I've been helping out at a school for about six months. I'm past the "honeymoon stage" where I loved everything about the position: happy, respectful, "on-task" students. I've moved into the "mid-year blues" where the second half of the term looms ahead like a long, dark tunnel with no pin pick of light shining through to guide the way. It probably doesn't help too much that my American teacher friends and family are posting end-of-year project results, talking about field trips, enjoying concerts, and posting prom pictures signalling the start of a 2 1/2 month break from school.
In addition to the fact that school is NOT ending anytime soon, I'm in the "critical examination" stage which confirms that first impressions were deceiving. Pretending I'm looking through a microscope, here's really what I'm seeing:
Student Type #1 - I'll called these the highly-motivated-by-completing-tasks students. To achieve these the high number of tasks, the students race through and fail their first test attempts. Then they take the second tests, and because there is no averaging of grades or penalty for trying a second time, their much improved grade on the second test gives the appearance they are "stellar" students. The top of these "task completers" are rewarded with a McDonald's lunch at the end of the month.
One of the little games I play with these students is trying to catch them at skipping any writing assignments that are sprinkled in their books and then refusing to grade any more of their books and/or giving them permission to take tests until they complete the writing assignments. They avoid writing like the plague because a)It takes too much time and b) It requires some creativity and imagination - not strong character trait over here. I know writing is important. I know they need to write to pass their "high stakes" tests. I know writing will improve their literacy and speaking. Unfortunately, this school is set up to reward completion of tasks that are easy to "grade", and writing does not have a place in the "system."
Spot checking also confirms that most of the students in this group have no idea what they have learned and how to apply it. They are basically good at regurgitating or memorizing the paragraphs of words they have copied from the answer keys but can't apply it to other types of assignments or classes.
Student Type #2 -I'll call these students the not-motivated-by-adult-imposed-tasks students. (some might call them "un-motivated" but it's more complicated than that). These students generally plod along, taking naps when needed, staring into space, and making time for a couple of games of cards or ping pong matches once their "minimal" (according to adult standards) targets have been met. These students pass the tests at about the same rate as Type #1 but they just take many fewer tests. What I like about this group is that they are interesting. They have hobbies. They have things to talk about. They can communicate even if they can't be bothered with grammar. But, again, with this "grading on completed tasks" system, they look like poor students.
Spot checking this group also confirms that they may not totally grasp what they've learned but they can throw out a couple of vocabulary words that indicate the general idea (even though it's not verbatim) what the answer key says.
So, why have I got the mid-term blues? I think it's the fact that I don't feel adequate in this position. I feel that the skills I am good at are underutilized, and the clerk-type checking of targets and marking every blank space in a workbook are incredibly boring.
I can't get excited for the Type 1 students who receive kudos and hamburgers at the end of each month, because I know that very few passed anything on the first try and I know they don't really understand. The emphasis on task completion is at odds with learning.
And, I feel sad about the Type 2 students. I feel like I'm more successful helping guide in their learning, but there are no tangible rewards for them.
As a result, I spent the weekend preparing a bulletin board with conversation games, idioms, self-quizzes, and places to showcase writing. It may not solve myt internal conflict between perception and reality, but it did ignite my creative side and uplift my mood.
In addition to the fact that school is NOT ending anytime soon, I'm in the "critical examination" stage which confirms that first impressions were deceiving. Pretending I'm looking through a microscope, here's really what I'm seeing:
Student Type #1 - I'll called these the highly-motivated-by-completing-tasks students. To achieve these the high number of tasks, the students race through and fail their first test attempts. Then they take the second tests, and because there is no averaging of grades or penalty for trying a second time, their much improved grade on the second test gives the appearance they are "stellar" students. The top of these "task completers" are rewarded with a McDonald's lunch at the end of the month.
One of the little games I play with these students is trying to catch them at skipping any writing assignments that are sprinkled in their books and then refusing to grade any more of their books and/or giving them permission to take tests until they complete the writing assignments. They avoid writing like the plague because a)It takes too much time and b) It requires some creativity and imagination - not strong character trait over here. I know writing is important. I know they need to write to pass their "high stakes" tests. I know writing will improve their literacy and speaking. Unfortunately, this school is set up to reward completion of tasks that are easy to "grade", and writing does not have a place in the "system."
Spot checking also confirms that most of the students in this group have no idea what they have learned and how to apply it. They are basically good at regurgitating or memorizing the paragraphs of words they have copied from the answer keys but can't apply it to other types of assignments or classes.
Student Type #2 -I'll call these students the not-motivated-by-adult-imposed-tasks students. (some might call them "un-motivated" but it's more complicated than that). These students generally plod along, taking naps when needed, staring into space, and making time for a couple of games of cards or ping pong matches once their "minimal" (according to adult standards) targets have been met. These students pass the tests at about the same rate as Type #1 but they just take many fewer tests. What I like about this group is that they are interesting. They have hobbies. They have things to talk about. They can communicate even if they can't be bothered with grammar. But, again, with this "grading on completed tasks" system, they look like poor students.
Spot checking this group also confirms that they may not totally grasp what they've learned but they can throw out a couple of vocabulary words that indicate the general idea (even though it's not verbatim) what the answer key says.
So, why have I got the mid-term blues? I think it's the fact that I don't feel adequate in this position. I feel that the skills I am good at are underutilized, and the clerk-type checking of targets and marking every blank space in a workbook are incredibly boring.
I can't get excited for the Type 1 students who receive kudos and hamburgers at the end of each month, because I know that very few passed anything on the first try and I know they don't really understand. The emphasis on task completion is at odds with learning.
And, I feel sad about the Type 2 students. I feel like I'm more successful helping guide in their learning, but there are no tangible rewards for them.
As a result, I spent the weekend preparing a bulletin board with conversation games, idioms, self-quizzes, and places to showcase writing. It may not solve myt internal conflict between perception and reality, but it did ignite my creative side and uplift my mood.
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