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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Saint's Printing Press > An inside view of "Alternative" schools |
| Moderated by: Saint |
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24HourNut Administrator  Body pillows rock!
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Designer Gal had made this comment to Saint, after Saint described how some teachers actually "hate" children! Saint's post picks up here, quoting DesignerGal. That is so sad. But how do you deal with these teachers in your profession? As long as they go through the motions and do their job of giving the kids information, you can't do anything. The job description says that you will help children learn...it never says you have to be kind or even friendly, unfortunately. Dont you have an "alternative" school? Affirmative! I have the bottom 25% of the four middle schools in my city. (75 students) Does that mean behavioral misfits (for lack of a better word)? The technical word is "Behavior Disordered." Actually the progam is not designed for those kinds of kids, we retain them in the middle schools since they are better designed to deal with those kinds of kids. Sadly, (for the other students) a few do manage to slip in. Or is it kids who are "slow learners"? Yes. We do have a few of those, but no special education kids. My school is specifically designed for the kids that are not learning disabled. (If they are SPED there is an army in placr to help them already.) The kids I work with are normal in all respects other than they have had horrifyingly bad lives. Dont you ever get tired? In addition to a long day in the trenches. (Other teachers have "prep" periods for planning and preparing, due to the structure of the school, we have none. I have to do all my planning and preparing before or after school.) I also work parking lot duty in the toughest high school in the city. (Try challenging a carload of hard-core gangsters in a car with limo tint if you want an adrenaline rush.) Then I teach night school for the kids that have flunked a day class and need to make up the credit. (Same kind of kids.) In the summer, I teach summer school for kids that did not pass the test but are very close to passing. So I teach the hardest of the hard-core students 6:30 am to 9:00 pm, 5 / 7 all year long. Yes. Physically, I am incredibly tired. Exhausted even. I only get about 5 hours sleep a night. Mentally, however, I am a hyperactive ball of energy! I love what I'm doing and it is incredibly rewarding. Think about this. A kid comes into my class...they have a mother who never graduated and is on welfare. She has been married six times. They have moved nine times in the past year. The father, who was never around, has been in prison for the last decade of their lives for meth distribution. What expectation does this family have for the child to graduate high school? None. Mom and Dad didn't graduate, why should I? Now...let me work on them for a year. I chisel away the hard exterior. I tell them they are worthwhile human beings. They deserve a future. I describe the way the world works. I show them that they can be successful. I set the bar high. They come in with no times tables, within a month we are at a pre-algebra level. I challenge, I cajole, I plead, I reward, I joke, I play, I take them up to an Algebra level and tell them that they will do Calculus by the end of the year. At first they don't believe me, but as time progresses and they see that it's not as hard as they thought with my mneumonic devices to help them remember, they gain confidence. I fight with them tooth and nail, dragging them into the light of life. I fight the family which will not bring them to school. I threaten to throw parents in jail if they do not make sure their child attends my class. Finally...they succeed. They reach the breaking point. All the damage done in their early lives is undone. Their self-confidence is restored. They leave my class and continue in high school to graduate. Now consider this. When they grow up, what will they expect from their children? "I graduated from high school and it was very hard on me. You will graduate too." Their children will have a future. Their children's children will have a future. By saving one child, I may break the cycle of poverty and despair in that family line for generations to come, perhaps for all time! It's worth way, way more than a paycheck. Im not sure I would have the patience. It is the single most difficult requirement for being a teacher. Patience. You must have an infinite supply. especially with dumbass teachers who hate kids. Yes, I have a tendency to rub them the wrong way as they do me. I'm known in my district variously as a "Hawkeye Pierce," a "Firebrand," a "Pioneer," a "Jaime Escalante," an "Arrongant Bastard," and even a "Total Asshole." It depends on who you talk to. To the parents of these forgotten children "left behind" I'm a "Savior" and "Angel from Heaven." To colleagues who are frightened or jealous of my passionate feelings and outspoken opinions, I'm a "Total Jerk" or a "Conceited SOB." That's life, eh? -------- additional materials provided by Saint, for more context ------- Introduction When the “No Child Left Behind” law was passed, states were mandated to be accountable and insure that students entering High school were equipped for achievement. Standardized testing was the universally recommended measure to predict their success. What standardized testing revealed was the fact that there was a specific group of students who did not have the necessary skills for high school. These students were not learning disabled and did not have individualized educational plans. There was nothing wrong with them physically. They were not behavior disordered, nor were they disciplinary problems. In most cases, life just got in the way. Some had moved residences several times in the previous year. Many had gone through divorces in their families. Most were from economically disadvantaged families. A large percentage of the students were minorities. The reasons for the lack of success on the tests were as numerous as the students themselves. The State of New Mexico in general, and Farmington specifically, had a problem. What to do with these students? Two options were obvious: retain all the students unilaterally in the 8th grade, or advance them all to high school and give them remediation classes. The first option was impossible due to the fact that it would seriously overcrowd the middle schools. It was also considered ego damaging by the parents and the students. The second option had been tried in other New Mexico communities with little success. So it was decided to implement an entirely new process. The Farmington Municipal School system built a new school named the Transition Academy. The purpose of this school was to find and fix the missing skills of these students and facilitate their assimilation into the normal high school environment. It was basically an “educational M.A.S.H. unit” that would be responsible for bringing these students up to speed with their peers. How It Works: 1. Teachers work each year in every grade level to identify students that are not achieving at a level to predict success in the next grade. They meet with the parents at the beginning, middle and the end of each year. 2. In the 8th grade year, the final test of the year determines the status of the student. Students that score within a year’s ability level of the 9th grade are passed and sent on to the high school with the recommendation of foundation classes. Students with 9th grade skills attend high school normally. Students who are below two year’s worth of skill levels, however, are sent to the Transition Academy. 3. There are two sessions for the Transition Academy. The first session is a six-week intensive summer session for students who are barely below level. The maximum number of students allowed to attend this session is thirty and each student must be within 5 points (or 1.5 year’s worth of ability) of the needed level. During this Summer session, the students are given concentrated instruction in Reading, Mathematics, and Language Arts. The staff assesses each student’s skills and gives one-on-one attention to each student. Basic skills and test taking strategies are taught in the morning before regular classes. At the end of the session the student’s are given a chance to retake the test. This is their second chance to regain their position with their peers. Those that pass all three tests are advanced to high school as normal 9th graders. Those who do not succeed are required to attend the second session of the Transition Academy in the Fall. 4. During the Fall session, students attend high school for a half day taking elective courses and earning credit. During the other half of the day, they attend the Transition Academy and receive instruction in the three basic categories of standardized testing: Reading, Language Arts and Mathematics. At the end of that year, the students retake the NWEA standardized test at a tenth grade level. They retain all credits awarded for electives taken throughout the year. If they do not succeed at that level, they still benefit from the year’s instruction and a year’s worth of maturity. They begin the next year classified as a ninth grader, but with elective credits already on their transcripts and skill levels that are greatly increased. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
 The best human beings start good new topics and vote on the better posts. |
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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Saint's Printing Press > An inside view of "Alternative" schools | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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