Teacher Trek Day 3: Test Scores, Lesson Plans, and Botox Shakespeare

One of my favorite segments at Atlanta Braves’ games is the “oblivious cam.” Usually about 45 minutes before game time, the organist plays a nondescript tune designed to capture nobody’s attention. The camera crew scans the crowd, finds a fan who is not paying attention to the big screen, and that poor person becomes the focal point of the oblivious cam. The lens exposes the hapless fan, and the timer runs until the fan realizes that s/he is the center of attention. When the fan ceases to be oblivious, the timer stops and the camera moves on.

At school, nothing snaps a teacher out of the oblivion of summer like the reality of open house at 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon, the reality that many people will be watching. Today I printed 400 pages of syllabi, 35 pages of supply lists, and the remaining 7 copies of the first piece of literature that my classes will read. I also had help late last night from Zac and Mckenzi raising my pic of “Botox Shakespeare.” The Bard’s eyes appear so worried, yet his forehead is unfurrowed; clearly the work of botulism.

This was a transition day when I moved from the blissful distraction of summer to the clarity of plans for day #1. In order to be clear in my teaching, I first have to know what my students need. Spiritually speaking, I know what they need, but our school also does a wonderful job of collecting and interpreting data, so I have access to my seniors' SAT/ACT/AP scores. Those scores reveal the paths those students have walked as well as the trajectory of my reasonable hopes for them this year.

The next point where I must have clarity is in my explanation to students of my plans for them. They need to know where they are headed, and why. Students deserve to know why they are forced to sit in my class.

Students need for me to be clear about what learning will look like, too. I have had few discipline problems in my classes; however, without exception, those problems have arisen when I failed to provide a clear picture about where students needed to go academically. Who wants to invest extensive time and money in a 180-day trip without knowing what the destination has to offer? Without a clear learning target and description, students tend to suffer through classes that are task-oriented rather than learning-oriented. In my opinion, students will do anything I require as long as they can see the rationale and value behind the learning experience.

This has been a good day for several reasons, and perhaps the greatest is that we just returned from the airport to bring home one of our Chinese sons -- yet another example of joy in the journey.