Exam Pressure

It’s been several weeks since I posted anything. This time of year is filled with frenzied activity; everything from open house to Christmas shopping has worn me out. I leave at 6:30 in the morning, and because of tutoring, don’t get back home until after 7:00 in the evening. It seems that every weekend is filled with some time consuming activity, and the homework, quizzes, and tests that need to be graded are never-ending. Since this is semester exam week at most schools I meet with my last outside tutoring student last evening. Before leaving school at 2:15 yesterday I got my last papers graded and finished 2nd quarter grades.

Today I am giving semester exams to my 5th and 6th period classes before going home to rest before the faculty Christmas party this evening. This year we are going to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks. My wife and I are both planning to attend, provided the predicted winter ice storm doesn’t materialize before we leave. The snow storm on Tuesday this week complicated travel to the point that a normal half-hour trip to one of my tutoring students took almost 2 hours. The storm tonight is predicted to be worse, and if it is we are staying home.

Right now I am writing this while watching my regular chemistry class take their exam. There are 23 of them; 3 have dropped since the beginning of the year. For the most part I like them. Almost all are interested in doing well, if not prepared to work hard for it, and I can see from their note cards that they put in some effort to prepare. Sure I have some problem students in this class—a colleague likes to refer to them as “mouth-breathers”—but even these poor souls are well intentioned.

I have one student in danger of failing the semester. He failed 2nd quarter, mostly because he doesn’t turn in homework or lab reports, but is very bright. If he fails the semester exam he will fail first semester and have to repeat this summer. I have faith that he will come through with at least a D.

On Monday and Tuesday I gave the A.P. Chemistry semester exam. The grades this year were somewhat disappointing. Of 28 students in the class there were 5 D’s and 3 F’s on the exam. One of the D’s was earned by a young man ranked number 2 in his class. The girl just ahead of him in class rank got an A. He is always complaining that he can never keep up with her, and he is correct.

A quick look over the faces of my regular chemistry class shows an intense look on almost everyone. Several have a chance of getting an A if they do well on the exam. For most, this test will be the difference between a B or a C for first semester.
Many of the most promising students in class, based on their standardized test scores, are in that B-C range. The best of the group in terms of grades are almost all girls and all of just average ability, again based on standardized test scores. The one boy who has a legitimate chance of getting an A is a basketball player. The A would not be in question if not for his uneven performance. Another young man is very capable, but misses so much school that he is always trying to catch up—he has a lock on a B but no real prospect for an A.

One of my solid C students, a young lady, is holding her head up on her hand, mouth open, eyes glazed over; her signature look. The only time you would know she is awake is when she is startled by something I say; which is usually followed by her asking me if what I just said was going to be on the exam.

Parent-Teacher Confrontations

Last week ended with Parent-Teacher conferences on Thursday afternoon/evening and then a welcome free day on Friday. My Friday off consisted of bringing my car to the shop for its 100,000 mile check up—but that’s another story.

I have 131 students, and had 18 conferences scheduled. This is about an average number for teachers in our building. If you teach freshmen, you will have more parents who want to see you; the new Biology teacher had 40 appointments scheduled. If you teach seniors very few will bother. I teach sophomores and juniors; almost all of them honors students, so I get a mix of parents who are concerned because their child doesn’t have an A, or their child has an A and they just want to hear how wonderful they are. I tell all my students that if they have an A to tell their parents not to schedule a conference; threatening to find something bad to say about them if their parents do. Of my 18 scheduled conferences 12 were with students that had an A.

I had identified 11 students whose parents I wanted to speak with, emailing each the week before, requesting a conference. These were underachievers or discipline problems, and only 5 of them replied--three to tell me that a meeting was impossible because of their schedule, and two to make an appointment. Both of those appointments were productive, resulting with an agreement that the student would be dropped from Honors Chemistry at semester. I will be contacting the six who didn’t reply this week to inform them that I have decided to request their child be dropped from Honors into a regular level class. I will give them one last chance to meet with me before I turn in the paper-work.

All in all the conferences went rather well; most of the conferences with a potential to go badly were not scheduled. Email is a wonderful thing because it allows me to keep a record of all correspondence with parents; something that might be helpful if a parent complains that their child was reassigned without consulting them.

Several of my problems this year stem from problems with the teacher that left last year. He had been told many times not to sign students into an advanced level of science without my permission, but ignored these directives and moved students up from basic level to regular level, and regular level to honors without my approval. This unfortunate situation has caused many of these students to struggle; requiring them to be moved back into an appropriate level this year. Parent teacher conferences always work best when teacher and parent work in partnership for the good of the student. They tend to be nonproductive and negative when they become adversarial in nature. Just ask my colleague who had a 20 minute meeting with a parent wanting to argue a single test question on a previous exam. The student in question had a 102% average in her class.

A Day Off The Tredmill Is Not Always A Bad Thing

Yesterday was “Step-Up” day when local 7th graders are invited to spend the day at our school to see what High School life is all about. Our administration sponsors buses that picked up 400+ children from 20 or so local grade schools for the festivities. Activities included a tour of the facilities, a science lab demonstration, a mini band concert, and the performance of a scene from the fall play. Lunch is provided for all who attend, including teachers from the feeder schools who accompany their students. We do our best to show off our current students by having them act as tour guides for the visitors.

Needless to say, the day is almost a total loss from the teaching stand-point. Class periods are shortened and many students are missing. I had 7-10 students missing for the first four classes, with more than half gone for 7th period. The students that were present worked on a homework assignment that is due tomorrow. I never try to teach something new on a day like this.

Opinions vary among my colleagues, from acceptance and tolerance (myself included) to bitter hostility for the unwanted disturbance. Days like this are annoying, but necessary for the future of the school. Without a constant stream of new students to fill the desks, none of us would have a job. I find the day to be an agreeable distraction in my normally busy schedule. My students worked at their desks, I graded papers, and 400+ 7th graders and their teachers got a day off school—who could complain.

Some school districts are very sensitive about missed teaching time—even to ridiculous levels. A former student of mine who now teaches science in the area almost got fired because of a planned field trip. She told me that she wanted to take her students to a local museum to see an exhibit related to what they were learning in class. The administration canceled the field trip, saying that it took time away from teaching that was needed to meet state and local learning standards. She wasn’t happy, but canceled the trip, notifying the parents that they could take their child out of school to visit the exhibit on their own if they had time and thought it would be worth the effort.

The administration called her in and threatened to fire her for “inciting truancy.” Apparently even the suggestion that a parent might want to keep their child home, even if for a legitimately educational purpose, undermined the districts attempt to meet state standards. Lucky for her, cooler heads prevailed and she got to keep her job. If she hadn’t been so serious when telling the story I would have thought that she was joking.
In case you’re interested, her school has relatively low scores on the state exams. Too bad the administrators seem to have no idea what to do about it.

Why I hate Politics

Yesterday, election day, the students were very interested in knowing who I was going to vote for. In all my years of teaching I have never discussed politics in my class or given students any indication of who I would vote for, and this year was no exception. Several were quite upset because I would not indicate a preference, but I do not believe in classroom endorsements. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues aren’t of the same mind.

I really don’t discuss my preferences in voting with anyone, not even close friends. Even my wife isn’t sure who I voted for. We host Thanksgiving for the family every year and my only rule at the family gathering is—no discussion of politics in my home. When politics are discussed, invariably everyone doesn’t agree, and a bitter fight ensues. I would rather eat pumpkin pie and enjoy watching football.

In a complete reversal of one of my most strongly held beliefs, I will now tell anyone who reads this blog whom I voted for and why. I voted for John McCain.

I am not a member of the Republican or Democrat Party, and consider myself an independent. The first presidential candidate I ever voted for was George McGovern. I have voted tor Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton in different elections. I almost never vote in a primary, and many times don’t make up my mind until days before the election. Usually something happens in the last few days of an election to sway my vote one way or the other. This year I listened carefully to what each had to say and tentatively decided I would vote for Obama. I believe that taxes should be lower on the middle class and higher on the rich, we should have a health system like that of Canada, and the money many CEO’s make is obscene. I know he is untested and inexperienced, but decided that it was reasonable to give him a chance to “fix” what we both agreed was wrong.

About a week ago I was watching one of those political discussion programs on TV and watched a young woman and an older man debate the candidates. The woman got upset at one point when the older man accused Obama of wanting to raise taxes. She looked into the camera and asked the people “out there” to listen carefully—then stated that Obama would lower taxes on every family that made less than $250K a year and that McCain would lower taxes for the rich only. The older man began laughing; making the young woman even more agitated, and countered that Obama would raise taxes on everyone after taking office. The older man explaining that Obama planned to get away with it by arguing that the deficit was worse than he had expected and had no choice. The next day stories surfaced that Obama’s economic advisors were still debating whether $250K or $125K would be the cut-off for a tax cut.

I brought this up with a colleague who is a vocal Obama supporter, hoping that he would have a better response than the young woman on TV. The only thing he did was to argue that McCain was going to raise taxes on me and lower them on the rich. Trying to discuss this calmly, I told him that I wasn’t afraid of that because the almost certain Democrat control of Congress would not allow it, adding that I wasn’t sure that that same Congress would make Obama keep his promise. At this point he got angry and started yelling at me for being a dangerous “ultra conservative.” This is why I don’t like to discuss politics.

At that point I knew that Obama was a politician, not a leader, and would say anything to get elected. The promise of a middle-class tax cut was a lie, and Obama knew it! More importantly, if he would lie about this, what else were we being promised that he knew he could never deliver, and why should I vote for him, even if everyone else in the world was?

I hope I am wrong and Obama will do, or at least try to do everything he promised. If so I will vote for him in four years. If not, in four years I will be driving around with a bumper sticker that says "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For McCain" and will have the moral authority to scold those of you who fell for the apparent lie. I almost did

Spare the Rod . . . .

Classroom discipline problems certainly aren’t the same for every teacher or every school. At present, I am mad at one of my sophomore boys and have emailed his mother about his unacceptable behavior. The boy, who is very immature, is quite bright. He is probably capable of A work, but consistently earns C’s and D’s. His work is generally late, incomplete, or just missing and in class he needs constantly to be the center of attention, a real attention whore. He speaks out of turn, makes humorous (?) comments, and generally draws attention to himself. One day I am sure will jump up out of his seat, and wave his arms in the air yelling…”Look at me!, Look at me!” Before this happens I will probably drop him out of Honors Chemistry into a lower level; making him someone else’s problem.

The day after I emailed his mother I got a return message apologizing for him. She knows he is bright and disruptive and does not know what to do. She made him come to me and apologize for his behavior, at which time I told him I was going to demote him out of my class soon if his grade didn’t improve. I am waiting for his quarter exam grade to put the last nail in his coffin as it were.

Perhaps I am spoiled teaching in a private school. My good friend who teaches in the Chicago Public schools tells horror stories that would make you make you cringe. He has had his car fire-bombed in the faculty parking lot, has had a gang fight in the hall spill over into his classroom while teaching, and once found two students in the hall having sex. While it has never happened to him, he claims that there 2-3 assaults a month on teachers by students in the building. He probably wouldn’t even notice a chatty sophomore in his classroom.

Recently I read an article at “news-press.com” about a 9 year old girl who was arrested in a Florida school for attacking her teacher. The girl is in a special needs school and has been diagnosed with obsessive oppositional disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia.

On the day of the incident, the student had just returned to school after serving a suspension for assaulting another teacher who declined to press charges. Two hours after arriving at school, the police were called. The girl, reportedly, threw a chair at the teacher, threatened to stab her, knocked the phone out of her hand when the teacher tried to call for help, and kicked the teacher. She also attacked the officer when he attempted to restrain her. I should be happy that my little criminal is only a pain in the ass and not violently insane.

Different Day--Same Crap.

My friend in the Theology Department reminded me that I haven’t posted anything is several weeks. I have been very busy; first with the 50th anniversary celebration for our school, and then with grading papers that had piled up on me. It is Saturday Afternoon and I have some time so I thought I would write down my thoughts.

Several weeks ago I changed the program that keeps track of the visitors to the blog. There have been about 271 visitors the last few weeks and the tracking information shows some interesting things. I have had visitors from all over the United States, as well as Israel, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Japan. The tracking information does not tell me who they are, but does tell me where they were referred from.


Monday I am scheduled to be observed by one of the assistant principals. I am scheduled this year for a “formal” evaluation. The administrator chosen for this task did my last evaluation and I passed with flying colors.

Weapons of Math Instruction

The link below is to an article posted at “thestate.com” concerning a 10 year old boy who was suspended for having a weapon on school property. The weapon was a broken pencil sharpener.

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/521009.html From this link you can access the original article as well as a copy of the police report describing the incident.

As the article states, the pencil sharpener was the type many school children carry in their supply boxes. The problem was that the sharpener was broken. The article goes on to say that a teacher at his school saw the boy with what seemed to be a small razor blade, and reported it to the assistant principal. The sheriff’s police were called and the boy was, apparently, taken into custody.

The article also contains a copy of a letter sent home to parents by the school after the incident, explaining what happened and assuring the parents that their children are safe when at school. This letter goes on to suggest that some of the assertions made in the article were incorrect, including that the pencil sharpener accidently broke in school. Other inaccuracies could not be challenged for reasons of “student confidentiality”, according to the letter.

Give me a break! The letter by the school is an obvious attempt to cover their ass after making the incredibly stupid decision to report this to the police, and then being subjected to media scrutiny that makes them look justifiably foolish. The police report is most amusing in contrast to the gross over-reaction by the school administration. Unless the student in question had been a problem in the past, the reaction of the school was worse than excessive, it was incompetent. The article, as well as the police report, implies that the student was so upset he was crying at the meeting with the adminisrator and the police The boy was suspended for two days.

The police report concludes that the student meant no harm and only intended to use the “blade” to sharpen his pencil. The school is unconvinced, stating that they are keeping the weapon pending a hearing to see if any further actions need to be taken.

Has common sense been completely flushed down the crapper? Are schools so afraid of being accused of doing something wrong that no one can make a rational decision anymore? Has it come to the point where rules and regulations are so restrictive that an administrator has no choice but to treat petty problem this way?

The First Week

The first full week of school is over and we are all, both students and teachers, grateful for the three day Labor Day weekend. Except for the oppressive heat and humidity common to this time of year, things went well.

My first year chemistry students seem interested in the work, especially the new activity I developed on the scientific method. I found a set of empty boxes that once contained greeting cards, placed a D-cell battery in each, and used duct tape to seal them.
Part one of the activity involved determining what was in the box, without opening it of course. The students shook, turned, and listened to the box as they argued with each other about the contents. Each group had to turn in a written report with their observations and hypothesis; the oldest member of the group assigned to be its leader.

In Part two they made a “Cartesian diver” out of an empty plastic bottle, small test tube, and some tap water. Their written report had to include an explanation of how it works. I posted the answer to each “scientific problem” on a new web page I set up for my classes at blogspot.com. I wanted to get them used to looking there for class information so I exploited their natural desire to know what was in the box by not telling them, but letting them know that they could find the information there. I also posted a link to their homework assignments and files of their handouts that could be downloaded if necessary.
Several students who lost the original handouts this week downloaded copies at home. The explanation for the Cartesian diver activity was a U-tube video about how to make one. There is a playlist music box as well, along with links to webelements.com , and homework help web sites. I plan to add more links as the year progresses, building the page into a major resource for my classes.

The A.P. Chemistry class took its “summer homework test” Tuesday and Wednesday. The grades were acceptable, but I had hoped for better. It is obvious to me that some extra review will be necessary. After the summer homework test one student dropped, and I recommended that another two do the same.

One student, a young lady who got a 53% (the worst grade in the class) on the test, sent me the email below:

“im worried about the grade i received on the summer homework test. do you have any suggestions on what i should do?”

My reply was:

“Your grade was significantly lower than the average in the class. I noticed that you had problems on several different topics--especially those that were not covered in Chemistry A. The purpose of the summer homework was to emphasize those skills that are necessary to master before beginning AP Chemistry. For Honors Chemistry students this was review material, but for those who took Chemistry A, about 1/3 of it was new material. Students who took Chemistry A needed to spend extensive time over the summer mastering these necessary skills.

If you did spend extensive time this summer and still did not master the necessary skills I would recommend dropping AP Chemistry now. On the other hand, if you did not study this summer as you should have, you may still be able to get up to speed, but it will take weeks of intensive review and work over and above the normally assigned class work.

Your records indicate you are a very good student who qualified for Honors Chem, and if she had taken Honors Chemistry would have easily mastered the necessary work. But you took Chemistry A instead of Honors, and took a year off between Chemistry A and AP Chem, neither of which is recommended for success in AP Chemistry.

You are the only one who knows your motivation and determination to catch up. I will not press the matter one way or the other, and will support you whether or not you decide to drop. If you decide to stay you will need about 2 hours a week of intensive review that I will gladly help you with. You need to think about these things, maybe discuss it with your parents and/or guidance counselor before you decide.”

Now I will wait to see what happens.

The First Day of Classes

Many schools now begin with a shortened schedule for the first few days. We began on Wednesday, August 20th with an 11:45 dismissal; each class meeting for 25 minutes. On the first day I assign seats and pass out the state test books. I pass around a blank seating chart and tell the students to print their names in the proper space. They are told that it is their first intelligence test of the year; can they get their name in the correct space. The seating charts were returned correctly the first time by all but one class. In my 5th period regular Chemistry class one of the young ladies put her name in the wrong box, resulting in half the room being incorrect. Their second try was successful.

The 1st period AP Chemistry class appears enthusiastic and ready to work, with the exception of one young lady who has already asked if she can drop. I filled out the paper-work for her without trying to talk her out of it, and sent her off to talk to the guidance counselor. I know there will be a few more of them dropping after they take their “summer homework” exam next week.

The Honors Chemistry and regular Chemistry “A” classes I have been assigned are filled with students whose parents or older siblings I have taught; more than half the names being familiar to me. I will ask each one personally if they have such a connection to me when I check their materials in lab next week. We spent the first two early dismissal days going over the class policies and handing out sheets of information. The first full day, Friday, we began the lesson on scientific notation. This is mostly a review topic, it being covered in Algebra I, but I have to teach them how to use their scientific calculators to work with these types of numbers. The Honors Chemistry and Chemistry A classes begin studying the same topics, but differentiate towards the end of chapter 2.

My home room class is all the sophomore students (19) from my 5th period Chemistry A class and two sophomores from the Biology class next door. Since all homerooms are the same year in school I lose my 5th period juniors and get the two sophomores from the mostly freshmen Biology class.

Fifth period is a double period because of lunch. My Chemistry class meets for the first 45 minutes, has a 25 minute lunch, and then returns for 20 minutes of homeroom. I have decided to bring my lunch this year and eat in my room. The administration does not like us to do this, but does little to discourage the practice. It is the only time of the day when I can collect my thoughts in solitude.

Monday we check into lab. I check to make sure that each student has the materials I assigned them to have for class; book sock, binder, scientific calculator, and class notebook. It is their first grade in Chemistry, each item being worth 5 points. We then go over the lab safety rules and point out the location of the fire extinguisher, safety shower, and eye wash station in the lab. They will take the “Lab Safety Quiz” the next day.

Chemistry Boot Camp

As I mentioned in a previous post, I attended a week-long AP seminar in early July. I was one of 7 teachers taking the class. I had gone to AP courses before, once for Chemistry and another time for Calculus, but neither were as intense as the one this summer. Our fascinator described her approach as “total immersion” but I would describe the experience as “Chemistry Boot-Camp.”

The week began with registration on Sunday afternoon, followed by dinner with the other AP teachers and facilitators. All together there were about 30 teachers at the week’s activities from 4 different AP subject areas. After dinner, we went to the classroom across campus and were introduced to the AP fascinator who was to conduct the class for the College Board. We were asked if we had brought the assigned materials, but nobody had because a list was never sent. We then took a test to see what we all knew. The questions were basic Equilibrium Chemistry and I had no trouble with it.

Breakfast was served each morning from 7:00 to 7:45am, with class beginning at 8:00am. The first morning, Monday, I got to the cafeteria early for coffee and something to eat. The food all week was outstanding. The meals were more like a hotel buffet than college cafeteria food, and the conversation during meals with the other teachers were enlightening and useful.

Class began at 8:00am sharp with our tests from the night before being returned. I got 19½ out of 20 possible points. The facilitator took off ½ point because I did not explain one of my answers. The question did not ask for an explanation, but who am I to argue. She said that she was happy because everyone got at least half the points possible. The next two hours each day were taken up by doing problems from old AP exams. Each day at about 10:00am we had a 30 minute break, followed by another hour or so of problems and instruction.

Lunch provided a welcome break from academics for an hour, as well as time to get to know the other teachers in my group. We came from all over the mid-west, some traveling eight hours to get there. I was the only one to teach in a private school, with the exception of the fascinator who retired from a public school system to teach in an all girls Catholic school. We shared a common set of complaints about our schools—the same set of complaints you would hear from any group of teachers.

We meet again at 1:00pm in the lab where we spent the afternoon doing experiments. During the four afternoons we performed 10 experiments, sometimes 3 different labs running at once. We were dismissed at about 3:45 each afternoon. Dinner was served at 5:00pm, but instead of taking a break after lab each afternoon, we usually stayed in the science building working on our lab reports and homework until the cafeteria opened.

After dinner we reported back to class for another two hours of work before being dismissed for the day after 8:00pm. The other subject areas were usually dismissed after dinner to work in their rooms on individual projects. After the evening session I would spend 1-2 hours in my dorm room working on problems. The other subject areas took Thursday evening off and went out to have dinner together at some local restaurant, while we had a sandwich and meet in the study room of the dorm to work on a multiple choice exam we were assigned for the next morning.



Friday was our last day, and we got up early to clear out of our room, pack the car, and eat breakfast. Our class meet at 8:00 and worked until 11:00 when we were finally dismissed for the week. I was exhausted, and welcomed the solitude of the 4 hour drive home.

All-in-all, I got a lot out of the weeks work. I came home with a number of new ideas and activities that should work with my students. The insights I discovered during the week will, hopefully, help improve my student’s scores on the AP exam. But I might have come away with much more if the work had not been so severe. The old saying “a mile wide and an inch deep” comes to mind when I think about the curriculum that week, especially lab. I feel I might have gotten more out of the experience if work had been tempered to enhance depth and understanding. But I would recommend something like this for someone else even if I would have done it differently myself.

Say Cheese

Yesterday was our mid-summer picture/schedule pick-up day and I volunteered to work the ID picture line from 8:00 – 10:00, the first shift. The students enter the gym lobby and pick up their class schedule, book list, student handbook, and several handouts. They are then directed to tables in the main gym where they receive a bar-coded form with their name and student ID number. They then stand in one of 5 picture lines to get their ID photo taken.

At the front of the line, the photographer puts their bar-coded form into a slot in the camera and takes their picture. I am not sure how it works, but I think the camera reads their bar-code and stores their photo digitally in a computer. Later the picture can be brought up with the name and year of the student. In the “power school” program each teacher uses to take attendance and record grades during the year, the teacher can call up a picture of the student with their information. ID cards are produced later and distributed the first day of school during homeroom. Teachers and other staff also have their pictures taken, but their forms say “Faculty/Staff” instead of “Student.” Each student, faculty, and staff member has an account with “meal time” that is used to pay for their food in the cafeteria. In fact, the cafeteria does not accept cash for anything.

If a student loses their ID during the school year they can go to the student government office and have a new one printed out on the spot—for a fee of $5.00. These same pictures are used in the yearbook for the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. The seniors have an ID photo taken, but also have an individual session with another photographer for their “senior photos.” The students can bring as many as three different outfits for the photo session, which lasts for about 30 minutes.

Students are required to be in school dress code from the waist up for their ID photo, and my job as picture line monitor is to stop students who are in violation of the code; the shirt must have a collar, no facial hair or side-burns for boys, and no visible cleavage showing for the girls. Like most other male teachers, I am very uncomfortable stopping a girl in line because of her cleavage, so we work in pairs with a female teacher who takes the young lady aside and tells her to button her shirt and “cover-up those things.” Modesty is not what it used to be.

I was able to congratulate many of last year’s years AP Chemistry students who arrived for their photos. The young man I wrote about in the last post who I taunted into a 5 on the exam was there with his friend who also got a 5. Seeing the smile on his face when he came over to brag about the grade was worth the price I will pay for his dinner later.

After my two hour duty I went to my classroom where I was available to work with next year’s AP Chemistry students who were told they could get help from me on their summer homework assignment between 10:00 and noon. I saw about a dozen of them in the picture line earlier, asking each if they had started their homework and if they had found a used book, and five others appeared at my room—two for help and three just to say hello. I finished talking to the last one at about 12:30.

On my way out of the building, I ran into the new president of the school. She is our equivlent of a public school's superintident. She just took office July 1st and I had not yet had the opportunity to meet her. I introduced myself and found her to be most gracious and personable. We spoke for several minutes where she asked me about my history at the school and how I liked it here. She appears to be an extremely likable and positive woman who I look forward to working with.

No Rest for the Wicked

Today I made my weekly trip to school. During the summer, when school is off, I try to go in at least once a week, it being easier to get things done away from all the distractions at home .

I was surprised to find five other science department members also there, more than half the department. My first job was to print out a copy of the chemistry lab book we use. I need to take the copy to an outside graphics company who produces copies of the book for student use. When I arrived I found out that the printer in the lab was recently replaced and I needed to have it installed on my laptop before I could use it. The old printer gave out several weeks ago when a summer school student turned the eyewash water supply on it. According to the teacher, the student was “dicking around” in lab. The student in question ended up failing summer school Chemistry, not because he broke the printer, but because he ended up with a 29% average. Since summer school in Biology and Chemistry is only for students who failed the regular course, he has now failed twice, and will have to take the whole year over again next term.

After printing out the lab book I worked on repainting the tops of the student lab tables in my classroom. There are no desks in my classroom, but two-person lab tables like you see in Biology. The lab tables are about 50 years old, but still in excellent shape. I work diligently after school during the year to make needed repairs. Every 7 or 8 years the tops need to be repainted and I do the job myself, with the permission of the principal. I think that she would prefer maintenance do the job, but realizes that they are under-staffed and over-worked. The whole process; sanding, cleaning, and painting, took all of two hours. I will put a second coat on them Friday when I go in for “schedule pick-up day” when the students get their ID picture taken and pick up their class schedule and book list.

My AP scores came in this week and they were awesome! Over 60% of the students got a 4 or 5 and over 80% got a 3 or better. I don’t know what the statistics are for this year, but the national average for 3 or above is around 60%. The success of these students is a tribute to their intelligence and hard work more than my expertise as a teacher. The student I wrote about before who the principal let in, even though she didn’t meet the requirements got a 3. As I wrote before, she worked hard and improved tremendously during the year and the 3, while not exceptional, indicates that she will be successful in the Pharmacy program she will enter next year at a university.

One of the students who got a 5 was a young man who was my problem child last year. He never took notes in class or did his homework on time, and asked off-the-wall questions in class. On exams he could get an A+ or an F depending on his mood. He is highly intelligent—probably gifted. Every year I take all the AP chem. students who scored a 3, 4, or 5 on last year’s exam out to dinner at a fairly nice restaurant. The 2006-2007 class had 12 of 14 students score a 3 or better, but only 8 were able to make dinner (play and sports practice). I told this year’s class about our evening in order to motivate them to work hard the last quarter in order to be invited next year. The young man I spoke of got really excited and said he couldn’t wait to make me pay for an expensive dinner. I responded that there was little danger of that happening, seeing that his performance was less than inspiring.

Many of you might be thinking that that was a terribly insensitive and demoralizing thing to say to a student, and you would be correct for many students. During my 30+ years of teaching I have learned to distinguish between students who will be deflated by such a comment and those that will take it as a personal challenge that must be answered. The boy vowed to “get a 5” and make me “buy him dinner” and he did. He thinks I will be mad about it, but I did it on purpose to give him a “kick in the ass”, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I will have to buy dinner for 22 students this time, assumming they all can attend.

Just before I was about to leave, the teacher in charge of the greenhouse showed up to water her plants. She teaches Biology, Chemistry, Botany, and Forensic Science. She had a cheating incident on her final exam that she reported to me as her Department Chair. At the time that school ended she was still working with the Dean to uncover what happened. Apparently she did something very unwise; letting a student empty her paper recycling container the last week of the year. The box contained a copy of her final exam and the key which the student found. It appears that he made copies and gave them to several of his friends. They were caught because some other students found out and turned them in. All the boys were confronted and all confessed. She is a very good teacher who made a mistake—something many of us have done in our career. She gave each boy a zero on the exam which counted for 20% of their final grade for the semester. There are two forms of the final exam and one of the boys, by chance, got the other form to take. Realizing this, he had to take the exam without help from the cheat-sheet he had made with the answers and got a D- on it. His father went to the principal and argued that since the boy did not use the answers he really didn’t cheat and shouldn’t receive a zero on the exam.

Thoughts on a Mid-Summer Day

It has been almost a month since I wrote anything for the blog. School being out for the summer, I haven’t had much to write about.

During the summer I go into school about once a week. During the first weeks off I organized my classroom and did a complete edit of the lab book we use in chemistry. The next time in I will print out a copy of it to bring to the printer. I still need to repaint the student tables in my classroom. I attended an AP Conference which allowed me to live in a college dorm for the week—I will have something to say about my experience in the next post. It was a busy week and I came home with several new ideas.

The final exam in Honors Chemistry went well and I had no calls concerning final grades, but the AP Biology teacher did contact me the second week of summer break about a student still trying to get into her class for next year. I wrote before about the young lady who requested AP Bio, but was denied admittance because she did not meet the qualifications in terms of previous background (The Permission Dilemma, 2/13/08). The teacher informed me that the girl has been persistent in her request to be added to the class list, pleading her case to anyone who would listen (principal, president, director of guidance). In her latest written request to be admitted she announced that she had taken the ACT test and scored a 29—this would put her in the top 5% of all students in the nation. I was not moved by her first argument and agreed with the teacher that she should be rejected, but this new information made me think more deeply about it.

I taught this girl two years ago and found her to be above average, but not outstanding. She is a champion of memorizing and spitting things back out on the exam, but weak in her level of true understanding. She is absent often, especially on test day, and was in the bottom 25% of incoming freshmen three years ago. I verified the girls claim concerning the ACT score with guidance, asking how a student could move from the bottom 25% in the nation to the top 5% in three years. No one has a good answer for this, though I get the impression that a number of people are suspicious of the validity of the latest score. That being said, and having no objective reason to dismiss the new ACT score, the teacher and I decided that she could be admitted into class. I asked the teacher to make it clear to the girl that absences on test day or poor performance would be unacceptable and result in her being dropped from the class. We decided that in the future we would make the student’s ACT score the deciding factor if they did not meet the customary requirements, it being easy to determine the average ACT score of the current class with the help of guidance. Based on my AP Chemistry class this year, a score of 27 should be sufficient to demonstrate you are at par with the other students in the class.

I am still uncertain about how she will do. She may surprise all of us and excel, or at least hold her own, making the opportunity a benefit to her, or fail and learn an important life lesson about getting what you wish for.

Cheater's Proof

The woman in the photo is Christine Pelton, a former Biology teacher at Piper High School in Piper Kansas. Ms. Pelton became the center of an international story in 2002 when she caught 28 sophomore students plagiarizing on a project for her class. The project in question was known as the “leaf project” by the students and was supposed to count for 50% of their semester grade in her class. As a result of getting caught, the 28 “cheaters” were going to fail the class for first semester; the incident occurring in December of 2001. Because of complaints from several parents the Piper School Board modified the teacher’s decision, resulting in 27 of the 28 students passing her class. Ms. Pelton resigned; leaving her position after the School Board rendered their decision.

If you “Google” Christine Pelton you will get more than 70,000 hits, all of the links I saw roundly demonized the school board and criticized the student and parents. Ms. Pelton is portrayed as a Christ-like figure, who was being crucified for sticking to her standards. She gave up her career for the sake of honesty. I guess I am the only one in the world, besides the parents who complained and the School Board, who disagrees.
In the case of the Piper High School cheating scandal the School Board made the correct decision, Ms. Pelton was wrong. By the way, I am not being sarcastic here.

Ms. Pelton is guilty of a common mistake second year teachers make—inappropriately over-weighting an assignment. No single assignment should ever be more than 10% of a semester grade in high school, 20% if it is a comprehensive semester exam. There is no way to justify a weighting of 50% on a “leaf collection” in Biology. It is disturbingly inappropriate and can’t be rationalized in terms of its alignment with the Kansas State Goals in Life Science—go ahead and try to justify it if you like, I dare you!!! I actually looked up the published Kansas Science Standards.

My biggest question is; where was her supervision? How did her principal, department chair, and fellow teachers allow her to implement this policy without at least trying to dissuade her from such a mistake? All of the turmoil; the public scandal, national spotlight, and disturbing drama of her resignation, could have been avoided if anyone had pulled her aside before it was too late and given her some guidance.

Most readers are probably outraged at the idea of letting the little cheaters get away with their crime; in fact, none of them did. As far as I can determine from my research, none of the 28 plagiarists got a passing grade on the project, they all failed it! Contrary to what most have been led to believe by the media circus that resulted, the school board did not change the failing grades on the project to passing. Rather, they changed the weighting of the project from 50% to a more appropriate 12%. The result of this change was that most of the students did not fail the semester while still failing the project. The board never said that plagiarism was OK only that the weighting of the assignment was inappropriate. The media misrepresented the board's decision to make for a better story, and in doing so, wrongly convicted the school board in the court of public opinion.

For those of you who still feel that the school board should have backed her up, teaching the cheaters a lesson, what about this? Suppose her punishment for cheating was having the students paddled? Would you still be arguing that the school board should have let them learn their lesson? If the school board acted to alter the punishment would you argue that they were telling the students that cheating was OK? Of course not, you’re sane. Certainly paddling is different from getting no credit for half the work in a semester—but both are inappropriate. The school board was correct, the cheaters deserved to fail the project (and did), and Ms. Pelton was let down by her supervisors and colleagues who wern't paying attention.

For those of you who feel sorry for Ms. Pelton for loosing her career, Education Week reported that she had signed a movie contract for her story.

Your Education Dollars at Work

The story from the Toronto Sun Newspaper about the Simcoe County District School Board beginning an investigation of sexual abuse based on the “visions” of a psychic would have made me laugh my ass off if I hadn’t thought about it and realized how scary this really was.

According to the article, an educational assistant (EA) who worked with the 11 year old girl in question visited a psychic who told the EA that she had a “vision”, telling her that the girl was being molested. The girl exhibits autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is non-verbal. The EA reported her “suspicions” to the school board who, in turn, reported the allegations to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) to investigate. The article goes on to say that the CAS refused to comment on the investigation, but said that the Child and Family Services Act requires that allegations of sexual abuse be investigated "if there are reasonable grounds." Apparently “reasonable grounds” includes the visions of a psychic.

The mother of the girl is understandably upset, and pulled her daughter out of the school, citing “trust issues.” The school principal referred all requests for comment to the school board. Everyone involved is hiding behind the contention that they were following protocol and were required to report the information to the CAS.

In my mind, this is evidence that the CAS has too large a budget, the legislature needs to act before more money is demanded to investigate information derived from consulting tea leaves and Oui Ja boards. This kind of silliness wastes resources needed to investigate allegations based on legitimate justification, and should be viewed as insulting to those who are genuine victims of abuse.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2008/06/18/5910691-sun.html

Random Thoughts on the Last Day of School

It is the last full day of school and, as of 5th period, everything is going more or less smoothly. First period my English teacher friend came to my room to deliver two exams she had taken from students in first period study hall. She said they were working together and she confiscated the tests. I told her that the test was “take-home” and it was acceptable for them to work together. She was very suspicious of them because when she caught them the students lied to her about what they were doing. Everything would have been fine if they had told her the truth—that they were working together on an assignment and I had said that it was all right to do so. They lied, even when the truth would have kept them out of trouble. This is very common among students; the tendency to lie when confronted by authority figures. You can only wonder why they act so stupidly.

On May 18th we had our graduation ceremony at a large outdoor music theater. It was very cold and I wish I had worn something warmer under my graduation gown. So much for global warming! Every teacher wears a graduation gown that represents their degree and university.

The ceremony lasted about 90 minutes, including reading the names of every one of the almost 400 graduates. The reading of the names takes up about half the time. The senior class president and the valedictorian each give a brief speech, both being rather good as these speeches go.

Overall I hate going to graduation, finding it to be a waste of my time. Our contract requires us to be there, but I don’t know if our attendance means anything to the students.

Next week we give final exams. The juniors in A.P. Chemistry already took there’s with the senior’s last week. It was the multiple choice section of the 1984 exam. The Honors Chemistry final is comprehensive over the whole year, and the students have had a review packet for 3 weeks. In the first three periods today nobody had a question about anything on the review. This means that either they have it finished and need no help, or none of them have started it yet. We will find out next week which one is the case.

The Crapshoot

Interviewing prospective teachers is a lot like trying to pick the chocolate in a box with the cherry inside. They all look the same on the outside, but some have a special something inside, that “something” that all school administrators look for. Finding that person who will become a special teacher someday is as much luck as it is science.

Most administrators I have worked with have certain things they look for in a candidate.
Some prefer experience and look for established teachers with known track records; others prefer young, inexperienced new hires that will be low on the pay scale. A friend that teaches in a local district sarcastically tells people that the district policy on hiring is to get the “cheapest person possible” for every opening. At my school, there is no set policy concerning experience. We will hire a teacher with experience, but generally give new hires credit for no more than eight previous years of teaching. In some cases, where the candidate has a special talent or skill that we want, more credit can be given. One teacher in my department, who has a special degree, was given extra years of experience in order to make our offer more desirable for him.

Our interviews for the new Biology teacher all took place last week. Two of the candidates were new teachers with only one year experience. The third was a teacher with 6 years experience. All three gave a very professional interview. The principal has a set of questions she asks all teaching candidates; what made you want to become a teacher, who were the major influences that make you who you are, what things do students do that “push your button?” My questions centered on their teaching style and how they felt about teaching a set curriculum. I am more concerned that the person we hire be a team player than they are a superstar. One department chair’s superstar is another’s pain in the ass.

One candidate we both agreed to reject, feeling that she might have discipline problems because of her inexperience. Of the other two I preferred one and the principal preferred the other. My preference was the other inexperienced teacher, an alumna who I had taught. The alumna is outgoing and confident, not afraid to speak her mind. The experienced teacher that the principal favored was meeker, her soft spoken personality hiding a quiet confidence. I was impressed with both.

As you can guess we hired the experienced teacher, and I feel this was because of her personality. I don’t mean to suggest that I am unhappy with our new Biology teacher, or that I think the other choice was significantly better. They were both very close in ability and potential, and I can live with either and be happy. My preference for the other candidate was subjectively based on familiarity not on any objective measure. Like I suggested, hiring a new teacher is a crapshoot at best.

My Interesting Week

This has truly been one of the more interesting weeks of the school year. In fact, so much has happened that I am going to write two posts about it.

The week began with a department meeting on Monday. There was little new business to take care of, only a few minor announcements to make. At the last Department Chairman meeting I announced that we would be offering Honors Biology as a “zero hour” class for local eighth graders next year. Math does something similar, offering Algebra I to eighth graders who qualify first period. These students, if they attend our school for freshmen year, would begin their math education with Geometry. The zero hour Biology would allow these students to accelerate in both math and science, taking Chemistry as freshmen. One of the assistant principals at the Department Chairman meeting asked to see me after and, at that time, expressed his concerns about the staff chosen to teach the class. His concern was not that they would do an unsatisfactory job, they are both excellent teachers, but that they tend to call in sick in the morning rather than the night before. He was concerned that if they call in sick in the morning, he would have a difficult time getting a substitute for them at that early hour. He wanted the teachers to be responsible to get their own subs if absent so he would not have to be bothered with it.

I decided to make an appointment with the principal to discuss the matter, not wanting to go against the assistant principal, but also not wanting to go against my teachers. I brought it up to the principal as something I didn’t know what to do about. “I can see both sides.” I told her when I apprised her of the situation. She told me she would handle it.

The next item on my meeting agenda concerned a formed department member who left six years ago when she became pregnant. Her child is now ready to begin pre-school and she has asked to return to work, part time, if a job is available. This was a very average teacher who I had no problems with, but left bad feelings behind when she quit. The other teachers in the department don’t like her for a variety of reasons, and the former principal was quite upset with the way she left. She had taken two months maternity leave and promised to return again, then decided a week before school began to resign. I discussed these problems with the new principal, making sure she understood the situation. We both agreed that we did not feel comfortable having her back, and decided to inform her that we had no part time position open, but thank her for her interest. It is our hope that she will hook up somewhere else.

The third item was printing for Biology. Biology students used to buy a workbook, but the new edition of the text supplies the teacher with a disk that contains the workbook files. Teachers have to print the workbook page, and duplicate copies for their students. We figure that the result is 40,000+ copies on our machines each school year. The Biology teachers what to get permission to send the workbook pages to an outside printer and have them make packets that each student would purchase at the beginning of the year. The students would pay $4.00 for the packet and the teachers would be saved from being chained to the copy machines every day. I was not sure that the principal would go for this, but I emphasized the 40,000+ copies that would be saved and she agreed.

Teen Violence

If you turn your TV or radio on today you will probably see or hear a news/talk show devoted to the topic of school violence. Big news the last few days has been the eight teens in Lakeland Florida who beat a fellow cheerleader because of something posted on Myspace. The local paper in Lakeland reports today that the girls are charged with kidnapping, battery, and tampering with a witness, and could face life in prison if convicted. We all know that won’t happen.

In Chicago, students have recently marched on the State of Illinois Building protesting for more gun control after a particularly violent few months where 20 teens have lost their lives to violence this year already. The fear was so bad at one Chicago public high school that parents were keeping their children home. I read a news story today about a 54 year old teacher in Baltimore who was sent to the hospital after being beaten by a student. At another local public high school, a student was arrested yesterday. He was found with a gun in his locker and ammunition on his person. This is not a inner city school but a mostly white suburban district. Any sane person would be frightened.

Fortunately, the school I teach at has only minor fights to deal with, and then only a few times a year. I have never been threatened by a student in all my years here, and only once was a teacher struck by a student. We suspend students for a first offense of fighting and put the student on probation. Last school year there were 4 fights the school administration had to deal with all year. A second offense will usually result in expulsion. Students are immediately expelled for having a weapon on campus, and while no gun has ever shown up a few students have been expelled over the years for knives.

You may be surprised that fights between girls are generally much more violent than those between boys. Boys don’t really want to fight, they want someone to step in and stop it. The altercation can easily be broken up by a teacher yelling stop. The fight is almost always over a girl or some perceived insult to one’s “woman” or “manhood.”
These altercations lack passion and are only face saving activities.

On the other hand, fights between girls are nasty, violent, and brutal. Girls fight in order to inflict pain and humiliation on each other. It is almost impossible to break the fight up without physically restraining the combatants. About 25 years ago I tried to break up a fight after school between two young ladies in the back hall of the main building. At the time I was 5’ 11” and 190 lbs and lifted weights three times a week. Both girls together weighed about as much as me. It took all my strength to hold them apart with my arms, each trying to climb over me to get at the other, until another teacher arrived and helped. Apparently, the boyfriend of one of the girls cheated on her with the other. One girl had a clump of hair in her hand and the other needed 7 stitches from a cut she received when she was pushed through a window. The girls were sophomores and the “cheating” incident had taken place when they were in 7th grade! When the disciplinary board meet with the girls another fight almost broke out between the parents of the girls. Both were expelled.
Fortunately, girls don't usually resort to weapons. Fists are much more personal and that's the way they like it.

It is silly to think that the world would be a safer place if women were in charge. We would probably have a nuclear exchange when the president of France made fun of the outfit worn by the president of Russia.

The Helicopter Parent

Writing my last post made me think of another incident that occurred last week related to student/parent access to grades on the internet. Opening internet access to student grade information for parents did not occur without some objections from faculty.

Unless you are a teacher, you might wonder what is wrong with “grade transparency.” Most objections from teachers revolve around the idea of correcting papers. When grades are transparent to parents (posted on-line) there is an expectation that papers will be graded in a timely manner. This is not in the nature of some teachers. One English teacher complained that they would feel pressure to grade exams after they were given instead of putting them in a folder and waiting for a week or two. I did the car-pool thing with another teacher for a few years a while back, and he was one of the worst at getting things graded. Term grades are usually due on Monday, and the Friday before he would be panic mode over the pile of ungraded assignments and exams on his desk. It was so bad that he would usually spend 24-48 hours without sleep over the weekend trying to catch up. I would pick him up on the Monday grades were due and he would spend the whole drive finishing up filling out the grade sheets on his lap, while bitterly complaining about the deadline. This was before the days of internet grade access so he got away with it. Another teacher argued that posting grades would increase child abuse. I thought he was kidding–but he was serious.

It is much worse for some of the public school students I tutor. One poor Geometry student would have no new grades posted for weeks. When I emailed his teacher asking how he had done on a previous test or quiz I would get an aggravated reply indicating that she had a family and didn’t have time to grade anything now. A talk with a teacher I know in her district informed me that even though their parents had internet access the teachers contract said that no grades needed to be recorded until the end of the quarter. I was told that a significant portion of the faculty never entered grades until the day they were due. I suggested that such an attitude defeated the purpose of internet grade access. My teacher friend told me that this could be negotiated in the next teacher contract but would require some concession from the district in another area. “We will not agree to increase our work load” I was told “unless we are compensated for it in the contract.”

At my school we need to enter new weekly grades by Tuesday; the day before extracurricular eligibility is determined by the administration. I always grade student work within a day or two of collection and record it immediately online. My students are used to taking an exam and finding the grade online that evening. I can access each student/parent account and find out when and how often they check their grades.

In the case of the girl I wrote about in my last entry with the “absence” problem, I was surprised to find that the parent had never accessed the girls records. This explains why she didn’t seem concerned about the failing grade–the parent was unaware of it. The girl has accessed her information 88 times this school year and probably asked the mother to intervene in her absence situation without letting her know about the grade. I took care of that by emailing the mother back to tell her that I took care of the absence and asked why she wasn’t as concerned about her daughter’s grade. Now we will see if attendance is really more important than grades.

The other main objection to internet access to grades is the “helicopter” parent; a parent who hovers around their child, obsessively contacting the teacher about every assignment. I had to deal with one such parent earlier this year. She would email me every time I posted an assignment her child didn’t get an “A” on. I was told in each contact that her child was gifted and could not possibly have gotten a “C” on a quiz. I was asked to recheck each assignment to make sure I didn’t make a mistake in my grading. Each time I reminded the parent that the student had the assignment and she should look at it, and if there was any mistake to let me know. After about 12 emails she stopped contacting me.

One current parent is the worst I have ever encountered. If you look up “helicopter parent” in the dictionary his picture will be there. Since the beginning of the school year he has accessed his daughters grades 653 times. The printed record covers 5 pages and includes almost every day since September when school began. Three days stand out among all the others. On March 19th he accessed her grades 11 times, spending at least 7 minutes online each time! On February 28th they were accessed 14 times, and January 28th , 10 times. The average is 4-5 times each day.

We recommend that parents check their student’s progress once a week.

Going For The Gold!

As you can imagine, I get voice-mail messages weekly from parents who want one thing or another from me. Surprisingly often it is a request to talk to their son or daughter about something; a failed exam, poor attendance, questions about lab... I tell my students in the beginning of the year that they don’t have to have their mommy call and ask me to work with them....they can ask themselves. I usually reply to these requests by telling the parent to have their child come to see me...many times they don’t.

Last week I got a new request; one I had never gotten before. A parent called and asked me to change an marked absence I had recorded for the student to a present. The student had not been in my class when the bell rang that day, arriving late after attending a meeting with a guest speaker. The student had permission from the administration to attend this meeting and arrived with a pass about 20 minutes into the period. I collected the pass and went along with class, failing to change the “absent” to an “excused tardy” on my computerized attendance list.

A few days later the student approached me to tell me that she was marked absent on a day when she was here...though not here at the beginning of the period. When students are marked absent and not on the formal absence list for the day the attendance office calls them in and questions them on where they were. I returned the pass to the student–I keep all passes of this kind just for this occasion–and told her to show it to the attendance person when called in. She seemed satisfied and sat down with her pass in hand. About a week later the girl came to me again and said that her attendance record still showed an absence and that the attendance office had not called her in to discuss it. I told her not to worry–the attendance office must have a list of the students who missed class that day and didn’t need to check with her. I assumed that she was worried about being accused of skipping class. I learned the truth last week.

Last Tuesday I got a call from her mother asking me to go to the office and have the attendance record changed. She explained that her daughter had not missed a day of school--not even a period--in all her years of school. Perfect attendance for 10 years. She explained that her daughter was “going for the gold”, whatever that means, and it was a “matter of family pride” that she have perfect attendance, my absence mark the only blemish on her otherwise perfect record. Her voice on the recording was close to hysterical.

Many other teachers would have made a big deal about her really being absent, even if still in school, but they teach English. On a scale of 1 - 10 where 10 is an important issue to stand firm on, this is a 0.03. I went to the office and convinced the attendance person to change the record to reflect that she was there that day. It took all of 90 seconds to accomplish. The next day I noticed that her attendance record had changed.

Students can check their attendance and grades online from home. Parents can also access the information. The attendance and grades appear on the same page when called up by either parents or student, making we wonder why the call wasn’t about the fact that the girl was failing my class. She has a 53% and 47% on the two exams so far this quarter and two missing assignments. Apparently “going for the gold” doesn’t apply to grades. I still find it troubling that a parent would appear so concerned about a one period absence and so uninterested in failing grades.

Teacher Training

This week marks a kind of anniversary for me. It was March 11th, 1974 when I first got in front of a class of students to teach. That was the date I started my student teaching at Hempstead High School in Dubuque Iowa.

My student teaching duties included four regular Biology classes and a section of General Science. I don’t remember any of the specific students I had that quarter, or much about the school. I generally spent my time in the classroom or in the department office grading papers or planning lessons. I never meet any other teachers in the building, except for the other members of the science department, not even going to the faculty cafeteria for lunch.

I attended a faculty meeting where the “dress code” was discussed. A number of teachers were upset because of the reveling dress that some of the young ladies favored. What was reveling then is tame by today’s standards. Anyway, after a lengthy discussion it was decided that the faculty would recommend a change in the dress code policy for the school to be passed on to the school board for approval. To this day I still remember the wording of the recommendation:

Students shall be covered by an opaque material from the neck-line to three inches above the knee.

There was quite an up-roar when a smart ass young teacher (not me) sarcastically commented that the students could come to school wearing a garbage bag with holes cut in for their head and arms, and still be in dress code. I don’t know how the whole dress code issue ended up because my assignment ended and I graduated before anything was resolved. The students I taught at Hempstead are now 49 or 50 years old; some may even have grandchildren by now.

I was a terrible teacher during my student teaching experience. About the only thing my supervisor could say was I had a excellent command of the subject material and would probably become an adequate teacher given time and experience. It took five years of full-time teaching before I knew what I was doing even though I thought I had it down after my first full year. It was a delusion. Even now, I feel like I get better every year. There is always something new to learn.

Which brings me to my point today --- How should teachers be trained?

The requirements differ from state to state. In the best states prospective teachers need to major or minor in a subject to get an endorsement, in the worst all that is needed is a major in “Education” and a minimum number of hours in the subject. In either case a minimum number of “Education” classes are required to be certified. In some states, a person needs to pass a proficiency exam in the subject to be certified. I will be honest with you, nothing I was taught in any “Education” class I ever had was of any use to me. I actually have a Masters Degree in “Science Education”, and if I were pressed I could not identify one thing I learned in any of the graduate course that made me a better teacher. I became a good teacher by “teaching” and being open to learn from my experience. Even now I know I could be better, and will constantly work to improve my skills.

Let me suggest an alternative program to train teachers.
High School teacher training would begin with undergraduate study of a specific subject area, along with a related minor. Students would take three years of college courses including “General Education” credits and courses from an intended major. This would be followed by three years of advanced study. In the fourth and fifth years students would concentrate on advanced study in their subject area and intensive study of “teaching methods” specific to their subject. The “methods” curriculum would include significant observation time with a master teacher where the candidate would learn the day to day job responsibilities. The last year would a paid internship where the “student teacher” would teach a full class load for the entire year. Sometime in the fifth year the candidate would have to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in their subject area and minor to demonstrate competence. The minimum score necessary for moving on could be determined by the State Boards of Education. After completion of the paid internship, the student would be awarded their B.S. degree in the major subject, and a EdD in their subject area(s). I might receive a B.S. in Chemistry with a “Doctor of Science Education.” Granting of the degree would automatically certify you to teach high school in that subject area.

After teaching successfully for at least five years, I could become a master teacher and take on a student in his or her “methods” year. Ideally, after 7 years, a teacher could take a semester off (sabbatical). The teacher could take on classes or work related experience in their subject area as enrichment.

I am aware of how “impractical” an idea this might be. The question shouldn’t be whether, as a society, we can afford to do this. It should be judged as to whether it would improve teaching and learning enough to make the investment pay off in more qualified teachers and better educated students.

Freshmen Placement Day

Getting incoming freshmen registered for classes is a “hands-on” activity. The 450+ 8th graders who were invited to attend my high school based on their entrance exam taken in January attend one of four sessions on a Sunday in March. These sessions begin with a group gathering in the new cafeteria and a welcome address by both the principal and president. Before the session begins, students and their parents pick up packets that contain their scores on each section of the exam.

These scores can be a real shock to the student and parents. Most people think that if their child is a straight “A” student at their grade school they will score in the top few percentile of the incoming class. We realize, after decades of experience, that grades in Jr. High School are useless at placing students in freshmen classes. There is so much variation in difficulty level at the 70+ feeder schools we draw from that there is no way to compare students from different schools based on grades. The single activity all incoming freshmen compete in is the entrance exam, and we have found that it is extremely accurate at placing students. Sure, some students who score lower on the exam just had a bad day. These students usually excel once here and are moved up early in the year.

After the welcome session, students and their parents go to smaller sessions consisting of 10-12 students with their parents and a guidance counselor who explains the scores and how we use them for placement. Earlier in the week, department chairs mark which course each student qualifies to begin in on the registration sheets. I placed all 450+ students in one of the levels of Biology. Incoming students are placed in Honors Biology if they scored in the 90th percentile or above on the entrance exam. Students who scored in the 40th to 89th percentiles are placed in a regular biology class. And, if they are below the 40th percentile, they will be placed in a “modified” level of biology.

Most students accept the recommended placement, turn in their registration information, and go home. Needless to say, some do not. The next stop, for those who want to argue about the placement decision, is the department chairs. We all have assigned tables in a large room—library or resource room—where parents can come and plead their child’s case. Fathers tend not to challenge the placement decision made by the department chair. Most placement “arguments” are with mothers who are shocked to see how the entrance exam failed to identify the genius in the child and place them in the highest possible level of everything. If the child is close to the required score, I move them up without a fight.

When their scores are far below those required, I attempt to talk them out of it. We are told not to tell them they are wrong but, rather, re-explain the placement requirements and try to get them to calm down. When that doesn’t work I explain to them that in the first few weeks of school teachers will be looking for students who are excelling in lower levels and move them up, agreeing that sometimes the test scores are not a true indication of ability. This pacifies 80% of them and all is well. Every fall teachers do move about three or four students up in placement, but most stay where they are when they discover that the exam placed them correctly.

When even this accommodation doesn’t satisfy the parent I tell them I will place their name on a list of students that want to be placed higher. I ask them to have their grade school science teacher contact me so we can talk about the placement. When I speak with the grade school teacher I ask them to compare the incoming student with a former student they have taught who attended our school. Most of the time the Jr. high teacher either doesn’t have a former student to compare them to who would have excelled at my school, or the student they remember ended up being just average when here. Either way, I deny the new placement. Sometimes the parent tries to go over my head to the principal, but that almost never works. Sometimes the teacher does compare them to a former student who excelled here and I move the new student up as requested.

This year I have four students on my “list” and am waiting for contact from the grade school. I have already heard from one teacher who identified the student as not very capable and said he should not be placed higher. Most of the students on this list are never moved up because no grade school teacher ever contacts me—maybe they are able to talk some sense into the mother when I am not. Either way, I always have a throbbing headache when the day is over. Luckily, it’s only one day a year.

Random Thoughts--Part II

My meeting with the principal went just as expected. We are on the same page concerning the problem teacher in my department. We both agree that she lacks the nurturing personality necessary to teach 14 year olds effectively, as well as the personal skills necessary to communicate with parents effectively. What to do about her is another problem altogether. It was brought to my attention that she is contemplating leaving at the end of this year to take another position, the constant stress created by dealing with her “problems” is getting to her both mentally and physically. I will regret it if she leaves because I feel she has much to offer—if only she could acquire a personality transplant.

The changes the other teacher wanted to make to his budget were shot down, as I expected. The teacher is angry and has made this known to all who will listen. The principal and I both agree that the other teacher in his area is a far more effective instructor, even though he is much less experienced.

The student teacher has taken over all the supervising teacher’s classes while the supervising teacher is out with pneumonia. Because of this I have to take care of incoming freshmen registration Sunday. Nine thirty till 2:30 talking to prospective students who all think they should be Honors Biology even though they tested I the bottom 1/3 of the incoming class. I spent four periods today marking registration sheets with my recommendations for the new students.

The principal looked over the list of prospective A.P. Biology students looking for permission to take the class next year. As I mentioned the last time we had several requests from “marginal” students who I rejected. She decided to reject all but one of the requests. The girl she is allowing to take the class probably won’t be a problem—she is certainly the best of the group we rejected. Neither the teacher nor I are fighting her placement.

The computers in the chemistry lab were repaired. It seems that the new central server was stopping them from recognizing the lab equipment. The solution involved installing the software for the equipment on each individual computer and running it locally.

As I’m writing this, my students are taking their “Gas Law” exam—one of the most difficult exams of the year. It is the last test grade of 3rd quarter and will have a significant impact on their quarter grade. So far they say it is not difficult, but very long. The grades, so far, have been disappointing, though three students have gotten 100%.
The test is “open notebook” which means that they do not study like they should, thinking they can just look up the answer during the test. Unfortunately, if they do this they run out of time before finishing the exam. Several students have done very poorly, 50-60%, leaving several problems unsolved. I have warned them of this all week but they ignore my advice and try to take the “easy way” out. How does the old saying go? ‘Experience is the best teacher—but her fee is the most expensive.” On Sunday I will write about the interesting conversations I have with parents during the registration process.

Random Thoughts on a Day Off

Today is President’s Day and we are off school. I have been sitting around the house thinking random thoughts about school while I work on the computer.

I have had a chance to talk to our student teacher in Biology and he seems like a nice guy. About 45 years old and a professional, he plans on selling his business and go into teaching—something he has always wanted to do. Over the past few years we have seen more and more people who started out in some other line of work give up their job and become teachers. There are two in the science department. The student teacher’s supervising teacher is not impressed with his skills and has been critical in the beginning. I have volunteered to observe him in class and weigh in with my opinion.

We are having significant problems with the computers in the Chemistry Lab. Ever since the tech department changed over to a new control system this fall we have been having problems with our interface boxes that control the equipment in lab. As of last week the lab systems are no longer functioning, none of the equiplent works. I had to cancel a lab last week and request that the tech people try to fix the system. As of today this still has not been achomplished. If it can't be resolved we will need to purchase an entire new operating system fo the lab computers at a cost of 20-30 thousand dollars. The budget can't absorbe the cost and I don't know where the money will come from.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the process of writing a budget. I mentioned that there were some teachers who will not turn their budgets to me on time. Three of the eleven teachers I my department turned in nothing, no requests of any kind for next year. I gave each the same amount of money they were given last year. Another teacher who turned in his requests on time has decided that he wants to change everything—I have already turned in the budget for approval so I guess the principal will have to decide this one.

Over the past few months I have been hearing constant complaining from parents and students about one of my teachers. Almost everyone is unhappy with her teaching. I spent about a week working with students to try to determine what the problem was and then went to the teacher with what I had determined. Our meeting was a disaster. She is very stubborn and will not “own” the problem. Her explanation is that most of her students are slow and stupid. She is especially offended that someone (like me) would suggest that she could do some things more effectively. The meeting ended with her storming out of my room. I reported our meeting to the assistant principal in charge of instruction who sees the same problems with this teacher and has listened to the same complaints. I was told that the principal is also aware of the situation and tried to talk to the teacher but was treated much like I was. I have been asked to try to work through the problem and help her improve the situation. If I can’t succeed they will intervene, and that is not good for the teacher.

Another teacher in the department is having problems with permissions for taking an A.P. class in the department. She has turned about six students away because they did not meet the minimum requirements for admission. One of the students went over her head to me and I also refused to put her in the class. Even though she has excellent grades she has gotten them in mostly remedial classes, classes that do not build the foundation for an A.P. class. After going through the teacher, me, and an assistant principal the student finally petitioned the principal who decided to grant her request. Both the teacher and I feel this is a mistake. Our main concern is that the other five students we rejected will all now go to the principal and make the same request. In my last post I talked about how devastating a mistake like this can be for a young person’s ego if it all goes badly.

Next Thursday I have my meeting with the principal where we discuss next year and my concerns for the department. Each of the things I wrote about here will be on my agenda at that meeting.