This is not what I meant when I said take notes

Caught my first kids passing notes in class today. Surprised them too :-) I saw them passing the note and didn't react at all. I waited until the next time they were doing it, then made sure I was looking in totally the opposite direction and said in a calm, even voice, not changing my tone from the lecture, "L***, you can put that in the recycle bin please" and then kept teaching. They were a bit stunned...heehee...the small joys of teaching. Anyhow, after class, curiousity got the better of me and I dug out the note (and the 2nd one I confiscated from them later in class)...thought you folks might like to see what's going on in the minds of two Grade 10 students.

Boy: I'm very high!

Girl: Okay

B: This sucks. Mr. Goodlet looks to mel ike he's having a seizure.

G: lol...that's kinda funny

B: Sure. Like looks like an egg. F*ck this is hard to write...haha hot girls behind you.

G: lol...you can still see them, is anyone else still the same?

B: Jordan isn't but Sarah H looks hotter than she is. my hands are black from a fire.

G: fun....

B: not really. Wow, I haven't gotten stoned for so long. Ha - Meredith shaped his hat this morning.

G: ya...Rodney droped it for him :-P Me and Meredith broke up Tuesday

B: Why? I thought he was a good guy!

G: He is a good guy it's just that he's not right for me.

B: What's right for you? Athletic, prep, jock?

G: lol kinda but no. More like semi-athletic and semi-smart.

B: More like M*** W*****?

G: No are you joking me?

B: What's so bad about him?

and on and on and on...quite the soap opera. And for the record, I have no idea what I was doing that "made it look like I was having a seizure". *laugh* Anyhow, the interns all got together for dinner tonight and this note was quite the hit. I've been told to include it in my portfolio :-)

FES

Today's topic is the trials of a poor foreign exchange student (FES). It is also a lesson to any readers out there who may end up as VPs or principals of a school...or frankly in any management position - don't dig your heels in without fully considering the request!

Okay, what went on? FES is from Japan and she finished grade 10 there last year. She intends to do grade 11 and 12 in Fredericton and graduate at the end of next school year. Unfortunately, a mix up occurred. Depending on whose story you believe, either her mother read the form wrong, or it took too long to be processed or it was misread here. But the end result was that somebody took a question that said "What grade did you last complete" and read it as "What grade do you want to complete". The entry was a 10, so they placed FES in all grade 10 courses (including my grade 10 math), despite the fact that she was grade 11 age and had already taken the grade 10 courses in Japan.

When FES learned of this at the start of the year, she went to speak to the VP responsible for all FES's (this VP is the object of our lesson). The VP looked at her file and said "No, it says here Grade 10, quit bothering me." Not to be deterred, FES next visited her guidance counsellor and explained the situation. The guidance counsellor visited the same VP and was told "No, it says here Grade 10, and I already told her that. Quit bothering me."

So poor FES slogged through grade 10 math for the second straight year, bored to tears and earning a 99 in the course (she is a great student). My cooperating teacher asked her what her story was and heard her tale. So he went to talk to the same VP, who said "My god, we've already looked into this in great detail - the form says grade 10, quit bothering me." My cooperating teacher pointed out that she was acing every single test because she'd already taken the material in Japan. The VP blustered "Well, it must be her lack of English then". Not quite. FES has lived in the US for five years and her English, both spoken and written, is better than 95% of our class. Finally, the VP fell back on "We can't change the form and it's too late in the year to change any courses. Now quit bothering me."

Fortunately, my cooperating teacher doesn't take no for an answer...but he's a bit sneaky. We started trying to get FES to complete the entire year of grade 10 math by the January exam, so we could at least move her to grade 11 math in second semester. Then he went to the VP in charge of math and science (fortunately a different one than the one in charge of FES's) and plead her case again, this time with a folder full of her perfect test scores. VP talked to VP, the stubborn one caved, and the next thing you know we're being told "Hurry up and move this girl into grade 11 math right this instant, before the end of semester. She has to earn enough credits to graduate on time in a year and a half!"

*sigh* At least things have worked out for FES, who is truly the most agreeable student I have met in my six weeks at the school. But man, she must think the school is totally incompetent...and I certainly learned some lessons about how to handle stubborn VPs!

Mr. G Phone Home

Kind of like ET, but I actually didn't phone my own home (although that does remind me that I need to call my parents this weekend!). Instead, my cooperating teacher and I made a large series of phone calls last week. I teach two grade 10 classes. There are about 55 or 60 students total. To pass the course you need a 60%. We decided to call the parents of all the students whose marks were under 65%. Guess how many? Yup, 26 sets of parents to call. Not at all encouraging. *sigh*

Anyhow, this was a very valuable experience for me. I got the "easy" calls, but how easy is it really to call up someone at work and tell them their daughter has a 46% in the course, is likely to have trouble passing the year, and it's mainly due to her never doing her homework and not paying attention in class. Amazingly, all the parents I spoke to were extremely supportive. They wanted to know what extra help options were available (which, of course, their kids knew about all year but hadn't taken advantage of) and what they could do to encourage their kids more. The next day at extra help? 16 students. Since then? One. Oh well, at least they responded for a day.

But this was a really good thing for me to learn. In talking to some other interns, they haven't had the chance to interact with parents at all. At parent-teacher interviews, I was allowed to interject whatever my own thoughts were. And calling all these parents, I was unsupervised and on my own. Teacher's college prepares you for how to teach content, but not for how to run a classroom or manage the relationships with other teachers, principals and parents. This internship is doing a great job of all three. I know I'm lucky to have landed such a helpful cooperating teacher, who lets me do all these things. I know when I get my own class, I will now not be afraid to make contact with parents.

Dancing the Night Away

Hello silent lurkers (little encouragement to leave comments there...)!

I apologize for the lack of updating the last couple of weeks. Turns out teaching full time makes one very busy! Hard to believe I only have a week or so left...I'm just getting comfortable with these kids. Oh well, I've been assured that I can supply teach them whenever I want :-)

So, no posts, but I was keeping track of a couple of things I wanted to write about. The first is that a couple of weeks ago, I spent my Tuesday night supervising a school dance. I'm officially old. I found the kids very, very funny, but not because they were trying to be.

It was a semi-formal, so the girls were all dolled up in very nice dresses, some with gloves and corsages and so forth. The boys weren't allowed to wear jeans, so for the most part dressed alike - okay pants, button shirt and a tie that at least started the evening done up properly. And gleaming white sneakers. The first couple of kids I saw that way I felt sorry for. Poor them, they either don't have the money or the fashion sense to realize that running shoes and dress up don't go that well together. But then I saw another, and another and another. And it's not just running shoes. It's specifically all-white high-cut shoes. Turns out it's a "look" :-) Who knew?

The dance itself was fun. I saw breakups and hookups. My job was to basically make sure nobody fought and nobody had sex in the gym. Don't make love or war is the school's motto. And the kids had a good time. But things have changed a bit since when I was a high school student...and somethings have remained the same.

Different
- dance on a Tuesday night
- starts at 7pm ends at 10pm!
- only allowed in between 7:00 and 7:30. After that, tough.
- all of the above seem intent on stopping drunk students from showing up

Same
- Much Music Video Dance!
- the music...despite all this newfangled stuff on the radio, the biggest cheers and most dancing came from, and I kid you not, "Cotton-Eye Joe", "Greased Lightning" and "Old Time Rock and Roll" (yes, Bob Seger)...don't know if it makes me feel old or young that I knew the songs they all liked!

Anyhow, fun times at a high school sock hop. Nobody got drunk that I saw and nobody had sex (again that I saw), so I did my job. And put in some face time with the VPs at the school :-)