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.