Parent Phone Calls

I was paging through my calendar this week and noticed that there is only about a week and a half until the quarter/1st grading period ends! Where has all the time gone?!?

Knowing this brought mixed feelings. First, relief that I have survived the first quarter of the school year (and I'm still employed!). However, this fast-approaching deadline brought a sense of panic because I know that I have a number of students who are currently failing my class and there are a number of parents who are uninformed.

I never want to see a student fail my class and I completely understand that students have a lot going on with their lives outside of school. For instance, at a recent tennis match, one of our players' parents was telling me that her daughter (who is on the honor roll) is so busy with after school, sports, activities, and music, that it is not uncommon for her to be up doing homework until about 11:30 or midnight!

I also understand that it's not just the honor students who have a lot of activities on their nightly plate. I know of at least four of my students who are experiencing parents who are going through a divorce and are having some very difficult home issues. I know that as a teacher I probably should not say this, but these students are dealing with problems that are a little bit more important than learning about the difference between a Puritan and a Separatist.

To ease the panic, I drove to school this morning (Saturday), blared AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" on the radio (kidding!!) and started from the top of my gradebook and called every parent of students who were receiving a "D" or lower. I ended up calling about 12-13 parents on a Saturday morning, and to be honest, I was pretty scared throughout the entire ordeal.

What surprised me the most about calling these parents is that not a single parent was upset at me. In fact, (most) were extremely thankful that I took time out of my weekend to call them and provide them with an update about their child, and expressed relief to know that there was still time for them to raise their grade. One parent even called me on a cell phone to tell me that she and her child were in the car on their way to the middle school so she could get her social studies book, and wanted me to let them in if the door was locked (I let them in 5 min later). It made me feel good that these parents actually had my side on this whole ordeal.

There are two parent calls that stuck out during this Saturday morning. One good, one bad...

The bad parent was initially glad that I had called. However, she started getting upset with me that I had not called her sooner in the school year so her child could work harder to obtain a grade higher than a D or a C. I calmly told her that I understood her viewpoint, however we were working on group projects for the first half of the quarter and that my class did not start doing daily work until 3 weeks ago. The parent then continued to provide me with her thoughts about how most teachers don't call until it's too late and that she really dislikes how that situation is handled on a school-wide basis. Thankfully, the five years of "Culvers' Customer Service" that I have under my belt began to kick-in, and I told her that if she had a problem with the way her other teachers handle things that she should consult administration and quickly ended the conversation without blowing a gasket (I never thought I would say this, but if I could, I would thank the many rude and obnoxious Culvers' customers that I have dealt with over the years for providing me with the patience and ability to deal with "tough" parents).

The phone call that positively stuck out in my mind was the mother of a young girl in one of my classes. The mother started sharing her frustrations with raising a 13 year old daughter and how she is struggling to decide whether to let her child be independent and fail on her own, or pressure her into working harder on her school work. "However," she told me, "my daughter has told me absolutely nothing but good things about social studies and she just adores you as a teacher. She comes home everyday and shares the fun and exciting activities you are doing and what you have planned for the week. She really enjoys being in your class and you are definitely one of her favorite teachers, so I'm sure hearing that she's failing you will cause her to step up her progress."

The mom's comments made all of those long, and sometimes painful hours of lesson planning definitely worthwhile, and we'll see how not only her student, but all of these students respond in the coming weeks.

Also, we had our last day of tennis last Thursday, so you will be reading a few more blog entries than I have been posting lately. I appreciate you for still reading this! There will be many more stories to come, I'm sure.

Busy Busy Busy

Well, I understand that it has been a long time since I last wrote a new blog entry, but that is due to only one reason... teaching has been taking up nearly all of my freetime!

It has been (what I've been told by the school veterans) the most hectic two weeks for social studies teachers for the entire year. This is because last week we held our annual student council convention. This project is described by some as "cooperative learning at it's best."

The convention was first held exactly 44 years ago and has been a school tradition every year since. It is an event that people in the town are very proud of because it has been held for such a long time.

To describe this monumental project in a short statement, I would say this: the entire student body crams into the gym for the morning and elects their student council president. However, because there is so much more to this event than just that one statement, I will describe everything that happens leading up to the event.

The convention kicks off in social studies classes where 8th grade students are asked in early September if they would be interested in running for student council president (this year, we had nearly 26 students decide to run). These twenty-six students spend the entire week hanging signs, handing out stickers, wearing t-shirts, and campaigning during recess in an effort to obtain votes.

After a few days of campaigning, the entire school meets in the gym during homeroom to hold a Primary election. All twenty-six students give a one minute speech in front of every single one of their peers about what they will do if elected president. Platforms range from "getting iPods into study halls" to "repainting the school lockers."

The next day, students vote in their social studies classes for the top three candidates. Once the top three candidates have been announced, preparations begin for the "Party Convention."

In the week leading up to the convention, students are assigned a state to represent and are asked to research some background information about that state. The students are assigned to states based upon the number of electoral votes each state receives in our national election (for instance, this year our school assigned 3 students to Delaware, and 55 to California).

Traditionally, all social studies students meet in the gym and paint huge state posters that hang in the gym during the Convention. However, this year we tried something new in which only the 7th grade spent time hanging posters while the 8th grade made campaign videos and web sites (it was a very trying few weeks in which I had 30 eighth graders running around the school with video cameras... largely unsupervised!).

When the day of the convention arrives, it is a huge party. The school band plays pep songs, the students do the conga line, and dress in appropriate attire for their state (one student, from Utah, dressed as a honey bee because he researched the fact that Utah is the Beehive State). The entire convention is run by students; complete with a party chair person who possesses a gavel and rings a bell when its time to "get down to business."

One by one, a state representative comes to the front of the gym and says a prepared speech such as the following:

"My name is George from the great state of North Carolina, famous for our Civil War history, the Tar Heels, and the birthplace of flight. North Carolina is proud to announce 4 votes for Joe, 6 votes for John, and 12 votes for Tiffany!"

The entire crowd cheers and holds up signs until all the states have been announced. The winning candidate then gives a victory speech and shakes hands as the crowd leaves to their 4th hour class.

The whole project has completely drained me of all energy...but it was worth it! Politics is a subject that does not gain much interest from teenagers, or Americans in general (case in point: the reelection of our current President). However, the students had an absolute blast with the video recording, web page designing, and energetic activity leading up to the event that I now understand why it has been a 43 year tradition! What a fun project!

We are now starting a unit on the Pilgrims and early colonists. Today, we learned what a primary and secondary source document is, and analyzed the story of Pocahontas by watching a clip from the Disney film and comparing it with a journal entry from a Powhatan Indian. The kids were really engaged in the activity and I'm excited to be learning new things every day, not only about history, but about teaching and improving myself.