One Step at a Time

In the spring, I asked GK, a student I often call one of my favorite knuckleheads, to step outside the class and chat with me. He had just entered so he thought something was amiss. I assured him it was okay, and we stepped into the hallway, where I began with, “You know, you’re a really smart kid—“ and then several things happened at once. His eyes got wide, he said, “Nah, nah, nah,” grinned sheepishly and reached to pull the classroom door closed.

Really?

But such is the way of GK, then a junior who, depending on the day, would either go to great lengths to purport gang affiliation, arrive on time for first period, arrive stoned and on time for second period, stay after school and work diligently, or be a complete pain in the neck. After a college visit a few months before our hallway chat, he practically ran away after confessing he was interested in possibly getting his bachelors and masters all in one shot. Then, at the end of year barbeque in June, he couldn’t stop grinning from beneath the Party City crown that came with a PTA award for the student who showed significant progress. He told me then he understood that we (for there are many who adore this knucklehead) see him and are stumping for his success, and even said he’d accept daily harassment I promised to give him all throughout next school year, because graduation is a thing.

And then he went to summer school and somehow didn’t pick up enough credits to put him in the running for the 44 he’d need to graduate next June. Upon hearing this, I lost all sense of warm and fuzzy. Heaven help that child when I see him the week after next. Seriously.

GK, like many kids, is a gem in the making. For that reason, part of me wants to volunteer to work with him in an independent study arrangement and push him to June graduation, but yet another wants to just thrash him. No matter how many years I do this, I doubt I’ll ever be able to will a student to want their next step, and this youngster is no different. GK will find his way, likely making more than a few more unnecessary detours, but perhaps that’s the path that will resonate most with him. So maybe unnecessary is subjective; after all, what good is college entry for a student who isn’t ready? Should I pick a seat farther back in his cheering section? Should I leave for a while? What if silence speaks most clearly to him?

In deference to GK’s long-term goals, I will continue to mull these questions and adjust my thinking as needed. In terms of short-term goals, I’m prepping a mighty earful for him. Whether he is ready or not for that remains to be seen. 

 #graduation #education #highschool  #academicprogress  

The Art of Plate Spinning

If only I could rock it like she can.

Had a pretty epic meeting the other day with last year’s UFT chapter leader, a thoughtful man who told me, among other things, that chapter leaders who are on their game essentially have a co-teaching relationship with the principal and all the staff are students. He also gave me a sense of how the role calls on skills and qualities from many a reserve. As union rep, he was the “absolute voice of the staff,” who came fretting about healthcare options, maternity leave, pay schedules, compensation fairness, programming schedules, room/teaching assignments and more, sometimes even while he was teaching. His attentions necessarily shifted from the myriad concerns streaming through his classroom to the veritable ocean powering through the school.

From what I gathered, being a union rep was parts strategy, reticence, negotiation, diplomacy, and good old common sense. Furthermore, his term as teacher-rep was set against a backdrop of shifting sentiment about administration’s commitment to good will as a basic environmental need. Add to that or two all-staff emails, a pinch of closed door conversations and a dash of awkward staff meetings, and the uncertainty rose like the most leavened of pastries.

Then my colleague the union rep--who I appreciate as a professional, creative being, teacher and certainly the union rep—decided he would rep no more. Though the year was a good one overall and he had many positive things to say of the experience, he has plans that will make union repping difficult moving forward. Enter more than one staff member telling I must be next year’s rep because of what the times call for, admin will listen to me, and on and on. Besides that, not a single other human was in the offing (which tempered the force of the aforementioned insistences, but anyway).

I’ve read that plate juggling can yield impressive results when done strategically. All I can hope for is the wisdom to know which will gain their own momentum and which need tabling for another time. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

#education  #UFT  #chapter leader  #nyteachersunion

A is for Anticipation

Been working on curriculum for a freshman seminar to be implemented for the first time in September. Our goal is to help students understand whys and wherefores of high school and why it all matters. The plans we're following stem from the tumult of last year's freshmen, who took the school like Sandy did Staten Island.

Funny thing is that this time last year I also worked on curriculum designed for students we would soon discover to be distinctly uninterested in remediating math skills, especially not at the end of the day and for reasons they did not want to be reminded. I've tried not to let the crash-and-burn nature of those romantical plans influence the here and now, but it's hard. Fool me twice and all that.

Nonetheless, here we are, cautiously infatuated (also amnesiac?) and prepped with self-discovery, action-planning and interpersonal exercises just three weeks from lift-off. At this juncture, I can only dare guess what this year's young charges will bring in the door.

On top of that, I got my class schedule the other day.  Not only am I slated to teach this Great Experiment, but two of my other three classes will be freshmen-filled. It will be all about the newbies till November, which is usually how long it takes for them to begin some semblance of acclimation to high school life. And then there were only 22 days left to summer.

May the odds be ever in my favor.

The question I've been pondering is: How did I learn what I know and how does that process (which still isn't clear to me) help or hinder my students' learning?  Does my learning process have ongoing influence when I teach? If so, in what ways?

Hmmmm....

Hi Lo

Yes, I know it's been more than 365 days--which is confounding because I've had at least 565 days worth of things to say. Really.  Moving on....

So I have a vague recollection of a movie scene in which a family at a dinner table plays a game called high-low, which requires each person to relate a high and low point of their day.  I believe Bruce Willis was a family member, but that's nether here nor there. Neither is the fact that I STILL wish I'd incorporated the idea from this movie I don't recall (save this scene) into dinner time at my house.

But I digress.

High--Sitting in a classroom with two administrators, two consultants and six members of my department (math) to discuss how to encourage certain habits of mind in our students so they leave our high school with transferable problem solving skills.  The conversation was fruitful, dynamic and sure to be the basis of some progressive shifts in our instruction.

Low--Finding out from a former co-worker that students I had last year have expanded the number of ways they earn suspensions, and long-term ones at that.

High--The news he delivered was further confirmation that my decision to leave that school was well-founded.  As a matter of fact, one of the many signs was department meetings that were what a fellow wordster once described (of another scenario entirely) as "a thin veil of civility pulled taut over a mountain of anxiety [or angst, or hostility]."

If I were to average those out, I'd be better than medium.  Not bad.

Strong Pulse!

A veteran teacher and friend has been assuring me that I will live to see the end of this school year and has congratulated me more than once on maintaining a strong pulse throughout. Well, I tell ya...

His invaluable support notwithstanding, there have been questionable moments--for as I believe I've mentioned, this business is not for the feint of heart. Long before the current book series craze, I cherished a series penned by the incomparable C.S. Lewis, only recently "discovered" (in part) by Hollywood. In the second book, a character named Peter makes a woefully bad decision that yields disastrous effects. I feel for him every time I read the story because I know all too well how to make woefully bad decisions. Like just this week, when I turned to a student who annoys me to no living end and called him "What's-your-face," which I resort to when I forget my own childrens' names. But he doesn't know that and no doubt took it as a sign of disrespect given that I haven't exactly hidden my frustration from him.  Then there was the moment, not 48 hours later, when he and his mom sat before me during Parent- Teacher conferences and I wondered how to get around mothers who playfully tapped their sons' shoulders when they hear how they taunts other students, seemingly with the goal of starting a fight, when they should be either reading or writing. He's not the only student of mine reclining under the expansive shelter of No Accountability, and like the others, he knows it well and maximizes the short term advantages shrewdly (the latest video releases and the like). If only he understood the long-term liabilities.

To ratchet the whole affair up the scale of complexity, there is the ubiquitous, maybe even pernicious, insistence with which governments insist our students meet so-called high levels of performance. They must, among other things, critically analyze readings, question deeply, and make connections. None of these things are out of reach for my students. What does evade me and cause my heart to sputter dangerously is the exact formula for designing a classroom in which there is success for all--even if for one student that means coming to school for five consecutive days while yet another writes a lengthy analysis exploring author's purpose in a classic novel.

I especially call on my strong pulse when other teachers want to expound on the "problem with these kids." It's not these kids. It's all of us who have believed the lie--that devolution is our only option and hence cannot  rise above our propensity to whine, complain, be defiant, rude, lazy and irreverent.

Swimming against the tide does require a really strong pulse, and I consider it my duty if I am to teach as I would want to be taught.

Love's Got Much to Do With It

Today was ridiculously hectic. I mean ri-di-cue-luss. So much so that I will just say that it's a good thing I don't scare easy or I would have been in the hills many moons ago.

At the same time, I am going to hold on to the notion that romance isn't completely groundless and that is something--even if it's the faintest of lights--to which I can look to feel the warm glow that results when two who are smitten come together. I need to feel the love!