34 posts tagged “high school”

Surfing

I was watching a show on Hawaii with my parents tonight on the Smithsonian Channel (they get waaayy cooler channels than I do), and watching a surfer catch a wave, thinking, “That’s physics in action.”  The way the surfer has to understand the physical motion of the wave, calculating for speed and force, adding in the importance of placement for the perfect balance at the point where the wave crests and the barrel is just beginning.  It was utterly beautiful.

My students believe that physics is something in a classroom lab.  It doesn’t exist outside the walls of the school.  Neither do the reading strategies I offer them, the scientific process, the history lessons they learn, or the books they read.  They kind of understand that they’ll have to do math in the “real world”,  but since they have calculators, even that is beginning to show a real loss of importance.  I have no way of showing them the applications of what we learn in school because of the very fact that we are in school.

Upon reflection, I am beginning to realize just how important a field trip really is.  Not only is it a way to emphasize a lesson’s worth outside the classroom walls, it is ideal for information synthesis.  One of the things I really think we are missing in schools is the ability to show the students that nothing is in isolation.  It’s like all of the lessons are in a vacuum, and I think there is a great importance in showing how the idea of physics meets surfing or shipbuilding, how history is related to literature and psychology and politics, how chemistry is related to art and music.

I wonder if the idea of field trips was no longer considered a 4-letter word would our students begin to naturally acquire the skills and thoughts we find so important?  That real world application seems to be lacking in the current model – and I think to the students’ disadvantage.

The student, whose paper topic I detail in the title of this post, literally cracks me up on a daily basis.  Two weeks ago, I was discussing satire with my ninth graders, and asked if anyone knew what it was, just as an intro.  To which my lovely comedian of a student replies, in all seriousness, "Satire?  Miss, isn't that one of those guys who's like, half goat, half man?"

I paused to gape.

Then replied myself, "No...that's a satyr." 

He is now referred to as Satyr-boy.  By his entire class.  Luckily, he takes it all in stride. 

But I keep coming across such gems as, "Miss I'm starving!  I can't eat 'cause it's Yom Kippur, and I hate this way of getting rid of sins!"

"Raisins remind me of old people."

At least, when my job gets crappy (and I'm in a good spot, so I don't want to try my luck too much), I can always just come right down to my kids, and it improves immensely. 

Teaching

I am enthusiastically waiting for the school year to start in two weeks, as I'm sure many others are.  That enthusiasm was a little hard to come by for a while, though.  Since my district implemented the College Board's English curriculum for 6-12 called SpringBoard, I have been wondering how to keep a decent attitude since everything I do is laid out for me and uses little creativity or imagination of my own.

Last year was our first year with the curriculum, and I was excited to try it.  I was in the middle of my masters degree coursework and it seemed like it was in-line with everything I was learning, but upon using it found it to be devoid of any writing, grammar, and vocabulary instruction, and never fulfilled the promise of being able to raise students' enthusiasm and test scores (indeed, our school dropped 2 letter grades because of the drop in FCAT testing scores for reading).  Apparently, that curriculum has been in-force for 8 years, and was due for a revision.  Again, I tried to be optimistic, hoping that some of those things that frustrated me would be adjusted.  And some of them were.

But I was still wondering why I was disappointed.

SpringBoard is a skills-based curriculum with the general idea being to teach the students skills that will be built upon in subsequent years using high-interest, low-difficulty (in most cases) material.  Which is great.  But what it doesn't do, and the revision didn't fix, was move on to at least higher-level difficulty passages.  The skills are taught, but rarely reinforced or practiced.  So now I know what I need to do, and I'm excited!  I finally have a way to use my brain to make this situation a better one for me and my students!  

I am going through my curriculum guide trying to find passages and works that I can supplement with to make sure that skill reinforcement happens.  It will be trial and error, but hey.  This is my third year of teaching, and my third curriculum in this district, so all I can say is that at least I was able to prepare ahead of time for this one :-)

Mon 5-11-09

I have failed at Project 365.  I was able to keep it going for more than 20 days, but then the end of the school year happened and sapped all of my energy and will to even pick up my camera, let alone upload all the photos from the drama banquet that the kids want me to do soon.  Like three days ago.  *sigh*

This is the end of my second year as a high school English teacher - or at least it will be after next week.  I keep saying "I wish that the school year would end", "I can't wait for summer", and "can I go home yet?"  But as I learn new stuff all the time about how to do my job better, I just realized that all I really want is a new crop of kids.  Not that I don't love my present crop (mostly.  okay, sometimes.), but they are a rough crowd.  Next year I get freshman honors, which carries its own challenges, biggest problem is that they have parents who care - sometimes too much.  But wouldn't it be great to see kids who actually want to do well, even if they aren't thrilled with the material?  My lower level kids couldn't even be bothered with trying for a C or a D, let alone a B or an A.  And with 30 or more absences for the year - how can they expect to do any better than a failing mark anyhow?  But they do.  *arg*  And I feel like I failed them because I couldn't make them see the importance of ninth grade and attendance and grades and language arts, and then I feel guilty because I feel better when I think that at least I'm not the only teacher who hasn't been able to reach them. 

But summer will be fun!  Two road trips, one to Oklahoma and Texas at the end of June with my cousin - my first "fun" road trip with someone - and then to NY with my mom in late July for my other cousin's wedding.  I'll visit with people as I can and try to give you fair warning before I crash :-)  On top of that, I am kayaking and walking for the Breast Cancer 3 Day in October, and am planning on trying the indoor rock climbing gym sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.  This, right here, is half of the reason teaching is worth the trauma I suffer.  *lawl*

My first period class is my ball and chain.  Once I get through that group of kids, my day is easy breezy as long as they haven't ruined it.  Which they have.  An I have, I'm ashamed to say, given up.  I can no longer encourage, cajole, bluff, chide, or yell them into being quiet anymore.  So they will have quizzes when they talk, and the more noise I hear I'll just keep adding questions.  I will be worksheet-ing them to death as we try to get through To Kill a Mockingbird, which will kill me, too.  Oh well.  I've washed my hands of that group so that my other classes have a chance at getting someone with an even temper for a while.  I feel guilty, but, hey.  There's only one of me, and 172 of them.  I have to preserve the learning for the greatest portion of them. 

So, done.

4-22-09
Originally uploaded by smokymtnkayaker

My 9th graders are reading "Romeo & Juliet" and set this little re-enactment of the last scene up on my desk with my 50's duckies from "All Shook Up". Notice the red lipstick (blood) on the tweezers (knife) and the broken bottle of poison next to Romeo.

I giggled for the rest of the period.

I am researching a paper that I have put off for a while and is due this week....my VERY LAST PAPER, by the way, before I graduate with my MAT in English Ed in 2 weeks!  But as I do the research, I feel guilty.  I don't know if it is because it is the end of the school year and I am stressing about things that I have yet to get to with my own students (and may not get to at all), but I feel that with the curriculum I was given and forced to administer has cheated my kids, and I allowed it to happen.

One of the tenants that Dr. Kaywell made very clear (and she is the profesor I have had that I look up to the most) is never to let THEM make you do something that is educationally unsound, whoever "THEM" is.  I feel torn about my feelings because upon first glance, the SpringBoard program looks good, but once you actually get down to it with the kids, it lacks so much of what they need!  It doesn't have much in the way of novels or reading, and it certainly offers almost nothing in the realm of writing.  What it does offer is movies and games....but do I want my kids to be entertained or learning something valuable?  I don't know.  This was year one....experimentation year.  But I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to do better in making sure they got what they needed to survive outside of the school walls and not just to pass the damn FCAT. 

I have been AWOL on my blog for a while, mostly because going to school full time, teaching full time, and directing the school musical has spread me rather thin.  But I've been mostly having fun!  There have been some interesting moments, though.

For instance, today my co-director for the musical broke her ankle. 

We were doing cast rituals before the show which involves the cast in a circle with hands clasped and passing around a stuffed cow that has been through this ritual more times than needsmentioning without ever being washed.  Did I mention you have to kiss it?  That should be added in.  And if you drop it, it will be a bad luck sign for the show.  So it got dropped.  Ooops.  J starts laughing like a hyena at the kids who were tearing up about it.  Now we know that was a bad idea :-)

We were having a bit of fun and nonsense at the end of the show out in the grass and when J ran across, she fell into the armadillo hole and we thought she just turned her ankle.  Turns out, it was rather worse than that :-(  We sent the kids home and I followed her to the clinic to get xrays (we got them so fast that I don't think I'll ever go to the ER again!).  Luckily the bone wasn't broken, but she did tear it up pretty good, so she will need to be gauze and spandex wrapped and stumbling around on crutches.  The kids have volunteered to put the cow on the bottom so it get what it deserves...everyone knows this is because she laughed at it :-)

I also had my last observation from my university supervisor who was just horrified at how loud my class was.  An ESE class with little help with 37 kids in it, 3 of which who are new in the last week and 4 of which just came out of juvie.  They don't have "inside voices".  And since the lesson was learning the language of Shakespeare through insults, I didn't pay much attention to the insults being hurled back and forth.  Apparently my supervisor equated this with bullying, and said that "Wong says that the type of student shouldn't matter with classroom management."  Since most of them were on-task for most of the class and working with their partners (albeit a bit loudly...okay - VERY loudly) I didn't think much of it except for the headache it gave me. 

Is this just a generational thing, or does she really expect them to be as quiet as honours' level kids or even regular level without the social disabilities these kids have or a class with only 25 kids?  I guess I think that Wong is mostly shit when it comes to the kind of student I deal with.  I just feel like I couldn't make her understand the lesson or the kids or the issues I have with them and that this was actually a good class.  I don't see any of these as excuses like she accused me of, either...merely explanations.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I'm trying to listen to what she says because she has had more experience by far than I have.  But at the same time, has she ever been threatened by a student? Dealt with kids fresh from juvie?  An administration that can't seem to get anything right except their break-time?

Who in their right mind does this job???