The Work Week

Yay! I worked last week. I spent 4 days in classrooms. One day I spent applying for positions, which is still work, just less enjoyable than teaching.

Monday I worked for my mentor teacher. She is trying out a great reading assessment program that I was able to read up on and use with her students, one at a time. Using it to analyze student progress and ability is terrific practice.

Tuesday I worked at the last minute for a 4th grade teacher who had 31 students in her class. Now, 14 of them were ELL students, another 5 of them were SPED, and 3 more of them were on daily behavior plans. They were pretty good kids, and certainly helpful when it came to questions about how they did certain things. And then we got to the math lesson. It was a Bridges (curriculum) lesson that was a continuation of students understanding the patterns of add and even numbers. Then there was this graphing activity. I could not make heads nor tails of the lesson - and I had the teacher edition! I finally gave up trying to teach it and ensured that the previous lesson had stuck. I don't think I have ever not understood how to teach a lesson from a curriculum. This one just made no sense to me. The rest of the day went alright, but I went home so frustrated I couldn't figure out that one lesson. It still nags at me!

Wednesday was the day I spent cruising the 'net for jobs and writing essays. I guess it's good that I am finding jobs to apply to, I just wish they were more local... although a couple were in districts in the area, so that was nice.

Thursday and Friday I worked for a teacher who had a student teacher in his classroom. Evidently they had gone on their Lewis & Clark field trip to Astoria the previous day and it had poured down on them all day. Yes, an authentic Fort Clatsop experience for the kids, but miserable, too. So the plan was for a pretty quiet, nothing academically new, day. The student teacher left just before math in the morning, and the classroom has the lowest ability group. It was thankfully small, and the kids were supposed to cut out a bunch of pre-printed arrays. There was an instructional assistant in the classroom as well, and evidently she was unwilling to allow the students a simple day of cutting without any learning... so she stopped the cutting and insisted on teaching the kids a word problem - that they did not understand, and then had to do for homework. Huh. The rest of the day went fine, and the following day, the student teacher returned, feeling refreshed. I mostly sat in the back and read a book on teaching persuasive writing, and then created a unit lesson.

It was a satisfying week. I will be receiving a paycheck. I was given the opportunity to try out a reading assessment and make my own observations. I was reminded that I don't always know how to teach a lesson, so I had to improvise. I taught a day, and I spent a day doing the other thing teachers do: plan with thoughtful care and focus.

OK, so it wasn't perfect - because I wasn't in my own classroom - but it was as good as I can hope for, at least for the time being. And yeah, I still want to teach in my own classroom. these experiences just confirm that.

Kinder Kinders

Spent the day with two half day kinder classes today. The morning went really well. The class was wonderful. Kids were ready to follow directions and listen. Yes, they behaved like kids that young are expected to. But they also followed directions. They didn't run in the hallways. They were quiet when asked to be quiet. They raised their hands. They helped each other, said they were sorry when they needed to, and made my morning fly by.

And then the pm class arrived. Oddly the kid who was stuck to his mom's side when I came to the front of the school to pick them up turned out to be the best kid in the class. Followed directions, the whole bit. Think he must've been meant for the am class. The pm class could not all be quiet at the same time to save their lives. Thye were unable to follow directions - no doubt because they were talking - or to treat anyone with respect. I'm talking basic respect here, after all I know it's kindergardners. One kid had a comment about everything I said. 'yeah, yeah, yeah, we know.' And he ran in the halls, jumped onto and off of a chair, annoyed the kids around him in line, and stole a kid's paper and replaced it with his own that had been written on. Yeah, that's just one kid. And every time I spoke with him about his "choices" (that's what we call them, you know, choices. But that's another blog post.), he said he knew that he wouldn't treat his regular teacher like that. Thanks, kid.

What would have been nice is if the teacher had bothered to warn me that she had the devil incarnate in her afternoon classroom. But no, no such warnings were issued. It would have been nice if the kids knew how to treat "guest teachers" (another silly euphemism). It would have been nice if this kid's parents had bothered to parent him. Or if he'd stayed home from school today.

What a day. Glad to work, don't get me wrong. But it amazed me (really, it did) how two classes in the same day could behave SO differently. Yet another lesson learned as a substitute teacher. When I got home, I had an e-mail request to work for a 4/5 grade class. Yes, please.

Hope and Faith

After much soul searching, I decided to start applying to positions outside of this state. Oregon is not willing to support education in the way it needs be financially supported, so students and new teachers are getting shafted. It is dismal, and seems to get worse every year.

I recently applied to several positions in a small town in Wyoming. When you have submitted close to 200 applications, it is difficult to get excited about the positions anymore. But this one seemed different, and held a lot of potential. I sincerely wanted the job, and felt like I would be a great fit. I researched the area, examined the curriculum, checked into potential residences... I was full of hope, bursting with enthusiasm.

I touched base today with the secretary to see what the status was. They are hiring 9 people, and I wasn't even considered for an interview. Oh.

Hope can be so cruel.

It is so brutal to be refused again and again and again. Yet I am told by the professionals I work with not to lose hope, that I am a great teacher, to keep trying, that it's just the economy, that things will turn around. Not one of those phrases helps me pay bills or provides me with the same feeling I get when I am teaching. But they all give me hope, which is then dashed when I dare to entertain it.

I am not a particularly religious person. I figure it is a personal decision, and everyone finds the belief that fits them. For me, I believe that there is a plan for me, a path to follow, and that things happen for a reason. Maybe I didn't get the job in another state because there is one waiting me closer to home. Maybe I would have been miserable there. I won't know the "maybe" until the plan plays out. So I have to maintain a sense of faith.

The great thing about faith is, you can always say that things haven't played out. You can procrastinate the results. And in that way, you can maintain your faith in a way that hope cannot. Your hope gets squelched periodically, and just about that time, your faith in the future grows just a little bit more.

I don't know about my faith or hope in Oregon's future. But I suppose I have to maintain my own.

More than a Number: Why Class Size Matters

More than a Number: Why Class Size Matters Check out this article. Amazing information on class sizes.

Thoughts on Recent News Stories

Maybe you have seen a couple of recent news stories that hit the TV news magazines recently. One was some video from Australia of a smaller boy taunting and then punching a larger boy, followed by the larger boy picking up and body slamming the smaller boy. The other was a news story that there is a publisher that has released what I would refer to as a "politically correct" version of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I have been unable to stop thinking about both of these stories as they pertain to my line of work. The first story involves a clear case a bullying. Or maybe not so clear. I did not see all of the followup interviews, but the larger boy claimed to have been bullied all his life and said he had just lost it, or words to that effect. (Note I am not using quotation marks here.) Then the other boy claimed that he too, had been the subject of bullying all of his life. My first question was of course, where were the teachers, the adults? Then the public outcry (that was reported on TV) was that people really supported the larger boy for standing up for himself. Really? People are congratulating this kid for body slamming another kid? OK, based on the video image only, sure, it looked as though the smaller kid "started it", and certainly is caught punching the larger kid in the face. But the reaction that physical retribution is indeed the best way to handle this situation? Ummm, I don't think so. Whatever happened to walking away? Obviously I don't think he should have been bullied in the first place. I have to wonder if the parents or schools have no-bullying rules in force. I mean, what is going on? I don't know all of the backstory or details, but I have to think that some other result could have occurred had someone known about all of this bullying behavior. I wonder if I supervise my kids enough, if I am watchful enough, if I am intolerant of bullying enough to prevent this from happening at my school. So as I begin another long six months of checking for open positions and applying for potential jobs, this is one more thing that I know I have to be firm about from the start of school. Now onto Huckleberry Finn, 2011. New South Books decided that since books like Huck Finn were being avoided in classrooms, they would republish it, changing the "n-word" (no, I don't say it) to "slave". Is this really necessary? First of all, changing an author's words in a book that has been in publication since the 1880's, seems wrong to me. Books are not about agreeing with the author or subject, they are there to spawn thoughts and conversation. Secondly, who is New South Books to tell me what I can and cannot handle reading? I don't blindly walk into a book store, not peruse the book, and buy it! I pick up books by authors I enjoy, books about subjects I am interested in, books that may challenge me, but I typically have done the smallest scad of research before I start reading. Third, how did they decide that "slave" is the best synonym for "n----r"? Didn't Twain use the word to reflect the sign of the times? Wasn't that verbage pretty common in the day? Using the word "slave" seems like a title, like a sign of respect, when you place it against the "n word", which is purposely derogatory. Granted that kids nowadays have probably all heard the word if they have listened to rappers, so that generation does not have the highly negative connotation with this word that older generations like me might have. And finally, if I was thinking about teaching this book, I would think about how the contents of the book would assist my students in learning. How would this book (or any book) help my students understand the essential question of this unit of study? And, I would also think about how students might feel with the verbage in the book. Is my class mature enough to handle it? Are there some students I am concerned about? In the end, I would certainly see if the materials I am choosing for my class fit the lesson and the students. Just like I do with any materials. The New York Times wrote an interesting article about the revised Huckleberry Finn: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07huck.html

March 9, 2011

President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you to ask for your advice. I am 40 years old and an elementary school teacher. Unfortunately, I have not been able to secure a permanent position since I earned my Master's in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College 3 years ago. I am in the midst of updating my license, spending money on top of the $40,000 I took out as a loan to secure my original license and degree. I have an excellent reputation among the teachers I have worked with.

I have been fortunate in that I am able to continue making my student loan payments, thanks to my husband who owns his own business and supports our family. We, as many families across the Unites States are, under financial strain, but we are not in dire straits. I cannot collect unemployment as a substitute teacher, so I am forced to wait for the phone to ring in order to work. It has been silent more often than it rings. The unemployment rates the news brags about do not include me.

I looked up your State of the Union Address online, and found the following excerpt:

"And over the next 10 years, with so many baby boomers retiring from

our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of

science and technology and engineering and math. "

"In fact, to every young person listening tonight who's contemplating their

career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if

you want to make a difference in the life of a child -- become a teacher.

Your country needs you."

-Obama, Barack. State of the Union Address. US Capitol. Washington DC. January 25, 2011.

I have read and re-read those words many times. I agree that making a difference in the life of a student can make a difference in the life of our nation - it is among the many reasons I chose to pursue this field. In my time as a teacher, I have made connections with students and families that go beyond the classroom, and I take pride in hearing glowing parent reports about children I have taught. I am prepared now. My country needs me now.

So here is my question. Do I wait until I am 50 years old before I can reasonably expect to be permanently employed? In a time when I am supposed to be putting money away for my retirement, are you asking me (and so many of my friends who are in a similar situation) to simply exist in the hope that in the next decade, we might be able to find a job teaching? What do you want me to do? How can I serve our country's future, while waiting for school districts to have enough money to hire new teachers?

My father was a United States Senator for more than 20 years. I realize that a staffer is reading this letter, and that any response I get will be a general, prepared answer. But I hope that my question is passed along to decision makers willing to hear what actual people are enduring, and who can make a change to help everyone.

Sincerely,

Shyla P. Middleton

Just when you think you have heard everything...

It has been a slow substitute season this year, as teachers are afraid to lose their jobs if they take too much time off, so I have been quiet.
Fortunately, I ran into a teacher I had gone to school with a few years back, and he asked me to sub for him the following day. Turns out all of the teachers of that grade were going to meet to plan curriculum that day, so there were subs in all four portable classrooms. The class was fabulous, one of my favorite grades, and they were a lot of fun to teach.
Well, at lunch, the teachers and the subs were gathered in the staff room, gobbling down food and comparing notes on the kids. Then one of the teachers walks in and asks if we had heard what had happened in her classroom that morning - the sub was absent from the room. No, we replied, we hadn't heard, but we were eager to find out what she had to share.
Turns out one of the students in the class had brought something from home that day. Now, keep in mind that kids bring in all sorts of things from home every day. As a teacher, you see all kinds of objects: pictures, stuffed animals, toys... but never have I seen a student bring in a vibrator.
Yep, that's right, that's what this student had evidently brought to school that day. Not a personal massager, but an out and out vibrator.
After we all chuckled, I thanked my lucky stars that it hadn't been in my classroom. The student was asked to go to the office with the offending object, and from what I understood, the receptionist had to call home. Boy, there's a call you wouldn't want to answer!
So the lesson here is, if you are a parent, be sure to review the things your child wants to take to school to share. And if you are a teacher, make sure you take a look before the student pulls their "sharing" out of their backpack. You never know what might be lurking...