I'll take Analogies for $500

This whole testing thing has got me thinking. One of the people I follow on Twitter posted a series of analogies about teachers and testing, and likening them to other professions/activities. I kind of like the medical analogy and want to spend this blog examining it (pun intended).

When I go to the doctor, once a year, he asks that I have blood tests completed at least 2 weeks before my appointment. When I  arrive for my appointment, the nurse checks my weight, heart, blood pressure and pulse. I see these all as tests.

When the doctor enters the room, we talk about how I am feeling. He has a check list of symptoms that we review and determine if there is anything we need to address.

We also talk about the results of the blood tests and what they indicate.

In the biggest picture, these are all progress indicators.

The doctor does not lose pay if I have a test result that is not what it should be.
The doctor does not have a bad evaluation by his superior if my cholesterol is high.
The doctor does not have a bad evaluation if my thyroid hormones are not what they should be.
I am not scorned or marked as needing to repeat the tests if my results are not as they should be.
I do not have to repeat the tests until the readings are what they should be. In fact, if my test results are not what they should be, the doctor and I discuss what changes I need to make to have better results. If I do not make these changes, it is not the doctor who is held accountable, it is me. And if I do not/cannot make the changes, the doctor offers alternatives to help me improve my health....interventions.

As a teacher, I have always viewed tests as these "progress"checks.

Are my students learning what they need to be learning?
Am I teaching what they need to know in a way that helps them learn? I have always told students that exams are not just what have they learned, but how well have I taught it to them.

Teaching and learning are that team effort. The moment in the "examination" when the team decides how to proceed.
What is going to help the learner/patient make better choices about their learning/health.
What can the teacher/doctor help the learner/patient with to have a better outcome?
If the teacher/doctor offers help/advice to have a better outcome, and the learner/patient does not partake of the offer/advice can the teacher/doctor be accountable?

Yeah sounds like that teacher cop out moment. But really....school is not like a factory. If it were a factory, the producer would choose the best raw materials to produce the best product (sounds like private schools that are selective of their students). I work in a public school. We don't have the luxury of being selective of who attends. I am a cheerleader and supporter for my students. I continuously encourage my students and treat everyday as a new day despite ....

As I sit here thinking of the "despite litany",  it also sounds like another teacher cop out moment. But really...I cannot control the actions of the people who come to school everyday and the things that happen to them  in the 24 hours between Monday's algebra class and Tuesday's algebra class. I cannot control the absent 3/5 days per week. I cannot control the growth of the brain that says "maybe not now, but later, you will be really good at this subject" or is wired differently and needs different approaches to a subject. I cannot control the chemistry that makes some students depressed, others ADD, and others ADHD. I can, like my doctor, offer help, suggest ways and alternatives to improve the outcomes. I can make interventions but unless the student/patient recognizes the problem and buys into the offers, progress is difficult at best. My doctor may say my cholesterol his high and I have to cut back on cheese. If I don't cut back, it is my problem, not my doctor's.

Houston, We have a Problem

I really didn't start out this way, but I have come to realize: I have a problem.

I am becoming addicted to Twitter....but only on the weekends.

First thing on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I catch up on my Twitter.

If I am house cleaning (a usual Saturday chore) I take a break to catch up on Twitter. 

Yesterday, my husband and I were shopping in the mall. He went to a gadget store. I went and sat down and caught up on my Twitter.

I read Tweets.

I compose Tweets.

I favorite Tweets.

I re-tweet Tweets.

I reply to Tweets.

I read blogs linked in Tweets.

I read articles linked in Tweets.

I follow people. I look at and consider the people who follow me and whether I want to follow them.

I have un-followed people.

People have un-followed me.

I look at the people that people I follow follow (huh?)

As of right now, I follow 185. Some are colleagues. Some are organizations. Some are educators I found through various other Twitter friends.

As of right now, 114 follow me. I don't necessarily follow everyone who follows me.  

The addiction part is heightened by the notifications. I look for those notifications. Someone Re-Tweeted my Tweet. Someone favorited my Tweet.  Someone decided to follow me. It's like reinforcement.  Usually, I am “favorited” or “retweeted” by my husband but once in a while, it happens by someone I perceive to be a Twitter celebrity, a well-known Tweeter. Twitterer? (Not sure what you call them).  In those instances, you feel like you have gotten 140 characters of those 15 minutes of fame.

Now, like any good addict, I never do this at work. Well, maybe just once or twice during lunch. And I am really just a weekend and vacation Tweet-aholic. I can pinpoint just when it started too: A weekend that started on Thursday and ended on Tuesday because of the cold conditions that canceled school. I knew I got the call from the Superintendent telling us there was no school, but I still had to check every possible outlet to make sure it was not some reality dream. And of course, there were Tweets from the school and various extracurricular coaches that school and practices were canceled. One of the cool things was the Tweets of various colleagues, reminding their students of the work/learning that should continue while we waited for the temperatures to rise to tolerable levels for our walking community. 

I would not say that Twitter rules my world or interrupts my life to the point that I need an intervention. I constantly tell my husband that when we retire we are going off the grid, like the Amish.

I can say that sometimes, you just have to watch some random Vine video posted on Twitter about a cat smacking a dog until the dog chases him (@FascinatingVids).

Or follow the fandom of local sports teams (@Browns, @Indians and @Mudhens ).

Or get some good life advice from Life Hacks (@life_cheates  and   @CoolestLifeHack).

Or get inspired by teachers (@hiphughes) and principals (Salome Thomas-EL @Principal_EL and Rock Star Principals @RckStrPrincipal) who are sharing their world.

And sometimes, it is the Tweets of inspiring students (@justinbachman3).

And seeing the coolness of my many colleagues as they tweet their classrooms and things their students are doing (too numerous to list here).

And sometimes you just have to let the world know what's going on in your world (@lisamwiegand).

Testing: The Saga Continues

This post is going to be purely about me.

My husband says he loves summer vacation.  He isn't on summer vacation....he has a "real" job.  He says he "loves" summer vacation because  (and I quote him directly): 

"I get my wife back."

The poor guy, he never knows who he is talking to for  9 months, the Wicked Witch of the West or Glenda the Good Witch.....heck, I never know who he is talking to until my lips start to move.  

I don't think I have slept through  from Sunday night to Monday morning all school year.  I have these  3 AM wake ups that start my brain rolling and  suddenly it is  5:09 and the alarm clock is going off.   I know some people just start their day when that happens.  

If I were still single, I would probably just come home from school and go right to sleep ( my stress coping mechanism).

In the last  2 years, I  have lost 20 pounds.  In the last month, I have gained back 8.  Instead of going home and sleeping, I head to the gym and work out.   It is supposed to help with the stress.  I guess it has prevented me from  gaining more than 8.

I have shooting pain from the right side of my head down my shoulder and there are days I can barely turn/tilt my head.

Friday night was the first time I hung out with friends since November.  (I had to skip my workout to make that happen). It's not that I couldn't make arrangements with friends....but who would want to be around me?

(I just read this post up to this point to my husband. I couldn't help but  start crying...maybe that will also help with some of the stress relief)

Every Sunday is dedicated to school work.  

I told my husband this morning that I will probably have a headache until June.

It's not that I don't like my job.  I love teaching.  I always tell my students I am fortunate because what I love to do pays me money.  I also told them I  would do this for free if my food and housing were covered (I liken it to the old west when teachers received these provisions as part of their compensation).  

I hate testing.  What happened this past week with testing and our students....it was borderline the psychology experiments of the  60's when there were no  ethical guidelines for human subjects. (Wikipedi article on Human subject research).  Can you say CRUEL AND UNUSUAL?

Believe me, I know people want to  know that their children will graduate from high school with skills that will help them be successful in life.  I know that  the greatness of  our country is based on the idea that we are pioneers and innovators.  I understand that the jobs kids in elementary school will work at are not even invented yet.  I do not believe, know or understand how what we will be doing in school from February through the end of the school year will help that happen.  I want my students in my classroom learning and growing.  It is not happening when they are testing.

I can't wait until  summer vacation.  

I can have myself back.

What does anyone really want?

I read numerous  blogs...many of them written by educators.  I follow  numerous people on Twitter....many of them educators.  The other day, I re-tweeted a tweet that said

"Dear America, teachers are the solution to education, not the problem" (@hiphughes). 

 I was excited because several of my colleagues re-tweeted my re-tweet.    

There was another tweet from Edutopia called 6 Characteristics at the heart of teaching and the blog article that was attached: "The Heart of Teaching: What it means to be a Great Teacher" written by Rusul Alrubail.  The article talks about qualities like kindness, compassion, empathy, positivity, being a builder, and being inspirational.  

What does anyone really want from schools?

I once had a student tell me that  grades K-12 are about  reading, writing and arithmetic but school is  really just to teach children how to play nice with others.  It is a time when you learn to communicate.  He felt that the real learning happened as you were older and learned what it was you wanted to be.  

I have had graduates come back and see me and thank me for always just being there; for being supportive no matter how many mistakes they made.

I have had graduates email me and tell me how fabulously they are doing and how much they enjoy college and wish they had someone like me to help them.

I have had graduates come back and tell me how they are still looking for what it is they want to do.

We have recently entered the testing "season".   It gives me ulcers.  It causes me so much stress....I can barely turn my head some days.  I was getting a room of students ready to test the other day. I told them if they heard a thump, it would be me hitting the floor because I  passed out. I was so anxious.  I was nervous and so were they.    We survived.  

No one has ever come back and said, "Thanks! You really prepared me for that test!"

No matter how hard I have been on a student challenging them to  do more....No matter how much I have tried to help my students with their academics, their  life plans, their vision of the future

NO ONE HAS EVER COME BACK TO THANK ME FOR THEIR PERFORMANCE ON  A STANDARDIZED TEST.

The end and the new beginning....

Friday, the quarter ended.  Technically, it ended the Friday before and was followed by  3 days of exams.  It is the end but also a beginning.  Crazy how that happens. It brings to mind that song "Closing Time":

 "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" (Semisonic)

I like fresh starts.  Every year, we take the time to look at the last year and make a resolution....a new beginning. 

My husband is a time travel junkie.  This impacts   our movie and TV watching significantly. Enjoying so many time travel stories, makes you stop and think....if there was an opportunity, would you go back and change something?  Would you create a new beginning that would cause a different end?  

Some days feel like  "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murrey waking up to the same day over and over.

Some times you wonder about the "Butterfly Effect" and how making  1 change would impact the rest of your life.

I think most people would  go back and change something traumatic in their lives.  I remember being about 4 years old and walking with  my cousins and uncles from grandma's house to my great aunt's house a block away.  We walked through a field and into a swarm of yellow jackets. All of us were stung  repeatedly.

That being said, I think most of our strong young memories are of trauma and not  of the good stuff and we would be too young in that situation to effect a change if we time traveled.  No one would listen to us.

Maybe it would be a decision we have more control over like what we want to be when we grow up.  Knowing where I am now, maybe I would be able to time travel back and become a teacher during my undergrad work rather than being so undecided and taking  3 extra years to figure it out.  

Maybe I would never have chosen to be  a teacher....can't imagine it but you never know.

I guess most people look back at something they regret and want to change.  I always try to  live with the theme 

Never regret anything you've done 

and 

never do anything you will regret.  

So in the biggest picture, I am always happy because:

 whatever it is, 

it is.

The End is Near

Today is the last day of Winter Break.  Tomorrow is going to be the hardest day to wake up and go back to the real world.

I am the queen of countdowns.

Two weeks of school and then we are into the  midterm exams.

One semester and 3 weeks of school left.

103 days of school left...(90 days in 3rd and 4th quarter, 10 days in the  2nd quarter and  3 days of midterm exams)

I always tell students the school year flies by...and for sure, senior year flies by.

Almost 21 years have flown by.

Happy 2015!

I care....

I think the greatest thing any teacher can give their students is care.  Any way you can express to students that you care about how they do in school helps them care.  I try to use humor most times but  there are times when ...well, I feel like a care more than they do....

I have a starting spiel for my tutoring class that goes something like this:

"Welcome to tutoring, today is Blankday!  All of you have should have something to do.  If you don't know what to do, let's check the grade book and figure out what it is you should be working on. There are  "X" days left in the quarter.  If you have an F, you have "X" days to fix it."  After this, there can be several conversations that follow:

"I really want to you to pass your classes, let's work on fixing the 23% with 20 days left in the quarter."

"I really want you to pass your math class, are you aware you have 10 missing assignments?"

"You have 5 F's; is there really nothing  we can be working on?"

"Can you come and take this test you missed 2 weeks ago?  It is really hurting your grade."

"Is there anything I can do to help you with (insert subject here)?  You have not passed a test yet."

"Can I help you organize the folded papers in your book bag?  It looks like you are carrying around your laundry in there."

"You know, you are missing 2 assignments in Social Studies; With a  58%, just turning in one of those will put you at a passing grade. Turning in both, will really  help you pass."

"Have you talked to your teacher about what is  holding you back?"

I think that is the  hardest skill students need to learn, communication.  Sometimes, I think students treat their teachers like the great and powerful Oz, who lives behind the curtain and everyone is afraid to see the person behind the curtain.  I like to  try to help students get behind the curtain and talk to their teachers. This is such an important skill for people to have, to be able to talk to their  "supervisors".   I sometimes will sit in a meeting and say to a student: "Just  ask your teacher, people really don't know this but we are rational  people."

I also tell them it is a skill that will do them well in college.  I know I did not take advantage of a professor's office hours when I was a college student and I should have.  It may have saved me  the agony of  changing my major and  not knowing what I wanted to be when I was done.  Who knows? I just hope my students can avoid conversations like the one below.
http://youtu.be/57aOIkaXQGc (if your mobile device doesn't see the video)