Extra Credit

I just got an email from a kid asking me if there's any way she can raise her grade other than by making up a test. "Like extra credit".

For some background info, for the past year and a half, I've been testing out a method of testing that is like benchmarks. I have split each semester into about 15-20 concepts and students get scored on each concept individually. Students have unlimited opportunities to raise their grade by retaking concepts (however, after awhile, they start having to take concept tests outside of class...on their own time because there wouldn't be enough time to test them on all concepts during class time). I take the higher score, but in order to get 100% for a concept they must show me they can do the concept twice.

Essentially a student who doesn't do well the first time on a test, could end up getting 100% on all their tests if they worked hard enough.


...which is why it irritated me so much to be asked if she can raise her grade other than by taking concept tests. Really? You haven't done half the work. I'm giving you a get out of jail free card when it comes to tests, but you don't want to do it. But you want extra credit? Uh...it's called EXTRA credit. You can't get extra credit unless you get regular credit first.

Assigning Homework

Theorem: The longer the homework "looks," the more whining there will be.

For example:

p. 102 #1-15 (Total of 15 questions) Won't get much whining

BUT

p. 105

#2-6 even

#7-10 all

#13-17 odd

#21, 22, 25

(Total of 13 questions) Will get complaints galore...even if you deliberately split up the assignment to have FEWER questions.

Scenario of the day:

Today I assigned

#2-12 even

#13-15 all

#16-22 even

#29-34 all

and I had a girl whine: "36 questions!!! Oh my gosh that's so much!"

my response: "uhh...the numbers are all between 2 and 34...and I didn't even assign all the problems between 2 and 34...How'd you get 36?"

girl: oh...

Then, I had two separate students count how many questions there actually are and both counted incorrectly...><>

English Learners

I spent two hours today trudging through Geometry homework with one of my EL students after school. I had to explain each of the instructions for each section and re-explain my entire lecture from today and re-explain vocabulary that we've learned and been using for a month and teach words that have nothing to do with Geometry, but were necessary for the student to understand what I was talking about. I say "trudging" because it was a slow process, not because it wasn't enjoyable. I really like tutoring after school, especially when the students are motivated to learn, but this case made me realize how hard it is for EL students. The homework should only have taken 30 minutes.

This year, I have a bunch of EL students. Most of them are really motivated, but still failing my class. They try, but some of the stuff in Geometry is so hard to explain even to someone who speaks English fluently that to someone who is still learning English, it must be complete gibberish. I imagine myself trying to learn Mutivariable Calculus in Spanish. It would not be pretty.

Looking for more good strategies...

How can you go too fast when you haven't even taught anything yet?

So...I was called in by one of the counselors only to be informed that several students want to switch out of my class because "I'm going too fast."

I think my first reaction when I heard this was, "How can you go to fast when you haven't covered anything yet?"

Usually, I'm pretty open to comments like this because there are times when I step back and think, "okay, I am losing a bunch of kids, time to slow down."

However, I was really irritated this time for a couple reasons.

1) No kids told me they thought I was going too fast. Yes, I realize kids are scared their first week and may not feel comfortable going up to a teacher they don't know. Fine. BUT there is a parent complaining to the counselors that they think I'm going too fast. Uh...hello? Shouldn't this parent be coming to me FIRST? Now it's MY responsibility to contact the parent about a complaint they made to the counseling office without first trying to talk to me?

2) We haven't even covered anything! I really don't know how I can possibly be going too fast when I purposely decided to spend 1 day doing introductions and 3 days on the first section of the book! We've literally only covered ONE section! According to the pacing guide, we were supposed to have covered the first three sections of the book this week. However, due to crazy random meetings, not getting books day 1, and shuffling classes AND due to the fact that based on past experience I KNOW kids struggle with the first chapter, I decided to screw the pacing guide and spend 3 days on one section instead of 1 section per day. I think the fact that I put extra thought into slowing the chapter down made me especially frustrated that I'm actually getting complaints that I'm going too fast.

I mean, seriously? We've covered one section that talks about points, lines and planes. If we go any slower it will literally take the entire quarter to get through chapter 1 and by the end of the year we'll probably only have covered chapters 1-4...we have 12 chapters in the book! I'm all for slowing things down when my class isn't understanding, but there's a limit to how slow I can go. I went through STEP, I KNOW it's not all about JUST covering the material, but at the same time, you can't call it a year long Geometry course if you've only taught 1/4 of the material for a year long Geometry course.

Pitfalls of teaching

Normally, when people ask me what's the worst part about teaching the first thing that comes to mind is either grading or classroom management...

but tonight I'm feeling like the fact that you have to cover your ass all the time is way up there on the list.

What brings about this train of thought you ask?

Already got my first upset parent...sheesh...just wrote a one page, very carefully worded email, which I will probably run by my coworkers before sending it out.

While I've had positive experiences with most parents, there are a few parents who I just don't understand.

Case #1: Parent who asked me to find ways to help her child improve, but when offered FREE tutoring every day from me said, "Oh, but she doesn't want to come to tutoring, can't you think of something else?" And then proceeded to complain about the fact that I don't collect homework every day.

Case #2: Parent who yelled at me for confiscating a phone/following school cell phone policy.

Case #3: Parent who complained that I gave her child a zero for not using pencil on a quiz. They were told the day before they need to do everything in pencil and that they would have a quiz the next day. When I tried to explain that it's better they get a zero on this quiz, which is essentially worth nothing, and get the picture that they need to use pencil than if i let them slide and they end up using pen on a quiz that's worth way more, they parent still didn't think it was fair because it was a bad way to start the school year. sigh...you would rather me let them start the school year NOT following class policies? really?

Some days...

...you just feel a bit hopeless.

It's like, if I can't even teach them this, what the heck am I even doing here?

My 6th period averaged a 25% on an area question. Here were the questions:

a) Find the area of a parallelogram with a base of 8 in. and a height of 9 in.

b) Find the area of a kite with diagonals 12 ft and 15 ft long.

c) Find the area of this triangle (they are given a picture of a triangle with a base of 16 m and a height of 7 m).

They have a formula list given to them, but they aren't told which formulas are which. But as long as they choose the correct formula, these are plug and chug problems. There are only 5 area formulas to choose from in the formula list. Only one of them has "d" for diagonals.

The formulas are:

A = bh

A = (1/2)bh

A = d1d2

A = (1/2)h(b1+b2)

A = (1/2) ap

They're all right there.

I don't know how I could possible make this problem any easier unless I told them exactly which formula to use and showed them how to plug it in.

The Gaping Holes...

Progress report time always makes me stand back and evaluate myself as a teacher. Usually, the result is depressing.

This time is no different. 60% of my students in Algebra 1 and Geometry (4 classes) are getting D's and F's. I didn't include Geometry 9 because that's one of those classes where you could put the kids with a book and then test them and they'd pass. Even if you throw in my Geometry 9 class, which only has one student below a C, about 40% of my kids have D's or F's.

Forget about falling through the cracks. It's more like there's a giant black hole in my classroom sucking kids in.

It sometimes makes me wonder, am I good enough to teach the population of students I'm teaching?

I believe that we should place our very best teachers in the schools that need them the most. After two years, I'm not really sure I'm all that great. I know I can't expect to be the teacher from Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, or Freedom Writers, but good teachers who know how to motivate students do exist outside of movies. I've seen videos of them in practice, heard stories about them, and I've known some of them.

I believe part of becoming a good teacher is learned, but I wonder how much of it is innate? Certain parts of teaching just come so much more naturally to some people than others. Especially when it comes to motivating students and classroom management (in many ways those two things go hand in hand). Part of me longs to learn the secret to motivating students, and part of me wonders if I ever will.

How is it possible that 60% of my kids are not getting passing grades (not counting D's as passing)? Quite a few of these could be passing if they just did more homework. What do I do to make that happen?

I don't even work in the hardest of areas. My kids are overall decent kids, who just don't really care about math. I want to be the kind of teacher that can get kids to care, but I'm not sure what the missing factor is.

It feels so good when you have that one kid who turns things around. The frustrating thing is there are about 54 other kids who you know could do the same thing if they just tried.

The Number Zero

The number zero has some interesting properties, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how it throws students off.

Yet, every time I deal with a problem like the one below, I'm surprised at how many students struggle to solve the equation, when it can in fact be solved either intuitively or by using regular operations on the equation.

0=4x^2

If you give a student 64=4x^2, they'll divide by 4, take the square root of both sides, and then give you the right answer (+/- 4). However, they look at 0=4x^2 as a completely different beast. They don't even know where to begin.

It's weird...

Perhaps this comes from confusion about dividing by zero. They've been told, you can't divide BY zero. They often mix up dividing one by zero with dividing zero by one. Therefore, in their heads they may be thinking, you can't divide by zero, when in fact the problem doesn't require dividing by zero, but dividing by 4.

They don't look at the intuitive solution either. They could all intuitively tell me that when I have two numbers and their product is zero, one of the numbers must be zero (Zero Product Property). However, they don't see that 4x^2 is just 4 times x times x. Therefore, the x must be zero in order for the product to be zero.

Overall, I feel like students have a very fragile understanding of what a product and it's factors are. That's what makes factoring polynomials so difficult too.

Small Victories...

Just did my grades. What I thought was going to be a depressing task, turned out to be not so bad.

Last semester, 2/3 of my regular Geometry class got D's and F's. This semester, slightly less than 1/2 are getting D's and F's, and quite a few of those D+'s are just on the brink of breaking the C- mark. Granted, most of this improvement is due to the fact that many people who got D's and F's last semester ended up dropping my class at the semester.

But there are a few cases where students who are just trying really hard have significantly improved their grades.

One girl tried sooooo hard last semester and still ended up with an F. But this semester, she has a C!!! Coming from the high school I came from, I never thought I'd be so happy about a C, but this girl has worked her butt of for it and I'm really excited for her. She had to take Algebra multiple times and barely passed it each time. When she came into my class, she said she was just hoping to get credits for the class (i.e. D-) and that her parents were fine with that because they all knew she's "no good at math." She has struggled a lot, but she's earning all 77% of her C.

A boy in my Algebra class (who should have been in block, but tested out I think by luck), was probably completely lost first semester. He did very little, understood even less, and got a 30% first semester. This semester, he's been working his butt off. I think he has the highest homework completion rate in his class (98%). At the beginning of the quarter, he was still getting an F (because he really struggles with the material). He asked me why he was still getting an F even though he was doing all the work. I didn't know what to tell him.

At the quarter, he now has a 61.85%. Again, I never thought I'd give a hallelujah for a D-, but if you think about it, he jumped from a 30% last semester to a 61.85% this semester (and the material second semester builds on stuff from first semester, so it's more complex). That's about a 30% increase and now he has a chance of getting credit for the class! He seriously earned it. I just hope he realizes that his hard work IS paying off. Going to have a pep talk with him tomorrow so he can keep up the good work for the last quarter.

Holding on to hope...

Addendum...

The kid who told me "I didn't teach him" the stuff on the test, literally told me today that it's my fault that he hasn't caught up with his work since he missed ONE day of school. Those were his exact words, "It's YOUR fault!" It made me think of my post. I went off on my kids after he said that.

"I don't like the attitude that if YOU didn't do YOUR homework, somehow it's the teacher's fault!"

Thankfully, the rest of my kids were like..."Ms. J, we didn't say that! Who said that?!"

There is some hope.

I also had students in my sixth period ask me, "Ms. J, why are you screaming at us?"

My response: "Because I have so many people to talk over!"

I think I'm reaching the breaking point and may need a vacation sooner than spring break. I think what really frustrated me was that during 6th period, I had students who are taking the CAHSEE tomorrow goofing off. Ironically, it's the kids who needed the review the most that goof off the most. "Oh, everyone said it's REALLY easy." I almost said, "It IS, but I honestly don't think you're going to pass if you don't pay attention today." These are the kids for whom several points is going to be the difference between them passing and not passing, and their goofing off may just have cost them those points. Last year, I only had one or two students not pass. I fear that fate for some of my 6th period.

Here is my conversation with one girl. I was trying to move her to the front because she was talking and she REALLY needs the extra tutoring for CAHSEE.

girl: Why? I'm not going to pay attention there.

me: Well, you aren't paying attention in the back.

girl: So, I'm not going to pay attention in the front.

me: Well, there's only so much I can do. At least you won't be talking and bothering other people. You have the choice to pay attention or not, you don't have the choice to interrupt other people's learning.

girl: So why should I move? I'm not going to pay attention!

me: You act as if it's a lot worse for me if you don't pay attention. YOU'RE the one taking the CAHSEE. YOU'RE the one who gets screwed over if you don't pass. YOU'RE the one who doesn't graduate if you don't pass. It's not MY future. I would pay attention if I were you, but I can't force you. The best I can do is move you to the front. If you still choose not to pay attention, I can't help it. So MOVE!

She finally moved and, true to her word, did not pay attention.

At the end of the period when almost all the kids had gone, I muttered under my breath, "I think this may be the class." And one of my seniors (who, thankfully, has passed CAHSEE) asked, "What class?"

me: The class where some people don't pass.

It didn't help that I had some juniors saying, "If I passed, EVERYONE can pass! It's SOOOOO easy." It really took motivation away from one or two students who really needed it. I told them, "You aren't doing people favors if you tell them it's super easy and they don't need to study because it may not be that easy for everyone. There are people who haven't passed it on the first try."

I suppose it's not all horrible. My third period was definitely more motivated. And I had one student in sixth asking questions about the review packet the entire period. Yes, ONE student. She may have just singlehandedly saved the entire class by asking her questions. CAHSEE is supposed to be the test that students are motivated to do well on...

Personal Responsibility

I have had several interesting conversations recently that made me continue to think about the culture we live in today and the culture we are fostering in our schools.

Let me start with my conclusion: We live in a culture where personal responsibility is seriously lacking. People blame others for everything wrong in their lives. "It's McDonald's fault that I spilled hot coffee in my lap. They should have told me it was hot!" Umm...lady...it's coffee! Coffee is generally served hot! Or even more ridiculous, "It's McDonald's fault that I'm fat!" No, you're fat because you choose to eat McDonald's every day.

The more I teach, the more I get frustrated with this mentality that my students bring into the classroom that everything is someone else's fault. Yes, I have a responsibility to teach them and to maintain a safe and effective learning environment, but there comes a point when they have to take responsibility for their own education.

Example: The other day, I had a student who lost his book. I had borrowed the book from him, but given it back almost immediately. He came to me and asked if I had his book because he couldn't find it anywhere. He was sure the last time he saw it was when I borrowed it. I told him, I was pretty sure I gave it back. He was pretty sure I hadn't because "I looked EVERYWHERE for it at home!" Lo and behold, the next week his mom found his book ON HIS DRESSER.

Okay, so that's not a great example. I mean, I've thought someone has had something of mine when they didn't. Honest mistake right?

Same kid was taking a test this week. "I wasn't here when we learned this!" According to my attendance sheet, he was here (at least physically) when I taught it, but even if he wasn't, he NEVER came in to find out what he missed on the day he was gone. PLUS, he had seen the test the day before (there wasn't enough time to finish the first day, so I gave them extra time the next day) and he didn't mention ANYTHING about not knowing the material, nor did he come in for help between the first and second day. PLUS, I had gone over the material AGAIN the previous day and they could have taken notes and used them!

"It's not my fault that I don't know this. I KNOW you never taught this to me because I don't remember it at all!"

Okay, first of all, you WERE here that day. Second of all, I went over it again yesterday right before the test and you didn't take notes on it.

Of course, the inevitable. "It's not fair."

Later on he looked at his notes. "Oh yeah, I found the notes on this. I guess I was here."

Students' automatic assumption is, "If I didn't learn something, it's the teacher's fault."

I had a conversation with a couple of students today about their previous math class. Granted, their previous teacher did have classroom management issues. Yes, the teacher does have a responsibility to be the adult and manage the class. BUT it's a heck of a lot easier to get yourself to pay attention than it is to get other people to pay attention.

Anyways. They were talking about how part of the class involved throwing things at the teacher (truth or dare) and part of the class played psp in the background when the teacher wasn't looking. Then they said, "But (our teacher) didn't teach us ANYTHING!"

Again, yes the teacher has a responsibility to create a positive learning environment, but the kids didn't see themselves as having ANY responsibility for having not learned anything.

"Well, I'm sure he/she tried to teach you, but did you pay attention?"

Turns out they participated in throwing things and goofing off.

"But it's the teacher's job to keep the class under control! He/she needs to put his/her foot down!"

So the student has no responsibility to BE "under control"?

Again, what they said definitely has truth in it. The adult needs to be the adult and set and enforce boundaries (harder than it sounds). Yet what irritates me, is that the kids don't see their own role in the fact that they "didn't learn anything last year."

I was in a class in high school where the kids were HORRIBLE to the teacher. I chose not to participate in the negative behavior and I still got something out of the class because I chose to. It wasn't like the teacher wasn't trying to teach. She was trying, but kids chose to misbehave or not.

What was REALLY interesting was a conversation I had with another teacher who mentioned that there was a kid who transferred to our school from a high performing private school. He made a very keen observation. "At (the private school) the teachers did nothing, but they made the kids do all the work. Here the teachers do all the work, and the kids do nothing."

So many kids nowadays expect to be spoon fed everything, and if the spoon doesn't reach their mouth, "It's not my fault!"

I have to admit, I participate in spoon feeding far too often. I'm just still not sure how to get kids to do stuff on their own.

I have a dream that one day, I'll figure out the secret of getting kids to take some personal responsibility for their own lives.

However, as I mentioned at the beginning of my post, it's tough when the culture we live in promotes blame shifting above responsibility.