Another general complaint.
I sub in 3 school districts, in grades 3 through 12. I prefer 4th through 6th grades, but I will sub for middle school and high school math and technology. Lately I have wondered over and over again why it is that kids feel they have to talk all of the time. You get the class quiet, so you can take attendance or give them instructions for the activity that their teacher planned and before the first three names are called or the first sentence you utter is completed, at least 3 students are already talking again. You can do this over and over again and it doesn't improve - get them quiet, start talking yourself, discover that at least 3 kids are talking again. Even when the kids are actively engaged in a lesson (or maybe especially then), they seem to be constantly talking. Not all of the kids do this, of course, but there are many who do.
Some rude classes do this purposely - trying to annoy the sub, flaunting the power of numbers. Some excitable kids do it almost as though they are unaware of the effect it has on others. Some very social kids do it, because they are much more interested in the other students than they are in learning any subject matter. Even when there are really interesting lessons planned, with lots of student interaction and chance to talk once they get started, it is hard to get the lesson started, because there are too many students who are talking.
So the question is, WHY? Is there something going on with kids now that makes silence, even for a short time, uncomfortable? Is there some need to fill any amount of quiet as if it were a vacuum? Is the source of the problem their own brains - constantly needing stimulation, constantly in motion? What has become of reflection? Has it changed into thinking out loud?
I realize that lectures are out of fashion now in classes below college level, but I don't think anyone COULD lecture classes nowadays. They just can't keep quiet long enough to actually HEAR the lecture.
Even movies, which once used to be a sure fire way to keep kids engaged and quiet, don't work that way any more. Kids will talk throughout an entire movie if allowed (and will whisper if talking out loud is frowned upon).
And, interestingly, even if kids are actively working on INDIVIDUAL projects on the computer, even if they are at entirely DIFFERENT stages of the projects, and even if the projects are completely unrelated, they still will talk almost continuously to their neighbors.
Does anyone have a good explanation for this???
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Even I Get Tired of My Complaints
I was subbing the other day in a technology class and, since the regular teacher hadn't sent in lesson plans, his friend, the librarian, was explaining what the kids were supposed to do. That much is fine, but why did I detect a note of "this is probably too hard for you to understand or do much about" in his explanation? True, I am older and probably don't look all that technology literate, but why is that an assumption? I actually have a master's degree in computer science. True, it is a bit outdated, but I have learned things in the meantime. And the teachers who stopped by to pick up printouts also seemed to have that look on their faces, that "Gee, I am surprised YOU are in this job" look.
When I sub for teachers who are actually there and who explain the day to me, I also sometimes get that look. And, even sometimes from other teachers who stop by to help. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY HAPPY when the teachers nearby offer to help (or even just introduce themselves and make me feel welcome), but I am often surprised what they offer to help with. The things that I often need are class lists (why, oh why, do elementary teachers usually forget to leave a spare class list and, if they switch classes for a certain subject, a class list for the other class as well), schedules, a map of the school, directions on where to pick up the kids after they go to lunch and recess, where the copier is in case I have to make emergency copies. Instead, what I often get is questions about whether I can handle the curriculum for the day. That isn't, by the way, usually the hardest part of the day.
Which brings me to another question: why do teachers often give busywork (a puzzle worksheet, a movie with note-taking) to a sub? The students recognize that it isn't part of what they would normally be doing. It is actually harder to get them to do work that is "easier". They recognize that it isn't important and that the regular teacher will probably just throw out any papers they do while the sub is there. What regular teachers would consider an "easy day" has frequently actually been harder for me. The only conclusion I can come to is that the regular teachers don't have much confidence in the abilities of subs. Perhaps this is justified. But in many cases it is not. I have talked to a lot of subs over the course of my years subbing and many are retired teachers, others are people new to the area, trying to get a foothold in the school district. They usually take only jobs for which they are qualified.
Perhaps the reason the regular teachers are less confident in subs is that subs DO mess up at times. Part of the problem is dealing with normal classroom routines, which the teachers often don't explain - How are requests to go to the bathroom handled? Are kids allowed to go to the library during independent reading? What do you do when the kids don't have any pencils? How do you switch the overhead projector from the document camera to the laptop?
There are lots of things that the teachers assume the subs will know or that the kids will tell them. But often the kids will tell the subs the wrong things - yes, we are allowed to wear hats in class; yes, we can chew gum; the teacher always lets us do X... And, in a few classes, where bossy kids have been designated as "helpers", I have gotten so annoyed at the "help" that I had to ask the student to stop helping me - you have to push this button to get the overhead to work; no, it must be this button; well, maybe this has to be unplugged and plugged in over here; no, maybe that was OK, but this needs to be turned on (and by that time, the whole set up is hopelessly messed up). There are times when I just want to say, "I CAN read the teacher's directions by myself." But, of course, there are also times when the teacher assumes that all subs can work their particular kinds of equipment. Guess what, subs are never trained on using the equipment - and different kinds of equipment are set up differently, are activated differently, and fail differently.
Yes, the curriculum is usually the least of my worries. But I think that probably, for the regular teachers, it is the MOST of THEIR worries, so they assume that it will be the biggest worry for the sub as well. Regular teachers are used to their equipment, their routines, their school procedures, and they don't have to be aware of them - they just ARE. Delivering the curriculum is their focus.
That, and the behavior of the students. I usually DO get warnings about the problem students.
When I sub for teachers who are actually there and who explain the day to me, I also sometimes get that look. And, even sometimes from other teachers who stop by to help. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY HAPPY when the teachers nearby offer to help (or even just introduce themselves and make me feel welcome), but I am often surprised what they offer to help with. The things that I often need are class lists (why, oh why, do elementary teachers usually forget to leave a spare class list and, if they switch classes for a certain subject, a class list for the other class as well), schedules, a map of the school, directions on where to pick up the kids after they go to lunch and recess, where the copier is in case I have to make emergency copies. Instead, what I often get is questions about whether I can handle the curriculum for the day. That isn't, by the way, usually the hardest part of the day.
Which brings me to another question: why do teachers often give busywork (a puzzle worksheet, a movie with note-taking) to a sub? The students recognize that it isn't part of what they would normally be doing. It is actually harder to get them to do work that is "easier". They recognize that it isn't important and that the regular teacher will probably just throw out any papers they do while the sub is there. What regular teachers would consider an "easy day" has frequently actually been harder for me. The only conclusion I can come to is that the regular teachers don't have much confidence in the abilities of subs. Perhaps this is justified. But in many cases it is not. I have talked to a lot of subs over the course of my years subbing and many are retired teachers, others are people new to the area, trying to get a foothold in the school district. They usually take only jobs for which they are qualified.
Perhaps the reason the regular teachers are less confident in subs is that subs DO mess up at times. Part of the problem is dealing with normal classroom routines, which the teachers often don't explain - How are requests to go to the bathroom handled? Are kids allowed to go to the library during independent reading? What do you do when the kids don't have any pencils? How do you switch the overhead projector from the document camera to the laptop?
There are lots of things that the teachers assume the subs will know or that the kids will tell them. But often the kids will tell the subs the wrong things - yes, we are allowed to wear hats in class; yes, we can chew gum; the teacher always lets us do X... And, in a few classes, where bossy kids have been designated as "helpers", I have gotten so annoyed at the "help" that I had to ask the student to stop helping me - you have to push this button to get the overhead to work; no, it must be this button; well, maybe this has to be unplugged and plugged in over here; no, maybe that was OK, but this needs to be turned on (and by that time, the whole set up is hopelessly messed up). There are times when I just want to say, "I CAN read the teacher's directions by myself." But, of course, there are also times when the teacher assumes that all subs can work their particular kinds of equipment. Guess what, subs are never trained on using the equipment - and different kinds of equipment are set up differently, are activated differently, and fail differently.
Yes, the curriculum is usually the least of my worries. But I think that probably, for the regular teachers, it is the MOST of THEIR worries, so they assume that it will be the biggest worry for the sub as well. Regular teachers are used to their equipment, their routines, their school procedures, and they don't have to be aware of them - they just ARE. Delivering the curriculum is their focus.
That, and the behavior of the students. I usually DO get warnings about the problem students.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Another Class Size Rant
The other day I took a subbing job for math in a middle school. I taught 6 classes that day: 4 classes of 7th graders and 2 classes of 8th graders. The lesson for the 7th graders was particularly interesting. It consisted of two rather complicated word problems that the students had to figure out. But even more interesting than the actual assignment was the difference that class size made. 3 of the classes were normal size and one was exceptionally small, approximately 25 to 28 students vs. 9. I have no idea why this was so. The students didn't actually seem much different individually from the students in the other classes - that is, they didn't seem to have any special characteristics that were notable. They weren't exceptionally brilliant; they didn't seem to have any disabilities. Perhaps it was just a fluke of scheduling.
At any rate, I can't complain about the classes (well, maybe the 8th graders, but everyone complains about 8th graders). They all worked well on the assignment. The difference was the tenor of the classes. The small class just seemed to be much more personal. How much more fun it would be to always have classes of 9 to 15 students! Too bad it can't always be so.
At any rate, I can't complain about the classes (well, maybe the 8th graders, but everyone complains about 8th graders). They all worked well on the assignment. The difference was the tenor of the classes. The small class just seemed to be much more personal. How much more fun it would be to always have classes of 9 to 15 students! Too bad it can't always be so.
Campaign against PDR - Public Displays of Religion
I am not religious. I have a core set of beliefs, mostly having to do with moral and ethical behavior. I also believe in the power of science and logic.
Given that, I must admit, I am increasingly uncomfortable with PDR - public displays of religion. I dislike the "in my face" aspect of it. My feelings about this are very much akin to my feelings about PDA - public displays of affection. I enjoy my own private displays of affection. I am comfortable with other people's private expressions of religious beliefs. But I am increasingly annoyed at people's public expressions of religion. Why do people insist on inflicting their religious experiences on the general public?
Given that, I must admit, I am increasingly uncomfortable with PDR - public displays of religion. I dislike the "in my face" aspect of it. My feelings about this are very much akin to my feelings about PDA - public displays of affection. I enjoy my own private displays of affection. I am comfortable with other people's private expressions of religious beliefs. But I am increasingly annoyed at people's public expressions of religion. Why do people insist on inflicting their religious experiences on the general public?
Source of Anxiety
It occurs to me that one source of anxiety for me lately is the overwhelming number of things that I am interested in. With the constant availability of the Internet, with the huge availability of the library, though inter-library loans, with the face to face Meet-Ups on a seemingly endless variety of interests, with all the Facebook friends and interest pages, with the magazines and newspapers that I get, with the long list of emails that I need or want to read, I am simply overwhelmed with stuff. If I were like my husband and narrowly focused on only a few areas of interest, even then I would be inundated with information. But I consider myself to be a generalist. It is one of the reasons why I have stuck with teaching. It allows me to be interested in a wide variety of things.
But recently, I have become more and more aware that it also causes me anxiety. I just can't keep up with the constant barrage of things that I want to read and the things I want to do. I actually have more time now than I have had in earlier years of my life - I am not working on a university degree, the kids are grown, I am not working full time. But that also means that I can develop new interests as well - I have started going to Meet-Ups for playing board games and for speaking German. Last summer, I started making jewelry. This past fall I started writing songs. Since I moved here I have been trying to attend regularly the World Affairs Discussion Group at our local branch library, where I am confronted continually with my lack of knowledge about history, economics, and international policy. And I want to remedy that lack of knowledge.
Perhaps this acknowledgement can explain some of the reasons that students know so little about the world these days. There is simply too much to know; too much to be interested in; too much to do. It is much easier to just focus on the easy things - the latest video game; the antics of pop stars; the latest songs. These things are straight-forward and do not require complicated understanding. Let someone else know the complicated stuff; there is too much for me to know - and by the time I learn about it, it will have changed, anyway.
I suppose other people have come to this realization already - so, again, I am confronted with the question of why should I care? Maybe I should just relax and give up even pretending to be a generalist - but which of my interests should I give up?
But recently, I have become more and more aware that it also causes me anxiety. I just can't keep up with the constant barrage of things that I want to read and the things I want to do. I actually have more time now than I have had in earlier years of my life - I am not working on a university degree, the kids are grown, I am not working full time. But that also means that I can develop new interests as well - I have started going to Meet-Ups for playing board games and for speaking German. Last summer, I started making jewelry. This past fall I started writing songs. Since I moved here I have been trying to attend regularly the World Affairs Discussion Group at our local branch library, where I am confronted continually with my lack of knowledge about history, economics, and international policy. And I want to remedy that lack of knowledge.
Perhaps this acknowledgement can explain some of the reasons that students know so little about the world these days. There is simply too much to know; too much to be interested in; too much to do. It is much easier to just focus on the easy things - the latest video game; the antics of pop stars; the latest songs. These things are straight-forward and do not require complicated understanding. Let someone else know the complicated stuff; there is too much for me to know - and by the time I learn about it, it will have changed, anyway.
I suppose other people have come to this realization already - so, again, I am confronted with the question of why should I care? Maybe I should just relax and give up even pretending to be a generalist - but which of my interests should I give up?
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Bored, or Not
It occurs to me that when I was in grade school, I don't think I complained about being bored. That isn't to say that I wasn't bored. I remember counting the dots on the ceiling insulation and trying to figure out how many there would be in the whole room. But I didn't COMPLAIN about it. I was the quintessential good girl. I did what I was told, did it well, and didn't question the decisions of the adults in my life. If my mother told me I was interested in dancing, I never even questioned her decision about taking dancing lessons. If my teachers told me I was good at math, I did well at math.
At my age now, I can't understand why I was so passive about things. Why didn't I learn to be more assertive? Is it a character flaw in me or is it learned behavior? In a way, I am annoyed that someone didn't at least try to make me more assertive. Even now, I struggle with accommodation. I want the people in my life to be happy and I try hard to mold my behavior so that they are. I suppose I should think of that as a positive trait, but I often feel that I have lost myself in the process.
At my age now, I can't understand why I was so passive about things. Why didn't I learn to be more assertive? Is it a character flaw in me or is it learned behavior? In a way, I am annoyed that someone didn't at least try to make me more assertive. Even now, I struggle with accommodation. I want the people in my life to be happy and I try hard to mold my behavior so that they are. I suppose I should think of that as a positive trait, but I often feel that I have lost myself in the process.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Logic of Different Abilities
Here is why NCLB and its variations are utterly illogical. Given: people learn at different rates. Some people learn fast, some people learn slowly. Sure, the rates are uneven, but if you average them out over time, they will spread out over presumably a bell shaped curve. Result: If you are teaching each child to 80 or 90% of his or her ability, the curve SHOULD spread out as a cohort of children gets older.
To be more concrete: Let's suppose that one child can learn 100 concepts in a year and another could learn 110 concepts in a year. At the end of one year the difference between the two will be 10 learned concepts. At the end of two years, the children will have mastered 200 and 220 concepts, respectively, bringing the gap to 20 concepts. Each year the gap SHOULD grow. Even if the lower performing student is working to the MAXIMUM of his/her ability, he/she will fall behind. The only way this can be prevented is by holding down the top student.
In reality, the gap could potentially be much wider. I seem to remember reading that average kids learn concepts after approximately seven repetitions. Slower kids need more repetitions; faster kids can learn something with as few as 1 to 3 exposures to the concept. Thus, some students could learn as much as 10 times as much as some other students.
Look at this the other way around: Parents: are your special needs children falling further and further behind each year? Well, that means that the other teachers are doing their job. Your children aren't failures; some may be succeeding incredibly. Some of them may even outgrow their disabilities; others may not. But, even if their disabilities persist, they still shouldn't be deemed failures - nor should their teachers. Board of Education people: if the gap between your lowest students and your highest students isn't getting BIGGER each year, then you are holding your top students back (or the test can't measure adequately the top students' progress).
Yes, we should try to remedy any disabilities that can be remedied. But you need a different yardstick to measure progress with different disabilities. Some disabilities are permanent or semi-permanent and the best teachers in the world could not bring these students up to grade level proficiency. Some disabilities are not permanent and can be remedied, compensated for, or even simply outgrown.
But we also shouldn't deceive ourselves into thinking that just because the achievement gap is shrinking, we are doing a good job. It means that we are neglecting those students who should be moving faster.
If someone can point out the problems with this diatribe, I would appreciate it. Perhaps I am missing something.
To be more concrete: Let's suppose that one child can learn 100 concepts in a year and another could learn 110 concepts in a year. At the end of one year the difference between the two will be 10 learned concepts. At the end of two years, the children will have mastered 200 and 220 concepts, respectively, bringing the gap to 20 concepts. Each year the gap SHOULD grow. Even if the lower performing student is working to the MAXIMUM of his/her ability, he/she will fall behind. The only way this can be prevented is by holding down the top student.
In reality, the gap could potentially be much wider. I seem to remember reading that average kids learn concepts after approximately seven repetitions. Slower kids need more repetitions; faster kids can learn something with as few as 1 to 3 exposures to the concept. Thus, some students could learn as much as 10 times as much as some other students.
Look at this the other way around: Parents: are your special needs children falling further and further behind each year? Well, that means that the other teachers are doing their job. Your children aren't failures; some may be succeeding incredibly. Some of them may even outgrow their disabilities; others may not. But, even if their disabilities persist, they still shouldn't be deemed failures - nor should their teachers. Board of Education people: if the gap between your lowest students and your highest students isn't getting BIGGER each year, then you are holding your top students back (or the test can't measure adequately the top students' progress).
Yes, we should try to remedy any disabilities that can be remedied. But you need a different yardstick to measure progress with different disabilities. Some disabilities are permanent or semi-permanent and the best teachers in the world could not bring these students up to grade level proficiency. Some disabilities are not permanent and can be remedied, compensated for, or even simply outgrown.
But we also shouldn't deceive ourselves into thinking that just because the achievement gap is shrinking, we are doing a good job. It means that we are neglecting those students who should be moving faster.
If someone can point out the problems with this diatribe, I would appreciate it. Perhaps I am missing something.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Reframing Your Greatest Worries as Gifts
This is taken from Ken Page's blog in Psychology Today:
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-love/201109/how-your-greatest-insecurities-reveal-your-deepest-gifts)
"Are there essential qualities in you which have sometimes felt more like a curse than a gift? Perhaps you haven't known how to handle them, or maybe you've had the painful experience of other people misunderstanding or taking advantage of them. Take a minute to begin to put words on these qualities. As you name them, you'll learn to honor them, and you'll come to understand your struggles, your intimacy journey and your life story in a new way."
Qualities that I sometimes feel are a curse, rather than a gift: my accommodation of others wishes - I sometimes feel that I am so sensitive to the wishes of others that I almost unconsciously shape my own wishes according to what they want, rather than stick up for my own desires. I value the sensitivity, but there are times when I wish I could turn off others' wishes and just act on my own.
Another quality - perhaps a penchant instead of a quality - is my need to analyze everything. Other people see this as annoying, but I am constantly surprised that, in spite of this penchant, I still miss such obvious things. This leads me to want to do even more of it.
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-love/201109/how-your-greatest-insecurities-reveal-your-deepest-gifts)
"Are there essential qualities in you which have sometimes felt more like a curse than a gift? Perhaps you haven't known how to handle them, or maybe you've had the painful experience of other people misunderstanding or taking advantage of them. Take a minute to begin to put words on these qualities. As you name them, you'll learn to honor them, and you'll come to understand your struggles, your intimacy journey and your life story in a new way."
Qualities that I sometimes feel are a curse, rather than a gift: my accommodation of others wishes - I sometimes feel that I am so sensitive to the wishes of others that I almost unconsciously shape my own wishes according to what they want, rather than stick up for my own desires. I value the sensitivity, but there are times when I wish I could turn off others' wishes and just act on my own.
Another quality - perhaps a penchant instead of a quality - is my need to analyze everything. Other people see this as annoying, but I am constantly surprised that, in spite of this penchant, I still miss such obvious things. This leads me to want to do even more of it.
Day 2 - Positive changes
1) Three new things I am grateful for: I am grateful for the excellent discussion I was a part of at the library today - and grateful that I didn't say something stupid for once. I am grateful that I am able to turn down subbing jobs that I don't want to do and that I don't have to take them just because I need the money desperately. I am grateful that I found the will power to take a walk today, even though I really don't care for exercise.
2) Journal about a positive experience. The World Affairs discussion group at the library today was one of the best that I have attended. We were talking about the news event that happened in Afghanistan. Someone (presumably American soldiers) was burning garbage and the locals discovered that, among the items in the refuse were some copies of the Koran. This caused the Afghanis to start rioting against the Americans. We explored the culpability of the soldiers and in a larger context the culpability of soldiers in general for unconscionable acts. Which led to a discussion of the Ugly American and cultural insensitivity as well as the In/Out group instinct. Very interesting. I like food for the brain - especially when I don't say things that are too stupid.
3) Exercise. When I got back from lunch with the WADG group, I made myself take a walk. It was a nice day and I walked to the bridge that is fairly near to Platt Middle School and back. I don't really enjoy exercise, but I did do it.
4) Meditation. I still don't know how to meditate, but I did take time to read for quite a while. Maybe that is going to be my form of meditation.
5) Random acts of kindness. I complimented one of my UWA/Facebook friends on her improved ability at a game we play with each other. I used to win all of the games, but she has gradually gotten better, to the point where she wins a fair number of games.
2) Journal about a positive experience. The World Affairs discussion group at the library today was one of the best that I have attended. We were talking about the news event that happened in Afghanistan. Someone (presumably American soldiers) was burning garbage and the locals discovered that, among the items in the refuse were some copies of the Koran. This caused the Afghanis to start rioting against the Americans. We explored the culpability of the soldiers and in a larger context the culpability of soldiers in general for unconscionable acts. Which led to a discussion of the Ugly American and cultural insensitivity as well as the In/Out group instinct. Very interesting. I like food for the brain - especially when I don't say things that are too stupid.
3) Exercise. When I got back from lunch with the WADG group, I made myself take a walk. It was a nice day and I walked to the bridge that is fairly near to Platt Middle School and back. I don't really enjoy exercise, but I did do it.
4) Meditation. I still don't know how to meditate, but I did take time to read for quite a while. Maybe that is going to be my form of meditation.
5) Random acts of kindness. I complimented one of my UWA/Facebook friends on her improved ability at a game we play with each other. I used to win all of the games, but she has gradually gotten better, to the point where she wins a fair number of games.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Evaluating Teachers
Years ago, when I was a new teacher, my principal was supposed to evaluate me. He was supposed to come into my classes a minimum of 20 minutes and two separate times. What actually happened is that he stuck his head in the door to my room once. From this he wrote up my evaluation. It was a run of the mill evaluation, except for two things that I remember very clearly. He wrote that I had demonstrated no interest in furthering my teaching credentials. Since, at the time, I was in the process of getting my Master's degree in Elementary Education at the local, and highly regarded, university, I thought that this was a rather bizarre comment and I politely told him that it wasn't accurate. He refused to change that statement. He wrote also that I never read the journals about teaching that were in the staff room. Since I subscribed to several education journals at home, I didn't feel the need to read them at school. He also refused to change this statement on his written evaluation.
Fast forward to years later. I was again up for evaluation. Again, the criteria were that I was to be evaluated twice in the year for a minimum of 20 minutes. This time, I was supposed to turn in detailed lesson plans ahead of time, discuss them with the principal, then actually teach the lesson, with a detailed follow up with the principal. Only he forgot to tell me when any of this was to take place. Finally, with the evaluation due, he told me one day that he needed to watch me teach a lesson THAT DAY. Since there was no time to do the pre-lesson consultation, I invited him to come watch me teach a class right then. Most of my classes were small groups, as I taught gifted, pull-out classes, but I had two classes with the entire grade level, teaching general social studies. I invited him to watch one of these. I taught what was one of the best lessons I have ever taught. Things just seemed to come together for that lesson. His only comment: I forgot to summarize "what we have learned" at the end. The evaluation was relatively non-committal, with scores in the middle of the range for most things. When asked why the scores were that low, he said that he wanted there to be room for improvement. There was no standard of comparison, nothing to say that that was an awesome lesson.
I have been evaluated in other teaching jobs, but, I must admit, I don't remember those evaluations. Either the results were so average that I promptly forgot them, or they never took place at all and the principals just wrote an evaluation, based on their perceptions of how my classes were going.
Thus, my experiences with teacher evaluations by principals have not been very positive. What should have been a collaborative experience between the teacher and the principal, has not been one, in my experience.
But is the method of using test results any better? What if Congress were judged on the number of bills they have passed?
Fast forward to years later. I was again up for evaluation. Again, the criteria were that I was to be evaluated twice in the year for a minimum of 20 minutes. This time, I was supposed to turn in detailed lesson plans ahead of time, discuss them with the principal, then actually teach the lesson, with a detailed follow up with the principal. Only he forgot to tell me when any of this was to take place. Finally, with the evaluation due, he told me one day that he needed to watch me teach a lesson THAT DAY. Since there was no time to do the pre-lesson consultation, I invited him to come watch me teach a class right then. Most of my classes were small groups, as I taught gifted, pull-out classes, but I had two classes with the entire grade level, teaching general social studies. I invited him to watch one of these. I taught what was one of the best lessons I have ever taught. Things just seemed to come together for that lesson. His only comment: I forgot to summarize "what we have learned" at the end. The evaluation was relatively non-committal, with scores in the middle of the range for most things. When asked why the scores were that low, he said that he wanted there to be room for improvement. There was no standard of comparison, nothing to say that that was an awesome lesson.
I have been evaluated in other teaching jobs, but, I must admit, I don't remember those evaluations. Either the results were so average that I promptly forgot them, or they never took place at all and the principals just wrote an evaluation, based on their perceptions of how my classes were going.
Thus, my experiences with teacher evaluations by principals have not been very positive. What should have been a collaborative experience between the teacher and the principal, has not been one, in my experience.
But is the method of using test results any better? What if Congress were judged on the number of bills they have passed?
Changing My Attitutde
I listened to a TED talk on creating lasting positive changes. The method involved 21 days of doing several things:
1) Make a list of 3 things you are grateful for each day. They have to be three new things each day.
2) Journal about a positive experience
3) Exercise
4) Meditate
5) Perform random (or conscious, whichever you prefer) acts of kindness, such as sending a positive email to someone in your social network.
Now, as a baseline, I think I am generally a pretty optimistic person - except that lately I have been plagued by self-doubt. That happens when you have been under-employed for a long time - and I have been. I am currently substitute teaching up to 4 days a week and I have a regular job on Wednesdays for 7.2 hours at $16 per hour. I think I am a good sub, but it is a tough job, and there is little chance for much positive feedback. Occasionally, I get comments from teachers I have worked for, but it is pretty rare.
The last two full time jobs I had, I had to resign - one due to health reasons and both because the kids were pretty awful at those schools. The full time job prior to that I also resigned, but that was due to the fact that the funding for the gifted program that I ran was cancelled and I didn't want to do any of the other jobs that were offered to me in that district.
So, in spite of the fact that I think I do a good job, I don't have a good job and it does get a bit depressing. Thus, this effort to focus on positive change.
1) 3 things I am grateful for: I am grateful that my mother made it through surgery OK; I am grateful that I could talk about it at my music lesson; I am grateful for a cat peacefully sleeping next to me right now.
2) Positive experience - in a day filled with anxiety, I guess one positive experience was the support I got from the secretary at my dentist's. She offered to fax a document I needed to send and was overall very helpful to me. People can be really great when you reach out to them.
3) Exercise - I swam 48 lengths of the pool. I actually count my laps in base 12, so I really swam 40(12) lengths of the pool.
4) Meditation - I am not sure how to do this. I think it is similar to how I get myself to sleep. I will find out more about meditation tomorrow.
5) Acts of Kindness - ah, well, there's always tomorrow. An act of kindness was given to me, though. A lady at the pool said that my swimming suit was perfect for me. I am too fat, but it is nice that someone said that the suit I wear looked good on me.
1) Make a list of 3 things you are grateful for each day. They have to be three new things each day.
2) Journal about a positive experience
3) Exercise
4) Meditate
5) Perform random (or conscious, whichever you prefer) acts of kindness, such as sending a positive email to someone in your social network.
Now, as a baseline, I think I am generally a pretty optimistic person - except that lately I have been plagued by self-doubt. That happens when you have been under-employed for a long time - and I have been. I am currently substitute teaching up to 4 days a week and I have a regular job on Wednesdays for 7.2 hours at $16 per hour. I think I am a good sub, but it is a tough job, and there is little chance for much positive feedback. Occasionally, I get comments from teachers I have worked for, but it is pretty rare.
The last two full time jobs I had, I had to resign - one due to health reasons and both because the kids were pretty awful at those schools. The full time job prior to that I also resigned, but that was due to the fact that the funding for the gifted program that I ran was cancelled and I didn't want to do any of the other jobs that were offered to me in that district.
So, in spite of the fact that I think I do a good job, I don't have a good job and it does get a bit depressing. Thus, this effort to focus on positive change.
1) 3 things I am grateful for: I am grateful that my mother made it through surgery OK; I am grateful that I could talk about it at my music lesson; I am grateful for a cat peacefully sleeping next to me right now.
2) Positive experience - in a day filled with anxiety, I guess one positive experience was the support I got from the secretary at my dentist's. She offered to fax a document I needed to send and was overall very helpful to me. People can be really great when you reach out to them.
3) Exercise - I swam 48 lengths of the pool. I actually count my laps in base 12, so I really swam 40(12) lengths of the pool.
4) Meditation - I am not sure how to do this. I think it is similar to how I get myself to sleep. I will find out more about meditation tomorrow.
5) Acts of Kindness - ah, well, there's always tomorrow. An act of kindness was given to me, though. A lady at the pool said that my swimming suit was perfect for me. I am too fat, but it is nice that someone said that the suit I wear looked good on me.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Young AmeriTowne
I was subbing in a fifth grade yesterday and for social studies, they worked on a curriculum called Young AmeriTowne. It is a curriculum written for 5th and 6th grade age students (10 through 12 year olds), that helps teachers teach about business, economics, and free enterprise. I was only there for one lesson - the penultimate lesson before they take a field trip to the bank site, which has been set up to simulate a town, in which their "shops" are set up.
For the lesson I saw, the students in four 5th grade classes were sorted into various shops. The shops in my room dealt with travel, containers, a market, and investments. Students, who had applied to work in those shops had assigned roles, some of which they had applied for with job applications. The project managers ran the meetings for their shops and the accountants prepared the financial information. The students decided on such things as the shop name, the shop logo, advertisements for the radio, newspaper, and television. They applied for a loan to start up their business when they get to AmeriTowne, and the accountant wrote out salary checks, so they would get paid when they get to the site.
So much for the basic design of the project. What impressed me most was what happened when the project managers took over the management of the projects. As a substitute teacher, I knew less about what they were doing than they did, so I basically just wandered around the room, watching and listening to the progress of their meetings. Most of the groups had fairly strong managers, but sometimes other students seemed to be very helpful to the management, too. The accountants, who presumably had been chosen for their mathematical confidence, seemed comfortable in their roles, but occasionally they seemed stronger than the project managers.
The program says that it helps to teach leadership skills, and, if the day I was there is any indication, they are correct. The project managers had a long list of objectives for the session and they seemed to figure out how to get their teams working on them. There were enough jobs and things to do that each person could be involved. There were a few passive students, who seemed uninvolved or disinterested, but in general, I was impressed with the interest and task-oriented behavior. The groups varied in size from four students to six or seven. The group with only four students was very focused and hard-working, but they were the last to finish, because there were fewer students to do the work. The other groups were done sooner.
All in all, I was impressed with the program. I have often thought that schools need to include more economics in their curricula, and this is a good start. I have seen other methods of doing this, including classroom based shops or economies, but this is one of the better examples of economic curricula. I liked the level of active involvement for every student.
I wonder a bit about the cost of the program. Another teacher said that the program cost each student $25. I am not sure how the money was raised. This school was in a relatively wealthy area of the school district. I wonder if the program could be implemented in the much less wealthy school I had been in the previous day. That school was less than 5 miles away, but had an entirely different demographic. I hope that isn't part of the lesson: the richer kids get to learn about economics; the poorer kids can't afford it.
For the lesson I saw, the students in four 5th grade classes were sorted into various shops. The shops in my room dealt with travel, containers, a market, and investments. Students, who had applied to work in those shops had assigned roles, some of which they had applied for with job applications. The project managers ran the meetings for their shops and the accountants prepared the financial information. The students decided on such things as the shop name, the shop logo, advertisements for the radio, newspaper, and television. They applied for a loan to start up their business when they get to AmeriTowne, and the accountant wrote out salary checks, so they would get paid when they get to the site.
So much for the basic design of the project. What impressed me most was what happened when the project managers took over the management of the projects. As a substitute teacher, I knew less about what they were doing than they did, so I basically just wandered around the room, watching and listening to the progress of their meetings. Most of the groups had fairly strong managers, but sometimes other students seemed to be very helpful to the management, too. The accountants, who presumably had been chosen for their mathematical confidence, seemed comfortable in their roles, but occasionally they seemed stronger than the project managers.
The program says that it helps to teach leadership skills, and, if the day I was there is any indication, they are correct. The project managers had a long list of objectives for the session and they seemed to figure out how to get their teams working on them. There were enough jobs and things to do that each person could be involved. There were a few passive students, who seemed uninvolved or disinterested, but in general, I was impressed with the interest and task-oriented behavior. The groups varied in size from four students to six or seven. The group with only four students was very focused and hard-working, but they were the last to finish, because there were fewer students to do the work. The other groups were done sooner.
All in all, I was impressed with the program. I have often thought that schools need to include more economics in their curricula, and this is a good start. I have seen other methods of doing this, including classroom based shops or economies, but this is one of the better examples of economic curricula. I liked the level of active involvement for every student.
I wonder a bit about the cost of the program. Another teacher said that the program cost each student $25. I am not sure how the money was raised. This school was in a relatively wealthy area of the school district. I wonder if the program could be implemented in the much less wealthy school I had been in the previous day. That school was less than 5 miles away, but had an entirely different demographic. I hope that isn't part of the lesson: the richer kids get to learn about economics; the poorer kids can't afford it.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Differentiation - It Isn't Enough for HG+ Kids
Yes, I know differentiation is the acceptable mantra for educators these days. I know I am supposed to tout the virtues of differentiating for every kid in the classroom. I know that, if potential principals see this, I will not be considered for full time jobs. But, I also know that, as a sub, I see very little of it.
For anyone who actually reads this, but who doesn't know my background, I will briefly say that I have taught in four states: Massachusetts (private schools), Illinois (public and private schools), Alaska (public and charter schools), and Colorado (public and charter schools). I have taught, either full time or subbing, in at least a dozen school districts, dozens of schools, and hundreds of different classrooms. I have gone through extensive training on differentiation and gifted, differentiation and special education, and differentiation in general.
I have seen very little differentiation in action. Some teachers will differentiate spelling lists. Some teachers will have different levels of book groups. Some teachers will pair up with other teachers and group the students for math classes. But, if we are talking about meeting the needs of kids outside of the middle of the bell curve, there is very little for those outlier kids. It can be done - I have seen 3 or 4 teachers who could do it. I laud them. But, in general, it isn't happening.
And, I think it is time that educators who are interested in meeting the needs of HG+ gifted students admit that differentiation, as it is practiced (or not practiced) just isn't enough. It isn't consistent enough, it isn't broad-based enough, and it isn't at the correct level. The further the gifted student is from the class average, the less appropriate any differentiated accommodations are.
Differentiation is a great thing to train teachers to do. It is effective to have the things that I mentioned above: leveled math, book groups, leveled spelling, different expectations for writing, etc. It just isn't enough to meet the needs of the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. And I think it is time to stop pretending that regular classroom teachers can teach all students.
We know that inclusion has worked for a lot of kids with learning disabilities, but we also know that their special teachers, special classes, and supporting aides still have their jobs. In fact, there are loads of jobs advertised for special education aides. We know that differentiation isn't enough for these kids. The simple fact is that they need more support than this. Why don't we acknowledge the same for the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. The regular classroom teachers just can't meet their needs.
Again: The regular classroom teachers just can't meet the needs of the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. This was true before the great school budget problems; it is even more true now, with class sizes creeping up to ever higher numbers. It is unfair to classroom teachers to continually demand more and more of them. They already have more responsibilities and less time than they need in order to be maximally effective.
This rant is targeted mainly at elementary schools, but also somewhat at middle schools / junior highs. By the time the kids get to high school, we mostly stop pretending that a single teacher can teach all levels of ability in a single class. AP Calc AB is not differentiated and no one expects that AP Calc teacher to prepare lessons for students who might want to take the class, but who haven't yet mastered algebra. Nor is the algebra teacher expected to teach calculus to the one kid in the class who is ready for AP Calc AB. It just doesn't make sense.
For those of us who are interested in the HG+ kids, I think it is time to stop saying that differentiation can solve all of their educational needs. It isn't happening.
For anyone who actually reads this, but who doesn't know my background, I will briefly say that I have taught in four states: Massachusetts (private schools), Illinois (public and private schools), Alaska (public and charter schools), and Colorado (public and charter schools). I have taught, either full time or subbing, in at least a dozen school districts, dozens of schools, and hundreds of different classrooms. I have gone through extensive training on differentiation and gifted, differentiation and special education, and differentiation in general.
I have seen very little differentiation in action. Some teachers will differentiate spelling lists. Some teachers will have different levels of book groups. Some teachers will pair up with other teachers and group the students for math classes. But, if we are talking about meeting the needs of kids outside of the middle of the bell curve, there is very little for those outlier kids. It can be done - I have seen 3 or 4 teachers who could do it. I laud them. But, in general, it isn't happening.
And, I think it is time that educators who are interested in meeting the needs of HG+ gifted students admit that differentiation, as it is practiced (or not practiced) just isn't enough. It isn't consistent enough, it isn't broad-based enough, and it isn't at the correct level. The further the gifted student is from the class average, the less appropriate any differentiated accommodations are.
Differentiation is a great thing to train teachers to do. It is effective to have the things that I mentioned above: leveled math, book groups, leveled spelling, different expectations for writing, etc. It just isn't enough to meet the needs of the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. And I think it is time to stop pretending that regular classroom teachers can teach all students.
We know that inclusion has worked for a lot of kids with learning disabilities, but we also know that their special teachers, special classes, and supporting aides still have their jobs. In fact, there are loads of jobs advertised for special education aides. We know that differentiation isn't enough for these kids. The simple fact is that they need more support than this. Why don't we acknowledge the same for the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. The regular classroom teachers just can't meet their needs.
Again: The regular classroom teachers just can't meet the needs of the highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. This was true before the great school budget problems; it is even more true now, with class sizes creeping up to ever higher numbers. It is unfair to classroom teachers to continually demand more and more of them. They already have more responsibilities and less time than they need in order to be maximally effective.
This rant is targeted mainly at elementary schools, but also somewhat at middle schools / junior highs. By the time the kids get to high school, we mostly stop pretending that a single teacher can teach all levels of ability in a single class. AP Calc AB is not differentiated and no one expects that AP Calc teacher to prepare lessons for students who might want to take the class, but who haven't yet mastered algebra. Nor is the algebra teacher expected to teach calculus to the one kid in the class who is ready for AP Calc AB. It just doesn't make sense.
For those of us who are interested in the HG+ kids, I think it is time to stop saying that differentiation can solve all of their educational needs. It isn't happening.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Gifted - Percentage or Absolute?
When children are identified as gifted, the method of making such a determination sometimes uses a percentage of a given population, e.g., the 95th percentile of the children who take this test or the upper 8% of the students in this district on a specific measure. Sometimes, what is used is a standardized and normed intelligence test, such as the WISC IV or the Stanford-Binet 5. I have been pondering this lately and I have some thoughts about this.
Many people feel that giftedness brings with it special personality and emotional characteristics that are less prevalent in the general population, specifically, intensity and emotional sensitivity. If this is the case, then the percentage measures might need to be adjusted. Take, for example, a university or high tech community. There might be a larger percentage of gifted children in the schools in those communities, since favorable genetics and a favorable family/societal support system might both contribute to higher realization of intelligence potential. This might mean that, if the school uses the IQ test cut off, a larger percentage of children might be identified as gifted than would normally be expected. Instead of the usual 5 to 8 %, I have heard of percentages even as high as 25 % of the local population. The question is, should all of these children be identified? Should all of them be served? If the emotional and personality characteristics are taken into consideration, then I would argue that, if we think that those are valid criteria for identifying gifted people, then all of those students need to be identified and served.
But I have also heard it argued that only the upper 5 to 8 % of the students in any given population need to be identified, because the needs of those below that cutoff can be taken care of in the general classrooms. From this perspective, the level of learning in the classroom is typically aimed at the average ability level of the students in the class. If the population of students is above average, then the learning activities in the classroom will be target above the average of the standard curriculum.
Lately, I have been more convinced of the social and emotional differences of, especially, highly gifted children (and adults, for that matter). I think, regardless of percentages, all highly gifted people need differentiated support systems. Perhaps the academic needs can be based on percentages, but all students in the highly gifted group need to be offered counseling and mentoring appropriate to their intelligence level and not necessarily their prevalence in the population.
Many people feel that giftedness brings with it special personality and emotional characteristics that are less prevalent in the general population, specifically, intensity and emotional sensitivity. If this is the case, then the percentage measures might need to be adjusted. Take, for example, a university or high tech community. There might be a larger percentage of gifted children in the schools in those communities, since favorable genetics and a favorable family/societal support system might both contribute to higher realization of intelligence potential. This might mean that, if the school uses the IQ test cut off, a larger percentage of children might be identified as gifted than would normally be expected. Instead of the usual 5 to 8 %, I have heard of percentages even as high as 25 % of the local population. The question is, should all of these children be identified? Should all of them be served? If the emotional and personality characteristics are taken into consideration, then I would argue that, if we think that those are valid criteria for identifying gifted people, then all of those students need to be identified and served.
But I have also heard it argued that only the upper 5 to 8 % of the students in any given population need to be identified, because the needs of those below that cutoff can be taken care of in the general classrooms. From this perspective, the level of learning in the classroom is typically aimed at the average ability level of the students in the class. If the population of students is above average, then the learning activities in the classroom will be target above the average of the standard curriculum.
Lately, I have been more convinced of the social and emotional differences of, especially, highly gifted children (and adults, for that matter). I think, regardless of percentages, all highly gifted people need differentiated support systems. Perhaps the academic needs can be based on percentages, but all students in the highly gifted group need to be offered counseling and mentoring appropriate to their intelligence level and not necessarily their prevalence in the population.
Cancelled Jobs and Job Shopping
I hate cancelled jobs. I accepted a half-day job for this afternoon and conscientiously set my other two school districts to unavailable - and then the job was cancelled. This time, I also turned down an additional morning job, because the two jobs were only 15 minutes apart and, since this was to be a new school for me, I wasn't sure I would be able to drive between the two schools and get there in time. So now, there is nothing for today. Sigh.
One thing that is new to me this year is that the jobs are also available online. That means you can check the web sites for each school district repeatedly and find jobs that may be available. That is an advantage, if you want to spend hours on the computer, pressing the search button every few seconds - every 15 seconds, in the case of one school district. But it also means that it is harder to get a called out job, since there are probably a number of people just sitting at their computers pressing the search buttons. It is very boring.
I am getting to the point, where I wish I didn't want to teach.
One thing that is new to me this year is that the jobs are also available online. That means you can check the web sites for each school district repeatedly and find jobs that may be available. That is an advantage, if you want to spend hours on the computer, pressing the search button every few seconds - every 15 seconds, in the case of one school district. But it also means that it is harder to get a called out job, since there are probably a number of people just sitting at their computers pressing the search buttons. It is very boring.
I am getting to the point, where I wish I didn't want to teach.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Subbing - Pay and Conditions
it is true that subs don't usually have to do lesson plans or give grades or talk to parents, they do have to be prepared for different curricula, different schools, different kids, the constant challenge of change and uncertainty. I am lucky I don't have to depend on it for all of my income.
I am proud of the work I do. It is hard - in some ways that are similar to the difficulties for regular teachers and in some ways unique to the job of substitute teacher.
In response to my comments, Shaun Hately said that subs in his part of Australia typically make the same salary as a beginning teacher, around $33,000, which is a LOT better than the $11,000 to $12,000, which I about what I earned in the last two years. And, of course, in the US, health care is made available through employment, and subs are technically self-employed. They don't get any health insurance, unless they buy it as an individual (which is VERY expensive) or get it through a spouse.
Sure, subs could work during the summer at a different job, but summer jobs are also increasingly hard to come by - and also rarely provide health insurance. It is demeaning to work so hard and still not be able to take care of oneself.
Subs have to deal with a number of issues that regular teachers do not. See the first paragraph of this post and the previous post for sources of stress for subs (discipline, procedures, work parameters, and curriculum content). Both subs and regular teachers have to deal with disciplinary issues. Big differences, though, are that regular teachers are there to teacher correct behaviors in a consistent manner. That is, after all, what discipline should be about. Subs, on the other hand, have much less long term influence. They can use the school's administration, the threat of reporting to the regular teacher, and standard discipline techniques. But there is often uncertainty about how effective these might be. I was once subbing in a classroom, where a student took apart a small manual pencil sharpener. This can be done relatively easily, with something strong enough to be used like a screwdriver. The student then used the razor blade that was in the device to cut things. Because I was afraid that he might begin to use it to cut other students, I removed it from his desk when the students went out to recess and took it to the principal. She seemed relatively unconcerned. I was not. I still think this had the potential of being really bad. On the other hand, when the same student, a few weeks later filled a drink bottle with water, paint, and glue, and I again took it away from him and told her, she seemed much more worried. Apparently she was more worried that the student planned to deface the school than she was worried that the student might deface other students.
My cousin, who is also a sub, mentioned that the advantage that subs have is that they don't have to go to meetings and they don't have any worries. This is only partly true. This past week, I subbed all week for a math teacher, who was presumably sick. When I accepted the job for the first day, it was described as "basic math" at the high school. Since I am good at math, I was confident that I could teach that. But, when I got there, I found out that the teacher had taught basic math last year. This year, he was teaching two geometry classes, and 3 calculus classes. And, there weren't any standard lesson plans. There were assignment sheets for the AP Calc AB and BC classes, but there were no assignment sheets or lesson plans for the geometry classes. Because I was worried about no lesson plans and not being able to keep up with the calculus classes, I DID worry. And I worried more and more, as 1 day turned to 3, then 4, then 8 days. I tried to do some calculus at home to refresh my memory, but I was simply too exhausted from the teaching day to do much. Therefore I'd say, it is a mixed bag on the worries front. 1 day, usually is fine, but when one day stretches into 8, it becomes a bigger concern. And you don't know when that will be the case.
In this case, I felt confident about one day and OK with 3 days. I think it is much better for the students and for subs, if the sub who first takes a job stays for any additional days. It is hard for a sub to follow another sub, which I have done a couple of times. The degree of uncertainty about discipline, procedures, and lesson content all increase when a second sub takes over for the first one.
And, the longer a subbing job goes on, the more the additional worries become similar to those of regular teachers. Some of the standard subbing worries do decline, too, as the sub becomes familiar with the students, the procedures, the work conditions, and discipline in that situation.
I do find subbing fascinating, but, make no mistake, it is hard work - different in some respects from the work that regular teachers do, similar in other respects. I just wish that some respect for the job would rub off on the subs.
And Again
Monday night I got called to sub for the rest of the week - four more days. It is now Saturday and I made it through the week. From what I heard, he will be back on Monday, so I am hoping I am done. Eight days in all. It really wasn't that bad, but it wore me out. First of all, I have had a year off without having to work and, even though it was frustrating in many ways, it wasn't exhausting. Subbing full time is exhausting. The exhaustion stems from several sources: discipline, procedures, work parameters, and content.
Discipline: this is always a challenge for subs. With younger kids, they are often upset that their teacher mom is gone and purposely act up a bit, so that the substitute won't stay and replace their teacher mom. With older kids, it is the chance to gain popularity points by being a clown or annoying the sub in any of many "subtle" ways. One class I was in this year, a high school math class, while the class was quietly working on the assignment, every so often, a boy would say clearly, "Penis". I think the game is to see how long they can keep it up, before the sub tells them to stop. Sigh. Another high school class: the kids were using patty paper to explore translation, rotation, and reflection. One boy took a tape roll and taped paper to his face. The question is always, how much to try to ignore and how much to intervene in. With the classes this week, relatively older students, I chose to ignore some of the childish behavior, but eventually had to intervene in some of the most egregious instances. Luckily, so far this year, I have taught essentially good kids, who are just being silly, immature, whatever, because they can. Unlike some of the schools I have been in, they aren't threatening or dangerous - just obnoxious.
Procedures are also a source of stress. How does this school organize the day? Is there a dress code - for students and/or staff? How do you get copies made if you need them? Where do you park, so you aren't ticketed? How is attendance done? What are the hall rules? What about students leaving the classroom for the bathroom, their lockers, a drink of water? How often is homework handed in? Where is it put? And dozens of other questions. This past few days, one procedural source of stress was the fact that subs in this building are not issued keys for the day. The faculty restrooms are supposed to be locked, so there isn't a locking mechanism on the inside of the door. But, since I didn't have a key, I couldn't lock the door - meaning anyone could open it. Not having a key also meant I couldn't get into the room with the teachers' desks, their supplies and the microwave and the room where the other teachers ate lunch. It also meant that I couldn't get into the computer lab for the lesson I was supposed to teach there. There are work arounds to all of these problems, but they take more time and energy than just using a key would take and they make the sub feel helpless and like a second class citizen.
Work parameters: these are similar to procedures, but more specific to the teaching part of the job. Are there lesson plans? Are the materials for the lessons available? What happens if the lesson plans are absent? take too long? don't take long enough? What if the teacher doesn't specify what to do about homework? Is grading homework part of the lesson or left for the teacher? What can you do if the students don't understand the lesson at all? What if you discover that the teacher has taught a previous concept incorrectly? This has happened to me at least twice. The lesson I remember best was about scientific notation. The teacher had taught that scientific notation used the significant figures and one decimal, then powers of ten for the rest of the notation, e.g. 1234.5 X 10^8, which is incorrect. It should be 1.2345 X 10^11.
This last example overlaps with another source of stress for subs: content. What if the content is unfamiliar? There isn't a lot of time to prepare for teaching a lesson. What do you do when you know you aren't quite prepared enough? What if you are called to teach Chinese, because there is no one else willing to take that class? And you don't know any Chinese?
In the end, I did OK. I wish I had been more confident with the calculus, but maybe it is OK to let them know that this is hard stuff and you don't always get it right the first time. And, on the last days, I did have a bit of fun. I had brought in my Escher stuff for the geometry classes to look at and two of the students in one of the classes were very interested in it. So I let them take two of the models of Kaleidocycles and assemble them. They had a good time doing them and the other students were impressed, so, on the last day, I showed the geometry classes how to make tri-hexaflexagons. Some of the calculus students wanted to do them, too. I love it when something really ignites their interest.
I also like the Geometer's Sketchpad lesson I developed. It wasn't any great shakes as far as content or process, but I was proud of the fact that I developed it rather quickly and did so in spite of only having briefly used the software on one of the previous days. And, it was a valid thing to do at that point in their studies.
I hope the regular teacher is satisfied with the work I did for him. I guess I shouldn't worry about the geometry, at least, since he didn't tell me what to do. I did stuff that was helpful and consistent with what they should have been learning at that point. He may be less satisfied with the calculus. But I did what I could. So that is what he gets.
Discipline: this is always a challenge for subs. With younger kids, they are often upset that their teacher mom is gone and purposely act up a bit, so that the substitute won't stay and replace their teacher mom. With older kids, it is the chance to gain popularity points by being a clown or annoying the sub in any of many "subtle" ways. One class I was in this year, a high school math class, while the class was quietly working on the assignment, every so often, a boy would say clearly, "Penis". I think the game is to see how long they can keep it up, before the sub tells them to stop. Sigh. Another high school class: the kids were using patty paper to explore translation, rotation, and reflection. One boy took a tape roll and taped paper to his face. The question is always, how much to try to ignore and how much to intervene in. With the classes this week, relatively older students, I chose to ignore some of the childish behavior, but eventually had to intervene in some of the most egregious instances. Luckily, so far this year, I have taught essentially good kids, who are just being silly, immature, whatever, because they can. Unlike some of the schools I have been in, they aren't threatening or dangerous - just obnoxious.
Procedures are also a source of stress. How does this school organize the day? Is there a dress code - for students and/or staff? How do you get copies made if you need them? Where do you park, so you aren't ticketed? How is attendance done? What are the hall rules? What about students leaving the classroom for the bathroom, their lockers, a drink of water? How often is homework handed in? Where is it put? And dozens of other questions. This past few days, one procedural source of stress was the fact that subs in this building are not issued keys for the day. The faculty restrooms are supposed to be locked, so there isn't a locking mechanism on the inside of the door. But, since I didn't have a key, I couldn't lock the door - meaning anyone could open it. Not having a key also meant I couldn't get into the room with the teachers' desks, their supplies and the microwave and the room where the other teachers ate lunch. It also meant that I couldn't get into the computer lab for the lesson I was supposed to teach there. There are work arounds to all of these problems, but they take more time and energy than just using a key would take and they make the sub feel helpless and like a second class citizen.
Work parameters: these are similar to procedures, but more specific to the teaching part of the job. Are there lesson plans? Are the materials for the lessons available? What happens if the lesson plans are absent? take too long? don't take long enough? What if the teacher doesn't specify what to do about homework? Is grading homework part of the lesson or left for the teacher? What can you do if the students don't understand the lesson at all? What if you discover that the teacher has taught a previous concept incorrectly? This has happened to me at least twice. The lesson I remember best was about scientific notation. The teacher had taught that scientific notation used the significant figures and one decimal, then powers of ten for the rest of the notation, e.g. 1234.5 X 10^8, which is incorrect. It should be 1.2345 X 10^11.
This last example overlaps with another source of stress for subs: content. What if the content is unfamiliar? There isn't a lot of time to prepare for teaching a lesson. What do you do when you know you aren't quite prepared enough? What if you are called to teach Chinese, because there is no one else willing to take that class? And you don't know any Chinese?
In the end, I did OK. I wish I had been more confident with the calculus, but maybe it is OK to let them know that this is hard stuff and you don't always get it right the first time. And, on the last days, I did have a bit of fun. I had brought in my Escher stuff for the geometry classes to look at and two of the students in one of the classes were very interested in it. So I let them take two of the models of Kaleidocycles and assemble them. They had a good time doing them and the other students were impressed, so, on the last day, I showed the geometry classes how to make tri-hexaflexagons. Some of the calculus students wanted to do them, too. I love it when something really ignites their interest.
I also like the Geometer's Sketchpad lesson I developed. It wasn't any great shakes as far as content or process, but I was proud of the fact that I developed it rather quickly and did so in spite of only having briefly used the software on one of the previous days. And, it was a valid thing to do at that point in their studies.
I hope the regular teacher is satisfied with the work I did for him. I guess I shouldn't worry about the geometry, at least, since he didn't tell me what to do. I did stuff that was helpful and consistent with what they should have been learning at that point. He may be less satisfied with the calculus. But I did what I could. So that is what he gets.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Math Again
Then, I was called to come back for two more days. The second day, also a "block" day, was calculus - AP Calc AB (2 classes) and AP Calc BC (1 class) - and this was described as "basic math" - haha.
There were no explicit lesson plans, but I did find fairly complete assignment sheets for the calc classes. Thursday I was supposed to give a quiz to the calc classes and then go over some basic techniques of finding derivatives. Since I had been running around trying to find lesson plans, finding the quiz, and then copying the quiz, (each of these required walking back and forth through a very large building), I was late to the first hour class, which was freshman seminar. And it was in a different room from what it said on his class schedule computer printout. Fortunately, it was co-taught by another staff member, and she saw how frazzled I was, so she took the class and let me go back to the classroom.
I spent the next few minutes trying to make sure I could do the assignment after they finished the quiz. When the first calc class came in, I took attendance and gave them the quiz - a two page quiz about applying the forward differentiation formula, the backward differentiation formula, and the symmetric differentiation formula. While they were working, I was desperately trying to figure out the lesson. He uses a book they don't have for proofs and their own book for the assignments, so I was a bit confused. And I didn't notice for quite a while that the students were completely flummoxed by the quiz. They could graph the functions using their calculators, but they had no idea how to use the formulas - which they did have in their notes, but which they could not make any sense of. Since I had assumed that the quiz would cover things they had just done, I hadn't looked at the quiz and couldn't really help them. One girl did seem to know what to do - and she volunteered to explain it, but by then, they were completely unable to listen to explanations. So, I collected the quizzes and told them that I would figure out what to do about that later. For now, we would just go on with the lesson. They were not happy, but it was the best I could figure out.
The next class was the BC class and they seemed to understand the quiz much better (same quiz). Once they were working and a few had finished and turned it in, I could look at the quiz and figure out what it was that they were supposed to do. It really wasn't that terrible - they just needed some help getting started. The lesson for the BC students was similar to the lesson for the AB students, so I could do that part, too.
Finally, the third calc class, another AB class, came in. I put the formulas on the board; gave them some hints about how to use them, and let them work. This class went MUCH better. They still weren't very sure of themselves and many got the answers completely wrong, but they had a better handle on how to attack the problems, at least. And I had done the lesson twice by then, so it went fairly smoothly.
The assignment sheets had a description of what he planned to cover in class and what their assignment would be. That isn't exactly a lesson plan, but a lesson plan probably wouldn't have anything different. So it was fine. The problem was me. It has been a very long time since I have done any calculus and it takes me longer to do the proofs and problems than I would have hoped. The BC kids were pretty much OK with just a short intro and then just letting them work. But the AB kids needed more help. I don't think they understand the proofs at all. In fact, I think the proofs just make them more confused. It is almost as though they need to do a few problems to see if they can follow the formulas, and then, once they understand the formula, maybe the proof would make more sense. Backwards, I know. It would be interesting to see if this way would work better, though.
Friday was a so-called regular day - with all 7 class periods. For first period, I apologized for not understanding that the quiz would be so confusing for them. I then gave them the same type of help I had given the last class the previous day and let them re-do the quiz. This went much better. I then gave them a shortened version of the lesson for the day. Not a great lesson, but it was the best I could do and it seemed to be enough.
The rest of the calc classes went pretty much according to the outline in the assignment sheets. So they were fine. But there still wasn't a plan for the geometry classes, so I just did the next lesson after the one we had done on Wednesday. It was on translations, rotations, and reflections, and that is a fun lesson to teach, so all in all it was an OK day.
Then, on Saturday, I got called to sub again on Monday. Since it isn't a good idea for students to have different subs, one right after another and since this job was a bit more challenging that most, due to the lack of explicit plans, I took the job. And, I went back today. It was another "regular" day, with all 7 periods, so I had all 5 classes. By now, the calc classes, especially BC are getting a bit tired of me. They have done a lot of the material before - this is mostly review - and I am not doing it especially well, compared to their regular teacher - and they can tell. The AB calc students are still learning the material and those classes went OK.
With the geometry classes, though, I just did some more work with translation, rotation, and reflection. The 2nd hour class was really pretty good, but the 6th hour class was goofy. There were 3 guys in the class who were acting more like 6th graders than high school students. That part was frustrating.
So, all in all, I survived 4 days of "basic math" (not!) and it wasn't terrible. I hope he is well for tomorrow, though.
There were no explicit lesson plans, but I did find fairly complete assignment sheets for the calc classes. Thursday I was supposed to give a quiz to the calc classes and then go over some basic techniques of finding derivatives. Since I had been running around trying to find lesson plans, finding the quiz, and then copying the quiz, (each of these required walking back and forth through a very large building), I was late to the first hour class, which was freshman seminar. And it was in a different room from what it said on his class schedule computer printout. Fortunately, it was co-taught by another staff member, and she saw how frazzled I was, so she took the class and let me go back to the classroom.
I spent the next few minutes trying to make sure I could do the assignment after they finished the quiz. When the first calc class came in, I took attendance and gave them the quiz - a two page quiz about applying the forward differentiation formula, the backward differentiation formula, and the symmetric differentiation formula. While they were working, I was desperately trying to figure out the lesson. He uses a book they don't have for proofs and their own book for the assignments, so I was a bit confused. And I didn't notice for quite a while that the students were completely flummoxed by the quiz. They could graph the functions using their calculators, but they had no idea how to use the formulas - which they did have in their notes, but which they could not make any sense of. Since I had assumed that the quiz would cover things they had just done, I hadn't looked at the quiz and couldn't really help them. One girl did seem to know what to do - and she volunteered to explain it, but by then, they were completely unable to listen to explanations. So, I collected the quizzes and told them that I would figure out what to do about that later. For now, we would just go on with the lesson. They were not happy, but it was the best I could figure out.
The next class was the BC class and they seemed to understand the quiz much better (same quiz). Once they were working and a few had finished and turned it in, I could look at the quiz and figure out what it was that they were supposed to do. It really wasn't that terrible - they just needed some help getting started. The lesson for the BC students was similar to the lesson for the AB students, so I could do that part, too.
Finally, the third calc class, another AB class, came in. I put the formulas on the board; gave them some hints about how to use them, and let them work. This class went MUCH better. They still weren't very sure of themselves and many got the answers completely wrong, but they had a better handle on how to attack the problems, at least. And I had done the lesson twice by then, so it went fairly smoothly.
The assignment sheets had a description of what he planned to cover in class and what their assignment would be. That isn't exactly a lesson plan, but a lesson plan probably wouldn't have anything different. So it was fine. The problem was me. It has been a very long time since I have done any calculus and it takes me longer to do the proofs and problems than I would have hoped. The BC kids were pretty much OK with just a short intro and then just letting them work. But the AB kids needed more help. I don't think they understand the proofs at all. In fact, I think the proofs just make them more confused. It is almost as though they need to do a few problems to see if they can follow the formulas, and then, once they understand the formula, maybe the proof would make more sense. Backwards, I know. It would be interesting to see if this way would work better, though.
Friday was a so-called regular day - with all 7 class periods. For first period, I apologized for not understanding that the quiz would be so confusing for them. I then gave them the same type of help I had given the last class the previous day and let them re-do the quiz. This went much better. I then gave them a shortened version of the lesson for the day. Not a great lesson, but it was the best I could do and it seemed to be enough.
The rest of the calc classes went pretty much according to the outline in the assignment sheets. So they were fine. But there still wasn't a plan for the geometry classes, so I just did the next lesson after the one we had done on Wednesday. It was on translations, rotations, and reflections, and that is a fun lesson to teach, so all in all it was an OK day.
Then, on Saturday, I got called to sub again on Monday. Since it isn't a good idea for students to have different subs, one right after another and since this job was a bit more challenging that most, due to the lack of explicit plans, I took the job. And, I went back today. It was another "regular" day, with all 7 periods, so I had all 5 classes. By now, the calc classes, especially BC are getting a bit tired of me. They have done a lot of the material before - this is mostly review - and I am not doing it especially well, compared to their regular teacher - and they can tell. The AB calc students are still learning the material and those classes went OK.
With the geometry classes, though, I just did some more work with translation, rotation, and reflection. The 2nd hour class was really pretty good, but the 6th hour class was goofy. There were 3 guys in the class who were acting more like 6th graders than high school students. That part was frustrating.
So, all in all, I survived 4 days of "basic math" (not!) and it wasn't terrible. I hope he is well for tomorrow, though.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Subbing - High School Math
And the "best" part was that there were NO LESSON PLANS and little help from the other teachers, including the department head. Fortunately, it was a "block" day, with only the geometry classes.
So, the above are taken from my Facebook status postings. Here are the rest of the details: the sub message said that the job started at 7:30. Since I am never sure if the time they give me is the time I am supposed to be there or the time the kids actually show up in class, I got there early: around 7:00 am. I checked in at the office and she gave me the map of the school, the bell schedule, the attendance lists, and his class schedule. Unfortunately, this school doesn't give out keys, but the custodian unlocked the room very promptly. But I couldn't find the sub plans. I asked the teacher across the way and she checked her email: no sub plans. I checked with another teacher, she said to check in the office (a LONG walk from the room). So I did. No sub plans there, either. But, never fear, the whole math department was having a meeting in a room right next to mine and they would take care of it. Only none of them had the plans either. So they called the teacher. He said that one of the assistant principals had the plans. Only it turns out, he said a different assistant principal had them. Only he didn't have them either. Finally after an hour and a half, still no sub plans had been located - and the students started arriving.
In between waiting for people to check with this and that person for the plans, I had tried to figure out where the students might be in their book. Last week's assignments were on the board, so I tried extrapolating from that to where they would probably be. I found a page that had a math game and a couple of puzzles, so maybe that would suffice. Fortunately, there were two aides in the first class. While the man went to look around to see if he could figure out what the assignment might be, I taught the students Sprouts (the game in the book). The kids said that they were supposed to finish an assignment in the computer lab, but I had no key to the computer lab. Across the hall to find someone who might have a key; down the hall to the department chair - she had a key. Into the computer lab: Geometer's Sketchpad. I have seen it before, but haven't used it. Kids have, so they get busy: inscribing and circumscribing circles and triangles. Fortunately, they seemed to know what they were doing. Then when they finished, we went back to the classroom to work on the assignment the aide had found (where, I have no idea - no sub plans were ever found, that I know of). But the rest of the hour went fine. I could do this assignment. Yay.
The next hour, was his planning period, so I went back to the computer lab to see if I could do their assignment by myself. I could do most of it - so that was good. Then kids started coming in when I thought it was lunch time. Turns out, they had a different lunch schedule from what I expected (I have no idea why I expected it, because no one had told me which lunch schedule he had.). At any rate, it was another geometry class, so I just did the same thing we did in the first class: Sprouts, computer lab, assignment.
All in all, it really wasn't such a bad day. But, I accidentally left my games notebook in the classroom. And, they called me to come back for Thursday and Friday. I would have said no, except, I think it is important to have kids have as few subs as possible, and I need to get my notebook, and, if there are no sub plans tomorrow and Friday, I at least am familiar with some of the routines and can possibly figure stuff out.
Enough excitement for one day. Now the funny part. See next blog entry.
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