Schoolpocalypse

Today my school imploded. 

Lets start at the beginning:

1) For the past few weeks there has been talk about a "Reduction in Force" or RIF.  Michelle Rhee and the Mayor have claimed that we are $40 million or so short in funds and therefore need to fire a bunch of people.  The Council claims that the District has known about these costs for a long time and it should not be surprising or an 'all of a sudden thing' so it is impossible to really know what is going on.  One could be paranoid about Rhee and Fenty (which I'm sorta tending towards) or the Council is full of bull.

2) Students begin to hear all sorts of rumors and statements from politicians, the news, etc. about what is happening and talk about it and worry about it quite a bit for the past week.

3) Students arrive at school this morning and find there are no security guards.  They believe (falsely) that this is part of the RIF and decide to 'protest' outside the school and not go to class.  [Turns out that the security company that DCPS employs went bankrupt today and so this was just extremely unfortunate timing.] 

4) We eventually get the kids to come inside because they really weren't protesting they were just hanging out talking and refusing to go to class.  This is about 30 minutes into the day at this point.

5) First period is uneventful and I cover second period due to a teacher being absent.  Things go well in that class and I actually get the kids to work through the period which is a miracle.

6) Then the principal announces that the kids will get an extra 20 min. at lunch to protest and let out their pent up energy.  It also gets announced that there is a debate meeting at lunch when it is supposed to be after school (I'm the debate coach).

7) Lunch happens.  The FBLA has a meeting that I help out a little bit with and then I head downstairs to check and see if any debate kids went to the non-existent lunch meeting and find a few of them and tell them to come to the meeting after-school. 

8) A few minutes after I get downstairs, two very large boys barrel into the hallway I'm standing in having a huge fight.  There are two police trying to break it up and a huge crowd of yelling and riled up kids.  I get run in to by one of the fighting boys as I'm struggling to keep some of the kids away.

9) The police get the boys away and the kids seem to be milling about and I'm trying to get them into the cafeteria again and then all of a sudden there is a STAMPEDE (I mean this literally) towards the doors at the stairs.  ALL the kids run full tilt, screaming to get upstairs.  My boss had just gotten to me and pushed me to the wall so I wouldn't get flattened and those who stayed behind just stare fabbergasted.  I have never seen anything like it.

10) I make it upstairs a few minutes later after assessing the downstairs situation and end up in the atrium.  There I end up trying to disperse more students and break up a few more fights and almost fights.  It seemed like every time more than 10 kids were in the same place a fight broke out. 

11) As that calmed down a girl collapsed and had an asthma attack.  We had to call paramedics and once again general insanity ensued.

12) I eventually collected about 1/3 of my students for 3rd period and that went very very calmly.  For 4th period I helped a few students on applications and scholarships.

13) Then at 3:10 we get an announcement for teachers to check their emails.  As the bell rings students are running around the halls yelling about how they don't have to have certain teachers ever again and how they hope so and so gets fired.  And I have no idea what is going on but I tell them to shut up because what they're saying is really mean.

14) Kids tell me I have to check my email so I go back in my room and do so... at this point I am VERY nervous.  There are kids standing around me and I open up an email that has the new master schedule.  I read it over looking for my name and luckily I find it.  All it says is I'm teaching World History II and American History.  I don't know what this means and I won't really know until Monday apparently.

15) I have a debate team meeting for 1 hour after school w/about 6 kids (which is a miracle in and of itself so congrats to them for holding it together for debate).

Apparently tomorrow I'm going to the debate competition w/the kids... we'll see how that goes.  Hopefully they'll come and have fun.

Craziest. Day. Ever.

In Rio!!

Janet and I have arrive safely in Rio and have now been here for about 24 hours.  We met at the airport, both having long but uneventful flights.  Our stuff arrived, and we hopped in a taxi and drove to our hostel in Copa Cabana.  The hostel is called Stone of a Beach.  It is nice and has good security.  Our room is on the second floor and has a private bath and a veranda, which just about doubles the size of the room.

Yesterday we walked towards the beach, went to a buffet for lunch, and walked down Copa´s beach to Ipanema where there was another nice series of beaches.  We walked around a rocky point between the two beaches and then headed back to the hostel. The beaches are very scenic (despite all the tall buildings not far off of them) with dramatic rock outcroppings and cliffs surrounding them.

When we got back to the hostel we took it easy for a few hours, planning our route up the Bahia coast and then we went upstairs to the rooftop bar/hot tub/grill area and got yet another buffet (I´m sensing a theme here in Brazil.  A tasty theme) - this time it was BBQ.  Now one thing I can say beyond a doubt is Brazilians know how to cook meat.  The BBQ was great.  I had chicken, sausage and a bit of steak (in small quantities).  The sides were alright-doesn´t seem to be high on the list of importance, but they focus on what is important.

The weather is slated to be perfect for our stay in Rio.  Clear blue skies, in the 70s and (most importantly) not humid.  Today we are probably going to go see the huge Jesus Christ statue and maybe a tour of some other sites in Rio.  We also want to take a ´favela´ tour - a tour of some of the poorer areas in Rio, and then of course hang out at the beach and relax.

The Cardinal Sin

I am being very bad in fourth period.  While I have assigned a worthwhile project to the students and I intend for them to do a good job on it, I feel that I am basically just having them work on the assignments in class with little instruction.  Project Based Learning at its finest.  That being said, I am NOT wasting their time with busywork, I just also may not be strictly teaching new skills but having them practice ones they already have.  I suppose if I throw in some formative assessment I can work it out.

Last period of the day...

It is a universal truth that those entering the last class of the day must act completely insane and different from how they have acted the rest of the day.

At this point in my short career I have taught four classes at the final period of the day.  Three have been World History II and one has been Entrepreneurship.  All have been crazy.

It doesn't matter how big the class is (two classes had 20-25 student and the other two classes were under ten students). 

It doesn't matter what grade the students are in (most of the classes have a lot of 10th graders, but are mixed).

It doesn't matter what the students are learning (in the first semester my third and fourth periods are doing the exact same content).

It doesn't even matter how 'high achieving' my students are in other classes (I have had both top honors students and students who barely pass their classes in my fourth periods).

They all become different people when they pass through that classroom door.

Things that seem inconceivable in  my other periods become altogether too possible in my last period of the day:

Students talk out of turn at alarming rates.
Students get into physical and verbal fights.
Students yell.
Students run around the room.
Students don't complete a single assignment.
Students physically destroy each others' work.
Students steal the possessions of others.
Students from other classes walk into my room and do whatever they please.
The list could go on and on.

I understand that the day is long, but it doesn't justify the type of insanity I have often experienced in these classes (and the complete lack of control I seem to have over the situation).  While it isn't every day, it is far more often than I find even remotely acceptable. 

I am still trying to find ways to deal with this situation, because right now I really just try and ride the wave and power through it.  But that is very tiring and it isn't good for the students overall (When I give out surveys to the students to assess how the class is going, the only negative comments I ever get come from 4th period, and the big complaint is usually the behavior problems of other students).  I need to find ways to positively get the class under control.

I just don't know how to get through to them, to hold on to their attention throughout the day.  I know one thing I can do is make the lessons more interactive and as fun and relatable as possible.  But even some of (what I believe are) my best lessons have completely bombed in fourth period. 

Fourth period requires a whole different way of thinking and interacting with the class.  I can barely let them do independent work because it immediately dissolves into chaos.  I can't let them talk much or it dissolves into yelling matches.  I have to have a seating chart to keep certain students from talking all period and/or killing each other. 

One thing that has helped is making them stay quiet but allowing them to violate school policy and listen to their own music on headphones (but that stops working when an administrator comes in and yells at the students - and me by proxy - to put them away).

I may need to institute some type of regular physical stimulus to both keep them interested and release their pent up energy (calisthenics anyone?) but I honestly don't have any experience in that arena and I don't know how I could do that properly without wasting too much time.

Any suggestions for helping students release all that energy in a positive manner on a regular (if not daily) basis?

Empowering the children or Disheartening them?

I am asking for the advice from my peers (and any who care to give it).  Is informing students of the achievement gap and the structural factors that contribute to the achievement gap a worthwhile effort?  Will it serve to empower my students or will it just dishearten them?

I am personally of the belief that by showing students the truth about their current situation and help them learn about the social, economic and other structural factors that are standing in their way, that I could empower the students to take charge and work harder to get where they want and need to go.  I want them to see their obtaining an education as an act of social justice (and possibly even minor rebellion), something to do both for themselves and society at large. 

On the flip side, this may just make them think that everything is hopeless and out of reach.  I don't want them coming out of this kind of unit thinking that they are less than, that the cards are impossibly stacked against them, that everything is doomed to repeat itself.

Then there are the implementation questions + my initial thoughts on them:

1. Which classes would I present this information to?  I want to say all of them, I can relate this kind of topic to World History, Economics and all my government classes.  But at the same time, that may not be realistic.
   
2. When would I teach this to the students?  I think that this might be something to do near the beginning of the year.  Starting with the personal and working outwards to the global (or national in US Government).  Maybe instead of focusing on the schools I would instead focus on the communities at large and talk about the structural arguments towards both the achievement gap and poverty rates.  Could I get away with spending a week on this kind of unit?  There are many books that students have loved reading in the past (I could get a class set of Our America and also look at books/essays by William Julius Wilson -among others) and begin by showing what social studies can do while working on basic reading and writing skills and issues of social justice that directly pertain to my students.

I may spend some time this summer seeing if I can come up with an excellent and brief introductory week-long unit to the study of history and the social sciences using a topic that is more contemporary and relatable to the students and integrating lessons on the analytic frameworks we will be using in the course with the basic reading, writing and interpretive skills needed for social studies.

All good things...

...clearly must come to an end here in DCPS and especially at my school.

*Stop reading now if you don't want to hear a long rant about technology and my school, because right now?  I'm seriously annoyed.*

I have been experimenting with our laptop lab, having 2 of my classes basically conduct their entire class on the laptops.  I believe there are a myriad of benefits from conducting these small classes in this manner including the following:

1. Students get experience taking notes and completing all their assignments on the computer.  This is exactly how colleges conduct their courses now, and it will be even more true by the time these juniors get to college in just under two years.  So if they are good at taking notes, completing outlines and drafts of papers and using the internet actively in class (while also dealing with the temptation to just check their emails, etc.) they will be far more prepared for the modern college classroom.
2. Moving towards an almost paperless classroom.  In my first and third periods we have become almost 100% paperless with students submitting assignments via email and me giving them their grades and feedback the same way.
3. Students have become reinvigorated to complete assignments and then revise them. I have noticed better notetaking; an increase in the level of submitted work for feedback (since we can both have a copy of the work at the same time); and an increase in a few students overall grades.  While this is not universal, it is a very promising start.
   

But now the other teachers are apparently (and I'm actually a little dubious on this front) complaining about the fact that the laptops are located in my classroom since I use them every single day.  Now let me be clear I do not use all of them and I always let the other teachers use them when they ask to, and I tell them to sign up in advance and let me know when they want the whole lab and I'll give up the lab entirely because I will plan around them.  But do they do that?  No.  Do they plan what they're doing?  No.  They generally seem to want them as a filler, like a 'type up your paper' day assignment.  (Sorry but these kids can do that on their own time, school time is for instruction.)

And then when I go to the classrooms that are asking for the laptops and I see what they are doing with them? They're having the kids do dopey research projects where I watch the majority of the kids cut and paste wikipedia pages into their 'research reports' and then watch as they get an A.  There is no analysis, there is no thought, the kids don't even READ what they wrote!  So pardon me if I get a little up-in-arms when they then "demand" that I return the hijacked laptops in their entirety so they can use them.  I'm going to have to figure out how to get at least 5 laptops permanently housed in my classroom that have access to the internet.

AND THAT IS ANOTHER THING.  The only reason they even HAVE the internet on these laptops is because I paid for a wireless router and it broadcasts from my room.  I'm going to have to change that password daily from now on and make sure that only my students sign on each day.  I know it is ungracious but I'm getting sick of getting taken advantage of, and frankly this particular wireless internet connection is something that I paid for and have to work my ass off to keep up and running (there has been a lot of troubleshooting on my side plus teachers interrupting my class to come and help them figure out the internet in their room which they only have thanks to me - which they have not once acknowledged). 

Not only that, the teachers actually get indignant and complain when the internet isn't working perfectly.  They have the audacity to try and make me fix it for their class during my class' time.  That and fix every computer glitch they have (This occurs at least once every 2 weeks and some weeks as often as a couple of times per day).  There are two problems with this.

1. I am not very good at troubleshooting problems on Windows computers.  Internet issues are easy enough but when it comes to getting the projectors to work I am at a loss.  
2. They ask me when my classes are in session and sometimes when I am at the front of the room actively teaching a lesson.  As if my time, and more importantly, my students' time is somehow less important than theirs.  If you want to use the technology troubleshoot it in advance and get it set up in advance.  I'll help when I can but you're on my schedule.  And if you don't like that?  Well then tough, go help yourself.

In the end I have pretty mixed feelings.  I don't mind sharing resources at all, but when I feel that they're not being used appropriately and at the same time that I am being taken advantage of well then I'm not having it.  But the school year is almost done (one half of an advisory left!) so I guess I just have to make it to the end and then readjust for next year.  I know I've been living in luxury getting to use these computers for my assignments but you can't just take them away now that all my classes have adjusted to them.

Fire Alarm... Again

We don't have to leave apparently, but we do have to sit and listen to it go off.  It is really high pitched and annoying and LOUD.

Please turn it off soon!!!!  We can't actually conduct class in these conditions.

The Meeting

So I had the meeting with Ms. Rhee and overall it was a positive experience.  I was not as coherent and organized and positive as I might like but she seemed receptive to hearing about our problems and of the same mind that a leadership change would vastly improve virtually all of our problems.  I gave her an agenda, made the case for the students and that I firmly believe we should have an Academy.  I then primarily focused on our entire academy's lack of focus and the lack of effective leadership.  Then she asked me some questions, I told her what I thought would help us and then we were done!  It was kind of a whirl wind, which is why I'm worried I wasn't as coherent as I could have been.  I was pretty nervous but once I got going it wasn't so bad.

She also put me in touch w/another person who was sitting in on our meeting and actually works in our building and is in charge of all the high schools.  Basically they said that I could keep in touch w/him and meet regularly to discuss progress.  So hopefully increased oversight will happen!  So yeah, I should have maybe prepared exactly what I was going to say in what order a bit more (I had my agenda but hadn't necessarily run through it enough and planning exactly how I would phrase everything) but I think that overall it was a positive experience and I got my point across as much as could be expected.

I'm not exactly sure what concrete things will change soon, but she couldn't really make any promises and she said that the school is on her radar and she appreciates hearing about these problems.  And frankly I understand her position.  We are a very small academy at the moment, and we are relatively unproblematic compared to the larger schools.  So I did not expect a team to immediately get sent in to fix things, but because it wouldn't take much to fix them I am going to currently believe that there is a possibility that we will get new leadership and that will make a huge difference.

What I do know for sure:
1) They aren't talking about closing us (at least not yet...)
2) They want us to increase enrollment
3) She said she hopes I stay at the Academy
4) I'm feeling invigorated to continue to fight the good fight and keep closely (hopefully not annoyingly) in touch with the official directly overseeing my director and seeing if some of my ideas can come to pass.

At least I'm trying both inside my classroom and out, that shows initiative and guts I would say and that can't be a bad thing in the long run.  All in all this may be a chance for me to both show leadership potential and take on a more significant role in the future (let alone the chance that I could help effect real change - ok I know that is the best case scenario but that is the point right?).  Who knows.

Irony:

When teachers use copious amounts of paper, mass produced posters and other newly bought items (that undoubtedly came wrapped in plastic packaging) promoting 'going green'.

A wee bit incensed

I don't mind sharing the technology that we have, so when a group of students come from the other social studies class next door to ask to use the laptops I motion them over to do it.  But if I'm at the front of the room teaching a lesson, and they keep coming in and out, and then come in to interrupt my class to ask me to fix the internet (which they wouldn't even have access to if it weren't for me) I get a little p.o.'d

I'm not just mad at the students.  If that teacher hadn't let them think it was ok to constantly come in and interrupt my classroom then they wouldn't be doing it, but since she doesn't ever actually teach, I don't think she realizes some of us actually do. 

Plus they never actually do anything over there so the idea that they would be using the internet for anything other than surfing for private purposes is absurd.

Interesting

This whole week practically the entire staff seems to be sucking up to me, or acting unusually nice.

• Teacher across the hall and I got into a cordial discussion about how crazy some of our boys are and mused on whether they will ever grow out of it. (she generally seems to huffy to talk to me)
• Teacher next door has been very nicely asking to use the laptops, returning them in a timely fashion, and then today offered me Chinese food (which I declined since I still harbor a fear that she's attempting to kill me. If her ineptness and lack of knowledge of social studies didn't do it, then maybe she's trying a more direct route)
• Young business teacher introduced me to some guy she's working on a project with, then tried to set me up with him. She has also been praising my efforts to help us 'go green' and has all of a sudden become very gung ho about the Going Green competition we're having
  
• Herr direktor has been giving me anything I want and going out of her way to praise me and what I do.
• The evil english teachers have been really nice to me and asking me to help them with things.

Perhaps they heard about a certain meeting that I'm having next week?

Too bad. Too little, too late my friends.

YOU SHALL REAP WHAT YOU HATH SOWN (if I have any say in the matter)

Authentic as it gets

Well today my small Constitutional Law class and I were 20 people away from a life changing experience and were 'forced' to settle for a great experience.

Let me set the scene..

In March I took my students to see oral arguments for a Supreme Court case (Abuelhawa v United States).  We didn't get to see the whole case being heard but we did catch the last 20 minutes and it was a lot of fun.  The case was about whether or not someone should be charged with a felony for minor possession of a narcotic because they used a cell phone to facilitate it.  What I noticed when we left was that even though we had gone through the background of the case, the students had a really hard time understanding what was going on when we were in the courtroom.

Taking this into consideration, and after reading an article in the Washington Post about a school in Virginia that did mock Supreme Court cases, I decided it would be fun to take an upcoming case from the Supreme Court and have the students be the lawyers and do all the leg work.  So first I gave students brief summaries of the cases and then we picked one that interested them.  The students picked the case Safford Unified School District v. Redding.  This case was about a student who was strip searched when students were looking for illicit prescription drugs (in this case 400 mg prescription ibuprofen).  The student says her Fourth Amendment rights were violated and she was traumatized by the experience, developed ulcers and had to leave the school.  The school district basically says it was protecting their students and they need to maintain the right to do so.  Once they had picked the case they were assigned to teams representing the two sides.

The first thing the students had to do was submit legal briefs.  They worked together and performed research using only primary sources (the same sources that were used in the case) reading and citing previous legal decisions on the case (local, appellate and en banc), relevant Supreme Court decisions, and the sworn statements used in the case.  While the final briefs were far shorter than the real thing, the students used legal terminology and made multiple outlines, drafts, and numerous revisions to come to their final product and gained experience using legal evidence and making strong arguments based solely on the law and interpretation of the law.

The students then had to present 'Oral Arguments'.  First the students had to write a persuasive speech representing their side.  This forced them to pick only the strongest arguments for their side and work on their persuasive writing and speaking skills.  Then they had to present the speech in front of their peers.

The next step was to simulate what it would be like to be in front of the Supreme Court Justices (who get to interrupt you at any time and interrogate you mercilessly).  Because our class is too small to have a set of Justices, I decided to arrange it as a debate, where they would get to question each other and force the other side to answer potentially damaging questions.

The culmination of this project was for us to go to the Supreme Court and hear the Oral Arguments for the very case we had been studying ourselves.  The students picked a very popular case, and one that has gotten a reasonable amount of press (far more than the other case we attended though certainly not a landmark case).  I decided we had to arrive at the Court early because seating is very limited and it is first come, first serve.  I figured that if I arrived by 5:30 then my students arrived by 6:30 and we would be fine.


I arrived at the Court around 5:35 and to my dismay saw a huge group of people already waiting.  I ended up being about the 70th person in line.  My students arrived and were able to join me (with a little bickering behind me) and we patiently waited in the fairly cool/cold weather to see if we were going to get in.  I was not very hopeful but my students jokingly 'kept the faith'.  After lots of time in line, we received the final 'placeholder' issued by the police at #75.  We kept waiting since we only got one for the six of us.  At one point we were offered $100 for the placeholder (which in retrospect my students said we should have taken haha) by a supposed friend of one of the attorneys trying the case.  Apparently the parents of one of the attorneys trying the case was actually behind us in line as well, clearly no special privileges were given to anyone.


In the end we were about 20 people away from getting a seat for the whole trial (and when there are only about 200 seats total 20 is a lot).  I probably would have needed to get there at least an hour earlier and the students would have had to have been there with me to avoid a riot.  So we didn't really have a shot since the fifth student arrived around 7 AM.

We then moved directly to the 5 minute rotation line and were the first group to go inside.  We went in, put our things in the little lockers, heard 5 minutes of the case, and were then led out.  While we only got to hear a tiny portion of the case my students did not come across as very disappointed and were animatedly talking all about the case as we left.  I can only imagine what it would've been like for us to hear the whole thing if 5 minutes got them going.

Here are the highlights of what we did get to witness:

• Safford Unified School District was presenting and was talking about how the school district had to be able to protect their students from illegally using prescription medications and that there had been a history of students getting sick and abusing these drugs.
  
• One of my students who represented Safford in our class was very excited that she heard the very argument she used in her paper used by the lawyer
• Ruth Bater Ginsburg began to pull Safford's case apart
  
• Another student who represented Redding was very excited that the Justices seemed to be very harsh on the Safford lawyer

In the end, while we did not quite get the potentially life changing experience that we wished we could have gotten, I think that we ended successfully.

Case and point: 3 out of 5 students are now saying that they are seriously thinking about law school (when before none of them had any interest).

Mission Affirmed

A student randomly came up to me in the hall who hasn't had me as a teacher all this year and told me that she thinks I am one of the best teachers in the school on the grounds that she always sees me standing and walking around the room, that I always seem to be teaching, and that she remembers she learned a lot in my class last year.

While this was a very kind sentiment there is the dark flipside which is: if that is all it takes to be the best teacher in the school, then what aren't the other teachers doing?!  I mean after she told me that she basically said "you aren't like those other teachers who always sit behind their desks and give out work in the first 5 minutes" and then pointed at a certain english teacher's classroom.

This just reaffirms the reason I have to talk to Ms. Rhee and try and work something out here.  Our teachers are flat out lazy, and it is killing this school and making it a place that students don't want to be in.  If I am the 'best' teacher (and while I think I do a good job and try pretty hard there is no way I should be considered a 'best,' especially since she had me last year when I was even worse than this year) that says way more about the other teachers then it does about me.  So thank you my dear, you have convinced me that my cause is righteous and I will fight for you until I can't fight any more.

(Now what I have to do is see if I can get some students to fight for themselves.  Admittedly it is hard when one does not know how to change people who have such authority.)

Financial Anti-Literacy

I am just going to be taking some notes while this financial "literacy" "lesson" is going on.

• 9:15 - Carryout EVERY DAY is apparently a great way to save money.  Who knew?  Never mind the cost to your own bank account, the environment and your health.  Who knew long term costs don't actually affect you (and that doesn't negate the fact that it is also a short term cost)?
  
• 9:45 - since when is POPEYE'S a wise financial decision?
• 10:22 - Keep it legal people.  Keep it legal.
• 10:29 - Glossary = cheating
• 10:38 - Don't trust the internet.  Espeically paying bills and online banking.  (Ummm... new era lady)
• 10:48 - 2nd time we have brought up that you shouldn't bring a baby in when you ask for a loan.  I mean ok, but twice?  Really it needed saying twice?

wow. 4 hours of precious class time wasted.

Beginning to lose it

Thank goodness we have a FOUR DAY WEEKEND that starts tomorrow!

Today I managed to wake up at 7:50 AM (2.5 hours later than normal) which already wasn't good since we're supposed to be at work by 8.  So I called the director and informed her that I would be on time for class, but not any morning meetings.  I got to school by 8:30 (I am that good).  Kids were normal.

Then during 3rd period the fire alarm goes off - apparently a kid pulled it and an announcement was made for us to stay in the classrooms.  So we sit in the classroom and continue to work, being blasted by this fire alarm for a good 20-30 minutes (or at least that is what it seemed like).  It went off for a few minutes and then came back.  I was really beginning to lose it when that happened, the sound is just so awful and it just keeps going and there is nothing you can do but sit there and try to survive the high pitched jarring sound.

Then about 15-20 minutes into 4th period the fire alarm goes off again!  But this time the announcement tells us to evacuate.  When we get outside I have to corral the students onto the basketball court, which is no easy feat, by threatening them with suspensions.  I acutally ended up getting 100% of my students to not leave the school grounds.  I then met up with some of the other teachers and we proceeded to find out that the banner wishing the 10th graders luck on the DC-CAS on the opposite side of the building from me (where I teach Saturday School) was lit on fire on both sides and there was also an even more severe closet fire somewhere near the gym.  So 2 fires.  We stayed outside in the sun until 3:15 when the kids were released.  Also my fellow teacher (and rockstar) managed to pick up the fire marshal.  Oh yeah, she's that good.

Anyways it is very difficult to get anything done when this keeps happening.  I can't believe we are returning to this kind of insanity after holding it at bay for so long.  Stupid spring, the minute the weather even looks like it is improving the kids go insane.  Well actually that isn't quite fair, a few kids go insane and spoil it for the rest of us.

Fire (?!) #2

Well we may have had a second fire, though we didn't smell anything and were only oustide for 20-30 min or so.  It wasn't a drill, that much I do know.  Rumors say that something happened in the gym.  Fire trucks did come, we got out of the building much faster than normal and actually got the kids onto the basketball court.  I forgot my jacket, and froze to death.  We were having a debate team meeting... we don't have many left before the competition.  We're back folks!!!  Yay spring (that was sarcasm fyi)

Update 12:31 PM: Apparently there was a fire, and something looks black and you can smell smoke on the other side.  It must have been easy to put out though since we weren't outside nearly as long and there wasn't water all over the floor.  We really are back - the fire starters have reemerged after laying dormant for so long. 

Guilty as charged

On Friday afternoon the entire school had a meeting to discuss the shockingly low attendance rate on Friday and why it is occurring.

Our entire school has a definite cycle where on a half-day students don't bother coming to school.  This is for a variety of reasons, but the main one is probably because they don't think we will be doing anything of use on the half-day.  Now unfortunately they are largely right.  Classes don't do much of value on the half-day.

The question is: why aren't teachers doing more on half days?  The answer: because students aren't showing up, and if you do too much that day you will probably just have to re-teach it to the class when they show up the next class day.  So we have this cycle of low expectations that has to be broken, and the students aren't going to be (and shouldn't have to be) the first ones to break it.

Thinking about this I realized I am guilty of fulfilling this low-expectations of turn-out on the recordkeeping day this year.  I planned a survey and work period for projects into my curriculum because I knew many students wouldn't show up.  Therefore students still got credit for coming, but we didn't cover any new material.

This compromise is probably too large, and I will do better to make half-days more essential for the class to try and force them to come.  But here's the dilemma: If I do that, and then the rest of the classes are a waste of time, then it will really just further reinforce the idea that it is useless to come to school on those days.  Therefore we really need to come together as a staff and make this happen.

Now I'm going to go die on the floor laughing at the idea that a bunch of teachers who can barely muster up the energy to show up to work on time will actually teach a real lesson on a half-day.  Man this staff is making me pessimistic.  Good thing I have a meeting w/Ms. Rhee at the end of this month to try and change them by force.  If bottom up won't work, then top-down it is!

The past few days

Today is a 'record-keeping day' which means students only have a half day of school, which means that barely any of the students show up. The few students who are here are quietly working on their project and need little help from me, which generally makes me extremely bored. Since I have finished all my grading and have already inputted my grades I am going to write about the past few days.

Wednesday - April 1st

• I wrote a short email to Michelle Rhee requesting a meeting to discuss the future of the Academy and some of the suggestions I have about how to fix it. And 40 minutes later the meeting was set up. A+ for efficiency. I want to meet with her because I believe the Academy is in major trouble and I think that with a few changes (namely: leadership) and/or a proper focus we could turn it around and give the students what they deserve. I think this will take a lot of effort on the part of our staff (which I am not convinced they are willing to give) and therefore I want to see what options there are in mandatory meetings over the summer (like what other schools do) amongst other things.

• The DC Debate League lost the building they were going to use for April's competition and sent out a blanket email asking debate coaches to ask their principals if it would be possible to use our buildings. I asked our principal (without expecting much) and he was very gracious and said that it should be fine. So now it appears our school is hosting our first debate competition! (This would also be the first competition we have ever attended)

• I was asked if I had suggested I wanted to join the staff of our host school. I do not believe I had ever expressed that wish to the principal, but I have certainly thought about it. This possibly means that if I have to escape then I have at least 1 fallback option (although it would be very awkward to be in the same building as my current program but not on the staff)
  

• I had a long conversation over email with the woman who runs the Model United Nations program in DC about how I can join that program next year, and she had a lot of good ideas and I intend to implement them next year.

Thursday April 2nd

• We had our first fire (see previous post)

• Two students decided to act like wannabe gangsters in my 4th period
  

Here's how that went down:

• Student 1 (happens to be the student who instigated me getting hit in the face last year) walks into my 4th period class (which he does not have with me) and begins yelling at Student 2 who is sitting across the room. A female student is trailing him and telling him to back down and leave the classroom (happens to be cousin of student 2). The female student is actually trying to be helpful and diffuse the situation.
  
• Student 2 stands up aggressively and whips out his cell phone
• Student 1 yells "I have people too!" and other things about how it wasn't ok that student 2 had threatened to kill him and his family
• Student 2 says something along the lines of "I will f***ing kill your mother"
• Student 1 yells "don't bring my mother into this!"
• During this time I am trying to get student 1 to leave the room and telling student 2 to sit his ass down while standing between them
  
• The students are about 3 feet away from each other
• I am about to call the Director to help me deal with them since they are clearly not listening to me in the slightest
• She happens to be walking towards the room (not sure if she already knew something was happening or it was just very lucky)
• She tells the students to give her their cell phones (they're still both on them calling "their people")
• Student 1 yells "hell no I ain't giving you my phone"
• Student 2 says nothing but is not giving up his phone
• They both end up heading towards the office after the Director as she yells at them about how she was done with them disobeying her
  
• Student 2 ends up back in my classroom at some point, I didn't actually see him come in, but he sits quietly in the back doing nothing and I have nothing to say to him.

I don't really know what to make of this situation. I have been extremely lucky and this is really the first time this year I have almost had a serious fight (as opposed to a joking around kind of fight). I do not like what the students were saying at all, they both seemed very serious. I have no idea where this problem came from. I warned my class that if they were participating in this that I had no sympathy and would have very harsh consequences for anyone caught up in this feud. I'm don't really know what I could do, but they could tell that I basically would have no love for them if they got mixed up in that petty, ego-tripping business.

Today I am giving the students a survey about their perceptions of me and my classroom. So far everything is positive but with these kinds of surveys you have to worry that they're just feeding you what you want to hear and not the truth. I really need them to be honest with me if I ever expect to grow as a teacher. I don't quite know how to communicate that I like hearing what is wrong and what they don't like because then I can make sure to either not do it again or change it in some way to make it better.

Another reason why I am a terrible person

I can't help but laugh along w/the students after the counselor slowly walks by with her all green, possibly leather suit and she creaks the whole way extremely loudly.  I blame it on the lack of sleep.

That's the old Woodson we know and love

Well today we had our first real fire.  And apparently it was a doozie because the whole building smells like smoke, and after the fire department was done (which took almost an hour) there was water all over the floors.  The kids being NTB, decided to light a fire on a rainy and cool (if not cold) day.  So we had to stand outside, getting drizzled on, in the cold, for over 2 hours.  And as fun as that was...  Yeah, no.  Bad children.

And it's off

I just sent an email to Michelle Rhee requesting a meeting with her to discuss the future of the Academy.

Wow I am very nervous, but also excited that I am actually trying to be proactive instead of just running from my problems by applying to another school.

While I don't know exactly what she can do, at least I am going to try to fix things before I head for the hills.

UPDATE (8:40 AM): "Sure thing, Angie pls schedule." And with that... we begin.

This can't be healthy

Things that have to get done:

1. Debate Team preparations for meetings
2. Earth Day celebration plans (finalized)
3. Letter to Ms. Rhee
4. Class lessons for 3 different classes
5. Project for AU Assessment Class
6. Project for AU Foundations Class
7. AP Syllabus Submition
8. Junior Class Meeting to discuss change of plans
9. Readings for classes (yeah... right)
10. Prepare for Praxis Pedagogy on April 25 (sorta need that to get my license)
    
11. Survival?
    

Apparently it has been a long day...

The school counselor came in just now to make an announcement and asked "where are all the students? I have been looking around and they're just not in the classrooms. Why is that?" It was 3:35, class had ended 20 minutes prior.

Yeah it was that kind of day...

Poor Leadership

I am tired of being blamed for things that are a result of poor leadership.  I am new to this system, in my second year of teaching, and am being blamed for taking initiative to help students without going through the 'proper' channels.  Now I understand following the rules and I am more than willing to.  But it is hard to do that when you don't know the rules exist.  When I ask my leader a question or inform that leader that I am doing something and they say 'great' and tell me nothing else, then I'm going ahead with what I'm doing.  If a student clears something with that leader then tells me about it later then I assume the leader took care of everything which is why they signed off on the endeavor.  

This "leader" has already driven away a good science teacher.  She's now driving away the math teacher.  And she is certainly driving away me.  And she wonders why this Academy is in constant danger of being closed.

There is a reason I am sending my resume out to schools with real leaders.  I am a beginning teacher, I cannot be expected to run this school, and I need real guidance not just trial by fire (and we'll yell at you when you mess up).  When a group of students comes to you and you tell them about a 'free bus' and tell them to 'write this person' and they do that, don't send me a condescending email (that is cc'd to said students) telling me that I should have written to that person about a free bus and that the students didn't do the letter right.  Why didn't you tell them to tell me, or better yet tell them what should be in that letter?  Why am I all of a sudden the poor, disorganized teacher who has no idea what she's doing (when I didn't even know about this free bus)?  I know it makes her feel better to blame me, because then she takes it off of herself.  But she's driving away the one teacher who is going above and beyond the call of duty, who has taken 4 days off over 2 years, who comes in over an hour early almost every day and stays late, who runs clubs, is always there for her students and actually teaches (and yes the students and I all know that we have maybe 2 or 3 teachers who do that here).  So she is, in her own words, reaping what she sows.

One down, three to go!

I just sent in my cover letter and resume to Banneker SHS. I applied last year and was not hired, but I was given the impression that I was the 2nd choice, which isn't too bad. I teach Saturday School with a teacher who works there and heard that the person they hired over me was fired halfway through the year and now they have a permanent substitute.

This means that my dream position is going to be back on the market. In an attempt to get it once again, I am applying early and worked really hard on my cover letter and CV. I think my application is a lot stronger this year. I have grown a lot as a teacher and taken on a lot of additional roles here at the Academy. I also am getting much more direct in selling myself to Banneker in particular, making sure they understand that I will be a good fit for the long term and not just some kid who plans to go to law school in a few years (not that there's anything wrong w/that, I'm just not that person).

I have three more schools that I will apply to, just to see if anything comes of them, but really Banneker is my top choice. It has the IB program, a strong set of students from around the district, is not a charter school, has a good number of students and has high standards for everyone involved. I can see myself having a long career there and really growing and learning from my fellow staff members and administration. Especially because, by all accounts, it is a school that actually works.

I do feel a little guilty about leaving my students here, especially because the programs I am setting up aren't necessarily short term. But I deserve the chance to work with people who know what they are doing and actually try. People who don't come to work late every day, people who really teach lessons and don't just use the poorly written textbook, faculty who don't do the bare minimum and people who follow school, state and federal regulations and don't discriminate against those that are different. I know I deserve that, and I'm sorry to the students that I may leave behind if I do get offered another position (because I know I would be leaving you behind with nothing), but at some point I have to do something that is for my own benefit, or I may not make it to that long-term goal I see for myself in the future.

Interesting (read: depressing) Stats

Today a new report was released by the District talking about the HIV/AIDS rate in DC.

It is approximately 1:33 and disproportionately affects African Americans

Another interesting statistic I just found out: 2 seniors and 1 sophomore are pregnant in the Academy

We have about 96 students

That means approximately 1:32 students are pregnant (having unprotected sex).

Coincidence?

The Grand Experiment

I know it has been a long long time since I have posted here, and probably nobody is checking it.  Things have been hectic this year and I will go back and write a few posts describing some of the big events of this year.

This post is about my newest informal experiment in student communication: Text Messaging.

I was due for a new phone, so I decided to also get an upgrade to my current plan.  I have noticed that my students text a lot.  Possibly more than they talk.  So what I am going to do is communicate with them the way they are most comfortable communicating.  The cheapest way to accomplish this was to add unlimited text messaging to my phone and then collect all my students cell numbers (on a volunteer basis).  I believe I got about 2/3 of my students to give me their numbers without any incentive, which I would say is pretty good, and for most the only reason I'm not closer to 100% is that the other students are absent. 

I have given them my cell number and have told them they can text me with any questions, comments, concerns, etc. that they have. 

I will also text them reminding them about big assignments, homework, binder checks, to check their email if I send them an assignment, etc.  Some students are also signing on to a "wake up text" where I text them around 7:45 to wake up. 

Due to all this potential texting I bought a phone that has a full keyboard so that I can type much faster.  I also am able to create 'groups' by class so I can send out classroom texts and other things.  If a student goes to the bathroom for too long I can text them telling them to get back to class, etc.

This is an experiment to see if this increases communication and assignments being turned in.  I know not all students will respond to it, but there are quite a few who have proven very responsive already (or at least very excited about the prospect of communicating via texting). 

My plan is to see how it works for this last advisory of the year (which starts right after spring break in 2 weeks) and see if I can find a noticeable difference in work getting turned in and people coming to class on time and prepared.

I will need to see if this will get abused by the students, but I honestly doubt it.  They've had my apartment landline number for a long time and hardly any of them call it, so we shall see.  The great thing about this plan is its flexibility.  If my students don't text me all that much then I can reduce the number of texts I need per month and pay less.  If it doesn't work at all I can just cancel the unlimited text messages.  So there really aren't that many extra costs.  I also can probably write this off my taxes as a business expense (it would have to be proportional to the amount of texts I use for work vs. personal - but that isn't too hard to figure out)

Anyways I am excited to see how things go!  I am going to start posting more regularly in the future, both to track my own progress and to keep people more up to date on what is going on over here in DC.