The Ups and Downs of Seniors (From A Teacher's Perspective)

Somewhere in the periphery of my memory resides an inkling of what it was like to be a high school senior. Even in my last 2 years subbing in Hinsdale and Orland Park, I watched seniors approach finals with an air of completion, even before the yellow #2 pencils, scantrons and multi-page booklets of exams were passed out. Despite these experiences, I don't recall seniors who checked out quite as early as the seniors at Urbana. I say all of this to share with you another "1st" of the school year as well as 2 great things that happened this week. Let me provide some context on the 1st of the 1sts I can recount...

I've mentioned the select few students who stopped turning in work or even coming to class. I've asked each of my classes to perform a fairly surmountable task the last few weeks. Now I know, no high school student wants to attempt a huge project near the end of the year. But then again, none want to take a final either. It was with this in mind that I created the Final Projects I've discussed in recent blogs along with a short multiple choice exam. In creating the projects I expected to make them a big final chapter in their semester grade prior to the typical scantron Final. Upon further thought, I decided to make this project 75% of the Final Exam grade (which is 20% of their overall semester grade). I wanted students to take it seriously. To put forth the effort in the last weeks of the semester. Few rose to climb the mountain and succeeded. Many didn't even try to climb the hill.

Part of me is surprised at the results. Part of me expected them. There seems to have been a huge discrepancy in effort between my projects. I spent the end of April and 1st week of May in the computer lab with students, giving them time to research and type up their research. I then gave them all of last week to make presentations. About 25% of them went later than they were supposed to, downgrading their grades. Another 5% did not even do the project. Add to these two figures are the 25% who only did the presentation portion of the project and NONE of the written elements. That leaves less than half of my students making a concerted effort to TRY on this project.

This week I have given my students a LOT of time to study for the final exam. I thought, naively, that once they realized how they did on the Final Project, they'd buckle down on the studying to do their best. I also thought that students tended to lean towards doing their best not their minimum effort, even if it means a bad grade. I've been proven dreadfully wrong this week. One by one I called students to my desk to discuss items they were still missing, their project grades (showing them their rubrics and where they went wrong or blatantly disregarded to complete) and the score they need to get on the written part of the Final Exam to adjust their final semester grade. A few told me they didn't need my class to graduate and were perfectly content with a D or a C. A few were thrilled they scored well on their projects.

It was one student, who has asked brilliant questions all semester, is active in the school and who seems to be one who makes good decisions that received the biggest life lesson today. She had spent most of the week with her head on her desk, doing nothing. I called her up and showed her the project rubric first. At the top was a score somewhere around 140 out of 300. She had done a fantastic powerpoint and presented it to the class without any sign of nerves. But she didn't turn in any research proof or written pages that were the majority of the project. As I walked her through her score she was very quiet, atypical of her normal expressive attitude. I then showed her on the computer where her semester grade currently stood prior to taking the written final on Monday. It was then she burst in to quiet tears and sat back at her desk. She cried the entire class time. I let her be during class as I consulted with my other students. I warned everyone that was not studying that I expected A's from everyone on the written segment of the Final since they would rather chat (a teacher can dream, right?).

When the bell rang, I called her over and said to her, she needs a hug. I was not sure she'd accept it, expecting her to blame her grade on me (teacher MAKE the grade, according to students). Instead, she gave me a hug. It was a sign she had realized her mistake and took the blame on herself. Through tears she asked me what she could do. Now, I want to be the strict teacher who says its too late, you've had so many chances and didn't take them. But I also want students to succeed and I could tell she was learning her lesson on the spot. So I pulled up her missing assignments (3 of them) and told her I'd find her later in the day and let her turn them in for late grades. I know I have done the right thing. I just hope that she carries this lesson into each task set before her in the future. As I've said a lot these last few weeks, games aren't played till you feel like stopping. They're played till the end. When the buzzer rings, the last out is called or the last player folds their cards.

I've tried to lead and teach by example. I'm one of probably just a handful of teachers who turns tests back the next day. I'm not a procrastinator. I don't think I ever have been. I'd rather get the bad stuff out of the way so I can relax without thinking about it. I'm not sure if this comes from having one of those brains that is ALWAYS thinking or if I loved reading so much that I used to plow through books to get to the ending and just lived my life the same way. Whatever the cause, I've tried to teach my students that life is a lot better when you don't have something weighing you down.

Now, don't let me give you the impression that its been a completely miserable week. It really has had its ups. My coworker and I hosted the 1st ever COOP/WECEP Appreciation Banquet. We invited all of our employers, students and family members to join us. I wasn't sure I was going to get many of my students but consistently talking about the great feast we'd ordered (so delicious!) and dressing up in very nice clothes persuaded more to show up. We had about 60 people come out of the 100 or so invited and I think it was a success. Can't wait to do it again next year.

I also invited the Champaign County Courthouse Administrator to come talk to my Law class and be our "judge" for our Mock Trial. He was a nice guy, very sarcastic and really made the students laugh (those that weren't afraid of him). The mock trial didn't go quite as I had hoped but it went well enough that students learned from it and provided me with a lot of feedback for the next time I do it in the Fall (It probably didn't hurt that I made them some of the best Brownies I've ever made). One student consistently gave me grief for not making her a lawyer on the trial (I chose the 5 highest grades to be lawyers, the quietest to play key witnesses, and picked the students who seemed to be more expressive to be jurists in order to have a good argument/discussion over the verdict). In the end, that student seemed okay with my decision and even received a business card from our Guest Lecturer. She then asked me to sign her yearbook, my 1st yearbook signature of the 2009-2010 school year!

And the buddies have been bonding a lot lately too. Teachers are feeling the burn out. I'm still roaring and ready. I've got all my Finals written and copied (I still need to sharpen pencils). Everything that has been turned in to me is graded and in the grade book. My desk looks more than decently cleaned than it has in a few weeks AND I found out this week I'm getting my own classroom next year. Plenty of ups. And speaking of ups, there are only 10 more wake ups till the school year ends - 2 more with seniors and 8 more with students. And yes, I'm playing the game till the very end. I think I am going to win.