I’m teaching summer school, so this morning I went to a summer school orientation for the region I’m teaching in (different from my home region). I expected that the orientation would be an introduction for teachers who are teaching outside of their regular assigment, ie high school teachers teaching middle school. I have lots of questions about summer school, such as class size, schedule, and so on. The “orientation”, which is today and tomorrow, from 8:30-1pm at a high school near Lincoln Center, turned out to be a training session led by a representative of the publishing company supplying the DOE with the summer curriculum. It’s similar to Ramp-Up, in that it is based on a lot of the same research (Stephanie Harvey, etc) but instead of using trade books, the progam uses what basicall amounts to graded readers. Total crap. A surefire way to make a kid hate learning is to make him read thoughtless, banal drivel. Isn’t it possible to improve the reading skills of 7th and 8th graders using popular young adult fiction? I think so. I mean, if the focus is on the strategies and not necessarily the content, then any age-appropriate book will do. The morning session was a literacy workshop, and we all assumed that the afternoon session would be, too, since we are all teaching English but oh, no, they wanted us to sit through a math workshop as well. I was pretty fed up at this point, so I left. I didn’t see the point of staying. Tomorrow, it’s supposed to entirely content area-based, so we’ll see what happens. On Friday, we report to the school where we’re teaching. Hopefully, then I’l get my questions answered. Instead of making us sit through this ridiculous “training”, the region should have sent us to the schools we’re teaching at, to get our classrooms ready and case the joint and all that good stuff. Then again, that would make too much sense, wouldn’t it?
The plan on Wednesday is to hit the Bronx Museum of Art with my brother-in-law for AIM25, a program I’m bugging my bro-in-law to apply for.
I also got caught in the rain today and hid out at the bookstore, where I bought some more books. Oops. One is the abridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo, for a book group meeting that I was implored to join. The meeting is at the Cloisters, and I’m always up for a visit there. Have you been? It’s especially magical during the Renaissance Festival. I had to read The Count of Monte Cristo in freaking French when I was in high school and it really soured me on the book, but I’ll try anything again, I guess.
I also picked up a book of NYC bike rides and a Hudson River Valley road trip guide from Lonely Planet. My friend Jill is turning 30 this year and so, me and Yelena have some plans in the works involving upstate New York and a car. Woo woo. I also got this neat book called When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School, by Sam Kashner. I’m a sucker for anything Beat-related, you know!
I should be doing homework instead of writing endless blog entries. I’m audi…for now, anyway!
Today was graduation. 165 kids graduated, many of them kids I had my first year of teaching, so there was a lot of hooting and hollering on my part. Who knew my lazy slackers would actually grow the hell up and finish high school (on time, no less)? The ceremony was very…ceremonial. It was nice and way better than last year’s, in which more than one person hijacked the microphone, to the point where it ran so long, people started leaving in the middle of speeches and whatnot. A whole bunch of kids got laptop computers from IBM, some kids got a case of electronic engineering tools, and a few got money money money.
In other news, I arrived in the building this morning to be approached by a colleague who told me excitedly that the union rep had complained to the principal about the fact that 70% of the English department were given three preps for the new school year, by the AP. The prinicpal told the rep to organize a meeting and have the teachers file grievances. I was basically like, leave me out of it because I can handle my own shit. I was given three preps, too but I spoke to the AP about it, like a normal person, like a….PROFESSIONAL. He assured me that the programs were tentative and that I would be teaching all 9th grade next year (the tentative program had a Junior class on it). Running to the union rep every time the AP screws up or pisses you off, is like crying to mommy. It doesn’t do anything to bolster morale in the department, it creates an us versus them mentality and makes the AP feel resentful, which does not bode well for office politics, at all. If teachers want to be treated as professionals, it has to start with handling your own business instead of whining all the time. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the union, as I’ve said before.
I’ve gotten a couple of emails about the Alliance for Excellent Education 2005 High School Achievement Breakfast Series. I don’t know much about this organization but the event sounds interesting. It’s a presention of the Alabama Reading Initiative, by two high school literacy coaches with a resonse by professor from the University of Georgia. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to Washington, DC just for breakfast. If any of you go, let me know how it is.
Last weekend, my friend Jill and I were in St. Mark’s Bookshop when we spotted Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of Our Nation’s Teacher. One of the authors of the book is Dave Eggers, of McSweeney’s fame. He is also a founder of 826Valencia, the parent of 826NYC. We flipped through the book but felt funny about buying it. We’re not really the audience for the book, anyway but we murmured and chuckled in recognition at some of the stories retold in the book, about the trials and tribulations of being a public school teacher. In today’s Op-Ed section of the New York Times, there is Reading, Writing, Retailing, written by the authors of said book. It’s a good piece. Go ahead.
I’m off to Jersey…again. Woo woo. See you all later.
We left work at 11 and drove to Belmar, NJ. A dip in the brisk Atlantic, with some wave-jumping and I was a very happy camper.
