Entry #16 - Dec. 21, 1998

"I had an assignment all ready for students who failed to meet the science fair requirements and the parents were very willing to sign off and support my efforts to get their children to take responsibility for the missing work."

"Science Fair: The Event" is over, but "Science Fair: The Learning Experience" is just beginning. All of my classes completed an evaluation form which I haven't had time to read yet. They did seem to take it seriously though, and I'm anxious for a solid block of private, uninterrupted time to read their responses... a perfect fit for early mornings on break. My family should be grateful as I tend to wake them up if I'm not busy, a trait I'm told I've inherited from my grandmother...

All of the "winners" in grades 6-8 were students from the Annex, where I teach. I was happy our students did well, but disappointed by the imbalance in the results. I think it points back to the fact that teachers agreed to standards which they did not really support. The judging was very close and if a student did not do a log book or failed to list their references on the board, they could not win. Either of those omissions could cost a student four points, a combination could be up to eight.

I have decided to present each teacher with the judges' scoring sheets for their students' projects. If the data speaks for itself, I'm hopeful that we can have a substantive discussion of our future approach to the fair. I'm also going to write up a summary of my students' responses to the evaluation form, which I'll distribute in advance.

I have a great deal of respect for the teachers I work with and yet their failure to question or speak up when they find something unrealistic or disagree, continues to plague our work.

Time is always our biggest enemy. We live from deadline to deadline constantly playing catch up, rarely spending enough time on reflection. My sense of this problem is particularly acute this term because of my experience last summer.

In July I was part of a three person team who designed and implemented a summer enrichment program called TAPS (Technology Assisted Problem Solving). We were scheduled to meet at least an hour a day for planning and reflection. We usually emailed each other as well and all of this communication was for a half-day, three-week program which serviced only 40 kids! Contrast this experience with our daily load of 1100 students and monthly meetings that are never fully attended because folks teach more than one subject and have other pulls on their time. If the stakes weren't so high, it would be rather amusing that we expect to effect change with so little opportunity to plan and refine our work.

Another obstacle is the move away from specialization. Because teachers teach more than one major subject they get pulled in different directions. I teach science only, so my focus is squarely on science. I work hard to make cross-curricular connections, but I'm not responsible for math portfolios or writing prompts. I can't help wondering if our stated mission to "teach children not subjects" while admirable in its intent, has resulted in less focus and more fragmentation, in reality.

There must be a happy medium where we can achieve maximum focus on content without losing sight of the whole student or losing the hearts and minds of our staff. Of course, I'm inching my way toward the obvious need to reduce teacher-to-student ratios. It is the single reform that everyone can agree results in increased student achievement. However, it costs so much money and that is always the bottom line when you teach children who get lipservice rather than a serious commitment from their government. I'd better not start thinking about government priorities now, not this week, or I'll climb up on my soapbox and really start ranting and raving...

We had report card conferences for three afternoons this week and our turnout was impressive. While I enjoyed talking to the parents of my successful students, I was especially pleased that I had the chance to meet so many parents of struggling students.

I had an assignment all ready for students who failed to meet the science fair requirements and the parents were very willing to sign off and support my efforts to get their children to take responsibility for the missing work. The completed work is due as soon as we return from our holiday break. I'm optimistic that most of the families will make sure the work gets done. It's not the kind of assignment that would get done without a face-to-face discussion.

Being able to meet folks and explain our program made all the difference. Parents could sense that my intent wasn't to punish, but to give students another a chance and they responded in kind.

Read next week's entry >>>

<<< Read last week's entry


Read a comment about this week's diary

Post a comment about this week's diary entry

Find out more about Deborah

Back to Middle School Diaries index



COMMENTS ABOUT THIS WEEK'S ENTRY:

QUESTION FROM A READER: Deb, I'm curious about why all the winners were from the "Annex" in your school. Is your school tracked; i.e., does the Annex contain an accelerated group?

DEB REPLIES: The Annex houses one of our three vertical communities of students in grades 6-8.
Our kids are all drawn from the same pool of fifth graders. We don't track our students. I think the fact that all of the winners in grades 6-8 came from one community points back to the fact that teachers agreed to standards which they did not really support. Unfortunately, the judges held all of the students accountable for those standards so the winning projects were clustered in the classes of only three teachers.

I'm trying to understand why/how folks agree to require log books, etc. and then submit student work that doesn't reflect those requirements. The judging was very close and if your log was missing, you could not win. We had kids who didn't keep logs and they did not score highly enough to advance to the second round of judging, the round with outside judges. It saddened me to see excellent work stalled at the first level, but failure to keep a log or write a research paper etc. cost you points and only the top three projects could advance.

My hope is that this experience will teach our students to follow directions in the future, but when almost all of the 7th and 8th graders taught by other science teachers show up without log books, it leads me to question the adult level of buy-in, not just the students' performance.