Lesson Plans

Workday - (technically none, though I just worked for an hour)

I'm posting on a Saturday just to say that I spent the last hour making up lesson plans. I haven't had to write up a formal lesson in over a year! With music, I can just teach by memory. Plus, on an average day, at least half of the period is allotted to practicing anyway.

This semester, I'll have to plan every activity down to the last minute of class (especially in the careers class. I suppose in math, they'll often have the last chunk of it devoted to doing homework problems). I guess I was spoiled last semester. Now I'm back to some hardcore, outside-of-school working!

I even typed these lesson plans. It was just easier, though, because I'm faster at typing than handwriting.

It's nice to have it done, at least. Though my weekend isn't completely free. I should be looking at curriculum notes online at some point as well. Sigh.

Cheating

Workday - 8:30am-4:30pm

Hm. Today turned into a full workday, somehow. I was expecting something shorter and easier.

We had departmental meetings in the afternoon. It was my first experience as a true "math teacher". Before the meeting I went to pick up all the info I needed for this careers course. This afternoon confirmed all of my fears about the new semester: I'm going to hate teaching these courses.

I spent the morning in semester 1 classes, doing almost nothing. I gave students their final marks and handed back any old assignments and tests left in my files. Two students found their grades a little lower than expected. Both had received zeros on one of the written exams, because they were exactly the same. Their wrong answers had all the same guesses, including one where they both crossed out their first (same) instinct, and replaced it with a second (also the same).

One student's excuse was that she was sitting too far away from the other to have cheated. Even if that were the case, it's really not the problem at hand. However, they were about as close together as any two people were sitting during this exam (plus they were facing each other). I told her, if she did not cheat then she should take her case to the next level of authority. In fact, I encouraged her to discuss it with them. I really want students to take some responsibility for their lives and education. This mark is an important matter and they should want to take the upper hand in its resolution. After all, if they didn't cheat, I'd expect nothing less than raised hell.

I was accused of cheating on an assignment once in university. I had not cheated, but I could see how it looked bad. The professor didn't even give me a zero, but a "shared mark" with the other student. He was already far too lenient about it! Anyway, all I had to do was tell him what we had done (which was not share work, by any means) and he happily changed our marks. If these students did not cheat and had an explanation to clear the matter, I would more than happily give them back the marks. I want all my students to do well. I get no joy out of "punishing" them for cheating. Just as they get no education out of not doing work for themselves.

One of my colleagues took a look at both exams and agreed that they had definitely cheated. He also talked to both students to say they didn't have a very good chance of winning. I didn't want to talk them out of fighting it, myself. I wanted them to see the process (and become better acquainted with school policy). It's all a good learning experience.

In the end, I don't think they're going to pursue it. Funnily enough, they probably would have had no idea that they could fight this if I didn't tell them. The point is, I wanted them to know that. I want students to know their options, that nothing is ever "final", and you always have choices in life. Everything about that exam was filled with choices they made. I don't mean to sound horribly cheesy, but understanding you're in the driver's seat of your own life should be learned early.

As a teacher, I think it's one of the most important lessons I can give.

Math class, here I come

Workday - none

I haven't taught a full math class yet. This semester will be the first time. I'm just glad it's a grade nine course. The last time I taught math was about two years ago, and it was the "easier" stream of the grade nine math curriculum. Technically, the curriculum is fairly similar, but this stream appeals to students who don't plan on pursuing higher levels of math. In other words, kids who really aren't very good at it. This semester I have "academic" classes.

Right now I'm going through my old handouts, overhead sheets, quizzes, tests, etc. from two years ago. I'm realizing that almost all of it is going to be too juvenile for the overachieving brainiacs I'll have in my class next week. I don't mind giving them some juvenile activities (gotta love those "math games"!), but aside from that, I don't think these fill-in-the-blank, cartoon-laden worksheets are going to fly.

I have no idea what resources I'll have available to me in the department. Tomorrow I'm going to stock my desk with everything I have here, then check out what they have. Most math departments have binders full of exercise sheets for any given unit. I wonder if they'll have a set of algebra tiles. I've discovered that no one uses those things. Only the newest crop of teachers knows how they work, and it doesn't help that the students think they're stupid. If they have any, I'll try them out one day and see the reaction. I'm flexible. That's why (even though my math skills are probably weaker than any other math teacher out there) I think I'm better suited to teaching the subject than some -- especially when it comes to teaching the weaker students. I know about 5 different ways to approach teaching most math concepts, so a student's bound to understand one of them. Some other teachers really know their subject, and they're so good at it that the solutions just come to them automatically. They can't understand why someone else wouldn't see things their way.

And so, we'll see how I end up approaching these math classes. Math games, manipulatives, progress journals, investigations, performance tasks, co-operative learning? Or will I abandon my young teacher ideals and fall back on the old "chalk 'n' talk" methodology?

Rate Me!

Workday - none

Well, hallelujah. My career now has meaning. I've finally made it to www.ratemyteachers.com. Actually I was rated last year at my old school, but I never received a comment. This time, I got one:

"she's ok i guess...not bad of a teacher"

Whew! Thank god I'm "ok". Actually, I'm surprised it was even that good. It's all relative, really. In the music department I'm the resident ogre! Come next semester when I'm teaching math, I suspect I'll get some "OMG WE LUV U! kthnx ^_^" comments.

Semester 1 Ends

Workday - 10:45am-2:45pm

Nice short workday. I went in to supervise a science exam from 11:30 to 1:00. I finished up my report cards by 2pm, and there ended my semester one.

Finally, a whopping three days before the first day of second semester, I've found out my timetable. I'm teaching the two grade nine math sections and one grade ten "careers" that I had heard about last week. I was still hoping the careers class would change to music. Dang. So now I know the periods (and classrooms) these classes will be in. I should probably find out the curriculum to this careers course on Friday, too. I'm not looking forward to teaching that class.

The new carpet is in the music rooms. It looks pretty good (if I do say so, myself. I picked it out!). Too bad I won't get to enjoy it next semester, but I assume I'll be hanging out in the music office from time to time. I'm going to get bored up there in math. I'll also want to use the computer I have at my music desk. Hmm, I wonder if I could score one of the old computers from the MIDI lab that just got replaced with an eMac and keep it up in the math office.

Anyway, this entry is more of a mishmash of my current thoughts at this time. I have mixed feelings about semester two, but I think I'll charge into it boldly no matter what.

I now have the next two days off, and I plan to spend both of them doing nothing. My apartment plummetted to 19C yesterday and has remained there, so far. It's a total blizzard outside, as well. I just want to be indoors and, at this indoor temperature, in bed!

Lost In Translation

Workday - 8:30am-4:00pm

No, I'm actually not going to talk about the great movie I saw last night. The title just happened to also fit with a separate topic I thought I'd explore.

I'm devoting today's entry to the "what the hell were they thinking?" answers I've gotten on exam questions. As I finished up the last of my marking today, I was laughing right out loud at many of the answers I read. I understand that a lot of my students don't know English very well, and that can be a great excuse. Except I've also gotten some interesting responses from people who have lived here since birth (including a student who spelled Japanese "japneees", on last year's exam. If nothing else, can people not learn young that there will never be triple-same-letter combinations in the English language?). Today I'll share my amusement.

On the music history exam, one of the questions was:
How did Holst rectify the problem that there was not a lot of music for his girls' school band to play?
One response:
"He had a letter written to the leader of music (president) and had more music written"
... man, I wish I could be the president of music.

Another response:
"He worked in an all girls school"
... y'know, she's probably right. Why the hell is he whining about there not being enough music? All problems just seem to disappear when you're surrounded by a bunch of schoolgirls!

A couple of questions asked for what musical style period came ... (during some specified time). I learned about some new eras, including:

The Piano Period
The Unclassical Period
The Normal Period
The Folk Period
The Baratosky Period -- ???
The Jess Period
I later figured out he might have meant "Jazz". Which of course would be followed by:
The Rak Period

List two more facts that you know about Mozart (incl. other compositions)

"he loved music"
"he is a good rhythms and composer"
"his father took him all over Europe to play for loyalty"
- Damn! You're just not a committed member of that Mozart family until you've been dragged all over Europe.

Name three of the four parts of the sonata allegro form*
Besides the usual cop-out guesses including "sonata" and "allegro", I quite enjoyed these:

- "expection"
- "elevality"
- "decapitulation"
- "decomposition"

I figure the decomposition section comes in when the students try to perform these pieces.

* the four parts, by the way, are: exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.

There were also the funny-to-musicians-but-maybe-not-so-funny-to-anyone-else answers including Bach's "weiward" compositional period and that Wagner wrote his tetrology of operas in a month (another put "20 hours").

My "Day Off"

Workday - 10:00am-5:15pm

Funny how a day that I was supposed to take off became "just the morning to help with the move", and then turned into a full day at work. There was hardly any moving to be done today, too. We got a lot of it done on Thursday after school with help from the students. However, there was plenty of other things to get done. Moving evolved into cleaning, which evolved into organizing ... which then meant more cleaning and more moving! I found myself spending a good chunk of time cleaning a coffeemaker we dug out of one of the cupboards. It was just caked with brown, so I was soaking and scrubbing like mad. I don't even drink coffee. I just thought it would make sense for us to have one in the office.

So now everything that was in the office and band room has been piled into the vocal music room. We set up a temporary office in there, too, since most of us have lots of marking and report cards to finish. I should add that the vocal room is about 17 C. Remember that my apartment (which I've adjusted to and am comfortable) is 27 C, and the usual office is 23 C and I freeze my ass in there. I'm tempted to bring in my space heater on Monday.

The whole department also went out for lunch today. You might say it was bordering a "liquid lunch", actually. Fortunately lunch happened after nearly everything was done, but I stuck around to input marks and finish cleaning the stupid coffeemaker. I got about halfway through the marks before they all started blurring together and I felt like a nap. I don't know how anyone can manage to work under these conditions! Anyway, it was just pretty funny. I assure you I'd never do such a thing on a regular school day.

Gung Ho Fat Boy!

Workday - 8:30am-4:30pm

I had an awesome day today. Well, actually it was pretty busy and chaotic. But I enjoyed it, all the same. My two piano classes had their final listening exams, and we started cleaning out the band room and music office, but this was all done in good spirits.

The best part of the day was lunch. A few of us (teachers and students) went across the street to the local Chinese restaurant to eat. Needless to say, it was packed for New Year's celebrations. Fortunately the students had been there all morning and saved some seats. It was just a lot of fun to eat and watch the festivities (the drums and a dragon coming around to collect money -- and give money, I believe). I barely ate anything, but somehow got filled up. And Chinese food is rarely all that filling! I think it was the custard-esque tart that did it.

Also, being the last day of classes for the semester, things were fairly relaxed. I said (and I can't spell this in English) "Gon Hey Fa Choy" to my students and learned to say (which I also can't spell in English) "Gon Si Fa Sai" in Mandarin! I can actually say these phrases correctly, despite my Anglicized versions of "Gung Ho Fat Boy" and "Gutsy Fat Side". The kids then replied with "now give me money!", which is apparently the traditional response. Sounds like a great custom to me! Other students argued "she isn't married!" about me, and therefore I didn't really have to give them anything. I reminded them that I'd be doing the final report cards all weekend and that it might work out better if they gave me money!

Exams - Day Three

Workday - 8:30am-4:30pm

My school has a very high Chinese population. And, after that, most of the remaining population is still Asian (be it east or south Asian). Therefore, I just assumed not many would be at school during the lunar new year. Except I didn't realize that would be tomorrow. For the past while, it's fallen sometime in February and I hadn't checked when it was this year. Anyway, tomorrow is the last regular school day of the semester and my piano classes have their last (music history - listening) exam.

In the interest of fairness (see yesterday's entry about how I am a fair teacher), I announced the option of writing this exam tonight after school. If I had known about the new year sooner I might have able to give more notice, but what can I do? Some people seemed interested, and wanted to take the day off tomorrow. In the end, most realized they weren't ready, however.

At 3:30, two students showed and I administered this listening exam just for them. They were both "lower end" students, so I could tell they just wanted to write the exam to skip off tomorrow. The test was short and out of 20 (with 20 music clips to identify, plus 3 questions for bonus), but the bulk of the time is spent listening to the pieces. I'm sure the two guys were happy to get it over with and will appreciate the holiday. I also decided to grade their work as soon as they left:

5/20 and 3/20.

Exams - Day Two

Workday - 8:30am-3:30pm

Today I finished hearing the last of the piano exams. Getting them done meant working through my lunch period, however.

Nothing very interesting has been happening, lately. I was surprised at the number of students who were visibly shaking during their exams, today. These poor kids were just terrified. I just hope they were nervous about doing well, and it wasn't that I'm actually scary!

I think next year I'll not make the finals out to be such a big deal. I'm still used to my old school where I had to exaggerate the importance of everything just to convince a handful of them that it might be a good idea to do it (or, at the least, show up).

---

I have one student flipping out on me because she's only getting a 92 in my class. She tells me her mother will yell at her, because she got 99% in the course last year. She doesn't think her mother will understand that it's harder in the next grade up. Part of the reason her mark dropped is because she refused to play one of the tests from December. That leaves me with little choice but to give her a zero on it. Another thing pulling the mark down is her composition assignment that didn't follow the guidelines whatsoever. Of course, she wasn't the only student who made this mistake (the "mistake" of deciding this assignment was for them to compose whatever they wanted and somehow get marks). On the other hand, the other people who handed in "do what I feel like" assignments are getting Bs and Cs in the class anyway. This student needs to take some responsibility for her own education.

I really hate how students make it sound like their marks are the teacher's fault. We're (usually) not just coughing up some arbitrary number and calling it your grade! I say "usually", since some teachers might actually do that. I don't, though. I always have a system, and it's always fair. That's another thing -- I don't have "favourites". I have students I'm more friendly with, but they don't get any special treatment for it. I suppose my being fair ends up as a bad thing for those who think they're favourites.

Exam Weeks

Workday - 8:45am-7:45pm

I didn't get home until 10pm tonight, though. My colleagues and I went out for drinks after band rehearsal. It's always nice to relax and chat after a long day. Of course, it then makes the day even longer which can also be rough.

Today marked the beginning of a week of exams, for me. My classes will be performing and writing them for the next 4 days. While I'm stressed about all of this coming up, I'm also relieved that I've accomplished so much already. I finished marking all of the composition assignments over the weekend (rough and good copies). I also made up all the history exams (grade 10 and grade 11 classes) after school today, so all I have left to do is photocopy them. Of course, "made up" just meant tinkering with some old exams on file. Whatever. It still took 2 hours.

Friday is when the "formal exam week" begins. This is when final exams take place within this special schedule. While none of my classes has to write any of these, I do have to supervise some other people's classes as they write theirs next week. Anyway, Friday I technically have nothing to do in the building (except mark, which I can do anywhere). I had gotten my hopes up to take the day off, but now it seems like it won't happen.

There's almost nothing more disappointing than thinking you're going to get a day off and then having that taken away! That's my opinion anyway. The department has set aside Friday to completely clean out the office, as we're getting new carpet in next week. I toyed with the idea of just packing up my stuff on Thursday and calling myself done! However, in the end I think it would just make me look like a slacker if I don't show.

Now I'm just depressed at the idea of losing my day off. I'll live, though. And so, after spending over 14 hours out of my home, I've returned ready to head straight for bed. Goodnight.

Thank God It's F@$%#$! Friday

Workday - 8:30am-4:00pm

Darn. Five days into my blog, and I already have my first "nothing interesting to report" day. Of course, it's probably no coincidence that this also happens to be Friday. I'm sure I could come up with a story, but I'd rather go enjoy my weekend.

Next week is in-class exam week. It'll be insanity. So wish me luck.

Mmmm... Marking

Workday - 8:30am-3:30pm*

It's that time of year. The semester finishes at the end of this month, which means a lot of final assignments, tests, and exams. I should just be glad I don't have the marking pile I had last year. Even though this year's is looking to be rough, as well.

So, for fun, I think I'll list the marking I had to tackle in January of 2003:

- 40-50 world music essays (I would have had more, but not everyone completed this independent study assignment)

- 55 music theory exams

- 30 Canadian history exams

- 30 Canadian history final essays

- 15-20 final history folder assignments (of collected notes and work from the past semester. Again, I would have had more, but not everyone handed this in)

On top of that, I think there was probably a set of 30-60 quizzes (I'm sure I gave one in January a couple of weeks before exams). This list only includes tangible, take-home marking. I'm leaving out about 45 world music presentations, 30 singing tests, and 55 singing/playing exams (all marked as they happened). I also got myself out of marking this final history game assignment, as I had the class play each other's games and peer evaluate. Whew! And finally, after all of this marking was completed, I got to fill out report cards for about 85 students.

Here's what January 2004 is looking like:

- 50 piano composition assignments (more like 100, because they need separate marks for the rough and good copies)

- 50 music dictation tests

- 50 music theory tests

- 50 music history written exams

- 50 music history listening exams

- 60 music listening essays

And the sidenotes: ok, I won't have to tackle all 60 of those essays because it's a shared class. I might get 30, but I have no real idea. Also, I got out of marking my share of the other 60 listening assignments due this month. The other teacher did those in exchange for my doing the report cards for the whole class. That list again doesn't include things I can mark "on site", including 50 playing tests, 30 (more) composition assignments, and 50 playing exams. And finally, I top off that marking with the completion of 110 report cards!

So what am I doing blogging instead of tackling the marking pile, you ask? Well, I didn't bring any of it home. I can plough through much of it during school hours and exam week. It actually might not take all that long. In fact, I'm already finished marking the 50 dictation tests!



* Yeah, that workday's ending earlier and earlier! This is basically due to the current weather. I want to get a ride to the subway station any chance I can, so if a colleague is leaving, I'll up and leave right with them.

My Work Area Has No Windows

Workday - 9:00am-4:00pm

As you can see, I got to work a little late today. Oops. Well, I woke up to see that it was -30C with the windchill, and I decided I didn't want to leave until the sun was up. I figured that would increase my chances of not freezing to death during the walk from the bus stop. Then, of course, transit wasn't running at its smoothest, which made me even later. Fortunately, I don't have a first period class this semester, so it's not too terrible if I arrive late. I also left "early" because snow was amassing!

The weather out there is just atrocious. It makes me seriously consider not coming in on these days. I just don't get the option of taking the day off like most people. Sure, there are "supply teachers"* (although good luck getting them with today's weather). Unfortunately, leaving work for them usually takes more effort than it would to just show up. That's also why most teachers work when they're sick. It's just easier.

So besides my work being 16C in most places (my classroom's still the hottest, thankfully!), it also has very few windows. None of the classrooms I work in, nor my office, has a single one. The world could end outside and I wouldn't have a clue until 4 o'clock -- unless a student told me. Today, we got a blizzard and about 4 inches of snow dumped on us during the school day alone (it's still going). I wouldn't have known this until I stepped outside, if not for a student mentioning it during last period. This really is the kind of weather they cancel school for anywhere else. I guess the world really will have to end before I see that happening around here.


* I use quotation marks, because it's an outdated term for the profession. I have nothing against them... I did my share of supply teaching, myself. Although I suppose I do have something against certain types of them (i.e., the ones who refuse to do any work whatsoever).

Inappropriate Touching

Workday - 8:30am-4:30pm

As a newer teacher, I learned right away that you just can't touch students anymore. No pat on the back, no hug "hello", nothing. It's just better to be safe. Of course, sometimes exceptions are made (not to mention that accidents happen).

Today I found myself literally tugging on a student's arm to get him into choir practice. He didn't realize there was rehearsal tonight and made other plans. This was my way of making it clear that missing it was not acceptable. I yanked him for about 2 seconds before it was pretty obvious he was stronger than I. He then ran down the hall to escape the issue. Or me. I'm not really sure which one.

Then there's the case of my one student who is very clingy with me. She usually greets me by hugging up to me or leaning against me from behind. I think she's a little affection-starved, and I feel sad about that. I generally don't reciprocate just to keep on the safe side. It also makes me sad because I just end up looking cold and rude. At least I'm not in elementary school. I wonder how those teachers comfort the poor little kids. I'm sure most just break the rules. I think it's a little more unusual to be dealing with a clingy 17-year-old.

Lastly, on this topic, my colleagues were sharing some stories from the past today at lunch. I heard about how one of them inadvertently "got to second base" with a student when he turned around and she was behind him. I found the idea of this insanely funny, even though (of course) it was accidental. What made it funnier to me was that the guy ended up completely mortified for the rest of the day.

I told them after how students "bump into me" all the time. When you're in a crowded classroom, it just becomes a matter of fact. I don't give it a second thought now, but I think it's just different when the roles are reversed.

Don't Ever Call Me Lazy

Workday - 8:30am-7:30pm*

I hate that Mondays are my longest days. Maybe it will be of some consolation that Tuesdays will soon be almost as long!

And I love it when people think teachers have it easy with a 9-3 workday. They seem to be mistaking us for the students. That's their workday (and that's 8:45-3:20 at my school, by the way). I don't see these same people assuming lawyers only have to work when they're in court. Why would they think teachers only work when they're in class?

---

Funny. Students know about an upcoming test for a week, but don't think to ask for help until the day before. And then none of them can come in for help at the same time, so I'm giving one-on-one tutorials throughout the afternoon! I shouldn't complain, though. At least they're asking for help. It beats my school last year, where most were too high to realize they were writing the test as it happened!

---

I don't think I can stand working in these freezing temperatures much longer. I've gotten used to my 27C apartment, and so a 19C school feels like an icebox. My usual classroom keeps at a nice 25-26C, but it's the hottest room in the school. What with my 11-hour workday, I spend at least as much time outside of that room as in it.

I've been home an hour and my hands are still thawing.

'Til the next one!

* workdays never include the 50-60 minute commute each way. That said, I left the apartment around 7:30am and returned at 8:30pm.

The beginning...

Ok, I started a blog. But I maintain that it is pointless for me to have one, because I have nothing important to say. And anything interesting that goes on in my day will surely be told to anyone interested (by other means)! Oh well. Here's the clincher, then: I won't tell anyone about it just yet. We'll see if anyone finds it on his/her own.