It’s that time of the year

And I’m not participating. I’m talking about back-to-school. Today is actually the first day of school for a neighboring school district just a few blocks to the west of me. The large urban school district for whom I taught all those years returns in another week and a half as does the state college here in town. Teachers every where are heading back to their offices and classrooms to prepare for the net onslaught.

Yesterday I had lunch with a young teacher whose friendship I made through her blog.  We learned, over the years, that we had much in common. She had another life before becoming a teacher, similar to me; she is a fairly new teacher, just up the highway a piece, and somehow we discovered that she and my son-in-law had grown up together.  She likes to write, and she likes to use technology in her classroom. Although young enough to be my daughter, we had a good time chatting about teaching, students, hair, and all the other stuff that makes up a life. She returns to school tomorrow. I hope she has a great year. She deserves it.

As do so many of my teacher friends who are working so hard to make this teaching thing  a success for their students. They have started to prepare for those students even while the summer heat lingers and the days are still long. My old teaching buddy is coming by on Friday to get a brief lesson on PhotoShop as she will this year teach one period of multimedia, a class I taught the last two years of my career. It’s all about photography, document layout, web design, and video. Lots of equipment involved. More software than I care to remember. Juggling so many projects, students, and flash drives!

My last day in the multimedia classroom.

From TGIF to OMG

My Facebook friends, and others whom I know, and myself when I was teaching, all give the Friday rally call of TGIF. Thank God it’s Friday. Exhausted, ready for the weekend, seeking some time to ourselves. Except now, my husband and I wake up, and when we realize it’s Friday, it’s OMG, how did it get to be Friday ALREADY.

I think I’ve figured this out. When teaching, I was working so hard all week and each day was measured, but none of the time was my own. Now, every day is my own, and although I have worked all week, it’s been on activities that excite me.

I had one meeting this week, and I could hardly believe two hours flew by and I needed to get home so I could fix dinner. I spent hours doing research and making phone calls for the microfinance startup where I am working a couple of days a week yet I also had time to bake and cook. Terry and I took off on Wednesday and drove to Yosemite just to see God’s wonders in our own backyard.

Half Dome viewed from Taft Point

I edited photos and uploaded a batch to Flickr. And this morning we woke up and said, “Oh my gosh, it’s Friday. We only have two days left in Fresno to get a whole lot of work done. How did that happen?”

Today I am taking the chicken enchilada dish I prepared yesterday and heading back to the inner city high school for another birthday party for one of my teaching buddies. I know they will all be tired and ready for a weekend as this was an insane week for them what with grade distribution thrown in there on top of all the other work they have to do. I remember that week so well that it still makes me ache when I think about it. I, on the other hand, am well rested, and filled with ideas for the work I will do next week–writing a piece for the Laotian medical nonprofit for whom I volunteer, continuing my pursuit of an SMS provider for the microfinance startup, and talking with an organization for whom I may do some tutoring. OMG, Life is so exciting.

The freshmen academy is changing

School remodel

Originally uploaded by dkzody

Just two years ago the district, with Quality Education Improvement Act (QEIA) funds, remodeled the bungalows and turned this eyesore into a beautiful spot on campus for just the freshmen. Those students who had come before were jealous of the nice rooms and extra attention the Class of 2012 was getting. The freshmen weren’t too sure they liked the extra attention.

It took lots of money to make this special set-up work. All the freshmen were kept in one area of the campus so those teachers who did not teach freshmen were dispersed to other whalls across campus. Teachers who taught freshmen classes moved to the south side as did the ninth grade vice principals and counselors. They had their own offices, along with support personnel.

For two years this worked pretty well. The freshmen were contained in one area, with the same rules in every class, high expectations and rewards for meeting them. There were special lunches, after school ice cream socials, and a veggie garden was planted. The teachers were pleased with the results they were seeing with these kids. Test scores even moved up a little.

Fast forward to 2010 when the economy has tanked, California has no budget, and the cutbacks to schools have been severe. The counselors and vice principals are being moved back to the main offices because the support staff has been removed. This year things will be different.

I won’t be at the inner city school to watch firsthand, but I have friends who are still in the trenches and they will keep me apprised. I will write some follow-up posts as I learn more. I still care deeply about this place.

After the school year ended

Learned today that district cuts were still being made after we closed up for the summer.  Office workers and other clerical types continue to work through June, and some year round, so it turned out that while we went off to vacation, the district was cutting deep into the classified staff.  By July 1 many positions had been eliminated, thus bumping those with seniority down into other jobs wherein those employees either bumped others, lost hours, or were eliminated altogether.

Some of those who were affected decided to take retirement, but I don’t know if they got the nice bonus that was given to those of us who decided early on to leave.  I seriously doubt it if the cuts were due to budget woes.  California, as some of you may know, is in serious financial trouble.  As of July 1, there was no budget, so all state workers’ salaries were cut to the federal minimum wage.  I don’t even know what that is, but it’s sure lower than the state’s minimum wage of $8.50.  That scream that you hear from the left coast, just all the state workers voicing their displeasure.  The state also said it’s not sending any money to schools until there is a budget.  We don’t do budgets well here in California so who knows when this will happen.  Another reason for the scream.

Not the teacher of the year

I just read this on Yahoo:

A high school English teacher from Iowa who incorporates everything from singing to Facebook in her lessons has been recognized by President Barack Obama as the nation’s top teacher.

Obama introduced Sarah Brown Wessling on Thursday in a ceremony in the Rose Garden.

“Her students don’t just write five-paragraph essays, but they write songs, public service announcements, film story boards, even grant proposals for their own not-for-profit organizations,” the president said, adding that one of Wessling’s students reported that learning in her classroom was never boring.

Ok, I don’t get it.  My students do all sorts of unusual assignments and are never bored. I’ve done this for 21 years in an inner city school, with lots of success, yet I’ve never gotten any awards for doing my job.  I just came in and did the work that I thought was necessary.  I’m sure there are many more teachers just like me, out there, toiling in obscurity, believing in what we do, doing great things for kids.  But, no award for us.

The last day of testing, sort of

I’m sitting here, waiting to start our last test–social science.  Since I have the juniors, they will be taking the U.S. History test.  It’s a very short test, only 90 minutes, but they have given us 3 hours.  I cannot explain.

Two of the boys picked up breakfasts.  The school feeds the kids each testing morning.  The breakfasts are packaged and packaged again.  So much waste.  Each box contains an apple, that most of the kids refuse to eat and throw away.  One morning the boxes had muffins, yesterday was peanut butter bars, and today the muffins have returned.  I think they got smart and sliced the apples.  Kids will eat apple slices but not a whole apple.

I wait an extra half hour so all the students have arrived before I hand out the testing material.  It’s such a short test and we have so much time to take it.  The kids get very antsy at the end of the long morning, being cooped up in one room, and I can’t blame them.  I want to go outside, too.  I think all of this testing is cruel and unusual punishment for all of us.

I am testing juniors and they will finish today, but the sophomores have one more science test to take tomorrow.  I cannot tell you why they add on an additional science exam, but we will still have a crazy schedule tomorrow to accommodate that test.  My seniors have planned a brunch for the long time period, and when I told this class of those plans, they wanted to do likewise.  However, I am not their teacher and they are unsure Mr. V would let them.  I told them to get it planned, with a signup sheet, and show him this afternoon that they have it all planned and ready to go.  One of the more outspoken boys said, “yeah, put up or shut up.”

the last big, giant, humongous state test

for me, anyway.  I am proctoring the junior Marketing Academy students while their social science teacher hangs out with the seniors.  We work well as a team this way.

The school broke the test into five days over two weeks.  Last week was math and science.  Today is language arts, tomorrow is social science, and Thursday, just for sophomores, is another science test.  While the underclassmen toil over these all-important tests, the seniors are out playing and having a good time.  Their testing days, at the high school level, are over.  No one cares if they know anything now, just if they graduate and go on to a 4-year college.  Those are all the numbers that get put in the pot, shaken and stirred, and then released to the local media to spread all over their pages and screens, telling the world how good, or bad, we teachers are at what we do.

I will read the results from afar this fall, checking to see how well this school did, how well these particular students did.  I still have a vested interest in the results although I won’t be around to see how many graduate, how many go on to 4-year colleges.  These students are the last of the kids I will test.

Running as fast as I can

It was a busy weekend, going to San Francisco on Saturday and heading back home on Sunday after church in San Mateo and a short visit with our grand daughter and daughter.  I had to get home to make caramel corn and wash some clothes so I could return to school on Monday with a treat for my department and something to wear.

Monday was a minimum day with WASC work in the afternoon.  The classroom demands were not pressing since we were just getting started.  Yearbook, though, was another matter.   I worked on those underclass pages last week but I desperately needed more pictures to finish the junior section.  The staff tried to find photos we hadn’t already used, but we still needed over 30 additional pictures.

I have new students in word processing and multimedia classes.  They are keeping me busy bringing them up to speed.  Some power crazed person turned off the refrigerator in our office so it was defrosted and full of mold.  That took some cleaning up.  One of the Xerox machines in our office died over the break.

Our department secretary discovered a freshman in the hallway wearing pants that had tears in them, a dresscode violation.  In locating a parent to call, the secretary found that this little girl is the daughter of one of our former students, class of 1993.  This previous student dropped our program in her senior year because she didn’t like me.  I was too hard.  Unfortunately, the freshman doesn’t live with the former student.  We don’t know what happened, but she is now a foster child, and she didn’t even know her mother had attended the same school where she is attending.  I felt so sad to hear this.

We are back and running fast.

New student? I don’t think so!

It was the beginning of 7th period.  The multimedia class was just starting and I needed to give some final directions for a project that would be due at the end of the week, three days away.  In walks a boy I have never seen before who stands right in front of me at the whiteboard where I am attempting to teach and hands me a small blue admit slip.  These slips are given in the office for students who will be tardy to class.

“I’m in your class now,” thrusting the paper in my face.

“No, I don’t think so.”  The counselors will only send a new student to me after getting permission in writing that says I will take the student.  No such communication had taken place for this kid.  As I look at the pass I see that it says S14 and I am Room S13 so I point this out and tell the young man he has the wrong room.

“No, I don’t.  The lady wrote the wrong number.  This is my class now and you have to let me stay.”

He is very creepy, standing right in front of me; and he has no backpack, no schedule, no ID (which the students are now required to wear).  When I ask to see schedule or ID he tells me he doesn’t have to have those things, I don’t know what I’m talking about and he’s in my class.  I walk him to the door, open it, and tell him to leave.

“No.  You can’t make me leave.  You need to check your roll.  I’m your new student.”

My students, all juniors and seniors, are aghast at this kid whom none of them know and who we believe later to be a freshman.  I had to get my class going on their work but I didn’t want to push this kid too far so I asked him to sit down and I would get to him.  He did.

After giving the rest of the directions, in a pretty shaky voice, I call the front office and ask for a campus assistant to be sent.

“For YOU?,” asks the receptionist.

“Yes.”

I know why there is such increduality in her voice.  I NEVER call for help.  My classes are usually calm and contained, the kids busy with all the work I give them.  When I do have an issue, I can handle it myself.  I knew, though, this time, I was in over my head.

The CA arrived; I told him about the kid, and he took him away.  My students were all sitting there with their mouths open…what just happened?  Don’t know, but that kid is NOT in our class.

The next project

Pamela Hutton working with my seniors

Lights On Afterschool is the only nationwide event to illuminate the benefits of afterschool programs and draw attention to the pressing need for additional programs. On October 22, 2009 hundreds of school districts and communities around the country will host Lights On events. Select schools in the Central Valley have participated annually with afterschool open houses; however, in 2009 the event will take on a larger, more collaborative scope.

The Central Valley Afterschool Foundation will work with the Fresno County Office of Education and regional school districts to create a major event that captures the attention of students, parents, teachers, administrators, businesses, youth organizations, government leaders, local media, and community in the Central Valley. The event will be conducted afterschool and evenings during October 21-22, Wednesday and Thursday, at Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis.

The Fresno High Marketing Academy has been engaged to coordinate and promote the High School Sidewalk Chalk Art Competition to be held on Wednesday, October 21, at the west entrance of Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis.  Pam Hutton, Director of Communications and Development, will meet with the class once a week to guide them on their project.  I will keep you all updated.