kitchen table math, the sequel: getting better all the time

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

getting better all the time




recap:

Ms. K has been away for nearly 2 weeks; no classroom instruction occurred in that time; no homework was sent home; worksheets were done in class but answers were not checked.

Then of course there was Monday's punishment-by-polynomials event. This occurred, I gather, because C's class has 3 or 4 of "the rowdy boys," who are rough on subs. So I'm told.

Tuesday — yesterday — the kids took a pop quiz.

This may be C's only A on a quiz or test all year. He has an A on this quiz because I have required him to complete polynomial multiplication worksheets at home.

Everyone else could have been multiplying polynomials at home or — and here's a thought — at school during Ms. K's protracted absence.

But no.

I think this situation is going to change. It's too late for these kids, but it's good news for the younger ones.



in which Mom senses a pattern

I hadn't quite grokked the fact that Christopher's math class had the rowdy boys.

Now I'm curious. I don't have a problem with rowdy boys; I like rowdy boys! I know they can slow down a class, but my own extended family has so many kids with behavior "issues" that I feel a sense of relief when, for once, my kid isn't the one upending the apple cart. Also, Christopher has such a strange family life (for newbies: 2 autistic siblings) that when it comes to social life at school I've always thought the more rowdy boys the better.

That said, I'm thinking: hmmmm.

Christopher has been telling me all year long that his ELA class is "bad." I think that's how he puts it - "bad."

That class also has the rowdy boys.

Third data point: at the Civil War Museum exhibit the other night I was telling one of C's teachers how fantastic the class had been, and the teacher mentioned that he/she had "used Christopher as a buffer." That class is loaded with rowdy boys.

So now I'm wondering whether the school balances classes by putting the most active kids in with the most compliant kids.

I don't know whether that would have made sense when placements were being done last spring. Christopher talked in class too much last year, though I don't know if this was still the case by spring. I should find out.

In any event, I'm curious whether this is a factor in classroom placement decisions. I'm thinking a school would want to spread the active kids amongst the classes, rather than concentrating them in one classroom.

But maybe not?

Maybe it sometimes makes sense to balance the most active kids with the most cooperative?



come to think of it

I just realized: I would love to know whether the kids who were punished-by-polynomials did better on the quiz than kids in the two classes that were rewarded for good behavior with games and chat.

The punishment worksheet was a series of embedded FOIL problems so complicated that Christopher completed only 2 in 45 minutes; the smartest girl in the class, I am reliably told, completed 3.

The pop quiz was on FOIL multiplication of polynomials. Even an overly complex worksheet of embedded FOILs is probably going to provide practice for a test of reasonably simple FOIL problems.


2 weeks off
the return of Ms. K
getting better all the time

11 comments:

LynnG said...

Yeah for rowdy boys!

I teacher acquaintance I know says she is given the really hard boys and always gets classes loaded up on the rowdiest ones around. She is very good with rowdy boys.

She has lots of energy, creates lots of small groups and gives those rowdy boys lots of opportunities to burn off the energy in productive, constructive ways.

My belief is that kids can't control their energy output, they can only control how it is outputed. Teachers that "get" that have more success engaging the kids and getting the constructive work out of them that they are capable of. Young female teachers fresh out of ed school are at a disadvantage. Generally speaking.

Not to malign an entire generation of young female teachers.

The best teacher for rowdy boys I've ever met was in her mid-50s and had raised her own rowdy boy (he became a surgeon).

You can wish for quiet and compliant, but that isn't going to make it so.

LynnG said...

Please forgive all those typos up there. I apparently can't type today.

Catherine Johnson said...

The best teacher for rowdy boys I've ever met was in her mid-50s and had raised her own rowdy boy (he became a surgeon).

Oh, funny

Ms. K can't deal with them at all, but the English teacher is in her 30s and is in fact a SPED teacher. (I think she was filling in for a teacher on leave.)

It's entirely possible that she's got the most expertise with the rowdy guys.

I also like rowdy boys because they're a counter to the all-character-ed-all-the-time feeling of the middle school.

You can only take character ed so far with these guys.

Catherine Johnson said...

You know -- I'm now thinking C. has told me his social studies class is loaded with the rowdy kids.

I'm going to QUESTION HIM CLOSELY TONIGHT!

Catherine Johnson said...

The social studies teacher is a career changer who has kids of her own, one being a middle school boy. She began life as a prosecutor, I think.

For some reason I have the idea she's probably not that adroit at managing the class yet, and I wouldn't expect her to be.

But she may be more temperamentally inclined to be able to deal with these kids.

She's the teacher who told the kids they could make a sword or a gun for their Civil War Museum project.

I applaud that.

Exo said...

On placing kids into classes:
Last week we did that in our school during the staff meeting. It is not exactly tracking, it is really "Don't put the naughty one in one class, all good in another" motto.
I was into that because I teach a Regents class next year. And since I taught this 7th grade (3dr floor) this year, I was able to evaluate each one pretty effectively. That's the honor track class, but I needed to remove 9kids - those who will benefit from regular way of things. I did't look at their behavior, I looked at their effor and achievement. That class was pretty "rowdy", too - and not just boys... How about calling each other "stupid" in class? Or getting out of the seat for no reason?
Well, let me tell you - I had to fight over removing the kids and not allowing to replace them with others of "equal" quality. Iwanted to keep the class really accelerated, I needed the kids with good grades in science and mathh (this class also takes REgents in math in 8th grade); I went over the other teachers gradebooks (those, who HAD gradebooks - some teachers DON"T keep gradebooks!!!!) And I met the "you want all the smart kids, what are you leaving for us?" line... Nobody wants to teach slow kids... Heh.
It was terrible. I could actually influence the placement for one class only (my floor) that I'm going to teach next year. On the other two floors god knows how they mixed the kids... Without gradebooks, based on personal preferences...
I do what I can - administration didn't get to a conclusion on my proposition for open screening for Regents program. But sometimes kids from nonhonor classes come to me and ask to take the regents. Then I interview them and try to place them in honor class. I wish I could have only the kids WHO WANT to be in accelerated program. I wish...

Catherine Johnson said...

"Don't put the naughty one in one class, all good in another"

Catherine Johnson said...

Christopher says social studies is also very rowdy.

According to him, and I'm inclined to trust him on this, his math, ELA, social studies, and chorus classes are VERY rowdy - i.e. have the rowdy boys. (That goes with the territory for chorus, which kids sign up for to get out of having to take music.)

I asked if the same rowdy boys are in every one of those classes & he said no. (I was thinking this might be some "team" phenomenon.)

I'd love to know how this happened - and if his perception that he's got an "overload" is correct.

I know he's right about math, because Ms. K teaches 3 sections and only Christopher's section is **still** being punished with math.

Catherine Johnson said...

Apparently the other two classes were so well-behaved with the sub they'll never have to do math again.

Catherine Johnson said...

I bet those rowdy boys are sorry they didn't know that was an option.

VickyS said...

Catherine: when does your darn school end? Rowdy boys need summer vacation! Are those poor kids in school all year round? And I thought we were late with a June 12 year end!