So here is the question, have you told your students how badly your hands are tied? If you haven't, I think you should tell them. Then, can you ask them to help out--bring things in from home, however small they might think it is, maybe you can use what they can contribute. Have them talk to their parents and get them all charged up and 'bombard' the school boards. Strength in numbers, Cristina. Just remember that, and if you need voices, use your resources; use the kids, get them fired up to learn. They have too many restrictions on them as it is, they shouldn't be restricted to learn!
My Response:
Eileen,
Thanks so much for your strong words of encouragement! It is so nice t begin my day like this.
In response to your question, yes and no... I have told the kids that my hands are tied in certain respects and I try to be as transparent as possible without being a downer to the kids. When I do so, however, I've found that the more I try to rally the troops, the more my students feel disempowered. Something I did not fully understand - although I spoke about it as a concept all of te time - was the extent of disenfranchisement and defeat in communities of poverty, immigrants, and of color. For my students, raising your voice gets you arrested, beat up, or even deported... in their minds and the minds of their families. The climate is one of defeat and instead of taking my message as one of empowerment, usually my kids just get mad and say "You see miss, they don't give a damn about us, this school is mad cheap." I am still struggling as an educator to turn this sentiment into action, but I am fighting the influence of communities who believe "snitches get stitches" and that if they just take care of their own business they'll get through the week. My kids have yet to see how their voices can be heard. Last year, I even lost some of my own hope in my frustration over starting a student council. I never realized how much I took my position of priviledge for granted in that I was surrounded by people who got what they wanted... so I believed I could get what I wanted too. The student council floundered after a few meetings because the kids just didn't see the point... they wouldn't write the letters because it was boring and it wouldn't make a difference anyways. They wouldn't plan the bakesales because they truly believed the money wouldn't be enough for whatever they wanted to do. It was heart breaking. So, yes, I do tell my kids that my hands are tied, but no I haven't been able to empower them to make a change for themselves.
- Show quoted text -
To the NYC Chalkboard
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
After a Day of Observation
Today I spent the day observing at the Cambridge Montessori school. It's a private school, a relatively old one, and has toddlers - junior high in two separate buildings. As part of our Montessori training, we have to observe six different schools this year. I chose Cambridge in part because I got the chance to stop by Harvard and say hi to the people I used to work with or be taught by. But wow! What a difference Cambridge is from Springfield!!
Just Tuesday, during my Mentor Meeting with Elizabeth Slade (who is truly the best mentor I ever could imagine, and is responsible for many of the teachers actually still working at Gerena), she outright told me that the truly big problems in my classroom emerge when there is only one set of hands -- mine. Whenever my para is out (and it's often, since she has a medical condition), my classroom suffers terribly. The Montessori classroom is built with the idea that two teachers will be in each class, and can accommodate about 25-30 students therefore. I only have 18, but it feels like 50, especially when compared to the 25 students I saw studiously doing their work in the Cambridge Montessori school today. I was amazed at what those students were accomplishing -- first years multiplying angles and classifying reptiles, birds, and fish. It's where we are headed, although it's going to be a painful and slow transition.
Anyhow, Elizabeth told me that I truly needed to get someone else in my classroom -- and someone unpaid, since Gerena already looks absurdly outfitted with teachers, apparently, compared to the rest of the district. On paper we should feel overstaffed. In real life, things are at the other extreme. Teacher absenteeism is so high!! The board is filled to the max each day with teachers and paraprofessionals out. I wonder what it's all about.
And then, on my way back to Springfield, I got this phone call -- my phone was actually on silent, but I happened to catch the screen change out of the corner of my eye. It was Doug Winsor, saying he had a volunteer who may want to come in for a bit of time to help out in the classroom and learn about Montessori. This gives me faith....in what? I don't know. The ability of the universe to provide for the needs of my students? I don't know if it's someone in Sam's class or not -- if so, thank you. If not, thank you anyway.
I mentioned to Sam, and I'll mention it here as well -- this blog makes me a better teacher. I am so glad to share with all of you, and your comments are spectacular to read. Although I'm rarely able to adequately respond to any or all, they make me think, they give me new perspectives, and they give me that thing that all of us need at Gerena -- the voices of people supporting us.
Thanks.
Just Tuesday, during my Mentor Meeting with Elizabeth Slade (who is truly the best mentor I ever could imagine, and is responsible for many of the teachers actually still working at Gerena), she outright told me that the truly big problems in my classroom emerge when there is only one set of hands -- mine. Whenever my para is out (and it's often, since she has a medical condition), my classroom suffers terribly. The Montessori classroom is built with the idea that two teachers will be in each class, and can accommodate about 25-30 students therefore. I only have 18, but it feels like 50, especially when compared to the 25 students I saw studiously doing their work in the Cambridge Montessori school today. I was amazed at what those students were accomplishing -- first years multiplying angles and classifying reptiles, birds, and fish. It's where we are headed, although it's going to be a painful and slow transition.
Anyhow, Elizabeth told me that I truly needed to get someone else in my classroom -- and someone unpaid, since Gerena already looks absurdly outfitted with teachers, apparently, compared to the rest of the district. On paper we should feel overstaffed. In real life, things are at the other extreme. Teacher absenteeism is so high!! The board is filled to the max each day with teachers and paraprofessionals out. I wonder what it's all about.
And then, on my way back to Springfield, I got this phone call -- my phone was actually on silent, but I happened to catch the screen change out of the corner of my eye. It was Doug Winsor, saying he had a volunteer who may want to come in for a bit of time to help out in the classroom and learn about Montessori. This gives me faith....in what? I don't know. The ability of the universe to provide for the needs of my students? I don't know if it's someone in Sam's class or not -- if so, thank you. If not, thank you anyway.
I mentioned to Sam, and I'll mention it here as well -- this blog makes me a better teacher. I am so glad to share with all of you, and your comments are spectacular to read. Although I'm rarely able to adequately respond to any or all, they make me think, they give me new perspectives, and they give me that thing that all of us need at Gerena -- the voices of people supporting us.
Thanks.
school safety
I want to start by describing the high I felt coming out of your class with my students yesterday. My girls were so proud of themselves, I was so proud of them, I couldn't stop smiling and flet like my chest was going to explode. Seeing them take part in what could be the next step of their educational lives and seeing them own their responses and open up to adults they don't even know almost brought me to tears. I woke up today and - while i usually feel sluggish and lately haven't been able to get all the bad things about work our of my head, I flew out of my apartment ready to brag about the experience with everyone and to reconnect with the girls. Really, I was a cheerful mess all morning! Thank you for the experience. Thank you so much.
My high, unfortunately, ended when I heard that one of my students was in the clinic after a serious fight. It was the beginning of lunch, there had hardly been time for a fight. This student is my question kid. He panics if i don't answer him immediately. He starts talking at a million words a second and at top volume because he can't handle not knowing what to do. He's a prankster and a joker, but also very silly and humble at the same time. If I say yes, he'll say no... then he'll smile and say "miss you know I'm just playin." Lately he's been working so hard. So, when I heard he'd been in a fight, I knew something serious had to have happened because he is not the fighting kind. I went down to the clinic, and there he was - his eye busted and swolen and his nose bleeding, his eyes were bloodshot and his pride was crushed. Turns out that he was walking to gym with the rest of my class and hung back to talk with his girlfriend (which is cute because he gets so nervous when he talks to girls). One of my other students told him to hurry up as the rest of the group walked away. At this point, a group of guys from another school in the building had decided to get my question kid because one of them used to date the girl or some stupidity that hormones and immaturity create. Later, my boys came into math class unable to think about anything other than the fact that their friend must've thought they abandoned him because they walked away. We spent forty minutes talking about why walking away isn't always a bad thing, etc... How can they learn when this is their reality. Fighting in order to save their dignity and friendships.
My high, unfortunately, ended when I heard that one of my students was in the clinic after a serious fight. It was the beginning of lunch, there had hardly been time for a fight. This student is my question kid. He panics if i don't answer him immediately. He starts talking at a million words a second and at top volume because he can't handle not knowing what to do. He's a prankster and a joker, but also very silly and humble at the same time. If I say yes, he'll say no... then he'll smile and say "miss you know I'm just playin." Lately he's been working so hard. So, when I heard he'd been in a fight, I knew something serious had to have happened because he is not the fighting kind. I went down to the clinic, and there he was - his eye busted and swolen and his nose bleeding, his eyes were bloodshot and his pride was crushed. Turns out that he was walking to gym with the rest of my class and hung back to talk with his girlfriend (which is cute because he gets so nervous when he talks to girls). One of my other students told him to hurry up as the rest of the group walked away. At this point, a group of guys from another school in the building had decided to get my question kid because one of them used to date the girl or some stupidity that hormones and immaturity create. Later, my boys came into math class unable to think about anything other than the fact that their friend must've thought they abandoned him because they walked away. We spent forty minutes talking about why walking away isn't always a bad thing, etc... How can they learn when this is their reality. Fighting in order to save their dignity and friendships.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Floating Down Stream
Hi All! To answer a question from a previous post, my class does have many first generation students, and some that were born in other countries. My classroom is mainly a combination of Asian and Hispanic children, which makes sense because it is situated at the border of Chinatown which has a large Asian population and the Lower East Side, which is a neighborhood traditionally dominated by Jewish immigrants but has, in the last couple of decades become largely populated by newer immigrants. As far as problems in reading, my student that is having difficulty seems like he is having more of an internal processing problem, than an overall difficulty with the English language. Part of the way I know this is because he understands when I read out loud.
So today was a very interesting day. My cooperating teacher was on a field trip, and I therefore was able to give the classroom my own feel. Megan (my CT) hates noise in the classroom, whereas I think it’s great as long as it’s productive. This leads her to discipline my class when I don’t find it necessary. But today, without her around monitoring us, we could all take a deep breath and we got a lot of really great work done. My learning goals for the day were accomplished plus more. My class was interactive and fabulous. They were on task and coming up with creative ideas. Some days it just clicks, and today it really did for us. Part of my success today, believe it or not, was due to not over planning. When I invest too much time in planning out every detail I want to keep that plan. Today, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and was able to take cues from my students and plan the day around what they specifically needed. When I felt we needed some extra talk time, I threw in some unanticipated group work. When they seemed ready to write, we did independent workshop time. I was so happy when I was done I forgot about what was ahead: the eighth grade class. Even though I don’t teach them, I do help out in their classroom. Because I am not ever in front of the class, I have a more relaxed relationship with these kids. I have slowly become friendly with some of them that actively seek out my extra help a lot. Today, I realized that I had not been acting like enough of an authority figure. I had become lax in asserting myself, and when I tried to quiet some students down I got either explosive attitudes or was ignored all together. My own class definitely knows better than to disrespect me in such a way. But, because these kids have never heard me speak sternly or take a student out in the hall to talk to them, they felt I had no recourse. And in a way, they were right. It was not my classroom and I didn’t want to undermine the authority of the teacher up front by disciplining her students. So I gritted my teeth and let it slide.
For a moment, when I was trying to model silent reading by reading my own book at a table with the kids, I really remembered what it felt like to be on the other side of the desk. It’s the day after Halloween, and you expect us to sit here and read silently instead of exchanging stories? Yea, right. As if responding to my thoughts the covering teacher yelled, “NO CANDY IN ELA!” I almost rolled my own eyes. She proceeded to do a read allowed of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This class is generally unresponsive when she reads allowed and hated “The Tell Tale Heart.” Needless to say, this is not the lesson I would have planned. I repeat this mantra over and over in my own head: “know your students.” I worked with my students today, and she worked against them. It’s like trying to swim up rapids instead of floating down them. Working against your students is hard work, frustrating, tiring, and you don’t get very far.
So today was a very interesting day. My cooperating teacher was on a field trip, and I therefore was able to give the classroom my own feel. Megan (my CT) hates noise in the classroom, whereas I think it’s great as long as it’s productive. This leads her to discipline my class when I don’t find it necessary. But today, without her around monitoring us, we could all take a deep breath and we got a lot of really great work done. My learning goals for the day were accomplished plus more. My class was interactive and fabulous. They were on task and coming up with creative ideas. Some days it just clicks, and today it really did for us. Part of my success today, believe it or not, was due to not over planning. When I invest too much time in planning out every detail I want to keep that plan. Today, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and was able to take cues from my students and plan the day around what they specifically needed. When I felt we needed some extra talk time, I threw in some unanticipated group work. When they seemed ready to write, we did independent workshop time. I was so happy when I was done I forgot about what was ahead: the eighth grade class. Even though I don’t teach them, I do help out in their classroom. Because I am not ever in front of the class, I have a more relaxed relationship with these kids. I have slowly become friendly with some of them that actively seek out my extra help a lot. Today, I realized that I had not been acting like enough of an authority figure. I had become lax in asserting myself, and when I tried to quiet some students down I got either explosive attitudes or was ignored all together. My own class definitely knows better than to disrespect me in such a way. But, because these kids have never heard me speak sternly or take a student out in the hall to talk to them, they felt I had no recourse. And in a way, they were right. It was not my classroom and I didn’t want to undermine the authority of the teacher up front by disciplining her students. So I gritted my teeth and let it slide.
For a moment, when I was trying to model silent reading by reading my own book at a table with the kids, I really remembered what it felt like to be on the other side of the desk. It’s the day after Halloween, and you expect us to sit here and read silently instead of exchanging stories? Yea, right. As if responding to my thoughts the covering teacher yelled, “NO CANDY IN ELA!” I almost rolled my own eyes. She proceeded to do a read allowed of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This class is generally unresponsive when she reads allowed and hated “The Tell Tale Heart.” Needless to say, this is not the lesson I would have planned. I repeat this mantra over and over in my own head: “know your students.” I worked with my students today, and she worked against them. It’s like trying to swim up rapids instead of floating down them. Working against your students is hard work, frustrating, tiring, and you don’t get very far.
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