December 6 Workshop or conference

Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

I attended a one-day workshop in July with Janet Zadina connecting current brain research and education. So often these events are only tangentially related to the work I do but this one was fascinating and applied both to my students and my children so I considered that a plus!

The Neverending Saga

I was going to write a quick, chipper end-of-term post today. Winter term ends tomorrow, we're in the midst of testing (and it's going well), and the kids and I are getting ready for a trip to visit good friends in California. I'm checking things off the to do list and feeling pretty competent.

But when I arrived at work tonight I was met with the very grim face of our Russian speaking resource specialist. While I focus on teaching, her job is to recruit and enroll new students, keep an eye on them while they're enrolled and help with any issues that may arise. She just informed me that New Man (expelled from our program for the second time in February) has been arrested and a couple of his friends (current students in the program) have been called in for questioning. No one seems to know what the charge is but given his volatility I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fight and someone got hurt. He was drunk and got into a fight which was recorded on surveillance cameras.

I know there wasn't much I could do for this kid, at least not without the rest of my students suffering, but I am beside myself tonight, playing the what-if game, and feeling really, really low. Because if I were a good teacher, I could have turned this kid around, right?

Everything New is Old Again

First off, can I just say that I am tired. That's Tired with a capital T. Even though it was a short work week I am completely wrung out after 10 hours of "teacher class". That's how I explained it to my students when I arrived 20 minutes late after I raced across town at the conclusion of Day One. I am not a person who can sit for 5 hours straight, even if it the Next Big Research-Based Results-Oriented Thing in Education. Luckily the workshop leader didn't seem to mind my knitting. There was a lot of serious multicolor doodling going on as well. I'm a hard sell when it comes to people telling me they have The Answer, especially when I can't get a lot of feedback on customizing for my particular students in my unique program. And I don't trust anyone selling education, especially now in the fearful climate created by NCLB. But I got lots of good ideas and perhaps more importantly am now up to speed with the approach my fellow teachers decided to adopt last year so at least I know what they are talking about. Still. Ten hours over two days? Too much. I'm a wreck.

Meanwhile I have bad news. I know a few readers were rooting for New Man. So was I. But he's up to his usual nonsense in his new class. Worse, actually. His teacher gave him a final warning tonight but doesn't have high hopes that he'll suddenly pull himself together. I am really disappointed by this. I wanted to see New Man succeed in our program, I really, really did.

New Man

Winter Term began tonight and it's the smallest class I've had in years so all the anti-immigrant folks should be pleased as punch. Call me a sucker but the boy who made my life a living hell spring term is back in my class. He came by three different times last term, with the sad puppy look going, begging me to let him come back. "I am new man" he told me repeatedly. I made it clear that I would kick him out in a heartbeat if he caused any trouble whatsoever and he swore he would be quiet and work hard. He showed up tonight in a fancy embroidered white shirt--a Turkish atonement garment, perhaps--and did his very best to sit quietly and pay attention. It was almost comical to watch him struggle to control his ever-running mouth. I had to remind him to settle down on a couple of occasions but overall I was pleased with his self control. I like "New Man" just fine. Hopefully he'll make it for eleven weeks.

Disappointed

Last night my class had their midterm. I wasn't there to administer the test as I had called in sick earlier in the day. I'm still sick, but I hate to miss more than one day so I came back tonight only to hear from my assistant that there had been a major issue last night. There was a cheating incident. My assistant actually saw one of the students handing a completed exam back to another student.

Their tests are far from identical and I don't think much copying could have happened before the problem was discovered but I wonder why anyone felt it was necessary. One of these students has been with me for a while and finally agreed to individual tutoring this term. He's been making fantastic progress and I can't understand why he felt the need to cheat.

The irony is that none of my exams even carry any weight until the final exam where they demonstrate their readiness for the next level of classes. This is far from "high stakes" testing, but I do like to get them familiar with testing mode. And that does mean doing your own work.

Most of the time I encourage collaboration in my classes. The students have much to teach each other. But testing is different. The boys will be getting a stern talking to in Russian. I'm not sure what else to do--I don't want to humiliate them, but I feel like there's a need to further clarify classroom expectations. Hopefully they'll get the message clearly so there will be no trouble come final exam time.

Sensitivity...or lack thereof

This morning when I read the daily email from the high school principal I began sputtering indignantly. It seems that this school, which is sorely lacking in extracurricular activities outside performing arts and sports, does have some sort of Christian Club who are asking everyone to join them for a "non-denominational morning of prayer and worship for our school, school district, community, city, nation and world". First of all, I don't like people praying for me and my family if I haven't asked for it, especially if it means praying that I find Jesus. Second of all, hello? It's a public school--what's up with praying around the flagpole? This just drives me crazy. I'm not very kind, am I?

This evening was the first class of fall term. I have a great group of kids who are bright and respectful and mostly quite charming. I was doing my usual first night of the term routine in which I try to act far more enthusiastic and energetic than I really am in the hopes of catching their interest and getting them to come back for day 2. I was working up quite a thirst and took frequent sips from my lovely new water bottle and at one point I noticed one boy looking anxiously at his watch and out the window. And then it dawned on me--I'd been merrily swigging away in front of a young man who'd had nothing to eat or drink since sunrise. I'd forgotten that we Jews aren't the only ones having major festivals these days and Ramadan is once again underway having started on Rosh Hashana. Just a wee bit insensitive, no?

Morons on the Loose

What is the connection between Independence Day and pyromaniac morons? The idiots on our block seemed determined to repeat last year's stellar performance in which their amateur pyrotechnics incinerated the arborvitae hedge across the street, leaving us with this splendid sight every morning:

There's nothing like waking up in Mordor to start your day right.

We've been preparing food to take along tomorrow for a day of picnicking and hanging out at Blue Lake Park, my new favorite July 4th destination. We used to stay home and avoid the crowds but I am happier not being home while the morons set the neighborhood on fire.

We visited Blue Lake Park last year on the 4th and found it delightful. Yes, there are thousands of holiday visitors, but the park is huge and there's room for everyone. There's a vibrant multicultural mix of folks who show up on the 4th and last year we shared the park with Russians, Somalis, Latinos, African-Americans, Southeast Asians and more. The ESL teacher in me loved spending the 4th of July with so many new Americans and the kids had all kinds of fun so back we go tomorrow.

I taught my students about the 4th of July tonight. It was tough finding a reading that was simple enough for them to understand but we worked through a good introductory piece. I admit to getting a bit choked up discussing the word "freedom" when one of my Russian girls suddenly got it and explained that that was why they came to America and there were nods of agreement from many. I know there are a lot of creepy, flag waving, God-Bless-America types out there who've taken over words like freedom, but that young woman's face gave me a new understanding of an idea I thought I'd thoroughly considered.

Now if only we could be free of the incendiary morons on our block....

New Term, Same Problems

Since so many of my troublesome kids failed my class last term (no surprise, they couldn't shut up and study) I started this term in full on scary teacher mode and seem to have terrified a number of my meeker students, especially the new ones. But the usual suspects? Same old behavior.

We use something called a success contract as a means of establishing consequences for inappropriate behavior. A bunch of students started the term on contracts and two have repeatedly violated the terms of their enrollment in my class by talking, yelling, name-calling, and even an episode which could easily be considered assault. So I've kicked two students out and am hoping that this will have a positive impact on my class and we can get down to some serious English now.

I feel really disappointed. I so wanted to get through to these kids, to help them grow up and succeed and thought that if I was patient and firm something would change. I am sure that these two have had nothing but trouble in their lives--the 17 year old boy, I know, is fatherless, and both come from an ethnic group that has suffered decades of discrimination in Russia. Unlike other Russian speaking students we see, the kids from this group have much lower academic skills which no doubt reflects, at least partially, inferior schools. But I can't sacrifice the rest of the class to these kids' issues. While I am looking forward to a more focused class, I am also really sad that I am just one more person failing these kids.

The Final Exams Are Graded...

...and it doesn't look good. Only 6 of 17 students passed which is surely an all time low for my 16 year teaching career. What this means is that every single one of the students I had trouble with this term will be with me next term. My joy knows no limits.

Have I mentioned how much I've enjoyed this term?

My brief one week break will be spent pondering how I can have a significantly different class with the same students. Wish me luck!

I finally did it!

After this miserable term full of troublesome students, I finally kicked someone out of my classroom tonight. I felt some remorse, and he wasn't kicked out for good, just until tomorrow, but it felt good, like I'd finally gotten the attention of this most garrulous and lackadaisical group of students.

I'd listened to this young man kvetch and whine all evening about how he couldn't do this and I needed to do that for him, and he wasn't really interested in being there and it was my fault he wasn't understanding anything. (His English is actually better than that of many of his fellow students and he's quite bright) I tried to explain things to him but he would just talk over me, making wisecracks in Spanish. And then....his phone rang. One of my cardinal rules is that all cell phones need to be turned off in the classroom and nothing sets me off like the little warble of a phone. He actually got up to take the call in the hallway and I asked him to turn the phone off and get to work. I told him that he might as well take his books because if he left the room to take the call, he wouldn't be coming back. He opted to leave.

All the other students stared at the door with wonder and they were very well behaved the rest of the evening. None was more shocked than my number one troublemaker who looked almost hurt that I would send someone else home instead of him.

I always think that if I give these kids one more chance and explain the expectations again that they'll magically straighten up, be quiet, and focus on learning English. And many of them, thankfully, do just that. But there are a few who, given an inch, will take the proverbial mile. This term I seemed to have a super sized portion of those kids. Had I sent someone home weeks ago I wonder if this term would have been such struggle.

Job Related Stress

I'd been meaning to sit down and write a post about work. This term has been very challenging both because I have a bunch of high energy students who are difficult to manage and because my colleagues have decided to revamp the curriculum and make huge, sweeping changes requiring a tremendous amount of additional work. The changes are likely for the good but the process was undertaken in a way what failed to include a number of instructors from the outset and I now find myself frantically racing to get up to speed. Put simply, my job is eating my life.

There are very good reasons why I've consciously chosen to work part time. The most important, of course, are my children whose education and well being are hard to support when I am sitting in yet another meeting away from home. I feel my teaching is also suffering this term as I am spending so much energy and attention on the new stuff and planning that the daily part is suffering. I am stressed and tired and not doing a particularly good job at mothering, teaching, or anything else.

So, while there's plenty on my plate these days, I've had something huge come up that has really shaken me. It seems that one of my college's campuses (and not, thank thank G-d, the one where I work) was closed down yesterday and today due to a note found in a college restroom referencing the recent massacre at Virginia Tech. Honestly, through all the news last week, the nearly non-stop coverage of the tragedy across the country, never once did it occur to me that something similar could happen here. Not once until I got the news about my college. Everything feels completely different today and I find myself jumping at little things like noisy students in the hallway. This is doing nothing for my stress level.