High Points

In lieu of our bi-weekly treasure chest ... just thought I'd share.

*In the last three weeks, I've had two days when I was a really good teacher. It's sure not an every day occurrence, but it can't happen again before it's happened once.

*Reggie Barnes says that I'm "captivating" (I guaranTEE you my students would vehemently disagree) and, more importantly, says I'm creating an environment in which my kids feel structured, comfortable, and understand that my expectation is for them to learn.

Ann told me this summer that my smile makes her want to learn (Ann's pretty cute). Anyway, Reggie Barnes said basically the same thing, about "projecting enthusiasm for teaching." If I got nothin else, at least they know I'm in it for the right reasons.

In other good news ... I gotta admit, they're kind of starting to grow on me. My first block was MAGNIFICENT today, I told them I was being evaluated on Tuesday (and bribed them with the promise of cookies for a good eval) and they were PRECIOUS, like they always participate and stuff (I know, I know, how lucky did I get with the IB kids) but they were SO CUTE, y'all, like winking at me behind his back and vying for participation points and humoring me when I made them re-raise their hands when they said "oooh!" at the same time, awwwww. :)

way to be, first block. Second block was good (I made my french kids make up signals for each new verb that we learned and they were so cute and creative, and I told two of the guys they'd get extra points for making me up a "conjugating-regular-er-verbs" song), and third block kind of sucked, but ... 8 weeks in, and on no sleep as usual ... 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

And I know that that's not good enough. Because I know that every child in that third block class deserves exactly as much as every child I have in any other class, and 2 out 3 doesn't do THEM any good. And, realistically, there are a lot of things I could be doing better. But I'm doing as much as I can and staying sane, and I'm improving. I'm getting it. slowly, certainly, but I'm making progress. And that's really about the most I could ask.

In other happy news ... the guys I roll with told me (and I quote) that I am going to be a BadA** one of these days. Rock on. My kids asked me why I had a bruise, I told them that I get beat up a couple hours a night a few times a week (gotta stop wearing those short-sleeved shirts). THIS is why I needed to be in Jackson (thank you, Ben). Cause that's the stuff that keeps me sane. yay for Jim Hill and getting lucky (I mean my PLACEMENT, y'all!) and getting just down and dirty with a bunch of guys who don't even KNOW my last name. ROCK ON.

Livin for today and may tomorrow never come, but if it does I'll be writing my last objective on the board right as the bell rings as usual. Back to the same old routine.

I just might could get used to this. ^_-

A Framework for Understanding Poverty Blog

My reaction to Payne's notes at the end of every chapter on "what does this information mean in the school or work setting" gradually shifted from, "oh, I should try this" (when it's under my control) to "well if I tried to do ALL of this, when would I get ANYTHING ELSE DONE?"

Everybody has great ideas, and everybody wants to take up a bunch of your class time to implement them until the next education guru comes along and shifts the system again. We get this all the time, right?

But, in this case, first of all I understand that a lot of the time you'd be teching content along WITH these additional skills and second ... what good is it to my students, honestly, to know that Frost wrote "Fire and Ice" if they, as Payne suggests, are eliminated from job interviews in the first two or three minutes, not for lacking the necessary skills but simply for being unable to present themselves in a way that is socially acceptable and recognizable? Maybe the better question is how am I going to teach them all these necessary life skills when I'm so bound to the English I curriculum.

Throughout the book I was impressed with how dead-on Payne's lists were of expectations for student behavior "do the students in your school exhibit the following characteristics ...?" Well, yeah. One thing that I never would have thought about is the emphasis on whether or not the student LIKES us as teachers. Of course coming from the middle-class achievement-oriented mindset my emphasis in school was always on MY performance, but Payne notes again and again that, because these children depend most strongly on their relationships, they will only work hard if they LIKE YOU. Not sure how to deal with this one, but point made.

We talked in class last week about what speakers we wanted to hear from, and Elias made a good point; we know these kids are IN poverty, now what do we DO about it? I guess here's a place to start. Because for all of the heartwrenching situations in this book, some of the most critical resources these kids need, according to Payne, are things that WE CAN GIVE THEM. I'm not sold on everything she says (splitting kids into low- and high-achieving groups, for example), but I'm definitely sold on the idea that our students need a lot more than money to break the cycle that they're in, that even if they GOT money it wouldn't necessarily help (love the story about the family who sold the refrigerator to go camping), and that we can at least attempt to teach them, in the schools, and yes, even on a teacher's salary, some of the acceptable ways to interact with our sort and some key emotional strategies for making it work for them in real life. "In the final analysis," Payne says, "as one looks back on a teaching career, it is the relationships one remembrs."

Well, I could have told you that much. Here's to building relationships that will make a difference in the lives of our students, and in the best of all possible worlds, in the lives their families for generations to come.

Unexpected Surprises

A veteran teacher at my school who I don't even know very well came by to chat this Thursday after school. One of those calm cool and collected types, very chill, very professional, and very much a breath of fresh air in my perpetually unfinished, ragtag, messy little classroom.

We just hung out for a while, and basically I don't think I shut my mouth a single time, and it's been a long time since I've met somebody new who I could just TALK to like that. And he just listened, and told me a little bit about himself, and tried to help me with all my problems (somehow in the FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF SCHOOL I've already managed to create potentially antagonistic relationships with 2 of the 3 "most important people in the school" according to every knowledgable source -- eep!). It helped put a lot of things in perspective for me. I think I'm just a teensy bit less insane now.

Also, shout-out to Elizabeth for clearly being one of those people who does actually give a d***.

Yay for people who care.