Gratification

During an in-service right before school started, The Principal showed us our results from last spring's state tests. I haven't written about it before because I had to leave early for a speaking engagement, however Mrs. Eagle called me up and filled me in.

In short, our school rocked - again. We hit the mark in every single category, especially in the special education category which has caused problems for some other schools in the district. And, thankfully, 7th grade science was just phenomenal. That always surprises me to some extent because there are days, many of them, when I think the kids just aren't getting it.

Anyway, this morning Mrs. Eagle and I went to a pancake breakfast put on by a church youth group run by a fellow teacher. Many of the members are our kids so we wanted to go support them. (We then paid for it by taking a two mile hike through a local recreation area - most of which felt like it was uphill and its hot and humid today). A number of other teachers were there, including Mrs. Cool, Mrs. Goldilocks, and Mrs. Angel. So we stop to chat a bit and all of a sudden Mrs. Cool goes, "Hey, about those science scores! You guys are doing amazing things with these kids."

Mrs. Eagle and I say that we're always surprised at how well they do since they certainly don't give us much indication that they're actually paying any attention.

"Well I asked my classes what it was you guys did, " she says. "I told them that I saw their science scores and if they could do that well in science they could do that well in social studies."

We are intrigued at this point. "What did they say?" we ask her.

She starts ticking it off..."They say that they do a lot of group work. That you guys do a lot of labs and demonstrations. That you just make it fun."

It's nice to know that we're on to something.