Tomorrow, 'snow day' or not, I'm taking the day off. I have a doctor's appointment and I also need to regroup. The kids are running amok and it's really unsettling. The 'powers that be' seem only concerned with acronyms - GEPA and CAPA, while we teachers need to see some ORDER and DISCIPLINE! (not acronyms).
America's Choice is not working; in fact, I'd venture to say it has made thing worse. It has pretty much striped us of our teaching and creative autonomy. We do what we're told, not what we feel is best for our students. We are in the trenches, not America's Choice. It's disgusting how teachers and students in urban education are treated.
What's even more disheartening is the nonchalant, don't-care attitudes of the kids. Kids are very intuitive and seem to have radar for cracks in the foundation; they know things are out of order and they are behaving accordingly.
But I do have one victory about which I can report. Last Saturday, a NEW student to our Super Saturday GEPA (there's that acronym again) tutoring program, came to class and was quite belligerent to me. When I gently urged her to sit up and participate, she responded with, "Leave me the hell alone!" WELL, being a person who has already, successfully, raised a child who is now grown and has never ever talked to me that way - you know I saw RED! But I did not want to take valuable time away from the class to openingly deal with her behavior, so I continued the lesson and at the first opportunity, had her removed from my class.
Well, the following Tuesday, I saw her in the hallway and felt led to talk to her. I called her to the side and began talking to her about the dangers of her behavior and gave her a vivid picture of her life should she decide to continue to embrace and nuture "that bad attitude". I said some other things and ended my conversation with the following command: "The next time YOU pass my door, you'd better peep in and say, 'Good morning, Mrs. Bailey.'" Do you know every since that day, that child has pratically knocked people down in the hallway to get to my class, wave her hand at me and say, "Hi, Mrs. Bailey."
EACH ONE TEACH ONE!! IF ONLY JUST ONE!
And if in the course of a day or lifetime, even, you reach one, then I'm sure God will say, 'Well done, my child...well done.'
2 comments:
good for you!!! I love that feeling when you know you have gotten through to a student, or helped a student that has been struggling succeed in something.. You definetly deserved teh day off. :0)
Wow, Leslie. Good for you for not giving up on that student and keeping your distance, which would have been tempting given her attitude. You made a huge difference -- I think your conversation, tough as it may have been for her to hear, showed that you cared and that's incredibly important.
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