A ringing endorsement...

If this doesn't make pay for performance seem like a bad idea... well then I don't know what would:

Voters turn down teacher merit pay measure

Posted by The Oregonian November 04, 2008 20:51PM

Categories: Education, Politics, Statewide Measures

Voters turned down Measure 60, which would have required the state to base teacher pay raises on classroom performance.

Like nearly all of their peers nationwide, Oregon teachers are paid strictly according to their years of experience and their level of college education.

The measure was sponsored by Bill Sizemore, the conservative initiative activist who gathered enough signatures to place five measures on the ballot.

A coalition led by the Oregon Education Association argued that Measure 60 would require students to endure more standardized testing and pit teachers against one another.

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For those who may not know: Bill Sizemore is one of the biggest assholes alive hands down.  So if HE wants to do pay for performance... then clearly there are some serious problems.

Sounds crazy on paper

So this week has been a little crazy in terms of what has happened at the school, but as I shall relate, it is relatively boring in the classroom.

So on Monday, Wednesday and now today (Thursday) we have missed 3rd period due to fires throughout the building.  Monday's was in the boys locker room on the ground floor (we could smell the smoke in the stairwell); Wednesday's was on the 2nd floor in a stairwell not too far from my room (though I didn't actually notice it); and today's was on the 4th floor.  This has meant that 4th period has ceased to exist basically (for me).  And we all go outside and stand/sit around for an hour or two and then move into the auditorium and wait for either the next period or school to be over.

On top of all this, today there were several more disruptions.  First there was a pre-planned 'health fair day' at Woodson.  This involved a play about teen pregnancies (which some of my students were in) and a series of tables set up to talk about different health issues/services.  This took up all of 2nd period.  

Then during lunch we got this announcement that 'the school was in lockdown.'  Now this was the first time we've ever heard that over the PA system, so I assumed it had to do w/kids acting crazy because of the fair and then running loose in the halls during lunch.  Then several kids came up and were all like "there's a HUGE fight in the cafeteria and they've got guns!!!"  Now I don't take the kids too seriously when they talk like this since rumors spread like wildfire and are almost always ridiculously exaggerated.  And this was not an exception.  Turns out two things were going on at once.  First of all there was a large fight in the cafeteria involving 30+ students which involved several actual arrests due to the level of violence.  This led to students who were 'up in the tower' to be blocked from re-entering the cafeteria by police (which led them to believe there were guns, etc.).  At the SAME TIME there was apparently some fighting taking place between two neighborhood rival gangs that did involve gun fighting, which caused the school to be on lockdown in order to keep the students in the building and away from the fighting that was taking place somewhere nearby-ish (though I didn't hear anything and my windows were open).  This also led to us not being allowed to sit on the bleachers when we left for the fire since we 'didn't want to be targets' for gunfire, so we had to stand under the bleachers.

Anyways, all this led to was one boring day for me.  I basically sat around, read the news and didn't really feel like grading (which I suppose I could have done).  I talked w/some of my kids about Harry Potter and other great science fiction books though, and that made me feel good to know that a) some kids have great taste and b) some kids still read!!  

Tomorrow are parent-teacher conferences.  I am banking on a 0% attendance rate for my kids since I have upper-classmen this term.  That means  yet another day w/no instruction and nothing to do but grade (which I will actually do this time).

Not too bright...

A student who has failed (or gotten a D at best) in 3/5 of the classes she has taken w/me due to a lack of effort and work ethic has asked me for a recommendation to an internship. This is the same student who comes late every single day and only ever does the bare minimum of effort on any assignment. I told her I would but that I would be honest. Apparently that didn't phase her.

My letter is probably too nice as it stands, but I did say that I have "major reservations" about her and "cannot wholeheartedly recommend her to this program."

There are 2 reasons I didn't say no outright (which in retrospect I probably should have)

1. She is already a pain in the ass, if I refuse to do this for her she'll probably become even more of one.
2. She showed up with another student who also asked for a rec and who I will give a good one, so it felt weird to say no to one and yes to the other that publicly.

I should have just said no... *sigh*

*Edit 9 AM* After writing this, I decided that I needed to point out her excessive tardiness and not turning in major assignments, and the only nice thing I said was that maybe this job could help turn her around. Ok this rec is now worthless. I don't really know what to do here. I guess I can just tell her I really didn't have much nice to say and face the consequences in class. Only 1.5 months left anyways!

*Edit 10:26 AM* She hasn't asked for the rec yet, maybe she won't want it or remember.

Title of my blog is seriously true

So I haven't updated in a long time, but I survived testing week (we had 3 hour 2nd period classes-which was INSANE).

Everything is going along fine, but really busy.

Nothing of note to report.

Oh dear

When reading this, please do not worry about me. I am doing quite well and am as back to normal as ever.

I had a pretty rough week, which culminated in a negative event on Friday during my lunch period.

Firstly, all week my students were acting pretty crazy. They refused to listen to any directions, they were being ridiculously disrespectful and I was just beginning to lose my cool.

On Friday I had "the talk" about 2 times and both times they listened for about 2 seconds then went back to doing exactly what they were doing before.

Then 'the event' happened. One of my regular lunch participants and student was sitting in his regular spot as normal (We will call him boy 1). I was behind him facing the computers, helping one of my students log on. Then a 2nd boy came in (boy 2) and placed his entire arm around boy 1's head sort of choking him. A few students commented on it and I turned around and told boy 2 to "take his hands off of boy 1" and when he didn't I went over, placed my hand on his shoulder and repeated my directions. He finally did what I asked but then boy 1 (who had his back to us) stood up, turned around and tried to either hit or push boy 2. But instead of hitting boy 2 he hit me (since I was standing right there) right in the face (around the cheek bone). It wasn't very hard and there is absolutely no physical damage, it didn't even hurt. Instead I was simply shocked that this was happening in the first place.

Due to a myriad of factors, I 'lost my cool' to put it lightly and began swearing like a sailor and crying really hard. First I told boy 2 to "get the f*** out of my room" and then went off on how none of the students "f***ing respected me" etc. etc. Now this was clearly not the way to react but basically that event was the big straw that broke the camel's back. I mean the kids think all their shenanigans are really funny, but all they are is draining. I was also crying a lot and couldn't even look at any of my students without bursting into tears again so I just walked out of the room entering a few times to grab my cell phone and my laptop. This lasted about an hour and I talked with several administrators, security, other teachers and my dad.

Everyone was very supportive of me and had nice words of both encouragement and advice, all of which were appreciated. Many of the kids were also quite concerned since they had never seen me act that way and some of them were afraid I was going to leave and never come back (while that thought never even entered my mind, I did consider leaving for the rest of the day if I couldn't pull myself together, though that turned out to be unnecessary since I did manage to get a hold of myself after a while). It is hard not to take what the kids do personally even if I know that is what I have to do. They're kids, they aren't talking to each other to hurt my feelings, they are just talking to each other because that is what they want to do. But when I work so hard and they give me so little, it just makes me so upset. I don't ask for much and they won't even give me that. I know that I can't change who they are overnight and make them into respectful human beings, but they're just so awful sometimes that it really drives me crazy.

Needless to say some new rules are being imposed for 2nd period and lunch time. I can only do so much, it is true, but I have to try to change things around because it is getting ridiculous and it has to stop if we are going to function until the end of the school year.

But as I said before I am perfectly fine now, I got a lot of the emotions out of my system and I am back on track for dealing with the students. What happened was an accident, and while the students will be getting in serious trouble for fighting, I am not going to add any additional burdens because I was physically involved.

I greatly respect and care about my students, I just wish that sometimes they could give me a little respect back.

OFFICIALLY ANGRY

THIS ENTRY IS GOING TO BE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I AM PISSED OFF.

Ok maybe not, but now you get my point.

Just 45 minutes ago at the end of lunch I got into my perpetual argument about why students shouldn't use words like gay as a slur and the argument devolved into a discussion on evolution. Lunch was over and students were heading to their classrooms and I was in the hallway. The teacher next door (the world's most inept social studies teacher) came out and asked what we were talking about. We told her, and she said that I SHOULD NOT be giving my opinion on religious matters. RELIGIOUS MATTERS?!?!?!!?!? And she tried to quote the Constitution at me. ARE YOU SERIOUS. This woman wouldn't know the Constitution if it hit her in the face. Repeatedly, which was what I was thinking of doing. HOW MANY TIMES have they talked about JESUS and GODS WORD to the students. HOW MANY TIMES. And how often have you or I openly complained to their faces?! what is that? Never? WHY YES. NEVER. NOT ONE TIME. Even though I am WELL within my rights to do that.

And what exactly was I doing?! Oh that's right... TALKING ABOUT EVOLUTION. A SCIENTIFIC FACT YOU OBTUSE NON-QUESTIONING PEOPLE.

Believe in religion all you want. That's your choice. But DON'T YOU DARE tell me I can't talk about evolution to the kids because I might "unduly influence their decisions because I'm in a position of authority" DON'T YOU DARE. The whole POINT of these kids getting an education is so they don't blindly accept what they are told. THAT IS THE POINT. I'm not telling them to drop all their beliefs and side w/me. And the kids know that. Hell they even stood up to that teacher trying to say I couldn't talk about this. I'm asking them to question their reality, not force them to accept mine (although that'd be a killer side effect).

But if she ever tries that again I will come down so hard that she won't KNOW what hit her. I'm officially making evolution part of my courses. I'll just have to teach social darwinism in all my classes in order to justify it. (In world history that's a no-brainer, I'll have to think about how to do it with economics.)

But all I know is these kids HAVE to question what they're told, and right now the teachers are just treating them like sheep and not teaching them to be CRITICAL THINKERS as in THINK and QUESTION what they are told, be it by me, another teacher, the news, or the KING JAMES BIBLE. I mean am I telling them it is all lies (whether or not I believe that is a different story)? NO. What I am telling them is they have to listen to what is out there, they need to have open minds and then they make their choice. Not just blindly accepting something because it is in the bible, I mean COME ON that's how we get things like the crusades and hate groups.

HATE IS WRONG PEOPLE!!! YOU KIDS SHOULD KNOW THIS FIRST HAND AND YET YOU TURN AROUND AND DISH IT OUT TO THE OTHER PEOPLE. DON'T LET THOSE AT THE TOP KEEP YOU DOWN! RISE UP AND CLAIM WHAT IS YOURS!!!!!

An official hearing

I got to attend my first official (tape recorded) hearing. An outside person came in and had to receive 'official statements' in regards to an incident that took place between two of my students (though the incident occurred in another teacher's class). The student (Student 1) had received 10 days suspension and the family was challenging that decision.

The situation: In math class two female students were arguing over a chair while a math test was being passed out. When Student 1 received his test he turned to them and asked them to be quiet (unsure what the tone or actual words used were). The girl (now referred to as Student 2), a student who is also in my 4th period class and who has a history of really not getting along w/Student 1, got really angry and began yelling at him to stay out of her business, and she eventually walked over to him continuing to yell and began poking him and sticking her finger in his face.  Student 1 eventually stood up and they began yelling at each other, without stopping/listening to the teacher. The director then walked in and broke up the fight telling the students to walk to her office. Student 1 turned and began walking to the front of the room, and at this point Student 2 balled up her fists and began attempting to attack Student 1 rather wildly. The director stepped in between and got hit by Student 2, and Student 1 left the room and headed to the office. Both students received 10 days suspension.

Background: Both students have a history of 'being in each other's business' and it has been very hard to get them to stop. While it has not come to physical blows in my room, Student 2 has thrown Student 1's backpack across the room, and there is a general craziness between them that can be very very annoying. Now Student 1 is very smart and levelheaded and he uses these two abilities for 'evil' sometimes by pushing people's buttons who he knows are going to explode and possibly get in trouble while he won't. That being said, nothing he has ever done or said in my presence has warranted the outbursts that Student 2 has had. She also has a history of completely unacceptable behavior and the director does not give her a harsh enough punishment. If a boy had done what Student 2 had done in the incident above they probably would have been expelled. And the fact that they both got 10 days seems ridiculous to me.

The Hearing: Because the sentence was so harsh for Student 1 and right at the end of the advisory (which would probably affect his grades), his mom called for an official hearing to have the decision reviewed. The Director walked into my room that morning and asked if I would come in and be a witness, although I had not seen what had officially happened. She wanted me to be there to explain their history of bad relations. But the fact was that I disagreed w/the decision so I wasn't really sure what to do/say, because I didn't want to not back my boss, but I also did not agree w/what she did at all. So the arbiter came in and began asking everyone questions, and I basically didn't say anything because they had never actually fought in my room and that was all he wanted to know. In the end, Student 1's sentence was brought down to 3 days. It seemed like there was a lot of animosity and stuff between the social worker who was there and the Director, though it was really the social worker's tone that was kind of uncalled for. But in the end I think the Director made a bad call, and that Student 2 should potentially be expelled if her behavior doesn't change, because her behavior has gotten out of control and she needs to be somewhere else.

Anyways it was an interesting experience to be in an actual 'hearing.' Student 1 is one of my favorite students because he is very bright and someone who seems to love to learn for the sake of learning (to some extent) and is also an extremely motivated person who knows his goals are only attainable through hard work on many different fronts and is willing to put in that work. He is also very smart, scoring advanced on his many standardized tests. I want to help him w/the SATs, because I believe that if he gets a good score on a national scale, that he can go wherever he wants for college (combined w/his continued excellence in school and football). He also seems amenable to that help, so I will have to figure out how I can help him, maybe find a SAT prep course that he can take if he is willing with someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

First 'sick day'

So today I decided to call in and use one of my sick days. This is officially the first day that I have missed (although I had to go to 2 social studies meetings making me miss my 4th period class, and once I left at like 1:30 the day before Winter Break when I didn't have any kids and I needed to pack/leave). Admittedly I am not sick. But I was really really tired, and yesterday did not go well.

The classes themselves actually went fine. No better or worse than any other class, but for the first 2 periods they were pretty laid back, so no real problems. The day started out on a sour note though because apparently on Wednesday afternoon (after I had left to go to the social studies department chair meeting) things got out of hand in the auditorium (where the kids had been moved due to the flood) and the teachers didn't do anything to stop the students from acting like wild animals. So the Director sat us all down and gave us a 'talk' which I think was a good idea but she misinterpreted what people were up to. She said that people clearly didn't support her, but I think teachers were just being lazy and didn't want to take on extra responsibilities during the 'crisis situation.' As I've seen before, the teachers here are all about doing 'just what I have to.' And I know that that is partly because they have been here for a long time, but good lord I can't stand the teachers on this staff (minus the math teacher - I like her a lot). And that's the reason I can't stay in the long run (although it sounds like a lot of them might leave at the end of this year... so maybe I should stay in the hopes that I can help out in the hiring process and get some more motivated teacher up in here to help me out).

Now of course the teachers were getting very defensive instead of just listening to the Director, so that made people mad. They acted just like the students, I mean seriously. So that wasn't good.

The next bad thing was "The Boy", the student I am trying to help get his act together, who was the main wild student who was not controlled. So that was very disappointing.

As I said, my first two periods went fine. And it wasn't until lunch and my free third period that things began to unravel. During lunch, there were a TON of students in my room. And once again they were acting like little wild animals. Especially "The Boy". Every 3rd word out of his mouth was a swear word (and I have NEVER heard things like that from him before, he is usually fairly respectful even if he is more on the playful side). And "The Bad Boy" was the one behind it. His very presence makes other boys act crazy. We have been trying to get rid of him (usually I'm against that, but in this case the boy HAS to go), but so far no good. So during lunch I was just getting angrier and angrier.

Then during my planning period I had to watch someone else's class because the teacher had to go pick up her daughter. That part wasn't so bad, but it was the 9th graders and they were acting crazy and at that point I didn't want to deal with them so I just planned for my 4th period and let them sit and talk. I mean it wasn't like I had been warned that I would have to do that so I didn't feel obligated to try and make them do work. They always tell me 'we don't have work' anyways and I simply didn't feel like arguing. Some of the kids did do work, and it wasn't too bad having them there.

What was actually the most frustrating thing was that I wanted to make copies of my powerpoint presentation and the bookwork that the students were going to do. I went to the copier and it jammed up 5 times in a row. So I got 2 full copies out of that. Then I tried to just print them with my printer in my room, but that printer is awful, it printed one page and stopped. Then I tried printing it out on the laser printer in the formerly flooded room, and that one didn't work. Then I tried room 201, but there was a meeting in there so I couldn't use that printer. Once the meeting was over I tried, but it also wasn't working. So then I asked the Director if I could use her printer and so finally after 5 more minutes I got my work printed JUST as the bell rang for 3rd period to get out. (During that time the 3rd period teacher came back and collected her students.)

So that was super frustrating, I was going to bust some copy machines and printers after that. Like literally take them out Office Space style. So I was starting to lose it. 4th period was ok, "The Needy Student" can be very draining, but he is a good kid and very smart. He is always asking for attention and information and for me to do this and do that, and a lot of times I will because it isn't that much, but it adds up. So when the bell rang, it took me 10 minutes to get out of there today. Which is probably the earliest I have left in a long time. I mean I usually stay at least 30 minutes if not much longer.

So last night I thought about it for a while and concluded that I really didn't want to go to work today, I wanted to rest and get some grading done, and that's what I am going to do. I think based on how I am feeling this was a very good decision. Yay sick days!

First fires... then floods. What's next?

*Ok so now I'm knocking on wood... A LOT.*

So we had a flood on the 2nd floor today. Took up one of the hallways completely and two rooms. The steam pipes had burst and the 2nd floor was incredibly hot and stinky. We were unable to have our classes on the floor so we had to have class in the cafeteria, which was a little nuts. (Gives open spaces a whole new meaning...). Then we couldn't even hold classes up there after lunch when all the water had been vacuumed up because of air quality problems (oh mold... how the heck do you grow so freakin fast?). Hopefully we can have our rooms back tomorrow... but who knows?

Luckily my room wasn't touched, but the water was getting close (about 5 feet away), so that is NOT GOOD. No keeping electronics near the walls or on the floors.

It is good they are knocking down the building, but we still don't know what is going to happen next. Apparently the comprehensive regular school is going to Fletcher Johnson, (a school that was closed because the building sucked...) until they build the new school. That could take YEARS! I could be done teaching by the time the new school is built. I don't know if I can wait. A lot of teachers (and I mean a LOT) want to transfer... but where to? If we are all transferring then the likelihood of me finding another school that isn't a charter in DC becomes a lot lower. And while I don't hate all charters... I can't conceive of working for one. Mainly because I have to believe in the public system (despite it's myriad of problems) and I don't believe charter schools are the answer, so I can't give up on my principles and start working for one.

Anyways... good riddance to the building, but hello uncertainty for next year!

3 Fires... 7 days

Yeah I think that says it all. We had a fire last week, a fire Monday and a fire today. This has basically meant 2nd and 4th period haven't done work in like a week. To add to that they had predicted a huge storm on Friday and there was ice everywhere BUT DC, but nonetheless about 1/2 the kids were out if not more.

So yeah my US Govt. class has been moving forward in 1st period but everyone else is stagnant.

On top of that, on this coming Friday we have parent teacher conferences, which aren't a waste of time but are being held from 12-7 so no class once again. And I mean tops I have had 12 parents come in, and now that I have fewer students I doubt that I'll get as many. But I am calling several parents each day leading up to it in order to maybe get them to show.

Fire!

There was a pretty big fire on the 6th floor of the building today in the janitors closet, they actually used the sprinklers up there apparently. I didn't see or smell anything so I have no idea what happened. But apparently the teacher who found the fire said that he could tell from behind the door that he could feel the heat, but the door was still locked. So either a kid pushed something under the door to light the fire (i.e, firecrackers) or chemicals just caught on their own somehow behind a locked door.

The teacher who pulled the fire alarm noticed that nothing happened when he did. So basically the fire alarms in our building were no longer working. (They are hopefully working now... since it would be illegal I'm pretty sure to have students in a building with no working fire alarm. I heard about the fire first from students who ran around yelling "there's a fire there's a fire!" Then finally on the PA system they announced that we should go down to the ground floor.

After that they told us to all go outside, and it was pouring rain and freakishly cold so two other teachers and I sat in my car to at least keep out of the rain. We were there for like 40 minutes or so I think, not sure. About 3/4+ of the students left during this time.

Afterwards, when they let the remaining few students back in we went into the auditorium and were eventually given an announcement that all the students were to go to the cafeteria to finish lunch (since that is when the fire started). Then they were eventually brought back to the auditorium at 1:30. After that we just had to sit in the auditorium until 3:15. Nothing happened, nothing was going on, we just sat in the auditorium and nobody could leave. Big waste of time.

Apparently there were legal reasons for not just excusing the students and going home ourselves, but I have a hard time imagining what they could be for students who are 15 and up.

Anyways at least only 1 of my periods was wasted and not two.

Rant

First off 10 minutes have passed and I have 3 students out of 15. Not making me happy.

Secondly, we will never have a productive collaboration meeting with these teachers. Apparently I do need to go to a school where people think more like I do about what RIGOR is. And maybe the fact that we need to try and standardize it a bit so we can know what it is, because this staff clearly doesn't know much about it.  I can't work here forever, a few years and only if we get a new staff who are young and/or progressive and/or open minded along the way.

Ok time to go... I'm in a bad mood already. Stupid Wednesday.

My day today

On a random note, a mom yelled at me today over the phone. She said she was coming here to talk to me, but maybe she won't. She's mad at me for failing her child for the 2nd advisory (though I let her pass the class overall) w/out apparently informing her of the fact that her child was failing. This is probably true, so I decided to just back down since I had no real proof that I had told her her daughter was failing. THAT BEING SAID he daughter failed 3 out of 4 classes (the 4th being PE) that advisory so maybe instead of yelling at me she should yell at her daughter. But what I learned is that I need to update parents regularly and not necessarily by phone (which is really hard and ridiculously time consuming). Other teachers sent out regular notices by mail (which doesn't cost anything since the school pays for postage). So I'm going to come up w/a template and then I can just make copies and send it out to the children's parents when they're failing. That should work.

Otherwise 4th period went really well today. We are working on creating thesis statements for history papers (which can be really really hard depending on the topic) and coming up w/the whole "so what" issue. The kids are doing good jobs for the first attempt and tomorrow we will work on writing the rest of the essay. They'll do rough drafts over the weekend and have to have edited it once themselves then we'll edit it again in class and then they'll write their final drafts as homework! yipeeeee things are looking good in one class at least. Also I had to implement the 'point system' in my 11th grade class starting tomorrow. I hate the point system it is so childish, but it works, there is no doubt about that. So they'll get the point system. If that doesn't stop them the next step is a seating chart. After that, notices will be sent home with alarming regularity, and the worst offenders parents will be called. In my 12th grade class we worked on writing outlines, it is surprising how few of them they've ever done, half the kids didn't really know how to write one at all, and only knew some bizarre format for English that wasn't really an outline but more like 'things every english paper needs to cover.' Anyways, that seems to have helped them a bit I hope (as long as they actually USE the outlines of course). Here's hopin...

Benefits and Drawbacks to being a "small learning community"

Now in general small learning communities are a truly great idea. That being said there are some things that can get really annoying about them, so I'm going to list some of the pros and cons as I see them.

Pros

1. Students and teachers really get to know each other
• Aside from the obvious benefits this can also lead to greater overall control of the student body because everyone knows everyone (pretty much).
• This means students are less likely to slip through the cracks
• It is really easy to catch students skipping, etc.
  
2. Collaboration becomes far easier in the core subjects because students can be grouped together allowing classes to be coordinated
3. Classes tend to be smaller
4. Students get more personalized attention
5. I am the (un)official chair of the Social Studies department*(see note)
   

Cons

1. A lot of times fewer classes can be offered (the solution here is to have several small learning communities in a larger school building together so that there can be cross pollination when it comes to electives)
2. Teachers have to teach multiple classes (What I mean here is that I teach 3 different classes across 3 different periods, unlike my friend who only had to teach one class three different times last semester)
3. I have to be on multiple committees (I am on the recruitment and awards committees - I was assigned them)
4. Less able to have sports teams and clubs (this can also be solved by having multiple small learning communities grouped together into larger groups overall)

*Note: I went to a social studies committee chair meeting yesterday afternoon and it was actually pretty cool because it wasn't actually professional development. Instead we were talking to the head of social studies in DC and he was asking questions about how we should test students, how to get kids from middle school to high school, and other interesting stuff like that. A lot of the department chairs were really cool and it is a meeting that I would like to go to again if possible and something that I would like to participate more in if possible. This might be the way to get my whole wanting to be involved with policy thing out while still being in the classroom. Maybe I want to try and become a department chair at a larger high school or something (though I'm sure that would have plenty of drawbacks)

End of First Semester! A jumbled recap

I have officially finished teaching my first semester. The students have taken their finals, *hopefully* turned in their projects, and now all there is to do is grade the huge stack of work that I have left to grade by the end of next week. While I do not think that I was wildly successful, transforming their lives beyond recognition and making them perfect little angels, I do think that I was a good enough teacher for my first attempt.

I am disappointed in myself on a few counts though. It was sometimes very hard for me to get work done at home, and I preferred to surf the net, read, watch a movie or a TV show, cook, and go to the gym instead. While none of these things were particularly bad things to do (except maybe all the TV show watching), I was spending way too long on them to purposefully avoid doing work.

This was especially true with the lesson planning. There were too many days where I did not plan out a long unit, and instead went with the day-to-day planning instead. In fact I would say I did this the majority of the time. This clearly made my lessons not as good as they could have been, and while I think that none of my lessons were disastrous, there were certainly days where I resorted to actually using the text book *shudder,* or having non-activity/project based lessons. I really need to get with the program on this front and start really making good unit plans that really have a specific purpose that unifies them and makes them interesting. I also need to come up with creative activities that promote interactive learning and higher-order thinking.

While these are difficult things to do, and I do not expect to be able to do them all in my first year, I know that I could have done better had I just applied myself a bit more and really put more hours into creating the lesson plans.

My students have overall been really great. Even the crazy (and crazy huge) freshman class has improved beyond belief. I mean when I first got them I could barely get a sentence out before they were all talking and it was total chaos. I had to give them “a serious talk” every day about their behavior and their grades. And towards the end I very rarely had to do that, and they were policing themselves. Not little angels by any means, but they began to realize what they could and could not do if they wanted to do well in my class. And I think I got through to a lot of them. I certainly wasn’t the only one, but considering how wild they were, I was very impressed with the overall improvement, I think I did a good job with them, all things considered.

The 10th graders were overall very strong. The only students in danger of failing really are the ones who had too many absences and then did not put in the effort to make up the work. This is something I also need to get on top of, because I need to be a little more organized overall so that I can effectively deal with these situations and make it a bit easier for them to get back on track. That being said, their missing class isn’t my fault, and they have to be willing to pay the consequences for their actions. I mean today one of my students asked if she could take the final during 2nd period because she had to “do something” with her mother during the afternoon. And she would be missing her science final all together. I obviously said no, and what did she honestly expect me to say? You can’t miss the last day of class if your class is having their final exam, unless a) you have an excellent excuse or b) you don’t mind getting a ‘0’. The fact that her mother was going to allow her to miss class is ridiculous; somebody needs to get their priorities in order.

In terms of content, I am practically convinced that there is no other class I would rather teach than 20th century world history. While US Government sounded like a great course, there is too much that they don’t know, so I have to seriously rethink how to teach that class. But since I’m teaching it again this coming semester, I should hopefully be able to figure things out more, and damn but this is a great year to be teaching this course, and next year will be even better, so maybe I will try and keep it instead of giving to the teacher next door, who would just mess it up even more anyways... I wonder which teachers will still be at here next year (apparently people leave in droves from time to time). If some of them leave, maybe I can get in on hiring some young teachers like myself for the core program and making this a staff that I could imagine staying with for longer and actually propelling us into a new era.

I have no idea what to expect. I'll just have to ride out the storm and do my best to be a good teacher, and hopefully a much much much better teacher, in the coming years. I mean as far as I know I can only get better now right?

Wasting Time

[When this post was written, I was sitting in an all school assembly run by my Director]

I am currently sitting in an auditorium for an assembly. This is supposed to last from 2:00 – 2:30. We shall see if that holds. Now this assembly is just another example of how we have forgotten the #1 principles of economics: efficiency. Apparently I, as the most anti-capitalist in the program, am also the most efficient with my time (minus the science teacher – I am sure she is better with her time than I am). I don’t stand for wasted time. It drives me crazy. So here are some examples of how we waste time.

• Morning “Collaborative” Meetings: Every morning we have a “collaborative” meeting from 8:10 – 8:45+ . Teachers are supposed to arrive at school by 8:10 every morning. So each morning we should have all the teachers in the meeting. But do we? Hell no.  The science teacher, the math teacher, the Spanish teacher, and me. We are the teachers that arrive on time every day. And if we really go for every single day, then it is just me. Now every morning, the Director basically tells us a few announcements and then we discuss random things and never come to any conclusions or rational decisions. Basically it is time that I could be spending preparing my classroom and preparing lessons but instead I have to just sit and listen to the Director tell me things that have never once been helpful. She uses tons of jargon and offers no helpful tips for running the classroom. The few times I have tried to make things happen I get blank stares and/or they get mad at me. And if I ask questions or question one of the rules they make up, or question how they say they want us to run the classroom (heaven forbid) then I basically get treated like I am stupid and know nothing. And you’ll just have to take my word for it, I am not condescending when I bring up these suggestions, I sincerely ask the questions and put in my two cents. But nobody understands me except for maybe the Science teacher, they act like I am from outer space.

• Random assemblies and programs: We have had the occasional assembly, or grade level meeting, or presentation. All of them have basically been a waste of time. The director goes through random rules, she makes speeches, she berates the students, and it just goes on and on. I understand that we have problems w/rules being broken and generally bad behavior, but there must be a better way to go about getting these rules to happen. These large assemblies just don’t help anybody, and they waste what little precious class time we have. Not only that, the students tend to resent them because there is no real positive message being passed on, and it is so repetitive that the kids are sick of hearing it. They know what they are supposed to do, the question is how do we convince them that it is a good thing for them to do, that it is in their best interests. These kids don’t care about the school in terms of what makes us look good, so when the Director just tells them to do this or do that for the school it doesn’t do anything. We need to really show them why these things are important, and I know I have had a hard time getting through, but we have to keep trying.

• School Plays: We had this weird play/variety show that involved like 50+ kids (although only maybe 4 did anything and the rest just “danced” on stage). But basically the week before winter break several of my students were missing class on a regular basis to be in this show, and when I saw the show the only thing they did was stand around on stage. And they missed 3 classes, which is the equivalent of 1 week in regular schedule days. Now a play is all well and good, but the rehearsals should be AFTER SCHOOL. Not on class time.

• Then there is the wasted time that I see occurring in several of the other teacher’s classrooms. Now I walk in, or walk by some classrooms and they’re just sitting and talking. I have had students take REFUGE in my classroom during 2nd period because they aren’t doing ANYTHING in their class. They’re just sitting. And this is partially because some teachers simply check out and think that the semester is over. Right before winter break students were complaining because apparently I was the ONLY teacher who was carrying on as if we were continuing to have class. I don’t have nearly enough time to cover everything I need to cover, and I’m sure many of the other teachers are in the same position. So how can they NOT be teaching? We need to expect that EVERY DAY counts if we want the students to think the same thing. I mean it was no wonder that none of my 10th graders came on the last day of class before break, because the teachers hadn’t planned anything for them to do, and basically told them it was OK to not come.

If we disrespect the student’s time with such obvious wastes, then how are we supposed to expect them to respect our time? And if the school really wants to be a top school, then we really need to get our act together and stop wasting all this time.

Why block scheduling should be abolished

So as I may have mentioned the semester ends next Friday (the 18th). This will end "1 years worth" of class for my 10th graders and 1 semester for my 9th. Unfortunately, this is a load of horse manure, they have received far less than that. For one, if they miss one day of class then they have basically missed 2 days because they miss one block class. Therefore it is a lot easier for students to fail a single class, just missing a week and a half is enough because you end up missing a lot of class time and fall very far behind.

Apparently there are "studies" that prove that block scheduling is more effective than regular scheduling. But I would like to see these so called studies. The only things I can think of are that you get more class time per class (80 minutes every day of the week) and the kids have fewer classes to juggle at a time.

But what if you want to read a book or two in your history class? You basically have half the time to do it outside of class than you would regularly because you have 20 weeks to complete a full 40 weeks of material. So that severely cuts down on the amount of homework you can give. You have to do fewer projects as well, doing a lot of the work in class.

The biggest problem though is continuity. When my kids leave after next week I won't get them back until the following year to continue from where we left off. Now how much history will they remember going in to the next year? Even if I did my job, the answer will be very little. And frankly, who can blame them? I have trouble keeping information in my head, let alone stuff that I may not be enthralled with. But it isn't as big a deal in history as it is in say MATH and science. I mean who can keep math equations in their head 6-8 months and then be expected to just move forward? It is ridiculous! Students can't reasonably be expected to practice for 4 months what they should be doing year round. Basically it provides a very incongruous experience for the kids and I honestly think it just doesn't work.

Now I do like having 80 minute classes, since that's how I've been taught. And I would have to learn how to create a 50 minute lessons if we changed. BUT I think there is a way to maintain a combination of year round schooling and block scheduling. This is what I had in high school and I think it worked rather well. Basically you have a "modified" block schedule. This can be done in a number of ways but the way my high school did it was to have regular 55 minute periods Mon, Tues, and Fri. Then on Wed. and Thurs. you would have 90 minute periods. So on Wed. you would go to period 1, 3 and 5 and on Thurs. you would go to 2, 4, and 6. This worked rather well, and I think you could modify it even more to accommodate the 8 period schedule. This way science classes can still have labs, you can have longer periods once a week, but not every day. Thus having year round classes.

In the end I don't know if I could teach long term in block scheduling, but its fine for now. I just seriously think if DC wants to improve its test scores and long term viability it will have to ditch this block program. Block may work in other areas, but it doesn't work in DC, not at all.