a new year

Oh no. 

I fell in to the worst new teacher trap: giving up on a half-hearted, though well-intentioned, attempt at intellectualism and communicating with the outside world! 

Instead, here I stand (lie in bed), year two, having lost over half of my original special education cohort last summer.  And there's so much to say.  And I'm going to re-start this to say it all.

Second worst new teacher trap: (I still am a new teacher, even if a 2nd year-er seems "veteran" in this crazy system): Putting things off due to tiredness.  Alas, I think this trap is one that we can't avoid as every day our bodies feel an exhaustion that seems to have no end in sight.  Tiredness becomes an incurable, internal invasive species for teachers in the District of Columbia Public School system. 

McDonalds or Crack Overdose

My students were acting out the other day as I was covering for their gen ed teacher during an SST meeting (part of my job??!!!). An administrator came by, saw the state of the class, came in, and SCREAMED at the kids: "You think you're in the ghetto? I'm SICK of hearing how terrible this class it! You think you're so cool----you're on your way to flipping burgers at McDonald's, or dying of a crack overdose!"

All the kids said "oooooohhhhhh"........but they quieted down.

We proceeded to have a "Real-Time" conversation about why their test scores are low.

They all had very good ideas.

We need to rally them somehow.

It was harsh.

It was... inappropriate.

But.. am I starting to lean towards the "hey, whatever works" ideology?

I might be.

But in this dysfunctional system, what does it mean to "work"??

Long, Long, Long

No, the title of this entry does not relate to one of my favorite (and under-rated) Beatles songs.  These days are just nothing short of long (well... to be short of long, it wouldn't be long, right?), long, long.  

Today, six students (3 of whom are in the special education program) got into a brawl at recess. Spectators said it was like a mob scene.  There was biting, scratching, and strangling---a teacher had her entire arm bruised and scratched trying to split it up. 

I spent the entire afternoon in the Dean of Students office trying to patch pieces of the story together.  

He was trying to get everyone who was "maybe" involved suspended for 10 days, as per DCPS' Chapter 25 in the new discipline code.  

But I was arguing against having my students out of school for 10 days.  Having my students not learning for 10 days?! Speaking of "long, long, long"----that is a LONG time!

If our school followed "protocol" every time students fought, we would have an empty campus.

RIF, etc

It is almost impossible to know what to write at this time.  

My thoughts go out to all the teachers who were RIF'ed.  Certainly the manner in which this news was delivered to you, at minimum, was inappropriate; the measures taken to "assure your transition" inadequate.  

My school got pretty lucky. 

 

I feel like I am living in the middle of an era that national public schools will examine for a long time to come.  I feel like I am living out the nightmare of being stretched from all angles, when all I want to do is teach kids using resources like this.

But things are never that easy, and there's nothing like working in DCPS to prove that to you day after day.

Everyone is high stress, high tension.  Everyone.  Our staff meetings feel corporate. We have to meet AYP this year (though who doesn't?), so everything is all about business... but is our business approach a good match for the emotionally-charged jobs and lives we lead?

DC-ASS (oops)

So the results of last week's DC-BAS test for "proficiency" came back.  

My non-reader was labeled "proficient" in a reading section...

None of the other students were in that section.

He did a really good job guessing bubbles on that one. 

....(really? these "high-stakes" tests are what teachers' futures, schools' paths, etc are based on.... really?)

How do you...

How would one go about investing kids in their own education?

I've pulled kids aside and done the "what comes after elementary school? what comes after middle school? and after high? right, college" talk a few times this year.  and what!?! is college our end-goal? (it's not for me.....having the most opportunities in one's life AS WELL AS being a responsible global citizen are, to me, the end-goal of education, all education. but perhaps college can be a means to that end...) if so, how do we make it a concrete one?