Teaching in the Twenty-First Century

It has been a long time–since October 20th to be precise. I have been out reading blogs but have had no energy to write on my own. Now, however, I feel I must get back into the practice, as I have let several opportunities slip away. I use my blog as a diary of what I have done and where I have been–I come back to it each year and read where I was a year ago and consider if I am where I want to be now.

What I have been doing since October 20th…

1. Teaching 2 periods of AP History (periods are 90 min each)
2. Teaching and removing one period of Academic Decathlon
3. Replacing that period with Regular US History
4. Attending the National Council for Social Studies Conference in San Diego–awesome!
5. Deciding where I will be next year
6. Suffering through the insistent and voluntary professional development
7. Being mom, student, daughter (when not thinking of work!)

Let’s start with AP US History–so far this class is going better than I had expected. First day of school being pulled into the APs office for being too scary to the kids was kind of a letdown–as I thought I had full admin support. It turns out I did–I started with 51 kids and ended 1st semester with 49–not too shabby. I have several who are wishing they had at least tried to get out of my class, but they are stuck until the very end. Of course, to finish the material in time for the test I had to almost double their nightly homework, so the complaints are valid, but they are getting back into the swing of things.

Now, Academic Decathlon did not go so swimmingly. In order to get it as a class–I had to have the numbers. I convinced my Odyssey of the Mind kids to sign up for it. However, full disclosure was–you will get to work on OM stuff when I schedule it and when we are not working on that you will do the work for AD, you just won’t be required to compete. Well, of course, my disclosure was not clear enough, or they thought they would outwit me, so at quarter time most of my OM kids dropped. I was down to 13 and a team for AcaDeca is 12 and they must meet GPA requirements, so I didn’t have a team. Instead of keeping the class, the kids decided to spend the rest of the semester creating an action plan for next year. They created a recruitment plan and a course outline so that next year we will be more prepared. Not bad for a first try.

So, since AcaDeca was cancelled I had to teach another class. Regular US History–Now I have never taught US History on the semester schedule. I have always had my kids in a combo class of US History and American Literature–so I could spend the entire year teaching it. Add to that the fact that I now, once again have kids from level 0–I speak/read/write no English–to level above grade level and I am in the same type of mess everyone else in education is in. Why must we deem level tracking bad–when it was more than likely the curriculum or the teacher that was bad, not the idea? Do the people who profess inclusion is the best policy really know how to teach the highest to the lowest all in one class without boring those at the top or completely mystify those at the bottom? I don’t. Everyday I teach I know someone is left behind in some manner. Advice I received from admin–teach to the lower end–the high kids will move along fine. And they said this to me–the GIFTED facilitator at our campus. I could not believe it. So, I will be learning as much as (actually, probably more than) my regular class students.

The NCSS conference was awesome. 5 days in San Diego. I traveled with three gentlemen from my school and we had a great time. Daytime was spent learning–picked up some great ideas for primary source doc use in AP course–and nighttime was spent going out. The final day we listened to Sandra Day O’Connor and it was fantastic.

Over Christmas break I was surfing the next for online teaching opportunities–and I mean online teaching NOT tutoring where the lessons are already created and you simply read to the students–to pick up a bit of extra income. I want higher ed jobs–not necessarily high school. In my search I found a few positions for onsite faculty at campuses in Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I began applying–so my future at the moment is up in the air. Is this what I truly want? That’s a future post!

BTW–for any AP teachers out there–I have been accepted as a reader–so I will be in Lexington, KY with you this summer!

You would think professional development chosen by yourself would be a good thing. Yeah, right. I signed up to have additional training on our so called protocol for teacher improvement and on instructional coaching. The instructional coaching PD has been going well, if a bit redundant because I had an entire course on this very subject as a doctoral student. The protocol training however–let me tell you–ugh–I get so aggravated every time I think of it…I will post on this next week.

So, for the time being I am back…I hope to keep it updated at least weekly for those who read, or used to read, or who are new to reading…

Why? Why did I go? Why did I stay? Why did I bother to waste my time?

As teachers, we are expected to attend the staff professional development on campus. Our district even insists on district p.d. four times a year, plus one day for a countywide p.d. day. I have sat through many a meeting wondering why I was wasting my time, however, yesterday’s meeting with the headhunters honchos from the state department of ed. gifted department was by far the worst I have ever attended.

Since I became the gifted coordinator at my campus (three years ago), I have been to a handful of meetings with the state reps. All the prior meetings had been about the new gifted endorsement (that still has not been let out of committee review at the state level!), the new gifted law, and the new gifted scope and sequence process. In fact, the last meeting was held in August and was berating all the schools across the state for not quite completing the new scope and sequence properly. How we did so poorly, when they (the state) provided us outlined questions to simply answer and submit, is anyone’s guess, because we still do not have the “recommendations for improvments” back from the state. Yesterday’s meeting was advertised as a way to cultivate and grow a 7-12 gifted program.

The state is big on getting away from AP & IB constituting a gifted program. Okay, I get that, I think it’s wrong and that’s one of the reasons I was hired for the position. However, once being placed in the position of gifted coordinator with little district support and no money (because our gifted monies go to pay for the AP exam we require ALL students to take!), I have found it difficult to find the time or other resources to grow the program. I don’t expect a good program to sprout overnight, either, but I do expect the state to offer real support when they say they are going to. I went to the meeting looking forward to new information on how to grow the program.

For three hours I listened to the same theoretical nonsense that has been spewed at me since taking on this position. AP and IB were a large part of the program. Not how to grow a successful AP program (besides the phrase “create a culture of college access”), just start one if you don’t have one. Well, buddy, we have one. So what? Not all students in AP are, nor should they be, labeled as gifted. Then the guys talked about differentiation, bloom’s, and clustering. Clustering is impossible in our current setting–we are on a block schedule and too many courses compete in too few spots. Bloom’s and differentiation are nothing new. I work with the teachers on my campus to try to differentiate the curriculum for our gifted kids, but in reality the planning involved makes it a difficult process to implement.

Worst of all, when we were asked to complete an activity on the barriers to growing our programs and my table was called on to share out, I mentioned the two major roadblocks for his list of “proven steps” is time and money. His reaction was an attack on me and my answer. Why aren’t you trying to do what you can, he asks. I do, as does my district, but that’s where we are now–we have no time or money to do more. That’s not true, he states, your district has money, they just need to figure out how to get it to you. When do I get to create individual IEP’s for these students? (Don’t worry, he was smart enough NOT to use the IEP word, but that is what was meant when he stated “Create individualized learning goals and objectives and share these with the gen ed teachers.) When do I share this info with the teachers? When do I work one-on-one with the students? I do what I can, when I can, but when I have a full course load to begin with, my time is limited.

I am angry about yesterday’s meeting because it was advertised as new information to really help us move our programs beyond the simple ID, place in AP, and forget. What it was, was just that. The state is demanding different programs, yet is offering no ideas or support on how to change the program. At least my former Assistant Principal, who is now at the district level, walked away with the same feelings and thoughts as I did.

Advice to State Department of Ed: If you wish to create a mandate asking for bigger and better things–provide (not just offer) the support necessary to do it. When you hire someone to hold such a position, make sure they can answer questions, not gloss over them because they don’t understand it or know what an answer should be. When you send speakers, make sure follow proper etiquette protocol (starting on time, not 1/2 an hour late and no personal attacks) and that they don’t sound like Hank Hill or look like Deputy Dog–we will take them more seriously.

I get that we are on the path toward a society with no language. We allow students to misspell at will, so as to avoid bruising their overactive egos. We allow text speak because it is a “new literacy.” We do not ask our students to read the “Great, White, Dead.”

This rant comes from another part of education that really bothers me–the endless hoops we are required to jump through. My state now requires SEI (structured English immersion–which obviously means throw ELL kids into the mainstream and see if they sink or swim) training for ALL TEACHERS. 60 hours. Most districts are finding ways to make this training free (they wouldn’t get everyone to do it, if they didn’t) and I am now working on the 2nd block–45 hours worth and something mentioned in the training bothered me enough to post again. (Twice in one night after months of dry spells, I hope it continues.)

Videos, of teachers and ELL students, are being used to “make it real.” In fact, they have a disclaimer stating these are real teachers, not staged events. Yeah, sure, when you have a camera coming in and trained on you, you are not doing a dog and pony show. Anyway, one of the videos I viewed tonight had a teacher, of high school English, making statements about the need for “adapted” readers because “Why should they have to suffer through arcane language…and convoluted sentences…they can’t understand?” Um, because how will they ever learn to understand if we don’t ask them to struggle for it???? She went on to state, they don’t need to interact with such language until college. Yeah, college professors, go ahead and cringe.

What is wrong with these ideas? Now, the course I am in strongly cautions against making things EASIER or teaching at a LOWER LEVEL, but in reality, when you give the WHOLE CLASS adapted readers and forgo the actual reading text, you are dummying down the text. What happened to SCAFFOLDING? What happened to TEACHING the language? How will students ever learn to grow if they are not given challenges. Does anyone remember Vygotsky and his ZONE? The content is supposed to be a tad challenging for true learning to occur. If students can go through the motions and crank out what passes for “A” work, they probably aren’t learning it!

If you think the language is too arcane–make it work. Teach the worst of the vocab BEFORE reading. Get kids interacting with the vocab or types of (convoluted) sentences BEFORE the reading. Let them read bits and pieces (a sentence here or a paragraph there) BEFORE the reading, to give the kids a sense of what the reading is like. I agree–you can’t plunge headlong into an arcane text (have you ever tried reading The Scarlet Letter with a bunch of ELL juniors?), but you can scaffold their reading so that it makes sense.

Case in point–Huck Finn is a relatively hard book, even for the non-ELL student, because of the dialects used in the text. To overcome the difficulty my students would face, we did a pre-reading activity on writing dialog. We talked about the types of jargon and slang allowed in conversation (another chance to work on writing and formal versus informal writing!) that isn’t normally allowed in writing. I had the kids write conversations from different viewpoints and time periods. We shared these out loud. I pulled out some of Jim’s dialect and we decoded it together. We listed to 2 chapters in class a day and I sent the kids home to read THE NEXT 4 or 5 chapters on their own. They were taught how to work through difficult passages before they did this. They came in the next day and completed a quiz over what they read the night before (I have never heard so much discussion about what they thought they had read and who was right and why before!). Then we worked on the next couple of chapters in class. At the end we outlined the whole story on a story map. We watched a video version and compared them–discussing why there were differences and how those differences changed the story.

I do the same kinds of activites for everything I ask my students to read. I can’t skip colonial literature because it is written in Old English style. I would love to, personally not my favorite reads, but I can’t. Why do we allow and encourage such techniques? Why don’t we encourage the struggle anymore?????

Time.

We all need more. I know this. I am no more overwhelmed than every other teacher out there. We all have papers to grade, lessons to plan, meetings to attend, and many other things which require our precious time. It has been a whole month since I posted on this blog. Not because I don’t want to. Not because I don’t have something to say (like that could ever happen!). But, because I just don’t seem to have any available time this year. Taking on two new classes and keeping all my other commitments has proven more than I bargained for in the long run.

So, how about a real post?

Back to time. What about our students? Do they have enough time? Are the given enough time to complete their work? Do they have enough time to comprehend their learning? Do they have time to be themselves?

As a new AP teacher, I worry about time, like I haven’t really considered before. Because the AP exam will cover any aspects from US history, it is my duty to present the kids with the entire scope of this history BEFORE the exam. Um, last time I checked, that’s at least 600+ years of history. Since day one of the class, I have told my students the scope and the need to get through the material by the exam date. They have been less than impressed with the amount of work they must complete in order to meet the exam date.

But, as I plug through the material, I am worrying about the time it is taking and the time I am not taking on some aspects of their learning. Since it is an AP course, my expectations are high and will remain high. I don’t dummy down what I do, but I do offer SUPPORT & SCAFFOLDS for those who need them–which often means they (the student) must work harder. Some are resistant to this, but in the long run, they realize the need to do so. However, I still worry that our fast pace is outpacing some great thinking and learning. My kiddos are just starting to make connections when we must race on to the next area or unit.

The need to cover the material will not go away. I don’t expect it to go away. I know most of my students need more support and scaffolding than normal in an AP course, because of their ELL backgrounds (most, not all). I am one who doesn’t believe in the cream of the crop AP courses. In fact, I think MOST students should have to meet such high standards, but I don’t think in today’s society I don’t think we will ever get to that point, without some radical thought changes. I guess, in the end, I am just concerned I may not be doing justice to my students by rushing through the material at lightning speed.

…your students take the idea of class structure and relate it to the current controversy within district about the video policy, which allows only G & PG movies to be shown (we are a high school district AND we can’t even show edited PG-13/R clips) So my students and I were discussing the issue on Friday, when all of a sudden they wanted to know the hierarchy of the system–so I started with me, up to department head, up to an AP, etc. They in turn suggested “Ms. Q, that sounds a lot like you are a slave to an indentured servant, who works for a large plantation owner, who answers to a royal governor, who must report back to the king.”

PRICELESS!

…a student comes up after your simulated debate on who fired the first shot of the American Revolution and asks if the idea of history as a STORY written through use of EVIDENCE, which may or may not be faulty applies to other things–like religion! (Now, I do fear a phone call from an angry parent, as I am sure my student went home and argued the fact that religion is simply a story told from multiple view points based on evidence that may or may not be faulty, but I was clear in staying away from declaring anything about religion. I let the young man talk through his suggestion and asked him if it could be related to what we discussed today. He drew his own conclusions.)

…a former student, who is now in college, comes back for my help because he realizes he should have paid more attention in my class and he is telling my current students to stick it out, it will be worth it!

…several former students come for my advice or help when they really need it. I am not talking about the ones who are simply nice and stop by to say hi–they are welcome always, but the ones who come asking for direct help show you that you must have done something right!

Feeding off the great posts by CTG and Dana, I can no longer hide from the blog world and blame it on the workload.

Brief history–I, by nature, tend to challenge myself to the extent of driving myself crazy. I am currently teaching two sections of AP US History (never taught before), one section of Academic Decathlon (never taught before), the Gifted Coordinator (3 years now), and coaching the Odyssey of the Mind team (2 years). I am also a mother, but not a wife (so there’s a bit of a break!), to two daughters (8 and 12) with active engagement calendars (homework and various sports/activities).

So, this year, I am treading water and have been  using it as an excuse for not posting. In fact, right now, I have a list of 10 items needing to be completed, but need to post this piece. One way I avoid work is to read the latest blog posts. I have my fave, must reads and travel to them like a ship in search of a beacon. Today, I have found two points to embrace, ponder, and act upon.

Over the summer I followed California Teacher Guy’s posts on finding a new job. I congratulate him on a job found, one in which he had many reservations, but felt the calling within his heart. Two days into the job and already the power of being a teacher has shown itself. We are the beacon’s for many of our students, but may not realize it until they are long gone and coming into their own. CTG is lucky enough to realize he is a beacon and is obviously someone willing to “stand and deliver.”

My reference to the movie, Stand and Deliver is no mere coincidence. The best compliment I have ever received came two days ago in the midst of a powerful and emotional discussion with my Academic Decathlon students. “Ms. Q, you are our Jaime Escalante.” It was murmured, barely above a whisper, but the entire class heard it and responded with a myriad of affirmatives. Before this trepiditious utterance, the conversation had been draining the beliefs and devotions of my students to close to zero.

One young girl had been confronted by a teacher and accused of not being smart enough to be an Academic Decathlete.

Normally, I would chalk this kind of comment up to a misinterpretation on the part of the student, or a lack of tact on the part of the teacher, but further investigation and I was left knowing, beyond a doubt, there are adults on our campus in all postions who should not be. For a teacher or a staff member to call a student “not smart enough” is as close to an unforgiveable sin as I can imagine.

The one girl’s troubles are shared by all. In a Hispanic school (99% Hispanic), in bordertown USA, there is stigma of being associated with the area. I have been shunned by the public and other teachers within my school district (from the major town 20 miles away), because of my association with the school I work in. We are seen as a lesser entity because of WHO WE ARE. Unfortunately, the students have no tools to help them block or overcome this sort of derision, especially when heaped upon them at the school.

Another student asked,

But, Ms. Q, when teachers encourage us and ask us to concentrate on things like athletics, art, or music, aren’t they really telling us they don’t believe in our academic abilities?

And you know what? I could not counter this argument. I still can’t counter this argument. On Monday, we sat through a school meeting on the use of rubrics in our classrooms. The meeting started with a prominent English teacher showing us a project her students completed–an analysis of a scene in Hamlet. The group showcased had chosen to do a film adaptation using the silent movies as inspiration. It was sheer creative thinking and an excellent showpiece, except for one minor (I believe MAJOR) error. Grammar mistakes were found on several of the “talkie” slides. The English teacher stated–”Because of the creativity, I could not give the students anything less than an ‘A’.”

As an English teacher myself, I really have problems with this. As a district, especially on our campus, our writing scores on the state and district assessments are not good. I admit I don’t grade everything for every standard, but something like grammar/spelling/mechanics should be a major part of any major project/assignment. Projects and assigments that are taken to a final draft stage should take this into account. From what my AcaDeca student said, I can see how we are setting our kids up to fail. They believe we do not believe in them, so why should they try? By avoiding or allowing students to complete assignments in a less than “professional” manner, we are telling them “We know you can’t do it because of your language issues, so go ahead and turn in something creative to make up for it and I will give you an A.”

This is the reason students are going to college not knowing basic skills anymore.

We encourage their lack of effort. We acknowledge the creative, while ignoring their academics. I am not for one over the other, they both have their place, but how can you completely ignore the academic. After the meeting on Monday, I left upset. I knew the teachers who presented were shortchanging their students, but I figured it was in the name of good–”Play on their strengths.” However, when I am confronted by a great student, with the accusation of teachers not caring because of this idea of “playing on their strengths,” what other conclusions can I come to?

This leads me to Dana’s post, over at her blog HuffEnglish. She writes about a lack of homework and a late work policy requiring teachers to accept late work no matter when it is completed in her 8th grade daughter’s middle school. Like Dana, I have issues with both problems.

Lack of homework

My AP US History students are drowning in my homework. Mind you–we are on a block schedule. Kids have 4 classes per semester. As AP students, these are the top of the school, so they are also taking other essential classes with maybe one elective. Very few teachers assign homework and when they do, it is a large project or piece of writing. I assign nightly reading and IDs for my AP kids. I am trying to get them to 1) Read a textbook, 2) become responsible for the information in the textbook, and 3) develop the habit of working within time constraints. The number of pages read each night varies from 5-12 pages. Within a week, most students are reading around 50+ pages in my class alone and being held responsible for the information. I give a daily quiz and the students are doing pretty well on them.

The struggle my kids have is not with the homework itself, it’s with the idea of actually having to do regular homework. These kids are used to having the answers given to them. They are used to working in groups and not being responsible for the actual understanding and applying of the material, let alone the analysis and evaluation of material. I give my students new strategies to use everyday, but it’s apparent they simply want me to give less homework and give them the answers. From day one, my kids know I don’t and won’t do this. But I fear their hatred of the class or the subject because of this lack of preparedness on their part.

For those who think I give too much work–it is an AP course; we have to have all of US history covered by May 7; I am covering 2 subjects (English and the AP US, so I can have my students all year long, rather than just a semester); and, they have NO OTHER HOMEWORK from me. Everything else is done in class. Essays are written in class because the AP essays are timed essays. English homework is nonexistent, as I want them to focus their attention on the reading of the textbook. It doesn’t help that many of my students have been attending school in the US since Kindergarten and still cannot read at a high school level. (This is a different post topic!)

I applaud Dana for her inquiry into the lack of homework at the middle school level. I taught at the ms level for two years and left because of the lack of rigor our kids were receiving. We are allowing them to coast through middle school and end up in high school severely underprepared. Shame on us!

As to her other point–late work being accepted whenever–I agree. I have a no late work policy and make it clear from day one–NO ONE gets to turn in late work. (Absences are different!) This year, I have not had to struggle with this concept, as the kids know they can’t and simply accept it.

Sorry for the length of this post, if you are still reading, but I had to get these thoughts out. I am hoping for some collective thoughts and assessments of the situation from you all, as well. I am but one beacon and am working hard at what I do, but…

Too much work.

Not enough time.

Depressing news from students.

Time can only help.

Right?

Almost all (all but 2!) of my students have never taken an AP course before. Our school has been open for 5 years and is growing its AP program slowly. Last year we offered 4 courses and this year I think we are up to 6 or 7. Needless to say, my students have been less than unprepared for the rigors of the course. As I discussed in my previous post, I knew I had to hit these kids hard and fast, or they would never allow themselves to work up to potential. As Matt mentioned in his comment—I have been “honest, transparent, and meaningful” since day one. I have taught them the steps necessary to complete the readings and IDs successfully. I have covered what a good ID quiz looks like and will continue to do so throughout the year so they can see what success looks like.

As in the past, I hope to use this blog as a place to reflect and grow this new course. I want it to succeed and as of Monday, I have lost 5 students and gained 1. I also have the counselor coming in to give them a bite of reality about being the top of the class here, but not necessarily with respect to the rest of the country. This will be interesting to see their responses to, as most of them are used to being the smartest, but few know what that means beyond our school walls. I teach in a predominately (99%) Hispanic school and had to fight to get this course introduced this year. I know the kids can do it, they suspect they can do it, but they have not been taught to work. School has been somewhat of a coast for most of them.

Since elementary, they have been coddled and prodded, given the right answers, or allowed to do less rigorous work because “they can’t do it anyway, why should I attempt it?” Honors courses have been less than rigorous, taught by teachers who were simply here, but not necessarily trained to teach honors. Or, they believe the kids aren’t really “honors” level because of their background. Their honors level work consisted of the exact same material as their grade level kids, but with more cutesy projects. This is the biggest block in my path. Overcoming this culture of complacency.

Juan can create a poster about Anne’s attic—what exactly does this do to further his ANALYSIS, EVALUATIVE, or SYNTHESIS abilities?

We are supposed to be an AVID district and I will be researching this tomorrow, as I know MY campus does not have an AVID class. If we are an AVID district, this school should be at the top of the list for receiving services and I could have kids taking AVID during their freshman and sophomore years in order to come to my class prepared to be expected to read and write each night. As it is, I have already sacrificed a week of content (which I admit is only half of my idea of teaching anyway) for teaching strategies (which I feel are just as important, but when preparing for a final exam that is NOT created by me and which could potentially cover anything over 500+ years of history, can become a hindrance). I will continue to do so, as my students need it. There is no point in my trying anything if I cannot support my students success, but it will be a long struggle and I am hoping my students stick it out with me.

Stay tuned for the next installment…AP US Resources I Like/Dislike

Those who read, or check, here often have noticed an absence of posts. I apologize, but the summer proved more cumbersome than I would have liked. I started off the summer taking a face-to-face/online course in using the Internet and UbD in teaching (8 weeks). I also began my last Proseminar in my Ed.D. program with two whole chapters of my study due last week (16 weeks). I had the daughter switch to contend with (ex-husband). And, I was planning for two new courses, attended a differentiation conference, and the AP Institute.

The planning has paid off, as the beginning of the year has been good, albeit a bit rocky. One of the new courses, AP US History, is proving to be a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated. I knew the content coverage would be more extensive and preparation would be a time consuming task–hence the summer planning time. What I had not fully considered and planned for was the student response to a new way of doing things. Keep in mind–the AP program is new this year, with only AP Gov’t, Spanish and Calc being offered last year–asll to seniors. My students were culled from the Sophmore Honors English courses. They have passed the state graduation exams (students begin taking this their sophmore year and have five chances!). They are good students, but homework–nightly, demanding homework–is unknown to them, even as Honors students.

In fact, on day two–I had several students profess their Honors courses had never been this rigorous! This is a completely different post waiting to be written–Honors Teachers Who Aren’t Really Teaching Honors. I digress. Anyway, so, the students, who were given the syllabus, the expectations, and the weeks homework on day one were working, but stressing. Some may call me heartless and mean. That’s ok. But, when I set the bar high–I do so from DAY ONE. I have learned, with my population of students, if I start easy, I cannot increase the intensity, they will not raise themselves when they were allowed to start below. So, day one–I gave the assignments for the entire week (I do this for all classes) and they went home to do day one homework.

As expected, they came back flabbergasted and unsure of themselves. We had our first quiz (again, heartless and mean, I know!). They struggled, they argued, we talked. From day one I told them it would be hard, it would be long, and they would want to kill me by December (the other struggle they were having was the fact they would have ME as their teacher from AUG 14 through MAY 25, when on block they only have teachers for one semester). I have talked everyday this week about the struggle and my assistance–how to get it, how to ask for it, when to ask for it, and what to do if they really did want to yell and scream at them for making their lives miserable. Honest to God, I have opened my life to them in an effort to help them succeed. I think most of them are now committed to the challenge. We keep talking about the benefits and motivation for taking such a hard course, especially when all their friends are off talking about all the fun they have because their homework is minimal or nonexistent.

Struggles abound, but we will work through them. The only downside to this first week, was when I was chastised by my AP for being to hard on them so soon. He meant well–we want the program to work and to grow and he was concerned more would be begging to drop (we had lost three so far, but I had also gained one, so…). Again, I know my students and I knew I would have to hit them hard and fast, so that when a break came, they would welcome it but not take advantage of it. I, for one, suggested not allowing anyone else out of the class, but the AP and counselors are easily convinced by parents it would be a detriment. So, today–day three–I am down 5 and up 1. Not too bad, considering the AP World last year was at 16 and down to 9 in the first week AND we aren’t offering it this year!

So, the homework is on, but we are learning in this journey. Already, the metacognitive discussions these kids have had in class are offering chances at learning new and better strategies. They really have never been asked to consider HOW they learn. This is something I am going to exploit and explore constantly as the year goes on. Honestly, today, hearing others voice their struggles and how they overcame the struggle convinced one to stay in the course for the long haul.

I am also working on convincing prior students, who never took the AP course, but the regular course (my bar is ALWAYS high!) to come back and discuss how college life is now. I have had several thank me for the work and strategies gained and one who wishes he would have listened to my requests more as a student, because by golly, when Ms. Q said “the colleges don’t allow plagiarism and really expect you to read the textbook ON YOUR OWN”, she was right! This could prove to be a further motivator.

So, as of day three, things to keep:

1. Expectations–my bar is high and remains high for all I teach-AP or reg ed
2. Classroom organization plan–working well–I think I have it refined to my liking now (but I am sure, since I wrote this out loud, I will go in tomorrow and it will fall apart!)
3. Getting to know their names–I considered name tags (remember all the conferences/meetings we attend!) but a friend suggested a more high school appropriate method–table tent names (5X8 index cards folded and permanent marker)–today I know all but a handful of names and faces!

Things to rethink–

1. Not doing a summer assignment–the school strongly opposed this, but I must lobby for it! It will give me a better idea of who needs what help immediately.
2. Student Choice–while I still believe all students could succeed in an AP course, it must be voluntary to a point. Meet with kids in spring, maybe do a mini one day workshop–actually I received an idea from a listserve member about holding a before school weeklong workshop–teaching notetaking, reading, getting a jumpstart on content. But it could give students a better idea and could weed out those who really didn’t want to do it! Not sure if possible.

Stay tuned for future stories from the AP experiment!

I subscribe to very few RSS feeds on education from major newspapers–it is just one more thing to read and I figure if it is really worth talking about someone else in the blogging world will let me know through a post on their blog. However, I do subscribe to Jay Mathews column at the Washington Post. I catch up on reading it once a month or so and usually just let it be a simple reading. But, Monday’s column, dealing with Advanced Placement courses, is one I felt needed to be expanded on.

The article can be found here: A Smart Parent Criticizes AP

Now, right away, I was intrigued, as I am currently undertaking an AP US History course for the first time and have just completed a summer seminar in teaching an Advanced Placement course. I was looking forward to seeing real issues and how the same issues might play out in my courses. However, as I read further into the article, I found flaws in some of the complaints and question the parent’s intent.

Garrison: The class was as large as every other class and included every kind of student.

 From this quote, in her first answer to one of Mathews’ questions, the idea of a “perfect” AP course was planted. She does not believe classes should be as large as others (as an AP teacher, I don’t think so either, but when everyone else has large classes it is hard for me to justify having a smaller class). What troubles me most about this statement, though, is her “every kind of student” label. What does this mean? Just students like her two gifted children?

Garrison: Since the NCLB-mandated AP expansion, the numbers of students “encouraged” to take AP classes and the number enrolled have both rapidly grown.

When or how did NCLB mandate AP expansion? Except for the College Board’s Equity policy–which demands equitable representation of sub-groups in AP courses–I am unaware of any NCLB mandate. Mathews points this out near the end of the article. The rise is not due to NCLB, but to the desire of teachers and administrators who want to open the opportunity to more students. And, I am confused by this question?

Garrison: By the way, when did AP or IB become the only game in town for advanced opportunity in public school? A hint: since NCLB.

Now, at this point it is pretty clear the parent is not exactly a NCLB supporter, but blaming the lack of rigor in AP courses on NCLB? I am not a big fan of NCLB, but I am aware of the fact that many AP teachers are not all that concerned about higher stakes testing outside of the AP test a student gets to CHOOSE to take at the end of the course. (Unless the students are required to take the AP exam, like mine are, because the district pays for it.) The parent then goes on to describe AP course work as teaching to the test:

AP classes, in the context of NCLB are more likely to teach basic skills, and underemphasize problem-solving and complex thinking skills that are not well assessed on standardized tests.

Now, AP courses do teach to a test, however they are not simple skills tests. Even the multiple choice exam is an exam of knowledge and understanding–not a simple factlet question. Students are taught how to do well on the M/C section, but not at the expense of learning content. After the last comment, Mathews asks about Document Based Questions and I begin to wonder (as I am sure Mr. Mathews does) if the parent truly understands the concepts and contexts preparing for DBQs involve. Every DBQ involves ANALYZING and SYTHESIZING information in answer to a prompt. Each new document is new knowledge and should lead to further understanding of the basic concepts. But, Ms. Garrison seems to believe

the focus is on becoming better at answering tests in a manner that reflects the generally assumed style of the test scorer. What is taught is that content is not the priority if you can use a certain set of test tricks or methods that appeal to the test-scorers methods.

Mathews follows up this statement with a question about DBQ and higher order skills versus test trickery. And Garrison follows up with:

A good answer on an AP test DBQ is more of a trick than you would like to believe.

This is the point in the article where I felt I had to respond. I just sat through a week of study on how to teach kids content–NOT how to pass a test. However, ONE of the end goals of the course is to pass a test, so we must prepare our students to do as well as they can. But–writing an answer to a DBQ is not as easy as Ms. Garrison would lead us to believe:

requires little depth of knowledge of the subject, not too much writing ability beyond the basic BCR or ECR format

The instructor for my workshop and one of the other participants (who has taught AP for many, many years) talked extensively about the reading (scoring) of AP exams that happens every summer. It is not unusual for students to PASS the AP test with a horribly written DBQ, but I think that is a problem not discussed in the article, nor is it easy to fix. Ms. Garrison would have you believe anything you wrote, that at least mentioned the topic would get you a good score. The exam readers, however, will tell you what really needs to be there–knowledge, understanding, and analysis. I do believe AP Euro and AP US History are two different beasts entirely and Euro may have a different manner for the DBQ, but for US History the student CANNOT merely list every fact known about the topic or era and expect to do well. They are required to analyze the documents and include outside information to form an essay around a well written thesis. Again, Ms. Garrison states AP is “not really about learning to analyze complex materials” anymore. What exactly does one do with those documents, then?

When Mr. Mathews asks how she would change things, her answer is less than convincing. There is no real suggestion, except to get rid of NCLB, which upon research seems to be her stump. There is also another hint at her elitist attitude, which the College Board itself is trying to overcome:

The schools might consider an accelerated academic track for students wishing to take advanced classes.

This bothers me. The whole reason the College Board seeks open enrollment is to get students into these courses, who for whatever reasons, would not normally end up in these courses. Do not get me wrong, not everyone needs to, nor should take AP courses, but there are more reasons to take them beyond the college prep or college credit reasons. What if I just like US History? I can’t take it because I am not “prepared” for it? In the ideal world (which doesn’t exist for a reason), all AP courses would be pre-loaded by a pre-AP course. It doesn’t work out that way, though. There is also fault in the following argument:

In college, students generally take a load of four classes, in high school, they generally take seven or eight.

If you are talking per year–both take 7-8 courses. The difference–college students take four courses per semester and high schoolers take the entire 8 all year. I do agree with her argument of limiting the number of AP course a student takes per year, but in reality it is normally the parents who are clamouring for their kids to be in as many as possible. Then Ms. Garrison seems to back pedal and offers up–all students who want to pursue an advanced experience should be able to, but they should also have preparation for it through programs such as AVID. I agree, but it is not necessarily available everywhere and good AP teachers will plan ways for ALL their students to succeed. For instance, I plan on assessing ability levels early in the year and providing seminars in readiness and skills to those who need it to succeed.

Garrison: the AP exam tests rote memorization more than in-depth understanding.

Oh, how I wish this were true–my kids would knock it out of the park. They are very good at memorizing, but the AP exam tests understanding–not knowledge. Anyone who doubts this can go to the College Board website and view past exams. It is not as simple as: This man was the first president, A) George Bush, B) Thomas Jefferson, C) Lyndon Johnson, or D) George Washington. I do agree there is too much content to cover, but unless the CB changes the emphasis of the course or schools start offering two years per course, there is not much to do about this.

In the end, I find it a sad and honest critique of AP programs, when there are no data to back up her claims. If you are an AP teacher, a parent of an AP student, or an educator who cares about this topic, please feel free to engage in a discussion in the comments section.