You might be a teacher if ...

I quit

2006-05-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have decided to quit blogging for now. I may come back to it in the future when I feel that I have something more important to say. But for now, I think I am all dried out.

Thinking

2006-05-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

They buried on of our honors students yesterday. She died in a car accident on Friday in a storm. A tree fell in the road in front of her mother's car and she died in the crash. No one else in the car was hurt.
It makes me think. She was an honors student, a ballet dancer, flute player in the Eastern District Honor's band, head of our Academic Challenge team (which is 2nd in the state), a junior scholar, a member of the national junior honors society, a member of her church's youth choir, and an all around good person. She was one the kids who gives me hope for the future, and now that is gone. I am so frightened of what our world will be like in 20 years because of a severe lack of people like her.

Only 2 weeks 4 days and 5 hours left to go

2006-05-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

I do believe that our school has nearly reached critical mass on middle schoolers who think that summer vacation has already begun and we're on the verge of a nuclear reaction that some of us are never going to forget.

Let's see we have a lame duck principal who is being demoted to assistant principal at an entirely different school (with many less "problems"). We have a lame duck assistant principal who will not be returning as any kind of administrator. We have another assistant who will be back (but only because he felt like staying). The principal is actually abdiacting the throne.

The kids know all this. They've really known it all year. Because they started out the year with "The principal is not a real principal, right?" And my all time favorite "I like in school suspension, it's fun! Can I go back?" Or "I'll slap that principal/teacher/nurse/guidance counselor if they get in my face again."

I actually had four kids refuse to work yesterday because they said they should get a break before PACT starts next week and not have to do anything for a couple of days. (I thought that was the purpose of the weekend.)

On top of that 4 or 5 of them have court dates coming up next week (mostly for being incorrigable). And then there are the two of my students who were arrested for rape about a month ago. Now since it was part of a gang intiation for the girl, they think they should get off for it. (But the admin says there are only about 20 students in our school in a gang out of 900, well I guess 6 of them are in my class, because they have been caught and admitted to it. Not to mention that 10 of my books are so full of gang signs that you can barely read the cover page.)

I have also been yelled at by no less than 6 students this week because I put them in time out, my new invention for our class. Yes, I know it is middle school, but they're only 7th graders for screaming out loud. Yes, I know most of my 7th graders are actually 14, but who really cares. (Actally 2 of them are getting a car over the summer and will be driving themselves to 8th grade.) They act plenty immature enough to have time out. (Heck if it works for my 2 year old, maybe it will work for them!)

And OH THE JOY, THE UNSPEAKABLE RAPTURE of PACT tests. I can't wait to stand in front of a room of 18 students for 3-4 hours administering a test where I can't sit for too long, can't read anything, can't grade papers, can't write anything, can't use my computer, or anything remotely entertaining.

I guess I just have summeritis too. Which makes no sense, because I'll be teaching summer school, just a glutton for punishment I guess (or trying to save the money for a down payment on a house, whatever.)

Why do I blog?

2006-04-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

Here is my response to a post by EdSpresso located here. http://www.edspresso.com/2006/04/teachers_blogging_anonymously.htm

I started blogging to try to connect to other educators with valuable experience that I was lacking as I have only been teaching for 2 years. There was (and is) very little support in place for new teachers at the school and district that I am currently working in. I also blog to vent my frustration with the daily difficulties of being a middle school teacher.

I am not very concerned that anyone will find out who I am, but I avoid mentioning around my colleagues that I have a blog. I also do not use my real name (only a nickname that my parents use for me), and I avoid being specific about where I teach (only mention the state).

I try to avoid blogging about any one person at my school in particular, but it can't be avoided sometimes. Some things are so rediculous that they need to be brought out for everyone to see. Also, this is the last year that my current school will be in existence. My adminstration will be completely different.

Not sure what my best blogging moment or worst has been. I feel fairly new to the whole thing.

Drama

2006-04-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

I had to remove 3 girls and 1 boy over a fight about somebody's boyfriend in first period. I mean a physical fight. I am so tired of this drama.
I know to expect drama with middle school kids, but it just seems like the end of the year is going to hell in a handbasket on a bullet train with no turns in the tracks and downhill all the way.

School Shootings

2006-04-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Education Wonks just posted about recent school shooting attempts in the last couple of days.

This is one of my worst nightmares. I live in constant fear that one of these kids is going to come to school and take out a few dozen teachers and students. They threaten to do it all the time. We even had one teacher last year who said, "If I wind up dead, so and so did it." And she wasn't kidding.

So what is causing all of this violence all of a sudden....

What kind of positions are the stars in right now? (not that I'm into astrology, but what the heck>?)
_________________________________________________________________
Common Astro-Factors in School Shootings
In addition to confirming familiar astrological principles, this study revealed factors that are more surprising and suggest new avenues for further research. For instance, Mars retrograde (when Mars appears to be moving backward as seen from Earth) was found to appear in twice as many charts as it would normally be expected to occur. Four times as many events as would normally be expected took place when Mars was close to perihelion (the position in its orbit when a planet is closest to the Sun).

Compared to expected frequency, seven times as many charts took place close to a planetary station (when a planet appears to “stop” to change direction). The largest deviation from expected frequency was found with the cycle of Venus. In eight years, the period of this study, we could normally expect that one of the 33 events would occur near the time when Venus is at perihelion or aphelion (its position furthest from the Sun). A total of thirteen charts showed this feature! The Littleton, Colorado, event (probably the most notorious school shooting) occurred on the very day that Venus reached perihelion.

Getting back to more familiar astrological factors, one feature we might expect in charts of violent events is aspects (significant angular relationships) between any two of the three planets Mars (war, anger), Saturn (rules, structure) and Pluto (power). In an impressive confirmation of astrological theory, every one of the 33 charts showed at least one aspect between two of these planets; two thirds of them (22) showed two or more aspects.
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0002265.HTM

Hmm... could it be in the stars?

Just trying to lighten things up. Not coming off as too crunchy (flaky) I hope. I don't really believe in astrology, but it must be a full moon or something, because these kids are nuts.

Quote for the day

2006-04-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

Here's one that will give you something to think about. As a parent, it makes me think about my son.

A child educated only at school is an uneducated child. ~ George Santayana

Carnival of Education

2006-04-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm really liking this week's Carnival of education, especially the From the Classroom section. I can really sympathize with the Montessori teacher since I've been accused of altering one of my student's grades this week.

I had a parent meeting Friday called by the principal because the student involved wanted to be removed from my class. This particular student has been an A/B student until the current grading quarter. His grade has now slipped to an F. He claims to have turned in everything that he recieved a zero in (even though I know that he was out of class for one of the assignments because I had to send him to the asst. principals office at the beginning of the class period for his behavior.) He now claims he turned in that assignment. He knows because he got the answers from another student. The parents' comment was "See, he found a way to do his work."

This particular child also only answered 4 of 24 questions on the last test, earning him a grand total of 19/100 points. I, not wanting to see him unable to pull up his grade for the rest of the year, gave him a 60. (I did the same for every student under 60 on this test, all 3 of them.) I handed the test paper to his parents to see his absolute lack of effort. But it all sounds suspicious to them. But they're not siding with their son. They understand how hard teachers work, but there are too many inconsistencies.

I sat there and took as much as I could. Tried to be polite and eventually quit talking, because my momma said "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." And the principal sat there and listened to the entire conversation and said nothing at all. So now this student will think he has his parents' permission to do nothing for me whatsoever.

Thank goodness I have a teaching assistant in that particular class period who can attest to the new depths that his behavior has reached in the past month and half. And looking at his latest test from Friday, it seems to be another F (5/25 blank).

So what should I do?

Interim Reports

2006-04-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Lord, I love interim reports. Please let me send them out once a week. Beacause it is the only time that I get to hear from anyone's parents. And I absolutely adore being screamed at about why little Johnnie has an F in Science when all he made on the last exam was a 45. But little Johnnie had a B last quarter, what happened to little Johnnie's grade? Well Mrs. Johnnie, you see little Johnnie has taken to staring at the celing during science class, and only answered 10 questions on the 25 question test. You see his peers have been doing this all year long, and I can only assume he is following their example. Also, Mrs. Johnnie, little Johnnie failed to turn in any homework so far this quarter and has only completed about half of the class work which accounts for his failing grade. Well, can't he have any extra credit work? No, I'm sorry, Mrs. Johnnie, but I will allow him to make up the classwork that hasn't been turned in but it has to be in to me by Monday. Shouldn't he have more time? Well he's had four weeks Mrs. Johnnie.
I also adore the yes I have a D. One point above failing! The bare minimum for me please. Yes, sir, good enough.
I just can't wait until the end of the year report cards come out.

Welcome Back, Your Dreams Are Your Ticket Out

2006-04-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we have returned from spring break to face 3 more weeks of instruction before standardized testing (better known as PACT) begins. I started the week off well with a 24 hour bug that left me wishing I was dead. And then I thought I had died and gone to hell on Tuesday when I found out I was to attend a sales presentation for a new interactive whiteboard at 9:30 and then a second one at 12:00. Apparantly SmartBoard is confident in it's position as the number one interactive whiteboard in the world because their presenter for lack of a better word sucked.
The Promethian Board presentation was much better. Still not sure which one to go with because I was drugged at the time so some of what I saw might have been a hallucination.
So Wednesday was my first official day back and what a hoot! My classroom had been completely rearranged by maintenance over the break, but I kind of liked it so I left it that way and made the kids think I did it on purpose. But on the minus side, they were buck wild that day. It took them until today to finally begin to settle into a semblance of school children (instead of zoo animals).
I am going to become queen of the universe someday and outlaw all Easter Candy to middle school children before 3 pm.
Anyway, I feel like I'm just getting back into the swing of things and it is Thursday.

Quote for the day

2006-04-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
-- George W. Bush (on Education reform, Feb 21, 2001)

Direct Instruction

2006-04-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

I just ran across a few articles on Direct Instruction. Does anyone out there have any experience with it? Please let me know what you can about it. I am not sure what to think.

Education Wonks

2006-04-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

There is quite the comment war going on over at The Education Wonks! And I being a glutton for punishment have joined in on the bashing. I am lined up to have my comment disected and taken the wrong way.

Please see the comments on the following post:

http://educationwonk.blogspot.com/2006/03/problem.html

Fall of the Roman Empire

2006-03-29T09:43:00.000-08:00

Found a list of reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire, just wondering if any of this sounds familiar.

1. Decline in Morals/Values
2. Public Health
3. Political Corruption
4. Unemployment
5. Inflation
6. Urban Decay
7. Inferior Technology
8. Military Spending

I read something once comparing American society to the Roman Empire. I just can't help but wonder if maybe our society is on a down swing (if not a full out fall).

What a day!

2006-03-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

It seems like more and more often lately I find myself making this statement at the end of my day. I am getting very perturbed by the fact that I am surrounded by students who don't care about their grades, or learning anything for that fact. I have been yelled at by students no less than four times today. Four times. Things are out of control. When I send them to administration they come back 5 minutes later with a grin on their face and a verbal warning. If all they needed was a verbal warning, I think I could have handled that on my own. I call parent after parent only to be met with repeated wrong numbers, disconnected numbers, busy signals, full voice mails, and so on. I am frustrated beyond belief with some of this crap.
The students in my school are SO unmotivated. We have a couple of long term subs working here who are certified, but retired, so they sub for extra money. They are shocked by the conditions here.
I also feel like I am struggling with them respecting me. I look like a 12 year old myself, so they feel like they can treat me like one of themselves. I get a little more respect from them than one of their fellow students, but not nearly as much as older teachers. This is getting insane.

Updates

2006-03-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

Hi, I apologize to any of you who actually read my blog for not updating you on anything in the past two weeks. It's the end of our quarter, and I've been busy preparing grades and final exams for the quarter.
I am plain worn out, and the tension down this end of the hallway has been getting pretty thick. Even the administration has said that the tension level in the cafeteria doubles when we walk into the room. I can really feel the tension during the day, and I have been trying my best to eliminate as much of it as possible. But it doesn't really work
I have sort of formed my own support system of veteran teachers, and we kind of congregate in the classroom across the hall after school. We have a good time telling funny stories about our students. Sort of reminds me of some of the blogs I've read, lol. I feel so worn out though. You can probably feel it in my writing. I'm too tired to even complain about anything . . .

So I'll sign off on that, and I'll let you know how finals go. Of course, right now one of the kids wants to kill me because he claims I lowered his grade down to a 52. Now why would I fail someone with that low a grade? If I was going to change it I'd have made it something easier to prove like a 68 (sarcasm!!).

What the F?

2006-02-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Several people (both students and adults) have found it necessary to drop the F-bomb around our school in the past week. I realize that it is a stressful time of year for all of us around here, but I don't understand what's gotten into some of the adults around here. I know the kids are crazy (no one has to tell me that). A couple of people are threatening to quit (for the umpteenth time).
The teacher down the hall (Ms. M) has quit 3 times in the past week (but only to her class). Of course she quit about an even dozen during the first semester. She has stormed past my door twice yelling down the hall "I quit! I quit!" only to turn around before reaching the main office and coming back to her class.
We have also found out that of 4 current administrators only 1 will be returning to our school next year. The others are all moving on to bigger/better/mandatory things.
I have not had the slightest inkling of quitting. Instead, I have been researching discipline and classroom management ideas/systems. Any ideas for what works for you? Keeping in mind I have a classroom full of people who in their own words don't give a F***. But seriously, what works for you?

IT'S SNOWING!!

2006-02-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

It is so snowing here!!! I am so happy. They haven't canceled school yet, but this is the south and it's only a matter of time !!!! I am thrilled.

I was just telling someone yesterday that I needed a vacation.

Can I get a comment?

2006-02-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Just wondering if this same trend is popping up at any one else's school. My middle school boys have taken to tucking their pants into their socks. Just wondering if boys everywhere are doing the same. Or are mine just crazy?
Thanks!

DanceDance Ultramix 2000

2006-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

I am the hugest fan of this video game, and have in fact been using it to work out since early last year. So you'll understand how excited I was to see a news story saying that schools were now using this to encourage excercise in their PE students.
I am so thrilled that this technology can finally be used for good and not evil.

Dance Revolution Hits West Virginia Schools

HI

2006-02-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Glad to know that someone reads my blog, lol.... Thanks for the previous comments.
I hope that I don't make being a middle school science teacher sound horrible. It is one of the best jobs I have ever had. I have had such a good day today. The teachers I don't get along with are out today (both took a "mental health" day). The kids were so well behaved. I took them outside for a lesson on food chains. I had so much fun watching them explore. I am such a happy camper today.

Why do I write in this blog that no one sees?

2006-01-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

I don't really think it matters that no one reads this blog. No one reads my journal either. I have nothing profound or exciting to say. I just need to get my feelings out in black and white sometimes. I read over at the Hobo Teacher Blog about one of his students crying yesterday. I had the exact same experience with a middle schooler yesterday.
So I have the same question about school. Why do I come in the door everyday? It's not for the money, not for the fame, not because the kids care about learning (because they don't), not for the company, and not for the praise. So why?
I think it's because I hold out a secret hope that one of them may learn something they can use someday and think of me. One of them might remember what I taught them about the environment this week and actually recycle a soda can. One of them may take it all and become a scientist or a doctor or even just a garbage collector who knows a little bit about how a landfill works.
I hold out a never ending hope that someday someone will realize the importance of being educated no matter what your career path is. Someone might see that it makes them a better human being to read good books (or any books for that matter), to know the history of our world (and maybe prevent themselves from making the same mistakes our ancestors have made), to see how the world works and how intricate and amazing it is, to understand that not everyone around them shares the same opinions and views and to see that that is a good thing. Just one of them would be enough to make me die a happy woman.

Why doesn't this surprise me anymore?

2006-01-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Why is it just a matter of time until the next school shooting? Why do I wonder when not if it will happen in my school district or even in my school? Maybe it's because of the sheer number of kids who are arrested with weapons (including guns) on campus lately.

If someone had brought a gun to my school when I was in middle school there would have been an uproar, but now no one even says anything about it. It seems to me to be a matter of time until someone is killed at my school, and I don't know what that says about my community in general.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060113/ap_on_re_us/school_evacuated

Here is the link to the story of another middle school student (15 yrs old) who brought a gun to school and threatened to kill himself. Was it for attention? Who knows? They're not even sure if it was a real gun (or aren't telling anyone). So of course the police shot him to end the situation. He is in critical condition according to the story.

What is going on? Why do we have to worry about this stuff? Why can't kids be kids and grow up slowly?

I can't help but feel we are at the end of an empire, and the barbarians are slowly but surely taking over. I just can't wait for total anarchy to break out.

I have returned

2006-01-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas Break is finally over. I am sitting at my desk awaiting the arrival of the students as they return from Christmas. I hope with a little rest and ready to move on, but I know it's going to take a lot of prodding from me to get them anywhere. I have decided to drag them kicking and screaming into knowledge. It won't kill them to know a little science when they get out of 7th grade (or repeat 7th grade).
It looks like we're going to have a lot of repeaters next year. I compiled a list of students who are failing my class and what they need to make during the next semester to pass for the year. I have two who will need a 94 average to pass. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Enough negative on to the positive! I am well rested for once in my life and ready to carry on. It's almost as much fun as the first day of school.

Grades are in.

2005-12-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

Well, my grades are in. And it looks like a few less people are failing this nine weeks, but the higher grades have gone down. I feel like everything is such a fight, so I decided to give my students a little dose of reality yesterday. I kindly informed them that someday many of them would be required of hold down a job that resulted in enough money to support themselves or a family. I also informed them that it is nearly impossible to do so on a minimum wage job. They then were told that even most minimum wage jobs now required them to have at least a GED, if not some kind of training after high school.
They were very surprised to learn that on F in a major class (science, social studies, language arts, or math) would keep them in 7th grade for a 2nd year, and that students were no longer placed "socially" after elementary school. I got a bunch of "that's gay" and "that's whack," "They placed me in 7th grade and they'll place me in 8th too." "I can go to summer school."

Oh, au contraire summer school wannabe, we are moving over the summer to a new school building and another group is moving here. There is nowhere to hold summer school. So when you make that F, that is IT! The assistany principal made the comment to me yesterday that the 7th grade will be huge next year because of the number of potential failures for this year.

Are people animals?

2005-12-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

I had the most interesting debate with one of my classes yesterday, about whether or not tthey thought people were animals. I took the side that people sere animals. I had several students take the opposite side. One even broke out his bible and tried to use it to reason with me (Which I had to put a stop to fast). The only bad argument I really got was that if people are animals and dogs are animals why can't people and dogs talk to each other. This one kid refused to give that up as his reasoning. Of course the others go over that pretty fast.

Don't care or what?

2005-12-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

I just sit back in awe today of the number of students who don't care that 3 days prior to the final exam they have an F.

Do they care? Are they putting up a brave front? Does school really matter to them?

I keep coming back to this question over and over throughout this year. I think the answer is that they don't really care because they aren't expected to care. Their parents don't care, by the obvious lack of return phone calls I get. (I know some of the parents care, but I saw them 4 1/2 weeks ago at interims).

I wonder about so many of them. Do they understand that someday they will have to have a job? My students have such a sense of entitlement about them. They think that it will all just be given to them someday. That a scout for the NBA will be standing next to the neighborhood court and draft them right then and there. Or that P-Diddy will come to the school talent show and offer them a recording contract and a million dollar advance.

When I ask them what they want to do when they grow up, they all want to be rappers or football players or basketball players. They're going to make a billion dollars and be famous someday. I know it's adolescent dreams. I wanted to be an actress when I was twelve, but for some dumb reason I also wanted to be a teacher. I hear so few of them say, "I want to be a doctor when I grow up," or "I want to be a fireman." I would take anything. Even television/vcr repair. Anything realistic. Not everyone can be a professional sports player.

They also know that school isn't necessary to be a famous person. What they don't know is most famous people at least finished high school, and a lot of them went to college. Most professional sports players were discovered on college teams. Very few recruiters go to high school and middle school games (probably none, but I wanted to cover all my bases here.)

Middle of nowhere South Carolina is where they'll wind up staying until the day that they die. Not that it's a bad thing to be here. I left and came back, but it is bad to be stuck here because you have no other options.

Just venting my frustrations on my blog. Thanks for listening.

SIck

2005-12-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

I have been teaching sick all week. What a great experience? Of course, I have been steadily getting worse each day. My husband got over the same cold 3 days ago. And I think mine has turned into a sinus infection. I will put myself in the hospital to keep from having to prepare for and deal with the reprocussions of a sub. My room is always such a mess when I have had a sub that it's not worth the trouble of cleaning up the next day. I hope that I can recover over the weekend. Tomorrow is one of our work-days so at least the kids won't be here.

8th grade science

2005-11-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Ignorance rears it's ugly head.

2005-11-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

I, because I am a glutton for punishment, started my discussion of disease off with my first and second period classes today when they are still doped up from all that turkey and fatty food from over the weekend. So the one's who were not asleep by the time we got to viruses were treated to one young lady's cure for HIV. She has heard of a berry that you can go out into the woods and eat, and you will be magically cured. She also refuses to believe that there is currently no cure for HIV or AIDS since she knows some one at her church who ate the magic berries, prayed, and God cured her of AIDS.

"Don't you get a headache and a stomachache when you have AIDS?"

"Doesn't all you hair fall out when you catch AIDS?"

And about a million other questions that are just wrong...
On top of that, I had to answer a half dozen questions about marijuana and glaucoma. They all have glaucoma and plan to move to California to fill their legal marijuana perscriptions apparently. Of course they think it's legal in South Carolina too. And kids from North Carolina can't play basketball....

I am just amazed at what they actually think can happen sometimes. They wow me with the depth and breadth of the ignorance they bring. They believe everything they've ever been told by parents and cousins and siblings about their bodies. Isn't it true that if you do such and such you'll catch a disease and die. If you eat this thing won't your stomach fall out of your mouth and you'll choke on your intestines?

Pregnancy Scare

2005-11-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

I heard about this case of a pregnant teacher being fired from her job last weekend. I was debating with a few other teachers about the possibility of this happening in our area. Being a part of the Bible belt, we have a clause in our contract that says we can be fired for "moral turpitude." What precisely is moral turpitude? I guess a lot of stuff falls under that definition. How do we know where to draw the line? Is it the same for everyone?

I think that's one of the issues presented for this teacher. Obviously she is pregnant because of premarital sex. The marker they are using for proof is her pregnancy. Of course, it is possible that she went through in vitro fertilization (but I think she has admitted to the baby's conception being "natural"). But what is their proof of male faculty members engaging in premarital or extramarital sex? What about those female faculty who engage in protected extramarital sex? It's not a crime until you get caught with your pants down I guess.

Also, the school being Catholic, I'm sure does not promote abortion as a solution for this young lady. They have essentially put her between a rock and a hard place. You can't get an abortion, but have this baby and you're fired. And for goodness sake please don't use birth control (God wouldn't like that). And where is the forgiveness? The mercy? I guess there is none.

I think that she is an admirable person for taking responsibility for her mistake and deciding to keep and raise this child herself. I'm sure she could get a teaching job at another school and support herself in that way, but I agree with her lawsuit. If it's okay to fire a pregnant teacher because she is unmarried it opens up the door for us to go straight back to the dark ages.

Good week

2005-11-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

I feel bad for not writing for the past week, but things have been good on the education front for me so far this week. I recieved my fall evaluation on Monday and passed each section (with only two comments for improvement) and was asked to serve as a team leader for my team and to serve on the school's leadership committee.

I also had a little meeting with my principal and was told pretty much the same thing. Everything was good, no bad comments to make. Keep on keeping on....

School Report Cards

2005-11-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

I found this article online while researching something for my PACE class on Saturday. It's about the results from compiling the information for our school report cards this year. First I'll post it and then comment on it.

_________________________________________________________________
Report cards offer a challenge to South Carolina
DON’T BLAME the tests.
South Carolina’s school accountability testing has done just what it was supposed to do. It has starkly highlighted the areas where the state’s schools are inadequate, and its increasing standards have challenged all schools to improve.
In the fifth year of school report cards, the trend of improvement has been rudely interrupted. Sixty-five schools received the lowest score of unsatisfactory, compared with just 28 a year ago. Overall, 354 of the 1,100 schools earned a lower rating.
There are several mitigating factors that education leaders point out:
• Poverty numbers in the state are increasing, and poor households too often produce unprepared students.
• The state began this year including PACT results for social studies and science on the report cards — categories where there is more work to be done.
• The state’s standards got more rigorous. For 55 schools, the exact same result as last year earned a lower rating.
These factors all played a part. But these are all things we knew South Carolina would have to overcome if it wanted to improve all its public schools, as it set out to do with the Education Accountability Act of 1998. We knew there were enormous numbers of young people in poverty who needed to learn. We knew that we wanted to measure improvement in science and social studies. We knew that standards had to keep increasing to climb out of our educational hole.
We also know that there has been real progress in years past, proving that South Carolina can educate its children more successfully.
So these scores are a wake-up call to anyone who believed year-after-year progress could be assumed. But these results are not a defeat; they are a challenge.
Can we take what works for the 55 schools that improved their scores and transplant it to the 354 where results were worse?
Are we willing to answer the challenge of adequately funding all our schools, instead of leaving hobbled those school districts without a strong tax base?
Will we finally reduce waste on administration by consolidating school districts? Most of the failing schools are in the smallest, least-efficient districts.
Are we doing enough to prepare young children for school? It may be time to implement full-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds.
Can we retain good teachers? How do we meet the special challenge of getting and keeping good teachers and administrators in the poor, struggling districts?
Do we need a statewide curriculum? This would remove authority from the school and district levels. But it might allow better lesson-planning assistance for teachers in struggling districts.
All of these are major decisions to make as South Carolina works to better its schools. But the discussion starts with two basic decisions: We won’t water down our accountability standards; for South Carolina’s young people to be competitive in a global economy, we just can’t.
And we won’t give up on our schools because of the challenges looming before us. When South Carolina committed itself to making measurable improvements in all of its schools, it undertook a grand, massive undertaking to improve its future. It won’t be easy; but it’s a task that must be completed.

____________________________________________________________________

Ok, so what are we doing wrong? My particular school remained Below Average (we have been every year since reporting started). What do we do about it?

Is it solely a product of the schools? Are the teachers and/or administration to blame? Is it because our school districts are poor? Would more money help? Or would we just be throwing money at a societal issue?

I notice that many of the problems my students have in school are not due to the fact that we're not prepared to help them, but they are not prepared to help themselves. I understand that they are coming from elementary school, but they act as if they have never had to take notes and keep up with them before. They act as if they have never had to pay attention while the teacher is speaking before. It's like this whole school thing is new to them or something. They write to me when I ask them and say that junior high is so different from elementary school. The rules are so much more strict and the teachers write you up (send you to the principal) so much more often. And it does seem to me that I am sending students to the principal more often than I should have to.

But it's never without reason. The behavior in our school has become sort of legendary. Teachers from other schools in our area were coming up to me on Saturday at my class and asking me if it was really true that our school was in such bad shape this year. And I have to say that it is.

Now back to the point. This is keeping them from doing well on the testing. I don't want to water down the standards. I would like them to be more useable for the average teacher. That might help a little, but I think the real issue here is student preparedness. Are we preparing them in elementary school for junior high and is junior high preparing them to move on to high school? And I think the answer is no. Our high school (which all of our students go to, we are their only feeder school) has a 40% dropout rate. Why? Are the dropouts the same ones who are failing on the standardized tests? Why?

I don't have an answer to this. Just wondering if any one does. Where does the blame ultimately fall? Do we share it between parents, community, and schools? Why do the schools get all the blame in the media and legislation?

Sea of Tiny Paper Balls

2005-11-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

As I sit here in the middle of a sea of tiny paper balls, I wonder if this is the job for me. Today was one of those days that makes you rethink not only your career, but your decision to ever become a parent. I couldn't stop to take a breath without one of them starting to yell something to the tune of "Shut yo big fat bald face up!" and the other replying "Yo mama!" Never mind attempting to do some kind of classwork with out an adult standing right over them. (That didn't even phase some of them.)
I'm starting to wonder if they even care about being here. One of them told me yesterday that this was a prison. I'm starting to agree, if only because of the fact that not a single one of them truly wants to be here. Many of them would probably prefer to be involved in outright gang warfare. We can't even have a dance here this year because of the sheer number of gang members we have identified in the past month. It seems that if they're not directly involved with a gang, they are on the fringes of it and will be in it soon. And it's not just the "problem kids." It's all of them. Heck, I even have one kid who has two family members in his house in one gang and the other two are in the rival gang. You have to worry about drive by shootings at dinner.
Speaking of drive-bys we had one in this neighborhood last week. They're still looking for the people suspected in the shooting. No one was hurt, but I'm sure that wasn't on purpose. Two kids have had guns removed from them and been kicked out of school. I have never been so afraid to be at work. My husband is a security guard, and he sees less action than me on any given day of the week.
They don't respect anything, not teachers, not each other, not their parents, nothing. I know I'm complaining about things that I can't truly change, but I just wonder where it's coming from. I'm only 24 and I hate to sound like my parents, but I don't remember things being like this when I was their age. Were they? Am I forgetting something? Or is there some kind of recent phenomenon?
My grandparents thought rock was the devil's music and my dad was a punk for wearing jeans to school. I have nothing against their music and dress (not that it's my taste, but whatever), but their attitudes are so different. One of my students called her cousin stupid for going to college (she didn't need to do all that extra work). I am in such a poor and nearly urban setting for the South. We haven't reached 90-90-90 status yet (90% below grade level, 90% free/reduced lunc, 90% minority), but were nearly there. We are officially something like 70-80-75, and for this area that is strange. We are the only school serving this town. There are a lot more non minority students in the area. Where are they?
Sorry to go on and on. Just a little frustrated after the day I have had.

Huh?

2005-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ever have one of those days when you just feel like saying "huh?" Just feel that way today. It's the first full day of our new schedules. I don't know what to think yet. First period is a nightmare, 2nd is a little better and by third I'm ok. But 1st just knocks me for a loop right off the bat. I am kind of glad I don't have it 5th though, and on top of that 5 people will be suspended from that class starting tomorrow.
Yeah!

Funny for the day

2005-11-04T05:39:00.000-08:00

Sign posted at the nudists' colony community pool:
"I DON'T SKINNY DIP
I CHUNKY DUNK"

Parent's rights

2005-11-04T04:40:00.000-08:00

Just found this one on educationwonks.
Apparantly a school district gave a survey including some questions about the students sex lives, without consulting parents.

http://www.joannejacobs.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/6318

First, is it legal? I also wonder did the students answer the questions honestly? I know a lot of my kids are sexually active because of the things they say to each other and the notes I have intercepted on their way across my class, but would they be willing to write that on a sheet of paper that they turn into the school?

Anyway, I'm sure they don't have their parents' permission to be having sex, so why do they need their parents' permission to answer a question about it?

Experiment in Progress

2005-11-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

I just spent all of my free time (ha free time) today redoing the schedules for all of my team's students. We have decided to try a little experiment by putting all of our behavior problems in one class and rotating them around. We also put all the other kids into groups that they stay with for the rest of the day. I think it will really help things out, especially at class change time. Of course we're not telling them they're in the "bad" class. We lied and told them we took their standardized test scores and grouped them accordingly. Anyhow, I have had the hardest time pleasing this one teacher on my team. I'll get them grouped one way and she's not happy because so and so and such and such are together. So I've had to make at least 1 dozen changes to finally make her happy. Now the rest of us are stuck with some weird kids at weird times, but I think it's nothing we can't handle.

On top of that, I took a gigantic bag of candy from one of my kids, and he's been pitching a fit in my general direction all day. I told him to pick it up at the end of the day which apparantly means 2:00 instead of 3:15. He stopped by my room and refused to move on to his 6th period class until I gave him his candy. Of course, he was promptly told that if he didn't go to band now that his candy would remain in my posession for yet another day. He then decided that the best course of action would be to go to band.

I am going to take a new tack with that "bad class." Tough as nails will probably just about define it. I worry though that most of that class will be expelled by Christmas (or soon after). A couple we put on the list made it to expulsion today so that cuts back on the class size by 2. At least our list was short enough to make it only one class instead of 1 1/2. I was worried the list would be too long. Considering the number of gang members and drug dealers we work with, I'm surprised it wasn't longer. Our assistant principal is considering dropping them off in Iraq to end the war by tomorrow. If nothing else the kids will annoy the opposing army to death or surrender (whichever comes first).

First Year Teacher

2005-11-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

First Year Teacher

Cool blog. I love it! I really can sympathize with some of her predicaments

Yesterday

2005-11-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday wasn't too bad for the day after Halloween. I only confiscated a couple of fistfuls of candy, and the kids were either asleep or laughing hysterically. So they saw a video, which actually seemed to mesmerize some of them into sugar enduced trace-like states. Maybe some of it actually soaked in. Today will be the test of that I suppose.
I got my standardized test scores back from yesterday, and I brought 28 students up at least 1 level (4 of them came up 2 levels!). Unfortunately 15 of them fell a level, but that brings my net gain up to 13 which is actually pretty terrific. I even got told by my asst. principal that I was doing a great job, which was confirmed by the 8th grade assistant as well. Well woohoo! I have never been so satisfied with a day of teaching in my life.
Of course, in the normal course of things, my husband went hunting yesterday afternoon and got shot at by some crazy kook who lives next to the land they hunt on. They spent the afternoon and well into the night looking for said kook with the sherriff's deputy who came when they wound up calling 911. And of course I was supposed to sit at home and not worry a lick about him, when I found out he was pulling into said kook's yard. Oh well, he made it home in once piece more or less.

Somebody Shoot Me!

2005-11-01T04:29:00.000-08:00

I'm tired today. I know its only 7:30, but its the day after Halloween and I'm sure I'm going to get a group of people who are either asleep or bouncing off the walls. I'm going to appreciate the one's who are asleep

Excretory System

2005-10-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

I hate the excretory system, it makes all my kids want to go to the bathroom.

Fight in the Cafeteria

2005-10-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, after all of yesterday's crap with the search of the entire school, we have had yet another incident today in the cafeteria. Two of the most quiet students on the team got into a fist fight at lunch. The entire team was up yelling and screaming about it, and was next door to impossible to quiet down. Thank god, neither of them was from my class, because I've had just about all I can deal with at this point. I'm so glad to have tomorrow off that I could scream.

Search

2005-10-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

I just had the most unnerving experience I have ever had since I became a teacher. The principal and the SRO are searching the entire school for weapons apparantly. They have forced my to hold the same kids in for two class periods!!! I am glad they had security down here because I was about to kill one of them myself.

Test

2005-10-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Why do my resource students seem to think that their resource class is an excuse not to do any actual work at home? I had one student ask me today if she could take her test to resource with her because she hadn't studied for it and she needed the extra time.
Of course none of them study for anything, so I don't know why I was surprised. I just find it schocking that they have that kind of attitude about the accomadations they are getting for being in special ed. We had a representative from special ed stop in and talk to us yesterday about how over represented we were in the special ed population.
Sometimes it takes all the strength I can muster not to do violence to the little heathens. They never listen to a word that comes out of my mouth. Apparantly do not talk means do not talk too loud. They will talk straight through a test and answer every other question I don't know. Because as far as they know that is a valid answer. I don't understand the type of person (even a child) who feels like just admitting you don't know is half the battle. (This is not AA, admitting you have a problem is not the first step). I have so many who say, "I can't take this test I didn't study," and actually expect me to give in and say "OK No Problem You never have to take another test again, as long as you promise not to study."
I wonder if anyone has been cutting them as much slack as they seem to expect in elementary school. "I didn't do my homework last night, can I turn it in tomrrow?" "Do I have to take this quiz I wasn't here yesterday?" (Even though we went over this stuff everday for a week and just reviewed it yesterday) "I was absent from class yesterday so I don't have to take this test because I didn't get the correct answers to the study guide." (BS) "I don't know anything so I won't take this test." "Ms I, What is the answer to this question?" "What does the digestive system do?" "Will you check my test now?" "Are my answers right?"
Its no wonder they fail the standardized testing at the end of the year!

HoboTeacher.com

2005-10-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just found this great website. It's got to have the funniest blog I have run across by a teacher in a while.

http://www.hoboteacher.com

The adventures of a homeless teacher.

Amazed

2005-10-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at the ability of my students to go through life with out caring about anything more important than who their favorite basketball player is or what exactly are the lyrics to their favorite song. Because that is all they discuss in class. I am amazed at the amount of brain cells they have dedicated to the mundane everyday fads that will be passe in two weeks time, and then they have to relearn all that useless information. I hav nevver run across anyone who got a job because they knew all the words to a song or what Iverson's jersey number was.
We watched our news program in homeroom this morning and they went crazy because a dress code was going to be enforced on the NBA players. You would have thought that we decided to make them wear uniforms!
I feel like such a dinosaur at 24. I know what they're talking about, I've heard all the songs and seen the players on TV, but I just can't seem to make myself care about it. I'm not even sure I ever did care that much about it. Do they're parents care as much as they do? Or is it just some strange teenage thing where nothing that is important matters like Alice Through the Looking Glass?
I am confused, and disappointed. I was hoping that someday, I would come across a group of children that gave a damn. I know that it is possible. I don't expect it to be their everything by any means, but I think that grades should mean something to them. They should at least be ashamed of failing every class they take including gym. Instead they brag on it. It's like a contest to see who can make the worst grades when the lowest I can give them is a 60.
I actually had to add 23 points to one students grade to make it a 60 on their report card. And it hasn't fazed them a bit. I get the feeling that the repeating class next year will be huge.
I know a couple of them are hanging out until they are 15 and old enough to drop out. But that can't be everyone can it?
The teacher next door Ms. B, told her kids if they knew that they would be 7th graders again next year to go ahead and do her a favor and sleep through the rest of this year. I myself have caught a few of them sleeping and refuse to wake them up. I even keep the rest of the class quiet to not interupt their naps.

Introduction

2005-10-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

You might be a teacher if ...

you have a prescription for an antidepresant and the dosage isn't high enough to keep you from killing a middle school kid.