( Source for image of teen - http://a.abcnews.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=4167235&page=1 )
Pleasure
This week I was at a school where I had been for about 3 weeks in December of 2006 and than January of 2007. A Mrs. T * who was a bilingual instruction aide happened to be in one of the periods I was covering. Mrs. T was a big help to me when I was covering (or more correctly containing) a Science class waiting for a permanent teacher to be hired by the school district. I asked about one particular 8th grade female student. I queried Mrs. T, “What high school did Jade * go to?”
Jade was a particularly difficult student, cute, but manipulative, a liar, and an instigator. At one point Mrs. T told me not to let Jade out of class for even a restroom pass. I personally was in a class where Jade told a male student to shove another student. Luckily, I can quell the most volatile situations. (Basically, Jade had sent a fellow Hispanic student across the room to shove an African-American student.) After getting an extremely agitated tall male student to back off, I ended up kicking both Jade and her minion out of class to the Vice-principal’s office.
Well, back to where Jade was, Mrs. T replied that Jade was pregnant and was currently attending community school. I wasn’t entirely surprised, but it was still quite a shock. Imagine a 13 or 14 year old girl pregnant. (Babies having babies.)
*(I’m using initials or pseudonyms for confidentiality.)
(Source for image of young girl -http://images.inmagine.com/168nwm/creatas/cr15402/cr15402005.jpg )
Sorrow
I have heard or witnessed some sad things in classrooms throughout the years. But, last week was a particularly sad example of the pressure that schools are being forced to use on students. When you substitute for Kindergarten, you are responsible for only half of the day. For example, I was responsible for the AM Kindergarten class and the PM Kindergarten teacher aided me in the morning. So, I end up aiding the PM teacher in the afternoon.
The PM class had a school district assessment (test) to do. Approximately twenty 5 year olds were divided into four groups that rotated between four different tasks. I could hear the PM teacher loudly chiding a small brown haired girl, Pansy *, “It’s because you don’t know your letter sounds!!! You’ll have to finish your test during recess!!!” I hope the frustration was situational and not personal. And I have no idea whether a poor test by a 5 year old casts a poor light on the ability of a Kindergarten teacher. But, all I know is that Pansy was in tears at recess.
The task was quite simple, the student was told to write a “story”. The “story” is not really a story but simply a sentence. In this case, Pansy was trying to write, “We like to read.” With year round school, this class had been in school since July. So, with two and a half months of instruction the district expected some writing ability to be demonstrated by Pansy. The PM teacher was on her 10 minute afternoon break. While I supervised the other Kindergarteners and helped Pansy complete her “story”.
The paper was blank. I drew blank lines for each letter and helped Pansy sound out the words. Pansy was able to write with some prompting - We like to _ _ _ _ . I’m been around enough classes to know what to do and how to help out. The PM teacher returned to help Pansy complete her “story”. And before you know it Pansy was tearless and happily peddling on a tricycle for the remainder of recess.
What was sad to me about Pansy was it forced me to think - I wonder when a child can simply be a child anymore? Education is being pushed to the limit. Our students are being forced to do more difficult tasks at younger ages. And teachers are forced to do more testing and less teaching.
