Monday, September 10, 2007
The First Day of School Imagined From Two Years Out
Students returned to the Halls of Underwood High School today. Two years out of the classroom, and I can still imagine the sights and sounds that the veteran teachers of that establishment are witnessing. Given the uncomfortably high humidity the past few days and the school's lack of air conditioning, there may also be some interesting smells mixed in there as well.
Needless to say, I don't regret my decision to resign, no matter how much guilt the school district attempts to inflict upon me. Just a few days ago, a spokesman from the district's human resources department was on the radio discussing problems with teacher retention and lamenting the absurdly high percentage of new staff members that quit the profession after teaching a handful of years. As one of that number, I can't say I felt a burst of pride at being categorized as a quitter, but I was able to glaze over any feelings of shame or embarrassment by remembering that my decision to resign was not made lightly or for inconsequential reasons.
Underwood High School suffered from several major academic, administrative, and disciplinary problems which severely hindered attempts at effective teaching. The first days of school, which are supposed to set the tone for the year traditionally epitomized these issues and I would imagine that things have not changed significantly this year.
Academically, one might expect a new copy of the district's core curriculum to have been issued, probably last week, thereby thwarting attempts at effective long-term planning. In addition, freshmen entering the building will almost certainly be academically unprepared for their new classes. But that's fine, because the rosters will almost certainly change during the first week or so. Numbers will stabilize in freshmen classrooms to around 35-40 students until leveling in early October brings class sizes down to "manageable" levels.
Unfortunately, it is extremely unlikely that students will actually learn their roster during the first week of school, as one might initially expect, because of administrative decisions on the school and district level. The former is responsible for separating the first days of school for the various grade levels, dismissing upperclassmen early and having freshmen arrive in the afternoon. This sets an incongruous tone for an already challenging week, one which is only further exacerbated when the school district decides to schedule the first days of school during a short week. This year, thanks to Rosh Hashanah, the first week of school is only three days long. So after coming to school for three days, the students will then have a four day weekend to revert to their summer vacation mindsets. By the time they return, they will have forgotten their academic schedules as well as their homeroom teachers and their locker combination...assuming they get lockers at this point. In past years, those were distributed only when the student body had stabilized to an appreciable degree, generally by December.
Perhaps the most damaging part of these administrative decisions is the effect they will have on classroom discipline. The odd scheduling provides students with convenient excuses to "forget" policies that the administration deems so important: uniform shirts, bathroom regulations, cell phones and MP3 players being used in class...I imagine all of these will continue to consternate Underwood's teachers for months due to a lack of consistency from the get-go.
For better or for worse, however, I have no way to definitively test my previous assertion. During my three years, I can not recall a single instance of Underwood beginning the academic year with a consistent set of school-wide procedures and routines through a full week. The closest examples I can cite from personal experience were my own high school and other high quality (i.e. academic magnet) schools in the district. I fully acknowledge that in those cases, consistency of policy is just one factor among many explaining these schools' successes. Furthermore, given the constant turnover of students during the early weeks, it is entirely possible that even if the administration could implement such a system the chaos of the early days of school would continue unabated.
But at the same time, it seems strange to me, even after three years of highlighting the fundamental hypocrisies and contradictions that characterized the management of underresourced public schools, or at least one in particular, to find an anomaly this glaring. The same bureaucrats who constantly insist upon the need for consistency and routine during professional development workshops are themselves incapable of implementing the very systems necessary to cultivate the stability they crave.
And then they go on the record, wondering why so many capable teachers decide to leave the classroom.
Only two years out of the classroom do I fully appreciate the irony.
Students returned to the Halls of Underwood High School today. Two years out of the classroom, and I can still imagine the sights and sounds that the veteran teachers of that establishment are witnessing. Given the uncomfortably high humidity the past few days and the school's lack of air conditioning, there may also be some interesting smells mixed in there as well.
Needless to say, I don't regret my decision to resign, no matter how much guilt the school district attempts to inflict upon me. Just a few days ago, a spokesman from the district's human resources department was on the radio discussing problems with teacher retention and lamenting the absurdly high percentage of new staff members that quit the profession after teaching a handful of years. As one of that number, I can't say I felt a burst of pride at being categorized as a quitter, but I was able to glaze over any feelings of shame or embarrassment by remembering that my decision to resign was not made lightly or for inconsequential reasons.
Underwood High School suffered from several major academic, administrative, and disciplinary problems which severely hindered attempts at effective teaching. The first days of school, which are supposed to set the tone for the year traditionally epitomized these issues and I would imagine that things have not changed significantly this year.
Academically, one might expect a new copy of the district's core curriculum to have been issued, probably last week, thereby thwarting attempts at effective long-term planning. In addition, freshmen entering the building will almost certainly be academically unprepared for their new classes. But that's fine, because the rosters will almost certainly change during the first week or so. Numbers will stabilize in freshmen classrooms to around 35-40 students until leveling in early October brings class sizes down to "manageable" levels.
Unfortunately, it is extremely unlikely that students will actually learn their roster during the first week of school, as one might initially expect, because of administrative decisions on the school and district level. The former is responsible for separating the first days of school for the various grade levels, dismissing upperclassmen early and having freshmen arrive in the afternoon. This sets an incongruous tone for an already challenging week, one which is only further exacerbated when the school district decides to schedule the first days of school during a short week. This year, thanks to Rosh Hashanah, the first week of school is only three days long. So after coming to school for three days, the students will then have a four day weekend to revert to their summer vacation mindsets. By the time they return, they will have forgotten their academic schedules as well as their homeroom teachers and their locker combination...assuming they get lockers at this point. In past years, those were distributed only when the student body had stabilized to an appreciable degree, generally by December.
Perhaps the most damaging part of these administrative decisions is the effect they will have on classroom discipline. The odd scheduling provides students with convenient excuses to "forget" policies that the administration deems so important: uniform shirts, bathroom regulations, cell phones and MP3 players being used in class...I imagine all of these will continue to consternate Underwood's teachers for months due to a lack of consistency from the get-go.
For better or for worse, however, I have no way to definitively test my previous assertion. During my three years, I can not recall a single instance of Underwood beginning the academic year with a consistent set of school-wide procedures and routines through a full week. The closest examples I can cite from personal experience were my own high school and other high quality (i.e. academic magnet) schools in the district. I fully acknowledge that in those cases, consistency of policy is just one factor among many explaining these schools' successes. Furthermore, given the constant turnover of students during the early weeks, it is entirely possible that even if the administration could implement such a system the chaos of the early days of school would continue unabated.
But at the same time, it seems strange to me, even after three years of highlighting the fundamental hypocrisies and contradictions that characterized the management of underresourced public schools, or at least one in particular, to find an anomaly this glaring. The same bureaucrats who constantly insist upon the need for consistency and routine during professional development workshops are themselves incapable of implementing the very systems necessary to cultivate the stability they crave.
And then they go on the record, wondering why so many capable teachers decide to leave the classroom.
Only two years out of the classroom do I fully appreciate the irony.
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