Mr. Danger

Years ago when I was a brand new teacher I observed Mr. Danger.  I always saw his students fighting to go to the board and I was determined to learn his secret, a secret I learned within 5 minutes.

Mr. Danger gave his class "B's" every time they picked up the chalk.  They loved the "B's" and worked hard to get them.

When the class ended I asked Mr. Danger what he did with all the "B's" the students collected.  He just laughed and said he did not do anything and the students knew it.  Mr. Danger was funny, full of life and he loved teaching and his students.  The "B's" were just a way to pass this enthusiasm to his charges and it worked.  His students were very successful.

Let The Teaching Begin

I took last semester off.  I was lazy and wanted to avoid the cold, and truthfully, I was hoping I wouldn't miss teaching.  I was wrong.  I did work occasionally, covering classes for teachers who were out and I loved it.  Subbing in the college is great.  The administration only expects me to do my job in the classroom, nothing more.  I teach everything from remedial math to statistics and advanced calculus.  The students are responsive and appreciative and I can make more money in two hours than I would make subbing a whole day in a city school. But, I missed my own class.

Last Thursday was the first day of the fall semester.  As usual, the thought of having to move to get there did not make me happy but once in I felt that old adrenaline rush.  The first thing I noticed was a real black board.  Only old timers like me can understand the thrill of chalk dust flying.  I just have to remember to bring a rag to wash the board down before class.  Although the school does clean boards daily, mine is the last one of the day so it is pretty bad when I get there.  My students seem nice and motivated.  Several remembered me from classes I covered in the past, one remembered me from Packemin and another told me he took my class because his cousin said I was a great teacher.  I don't know how true that is but it was nice to hear.

My teaching day is from 8 PM to 10 PM this term.  I am sure I will be bitching every night as I get ready to go but smiling as soon as I park my car and walk towards my class. I will stop working one day, probably take the winter off again but I won't give it up for good any time in the near future.  It is great dong something I love, having fun and getting paid

In My Blood



I have been enjoying my time off and thinking that maybe it is time to put down my chalk.  While not dreading going back, I wasn't exactly looking forward to my first class and waited until the last minute to open the book and see what I had to teach. 

I got out of my car and felt nothing except for a slight irritation at the woman who took the parking spot I wanted.  I walked into the office, said hello to the secretaries, made my copies and walked to class, still wondering why I was there instead of home.  And then, I saw the students waiting to go into class and something went off inside me.  I felt my apathy slowly change into enthusiasm.  When I put my books down and started talking everything changed.  It all came back.   I was where I belonged.

I didn't care that I was standing in front of remedial students instead of the pre-calculus students I had been promised.  I saw kids that wanted to learn.  I saw kids in need of help and I was ready and willing to give it.  I told them not to be ashamed of where they started.  There was nothing wrong with needing a little reinforcement.  After all, high school taught them nothing and they all agreed. 

I'm not going to get them all to succeed but I know I will get many to move ahead.  I am now looking forward to my next class.

Honeymoon

The algebra classes are not what I expected. ARIS gave me a whole bunch of data that just seems wrong about most of them. The kids are great and they seem to have more than a clue as to what is going on.

They were ready to begin on the first day of classes. No one said "I don't have a notebook" or "I need a pen." And, when I started working, they worked without complaint. They were not afraid to participate. Nobody observing would have been able to distinguish the special education kids from the regular ed kids. The only way I noticed was from the code on their attendance sheets. I even got homework from almost all of them and the grumbling about weekend homework was barely there.

I'm still not sure how I like this team teaching bit. So far, I've only had a substitute in the room. The extra hands, eyes and ears are nice but there is a price to pay for it. (More on this in another post.) Not that the price is high, but if you remember from previous posts, I am cheap, and it is more than I want to spend.

Well, I won't let myself get too comfortable. It is only the first week and we are still on our honeymoon but I think I will enjoy it for as long as I can. Who knows, maybe this relationship will last for the year? Stranger things have happened.

Memorization vs Thinking

I know I am not the sharpest knife in the draw but I am not the dullest either, yet when it comes to memorization of facts, I am at a loss. Vocabulary words do not stick in my mind, no matter how much I study them. I remember studying Spanish with my son and even after 30 minutes of going over the same words, I still needed to refer to the list in my hand.

Over lunch, an English teacher was complaining that her students could not memorize a simple list of words, no matter what she did. I tried to explain my deficits to her, but she wanted no part of it. She kept talking about her "fun" activities and her constant repetition. I kept telling her that while I am sure she was fun and did lots of activities, I would be having the same difficulties. She kept saying how memorization was easy, much easier than doing a math problem or writing an essay and kept stressing how this simple process should enable all her students to pass. I couldn't convince her that everyone learns differently and what was easy for her might be difficult for someone else.

I hate memorization, probably because I am no good at it. I like understanding. I like knowing how and why things work and being able to apply that knowledge to any activity I have to undertake. When I first tried to use a graphing calculator, I tried to memorize the steps. Once I gave up on that and concentrated on the why and how it worked, I was able to do it all.

I hate it when my students demand formulas for concepts they can easily figure out, or at least figure out (if not easily) with a little bit of effort. I would rather see them rotate their page 90 degrees to do a transformation then regurgitate a formula that has no meaning to them. I am having a hard time convincing them that memorization only works sometimes, it work in exact patterns and it only works when you remember every step.

Many years ago, my husband saw a recipe for a pie on the food channel that looked interesting and he decided to try it. The problem was, he only saw half the recipe and because necessary ingredients were missing, his dish was inedible. Incomplete memorization causes the same problems.

Thinking is as vital to life as oxygen and water. Only when we get back to teaching and encouraging this will we be able to help create the leaders of tomorrow.

Buzz Words

Billy joined my geometry class this term. (He was in another class last semester.) Since it is important to me to know where my students are coming from, I asked him how he did the previous term. He answered fine, but, being the cynic I am, I checked his data (yes, I used that word.) I wasn't surprised to see that Billy had failed. All failing kids use the word "fine" when asked how they have done in the past.

Billy came to class a few times and then started missing too many classes. I happened to run into him on my way home on one of his missed days. He was talking to a former English teacher who really likes him and knows about his troubles in school. I asked Billy for his cell phone number and his mom's cell phone number and promised to use it whenever he wasn't in my class He supplied both rather easily and I hoped this meant his cutting days were over.

My hope was short lived. But, true to my word, I've been hitting the phone every day he is out before I leave. And, while he is still cutting, his cutting is down to at most one day in two weeks. I even got him to show up and take (and pass) an exam last week.

I was pleasantly surprised when Billy showed up Wednesday, before the vacation. I always try to differentiate so I made it a point to praise Billy for being in class almost on time (a goal for him to actually be on time is coming, once he masters getting to class daily), compliment him on passing the exam and asking him to try to do a little more work in class (another goal for him). Billy, while not a student, is very bright and articulate. He just looked at me and said:

"Mrs. POd, you know I am a cutter. Some days this is the only class I go to. I look at the clock and see I better get moving. You are the most persistent teacher I have ever had. "

I asked him about his mom's reaction when he cuts and he told me he doesn't worry much about it because he stays mostly with his dad.

My next goal (oh no, I used that word again) is to get his dad's phone number. After that, I've got to figure out a way to get Billy into all his classes.

Now I've got the buzz words in place. I set goals that I shared with my student. I raised my expectations. I differentiated. I checked data. I can write them down, hand them in and make myself look like an educational scientist at her best. But, they would all be lies. I'm not accomplishing all that much with Billy. In fact, I am probably accomplishing nothing with him. I have strong reservations about his ability to pass my class and even stronger ones about his ability to pass the other ones he's taking. I don't know how to help him and words alone won't do it.

Little Ms POd On My Shoulder

When Ginny saw me after the Math B regents, she ran over and gave me a big hug. Since Ginny is not a particularly good math student, I was wondering why?

"Ms. POd", she said. "I was failing math but Mr. P said he would pass me if I passed the regents. He didn't think I could possibly pass. I know I passed. He only taught me 1/3 of the work. I learned the other 2/3 from you last year. While doing the exam I felt like I had a Ms. POd sitting on my shoulder yelling out things like CPCTC. I'm bringing you a big bouquet of flowers when I get my grade."

I don't know if Ginny passed or not. It is nice to know that she felt confident about the things she learned in my class. I do know, that the papers I marked from the kids I taught last year, the proofs were right. I'm going to look for Ginny's paper as soon as we finish marking tomorrow. She made my day!

A Good Way To Spend A Saturday Morning

Spending time outside of school tutoring my students is nothing new to me. It is something I have always done since my first days teaching. My colleague friends always did it to and we never thought twice about the number of hours we spent doing it. Our classrooms were always open early in the morning and they were filled with kids looking for extra help. We held review sessions during regents week and the kids piled in also. It never occurred to any of us that this was something we should not be doing. It wasn't even until I started at my present school that I learned teachers could actually get paid for staying extra to do this.

Helping my students is a big part of who I am. Maybe its my insecurity, my belief that if I was better at my job, they would be doing better in class. I don't know. I just know it is what I do. Years ago, before we had to worry about consequences of getting too close to students, I used to hold review sessions in my basement. I would take my kid's big blackboard, we sat around the basement floor and worked for hours. My own kids grew up watching my students learn. It is too dangerous to do this now so all my tutoring is confined to school. Over the years, I've worked with them on soccer fields, in gyms and in lunchrooms.

This semester I have no regents classes but a few weeks ago it occurred to me that no tutoring was being offered for the Math B regents. Thank you Mayor Bloomberg for cutting our budget so no funds are available for this. I started getting nervous. Although these kids are not mine now, about 60 of them were mine last year for the first two-thirds of the term. They weren't the strongest math students and I wondered how they would do without extra help. So, what is a nut like me to do? I held a regents review session this morning. Most of the kids are on the senior trip this weekend (a stupid weekend for this since it is right before regents exams and every senior must take at least one exam) and I did announce this at the last minute, but I had a decent turn out. The kids showed up at 10:00 AM (some were there much earlier) full of questions and topics to be clarified. I went over everything they asked and taught them some "legal cheating" (ways to beat the system using the graphing calculator). All in all, it was a great morning. It got my adrenaline going and I feel ready to come home and conquer the world.

I don't do per session. If money was offered, I would have left the tutoring to others. The paltry amount I would receive could not compensate my weekend of lost time. Doing what I did today is what works for me. The reward I got from these kids as they left the room is better than any paycheck I will ever receive. I intend to do the same thing for the kids in my geometry classes who take the regents in June.

Many years ago, when I first started in my present school, a veteran teacher said, "In this school, we don't tutor students." I answered, "This teacher does." That teacher is long gone. This teacher will be gone soon. I'm hoping the new crop of teachers will be more like this than that.

They Are Failing Because....

Today, in my geometry class, which is comprised primarily of eleventh graders, I spent ten minutes explaining why 2 times one half was one and not four. They understood the concept of half of $2 being $1 but the actual multiplication was lost on quite a few of them.

No wonder these kids can't pass geometry.

Worksheets Are Not A Substitue For Teaching

Prentice Hall ruined our math students in more ways than one. The poor quality of the text book forced teachers to hand out worksheets every day. The students got in the habit of never opening a book. Prentice Hall encouraged individual work. The students got in the habit of doing sheet after sheet after sheet. They forgot how to listen to the teacher. They forgot how to think.

I'm old fashioned. I really believe kids come to school to be taught. The teachers job is to model the problems and to explain along the way. A good teacher will be able to have the class develop the concepts along with her. Thinking is the most valuable skill these kids need to learn. Worksheets did not teach this. I've watched the wrong answers spread quicker than a forest fire. I've seen kids hand in perfect papers and not have a clue how to arrive at an answer.

A few days ago I gave my geometry class a worksheet, something I rarely do. It was as strange day and many of them were absent. I didn't feel comfortable teaching anything new. The kids loved working on it but I did not teach. I walked around and helped them. I made sure they stayed on target but I did not teach. I did not earn my salary that day.

The Straw That Breaks The Camel's Back

I told class to use colored pencils and I allowed them a "cheat sheet" so they could just apply the laws without memorizing them. This girl was really working. She told me the colors and the sheet helped.


I have a habit of photo copying exams and mailing them home when my students do not do well on them. I make no comments, just present the parents with the papers. Most parents get the papers but even when the kids manage to intercept them, the mailing makes a difference.

One of the girls I taught last year is not doing well this year. Her teacher is not sending the papers home and she is sliding down. I told her I was going to make up an exam, add a failing grade, put her name on it and mail it home. She was not pleased. (She also knew I would never do this.) When her mom knows she is not doing well, her mom puts on the pressure, she attends tutoring, studies and passes.

One Friday I gave a geometry test. All week I heard, "Are you going to mail them home?" I just answered "Study and we will see."

Ari is one of my most difficult students. Somehow I attract all the difficult kids. It has been a battle of wills with him since day one. He knows that I play to win and that I am determined not to lose my battle to a teenager. Mailing Ari's test home might be the one thing that works.

Ari's last test was bad, not bad enough to mail home but, I mailed it anyways. His mom went ballistic on him, yelling and grounding him for the weekend. Friday, as he looked at the test, he yelled out "Mailing this test home would be the same as if I told your husband you were cheating on him. " To which I replied "My husband would be thrilled that someone was interested in cheating with a woman as old and as ugly as I am. I have a feeling he would never believe you. On the other hand, your mom will believe the test when she sees it."

Ari did not pass that test, but his grade and his attitude improved (for the moment). Maybe I found the straw that broke this camel's back.

Under Appreciated and Often Abused

Under appreciated, often abused and classless but ATR's are performing a valuable service for our schools.

Before I begin, I want to state that I am not an ATR, I am in no danger of becoming an ATR and no one in my family is an ATR.

I have many friends that are ATRs and I know that they are not happy. They yearn to get back to teaching, to do the job they were trained to do. They yearn to do the job they love.

Here is the story of a few ATRs I know.

Ms. ATR subs every day in the same building and has gotten to know many students. Because she is not grading them, she is getting to know them on a personal level, adding the human touch, a big thing missing at a school as large as Packemin High.

Ms. ATR told me about Irv, a boy in one of my classes who either has cut or been a pain in the ass. She told me how bright he was, and that he was really not a bad kid. Her words helped bring Irv back to my class and helped me open my eyes to his true potential. I'm finding that I like this boy and that is all do to Ms. ATR.

Miri was in a class Ms. ATR was covering one day this week. Miri was crying. She is having severe health issues and doesn't know what to do. There was some mention of doctor troubles, insurance troubles and gym teacher troubles. Ms. ATR's intervention led to a conference with Miri's guidance counselor and the school social worker. Without Ms. ATR, Miri's problems might never have been noticed.

Ms. Mentor ATR is doing a great service as well. She is teaching two classes in her license and two out of license. She is knocking herself out doing this. She is being creative, she is doing projects and she is calling homes and giving quizzes and everything necessary to get the kids in her classes to work and pass. Ms. Mentor ATR is going above and beyond the expectations of someone in her position.

Mr. ATR is serving a good purpose. I watch him walk down the halls and get hi-5's from the kids he meets. I'm not talking about honor students here, I am talking about troubled kids. Mr. ATR is reaching them, not in the classroom, but everywhere else.

So, to all you ATRs out there, I know not having your own class sucks big time. You are being treated by crap by the union, the DOE and the schools you are working in. YOU ARE HELPING THE STUDENTS YOU ARE COMING IN CONTACT WITH. YOU ARE PERFORMING A VALUABLE JOB.

The Human Touch

Technology is being pushed as the answer to all that ails the school system. Smart boards will bridge the gap between the knowledge that is being taught and that which is being absorbed by the child. Tablets will make everything clear. ARIS will provide all the data necessary to figure out why Johnny cannnot learn.

Technology does nothing to give kids what they really need--the human touch. Kids need to know that the person teaching them cares about their success. These kids need to know that we are proud of their successes and want to help erase their failures. They need the human touch, something that no amount of technology will ever add to the classroom.

Real Staff Development Needed

(Similar posting on Packemin HS--If you read that, skip this. I was just a little more specific over there.)

It is getting harder and harder to write on this blog knowing it is being read by so many people and by people in authority. I don't want to write anything that will incriminate or reflect on anyone. Even psuedonyms can be figured out. I'm going to try not to mention things that make me sound like I am blowing my own horn. And, mostly, I am not going to act like a know it all and give advice to people who don't need or want my advice. All of this is the reason the original posting was on Packemin. Schoolgal thought the ideas in that post ought to be shared. I hope I made this one generic enough without pushing any agenda. That is the reason I am waiting until staff development day starts to post this.

Special education students are now being required to take the same courses their mainstream cohorts are taking. The special education teachers lack the training and education needed to teach these subjects. Their training has predominantly been in teaching to the needs of kids with special problems. This is not fair to the children or the teachers.

Resource room teachers need help so they can help their students. No one can teach every single subject and it is not fair to ask these hard working individuals to try. They need help.

One resource room teacher offered to buy me a beer and I could teach him the math while we sipped away. As much as I love him (and beer), I hate to mix the two. I hate to taint my bar experience with work.

Are We Training Them To Think Of Themselves as Failures?

Mary is taking geometry this term. She is in a class for kids that have failed before. Math is not a subject she likes, or does well in. She was not happy with Friday's test and wrote "I am a failure" on the top of her exam.

Today's students are tested over and over again. They are made to feel worthless when their scores are not high. Failing a test is not the same as being a failure. This is something we must teach our students.

Mary did not fail this test, although she only squeaked by with a 66. I called her the second I finished marking it to tell her the good news. I could almost see her smile through the phone and I will never forget her words "Thank you for your encouragement and for believing in me. It means a lot to me."

Surprise, Surprise

Schoolgal didn't think I could keep coming up with things to write about. I surprised her yesterday and hope to do so again today.

In our very overcrowded school, AP exams are being given in the gym. The English exam ESL students are taking is being given in the trailers and a faculty conference is scheduled for the auditorium. Principal Suit has his panties in a knot trying to figure out what he will do with all the trailer classes who cannot meet in their trailers and are assigned to the auditorium. These classes will interfere with his toxic workshop.

Meanwhile, Mr. M is upset because his trailer class is being sent to the auditorium again, the second time this week. He needs the class time to make sure he finishes teaching the curriculum before the end of the term. The first time his class met in the auditorium, Mr. M asked for a room and he was told there were no rooms available. Yesterday he did not even bother to ask for one. Low and behold, the phone rings in the math office telling Mr. M. that a room was going to be available for his use after all.

No one cared about the lost teaching time. Everyone cared about the toxic meeting. Something is very poisonous in my school.

Three of the Reasons I love Teaching

These three girls got up early on their day off to get extra help in calculus.

Words

I always used to say to kids "You are smart, you can do this if you just try a little harder." I don't say this as often as I used to because I realize some kids are trying as hard as they can and they can't do what I am trying to get them to do. I wonder how it must feel to hear these words over and over again and know inside that you are doing your best, but your best isn't good enough. I still try to make my students feel smart. I will not let them know that I realize some of them will never succeed. I don't want to be the one to give up on them and I don't want them to give up on themselves. I just don't tell them any more that if they work harder, they will get it. I don't know what to say to some of these kids. I wish I did. It is not like I have never been faced with obstacles I could not overcome. I never learned to swim or ride a bike and don't think I will ever be able to. There is a part of my brain that will not allow it. I could not master physics, no matter how hard I tried and I will never be any good at applying makeup to my face. I don't want to hear the words "try harder." I've tried as hard as I can and have never been successful at certain things. I don't want to hear "You are a good athlete." I think I am a decent teacher, but no matter how much I try, no matter how many different approaches I use, how many hours I spend tutoring, I will never get some of these kids to succeed. I know "I can't" and hearing that "I could if I tried" only makes me feel worse. I would like to be able to teach kids the subjects they can do well in. I believe kids are good in different things and can succeed but that not everyone can do everything . I want to teach them the subjects that will help them believe in themselves. I want to teach them the subjects they need. I'm tired of teaching kids who don't understand that 1/2 and 2/4 are equivalent fractions how to reduce algebraic fractions.

Community College

Tonight is my last college class until next semester. As much as I love this class am glad that it is over. I'm tired. The thought of being able to stay home in the evenings for the next 6 weeks is wonderful. Of course I have to get the final exams marked and grades done but that won't be too bad. The class only has 20 students.

My favorite thing about the college is the respect given to teachers (even adjuncts) by other teacher, secretaries, administrators and students. Our work is appreciated. We are helped. We are never looked down upon. We are treated like professionals and it is universally accepted that we know what we are doing. Every observation is filled with praise. No one feels the need to put us down to make themselves sound better. The evening supervisor just walked by and saw me on the computer while my class is taking the final. He didn't reprimand me or even comment. He knows that the class is being watched while I blog away. This would never be acceptable on the high school level.

One of the things I really dislike about the community college is the lack of continuity with the students. I teach a course for people that don't like math. It is a class for liberal arts majors and it is usually full of people ready to graduate, as most leave math for their last term. Once in a while a student returns for a recommendation or we run into one another in the supermarket. This is rare. I do have the son of a former student at the high school I teach in so I know how well she is doing.

One of the things that bothers me about the class I have this semester is the number of problems my students have. My class of twenty has three students with sick mothers (one car accident, one nursing home and one with some serious illness that I don't know much about.) I also have two students who have had surgery-one had to drop out and one returned after 2 weeks. A third student told me that she is going in for surgery in January. She forced herself to wait until the semester was over so she could finish up and graduate. A nineteen year old boy told me that he came home from work and found his apartment cleaned out. He suspects his girl friend. Why is a nineteen year old not living at home with mom and dad? (I did not ask.) It seems to me that 35% of a class should not be having such problems. The funny thing is that I believe all these problems are real. No one asked for any time extensions or made excuses. They just opened up and told me situations at home. I will never know how any of these things turn out for people that I have come to care about.

Next semester I am teaching a pre-calculus course. Hopefully the students will have stronger background and actually appreciate some of the beauty math has to offer. I look forward to this new class and to teaching a subject I have not taught for years.

Good Old Days

Many years ago people realized that children were graduating from NYS schools with a very limited education. The RCTs were introduced in the 70's. Kids had to pass these tests if they could not pass a regents to graduate. These tests measured minimum competency.

The first year they were given I remember being recruited to help mark the writing section. I, along with a bunch of other math teachers complained that English was not our field. We were told to mark , so we did. We did not feel comfortable passing papers where the spelling and grammatical mistakes occurred so often that the ideas in the composition or the letters could not be understood. All our failing grades were overridden by the English chairman. The only good that came out of this is that we were never asked to mark these papers again.

The math exam was a little harder to get passing grades on. The math was either right or wrong. Since the entire test was short answer or multiple choice, there were no gray areas. Even though we had lots failures, people complained this test was too easy also.

To keep improving standards, RCTs were introduced in social studies and science. Again, the state decided that these exams were not good enough. Minimum competency was not competent enough.

Today everyone must pass a certain number of regents exams to graduate. First, the passing grade was 55, but scheduled to change to 65. Since too many kids were still failing, the 65 grade for passing was postponed. Kids can still get their diplomas with 55. Even 55 was too high a grade for some. The Board of Regents could not be wrong about this requirement so the standard needed to pass has been lowered and lowered and lowered. Now, almost everyone passes. Too bad passing doesn't mean anything.

To summarize--state exams were instituted to raise standards. The state exams did not measure a high enough level so they were done away with and everyone was required to pass Regents exams. The regents exams were too hard so the bar to pass the exam was lowered. Kids are now getting regents diplomas and know less than their counterparts with RCT diplomas. It is great to know that NO CHILD IS BEING LEFT BEHIND.