Today, my wife and I spent 5 hours in the car coming back from a concert in Texas. The concert was good, and it was great to see some friends while we were there. Apparently, we left a little too soon after the concert, because one of our friends worked her magic and got to talk with all the members of the band...but I'll save that for another post.
This post is about some of the conversation on that car ride home. As we often do, we eventually got around to talking about teaching and the state of education. As we talked, it occurred to me that my goals for each of my classes are actually very simple. In Geometry, I want them to develop reasoning and logic skills. In Algebra (especially Algebra 2) I want them to develop the ability to think algebraically. In one case, they should be developing concrete thought processes, and in the other, they should be developing their ability for abstract thought. We can break everything down to strands and standards individual concepts, but in the end, this is what I want them to learn. This is why I am there. This is why I teach.
Problem is, it also occurred to me that in very few cases are either of this things happening in these classes. My Geometry students cannot reason their way through a proof, most of of them cannot complete a simple logic puzzle, and I'm too busy teaching probability and odds to spend more than the bare minimum trying to help them develop their reasoning skills. My Algebra 2 students cannot even think abstract enough to be able to open their minds to the idea that i can be a letter AND a number, and when I try to explain that they need to be able to look at things in different ways using binary numbers, all they get out of it is that binary looks easy and we should do that for a grade.
Wow that was a crazy run-on sentence, but the point is this: Maybe for the first time, I was really able to get a strong grasp today of "Why I teach," or the reason for the classes I teach. But, when I start to think about whether this is being accomplished and what is actually in my power to try to fix it, it makes me think even more about "Why do I teach?"
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
How can we help failing students become successful?
Here's the situation:
About 30 freshman failed the first semester of Algebra 1 in the fall. Those who did not leave the district were moved on and enrolled in a second semester Algebra 1 class. Of these, a few were place in NovaNet to recover the missing half-credit, and the rest were divided up into two "repeat first semester Algebra 1" classes.
What a strange situation for these kids. They failed the first half of the course, so now they are being presented with this material again, while also being taught the second half. In some subjects this might not be too strange, but in math, you typically need to know how to do the first half before you can attempt the second half. Concurrency does not seem to be a viable solution. Yet this is the situation they (and I, since I was chosen to teach one of the repeat classes) are in.
So the question is this:
How do I help them be successful both in my first semester class, as well as in their other second semester class?
I am not completely sure. The problem is, I think I'm a pretty good teacher, but I'm not sure I'm a great teacher, and these kids need a really great teacher. In reflecting on how best to help this class be successful, I typed up some notes. Follow this link to read them.
I just started blogging, so I don't have a lot of content to interest people, but I'm hoping some of you teachers out there have some insight into this situation. If so, please leave comments. I'd love to hear what others think or if there are others out there who have taught in a similar situation.
About 30 freshman failed the first semester of Algebra 1 in the fall. Those who did not leave the district were moved on and enrolled in a second semester Algebra 1 class. Of these, a few were place in NovaNet to recover the missing half-credit, and the rest were divided up into two "repeat first semester Algebra 1" classes.
What a strange situation for these kids. They failed the first half of the course, so now they are being presented with this material again, while also being taught the second half. In some subjects this might not be too strange, but in math, you typically need to know how to do the first half before you can attempt the second half. Concurrency does not seem to be a viable solution. Yet this is the situation they (and I, since I was chosen to teach one of the repeat classes) are in.
So the question is this:
How do I help them be successful both in my first semester class, as well as in their other second semester class?
I am not completely sure. The problem is, I think I'm a pretty good teacher, but I'm not sure I'm a great teacher, and these kids need a really great teacher. In reflecting on how best to help this class be successful, I typed up some notes. Follow this link to read them.
I just started blogging, so I don't have a lot of content to interest people, but I'm hoping some of you teachers out there have some insight into this situation. If so, please leave comments. I'd love to hear what others think or if there are others out there who have taught in a similar situation.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
I was just thinking
I'm having trouble thinking of something specific to write about this evening. There are a few random thoughts from today floating around, but nothing that I can grab onto and make a reasonable post out of. Some of these are things I may want to revisit at some time in the future, so it might be good to have them listed here as a reference. Let's see:
1. Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling completely unprepared for the day ahead of you? I did this morning, and I don't like it one bit. Of course, this feeling is understandable given the situation I detailed in my previous post. Understanding it does not make me like it. I don't want to have this feeling so often.
2. Yesterday, we got an email saying that no one will be hired to replace people who leave. Really? If a faculty member from a core curriculum that is already short-handed leaves at the end of the year, they won't try to fill that gap? Isn't that bad for the kids?
3. CES began today, and all the hype is about the new "Google phone" the Nexus One. It looks cool, but I still just want my dang Droid. Why do I have to wait until April? Surely, my overpriced monthly plan has paid for my stinking Razor by now, and I'm staying in the Motorola family, so shouldn't there be a customer loyalty incentive for something?
4. I still want my projector mounted to my ceiling in my classroom so that I don't have to arrange the desks around the projector stand and I maybe could actually use the SMARTBoard because I wouldn't have to worry about it getting moved all the time. I have all kinds of technology in my classroom that I would like to use and I would love to use even more (I have a degree in instructional technology for crying out loud) why is it so hard to get a little help for the basic stuff. I've been asking for this for years, seriously, years. [Update: I sent an email requesting something be done about this and got a couple responses that make me think it may actually happen. Fingers crossed.]
Okay, I feel like this quickly turning into a rant, so that is probably good. Just a couple more things.
5. Our dog woke up from her evening nap a little bit ago and had some serious "bed face." It looked like she had a handlebar mustache, it was seriously too cute. I wish we would have gotten a picture.
6. My wife is extremely beautiful, intelligent, and supportive. I take her for granted and ignore the little things she does way more I should, and I feel bad about that. She keeps me going when I have days like today when I am stressed from the time I get out of bed, and I can't thank her enough for that.
1. Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling completely unprepared for the day ahead of you? I did this morning, and I don't like it one bit. Of course, this feeling is understandable given the situation I detailed in my previous post. Understanding it does not make me like it. I don't want to have this feeling so often.
2. Yesterday, we got an email saying that no one will be hired to replace people who leave. Really? If a faculty member from a core curriculum that is already short-handed leaves at the end of the year, they won't try to fill that gap? Isn't that bad for the kids?
3. CES began today, and all the hype is about the new "Google phone" the Nexus One. It looks cool, but I still just want my dang Droid. Why do I have to wait until April? Surely, my overpriced monthly plan has paid for my stinking Razor by now, and I'm staying in the Motorola family, so shouldn't there be a customer loyalty incentive for something?
4. I still want my projector mounted to my ceiling in my classroom so that I don't have to arrange the desks around the projector stand and I maybe could actually use the SMARTBoard because I wouldn't have to worry about it getting moved all the time. I have all kinds of technology in my classroom that I would like to use and I would love to use even more (I have a degree in instructional technology for crying out loud) why is it so hard to get a little help for the basic stuff. I've been asking for this for years, seriously, years. [Update: I sent an email requesting something be done about this and got a couple responses that make me think it may actually happen. Fingers crossed.]
Okay, I feel like this quickly turning into a rant, so that is probably good. Just a couple more things.
5. Our dog woke up from her evening nap a little bit ago and had some serious "bed face." It looked like she had a handlebar mustache, it was seriously too cute. I wish we would have gotten a picture.
6. My wife is extremely beautiful, intelligent, and supportive. I take her for granted and ignore the little things she does way more I should, and I feel bad about that. She keeps me going when I have days like today when I am stressed from the time I get out of bed, and I can't thank her enough for that.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Really? You're telling me this today?
So, today was my first day back after the semester break. We didn't have classes, it was just a workday for the teachers to get settled in and ready for the new semester. When I headed to school this morning, here is the schedule I had drawn out in my head for what I was going to do today.
1. Finish up the last bit of paperwork that I probably should have completed before I left for break.
2. Clean off the semesters-worth of papers that had accumulated on and around my desk.
3. Check to see if any of the finals for students who missed them had been completed, grade them and put them in the computer.
4. Check my rosters to see if there are any surprises or issues of which I need to be aware.
5. Arrange my room the way I want it to begin the new semester.
6. Plan out what I want to do for the first couple days of class and get any copies sent to the copy center.
7. Catch up with some of my colleagues as I saw them throughout the day.
This would be a pretty busy day, but all-in-all a pretty nice way to ease back into the semester. I felt confident that I could get this done and have a relaxing evening at home in preparation for the students' first day back.
So what really happened today?
1. I worked on getting that last bit of paperwork done.
2. While turning the paperwork in, I was made aware of a scheduling issue in my department.
3. My department head came in and asked for my schedule, hours and number of students (this can't be good).
4. We got an email about the options for next year's calendar and were informed there would be an informal meeting to discuss it at 10 am, so I went to that.
5. I began clearing out all the papers and filling some boxes for recycling.
6. The department came in, told me that I would be losing one of my Algebra 2 classes and would be teaching a repeat freshmen Algebra 1 class instead, and asked what I would need for this new prep. Based on the tweet I sent, this happened at approximately 11:26 am. I will have this class in my room for the first time at 9:03 am tomorrow morning, less than 24 hours later.
7. I finished boxing up papers and trying to organize things.
8. I had a meeting with the ad hoc committee I am on about state assessment incentives. We are hoping that if we provide incentives for students to improve the scores from the practice test to the real test that they will try harder and our scores will go up. I had not anticipated this meeting as I was driving to school today.
9. I did get to check my rosters, which led to a couple discussions with other teachers and a counselor to find out what was going on with a couple of the students.
10. (Seriously? 10, and I haven't even done half of what I planned at the beginning of the day? Crap.) I graded a final that a student came in to take today.
11. I did spend a little time catching up with a few other teachers. Most of this time was let by me asking them for resources to help me get ready for the new class I just found I get to teach.
So, that leaves the important stuff like preparing for my classes that start tomorrow still undone. In fact, as soon as I finish writing this and grab a bight to eat, I'm heading back to the school. So much for this semester starting off nice and easy.
1. Finish up the last bit of paperwork that I probably should have completed before I left for break.
2. Clean off the semesters-worth of papers that had accumulated on and around my desk.
3. Check to see if any of the finals for students who missed them had been completed, grade them and put them in the computer.
4. Check my rosters to see if there are any surprises or issues of which I need to be aware.
5. Arrange my room the way I want it to begin the new semester.
6. Plan out what I want to do for the first couple days of class and get any copies sent to the copy center.
7. Catch up with some of my colleagues as I saw them throughout the day.
This would be a pretty busy day, but all-in-all a pretty nice way to ease back into the semester. I felt confident that I could get this done and have a relaxing evening at home in preparation for the students' first day back.
So what really happened today?
1. I worked on getting that last bit of paperwork done.
2. While turning the paperwork in, I was made aware of a scheduling issue in my department.
3. My department head came in and asked for my schedule, hours and number of students (this can't be good).
4. We got an email about the options for next year's calendar and were informed there would be an informal meeting to discuss it at 10 am, so I went to that.
5. I began clearing out all the papers and filling some boxes for recycling.
6. The department came in, told me that I would be losing one of my Algebra 2 classes and would be teaching a repeat freshmen Algebra 1 class instead, and asked what I would need for this new prep. Based on the tweet I sent, this happened at approximately 11:26 am. I will have this class in my room for the first time at 9:03 am tomorrow morning, less than 24 hours later.
7. I finished boxing up papers and trying to organize things.
8. I had a meeting with the ad hoc committee I am on about state assessment incentives. We are hoping that if we provide incentives for students to improve the scores from the practice test to the real test that they will try harder and our scores will go up. I had not anticipated this meeting as I was driving to school today.
9. I did get to check my rosters, which led to a couple discussions with other teachers and a counselor to find out what was going on with a couple of the students.
10. (Seriously? 10, and I haven't even done half of what I planned at the beginning of the day? Crap.) I graded a final that a student came in to take today.
11. I did spend a little time catching up with a few other teachers. Most of this time was let by me asking them for resources to help me get ready for the new class I just found I get to teach.
So, that leaves the important stuff like preparing for my classes that start tomorrow still undone. In fact, as soon as I finish writing this and grab a bight to eat, I'm heading back to the school. So much for this semester starting off nice and easy.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
In the Beginning...
I might have stolen that line. Should I put it in quotes? Do I need to site it? I guess I'll figure that stuff out as I go.
I've been telling myself for a while now that I need to start a blog. I'm not sure why I have felt this need, but it is there and cannot be denied. I guess my biggest problem is that while I have this urge to create something online, I don't really know what it should be about. However, I have decided not to let that stop me. So, what is my blog going to be about?
Many friends blog about their kids, but I have no kids and my dog mostly sleeps so that isn't very interesting. Don't be surprised to find posts about my dog, though. Many teachers blog about what is going on in their classroom, but I don't feel like I do anything that exciting or ground-breaking in my classroom. Sometimes it would be nice to have another avenue to express what is going on, though, so don't be surprised to find posts about teaching or what is going on in my classroom. I like to spend my free time reading or watching movies and a little TV, so don't be surprised to find posts about the books I'm currently reading or what I'm currently watching. I like all things technology and read or watch several technology blogs and podcasts, so don't be surprised to find posts about technology that catches my eye (especially if I actually get to buy it.) Basically, I just plan to write about what is on my mind, and if there are a few people out there that find it interesting, then awesome! If not, at least I'll be able to go back and see what has been on my mind.
I've been telling myself for a while now that I need to start a blog. I'm not sure why I have felt this need, but it is there and cannot be denied. I guess my biggest problem is that while I have this urge to create something online, I don't really know what it should be about. However, I have decided not to let that stop me. So, what is my blog going to be about?
Many friends blog about their kids, but I have no kids and my dog mostly sleeps so that isn't very interesting. Don't be surprised to find posts about my dog, though. Many teachers blog about what is going on in their classroom, but I don't feel like I do anything that exciting or ground-breaking in my classroom. Sometimes it would be nice to have another avenue to express what is going on, though, so don't be surprised to find posts about teaching or what is going on in my classroom. I like to spend my free time reading or watching movies and a little TV, so don't be surprised to find posts about the books I'm currently reading or what I'm currently watching. I like all things technology and read or watch several technology blogs and podcasts, so don't be surprised to find posts about technology that catches my eye (especially if I actually get to buy it.) Basically, I just plan to write about what is on my mind, and if there are a few people out there that find it interesting, then awesome! If not, at least I'll be able to go back and see what has been on my mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
