Entry #7 - Oct. 19, 1998
"Language-across-the-curriculum sounds like a superb idea --
until you're trying to implement it without the multilevel materials needed.
Borrowing 'baby stuff' from the primary grades won't help; the kids are
much too image-conscious to read and use material obviously meant for younger
kids."
With the Monday holiday, this was a short week -- thank goodness! By noon
Tuesday, I was snuffling slightly and felt that tell-tale tickle in the
bronchial tubes....uh oh. Mother Nature strikes back! The first colds and
flulike illnesses of the season laid low several on staff, but I muddled
along: I have to be REALLY sick to stay home. I think it's less a matter
of dedication than of inquisitiveness: I'm afraid I'll miss something! We
all swapped home remedies (echinacea, Vitamin C, zinc lozenges and so on)
and tried to soldier on.
Another reason for me to make the effort to get in there is the fact that
often a substitute teacher is not called to replace me (since I don't have
a homeroom), and it can play havoc with the other teachers' schedules when
that happens unexpectedly. I could tell I wasn't as on top of things as
usual and didn't keep things moving along at the optimum rate ( I couldn't
hear very well, for one thing) but hey, sometimes you just do what you can
and that's that.
We got our first glimpse at our new computerized IEP forms and new report
cards this week. The IEP forms are much longer and more detailed than their
predecessor but they will probably be easier to do (once we get used to
the new format) because the various sections prompt for a specific reply,
and it won't be necessary to generate two or three pages of comments and
strategies anymore. More like a short-answer quiz compared to an essay!
There are always a lot of problems with bugs and hang-ups in implementing
these new reporting procedures, and the short timeline and lack of availability
of computers and printers to get the job done makes everybody cranky.
The objective is to clarify reporting to parents and make the standards
more uniform: certainly a worthy goal, but I'm not convinced these reports
actually do that. We give each student a percent mark, and the average for
the grade at the school is also given, thus letting a parent know where
in the class order the student is performing. But "uniform?" Anyone
knowledgeable in statistics would certainly, upon learning that a student
got a 72 in Grade 7 History, ask "72% of WHAT?" There's the rub.
Although the curriculum may be standardized across all the school districts,
there's no escaping the often extreme variation in needs and prior background
that individual school populations exhibit. So it is highly unlikely that
a 72 at an urban, multi-ethnic school like ours is equivalent to a 72 in
an affluent suburban school, although the "uniform" reports would
have you think so.
I only wish that a fraction of the resources, investment of time, money
and teacher energy, going into REPORTING on student achievement could be
invested in planning and IMPROVING instruction!
It wasn't such a great week for
my young co-worker. She is still struggling to find work that fits into
the curriculum that her students can actually DO. A lot of them are still
what you would describe as "emergent" readers and writers. We
had a meeting to discuss some of the special-needs students in her room,
and a critical issue is appropriate programming for them.
There are a number whose reading level is only Grade 2 or even lower --
in other words, they cannot read ANY of the normal material for their classes.
Yet we have no alternative materials to use, and, realistically, how much
"individual" work can one teacher prepare? "Language across
the curriculum" sounds like a superb idea -- until you're trying to
implement it without the multilevel materials needed. Borrowing "baby
stuff" from the primary grades won't help; the kids are much too image-conscious
to read and use material obviously meant for younger kids.
I promised to help her come up with *something* -- starting with some quick,
informal assessments. But trying to adapt the mandated curriculum to students
with low literacy/numeracy levels, who are still very much in the "concrete
thinking" phase of development, will be quite a feat!
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