Mission - Gotta Believe It Is - Possible (and it is)....

Heard an interesting stat at the WTI conference last month - children of families that make more than $108,000 per year, graduate college  by 24 years old (6 years post HS) at a rate of approximately 75%.  When the income range changes to between $34,000 to $108,000, the graduation rate drops to about 25% - and just because that was not terrifying enough - when income is less than $34,000 the percent that graduate college by 24 years old is less than 10%.

There is the challenge.  And that feels daunting when you look at those percentages -- those college graduation rates are what our current system produces.  And that stat is why we simply cannot teach like we always have - our results have not been great.  Doing the same thing and expecting different results...... well we know what that is, insanity.  How we introduce students topics, how we expect them to process and understand must be changed.  We must recognize that the current system is not helping all students, and it was not designed to do so.  The system was designed to sort.

We must not sort, time that is needed and grades must be done differently.  Giving a student an F or B does not make him/her ready for their post HS life.  Grades cannot be the final measure of a student in a class room.  Their success after our walls should be, and that is why differentiation is key.

So when a school is over half free and reduced lunch your challenge is there.  I strive to make sure that my students can successfully complete their first semester of secondary math beyond HS - whether that is a technical college, a 4 year-college Algebra course or a Calculus depending on the courses the student have taken with me at my school.  And that is not easy; I continually push myself and my students to make sure they are all ready, even my D students.  For all of them are moving to careers (some thru college, some not) - and I accept that it is my job to make sure they can do math for their next step.

If students are not pushed, are not given upper level work there will be no belief they can handle secondary education.  And I think belief is what is really missing below $108,000 income level.  We must stop sorting and start setting up students for post-HS success.

Preparing students is my job, even those who would rather not be students

I see my job as to make sure all the students in my room get enough math to be ready for the world with respect to college and career.  Thus when a student does not want to learn, refuses to do homework, etc I do many things.  One thing is for sure, a student is not "allowed" to sit and take an F in my room.

Not to say every student passes, but I also do not let 16 year olds make life decisions such as "I don't need math." or "I don't need a dipolma."  I simply don't use grades as a motivator.  If a student is motivated by grades I don't have to worry about that student's effort. If he or she isn't, well, then we have to find what does motivate them.

This year I have a few more students who are not too interested in school than usual.  So the last thing I do is use a traditional homework/study/test class setting for those students.  Given the opportunity they would cause disruptions, try to sleep (which I don't allow either), or some other less than helpful thing and simply fail.  Again it is a young adult making a poor decision, my job is to help guide.

And since I believe what I teach is a key to their future success I make it my job to get them to do enough to learn what they need.  That means all kinds of things, students staying before and after school.  Students eating lunch with me (how cool is that - eating lunch with me - the math teacher!).  Adjusting homework so we get what we need - everyone does not have to do it the same.

Now I hear teachers say that does not prepare them for work - for the responsibility.  But school's number one job is to get them the problem solving skills, responsibility is usually something not learned at school - simply punished.  And it is funny, the worst students can often be good employees - saw it many times.  They realize the difference between a job and school and perform as required.

My job is to make school their job - forget grades - grades only prove knowledge by some instance in time, we are after them being ready for the world - that is not a grade thing.

So I keep on pushing, challenging, annoying and some of my students may dare-say harassing them to do their work - but in the end they need the skills and the diploma - and that is my job - to drag them through.

Flipping

I had a training session on Monday at our local CESA (a regional educational support building/system with consultants for a number of high schools) with Jon Bergmann about flipping my classroom.  It really reinforced my belief that it is not just technology but about relationships and best use of time.

My big challenges remain the same.  How to get students watching videos, how I make sure they are watching videos and how I change my class.  And that is the rub for me, I rarely lectured before.  About 10 minutes out of 45 in the past, and then we worked together -- it may have been large projects, small practice problems, sometimes now I use Khan in lab so students practice what they are still mastering - but it was always doing.  But this 35 minutes of time on problems is not greatly differentiated, so that is the next step.  How do I get the spectrum wider, handle the management and get better growth in my students (and growth is not some CCSS test). 

Again is slow incremental change, slightly better tomorrow than today.