Broken System Is Broken

Another disappointing discovery in the local policy department. I got an email from a student's counselor yesterday asking what grades this girl would need for the final quarter and the final exam to pass. She has failed all three quarters so far.

So this morning I sat down to start doing the math. Her three quarter grades averaged to a 45%. I was a little confused how to figure out how this would affect the rest of the year for her, but I was doubtful she could pass if she earns less than 100% from here on out. So I went next door to another (English) teacher to ask how he figures those things out.

However, he told me I couldn't use a number. I had to use a letter grade. Umm, but teacher, letters can't have averages. Apparently, though, each letter is assigned a number much like the GPA scale: A is 4, B is 3, C is 2, D is 1, and E is 0. Ok, I guess that makes sense.

But here's the broken part: A student needs a total of 5 points to graduate. Which means my failing student -- a girl who rarely comes to class, never completes her homework, bombs most tests, and barely completes classwork -- can theoretically get an A, then a D, and then it doesn't matter if she fails the last semester or the final. Think about that: we have built a system that actually encourages students to slack off after just nine weeks of school.

If you have failed three quarters, I don't think you should be able to pass the course. Otherwise, we are teaching children that it's okay to be lazy for most of your life as long as you do *some* work the last month or so of school. Teaching life lessons? We're doing it wrong.

Speaking of positive things from students...

Here is an example of work one of my seniors did this week. As part of my goal to get (force?) the students to appreciate the language of Shakespeare, I have been inundating them with activities that get them to think about how his language relates to them. So last week I gave them an assignment in which they had to "translate" 10 lines from Macbeth into text message speak. They actually had a really good time doing this, and of course, some products were better than others, but this is one of my favorites. It's from the beginning of Scene 3 in Act 2, when we are introduced to the drunk Porter:

Macduff: u asleep?
Porter: no lol. We r durnk
Macduff: How drunk?
Porter: I'm horny :) & I hav 2 p. I mite pass out lol. I wanna get with this chick but I'm not gunna do sex good :( I'm 2 drunk
Porter: I'm gunna pass outttttttt
Porter: I feel sick :(
Macduff: Didn't u black out last nite 2?
Porter: lol yea. But I like booze lol. I puked last nite 2 lololololol
Macduff: Did u wake up Macbeth
Porter: Oh s*** yeah. Imma bail.

This kid is clearly up on "text speak," and he was able to seamlessly apply that to these characters. That's pretty awesome. I like to think that at least something is getting through to them.

Year of the Rat

Yeah, long time since an update. Whoops.

Spring break is over, which means the fourth and final quarter has started, which means this is the most difficult time of the year to keep students engaged, especially seniors. I spent this afternoon at the final training for second-language learners, and this was probably the most valuable session, as I got several (mostly movement-based) interactive activities which would work well with (woo alliteration!) all students. I was talking to a colleague after the session about our difficulties with getting students -- particularly the younger ones -- to turn things in, and even do work in class. I was telling her that at my school everyone agreed that this year's sophomores has been the worst group of students people have ever seen. The juniors are fine. The freshmen are fine. There is something seriously wrong with the class of 2014. She said it was exactly the same thing at her school, and as she put it, "there must have been misalignment in the stars or something." It's really quite baffling.

However, on a positive note, students from all over the country are capable of doing amazing things. I have to constantly tell myself this. This video is proof.

Gross.

I will let this article speak for itself.

But on a positive note, one of my more difficult boy students said to me today, "Ms. Brown, I want to be just like you when I grow up. Except a man." I could not hide my laughter.

Teach to learn, learn to teach

I'm introducing The Taming of the Shrew to my sophomores, and am prepping them by focusing on the themes in the play first. Last week, one of their questions to answer was to explain how they view gender roles in a relationship, and whether or not love is necessary for marriage. During the course of reading their answers, I learned two important things.
1) Teenagers are extremely jaded about marriage. That was not terribly surprising, as at least half of them have divorced parents or have only known one parent, but it was interesting to see how they expressed these opinions.
2) I have one student who has said three words to me all year and is rarely in attendance, who is actually quite bright when he shows up, who, for this assignment, wrote something incredibly poignant. Unfortunately, I do not have his paper in front of me so I cannot cite it verbatim, but he compared a relationship to a house of cards: All pieces have to work together in a very specific way or everything will fall apart. I was floored. Most of my students don't even know what an analogy is; much less can they make one that is so appropriate and complex.

It's things like that that make me wish I could just randomly pull kids into a quiet corner and say "You're awesome." It's moments like that that make me forget about all the bad in the world.

Stranger than Fiction

I'm out sick today. Even though I didn't sleep at all last week I wanted to go in today, because it's actually *more* work prepping to be out, especially when it's last minute.

Anyway... I love/hate this time of year every four years, with that little thing called the Presidential Election. This year seems like a circus. Not surprisingly, many candidates are focusing on education. I don't think anyone has nailed it down completely yet, but no one is getting it more wrong than this guy. Petri says it much better than I ever could, but college (i.e. higher education) is for snobs? Really? I think he has finally gone off the deep end... which is actually unfortunate, as the entertainment he has provided will soon be no more.

Jon Stewart, you're my hero

I rarely watch TV, but when I do... usually my first choice is The Daily Show. Stewart's wit and interview skills are really freakin' amazing. It's too bad guys like that did not go into politics... but I digress.

Recently, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was on the show. If you missed it, here is the link. He did have some good things to say (I really loved his idea about the "wraparound" school, where it becomes a crucial community center, not just an 8-4 building), but for the most part, Stewart was ripping him a new one. It was one of the better interviews I have seen, if for no other reason than it got a professional policy maker to admit just how broken the current system is.

In other (better) news, I have a student in my first period who always brings his guitar with him to class. He almost always arrives early and starts to play a song while others are shuffling in. It's a great start to the day, and today he played "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab For Cutie. We had a really nice conversation about it before the bell rang. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay creativity!

Had to share...

As much as I'm trying to talk more about my own teaching experiences now and less about others, I couldn't not share this, because it is a great example of how broken the system is. Why are teachers continuing to be so undervalued? Why is there all this obsession with standardized testing, when we keep hearing, time and again, that we should be teaching children how to think critically and creatively, something that will never be accomplished with test upon test upon test? Aaaaaaargh.

Alternative Schooling

If you were to ask me how I felt about home-schooling, I would not be sure how to answer you. On the one hand, I think there are a lot of students who benefit from an environment that traditional schooling does not provide (and, in fact, one of my students is being homeschooled for the remainder of the year due to health issues she has been having, and is excelling in that environment), but on the other hand, I think that people can abuse it (mainly religious nuts), and some use it as a cop-out.

In the same ilk, I am slightly unsure about what I think about this, but I am leaning more toward the "I don't like it" vein, since I think it would mostly benefit people who homeschool their children because they don't like the "liberal agenda" or whatever they think traditional schools promote (it is named after another religious nut, after all).

I do agree that since parents who homeschool their children still pay taxes, so they should be able to have some input about public schooling-- but then again, they have made the choice to homeschool their children, and are aware of what they are giving up to do so. Also, I think waaaay too much emphasis is placed upon sports and other extra-curriculars where the academic curriculum is being ignored. But that's an entirely different issue...

Diversity at its best

I feel like I've been really negative lately. No surprise, really; I am a purebred cynic.

However, I'm going to really, really try to use this as less of a forum for bitching and instead use it as a forum for ideas and successes. Like, for instance, this one. It is quite a step for Gay Rights Advocates. While sexuality really has nothing to do with education, tolerance does. What is school for, if not to teach tolerance? So I feel like this article is extremely relevant to education.