Joyous Summer?

As I was afraid would happen, it took a very long, unintended break from my blogging. This was more due to being busy- rather than not having a topic to write about. With baseball going in full swing, days are quite full with teaching, two ball practices, and then helping out in the field. Nevertheless, I am going to make more effort to post more regularly...

We are down to only five days of school left this year...hard to believe that it has gone that fast. I have noticed some very interesting behavior changes over the last couple of weeks. Sure there is the "summer buzz" as students make their plans for camps, festivals, and get-togethers. But there is something else, from only a select few, a longing to stay in school.  What students show this, you ask? Not the ones that you may be thinking of in your head. Sure, the "top" students may really enjoy learning- but most of the time they are zonked out after a long year and need a break. The students that want to stay in school the most? The ones that are acting the worst in the last couple of weeks.

I was just talking with a student yesterday about their recent behaviors. They had been great all year long- magically, their behaviors changed about two weeks ago. I simply asked them, "What's going on?"  Their response, was not one  I was ready for. "Well, honestly, I just..don't want summer. I mean, I am by myself all the time and have to take care of everything. I kinda wanna just stay here. Summer school, even, seems better than that."

It took me a couple of seconds to compute what I had just heard. This student would rather go to summer school than be at home. It boggled my mind. Summer to me was freedom, camping, hiking, swimming, baseball...all of it. Then I realized that my parents were very active in my life. They were always around offering to take us places and even "kidnapping" my sister and I to unknown locations. I can remember many summer days where  we would just get in the car and drive, with only my parents knowing the end location. Our family vacations were often spent driving west with our camper stopping wherever interested us. We never had an "end location" in mind- it was just simply a way to spend time together. Most of these students, unfortunately, do not have that.

This student, surely, never had that. Their parents were not visible in their life. Who cared for them and gave them attention? Their teachers at school. Heck, negative attention is better than nothing at all, if you are in that situation. The thought of some students dreading summer break never really crossed my mind. I had always loved summer and counted down days from after Christmas.  I got to thinking about the behaviors of some students recently- it made sense. If you are dreading going home for the summer because you aren't going to get any attention, of course you are going to act up and get attention the last couple of weeks that you are there. When something is bothering teens, what do they do? Act out. That is just the way that it is. Very few are able to bottle it up and keep it inside- which probably isn't healthy, anyways.

Here I was thinking that students just couldn't remember the rules, or they thought that they didn't apply to them anymore; in reality, some of them are terrified of being at home for the whole summer.

What are we really teaching?

Since this is National Teacher Appreciation Week (I honestly didn't even know that this existed) I got to thinking about teachers that I had. I was lucky enough to have some great teachers that made learning fun. We were able to connect with our teachers in more ways that just their content. We learned about them, their families, and they, too, about us. This got me to wondering...is that how my students feel?

In an age where standards, test scores, and prep classes have taken over, have we lost that personal connection with students? Do they view me as just someone who teaches them English? Obviously, the standards are important, don't get me wrong, but I hope that I am able to teach them more than just English. I hope the same things about the guys that I coach. If I only teach them football, basketball, and baseball, then I have failed them. I hope that they are able to learn life lessons from me. I hope that they realize that there are more important things that just sports. I love sports, but once I graduated from college, I was done playing them. What was I left with? The skills that I had gained from great teachers and coaches. It no longer mattered how hard I could throw a baseball- now what mattered was how well I could communicate with a coworker. 

We have some amazing teachers in this world- and some really great ones in this school district. They are able to show students their human side, their flaws, and their shortcomings. They can joke around with students and talk about the game on Friday night. They understand that the world outside our front doors isn't always a pretty one for our students. And hopefully, this is a safe haven for 9 months of the school year. I hope that someday I will be able to emulate those great teachers that I had.

If you get a chance this week, tell that teacher/coach that you had how much you enjoyed their class/sport. It just might be the pick me up that they need to hear at the end of the year. 

The Golden Standard?

There has been a lot of talk recently about the transition to standard based grading in American schools. Many countries around the work, that rank higher than the United States, use this form of grading. I have some experience with it (one of the teachers that I student taught with used it), but I am not totally sure how I feel about it. I learned lots in that 7 ½ weeks- but I still think that I came away with more questions than answers about SBG.

I can totally understand the rational behind it. Grades are subjective. They factor in many different things other than just if the student has learned the required materials. Many teachers, myself included, count off late points if an assignment is not done on time. I have struggled with this myself. Why am I taking off points? Well, because they did not get it done on time and handed in. I am trying to teach responsibility and the need to get things done when they are due. In life, you have to be accountable and I am trying to instill that.

However, does the grade that they are receiving on that assignment represent their ability on that content area? In most cases, no. They have lost points based on when they turned it in. I am no longer assessing their ability on the skill- but rather their ability to hand in materials on time. Isn't the idea to assess the ability of the student with regards to their content knowledge?

How late do you allow students to turn in materials? If I take away points, they want to turn in assignments right away so they will get full credit. If I don't take away late points, do I allow them to turn in assignments 2 weeks late? 2 months? I see it as a slippery slope. On the other hand, I also see it as a more true representation of their ability with the content.

Obviously, I am torn on even this issue. I can see both sides of the issue..and for me, I seem to fall on the take away points.

Anyways, I have gotten way off task. (I tend to ramble nonsense in these blog posts) If grades are subjective, why not just try and take away the subjectivity? English might be one of the most subjective subjects that there is. I try and always have rubrics available for my students- this way they know exactly what it is that I am looking for, even before they start the assignment/paper. This will take away some objectivity, but it will not totally take away the "opinion" of the teacher. I am not saying that teachers are not able to make these judgements- they did go to school for that- but why not take away some of the "favorite" games that you hear so much.

Standards based grading would make it much easier for teachers to tie in their lessons to the Core. What they would be assessing would be the same thing that they were required to teach by the state/gov't. It would also allow students in different cities and states to be taught the same thing at the same time. Obviously, this is also what the goal of the Common Core is. However, there are differences between the two- that I will save for a different blog post.

One of the biggest qualms that I have about SBG is the terminology that is used with where students sit. Most scales range from "not meeting" to "mastery" with point totals that correspond from 1-4. I have an issue with any student having "mastered" material. To me, there is always room for growth, in anything. There are very few things that I have mastered, truly.  Maybe there is other terminology that can be used that I have just not heard of, but I would be much more comfortable with other terms.

Also, I am not sure how well students and parents would be able to adjust to not having letter grade. Students and parents are so driven by having an "A". Does that always mean that they have mastered the material? Absolutely not. However, it does mean that they are able to do what is needed to reach their goal. Are students going to be become less motivated because those "hard working" students are not going to be able to study and work their way to the grade that they want?

On the other side of the issue- what about the student that is unmotivated but understands the material. With SBG, they would receive high marks because they are abler to demonstrate their understand- is that fair to the student who does all their work, all the time, but school is harder for? Maybe even better question, do we compare students too much? Are we holding students against each other because that is what an "A" student looks like and that over there is what a "D" student looks like. Shouldn't we be assessing each student independently?

 These are just some of the many questions that I don't have an answer for. I think that the idea could be a great one. However, at this point, I have many more questions than answers.