Day 135: PSSA Day 4

Author's Note: This post is bitter and angry.  I've been trying to avoid posts like these because I don't want to be complaining, but if I want to be honest with myself and my readers, I need to include what I'm really feeling.  I didn't intend for this to be a list of complaints.  I don't think complaining is productive or useful.  It only winds me up and gets me more upset.  But these emotions are real and need to be put down.

Today and tomorrow, the 8th graders are taking the writing section of the state-mandated standardized tests.  My bitterness at the loss of my geometry class again and again, as well as coverages yesterday and today is starting to leak over.

On an unrelated note, my room has 97 ceiling tiles, 2 vents and 15 lights that are placed in an odd pattern that puts me in mind of the ball drop game with moving platforms.

I often look at cars or airplanes and wonder "how did we get here, in terms of human development?"  Listening to stories on NPR, I wonder about the process of evolution that brought us to feel as though the speed at which a man throws a ball to another man is of vital enough importance that we feel the need to set furniture on fire in the streets.  I wonder about streets.

Standardized testing causes me to go into a deeper existential crisis than almost anything else I can think of.  What processes of human emotion and need have caused us to think that this was a good idea?  I know the basic history and the factory model of education, but I have tremendous trouble understanding why we still do it.

With so much research that talks about how standardized testing is not a good determination of  anything besides a student's ability to take standardized tests, why are we still spending 5% of our instructional time on such things.

It's alright though.  As frustrating as they are, they are really the best measure of how effective a teacher is.  I mean, besides anecdotal data, formative assessment, content confidence of students, administrative and peer observations of teachers, long-term success and happiness of students, or any of a handful of other ways to determine if a teacher is doing his or her job.

Thank goodness that these assessments measure community culture and priorities, parental involvement, educational opportunities, social interactions, hormone levels, chemical changes and individual student needs and desires.

Imagine how different our country would be if a yearly health census determined how effective doctors are.  When studies come out about how much heart disease is effecting the country, how fatty foods and sugary carbohydrates are making us fat, not a single person thinks to blame the doctors.  Instead, we change health policy and examine how to help people make healthy choices.  We fund campaigns like "Play 60" and encourage people to get more active.

However, when studies talk about how we are falling behind other countries in terms of education, we cut education funding and blame teachers for those problems.

When doctors or lawyers open offices in areas of high crime and poverty, people talk about how noble it is.  No, they won't be able to stop the crime or end the poverty, but every little bit helps!

The school, however, is totally to blame.

None of these problems are the fault of individuals who live in those communities.  I don't, in any way, blame my students for the circumstances in which they find themselves any more than I blame Prince Charles for being born a prince.

My issue is more with myself for not having the courage to stand up against it in any meaningful way.  It's with the entire system in place that uses these tests to say that children in poor areas are stupid and less proficient.  With funding being tied to scores, rich districts don't have to care about these tests at all while poor ones are 100% dependent on the outcome.



I am burned out.  I am tired of being angry and frustrated.  I am tired of feeling ineffective and helpless.  I don't even think that the PSSA's are the problem.  They are merely an outlet (albeit a valid one) for these emotions.  Many of these are systemic and out of my hands, so I haven't been addressing them here.  Other than continued introspection on my own actions and emotions, I'm not sure what else to do.

Without the energy to fight, I took the coward's way out.  The few classes I DID have today watched Cosmos.  When they weren't too busy talking over Neil deGrasse Tyson, they actually enjoyed it.


I need help.  I need it so badly.  If I'm going to find a way to not just phone it in for the remainder of the year for the pre-algebra classes, I need some help.

I know that all I can really do is two things: 1) Provide a place for students to learn when they are ready to do so and 2) encourage them as much as possible to be ready to learn.  My current issue, which has been mounting slowly, but steadily, for months now is that several of my students seem to be insistent that if they aren't ready to learn, no one will.

I have spoken with them individually, tried to contact parents, spoken with our guidance counselor and principal, all to no avail.  I have even told them that I am willing to leave them alone (for the time being) if they would just allow me to teach and allow the other students to learn.

I don't think that it's malicious behavior on their part, although in the heat of the moment, it certainly feels that way.  I think it's an extreme manifestation of the basic egocentrism displayed by children.  They simply don't understand that their actions are adversely affecting the other students.  I don't know how to effectively teach empathy.

My speaking to them calmly about it may help in the long run, but in the short run, my classes have descended into chaos and anarchy.

From conversations with the faculty, I'm not the only one.

Until I figure out what to do, I'm going to move back to a much stricter form of discipline.  I don't know if it will be effective, and I don't much want to, but I am feeling constantly disrespected by my students and I have had enough.

I have calmed down enough that I realize my initial plan to become a hard-ass, as I was last year, is probably an emotional one.  Sadly, no better option has replaced it.

I'm so tired of shouting into the dark.

I'm so tired of fighting.

Day 134: How Can They Be So Different??

After being energized at #EdCampPGH to continue my work on critical thinking and problem solving skills over content, I had two activities in mind for today.  One is something I've been thinking about for a while but haven't had a place to implement and the other was inspired by Dylan Kane's post on low-floor problems.

In geometry, the students were asked to work in groups to find as many Pythagorean Triples as they could.  The task was then to see if they could find a pattern for determining other primitive triples.  They worked very well through the period and I started noticing a drastic difference between students.

The groups with a better sense of numeracy were able to identify patterns, or spot differences that allowed them to look at the problems differently.  Those with less numeracy spent much of their time grinding through the calculations.

Since I didn't want the calculation, but rather the problem solving, I gave them a long list of primitive triples and asked them to come up with more, or at least identify patterns.  One students started with this:

If you can't tell what's happening here, she wrote the triples in pink and the difference between the second and third numbers in blue.  After looking for a pattern there and finding none, I asked her if it might be beneficial to set them into groups by that difference.

When we came back together as a group, I asked groups to describe the formula they discovered and said they could name them.  Almost everyone got a formula for triples with a single difference between sides b and c. ("3, 4, 5", "5, 12, 13", "7, 40, 41" etc.)  As a class we decided that if we took any odd number, we could find a Pythagorean triple by squaring that number, dividing the answer by 2, then subtracting .5 to get b and adding .5 to get c.

For example:

3^2 = 9,   9/2 = 4.5,  4.5 -.5 = 4 and 4.5 +.5 = 5.
So the Pythagorean Triple is 3, 4, 5.  We tested this with any off number that the students wanted and found that it worked.

Fewer groups came up with a way to find triples with a difference between b and c of 2. ("8, 15, 17", "12, 35, 37", "16, 63, 65.") but after we began discussing it (a student led discussion) we agreed on a rule that seemed to work.

I asked them if we could make a general form for it and which numbers it applied to.  We decided that it worked for values of a that were divisible by 4 and came up with:

We found something very similar for a values of 20, 28, 36, and so forth, counting up by 8's.

I think that tomorrow, I'm going to have them work on proving that these formula work by plugging them into the Pythagorean theorem.

But I'll make them determine HOW we're going to prove it.

I clued them in at the end of the period that they had been working on both algebra 2 concepts AND number theory.

"HOW CAN YOU NOT BE SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS??"

They were, but were too cool to show it.  In their hearts, however, I know they were bouncing around the room with the beauty of mathematical discovery.



Pre-algebra didn't go as well.  The lesson, I thought, was a pretty darn good one.  The task set before them was:

Describe (as in write down) how you would calculate 358 + 453 + 556 if the "5" button on your calculator was broken.

As I expected, several groups just did the column addition by hand.  When they did, I said "That's great! Now what if you couldn't use a 5 at all? How would you do it?"

We had a discussion about what the number 5 means and represents.  If it means you have "5 things" then how else could you say that without using the word or number "5"?

The talk went into various ways to represent different kinds of numbers and I asked them to do a few basic problem in their heads, then describe what they did.  For the most part, I got answers like I did last week.

Me: What do you get when you add 7 and 6?
S: **without hesitation** 13.
Me: Great! How did you do that so quickly?
S: I took 3 from 6 to make 7 into 10.  Then I had 3 left over so I went up another 3 to 13.

THIS is the kind of numeracy that speaks to fluency.  THIS is what we destroy with the column method, not because it's wrong, but because it uses tricks that makes students think that their brains are wrong.

I fear, however, that the entire lesson was lost because of lack of consistent attention.  This is about as far as we got because I gave up.

I don't know how to ask students to stop talking, singing, yelling, dancing, etc. without them taking it personally and claiming that I'm attacking them.

I don't know how to say "Could you please stop talking over me?" and have that be the end of the interaction.

I don't know how to adequately convey that having a conversation about shoes while I'm trying to teach is rude and unacceptable.  When I speak to individual students, the response I get, consistently, is "Other people were louder."

The conversation goes as follows (and went exactly this way with the 5 students I spoke with today):

Me: I'm having a lot of difficulty trying to conduct my class with the volume that's coming from this area of the room.
S: I was paying attention! I was answering questions!
Me: I know you were, and I very much appreciate that.  I'm not worried about you paying attention because I know you are.  When I ask you questions, you're on the ball!  I love it!  What I'm having an issue with is the volume when you're talking to (other student).
S: But other people are louder than me.
Me: That may be true and I'll speak to them, but you're in charge of you.  I need you to be more aware of your volume and more considerate to the rest of the class.
S: But I'm paying attention!
Me: I know. I said that. That's not the problem. The volume is the problem.
S: But if other people are louder, why are you talking to me?
Me: Because you control you. I will speak to them, just as I am speaking to you.
S: But I'm paying attention!

And so on, ad infinitum...

I don't have any idea how to end this cycle.  I don't know how to convince some of my students that they are not alone in the room.

It is worse this year than in previous years and I think that it's because in the past, I was much more strict about the rules.  I was very traditional (and angry) and students were afraid of me.

This year, with me trying to be less angry and less fear-inspiring, I didn't take into account that I have no idea how to do class management without it.

Up until Christmas, I think the students were still getting used to a type of classroom that they had not experienced before.  Their hesitation to be rude/disruptive was more about trepidation than respect.

I fear that how smoothly my class goes has become dependent on the emotions of teenagers rather than the expectations of the teacher and I don't know how to fix that.

This slide from Michelle King's talk this weekend has me thinking.  I know where I want the kids to be, but I don't know how to get them there...

What My Classes Look Like

Yesterday, I attended EdCampPGH at The Ellis School in Pittsburgh.  It was amazing and inspiring and I love everyone whom I connected with.  Two of my students went as well and I'm looking forward to speaking with them tomorrow about their experiences.

While there, I gave a talk about this blog and the benefits of reflective practice.  I talked about where I was as a teachers last year, where I am now, and how I got there.  There were several people who asked very tough questions and had me thinking about my goals both for my class and for this blog.

Late last night, I received an email from someone who attended my talk.  This person stated that their classroom is fairly traditional and that they are maybe looking to get away from that.  "I am now where you were last year."  This person asked me how my classes are run and, after replying to the e-mail, I decided that it would be a good blog post as well.

Since I know several of my students read this, I hope that if I get anything wrong, they will let me know so I can correct it.

My classes run very differently from what I would like, but they are moving in the right direction.  I'll tell you how they go now, which is much more traditional than at the beginning of the year.  I will say that I lecture on content VERY little.

Geometry:  Students enter the room and have an Estimation 180 question on the board.  They give their estimates and I give mine, along with my reasoning.  Then we either do an activity, or go over the guided notes and homework questions.  From the beginning, I told the students that the responsibility for learning is on them.  This means that we don't do the notes together and I don't really have to cover content.  Their homework assignments are "do the next section in the guided notes and as many homework as you need to feel you understand the concepts."

The next day in class, I pull up the notes on the Promethean Board and have them fill them in as a class.  I have them give me answers for everything and am constantly asking them "how do you know that?" and "what leads you to that conclusion?" and "explain how you got there."  It has taken several months, but they now KNOW they will have to explain any answer they give me, or at least be ready to.  I ask if they have any questions on the homework and, if they do, we do the problems as a class.  By this time, I'm usually off on some tangent about science or history and we have a discussion about that.  If there is time left, which there usually is, I let them start on the next section of questions and guided notes while I walk around and answer questions.

Math 8:  The format for this class is mostly the same.  However, since only about 5% of my students will do any work outside of class, we end up doing much more calculation in class.  I'll pull up a workbook page on the board, give the kids a few minutes to work on it (not enough to finish) and walk around keeping them on task.  After a bit, I hand off my Promethean pen and have the kids put their answers up on the board.  Recently, I've been making sure they don't put their names on it.  At the end of each section (12-15 problems) I ask the rest of the class if there are any answers they disagree with or would like explained.  If so, I ask a student to do it and ask probing questions like I do in geometry.

I've been trying to move this class away from book work and calculation problems, but they fight me every step of the way.  I completely understand why.  They like the success that some from completing a page of problems that LOOK hard.  They are also VERY used to doing worksheets and think that if they aren't, then they aren't learning math.  I've been desperately trying to break them of this habit, but I don't think I've earned their trust enough yet.  I'm not sure I ever will.

They trust me enough to answer questions that are within their comfort zones, even if they don't know the answers, but branching out is not something I've been able to do yet.  We are moving in the right direction, but I'm not sure we have enough time left in the year to get there.

I do feel, however, that the geometry students trust me.  This has been evident is the kinds of work they produce and their willingness to accept a type of instruction to which they are not accustomed.

This is not my ideal classroom.  It IS closer to what I want than I've had before and that has come with me doing a ton of soul searching about what I want them to get out of my class.  My educational priorities have shifted greatly over the past year and have moved away from content in a very significant way.  Instead, I've been focusing on helping my students develop metacognitive skills.  Apparently, research shows that students who focus on that rather than content do better in both the short run and long run than ones who focus on content. 

It's VERY hard, especially when many of the students fight me the whole way.  It's also hard because I don't know 100% where I'm going with it.  I don't yet have a clear vision of what I want my classroom to look like and something inside me is still pulling me back to the lecture model. I want my classroom to be Standards-Based, but doing it alone slows the process down and makes it very difficult to find proper guidance or direction.

I don't know if this has helped, or even if I've answered your questions, but I hope so.  If not, please let me know.

Don't hesitate to call, write or tweet if there is anything I can do.

Parent-Teacher Conferences, Take 2

I'm working on a post about how Tetris in an analogy for teaching.

Today is the second of our parent-teacher conferences.  The format is amazing and I think provides an excellent way to discuss adequate progress with parents.  Check out my post on the first one to see how we do it in my school.

Seriously, it's awesome!

It's very interesting to speak with parents and explain my educational and grading philosophy.  It's VERY different from what they normally hear and they have been very receptive, especially when I talk about the skills that I'm emphasizing (metacognition, critical thinking, content writing, etc.)

Many of the doubts that I've had about what I'm doing are dropping away.  Apparently, several of my geometry students have been telling their parents how much they like my class and how challenging it is.  The last few weeks have been quite a struggle and it's a bit of a vindication to know that, at least for some students, I am appreciated.

Nothing much else that I want to write about today, so I'll leave the following list, written by a colleague.




I have decided how I am going to behave during parent-teacher conferences today.

-practice my "beats" with a writing utensil and my fist on any surface while the parent is talking
 
-after this ask the parent for a writing utensil b/c I don't have one
 
-use that writing utensil to write "follow me @Teach4Lyf" on the wall then break it into pieces and shoot it in the trash can or just put it on the floor
 
-mumble unintelligible things and or rap, but only when the parent is talking
 
-take out the pen that I don't have and chew the top off of it to spread the ink all over the desk top and run my fingers through it to fingerprint myself
 
-run around the conference room while the parent is talking. Full sprint
 
-chase fellow teachers 
 
-provoke other teachers to fight other teachers
 
-tell other teachers that this teacher and that teacher are fighting then run out of the room at a full sprint to see if it's true.
 
-run into other conference rooms while running to see a potential fight to let the other teachers know what's going down
 
-Go back to my original conference and put my head down
 
-tell the parent they "just don't like me"
 
-tell the parent they should be fired from parenting and ask them why they are mad at life
 
-finally agree to take some notes on the student but ask the parent for a piece of paper-take 50 sheets of paper from them
 
-write a couple things down, draw some phallic symbols on the other 49 sheets of paper
 
-spread the paper on the floor near seat after tearing some of it into confetti
 
-when the time is technically up I may run out of the conference while the parent is still talking with 10 of the parents pens I took from their purse, I'll leave the "notes" I took on the floor where I put them

Day 133: End-of-Marking-Period Crunch, Part of a Balanced Breakfast.

Last week, there was a field trip scheduled during PSSAs and half of my geometry class missed a day of testing.  The make-up day was today and so those same kids were out of my class.  The deal I made with the rest of them was that if they worked on the various things they owed me, we could watch Cosmos.

While they worked, I graded the Chapter 6 reassessments, some of which were excellent, others not so much.  I'm starting to see the gaps in understanding versus the gaps in effort, although the latter at the beginning of the marking period clearly created the former.

I think that on Monday, with the start of the new marking period, I'm going to make new groups based on understanding from the previous chapters.  The question is whether I make the groups homogenous so I can focus on the groups who need the attention, or heterogenous to facilitate peer interaction.  I'm thinking a combination of the two would be most advantageous.

Oh man, are they going to be annoyed when they come in and I've assigned new groups.

There are also several students who will be getting lower grades than they are accustomed to this marking period.  I feel confident that I provided enough opportunities for students to make up work and to demonstrate their knowledge to me.  In conferences tomorrow, I need to make sure that I keep my goals in mind and do my best to convey those to any concerned parents.

In pre-algebra, we spent the first half of class going over percent conversions.  In keeping with my plan, I went around the room and asked random kids to give me the answers as well as their processes.  The ones who didn't know what we were doing, who hoped I would say "Alright, next?" received a response of "That's alright! Let's do it together!"

I didn't let anyone give up and everyone worked fairly well.  I give them the rest of the assignment and, with the momentum built from the start of class, most of them continued to work independently.  There was a lot of noise and anyone entering my room might think that everyone was off task, but really it was just the loudest 5-6 kids.  The rest were working VERY well and I made sure to tell them how proud I was.  I thanked a few kids who are normally off task for helping their classmates with questions.

The marking period is finally over, which means I have a ton of things to grade in the next day or so.  I'm going to try to get as much done during conferences tomorrow as I can.

I'm truly looking forward to speaking with the parents who come in, even though I know several are going to be difficult conversations for me, the parents and the students.


No matter what, I need to keep in mind my goals as well as both the long-term and short-term interests of my students.

Day 132: Retests

With the marking period ending tomorrow, students are scrambling to get their grades up.  I'm also getting concerned e-mails from the parents of the geometry students, which I greatly appreciate.  E-mail is always my preferred method of parent communication because it gives me time to gather my information and respond to concerns without getting defensive (which often happens.)

I responded to several e-mails from parents who asked why their child had such a low grade and wanted to know how said child could improve it.  I explained to them that all students have been given the opportunity to reassess the chapter skills at any time during the marking period.

With the Chapter 6 test, however, I had not provided that chance.  It was a multiple choice test and the majority of the class bombed it.  Since my goal is to help them learn and grow and not to fail, I decided to ask them to learn from their failure.

I gave another Chapter 6 test today, covering the same material, but with 3 major differences.  First, this assessment was open-ended.  I have found that my geometry students do MUCH better on open-ended than on multiple choice.  Second, they were allowed to use notes and work with partners.  Having to justify their answers to a partner makes them more likely to be careful in their work and double check their process.

Third, this assessment was optional.  I told the students that they could take the score they earned on the first test if they wished, but they had the chance to make it up.  They were also told that if they did, the new grade, good or bad, would replace the old one.  My thought process about this is that their previous scores were mediocre enough that they would be compelled to reassess.  Knowing, however, that there was the risk of actually LOSING points would compel them to put extra effort in, double checking their work and being extra careful.

They were! They were so cautious that almost no one finished.  They were, however, working VERY hard and I was very proud of them.  I pretended to be the benevolent dictator with a change of heart and let them work on it tonight to turn in first thing tomorrow.  Aren't I nice?

In pre-algebra, I gave in.  We did work book pages for the period.  I've been pushing them pretty hard in terms of critical thinking and I may have burned them out.  I'm planning to give them a few days of successes doing workbook pages, which they seem to enjoy doing, before I push back to the higher order thinking activities.

I hate doing it that way, but they engage in the tasks that involve the least amount of skill.  I'm hoping that I can use that engagement to slowly ramp up to harder, more interesting things again.

Day 131: Coopers, Steelers and Time-Outs

I'm starting to worry about my geometry class.  I'm finding myself waiting for them to get themselves under control more and more often.  It's hard to tell if it's the way I'm covering material or the fact the weather has been shifty, or that we've been going for two solid months without a break, or...or...or...

I think one of the biggest challenges that a teacher faces when they are reflecting and analyzing their teaching is to distinguish between things they can control and things they can't.  In the past, when things slipped out of my control, I responded by tightening my grip.

Kids talking more than I would like? Punish any talking!

Kids walking around the class? EVERYONE MUST STAY IN THEIR SEATS!!

The more I talk to teachers and more I actually think about it, the more backwards this seems.  Yes, students need structure.  Yes, students need rules.  But it's almost always a mistake to do group punishment.

In many schools around the country there is no recess, or even really down-time for the students.  They have shortened lunch periods and, during lunch, the students are required to stay in their seats.

While this may seem harsh, this decision was made for very well-intentioned reasons.  It was found that lunches went very well for the first 30 minutes.  Then, once all of the students had finished eating and began walking around, that's when all the fights happened.  So the lunch periods were shortened and movement restrictions were put in place.

As a result of this, students have less time to burn off their nervous energy and socialize.  That time gets moved into the classroom with students acting up and bouncing off the walls.  So the school institutes stricter policies for behavior, clamping down tighter causing more nervous energy to unleashed in inappropriate places.  This cycle spirals out of control until the school is either shut down or drastically changes its mindset on student downtime.

I call this The Educational Tarkin Effect.

At the same time, completely letting go of restrictions is equally as disastrous.  Students need to learn to be responsible and the school must provide a safe place for them to learn those skills.

In any event, the geometry kids are getting squirrelly and I don't know how much of it is under my control.

I've been trying to cover more curriculum content with them after the complaints I received last week.  I want them to learn math, but apparently, if I don't at least throw in calculation, they think I'm not teaching them.  I want them to be able to distinguish between "doing math" and "doing calculation" but that's a long hard road and I have to backtrack to lecture occasionally to make them feel ok about what we're doing.

I did manage to intersperse a good tale of applied geometry from this weekend.

I went with my family to a Maple Festival yesterday where I met a cooper.  I talked with him for 10 minutes about the math of how he makes his barrels and buckets and got some great information to bring back to my students, along with two spectacular pictures for them.

They were highly engaged and we had a nice talk about the process of barrel making and the mathematics involved.  I wonder if I can find a cooper to come to the school and demonstrate either in class or in the woodshop.

It's something to look into.

Half of my period 4/5 was meeting with Wes Lyons today for the first half of class.  The kids who remained got some great momentum going as we worked through percentages and weren't derailed by the addition of the rest of the class.  Wes joined the class for a bit and we did an impromptu Estimation 180 to guess his height.

I'll never forgive myself for not getting a picture standing next to him.  He's 6 feet 8 inches tall.

That's not me, but that's about the height difference.

He sat with me and a student as I helped her through the concept of converting percentages.  He was very encouraging to her and I was glad he joined us.

In period 8/9 however, without about 20 minutes left in class, I got tired of being talked over, having the same kids ask the same questions because they weren't listening, telling the same kids to stop talking and having them take an attitude with me, claiming they weren't doing anything.

I gave them their assignment and put myself in time out.

Sometimes I just need a time out.