I Was Literally Speechless... And That's Not Easy To Do.

I got into a great discussion on #twitter last week.  It involved 'retakes' and 'grades.'  Specifically the discussion revolved around two questions:

a) should students be allowed to retake quizzes and tests
and
b) what is the maximum grade they should be allowed on a retake.

I already have a post that touches on this topic.  That one is titled Maureen Shouldn't have to Deal with This...  If you have not read this, I would strongly encourage it.


For those of you that have read my blog already know my opinion on this, but I feel it is important to re-address because it came up in a tutoring session as well.  A student, we'll call her Abby, had gotten an unusually low score on a test.  When we looked it over she admitted she did not study for the test, didn't ask questions, didn't prepare... she was not ready for this test and knew the 37% she scored was an accurate reflection of her efforts.

So we looked at the test and analyzed what we needed to work on to improve her score.  We looked at the topics and learning targets and I set up a plan for her to learn the material.  When she looked at the plan she told me she wasn't going to do all of that.  I was kind of taken back because Abby is typically a hard working student.  I was curious and asked her why she didn't like the plan; was it too hard, did she not like the teacher... what was up?

What she told me solidified my belief in retests.

"What's the point of studying all of it? I can only get a 60 on the retake."

Only a 60? So students that need to retake this test only need to know 60% of the material? Are you saying they can ignore 40% of the material?  Two days out of five are not important enough?   "It's not fair to give a kid an 'A' if it takes three tries" is essentially saying, "it's ok if you don't learn this; it's just a number on a piece of paper" (or on a computer in most cases these days.)

I looked at Abby after she said that and was at a loss for words.  As an educator I felt hurt, confused, and frankly a bit connected with her.  She was right - why should she put in the effort and energy of studying all of the material if she wouldn't be recognized for her work?  Why learn all three learning targets when one will get her enough material to max her score on a retake?

I could not on any level try to justify why she should spend hours of her own time reviewing material when her teacher has essentially told her, "it doesn't matter how well you do this next time, it doesn't matter how hard you work or study, you can only get a D-."

I wondered about the learning philosophy of the classroom.  Was the philosophy "you must learn all of this material in this format by this date" or "you must learn this material." I wondered how students could get motivated to study for a test they knew they couldn't get better than a D-.  I wondered how this fostered 'hope' in students.   I wondered how that policy instilled a sense of awe, wonder, and passion of learning in students.  I wondered why this adult was standing in the way of a student's learning instead of pushing them to feel the internal flame to NEED to learn the material.

But most of all I wondered what I could do to get these policies changed.  

An Attitude of Gratitude.

One of the wonderful things about being a teacher is that I get two times during the year (December and the end of school) to truly look back and reflect.  It is almost like a mid-year do-over twice a year where I can see if I need to adjust my heading.

Today, though, is not about changing course. As I was on my run today (one of my two resolutions that I kept this year) I was thinking about my end-of-year blog.  As I was composing these words in my mind (or thinking about my chocolate milk and pumpkin cookie that I promised myself for finishing all 10k) I noticed most of my thoughts were about how grateful I was for everything this year.   Being a more educational-themed blog, I am going to really stay focused on reflecting about my professional life over the past year.  That being said, I do want to take a moment just to say how thankful I am for everything in my personal life as well - a wonderful wife, two amazing children, incredible friends of all genres (hockey, gaming, professional, parents) - you each could get a post of your own and I'm thankful for each of you.

Professionally I have so much to be thankful for.  I am at an amazing school with a brilliant middle division team as well as fantastic leadership.  I have worked at schools where I got observed twice a year (maybe) for twenty(ish) minutes and was expected to put on the classic dog-and-pony show to ensure that all the little boxes on the clip board got marked off. Now I work at a school that encourages me to push my limits - to remember that we are here for the education of the whole student - to remember that teaching 'safe' lessons does not equate to good education - to remember that if I'm bored giving the lesson, the students will be spiritless in receiving it.  My administration encourages me to try new ideas, be creative, and challenge the students.  I'm not allowed to give formulas, can't provide reference sheets, or just hand out extra credit.  They back that encouragement with weekly planning time, development time, and collaboration time as well as financially supporting the staff to attend professional development workshops and conferences that apply to our individual professional growth goals.

That leads me to my second topic of thankfulness - The AMLE2014 conference.  I had the amazing experience and honor to both attend and present at this year's Association of Middle Level Educators national conference in Nashville. It kicked off with some great footwork from Dru (@DruTomlin_AMLE) and a live twitter feed.  During the three days I attended more sessions than was physically possible (I didn't bother eating lunch as the lines were crazy long) and learned so many new ideas and techniques that it would take me another decade of teaching to implement them all.  But just as important as the learning that occurred were all of the professional connections that I made.  I was so grateful that I attended a twitter session hosted by #mschat guru Todd B (@blocht574).  His session really showed me how to build a professional growth network through twitter.  Before his session I had a dozen followers and about as many tweets.  Now I'm in two to three twitter chats per week and have made more professional connections than I ever could have without this amazing resource.

Todd was not the only amazing educator I met while I was at #AMLE2014.   I attended Jackie H's (@jbhanlon) speed session on "Literacy Gone Wild" and was enamored by her energy and ferver.  I also got to be her plus-one at the #mschat meet up that evening where I met even more devoted teachers.  I am now a weekly regular at this chat for many reasons.  On top of the brilliant ideas that get shared on #mschat, the spirit and energy from the educators that post refocus me on my passion for teaching.  I'm also thankful for my other weekly chats: #ecet2, #edchat, #txeduchat, and of course Teach Like A Pirate #tlap - designed around the fantastic book written by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave).  Dave was one of the keynote speakers and amazed the crowd with his energy, magic, and math.  I attended his Teach Like A Pirate session as well and have implemented many of his concepts in my lessons.  I'm really thankful for his immense list of questions to help me truly cook my lessons perfectly.

I'm going to brag about my teaching partner for a bit for I'm really thankful for her as well.  She is one of the hardest working teachers I've ever seen.  Her lessons are creative, well planned, scaffolded, and thoughtful.  They are engaging and play to each students' strength while challenging the students at a perfect level.  She recently completed a "Survivor Island - Explorers" simulation that I will be blogging about next week which could be used as the template for getting students hooked and engaged for any social studies activity.  If you are having issues with student engagement, this is a post you'll really want to read.

There can be but one winner of Survivor Island

I really have so much more to say - but I'll just finish with this... Thank you to all that have made such a positive impact on my 2014.  Those that read the blog, please let me know how your year has gone.  I'd love to know what have been your highlights of 2014.   Have a save and happy new year!