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Standardized Testing: OVER!!

missfaleesha — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:58:14 +0100

My students took their last chance at the DCAS this past week… In the beginning of the year I, under TFA’s guidance and instruction, set a class goal to represent 40% gap closure. Basically it’s a goal of how much they need to grow to be on a trajectory to overcome the achievement gap in a couple of years. Our class goal was 824. When I initially calculated this, I laughed. In October their class average was at 768. I remember thinking, “I’ll just be happy if they get a class average over 800 by the end of the year.” An 800 represents a proficient score. Delaware, for better or for worse, believes in testing students multiple times throughout the year. One benefit of this is that it allows teachers to objectively track growth. I’ve slowly seen my students grow, but never quite meeting our targets for each test session. Going into this last test session, for the first time I felt at peace about it. I didn’t know what else I could do for them. I felt like I had given them everything I could in the time I had. Sure there are always lessons that can go better, but I still felt like I had done what I could do. I didn’t know if they would meet the goal, but I thought they might at least get close. The last few weeks I’ve tried to be as encouraging, inspiring, and motivational as possible which I don’t consider to be a strength of mine. Wednesday, test day, was probably the craziest day I’ve ever had in my school. There was a fight in the morning that later turned into a much bigger deal once the mothers arrived to take their daughters home. We spent about an hour on lockdown. I watched out the door window (as I was supervising 60 children by myself) a mother who became violet with our faculty and sent her daughter and friend on a mission to “f*** her up” in reference to a sixth grade student. Later I watched the mother and both girls be arrested and taken away in handcuffs. It’s a very strange feeling to be appreciative while watching 13 year olds in handcuffs. During this event, I also heard many of my students in the room recount of their experiences being arrested. It’s pretty heartbreaking to know that plenty of my students have records and probation officers. It’s definitely not something I was experiencing in my life at that age. Needless to say, the excitement of the morning made me very nervous for my students’ abilities to focus and be in the proper mindset to test in the afternoon. The first few students to finish did exceptionally well. I kept going over to computers and seeing huge amounts of growth reported. I started to even question in my own head that they just might make it. Getting to see the celebrations of students and shock on their own faces is a priceless moment. Being able to tell some students that they’ve grown more than 100 points in one year is an incredible opportunity. Come the end of the day, they met their goal. Currently the class average is at an 825, one point above their goal. I still have one student left to test so this is number may still increase if she does exceptionally well (though it cannot decrease). At the beginning of the year, just 8% of the class was scoring proficient. Now the class sits at a shinning 73% proficient. I couldn’t be more proud of them. It’s still hard for me to believe that we actually made it. It was definitely an afternoon full of moments that help me to know that all of the struggles and the lack of sleep in the past year has been worth it. I don’t think that I’ve changed their lives or that I’ve closed any sort of gap, but I know that I’ve done everything I could. I know that I made a difference even if it’s very small.

oh my sunshine....

missfaleesha — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:01:06 +0100

Funniest quote of the day…

A student asked my co-teacher, “Where does the Sun go in the winter?”

If this was a kindergarten class, I would think the question was really cute. Since the student is 15, not 5, and was present for the month long unit which we discussed outer space, including an activity on seasons, I’m not as amused. Still when I heard it, I just turned away and silently burst into laughter. You can’t survive in this profession without being able to just laugh once in awhile.

the mysterious weekend life i lead...

missfaleesha — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:53:07 +0100

I had a student ask today what I wear on the weekends. Many students struggle to understand why I dress up as much I do for school, so I'm not that unfamiliar with random questions about my attire. The life teachers lead outside of school also seems to be highly fascinating to them. Today instead of allowing me to answer the probing questions, a number of students enjoyed allowing their creativity to run wild... According to them, I wear booty shorts and walk my bulldog named Shaquita around the neighborhood on the weekends. It provided a good dose of entertainment, enough to not really worry about correcting them. I think they would be sadly disappointed that most weekends I spend sleeping, grading their papers, and writing lesson plans... in sweatpants!

my diversity story...

missfaleesha — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:02:45 +0100

One of Teach For America's core values is diversity and that means we get to talk about it which isn't exactly my favorite thing. Yesterday morning we had one of our monthly Saturday sessions of professional development. The agenda was pretty open that we would be discussing diversity. It's not the first time. Actually its one of the core values that I think we tend to talk about the most. I was dreading it. A lot of times diversity talks are either cliche and superficial or just end up in arguments and upset a lot of people. I generally keep my mouth shut because I don't actually like upsetting people. TFA generally sticks to the idea that diversity is important. Their public statement tends to say that everyone can be a great teacher but corps members who share a cultural background or race with their students are able to have an additional impact in the classroom. This is often hard to stomach being a white girl who grew up on a farm and has close to absolutely nothing culturally in common with her students. I've heard that message a lot and though it still stings a little bit each time it’s said, I don't necessarily disagree with it. Today however I actually started to understand within myself why it never sits well in my stomach. In the process of applying to TFA, I got to preference locations. This is something I spent a decent amount of time debating over. Being the true type A person I am, I even had a spreadsheet that allowed for an analysis on at least eight different categories for each of the 40+ regions. A few of the regions are in rural locations, and I had a lot of conversations in my own head over these areas. I often wondered if I should preference the rural areas because I would have at least a small piece of shared background with my student. I know what its like to grow in the in the middle of nowhere and that is a little something to connect on. I however decided that I didn’t want to continue living in a rural area. This was my time to move to the big city, to live on the coast, to see something new and different, to live the life I dreamed about as a little girl. I wanted that more, so I preferenced the east coast locations. I was adamant about not telling anyone my exact preference list, and I still haven’t shared that. I had various justifications for the decision at the time. Still I have often said that if you have to hide something you’re doing, there’s probably something wrong with it. Only now of course I realize that idea is pretty applicable to my preference list as well. I made my list for entirely selfish reasons, and I disregarded the thoughts of where I could be a great teacher and the thoughts of my future students. Ultimately diversity talks, I have a feeling, will always remind me of my selfishness and how I actively choose not to share any sort of cultural background with my students. I know I’m being hard on myself and ultimately it was just a list that TFA still held the final decision over. Nevertheless it’s a feeling that I face and probably a good reminder to keep my intentions in check.

don't be too surprised... but i'm actually being positive

missfaleesha — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:15:24 +0100

Today was a good day. I decided it's not to often I dwell on the positives so I thought I could at least share this. We're taking our standardized state tests for science (not the highlight... not at all) and that means we have block scheduling where classes are two hours. Trying to teach children for two hours straight while they're also spending a different two hours staring at a computer screen answering boring questions is not easy. I decided to do something new today that I'd been wanting to try-stations. The idea of centers or stations is much more common in elementary, but thought it had some middle school potential. It took me quite a lot of time to prepare however of course I did it all the night before. I was worried going into it. For the most part, it seems the things I think will work great and really prepare for tend to fail miserably. But today, it worked. It worked really well actually (of course not perfectly but I'm being positive). It worked so well that even the students commented on how much they enjoyed it. Pretty sure that's never happened before. Since I'm only proctoring tests tomorrow, I got a manicure and a massage tonight and took the time to make myself a good dinner. Pretty great day for the most part! It's actually nice to be back after spring break. I definitely understand its purpose now. I was really struggling before break and didn't want anything more than to be back home. It actually scared me because I was afraid I wouldn't want to return to Delaware. Spring Break however was perfect. It was just the right length and I got to see a ton of people to really rejuvenate myself. Now I've also realized I consider Wilmington home (well one of a few but still a home nonetheless). I was actually a little bit excited to come back and be back in my own apartment and my own bed. This place is familiar and I do love the feeling of familiarity and being settled. Spring break definitely gave me the energy I need to finish out the next 33 school days strong!

the occasional joys of grading...

missfaleesha — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:46:56 +0100

Grading is a pain. Period. It just is. However I have one student who always leaves commentary on story problems after answering them. It cracks me up and makes grading a little less painful. Question 24 commentary: Dale has 12 red skittles and 8 yellow ones. But they red ones are better cuz the yellow ones just taste like lemon-scented soap or something like that. ew! Question 25 commentary: "Sally has 12 white and 21 purple marbles. I bet even they would taste better than the stupid yellow skittles that Dale had up there!" Question 30 commentary: "A car running on 25 gallons of gas can run for 225 miles. I want a VW cuz they're cute. I mean I know they're sorta ugly but... I don't know I sorta like them. None of this has to do with the problem so I really hope I got it right otherwise this will be really awkward later." And as for the extra credit....

thought process.

missfaleesha — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:42:55 +0100

It's a pretty regular occurrence that I get in my car to head home, breathe a sigh of relief, and think to myself 'made it through the day... and it went pretty well.' Days are good. In the classroom/hallway/lunchroom/team meeting moments, I feel pretty in control of things and like I have a handle on life. Then come the evenings... Even starting on my drive home, I begin processing. I stop and think about the comments that my colleagues made today, and then I realize that I don't trust their motivations and don't want them teaching my children (I get very maternalistic over the students I teach). I remember that the promise I heard from an administrator during the day is something I've heard for the last four weeks now without seeing any action. I remember that one of my struggling students was absent again today and then I have to question how she's going to make the growth necessary when I only see her 3 maybe 4 days each week. I start to reflect and realize that today wasn't that good of a day because I didn't do enough today. I think about all that needs to get done before we take our next standardized test, before the end of the year. I question how on Earth I will take a big enough piece out of that pie, tomorrow, so that we can make it to the end of the year, so that my students can walk into a high school classroom, come August, and be successful. Yeah, it's the evenings that are overwhelming.

yes, these things actually happen...

missfaleesha — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:35:50 +0100

It was a long day. Let me explain two parts of the ridiculous points that happened within just one period. 1. Two of my female students were arguing and yelling back and forth. This happened about twice and I got them to stop and turn around and continue doing the classwork. However, the third time they were standing fairly close and nearly yelling. I intervened, asked and figured out what was happening with them responding in calm voices (reason was pretty minor disagreement on differing perspectives of a situation). While I was still standing there, they started yelling at each other again. This time after I repeatedly asked, they weren't stopping or sitting down. So I started yelling, just a general ahhhhh scream. As they got louder, I got louder. Eventually I was louder than them, and they stopped, and just looked at me. At that point I said, "Yeah I can yell louder than you so sit down and shut up." I'm not proud. Even at the time, I knew it was pretty funny for those witnessing. For clarification, this wouldn't be the way anyone would recommend you dealing with any situation I'm pretty sure. But... it worked. Pure ridiculousness. 2. We used glue sticks today in class. Apparently by the 8th grade, students are not responsible enough to do so however. One of my students opted to coat the entire seat of a student chair with glue and leave it for whoever sat down next. Another student sat down it, figured it out, and changed chairs leaving it empty until of course I sat down on it. Let's just say, I was a little bit upset and felt like I was in a Dennis the Menace cartoon or something. Again pure ridiculousness. I hope you can laugh at this. Between the moments of frustration in my head, I was laughing too. Sometimes I don't even believe these things are actually happening to me. Thankfully, I have a training tomorrow and will get a 24 hour break from my lovely lovely little cherubs.

my political thoughts...

missfaleesha — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:12:10 +0100

**These are my political thoughts which yes, I expect some of you out there to disagree with.

I popped some popcorn and sat back to listen to what the leader of our beautiful country had to say to me this evening...

I agree with most of what President Obama said regarding education. I believe that schools do need resources (or some way) to keep teachers around anddefinitely should be able to reward those who are doing an exceptional job. I believe strongly that schools need the flexibility to be able to cut teachers that aren't up to par. And I would generally support legislation to increase the drop out age to 18.

They're pretty words, but now let's see what can actually get done (applicable to many more topics beyond education). Specifically regarding education, the thoughts are nice but the answer to 'how?' still needs some development. We also need some organizations to realize that these are 'common sense concepts' and to stop blocking the attempts at development just to protect those who are failing.

I'm heading to bed a midnight, yes.... BUT I have all my worksheets and class notes done for the rest of the week in math! I consider this a miracle and a major achievement in my goal of living a more sustainable teacher life!

Remember that standardized test I was terrified of...

missfaleesha — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:50:33 +0100

My kids didn't totally fail..... They didn't meet the overall goal (though many students met their individual targets) but were only a few points shy. Their rate of growth competitively to the other math classes is impressive though. I'm very proud of the growth they made, but its pretty similar to the state as a whole. Though I'm definitely smiling after this testing, we've got a lot to do before we take the final test in May. Data isn't everything. There's a lot of things that make me a good or bad teacher that data can't really look at. I know that, but in the same way having some data on your side is nice. I don't do everything perfectly according to the way our curriculum and district would like me to. For the past few months, I've just tried to stay quiet about it and hoped that no one noticed while I questioned myself and my decisions constantly hoping what I was doing was right. But now finally, I have something to justify my decisions by. I feel a little bit better prepared to defend myself for the point in time that is likely to come where someone questions what I've been doing. That's one of the most relieving parts about having this data. Also, yes Delaware did in fact get some snow this weekend. It was only about an inch overnight and then turned to sleet in the morning. Still it's kind of white here, and I'm enjoying it completely! Monday the high is predicted to be 52 degrees with an 80% chance of rain. Ugh.