One of the many things that particularly caught my attention while teaching this week was that the children are missing out on so many core concepts. I knew I had to be prepared for this going into any classroom. I think that this semester, much moreso than last semester, has made me into an angrier, surlier and much less idealistic teacher. I think that is probably for the better. By the time that I had walked into Rossford Junior High School, my teachers had drilled it into my head that the children would be an unteachable mess, my cooperating teacher would be a cruel stickler for surreal rules and codes of conduct, and that the administration existed purely to siphon funds from the endless bureaucratic byzantine web that is the public school system. So far, not all of these conceptions of mine have been challenged.
The students at Glass City Academy are severely lacking in many basic skills. My cooperating teacher, Lisa Ellis, explained to me that they suffer from a pattern that has recurred for decades and really has no way of stopping. Students grow up in poorer neighborhoods, or just as bad, in non-diverse neighborhoods. But 4th grade, they are beginning to show signs of disobedience and behavioral problems. By the time that they reach 5th grade, they are being sent to the guidance councilor and their grades are dropping. Throughout middle school, this is exacerbated – and the student is no longer really picking up on much in the way of knowledge. By the time that high school comes around, the student is several years behind in every conceivable way and every relevant subject, from emotional maturity to penmanship to mathematic core concepts to reading level. Students at this point drop out.
And, as Lisa Ellis explained, they either wander aimessly without so much as a high school degree, becoming the problems of society as well as educators, or attempt to regain some of that momentum they lost many years ago. Though I applaud any attempt to better oneself, I recognize the enormity of the task at hand. Glass City Academy is a dropout recover school serving students ages 14-22. Many of the students are as old as me or as big (if not bigger) than me, and have experiences that I can never comprehend or relate to. However, they are reading, writing, and comprehending scholastic concepts at a grade level more akin to an elementary school student. This is coupled with behavioral problems, academic apathy, and a culture that is biased against academic success. The result is a maelstrom, a nexus of negative activity, behavioral problems, and attempts at success, all centered on a charter school that exists for no other purpose than to get students to graduate.
I think that the best I can do for these students is exactly what the charter school wants me to do; help them pass their OGT, help them along their way towards graduation. After graduation, their lives are in their own hands. They will likely forget everything I taught them, though hopefully the basic concepts and schema have been imparted (Don’t believe everything you read, there are two sides to every story, etc). After high school, I can only hope that they can find gainful employment and a fulfilling, self-actualized lifestyle that, again, at least occasionally utilizes things I have taught them.
Though not the fault of the students in any way, this experience is helping to remove the veil from my eyes. I am horrified, outraged, and terrified of the fact that not only is this my current career choice, but that this is one that I have chosen for myself. Every moment I spend helping a student work their way through a sentence designed for 6th graders brings me a modicum of joy as I provide a key to understand some concept; and that joy is instantly diluted, liquefied and drained away with the dawning horror that I have subscribed myself to spending 8 hours a day in a classroom, 4 hours a day doing preparation and homework, and then more hours stressing over a job that pays poorly and is beset by internal disputes and external meddling, all while trying to pound lofty concepts like Shakespearean tragedy into an apathetic student body.
The students at Glass City Academy are severely lacking in many basic skills. My cooperating teacher, Lisa Ellis, explained to me that they suffer from a pattern that has recurred for decades and really has no way of stopping. Students grow up in poorer neighborhoods, or just as bad, in non-diverse neighborhoods. But 4th grade, they are beginning to show signs of disobedience and behavioral problems. By the time that they reach 5th grade, they are being sent to the guidance councilor and their grades are dropping. Throughout middle school, this is exacerbated – and the student is no longer really picking up on much in the way of knowledge. By the time that high school comes around, the student is several years behind in every conceivable way and every relevant subject, from emotional maturity to penmanship to mathematic core concepts to reading level. Students at this point drop out.
And, as Lisa Ellis explained, they either wander aimessly without so much as a high school degree, becoming the problems of society as well as educators, or attempt to regain some of that momentum they lost many years ago. Though I applaud any attempt to better oneself, I recognize the enormity of the task at hand. Glass City Academy is a dropout recover school serving students ages 14-22. Many of the students are as old as me or as big (if not bigger) than me, and have experiences that I can never comprehend or relate to. However, they are reading, writing, and comprehending scholastic concepts at a grade level more akin to an elementary school student. This is coupled with behavioral problems, academic apathy, and a culture that is biased against academic success. The result is a maelstrom, a nexus of negative activity, behavioral problems, and attempts at success, all centered on a charter school that exists for no other purpose than to get students to graduate.
I think that the best I can do for these students is exactly what the charter school wants me to do; help them pass their OGT, help them along their way towards graduation. After graduation, their lives are in their own hands. They will likely forget everything I taught them, though hopefully the basic concepts and schema have been imparted (Don’t believe everything you read, there are two sides to every story, etc). After high school, I can only hope that they can find gainful employment and a fulfilling, self-actualized lifestyle that, again, at least occasionally utilizes things I have taught them.
Though not the fault of the students in any way, this experience is helping to remove the veil from my eyes. I am horrified, outraged, and terrified of the fact that not only is this my current career choice, but that this is one that I have chosen for myself. Every moment I spend helping a student work their way through a sentence designed for 6th graders brings me a modicum of joy as I provide a key to understand some concept; and that joy is instantly diluted, liquefied and drained away with the dawning horror that I have subscribed myself to spending 8 hours a day in a classroom, 4 hours a day doing preparation and homework, and then more hours stressing over a job that pays poorly and is beset by internal disputes and external meddling, all while trying to pound lofty concepts like Shakespearean tragedy into an apathetic student body.
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