Tag: end of the year

Bulwarks and Blessings
Yesterday was Pickle’s last day of school as a kindergartener.

The night before, I was folding laundry after the kids were asleep, and I heard her burst into tears. I found her sitting up in her big-kid bed weeping.

Me: Pickle, whatbs wrong?
Pickle: *sniff* I donbt want to leave my class! I love my teacher so much!

I am nearly finished BrenC) Brownbs book on empathy, shame, leadership, and vulnerability, so I know the best move here is to just give Pickle a hug and sit with her in her sadness. She cried on my shoulder for 15 minutes, then I suggested, bDo you want to write your teacher a letter or draw her a picture?”

She did, and it was adorable. Rainbows and holding hands and the words, bI love you soooooo much!!!” written in crayon.

I really hope Pickle loves school this much for the rest of her career. Thatbs what I want for every child, for them to love school and be sad when itbs over.

To that end, I gave every effort to end the school year sensitive, caring, and warm, since I know those feelings will be carried by my students the entire summer.

There are two things I do at the end of every school year, both of which are easily replicated by you to finish strong this year.

1. Teacher report card

I blog about this quite a bit, so Ibll be brief: this is a great way to get honest feedback from your students about how your class feels to your students. You’ll likely get some feedback to make some tweaks as you dwell and dream during the student-free time.

At the same time, you will get some warm fuzzies to carry you out the door and affirm that you did something right this year.
If you’d like your own link, click here for teachers, click here for coaches, and click here for admin.

2. End-of-the-year blessing

I support the separation of church and state, and still I recognize the power of ceremony in public school.

Graduation, promotion, signing day, and a field trip to the local theme park are all rights of passage to signal something important.

In old-school Christianity, we called this a bulwark or a Ebenezer.

In Education, we call this a benchmark.

In either case, itbs important for students to feel a moment.

To that end, I try and end the year with my own benchmark/Ebenezer, by giving my students a blessing on their way out the door.

image: On The Line Ministries

Note: This can be super creepy have done poorly. Proceed at your own risk.

Herebs how I did it the last time I had a class:

bIn some cultures, when people are leaving to do new things, they are given a blessing or a commission or some encouragement…
Some cultures place hands on the shoulders of the person whobs leaving, but there are too many of you, so Ibll just do this…”
I hold my hands out over them, palms down.
bMay you be passionate problem-solvers and curious critics. May you be loyal to your friends, obedient to people in charge, friendly to strangers, and kind to those in need. May you be safe, healthy, loved, and happy, and may you become more of those things every day. May you every day become a better version of yourself.”
Paraphrased from this blog post in 2014

NOTE: I would definitely tweak the “obedient to people in charge” part, now that I’m more skeptical of the inequitable power systems inherent in the school system. Probably add something like, “May you be brave and confident when faced with powerful foes,” or something.

I watched Patricia do a blessing with her class of seniors, and almost all of them bowed their head for some reason. Adolescents are often more clever than we give them credit for, and many can sense when something is important.

Or they grew up in the church and can sense something sacred.

However you end the year, keep in mind one thing:

Our students will carry with themball summerbhow they feel about our classes, so make sure you suck it up and end with something positive.

~Matt Vaudrey

P.S. I’ve been sitting-in full-time as the Assistant Principal at one of my middle schools. Ibve been lingering and shadowing and learning and supporting at the site for a while now, and now that Nadia had her baby, I’ll be taking over her desk until she returns.

More to come.
May 23, 2019
Teacher Report Card Data

This year (as every year), my students completed a Teacher Report Card and graded me.
As I promised, here are the data from my students. 70 middle school students gave me honest, anonymous feedback, and here it is.

Looking at numbers only, here are my four highest:

Seems to enjoy teachng 4.89

Tells us our learning goals 4.7

Tries new teaching methods 4.62

Grades fairly 4.53

And my four lowest:

Makes me feel important 3.55

Shows interest in students’ lives 3.6

Gives fair punishments 3.88

Has a good pace 3.88

I’m not gonna lie: those bottom four sting quite a bit. My degree isn’t in Math Ed, it’s in Youth Ministry and Adolescent Studies (math came afterward). It smarts that my lowest grades came from “pastoral” student interactions.

But my high grades are good “teacher” marks, so that’s good, right?

Hurrah for me.

Given that I teach adolescents, I have to keep in mind how their heads work (see here and here).

Every year when I give this survey, I take the “fair punishments” question with a grain of salt. Part of teaching adolescents means that emotional memories will burn into their developing minds (i.e. When Mr. Vaudrey listened to me talk about my parents), while memories without an emotional connection will be forgotten (i.e. Simplifying Rational Expressions).

I haven’t yet tried attaching the powerful emotion to boring lessons, but I’m not optimistic that it would work.

“You’ll learn to add fractions when I slap you in the mouth! Huh? Wanna try me?”

But back to the survey.

Every year, one or two students will try and stick it to me for that one time that they got detention for chewing gum in class twice.

Here are some responses that made me think:

How can the class be improved?

If [student name] got kicked out

By not letting the class run all over him

Talk to each student to make sure they understand the lesson because sometimes there shy or emberassed

Get to the stuff you say you will get to

He sometimes ignores me.(Even if i raise my hand). He always call on the same smart people and i feel as if i’m not needed.

Oooo, that smarts.

As you can see, there are pockets of brilliant insight in the survey (which is mostly text-speak).

Much like Steph Reilly‘s class, the tension between “managing the class” and “interesting lessons” is a valid one. Few students have classes where we can argue about things, and many students are uncomfortable with noisy learning.

For that matter, so are many teachers.

In closing, here are some student comments that reflect why I love to teach this age group:

What do you like best about the class?

I can talk to girls in class when I’m done with my work

how everybody treats eachother

I like that the class is fun. Everyday some how you make it fun! Haha (:

What I like best is that , the class is a good vibe everyday . It doesn’t feel like I’m in school when I’m in class. But above all , I like the lessons.

Your young and swagerific

What I like best about this class is that there’s not alot of pressure to have the correct answer, it’s okay to be wrong once in a while,

Yes! Huzzah!

Your friend tells you that they have Mr. Vaudrey next year. What do you tell them?

That’s bad because your apost to be in high school not 8th grade

It will be fun just don’t talk bad about lord of the rings because he likes the book.

You’ll have a lot of fun and he’s a bit of a Wack job

Anything else you want to tell me?

BYE HAVE A NICE SUMMER I WON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT YOU JKJK HAH HAVE A GREAT SUMMER

Like I said, a grain of salt.

Happy summer, everybody.

~Matt “totes fun” Vaudrey

P.S. If you’d like a paper version,B click here.

June 8, 2013
Teacher Report Card
Ever heard of the John Muir Trail? That (and my wife’s mission trip with her youth group) isB where I’ve been for the last month. Some people have complained, and they need to lighten up.

Mario: “I think [this class] is fair because everyones idea is respected.”
Deja: “It’s fun and I can’t wait to get to this class.”
Sara: “Mr. V grades fairly but is too nice with giving good grades, (not that that’s a bad thing).”
Jose: “I’m fine with my grade because I know I didn’t try my hardest.”

These are the kind of student responses that help me form my class for the next year. I read each one, every year.

The prompt goes something like this:

“Gentlemen and Ladies, you are going to grade me [pause for incredulous exclamations]. I want to know how to be a better teacher, so you’re going to grade me honestly. And don’t spare my feelings. You must fill out the whole thing.
You don’t need to put your name at the top–it can be anonymous if you want. I will read every one of these. Also, if you give me all As or all Fs, I’ll know that you didn’t care and I’ll burn it…laughing while I do.”

As with anything I field a few space-head questions (“Do I put my name on it?” “Can I give you all A’s?”) then turn them loose.

I change up the questions every year, (the 2012 download is at the bottom of this page) and this year, I used a whole back page for short-response questions.

Itbs one last chance for me to squeeze some clarity into their year.

I get authentic, unfiltered assessment straight from the horsebs mouth.

Sometimes itbs cute and flatteringb&

…sometimes it’s sarcastic, but well-mannered*…

b&sometimes itbs legitimate great feedback, andb&

…occasionally it’s cringeworthy–but necessary–feedback.

Also, they’re teenagers. The ones that say I’m not fair are often the ones that got in trouble that week.

I figured this question was a good way to get a quick two-sentence summary, and Ibve learned a lot about how students view the bthemeb of my class.

This was just fun.

Ah, to be a teenage boy.

Click here to download the Word Document I used.

*The “test-day shirt” to which Sara refers is this one, shown here on Crazy Hat Spirit Day (with a student drawing of me wearing it). I wear the Test Shirt every test day (including all 5 State-test days) as a way to lighten the mood for students with test anxiety.

UPDATE 13 July 2012:

Andy‘s right; I should mention what I learned from this experience.

In previous years, I’ve noticed startling trends in theB fairness category. I would consistent low marks when it came to “treating all students the same” or “giving consistent expectations”.B Fortunately, I know the students’ penmanships well enough to ask the class as a whole for further feedback. Some of those chats went like this:

Vaudrey: A lot of people marked me low for fairness. Why do you think that is?

(This is about June–most of them are checked out. Or they know me well enough to know that tactfully, respectful criticism will be well-received)

Maria: Well, sometimes you treat certain students with more second chances.
Jose: Yeah, like when I got detention for talking during the test, but Jamal talks all the time. (Several students nod).
Vaudrey: You’re right; that doesn’t sound fair. Anything else?

If I prove that I won’t get butt-hurt by student feedback, then the class gets a little more bold in their assessments.

Sarah: Sometimes, your morning breath is really bad.
Drew: Yeah, like dog crap.
Vaudrey: Whoa! We’re getting a little carried away. Sarah, thanks for your honesty. Drew, keep in mind that we’re focusing on improving my class, okay? Anybody else?

In full disclosure, here’s what I learned from this year’s reports:
- Middle school students have much less to bitch about than high school students.
- About 15-20% of students would like more explanation on tough topics. Nobody said my teaching pace was too slow.
- Most of the students liked my class. A few studentsB really liked my class. That felt good.
- I’m doing a better job of treating all students fairly. (That sample conversation was from a few years back.)
- For next year, I should teach more closely to the standards, so students see common questions beforeB the test.
- For next year, I should keep the class under tighter control. In recent years, I’ve slacked on classroom management because I taught seniors. Eighth graders need a little heavier hand.
July 11, 2012