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| Play It Again, Sam! |
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You know, it’s just wrong that as I am grading my students’ papers, I get a knot in my stomach when I come to Johnny’s tests. I grade them as I would anyone else’s, but when I mark it with a low grade, or when I take off a point for careless mistakes or whatever, I get all sweaty and anxious. I know that his parents are not going to like anything that I am doing. He is bright enough, but he’s not above average, so he does get some things wrong here and there. I shouldn’t have to worry about this, but I do.
Dagnabit.
We had a staff meeting tonight. During the meeting, I corrected Friday’s tests. I came to the math tests. Oh my. Out of seventeen students (three had been absent), only six had a satisfactory grade. Five earned a “U” (Unsatisfactory/Failing) and six earned an “N” (Needs Improvement/Nearly failing). That is not good. Patsy and Katy said that their tests turned out pretty well. Katy only had two that didn’t earn a Satisfactory grade or higher. Patsy was upset that only two-thirds of her class had Satisfactory grades or higher. Then I had quite the opposite.
I don’t know what happened to my students’ test grades. However, when so many fail, one has to look at the teacher, right? What did I do wrong in teaching these particular concepts? I taught the concepts the same way that I always do. However, there was one that was really difficult for the kids. I couldn’t believe they had it this early in the year! It’s on problem solving. This is an example:
Carla had 170 stamps in her collection. She put her stamps in two books. Book one had 30 more stamps in it than book two. How many stamps were in book one? How many in book two?
In early third grade? When students are still trying to figure out regrouping? Are they serious? I discussed it with Patsy and Katy, two veteran teachers, and they told me how they taught it. I taught them the way that the book had presented it. It was tough. (You make a table and predict a number, test it, and then make another prediction. Repeat until you come up with the right number. Huh? Too difficult for these little guys.) That's great for the ones who need the challenge, but the majority will benefit from the way I am going to teach it tomorrow.
This is one of the reasons that my students did poorly. There were three problems like that on the test (out of twenty questions). Another problem was careless adding and subtracting. Things they know how to do and have been doing for a couple of years were missed. For example: 2 + 7 = 8. Oops! Wrong.
Well, we are going to re-visit some of the concepts and re-take the test tomorrow. I don’t want the kids to do poorly. I want to give them every chance possible. They shouldn’t have gotten such low scores, so I have to make sure they are successful! That’s my job, after all.
I talked to my principal for just a few moments. I wanted him to know about the anxiety that I was feeling every time I corrected and graded one of Johnny’s tests. I want to keep him in the loop should any other confrontation occur between his parents and me. Let’s hope they don’t.
Other than poor grades, my class seems to moving right along. The behavior problems are still there, but I do see some improvements in some students. Other students, however, are trying to make my life miserable. Truly. I think they wake up every morning and ask themselves what they can do to get me! I’ll win, though. Heh. I’m the adult. I have a lot of patience. And I’m bigger than they are.
The one little boy that I was really having problems with is improving a lot! Although he still gets angry at times, I think that he and I are really connecting. He has been doing his class work more often. He’s still not doing any homework, but he’s doing class work. That is a step in the right direction. He was also very angry all the time. I’ve seen a softening about him and his attitude. He’s even come up behind me and tapped me on the side and that exclaimed, “Boo!” That is incredible! I do believe that he’s finding me to be a fairly likeable person. I have high hopes for him. I didn’t know if I’d like him or not (he was just not likeable), but now I am seeing glimpses of a really interesting young man.
The little girl that was up and down and everywhere is still taking up a lot of my time and effort during lessons. However, her mother has put her back on medication and there is some improvement. Some days are better than other days. She just demands so much attention! When she's off, she is in-between desks, swinging her body forward and backward. She actually shoves her chair out of the way and stands beside her desk. One day I even noticed her sitting on the floor and using her chair as her desk. I’m grateful that she’s doing most of her work, though. Again, that’s an improvement!
She is really a nice little girl, but I worry about her. She is an overly affectionate girl. She gives herself and her information to anyone that shows a little kindness. I know that it worries her mother, too, because we’ve discussed it. She’s academically bright, but she’s struggling with common sense.
My students are my life. I really do like each and every one of them. This year has proven to be a huge challenge, but at the same time they make me laugh all the time. There are truly some characters in my class.
I am such a hypocrite. I teach my students that when they write, they should edit what they write before they "publish." I don't. I hate editing. Even in my journal I don't often edit. Sometimes I fix a glaring error, but I don't usually re-read what I write. How awful is that?
If you notice an error, please feel free to send me a note letting me know all about it. Truly. ;-)
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