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.
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