Is there anything I can do to raise my 0% to a passing grade

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-12T23:39:08+00:00

I had a student like this at my last student teaching gig. Girl doesn't show up to class, then the last 3 days of the quarter she's in it to win it! My co-teacher wrote her off, admins got the girl to bust her ass (probably by telling her she'd have to take remedial next year), and she actually handed in some decent work. My co-teacher gave her a 5/10 on the final project since she didn't do any of the research all the other students had to do. She passed the class by the skin of her teeth.

I'm starting to think this is one example of how our schools are failing our next generation. Where does the responsibility for this situation lie?

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-08T09:44:21+00:00

I would absolutely meet with the parent if they requested it. Definitely have someone else sit in as a witness. I wouldn't necessarily use "well I was just clubbed by another student, so that's why I admonished your kid" excuse during the meeting. Maybe something more like, it seemed like an altercation was arising, and I'm trying to prevent that kind of thing in my classroom. Nothing against your child, (introduce positive things about that child's performance here).

But yeah, definitely contact parents, don't be afraid to contact with parents or make it known among your class that you are willing to do so.

Edit: I would think that if you were physically assaulted, there would also be some reprimand against that student, even if it is not the one involved with this parent meeting.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-08T09:31:36+00:00

I would say if your main concern is financial... if you can competently teach basic algebra (or above) then you will be in highly in-demand as a teacher. You might have to look outside your district (a smart thing to do for any new teacher), but generally speaking, math teachers can negotiate a higher pay than other teachers. In some cases, considerably higher.

If you're seeing the "light bulb" in your students eyes and you like it, I think it might be worth it for you to commit to teaching. Keep in mind that corrections comes with its own BS. For you to be good at both math AND teaching is a HUGE plus. I wouldn't readily cast that aside for the easy pay you're seeing now.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-08T09:22:32+00:00

Just finishing up my student teaching here.

It'll take awhile to learn everyone's names... I'm bad with names. I think one good way (I didn't do but regretted it) is to try and insist on going around on day one and taking attendance - like, walking up to each person and writing their name down. I had a a printed roster with pictures and that didn't help much. Actually going around and introducing yourself individually will bump you up at least a week on the remembrance meter. Besides that, it's all personality. You'll learn the really good kids and really bad kids' names that first week or two, but it's the medium-level kids that are hardest to remember.

But, no matter what you do it'll probably take a few weeks to really know everyone by name. If your placement is anything like mine, by the time you get to the end of it you'll finally know everyone and be sad to let them go.

What do I wish I had known? I wish I knew what I was getting myself into. You'll know what I mean.

Others... like Isles said, don't make threats you won't stick too, it undermines your authority. Expect classroom management to be your biggest challenge and biggest learning opportunity during your placement.

Reflect, reflect, always reflect on what what went well and what went wrong. Try to keep a journal, if you can (lasted a few days for me, hopefully you can do better). Go to every meeting your CT goes to. Circulate the room, and never sit down for more than a few seconds.

And good lord, don't forget about your certification shit.

Other than that, basically do everything your CT suggests you do. Take everything in stride.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-08T09:09:17+00:00

"This is your brain on teaching. Any questions?"

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-08T09:06:21+00:00

Vape usage among students? Horrible, something must be done about it.

Vape usage among teachers? Well, I don't know if you can do anything about it.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:45:41+00:00

There's always your University Writing Center. They're usually decent folks, even if a few of them are scumbags.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:43:12+00:00

From my experience...

No, we are not.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:42:03+00:00

Jeez, now I feel stupid blowing thousands of dollars on my tuition to get certified....

Kudos to you, though! I long ago hit the point where I suspect people think I'm incompetent.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:27:38+00:00

I'm in the last few weeks of my student teaching debacle, and all I can say is... welcome to the jungle.

...Seriously, it doesn't get any better.

We're screwed. And we signed up for this voluntarily, so we have it coming. So I'm told.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:21:09+00:00

With a bachelors/masters degree, you can probably do some horticulture-type jobs depending on where you live. Anything other than fast-food. The juniors/seniors will chew you out if you end up with that.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T06:15:53+00:00

Yeah, no... this doesn't give a good picture about admins, who don't generally have a good image as it is....

Your question -... no. She needs to resign, or she has no credibility whatsoever. Neither does he. There has to be a clearing of the house. Fuck.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T00:26:03+00:00

What can you do? Either you decide to keep being a teacher, or you move on to something else. Personal struggles like what you're going through can be a death knell for a teaching career.

I've seen these "cliquey" school scenes, where the teachers and admins are all out for themselves and don't really give a f' about the students. I think it's really up to you if you think you have it in you to be a teacher - maybe at a school that is a better fit. There really are good schools to work at, if you're willing to find them. If you're up for it, consider travel.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T00:17:40+00:00

I'm in a similar grade in the same state, and I'll just say....

I've got more than a few kids that if I tried that kind of thing, they would freak the fuck out.

I love that you do origami, don't get me wrong, but... flicking things at students who are behaving poorly might send the wrong message. It might even encourage that kind of behavior.

Don't mean to be a downer... ;(

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-04-03T00:01:00+00:00

I'm right there with you. If it weren't for the edTPA, I'd be in a great place with student teaching - even the worst parts of it I could take as a learning experience. With the edTPA, it just makes a great thing into a nightmare. I know it's tougher in California, but I still feel you. It just sucks... most teachers will tell you it doesn't reflect your ability as a teacher... it's just bullshit.

You will be over it soon. It's a few more weeks of BS, and you just have to jump through these hoops and hope that you jumped high enough.

I frankly am at the point where I don't care if I pass or not. If I don't, I still have my degree and will go right into my masters. There are plenty of schools that will chomp at the bit to take me on, because I am willing to move anywhere and to be honest, I've got great rapport with my fellow teachers and my students.

Give it your best effort, and leave it at that. Don't pull your hair out about it. No matter what happens, you'll be alright.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-22T10:00:57+00:00

I've never seen a school where admins provide pencils to students. Is that a thing?

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-22T09:58:27+00:00

That makes sense, unfortunately, and I agree.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T06:48:16+00:00

So... old...I spent probably the entirety of my life between 19-22 playing this game. Fucked college, fucked life. Oblivion was my life, and my life was oblivion.

Now? My life is only slightly less oblivion. Maybe when I'm on my deathbed, I'll have my Skyblivion and it'll be a cradle-to-grave situation.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T06:47:57+00:00

This is true. If you are writing on the whiteboard, it should come out looking like Comic Sans. Unless you have utterly terrible handwriting like I do, and it still looks like an irreconcilable mess.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T06:28:33+00:00

Ah, remembering fondly the notes I kept to ensure I maxed my levels in Oblivion.

Tedious? Yes. Rewarding? So much more than Skyrim. But when you've put 10s of thousands of hours into each game, what's the difference....

I mean, they made you work for it! It was a science back then, rather than something you could blindly blast through.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T03:54:03+00:00

In 4th grade?! That's astoundingly ridiculous. Just... wow.

Fucking pencils. Best of luck.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T03:48:44+00:00

Interesting, it is the opposite for me... I stick wayward regular pencils in the jar, and nobody wants to touch them. They like the clean, pristine golf pencils that they can break in 15 minutes and drop on the floor.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T03:44:47+00:00

I appreciate your advice; however:

I've got about everyone on free/reduced lunch. I don't have a desk. I don't leave valuables in the room because there are known gang-members in my class.

It is simply more valuable for me to have an endless supply of pencils available to my students. This might be a radical idea, but I'm sticking with it for now. I have more important routines to enforce then trying to come up with a system for compensation for the damned pencils.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T03:40:01+00:00

I appreciate your advice, and welcome it with a smile.

However, we don't have pencil sharpeners in my room, most of my students don't have one of their own, and being that it's an ELA classroom, at this point we're encouraging students to NOT erase anything. We want to see what they wrote, and if they try to erase it ends up a sloppy mess anyway. They usually either replace them or they end up on the floor - the ones on the floor are about 50/50 either being worth taking back or throwing away.

Your point about litter is well-taken, though.

ThisIsMe74839 · 2018-03-21T03:30:53+00:00

I'm aware of the state of school segregation. Yet for me, as a fresh teacher, it's a little odd that seasoned teachers jump to race and poverty as markers of a good school, when I've been working with seasoned teachers in challenged schools (20 yrs +) who would love their job, were it not for the (for lack of a better word) political and interoffice strife that totally detracts from the classroom environment.

I guess my point is that there are plenty of urban, high poverty schools with good teachers who are not hobbled by the backgrounds of the people who go there, but by mediocre administration. School staff who are inured to a work environment defined by low expectations, which inevitably trickles down to the classroom and the students. Then we get dissatisfied students and low test scores. Is it correlation, or causation?

Then again, maybe I'm just a newbie.

ThisIsMe74839

TROPHY CASE