Wal-Mart Kids

Every year in late fall/early winter I send out an email requesting help for my students. Each winter, from our population of 80% low-income students, we choose students from every team to take on a shopping spree. These are our neediest students, those who come to school every day in the same pair of uniform clothes, who wear a rope to hold up a pair of pants three sizes too big because they have nothing else, who don't have gloves and hats to wear when winter comes. They shiver in the classroom without sweatshirts and get soaked in rainstorms because they don't have umbrellas or raincoats. I have girls with last year's too small shirts and boys with pant legs too short as they shoot up in height. One day V told me she loves purses and dressing pretty, but everyday she comes in a grubby white polo shirt too large for her and pants sagging down, both of which were passed down from her older brother. Oh, the indignity for a middle school girl – a BOY's hand-me-downs! (And no purse.)

The school is filled with students like V, who would love to look nice but whose parents can't even afford to pay for food, utilities, and rent, leaving many kids dependent on free breakfast and lunch since that might be all they get to eat that day and moving from apartment to apartment when their parents can't afford to stay in one place.

Despite this, the students have the great ability to be compassionate and accepting. They step out of the way when a kid in a wheelchair comes down the hall or fight over who gets to help them. They don't even look twice when one of the autistic students starts squealing or banging on a table, even if they're right there at the table with them. How many of us could say we would do the same?

Last year the generosity of all of you allowed me to raise $2214.16 in addition to the $1000 raised by the rest of the school; you all provided twice what the rest of the community brought in! I will be forever thankful for this. This meant that Brandon, who came to our attention at the last minute, was able to be added to our list the week before our shopping trip. All 3 of his younger siblings were Angel Tree children through the Salvation Army, but he had been rejected as "too old." Eighth grade, 13-years-old, and too old for a Christmas present. Thanks to you, though, he was able to get a gift beyond his wildest dreams. He had been teaching himself how to play guitar from a library book, practicing the finger movements with nothing in his hands. That early December morning he cast a longing gaze at a $90 guitar; even the teacher with him didn't believe we could afford it. But with that extra money from you, we could. When Brandon was told he could get the guitar, he couldn't contain his excitement and began jumping up and down, crying in excitement. His parents did the same when he walked past the cashier and said, "Mom! Dad! Guess what I got?" Tears and hugs over an inexpensive guitar from Wal-Mart.

I know finances might be tighter than normal this year, but I think the holiday season is a time to remember that there are those who have ALWAYS been a lot less fortunate than us (and still are). If you can spare even a dollar, send the money to my kids. Cash or a check; American, Canadian, or Australian dollars, pounds, euros, whatever - we can use your money. Checks can be made out to Lassiter Middle School, and any funds can be sent to me (Ms. Rachel Davis) courtesy of:
Lassiter Middle School
8200 Candleworth Drive
Louisville, KY 40214

Write in the note on your check or in a note in the envelope that the funds are for the "Wal-Mart Kids." My kids - Lassiter's kids - need your help. (I also accept donations via PayPal to racheldavis7 [at] gmail [dot] com.) Tell your family, tell your friends, tell whoever you want. Give them my name and the school address (give them the story and this whole email if you want). My kids need your help. Money will be accepted until the shopping spree on December 13th.

Please, please, please help my kids. Can't you imagine just how amazing it will be for these poverty-stricken kids to be able to just go into a store and buy whatever they need and also things that they just want?

Such. A. Procrastinator.

So I am always thinking of interesting things to blog about, but the life of a teacher is always so busy that I forget to do so. So here's some highlights of the past while:

1) This past year I ran a buddy program between my students and the students at my alma mater (high school, not college), Berwick Academy. The kids exchanged letters (and mine got the occasional prezzie), and it was a really great experience for all. Since the alma mater is a private school, it was definitely a different crop of kids, and the school credited me with opening a lot of their kids' eyes to the issues that other students (like mine) face in this country. Every summer they do one or more service trips, and they asked if they could do something for us. This coincided perfectly with the need to get work done in our outdoor classroom, as we'd gotten a $10,000 grant from Lowe's (as well as $5000 from our local councilwoman), and we were able to host 10 students from Maine to work with about 8-10 of mine in the outdoor classroom. It was an amazing experience. The students built benches and wagons, a patio, raised garden beds, and a pond, and refurbed the memorial garden we have for teachers, staff, and students that have passed away. I also spent the evenings taking the visiting students around town, introducing them to our fair city of Louisville: the Lakeside Swim Club, Lynn's Paradise Cafe, Glassworks, the Louisville Slugger Museum, Bearno's, Buckhead Mountain Grill (and fried green tomatoes), Falls of the Ohio, and a Louisville Bats game. We even took the visiting students and mine on a canoe trip on the Salt River - the canoes were replicas of the ones Lewis and Clark used, which was pretty cool. We ended up in the local paper both here in Louisville as well as in the local papers back in NH/ME. We even ended up on TV. The buddy program is continuing this year. I hope they'll be able to make it down to us again.

2) I am now sharing a classroom with the Environmental Ed (aka Career Choices) teacher at school. It's an old art room, so we each have our own half. It's actually working pretty well, and I'm really enjoying it. I have room to put the desks in pods, so that the students can easily work in groups of 4, and I've got space to walk about the classroom. I'm learning a lot from observing him - it's interesting to see how someone's class runs every day. This is especially important, as they seem to be grooming me as his replacement. We talk a lot about issues with students, teaching, and environmental education.

3) Environmental education in general is a burgeoning issue for me. I'm taking Introduction to Environmental Education at UofL, and if the EE endorsement gets off the ground I think I'll get my Rank I with EE as the focus. I attended the KAEE conference again this year, and it was great. I got a lot of resources, and it was great to be able to see more of the state. Additionally, it was one of those moment where my eyes were opened about environmental issues. For example, while the vegetables we have obviously came from somewhere, it never occurred to me that there would be wild grapes in Kentucky. They apparently make muskadine wine out of them. Another amazing thing was the ecojustice tour we took around the city - the stories I have to tell. Once I get closer to the writing pieces I have my students do for their state portfolios, I'll elaborate on that further.

I also took a tour of the 21st Century Parks system in development here in easter Jefferson County. Between this non-profit group and the Metro Parks system, they are buying up all the land along Floyds Fork, and they'll be creating this amazing 21st century park. It will include the typical sports fields and the like in the northern half, but it will be more natural in the southern section. They're revitalizing the river, ponds, and wetlands. They will be bringing back sections of old growth forest, as well as potentially including sections so that you can see various stages of succession, as well as what functioning Kentucky farmland looks like. There will be hiking trails, sections of the 100-mile bike loop, and a whole river to canoe. I had no idea that there was that much free land left in Jefferson County, and that it could be that rural. I was so amazed. The whole idea of it is mindblowing, and the knowledge I learned about the local geology, archaelogy, and ecology was just...wow. Wow.

Hopefully I can continue to be more up-to-date, posting more often. We'll see, at least.

The wonders of small class size

Now districts are always trying to say that studies don't conclusively prove that class size makes a difference, but anyone who has struggled to control a full class of students in a room that really isn't big enough and then seen them miraculously change when a few kids are absent/in ISAP and 5 more are in a special reward knows how smaller classes do make a difference. We had 20 kids in AAA on Friday, rewarding them for acheiving the triple threat of good academics (As and Bs), good attitude (all S's), and good attendance. And my 4th period, which is usually loud as anything comes in and sits straight down and there's no more than a low murmur. And the worst, loudest kid is even there! Coming in with all her friends! I was in shock! I was confused! I was ecstatic! They were amazing, and I was so proud of them and really glad I'd happened to bring in dum-dums that day as a reward for the fastest runners in the races we had between measuring shadows the day before (we're studying the Sun-Earth-Moon system at the moment). I really could not believe the difference. Because it wasn't the worst kids missing - it was the best kids. And yet they were still SO much better.

It's the kind of thing that makes me wish I taught at a private school. I covet small class sizes. And large class rooms. An area of desks in the front and lab tables in the back! It would be oh so lovely. I don't even have room to set up the desks in pods. Or rows. Yep, no one considered the size of the classrooms when they ordered the new lab desks for the science classrooms.

Of course, on the other hand, I really do enjoy working with the kids I have. They frustrate me. A lot. But I'd miss working with them if I was gone. It just would not be the same if I were elsewhere. I just wish that I could teach them in a better situation. One where there we had small class sizes, and we had enough room for setting up the tables for easy group work. Where there were enough computers for us to use them without having to book WAY in advance. Where I had more than one computer in my classroom for easy access.

Ah, the dreams of an inner-city public school teacher.

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In other news, though, there is apparently something written about me in the latest edition of my high school alma mater's magazine, BA Today, or so The Mom says. Inquiring minds want to know. What does it say? And where is my copy? I will be mightily annoyed if it is not in the mailbox come Monday.

Edited to Add (3/26/08): This USA Today article cites several studies that show that "size alone makes small classes better for kids," whether the teacher makes changes in her teaching or not. Of course, it makes more of a difference for high achievers than low achievers. The gap is just so frustrating, and it seems so difficult to bridge it.

Coming to you live from the "EarthForce" environmental conference

An article that makes me hopeful if Hilary Clinton wins the election:

Clinton offers plan to cut child poverty in half in a dozen years

"The package of proposals includes a "comprehensive" early education initiative that starts with nurse's visits for pregnant women, lets children begin the Head Start program earlier and calls for universal pre-kindergarten programs." There's also an initiative to improve child nutrition and access to fresh fruits and vegetables. All of these would do children (and mothers and families in general) a world of good. We have to start early, the earlier the better. And since her plan apparently advocates mostly expanding existing programs, I see it being a lot more feasible than trying to create a whole new infrastructure.

So often with kids it is nigh on impossible to help them because they are so far behind. Yes, it can be done, but it's like putting a tiny bandaid over a gaping wound - it doesn't solve the source of the problem. And to really solve the problem, we have to address how kids start off in life, how they are nurtured even in the womb (the healthier the mother, the healthier the baby, and a healthy mother can also take better care of herself and her child).

"Setting Limits in the Classroom"

So it has been awhile since I last posted, but things have continued to be busy as always. It's getting down to crunch time, as there are only about 11 (and a half?) weeks of school left, and my final assignment for my final MAT class is due mid-April (the big assignment is due April 1st, though, the same day as my KTIP portfolio will be assessed).

I've been told that I have shown great improvement. I certainly recognize that things are going FAR FAR better than they did last year, despite the fact that there are still what one might call "problem students." Of course, there are always going to be "problem students." Dealing with them is likely my biggest issue, though not my only one (struggling to find time for student use of technology is another). As such, I am always trying to find better ways to "do" classroom management, and I picked up a book this evening at Barnes & Noble because of that.

The book is Robert J. MacKenzie's Setting Limits in the Classroom (revised): How to Move Beyond the Dance of Discipline in Today's Classrooms. I am two chapters in, and I've come to a bit of a realization. Since starting an action research project on classroom management (specifically student "time on task"), I've realized that I have a bit of a problem with consistency. (I also noted that student placement in the classroom is an issue as well, but that's a topic for another day.) The book has really highlighted for me what this problem is. MacKenzie notes that there are 4 ways teachers deal with teaching rules about behavior:
1) the permissive approach (cajoling students into behavior)
2) the punitive approach (yelling, threatening, shaming, etc.)
3) the mixed approach (cajoles until explodes into punitive)
4) the democratic approach (gives a choice, lets student know of consequence of continued misbehavior, follows through)

As much as I would like to say that I am right there with method 4, that is really not the case. I think I'm more of a method 3. This is likely based off of my own childhood. Of myself, my two sisters, and my younger brother, there were little behavioral problems. I think this leads me to feel (subconsciously?) that it should be pretty easy for the kids to understand that cooperation is what they should do (because it's "the right thing to do"), so I just start off warning them. And maybe it's just easier to warn them than follow through with writing a note or calling parents or what-have-you. Of course, it really isn't easier in the long run, which should have been enough convincing for me (but sometimes you need a little help to realize what you are doing). Anyway, I start of with the cajoling, but - as we all do - I get frustrated that they don't "do the right thing" and start behaving, and that's where the punitive approach (and the yelling et al) come in. As MacKenzie points out, this is not consistent, and it doesn't have good effects with the kids. How can they know what to expect out of you? They either think they can get away with it, or they get angry that they are getting punished when people normally aren't.

I really hope that I can try method 4 and get it to work. It's hard to change those basic habits. If you aren't used to being a certain way, and the students aren't used to it either, it is going to take some effort to make that change and get them to realize that you have. But as a teacher, one has to be willing to change in order to improve your teaching and students' learning. So here's hoping that I can manage to move from the problematic "mixed bag" approach to the (hopefully successful) democratic approach. I just wish I had realized the problem sooner. Sometimes it's hard to see what should be in front of your own face, especially when what you hear from others is that you are improving. But it's never to late to make a change (and I haven't even finished my second year of teaching so it's not that late in the game), so I'm going to do my best to make it now.