Many years ago I used to read Mike Royko’s column in the Chicago Tribune every day. It was a great loss of written entertainment when he passed away and a great sadness to myself. I remember one column where Mr. Royko wrote of a high school English teacher who contacted him to complain of some slight grammatical mistake in a piece. Royko refereed to her as a “thin lipped nit-picker”, suggesting that all high school English teachers were similar in personality. I will have to admit that while all English teachers I know don’t fit that description, many do. I have always wondered why so many English teachers, even ones I consider friends, are so unpleasant and inflexible. Using a line from an old Simpson’s episode, the stick up their ass has a stick up it’s ass.
You might be surprised to know that other teachers spend considerable time in conversation with each other discussing their English Department colleagues. I don’t want to suggest here that any of them are poor teachers, in fact, I consider several of the worst “nit-pickers” among the best teachers I know. Unfortunately, the students don’t appreciate the “nit-picker’s” skill as instructors because they are so unrelentingly unpleasant, and I have a theory as to why this is true.
Last week a colleague pointed out the fact that almost none of the English Department faculty had children of their own. I never thought of this, but it is true. For example, of the 17 members of the English department I count a total of 4 children. In contrast, the 11 members of the Science department have raised 14 children. It becomes difficult to browbeat a student for some insignificant mistake such as not having your book covered properly or forgetting your red pen when your child has come home in tears after being scolded for something so petty. I have often talked with one English teacher who is especially harsh with students for the smallest imperfection, suggesting that this teacher “chill out” and not make such a big deal about something.
This teacher had just been scolded by an administrator for being so harsh toward a student who had been late to their class. I am not suggesting that tardies be tolerated. When a student is late to my class, something that does not happen often, I mark them tardy on the attendance report and go on with class–I never say anything about it to them. After three tardies the Attendance Dean issues a detention and the student stays after school for an hour. My English colleague feels that an approach like that is equivalent to ignoring the problem, favoring a harsh verbal correction accompanied by an inspection to uncover other violations–“Not only are you late, but your book cover is torn!!!”. The saddest part of this story is that this is an excellent teacher as well as a terrific person outside of the classroom who should be appreciated and admired, but instead is universally hated by students.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
My Colleagues
One of the Biology teachers has a new student teacher to supervise. He is older and seems to be competent–only time will tell. At the department meeting this week we discussed the budget for next year. The teachers were asked to have their budget requests ready by January 31st. I will be shocked if I have all of them are on time. Some of the worst offenders of getting their stuff in on time are the same teachers who are excessively unforgiving of students who are guilty of the same thing. One in particular almost never gets any department work in on time, but will not accept late work from students–not even for a reduced grade. I wonder if that person realizes what a hypocrite they are? Probably not.
About 12 years ago there was a teacher in my department who made a student take an exam, even though the student reported a family emergency the night before. Her grandmother had passed away in hospice about 11:00pm and the family was at her bedside all evening. The girl asked for an extension so she could prepare, but the request was denied. I expressed my displeasure with the teacher’s decision the next day when I found out about it from a guidance counselor. The teacher refused to change the grade saying that she had no way to determine, at the time, if the story was true or not. “Maybe her grandmother did die last evening, maybe she didn't” she said "How could I have been sure that she was telling the truth?” Adding next, “If I gave her an extension and later found out she lied I would look like a fool ” and “Would you just accept a story like that, without even a note from the mother?” She said all this while looking at me like I was a naive fool, apparently unaware of the old “dead grandmother” scam that she could see a mile away. I explained that she should have accepted the excuse, checking the story later. If the girl lied she would get an F on the exam for dishonesty. I told the teacher that by not accepting the story she looked like an insensitive bitch and had dammaged her relationship with the whole class, who all knew the story was true. That teacher is no longer with us–she lasted only a year before being gently pushed out.
Over the years I have taught with probably 200 or more colleagues. The year I was hired, four other new teachers began as well. Another Science teacher, a Librarian, a Home-Ec teacher, and a Spanish teacher. Of those, I am the only one still here and only one other is still in teaching that I know of. The reason I mention this is that the school is having our 50th anniversary next year and I am on a committee to find and contact former faculty for a big reunion. As I looked over the list of names at our first meeting I could not help remembering many of them, some more fondly than others.
There are three former female teachers who I dated before I met my wife; in the last 30 years I have only seen one fo them. There are almost two dozen former department colleagues, other science teachers, who spent some time here and then moved on. Some of them were truly outstanding educators; knowledgeable, inspiring, and committed. Some were decidedly average, not making a lasting impression on me. Some were truly awful, their departure a great relief to me as department chairman. Unfortunately, I have never been good at confronting my staff with their teaching inadequacies.
I could spend the next 50 posts writhing something about each one of them, but I think I will wait until the actual reunion and write about the ones that showed up–if, of course, I am still writing my blog by then.
About 12 years ago there was a teacher in my department who made a student take an exam, even though the student reported a family emergency the night before. Her grandmother had passed away in hospice about 11:00pm and the family was at her bedside all evening. The girl asked for an extension so she could prepare, but the request was denied. I expressed my displeasure with the teacher’s decision the next day when I found out about it from a guidance counselor. The teacher refused to change the grade saying that she had no way to determine, at the time, if the story was true or not. “Maybe her grandmother did die last evening, maybe she didn't” she said "How could I have been sure that she was telling the truth?” Adding next, “If I gave her an extension and later found out she lied I would look like a fool ” and “Would you just accept a story like that, without even a note from the mother?” She said all this while looking at me like I was a naive fool, apparently unaware of the old “dead grandmother” scam that she could see a mile away. I explained that she should have accepted the excuse, checking the story later. If the girl lied she would get an F on the exam for dishonesty. I told the teacher that by not accepting the story she looked like an insensitive bitch and had dammaged her relationship with the whole class, who all knew the story was true. That teacher is no longer with us–she lasted only a year before being gently pushed out.
Over the years I have taught with probably 200 or more colleagues. The year I was hired, four other new teachers began as well. Another Science teacher, a Librarian, a Home-Ec teacher, and a Spanish teacher. Of those, I am the only one still here and only one other is still in teaching that I know of. The reason I mention this is that the school is having our 50th anniversary next year and I am on a committee to find and contact former faculty for a big reunion. As I looked over the list of names at our first meeting I could not help remembering many of them, some more fondly than others.
There are three former female teachers who I dated before I met my wife; in the last 30 years I have only seen one fo them. There are almost two dozen former department colleagues, other science teachers, who spent some time here and then moved on. Some of them were truly outstanding educators; knowledgeable, inspiring, and committed. Some were decidedly average, not making a lasting impression on me. Some were truly awful, their departure a great relief to me as department chairman. Unfortunately, I have never been good at confronting my staff with their teaching inadequacies.
I could spend the next 50 posts writhing something about each one of them, but I think I will wait until the actual reunion and write about the ones that showed up–if, of course, I am still writing my blog by then.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A New Semester Begins
Coming back to school after a long vacation, like Christmas break, can be a traumatic change for our bodies. Over vacation I sleep till eight or nine and go to bed at midnight. During the school year I go to bed at 9:30 and wake at 5:45. It has been 8 days since we returned to school and I am just now re-acclimated to “school time.”
Most of my classes remained unchanged for the new semester. I had two students drop Advanced Placement Chemistry after failing the semester exam given before vacation. Another student should drop but hasn’t yet.
One of my Honors Chemistry students filled out paperwork to drop before break, but is still in class every day. I assume that he decided to stay, getting a "C" on the semester exam and saving his ass from failing for the semester. I have collected 3 assignments so far and he has failed to turn in two of them. Before Christmas I filled out paper work for a child psychologist who was looking at his situation to see if he has a learning disability. The questions on the survey asked about his interaction with other students, not his study habits, and unless apathy is a learning disability he probably won’t get the help he needs. I have more to say about his situation, but will talk about that in my next post.
A transfer student was moved into one of my Honors Chemistry Classes and had a shaky start, not having covered as much material as my students did last semester. He seems bright and I assigned another student to work with him on the material he needs, and he has shown improvement. I think he will be OK in a week or two.
My home room completely changed giving me 22 new students to deal with. They seem like a good group and the first week went on without any problems. I took the time to talk to each one personally, checking their grades with them and offering my help with their Math and Biology work. I was shocked at how poorly they had done on their semester exams compared to their regular grades during 1st and 2nd quarter. The semester exam counts for 1/5 of their final grade and most of them did not give it the attention and study that it deserved. It is easy for new high school students to significantly underestimate the amount of study needed for an exam like the semester final, and these freshmen certainly did just that. We had a “Come to Jesus” talk about the importance of study and preparation that I feel they took to heart. I will check their grades every week until the end of the year and speak to each one personally about what I see, good or bad.
Most of my classes remained unchanged for the new semester. I had two students drop Advanced Placement Chemistry after failing the semester exam given before vacation. Another student should drop but hasn’t yet.
One of my Honors Chemistry students filled out paperwork to drop before break, but is still in class every day. I assume that he decided to stay, getting a "C" on the semester exam and saving his ass from failing for the semester. I have collected 3 assignments so far and he has failed to turn in two of them. Before Christmas I filled out paper work for a child psychologist who was looking at his situation to see if he has a learning disability. The questions on the survey asked about his interaction with other students, not his study habits, and unless apathy is a learning disability he probably won’t get the help he needs. I have more to say about his situation, but will talk about that in my next post.
A transfer student was moved into one of my Honors Chemistry Classes and had a shaky start, not having covered as much material as my students did last semester. He seems bright and I assigned another student to work with him on the material he needs, and he has shown improvement. I think he will be OK in a week or two.
My home room completely changed giving me 22 new students to deal with. They seem like a good group and the first week went on without any problems. I took the time to talk to each one personally, checking their grades with them and offering my help with their Math and Biology work. I was shocked at how poorly they had done on their semester exams compared to their regular grades during 1st and 2nd quarter. The semester exam counts for 1/5 of their final grade and most of them did not give it the attention and study that it deserved. It is easy for new high school students to significantly underestimate the amount of study needed for an exam like the semester final, and these freshmen certainly did just that. We had a “Come to Jesus” talk about the importance of study and preparation that I feel they took to heart. I will check their grades every week until the end of the year and speak to each one personally about what I see, good or bad.
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