Friend #50

With the school year gearing up in two weeks - which is always too early for this Minnesota girl - I'm in a work mindset lately. This year our school is making some big transformations. Our middle school is no longer. This space has been turned into a grade 7-12 online school - the first (and sort of pilot program) for our charter company. This was an excellent move, since teachers cringed when asked to step in and sub for a sick middle school teacher. At-risk middle schoolers. Really? It was a recipe for disaster.
In addition, our high school has lost four teachers and so far hired one really good one (I hope.) I get to return to teaching English instead of ELL (English Language Learners.) I loved ELL, but was not formally trained to teach it and felt I was doing a disservice to the kids.
So today I met Linda, our new ELL teacher. I have to admit, when I found out that she'd never taught ELL before, I was nervous. Still am. People tend to believe that ELL is the easiest thing to teach, but it's very complex and individualized.
Linda hails from Gary, Indiana. She has two daughters, 21 and 16 who are very smart, according to Mom. Linda taught Special Education for 12 years in Indiana. Think about it - Special education and the rough gang-ridden area of Gary, Ind. Linda's school was across the street from the Projects, and the Project gang "claimed" her school. One day one of her gang-leader students was shot in the head on that street during school. Students evacuated the school, fearing retaliation and seeking safety. Linda was expected to continue teaching the two students who had stayed at school and was told that since the SWAT team showed up, she was safe to teach. Twelve years of that, Linda endured.
After Gary, Linda moved to Arizona and taught at one of our Indian Reservations for two years. This, she says, was almost worst than in Gary. In Gary, students didn't have the resources to get out of the gangs and the Projects. On the reservation, students and their families were given thousands of dollars each month. They had no food on their tables, but plenty of beer and drugs. Students were very silent in the classroom, as culture dictates, so it was very difficult to gauge their understanding of the lessons. Most days, Linda shared her lunch with her students, as they had no money for lunch. They'd leave school and drink themselves to sleep, then arrive back at school the next day hung over. Being hungover was a constant state of mind for many students. And Linda couldn't help them. Linda, being Black, did not have the moral right to give advice to her Native students. And after two depressing years on the Reservation, Linda resigned.
Understanding my student population would not be an issue for Linda. We hire many teachers who just cannot and do not understand at-risk people. They run from the school after Day 1. But my students are teachable, loving, successful, and helpful if you can reach them.
We went through the curriculum and discussed teaching strategies (using pictures, rather than teaching English by translating from Spanish, for example.) I told her that these students are my babies. She assured me that if they have problems, she'll send them to me. She gets it.
I'm looking forward to this school year. I get to train in a new teacher and see the fruits of my labor (I love teaching teachers!) I get to teach my favorite subject: English, specifically remedial English and 11th grade English. I get to observe and help the other teachers become better teachers by engaging students by using creative hands-on activities.
And even though later blogs may hint of my stress and anxiety during the school year, know this: I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.