teachers . . . have you hit the wall yet?

[phoenixgirl]

I''m there.

An entire AP class minus one student was caught cheating flagrantly, and I have to (most likely) kick several students out of the honor society I advise, including one student who hasn''t even been inducted yet!

Research papers were due, and despite printing in big bold letters NO EXCEPTIONS!!! concerning the due date and giving out a "get out of jail free" card which can be used to reduce the late penalty by half (so obviously it''s not that I won''t accept late papers, I just won''t accept them for full credit), I have been getting the predictable lame excuses. One student lost his rough draft, so I emailed it to him Friday. He came to me Monday and said, "Um, I didn''t get the email until yesterday" as if I would give him an extension! Yeah, like there was some mysterious two-day delay in the email system!

And then another student whom I called in to help personally and who is always mysteriously absent when we have oral presentations came to me and told me that she didn''t have her paper because her parents were separating. She told me this at the exact moment the paper was due in front of the whole class with no note or any way for me to verify this. The paper was assigned over two months earlier and was only four pages long, so I just said no exceptions. Then I got an incredibly biting email from Mom all about how Mom herself had gone to, I''m not joking, every library in the county (there are ten) AND a university library AND had tried to purchase books from "several leading booksellers." (This topic is incredibly common but I don''t want to post it for privacy purposes) and that she could not get the "items that I requested" (um, you mean the books and paper, right?). She also mentioned that she is a single mom who has given up hours of her free time to help her daughter with this seemingly illogical assignment of researching a topic and writing a paper about it for honors high school English. I simply said that the sources were due in mid February, that I called the student in and offered her the option to switch topics and looked up sources to check out for her, and my deadline was fixed and mentioned that this was a problem with earlier presentations. Mom wrote back, obviously deflated but still holding out a little hope, stating that the presentations (months apart) were both missed because a grandparent died (just one grandparent total)! And yet the student missed only a portion of those days, obviously because she has a fear of public speaking and Mom enables her. Mom also told me that Dad moved out two weeks ago (which is what the student told me) -- and yet Mom''s email three hours earlier said she is a single mother who courageously visited eleven libraries and several leading bookstores (like you wouldn''t contact the teacher by, say, the fourth library to ask to switch topics). Mom also told me that daughter is a "top student" who strives for all A''s -- I guess parents don''t realize that we can look up students'' grades. She has a C average.

I really feel like it''s more the parents than the kids that I have to acclimate to my class. I really had to explain to one mom early in the year that in honors English, her daughter needed to ask/see me herself if she had questions because the mom emailed asking for a detailed description of every assignment I posted on my website (I regularly receive emails from teachers in other places who are using my materials because all handouts are on my website). Like the "top student" comment, this Mom told me her daughter was "awesome" at English! Oh, OK, I''ll change all her grades then. I mean, it''s a little awkward giving an honors student who wrote one reeeaaaaalllly long paragraph full of fragments for an entire paper an A, but if you say she''s awesome, she must be. Another Mom wanted her daughter to retake a reading check quiz because she failed. I guess I just thought I had gotten all the parents in line at the beginning of the year! (There is a new honors teacher in the grade below me, so either this is an unusual crop of parents or she kowtows to them and gives them the impression that''s how it will always be). And a vice principal told me to email a mom today because her son was "not communicating with her" about my class and therefore she needed weekly progress reports. In high school! In honors English! You know, I''m thinking maybe I should ask my superior for weekly progress reports on my performance. That way it will be her responsibility to tell me if I''m doing my job, not mine to know what the expectations are and hold myself to them.

Snarkiness aside, I guess the parents are also seeing the finish line and realize that their children may not be making the best grades for their year average. I totally get being concerned about that. But I will not take the blame or give out unearned grades.

To top it all off, I spent three hours helping a student I had last year with her research paper because she didn''t want to ask her current teacher. She thought the topic of her paper was "Paradise Island," but it was "Paradise Lost" and thought that it was "at hear" not "adhere," etc. So here I am, spending hours helping a student who''s not even in my class, while crazy Mom is cursing me over the dinner table and telling daughter that it is all my fault that I won''t help her when the daughter never once asked me for help and I STILL gave it to her! And it''s not the daughter''s fault, and I have the clout and professional sense to diffuse these crazy parents, but I still don''t know how to help the daughter be responsible. If she had told me one day, one week, one month before the paper was due, I could have helped her. But now her mom is going to force the daughter to get over her fear of talking to me at precisely the time when it won''t make any difference. I am not budging on this one.

And I have a cold and can''t sleep . . .

 

[diamondfan]

NYQUIL. It is my godsend when I am sick.

I hate when a kid thinks they can just skate in and be totally lackluster or just plain not do the work. And while I know there are always extenuating circumstances in life and have even gone through some of them, these all smack of blatant bs. AND the parent of that girl is not helping her, no matter what is going on at home. She could have come to you at any point if these issues were impeding her. Makes me cuckoo. Where is the personal responsibility? Life happens. I am NOT saying one cannot be cut some slack in the midst of a big crisis, but really, in the real world, while bosses might have compassion, they still would need to know their assignments are being attended to. Compassion only can go so far, if someone repeatedly lets others down. I just think it would be nice if these kids stepped up to the plate.

 

[oobiecoo]

Wow... just.. WOW! I was in Pre-AP and AP english all through high school. I did my fair share of complaining about how much work we were given and how totally evil the teacher must be. I NEVER expected my parents to keep track of my assignments/grades/do my research though. I knew it was my responsibility and that I needed to stay on top of things. I remember one time that I really just couldn''t get my work done... I had been in a car accident and wasn''t able to come to school. I did my presentation on my first day back to school though and the teacher totally understood since I was still all bandaged up! You should just tell the students that if they are having such a hard time... the "regulars" english class would be happy to have them. The parents need to stop baby-ing!

 

[zoebartlett]

Sorry that''s happening Phoenix. I can only imagine teaching high school. I''m counting down the days until April vacation at the end of the month and I can''t WAIT until the end of the year. I''m dragging these days -- definitely.

How do you stay motivated?

 

[Skippy123]

Gosh, I am sorry. High students sound tough. I remember we tried to pull stuff but it sounds like it is getting worse and worse. You are a good teacher! I agree it is terrible that parents don't help when it comes to stuff like this or they wouldn't try it in the 1st place!!

 

[jas]

Ah Phoenix, you are dealing with what I used to call the "Mardi Gras" syndrome (and I''m trademarking that!) -- the parents and kids expect that if they flash you a little something, you will just give them "A''s" like so many Mardi Gras beads. I felt like I was expected to do my work, their work, the parents'' work...and still be a lovely human being.

I, like you, had a very thorough website for parents and students to access. I took phone calls all hours. I worked with kids. It was just never enough. Everyone gravitated to the "fun" teacher who did a lot of razzle dazzle projects that had no point, little relevance, and certainly no standards...these teachers never wanted to "stress" the kids out. Parents and kids loved it.

I balked...I left a school where I had been named a nationally awarded teacher, where I had worked for ten years in TWELVE preps...went and tried private school for a semester (the plan was to take the second semester off and then, if I was good enough and the private school liked me, go back.) I found the same situation in the private school...in some ways worse. I worked my *ss off, fought off excuses, dealt with the same "academic entitlement," and was offered not only a full time job for fall, but they were going to create a position the second semester.

I declined. I really needed a break, and I certainly did not want to work there, where our weekly meetings were generally a run-through of kids in academic trouble and how we should hug them more.

I thought by this time...4 months later, I would feel differently, that the good would outweigh the bad. However, I have to say that I''m coming to realize that families have changed and education is not in line with that. Not sure what I''m going to do in the future.

Sorry, I have no advice, but girl, you are NOT alone.

By the way, can I have an extention on my next reply? My computer crashed, my printer died, I left my notebook at home, Oh, wait, was TODAY the due date? It''s in my locker, my parents are faxing it from home and they aren''t home yet, can I email it to you tonight, my left toenail broke, I forgot to do it, I didn''t understand it, I came in for help yesterday and you weren''t here, Johnny told me you changed the due date, I had a hockey game/basketball game/music practice. There was a math test today and I studied for that. Whatever. (Ok, sorry, not funny)

 

[LegacyGirl]

Why are these kids honors kids if they can't even write a 4 page paper? Who the heck does a 4 page paper in high school? Mine were more like 20-30 pages at that level. I hate to see how these kids do if they make it to college. I had to write an 80 page paper to graduate and another huge paper with a presentation at the end of law school. I can’t believe these parents want their children spoon fed too…I’m sorry but a 4 page paper is more like middle school level and if these kids can’t even manage to do that then I’m scared for their future.

 

[jas]

Actually, legacy, 3-5 page papers are more the norm than not in high school and college and beyond...it is an exercise in precision and clarity.

That being said, not all papers are that length, and high schoolers should be able to do that sort of paper within a time frame without the plethora of excuses. They should also, naturally, be able to handle a much longer assignment.

I totally agree with your sentiment that these kids are in a lot of trouble when they get into high school due to the enabling of parents and teachers who just can''t take the constant wearing away...my sister is a dean at an Ivy League school and there is a lot of head shaking going on about the quality and quantity of work of the last few freshmen classes. I saw that group emerge as middle schoolers and I''m still trying to figure out what on earth happened on such a large scale.

Maybe it was Barney?

 

[AmberGretchen]

I feel like the running into trouble when you got to college happened to a lot of my peers, although I''m a bit older than these kids you guys are talking about. I went to an Ivy League, and our freshman year, most of my friends really struggled with trying to balance their workload and not being able to make as many excuses as I guess they got to make in high school. Consequently, a lot of them had less-than-stellar grades that year.

I was fortunate that I had a really unusual high school experience (I was on independent study) and also that I had teachers who supervised my independent study who weren''t interested in my excuses and expected high quality work from me because they knew I was capable of it. I was also more motivated I think, especially with things like AP classes, because I didn''t get AP credit for taking the class unless I passed the AP exam at the end, whereas the kids who took AP classes at the regular high schools got credit for the class even if they didn''t pass the exams at the end. Not surprisingly, I passed every exam I took.

My parents really weren''t involved in any of this. They would occasionally ask me about projects, and they certainly helped me buy books and materials when necessary, but I don''t think they ever communicated directly with any of my teachers except to greet them at occasional school events.

PG - I''m really sorry you are going through this, and Jas as well. I feel like this is a general reflection of our instant-gratification society and the general belief that so many people seem to have that you can avoid hard work and still get the reward you want at the end. It is profoundly unfair that dedicated teachers like the two of you end up getting such a raw deal out of this.

 

[lyra]

Date: 4/9/2008 8:08:01 AM
Author: jas
By the way, can I have an extention on my next reply? My computer crashed, my printer died, I left my notebook at home, Oh, wait, was TODAY the due date? It''s in my locker, my parents are faxing it from home and they aren''t home yet, can I email it to you tonight, my left toenail broke, I forgot to do it, I didn''t understand it, I came in for help yesterday and you weren''t here, Johnny told me you changed the due date, I had a hockey game/basketball game/music practice. There was a math test today and I studied for that. Whatever. (Ok, sorry, not funny)

LOL! Last week, our wireless was cut off for real. My daughter had an internet related paper to do that night. She was panicking. She said the teacher wouldn''t believer her, and that she''d need a note. That panicked *me*, so I made her go to an internet cafe with her laptop to do her homework, even paid for her to eat there so she wouldn''t get kicked out.

The local library allows you to use their computers only, and there is a strict time limit and small number of computers.

I have nothing of value to add. I''m not a teacher, and to be perfectly honest, I''m SO glad my youngest is almost done school, because she has struggled a lot and it''s been a lot of tension every year for the last 7 years. I never made any excuses for my kids. I was the parent who went to school and listened to what teachers said, felt bad, embarrassed at times, whatever. I honestly can''t say why my youngest had so much trouble, as she has excelled this year. I guess my philosophy as a parent was that the kids had to do their own work, hand it in on time (biggest downfall of DD2), and face the consequences themselves. In our system (Canadian public school), that meant some failures along the way.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I know the feeling. I was a student who worked hard and got 5s on my AP exams, but I knew I had to work for it in a culture people are expected to acomplish what they can with a minimum of effort. I went to a fairly selective college and was asked to join the honors society, only 1/5 of the freshman had the 3.5 GPA needed to qualify! I was an anthropology major and one of my professors highly recommended this book: http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4374 for teachers. I have read part of it, and while it does not excuse things like cheating, it does explain why it is more common and the rationale, which in turn helped teachers navigate around the issues.
I wish you the best, I am working as a TA next semester at a less prestigious college and so it should be interesting.

 

[jas]

BIH -- what a fascinating book! I may actually purchase that.
Lyra -- you are what we used to call "the parent we don''t worry about." I always told my students that yes, things happen technologically, often at the worst possible time...just bring in whatever you have done to that point, and/or handwrite the part that''s left...something, anything. Ya know?

Phoenix -- I hope you''re having a better day.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Much better day today, thanks! (It would have been better if I had taken the Nyquil sooner, but work-wise it was good). I had a really good and constructive (well, I thought) conversation with my student teacher.

The girl came during the study period for help, and I did what I would have done a month ago . . . helped her figure out if she should switch topics or proceed with what she had. She decided to switch topics. I even took her to the library since it was a no travel period and checked to make sure the sources were ok. No, I shouldn't have to do that, but if I have the time, I help the kids as much as I can (it helps to have a student teacher for 80% of my classes right now!). She agreed with me that it wasn't fair to give her leniency on the due date. That's just the thing. I have a great relationship with most of my students and rarely have them question my decisions because I try to be fair and open-minded. It's when the story of what's going on has gotten lost in translation to the parent that I find it frustrating.

This is funny. . . The yearbook is doing teacher superlatives this year instead of student superlatives. The students have to enter a male and female teacher in each category . . . friendliest, most captivating, most unique, most likely to skip school, etc. I peeked at some of the senior surveys next door and noticed that some of my former students had put me down for most opinionated. I thought that could be explained by a girl who's had me forever in newspaper class (and who therefore knows me a lot better than kids I had for English two years ago) announcing that she was putting me down for that and others just following suit. But then I perused one class of my own students' today, and I got several more most opinionated votes! I know you guys don't know me, but I am so careful to never tell kids my opinions on politics or religion or the like because the teachers who use their classroom as a soapbox creep me out. I'm not opinionated about how literature must be interpreted or anything. Sure, I have my opinions (who doesn't), but I am trying to figure out what the kids must think "most opinionated" means . . . least likely to change her mind? Least likely to accept your BS? Most likely to be frank?


jas, I always love reading your comments! I totally know those "razzle/dazzle" teachers whose classes are fun but lacking in substance.

I don't think private school is for me. Never say never, I know, but I figure that parents are more likely to feel like they're paying good money for you to be pleasant and hand out all A's and B's, not to be tough. I hung out with some private school teachers on Friday night, and maybe it was the fact that I wasn't drinking because I was running the 10K the next day and they were, but I was completely unable to relate to what they were saying about education (theories and trends and great new books to read and all that). I've had kids who've been shot, who've brought a gun to school, who've lived in group homes. They need me to care about them, to teach them the fundamentals, and to hold them to a high standard. But creating a class wiki or pairing up with a class in Germany to discuss the Holocaust . . . not relevant, not helpful (maybe in honors, but teaching honors is the exception, not the rule at my school . . . and you see how irresponsible even the honors kids are!).

I loved your list of excuses! Today a girl handed in her paper late (30 points off) and said, "I meant to turn it in yesterday but I wasn't here." And still she missed the cutoff for only 20 points off by three hours. Did she think I'd say, "Oh, ok, it's not over 48 hours late then"? She must not know how "opinionated" I am!

Lyra, I think that was a great lesson for your daughter. Sure, most teachers would probably be understanding with a parent note, but on the other hand, there is usually some way to get the assignment done when a printer or wireless doesn't work. Last year on the research paper due date, one boy was in the hospital with a family member who had been suddenly admitted. A family friend dropped off the paper. Certainly if I had known the circumstances I would have been understanding, but this boy definitely earned my respect for getting the paper to school anyway. He took me seriously when I said, "No exceptions," but then there are the kids who think that claiming that there was an email delay will get them out of it!


It is an interesting question if this is a generation of slackers or responsibility-shirkers. I always think of Socrates' statement on this matter when I think we're seeing something new: "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

I think in high school I just didn't notice the slackers. I mean, I remember how I earned the only A in my 12th grade AP English class (well, to be fair this other girl squeaked by with a 90 at the very end of the year) because I really read all the books. Everyone would read the Cliffs Notes and then wonder why they couldn't write an insightful paper on the book. And two guys got caught for turning in the same paper copied off the internet before I even really knew what the internet was (this was maybe 1995 or 1996).

I've definitely had kids who are goody-two shoes like I was, but they're not the ones who make me write angry emails when I can't sleep. When the cheating scandal broke this week, the student who had just been accepted to the honors society came and told me thanks, but she didn't deserve to be in it with sincere tears in her eyes. Today another student was crying to me about how she violated the "TOS" and it was all her fault and she shouldn't have done it and she knew it was wrong, etc. etc. (I was like, you violated the WHAT? It stands for the "terms of service" for using the internet. She was on a chat room or something and got caught.) These weren't crocodile tears on either part. Yes, they both did something wrong, but that happens in life. I don't condone it, but I want them to learn their lessons now. Sometimes you just have to grovel and apologize and accept your failure while resolving not to make the same mistake twice.

I need to remember that for every kid who tells a lie, cuts a corner, or takes the easy but wrong way out, there is another kid who will make mistakes but own up to them and learn from them, and still another who has enough character not to make the mistake in the first place.

 

[ephemery1]

Phoenix, I am so sorry you are dealing with all this. I have no doubt in my mind you have handled everything exceptionally well, above and beyond reasonable expectation, so please try not to let yourself get too down with all this. The whole "helicopter parents" generation is a crazy phenomenon. I was an academic advisor in the rigorous engineering department of a respected college, and got DAILY phone calls from parents. Of COLLEGE STUDENTS. Incredibly capable and intelligent college students!! Parents would ask to see their child's grades, ask for exceptions to be made, ask for copies of schedules/syllabi, ask if they could come in and meet with me regularly.

I remember one dad arguing with me that "we check our email every day, but never got that one"... I asked him to clarify, since parents don't receive regular emails from the university... and he explained that he checks his son's college email account daily.

It wasn't THAT long ago that I was a college student, but I can safely say that would NOT fly with me or any of my friends. Or my parents! They have their own lives. They simply asked for our grades to be mailed home each semester as a condition of their paying for our educations. When my brother refused to show them his grades one semester, they handed him the bill. He paid it, and did pretty well in his classes after that.

Hang in there... you ARE making a difference, even if the unappreciative voices sometimes shout louder than the appreciative ones.

 

[erica k]

i''m sorry you''re having a rough time, phoenixgirl. i teach for an undergrad survey course, and my students are considered the cream of the crop in this country. they''re obviously very intelligent, but they''re also more interested in the easy A than actually challenging themselves (i''m speaking in broad generalizations, of course!). they are also very good at setting up appointments and then canceling them at the last minute. maybe i should start charging a $10 penalty fee?

two years ago, i was teaching Masters students, and two of them were caught plagiarizing. all they received was a slap on the wrist. argh!


i''m afraid i don''t have much advice for you, but i feel your pain....

 

[Blair138]

I didn''t have a chance to read through all the responses, (so excuse any repetition) but I really wanted to respond because I am a high school teacher and I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!! Granted, I don''t teach AP, but I have the SAME excuses about the SIMPLEST assignments. I rarely give homework and somehow students still manage to fail my classes and not turn in assignments. Then when they are doing poorly, it''s mom or dad that''s wondering "how can my child raise their grade?" (usually on the last day of the quarter). When I was in high school, which was not THAT long ago, I would have DIED if my parents called my teachers or coaches about anything. I actually had a coach tell us "You are in high school, I want to talk to you, not your parents". That''s part of the reason I teach high school, because these teenagers are supposed to be ''young adults'', yet they cannot handle their own problems. It scares me to think how some of these kids will function in college and beyond...

Excuse the ramblings-hope that made sense...only 2 more months till SUMMER!!!

 

[LegacyGirl]

Date: 4/9/2008 11:32:02 AM
Author: jas
Actually, legacy, 3-5 page papers are more the norm than not in high school and college and beyond...it is an exercise in precision and clarity.

That being said, not all papers are that length, and high schoolers should be able to do that sort of paper within a time frame without the plethora of excuses. They should also, naturally, be able to handle a much longer assignment.

I totally agree with your sentiment that these kids are in a lot of trouble when they get into high school due to the enabling of parents and teachers who just can''t take the constant wearing away...my sister is a dean at an Ivy League school and there is a lot of head shaking going on about the quality and quantity of work of the last few freshmen classes. I saw that group emerge as middle schoolers and I''m still trying to figure out what on earth happened on such a large scale.

Maybe it was Barney?

Oh that made me laugh!!! Thanks!

I can''t believe 3-5 page papers are the norm where you are.

I''m almost shocked over that.

Don''t worry... these parents will continue to enable their children all through college

What a sad, sad world this is becoming in terms of education and the lack of respect we have for our teachers.

 

[Elmorton]

My husband I were just talking about your post this morning - when we were growing up, very rarely did our parents side with us rather than our teachers. I wish I knew when teachers became the enemy rather than the support - or when teachers became solely responsible for students' grades. My students (college freshmen, composition) have such a hard time understanding their responsibility in the classroom vs. mine. The other day, we were working on brainstorming "cause and effect: poor grades" and my students came up with about 10-12 external causes (such as having a bad teacher, peer pressure, lack of previous knowledge of topic, too many extra-curricular activities) before they identified internal causes (lack of interest, lack of attendance, motivation) - which I think says something about how students perceive their education. They see themselves at the bottom of the line for who is responsible for their success or failure, and I think the extremes of laissez faire and helicopter parenting reinforce that belief. I wish I had something brilliant to offer in terms of a solution to the problem, but I don't. Unfortunately, I think most students learn this responsibility at the college level, because without their parents, many experience failure for the first time.

Pheonixgirl, kudos to you to setting clear guidelines and expecting your students adhere to them. That simple skill will be such a benefit to your college-bound students.

On a separate note for those curious about length reqs: Where I've taught, 5-7 pages are the norm and 20 page papers are pretty much reserved for grad school (I think I wrote ohhh 3-4 20-pagers during undergrad). Most composition programs focus heavily on revision and the creation of a writing portfolio. So, if you were taking my English 101, you'd write 4-5 papers of 5-7 pages, but for each of those, you'd also have several revised drafts, journal writing, peer response and evaluation of others' work, and that would total to about 20 pages of writing and revision for 1 unit (essay). That's about 100 pages of writing total for the course (though only 20-25 pages of it is a polished, finished text).

Since I read and comment on both finished texts and drafts, I'm reading the whole 100 pages per student. If it takes 1 minute per page to read and comment (which would be quick for me - I always take waaay too much time to comment), that means 100 minutes x 20 students in the class = 2,000 minutes of grading, which is about 33 hours of reading/grading per class. Honestly, while it seems like a 5-7 page paper is "short," the work load for both student and teacher has probably increased significantly in the last 10-20 years. My grad school buddies and I were floored when we realized how much work we were doing (and how much our students do), especially compared to teachers in other disciplines, who tend to assess using multiple choice/worksheets. The outcome though is that students have a much better grasp on writing as a process, their critical thinking is more fine-tuned, and teachers get the pleasure of reading creative, interesting texts instead of 20 pages about the same thing from each student.

 

[sera]

It can sure be frustrating dealing with the parents. I''m a 1:1 aide and my student''s mom has left a trail of migraines, neck aches, contractions, stress leaves, transfers, etc. in her wake!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but based on the elementary schools I''ve been working at... the high schools won''t be gettin'' any better! Sorry.

 

[pennquaker09]

Date: 4/9/2008 12:10:45 AM
Author:phoenixgirl
I'm there.


An entire AP class minus one student was caught cheating flagrantly, and I have to (most likely) kick several students out of the honor society I advise, including one student who hasn't even been inducted yet!


Research papers were due, and despite printing in big bold letters NO EXCEPTIONS!!! concerning the due date and giving out a 'get out of jail free' card which can be used to reduce the late penalty by half (so obviously it's not that I won't accept late papers, I just won't accept them for full credit), I have been getting the predictable lame excuses. One student lost his rough draft, so I emailed it to him Friday. He came to me Monday and said, 'Um, I didn't get the email until yesterday' as if I would give him an extension! Yeah, like there was some mysterious two-day delay in the email system!


And then another student whom I called in to help personally and who is always mysteriously absent when we have oral presentations came to me and told me that she didn't have her paper because her parents were separating. She told me this at the exact moment the paper was due in front of the whole class with no note or any way for me to verify this. The paper was assigned over two months earlier and was only four pages long, so I just said no exceptions. Then I got an incredibly biting email from Mom all about how Mom herself had gone to, I'm not joking, every library in the county (there are ten) AND a university library AND had tried to purchase books from 'several leading booksellers.' (This topic is incredibly common but I don't want to post it for privacy purposes) and that she could not get the 'items that I requested' (um, you mean the books and paper, right?). She also mentioned that she is a single mom who has given up hours of her free time to help her daughter with this seemingly illogical assignment of researching a topic and writing a paper about it for honors high school English. I simply said that the sources were due in mid February, that I called the student in and offered her the option to switch topics and looked up sources to check out for her, and my deadline was fixed and mentioned that this was a problem with earlier presentations. Mom wrote back, obviously deflated but still holding out a little hope, stating that the presentations (months apart) were both missed because a grandparent died (just one grandparent total)! And yet the student missed only a portion of those days, obviously because she has a fear of public speaking and Mom enables her. Mom also told me that Dad moved out two weeks ago (which is what the student told me) -- and yet Mom's email three hours earlier said she is a single mother who courageously visited eleven libraries and several leading bookstores (like you wouldn't contact the teacher by, say, the fourth library to ask to switch topics). Mom also told me that daughter is a 'top student' who strives for all A's -- I guess parents don't realize that we can look up students' grades. She has a C average.


I really feel like it's more the parents than the kids that I have to acclimate to my class. I really had to explain to one mom early in the year that in honors English, her daughter needed to ask/see me herself if she had questions because the mom emailed asking for a detailed description of every assignment I posted on my website (I regularly receive emails from teachers in other places who are using my materials because all handouts are on my website). Like the 'top student' comment, this Mom told me her daughter was 'awesome' at English! Oh, OK, I'll change all her grades then. I mean, it's a little awkward giving an honors student who wrote one reeeaaaaalllly long paragraph full of fragments for an entire paper an A, but if you say she's awesome, she must be. Another Mom wanted her daughter to retake a reading check quiz because she failed. I guess I just thought I had gotten all the parents in line at the beginning of the year! (There is a new honors teacher in the grade below me, so either this is an unusual crop of parents or she kowtows to them and gives them the impression that's how it will always be). And a vice principal told me to email a mom today because her son was 'not communicating with her' about my class and therefore she needed weekly progress reports. In high school! In honors English! You know, I'm thinking maybe I should ask my superior for weekly progress reports on my performance. That way it will be her responsibility to tell me if I'm doing my job, not mine to know what the expectations are and hold myself to them.


Snarkiness aside, I guess the parents are also seeing the finish line and realize that their children may not be making the best grades for their year average. I totally get being concerned about that. But I will not take the blame or give out unearned grades.


To top it all off, I spent three hours helping a student I had last year with her research paper because she didn't want to ask her current teacher. She thought the topic of her paper was 'Paradise Island,' but it was 'Paradise Lost' and thought that it was 'at hear' not 'adhere,' etc. So here I am, spending hours helping a student who's not even in my class, while crazy Mom is cursing me over the dinner table and telling daughter that it is all my fault that I won't help her when the daughter never once asked me for help and I STILL gave it to her! And it's not the daughter's fault, and I have the clout and professional sense to diffuse these crazy parents, but I still don't know how to help the daughter be responsible. If she had told me one day, one week, one month before the paper was due, I could have helped her. But now her mom is going to force the daughter to get over her fear of talking to me at precisely the time when it won't make any difference. I am not budging on this one.


And I have a cold and can't sleep . . .

AP students are notorious cheaters. At my high school some of my classmates had older brothers and sisters that would keep their work in certain AP classes and give it to them. The one I remember the most was AP US History. It's a courses that doesn't really change much so, our teacher used the same test and taught the course the same way for years. I went over to a freinds house one night and she had essays, free response questions, and even the SCANTRONs. I was really naive to all of the cheating because I started taking AP courses before my junior and senior years.

In the AP courses I teach (Chemistry and Calculus), it's pretty hard to cheat. Calculus is a subject that only the best math student take and for the most part, I don't think any of my students need to cheat. They all have the raw math skills needed to succeed in cal. My calc class excite me so much. They're always prepared, and they work hard. We're almost finished with the AP exam material and that's a big deal because a lot of school are not able to cover everything on the exam.

Of all of my courses, my Algebra students try to cheat the most. Even though TI-84 calculators are used in algebra, they really aren't that much of a necessity. So, when I see a lot of key strokes during a test, odds are, someone is trying to cheat.

Now at the opposite end of the spectrum, are my chemistry students. I suppose having a hard core chemistry degree makes me expect more of my students. But I am so tired of the whining and crying about how, "it's SOO FREAKING hard Mr.S." Did you not think about this before you signed up a an honors course?

 

[Miscka]

I read this thread awhile back, and it got me thinking. I saw this today and thought of you guys link

 

[Sabine]

Sigh, I''d been trying to avoid adding to this thread because I''ve already posted that I really dislike being a teacher and don''t want to do it anymore, but that I plan to stick it out for one more year until we relocate, but after today I need to add to the vent.

Through a state grant my department got 3 brand new laptop carts, which the kids absolutely love to use. Well today, right at the end of the day, after a class that had been especially bad, the kids start gravitating to the door and they ALL start cracking up. I''ve obviously missed something big, but it was useless asking them about it. As they leave, I realize, there is one of our brand new shiny laptops, in the garbage. Is it me, or does this represent the attitude of kids today, throwing away all the opportunities they are given and thinking it''s hilarious.

 

[Haven]

Date: 4/9/2008 9:48:31 AM
Author: LegacyGirl

Why are these kids honors kids if they can''t even write a 4 page paper? Who the heck does a 4 page paper in high school? Mine were more like 20-30 pages at that level. I hate to see how these kids do if they make it to college. I had to write an 80 page paper to graduate and another huge paper with a presentation at the end of law school. I can’t believe these parents want their children spoon fed too…I’m sorry but a 4 page paper is more like middle school level and if these kids can’t even manage to do that then I’m scared for their future.

Don''t take this the wrong way, Legacy, but I would NEVER want to read a 20 page paper from a high school student. Longer papers are FAR EASIER to write because they don''t require concision nor do they really require precision of thought. I rarely assign a paper longer than 4 pages to my high school students, and they ALWAYS come in and beg for me to allow them to write more because it is so much easier. I don''t know any high school teachers who assign papers longer than seven pages, and seven is already asking for some serious fluff and bs.

ANYWAY . . .

phoenixgirl--I hear ya, honey! I have so hit the wall. We have five weeks left and my kids are already losing focus and slacking a bit. It doesn''t help that the weather has suddenly gotten much better--am I the only teacher who prays that winter will last longer so my kids don''t go bonkers? (I teach high school English, by the way.)

 

[FrekeChild]

I went to private Catholic school and took responsibility for my own education. I also was a HUGE procrastinator and did EVERYTHING last minute, but always squeaked by with As, Bs, and Cs. I was particularly good at writing and english, and I credit this to my mom''s BA in english and the fact that she would buy me as many books as I could read when I was young.

Well my Junior year I had this one teacher: Mrs. F. She didn''t like me for some odd reason. I would spend hours studying for her tests, actually read the books she assigned and generally DO the work. Sometimes even early! I remember one particular test where the extra credit essay was worth only 3 points-I wrote a whole page going into detail about everything it asked for. Not only did I not get the three points, but the girl who sat in front of me got ALL three, and wrote about 2 sentences that said less about the question than what I had written. She was getting a A in the class. My mom had been reading all of my stuff that I wrote in this class from the get-go and would go over any problems I had or grammatical errors-whatever. So I wasn''t turning in bad stuff. I got the quarter progress report: D-.
I flipped out and showed it to my mom immediately-who also flipped out because she had read everything I had written, and OKed it all. She made an appointment to see Mrs. F about my grades. Mrs. F became an even bigger B to me. Well my mom went in to go talk to her and asked to see all of my graded work (she wouldn''t hand it back to us and let us keep it-she "kept it on file") and Mrs. F WOULDN''T LET MY MOM SEE IT. She said something about not having it here and it being at home. My mom said something like, "fine, when can I make an appointment to see it?" And Mrs. F wouldn''t do that either.
So after my poor mom got done with that, I went to the assistant dean of academics and begged for a different teacher for the second half of the year. After the dean went and talked to Mrs. F, all of a sudden she got really nice-still was giving me Cs, but for the final in her class, I wrote just as I always had, and got this comment on it(it''s burned into my memory, it was just that traumatic for me, which is crazy- being that this was 10 years ago) "It''s too bad you haven''t been writing like this all semester. Good Job. B+"

Because of that B+ I ended up getting a C in her class, just barely passing.

Mrs. H, whose class I went to after Mrs. F''s, ended up not only giving me a B+ as a final grade, but also tried to convince me to sign up for the debate team, because I had gotten a 110% on a oral presentation/debate combined with a 5 page paper that she deemed "Excellent!".

I feel pain for you guys. Being that I''m in the 7th year of my undergrad education and have a PhD student as a BF who teaches Stats, I''ve lost all sensitivity for students who slack off and expect the teacher to make exceptions for them. As BF says, "They expect me to GIVE them a grade, not for THEM to earn it."

You have my sympathies.

 

[Haven]

By the way, I meant to write this in my first post--when I originally read the title of this thread I thought "YET? I hit the wall a few weeks ago and have been slowly trying to scratch my way through it with my bare hands ever since."

 

[Elmorton]

Count me on the list. Ugh, bad day.