The results of first semster's midterms did fail to disappoint, if like me, you were expecting disappointment.
Playing jokes on your students is not as fun as I thought it would be. I thought giving my 11th graders a midterm made up of their previous two period quizzes would give them a chance to succeed, especially since I spent an entire week reviewing those two quizzes specifically. Well, the first three kids to hand in their tests did so as soon as they could and their average midterm score was a 3… out of 100. I thought they could do well since they saw everything before but instead it just made me really sad and I felt like I was wasting so much time trying with these kids.
I have the same students for Economics and they did SLIGHTLY better. There were fewer blank questions but still the average was a 45, and only one student got above an 80 (he got a sticker). Since the test was 50% new material since the period quiz I decided to give them a curve. The midterm was only 20% of their grade, and I gave almost every student full points for homework and participation which boosted the overall scores in the class to a C.
Then there are my 12th graders who are allergic to word problems and graphing. Unlike my 11th graders, they actually ask me questions in class and come to my office for help so I thought they were taking the class seriously. Sadly, they only half pay attention to my explanations and end up only getting half credit, at best. Still I think the average score on this test was a 50%. They gave me the whole we are going to college speel and I fell for it so they are getting the opportunity to do corrections for extra credit.
The only class to give me any joy was my ESL class. These kids were my least favorite at first. I had a small breakdown when my schedule got changed and I was going to have to teach them for a double period on Tuesday. However, we made it into a fun time. Almost everyone passed the midterm. Alan, who sometimes I didn’t even know was alive, passed the midterm. There were 5 90s. I went out and got stickers I was so proud. Unfortunately, this success brings sadness. I found out today that five of my favorite students (yes all teachers have favorite students, mine are the smart ones, plus a few others) will be leaving my class to go into English section. This leaves me with the bad kids. Class will totally have a different dynamic because the kids who participate will be gone and I will be left with the sleepers, the crazy ADHD runner, and the Japanese girls.
All this news comes in time for parent teacher conferences which were tonight. They did not started until 6:30 and I finished teaching at 2 so I asked my boss if I could leave to go shopping and she said yes. :) I should have stayed out because parent teacher conferences were and hour and a half and I spoke to THREE parents. Two of the parents are Japanese and don't speak a lick of english. The other told his son a C is not an acceptable grade then when the son went away, he thanked me because its been years since his son even got a C. I kind of have mixed feelings about that but I am determined for his boy to get a B next term :)
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