Kids Say The Darnedest Things
Workday - 8:15am-4:00pm
After my last period class today, three students hung around to talk to me.
The class had a quiz which apparently was too difficult. Every quiz/test I make I try to go easier on them than the last. This quiz was the shortest one yet, and only needed the fewest number of questions to cover the entire chapter (it was one page front and back, 9 questions). I thought for sure they'd be finished in less than half an hour.
I was wrong.
They took the most time of all the quizzes! In fact, they really needed the entire period. I had to cut them off at 10-15 minutes before the end so that I could finish up some leftover material from yesterday.
I'm starting to get frustrated, really. Why can't these kids do this math? I suspect no one's doing the homework, and no matter what I do to counter that they still don't. They just don't seem to care that they're failing. But, anyway, that's another problem.
Back to the three students who stuck around afterwards. Two of them are those types of kids who are desperately concerned with getting good grades and squeezing extra marks out of the teacher wherever they can, but have little concern for doing the homework or coming in for extra help. The third oneis a good student and does her work, but when she feels she didn't do well on something she'll repeatedly ask how much it will affect her grade, and what it's worth, and what's coming up that might help bring up her mark, etc., etc.
It's weird, because the four of us were just having some casual conversation. We were talking as peers. Except this one kid was just tearing into me. I don't think it even occurred to him how inappropriate he was being, since he had a huge grin on his face the whole time. By the time they left 25 minutes later, this one guy had said all of the following:
"If I were in anyone else's math class, I'd be getting an A"
(Likely not true. He probably just has friends in other math classes getting A's because they do the work!)
"You mark too hard. All the other teachers mark easier than you"
(Just the opposite. I mark easier than any teacher I know. I cough up part marks in questions anyone else would write off straight away as a zero)
"I'm doing well in all my classes but yours"
(I told him, "you can't compare your marks in gym and drama to your math mark! If you were in my music or careers class your mark would be a lot higher, too". And I wasn't just using "gym and drama" as general examples. He actually was comparing it to his gym and drama grades. I just hope he understood the "it's not me, it's you" allusion in that)
"Did you take any math in university?"
("Yes, you can't be a math teacher without taking it in university. I took 4 full credits, 5 different courses altogether though")
"Oh? What marks did you get?"
(I told him about my 97 in first year before the second midterm. That shut him up. Except that midterm had dropped my mark to the mid-80s. I also got an A in second year. And a B in the hardest and only senior math course I took)
"Why did you want to teach math??"
(I said, "because I like to do math. It's more fun to do, really. I understand it's not exciting to sit in class and take notes, after all")
"When I come to this class, I just want to sleep. It's so boring"
(Of course, this is the same kid who kept asking me this week to let the class "play outside" instead of doing math. He has some growing up to do, I guess)
This student sure has a lot of nerve. I realize he's in grade nine and really doesn't know what he's talking about. He can't speak with any conviction about how other teachers mark, or how easy other math classes will be. I even told him, "just wait until you're in grade 11 math. You'll really be suffering!"
I just hate having to second guess my teaching abilities. Just when I think I'm finally doing ok, I get a day like today. The real problem is that teaching this course is different from any other. It doesn't really matter how good or bad a teacher I am in music or careers. In the end, they get a credit if they did enough work, or not if they didn't, and they move on. If they fail music, they just learn not to take it again, and they don't care.
However, these kids have to get this math credit. And even if they just squeak by, they have to know the principles taught in that course to stand a chance in grade 10. These concepts are the foundation of their entire mathematics career, and if they don't understand it now they'll be behind forever.
I guess what else is annoying is that most of the curriculum should be review for them. They should know these same principles from grade eight. So I guess the real problem could be with their junior high school teachers.
Yeah, that's better. That means I just might not be such a bad teacher. I think I'll just blame them.
After my last period class today, three students hung around to talk to me.
The class had a quiz which apparently was too difficult. Every quiz/test I make I try to go easier on them than the last. This quiz was the shortest one yet, and only needed the fewest number of questions to cover the entire chapter (it was one page front and back, 9 questions). I thought for sure they'd be finished in less than half an hour.
I was wrong.
They took the most time of all the quizzes! In fact, they really needed the entire period. I had to cut them off at 10-15 minutes before the end so that I could finish up some leftover material from yesterday.
I'm starting to get frustrated, really. Why can't these kids do this math? I suspect no one's doing the homework, and no matter what I do to counter that they still don't. They just don't seem to care that they're failing. But, anyway, that's another problem.
Back to the three students who stuck around afterwards. Two of them are those types of kids who are desperately concerned with getting good grades and squeezing extra marks out of the teacher wherever they can, but have little concern for doing the homework or coming in for extra help. The third oneis a good student and does her work, but when she feels she didn't do well on something she'll repeatedly ask how much it will affect her grade, and what it's worth, and what's coming up that might help bring up her mark, etc., etc.
It's weird, because the four of us were just having some casual conversation. We were talking as peers. Except this one kid was just tearing into me. I don't think it even occurred to him how inappropriate he was being, since he had a huge grin on his face the whole time. By the time they left 25 minutes later, this one guy had said all of the following:
"If I were in anyone else's math class, I'd be getting an A"
(Likely not true. He probably just has friends in other math classes getting A's because they do the work!)
"You mark too hard. All the other teachers mark easier than you"
(Just the opposite. I mark easier than any teacher I know. I cough up part marks in questions anyone else would write off straight away as a zero)
"I'm doing well in all my classes but yours"
(I told him, "you can't compare your marks in gym and drama to your math mark! If you were in my music or careers class your mark would be a lot higher, too". And I wasn't just using "gym and drama" as general examples. He actually was comparing it to his gym and drama grades. I just hope he understood the "it's not me, it's you" allusion in that)
"Did you take any math in university?"
("Yes, you can't be a math teacher without taking it in university. I took 4 full credits, 5 different courses altogether though")
"Oh? What marks did you get?"
(I told him about my 97 in first year before the second midterm. That shut him up. Except that midterm had dropped my mark to the mid-80s. I also got an A in second year. And a B in the hardest and only senior math course I took)
"Why did you want to teach math??"
(I said, "because I like to do math. It's more fun to do, really. I understand it's not exciting to sit in class and take notes, after all")
"When I come to this class, I just want to sleep. It's so boring"
(Of course, this is the same kid who kept asking me this week to let the class "play outside" instead of doing math. He has some growing up to do, I guess)
This student sure has a lot of nerve. I realize he's in grade nine and really doesn't know what he's talking about. He can't speak with any conviction about how other teachers mark, or how easy other math classes will be. I even told him, "just wait until you're in grade 11 math. You'll really be suffering!"
I just hate having to second guess my teaching abilities. Just when I think I'm finally doing ok, I get a day like today. The real problem is that teaching this course is different from any other. It doesn't really matter how good or bad a teacher I am in music or careers. In the end, they get a credit if they did enough work, or not if they didn't, and they move on. If they fail music, they just learn not to take it again, and they don't care.
However, these kids have to get this math credit. And even if they just squeak by, they have to know the principles taught in that course to stand a chance in grade 10. These concepts are the foundation of their entire mathematics career, and if they don't understand it now they'll be behind forever.
I guess what else is annoying is that most of the curriculum should be review for them. They should know these same principles from grade eight. So I guess the real problem could be with their junior high school teachers.
Yeah, that's better. That means I just might not be such a bad teacher. I think I'll just blame them.
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