Now that I'm entirely free of that vacant art class (as it's no longer vacant), I went back to working at the whims of the subbing app. On Monday, I caught a job at a school I hadn't been to since the previous school year.
I've been subbing a long time. When a name appears in the subbing app, I generally have a pretty good idea of who it is and what they teach. But for Monday, I had not ever heard of Ms. V before. It gave her subject as English, and I wracked my brains for which English teacher might have retired after last school year. I came up with nothing.
And, it turns out I was right, as Ms. V didn't teach English. She taught success...
(I do not know why success isn't a class they can list in the subbing app. But I had run into this issue before.)
Success is a class basically about becoming a better student. On this day their lesson was on Cornell notes, as in teaching them a better way to take notes in class.
(In the class they talk about grades. They give them time to work on homework, with assistance. They teach them how to use a planner and encourage them to organize their backpacks.)
In the past, success has been code for "terrible class". The students that they encourage to take it are the students who need it, and the students who need it are the kinds of students who act up in class.
But this year, due to a change in how the students are scheduled, most of the middle school is taking it.
It turned out that I knew many of the students. About a third of them had been in the seventh grade science class I began the year with last school year. Which was good and bad.
Bad, because the students I had issues with before I still had issues with. Good, because I already knew who many of the kiddos were.
And now that I've been to this school, I now have the current teacher list. Which may or may not help me in determining future assignments.
It's not like I would have turned down the assignment knowing what I know now. They weren't horrible.
They were eighth graders. And it was kind of cool to see how many of them had grown since I had seen them last.
I had never heard of this note taking system so I had to investigate it. Interesting that wanted the studies on its effectiveness was done at Wichita State University, which I attended as a night student for a year back in the day. And I had never heard of it there, either. I certainly see the need for such a class.
ReplyDeleteI'd never run into this system either until covering an AVID class. I don't know if it would be useful for me, but it's interesting, anyway.
DeleteI like that they've changd it to a mandatory class. I feel like my kids had to take something like that for one quarter of freshman year.
ReplyDeleteIt's only mandatory if they're not taking a different class (AVID). And I'm not sure if it's mandatory. More like strongly encouraged.
DeleteWe could probably all use a bit of guidance on how to be more efficient and organized at our daily grinds.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I would have loved to have taken a class like this back in the day. I wouldn't have been assigned to it, though, as I was fairly organized on my own.
DeleteThanks for the link to Cornell Notes. i had never heard of it, and I think it is a clever and efficient way to take notes!
ReplyDeleteIt is, really. I wish they had used them when I was in school.
DeleteSounds like a very practical subject. And I’m sure it’s interesting to see how the kids have grown
ReplyDeleteIt's a great class. It's just been so unevenly used in the past.
DeleteI can see why that would be good and bad.
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of Cornell Notes before. Note taking is quite an art, and everyone should know how to take them. I'd guess though, the Cornell Notes system isn't for everyone. I hope they let the students note take in ways that they learn best. I know... classes have too many students for that.
ReplyDeleteFor that age, the teachers actually write out the notes that the kiddos copy. This is so that by college, they know how to organize these things. (High school teachers tend to give the students notes in the format that the students copy them down, too.)
DeleteNever heard of that class but definitely one all kids should take. Probably before eighth grade though.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good middle school class. I don't know how helpful it would be in elementary school.
DeleteI always thought being a substitute teacher would be an interesting job. I bet you have a lot of stories!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of this type of "success" class, always with different names. I think it's something every kid should take. I can't think of a time in my life when I wouldn't have benefitted from note-taking skills among other skills to help a person become successful.
The names are the thing. It's always some sort of euphemism. After a while, you get used to this in education.
DeleteI wasn't aware of the name Cornell Notes, but we were taught to take notes using it in our philosophy classes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you didn't use that name for it. Then again, it's not like notetaking needs to have a name for it to work.
DeleteHi Liz - interesting to see they were taught Cornell Notes ... but more so that you realised how much they'd grown since you'd last seen some of them. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDelete