Today I brought home some more of my books. For now they are in the closet, till I can clean them properly (don't ask).
Supper tonight..... an easy dish created on the fly, using what was on hand.
The student chosen for this case study will be called ‘Steve’. He is a real student (former) of the LCCTC Automotive Mechanics program. He was chosen for this case study because he represents a prime example of a breakdown in our selection process.
There is a process students are supposed to make their way through. A selection process that results in a better fit between student and program. By meeting certain criteria such as attendance, preparation courses, and former instructor recommendations students should arrive at our door better suited to succeed in the program.
Steve bypassed that system, apparently at the behest of both his parents and his sending school. Not only were his required courses not met, he certainly did not have the recommendation of his previous instructors. Just the opposite was true.
Steve came to us from the Xxxxxxxxx school district. He had been in the LCCTC system through the 10th and 11grade, which is fairly unusual. Both instructors within the system had serious problems with Steve and recommended he not continue on to our program.
While details were not available, the issues with his first LCCTC instructor resulted in civil action of some sort. The only detail found in the record was a comment regarding ‘behavioral’ issues. Nothing else was forthcoming, as it referred to a legal case.
During his second term with LCCTC in an automotive related cluster program, he once again had problems. He lost his drivers license due to a vehicle accident while at LCCTC. Our later investigation divulged that he had taken a school owned vehicle on a joy ride without permission and heavily damaged it. His instructor at that time also noted issues with lying, stealing, class disruption, and personality conflicts with other students.
None of this was communicated to us as he entered the Automotive Mechanics program for his 12th grade year as a full time student. It was over a month into the school year that we received a hint of our problems, and that came through the grape vine. Until that time we assumed Steve’s behavior issues were normal teething pains of settling into a new school environment. We were incorrect.
Midway through the first semester Steve’s family moved to a new school district without informing us. As he drove to school (without permission from the school, and without a license) we did not find out till we contacted the previous sending school with discipline issues. This move caused a disruption of information and services from the new sending school counselors, they being unaware of Steve and his issues. In fact, he had never set foot in their building and had never met their counselors.
Steve is an IEP student from a two-parent middle class home. The modifications called for in the IEP are not outside the normal parameters of half our class. Items such as ‘frequent feedback’ and help with organization are par for the course with us. In reading his IEP no red flags appeared to us.
His attendance was acceptable, missing only ten days his 11th grade year. His grades were acceptable, even if the extra accommodations were taken into account. His IEP revealed that he had been on a work experience program the last semester of his 11th grade year, which is quite unusual for us. On first reading this spoke well for Steve. After more details came to light, it’s most likely he was moved to work experience to remove him from the classroom as a disruption.
During Steve’s first semester with us his discipline issues came to the forefront.
He avoided work with an energy that would have allowed him to complete it more easily than avoiding it. His attention span was minimal, and we clocked it at approximately four minutes on any one task. At the point his attention wandered, so did Steve. He could easily put on several miles a day within the shop, spent wandering from working student to working student, seeking either conversation or conflict.
Steve failed the first marking period with a 54%, an average of 39% for task work, 69% for theory work, and 55% for employability.
The 39% task work grade is an anomaly, as our average student prefers to work hands on and enjoys the task work above all else. Steve proved unable to stay on any task he was given for more than a few minutes. The 69% theory grade is misleading, as it resulted from missed tests, not poor grades on tests. Steve was regularly absent on test days and always seemed to have a reason not to make them up. Towards the end of his time with us the reasons bordered on outlandish and incredible. His 55% employability grade actually reflected our thought that we might be able to work with Steve, if we could just turn him around. His actual earned employability grade would have been in the low 20% range, except we made it artificially higher in an effort to make a passing grade possible for Steve if he would put forth the effort. He did not care to do so, despite promises made to instructors, IU staff, and parents.
By the end of the second marking period with us, when Steve was withdrawn from our program, his grade stood at 24% and falling and he had missed over thirty days of school from absences and suspensions.
During Steve’s initial time with our program we did not write up his discipline issues, preferring to deal with them in house. It was only after he proved disruptive and upsetting to other students that both his sending school and the IU staff requested we document each issue. As a result, Steve gathered seven discipline referrals and two suspensions in one month’s time. These ranged from simple things like using a cell phone in class, up to racial threats at inanimate objects and stealing food from the IU staff.
Excerpts from E-mails between the IU facilitator and this author may shed some light on the situation. Some small portions of the mountain of messages follow.
XXXXX and XXXX,
I’ve been giving some thought to Steve, and how to get his attention and get him on track.
He doesn’t seem to think his position is serious (Failed first MP at 54%, failing second at 24%).
I have spoken at length with his mother and it seems his parents are at wits end too.
I’d like to get his attention, and here is what I thought of: Within the discipline system I have the option of writing level one’s for not doing assigned tasks. It’s one I have almost never used.
Since Steve has given us NO completed task work this marking period, no matter how much we redirect him, he certainly qualifies. I will tell him (today) I will begin writing a level one report for not working on assigned tasks every day he doesn’t show me some work completed. He understands the system and knows that will rack up to a level two quickly, and move to suspensions pretty fast as well.
This is the only thing I can think of to get his attention and encourage him to quit playing around.
XXXXX, please share this with Cocalico and lets make sure everyone is Ok with it.
As background, his latest fun is to rearrange our class assigned seating without asking, moving students names around the room. Things like this are getting pretty disruptive and other students are voicing their disgust.
Also, Steve needs to complete the last two tests and has refused to do so. Would you mind seeing if he’ll work with you on the tests? I would not like him to leave the class here, as we saw how he acted the last time you tried to help the class.
And another excerpt:
XXXXX,
Steve XXXXX has a 36% right now, with only a few days left till midterms.
33% task work, 25% theory, and 50% work ethic (the 50% is an unearned gift).
Normally, and average for right now, students should be at 70/80% as I am counting in their large report grade right now.
Could Steve pass the marking period? With super human effort, yes I have seen it done before.
That said, he failed first marking period in much the same way, only he wasn’t as bad off as he is now. For the first marking period he had the time and ability to recover and pass, but chose not to. This was after the multiple times we tried to redirect and intervene and his promises he would get to work.
Steve is certainly intelligent enough to succeed in the program, but he shows no interest in being here or doing the work. He spends his time wandering around, now beginning to interfere with other students. This has not gone unnoticed and Steve is not making friends with those trying to stay on task. It’s almost like he’s trying to get in trouble now, as this behavior was not evident during the first marking period.
Without extreme changes in his attitude and effort, I think Steve is unlikely to pass this marking period. In that case he will probably fail the program.
E-mails such as these track his fall throughout the time he was with our program. It was not that Steve did not get help. It was that he simply did not wish to do the work and would put more effort into avoiding it than the actual work would have taken.
Instructor contacts with Steve’s parents were at first frustrating and unhelpful, with the mother especially acting as an enabler. They would refuse to back up the school on discipline issues, and professed to believe Steve was without flaws.
Later conversations took another route, with the Steve’s mother breaking down into tears, saying they were at wits end and had never been able to motivate Steve to behave in acceptable ways. His father stated that he washed his hands of Steve, and he was on his own. Between both parents there was assembled a story of a lifetime of behavioral issues and problems in school. They had reached the emotional end of their rope and Steve was quite literally going to be “on his own”.
It would be normal to wish for a happy ending, but none will be found in this case. Steve was removed from our program at the end of the second marking period a week before his failure would have removed any possibility of his graduating. His sending school placed Steve in a work-study program from which he coasted out his senior year and graduated high school.
The failure in the system was allowing Steve to enter the Automotive Mechanics program at all. It’s a fairly rigorous and demanding program with a heavy workload, much of it self directed. Had the selection process been followed, Steve would not have been set up for failure as he was. Considering his emotional needs and combative attitude, he really stood no chance in the program.
Later investigation showed that Steve had not been part of the selection process at all, and had simply been placed in the program by administrative directive. Back channel sources tell us this was done mostly at the request of the sending school, which simply did not want Steve back under any circumstances.
A classic case of ‘dumping’ with terrible results for all concerned except the original sending school.
THE RULES:
Post a picture or make/take/create your own that captures what YOU are most passionate for students to learn about.
Give your picture a short title.
Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt.”
Link back to this blog entry. (Hers is: Cranky Prof)
Include links to 5 (or more) educators.
Sweet Italian sausage browned, then cooked slow with a dab of butter. Chopped onion caramelizing in the pan, and a mound of Bella mushrooms on top.
Teachers have ways.....
One of my 'techniques' is to wash my truck. Usually before class begins for real, but after students are mostly here. Sometimes at the end of the day.
Now.... what in the heck does washing a truck have to do with teaching the class?
Glad you asked!
A lot of what we do is 'modeling' behavior. What we want them to do, we must first show them in ourselves. Cool... we can do that. In washing my truck, I show them someone taking care of good equipment properly. I show them someone caring about a job enough to do it right. I show them that if they want a job done, they most likely have to do it themselves.
Washing the truck? A low pressure and fun situation that has very little to do with our program. I'm just washing my truck.... and how the students react can tell us volumes. Do they volunteer to help? With a good class, I won't get any farther than unrolling the hose before they take over. Sometimes, they'll ask if they can help me, and I still stay involved. They'll usually joke about 'It's going to rain tomorrow!' and that opens room to talk about taking care of a nice vehicle. Sometimes... it's 'Hey, will you do mine next?' which gets a 'NO, but you can!'.
During a truck wash session, I have found out things about my kids. One time... a student revealed that he had no dad, and no one had ever taught him how to wash a car before. It meant a lot to him, and me.
This morning, I washed my truck.
No one offered to help.
Sigh........... first time that has ever happened. One student asked if I wasn't cold, then complained about how cold his car is to drive now that he's removed the heating system to save weight (so he can get yet one more ticket for speeding and lose his license for good). I think he actually expects someone to keep him warm.
Double sigh...............
