HS3

there’s been a lotta local news coverage of the teacher lay-offs in response to the $800 million of public-school funding cut by the state. most of the teachers being “RIFed” are young, energetic recent graduates who are excited to be serving in public schools but have nowhere to work. 

carrie and i have been lucky (so far). even though carrie’s only been teaching a couple years, she’ll still have her job this fall. and even though i haven’t even graduated yet, i’ll have a full slate of classes to teach, too. 

i’ll be joining the staff at health sciences & human services high school (HS3), as a general Language Arts teacher and special education teacher. HS3 is part of the coalition of essential schools, a national network of schools marked by their small sizes (high schools have less than 400 students) and favorable teacher-to-student ratios. i had the chance to do some student teaching at another CES school last spring, and was really impressed to see how far fewer students “fall through the cracks” in that kinda learning community. 

needless to say, i’m excited about working at the school because 1) i was not expecting to use my whole degree (english and special ed) right away, 2) the school is doing some  innovative things in the field of education, 3) i hear the staff is fun, and 4) it serves a dynamic, diverse community (white center).

this is exactly the type of situation i hoped to be in, and i’m amazed to find myself actually here in light of everything that’s happening. i hope by this time next year, i’ll have shown myself worthy of being brought on board.

i wanna indoctrinate my students

i made an off-hand remark/joke today that i indoctrinate the students in my class with my beliefs.

it was a joke, but it was only half a joke. while i want to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, i also want my students to come away with a set of values & beliefs. i want them to believe racism is wrong. homophobia is wrong. violence is wrong. i want them to think critically about the american dream and ask hard questions of their history text books. this means that if one of my students writes an essay in support of hateful beliefs, i will unapologetically do everything i can to change those beliefs. 

some folks think that the classroom should be a values-neutral space. if a student writes a homophobic paper, the teacher should simply encourage that student to write it more persuasively. it’s not the teachers place to teach values. but i would respond by saying that students are bombarded with value-laden messages everywhere they turn, and the classroom is one of many discourses competing for the kids’ mind. 

so i was surprised to hear some of my classmates shocked and dismayed, and “offended” by my comments. i suppose the word “indoctrinate” created some unfavorable images in their minds, but the real contentious issue was not simply my word choice, but the idea that a teacher should not impose certain beliefs or ways of thinking upon their students, no matter how good or true those ways of thinking may be. 

certainly, i acknowledge that there is a slippery slope here, and it’s not hard to imagine how this approach i propose could go awry. my sense though is that this is how almost every single liberal arts program in the country is characterized, and i’m not certain i agree that such things can’t also find a home in high schools. as mlk jr argued, intelligence is not enough. the true goal of education ought to be intelligence plus character.

happy 31st birthday dennis,

not a single day has gone by where i didn’t think of you.

so one of my students

came to school today and decided to get into a fight in the middle of class. it didn’t get too far thankfully, but it was definitely a tough way to start my day. 

i talked to my cooperating teacher today about the incident, and he informed me that:

1) she’s been violently raped by a family member.

2) she’s currently working the streets.

3) she’s involved with a lot more stuff than just a lil weed.

now, i’m wondering if showing her how to write a good literary essay is really the best way to be serving her right now.

i’m not sure what it means to be a christian teacher to her.

aurgh!

talking about race and education always makes me so incredibly angry. i’m speechless. 

i need to take a walk or something.