Second Guessing the Expert

I am a professional educator. I've been trained, spent thousands of dollars on classes and given up multiple weekends and evenings, not to mention parting with personal funds for the classroom, all for the students. I had to revoke lab priviledges recently and use book work as a consequence for bad behavior. I was bored, the students were bored. Science classrooms should be dynamic, fun and challenging. Accomodating 30 students in science is very difficult and presence many potential hazards.

Part of classroom management is room configuration. This past Spring, I knew I'd be getting larger classes and I also knew, after 2 years in this room, that the table design in my room just doesn't work. The tables are about 3.5 feet wide and 15 feet long. They are nailed to the floor and have electrical outlets and sinks built in. The outlets and sinks sound great. However, the outlets are rarely used and can be a hazard for students wanting to stick things in them. And the sinks? Well, the sinks were convenient trash recepticles and betel nut spitoons.

I had the sinks covered in plywood and then I painted them with enamel paint. The problem is, the tables aren't conducive to small group learning and I can't move them. They are perfectly centered in the room, which leaves a lot of wasted space and they are falling apart. The metal trim is coming loose from students removing the screws. Yesterday, a student ripped his pants as he brushed up against the corner of the table.

Last June, I put in a request to cut my tables into thirds, add new legs, remove the metal trim, the sinks, outlets etc. I wanted tables on castors that I could move in the room to accomodate 30 students. I wanted tables where I could sit 4-5 students instead of 12.

But Capital Improvements said no. They said they spent several thousand dollars, umpteen years ago, building the room and couldn't justify taking it apart.

I guess if mom calls about wanting money for her son's pants, I'll refer her to Capital Improvements. I was even willing to pay for the lumber.

No Child Left Behind...Hmm....

Apparently, I need to have 60% of my students passing the SAT 10 and SBA in 2008. Last year, about 40% passed, up 7% from the year before. We've seen study growth in science for the past 2 years, and I think 7% is reasonable and achieveable. But 20% in one year!!! How is that possible. I have no control over what my students learned or didn't learn in K-7 grade. Over 70% of them enter 7th grade reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade reading level. Most of my students can't use a ruler or can't tell the difference between an inch and a centimeter on the ruler.

At Hopwood, we purchased science kits for 7th and 8th grade. As I was restocking the chemistrcy kits for 7th grade I noticed one of them was never even opened. I surveyed my students and only the one of the 3 7th grade teams represented used the kit.

For the past 2 years we've had a 50% turn over rate in the science department with teachers.

Teacher Student Ratios

On Monday, August 27, 2007, an article in the Marianas Variety mentioned that PSS has the highest teacher student ratio in the country. The official ratio is 24:1. I would like to know how PSS came up with that ratio. They must be counting counselors, librarians, cooks, custodians, office staff and administrators as teachers to get numbers so low and completely off the mark. The smallest class ratio I've had in 3 years is 28:1. I have colleagues in the 7th grade with 32 students per class (for science !!!) and some high school teachers have 32 to 35 students per class. Lets be honest about the ratios and maybe the legislature and the community might start to notice how much PSS needs financial help. Hopwood had to do without 6 teachers this year and our librarian is in a classroom. Ironically, PSS earmarked several hundred thousand dollars of grant funds for literacy at the middle schools this year. That money is targeted for the libraries. What good is having a library when you don't have enough staffing to run it properly. Our Library Aide is very capable and good at her job, but she can not effectively serve 1,200 patrons all by herself. I teach science at Hopwood and my room was built for 24 or less students. I asked to cut the long, built in tables this summer to accomodate larger class sizes and was turned down by the Capital Improvement folks at central. Seems they know best how to manage an overcrowded science lab full of high energy, hormonal teenagers. I have 6 students per group because of the table configuration and ideally, each group should only have 4 students. Mondayitis has reached epidemic proportions!!! Last week 8 teachers were absent and none on Tuesday. Today 6 were out, and I'll wager a can of 'teacher tea' that tomorrow we'll have 0-1 people out. I lost my prep today. I had to teach language arts and the teacher didn't leave a lesson plan. Absof#cking Fabulous!!!

Just Another Manic Monday

There were seven teachers absent today and the Principal. One of our Vice Principals resigned last week. The bells are off too. Every time the power goes off or surges our clocks speed up. Today, some bells didn't even ring. I reset my trusty Transformer Watch with the first bell each morning. Today, Hopwood is 5 minutes behind the clock on my computer. By 3rd Period, the bell was 7 minutes early! So I reset my watch again.

Today in class, we reviewed what we learned last week about nutrients, digestion and nutrition, by playing a game that Sally found on the internet. In the game, the students create an assembly line to represent the digestive system. A 'food particle' represented by a small ziplock bag with candy (nutrients) is inside a larger bag with corn starch packaging foam and shredded paper. That bag is inside a larger bag with the same filling. The 'teeth' tear open the bag and saliva (water) is added. The food particle is passed down the esophagus, where the food is squeezed and in the 'stomach', acids (water) are added and the food is squished some more. In the 'small intestine', pancreatic juices (water) are added and the bag is squeezed some more. Then the bag with the nutrients is removed and given to the 'blood', to be delivered to the 'cells'. The 'large intestines' mop up the excess water from the table and pass the remaining waste to the 'rectum' which poops it out into a garbage can.

During each class period, there are 6 teachers on prep. If someone is absent, the teachers on prep sub and we rotate days so we don't lose our prep every day. Since 7 teachers out today, the counselors had to sub too. So Doug printed out a word search on careers and had the students look up different types of careers in the library. I have to sub today for Bilingual. In the past I've taught Spanish, since some of the words transfer. But today, I was going to just show a movie, when a miracle happened. Someone brought me an activity for the students to do!!! I don't know if the teacher prepared it in advance or someone else did, but that made my day a little better.

Anyway, the Bangle's song, "Manic Monday", is going through my head.

Just another Manic Monday
Wish it were Sunday
Cuz that's my Funday

First Day

One day weeks are a waste of academic time and effort. But hey, its the first day and I had no control over the schedule so, I made the best of it. That's my job. Sometimes I call it MacGyver Science, MacGyver Teaching, or the underpaid superstar! Teaching is like acting, you are on the minute the kids enter the room and keep performing until they leave. It's not like the government jobs at the Courthouse where they can sit at their desks, chew pugua and have the doors on computerized timers lock at 4:15 to go home. We have 4 Troops to Teachers at Hopwood this year. I think being deployed to Iraq is the perfect training for entering PSS. Or it's like being in the Peace Corps with better benefits. I had my homeroom all day. We played games, did team building activities, turned reviews of the handbook and procedures into a scavenger hunt and had fun.

I got my termite infested door replaced this summer and will make due with long, un-moveable tables that seat 12 students (a much, much too big group at one table) in a room designed for 20 students (there are 30 on my roster for each class for a total of 180). I have my homeroom kid's names memorized.

I covered up the sinks with plywood last year, because they were recepticals for garbage and betel nut. I asked to cut the tables, remove the sinks and make them moveable, thus making my room more ammenable to 30 students. Capital Improvements said, "well, we spent several thousand dollars, 15 years ago building that room as a lab and we don't see how remodeling the tables would be a good idea". Okay, no offense, but I'm the fricking science teacher who has 30 students in my class! God Damn It!!!

It's all right, I'm flexible, I make do. I painted the walls a cream that matches the cream on all the walls outside, because the school had left over paint. Last year I got 5 gallons of pink for $10. It was the only color ACE had. I'm not a fan of pink but it was better than grimy walls that hadn't seen anything but gecko poop and termite wings for 5 years until I took over the room. So I feel a little renewed. I covered my luevered windows with old carpet padding from my old apartment and magenta (again pink!!) butcher paper. Now its the battle of adhesive tape v.s. humidity. We know who will win. I'll be constantly retaping, borrowing Mario's ladder, or precariously climbing up on chairs, utility sinks and book shelves, to smack the paper back up on the wall. My floors need waxing, but Ronald, who does the waxing for extra cash to make up for his measely wage as a parapro, is off while his wife is in the hospital. He offered to donate sick leave to Doug last year when Doug missed 4 weeks of work. We graciously refused because I knew he'd need it more than us.

I am an optimist. I have PDA's enroute to create a paperless classroom. I also ordered some probe ware. Don't know where that is at the moment.

I painted "Science Never Sucks" on my door. The security guard came and told me today (Sunday) that someone had vandalized my door. I smiled and explained it was me who painted it and pointed to the printed sign on the inside of the door that said the same thing. I think he only saw "science" and "sucks".

Near the end of the year last year, my team took our students on a field trip to the Kagman Watershed Education Island and Tank Beach to do a cleanup project. Then we went to ChaCha to watch Hopwood 8th graders challenge Cha Cha 8th graders in a game of softball. Three 7th graders stowed away on my bus. Imagine my dismay, anger and frustration when these totally unfamiliar faces got off the bus at the watershed park. I drove them back to Hopwood and lectured them about how irresponsible they were, blah blah blah, posed empty threats about them being on my team next year, blah blah blah.

Guess who's in my homeroom?!!! I had a lot of fun with those boys on Friday (wicked Mr. Burns esque grin on my face).

Final observation from the first week:
The CNMI Civics and Economics book refers to African Americans as Negros.