I have the fortune (or misfortune, depending on the point of view) of replacing one of the worst teachers ever (again, depending on your point of view). Mr. Mitch apparently was often found sitting at his desk with his feet up tossing a ball up into the air while the students "worked." The English teachers are still getting journal entries from some of the 8th graders about how Mr. Mitch was the best teacher because he "was laid back and didn't make them do anything." After a tough bout with the 8th graders complaining that Mr. Mitch was a much better teacher, I brought the issue up to the 9th graders. "But Miss, we didn't learn anything," they contested, soothing my seething ego. As my father wrote when we got here in November, " It is better to replace the worst teacher than to replace the best teacher."
We just closed out the grades for the 3rd quarter. The 9th graders have been good students and have only been getting better, except for a couple of episodes with cheating. I've helped them turn their physics problems into legible and complete thoughts. Almost everyone is now turning in homework and only one (out of 13) student failed this quarter. I love to give them labs so they can get hands-on experiences, and they work hard. The 7th graders are a miracle in the making. I like to describe the 7th graders by saying they are getting better every week. 7A still amazes me in their craziness. There are only 10 of them, but they have the ability to turn the class period into complete chaos. I often wonder what I would do with 20 or 30 of them, or maybe even up to 40 that I have been told can be the class size in the public schools. Despite the craziness, the most amazing thing about them is the transformation from doing nothing into being real students. In November, they would either not turn their homework in or they would turn in garbage. How many lectures did I have to give to explain that "Directed Reading" meant that you actually had to read the book in order to answer the questions on the worksheets? I structured homework assignments for each chapter to encourage reading the book rather than just guessing at answers. After failing half of the 21 students in both 7A and 7B for the 2nd quarter, the children responded by not only turning in their homework, but starting to take pride in it and trying to do it right. They may even actually study for tests now, but that is still in doubt. The 3rd quarter result is that only 2 students failed - these are the 2 who are still not turning their work in.
The 8th graders, however, have still not recovered from the 1st quarter of not having to do any work. Or perhaps from a lifetime of lowered expectations. After a second semester of developing strategies to get them to do their work, turn their homework in, holding them in at lunch time, lecturing them on the fact that they are failing my class, attempting to give them rewards for complete work (and failing because the work still wasn't completed), the kids were in shock today when I passed out the grades to the 27 of them and half of them found out that they had failed science. "But miss, how could I fail?" they argued, as they are prone to do whenevery anything doesn't magically fall into their lap. "The 8th graders have not been doing their work. You can't pass science class if you don't do your work," was my even reply. I think all of us teachers are shocked that the students have no comprehension that they are failing. We pass out quizzes with failing grades, students don't do projects and don't hand in homework, we have mid-term meetings with parents and hand out mid-term grades. The lack of comprehension that they are failing is in itself amazing. 8B ended with this comment from a student who had just received her grade of 66 (70 is passing), " This is why I hate science." My retort, keeping in mind that the 8th graders are well known for their bad attitudes, " Oh, that's a good attitude. You hate science because you don't do your work and as a result, you failed."
The good news is that my new strategy for teaching the 8th graders seems to be working. Lectures are almost always unsuccessful because the students can't stop talking long enough to get any information that is handed to them. My goal now is to work the heck out of them and have them learn the material through the work that they do. Any information presented in the book is transformed into board problems or worksheets. The goal is to keep them working in the classroom and anything not completed can be taken home for homework. Amazingly, for the past 2 weeks, they have been working. Perhaps an inability to listen translates into an ability to fill out worksheets. Perhaps one of my lectures about how students who do not do their homework can not pass science class finally sunk in. Perhaps they finally realized that Mr. Mitch is not ever coming back and I am not ever going to lower my expectations and let them slide by. I really don't know. I am trying to celebrate the good moments - the days of good work - and ignore the days of bad attitudes. Every day is a new day, a new chance for each student (and me) to start again.
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