Just venting

[creekland]

Skip if you prefer... I need this board to vent sometimes.

 

One would THINK that a geometry teacher would catch that a drawn figure is a parallelogram and not a rectangle when they notice the slopes of the lines in question are 3 and -1/2 AND the students are using slope triangles to calculate the distances of said lines.

 

THEN, you would think they would know you can't use side x side to calculate the area of said parallelogram. You actually need to calculate the true height (not easy with said figure).

 

As a sub, you wouldn't expect to be catching that type of mistake in a problem set used year in and year out with several different teachers/students and you KNOW they teach the difference between slopes of parallelograms and rectangles at some point in the classes.

 

:banghead::banghead:

 

I wish this were a rare type of occurrence where I work.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I'm wondering why you are a sub and not the head of the math department. ;)

[creekland]

I'm wondering why you are a sub and not the head of the math department. ;)

 

Yeah, upon thinking about it I shouldn't complain about that which I'm unwilling to "fix." There's no way I want to work full time in a public school. First, I'm too lazy for full time. :D (And when the kids were younger I wanted more family time.) Then, real teachers have so much more "stuff" on them than I have. First, they have to stick with exactly what is proclaimed to be done - same questions - same everything. There's no room to roam or even get off on a math rabbit trail should a kid ask. I don't have to worry about those things as a sub. I have a TON of freedom to progress as I please the day(s) I'm in. Second, they have to press on at a pace. I'm a mastery person - esp with math. It's tough on me to keep moving on when kids aren't getting a concept. Third, there are so many meetings and meetings and paperwork and more paperwork (not talking grading, etc). I love to teach - and subbing (where I'm known) gives me that freedom (most days).

 

Any one of these teachers would know they couldn't "do" that problem (the way it was done) if I brought it to them separately and asked. They just get into such a rut doing the same thing over and over that it's kind of blinding to typos. Our system is too "automated" I think. It's probably why "fresh eyes" can see things as I don't know what it's "supposed" to be.

 

But these are some of the reasons why I wish youngest would have been happy homeschooling. These things happen in more classes than just math. (Celsius is spelled with an "s" not "Celcius," but you wouldn't know it from some of our science power points.)

 

Thanks for letting me vent. I was getting too frustrated about this last night.

[Lolly]

:iagree:I once substituted an algebra classroom (many years ago, in a previous life) where they had been working on basic inequalities. Almost all the kids had missed almost every problem. I started going over the problems on the board. Every single kid in the room argued with me that I was using the symbols backwards.:confused: Turns out the teacher had taught them incorrectly. One girl showed me her notes from the previous day. (There were no textbooks. The teacher just gave them pages of problems to work that he had run off.) I finally convinced them by going back to the alligator liking to eat the larger number. The whole class got quiet and looked puzzled. This sounded familiar to them. Finally, one girl said, "She's right. Mr. .... had it wrong." Honestly, they were all aghast. The thought had crossed my mind that I might be in the middle of a large planned joke. That was not the case. Every class had been taught the same wrong concept.

[regentrude]

I once substituted an algebra classroom (many years ago, in a previous life) where they had been working on basic inequalities. Almost all the kids had missed almost every problem. I started going over the problems on the board. Every single kid in the room argued with me that I was using the symbols backwards.:confused: Turns out the teacher had taught them incorrectly. One girl showed me her notes from the previous day. (There were no textbooks. The teacher just gave them pages of problems to work that he had run off.) I finally convinced them by going back to the alligator liking to eat the larger number. The whole class got quiet and looked puzzled. This sounded familiar to them. Finally, one girl said, "She's right. Mr. .... had it wrong." Honestly, they were all aghast. The thought had crossed my mind that I might be in the middle of a large planned joke. That was not the case. Every class had been taught the same wrong concept.

 

Ouch. just. ouch.

[FaithManor]

Yeah, upon thinking about it I shouldn't complain about that which I'm unwilling to "fix." There's no way I want to work full time in a public school. First, I'm too lazy for full time. :D (And when the kids were younger I wanted more family time.) Then, real teachers have so much more "stuff" on them than I have. First, they have to stick with exactly what is proclaimed to be done - same questions - same everything. There's no room to roam or even get off on a math rabbit trail should a kid ask. I don't have to worry about those things as a sub. I have a TON of freedom to progress as I please the day(s) I'm in. Second, they have to press on at a pace. I'm a mastery person - esp with math. It's tough on me to keep moving on when kids aren't getting a concept. Third, there are so many meetings and meetings and paperwork and more paperwork (not talking grading, etc). I love to teach - and subbing (where I'm known) gives me that freedom (most days).

 

Any one of these teachers would know they couldn't "do" that problem (the way it was done) if I brought it to them separately and asked. They just get into such a rut doing the same thing over and over that it's kind of blinding to typos. Our system is too "automated" I think. It's probably why "fresh eyes" can see things as I don't know what it's "supposed" to be.

 

But these are some of the reasons why I wish youngest would have been happy homeschooling. These things happen in more classes than just math. (Celsius is spelled with an "s" not "Celcius," but you wouldn't know it from some of our science power points.)

 

Thanks for letting me vent. I was getting too frustrated about this last night.

 

And these are the reasons that I enjoyed subbing and became a very angry, uptight person when teaching full-time!!!!!!

 

Creekland, sometimes I think that whole faculties have just sort of given up and are going through the motions. I hate to be that judgmental, but it seems like the truth. This kind of thing happens all.the.time. in our local district and I know they really didn't appreciate the amount of editing suggestions I left behind every time I spent a day there. Nothing ever changed. Oh, I was popular from the standpoint that I have excellent classroom control and get things accomplished so the teachers that I subbed for were very pleased, and I really get along well with teens so the kids liked me and tended to comply and listen quite nicely. But, I KNOW for a fact that behind my back, I was labeled the idealistic, nut that actually thought teachers could make a difference in students' lives.

 

I get your vent, I really do!!!!!

 

Faith

[Jane in NC]

Yikes! You need a weekend!

[Barbara H]

This is definitely vent worthy!

[creekland]

:iagree:I once substituted an algebra classroom (many years ago, in a previous life) where they had been working on basic inequalities. Almost all the kids had missed almost every problem. I started going over the problems on the board. Every single kid in the room argued with me that I was using the symbols backwards.:confused: Turns out the teacher had taught them incorrectly. One girl showed me her notes from the previous day. (There were no textbooks. The teacher just gave them pages of problems to work that he had run off.) I finally convinced them by going back to the alligator liking to eat the larger number. The whole class got quiet and looked puzzled. This sounded familiar to them. Finally, one girl said, "She's right. Mr. .... had it wrong." Honestly, they were all aghast. The thought had crossed my mind that I might be in the middle of a large planned joke. That was not the case. Every class had been taught the same wrong concept.

 

I'll second what Regentrude said - OUCH! I haven't come across anything THAT severely incorrect.

 

And these are the reasons that I enjoyed subbing and became a very angry, uptight person when teaching full-time!!!!!!

 

I really, really do prefer subbing. Many can't understand that, but I think they have the stereotype of the sub who can't control a class and is just doing busywork with the kids. There's rarely a class I can't control (thank you Air Force training and years of experience), and the only times I get stuck with busywork are when there are last minute plans from a non-math teacher expecting to be out. (Math teachers let me continue with where they would have been.) Even then, with busywork, if there are kids who have been behind due to absences or something, I can fill a niche. Classes I don't feel I can teach I don't accept jobs for (like wood shop).

 

"Real" teachers need to play the whole game as set forth by the school, state, and feds. I don't. Granted, I'm not hanging kids up by their fingernails nor teaching inappropriate "stuff," but I can follow my own drummer when getting from point A to point B and I rarely need to take anything home with me. I can have a great rapport with kids - while keeping respect. I love the niche.

 

I just dislike when I come across things being taught incorrectly. Typos happen. We ALL do them at times with math, typing, whatever. Incorrect stuff being taught bugs the bejeebers out of me - after 13 years, I'm still catching things here and there.

 

I do need to be tactful pointing things out, and I seriously (very seriously) try to be (which is why I bang my head on here and try to remain very tactful and almost apologetic or "questioning" there). I do think most comes from being inside the machine and having to follow rather than choosing their own paths. One person makes a typo and the others don't look at it, they merely accept it and keep marching on. Kids don't catch it as they don't really know better - esp if it's new stuff to them (and many don't care).

 

Then it bugs me when the talented academic kids aren't challenged since, "they'll do ok anyway," but that's a whole 'nother vent.

 

At least now, one question on a math review packet has been fixed to be correct. It's still a parallelogram, but they get to find the area by drawing a rectangle around it and subtracting off known triangle areas (easier than getting the height for this problem) instead of multiplying sides.