Sub Vision: If I were a Teacher...

The other day I was called to fill a high school position, for the summer program. It was ‘foreign language, other’, which could mean anything from Sign Language to Korean, but since I knew there was a slim chance to get anything else, I took it.

When I arrived, I found out that it was for Spanish, not an ‘other’, but I already knew to expect anything at summer. The roster of the first period (two and a half hours) was promising – only four students, and in reality – only two showed up. With the help of the temporary principal, I tried to figure out what the teacher’s intentions were, and since it was not clear, I came up with a suggested lesson plan. The students, respectfully, accepted it, but showed no signs of following it up…

Then I found a packet that was already distributed to the students earlier. It included maps of South and Central America, and a list of countries to identify on the map.  I don’t speak Spanish but I can recognize most countries’ names even in foreign language. I, also, always try to use an opportunity to enrich young people’s general knowledge, especially with geography. I started quizzing my two students about the listed countries and they showed certain knowledge and some interest.

This is what I am looking for - Teach someone who is interested, or at least, polite enough to listen… I told these kids, who have probably never left the state, or even the city, about my trips to Cuba, Brazil and Costa-Rica, showed them pictures on my phone of Cuba’s streets and old cars, forests and volcanoes in Costa-Rica, Rio beaches and the amazing Iguacu water falls on the Brazilian and Argentinian side. I even showed pictures of myself in a costume that was used for the Rio carnival...

These are the teachable moments which I so hoped to find when I became a teacher, where I hoped to strike a chord of curiosity, where I thought I would be able to broaden students’ horizons…  but which, unfortunately, I so seldom find…

The magic has broken as soon as the first period ended. The next group of students was uninterested and unwilling, so I resigned to broadening my own horizons with my Time magazine… Back to the old frustrating story of teachers and teaching …

Sub Vision: Summer Time and Summer School

I have a distinct dislike to the “Summer School” institution. Growing up we did not have anything academic during summer, only summer camp (for those who could afford it), games and fun, and when older, at high school, some got summer jobs.

My kids grew up in a different place and time, and their schools did offer summer school, but as they didn’t have to catch up on any subject, we did not encourage them to take summer classes to get ahead. For them, too, summer was fun time, with summer camp, family traveling, and if any classes, they were just for fun.

Reality is different in the schools where I teach. Many students cannot afford summer camp, and do need to repeat classes and enrich their basic academic skills. The district, as budget permits, offers summer school, and full time teachers, as well as substitute teachers, are fighting for their right to teach in the summer.

I don’t mind not being offered a job in the summer, but when offered I feel guilty not taking it, and so it happened that I did sign up to work. Surprisingly enough, a principal did call me few days before the starting date and asked me to work three days of the first school week, and I, reluctantly, agreed.

Middle schools are not fun during school year, let alone summer. Fortunately, there were only 10-12 students during that first week so it should have been manageable. After the first day, however, I was completely discouraged; how would I survive two more days? The permanent teacher had left enough teaching lessons, planned games, and enrichment programs, but the students were not interested. The lessons were way too hard for them, games too dull. Learning materials, workbooks and books, were abandoned on desks or on the floor, pencils were broken, and erasers became flying objects… Rulers had to be restricted to prevent sword fighting…

I managed to survive these three days, but not without my continuing frustration with the program. What’s the use in sticking to ‘the plan’ if students are not ready for ‘the plan’? Why not teach them basics first? What’s the use in talking of ratios and proportions without knowing fractions, or the main four arithmetic operations?

I did do my best, dividing students to groups and creating competition over basic knowledge, promising doughnuts to the winning group. On Friday, I did get doughnuts for everyone, including the administrators…

As always, I have hope, a tiny little hope, that I did touch any chord of knowledge, that I did connect to any source of motivation, and that at least one student would be able to say: yes, I remember learning this during summer school…

… Wishful thinking…

Sub Vision: Schools I go to and schools I don’t

Over the years, I have worked in many of the district schools. When I started as new teacher I was seldom called, and when called it was usually to undesirable schools that were probably rejected by others, higher on the list. Assigned to work at the 6-12 grades, I was mostly called to middle schools.

Now that I am higher on the list I can choose and pick, and leave for the new people my rejects… sorry! Interestingly enough, there is a lot of agreement among substitute teachers which are the desirable schools, and which are not...

When choosing to work at a school, the top criterion is whether it is a high school. Middle schools’ days are exhausting, and discipline is almost impossible. To make things worse, many of them don’t have a full time dean, and count on over-worked teachers and over-loaded counselors to do the job. I have seen schools turn around after hiring a dean, or turning the other way when elimination this position.

Another criterion is the main office staff. Main office is the face of the school. No matter how good school’s reputation is, a lemony office manager, and unsmiling clerical personnel, make it an unappealing work place. Angry, mean, or even just sour faces are not a pretty sight first thing in the morning… Often I choose a bad school with nice office employees over a good one, with lemony personnel...

Another criterion is the bell schedule. Schools that cater block scheduling make substitute teachers’ day unbearable; students have very little patience after forty minutes and start acting out. Schools that don’t have a descent nutrition break, with enough time for restroom and a cup of coffee, are inconsiderate to their teachers!

Of course, we all have our own preferences. I am uncomfortable working at a school that has no gate or one that is wide open... I don’t like messy classrooms, dirty bathrooms or littered hall ways. I don’t like classrooms full of aides that do nothing but texting, or ones that feel they should run the class for me (unless the teacher instructed so). I don’t like nonexistent lesson plan, or one that does not commit students to a concrete activity, to be handed over at the end of the class…

Higher on my criterion list, though, is the existence of staff cafeteria. Cafeteria, for me, is the place to relax for a short time between classes, to be served for few minutes. It is not only the cup of coffee, or lunch, it is having comfort food during a hard day… Schools that adult cafeteria is not high on their priority list, are very low on my priority list. I deem them negligent of their most important resource, the teachers, and it often reflects on schools’ atmosphere…

Sub Vision: "…But I am a TA…"

I hear that almost every day at school: “But I am a TA!”. Students are using this line when they are tardy to class, leave early, disappear for unlimited time, talk to their friends, don’t do any work, use their cell phone, and most irritating for me, personally, sit at the teacher’s desk.

Students TA’s (Teacher Assistant) may have variety of jobs, ranging from checking tests and  homework, taking attendance, all the way to absolutely doing nothing; either sleeping or playing with their electronic device of their choice.

The reasons for having a TA in almost every classroom’s period, and at most offices in schools, are all related to money. Offices are constantly cutting clerical help, and classrooms are short of adult (paid) TA’s. On the other end of the spectrum - schools are eliminating elective classes and offer very limited choices for those who need them, thus students are offered a TA position as elective; not a healthy choice for many reasons. First - students are idle most of the time; sleeping, texting, or worse, disrupting class. Even worse – in many cases they have access to sensitive data, not for students eyes, or exposed to office talks that are not for students’ ears.

Most disruptive for me is their attitude of “I am equal to you, don’t tell me what to do!…”. Not only that teachers, now, have to deal with additional 1-3 students, but with ones with superiority attitude. What makes it even harder is the fact that usually no information is available on the roster to help identify the real TA’s, and thus students are using it as an excuse to get out of classwork, or adhering to school and class rules…

So… sorry full time teachers, the first thing I do when I hear “But I am a TA!” is asking, “Are you a paid TA?” (to make sure I am not offending a young, adult, real TA), then I am sending them back to students’ seats, and make sure they are not disruptive, or else they face the same consequences as other students.

Once in a while, I wrongly blame a good TA for being imposter, my apologies! But usually I know a real TA when I meet one. I recognize them by their respectful attitude, the work that they bring with them in case there is nothing assigned by the teacher, by asking politely if there is anything they can do to help… These are the students with whom I may be even willing to share my sacred “teacher’s space”…

Sub Vision: Those cafeterias...

Many schools give little or no importance to their cafeterias, especially to the part that serves teachers and staff members.

Students – sure! They receive breakfast in class, free; precious learning time lost, and expensive food wasted. On average, half of the food distributed in the morning ends up in hands of questionable storage keepers, or worse – in the trash can…

Students get free lunch too, on which consumption I know less, but judging from the look of the luncheon area after the break, a lot of food is thrown away too…

When it comes to feeding staff members, however, schools are less concerned, a lot less! There are very few schools that keep a vibrant, fully stocked, cafeteria, catered for the adults who serve the juveniles. Teachers, whose lunch break time is limited to 30 minutes, carefully divided between closing one class and prepping for the next, visiting the bathroom, and eating, often reach the promised cafeteria just to watch the food packed away, longed-for coffee poured (literally) down the drain, and closed cashiers. I can’t count the times when I badly needed my cup of coffee to sustain me, and it was gone, consumed or, worse, drained to the sink…

Those blessed cafeterias that prepare salads and sandwiches, keep supplies available and always have a fresh pot of coffee are friends of the teaching profession. They understand the need of a working adult not only to be fed, but also to rest for few minutes. They are ready to answer to the needs, even if it means running between the students’ window, the kitchen, and the teachers’ lounge.

I don’t know what separates a good cafeteria and a mean cafeteria. They must have budget and resources limitation, but I can tell for sure – every time I encountered a nice cafeteria, there was a nice, generous, person running it. A mean manager translates to bad cafeteria, even if some of its employees are nice and helpful.

I always head to the cafeteria during my breaks, and have seen many lunchrooms. The good ones provide a choice of selections, with a smile and helpful attitude.  Over the years I have seen good cafeterias turning bad, bad ones getting better, good cafeterias staying good even after management change, and mean managers ruining one school, then moving to a different school and ruining it too…

One thing seems obvious to me. The blame is on schools’ administrators. Good and happy schools have good and happy cafeterias. Those who let cafeterias shut services to their staff indicate poor leadership and negligence, preventing this bit of luxury, few minutes of relaxation and adult conversation with peers. This small indulgence sustained me during times I worked at difficulty schools. The knowledge that once or twice a day I would spend few minutes with adults who face the exact same experience was invaluable. Administrators that do not understand that, don’t deserve to be managers of any type, let alone of school staff.

I had one of many experiences at a middle school that used to be a pleasant place, and became unbearable… Students’ bad behavior and administrators’ lack of support are only part of the problems. The school’s cafeteria has not served teachers and staff for years, and knowing that I try to avoid it, not always successfully. Cafeteria with cold coffee, no lunch service, air-conditioned to a freezing point, with outside broken chairs… At the end of one working day there, the office manager made the mistake of asking me how my day was. I told her that it would have been OK had the cafeteria served teachers at lunch. To my surprise an argument had erupted. She claimed I was wrong, and although she, herself, never goes to the cafeteria, lunch is being served! She suggested two possibilities, one, that I may not know where the cafeteria is, the other - that I am lying. No kidding!

Well, not all substitute teachers are very smart… or trust worthy…   

Sub Vision: Those schools that have changed and those that have not…

As the pressure on schools’ performance is intensifying, educators are struggling to find the winning combination that will turn their school a success over night…

Schools are trying all kind of tricks to make it happen. Whatever the new criteria for ‘success’ will be, now that standardized testing is fading from the educational landscape, a new, brilliant, idea eventually will redefine a success …

As a substitute teacher, I visit many schools, and have seen the changes over the years. The most dramatic modification is usually at middle schools, as they go from bad to good, or vice versa, by merely hiring (or dismissing) discipline dean…

High schools are more complicated and their ‘success’ is determined by a combination of measures.

However, no matter what the definition of a good school is, its implication is vast on students, school reputation, neighborhood desirability, but also on the career path of teachers and administrators.

I have worked at a school that had every desirable element: Good teachers, good programs, vocational subjects and a group of dedicated administrators, including a principal who worked tirelessly toward achieving suitable academic performance. There was one thing, however, that stood in the way of success, the student body. Had you transformed this institution to an affluent neighborhood, the results would have been unquestionable, but at that neighborhood no matter how hard the faculty worked, pace of improvement was not fast enough for the education ‘police’…

Few years into the internal effort to turn things around, and despite the fact that there was improvement (even if slow), the city took over, replaced the principal, administrators and staff, and a major revolution had started… within one year none of the previous top faculty had remained. Outside educational ‘specialists’ were brought in, and the few teachers who stayed were put under a tight scrutiny of the new education elite… Another sign of severe change was the bell schedule…

I see my past colleagues, those who were not driven to early retirement, in every school I work now. They were dispersed all over the district, and they all share the same sadness of a community broken up. The principal who was never given another chance at a different school got a position at the district headquarters, and not long afterwards had retired, feeling, probably, a complete failure…

And the school? I was called to replace a teacher that I know. At first sight I was quite impressed, smaller class size, clean and polished floor, new seating arrangement and well enough behaved students. My thought was, well, things have improved. Maybe all those changes were made for the best after all…

It took me two more visits to the same classroom, and an additional visit to another classroom, to realize that nothing had changed… Teachers are still good and dedicated, students are still lazy, with bad attitude and proud ignorance… I realized that when I tried to teach and found out the gap between the attempted level and the real knowledge. Of course I could have blamed the teachers, but I know better, I have been at that school, had the same students, in the same failing education system, and I had the same level of frustration…

And then, there are those schools that don’t worry that much about improvement. They do have a body of students who come from an affluent neighborhood, and they can count on their success to pull school’s scores higher. Yes, they do have the other type of students too, the ones that don’t perform, and they try their best to help them, but they don’t lose sleep over it. The good students are their buffer. These schools don’t displace teachers, shift their assignments, or change bell schedule. They let teachers stay to full retirement age and beyond. They know that unmotivated, unprepared, student body is a fact of a public school life, and they count on the other segment of population to balance out the ‘success’ measure, whatever the current measure is... 

Sub View: Testing: One step forward, two backward

We are leaving behind the ‘No Child Left Behind’, and trying to find other ways not to leave behind anyone. Teachers, at last, will be able to teach what needed, and students may be able to learn something beyond the mandated standardized tests.

However, the tricky part is not that the standardized tests are the enemy of education, but how they are applied, and what they are used for. For years, now, students had been told not to worry about those tests since they are not used to evaluate them, but their teachers and their school. I have written pages over the irony in how we are so surprised that students don’t take these tests seriously then...

There is, however, one valid test in all this ‘testamania’, that does make, at least, some sense, the California High School Exit Exam (aka CHSEE). This is a standardized exam that proves that a high school graduating student possesses some basic knowledge. It is, in no way, a sufficient measure of skills since it represents eighth grade level, yet, it is one-step toward accountability in education.

Unfortunately, with the wave of repealing everything, this valid criterion is caught in the net too… Hello!!! This is exactly the type of test that is essential. It evaluates success of the individual and has a direct effect, the kind of motivator we need... 

There is only one way to assess what students learned, and more important, what they really knows - an independent, objective test. We don’t keep kids in schools just to make them busy, or retain teachers and administrators for employment. The purpose of school is to teach, and for students, to learn. How do we verify that we fulfilled our mission? By reliance on each school? By trusting each teacher? By believing that all students are created equal and thus acquired the same information?

Schools, districts, teachers, are as different from each other as individual students. We can’t assume that a graduate of one school has the same skills and knowledge of a graduate from another school… Yes, they may have gone through the exact same program, text books, guideline, but does it mean they are equally educated?

The reason why the answer is ‘absolutely not’ is not only because students and teachers are different, it is because every element of the education system is different. Does it mean that we have to give in and say ‘oh well, we cannot fight those differences?’ No! we cannot fight the differences but we have to make sure that the end result of education is similar, despite the differences…

The only way to make sure that no (capable) child is left behind, is to set unison, clear goal for every child, and encourage them to move toward it. A stable target that is not realigned by schools, or teachers, to accommodate slackers who wait for the target to move toward them, but to force them to move toward the target.

The only way to do so is by instituting standardized graduation tests, matriculation tests as in other countries, where passing exams constitutes true graduation, while occupying a desk for twelve years results in receiving a matching certificate…