Teaching High School

Exam Fun

Exams were given ten to fourteen days ago, but the students and parents received the report cards in the mail last Friday. Now the email and phone calls come pouring in. (I wonder where the concern was previously, but who am I to judge?)

Funny comment from one: "How could my daughter fail the [foreign language I teach] exam? She studied hard and we are both native speakers of the language. Isn't that impossible?" Well, I taught English before too, and if having native speakers at home guarantees a passing grade, many, many students are not doing so well in a "native speaker" environment.

Seven "C's" of Education

I agree with my fellow blogger Jeremy about these Seven "C's" of Education. In previous years, I have used them with various projects while still being able to "cover" the required standards and curriculum content.

One project really stands out to me, one that I had great success in planning, integrating, and delivering. Of course, there was much complaining and whining, but in the end, my students were grateful. In compacted form, here is what I did:

Students were to pick a novel to read. The novel choices we had for the grade level were pretty abysmal, so I was determined to have students enjoy reading and still learn about the elements of fiction. I also wanted their choices to have a purpose, so the requirement was that the main character had to be vastly different from them. For example, if they were a young African American boy who lived with his father and played hockey, he could not read about someone like that; a better choice would be a novel about a young Asian boy who plays guitar. Some students chose to read about homelessness, some about other cultures, and others about the opposite gender. The librarian assissted students by finding novels that they would be interested in but would also fulfill the requirements.

As they read, the students were to keep a reading log, taking special note of what they were learning about the other culture and/or lifestyle of the main character. A few times a week we would share some of the more startling and surprising finds. Often this amounted to "This person is much more like myself than I thought" comments.

Another component was to make a trip to a cultural event around town which related. Some students went to a homeless shelter, some to a Holocaust memorial museum, and others to a special collection at the museum. I gave students plenty of time on this aspect, also ensuring that they had a vacation time period over which to get there so that parents could take them (I conducted this project at the junior high I taught at).

After the reading, they formulated opinionated thesis statements in order to do a persuasive research report. This is much more interesting than the "I did my report on sea lions" essays. Even if students had selected similar cultural books, they had vastly different opinions. This made for much more interesting reading once I started evaluating them.

The final step was to give an oral report on their findings, incorporating their reading log, their cultural experience, and their research report. They also needed a visual aid of some sort: poster, flyer, power point, etc. Some students refused to do this step despite it being quite a large portion of their quarter grade.

So in filling the Seven "C's" I would say I accomplished Creativity by allowing students choice in what they could do. Ultimately, what they ended up doing had so much more to it than if I had assigned Great Expectations. Also, the visual aid was aimed at creativity.

There was plenty of Critical Thinking. Pulling all their ideas together for the writing and then the oral delivery was thoroughly full of thinking. The riubrics I designed for each aspect laid things out clealy so that they knew what had to be done but it was not so spelled out that they wouldn't be doing any thinking.

As for Collaboration, the students worked with the librarians, with me, with thier peers, and with their families (many parents were sure to tell me that they were glad they took their child to cultural event). So many times learning seems to take place in the so-called vacuum of the classroom.

Certainly obvious is the Cross Cultural Understanding component. The real fun for me was seeing interest begin after the oral presentations. It piqued the interest of their fellow peers so that others might visit a homeless shelter or go to the African American exhibit at the museum.

Often overlooked in the standards in my district for English is Communication Skills. Despite, as I mentioned, some students not presenting orally, the ones who did knew the expectations: don't read directly from a written script; be sure to look at the audience (more than just me, the teacher); pause, breath, slow down; and, answer questions. Overall, the marks for the speeches were high and well deserved.

Using the Internet helped in the achieving Computing and ITC Skills. But also, they used the Reader's Guide books to find magazine articles --some students coming to prefer that method-- and using the online card catalog. They also used the Internet to find local cultural events. Sometimes this required using wide and varied keyword seaches as the name of the city and homelessness did not often result in what they wanted. Learning the skill of the good search was valuable.

Finally, Career and Learning Self-Reliance Skills mightnot be so obvious. It is my hope that the skills they learned through putting it all together helped this aspect. I also hope that a few saw some startling new doors pushed wide open for them to pursue career wise. And I also hope that the students learned much about tolerance.

At the end of that school year, I recieved a kind letter from a student telling me how much he felt he had grown that year, how much he had learned about people different from him, how much wider his circle of knowledge now was. He was grateful to me for opening those doors to him. The funny thing is: He opened them himself; I just guided him to some good doors to try.

Seeing Similar Views

At A Schoolyard Blog I found a similarly minded teacher and blogger. I have seen in my years that helping students understand a concept rather than go through the motions of the worksheet is much better, but that's not what the parents seem to want. What seems to be missing (and I read about this too in a blog recently) is actual learning, as can be evidenced by the emergence of professors lamenting the fact that many of their students are ill prepared academically for university.

"Covering material" is also mentioned at Schoolyard Blog and I find this fascinating. I hear many similar complaints from well intentioned teachers that they taught something or "covered it" and now the students don't know it. I have found that if I teach something in myriad means and do not overwhelm with material, there will be better chance of remembering it and knowing how to use it. Also good to employ is Bloom's Taxonomy with each topic, and not just the bottom level. Going to the synthesizing level as often as possible benefits learning. But the parents don't want that and the administration doesn't want you to spend so much time on one topic and the government doesn't allocate so much time as it writes standards.

So, thanks Schoolyard Blog; I will continue to read your work.

The Revamped Teaching High School Teacher

I last posted two months ago. This was a forced break so I could vanquish negativity out of myself. I am now ready to write again and try to be a better teacher.

This semester has seen me more organized, more excited, and more involved with my classes. It has taken until now to finally feel at ease at the high school. I cannot say that I am completely happy with this switch in schools because I still miss my junior high, but in the two months since my last post, I have done much to be more positive about my career despite some of the things I know I cannot do.

I want to write more about things that I know to be good and better for students and point out flaws in the way things are currently done. I want to cite sites from the Internet which support both sides. And I want to try to be happier in my resigned position of having to use some teaching methods which I may not agree with but which, by doing so, will ultimately help me feel less stressed.

Thank you for all of you who have been reading. It was a shock to take note of the hits despite not being here. And now that I have figured out how to write an entry on my PDA, sync with my computer, and have it sent here on its own, it will be even easier to do so.

A Nice Analogy: Dental No Child Left Behind

I received this as an email forward from a friend who is also a teacher. I'm sure many have seen it, but I wanted to post it here just in case. A good point is made.

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The Best Dentist---"Absolutely" the Best Dentist

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I have all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.

"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.

"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"

"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average, and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."

"That's terrible," he said.

"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"

"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."

"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."

"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't control? For example," he said, "I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there am some kind of problem and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off," he added, "so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"

"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. I couldn't believe my dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.

"I am not!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most."

"Don't get touchy," I said.

"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaw, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. My more educated patients who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating actually is a measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse.  On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"

"I think you are overreacting," I said. " 'Complaining, excuse making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.

"What's the DOC?" he asked.

"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly laypersons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."

"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully.

The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?"

"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."

"That's too complicated and time consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure."

"That's what I'm afraid the parents of my current patients and prospective patients will think. This can't be happening," he said despairingly.

"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."

"How?" he said.

"If you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.

"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience? Big help."

"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."

"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress without regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."

I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened.

"I'm going to write my representatives and senator," he said. "I'll use the school analogy- surely they will see the point."

He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I see in the mirror so often lately.

Update on "Fun"

I have decided, after being sick late last week and then not thinking about school over the weekend, that my classes are just doomed to not be fun. In fact, nowhere does it say that I have to be fun: Not in my contract, not in the curriculum guide, not in the state-wide learning standards.

I guess those (ahem, their parents) will just have to deal with it.

And I will stop making apologies for it.

School Should be Fun?

So conferences were the other day. Sigh. I thought they had gone so well; at least, in comparison to last year when the parents yelled at me and the administration did not care to notice and therefore did not intervene. There was no yelling and it was quite slow, really, for being in a new building. I was thrilled.

Until today.

I had been requested yesterday by my English department chair to meet with her for a few moments during my lunch today. No problem, she's a great lady, a wonderful teacher, and has always been helpful to me. Well, she asked me about what I had said to any parents about technology use. As I recalled, I had said some things about why I hadn't used the language lab for my foreign language teaching to a few parents who asked.

So, firstly, the wrong chairperson had been contacted by the administration to discuss this with me. Secondly, she was so embarrassed and apologetic to have to be talking with me about this. Thirdly, I knew which parents had talked with the administration about this and as it happens, they are members of elected positions for the district.

A few reasons I had told the parents when they asked me about the technology use --or lack thereof, really-- in my foreign language classroom, were that I am new to the building, I have never had access to language lab facilities for teaching foreign language before, and I really do not know what is available to do in there.

These parents went on to tell me, along with some other parents I saw, that their child was no longer having fun learning foreign language anymore. I informed them that I am not the teacher those students had the last two years and that she and I have different teaching styles, as well as this being new material to these students which is not as easily made fun. (Is there a way to make past perfect tense in any language fun? And can you make it fun when it is formed a different way in the foreign language than it is in English? Yeah, I didn't think so either.)

For the last two years these students made videos "using" the foreign language and played games. All of that is well and good, but that does not lead necessarily to actually learning the vocabularly, dealing with word order, and overall being able to continue on with the foreign language. So these kids are struggling. And in these parents eyes, it is my fault. Because, gosh darn it all to hell, I am not making it FUN for them.

Fuck that.

I had just gotten to the point with this move that I had figured out the rules of the game, and then they are changed on me yet again. I am tired of bending over for these problems.

I am a good teacher. I have been told that by many other parents and former students. But of course, it is always the negative stuff that sticks out in your mind.

What is Your Classroom Management Profile?

Thanks to Up the Down Staircase's blog for the link to find out "What is your classroom management profile?"

Mine is authoritative. Right after I took it, I only thought there were three styles mentioned: Authoritarian, Laissez-Faire, and Indifferent. All three of those scores hovered around the same number (7). Then I realized my mistake and added up for the the Authoritative and it was 13. I read that one and was not surprised. Of course, as it mentions and as is true for most any quiz like this, some of all of them speak to me.

After eight years of teaching though, I'm disappointed in my management for my last class of the day this year. I've rearranged their seating, I've talked to a few kids in the hallway, and various other little things. What surprised me is that they have the highest average of my three English classes. Sigh. Oh well, they do have many good things to say about what we are reading, it's just that not everyone gets to hear it. I'll be happy with those times when they are spot on with having a discussion.

Something Missing

As I was planning a larger unit for English over the weekend in my head, it occurred to me what I was missing: My teaching partner. In the junior high school where I worked for eight years, I planned, thought through, conferenced with, found help from, and basically got much innovative curriculum designed with him. And now we don’t work together. Thankfully, he and I are also very good friends, and his house is on my way home from my new building. (Although truthfully, I go there more to play with his kids, than to talk shop with him.)

Hopefully, he and I will find the time soon to get together to discuss my tentative theme: Hope. Throughout the years, hope seems to be lacking from the students. They are lack-luster, don’t see the importance of an activity (even when –and actually almost especially when—the importance is explained to them). They cannot seem to see past tomorrow, or at the furthest, next week. I’ll grant that I probably didn’t either at their age, but the world has changed in the ten-plus years I have been out of high school. It is drummed into the students more how much importance these high school years have starting in the seventh grade. So “Hope” is the theme. I’m going to have a look at a book I heard about which sounds promising for this, called Common Shock.

Back After the Long Weekend

As I sit and sign students in who have a pass to the restroom, I feel sad for my former junior high coworkers. I seriously have more time at work/school to do school stuff during school time than I ever had. I get so much done during this restroom sign in duty. And it is so silly to have. I mean, I have to make sure students use the bathroom appropriately? What is that for? That was not fully explained, but I am sure it has something to do with security.

And then there is the beginning of the whining: This book is sooo heavy? Do we have to have it? Do we have to finish this story (five pages) for tomorrow? How do we actively read? (That after going over all hour and after they took notes on those terms previously and after I explained the assignment in three different ways. Ugh.) Welcome to the world of high school (although it really, at least right now, is not much different than junior high).