It is the end of May. Yet, daily, in every period there are three to five students who need a pencil. Or paper. Or both. Or just need to be reintroduced to their binder which has been languishing in their locker. Since January.
This daily inability/disinterest/motivation (I don't know which descriptor to use here, which is the crux of this post) to come to class prepared is less about there being fourteen days of school left than it is about personal responsibility. A reflection really of what this batch of kids expects from life and themselves. I am worried.
Having spent over a decade teaching in Title I schools, students' lack of basic supplies is the norm. So like most title schools we stand in the gap with a heavily discounted student store and many teachers keep extras in their rooms for those kids who really can't access supplies. So there is really no reason other than conscious choice for a student to come to class without basic supplies.
It is that conscious choosing not to bring the materials necessary to actively engage in learning that has me worried. It is not even the typical "I can learn this by osmosis" attitude. The repeat offenders are presenting as uninterested and unconcerned with learning. Now middle school students are not reknowned for great forward thinking or meta-cognition beyond "I think Justin Bieber is really cute/stupid" (though they do often have moments deep thinking and the hardest questions I have ever been asked have come from seventh graders). They do typically get if-then-because kind of logic. The kind that takes poor kids with difficult home lives to skills center, community college, and beyond. These kiddos aren't there. And I don't know that what I am observing can even be called apathy.
It's more a perfect storm of learned helplessness, lack of opportunity, and almost nonexistent value for obtaining knowledge…about anything. I don't believe any of them want to grow up to be stupid. But they certainly don't want to grow up to do anything requiring they come prepared, on time, or with a sense of curiosity. I fear our best intentions have created this storm. These kids KNOW if they hold out long enough we will give them the answer, and the pencil and paper too.
So I am wondering: which acronym in the Ed Reform alphabet soup is going to address accoutability?
This is the time of year when the parents of the 10% seem to wake up and look at the grade reports. I have had more parent conferences in the last 2 weeks than I have had the opportunity to attend. The questions are always the same:
1. What is my child missing?
2. What can my child make-up?
3. Do they have to stay after school?
4. Can they still pass the class?
I have begun to have some very standard answers. The answers have been developed from our world of high stakes testing.
1. See the grade report for missing assignments.
2. The student can make up all item but those I have marked (usually only 1 or 2 assignments).
3. Yes, your student will have to stay after school, I have written my available times at the bottom of the grade report.
4. The decision to pass the class lies with your student and how hard they want to work in the next 2 weeks, but I will not work harder than they do.
That is how I have tried to put the accountability back on the students and parents. It seems to make my administrators happy and the students still have access to the information they have missed for the high-stakes tests.
There are still many of the 10% who are asleep and I am sure I will be seeing them again next year!
Chelsea, I think we are all at a loss as to what to do to effect a change in attitude with the broader society. It is especially hard this time of year when we are tired and want to see some fruit from our efforts.Frustrating too is knowing the time and energy we spend on the 10% takes away time and energy from thos who do want it. A raw deal all around. Our society needs to hit a tipping point. THis year I have wondered if we hit it and the tip has not been in the direction I hoped for.
This issue is my biggest “crux” this year. In fact, has me wondering, can I keep teaching when I don’t feel like I’m able to positively affect these kids?
What is the solution? One referred to the problem stemming from the parents…so how do we address this? Nothing I do seems to motivate this 10% of my kids. They are perfectly content to sit in class with no supplies (some who even have them right in their backpacks!) and fail….my frustration level and feeling of ineptitude is reaching new heights!
The combination of individual student choice and parental expectation (lack thereof)is exactly the societal piece at the crux of this dilema. I often find myself wondering “how did we get to this point?” But I think that line of thinking is moot. We are here. Now what do we do about it? And it absolutely cannot be just those of us who are educators addressing it. But how do we get students and parents to the tipping point where they can see it and take it on?
Accountabilty – this is a lunchtime topic in my department at least once a week. We are seeing it decrease at an alarming rate and you hit just the tip of the iceberg with paper and pencil.
I once had an athletic director look at a parent and ask, “What grade would you like us to give your child?” Nothing was going to satisfy the parent except giving the child a grade – the parent got the message and backed down.
What I am trying to say is the trouble goes beyond the students to the parents, the parents don’t hold the students accountable for their work and their schooling.
The question is more valid than ever… and the premise of “leaving no child behind” is to blame…not the policy, per se, but the mindset: that it is someone’s job other than the child him/herself. By a certain age, the child is fully in control of his/her decisions. We can blame society, sure, but we have all been granted free will and volition. While the world may not be a level playing field in reality, there are certain opportunities we are all offered yet some choose not to take advantage of. I believe that there is a huge degree of choice involved with academic success and failure. I have always grated against the premise that we as teachers can be punished (via school sanctions, lower pay, harsh public criticism) when students hold all the power in their hands. Sure, there are ineffective teachers out there and I’m not trying to “blame the students,” but the student is the one who ultimately does or does not show up and do the work.
Mike, while it is true that emotional intelligence plays a role in this type of behavior, what I am seeing goes deeper. It is a purposeful refusal to engage along with an attitude that dares anyone to expect anything from them. I think there is more than a deficit of emotional intelligence at the root. My hypothesis is that root is as much societal as it is individual.
I think sometimes it feels like a conscious choice but I think others would call this kind of inability to come prepared for class a deficit in what some psychologists term “emotional intelligence.” There are studies that this type of intelligence- which loosely might be called ‘common sense’- has a much higher correlation with future income than say, traditional intelligence (IQ). \