Have you ever done something to try and make things better and other people take offense to it? Have you ever been involved in a misunderstanding and people take offense to you? I hate when that happens.
It started yesterday with a colleague sending out an e-mail to the entire grade level asking about an alternate format for reading comprehension quizzes after being asked about them by a parent. Apparently, parents were talking to each other and one parent asked another teacher why the quizzes were different than what his/her child took. This colleague wasn't sure what the parent was talking about, so s/he sent out the e-mail to try and get clarification to explain to the parent what happened. Come to find out, the children who took the differently formatted quizzes were special education students in another room. The quizzes were formatted by the special education teacher to meet their IEP goals. The other children received the regular quizzes. One part of the issue down.
The second part of the issue continued because I had made two alternate format quizzes to see if the format was challenging enough to let the students practice what they've learned and easy enough for parents to understand. (We've had problems in the past with parent complaints that the questions--which come directly out of the story discussion section teacher's manual--were misleading and confusing. A point that I--and my colleagues--agree on. Some of the quizzes needed work.) So I explained to the other team members that I am trying out the new format to see if it is better understood by students and parents. I sent out a copy of one of the quizzes that I made up and said I would gladly share if anyone was interested. (Some of us don't use comprehension quizzes, but do other comprehension activities.)
I hadn't shared the alternate format prior to the e-mail from yesterday because it is still a work in progress. If the format is still confusing, I'll need to change it or think of another option. So far I've done two and the students are doing pretty well on them. Parents will see them for the first time in the students' test folders on Friday, so I will see how they are received.
On a side note, my husband would like everyone to know that he is not a mean person. He didn't like the way I wrote about his actions during the whole cell phone alarm incident from yesterday. He thought it made him sound like a mean person for laughing at me. I was totally not trying to make him out to be insensitive or anything. My husband is a great guy and has a ready sense of humor. I guess I failed to see the humor in the midst of trying to find the source of the blasted vibrating sound! I DID, however, laugh about it after I realized what I did because it was pretty funny. Still, I can think of better ways to start a Monday. =D
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