I arrived in Minnesota on Saturday... it is really nice to be back. The weather is actually relatively close to the same here as it was in Houston when I left (around 50-60 degrees and drizzly). The break couldn't have come at a better time. The last few weeks have been very hectic and busy to say the least...
I was asked recently by the head wrestling coach at Sam Houston High School (Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center) to help coach there high school team recently. In 2007, John Hopkins University reffered to Sam Houston as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year. Needless to say, "Sam" is a rough place, where I will hopefully be able to impact a few students' lives through my presence at their coach and encouragement on and off the mat.
Despite already being very busy (sometimes to the point of being overwhelmed), I accepted the offer and began coaching both the boys and girls varsity and junior varsity teams on a daily basis (Yes you read that right, they do have girls varsity wrestling in Texas - it is separate from the boys wrestling team). Wrestling is a little different in Texas than what I am used to. I feel it is less intense and of a lower quality than wrestling in Minnesota, especially the team I participated on in high school. Most of the wrestlers do not start until 9th grade so their experience definitely limits even the good wrestlers on most teams.
The teams I am currently coaching remind me a lot of the team I coached in Saint Paul that helped to spur this entire journey. There are a few committed guys and girls that are there everyday, but for the most part, participation varies due to other commitments, such as having to work after school or on the weekends to help make ends meet. I really like being back with the sport of wrestling and feel that through coaching I will be able to impact these students' lives as well.
I forgot how much I enjoy coaching, and even though we are currently loosing more than we are winning, I am having a good time and I think the wrestlers are too.
I know that very few, if any, of my wrestlers will go on to wrestle after high school, but for many of them wrestling is a release and a chance to learn a lot of important life skills. Currently, I am working with the team on the importance of "showing up," whether it is in wrestling or in life, it is really hard to win (or succeed) if you don't show up. We will be setting personal goals shortly with regards to attendance at practice and school.
BACK AT BERRY...
Things are actually going a little better. My classroom management has really improved over the past few weeks. All of my students that were suspended are back in the classroom now (well all but the two long-term suspensions) and they are a little better behaved. Although things are not perfect, and many students still need reminders, we are on our way to having a well run and efficient classroom, where behavior does not slow down our ability to learn.
On a more negative note, on of my students who I have been struggling to try and get to come to school has not been at school at all in November and I was told on Thursday that she will not be coming back. Her mother, who I do not believe has completed high school herself, will be homeschooling here. This is a blow to my moral, as this student had a lot of potential and was a good learner. I feel that she will continue to get further and further behind at home and eventually drop out when she is old enough. I know this is negative, but from what I am told... this is "usually what happens."
My students are still struggling in almost all content areas, and sometimes it seems that regardless of the amount of time I spend on a topic or how many different modalities I show it in... the students still do not understand or grasp the concept. On our last math assessment I put all of the steps on how to solve the problems on the board, including various math strategies they could use on the test. Despite my best effort (and doing everything but giving the students the answers) my class still only had a class average of 63%. I am not sure what to do or how to change my instruction, but I do not think this is acceptable.
I am going to be meeting with my mentor and my TFA program director next week and will hopefully have answers and ideas on how to do a more effective job teaching (and reteaching).
I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!
Looking back on my experiences thus far with Teach For America and my time in Houston it is easy to think of many things that I am thankful for...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Parent - Teacher Conferences
Unfortunately the old saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" rings truer to me after completing my first round of true:
parent - teacher conferences
and in some case:
parent - teacher - student conferences...
and many times:
parent - student - teacher - translator conferences).
Well I made it out alive. I am actually pretty happy that I was busy this afternoon. We to not have students on Wednesday afternoons at Berry Elementary School, but today was different due to conferences. I had a pretty decent turnout for conferences. I would estimate that I was able to speak (or speak through a translator) to about 50% of my students' parents (or many times guardian).
I was really happy to see that the mothers of both of my two most challenging students were at conferences and I was able to discuss with them their students' behavior in my class (both of their children are currently suspended - both as the final stage out of many, many occurrences - but their last "events" were: one student stood up in class to inform me that they hated me and wanted to kill me. The other student had been tormenting and bullying other classmates to the point where some of my students no longer wanted to come to school).
Anyway, I met with the first students' mother, who informed me that the only reason their child acted up or misbehaved was because of the behavior of other students in the classroom. During the entire translated conference, the parent continued to blame other students, the school, myself, and anyone or anything else, other than the students' own actions for the way the student acted. This story sounded awful familiar to the story her daughter told myself a few days ago before being suspended by the principal. I explained to the mother that her daughters actions were a choice and that I understood that she was not at fault, but after several seating arrangement changes, adaptations, chances to refocus (glorified time-out), and other intervention steps... it was definitely her daughters' choice to misbehave that was causing the problem.
The story was about the same with the second parent, except for the son was with on this conference, oh, and the mother spoke English. They entered the room and the mother began to tell me the same story her son tells me just about everyday. About how someone else started it, and it was not his fault, ect. About 15 minutes into our conference, the mother began to realize that her little boy, might actually be acting up, and that he may not be telling her the truth at home. The next 15 minutes of this abnormally long conference went much differently... ended with the mother suggesting that he son was going to get his *#%$ whooped when he got home and that she would be checking with my to ensure that this does not happen again.
Hopefully I will be updating you later with good news regarding the behavior in my classroom, but as of right now it still leaves room to be desired. Here is the current situation:
1 student at alternative school
3 students suspended
and this is just in my homeroom. The LAST thing I want to do is have students get suspended or sent to another school. All this does is put them even further behind where they already are in there academics. The principal thinks that it works, but judging by the attitude of the student who was suspended and then ended up in alternative school... I am still not sold on the idea.
I know that some of the problems in my classroom regarding behavior may stem from my inexperience, but I honestly feel like I am doing a good job... some of these students are just very hard to control... at all.
Well... it's past my bedtime, but just wanted to share with you a little bit about conferences before bed.
parent - teacher conferences
and in some case:
parent - teacher - student conferences...
and many times:
parent - student - teacher - translator conferences).
Well I made it out alive. I am actually pretty happy that I was busy this afternoon. We to not have students on Wednesday afternoons at Berry Elementary School, but today was different due to conferences. I had a pretty decent turnout for conferences. I would estimate that I was able to speak (or speak through a translator) to about 50% of my students' parents (or many times guardian).
I was really happy to see that the mothers of both of my two most challenging students were at conferences and I was able to discuss with them their students' behavior in my class (both of their children are currently suspended - both as the final stage out of many, many occurrences - but their last "events" were: one student stood up in class to inform me that they hated me and wanted to kill me. The other student had been tormenting and bullying other classmates to the point where some of my students no longer wanted to come to school).
Anyway, I met with the first students' mother, who informed me that the only reason their child acted up or misbehaved was because of the behavior of other students in the classroom. During the entire translated conference, the parent continued to blame other students, the school, myself, and anyone or anything else, other than the students' own actions for the way the student acted. This story sounded awful familiar to the story her daughter told myself a few days ago before being suspended by the principal. I explained to the mother that her daughters actions were a choice and that I understood that she was not at fault, but after several seating arrangement changes, adaptations, chances to refocus (glorified time-out), and other intervention steps... it was definitely her daughters' choice to misbehave that was causing the problem.
The story was about the same with the second parent, except for the son was with on this conference, oh, and the mother spoke English. They entered the room and the mother began to tell me the same story her son tells me just about everyday. About how someone else started it, and it was not his fault, ect. About 15 minutes into our conference, the mother began to realize that her little boy, might actually be acting up, and that he may not be telling her the truth at home. The next 15 minutes of this abnormally long conference went much differently... ended with the mother suggesting that he son was going to get his *#%$ whooped when he got home and that she would be checking with my to ensure that this does not happen again.
Hopefully I will be updating you later with good news regarding the behavior in my classroom, but as of right now it still leaves room to be desired. Here is the current situation:
1 student at alternative school
3 students suspended
and this is just in my homeroom. The LAST thing I want to do is have students get suspended or sent to another school. All this does is put them even further behind where they already are in there academics. The principal thinks that it works, but judging by the attitude of the student who was suspended and then ended up in alternative school... I am still not sold on the idea.
I know that some of the problems in my classroom regarding behavior may stem from my inexperience, but I honestly feel like I am doing a good job... some of these students are just very hard to control... at all.
Well... it's past my bedtime, but just wanted to share with you a little bit about conferences before bed.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Octobers Already Over?
The posts have once again gotten spread a little thin through the month of October. I will attribute the time off to my birthday and a slight cold that I haven't been able to kick.
Well I made it through October... I am not sure if that is the best way to put it. "Made it through" sounds as if I survived something or persevered over some type of obstacle, but I guess when I think about it... some days I do think I have "made it through."
I am hoping to affect lots of change and to see my students grow and flourish, but the truth is that many of them are still struggling. Most of them are still waiting for their breakthrough in math or science (among other classes, just the only ones I teach). I have had a few big successes teaching thus far, but really only even to keep going the next day. It seems as if when my motivation is at an all time low something good happens in my classroom.
For example, a few days after one of my students was expelled from school for hitting another student (prior blog), one of my students figured out how to change improper fractions to mixed numbers during after school tutorials. (tutorials - small group instruction that I teach after school for math on Tuesdays and Thursdays). His comments of "oh mister, I get it" and "this is easy" have been the fuel that has kept me going over the past several days.
After the last two weeks I feel as if I am due for something good again. My students' last exam scores, on material I had just taught to them for the past two weeks, came back much lower than I expected. I had some students score well 90-95%, but the class average was still about a 50%. My goal is to have my students performing at a class average of 80% mastery of each topic I teach... therefore 50% mastery is unacceptable. I was told this was "normal," but really, I am not looking for normal, or to have my students continue at the same rate that they have in years past... I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.
On a different note...
I caught two of my students stealing from me last week.
They were taking prizes from my "treasure chest," which I have as a reward system for my students. Students can earn tickets (at my discretion) and then enter them in the drawing that takes place every other Friday.
One of the students that stole was one of my best students and I was crushed on the inside to have to punish him for what he had done. Sometimes it is hard to be fair as a teacher. It is so easy to reprimand the "trouble maker" but sometimes hard to do the same to the "good student." I was fair though, and gave both students the same consequences. My principal wanted them suspended, but I didn't see how missing school was going to help them at all. I think that one of the students would actually have enjoyed the day off. Both students had to write me an apology and then a phone call was made home to their parents. Judging by their behavior in class the next day, I think their parents (or guardian) must have taken care of it. I don't know if I agree with the "whoopin" some of my students get at home when they misbehave, but it seems to be very effective.
Unfortunately, neither one of my classes will be having a drawing from the "treasure chest" this Friday...
Well I made it through October... I am not sure if that is the best way to put it. "Made it through" sounds as if I survived something or persevered over some type of obstacle, but I guess when I think about it... some days I do think I have "made it through."
I am hoping to affect lots of change and to see my students grow and flourish, but the truth is that many of them are still struggling. Most of them are still waiting for their breakthrough in math or science (among other classes, just the only ones I teach). I have had a few big successes teaching thus far, but really only even to keep going the next day. It seems as if when my motivation is at an all time low something good happens in my classroom.
For example, a few days after one of my students was expelled from school for hitting another student (prior blog), one of my students figured out how to change improper fractions to mixed numbers during after school tutorials. (tutorials - small group instruction that I teach after school for math on Tuesdays and Thursdays). His comments of "oh mister, I get it" and "this is easy" have been the fuel that has kept me going over the past several days.
After the last two weeks I feel as if I am due for something good again. My students' last exam scores, on material I had just taught to them for the past two weeks, came back much lower than I expected. I had some students score well 90-95%, but the class average was still about a 50%. My goal is to have my students performing at a class average of 80% mastery of each topic I teach... therefore 50% mastery is unacceptable. I was told this was "normal," but really, I am not looking for normal, or to have my students continue at the same rate that they have in years past... I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.
On a different note...
I caught two of my students stealing from me last week.
They were taking prizes from my "treasure chest," which I have as a reward system for my students. Students can earn tickets (at my discretion) and then enter them in the drawing that takes place every other Friday.
One of the students that stole was one of my best students and I was crushed on the inside to have to punish him for what he had done. Sometimes it is hard to be fair as a teacher. It is so easy to reprimand the "trouble maker" but sometimes hard to do the same to the "good student." I was fair though, and gave both students the same consequences. My principal wanted them suspended, but I didn't see how missing school was going to help them at all. I think that one of the students would actually have enjoyed the day off. Both students had to write me an apology and then a phone call was made home to their parents. Judging by their behavior in class the next day, I think their parents (or guardian) must have taken care of it. I don't know if I agree with the "whoopin" some of my students get at home when they misbehave, but it seems to be very effective.
Unfortunately, neither one of my classes will be having a drawing from the "treasure chest" this Friday...
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