To Coast, or not to Coast

I went into this week thinking it would be an easy one. That was a mistake. Monday the students didn't show up and we had some workshops. Three of our more experienced colleagues had just returned from visiting High Tech High in San Diego for the past 9 days. They spoke about what they saw and it was obvious that they had quite the new perspective, energy, and enthusiasm for Wolfert Pro (the model of Wolfert Pro is loosely based off of High Tech High). It was nice to see and hear the inspiration.

We also spent some time talking about educating the students about alcohol. Boring for me because it was in Dutch, but an immediately relevant topic for some of our 13 year olds...

I was able to wrap up the book work for math this week. Something like 80/84 students completed the book-work assignment with all the correct answers. Other teachers have been getting around a 50% completion rate. I have to bug all the students about their work, sit down with all of them individually, sometimes 3-4 times until they get it right, others have to stay after school until they are finished. It is the brute-force method, but it works. Hopefully it will get easier when the students pick up on the routine.

I am proud of myself for getting these results. Part of the reason is because I feel the (almost) full responsibility for my math classes. I started out with a co-teacher who quit, and the new one who is supposed to share the classes with me is more focused on other things, so I took charge.

The problem lies with the science classes. I also share the four first-year classes with a more experienced teacher. And the four second year classes. I expected this more experienced teacher to be taking charge but that hasn't really happened. So we have been in school for two months and there is not a single grade yet. We did just finish up with some balloon cars (a cool idea, but poorly planned) so there will be some grades soon.

I am a bit embarrassed about all this, but we asked to stop sharing classes a few weeks ago (so I had been coasting until the division) and it turns out the split won't happen until two weeks from now. This setup is simply not working. We both feel some responsibility for eight classes and it is overwhelming. Simple questions students ask like 'where do I put my poster now that it is finished' are difficult to answer. There isn't a place. And when only half the kids hand something in, and many of them write it in Dutch, how can I grade it?

Somehow the balloon cars with the first years turned out better than expected. We had the races Friday afternoon and maybe 75% of kids had at least something. The record went 6 meters. Pretty impressive. Mine went almost 5 - but I only took an hour to make it.

My Balloon Car

Before that excitement happened, I was on the leerplien (common area with computers where 2-3 classes can be working) with the second years. They were not working (it was the Friday before break) but they were also starting to get a bit out of control, so that was taxing. There is a 'silent room' where students should not be talking, and if they do, they have to join the rest. So I told them to stop talking. Five minutes later, I asked one girl to leave. No problem. Standard procedure.

Overseeing the Races

Five minutes later, I asked another girl to leave. I got complete disrespect from her, she would not move. So I said she would stay after school. It escalated until she was there after school for a long time. She still wouldn't leave. I was so upset that I left.

For the most part, the tools we have to exercise our role as 'police' work, and it is part of the job. But sometimes they don't. I don't get what to do in those cases and it makes me want to quit. The biggest problems I have are with the popular girls. Some of them have horrible attitudes and think they can do/say whatever they want. When they find out they can't manipulate me like they do most other males, they explode. These confrontations get exhausting, and are a real distraction to the rest of the class. Some advice on how to deal with these girls would be most welcome...

Now it is finally Fall Break. We get a whole week off. It is much needed, although I think I am feeling better than most starting teachers. Overall I am very happy to have started off at Wolfert Pro. I work pretty well with the chaos and enjoy the freedom and flexibility to try out new things and make mistakes. Being part of building something so difficult is quite the challenge. Most of the kids are good kids. The first years especially are fun to work with. They still listen.