semester, things like that. Now that I think of it, I’m still going to do that. Either this week (right – tomorrow is the last day) or as a way to begin the new semester. I actually think starting the semester with it might be good. Today we are finishing the second quarter benchmark exam, and tomorrow is a minimum day. They are so enmeshed in this quarter I think their vision of it might benefit from a little distance.

Another thing I’m toying with is moving some students around from one section to another. I thought about this last year and didn’t do it, and once again I’m thinking along the same lines. My thinking goes like this: In each of my seventh grade blocks I have a group of quiet well-behaved students who do their work, participate in class discussions and are interested in doing well in school. I also have in each section a group of students who make no effort to control their behavior. They may be interested in doing well, and may even do all their work and occasionally are good participators, but their needs are clearly different than the other, quieter group. If they do their work at all (and most of them do to some degree) they do so quickly and then get up and run around, talking and playing with their friends, while the other students work to accomplish the assignment. You can chalk the problems up to lack of classroom management, I know, but I have a lot of experience with that and have never had a problem with it until last year and this. I’m thinking again that those more active students have different needs than the quieter ones, and that perhaps it is doing an injustice to all the students to have them mixed as they are. Supposedly the two classes are different levels, but I don’t see that too much. At this age it seems to be more about behavior. So, I’m thinking I might experiment with getting them moved around. Then try different ways of teaching the two groups. I need to do something, because the status quo is seriously affecting my attitude.

This leads to my last thought, which is my own involvement in all of the above. Am I planning adequately? I still don’t think I am. Even when I have a careful plan thought out, any little moments of down time are too much for the hyperactive students. I think I need more filler or “beyond” work for some of the fast ones, and need to strive to create a seamless 100 minute lesson. Every day. And then I need to really think about how to teach the two groups. I”ll write more about that as my ideas become more clear. In the meantime, hallelujah! Vacation begins tomorrow!

My objective for next week? Do you have to ask?

Today in our weekly “content area meeting” I was directed to tell the group one objective I have for my classes next week. The expectation was that it would begin like, “The students will learn… and will be able to…” But all I could think of was when and how would I unstaple the 62 benchmark exams that I’m supposedly starting to give on Monday, and finishing on Tuesday. We have decided to make them take longer by only giving a little bit of it at a time, and having them answer in the test book first before they transfer it to their answer sheet. I guess that is so they will really think it over. I get slowing them down some, really. Some kids finish that thing in about ten minutes. So yeah, I get that. I’m not as sure about the transferring part. Seventh graders aren’t necessarily precise about anything, so the chances of their answers going accurately from a test book to an answer document are sketchy, in my opinion. However, now that I think about it, their transfer errors might actually be beneficial to the outcome of the test. I’m still thinking that one over.

So I stated my objective, ending it with, “I mean, we only have three and a half days left and two of them are already slated for the Benchmark Exam.” The kudos from the county office of education cheerleader did not go to me and my objective. So base it was. Honest and real, but base. (Really, how much am I going to get across about transitions and parallellism to seventh graders eager for Christmas vacation??) So, after we told our objectives our time was pretty much up. We were directed to the calendar of future such meetings, asked if we agreed with it (what’s to disagree with? We didn’t exactly pick this to do in the first place.), and then we were given a nice little loaf of pumpkin bread to take with us. That part was nice. Really.

The part about listening to everyone’s objectives for an hour? Not so much. I mean, it just doesn’t feel helpful or useful. I don’t see the purpose for it and I feel curmudgeonly for saying so. Last week, without the help of a cheerleader, we worked as grade level teachers and got our next week’s lesson planned and ready to go. It was useful and efficient. We did state our objectives at the outset of the meeting, but it was only among those who were teaching the same thing. That made it seem more useful to me because we have similar goals. We didn’t have a leader, we just did our work. We still timed ourselves, and took good notes about what we discussed. No cheerleader was needed. We just did what we had to do. Today we were told that for the rest of the year we will be meeting like we did today, for two hours every Friday. With the cheerleader. Every Friday afternoon. The rest of the staff will be working on other interesting school improvement and student focused projects, without a cheerleader, but because we are doing such great things, we’ll be only working in our content area. With help. The rest of them promise not to leave us out. To tell us what they did and said. Um hmm.

Is it Christmas vacation yet?

Moving right along, another quarter is ending

Well, look at this. The second quarter is close to ending and I haven’t written here since the last one ended. I did NaNoWriMo in the month of November which took every iota of my writing time and then some. That’s one reason my blog(s) have suffered. Another reason? Do I need one? I think the fall is such a slog along time of becoming acquainted with one’s students and finding a balance together as a class. Usually by December I feel a class unity, a personality that requires all of the members of the class. I do feel that, but have noticed that I seem to be bucking their exuberance all the time this year. There are those who think it acceptable to yell to get everyone’s attention, to tell them to be quiet. I don’t find that acceptable at all. Then there are those who can’t stay in their seats for more than a minute or two before they have to jump up and move around. It only helps a little that I separate talk circles with my seating arrangements when they don’t stay in those seats. So that takes some time all day long. Then there are those smarties who like to challenge everything I say. Not because they really disagree with me, they just want to talk. That is in between the stories. Oh, the stories. It doesn’t really matter what topic I bring up, someone has an almost completely unrelated story that has one similar detail to whatever I mentioned, which story is burning to get out and be told to the class. I used to think it was polite to listen and I did, for a while. Not any more. Now I just say that I can’t listen to that right now. I shut them up, politely but firmly. And they don’t seem to notice. Their minds move so fast, they are on to the next thing in a flash.

That’s it for now. My lack of class control is of limited interest, I’m sure, but if anyone has any good ideas for exuberant games that will also prepare them for standardized tests, I’d like to hear about them!

Year Two, First Quarter over. Already?

This week we gave our first quarter benchmark assessments. My students did about as well as expected, I guess. A third of them were “Approaching Proficient” and two thirds were “Below.” They seemed to be disappointed, and as we were going over the test I pointed out that we hadn’t even addressed everything on the exam in class, and if they got certain questions right it had nothing to do with anything I had taught them, so kudos to them! I pointed out in a casual way that it is really is hard to teach them sometimes because I battle so with the talking and playing around and it cuts into teaching and learning time. Nothing accusatory, just saying. It was interested to note that today was a better day. Only an hour together, for one thing. Sometimes I think two hours in a row is too long to hold the attention of a seventh grader. I think we end up using fillers and don’t get that much more done than we would in an hour. I wonder how math and science and history are taught in only an hour. Why is English so much more important that it gets two? I get it for English Learners, but for the majority of kids it really seems like overkill. We are teaching them stuff that is of no interest or real relevance to their lives and wringing our hands when they aren’t proficient at the tests of it. Something is wrong and it seems like no one notices it. Of course that is only my opinion. It could be very important to understand that the object of a preposition is always a noun. But you’ll never convince me of that.

I think it is very important that kids learn to love to read, that they write thoughtfully and well. I think it is very important that they learn to read critically, deciding for themselves if they agree with an author’s point, and noticing the persuasive trickery that authors use. I think they need to know that there are books that can teach them about themselves, about others and the world and that they can be written in lovely and touching ways. But we are not giving them this. We skip around through the anthology, reading a mix of boring and interesting, but honestly, we don’t read anything that takes your breath away. Nothing that inspires creativity or thoughtfulness. Nor are we paced for thoughtfulness. We are paced for proficiency on an exam.

Yesterday we talked about adopting a reading program. Hmmm…should we choose Scholastic or Accelerated Reader? The kids are used to AR, and they have an online program so maybe we’ll just choose that one. When one teacher interjected with a question, “Excuse me, but I barely make it through the pacing guide as it is. How and when can I add a reading program?” She was told this has nothing to do with in-class activities. It is for at-home reading. The kids just take the reading tests at school apparently. And the grades from those tests should not comprise more than 10% of their grade. So now reading is not important enough to take time to do it at school and it is only done for rewards like points and other things? It used to involve prizes. Not exactly an intrinsic reward. Now there may not be money enough for prizes, I’m not sure. For myself, no extrinsic prize would motivate me to read something I didn’t want to read. I’d forego that over riding my skateboard or playing video games any day. A cute pencil or binder? Whatever.

I’m having my kids read for 15 minutes on Fridays and can’t quite get them all to do it. And that time would probably count as “downtime” if anyone in charge caught me doing it. The kids are only checking out books because I make them. So they check out “Serendipity” books or “Ripley’s Believe it or Not.” Great for four year olds, but not for seventh graders. When I try to interest them in a book they just say (as thought it is a allergy that can’t be helped), “I don’t like to read.” And they pull a face. This makes me sad, it really does. They are missing so much, and could easily do so for their entire lives. I feel like we’re headed fast down the wrong track and there’s nothing I can do about it. I hope the high school can deepen things for some of them.

So yeah. Next week begins a new quarter, and I’ll be back on track. Full of trickery to hold their attention for a few more minutes each day. I hope.

Year Two, Week 8: Planning matters.

(Eighth grade AVID students engrossed in a “silent Jigsaw puzzle competition” as a “Fun Friday” teambuilder activity. Happy campers, I might add…)

I can’t believe the first quarter is almost over. It ends in one more week. Recently the subject of discipline has come up in some teacher meetings, with some colleagues questioning the request by administration to send a referral with any student who is sent to the office, or to send it by the end of the period. People have bucked this request, saying they don’t have time to write six referrals as they are trying to teach, each of them saying “disrespectful.” I learned yesterday that a couple of colleagues have sent 30 referrals so far this year. I have found these revelations shocking and very discomforting. I don’t send referrals unless something huge has happened like last year when H. went after R. with a large pair of scissors. That seemed justified and I needed her to be out of the classroom. For good. Apart from those big events, it feels like I’m giving my power away when I send a student to the office. And if they are too busy to deal with my student and his or her issue promptly, then I have given away any chance of things getting better between that student and I beause my consequences mean nothing other than a break from the chaos.

I think another thing that has shocked me about the referrals is that it is so early in the year. I feel like I’m just getting started, just getting to know my students. I am just getting ready to make the first phone calls home for the year, and until I’ve done that I can’t in good conscience send them off to the office. Am I thinking backwards? Maybe, maybe not.

I will admit my classroom is pretty raucous at times. I am not always in complete control of things, but I credit the level of noise and on or off-taskness to my own quality of lesson planning. When my lessons are tightly planned, one thing transitioning into another, my classes are so much smoother. When I get loose so does my classroom. No big revelation there. So why, you might ask don’t I plan better to avoid so much of the annoyance? Good question. I like my weekends too much, my new computer too much? Yes and yes. But I also am a little frozen mentally right now. All the things I know to do, that I’m good at doing seem to be locked away for some reason that evades me. My goal is to access that part of my mind that used to be sharper than it is now. Better planning, better follow through.

Interesting enough, the last two times the Principal or another teacher have come into my room the kids were completely quiet and on task. In one instance they were writing, answering a survey I’d made up about what their families had taught them about how to behave in the world. The second time they were doing silent reading on a Friday. (Not everyone was actually reading, I’m sure but it was quiet and most of them were reading. I hope it catches on over time.) Notice that neither of those activities were standards based or part of the adopted curriculum? Yeah. Go figure. Anyway, I am dedicating myself to better lesson planning from here on out. Cause it matters. It really does, and I’m determined to actually plan something workable that uses that oh so hard, oh so disconnected from the real life of my students’ real lives adopted curriculum. I am. I will, and I’ll keep you posted on how it’s working. I will.

Year Two, Week five, or is it six: It’s a jumble.

We’ve made it through the first six weeks of school. Just like last year, my classes seem so loud and jumbly. If one side is quiet the other side is noisy, and if I get them quieted down the other side bursts out. I know it has to do with engagement and planning. Planning really engaging lessons. I swear I will go overboard in that regard this weekend, in preparation for next week. I have had appointments this week after school almost every day, so I’ve been unable to stay late. That has really cramped my style.

This has been such a long week. I’ve been giving the CELDT test to around 75 kids this week, so have had no prep any day. I am down to the last 15 or so who need one or two tests yet, which is a relief. Next week I’ll get those finished and then will begin to do all the finishing details so I can send them off. What a huge job this is. Last week there was an EL Facilitator meeting in which we were told that there is another job which has to be done by October 5 – we have to code all the core classes in two different ways in the data management system. The only time I’m able to do this is tomorrow after work. I’m so tired, and the idea of staying until 6:00 or so on another Friday night is daunting, but I can’t stay on Monday because I have an appointment with the Occupational Health clinic for the work injury I sustained a couple of weeks ago. So yeah, I’ll be there late tomorrow, again.

No one seems to understand all of the work involved with this ELF position. People worry that I don’t have enough to do to fill my release period every day. What they don’t know is that I not only fill it, I use my teacher prep for it as well, along with staying late every single day. I wish I could just hand out the list of required tasks to ease their worry about my having unfilled moments in my day. And once I get the CELDT tests sent off, and the coding done and the 22 Redesignations sent off to the district office and then to the parents, I will begin to set up the monitoring of the students who were redesignated within the last two years…and the list goes on and on.

Hm. No wonder my planning is less than stellar. I hope for a better next week. I swear I’ll be ready for it.

Here’s a tidbit, a tiny bite of my day:

Today my class came in quite noisily. I’d been out for a couple of days and they were behaving in a predictably squirrely manner. Donaldo kind of topped it off when he announced in a booming voice, “I’m a Phillipenis” Me: “You’re a what??” “A Philipenis.” Me: “Now your name is Philip?”
“No, I”m a Philipenis.” Me: “Donaldo, stop please.” “But you know, there’s a place called the Philippino.” Me: “But you’re not from there, Donaldo. I think you just want to say ‘penis’ really loud in class.” “Well, it is a place.” Me: “Yeah, but you aren’t really interested in it. You just want to say ‘penis.’ And now we’ve all heard you, so stop, please.” Donaldo: “Oh, okay.” So, yeah. Philipenis. Seventh grade.

New Posts? Where? When?

Well, it appears that I have not posted anything at all for a while, and I haven’t. Except last week when I was really frustrated and made the post private. And this week is difficult. I have a very painful leg, injured at work, and haven’t been there yet. But I will go tomorrow and I will persevere. With my Ibuprofen. And my strength of character. Right. I’ll be back with something else sooner than later.

Okay, maybe it’s not so bad…

Okay, today was better. Up until the moment they walked in I wanted to throw in the towel and quit teaching. But their little faces won me over again. It’s just so hard. There is so much to balance, so many personalities to fit into the mix. So, that’s all for now. I’m just saying…

Year 2, Week three: Here it comes…

Oh, I had such high hopes, good intentions. Today it feels like all was for naught. No matter what I do with my classes, no matter how much I slow it down and contextualize the material, they just don’t get it. I don’t know how to get in tune with where they are. I really don’t get how people can use those GUM books with the seventh graders. Are my students really that much lower than theirs? Do they just explain it better? Not notice that they still don’t get it? The thing is, if I just gave them a worksheet they would quietly do it. Wrong or right, ni modo. But they would do it. I know they don’t get what those worksheets are trying to accomplish, and even if they do for a couple of minutes get it, it wasn’t genuine getting it, so it’ll fade as they walk out the door.

Once again the loud ones, the hyperactive ones are dominating everything. Looking offended when I call them on their behavior. Tell me this is just one day and tomorrow everything will look up…