With the First quarter winding down to its last few days, we enjoy a well needed three day weekend because of Columbus Day. Even though we have four official days of school this week there are only three days of actual teaching. Wednesday is “standardized testing day” as it is in many schools in our area. The students will come to school in the morning as usual but, instead of classes standardized tests will be administered to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors—seniors have the day off. The freshmen take the EXPLORE test, sophomores the PLAN test, and juniors the PSAT. The EXPLORE and PLAN exams are given only to collect data—they are used to set a baseline for the students that their scores on the ACT later in junior year will be compared to. The PSAT exam is extremely important; determining national merit scholars and commended students. The exams will be over by 11:15 and everyone will be sent home early.
My quarter in Honors Chemistry is winding down with about 200 points earned this week—out of almost 1100 points total. There is a homework assignment due Thursday along with the Chapter 5 “QUEST” (half way between a quiz and a test). Friday the students take the 1st quarter exam; a comprehensive test over the first 5 chapters. They received a study guide for this exam October 5th and are allowed to make a “cheat sheet” on a 4 x 6 index card to use. The test contains 50 questions taken from their other 4 exams this quarter.
As I mentioned in the last post, the young man who was caught taking his test and answer sheet from the room on the first exam asked to be moved down into regular chemistry. His request was made on September 30th and I filled out the paperwork and handed it to his guidance counselor 4th period the next day. After a week he still had not been moved. Since it is unusual for the change to take so long I mentioned it to the guidance counselor last week. She told me that the paperwork had been completed, except for the parent signature which the young man was to get and return—but had not yet. That same day the young man came to see me after class requesting my help. Apparently he did not like the choice of teacher for his new chemistry class and wanted me to help him get assigned to a particular female teacher. I told him that I did not have the authority to choose his other teacher—that being the job of his guidance counselor and the registrar. I suggested he make his request to one of them. Another week goes by and he is still on my list. This impasse lead to the email I received below from his father on Friday:
“Why are you playing a game with my son in getting out of your class! This is now going onto the 4th week! I want him out of your class immediately and placed into Chem A with Mrs. […]. I am done with both your and [… ] shananagans! Get this done today if possible.”
Apparently the little rascal has convinced his father that I am the one holding up the transfer; the truth being I can’t wait until he is out of my class. Apparently he refused to turn in the paperwork unless he gets what he wants; and, not being as easily manipulated as his parents, the counselor won’t allow it. My entire reply to him was:
“I filled out the paper work and turned it in September 30th--the same day […] made the request. I don't make the actual schedule change--this is done by his guidance counselor and Mrs. […] the registrar.”
I forwarded his message with my response to the counselor and registrar in case they get contacted by the father. I don’t know how this will all turn out, but the counselor and registrar will rip the dad a new asshole if he gets in their face—neither having much patients with obnoxious parents and manipulating children. In any case, it is too late to complete the transfer before the end of the quarter this Friday. The young man will have to complete the homework, take the chapter 5 quest, and the quarter exam. If he fails those he will probably fail for the quarter, if he does well he could end up with a “C.” My wish for all students like this young man is not retribution or satisfaction if they fail (there is no satisfaction in failing a student), but rather justice for their actions. I don't blame the father; he appears to be a good dad who cares about his child. Maybe he is a little weak when dealing with the boy--but what parent isn't from time to time (me included). On the other hand, the boy is manipulative, dishonest, and scheming--maybe someday he will be a politician.

Thoughts on a Cool Fall Day

As we move into October the weather has turned decidedly cooler. Last weekend my wife and I went to Iowa for my 35th college reunion. My graduating class was approximately 250, about 25 of whom showed up for the reunion. It was a really nice time.
I always enjoy seeing my old friends from college. When in school, we were a wild and spirited bunch. Now we are bordering on old and lack the ability to party like we used to. The all class party on the first evening went from 9:00 to about 11:00. After the party,some of the group meet in the lounge of the hotel where we were staying for a drink. My wife and I were back in our room by midnight!
The one college buddy I want to talk about is Denny. Denny and I were the only ones of our group to be in Education and on Saturday morning we had a chance to share breakfast and talk. After graduation, Denny went to work for a Catholic school, and, after about 10 years, moved to a public junior high and has been there ever since. He teaches Geography and coaches girls volleyball. When he first moved to his public school it serviced a working class white population. As with many city districts, the student population has undergone change and now his building services a significant number of minority students. He acknowledged that things are more difficult now but still exhibits the same enthusiasm that I remember the so well. He is especially proud of many of his former charges who, while not the best students when they were in school, have been successful in life. Many of them attribute their success, in part, to his approach to learning. I imagine the students see him as tough, but likable. I admire his success with difficult students. As he mentioned at breakfast, he knows how to be mean, and then be nice, getting the most out of his pupils.
I hope I can maintain the kind of enthusiasm that Denny exhibits so naturally. We will see at the next reunion in 2014.
As an update to “Why Difficult Courses Have Requirements” (September 2nd 2009) the AP Chemistry student I mentioned who is unqualified for class because of having taken Chemistry in summer school has decided to drop. Guidance allowed him to retake Honors Chemistry and he was placed in my 2nd period class. As I said he is a bright young man who lacked the background to succeed. He has an A- now and seems to be much happier.
The young man who I wrote about in “Cheaters (Should) Never Prosper” (September 19th, 2009) has also decided to drop Honors Chemistry. With a zero on the second exam, along with F’s on the other two, he has dug himself a hole he can’t climb out of. He will be moved to a regular Chemistry class with another teacher. The young man told his guidance counselor that the problem was me—he just can’t learn from me. She knows its bullshit, but we both approved the move; he is now someone else’s problem. On the last exam the class average was 91; his grade was 73. Apparently he can’t learn from a teacher if he has to pay attention to master the material. His learning style is to never pay attention, take notes, or do homework on time; then blame the teacher and ask for a schedule change when he fails.
I also picked up a student from regular Chemistry. She is a Chinese exchange student who complained that the regular level was too easy. On the first exam she got an A and is working out well—unlike so many other exchange students I have dealt with in the past she speaks excellent English.

Why Difficult Courses Have Requirements

“A vision, without the ability to execute, is probably a hallucination.” – Stephen M. Chase

One problem I deal with every summer is the numerous requests from students and parents for changes in science placement for the next school year. In the past, I generally denied most requests for moving students up to honors because I feel it is generally a bad idea. I still think it is a bad idea, but recently I have begun allowing the move, after voicing my concerns of course. My new policy is---move if you want, but accept the consequences of your bad decision. Two requests to move students into advanced placement chemistry are examples.

At the end of last semester I was informed that we were enrolling a transfer student from England for the next year. She was going to be a junior and wanted to take AP Chemistry; having finished the European equivalent of first year chemistry. My experience with exchange students has been that what European countries call chemistry is mostly a general science course that does not prepare students with enough background to succeed in AP. When the request came in I didn’t argue with the parent, just said OK and sent out a copy of my “summer homework” assignment consisting of 106 questions reviewing Honors Chemistry. I told the parent that a test would be given the second day of class covering the assignment and it would be the first grade of the quarter. The directions in the assignment clearly state that the student is expected to understand the material in the assignment on the first day of class, the material would not be re-taught. The parent and student saw what was expected and she dropped down to Honors Chemistry—where she should have been placed in the beginning.

The second student appears not to have been so smart about it. He took chemistry this summer at another school. Any reasonable person should realize that you can’t learn 38 weeks of chemistry in 6 weeks, and that the summer course could not be sufficient preparation for AP. I expressed my concerns but allowed it because the parents insisted. I sent out the same summer homework sheets, but the student did not drop. He showed up the first day of school with only half the work done. He just finished his test and got a 59%; the average grade being about 80%. His first grade will be an F and, since I am not going to re-teach the material he missed, may fail every test after. At some point he will either drop the class because he is failing or his parents will have to hire a tutor to help him catch up. Since he is on tuition assistance and probably can’t afford to hire a tutor the outcome will not be pretty. I have already decided not to say “I told you so!” when it happens. In real life, people learn from their mistakes, but smart people learn from others mistakes; and possibly in the future I will get more support and cooperation from guidance and the administration before things break bad. This is a very nice young man from what I can see from my dealings with him. He is polite, respectful, and hard working. All admirable qualities, but none of which translate into a solid background in chemistry.

One of the most regrettable things we tell a student is that they can do anything they want if they work hard enough. Of course this is a lie. No matter how hard I work I will never be an Olympic sprinter.

Welcome Back!

Classes have started for the 2009-2010 school year and the most common question I hear from colleagues or former students when I see them again is, “How was your summer?” My answer is always the same….”Not long enough!”
I have been very lazy about writing anything this summer for the bog; which doesn’t mean that nothing has happened, just that nothing has moved me to get off the chase lounge on my new deck and work. That being said, there were two issues that I needed to address this summer; the new Chemistry text books and student requests concerning placement.
The Chemistry text books we used for the last nine years were a mess and long overdue for replacement. At the end of last year, the department decided on a replacement—the new edition of the book we currently use. The money available from the state of Illinois was enough purchase 349 student books; unfortunately there are 414 Chemistry students registered. The feared drop of 200+ in school enrollment never materialized; there being 3 more students enrolled in Chemistry compared to last year, and, depending on who you talk to, either 15 more students enrolled in school or about 20 less. Either way, enrollment has firmed up and we appear to be on solid ground for the time being.
The school needed to purchase approximately 70 additional books to cover the shortage. We decided to pay for them through the department budget and charge each student an extra $10 on their lab book for the next two years to cover the cost. I contacted the publisher’s rep who sold us the original 349 to get a price for the additional books. She emailed me a proposal for $119/copy, about $10 more than they charged for the state. When I called the order in the customer service rep refused to honor the proposal price, insisting that the books could be sold for no less than $159 each. I emailed the rep and informed her of the problem; telling her that we decided to cancel the order and use the old books for another year because of the cost.
Within two days I got calls from three different people, including the rep, horrified that we would cancel the order which totaled more than $45,000. The rep explained that it was her fault for not sending a copy of the proposal to customer service before I called. I would have gladly paid the $119 that was first agreed to as well as paying for the teacher’s materials—though I did not tell the rep this. After some negotiations, we agreed on a price of $105/book + six free sets of teacher materials worth approximately $300 each. The fortunate mix-up by the publisher saved the school almost $7000.
Next Post: Students placement requests.