Kontan’s Place

Sights, sounds, and smells

It’s late afternoon. The boys are dancing and jiving to the music in their head. . . trying to impress the girls of course. Silliness abounds. A spider or two lurks in the corner. The girls look on, they are not amused. It’s loud. It’s smelly.

2:45 and we were still stuck in the locker room below our classroom. *ew*

As afternoon approached many schools around us were preparing for early dismissal. Severe weather was expected and the schools wanted to get the kids home before it started. My system decided not to dismiss early. This actually makes sense to me. Not all parents can come get their kids and not all kids have a weather safe home to go to. Nothing is stopping parents from checking their children out of school either. Parents started coming just before lunch. It was rather amusing to watch. By 9th grade lunch/study I had several students in first study and only one in second. The next period six of 16 students were there. I let them hang out. We talked about birds in the state and how weather radar works. It wasn’t a total educational loss. We were watching how the storms were splitting just before our city when the announcement was made to get to our safe place. It was really a surprise. No thunder. No lightening. No rain. Just wind…lots of wind.

I told them where to go and gathered up. From that classroom our safe place is in the hallway beside the gym. Since that hallway is nothing but a wind tunnel we moved the students into the boys locker room. Again I say *ew*.

Parents were still coming. We’re under a tornado warning and announcements are being made for this, that and the other student. My students were great. They did exactly what I needed them to do and took it seriously. The others were pretty good as well. The storms were all around us, but all we were getting was wind. By 2:20 students were restless and not thrilled with sitting in the locker room. By 2:40 the warning was lifted. We didn’t return to our rooms, but around 2:50 we allowed our locker room hostages to move to the gym and await the end of school.

The local forums are back and forth on the bus issue. Being the fence rider that I am, I can certainly see both sides. I still lean on the side that it isn’t necessary to let school out and has the potential to be even more dangerous. If parents are able to pick up their kids then fine. If not, follow the emergency plan.

What do you think? Close, send students home early or stay open, follow plan while allowing check outs?

My Waterloo

For the past several nights I have been working my tush off on a PowerPoint of the French Revolution. Here’s the deal, it may or may not get used in class. Not all of the rooms I float to have the capability to project. Sometime when I’m not having to correct every other spelling error b/c I’m so wiped out I will share why. I worked and I worked and I worked and I worked…Then I made my first publish to slideshare.net

My current message:

I hope it posts b/c I would love to be able to post the thing on my school site. Here’s my big issue. I create in Office 2007, but have to save in then 2003 format. Crudmuffins, it always messes up the fonts or spacing. This means that if I desire to continue publishing on slideshare.net I will have modify all my publications to accommodate for their lack of updating. Is it really worth it?

OOOEEEE guess what! It worked and I don’t have to edit the spacing! This makes me very happy.

Now I shall share…It is rather simple, but VERY wordy. Students will have a printout that does not include all slides. They will have to condense the information, based on the “so what does this mean” slides that they will not be given in the handout. Watching, listening, and notetaking will be key activities.

Since this is for the purpose of review I lifted the content from a Sparknotes summary and will be adding to it in class. woo-hoo.

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12 days and counting

I know today was the first day back, but in only 12 days we will be out for MLK and have a three day weekend. That’s only two school weeks. Since I’m already behind I will visit when I catch up, or when I refuse to continue…

Plagiarism

Research and statistics

And more from: http://www.cbu.edu/library/faculty/plagiarism/

How common is plagiarism?
In 2001, Donald L. McCabe of Rutgers University performed a study of 4,500 high school students that found that, “74 percent of students admitted to cheating seriously on an exam one or more times; 15 percent admitted to turning in a paper largely taken from a Web site or a paper mill; and approximately 51 percent admitted to not citing the source from a Web site when using a few of its sentences in their papers” (Straw).

Another study performed in 2002 asked 698 undergraduate students how often they plagiarized. In this study, only 24.5 percent admitted to having cut and pasted text from the Internet without proper citation. Interestingly, more than 90 percent of the undergraduates reported that their peers were probably doing the same (Kellog).

An article on the National Science Teacher Association web site reports that, “In another poll, 80 percent of top high school students admitted to cheating during their academic careers, the highest percentage since the “Who’s Who Among American High School Students” survey began 29 years ago. In the survey, 95 percent of cheaters said they had never been caught” (Toppo).

This is so unbelievably common. As I grade papers that are blatantly plagiarized I think to myself, “do they think we’re stupid or that we just won’t bother to check?” Other statistics indicate that profs just don’t want to take the time to check whether a paper is plagiarized. Well, if you don’t care then why bother assigning it? Figuring out what is plagiarized and what is not is a tedious job, but the WWW makes it easier.

Another thing that amazes me is how bad students are at plagiarism. Some will print directly from their browser, or leave hyperlinks showing- as if we won’t notice!

We teachers are partially to blame. We assume they know what we mean when we say cite your source, don’t copy. We assume they know that paraphrasing is changing more than one word. We assume too much. As much as they may moan and groan about it, we have to teach them what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. Sometimes it really is unintentional. However, others are just liars that are trying to pull a fast one. These students are the ones that I do not feel bad for when I print their paper from the net, highlight the plagiarize portions and label with an identifying 0/F. Have an issue with it? Read your syllabus buddy and count your blessings that you aren’t being kicked out of the class or school.

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Friday makes me smile

It is wonderful to be facing the weekend. It has come to the point where I am getting through the week by focusing on the next break. The semester has been terribly difficult. I feel like a first year teacher all over again. (Oh that was horrible and I can’t believe I continued teaching after that semester.) I love teaching at the college level and didn’t believe that I was ready to give up high school. I would give it up in a second if the opportunity presented. It isn’t the students, it’s all the other junk that goes along with being a high school teacher. I hate having to type up and submit lesson plans. I really hate the documentation required for students who are failing because they are flat out lazy. But this post isn’t about the frustrations of the job…actually I don’t know what this post is about because lately my mind is mush. So tired. Oh, Fridays. This Friday is grand because it represents the start of a three day weekend. This is the week that starts the downhill slope that is the rest of the school year. After this three day weekend we face the four day school week, Thanksgiving break and then the race to mid-term exams. The semester is almost over! Time flies…

Now for that first year- it was the semester from hell. Fresh out of college in December I started subbing in January. Stepping into a different classroom each day and not knowing the students is difficult. However, it is a great learning experience and there is minimal paperwork involved. Each afternoon you leave with exactly what you arrived with. Nothing to grade, nothing to complete for the next day. I still needed a guaranteed job and pursued every opportunity to land one. I didn’t have to wait long. By February I was offered a permanent sub position in a pretty decent high school. The class was government and economics…graduating seniors. (To the those who just went ew it was everything you think it was and more.) I was just barely older than my students, stepping in to the position of a teacher retiring for health reasons. The students loved him, the faculty loved him, and I was new. Let me say that there are some districts where newbies are completely on their own. I guess the thought is, why get too attached to the person who may or may not return? I don’t know, but I was totally alone with a group of kids who had no respect for anyone. My first and fourth blocks acted great and really worked with me. On a daily basis third block made me want to run screaming. They would not get to class on time, would not come with materials, would not remain quiet so I could teach. They literally carried on their regular speaking voice conversations for the entire class period. I issued detentions, gave zeros, and called parents. The parents didn’t see what they problem was…”he’s/she’s just talking.” Yes, but so much so that it is impossible to have class. First and fourth were pretty good, but they had a few instigators as well. At this particular school some classrooms were connected by a doorway. One student was so disruptive that I pulled his desk to the shared doorway and he stayed there for class. This kid would not do work, would not be quiet, would not leave others alone, and smarted off to me on a regular basis. When June arrived and he had a 69 average, needing a 70 to pass, he decided it was time to play nice. Hate it- failed. Now, before you think I amm terrible, he failed English too. One, I don’t give points. Two, I sure as hell don’t give points to someone who has made my life miserable for four months. Three, do your work and passing is more likely to naturally occur. Back to the block of imps, at one point it was so bad that I told the students who wanted to pass to join me at the front of the room…I reviewed them and gave credit where it was due. I must say the month before the end of school when graduation was iffy for some that class improved. I hated that semester and was so glad when it was over. Despite how horrible it was, during that short period of time I learned more than I did in years of edu classes.

The first year was all about survival. The last month or so the principal gave advice that I have never forgotten and have always followed. Get them on the first day. Meet them at the door with their assigned seat and an assignment ready. It sets the tone and lets them know you are prepared for class. It also gives you the advantage of being able to call them by name without having to ask them to identify themselves after they have chosen their own seat. Mr. and Ms. work well too. The formal tone gives the impression that you will take nothing from them and have high expectations of them. Now, I can’t keep this up for too long, but it is long enough that students get the idea.

All in one

My oldest is ten, soon to be eleven. If she was attending school in Portland, Maine she would start school later in the year and go well into June. She wouldn’t be thrilled with this, but it would be natural for the area and acceptable to her. Children amaze me with their acceptance of what they are told. Early September I wrote about the power of an educator…or you. Most of the time what the teacher says is true, no matter what. What power. What influence. Educators have become the all in one provider for some students. It shouldn’t be that way, but sadly, in so many cases it is.

Students look up to their teachers, administrators, and school staff. They see adults who are working hard to educate them and who will even provide a listening ear or shoulder for their burdens. Almost everyday I have a student ask to go to the nurse for a reason that seems so benign. They want the attention that she provides. It makes them feel good when someone cares. Today, and several days in the past, I had a student ask to go to the administrator because she was having problems with another student. She looks up to him and gains assurance from his guidance and discipline. I don’t think it is something she gets at home. Sadly many students come to school simply to receive a meal and be around people that care about them.

If my ten, soon to be eleven, year old happened to attend school in Maine I’m sure she would experience the caring nature of her school administrators, teachers, and staff. This is great, but she would also have access to something else that does not reassure me and does not make me happy. She, my ten soon to be eleven, year old would have access to birth control and she wouldn’t have to tell me about it.

Yes, according to this article, middle school age children in Portland, Maine will have access to birth control and informing the parent is optional. What the snot is wrong with this picture?!?! It’s enough to make me want to yank her out and homeschool!

PORTLAND, Maine — Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.

The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services…Those who favored the plan said it isn’t about encouraging premature sex, but protecting kids who don’t have strong support from their parents.

“Unfortunately, not every child is getting the kind of parental involvement that is going to help keep them safe,” said Richard Verrier…At King Middle School, birth control prescriptions will be given after a student undergoes a physical exam by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland’s student health centers.

Students treated at the centers must first get written parental permission, but under state law such treatment is confidential, and students decide for themselves whether to tell their parents about the services they receive.

No, not every child has parental involvement at home. Not every child has someone telling them that sex can be dangerous. Not every child has someone saying you are too young. So what does this school do? Not fund an education program. No, they plan to examine and prescribe birth control. You know, chemical birth control is not 100% safe and I bet that it can even be damaging to the developing female system of a middle school girl!

The schools have become the all-in-one for students and it is getting ridiculous. Yes, some middle schoolers are having sex. No, I am not an “abstinence only” supporter. I don’t think it is realistic to teach abstinence only because you have students having sex and they need to know the dangers and how to protect themselves. I think they should be taught that abstinence is emotionally, physically, and socially best…but I am realistic enough to accept that some will be having sex and need to know that protection is a must. Yes, they should be taught that they are too young. Don’t get me wrong, I do not advocate teaching them that sex at a young age is acceptable, safe, or OK. I also don’t think it is OK to treat them medically without the permission of the parents, however irresponsible they may be! If they are that irresponsible remove the child from the home and deal with it through social services.

Goodness gracious alive I can not fathom the idea of my ten, soon to be eleven, year old having an exam to get birth control and NO ONE TELLING ME SHE IS SEXUALLY ACTIVE OR CONTEMPLATING IT!!! HELLO! This is information that I need to educate her! Most people assume that pre and early teens is too soon to discuss abstinence and such. Younger and younger…shocking isn’t it?

The idea of a school system providing birth control opportunities just floors me. EDUCATE the children, not offer medical treatment. Provide a safe environment for learning, not a Rx for the patch. (WHICH IS NOT SAFE BTW!)

Are my semi-conservative views clouding my judgment here? Am I wrong to think that this is not the right or place of the school? I just can’t see that I am. I know that many parents are irresponsible and don’t work to raise their children. It just seems that this particular ruling is overstepping the bounds of even bad parenting.

Against the odds

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Mythbustin’

Always enjoy my visits to Elementary History Teacher, but Myth busin’ Columbus deserves a link. Very interesting T13 about the facts and assumptions of the voyages of Columbus.

The peace within

Papers beside me…waiting to be graded…oh joy. It is the end of the quarter and I am less than motivated to enter grades or finish grading papers. Beside me Tiki sleeps. Lucky dog. Her only responsibility is to tell me when she needs to go out. I’m stressed with school and as I look at my top quote I realize that I have to get my priorities in order and deal with it.

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” RWE

I love the Tiger theme, but currently am using the turtle. I can relate more to the turtle. Slow and easy wins the race. Take it one step at a time and be thankful for the burden on your back. The turtles burden is protection. Mine can be classified as the same because it pays the bills. I am thankful for it.

Life could be much worse.

Homecoming and edurant.

Tomorrow. It’s a parade and everything. I am so not into the drama. The freshman are done with theirs but still participate in the 10-12 version. This is just not my thing. [Please login or register to view private content.]
What is our goal? We can’t make them care. How do you convey the importance of learning? I haven’t figured it out, but I’m working on it.

How’s that for a ramble? Time for bed. My goal this weekend…enter grades for college and high school freshman, and take a nap.