Thank You Notes inspired me to write this "letter of recommendation" for Mrs. Fair, my 7th grade math teacher.


During my years of school, I had many wonderful teachers, many who touched me in personal ways, serving to create the me of today who now teachs 7th graders math and social studies. Looking back, I feel fortunate to have had all those role models to help me become the teacher I am today.

However, of all those teachers, Mrs. Fair stands out as the one who made the most significant difference in my life. When she came to our junior high, young, pretty, in her impeccable clothes, all of the girls looked up to her, wanting to be like her some day. She always looked the part of the perfect teacher, and best of all, she smelled wonderfully! We were entranced from the start.

Once we got past being mesmerized by her picture perfect appearance, we discovered this wonderful, soft spoken, caring, kind, patient, guiding person who pushed us further than we'd ever been pushed before.

Math had always been mundane, something I had done with rote patience, a task to be completed. But with Mrs Fair, math became exciting, engaging, something that made my mind twist and turn, thinking about concepts in a new way. I was hooked, forever hooked on math! It was fate that someday I would stand in front of 7th graders, trying to impart the same skills to them as she did with me.

Even when I was struggling, she encouraged me. When I was confused, she believed in me. When I wanted to give up, she pushed me harder. Seventh grade was a turning point for me. I learned how to be a student, how to experience success through unconditional teaching. Mrs. Fair was the reason.

Sincerely,
Cossondra George

So there's this kid..... it's always about that ONE kid, isn't it.....

RL is this big gumpy kid, rough around the edges, but just plain loveable, nowhere near as tough as he'd have you think he is. He's incredibly intelligent, not afraid to be wrong, willing to speak his mind, take a chance, with a smile that would melt you heart. He stands almost a foot taller than me in his ubiquitous black Carhartt jacket and has that look that makes you think he is going to plunk every kid he walks by on the head. In reality, RL is a big ol' softie, soft spoken, and gentle.

He lives on the edge though. Trouble seems to come looking for him way too often. The notes from subs say he was off task, bothering others, disrespectful. Every time I wonder if they really have the right kid. When he gets suspended once again for getting into a scuffle, I wonder how the heck THIS kid could ever do that.

When I took kids to a college hockey game, RL brought in his money and permission slip with pride. Unlike many of the students I was taking, this was a rare opportunity for him to do something BIG. His family doesn't do those kinds of things, and I was sure the $15 to go had been a hardship. I was a little surprised he was going. However, when the trip was all said and done, he was the ONE kid of the 25 I took to say "thank you" as he exited the bus. He added, "It was fun!"

Then today, there he is, in the office again. This time for chewing tobacco, an automatic 3 days out of school. The principal stuck his head in my room, saying RL was concerned about his work, so I went over there, taking his test he'd be missing today, along with a calculator, admonishing him, but encouraging him to think and do well on his test. When I saw his mom walk in the office, I introduced myself to her and told her what a wonderful young man her son was. She looked surprised and thanked me. I took his incomplete test and told him I'd hang onto it for him. As they walked down the hall together, RL looked back at me over his shoulder, a shy smile my way as I waved goodbye.

There's always that one kid.....

Letting Go

The last weeks of school are all about letting go. We let go of the students, who are moving onto the next grade, along with letting go of our met and unmet expectations.

The most difficult part of becoming a teacher for me was the realization that I cannot save every child that walks into my classroom. Like many newbie teachers, I was sure I would be the one who could reach every struggling student, turn them around, and make them want to learn, want to please me, and want to be successful, in not only my classes but in life in general. I was naïve about the power of outside influences and the potential of forces beyond my reach to change the performances of students in my classroom.

I rode into school with my super hero cape, smile on my face, toolbox full of research, and college classroom pedagogy tricks, enthusiasm bubbling over, ready to tackle them all. Tackle, no…. I was going to save them all.
Then, reality set in. I saw them walk in the door, downtrodden from years of failure and despair, already having given up on themselves. These were the easy ones, as time would tell. These just needed their confidence restored, a chance at success, and some shoring up of skills and independence. I was able to see the spark return in many of these students, the assurance that yes, they can do it, that someone believes in them, and wants them to be successful.

It was the others I had to learn to let go of. The one young lady I have this year has missed 44 days of school so far. That is one fourth of the entire school year. Try as I will, I cannot teach her 180 days worth of curriculum in less than 140 days. I can try to help her grow along a continuum, moving slowly forward, but I can’t make up all those lost days. I can encourage her to come to school, make her feel welcome when she is here, and make the most of the days she does attend. Reality is though, she will move onto the next grade, going into that class unprepared. I have to let go of my expectations that she will be successful this year. It is out of my control.

I had to let go of my expectations for the girl who came here to live with her grandfather, because her mother, the drug addict, didn’t want her anymore. Up until this point in her life, she had basically raised herself. Despite his efforts, grandfather couldn’t get her to come to school on a regular basis. He couldn’t keep her from roaming the streets, hanging out with the rough older crowd of kids she was drawn to. She was sent to juvenile lockup so many times, eventually, she was sent away. I had to let her go, knowing I hadn’t made the impact in her life I wanted to, that she needed me to make.

Others I have had to let go of because their parents have instilled in them a sense of entitlement that the rules do not apply to them, that they hold no personal responsibility for their own learning, and that any failure is due to my lacking, and none of their own. I’ve had to let go of both the students and the parents on many occasions when even at 7th grade, the parent thinks their child should be able to walk in and out of the classroom at will, shouldn’t be held accountable for their supplies, work or behaviors. They consistently blame other students, the teachers, the school system and society in general for the shortcomings of their child.

Letting go of those children was never easy, and was always a hard fought battle on my end. I’ve taken late night tear filled collect phone calls, listening to the “I think I’m pregnant” stories. I’ve made repeated parent phone calls trying to impress upon them to importance of having their child in school. I’ve explained rules and procedures, outlining how to help their child experience success and independence, offering parenting readings to support my stance. I’ve gone to ball games and track meets, talked about dogs and vacations, tried to make those personal level connections that are so important to reaching troubled kids and drawing them into the circle of success. And sometimes, it works, and sometimes, it is like that balloon you see flying high in the sky, escaping, out of reach.

The school year is winding down which makes for all kinds of excitement, good and bad.

Finally, it seems the kids are in their groove: they all know what is expected, how to make it through the day, and they manage to follow that routine fairly unwavering, almost like cattle headed to the feed trough. The ones who don't like me and my classes have decided to just keep plodding their way through, headed for that victory lap, hoping against all hopes I don't get moved to 8th grade along with them. The ones who do like me and my classes start begging me to teach them again the next year, or even more amusing, ask can't they please be held back in 7th grade to do it all over again.

But personalities aside, we've found our comfort zones with each other, reaching an understanding and a middle ground.

7th grade camp is just around the corner and the excitement is building. Tomorrow will be our official meeting where paperwork is passed out, and the long anticipated "What to bring to camp" list is finally in their hands. Every day, every hour, the questions about camp are endless. The ones going want details. The ones not going want to pout, beg, and plead their case one more time. The ones going want to know who will be in the cabin, what classes they will take, what is the food like, and are you really going to search our bags. The ones not going want to posture and say they didn't want to go anyway, even as they longingly soak up every tidbit of information. It is a rite of passage for both groups. For many, it the first time away from home, away from parents, and on their own. For some of those left behind, it is a first wake up call that their behaviors do have consequences, sometimes, long after the offenses occurred. But for everyone, it is the marking of the end of the middle of middle school.


And as the student population looks longingly at June 9, so does the staff. With more and more cuts and consolidations, the changes on the front for next year are being pondered. Some teachers embrace their new assignments with enthusiasm and acceptance. Others pout and complain. Some take their arguments up with adminstration, pleading their case for what they view as the best placement or schedule. Others monopolize the lounge conversations with their complaints, or corner anyone and everyone to whine about the situation. But for me... what I do next fall doesn't matter as long as I get to stay in the middle school :)

My own schedule for the upcoming year looks much like this one, thankfully. The addition of 1more section of social studies won't change much in my day. The addition of one section of Algebra 1, however, will make for another prep, one I haven't taught before. It will be an adventure for me and the kids. I look forward to the challenge, and look forward to having that upper group of kids again.

My philosophy on the schedule is to embrace the changes, assume those in control know more about the big picture than I do, and forge forward with all my might, for better or worse.

So as the year winds down, the changes roll on. New kids will walk in the door in the fall. New routines will be created. Some I will like. Some I won't. Some will like me. Some won't. But come next May at this time, things will look much as they do now....

Two of Michigan's 7th grade Grade Level Content Expectations for math are:

A.PA. 07.09 Recognize inversely proportional relationships in contextual situations; know that quantities are inversely proportional if their product is constant.

A.RP.07.10 Know that the graph of y=k/x is not aline; know its shape; and know that it crosses neither the x nor the y-axis.

OK. I can teach that. We look at the length and widths of rectangles with fixed areas in the context of building a garden with a predetermined amount of mulch. We do a group activity where students are given a set amount of money to earn performing a service. For each of these, they create their tables and graphs, write their equations, and we analyze the situations in context of the problem.

But somehow, there always seems to be a disconnect, something missing, from the lessons. My students, at least half of them, do not understand the concepts of factors and multiples, and do not know their multiplication facts with automaticity. These are concepts they should have mastered in late elementary school, but still lack at the end of 7th grade.

How do we find the missing piece? Where is it? How do we get all the pieces of mathematics to fit together when students are simply moving on up the ladder of school without first mastering the concepts at each grade level. How do we get all these pieces together, organized, fitting together perfectly before they advance to the new math curriculum that expects all students to master through Algebra II?

Our school, along with others across the state, sees a train wreck when the bulk of the student population hits Algebra I as freshmen (The more math ready students took Algebra I as 8th graders). Suddenly, all those years of being sent along the continuum of math classes, without being ready for advancement, catches up with them. Here starts the catch-up effort, finally.

Wouldn't it make more sense to catch them earlier, provide some intense remediation when they first start to struggle? Not only would we provide students the opportunity to develop a strong numerical foundation, perhaps some of the math phobias we see could be overcome.

But then again, over 80% of this years 7th graders scored proficient on the almighty MEAP test. The state test seems to think they are doing OK. Oh, wait.. it is because the cut score is set so low that students with less than a 40% score are labeled as proficient. When the state says less than 40% is good enough, who am I to question? Maybe I need to rethink my grading scale. If we count 40% as proficient, that must equate to at least a B, so let's call 50% an A! From now on, scores of 40% and above will get A's, 30-40% get B's, 20-30% C's. Report cards will be amazing! Just think of all the kids on honor roll!

OOOOOOppppppsssss....... that won't solve anything will it? They will still get to Algebra I unprepared for the material, the train wreck will still happen, and kids will be struggling to graduate in 4 years.

Where do we implement change? How do we implement change?

There is much talk of how schools need to change from the sit and get method of teaching, to encouraging students to think for themselves. What a wonderful concept, in theory.

Too often, students come with the attitude of tell what I need to know, tell me how you want me to give it back to you, and I will reproduce your thoughts on paper, and BINGO, I win my 'A'. They are programmed to spew back facts and ideas fed to them without actually creating or investigating on their own.

When given a problem to solve, students stare blankly at the paper, afraid or unable to attempt to think for themselves. They want THE ANSWER. They don't like the thought that there might not be a right answer.

How have we programmed them this way or did they come to school with that mentality?

And now... how do we reprogram them to want to think for themselves?

I think one of the best ways to improve education and promote independent thinking is to do away with our current system of grading students. Students and parents are motivated by the almighty 'A' with little regard for what the 'A' actually means in terms of student achievement and learning progress. Other students seem so intimidated by grades they almost refuse to try, so certain they will never achieve that illusive 'A' they simply quit before they try, like taking the 0 for doing nothing is better than accepting a 'C' for working hard but not making the ultimate 'A' mark.

Teachers often feel pressure to give high grades so parents aren't complaining. Students also put their fair share of grade pressure on teachers. Participation in sports is often dependent on grades. But each teacher 'grades' their own way. Some give extra credit to boost scores. Some weight homework heavily, others rely on summative assessments for their primary source of reporting grades. Some give participation grades; others base grades solely on achieving mastery of the content. Some teacher allow retakes; others do not. Some average retake scores with the original; some let the higher score stand. Grades often mean nothing comparatively from course to course, teacher to teacher, school to school.

Without grades, school could actually be about learning, experiencing, and growing, instead of the letter that gets published on the report card. Students would not be intimidated by the threat of failure or not measuring up. Teachers could design lessons to spark enthusiasm and encourage risk taking instead of ones that are easily assessed on a 4 point scale. Students would move onto more difficult material when they were ready not when they sat their 9 months in a class, earned their percentage and were rotely moved along the conveyor belt of school. Learning would be fluid and flexible.

Would it work? Who knows.... but they way we are doing things now certainly isn't meeting the needs of all learners, or even preparing a vast percentage of students for college or life beyond high school. Perhaps it is time for something new!

With more and more cuts from the state, schools are being forced to make difficult choices in what/who to keep and what to let go from their budgets. It has gone way beyond cutting spending on classroom supplies and field trips, to districts eliminating transportation and cutting programs. How do you decide what to keep and what to give up? Is music more important than physical education? Is it more important to offer after-school tutoring or keep the library open?

These are decisions that should never have to be made in the first place. The wars in Iraq & Afghanistan have cost over $985,000,000,000 so far. The US alone has sent relief in the amount of $100 million to Haiti. The state of California spends over a billion dollars a year in medical care for illegal immigrants. Taxpayers foot the bill of smokers to the tune of $10 billion a year.

But schools are being forced to decide whether to put 35 kindergartners in a room or eliminate janitorial service. Our priorities in this country are out of whack. Until the general public realizes that without free quality public education, we as a society are doomed, and as a group step up and fund these institutions adequately, our country is going to become one of a larger divide between the have's and have not's.

We've forgotten that our children are out greatest resource. We've forgotten that our country was built on the principles of equal opportunities for all.

Just throwing more money at education is NOT the answer. But until schools are funded adequately, things will continue to deteriorate. Fewer college graduates will choose education as a career option, seeking more lucrative fields of employment. More people who can afford private options will seek those, further compromising the integrity of the public system. The downward spiral will become a self-fullfilling prophecy of failure and inadequacy.

What is the answer? I don't know for sure. But I have some ideas:

• Find ways to fix the system in place now for starters.


• Get rid of teachers and adminstrators who do not do their job.


• Eliminate wasteful practices and positions.


• Consolidate business operations.


• Remember the purpose of the school is to provide a quality educational experience for the students, not be an employment agency for adults.


• Work to support the whole child, providing services such as health care, counseling, and guidance.


• Provide support for parents, through parenting classes, adult education and opportunities to be a part of their child's education.


• Make sure students have and use the most current technology needed to make them competitive when they go to college or in the workforce, but stop spending on the latest and greatest tech toys, just to have them.


• Encourage teachers to learn and grow with and from each other instead of paying top dollars for 'experts' to come give 'sit and get' lectures. Provide time for embedded professional development where your best and brightest share and lead others.

And perhaps the most important place we can make improvements: change the paradigm in our society to value education. Expect excellence in students, teachers and parents. Demand excellence in students, teachers and parents. Let's work together to make systematic changes before it becomes too late.

Slope, y-intercept, slope, y-intercept. Over and over and over again until I think I must repeat those words in my sleep. Maybe THAT is the key to getting my kids to GET IT? They need math 3 times a day, every day, until those words dance in their dreams!

We learned slope early on, when we studied rate of change. Some got it, some didn't, despite spending about 2 weeks on it. But move on we must, and did.

Now that the time of the year for linear functions is upon us, we are revisiting slope, and now y-intercept, and the ever popular y=mx+b form. We've looked at the functions themselves, setting up function charts, solving them, learning about 'solutions'. We've picked out the slope and y-intercept from the equation itself. We've counted boxes on line after line, rise over run, rise over run. Go up, go over... which is x, and which is y. We've solved for slope from a table, using 2 points, calculating the difference in their y values, over the change in their x-values.

We've looked at multiple problems applying slope and y-intercept to real life situations from pledges for a walkathon, to different rates of phone companies, to today's problem (MY favorite) comparing buying yearbooks from 2 companies: Gorgeous George's :) and Outrageous Rathje's (my language arts sidekick). We've made BIG graphs on supersized graph paper. We've worked in small groups. We've worked in partners. We've worked in large groups. We've used the wireless chalkboard. We've used the document camera. We've done them alone. We've done them together.

and still....... there are those among them who look as if I am speaking Greek or Vulcan when I ask them to find the slope of a line drawn on the board, or suggest they start by putting a point on the given y-intercept.

and onward we move... towards inverse relationships, those dreaded y=k/x situations.

and I focus on the positives:
RL who answered every single question I asked in class today, even when I tried to shhhusssshhh him so someone else could have a chance. RL who is a rough character, from a rough family, but bless his sweet little algebraically blessed mind, he got every answer correct but one! He was THE one everyone wanted for a partner when it came time for partner work. He KNEW he knew how to do it all and so did everyone else. Then, I had to laugh when his partner couldn't read what RL had written because spaces between words, or even letters, is not a skill evident in his hen-scratched printed words. But all three of us knew the words written were right on target.

CH who is this tiny little guy who looks like he should be in maybe 2nd grade, and always struggles with everything we do in math. He yells out at someone up count from their y-intercept up for the slope, "NO!! IT'S A NEGATIVE SLOPE. GO BACKWARDS!! Make your line go DOWN!"

LF, the new girl with the jetblack spikey hair they call porcupine girl, who didn't want to go to the document camera, swearing she couldn't do it. But all of them rallied and encouraged her, walking her through, step by step, until her line was sketched perfectly, as she walked back to her seat with a huge smile of satisfaction across her face, beneath the jetblack eyeliner rimmed eyes sparkling her pride.

and I know..... tonight I will hear the same words over and over again, dancing like sugarplums in my head, rise over run, slope and y-intercept, rise over run, slope and y-intercept.

I wonder about the futures of some of my students, this year, more than ever. Some of them are destined for greatness; I can see them making a positive difference in the world someday, inventing, creating, imagining, teaching, leading. I see them reaching beyond the ordinary, finding cures, solutions, and innovations. These are the students with spark and imagination, curiousity and determination. They aren't necessarily my straight A kids, often not even the best behaved in my classes. But inside their minds, their personalities, and their willpower, I see the drive for success.

I worry about the others. The ones who sit, with that blank stare of disinterest, day after day, assignment after assignment, opportunity after opportunity. They can't be drawn into the conversation; they won't attempt anything challenging. They can't even be bothered to show up with a pencil, or their book. No doubt, some of these students will find their way, make their mark on the world eventually. But what about the others.... are they truly predestined for emptiness their entire lives?

It makes me wonder about intervention programs, early on. Can we really spot, at 7th grade, the students who will be 'failures' in life? If so, even with partial accuracy, would monies be better spent on intervening at this level than waiting for adulthood when interventions consist of incarceration, welfare handouts, or institutionalizing them?

What would interventions look like? Would they change the home environment? Would they change to school to look differently to fit their unique needs? What would that look like?

Is money better spent early on to find ways to create productive citizens? Would we rather spend money on education or prisons? Is the solution really that simple?

Stacking cups and stacking cups.... how high do they go??

The learning process of my students always amazes me when we tackle a problem. The intent of the lesson is often the least of what they learn in the doing of the assignment. Take today's Stacking Cup problem had my students measuring 5 different types of cups, creating a table of their data, then graphing the data, all ultimately to recommend the size packaging needed to ship these various cups. The intent of the lesson is to examine a constant rate of change, consider the meaning of a y-intercept, and how those concepts apply to a real-life situation.

Oh, but that was the least of the learning taking place!

First off, creating a table with so much information was difficult for students to organize. They want a template, a how-to, but I refused to give them one, so they struggle within their groups, trying to figure a logical way to organize.

Then the measuring itself. Final measurements needed to be in millimeters, but of course, the rulers measure in inches or centimeters. Seemingly an easy conversion becomes torture for some groups. Then the actual measuring of the cup heights. The ruler edge is not the zero mark. Do you lean the ruler against the cup? That isn't really the height, is it? Even once they start recording measurements, the inconsistencies cause problems. Why aren't the measurements increasing consistently?

Then, the creating of the graph. Whoa.... you would think some of them are building the Eiffel Tower! Backwards and upside down, and oh, can I borrow whiteout... and what do you mean not a bar graph?

It is fun to watch the process of learning, and even more fun to listen as they work among themselves trying to convince their partners of their way of thinking. I love problem based learning. I love the wheels turning in their heads, the smoke pouring from their ears, and the smell of brains wrinkling!

One guy did proclaim it boring, and even as I poohpoohed him, I began to fear for his safety in the hallway, as his classmates haranged him for his negativity :)

We finish tomorrow, sharing our graphs and talking about the actual slopes, y-intercepts and reasons for our linear relationships.

A good day in 7th grade :)

I did something today I am ashamed of, the very thing I always hated when my teachers did to my classes. I punished them all for the evils of some. Granted, it was a majority.... but I shouldn't have done it.

A couple of weeks ago, as part of a grant program, I received a new wireless chalkboard. The kids have been all geeked up about using it. As luck would have it, we are doing some graphing things that are well suited to using it. I promised today, the first day after spring break, they could finally get their hands on it to play.

Our Math Starter today was an introduction: Sketch 2 graphs, one showing your height from birth until now, another showing your hair length from birth until now. Pretty simple, basic and easily attainable by all students. I even gave a quick review of sketching a graph.

First hour was a riot, as they learned to use the wireless chalkboard, playing with the tools, laughing at each other's incompetence, discussing our graphs, and learning together the ins and outs of both the tech tool and the process of graphs. It was a wonderful conversation about their graphs, right, wrong, it didn't matter. We shared and laughed and learned.

Then, sixth hour... THAT hour of my day. Knowing this group struggles more with almost everything we do, I gave even more specific instructions on sketching graphs trying to get them started. Then, time to use the chalkboard to draw them, after they had each had time to draw their indivdual graphs in their notebooks. The first student who volunteered had no graph on paper and was unable to draw it. As I tried to find someone with the assignment done, this short 60 second assignment, anyone.... someone who could transfer their drawing to the wireless chalkboard, I could find no one with it done. After I had scanned the first half of the class and realized no one had even bothered to TRY, I quickly got annoyed. Here I have this cool, fun, interactive plan for the day, something THIS GROUP will enjoy, something that will engage them, something TECHIE to grab them, and they can't be bothered to sketch 2 little tiny graphs on paper first.

I took back the chalkboard and turned it off, telling them I didn't have time to share that tool with them. It takes SOOOO much longer with it, honestly, to draw graphs, I wonder about the true benefits of it anyway. But it is fun, engaging and lends itself to mistakes which makes their real mistakes in their graphs less threatening.

We continued the lesson,, simply drawing the graphs on the whiteboard, the usual boring way.

*SIGH* I wish I had more patience with them. I wish I could somehow let it go when they refuse to work. But it is overwhelming when no matter the assignment, this group can't be bothered to complete it. Short or long, fun or boring, the same few complete it. The same ones every day tune me out, no matter what I do. I can tell funny stories or dorky jokes; I can tease them; I can punish them; I can yell; I can whisper. Nothing changes anything. They are off on some other planet. I see easily how they landed in the 'low' group of our tracked math program.

Punishing them all is not the answer. I knew that, I know that... I am just at wit's end with them.

But tomorrow is another day. We are doing a lab, stacking cups, measuring them, trying to determine the packaging requirements to package them to ship them out. Will THAT hook them? I have no idea... but again, I will try.... wish me luck!

Thursday of spring break finds me with a long to-do list not done, including many school related items. I had this plan to be all planned and copied for most of the rest of the school year, but my Tuesday I set aside for schoolwork turned into a COPIER nightmare. I stopped counting on jam #62. I swear that machine has some personal vendetta against me!

We start our big graphing unit after break, taking what we know about coordinate graphs, writing and solving equations, slope and functions, and combining it all into linear equations, graphing calculators, and other fun stuff. It is always a fun unit for me. I love the logic of graphing, using that graph to predict and solve problems. I also love sharing the fun of graphing calculators with my students.

For most kids, it is easy stuff, fun stuff, stuff that falls into place. However, inevitably, I will have a few who still cannnot grasp the (x,y) coordinate process for some reason. For them, this is like torture because their graphs are always wrong, unpredictable, and make no sense. For other students, they will miss a day here and there, just enough to make what we are doing impossible to follow. Try as I will, there is simply no way to make up for the days missed with them, and they are hopelessly lost, with a Swiss cheese understanding of the unit.

But the school year is winding down, and I am becoming more reflective of what to do differently next year. I have some ideas for restructuring my math classes, especially my 'low' class. As those plans start to form in my mind, the reality strikes me, what will I be teaching next year. With declining enrollment, our looming budget crisis, and retirees in various positions, and other positions being cut, I wonder where the dust will settle and find me in the fall. I have been in this particular room and position, with a little variation, for a long time now. I love what I do and where I am, and am reluctant to leave. **sigh**

I've ranted a lot lately about accountability so today I will try to steer my thoughts elsewhere for a change :) It is easy to get into the complaining mode and forget the fun part of teaching middle school. Usually, it is the kids who are out of control and wound a little too tightly, but today, it was me.....

My social studies class has been working on their Life in the Sahara projects for the past week or so. Today was presentation day. Some partners had worked to create board games, others had posters, and still others had dioramas depicting desert scenes.

Two young ladies have been working to get their diorama and accompanying informational posters done. They wanted miniature camels to include in their display but the closest they could find in our town (where shopping consists of Family Dollar or the grocery store) were those little animals you put into water to expand. Unfortunately, the animals did not include a camel, but luckily, 7th graders have imaginations and they decided to use giraffes instead. The camelraffs, as we named them, have been expanding in plastic cups in my window for about a week. The girls have changed the water faithfully, even experimenting with hot water to see if that would help them grow more.

Things were moving along fine. One of the girls with the aforementioned project had been whining all morning that they wanted to go last. But me, being the mean teacher I am, just went straight down my list calling on groups. Some students had good projects, some had great ones, some, well, they were embarassed to be in front of the group sharing. Finally, time for the camelraff girls. For some reason, I started giggling as they started their presentation. The whole camelraff suddenly struck me funny. Well, you know how the more you try NOT to laugh, the you DO laugh??? It didn't take long and I was snorting and crying and out of control. THe poor girls were trying to present, but there I am, in the back of the classroom, laughing and lauging and tears are running down my cheeks and snot is running out my nose.

Finally... I get a slight grip on my sanity.... but the boy sitting next to me whispers, "camelraff" and I start again. Every time I would manage to stop, the little whisper comes from him, "camelraff, camelraff".

It was epic....

Thank goodness spring break is coming next week for I think I have almost lost my grip on reality....

camelraffcamelraff

camelraff

camelraffcamelraff

I am back on my 'accountability' soapbox today. The answers to my questions are multi-faceted and complex to be sure, and I don't expect they will ever be answered. Nevertheless... they long to be asked:

What accountability for excellence do we instill in our students? At a young age, children learn that failing grades does not mean they will be held back. They see disruptive students rule the school with their distracting behaviors. Unless you are a student who faces consequences at home for poor performance at school, most likely, they fall through the cracks.

Sure, there are exceptions, those rare children who want more than is expected of them, work to better themselves, strive to please their teachers, just out of sheer intrinsic motivation. It seems as time goes by, these children are rarer and rarer. The norm is becoming the coaster, the kid who shows up, does just enough not to get too much grief, but does not exert enough effort to actually experience success.

What accountability is there for parents in their child's education? We've become quick to blame the school and the teachers for students not making the grade. And to be sure, much of the responsibility does and should fall upon their shoulders. However, school is a small portion of child's life. All the knowledge a child must learn cannot be imparted in this small percentage of time. Students are in school about 50% of the days of the year, and about 30% of the hours in a day. Not even 15% of a student's life is spent in school but teachers and schools are being held 100% accountable for 100% of their education.

Some interesting points to consider:

"Children who have not already developed some basic literacy practices when they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out in later years." (National Adult Literacy Survey, 1993)

“Children must have access to books if they are to read. But books in themselves are simply not enough. Children also need to have a caring adult read to them and talk to them, preferably every day.” (Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 1999.)

Perhaps we need an entrance exam INTO school. If parents do not have their child 'ready', that child will not be allowed into school. How's that for breaking tradition? Doesn't it only seem fair that if a child is not prepared for school, his parents ought to be held accountable, since once he enters school, all the responsibility falls upon the school?

Once in school, parents will be held accountable for their child's attendance and skill maintanence over breaks, particularly summer vacation. If your child misses too much school, bam, they are gone. If they lose skills over the summer, bam, they don't come back until you bring them back up to speed.

Wouldn't that revolutionize the entire way we view parenting and education? Would it change things or create a generation of uneducated children? I am not sure.... I just know then some of the blame and responsibility would shift.

What responsibility do schools have to remove ineffective teachers? More than they are accepting now... With the current union systems in place in many states, and the heavier and heavier reliance on high stakes test scores to evaluate students and teachers, education is frought with disasterous situations. Teachers are being judged by a one snapshot view of their students instead of being held accountable for day to day instruction, classroom management and growth. Unions protect the good, bad and ugly, with little regard for what is truly in the best interests of students.

Educators need to step forward and become responsible for their own profession, policing each other, ensuring that each child gets a quality educational experience in EVERY classroom EVERY day.

There is enough blame for our failing students to go around... let's stop throwing the blame and start fixing the problems!

The ups and downs and ins and outs of every day life at school can take the most interesting twists and turns when we try to sort out what needs to be done, what we want to do, and what truly is in the best interest of our students.

It is spring in Upper Michigan for some strange reason. The spurt of warmth we are experiencing, with 50 and 60 degree days is just wrong! We should be shoveling snow, not watching daffodils and daylilies poke their heads up through the ground. Typically a blanket of several feet of snow would still lie silently across the landscape for another month or so. Then I would be to the point in my math curriculum to start going outside and doing some activites relating math to the real world.

But this weird weather is throwing a monkey wrench in my plans. What to do??? Do I jump ahead, and head outdoors where they all WANT to be?? Then we will be off-track, a bit befuddled in the overall BIG PICTURE. Does it matter?

Spring break is another 2 weeks away.... and we all want to be outside. Maybe I need to reconsider...... *sigh*

How to Fix Public Schools

How's that for opening a huge can of worms? The news is filled with No Child Left Behind, Rhode Island teachers being fired, California teachers having to fight for their jobs, Race to the Top, and others bits of educational information smattered across the headlines, bashing anyone and everyone involved in education.

I will wholeheartedly agree public education in our country is in need of reform. We are failing an entire generation of young people, as we toss around rhetoric about who is at fault and how we ought to fix the problems. These are the kids plodding their way through our halls, forgotten in the larger shuffle of fault.

Many people think firing all the teachers is the solution. Let's just clean out the deadwood. OK, fine.. sure. There are many teachers who do not do their job effectively, teachers who show up for June, July and August, a paycheck, an insurance card, and a secure position. They may or may not like kids, their subject matter or for that matter, have little real desire to teach.

But there are many others who dedicate their lives to being wonderful caring role models for their students. These are the uncelebrated heros. They give freely of their time and resources to make the lives of their students better.

Sometimes test scores proclaim teachers from both these groups as successes, but just as often, they are touted as failures.

To those outside the classroom, a test score speak volumes. Can't anyone TEACH a kid to learn? Can't you just get them through the stuff you are supposed to teach? If you do, then automatically those magical test scores will soar!

Wait a minute.... whoa... slow down....

Not so easy in the real world with real kids....

What about a little responsibility on parents and students, themselves as well? We have kids with chronic absenteeism, missing more than a third of the school year. How I am supposed to educate that child in 9 months worth of material in 6 months? She is already lacking basic skills when she comes to me, from the past how many ever years of being in school 2/3 of the time, and now, I am supposed to catch her up on all that lacking, PLUS bequeath her with my 9 months worth of learning, all in 6 months time?

That's like telling Joe Average on the line at GM, "Here's a whole line of chassis coming along but down the line ahead of you, they forgot to put in the transmissions and engines, but you have to, working only 6 hour shifts, get those cars ready to ship out in working order, getting your doors installed like always. OH, and by the way, while you try to get those transmissions and engines in along with your doors, make sure you are watching those other 25 beside those."

Kids today are electronics pros. Any given student in my class can tell you the latest X-Box game or Wii, or whatever, the ins and outs of how to win, where to buy it cheapest. They are experts on cell phones and computers, Facebook and texting. But they have never read a newspaper, or watched the evening news. They know who Hugh Hefner is, but not Martin Luther King, Jr. They know the names of all the casinos in Vegas, but have no idea where Iraq or Afghanistan, or even Texas and Florida, are. They can circumnavigate the best of filters to find pornography, but can't be bothered to type a journal entry about North Africa. They have tatoos and piercings in middle school, but can't afford a calculator, pencil or paper for class.

So the solution for improving education does not lie entirely with teachers and the school. It is a systemic problem in society as a whole. Until education is a priority for parents and students, the school has limited control over how to make it all better.

Here it is... my plan:

#1 Hold teachers accountable for teaching what they ought to be teaching.

#2 Hold adminstrators accountable for making sure teachers teach what they ought to be teaching.

#3 Hold students accountable for learning what they ought to be learning.

#4 Hold parents accountable for making sure students learn what they ought to be learning.

It sounds simple and it is simple. If teachers teach what they should, and adminstrators have the power to do something about it when they don't, the education piece is soundly in place. If students put forth effort to learn, and parents make sure their child is IN SCHOOL, doing the work assigned, and putting in the necessary time outside of class to be successful, there you go, educational reform, SUCCESS!

The last component of success is enforcement. What happens when someone doesn't fulfill their part of the bargain? Fire teachers, fire adminstrators, hold back kids until they master the material, and if parents do not parent, then remove the child from the home. It's a system of balances, pure and simple. If everyone along the way contributes his equal share of solving the problem, there will no longer BE a problem!

(Am I being sarcastic? maybe just a tad.... but how much worse can it?)

I had to laugh when I came into school this afternoon, trying to get my planning for the week completed, sub plans for Thursday and Friday finalized for my being gone to MACUL, and doing a bit of cleaning in my classroom. No matter how frustrating the kids are, when I come in and they aren't here, when it is quiet in the room and the hall, when the chairs are up on the tables, and their disarray of papers and pencils left behind sit silently waiting for the return of their owners, I always feel a sadness, an emptiness, and a wishing they were here.

As I make plans for each hour, each class, each day, I think about this student and that one, knowing he will have trouble with this assignment, she will like learning about this, and am curious as to how another will approach the new tasks set before her. I smile at their little notes and cards hung around the room for me, linger at the multi-colored date already in place for Monday in someone's 7th grade scrawl, and check to see whose math book has been left behind.

When it comes down to the truth, my job is pretty darned good most of the time, and I feel lucky to have it. I am blessed with parents who care, students who make me smile, and a feeling that I DO make a difference for many.

Soooo... it's been tough lately, if you've been reading my recent posts. I am starting to believe the legacy of this group of kids, despite my best intentions not to. I was determined that they were 'just kids' and have treated them as such all year.

A little disclaimer before I go on... of the 63 students I have this year, 50 of them are wonderful, amazing, terrific, fantastic, amazing, incredible, typical 7th graders. They have good days, bad days, and everything in between. They are funny and dumb, smart and ridiculous. They make me laugh, they make me cry, often with the same stunts. Every day with them is like a vacation. I really can't believe I get paid to spend time with them.

The other 13 though.... wow, do they drain my time, energy, creativity and patience. It doesn't seem to matter what we are doing, boring worksheets, fun open ended creative projects, bookwork, computer work, videos, me lecturing, them teaching each other, whatever it might be.... they hate it, simply hate it. They either refuse to do it, period, or they are so disgruntled in the process there is little if any real learning taking place.

I have tried all the tricks in my book, all the things I have used with success on hard-core kids in the past. Somedays, I see a tiny little speck of light at the end of the dark tunnel of oblivion they seem to live in, but most days, it is like I might as well abandon them on a desert island and pick them up in June because nothing I am doing makes a difference one way or the other.

In all my years of teaching, I have never felt so disenchanted, so hopelessly futile in my efforts, and like I am barely treading water holding my head in the crashing waves, gasping for breath.

I keep focusing on the 50.... while trying not to let the other 13 drown on my watch. But somedays it is more than I can handle.

What do you do when students get into trouble on the computers? Gut instinct response in education seems to be, kick them off computers. I get that this knee-jerk response is simply the easy way to deal with the offense, but it makes everything worse.

I had to be gone yesterday. Three of my boys got caught surfing porn, not just mild porn, but something that should have never made it through the filters, something so disgusting, the teacher who saw it won't even describe it to me.

There are so many issues going on.

#1 One of the students was not where he should have been. He is not even in my homeroom, and did not have permission to be in my room, and homeroom teacher had no idea he was gone from her room. If the adults cannot be responsible for the whereabouts of the students, doesn't it seem like we have a larger issue to deal with FIRST?

#2 I have no idea why they were using computers in the first place. The sub apparently was allowing it, but WHY? Let's just allow 13 year olds to do whatever they want whenever they want? Is that our new mantra? This would NEVER have happened if I were here, so why do subs have so much trouble maintaining order? I know it is a tough job, I get that. But if you enforce the rules already in place, maintaining order is much simpler than if you just allow them to do their own thing.

#3 It is unclear which boy did the searching, who was logged into which computer, etc... Fundamentally, it doesn't matter, and I truly believe they should all be held accountable because they could have said something, shut down the computer, or even simply removed themselves from the situation.

#4 All 3 are frequent fliers for lots of minor offenses in lots of locations. Yet, the 'punishment' was 1/2 day suspension and 2 weeks off computers. At some point, we need stiffer penalties for 'crimes'. I hate suspensions, period.. If a kid isn't here, I can't teach them. But at some point, we have to get the message across that school is a priority, and being here is a privilege. We need clearcut, consistent consequences, predictable for parents and students.

#5 The boys are not allowed to use school computers for 2 weeks. Oh great... now how are they supposed to complete their social studies project? We wouldn't take away their pencils if they were drawing inappropriate pictures. Why take away their laptops for inappropriates sites? I can print the materials they need for research, but that is just another thing for me to take care of.

I brought the boys in my room before school and did some major butt chewing. I explained the reason I was gone yesterday, to visit a relative who is dying. I explained my disappointment in their lack of respect for ME to have done that when they were in my room. I tried to talk to them, rationally but honestly. But then again, we've had those conversations before, repeatedly. I don't know what else to do. Talking to their parents gets me nowhere, talking to the boys gets me nowhere. I am left here, trying to figure out how I can be gone, knowing they will be terrorists for the sub.

It's a never-ending issue, with no solution.

Welcome to whiny, disgruntled Monday in my world. Part of my frustration comes from having used Compass Learning now for a week while listening to my students whine and complain about how boring it is, how they do not understand the directions, how they computer just died, how they are having login issues, blah, blah, blah!.... I thought that maybe, just maybe, a break from listening to ME teach would have been a break in the drudgery, something different, if not exactly fun and entertaining, at least would give them a new perspective. Apparently not...



I think the worst part of everything is simply February blues, drug into March. We've not had a day off since Christmas break, and our spring break is not until the end of this month! Everybody's nerves are on end. We are all tired of each other and ready for a break. Add in a weird winter, weatherwise, with hardly any snow.... and things in our universe are just not aligned the way they ought to be!

Now it is Tuesday, and I never got yesterday's done!

But today there was sweet justice. As my social studies class left out the door, I noticed blue ink all over the table, chair, and floor. Of course, students were quick to point out the perpetrators, so off I went to grab them. Of course, student 1 said it wasn't him, not his pen, etc... but student 2 said it was HIS pen but #1 had grabbed it, stuck the end in the hole on the computer and broken it, causing the ensueing damage. I said I really didn't care, but THEY could clean it up. They looked hopelessly around for some cleaner, until I pointed out I didn't have anything so off they went, looking for a custodian. They came back with this cool magic eraser type sponge and a rag. Starting in the table, I was amazed at how well the sponge worked. The ink just wiped off. The boys were all smiles and giggles at how easily their mess was disappearing.

But justice, sweet justice, was on my side! The floor and the ink seemed to have created some sort of bond with each other. No matter how hard they scrubbed, the ink seemed to be permanent. After about 20 minutes of constant scrubbing, the ensuing raw fingers, and my trying not to smile too much, my floor looks pretty darned good. I don't think there will be any more ink incidents this year :) Problem solved.

I love it when it works out like that. Logical consequences - you make a mess, you clean it up. It is pretty humbling to be down on your hands and knees scrubbing the mess you made while your peers are watching. Works better than detention, better than a phone call home, every time.