So my school loves to give feedback. It's important, I'm told, to know where you stand, to know your Deltas and your Pluses, your glows and grows. Well, one Delta or Grow I've been handed down from on high is that I'm not great with creating routines and sticking to them. You all know that too well. Thank you for responding to my blogging disruptions better than 6th graders respond to a change in bathroom times.
Largely, we've just been plugging along down here, or, as my roommate puts it, living the dream. Not every day is a manifestation of the dream, but in a city where Festival Season falls neatly between Spring and Summer, where the universal soundtrack is literally audible from my porch, and where Sunday is the when the Lord first boiled crawfish, many days are dream. Or, weekends are, at least.
But schooldays (a word that, at 23, is still in my vernacular) are improving as well. It's true what they say about teaching and running: the only way to get better at it is to work harder. Kids now come in and sit down (eventually). Scholars now do the work that is put in front of them (with enough hot chips and/or candy). And all of my students can now confidently name all seven continents and all four oceans (the invention of this Southern Ocean nonsense reminds me of that time when Pluto all of a sudden became a rock in the sky). But, even now, as our state tests have passed and I'm told the pressure should feel less, I have some reservations about exactly how much progress towards their goals we have made together. Let's look at some examples of discouraging quotes:
From a 6th grader who began the year on-level:
"Missa Glasses, you know who was Pharaoh when Hitler had killed the dinosaurs?"
Hm. Well. Win some, lose some, right? I responded, "I don't really know how to answer that Tiggerman." (Yes, he prefers Tiggerman to his legal name).
"Oh," he said, slightly surprised. "You could Google it?"
On another day, we were reviewing for the iLeap, Louisiana's state tests, with T minus 3 days until tests begin. A particulalry compotent young man timidly came up to me in the middle of a lesson with a simple inquiry.
"Uhhhhhhmmmm, Meeester Glaaaaassssser?"
"Hey, my man, wrong time. I need you in your seat. Questions in four minutes, I promise."
"Okay," he said turning around in an air of defeat.
After sitting, he patiently raised his hand and waited the four minutes.
"Yes, A$. Whatchu got for me?" I was hoping for some earthshattering inquiry about the origins of the agricultural revolution.
"In Mesopotamiaaaaaaaa," he forced out from the back row, in front of the whole class. "Did they have digital cameras or film in Mesopotamia?"
Having restrained myself from open-palming my forehead, I told him that mostly, they didn't take pictures and prefered cave paintings. A twenty-mintue Q&A session allowed us to arrive on a single conclusion that digital cameras weren't really all that much better than cave paintings.
Thanks, children.
But the kids, despite some hiccups on a daily basis, were excited about rocking their tests. And their confidence held on, even after they turned their iLeap tests in.
When I asked one kid how she felt right after the tests were completed, she pondered it for a second then shrugged and told me that it "was no Moses crossing the desert, but it wasn't all smooth sailing on the Yangze in a dragon boat, ya hurd may?" Yes. Yes, I heard you.
These snippets out of the day go a long way in brightening my days, weeks, months, and the year in honesty. Everyone tries to stay positive at my school, but its often easier said then done, especially given the overwhelmingly negative contexts from which out kids come on a daily basis. Some volunteers at my school recognized the staffs' mounting tension in the face of the high-stakes state testing coming down the pipeline. To lift our spirits, they put together a small assembly where students gave superlatives to teachers. Among the categories were the American Idol Award (most likely to break into song and/or break into the music industry), the Fashionista Award (best dressed), the LOL Award (for loving to laugh), the Secret Agent Award (for the most mysterious adult), and so on. It was quite a list. Me? I got the Ice Cream Award for being sure to make you feel better. I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but I'll take it.
Here's to more regular updates! Laissez les bon temps rouler.
Just for being so patient, enjoy this animated feature from Waka Flocka and Soulja Boy, a favorite among my kids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFiPANvxfDg
