Kids always enjoy animals in the classroom, within reason.
My ninth graders really bugged me a few weeks about some prospective class members. I had picked up two desktop aquariums from RiteAid for $10 each and set them up in the front of the classroom. Then some of the kids were into checking as soon as they entered the room to see if I had gotten any fish yet. When I put a beta into each tank, I started receiving regular instructions about putting them together and watching them fight.
I think a typical teenager has a little bit of sadism in his/her makeup. They are fascinated when the classroom has a large fish in it, especially if it is fed live food. I once had a gar in a large tank. Watching it grab a goldfish never became old for most of my students. Even a tank with a crayfish (crawdad) was a source of excitement whenever an earthworm was dropped into the tank.
For seven years I kept an albino California king snake in my eighth grade classroom. The only snake that is better to keep in a classroom is a corn snake. Both types tend to be very docile when they are used to being handled, provided they are left alone when shedding their old skin. The corn snake also has such small teeth that it is never a risk. The king snake will eat small mammals as well lizards and other snakes. It is the easiest snake to keep fed. Not only did students enjoy watching it feed after school, many of them also enjoyed handling it. Snakes in the classroom are an excellent way to help kids get over their fears of snakes. It has to be done in a careful manner and is not effective with all students.
Pythons and boas are too big for the classroom and are not native to this country. They don’t belong due to high risk and little actual educational value when compared to corn and king snakes. They also require larger food such as rats, which leads me to another classroom “prisoner”, the small mammal. Nothing stinks worse than a cage of mice, unless it is a cage with rats. They produce large amounts of urine and will stink up a room in no time, even if held in a storage area off of the main room. Students have enough smells to put up without also having to put up with smelly rodents. Having dirty cages is unsanitary and disrupts the educational process.
I used to raise gerbils to feed Leroy (my albino king snake). They don’t breed as fast as mice and need to be fed to the snake when young. But they are native to desert areas and produce small amounts of a pasty urine. Their odor is minimal and the smell is easy to contain. The hardest thing about feeding them to a snake is that they have furry tails as compared to mice with scaled tails, s they “look cute” even though they are close relatives.
When I taught in Pennsylvania I had as many as three tarantulas, one Asian scorpion, and the gar in my room at one time. Students enjoyed them and the only live food was crickets and goldfish. I never handled the scorpion but we had lots of fun with the tarantulas. My good friend, who taught science next door, got carried away. He was studying eastern rattlesnakes in their native environment and was raising some young ones from eggs. He even kept one in his room and often had it crawling on his desk. Once in a while it would bite him. (This was all illegal of course.) It had minimal effect. Then he almost died from a bite from a large adult in the field. After he was back to normal, he still played with the young one. However, when it nipped him again, his resistance had been compromised and he got quite ill. He released all of the young ones near a rattlesnake den and stopped playing with fire. Now he studies less dangerous forms of nature.
Security for any caged animal is important, since the custodians don’t relish coming across a snake, rodent, or large spider crawling around the classroom after dark. They also don’t care for the possibility of salmonella being produced in a dirty reptile tank. So many school districts have shut down classroom menageries and only allow a few fish in a small tank. Liability is a big concern, but so is security and cleanliness along with student allergies.
Being exposed to animals in the classroom is beneficial to students. For many it is their only opportunity to interact with wildlife in a controlled environment. Unfortunately too many teachers “get in over their heads” and create problems. But then there is the exceptional teacher like the one I met in Pennsylvania many years ago who had a menagerie in a specially built section of his high school that contained an alligator, a crocodile, and a caiman as well as up to twenty different kinds of snakes, a number of lizards, and several turtles. Everything was maintained by a herpetology club under his direction. It was a professionally run setup. Not typical to a high school, and most impressive.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
It’s A Testy Time
The halfway point of the school year equals final exam time: something brand new to the ninth graders. We did the final exam testing last week and the kids seem to take it in stride. At least one freshman teacher gave his final exam before the schedule testing days. I'm not sure what he was thinking. Kids told me that they watched a movie during finals in his class. Maybe he thought he was doing the kids a favor.
I have never agreed with final exams as a grading tool. Students who are doing well tend to do well in the final (It just means they are under that much more stress.) Likewise, students who are doing poorly in a class will do poorly in the test (even it is designed for them to do well). Many educators argue that a final exam gives these low scoring students an opportunity to improve their grades. I haven’t seen that happen more than a very few times.
Students going on to college have to learn to handle the pressure of final exams. I have no problem with testing these students since it helps them be more successful in college. The students who are not going to college do not need this experience. In fact, it just reinforces the feeling of hopelessness concerning school that predominates among these students. In my own basic science classes I deliberately design a test that anyone who is not a complete idiot can pass. Only apathetic students are not successful. Or should I say ‘pathetic’ students?
It seems as if the prevailing message across the land is that everyone needs to be prepared for college. That is unfortunate because not everyone is college material. But put a bunch of educators together and all of a sudden they forget reality and make up all of these benchmarks for students to attain. For example: all students in the state of Washington must complete Algebra 1 and 2 and Geometry to graduate. About 35% of Washington students are able to pass the math WASL so of course they are all capable of doing geometry. The old fashioned word for this thinking was “balderdash”!
Our final exams are scheduled at special times with two given each day for two hours each. Wednesday’s finals were interesting. School starts one hour later on Wednesdays so teachers can do all kinds of neat things relative to teaching/training. That meant that after finals the student class schedule was abbreviated. The afternoon classes were twenty minutes each. So of course quite a few students went home right after finals. The excuse was that their parents said it was ok. Lunch detention was so full this past week that they had to spread it out to additional rooms.
For my two fundamentals classes, I had the students complete a powerpoint about dinosaurs. I even let them start it two days before the scheduled final. Three students refused to do anything on the powerpoint. Two others did next to nothing on the powerpoint. It carried enough weight to raise grades for the semester nearly 10%. Only five students failed. Guess who they were.
Another day I’ll do a blog about student apathy.
I have never agreed with final exams as a grading tool. Students who are doing well tend to do well in the final (It just means they are under that much more stress.) Likewise, students who are doing poorly in a class will do poorly in the test (even it is designed for them to do well). Many educators argue that a final exam gives these low scoring students an opportunity to improve their grades. I haven’t seen that happen more than a very few times.
Students going on to college have to learn to handle the pressure of final exams. I have no problem with testing these students since it helps them be more successful in college. The students who are not going to college do not need this experience. In fact, it just reinforces the feeling of hopelessness concerning school that predominates among these students. In my own basic science classes I deliberately design a test that anyone who is not a complete idiot can pass. Only apathetic students are not successful. Or should I say ‘pathetic’ students?
It seems as if the prevailing message across the land is that everyone needs to be prepared for college. That is unfortunate because not everyone is college material. But put a bunch of educators together and all of a sudden they forget reality and make up all of these benchmarks for students to attain. For example: all students in the state of Washington must complete Algebra 1 and 2 and Geometry to graduate. About 35% of Washington students are able to pass the math WASL so of course they are all capable of doing geometry. The old fashioned word for this thinking was “balderdash”!
Our final exams are scheduled at special times with two given each day for two hours each. Wednesday’s finals were interesting. School starts one hour later on Wednesdays so teachers can do all kinds of neat things relative to teaching/training. That meant that after finals the student class schedule was abbreviated. The afternoon classes were twenty minutes each. So of course quite a few students went home right after finals. The excuse was that their parents said it was ok. Lunch detention was so full this past week that they had to spread it out to additional rooms.
For my two fundamentals classes, I had the students complete a powerpoint about dinosaurs. I even let them start it two days before the scheduled final. Three students refused to do anything on the powerpoint. Two others did next to nothing on the powerpoint. It carried enough weight to raise grades for the semester nearly 10%. Only five students failed. Guess who they were.
Another day I’ll do a blog about student apathy.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Never A Dull Day
Last week was an interesting one at school. One of my freshmen girls came back from a five day suspension for fighting. She had said some things to a smaller senior girl who proceeded to slam her head into an elevator door. It gave me five days without hearing the word fu__ in my classroom. She came back and started dropping f-bombs right and left. I put a stop to it and it moved out into the hall during passing time. What an exceptional young ‘lady’. I consider her a “work in progress”.
I have another young man who wasn’t doing his work this past week. When I talked to him about his problems, he told me he doesn’t like to do any writing and would as soon take a zero in the assignment. If we did projects in science that involved building things, he would be fine. When I reminded him that he would not build a bridge project earlier in the year, he pointed out that that was with craft sticks. He’d rather work with power tools. Some kids are very difficult to reach but I just look on it as a challenge.
A third boy was loafing along, missing class on a regular basis and avoiding work whenever he did show up. Yesterday, he came into class and spent the whole period on task. Then an email came from the counselor telling me that he had just realized he needed to pass classes to earn credits. I guess he thought he was still at the middle school. He isn’t a discipline problem but he is definitely hurting himself.
Yesterday saw two fights on campus. One was between two guys that was stirred up by a girlfriend of the one. The other was between two girls who had said some nasty things about each other. Different teachers had to intervene to break them up. Fights between two boys usually involve a lot of posturing and hoping that someone will come along to break it up. I made a bit of a reputation for myself when I broke up a fight last year and didn’t even put my clipboard down to do it. But when girls fight, it is usually no holds barred and step between them at your own risk.
My physics students had a test today. Hopefully they did well since even the calculus students have trouble handling the math (algebra based) in the text. I don’t think high school students have developed enough mental maturity to interpret the questions and determine the proper method to arrive at an answer. The questions are often too complex for a junior or senior in high school but appear to be simple when they are just a year or two older. They know the mechanics but the setup is often beyond them. Part of the problem might be the way math is taught with repetitive sets of problems that involve little actual thought and limited problem interpretation.
Wednesday morning was a lot of fun. We had a faculty training session on computers. We were taught how to plug in a keyboard and mouse among other basics. It was unbelievable that the district paid money to bring in outside consultants to go over such basic information. I suspect the training was part of a requirement from the state to maintain our special rates for internet access. Computers have been a bit of a recent sore point among the faculty. We are following a business network model with a central server and all computers set up so we can only use them and not add any programs or peripherals. Unfortunately we do not have a full time computer tech on staff to do installations so our computers provide less flexibility than they did in the network system. The trainer didn’t know we had such restrictions and many of her points didn’t apply to us.
Never a dull day.
I have another young man who wasn’t doing his work this past week. When I talked to him about his problems, he told me he doesn’t like to do any writing and would as soon take a zero in the assignment. If we did projects in science that involved building things, he would be fine. When I reminded him that he would not build a bridge project earlier in the year, he pointed out that that was with craft sticks. He’d rather work with power tools. Some kids are very difficult to reach but I just look on it as a challenge.
A third boy was loafing along, missing class on a regular basis and avoiding work whenever he did show up. Yesterday, he came into class and spent the whole period on task. Then an email came from the counselor telling me that he had just realized he needed to pass classes to earn credits. I guess he thought he was still at the middle school. He isn’t a discipline problem but he is definitely hurting himself.
Yesterday saw two fights on campus. One was between two guys that was stirred up by a girlfriend of the one. The other was between two girls who had said some nasty things about each other. Different teachers had to intervene to break them up. Fights between two boys usually involve a lot of posturing and hoping that someone will come along to break it up. I made a bit of a reputation for myself when I broke up a fight last year and didn’t even put my clipboard down to do it. But when girls fight, it is usually no holds barred and step between them at your own risk.
My physics students had a test today. Hopefully they did well since even the calculus students have trouble handling the math (algebra based) in the text. I don’t think high school students have developed enough mental maturity to interpret the questions and determine the proper method to arrive at an answer. The questions are often too complex for a junior or senior in high school but appear to be simple when they are just a year or two older. They know the mechanics but the setup is often beyond them. Part of the problem might be the way math is taught with repetitive sets of problems that involve little actual thought and limited problem interpretation.
Wednesday morning was a lot of fun. We had a faculty training session on computers. We were taught how to plug in a keyboard and mouse among other basics. It was unbelievable that the district paid money to bring in outside consultants to go over such basic information. I suspect the training was part of a requirement from the state to maintain our special rates for internet access. Computers have been a bit of a recent sore point among the faculty. We are following a business network model with a central server and all computers set up so we can only use them and not add any programs or peripherals. Unfortunately we do not have a full time computer tech on staff to do installations so our computers provide less flexibility than they did in the network system. The trainer didn’t know we had such restrictions and many of her points didn’t apply to us.
Never a dull day.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Sex Education
This topic hits more hot buttons than Evolution. I taught sex education to eighth grade students for five years. It was part of their health curriculum. The state of Washington requires the teaching of this topic. I think many parents are relieved because they are actually embarrassed to sit down and talk to their children about this topic.
I volunteered to take on health as part of the eighth grade science curriculum. The phys ed teachers had avoided the subject for years, short changing the students. I could see the need for the curriculum whenever I talked to students. I am not just referring to the high school pregnancy rate.
Students refused to shower after taking a P.E. class, leading to some smelly situations. The P. E. teachers had given up fighting this battle with the students. In conversation with different students, I arrived at the conclusion that most students weren’t too lazy to shower. They were apparently afraid that one of their classmates might be “gay” and would see them nude. Then the “gay” boy would obviously make a pass at them because a gay eighth grader has no self control around nude boys.
A number of the eighth grade girls had other problems. The high school campus was next to the middle school campus and high school boys were meeting middle school girls in secluded locations on the middle school campus. The girls were providing oral sex for the boys. We never did determine just how widespread the practice was, but when we caught two of them in the act, there were a number of upset parents spending some “quality time” with their suspended daughters. The girls thought oral sex was safe and they not only could not get pregnant, they also could not catch a STD (sexually transmitted disease) from the boys.
These were two of the immediate problem areas that needed work. The other, long term one was teen pregnancy.
Since I had the students for a full year of life science, I was able to develop a rapport with most of them before starting the health unit. I conditioned them to feel free to ask me any question on their minds and I always gave them straight answers. I got them used to words like penis and sperm so they got the giggles out of their systems. They felt comfortable with me.
I used a realistic approach with my students and only ever had one parent complain to me about teaching sex ed and told me he was standing up for all of the parents who were afraid to approach me. I felt sorry for his daughter and she was excused from the one day of “ask me anything about any sex topic, using the appropriate language.”
Eighth graders think they know all about sex. Their naiveté was interesting, to say the least. On ask any question day, the girls seemed to ask the most pointed questions. The mechanics of sex for procreation and effects of STD’s were part of the regular curriculum so the questions tended to be more about gays and how they could possibly have sex to why boys are so fascinated with girls’ breasts.
I never showed how to put a condom onto a banana but I did present a unit on birth control and abstinence. Many students previously thought condoms were 100% effective at preventing conception and STD’s. I pointed out how that train of thought could easily lead to problems later on. I always preferred to point out the consequences of sexual behaviors and focused my comments more toward the girls, since they could not walk away from an unwanted or accidental pregnancy. When I finished the unit, students understood that abstinence was the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and STD’s. But they also knew how to handle situations where abstinence is not an option.
Studies show that teaching abstinence alone is not only a waste of time, it is misleading and criminal. Anyone who says otherwise, needs to get a teaching job in a different field where they will do less harm.
I enjoyed teaching health as part of my science curriculum. I felt as if I was having an effect on my students beyond academics alone. Students responded to the curriculum in a positive way and many of them looked forward to seeing me when I would regularly visit the science teachers on the high school campus. They would go out of their way to visit with me.
The WASL testing fever hit the state of Washington and I had to change my curriculum to reflect the demands of the science portion of the test. I converted my curriculum to the earth sciences and gave up the health unit. It was to be taught by the P.E. teachers. For my last three years at the middle school, it wasn't taught as a separate course or unit by anybody. Supposedly it was integrated into P'E' as part of a "wellness curriculum".
I volunteered to take on health as part of the eighth grade science curriculum. The phys ed teachers had avoided the subject for years, short changing the students. I could see the need for the curriculum whenever I talked to students. I am not just referring to the high school pregnancy rate.
Students refused to shower after taking a P.E. class, leading to some smelly situations. The P. E. teachers had given up fighting this battle with the students. In conversation with different students, I arrived at the conclusion that most students weren’t too lazy to shower. They were apparently afraid that one of their classmates might be “gay” and would see them nude. Then the “gay” boy would obviously make a pass at them because a gay eighth grader has no self control around nude boys.
A number of the eighth grade girls had other problems. The high school campus was next to the middle school campus and high school boys were meeting middle school girls in secluded locations on the middle school campus. The girls were providing oral sex for the boys. We never did determine just how widespread the practice was, but when we caught two of them in the act, there were a number of upset parents spending some “quality time” with their suspended daughters. The girls thought oral sex was safe and they not only could not get pregnant, they also could not catch a STD (sexually transmitted disease) from the boys.
These were two of the immediate problem areas that needed work. The other, long term one was teen pregnancy.
Since I had the students for a full year of life science, I was able to develop a rapport with most of them before starting the health unit. I conditioned them to feel free to ask me any question on their minds and I always gave them straight answers. I got them used to words like penis and sperm so they got the giggles out of their systems. They felt comfortable with me.
I used a realistic approach with my students and only ever had one parent complain to me about teaching sex ed and told me he was standing up for all of the parents who were afraid to approach me. I felt sorry for his daughter and she was excused from the one day of “ask me anything about any sex topic, using the appropriate language.”
Eighth graders think they know all about sex. Their naiveté was interesting, to say the least. On ask any question day, the girls seemed to ask the most pointed questions. The mechanics of sex for procreation and effects of STD’s were part of the regular curriculum so the questions tended to be more about gays and how they could possibly have sex to why boys are so fascinated with girls’ breasts.
I never showed how to put a condom onto a banana but I did present a unit on birth control and abstinence. Many students previously thought condoms were 100% effective at preventing conception and STD’s. I pointed out how that train of thought could easily lead to problems later on. I always preferred to point out the consequences of sexual behaviors and focused my comments more toward the girls, since they could not walk away from an unwanted or accidental pregnancy. When I finished the unit, students understood that abstinence was the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and STD’s. But they also knew how to handle situations where abstinence is not an option.
Studies show that teaching abstinence alone is not only a waste of time, it is misleading and criminal. Anyone who says otherwise, needs to get a teaching job in a different field where they will do less harm.
I enjoyed teaching health as part of my science curriculum. I felt as if I was having an effect on my students beyond academics alone. Students responded to the curriculum in a positive way and many of them looked forward to seeing me when I would regularly visit the science teachers on the high school campus. They would go out of their way to visit with me.
The WASL testing fever hit the state of Washington and I had to change my curriculum to reflect the demands of the science portion of the test. I converted my curriculum to the earth sciences and gave up the health unit. It was to be taught by the P.E. teachers. For my last three years at the middle school, it wasn't taught as a separate course or unit by anybody. Supposedly it was integrated into P'E' as part of a "wellness curriculum".
Thursday, December 17, 2009
T’was The Week Before Christmas
The kids are “bouncing off the walls” this week, especially the ninth graders. We have a two week long holiday break approaching, and mentally the kids are already enjoying it. Tomorrow will be a “lost day” since visions of sugar plums will be floating in their heads.
I have an advantage in science. I can “entertain” my students and trick them into learning something. We are completing a chemistry unit so I am finishing the unit with chemical reactions and equation balancing. Last week I taught about hydrogen and made some as a demonstration. I used mossy zinc and hydrochloric acid. When I ignited the collected gas, I had everyone’s full attention. Then when I did oxygen production and blinded everybody by putting burning magnesium into the pure oxygen, once again I had their full attention.
Class interruptions over the intercom are a constant annoyance. Anyone who has taught knows what I mean. I even had one interruption by a student with a guitar who wanted to serenade me in the middle of a lesson. I’m not sure which class he was skipping, but he left when I nicely told him to “go find some traffic to play in”.
I made extra use of my chalkboard and white boards this past week. Some students like to write on them while others are too shy. I brought in a container of miniature candy canes and used them to generate greater student involvement.
This week I had several visitors from the Spanish class down the hall. I was given two large Christmas cards written in Spanish and three tree decorations that were hand colored with Spanish sentiments written on the back.
The past two days, my students were actually focused on science more than Christmas. We spent the two days doing a lab where they mixed pairs of chemicals to observe the reactions that took place. Keeping students active makes this week before Christmas break a valuable week. A lot of learning has been taking place. I even threatened a test on Friday but canceled it at the last minute. I told them it was a Christmas present.
I haven’t done a whole of insulting lately. It is funny how the kids seem to enjoy being insulted, as long as it is done in a nonthreatening way as part of a bantering exchange. They even laugh at the oldest wise cracks. Yesterday I had a student called to the office and I told her to “make like a tree and leave”.
I think the students enjoy my class since even the ones who are doing poorly don’t want to move to an easier level of work with another teacher. I have had several of last year’s students visit me and tell me they are planning to take physics next year so I can be their teacher again. Gee, maybe I should be cloned?
The day before vacation I always do something loosely related to science and have friendly dialog with my students. I discourage them from bringing any gifts, but a few still do. I am just happy to be working with them and being able to look forward to the upcoming holiday through their eyes.
I have an advantage in science. I can “entertain” my students and trick them into learning something. We are completing a chemistry unit so I am finishing the unit with chemical reactions and equation balancing. Last week I taught about hydrogen and made some as a demonstration. I used mossy zinc and hydrochloric acid. When I ignited the collected gas, I had everyone’s full attention. Then when I did oxygen production and blinded everybody by putting burning magnesium into the pure oxygen, once again I had their full attention.
Class interruptions over the intercom are a constant annoyance. Anyone who has taught knows what I mean. I even had one interruption by a student with a guitar who wanted to serenade me in the middle of a lesson. I’m not sure which class he was skipping, but he left when I nicely told him to “go find some traffic to play in”.
I made extra use of my chalkboard and white boards this past week. Some students like to write on them while others are too shy. I brought in a container of miniature candy canes and used them to generate greater student involvement.
This week I had several visitors from the Spanish class down the hall. I was given two large Christmas cards written in Spanish and three tree decorations that were hand colored with Spanish sentiments written on the back.
The past two days, my students were actually focused on science more than Christmas. We spent the two days doing a lab where they mixed pairs of chemicals to observe the reactions that took place. Keeping students active makes this week before Christmas break a valuable week. A lot of learning has been taking place. I even threatened a test on Friday but canceled it at the last minute. I told them it was a Christmas present.
I haven’t done a whole of insulting lately. It is funny how the kids seem to enjoy being insulted, as long as it is done in a nonthreatening way as part of a bantering exchange. They even laugh at the oldest wise cracks. Yesterday I had a student called to the office and I told her to “make like a tree and leave”.
I think the students enjoy my class since even the ones who are doing poorly don’t want to move to an easier level of work with another teacher. I have had several of last year’s students visit me and tell me they are planning to take physics next year so I can be their teacher again. Gee, maybe I should be cloned?
The day before vacation I always do something loosely related to science and have friendly dialog with my students. I discourage them from bringing any gifts, but a few still do. I am just happy to be working with them and being able to look forward to the upcoming holiday through their eyes.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Poor Teacher
Teaching is not considered a high paying job. New teachers barely get by with the starting salary in most states. Then add on the increasing qualifications criteria and the recipe becomes perfect to discourage anyone from entering the profession. So then who wants to become a teacher?
Surprisingly enough, lots of different people do. Most people enter teaching as dedicated professionals. However, some are looking for a job where they have their summers free or just want to coach sports. A large number of both groups don’t survive for very long. Teaching is a grind that wears you down. It takes a unique individual to be able to do it successfully. A listing of the reasons for leaving teaching would find their classroom students down near the bottom of the list. The highest dropout rate among teachers is within the group that enters the profession for the wrong reasons.
The poor teacher has developed a number of self preservation techniques and will do one or more of the following things to excess. Principal observations are treated to a real “dog and pony show” when they are announced. Classroom discipline is maintained through excessive use of office referrals for misbehavior. Students are kept very busy with worksheets that are intermittently graded while videos, many of which are loosely related to the subject matter, are shown to excess. Notes are put on the overhead or white board and the students spend most of the class period copying them. Students are usually given minimal directions or assistance when given assignments and are left pretty much on their own to come up with solutions. Lessons are seldom changed from year to year and the same old lectures are given forever. The teaching contract is often closely followed, especially concerning the hours required. Volunteering for anything is seldom done unless there are adequate benefits or remuneration involved. School property is often appropriated for personal use through a variety of techniques.
I have had to tolerate a number of these teachers in various school districts. One time as department chairman I tried to do something about a poorly performing individual in my department. Not only was nothing done, the hard feelings generated made things uncomfortable for a year or two. Then he moved on to another district. I learned the hard way that teachers can’t do much about other poor teachers. The final responsibility rests with the principal.
Most principals know who the problem teachers are. They don’t always deal with them for a variety of reasons. Some principals just can’t gather sufficient evidence for dismissal while others don’t want the hassle of eliminating bad teachers. Many principals use “backdoor methods” to eliminate poor teachers. The most common “back door” method involves changing the teacher’s assignment to classes with students who not only perform poorly academically but are also exhibiting many discipline problems. One district used to “demote” high school teachers to the middle school in the hope of acquiring a letter of resignation.
The problem with “back door” methods is that they inflict bad teaching on the students who need the best teaching, similar to what happens in many districts when the “new guy” gets the most difficult classes that the experienced teacher tries to avoid.
Tenure protects teachers from unfair termination but does provide methods to eliminate the bad teacher. The reason many principals don’t want to take it on, is the amount of work and time required to process a teacher through the system.
Teacher bonuses to reward good teaching are never trusted as a means to improve teaching. When these awards are based on student performance, it leads to teachers wanting only the better classes where students will score well on tests. The other drawback is the possibility that the awards will be based upon favoritism or nepotism on the part of the principal or superintendent. There really is no fair way to determine how to apportion these bonuses. Not only do they lead to bad feelings among staff members, they don’t have any effect on the quality of teaching.
Every school has a mix of teachers. Just like everything in life involving people they range from excellent through mediocre to poor. Well managed districts with effective administrators tend to have more of the cream while others end up with more of the curds. Teacher associations (unions) are of little help in sorting the curds from the cream. Unfortunately, students suffer the most since not only are they subject to less than the best quality lessons, they also observe the actions of these "do as I say, not as I do" teachers and often use them as role models.
Surprisingly enough, lots of different people do. Most people enter teaching as dedicated professionals. However, some are looking for a job where they have their summers free or just want to coach sports. A large number of both groups don’t survive for very long. Teaching is a grind that wears you down. It takes a unique individual to be able to do it successfully. A listing of the reasons for leaving teaching would find their classroom students down near the bottom of the list. The highest dropout rate among teachers is within the group that enters the profession for the wrong reasons.
The poor teacher has developed a number of self preservation techniques and will do one or more of the following things to excess. Principal observations are treated to a real “dog and pony show” when they are announced. Classroom discipline is maintained through excessive use of office referrals for misbehavior. Students are kept very busy with worksheets that are intermittently graded while videos, many of which are loosely related to the subject matter, are shown to excess. Notes are put on the overhead or white board and the students spend most of the class period copying them. Students are usually given minimal directions or assistance when given assignments and are left pretty much on their own to come up with solutions. Lessons are seldom changed from year to year and the same old lectures are given forever. The teaching contract is often closely followed, especially concerning the hours required. Volunteering for anything is seldom done unless there are adequate benefits or remuneration involved. School property is often appropriated for personal use through a variety of techniques.
I have had to tolerate a number of these teachers in various school districts. One time as department chairman I tried to do something about a poorly performing individual in my department. Not only was nothing done, the hard feelings generated made things uncomfortable for a year or two. Then he moved on to another district. I learned the hard way that teachers can’t do much about other poor teachers. The final responsibility rests with the principal.
Most principals know who the problem teachers are. They don’t always deal with them for a variety of reasons. Some principals just can’t gather sufficient evidence for dismissal while others don’t want the hassle of eliminating bad teachers. Many principals use “backdoor methods” to eliminate poor teachers. The most common “back door” method involves changing the teacher’s assignment to classes with students who not only perform poorly academically but are also exhibiting many discipline problems. One district used to “demote” high school teachers to the middle school in the hope of acquiring a letter of resignation.
The problem with “back door” methods is that they inflict bad teaching on the students who need the best teaching, similar to what happens in many districts when the “new guy” gets the most difficult classes that the experienced teacher tries to avoid.
Tenure protects teachers from unfair termination but does provide methods to eliminate the bad teacher. The reason many principals don’t want to take it on, is the amount of work and time required to process a teacher through the system.
Teacher bonuses to reward good teaching are never trusted as a means to improve teaching. When these awards are based on student performance, it leads to teachers wanting only the better classes where students will score well on tests. The other drawback is the possibility that the awards will be based upon favoritism or nepotism on the part of the principal or superintendent. There really is no fair way to determine how to apportion these bonuses. Not only do they lead to bad feelings among staff members, they don’t have any effect on the quality of teaching.
Every school has a mix of teachers. Just like everything in life involving people they range from excellent through mediocre to poor. Well managed districts with effective administrators tend to have more of the cream while others end up with more of the curds. Teacher associations (unions) are of little help in sorting the curds from the cream. Unfortunately, students suffer the most since not only are they subject to less than the best quality lessons, they also observe the actions of these "do as I say, not as I do" teachers and often use them as role models.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Changing of the Guard Part II
After two years at the junior high school, I was transferred to the high school where I got to know several excellent educators. Sam made an immediate impression on me. A tall, stocky man with a completely hairless dome and a strongly Italian accent, he was an imposing presence in the classroom. He had no discipline problems at all. He had an undeserved reputation as a man to be feared. Sam always wore has class ring, which had a giant red stone. Early in his career he would use corporal punishment and once slapped a student. Unfortunately he caught the student with his ring a cut his cheek. That was the last time he touched a student.
When I knew him, he was mellow and laid back. As an experienced teacher, he had developed more relaxed and refined discipline methods. The students enjoyed his classes and I enjoyed his company. I valued his advice and improved as a teacher because of it. Sam retired many years ago and recently passed away. He had a long, successful teaching career and enjoyed over twenty years in retirement.
George was a fellow science teacher. He taught the chemistry classes and could teach physics if needed. He set high standards and expected the students to attain those standards. George’s curriculum was demanding and prepared students for college courses in the sciences. At the same time he was able to tailor chemistry classes for students who were more oriented for trade schools rather than for a four year college. George had a long, successful teaching career but developed cancer and died before he was able to retire.
I also knew a couple of teachers who at first made very strong, positive impressions on me. Ray was an excellent math teacher with very high standards and an excellent ambassador for the teaching profession. He was an excellent negotiator for teaching contracts with a focus on what was good for the students as well as the teachers. Unfortunately, he moved into administration and became the antithesis of everything he stood for earlier in his career. Eventually he became the superintendent of the school district and when he died, few people remembered anything about his years in the classroom.
Bruce was my department head and I learned more from him about organizing and preparing a good science lesson in my first year with the district than I had learned in four years of college. He had made a reputation by consistently advising state and national science fair winners. He taught the advanced chemistry and physics classes and brought many national science grants to the school district. His goals were set much higher than the classroom and as he moved into district position, the science grants dried up and budgetary cutbacks became commonplace. By the time he worked his way into the position of Superintendent of Schools, his classroom career was pretty much forgotten and a teacher antagonistic school board made the position so difficult that he had little positive impact on the educational system.
Ray and Bruce helped me develop improved classroom techniques. They also showed me how detrimental weak leadership is to the educational process.
My high school principal, Curt, was my immediate “boss” for 18 years. He was a well respected sports official until his legs gave out. We often noticed that his office door was closed after he officiated a state championship match. The rumor was that he was “napping”. I don’t know if that was true or not, but I do know what was true. Curt would defend his teachers against any questionable criticism. He would also defend teachers against complaints about decisions being made that affected students in an adverse way. Then, if the teacher’s action was not a good one, he would quietly point that out to the teacher after the parent had left. The smart teacher would then correct the problem.
Curt required weekly lesson plans so he was always aware of what was happening in the classrooms. I used to wonder if he read them and would sometimes turn in plans that were short and cryptic. I remember the week I turned in these plans: Monday-Mars, Tuesday-Venus, Wednesday-Jupiter, Thursday-Saturn, Friday-asteroids. That is when I discovered that Curt did read the plans. I spent ten minutes with him. The next day I had acceptable plans turned in and he paid special attention to me for a few weeks after that.
Curt showed many of the characteristics of an excellent high school principal. He defended teachers when they were unjustly accused by anybody- parent or board member. He supported their decisions and actions as long as they followed established policies. He would quietly discipline teachers who needed it and was always up front with any teacher in all of his actions. He always acted for in the best interests of everyone concerned. He was as fair with the students as he was with his teachers. He interacted with the students in a friendly manner and new many of them by name.
Curt was satisfied being a high school principal and served for many years until retiring and eventually moving to Florida.
When we moved to the west coast and I eventually returned to teaching, I worked under two other principals who played important roles in the development of my teaching career. John was a guidance counselor who worked his way up to being a middle school principal. His interaction with students was a very important aspect of his position. Students felt at ease with him, even when being disciplined.
John had some health problems from his time in Vietnam and found decision making to be very difficult. He was in a difficult position working in a school where teachers wanted to do things their own way and were often less than cooperative. Many of the attitudes were surprising to me and a number of them appeared to have their own agendas ranked ahead of what was best for the students. For example, most were against grouping by ability because it was easier to control a class that had very bright students scattered among students who could care less about school. They didn’t seem to mind that the bright students were held back from achieving their full potential and the slow students were unable to handle the level of work being taught (a middle ground approach). John hit a wall more than once. When he did make a decision I didn’t agree with, his door was always open and I could go in and tell him what I thought. He never held anything I said against me. That was one of several things I respected him for.
When John was encouraged to leave, I had to take part in a juvenile, distasteful proceeding. The district held a special retreat for all of the staff in the building to cleanse themselves of John’s tenure. It was felt that everyone harbored bad feelings that prevented them from moving forward under new leadership. That somehow everyone must have been psychologically injured. I wanted to vomit when I heard this plan but I was contractually obligated to take part. Here were professional people who were preparing young people to be successful and they had all of these hang-ups over a principal most of them never really supported. When everyone had to write down any bad feelings they had for John and then discard them into a trash container as they filed by, I knew then I wanted to find a high school situation. John is happy today. He is retired and working as a substitute teacher. I run into him once in a while and we swap some stories.
I spent a few more years here working under an excellent principal who had come out of retirement to be John’s vice principal. Tom had taken an early retirement from teaching to take care of his son. His son had a number of personal problems and John gave up his career to care for him and renew their father-son relationship. I respected him for that and stayed on to work with him.
Tom was in a difficult position as he had to work with a difficult staff. Many of the teachers were dedicated, but many others were self focused. One science teacher had spent most of his career telling science fiction stories instead of teaching science. His students were a disaster when they hit high school. When he retired, his replacement was a know-it-all fresh out of college who caused me all sorts of grief. A female teacher was especially vindictive and made me the focus of her attacks. Knowing I didn’t need to put up with the downslide of teaching expertise surrounding me, I became very active looking for another position. The year Tom retired, following a three year “healing program”, I also moved on to my present position.
Tom was very humanistic in his approach. He weighed all of decisions carefully before making them. He interacted with the students and always had their best interests as the basis for each and every decision. I was pleased to have worked with him for the years that I did. After he retired, he was constantly approached by other districts who wanted him to run one of their buildings to correct some problems that had become apparent.
These two blogs have been about people who have been part of my professional life and helped me become the teacher I am today. I hope that as you have read them, that you have thought about a teacher or principal who had a positive affect on your own life.
When I knew him, he was mellow and laid back. As an experienced teacher, he had developed more relaxed and refined discipline methods. The students enjoyed his classes and I enjoyed his company. I valued his advice and improved as a teacher because of it. Sam retired many years ago and recently passed away. He had a long, successful teaching career and enjoyed over twenty years in retirement.
George was a fellow science teacher. He taught the chemistry classes and could teach physics if needed. He set high standards and expected the students to attain those standards. George’s curriculum was demanding and prepared students for college courses in the sciences. At the same time he was able to tailor chemistry classes for students who were more oriented for trade schools rather than for a four year college. George had a long, successful teaching career but developed cancer and died before he was able to retire.
I also knew a couple of teachers who at first made very strong, positive impressions on me. Ray was an excellent math teacher with very high standards and an excellent ambassador for the teaching profession. He was an excellent negotiator for teaching contracts with a focus on what was good for the students as well as the teachers. Unfortunately, he moved into administration and became the antithesis of everything he stood for earlier in his career. Eventually he became the superintendent of the school district and when he died, few people remembered anything about his years in the classroom.
Bruce was my department head and I learned more from him about organizing and preparing a good science lesson in my first year with the district than I had learned in four years of college. He had made a reputation by consistently advising state and national science fair winners. He taught the advanced chemistry and physics classes and brought many national science grants to the school district. His goals were set much higher than the classroom and as he moved into district position, the science grants dried up and budgetary cutbacks became commonplace. By the time he worked his way into the position of Superintendent of Schools, his classroom career was pretty much forgotten and a teacher antagonistic school board made the position so difficult that he had little positive impact on the educational system.
Ray and Bruce helped me develop improved classroom techniques. They also showed me how detrimental weak leadership is to the educational process.
My high school principal, Curt, was my immediate “boss” for 18 years. He was a well respected sports official until his legs gave out. We often noticed that his office door was closed after he officiated a state championship match. The rumor was that he was “napping”. I don’t know if that was true or not, but I do know what was true. Curt would defend his teachers against any questionable criticism. He would also defend teachers against complaints about decisions being made that affected students in an adverse way. Then, if the teacher’s action was not a good one, he would quietly point that out to the teacher after the parent had left. The smart teacher would then correct the problem.
Curt required weekly lesson plans so he was always aware of what was happening in the classrooms. I used to wonder if he read them and would sometimes turn in plans that were short and cryptic. I remember the week I turned in these plans: Monday-Mars, Tuesday-Venus, Wednesday-Jupiter, Thursday-Saturn, Friday-asteroids. That is when I discovered that Curt did read the plans. I spent ten minutes with him. The next day I had acceptable plans turned in and he paid special attention to me for a few weeks after that.
Curt showed many of the characteristics of an excellent high school principal. He defended teachers when they were unjustly accused by anybody- parent or board member. He supported their decisions and actions as long as they followed established policies. He would quietly discipline teachers who needed it and was always up front with any teacher in all of his actions. He always acted for in the best interests of everyone concerned. He was as fair with the students as he was with his teachers. He interacted with the students in a friendly manner and new many of them by name.
Curt was satisfied being a high school principal and served for many years until retiring and eventually moving to Florida.
When we moved to the west coast and I eventually returned to teaching, I worked under two other principals who played important roles in the development of my teaching career. John was a guidance counselor who worked his way up to being a middle school principal. His interaction with students was a very important aspect of his position. Students felt at ease with him, even when being disciplined.
John had some health problems from his time in Vietnam and found decision making to be very difficult. He was in a difficult position working in a school where teachers wanted to do things their own way and were often less than cooperative. Many of the attitudes were surprising to me and a number of them appeared to have their own agendas ranked ahead of what was best for the students. For example, most were against grouping by ability because it was easier to control a class that had very bright students scattered among students who could care less about school. They didn’t seem to mind that the bright students were held back from achieving their full potential and the slow students were unable to handle the level of work being taught (a middle ground approach). John hit a wall more than once. When he did make a decision I didn’t agree with, his door was always open and I could go in and tell him what I thought. He never held anything I said against me. That was one of several things I respected him for.
When John was encouraged to leave, I had to take part in a juvenile, distasteful proceeding. The district held a special retreat for all of the staff in the building to cleanse themselves of John’s tenure. It was felt that everyone harbored bad feelings that prevented them from moving forward under new leadership. That somehow everyone must have been psychologically injured. I wanted to vomit when I heard this plan but I was contractually obligated to take part. Here were professional people who were preparing young people to be successful and they had all of these hang-ups over a principal most of them never really supported. When everyone had to write down any bad feelings they had for John and then discard them into a trash container as they filed by, I knew then I wanted to find a high school situation. John is happy today. He is retired and working as a substitute teacher. I run into him once in a while and we swap some stories.
I spent a few more years here working under an excellent principal who had come out of retirement to be John’s vice principal. Tom had taken an early retirement from teaching to take care of his son. His son had a number of personal problems and John gave up his career to care for him and renew their father-son relationship. I respected him for that and stayed on to work with him.
Tom was in a difficult position as he had to work with a difficult staff. Many of the teachers were dedicated, but many others were self focused. One science teacher had spent most of his career telling science fiction stories instead of teaching science. His students were a disaster when they hit high school. When he retired, his replacement was a know-it-all fresh out of college who caused me all sorts of grief. A female teacher was especially vindictive and made me the focus of her attacks. Knowing I didn’t need to put up with the downslide of teaching expertise surrounding me, I became very active looking for another position. The year Tom retired, following a three year “healing program”, I also moved on to my present position.
Tom was very humanistic in his approach. He weighed all of decisions carefully before making them. He interacted with the students and always had their best interests as the basis for each and every decision. I was pleased to have worked with him for the years that I did. After he retired, he was constantly approached by other districts who wanted him to run one of their buildings to correct some problems that had become apparent.
These two blogs have been about people who have been part of my professional life and helped me become the teacher I am today. I hope that as you have read them, that you have thought about a teacher or principal who had a positive affect on your own life.
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