Me at School

This was for "Drugs give you the blues" day, it was the first day I'd worn blue-jeans to school.

Reflections and Synthesis thus far

Another week down:

Well one week down and I’m getting a little more regular at keeping this thing up. I’m currently typing the first part of this blog after driving 109 miles from Lake Village to a little town (big for me, over 3,000 is a big town) called Sheridan about a half hour south of Little Rock. I’m here to help judge the junior all-region choir contestants. I volunteered to do this gig, and I’m already struck at the differences I’m seeing being only 109 miles away from Lake Village and maybe only 30 miles from the “Delta.” The hallways of this school are brightly painted all around and there are posters around the room with motivating slogans within eye distance.

It’s simply the difference of money and class. Driving from Lake Village to Sheridan, I had a lot of time to think, and I reflected a little bit on the disparities I’ve seen thus far in my three months of attempting to be an adult and teacher between the school I am teaching at and other schools. I’ve been given the most vivid comparisons when I visit other public schools in Arkansas and witness first-hand how community investment, good teachers, and socio-economic status directly transfer to how well these schools run, are look, and the environment our kids live in. Schools are funded primarily by their local tax base, and in this case the city I went too seemed to have a better tax-base than Lake Village, as a result the school facilities were nicer, the hallways cleaner, more accountability in general.

Now, I’m not saying my school district lacks these things: we have motivated teachers, and nice facilities considering the socio-economic status of our kids. We actually have caring adults in the community who are involved in our school: this isn’t the reality in other communities: in fact, there’s a separation. What I’ve found is this: most of the problems we are currently facing down here stem from integration in the early 70s when the public schools were forced to consolidate and end the evil and constitutionally abhorrent state-sanctioned separation of a population based on race. While there’s no longer a state rubber-stamp for this segregation, there still is profound segregation even in Lake Village. Our school is a majority black, lower socio-economic status. There are upper-middle class whites in town, but they send their kids across the river in Mississippi to the local private schools. I don’t have a problem with this: I understand that parents want what’s best for their kids and the reality is that the private schools across the river ensure a safe learning environment and good education. As I said, my district is mild compared to some other small-town schools with no accountability and everyday violence, but the fact that there is at least a fight every week at the high school is an indication that things are not always safe at our schools, which prompts parents to be hesitant and even ashamed of sending their children to the schools for which their taxes are going. There are days when I stand in my classroom and go “I understand where these folks are coming from.”

This of course stands against what I believe fundamentally about the American Education system: first and foremost we have to live up to our ideal of providing a free and equal education to all children in America regardless of class, color, or creed. Private schools take away from this: those with money send their kids to get a better education, giving those who already have a higher shot by virtue of having money a further unfair advantage over those who don’t have it. It also represents a lack of civic duty: parents are throwing their money at these schools that do give good education, but in the long-run do not fix things at their own town. Just once I’d like to ask a parent in my community why they aren’t involved in their local school more, trying to improve conditions, serving on the school board, visiting school events or trying to just make the school a better place. Instead, they pay money to send their children somewhere else and forget about the school in their own back yard. A disconnect had to have taken place at some point during integration: I’m sure there were people trying to make it work, but at what point did the parents with control and money decide to bail out? At what point did the parents make the decision that the public school should be left to those who have no other alternative, as opposed to making the alternative the one choice and making it the best choice?

The results of this exodus are apparent: since very little has been done to improve conditions in poorer neighborhoods and there is widespread ignorance about the causes of poverty in our country. We expect single mothers who had their first children in their teens and work every day just to scrape by to provide the same level of support and dedication to a school system that likely failed them when they were there. As conditions deteriorate in schools, further alienation occurs and the schools become unsafe places: qualified, motivated teachers don’t want to teach there, school administrators are brought in to fix things but end up being corrupted by power and money and not acting in the best interests of the school.

I want to stress again that the Lakeside is an exception as opposed to the rule that I’ve witnessed in the Delta. We have community support, wonderful teachers, and a very solid administration. But imagine the same social conditions with a poorer tax base and take away the positive things my school has: you get the reality for probably 80% of the rest of the Delta. It’s sad, and it needs to be fixed.

The question of how is a tricky one. Teach for America provides one avenue: they’re sending generally affluent, diverse (both politically and culturally), intelligent people to work in these areas and see first hand this disconnect. These people will then head into positions of power or stay on in education to try and fix the system within. I am in awe of some of my friends and what they are doing here in the Delta and the positive changes they are making: some have started their own schools to fix things, have started cultural centers, become school principals. Changes are being made.

I would also say the lack of progress is an indictment on the expectations and assumptions we have made about American public education since its inception. The kids I’ve been working with simply face huge obstacles by virtue of their status: ADHD, violence, poverty. Within the system we have, these kids come to school and we expect them to be rigid, good students, quiet when we want them to be and going from their lockers to their classroom. After all, we all did that just fine, and within the system we’ve managed to make it to where we are through our hard work. I think this is part of the problem: the idea that “I did it, and I had it pretty tough, so everyone else should be able to do it” needs to be dispelled. Maybe the actual system is flawed. In Walla Walla there is a school called the “Palouse School.” It’s private and there are around 18 students and three full-time teachers. Rather than having grades and structured periods, the students are encouraged to work within their own strengths and weaknesses. The result? They go to colleges, good ones too, and end up with jobs and productive members of society. If we spent half the money on foreign policy that we have been and shifted at least 10% of it to education we could do this same kind of intimate, localized education on a public level, and the results would be stunning. Remodel the schools to be more welcoming, individualize education, hire more teachers (the salary isn’t that bad, it’s just the job within the structures is what are hurting teachers). Give teachers an inspiring environment and achievable goals and you’ll have people lining up with disregard for the salaries and benefits because it will become easier for the ideal teacher-goal: effecting positively young lives and making an impression. That’s why I’m here, I want to inspire my kids, be a positive force in their lives. I hope I’m doing it.

So into this dilemma I’ve been sent, a sort of inspired-teacher band-aid over a much bigger problem. I remember talking with a mother who had a child in our town right after integration: she said the biggest mistake she made was sending him across the river to the affluent private school because with that act she let the local school lose her support and investment, and encouraged the loss from other parents. It’s encouraging to see this level of reflection, but this blog represents the most vocal I have been about my observations so far (ok, not vocal, because I’m not actually speaking). It will take more time, and I’m working my hardest to keep my mouth shut and my ears open: this teaching job is a journey to me, seeing and observing a different reality and a different part of our country that is missing out. I’ll keep you updated as I learn more.

Until next time,

-Nate

“I’ve been so damn tired. Cus’ I spy something wrong”-Guster

Mr Gray

Here's my principal with two of my personal heroes: the janitors! (photo courtesy of Ms. Veneklase..I need to start taking pictures)

It's been awhile...

Reflections:

Well, it’s been a roller-coaster ride these past few weeks full of fun stories and interesting tidbits, so why not dive right in eh? (PS, sorry for the belated update, it’s been long overdue, so here we go).

First story: I find myself in a bus heading to a choir competition about one hour late with only one student auditioning despite assuming and hoping that three would show up. The sun is rising in the east and the sky is orange as the bus goes by cotton fields and farm houses towards our destination: Pine Bluff. How did this happen?

I learned a valuable lesson about a few “teacher” things that I hadn’t known about previously or simply didn’t act on earlier. Number 1: always always always triple check transportation plans. I awoke around 5 a.m. that morning hoping to leave at 6 and assuming the bus would be at the school. I arrived at the school that morning to find the front gate (that lets traffic onto campus) locked and closed, but there was a large bus at the nearby gas station. Lo and behold, that was my bus, but much larger than what we needed for the trip. What we needed was a Harrington School District sized bus, or in most other cities the “Special Bus” which would be more than sufficient for three intrepid travelers.

Well, I had hoped that all three of my students would arrive on time at the high school and assume that the bus was the one parked at the gas station, so they would turn around and come to the bus. That didn’t happen. In fact, by about 6:10 none of my students had shown up and I knew where one of them lived. Lesson number 2: get phone numbers and addresses of your participants. This should’ve been a given and should’ve been something I had moved on earlier. I ended up dragging my single participant out of bed (not literally, but I did wake his folks up and they drug him out of bed) so he could be my sole participant in the SE regional choir contest. He had a decent audition but unfortunately did not make the cut.

Ah well, lesson learned. Next year I’ll be sending way more students and will have the music at least a month in advance and have my transportation plans nailed down. Sometimes we just have to live and learn. I did get some good contacts with other choir directors and got to do some judging, which consisted of sitting behind a black curtain with other directors (most in their 40s and 50s and all females…had great conversations about grandchildren) and listening as nervous altos and basses sang the same sets of music over and over.

Story #2: the class. As far as the classroom, in the past few weeks I have implemented a few new strategies to keep my kids engaged: class points and class jobs. The class points system is more for my choirs: the two periods compete with each other and start out each day with 10 points. They hold onto these points if they’re following procedures and rules (not talking while I’m talking, being respectful to one another, etc). At the end of each period I tally the points. The first class to make it to 200 will receive McDonalds from Mr. Moneybags himself: their choir teacher. Ahh, bribery. It’s pretty effective, but I need to be more punishing with my individual consequences. So far we’ve been able to cover an sight-read three songs in each class (I’m putting the choirs together for the concert so we can have a nice, full sound). This weekend I spent some time looking at our Christmas music, and found two pieces that should be very easy to learn and will be a lot of fun to sing. One of my fellow teachers suggested that I let the kids pick which songs they will sing for the concert, and I think that’s a good idea but we’ll see. I’ve found that one of the difficulties for me teaching choir is that I have many assumptions about how a good choir is run and the mindsets of my students: when I’m in a choir I always differ to the director and always take the pieces that are given to me. I’ll grumble if I don’t like the particular piece, but I’ve always found (with a couple of exceptions) that no matter how much I hate a piece early on I learn to appreciate and eventually love it by the time the concert rolls around. These kids see things that way, and I think it might be a good investment strategy to give them more ownership of their music (“Ok, you’ve decided to sing this, so lets pull it off, etc.) I need to give it more thought, but by tomorrow I’ll have a decision for sure.

Class jobs are coming off to a shaky start, but on the whole are working well. The way it works is that I “pay” my kids in tickets every day. The average kid will earn 5 tickets barring behavioral difficulty (I take away tickets if they’re not following instructions, talking, given dhalls, etc). However, I have since hired (and they actually filled out applications) a few students to carry out classroom jobs (passing out papers, taking roll, lining the kids up outside, etc). The job part has been very successful. My roll takers are faithful and do exactly what they’re supposed to. My line enforcers are honest about how many marbles we earn (marbles are my class reward) and I have a very easy system of tracking how many tickets students have either earned or lost each day. The trouble is that the kids use their “pay” to buy things at the class store, which is currently run by an overwhelmed manager with a faulty cash register (me). My new challenge is to find a way to streamline the store so it only takes, say, 10 minutes for me to “sell” my various bribery items to the kids without having to take too much time in figuring out how many tickets are left over.

I’m still having difficulty with classroom management, and am realizing more and more that I simply put up with too much backtalk. Last week I implemented a pretty harsh consequence for backtalk, and it’s proven effective (they get three dhalls every time they back talk). Musically the munchkins have started to learn how to sing notated music using the skills that they’ve (hopefully) developed the past nine weeks (knowing the line and space notes, amount of beats for a quarter note, etc). We’ll be diving into more music this coming week and will probably be doing some music history as well.

Story Number 3: the weather (because everyone talks about it anyway). Weather-wise it’s been pretty windy and “cold” down here in Arkansas. The weather got down to the 40s a few days ago and there was a really intense thunderstorm that barreled through on Thursday knocking down some trees, but otherwise I’m enjoying the fall weather. The night with the thunderstorms was scary: there was a tornado warning to the south of us and around 2 a.m. the town alarm went off (it goes off every time someone calls 911 though, so it probably wasn't serious) but I was afraid that a tornado was coming and quickly got online to check the weather. Luckily we were in the clear.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned, maybe I’ll be better about keeping this thing up to date as next week rolls around.

Cheers,

-Nate

“They see me mowing, my front lawn. I know that it’s obvious I’m white and nerdy. Think I’m just too white and nerdy.” –Weird Al