So my best friend isn't in the program anymore. Dropped like pancake batter on a skillet. Lord knows what she thinks and feels and what I think and feel, and although this blog is supposed to be some kind of sanctuary in which we can post our true feelings and thoughts for all to read, uncensored, I still don't feel like it's completely appropriate to do that, here.
Still, let me say a few things.
1. First, Brooke is probably the most genuine, kind, giving human being I have had the pleasure of knowing, and I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people in Mississippi to have gotten to not only share a home and dog with her, but to also teach at the same school. She is the truest friend I have ever had.
2. No one should ever question her abilities and her will to do good. She will teach next year. She will pass all the necessary tests, and she will find her own way to do what she wants and needs to do, for herself and for the students at school. She would not let her students down whom she has told she will be back next year to teach, sponsor SCA, and help coach softball.
3. This program, or whoever made the final decisions, did not act professionally. They did not treat her with the respect, courtesy, and openness/honesty that any honest organization should. She was not given adequate notice with clear, explicit guidelines that she had to follow. In fact, she was led on to believe things that were simply not true. She was pursued and was given false hope. When notice was finally given of her insufficient qualifications, it was too late and she did not have a plan B that she would have had if she had known that there was a possibility of falling through the program.
4. It is impossible to say that she was to know these guidelines already. Although she did know of test passing requirements, she did not know of deadlines. It is also impossible to say it was understood that she had passed the test because she and the program coordinator actually met the day that she was taking this test, and she told him that day of this fact. Why would anyone take a test that he or she had already passed? How would someone not know that she had not taken and passed that test, considering she was there taking that test?
I will continue in a program that I have lost some respect for and that I do not believe always acts in the best interests of the students and teachers of Mississippi. Brooke clearly believes in the ideas that this program stands for. I'm not sure all of us in it, teachers and staff, do the same.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
State Testin'
One thing I've discovered that HCHS is lacking (among many other things) is a school spirit, a cohesion that unites the school. I guess that's corny and unrealistic, but I feel like the students, teachers, administrators have no common purpose. We're all there doing our own thing and no one really knows what anyone else is doing and really most don't care as long as it doesn't interfere with them and if it does, man, do you hear them complaining. I wish most of these kids came to school because they wanted to learn, and that most of the teachers came because they wanted to teach... but there is time of the year that the whole school seems to come together...
State tests were last week. Tues.-Thurs. we held classes, and after the test, the kids went wild in the gym, then they went to "classes" that involved activities like watching Scary Movie 4 and playing Madden (I admit, I am at fault, too). The whole freaking school year is centered on state tests. Students only go to tutorial for state-tested subjects, only care about doing work and studying for state-tested subjects, the two experienced (and actually good) math teachers are in one room together teaching state-tested Algebra I. I heard students complaining about teachers who did not teach to the test but taught from a book. What the hell is wrong with this picture? I understand the purpose of NCLB, and the state tests, but when has school only been about meeting the requirement of enough passing some test? These students have pressure on them, and the teachers and schools have it, too, and that's really their biggest concern. Perhaps it's just a dream to think of a school where the majority of the students are their to learn, and the state test are just one extra little test that can be taken with no thought of too many not passing, because the kids are already prepared and confident and ready to go.
On a different note, I gave the Algebra I test Friday. I was scared to death. I felt the weight of the school on me, and I knew I had to keep them silent and not let them cheat. But I got them quiet, and put them in alphabetical order, and did all that other test administering stuff, and it was the quietest class I have ever had. No one said a word. Of course they already know the pertinence of their test performance; the school has made that clear since the beginning of school. As I walked around the room for over 3 hours, I got bored and read some of the questions, figuring out the answer in my head, and checking it on student's answer sheets to see who had gotten that particular answer correct (of course making no sounds or gestures, just looking) and sadly, many of them hadn't gotten those correct. I hope they did well. And I hope the school can move forward, and that every test a student takes they will take as seriously as those state tests.
State tests were last week. Tues.-Thurs. we held classes, and after the test, the kids went wild in the gym, then they went to "classes" that involved activities like watching Scary Movie 4 and playing Madden (I admit, I am at fault, too). The whole freaking school year is centered on state tests. Students only go to tutorial for state-tested subjects, only care about doing work and studying for state-tested subjects, the two experienced (and actually good) math teachers are in one room together teaching state-tested Algebra I. I heard students complaining about teachers who did not teach to the test but taught from a book. What the hell is wrong with this picture? I understand the purpose of NCLB, and the state tests, but when has school only been about meeting the requirement of enough passing some test? These students have pressure on them, and the teachers and schools have it, too, and that's really their biggest concern. Perhaps it's just a dream to think of a school where the majority of the students are their to learn, and the state test are just one extra little test that can be taken with no thought of too many not passing, because the kids are already prepared and confident and ready to go.
On a different note, I gave the Algebra I test Friday. I was scared to death. I felt the weight of the school on me, and I knew I had to keep them silent and not let them cheat. But I got them quiet, and put them in alphabetical order, and did all that other test administering stuff, and it was the quietest class I have ever had. No one said a word. Of course they already know the pertinence of their test performance; the school has made that clear since the beginning of school. As I walked around the room for over 3 hours, I got bored and read some of the questions, figuring out the answer in my head, and checking it on student's answer sheets to see who had gotten that particular answer correct (of course making no sounds or gestures, just looking) and sadly, many of them hadn't gotten those correct. I hope they did well. And I hope the school can move forward, and that every test a student takes they will take as seriously as those state tests.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Hope from a college town
Over spring break, which is now sadly coming to its final stretch, Brooke and I went to gramma's in south bend. Gramma actually was a high school french teacher, and made a good friend while teaching - Joel. Joel has become a part of our family in his own funny way...he helped my brother and I make numerous summer movies with such titles as Adryon of Compost Pile... he''s a spanish teacher still now (about my parent's age) at John Adam's High School in south bend. Wanting to get a different view of a high school in a different place with different demographics, Brooke and I arranged a morning visit. About 1200 students attend this school...but man...I have never seen facilities like this. My high school had 2000 students by the time I graduated, and we did have very nice facilities, but nothing like this. It's sorta like being in an airport, or a subway, or a mall...the gym is beautiful, the classes are spacious with several windows in each room. The cafeteria has separate round tables with disconnected chairs, with a few booths, and a "food court" with different meal options. This is a public high school which, although immaculately designed, still, according to Joel, has many of the same problems that we do at Humphreys (just on a smaller scale). He doesn't like the principal...and they still have problems with student apathy and skipping lunch, etc. However, when we walked along the beautiful hallways not a single student was seen skipping. Hey, maybe they're just better at hiding.
We sat in on one of Joel's spanish classes, a mix of 3rd and 4th year spanish students (there's even a 5th year class because some got to take spanish in middle school). How he manages to teach two classes in one period is a mystery to me. It was obvious that Joel is a great teacher. He is enthusiastic, with his main goal being to keep the students engaged and include everyone. The students were not amazing-not all were interested, some were chit-chatting during the spanish conversations, and some purposely tried to get off-topic by the typical clowning. Yet, all he had to do was say "shhhhh" and they chatter subsided enough to continue the lesson. It was what a classroom should be. After 1st period, Joel had two of his students walk us over to the precalculus teacher, a 37 year veteran who at first sight seemed strict and emotionless, but while talking to her (the students were taking a quiz) we found her to be warm and helpful, giving me (without me even asking) tips on such important details as homework policies, grading, quiz-giving, notebooks, warm-ups...things that I desperately want more input on.
We did get to meet a few of the other teachers, some who remembered and knew my grandmother. In particular, the latin teacher, an eccentric older man with long gray hair (who Joel said sometimes talks to him so long between classes they have been late getting to their next class) said that working with teachers like gramma is rare...she was energetic, passionate, kind, and genuine. I, of course, had to let her know what past colleagues thought of her.
It was good to see another high school, to be the observer, to see good teachers at work, to see students still engaged and working on a half day of school 2 days before their spring break...what makes these students so different than ours? While the student body is about 48% anglo, there is a good mix (as seen in the 2 classrooms I observed) of blacks, hispanics, asians, and other foreign exchange students (one girl in Joel's class was from Argentina). I forgot to state that this is a magnet school for international students...and that the students are mix of children from lower-income families to students of professors at Notre
Dame.
I do feel refreshed. I feel ready (enough) to tackle these last final 2 months...although I didn't get near what I wanted to get done done. But heck, I don't feel like I wasted it at all. I got to spend to spend joyful moments with Gramma, Pacca, Joel, Aunt Onnie, Uncle Sam, Donna Lynn, Mom, Dad, Manchester, and Brooke. Joel, gramma, and other teachers have given me both hope and pride in what we do...I've got to try to get some of my classes under control, and now I have a little bit more will to try something.
We sat in on one of Joel's spanish classes, a mix of 3rd and 4th year spanish students (there's even a 5th year class because some got to take spanish in middle school). How he manages to teach two classes in one period is a mystery to me. It was obvious that Joel is a great teacher. He is enthusiastic, with his main goal being to keep the students engaged and include everyone. The students were not amazing-not all were interested, some were chit-chatting during the spanish conversations, and some purposely tried to get off-topic by the typical clowning. Yet, all he had to do was say "shhhhh" and they chatter subsided enough to continue the lesson. It was what a classroom should be. After 1st period, Joel had two of his students walk us over to the precalculus teacher, a 37 year veteran who at first sight seemed strict and emotionless, but while talking to her (the students were taking a quiz) we found her to be warm and helpful, giving me (without me even asking) tips on such important details as homework policies, grading, quiz-giving, notebooks, warm-ups...things that I desperately want more input on.
We did get to meet a few of the other teachers, some who remembered and knew my grandmother. In particular, the latin teacher, an eccentric older man with long gray hair (who Joel said sometimes talks to him so long between classes they have been late getting to their next class) said that working with teachers like gramma is rare...she was energetic, passionate, kind, and genuine. I, of course, had to let her know what past colleagues thought of her.
It was good to see another high school, to be the observer, to see good teachers at work, to see students still engaged and working on a half day of school 2 days before their spring break...what makes these students so different than ours? While the student body is about 48% anglo, there is a good mix (as seen in the 2 classrooms I observed) of blacks, hispanics, asians, and other foreign exchange students (one girl in Joel's class was from Argentina). I forgot to state that this is a magnet school for international students...and that the students are mix of children from lower-income families to students of professors at Notre
Dame.
I do feel refreshed. I feel ready (enough) to tackle these last final 2 months...although I didn't get near what I wanted to get done done. But heck, I don't feel like I wasted it at all. I got to spend to spend joyful moments with Gramma, Pacca, Joel, Aunt Onnie, Uncle Sam, Donna Lynn, Mom, Dad, Manchester, and Brooke. Joel, gramma, and other teachers have given me both hope and pride in what we do...I've got to try to get some of my classes under control, and now I have a little bit more will to try something.
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