The Girls

"You get on the bus and it takes you where it wants to go". A wise and funny teacher I worked back in the 90s announced this one day as I was walking down the hall to sign in for another day of teaching. He was a funny guy who had the knack of hitting the nail right on the head at just the right time. I think of his comment often as my week unfolds. It is rare that a week goes by in which what I expected to happen, happens. I often feel like a pawn in a drama that I can't quite keep up with and so, I end each week with my mind exhausted yet, unable to rest. 

The theme of this week was the Palestinian girls with A3 in the lead. They all have names that start with A so for convenience, I am putting them in age order. They youngest, A3 is 15 is and a bit on the wild side. Her name means lion in Arabic so if you know Arabic, I may have breached confidentiality regarding her first name anyway. Of course I have read about the many Muslim communities and am aware that my readings don't begin to scratch the surface of this multifaceted people under the umbrella of this heading, Muslim. Is it only a religion? Is it a culture? Much more to understand. And as a Jew who has a modicum of understanding when it comes to Israel, I feel obligated to better understand our Arab brothers and sisters, with whom we fight mercilessly, or not. Perhaps God has put these girls in my path to bring me toward understanding.

So here they are, the three of them. A1 is of Palestinian descent. She was born in New Jersey but spent the last two summers in "my country", the first of those summers  for the double wedding of her 30 something uncles to teenage sisters. The second of those summers for the wedding of her older sister. I have known A1 since 2009. I was her 8th grade teacher. She can be a real pistol but this only adds to my fondness for her. Her presence in this group has added to the turmoil of late because of a falling out she had with A2 and A3. The falling out had to do with a boy, as falling outs often do. The boy is from Yemen and has been A1's not so secret boyfriend for going on three years now. Everyone in our program knows. A1's parents do not. Of late, it seemed she had become jealous, of any bit of attention her not so secret beau, paid to these girls, A2 and A3

Class has been tense lately. "The girls" as we call them, A2 and A3 have become the enemies of A1. It seems to have started, or come to a head when A1 and M were absent on the same day only to be bombarded upon their return by A3 accusing, demanding, wondering if they'd been together. A1 has a very private side to her. She calls herself shy, often. She became furious. They have been either arguing, or ignoring each other, since. No, not true. Let me rephrase. A1 is happy to ignore them. A3 cannot accept A1's rejection. It's turmoil if I am not the most structured of my entire career. I get stomach aches before my 90 minutes with them ( did I mention that there are 9 other students in the room with about 5 varied languages?)

Computer projects sometimes keep the peace. We do a lot of them and as long as all computers work, I can keep peace running between 11 students. Today A3's computer isn't working. The iPad is hooked up to the projector. "There you go, A3, just use that"  I am engaged in helping another student when my oral student O accuses A3 of making fun of him. I look over at her busily working on the IPad which is projecting and see that she has changed my keyboard to Arabic. In her newly acquired unclear ASL mixed with Arabic signs, she tells me that she was just showing O that she can use the Arabic keyboard and google translate to type in English. Well done! Clever girl! O is relieved  that he isn't being made fun of and I go back to helping C. A minute later I look up at the screen where I see projected in large typed letters: HELL TO YYYSRAEL. . . After my initial shock, I say something like "NO, NO, YOU ARE NOT TO TYPE THAT! " as I head quickly to the projector to remove it. She says, "Why not?" and mimics a soldier shooting a machine gun in a sweeping motion.  

This was not the end of it. Days and weeks went by.  Language improved and so followed, communication. They were able to tell me things about their life in Palestine, their move to a safer, Jordan, their move back to an improved Palestine. The older, A3 wrote a short essay on peace and how much had improved over the years with their neighbor, Israel. They told me of jewish women who came and taught them some English.  Their were some other tense moments but countering that was our growth together and continued understanding. A1 made up with the girls. Her boyfriend convinced her that it was a "haram" (shame, forbidden) for her not to help the girls with her friendship. We all grew but Oh, what a moment it was for this Jewish lady looking up and seeing those words on her screen, "Hell to Israel", however misspelled.

Not Common Core Lesson Plans

It is Saturday morning which is the time I do what I want for fun. So is it strange that this teacher is searching for lessons on the internet? I don't say this to further the argument that we teachers, while getting great vacation time throughout the school years and summers off, work far more than the traditional 40 hour week. It's not about that here. It's about this teacher's preoccupation with whatever she is teaching. And right now I am trying to create a unit on world geography. Actually not world geography but rather more simply, where in the world we are, and where in the world we came from (more recently than not). So I have tried searching geography lesson and I have tried searching map lessons but I am not interested in teaching the 5 themes of geography right now and I am not interested in teaching longitude and latitude right now either. What I want to do is fairly simple. I want my 11 students from Haiti, Palestine, Yemen, Mexico and of course the U.S of A to know the globe and I suppose more specifically political boundaries, as they exist today on a 2013 map of the world.  I want them to know WHERE. And I don't care a damn about any of this being connected to the Common Core. If by chance it is, well I will let it go. But I would like to know whatever happened to knowledge for knowledge's sake.

We are fond of candid interviews with usually young people on the street being asked, by a comedian or a talk show host, basic knowledge questions. Recently, Jimmy Kimmel made it big with his question, "which do you prefer Obamacare or The Affordable Care Act?" I was proud of my class of 11 for knowing that they are one in the same. I was proud of myself too for all the work I did prior to,
 and during the government shut down, that helped them be allegedly more knowledgeable than the man or woman on the the street. Were those lessons tied to the common core? I don't know and I don't care. My students learned the facts because we went over them again and again and answered their questions along the way. Was "critical thinking" involved. Sure, I made them think about the difference between a right and a privilege when talking about various things including of course, healthcare.  Some of them got that part, some didn't. Did I "differentiate" for every person in the room? Probably not. Did I try? Well yes, I always do try to, at the very least, help everyone to feel included. But did I plan 11 different lessons for 11 different learning styles and their 5 or so different languages? Well no, I didn't. Please don't tell the "reformers"!!! I am sorry to diverge. This was supposed to be about my geography/map/where unit.

The conclusion I have come to in my 30 something years of teaching is a quote which I am unable to remember who to attribute it to,  something like "everything works and nothing works" and that has kept me going through this long haul. The billionaire boy profiteers (with some nasty female's supporting) have come out in the guise of fixing all of this. They purport that there is a way, an answer and that it is all about finding it. Their evidence is all the many billions they have made as marketers, business people, and entrepreneurs. They would like to graft on some formula to education while appearing like philanthropists so to further fill their already bulging pockets. They Have convinced themselves that they are good people searching for a formula that exists. They are sorely wrong. There is no formula and all the goals and objectives written on a lesson plan will not supersede this truth. People learn all kinds of intentional and unintentional things while sitting in a classroom and starting that process with facts isn't a bad idea at all. So here I am wasting my time with this rant while I could be forming that factual lesson. What are the seven continents of the world? Identify than on a blank map. Memorize them. What are the 5 oceans? Memorize them. In what country were you born? Identify it on a map. In what country were your parents, grandparents born? What are the neighboring countries? Identify them on a map. In what continent are those countries? Where do you live now? What are the neighboring countries? In what continent are they ?And for a bit of fun, what country would you like to visit? Then we could do a little travel project. How would I get there and how much would it cost. . .just for fun. Oops we've forgotten all about fun! I wonder if it's in the Common Core.

On Cochlear Implants

A former favorite student of mine, Maggie, asked me to make this public. Here is the essay for which she won first place :

                      “My opinion about Cochlear Implants”

My opinion about Cochlear Implant is important because I experienced it myself. As child five years old, I was not involved in deciding to get my Cochlear Implant. My parents decided that. I believe that they should not implant a child under 5 years old because I think they need to wait until the child gets old enough to decide.

The American Speech and Language Association explains,“ Children and adults with a severe to profound hearing loss who cannot be helped with hearing aids may be helped with cochlear implants. This type of hearing loss is sensorineural, which means there is damage to the tiny hair cells in the part of the inner ear called the cochlea. Because of this damage, sound cannot reach the auditory nerve. With a cochlear implant, the damaged hair cells are bypassed, and the auditory nerve is stimulated directly.”

People think that getting a Cochlear Implant will make it easy for understanding speech. False! Maybe they can hear sound but that does not mean they can understand the words. They need a lot practice. I experienced that. I went to speech everyday in school.  I tried hard! I never felt successful.  I did not understand all, only some.  I felt mostly frustrated.

People think that a Cochlear Implant will make it easy to talk. False! I couldn’t say  “K”. Saying syllables was really hard for me. Sometimes I felt successful. Sometimes I felt angry and frustrated. I experienced this from five years old to now. I want to practice so that I can communicate better with my hearing family and friends but I can’t be hearing.  

If a baby is born deaf parents should wait until the child is older and then ask them if they want a Cochlear Implant.  The child needs to understand about speech and hearing practice and that it is hard. They need to be involved. Please, do not give small babies Cochlear Implants!

Keep them Busy

Some of the best ideas I have come up with as a teacher have been on the spot. If a reformer gets their hands on this, they can cart it out as further evidence that there are bad teachers abound. Thinking on your feet, not preparing every moment of your time with the kids using a painstaking formula which includes critical thinking, test prep and exit tickets is clearly why we as a nation are failing to compete with Finland or Japan. We all know that. Gates is still working on the magic formula.The Danielson model is being put into place to make sure bad teachers like me are rooted out and punished.  We can all learn from the Salem Witch Trial. The hunt continues. Enough said! Following is a collection of my best filler activities. Activities that keep an over crowded classroom calm, activities that were often carted out in desperation, activities that turned out to be fun and interesting despite the fact that I hadn't thought them through, that I hadn't figured out what exactly my goal was,  ones that showed their worth after the fact in a pleasant surprise that can come from a little spontaneity. Please use what I came up with and add your ideas to the list. Just don't let this get in the hands of those witch hunters. To be continued 

Between the Chairs

Having returned to high school teaching after a four year hiatus of teaching in Middle School, I was given an advisory filled with students who I would not be teaching but rather just trying to manage once a day. The task got easier as the year progresses as the students increases their truancy behavior but the first few days went like this:

Between the Chairs

It was my second day of homeroom, or what we now call advisory. I was trying my best to advise and establish my authority simultaneously. We all know a teacher cannot be a student’s ‘friend’; mentor yes, but friend, no (at least until they graduate high school then if I liked you, ‘sure, find me on Facebook’) There are eight children, young adults, learners, what we used to call students in my room. . . eight out of the thirty listed on my role sheet.  We are in an ‘extended advisory’ so that the school can accommodate walk ins, so that students can fill out roster change forms, so that we can be sure all of our learners will be where they need to be to complete, compete and succeed, so that we are sure to have 'left no one behind,' so that we can 'win the race', so we can get to the top. The students before me are not happy to be here. They have all completed a year of high school and yet they are again in a ninth grade advisory. Is this a scheme to leave them behind? This one went to summer school and passed. Another went to a charter school and failed (“75 was an F!”) About our school, one girl claims, “ I missed three days”...and they failed me”. Each one has a story, a defense, a reason, an excuse.  I was trying to be sympathetic, while helping them to fill out the necessary papers while still of course asserting my rather new authority.  I am a seasoned teacher, they are seasoned students, but we are all new to each other on this second day. And did I mention that most of them are angry?

This advisory took place in another teacher’s classroom. Our building is too small to accommodate a separate space for each class of students.  So, a teacher must give up her space during her preparation period to make it work. She can leave, carting all her stuff to the cafeteria or library hoping she has not forgotten something essential to the optimization of her production in this window of time called prep (fought hard, and won for back in 1972) or she can stay in her room and try to work through the background noise of the invaders. My host teacher has decided to stay. She allows no eating in her classroom, “... no, not even pumpkin seeds. . . especially not pumpkin seeds!” I continue to try to assert my authority, my authority about her rules. The third time the skinny little boy takes out his pumpkin seeds to share, I lose it a bit, I raise my voice, I sound angry; not good, now they are all mad, too. This is the very moment, the principal’s voice comes over the loud speaker: morning announcements, things we all need to hear. They’d gone OK yesterday. "Please rise for the pledge". No one does. Attempt to assert authority, “You must stand even if you don’t pledge! Two stand. Again, “ Stand now!"  Nasty things said. The one I remember or hear too clearly amongst the blather: “I’m not standing, I don’t support America, I want to go fight for Iraq! ”

I suppose this is our fault. We have left them behind.

Recognition

Seasoned teachers are under assault these days. After 30 years of doing this, I have come to terms with the fact that recognition is rare and will come only from a few students, some of their parents, close colleagues and possibly our own families (though my husband has sadly become quite tired of my student stories). I see myself as a tough old gal though Omar was nice enough to tell me today that I don't look THAT old yet.  At a recent reunion, I had a gang of former students thank me. That felt great. Another  former student, now a father,  brings his sweet little girl over to see me now and again. Last time he was there, he told my carpenter that I was the best teacher in the world, kind of awkward for my carpenter who rarely speechless mumbled something like, "yeah, great people." In this present climate of scapegoating, the less said about us the better, I suppose. But then why does a part of me still, after all these years, harbor a hope of some formal recognition? It feels almost pathetic. On the NEA site I saw this:  http://classroomsuperheroes.com/ and wished for just a second that someone might elect me. Perhaps I should ask my carpenter. 

Mohamed

Am I being unfair or un-American if I say that my immigrant students, for the most part, work way harder than my ‘made in America’ lot?  Sorry but this is my anecdotal opinion.  Take for example my student who recently arrived from Yemen.  If you share the topical concern that teachers have become lazy, bring in Mohamed. When I recently gave his class an opportunity to relax for a minute after killing the present tense verb  ‘to be’ he said, “No thank you, please move on to ‘was and were.’ A twenty-year-old, hard-of-hearing boy, who told me the first day of class, “I am here to learn English” and when making connections sometimes signs half to me, half to himself, (with pure delight, I must add), “I am learning!” Does it get much better than that for us teachers? I think not. I don’t want to go off into some inspirational dribble about the thrill of seeing those little lights go on but feel compelled to mention here, with the present state of educational affairs, that this is the rare occurrence on which we poor teachers still set our hearts and minds. So I must thank the Mohameds of this world for while they may be draining our resources (especially those who have made it here illegally) they sure could teach a few of their homegrown counterparts what it just might take to succeed.