Welcome to Teachers At Risk
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Jun
28
New technology equals new excuses for why students can’t submit work on time
Filed Under Evaluation, Web 2.0 tools and technologies | 2 Comments
Necessity is the mother of invention. I’m used to students giving me all kinds of excuses for why they can’t submit their assignments on time. Recently, I’ve heard- my printer isn’t working
- my computer crashed
- my printer’s out of ink
- my cat peed on it
- my dog chewed it up
- my baby brother flushed it down the toilet
Well, maybe not “my baby brother flushed it down the toilet”, but one student, Lydia, did tell me that the sink in her kitchen got plugged up, overflowed and ruined her project. Apparently, Lydia just loved doing her homework lying on the kitchen floor in front of the sink. She was doing her work there and got up to get something from another room and that’s when it happened. The sink over flowed soaking her assignment with dirty water ruining it. Go figure!
This year, I’ve been getting some new excuses all to do with USB drives. I can’t hand in my work because
- I lost my USB drive.
- I forgot my USB drive at home.
- My brother has my USB drive, and I can’t find him.
- I can’t find my project on my USB drive.
I advise my students to send me their work via email as a back-up in case something happens to their USB drive. No one has come up with excuses involving email, yet. Maybe they don’t know about Corrupted-Files. For a small fee, students can download a corrupted file and then email the corrupted file to their teachers.
This download includes a 2, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 page corrupted Word file. Use the appropriate file size to match each assignment. Who’s to say your 10 page paper didn’t get corrupted? Exactly! No one can! It’s the perfect excuse to buy yourself extra time and not hand in a garbage paper.
I guess it’s just a matter of time.
photo by rberteig
Jun
24
The power of report card comments
Filed Under Evaluation, motivating students, underachieving students | 2 Comments
It’s the end of semester, and I’m writing report card comments again. Ever since that conversation with Darryl, I’ve come to respect the power of report card comments.
I’m just trying to remember how long ago I taught Darryl. It was probably about 19 years ago, my first year at the vocational school. Darryl was in my grade 12 math class. It was one of the more lively classes I’ve taught over the years- if you get what I mean. Darryl, n0t his real name, really gave me a run for my money. While I was teaching the lesson at the beginning of the class, he’d pull out a small copy of the Bible and read it. When I asked him to put it away, he’d cause quite a commotion. It was the Bible after all. How could I complain about someone reading the bible he used to ask me. The class love it. (I actually thought at the time that was an ingenious way to get the teacher.) He persisted. I persisted.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Darryl had been the student council president the previous year. Everyone love him. The sun shone brightly on him, so when complained to the office they wondered what was wrong with me, the new teacher at the school. I found out that Darryl had actually graduated the year before but had come back to upgrade his marks. He was a very popular student and at the beginning of that first semester, he had more credibility with the office than I did!
Darryl and I finally got to the point where the bible was put away while I taught the lesson. Things seemed OK for a while, but when we got to algebra he started skipping class regularly. He’d skip class and then come for help during his lunch which happened to be my prep time. I thought that strange but decided that I’d help him even though he skipped class. Don’t ask me why I did that. To this day, I have no idea. It doesn’t make sense.
The relationship between Darryl and I continued to be a bumpy one. When it came to the end of the semester, Darryl failed the final exam and the course. I entered the mark on his report card and wrote the comments just like I do at the end of every semester and really didn’t think any more about it.
A couple of years later as I was walking down the hall, I was surprised to see Darryl. He was visiting the school and saying hi to all his friends. When he saw me, he came over and started to talk to me. He was all excited because he had just started an apprenticeship as an electrician. I was surprised and very pleased for him but wondered how he got the apprenticeship. Didn’t he need senior math to do that? While I was wondering about that, Darryl told that what I had written on his report card had made all the difference. After reading what I had said on his report card, he decided go to another school for a fresh start and take the math class again, and that time he passed .
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what I’d written on his report card that had made all the difference. I was actually quite embarrassed because I couldn’t remember, but I just had to know what that profound thing was so I asked him. This is what he told me, “You said I could do it if I really wanted to. It was all up to me.”
That was it “You can do it if you want to. It’s all up to you.” I was really surprised. Of all the things I had said all semester to encourage Darryl, it was the comment on his report card that made the difference. When Darryl told me how this comment affected him, I realized the power of report card comments. Ever since then I try not to waste the power and the opportunity writing them gives me.
Jun
22
Helping students avoid risky behaviours through character education
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Dealing With Stress, Goals, motivating students, underachieving students | Leave a Comment
photo uploaded by The ChristianAlert.orgI’ve spent a lot of time over the years in my role as a special education teacher trying to get students to stop engaging in behaviours that are destructive. This year I had my students read and reflect upon The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens in an effort to show them what choices they can make to get more positive outcomes for the future. I tell them if they don’t like the consequences of their actions, they need to change what they do. But, I’ve found that often they don’t necessarily know what behaviours to change or how to go about changing them. That’s where character education comes in.
I’m always looking for ways to support my students who have behavioural issues, so when I come across a new idea, I’m really interested. Recently, I came across a school wide behavioural program called Positive Action that is being used in Hawaii with 5th graders that shows much promise. The character building program continues through each grade and gives students a framework to guide their behaviour. It focuses on what to do, not just what not to do. Students learn to make better choices for better outcomes. Students who participated in the Positive Action program had fewer behaviour issues in school which resulted in better academic achievement. That’s definitely a win-win situation for teacher and students. I was surprised to learn that so many ten year old children engage in so many risky behaviours. I’m a high school teacher, and I know that teenagers engage in all kinds of risky behaviour, but I had no idea that kids as young a ten did. I wonder how many of you will be surprised as well. I wonder what my district is doing to help 10 year old children make better choices for better outcomes. What is your school district doing?
Jun
20
Independent Learning Centre courses not the answer for all students.
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, motivating students, underachieving students | 1 Comment
It’s the end of semester and once again teachers who support at-risk students taking Independent Learning Centre courses are totally frustrated. They’re calling home, running around (like the proverbial you know what) all over the school, the cafeteria and even over to the unofficial smoking area off school property (no smoking on school property) trying to find these students to get them to complete the course work before the end of the semester. The question I’m always asking is: Why would we expect these struggling/reluctant learners who skip classes regularly and don’t complete assignments be successful in an Independent Learning Course? The ILC model expects them to work independently- just what they don’t seem to be able to do.The ILC initiative came about because statistics showed that if students didn’t complete grade 10 by the time they were sixteen years old, they were at-risk of dropping out of school. No one wants that so the government decided to implement some changes. In the recent past, kids could drop out of school legally when they turned 16. That’s been changed to 18 now, so kids have to stay beyond 16. The other thing that happened was that schools got funding to set up alternative programs that would help these academically at-risk kids. Credit Resource Centres were set up in schools where kids could go and get the Independent Learning Centre course material they needed and work on it during their lunch time in the Centre or at home.
Here’s my question again: why would kids who skipped classes regularly give up part of their lunch time every day to do this extra work to earn a credit? They didn’t go to regular classes despite all kinds of pressure from school and home. Why would they be expected to go to extra classes? Why? I think it’s because the powers-that-be didn’t understand the nature of these kids. They wanted to help them and thought the ILC courses would be a great way to do it. They were well meaning, but misguided.
I don’t want to say I told you so ( yes, I do) but when I argued that using the ILC materials wouldn’t work for these kids, I was shot down but good! They just didn’t believe me, but I really know and understand these kids. After all, at that time I’d taught them for over 22 years. Now, three years later, more people really know and understand them. That’s a good thing. It’s back to the drawing board to find another way to help them.
Let me say here, that while the ILC courses may not be suitable for the students I discussed above, the courses are great for lots of other students. I’m a huge supporter of the ILC. I don’t want to leave the wrong impression.
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