I moved my blog to bloodysnake.com
Go there and you may begin to understand why.... or not....
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
And the beat goes on...
Alright, just got past a 3-day weekend (super-needed) in which I 'forgot' about school for a whole 48 hours. I immediately regretted that decision this morning when I walked into my classroom at 7am and realized that I needed to 1. Create a lab for my Biology I class 2. File everything from last week 3. Laminate and cut out an activity on Cellular Respiration for Biology II and 4. Enter grades from the last Friday. Oops. Oh well, I got 1 and 3 done, so I was at least on track to teach today.
So... what have we missed? Ah, yes. Last Wednesday we had our first gang-related incident involving about half of my 6th period class, most of whom have not attended since, despite nearly perfect attendance by some up to that point. Not a fight, just some strong words I guess. Regardless, disappointing at best.
After that, tension was palpable on the campus. Many students enrolled to escape that type of crap, and were pretty shaken that they were right back in the thick of it. From what I've heard it is pretty difficult to escape. There are 7 confirmed gangs between Alameda and Highway 285, which is approximately 5 miles on Federal Blvd. Guess who lies in the middle? The school. I guess since Colorado has 110 street gangs, and most of them have members in Denver this should maybe not be too surprising, and yet it is. I don't really know 100% how I feel about gangs. I guess some of it is social, and many of the students may not have a real choice as to whether or not to join. But seriously, at school? Do you want to destroy all of the chances that you're given? Jeez.
Beyond the whole gang unveiling, which was probably inevitable, we had our first intervention Friday. Essentially, this is an incentive day meant to 'punish' students who do not attend regularly and get those who need extra help and those that have missed class caught up on things they have met. Everybody else gets the day off. It went pretty well. I thought it would be a nice 'break' but it ended up being a fairly difficult day as I was dealing with many of the students that have behavioral/attendance problems. Additionally, because we have open enrollment, I was also getting some students caught up that had only started a few days before. Turns out 2 weeks is a lot of class to miss. Should be interesting catching up the students who have missed 4 next time...
Seriously, this school is, in theory, pretty cake. First off, you are graded on competencies that essentially require you to attend class and exert some small amount of effort to pass and THEN, IF you miss class, we have days built in for you to make up what you miss. How could you fail, you might ask? Don't worry, some of them are managing to. So many of them have repeatedly failed that it is almost as if they are afraid to try. They would rather ditch/give attitude/do nothing than risk attempting something and not succeeding. This is inane to me. I try to give it 110%. At least then, if I fail, I know that I've given it my best shot. I guess I will have to try and impart that to them. Wish me luck.
Today was another trying day. My last two periods of the day have been disrespecting big-time. They come in late, mess around, and give me attitude. I finally broke down during the last period and had a 10 minute 'serious talk' with them about respect. I let them know that if they are not interested in 'acting like adults' (which they are all convinced they 100% are) that I was not interested in working my ass off to make the class worthwhile for them. I let them know that if they would rather sit and read relevant sections of text from the book and take a quiz each day instead of completing activities that I spend hours designing it would actually make my life significantly easier. They seemed to get it and behavior improved for the rest of the period. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
I wish I had time to get this stuff out more often so my posts weren't 5-paragraph essay length. Ah well, I know those with office jobs have time to read this type of thing... I'm still not sure I don't miss those days :).
So... what have we missed? Ah, yes. Last Wednesday we had our first gang-related incident involving about half of my 6th period class, most of whom have not attended since, despite nearly perfect attendance by some up to that point. Not a fight, just some strong words I guess. Regardless, disappointing at best.
After that, tension was palpable on the campus. Many students enrolled to escape that type of crap, and were pretty shaken that they were right back in the thick of it. From what I've heard it is pretty difficult to escape. There are 7 confirmed gangs between Alameda and Highway 285, which is approximately 5 miles on Federal Blvd. Guess who lies in the middle? The school. I guess since Colorado has 110 street gangs, and most of them have members in Denver this should maybe not be too surprising, and yet it is. I don't really know 100% how I feel about gangs. I guess some of it is social, and many of the students may not have a real choice as to whether or not to join. But seriously, at school? Do you want to destroy all of the chances that you're given? Jeez.
Beyond the whole gang unveiling, which was probably inevitable, we had our first intervention Friday. Essentially, this is an incentive day meant to 'punish' students who do not attend regularly and get those who need extra help and those that have missed class caught up on things they have met. Everybody else gets the day off. It went pretty well. I thought it would be a nice 'break' but it ended up being a fairly difficult day as I was dealing with many of the students that have behavioral/attendance problems. Additionally, because we have open enrollment, I was also getting some students caught up that had only started a few days before. Turns out 2 weeks is a lot of class to miss. Should be interesting catching up the students who have missed 4 next time...
Seriously, this school is, in theory, pretty cake. First off, you are graded on competencies that essentially require you to attend class and exert some small amount of effort to pass and THEN, IF you miss class, we have days built in for you to make up what you miss. How could you fail, you might ask? Don't worry, some of them are managing to. So many of them have repeatedly failed that it is almost as if they are afraid to try. They would rather ditch/give attitude/do nothing than risk attempting something and not succeeding. This is inane to me. I try to give it 110%. At least then, if I fail, I know that I've given it my best shot. I guess I will have to try and impart that to them. Wish me luck.
Today was another trying day. My last two periods of the day have been disrespecting big-time. They come in late, mess around, and give me attitude. I finally broke down during the last period and had a 10 minute 'serious talk' with them about respect. I let them know that if they are not interested in 'acting like adults' (which they are all convinced they 100% are) that I was not interested in working my ass off to make the class worthwhile for them. I let them know that if they would rather sit and read relevant sections of text from the book and take a quiz each day instead of completing activities that I spend hours designing it would actually make my life significantly easier. They seemed to get it and behavior improved for the rest of the period. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.
I wish I had time to get this stuff out more often so my posts weren't 5-paragraph essay length. Ah well, I know those with office jobs have time to read this type of thing... I'm still not sure I don't miss those days :).
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Miss
It seems like a second has gone by since I submitted my application and anxiously awaited a response to see whether or not I would even make it through stage one of the rigorous process to join Teach For America. A phone interview, group and individual in-person interview, month-long institute in Arizona and countless job applications have led me here, one year later. I've just finished teaching my first full week of classes in southwest Denver. *Pinch*. I can barely believe it myself. How can I possibly be teaching when I still don't know anything? I guess this may mean that I do know something. Shocking. All those years behind a desk were worth it. Maybe. I try to convince my students of that every day.
My school is a 'Multiple Pathway Center' in the Public School system where students come who haven't found their niche anywhere else in the vast sea of public education. They've misbehaved, ditched, gotten pregnant, went to jail, and just plain-old failed. They come here for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.... 100th, and likely last, chance to get their high school diploma or GED, and some may even leave with some college credit through our nursing, criminal justice, or business classes. We're implementing a program called Diploma Plus, which is currently mostly East and West Coast, but is slowly creeping into the center of our vast country. We are debuting it here in Colorado. It's unique. Essentially, no A-F grading system, no grading on content (we stick to 'competencies'), and more or less unlimited chances for students (or scholars as we call them) to prove to us that they have mastered something. I could have a student this year come back to me 3 years from now and re-do an assignment to improve their grade. It's really pretty much on them. They can and will graduate, IF they pull it together and try. They are supposed to each have access to a laptop. We don't have standard grade levels (since many students are significantly older than the average for their grade), but have 3 levels; foundation, presentation and plus, that the students advance through in order to graduate. They create a portfolio as they go through the levels and give a presentation to staff/community members detailing what they've learned and what they plan to do with themselves post-graduation (and this must be a solid, realistic plan) before we cut them loose. Overall, a really great concept.
Unfortunately, the district sees us as yet another dumping ground for students that other schools can't handle/don't want, and the pressure has been on for us to enroll anyone that walks through the door. Diploma Plus is built upon a fairly in-depth interview process to ensure that students are fully ready and motivated to return to school and testing to ensure that they can read and write at a 6th grade level. The interview and testing are occurring, but not all of our students fit either or both of these criteria. It is clear in class who is ready to saddle up and graduate and who still has no clue why they're coming each day. Additionally, about 40% of our students read/write below a 6th grade level, and many are between 1st and 3rd grade. So, not exactly what we're set up for. DP also wants class sizes of 18 or less, and if everything goes as the district hopes, we will likely be at 25 plus by the end of the year.
All that being said, I currently have classes of between 5 and 12 students. Which is great. I am really getting to know them and am so inspired and awed by their stories, their perspectives and their personalities. They are, for the most part, great. I teach for 330 minutes a day, with a 45 minute break for lunch and a scheduled 37.5 minutes on either end for planning. I'm usually at school by 7am and leave by 5:30pm. I spend most of the weekend doing lesson plans for the coming week. It's definitely hard, but they students are making it worthwhile.
Back to planning...
My school is a 'Multiple Pathway Center' in the Public School system where students come who haven't found their niche anywhere else in the vast sea of public education. They've misbehaved, ditched, gotten pregnant, went to jail, and just plain-old failed. They come here for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.... 100th, and likely last, chance to get their high school diploma or GED, and some may even leave with some college credit through our nursing, criminal justice, or business classes. We're implementing a program called Diploma Plus, which is currently mostly East and West Coast, but is slowly creeping into the center of our vast country. We are debuting it here in Colorado. It's unique. Essentially, no A-F grading system, no grading on content (we stick to 'competencies'), and more or less unlimited chances for students (or scholars as we call them) to prove to us that they have mastered something. I could have a student this year come back to me 3 years from now and re-do an assignment to improve their grade. It's really pretty much on them. They can and will graduate, IF they pull it together and try. They are supposed to each have access to a laptop. We don't have standard grade levels (since many students are significantly older than the average for their grade), but have 3 levels; foundation, presentation and plus, that the students advance through in order to graduate. They create a portfolio as they go through the levels and give a presentation to staff/community members detailing what they've learned and what they plan to do with themselves post-graduation (and this must be a solid, realistic plan) before we cut them loose. Overall, a really great concept.
Unfortunately, the district sees us as yet another dumping ground for students that other schools can't handle/don't want, and the pressure has been on for us to enroll anyone that walks through the door. Diploma Plus is built upon a fairly in-depth interview process to ensure that students are fully ready and motivated to return to school and testing to ensure that they can read and write at a 6th grade level. The interview and testing are occurring, but not all of our students fit either or both of these criteria. It is clear in class who is ready to saddle up and graduate and who still has no clue why they're coming each day. Additionally, about 40% of our students read/write below a 6th grade level, and many are between 1st and 3rd grade. So, not exactly what we're set up for. DP also wants class sizes of 18 or less, and if everything goes as the district hopes, we will likely be at 25 plus by the end of the year.
All that being said, I currently have classes of between 5 and 12 students. Which is great. I am really getting to know them and am so inspired and awed by their stories, their perspectives and their personalities. They are, for the most part, great. I teach for 330 minutes a day, with a 45 minute break for lunch and a scheduled 37.5 minutes on either end for planning. I'm usually at school by 7am and leave by 5:30pm. I spend most of the weekend doing lesson plans for the coming week. It's definitely hard, but they students are making it worthwhile.
Back to planning...
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