This is a message I sent to my department head that outlines some of my frustrations with teaching science in the current educational climate. For my out-of-state readers, MCAS is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System–a set of high-stakes tests that high school students in Massachusetts must pass in order to graduate.
This is kind of a stream of consciousness post. The school year has been in full swing now for long enough to start to get to know and understand several of my students as people rather than names in a grade book. Also, the first of two nights of open house was last night, so I got to meet several of my students’ parents. Here are some snippets.
I work at being the kind of teacher my students are comfortable with and are willing to talk to if they need to. One way I develop and foster this comfort level is that one of my first assignments to my students is to find me outside of class time and have a 5-minute conversation with me. Some of the conversations have given me a lot of insight into some very difficult lives.
Five of the students from my AP Chemistry class participated in the Avery Ashdown High School Chemistry Examination Contest in Boston yesterday. Continue reading
Because I’m one of the teachers whom a lot of students are comfortable talking to, sometimes the things that are the most exhausting about my day are one-on-one conversations with students that have nothing to do with the subject I’m teaching. Here are a few snapshots from the past week:
My first-year college prep (middle of the bell curve) chem students have been studying different types of chemical reactions. I taught them to use the activity series to predict whether or not a single replacement reaction occurs. They can do this fairly reliably on paper.
I got my formal observation report back from my department head yesterday. My department head once reassured me that “No one but me will ever see your formal observation write-ups.”
Formal observation report from 1/29/08
My AP kids did an experiment today (or I guess yesterday because it’s now after midnight) involving thermochemistry and Hess’s Law. I think as a class, they’ve really become the scientists I’ve been trying to teach them to be.
After our usual 5 minutes of social time at the beginning of class, I suggested that they should start the experiment. They put on goggles, got out the equipment, and just did it. It was the first time all year that I got to simply enjoy watching them do an experiment without having to get actively involved at some point in the process.
It feels like I haven’t just taught them science. I’ve taught them to be scientists.
One of the things I find myself saying often about teaching and motivating students is that the biggest single factor I’ve found is the extent to which the kids see a possible path to success. No matter how easy it might be to be successful at something, the kids who can see themselves doing it will try, and the kids who can’t see themselves doing it won’t.
Dear student:
Before turning in a verbatim copy of someone else’s formal lab report, it would be a good idea to check to see whether your friend’s report contains embarrassing material that might be memorable enough to make its way into my Lab Report Quotes file.
Yours truly,
Me
