Assignment Submission Rates

It's that time of year again - report writing season. And as I sit here endlessly crafting the most parent-friendly report comments I can, I have been struck by a common thread across far too many of my students' results.... They don't submit assignments. I mean, I did know that already - it didn't take sitting down to write reports to realise - but I don't understand WHY? I was such a conscientious student that the thought of not submitting something never even occurred to me! But my students just don't care about assignments. Most of them would only submit an assignment if it was an in-class one. Inevitably homework or take-home assignments, if submitted, are late and not to the same standard as they would be if done at school - and that's if they're submitted at all. For one assignment in one class, I had less than a 30% submission rate. Which is making me think - is it me? Is there something I can do to improve this submission rate? Aside from doing all our assignments in class, which takes up so much valuable time, how else can I support my students to get their work done?? I've just started using Edmodo and I can see the potential for it to help keep students on track outside of the classroom... But I haven't quite wrapped my head around how to do that effectively. As well as that, many of my students are from low socio-economic backgrounds and I really can't rely on them having reliable internet access from home. We have a lunchtime homework club, which attracts appallingly low numbers - and the kids who come would submit their assignments anyway, so it's not really helping the ones who don't submit. I know other teachers who keep students in at lunch until their assignment is submitted - but that's a huge time commitment and a very negative-reinforcement way to approach the issue in my mind. I want to foster an understanding of the importance of assignments, and an intrinsic motivation to achieve, in my students rather than have them submit assignments simply to avoid some form of punishment. So what to dooooo?

New Year, New Kids

It's been quite a while since I got a chance to blog but I really value the opportunity to reflect on tools like this, so I'm going to try and keep up the habit - even if it's not terribly regularly.

I've been back at school for a month now, three weeks of which has been with my new classes. I'm teaching Year 7 again this year, which I think is great - a) because I like year 7s, they're still little and cute (to begin with) and b) because it's a great opportunity to consolidate everything I learned last year.

I have two classes, which are polar opposites. One of the classes has a high proportion of students with special needs, such as learning disorders and mental health issues. They've been challenging so far. Individually they're all nice kids - but as a group they can be a bit overwhelming. It is taking me a little while to work out, for instance, a harmonious seating arrangement. This week that has been really challenging but I think over time, and especially as I keep getting chances to build relationships with the kids, I'll probably grow to feel very "mother hen" about this particularly clutch.

My other class are completely different - a number of very bright students, a number of very funny students, a number of sweet and beautiful girls, and only one or two kids who push the point. These kids have asked great questions, laughed at my (often lame) jokes, and are the kind of class that do something every day that makes you smile.

I attended a PD recently on positive psychology, which I also studied at university, and it reminded me of the concept of a "Gratitude Journal". My family tried this many years ago, and I was enthusiastic but maybe too young to keep it up. So I thought I would try to keep this blog fairly positive, a place where I can remind myself of the things I am grateful for in my work.

So today, we had to put our very old and dottery cat down. She had racked up some serious mileage in pussycat years, and has lived a good life, so I'm trying not to let myself get too upset about having to let her go. However I spoke to my Mum on my lunch break and she was very upset, so I went out onto playground duty feeling a bit fragile.

As always happens to me on playground, the moment I walked out of the building doors I was surrounded by a special little subgroup of my students (past and present). They're the kids that crave some adult attention, that aren't too cool to hang with a teacher, the ones that want to hug you, the ones that will give you a Christmas card at the end of the year, the sort that somehow manage to clear the way to your heart even on the dark days. Somehow (and I'm still not sure how) they convinced me to play jump rope with them. Now, I was quite the dab hand at jump rope when I was their age - but that was 16 years ago!!!

So there I was, taking turns running in and out of a long jump rope in my high-visibility playground duty vest, struggling to keep my jeans from slipping down, trying to hold onto my key lanyard, getting out of breath and hot and just thinking... "how cool is this."

I love that my relationships with my students allows me to do things like this. Things like rapping the chorus of Eminem's "Slim Shady" off-the-cuff in class yesterday, having last years's students waiting at my classroom door to say hello when my new class walk out, having some others of last year's students trying to go undetected in my class as a prank.

It's so easy to focus on the hard stuff, the challenges, the heart-breaking stories, the lessons that don't go according to plan, the kids doing the wrong thing, the days that we walk out and think "Thank God that's over."

It's much harder to focus on the little tiny moments that lift you up. They're so minute sometimes they can go unnoticed - but they're so much more valuable in the long run.

Report Writing: An Exercise in Doublespeak

I feel dirty. I feel like an agent from Orwell's 1984; or like a modern day Australian politician. That's right; I am learning the art of report writing. The mastery of Doublespeak, Weasel Words and educationalese.

I am one-sixth of the way through my first report drafts. It's a slow process, that's for sure - although I am trying to be as efficient as I can be. The problem is learning how to express the unsavoury truth in the most savoury fashion possible - how to recast deficits in a positive light. How not to say "your child is a collosal pain in the rear and will probably end up being a trolley collector."

It's not all bad of course - there are a few shining lights - but in general I'm finding this process quite challenging. Definitely something that I feel underprepared for by my teacher education courses; and definitely a process I'll be working on improving next semester.

Week Six: Stress

Just a short entry today...

The kid I had hope about (last entry) has not reappeared in my class. Can't go into where he is but the longer he's away the more that hope I was building ebbs away. I can't make a difference if I don't see him :-(

Up to my ears in marking in preparation for writing reports. I was at school until 6pm today and only did a fraction of what I need to do. But I can't be too hard on myself - I was fairly productive in other areas during the time I HAD planned on marking. Still, need to find time to get all that marking done before I can write accurate report comments.

Gripe of the week: teacher registration. Paying an annual fee so that some brand new organisation can record my name as a qualified teacher. Um, sorry, but isn't that what my degree was for? Didn't I already pay through the nose for that qualification? And what exactly does registration get me? The right to work in a job I already have? Well that's fine then. Glad we've got that covered.

High: Got told by two students in two days that I was their favourite teacher. This means more from one than it does from the other - which sounds horrible but boils down to knowing the potential for making a difference differs between the two. One will do fine, with or without me. The other I see as being on something of a knife's edge - with some support and guidance I hope I can keep him on the right side of educational institutions. Without that support I can see him dropping off the other side. So being his favourite teacher is a pretty big deal.

Apologies for the telegraphic style tonight - must empty head before bed, but also don't have the time or inclination to unpack all these random thoughts in detail. This is just a snippet of my day today but if all I can reflect on is snippets, then 'tis snippets I shall reflect on. Until next time.

The Ups and Downs

What a week of ups and downs...

UP: We had an Open Night at school for prospective students and their parents this week, and two of my students spoke at the welcome ceremony. They did such a great job and I found myself absolutely bursting with pride. It was one of those moments that helps offset the hard days - they both rose to the challenge so well, and really represented us well.

DOWN: I had my first encounter with reporting suspected sexual abuse this week. That's not a good feeling at all. My heart really goes out to the family of this student - it must be every parent's worst nightmare to have this happen to their innocent child, and even worse when it's by someone they thought they could trust. Just a horrible, horrible thing.

UP: I became aware of the above incident because of two students who approached me to tell me in confidence of what they knew. I have to feel grateful, and proud, that these two students felt they could trust me enough to approach me about this - not the school counsellor, not their home group teacher, not their parents - but me. I think that's a pretty big testimonial to the relationships I'm forming.

DOWN: It's been a long week with a lot of work going on. I'm still dealing with behaviour management challenges, as I am beginning to suspect I always will, and I've been doing some really long hours this week, with no end in sight (save the winter holidays - six weeks to go!)

UP: I have a student (previously mentioned) who is a particular challenge, one for whom I had earlier believed I represented a restrictive and hated institution. I've been focusing a lot of thought on him - how to reach him, how to help him break through the barriers he's built himself. So far it's been by treating him with quite a lot of respect - probably a lot more than he's used to. I have been quite lenient with him so far, but have started slowly "raising the bar", and have been frank with him about doing so - telling him it's not fair to the other students that I let him get away with things I wouldn't let them get away with, and so on. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me that he'd done our in-class assignment at home. Even more so when, despite having done the work at home, he continued with it in the classroom (the computer lab, no less - home to all manner of behavioural challenges for me!). And again when he repeatedly asked me for feedback throughout the lesson, with the most beautiful of manners ("Miss can you please have a look at this? Is it OK so far?")

I am beginning to hope - please don't let me be disappointed - but I am beginning to see a ray of hope, that he's on the up. All I want is for him to WANT to come to my class. To WANT to read a book. To WANT to try his best. And I think, bit by bit, we might be heading there.

Operation Relationship Building

I have a very challenging student in one of my classes. He has a long history of behavioural issues and has very patchy attendance. His first day in my class, he repeatedly unplugged peripherals from my computer and sabotaged the lesson. In one of our most recent lessons, he locked me out of my classroom and sat on his chair on the other side of the door. He is .... challenging.

My tactics with this kid from the outset have been clear - build relationship first, tackle academic achievement second.

Well, after a pretty patchy start I think Operation Relationship Building is underway. I 'bonded' with this kid today over a particular 1970s musician, and went so far as to pull up Youtube on my Smartboard to educate the uninitiated in our class. This was simply in response to him showing some enthusiasm about this musician, who I was speaking about earlier in the class.

This is a kid who I have to measure my successes with in very small steps. My successes with him today were getting through a whole lesson without him swearing; having him actually smile at me; having him be the last out the door because he was in no hurry to leave the classroom; him actually having his book out, and contributing to a discussion about grammar.

I know I'm not going to help this kid become a brain surgeon. But if I help him see that not all figures of authority are braindead, uncool, restrictive, unfair, mean, etc... then I've done something. And if all he learnt today was that "homo" means "same", then I've unlocked a bunch of new words for him. And if he turns up tomorrow and doesn't feel like locking me out of my classroom, that's a step forward.

I have to see the glass as half full sometimes. Seeing it as half empty, with some kids, is heartbreaking.

Term Two Begins

How lovely to have two weeks off! The major selling point of this job was just as good as I was expecting it be. I didn't use it productively - still stubbornly hoping to maintain separation between work and home life - but I think I'll be the better for it this term. Got to look after me first, THEN planning/marking etc.

But now that we're back on deck I'm wishing I had planned this week through - just to save some of the hectic stress of coming back in with nothing up my sleeve.

Next week is NAPLAN anyway so this week has been 100% persuasive writing (despite all of our objections to teaching to the test, it somehow becomes imperative to get those meaningful little numbers up...)

I've been frustrated tonight by the failings of the system - without going into too much depth this ranges from behavioural issue management (how to deal with the really troublesome kids) to the lack of funding/resources to support students with extremely low literacy, to how the blazes did these kids make it to high school with this level of literacy??

It's been a huge week, with afternoon professional development on two afternoons, one afternoon of after-school planning, attempting to learn how to manage a markbook, marking and the usual planning... But it's good to be back. I was starting to miss the little buggers.