Changes

It has been a year since I have posted, and that year has been filled with changes. The biggest change of all is that I have decided to relocate. While I am excited about the changes and new adventures that await me in a different city, I am also very sad to leave behind a job I have loved. I have spent 8 years, plus a semester of student teaching, at the same school. The students I had in my first class graduated from high school this year. There have been struggles and bad days, of course, but overall - I can look back on my experience with nothing but smiles.
While their were several "last days" for me (last day of the regular school year, last teacher day) today was the end of summer school and the end of my time at the school I started my career at. It was a typical last day, filled with many of the same things I did every day for the past 8 years. But this Friday was different. It was the last day I would pick up a line of chatty students from breakfast. The last day we would all dawn our summer school shirts and head off on a field trip. The last time I would drop them off on our playground and head off to scarf down my lunch.
I have to admit I teared up at the end of the day, as I led my students down the hallway for the last time and high fived them at the door. I tried my hardest to give my best to the school, and I hope I have made a small difference in the lives of my student. I care greatly about the students, the staff and the school. It is hard to leave a place you love. 

All in a Day's Work

Summer school is drawing to a close. It has been a wonderful experience with plenty of good memories. The field trip we took today was definitely memorable - but perhaps not great.
The trip sounded so simple in theory. Take a bus to a town about 30 miles away, take a ride on an old railroad (this is "Transportation" week), then ride the bus back home.
Things started out pretty typically. I got the kids from the cafeteria, everyone put on the matching shirts we wear on field trips, we got 13 sack lunches, and 13 milks (3 white, 8 chocolate and 2 strawberry) and we headed to the bus. Everyone was in great spirits as we rode on the bus. After a while, I began to think the ride was taking quite a while... and after checking with the other teachers, we realized we were already 20 miles past our destination. Problem 1. Easy enough to solve - I called the school office and got an address for the train station, then used the navigation function on my phone (thank goodness I had recently added that to my phone plan!) to get us to the station. We were about 30 min. late but since everyone on the train was from our school, they had waited for us. We rushed to our seats on the train and eagerly began our journey.
We had been riding along, enjoying the scenery, for about 10 min. when one of my newcomers looked at me and said "Ms?... sick...?" Problem 2. Luckily the lovely stewardess on the train brought us a bucket and after sitting in the "lounge" area of the train for a few min, my sick friend said she felt better and we returned to our seats. Moments after sitting down, the lights flickered, then went out, then the train slowed down... and stopped. The stewardess assured us it was just a brief problem - the driver just had to jump start the train and we would be on our way again.
She was right - we were soon on our way. We enjoyed about 10 min of a peaceful ride before...2 other newcomers motioned that they were feeling sick (funny how some signs are international). So... off the the lounge I went with 2 more children and a bucket. Thus passed a good chunk of the trip - me and my 3 sick kids going back and forth to the lounge with the trusty bucket. While I was busy dealing with the sick kids, the train broke down again... but this time when they jump started it, they were unable to restart the air-conditioning. The high today was 103. No windows on the train would open. It... was... HOT! But, we made paper fans, and covered our faces with wet paper towels, and plowed on!
While riding on a train was a great experience, no one was too bummed when the ride ended. We thanked out conductor and stewardess, and headed to a park near the train for a late lunch. By this point though, the heat was really getting to the kids. One (more) child got sick (from the heat this time) and started a chain reaction. In somewhat of panic mode by the time, we loaded everyone back on the bus ("we" being my kids and the 2 classes of 1st grade we were sharing a bus with). I asked the bus driver to stop at a near by gas station so we could get water. As luck would have it, the only form of water they had was individual bottles, so I bought 59 of those and handed them out to the poor kids. In an effort to get people's minds off our troubles,we started a sing along which did lift a lot of spirits.
I had been providing our principal and vice principal with updates throughout the day so they were very glad to see us finally pull back up to the school in one piece. They met us at the door with Popsicles and ice-water. I doubt that is a field trip that my school will ever attempt again, but it was memorable. I hope the students remember our adventures today if the prompt for the state writing test next year is "write about a day when everything went wrong"!

Hold Hands and Stick Together

There is a great poem by Robert Fulghum called "All I Ever Really Needed to Know, I learned in Kindergarten." I find it to be very true - so many important life skills are learned in Kindergarten and elementary school. I get so frustrated when I see news stories about adults who lie and cheat... call each other names. I spend my life trying to teach 10 year olds not to do the same thing adults get into trouble for every day. With much the same view, the poem ends by suggesting that the world would be a better place if we remembered that, "when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."
During summer school, we are very lucky to get to take 3 to 4 field trips a week. It is so wonderful for our kids who come from poverty to experience so many things. There is something absolutely amazing about watching children who were born in a refugee camp ice skate for the first time. Kids who don't get to go there all the time, revel in the joy that can be found in a trip to the zoo. It is incredible to watch children discover the world.
But, one of my favorite parts of the field trips are that when we "go out into the world" all of my newcomers innately realize that it is "best to hold hands and stick together." I occasionally get some odd looks, as I lead 13 kids (all in matching T-shirts) though some public place while 4 or 5 of them are holding my hands. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is a wonderful way to experience life - though the eyes of children.

Newcomers

My summer school class has 5 students who have been in the U.S. for less than a year. 2 are from Mexico and 3 are from Nepal. Multiple other staff members have commented to me about how difficult it must be to have so many newcomers. It surprises me that they see it as such a challenge. To me, if I am modifying my curriculum to suit the needs of a newcomer anyway, it is no more work to have more than 1 student working on the modified curriculum. In fact, I like that I can have them in groups instead of having to do everything on their own. Field trips are a little more challenging, but other than that it isn't too challenging.
I wonder if part of my ease with newcomers comes from my 1st year teaching. On my very first day as a 5th grade teacher, I managed to get one newcomer to my room, but accidentally "lost" the other one assigned to me while coming up the stairs. Luckily, the school counselor figured out where he belonged a few min. after school started. That afternoon, I had a message in my box informing me I would be getting a new student. I went to the office to find out the students name the next morning and the secretary said "student?! You mean students! And neither of them speak English!" So day 2 of teaching and I had 4 newcomers from 4 different countries. I learned so much about teaching that year, and thanks to the circumstances, I also learned so much about working with newcomers. Those kids were a wonderful group of kids - through them, I discovered how much I love working with that population. I guess there are some things that you don't realize can be wonderful until you do it yourself.

Change of Prespective

When my principal asked me what grade I wanted to teach for summer school I told him "the older the better." During the regular school year, the youngest students I work with are in 3rd grade. The intermediate grades are for sure my comfort zone. So I was a little bummed when assignments came out and I was given a 2nd/3rd grade combo class. Since the class contained a fair number of what was known school wide as "naughty boys," as well as 5 newcomers, it did NOT seem like the easiest way to spend my summer!
But, after just a few hours in the classroom, I was in love with all 13 of my students and I couldn't be happier! Before switching to ESL, I taught 5th grade. While I love what I currently do, I also sometimes miss the classroom. My little group of 2nd and 3rd graders have reminded me of the things I loved about a classroom.
I love that they are "mine" and that I am "theirs" I get to greet them in the morning, and high five them on there way out the door in the afternoon. I love that I can set the tone for the day, and the classroom. I find it amazing, that by loving them and setting high expectations, I can get them to do amazing things. This may not be an easy way to spend 1/2 of my summer but I think it will be an enjoyable way!

May!

I love May in my school. May means testing is done. We have given it our all, packed the tests into boxes and sent them away. We will try not to think about them until we get the results next August. The kids are almost spent from a year of cramming for, then taking high stakes tests. So May is a time to relax.
I have not been on my regular schedule (of going into classrooms and working with students) since February. We spend from the middle of February until Spring break conducting the standardized test that every ESL student (so about 85% of our school) has to take. After returning from Spring break, the other ESL teachers and I were asked to pull small groups of students to help provide last minute help before the big tests in April. Almost all of April was spent proctoring the tests. Due to our high ESL numbers, a majority of our students qualify for accommodations so can take the test in small groups. It is a great benefit to the students but if very time consuming.
So, having spent February-April thinking almost constantly of high stakes testing, it is SO nice to be back in the classroom. Everyone, the students and teachers alike, seem so relaxed. The weather is nice. With the pressure of tests off, there is time for extra recess, and field trips. It is a time to just enjoy being a teacher. A time you can teach something - even if it is not on the test.
At least for me, the school year moves in a very similar cycle from year to year. Come August, we will expect the kids to be fully in the routine of school by end 2nd week of class. We hit the ground running. By the time conferences come around in October, it seems as though we have always worked with each particular group of students. Thanksgiving and Christmas are fun simply from a nostalgic point of view, even though the time we are able to spend on such things is greatly limited. After winter break it is a mad rush to make sure everyone is ready for the high stakes testing. Feb-April is testing, then comes May. I like my job year round - there is always good to be found in any season. But I have to admit- May is one of my favorite parts of the school year.

No Second Chances

Once again, we are entering our high stakes testing season. We have given it our all. We have practiced and worked and prepared for the time that is now upon us. According to the federal government, all of our writing efforts for the year come down to how our 47 grade students preform on the writing test they took yesterday and today.
One thing that is so unfair about standardized testing is all of the external factors that effect how a student will preform. In the weeks leading up to the test, we have to do everything we can to ensure that all 47 of our students come to school this week happy, well rested, and well fed.
This was the day - no second chances. Never mind that Jorge might write a better story on a day he has not just had a tooth pulled. No one factors in that Jessie is still upset about an argument on the playground. When they go to look at the success of our school, all the see is a number on a page. They don't have any idea about the real life that happens while those numbers are being produced.
Teachers know - I just head about a friend today that had to pull his car over twice on the way to school to throw up but drug himself into school anyway because it was the day of the state writing test. He knows the potential his absence poses for dramatically lower scores.
Students and teacher alike really do work way too hard for it to have to come down to a single chance.