This week at TSHS was a mixed bag. There were equal parts
instructional time, extracurricular activities, and administrative tasks. I am
not entirely happy about only having 33% of the week dedicated to instruction,
but I suppose this is how some weeks work. The Club Days have been a
particularly sore point for me because I feel like my students and I lose a lot
of momentum by having the week broken up on Wednesdays. It’s like planning for
a two-day week, twice a week, and I have had to re-teach quite a bit of
content. The students typically like the idea of an entire day dedicated to
extracurricular activities, but they do not like the fact that it is mandatory
and that they are not allowed to choose their clubs, for the most part. I think
the students truly see Wednesdays as a waste of time. I tend to agree with
them.
This
Wednesday, however, I made up my mind to use the day to practice some writing.
I’m still eager to help create a school newspaper and advise the students who
participate in this club. A few weeks ago, the newspaper staff agreed to shift
the focus of the publication solely onto sports-related news. My lack of sports
knowledge helped the students understand how to convey news of the football
teams to an audience beyond the school. I began Wednesday by drawing 4 columns
on the whiteboard, and labeled each column: Who, Where/When, Why, What/How.
After the students slowly filtered into the classroom, I asked them what our
team records were. Junior Varsity is at 5-1 and Varsity is at 4-2. I asked why
they thought JV had a better record, and the students immediately began
describing specific games, players, and contributing factors. I wrote down
nearly everything the boys said, and 15 minutes later, they were able to see a
chart of which players performed exceptionally at specific games and why. I put
the students into pairs and asked them to write up short profiles of each
player listed. They actually seemed to enjoy doing that, and by the time the
bell rang, the “staff” had created 5 player profile article drafts, one list of
statistics, and 2 articles on Spirit Week, including an article on the
Homecoming Dance. It was so satisfying.
I
began typing up each draft on a shared Google document, and when the next group
of students arrived, I asked them to help me type up the drafts by reading the
handwritten drafts out loud. We finished typing halfway through the period, and
several students asked if they could also write about specific games and/or
players. I encouraged them to do so, but explained that the deadline for
article submissions was that day. They frantically began writing. I directed
the “photographers” to see my CT, who was working on a layout design and
formatting pictures, and then I called a meeting of the “editors.” We reviewed
the shared document together, clarified and corrected mistakes, and added
missing information to the drafts. I explained how a shared document works, and
they were happy to be given editing rights to the copy. One student even used
his lunch hour to edit and add another article! Amazing.
I’m
certain that we can have an issue ready to publish by next Friday, and I’m also
certain that once students see their names in print, they will become more
motivated and find a meaningful purpose for the
waste-of-time-disguised-as-important-Club Days. I sure hope so.
The
week also included some instructional and administrative victories, such as
finding a way to teach vocabulary in a way that doesn’t make my students cringe
(we played Charades), planning out the next three weeks of instruction (I’m
taking over entirely on October 23rd!), and showing a few
administrators what I can really do to help the school (I created a classroom
website). I feel really good about how I’m doing this job, particularly the
things I have control over.
BUT,
the brighter the picture is, the darker the negative is. There are so many
things I have no control over, nor am I allowed to offer any input on, and
there were three issues that I really wanted to speak up on. The truth behind
my school’s “100% graduation rate” is an ugly one. I overheard a few teachers
discussing the possibility of kicking out a few students due to failing grades
and lack of cooperation. They implied that the graduation rate for TSHS is 100%
because the administration kicks out any students that may tarnish that record.
It’s a disgusting, depressing, and ridiculous action for a school to take, and it shows that the administration has a
profoundly misplaced sense of what is truly important in the field of
education.
Later
on in the week, I wished a particularly difficult student a happy birthday. In
the beginning of the year, he had no direction, no motivation, and no respect.
He had even gone as far as to curse out the principal for grabbing his arm. After
a few weeks of working with him, he had made amazing progress academically and
socially. He worked harder because he knew that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be
allowed to play football, which he told me was his passion. On his birthday,
this Wednesday, he was kicked out of the school for refusing to participate in
the St. Francis Day all-school field trip scheduled for Thursday. He claimed he
was not Catholic, and that the day would not mean anything to him [deleted content] and the principal kicked him out
of school. I wanted to find him, and tell him everything would be okay. I
wanted to tell him that he did (almost) everything right, and that sometimes
the world isn’t fair, but we have to deal with it. I wanted to beg him not to
go back to the gang he told me he was a part of. Most of all, I wanted to tell
him that I would speak to the principal on his behalf. I did none of those
things, and I wonder how long I’ll carry around this regret.
To add
insult to injury, the administration had scheduled individual conferences with
all of the teachers this week, and I was shocked to find out that my CT had
received a less-than-favorable review. When I discussed her review with her,
she was inconsolable. It seemed that the principal told her she was not a “team
player” and that she should consider whether or not this school was a “good
fit” for her. The principal commended her on her lesson plans, instructional
style, and grading procedures, but gave her the impression that she might not
be a good employee because she doesn’t “monitor the hallways during her
off-periods.” My CT reminded the principal that she was mentoring a student
teacher (me) and that we spend every free period planning, discussing, and
cultivating instructional interventions for our students. Apparently, mentoring
a student teacher is no excuse for not being a hall monitor.
This
particular situation angers me because now I need to make sure my CT doesn’t
regard me as a nuisance, a chore, or
a possible reason for losing her job. I have been quiet about the many, many
faulty policies the principal has implemented, and if she wants to run her
school into the ground, that’s her business. If she is looking to sabotage my Student Teaching experience, that is
unacceptable. I have worked too hard to allow one administrator take away my
livelihood. 
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