I have a student who is new to the school. She has been late already a few times to my class. Yesterday she asked to get a drink of water twenty minutes before the end of class and never returned. I will have to deal with this situation today.
My plan is to speak with her privately before class begins ( assuming she arrives on time ). I will ask her what happened and listen to her story. If her story does not justify the behaviour, I will say to her that she needs to
A. earn some trust back because she lied about going for water
B. buy back class time by coming in at lunch to complete the work not done. The consequence for not doing this will be to sit in the hall and do independent work during class time in order to regain the privilege of resuming normal classroom participation.
C. If this does not remedy the issue, I will call home and try to get parental support to help this student follow normal procedures.
Your thoughts?
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
To Record Marks or not?
A teacher may have too many grades or too few. I try to have just enough by assessing first, which means certain marks don't count, and then recording only the grades that are true reflections of the students' abilities.
The other day I had my class do a drawing to illustrate their understanding of key vocabulary in an article they had read. Most did a wonderful job with the drawing, but few included vocabulary from the article. They simply put in their own vocabulary! Since my goal was to reinforce new vocabulary from the article, I had to make a decision. Should I deduct marks and record the results or simply use this as another assessment tool? Then it occurred to me that if most students did not follow the instructions, then perhaps I did not make them clear. (Part of the challenge is giving instructions in French in and FSL class with varied comprehension levels).
I have decided not to record these grades. I will explain that they did not follow the instructions and that my instructions may not have been clear.
When do you assess only ( not for grades ) and when do you evaluate and record grades for reporting?
The other day I had my class do a drawing to illustrate their understanding of key vocabulary in an article they had read. Most did a wonderful job with the drawing, but few included vocabulary from the article. They simply put in their own vocabulary! Since my goal was to reinforce new vocabulary from the article, I had to make a decision. Should I deduct marks and record the results or simply use this as another assessment tool? Then it occurred to me that if most students did not follow the instructions, then perhaps I did not make them clear. (Part of the challenge is giving instructions in French in and FSL class with varied comprehension levels).
I have decided not to record these grades. I will explain that they did not follow the instructions and that my instructions may not have been clear.
When do you assess only ( not for grades ) and when do you evaluate and record grades for reporting?
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
To Memorize or not to Memorize
Today I asked my grade nines to memorize a dialogue. Each pair of students was required to ask 6 questions and answer 6 questions in French. I gave them class time to rehearse and help each other remember their lines.
My instructions were that they have a conversation without props: no paper, nothing read.
Some began to write their lines on their hands and arms! Some said they couldn't memorize things. I was in a quandary: should I have allowed scripts to read from, or cards to prompt them? Since some students have difficulty with auditory memory and visual memory, was it fair to have this requirement?
When it was time to present I chose the group that had the lines perfectly memorized to lead off. Perhaps this would influence others to believe they could do it too. Then students asked if marks would be deducted if they had prompts on their hands and arms. I replied that looking down would get in the way of communication, so they would lose a mark if they looked at any written prompt, including body parts.
In the end, only 2 groups out of 11 used written prompts. I was impressed that so many who thought they needed the written support were quite able to get the message across without it.
In the end memorizing reinforces practice, repetition and mastery. Is there a down side?
My instructions were that they have a conversation without props: no paper, nothing read.
Some began to write their lines on their hands and arms! Some said they couldn't memorize things. I was in a quandary: should I have allowed scripts to read from, or cards to prompt them? Since some students have difficulty with auditory memory and visual memory, was it fair to have this requirement?
When it was time to present I chose the group that had the lines perfectly memorized to lead off. Perhaps this would influence others to believe they could do it too. Then students asked if marks would be deducted if they had prompts on their hands and arms. I replied that looking down would get in the way of communication, so they would lose a mark if they looked at any written prompt, including body parts.
In the end, only 2 groups out of 11 used written prompts. I was impressed that so many who thought they needed the written support were quite able to get the message across without it.
In the end memorizing reinforces practice, repetition and mastery. Is there a down side?
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Three Types of Principals
Since I have started teaching I've had eight principals in three schools. They seem to fall into three leadership styles. First, there are the humane, maintenance mode types. Then there are the bureaucratic, by the book types. Finally, there are, more rarely, the humane game-changers ( I've only had one ).
The first style allows for accessibility in the office, a caring approach to staff's personal situations, but not a lot of leadership pedagogically. The block budget gets distributed more or less as staff requests it but the process is not always clear as to how the money is allocated across the school departments.
The second, more bureaucratic style follows the board mandates and expects staff to do the same, the fund allocation process is methodical and clear. But issues get dealt with in a political way. For example, when I put in a request to the union to have my room tested for mold after a pipe burst in the ceiling and nothing had been done by the administration, the principal and two vice-principals showed up at my door as a safeguard against the possibility that I might misquote anything they said (overkill, in my view).
The third style is the principal who gets things done but who also supports learning and professional growth. If the number of board expectations for the shcool are just too unreasonable to implement, this principal will find a way to justify not doing everything by the book. Staff meetings are for inspiration, not drudgery. Book draws for professional learning are the norm. If students are impeding other students' learning, there is intervention. If teachers are impeding students' learning, there is intervention. The school leader is consistently on the side of student success. The school building is cared for. Department funding is based on need and negotiated collegially.
In my experience, there are a few of the first styles out there, more of the second style, and very few of the third.
The first style allows for accessibility in the office, a caring approach to staff's personal situations, but not a lot of leadership pedagogically. The block budget gets distributed more or less as staff requests it but the process is not always clear as to how the money is allocated across the school departments.
The second, more bureaucratic style follows the board mandates and expects staff to do the same, the fund allocation process is methodical and clear. But issues get dealt with in a political way. For example, when I put in a request to the union to have my room tested for mold after a pipe burst in the ceiling and nothing had been done by the administration, the principal and two vice-principals showed up at my door as a safeguard against the possibility that I might misquote anything they said (overkill, in my view).
The third style is the principal who gets things done but who also supports learning and professional growth. If the number of board expectations for the shcool are just too unreasonable to implement, this principal will find a way to justify not doing everything by the book. Staff meetings are for inspiration, not drudgery. Book draws for professional learning are the norm. If students are impeding other students' learning, there is intervention. If teachers are impeding students' learning, there is intervention. The school leader is consistently on the side of student success. The school building is cared for. Department funding is based on need and negotiated collegially.
In my experience, there are a few of the first styles out there, more of the second style, and very few of the third.
Unfair Marking Practices
I'm noticing that when I'm grading some writing pieces from my students, I tend to mark them progressively harder. When I see an error on the first one, I'm usually more lenient than when I see the same error repeatedly -it starts to aggravate me and I mark the latter papers harder! With this realization I am taking the time to group all my level ones, twos, threes and fours at the end of the marking session and comparing the results within each level. This gives me the opportunity to reevaluate my assessments more objectively before I return them to the students.
The key is not to have so much marking or so little time that my level of tolerance of repeated errors skews the results!
Back to School Adrenalyn
First week of September. It's like I never had the summer...I wake up before the alarm goes off. I'm out jogging five minutes later, shaking out the anticipatory tension of the day. I get going with my lesson plans like starting a cold engine in minus 25 celsius weather. It takes a lot of energy. On the one hand I'm rested and ready, on the other I'm out of routine and rusty. I want to maintain an interactive language learning environment. Will I be able to keep it up so the seatwork doesn't become the norm?
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