rcatkinson’s Neighborhood

The blog article, "High Expectations? Not so fast," from (http://garyrubinstein.teachfor.us/2009/08/30/high-expectations-not-so-fast/) argues that while its good for first year teachers to have high expectations, one must be realistic as well.  Specifically, the article argues that overly high standards can actually hurt students because they will constantly fail.  As a second year teacher, I agree with the post completely.  Yes, it is important to have high standards (and the article does not disagree with this), but if I have a classroom of students who are supposedly ready to be in Algebra II and they cannot graph a straight line, it will do no good to teach them the quadratic formula.  

Have real expectations, but don't expect to be a miracle worker.  A student who cannot read should not attempt to dive into Proust, it will just humiliate and discourage them.  Start with Green Eggs and Ham and work your way up.  However, when you do teach Green Eggs and Ham, ensure you have high expectations of the students work based of the book.

Is Mississippi a third world nation?

The Blog post, "Is Part of the United States in the Third World," (http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html) attempts to rank US states in line with the world nations in regards to their human development index (HDI) reading.  In the blog, a list is presented with rankings of nations by their HDI mixed in with nations.  Mississippi is listed at 76th, below Russia and Ecuador.  At first glance, this seems terrible, an American state, down below the home of Siberia and a South American non-powerhouse.  However, the blog is somewhat meaningless, and this is noted in the first paragraph of the post: "The US HDI is not at all comparable to the world HDI.."  What this says is that you cannot directly compare the US state HDI to other nations HDI.  This make the list irrelevant.  

A quick google search paints a more rosy picture for Mississippi.  Ecuador, with a normalized (ppp) GDP per capita of under $8k, is much poorer than Mississippi with a GDP (non normalized) of just under $27k, over three times greater than Ecuador's, and that non adjusted.  It seems silly to state that Mississippi is a third world nation.  Anyone who has been to a poor area of a third world country can easily attest to the abject poverty which makes Mississippi look good.  Kids go hungry in Mississippi and attend shoddy schools.  In third world nations, kids worry about starvation and school is a pipe dream.  By claiming that Mississippi is at the same level as a third world nation unfairly cheapens the term and shows the authors naivety of what a third world country truly is.  

Classroom management, or how to keep the class focused and working, was an area I struggled with my first year, especially during my first semester.  This year, my classroom management has been much improved  Part of the change stems from the fact that I no longer teach Freshmen, but I've also gotten better at being a manager of the class.  Detailed below are some changes I've made this year that have helped foster a more structured and effective learning environment:

    1.    Be Confident

As the teacher, you can win every argument.  Better yet though, as a teacher, you should never have to enter into an argument with a student.  If a student is doing something that is bothering you, warn them that they must modify their behavior, and if they don't, give them a consequence.  If you do this unflinchingly, you will limit students questioning your actions.  I gave out a detention last week because someone was tapping their pencil.  I warned them first, and then followed through.  The student was upset about this until one of his classmates turned and said something to the effect of you knew that would happen if continued your behavior.  

    2.    Stick to your guns

This ties into number one, once you have made a decision, it is set in stone.  If someone complains, tell them see me after class, if someone wont stop whining, give them another consequence.  If you take back a consequence it sets a standard that consequences are negotiable, and this will be a grand mistake.

    3.    Grade

I'm going to reach out on a limb and say that not all of your kids are passing your class, and furthermore, the "bad" kids are often making the low marks.  Just as important, your "good" kids are probably passing, and some may be doing quite well.  Grade.  If you grade papers and pass them back with some frequency, you are constantly letting the students with low mark know that they will fail if they continue to lack focus (the reason 75% of my kids fail), and you will be letting the top student know that their hard work is appreciated and has a positive effect on their grades.  Although it will depend student to student, most students want to pass your class.  Even the students who say they don't care still do some work for a reason, they would like to pass.  If you never grade you will give the impression that work done in class has little or no bearing on the student passing, and this will lead to the students doing less work and at a lower quality.  

"I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized"."
                                - Travis Bickle

Every two days I see in excess of 150 students and grade just as many papers.  In nearly every class I have some sort of handout, in my ACT prep class (we don't have a book) I may give out three handouts.  This constant stream of work creates a constant stream of papers going to me and back out to the students.  In order to manage this stream, I've had to hone my organizational skills.  Below are a few detailed points which have helped me become more organized:

    1.    Have a one class grading turnaround:

What this means is that if you turn in a quiz or test on Monday, the next time I see you (Wednesday) you will get the paper back with a grade on it.  This prevents a backlog of grading which will drive you mad and wreak havoc on your organizational system. 

    2.    Throw away papers you don't grade promptly: 

This point ties into the first.  If I don't grade it right away, its going to become an organizational problem, so I throw it away and give everyone a participation grade for doing the work (I do this very infrequently this year, in fact, only once so far).

    3.    Create electronic folders for every class:

Yeah, your computer will get messy as well.  Create a system of folders and subfolders to stay on top of your game.  To open todays lesson plan and resources (its an exam day!), I click on Murrah 2009, September AL 2, Twelve.  This is especially good to do your first year, because if you have the same preps next year, you're golden. 

    4.    Keep your classroom clean:

My roommates will attest that at times I am not the cleanest person.  While teaching I often become covered in expo marker.  However, my class is clean.  In the back there are trays of grading with no more than one assignment inside.  They will be passed back today to the students, and then the assignments will leave my class.  I don't have piles of paper stacked about.  If you get in the habit of putting everything in the proper place, you wont lose your handouts, your old exams, and so on.  Once again, this ties into grading things promptly. 

Overall, organization is important in many ways.  My largest piece of advice is don't let grading stack up.  Old papers will clutter your room, and not turning back papers promptly will lead to issues with classroom management, which is my next topic....

*Required

So I am loving my second year.  It is SOOOO much easier than the beginning of last year.  This blog is essentially a heads-up for people who teach ninth graders.

The hardest part of this year has been STARTING OVER.

If you teach (or have taught) ninth graders, there is a drastic improvement between the beginning of the year and the end.  Besides developing some sense basic maturity and confidence, by the end of the year students are able to do things on their own.  They understand your routines, grading system, etc. and have learned how to live in your classroom.  It's great at the end of the first year.

Then reality sets in the next August.  A whole new group of knuckleheads.  Ninth graders are clueless (I'm sure you've discovered this).  The hardest part, then, is going through it all again.  Teaching them how to act towards each other.  Teaching them how to look up page numbers.  Teaching them that fighting is dumb.  Teaching them that what they found in the book really is the correct answer and they don't need to call on my to check it every three seconds.

It's exhausting, but I know that they will get better.  The satisfaction of seeing them grow up is what makes it worth it.  The difference between the beginning and end of ninth grade is greater than any other high school year.  It's nice being a part of that.

Go Irish!

*Required

I can’t say that I’m the most organized person.  I try to be.  Believe it or not, I’m actually a neat freak who just can’t keep up.  Here are my tips and tricks:

• Buy a plastic organizer with one section for each class so that you can keep your papers organized until they are handed back

• Keep binders.  Just as you may make your students keep binders with worksheets and notes, do the same with your worksheets/notes/answer keys/tests/lesson plans.  Keeping this stuff organized will make your next semesters much easier (especially if you teach a one semester class).

• Eliminate the clutter.  Have students clean up in your last period.  Have certain students clean up paper and others put books, etc. away.  Straighten desks when you leave for the day so that it doesn’t look disorganized when you come in the next day.  It’s a small thing, but it’ll make you look forward to the day rather than dread it.

And finally…

• THROW STUFF AWAY!  If you haven’t gotten around to grading something from the second week by now, the students will have forgotten.  Just toss it.  I can promise you they won’t know the difference.  It’ll make you feel better too.

That’s it.

My first couple weeks last year were stressful and challenging.  I had a foggy idea of what I was supposed to be teaching (not that I don't know math, but that I was confused as to were in the material I should start my classes), and an even foggier idea of how I should go about teaching the material.  The students, who were predominately 9th graders, had lots of questions about the school, which put me on the defensive, because I shared many of their inquiries.  By the start of the third week, I had quickly realized that I would need to re-amp my classroom structure in half my classes, and re-check my teaching strategies in all my classes.  

This year, things have so far (knock on wood) gone swimmingly.  For the most part, all my classes are very well organized, everyone knows what they should be doing at all times, and I have all the answers to my students questions (even though some of those answers may be lies).  With the exception of one class, my ACT prep class, I feel that I have been very successful in teaching the material to the students thus far (the ACT prep class isn't bad,  it just involves the students doing lots of sample tests, which I hope will be beneficial).

This of course leads into what I would like to do better as a teacher this semester, which conveniently is in the blog below...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last year my classroom felt a lot like the Soviet Union.  Lots of things were broken, some of the work was meaningless, but to some extent, things got done (albeit in a dirty way).  This year, I have a new classroom, new classes, and a new perspective.  Chiefly, I'm trying to streamline the learning experience.  I'm focusing on value added ad-ons.  Efficiency is the new buzzword, and enhanced structure is the plan.  In order to facilitate this, I have moved to a standard day schedule:   first 15 min we have a quiz, then move into a lecture over the mechanics of the day, followed by independent book work, and wrapped up with group work.  The basic idea is that the most serious work comes first, and the class relaxes as it goes on (although never too much).

The goal this year is not to have a class that runs, but have a class that runs well.  By having a firm daily structure in place, along with doing a multitude of other things well (such as having a quick turnover on grading, nipping problems in the bud), I feel that I can achieve this goal, and upgrade my class from a reliable clunker to the latest and greatest.  

*Required

The question: What do you want to do better as a teacher this semester?

The answer: Everything.

I think that everything can be improved upon.  I began seeing that last year.  That is the benefit of teaching a one semester class, you can improve beginning in January.  Additionally, I changed things in my classroom as late as spring break--and it worked!

This year I have focused on the small things which tend to make the classroom distracting or things that cut into instructional time.  Tardies are no longer an issue in my classroom.  A combination of longer class change times and a clear and unchanging policy have enabled me to start class efficiently.  Solid expectations which I hope to maintain have set the tone for my discipline policies.

In choosing one thing that I am worried about, it would have to be making sure students don't fall through the cracks early in the semester.  First semester last year I had plenty of students fail.  Yes, part of it was because ninth graders are idiots, but it was also because I was getting my legs under me and just couldn't identify the struggling students (especially when I didn't know any of them).

This year, I hope to minimize the number of students that struggle in their first semester.  Part of that goal relates to expectations such as those outlined above.  The other part of that has to be an active effort on my part to engage students and work with those who struggle.  Since I know what is going on in the school and in my classroom, I hope to use my energy to achieve this goal.  Here's to hoping that this goal is as successful as my tardy policy...

By the way, Notre Dame football begins SATURDAY.

teach like a champion today

*Required

Simply put, the first week of school was a breeze compared to last year.  Generally, I’m a very flexible teacher so assemblies and holding my homeroom don’t really bother me.  This year I just made sure that I filled the time…ALL OF IT.

We spent time playing the “I’m going to learn all of your names before the end of class” game.  We spent HOURS on rules and procedures.  And I meant business.  I laid out every procedure in great detail and explained everything that they had questions about.  I didn’t let things slide like last year.  Oh, and I gave them their rules and procedures quiz which I have yet to grade.

Compared to last year?  I am still drowning in papers.  I just can’t seem to get the motivation to grade papers this year.  I’m trying my best though.  Overall, though, I do not have the feeling of being overwhelmed.  I am on top of discipline, writing assignments, my subject matter, and I have worksheets prepared for days ahead of now.  If I could only grade some papers…

The only disheartening thing has been the decline of technology in my room.  How is this possible in a room without so much as an overhead projector?  Well, my white boards were replaced (most of them, at least) with new boards that don’t erase.  One board has yet to be replaced.  So instead of two good boards that had marks on them, I’m stuck with one board that doesn’t erase.  Bummer.

Other than the common nuisances of an underfunded school, however, my classes have been going extremely well.  Most of the freshmen are pretty good this year compared to last.  With my classroom changes, it has the makings of a solid academic year.

Obligatory YouTube video:

Florida student Damon Weaver interviews President Obama at the White House.