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I teach general level American history. The majority of my students are happy making a D- and moving on. I can tell them until I'm blue in the face that the better they do in class the better they'll do on their state testing or that they can do much better than they are doing. I try to encourage them when they do well, but nothing seems to work.

I have to follow a pretty strict comprehensive curriculum and pacing guide, so there's not a lot of wiggle room to do projects and things not specified by the state. It's not like I can spend time discussing the history of basketball, reality TV, or violent movies.

I get very little parental support. I can't tell you the number of times parents never returned my call or calling a number that's no longer working.

I feel like a failure. I see Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, and Dangerous Minds and ask "why can't I do that?"

Why can't I get my students to want to acheive and do their best?

My stud...See More
Steve On 11/03/11, Mpachank wrote: > I teach general level American history. The majority of my > students are happy making a D- and moving on. I can tell > them until I'm blue in the face that the better they do in > class the better they'll do on their state testing or that > they can do much better than they are doing.

Hmm. Do...See More
Nov 8, 2011
mpachank Hmm. Do you know that for a fact? Have you checked their > records? Do they have any history of success in any class? > Unless you know that, they'll think you're blowing wind in > their face. And kids don't care about state testing.

I can tell by talking to them that they're capable of making more than a D-. I can tell by the boo...See More
Nov 8, 2011
Steve br> > I can tell by talking to them that they're capable of making more > than a D-. I can tell by the books I see them reading for fun > (none of which ever have anything to do with history by the > way! :-( )

Well, that's very interesting. So these kids can read and do read for fun? Most kids don't read history books for ...See More
Nov 8, 2011
mpachank On 11/08/11, Steve wrote: > >> >> I can tell by talking to them that they're capable of making more >> than a D-. I can tell by the books I see them reading for fun >> (none of which ever have anything to do with history by the >> way! :-( ) > > Well, that's very interesting. So these kids can read and do read...See More
Nov 8, 2011
Steve On 11/08/11, mpachank wrote: > On 11/08/11, Steve wrote: >> >>> >>> I can tell by talking to them that they're capable of making more >>> than a D-. I can tell by the books I see them reading for fun >>> (none of which ever have anything to do with history by the >>> way! :-( ) >> >>...See More
Nov 8, 2011


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