Post by elementary on Aug 23, 2012 21:30:11 GMT -5
Dear Diary,
I survived another day, and it was another good one.
Got up, got out, and got to school in plenty of time. This is a good thing cause if you ever work at an elementary school (or worse yet and live next to one) you soon realize that mornings are the time all the worse and most manic drivers come out to drop off their children. It chills me to the bone sometimes watching a combination of a frantic mother pushing through traffic in order to drop off three kids while students 5 years old and up are darting across streets in a mad dash. It got so bad at our school we had to lock our parking lot 15 minutes before 1st bell - both the entrance and exit. When we only did the front gate, we had parents driving against the flow of traffic to bring them in the exit.
Makes me shake my head.
Still, I got to my class - by the way I have 36 students this year. 20 boys and 16 girls. If you know ed code, at least around here, you are only supposed to have 35 in a class, but the rule specifically says "average" so as long as one class has a little less, I get a little more.
I can't complain. Last year I only had 30 students in my class. At one point I actually was losing a student every week to moves. It was crazy.
S, one of my other 6 grade teachers last year, asked me why all the kids were leaving my class. My answer (please know I was joking....) was "You know all those sensitivity and anti-harrassment classes we take every year? Just do the stuff they say not to do and kids will fly out of your class."
She laughed.
The following week she lost a student and I gained two.
I told her I taught her too well....
Still, I can't believe how mobile families have become recently. I already, two days into school, have been told by 3 kids that they might/should/are probably moving within a month or two. One said it with his voice slightly hitched, and he admitted he really didn't want to go, but they had to support the family.
Still, some instances are much more damaging to a child's education than others.
Last year I had a girl in my class whose records confused me. Her state scores were very low, but they were only recorded every two years. It turns out that mom had been returning to mexico every other year and her schooling south of the border was spotty at best.
I'm looking forward to seeing her scores...
but that's another story. (Yes diary, stories within stories leading me away from this year's narration, but bear with me...)
Normally the state scores are returned to the schools by the beginning of August. They are delayed this year. Can you believe why? It turns out students at some schools actually took pictures with their cellphones of test questions and their answer documents and posted them on social media sites. Most of the answer sheets weren't a problem as the posted photos supposedly showed people writing bad words in bubbles on their answer sheets (yes, our future is doomed....) It was the posted questions that made the state wonder if the overall scoring was affected. So they delayed releasing the scores.
This is interesting as all the middle schools and high schools usually place students primarily based on the previous year's state scores.
Guess what - school's begun and we don't have those yet. I cannot imagine trying to place students then having to shift them around like chess pieces two weeks after school's start date when the scores finally come in.
Supposedly some districts have already received and passed out their scores last week. I checked an hour ago. No luck for me.
Now I'm a data-head. I love pouring over my class's scores and comparing them against their past rankings. I do this for several reasons.
(1) I want to see how they did, obviously. It's both ego boosting yet also humbling. I start with comparing individuals. If they improved, I feel vindicated that I did my duty, and that these kids have a better chance at success tomorrow. This is especially true when I see kids who I know were given up on in other classrooms jump up a huge percentage. It's amazing how low scores can be believed to be a sole indicator for low potential. There are those who drop, of course, and most of those tend to be the slackers (pardon my bluntness) who ignore help and fail to make more than a token gesture of valuing what school offers. There are some who drop due to emotional turmoil at home. Others drop because they were sick the day of the test or were mad (I've some show up at school with flu-like symptoms and last year I had a girl show up and sit the majority of the test without doing a single problem as her home life was in shambles and she couldn't cope .....[digression]and people want to adjust my pay grade based on testing when I'm dealing with these issues in a low-income neighborhood - can you find a better way to drive quality and established teachers into the more affluent and successful neighborhoods and leave the new teachers and 'less desirable' teachers in schools which need the most help?)
Oops....a rant. Sorry.
(2) The second reason I want to look at my scores is rank myself. I want to know how they did, though I know other teachers who never look, because I need to find the patterns that show the strengths and weaknesses of my instruction. Truthfully, no matter what I said above, I do believe that teachers make a difference and that it is the district's responsibility to monitor and hold accountable teacher effectiveness. Case in point: My first 5 years of teaching I was moving tons of students up on the test, but when I broke down the scores by level for math (advanced/proficient/basic/below basic/far below basic) I saw that everyone proficient and below made great strides. The exception was advanced. Out of 15 advanced students, 14 dropped points on the test (none lost their proficiency) and only one improved (though she achieved a perfect score on her test! Awesome!) But it told me I needed to push my higher students - that they don't respond the same way as students whose knowledge is at other levels.
So
It's still day 2, so I haven't established my routines yet. We still have things to pass out and 'Getting to Know You" activities, and they need to learn I mean business.
We did some reading fluency and I modeled how to break down a passage for comprehension. We started our math - place value and the different number forms.
(I love telling the students that they must remember that numbers don't exist. They are only ways to measure things. Basically I tell them "Do you ever see a number 19 flying across the sky and dropping a #2 on your car?" ---- Yes...I do stoop to potty humor to make a point, but most see the point better with examples that relate to their level of thinking...keeps them engaged.)
I started my science/social studies crossover lesson that covers maps. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW IGNORANT kids are about the difference between states and countries and cities.
"What town do you live in?" "California"
So we're drawing and learning about maps as a basis for the earth science and ancient history coming up this year.
We also started our 'Math Placement Test' which will act as our initial benchmark for monitoring their progression. They will have one in January and another after state testing.
As for behavior, they were really good. I have one boy who thinks it's cute to yell out incorrect responses and then say "My mistake". He stopped when the mistake cost him a recess...
I also explained that I don't condone cheating (like all other teachers) but I explained it this way:
People who want to become stronger lift weights.
People can't get stronger if someone else lifts their weights.
Either by giving answers to someone else or copying answers from
someone else, people are not lifting their own weights and they will not become stronger at whatever skill is being worked on.
Cheating leads to weakness.
So diary, my day ended well and I finished with some dittoing of practice sheets and setting up my room for tomorrow.
I look forward to what tomorrow brings.
L
I survived another day, and it was another good one.
Got up, got out, and got to school in plenty of time. This is a good thing cause if you ever work at an elementary school (or worse yet and live next to one) you soon realize that mornings are the time all the worse and most manic drivers come out to drop off their children. It chills me to the bone sometimes watching a combination of a frantic mother pushing through traffic in order to drop off three kids while students 5 years old and up are darting across streets in a mad dash. It got so bad at our school we had to lock our parking lot 15 minutes before 1st bell - both the entrance and exit. When we only did the front gate, we had parents driving against the flow of traffic to bring them in the exit.
Makes me shake my head.
Still, I got to my class - by the way I have 36 students this year. 20 boys and 16 girls. If you know ed code, at least around here, you are only supposed to have 35 in a class, but the rule specifically says "average" so as long as one class has a little less, I get a little more.
I can't complain. Last year I only had 30 students in my class. At one point I actually was losing a student every week to moves. It was crazy.
S, one of my other 6 grade teachers last year, asked me why all the kids were leaving my class. My answer (please know I was joking....) was "You know all those sensitivity and anti-harrassment classes we take every year? Just do the stuff they say not to do and kids will fly out of your class."
She laughed.
The following week she lost a student and I gained two.
I told her I taught her too well....
Still, I can't believe how mobile families have become recently. I already, two days into school, have been told by 3 kids that they might/should/are probably moving within a month or two. One said it with his voice slightly hitched, and he admitted he really didn't want to go, but they had to support the family.
Still, some instances are much more damaging to a child's education than others.
Last year I had a girl in my class whose records confused me. Her state scores were very low, but they were only recorded every two years. It turns out that mom had been returning to mexico every other year and her schooling south of the border was spotty at best.
I'm looking forward to seeing her scores...
but that's another story. (Yes diary, stories within stories leading me away from this year's narration, but bear with me...)
Normally the state scores are returned to the schools by the beginning of August. They are delayed this year. Can you believe why? It turns out students at some schools actually took pictures with their cellphones of test questions and their answer documents and posted them on social media sites. Most of the answer sheets weren't a problem as the posted photos supposedly showed people writing bad words in bubbles on their answer sheets (yes, our future is doomed....) It was the posted questions that made the state wonder if the overall scoring was affected. So they delayed releasing the scores.
This is interesting as all the middle schools and high schools usually place students primarily based on the previous year's state scores.
Guess what - school's begun and we don't have those yet. I cannot imagine trying to place students then having to shift them around like chess pieces two weeks after school's start date when the scores finally come in.
Supposedly some districts have already received and passed out their scores last week. I checked an hour ago. No luck for me.
Now I'm a data-head. I love pouring over my class's scores and comparing them against their past rankings. I do this for several reasons.
(1) I want to see how they did, obviously. It's both ego boosting yet also humbling. I start with comparing individuals. If they improved, I feel vindicated that I did my duty, and that these kids have a better chance at success tomorrow. This is especially true when I see kids who I know were given up on in other classrooms jump up a huge percentage. It's amazing how low scores can be believed to be a sole indicator for low potential. There are those who drop, of course, and most of those tend to be the slackers (pardon my bluntness) who ignore help and fail to make more than a token gesture of valuing what school offers. There are some who drop due to emotional turmoil at home. Others drop because they were sick the day of the test or were mad (I've some show up at school with flu-like symptoms and last year I had a girl show up and sit the majority of the test without doing a single problem as her home life was in shambles and she couldn't cope .....[digression]and people want to adjust my pay grade based on testing when I'm dealing with these issues in a low-income neighborhood - can you find a better way to drive quality and established teachers into the more affluent and successful neighborhoods and leave the new teachers and 'less desirable' teachers in schools which need the most help?)
Oops....a rant. Sorry.
(2) The second reason I want to look at my scores is rank myself. I want to know how they did, though I know other teachers who never look, because I need to find the patterns that show the strengths and weaknesses of my instruction. Truthfully, no matter what I said above, I do believe that teachers make a difference and that it is the district's responsibility to monitor and hold accountable teacher effectiveness. Case in point: My first 5 years of teaching I was moving tons of students up on the test, but when I broke down the scores by level for math (advanced/proficient/basic/below basic/far below basic) I saw that everyone proficient and below made great strides. The exception was advanced. Out of 15 advanced students, 14 dropped points on the test (none lost their proficiency) and only one improved (though she achieved a perfect score on her test! Awesome!) But it told me I needed to push my higher students - that they don't respond the same way as students whose knowledge is at other levels.
So
It's still day 2, so I haven't established my routines yet. We still have things to pass out and 'Getting to Know You" activities, and they need to learn I mean business.
We did some reading fluency and I modeled how to break down a passage for comprehension. We started our math - place value and the different number forms.
(I love telling the students that they must remember that numbers don't exist. They are only ways to measure things. Basically I tell them "Do you ever see a number 19 flying across the sky and dropping a #2 on your car?" ---- Yes...I do stoop to potty humor to make a point, but most see the point better with examples that relate to their level of thinking...keeps them engaged.)
I started my science/social studies crossover lesson that covers maps. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW IGNORANT kids are about the difference between states and countries and cities.
"What town do you live in?" "California"
So we're drawing and learning about maps as a basis for the earth science and ancient history coming up this year.
We also started our 'Math Placement Test' which will act as our initial benchmark for monitoring their progression. They will have one in January and another after state testing.
As for behavior, they were really good. I have one boy who thinks it's cute to yell out incorrect responses and then say "My mistake". He stopped when the mistake cost him a recess...
I also explained that I don't condone cheating (like all other teachers) but I explained it this way:
People who want to become stronger lift weights.
People can't get stronger if someone else lifts their weights.
Either by giving answers to someone else or copying answers from
someone else, people are not lifting their own weights and they will not become stronger at whatever skill is being worked on.
Cheating leads to weakness.
So diary, my day ended well and I finished with some dittoing of practice sheets and setting up my room for tomorrow.
I look forward to what tomorrow brings.
L