great success! errr maybe not...

I gave a test last week and many students failed. I am very against giving extra credit work and I won't let the kids take the test home and fix it for credit either, because I know most of them will just copy answers. But I did tell them I would give another test this week on the same material with different questions. I gave them one week to relearn the material on their own and give it another shot.

Last year I offered a makeup test only once. Out of 40 failing students, two came and both failed again. I expected similar results this time. Yet today, out of about 30 students, nine came. And even better, out of the nine students that failed originally, five now passed. And better yet, of those that passed, one got an 80 and the other four got high 90s! These kids increased their averages by at least 20 points! I'm really proud of them and am glad that I have five more kids on board with me in class. And of course, success breeds success so I look forward to an upward trend with these kids.

I will consider giving make up tests more often because I don't care if it takes the students a second chance to get it right, nor if they come to rely on the make up as a crutch. The bottom line is that they have to learn the material and pass the Regent's and if this is an incentive for them to study on their own, so be it.

Now for the non-success... four of my former students, now 10th graders, stopped by my classroom after school. They were bored and when they saw I was giving a test, they wanted in on it. They claimed they would ace the exam. So I gave them one test and let the four of them group together outside the classroom and take it together.

I heard them murmuring... "slope.... i think you have to subtract something..." and "product... what's that?" Guess I didn't teach them well enough last year for them to retain the information!!! After 20 minutes the four boys handed me the exam and asked me to grade it. Even with all their collaboration, they scored a............ drumroll............ 63%!!!!! I totally reamed them for getting their butts kicked by more than half the 9th graders in the room. They told me they're going to come back and take more of my tests because they need to prove to me they know what they're doing! whatever floats their boat... but i personally love to see students who actually take an interest in academics. it's so refreshing!

update

even though i only slept two hours and taught a full load plus a per session class today, it turned out to be better than expected. some highlights:

- i took off a day last week and one girl asked me if i got her classes work that they completed while i was out. she was proud that they did an amazing job. well i checked and i was astounded. everyone completed the assignment with such precision and neatness which is uncharacteristic of my students. they all neatly stapled their graphs to their papers and labeled everything without being instructed to do so. i was so proud of them!

- a boy who complained about me being so boring that he can't learn ( 2 weeks ago) was so happy to be in my class today. i teased him and prodded him but with a ton of pushing he did his work successfully. i had him in three different classes today and by last period he tried to hug me multiple times but of course i left him hanging:) then he dutifully did his homework and copied down all the assignments he missed and started on them too. i guess he decided he likes me and will now work for me! i love when that happens.

-another student who can be somewhat problematic decided he's striving for a B so he buckled down today and did a ton of make up work. we'll see if this lasts!

- i scored another per session position. now i'm up to about 13 hours a month. i so need the money.

so this second year has been way better. and it's only looking up with a three day weekend coming up!

it's been three weeks

since school started. and i'm very happy with how things are going. this new crop of ninth graders seems really eager to please. it might be due, in part, to how i'm presenting myself, but i actually think they're worlds better than last year's freshman.

i spent the first week on rules and procedures, with a little math here and there. in the past two weeks, my kids have learned how to handle fractions, write algebraic expressions, fill out function tables, plot points, graph simple lines using tables, and graph scatterplots with the line of best fit and recognize correlations. i'm going to take the rest of the week slow, practice, review with regent's questions, and give my first full test next week. i'm toying with the idea of introducing slope already. i know it's something most of my students found difficult in middle school so i might wait.

one student completely defied me today in front of the entire class and then a hallway full of kids. luckily i have enough of a paper trail on him to get him suspended. i didn't think of logging every little thing last year, but i see now how it gives me leverage to really reign down on these kids. now i'll use him as an example so that the other student don't think they can get one over on me like that.

i guess i'm really lucky to have a super supportive dean and administration. i simply said i need this kid suspended, told them what i had on him, and they got right to it. it really scares me to think about what some of my colleagues go through in a less supportive environment. i don't think i'd ever last.

this year is already starting off better, for one reason only: i know what i want.

i know exactly what type of classroom I want to run and how to shape things to get there. last year i had some vague ideas but i just went with the flow and took it all in.

last year was successful. but in order to reach my goals for this year, i need more instructional time. i can imagine that all the times i had to call out a kid for a behavior issue, plus all the times the entire class dragged because they weren't doing what they were told, added up to a couple of weeks worth of time.

i'm hoping the systems i put in place this year work to eliminate a lot of these problems so we can have more time for Regent's review at the end of the year. I'm actually aiming to add 2.5 weeks onto what I did last year.

so far kids are actually asking permission to leave their seats for EVERYTHING... throwing out garbage, and even for spitting out gum!! the school counselor told me one of her students already complained that he got in trouble in my class. i walked down the aisle past a different student and she literally jumped. today when i wanted their silence for the first time and certain students were still talking, the rest of the class stared at them in shock. another student told them "silence!" they were afraid. I'M NOT TRYING TO SCARE THEM!!! but apparently i am instilling fear which is a good thing. i'll definitely loosen up once they're in the routine of doing what they should.

i have also called home for one student already and sent a letter home for a parental conference. i foresee having to call at least 2 other homes tomorrow. i seriously would have never done this last year because these misbehaviors didn't bother me. but i'm all about putting my foot down in the beginning and i hope all these parents don't hate me!

school starts in the morning!

i want to be in work within 6 hours.

what in the world am i still doing up then???

i was super prepared this year. had my opening letter, quiz, and powerpoint done a week ago. i have the first week entirely planned. i even reorganized the curriculum a bit and mapped out a year long plan attacking the different units, with timelines.

i look forward to being super strict this year. i posted rules and consequences in my room today, more as a reminder to myself to be consistent and follow through with my actions.

it was suggested to me to become a dean at my school. i never thought that would be me, but apparently the current dean sees it in me. anything to get rid of my damned advisory class... so i will practice being no nonsense this semester, both in my class and in the hallways.

final topic: i need a new blog name. "first year experiment" worked well last year but it no longer holds true for me. i know i don't have a large readership, but if anyone has any suggestions i'd like to hear them.

happy teaching to all!

summer school recap

it wasn't bad at all. teaching 2 hour long classes was a bit trying, but i loved being done with my day by 10am. i kicked the worst kid out of my class on day one, and i had virtually no problem with any other students.

i needed the money and it was definitely worth it. even as the summer is ending and i'm gearing up to start a new school year, i would say i will definitely teach summer school again next year as long as the opportunity is there.

almost half of the kids that sat for the summer regent's passed. this brings my passing percentage up to somewhere in the 75-80% range. thank goodness for low standards.

i'm starting to get a little nervous about the upcoming school year though. i'm teaching the same subject as last year, but i want to revamp it in a sense. i want to change the order of the curriculum and change a lot of my lessons. i've been putting it off but i need to start. i would like to have at least my first unit written out by Monday.

summer school

how am i supposed to take a class filled with both the most disruptive kids in the school and the kids that need the most extra help, manage them for a two hour block each day, and in 8 days flat teach them enough to pass the regents???

remind me why i'm doing this again? i feel like i'm setting myself and the students up for failure.