today I spent an hour teaching 3 children 1 math problem. And they didn't even really learn anything. So discouraging. I also spent 12 hours straight at my school today, I don't think that's very healthy. But I love those kids so it's totally worth it.
I was extremely flattered this week as 3 different kids have asked me if I'm from Mexico. I overheard them talking in the hallway about me, asking each other how I speak Spanish and then an eighth grader tonight told me I have a very nice voice for Spanish. I think he meant accent, I'm not sure. So while I may be bad at teaching math at least I'm learning some Spanish!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Public School: A Novel by L. Maxwell
Someone asked my in an e-mail this week what I thought the main problem with the educational system is...and this is what I wrote.
tonight I just wanna curl up in a ball and cry. The problems are so big and so overwhelming and have just been so in my face this week that I think I'm just going to tell you some stories and maybe I'll come to a conclusion afterward but really I think it all just comes down to sinful human beings and that none of us love others as much as ourselves. try translating that into policy changes...
So last week I was talking to a little girl in my class who was like "Teacher, I don't have a Halloween costume." so I sat down with her and asked her about it and why she didn't have one and she said "We moved to my Tia's (aunt's) house because my dad broke the TV when he kicked it and the costume is at our old house so we can't get it. It was such a great TV too."
There's another little girl in my class who only comes to school about half of the time. Yesterday I was asking her where she was the day before and she said she had to go to the hospital with her brother because he had a cold. Then she started talking about her family and I asked her who she lived with, and I'm totally crying as I write this e-mail, she started telling me a story about her dad being upstairs and coming downstairs and the police slamming him against the wall and taking him to jail. Also she said they live in a new apartment now and her mom is trying to get a refrigerator. They don't have a refrigerator!! Can you imagine trying to feed 3 kids without a fridge totally on your own? And no one ever washes her clothes, she wears the same dirty shirt to school every day. I found a letter her mom had written to her dad in her notebook today...I didn't read it but can you imagine trying to raise three children and communicating with your spouse through a letter? because he's in jail?
And...icing on the cake today we got a new student into our class who has never been to school before. Granted, it's first grade but that's illegal, you have to go to kindergarten in Chicago. And this kid has obviously been neglected. He talks more like a 3 year old that a 6 year old, has no idea how to hold a pencil, make his letters, how to sound out a word, how to make a number 5, has no attention span, and the other kids in the class pretty much know how to read and write by now. It's obvious nobody brushes his teeth, but he had all the supplies he needs because the social worker gave them to him so that was good. Man...but teaching that class is next to impossible. There are so many levels and it used to be a bilingual class until it got so full in the other classes that they needed to put 3 students into our class (all of which are African American, you know where the only white kids in the first grade are? the gifted class) so now we have 3 monolingual children in a bilingual classroom.
I live and teach on the Northside of Chicago in Rogers Park, the 2nd safest neighborhood in the city. Our school is what is called a "premier" school and the teachers there are so great. It's also a PDS school which means the teachers have to go through a lot of extra training and they always have 10-15 student teachers supporting in the school. They have all the funding they need, they make their test scores every year, they have a beautiful playground and a supportive administration. So...what's the problem? All my kids are on free/reduced lunch which means their families are below the poverty line. I really think it all goes back to the families. But what happened to the families? They didn't have a good education, they weren't able to enter into life equipped to make good decisions, they didn't have the opportunity to go to college, and why not? Because the same thing happened to their parents. I just honestly don't know the answer. I don't even know the problem, is it just poverty? I mean there are a lot of underfunded, understaffed schools that are way worse than mine but I took the time to talk to 3 kids this week in my classroom, each of them had a huge sad story, and who knows about the other ones? So in a great school staffed with great people this same cycle just keeps going...oh Capitalism.
tonight I just wanna curl up in a ball and cry. The problems are so big and so overwhelming and have just been so in my face this week that I think I'm just going to tell you some stories and maybe I'll come to a conclusion afterward but really I think it all just comes down to sinful human beings and that none of us love others as much as ourselves. try translating that into policy changes...
So last week I was talking to a little girl in my class who was like "Teacher, I don't have a Halloween costume." so I sat down with her and asked her about it and why she didn't have one and she said "We moved to my Tia's (aunt's) house because my dad broke the TV when he kicked it and the costume is at our old house so we can't get it. It was such a great TV too."
There's another little girl in my class who only comes to school about half of the time. Yesterday I was asking her where she was the day before and she said she had to go to the hospital with her brother because he had a cold. Then she started talking about her family and I asked her who she lived with, and I'm totally crying as I write this e-mail, she started telling me a story about her dad being upstairs and coming downstairs and the police slamming him against the wall and taking him to jail. Also she said they live in a new apartment now and her mom is trying to get a refrigerator. They don't have a refrigerator!! Can you imagine trying to feed 3 kids without a fridge totally on your own? And no one ever washes her clothes, she wears the same dirty shirt to school every day. I found a letter her mom had written to her dad in her notebook today...I didn't read it but can you imagine trying to raise three children and communicating with your spouse through a letter? because he's in jail?
And...icing on the cake today we got a new student into our class who has never been to school before. Granted, it's first grade but that's illegal, you have to go to kindergarten in Chicago. And this kid has obviously been neglected. He talks more like a 3 year old that a 6 year old, has no idea how to hold a pencil, make his letters, how to sound out a word, how to make a number 5, has no attention span, and the other kids in the class pretty much know how to read and write by now. It's obvious nobody brushes his teeth, but he had all the supplies he needs because the social worker gave them to him so that was good. Man...but teaching that class is next to impossible. There are so many levels and it used to be a bilingual class until it got so full in the other classes that they needed to put 3 students into our class (all of which are African American, you know where the only white kids in the first grade are? the gifted class) so now we have 3 monolingual children in a bilingual classroom.
I live and teach on the Northside of Chicago in Rogers Park, the 2nd safest neighborhood in the city. Our school is what is called a "premier" school and the teachers there are so great. It's also a PDS school which means the teachers have to go through a lot of extra training and they always have 10-15 student teachers supporting in the school. They have all the funding they need, they make their test scores every year, they have a beautiful playground and a supportive administration. So...what's the problem? All my kids are on free/reduced lunch which means their families are below the poverty line. I really think it all goes back to the families. But what happened to the families? They didn't have a good education, they weren't able to enter into life equipped to make good decisions, they didn't have the opportunity to go to college, and why not? Because the same thing happened to their parents. I just honestly don't know the answer. I don't even know the problem, is it just poverty? I mean there are a lot of underfunded, understaffed schools that are way worse than mine but I took the time to talk to 3 kids this week in my classroom, each of them had a huge sad story, and who knows about the other ones? So in a great school staffed with great people this same cycle just keeps going...oh Capitalism.
Monday, October 6, 2008
A new blog
I've decided that story writing is quite an undertaking. So instead, I'm going to record little things that happen so that I can be immensely entertaining without putting hours of time into it. So here begin tales of being a small single woman in Chicago teaching in an elementary school and trying to make time for academics. I hope you enjoy my life hugely.
Story number one. I'm sitting at lunch with my first graders, all of whom are learning English, and a little girl leans across the table holding a very long and skinny carrot.
"Look teacher!" she says, holding up the carrot.
"This carrot is really fat, just like you!"
Story number one. I'm sitting at lunch with my first graders, all of whom are learning English, and a little girl leans across the table holding a very long and skinny carrot.
"Look teacher!" she says, holding up the carrot.
"This carrot is really fat, just like you!"
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