My students bombed another math test on Friday. It was standard AF 4.2 - Rates, Ratios and Proportions.
B-O-M-B-E-D!!
I'm talking about 7-10 students out of 32/28 passing. Ugh. Honestly, it should NOT surprise me anymore because my students:
- do not like to work in class (Work? HUH?)
- have difficultly reading
- DETEST word problems (What? There are words? This is too hard. I can't do it.)
- don't do anything that seems too hard (What? You expect me to divide a two digit number into a four digit number? That's too hard!)
- don't do their homework (But I copied the 3 you did in class! I did 3 out of 20! That's like a C right?)
I'm usually pretty good and reteaching and not letting scores make me depressed. The only thing is that I have to report these scores of my assessments to my grade level PLC and my scores this year are always the worst. Then, for some reason, only our grade level scores are reported back to my principal. Every other year of my teaching career, my scores were consistently at the top and I didn't have to report them to anyone!! It is SOO frustrating.
I just wonder what I have to do here. It's awful because they completely lack the 7th grade math skills that they need to succeed and I debate daily about saying screw it and going back to teach them proper multiplication, division, etc. I mean, how can you successfully find the answer for a proportion when you don't know that 7x6=42?
**bang head on desk repeatedly**
That stinks! How frustrating for you! It's so hard if they are lacking the foundational skills. Math is so tricky because if they are missing number sense, they won't understand the higher level concepts. Then they don't want to try because they don't feel successful. It's a messed up cycle. I hope things get better for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather! I'm hoping this week will be better.
DeleteI totally agree with what you wrote! I often call the students "30 second kids" because it seems like if it takes longer than 30 seconds to complete the problem they aren't going to even try!
ReplyDelete30 Second Kids - that describes them exactly!!! It's just frustrating to have to spend half my day practically pleading with 2/3's of my class to work!
Deleteuggggh I'm so sorry :( I vent on a regular basis about the lack of enthusiasm my 6, 7, and 8 graders have for learning.
ReplyDeleteWish I had any word of advice other than for you to try to turn the word problems into a game for them. Have them act it out, create some sort of a competition who can solve it first, etc.
Sending hugs your way.
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ReplyDeletehttp://twentyfourseventeacher.blogspot.com/2012/01/giving-it-shot-tag.html
woow! Well im an aspiring teacher, I can totally understand why that little amount of students passing would upset you! -_-' I look foward to reading more about your experiences!
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I am in the same boat!! I love what I do - teaching, however when a student looks up at me and tells me he doesn't care, I am so depressed! I have been teaching over 20 years and I do not remember having these problems before! I could always talk to the student and work out the issue. Not any more!!
ReplyDeleteI'm experiencing the same thing with my 7th and 8th graders. What I've noticed (especially with my 7th graders) is that where the standards in our state (I teach in Tennessee) have changed so much over the last few years, without allowing for time to catch up on a lot of the gap skills. Hopefully we'll see less of this problem in the near future.
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ReplyDeleteOooo-that sounds like something my kiddos would do. We have math in the afternoon and they have the attention span of a fly. We had total meltdowns last week over measurement. With a rule. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLaura
Will Grade For Coffee