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Let's look at my 2nd period class, shall we? And then tell me that NCLB will save them. (names have been changed)
First off, a lot of teachers don't want to work in my school. We have trouble getting substitutes to a place whose nickname is "Drive By High." I work there primarily because it's the neighborhood I grew up in, so I feel more comfortable with students and parents. It's 65% Hispanic, 20% black, and the other 15% are evenly split between whites, Asian/PIs, and Native Americans. It's the most multicultural school in one of the nation's largest districts.
Even though we're in the same district, the per pupil expenditures at the rich, white, suburban schools are a thousand dollars or more per year. The xerox machine for English, foreign languages, and ELL rarely works. When it does, it is because I've jury-rigged it with rubberbands and LITERALLY chewing gum. Just last month, the history department had to go to the mat just to get enough toilet paper for the staff bathrooms.
Most of the administration is a joke. Our principal is a PE teacher who has no concept of what we do or how we do it. When, for instance, he instituted a policy of getting permission to play film or video clips (you can't play a whole movie, even if relevant), he tried to deny one teacher permission to play 20 minutes from "Of Mice and Men." On the grounds that if it had mice in it, it must be a cartoon, and therefore not relevant to high school students. He also leaves earlier than any of the teachers, the only administrator I've even heard of leaving early. His school improvement plan apparently consists of "teachers will not wear jeans," as if my choice in pants has an affect on student learning or isn't against contract. One AP has been through three schools in three years because of sexual harassment, and he's doing it again at our school.
Second period is remedial freshmen English.
Last year it was a hundred percent ELL students, because they didn't have enough ELL teachers. I spent half my time teaching, poorly, in broken Spanish. (It was actually kind of neat: the kids respected me for trying, and they learned a lot of English while they were teaching me Spanish). This year only 50% have ever been ELL. Interesting, because only 10% weren't born in the United States.
Jimmy has ADD. And not just the ADD that you pay a doctor to diagnose for you, but real ADD. He scares people with his outlandish behavior, and sometimes switches topics in mid-sentence. He wants to work his way up to assistant manager at the McDonald's he works 40 hours a week at (in violation of state law). He doesn't think he's good enough to ever be the general manager, and assistant's good enough for him.
Mayra A. stole a nurse's pass and filled it in with "Eric A. needs to be excused so he can go suck my P****." She also turned in a paragraph on the same subject, and has, in fact, been caught in middle school having her p***** sucked. She also suspects that latex causes ovarian cancer, and is hence unwilling to use prophylactics, and the mom believes that only sluts use birth control pills.
Jeffrey has always been little, the size of your average fifth grader in high school, and convinced that people are out to get him because he's little. He doesn't see the connection between him being a total, complete jerk and people wanting to fight him. He shot another freshman in the foot this year. I can be thankful that he's a piss-poor shot: 12 rounds, aimed at the head, at point-blank range.
Mayra B. is intelligent, outgoing, confidant, and generally well-liked. She has to be, since her entire family is MS13. Mom at home, dad in prison, uncles, brothers ... all hardcore gangbangers. And in 10 years of school, I was the first teacher to ever tell her that she was smart enough to go to college. In fact she's BRILLIANT, but comes from a culture so different from most of ours that most people don't recognize it. I got her involved in a college-prep thing, tutor during lunch when needed, and basically hold her hand until her academic confidence rises to the challenge. Last week I caught her stealing a pair of my scissors.
Why? "Cause some bitch be fucking with me at lunch, and I might need to shank her."
"Hon, what have I told you about language like that? It's not 'some bitch BE fucking with me,' it's 'some bitch IS fucking with me.' And give me the scissors back. There will be no shanking."
Jovanny is one of the smartest kids I've ever known, period. If he'd been born in the United States, he could be a senator someday. Diligent, honest, honorable, polite ... this is the son that every father wants. Unfortunately, he's been here less than a year, so his English skills are still weak. Honors math classes, remedial English classes. I let him turn in a few assignments in Spanish, just so I could know if he was capable of forming a coherent thought (unlike most freshman), and his writing skills are excellent.
His grades started going down towards the end of the year, the work ethic bottoming out. It turned out that his dad had gone back to Mexico for the grandfather's funeral, and was having trouble getting back across the border (they were illegal). The mom had taken a second job, and Jovanny was working odd jobs to raise the three grand needed to get the forged documents (the desert crossing is only $1,500, but far more dangerous) so that dad could come home.
Mary is underperforming and not really interested in school. But when I needed to splice a wire to jury-rig the speakers to the projector, she produced both a switchblade to strip the wires and a soldiering iron to hardwire a good connection. It turns out that she doesn't like school much, but she DOES like repairing electronics, as well as cutting things with her switchblade.
Last year, my remedial class threw me a surprise birthday party, complete with cake and candles. They even went to the swap meet to buy me presents -- two teddy bears that they said looked like me and a Corona Beer shirt.
One of my worst-behaved students -- one I thought hated my guts -- gave me the most thoughtful Christmas present I have ever received this year. A six-pack of Budweiser he stole from his dad. "I stole it out of the fridge just this morning, so it would still be cold," he said.
We're failing AYP this year for the fifth time. Although the majority of our kids, at least in Language Arts, actually passed the test and made AYP, we didn't have the 95% attendance rate (we had 93% attendance), so we're counted as failing. What we're doing is working, though, and our scores are higher than any other high school in the area.
I work anywhere from 50-70 hours a week for these kids. I go to their volleyball games, I go to their musicals, I go to their art shows. I tutor them, I plan for them, I advise two clubs for them. I go to volunteer, unpaid trainings and pay my own money to take graduate classes, all so I can be a better teacher. I do have my weak spots, God knows, but all in all I'm a pretty solid teacher.
And because we're failing AYP, I have to reapply for my job at this school. It should be easy with this principal: I don't need to be a good teacher, I just need to make a few sports references and maybe turn on the East Texas twang. Even if I get rehired at this school, the federal government threatens to cut off all funding for an already underfunded school.
Some asshole in Washington who has never tried to teach a day in his life is going to tell me about education. Thanks for reading the rant. I think I'm feeling a little bitter today :).
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