Sunshine on a cloudy day

Yes, I was at school until 7pm calling the parents of students who are in danger of failing (term ends Friday).

However, until 4 I was working with my speecher who is an absolute delight.

Yes, I still have 50 essays to grade.

However, the kids have been working on their Midsummer Night's Dream scenes, and they are just a hoot.  Performances start tomorrow, and I can't wait.

I think I will make it.

Excrement+HVAC Blower=Sucky Day

Had to talk to five different kids about plagiarism today.

One "thought we were supposed to" paraphrase Shakespeare by copying an internet source word for word.

Another "thought he had changed it enough" by substituting every fifth word from an internet site.

We use Turnitin.com.

We have all year.

The kids can see their reports and re-submit up until the due date/time.

What the hell.  Boo.

Remember the reason

"To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."--MLK, Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail

Blargh, or Sometimes I wish I could tell them to leave me alone.

From Student X:

I have some questions about how you graded my paper. First of all, the comment you left that I didn't cite a source correctly, the website was just on a line below the rest of the citition. It was all one citation and i think you thought the website was just thrown in as a separate citation. You also said my margins are too big, but on my last paper you told me they were too small, so I don't see how I get graded down for that. I also have a lot of trouble understanding the rubric. If i'm correct though it says my paper is "clear and focused" but at the same time "the paper has no clear sense of purpose or central theme". I really don't understand how those two statements aren't completely contradictory. I'd like to know if you'd look over these things and adjust my grade if necessary without me revising it or before i revise it. I also don't really understand how i talked about plot too much, because I would imagine that's the main way to use the text to support my thesis. I think that's everything i was wondering about, but if i remember anything else i'll send another message.

My reply:

Please remember that conventions (eg capitalization) matter regardless of the medium. I think we talked about tone after your last note. This is reading as very accusatory and almost rude.

Your website citation is missing parts as well as being punctuated incorrectly (you have an example in your student planner). In addition, it's hard to tell if you included all the needed information, since you did not cite the website in your essay.

Margins should be 1". We've discussed that in class.

You will notice that the rubric has a spectrum between the 5 and the 3 scores; you received marks between the two, which means there are attributes from both 5 & 3.

Retelling the plot is not the same as providing evidence. Focus on using specific examples, ie quotations, to support the main ideas in each paragraph. I've read the works: I do not need your to tell me everything that happens. Your job is to analyze the examples, and that is what is currently missing.

No, I will not regrade your essay before you do the rewrite. Part of the work of writing is figuring out how to focus on what is important and cut out what is not.
 

X's reply:

I apologize if my messages sound rude. I don't mean them to at all. I'm still confused on margins because you told me not to use 1" margins on the first paper so on the comparative analysis I used increased margins just like you told me to. Now you say i need 1" again, and I don't understand why. I see now that i put a coma after the day in my citation. I also understand that it has a lot missing so may be hard to read. The date i gave is the date accessed not the date of the website in case that was confusing. The reason so much is missing is because the website didn't provide the other information I needed. It's a sort of message board kind of posting site if you see what I'm saying. Because of that, there wasn’t one author. It was just a bunch of people with usernames posting things. Should I put in a username as the author or the original speaker of the quote I used instead of a website author? I still don't really understand the rubric. It's really hard to read for me. I don't quite get what you're saying about five attributes. It just seemed like i got two scores in parts and that the descriptions of those scores contradicted each other. Since i don't understand it though there is the possibility I'm reading it wrong. I still also don't understand how you want my papers changed to talk less about plot. I don't really know how to analyze the examples if that's not what i did. Maybe I'm just not an abstract thinker, but if you can’t change my grade without a revision, can i revise it just changing the margins and other small things like leaving out "comparative analysis" in the header? I want a better grade but don't entirely understand what I should change in the paper itself to get one. Again, if any of this sounds rude, it's completely accidental. I always try to respect my teachers.

My final reply:

Retell the story less. Introduce short quotations that illustrate your theme in relationship to the plot element. Explain the relationship. Compare how that is done with how it is done in the other text, repeat.

 Thoughts?  

I'm just a girl who cain't say no

 

ihazahotdog.com

On Thursday, a nervous looking young man who I have not previously met came to talk to me.

He started to tell me about how he wants to be an IB Diploma Candidate (did I tell you the IB accepted us?).  And he wants to take pre-calc this year.  And he would have to switch into a different hour of my honors class.  The one that already has 37 kids in it.  And the counselor told him he would have to ask me if he could be moved into the class.

I said, "Sweetie, look around this room.  There are 36 desks in here right now.  Where am I going to put two more?"

Blink.  Blink.

"Okay, honey.  You can switch."

The truth is, I never turn kids away.  If they want to do the work, I want them.

However.  So far this year, I have had the laziest honors students ever.  Four times this year I have been at school three hours after the final bell because I have been calling the parents of students who are failing my class.

Let me also point out that kids only fail if they don't turn in work.  I don't grade a lot of daily work in honors because the proof is in the pudding of their grades on the more final assessment, and these kids don't (always) need the the external motivation of points to get them to do the daily work so they will be ready for the bigger assessment (unlike my 11th graders, who, honest to Pete, sometimes won't open their book unless they know they will get points for doing the assignment.  I'm not sure about how to get 17-year-olds intrinsic motivation.  The students who do well in my class all have something hanging over their heads in order to...sorry, I digress).

Of 66 children, I only got 54 Comparative Analysis.  They were due on the first day of winter break.

ROAR...so, with humangous classes, lazy asses mean tons more work for me.

And I kind of resent that the counselor put me in the position of having to say no to this kid's face or have another body in my overflowing classroom (the other class is 35).  MAYBE WE NEED ANOTHER SECTION.

I've already been thinking about setting the tone more specifically with the new term.  Now...I don't want to scare kids off, but for Pete's sake, I cannot nag them all the time, or I will lose my cotton-pickin' mind, and it will be ugly for everyone involved.

How I feel about the papers I FINALLY finished grading today

icanhascheezburger

4th hour today

"I'm going to be really honest with you.  I had a crappy day, and I'm really tired of those of you who really need to find a time machine so you can go back kick yourself in the butt wanting me to do more work  now than you have all semester.  There are four days left in the quarter, and if you come back to me next week wanting me to help you with all your missing work, I'm going to be really mad.  I can't really work with you today because I am afraid that I might say something nasty.  You are going to read silently.  In 30 minutes, I will put your study questions on the board so you can work on them."

Ah, THAT's why I do this!

Today I got to spend some time with a girl who started at CoolioSchoolio this quarteras a junior, and we worked through her Drama piece for speech.  This child is full of joy, and I will admit that I cherry-picked her when we were assigning students to coaches.

Sunshine Of My Life was working on her character analysis while she waited for the desperate slackers who are trying to make up 8 weeks worth of work in the 5 days we have left of the quarter.

The monologue she chose is right about 6.5 minutes currently (time limit is 8), which actually excites me, because it means that we have 1.5 to play with while we keep cutting and forming.  The piece did not really impress me at first.  I was afraid it could go the way of awful drama, which sounds like country songs without a melody (my wife left me, my dog died, and now my truck's broke).

However.  We started talking about what's really going on with the character.  I talked a little about determining the character's Victory/Goal for any given action.  SOML asked me if we could pause for a second...while she got her notebook.

Friends, the child took notes.

I did not tell her to do so.

DO YOU HEAR THE LITTLE MERMAID SINGING!?

Anywho, the discussion continued, and we got to the idea that the crisis is the rational woman versus her depression.

It's gonna be good.

Teaching Speechers to SLAP

Perhaps you have heard of SLANT:

• Sit up
• Lean forward
• Act like you’re interested
• Nod
• Track the teacher

 Someone at school shared it, and I spent some serious time working with the tenth graders at the beginning of the year on being polite, decent human beings.

Today my friendfriend and I came up with an altered acronym specifically for Speech rounds:

• Sit up
• Lean forward
• Act like you're interested
• Participate

At our last all-team meeting (distressingly poorly attended, BTW) before the season starts, we discussed what participation looks like: laughing when it's funny, making occasional eye contact with the speaker, making mental notes of ideas, not staring off into space and picking your nose, etc.

Also, the importance of positivity (not badmouthing themselves, others, or judges), and celebrating our successes in a manner befitting a graduation ceremony, rather than a kegger.

Chris Sacca's 6 Ways to Help in Haiti

Hat tip Dooce.

And pray.

This morning I heard on MPR that 1 in 8 children in Haiti die before they turn five.

Pray.  And give.  And pray some more.