The New York Times seems to think so.
I wonder what the breakdown is for Mississippi?
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Success
Today, I was informed that my goalkeeper was off the team. He had a 39 in english. My assistant coach had somehow gotten grades early, and informed his mother, and that was that.
Charlie will graduate this May. My assistant coach just dropped him off at home (at 11 PM) after a tutoring session. He or my other assistant coach will take him all day Saturday, and I'll take him on Sunday. If he never plays another game with us, he'll graduate. If he gets his grades up to the point where he can play again, great. But he is a part of something. He has people who care about him, who won't let him slip through the cracks. This makes all the difference in the world, and that fact that I can be one of those people - not the most influential or important, but just that I can be one of those people, is a success for me.
This leads me to believe that schools with 1700 students are a bad idea. There aren't enough things for everyone to be a part of. Two schools of 850 each would have two football teams, two soccer teams (maybe), two cheerleading squads, two track teams, two x-c teams, and nearly twice as many kids feeling like they belong to something. My research paper didn't find any sort of link between athletics and academic performance, but I trust my gut over my research. It's important to belong to something, especially at 16, 17, 18 years old.
Charlie will graduate this May. My assistant coach just dropped him off at home (at 11 PM) after a tutoring session. He or my other assistant coach will take him all day Saturday, and I'll take him on Sunday. If he never plays another game with us, he'll graduate. If he gets his grades up to the point where he can play again, great. But he is a part of something. He has people who care about him, who won't let him slip through the cracks. This makes all the difference in the world, and that fact that I can be one of those people - not the most influential or important, but just that I can be one of those people, is a success for me.
This leads me to believe that schools with 1700 students are a bad idea. There aren't enough things for everyone to be a part of. Two schools of 850 each would have two football teams, two soccer teams (maybe), two cheerleading squads, two track teams, two x-c teams, and nearly twice as many kids feeling like they belong to something. My research paper didn't find any sort of link between athletics and academic performance, but I trust my gut over my research. It's important to belong to something, especially at 16, 17, 18 years old.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Things I will miss about Mississippi
Ryan Conley and his jail-bird suit.
Lisa.
Anna.
Other MTC people who are not in my living room right now.
DB,NB,CB,DukeFG,MW,AL,JT,IB,JR,AM,WB,FM and the rest of my soccer boys. I'll miss them like hell.
Perfect soccer weather October through March.
My garden.
My awesome house - with cheap rent.
Late, late night drives to Oxford.
San Juan Mexican Grill.
Bogglific.
Pick-up soccer with Spot and the rest of the guys.
Gluten-free meals.
Reggae.
Church casseroles.
Blues.
The majority of my students.
Lisa.
Anna.
Other MTC people who are not in my living room right now.
DB,NB,CB,DukeFG,MW,AL,JT,IB,JR,AM,WB,FM and the rest of my soccer boys. I'll miss them like hell.
Perfect soccer weather October through March.
My garden.
My awesome house - with cheap rent.
Late, late night drives to Oxford.
San Juan Mexican Grill.
Bogglific.
Pick-up soccer with Spot and the rest of the guys.
Gluten-free meals.
Reggae.
Church casseroles.
Blues.
The majority of my students.
Skiing
I feel like a terrible teacher at the moment. About to go back to school, after having had nine days off, and I have nothing done, nothing ready, no idea about where we are going.
In high school, I was on the cross-country ski team. I needed to do something in the winter to stay in shape for soccer, and I couldn't play basketball. I remember one race, at Cranwell, an old golf course, which was one of the only places that made snow. It was warm, so the snow was very wet, and it was a classic race, so all the kicking I could manage still didn't get me anywhere, because my wax wasn't sticking. Then, when I finally made it to the finish line, I fell, right on the finish line, in a pile of deep powdery snow, and managed to land, somehow, directly on my nuts. I couldn't get up, and so I had to just drag myself across the finish line, where I was immediately shouted at by angry parents, because I was, of course, in the way.
This is how I feel about teaching right now. All the hard work I could put in doesn't get me anywhere, and now I am just trying to crawl across the finish line. I was never a graceful skier, and I feel anything but graceful in the classroom. And to top it all off, there is just that general feeling of getting kicked in the nuts.
I guess the good thing is that in three years of skiing, I finished every race.
In high school, I was on the cross-country ski team. I needed to do something in the winter to stay in shape for soccer, and I couldn't play basketball. I remember one race, at Cranwell, an old golf course, which was one of the only places that made snow. It was warm, so the snow was very wet, and it was a classic race, so all the kicking I could manage still didn't get me anywhere, because my wax wasn't sticking. Then, when I finally made it to the finish line, I fell, right on the finish line, in a pile of deep powdery snow, and managed to land, somehow, directly on my nuts. I couldn't get up, and so I had to just drag myself across the finish line, where I was immediately shouted at by angry parents, because I was, of course, in the way.
This is how I feel about teaching right now. All the hard work I could put in doesn't get me anywhere, and now I am just trying to crawl across the finish line. I was never a graceful skier, and I feel anything but graceful in the classroom. And to top it all off, there is just that general feeling of getting kicked in the nuts.
I guess the good thing is that in three years of skiing, I finished every race.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Pasta Party
Tonight was the second annual pre-season meal at coach's house. Expanded to include the girls' team. I'll elaborate later.
Floyd, food, and spades.
My goalkeeper. I can't explain the face.
Floyd, food, and spades.
My goalkeeper. I can't explain the face.
Two of the nicest guys I've ever met.
Jacedric, one of my little seventh graders. In a few years, he just might do something.
Jacedric, one of my little seventh graders. In a few years, he just might do something.
Also, thanks to all the fantastic people who helped out with this event. The kids really enjoyed it. So, Tabitha, Anna, Sunny, Jessie - you all rock.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Understand?
Are black teachers more effective than white teachers in reaching black students?
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/understand/
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/understand/
Thursday, November 08, 2007
My favorite teacher
Dr. Mullins asked us to write something about our favorite teacher. I don't even know where to start. With Mrs. McBride, who let a group of us write books in a group in the corner during seconds grade? With Mrs. Bernard, who guided us through our biography projects in fifth grade? Or with Mr. Vadnais, history teacher and soccer coach, who's skills were in his ability to relate to middle school students and make them feel like human, and who helped us reenact Gettysburg, with snowballs on the hill behind the school. Mme. Kahus, who in grades 7-9 taught me all the french I ever learned, enough so that even after two years of horrendous high school french I could still get by and so that now, nine years later, I still can conjugate verbs in the passe compose, imparfait, future, and conditional. Probably not a lot of verbs, but hey. More importantly, she instilled in me a love for and fascination with languages that has never left me. She offered Russian for two years, and I took it, and loved it - I credit her with my majoring in Russian in college. Cramer, my only high school math teacher, taught a mean calculus class, interspersed with strange stories about some hippy named Wavy Gravy, who may or may not have contributed to the campaign to get a pigasaurus elected president. And of course SB, who genuinely loved spending time with us, interacting with her students and engaging with their writing. I can't think of another class that is as conducive to forming a strong bond with a teacher as a creative writing class, and she handled it all so well, with gentle criticism and genuine praise for our attempts at literary art.
And then there was Mahar. Mahar may be my favorite teacher, in a way that I did not expect when I began contemplating this question. Mahar, with his fieldwork on coyotes, his real love for his subject, was not even a great teacher, in some ways. He bungled some questions about cellular biology and his explanations were sometimes indicative of the fact that he himself was not entirely comfortable with everything that was going on in the glycolysis reaction. Yet in others, he was superb. He was weak on cellular and molecular bio, but he knew it, and knew enough to get by. But he found a way to let the things he was really passionate about become the important things in his class. I still remember the Lincoln-Peterson labs, daubing mice with whiteout on the backs of their necks, and going back out to catch them again. The riparian ecosystem lab, measuring trees along the stream, and the statistical analysis that went with it. Mahar asked for t-tests and p-values in high school, and that was huge. Not only that, but we read Song of the Dodo. Mahar did a really solid job of picking books for that class. I was about to bash the one we read about Watson and Crick and Rosalind Franklin, but now that I think about it, that was a great book to read too. Understanding where the biological world was at before the modern synthesis made me finally understand, for the first time, the full importance of genes, DNA, and the forces that modify them over time. The Song of the Dodo, by looking a the stripped down system of island biogeography, really brought to light enormous amounts of evolutionary theory and made it accessible on a wonderful scale. As much as Mme Kahus led me to major in Russian, Mahar was instrumental in my majoring in biology. My greatest, most enduring academic interst, the only thing that I have ever considered going back to grad school for, is evolutionary biology, and a good chunk of credit for that interest has to go to Mahar. As goofy as he sometimes was, and as much as he disliked teaching cellular biology, his passion for ecology and evolution and his ability to share that passion made him a great teacher for me.
And then there was Mahar. Mahar may be my favorite teacher, in a way that I did not expect when I began contemplating this question. Mahar, with his fieldwork on coyotes, his real love for his subject, was not even a great teacher, in some ways. He bungled some questions about cellular biology and his explanations were sometimes indicative of the fact that he himself was not entirely comfortable with everything that was going on in the glycolysis reaction. Yet in others, he was superb. He was weak on cellular and molecular bio, but he knew it, and knew enough to get by. But he found a way to let the things he was really passionate about become the important things in his class. I still remember the Lincoln-Peterson labs, daubing mice with whiteout on the backs of their necks, and going back out to catch them again. The riparian ecosystem lab, measuring trees along the stream, and the statistical analysis that went with it. Mahar asked for t-tests and p-values in high school, and that was huge. Not only that, but we read Song of the Dodo. Mahar did a really solid job of picking books for that class. I was about to bash the one we read about Watson and Crick and Rosalind Franklin, but now that I think about it, that was a great book to read too. Understanding where the biological world was at before the modern synthesis made me finally understand, for the first time, the full importance of genes, DNA, and the forces that modify them over time. The Song of the Dodo, by looking a the stripped down system of island biogeography, really brought to light enormous amounts of evolutionary theory and made it accessible on a wonderful scale. As much as Mme Kahus led me to major in Russian, Mahar was instrumental in my majoring in biology. My greatest, most enduring academic interst, the only thing that I have ever considered going back to grad school for, is evolutionary biology, and a good chunk of credit for that interest has to go to Mahar. As goofy as he sometimes was, and as much as he disliked teaching cellular biology, his passion for ecology and evolution and his ability to share that passion made him a great teacher for me.
Recruit where? MTC
Q: Should MTC focus more on recruiting in Mississippi, in the South, or nationwide?
A: Nationwide.
Reason one: You will draw better applicants from a bigger pool.
If you want the best possible applicants, you need the biggest pool to choose from. Pretty self explanatory.
Reason two: Teachers coming from the south or Mississippi will bring inherently different perspectives to the classroom than teachers coming from the north, midwest, westcoast, southwest, alaska, anywhere. Of course, it depends on how you interpret the goal of MTC, but I feel that a fresh perspective, from the outside, can only be a benefit. When my students run through all the places that start with M where I might go home for Christmas - Manhattan, Michigan, Minnesota, Connecticut... I realize just how limited their perspectives of the wider world are.
When I was in high school, all of my teachers were from the northeast, except maybe Aase. At least, as far as I know. But I think I would have benefited from having teachers from other areas of the country. I know I did in college. Diversity is touted as being exceptionally important in education, and geography can be a good proxy for establishing a diversity of perspectives and past experiences.
Teachers from increasingly local levels (the south, Mississippi, the Delta) having the correspondingly increasing benefit of familiarity and cultural understanding. But the kids already have lots of teachers with that familiarity and background.
Reason Three: (The one that will get me in trouble)
MTC should recruit heavily outside of the south and Mississippi because it is important for MTC to recruit students from the best colleges and universities in the country, from those institutions that represent the very pinnacle of learning. Going to a good school does not make you a better teacher, but it certainly does not make you a worse one. I have realized that some of my ideas about education are more elitist than I ever thought, and this really disturbs me, in a lot of ways. I want some of my students to go to Harvard (or MIT, Yale, Stanford, Bowdoin, Middlebury, etc.). I've almost deleted this section three or four times now, because I worry that I'll offend someone. I have a very north-east-centric view of things, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had been taught be a more goegraphically diverse faculty during high school. But I think that MTC should continue to recruit from the very best colleges and universities in the country, where ever they are. Any recruiting policy that limited recruiting to the south would certainly eliminate many students from the institutions that are considered the flagbearers of higher education in this country, despite what the incensed regular viewers of ESPN's College Gameday might argue.
The cons:
1) A national recruiting policy is more expensive.
2) This is entirely speculative, but I imagine that the likelihood of an MTC teacher staying for a few extra years or for the long haul is inversely proportionate to the distance between Mississippi and that person's home. Ben has data on who is still here and who left and where they were from, and could probably actually tell me if this is true or not. But as my second year is moving along, I am already starting to feel incredibly guilty about leaving these kids. There is no way to do enough for these kids, and to walk away from them after just two years seems cruel. At the same time, there are the parts of me that urge me to leave in May - my sanity, my family, my memories of foliage and snow and the daydreams about the good life teaching somewhere where I don't have to deal with so many discipline issues, so many disorganizational issues. It's so important for teachers to stay more than two years. Maybe that's easier for teachers whose homes are a little closer to Misssissippi. If it is, this might outweigh all the reasons for recruiting nationwide.
A: Nationwide.
Reason one: You will draw better applicants from a bigger pool.
If you want the best possible applicants, you need the biggest pool to choose from. Pretty self explanatory.
Reason two: Teachers coming from the south or Mississippi will bring inherently different perspectives to the classroom than teachers coming from the north, midwest, westcoast, southwest, alaska, anywhere. Of course, it depends on how you interpret the goal of MTC, but I feel that a fresh perspective, from the outside, can only be a benefit. When my students run through all the places that start with M where I might go home for Christmas - Manhattan, Michigan, Minnesota, Connecticut... I realize just how limited their perspectives of the wider world are.
When I was in high school, all of my teachers were from the northeast, except maybe Aase. At least, as far as I know. But I think I would have benefited from having teachers from other areas of the country. I know I did in college. Diversity is touted as being exceptionally important in education, and geography can be a good proxy for establishing a diversity of perspectives and past experiences.
Teachers from increasingly local levels (the south, Mississippi, the Delta) having the correspondingly increasing benefit of familiarity and cultural understanding. But the kids already have lots of teachers with that familiarity and background.
Reason Three: (The one that will get me in trouble)
MTC should recruit heavily outside of the south and Mississippi because it is important for MTC to recruit students from the best colleges and universities in the country, from those institutions that represent the very pinnacle of learning. Going to a good school does not make you a better teacher, but it certainly does not make you a worse one. I have realized that some of my ideas about education are more elitist than I ever thought, and this really disturbs me, in a lot of ways. I want some of my students to go to Harvard (or MIT, Yale, Stanford, Bowdoin, Middlebury, etc.). I've almost deleted this section three or four times now, because I worry that I'll offend someone. I have a very north-east-centric view of things, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had been taught be a more goegraphically diverse faculty during high school. But I think that MTC should continue to recruit from the very best colleges and universities in the country, where ever they are. Any recruiting policy that limited recruiting to the south would certainly eliminate many students from the institutions that are considered the flagbearers of higher education in this country, despite what the incensed regular viewers of ESPN's College Gameday might argue.
The cons:
1) A national recruiting policy is more expensive.
2) This is entirely speculative, but I imagine that the likelihood of an MTC teacher staying for a few extra years or for the long haul is inversely proportionate to the distance between Mississippi and that person's home. Ben has data on who is still here and who left and where they were from, and could probably actually tell me if this is true or not. But as my second year is moving along, I am already starting to feel incredibly guilty about leaving these kids. There is no way to do enough for these kids, and to walk away from them after just two years seems cruel. At the same time, there are the parts of me that urge me to leave in May - my sanity, my family, my memories of foliage and snow and the daydreams about the good life teaching somewhere where I don't have to deal with so many discipline issues, so many disorganizational issues. It's so important for teachers to stay more than two years. Maybe that's easier for teachers whose homes are a little closer to Misssissippi. If it is, this might outweigh all the reasons for recruiting nationwide.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away...
At least that is what they say.
But burning out as a teacher is never a good thing. At one point someone suggested that we offer some advice for the first years on avoiding burnout. Unfortunately, I haven't had nearly the success in this department that Jeremy has had, and so the best advice I can offer is to be what I am not - organized. And don't coach football. But I am really not in the correct frame of mind to offer advice. I am just going to dive into how burnt out I am.
I'm not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to coach football last spring. Maybe I thought I would get more respect from the kids, just by spending more time with them, they'd understand, a little better how much I cared. I thought, perhaps, nostalgic for soccer season, that it would be great to spend a little more time with the boys who play both soccer and football, and that if the soccer guys were so great, maybe I'd be able to love the football players as much as I do the soccer players.
Regardless of what I thought, it was a poor decision. I was not helpful to the football team. I was not helpful to myself. I learned a few things from the football coaches, about football and coaching in general. I met a few great kids who I never would have met otherwise. But it was a mistake, because it left me already running on reserve when soccer season hit.
Football meant getting home between 7 and 7:30 every night, between 10 and 1 AM on Fridays, and a few hours on Sunday for film. Soccer means getting home between 7 and 7:30 every night plus responsibilities. We ordered new uniforms, we're still trying to track down some of last years, the field needs to be lined, the goals need to be moved and the new nets put up. We need buses for away games, checks for away game meals and pregame food, we need to order new balls and shin guards and cones. And then there is eligibility. Birth certificates, physicals, permission forms, eligibility sheets, counselors, principals, and athletic directors at four different schools - the two campuses of the high school and the two middle schools. And that is just the BS part of coaching. The real work of finding a system and putting the right people in the right places, and finding and fixing deficiencies, of discipline, spirit and pride, loses out to the paperwork. I got an assistant coach, finally, and she is fantastic. It's my delegating skills that are weak, and we got a bit of a late start, because of football.
In addition, for the last three or four weeks I've been teaching trig during my planning period. I volunteered - the trig teacher was in a car wreck and had to get stitches in his head, so our principal, rightly, did not want the kids to fall behind. I applaud her for that. But that has really been taking a toll too. Leave the house at 7:30, get back to the house at 7:30, no stopping. No getting anything done. It's not the fact that I can't get anything done during ym planning period that is the worst, although the enormous stack of grading that has piled up on my desk, shelves, in my backpack, and on top of my overhead projector has become an almost unbearble stressor. But rather, the fact that I am "on" for nearly 12 hours a day, in front of kids, putting on the teacher act, pretending to be an adult, nonstop. That just wears me down.
In closing, don't teach four block classes, coach two sports, and go to grad school at the same time.
But burning out as a teacher is never a good thing. At one point someone suggested that we offer some advice for the first years on avoiding burnout. Unfortunately, I haven't had nearly the success in this department that Jeremy has had, and so the best advice I can offer is to be what I am not - organized. And don't coach football. But I am really not in the correct frame of mind to offer advice. I am just going to dive into how burnt out I am.
I'm not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to coach football last spring. Maybe I thought I would get more respect from the kids, just by spending more time with them, they'd understand, a little better how much I cared. I thought, perhaps, nostalgic for soccer season, that it would be great to spend a little more time with the boys who play both soccer and football, and that if the soccer guys were so great, maybe I'd be able to love the football players as much as I do the soccer players.
Regardless of what I thought, it was a poor decision. I was not helpful to the football team. I was not helpful to myself. I learned a few things from the football coaches, about football and coaching in general. I met a few great kids who I never would have met otherwise. But it was a mistake, because it left me already running on reserve when soccer season hit.
Football meant getting home between 7 and 7:30 every night, between 10 and 1 AM on Fridays, and a few hours on Sunday for film. Soccer means getting home between 7 and 7:30 every night plus responsibilities. We ordered new uniforms, we're still trying to track down some of last years, the field needs to be lined, the goals need to be moved and the new nets put up. We need buses for away games, checks for away game meals and pregame food, we need to order new balls and shin guards and cones. And then there is eligibility. Birth certificates, physicals, permission forms, eligibility sheets, counselors, principals, and athletic directors at four different schools - the two campuses of the high school and the two middle schools. And that is just the BS part of coaching. The real work of finding a system and putting the right people in the right places, and finding and fixing deficiencies, of discipline, spirit and pride, loses out to the paperwork. I got an assistant coach, finally, and she is fantastic. It's my delegating skills that are weak, and we got a bit of a late start, because of football.
In addition, for the last three or four weeks I've been teaching trig during my planning period. I volunteered - the trig teacher was in a car wreck and had to get stitches in his head, so our principal, rightly, did not want the kids to fall behind. I applaud her for that. But that has really been taking a toll too. Leave the house at 7:30, get back to the house at 7:30, no stopping. No getting anything done. It's not the fact that I can't get anything done during ym planning period that is the worst, although the enormous stack of grading that has piled up on my desk, shelves, in my backpack, and on top of my overhead projector has become an almost unbearble stressor. But rather, the fact that I am "on" for nearly 12 hours a day, in front of kids, putting on the teacher act, pretending to be an adult, nonstop. That just wears me down.
In closing, don't teach four block classes, coach two sports, and go to grad school at the same time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Progress
I just filed a referral. It was the third one that I've gotten back, although I think I wrote two others that I haven't seen back yet. It's mid-October. Just for fun, I looked at my bulging referral folder from last year. By this time last year, I had written about 30 referrals.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Why are you here?
Today was our second day of soccer practice. We had a fairly hard day - not as bad as the two practices yesterday, but nothing too easy either. After practice, they took a knee, and I asked them a simple question - why are you here? I went first. I told them I had three reasons for being out there. I love them, I am passionate about the game, and I want to win. Some of their answers were really fantastic.
Well, you introduced me to soccer. Before, I never would have played it, but now I have a passion for it, I love playing, I love running people over, well, I just love running.
I'm out here because last year, we were 17 and 0, and I want to show some people that we can play. They're gonna see us coming and remember last year and say we're gonna beat them black boys again. But look, this is my motto this year - if you're not gonna hustle, don't waste your energy. We got to go to states and it's hard work that is going to get us there...
Coach, you introduced me to this game too. I used to watch it on TV and I thought those people were stupid, but then I came out here. At first, I wanted to run on the field, but then I started playing in goal, and I really like, well, playing in goal.
I'm out here, not just to win some games, but to go to state.
I love sports, and soccer is a good sport that I really like playing. I like playing soccer and being around people who, you know, like being around other people.
I'm out here 'cause my brother's out here.
I'm out here because I'm joining the marines next summer, and I want to be in the best shape I can. I want to be so that I can just run the entire game and never get tired. Also, I look over here and I see JH, my cousin, and over here is WB, my best friend, and here's NB, my brother. Just a lot of good, hardworking people that it's good to be around.
Now we just have to work on turning words into deeds. I've got to plan something really hard for tomorrrow.
Well, you introduced me to soccer. Before, I never would have played it, but now I have a passion for it, I love playing, I love running people over, well, I just love running.
I'm out here because last year, we were 17 and 0, and I want to show some people that we can play. They're gonna see us coming and remember last year and say we're gonna beat them black boys again. But look, this is my motto this year - if you're not gonna hustle, don't waste your energy. We got to go to states and it's hard work that is going to get us there...
Coach, you introduced me to this game too. I used to watch it on TV and I thought those people were stupid, but then I came out here. At first, I wanted to run on the field, but then I started playing in goal, and I really like, well, playing in goal.
I'm out here, not just to win some games, but to go to state.
I love sports, and soccer is a good sport that I really like playing. I like playing soccer and being around people who, you know, like being around other people.
I'm out here 'cause my brother's out here.
I'm out here because I'm joining the marines next summer, and I want to be in the best shape I can. I want to be so that I can just run the entire game and never get tired. Also, I look over here and I see JH, my cousin, and over here is WB, my best friend, and here's NB, my brother. Just a lot of good, hardworking people that it's good to be around.
Now we just have to work on turning words into deeds. I've got to plan something really hard for tomorrrow.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
An Unexpected Guest
Sunday morning. Actually, Sunday noon. "Mike, um, Mr. G, there's a student here."
Anyone who read my failure story remembers KM. He been staying around here a few days now, with his old lady's folks, still looking for a job so he can get him a crib. He was on a walk with said old lady, in his red pajama pants and a red tank top. We chatted for a few minutes, I asked him to come by for dinner tomorrow, if he has the time. Told him that if he had a mower, I'd call him when the grass got long. We talked about jobs, the plaes he's been to look, and the responses he's gotten, all the same. We'll call you. And no calls.
I hope he comes back tomorrow for dinner. I'll try to cook something good.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Tale of Two Classes
I just finished grading my algebra II quarter exams. I have two blocks of algebra II, first and second. Second block did very well, while first block failed rather miserably. This has been the pattern of the year so far, and I am looking for ways to correct it.
The problem is easy to explain. First block is bigger - 19 students compared to 12. First block is earlier in the morning. There are more students in first block who are unprepared for this class - at least 10 in first block who just had abysmal math skill coming in, compared to only 2 in second block who I would put in that category. But the biggest difference is classroom management. My CM plan has worked fantastically well in my second block. We spend 92 of 98 minutes on task and engaged, they work quietly, they help each other, and we generally get along swimmingly, except when I make catastrophic errors in judgment and try to do something fun, like Jeopardy, which backfired tremendously on Thursday.
In my first block, things just don't work. Half the class comes in late, everyday, about half of them with late bus passes and half without. Some students sleep, and almost all the rest are openly hostile towards me. This has gotten a little bit better, but is still a huge problem. They refuse to listen to me when I teach, and then want help on the quizzes and classwork. That is, of course, unless they refuse to do the classwork.
I'm going to try dividing the class into two parts tomorrow - those that want to work and those that do not want to work. Teach all of them, then let the ones who are good - I'll call them group A or something - practice, while doing something much more structured, and silent, with group B. I'm honestly not sure how it is going to work, but I don't want to let this class ruin my year. When I start to think things to myself like "they are all just a bunch of jerks" I know that they are getting to me and I am starting to lose it. So I've got to get them under control. Hopefully this will do the trick.
Also:
I got back from the football game Friday night around 12:30 AM. While waiting for players' parents to pick them up, I saw one of my soccer boys, who had showed up at the school to meet one of my soccer/football boys, since they were going back to his house. I pulled the ball out of the back of the truck and we played for about half an hour, the three of us. I suggested turning on the lights and going out to the field, but NB noted that the sprinklers were on and so we were forced to abandon that idea. We are going to have a great season this year. Maybe we'll manage to sneak a few wins as well.
Grading proofs is annoying. But actually, it isn't bad, because my geometry kids can actually write proofs now. Seriously, they give statements and reasons and do things logically. It's amazing. I'm super-proud of them. They work really hard (usually) and so they deserve to do well. But it takes me way too long to grade these. I even had to make up a rubric to help.
Proof that my kids can write proofs!
The problem is easy to explain. First block is bigger - 19 students compared to 12. First block is earlier in the morning. There are more students in first block who are unprepared for this class - at least 10 in first block who just had abysmal math skill coming in, compared to only 2 in second block who I would put in that category. But the biggest difference is classroom management. My CM plan has worked fantastically well in my second block. We spend 92 of 98 minutes on task and engaged, they work quietly, they help each other, and we generally get along swimmingly, except when I make catastrophic errors in judgment and try to do something fun, like Jeopardy, which backfired tremendously on Thursday.
In my first block, things just don't work. Half the class comes in late, everyday, about half of them with late bus passes and half without. Some students sleep, and almost all the rest are openly hostile towards me. This has gotten a little bit better, but is still a huge problem. They refuse to listen to me when I teach, and then want help on the quizzes and classwork. That is, of course, unless they refuse to do the classwork.
I'm going to try dividing the class into two parts tomorrow - those that want to work and those that do not want to work. Teach all of them, then let the ones who are good - I'll call them group A or something - practice, while doing something much more structured, and silent, with group B. I'm honestly not sure how it is going to work, but I don't want to let this class ruin my year. When I start to think things to myself like "they are all just a bunch of jerks" I know that they are getting to me and I am starting to lose it. So I've got to get them under control. Hopefully this will do the trick.
Also:
I got back from the football game Friday night around 12:30 AM. While waiting for players' parents to pick them up, I saw one of my soccer boys, who had showed up at the school to meet one of my soccer/football boys, since they were going back to his house. I pulled the ball out of the back of the truck and we played for about half an hour, the three of us. I suggested turning on the lights and going out to the field, but NB noted that the sprinklers were on and so we were forced to abandon that idea. We are going to have a great season this year. Maybe we'll manage to sneak a few wins as well.
Grading proofs is annoying. But actually, it isn't bad, because my geometry kids can actually write proofs now. Seriously, they give statements and reasons and do things logically. It's amazing. I'm super-proud of them. They work really hard (usually) and so they deserve to do well. But it takes me way too long to grade these. I even had to make up a rubric to help.
Proof that my kids can write proofs!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
18 hours
By now, I am pretty used to being Mr. G. There were times last year when it felt pretty strange, but I feel much more accustomed to my adult role this year. Every once in a while though, it still seems so strange. Like when I wake up at 1:30 AM on a dark bus and the first thing I hear is Ed's voice.
"Aw Mr. G, you slept good, didn't ya?"
Yeah. Why, was I snoring Ed?
Yeah, you was snoring.
Loud.
Naw, not loud, but you was snoring.
"Aw Mr. G, you slept good, didn't ya?"
Yeah. Why, was I snoring Ed?
Yeah, you was snoring.
Loud.
Naw, not loud, but you was snoring.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
what a gift. Imagine how much more of a difference that money would have made were it spent on a single school here. But I guess we nneed an elite class to rule the country and make the right decisions for the rest of us.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Yale? Where that be?
So, I emailed admissions departments at a bunch of top tier schools. I'm basically trying to work my way down the list to get a bunch of information for my students. Today, I got my first packets, from Yale and Stanford. Yale even included a poster, which I promptly displayed in my classroom. Although I wouldn't always call my students the most observant bunch, they picked up on the poster right away.
Mr. G, you went to Yale?
No.
Then what you got that poster for? Who went to Yale.
One of you is going to Yale.
I ain't goin' to no Yale.
Sure you are. Or Harvard then.
Yale, where that be?
Connecticut.
Oh no, I ain't going to no Conneccticut.
But after school, I stopped one of my favorite students. I told her that I had gotten the poster for her. She said her mom wouldn't let her go that far away, but I tried to convince her. She took home the viewbook. And she is just a sophomore.
To any fellow MTC-ers reading this, or any other delta teachers, have you ever had a student go to a really top-tier school? Or ever heard of a student from the delta going to a top tier school?
One of the things our principal said he wanted was for some of our kids to be going to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. While these schools aren't for everyone, and while they may be elitist, perhaps even extremely so, I feel like the academicaly elite of my school deserve the chance to match minds with the academically elite of the rest of the country. But even my brightest kids, even if they made it into that sort of institution, I wonder if they would be too far behind. I just think of my freshman year classes at Williams and then think about what my kids leave my school knowing. That's a big part of what makes me push them. I can't stand when they complain about having too much work, or when they're lazy - they have so much catching up to do. Maybe I should start some sort of after-school club, the elite college club, and just take the best students I can find, do community service and ACT prep, alternating one every other weekend. Obviously find a non-MTC teacher to help out with it. So many ideas - so little time.
Mr. G, you went to Yale?
No.
Then what you got that poster for? Who went to Yale.
One of you is going to Yale.
I ain't goin' to no Yale.
Sure you are. Or Harvard then.
Yale, where that be?
Connecticut.
Oh no, I ain't going to no Conneccticut.
But after school, I stopped one of my favorite students. I told her that I had gotten the poster for her. She said her mom wouldn't let her go that far away, but I tried to convince her. She took home the viewbook. And she is just a sophomore.
To any fellow MTC-ers reading this, or any other delta teachers, have you ever had a student go to a really top-tier school? Or ever heard of a student from the delta going to a top tier school?
One of the things our principal said he wanted was for some of our kids to be going to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. While these schools aren't for everyone, and while they may be elitist, perhaps even extremely so, I feel like the academicaly elite of my school deserve the chance to match minds with the academically elite of the rest of the country. But even my brightest kids, even if they made it into that sort of institution, I wonder if they would be too far behind. I just think of my freshman year classes at Williams and then think about what my kids leave my school knowing. That's a big part of what makes me push them. I can't stand when they complain about having too much work, or when they're lazy - they have so much catching up to do. Maybe I should start some sort of after-school club, the elite college club, and just take the best students I can find, do community service and ACT prep, alternating one every other weekend. Obviously find a non-MTC teacher to help out with it. So many ideas - so little time.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
i thought about the army
"well i thought about the army, dad said son you're f-cking high"
I don't know what I think about the services drawing as heavily as they do from poverty for recruits. Some consider it a form of conscription. Others see it as a great opportunity offered to those who have few others, with a strong dose of discipline being among the most important aspects. Do recruiters lie to these kids? I don't know. Do the kids leave recruiters' offices with a skewed conception of reality that is not corrected by recruiters? Yes.
Mr. G, I'm leaving for the guard in a couple of weeks.
Coach, I was thinking about joining the marines.
Well, at first they had assigned me to artillery, but then they put me in transport.
Coach, I'm gonna be all I can be.
I just know I don't want my kids to join up. I don't want my kids to be on the other end of an AK or an IED. Transport, to me, means roadside bombs. Marines means all the dignity of a military funeral.
Maybe I'd feel differently if I supported the war, or the idea of war, or patriotism, but I don't think I would. Those are questions for men to decide, not boys, and these are my boys. I know that they're almost men, and some of them have already gone through much more than I had before I was of legal age to enlist.
Maybe I'd feel differently if the kids who planned on enlisting were kids who could really benefit from it. When KM told me he was joining the guard, I was not upset. The kid needed the discipline, and he didn't have anything else. Nothing. He had such a strong personality about him, he could have gone through the military, gotten something out of it, and used that to forward himself. WE probably made the right decision too, although I didn't know him as well. But NB and DJ? Fantastic kids, never a behavior problem, probably not a referral between them in 4 years of high school, varsity athletes, (DJ 3 sports), supportive mothers. DJ has a 3.5 GPA. And he wants to go into the army?
I'm not going to stay in Mississippi forever, and once I leave, I don't want to be coming back for any military funerals.
I don't know what I think about the services drawing as heavily as they do from poverty for recruits. Some consider it a form of conscription. Others see it as a great opportunity offered to those who have few others, with a strong dose of discipline being among the most important aspects. Do recruiters lie to these kids? I don't know. Do the kids leave recruiters' offices with a skewed conception of reality that is not corrected by recruiters? Yes.
Mr. G, I'm leaving for the guard in a couple of weeks.
Coach, I was thinking about joining the marines.
Well, at first they had assigned me to artillery, but then they put me in transport.
Coach, I'm gonna be all I can be.
I just know I don't want my kids to join up. I don't want my kids to be on the other end of an AK or an IED. Transport, to me, means roadside bombs. Marines means all the dignity of a military funeral.
Maybe I'd feel differently if I supported the war, or the idea of war, or patriotism, but I don't think I would. Those are questions for men to decide, not boys, and these are my boys. I know that they're almost men, and some of them have already gone through much more than I had before I was of legal age to enlist.
Maybe I'd feel differently if the kids who planned on enlisting were kids who could really benefit from it. When KM told me he was joining the guard, I was not upset. The kid needed the discipline, and he didn't have anything else. Nothing. He had such a strong personality about him, he could have gone through the military, gotten something out of it, and used that to forward himself. WE probably made the right decision too, although I didn't know him as well. But NB and DJ? Fantastic kids, never a behavior problem, probably not a referral between them in 4 years of high school, varsity athletes, (DJ 3 sports), supportive mothers. DJ has a 3.5 GPA. And he wants to go into the army?
I'm not going to stay in Mississippi forever, and once I leave, I don't want to be coming back for any military funerals.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
SquashFest
My senior year at Williams, I lived in what is called a co-op, an on-campus house that is like a stepping stone to real life. You still don't pay rent or utilities, and you have B&G to take care of things like shoveling snow, fixing the heat, and cleaning the bathrooms, but you do have to do things like buy and cook food (no dining halls), keep a kitchen neat, and not kill each other.
I lived in this house with some very special people. It just so happened that they were all female, and all vegetarian, but nevertheless, they were good people who enjoyed food, and, to various degrees, cooking. Cooking, like many other things, is something I really enjoy doing whenever I don't need to do it. I made such delicacies as blini (блины), pierogies, raspberry muffins, and hamburgers. For many of the meals, the six of us all made time to eat together, and often we even invited guests - students living elsewhere, faculty, and other friends.
On of our staple foods turned out to be butternut squash. Cheap, easy, and abundant. We bought 25 pounds for $10, fresh from the farm. Then, we bought 25 more pounds. And 25 more. Over the course of a few months, the six of us ate more than 75 pounds of squash. Usually, we just baked it on a cookie sheet, with a little brown sugar, maple syrup, or some raisins, but we had some more creative cooks who tried some great things. Jess made a delicious squash soup, and one night, Kate made an entire dinner with every course containing squash.
I managed to grow a small garden last spring, to help keep me sane while my classroom tumbled into the, um, pits of hell, and although it was mostly overgrown by the time I got back this summer, there were a surprising number of butternut squashes hidden among the waist-high grass that the landlady was so angry about. I gave most of them away last weekend at Oxford, but I kept a few for myself, and tonight cooked up a squash extravaganza. We made a cookbook with all the recipes we had used in the co-op, and so today I made myself a double-batch of Jess' Squash Soup and Kate's Squash Rolls. Delicious, delicious. I also made the one addition that was always impossible at Parsons - some pork chops on the grill. Then I started to miss everyone just a little, then I remembered that I saw almost all of them this summer, in New Orleans, New York, Leland, and Lake Champlain, and realized I am still a pretty lucky guy.
I lived in this house with some very special people. It just so happened that they were all female, and all vegetarian, but nevertheless, they were good people who enjoyed food, and, to various degrees, cooking. Cooking, like many other things, is something I really enjoy doing whenever I don't need to do it. I made such delicacies as blini (блины), pierogies, raspberry muffins, and hamburgers. For many of the meals, the six of us all made time to eat together, and often we even invited guests - students living elsewhere, faculty, and other friends.
On of our staple foods turned out to be butternut squash. Cheap, easy, and abundant. We bought 25 pounds for $10, fresh from the farm. Then, we bought 25 more pounds. And 25 more. Over the course of a few months, the six of us ate more than 75 pounds of squash. Usually, we just baked it on a cookie sheet, with a little brown sugar, maple syrup, or some raisins, but we had some more creative cooks who tried some great things. Jess made a delicious squash soup, and one night, Kate made an entire dinner with every course containing squash.
I managed to grow a small garden last spring, to help keep me sane while my classroom tumbled into the, um, pits of hell, and although it was mostly overgrown by the time I got back this summer, there were a surprising number of butternut squashes hidden among the waist-high grass that the landlady was so angry about. I gave most of them away last weekend at Oxford, but I kept a few for myself, and tonight cooked up a squash extravaganza. We made a cookbook with all the recipes we had used in the co-op, and so today I made myself a double-batch of Jess' Squash Soup and Kate's Squash Rolls. Delicious, delicious. I also made the one addition that was always impossible at Parsons - some pork chops on the grill. Then I started to miss everyone just a little, then I remembered that I saw almost all of them this summer, in New Orleans, New York, Leland, and Lake Champlain, and realized I am still a pretty lucky guy.
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