Saturday, September 29, 2018
Shortly after my Camp post last weekend a private message appeared on my Facebook page regarding my ability to launch an arrow at a stationary target. The message was sent from Neighbor-F and the message read like this, "you should have spent more time with Mr. Swantek." As soon as I finished reading the message I just started laughing as I had not thought about Mr. Swantek in decades. Mr. Swantek, long deceased, lived three houses south of where I was raised. He was an avid deer hunter and his weapon of choice was the bow and arrow. Each year, as deer hunting season drew near, Mr. Swantek would get out his bow and arrow, place his bulls eye target inside his garage, back up about thirty feet in his driveway, and start practicing. With each new practice session Mr. Swantek would back up a little farther in his driveway and continue launching arrows. With just days before the opening of deer hunting season Mr. Swantek would practice one more time. This time he was standing in the middle of the street that ran in front of his house. This distance to the target was around fifty yards and every arrow that he launched hit the target in his garage.
Neighbor-F is correct, I should have practiced more with Mr. Swantek. However, despite missing my target three times and having my male ego damaged, at least I didn't launch an arrow and break a window in Mr. Swantek's garage.
For the first six years that I occupied this school my day was mainly on the first floor with occasional trips to the second floor. This year I am on the second floor. This floor has the higher grade levels and the supposedly more mature and better behaved scholars. After spending seven weeks silently observing the behavior of the supposedly better behaved scholars I started taking notes on their behavior in my black spiral notebook. The spiral notebook that I keep with me when I'm sitting at the half-round table in the hallway while doing math is now open. For the most part, the notes I took are not about the scholars that are in the fourth grade. These are notes about scholars that are in a higher grades, what their behavior is like in the hallway when they don't think anyone is watching, and it gives you another indication of the crap that a school teacher puts up with daily.
T6-M just walked out of the classroom. At first this scholar sat in a chair immediately outside his classroom. As I was observing him, no teacher followed him out of the classroom. After sitting in the chair for a short time he stood up and started walking in my direction. When he approached me I said, "good morning." He responded in kind and then sat down in an office furniture chair on wheels that was on the opposite side of the hallway from me. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm taking a break." After a brief moment of silence I hear the office chair move. I looked up and T6-M was aggressively rolling down the hallway in that office chair. When he reached the end of the hallway, the length of three classrooms, he starting rolling back in my direction going backwards. When he was even with me he stopped and just sat there. Eventually, all of the scholars from T6-M's classroom started lining up in the hallway and T6-M got up and rejoined his classroom. The number of adults watching this behavior, one, me.
The BigB#4 hired a new staff member a short while back. The new staff member is LittleBigB#2. While sitting at my table in the hallway LittleBigB#2 was walking down the hallway and heading in my direction. I had met LittleBigB#2 earlier in T4's classroom so when he approached me we exchanged greetings. We spoke for a few moments, mainly idle chit chat, and just as he was about to move on I said to him, "before too many of the scholars figure out exactly who you are I think you should take some time out of your day and sit at my table and just observed what is going on in this wing of the building." I'm not sure how the LittleBigB#2 took my comment but I do know this, at least he didn't throw me out of the school.
One more and then I'll move on. T6 scholars are at the restroom with the teacher of record standing nearby. When all of the scholars are finished, recycling so to speak, the teacher gets them moving back toward the classroom. As the teacher is leading the scholars she is walking backwards to keep and eye on them. Comfortable that the scholars are moving forward without any horseplay the teacher turns her back to them and continues on to the classroom. As they are about to pass me, one of these fine scholars, the oldest scholars in the building, fakes being tripped and falls on the floor. This scholar was back up on his feet quickly and the line continued. Then, three scholars back, another fine scholar drops on the floor in the prone position and started doing a dance move called the worm.
Dear LittleBigB#2, I know you have a busy day and may not make it to the second floor to see all of the crap that goes on up here so I have a suggestion. I believe there is a security camera on the second floor that watches the wing of the building that I sit it. I'd like to suggest that you review the security tape when you have a moment and then bring some discipline to this floor.
Sunday, September 29, 2018
First, a little background and then on to T4's academic challenge. When you are in the third grade there are three major tests that you must take, IRead3, ISTEP Math, and ISTEP Language Arts. The ultimate goal is to pass all three. The secondary goal is to at least show progress over previous tests taken. These are big deal tests that can make or break a school district, a principal, and most important can end a classroom teacher's career. Quoting the apostle Paul, "brothers and sisters," these tests put major pressure on teachers.
Academics, in particular math, has been a roller coaster ride for T4 when it comes to test scores. The results of one test were dismal and then on the next test the scores were up. As I move throughout the building staff members will ask me how my day is going. I tell them that my day is going well and then comment on the low math skills of the fourth grade scholars. Twice, when mentioning the low math skills, I was told something about third grade. Because I was not speaking to someone directly involved with the third grade I just logged what I was told into the back of my mind.
A few days back the fourth grade scholars took a math test on area and perimeter. As I was answering the problems myself I realized that this was going to be a hard test and the scholars scores would be low. I was correct, the scores were low. One fourth grade class had an average score of thirty-seven percent and the other fourth grade class had an average score of thirty-four percent.
A day or so later I was walking down the hallway to the copier to make some copies when I stopped to talk to a teacher. When the teacher asked me how I was doing I said I was frustrated and mentioned the low math scores on the area and perimeter tests the scholars took earlier. This teacher, very familiar with third grade, looked at me and commented, I'm paraphrasing, "when your scholars were in the third grade the school leadership came to the third grade teachers and told them to significantly reduce the amount of time they spent teaching math and use the time to teach language arts. Stop teaching math, teach more reading. KABOOM! It is much clearer now why the fourth grade scholars math abilities are so low. As a reminder, only six out of sixty scholars are on grade level for math in for the fourth grade and T4 has been tasked with overcoming the damages caused by decisions made while her scholars were in the third grade.
The pressure on school leadership and classroom teachers to get third grade scholars to successfully pass two mandatory language arts tests and one math test is tremendous. The scholars failure to do well on these tests can costs people their jobs. When you have that type of pressure some times decisions are made, not because they are the right decision, but because it's a decision that can keep someone employed. In this case, purely speculation on my part, this decision, to put a huge effort into passing the two language arts tests with the hope that doing so will overcome some of the criticism for not passing the math test, was made to keep people employed.
Right or wrong this is the reality that school leaders and teachers face and I know that their level of frustration with this testing process increases every year because I can see it on their faces. While I don't have any issues with the IRead3 test I do have issues with ISTEP. I've shared my concerns a number of time before and I'll share them again. ISTEP is a waste of tax payer money, millions of dollars. Does this test matter to the parental units, no. Does this test matter when it comes to a promotion to the next grade level, no. Does this test have any impact on a scholar's time in high school, no. Does this test determine if a scholar is college eligible, no. Does this test have any impact on a scholar that chooses to enter the work force after high school, no. This test is the product of pointy headed intellectuals who want to convince themselves that they are important. Even worse, this test is a product of politicians, the lowest life form on earth, who rarely ever step into a classroom to see if this test actually has any value.
You heard the KABOOM after I stated, "bombs away," earlier. Hopefully the next time you see a post titled, Bombs Away, with a soon to follow KABOOM, it will be the blowing up of ISTEP.
POOF! Not quite as earth shaking as KABOOM but.....I'm out. See you next week.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
It Just Happened
Wednesday, September 26, 2018, Parent In Touch (PIT) day and no school for me.
Today I'm going to jump back in time about six years. I was doing volunteer work, serving lunch to scholars at one of those hoity toity private schools, when it was mentioned to me that a certain elementary school was in need of volunteers. Due to the passing of time I can't recall why I did what I did but I decided to go to this school and see if they could use some volunteer help. The school's response was an immediate yes. After filling out all of the necessary paperwork, to include a back ground check, I was approved and I began an adventure that has lasted for over six years.
My contact at the time was the school's Parent Liaison and she asked me how many days a week I could volunteer. My response was everyday if that was what was needed. She then took me on a tour of the school, walked me into several classrooms to have a look around, and then asked me what I wanted to do. After a brief discussion I decided that I'd volunteer one day a week in the following general education classrooms: third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade.
Although I can't recall the day of the week, I found myself sitting in the back of a fifth grade general education classroom. The teacher was in the middle of a math lesson and I sat quietly and just observed. In time I got to know some of the fifth grade scholars, actually all boys. One of the scholars caught my attention because he was wearing a police ankle bracelet. One day one of the boys asked if he and some others could stay in the room with me during their lunch break and read. With the teacher's permission I started my little reading group. The scholar wearing the ankle bracelet asked if he could join the group one day and I agreed. I introduced myself to this scholar and then asked him his name. He told me his real name but then ask that I just call him Awesome so I did.
Moving ahead one year, I'm now in a Special Education classroom with scholars that have an emotional handicap (EH). I can't recall the exact circumstances, I believe a field trip, but one day in walked Awesome. Apparently, because of behavior concerns, he couldn't go on the field trip so a decision was made to ship him down to the EH classroom where BaseG was the teacher of record. Because I knew Awesome I stood up and asked him where he would like to sit. He looked around the room, saw an empty teacher desk near the window, and asked me if he could sit there. As we walked toward the teacher's desk Awesome asked me if he could have a pencil and paper so he could draw. I game him a clipboard, paper and pencil, and then asked him what he was going to draw. He said that he didn't know so I suggested that he draw a picture of me.
A short while later it was time for Awesome to return to his classroom. As he walked past my desk he handed me the pencil and clipboard. On the clipboard was the paper I game him. On the paper was a portrait that he drew of me.
I was near the end of the school year before I crossed paths with Awesome again. He was in the main office with what was probably a parental unit. As he requested earlier, I walked up to him and said, "hello Awesome," and then asked him what he was doing in the office. He informed me that he was changing schools and when he arrived at his new school they were going to place him in a classroom with scholars his own age. After thinking about what he said to me, I realized that he was going to move up two grade levels. We talked for a brief time and during our talk he seemed quite happy that he was going into a classroom that matched his age. After our brief talk in the office we parted ways and I never saw him again.
In all, I think I had a chance to interact with Awesome around five or six times. Most of the interaction took place in a fifth grade math classroom and here is what I saw. A young scholar with anger control issues, prone to violence, hence, the ankle bracelet, and a police record in the fifth grade.
Fast forwarding to Tuesday, September 25, 2018, and the headline read, "Crash investigators probe whether man intentionally drove in a wrong direction on highway." The collision was near head-on. The occupant of the smaller car was killed. The driver of a much larger car, driving at a high rate of speed, on the wrong side of a four lane divided highway, was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening incidents.
It just happened, yesterday. When I read the entire article and knew what happened it just sucked the air out of my lungs. I sat there looking at that article and was stunned. Going back to my first year in that EH classroom the topic would come up that someday one of the scholars that spends time in this classroom will have his/her name show up in the news for all the wrong reasons. Although this doesn't involve an EH scholar, it involved a scholar that I knew. This scholar had anger issues, was prone to violence, wore a police ankle bracelet when he sat in a fifth grade classroom and needed help. Was help provided? I don't know if this scholar had a parental unit that was capable of getting him the help he needed. I know that, while in my school, this scholar had mental health issues and needed help. Was help made available to him by the school? I can't say for sure but I'm thinking not likely for two reasons. First, the process moves at a snails pace and second, there is a cost involved and money was very limited.
Funding for mental health issues has been in the newspaper a lot lately. Every time the funding issue is raised nothing happens and it angers me because as far as schools go I know where the funding can be found. It's called ISTEP, soon to be relabeled ILEARN, and the state of Indiana has spent tens of millions of dollars on a testing process that is near worthless. It's time the state of Indiana wakes up. It's time that the politicians responsible for this worthless test wake up.
It just happened as Awesome was behind the wheel of the car going the wrong way on a divided highway, at a high rate of speed, and collided head-on with a vehicle that was being driven by a man who was killed while just driving to work. Was this an intentional homicide or an attempted suicide? Only time will tell but I'm fearful that it will just happen again and the next time it might be Floss, LeftSide, Knapper, MiniJ, Tourette, or Yo!. All of these are scholars that I got to know real well and there are so many other scholars that came into this word with so much baggage and they need help. The help can be readily made available and all that needs to be done is to stop funding a worthless test and put the money into addressing serious mental health issues.
Today is an off day. My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse told me to go on a bicycle ride and enjoy the day. I did that but it didn't help much. I'm saddened. I'm angry. I'm fearful that it will just happen again.
Today I'm going to jump back in time about six years. I was doing volunteer work, serving lunch to scholars at one of those hoity toity private schools, when it was mentioned to me that a certain elementary school was in need of volunteers. Due to the passing of time I can't recall why I did what I did but I decided to go to this school and see if they could use some volunteer help. The school's response was an immediate yes. After filling out all of the necessary paperwork, to include a back ground check, I was approved and I began an adventure that has lasted for over six years.
My contact at the time was the school's Parent Liaison and she asked me how many days a week I could volunteer. My response was everyday if that was what was needed. She then took me on a tour of the school, walked me into several classrooms to have a look around, and then asked me what I wanted to do. After a brief discussion I decided that I'd volunteer one day a week in the following general education classrooms: third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade.
Although I can't recall the day of the week, I found myself sitting in the back of a fifth grade general education classroom. The teacher was in the middle of a math lesson and I sat quietly and just observed. In time I got to know some of the fifth grade scholars, actually all boys. One of the scholars caught my attention because he was wearing a police ankle bracelet. One day one of the boys asked if he and some others could stay in the room with me during their lunch break and read. With the teacher's permission I started my little reading group. The scholar wearing the ankle bracelet asked if he could join the group one day and I agreed. I introduced myself to this scholar and then asked him his name. He told me his real name but then ask that I just call him Awesome so I did.
Moving ahead one year, I'm now in a Special Education classroom with scholars that have an emotional handicap (EH). I can't recall the exact circumstances, I believe a field trip, but one day in walked Awesome. Apparently, because of behavior concerns, he couldn't go on the field trip so a decision was made to ship him down to the EH classroom where BaseG was the teacher of record. Because I knew Awesome I stood up and asked him where he would like to sit. He looked around the room, saw an empty teacher desk near the window, and asked me if he could sit there. As we walked toward the teacher's desk Awesome asked me if he could have a pencil and paper so he could draw. I game him a clipboard, paper and pencil, and then asked him what he was going to draw. He said that he didn't know so I suggested that he draw a picture of me.
A short while later it was time for Awesome to return to his classroom. As he walked past my desk he handed me the pencil and clipboard. On the clipboard was the paper I game him. On the paper was a portrait that he drew of me.
I was near the end of the school year before I crossed paths with Awesome again. He was in the main office with what was probably a parental unit. As he requested earlier, I walked up to him and said, "hello Awesome," and then asked him what he was doing in the office. He informed me that he was changing schools and when he arrived at his new school they were going to place him in a classroom with scholars his own age. After thinking about what he said to me, I realized that he was going to move up two grade levels. We talked for a brief time and during our talk he seemed quite happy that he was going into a classroom that matched his age. After our brief talk in the office we parted ways and I never saw him again.
In all, I think I had a chance to interact with Awesome around five or six times. Most of the interaction took place in a fifth grade math classroom and here is what I saw. A young scholar with anger control issues, prone to violence, hence, the ankle bracelet, and a police record in the fifth grade.
Fast forwarding to Tuesday, September 25, 2018, and the headline read, "Crash investigators probe whether man intentionally drove in a wrong direction on highway." The collision was near head-on. The occupant of the smaller car was killed. The driver of a much larger car, driving at a high rate of speed, on the wrong side of a four lane divided highway, was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening incidents.
It just happened, yesterday. When I read the entire article and knew what happened it just sucked the air out of my lungs. I sat there looking at that article and was stunned. Going back to my first year in that EH classroom the topic would come up that someday one of the scholars that spends time in this classroom will have his/her name show up in the news for all the wrong reasons. Although this doesn't involve an EH scholar, it involved a scholar that I knew. This scholar had anger issues, was prone to violence, wore a police ankle bracelet when he sat in a fifth grade classroom and needed help. Was help provided? I don't know if this scholar had a parental unit that was capable of getting him the help he needed. I know that, while in my school, this scholar had mental health issues and needed help. Was help made available to him by the school? I can't say for sure but I'm thinking not likely for two reasons. First, the process moves at a snails pace and second, there is a cost involved and money was very limited.
Funding for mental health issues has been in the newspaper a lot lately. Every time the funding issue is raised nothing happens and it angers me because as far as schools go I know where the funding can be found. It's called ISTEP, soon to be relabeled ILEARN, and the state of Indiana has spent tens of millions of dollars on a testing process that is near worthless. It's time the state of Indiana wakes up. It's time that the politicians responsible for this worthless test wake up.
It just happened as Awesome was behind the wheel of the car going the wrong way on a divided highway, at a high rate of speed, and collided head-on with a vehicle that was being driven by a man who was killed while just driving to work. Was this an intentional homicide or an attempted suicide? Only time will tell but I'm fearful that it will just happen again and the next time it might be Floss, LeftSide, Knapper, MiniJ, Tourette, or Yo!. All of these are scholars that I got to know real well and there are so many other scholars that came into this word with so much baggage and they need help. The help can be readily made available and all that needs to be done is to stop funding a worthless test and put the money into addressing serious mental health issues.
Today is an off day. My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse told me to go on a bicycle ride and enjoy the day. I did that but it didn't help much. I'm saddened. I'm angry. I'm fearful that it will just happen again.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Camp
Sunday, September 23, 2018, screened porch temperature 55 degrees. Brr!
It was not a good week for the male ego. Twice mine took a hit. The first time was at camp. Yes, you read that correctly, camp on a school day. Since her arrival at my school T4 has taken the fourth grade scholars to camp. This time it was a day camp and fifty scholars and six adults made the trip. I was one of the adults, that was persistent in saying I'm not going, but after being endless badgering by a certain unnamed individual I caved to the pressure and decided to go. Prior to leaving school the scholars were divided into three equal groups with two adults assigned to each group. Also, prior to leaving school the scholars were divided into smaller groups for the two meals that would be provided by the camp. I was assigned table five and would be dining, twice, with seven fourth grade scholars.
After arriving at camp the scholars went through a brief orientation period and then were divided into their preassigned groups to start the day. The adult I was paired with was the Badgerer that I mentioned previously and we headed off to our first activity which was archery. Prior to allowing the scholars to launch arrows at a target their was a brief orientation by a camp leader named Montana. I thought Montana was an interesting name and one that would be easy to remember. Apparently not as the Badgerer kept thinking this person's name was Dakota. With archery orientation finished the scholars lined up with bow and arrow in hand. Please note that none of the scholars ever used a bow and arrow so the Badgerer assisted Dakota and I assisted Montana mainly because neither one of us wanted to take an arrow in the backside. Each scholar got to launch three arrows down range at targets that were from ten feet to maybe thirty feet out in front of them. When they were all finished shooting their arrows I heard, "Schultz, pick up a bow and arrow, it's you and me."
I accepted the challenge and reached for my bow. When I picked it up I new I had a problem as this was a right handed bow and I needed a left handed one. As I switched bows my challenger decided to shoot first and without even looking in her direction I heard her arrow hit a target. I knew right away that the game was on. I took aim at the farthest target, launched my arrow and missed, high and a little to the right. My missing got an immediate reaction from my challenger. When I turned in her direction I noticed that her arrow hit one of the closest targets so I said to her, "you didn't tell me we were aiming at the beginners targets." I launched two more arrows, at the farthest target, both were a little high and to the right, and I went down to defeat in front of fourteen fourth grade scholars. Not a good male ego day.
Archery was followed by fishing, then canoeing, and the day finished with a ropes challenge. As I was standing at the fishing hole I heard T4 say, "if you are a rookie at camp and someone catches a fish you have to kiss the fish." Every one of those scholars I accompanied to camp were rookies but I recognized immediately that the fish kissing comment was probably directed at me. I didn't take long and one of the campers caught a fish. With my ego already damaged at archery, I kissed the fish.
One more camp story about our evening meal and then on to academics. Prior to eating the scholars were told that they could eat as much as they wanted but whatever they took they had to eat. The evening meal was a build you own taco with a salad bar to go with the meal. As I was dining with the scholars I thought to myself, "I wonder how often any of these scholars were told they could eat as much as the wanted to eat." Knowing the neighborhood that they came from I figured not very often. As I watched the scholars eating, one of them, OtherT4-M, a little chunk of a scholar, looked up at me and said, "Mr. Schultz, this food is so good it is even better than the Golden Corral."
Camp was a long day. I arrived at school at 8:30am and returned home at a little before 8:00pm. It was a long hot day, I was on my feet a lot, and I was tired. During the day I watched fifty scholars just running around having fun. I also watched T4 during the day as she told me, when we were on the bus, that she was determined to get every scholar to participate in every activity. From what I could see, T4's challenge was getting everyone to climb into a canoe. As I watched her badgering a T4-F until she finally got into a canoe, I knew she would meet her objective, everyone participates in every activity. As I said earlier, it was a long hot day, I stood a lot and I was tired. I'm also going to say this, "T4, thanks for being that badger, I really had a nice time."
It's called Schoology, and yes, I looked it up to make sure I'm spelling it correctly. Wikipedia describes it as a "learning management system for K-12" and higher grade levels. Schoology is school corporation approved and T4 uses it as a resource for math. So far this school year T4 has used Schoology four times to test the scholars knowledge on a math lesson that was taught during the week. Over the past four Fridays test were retrieved from Schoology for multiplication, subtraction, rounding and place values, and most recently area and perimeter. As I look at the four tests I just mentioned I'm pretty sure I have three of them correct. I'm not one hundred percent certain and the subtraction one.
It's usually on Thursday when I hear, "Schultz, I need some copies made for a test. I need sixty and they need to be two sided copies." With my copying assignment completed I decided to take the test myself. As I was answering a problem on the test I thought I made a mistake. It read problem three and then solved the problem. I then read problem four and solved the problem. Then the light went on in my head, "wait a minute Schultz, problem three and four were the exact same problem." As I reread the two problems a little more carefully I realized that were the same problem. In fact, problem seven and eight were also listed twice and exactly the same. Hmm! They came from Schoology, the school corporation approved them, and there is an obvious error.
Week two of Schoology testing. "Schultz, look at this problem that I just solved and see if you get the same answer that I did." "Ok," I said. I completed the problem and arrived at the same answer that T4 did. To be safe, I redid the problem and got the same answer again. When I look at the test problem, it was a multiple choice problem with four choices, and none of the four answers matched the answer that T4 and I arrived at. The problem came from Schoology, the school corporation approved the problem and there was an obvious error.
Week three of Schoology testing. Again, multiple choice problems, four answers to choose from and none of them were the correct answer. I know I'm getting repetitive but the problems came from Schoology, the school corporation approved them, and there is another obvious error.
Week four and I'm feeling pretty confident that I can weed out any errors on the Schoology test. This test was administered this past Friday and it covered area and perimeter. I had the test in hand on Thursday morning and I was sitting at my hallway table taking the test. I'm good through the first seven problems but I also realized this, this is a hard test and the scholars are not likely to do well. I was doing problem number eight when I encountered the error. Again, multiple choice with four answers to choose from and I'm not matching any of the four. I stood up, reentered the classroom, and took the test over to T4 for her to look at. We both agreed that there was something wrong and decided that it was a two part problem an if the scholars got the first part correct I could grade the problem solely on the first part of the problem.
Shifting to test day, Friday morning. "Schultz, the correct answer to problem number eight is twenty." I got up from my chair at the back of the room where I have a really nice view and walked over to T4's desk to go over the problem. As she walked me through the problem she said, "the problem isn't worded very well. You read it as a two step problem but it is a three step problem." As I watched T4 solve the problem I saw my error and thought to my self, "are you smarter at math than a fourth grade scholar?" Apparently not and for the second time in a week my male ego took another hit.
I've been sitting at a half round table in the hallway immediately outside T4's classroom to do either math with several different fourth grade scholars or grade papers for quite some time now. When I sit outside T4'S classroom I have a real nice view of the hallway and its comings and goings. I believe it was Tuesday of this past week that I saw something that really ticked me off so I decided to start logging what I saw on the back pages of the spiral notebook that I use when doing math. So far my notes cover the entire last page of my spiral notebook. So, what does one do with all of these notes? Simple, after thirty-four days of the new school year, a LittleBigB#2 was hired. When I get thoroughly fed up with what goes on in my hallway I'm going to share my notes with our new LittleBigB#2 as no teacher needs to put with this crap.
That's it for today. Next week I'll share my hallway observations with you. Even better will be the bomb I'm going to drop in your lap that will give you an indication as to why only six out of sixty fourth grade scholars are on grade level for math. I can hear the LibraryLady from that hoity toity private school grumbling that I've left her hanging again. POOF! I'm out.
It was not a good week for the male ego. Twice mine took a hit. The first time was at camp. Yes, you read that correctly, camp on a school day. Since her arrival at my school T4 has taken the fourth grade scholars to camp. This time it was a day camp and fifty scholars and six adults made the trip. I was one of the adults, that was persistent in saying I'm not going, but after being endless badgering by a certain unnamed individual I caved to the pressure and decided to go. Prior to leaving school the scholars were divided into three equal groups with two adults assigned to each group. Also, prior to leaving school the scholars were divided into smaller groups for the two meals that would be provided by the camp. I was assigned table five and would be dining, twice, with seven fourth grade scholars.
After arriving at camp the scholars went through a brief orientation period and then were divided into their preassigned groups to start the day. The adult I was paired with was the Badgerer that I mentioned previously and we headed off to our first activity which was archery. Prior to allowing the scholars to launch arrows at a target their was a brief orientation by a camp leader named Montana. I thought Montana was an interesting name and one that would be easy to remember. Apparently not as the Badgerer kept thinking this person's name was Dakota. With archery orientation finished the scholars lined up with bow and arrow in hand. Please note that none of the scholars ever used a bow and arrow so the Badgerer assisted Dakota and I assisted Montana mainly because neither one of us wanted to take an arrow in the backside. Each scholar got to launch three arrows down range at targets that were from ten feet to maybe thirty feet out in front of them. When they were all finished shooting their arrows I heard, "Schultz, pick up a bow and arrow, it's you and me."
I accepted the challenge and reached for my bow. When I picked it up I new I had a problem as this was a right handed bow and I needed a left handed one. As I switched bows my challenger decided to shoot first and without even looking in her direction I heard her arrow hit a target. I knew right away that the game was on. I took aim at the farthest target, launched my arrow and missed, high and a little to the right. My missing got an immediate reaction from my challenger. When I turned in her direction I noticed that her arrow hit one of the closest targets so I said to her, "you didn't tell me we were aiming at the beginners targets." I launched two more arrows, at the farthest target, both were a little high and to the right, and I went down to defeat in front of fourteen fourth grade scholars. Not a good male ego day.
Archery was followed by fishing, then canoeing, and the day finished with a ropes challenge. As I was standing at the fishing hole I heard T4 say, "if you are a rookie at camp and someone catches a fish you have to kiss the fish." Every one of those scholars I accompanied to camp were rookies but I recognized immediately that the fish kissing comment was probably directed at me. I didn't take long and one of the campers caught a fish. With my ego already damaged at archery, I kissed the fish.
One more camp story about our evening meal and then on to academics. Prior to eating the scholars were told that they could eat as much as they wanted but whatever they took they had to eat. The evening meal was a build you own taco with a salad bar to go with the meal. As I was dining with the scholars I thought to myself, "I wonder how often any of these scholars were told they could eat as much as the wanted to eat." Knowing the neighborhood that they came from I figured not very often. As I watched the scholars eating, one of them, OtherT4-M, a little chunk of a scholar, looked up at me and said, "Mr. Schultz, this food is so good it is even better than the Golden Corral."
Camp was a long day. I arrived at school at 8:30am and returned home at a little before 8:00pm. It was a long hot day, I was on my feet a lot, and I was tired. During the day I watched fifty scholars just running around having fun. I also watched T4 during the day as she told me, when we were on the bus, that she was determined to get every scholar to participate in every activity. From what I could see, T4's challenge was getting everyone to climb into a canoe. As I watched her badgering a T4-F until she finally got into a canoe, I knew she would meet her objective, everyone participates in every activity. As I said earlier, it was a long hot day, I stood a lot and I was tired. I'm also going to say this, "T4, thanks for being that badger, I really had a nice time."
It's called Schoology, and yes, I looked it up to make sure I'm spelling it correctly. Wikipedia describes it as a "learning management system for K-12" and higher grade levels. Schoology is school corporation approved and T4 uses it as a resource for math. So far this school year T4 has used Schoology four times to test the scholars knowledge on a math lesson that was taught during the week. Over the past four Fridays test were retrieved from Schoology for multiplication, subtraction, rounding and place values, and most recently area and perimeter. As I look at the four tests I just mentioned I'm pretty sure I have three of them correct. I'm not one hundred percent certain and the subtraction one.
It's usually on Thursday when I hear, "Schultz, I need some copies made for a test. I need sixty and they need to be two sided copies." With my copying assignment completed I decided to take the test myself. As I was answering a problem on the test I thought I made a mistake. It read problem three and then solved the problem. I then read problem four and solved the problem. Then the light went on in my head, "wait a minute Schultz, problem three and four were the exact same problem." As I reread the two problems a little more carefully I realized that were the same problem. In fact, problem seven and eight were also listed twice and exactly the same. Hmm! They came from Schoology, the school corporation approved them, and there is an obvious error.
Week two of Schoology testing. "Schultz, look at this problem that I just solved and see if you get the same answer that I did." "Ok," I said. I completed the problem and arrived at the same answer that T4 did. To be safe, I redid the problem and got the same answer again. When I look at the test problem, it was a multiple choice problem with four choices, and none of the four answers matched the answer that T4 and I arrived at. The problem came from Schoology, the school corporation approved the problem and there was an obvious error.
Week three of Schoology testing. Again, multiple choice problems, four answers to choose from and none of them were the correct answer. I know I'm getting repetitive but the problems came from Schoology, the school corporation approved them, and there is another obvious error.
Week four and I'm feeling pretty confident that I can weed out any errors on the Schoology test. This test was administered this past Friday and it covered area and perimeter. I had the test in hand on Thursday morning and I was sitting at my hallway table taking the test. I'm good through the first seven problems but I also realized this, this is a hard test and the scholars are not likely to do well. I was doing problem number eight when I encountered the error. Again, multiple choice with four answers to choose from and I'm not matching any of the four. I stood up, reentered the classroom, and took the test over to T4 for her to look at. We both agreed that there was something wrong and decided that it was a two part problem an if the scholars got the first part correct I could grade the problem solely on the first part of the problem.
Shifting to test day, Friday morning. "Schultz, the correct answer to problem number eight is twenty." I got up from my chair at the back of the room where I have a really nice view and walked over to T4's desk to go over the problem. As she walked me through the problem she said, "the problem isn't worded very well. You read it as a two step problem but it is a three step problem." As I watched T4 solve the problem I saw my error and thought to my self, "are you smarter at math than a fourth grade scholar?" Apparently not and for the second time in a week my male ego took another hit.
I've been sitting at a half round table in the hallway immediately outside T4's classroom to do either math with several different fourth grade scholars or grade papers for quite some time now. When I sit outside T4'S classroom I have a real nice view of the hallway and its comings and goings. I believe it was Tuesday of this past week that I saw something that really ticked me off so I decided to start logging what I saw on the back pages of the spiral notebook that I use when doing math. So far my notes cover the entire last page of my spiral notebook. So, what does one do with all of these notes? Simple, after thirty-four days of the new school year, a LittleBigB#2 was hired. When I get thoroughly fed up with what goes on in my hallway I'm going to share my notes with our new LittleBigB#2 as no teacher needs to put with this crap.
That's it for today. Next week I'll share my hallway observations with you. Even better will be the bomb I'm going to drop in your lap that will give you an indication as to why only six out of sixty fourth grade scholars are on grade level for math. I can hear the LibraryLady from that hoity toity private school grumbling that I've left her hanging again. POOF! I'm out.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
I'm Going Home, Bye
Saturday, September 15, 2018, also my date of origination.
Monday morning and academics was about to start when OtherT4 stepped inside the classroom and got T4's attention. I can't recall what OtherT4 said to T4 but shortly after speaking T4 turned to me and said, "I know this is short notice but I need to go with OtherT4 to a case conference. Can you stay with the scholars until I get back?" "Sure," I said, "I'll read a story." T4 then walked across the classroom selected a book, Thank You, Mr. Fallker, by Patricia Polacco, handed it to me, and then two teachers left the classroom.
As I walked toward the hexagon to sit down, the scholars suggested two other books for me to read. One was The Book With No Pictures, by BJ Novak and the other was Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, by Alvin Schwartz. With three books in my hands I sat down on the hexagon and asked for the scholars to vote on what book I should read. That was a huge mistake on my part I now realize as I should have just read Thank You, Mr. Fallker.
Before I continue I need to mention this as the person that handed me, Thank You, Mr. Fallker has no idea what went on when I started reading to her class. In fact, I hesitated about even mentioning what happened on this particular Monday morning as it was not a good day for me but decided to write about it because what happened is the reality of what goes on in a classroom. I also need to say this, this is water under the bridge, it's over, and I think we can both agree, we had a pretty good week.
I decided to read one short story from Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark and then switch over to Thank You, Mr. Fallker. As soon as I started to read, hands went up. "Mr. Schultz, can we turn out the lights." Before I could respond the lights were turned off. "T4-F turn one of the lights back on please," I said. No attempt was made to turn one light back on so I repeated myself and still nothing. On the third try to get a light turned back on I stood up, made eye contact with T4-F and said, "turn one light on or I don't read." One light was turned on. The room was too loud so I raised my voice to be heard and said, "it's too loud, lower your voices. It took two more attempts before the room got quiet. I only read about two paragraphs when GBT.J, who was in the room to do an observation, addressed the class. "You are being very disrespectful as Mr. Schultz is trying to read."
After starting again, I'm distracted by a noise. While sitting on the hexagon, I looked to my right, approximately at one o'clock, and see two T4-M's raising up their desks with their knees and then dropping their desks on the floor. Again, I stopped reading to address the noise then started again.
More noise, this time on my right hand side at about three o'clock as four T4-F's are sitting on the floor having a conversation among themselves. Again, GBT.J addresses the class, "you being very disrespectful while Mr. Schultz is reading." There were a few more disruptions but for the sake of time I'll move on.
When I finished the short story, approximately two pages long, I asked this question, "How did the story end?" While a few hands went up I chose not to call on any of them because I knew exactly who I wanted to answer the question. I asked the question three times, directed at scholars that I knew would have no idea how the story ended. After each scholar failed to tell me how the story ended I said to each of them, "next time I read maybe you should stop talking and listen to the story."
It's now 10:30am and the scholars needed to line up at the door and head to the Art classroom. I let the boys go out the classroom door first and the girls would follow. As the front of the boys line exited the classroom the front group thought it would be fun to run down the hallway to the Art classroom.
With all the scholars now in the Art classroom I'm back in my classroom putting my three books back in their proper location when IA-Life steps into the doorway to the classroom. "Mr. Schultz, your class is so loud in the Art class that I had to take my scholar out of the classroom." I thanked IA-Life for letting me know and I headed to the Art classroom. When I arrived the Art classroom was so noisy that the teacher was using a microphone so he could be heard. From what I could tell, the Art teacher was assigning seats for the scholars and several were being defiant as they wanted to sit elsewhere and refused to sit at all.
Sunday, September 16, 2018, and I'm one day older.
I hesitated at the door for a moment. I was outside my element and was uncertain as to how the Art teacher would react to me entering the classroom and getting involved. Finally, after watching continued disrespectful behavior, behavior that had been going on for well over an hour, I walked into the Art classroom. My first target was three T4-M's, the defiant scholars that were not going to sit in their assigned seat but chose to stand in a corner. The second target was the usual gaggle of four T4-F's that were thoroughly enjoying their chat festival. At some point during my crowd control efforts the Art teacher moved to the front of his classroom and started his lesson for the day. As I stood in the back of the classroom I looked at the clock, 11:00am. Thirty minutes of a forty-five minute block of time was lost due to behavior issues. As the Art teacher taught his lesson the voice volume was increasing. Once again I got involved and moved around the classroom trying to control the conversations. At 11:10am I had enough. Out came the cellphone. The text message read, "behavior is ridiculous, I'm going home, bye.
The next morning, Tuesday, as I was entering the school I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked through the classroom door. When I did walk into the classroom it was pretty quiet. T4 saw me enter and said, "good morning." I responded, "good morning," and took my seat at the back of the classroom. As T4 was introducing the daily math lesson T4-M got up from his desk and walked over to me. "Are you going to tell us story today, Mr. Schultz," he said. My response was one word, "no." "Is that because we were bad, Mr. Schultz." "You need to return to your desk and sit down," is all I said.
Since the start of the school year this group of sixty scholars has been a challenge. In fact this group has a history of being a challenge, in some cases, going as far back as second grade. I don't know what T4 said to the scholars following the Monday incident but I do know this, on Tuesday morning, when I walked through the classroom door, it was real quiet so I'm certain there were consequences for their behavior. There are also additional consequences for their behavior, silent consequences from me. Every morning I participated in the morning check-in writing assignment. I would sit on the hexagon, read what I wrote and try and have some fun with the scholars. I'm not participating in the morning check-in going forward. It's been fairly common for the scholars to ask me to tell them a story about my granddaughter with an accompanying picture. This is another fun activity, a brain break from doing math, and I'm not doing that any more. It's also fairly common for the scholars to ask me to read them a story. This is another fun activity, another brain break, and my response will be, "no," with one exception, if T4 asks me to read I will read because it will be a much needed brain break for her.
As I said way back at the top of this blog, Monday was a tough day. That day is over, water under the bridge, and we've moved on. Tuesday through Friday were pretty good days. Slowly, ever so slowly, the scholars are showing improvement in their math abilities and it is this improvement that brings a smile to my face and will keep me coming back into this classroom.
Thanks for following the musings of a gray haired, wrinkly faced old fart that just turned sixty-nine, and who has a really swell view from the back of the room. On Monday morning I'll return again to the classroom but for only a short time. Why a short time? As T4 has done for a number of years she has made arrangements for every fourth grade scholar to attend a day camp and, after being repeatedly badgered by her, I agreed to go along for the day and the bus departs at 8:30am.
Monday morning and academics was about to start when OtherT4 stepped inside the classroom and got T4's attention. I can't recall what OtherT4 said to T4 but shortly after speaking T4 turned to me and said, "I know this is short notice but I need to go with OtherT4 to a case conference. Can you stay with the scholars until I get back?" "Sure," I said, "I'll read a story." T4 then walked across the classroom selected a book, Thank You, Mr. Fallker, by Patricia Polacco, handed it to me, and then two teachers left the classroom.
As I walked toward the hexagon to sit down, the scholars suggested two other books for me to read. One was The Book With No Pictures, by BJ Novak and the other was Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, by Alvin Schwartz. With three books in my hands I sat down on the hexagon and asked for the scholars to vote on what book I should read. That was a huge mistake on my part I now realize as I should have just read Thank You, Mr. Fallker.
Before I continue I need to mention this as the person that handed me, Thank You, Mr. Fallker has no idea what went on when I started reading to her class. In fact, I hesitated about even mentioning what happened on this particular Monday morning as it was not a good day for me but decided to write about it because what happened is the reality of what goes on in a classroom. I also need to say this, this is water under the bridge, it's over, and I think we can both agree, we had a pretty good week.
I decided to read one short story from Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark and then switch over to Thank You, Mr. Fallker. As soon as I started to read, hands went up. "Mr. Schultz, can we turn out the lights." Before I could respond the lights were turned off. "T4-F turn one of the lights back on please," I said. No attempt was made to turn one light back on so I repeated myself and still nothing. On the third try to get a light turned back on I stood up, made eye contact with T4-F and said, "turn one light on or I don't read." One light was turned on. The room was too loud so I raised my voice to be heard and said, "it's too loud, lower your voices. It took two more attempts before the room got quiet. I only read about two paragraphs when GBT.J, who was in the room to do an observation, addressed the class. "You are being very disrespectful as Mr. Schultz is trying to read."
After starting again, I'm distracted by a noise. While sitting on the hexagon, I looked to my right, approximately at one o'clock, and see two T4-M's raising up their desks with their knees and then dropping their desks on the floor. Again, I stopped reading to address the noise then started again.
More noise, this time on my right hand side at about three o'clock as four T4-F's are sitting on the floor having a conversation among themselves. Again, GBT.J addresses the class, "you being very disrespectful while Mr. Schultz is reading." There were a few more disruptions but for the sake of time I'll move on.
When I finished the short story, approximately two pages long, I asked this question, "How did the story end?" While a few hands went up I chose not to call on any of them because I knew exactly who I wanted to answer the question. I asked the question three times, directed at scholars that I knew would have no idea how the story ended. After each scholar failed to tell me how the story ended I said to each of them, "next time I read maybe you should stop talking and listen to the story."
It's now 10:30am and the scholars needed to line up at the door and head to the Art classroom. I let the boys go out the classroom door first and the girls would follow. As the front of the boys line exited the classroom the front group thought it would be fun to run down the hallway to the Art classroom.
With all the scholars now in the Art classroom I'm back in my classroom putting my three books back in their proper location when IA-Life steps into the doorway to the classroom. "Mr. Schultz, your class is so loud in the Art class that I had to take my scholar out of the classroom." I thanked IA-Life for letting me know and I headed to the Art classroom. When I arrived the Art classroom was so noisy that the teacher was using a microphone so he could be heard. From what I could tell, the Art teacher was assigning seats for the scholars and several were being defiant as they wanted to sit elsewhere and refused to sit at all.
Sunday, September 16, 2018, and I'm one day older.
I hesitated at the door for a moment. I was outside my element and was uncertain as to how the Art teacher would react to me entering the classroom and getting involved. Finally, after watching continued disrespectful behavior, behavior that had been going on for well over an hour, I walked into the Art classroom. My first target was three T4-M's, the defiant scholars that were not going to sit in their assigned seat but chose to stand in a corner. The second target was the usual gaggle of four T4-F's that were thoroughly enjoying their chat festival. At some point during my crowd control efforts the Art teacher moved to the front of his classroom and started his lesson for the day. As I stood in the back of the classroom I looked at the clock, 11:00am. Thirty minutes of a forty-five minute block of time was lost due to behavior issues. As the Art teacher taught his lesson the voice volume was increasing. Once again I got involved and moved around the classroom trying to control the conversations. At 11:10am I had enough. Out came the cellphone. The text message read, "behavior is ridiculous, I'm going home, bye.
The next morning, Tuesday, as I was entering the school I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked through the classroom door. When I did walk into the classroom it was pretty quiet. T4 saw me enter and said, "good morning." I responded, "good morning," and took my seat at the back of the classroom. As T4 was introducing the daily math lesson T4-M got up from his desk and walked over to me. "Are you going to tell us story today, Mr. Schultz," he said. My response was one word, "no." "Is that because we were bad, Mr. Schultz." "You need to return to your desk and sit down," is all I said.
Since the start of the school year this group of sixty scholars has been a challenge. In fact this group has a history of being a challenge, in some cases, going as far back as second grade. I don't know what T4 said to the scholars following the Monday incident but I do know this, on Tuesday morning, when I walked through the classroom door, it was real quiet so I'm certain there were consequences for their behavior. There are also additional consequences for their behavior, silent consequences from me. Every morning I participated in the morning check-in writing assignment. I would sit on the hexagon, read what I wrote and try and have some fun with the scholars. I'm not participating in the morning check-in going forward. It's been fairly common for the scholars to ask me to tell them a story about my granddaughter with an accompanying picture. This is another fun activity, a brain break from doing math, and I'm not doing that any more. It's also fairly common for the scholars to ask me to read them a story. This is another fun activity, another brain break, and my response will be, "no," with one exception, if T4 asks me to read I will read because it will be a much needed brain break for her.
As I said way back at the top of this blog, Monday was a tough day. That day is over, water under the bridge, and we've moved on. Tuesday through Friday were pretty good days. Slowly, ever so slowly, the scholars are showing improvement in their math abilities and it is this improvement that brings a smile to my face and will keep me coming back into this classroom.
Thanks for following the musings of a gray haired, wrinkly faced old fart that just turned sixty-nine, and who has a really swell view from the back of the room. On Monday morning I'll return again to the classroom but for only a short time. Why a short time? As T4 has done for a number of years she has made arrangements for every fourth grade scholar to attend a day camp and, after being repeatedly badgered by her, I agreed to go along for the day and the bus departs at 8:30am.
Sunday, September 9, 2018
The Academic Alpe d'Huez
Saturday, September 8, 2018
We are now twenty-three days postlaunch and I have my crystal ball in hand as I try and gaze into the future. Here is what I see, using a bicycle riding analogy and a reference to the Tour de France that will probably put a smile on the face of my friend AO from Vino. T4 and OtherT4 are at the base of Alpe d'Huez and they will be grinding. In bicycle riding terminology, grinding is a pedal turn by pedal turn battle to climb up a steep hill. It can be an exhausting, quadricep muscle screaming, test of one's will. There is no quitting and you will not be defeated as you climb. Can I have an amen, CMBR? T4 and OtherT4 are not on a bicycle but they are grinding up a hill, and academic hill called Alpe d'Huez. On a regular occasion Alpe d'Huez is on a Tour de France route and is a Stage 5 (high degree of difficulty climb) that will separate the contenders from the pretenders. T4 and OtherT4 have begun that climb, and unlike the Tour de France, where climbing Alpe d'Huez is a one day event, T4 and OtherT4 are facing a climb that will last for one hundred and fifty-seven more days.
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Brr! I'm sitting in my favorite blogging location, the screened in porch on the back of the house, and it is sixty degrees outside with a light rain falling. After enduring the oppressive heat and humidity that blasted away at Indiana and surrounding states for multiple days, I'm good with the cooler temperatures. What I find most surprising it this. A very good friend of mine, SpecEd30+ and her former gentleman caller from our CMU days, that is now her full time gardener and spouse, left the heat and humidity of Michigan for the one hundred and three degree temperature in Tempe, Arizona. For the record, the current home temperature for SpecEd30+ is fifty-seven degrees. Lets see, 103 degrees minus 57 degrees equals a 46 degree change in temperature.
On Monday morning T4 will start academic day number twenty-four. For the better part of the first twenty three days of the school year T4 was sending out feelers on what her scholars knew as far as math goes. I recall that the first multiplication test involved the following numbers: zero, one, two, five, and ten. If the average score for the sixty or so scholars that took the test was calculated the results would have been disappointing. Multiplication was followed by place values and rounding. Again, the results were disappointing. Knowing the scholars didn't do well with place values and rounding, T4 regrouped and assigned easier place value and rounding problems to solve. Sadly, the results were the same, disappointing. I can't recall the exact day but one day T4 asked this question to a math class with thirty scholars sitting in attendance, "did you do any place value and rounding in the third grade?" I heard two responses to the question, both said, "no."
Multiplication scores unsatisfactory. Place values and rounding scores unsatisfactory. T4 regroups again and hands me two math worksheets. "Schultz, I need sixty-five copies of each." With the two worksheets in hand, I head to the copier. Ok, who wants to venture a guess as to what is on the two fourth grade math worksheets that are in my hand? Are your ready? Here is the answer, one addition and one subtraction worksheet, third grade math.
T4 started with the math worksheet. The addition problems ranged from three digit numbers to six digit numbers. Before starting any math assignment T4 selects anywhere from three to five scholars to sit at the hexagon and then asks me to join them. When the math lesson starts, T4 is using a document camera and the large pull down screen that is at the front of the classroom for the twenty-five or so scholars that are not sitting at the hexagon. I get started with my group and realize this isn't going to work. T4 is moving through the assignment at a quicker pace than I am and the scholars at the hexagon, instead of doing the math problems independently, are just looking up at the screen and copying the answers. This isn't working, so I raised my hand to get T4's attention, and told her I'm moving my scholars to the large half round table that is just outside the classroom door.
Now I'm regrouping with my scholars in the hallway and the drama begins as the scholars are jockeying for position to see who will sit on my immediate right and left. I put an abrupt end to the drama and assign seats. "Ok," I say to the scholars, "lets get started." As a reminder and I've said it multiple times, I don't make this stuff up. "Mr. Schultz, I don't have a pencil." "Where is the pencil that you had in your hand when you were sitting at the hexagon?" "I forgot it."
Inventory check, does everyone have a pencil? Does everyone have the math worksheet? Good, let's get started. I'm working off a small whiteboard with a fine point dry erasable marker with a poofter looking eraser on top of it and I realized right away this will not work because only the scholars sitting directly in front of me can see what I'm writing and all they are doing is copying what I right. Moving to plan B as I'm getting pretty frustrated at the lengths I need to go through to do simple addition. Now with a pencil in my hand I instruct the scholars to do problem number one. As they get started I'm working individually with the scholar that is immediately on my right. "OtherT4-F, you need to get started with problem number one." The response, "I don't know what to do." Stay calm Mr. Schultz, no stupid mistakes and no human errors. "OtherT4-F this is an addition problem" and I point with my pencil to the problem and say, "how much is six plus two." There is a delay, fingers come up and OtherT4-F starts counting her fingers until six are up. "Good," I say, "now add two more fingers and tell me what six plus two equals." Two additional fingers are up and now the finger counting begins again. Working from the left hand to the right hand OtherT4-F is counting. When she finished she said, "eight" but I wasn't sure if she was telling me the answer or asking me a question.
I just hit the Preview button to see what I have written. It's getting too long. I'll give you the abridged version from here on. Addition, adding skills are weak. If the scholars add two numbers, say seventeen plus fifteen, they know where the two goes (the seven plus five part) but are uncertain about where to place the one. If they place the one properly (above the two ones in the next place value column) they'll forget to add the one they carried over to the two ones already in the next place value column. Subtraction, this skill is even weaker than their adding skills. If the problem is two minus seven, they answer five. Further challenging these scholars is the concept of regrouping, or what we call borrowing.
OtherT4 and T4 are grinding. Pedal turn by pedal turn they are climbing the academic Alpe d'Huez and they keep this in mind as they climb. Their scholars need to pass the state mandated academic tests. If they fail, the school district takes a hit, the school leadership takes a hit, and OtherT4 and T4 take a hit. The one saving grace both of my colleagues have should the scholars fail the state mandated academic tests is this, did the scholars show any improve over the previous tests. If they did the pressure to perform drops and teaching careers continue.
You just read what academics was like for the first twenty-three days of the school year for T4. Now it is role playing time. After we switch roles I'm going to ask you a question. When I do, I want you to give it some serious thought and tell me if you would be up to the challenge of climbing the academic Alpe d'Huez. Here is your new role. You are now T4. You occupy the front of the classroom. I'll sit in the back of the classroom where I have a really swell view of sixty scholars rotating through your classroom for math. Are you ready. Here is the question. Will you be able to defeat exhaustion, the quadricep muscle screaming pain, and have the will to fight to the top of the academic Alpe d'Huez after I tell you that only six out of sixty scholars in your classroom are on grade level?
People, this is real. You are reading about the life of two classroom teachers that have to grind on for another one hundred and fifty-seven more school days. Before I leave, I'm going to tell you what T4 said to me on Friday before I left for the day. "Schultz, we have to move on next week. I'm already a full week behind where I'm supposed to be." I looked at T4 and said, "you kidding." She reached to her right, slid a document over in my direction so I could see it and said, "this is my academic pacing guideline that the school corporation gave me, I have to move on if they can do the work or not."
We are now twenty-three days postlaunch and I have my crystal ball in hand as I try and gaze into the future. Here is what I see, using a bicycle riding analogy and a reference to the Tour de France that will probably put a smile on the face of my friend AO from Vino. T4 and OtherT4 are at the base of Alpe d'Huez and they will be grinding. In bicycle riding terminology, grinding is a pedal turn by pedal turn battle to climb up a steep hill. It can be an exhausting, quadricep muscle screaming, test of one's will. There is no quitting and you will not be defeated as you climb. Can I have an amen, CMBR? T4 and OtherT4 are not on a bicycle but they are grinding up a hill, and academic hill called Alpe d'Huez. On a regular occasion Alpe d'Huez is on a Tour de France route and is a Stage 5 (high degree of difficulty climb) that will separate the contenders from the pretenders. T4 and OtherT4 have begun that climb, and unlike the Tour de France, where climbing Alpe d'Huez is a one day event, T4 and OtherT4 are facing a climb that will last for one hundred and fifty-seven more days.
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Brr! I'm sitting in my favorite blogging location, the screened in porch on the back of the house, and it is sixty degrees outside with a light rain falling. After enduring the oppressive heat and humidity that blasted away at Indiana and surrounding states for multiple days, I'm good with the cooler temperatures. What I find most surprising it this. A very good friend of mine, SpecEd30+ and her former gentleman caller from our CMU days, that is now her full time gardener and spouse, left the heat and humidity of Michigan for the one hundred and three degree temperature in Tempe, Arizona. For the record, the current home temperature for SpecEd30+ is fifty-seven degrees. Lets see, 103 degrees minus 57 degrees equals a 46 degree change in temperature.
On Monday morning T4 will start academic day number twenty-four. For the better part of the first twenty three days of the school year T4 was sending out feelers on what her scholars knew as far as math goes. I recall that the first multiplication test involved the following numbers: zero, one, two, five, and ten. If the average score for the sixty or so scholars that took the test was calculated the results would have been disappointing. Multiplication was followed by place values and rounding. Again, the results were disappointing. Knowing the scholars didn't do well with place values and rounding, T4 regrouped and assigned easier place value and rounding problems to solve. Sadly, the results were the same, disappointing. I can't recall the exact day but one day T4 asked this question to a math class with thirty scholars sitting in attendance, "did you do any place value and rounding in the third grade?" I heard two responses to the question, both said, "no."
Multiplication scores unsatisfactory. Place values and rounding scores unsatisfactory. T4 regroups again and hands me two math worksheets. "Schultz, I need sixty-five copies of each." With the two worksheets in hand, I head to the copier. Ok, who wants to venture a guess as to what is on the two fourth grade math worksheets that are in my hand? Are your ready? Here is the answer, one addition and one subtraction worksheet, third grade math.
T4 started with the math worksheet. The addition problems ranged from three digit numbers to six digit numbers. Before starting any math assignment T4 selects anywhere from three to five scholars to sit at the hexagon and then asks me to join them. When the math lesson starts, T4 is using a document camera and the large pull down screen that is at the front of the classroom for the twenty-five or so scholars that are not sitting at the hexagon. I get started with my group and realize this isn't going to work. T4 is moving through the assignment at a quicker pace than I am and the scholars at the hexagon, instead of doing the math problems independently, are just looking up at the screen and copying the answers. This isn't working, so I raised my hand to get T4's attention, and told her I'm moving my scholars to the large half round table that is just outside the classroom door.
Now I'm regrouping with my scholars in the hallway and the drama begins as the scholars are jockeying for position to see who will sit on my immediate right and left. I put an abrupt end to the drama and assign seats. "Ok," I say to the scholars, "lets get started." As a reminder and I've said it multiple times, I don't make this stuff up. "Mr. Schultz, I don't have a pencil." "Where is the pencil that you had in your hand when you were sitting at the hexagon?" "I forgot it."
Inventory check, does everyone have a pencil? Does everyone have the math worksheet? Good, let's get started. I'm working off a small whiteboard with a fine point dry erasable marker with a poofter looking eraser on top of it and I realized right away this will not work because only the scholars sitting directly in front of me can see what I'm writing and all they are doing is copying what I right. Moving to plan B as I'm getting pretty frustrated at the lengths I need to go through to do simple addition. Now with a pencil in my hand I instruct the scholars to do problem number one. As they get started I'm working individually with the scholar that is immediately on my right. "OtherT4-F, you need to get started with problem number one." The response, "I don't know what to do." Stay calm Mr. Schultz, no stupid mistakes and no human errors. "OtherT4-F this is an addition problem" and I point with my pencil to the problem and say, "how much is six plus two." There is a delay, fingers come up and OtherT4-F starts counting her fingers until six are up. "Good," I say, "now add two more fingers and tell me what six plus two equals." Two additional fingers are up and now the finger counting begins again. Working from the left hand to the right hand OtherT4-F is counting. When she finished she said, "eight" but I wasn't sure if she was telling me the answer or asking me a question.
I just hit the Preview button to see what I have written. It's getting too long. I'll give you the abridged version from here on. Addition, adding skills are weak. If the scholars add two numbers, say seventeen plus fifteen, they know where the two goes (the seven plus five part) but are uncertain about where to place the one. If they place the one properly (above the two ones in the next place value column) they'll forget to add the one they carried over to the two ones already in the next place value column. Subtraction, this skill is even weaker than their adding skills. If the problem is two minus seven, they answer five. Further challenging these scholars is the concept of regrouping, or what we call borrowing.
OtherT4 and T4 are grinding. Pedal turn by pedal turn they are climbing the academic Alpe d'Huez and they keep this in mind as they climb. Their scholars need to pass the state mandated academic tests. If they fail, the school district takes a hit, the school leadership takes a hit, and OtherT4 and T4 take a hit. The one saving grace both of my colleagues have should the scholars fail the state mandated academic tests is this, did the scholars show any improve over the previous tests. If they did the pressure to perform drops and teaching careers continue.
You just read what academics was like for the first twenty-three days of the school year for T4. Now it is role playing time. After we switch roles I'm going to ask you a question. When I do, I want you to give it some serious thought and tell me if you would be up to the challenge of climbing the academic Alpe d'Huez. Here is your new role. You are now T4. You occupy the front of the classroom. I'll sit in the back of the classroom where I have a really swell view of sixty scholars rotating through your classroom for math. Are you ready. Here is the question. Will you be able to defeat exhaustion, the quadricep muscle screaming pain, and have the will to fight to the top of the academic Alpe d'Huez after I tell you that only six out of sixty scholars in your classroom are on grade level?
People, this is real. You are reading about the life of two classroom teachers that have to grind on for another one hundred and fifty-seven more school days. Before I leave, I'm going to tell you what T4 said to me on Friday before I left for the day. "Schultz, we have to move on next week. I'm already a full week behind where I'm supposed to be." I looked at T4 and said, "you kidding." She reached to her right, slid a document over in my direction so I could see it and said, "this is my academic pacing guideline that the school corporation gave me, I have to move on if they can do the work or not."
Monday, September 3, 2018
It's All About My Life
Saturday, September 1, 2018
It's not hot. It's not humid. I haven't heard anything further about mold. The expenditure was $50,000 I was told. There was an additional expense to hire a huge crane. The project was delayed a few days until the school was empty but the air conditioning works again. It was a compressor problem. A big compressor problem. So big that if it broke free of the cables holding it when it was being placed on the roof of the school it would have crashed through the ceiling and into the cafeteria.
I broke one of my long standing rules, don't tell anyone in my school about this blog, for the second time. The first time I broke my rule was when I worked with Gnu. Although doing so didn't cause me any drama I chose not to mention the blog to Knewer during the last school year. With the start of year seven, and working with my sixth teacher, I had no intention of telling T4 about this blog. For reasons that totally escape me right now, I mentioned the blog to T4 one day. Caught a little off guard when T4 said, "can I read it," I gave her the link. I'm not certain how many of the posts T4 read but I know this for sure, she read Stupid Mistake or Human Error.
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Every morning the scholars in T4's classroom start out the day with a morning writing prompt. The writing prompt includes the following: Last night I did..., I'm in a good mood today because..., I'm in a bad mood today because..., I'm reading..., and then anything else you want to write about. On just about every morning I participate in the activity. When I've completed my writing prompt I get to move to the front of the classroom, sit on the hexagon, and read what I wrote. In one of my morning writing prompts I mentioned to the scholars that I wrote a letter over the weekend and then turned toward T4 to see her reaction. There wasn't much of a reaction but she knew what I was talking about. Later in the day I asked T4 if she read my last blog post. Paraphrasing, "yes, it's all about my life." That evening, while sharing a meal with my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse I mentioned T4's comment, "it's all about my life." My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse laughed and said, "of course it is, it's her classroom."
As we move forward through the school year please keep this in mind. I don't make this stuff up and "it's all about my life." Most important, it's not all about T4's life but the life of every teacher so if you are one, thank you for all you do, and if you know one, please treat them as though they walk on water because you will read about the challenges they face daily and they are often huge.
Lets see, what's next. I think I'm going to quote Grr!. As a reminder, Grr! and I occupied the same classroom for four years. He's in the fifth grade now and I occasionally run into him moving through the school. My day was over and I decided to exit the school through the front door and that will lead me right past our school playground (recess) area. As I exited the building I saw the scholars from the secondary emotional handicapped (EH) classroom leaving the playground area and heading towards me to enter the school. As I was walking, for some unknown reason, one of the scholars approaching me, just screamed loudly. As I was walking toward these scholars Grr! stepped out of line and was walking right towards me. Usually he'll just give me a high five and continue on his way. After exchanging high fives Grr! stopped and said, "Mr. Schultz." I stopped, turned around, and said to him, "yes, Grr!" He responded, "did you hear that person scream out loud for no apparent reason?" "Yes," I said. "Mr. Schultz, how does it feel to be in a classroom this year that must feel like paradise?"
I first met OtherT4-M at the hexagon during math. I've learned that if T4 sends a scholar to join me at the hexagon for math it's because the scholar needs help and, more often than not, lots of help. When T4 finished passing out the math worksheet I told OtherT4-M to put his name on his worksheet and then we could get started. I also said the same thing to the other scholars that joined me at the hexagon. When I turned my attention back to OtherT4-M he was staring off into space. I checked his worksheet and saw that he didn't write his name in the upper left corner of the paper. "OtherT4-M, you need to write your name on the worksheet." No response, nothing. So I repeated the instruction. Still nothing but a blank stare like I didn't even exist. Frustrated, I sat up and looked over in T4's direction, made eye contact with her, shook my head from left to right and I then got the same response from her.
I've been helping scholars long enough now that I think to myself, "this isn't working, what am I doing wrong." The light in my head goes on and I made the adjustment. Using the pointed end of my pencil, rather than my fat finger, I point to the worksheet where it said name and told OtherT4-M to write his name right where I'm pointing the pencil. Bingo! I got a reaction and OtherT4-M started to write his name. As I'm sitting there watching OtherT4-M write his name I sit up again and think to myself, "oh, my God, this scholar is in the fourth grade." As OtherT4-M wrote his name this is what I saw. An alternating between upper case and lower case letters with letters formed like you would see from a kindergarten scholar.
Alright, the name is on the worksheet. Time to move on to the date. Using the same pencil I pointed to where it says date on the worksheet and told OtherT4-M to write down the date. No response. "OtherT4-M, do you know today's date? "No." Rather that have OtherT4-M write out the word August I told him to write the number eight right were I'm pointing my pencil. OtherT4-M starts to form the number eight. First, he makes a circle for the top half of the eight. Then he makes his second circle. The two circles are not connected as the second circle is too low and off to the right.
Although you don't know it there was a fairly long pause from what I just wrote above until I started writing this sentence. There is more to tell about my first encounter with OtherT4-M but I think you got the point and I'm going to stop. Questions are running through my head right now. The same questions that ran through my head the first time I worked with OtherT4-M. The first, and foremost question is, how did this scholar get to the fourth grade with such limited academic skills? Second, given this scholars low academic skills, does he have the cognitive skills to even be in a general education classroom or should he be in a life skills classroom?
As T4 said to me a few days ago after reading my blog, "it's all about my life." It certainly is and you just read about the fifteen minute block of time that I spent with OtherT4-M. You heard it right. Fifteen minutes out of an approximately six and a half hour academic day and this is T4's and OtherT4's life for the remainder of the school year.
Before I call it a day I'm going to leave you with this. There are thirty scholars sitting in T4's classroom during her math block. When she finishes teaching the first thirty scholars, the scholars rotate, and in walks another thirty scholars. The total is sixty scholars and I can tell you this. You just met OtherT4-M and there are easily eight to ten more just like him. At some point in the school year I'm sure you will meet all of them.
"It's all about my life," not just T4's and OtherT4's but every teacher that stands in the front of a classroom on a daily basis. So do me a favor. If you have young scholars in a classroom the next time you meet their teacher bring that teacher a small gift. My first thought was to bring the teacher an apple. And even better gift would be a simple, heartfelt, thank you.
PS - just before I hit he Publish button for this blog I hit the Preview button to get a visual on how the blog looks. Hence, this PS. I forgot to mention that I earned my first sticker and I'm so excited. The sticker is for a morning writing prompt I wrote and a picture of the writing prompt is on the right side of the blog. I don't know if you will actually be able to read my writing prompt but if you can, A.O.of Vino, would have a smile on his face after reading the last paragraph.
I broke one of my long standing rules, don't tell anyone in my school about this blog, for the second time. The first time I broke my rule was when I worked with Gnu. Although doing so didn't cause me any drama I chose not to mention the blog to Knewer during the last school year. With the start of year seven, and working with my sixth teacher, I had no intention of telling T4 about this blog. For reasons that totally escape me right now, I mentioned the blog to T4 one day. Caught a little off guard when T4 said, "can I read it," I gave her the link. I'm not certain how many of the posts T4 read but I know this for sure, she read Stupid Mistake or Human Error.
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Every morning the scholars in T4's classroom start out the day with a morning writing prompt. The writing prompt includes the following: Last night I did..., I'm in a good mood today because..., I'm in a bad mood today because..., I'm reading..., and then anything else you want to write about. On just about every morning I participate in the activity. When I've completed my writing prompt I get to move to the front of the classroom, sit on the hexagon, and read what I wrote. In one of my morning writing prompts I mentioned to the scholars that I wrote a letter over the weekend and then turned toward T4 to see her reaction. There wasn't much of a reaction but she knew what I was talking about. Later in the day I asked T4 if she read my last blog post. Paraphrasing, "yes, it's all about my life." That evening, while sharing a meal with my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse I mentioned T4's comment, "it's all about my life." My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse laughed and said, "of course it is, it's her classroom."
As we move forward through the school year please keep this in mind. I don't make this stuff up and "it's all about my life." Most important, it's not all about T4's life but the life of every teacher so if you are one, thank you for all you do, and if you know one, please treat them as though they walk on water because you will read about the challenges they face daily and they are often huge.
Lets see, what's next. I think I'm going to quote Grr!. As a reminder, Grr! and I occupied the same classroom for four years. He's in the fifth grade now and I occasionally run into him moving through the school. My day was over and I decided to exit the school through the front door and that will lead me right past our school playground (recess) area. As I exited the building I saw the scholars from the secondary emotional handicapped (EH) classroom leaving the playground area and heading towards me to enter the school. As I was walking, for some unknown reason, one of the scholars approaching me, just screamed loudly. As I was walking toward these scholars Grr! stepped out of line and was walking right towards me. Usually he'll just give me a high five and continue on his way. After exchanging high fives Grr! stopped and said, "Mr. Schultz." I stopped, turned around, and said to him, "yes, Grr!" He responded, "did you hear that person scream out loud for no apparent reason?" "Yes," I said. "Mr. Schultz, how does it feel to be in a classroom this year that must feel like paradise?"
I first met OtherT4-M at the hexagon during math. I've learned that if T4 sends a scholar to join me at the hexagon for math it's because the scholar needs help and, more often than not, lots of help. When T4 finished passing out the math worksheet I told OtherT4-M to put his name on his worksheet and then we could get started. I also said the same thing to the other scholars that joined me at the hexagon. When I turned my attention back to OtherT4-M he was staring off into space. I checked his worksheet and saw that he didn't write his name in the upper left corner of the paper. "OtherT4-M, you need to write your name on the worksheet." No response, nothing. So I repeated the instruction. Still nothing but a blank stare like I didn't even exist. Frustrated, I sat up and looked over in T4's direction, made eye contact with her, shook my head from left to right and I then got the same response from her.
I've been helping scholars long enough now that I think to myself, "this isn't working, what am I doing wrong." The light in my head goes on and I made the adjustment. Using the pointed end of my pencil, rather than my fat finger, I point to the worksheet where it said name and told OtherT4-M to write his name right where I'm pointing the pencil. Bingo! I got a reaction and OtherT4-M started to write his name. As I'm sitting there watching OtherT4-M write his name I sit up again and think to myself, "oh, my God, this scholar is in the fourth grade." As OtherT4-M wrote his name this is what I saw. An alternating between upper case and lower case letters with letters formed like you would see from a kindergarten scholar.
Alright, the name is on the worksheet. Time to move on to the date. Using the same pencil I pointed to where it says date on the worksheet and told OtherT4-M to write down the date. No response. "OtherT4-M, do you know today's date? "No." Rather that have OtherT4-M write out the word August I told him to write the number eight right were I'm pointing my pencil. OtherT4-M starts to form the number eight. First, he makes a circle for the top half of the eight. Then he makes his second circle. The two circles are not connected as the second circle is too low and off to the right.
Although you don't know it there was a fairly long pause from what I just wrote above until I started writing this sentence. There is more to tell about my first encounter with OtherT4-M but I think you got the point and I'm going to stop. Questions are running through my head right now. The same questions that ran through my head the first time I worked with OtherT4-M. The first, and foremost question is, how did this scholar get to the fourth grade with such limited academic skills? Second, given this scholars low academic skills, does he have the cognitive skills to even be in a general education classroom or should he be in a life skills classroom?
As T4 said to me a few days ago after reading my blog, "it's all about my life." It certainly is and you just read about the fifteen minute block of time that I spent with OtherT4-M. You heard it right. Fifteen minutes out of an approximately six and a half hour academic day and this is T4's and OtherT4's life for the remainder of the school year.
Before I call it a day I'm going to leave you with this. There are thirty scholars sitting in T4's classroom during her math block. When she finishes teaching the first thirty scholars, the scholars rotate, and in walks another thirty scholars. The total is sixty scholars and I can tell you this. You just met OtherT4-M and there are easily eight to ten more just like him. At some point in the school year I'm sure you will meet all of them.
"It's all about my life," not just T4's and OtherT4's but every teacher that stands in the front of a classroom on a daily basis. So do me a favor. If you have young scholars in a classroom the next time you meet their teacher bring that teacher a small gift. My first thought was to bring the teacher an apple. And even better gift would be a simple, heartfelt, thank you.
PS - just before I hit he Publish button for this blog I hit the Preview button to get a visual on how the blog looks. Hence, this PS. I forgot to mention that I earned my first sticker and I'm so excited. The sticker is for a morning writing prompt I wrote and a picture of the writing prompt is on the right side of the blog. I don't know if you will actually be able to read my writing prompt but if you can, A.O.of Vino, would have a smile on his face after reading the last paragraph.
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