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.
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4 comments:
Oh Johanna I'm so glad that someone is coming! I'm so glad, you deserve that and so much more.
I work at the Gerena afterschool program (Mon & Tues) and in an even more chaotic (yet lovely) afterschool program for middleschoolers in Holyoke on Wed. The first day (and I'm not even a trained teacher, though I definitely plan to become one soon) I had 17 middle schoolers that I didn't know at all in front of me. And we were supposed to do an art project. It was overwhelming, and as the "homework" teacher was transitioning and getting ready to leave, I took a step out into the hallway and walked up and down the hall, in an extremely short-lived panic about what I would do with these 17 kids. I went back in there determined that I just HAD to get this right and do my best to connect with these kids and get the project done. We had a "discussion" (it was a pretty lively one) about ideas for murals and ended up voting on the idea of technology, which THANK GOD everyone found something about it that they could like. I felt like my feet were on fire as I set up the 20+ foot paper sketch mural on the ground and not only had to get all the paints ready and the water out and make sure the kids didn't ingest any but also had to (and wanted to, of course) encourage my students and show them different ways of doing things and keep them all on task. I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EXHAUSTED IN MY LIFE!! Surely you feel like this every day. Bow down to you.
Now I have a friend (who I also found through the oh-so-helpful Doug Winsor) who comes down with me each week. Her presence there allows me to take a trip to the computer lab with the kids to get inspiration for a video game or character that we're going to paint or get some background info. It lets me actually have conversations with my students, find out who went to a baby shower, who plays what sport, who has a girlfriend, who got dumped, etc. Without Leila's presence, I feel like it'd be impossible to keep order AND paint this mural AND make connections with my kids. TEACHING IS SUCH A MULTI-ROLE JOB!!! You should get paid for each facet of your job. Definitely. Sigh.
Hopefully when a bunch of Smith students come in Jan for the Urban Ed Initiative we can bring some needed extra hands to yours and other classrooms. I'm going to spending j-term doing this and I cannot wait. I guess the worst thing is that it's only for one month. . . I would love to spend more time inside Gerena during school hours next semester myself, and I bet I'm not alone.
Keep on going! Keep being beautiful! (I'm very cheesy)
- janel
It must be so interesting to be able to observe what another school is doing.
Having an extra set of hands certainly does help a LOT. Having someone else to answer questions or set up while you do the lesson is great. I am student teaching at Smith's campus school who is wonderful. We get along really well. Working with another teacher comes with its own challenges. Sometimes different people have different ideas about how to run the classroom or different standards. If there is more than one teacher then it can be hard not to step in on their lesson or to have the other teacher step in on your lesson to clarify something. There have been a few times when a student who always asks for help but needs to work on being independent has seemed to need redirection. My coordinating teacher and I keep going up to the student and helping her not realizing that the other one had just been there. When there is more than one person communication is KEY.
How does Montessori look different for older students? I went to a Montessori preschool so I have a sense of what those look like but I can't quite picture how Montessori works for the older elementary school students.
I just want to applaud you for doing what you do every day with these kids. I can't even imagine how exhausting just one day must be, let alone an entire week. I'm so curious about the high rate of absenteeism at Gerena among teachers and paraprofessionals. The fact that it's a daily issue is crazy. The day would be hectic enough with each and every staff member on board and in the building. I just don't understand how this has to be a problem for you - where are these other teachers?!
And it speaks a lot toward the fact that one simply can not analyze a school by looking at it through the numbers. The data can be misleading. Whereas you appear luxuriously staffed on paper, this is far from the case in terms of Gerena's daily reality. Educational analysists and those involved in school reform need to be aware of this complicated fact.
Hi Johanna,
I'm glad to hear that a student will be helping you in the classroom. Though I have little experience working in a classroom, I am aware how difficult it is to manage students and be attentive to their individual needs, especially without an extra pair of hands.
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