“Teenage Wasteland”

We just finished reading a short story in English 10 titled “Teenage Wasteland” by Anne Tyler. This is an interesting story about a high school boy who does not pass classes and who gets in trouble. The parents don’t know what to do with their son and feel like failures as parents. A psychologist recommends a tutor for the son to work with. This tutor has some interesting techniques and basically tells the parents to give the boy freedom. The boy eventually gets kicked out of school and runs away from home.

The story prompted conversations with my English 10 students about why some students have a hard time in school. I had the class imagine that they had a high school aged child who was failing classes. This was hard for some of them to imagineJ One of the students thought that he would probably be around 70 years old by the time he had a high school aged child. I asked them what advice they would give and they had a number of funny responses. One student said that he would just yell at his child to “do your work,” because that is what his father does to him. I asked the student if the yelling and lectures that he got, got him to do his work. He said “no, the lectures didn’t really work.” The students shared what “worked” for them and what didn’t really work. It was really interesting to hear students talk about this.

I told the class that teacher and parents want to see students be successful. I then shared with the class that occasionally both teachers and parents have no idea how to “reach” or motivate certain students. I have never really had a conversation like this with a group of sophomores before and I was pleased with how interested in topic the students were. The students were excited to share what advice they had been given before and were really interested in talking about this. Early on in “Teenage Wasteland” the parents are told to check in with their son every single night and to sit down and do his homework with him. The students came to the conclusion that the boy was not learning responsibility that way. The class wasn’t able to come to a conclusion about what the son really needed from his parents or teachers, but they did connect with the story and shared their thoughts that every student is different.

Contacting Home

I am wondering how often you all contact home about student progress? I try to email or call parents of students who are failing, but it is not always something that I am very good or regular about. Usually about a week before I need to update the Student Intervention Database I make my emails and calls, but it takes a lot of energy and time and I don’t always get responses from parents. I also don’t always notice a difference in how students are performing in my class. I know that I need to contact home but sometimes I get very frustrated with the process. I occasionally feel like parents and teachers care more about a student’s grade than the student does.

Even though I get frustrated with this, I do “get” that being a parent must be so hard at times. I have had many conversations w/ parents who say that they check in with their children about homework and grades but that their kids don’t always tell them the truth. I would like to find a way to make sure that I keep parents informed, but that I also have students take more responsibility for their grade.

Do you send grade print-offs home? I’ve thought that having the students physically bring home their grade print-off and having a conversation with their parents is good because the students are then more apart of the process. I have a handful of students who are not passing English 10 right now. I have sent emails home and have made phone calls, but these students have not pulled up their grades. This week I think I will try having the students bring their grade print-offs home to their parents. I plan on also including a note about the final unit that is coming up and the work that parents should see their students working on.

Has anyone found a method that really works with keeping parents informed and student’s involved in the process?

Help with a Standards-based Gradebook

I really want to figure out how to set up a standards-based grading system for next year. I am struggling on what it should actually look like in Ties though. Has anyone taken on this challenge and feel like they are being successful?

These are the things I am torn on:
Should I be entering benchmarks, standards or objectives in the categories as opposed to have the typical tests, homework, etc categories?
Do I note the standard/benchmark that is being addressed in the "notes" so for every assessment, parents and students can see what standard is being addressed?
Do I switch to a 4 point system and if I do, how will that translate into letter grades for entering at the end of each quarter?
Do I use the same system for SpEd students?

These are just some of my questions. I have read the research, I love the idea, it makes complete sense, but I just can't wrap my head around the logistics of it.

I would really appreciate input/ideas if you have any.

PLC's Galore

I love the idea of PLC's. As educators, of course we should collaborate, share ideas, compare data, brainstorm together, create common assessments, etc. Let me tell you though, I feel like I am PLCed out right now. Maybe it is because I am split between two schools and I have PLC's at both. It is so hard for my brain to stay focused on which PLC is doing what and keeping track of all of the tasks that I am responsible for completing.

I know that it is cliche for an educator to say that we are not given enough time to get everything done. If only we could get some more time that is set aside solely for PLC work time though. I feel like there are so many things that we are expected to accomplish in our PLC's and trying to meet over lunch or having one meeting a month is not sufficient. There is no way that we can get what we want to get done done in that amount of time.

Speaking with teachers in other districts, it sounds like, overall, the same problem is present in many. However, I have heard of some districts that set days aside and even pay for subs to come in so teachers can create lesson plans and assessments, collaborate and look at data. How nice would that be?

I know it is not likely for this to happen, especially with the budget right now. I will keep my fingers crossed that maybe some day in the future this could happen though.

Making AYP

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/04/28/30ayp.h30.html?tkn=ULLFf%2FbulXNHp4SaL0d4io7ESkQxSWCHDAuB&cmp=clp-edweek

Schools not making their AYP rose 5% this past year. Luckily Minnesota dropped their AYP number by 4%, from 54 to 50 percent of the schools not making the AYP. Over the past 4 years Minnesota has gone from 38% in 2006 to a huge increase to 50% for 2010. Looking at the data all of the Shakopee schools failed the AYP except for one Elementary school.
Who really understands the AYP anyway? If close to 40% of the nation is failing the AYP shouldn’t something really be done about it?

Some states have tried to improve their AYP, and that has backfired for some states. New York tried to make tougher restrictions and there AYP went up over 24%. NY raised their cutoff marks, now who thought of that cleaver idea? If you already had 12% of the schools not making the cut why raise it? Many states more than doubled the schools that failed the

The main point of the article comes in the last sentence where it states that if we want to compare states we need to have common assessment. Don’t know where we can get all the numbers from if we don’t have tests and evaluations that are all the same, and can show us how each states compare.

I do agree with NCLB, because no child should be left behind. But I think to test for AYP there needs to be set guidelines that are the same throughout the country. Different tests for students with disabilities, ELL, and ESL students. Some students that have only been in the country a couple of years should not have to take the same or similar tests to those who have spent their entire lives here. Students need to be tested for showing improvement and track there learning, but some of these tests are just outrageous.

With dealing with testing, MCA’s in Minnesota is just weird. Students can take the test up to 3 times and if they don’t pass on the third time, who really cares. IF failing 3 times and students can still graduate from high school is pointless. Why give them the test in the first place? We spend all this money on it, and the students half of the time don’t care what they get on it. State money can be placed in better areas.

So who should we test?

Reasons to Blog

So I have been attending some PGO’s in regard to getting the students more involved with technology. OR getting the teachers more involved with technology as well. Having blogs, community pages, places where students can talk and create presentation, etc. But I am looking more at blogging today. Blogging is new to me, really have never done it till this year. And most of my friends really haven’t started blogging pictures and trip information till this year. So why has it gotten so popular with this generation? And why is it so important to do it with our students?

I found this article on Educator Week – Teacher edition regarding Blogs
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/04/27/tln_ratzel_courage.html?r=1460108215

The article gives 8 tips on how to use blogs in the classroom and what you should be prepared to do as a teacher / parent.

Starting with tip #1, which is covering the rules. If there is a class blog make sure that rules and regulations are posted, on your blog, website and sent to parents. Making sure that items that are on the blog are appropriate, worth reading and geared toward higher learning. Taking time and showing students how to post, learning how to respond and find information regarding the topic at hand is very useful as well.

Practicing without computers is the pretty cleaver tip that is recommended. Have the students practice with post-its and writing comments on them and post them around the room. Students are learning how to comment appropriately and seeing how their posts can be linked to others in the classroom. Practicing first with the teacher at hand will help going out on their own and actually doing an assignment with fellow classmates.

This article really emphasizes safety, either with usernames or contacting parents.
This is a great idea, but I am still stuck on the computer time. I teach some low level classes and yes most of them have computers but I still have a few that don’t. They ride the bus to and from school, don’t have a study hall, and are usually the free and reduced lunch crowd. So what would be a source or back-up idea for these students? And finding computer lab time is sometimes very difficult.

I found this article very informative, and has helped me get a better understanding of how and what to predict when hopefully I start Blogging with my students.

“When Cheating Makes us Think We’re Smart”

I get an email from turnitin.com occasionally that points out new ways to use the website and oftentimes has links to articles having to do with student writing. In the April 20th turnitin email, there was a headline titled “When Cheating Makes us Think We’re Smart.” This caught my attention and I decided to read the post. The article was a blog post written by Nate Kornell, Ph.D. and was published on March 28th, 2011. The blog post details a study by Zoë Chance, Michael I. Norton, Francesca Ginob, and Dan Ariely. The study focused on how individuals interpret and feel about their own cheating. The study had two groups of participants.

Here is the breakdown of how the two groups were different:

“Participants in the control group:
• Took a test.
• Made a prediction about how they'd do on a second test.
• Took a second test.
Participants in the "cheating" group did the same, but during the first test, the answers were printed at the bottom of the test.

• Took a test on which they could cheat
• Made a prediction about how they'd do on a second test.
• Took a second test.”

The study found that the people who were given the opportunity to cheat on the first test, “thought” that they would do better on the second test. These findings were the opposite of what I expected the study to find. The group that was able to cheat made predictions that were “significantly higher than were the control group's. In other words, getting answers right by cheating made people think they were smart.

The authors put it this way:

We find that those who exploit opportunities to cheat on tests are likely to engage in self-deception, interfering that their elevated performance is a sign of intelligence. This short-term psychological benefit of self-deception, however, can come with longer-term costs: when predicting future performance, participants expect to perform equally well—a lack of awareness that persists even when these inflated expectations prove costly.
These results add to ample evidence that people are adept at deceiving themselves” (Kornell).

Even though I don’t think the study was very clear, I still think that this is something interesting to share with students. I plan on sharing this with my English 10 students next week when they need to submit more of their writing to turnitin.com. It is scary to think about how much cheating may actually take place at school. This would just be something to share with students to show them how they really will not get anywhere with cheating.


The blog was written on the “Psychology Today” website and can be found here:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/everybody-is-stupid-except-you/201103/when-cheating-makes-us-think-were-smart?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonv63PZKXonjHpfsX%2B7%2BwoXaag38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YQIT9QhcOuuEwcWGog8yRxZCOGRdYdN6Q%3D%3D

Here is a link to the study if you are curios in checking it out:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/03/02/1010658108.abstract

Classroom Arrangement

I have had 3 different desk arrangements in my classroom so far this year. Two of which, I have really enjoyed. I have tried really hard this year to have students in a position where they could easily collaborate and communicate with one another. I was worried at first that it would cause more behavior issues because of the ease to socialize.
My first desk arrangement had students grouped in trios. I think that overall, I enjoyed this arrangement the most. Everyone could easily see the front of the room and everyone had plenty of personal space around their desks and could easily get in and out of their desks. The only thing that I disliked about this particular arrangement was that I had 7 groups of 3 in my classroom so it took up a lot of floor space.

The second desk arrangement was one that the teacher that I share my room with came up with. She had the desks in 2 long, curved rows. There were 10 desks in one row and 11 in the back row. I disliked this arrangement immensely. It did not foster student collaboration because the desks had to physically be moved in order to work in groups. This took up way too much precious class time. The other reason that I disliked this arrangement was because students were very close to one another and it was extremely difficult for some students to get into their desks since another one was right next to theirs. I also found that there were more behavior issues with this arrangement. Students were touching each other and there were a couple times when a student farted and a huge disruption was caused.

The last arrangement that I tried was having the desks in groups of 4. I brought in 3 more desks for this arrangement so I could have 6 groups of 4. Again, this takes up a lot of floor space, but with the extra desks in the room, less students have to sit at a lab table. This is also great because if a student is absent, there are still 3 other people who can work together.

No matter what arrangement that I put my desks in, one thing that bothers me is the fact that I don't have enough desks for each of my students. There are always at least 5 students who have to sit at a lab table. In an ideal world, every student would have their own desk so the lab tables would solely be used for labs and activities. I like the physical transition so students can switch their frame-of-mind as well as get up and move so they can better stay focused for the duration of a class period.

One other thing to note is that when I put desks into groupings, I always have a seating chart which I have put a lot of thought in to. I arrange students differently depending upon the unit of study. If it is a math intense unit, I group students heterogeneously based on their MAP math scores. I hope that students utilize the help of their peers in this situation. If it is a unit where the 9th grade science department has a lot of leveled readers, I group homogeneously based on MAP reading scores. This way group members can use the same leveled book at each grouping.

I know that I will never have a "perfect" situation when it comes to classroom arrangement. Space, number of desks, number of students, and many other reasons keep this from happening. I do feel like I have learned a lot this year from trying different things and I am confident that I am headed in the right direction when it comes to what is best for my students and their learning.