This post is wrapping up my teacher-talk on planning and NCLB. When last mentioned, a question about "What Ought to be Taught" loomed on our collective horizon.
This question has two sides, as I see it. The first, I shall term Accountability. The Accountability side of the debate centers on, well, accountability. "We need accountability for students, for teachers, for administrators and for schools, and shoot, while we're at it, we need accountability on the policy-makers and politicians setting this whole system up too," might be the call to arms for the Accountability Camp. They might take issue with what exactly should be assessed, but some assessment is better than no assessment, and let's be honest, this is a work-in-progress folks, so they will take the TAKS test, they will take the NY Regents, they will take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, they will call for greater state-to-state alignment and national standards. They will call for merit pay because we should reward teachers who actually, well, teach...well. They will call for high expectations; high expectations for student learning, high expectations for teacher performance. The end game for Accountability is an excellent product; in this case, graduates that are capable of doing anything and everything and contributing to society (I assume.)
The somewhat-opposing view I will label as holistic (Note: I am completely making this stuff up. I am trying to put to words the sense I have of how things work, and I don't know how well it conveys the true nature of things.). This view is that students are Individuals, people. They have desires, needs, dreams, and education should lead them to self-actualization so that they can choose for themselves the path for their lives. As a teacher then, my role would be to help students to understand the world and their place in it, to help them learn to ask and answer questions that they themselves pose, to give the skills they need to relate to the world. Testing does not really fit into this structure.
I don't know that I have ironed out exactly what my view on the role of education is, but I know that Pure Accountability makes me feel empty when I teach, while Pure Holistic denies the reality of the system and gatekeepers that students must pass to advance into college or whatever.
A couple of weeks ago I had a lesson that did a pretty good job of balancing these competing purposes.
The lesson was the first of three or four dealing with the equivalence of rational numbers; this idea that fractions, percents and decimals all communicate the same amounts, parts of a whole, but are written in different forms. The objective for the lesson was for my students to see that all the numbers work the same way, and that we can compare them.
The lesson started with a situation.
"You just got a graduation gift of money. How much money do we have?"
Answers would range from $100 to $600. Surprisingly not one class went crazy on this.
"Okay, we have $500 dollars. We are going to put it in a bank account. Does anybody know why we might want to do this?"
Answers included so that we can write checks, to get a credit card, to save it for later. Roughly 20% of my students knew that bank accounts actually pay interest.
"Well, banks actually pay us to put our money there. If we leave our money in the bank, it will get more money for us and we don't have to do anything. So we have three banks to choose from. They have different savings rates. Which one should we choose?"
Kids knew that they wanted the most money possible. That was easy.
So, I conveniently changed the savings rates to easier numbers (none of this 0.32% crap), and made each bank use a different form of the rational numbers. As a class we went through and computed the first banks interest. As a table (group of 3ish), students did the second bank. As individuals, students computed the third bank. This took about 20 minutes.
"So which bank should we put our money in? Oh yea, Bank 3 gave us the most money! Cool. So let's review. We had a fraction a decimal and a percent, but they all gave us about the same amount of money. Hmm. We just spent 20 minutes figuring that out. Do you know we could have figured it out in 2 minutes?"
Groans echoed through the room. "Mister!" came the call from exasperated students.
I now introduce the idea of comparing rational numbers by changing them to the same form. We change them all to percents in 50 seconds, and have the best account in 70.
It was an early release day, so class was over at this point, but my students left knowing something real about the world (saving money in a financial institution helps me not to spend it AND it pays me money) and the saw something true about problem solving (there are many different ways to solve problems, just some are faster than others) and something content-wise (to compare rational numbers I need to have them all in the same form).
I felt extremely satisfied at the end of that lesson.
Showing posts with label Standardized Testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Standardized Testing. Show all posts
Friday, February 01, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A Landscape
Nick wrote:
So. The Goal. Of teaching. I think Nick has been pretty perceptive already with his breakdown of standardized testing; Standardized testing is not (IMO) meant to focus/motivate/assess individual students. It is meant to compare bodies of students. It is like any data metric; an average cannot tell us what is wrong in particular, but it can show the symptoms. I would view standardized testing's role as accountability and information; the tests hold teachers, schools, districts, states, and yes students, accountable for the materials that is 'supposed to be taught' in a given time period. It also gives information about student groups that are being under-served, specific weaknesses in content.
The problem is not that the tests exist. The tests ought to exist. The problem is in their use. First, they are used as a control device by the federal government. Schools are not a federal power, so the only way that the federal government can meddle, or attempt to meddle, is through money, whether bribes or threats. So the tests are attached to money. And this is where the problem comes in; as a teacher in a Title I school, our autonomy and our jobs hang in the balance if our students to do not perform well. If they do poorly, the government brings in oversight, pays for a program that we are forced to follow (this is how you raise your hand, this is what you say at 12:31.4 this is what you should ask, this is your homework), and then they will eventually cut all positions and restaff if it gets bad enough.
That creates a culture of fear and gives power to the test. Also incorporated in this is the very real nature of the tests as an individual gatekeeper; if the tests are being used for accountability, the students should feel some of that accountability as well. Hence we now have pass to advance in (I think) 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th. Our kids are tracked (somewhat) based on results. More power for the test. More fear.
These are the things that are going on. I know the things my kids and I are accountable for. I know the level of depth we must reach. I also know where my students enter my class; they enter behind. We need to catch up.
As a result I am always balancing competing desires as I write a lesson:
There are times when I focus too much on TAKS, and I get fed up, because I am doing a disservice to my kids. And there are times when I focus too much on just knowing the material and having real-life applicability (honoring my kids status as People) and then we have a TAKS question and it is worded weird and my kids can't answer it.
What should teaching be about? Probably 90% the first three and 10% the last one. But my kids just do not cross-apply knowledge well. I don't know why. I can't remember if I had trouble with that or not. So I have to teach TAKS to some degree. The degree is always varying.
Next time: An example of this balancing act in action.
"Which begs the question, should that be the goal of teaching? A standardized test. Or should it be about "learning". In practice, very few students would learn just because that is what education is about. Those are probably already the top students, such as a Mr. Blair as a child. Do the standardized tests help the laggards though? Probably not, nothing probably helps. So you have this middle group. Does it help the middle group? This is not a simple question, and one that I think we can all have opinions to but no right answers. I have teacher friends who loath No Child Left Behind (I have not discussed with Mr. Blair). I don't have a real opinion about it, but I can say with confidence that there was a reason it was created."I feel so lucky! I have had people actually posting comments on here, and not only that, but the comments are actually thought provoking and interesting and the beginning of a conversation. Granted, pretty much all the comments are coming from one person, who just happens to be a friend of mine, so really I could take this as a sign that we don't talk enough about "important" things...or I could just be glad I have comments.
So. The Goal. Of teaching. I think Nick has been pretty perceptive already with his breakdown of standardized testing; Standardized testing is not (IMO) meant to focus/motivate/assess individual students. It is meant to compare bodies of students. It is like any data metric; an average cannot tell us what is wrong in particular, but it can show the symptoms. I would view standardized testing's role as accountability and information; the tests hold teachers, schools, districts, states, and yes students, accountable for the materials that is 'supposed to be taught' in a given time period. It also gives information about student groups that are being under-served, specific weaknesses in content.
The problem is not that the tests exist. The tests ought to exist. The problem is in their use. First, they are used as a control device by the federal government. Schools are not a federal power, so the only way that the federal government can meddle, or attempt to meddle, is through money, whether bribes or threats. So the tests are attached to money. And this is where the problem comes in; as a teacher in a Title I school, our autonomy and our jobs hang in the balance if our students to do not perform well. If they do poorly, the government brings in oversight, pays for a program that we are forced to follow (this is how you raise your hand, this is what you say at 12:31.4 this is what you should ask, this is your homework), and then they will eventually cut all positions and restaff if it gets bad enough.
That creates a culture of fear and gives power to the test. Also incorporated in this is the very real nature of the tests as an individual gatekeeper; if the tests are being used for accountability, the students should feel some of that accountability as well. Hence we now have pass to advance in (I think) 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th. Our kids are tracked (somewhat) based on results. More power for the test. More fear.
These are the things that are going on. I know the things my kids and I are accountable for. I know the level of depth we must reach. I also know where my students enter my class; they enter behind. We need to catch up.
As a result I am always balancing competing desires as I write a lesson:
- The desire for my kids to know the material
- The desire to honor and dignify my students as people
- The desire to not bore myself
- The desire for my students to do well on the TAKS test
There are times when I focus too much on TAKS, and I get fed up, because I am doing a disservice to my kids. And there are times when I focus too much on just knowing the material and having real-life applicability (honoring my kids status as People) and then we have a TAKS question and it is worded weird and my kids can't answer it.
What should teaching be about? Probably 90% the first three and 10% the last one. But my kids just do not cross-apply knowledge well. I don't know why. I can't remember if I had trouble with that or not. So I have to teach TAKS to some degree. The degree is always varying.
Next time: An example of this balancing act in action.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Backwards Design - Planning
Since Nick got me going on Test Creation, I thought I would continue to unleash all of my incomplete knowledge of planning. I aspire to be a cautionary tale, so hopefully this ends up helping somebody.
Here is my current planning cycle:
Here is my current planning cycle:
- Beginning of the year: Look at all of the objectives that the State of Texas suggests 7th graders ought to know. These are found in the list of TEKS.
- I then group these objectives into thematic units based on synergistic skills. So I put percents operations together with proportions because I plan on teaching percent operations using proportions.
- Next I organize the units into a general order so that most basic skills are taught first. This insures that students have all the prior knowledge necessary for whatever unit they are starting. This is called my (cue theme music) "Long Term Plan".
- During the year: Before each unit I read through all of the test materials and book materials for the learning objectives contained in that unit.
- I go through the test creation cycle described in my other post.
- I create quizzes that are very similar to the tests, differing only in their length and scope. They still scaffold from ground up to TAKS, but they will only cover 1 or 2 skills, and be limited to 4 or 5 questions total.
- I look at my Long Term Plan to figure out how long I have to teach the unit. I break out my calendar and fit my test and quizzes onto it.
- Before I put the rest of my lessons on the calendar, I break down the objectives into all of the skills and knowledge that my students will need to obtain in order to be successful on the tests and quizzes that I wrote.
- Using this list of skills and knowledge, I fit them into general lessons and assign them to the remaining days on the calendar.
- During the week: For each day I review what my students need to learn to be on track for the upcoming test/quiz, and review practice materials, previous lesson plans, exceptional lessons (from NCTM or other EduBloggers for example), and textbooks.
- Knowing what my students need to know for a given day, I write some sort of assessment for that day. Sometimes it is the homework, sometimes it is just a question at the end of the class. Whatever it is, that is the daily progress to goal measurement.
- With the daily 'assessment' written, the rest comes out in whatever it comes. Sometimes I will have a good idea of the practice I want to use. Others I will have an idea of the Introduction of New Material (the actual teaching) section. The important thing here is that I build gatekeepers into the lesson between INM and guided practice, guided practice and independent practice so that I know my kids will be able to handle the next step of autonomy without wasting a bunch of time.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Backwards Design - Test Creation
Nick asked about assessment. He opened Pandora's Proverbial Box of Everything, so blame him when you start reading this and get bored. In an effort to save all you poor souls from reading, I will give the short answer here, and the long answer in a second post.
For any instructional unit, my assessment will have questions that scaffold from basic knowledge based questions up to the level that TAKS requires. I will have usually 4 questions per learning objective, with at least half of them being TAKS (literally off the TAKS test) or TAKS equivalent questions.
An example:
I have an objective: 7.1A compare and order integers and positive rational numbers.
My students need to be able to compare:
The end grade doesn't exactly match with the TAKS test because of the easy questions, but it does give an accurate view of how well the student knows that particular learning objective. And really, the goal is not, necessarily, to predict how the student will do, since the type of questions on the test change almost every year. The point is to see what areas the student knows and doesn't know so that I can give targeted remediation to sub-groups of students so that they have the tools to be able to pass regardless of questions.
"This is interesting. How did you create a target quiz/test score from a needed score on what I expect is a different type of test entirely. Unless these test/quizzes are in the same format as the TAKS examine. Not questioning your methodology. I just wanna know how it was done, so I can use it in other applications." - NickThere are four released TAKS tests. I also have textbook materials from 4 different publishers that are supposed to be aligned with the TAKS test, although any given learning objective has many interpretations, so there is a fair amount of variability between publishers. With these examples, I know what a specific learning objective looks like (in terms of assessment) for any of the 34 or so that my kids are supposed to know by the end of the year.
For any instructional unit, my assessment will have questions that scaffold from basic knowledge based questions up to the level that TAKS requires. I will have usually 4 questions per learning objective, with at least half of them being TAKS (literally off the TAKS test) or TAKS equivalent questions.
An example:
I have an objective: 7.1A compare and order integers and positive rational numbers.
My students need to be able to compare:
- Fractions with fractions
- Decimals with decimals
- Percents with percents
- Integers with integers
- Fractions with decimals
- Fractions with percents
- Decimals with fractions
- All 3 at the same time
- All 3 with integers
The end grade doesn't exactly match with the TAKS test because of the easy questions, but it does give an accurate view of how well the student knows that particular learning objective. And really, the goal is not, necessarily, to predict how the student will do, since the type of questions on the test change almost every year. The point is to see what areas the student knows and doesn't know so that I can give targeted remediation to sub-groups of students so that they have the tools to be able to pass regardless of questions.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
TFA Year One - Recap
No writing occurred for the past three weeks on this blog. This is self-evident. All you have to do is scroll down and see for yourself that the last date posted was May 6th or something.
One of my friends told me the other day that he thought maybe some freak hurricane washed me out to sea and since I was the only fatality of this otherwise innocuous natural disaster, there was no press coverage. What else could explain, he continued, your lack of postings *and* non-existent cell phone?
In truth, there was no natural disaster. I was ruminating. And I my phone stopped working.
I struggled, during this past month, to put this year in prospective. I knew that I would be returning to the Midwest for June, and with that return would come many friends, family and just acquaintances that would call me to give an account of my toil.
And my struggle revolved around a couple of questions:
The reality of this year though, is that by the numbers, I did not really make an impact. Yes, 7 of my students passed the standardized test, where no one passed last year. But there are quite a few students who passed 2 years ago or 3 years ago, and did not pass this year. In terms of net improvement, I had 50% of my students increase their scores. That means 50% decreased. The actual number of questions increased was also balanced by the number of questions decreased. So statistically, numerically, I am a wash for year one.
Yes, I still had an impact on my students. One of my students wrote me a letter talking about how she did not know how to divide before this year (a 7th grader) and now she does, how she was bored and ignored the teacher and she found herself being interested in fractions (!). This is a real impact. And so many of my students come to spend time in my room before school or during advisory saying "I don't want to go to so and so, they don't like me". Time and again the tough students come to me.
And while this *is* important, I cannot stop looking at the numbers. I cannot stop looking at one student who will come and engage me in conversation and then sit and do literally nothing during all of my class, regardless of my pleadings. If they don't *learn* anything from me, any math...well, did I alter there course? Did I change their life options? Who knows.
Despite these things, I can honestly say that I loved this year. I am returning next year. I recommend Teach For America to anyone and everyone. While I think it is not the end-all-be-all of educational solutions, I am reminded of a quote that TFA espouses, that really struck me by Mahatma Gandhi; "Be the change you want to see in the world."
TFA is *doing* something. I am *doing* something. And the something is not sand in the wind. The something lives and breathes and dreams and fears and grows up and changes the world.
One of my friends told me the other day that he thought maybe some freak hurricane washed me out to sea and since I was the only fatality of this otherwise innocuous natural disaster, there was no press coverage. What else could explain, he continued, your lack of postings *and* non-existent cell phone?
In truth, there was no natural disaster. I was ruminating. And I my phone stopped working.
I struggled, during this past month, to put this year in prospective. I knew that I would be returning to the Midwest for June, and with that return would come many friends, family and just acquaintances that would call me to give an account of my toil.
And my struggle revolved around a couple of questions:
- How do I explain the impact that I had when all of my hard data shows that I had no real measurable affect on my students? For that matter, *did* I have an impact? What was it?
- How do I explain the reality of schools like mine, where students are driven by the test and not much else? How do I explain the youth addicted to entertainment, with no focus for anything that does not involve BET, a movie or video games?
- How do I explain the administrators and teachers that are on the ground, working for the best for the students, but at the same time, trying to preserve their jobs? How do I explain their decisions?
- How do I talk about Teach For America, when I do not see 'solvency' in my classroom, when I see progress yes, but not solvency in my school, when I don't know what solvency even looks like in the broad scheme of things?
The reality of this year though, is that by the numbers, I did not really make an impact. Yes, 7 of my students passed the standardized test, where no one passed last year. But there are quite a few students who passed 2 years ago or 3 years ago, and did not pass this year. In terms of net improvement, I had 50% of my students increase their scores. That means 50% decreased. The actual number of questions increased was also balanced by the number of questions decreased. So statistically, numerically, I am a wash for year one.
Yes, I still had an impact on my students. One of my students wrote me a letter talking about how she did not know how to divide before this year (a 7th grader) and now she does, how she was bored and ignored the teacher and she found herself being interested in fractions (!). This is a real impact. And so many of my students come to spend time in my room before school or during advisory saying "I don't want to go to so and so, they don't like me". Time and again the tough students come to me.
And while this *is* important, I cannot stop looking at the numbers. I cannot stop looking at one student who will come and engage me in conversation and then sit and do literally nothing during all of my class, regardless of my pleadings. If they don't *learn* anything from me, any math...well, did I alter there course? Did I change their life options? Who knows.
Despite these things, I can honestly say that I loved this year. I am returning next year. I recommend Teach For America to anyone and everyone. While I think it is not the end-all-be-all of educational solutions, I am reminded of a quote that TFA espouses, that really struck me by Mahatma Gandhi; "Be the change you want to see in the world."
TFA is *doing* something. I am *doing* something. And the something is not sand in the wind. The something lives and breathes and dreams and fears and grows up and changes the world.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Year 1 - Nearly Complete
I have 14 days left of class.
I have 19 calendar days until I am flying to Grand Rapids.
It is so close. And yet I cannot seem to find an accurate description or summary or whatever to neatly wrap this up.
Maybe this can't be wrapped up neatly. Well, probably.
But still.
One thing I can say; after the TAKS test, the pressure is definitely off. There is much less urgency everywhere. This is sad, but on the other hand, everyone is tired. I can see it. Shoot, I can feel it.
I for one, have been leaving at 4 pm almost every day. It is a revelation. Mr. F relates it to being in college - it's like we finished class and we don't have any homework until next week, so everyone is looking for something to do.
To occupy this new-found free-time I have been playing very hard.
I found a new game, Settlers of Catan, which many people have recommended over the past couple years. It is awesome.
I also play basketball, and go climbing 2 or 3 times a week.
I'm watching the Wire season 3.
I am cooking a lot.
Good things. I'm ready for Michigan.
I have 19 calendar days until I am flying to Grand Rapids.
It is so close. And yet I cannot seem to find an accurate description or summary or whatever to neatly wrap this up.
Maybe this can't be wrapped up neatly. Well, probably.
But still.
One thing I can say; after the TAKS test, the pressure is definitely off. There is much less urgency everywhere. This is sad, but on the other hand, everyone is tired. I can see it. Shoot, I can feel it.
I for one, have been leaving at 4 pm almost every day. It is a revelation. Mr. F relates it to being in college - it's like we finished class and we don't have any homework until next week, so everyone is looking for something to do.
To occupy this new-found free-time I have been playing very hard.
I found a new game, Settlers of Catan, which many people have recommended over the past couple years. It is awesome.
I also play basketball, and go climbing 2 or 3 times a week.
I'm watching the Wire season 3.
I am cooking a lot.
Good things. I'm ready for Michigan.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
TAKS Week
I am all in favor of accountability through testing. It is a good thing.
Students should be held accountable for the materials they are expected to learn in a grade, and if they fail to meet those expectations, they ought to be retained and *supported* so that on the second go-around they *are* successful. Of course, this comes with the caveat that the education system should be equipping every single student to have the choice of attending a 4-year university, and it that end goal, every decision (like, "You aren't ready for the 9th grade because you failed 8th grade math, and we want you to go to college, so you need to know this before you go on") should be made.
And not only students should be held accountable. The schools themselves ought to be held accountable for the product (education) that they are delivering, as well as the environment (safety, cultural exposure etc) they provide. So too should the teachers themselves be held accountable. If you are a disinterested, uncaring curmudgeon who is killing time, picking up a pay check, and terrorizing kids, you shouldn't be teaching.
Again, however, this accountability should come from a place of "We want our children to have the life options of attending a 4 year college, what do we need to offer to get them there?" Good teachers, good staff, and a good, safe environment are all important factors in this goal.
Just to re-emphasize, I think accountability/testing is good.
I think that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and our state "high stakes" TAKS tests are stupid. I just survived a week of testing.
I do not know quite yet what would be a solution, but I know that the system we have now is broken and sucks. Just ask my students. Just ask teachers at my school.
To document, these are the things I did during the 6 hours that I was not allowed to do anything except "Actively Monitor" my classroom on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh yea, I was trained on what that meant.
Students should be held accountable for the materials they are expected to learn in a grade, and if they fail to meet those expectations, they ought to be retained and *supported* so that on the second go-around they *are* successful. Of course, this comes with the caveat that the education system should be equipping every single student to have the choice of attending a 4-year university, and it that end goal, every decision (like, "You aren't ready for the 9th grade because you failed 8th grade math, and we want you to go to college, so you need to know this before you go on") should be made.
And not only students should be held accountable. The schools themselves ought to be held accountable for the product (education) that they are delivering, as well as the environment (safety, cultural exposure etc) they provide. So too should the teachers themselves be held accountable. If you are a disinterested, uncaring curmudgeon who is killing time, picking up a pay check, and terrorizing kids, you shouldn't be teaching.
Again, however, this accountability should come from a place of "We want our children to have the life options of attending a 4 year college, what do we need to offer to get them there?" Good teachers, good staff, and a good, safe environment are all important factors in this goal.
Just to re-emphasize, I think accountability/testing is good.
I think that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and our state "high stakes" TAKS tests are stupid. I just survived a week of testing.
I do not know quite yet what would be a solution, but I know that the system we have now is broken and sucks. Just ask my students. Just ask teachers at my school.
To document, these are the things I did during the 6 hours that I was not allowed to do anything except "Actively Monitor" my classroom on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh yea, I was trained on what that meant.
- Read Philippians 1
- Read Philippians 2
- Read Philippians 1 over and over
- Read Philippians 2 over and over
- Walked around the room
- Walked around the room over and over
- Took 15 second sit breaks at the back of the room where no one in the hallway could see me.
- Took 15 second sit breaks over and over
- Counted steps as I walked around the room
- Counted steps over and over
- Did a crossword (this was on the second day, when I got bold)
- Folded paper cranes.
- Planned the remaining weeks of school.
- Thought about a project I am going to have my kids do
- Thought about ice cream
- Thought about ice cream over and over
- Thought about injuring myself
- Thought about injuring myself over and over
- Prayed my students would do well.
- Prayed my students would do well over and over.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Sharp Bright Spots
During third period today, which is the class occupying the hours of 12:40 until 2:10 pm every week day, my students were working in pairs on a TAKS Study Guide. The students were generally on-task and motivated, both by the reality of *the date* looming in the near future (April 17th folks!), and by the anticipation of playing Jeopardy on Monday and winning candy bars.
While the students worked, I milled around the room, moving from group to group, checking progress and answering questions. With about 15 minutes left in class, two of my Latina ladies stopped me. "Mister," one said, "may I ask you a big question?"
"Well that depends," I answered. "How big is the question? Is it *this* big? or only this big?" I asked, as I made two different circles, the first about even with my shoulders and the second about the size of a basketball.
"Oh, a BIG question," she responded.
"Sure." I take a deep breath.
"Have you ever laid your hands on a girl?"
"..." I wait. I replay the question in my mind. Did I hear that right? Lay my hands on a... What does that even mean? Do I dare to ask what that means? So I wait some more.
"Like, have you ever hit a girl."
"No." Phew. I am glad that is the direction that went.
The two of them look at each other and then both exclaim, "You are going be a great father."
So. I laughed. I had no choice. I mean, the absurdity of the situation, two female students, 13 years old, are commenting on my fatherhood potential, is mind boggling. But then to add into the mix that the deciding characteristic is that I don't hit girls?!?
After I laughed, the girls looked at me and said, "We're serious. It's not funny."
I apologized and tried to explain, couldn't make sense of it, and concluded with, "Thank you."
How do I begin to interact with students who look at not hitting girls as an enviable quality? No, that is not correct. How do I begin to interact with students who look at not hitting girls as a question that one *must* ask when considering males? Is this endemic to a sub-culture? Socioeconomic position?
Maybe I am just naive.
In fourth period, some students asked me, "Mister, are you teaching 8A, 8B or what next year?" (8A, 8B etc are the names of our different grade level teams).
"Well, I teach 7th grade."
"Oh man! I want you to teach us next year!"
"Well you can have Mr. Farber, he's really good."
"No, I want you to teach us!"
*smile*
While the students worked, I milled around the room, moving from group to group, checking progress and answering questions. With about 15 minutes left in class, two of my Latina ladies stopped me. "Mister," one said, "may I ask you a big question?"
"Well that depends," I answered. "How big is the question? Is it *this* big? or only this big?" I asked, as I made two different circles, the first about even with my shoulders and the second about the size of a basketball.
"Oh, a BIG question," she responded.
"Sure." I take a deep breath.
"Have you ever laid your hands on a girl?"
"..." I wait. I replay the question in my mind. Did I hear that right? Lay my hands on a... What does that even mean? Do I dare to ask what that means? So I wait some more.
"Like, have you ever hit a girl."
"No." Phew. I am glad that is the direction that went.
The two of them look at each other and then both exclaim, "You are going be a great father."
So. I laughed. I had no choice. I mean, the absurdity of the situation, two female students, 13 years old, are commenting on my fatherhood potential, is mind boggling. But then to add into the mix that the deciding characteristic is that I don't hit girls?!?
After I laughed, the girls looked at me and said, "We're serious. It's not funny."
I apologized and tried to explain, couldn't make sense of it, and concluded with, "Thank you."
How do I begin to interact with students who look at not hitting girls as an enviable quality? No, that is not correct. How do I begin to interact with students who look at not hitting girls as a question that one *must* ask when considering males? Is this endemic to a sub-culture? Socioeconomic position?
Maybe I am just naive.
In fourth period, some students asked me, "Mister, are you teaching 8A, 8B or what next year?" (8A, 8B etc are the names of our different grade level teams).
"Well, I teach 7th grade."
"Oh man! I want you to teach us next year!"
"Well you can have Mr. Farber, he's really good."
"No, I want you to teach us!"
*smile*
Saturday, September 30, 2006
More Kids Anyone?
Crazy week.
I am doing really well on my bi-monthly blog (okay I suck), and as a result of my pure un-filtered suckitude, I have to back-track to make this story make any sense.
**Back track**
It was a dark and stormy night.
I lied. It was a normal Houston morning. I came to school. I worked on stuff. I closed the Gap. Then I had my department meeting. Department meetings are a monthly event where all the math teachers get together and say "Man, this is going well, but *this* sucks balls." We complain about stuff. We also discuss a couple important things. Whatever. So near the end of the meeting, the department head says, "Well, I think that about covers it. Remember to focus on your bubble kids, and if you are doing tutoring that starts this week. Oh and I need to speak with Ms Agim and Mr Blair after the meeting."
I don't know about you, but when the 'boss' needs to speak with you, 2 out of 3 times (that's a ratio!) it's not good.
Sure enough, the conversation goes like this:
Department Head: "The state of Texas is doing away with SDAA (that's the Texas special ed standardized test). As a result, all schools have to phase out self-contained classrooms because all students will be taking TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). They are all getting moved to inclusion, and since these students are low in math, they are going to be joining your double block classrooms (90 minutes, every day)."
Me: Panic.
Agim: Says something intelligent.
Me: Panic.
DH: Answers Agim.
DH: "Again, the state does not require this until next year, but since our administration likes to be at the front of these changes, we are phasing them out now."
Me: Panic. A couple rational thoughts start taking shape.
DH: "Jacob, you will be getting at 13 new 6th graders and 19 new 7th graders. I know this will put you over the class maximum of 20 students, so you should think about any students that are close enough to proficient that they can be in a normal block math class."
Me: There aren't any students....well maybe one or two. But this would help them *so* much to be in double block. Crap. 32 new students?! "So when is this happening? And oh yea, I just got some new students from Mr. Jow. What is happening with that?"
**End Back Track**
So that was a couple of weeks ago. I kept expecting the new students to show up every day, they never did, so then I kinda forgot they were going to be moving.
Well, they showed up on Thursday. 1st period I had 8 new 6th graders (the rest went to Mr. Jow. I kept the students he sent me). My grand total is now 21. I think I handled it pretty well. I sweated a lot at the beginning though.
3rd period I received 5 new 7th graders. Only 5.
4th period did not change.
The only other change, aside from my classes having 13 new students, is that I am now co-teaching with SpEd certified instructors.
I guess I am still reeling from the changes that rolled through on Thursday. All I really have to say is Cheers to the administration for being on the forefront of the trends. Bleh to you.
Here's a pic of my classroom.
I am doing really well on my bi-monthly blog (okay I suck), and as a result of my pure un-filtered suckitude, I have to back-track to make this story make any sense.
**Back track**
It was a dark and stormy night.
I lied. It was a normal Houston morning. I came to school. I worked on stuff. I closed the Gap. Then I had my department meeting. Department meetings are a monthly event where all the math teachers get together and say "Man, this is going well, but *this* sucks balls." We complain about stuff. We also discuss a couple important things. Whatever. So near the end of the meeting, the department head says, "Well, I think that about covers it. Remember to focus on your bubble kids, and if you are doing tutoring that starts this week. Oh and I need to speak with Ms Agim and Mr Blair after the meeting."
I don't know about you, but when the 'boss' needs to speak with you, 2 out of 3 times (that's a ratio!) it's not good.
Sure enough, the conversation goes like this:
Department Head: "The state of Texas is doing away with SDAA (that's the Texas special ed standardized test). As a result, all schools have to phase out self-contained classrooms because all students will be taking TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). They are all getting moved to inclusion, and since these students are low in math, they are going to be joining your double block classrooms (90 minutes, every day)."
Me: Panic.
Agim: Says something intelligent.
Me: Panic.
DH: Answers Agim.
DH: "Again, the state does not require this until next year, but since our administration likes to be at the front of these changes, we are phasing them out now."
Me: Panic. A couple rational thoughts start taking shape.
DH: "Jacob, you will be getting at 13 new 6th graders and 19 new 7th graders. I know this will put you over the class maximum of 20 students, so you should think about any students that are close enough to proficient that they can be in a normal block math class."
Me: There aren't any students....well maybe one or two. But this would help them *so* much to be in double block. Crap. 32 new students?! "So when is this happening? And oh yea, I just got some new students from Mr. Jow. What is happening with that?"
**End Back Track**
So that was a couple of weeks ago. I kept expecting the new students to show up every day, they never did, so then I kinda forgot they were going to be moving.
Well, they showed up on Thursday. 1st period I had 8 new 6th graders (the rest went to Mr. Jow. I kept the students he sent me). My grand total is now 21. I think I handled it pretty well. I sweated a lot at the beginning though.
3rd period I received 5 new 7th graders. Only 5.
4th period did not change.
The only other change, aside from my classes having 13 new students, is that I am now co-teaching with SpEd certified instructors.
I guess I am still reeling from the changes that rolled through on Thursday. All I really have to say is Cheers to the administration for being on the forefront of the trends. Bleh to you.
Here's a pic of my classroom.
Monday, September 04, 2006
I see teaching everywhere
Since I started training with Teach For America in June, my life has slowly (okay, instantly is more appropriate) changed into being centered on teaching.
I see teaching everywhere. I read facebook and see my friends talking about jobs as teachers. Or talking about crappy teachers (professors) that they have.
I listen to NPR and hear about a huge scandal in the Newark , NJ public schools.
I come home on Friday and while channel-surfing, discover a 20/20 story about the deplorable state of the American school machine, entitled "Supid in America".
And of course let us not forget the fact that I work as a teacher in a TEXAS public school, one of the first states to implement High Stakes Testing (let us not forget that the illustrious President Bush was once governor of this fair state).
In fact, I am an intervention teacher, which means I am teaching the kids who are directly affected by No Child Left Behind and are at risk for being held back not because of grades but because of 'high stakes testing'.
I find this immersion curious. When I worked at Honeywell or Boeing, my life did not suddenly turn into Engineering Fest. To be clear, I do not mind, in the least, the totality of my current life being consumed with education. I choose this place, this time, and am grateful for the opportunity.
I do wonder however, if TFA'ers have a view of the world that is in stark contrast to the rest of the education system. While watching Stupid in America, I definitely felt sick to my stomach as the NY teachers vehemently defended their rights to suck at their jobs and not get fired.
Maybe job security is more important when your old.
Maybe after teaching for years, you get disillusioned and want to go out to pasture at your own volition.
Or maybe they just suck, and couldn't find a job that requires next to nothing from them and won't fire them for misdeeds.
I am not sure. What I am sure of, and I want to make this a proposal to all my education conscious friends, is that I think this country needs to embrace the capitalist ideals that have helped make it great, and allow vouchers for every students education. My proposal is that we all move to a small state like Rhode Island or Delaware and get vouchers passed as a state-wide initiative to give benchmark data to the rest of the country.
Competition is good. It is the basic driving force for innovation. We can deal with lots more of that in education.
But I better stop thinking so hard. It *is* Labor Day after all. Plus I don't want to pull anything.
I see teaching everywhere. I read facebook and see my friends talking about jobs as teachers. Or talking about crappy teachers (professors) that they have.
I listen to NPR and hear about a huge scandal in the Newark , NJ public schools.
I come home on Friday and while channel-surfing, discover a 20/20 story about the deplorable state of the American school machine, entitled "Supid in America".
And of course let us not forget the fact that I work as a teacher in a TEXAS public school, one of the first states to implement High Stakes Testing (let us not forget that the illustrious President Bush was once governor of this fair state).
In fact, I am an intervention teacher, which means I am teaching the kids who are directly affected by No Child Left Behind and are at risk for being held back not because of grades but because of 'high stakes testing'.
I find this immersion curious. When I worked at Honeywell or Boeing, my life did not suddenly turn into Engineering Fest. To be clear, I do not mind, in the least, the totality of my current life being consumed with education. I choose this place, this time, and am grateful for the opportunity.
I do wonder however, if TFA'ers have a view of the world that is in stark contrast to the rest of the education system. While watching Stupid in America, I definitely felt sick to my stomach as the NY teachers vehemently defended their rights to suck at their jobs and not get fired.
Maybe job security is more important when your old.
Maybe after teaching for years, you get disillusioned and want to go out to pasture at your own volition.
Or maybe they just suck, and couldn't find a job that requires next to nothing from them and won't fire them for misdeeds.
I am not sure. What I am sure of, and I want to make this a proposal to all my education conscious friends, is that I think this country needs to embrace the capitalist ideals that have helped make it great, and allow vouchers for every students education. My proposal is that we all move to a small state like Rhode Island or Delaware and get vouchers passed as a state-wide initiative to give benchmark data to the rest of the country.
Competition is good. It is the basic driving force for innovation. We can deal with lots more of that in education.
But I better stop thinking so hard. It *is* Labor Day after all. Plus I don't want to pull anything.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Teaching - Day 7
Well howdy do.
I think I can distill my thoughts after a complete week of teaching to a pretty short phrase: "I want to be good. Right now."
Okay, so that was two phrases, but in all seriousity, I want to be so good at teaching, and I want it right now. Of course that's unrealistic, but whatever. I still want it.
I am getting better. Every day brings a bit more control of situations. Every day brings a bit more preparedness in the lessons. End total is that growth is occurring and growth is good.
On Wednesday, my Advisory (read: homeroom) class was signing up for intramurals. We had to decide on a team name, so I went for the democratic approach. Anyone could nominate a name, and then we would vote. The nominations were as follows, in the order they appeared:
1. Princesses
2. Alief Cubs
3. Cubs
4. H-Town Lions
5. Alief Fire (or torches or something I can't remember)
6. Diana
7. Mr. Blair's Pimp Class
So yea. After "Mr. Blair's Pimp Class" was suggested, I just started laughing, and then responded with "That's a great name, but completely inappropriate." Do you think I lost some authority by my response? :^)
Today, a girl asked if she could go to the bathroom, and I gave an emphatic no. She then asked "What if I use it on myself?"
"That would be embarrassing," I replied.
The following interaction ensued.
Other student: "You got that right."
Teacher: "You used it on yourself at school before?"
Other student: "4th grade TAKS test."
Teacher: "Serious?"
Other student: "Yep. I fell asleep during the test, and used it on myself."
2nd Other student: "Yea, and when he came back into the room with different shorts everyone was laughing."
So there you have it. Don't fall asleep during any standardized tests.
I think I can distill my thoughts after a complete week of teaching to a pretty short phrase: "I want to be good. Right now."
Okay, so that was two phrases, but in all seriousity, I want to be so good at teaching, and I want it right now. Of course that's unrealistic, but whatever. I still want it.
I am getting better. Every day brings a bit more control of situations. Every day brings a bit more preparedness in the lessons. End total is that growth is occurring and growth is good.
On Wednesday, my Advisory (read: homeroom) class was signing up for intramurals. We had to decide on a team name, so I went for the democratic approach. Anyone could nominate a name, and then we would vote. The nominations were as follows, in the order they appeared:
1. Princesses
2. Alief Cubs
3. Cubs
4. H-Town Lions
5. Alief Fire (or torches or something I can't remember)
6. Diana
7. Mr. Blair's Pimp Class
So yea. After "Mr. Blair's Pimp Class" was suggested, I just started laughing, and then responded with "That's a great name, but completely inappropriate." Do you think I lost some authority by my response? :^)
Today, a girl asked if she could go to the bathroom, and I gave an emphatic no. She then asked "What if I use it on myself?"
"That would be embarrassing," I replied.
The following interaction ensued.
Other student: "You got that right."
Teacher: "You used it on yourself at school before?"
Other student: "4th grade TAKS test."
Teacher: "Serious?"
Other student: "Yep. I fell asleep during the test, and used it on myself."
2nd Other student: "Yea, and when he came back into the room with different shorts everyone was laughing."
So there you have it. Don't fall asleep during any standardized tests.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
I have students!
WELL!
I am so overdue for an entry that I do not even know where to begin. I guess a really brief summary is in order.
I spent the past couple of weeks (those weeks between the end of TFA Institute and the beginning of the school year) doing lots of nothing. I tried to plan for the school year, but felt directionless.
Last week marked the beginning of in-service for Alief ISD teachers (Weds, 8/9/06 to be precise), and began the gradual increase in workload and panic that I have experienced. I visited my campus, started setting up my classroom, attended a ton of meetings, and finally learned what I would be teaching.
And then suddenly it was Wednesday, 8/16/06, and I was stepping into Alief Middle School as a teacher who was about to meet his students.
I have three classes of Intervention Mathematics. 1st period is a 6th grade class of 11 students. 2nd period is my planning period, and conveniently includes lunch. 3rd period is a 7th grade class of 11 students. 4th period is a 7th grade class of 12 students. Intervention Mathematics is a program for those students who failed TAKS, the Texas standardized test, during the previous year. My students are essentially the lowest performing math students in the 6th and 7th grade. To help these students out, we 'intervene' and make them take math every day for 90 minutes, as opposed to the normal schedule of math every other day for 90 minutes.
What this means is that my students are going to have a lot of time to improve on their fundamental skills, as well as tackle the new objectives for this year.
I am so excited.
A couple points of interest:
6th graders are adorable. They sit so still and quiet, and just look at you and you just can't help but love them.
A surprising number of students answered my survey question which inquired after their best friend with "None".
One student wrote that she was good at "Looking cute".
Another student wrote that he was good at "Spending money".
A surprising number of students wanted to grow up to perform in fields for the reason of helping other people, whether that be in medicine, law enforcement or others.
I am so overdue for an entry that I do not even know where to begin. I guess a really brief summary is in order.
I spent the past couple of weeks (those weeks between the end of TFA Institute and the beginning of the school year) doing lots of nothing. I tried to plan for the school year, but felt directionless.
Last week marked the beginning of in-service for Alief ISD teachers (Weds, 8/9/06 to be precise), and began the gradual increase in workload and panic that I have experienced. I visited my campus, started setting up my classroom, attended a ton of meetings, and finally learned what I would be teaching.
And then suddenly it was Wednesday, 8/16/06, and I was stepping into Alief Middle School as a teacher who was about to meet his students.
I have three classes of Intervention Mathematics. 1st period is a 6th grade class of 11 students. 2nd period is my planning period, and conveniently includes lunch. 3rd period is a 7th grade class of 11 students. 4th period is a 7th grade class of 12 students. Intervention Mathematics is a program for those students who failed TAKS, the Texas standardized test, during the previous year. My students are essentially the lowest performing math students in the 6th and 7th grade. To help these students out, we 'intervene' and make them take math every day for 90 minutes, as opposed to the normal schedule of math every other day for 90 minutes.
What this means is that my students are going to have a lot of time to improve on their fundamental skills, as well as tackle the new objectives for this year.
I am so excited.
A couple points of interest:
6th graders are adorable. They sit so still and quiet, and just look at you and you just can't help but love them.
A surprising number of students answered my survey question which inquired after their best friend with "None".
One student wrote that she was good at "Looking cute".
Another student wrote that he was good at "Spending money".
A surprising number of students wanted to grow up to perform in fields for the reason of helping other people, whether that be in medicine, law enforcement or others.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
TeachForAmerica - Institute Day 16-20
Busy week. Here's a summary...
Day 16,17 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
On both of these days my third grad class was taking the TAKS test. This test is a high stakes test as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative (which I basically think is a load of crap, but I digress). The kids were *very* nervous about the test. They were required to come to summer school because they did not perform well on the TAKS the first time they took it this year, and they might be required to repeat the 3rd grade if they did not perform well on this go around. While I think that the school administration generally shies away from holding back students based on test scores (they favor the 'social promotion' mindset), the option is still very present in the minds of the students, and is a recourse available to the administration.
A bi-product of the TAKS testing on Tuesday and Wednesday was an inordinate amount of free time to observe other classrooms, work on teaching skills, review curriculum, and hone lesson plans. On Tuesday I got to travel to Edison Middle School for observations. At different times, I sat in on 6th, 7th and 8th grade math classrooms. It was great to see the age group that I will be teaching and to see some of the curriculum that I will be responsible for. One of the classrooms had exceptional classroom management and decent student engagement and participation. The second class was middle of the road in terms of classroom management, but student investment was pretty high. The third class was a disaster on both accounts.
Day 18,19 (Thursday and Friday)
While I was supposed to be teaching Writing this week, Thursday marked the beginning of TFA Summer School and the end of Title 1 Summer School. Practically, this meant that the Title 1 teachers were no longer teaching Math/Lit hour and Math, leaving both of these previously unassigned subjects to the TFA teachers. So I switched to Math. On one day's notice. And had to write 2 extra lesson plans, prepare a lesson that I had not finalized and 'waste' 3 Writing lessons I had prepared (these were all transferred to collaborative members, so it was not a total waste). In general though, this has been the standard Operating Procedure for A+ Thompson, so I took it in stride.
In fact, my math lessons were something I had been looking forward to, prepared very thoroughly, practiced, and subsequently gave, with great success. On Thursday we reviewed the writing of numbers in word and numeral form (11,203 = eleven thousand two hundred and three), and placed it in the context of writing checks. "Imagine that you are graduating from college. You are one of the top math students in the entire country. Everyone wants you to work for them. Microsoft wants you to make up computer programs. The Government wants some codes. They are all offering you this piece of paper with numbers and words on it. Is this money?"
Friday's lesson plan went really well also, and the kids got so excited about winning points in Around the World, even though the points did not go towards anything (other than self-satisfation).
Other Big News
I am signing a lease for my apartment tomorrow evening. I will be living one roommate (Adam), in a pretty convenient location on the west side of Houston.
I also got a job this week! I was offered a yet-to-be-finalized position at ALIEF Middle School as a math teacher. I will either be teaching 8th grade, or a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Intervention class for students who failed the TAKS during the previous academic year. Either position would be very cool. The principal is also excited about me playing basketball for the staff in the student vs staff basketball game. I don't think she knows that I was a swimmer. :^)
Day 16,17 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
On both of these days my third grad class was taking the TAKS test. This test is a high stakes test as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative (which I basically think is a load of crap, but I digress). The kids were *very* nervous about the test. They were required to come to summer school because they did not perform well on the TAKS the first time they took it this year, and they might be required to repeat the 3rd grade if they did not perform well on this go around. While I think that the school administration generally shies away from holding back students based on test scores (they favor the 'social promotion' mindset), the option is still very present in the minds of the students, and is a recourse available to the administration.
A bi-product of the TAKS testing on Tuesday and Wednesday was an inordinate amount of free time to observe other classrooms, work on teaching skills, review curriculum, and hone lesson plans. On Tuesday I got to travel to Edison Middle School for observations. At different times, I sat in on 6th, 7th and 8th grade math classrooms. It was great to see the age group that I will be teaching and to see some of the curriculum that I will be responsible for. One of the classrooms had exceptional classroom management and decent student engagement and participation. The second class was middle of the road in terms of classroom management, but student investment was pretty high. The third class was a disaster on both accounts.
Day 18,19 (Thursday and Friday)
While I was supposed to be teaching Writing this week, Thursday marked the beginning of TFA Summer School and the end of Title 1 Summer School. Practically, this meant that the Title 1 teachers were no longer teaching Math/Lit hour and Math, leaving both of these previously unassigned subjects to the TFA teachers. So I switched to Math. On one day's notice. And had to write 2 extra lesson plans, prepare a lesson that I had not finalized and 'waste' 3 Writing lessons I had prepared (these were all transferred to collaborative members, so it was not a total waste). In general though, this has been the standard Operating Procedure for A+ Thompson, so I took it in stride.
In fact, my math lessons were something I had been looking forward to, prepared very thoroughly, practiced, and subsequently gave, with great success. On Thursday we reviewed the writing of numbers in word and numeral form (11,203 = eleven thousand two hundred and three), and placed it in the context of writing checks. "Imagine that you are graduating from college. You are one of the top math students in the entire country. Everyone wants you to work for them. Microsoft wants you to make up computer programs. The Government wants some codes. They are all offering you this piece of paper with numbers and words on it. Is this money?"
Friday's lesson plan went really well also, and the kids got so excited about winning points in Around the World, even though the points did not go towards anything (other than self-satisfation).
Other Big News
I am signing a lease for my apartment tomorrow evening. I will be living one roommate (Adam), in a pretty convenient location on the west side of Houston.
I also got a job this week! I was offered a yet-to-be-finalized position at ALIEF Middle School as a math teacher. I will either be teaching 8th grade, or a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Intervention class for students who failed the TAKS during the previous academic year. Either position would be very cool. The principal is also excited about me playing basketball for the staff in the student vs staff basketball game. I don't think she knows that I was a swimmer. :^)
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