More Truthful Than ARIS

Mervin's mother verified his what he told me about his middle school performance.

Wrong About IEPS

Last night a parent a parent asked me what time her son's class met. The boy has ADD and takes a medication in the morning that wears off by late afternoon. Then she looked at me and said, "But of course you know this, it is right on his IEP." Mom was shocked when I said , "No, main stream teachers have no access to these documents." I told her I knew he had extended time and that was being taken care of, but that was all I knew. No one gave me any other information about this boy. In fact, I only knew he was entitled to extra time by talking to him. The ISS department missed notifying his teachers about his accommodations until the second test was well over. (I got an e-mail giving me a "heads up" about the oversight.)

I still have been given no information about my inclusion student. I know his needs are more extreme than the regular ISS kids but I don't know what these needs are. I don't even know what makes this young man different from the other kids. So far, he is great but, I feel there are things I should know. His mom didn't make it in for parent teacher conferences but he did tell me she wants to meet with me at some point. I'm guessing she will not react to positively to my lack of information. Oh well, I guess his special ed teacher will be catching some heat for this one.

I always said I wouldn't read IEPs but I was wrong. The more ISS kids I teach, the more I realize I have to learn to be able to help them. If these documents were accessible, I would definitely check them out.

Git Er Done

Larry The Cable Guy is one of my favorite comedians. Even though some of his politics are way to conservative for me, I like his openness and his candor and the way he just wants to get everything done.

The emphasis on goals this year made me think of him. Goals are what is important. Achieving success is not as important as looking like we are achieving success. We were given a list of goals before parent teacher conferences and told to check off one for every child we saw. I took one look at the goals and chucked the paper. I refuse to tell a parent that the goal I have for their child is to practice every night. My goals are simple. Come to class prepared to work. Do your homework. Study. Learn to think. Pass the class.

Mr. AP asked some parents to check that their child was taking notes in class. The parent felt that it was not his responsibility. Now Mr. AP wants each teacher to check that the kids are taking notes.

Goal #1: Parents will take more responsibility for their child's learning. They don't have to be an expert in the field of mathematics to see that the child is taking notes in class and doing homework.

One of the parents I spoke to last night was upset because there was no real plan in place to give her daughter the extra help she needs to pass math. The girl is sweet, hard working and very limited in mathematics. Tutoring in the library does not fulfill this girl's needs. I agree. Last week, I was working with six kids at the same time, four of them were in different classes. It was impossible to help them with more than one or two problems apiece. The librarian wanted to bring over three more kids and got upset when I told her absolutely NO!!!!!!

Goal #2 to our administration: Provide real help to struggling students, not help that looks good on paper.

Another parent was grateful that her daughter was finally going back to her classes instead of wandering the halls. Unfortunately, there are still too many kids (one is too many as far as I am concerned) wandering around.

Goal #3 to our administration: Come up with a real plan to get the kids back in classes. Offer them support to get them to keep going to class.

I got a new student in my geometry class this week. I went to her former teacher to try to find out why the change was made this late in the term. I discovered that the girl was not doing well in her honors class. I asked why she was put in a remedial class instead of a regular class. The teacher did not know, but felt it was the wrong class. I went to guidance to get it changed. The counselor was adamant about it not being her decision and I had to go over her head to help get the girl in the correct class.

Goal #4 to the guidance counselors: If someone asks you to do something that you know is wrong, don't do it. You have a great supervisor, go to her and get her to help you make the right decision. I know most of you are barely out of diapers, but you are in the grown up world now. Learn to stand up. Learn to think. Stop taking orders blindly.


Goal #5: If you recommend a change, follow through to make sure the change was done correctly. Don't be afraid of consequences. You have tenure. Nothing is going to happen to you because you made an inquiry.

The teacher above was afraid she would be yelled at because of this change and was afraid to do anything herself, yet she was happy the girl was gong to be put in the correct class immediately.

And, while I am on guidance counselors

Goal #6: When a parent calls you and wants you to arrange individual tutoring with a certain teacher for their child, say NO!!!!! Do not put the onus on the teacher. You know that teachers are not operating as private tutors in the building.

And finally,

Goal #7: Stop wasting paper and time on goals. Get ER Done!

Wild Ride

My geometry classes are comprised of weak math students. All the kids have failed math at least once in the past. Too many are still failing. I was happy to see quite a few parents of these kids today. The parents were concerned and wanted to help. Quite a few parents said, "My child does well when he likes the teacher. This term XXX is coming home happy."

It's going slow, but I am making progress with these kids. Today they all worked great. Yesterday, they were even quiet for a while. Sometimes I feel like I am on a wild ride and other times I feel that I can make a difference.

Parent Teacher Afternoon

Parent teacher afternoon. Instead of giving us an extra few minutes for lunch, we were scheduled for a faculty conference. Suddenly, the meeting was changed to departmental meetings. Why? To give us time to fill out the teacher survey and to show us how to get the kids to fill out their surveys. It seems that our children don't know how to interpret the questions and as a result, they sometimes give the school unsatisfactory ratings. We are supposed to explain to them that "every teacher knowing them" only means that "their teachers should know them." In a school as large as the one I work in, it is impossible for every teacher to know every child and this should be taken into account while filling out the forms. We were supposed to be happy to be able to fill out the survey on school time. I would have been happier to have a longer lunch. That alone, might have improved a couple of my answers (should I decide to fill out the survey. I marked papers during the meeting)

Before we filled out our survey, one teacher read a letter from our chapter leader telling us to fill out the form honestly. The letter also said the administration wanted the surveys done positively so they could reap a nice bonus at the end of the year. I stood up and read my letter about school security and reminded the staff that school safety was a big part of learning.

I, for one, will encourage my students to fill out the forms honestly and interpret the questions any way they see fit. A true market research survey does not interpret the questions for the participants.

We also discussed the math boot camp, but that is another whole posting, probably coming tomorrow.

The meeting broke and went down to the cafeteria for a lunch provided by the PTA. We were all allowed to take one little piece of a hero and some salad. By the time I got there, the vegetarian sandwich and most of the salad was gone. I shouldn't complain. I want to lose 5 pounds so they were just helping me along.

I would have left, but I saw some friends and decided I would hang out with them. The only seat near them was a little corner of a bench. I'm so tired of not having a spot of my own, I just walked away. Most days I am better off alone.

I'm tired, I'm depressed and I am ready to chuck it all. And, then, I am given the biggest hug by the parent of a kid that failed my class. The parent knows I am doing my best to help their child pass and she appreciate me for who I am, my big mouth and all my faults. And, then, I remind myself why I am doing what I am doing.

Revelations About My Students And Other Things

Parent teacher conferences went great this year. I met some really fantastic parents, but that did not surprise me. This year, I have really good classes. My lowest level is a first term Math B class. Even though some of the kids are not good at math (and really don't like it), they are mostly juniors and did pass four terms of Math A to get here. I do have a few sophomores and freshman mixed in. Those kids are the super stars of the class.

I met Joe's mom and dad last night. Joe is a pip. I had him last year and he drove me crazy the entire year. This year, I found him misprogrammed for math, walked him to his counselor and got him into the right class. I told her to keep him away from Mr. A. Mr. A is a good teacher, but his English is not that great and he wouldn't give Joe the extra "kick in the butt" to get him to pass. Of course, Joe ended up in Mr. A's class. I managed to do some quick maneuvering and got Joe placed in my class. Joe is still driving me crazy and I have spoken to his mom quite a bit. Meeting his parents, I understood why I liked this kid so much. His mom took total control and firmly (but lovingly) put him in his place. His dad just sat there, quietly agreeing with her. Joe came into class today and worked hard, for the first time.

I also met Viv's mom again. Viv has been in my class 4 out of 5 terms. Viv is a weak student and her mom knows that I have always given 200% when it comes to getting her daughter to succeed. Viv decided in the beginning of this year that Math B was going to be hard and since she was not good in math, it was fine for her to fail. Luckily her mom does not agree and Viv was firmly (and lovingly) put in her place.

Kip's mom told me that he was in a bad accident last year and missed most of the school year. After fighting the system, she managed to get him a home school teacher. She said she doesn't know how he passed. The Math A regents is an easy test to pass and shows no knowledge. She spent hours talking to guidance. The teachers were never notified and although she tried to get him into an easier, more useful class, was unsuccessful. I sent her to the head of guidance. I don't know if she will be able to get him changed. It seems that there are no seats left in any of the intermediate algebra classes.

Sara graduated in June. She came back to parent-teacher conferences to checkup on her younger sister and came to visit me. I heard the usual complaints about the college math teachers (they are not as loving as high school teachers). It felt good to hear that her notes from last year were her "bible" and the A she was running was due to the stuff she learned last year. I had also suggested to her that she start a Muslim-Jewish Club in college. My school is so multicultural it was a joy to watch the different religions get along so well. I know this girl has it in her to bring about world peace (or at least start a real world peace process.) She told me she is actually doing that, and it is all because of my suggestion.

This brings me to a problem I discovered this week. I found a girl sitting in the wrong class. This sweet girl is failing. She is a senior and needs math to graduate. I went to her counselor. Her counselor said there is no where to put her, all the correct classes are filled. Too bad she didn't program her correctly in the first place. Even if this kid manages to pass, the skills she learned this term will not help her in college. She needs to hone her algebra. Proofs will do nothing for her.

Another kid realized herself that she had been misprogrammed (she never finished taking Math A). Her counselor told her to stick it out for first marking period to see how she would do. The poor kid has failed every test. Now she will be transferred, but she will be behind two months in her new class.

The guidance staff in my school have enormous case loads. Teachers have large classes. Guidance staff have offices, telephones and computers. Teachers carry their offices on their backs. Guidance counselors get paid more than teachers. Teachers should not have to do the guidance counselor's job. Someone needs to stand up and take responsibility for the classes the kids are in and it should not be the teachers. Yet, we will be judged for the kids success or failure. Our paychecks will include merit pay for successes we have with these kids. Yet, we go the extra mile, find out that they are not sitting in the class they should be in, and there is nothing we can do about the problem.