Grateful

It's not easy being a hard teacher* and recently I've been feeling worn down.

This morning my lunch buddy, who informally serves as my mentor teacher, reassured me that I am doing a good job. "No matter what you see in the classroom now, no matter how often they blow up at you, how much they hate you, they're learning something. They'll appreciate it eventually. The students who give you the hardest time now will be the most grateful later."

I've heard the platitudes before. I want to believe them. But sometimes I wonder how much this is just what we tell ourselves to make it through the day.

And then, as I was walking out the hall to the bus circle after school, D sauntered down the hall. I didn't notice him until he called, "Miss Cannon."

He gave me hell last year. Starting with the testing on day one. Only somehow I never passed. (And I'm not sure he did either.) I was relieved when he was absent and dreaded his class on mornings when I saw him at school. 

So it was strange to greet him in the hallway. He's home for break. Hanging out on the rez. Somehow, despite missing most of second semester last year, he is the student who is making it at college. I asked how his classes were. What's your favorite? 

Math. 

He's in Intermediate Algebra. They started this year with material he learned in my class, so that helped him. He wanted to apologize for his behavior. He thanked me for what I did. 

He blew my mind.

I asked if he'd write a letter to students about college. Or come in and talk to a class. He said that he's telling his friends. He think word will get around. I didn't push more. 

The rest of the conversation was a bit awkward for both of us. Our relationship is fraught with tension, being friendly was almost unsettling.

As I walked away, I realized the platitudes are rooted in truth. And for once, it came years sooner than I expected.

----

* Expecting students to learn. Consistently holding them to a standard. 

Claiming what's good

Some days are too ridiculous to share publicly. I'm afraid tomorrow will be one of those days. I think it already is. In place of the post I want to write, a few positive notes.

My Algebra 1 class conducted a survey about student experiences in the blizzard. We've been working with visualizing and analyzing the data. I'm hopeful that we'll have a summary of results on the webpage this week.

While watching a video about classroom management at a staff meeting, I felt bored. "Don't I already do this?" Made a more conscious effort of briefly asking students "What are you supposed to be doing?" during class today. It actually made a difference with fourth period. Sixth period still had it's sleepers though.

I'm interpreting students creating a romantic drama for me as a sign that they like me. They're comfortable with me. It seems to be in good fun (and they even knock it off when I tell them that's enough).

Finally, I'm going to bed before 11:00 tonight.

Phone call #4

I call my parents after school daily.

It's something I started last year. I need to process the day with someone from outside the system and they're great for it.

They had a meeting this evening, so I called a friend instead. I had stories from tutoring that I wanted to share.

Because I talk to my parents so often, I forget how sensational my stories can be. I remembered somewhere in the midst of telling my friend--a friend who's on the phone with me weekly; who has other teacher friends--because I didn't want to paint too negative a picture.

The theme of today's stories was one of hope. The lightbulb moment when a student saw the connection between repeated multiplication and addition. The awe that I've become a person that students can tell me some of the problems they're dealing with. And the way that students face their challenges.

These are the moments that remind me both that I have improved since last year and of the power of being a consistent presence here. These stories hold the promise of the coming year. My friend was able to catch the hopeful rays, but there's still the shadow reminding me how different the world my students experience is from my own.

After all, I can call my parents every day.

Yesterday's warm-up

It's based in fact. I don't know how much the elementary school really has, but I'm bracing for a sugar high as we let the classes have their candy. Time to go decorate floats.

Why I'll Keep Concept Quizzes

To say M struggled in my class last year is an understatement. M failed quarter after quarter through the year. I'm convinced she hated me for the first semester, but something changed when I came back after Christmas.

In the middle of spring semester, M buckled down. Graduation was coming. She needed to pass my class to get her diploma. We had a lot of catch-up to do. 

And we got it done. M was in my class for extra tutoring every chance she got. She took work home. She commented, "Man, this would be easier if I'd just done it in the fall." And while I wish she had done the work originally because I know she could have learned even more by the end, I jumped up and down in my trailer when I graded the test that brought her up to a passing grade. A week later I saw her graduate.

That's the allure of Dan's concept quizzes for me. Being able to (1) give students the chance to succeed all the way through the year (2) without letting up on the rigor of assessments. M and I focused on her lowest quiz grades, she knowing that their changes would have the biggest impact on her grade, myself trusting that they would increase her overall mastery. 

M was at a parent orientation night this week. She's enrolled at a local college where she tested out of the math requirement. I'm a little sad that she won't take another math course, but I'm thrilled that she knew enough to meet their requirements. 

I'm not as on top of things as other teachers, haven't yet hammered out sample questions for this years concepts. (I'm not even sure what my concepts will be.) But I'm grateful for the reminder that this method does help my students in a way that I'm not sure anything else could.

Word Problems

I knew I wanted to do some sort of warm-up this year. Finding one that worked was a bit more of a challenge. I finally settled into doing word problems. The requirement is that you have to show your work, write a complete sentence answering the question, and ask another question that could be answered from the information we have.

They're all handwritten on chart paper. I went through and typed most of them up. See them here if you need some sort of inspiration. (Or in your feedreader. It took me a bit to figure out how to get it up with blogger.) Warning that the quality of the problems vary.

I'm leaving the last warm-up word problem on the board. It's a reminder to myself of the situation here.

This year’s graduating class is 1/3 the size of this fall’s freshmen class. If we had 45 freshmen this year and assume that the seniors entered SFIS with a similar class size, how many students are not graduating this year?

Edit: Hrumph. Link not working yet. I'm leaving for my summer travels in the morning and need to pack. I'll update when I figure this out...

Departmental Differences

Yesterday, we skipped seventh period to hand out academic awards. The school left it entirely up to teachers to do their own awards, though they did provide stationary to use for certificates.

The math department gave a couple of students to the top students. (I gave awards for "Most Concepts Mastered" and "Most Persistent.") The English department spoke about how proud they were of everybody and made sure that every student in the school received something.

Letter to my students

I'm grading my first batch of final exams. Newsflash for you, worrying does not equal studying. Thinking about the test is not going to help you prepare if your thoughts aren't intentional.

This class got screwed over. Everything's interrupting them this week, so the final got moved up three days with very short notice. It cut down on the time when we explicitly reviewed as a class, but after all the talks about needing to prepare, I'm lacking sympathy. If you have to stay back from next week's field trip to a theme park (that was just announced last week) in order to really prepare and learn the material, so be it.

Stop worrying. Or, if you're going to worry, do so productively.

Such a rebel

I got written up yesterday.

For letting students come in for tutoring.

They came to my window to ask me to open the door. My phone rang at the same point, hall monitor saying the doors were locked and she would not open them for the students. I walked to the entrance, escorted them back to my room. I figure explaining that I got written up for trying to give students extra help so they could graduate would not look bad on my record.

Thankfully, I think my assistant principal agrees.

6 days until grades are due for seniors

18 more days of school total.

But I'm sorry, I'm not staying after school for tutoring today. I'm here twice a week. And the last time I stayed after for you, you didn't show up. You know the extra credit work you can do to bring up your participation grade. I'll be here tomorrow if you want to retake any concept quiz. If you want to come in before school, let me know. And if you absolutely CANNOT make it on the days when I'm scheduled, talk to me in advance, so I can adapt my schedule. (Yes, it needs to be at least two days in advance, even though you don't think this is a business.)

Yeah, it's pretty miserable you were suspended for school this late in the year. Sure, it's legal for you to chew. It's still against the rules to have tobacco products on school grounds. Maybe it's not fair for them to "just search your locker" like that. But if the drug dogs found it, and you know that the dogs do come to school, I'm not feeling much sympathy for you.

I understand that your favorite student want to go to college. But that's one of the reasons why I don't feel comfortable passing him. He really does not know the material. He gets mad and gives up if the idea doesn't click with him immediately. I'll keep working with him, and I'll be glad to help you so you can help him too. If he wants to go into a career that requires lots of math courses, then he needs to be able to tackle the math courses. We're here to help him do that now, but I can't pass him based on a desire that's not matched by effort and understanding. If he's frustrated in this class now, we'll all be even more frustrated if he's in a more advanced class next year.

It's great that you all made it to class today. Your work was amazing. Look at how much you're learning! Make sure you come back and make-up the quiz you missed when you were absent for four days last week, I don't want your grade to suffer. I'll have you in the next class next year? We're going to be awesome.

Hey look! By taking the quizzes that you hadn't done anything for, we've brought you up to a passing grade. We can get that even higher if you keep studying some of those concepts that you didn't do so hot on. Get those checked out and let's move your grade to the level where it should be.

I Got Observed Today, Part I

Dear people who observe me,

It's not that I don't like good reviews, having someone pump up my ego is fun. When you actually name things that I'm doing well, I appreciate it more than just hearing "That was great."

But, I am still new at this.

I am nowhere near perfect.

I can tell from how poorly students do on tests that there's a lot they don't get, meaning I'm not doing my job as well as I should.

So please tell me what to do better. Please give me some concrete ways I can improve.

Thank you,

Sarah

To remember when students hate on me

Subtitle: Like when I ask the student who's missed one-third of the school year what he wants from this class and am told "for you not to be my teacher"

At the beginning of year T was one of my nightmare students. I don't know why we butted heads, but it was bad. The "at least I don't have to kick you out of the classroom this time because you walked out on me" nightmare situation. I couldn't motivate her to do the work. At the end of the first semester she had a solid failing grade. 

I'm not sure what happened, but this semester has been much better. T's still not passing, but is much closer.

Today we went over grade reports and had a chance to do extra credit or makeup work. T's conference:

Ms. C and T are standing beside each other by T's desk.

Ms. C: Okay, so here's your report...

T: Shh, be quiet so other people can't hear.

Ms. C lowers voice even more and leans in close.

Ms. C: These are your absences, obviously they're hurting you. 

These are your quiz grades. You're doing well recently, but here were some rough ones.

Here are your participation grades. I know you've been doing them, but make sure to turn them in to get the grades. Remember when you miss school that hurts you too.

Now you can do either of these assignments to bring up your grade up....

T: flipping through binder Hey. Those worksheets that I didn't finish earlier, could I turn those in for credit?

keeps flipping to some material from the beginning of the year

Remember last year when I didn't like you and wouldn't do the work? Can I make that up?

Ah. Last year. I love the implicit message here that something really has changed since then.

Distraction

Most of the time I'm good at staying on track, not letting students get me off on tangents for long stretches of time. But I have one student who knows how to play me better than I do. He picks the right topics at just the right times. Today we had an early dismissal combined with low attendance. He's just starting a new topic, we have a four day weekend, and, yeah, I totally let him get away with it.

I'm glad I did.

Yesterday, we spoke briefly about his poetry. I asked him to bring in a piece to share. Today we were one-on-one, so we just talked. He performed his piece, which was an amazing moment for me. It gave me a chance to hear his perspective, to better understand where he is coming from. He's a pretty good writer, especially when I remember what his education has been.

At some point, the conversation turned to his plans post graduation. (I might have pushed it there.) I could envision him sitting around the cafeteria discussing philosophy, politics, religion, and whatever; having the courage to give his perspective during lectures; hanging out late at night; just being that voice from such a different life than his classmates. I can even see him finding his way to bring it back here.

I think it was the first time that I really saw any of my stuents succeeding at any college, not just one of the smaller, more local ones that caters to them. I could tell that he would have the courage to ask for help, a confidence that I lack for other students.

It makes me proud of him. I haven't fully learned his back story, but I think he spent time in JDC. I am almost positive he's been a trouble student in the past. He never expected to come this far. His poem included the line, "I never expected to live this long." And I'm sitting here dreaming of how far he can go.

I'm frustrated that the system has failed him. He has a brilliant mind, but his education is roughly at the same level as the middle schoolers that end up attending the colleges where I want to send him. I'm sure my visions of college are skewed by my own experience. I feel like he's best prepared for a community college or technical school, but wish I could send him somewhere like Middlebury. (Which both my sister and my cousin strongly considered last year.)

He's not always a stellar student. Mostly it's because he's absent so much, not because he's not capable. In some ways, taking the time to connect with him may be better for his math grade in the long run--who knows, maybe having a stronger relationship with me will help him come to school more. In every way I'm grateful that I have this student who is willing to share so much and help inspire me.

There's no halfway

After missing two days because of the nasty flu, I went back to school today.

Teaching is truly an all or nothing job. There's not the chance to work some, take a break, and work some more. I have to be THERE for students all the time. At least all of the time that I'm physically present. So I left at lunch. 

For the classes that I was there, I  started with a bit of a spiel. "I've been sick. I'm not fully well yet, just listen to my voice. But you still have so much to learn this year. It's important for me to make sure you can learn the material, but I need your help. We have to work together." 

One class really responded. They shaped up, paid attention, asked questions, got the work done. It almost makes me wish I was sick more often. 

But then another class reacted with the opposite. Same old antics. And me without the energy to manage. Thankfully, I'd kept the office notified about my health, so was able to call for some backup. I hate sending anyone out of the classroom, but, man, today it was worth it.

Teach it right.

R is one of those student who argues and complains.
His two favorite phrases:
"You didn't show us that."
"Yeah, well, you didn't teach it right."

Definitely a student who makes me want to claim the victories while I can.

Yesterday was a practice day in his class. I gave them time and space to work, checking in with everyone periodically. After looking over one problem he'd solved, I told him it looked great.

"That's all you have to do? That's so easy."

A relief to know that even though the day before I hadn't taught him anything, he can work through problems that require mastery of previous concepts in addition to the new material.

Good morning sunshine

Juniors and seniors had an assembly today that started during first period and went until middle of third. A few of my second period juniors and seniors showed up at the beginning of class. While I was trying to sort out with them whether I could keep them or not, a sophomore from third period came in. He looked groggy as he picked up his notes. Standing at the door, I said his name.

"I know I'm tardy. Just..." mutter under his breath.
"You're in the wrong class."
"What hour is it?"
"Second. See you in an hour."

The second period students had a good chuckle, before the hall monitors came to take them to the assembly or ISS. (Really? They can't do the work in my room? How is ISS any better?)At least, having a handful of students coming to class, getting ready to work, when they don't need to is a morale booster.