About Me

Name: Waski_the_Squirrel
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Archives

Search

Lying

Posted by Waski_the_Squirrel on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:57:52 PM
I was lied to today and it made me think about how people lie. Some people are very good at it. They will lie convincingly until the day comes that they realize that everyone just assumes that they are lying, even when they're telling the truth.

Some people are terrible liars. They get all shifty and nervous when they lie.

Some people have interesting ways to compensate. I know that I have lied before (sorry, I'm a sinner) and what I tend to do is either say it really quietly almost like I hope no one notices or I will pad it with excessive detail.

The person who lied to me today did so in a bullying, belligerent way. It is almost as though she expected me to take what she said as truth just because I'd be too scared to challenge her. Does something said loudly enough become the truth?

As teachers, we hear lies all the time. Students want to avoid getting in trouble so they lie. Students want to sound different than they are, so they lie. Parents lie for their children. Even other teachers lie.

Lying is certainly not unique to the education profession, but teachers are in a unique position. We can influence our students. Lying is wrong, even if "everyone does it." We can start by being honest ourselves. Our students can tell when we're lying. If you didn't correct their tests because a nap sounded better, just admit that you didn't start the test.

When a student sees another get away with lying, he feels more free to lie himself. Confront the lies. You may need to be more organized and to have better documentation. My liar will be confronted by documentation tomorrow. I already  know it will make her louder and more belligerent, even though I'll confront her in private (that's a respect thing). Her classmates will know she didn't get away with it because she'll turn to them for sympathy.

It's easier to confront liars when they are teens (or younger) than when they are adults. When they're younger, there is still time for them to change their ways.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (3) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Hope

Posted by Waski_the_Squirrel on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 1:38:30 AM
I don't want to discuss a certain candidate for president (who will NOT get my vote). Rather, I want to talk about education. Hope is important both for students and for their teachers. Without hope...why bother?

Students

Imagine a classroom in which the science teacher drones on and on about Al Gore's environmental fantasies. There is a line between good stewardship of God's creation and loss of hope. If hope is gone, why bother? That is the mistake many environmentalists and teachers make.

Back when I taught 8th grade Earth Science, I had a book which was full of gloom and doom. Upon reading it, one was left with the feeling that humans had destroyed Earth to such a point that nothing could be done except self-flagellation. What is our student to make of this?

If life is hopeless, why try? While realism is important, we must always provide hope to our students. Otherwise, they will give up. Does a student try in a class he knows he will fail? As a teacher, I need to remind myself to be optimistic and hopeful. I must always encourage my students. I won't be unrealistic, but I always find something specific and true. I always congratulate. I always act hopeful, even if I don't feel it.

Trust me, in Physics, I'm not feeling the hope! (Hopefully none of those students read this...) I might offer specific criticism, but I won't express the hopeless feeling I feel. I know the talent is there, just not the drive and discipline. You know what? They're actually succeeding far beyond what I had thought possible. They're not impressing me, but they are successful and it goes back to that feeling of hope.

Give your students that lifeline of hope or they will give up.

Teachers

If you are a teacher, you probably have had that helpless feeling. Your students are totally apathetic. Your older colleagues have added to the feeling by telling you how terrible "today's kids" are. Maybe you feel unworthy because you are struggling to teach a new course. Maybe you were completely undermined by your administrator as you attempted to keep order.

At those times, there is no hope. I actually find it hard to talk to other teachers about teaching because so many of them just tear me down. It took me a few years to realize that my colleagues are unlikely to offer hope. We focus on our struggles, not our successes. Our colleagues are the same.  I've come to realize that I need to create my own hope!

I'm great at identifying problems and mistakes. I rarely share them with others, but I'm great at beating myself up over them. I finally decided to force myself to recognize things that are going well. It's hard, especially if I feel like wallowing in self pity, but I force myself to think of something positive for every 2 negative things. (That's my concession to realism.)

More practically, I've forced myself to become a problem solver. If I'm having troubles (Physics class) I might wallow in self pity. Then I'll turn around and ask myself, "What can I do about it?" I'm not allowed to be a victim. Some of my best ideas have come this way. I learned how to manage a classroom this way. I've made mistakes this way too, but at least I've tried things. Problem solvers get ahead and they have hope because they can do something about it.

I also remember this as a teacher who is no longer "new." I'll be a sympathetic ear, especially for younger colleagues, but I try to be hopeful and optimistic. Sometimes it's an act, but I'd rather spread hope than despair.

A Certain Presidential Candidate

I will not vote for Barack Obama. He has a lot of terrible ideas. However, I respect what brought him success in the beginning. He brought the ideas of hope and change (without specifying what he meant) to the campaign. Contrast that to his Democrat challengers. Clinton offered no hope, just Bush hatred. The others of that party offered various degrees of Bush hatred and condemnation of our failures as a nation.

Oddly, Obama offered the same, but he couched it in the context of hope and change. Therein lay the difference. Think back to some successful presidents, no matter their party: Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy, FDR. All offered hope, and people followed them because of it.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (2) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Learning by Doing

Posted by Waski_the_Squirrel on Friday, October 10, 2008 1:04:48 AM
Students aren't the only ones who learn in school. Their teachers learn as well. We learn how to teach better and we learn content. Hopefully it makes us better teachers in the end.

Yesterday I learned about how to perform a new lab. I decided to try paper chromatography with different markers. It's pretty.Successful Paper Chromatography The first picture shows the work of one of my students (in progress). We tried different kinds of markers (water soluble and permanent) as well as different colors. Then we ran our chromatographs in different solvents.

You're not reading this for a science lesson (though I'm including a picture of some chromatographs drying just because they're cool). Paper Chromatography I learned a few things in this lab. The first thing I learned was educational. It takes kids a lot longer to set these up than me. I should have had them prepare the strips one day and used the rest of the period for something else. Then, the next day, we could have run our chromatography. As it was, we were very rushed for time at the end.

Luckily I have great students!

The other thing I learned was in the realm of education as well. I got a nice reminder that labs don't need to be high tech or fancy to impress students. Labs with good, visible results are enough! Tomorrow we'll do some of the technology when we make spreadsheets to calculate the R<sub>f</sub> values of the pigments.

I'll use my experience to have them prepare strips with aspirin so that we can run another chromatograph on Monday. That one will be experimental because we're going to do some iodine staining. (I've never tried that before.)

In the end, students will take away from this that different solvents dissolve different things. They will learn how microscale analyses of chemical composition can be done. They'll get some experience with spreadsheets, and a few will have learned the valuable lesson that the instructions are there for a reason. All will also have had the practical experience of working with real things and discovering things for themselves.

We really do learn by doing.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Giving Up

Posted by Waski_the_Squirrel on Monday, October 06, 2008 10:25:28 PM
Some days you just have to wonder why you bother. The kids aren't trying, nobody is listening, and you're working your tail off. Why bother? Just give up. The teacher down the hall gets by with just the minimum. Why can't you? (This isn't limited to just teachers, but that's who I'm going to focus on.)

The Reason

The reason I bother is because I believe I'm doing God's work. Perhaps you're doing it for the kids or for the country or perhaps for some entirely different reason. It really doesn't matter what it is. What you need to do is keep this in front of you when you struggle. I feel called to care about kids and their future, even when they aren't mature enough to care about it themselves. Having a reason gets you through many tough spots, especially when it is larger than yourself.

Hopefully, if I'm not actually doing God's work, he'll let me know soon so I can go find something that pays better!

"But I am struggling!"

Of course you are! We all struggle from time to time. Take a look at why you're struggling. This can be terribly painful, especially if you realize that you caused a lot of your own problems. On the other hand, if you are causing your own problems, you have the power to change it. If your boss is a jerk, you have much less power to change. There are a few things to look at first.
  • Your problem may only be classroom management.
  • Maybe you need to manage your time better.
  • Try getting some perspective. Maybe it's not as bad as you think.
  • Step out of education for a while and think about something else.
One common source of struggle is classroom management. As a new teacher, you enter the classroom full of idealism and visions of what your classroom should be. Then reality strikes and you discover all your creative lessons have come crashing down around your ears. Some of us become bitter and blame kids. Some of us give up. Some of us realize that we need to work harder on crowd control. Then we struggle even more on figuring out how to successfully do this.

Another common struggle is with time management. Teaching can easily overwhelm your life. However much you may enjoy it, this is a bad thing. Interests outside school can invigorate your teaching and life. I enjoy photography and I attend church in another town (among way too many other interests). The other side of time management is procrastination. I gave some tests Friday. I sat down and got them about half corrected. Good thing too! When I spent Sunday throwing up, I wasn't in the mood to correct. (sorry for that image) Today, the tests are done because I felt well enough Monday morning to do them. Had I not forced myself to start my work, the tests would still be hanging over me and sucking the joy out of my life. I'd be sick and behind. Instead I'm just sick but recovering.

I also see a lot of teachers who struggle with perspective. At times I can be one of them. When you're emotionally tied to a situation, it's easy to see it as far bigger than it is. Are the kids talking out of turn? OK, that's not a good thing, but look around your school. Chances are, they're not nearly as bad as you think. If they're not as bad as you think, they might be manageable! Are you behind on your grading? I discovered that one of my colleagues hadn't graded a thing for an entire quarter and report cards were now due. Being 3 days behind wasn't so bad. Perspective enables us to see that we can handle our problems. It places them at an appropriate size.

Don't bore your non-teacher friends with education tales, especially complaints. You have the perspective of a new parent who doesn't realize that his/her child is not the first child born and most of aren't fascinated by the minutia of that child's life. You may also make the discovery that your complaint was heard by the wrong ears...oops the elderly couple in the next booth has grandchildren in the school you're complaining about. Finally, forcing yourself to think about things besides your job forces you to have some perspective. Your classroom is a small piece of a great big wonderful world.

Some days you'll want to give up. Don't! Try to fix your problem first. Try to get some perspective. You may discover that you need to give up, but it will be a realistic decision, not desperation.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Taking a Risk on Calculus

Posted by Waski_the_Squirrel on Thursday, October 02, 2008 2:37:15 AM
Since I don't seem able to fall asleep yet, I thought I'd talk about Calculus. (Does that help any of you nod off?)

Last year, I took a risk by pushing hard to have Calculus offered at my school. Some options (like College Algebra) were considered for certain of our students, but they were not reasonable options. College Algebra would have actually been a step back from what these students had already taken. I pushed hard for Calculus...and now I have to put my money where my mouth was. I got the Calculus course.

My degree is actually in Physics. I worked hard to get the coursework to add math to my license, but I envisioned myself teaching classes like Algebra I. However, by throwing myself out there, I took an enormous risk. This is a progress report.

Calculus was supposed to be dual credit (college and high school credit). I advised my students to not take the dual credit option, and I'm happy to say that they listened to me...for reasons of their own. I really think that for people who intend to major in something that requires Calculus, a real college experience in Calculus is vital. Whether this convinced my students or something else did, I'm happy. They made the right choice.

The course itself has been interesting. Both students have struggled, and so have I. It has been 10 years since I last taught Calculus. I'm rusty and it has shown. It shows even more because I picked a book that emphasizes concepts rather than algorithms. It's hard to hide behind superior problem-solving ability in such a course.

What has been interesting is that I am rediscovering skills I haven't exercised since college. I've had the horrifying experience of not being able to immediately answer a student's question. (They expect the teacher to be an expert.)

At the same time, one of my students has discovered that he needs to bump up his mathematical skills. He has struggled with this book because he is a genius with algorithms. He is starting to pick up on the concepts of Calculus and I expect he will begin to take off in this chapter or the next. He's close to that revelation!

My other student is struggling quite a bit more. However, he has had the realization that he can't just "blow off" the homework. He needs to actually do the work. He's very intelligent, but his revelation will be a bit further down the road.

It's too early to draw conclusions, but I think that both of these students will benefit. They will move into college level Calculus with the ability to understand college-level material. They will take Calculus 1, a course which always "weeds out" the weak students. They will be able to succeed and learn how to handle college because they're not distracted by a brutal course.

So far, despite all of our struggles, I think we are all seeing benefit. I'm recovering extremely rusty skills (and increasing my marketability). My students are discovering that not everything comes easy, and that they do need to work and improve and even struggle. If we all stick with it, we will all come up winners from this gamble.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »