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Reasons I quit my last major job
Exit letter to my last set of students
Journal entries
Jan 07, 2005
Jan 07, 2005 update:
I quit my job with the student teachers, even though they were the best part of the job. It is amazing how less stressed I am now that the person I co-taught with is no longer insulting me on a daily basis. I may have to create a page just to vent my frustration about how she treated me. If I do, I'll make a link to it...a subtle link, but one that lets interested people know my point of view. Actually I was pummelled so much and inhibited from being allowed to share my expertise with our students that I originally created the educator set of Embrace Challenge pages so I could share advice with new teachers. Since my paid position did not allow me to properly educate my student teachers, I paid and created a website to supplement what I was unable to share.
I am now tutoring seniors who need to pass the math CAHSEE. I'm loving this job. The kids who come to tutoring are wonderful people. It almost breaks my heart that they may not be able to graduate because they have not passed this idiotic math test. I'm all a fan for accountability and holding people responsible for their actions and for learning information, but some of the stuff on this test is really unnecessary. There are a few items that are merely memorization and math specifics they will never use after high school unless they are in a math related field. For example, they need to learn something called a whisker-box diagram. It has to deal with statistics. Ok, I can see how stats is important to be aware of or actually understand, but this diagram does nothing to promote understanding of statistics...it is merely memorizing a diagram and what its edges and middle means. I understand why there are questions on probability, but what the heck is this whisker-box doing there. In my 18 years post high school, 8 of which have been spent as a university student, I have never had to utilize a whisker-box.
There are other conventions on the test which are less than optimal. For example, one of my adorable children has been living in the US for less than a year. Her primary language is Punjabi. Ok, so it is hard enough for her to get used to another language, let alone one with a different alphabet. One would think that math is universal enough that she could do the problems she is asked to do. Well, if this were a straightforward math test, even direct enough where they added or multiplied fractions without a bunch of words being involved, I'm sure she would do fine. But there is jargon that students need to know. If a student does not know that "a quarter" is 25% or 1/4, s/he is screwed. A student may be able to do long division to understand that 25% = 1/4, but unless s/he has been exposed to the vocabulary, s/he won't be able to demonstrate his/her math ability with respect to the relationship between percentages and fractions. Granted, I was only a science teacher and only taught one section of algebra once, but I want to see questions on an exit exam that are meaningful and useful. If the question is a math question, I want a math concept being asked, not a question that would be too easy to get wrong if one is an English language learner whose other language knowledge does not include a Latin based alphabet.
Tutoring has taught me many things and has reinforced other beliefs I've held. I have always valued a student regardless of his/her abilities in the classroom. A student did not have to earn all A's for me to appreciate them. (At least I hope that this is what I communicated to them.) I did not go into teaching to only teach students who want to be there- I wanted to capture as many as I could. Many of the students who are coming to math tutoring might be thought of as the "bad" kids because they've failed their share of classes or have not been able to pass the CAHSEE math test after three tries, but if you get to know these children you learn that their hopes and ambitions are as important as those of students who demonstrate "excellence" in the classroom. These students are reinforcing my belief that every child is valuable, has something to offer, and is able to learn given the proper environment. The proper environment aspect has become more evident to me. I have a couple students who can show me they are able to get through the problems. I show an example or two, explain how it works, and then ask them to do a few problems. I'll ask them why an answer is right or why it is wrong. They are able to answer me quite well. If they were in a class with 20 or 30 other students, though, I'm not sure they'd do as well. Since it is so easy to accept math incompetence and just write it off, too many of these students are not getting the tutoring when they really need it- at the time it is being taught. One reason they may not be getting the tutoring is because they don't see themselves as ever being able to do math, so why bother? (This is the first year the CAHSEE will actually prevent failing kids from graduating.)
I'm also thinking that many students have spatial challenges. For example, when going over graphs, I have noticed that some students have trouble discerning the lines and what they mean. The line that draws the axis looks just like the line that is going across the coordinate plane until one grabs a spatial understanding. This is something I never thought about until last week. And here we are 1 month before the last time they can take the test in order to graduate with a diploma, and I am noticing children who are so stuck with graphs that they can't visualize the line from the grid. All I can do is empathize with these kids and wish they had gotten help for their math challenges long before a few months before the last test before graduation. But in our overworked public education system, how can we help every child see success? I'm anticipating this tirade to land on a webpage at some point...I'll link to it after it is created. |
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