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.