The New Version is out!

Being that I'm about to embark on my tenth year at Unnamed Junior High School, I thought it was time for an update.

I've not exactly found my niche just yet here in the edublogosphere, but I'm getting there. I've been introduced to some wonderful teachers and have had several days brightened by the humor on other people's sites.

We don't go back until the 22nd of August, which is still two weeks earlier than it used to be. What happened to summer lasting until Labor Day? Oi. It sure is hot enough right now. Weird muggy weather for Southern California. Awful in my little cottage with no cross ventilation and an 80-year-old landlady who for some reason only known to herself, will not allow me to buy a little air conditioner. And I pay for my gas and electric.

Gawd. Who knows? I just worry about my little doggie boy becoming a little roasted doggie when I'm out. I mean, how many fans can I buy?

At least it's better than the classroom getting hot. It gets up into the 90's on hot days. That's a ridiculous situation. I complained about it two years ago when my room never got below 84 degrees, and was close to 96 for five days. How did they address the problem?

Removed the thermometer, of course.

Tell me, those of you who are going back sooner than I, in warmer climes, how the heck do you teach when the kids are so sweaty that they slide off their plastic chairs? When you feel the perspiration drip all the way down the side of your torso and stop only when it hits your waistband? When the bright blue sky is only a window or doorway away, and yet out of your reach?

Tell me Ms. Spellings, can you do something about the weather?

Because this is one thing over which I have no control. Or are you going to blame me for that too?

Can't get away from it

So, as I start my 10th year at Unnamed Junior High School, I'm thinking seriously about where I want to be in the next 10 years.

I mean, I love my life right now, but 10 years from now, will it still be the life I want? I'm not sure.

Teaching is the most important contribution I've made so far in my life. Yes, I'm a good friend, and a wonderful daughter, but I've made a difference as a teacher. If I had gone down the path of marriage and parenthood, I might think differently, but I've not reached either of those roads so far, and may never (although hope still springs eternal in this middle-aged heart).

However.

The political climate regarding teaching is starting to wear on me.

Last year I threw out almost every thing I'd ever created to teach from the red textbook from Holt. I kept to the schedule, even when it made no sense. I spent at least one class period a week on spelling, because that's the area administration decided upon which we would focus. More than halfway through the year, the English chair decided we would adopt the Sheri Henderson way of teaching writing, and we had no say in that decision. So, yet again, I threw out something (this time, something not even well-tried) for the newest "solution."

I'm beat.

I think most people, at least most thinking people, agree that giving everyone the exact same education is not giving everyone a fair education, yet that's what's happening. This crap about being on the same page on the same day in every eighth grade classroom in the district is actually being given consideration.

I have a friend who homeschools. I don't agree with her on many things, and obviously, I support public education, but she and I see eye to eye on one thing: teachers, for the most part, are in it for the betterment of others.

Simple really.

Although I hate when people say it's a "calling" or "noble," you and I both know I didn't go into it for money or fame. No. I teach because it's what I do best. I teach because I'm getting paid to care about other people, and their futures, I teach because it's interesting, and I teach because it makes me happy.


The political stuff? Not so much.

Back to School Sale

I was in Long's Drugstore yesterday, trying to buy a cheapo pair of flip flops for my walk on the beach. I went to the aisle where I'd seen them, and it had been cleaned out! No flip flops in sight. Instead, there were almost empty shelves, with great big cardboard boxes piled high in the middle of the floor.

You guessed it. Binders, Pee Chee folders, pens, pencils, filler paper, gel markers...

Not even the middle of July and already with the school stuff.

Sheesh.

My local department store is having an "end of summer" clearance sale.

Excuse me, isn't the end of summer in September? What is going on? And then, of course, the Christmas sales start up in October.

I just want to relax, visit with friends, drink wine, and not worry about anything.

Including if I have a pencil case for my three ring binder.

I'm back to normal

Somewhat, anyway.

Last day with kids was Friday the 16th, and it was a scorcher. Sitting outside on hard plastic chairs in the direct sun with 500 eighth graders, Monday, working in the classroom, finishing up grades, and yesterday, Wednesday, I flew to Denver, where I am right now. Geek that I am, I'm at the National Scoring Convention for the National Writing Project. It's a lot of sitting on chairs and being inside all day, but it's a great way to see how others score papers. There's a rubric that's different from the one I use in California, and it's interesting to see where my, and other teachers' biases show up when we grade.

One of mine is the essay that starts with, "Have you ever...?" Someone, somewhere, taught them that one of the ways to "hook" readers was to open with a question. I ended up telling my students this past year to never start another essay in my class with those three words, because they've become such a junior high school essay cliche.

I have to get over that here.

However, we are done for the day, downtown is calling, and there's a quiz night some of us are going to at an Irish pub in the LoDo (lower downtown, don't I sound in the know?) area.

Geek, geek, geek. I know.

But a happy one.

The grouch

It's what I am right now. Bad, bad time of year. One more week (yes, our last day is Monday, the 19th), and then I'm sure I'll be bored within 24 hours.

It's all this hurry up and get this, that and the other thing done.


Actually had a girl looked shocked when I told her she was earning a D- for the semester.

"I am?" Tears started in her eyes.

I guess she didn't realize that when I reminded her to get in her rough drafts for her poetry assignments, I meant it. Or when I called home when aforementioned rough drafts were past the due date, that I meant she should still get them turned in. Or when the due date came and went for the final drafts, and I still hadn't seen anything from her, that her grade would suffer. Or when I reminded students that it was probably the easiest 100 points they would earn this semester, she wasn't paying attention.


What I'm so pissy about is that this is an honors student. I did call home, yet I'll be held responsible now for not notifying her parents about her crappy grade.

And, last week, this was the mother that wrote her darling daughter a note asking that she be excused from the House of the Scorpion final, being that she was behind in her reading, and that she had had to attend her sister's band concert the night before.

Crabby, cranky, grouchy, and generally unpleasant to be around right now am I.

I'll get back to you when school's out next week.

What do you think?

Every year, I hear a student teacher, or first year teacher, talk about "copyrighting" a lesson plans or unit. I'm thinking about it now as I procrastinate (not getting my papers graded) in this unbelievable heat.

For me, I have been saved many times by other teachers "lending" or "sharing" their work with me. The Internet particularly has been a boon those times I needed help writing a test for a novel I'm teaching, or when I've been fresh out of ideas for teaching prepositions. As a new teacher, I remember the struggle I went through, creating almost everything from scratch. It was fun, sort of. I mean, I love the creation part of teaching, but it is exhausting.

If someone has a fabulous idea, and I know about it, it's much easier for me to see their plans, than have to try and recreate it all on my own. I've gone down that road. A teacher at our school taught Socratic Seminar. She learned about it from a presentation at the CATE conference a few years ago (California Association of Teachers of English). She talked about it in our department meeting, said it was really a great thing to do in the classroom, and yet would not give up her notes or worksheets or any other paperwork. I bugged her about it for a year, not realizing she wasn't going to help me out. I figured she was just busy and didn't have time to go looking for things for me.

Finally, I did a bit of research myself, mostly on line, and just jumped in with my classes. It was a rough start, but we figured it out rather quickly. Now they are a permanent fixture in my classroom.

This could have been so much easier if Ms. I-will-deign-to-give-you-my-attention had just shared what she had learned with me.

Another situation. I teach eighth grade. Poetry forms are a specific eighth grade standard in California. Memorizing a poem or speech is another one. I've always been known as a poetry lover at my school, and I always have a great time during that unit. I've poured myself into it.

Well, a seventh grade teacher at our school loves poetry too. Her seventh grade students quite often end up being my eighth grade students. Since she loves poetry, even though it's not specifically in the seventh grade standards, she teaches a rather large unit in it as well.

So far so good. But.

What she has done again and again, is teach almost the exact same poetic types, along with the same examples, and the same "poetry coffee shop" recitation that I've done (did I mention that she was a pre-professional in my classroom several years ago?).

I've tried talking to her; it's not like there are only 20 poems out there, but she puts me off every time. "You know, Ms. JHSTeacher, it's okay for students to do something more than once."

I know that, but does she have to do almost the same unit as I do? Every year, I keep throwing out poetic forms, because I know she's already taught the students, using almost the same lessons as I do. I no longer teach Ode, or Random Autobiography, or color sensory (one in which a color represents all five senses) because of her lessons.

This year, I was helping out a seventh grade student in my tutorial class. She has this teacher. As I was looking over her shoulder, I saw on her worksheet a very familiar poem.

Wait a minute. I wrote that poem!

Was there any kind of acknowledgement that I had written it? No. Was it a poem I had written to specifically teach a type of poem? Yes. Was it one that I had asked her not to teach? Yes.

And so, confrontation again. Now, I must say, this teacher is a friend of mine on the "outside" so our confrontation is very polite.

She won't back down. Apologized for not giving me credit (which isn't my point anyway) but kept up with her party line of "well, we don't teach students how to write an essay just once, do we?"

No, but we do hopefully, use different avenues to teach it. What this teacher is not understanding is that when she uses my worksheets, my units in her class, it's new and fresh for the kids. When they get to me, they whine and moan about doing "the same thing again" and try to recycle the poetry they wrote the year before.


How do we go about differentiating between ripping off another teacher's lessons, and sharing our expertise? I know I've used things almost word-for-word I've found on-line or which other teachers have given me. I'm also quite perturbed right now about my poetry unit.

Where do you draw the line? Should there be a line? What do you think of this "copyrighting" idea? Do you share? How do you share? Have you ever felt your lesson was "ripped off" or "hijacked" by another teacher? How did you deal with it?

Help if you can!

The other day a fellow teacher blogger posted about a lesson using AIM or IM language and translating it into standard English and back again. I was at school and couldn't link to the website where he got his idea.

Of course, now I'm at home, and can't remember the site or the blogger.

Anyone? Bueller?

Edited Sunday:
I found it! This is the post I was talking about. Mr. McNamar was the one. I printed out the 10 (!) pages from the BBC Adobe file, and now am going to go about adapting the stuff for my classes.

Hooray.

The Mad Dash

This is the giddy time of year. The end is in sight, the kids are absolutely nuts, and I'm crazy trying to get all my work done.

On Wednesday, more than two full weeks before the end of school, I have to report who is earning an A or A- (for our valedictorian pool) and who is earning an F. Every year I chafe at this. Most of my straight A students can be counted on to continue with the A's, but not all. I have one student who has a B. Not a B+, mind you, an 86% B. She's not going to get an A this time. And, of course, I have to be the one to cause her not to be one of the special valedictorian's that get to sit on the stage with the other honored kids.

I know, I know, she earned it, I didn't give it to her, but try telling that to her parents. It's not her fault, it's my fault, for not giving her enough time, enough make-up work, whatever.

Then there's the three students I have that are flunking. Are they for sure flunking? Well, no. Not for sure. They are are hovering at the 55% mark. Which means they are flunking now, but could conceivably pull off a D- or even a D by the end of the term. Can they pull it off by Wednesday? No.

therein lies my frustration. If I had a student with a 35%, there'd be no question, but I don't have students that are doing that badly any more. That is something that has changed.

Several years ago, when I started teaching, I had more students that flunked, and with much worse percentages. I think there has been an improvement in parental expectation (and of course our support for those kids at school). I'm available before school, after school, during lunch... we have a mandatory Homework "club" for students missing work, and any student earning a D or an F in a core subject automatically is put into a zero or seventh period tutorial class so they can get extra help with their grade.

I digress.

A friend of mine in another district tells me that students must earn at least a C or they don't graduate.

I like that idea. However, implementing it here would be next to impossible. It's got to be a group effort. I get called into Mr. Principal's office every term I have even one student who is flunking. And every time I have to explain myself, what I did to help this child, and all the measures I took. Can you imagine the pressure if all kids needed at least a C?

Teachers do have a responsibility to their students, they need to use every avenue possible to reach the child's needs.

But.

We can't be held responsible for it all. What everyone but teachers keep ignoring is that there are other players involved. If a kid simply doesn't want to do the work, and he or she doesn't do the work, our hands are tied. If parents don't support the education of their children, if they don't even do something as simple as checking their homework each night, respond with "Well, I trust him when he says he did it already." after they've received the poor grade progress report, and that's even when I actually call and talk to a human being, when parents can't be bothered,
we, as teachers are getting the full brunt of the blame.

The state threatens to come in and take over "under performing" schools. They don't know what the hell to do, but they can't come in and "take over" underperforming parents.

I'm really glad the school year is almost over. It's time.

Loud Boy

Do you remember the Louds? The family from a Saturday Night Live skit about a family who had no volume control?

I have one of their kids in my third period class. He is absolutely the loudest student I have ever encountered (other than the autistic child who screamed all the time. But again, that was back in the days when I worked in Special Ed.).

I don't think he knows how to whisper. He's the same charmer who hit me in the head with a straw during the STAR test a few weeks ago. Disruptive isn't a strong enough word for him.

Now, he's not a bad kid. He's not mean to others (except for Beauty Queen, on which every boy in class has a crush. And in that oh-so-junior-high way of showing affection, on whom massive teasing, mockery, and general annoyance is heaped.). He knows what manners are, just chooses never to use them.

He just never. Shuts. Up.

Ever.

I've told him I don't need to know every thought every moment one passes through his brain. I know for sure, every student in class doesn't need to know it.

One on one? Outside the class to have a little... um... conference about his behavior? He's all business.

"Yes. I understand." "I'm sorry Ms. Jhsteacher, I know I need to be quiet."

He gets serious and appears to be listening. Then goes back into the classroom and starts singing about how "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes" at the top of his lungs.

At Unnamed Junior High School, eighth graders are not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremonies, or the after party, if they get poor citizenship marks in more than one class. A "4" is exceptional, a "3" is satisfactory, "2" means the student's behavior needs improvement, and a "1" means the kid is actually disrupting class. There is no "0" score, or Loud Boy would be earning it.

I've been warning some kids again and again; they don't have much time to get their act together if they want to improve their marks. It's not as if I'm known as an easy mark, or a pushover, but somehow, in that eighth-grader-itis way, they don't think it's going to happen to them.

Why? Why, with 5 weeks left, with that last week really fluffy fun stuff, why can't they just keep it together? The weather continues to be foggy and dull every day, so it's not as if they're wistfully staring out the windows, wishing they could be in the sunshine. Memorial day isn't even here yet.

I have to go to school now, and fill out the last "progress reports" that go home this year. Their last chance to turn things around, and their parent's last official notification (my frequent phone calls aren't always taken seriously), before the final semester grades go out in June.

Wouldn't it be fabulous if this was the year no one in any of my classes earned less than a "3" for behavior?

A girl can dream, can't she?

rah rah sis boom bah

I got the award today. It was a PTSA award, not anything fancy or big, but it is fun to be the center of attention for a bit. Mom and sister came to the thing, and we had a good lunch. It was a minimum day, so the students got out early, and here I am, before three in the afternoon, with free time.

Most folks have left school by now, but I still have work to do. What am I doing here then? Well, it's work I don't want to do.

I'm still slogging through the 700+ poems my students turned in, and trying to work out some lessons for The House of the Scorpion.

I took Polski's advice, and have assigned a book and work as independent study to the girl whose mother didn't want her reading The House of the Scorpion. I've given her Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which I've taught in the past. It's a simply written book, and I've never used it for Honor students before, but I have quite a bit of material for it, and a person would be hard pressed to find something offensive about it.

I've talked to the girl one-on-one about how to go about doing her work, and I can see she's torn between doing what her mother says, and what everyone else in the class is doing. I think she'd just like to get through to the end of the year without incident.

This will be an interesting few weeks.

Still figuring it out

First of all, thanks for the advice on my post below. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what to do, but I still have a few days.

I've won an award. I'm not supposed to know; it's a secret, but I do. It's a long story, but suffice to say that my mother got far more thrilled about it than was necessary. It's one of those awards that everyone at the school gets if they hang around long enough.

The funny thing is, I was dying to earn it the last two school years. I really thought I deserved it. This year though, I've barely even thought about it.

Maybe that's the key.

It's finally happened

For the first time in my teaching career, a parent has called and demanded that her daughter be given another book to read.

Yesterday, Mrs. I-think-The-House-of-the-Scorpion-is-junk called, and told me just that. That the book was "junk" and worthless. I asked her if she could be more specific, since I wasn't sure just what was giving such offense.

She said she found the book full of verbal and physical abuse and that it was offensive to her. Said her 13-year-old should not be exposed to such, what did she call it? Oh yeah, "trash."

Now, I'm not sure how to deal with this. Of course I was accommodating and told her I'd give her daughter a new book. Which book that is, I haven't yet decided. This will throw quite a wrench into class plans for me; I've been planning to do a lot of Socratic seminars around this book, and use it as the basis for a persuasive essay in a few weeks.

I won't even get into the value of this book. I'm not a parent, and what this mother says goes.

For now though, I'm really stymied. How do I assign a different book, one that is appropriate, and one for which I don't have to make a whole other set of lesson plans?

Did I tell you, this is the first year I'm teaching The House of the Scorpion? So of course, everything is already new for me.

Please folks, fellow teachers, if you have any suggestions, or this has happened to you, please tell me about it. Better yet, any and all advice appreciated!

7 weeks left

But who's counting?

We continue with the fabulous STAR test next week, along with the abbreviated class periods. Our next unit will be reading a novel (finally!) The House of the Scorpion. I'm thrilled to be doing something other than the HOLT textbook bible. I worked hard last year to get this book added to our district booklist (I was shocked at the amount of work one has to do to get board approval).

However. Being that it's the first year I've taught it, I have no lesson plans. I love the book, and plan on Socratic seminars being the assessment of choice, but the questions for the Socratic seminars do not yet exist. I've done some searching on the Internet, and have found a couple of sites that might help, but if you have any ideas, they are gladly welcome. I know I'm already going to have them write a persuasive essay that will be related to the issues that come up in this book.

Oh, I had the kids check the novel out already... you know, so that they have something to read when they finish the testing early? That was Tuesday, and at least eight of my students had finished the novel by Friday. They liked it that much.

Yahoo!

the last two days

So.

Testing.

It's driving me batty. The kids are all bringing in massive amounts of food for the testing period. I am proctoring a GATE algebra class, and the teacher of the class, in all her wisdom, is giving extra credit for those kids who bring in goodies. There are 32 kids, and 6 days of testing.

And too much damn food. Doughnuts, cookies, goldfish, gummy bears and juice pouch thingies.

Yesterday, the three boys in the corner got bored and started tossing aforesaid gummy bears at each other. Ms. Vice Principal came in today before the test and lectured everyone on their behavior, then called out the names of the specific culprits.

Today? I was hit in the head with a straw from one of those Capri Sun juices. Right in the head.

Yep, one of the same dorks from yesterday. The future of our country, the best and the brightest.

Then, of course, we have 29 minute class periods the rest of the day, in which kids can't sit still due to being hopped up on sugar, unless it's sixth or seventh period, where they are going through the shakes from withdrawal.

Today, in my reading class, one little seventh grader flipped off an eighth grader. This shocked me, since the seventh grader is usually meek and silly.

Turns out the eighth grader had seen the seventh grader downtown this last weekend, holding his mother's hand as he crossed the street. The eighth grader was gleefully telling any and all this information.

I might have flipped him off too. Not an easy thing to live down.

The latest fad for all my male students is to fart. Loudly or silently, but to pass gas as often as possible. Then of course, to react as if tear gas had been thrown into the room. I'm surprised they don't just throw themselves down on the ground and writhe in agony.

On a good note:
Got my first spring pedicure today. Summer's out there, just waiting for me. I know it...

And the Testing Begins

Tomorrow, bright and shiny, I will have 35 faces, 70 eyeballs staring at me as I read the instructions for their first day of the California State Standards test. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the English Language Arts portion of the test. Of course, I've signed a statement saying that I will not look at the test, talk about the test, or help any of my students on the test. However, I have to walk around, not looking at the test, but making sure my kids are bubbling in properly, not just filling in the "C" answer for every question.

Wait, these aren't my kids. Oh no. We proctor tests with students other than our own so that we don't get lazy. Make sure we pay attention to the test. No grading homework or lesson planning for me. No siree bob.

Okay, everyone knows how I feel about these tests. They are a fact of life for our kids. I took standardized tests too (way back before they meant anything, but still). My issue is not with taking a standardized test; I think it can be used as a tool for measuring what they students have learned this year. My problem is that it is the ONLY tool used anymore.

See, there are 62 state standards (in Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening) in English Language Arts for eighth grade. Only about 26 of the standards are tested, and of those, only the Reading and Writing areas. Actually, as I went over the released test samples last year, the Writing standards are not tested the way the students are taught them. It's really more reading standards.

In addition, and I think nobodyknows over at Reflective Teacher mentioned this, these questions are more often than not trying to trick the students. So, instead of the standard supposedly being measured, we are instead seeing how well the students can figure out convoluted questions and answer choices.

Again, tests are a part of life. Figuring out tricky test questions is a skill. However, is this really the meat of what we are doing?

I had a teacher tell me the other day that since the eighth graders aren't actually tested on writing a persuasive essay (the writing test is only in the 4th and 7th grade), she wasn't going to teach it.

Is this what we've come to? If it's not on the test, we cut it out?

I know I have. Last year we read 4 different novels, performed the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, and held Socratic Seminars at least once a month. Now, there's no time for that.


This isn't the kind of teaching I signed on for.

it gets worse

Ew.

This is not the best time of year for me. Quarter progress reports went out last week, and now I'm getting all the calls. I sent home mid quarter progress reports for any students missing work or earning low grades, I called home after that; sixteen phone calls in one day, just to make sure parents knew what was going on, yet some folks are still shocked that their little Tommy or Mary isn't getting an A+.

I got a phone message yesterday from a mother that was very upset that her daughter had earned a B+ from me. She has "never earned anything lower than an A in all her time her at Unnamed Junior High School," and wanted to know what was going on. Her daughter said she had turned in all her work, and was "very upset" about all this.

Okay, so I go back into my grade book, and see the young lady has a couple of large homework assignments missing, and that she's earned a few B's on vocab and chapter quizzes. In the last week, since the report cards went out, her grade has gone up to an A-. I know this girl, and I'm sure she'll earn an A in class, but hasn't so far.

So, I call the mom back, who doesn't answer, and leave a message stating the situation. I come in this morning, and there's another message from Mrs. My-Daughter-Only-Gets-A's:

"Ms. JHS Teacher, I spoke with my daughter and she says she has turned everything in. I believe her. You must have made a mistake. She says she showed it to you and I'm thinking you must have forgotten to write it down. I'm very disturbed about this situation. If she earned an A, it should be an A, and you shouldn't make mistakes like this. It's very upsetting to my daughter."

Now, how upsetting do you think this really is to the girl? No pressure, right? Shit.

This mother, with whom I've not had any conversations with at any point at all this year, is basically calling me a liar, because she can't handle the fact that her daughter wasn't 100% responsible for herself. Notice she never mentioned the B grades earned on the quizzes.

This is the kind of parent that causes ulcers in 16-year-olds.

So, I had to go and dig out this girl's notebook, and figure out if she had completed the missing work. She had. However, she had not come to me and shown me the work. Students know they need to come and show me work on their own time, while I'm at the computer, so I can change the grade right in front of them.

Personal responsibility is something I'm trying to instill in my students. I'm not teaching it to them, nor am I preparing them for high school if I run after them for every missing piece of homework.

So, I have to call Mama back again today. I have to calm down a little bit before I talk to her; I'm so irritated right now I could spit. Gosh, I hope I actually speak to her. It might not come to anything, but I want her to tell me, not my machine, that I'm not telling the truth, or that it must be my fault that her little darling didn't have a perfect grade.

Just not enough Meetings

Since I teach Honors English, all of a sudden I have 20 parents who want their little darlings in GATE classes in high school. That's why there's a test people. Don't ask me to write a letter of recommendation; I'm not an expert in this regard. Yes, your sweet darling has an A in my class, and yes, she is a hard worker... but GATE is about aptitude, not achievement.

“But I want her challenged.”

What they’re really saying is,
“I don’t want her in with the general riff raff.”

Or even more disturbing,
“I don’t want my lily white kid in with those brown kids.”

Am I being overly dramatic? Maybe.

See, we’re supposed to have guidelines in our district about this. GATE was developed as an off-shoot of Special Ed. Yep, most of you knew that, but some of you didn’t, right?

Special Ed. is for students who learn differently from the mainstream population. True GATE identified students do. Learn differently, I mean. It was designed for students in the top 3-5% of IQ levels. Now, I know, IQ tests are not the be all and end all, but… let’s face it. Right now, at my junior high of 1000 students, 300 are in GATE English. I’m not a math whiz or anything, but even I can see that over 25% in GATE doesn’t represent properly. Add to that 200 more students in Honors, and you can see that things are, shall we say, slightly off at my school.

Could it have anything to do with the fact that we have the highest socio-economic level in the district? Could it be that we don’t even have enough students to qualify for Title I finding?

We have rich, white kids. With rich, white parents who are not used to taking “no” for an answer. Who determine their self worth by the grades and awards their off spring produce. Who threaten our district and principals with pulling out their students and putting them into private schools if they don’t get their way.

Well, I’m sorry, folks. Being in a GATE class in high school won’t help if your child isn’t qualified. It will just lower the expectations of the class, and create a situation in which GATE means nothing.

And really, in the real world, what does GATE mean anyway? Nothing. Hard work, loyalty, tenacity, trustworthiness, the ability to be a team player; these are how we are judged.

Not by some label our parents pushed on us so they could brag to their Pilates or golf buddies.

Have I lost you all?

So, over Spring Break I got off the subject of teaching and on to my own deal. Sorry about that. Won't let it happen again. What was I thinking? Letting it get personal?


Poetry presentations have been going well until today. The group presenting the Sonnet during 5th period were horrid. They hadn't even used the textbook to begin their research on what one was, the example they used to teach a Shakespearean Sonnet wasn't, and their own example didn't have 10 syllable lines. When I jumped in, they had the nerve to say, "we didn't know" it had 10 syllables. As if it was just left out of every definition they looked up on the internet.


Oi.

What is the

Monbusho English Fellow Program?


Someone thought I was part of it when I taught in Japan, but I've never heard of it.


My teaching in Japan was different from most people's experiences; I taught at a private, Christian, girls' school. Although I was an English as a second language teacher, my official title was missionary.

This was not the bible-thumping, bicycle-riding stereotype, but I was a missionary nonetheless.

I almost quit after the first week because of it.

See, I don't feel that my beliefs have any more justification or "truth" than anyone else's. I don't think I know more, or that I have a closer relationship with God than anyone else. That "Missionary" label really got to me.

However. I changed my mind about leaving for several reasons. One was that the school, not my or any other church, was paying my salary. Yes, the school paid it to the church board, who then paid me, but none of the money from the wooden plates that went around on Sundays was making its way into my pocket.

Another reason was realizing that my job was not to convince anyone of anything. In Japan, about less than 1% of the population considers itself Christian. To be Christian, and therefore, monotheistic, is difficult with the cultural expectation of family obligation. It's a challenge to become Christian, and at the same time, in a way, negate your own family.

Also, Christians in Japan are thought of much the same way as I think of the "Born Again" and conservative, "you're all going to Hell" type of Christians here in the states. It's so difficult to become a Christian in Japan, that those who do, are pretty adamant about it.

I'm not like that. I grew up where most people are Christian. Where the culture and the society is Christian-based. It's not hard or weird or strange to go to church and believe in Jesus in my country.

So, I was an English teacher, but I also saw my role as one of offering another viewpoint. I'm not perfect, and there are a lot of folks who would argue my beliefs aren't "pure." I was approachable though, and quick to say I didn't know all the answers when I didn't. I was a Christian with whom others could actually speak, instead of one who just lectured.

I still don't believe any one religion has all the answers. I don't believe anyone has a closer line to the truth than another. What works for me, may or may not work for you. Yes, there is a line between good and evil, but even that line is wiggly (death penalty?).

If we could just spend less time finding out the faults of others, and instead spent that time improving ourselves, wouldn't the world be an easier place? Even if we didn't always agree?

Back from Paris

I've been back since the wee hours of Monday night/Tuesday morning, but I've not accomplished much since. Had to get my inner clock back on track, and I'm still getting up at 5 am each morning. Not what I want to do when it's dark, raining, and cold outside.

My house is really a guest cottage, and it's not well insulated at all. When it rains hard, as it had the whole week I was gone, the kitchen floor floods. I came back at two in the morning, after two flights, three time zones, and a two-hour drive from LAX, to find about a half inch of water covering the floor of my elfin kitchen. This has been an on-going problem for the last two winters, but my 80-year-old landlady doesn't want to invest in actually fixing the problem. What she ended up doing last year, was to put down more flooring instead of the carpet that runs next to the kitchen. See, that was getting flooded too, and she would have to spend money to get the carpet cleaners to come and wash it and dry it out.

I know there's mold going on. I have Asthma and lots of sinus allergies, and this can't be helping. The bricks on the fireplace are growing things (even though she painted over them).

This is a big deal, but otherwise, I love living here. My landlady adores me, and hasn't raised my rent. I've told her that I'm concerned, and she said the guys that put in the flooring last spring said there wasn't any mold.

Bull. They aren't the testers. I know the test costs about $300 bucks, and I also am sure they'd find something. If official testers are called in, and they find mold, she will legally have to fix the problem.

And I'm not sure that it can be fixed. Because my place is on a slope. The side that the water comes in from is below ground level. I think when the earth gets saturated, it gets into my house from underneath.

I don't want to move, and I don't want my rent to go up. The problem won't go away, but it has to stop raining sometime, doesn't it? And besides, if it gets fixed, it means that folks will have to come into my house, and see all my mess.

Oi. I wish it would just go away.