Teaching High School

The P(r)ep Assembly and The Paper Issue

So today was the first pep assembly at a school with three times as many students as I'm used to. No student I had contact with had any interest in going; many wanted me to write them a pass to be excused. Apparently there had been an alternate venue in years past for students to go who did not care to attend the forced prep pep assembly. I imagine though that this became such a popular place that they had to stop offering it.

For whatever patriotic or showcasing reason, the National Anthem was sung first by senior members of the choir. It took a few moments for the crowd to quiet down. What surprised me (and maybe it shouldn't surprise me so much) were the students who remained seated during the singing. In the junior high I had been at, no one would have dared done such a thing. Maybe they are just more sheep like. Maybe these high school students are rebeling against the standard of order that states one must stand at such a time. I wonder though if they would do the same at a United States sporting event.

Afterward, exiting was chaotic. There are two double doors out. All students plowed down the bleachers only to wait in a large crowd to pass through the door. Students could be hurt and trampled with so much pushing. Well, until it happens, the exiting ridiculousness will ensue. Fun.

On to the Paper Issue. I teach in four different classrooms during my five class hour day. I have a workspace a foot shorter than my arm span at which to keep my materials in the teachers' workroom. I carry a backpack with me to each class which includes any texts and materials for each class, along with a mini office inside: pens, overhead and dry erase markers, paper clips, scissors, mini stapler, band-aids, etc. I refuse to carry reams of lined paper with me. (I have been issued a cart on which to store these same materials, but the passing time and physical area of the halls are not sufficient to manuever it around.)

In three different rooms in the last two days, there has been no paper. I cannot go in to the drawers in two of those rooms due to the teacher who uses that room five hours a day locking them. The third room just didn't have any. So when I needed my students to do some written work, a number of them were kind enough to share their own personal supplies of paper from home with others around them. This is (obviously) frustrating to me.

In two of the four rooms I share, I have been in the district longer than the teacher who has the room for five hours. That matters little to The Establishment. I have been looked at with disdain by one of these teachers when I inquired whether I could leave a few extra copies of texts, a dictionary, and some paper on a table in that room. So I didn't even bother to ask the other teachers if I could do the same in thier rooms. These folks are much too teritorial and they seemingly refuse to believe that they have been infringed upon in such a way by me (when in fact, I really had nothing to do with the room assingnments.)

Oh, and for the record: Of the 130 or so teachers in the building, about a third of them must be in two different rooms during the day, and of those about a third are in another (for a total of three rooms), and of those, two teachers travel to four different classrooms, one being myself.

I welcome the time when a parent calls to complain, "Why didn't my child have access to paper for your assignment?" because then I can say, "Well... " and go into some of the things I've mentioned here with a recommendation that they please talk to the building administration and the superintendent.

Anonymity of the Weblog

I've come to understand that my anonymity makes it "harder to become part of a network", so I wanted to explain. This information appears on my "About Me" page as well.

So, my note about this site being anonymous: It is a must. I understand that being and remaining anonymous makes my blog a little less personal.

Last year I came across a then current student's weblog which had threatening words towards me included in an entry; my district would do nothing to resolve this and she never found out I knew about her words. The police report I made had a non-result.

Not that I intend to make threatening remarks, but due to the incident, I do find it imperative to remain anonymous. I hope you all understand. If you have comments about it, I would love to know how you feel about remaining anonymous.

Nice

As an English teacher, and purchaser of six deluxe Scrabble games for school use, I think Wordblog rocks. I only wish I had thought of it first. Damn.

Something Missing

As I was planning a larger unit for English over the weekend in my head, it occurred to me what I was missing: My teaching partner. In the junior high school where I worked for eight years, I planned, thought through, conferenced with, found help from, and basically got much innovative curriculum designed with him. And now we don’t work together. Thankfully, he and I are also very good friends, and his house is on my way home from my new building. (Although truthfully, I go there more to play with his kids, than to talk shop with him.)

Hopefully, he and I will find the time soon to get together to discuss my tentative theme: Hope. Throughout the years, hope seems to be lacking from the students. They are lack-luster, don’t see the importance of an activity (even when –and actually almost especially when—the importance is explained to them). They cannot seem to see past tomorrow, or at the furthest, next week. I’ll grant that I probably didn’t either at their age, but the world has changed in the ten-plus years I have been out of high school. It is drummed into the students more how much importance these high school years have starting in the seventh grade. So “Hope” is the theme. I’m going to have a look at a book I heard about which sounds promising for this, called Common Shock.

Assemblies

***I read an excellent article in this month’s Harper’s by John Taylor Gatto. Unfortunately the actual article is not available; you’ll have to go look in the magazine. He makes good points, as he often does, about how education is failing the progress of our culture.*** UPDATE For now it is available here. Thanks to Diane for the link and to the owner of the site (rahoorkhuit) for posting it.***

This past school week, I took my English classes to the auditorium for two presentations. One was Sophomore Orientation and the other was from the local police liaison officer about student rights. Overall, the two presentations were well done.

Sophomore Orientation had to do with the big no-no’s in the building. The one which surprised me was about the dress code. I had been under the impression that it was just fine whatever they wore: skirts up to their ass, tops down past their cleavage, jeans sagging to their knees, and shirts with inappropriate pictures or phrases. I have had students already breaking each item mentioned and thought I was unable to send them down for fixing. So I guess I’ll start. Now, I do have a curious thing: if a student is wearing some Christian promoting shirt, and it could be offensive to other religiously affiliated students, should I send them down?

The other presentation was a little more shocking. I did not entirely know all the details the officer went into about student rights. Basically, they have none. They can hardly breathe without asking for permission. Ok, I exaggerate, but regardless. They can have their person, their locker, their car, their bags, etc. all examined and gone through for less suspicion than an adult. They have no right to remain silent (take the Fifth) because that is an admission of guilt. It was put to them this way, “If the student had something good to say, s/he would say it.” So if they can’t say “I didn’t do it” then they are guilty. Surprised me.

The Unremembered Topic

Note to self (and to all others, whether you think you’ll remember or not):
Write things down! You will not remember! You will be sorry when you don’t write down your excellent ideas!!!

Please take my advice. Especially, I must remember to do this. I guess I should write that down.

The Former and the New Student

The other day I received a call at home from a former coworker. She has taken over some of the duties I performed there and part of the reason for her call was to discuss those. The other reason for her call was to deliver a message she promised to get to me from a former student: "Tell her I came by and that I miss her." He's also in high school now. His parents were (and likely still are) very thoughtful of their son, and involved but not overly; they want him to succeed and push him to do so independently, offering him options and suggestions, consequences and routines. So after I got off the phone with my former coworker, I called him. It was so nice to hear from him, get his take on the high school experience. I wished, as did he, that he and I were at the same high school. Having familiar faces would make the transition a little easier. But then again, there are many of his peers whom I would rather not see again.

Then I also got a different call: A call into the associate pricipal's office. She wanted to tell me about a new student I'd be seeing on Monday. He is much like the character Russell Crowe played in A Beautiful Mind, as it was explained to me. He has an aide who will help him with his work. My class which he will be a part of was let in on this student's abilities and was told about what to expect. Some of them have had courses with him before and they seemed to deem it no big deal. I've had special needs students with aides helping them before, so it also is no big deal to me. And, I don't know if I should see this as sincere or as smoke being blown up my ass, but I was told that my course was specifically chosen for him. For now, I'll take it positively.

Ah ... The Weekend

Not that it was a particularly long week (only four work days after the Labor Day holiday), but last week was long due to feeling that I am still adjusting to it all. So this weekend was welcome. I managed to go out to dinner and a movie (a nice Thai place and Dirty Pretty Things), sleep in (until noon both days), and make dinner (chicken, green beans with a homemade tomato sauce, and a salad). I could've gone to a baby shower but I had declined in the RSVP because I knew I'd be wiped out. I'll send a gift after the baby is born. I needed my weekend to be my own. I so enjoy being home and watching nothing, sleeping in, eating late. And the two football games I watched ended with a victory for the teams I was rooting for.

Aside from that, it is still an adjusment. I am looking for a backpack to use instead of the bag I have now. I need more durability, less weight to the bag, and more room. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to see the link to it.

How Hard is it for a High School Student?

I can’t even imagine how difficult it is. I observe them and wonder why the education system makes it so difficult to really learn. And trust me, I have looked at various models that have been researched and are better than this traditional model.

Think about it:
Could you learn about seven different subjects each day, five days a week?
Could you switch gears every forty-eight minutes to adjust to each of seven (and for some kids, eight) different teachers’ rules and routines?
Could you be to your place of work by 7:15am each day ready to go?
Could you wade your way through 2000+ students in five minutes in 10’ wide hallways to get to your next place of “learning”?
Could you get anything done with the girls (if you’re a guy) dressed in barely there clothes?
Could you, after work, get down to the business of sports, activities, and/or band?
Could you then go home and do the ersatz homework (because, really, the work that is asked of them is really bullshit)?

My high school system was a little better, in that there was not 2000+ students, we had eight minutes to maneuver 15’ hallways, and classes were sixty minutes long. But really, I didn’t learn much in high school. Oh sure, I learned German because I really wanted to and it got me out of level 100 classes in university.

So I then wonder: Am I expecting too much of my students? Am I giving too much homework? (I’ve given about five pages of reading two of the six school nights we’ve had so far.)

Back After the Long Weekend

As I sit and sign students in who have a pass to the restroom, I feel sad for my former junior high coworkers. I seriously have more time at work/school to do school stuff during school time than I ever had. I get so much done during this restroom sign in duty. And it is so silly to have. I mean, I have to make sure students use the bathroom appropriately? What is that for? That was not fully explained, but I am sure it has something to do with security.

And then there is the beginning of the whining: This book is sooo heavy? Do we have to have it? Do we have to finish this story (five pages) for tomorrow? How do we actively read? (That after going over all hour and after they took notes on those terms previously and after I explained the assignment in three different ways. Ugh.) Welcome to the world of high school (although it really, at least right now, is not much different than junior high).