My Progress Report

This week was rough. Like, crying to my mentor on two separate occasions rough. Being the only one who teaches my class, there are days when I don't have any interactions with adults. This week, the only one who came by besides my mentor was a crusty veteran who filled my room with nothing but negativity and passive aggressive digs at my credentials and ability to handle the first year of teaching. I am also completely on my own when it comes to curriculum. "You can cover as much or as little as you want. It's up to you." It sounds pretty sweet in theory, but it's too much freedom. Sometimes I don't even know where to start, and it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what these kids really should know at the end of the course. Combine all that with a parent night that kept me at school until 9:00 p.m. the night before a 2 hour before school professional development that reminded me just how much paperwork I have to do this weekend, and I hit a wall yesterday around 10:47 a.m. Oh, did I mention that my carefully planned science experiment bombed and I had a passing period to figure out what in the hell I was going to do for the rest of my classes that day?

So.

I have decided to document some of the fantastic things that happened this week. The little things that make it all worth it can get buried underneath anxiety, deadlines, and self doubt. My mentor told me she was going to get me a "book of win" so I could see in writing everything I was doing right. I guess this is the autobiographical version.

On Monday, my "too cool for school" student brought me a piece of blueberry cheesecake that she made herself. She even came by at lunch to see if I liked it. It seems like a little thing, but I was the only teacher that got any. So there.

Parent night! Usually, parent nights are brimming with over-involved parents grilling the teachers about the relevance of their course to their child's future. Ours is a little different. Out of 150 students, I had 7 bring their parents to meet me. But my time with those 7 families was amazing. Every parent said that their child couldn't stop talking about my class, and that I was their favorite teacher. I even had a student from my fashion advisory come by, and her mom thanked me for providing a place for her daughter to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. It was a good moment.

One of my more "grumpy" students was telling me that she didn't need to learn anything because her mom was giving her the family cleaning business, and that she was probably going to drop out of school so she could start working. I told her "Yeah, I thought the same thing when I dropped out of school." "YOU dropped out of high school? But you're a teacher!" "Yup. What does that tell you about how important education is? Why do you think I chose to teach?" She told me that she felt like she knew something really personal about me, and respected me for sharing it with her. She's been a lot less grumpy. You gotta start somewhere! :)

One of the counselors came by to tell me that all week while the crazy schedule change frenzy was going on, she kept hearing how much the kids loved my class. The basketball and football players that suddenly had to be double blocked for sports said they were bummed that they had to drop my class. In fact, they all came by my room at various times to tell me that they were sorry they got transferred out. They didn't want me to think that they asked to be removed and hurt my feelings.

This is my display that's outside my door. My soapbox in nutrition is sugar sweetened beverages. It's important to me that students realize what they're putting in their bodies by actually seeing it. I've had students come in my room to ask me about the display, and I've had teachers say "Oh, you're the one with the sugar display! I'm so glad you did that, the kids need to see it!" when they find out I'm the nutrition teacher. I even had two parents take pictures of it because they liked it so much. But yesterday, I had one of the coaches tell me that during night school, he overheard a group of kids talking about it, and they talked about it as a class. He said it was actually making a difference in how they viewed some of the things they were drinking.

Are blogs supposed to be this long? I feel like they aren't. I guess I had a lot to say. Lack of adult interaction will do that to you, I suppose.

Who is this "they" I keep hearing about?

There have been countless surprises that have come with my new job: the sheer madness of navigating a giant and inefficient bureaucracy, the racoons that have infested the science wing and poke their heads in to say hello during class...but I'm most surprised at the undeserved reputation that my school has in this district.

I was talking to an assistant principal about what people say when you tell them you got a job at Travis. "Oh, Lake Travis? Great!" "No, William B. Travis. On Oltorf." "Oh....They say that's a really bad school."
 In fact, that's all I've heard from anybody since I got the job. (Save for my close family and friends, who, even if they were thinking it would never say it.) The AP that I was talking to said she has lost many friends over the years, because she got really tired of people constantly putting down the students she cared so much about.

I've been at training sessions and overheard teachers from other schools in the district talking some serious smack about us (students AND teachers). During the live feed "welcome back" speech from the superintendent, we were the only high school that wasn't even mentioned.

So on the first day of class, I expected some serious behavior problems. Gangs. Drugs. Violence.
What I got was 150 students who are....completely normal teenagers. Except they have the added burden of being a poor minority. They're funny, inquisitive, smart, and completely loveable. Are they struggling? Yes. I have a handful of students that don't speak any English. I have three that are about to give birth and two that just have. I have kids who work until 2 in the morning and can't stay awake through class. But they're fabulous. Every single one of them.

So who is "they"? They keep saying how horrible our school is, but I would like for them to come in my classroom and make that argument. It's not fair to the kids.

Yesterday two girls were peeking in the door to say hi to a friend. When I went over to see what they were doing this is the exchange I had:
 "Miss, are you new?"
"Yes! This is my first year teaching."
"Do you like it here?"
"Of course!"
"No you don't. What is there to like about it?"
"I love my students. They're great and they make me laugh."
"Are you serious? Everybody knows the kids at Travis are all bad."
I again told them how happy I was to be there, and one of the girls said "So what class is this anyway? Is it too late to sign up? You're pretty cool."