This is the time of year when the optimism of the summer about being able to stay on top of things comes to a crashing thud. Tonight was another night at school until 7pm. I was there that long, yet I'll only be able to do my lesson tomorrow if I'm able to grade 50 benchmarks in the fifty-minute period I have off from teaching between first and third.
My school years usually get off to mediocre starts and I start to feel better as the year goes on, probably because I have this pristine image of teaching when I'm off for the summer and when I return, I'm disappointed when things go wrong. I had such high hopes for this year about staying on top of things, but it's tough.
This year, I find myself angrier than usual about things I have no control over. I'm talking about the American Dream in class today. It was about the American Dream, and we listened to parts of "God Bless the USA" (patriotic, proud), Neil Diamond's "America" (immigrant dream), Tracy Chapman's "America" (angry, accusatory), and Tupac Shakur's "Panther Power" (angry, revolutionary) to depict different voices about the American Dream. We compared and evaluated them for tone, then pulled diction from the songs that emphasized the tone, then went on into introducing Of Mice and Men. (The lesson, by the way, was awesome, one of my strongest in recent memory.)
Anyhow, during the discussion about the American Dream and equality, I heard myself say, "And look at all of you. Here you all are, having worked your butts off in middle school to attend a great high school, and now you're working your butts off to stay here. You obviously - obviously - put value in education as your path to success - that's part of the American Dream. Yet, you're asked to learn in a classroom with 37 other students. You're asked to learn in a classroom without enough desks, where there aren't enough textbooks and you're asked to buy all your books. Is that fair? Is that right? Is the American Dream attainable to all? Do some people have to work a heck of a lot harder for it than others?"
This is something near and dear to me, because the ultimate reason I'm a teacher is because I do believe in the American Dream. I teach in an urban school because youth in cities have so many cards stacked against them that education is just about their only means of advancement and the only way to end social reproduction generation after generation. I believe in this, I believe in education as the path to success, and the fact that this is happening just makes me irate.
I want to incite people this year. The politicians think it's fine to put me in front of a classroom with 38 kids, the school board okays it, and the press ignores it. I'm fighting mad. I want every parent in Baltimore to go on strike until the class size issue is resolved. I want Martin O'Malley and Bob Ehrlich to talk about this, not about principal academies ($$) or teacher incentives for high test scores (there are so many things wrong with that...). I want to hear about why ~ten teachers were laid off at my school last year and now I'm teaching classes pushing forty (and many classes exceed this number). This is a state in which the #1 voter issue is allegedly Education, but this is allowed to happen. It's utterly ridiculous, almost criminal, and just so sad and so wrong that these kids are put through this.
I'll be at Brewer's Art when it opens tomorrow for the much-anticipated first-Friday-of-the-school-year Happy Hour. I'm sure it won't disappoint. I have worked roughly 60 hours in the last five days and Happy Hour couldn't come quick enough.
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4 comments:
And here I was feeling negative about my (average) 33 students per class.
My sympathies to you, sir.
but I don't think you should feel bad about making your students think about their individual eucations. There should be nothing wrong in telling the students: "There are so many people in this class that your success surprises me." Nothing wrong in being open and transparent with your students. i found a lot of success with my kids last year by being hionest ewith them about the state of education: I told them, "This test is meaningless in the long run, but it will determine what kind of English class you end up in in high school." "i hate these tests, but all I'm asking from you is that you show the people who make them that you understand the stupid questions."
I told the kids: "what I'm trying to do is prepare you for college. The other classes will prepare youfor high school, but what you see here is the same stuff you'll see four years from now."
"You really need to show up to school tomorrow because we'll make money off you. If you don't show up, we won't be able to count you as part of the student population -- and if that happens, the school loses money."
As a fellow teacher, I don't have any problems with you being open with your students. They're there to learn about the real world, correct? Be real with them. They deserve it.
I think one of the great things about your blog is that, if you look at it from the beginning of your teaching career until now, you can really track the evolution of a teacher within a dysfunctional urban public school system. It is truly sad to watch your optimism crushed by the ineptitude and anti-educational decisions and policies made by those in charge of the education of our youth. For those in charge, it could also serve as a clear guideline for what to do to keep dedicated, motivated, proficient teachers in urban classrooms, instead of chasing them out to the greener pastures of more affluent public school systems, or private schools, or even out of teaching all together. For example:
#1. Set and enforce class size limits that are educationally sound, not financially motivated (as well as physically practical - certain rooms in certain schools could NEVER accomodate more than 30 students - otherwise, there are probably fire code violations I would bet!) That would be a start.
#2. Give teachers a real voice and a real sense of collaborative power within the school, as well as within the system. There are far too many top down decisions without any bottom up feedback. Everyone in the system knows that there are many challenges to face, but teachers would be more likely to stick around if they were given a sense that everyone was in it together. Instead, school-based as well as central administration tend to build up walls between themselves and teachers on the front lines instead of breaking down barriers.
#3. Make their job easier instead of making it harder. See #1 partially, but also consider all of the other obligations that teachers are often burdened with that takes away from their real job - teaching students. Eliminate the excessive paperwork, anything that is not part of the educational process. Any beauracracy lives and thrives off of red tape and paperwork, but it doesn't belong in a classroom.
I'm sure there is more that you would like to see change within your teaching profession, but that is what I can think of at this moment.
Consider your teaching situation in relation to your food service / waitering job. I'm sure everything in the restaurant is set up so that you can provide the best possible service to customers under the present conditions. Of course there are challenges - I know you talk about serving customers in the upstairs dining area - but I'm also sure that accomodations are made so that your job is made as easy as possible. And I'm sure that if you saw an improvement or change that could be made to not only serve customers better but also allow you to work more efficiently, the owners/management (if they have a true eye on their bottom line) would make the necessary changes if possible. Isn't your work there appreciated? Aren't you thanked from time to time for your contributions? I mean, you're only serving food, you're not changing the world, but isn't there still a sense of unity in purpose and camraderie and even fun? If such a work environment can exist in a restaurant, why can't it exist in urban public education? There's usually an esprit de corps among the teachers, but where's the sense of common purpose from top to bottom withing the whole system? Where's the concentrated effort to improve the service provided to customers/clients?
Instead, too often the mediocre "educators" who are able to muddle through and stay under the radar and handout their students to death and collect their checks every two weeks for 30 years hang on and those with a real passion for teaching make it through one or two or five or maybe even ten but draw the line at some point long before they make a career of it in the Baltimore school system. I have seen too many well-intentioned teachers who really felt a passion for helping the youth of Baltimore leave the system, not because of the failings of their students, but instead because of the failings of their administrators and the system as a whole.
As long as you continue teaching there, your classroom is yours - do the best you can with what you have. When the system gives you lemons, give them lemonade. Have you considered relocating your class that has too many students and not enough desks, maybe to the cafeteria or the auditorium or the library or the hallway right outside the principal's office, or outside on the football field?
God bless, and good luck.
I can't handle more than fifteen students in a class, personally.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting such an insightful comment, anon. I wish more people thought like you.
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