The Memory of Middle School Students

Do you remember middle school?

Better yet...do you remember actual educational information that you were taught in middle school?

I bet you don't. I was a GT kid at a magnet school and I can only recall a few specific things that I KNOW I was taught.

And yet today in our cluster meeting (where all the teachers for a specific subject and grade get together and talk) we were once again informed that we should not be spending time on reteaching things that there were taught last year.

Those of you who know me know that at this point in the meeting I could hardly keep from LAUGHING out loud. I pointed out that students DON'T REMEMBER things from one year to the next. I don't know why they don't I seem to remember remembering things from one year to a next...but my young brain is clouded by my older more knowledgable brain.

I also pointed out that since we have to incorperate material that is WAY beyond our kids (dividing with decimals on the OUTSIDE of the box...way over a 7th grader's head) that we would naturally be behind and forced to leave out things in order to keep up with our break-neck curriculum.

Picture this...I am standing at my chalk board (who still has chalk boards in the 21 century??? I DO!!!). My students have word problems in front of them in which the must find either the force, mass, or acceleration for each problem. They have 3 formulas...one to find each thing. Each number is clearly labeled in the word problem. I ask for the MASS in a particular problem and they give me the number for force. Now let me back up for a minute. We have already gone over our lables...kg means kilograms and is the label for mass...N means newtons and is the label for force...m/sec2 means meters per second squared and is the label for acceleration. Remember each number in the word problem is CLEARLY labeled with one of those labels. So back to me standing poised at the chalk board ready to work math problems (which I just LOVE math). So...I ask for mass and I get force. So I stop everything I am doing and go back over the labels and what they mean. So we go on to the next problem...I ask for force and get the number for acceleration.

And we wonder how I still have hair!

So we had to spend 2 days working on labels and problems. Can I skip over this...OH NOOOOOOOOOO...it will be on the TAKS test and they have to be able to work the problem. Well...how do they work a problem if they don't even know what the numbers mean????

And so I am behind. I am made to feel guilty because my kids don't remember things from one year to the next. And I am asked to not reteach things they already know. But my question is...what do they know? NOTHING :)

Not reteaching what they learned last year...which are the basics in which we are supposed to be building on this year is completel insanity. It is like teaching a child their letters one week and expecting them to read a book the next. They have to learn what those letters sound like and how to put them together to make words...and then...then...maybe you can move on to sentences and books.

Guess I am on a little tirade here. :)

But when you sit in a meeting and try to explain why your scores are low and why you should add an extra week of time to learning physics (probably the hardest thing I will teach this year) and they look at you like you are crazy and they know better it just frustrates you a little. I wanted to say..."Well...if you can do it better why don't you come to see my 7th graders and try." Don't review what they should know...just teach the new stuff and see how far you get.

Insanity I tell you...INSANITY!!!!