I need a bottle of fine whine...

Let's open this bottle of fine whine:

• Parents are crazy. From the "outside" looking in, perfectly reasonable (I'm assuming) people go absolutely nuts over their kids, whether it's necessary or not. Time to reevaluate the sanity of mine. Surely, they weren't this kooky? Right?

• Field trips are crazy. And tiring. And time consuming. 



At least, I got to come back with this. 

• Testing sucks. Developing a test or compiling test questions is the most soul-sucking task I've had yet as a teacher. Test days themselves suck. It takes all I have to not say after 10 minutes, "All right! 100s for participation. Let's talk about the energy transformation in explosions!"

• Graduate school and being a first-year teacher is the one of the worst situations I've ever put myself into. Seriously. 

Honestly, it would all be easier without this "Theory and Pedagogy in Middle Childhood Science and Math" class in my life. Or maybe it is the self-congratulating professor I could do without. Normally, I don't like calling specifics out in my life, so I don't. However, this class will be an exception. Excuse me for a moment while I go all "Inception" on my fine whines.

• Assigned readings that are 30 pages are a waste of time, especially when we don't discuss it or we discuss it at a superficial level. Why the hell are we wasting time figuring out how cells can relate to students? Let's talk about the variety of research on inquiry-based teaching methods. No? We're seriously going to talk about dude in the back and his adventure with an unruly student (which is the same "adventure" every teacher deals with at some point in time)? Yup. Wasted afternoon. 

• By the way, discussing the definition of the word does not a deep conversation make. No joke, an entire session was dedicated to what does the word "inquiry" mean. Did this lead to a conversation on what makes a good inquiry-based lesson or lab versus a bad one? No, it did not. Yet another Tuesday afternoon wasted. 

• Oh. I take the last bullet back (partially). We did discuss what some other dude who reported on another dude's research said made a good inquiry-based lab. However, I've got a question. When exactly do we let the students come up with their own instructions on how to do the lab (open-question inquiry lab, BTW)? I know we are all "constructivist" and stuff, but should I really let them "construct" their own labs without anything else beforehand? How reasonable is this? When in the "learning cycle" should we try to implement this? No discussion? No. Okay. And we're back to another wasted Tuesday afternoon. 

• Please stop telling us how awesome your lesson was unless we are about to deconstruct it to figure out why it was good, especially if you are not going to share what you did. You're wasting class time. 

My bottle of fine whine is empty, so I'll end on positive notes about my original three bullets. 

• If I were a parent, I would go just as hard for my kid. While it is annoying sometimes juggling parents, I try to keep in mind that (a) these crazy parents kept the doors of my school open, and (b) these parents actually respect me and my word enough that they ask me the 1,987,378,432 questions that they do. 

• Field trips are crazy. And tiring. And time consuming. But hell of a lot of fun. I had a good time experiencing the wonders of life with them, and more importantly, they had a good time and learned a lot!

•  Testing is still a drag, but it's a necessary evil that I'll learn to live with. Besides, it is a good feeling when they do well. 

If it is not obvious, let me state it: I love teaching. I love my school and my kids (though I don't say it enough to them). I hate graduate school :)

"...I [can't]...tell you [are] a first-year teacher."

Today, I had an individual meeting with the principal. (Yes, I still have a job.) It was basically just a check-in session to make sure I'm not of the brink of self-destruction (which I'm not fully sure of my status now).

Not to toot my own horn, but apparently, I'm rockin' it! This is not to say that I fully believe this, but according to my principal, for whom I have the utmost respect, I am. While I was secretly pleased at this bit of head-patting, it all makes sense  now.

Definition of "it":

• Covering class
• Locker assignments
• And now, field trip planner lead on my team. 

This was further confirmed by the following statement, "If I didn't know you, I wouldn't be able to tell you were a first-year teacher."

What?

Now, I'll admit to stepping into some of "it" all on my own ("I'll cover her class. Just give me a second to grab a Diet Pepsi"). I'll also allow for the possibility that I may be too harsh a critic of myself, but heck, no. I exhibit all the signs of a new teacher: inefficiency, a general aura of I-do-not-know-how-to-teach-this, a constant feeling mix of fatigue and energy, and a look of "I'm in over my head" on my face everyday (or is this just me? Probably. Definitely.)

At the end of the day, though, whatever I'm doing, I need to do it better, so I can feel the swagger that apparently everyone else can see. I'll take it. Let's put this in the "win" category :)

Teaching Fails of the Week #1

I think as a way to commiserate with other teachers, and hopefully, make other new teachers feel better, I will share my fails so far. What they don't tell you in teacher education classes is that it is 100% guaranteed that:

- You will not be efficient.
- Your to-do list will NEVER empty.
- You will feel like you are running in place.
- You will NOT be an awesome teacher your first few weeks (months?).

Without further ado, I present Insane Teacher's fails of the week:

- I fried my kids' brains. I thought teaching independent variables and dependent variables would be easy, especially because I had them set up an experiment on Friday with the intent to refer to it as a live example. Nope. Twenty minutes into 1st period, I knew that I would have to scrap my lesson plans. 2 weeks into the school year, 2 lesson plans altered by Wednesday.

- I learned to never to labs and hands-on activities without at least a day's worth of prep beforehand. Friday was hectic, and it was all because I didn't think my lab set-up through. I'm about to commit the same faux pas tomorrow, it seems, as I have scrapped tomorrow's activity in favor of another.

- If you are doing a lab with fire, please know what you are doing. I'll post the picture later on what happened. Let's just say that I'm happy that the incident happened on the weekend and out of sight of the students.

- Grad school + full-time teaching + being a first year = INSANITY. This is all caused by idiocy on my part. I'm now questioning my decision-making skills :)

There are more fails I'm missing here, but these are the biggest ones I've made. Despite my fails, I'm learning from them. Theoretically, the number of fails will decrease each week. However, as I've learned in my first two weeks of teaching, the theoretical rarely matches to the actual. 

Hobbies: Education

I'm two weeks into this gig now, with this week being the first week of instruction. After getting the administrative nonsense out of the way, I pleased to say that my first day of actual teaching went awesomely. Little did I know that seventh-graders would react to this

and 

as awesomely as they did. The discussion completely blew my lesson plans, but who cares when they totally understood the thorny nature of inferences in science from what was meant to be five-minute aside? 

Teaching is Insanity has been neglected as a result of my job, because teaching is busy. If I wasn't giving a pre-test tomorrow, I would be lesson planning and fretting for sure. As it happens, I will have a time on my hands, so I have the opportunity to have leisure time. How am I spending my leisure time? Writing here (about education), and reading my syllabi for this upcoming semester's class, particularly the one for my Teaching Practicum class.

Teaching/Education has apparently taken over my life. I'm tired. I've spent the last hour chatting with friends while responding to school emails. Even now, my mind is wandering towards my lesson on Thursday and the unit plan I need to finish within the next week. Apparently, I have no hobbies beyond education now, so here's to getting a new one: Sleep. 

Charter School Turnover

This article from the LA Times (it's in the feed as well) as popped up twice today in my personal sphere, in my Facebook feed and via email from a friend.

In short, the article discusses high teacher turnover in charters in Los Angeles. I suspect, though, that turnover in other charters across the nation are comparable...including mine. In fact, the principal mentioned the turnover during the interview. 

Of course, turnover is high here!

Yet, I still accepted the job knowing well that a nice percentage of my colleagues this year will not be back next year. I chalk the turnover to two things: the numbers of "hats" teachers in charters must wear and that teaching in a charter is more demanding than in a traditional public school. 

1. Because most charters operate with no input from the local school system, everyone in a charter school building has to do multiple things.* For example, one of our teachers is a teacher/website-updater-guy. Multitasking varies from charter to charter, and this may even occur at some traditional public schools. I'll venture an educated guess, though, and say that traditional public schools are likely to have a people dedicated to simply, say, website development or to data analysis. 

That brings up another point. With little to no non-financial resource input from local school systems and limited local funding, charters can't afford to hire people dedicated to a single, non-teaching job. As a result, everyone, including teachers, is likely to have some sort of "slash" in their official job title. 

* Some charters do have input both financially and otherwise, to a good extent,  from the local school system. To see what I'm talking, about, click here. 

2. Teaching anywhere is pressure-filled, especially during this current age of "accountability". Yet, after talking with non-charter teacher friends and some of my colleagues, I'm convinced that teaching in a charter is a bit more demanding (at least where I live). From the longer hours expected, the number of "hats" we wear to the fact that there is a contract hanging over our heads that basically says "Teach or else...", it's a lot to contend with, especially over a long period of time. 

Apologies for letting my freak flag fly.

With full knowledge of  the insanity, both perceived and real, that occur in charters and that comes with teaching in one, I took the job, because I believe in the mission of school. I believe in the people working there. Last, but not least, I believe in the leader that we have. The mix of these three factors convinced me that even throughout the madness of the school, we are all going to do great things. 

I'm extremely loyal to a fault (six years at a daycare as a part-time job through the end of high school through undergrad!). Probably a bit insane as well, so I'm good with my "crazy" charter teaching spot. 

My teaching hero?

Some people are not good with it, which is okay too. I believe that every good teacher has a school, where they can become excellent teacher. My charter is where I think I can become excellent, so while the odds are against anyone staying long-term , the odds have never phased me before. Besides, wouldn't want to work at Hogwarts the place where they can become excellent?

The First Department Meeting (!)

Few quick notes about my first department meeting...

• It was frickin' brief! An agenda of about 8 items was knocked out in 30-45 minutes. The rest of the time was spent...
• Collaborative working: I worked with another science teacher, with a couple of SS teachers, with a connections teacher, and even with the CI AP! My notepad page was filled to edge with notes of all types of great classroom management and unit/lesson planning tips. 
• Someone actually asked for my opinion. I don't mean to sound so incredulous, but yeah, I'm shocked. I've had the impression that new teachers are to shut up and take it in. I don't mind doing this, but when I want an idea heard for consideration, I want to speak up. Yet, I walked prepared to take it in. Nope! None of that here. 
• There was a strong sense of spirit: Everyone in the room really seemed into the mission and culture of the school, which I loved. 
• The promotion of individuality: While there was certainly team spirit in all the planning work we did, it was made clear that we have control over our classrooms. 

I am stoked to get to work with these people. I can't say enough of how much it means to know that everyone working here is on the same page mission-wise. Just knowing that I'll be working with such hard-working, competent professionals who are excited about their work makes me feel more relaxed and confident. I've got a whole staff of people on my side now. 

Cue the High School Musical:

FYI, we busted out in dance post-meeting. Something like this in fact :)

Administrative Awesomeness

I've been so busy with all these papers/presentations that I haven't had the time to report the little bit of sunshine in my teaching life. Before I share, I need to give background.

One of my pet-peeves in my classes the summer has been the frequent references to crappy administrators. By now, I think every teacher, if not everyone, knows that some schools are run by incompetant ninnies or scandalous scoundrels. In fact, this applies to any job with superiors and subordinates.

They even made a movie about them.

Don't get me wrong. An ineffective principal and/or an ineffective administrative team can do serious damage at a school. Arguably, they can do more damage than one teacher can. However, I don't see  how constantly harping on the subject does me, or importantly, my students any good. I can't control what they do, but I can control my reactions to their actions. Yet, I have been preparing myself in case things go sour.

The CRCT cheating report finally hit the fan

There are no words for the actual insanity found here, here and here. I'm so angry that a relatively small percentage of stupid, cowardly adults are what reflects the values of the entirety of Atlanta Public Schools.

More importantly, these losers have forever put the proverbial asterisk next to the affected kids' test scores. These kids will never know whether their scores were because of an effort on their part or by the efforts of some jerk administrators and teachers that felt the need to cover their butts instead of...you know, teaching! This, my friends, is real insanity. 

No matter your thoughts on standardized testing, we all should agree that nothing is worth risking our integrity as educators and more importantly, that of our students. 

Cultural tension/prejudice: Why aren't these conversations happening more often?

The conversation began in class today. The hurt feelings were expressed, and finally, we got to see what happens "when people stop being polite and starting getting real". Too bad, it happened in the last 5-10 minutes of class, because at once, the whole class woke up. It felt like today was when class actually began.With new people in the conversation came the new perspectives I wanted, and I plan on discussing as many perspectives of this issues as I possibly can.

I shared my perspective on what may cause these deeply held racial beliefs that underlie racial tension and prejudice and my suggestion to help alleviate this.

After listening to my classmate discuss this and his perspectives, I realized that I am missing an important piece of the equation: In order for the healing of wounds from heavy life baggage, one has to want to change and be ready to change.

The conversation will continue next Wednesday, so I'm interested to hear more about this idea and others. Stay tuned, folks. However, that's not what this post is solely about. After class, I had an hours long conversation with some classmates on this topic and about how teachers approach "hate speech" in their classrooms, especially concerning homophobic hate speech. It was a great conversation, and I left it feeling better knowing that there are other colleagues of mine that are on the same wavelength when it comes to these issues. The only question I had left was why aren't these conversation happening more often? 


I'm taking a diversity class, and these issues of specific beliefs and values regarding different races and sexuality are just now being discussed in earnest after three weeks. I can only imagine, then, how often this comes up in a school. To get a take from the inside, I called up a friend teaching in a racially diverse system and asked her how often these conversations happen with students or with other teachers. Her response? "Never. No one's touching [these issues] with a pole."

 The more we are aware of the cultural values and biases we hold, the more we can do ensure that our students are being treated as fairly as possible. With that said, there has to be darn good reasons to leave some of our students exposed to alienation over something that's really not their fault, and I'd like to hear them.

"How much homework is just right?"

It certainly isn't three hours for a 3rd grader.


Nor is it the amount that puts a student in bed late.


Then again, I don't think that a mandated limit is good either.


What's the right amount then? For a sensible take, I'll turn it over to KJ Dell'Antonia from Slate.com:


"Granted, not all the homework ... [seems] like it's worth it, but that's not about having less homework; it's about having the right homework. I'd like to read more about that."

Me too, KJ.

Racial prejudice/tension between teachers: Two cents from my "life baggage"

           This weekend, a professor had us discussing readings on a forum with our cohort-mates. Because this is a class on diversity in the middle school, we discuss many hot-button topics. In the context of one such discussion, a comment was made concerning the media's attention to school violence and violence in society in general. Without getting into too many details, the comment has struck up hurt feelings around a sweeping statement on the history of white people in America.

          After speaking with a two white colleagues and friends in this class this morning, I was a bit shocked and saddened to see how deeply the remark cut them. It cut them deeply enough to make them feel alienated from the rest of the class, as other remarks along the same vein were made in the online discussion. The whole cohort concept relies on the fact that we will feel like a "team" of new teachers, a support system meant to make everyone better. If any one is left feeling alienated, I don't believe the cohort, as individuals and as a whole, can be successful, so I'm look forward to a civil and honest discussion soon, so everyone can come to a new understanding, and possibly acceptance, of the other side, in the interests of personal growth and growth as new teachers. However, as this is still fresh, I want to discuss this now, as I don't think this phenomena of deeply set racial tension and even prejudice among teachers is uncommon, especially in schools where the racial balance tips largely in favor of one group over others. First, let me say that I can only speculate on the underlying causes of this tension and prejudice between teachers. I have no hard facts or evidence. Only personal experiences to inform me here.

     With that disclaimer out of the way, I think teachers bring "life baggage" into the school and classroom. This doesn't necessarily mean that teachers are automatically prejudiced against some students and teachers or that when it does happen, it is malicious. It simply means that their experiences in life sum up into their values, thoughts, words, and actions. A major part of most "life baggage" is cultural experiences, including race. Thinking back on my experiences with race issues, I probably have a relatively rosier experience than most other people of my race.  I went to school with a diverse set of kids, and keep the company of a diverse set of people. Diverse races, religions, values, et cetera. On the occasions that I did experience racial prejudice and tension, I could isolate the experiences. It didn't make the experience less hurtful when living through it, but it did make continuing to live past it easier knowing that the experience of prejudice and tension was largely an isolated one.

          No sweeping generalization of one group of people could come from my experiences, because I could thinking of several counterexamples to the bad experiences. From this I learned that a person's genealogy does not necessarily reflect within the person standing in front me. While my "life baggage" has a diverse set of experiences and views, others don't, especially when they come from places (both literal and figurative) and families that carry a heavy historical burden. For example, slavery is an issue that burns to the core of some black people here in America. The recorded mistreatment of black people (by various groups of people, including other black people) through time has carried over into this generation. For some people, it is easier to put historical baggage where it belongs. For others, they continue to deal with it, especially when their own circumstances and experiences recall those that happened in past times. Mind you, this doesn't just occur with members of a "wronged" race/ethnicity. I know of white friends who were shocked and horrified to discover that some of their ancestors were slave owners. Some of these friends feel the need to "make up" for what their ancestors did, just like some ancestors of slaves feel it is their place to make the ancestors of the slave owners "pay" for what they (the ancestors) did.

           Part of the racial tension/prejudice in schools comes from these types of attitudes on history. Some people are trying to make amends for history, while others are trying to exact revenge. However, the people who revenge "should" be exacted upon are long dead and gone, as are the people who "should" get amends. The other thing is that our generation was not involved in historical events, and as a result, making amends/exacting revenge is not our place anyway. It is okay for a person's history to make up a part of life baggage; in fact, I encourage this practice, as it makes us all more aware people of what's going on in the world. It also helps us to become more open to diversity. However,  historical events shouldn't make up the bulk of it. This is especially important for teachers, as our students get to see some of our life baggage. If most of your baggage consists of racial mistrust and fear, your students see it and take it into themselves. In largely homogeneous schools, the students are not exposed to diverse experiences. They vicariously experience a bit of what their teachers did.

          While I won't dare to presume to know what either the commenter or my other colleagues have going on their heads, I will say that I think what I've discussed comes into play in the larger phenomena going on here. This is not to be taken as an excuse or justification for racial prejudice. This is a posting that aims at understanding what lies beneath racial prejudice, so that we can begin healing the wounds caused by the baggage some of us carry. I'm interested in hearing other perspectives of this issue. While it is not talked about often, racial tension/prejudice between teachers is important enough to merit serious, civil, and honest conversations. The more we as teachers are aware and active of what we bring, baggage-wise, into the classroom, the better we serve all our students, but especially those without access to diverse viewpoints.

'A' for Effort?

Just got wind of an LA Times story: Los Angeles Unified School District is putting a ceiling on the percentage that homework can count towards a grade. Teachers can no longer count homework as no more than 10% of a student's grade. 

Due to time constraints (the siren song of grad work beckons), I won't get into this debate now (though I'm curious to hear where other teachers stand on this policy). However, I do want to pull something out of article that popped out and deserves a quick note:

"Critics — mostly teachers — worry that the policy will encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward those who already disregard assignments. And they say it could penalize hardworking students who receive higher marks for effort."

If you read a paragraph prior, you will clearly understand that some students not doing their homework aren't ignoring it for the heck of it. They have other more pressing things to do, like, supporting their families by working at night. If I had to choose between making money for my family and doing a coloring sheet or 50 practice problems when I understood well after, say, 10 problems, I'm choosing the money too. Or if I'm having to go to school all day and then go home to cramped and loud apartment, I'm not really caring about the Ms. So-and-So's paragraph asking me to regurgitate the notes from today. 

Don't get me wrong; I'm not anti-homework. In fact, I very much like it when it is relevant, reasonable, and most importantly, purposeful. Nothing irked me more in school than having to do again, something that we already did or something that really didn't help me to understand the concept. Indeed, engagement and practice with material being taught is essential for understanding. Endless amounts of irrelevant, unreasonable, redundant, and just plain dumb homework is not. 

Because my homework is meaningful and is meant for practice and engagement, I don't mind counting it for around 5-10% of the grade. A professor of mine likened the grading percentage makeups to sports: homework is the practice, quizzes are the scrimmage, and tests are game days. If you can understand this, you know why homework is worth so little. Off practice days will hurt a bit, but the grading on it allows room to make mistakes and grow from them. With that said, I'm not going to give As for effort on homework. Sure, if your homework consists of coloring sheets, what else is there to grade other than how pretty the picture is? However, if you are like me and  are actually putting thought and effort into creating homework assignments, then heck no! I'm not taking an "effort grade" for homework. That's what that other 5% is for (if you subscribe to this): participation. 

Would you give this a good effort grade? He did it after all....

We, as teachers, don't want our time wasted Why waste our students' time? It's only more work on us anyway. Give it when it counts. (Just realized I gave my input on homework after saying not now. Procrastination and wordiness at its finest!)

Parent-Teacher-Student Relationship: The Blame Game Edition

Through out my first year teaching, I will frequently comment and ask questions about a concept in education that is consistently in heavy rotation: The Parent-Teacher-Student Relationship (henceforth called the PTSR).


Maureen Downey, moderator/writer of the always interesting Get Schooled Blog on AJC.com, published a letter  written by an elementary school administrator, Mr. Dorce. He writes about the tale of a young man he mentored. After attending the young man's graduation and asking about his future, Mr. Dorce realized that all was not as it seemed. Long story short, Mr. Dorce ends with the line, "...I was supposed to help." Please take the time to read the post.


After reading the post and then the comments, the message that I received from the (non-hatred spewing) majority was that the blame for the young man's fate was the parent(s), the young man himself, or both. Many of these comments came from teachers. However, two statements stuck out to me from Mr. Dorce's letter concerning blame for the young man's situation:


"I do not blame anyone in particular for many adults failed Robert, including me."


"Robert is not guiltless. There was plenty that was his responsibility. He could have and should have gotten help for his reading struggles. Lots of people throughout our schools are willing, able and eager to help. He was a child, however, when he started to push back and mask his reading deficiencies." 


As you see, Mr. Dorce does not point out anyone group of people or specific person for Robert's plight, including Robert himself. He does acknowledge that there were several actions Robert could have taken to give himself a better shot at earning his diploma. (He does not discuss the obvious precautionary measures Robert could have taken to avoid fathering children, but I digress.) With all this considered, here's my question. 


Because the blame goes wide and deep, what does assigning blame accomplish, especially when it is assigned to parents and/or students?


To examine this question, let's go back to the PTSR and look at it from the teacher's perspective. I'm well aware of the teacher role, as I'm the teacher! I have direct control over this part, so no problems. The student role is a little trickier; I know what the student should be doing. In reality, this does not always happen. I'll venture a guess and say that students often push back against their role...which is where the teacher role becomes important. As the teacher, I have an element of control here. What I do in my classroom and with my students can have a direct effect on the students.  


To keep score, the teachers have control in two roles in the PTSR: the teacher role and the student role. Granted, the teacher's control of the student role is not 100%, but there are ways of highly stacking the odds in our favor. Continuing on...


The last role is that of the parent. I have a prototype in mind for the parent role, but it's just that, a prototype. It's not real. Different parents have different ideas of the parent role in PTSR. That's not to say there aren't fantastic parents. I have a plethora of examples of fantastic parenting (my parents, for one). Sometimes, though, we have parents of students that are severely lacking. I can meet with them and communicate with them as often as possible and still they won't budge. Needless to say, teachers do not have much control, if any, of the parent role. 


In conclusion:


- Blaming students accomplishes nothing, because the teacher has an element of control over the student role. The amount of control of the student role depends on the individual teacher. We can do something here!


- Blaming parents accomplishes nothing, because there is nothing to little that can be done to control parents. Sorry, it's fact. The overly involved parents will almost always continue to be overly involved. The minimally involved parents will almost always continue to be minimally involved. 


The PTSR is important, and I know that I will be discussing it more when I start teaching. When discussing our children's education, instead of being problem-oriented, we should be solutions-oriented. Currently when there's a problem, we try to diagnose to assign blame, not to solve the problem. In keeping with my philosophy, I'm not going to assign blame for the PTSR blame game when failures in our system happen. However, I will offer my first solution of this whole enterprise:


Eliminate the blame game from education all together. In lieu, use the PTSR and the school community to find workable solutions to problems that arise. 


This includes blaming ourselves, because there is nothing to gain by doing so. (Someone will probably need to remind of this in the coming months.) Reflect and problem-solve. Repeat, if necessary.