We're Back!

We were given this graph at our last staff meeting. It's relatable for not-just-first-year-teachers. Forgive me my slump, but I think I'm pulling myself out of it.

I was frustrated. Work was rough. It felt like playing tug-of-war with 12-year-olds who are bigger and stronger than me. Once their parents joined in, I had no chance. Plus, I hurt my foot and haven't been running in 3 weeks.

Fortunately, my colleagues joined the team, and we're starting to win.

On Tuesday, I had a particularly difficult phone call with a parent. She accused me of picking on her daughter. "At first, I thought she was a troublemaker, but after getting these phone calls so many times, I'm starting to think the teachers are picking on her...I want to meet with Principal and see if she can be transferred out of your science class...the Dean agreed that he doesn't know what is going on, that you must be picking on her."

Ouch. I cried a little. Of course, the principal and dean stand behind me 100%. After some hard-core brainstorming sessions, the dean pushed me to realize that this girl comes home every day and says, "Teacher did this, Teacher kicked me out for no reason, Teacher took dollars for no reason." SHE owns the relationship between her mother and me. Dean convinced me to suck it up, and own the relationship. So, yesterday, I took a deep breath, clenched my sweaty fists, and called mom. I shared how well her daughter did in class that morning, and how excited I am to improve communication between us. It went well.

I started a Time, Tone, and Place working group. "Time, Tone, and Place" is verbiage we use at school to teach kids to appropriately respond to unfavorable situations, rather than talking back immediately. For example, if a student loses a dollar for talking, but it was really their peer talking, they are expected to get back to work, and talk to the teacher after class or at lunch time. This working group was created for those students who are the talk-backiest. (And I am an expert on talk-backiness. Just ask my parents.) These students were given notepads, which they are encouraged to carry around, and jot down their thoughts and arguments. They will then meet with their mentor a couple of times a week (about 1-2 kids per 7th grade teacher) to figure out how to best approach the situation in a mature way. They can earn dollars for using their notepad properly. So far (since yesterday), the notepads seem to be working. The kids are excited, and we assigned them to mentors that already have solid relationships. We're hoping that by choosing the right 10 students for this group, we can significantly improve the response-to-feedback culture in the 7th grade with minimal effort from any one teacher. I call it a delegation win!

Yesterday, I had to videotape a class to PiA a Relay assignment. I was looking for a particular questioning skill. I had a PERFECT questioning moment, that showed the students working hard to teach each other complex skills, with minimal effort on my part. It went like this:

(Key point of the lesson: Acceleration is any change in velocity, including increasing speed, decreasing speed, and changing direction. An object is not accelerating only if it is not moving, or traveling at a constant speed and direction.)
An airplane is landing at an airport. As it reaches the runway, it slows to a stop. Is their airplane accelerating?

Student 1: I think it is not accelerating because it is slowing down, not speeding up.
Student 2: I disagree with Student 1. I think it is accelerating because it is decreasing speed, it is not moving at a constant speed.
Teacher: I can't decide. Let's take a vote. Show me on your hands. 1 if it is accelerating, 2 if it is not accelerating. All hands up in 3, 2, 1...[most students raise hands, teacher says things until 100% of hands are vertical] Student 3, why did you choose 1?
Student 3: It is accelerating because it is not moving at constant speed and direction, it is slowing down.
[Student 1 raises hand.]
Teacher: Student 1, what would you like to add?
Student 1: I now agree with Student 3, because I realize that the plane is accelerating because accelerating is slowing down or speeding up.

And then I realized the video camera was off.