During the spring break, kids who got a 50 the first term of algebra will come to school for five hours a day, five days a week and learn everything they did not learn last semester. At the end of the 25 hours they will be given an exam and if they pass, a credit towards graduation.
No teacher wants to give up their one week off. This work will give blood money a whole new meaning. The kids that will be attending are not exactly the best behaved students in the school. That is not a problem for the school. There are always new teachers that can be coerced into doing this.
This type of learning will have no long lasting effect. Years ago I took a calculus course during the summer. Although I aced the course, I retained almost nothing of what I learned. Speed learning leads to speed forgetting. If it happened to me, a motivated, bright student, imagine how quick it will happen to these kids. My pre-calculus class meets for 2.5 hours but the last half hour is a waste of time. The students reach their learning limit by then. I can't imagine keeping kids motivated and working for five hours straight.
At Friday's meeting Mr. AP told us about this great plan. He said "Don't worry. No one will pass." Ms Can't Keep Her Mouth Shut (me) muttered "Why are we doing this? Why are we setting up the kids for failure?" Mr. AP told me to mind my own business, since I am not going to teach this anyways. I did not even bother answering his rude comment. Some teachers said that the final will be a joke and that the kids will pass. I bet some will pass. These kids will then be put into the classes of Ms. Timid, and people like her and Mr. AP will complain when they cannot pass the regents and blame the teacher.
Instead of spending all this money on boot camp, we should try smaller classes and more individualized private tutoring programs. We have to face the fact that many of these kids have come to high school unprepared to succeed in rigorous courses and we do not have the facilities to help them.
8 comments:
It sort of reminds me of the past few years and the way our school taught Math A. Yes, all the kids passed with flying colors (not that passing that exam was particularly difficult), but many of them came back and told me they had no clue what was going on in Math B! Our teacher rushed through the curriculum so fast, all the kids got were the tools to pass the exam, no real math understanding.
Little did they know, I would talk to some of the kids privately and tell them, "you know, you're math skills, in my opinion, are only average. I would skip the Regents and repeat Math A in high school." MANY of them gratefully took my advice.
Your summer calculus experience sounds my like mine. I remember nada.
It's so frustrating to be a hard-working teacher (although this is only my 3rd year) and see the twisted minds of admins at work. Spend money for a program but do it with the mindset that students will fail. You're right. Smaller class sizes would be a much better idea, but I guess the welfare of your students is none of your business. :-\
Ah, yes. The easy way to show the world that the school is helping the kids in needs.
Actually helping them, though...
Years ago, in the big HS where I started, weak kids failed and no one paid attention. The tutoring where no one showed up? Normal. This is, until one year that we were in danger of going on some bad list (In Need of Improvement, maybe?)
They created a second math class for each older kid who hadn't passed the regents. They had regular classes, plus a regents prep, separate curriculum, different teacher (there were two of us, both fairly well-regarded). I think the classes were held close to 25.
Well, we maintained attendance rates of over two-thirds, which, for older kids with credit issues in this high school, was high. And of those, well over half passed the regents (nearly 80% I recall, but my memory may have dulled over time). That was better than the school's regular rate overall, and with kids who'd already managed to fail the thing 2, 3, or even more times.
Hurray, end of story, right? Well, the school was no longer in danger of going on that list, the classes were expensive, so the next term they let the classes get big, and they gave them instead of regular math, rather than alongside of. And the repeaters returned to failing the regents.
The administration usually went through the motions, but when it mattered to them, they figured out how to actually do a better job (but just while it mattered to them!)
Jonathan
We all know how to find a better solution, but the "powers that be" make all the decisions. The results: More students fail and teachers get the blame.
Even UFT Charter schools are not making the grade if they need to hold over so many students and increase the school day. I hear there is a big turnover in that school too. So it doesn't matter who the "powers" are, it comes down to the same thing...people who run schools do not know what they are doing.
Will someone write a law making it illegal to teach so many different math concepts on the elementary level. Look to the Asian countries that teach fewer concepts, but with more understanding.
Schoolgal
Schoolgal--I agree with you 100%
JD--I've taught programs that work also, in big schools in danger of being shut down. Unfortunately, those are no longer in use.
Schoolgal- that holds true for everything (although it is to the greatest detriment in math). In science, we have this fabulous new spiral curriculum, where there is no relationship between one unit and the next, and the kids aren't taught any one discipline to full understanding. You can bet that in Asia, a unit on simple machines isn't followed by a unit on weather.
It's too bad the head honcho has that type of attitude. It's hurt the students and the teachers.
Only in America would such plans even have a chance.
And, we wonder why so many kids feel disenfranchised? What a ridiculous scheme.
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