The summary of Midterm Exam week for M-Dawg . . .

I had a busy yet productive midterm exam week:

*Had Monday off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I cleaned and did some school work. I met a friend in Portsmouth for dinner.

*I didn't have exams the first two days. However, I was in a cleaning frenzy! I cleaned the whiteboards, desks, and swept the classroom floor. The custodians don't sweep my classroom. They empty the garbage cans (if I'm lucky). Everyone commented on how clean my room smelled and they could smell down the Hall. Good. It's better than the alternative! :-)

*Starting on Monday, I'll be teaching two sections of a new class called Current World Affairs. I co-wrote the curriculum over the summer with a colleague. I'm so pumped about teaching this class! Her and I met for three hours on one of the days to start planning and organizing the first week of the class. My numbers are high right now due to the teacher cuts.

*Corrected the Final Projects for my local history elective class. Some of the kids did an amazing job! One of my seniors made a model of one of the historical homes - the detail in the architectural features is amazing! Another student designed a Monopoly board game using all local street names, houses, and historical information. Cool stuff.

*We have no formal curriculum for the 9th grade World Studies class that I teach. It's frustrating but we all do our own thing right now. So, I typed out unit objectives and essential questions for each unit for the rest of the school year. At some point, we will have to write the curriculum so I figured that I might as well get a head start on it. Currently, I use the curriculum from my previous schools and align everything with the state frameworks.

*Midterm exams were given at the end of my week. My college prep kids tanked the exam. They didn't study at all for their exam. I gave them a study guide and told them to take it seriously. My Honors did alright overall. Looks like I will have high failure rates again for 2nd quarter. Ugh! :-(

*My co-advisor and I met with our class officers to start organizing their Sophomore Social. The kids seem to be under the impression that they can do everything at the last minute (Ex: book a DJ, get paperwork signed for approval, decorations, food, etc). They are in for a rude awakening . . .

*The Freshman House teachers met to discuss the grading policy. We had a huge debate about whether or not we should type in a letter grade (F) for those students that fail or enter a numerical grade (25%) on their report cards. All of the other grades are entered in as numerical. But, the idea of the F thing is to encourage kids to not give up and that they still have a chance to pass for the year. I believe in giving the numerical grade - I already give the kids a printout of their grades (I use GradeKeeper for calculating grades) so they know their "real" grade. Right now, only the Freshman House is going the "F" thing. We shall see if it works . . . .

*I would like to send my sympathy to my friend and her family. I attended the wake on Thursday evening of her father. Sending ya lots of hugs and love.

*Today after school, a few members of my dept and I went out for coffee at this cool cafe. We relaxed and chatted for a few hours.

So, it was a productive week overall. Exhausting. I have Saturday off from Paws so I will hang out at Starbucks to finish up correcting.

Finished correcting Midterm Exams . . . Finally!

I'm really disappointed in my students. Mainly my freshman.

They didn't study for their midterm exams. At all. Failed. Tanked. Either way you look at it, they did horribly.

I'm trying not to take it personal. One of the math teachers had 40 students fail for 2nd quarter. 40 students! Everyone I talked to on the freshman team told me they had huge numbers of failures for 2nd quarter. I had a total of 15 (which is down from my 23 from 1st quarter). Do you know how hard you have to work to fail my class? Pretty damn hard!

What are we doing wrong in education? I know I'm opening a huge can of worms here but I'm really frustrated and troubled by the fact that the majority of my students simply don't care about their education. Is it because of MCAS (the comprehensive test here in MA that doesn't allow students to graduate unless they pass this test)? Is it because we are expecting too much from them? Is it because of all the problems going on in the home/parents? Is it my teaching?

I'm jumping hoops to hook the kids in my classes. Interactive, hands-on, and group work. I do simulations, games, mock trials, etc. They are working on their writing and analysis skills since they need to know how to write in the real world. I try and make connections to them on everything we study in class.

I just don't know anymore. I love teaching history and I'm trying to keep a positive attitude but it's difficult when the majority of your students are not doing well in your class.

How do I teach them to care about their education????????

TGIF!!!

Cold. Tired. Need rest. Getting ready for midterm exams next week. Correcting hell. Grades. Ugh!

Anyone have any industrial strength caffeine??????