To Make Up or Not to Make Up

"Is there anything I can do to get a passing grade?”  How many times have each of us heard that questions two days before the end of a semester?  “What the heck have you been doing since the semester started??”  I want to ask.

There has been controversy among educators for a long time about whether or not to allow students to “slide by” by letting the student complete make-up or additional work in order to earn the credit.  Is it fair to other students to allow someone to pass who has not been showing effort throughout the semester?  Are we doing justice to the child who really hasn’t learned what he needs to in order to pass?

This article suggests that these sort of practices are being abused (which I am sure we have all suspected already.)  Another unsurprising fact:  state education officials (in NY) are looking into regulating programs that allow for credit recovery.  I know that a credit recovery program is different from just giving a student an opportunity to pass but they both run along the same lines. 

In my Junior English class last year, several students were failing at Christmas time due to missing or incomplete assignments.  A couple of them asked me if they could do extra credit to improve their grades.  I told them that they could read the book “Ethan Frome” over break.  It is a short book that I would have liked to include in the semester anyway, but would not have time.  I gave the entire class of 25 the opportunity to read the book over break and take the 100 point test in January when school started again.  They could earn up to 100/100 extra points.  How many kids read the book?  Two.  One of whom had a B average anyway.  The other wanted to ask me questions about the book before the test.  Questions like “Who died at the end?” let me know that he not only did not read the book but didn’t even bother to Sparknote it either.  He failed the test and ended up failing the class as well.  When he asked for extra credit, he wanted to draw a picture of write “I want to pass” on the board 100 times.  He didn’t actually want to do anything extra. 

I don’t think that extra credit work needs to be regulated by the school.  Teachers don’t need to be micromanaged; but we do need to be responsible.  When we allow students to do extra work, it needs to be something that will actually help the kid learn, not just busywork. 

We’re not doing ourselves or the students any favors by allowing them to slip by. 

It's just a grill people!!

I’ve always been against censorship.  I think libraries should be able to have whatever books they want on the shelf.  I think school textbooks should represent history appropriately regardless of material that could be critical or damaging.  I think that a teacher should be able to teach a book that has important lessons and themes.  Having said that, as responsible adults, we need to have some sort of idea about what’s appropriate in what forum. 

Along with the curriculum, I feel it’s important to teach character development and social responsibility in my classroom.  I do this by taking advantage of teachable moments to encourage compassion and understanding.  Because I teach communication, we also discuss knowing your audience and formal versus informal setting. 

The Fargo Forum gives online readers an opportunity to comment on each story.  I admit, I’ve been drawn in to reading some of the comments and they are disgusting.  Readers who comment do not even have to reveal their real names. This gives them an added sense of courage to write something they may not say.  This article about a shooting in Wahpeton sparked many racist comments.  An article about a Valley City pastor who got in some hot water with a prostitute produced comments that certainly aren’t appropriate for my family friendly blog.  This simple article about an Ellendale hardware store owner who won back a grill bought at his store (a neat coinicidence) caused commenters to question “who did the drawing?” and mention the word “conspiracy.”  It’s just a grill people!!  (You can’t read these particular comments as it seems The Forum has deleted them.)

Matt Von Pinnon, editor of The Forum wrote this piece basically asking the public about the situation.  He admitted that “many of those comments were racist, ignorant or intended only to hurt.”  He then posed the question, “But is it important to know those thoughts exist in our community, even if those thoughts are shared anonymously?”  I think we all know that these thoughts exist in our community, but do we really need to give them a venue to flourish?

The Forum comments section goes directly against what I teach in my class and I think our society should think twice before continuing to allow these posts to appear on a site that should be a reputable news source.  What kind of example are we setting for our youth? 

This just reminds me that as educators we need to be diligent in our fight to instill compassion and understanding in our students.  I hope when one of my students read something in the paper, they are able to look at the issue from all sides and form their own conclusions.  I hope I am helping to create critical thinkers for the future who won't take part in posting "comments" like the ones I've read on The Forum's website.

Motivation$

I always wished my parents would pay me for getting good grades.  I always thought, “now that would be some easy money!”  No such luck.  Many of my friends did get paid for grades, I just wasn’t lucky enough.  Now I am starting to think my parents had the right idea.

Nightline did a story tonight about the DC school district.  It was about a pay-for-grades program that rewards kids for earning good grades (other factors, such as good behavior and attendance could have an effect on pay-off as well.)  Should we pay students for good grades? 

On one hand I think it’s a great motivator for kids who are otherwise hard to move.  Money is relevant and real to today’s kids.  This article points out that kids “can do out there and make $50 illegally . . . we have to do something to compete with that.”  Another site says, “whatever it takes to get them to learn.” 

On the other hand, I agree with the many opponents of these programs.  Does the end justify the means?  This article points out that, “you really want them . . . doing well on their own for the internal satisfaction of a job well done.”  I often feel that kids today are responding to intrinsic motivation less and less.  But is beefing up the extrinsic motivation really the right direction to go?  Does that make for a responsible citizen down the road?    

Another issue to consider is the money.  Where is the money coming from?  I certainly don’t it coming from money that could have gone to teacher salaries!  According to this source, Chicago’s program was funded by a research study and private donations.  However, this more recent note points out the both NYC and Chicago will no longer have this type of program because of lack of funding.

Tesoro has a program called Gallons for Grades which, since 1997, has rewarded As and Bs with free gas.  If you’re against pay-for-grades programs, are you against this program as well?  Or is it different because it’s not sponsored by the school?  What about parents who pay kids for grades?  It’s all sending the same message, right?  What about insurance companies (like those discussed in this article) who give discounts for drivers with good grades?

One thing I can say is that I do applaud these districts for thinking out of the box.  Nothing is going to be resolved or “fixed” if we keep doing what we’ve always done.  As far as paying kids for grades, I’m not sure.  What do you think?

A Classic Dilemma

The Scarlet Letter, Silas Marner, 1984, A Raisin in the Sun, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Any of these titles sound familiar?  They are classics.  What exactly is a classic?  According to this site, “a book that has stood or can stand the test of time and remains popular and pertinent.”  Another site says it means “a book you should've read, or one that you have read and didn't like.”  Curriculum guides across the country are filled with required classic reading.  But is this really the best way to engage young readers? 

The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome are two of my favorite books.  For the most part, I enjoy reading the classics.  BUT, I am willing to accept the fact that I may not be in the majority.  Let’s face it; I’m an English teacher.  Of course I’d like read every classic before I die.  I am also a realist.  I’m pretty sure most people don’t have that goal.

My goal for my students is to create lifelong readers.  I believe the way to do this may be to go away from teaching the classics in favor of teaching something that is a little more relevant to their lives today.  According to an article discussing Catcher in the Rye, “Teachers say young readers just don’t like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as weird, whiny and immature.”  Is this the way to intice young readers to keep reading? 

According to this article, Great Expectations “is not a book that contemporary teenagers ... can relate to. So it loses its value.”  My point exactly.

Our school uses the Accelerated Reader program which allows students to earn points for reading and it gives them the freedom to read books of their choice.  Most of the kids’ choices don’t include the classics.

I think it’s time to bring more of these up-to-date relevant novels into the classroom.  Our school owns a class set of Stanley Gordon West’s Until They Bring the Streetcars Back and many students say it’s the best book they ever had to read.  In fact, many kids get hooked on West and read all of his novels.  Jodi Picoult is extremely popular with kids and I’ll admit I’m hooked on her work as well.  Nicholas Sparks has quite a following (girls and boys) in our school.  It’s time to add these authors to our curriculum.

The classics are great for a limited number of kids.  If we’re trying to reach a majority and create lifelong readers, it’s time for the classics to move over and make room for a new kind of novel. 

 

To Join Or Not To Join

Does being a member of the National Education Association make you a better teacher? 

I’ve been a member of the National Education Association since I began teaching.  I don’t remember what exactly made me join my first year.  Possibly, I thought that “everyone was doing it.”  Whatever the reason, I joined.  I taught in Alaska for one year and the only time I was reminded of my membership was when I saw the deduction on my pay stub.

When I moved to Wahpeton, I joined again.  For two years I was what I’d call a “dormant” member.  I never attended a meeting. 

In my third year at Wahpeton, one of the students in my senior English class threatened me early on in the year.  The student chose not to return to my classroom after the incident but he and his parents blamed every failure that student endured for the rest of the year on me.  Many times during the course of the year I thought about the benefits that the NEA would offer me if that family sued me (as they constantly threatened to do.)  It was relieving to me that if they did actually try to make me liable for this mess, I would have a top-notch lawyer provided to me by the NEA. 

I learned a couple of valuable lessons that year.  I learned that the administration of my school didn’t always have my best interests at heart.  I felt that they were more interested in avoiding conflict than protecting me from a dangerous situation.  I also experienced the peace of mind that my NEA membership provides.  This year I became a more active member.  I joined the negotiations committee and am beginning to “learn the ropes” of collective bargaining.  I plan to get even more involved next year by attending my first NDEA conference.

Of course, liability insurance isn’t the only reason to join your professional organization.  This website points out that they provide networking opportunites.  Another article points out that, “Just as it is essential for doctors to be part of a medical association, teachers should think it just as important to become a part of a teacher’s association.  One profession is just as important as another.”  This information reinforces information in chapter one of the text.  Teachers who are members of professional organizations reinforce the fact that teaching is a profession.

I guess that bottom line for me is this.  I am a member of my professional organization because it is my professional organization and I am a professional.  The legal backing, professional development, networking, and all the other benefits are just icing on the cake.

Cheaters

I honestly don’t remember a lot of cheating going on when I was in high school.  There were some “urban legends” about some unknown kid who took Mr. So-and-sos final test key off his desk or whatever.  For the most part, students in my school were pretty ethical. 

Since beginning my career on the opposite side of the teacher’s desk, I’ve caught students cheating relatively often.  I’ve ran into the cheat sheet, copied worksheets, or one student taking an AR test for another.  According to this article, even as far back as 1993 eighty nine percent of high school students thought that cheating as common and seventy eight percent had cheated. 

Apparently in this age of technology, cheating has gone high tech.  This article tells about a school in Ohio that canceled the graduation ceremony after uncovering a widespread cheating operation.  Teachers’ computers were accessed in order to print and distribute tests. 

Since the administration found it impossible to know who actually cheated, who knew it was happening but didn’t report it and who had no idea, they canceled graduation.  Here’s the kicker- they mailed the diplomas.  Parents, of course, are protesting and holding their own “unofficial” graduation.

I guess I don’t know what I would do as school administrator in this situation.  I think that the “punishment” here was ridiculous.  What about the student who really didn’t cheat or know anything about it?  Now he or she doesn’t get to graduate?  That doesn’t seem fair.  Or think of the students that cheated.  They still get a diploma?  Where’s the justice in that?  What about a kid who knew it was going on but feared the consequences if his peers knew he ratted them out?  There are a lot of different situations to be considered here.

When I was in 4^th grade, I had a teacher who often disciplined the entire class for the wrongdoing of one or two students.  How frustrating it was to be a student in her classroom!  This website calls the method of punishing the entire class a “Teacher Caused Discipline Problem.”  And yet this Ohio school has done just that. 

It may be tough to investigate such a cheating scheme, but I think this school owes it to the students to get to the bottom of it.  This may be one of the most important lessons the school could offer its students.  Instead, these students will get a diploma in the mailbox, whether they cheated or not.  

Merit Pay

Here's an article from today's Fargo Forum.

Merit Pay

This year is my first year working on the negotiations committee for the Wahpeton Education Association.  I didn’t know exactly what to expect at our first meeting but it wasn’t really very unusual.  Three members of the school board and an administrator sat on one side of the table, the business manager and keeper of the minutes sat at the head of the table and five members of the local teacher union (myself included) sat on the other side.  (I'd like to add that the chairs were oversized and very comfortable.  They even matched which is more than can be said for the seating in my classroom.)  It seemed a little ridiculous for the lowly teachers to come begging “professionals” from the community for a raise.  After all, how do they get raises?  A dentist, a banker, etc.?  Well, they work harder to earn more money. 

I’ve long been a supporter of researching merit pay.  I think it could bring more professionalism to the teaching profession.  We talk about extrinsic motivation, right?  Why don’t we test it on ourselves?  The board offered a flat dollar amount for the first year and a percentage raise the second.  In other words, beginning teachers would benefit more the first year, experienced teachers the second.  The stand of the National Education Association as well as our local is to reward teachers for their experience (not to use merit pay.)  I can see that point of view.  After all, these experienced teachers went through the first half of their teaching careers watching more experienced teachers get better raises.  I understand that.  But

 I couldn’t help scanning down the list of teachers and looking at what they stood to gain.  Some people on the list have been stagnate for years.  Am I really worth $10,000 less than someone like that?  Someone who never tries new things, doesn’t care about student learning, complains during every in-service because it’s information that teacher will never use, skips out early more days than not?  I think the answer is no.  If someone teaches more and better than someone else, then why can’t that teacher be paid more?

I know there would be potential problems.  Countless articles (like this one) say it would be an "expensive failure."  Who would be the judge of “merit”?  This article states that teacher evaluations are inflated.  If evaluations aren’t fair in themselves, then they aren’t fair tools to base merit pay.  Test scores won’t work either.  To be honest, I can’t think of a fair basis for the system, all I know is that the current system doesn’t seem too fair either.  

What other profession are employees allowed to avoid change, become idle, play solitaire for an hour straight, show videos more days than not, come late and leave early?  Every school has teachers like this.  I think it’s a real shame and maybe merit pay could do something to change it.  Perhaps we could learn something from the business world.  We may be hearing more about this in the future.  President Obama laid out a plan including merit pay this last spring.

Learning Communities

Schools have forever been trying to increase student learning.  High schools want their students to make it to college, colleges want students to stick it out for the full four years.  Let's face it.  In order for this to happen, we've got to start taking a deeper look at the students who don't make it and figure out why.  

An article in USA Today poses the question:  "If large numbers of students aren't making it through, it's a question of, is the program structure successful?"  Bingo!  This college is trying something new called "learning communities" which encourages students to make personal connections with other students who are working toward a common goal.  In this case, it's passing math, a subject in which they struggle.

My first year at Valley City State University I was put in a learning community with other freshmen called "Learning to Live, Living to Learn."  The common goal?  To get through our first year.  We discussed alcohol, grades, laptop computer problems, dorm life, etc.  Basically every obstacle that came into the life of a first time college student.  Did it work?  I guess I don't know.  I still keep in touch with some of my classmates via email and Christmas cards.  Others, however, didn't even make it to second semester.

Most of the resources I've consulted have listed learning communities as something in higher education, not really at the high school level.  I wonder if it would work at the high school level.  Kids at the school where I teach often have "Math Parties" before a big test.  This must be a type of learning community.  Students banding together with a common goal.  Our incoming freshmen class are grouped and assigned to a couple of older students in order to help them make the transition to high school.  These are more social learning communities rather than academic ones.  High schools are less likely than colleges to cluster or link students in such a community formally, but I think it would be a good idea to take a look at these groups.  What are some ways we could incorporate academic learning communities into high schools to help improve academics? 

What's the lesson here?  I think the key is to realize that an emotional connection important in the learning process.  Will a learning community work for every learner?  I'm sure not.  Is it worth a try to attempt to reach struggling students?  Absolutely.

 

Enjoy!

Welcome to my blog!  I am currently taking Principles of Teaching and Learning from VCSU and this blog is part of the course.  Enjoy!