Monday, June 27, 2005
Small Town Miami
Lately, in a vain attempt to create something of a life for myself outside the world of science education, I got involved in a local pub trivia competition. Normally, I meet a few of my friends (teachers mostly, but it's not like we're an exclusive teachers-only group) on Wednesday nights around 10 for a match and a watering hole near one of the major universities in town. First time we went, we won the whole thing...since then we've averaged around 3rd. The place is very crowded...to give you some idea they don't let you order water during the trivia unless you get bottled. Apparently there had been some abuse of the water and complimentary peanuts in the past. So now the water is $1.
Anyhow, the downside of this trivia competition is it starts closer to 10:30 than 10 proper and ends sometime around FAR TOO LATE. So, for a change of pace, my friends and I decided to try a new quiz competition held on Sunday nights over near the art museum. The contrasts were stunning.
Old place: Jam packed on trivia night. 20 teams--par for the course.
New place: There were 5 teams. Maybe 6.
Old place: Sarcastic M.C. with an Irish accent wielding a microphone.
New place: Sarcastic M.C. with an American accent. No microphone. (There were only 5 teams!)
Old place: Charged a dollar per head to play.
New place: No charge! (and the water was free!)
Old place: 4 written rounds: 3 regular 10 question rounds, 1 speed round (10 questions)
New place: 3 rounds: 1 regular 10 question round, a speed round (last night had around 18 questions), 1 round robin. (more in a moment)
Old place: Joker round allows you to double point value of any one round.
New place: Round robin...
Let me cut in for a moment here because I've now mentioned the round robin twice. In the original trivia game I attended, there was a possibility of earning 50 points (51 if the moderator threw in a bonus question of some sort.) That's 10 for each round, with one round being doubled. In the new game, it really all boiled down to the round robin. The teams are given a single question with a slew of answers. Imagine something like "Name the last 30 Nobel Prize winners in physics." Teams are seeded in an order based on their previous performance in earlier rounds. The teams each take turns answering the question. The first go round, questions are worth 2 points. The second, they increase to 3. The third, they go to 4 points each, but if you guess wrong you lose 2. The fourth, 6 points if correct, 3 points off if incorrect and so forth. Each team has 2 passes and play proceeds until all answers are given.
Well, I thought I would do very well for myself and my team since the round robin question was name the top 28 cities in the U.S. in population, based on the 2000 census. Obviously, the first few went very quickly: New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and so forth...
But the second or third go-round, we started getting into trouble when we said Miami.
NOT on the list.
Nor was Atlanta, New Orleans, or St. Louis.
But Columbus, Ohio turned out to be there. So was Louisville, KY. And what was worse, my friends on the other team (we had split into smaller groups) seemed to know all these...
Needless to say, we still turned out a respectable second place finish and didn't end up having to pay for our drinks, but losing on a geography themed trivia round was rather frustrating. Damn municipal planners.
So yeah, Miami. Smaller population than Columbus. (At least within city limits.)
Oh and for those who care, here's the full list:
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Houston
5. Philadelphia
6. Phoenix
7. San Diego
8. San Antonio
9. Dallas
10. Detroit
11. San Jose
12. Indianapolis
13. San Francisco
14. Jacksonville
15. Columbus
16. Louisville
17. Austin
18. Baltimore
19. Memphis
20. Milwaukee
21. Boston
22. Washington, DC
23. Nashville
24. El Paso
25. Seattle
26. Denver
27. Charlotte
28. Fort Worth
(based on http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0763098.html and http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2003.html )
Lately, in a vain attempt to create something of a life for myself outside the world of science education, I got involved in a local pub trivia competition. Normally, I meet a few of my friends (teachers mostly, but it's not like we're an exclusive teachers-only group) on Wednesday nights around 10 for a match and a watering hole near one of the major universities in town. First time we went, we won the whole thing...since then we've averaged around 3rd. The place is very crowded...to give you some idea they don't let you order water during the trivia unless you get bottled. Apparently there had been some abuse of the water and complimentary peanuts in the past. So now the water is $1.
Anyhow, the downside of this trivia competition is it starts closer to 10:30 than 10 proper and ends sometime around FAR TOO LATE. So, for a change of pace, my friends and I decided to try a new quiz competition held on Sunday nights over near the art museum. The contrasts were stunning.
Old place: Jam packed on trivia night. 20 teams--par for the course.
New place: There were 5 teams. Maybe 6.
Old place: Sarcastic M.C. with an Irish accent wielding a microphone.
New place: Sarcastic M.C. with an American accent. No microphone. (There were only 5 teams!)
Old place: Charged a dollar per head to play.
New place: No charge! (and the water was free!)
Old place: 4 written rounds: 3 regular 10 question rounds, 1 speed round (10 questions)
New place: 3 rounds: 1 regular 10 question round, a speed round (last night had around 18 questions), 1 round robin. (more in a moment)
Old place: Joker round allows you to double point value of any one round.
New place: Round robin...
Let me cut in for a moment here because I've now mentioned the round robin twice. In the original trivia game I attended, there was a possibility of earning 50 points (51 if the moderator threw in a bonus question of some sort.) That's 10 for each round, with one round being doubled. In the new game, it really all boiled down to the round robin. The teams are given a single question with a slew of answers. Imagine something like "Name the last 30 Nobel Prize winners in physics." Teams are seeded in an order based on their previous performance in earlier rounds. The teams each take turns answering the question. The first go round, questions are worth 2 points. The second, they increase to 3. The third, they go to 4 points each, but if you guess wrong you lose 2. The fourth, 6 points if correct, 3 points off if incorrect and so forth. Each team has 2 passes and play proceeds until all answers are given.
Well, I thought I would do very well for myself and my team since the round robin question was name the top 28 cities in the U.S. in population, based on the 2000 census. Obviously, the first few went very quickly: New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and so forth...
But the second or third go-round, we started getting into trouble when we said Miami.
NOT on the list.
Nor was Atlanta, New Orleans, or St. Louis.
But Columbus, Ohio turned out to be there. So was Louisville, KY. And what was worse, my friends on the other team (we had split into smaller groups) seemed to know all these...
Needless to say, we still turned out a respectable second place finish and didn't end up having to pay for our drinks, but losing on a geography themed trivia round was rather frustrating. Damn municipal planners.
So yeah, Miami. Smaller population than Columbus. (At least within city limits.)
Oh and for those who care, here's the full list:
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Houston
5. Philadelphia
6. Phoenix
7. San Diego
8. San Antonio
9. Dallas
10. Detroit
11. San Jose
12. Indianapolis
13. San Francisco
14. Jacksonville
15. Columbus
16. Louisville
17. Austin
18. Baltimore
19. Memphis
20. Milwaukee
21. Boston
22. Washington, DC
23. Nashville
24. El Paso
25. Seattle
26. Denver
27. Charlotte
28. Fort Worth
(based on http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0763098.html and http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2003.html )
Thursday, June 23, 2005
End of School Year Wrapup
It's been one week since the end of school and unlike last year when I felt excited and unencumbered, this first week of summer has been one of steady realization that my obligations continue to pile even if I don't have to go into school for another two and a half months. It was in fact a combination of these obligations resulted in the delay in my long promised post summarizing thoughts and feelings on the end of the school year. Because let's face it...a haiku, even one referencing classic Irish literature, just doesn't cut it. So now I return to pick up the Invisible Pen [TM] and slam out some ruminations on the conclusion of my second year at Underwood High School.
1. Graduation
In contrast to last year, I attended Underwood’s graduation ceremony this year despite never having taught a single member of the graduating senior class. Part of this was an attempt to maintain at least the illusion of solidarity with my school's faculty. A larger part was that attendance counted as paid professional development, and (as was discovered later by a few of my colleagues), failure to attend would result in docked pay. The ceremony itself was relatively unremarkable, and thankfully was held in the same air conditioned gymnasium as the year before. The principal had made a point of getting everything started on time at 2 PM sharp, but due to constant cheering, shout-outs, and rounds of applause, things didn’t actually begin properly until 2:40 or so. As I said, a generally unremarkable affair on the whole, with the standard speeches by valedictorian, salutatorian, and the rest. We even had the requisite audio-visual trouble during one student’s reminiscence of a trip he and some classmates took to South Africa.
Perhaps the most interesting thing was that during the course of the ceremony, the administrative team took the time to read off the names of all students who had scored proficient or advanced in each section (reading, writing, and mathematics) of the major statewide test. While I recognize that the importance of celebrating student success, I was rather disheartened when only 4 of the 325 graduating seniors were deemed proficient or advanced in mathematics. For those keeping score at home, that’s slightly over 1% proficient or advanced in math! Interestingly, this figure does not match up with the official NCLB report card passed out approximately a week before which recorded 4.4% of the student body (approximately 15 students) as proficient or advanced, as compared to the district wide proficiency rate of 28.6%. Lest you feel disheartened, be glad to note that the year before, the school only had 2% of its students marked as proficient or advanced. We doubled our numbers between last year’s graduating class and this one. If only our reading scores had jumped as highly, we only went from 11.7 to 13% in that category.
I applauded the graduates along with the rest of my colleagues, but I seriously wonder about their readiness to face the real world given such deficiencies in their reading and math abilities. What kind of a future will they have when basic concepts like percentages continue to elude them? It’s a good thing none of them plan to use credit cards or open a savings account...or not.
2. My new job(s)
As some of you may remember, I got recruited for this through a non-profit organization. Well, after this school year, I am no longer officially affiliated with that group, and should now be addressed (with all pomp and respect) as an alumnus. My colleagues and I even had an end of year “graduation” ceremony of our own at a local art museum, complete with diplomas certifying that we had survived two years in the classroom.
Now why have I not gone public with this organization’s name? Partly because those of you who know who I am outside the realm of the blogosphere already know the answer to that question and those few of you who don’t can probably figure it out. But more importantly because I’m still working for them.
Yep. Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in. They needed someone who had content expertise teaching high school science...and since all the other science teachers had pretty much committed to doing other things than teach next year, I was the only man for the job. That, along with the fact that I have in my time taught students chemistry, geology, astronomy, and environmental science in addition to my certification area (physics), made it at least appear that I knew what I was talking about. We shall see how right or wrong they were come fall.
Oh, and for those who were wondering, why YES I am teaching chemistry next year. No, I don’t know much about it, but Yes I will be studying it this summer.
Now does anyone have any ideas for what an Ivy league graduate with history credentials and 2 years of science teaching under his belt can do when he grows up? All ideas appreciated.
3. Father’s Day
In a rare fit of spontaneity, I decided on Saturday night that it would be fun to pop home and surprise my family in honor of Father’s Day. The Invisible Mom had been subtly hinting that I should come home more often, and with the Invisible Sister bound for Spain in a matter of weeks, it would be difficult to see everybody before August when things got more hectic. So, despite sleeping through the alarms on Sunday morning, I was able to get fully packed and in the Invisible Ben-mobile by 7:30, making it north to the old homestead by around noon. The Invisible Dad had just opened his present (an authentic Zeppo Marx autograph), but was still glad I could make it up to see him. (And to get the Ben-mobile’s emissions tested...and get a new driver’s license...and the tasty pies didn't hurt either!)
Things have changed. Obviously, time has a way of doing that, but this time it was more noticeable. Two years (basically) away from home, and everything seems a little strange. Even inside the house...for it was on this trip that I got to meet my family’s new dog–Krimpet. Krimpet is a labradoodle: part labrador and part doodle..and at 17.5 lbs, is a giant bundle of adorable just waiting to piss on your floor and chew up your sofa. Krimpet immediately took a liking to my shoelaces. Not to me. She nipped me once or twice. But my shoelaces, those she loved. My parents have jokingly referred to Krimpet as my new sister, which made me wonder whose side of the family she really took after. Also realized as I watched them pin her to the ground after growling one time too often that I’m glad I was not reincarnated as a puppy.
I had a chance to visit my old high school, where renovations are finally being completed on its physical structure. Gone is the old courtyard where we would play ultimate frisbee. In its place, a whole new wing. The main office has been pushed to the front, right next to the doors. The old trophy case has mostly been emptied out, although some of the old college bowl/engineering competition/math league trophies are still there from the long ago times when giants walked the halls.
The changes were not merely superficial. Chatted with my favorite semi-immortal English teacher and learned that they were restructuring the curriculum. World Civilization–previously a two year course is being abridged to 1.5 years to allow for greater coverage of American history. Wave goodbye to British literature, it’s getting eaten up from within by contemporary American fiction. Oh, and let’s not even get into issues of grading. There was word going around of a requirement making teachers give out 25% A grades. “Fat chance!” my teaching colleague replied, but we’ll see how long her resistance can hold out in the face of educational reforms. Even my beloved alma mater is adopting a mission statement, complete with “principles of teaching and learning” and “core beliefs.”
I’m betting Underwood’s Mission Statement (when published) will be nearly identical to this one:
___________ High School, in striving for academic excellence, seeks to provide a comprehensive education that engages all students in meaningful learning and develops the intellectual, creative, social, emotional, technological, and physical skills necessary to prepare them for the next phase in their lives.
This I fear is part of a trend, encouraged by the passage of No Child Left Behind, to attempt to fix schools even when they are not necessarily broken. For example, why is a school with an excellent academic record: strong test scores, high college admission percentages, etc. implementing small learning communities when no such need has previously been shown to exist? Whatever happened to if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? I seriously worry about being swept up by fads like this, even if they are presented as the latest trend in educational reform by all the journals.
Other changes? Well they put up a new shopping center down the road with a Baja Fresh, a gigantic Barnes and Noble, and an Old Navy...so I guess the region’s getting more and more suburban by the second. There’s no reason even to go over the mountain to the larger malls anymore. Oh, and there are a few new restaurants and such. A Coldstone creamery near the movie theater. Bickfords is finally out...Puerto Vallarta is in. (Ole!)
Perhaps the biggest change is that most of the old guard is gone. I got to spend time with the Snood Warrior (check out his blog on the right) and a few others, but that was basically it. It’s a different thing to go home. I knew it would happen...I just hoped it wouldn’t.
4. In other news...
1. Firefly lives up to much of the hype. I watched the whole series in under 24 hours and was shocked to find no particularly bad episodes. I'm adding it to the list of shows cancelled too early along with The Critic, Legend, Crusade. On the plus side, I'm now definitely looking forward to Serenity.
2. Batman Begins also lives up to the hype. They need a good soundtrack for a superhero movie one of these days though...
3. David McCullough’s 1776...I was not aware of any hype, but if such hype existed, this book would definitely meet or beat it. I listened to the whole book on CD while driving back and forth. Made those waits to get over the Hudson River almost bearable.
4. Gundam Wing: Still cool. Still completely incomprehensible to anyone who has not watched all the episodes back to back to back.
5. Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: Tasty. Very Tasty.
Well that’s all for now. Tomorrow I go hiking on the Appalachian Trail to pick some blueberries. Should be fun. A pity I don't have my old hiking boots handy...
It's been one week since the end of school and unlike last year when I felt excited and unencumbered, this first week of summer has been one of steady realization that my obligations continue to pile even if I don't have to go into school for another two and a half months. It was in fact a combination of these obligations resulted in the delay in my long promised post summarizing thoughts and feelings on the end of the school year. Because let's face it...a haiku, even one referencing classic Irish literature, just doesn't cut it. So now I return to pick up the Invisible Pen [TM] and slam out some ruminations on the conclusion of my second year at Underwood High School.
1. Graduation
In contrast to last year, I attended Underwood’s graduation ceremony this year despite never having taught a single member of the graduating senior class. Part of this was an attempt to maintain at least the illusion of solidarity with my school's faculty. A larger part was that attendance counted as paid professional development, and (as was discovered later by a few of my colleagues), failure to attend would result in docked pay. The ceremony itself was relatively unremarkable, and thankfully was held in the same air conditioned gymnasium as the year before. The principal had made a point of getting everything started on time at 2 PM sharp, but due to constant cheering, shout-outs, and rounds of applause, things didn’t actually begin properly until 2:40 or so. As I said, a generally unremarkable affair on the whole, with the standard speeches by valedictorian, salutatorian, and the rest. We even had the requisite audio-visual trouble during one student’s reminiscence of a trip he and some classmates took to South Africa.
Perhaps the most interesting thing was that during the course of the ceremony, the administrative team took the time to read off the names of all students who had scored proficient or advanced in each section (reading, writing, and mathematics) of the major statewide test. While I recognize that the importance of celebrating student success, I was rather disheartened when only 4 of the 325 graduating seniors were deemed proficient or advanced in mathematics. For those keeping score at home, that’s slightly over 1% proficient or advanced in math! Interestingly, this figure does not match up with the official NCLB report card passed out approximately a week before which recorded 4.4% of the student body (approximately 15 students) as proficient or advanced, as compared to the district wide proficiency rate of 28.6%. Lest you feel disheartened, be glad to note that the year before, the school only had 2% of its students marked as proficient or advanced. We doubled our numbers between last year’s graduating class and this one. If only our reading scores had jumped as highly, we only went from 11.7 to 13% in that category.
I applauded the graduates along with the rest of my colleagues, but I seriously wonder about their readiness to face the real world given such deficiencies in their reading and math abilities. What kind of a future will they have when basic concepts like percentages continue to elude them? It’s a good thing none of them plan to use credit cards or open a savings account...or not.
2. My new job(s)
As some of you may remember, I got recruited for this through a non-profit organization. Well, after this school year, I am no longer officially affiliated with that group, and should now be addressed (with all pomp and respect) as an alumnus. My colleagues and I even had an end of year “graduation” ceremony of our own at a local art museum, complete with diplomas certifying that we had survived two years in the classroom.
Now why have I not gone public with this organization’s name? Partly because those of you who know who I am outside the realm of the blogosphere already know the answer to that question and those few of you who don’t can probably figure it out. But more importantly because I’m still working for them.
Yep. Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in. They needed someone who had content expertise teaching high school science...and since all the other science teachers had pretty much committed to doing other things than teach next year, I was the only man for the job. That, along with the fact that I have in my time taught students chemistry, geology, astronomy, and environmental science in addition to my certification area (physics), made it at least appear that I knew what I was talking about. We shall see how right or wrong they were come fall.
Oh, and for those who were wondering, why YES I am teaching chemistry next year. No, I don’t know much about it, but Yes I will be studying it this summer.
Now does anyone have any ideas for what an Ivy league graduate with history credentials and 2 years of science teaching under his belt can do when he grows up? All ideas appreciated.
3. Father’s Day
In a rare fit of spontaneity, I decided on Saturday night that it would be fun to pop home and surprise my family in honor of Father’s Day. The Invisible Mom had been subtly hinting that I should come home more often, and with the Invisible Sister bound for Spain in a matter of weeks, it would be difficult to see everybody before August when things got more hectic. So, despite sleeping through the alarms on Sunday morning, I was able to get fully packed and in the Invisible Ben-mobile by 7:30, making it north to the old homestead by around noon. The Invisible Dad had just opened his present (an authentic Zeppo Marx autograph), but was still glad I could make it up to see him. (And to get the Ben-mobile’s emissions tested...and get a new driver’s license...and the tasty pies didn't hurt either!)
Things have changed. Obviously, time has a way of doing that, but this time it was more noticeable. Two years (basically) away from home, and everything seems a little strange. Even inside the house...for it was on this trip that I got to meet my family’s new dog–Krimpet. Krimpet is a labradoodle: part labrador and part doodle..and at 17.5 lbs, is a giant bundle of adorable just waiting to piss on your floor and chew up your sofa. Krimpet immediately took a liking to my shoelaces. Not to me. She nipped me once or twice. But my shoelaces, those she loved. My parents have jokingly referred to Krimpet as my new sister, which made me wonder whose side of the family she really took after. Also realized as I watched them pin her to the ground after growling one time too often that I’m glad I was not reincarnated as a puppy.
I had a chance to visit my old high school, where renovations are finally being completed on its physical structure. Gone is the old courtyard where we would play ultimate frisbee. In its place, a whole new wing. The main office has been pushed to the front, right next to the doors. The old trophy case has mostly been emptied out, although some of the old college bowl/engineering competition/math league trophies are still there from the long ago times when giants walked the halls.
The changes were not merely superficial. Chatted with my favorite semi-immortal English teacher and learned that they were restructuring the curriculum. World Civilization–previously a two year course is being abridged to 1.5 years to allow for greater coverage of American history. Wave goodbye to British literature, it’s getting eaten up from within by contemporary American fiction. Oh, and let’s not even get into issues of grading. There was word going around of a requirement making teachers give out 25% A grades. “Fat chance!” my teaching colleague replied, but we’ll see how long her resistance can hold out in the face of educational reforms. Even my beloved alma mater is adopting a mission statement, complete with “principles of teaching and learning” and “core beliefs.”
I’m betting Underwood’s Mission Statement (when published) will be nearly identical to this one:
___________ High School, in striving for academic excellence, seeks to provide a comprehensive education that engages all students in meaningful learning and develops the intellectual, creative, social, emotional, technological, and physical skills necessary to prepare them for the next phase in their lives.
This I fear is part of a trend, encouraged by the passage of No Child Left Behind, to attempt to fix schools even when they are not necessarily broken. For example, why is a school with an excellent academic record: strong test scores, high college admission percentages, etc. implementing small learning communities when no such need has previously been shown to exist? Whatever happened to if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? I seriously worry about being swept up by fads like this, even if they are presented as the latest trend in educational reform by all the journals.
Other changes? Well they put up a new shopping center down the road with a Baja Fresh, a gigantic Barnes and Noble, and an Old Navy...so I guess the region’s getting more and more suburban by the second. There’s no reason even to go over the mountain to the larger malls anymore. Oh, and there are a few new restaurants and such. A Coldstone creamery near the movie theater. Bickfords is finally out...Puerto Vallarta is in. (Ole!)
Perhaps the biggest change is that most of the old guard is gone. I got to spend time with the Snood Warrior (check out his blog on the right) and a few others, but that was basically it. It’s a different thing to go home. I knew it would happen...I just hoped it wouldn’t.
4. In other news...
1. Firefly lives up to much of the hype. I watched the whole series in under 24 hours and was shocked to find no particularly bad episodes. I'm adding it to the list of shows cancelled too early along with The Critic, Legend, Crusade. On the plus side, I'm now definitely looking forward to Serenity.
2. Batman Begins also lives up to the hype. They need a good soundtrack for a superhero movie one of these days though...
3. David McCullough’s 1776...I was not aware of any hype, but if such hype existed, this book would definitely meet or beat it. I listened to the whole book on CD while driving back and forth. Made those waits to get over the Hudson River almost bearable.
4. Gundam Wing: Still cool. Still completely incomprehensible to anyone who has not watched all the episodes back to back to back.
5. Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: Tasty. Very Tasty.
Well that’s all for now. Tomorrow I go hiking on the Appalachian Trail to pick some blueberries. Should be fun. A pity I don't have my old hiking boots handy...
Thursday, June 16, 2005
And there was much re-Joyceing
Quick post: more later.
Today was the school year's end.
Happy Bloomsday all!
Quick post: more later.
Today was the school year's end.
Happy Bloomsday all!
Monday, June 13, 2005
Building a bridge back to the 20th century
The weather is sweltering and miserable, the freshmen continue to show up to school, and we all have places we'd rather be. So of course the school district decides to schedule not one, not two, but three days of professional development during the last week of the school year. Granted, at least we only have to put up with the madness for a few half-days, but still, I wonder why oh why we are being forced to consider vision statements and codify the Underwood high school mission at this late juncture in the year.
They piled us all into the school library, one of the few rooms with working air conditioning, and then began the meeting around 1:00. The whole affair provided a whole new meaning for "a cold day in hell." All of the jargon-laden strategic planning lampooned so successfully in The Office or Dilbert was out in full force this afternoon as our vice-principals put forth a new plan with the "dynamic" new name: Reengineered for Excellence! (exclamation point added for dramatic effect!)
The idea was to brainstorm where we want Underwood to be in the future so that we could then move towards creating a concrete strategic plan to get there. The problem I had was that they presented this, providing us with an idealistic article from a teaching journal about a utopian school where "everything we do reflects [a] redefinition of learning and helps us sustain a school culture in which we are more than a school--we are a community of learners." Now I would love for Underwood to reach such a position, but let's start off by convincing the kids who walk these halls that they are students! Our vision statement had to be built with a foundation in reality. Don't get me wrong, I understand the whole "aim for the stars so we can jump over these track hurdles" mentality...but, I think we should focus on things within our zone of control. I even expressed this idea at the meeting, but was basically brushed off by my vice-principal.
But to give you some idea of how this meeting worked, consider this little snippet of dialogue from that same meeting.
We have to focus on this school improvement plan, my vice-principal said at the beginning of the meetingm and anticipating our responses, he immediately continued with the reason why.
Because... "this year has to be better than next year."
Yeah. You read that correctly. I copied it down verbatim the second time he repeated it.
It's going to be even hotter tomorrow. Hopefully, there won't be another vision-themed meeting. Unless those visions are hallucinations induced by the heat. That would be entertaining.
The weather is sweltering and miserable, the freshmen continue to show up to school, and we all have places we'd rather be. So of course the school district decides to schedule not one, not two, but three days of professional development during the last week of the school year. Granted, at least we only have to put up with the madness for a few half-days, but still, I wonder why oh why we are being forced to consider vision statements and codify the Underwood high school mission at this late juncture in the year.
They piled us all into the school library, one of the few rooms with working air conditioning, and then began the meeting around 1:00. The whole affair provided a whole new meaning for "a cold day in hell." All of the jargon-laden strategic planning lampooned so successfully in The Office or Dilbert was out in full force this afternoon as our vice-principals put forth a new plan with the "dynamic" new name: Reengineered for Excellence! (exclamation point added for dramatic effect!)
The idea was to brainstorm where we want Underwood to be in the future so that we could then move towards creating a concrete strategic plan to get there. The problem I had was that they presented this, providing us with an idealistic article from a teaching journal about a utopian school where "everything we do reflects [a] redefinition of learning and helps us sustain a school culture in which we are more than a school--we are a community of learners." Now I would love for Underwood to reach such a position, but let's start off by convincing the kids who walk these halls that they are students! Our vision statement had to be built with a foundation in reality. Don't get me wrong, I understand the whole "aim for the stars so we can jump over these track hurdles" mentality...but, I think we should focus on things within our zone of control. I even expressed this idea at the meeting, but was basically brushed off by my vice-principal.
But to give you some idea of how this meeting worked, consider this little snippet of dialogue from that same meeting.
We have to focus on this school improvement plan, my vice-principal said at the beginning of the meetingm and anticipating our responses, he immediately continued with the reason why.
Because... "this year has to be better than next year."
Yeah. You read that correctly. I copied it down verbatim the second time he repeated it.
It's going to be even hotter tomorrow. Hopefully, there won't be another vision-themed meeting. Unless those visions are hallucinations induced by the heat. That would be entertaining.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Final Friday 2005
Underwood High School has transformed into a strange sort of limbo during the past few days. The transition was not unexpected, but at the same time arrived with an inscrutable suddenness that even a "veteran" teacher like myself could not anticipate. It was obvious, for example, that student motivation would dwindle following the completion of final exams and the release of summer school recommendations. But unlike last year, when student willingness to be students seemed to fade away more gradually, this year, it's more like a switch. One minute kids are diligently studying for exams. The next, they're actively resisting anything that might bear some vague connection to appropriate student behavior. Even simple stuff like sitting down quietly.
With the exception of a single student, exams wrapped up on Wednesday. F-Day lived up to its name with average scores ranging between 45-53%. Top score overall, 88%. For most students, the final exam had little to no impact on their overall grades. For a few it would determine if they passed or failed fourth marking period, and for a fraction of those, their summer plans would depend entirely on their success on this test. Sadly, summer school recommendations had to go in before the exams were completed so we were instructed to recommend anyone in danger of failing. This led to a few angry students coming to me and demanding to know how they could be in summer school when they had a grade of X a few weeks before. Such complaints are more a nuisance than anything, and I tried my best to ignore them and push on to bigger and better things.
But what is one to do with a bunch of students who are forced to arrive at school during a week of sweltering heat and humidity. Just when I thought they couldn't become any more defiant, disrespectful, or fearless...well, you know the routine. My fellow teachers and I had various approaches to this problem. One "borrowed" my idea for a Science Alphabet Book project and had the kids work on a similar book on algebra for a few days. Another math teacher focused on tesselations, using a video on Escher and a lot of construction paper. Others were less creative, preferring merely to show movies. Originally, I fell into this category, planning to show the film Super Size Me. (Given their eating habits, myst udents could seriously benefit from it.) But despite obtaining an LCD projector to screen the film, the DVD I rented did not have English subtitles, so my students could not follow the film over the noise. Strangely enough, it did have Spanish subtitles. Why no English? I'm not sure.
Moot point, I suppose.
I eventually found a fun activity for the kids in the form of everyone's favorite computer quiz game, You Don't Know Jack. They had a tough time wrapping their brains around the idea of a Ticklish Testgum (Gibberish Question), but the humor and occasional raciness of the humor won at least a few kids over in each class. Another science teacher and I consolidated our classes on Thursday and even wound up having a tournament of champions of sorts where the top kid from each class got a chance to face off against either teacher. The kid from the other class, in a rare display of critical thinking, decided that since his teacher was smart, I obviously must be the better opponent from his point of view. Sadly his reasoning proved flawed and I was sorely tempted to paraphrase the Grail Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "You chose...poorly."
I had assumed that today, the final full day and the final Friday of the school year, would be a followup of Thursday's quiz game fun. Imagine my surprise however when homeroom time came around and there was utter silence on the floors. Could this have been the culmination of every teacher's dream? What if they gave a school day and none of the students showed up? For half an hour we waited, a bunch of us in a corner math room near the computer lab, waiting for any sign of students. And for half an hour, there was nothing to be heard but the sounds of giddy anticipation that maybe the students had taken the unspoken hint and stayed home. But then, they arrived...en masse. Suddenly, I had around a dozen juniors hanging out in my room. Did I know them? No. Fortunately they arrived with chaperones, but no one had any idea why they were being sent there or what the plan would be for the inevitable freshman horde.
The freshmen today reminded me of sad puppies who could not realize that they should stop following the teachers around. At 8:40 or so, an announcement went on that all freshman teachers were to go to the cafeteria for instructions. And there were my freshmen. Granted, attendance was down, but not there will still an inordinate amount of tables filled up. I attempted to ignore them, although one kid's obnoxious demeanor led me to make him a bet that if he could spell and define the word "obsequious", I would go and raise his final mark 10 points. (He couldn't...and he couldn't come up with a very effective comeback when I said that term would appear with his picture next to it in the dictionary. Battle of wits with an unarmed man and all that...) The eventual plan, settled everyone agreed at the last minute, was to divide the freshman up into groups of 2-3 advisories a piece and then place those students in rooms on the first floor, some of which were air conditioned. I was lucky to be in that setup. So today we ended up watching two Indiana Jones movies (Raiders and Last Crusade)...and by watch, I mean read the subtitles because the room was so darn noisy! Also got to impress a few kids with my mad origami skillz, but I'm not sure how many of them actually believed I learned how to fold paper from my mother.
It wasn't a particularly difficult job, given that there were 3 teachers, but still, holding 38 students in one place the entire school day except lunch left all of us with something of a headache. and it looks like mroe are in the future because this afternoon I received a most curious memorandum from the Powers that Be, this time in the form of our district's CEO. (Yes, we have a CEO. We're like a business that way, and depending on who you ask in many other ways to boot.) It was addressed to the city's school principals and noted that "earlier today, one of our high school students was severely beaten by some other middle and high school students, off school grounds." The blame for this lay partly with the students, but also with uncooperative schools dismissing students early.
I quote below:
"Let me be perfectly clear: the school year is not over utnil June 15th. Until that date, schools are to be open according to the full schedule adopted by the District, and students are to attend class and be engaged in active learning."
Furthermore, the CEO notes, schools must "remain active learning environemnts until the end of the school year. Classroom bulletin boards are to remain up and lesson plans should be implemented."
My principal scrawled a note at the bottom of the memo that we are going to be monitored so far as our compliance with this memorandum is concerned and entreats us all to devise "creative lessons that are engaging for our students."
However, the plan for the remaining 3 days of school is to be similar to today. Take all the teachers out of their rooms, shuffle them around so that two, three, or even four different classes are bunched together, in cramped rooms that will only get unbearably hot after they are filled beyond capacity with a bunch of hyperactive, undermotivated students. So, how are we supposed to coordinate effective lesson planning? In my room, for example, there were three different subjects (science, math, and English) represented. And for that matter, even if we could coordinate, how do they expect full engagement from students who know there is no positive consequence? The whole situation seems like it is setting students and teachers alike up for frustration and failure.
A few of my more cynical colleagues even commented that this might be a sham. The argument was that the main office was circulating this e-mail with the full knowledge of the chaos that breaks out at this point in the year in an attempt to enlist otherwise apatehtic administrators and teachers to stem the tide. While I can see the rationale behind such a scheme, I must unfortunately inform the Powers That Be that despite their best efforts, this plan will almost certainly fall apart. Becuase the teachers in the trenches know the reality of the situation. Our priorities now are no longer instruction-based, but rather survival-based. We are all of looking to the summer and a respite from the madness. Or in my case, summer and a chance to learn chemistry before I wind up teaching a class of juniors.
In any case, we screen Temple of Doom next week. Tune in for more fun news over the weekend, because I'm certainly not lesson planning. And neither should you.
Underwood High School has transformed into a strange sort of limbo during the past few days. The transition was not unexpected, but at the same time arrived with an inscrutable suddenness that even a "veteran" teacher like myself could not anticipate. It was obvious, for example, that student motivation would dwindle following the completion of final exams and the release of summer school recommendations. But unlike last year, when student willingness to be students seemed to fade away more gradually, this year, it's more like a switch. One minute kids are diligently studying for exams. The next, they're actively resisting anything that might bear some vague connection to appropriate student behavior. Even simple stuff like sitting down quietly.
With the exception of a single student, exams wrapped up on Wednesday. F-Day lived up to its name with average scores ranging between 45-53%. Top score overall, 88%. For most students, the final exam had little to no impact on their overall grades. For a few it would determine if they passed or failed fourth marking period, and for a fraction of those, their summer plans would depend entirely on their success on this test. Sadly, summer school recommendations had to go in before the exams were completed so we were instructed to recommend anyone in danger of failing. This led to a few angry students coming to me and demanding to know how they could be in summer school when they had a grade of X a few weeks before. Such complaints are more a nuisance than anything, and I tried my best to ignore them and push on to bigger and better things.
But what is one to do with a bunch of students who are forced to arrive at school during a week of sweltering heat and humidity. Just when I thought they couldn't become any more defiant, disrespectful, or fearless...well, you know the routine. My fellow teachers and I had various approaches to this problem. One "borrowed" my idea for a Science Alphabet Book project and had the kids work on a similar book on algebra for a few days. Another math teacher focused on tesselations, using a video on Escher and a lot of construction paper. Others were less creative, preferring merely to show movies. Originally, I fell into this category, planning to show the film Super Size Me. (Given their eating habits, myst udents could seriously benefit from it.) But despite obtaining an LCD projector to screen the film, the DVD I rented did not have English subtitles, so my students could not follow the film over the noise. Strangely enough, it did have Spanish subtitles. Why no English? I'm not sure.
Moot point, I suppose.
I eventually found a fun activity for the kids in the form of everyone's favorite computer quiz game, You Don't Know Jack. They had a tough time wrapping their brains around the idea of a Ticklish Testgum (Gibberish Question), but the humor and occasional raciness of the humor won at least a few kids over in each class. Another science teacher and I consolidated our classes on Thursday and even wound up having a tournament of champions of sorts where the top kid from each class got a chance to face off against either teacher. The kid from the other class, in a rare display of critical thinking, decided that since his teacher was smart, I obviously must be the better opponent from his point of view. Sadly his reasoning proved flawed and I was sorely tempted to paraphrase the Grail Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: "You chose...poorly."
I had assumed that today, the final full day and the final Friday of the school year, would be a followup of Thursday's quiz game fun. Imagine my surprise however when homeroom time came around and there was utter silence on the floors. Could this have been the culmination of every teacher's dream? What if they gave a school day and none of the students showed up? For half an hour we waited, a bunch of us in a corner math room near the computer lab, waiting for any sign of students. And for half an hour, there was nothing to be heard but the sounds of giddy anticipation that maybe the students had taken the unspoken hint and stayed home. But then, they arrived...en masse. Suddenly, I had around a dozen juniors hanging out in my room. Did I know them? No. Fortunately they arrived with chaperones, but no one had any idea why they were being sent there or what the plan would be for the inevitable freshman horde.
The freshmen today reminded me of sad puppies who could not realize that they should stop following the teachers around. At 8:40 or so, an announcement went on that all freshman teachers were to go to the cafeteria for instructions. And there were my freshmen. Granted, attendance was down, but not there will still an inordinate amount of tables filled up. I attempted to ignore them, although one kid's obnoxious demeanor led me to make him a bet that if he could spell and define the word "obsequious", I would go and raise his final mark 10 points. (He couldn't...and he couldn't come up with a very effective comeback when I said that term would appear with his picture next to it in the dictionary. Battle of wits with an unarmed man and all that...) The eventual plan, settled everyone agreed at the last minute, was to divide the freshman up into groups of 2-3 advisories a piece and then place those students in rooms on the first floor, some of which were air conditioned. I was lucky to be in that setup. So today we ended up watching two Indiana Jones movies (Raiders and Last Crusade)...and by watch, I mean read the subtitles because the room was so darn noisy! Also got to impress a few kids with my mad origami skillz, but I'm not sure how many of them actually believed I learned how to fold paper from my mother.
It wasn't a particularly difficult job, given that there were 3 teachers, but still, holding 38 students in one place the entire school day except lunch left all of us with something of a headache. and it looks like mroe are in the future because this afternoon I received a most curious memorandum from the Powers that Be, this time in the form of our district's CEO. (Yes, we have a CEO. We're like a business that way, and depending on who you ask in many other ways to boot.) It was addressed to the city's school principals and noted that "earlier today, one of our high school students was severely beaten by some other middle and high school students, off school grounds." The blame for this lay partly with the students, but also with uncooperative schools dismissing students early.
I quote below:
"Let me be perfectly clear: the school year is not over utnil June 15th. Until that date, schools are to be open according to the full schedule adopted by the District, and students are to attend class and be engaged in active learning."
Furthermore, the CEO notes, schools must "remain active learning environemnts until the end of the school year. Classroom bulletin boards are to remain up and lesson plans should be implemented."
My principal scrawled a note at the bottom of the memo that we are going to be monitored so far as our compliance with this memorandum is concerned and entreats us all to devise "creative lessons that are engaging for our students."
However, the plan for the remaining 3 days of school is to be similar to today. Take all the teachers out of their rooms, shuffle them around so that two, three, or even four different classes are bunched together, in cramped rooms that will only get unbearably hot after they are filled beyond capacity with a bunch of hyperactive, undermotivated students. So, how are we supposed to coordinate effective lesson planning? In my room, for example, there were three different subjects (science, math, and English) represented. And for that matter, even if we could coordinate, how do they expect full engagement from students who know there is no positive consequence? The whole situation seems like it is setting students and teachers alike up for frustration and failure.
A few of my more cynical colleagues even commented that this might be a sham. The argument was that the main office was circulating this e-mail with the full knowledge of the chaos that breaks out at this point in the year in an attempt to enlist otherwise apatehtic administrators and teachers to stem the tide. While I can see the rationale behind such a scheme, I must unfortunately inform the Powers That Be that despite their best efforts, this plan will almost certainly fall apart. Becuase the teachers in the trenches know the reality of the situation. Our priorities now are no longer instruction-based, but rather survival-based. We are all of looking to the summer and a respite from the madness. Or in my case, summer and a chance to learn chemistry before I wind up teaching a class of juniors.
In any case, we screen Temple of Doom next week. Tune in for more fun news over the weekend, because I'm certainly not lesson planning. And neither should you.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Climate Control Freak
Summer has hit Underwood High School...hard. At least so far as temperature is concerned. This year, we have so far been fortunate that the warm weather and humidity that characterize summer in the city (back of your neck getting hot and gritty...) have basically stayed away. Until now. Maybe it's because of final exams. Some cosmic being in control of weather and with a terrible sense of humor must have figured that if the kids are going to be miserable studying for finals, one may as well make them really miserable by turning the school into an oven. And me with only one box fan.
Equally annoying, to me anyway, is that there's no escape from the heat, even at home. I love my apartment, but being on the top floor of the building means I have direct solar exposure on my roof the entire day such that when I return home, it's often nearly 90 degrees inside. My little air conditioner unit can't cool the whole apartment. At least not without leaving it on a long time. Since electricity (and A/C) are not included in the rent, the best I can do is turn it on when I get home, sit nearby to cool off a little bit, and then use a fan for other cooling needs farther away from the actual machine.
To me the whole thing is reminiscent of sitting by a fireplace, it's like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The teacher gets home, takes off his shoes, pours himself a glass of lemonade and sits in his easy chair by a roaring air conditioner.
By the way, for those who care, F-Day has so far lived up to its name. Top score in my homeroom? 66!
Summer has hit Underwood High School...hard. At least so far as temperature is concerned. This year, we have so far been fortunate that the warm weather and humidity that characterize summer in the city (back of your neck getting hot and gritty...) have basically stayed away. Until now. Maybe it's because of final exams. Some cosmic being in control of weather and with a terrible sense of humor must have figured that if the kids are going to be miserable studying for finals, one may as well make them really miserable by turning the school into an oven. And me with only one box fan.
Equally annoying, to me anyway, is that there's no escape from the heat, even at home. I love my apartment, but being on the top floor of the building means I have direct solar exposure on my roof the entire day such that when I return home, it's often nearly 90 degrees inside. My little air conditioner unit can't cool the whole apartment. At least not without leaving it on a long time. Since electricity (and A/C) are not included in the rent, the best I can do is turn it on when I get home, sit nearby to cool off a little bit, and then use a fan for other cooling needs farther away from the actual machine.
To me the whole thing is reminiscent of sitting by a fireplace, it's like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The teacher gets home, takes off his shoes, pours himself a glass of lemonade and sits in his easy chair by a roaring air conditioner.
By the way, for those who care, F-Day has so far lived up to its name. Top score in my homeroom? 66!
Monday, June 06, 2005
F-Day
June 6, 2005:
(cue theme music)
On this date in history, students in the Invisible Ben's classroom started taking their final exams. Despite previous warnings from the administration the exam is noteworthy for its complete and utter lack of short answer questions and "critical thinking". This is mostly due to the district's grading system, which requires all final grades be input by Thursday. Given the difficulty of grading essay questions compared to multiple choice tests, the Invisible Ben is quietly pleased and how that worked out. He still fears that despite open book and the use of a note sheet, students will fail both his exam and his class.
The nickname F-Day was born.
For the History Channel, I'm the Invisible Ben.
(end theme music)
June 6, 2005:
(cue theme music)
On this date in history, students in the Invisible Ben's classroom started taking their final exams. Despite previous warnings from the administration the exam is noteworthy for its complete and utter lack of short answer questions and "critical thinking". This is mostly due to the district's grading system, which requires all final grades be input by Thursday. Given the difficulty of grading essay questions compared to multiple choice tests, the Invisible Ben is quietly pleased and how that worked out. He still fears that despite open book and the use of a note sheet, students will fail both his exam and his class.
The nickname F-Day was born.
For the History Channel, I'm the Invisible Ben.
(end theme music)
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Deep Throat
My favorite comment on yesterday's historic revelation on the identity of Deep Throat comes from the editorial page of today's New York Times:
To some, the author writes, the revelation of FBI official Mark Felt as the Watergate was "a little like discovering that Superman's secret identity was, well - Clark Kent."
My favorite comment on yesterday's historic revelation on the identity of Deep Throat comes from the editorial page of today's New York Times:
To some, the author writes, the revelation of FBI official Mark Felt as the Watergate was "a little like discovering that Superman's secret identity was, well - Clark Kent."
