As the title says, Husband Dear and I had the pleasure of attending our first high school open house the other night.
If a few years ago we were asking ourselves, “What the hell are we doing at a middle back-to-school night?” it was doubly so this week.
Me? Parent of a high school student? So wrong. “Is not possible,” as the Russian guide declares in Eloise in Moscow (an inside joke in our family). It was just yesterday that I was in high school. Has to be yesterday…because I can remember it all so clearly. But enough with the sappy wallowing about the passage of time. Judith Warner had that territory all covered in her blog this week, I Am the Dog.
Back-to-school night first impression. I was again struck by what a palace this high school is. So spanking, sparkle-y cleeean. An impressive monument to MoCo values: money and education.
After writing my check to the PTSA, I headed for the cafeteria where a club fair was set up. Strolled past the 5-foot tall banner that blares in scary totalitarian/Soviet realist fashion: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION AT (this school). Not all clubs were represented. Some were typical: literary magazine, school newspaper, ski club. Some less so: dragon boat anyone? The Gay Straight Alliance was very excited when I bought a donut and a can of ice tea from them. My dinner.
And then it was time to actually visit classes. The schedule C. provided us with had floors, but not room numbers, which slowed our progress as we swam through the crowds. Some quick impressions.
- Homeroom – Got to watch a televised address from the principal and from the PTA president. Based on performance, one could easily confuse who was who.
- Government – Can see why C. really likes this class. Had the parents chuckling throughout. Clearly knows and loves his subject and really likes 9th graders. While he talks about the heavy reading load, Husband Dear and I look at each other with quizzical looks. Huh? We haven’t noticed anything burdensome. Later C. says she’s been doing the reading on the bus ride. If there is one thing C. can do well, it’s ingest and process huge amounts of text in record time. Clearly that skill is going to come in handy over the next four years.
- Math – Sounds challenging. Teacher stressed that students ask for help sooner rather than later. Disconcerting to hear that the school website provides information on outside tutoring.
- English – Intimidating. This is the first time I’ve heard about www.turnitin.com, a plagarism prevention website. Students have to submit their papers to the site, which “instantly identifies papers containing unoriginal material.” Papers will not be accepted by the teacher without a receipt from the site. Yikes!
At each stop I made a point to introduce myself to the teacher, say whose mom I am, shake hands. Usually this was met with a friendly flash of recognition and perhaps a positive comment or two. Back-to-School Night Standard Operating Procedure 101. Which is why I couldn’t believe when half way through the evening Husband Dear playfully commented, “My, you are such a brown noser.” Brown noser?! I couldn’t believe it! How long has he been going to these things? That’s just what you do at these things.
[Note: Check out Washington Post columnist John Kelly's take on back-to-school night: I Heart John Kelly.]
Don’t worry too much about Turnitin. I use it with my classes, and the primary reason is to PREVENT plagiarism, not chuckle like a gleeful Dick Cheney imitation when I catch cheaters. (Actually, catching cheaters is depressing, at least for me, and I don’t really want to become the teacher for whom catching them is ever some kind of thrill.) Anyhoo…
All that TII does is compare the students’ papers against their database of papers. You can exclude quoted material so that the only words TII is considering are the ones written by the student, which usually drops all of them into the “green” or “basically no plagiarism” zone. Speaking for myself, I don’t ding someone for plagiarism unless it’s realllllllly obvious. Why? Because I can’t face down a parent and my administrator until I have some fairly irrefutable evidence.
I strongly suspect this is how most teachers use it. If a student is trying, in good faith, to cite appropriately, that effort tends to be immediately obvious. I wouldn’t worry.
Thanks for the insights, Adso. I always appreciate your view from the trenches!
I guess it was just the whole deadly serious tone–as well as all the steps and requirements vis a vis deadlines and grading–that really struck me. My baby’s not in Kansas anymore
…all these very adult-like expectations and responsibilities. And she’s on top of them, which is a good thing. The realization that wow, kids actually do mature!