Totally off topic - but I'm pleased...

[Veronica]

So I feel like my job stinks, my students seem to lack the abilitiy to do any higher thinking skills. They are the champions of the stupid question. Yes there are stupid questions. And how many times must I answer the same question because they don't listen to each other...

Last year's group was much the same way. But I got my state testing results today from last year. In the 5 different Language Arts areas my class last year scored 5 - 9% higher than the state average in all areas. I know that's not an important statistical deviation - but they were all higher! And I don't think of Language Arts as my area of strength. And I did more of my own thing and not so much of the state adopted text. (BORING!) My boss is often on me to do more of the state adopted text.

Math which I consider my area of strength was not so good overall. I was -1% in one area, over by 2% in two. But the other two areas were +10% and + 15%.

So, well testing isn't everything - it's nice to see I don't actually suck at this and my kids did learn something. Or they are just really good guessers.

Maybe there's hope for this year's group.


V.

[shewhobikes]

What year/s or grades do you teach? They can't be "just good guessers" for the whole of them to improve by percentage points, you know. Give yourself all the credit that you're due! You must be a good teacher.

And speaking of off-topic, if you hate your job you should write copy for Patagonia. I lusted after the cashmere hoody you described and bought it. I love it, too! I took my oldest daugher (HS senior) on a college visit trip this week up East. (We just got home tonight.) My hoody was my constant wraparound companion all week. Thanks for the tip!

[Veronica]

I don't really hate my job. But there does seem to be a downward trend in the behavior and academic readiness. I've been treaching for 13 years. And these kids seem to need a lot of attention - positive or negative. I think that's where a lot of the dumb questions come in.

I used to be able to give the students a task and they could work for 30 - 60 minutes with little input from me. This group can't work for a minute. They don't want or don't know how to do any independent thinking. I'm not sure how to teach that. I do find that when I tell them they have to think for 5 minutes before I'll help them - they often to seem to figure out what to do. That gets old though.

I'm glad you like the sweater. What color did you get? I've got black and I'dike to get a pink.

V.

[SadieKate]

You should feel good about this. There is great satisfaction to be found in helping others to succeed. Considering your frustration with this year's class, I think you need to keep hope for this year's group. That or set aside a large chunk of your budget for Advil and Alcohol which is not recommended.

[Veronica]

You should feel good about this. There is great satisfaction to be found in helping others to succeed. Considering your frustration with this year's class, I think you need to keep hope for this year's group. That or set aside a large chunk of your budget for Advil and Alcohol which is not recommended.

I don't really drink. I think it's because I like things to be really cold. So when I do drink it's those always those slushy things. The smell of beer makes me want to hurl.

I do wonder if I'm allergic to something in my room - or the smelly stuff one of my kids wears. He just reeks some days! Today I told him he needed to go a little lighter on the spray. You could smell it across the room.

V.

[JanT]

Veronica,
When I taught LD resource, I always felt like I was spinning my wheels, that the kids were not really progressing. Then I'd do my end of the year assessments and found out that they really had learned alot. So, congrats on your testing results, and know that you are reaching kids. And I would guess you are teaching many other things besides "the test," and your students are growing in ways that no test can assess. All your efforts are worth the energy spent. Go forth and teach! And then ride all your frustrations away!
Jan

[pkq]

Sounds like you are doing a good job to me, since their scores were higher than state averages last year. The bunch this year will probably surprise you next year.

Teaching is one of the most important professions and so underpaid considering the charge of the profession, i.e., developing the little minds today to lead tomorrow. I am glad to know some kids have you as their teacher!

Keep up the good work and enjoy the rest of the year. It takes special people such as yourself to teach.

[Surlygirl]

I'm one of the parents who hates the MCAS tests in Massachusetts. I think they have stifled teachers and creativity in the classroom. Everyone teaches for the test all year. There are no more interesting projects or creative teaching. Kids never learn how to think outside the box. What if a kid is just not good at taking tests. Should that be our only measure?
I admire teachers, I know I couldn't do it. In the age of instant gratification, cell phones, videos, computers, and xbox, its a wonder you can keep their attention at all!!!!

[Irulan]

I guess what I am trying to say is that even tho I know that teaching can be really tough, I get annoyed *in general* because as a whole one doesn't hear about the good kids and the decent families, and there are a lot of them out there - the self starters, motivated, centered ones. No one talks about them. It's not a factor of what class you are in, there are good decent people who arew raising great kids across the economic and social landscape.

In our whole run thourgh the public school system ( here, my community) as a whole most of the kids I know are pretty bright, focused, and doing well. As we are in the midst of teen stuff, the kids I know are involved in musics, sports, arts, community service and are well balanced. Many of them are earning scholarships to go on to college. They don't do drugs, go to sex parties, freak dance, hang out at the mall. But you never hear about these kids. You hear about the ones who get the school dance shut down fro freak dancing ( lastest local scandal) And again, this transends socio-economic borders. There are good kids and families everywhere, they just get ignored because they are doing OK.

LOL, I've certainly met my share of decent kids whose only problem IS the parents, this almost gets worse IMO the more $ the parents have because then they think they have the privelidge of telling teachers how to do thier job. God Bless, Mrs. Mai, telling the parents to BUTT OUT and let the kids do their own work. I burned out on school volunteering when the oldest hit 7th.

Even my kid multi tasks while doing homework, combining IM with pre-calc and maybe something else at the same time. ( gaming? Google?) It drives me nuts, but that is the culture, and who am I to complain if he can do all that and maintain a 3.9?



just my 2¢ worth of rant, as usual

Irulan