Note of encouragement based upon my day

[creekland]

For background, today is my first day in for a full time assignment replacing a teacher on maternity leave for 10 weeks...

 

And she left me oodles of things to grade (tests, projects, labs, etc).

 

I've just finished grading the tests from one class (Bio - college prep).  What's come to mind is I REALLY liked being able to teach my own homeschooled guys to mastery.  If they didn't get something, we didn't move on, we talked it out and reviewed it until it made sense.  Then we moved on.

 

There's a wide range in this class.  I feel for those who aren't getting it at this point - yet we need to move on.

 

Sometimes a student doesn't get something because it wasn't covered well.  I'm seeing that here with the difference between adaptation (an inherited bit) vs response to stimuli (reactions in a new environment, etc).  Almost all kids missed it.  It makes me think it may not have been covered well rather than all forgot, but... the grade is the grade.  That didn't happen in my hs.  If I missed something, we went over it when it came to my attention.  I certainly didn't let it affect a grade.

 

Consider it a vent if you will.  Ps methods are not my own.  (sigh)  This is a good bit of why I prefer subbing to real teaching.  When I sub I can teach how I want taking the time I want and not worry about moving at a pace or grades.  For 10 weeks, I'm likely to have several GRR moments.  Oh well... the pay is better... must remember that.

 

AND mine have done VERY well in college, so I don't believe the argument that we need to use the "get it or move on anyway" method to teach them how things work in college.  We're building the foundation here.  I prefer a strong one to one with holes or worse.

 

YMMV

 

Oh... the encouragement bit?  If you're homeschooling - take heart and move at your student's pace!

[Miss Mousie]

Thanks, Creekland.  I needed that message (and encouragement!) today.

[creekland]

Thanks, Creekland.  I needed that message (and encouragement!) today.

 

I really wish I had the time to take each individual student and go over their test with them.  For a few it would be quick.  98% was the highest grade (achieved by one student).  For some others... I would need more than one day I suspect... to ensure they are starting to understand rather than just nodding and repeating.

 

But tomorrow we move on to Bio-Chem with a couple minutes devoted to explaining Adaptation vs Response to Stimuli.

[TarynB]

Yes, thank you for sharing this story and for the encouragement. Thank you also for caring about those kids.

[creekland]

Yes, thank you for sharing this story and for the encouragement. Thank you also for caring about those kids.

 

To be fair, most of the teachers there care deeply about the kids.  Few like the system.

 

The big pro to homeschooling IMO is the ability to move at the student's pace and teach to mastery, building that strong foundation.

 

Some students can do this at the "average" pace.  Others get bored moving so slowly and wish there were more depth.  Then there are those who get lost moving so quickly or due to absences or whatever.

[GThomas]

AND mine have done VERY well in college, so I don't believe the argument that we need to use the "get it or move on anyway" method to teach them how things work in college.  We're building the foundation here.  I prefer a strong one to one with holes or worse.

 

YMMV

 

Oh... the encouragement bit?  If you're homeschooling - take heart and move at your student's pace!

I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations (I know I'd feel the same in your shoes)...but I am grateful for the note of encouragement. I do worry about what sometimes feels like coddling. 

 

Good luck over the next 10 weeks!

[lisabees]

I understand your frustrations.

 

I experienced them for the last two years, while I was working at the local middle school.

 

This year, I will sub per diem, but stay at home much of the time.

 

I have three kids home now and I love every minute of their wonder, their growth and their joy in learning (and knowing that the necessary things are getting mastered).

 

Enjoy the next ten weeks.  As you know, teaching in a ps definitely has some wonderful moments filled with positive energy!

[creekland]

I understand your frustrations.

 

I experienced them for the last two years, while I was working at the local middle school.

 

This year, I will sub per diem, but stay at home much of the time.

 

I have three kids home now and I love every minute of their wonder, their growth and their joy in learning (and knowing that the necessary things are getting mastered).

 

Enjoy the next ten weeks.  As you know, teaching in a ps definitely has some wonderful moments filled with positive energy!

 

Second day and I'm seeing positive change within my classes.  I always do.  We do discussions in classes... It's my style.  It is work to get all involved, but I'm making progress and love the kids.

 

This grading stuff though... she left me a TON and I hate grading assignments I wasn't here for, esp since they're labs and projects now.  I finished the tests.

 

She had a baby boy BTW.  Cute little guy!

[MomsintheGarden]

Second day and I'm seeing positive change within my classes.  I always do.  We do discussions in classes... It's my style.  It is work to get all involved, but I'm making progress and love the kids.

 

This grading stuff though... she left me a TON and I hate grading assignments I wasn't here for, esp since they're labs and projects now.  I finished the tests.

 

She had a baby boy BTW.  Cute little guy!

 

That's pretty stinky that she left you all that work she should have done.  OTOH, she was probably exhausted, having worked up to the very last minute.  I'm sure she appreciates you going above and beyond, as well as the peace of mind you are giving her by competently teaching her class.

 

Hope it goes well!

 

[creekland]

That's pretty stinky that she left you all that work she should have done.  OTOH, she was probably exhausted, having worked up to the very last minute.  I'm sure she appreciates you going above and beyond, as well as the peace of mind you are giving her by competently teaching her class.

 

Hope it goes well!

 

 

I am trying to remember that 9th month pregnant bit complete with its exhaustion, etc, but I still have 3 more assignments left to grade for 2 of the classes.  They aren't little assignments either.  Grading (properly) is going to take hours.

 

Then I have to be learning all about plants (in far more depth than I know) at the same time.  This part I expected.  The other I didn't.  It's going to be a super busy couple of weeks, esp with helping out with critter chores in the evenings, etc.

 

At least right now I don't have to prep to teach... but yes, I'm earning my keep for a bit.

 

I know she's appreciative.

 

At the same time, it reminds me of why I don't go full time permanently.  ;)  ('Cause permanently is all of what I'm doing AND more stuff the teachers have to do with greater admin paperwork, etc.  I get to skip most of that - for now anyway.  Time will tell if it's that way for the whole time or not.  I kinda forgot to ask if they wanted me to do that...)

[merry gardens]

Thanks for sharing and encouraging those of us who homeschool.  :)

 

Does the teacher who you are covering for allow students to make corrections to their graded papers and tests to obtain partial credit or "bonus points"? Or do you have the power to make that decision? Some teachers allow students to correct their mistakes to gain a few points, particularly when much of the class didn't get something that's critical to future material. The students may not have known the information at the time of the test, but if it's critical information that they should know before moving on, allowing them to correct their mistakes might help them better grasp both that material and future concepts without your having to review all that material with the class all over again. Anyway, that's just a thought I had after reading your post.

[creekland]

Thanks for sharing and encouraging those of us who homeschool.   :)

 

Does the teacher who you are covering for allow students to make corrections to their graded papers and tests to obtain partial credit or "bonus points"? Or do you have the power to make that decision? Some teachers allow students to correct their mistakes to gain a few points, particularly when much of the class didn't get something that's critical to future material. The students may not have known the information at the time of the test, but if it's critical information that they should know before moving on, allowing them to correct their mistakes might help them better grasp both that material and future concepts without your having to review all that material with the class all over again. Anyway, that's just a thought I had after reading your post.

 

She's not big on extra credit or redos.

 

I can do whatever I want.  She's ok with it and admin would support me anyway.

 

However, I'm "changing" my portion of the class - how we're doing it from here on out.  I don't feel very comfortable changing what I wasn't here for.

 

Daily warm ups started today - with the warning that some of these warm ups will be graded in the future.  All warm up questions involve what we've been over in the past few days - keeping them up-to-date in their knowledge rather than "doing it all" and "studying" right before the test.

 

To me, this sort of stuff is invaluable for science and math.  It's great incentive for the students to keep paying attention and remember.

 

Plus I'm here until 4:30 or 5pm most days.  Some students have opted to stay after school with me for at least part of that time (starting tomorrow) to help them with the class.  ;)

 

If a student is making an effort, there's no way I'm going to let them get a bad grade - esp over one test (or project) at the beginning of the course.

 

Knowledge that carries over - not memorized and dumped - is what's important.

 

Today during lunch (with the science teachers), I had them correct part of what they teach...  :glare:

 

I hate it when I get kids who come to high school telling me their ____ teacher told them something is always a cerrtain way when it isn't.  I don't want any I teach going on to college having learned something incorrectly - in this case - that metals/non-metals always have ionic bonding.  Um, no they don't.  And two of the questions in their packets were examples of where they don't.   :cursing:   Google supported me.  ;)  Those two questions will be fixed for the future... (dropped actually and replaced with two that are more important to Bio).

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Creekland, 

 

I know you haven't had an active homeschool kid for a bit, but I really appreciate that fact that you are still around on the board.

 

What a wealth of experience and insight you add.  Especially when I'm thinking that I've ruined my kids' chances through homeschooling or that I'll never work our way through college applications.

[school17777]

Thanks for sharing and encouraging those of us who homeschool.   :)

 

Does the teacher who you are covering for allow students to make corrections to their graded papers and tests to obtain partial credit or "bonus points"? Or do you have the power to make that decision? Some teachers allow students to correct their mistakes to gain a few points, particularly when much of the class didn't get something that's critical to future material. The students may not have known the information at the time of the test, but if it's critical information that they should know before moving on, allowing them to correct their mistakes might help them better grasp both that material and future concepts without your having to review all that material with the class all over again. Anyway, that's just a thought I had after reading your post.

 

 

I think I sometimes learned more from correcting my mistakes because it stuck in my mind more than the stuff that I got right in the first place.  

[Mom22ns]

Some students can do this at the "average" pace.  Others get bored moving so slowly and wish there were more depth.  Then there are those who get lost moving so quickly or due to absences or whatever.

 

And in reality, I found that my students did all of these.

 

In some areas they moved at average pace. In some areas, they just didn't get it and we had to slow down. Still other times, they were flying through material and consuming as much as I could find as fast as I could find it. There were those weeks where all of these things happened and there were subjects where all of these things happened.

 

I remember my dd's last year in ps when they spent two hours/day on math. Most days it took her 15 and she read a book the rest of the time. But then, when fractions came and she was struggling, they had to move on without her ever getting it. If she had back all those hours spent being bored... well you get the idea. Controlling pace is one of the things I love most about homeschooling.

[creekland]

I think I sometimes learned more from correcting my mistakes because it stuck in my mind more than the stuff that I got right in the first place.  

 

One almost always learns more from their mistakes than otherwise if they are paying attention to their mistakes.  Kids get to see their tests to see what they did wrong and I've already covered the two areas that didn't seem covered enough.  Students got one of those areas correct on one of my warm up questions today. ;)

 

And in reality, I found that my students did all of these.

 

In some areas they moved at average pace. In some areas, they just didn't get it and we had to slow down. Still other times, they were flying through material and consuming as much as I could find as fast as I could find it. There were those weeks where all of these things happened and there were subjects where all of these things happened.

...

Controlling pace is one of the things I love most about homeschooling.

 

Same here!

[G5052]

Controlling pace is one of the things I love most about homeschooling.

 

This is so key for some kids in particular.

 

My older one did Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and Precalculus over six years with work every summer. It just took us that long. We took our time with Pre-Algebra, and then he bombed Algebra I, so we switched books and did it again. After that he always got "A's" but it took awhile at times. He did very well on the math part of the SAT, and is the top student in his college math course. The professor raves about his algebra skills and is trying to point him to engineering although he's more interested in accounting and business.

 

He also read late (4th grade) and could barely write a paragraph in 7th even with my help. But he tells me that his college English is "trivial" because this semester is all short response papers and personal narratives. Very different from the analytical stuff we did in high school. He's acing each assignment there. Same in his business class.. There he does have to write a short analytical paper each week on an issue in APA format. He's got 100's on every one while half the class has dropped. He was very worried at first about these, but knows now that he can do this. She wants basic analysis with good references in the right format. He's got that.

 

Granted it's the honors program at a state college, but he's feeling stretched and likes his professors. They like him.

 

He would not have done well in the local classroom environment. He would been labelled and probably taken off of a pre-college track from what I know of the local system. But because we could school year-round and work towards mastery, he's very prepared for college and thinks he may pull straight A's his first semester.

[creekland]

He would not have done well in the local classroom environment. He would been labelled and probably taken off of a pre-college track from what I know of the local system. But because we could school year-round and work towards mastery, he's very prepared for college and thinks he may pull straight A's his first semester.

 

Absolutely!  A solid foundation is just so incredibly important to real success.  Those who dare end up being slower than the mass miss much of that, continue falling behind, and often get shifted off the academic track.  It's sad, because developing more slowly is normal for some.  They still get to the finish line.  They end up as academically talented (or moreso) than that average, but missing the foundation can set them back extensively.

 

At school we have a schedule.  We can not slow down.  Our courses must be done at the end of the semester with all content covered.

 

While this is also true in college, by college age, many more slowly developing brains have caught up.  It's the developing years that differ.

[G5052]

Absolutely!  A solid foundation is just so incredibly important to real success.  Those who dare end up being slower than the mass miss much of that, continue falling behind, and often get shifted off the academic track.  It's sad, because developing more slowly is normal for some.  They still get to the finish line.  They end up as academically talented (or moreso) than that average, but missing the foundation can set them back extensively.

 

At school we have a schedule.  We can not slow down.  Our courses must be done at the end of the semester with all content covered.

 

While this is also true in college, by college age, many more slowly developing brains have caught up.  It's the developing years that differ.

 

Yes, my oldest fits that completely. Despite needing more time along the way, he missed National Merit by two points (high score state).

 

DH was the same, but was assumed to be incapable of the more academic classes. Now he works at a professional level with peers with MBA and MS degrees while his education was in trade school. Of course we're thankful that he learned a trade, and he loved those years, but later on he found out that he had other capabilities and enjoyed other areas.

[creekland]

What is the definition of 'all'?

 

In my district, 'all' is just enough content to earn a pass, no more. There are no textbooks for many classes. Students are given a brief request to buy prep books and use them on their own to self teach the omitted material (omitted as in its on the regents objectives but isnt deemed simple enough for the fully included classroom). In the know parents understand that more than a pass is needed if college of any sort is in the future, as math Regents exam results are considered in college placement.They are getting a firm foundation, but too much material is omitted to move on to college level at the end.

 

---------

 

Public schools can offer pacing variations. Many do, but many are still operating no child gets ahead.

 

All, for us, means all the state standards on the test.  Since there are a ton for Bio, some of the material has been shifted to 9th grade General Science and we review it more quickly in Bio.  Even so, there really isn't anywhere we can slow down.

 

Right now I feel fortunate as many of the students I have catch on quickly - at least with my style.  Time will tell to see if it shows up as results on the next test, of course.

 

We have differing levels of pacing too.  I'm working with Level 2 and Level 3 students (pending class).  These are our college prep classes.  We offer a Level 1 which is essentially a "pass the test" class - and most from there do not actually pass.

 

Then we have learning support options that are lower than Level 1.

 

Just today I officially questioned whether 4 of my students should stay in Level 2 or drop to Level 1.  Whether that happens or not will depend upon a few factors including parent/student opinion, etc.

 

Some students have also been boosted from Level 1 to Level 2.

 

We try to get placements correct.  It's just not as good a system (for some) as effective homeschooling IMO.

 

 

Yes, my oldest fits that completely. Despite needing more time along the way, he missed National Merit by two points (high score state).

 

DH was the same, but was assumed to be incapable of the more academic classes. Now he works at a professional level with peers with MBA and MS degrees while his education was in trade school. Of course we're thankful that he learned a trade, and he loved those years, but later on he found out that he had other capabilities and enjoyed other areas.

 

I feel for folks like your DH.  There is nothing at all wrong with trades (regardless of academic ability), but there's something majorly wrong when people end up there simply because their natural development was slower than average.

[G5052]

I feel for folks like your DH.  There is nothing at all wrong with trades (regardless of academic ability), but there's something majorly wrong when people end up there simply because their natural development was slower than average.

 

Yes, no one ever mentioned to him that he might be college material from what he remembers. He was told "pick a trade" and that was that. His parents never questioned that either. Two of his siblings went to college and did well, and the other two found jobs in IT right out of high school when that industry was just taking off.  But he was never given any other options.  He actually grew 5" after his high school graduation, so even his physical development ran behind.

 

And here he is, an expert in business analytics and strategic planning with trade school. Thankfully his employers grasped his abilities, and he did a huge amount of self-study and got into that at the right time. I have no doubt that he would have done fine in college if he had not been pointed away from that completely when he started high school. He did remedial math and English the whole way through high school even though it was boring to him, and he didn't do well because he didn't see the point.

 

But of course, most high schools are like factories, and there is only so much they can do.