Is everyone clear? Yeah, so, like there is this thing going on in class that, ummm, gets a little, yuhknow, like, frustrating, to me. It's called, communication. So, let's examine some things real quickly.
First of all, we are in the 14th week of school. Are there STILL questions of expectations?
Secondly, each class is basically doing something different than the others . . . sorta. I have tried to offer some sort of "ownership" in HOW we approach the class. Some of you sophomores are in small groups, attacking the Iliad, writing, and SSR. Other sophomores are bouncing back and forth between writing and reading - now a certain amount of non-fiction pieces. Freshmen, you have been allowed to dictate the PACE of the class to a certain extent.
Third, let's talk grades - a very "touchy" subject right now. I say that for several reasons, primarily because you all expect grades to be put INSTANTLY into the computer. You hand something in and POOF, its graded and into the computer. I wish it worked like that, but let's step back into reality of Mr. Kimble's world for a moment. Let's consider my instruction . . . . I do my best to guide you through class. It is very rare that I would just meet you at the door, hand you a paper or have something on the board, and say, "OK, there ya go. Get it done by the end of the hour whether you understand it or not." Actually, I've NEVER done that. I TRY to actually plan out lessons that are interesting, varied, paced appropriately for the class while still encouraging you to "pick it up," and I try to allow you all opportunities to use technology that relates to our course of study. [Now, I am NOT comparing myself to other teachers and I do not want any comments that are reflective of that thought.] This takes time. And add to that the fact that I have a lunch and a prep time, a grand total of 90 minutes, to plan, grade, and handle the administrative roles of this job. Do the math, with 135 students, that's 66 seconds per student, without lesson planning time. So when am I expected to grade and plan? That's right, on MY personal time. That's the beautiful part of this particular profession. We sacrifice personal time to make sure YOU all can move forward with your lives. So, consider the next time you get stressed because grades are not ABSOLUTELY caught up and you want to "discuss" my lack of entering grades just what you are asking me to do -- sorry, not trying to be harsh, but with all due respect, you will just have to be patient.
OK, rambling on a little bit, sorry.
Back to the communication component. . . .I don't know. Maybe we just need to spend more time together so we get on the same page.
I really like having the "ownership" in class. Its getting to the point where I understand the illiad more and Im getting better at concentraiting on it.
ReplyDeleteI think you do fine with grades, then again, I'm not on there checking them everyday.
You're doing great Mr. Kimble, I love your class.
Hey. I have been noticing that too. Most of the time you politely stand up in the front of class and try to get us back on track, and I can tell that you are getting frusterated. It's not so much your fualt as it is ours. I mean we are honors students and our paying attention and commmunicating is what we are supposed to do, and we aren't doing it. (me inculuded, thats why I said we...duh) Anyways, the whole getting grades in gradebook thing....hey, you are only human. My mom is a teacher and she does not have personal time, she is always preparing lesson plans, grading papers...making me grade the papers (thats the worst), but you do make class fun, which a lot of teachers don't.
ReplyDeleteJAB 3 Hour
I, personally, am tired of sitting through class listening to everybody interject with random thoughts and statements that are totally off subject and then refusing to quit doing so. It is extremely annoying and frustrating to me and I'm not trying to teach a class. A teacher's job is to teach, not play mediator for an assortment of random, pointless debates every other minute.
ReplyDeleteAs far as subjects we are learning, I enjoy having the wide variety of things to do each day and I think it keeps our attention better than the same monotonous drivel of other subjects.
As far as the grades are concerned, I do like to know my grades quickly and it really does help when I do get feed back on them quickly. However, since I know all the things you are involved in and the full class load you have everyday I understand it is hard to fit everything in and I think you deserve plenty of lee-way on how quickly the grades get posted.
Communication seems to be one of the hardest things with highschool students. They can't concentrate on one thing, and complain if they don't like what they're hearing. They seem to only see one way, and that's their way. The definition of communication is "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs." To do that there needs to be concentration, which people need to try harder to do.
ReplyDeleteld-3rd hour
So..I came to the conslusion that I really like your class, except for the fact that everbody needs to hear the instructions multiple times, and it gets annoying and Im sure your very frustrated with that too.
ReplyDeleteWell anyways..I like how we are doing the reading then, writting schedule every week. And the new thing like your old prp things, are really easy to do. I think its cuz your articles are better to read then the Illiad. So about the whole grades thing, I totally understand that you have a life too. And Im amazed with the grade I have in your class. lol Well thats practically all I have to say.
i do like how you dont hand us tings right as we walk in becuase im a student that needs tolled what to do so i know to do it so thanks!!!!! from kk 5th
ReplyDeleteI really like how you don't hand us a worksheet or write something on the board and tell us just to do it without explaining it first. My main concern is that in my hour the students aren't taking it seriously and they are goofing off. It's like it's a joke to them and it's getting old. I also love how your a responsive teacher and how you actually care about where we are and that you help us get to where we need to be. so thanks for that
ReplyDeleteM.M. 5th hour
i understand you need time to grade things. i just think that you could neglect us more often to grade them:) like maybe once a week have an SSR day once a week so you could use the time to catch up on grading? just a suggestion....als1
ReplyDeleteok so here are my thoughts on this........
ReplyDeleteI really am sorry cause I know i get off topic A LOT!and then i get mad when a whole bunch of people yell at me , and talk to me like im stupid (sorry a bit of a rant). But nobody like listens in our class, and then they expect you to say everything over and over again. And sorry you always have to grade all the time , when you could be spending time with your fam or whatever. Im honesstly glad those dumb groups are over and we can get back to out daily schedual, well in the new semester:D and thats all i have to say about that, m.s.c the best hour ever , duh, 1st
I realize it is hard! i have so much to do in my life and you have double time, even maybe 3 times as hard! And our class is very picky about our grades getting up! We just all need to give you time and relax. and about the communication thing.. maybe we should have talk time every week or something like that? i really don't know.... i like the long talks that we have in class that are very serious and make everyone think about changing their lives. =D
ReplyDeleteKEM 1
In my own opinion I agree with you one hundred percent...there is a huge communication problem still and it needs to be fixed! One of the main problems was before we got into our little groups to learn and read the Illiad. You would let people read ahead and then they would be saying stuff that hasn't even happened yet. You know? But if you were to tell us that we CANNOT read ahead then I think some people would listen to you more and not just blurt random stuff out. Hope you understand where I am coming from.
ReplyDeleteP.s. please tell us or write it on the board when we need to turn stuff in!! lol
SS 1st hour honors english
First of all, we have A LOT of talkers in our class if you haven't noticed. There's like 3 main groups and all the people in those groups sit by each other. I'm not trying 2 b a crazy person by saying you should assign seats but i think it would be best if we sat by people somewhat out of our groups so then we could be a closer class and end some of the talking for at least a week.
ReplyDeleteGrades, yes the gradebook is a pain so i understand if you don't get the work in the very next day i mean after all we've had this for what like a year and a half so it still has a couple kinks and you have a life too that you need to live out that's y you get a weekend too.
One thing, is it possible for you to tell us if we are going to turn stuff in or not because i always forget so i need a vocal reminder because planners only help so much. Thank ya!!
Oh! Fallyn 3rd hour
i think our class is not use to having a teacher that just lets us make the choice on our own. for example not having a set amount of paragraphs for an essay. you just tell us to write the amount you need to describe it best. i like it this way because then we dont repeat ourselves and ramble on.kdp6th
ReplyDeleteCommunication is one of the harder things for students including myself to do. But in your classroom i feel that its easy to state your opinion and not get judged. When there is a dissucsion i feel students should participate but when its time to work they should pay attention. Myself included.
ReplyDeleteI like how the class is set up also, and knowing what we are doing for the day when i walk into the room
Grades. I am a person who likes to know my grades all the time and likes to know when assignments are supposed to be turned in. I understand that its hard though, especially with the groups. It is something i can get used to. I really enjoy the class though.
JT1st
I like your teaching style. You try to make sure we actually learn. I think that's a great thing to have in a teacher. Also, as for instantaneous online grades, people are just spoiled.
ReplyDeletetjc 1
At the start of the school year I remember how our class used to work together and not disrupt all the time. But now it seems that they are getting used to the classroom and everyone is interupting you when you try to explain things. MT 1st hour
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is hard to be in a learning environment where people blurt out whatever they think they need to say. Its hard to stay on task, that is one thing our class needs to work on. I also understand where you are coming from about the instantaneous grades. It is probably a very stressful thing to do and you have a lot of students. I agree with the above post about our class, we need to m=be more like we were in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteaeb1
Honestly i wasn't very fond of the groups because it takes me a bit to get settled on an idea or some type of assiment and just when i got really settled and into the assiment we would switch.. and i was thinking "MAN! Now i have to do it all over again!" but i mean at first when you were explaning how the groups where going to work and what not.. i was all into it thinking "YEA! lets try something knew!!" But after a bit i thought.... "ugh" I mean don't get me wrong, i liked the things that we were doing... but what i didn't like was the fact of switching through out the groups... and how everyone was working on something different... AKA making it quite difficult to concintrate... I don't know if it was only our class that was on a rampage of ?Loudness? or if was everyone.. but i do know that it was preettttyy annoying... mostly with the IIliad.. because it takes a bit of concitration for me conperhind the things the characters where saying..... so that's about it. =P
ReplyDeleteSo, i didnt have you first semester, but i have you second semester. I have been hounding you about my grades lately, sorry about that. I didnt realize that you dont have enough time in the day to get things graded. I love how you have all the lessons planned out for us. Even though im a smart a** most of the time. Im glad that you actually talk to us students like people, and not like five year olds who are idiots. Even though i hate the book Great Expectations, im trying to read it.
ReplyDeleteSincerely, SNM. 7th hour.
I really don't see any reason for people to be mad that the grades aren't on the computer immediately unless they are relying on them for an "A", but still as long as everything we did is entered in by the Quarter or Midterms there is nothing to worry about. Otherwise, just do your best all the time and you wont have to worry about you grades. ASC 7
ReplyDeleteMr.Kimble
ReplyDeleteI totally understand you not being able to grade papers and entering them into the computer within a short period of time. My mom is a teacher and I see her having to squeeze in time to grade papers during her hectic life. I know that you are busy with soccer, your family, and other things. I don't except you to be incredibly fast at grading, and I think students should accept the fact you are a busy person and they just need to be pacient. What's the rush? The grades will eventually be entered.
ARB 7th hour
ok mr. kimble i totaly understand with that people should at least stop and think about what you have to say you are a very inspiring teacher. i look up to you. uh. people do need to be on the same page some people just think others are to think like them but u are a teacher who can get the point across and u need to in force this
ReplyDeleteKJF 5
I understand exactly what you mean. I would like to talk to you about missing assignments and what we can do to get our grades up? I have tried and tried and it seems like whatever I do I end up with a bad grade especially in English. I can honestly say I have never been very good in English. Your a great teacher and would very much appriciate it if you would try to be patient with me and hopefully we can have a great rest of the quarter.
ReplyDelete