Meditations on Literature and Literacy...Continued

Conferences…

In an ideal world, parent/teacher conferences lead to meaningful dialogue about student progress, next steps to improve and an overall feeling of shared effort between the parent, teacher and (sometimes) student. In my 12 years of teaching, however, this has rarely been the case. What are the obstacles? For one, many parents of students with the most needs don’t show up, whether it’s because they’ve heard it all before and want to avoid school all together, whether they don’t speak the language or simply because they can’t take off from work, that leaves us teachers feeling as though some of the meaning is leeched out of the conferences because we are left without a conference for some of our most vulnerable students. Often, when the parent is able to come and brings the student with them, we are able to have that meaningful conference but those seem few and far between.

So what is the solution? My co-worker suggested that parent/teacher conferences are a thing of the past since we now have school email where the parent can reach us if they need to. However, I think there isn’t a substitute for face-to-face interaction. I just wish that the time was used more wisely. Many of my special education students’ parents don’t come to conferences and these are exactly the vulnerable students who would benefit from these meetings.

Staying at night for conferences is a lot for people like myself who gave young children, and it would make it less of a chore for us if more of the time spent was improving our classrooms.

Another One

I was saddened this morning when I heard of yet another school shooting. This one was in CA. Really, when will enough be enough? I was a senior in high school when the Columbine shooting happened and that was 20 years ago and nothing’s changed. In fact, things have gotten worse. There have been so many shootings recently that it is difficult to keep track. Lockdown drills are now the norm at every level of school. In FL, a law was passed allowing teachers to be armed. Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? Is this what we’re teaching our students and our own kids?

Last semester, I taught a unit on the book Columbine by Dave Cullen (if you haven’t read it, you should) and it was amazing to me how little things have changed since then in terms of who is allowed to possess a firearm. The Columbine shooters bought their guns at a gun show. Guess what? That’s still allowed. My students say they don’t feel safe and some believe teachers should be armed. Why is this our reality?

We started the Columbine unit right after a shooting only a few miles from Columbine High School and we read current events stories as they unfolded. Many of the students were amazed at how long school shootings have been happening and how little has been done to stop it. No other country has this many mass shootings. It’s time we took a look at what is going on and how to curb this epidemic.

Sick Day

As soon as I see a text from daycare I know. “Your child has a fever. Please come pick her up.” And I do, of course. It was only an hour earlier than usual, but I got there as fast as I could. This morning, both girls did not feel well so I made the call to my school and here I am. We get 10 sick days where I teach. I don’t believe I’ve ever used one because I was sick myself. I’ve only been a mom for 20 months, but I’ve used more of my sick days this past year than I did all of my other years of teaching.

While we do have these 10 days to use, I still feel like this construct does not fully support anyone. When I was pregnant, I had to fill out all of this paperwork because I missed a lot of school due to my difficult pregnancy and to make sure all of my t’s were crossed and my i’s dotted. But the truth of the matter is…my doctor’s office was not open late and I had to schedule appointments during work hours. Now that my girls are here, I can’t send them to daycare with a fever, so either myself or my husband have to stay home with them or we need to know in advance enough to ask their grandparents for coverage. This puts me in a difficult position when they’re sick in November, because what happens if I get sick? Or they’re worse off in March? By then, my days will be stretched thin and I would need to go in to work even when I might not be at my best.

I don’t know what a solution is to this sick day issue. Some companies give “flex days” so they can be taken as sick or holidays,etc but I don’t see the DOE doing that because school is closed on most holidays. It it better to have the days than to not have them, and this is what is standard but I wonder if there is any other way that it can be done?

The Other Side of the Table Part 2

My daughters are currently in daycare, but most of the kids leave after they turn 2 for preschool programs. They will be turning 2 in a few months, but we’ve decided to keep them where they are at least until the summer. However, that still means that we need to find them a preschool situation now. And even though I’ve been a secondary teacher for 12 years, I’m finding I know very little about early childhood. It’s amazing to me how different the jobs and expertise are of the preschool teachers and mine. They think about and observe things that as adults, and as a secondary teacher, we take for granted.

For example, the preschool kids are supposed to be able to close a circle. This is not something that we think about anymore, but it means a preschool child has made progress. My students come to me much more fully formed than my daughters will go into their 2’s program. They will change a lot over that first year. When I teach 9th graders, then see the students again when they’re older, they’ve matured but it is not such a stark difference as it is in those first years.

I am getting a crash course in early childhood education and learning about the different approaches so we can make a decision about where to send them. I do think they will be successful in many of the environments that we’ve already seen, with the dedicated staff available to guide them. It just remains to be seen if there is a clear front runner for that elusive ideal space for them….and who has room for twins.

There is value in “teaching novels.”

I have to address something my principal said at a recent staff meeting. He was going on about how when his son only read novels in English and learned about interpreting them, then he wasn’t prepared for college. I have to disagree with this. First of all, this is how I learned English and most other people until a few years ago learned English. I don’t think we were all woefully under-prepared for college and life in the world. Secondly, when I “teach novels,” I’m doing a few different things. I am teaching a book that I like so much I want to share it with my students. We learn about different cultures and religions, make connections to current events and interpret the author’s purpose and intentions. The novel is the jumping off point for a host of different topics.

For example, when I have read Fences with my class, we talk about the Great Migration, family dynamics and discrimination. We read articles about August Wilson and compare the movie to the play. When we read Night, we learn about the Holocaust, faith, trauma and father/son relationships. These books serve as the anchor for these different texts and discussions and it’s short sighted to imply that teaching novels does not have value.

In addition, I have also taught students who have never finished a book until they have in my class. Reading a book from beginning to end build stamina and gives the students a sense of accomplishment that excerpts will never provide. Of course, it is appropriate for students to read excerpts but it is also worthwhile for them to read a whole book.

These new Common Core aligned curricula favor these excerpts and short texts so much so that students almost never learn to read a whole book. Isn’t that just as important to prepare them for college?

Collaboration Part 2

As I was sitting and planning with two of my co-teachers this past week, it struck me how easy and lived in this relationship was. We have been teaching together now for multiple semesters and have a good idea of what each other brings to the table in our respective roles. I think this is one of the missing pieces that administrators don’t think about when scheduling co-teaching pairs. I know it is not possible to always have such a team. People move or or teach other things and sometimes it is not possible. However, I think that whenever possible, admin should really consider putting co-teachers together both for multiple semesters and for multiple periods throughout the day.

The first semester you co-teach with someone is often spent figuring out how both of your teaching styles are going to meld in the classroom and establishing a relationship. If that pair is broken up for the next semester, that foundation is for naught because it just has to happen again with someone else. Once you’re in your second semester together, you have an idea about your partner’s style and how you run a classroom together so it should be much more seamless than the first semester.

You can do all of the prescribed co-teaching models you want but if you and your co-teacher don’t have at least a civil working relationship, then it is not an effective co-teaching pair. When administrators ask us to fill out our preference sheets for the beginning of each semester, I usually write down the names of teachers that I feel I work well with. This is not an accident. I want to be as effective as I can be, and when working with these teachers, I feel that our classrooms are places where learning happens and is supported. So often, those preference sheets are ignored because of one reason or another. But if a teacher who spends most of their day co-teaching, as I do, writes down teachers that they want to work with, that should be paid attention.

The World Turned Upside Down

In school this morning we had a moment of silence in honor of the day. And I realized that none of my 11th grade students were alive ye ton 9/11. And it sort of blew my mind. 18 years is a long time. I feel like the person I was on 9/11 was someone else, that 20 year old student at Syracuse University.

Syracuse never felt further away from home than that day when I made panic stricken calls from my Nokia cellphone, my first, to my father, mother and friends I knew lived in NYC. Some classes were cancelled some weren’t. The choir director said she did not feel like singing. I didn’t blame her. I went to my classes just to have something to do, so I wouldn’t have to sit in my dorm and watch the news hour after hour. We were supposed to have a football game the following weekend, but it was postponed. So many of us just didn’t know what to do.

My students have only known the post 9/11 world, where there is heightened security everywhere you go, where you have to get thoroughly scanned before you go on an airplane. Where the the US is at war. Where a gaping hole in the earth was made into a waterfall and another tower now stands. And so many of us are still here too. Here but different.

In some ways, our security was taken away. People were and are scared and paranoid. But it did bring out the best in humanity too. I recently saw the musical Come from Away, which chronicles the story of the town in Newfoundland where planes were diverted when the US airspace was closed following the attack. The tiny town took in thousands of scared people and made them feel at home when they felt displaced. It was really such a massive undertaking and certainly highlighted that while there were people who were going to do the worst, there were also people willing to do their best.

The First Day

The first day back at school always feels like a shock to the system. Even of you worked during the summer, the flurry of activity that precedes school opening is a lot. Early alarms, schedules, classroom changes, finding co-teachers, endless meetings…It can weigh a person down before we even meet the kids.

Personally, I think it gets better when we see the kids again because then we all remember the reason we’re doing this: them. It’s not about pettiness between teachers or administrators…it’s to help kids learn. Of course, having to eat and use the bathroom on a schedule again is hard. But it’s worth it to provide a stable, safe place for the students to come and learn and grow. I hope there will be teachers out there doing the same for my daughters when the time comes.

If you’re meeting your students for the first time tomorrow like me, good luck and have a great day!

High School Equivalency for Students with IEPs

Please bear with me as I step on my soapbox for a minute. This article, “To get a high school equivalency diploma, NYC forces students to give up special education services” (https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/08/21/225295/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cb_bureau_ny) was featured on the Chalkbeat newsletter. Essentially, students who have IEPs and are seeking an alternative path to attaining their high school diplomas have to sign a waiver stating that they are giving up the services they are required to receive in their IEP. This is ridiculous. It is very difficult to get a job without a high school diploma and the city has been punishing kids who are willing to put in the work to achieve said diploma by taking away their services?

The article did say that ” City officials have vowed to stop forcing students who enroll in Pathways to sign a waiver giving up services listed on their customized learning plans, also known as an IEP, which can mandate smaller classes, group counseling, or benefits such as physical therapy. ” However, “Still, city officials say they will not fully comply with students’ learning plans, especially if they require classes co-taught by a special education teacher and a traditional classroom educator or group counseling sessions. The article did say that ” City officials have vowed to stop forcing students who enroll in Pathways to sign a waiver giving up services listed on their customized learning plans, also known as an IEP, which can mandate smaller classes, group counseling, or benefits such as physical therapy. ” Of course, the reason why is money. If they have to pay for ICT classes, that costs money. It costs money to hire counselors. But IEPs are also legal documents and I’m surprised that no parents or students themselves have come forward to complain.

If it is truly the city’s desire to provide students who are having trouble in traditional classrooms with alternatives to achieve their diploma, the city should be giving them every chance to succeed, including adhering to the requirements of their IEPs. Students have IEPs for a reason, and the city needs to honor that and take it into account when admitting or recommending students to these programs.

The Other Side of the Table (Part 1)

At this point in time, I’ve been a Special Education teacher longer than I’ve been a parent. So when my husband and I decided to have our daughters, who were premature, evaluated for early intervention, I was pretty sure I understood what would happen. What I didn’t realize was how weird it would be to be the parent in the scenario instead of the person making the recommendations.

One of our daughters qualified for services and the other didn’t. So I went to the meeting and the person running the meeting asked me what my goals were for her. I was surprised because they were supposed to be the experts on development. What does a realistic goal for a six month old ( four month adjusted) baby look like? I was told that parents usually focus on walking and I countered with there were a lot of steps (pardon the pun) between rolling over and walking and shouldn’t we focus on that. At the school level when writing IEPs, we are to write goals that are attainable, so then we develop new ones based on the child’s progress. So I figured that would be what happened here. It wasn’t, I’m glad that we came up with realistic goals that she could meet in that time. What I wasn’t so glad about was that I recently went for the annual review and they did not update the goals. How is this possible? They are supposed to communicate with the provider and update the goals regularly. But it did not seem that this was the case here.

I generally try to be agreeable with this situation because I know ho wit can be with difficult parents. And I also don’t always tell them I’m a Special Education teacher unless it comes up in conversation because I don’t want to throw it in anyone’s face, I just want them to acknowledge that I understand the rules for what they are doing.

Case in point, our physical therapist was going on leave and I called her agency to ask about her substitute. Her supervisor was nice, but not really definite on anything until I asked whether this would put my daughter’s paperwork out of compliance. When I said that, she became much more clear and we worked something out. I don’t want to create a reputation for myself as the know it all mom, but I also want it understood that I know what’s going on and don’t cut corners when it comes to my kids (they shouldn’t be cutting corners at all, but you get what I mean). This is just my first experience on the other side of the table, but with nursery and elementary school to come, it’s a place I h ave to get more used to occupying.