First night of camp

Last night was my first presentation at camp this year. All went pretty well. Minor issues with equipment of course, but nothing really major. My first two sessions were really good, with kids asking good questions, answering questions and taking part in my program. Only one student asked "How big is your anus?" Of course I answered with some tact and turned his little attempt at a joke around on him :) That was the only issue until the third group. I don't know why, but this group was just way to hyper. After talking to the others who managed the two other space science stations, it turns out that it wasn't just me. This group had prolems throughout the night. My copresenters and I planned changes and ways to deal with these kids and made some changes to the program. It was nearly 11 when I left that session last night.
The look of amazement, the oohs and ahhs make the extra time and the little frustrations worth it...space is good stuff!
I'll write about some other camp stuff another time...you guys won't believe some of the stuff we do! Some might have some interesting reactions ...

A bit tired

At the close of this week, I feel more than a little bit tired. It's nothing in particular, just the accumulation of so many things. More programs have been instituted to better our school, more paperwork is required to document what's happening and more time is required to complete these. It seems that this may be the way things will continue for the foreseeable future. For the first time, I'm seriously wondering whether this is what I want to spend the rest of my working life doing. Don't get me wrong I really like teaching. It's the other stuff that I don't care for and the same stuff that I seem to be required to spend more and more time taking care of. At this point, I've decided that I'll take care of the teaching and my kids before even attempting the other stuff. I put in plenty of time on my own at home to get things done, but this year it doesn't seem like enough: Just not enough time in the day to get it all done. I don't eat lunch, opting instead to either do paperwork or roam the cafe to talk to my kids in a slightly less structured environment. I'm not going to list the new programs, or complain about their implementation, or limitations. I'm just tired today. After finishing an 11-hour day of work, I've just had enough.
On top of the teaching, I'm scheduled to volunteer at our 6th grade camping experience this weekend and next week. It's a great experience for our youngest middle schoolers: a once in lifetime chance for many of our disadvantaged youths. I have no problem being a volunteer there. I think it's a great thing. Some of our sixth grade teachers however believe that their day, by contract, is from 7:30AM to 3:30 PM and that they can't be asked to do any more during this camp experience. That's just sad. I guess even more depressing is that the person in charge of this entire thing is a volunteer who spends countless hours arranging, booking, training and at times begging for help and flexibility. This person is the reason camp is going on this year. If left up to the others, there would be no camp, yet some complain and expect to do nothing that requires extra effort. I suggested that the supervisor just leave it up to the others to do and see what happens next year.
In my opinion, our district spends a fortune on coaches, equipment and facilities that aren't for every kid. This camp is for every child that comes through the district, but relies on volunteers. I feel sorry for the coordinator who tries to keep everyone happy, deal with last minute changes and cancellations while trying not to ask anyone to do anything extra all the while putting in near full 12 months of work to achieve the goal.
Because of these attitudes, I'll be getting to work next Friday at my usual 7-7:15 AM, teaching until 3 or so, going to alternative ed until 6 and then going to camp to help supervise the evening activities and camp fire until 11 or so then driving about 30 minutes or so back home. There just aren’t enough people this year. After that I'll get up and be at my weekend job before 9....I wonder how many of my counterparts, who "can't" work Friday will be working a similar schedule. It is worth it though to keep this program running and showing the kids that there are things to do and simple joys in life.

I feel better just getting that out. Look for more positive things in the near future…this can’t last forever!
I'm going to try and get a good night sleep and see how the world looks tomorrow. I may even take the day off from the weekend work....

New things

Once again this year I'm involved with our alternative education program. It's quite a bit different and, of course, there are some things that bother me about it. I'll not expand upon those issues and try to resolve them ASAP. What I'd like to look at are the good things. We will be nearly totally online for the student learning. A company, who will not be mentioned by name just yet (I've only used the system for a little over a week and would like to see more about it before I give a good/bad word for them) , sells seats in a program of study. Administrators can choose from lists of classes, levels and designs to put the students in. It really is a pretty simple process and straight forward. The lessons that I have previewed are well thought out and relate well to our standards. So far, the students that try are doing well, and those that click and hope are failing. Just like regular school, there has to be desire for success to occur.
Outside of this small segment of our school population, I see this program being used as a summer school/remediation system, which will greatly ease trying to teach earth/space sciences, biology, chemistry, horticulture, health, physics, physical sciences etc in one program. One teacher can manage multiple classes and levels without too much trouble. More importantly, for our seniors that really need to graduate, there are types of classes where they take a pre-assessment and test out of any part of a given class, speeding up their attainment of the needed credits. There are control and flexibility built in. For example, my current chemistry classes have built in labs. My students are not yet doing the labs, which I have turned off. The program supplier states that these labs are designed for the students to do at home with "ordinary household items". Then, the first item in the first lab is a beam balance that measures milligrams. I'm still looking for one in my science department! My department chair is really helpful and sending me one, but to expect "normal" students to own such a thing is a bit unrealistic. When I jokingly asked if anyone had one, I suddenly thought of what purpose this type of scale might have in this population...oops :) Oh well.
I am happy with the program so far and think that my district will see other uses. Right now we have students who choose not to be in school and are 'cyberschooled'. Our district pays for them to get a computer sent to the home and ( I think) pay for internet service. Then the students are left to themselves to complete the program on their own schedule. Last year a cyberschool student was thrown out of the program at the end of the 3rd quarter for not attempting any assignments. What happened to the computer? What was the net service used for?? How could a student be ‘in school’ for 270 school days without working not be reported for that long??? No matter what the answers, it was expected that this student be taught and try to get him passed on the next grade...in 1 quarter?!? Rough huh? By using this program and a team of core subject teachers in a structured setting with set times, at least we can be sure that something is being attempted and that the computers our tax payers pay for are being used appropriately. There are other options and possibilities that will surely be a cost savings over some existing programs. This company claims somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 current students. Maybe they're on to something. I'll keep you up on this as I get deeper into the series, but definitely see something with potential.

First Week

This is the end or our first week of school. All in all, things went very smoothly. No real issues. The students have a broad range of personalities. Some are testing the limits, others are doing all that they are asked to do, still others are trying to go unnoticed, quietly sitting through classes. I'm having a little trouble matching my counterpart's speed of teaching this year. In years past, we taught the units at different times. This year, I'm changing to his schedule and using his worksheets, handouts, quizzes, tests and labs. This is a huge change for me: Trying to keep up the pace, while still getting in the note taking, reading, testing and thinking skills. I spend extra time at the beginning, which pays off and I catch up quickly. Using the same materials makes it a bit scary to be behind. My homework may already be done in the other class and handed back, making cheating a big potential issue. The same goes for the tests etc.
These little inconveniences are taking much time and thought to overcome. They are however relatively minor, although it would be nice if some of my ideas and practices would be considered...I guess it's difficult to change after teaching for so many years. I'll still work my methods in and do the best I can with what I've learned. Sometimes the tried and true methods may be better, but education is in a state of constant change. That makes the teachers’ changing and trying new things a prerequisite in my opinion. I can't imagine having all of tests, quizzes, worksheets, handouts and assignments set for the entire first half of the year copied and planned out before school starts...what about what the kids are weak on this year? What about the classes that have lower reading levels than the previous year? What about the disabilities? What about the newest things that are happening?
As you do your plans, don't forget to think about being flexible enough to get to know what your students need and how you can best help them with their education.

Back to Education: Teaching Rabbits to Fly

This school year began for me with a training session on the UbD concept. For the most part this was a review of my class from UFL recently. This half day in-service was OK, but did have its issues. We started by hearing about the school for animals, where a fish excelled in swimming, but had to stay after school to improve on its climbing and running, which made the fish loose interest in school. The rabbit, who happened to top its classing in running, had to work hard just to be proficient in swimming...and so on through the animal world. I like the concept of UbD, but really don't like the examples used here. They are so extreme and designed to scare, I think, people into seeing something.
Another part of this training was dividing up into groups by our teaching styles. Being pigeon-holed into one is really unnerving to me. I looked at the choices and saw myself fitting into any of them, so I asked a co-teacher of my learning support classes what she thought. Her choice put me into a group that I fit into OK and that I did learn from. After that portion was over, other teachers approached me wondering why I was in that particular group and suggested that I would fit better in another, from what they know of me. I would have fit in with the other suggested groups too. It's just interesting that being labeled an in a group is so important to some. I agree with the idea of the exercise, looking at our individual teaching styles to improve our classes. I just don't like the method. I'm different(OK, those who really know me can stop nodding and laughing now) and really don't want to fit into just one category.
We ended our training with a reading of the children’s book, Giraffes Can’t(or Don’t, I can’t remember) Dance. There’s something to be said for our elementary education teachers. Our presenter was one. I’m just glad that none of our taxpayers saw that many teachers, sitting and having someone read to us in a very childish voice, about a dance for animals!

With that I close my Labor Day writing and complete the last half hour of getting my room ready for tomorrow's first day back with students. Yes, we did start pretty late this year. I'll most likely be explaining that soon. Today is also the first day of the long weekend that it hasn't rained here...lousy hurricane remnants! I'll keep you all posted on the events that ensue in the coming weeks...good luck and take a good look at yourself this week.