Well, I survived my first long week as a teacher. Friday ended on a great note when my seventh period class of delinquents actually behaved and produced some work for me. In that class alone, out of 35 students, 23 of them have over 15 disciplinary referrals, and they are only in the 10th grade. However, one is 18 and one is 17 so I guess they have been around a while. They are amazingly low performers. They have no idea how to spot a simile or a metaphor and repeatedly misuse words - Where for Wear; hear for here. In the first week alone I have thought to myself, "Well, I can just give them busy work until I can figure out how to reach them." I have thought and said just about everything I told myself I would never do. I yelled "Be quiet" yesterday after repeatedly asking them to "listen up." They responded to a yell when a respectful request would not work. I am going to point this out to them later on, when I know them better.
Public school - at least at McIntosh - has the feel of a prison. Adults standing around ordering those in the hall to move along. I was not prepared for the barriers the kids put up between me and them. They view me as the enemy, not to be trusted, and hold me at arms length. There are a few who have already declared me the "nicest teacher in the school," and allow me to help them. I caught one boy spitting on the floor in my class and I said, "Tyler, do you know that there is a little old lady that comes through here and cleans up these classrooms. She is someone's mother. Would you want your mother to have to clean up someone's spit?"
"Yes maam" he responded, "because my mother is a piece of low life trash."
"No she is not," I said, and the girl sitting next to him said "Yes she is Ms. Taylor. You just don't know. His grandmother has him now and it is the best thing that ever happened to him."
What do you say to that? I told him that he can change his life and what his mother does is not his fault. Maybe he will believe me. He just got back from the alternative school and I really hope I can help him. But there are so many! It is truly overwhelming. I never dreamed it would be this hard, but the moments that you see some progress outweigh the bad. Things like, "Ms. Taylor, Ms. Boyd went over this last year and I never understood it, but you make it so easy." I can see why teachers return again and again to overcrowded classrooms and lousy pay. Next week we study the Puritan writers and begin introducing The Crucible. I will keep you updated.
I forgot to tell you where the "Word Work" sign came from - Tony Morrison's Nobel Prize acceptance speech - "Word work is sublime . . . "
5 comments:
I think you should watch the movie Lean On Me. I think it would encourage me if I was a teacher. I love to hear your stories from the classroom. I was in Target tonight and I saw a pencil holder that said, "My Favorite Teacher." I thought of you and JJ.
I'm glad you're getting through to some of the students. It's only your first full week and you've already had break throughs. You'll reach them all. There will be a Lifetime movie about your life and your impact on the students.
So who do you want to play you in your Lifetime movie?
Brandi- I was going to buy it, but questioned if I would be the only one to like it. I think it would have been a sound buy. If only time was mine to rewind.
Oooh! Wouldn't it be cool if you did have a Lifetime movie?! Seriously, though, you are reaching these kids just by showing that you care. They may never say thank you, but there will be a time in their lives when they reflect on their experiences with you and I'm certain that they'll appreciate all you did for them. I know it's hard, though. You spend so much time with them that you begin to love them dearly while also wanting to strangle their little necks. At this point, though, they usually end up loving you, too.
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