Just a quick note: I wrote a very long and soul-searching post yesterday afternoon that I was going to post this morning. In it I detailed my apparent failures as a molder of 6th grade minds, spending time analyzing what I might do differently to help my students. You see, I had really been agonizing over the latest round of Math-test scores (they were bad...really bad), and I had become convinced that I was falling short as a teacher, and the implications might be more far reaching than I had previously thought....I might be wrecking their future....etc, etc, etc. Like I said, it was really long and heartfelt.
Needless to say, I deleted it this morning, before it had a chance to see the light of day. Before handing them their tests back this morning I had them write me anonymous notes telling me: 1. how long they studies outside of class for this test, and 2. what grade they expected to make on the exam. Disturbingly enough, on a test that we had made a huge fuss over, stressing the importance of doing well ad nauseum, the majority of the class spent well under and hour in preparation for it over a 5 day period. The high mark was 1 1/2 hours (probably lying), and there were several that hovered near the 15 minute mark, and one brave soul who admitted to not studying at all (most likely the only truly honest person). What was even more disappointing, only a handful had an expectation of passing.
So I have since picked myself up off the mat, dusted my clean black slacks off, and am now sitting back realaxed, knowing that they put out as little effort as possible. If their parents and their consciences are okay with that, so am I. And maybe that statement alone proves my theory that I am not a good teacher. More to come.
Needless to say, I deleted it this morning, before it had a chance to see the light of day. Before handing them their tests back this morning I had them write me anonymous notes telling me: 1. how long they studies outside of class for this test, and 2. what grade they expected to make on the exam. Disturbingly enough, on a test that we had made a huge fuss over, stressing the importance of doing well ad nauseum, the majority of the class spent well under and hour in preparation for it over a 5 day period. The high mark was 1 1/2 hours (probably lying), and there were several that hovered near the 15 minute mark, and one brave soul who admitted to not studying at all (most likely the only truly honest person). What was even more disappointing, only a handful had an expectation of passing.
So I have since picked myself up off the mat, dusted my clean black slacks off, and am now sitting back realaxed, knowing that they put out as little effort as possible. If their parents and their consciences are okay with that, so am I. And maybe that statement alone proves my theory that I am not a good teacher. More to come.
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