"You want to teach the class?"

Lewis and I recently watched Waiting for Superman, a documentary on how behind our education system is in the States.  If you thought you were behind when you were in school because of the teachers, classroom setup, or the lack of resources, you might need to watch this film to see how behind students are today.  And this is just following elementary and middle school students.  It doesn't depend on following bad teachers around but the students instead.  You get to see the struggles they have to go through to prove they're at grade level, to enter lotteries to be with better teachers and classrooms, to have a change to actually learn something.

It broke my heart to see this many kids rejected or neglected because of the lack of organized and prioritized education.  It makes me feel worse because I get to be around it when I work.

I'm not too surprised to see the uprising of enraged college students when they fight for better education.  Just last year, we've seen many colleges stand up to the administration to demand cheaper education.  It's a complete joke to have paid so much to just have professors read off PowerPoints or assign their students reading but not show up until the exam.  We might as well rely on online education provided by these prestigious universities.

The cycle of bad educators have continued all through our childhood into adulthood and it's unfair.  The statistics that pop up for high school dropouts and unemployment rates are laughable.  I say this because fingers point that people without a good education are going to fail, it's obvious, we know that already.  But no one has tried to really invest time to nip things in the bud.  At least stick long enough to see if it'll work.  It seems fixable to throw non-high school graduates into trade school to create the working class, but shouldn't it we try to target these problems earlier and give this population a chance to have more opportunities for success? We can raise that threshold of whatever line is divided between the highly and poorly educated.

I'm twiddling my thumbs here wanting to scream out, "EARLY INTERVENTION!"

No, not the one that includes specialists of all kinds but a newer program for kids that has room for flexibility.  That notion that kindergartners and first graders can only learn if there are worksheets is too rigid.  And definitely too easy for teachers to cruise and take on the role as babysitters instead of educators.  I have a lot of respect for teachers that take all their time and effort to influence their students in such a way that will affect more than just that school year of their lives.  We need more teachers like that.  The students are begging for them.

Here's where my example comes in.  Please note that I will not use names of people or places because I do not intend to criminalize anyone.  I just want to pass on my experiences and hope that this problem isn't chronic.  I have had my fair share of substitute teachers in the last few months.  I've learned that many of them had previously owned their own classroom and taught as they pleased.  This makes me cringe.

Their first assumption seems to always be that kids will be kids, that they will be witty and behave as well as trained monkeys.  Nope.  The lower the grade, the greater the classroom control you should have.  The second, that if you are fully honest with them, they'll understand.  They're kids, they're not stupid.  The subs I have helped have admitted to a bunch of 5 and 6-year olds that they've never worked with little kids.  That's their cue to reek havoc and test boundaries.  Your reports of how the students behaved reflects on how you teach.  The third, laughing it off and asking the parents if they mind that he'll improv that day. Are you kidding me? That was self-explanatory.  And the last point that made my jaw drop, was if I "wanted to teach the class to lead him in".

I should probably note that I am not a teacher, but I work in a classroom.  If you're acting as the teacher, man up and act like one.  You need to assume that I cannot handle a class of 32 students and have a specific role in that class.  I do not belong at the front of the class.  I work in the background, that was noted in the lesson plan.  The day later goes on with that sub asking if he could take a bathroom break, sit in class while I watched the kids during class, at recess, or PE.  I don't mean to come off rude, but why are you being paid to be a substitute teacher again if you indirectly try to hand off your duties as one to someone else?

Needless to say, I am not impressed with subs.  After my 18 years of education, it's given me enough confidence to say that I feel cheated.  Getting to watch how bad teachers interact with these students have left a bad taste in my mouth and has reminded of similar teachers that I've had in the past.  We're heading for a decline here if we haven't met more competent educators than our number of the bad ones. We need to break this cycle.

This Whomps

I cannot stand unorganized beings.  Greatly despise a mess, and cringe at clutter.  I don't like the idea of late bad news and doing things last minute.  Some days I need to take my own advice.  Give me one free weekday out of the week and I'll be ready in no time.

Air Tight

Looking back at previous posts has made me feel like I've lost touch with myself.  On a personal level anyway.  I haven't had time to rant, breathe, laugh, or cry.  Full on for any of the above, not fractions of it.  I'm too used to this new form of being hectic all the time.

8 months ago I would have been juggling 20 units, a job, an internship, a relationship, and whatever I had left of my sanity for spreading out so thin.  It was a handful, but it was manageable and I loved it when things went right.  I felt more organized because I could alternate between being so many different things.  Flash forward to today and I have one main thing to focus on: work aside from a relationship and my family.  I shaved off quite a bit since then.  The ambiguous term of "work" has broken down into many subcategories.  It's a lot more tedious now compared to 8 months ago.

I forget how precious "me time" really is.  I used to cook and then veg out for an hour or so before I had to get to class.  I don't get that until the weekends or my lunch breaks on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Yes, I only have an actual lunch those days out of the 5 days that I work.  Everything is crammed in so tight.

It's silly to dismiss what's been going on and not try to document it.  Not saying that I'll try and make up for lost time, but I'll do my best to make sure I have some record of my current activities.  No more long-winded projects, although rewarding if I finish them.  I should try and blog at least once a week.  Maybe that will be a renewed Lenten promise if I decide to go through with it.

List, list, list

Things I should carry out on:

1. Finish a book a month
2. Finish this scarf that I've been knitting for Lewis since October...
3. Be vegetarian for a week
4. Go without caffeine for a week
5. Cook something savory for once, for every baking recipe, there should be 2 savory recipes
6. Acquire a DSLR and learn how to use it
7. Have 2-4 stress free days out of each month

New Photo/Mailing Project

This weekend I helped me sister with her promotion video for service learning.  The main theme was to change the world.  She cut out red paper hearts and wrote "Keep Changing the World" on at least 15 of them.  We drove and walked around our town, hoping to reach out to the community.  All we asked was 2 minutes of their time.  Most people sped off before we could finish, others just shrugged and said they were in a hurry.  There was no commitment or any financial donation.  The people's faces weren't even going to be in the video.  My sister was just handing out hearts and hoping to pass on the word.

By the time she finished today, we had about 20 people out of the 30 she asked.  Not bad for 2 days.  It gave me an idea.  Thanksgiving is coming around and it wouldn't hurt to give people kinds words and gestures.  I was thinking I could send anonymous greeting cards to people.  Maybe short notes, wishing them a good day, hoping they smile at least 5 times that week.  It'd be fun to photograph. 

Better yet, I should try and keep in touch with friends that I haven't talked to in years and see if they'll reply.

I enjoy taking time to write to people and getting replies.  It seems more personal.  Every time I see 25 emails bulking up my inbox, I just cringe and try to put it off.  It builds up so I can't really ignore them, though I try to avoid turning on my computer.  I get enough reminders on my phone.

Highlights of my day

Even though I wish I could scream my stress away, I know that's not going to happen.  Thank goodness I work with kids because they always manage to say something to make my day.

Kid 1: Mrs. Anne...
Me: I'm not married! I'm too young.
Kid 1: Oh sorry, Miss Anne! How much older are you going to be until you do get married?

Kid 2: Are you going to grow anymore?
Me: Nope, I stopped a while ago.
Kid 2: Pretty soon I'll be as tall as you!
Kid 3: What are you talking about? She's not short, she's taller than all of us! Look! (Measures by arm span) Her height is 6! She's 6 feet tall!

Kid 4: You're fancy!
Me: I am?
Kid 4: Yeah, that's why I like you.

My favorite is the Sesame Street kid.  I smiled at him on the playground and he kept following me around.  Pretty soon he started to dance in circles and sang the Sesame Street theme song.  I tried so hard to keep a serious face, but I ended up laughing with him.

I love kids :).

Work

I take communication for granted.  Not just the content, but being able to form the socially appropriate type of response.  You don't realize how complicated language is until you have to break it down for a kid to understand it.  It becomes more complex when you work with a child with autism.  I now have a greater respect for teachers, classroom aids, and therapists that work with these kids 1:1.  Everything is recorded to the very last minute and there's so much data collection.  The tiniest hint of progress is a big deal and it's such a rewarding experience.  I can understand why parents are so offended when their kids are being dismissed with a prescription, therapy does have lasting effects; however that debate is for another post.

I've learned how to properly teach "manding"; short for demanding, for the simplest things such as opening a door, flipping a page to a book, or asking for a hand to be held.  One of the kids I worked with earned all 12 stars today!  I wanted to do cartwheels.  His reward for the end of the day was a red lollipop and he lit up when he saw how well he did.  You've never seen a kid happier than this kid today. 

I just hope I have more days like this.