Teacher's Diary

Remembering to Enjoy Science

Looking on the bright side has been helping me focus on positivity instead of negativity. My outlook on teaching is still good - by keeping the positive in mind, I know that I still enjoy teaching and especially hands-on science. That is what the learning is all about.

While I'm still getting annoyed with my students for not being respectful or caring about my carefully planned lessons, I'm also trying to remind myself to enjoy the ride, so to speak. I became a science teacher because I love science. Through the first half of this year, I seem to have forgotten that. I need to take a step back and actually enjoy these lessons. I know for a fact that the more into them I get, the more into them the students will get. I don't want to become one of those teachers who is bitter and has a sour face every day - but that's what I have been like for the past few months. I want to be known as the crazy, fun science teacher!

It's going to take effort, but I have to remember that my students are not meant to be my friends. It doesn't matter if I make a fool of myself in front of them.

Guest Posting: The Dangers of Technology in Schools

Since I have been so lax in writing lately, others have sent me articles of their own. Here is one that is in response to a post I wrote last year about using technology in the classroom.

The author, Lindsey Wright, is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly the online school, to transform the landscape of learning. She is a content writer for online college classes, where she writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education. Here's what she has to say:

 

Cell phones, email and the advent of the Internet have brought about a number of changes to the world as we know it. Over the last two decades, the world has gone from snail mail that may take weeks or months to reach its destination to instant communication in practically every corner of the globe. People can now take online classes where they communicate with their classmates or professor via Internet and millions of people worldwide have a social networking profile that allows for instant communication with friends and relatives at all hours of the day. However, not all of these changes have been positive. With such immediate communication, people sometimes make regrettable decisions in the messages they send. Over the last ten years, the United States and other countries have seen a rise in school violence, and there have been a number of instances that have created circumstances that have put children in immediate danger.

Social Networks

There is no doubt that kids will be kids, and picking on one another for individual shortcomings is a simple part of human nature. However, with access to social websites where kids can continue their ridicule during the hours away from school, those taking the brunt of these personal attacks may feel as if there is no escape. While kids can control who has access to their profile, there are a number of ways some kids are tricked into allowing the people who insult them at school to view their pages. Promises of friendship or threatening behaviors are the most popular ways bullies are given access to their potential victims. Once access is granted, it becomes business as usual for the bully. In some instances groups of kids will team up to repeatedly insult or threaten an individual or individuals, causing severe anxiety to the person being picked on or threatened. It is estimated that almost half of kids in middle or high school have at one time been a victim of bullies. However, very few have ever reported this to a parent or person of authority.

Cell Phones

Cell phones are perhaps one of the most well intentioned inventions of the 20th century. They are necessary for businesses, parents and children alike, and have saved many lives over the years. However, over the last five years the U.S. has seen a rise in the deviant use of cell phones by young adults and teenagers – such as sexting. Sexting can be described as any text sent by a person that uses graphic language or images to sexually harass another individual. This has become somewhat commonplace in schools, yet many school officials are just now becoming aware. It is estimated that roughly 20 percent of teenagers have participated in some form of sexting in high school. There are a number of campaigns by student advocate groups as well as parent awareness groups that are bringing these topics to light. To deter sexting, parents should monitor their children's cell phone usage. This can be accomplished by simply viewing the usage and finding out what numbers are on the cell phone bill.

It is undeniable that the advances of technology have provided us with some amazing benefits in recent years. Almost any type of information we desire is instantly available to us, and all we have to do is pull out our cell phones and hit a few buttons. Likewise, social networking websites such as Facebook make connecting and keeping in touch with friends, family and colleagues just as easy. Unfortunately, these same sites provide bullies with constant access to their victims.

While some may argue the instant, 24/7 communication allowed by social networking sites still far outweighs the threat of cyber bulling, the problem is some children are unable to take insults
and belittlement in stride. There are children who begin to believe the insults or become so afraid of a bully that anxiety and stress become overwhelming. Over the last few years, the relentless taunts and threats of a single bully or group of individuals have caused several children to commit suicide. Clearly all the technology advances in the world cannot surpass the death of a child or young adult, especially when the death could have been prevented had more been aware of how the child was being taunted. As such, it is imperative that teachers, parents, students and school officials are properly educated on the dangers of incessant bullying and its effects so that the cycle of humiliation and depression can be put to rest.

No Facebook for Teachers

Should teachers be allowed to communicate with their students via social networking sites?

According to the state of Missouri, the answer is no.

A friend recently forwarded me this blog post, which describes the new Missouri law banning teachers from being friends with current or former students on Facebook and other social networking sites. The law is part of a larger act that protects children from inappropriate conduct by their teachers.

I agree that precautions need to be taken when dealing with our youth. I myself have taught students for the past two years, many of whom I know have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused by their parents and guardians. I certainly would not want them to be exposed to more hardship and trauma from their teachers. However, I feel that banning social networking of all kinds with teachers can have negative effects. I have a separate Facebook account especially for my students, where I post messages about upcoming tests and field trips and answer students' questions about homework and the content of my class. Since I will be leaving my current school, I plan to keep in touch with my former students using Facebook.

However, I am extremely careful in how I use Facebook. I never go onto my students' pages or look at what they have written to other friends. I monitor any pictures or notes that have my name tagged in them so that I am sure nothing inappropriate is tied to my name. I do not use the account for anything personal. I feel that, used like this, Facebook is an extremely valuable tool for communicating with students. Most of them do not check their email regularly, but they are on Facebook constantly. Should I stop using something that is working for me simply because others worry that it could be inappropriate?

I took the precaution this year of letting my principal know that I was using the account and offering to give him my password so that he could check my activity at any time. I think as long as teachers are willing to be open about how they are using Facebook and keep their activity in regards to their students on a professional level, things should be fine.

But that's just my opinion. Please comment if you have ideas about how social media should or should not be used as a tool for learning.

School Politics

Over the weekend, I was talking to the director of the summer camp I used to attend, back in middle and high school, just catching up and telling her about my life these days. Inevitably, talk turned to the current state of education and the amount of bureaucracy surrounding the field. Everyone who works anywhere near education knows that, as much as we would like it just to be about the kids, a lot of political shenanigans affect what we do. At my school, the end of the year was full of tension because of these issues.

The jury is still out in my books about the union. Yes, I think the union is a good thing for teachers - it protects us from principals who might fire us at will (and talking to my former private high school teachers, this is certainly not out of the question). Our union rep this year got involved in some pretty heavy and necessary battles with our administration and helped change things for the better - I personally will benefit next year by actually having the correct amount of seat time for my science class, while for the past two years I have had about 20 hours LESS than the minimum state requirement. Obviously, this was something the union should fix.

However, I also feel that the union throws its weight around unnecessarily sometimes. There were times this year that I actually rolled my eyes during union meetings as our rep went on and on about how we shouldn't have to stay a minute longer than required by the contract and that the mandatory staff pd set up by the school each week was a violation. And maybe those statements were true. I, however, can't help but wonder why we are wasting time and energy on these things. I know few teachers, at our school or others, who do not spend extra time at school to benefit their students. It's what we do.

In the end, all that happened was that our union rep antagonized the administration to such a degree that he started getting "unsatisfactory" ratings. He is leaving our school next year. Although I saw it coming, it still saddens me that a promising and dedicated teacher ended up losing his chance to work with these kids and actually make their situation better.

It has already been suggested that I become the union rep next year, but I'm not sure I'm willing to get involved in all the messy politics. Still, I do feel that we need a union rep who understands the powers of the union and can use them to make life better for both teachers and students (because in the end, our jobs as teachers are only as good as our students' lives). I hope that if I am put in the position of union rep that I do a better job of communicating with administration and create a better relationship between them and the teachers.

Summer Has Begun!

Sorry for the long hiatus! Any teachers out there know, however, what a hectic time the end of the year is and how much energy it drains from teachers. I went from the end of the year straight to a 3-day PD (more on that in a later post) so I had very little time to relax until this weekend, but then moving to a new apartment took over in the form of endless painting. No rest for the weary!

I would like to recap the end of the year, since there was a lot of news, both good and bad. Good news first - my Regents pass rate nearly doubled from last year! Although it is still nowhere close to the state average or where I would like it to be, it was a huge success, especially since I found it to be a very difficult test relative to the ones that have been given in recent years. I had a few heartbreaking 64s, but mostly my students either passes with flying colors or very clearly learned nothing from my class. I was proud of those who passed the test and have arranged for those who were relatively close to retake the test in August.

Another piece of good news is that I have one student attending Weather Camp next week! This is a great opportunity for her to learn about what causes weather events and the types of careers that go along with science. I am making an effort to get my students more involved in summer science programs because it keeps them learning over the summer and allows them to see more of the "fun" side of science outside the classroom. I really hope she enjoys it!

In terms of bad news, several teachers have decided to leave our school next year and I worry that our staff is going to be significantly worse, since I know we are having trouble finding people to hire. There has been a lot of negative politics surrounding the school, which I plan to write about in greater detail in another post, but it saddens me that bad leadership at the school is driving good teachers away, in turn leaving an already struggling school with even less. I have been struggling with this myself, since I feel very unappreciated where I am now but also don't want to abandon my students or the cause of helping in the worst schools. We'll see what happens.

To end on one last positive note, despite feeling generally unappreciated by the administration, I was voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the parents and students! I already put that one on my resume. I'm looking forward to having an even better year in 2011-2012.

Second Try at the Earth Science Lab Practical

I wrote a post last year about preparing for the lab practical, which was as much for students and myself as it was for readers of this blog. This year, however, I felt I did a much better job with it.

Since I didn't grow up in New York myself, I was not familiar with the Regents examinations. Sure, I took a few practice tests just to get a feel for them, but I had no idea what a true monster they are. I also didn't know (and am still unsure) about what is an appropriate amount of prep to give students. All three labs on the practical are known and I gave students standard/general versions of them throughout the year during the corresponding units. However, last year, I found that students struggled with the timing (only 9 minutes per lab) and with even small changes from the labs I had given them. I didn't have much time to review the labs before the practical either.

This year, I strove to remedy those problems. I emphasized the lab practical from day one and helped students work on skills such as rounding and reading directions. While these skills seem basic, most of my students - even the strong ones - struggle with them and end up doing poorly on the exam. When May rolled around, however, I started getting nervous about the timing. Throughout the year, labs that I thought should take a single period ended up stretching for two or even three. How could I get my students ready for the test?

I turned to my ever-trusty resource: the Oneonta ESPIRIT listserv. I asked other Earth Science teachers from across the state how they handle the timing, whether they practice it or not, and what the state regulations are.

Unlike usual, the listserv failed me completely.

Half of the responses I got said of course, help students practice (without giving them the exact test questions) and the other half said absolutely not, you will lose your job! Tough choice between helping my kids succeed and possibly losing my job. Whether right or wrong, I decided student achievement was more important than saving my own behind. I created a lab similar to that on the exam, with three sections. None of the questions were taken verbatim and students had to use their ESRT instead of being given the charts they needed. None of the rocks and minerals they had to identify were used on the actual test.

Even with this prep, some of my students complained on test day that they didn't know what to do, while others refused to believe that the practical would actually be taken into account in their final Regents score. In glancing over the tests, however, I was relieved to see that many of my students did quite well.

But at what cost? I feel that today, with the high pressure for teachers to get students to pass the state tests, there is greater and greater likelihood that teachers will start spoon-feeding students these labs. Teachers are so often asked to make professional judgments about how to follow regulations and it can be nerve-racking and overwhelming for a new teacher. The union and veteran teachers will tell us to protect ourselves at all costs, but we became teachers to promote student learning and achievement. When asked to make a choice between the two, teachers can become paralyzed or make poor choices. I still don't know if what I did was the right thing to do, but I don't think I broke any rules.

Only time will tell if this will come back to haunt me, but if it does, I will stand by my decision and my students' right to study for the lab practical.

Inquiry Teaching - A New Thing?

My roommate forwarded me a New York Times article about how scientists are developing new techniques for teaching science that improve student understanding. I was intrigued, since I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching.

In the study, researchers looked at two undergraduate freshman physics classes. The classes were huge - over 260 students, according to the article - and most of the instruction was delivered traditional lecture style. In one of the classes, however, researchers went in during the 12th week and did experiential learning with students, having them engage with the material and answering their questions as they came up. The results: their experimental group did much better on a final test than the group that got only lecture.

My question: ...and...?

Is it really a new discovery that kids learn better when allowed to interact with the material, rather than sitting through passive lectures? My school, a public high school in New York City, was founded on the principle of teaching via inquiry three years ago and it had many older schools to look to for guidance. I read the article, very confused about how scientists think this is remotely a new idea. I have been teaching for a grand total of almost 2 years and I could have told you exactly the same thing this article did.

Usually, the world of secondary school is far behind in terms of up-to-date pedagogy. Researchers are constantly developing new and better techniques for teaching our students, and then it takes 5 or 10 or 15 years for it to trickle down to the classrooms and actually benefit the kids. However, that is not the case here. Public schools are already using inquiry teaching and the Universities, it seems, are the ones who need to catch up.

Dave Eggers on Teachers

I read an interesting article in the New York Times about teachers and teaching, check it out for yourself!

Basically, Eggers argues that teachers are underpaid and overworked (which they are) and that this is affecting the quality of our education system. Every year, a high percentage of teachers; natioinwide, 46% leave before they have completed 5 years. Eggers then offers solutions to these issues - namely, raising teacher salaries to attract the top tier of college graduates to become and stay teachers.

Many argue that the cost of our education system is too high already, but Eggers argues that we shouldn't blame teachers for flaws in the system, comparing that to blaming front line soldiers if a war isn't going well. No one would do that. And I would argue, isn't the education of our children the most priceless thing we have to offer? If teachers were more highly paid, teaching jobs would be sought after and more competitive, which would drive the best of the best to be placed in the classrooms. I think we all agree this would be better for the future leaders of our country - and the world.

To Leave or Not to Leave

That is the question, at least for me right now.

As my regular readers have probably noticed, my posts have been rather sparse lately. It's not that I'm losing interest in the blog, but rather that I have simply been overwhelmed with trying to keep my classes afloat and stay on top of all the work I have to do. This time of year is always bad for teachers, but I have been finding it especially so because I'm becoming disheartened with the state of things at my school.

Discipline overall has improved since last year, but now that my teaching is mostly under control, I find myself getting much more frustrated with the inconsistencies in policy - especially since they often lead students to feel that there will be no consequence for getting kicked out of class or cutting. I know things could be a lot worse, but I'm finding it difficult to feel successful when the school overall is failing. The failing attitude is carried out by the students too, since they can pick up on the disorganization of the administration and low morale of the teachers. They take advantage of the situation by being disruptive and rude.

In the midst of my agony, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I have been offered a position at a non-profit that works with kids similar to mine. It's an organization that I'm familiar with and where I know I would feel successful.

However, I know I would feel awful about leaving teaching after all the hard work I have put in. I would probably always wonder how things would have turned out if I had stayed and I would feel like I gave up. The salary is also much smaller and I worry about my career path if  Itook this job.

But I would be happier. Or would I?

For the past couple of weeks, I have been going back and forth. I convince myself one way and then something will happen to throw it all off again. I also think my decision is skewed by the fact that right now is an especially bad time in the school year. The people I ask for advice seem just as confused as I do.

I will have to make my decision in the next few weeks. In the mean time, if you have thoughts one way or the other, please send them along!

The Doldrums of Teaching

The past week has been utterly awful. I'm getting sick, my classes are crazy, the weather is terrible and my lessons are falling flat, no matter how hard I work on them. I am simply not enjoying being a teacher right now and find it hard to even get myself out of bed in the morning because I dred going to work.

I had a similar slump last year around this time and it makes life a chore. This year, things seem really hopeless - at least last year, I could pass my failures off as rookie mistakes, but now I feel I am failing as a teacher. It has gotten so bad that I'm having vivid nightmares involving school and can't seem to get anything done because I am constantly paralyzed by how far behind I feel.

Feelings are similar throughout my school. My co-teacher had to take Monday off because he was having such severe panic attacks and most of the staff is hanging on by a thread. On top of that, we had a visit from an expert on school safety come from the union and she essentially told us that our school is in serious violation of lots of safety protocols. The task now falls on us to fix the gaping holes our administration has left in the safety network. It is disheartening to think about how awful the situation is for our students.

I have been avoiding talking about many of the problems in this forum, simply to protect my anonymity, but I feel I should share that my school is going through a slow process of falling apart. Our principal has been told that our scores must drastically improve to avoid change of leadership and/or shutting down of the school. The great idea of small schools is turning out to be just another failed attempt at fixing a system that is fundamentally flawed. Many small schools are struggling to stay afloat and teachers are discouraged by the lack of job security (or at least the feeling that their jobs are not secure). We are overworked, underpaid and seriously underappreciated by both our students and our administration. At least that's how it is at my school.

I had said I was in this for the long haul, but now I'm not so sure I can handle it. I hadn't intended to look for another job, but I'm thinking I might have to. Still, I try to find something good about every day - no matter how small - because at this point those small things are the only things keeping me going.