School of Life

In The “Short” Guide to Life from Engage Their Minds, the author shares about a podcast that he was listening to and something that stuck with him.

“Short reminisced about a tough period he was going through in his late twenties when he first asked himself, “What if your career was one of nine courses you took?” He explained that you could still get a “good GPA” even if you didn’t do well in one of the categories. You can read about the categories in this article by Ben Carlson. The comedian/actor reflects on his performance in each category about once a year.”

The article states these are the nine categories that Martin Short used to review his life each year:

“Category 1: Self. Your own personal health and safety.
Category 2: Immediate Family. The proverbial spouse and children.
Category 3: Original Family. The people you grew up with.
Category 4: Friends. The health of your friendships.
Category 5: Money. Right or wrong, the scorecard most people pay attention to.
Category 6: Career. How fulfilling your work is.
Category 7: Creativity. Your innate creativity outside of work.
Category 8: Discipline. Having the self-control to implement your goals.
Category 9: Lifestyle. Are you actually having any fun?”

I thought it would be fun to have my students do this review along with me.

Looking back at 2020, I think I did pretty well.

Cat. 1 – Grade: A. I self-quarantined with my husband for 9 months. We wore masks when we went out in public and we only went out when we needed groceries or had a doctor’s appointment. We did not do any large social gatherings. In December, we did go to stamp club meetings in person but there were only about 10 people in a large gym and everyone maintained social distancing.

Cat. 2 – Grade: A. I love being with my husband 24/7 and we have been this way for the past 13 years since we retired.

Cat. 3 – Grade: B. My sister lives hundreds of miles away and I have seen her in person for years. We tried to take the Amtrak train up to see her but had to cancel due to Covid. Her husband of almost 50 years died suddenly of heart failure in July and I couldn’t go in person to support her.

Cat. 4 – Grade: B. I didn’t keep in regular contact with some friends that I should have.

Cat. 5 – Grade: A. We spent a lot less because we weren’t able to travel. We were able to save a lot of money and buy my parent’s house after they died.

Cat. 6 – Grade: A. I’m agreed to teach 2 more courses for Furman even though I’m “retired.” The 2 courses are fully online. I’m still teaching 1 course every July and this past July the course was taught online which was extremely challenging.

Cat. 7 – Grade: C. I’m not very creative and I need to work harder on that. I want to do more knitwear designs this year.

Cat. 8 – Grade: A. I accomplished the goals that I set for last year and I’m extremely proud of that. This is the first time I was able to meet all of my goals.
H
Cat. 9 – Grade: A. I am enjoying my life. I have several hobbies that I can choose from at any time. I love to read, knit, crochet, spin yarn, and garden. I also love to travel which I have really missed this year but I‘ve been able to do other things anyway. I also love being able to get on Zoom to meet with others.

So overall, I did okay but I can do better. Now that I know what categories I will evaluate, I may do a better job this year.

I always think it is a good idea to teach students how to reflect on their behavior and actions. The more we are honest with ourselves about how we have done, the better we can be in the future.

Give this a try. How did you do in each category? Please share.

Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash

The Dreaded Teacher Observation

In Are Teacher Observations Helpful? From @DavidGeurin Blog, David Geurin asks,

"Question: How are observations working at your school? In what ways are they helpful or not helpful?"

At our school, each teacher was formally evaluated every three years. Part of this formal evaluation was at least two unscheduled observations.  

I hated these with a passion! When an administrator walked in my room for an observation, I would stammer and shake. I felt like I was going to pass out!!

I knew that I was a good teacher and usually passed these with flying colors but I couldn’t help but get nervous!

I would warn my students about the observations and even asked them to help me get through it. They were usually surprised I felt this way and were quick to come to my aid. Of course it helps that I had a great rapport with my students.

Since I knew what was expected for the evaluation because we had forms that were used to evaluate us, I modeled all of my lessons so that I covered each item on the list. If I made a habit of doing what was expected for every lesson, it would become natural and not forced. Once my students saw what I had to do, they would make sure I didn’t leave any parts out of the process. I even wrote a lot of the process on the board so that they helped me cover everything. Eventually, I didn’t have to write the process out and the students let me know if I forgot something.

My problem with these type of evaluations is that I feel like I’m putting on a performance rather than real teaching. I’m so nervous and anxious that you wouldn’t think that I knew what I was doing.

Luckily I had a few administrators at my last school who knew I was a good teacher and was able to evaluate me without it seeming like a formal observation. I invited administrators to eat lunch in my room even if I was teaching because my room used to be an old home economics room. My room was equipped with 3 kitchens and 1 full refrigerator. Since my special ed class was so small, the administrators could eat in one kitchen and never disturb my class. It was during these times that they were able to see me teach and I was so used to them being there that I wasn’t nervous around them.

I wonder how many teachers get “dinged” for not doing things during these observations because they were so nervous they missed things. I don’t think it is a fair way to determine if a teacher is a good teacher or not.

I know many people are not in favor of cameras in the classroom but I think it would be a wonderful idea. I would not teach in a different style if an administrator was in the room or not but I would be more comfortable no knowing if I was being watched. I also think many students would be better behaved if they didn’t know if they were being watched.

So, I guess I don’t think observations are very helpful but I’m not sure there is a better way to evaluate a teacher. There aren’t enough administrators to go around and observe teachers as much as they should. Once a semester seems like a waste of time to me other than for the district to have some kind of documentation if they need to fire you.

How do you feel about teacher observations? Do you think they are helpful or not and why? Please share.

Using My Inner Critic

In Kill Your Inner Critic, from Sioux's Page, Sioux talks about how everyone has an inner critic and she asks,

“So, how do you handle your inner critic? Do you kill them off (I'm overly fond of "death by wood chipper") or do you embrace them?”

I have a sensitive relationship with my inner critic. I think we finally understand and accept each other. If I allow her to exist in the background, she tries not to overshadow my attempt to do the things I want to do.

First let me explain that I grew up in a strict household. My parents were strict and I knew they loved me but they didn’t accept anything but the very best from me. If I got a B, they wanted to know why I didn’t get an A. If I got an A, they wanted to know why I didn’t get an A+. If I got an A+ they wanted to know why all of my work didn’t have an A+. I really struggled to keep up my grades because I never wanted to disappoint my parents. When I finally grew up, I think this attitude was passed on to my inner critic. Whenever I did something, she wanted to know why I didn’t do it better.

For many years I fought her but next to her, I hate deadlines even worse. I’m so afraid that I won’t have something done by the deadline that I will work hard on getting it done early. This means that there are times that I need to brush her aside and get something accomplished. Then I allow her to come back and look at what I have finished but I don’t let her review it more than twice. At that point, I accept what is finished and let it be.

I have decided that perfectionism isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I don’t need to be perfect. I just need to do the best that I can and if that isn’t perfect, then it is what it is. Accepting that I’m not perfect has made my life much more enjoyable. But I’m not saying that I need to do a slapdash job either. I know if I’ve given a task my best effort and if I have, I can live with the results and be happy. If I haven’t, then I know that I haven’t and I listen to my inner critic’s disappointment in myself. I deserve it.

So, while I listen to my inner critic, I don’t let her rule my life. I’m in charge of my own life and my own actions. It is alright to evaluate my work but not let it dominate everything I do. I don’t let it paralyze my actions because I fear failure. I try to use my inner critic to move me forward instead of holding me down or holding me back.

I think this is an important thing to show my students too. My actions can be an example for them to guide them in the future. I’ve had many students who refused to try anything because they had failed so much that they didn’t see a reason to even try. I needed to help them be successful in small ways so that they were willing to give things a try instead of letting their inner critic hold them back. I need to share my worries and concerns about my attempts and then let them see how I use them in positive way. As the old saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.”

How do you handle your inner critic? Please share?

Image: '327 of 365: Everyone's A Critic'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70544918@N00/2581843770
Found on flickrcc.net

For the Love of Rubrics

In Evaluation Rubrics from siobhan curious: classroom as microcosm, Siobhan Curious asks,

Teachers: Do you use rubrics to evaluate your students’ work?  How do you structure them?  Do they help you?  Do they help your students?”

Have I ever mentioned that I love rubrics? I think it is an awesome way to evaluate my students. Rubrics are a way to make evaluating more equal. I feel that I am evaluating everyone based on the same criteria. It is not absolutely objective but I think it is the best way to make evaluating the most objective.

There a couple of things that I feel are important about rubrics.

First, they need to be developed in the planning stage of the lesson plan. I need to think about what I want my students to learn from the lesson and what I want them to do to show that they master the skills. From there, I develop the criteria in my rubric. This is what I will use to judge mastery. Then I decide the point scale for each criteria and what does each point determine. I like to use a 3 point scale. 3 showing mastery consistently, 2 shows mastery most of the time, 1 shows mastery sometimes and of course 0 means no mastery.

Next, once I am happy with the rubric and I’m sure that this is what I plan to use for evaluation, I share it with the students. When I explain the assignment and get to the part about how it will be evaluated, I give the students a copy of the rubric. This is a guideline for them to follow as they complete the assignment. It also allows them to self check that they have completed all the steps. I also explain to them that the evidence needs to be clear enough for me to give them credit and I shouldn’t have to hunt or assume that they mean something. Whenever I take a class, I really like when the instructor gives me a rubric in advance.

When I’m evaluating the finished products, I use the rubric so that I’m looking at each piece of work with the same criteria. I’m measuring everything with the same “ruler” and it takes a lot of guesswork out of the picture. I make sure I save the finished rubrics for each student.

When I return these evaluations to the students, I allow students with passing grades to have a “conference” with me if they need it. If their grade is below passing, they are required to have a conference with me. I explain to students if they can show me that I missed some piece of clear evidence and did not mark it on the rubric, I will be glad to change the score.

Rubrics have been instrumental in helping defuse situations where there were some conflict. I had a parent conference because a parent was upset that their child failed an assignment. Of course the parent did not see the rubric and I was able to produce a copy of the rubric that the student received. After explaining the assignment and how the student had a copy of the rubric before starting the assignment, the parent was able to have a better idea on how I graded the work. Some parents even asked that I email the rubric at the beginning of the assignment to them which is fine with me.

I have noticed that with the use of rubrics, my students were more successful. They knew what was expected of them in advance. I also feel that many of my students did not feel that I was being partial to one student over another when I was following the rubric. It made students more accountable and less emotional when they received their grades.

So, do you use rubrics? How do you develop them? Do you feel it has helped you in the classroom? Has it helped your students? Please share.

Image: 'PBL Rubric'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57634636@N00/6366696839
Found on flickrcc.net

Examination Tips

(Today’s post is for the letter X in the A-Z challenge.)

An examination is a nice long word for tests. I hate tests. I hate giving tests and I hate taking tests. I really have test anxiety and even though I know that I know the material, when I take a test, I freeze. I know that I have students who feel the same way.

Whenever possible I try to assign projects to evaluate that students know the material. For some reason, the word project is easier to handle than the word test. Plus I think projects are just more fun and I’ll all for fun!

But tests or examinations are a way of life. Many teachers love to give tests. When you want to drive a car, you have to pass a test. Employers sometimes give tests to see if their employees have the knowledge that is needed for a certain skill.

So, I try to help my students cope with taking tests. Besides studying well (learning to study is a different topic!) But there are different tips that could be helpful when taking a test.

Before going into a test, it is very important to get a good night’s sleep and have a good breakfast. Then I give myself a pep talk. I try to remind myself that the test doesn’t determine what kind of person I am. That after the test, the sun will still come up tomorrow. If I fail, it is not the end of the world. I then make sure that I have all the materials I need to take the test such as a calculator if allowed and extra pencils so I’m not wasting time getting up to sharpen a pencil. Before the test, I will glance over the materials one last time. Either I know it or I don’t.

When I am taking the test, I will answer all of the questions I can immediately answer. The ones I have trouble with I will skip and then come back to later. When I come back to them, I think about other questions that I answered that might help me answer these. If I am still having problems, I might underline key words that might help jog my memory. If there are multiple choice questions, I rule out the answers that I know are wrong and then look at what is left and try to reason out the best answer.

When I am done with the test, I go back through each question and make sure that I didn’t leave anything blank. I find that many of my students are careless and turn in a test where they forgot to answer a question. Sometimes I make them put their initials by each question after they verify it isn’t blank. This makes them actually look at the question to make sure it gets answered.

Hopefully these tips help my students be more successful when taking tests. Do you have any suggestions to add? Please share.

Image: 'Getting the Most Out of Multiple-choice Questions'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59217476@N00/6347992956

2011 Goals Review

Here were my goals and results for 2011:

1. Be more positive about tough situations. Many times I try to come across this way to others but I want to feel this way in my heart too. I need to not let others drag me down when I am in a tough situation (usually of my own making) and look at the positive side of things. (Result: I did a pretty good job of this and think others saw the result also.)

2. Make someone smile every day. If we all did that, maybe the world would be a happier place. (Result: I believe I achieved this also. I started each morning by greeting everyone cheerfully!)

3. Lose 30 lbs. I have gained 1)0 lbs. since last year and all of my clothes are too tight. This increasing in weight has got to stop or I will be so big, when I die, they won’t have a coffin big enough to bury me in! (Result: Failure. In fact, I might even weigh more now than I did in January.)

4. Learn to bake bread. I like to try a new skill every year and this is what I plan to give a try. My sister bakes wonderful things and some of my friends do also so maybe I can do it too. (Result: Failure. I didn’t have a lot of time to do this.)

5. Knit a sweater for myself. I have seen so many patterns but then I get intimidated by it all. Last year I stuck to mostly socks so this year I will try a sweater. I have 12 months to get it done so surely I can do it. (Result: I actually finished 2 cardigans for myself this year!)

Overall, I think I did okay with my goals. I accomplished 60% of my goals and will try to do better next year.

How did you do this year?

Image: 'Goals'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68131855@N00/739519564

Get Out of the Rut

In Looking Back and Forward from Educationally Minded, Anthony asks,

“Would you like a chance to reinterview for your job?”

When I read this, I immediately thought, “What a great idea!” I think many of us get into a rut when we have taught for awhile. I have heard the saying, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” but I don’t believe that applies to our teaching profession. I believe that we constantly need to look at our teaching practices, reflecting on them and reevaluating them. That is the only way to get out of a rut.

I think I would think of questions that I would ask someone interviewing for my job. I would want to know what their teaching philosophy is. What would make them an effective teacher in my classroom? I would want to know how they would meet my students’ needs. What successful behavior management techniques have they used? How would they communicate with the parents and with other colleagues about what is going on in the classroom? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How would they work to overcome these weaknesses?

Then I would take these questions and answer them as if I was the candidate for the job. I would be as honest as I could be. I would want the answers to truly reflect the way that I think others would see me as a teacher.

I would even discuss the answers with other colleagues about this hypothetical candidate. I would get their perspective on this person and ask if they would consider hiring this person if they had the opportunity. It would be interesting to hear their views about this person and the reasoning behind their decision. Then I would evaluate whether I would hire this candidate and clarify the reasoning behind my decision.

From these answers, what would I change about the way I teach? How could I be a better teacher? What works well in my classroom and needs to be continued?

I can see this being done at the end of every year. By doing this, I think I would be more successful in the classroom and not get into a rut where I’m doing the same thing every year. If it gets boring for me, I can imagine that the students pick up on this feeling and will develop the same attitude. Instead I need to be a good role model for change because change can really be good for all of us.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'the road home'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27023606@N05/3040634418 by: garycycles

Longer is Not Always Better

In Longer School Days Coming? from No Margins by ejr, she states,

“I'm not against longer school days or longer school years; I work year-round anyway. But I am against hoping against hope that somehow a longer school day or year will make a difference. Curricula need to be re-evaluated, standards may even need to be reconsidered, and classroom teachers as well as school staffs and administrators have to be better prepared to think differently and with the long view about improving the educational experience for students.”

I totally agree with Elaine. I don’t believe that the length of the day makes as much of a difference as the quality of education given in a day. I have seen too many teachers give their students busy work while they take on the role of babysitter. How will these students improve or grow in knowledge if they just do the same things, only for a longer period of time. Just like the saying goes, “It isn’t quantity but quality.”

I feel that we need to do a better job with evaluating and training teachers to give a quality education. We also need to train teachers how to cope with the burden of all the paperwork while teaching quality lessons. I know that we teach quality in colleges, but when overwhelmed with the paperwork and red tape of every day responsibilities, it seems as if quality is the first thing to go.

I have a problem when choosing curriculum becomes a political choice rather than what is in the best interest of the students. Many decision makers will say that it isn’t so but many of us in education has seen this happen. How many textbooks were chosen for the state because of politics? How many people on state school boards actually know what is going on in the schools and look at what is in the best interest of the students and not the state. How many politicians are making decisions about what is going on in schools when they have no idea what is going on in the schools? How many politicians have spent a few days in the classroom to understand what is actually going on?

As head of the department, I watched while it took three years to get rid of a terrible teacher. Three years is a long time in a student’s life. Three years that a group of students wasted their time and missed out on a quality education. The system needs to be overhauled if it takes that long to get rid of a bad teacher. No wonder that parents and politicians blame the schools. But they also need to take in account politics and lawsuits. We had to document all the bad teaching so this teacher didn’t turn around and sue the school. Maybe it is just me, but that is ridiculous. After the first year of evaluation, the teacher was put on an improvement plan for the second year. Then the second year, she didn’t improve so she was put on probation for the third year and finally suspended from teaching. Even after the suspension she got paid until the school board decided to terminate her employment. I don’t know many other jobs that you would be given three years if you did a terrible job.

Even if we increase the length of the day, and we still give garbage teaching, what are we accomplishing? I’m not saying all teachers are bad or that all schools have terrible curriculum but if we don’t look at the big picture, the effective teachers and the effective curriculum will be buried under all the other junk. As taxpayers, we should expect the most bang for our buck and that doesn’t mean just more time. In order for our students to be successful, we need to improve the quality of the schools and not just the quantity of seat time.

Original image: 'Teaching is not Rocket Science' http://www.flickr.com/photos/91312924@N00/2942564830 by: Dean Shareski