Don’t Weaponize Grades

Don’t Weaponize Grades

by Jill Jenkins

Recently, I recently joined an old grade school friend for lunch. During our conversation she described how a junior high math teacher had treated her unfairly.  Being a bright girl, my friend finished her exam earlier than many students and began chatting with those sitting around her.  The teacher said nothing; he didn’t attempt to correct her behavior; he didn’t chastise her; he didn’t accuse her of cheating; however, at the end of the quarter he gave her a failing grade from the class despite the fact she had completed all of the assigned work and performed well on all of the tests.  In disbelief, her mother went to school and confronted the teacher who explained that because she had talked in his class after she finished a test he had failed her as he considered it cheating.  After some negotiating he agreed to give her the better of two grades on her semester grade if her behavior improved.  It made me wonder about the students who looked at their grades in disbelief and no understanding as to why they received a failing grade and whose parents would never go to school and question a teacher’s judgement.  I was one of those students.  I too had a teacher who lowered my grade because of my behavior and I was left to my own volition to correct the problem.  The wrong was never righted.  Grades should never be used as a weapon against a student that a teacher finds annoying.  Grades should be a reflection of a child’s learning.

A child’s behavior in a classroom is often a reflection of his/her level of maturation. Children from ten to eighteen are going through puberty and their brains are flooded with hormones.  Sitting still, paying attention and being quiet are almost impossible for them.  Teachers need to adapt their teaching techniques to accommodate their biological needs and help them learn appropriate behavior, rather than punishing them for being a child.  I remember a substitute teacher complaining to me about a student who hummed when he took a test.  I told her that his engine was running.  Many students nervous noises and click their pen or hammer with a pencil on their desks when they are under the stress of test taking.  These are behaviors that the teacher needs to accept.  Students who are particularly bright will often talk when they complete an assignment or a test, so having alternative activities that can engage their brain can help them maintain quiet while others finish their tests.  It is also important to differentiate between talking because a student is bored and talking to share answers.  Cheating is different than socializing.

Why do students talk? 

• ·       Most students talk because they are social animals. When they complete a test or assignment, they are going to talk.  Some students will talk to anyone, so when you move their seat away from their friends and next to you, they will talk to the teacher.  I know because I was that student.  I recall in sixth grade being sent to the principal’s office for socializing.  I talked so much to Mrs. MacDonald, that she put me in an outer office to answer the telephone telling me that I was “in charge of answering the phone.”  When a group of firemen arrived and asked to speak to someone in charge, I told them that I was in charge.  Mrs. MacDonald rescued them laughing, “She really thinks she is.” 
• ·       Some students talk because they don’t understand instructions.  Asking a class if they have any questions is useless.  Adolescent brains are clicking off and on faster than a strobe light at a disco.  The solution is to have random students throughout every corner of the room, repeat the instructions.  If you offer an incentive like a piece of candy, they are more likely to listen more closely when they are given instructions.  Otherwise, expect the students to sound like a flock of chickens at the beginning of each activity.  They would rather ask each other for direction than the scary, old teacher. 
• ·       Sometimes they are exchanging answers, but be certain before accusing a student.  When accusing a student or a pair of students take them out in the hall away from the other classmates.  Ask the student to explain what he/she was doing.  Confront the student about what you saw and explain to the students why that behavior is destructive to their learning and their moral behavior.  Failing the student for that test is appropriate, but not failing the student for the class.  It is better to give the student a chance to make amends.  It would be more advantages for the student to be forced to right the wrong and still accept responsibility for his/her learning than to just draw a line in the sand.  For example, you could give the child a chance to retake a different test on the same learning material before school or after school, but only receive 80% of credit for whatever grade he/she earns.  Both parents and administration should be notified and the child should have to sign an official contract, taking responsibility for his/her behavior, and the learning being tested.   Make a big deal about it, because learning moral behavior and facing consequences is also important. 

Grades should never be used as weapons by teachers to retaliate on student behavior that he/she finds abhorrent.  That is a misuse of power.  They should never be used to punish inappropriate behavior.  They should only be use to evaluate the student’s learning.  Using grades as weapons destroys a student’s enthusiasm for learning and can reduce the child’s changes to future academic opportunities because grades are used for acceptance to college and qualification for scholarships.  Besides, it’s dishonest and vindictive.

Empowering Girls To Become Leaders

Empowering Girls To Become Leaders

By Jill Jenkins

Recently in an interview on PBS, Melinda Gates discussed her new book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.  I began to wonder how teachers and school disillusion girls about their potential and how schools might change to empower women to become leaders.  I was born in the mid ‘50’s when women were limited to being a mother, a secretary, a nurse or a teacher.  In my lower social economic neighborhood, few women became nurses or teachers.  My grandmother, who raised 6 children of her own, 2 of her sisters and 2 younger brothers, ran a chicken farm and thought her daughters were courageous for learning to drive.  My mother, a no nonsense, stay at home mother raised her five children and was surrogate mother to half the neighborhood, most of my cousins and a good many of her friends children.  I am not saying that what women did in the past wasn’t important, but that women should have more options.  We’ve come a long way, but we still make it difficult for most girls to reach their full potential.

            What social norms are holding girls back?  First, the biological reality those girls get pregnant.  Hampered by the responsibility of children prevents many girls from completing their education and pursuing careers that might help them meet their full potential. Second, the mythology that women’s sole purpose is to tantalize men’s fantasy and/or provide maternal support (clean, cook, nurture).  These views are often reflected in speech, both joking and abusive.  Third, girls suffer from the lack of opportunity and the low expectation that girls should pursue those opportunities.

The Biological Reality: Keep them barefoot and pregnant

Girls and boys are equally sexually promiscuous; however, the reality is girls who find themselves impregnated suffer a more lasting impact on their life. Regardless of whether the girl marries young, raises the child out of wedlock or has an abortion, there are lasting social and emotional consequences.  Often the girl marries early and becomes financially responsible for the child, thus ending any educational opportunities she have pursued.  The boy might decide to take responsibility or be legally forced to accept only financial responsibility and he may or may not have his future educational opportunities impacted. or as my grandmother used to warn,   Therefore, it is paramount that girls learn the risk of early sexual activity and the opportunities that might be jeopardized .  Early sex education classes can help girls understand the decisions they make in their youth can negatively impact them the rest of their lives.  They need to understand the methods to avoid catastrophe and they price they pay if they do not.  Keeping girls “barefoot and pregnant” is another method society limits the opportunities for girls.

The Myth That Women Should Tantalize Men or Care for Families

     For centuries men have characterized women in two categories: sexual objects or caregivers. These two roles have served to hold women down and empowered men to mistreat women both for following their roles and for rejecting their roles.  These views are alluded to in men’s jokes and their speech.  For example, one particularly heinous joke depicts women as lacking intelligence and justifies physical abuse:

·      “What do you call a woman with two black eyes? A slow learner.”

The disparaging, lewd comments made by then candidate Donald Trump reduces women to sexual objects:

·      “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Other common remarks like:

·      “Don’t worry your little head, your husband will take care of everything”

 degrades women’s ability to think and do for themselves. Worse yet are the examples of verbal violence and physical violence against girls by boys who try to control the thoughts and behavior of their counterparts.  I have watch boys unhook a girl’s bra in a classroom.  I have watched boys line up along the bottom of a staircase to catch a peak up a girl’s skirt.  I have seen boys use cell phone cameras to snap a shot up a girl’s dress. All of these behaviors objectify women.  Girls need to be reminded that they are so much more than a man’s plaything.  They need to develop a sense of self-respect and worth.  They need to be reminded that they are smart, capable people who need to take control of their own bodies, their own financial life and their own future.  Without the belief that they are capable, intellectual, human beings, unscrupulous individuals are more likely to victimize them.  Plus teachers need to be proactive to stop the sexual harassment (both verbal and physical) in their schools and classrooms.

The Importance of High Expectation and Opportunities

For girls to succeed, schools must have high expectations that these girls can succeed at difficult academic classes and activities.  They must provide a variety of different learning opportunities where the girls can experience successful experiences.  I once knew a math teacher who used to seat her classes in the order that they performed on her last test: highest scores in the front of the room and lowest scores in the back of the room.  Not surprisingly, students in the back of room rarely moved forward.  Besides having communicated her expectation to these students, students sitting in the back of the room are less likely to pay attention or get the teacher’s attention they need.  Not all students learn in the same way, so it is important to communicate that all students are expected to be successful. 

In Conclusion

            Limiting over half of our populations ability to achieve significantly limits our ability to solve the difficult problems our world faces.  We need everyone.  Providing successful, challenging learning experiences in a safe, accepting environment is a big start.  Helping girls understand how the decisions they make in their adolescence will affect them the rest of their life is key to their advancement.  

            

An Interactive Method of Teaching Literary Terms

An Interactive Method of Teaching Literary Terms

By Jill Jenkins

My husband and I recently discussed why English classes are so dreary to most students.  Much of the curriculum involves learning new vocabulary, but there are some interactive methods that I have found successful.  To teach literary terms I often create a short story and introduce each term as I tell them the story.  Then working in both small groups and as a class the students create definitions for each term in language that they understand.  Using picture books the small groups identify the terms and present them to the class. Finally, each pair of students creates a short story or a short video (I have used either in the past) and identify the literary devices in their creations.  I also have a presentation day when they celebrate their creations and learning with the rest of the class.

What you will need is enough children’s books for each group of four students in the classroom and enough laminated word strips for each group of student.  The word strips should include:

v Plot

v Setting

v Exposition

v Narrative Hook

v Rising Action

v Climax

v Resolution

v Falling Action

v Simile

v Personification

v Onomatopoeia

v Characters

v Dialogue

v Description

v Foreshadowing

v Tone

The teacher stands before the class with a pile of strips on a desk. On the board behind her is a drawing of a plot chart without labels and the words “Story Elements” and “Figurative Language.” She begins by explaining that the plot chart, the figurative language and story elements might be found in a short story, a novel, a television show or a movie.   As she tells the story she is going to be placing some words on the Plot Chart or under the lists Figurative Language.  When she is finished the students will be working in groups to define these terms and apply the literary device in picture books.   Finally each group will write a short story or create a short video.  In their video or story, they will identify the same terms.  Each student should write down the terms identified by the teacher in notes and try to define each term. 

Modeling

“On a dark, stormy night, a young couple huddle close together as their black, 1974 Dodge Dart bounced jarringly down the rocky, dirt road, “ the teacher reads.

She turns to the board and places the word “Foreshadowing”, “Setting” and “tone” under the word “story elements. "

She continues reading: “the young couple, Bob and Helen, are on their honeymoon and Helen’s wedding ring glints from her finger under the faint light.”

The teacher places the word “characters” under “Story Elements.”

“Suddenly a crash of lightening brightens the sky, and the couple see a dark mansion on a hill to the right.  The car begins to sputter and then it stops.  Bob tries the ignition again and again, but to no avail. He pulls his cell phone from his pocket, but there is no service.  The old car has driven its final mile.  Helen climbs from the car as the rain pour down.  “Maybe we could get some help at the chalet on the hill,” she suggests.  Like two frightened mice, the couple scurry up the hill to the shelter of the covered porch.”

The teacher places the words, “Simile” under “Figurative Language” and the word “exposition” on the Plot Chart.

“Before the couple stands a great oaken door with a large brass knocker.  Bob raises the knocker that groans as though no one has lifted it in centuries. The knocker crashes with an ear-deafening explosion.  Silence.  He lifts the knocker again and it squeals before slamming down.  The door squeaks open two inches and a timid nose appears.  Bob and Helen explain their predicament and plead for some help, but the anxious little man seemed unmoved. He explains that he has no phone or electricity.  According to the radio, the road is washed out, ahead.  His only suggestion is the couple could stay at the old mansion for the night.  In the morning, Officer Harold usually stops by and will help the couple on their way, but he agrees to this if the couple agree to stay in their locked room all night and never open the door despite what they hear. The couple agree.”

The teacher places the word< “Narrative Hook.” On the plot chart, and “Onomatopoeia” and “Personification” under “Figurative Language.”

“The couple follows the bent, older man into the luxurious, old manor.  The high ceilings are covered with cobwebs and the furniture with graying sheets.  As they ascend the winding staircase, each step creaks and groan as if it was likely to splinter into kindling.  Finally they reach the bedroom containing  a large, mahogany four-poster bed and dresser.  The walls are decorated with elaborate tapestries and the windows with fine silk sheers and heavy brocade draperies.  The old man silently disappears locking the door behind him and leaving the young couple alone.

In no time, the young couple snuggle close in the big bed, weary from the long day and the unexpected changes.  In the dark they hear the storm pounding on the windows and the branches scratching against the glass.   Just as the couple began to nod off, they hear a small squeak on the staircase.  Then another slightly louder thud.  Helen nudges Bob awake.  Thud, thud, thud, someone is walking slowly up the stairs.  The footsteps grow louder.  Bob reassures, ‘Relax. It is just the old man going to bed.”  Helen relaxes a little and closes her eyes.  Then she hears a rattling sound. Someone is turning the doorknob.  She pushs Bob again and pointed to the doorknob that is turning back and forth.  ‘It’s locked,” he reassures her, but neither of them go back to sleep. “

The teacher moves to the board and adheres “Rising Action” on the plot chart and “Suspense”  “Description” under “Story Elements.”

In about an hour, the couple begins to relax and doze when the screaming begins.  Howling like a wolf and earsplitting shrieks arise from the hall.  Someone is scratching at the door and whimpering to come in.  Bob rises from bed to investigate the noise, but Helen pleads with him to not open the door.  He hesitates. Suddenly an ax slits the door.  Bob jumps back as the ax hits again shattering the door.  The old man stands before them with the ax high over his head ready to strike and his eyes wide with madness. The crack of a rifle fills the room and the old man collapses in puddle of blood.

The teacher adds “Climax” on the “Plot Chart.”

“Officer Harold Madsen strolls into the room.  ‘Are you folks okay? That old man is Myron Martin who escaped from a mental hospital for the criminally insane and we thought he was held up here. When I saw your car on the road and heard the screams, I was afraid I was too late.”

The teacher places “Resolution” on the “Plot Chart.”

“’We are on our honeymoon when our car broke down,’ Bob explained.

‘You are welcome to stay with my wife and me for the night and we can tow your car in the morning.’ Officer Bob offered.”

“Dialogue” and “Plot” the teacher adds under “Elements of a Story.”

“’If it all the same to you,’ Bob started, ‘we would prefer a quiet hotel.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ laughed the officer.'”

“Falling Action” the teacher adds on the Plot Chart.

Checking For Understanding 

The students are given time to discuss the elements and define them before each group shares with the class.  The teacher helps the class determine a definition and example of each term.  

Guided Practice 

Each group is assigned a storybook. The group reads the book, identifies each of the terms that the teacher has modeled and then each group reads their assigned book to the class while members display the Word Slips and explain how it is used in their assigned storybook.

Independent Learning 

Then the groups are given a few days to create a short story or a little video with the literary terms provided by the teacher’s modeling exercise.  Each teacher must determine the number of literary terms his/her students are capable of learning in one activity.

Reinforcement

The variety of activities and the many opportunities to use the terms reinforces their meaning, so the students are more likely to remember them.  Later, the teacher can write the terms on the board, and allow the students an opportunity to play fly swatter tag, by reading the definition or an example of each literary term and allowing two students to race to the board and slap the correct term with a fly swatter.   The more activity the teacher adds to the learning the more likely the students are to retain it. The class should read some additional short stories and novels during the unit and not only apply the terms that have been introduced, but additional terms should be added to the students' vocabulary.

Some good choices include:

• "The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (plot chart, setting, dramatic irony, theme)
•   "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst (controlling symbol, metaphor, simile, setting, theme, characterization and irony
• "The Necklace" by Guy Maupassant (characterization, theme and dramatic irony
• "The Split Cherry Tree" by Jesse Stuart (characterization, theme, irony, controlling symbol

Novels:

• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (everything on your plot chart, characterization and setting, irony
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (everything)

It's A Matter Of Respect

It’s A Matter Of Respect

By Jill Jenkins

Recently an elementary school teacher in Bountiful, Utah demanded that a student with an ash cross to commemorate Ash Wednesday, wipe the cross off.  According to  a recent an article in The Salt Lake Tribune since most of her students belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Ladder Day Saints, the teacher was unaware of the religious significant of the cross and thought it was only attempt to disrupt her classroom.  The school district placed the teacher on paid leave. Regardless of the teacher’s experience, America has diverse population representing many different religious and ethnic groups all with differing customs and rituals.  All teachers should be trained to be more sensitive and informed about customs and rituals that might differ from their own. 

Belittling and defiling a child’s culture or religious belief dehumanizes the child.  It nullifies his importance as a person and insults not only the child, but also his community and his belief system.  The district rightly took punitive action against the teacher, but needs to take a step further.  Training teachers to identify and react to behaviors, customs and religious beliefs outside their own might prevent a similar situation from occurring again.  Teachers who cannot treat students with differing cultures and belief systems with dignity should be eliminated from the profession. 

Every child has a basic right to feel important and safe in schools.  Every child has a basic right to feel respected.  Respecting a child’s belief system and culture is important for that child to flourish.  If an educator fails to do that, they should no longer be teaching in public school.