Friday, December 17, 2010

Twas the night before break...

The last day of school before Christmas break is a special day that cannot be replicated no matter what.

Freshmen finished exams yesterday, but we still had school today. A half day would have been ideal, but that was not to be. So instead there was movie time. Lots and lots of movie time. And students got to play Santa between teachers who did not have the chance to leave their classrooms. And there were Christmas parties. Oh the parties...

I only allowed one class to throw a party and that was my dual credit Teacher Cadet course. We had some good discussions and they finished up a major project today, so the class wasn't a total waste. And the food was terrific.

When you give kids a free hand, it is amazing what they will come through with. We had pizza, bugles and dip, crackers and dip, brownies, cookies, and cupcakes. For my part, I gave out Christmas cards featuring pictures from our class.

The day before Christmas break is a day like no other. Teachers have the same fever that students do. You can't hide it. There is a feeling in the air. As the students deliver cards and gifts from teacher to teacher, they have to know that we feel it to. That we are ready for a vacation too. It's a bonding experience. Like the song? Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag.

We were all waiting for the man to ring that bell.

When he finally did, we all knew that the next two weeks would be like heaven. Like a little reminder of summer and the feeling of nonchalance that comes with it. Just a taste--just enough to remind us it is coming.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Who's to blame?

Sixty-eight percent of adults believe parents deserve the most blame for students failing in school. That's according to a recent poll done by the Associated Press and Stanford University. Parents. Not teachers, not principals, not the schools themselves, but parents.

At a time where most teachers feel scrutinized and unappreciated, it is refreshing to know that an overwhelming majority realize where the blame actually lies--in the home. And education, undoubtedly, begins in the home.

I spelled "Alaska" for the first time when I was three. I was curious. I wanted to learn. My parents encouraged me. They read to me. They showed me, in actions and in words, that learning was something to be valued and to be held near and dear to the heart. As I grew older, I was expected to do well and be respectful. My word was never taken over the word of an adult. What the teacher said was as good as gold. Teachers were to be respected and listened to and supported. Whenever my parents did have a disagreement with a teacher, it was handled behind closed doors and I wasn't a witness to any sort of disharmony.

Nowadays, many parents don't seem to see any wrong in their children. The teacher is always in the wrong. Recently, a student's cell phone rang in class--something that is forbidden and we constantly fight over in school. Turns out, it was the student's mother. The teacher called him to the front of the room and explained that he couldn't answer his cell phone, but he was more than welcome to use the classroom phone to call his mother back. When the student called her and told her that he couldn't use his phone during the school day, things got so heated that she was clearly heard across the room. Nobody could tell her when she could and could not call the phone that she paid for! Who did we think we were?

Well, let me tell you. We are the people trying to teach your child good manners. We are the people who are trying to show your child how to follow rules and guidelines so they are guaranteed success as an adult. We are the people trying to teach children how to work well with others.

And apparently we are doing these things in direct opposition to the example you are setting at home.

This is not always the case. Lots of parents still support teachers and the rules set up for student safety. But those parents aren't always the ones that get the most attention. The parents that demean us and argue with us and are convinced we are out to get them and their children are the ones that get all of our attention. Those contradictory few are the ones that seem to set the tone.

I'm glad that sixty-eight percent at least realize that we do all that we can with what we are given. We need some support from home to seal the deal.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The daily prayer of a teacher

St. Jude, bless me in my work today. Help me to demonstrate my solidarity, love, patience, compassion and service toward others.

Friday, December 10, 2010

When exactly is less more?

A South Carolina Republican is introducing a bill to reduce graduation credit requirements. Right now, students are required to earn 24 Carnegie units and pass a state standardized test. Thanks to NCLB, the test isn't going anywhere, but in their ongoing quest to cut from public education, Republicans may lower credits from 24 to 20.

Representative Dan Cooper believes that by lowering requirements, we could save money and raise the graduation rate! Yay! But what about educating children? What about improving our economy by improving our workforce?

I think that by lowering graduation requirements, we are once again lowering our standards. It is bad enough that schools are forced to use remediation techniques such as credit recovery because we are under the gun to graduate 100% of our student population in four years or less. This will just be one more jab to the heart for actual learning in schools.

When Kids Go Good

Most of the news about teachers, students, and education in general is pretty negative. There is usually some sexual misconduct or gangs or lack of money or just general disarray involved.

But every now and then, kids go good.

Our school does an Angel Tree for children in need every Christmas. Since most of our students are in need, it's hard to find people who can afford to give what little they have to someone else. The Angel Tree is still pretty full and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. The economy is bad and times are hard for everyone. But, today, the Newberry High Student Government made a sizable dent in the number of needy children still listed on that tree. They did what they could to fulfill wishes for the upcoming Christmas.

As a class, without telling them what we were doing, we all went down to the guidance office and I showed them the tree. In pairs, I had them each pick one child off the tree. Then I gave them the Wal-Mart credit card and told them that each pair could have $30 out of the SGA accounts to make wishes come true. The excitement is something serious! Sure, they aren't giving of themselves, so to speak. But it is giving. And that is what the season is all about--doing for others.

So they went off to Wal-Mart as a class with their instructions to do good for someone else today. And they went above and beyond my expectations. They came back with bags and bags of clothes and diapers and dolls and games. The excitement of doing good for someone else was palpable.

Today we are spreading Christmas cheer by doing good. I believe that we are all innately good creatures...we just need some prodding and assistance. And sometimes teenagers will surprise you. One of my kids chipped in $40 of his own money to buy diapers and bath stuff for a little boy. It's sad to me that a parent needs diapers so bad that they make a Christmas list, but my heart swells with what this young man did today. On his own. In the true Christmas spirit.

So the next time you read about gangs and drug busts and violence, remember that with a little guidance, we can take the average teenager and turn them into a modern day Santa Claus.


Thursday, December 09, 2010

Making a list, and checking it twice...

And the list of naughty students is doubling! Where did all the nice ones go?

We have one more day this week and sometimes I wonder if I'll make it. We are in the midst of a deep freeze, exams are looming, and my students either don't care or are so overwhelmed that they can't possibly juggle everything that has to be done.

'Tis the season, eh?

I am noticing that students are snappier than they typically are. They have been quicker to be disrespectful and not near quick enough to back down and say "yes, ma'am." Where is the Christmas spirit?

I'm going to join in this Grinch-ish behavior by giving a vocabulary test tomorrow. Let's keep them busy on the Friday before exams. Hopefully the weekend will get them settled down for one more week.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

My Grown-Up Christmas List

Here is the newest scenario that is making public education look ineffective. Instead of counting students who enter in ninth grade and graduate in four years, the powers that be are counting students in the eighth grade that graduate in five years in order to calculate graduation rates. Fair? Before you jump to say yes, of course, think about this...

If the student moves between 8th and 9th grades, he/she is considered a drop out.

If the student has to take a year off for one reason or another--pregnancy, illness, car accident, anything--he/she is considered a drop out.

If the student screws around during the freshmen year and takes an extra year to get out of high school, he/she is considered a drop out.

Public high schools are ruled ineffective on a daily basis by people who believe that they know what is best. Many of these people have never stepped in front of a classroom. In fact, Bill Gates even weighed in recently on how public schools should pay teachers. (FYI, it wasn't favorable for teachers.) Everyone believes that he/she knows what is best when it comes to educating children. None of these people have stood front of the classroom.

The sad fact of the matter is, there are kids who aren't cut out for the public classroom. For some reason or another, the four walls and desks don't mesh with some students' personalities. These students need an alternative form of education. These students may need to learn a trade in order to contribute to society. We want to believe that no child will be left behind, but the fact is that every child on this earth is special and unique. As a classroom teacher, it is my job to reach them all. All 150 of them that I may teach in any given year.

Where are the educators running education? Too often, administrators spend very little time in the classroom in their rush to get to the top. Elected education officials often have NO EXPERIENCE in public education at all. When they do, which is rare, it is typically less than ten years.

This Christmas, I wish for the pendulum to swing back the other way. I wish for teachers to once again join the highest echelon of respectability. I wish for people to understand that, while you get to check in to your nice cozy office, I get to teach in a coat for most of the day because the thermostat is turned low enough to save money. Understand that over the course of the day, I serve breakfast, clean up breakfast, mediate arguments, supply peppermints and tissues to sick children, dry the tears of broken hearted teenage girls, keep lunch detention for unruly boys who need attention, guard the halls against students looking for a place to hide out, discourage loitering, take cell phones, pull down hoods, and try to be engaging and entertaining. On really special days, I get to jump in the middle of actual fist fights.

All the while, people like Bill Gates get together and try to find reasons to pay me less.

For Christmas, I want us all to remember that none of us would be where we are today if it weren't for a teacher in the background, juggling all of her responsibilities and still finding time to tell us that we can do it. We can do anything we put our mind to.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Nearing the end of the first semester...

I have been a slack blogger. It's been since October 30th since I've blogged at all. I haven't been near as slack of a teacher as I have been a blogger.

At least I don't think that I have been.

We are nearing the end of first semester. Yay! Although I despise cold weather, I do love the Christmas break that inevitably comes along with it. It will be nice to sit at home for two weeks and NOT think about lesson plans or engagement or reading logs. And, it must be said, at this point, we all need a vacation from each other.

At this point last week, I could feel the thunder clouds growing over my head as soon as I got out of my car. I could feel by brow tense up. I've been wound so tight that I should go ahead and start saving for the botox that is going to be inevitable if Christmas break doesn't hurry up and get here.

Just when I think I'm going to spend my life in jail for murdering some innocent child that made me repeat myself for the upteenth time, something funny happens to remind me why I got into this biz in the first place.

Have you ever sat in a classroom with food and the teacher asked you if you had enough for everyone? Of course that means put it up, put it up now. But I'll think twice before I assume that I'll get what I want when I ask that question. This morning, the student picked up his bookbag, dug around, and pulled out a sucker for everyone.

Yes, he did have enough for everyone. And he was willing to share.