Hedgetoad Teaching

First we had the competition for funding. Now we have the competition for students. The number of school age children is going down in many, many areas. Even districts that couldn’t build schools fast enough a decade ago, are seeing the drop in numbers. Throw in a religious/cultural gap that no one seems want to bridge any more, a discipline or parenting entropy, a decline in anything not labeled “math” or “literacy” (Physical Education class are now using the computer labs more than the English teachers) and it’s becoming a free for all in what education means to people.  Some days it seems like the role of administrators, legislatures, “reformers”, etc. is throw something new at the wall and see what they can make stick. Even though WA state does not allow charter schools (unlike the federal government, WA citizens can vote down laws they don’t like – in this case twice!) it hasn’t stopped districts from trying to attract students with specialized schools. Online schools were t...

For all those who will be spending two plus hours this morning alternating between extreme boredom and a strong desire to throttle the kid sleeping away the AYP step. I'll be grading research papers (because I'm the idiot who ALWAYS assigns papers due the day the grading period ends) and worrying about all the things that I probably should have covered more and whether the students will take the test seriously.

In reading across blogland, it seems that spring is truly on it's way. Students are getting restless, the countdown to testing has started and some flowers may have been spotted around the corner. My school mailbox contained the annual "tell us what you're planning on doing next year" form... which means that RIF notices will soon be coming too. Since I'm still (!!!) at the bottom of the seniority list, it's my annual time to stress out about it and seek constant reassurance that "it won't be [you]". Although this year, I may feel a twinge of dissapointment about that one. Weird thing just keep happening, weird-scary things, and everyone is walking on eggshells. Or a little bit closer to running around campus screaming at the top of their lungs. Either one is equally probable. A "friend" told me about a job opening in another district for the coming year. It would be a very different job, but with the possibility of a much lighter wor...

As I was grading finals, I got to one that just befuddled me. Actually, the student has befuddled me all semester.  Mostly because, despite anything I said, wrote or explained (repeatedly) this student never seemed to understand the concept of critical thinking. Regurgitation was not a problem, but going beyond that was like pulling stumps with a soup spoon. Because the class was an advanced one, he was transferred to a regular english course for the next semester, so this final was the last hope of seeing a spark of understanding. Granted, at the beginning of the semester there are a few students who have this problem. After a month, however, few are still confused. This student never got it. Not conferencing, notes, models, diagrams...  nothing seemed to phase this student. He just went on his bumbling way without any thought to anything I said, other students said or did. It was like trying to talk to rock. On the final, the students were to read a prompt and ...

school supplies purchased - check new lunch box - check new laptop computer - check plan for the first month for sophomores - check no plans for AP yet, as I'm not sure if there will be any AP classes. Due to budget constraints and lack of teachers, I will not be allowed to have a class of less than 20. Less than 20 students have completed the summer assignment for each section... the math is not working in our favor. Also, have no spent more than 30 minutes in classroom since June. Really, all I have to do in there is hang up a few posters and run copies. Everything else can be done on my handy-dandy new laptop. Did I mention that I got a new laptop? It's shiny. I did, however, take the time to look at my class rosters - joke that they are at this moment. I have two classes of 35+, one with 7 and one normal one. Is there a point in even paying attention to it at this point? I'm really hoping that the class with 7 will actually be moved to another time. I loath having class...

For teachers, New Year's Day isn't our "begin anew" date. For us, it's the first day of school. That means that Jan. 1st is sort of a mid-point, a time for reflection. So where am I on my goals for this year? I'm still constantly falling behind in grading... I really need to figure out something to do about it. Of course, the first thing I should work on is procrastinating and screwing around instead of grading. Yup, that should be my first step. To be honest, most of the time I feel like I'm running to catch up. Part of the reason is my procrastination but it's also part disorganization, part poor planning. Both are things I also need to reevaluate in the coming months... am I letting too many seemingly inconsequential things slide? It's so true that the devil is in the details. Plus, I'm one of those people who when confronted with a wide open schedule get nothing done. Finally, my energy level has been lagging. I'm convinced that this du...

Thomas Friedman had an interesting Op-Ed piece on the 23rd in the NYT - Time to Reboot . The basic premise of the article is that the US citizenry needs to make a shift in thinking from profit to creation. I totally agree, but that's another rant that I could write a very lengthy post about. No, instead I'd like to apply this idea to our education system. A system of creation, rather system of graphs and numbers. In my experience (and yours may differ), our education system, our communities and we, as parents, aren't really interested in students actually learning. We're interested in numbers. How many African-Native-American-low-income-boys can read at some arbitrary level set by someone who wrote a book one time. If that student went from reading "Clifford The Big Red Dog" because he could read it quick, to reading "Night", do we care? Does this mean his reading level went up or that he finally found a book he liked? By studying the numbers, what...

A couple of days ago, a school district in Oregon banned the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. A parent objected to a reference to masturbation, which he felt was not appropriate for young teens. Which has to make you laugh out loud at the irony of that statement... or seriously wonder if the parent is suffering from some delusional mental state. Also, apprently a school board member felt that it wasn't appropriate because there are cartoon drawings that were "inappropriate". Sadly, the article didn't mention which ones because I wanted to check it out. Anyways, I think the book is great and all the students who've read it (mostly teen age boys) loved it too. If you live in a conservative area, it may be an issue if you recommend this book to your students. In the meantime, Sherman Alexie should also send a large "thank you" basket to the Crook County school board for banning his book. I know I'd be running to ge...

yes, it's getting nearer to the end of the semester. Today I spent 10 minutes with students trying to induce them to read a decent book for AR. One that doesn't include Clifford the Big Red Dog. Not that I'm against ol' Cliff, just that he's a bit below the reading level of your average high school student. Or should be. While I waxed on about great story lines, exciting plots, and interesting characters the questions burning in the minds of my students were "how many pages does it have?" and "how big is the print?" Does your school do Accelerated Reading (AR) for high school? Our school has an interesting history with it. Originally, the teachers assigned at least two more novels for students to read during the year than is done currently. Students did not like being forced to read all these boring and stupid books that had no reflection on their own lives. They wanted to be able to choose their own books. So, doing AR was added into the curric...

Thanksgiving break is nearly upon me. Just one more class and lunch - Can't forget food as we head into the one of the biggest eating days of the year - and I'm hitting the road for far flung places. Ok, not really far flung , but definitely "over the river (or several) and through the woods" I go.   In midst of cleaning up the last of grading pile, I'm hoping to do some real reflection about my teaching. For some reason, this year I'm feel off. I don't feel like I'm making as much of a difference this year or that I'm even teaching that much. I am in the classroom every day, but it just doesn't feel like teaching used to... it could just be the five year burn out or it could be that I'm just phoning it in, so to speak. I'm not sure, but it's something I need to spend some time thinking about.   On the personal side, I revived Hedgetoad Cottage . It's hard to maintain two blogs, I know. One always suffers, b...