Teaching: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The good: I don't know if I've ever talked about it before, but my school is piloting a new testing program that in my opinion is much better than end of year tests. It tests students at the beginning, middle and end of the school year so that you can truly see the progress they have made. What's more is that the test is individualized for each student. It starts them off on a typical 4th grade question and depending on if they get it right or wrong, they give them an easier or harder question. It is much like the GMAT because it hones in on exactly what the student knows and doesn't know to give an individual score. It's also wonderful for teachers because we can go in and see exactly what the students missed, what they struggle with and what they are good at so we can change our instruction accordingly. So that's the background.

Thursday, my students took the math test from this new testing program. Before we went into the testing computer lab, I sat down with each of my students individually and we set goals of where they wanted to be now and in May when we take the test for the last time this year. It was a really neat experience because the kids were really honest about how well they think they are doing in each of the subjects and they also got really excited to take the test because they wanted to know how well they did and how much they had grown. Thursday came, and I was a little nervous that some of them might not make their goal. We had a talk about how if we didn't make our goals, we'll know that we may have just made too hard of a goal and we will adjust them before May. We also talked about how small growth is still growth so if they didn't reach their goal, but they grew from September, then it was something to celebrate.

I was so happy (as were my kids) when some of their scores came up on their screens. There were several of them that had not only reached their goal for January, but had met or even exceeded their goal for May. It was incredible. They got so excited to see those scores on the screen, they could hardly contain themselves. And I was so happy for them that I was almost in tears. One of my lowest students surpassed his January goal and is only 2 points away from his May goal. I could see the light in his eyes as he realized that he had made so much progress in four months. Even one of my highest students surpassed both her January and May goals. It made me so happy for them, but it also gave me a boost in the self-esteem area as well because I realized that these kids are learning from me. Even when I feel like the world's worst teacher, they are still learning something! It was a very rewarding day, to say the least. This is why I became a teacher and this is definitely the best part about it!

The Bad: One not-so-good experience with the whole testing thing is I did have one student who scored lower than his September score. I still haven't figured that out because he is really low, and usually the lowest students make the most progress because they have more room to grow. This kid in particular is doing so much better in math than he was before. Just yesterday, he was zipping through his problems without a single mistake, while I was working with five or six other students because they were still lost (some of the students are typically really good in math too!). It was very disappointing to him. I didn't technically tell him that he scored lower, but he knew that he didn't reach his goal (and by a long shot) so he was really upset.

The Ugly: I had to deal with my first fight at school yesterday. And both of the boys were in my class so it was kind of a tough situation. I was coming to pick them up from recess and when I turned the corner, I saw one boy (let's call him Dustin) on top of the other (he'll be called Alex) with his fist raised like he was going to punch him. When Dustin saw me, he lowered his hand but still gave Alex a good push before getting off of him. At first I thought that they were just playing (I still would have talked to them because they shouldn't have been doing that either) but when I realized that it was for real, I had to call them both out of the line to talk to me. Alex was hyperventilating and crying really hard and so I asked if he wanted to cool down while I talked to Dustin. He did, so I was able to get the perspective of the instigator. He told me that Alex had taken a ball out of his hand and someone had pushed Alex into him but he didn't know that it was someone else and had thought it was Alex trying to pick a fight. So, he pushed him to the ground and was about to punch him when I showed up (just in the nick of time, I guess). I talked to him for awhile and it seemed like he felt really guilty because his anger had gotten the best of him (I should just say that this situation was tons worse because neither one of these kids is a "fighter" type. They are both extremely good kids so it was surprising).

I went back to talk to Alex. Meanwhile, my other students are still waiting in line and they were getting a bit out of control but I seriously didn't know what to do with them...He told me his side of the story which was pretty much the same: that he had taken the ball away from Dustin and then Dustin threw him to the ground and pushed him around. Finally, after a few more minutes, I could take the rest of the students back to the room. At this point, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to handle the consequences for the boys. I mean, I had never dealt with this type of a conflict. I didn't know if I was supposed to send them to the principals office, call their parents, give them pink slips or what. So, I had to call my vice principal (his first job is to help me and the other intern during this year) to my room. He came, I told him the situation and he told me that I should just give them pink slips since this was both of their first offenses. So, that's what I did.

It may not sound as bad as it was, but it was super tense. The other students all knew what was going on and they were all wanting to know what was going on. Dustin felt completely terrible and guilty. Alex was scared and emotional. And all the while, I was supposed to keep my cool and handle the situation. I must say that I was pretty proud of how I handled it. I was very calm and collected. I talked to both boys without anger and with respect. Both of them understood the consequences for their actions and accepted it whole-heartedly and I think both of them felt like it was handled the way it should have been. To end the day, I asked the kids if they thought it was a good time to read some compliments (we have a box where kids can write their compliments) and they all thought that was the best idea so the tension was released and we were able to get on with everything.

Well, that's my novel. Till next time, I guess!