Etymology Corner
Shambles is one of those words that sounds like its definition. We’re using the “disorder” definition, of course, not the one about the slaughterhouse — although it’s interesting to have another etymological reference to slaughterhouses, after abatement (via abate via abattoir).
Shambles might look a bit like it relates to shame, but the roots are different. The origins reference support, before changing over time to mean “ungainly” or disordered.
Shambolic, which is the adjective form, might be modeled on symbolic, and that helps, too. It’s a symbolic word, meant to conjure up the relative unsteadiness of various things, from mental states to writing.
Even the verb form, shambles, which the dictionary tells us means a “slow, shuffling, awkward gait,” works symbolically: There’s a reason zombies are described as “shambling” as often as they are.
TL;DR
You, the student enrolled in class, are subject to cause and effect. If your performance is good, good things happen; if you struggle, you will receive help until your performance improves.
This kind of cause-and-effect feedback chain is evidence-based or evidentiary. If the evidence supports an action, that’s it. That’s what we do. This is the logical construct of grade abatement, which is the logical construct of assessment in the real world: collective human judgment informed by evidence, as Tony Wagner has phrased it.
In other words, you are what you do, not who you are (or who you think you are).
Getting Help
If you complete assignments to the best of your ability, you will get positive feedback and earn higher grades. You will also be better prepared for next year, especially if you plan on attending college.
In a perfect world, that would be all the motivation you’d need. You’d forge, in that perfect world, a feedback chain of positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.
In this imperfect world, unfortunately, your motivations might differ. You might rely, for instance, on the shambolic logic of second-semester seniors, which isn’t actually confined to seniors, nor to the second semester. It’s a shambles built with bad habits.
A certain amount of contemporary research and debate calls this a generational issue, or at least a systemic one, and points to the same deficits:
- Inability to sustain focus
- Inability to read deeply for understanding
- Inability to think critically or reason well
- Inability to self-direct
- Inability to self-assess
- Lack of self-awareness
- Lack of basic academic knowledge
- Lack of basic academic skills
Students in our high school have these deficits, too — but don’t mistake this instructional post for a jeremiad (a word with its own fascinating etymology). This is an evidence-based assessment of groups of students. It is evidence-based.
And it starts, as always, with your choices. It’s what you do, not what you could do. If you don’t consistently demonstrate that you can sustain focus, then your focus is a hypothetical thing. If your work doesn’t demonstrate grade-level skills and understanding, we can’t just assume that you are capable. You’ve shown otherwise.
So it’s all about evidence. What do you do each day? What do you demonstrate through required assignments? What traits are reflected in your work? How do you advocate for yourself, for instance, in order to do your best work? Is that work sufficient?
All this evidence is organized through grade abatement profiles and a set of universal skills and traits. You could also look to Brewster’s SCP or Tony Wagner’s 21st-century skill set or probably a dozen other sources. It’s all the same. This is the stuff that persists after high school.
What you want to produce daily is evidence that you can do the following:
- Get to class on time
- Set a goal quickly and get to work
- Collaborate effectively on specific goals
- Utilize class time effectively
- Utilize physical resources effectively
- Utilize digital resources effectively
- Use feedback amenably and consistently
- Advocate for yourself early and often
- Submit assignments on time
- Revise assignments appropriately
Every action you take should create evidence for this list or evidence of grade-level skills (e.g., in writing). Otherwise, you need help. And if the evidence tells us you need help, then you need help.
Fortunately, this classroom, like the entire high school system, is set up to give you that help.
Possible Help, Classroom Scale
If you repeatedly demonstrate that you can’t focus in class, that you can’t do the required reading, etc, then there are a variety of interventions that could help you.
You’d first lose some autonomy and choice. You could be given an assigned seat, usually away from distractions and peers. Then you’d be given restricted access to technology — most likely a soft ban on phone use, plus heavily monitored Chromebook usage.
You might also be required to check-in at the end of each class period, not just at the beginning, in order to confirm the work you’ve done. This could be part of an individual work contract — one that would limit your choice in class in order to give you a better chance at success.
At this point, help also certainly includes phone calls home that detail the evidence of your inability to sustain focus, lack of basic skills, etc. Parents or guardians can monitor your use of time at home until you are able to demonstrate growth and mastery in class.
Possible Help, School Scale
If the evidence tells us you need more than what is possible in the classroom, we have options. It might start with a required meeting in Guidance to figure out what’s preventing you from being successful. That might lead to a meeting after school with all of your teachers to discuss how best to help you.
By involving other support systems, we have an opportunity to validate and address any social/emotional issues that are affecting your work. Depending on your needs, we could then modify assignments, set up a network of adults in the building to keep track of your progress, or get you help outside of school.
Another possibility, if you struggle with the basic skills and traits required of a senior in English, is to remove any free periods and replace them with regular study halls. The extra time in an academic environment would help you practice your focus and self-direction, and you’d have more time to finish required assignments.
Another good use of those free periods is mandated tutoring through one of the peer-driven systems in place. NHS has one; for 2019-2020, at least, we have another through the Learning Center in the iLC. Tutoring would give you regular access to a peer who could help you finish assignments, self-assess weaknesses, and so on.
All Carrot, No Stick
That last section gives you a list of interventions for students struggling with the requirements of senior English:
- Assigned seat
- Restricted access to technology
- Additional daily check-in
- Individual work contract
- Meetings in Guidance
- Meetings after school
- Social/emotional support
- Free period → mandated conferences in Room 210
- Free period → mandated Study Hall
- Free period → mandated tutoring in Learning Center
This is all ameliorative. It might feel like an imposition, but corrective help can feel that way — at first, before the positive impact becomes obvious. Physical therapy hurts. Emotional therapy is difficult. Sports practice can be monotonous and painful; so can play or band practice. Self-discipline takes time.
If you believe you don’t need help, but the evidence says otherwise, then you have to create different evidence. You have to prove that you don’t need help. There’s no stigma, either way. It’s evidence-based. You need help if there is evidence of the following:
- Inability to sustain focus
- Inability to read deeply for understanding
- Inability to think critically or reason well
- Inability to self-direct
- Inability to self-assess
- Lack of self-awareness
- Lack of basic academic knowledge
- Lack of basic academic skills
If you believe that this appearance is due to factors you can control, without interventions and extra help, then you must produce evidence that you can do the following:
- Get to class on time
- Set a goal quickly and get to work
- Collaborate effectively on specific goals
- Utilize class time effectively
- Utilize physical resources effectively
- Utilize digital resources effectively
- Use feedback amenably and consistently
- Advocate for yourself early and often
- Submit assignments on time
- Revise assignments appropriately
Ask questions about this below. You can also suggest other ways for us to help you master the necessary skills and traits of the course.