So quite a few things have happened since last week. Like I said in my last post, I had been displaced from my current school and I was going to a displaced teachers fair to try to find another place to teach for my second year with Teach for America. I was getting prepared in the beginning of the week to meet with principals on Wednesday. I was even applying outside of the school system to a couple charter schools with the help of friends that already teach there.
Wednesday after school. I've got my suit in my car. I'm making copies of my resume in my principal's office, and I'm ready to go get hired by a good school. My principal comes out of her office to hand me her letter of recommendation for me, and somehow it comes up that I'm certified to teach physics and chemistry. She looks surprised and she says, "Well this changes things. We have an opening for physics and chemistry here, and I didn't know you were certified to teach those subjects."
When I took the necessary tests to be certified to teach physics, I sent a score report to the Department of Education, but apparently they are really slow at adding those qualifications to the online database that principals use to get information on a teacher's licensure/certifications, so my physics certification did not show up. My principal told me to contact our district supervisor to see if they could keep me on as a physics/chem teacher.
Nothing was definitive by the time I arrived at the displaced hiring fair, so I was still in interview mode looking for schools I would want to work at. But the district supervisor told me to bring a copy of my score report and show it to her right away since she would be at the hiring fair. So after I signed up for interview slots, I showed my score report to her and she took me out of the room while grabbing another district official. She asked the other district guy whether they would be able to keep me, and he said it looked like it would work out to him.
Everyone was so excited about it. The district supervisor said, "We've got someone that the school wants, and he wants to be at the school, so we're really happy about it. You want to be at the school, right?" And that's where I felt like the only possibility of me ending up at a better school environment was going to end. I nodded in a kind of unassertive way because I wouldn't necessarily say I "want" to be there other than I know the kids need me there. Like I said earlier, I was kind of looking forward to finding a better place to work and maybe make a greater impact on my students at another school.
So they took me off the displaced list and told me to go home early, and that's what I did. I was relieved in a way because I knew I had a position somewhere, but I still had a lot of questions - questions I still haven't gotten the answer to. My principal told me that I would most likely be teaching chemistry and physics, but she would love for me to still teach biology. So I'm looking at a possible 3 preps (3 different classes to plan for at the same time). I could be getting a new, better science room with more lab space since I would be taking over the physics/chem teacher's room that is leaving. But all these things are still very much up in the air in this school system because teachers will hold onto their positions until the last minute and then quit, and things will shift around. Schedules aren't completed until about a week before school starts back, so I'm left with a lot of uncertainty.
Interestingly, another option opened up the next morning. I mentioned I applied to a couple charter schools when I was still on the displaced list. Thursday morning I got an email back from the school director of one of those charter schools to ask me when I was available for a phone call. I spoke with the school director on the phone and lined up a time when I could come teach a lesson at their school. They seem to be interested in offering me a position to teach 9th grade Biology (and only Biology) for next year.
I am really excited about the prospect of teaching Biology, which I like to teach most out of any science, at a great school that is smaller with better support at every level. And it still serves a similar population of students as the one I teach now.
So now I'm in a much different, but better, position than the one I was in last week. I went from having no choice and just hoping I'd end up somewhere to having the choice where I can teach next year. However, I haven't been officially offered the position at the charter school just yet. I still have to impress them with a sample lesson this week. But if I do end up with that option, I'm having a tough time making up my mind about it. On the one hand, I'm pretty sure I'd be much happier at the charter school. There are many more pros than there are cons. On the other hand, I don't want my decision to be about me and my happiness. I want it to be more about the kids. That's why I started teaching in the first place. I think about the alternative to me teaching at The Wood, and how someone else could really fail those kids. I think about the students I'd like to see grow up a little more next year and go on to do bigger and better things. But I also think about the difficulties I would face there with all the uncertainty about my schedule, the administration, the unknown new executive principal. Reflecting on this past year, I don't know how effective I can be if I'm not happy or hate coming in to school every morning. That's why I think that considering my well-being actually does impact the kids that I end up teaching. I'm still not sure what I'm going to decide if I have to make the decision, but the good news is, I'll be teaching somewhere!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Displacement
I teach my Physics students that displacement is the straight-line distance between two points. After this Friday, another definition of the word displacement was made real to me. I received a call in my classroom toward the end of the day when my students were finishing up their work. "You're needed in the main office. Another teacher is coming to watch your students so you can come down." I felt a little worried about what it could be about. Earlier that day, the stand-in principal interrogated me after hearing from one of my students that I was giving my final a week earlier than the last week of school when the district schedules finals. I convinced her that this was just another exam, and I'm still giving them their final on the scheduled date. (I will give them a "final" test on the prescribed date in the last week of school, but it's going to be something easy since I'm giving their real final the week before because I want my students to see/respond/celebrate their results). I thought maybe she wasn't convinced and wanted to chew me out for breaking a stupid rule. But I quickly found out this wasn't the case.
My supervising assistant principal was in the office with the stand-in executive principal, and they started off with, "You know with the loss of federal funding and the budget cuts the district has made, every school has to severely reduce the number of teachers." I knew what they were talking about, of course. There had been a lot of buzz for the past few months about the coming reductions, but I thought I was immune somehow. I was told that reductions like this happen about every year. Based on projected enrollment for the following year, teachers are kind of shuffled around the district to meet the subject area needs. As a Teach for America teacher that is producing the best results out of any science teacher at the school, I thought I would be one of the last teachers to go. I also thought my 2-yr contract with TFA might keep me at the same school for those 2 yrs at least. I found I was mistaken though when they told me, "Based on seniority, you're being displaced. You'll need to attend the displaced teachers fair next Wednesday to look for a position at another school."
I was kind of caught off guard. A ton of questions began pouring into my head with mixed feelings. Initially, I took it as if I were being fired, and I felt like my principal was telling me that I wasn't good enough and wanted me to go. Even though I was suspicious at the time, she told me that purely based on seniority, they were asked by the district to cut a certain number of teachers per subject area (18 total). And I believe her. I don't think she really wanted to let me go. She's always been very encouraging and impressed with my work this year. However, I can actually see a lot of good that can come out of this for me. There were many points throughout the year where I wished I were somewhere else. I definitely did not have a very pleasant year, and situations at the school only seem to be getting worse. I might be able to take advantage of this opportunity and find a good school where I can be better supported to make a greater impact on students. But the more I've thought about the consequences of my displacement and what it means for my kids at this school, I've felt more sad about missing out on seeing how my students grow next year.
I feel sad that the students at this school might be failed next year by getting a tenured science teacher that doesn't care whether their students go on to do great things as long as they get paid. The two students that I helped get into the St. Thomas Science Scholars Program next year won't have me directly available to guide them to help make their opportunity valuable and beneficial for them, and I won't get to talk to them about their experiences through the program. Even though I've been hard on myself and I know that this year could have been done so much better if I was more experienced, I'm aware now more than ever before that the fact is: the alternative to me is most likely much worse. I'm sad for the students next year that might end up with a paycheck teacher.
I don't really know if they'll be getting any new science teachers though since this isn't really a replacement but a staff reduction. But the other freshman science teacher is voluntarily leaving, so I don't know how they're going to manage that. Supposedly to save money, they are going to reduce the number of teachers at each school according to the projected enrollment for next year. Some will be the first to be hired at other schools where they have openings, but I'm assuming some will not have a position next year since the whole point is to not pay as many teachers. With TFA though, I have other options outside of the district to look into, so I'm not really worried about not being hired. And if I don't, then I'll be a lab tech or work in a hospital. But obviously, while I'm in TFA I want to serve my purpose which is to provide a transformational education for my students.
I'm very confused about this process and why the district does things like this as you may be too reading this. One result of this process is that class sizes across the district are going to sky-rocket from 25 to like 40. Some schools will be affected more than others probably, and my current school will probably get the shaft like it usually has in the past as I've learned. Another consequence I see is the inconsistency among teachers in schools that this upholds within the district. If they do this every year, how are we supposed to foster "small learning communities" that the district is pushing where teachers form relationships with their students and follow them through their 4 years of high school. It keeps different teachers moving in and out, and with a population that my school serves, consistency and continuity are really important for these kids to feel valued because they don't ever have consistency or continuity at home.
I'm not really sure if this happens, but I bet these displacements can also be used by principals to get rid of teachers that they don't want to a certain extent. The movie, Waiting for Superman, called it the "Dance of the Lemons". Since the tenured or professional licensed teachers are pretty much guaranteed a job after being displaced, one school will pass their lemons on to another school and vice versa. But if that's happening at my school, there's a very obvious lemon that teaches down the hall from me that's not being displaced to my knowledge. I think this is one of the most frustrating things. The teacher that passes all his kids no matter the amount of work they do let alone mastering the content; the teacher that is always late in the morning and leaves his students waiting outside his locked classroom door; the teacher that I routinely see roaming the hallways during his class leaving his students unsupervised; this teacher is staying at the school because he has tenure and seniority while I'm leaving.
I'll definitely update when I find out anything about my next placement. I'm hopeful that I can find a better place that I might enjoy a little more. I'm going to a displaced teachers fair this coming Wednesday to interview with principals, so pray that I'll hit it off with the right person and that it'll be a place I can be happier. What's funny is that I think I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 TFA teachers that are being displaced. I was told by other TFA corps members that their principals are under the assumption that TFA teachers can't be displaced. I guess my school isn't under that assumption.
By the way, I mentioned earlier the "stand-in" principal for my school. Let me explain that. My executive principal was basically terminated a couple weeks ago after an incident where she was accused of hitting a girl on the head with a water bottle while trying to break up a fight. Yeah, crazy stuff happens here. So the PE teacher's mother came in to replace her for the time being. So she is the stand-in principal. I have no idea what's going to happen at this school for next year.
My supervising assistant principal was in the office with the stand-in executive principal, and they started off with, "You know with the loss of federal funding and the budget cuts the district has made, every school has to severely reduce the number of teachers." I knew what they were talking about, of course. There had been a lot of buzz for the past few months about the coming reductions, but I thought I was immune somehow. I was told that reductions like this happen about every year. Based on projected enrollment for the following year, teachers are kind of shuffled around the district to meet the subject area needs. As a Teach for America teacher that is producing the best results out of any science teacher at the school, I thought I would be one of the last teachers to go. I also thought my 2-yr contract with TFA might keep me at the same school for those 2 yrs at least. I found I was mistaken though when they told me, "Based on seniority, you're being displaced. You'll need to attend the displaced teachers fair next Wednesday to look for a position at another school."
I was kind of caught off guard. A ton of questions began pouring into my head with mixed feelings. Initially, I took it as if I were being fired, and I felt like my principal was telling me that I wasn't good enough and wanted me to go. Even though I was suspicious at the time, she told me that purely based on seniority, they were asked by the district to cut a certain number of teachers per subject area (18 total). And I believe her. I don't think she really wanted to let me go. She's always been very encouraging and impressed with my work this year. However, I can actually see a lot of good that can come out of this for me. There were many points throughout the year where I wished I were somewhere else. I definitely did not have a very pleasant year, and situations at the school only seem to be getting worse. I might be able to take advantage of this opportunity and find a good school where I can be better supported to make a greater impact on students. But the more I've thought about the consequences of my displacement and what it means for my kids at this school, I've felt more sad about missing out on seeing how my students grow next year.
I feel sad that the students at this school might be failed next year by getting a tenured science teacher that doesn't care whether their students go on to do great things as long as they get paid. The two students that I helped get into the St. Thomas Science Scholars Program next year won't have me directly available to guide them to help make their opportunity valuable and beneficial for them, and I won't get to talk to them about their experiences through the program. Even though I've been hard on myself and I know that this year could have been done so much better if I was more experienced, I'm aware now more than ever before that the fact is: the alternative to me is most likely much worse. I'm sad for the students next year that might end up with a paycheck teacher.
I don't really know if they'll be getting any new science teachers though since this isn't really a replacement but a staff reduction. But the other freshman science teacher is voluntarily leaving, so I don't know how they're going to manage that. Supposedly to save money, they are going to reduce the number of teachers at each school according to the projected enrollment for next year. Some will be the first to be hired at other schools where they have openings, but I'm assuming some will not have a position next year since the whole point is to not pay as many teachers. With TFA though, I have other options outside of the district to look into, so I'm not really worried about not being hired. And if I don't, then I'll be a lab tech or work in a hospital. But obviously, while I'm in TFA I want to serve my purpose which is to provide a transformational education for my students.
I'm very confused about this process and why the district does things like this as you may be too reading this. One result of this process is that class sizes across the district are going to sky-rocket from 25 to like 40. Some schools will be affected more than others probably, and my current school will probably get the shaft like it usually has in the past as I've learned. Another consequence I see is the inconsistency among teachers in schools that this upholds within the district. If they do this every year, how are we supposed to foster "small learning communities" that the district is pushing where teachers form relationships with their students and follow them through their 4 years of high school. It keeps different teachers moving in and out, and with a population that my school serves, consistency and continuity are really important for these kids to feel valued because they don't ever have consistency or continuity at home.
I'm not really sure if this happens, but I bet these displacements can also be used by principals to get rid of teachers that they don't want to a certain extent. The movie, Waiting for Superman, called it the "Dance of the Lemons". Since the tenured or professional licensed teachers are pretty much guaranteed a job after being displaced, one school will pass their lemons on to another school and vice versa. But if that's happening at my school, there's a very obvious lemon that teaches down the hall from me that's not being displaced to my knowledge. I think this is one of the most frustrating things. The teacher that passes all his kids no matter the amount of work they do let alone mastering the content; the teacher that is always late in the morning and leaves his students waiting outside his locked classroom door; the teacher that I routinely see roaming the hallways during his class leaving his students unsupervised; this teacher is staying at the school because he has tenure and seniority while I'm leaving.
I'll definitely update when I find out anything about my next placement. I'm hopeful that I can find a better place that I might enjoy a little more. I'm going to a displaced teachers fair this coming Wednesday to interview with principals, so pray that I'll hit it off with the right person and that it'll be a place I can be happier. What's funny is that I think I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 TFA teachers that are being displaced. I was told by other TFA corps members that their principals are under the assumption that TFA teachers can't be displaced. I guess my school isn't under that assumption.
By the way, I mentioned earlier the "stand-in" principal for my school. Let me explain that. My executive principal was basically terminated a couple weeks ago after an incident where she was accused of hitting a girl on the head with a water bottle while trying to break up a fight. Yeah, crazy stuff happens here. So the PE teacher's mother came in to replace her for the time being. So she is the stand-in principal. I have no idea what's going to happen at this school for next year.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Almost there
It certainly has been much longer than I wanted since my last post. I think this is because the time from my last post until now has been my longest stretch without any kind of break in the school schedule (minus Good Friday) plus it was the final stretch before the big EOC. The past 7 weeks have been very tiresome and a struggle to get through. In fact, as the lack of sleep began to really wear on me last week, I couldn't resist taking a nap in my underwear on the couch when I got home around 4. I was interrupted when my wife came home with an unexpected friend, so I put pants on but just got in bed and slept until 5am the next morning. I'm more rested now, and I only have about 3 more weeks of school left!
So last Thursday my Biology students took their EOC test, and I got mixed feedback about how they think they did. I haven't seen the test, but hopefully results will come in within a couple weeks. I'm fairly optimistic though. They took a predictor test back in March before I had covered all the material and about 68% of my students scored proficient or advanced. This was HUGE to me and my class since last year only 11% scored proficient or advanced on the EOC at my school. I gave them a practice EOC about 2 weeks before their actual test date, and 100% of them scored proficient or advanced! I was really excited about this, and I think that gave my students a lot of confidence. The morning of the test, I gave them cookies that Mrs. K baked and added a personalized note to each student to give them a last bit of encouragement before the test. Many of them said that it was more difficult than the practice test, but everything else that led up to the test makes me confident that we'll be happy with the results.
My other 5 classes of Conceptual Physics do not have an state-made EOC, so I have a little more time with them to get them ready for the final assessment that I've made. With the extra time, I was able to do a really fun lab activity with them. I got equipment over the summer to make 2 liter bottles into bottle rockets and shoot them over 50 feet in the air. We learned about free fall and projectile motion so we could calculate how high each rocket flew in the air. I had the students bring in 2 liter bottles so each student could make a rocket with a partner. I had them make nose cones and wings or fins out of card stock, then we filled them up halfway with water, pumped in some air to build pressure, and let it fly outside. Here's a video my fellow freshman science teacher took during his planning time. I have pictures too, but I guess I shouldn't put them up here since they have the students' faces in them. I upgraded to the iPhone 4 not too long before this, so I was excited to use it.
I was freaking out while I was planning this because I didn't know how the kids would act if I took them outside. I had to come up with all these extra alternate plans if the kids didn't want to cooperate. I contracted other teachers during their planning to hold students that didn't follow expectations and also be extra eyes while I had them outside. Fortunately and surprisingly, I only had to send one kid to another room. The rest of them were not unmanageable because, for the most part, I think most of them were really interested and engaged. They wanted their rocket to go the highest.
These two days were probably the most fun I've had at school. I wish I could do that kind of stuff all the time. And the frustrating part is if I had the resources and knew how to use them to teach, I could probably do way more stuff like that, and my kids and I would have much more fun.
Other good news:
I had two of my biology students apply to the St. Thomas Hospital Science Scholars program where they had to write an essay and I had to write a recommendation a couple months ago, and they both were accepted! They'll get to shadow doctors for six Saturdays next year and participate in lab experiences with other high achieving kids across the region. They even get their own lab coats to wear around the hospital.
I think the challenge for last few weeks of school is to gather enough motivation and get the kids motivated to focus and learn even after taking all their EOC tests last week. It's kind of weird to me that their final test essentially is given almost a month before school lets out. It leaves us with a lot of freedom the month after the test, but I think the students are going to be even less willing to do any kind of work. I'm planning to do more fun things with my biology class like dissections and good science movies, but I'm not finished with my Conceptual Physics classes, so we'll see how that goes. Either way, I can't believe I'm almost done with my 1st year of teaching. I just need to make it until then.
So last Thursday my Biology students took their EOC test, and I got mixed feedback about how they think they did. I haven't seen the test, but hopefully results will come in within a couple weeks. I'm fairly optimistic though. They took a predictor test back in March before I had covered all the material and about 68% of my students scored proficient or advanced. This was HUGE to me and my class since last year only 11% scored proficient or advanced on the EOC at my school. I gave them a practice EOC about 2 weeks before their actual test date, and 100% of them scored proficient or advanced! I was really excited about this, and I think that gave my students a lot of confidence. The morning of the test, I gave them cookies that Mrs. K baked and added a personalized note to each student to give them a last bit of encouragement before the test. Many of them said that it was more difficult than the practice test, but everything else that led up to the test makes me confident that we'll be happy with the results.
My other 5 classes of Conceptual Physics do not have an state-made EOC, so I have a little more time with them to get them ready for the final assessment that I've made. With the extra time, I was able to do a really fun lab activity with them. I got equipment over the summer to make 2 liter bottles into bottle rockets and shoot them over 50 feet in the air. We learned about free fall and projectile motion so we could calculate how high each rocket flew in the air. I had the students bring in 2 liter bottles so each student could make a rocket with a partner. I had them make nose cones and wings or fins out of card stock, then we filled them up halfway with water, pumped in some air to build pressure, and let it fly outside. Here's a video my fellow freshman science teacher took during his planning time. I have pictures too, but I guess I shouldn't put them up here since they have the students' faces in them. I upgraded to the iPhone 4 not too long before this, so I was excited to use it.
I was freaking out while I was planning this because I didn't know how the kids would act if I took them outside. I had to come up with all these extra alternate plans if the kids didn't want to cooperate. I contracted other teachers during their planning to hold students that didn't follow expectations and also be extra eyes while I had them outside. Fortunately and surprisingly, I only had to send one kid to another room. The rest of them were not unmanageable because, for the most part, I think most of them were really interested and engaged. They wanted their rocket to go the highest.
These two days were probably the most fun I've had at school. I wish I could do that kind of stuff all the time. And the frustrating part is if I had the resources and knew how to use them to teach, I could probably do way more stuff like that, and my kids and I would have much more fun.
Other good news:
I had two of my biology students apply to the St. Thomas Hospital Science Scholars program where they had to write an essay and I had to write a recommendation a couple months ago, and they both were accepted! They'll get to shadow doctors for six Saturdays next year and participate in lab experiences with other high achieving kids across the region. They even get their own lab coats to wear around the hospital.
I think the challenge for last few weeks of school is to gather enough motivation and get the kids motivated to focus and learn even after taking all their EOC tests last week. It's kind of weird to me that their final test essentially is given almost a month before school lets out. It leaves us with a lot of freedom the month after the test, but I think the students are going to be even less willing to do any kind of work. I'm planning to do more fun things with my biology class like dissections and good science movies, but I'm not finished with my Conceptual Physics classes, so we'll see how that goes. Either way, I can't believe I'm almost done with my 1st year of teaching. I just need to make it until then.
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