Teacher's Diary

A Visit

Since today my charter school was still on Thanksgiving break while the public school children and teachers were back at work, I decided to pay a visit to the school I left behind.

A lot has changed since I left (only a few months ago). For one thing, the school has expanded - as a school entering its 4th year, it has finally reached capacity. Now, instead of being huddled on one side of a vast hallway, the school encompasses the entire floor. Classrooms have been moved around and there were many new faces, both among students and among the staff. Obviously, the principal changed over the summer and most of my former colleagues seem to think that was a good thing. However, there are still clear struggles.

For one thing, it appears that the former principal decided to screw the school over. This is yet another indication to me of how he did not care at all about the welfare of the students. Apparently he knew months before the summer that he was not going to be returning this school year, but rather than try to make positive changes, he instead destroyed the school budget over the summer, purchasing so much unnecessary crap that the school can't even afford to pay for enough teachers. The poor woman who took my job is getting paid by the day as a sub rather than as a full time teacher.

Also, it seems that discipline hasn't gotten much better. I heard that last week there was a gang fight in the stairs and the students involved didn't even get suspended. While there may be positive changes happening slowly, discipline will definitely be a major setback to true improvement.

It was nice, however, to be surrounded by familiar faces, to see kids' eyes light up when they saw me, to hear the shrieks and laughter of a place where I am accepted as a great teacher. I wish that there was more I could do to help my old students, but while I went today thinking maybe I'd try to get my old job back next year if things don't pan out at the charter, I still feel that not enough has changed. I could tell that the struggle to get the kids on track to graduate, let alone apply to college, is an incredible hurdle that is not yet being overcome.

I'll have to wait and see what the rest of this year holds for me. Luckily, I'm fairly rested and confident that I will teach as well as I possibly can, wherever I am.

Photo of the Week - Far Side of the Moon Image

I just finished up my astronomy unit and have asked my students to complete their moon phase observations over Thanksgiving break. However, this is a view of the moon they will never observe. This is an image of the side of the moon that faces away from the Earth. It is also colored based on topography, with white being the highest elevation and purple being the lowest. It's a great image that I will be showing not only in my Earth Science class, but also to my Science Olympiad team for practice with remote sensing techniques. It is a good exercise for students to analyze images like this critically, to pick out the information the picture provides. I hope you will use it with your students too.

The original photo was found here, at NASA's alway-wonderful bank of Astronomy pictures.

Staying Afloat

Any reader of this blog will have noticed the distinct absence of posts for the past couple of months. That's because your resident teacher now works at a charter school and - much as you might imagine - she is being worked to the bone. Sometimes in a good way and other times not. However, it's time to break the silence and let you all know what it has been like starting my new job as a charter school teacher.

As you may remember, I was unhappy with the lack of strong leadership and positive work environment at my previous school. I was also tired of feeling like I was the only one truly committed to making a difference. I figured - and rightly so - that teachers at a charter school would be more like me, tirelessly dedicated to improving the school and giving kids the best education possible. I was right about that. I feel like I can barely make my presence known, since every teacher at my new school is constantly starting student clubs or suggesting ways to improve the school. It is both a relief and a new challenge to try to make my own impact on the school culture.

I also hoped that a charter school or at least this one in particular would have a more supportive administration. Unfortunately, that was not exactly the case. First of all, soon after I told my old school I was leaving, that principal was fired and a new one with more experience was hired. From talking to my old colleagues, it sounds like things have been improving there. Meanwhile, the charter school I now work at also went through a change in administration over the summer and the new principal is still getting used to running the school. She is not the best communicator and is obviously drowning in work on top of that, making it difficult to get in touch with her or find out what is going on. I have been constantly stressed by the fact that we don't find out about changes or deadlines until about 24 hours before things need to happen.

On top of the administrative disorganization, the students are very resistant to forming relationships with new teachers. Because the school staffs many TFA teachers, there is a high rate of turnover and the kids are understandably wary of new teachers. It has been a struggle for me to work hard at building positive relationships after leaving a school where I knew every student and was extremely close to many of them. The students at my new school have been mean and difficult, but things are starting to take a turn for the better. I'm getting more used to the new systems and am able to plan more engaging lessons and make time outside of class to work on creating bonds with students.

It has been a long first quarter and I am looking forward to relaxing over Thanksgiving break. Hopefully I'll be better about posting as well!