Just a few updates...
I found out today that a fellow teacher is being involuntarily transferred to the least ideal of all assignments. I really wish I didn't know. She won't know for a few weeks. I was chatting with my department head and even though I saw where the conversation is going and literally said, "Don't tell me, I don't want to know." She told me anyway. Later I had to look my friend in the eye while she told me the latest in her saga, all the while knowing how it will end when she doesn't. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. Worse, I keep thinking, "My failure rates are high, too. Will it be me next year who gets sent to teach at the juvenile detention center?" This is awful.
I work in a medium sized urban district. We are on the outskirts of a major city, but we are a city none-the-less. We have 47% of students classified as "economically disadvantaged". The middle class kids are considered the rich kids in the district. The middle class white population is very Appalachian, meaning that family is valued above ALL else, and outsiders are not welcome. Unfortunately, many of the factories and offices have closed their doors in the last 15 years forcing those families to work and move elsewhere. In their place have come transients and low-income residents.
A long time resident of the city once told me she was so proud because, "in ____ you can get the most house for your buying dollar in all of the midwest" according to a study. I didn't have the heart to point out that the flip side was the houses weren't selling and people were forced to lower the prices.
As this change occurs, and the city is becoming more and more like a large inner-city everyday, the powers that be are refusing to see it. Our school board pres has been on the board for 17 years and the previous pres (now vice-pres) has been on for 15 years. They went through our school system, their kids went through, their grandkids went through, and their great grandkids will go through. They have literally stated that it will be the same place for their great-grandkids as is was for them.
For the typical college bound student we are doing a great job. I really believe that students are prepared, academically anyway, by our higher level courses. We have great, dedicated teachers, most of which were born and raised here and want to see the children of their city prosper.
However, about 75% of our students don't go to college, and I'd estimate that half of those don't make it through the first year. As I said, family is the most important thing. For both children and parents, moving away to go to school is almost unbearable and too many (in my opinion) come home within a month, get an entry level job and get started making a family of their own.
Our student pregnancy rate is not as bad this year as in the past, but it's more than at a suburban school. I teach mostly sophmores with a few juniors and seniors thrown in for good measure. This year I've had at least 5 girls who are mothers or soon to be. I had a new girl today (4 weeks before the end of school) who dropped out earlier in the year to have her baby and just returned. Most of my female students (as young as 15) know more about throwing a baby shower than I do. Many girls want to become pregnant, and believe it or not, many parents encourage it. Family is important. It it unfathomable to many of my female students that I am 27 and still childless. They think I'm doing something horribly wrong with my life.
There are many things about this culture that I have come to learn over the 5 years that I have taught here. My experience growing up was so radically different that I spent the first 2 years convinced that they were, quite frankly, backward hicks who weren't too far removed from the hills of Kentucky. I went through a wonderful M. Ed. program that helped me accept the culture as different but not better or worse. I have to remember to support and not judge.
This does not change the fact that the "old regime", as I call them, does not/will not recognize the changes that are occurring right under their nose. They want to pretend that we are a small close knit community and basically ignore the needs of growing section of the community. These students are given their free/reduced lunch form and shoved into low level classes. Football, basketball, and baseball players are given special treatment, to the extent that student takes advantage of it (no matter what the coaches may tell you.)
To be fair their are programs, such as Carpentry, Cosmetology, Teacher Academy, Nursing training, Mechanics, Broadcasting, Accounting, and a few others to help students that are not college bound. Those class however are populated by white students who are part of that Appalachian culture that originally settled this town. Though there's nothing official, of course, outsiders are just not welcome.
Anyway, back to my original point. What was that again??? Failure rates are high, morale is at an all time low, which I didn't think it could get any lower, but here we are. Do assign grades that students didn't really earn just to not risk getting fired? ( I don't have tenure, I wouldn't be transferred, just let go.)
Case in point: Called Fred's mother last week about poor performance. Expected to see a difference, but didn't. Friday Fred fell asleep during an important test. Monday Fred fell asleep again while supposed to be completing same important test WITH A PARTNER. Fred's partner earned a 29/35 while Fred turned in a mostly blank test and earned a 2/35. Today, before class I spoke with Fred about performance and tried to get through to him (even approaching from the angle of sports ineligiblity which could affect scholarship $). I thought that maybe I had made some progress. Later in the period I showed him his midterm grade and explained that I entered a 17.5/35 into the computer and why (see previous post "Tuesday's Rock"). Again Fred seemed to understand and I was pleased that I'd gotten through to him. At the end of the period, Fred says "Can I have a Winnner's Card?" (Awarded for going above and beyond, at then end of each month there is a drawing and students win gift certs. etc. - essentially, the opposite of a detention). I said, "For doing what?" (Polite, not bitchy). After searching for a few moments and coming up with nothing he says "Cause I'm here?" I replied, "It needs to be something above and beyond what is expected, being here is a normal expectation." He says, "Okay, I came to class on time today." "Again," I replied, " something above and beyond what is expected. What you're saying is that you shoudl get a trophy for just showing up to your track meet this afternoon."
His reply, "But Mrs., we do."
And I said, "Maybe that's the problem."
And on that I end it. I was a demoralizing day, but luckily I'm on anti-depressants, so I'm not dreading tomorrow too much. LOL