Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. A COVID-92 What If?
3. Middle School Pandemic Letter Grades
4. Possible COVID-92 Report Cards in 7th Grade
5. A What If? That Matches My Students' Struggles
6. Possible COVID-93 Report Cards in 8th Grade
7. Revisiting the Long-Term Sub Position
8. The Eight-Period Block Schedule
9. Rapoport Question of the Day
10. Conclusion
Introduction
I knew that Thanksgiving was truly over once I checked my email yesterday and found an avalanche of late assignment notifications from Google Classroom and other questions about grades.
Today is Small Business Saturday, the day when customers are asked to support local stores rather than the big box retailers of Black Friday or the large online companies of Cyber Monday. I think of this day as State Meet Saturday, the day when Cross Country champions are crowned here in California.
It is my tradition to make my annual viewing of McFarland USA on State Meet Saturday. And I'm also watching the Christmas comedy Elf today, only because TBS is airing a marathon of it today. I've discussed both films on the blog before -- in particular, the accuracy of their calendars. The dates in Elf work out if we assume that Buddy arrives in New York on Monday, December 20th. But the timeline in McFarland USA are completely wrong -- in particular, the State Meet is depicted on December 12th, when the race has always fallen on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
(On second thought, I wonder whether the reason for placing the race on December 12th is that it is Guadalupe Day. An image of the Lady appears throughout the film, including on the Whites' wall when the family moves into the house. So it's only fitting to put the climax of the movie on her feast day.)
Three years ago on the blog, I wrote about my Cross Country career on State Meet Saturday. And since then, I also wrote some of the COVID What If? stories during Thanksgiving break -- in other words, what if the pandemic had occurred not in 2019-2020, but back when I was a young student? How would such a pandemic have affected my high school (including my Cross Country) career?
I wasn't sure whether I wanted to extend the What If? stories this year. The What Ifs are supposed to end when the pandemic does, but many people believe that the pandemic is now becoming endemic, just like the flu -- a disease that never actually ends. This year, COVID-19 continues to affect us -- my students are still missing time due to COVID. And with cases creeping up again, COVID testing kits have been distributed for students and staff to use twice -- once tomorrow night before returning to school, and once during the upcoming week.
But more importantly, the COVID What Ifs force me to put myself in my students' shoes and understand what they've been going through over the past few years. And since I'm still trying to avoid arguments and make better connections with my kids, some empathy on my part definitely can't hurt.
And so I'm continuing the COVID What If? stories in this post.
A COVID-92 What If?
So which year should I choose for the pandemic year in today's What If? Well, I'm supposed to base it on my current students -- first I should figure out what grade my kids were in when the schools were shut down, then place the pandemic in the year when I was in that same grade as a young student.
I'm currently teaching Math I and III, so my students are mainly freshmen and juniors. Since three out of my five classes are Math I, the focus should be on the freshman. They were sixth graders when the schools first closed, and so I go back to my own sixth grade year, which was 1992-93. This means that today's What If? should be COVID-92. The date COVID-n refers to the December 31st of the year n, when the virus was first identified. The schools would then close the following March.
But there are problems with a COVID-92 What If? story. First of all, COVID-92 would clash with some of the previous What Ifs that I've written -- in particular COVID-91. I like this story because the dates work out better -- March 13th was a Friday in both 1992 and 2020, and so the schools can close on the exact same date in both COVID-91 and COVID-19. (And that's not to mention the simplicity of just reversing the digits in COVID-19 to obtain COVID-91.)
And more importantly, it's more difficult to compare a sixth grade closure at the K-6 elementary school that I attended to a closure at the 6-8 middle schools that my kids attended. For them, losing sixth grade just meant losing the last part of the first year of middle school, but for me, it would mean missing sixth grade graduation and other activities such as sixth grade camp -- which my kids would have attended in fifth grade at their K-5 elementary schools, just before the pandemic.
Then again, on the original timeline, I didn't go to sixth grade camp (although my friends did). The last field trip I attended as a sixth grader was to the Fullerton Arboretum (that is, a tree-place) in Orange County -- I don't remember the exact date, but I keep thinking it was in February or March. So I believe that we would have barely made it on this trip before COVID-92 shuts down the schools.
Two years ago during my long-term assignment, I had a choice whether to blog about COVID-92 (to match my then-seventh graders) or COVID-93 (for the eighth graders). And I chose the latter, just to avoid the "6th = elementary or middle school?" problem. And thus I have both COVID-91 and 93 What Ifs on the blog, crowding out a possible COVID-92 story.
Let's continue to explore the COVID-92 What If? anyway -- and perhaps in doing so, we can find out whether another year might match my current students' experiences and allow me to empathize better.
Middle School Pandemic Letter Grades
For sixth grade, my grades would been frozen at what they were at the time of the closure. These would have been straight A's, except for a C grade that I was earning in health. Seventh grade would have been a different issue -- I would have needed to earn my grades during distance learning.
This week I was reading about some parents who were complaining about their students' grades during the pandemic closures. While the grades earned from March-June 2020 didn't count, the parents don't want the grades during the 2020-21 school year to count either.
As I read the article further, it appears that the creator of the petition is the mother of a current eighth grader who's trying to apply to magnet high schools in their district. And the district won't even look at the application unless a certain GPA is obtained in Grades 6-7. The child earned straight A's in all classes that were held in-person before the pandemic closure (fifth grade) and afterward (seventh grade) but struggled just to scrape by with C's in sixth grade in 2020-21. Thus the parent wants the grades that year not to count, so that her kid's GPA for the purpose of high school entrance would become 4.0.
(By the way, though this petition is in some Southern California district, many articles have been written about New York and its high school application process. The difference is that the Big Apple only looks at seventh grade marks, not sixth grade as in California.)
It's tough for me to decide whether I agree with this mother or not. But since we're having a COVID -92 What If? fantasy here, let's look to see what grades I would have earned during my first year of middle school (in my case seventh grade), and whether I would have struggled as much as the students who are the subjects of the petition.
On the original timeline, I took Algebra I as a seventh grader, after having studied Pre-Algebra independently from Grades 2-6 at my elementary school. My teachers would send my work to the 7-12 school, and the math teacher there would grade it and assign new work for me to complete. In the seventh grade, I finally met the teacher who was grading my work all those years, and she became my new Algebra I instructor.
Anyway, her policy was that grades would be based on quizzes and tests, except that homework would add a plus or minus to the grade. So if your grade based on tests was a B, then it would become a B+ if enough homework was turned in and a B- if there's not enough work.
At the end of the first quarter, my grade was an A-. In other words, I had earned an A based on the tests alone, but didn't submit enough work to avoid the minus. Of course, an A- in math isn't bad, nor is the S for citizenship. The problem was the N that I received for work habits -- along with a comment stating that I hadn't turned in enough homework.
Why was I slacking in homework that quarter after having faithfully turned in assignments to that same teacher ever since second grade? Most likely, the independent work led to bad habits on my part -- I'd only turned in work whenever my elementary teachers were ready to drop them off at the 7-12 school, which might have been once every couple of weeks. But once I was at that school myself, I was expected to turn in work each and every day -- and I wasn't prepared to do so.
After that embarrassing N on my first quarter report card, I never had problems turning in work to Algebra I class again. For the other three quarters, my grades were all A+'s -- that is, A's on the tests and sufficient homework turned in. (And yes, A+ was a real grade at that school.) Of course, this all refers to the original timeline (where the pandemic doesn't happen until 2019-20), not COVID-92.
Recall that for our COVID What Ifs, distance learning is based on the technology that was available during that actual year -- so there is no Zoom school in the COVID-92 world. My belief is that had a pandemic occurred in the 1990s, distance learning would have consisted of packets to be completed at home and submitted to the teachers each week. That is, it would have been similar to the independent Pre-Algebra work that I had for Grades 2-6, except that it's for all students (not just me) and all teachers, and that the students must go to the school to turn in and pick up new work themselves.
This means that for an Algebra I class, the entire grade would be based on homework -- and again, my first quarter grade on the original timeline was A-. If I recall, the threshold to get a plus instead of a minus was 75%. So if my COVID-92 grade is based on homework, then we must assume that my grade would have been no higher than 74% -- a C grade.
And this meant that -- just like the petitioners' children in the real world -- I would have earned a C in my best class, a class where I normally get A's, due to the pandemic.
By the way, there was nothing like applying to magnet high schools when I was in middle school -- my school spanned grades 7-12, so I was already at the school I'd attend as a freshman. The closest counterpart there would be the advanced classes -- eighth graders are assigned to advanced classes if they earn a 3.0 throughout the year in the corresponding seventh grade classes, and then they can remain in those classes for high school if they can maintain a 2.0 in the advanced classes.
Since middle school Algebra I is already an advanced class, I'd only need a 2.0 in order to make it into the Geometry class the following year, so that C wouldn't disqualify me. But now we must figure out whether I could get into the other advanced classes in eighth grade under COVID-92.
Possible COVID-92 Report Cards in 7th Grade
The COVID What Ifs are based on Homer Simpson's idea of crisitunity -- the pandemic is a crisis, but out of that crisis comes an opportunity. But so far, most of my stories focused on opportunity -- for example, in COVID-93, I avoid getting a C in science the fourth quarter of Science 7 since my grade would be frozen at a B once the schools close down for COVID that spring. That would then qualify me for Advanced Science 8 (which I didn't qualify for on the original timeline). And in eighth grade, I avoid getting suspended for hitting my PE teacher (due to a dare) because of distance learning, and so my grades don't drop in second quarter for missing a week of school.
And when I wrote about the COVID-96 What If? to line up with my seniors at the magnet school last year, my focus was on making the Varsity Cross Country team (because enough faster runners quit the team during the pandemic and open up the last alternate Varsity spot for me). Thus in both of those stories, I gain opportunities due to the pandemic taking place.
But the purpose of today's COVID What If? is to focus more on the crisis -- for me to empathize with my current students who are struggling in my class. Showing how my grades would have been higher under COVID isn't showing empathy. I must write about how my grades would have suffered.
And so I decide to use my TI random number generator to make up possible grades for the seventh grade under COVID-92. I believe that no matter what, I would have avoided D's and F's, and so I randomly assign an A, B, or C grade to each class. (For simplicity, we ignore pluses and minuses here.)
Here's what I came up with:
First Quarter:
1st period: C
2nd period: B
3rd period: A
4th period: C
5th period: A
6th period: C
Second Quarter:
1st period: A
2nd period: A
3rd period: A
4th period: B
5th period: B
6th period: A
Third Quarter:
1st period: A
2nd period: B
3rd period: C
4th period: B
5th period: B
6th period: A
Now let's match these up with my classes and find out in which classes I earn which grades -- and compare them to my actual grades on the original timeline.
For the first quarter, one of my C's is in fourth period Algebra I. This fits what I wrote above -- I don't turn in enough work, and since my grade is based only on homework, it drops to a C. The other two C's are in first period Art (exploratory wheel) and sixth period History 7. On the original timeline, I get a C+ in Art anyway, after having an F at the quaver progress report due to slacking off. So it's reasonable that under distance learning, I receive that very same C+. My History grade on the original timeline was a B, so it drops to a C under COVID-92. This quarter would mark the only time during K-12 that my GPA would be below 3.0, and thus I'd fail to make the honor roll.
The second quarter is my best quarter on both the original and COVID-92 timelines. In real life I earn straight A's except for a B in first period Shop (exploratory wheel). On COVID-92 I earn an A. In some ways this makes sense -- on the original timeline, I likely struggled a little with something I had to make out of wood or metal, so my grade was a B. But that difficult project would likely not be required under distance learning, and so without my project, my grade would be A. Meanwhile, after getting a C in Algebra I first quarter, I turn in enough work second quarter to get a B instead,
In third quarter, the lone C is in third period PE. I already discussed the independent study PE that I had to do on the original timeline after my suspension. I can easy see myself slacking in PE during this quarter under COVID-92 -- third quarter spans February and March, the rainy season in California, and so if it rained a lot, I'd fall behind on my required PE activity. Meanwhile, I earn an A in the first of two quarters of first period Science 7, an improvement from the B on the original timeline. I know that I was distracted a lot in real life with talking the other students, and there was a tricky dissection project during that quarter. With neither other students to distract me nor a dissection project during distance learning, getting an A in that class is now plausible.
The schools would reopen on April 1st (which was when the state encouraged schools to reopen). In 1994, April 1st was Good Friday -- not just the last day before spring break, but of the third quarter. I point out that in 2021, April 1st was Maundy Thursday and the last day before spring break as well (now that Good Friday is a school-closing holiday in that district) -- but the school reopened on that date anyway. So it's not a stretch to have the schools reopen after COVID-92 on April 1st, 1994 -- but it is awkward to have the kids attend their third quarter classes for just one day (especially since it's hybrid, with only half the school attending that one day).
And thus we'll declare April 1st to be the first day of the fourth quarter instead -- and with schools open, my fourth quarter grades will match the original timeline. This means that I still get the C that I earned in Science 7 fourth quarter -- but due to the third quarter A, my average is 3.0 and so I still get into Advanced Science 8 under COVID-92 (as opposed to real life). Indeed, all of the other C's in core academic classes are balanced by A's in other quarters, and so I end up qualifying for advanced classes in all subjects for eighth grade. And this makes sense -- if I earned any C during distance learning, I'd be more motivated to work harder and get a A the next quarter.
So this means that this What If? still doesn't match my current freshmen's struggles. I still find a way to qualifying for all the same advanced classes as the original timeline and even sneak in an extra class, Advanced Science 8, to boot.
Before leaving this timeline, I point out that just as I avoid getting suspended in COVID-93, I also have no suspension in eighth grade of COVID-92 as well. That's because in real life, I first met the kids who dared me to hit the teacher in May of sixth grade -- by which time the schools have already been closed on the COVID-92 timeline. And in real life, I meet them again in my regular Science 8 class -- but I qualify for Advanced Science 8 under COVID-92. I'll still see those kids in PE class, of course -- but we'll be too busy playing sports for PE and will most likely avoid interaction and any double-dares.
A What If? That Matches My Students' Struggles
Again, the whole purpose of this What If? is to see how the pandemic closure -- from March of their sixth grade year to the entirety of their seventh grade year -- affected my student's learning. But I can't imagine a pandemic during my own years in Grades 6-7 -- or any other year, for that matter -- would result in my struggling with, say, slope and linear equations, as much as they are now. Math was always my strongest subject -- that's why I became a math teacher. My math grade might drop to a C because I forget to turn in work, but I'd always understand how to find slope no matter what.
This is why I often like to compare my student's math struggles to my own problems in subjects other than math. Perhaps my kids are having as much trouble in math as I had in, say, English, or History, or even science. More precisely, I should say Biology -- the physical sciences are more allied with math, and so anyone who succeeds in math should have no trouble with them. (Indeed, as you already know, I've had trouble with life science both as a student and as a teacher at the old charter school.)
But those other subjects aren't as cumulative as math is. A student who struggles in Biology (say because of a pandemic and distance learning) can still excel in Chemistry. A student who struggles in World History can still excel in US History. A student who struggles reading Romeo and Juliet one year can still excel reading Julius Caesar the following year.
There is, however, one class that is as cumulative as math. It's a subject that, if I struggle on it during a pandemic year, I really would have trouble catching up with it. And it's the only subject to which I can compare my own struggles to those of my math students.
That class is foreign language.
At the 7-12 school that I attended as a young student, eighth graders were allowed to take a high school foreign language class provided that they also qualified for Advanced English 8 -- which of course I do, on both the original and all What If? timelines. Like most schools, both Spanish I and French I were offered, and I ultimately selected French I -- but why? After all, there are many Spanish speakers here in California, and so Spanish would be much more useful than French.
It's because back in fourth grade, one of the teachers at the elementary school was a French speaker, and so she offered an introductory French class before school to advanced students in Grades 4-6. Even though it was for just once a week for one quarter of one year, I was intrigued by learning a new language, enough for me to want to learn more French four years later.
On the original timeline, I earned A's and B's throughout French I in eighth grade. But in French II and III, I consistently earned only B's in that class. At the end of my sophomore year, I was given the choice whether to continue into the next level of French -- AP French Language. I knew that the AP exam was quite demanding -- every question was written in the target language, and for the free response question I'd have to give an entire conversation in French.
And so the French teacher and I agreed that AP wasn't for me. Instead, I took French IV -- which was basically an independent study class. (The class was actually French III and IV combined -- the teacher would actively instruct the III students while checking to see how we IV students were doing.) Due to the structure of the class, it was an easy A -- which the AP class certainly would not have been.
OK, so this is all the original timeline. If we wish to make this into a COVID What If? then we must decide when to place the pandemic. Since I took French I as an eighth grader, we should place the pandemic in March of my seventh grade year. Then the year corresponding to 2020-21 would be the year of eighth grade French I.
This means that we should go right back to COVID-93 -- the What If? that I first explored two years ago at the long-term middle school. Even though the year corresponding to the present would now be my sophomore year as opposed to my kids' freshman year, it matches in that my students graduated from their K-5 schools before COVID-19, just as I graduate from K-6 before the COVID-93 closure.
What would French I look like under 1990s-style distance learning? I can see a situation where we're given long lists of French vocabulary words, and perhaps even a cassette recording in French. Then when we make our weekly visits, we must read something in French and speak to the teacher in the target language. In other words, it would have been like the AP exam every week -- and that's something that I would have definitely struggled in, as much as much as my students are in math.
Possible COVID-93 Report Cards in 8th Grade
We're throwing away the COVID-92 What If? in favor of COVID-93, so now we must figure out what my eighth grade report cards would look like under distance learning. Recall that under COVID-93, my third quarter B in Science 7 extends into fourth quarter (thus getting me into Advanced Science 8), and I avoid hitting my PE teacher -- but the focus here is on French, not science or PE.
Though I'm throwing away COVID-92, I won't let those COVID-92 report cards go to waste. We'll just use those as COVID-93 report cards and apply them to my eighth grade classes instead.
So once again, I get first quarter C's in first, fourth, and sixth period, but these are different classes. In particular, sixth period is Geometry, and first period is Science 8 (now Advanced). I might get a C in Geometry for slacking with the homework (just as I did in COVID-92), and while Science 8 is based on physical science which is more to my liking, I still get a C for the same reason as Geometry. What matters the most here is the C in fourth period French -- and that's exactly the grade I expect to get here.
Second quarter is my best quarter once again. On the original timeline, second quarter is my worst quarter, but that's mainly due to the suspension which is eliminated under COVID-92. But notice that my C's in science and math become A's second quarter, while my French grade only rises to a B. Again, this makes sense -- I work harder in French after getting a C, but I still can't memorize all the words or speak enough French to my teacher, so the grade is a B.
Third quarter is a bit tricky here. On the original timeline, the fallout from the suspension results in my switching from third to first period PE at the semester and becoming a library aide third period. In past posts, I suggest that for COVID-93, I keep third period PE and take first period Keyboarding as my extra elective. Thus the C grade here is for PE (and for the same reason as COVID-92 -- rainy weather and laziness in February and March).
Once again, the schools reopen for fourth quarter. But this time, let me run my random grade generator once more for fourth quarter rather than rely on the original timeline for the grades:
Fourth Quarter:
1st period Keyboarding: A
2nd period History: B
3rd period PE: C
4th period French: C
5th period English: C
6th period Geometry: B
And there we have it -- even though I'm back in person, I'm still having trouble with French. I fall behind earlier in the year, plus it's still hybrid, so some work at home is still needed. Notice that the grades in other class are also suffering, perhaps as stress over French class. Here it happens that the closer a class is to French, the lower the grade is.
But recall that there was also an odd/even block schedule during hybrid, so this might not have happened in real life. It might make sense to make periods 2/6 the other C's, but I don't want to give myself another C in Geometry. At any rate, the stress I feel during French class is starting to equal that my kids feel during math class.
We can extend this What If? into freshman (2021-22) and sophomore (current) years. I move from my 7-12 school to my new high school in November of my freshman year. On the original timeline I earned only A's and B's throughout high school, but in COVID-92 I continue to earn C's in French II and III. I was considering even sneaking in some D's and declare that I don't advance all the way to III, but here we'll say that I advance, just as my kids moved from middle school math to my Math I class.
Since it's still State Meet Saturday, I wonder what my Cross Country career would look like under this COVID-93 What If? I believe that there's enough time between the pandemic and my XC career that XC would match the original timeline -- unless we wish to assume that stress over my French class is so strong that it affects my ability to run. Then again, if I hear that math is affecting the ability of the athletes in my class to compete, I might change COVID-93 to reflect that.
Recall that for COVID-96, I place myself on the Varsity team as a senior. This would correspond to freshman year under COVID-93 -- but this was before I moved, so I was still at the 7-12 school. Our XC team was so small that I could see only seven total runners even being on the team, so any runner would be a Varsity runner by default. Yes, this would make me a Varsity runner, but it would be hollow, since our team was unlike to qualify even for CIF Prelims -- and I wouldn't have made even to League Finals, as that was the week when I moved to the new school.
(And that's assuming that I'd even make the XC team in COVID-93. I was only inspired to join XC when my second semester PE teacher saw me run the mile and recommended me -- but if that was third quarter and hence still distance learning, no one is there to see me run. Let's assume that I run the mile in fourth quarter after the schools reopen, and then the PE teacher recommends to the XC coach.)
Revisiting the Long-Term Sub Position
There's another way to think about what my math classes look like from my students' perspective without considering COVID What Ifs. After all, recall that the reason the COVID-93 What If? from two years ago matches today's story is that these are the same cohort of students. The seventh and eighth graders I taught during that long-term sub position are now freshmen and sophomores, the same age as my current students.
Of course, they aren't literally the same kids. The long-term subbing was in Orange County, while my current position is in LA County. Moreover, the kids from Orange County are currently attending a school that offers traditional Algebra I and Geometry, not Integrated Math I -- and back then, OC had a year of mostly hybrid while LA County was at home the entire year. Nonetheless, both groups were the same age at the time -- and so if I want to know what it's like for kids to have their school close in the middle of sixth grade, I should look at those OC kids.
Let me reblog one of my old posts from Fall 2020. This one is a Math 8 lesson (current sophomores), but it's on slope, which is a key topic in Math I as well:
In the eighth grade classes, I continued with the lesson on comparing functions. This is an introduction to the idea of slope as the rate of change, including finding slope using the rise and run on a graph.
There's no sugarcoating this one -- this lesson is a struggle. It takes the entire block period today to get through the lesson in first period. Fortunately, since students stay in first period for today, I have them attempt Quiz 3.1.5 today. Most of the students who try it need two or three attempts just to pass it by getting three out of five correct. Indeed, three students proceed to Lesson 3.2.1 on slope-intercept form even though I tell them not to (once they start it, they must finish it). Of those three, two of them get perfect scores on Quiz 3.2.5 while the other at least matched his Quiz 3.1.5 score (and this is without getting the actual lesson).
I suspect that this is because today's lesson involves graphs, which are always tricky. Of course, graphs are also related to slope-intercept form, but this is more about plugging in values to the equation y = mx + b, whereas today's rise and run questions involving inspecting the graph directly.
Recall that on Monday, the eighth grade teacher leader suggested an Edpuzzle activity and a graphing worksheet that might help the students out. I'm still trying to figure out how to assign these, so I didn't do so for first period -- but after seeing the students struggle, I might make more of an effort to set up these assignments to help fourth period practice the graphs.
On one hand, I'm hoping to get through Lesson 3.1.x today and Lesson 3.2.x on Monday, thus setting up the rest of the week for another lesson suggested by my colleagues. I don't want to give it away in today's post, but it has something to do with Halloween (and graphing lines in slope-intercept form). Of course, what matters the most is making sure the students are learning. Rushing through a difficult lesson just to get to an assignment in time for Halloween is not teaching.
So these are the students I'm teaching now -- kids who had trouble getting slope from a graph two years ago, and are still having trouble with it now. Except for those three students who rushed through the lesson and had no trouble figuring out slope-intercept form, everyone else struggled. That year, we had to come up with an extra Edpuzzle to help the students understand it.
That Halloween lesson reminds me of what I did for that holiday this year -- dive into Chapter 3 on transformations, even though we were still having problems with Chapter 2. I wonder whether in both cases, Halloween lessons were set up based on the belief that we'd be further in the text, but once we slowed down due to students' lack of understanding, we had to jump over material just to reach the Halloween lesson by Halloween.
Here's a slightly later Math 8 lesson on solving two-step equations, just before Thanksgiving break:
Well, in the eighth grade class, I attempt to go over some more two-step equations after singing the "Solve It" song for music break. But unfortunately, we do only two more equations.
The problem I have today is with the third quaver progress reports. I completed them on Aeries over the weekend, but the actual deadline for submitting them is noon today. And so I tell the students that they should make up any missing work by noon today in order to raise their grade from a D or F in order to avoid getting a progress report.
There are many more students getting progress reports in eighth than in seventh grade -- and this is true for several reasons. Much of it is because of APEX -- in order to advance to the next quiz, APEX is set up to require eighth graders to earn a score of 60%, but seventh graders must earn at least 70%. And since most quizzes have only five questions, "at least 70%" really means 4/5 or 80%. I force the seventh graders to keep retaking the quizzes and tests until they pass them.
Thus it's impossible for seventh graders to earn less than 70% if they pass the test -- and it's impossible for them to earn more than 59% unless they pass it. Therefore there are no seventh graders with D's -- and only two students in each period missed the test and have F's.
On the other hand, more eighth graders get D's on all the quizzes and the test, and so there are eighth graders with D's, in addition to the ones who missed the test and have F's. And the cohort with the most progress reports is today's first period class -- and it also happens to be the last full class meeting before the noon deadline.
And so I spend the entire time after music break checking and resetting APEX tests. This is for students who missed the test as well as those with D's who wish for me to reset the tests in APEX. I'm glad that many of them are able to raise their grades to C's today.
Once again, we recognize many problems from this class creeping up in my current classes -- a lesson is ruined because most of the students are doing quiz corrections, right when grades are due.
And just after Thanksgiving break, I tried teaching this same lesson to the seventh graders:
Since it's Tuesday, this is a seventh grade post. The title of this post is "Solving Two-Step Equations," but in reality, today wasn't anywhere nearly as simple as doing the Texas two-step.
For starters, we had to squeeze in the Performance Task portion of the Benchmarks today. So once again, it's a balancing act between giving the Benchmarks and teaching the new lesson on APEX.
In the end, I decided to go 30-40-30 for consistency. That is, the first half-hour of class is for last-minute review to make sure that the students understand what they are to do on the Benchmarks. Then the middle 40 minutes of class are for the Benchmarks proper. The last half-hour of class is the time into which I must squeeze the entire APEX lesson. (In Canvas, the test is set to unlock and relock at these particular times.)
You might think that 30 minutes would be enough time to show the students two-step equations -- especially considering that I already introduced two-step equations a few weeks ago in order to prepare them for the multiple choice Benchmarks. But the problem is that the APEX Lesson 4.3.1 isn't just about two-step equations. First, it discusses how to convert real-world phrases into math (the usual "total," "ten less than," and all that). Second, problems are solved by working backwards rather than traditional algebraic manipulation of equations. Third, two-step equations are actually solved. And finally, equations of the form p(x + q) = r are solved by first dividing by p, not by distributing p.
Time is wasted when APEX decides to slow down -- for some reason, at certain times it doesn't let me advance to the next page of the lesson. Then I almost tore my hair out trying to decide which parts of the lesson to cover and which parts to throw out.
Of course, I'll fix these problems and improve the lesson throughout the week. But this isn't necessarily fair to the Tuesday cohort. They always get the short end of the stick with an unpolished lesson as I figure out the best things to teach as the week proceeds. I suppose that even before the pandemic, this has always been a problem with secondary teachers -- first period gets the rough version of the lesson, while the last class gets the polished version as teachers adjust throughout the day. (To this end, period rotations are useful because the same group of students isn't always first.)
And indeed, I'm still trying to figure out what to teach tomorrow. The last section of the lesson, on solving p(x + q) = r, will certainly be thrown out. (By the way, the APEX method is influenced by the way it appears in the Common Core Standards.) But then the department head tells me that I should replace this with solving equations px = r where p is a fraction -- this isn't adequately covered by APEX at all. And so there's still lots for me to cover. One way to save some time will be to have the students fill out the chart for the first part (listing all the addition phrases, subtraction, etc.) as they individually finish the test.
Now we see another lesson that the students struggle with -- and once again, it's because they're something else going on that day, namely District Benchmarks. We also see our online text that year, APEX, trying to squeeze everything and anything into a single lesson. I notice that our current CPM text sometimes puts too much material in a single lesson too.
The important thing to notice is that my students are struggling the way I taught them back then -- and this same year-group of students is still having trouble with my teaching methods. After having placed myself in my students' shoes, I can see that I need to adjust the way I teach, as soon as possible.
The Eight-Period Block Schedule
One thing I've noticed lately about some of the local high schools is that a number of them are starting to adopt an eight period day. In particular, both of the secondary schools that I attended as a young student now have eight periods, as well as a school I subbed at during the earliest years of the blog. But what exactly is that eighth period used for?
First of all, let's revisit what block schedules look like at most high schools. I once wrote that if a school were to convert a six-period day naively to a block schedule, each block would be two hours -- and that's too long for most students and teachers. Thus most schools add something else to the schedule in order to avoid two-hour blocks. For example, the high school I attended used to have a seventh period that met each and every day. Athletes would have seventh period sports, while most other students would attend one of their other classes for Tutorial. The school where I worked last year did the same thing, except the class that met all days was zero period Advisory. Mondays were all-classes days.
My current high school has four blocks meeting on each block day, with each block at 90 minutes. As there are six periods, there are three block days, with each period meeting two blocks per week. Then the remaining two days (Monday and Friday) are all-classes days.
Thus the eight-period day looks like my current four-block schedule, except that odd periods meet on one block day and even periods meet on the other day.
But most students have only six classes, occasionally seven. So for the extra period, most students end up doing -- nothing. They are "unscheduled" for that period. Most unscheduled periods are either first, second, seventh, or eighth periods -- that is, the first or last block of the day. Then those with Period 1 or 2 unscheduled don't need to arrive at school until Period 3 or 4, and those with Period 7 or 8 unscheduled can leave after Period 5 or 6. From the teacher's perspective, each teacher would have six classes, with two conference periods. Usually one prep period would be odd and the other even so that three classes are taught per day. Also, at least one prep period would usually be 1/2/7/8 since fewer students are scheduled these periods.
Notice that the eight-period day has nothing to do with the COVID What Ifs. I added a block schedule to the COVID-93 (and earlier) What If? because the block schedule simplifies the hybrid plan. But I don't blindly add eight periods to any What If? because the pandemic has nothing to do with adoption of the eight-period day. Still, it might be instructive to look at what my own schedule as a young student would have looked like if the eight-period day had existed back then.
First of all, I was a Cross Country athlete. Most coaches like to have practice on all days, and so sports are usually scheduled for both seventh and eighth periods. Thus my schedule would have looked not much different from that on the original timeline, with my "period 1-6 + 7th period sports" being replaced with "period 1-6 + 7th/8th period sports." The only change is that when I was in Grades 9-10, I had a fourth period "sports tutorial" to replace seventh period tutorial. On the eight-period day, most likely my second period class would be moved to fourth, and then I'd have second period unscheduled.
Another thing about the eight-period schedule is that there are no all-classes days. For one thing, with eight periods, each period would be short. Moreover, if all periods 1-8 were to met in order, then someone (like me with my hypothetical schedule above) would have to attend first period, and then have nothing to do during the unscheduled second period. Unscheduled seventh would also cause problems on all-classes days, with nothing to do while waiting for eighth period.
Thus eight periods result in a pure block schedule -- all five days of the week are block days. There is no longer any connection between day of the week and the schedule -- students must check the schedule to find out whether odd or even periods meet that day. (In my hypothetical scenario, I'd have to know whether to wake up for first period or sleep in until fourth period.)
Rapoport Question of the Day
Today on her Daily Epsilon of Math 2022, Rebecca Rapoport writes:
2^(2x - 5) 4^(3x - 4) = 8^(2x + 13)
To solve this, we might take the base-2 logarithm of both sides (here abbreviated "lg"):
lg(2)(2x - 5) + lg(4)(3x - 4) = lg(8)(2x + 13)
2x - 5 + 2(3x - 4) = 3(2x + 13)
Recall that my Math III students will be learning about logs next week in Chapter 5. But it will be only an intro to logs -- they won't be using logs to solve any equations until the next chapter.
Ironically, it could be my Math I students who will solve this equation in December. That last section of Chapter 3, Section 3.3, is on solving complex equations of this types. Of course, they won't be using logs to solve it -- instead they'll use the Laws of Exponents to rewrite both sides as a power of 2, and then set the exponents equal to each other. After doing this they'll reach the same equation as before:
2x - 5 + 2(3x - 4) = 3(2x + 13)
This is a linear equation that is solvable in Math I. Notice that it's an equation that requires all five verses of the "Solve It" song to sing, or all five parts of the "Don't call me after midnight" mnemonic:
2x - 5 + 2(3x - 4) = 3(2x + 13)
2x - 5 + 6x - 8 = 6x + 39 ("Don't" = distribute)
8x - 13 = 6x + 39 ("call" = combine like terms)
2x - 13 = 39 ("me" = move the variable)
2x = 52 ("after" = add/subtract)
x = 26 ("midnight" = multiply/divide)
Therefore the desired solution is 26 -- and of course, today's date is the 26th. Of course, I'm really hoping that Math I won't get to Section 3.3 at all since this Math III equation has no business being taught in Math I. (But I'll have to teach it if it appears on a Chapter 3 Test or final exam.)
Meanwhile, tomorrow's Rapoport question is also related to logs. It's simpler, so we might be able to solve it in the current Math III chapter:
If y = -log_3((log_8 2)^3), what is 3^y?
As usual, we should work from the innermost parentheses outwards:
y = -log_3((log_8 2)^3)
y = -log_3((1/3)^3)
y = -log_3(1/27)
y = -(-3)
y = 3
3^y = 27
It's possible to skip a few steps -- here -log_3(1/27) can be transformed to log_3(27) if we remember what it means for a log to be negative. Then since y = log_3(27), 3^y must be 3^log_3(27), and since the exponential and log are inverses each other, we're left with just 27. In either case, the correct answer is 27 -- and of course, tomorrow's date is the 27th.
Yes, tomorrow is the 27th, and the next day is the 28th -- back to school after a long vacation, which is always tough. My next post will be the day after that -- the 29th, a Tuesday.
Conclusion
I was thinking back to COVID-93 again and my decision to take French as my foreign language. As difficult as learning a language is, I knew that I needed it in order to get into college. And I enjoy learning about languages -- it's just not easy to do so.
There was once a girl who lived next door to me. I recognized her from some of my classes, but we rarely interacted with each other. But during the lonely isolation of COVID-93, I could easily see us speaking to each other on those long days when there was nothing else to do.
And one of the things we might have discussed is our upcoming schedules for eighth grade. I might even have asked her for advice on what language to take -- and if I had done so, she almost certainly would have recommended Spanish. After all, she was of Hispanic descent, and most likely spoke Spanish herself -- if not, she'd have a relative who spoke the language. So of course she'd suggest Spanish as the language worth learning.
And if I'd taken her advice and chosen Spanish, I would've had the benefit having a Spanish speaker living next door -- someone who might have helped me learn that same language during 1990s-style distance learning. While I doubt that receiving help from a fellow teenager would have raised me all the way from a C to an A, perhaps I'd at least gotten a B just by talking to her in Spanish. And that would have given me confidence to take Spanish II and III in subsequent years.
I've stated that I've been having problems communicating with my students lately. Part of the problem might be the language barrier -- Hispanics are in the majority, with many Spanish speakers. In fact, on Friday during the Hero Quiz when I asked about project suggestions, one guy asked whether I was Hispanic/a native Spanish speaker. The implication, of course, is that if I could have given some of the directions in Spanish, he and the others might have understood the project better.
So perhaps I could extend the COVID-93 What If? all the way to the present day -- today, nearly thirty years after the pandemic, my students won't have survived a pandemic as I did. But they will speak Spanish to me -- and having decided during COVID-93 to learn Spanish, a more useful language of French, I'll be back to reply to them in Spanish. And that will improve our communication.
But alas, that's the world of What If? In the real world, I must imagine ways to incorporate Spanish into my daily lessons -- either by learning a few words today or using Google Translate on the lessons. And meanwhile, I will get ready to make my annual viewing of McFarland USA -- a movie that's all about Californian students of Mexican descent who do speak Spanish throughout the film.
I suspect that the real Coach White ultimately learned some Spanish in order to communicate with his runners more effectively. And if Coach White learned the language, then so can I. It won't be easy to learn a new language, but it's definitely worth the effort.
