Thursday, June 24, 2010

No Excuse to Fail

No Excuse to Fail


In one of my first, real, math teaching assignments, I had a student whose mother was not thrilled with the grade on her son’s first test. She came in on parent-teacher night to discuss this.

Mrs. Parent reassured me that she did not believe this was my fault. She was not blaming me. She was sure that I was intelligent and that some day I would make a fine teacher. However, as I was new, perhaps I had not yet acquired the skills necessary to teach her little Cherub.

Well, I explained to Mrs. Parent, the first test of the year is a review of what the students’ remember from last year. That way I can determine what I need to cover before we can move on. I reassured Mrs. Parent that the first two or three questions were easy questions, to help the students build confidence. To help the students overcome any math anxiety.

Now comes the part where God was with me. (I can say that because this was a Parochial school.) Mrs. Parent came with Mrs. Friend who had Miss Daughter with her. (They went to the daughter’s class first. Either that or Mrs. Parent brought Mrs. Friend with her to be a witness.

I turned to Miss Daughter. I asked, “What grade are you in?”

“Sixth,” she replied.

I put the first question of the test on the board, handed her the chalk, and asked her to solve the problem. She did.

I turned to Mrs. Parent and said, “Now, your friend’s daughter solved that problem and she is only in the sixth grade. In addition, this is the beginning of the year, so they did not get to that material yet; which means she learned it in the fifth grade; and, your friend’s daughter did not know there was going to be a test tonight, so she did not have a chance to study. There is no excuse for your son getting that problem wrong.”

Mrs. Parent thanked me, took the test, folded it up, and they all left. Mrs. Friend and Miss Daughter went out the door, Mrs. Parent, under the woodwork.

I did not humiliate Mrs. Parent. Miss Daughter did not humiliate Mrs. Parent; the little Cherub did not humiliate his mother. Mrs. Parent humiliated herself when she came into my classroom and began the meeting with an empowerment and dignity festival to reassure me she was not blaming me, and proceeded to explain her son’s performance by fabricating a lack of ability to teach on my part.

I have often said, “It is the teacher’s job to teach; but that is all the teacher can do. Learning is the student’s responsibility.”

The following morning Little Cherub wanted to know what I had said to his mother. I started to tell him. He was not listening.

“My parents had me up till three o’clock in the morning. My parents were all over my case. My parents didn’t cut me no slack. (“Any slack”—he wasn’t listening.) My parents didn’t cut me no slack.”

Epilogue:

This student turned out to be, let us say, one of my top three students. The embarrassment his mother was subjected to (REMEMBER WHAT I HAD SAID ABOUT PEER PRESSURE? IT APPLIES TO PARENTS AS WELL.) was all Mrs. Parent needed to hold her son responsible for his grades. Moreover, he not only met the challenge, he exceeded it.

Regards,

Slim

PS. I am not Paul Harvey.  Still, I am open to becoming a paid blogger, columnist, or commentator.

In the meantime, if anyone finds the monographs on my blog to be especially helpful, please do not hesitate to send me on of those tricked out laptops and few dollars tucked into the envelope with the thank you note.


Sincerely  


Slim


Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview


(On a personal note: If you have any doubts about raising children, contact John Rosemond, the professional http://rosemond.com He knows what he’s talking about.) www.rosemond.com

How many parents want their children to get the appearance of an education?

How many parents want their children to get the appearance of an education?


To follow up on a previous article, I am now a teacher. I teach 7th and 8th grade math. Children have math anxiety; pressure from their parents; and pressure they place on themselves. This, I found, was easy enough to deal with.

On the way home one Friday, I stopped in a stationery store. I bought a box of gold stars. Not those chump size stars, the big ones.

As I reviewed my students’ work, graded papers, and entered grades in my book, I looked for the best paper each student had submitted. I put a big gold star on the top, I wrote a very positive comment next to it in red ink.

On Monday, I handed out the papers. Some of the students went through them. One student said, “Hey, I got a gold star on my paper.” Another said, “How come I got a gold star on my paper?” Another said, “I got one too!”

I said, “Relax, everyone. Let me explain what I did.”

I explained to my class that I took the best paper each student submitted, put a gold star on top, and wrote something nice in red ink. Then I told them what I wanted them to do.

“I want you to take your papers home and say, ‘Look, I got a gold star on my paper.’ Now, what your parents are going to do, is look at the paper, tell you how proud they are of you, and maybe not get on your case so much. That way, when you come to class you won’t be so filled with math anxiety. You’ll be more relaxed and I will have an easier time teaching, and you will have an easier time learning.”

There was dead silence for less than a heartbeat. Then the class broke out in laughter. They got the joke.

Epilogue:

Tuesday, I asked my class how it went. They all had positive comments to share. I said, “Good. Now your parents won’t be getting on Sister’s case, Sister won’t be getting on my case, your parents won’t be getting on your case, and we can all relax, have a good time, enjoy math, and you’ll learn a lot more.

Regards,

Slim

PS. I am not Paul Harvey.  Still, I am open to becoming a paid blogger, columnist, or commentator.

In the meantime, if anyone finds the monographs on my blog to be especially helpful, please do not hesitate to send me on of those tricked out laptops and few dollars tucked into the envelope with the thank you note.


Sincerely  


Slim


Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview