Yesterday I posted about a sophomore class of mine only having 12 of 32 students turn in an explanation/informative essay. I must correct myself–it was actually 13. I realize each individual class period is different, but, for the most part, my first four classes are decent. Some talk too much, or joke around, or not do work, or turn in work in pencil, or not read, or fail every test, or laugh with their friends, or spend time on their phones, or do work from other classes, or use my microwave after the bell has rung, or take pictures of me in class and then put that picture on the Internet, or cuss, or turn their backs on me–all ridiculous, sure, but a quick raise in octave of my voice can snap all those behaviors right back to normalcy. I don’t thoroughly despise the chaos, for it means they are engaged in something, and it’s not a big deal when it’s “go time.” They’re kids. They need some fun in life.
But those are my good classes–APN English for seniors and Honors English for sophomores. The class I end my day with is regular old sophomore English, home of the 13 for 32. It’s an eye-opening class to me because I’ve been spoiled by APN and Honors English over the years. I student-taught in 1987 and had a class of regular juniors. I taught at Long Beach Poly for four years and never had an Honors class. Some of my classes at Long Beach Poly were even deemed “basic.” At North High, over my 17 previous years, I have taught regular seniors, freshmen, and juniors. I also taught Creative Writing which did have some Honors kids in it, but also featured students who were in there to make up credit for failing English a previous year. I’m no stranger to the regular student.
I keep looking for ways to make English easier for my regular sophomores. You can find learning and lessons in almost everything, and the curriculum we’ve tried this year has worked here and there, but there are too many kids who don’t want to play along. After the 13 for 32 debacle I wanted students to get some points, to get back in the game by doing something they could easily do. Their assignment? Try something new.
Talk about keeping the playing field even. For those who might not think that assignment worthy, I offer that it involves speaking to the class (a Common Core standard) who would be listening (a Common Core standard), and that “trying something new” opens up anyone to circles previously unknown or untried. It’s kind of tricking them into speaking in class–I mean, come one, we try something new all the time–but it’s also so good for them to hear what others are doing and that there really aren’t a bunch of amazing people in class that a student should fear. You see the way others write and/or speak and, most of the time, you don’t feel so bad about yourself. That was my goal here.
What does one say about the best laid plans? This–when I got up in front of my students and asked them what new thing they tried, I got several responses. One went along the lines of, “That was due today?” Another sounded something like, “I didn’t know what to do.” Perhaps I heard, “I didn’t do anything.” I know I heard, “Can we have more time?”
Try to let that sink in. I have 40 minutes of class left, all of which were to be used getting students up and speaking about an easy topic so everyone could show that they are better than the previous day.
This is how I end each day at school. Actually, I end it trying to pull out of a parking lot that has double-parked cars blocking me at every turn. In each car is a parent, parked in the lane that should be moving, sometimes with their hazard lights on, waiting for their kids to come. Cars have to pull around them; I have to tell them I’m leaving so they’ll move their cars. Sometimes, the parents look annoyed that I should want them to move their cars so that I can leave and others might not have to pull around them. They look as if this is the valet parking often found in elementary schools, where parents wait in long lines to make sure their students don’t have to walk far from the curb.
This is what parents do. Why should my students’ behavior surprise me so?