The Break

Well, here we are... the second week of Christmas Break (the week that you said you'd use to get organized and get ahead of yourself for the upcoming term). Yeah Right.

Now, there are many who are productively using the break and crossing t's and dotting i's early. The rest of us are as bad as our students when they're given an assignment that's due in two weeks. We wait until the last minute and hope we get it all done. So, what have you been doing? Drinking, shopping, lunch with friends (more drinking), dinner with friends...drinking, sleeping in (due to drinking), more drinking, parties (eating and drinking), folks in from out of town (drinking and stories from back in the day). And what did you tell yourself you would do over the break? Rest, read a good book (menus don't count), here's a good one... work out more, HA! When do you have the time? The only things being worked out are you wrists and biceps from fork lifting and 12 oz. curls. From waking up and feeling like dirt from the night before, the phone rings with a friend on the other end inviting you to lunch or to watch some sporting event on the local pub's t.v.. However, you are doing a lot of sit-ups... sitting up to take some aspirin, sitting up to try to feel human again, sitting up to push yourself away from the table or bar, sitting up to get up from the couch and grab the remote control.

Then you see something out of the corner of your eye. It's your stack of papers and school materials over in the corner. You get up, pick the up and move them somewhere where you can't see them (preferable the closet). You sit back down and you think of your students, even though you you told them that you wouldn't be thinking of them over the break:
    -" Mr. Fletch... you gonna miss us over the break?"
    - " If I start missing you all over the break, it just means I'm not drinking enough."
But you do think of them. You hope they're enjoying themselves and that they're safe. And you thank God that you haven't seen any of them on the news due to anything painful. I then hope that the majority of them spend some Christmas money on some damn school supplies! I can already hear it:
    - " I ain't nobody spendin' Christmas money on school supplies... that's lame!"

But enough of that... Get back to your break and enjoy yourselves. The reality of school will be upon us soon enough.

W.O.R.K: The Four Letter Word

For the past few days, I’ve been grading exams and the outcome of too many grades has been far from desirable let alone impressive. I’ve been asked if this makes me feel as though I’m not doing a good job at teaching the material. Years ago it used to but after years of teaching I have far too many testimonies from former and present students and parents that tell me otherwise. I can only do so much. I can’t take the test for my students to insure that they pass. So, the issue for many of my charges is WORK: The Act Of Doing. I’ve spent (and this one is no different) years trying to convince students of almost every race and economic background that effort brings about change. Which can then become success. I’ve just read an article in a Chicago based newsletter, The Black Star Project that states 68% of people blame parents for educational problems. REALLY?! I’ve been saying this for years! (But what do I know, right?) The article went on to say those who said parents are to blame were more likely to cite a lack of student discipline and low expectations for students as serious problems in schools. This article discusses the influence that hunger and absenteeism have on low achievement also but I want to focus on effort.
Without high expectations, effort can never reach it’s full potential. One must simply want to work/to study in order to make the grades or performance that will see you to the next level. And the work of parents is involvement and setting high expectations of achievement for your children. One year, I had a parent ring me to talk/ask about his son’s performance in my class.
“ You know Mr. Fletcher… for weeks now, I’ve watched my son come home, toss his book bag to the side (when he has it), sit down and text, play video games or watch television. When I ask about his homework, he says he doesn’t have any. So my question Mr. Fletcher is, What are you doing to make sure that my son does his homework?
I started laughing. Not giggling but laughing (and those of you who know me have shared a good laugh with me) and I then realized he was being serious.
I said, “ It’s called homework for a reason and your son doesn’t live at home with me.” I continued by advising that, “if your teenager comes home from school for three days not weeks without homework you should call the school and ask a lot of questions. Because more than likely he/she is being dishonest with you.” I mean, really? He’s a teen not a toddler. Teens get homework. I used to purposely only due half of my homework at school in study hall so that I had something to work on at home. Because, if you didn’t have something to do…my mother would FIND something for you to do.
Now we’re at the students who wait until the last minute to put forth their effort… the students who always ask for make –up or extra credit work.  If a student is absent due to illness, hell, I’ll give you suspension too, I’ll give the opportunity to make up the missed assignments. As an educator, you know who will or won’t do the assignments. You simply document the fact that you gave the opportunity. Now, the jokers who clown/talk, sleep, constantly arrive late (8:30 arrival when school begins at 8:00) and / or disrupt class can fail. Had you simply put forth the daily effort required of you, you would not be in the situation of asking for make-up work the last three days of the term. Please, get out of my face. I also ask these students, “ Why didn’t you ever come in after school?” – “ Man, I ain’t got time to stay after school!”- “ Why do you have an after school job?”- “ Naw, I just ain’t stayin after school.” And I’m supposed to care about your education when you don’t? I do have some students that come after school on a regular basis until they understood and I told them, “I think you got it. Now, just keep studying” And guess what? They have a B in the class. Imagine that. Then I have the students who come to one or two sessions after school and can’t understand why their grade hasn’t improved.
“ But I came after school a couple of times! Why isn’t my grade better?”
“ Well, I think I forgot to sprinkle my magic fairy good grade dust on you before you left. YOUR GRADE HASN’T CHANGED BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T STUDIED!

Well, let me get back to grading. Hopefully, there will be more exams that prove that they studied.

One Of Those Days...

Teachers, you ever have one of those days?

This one goes out to all my fellow educators out there.

You know, one of those days where it just starts badly and continues…..

So you turned off the alarm instead of hitting the snooze button and now you really have to get out of the house with the quickness! Thankfully, you ironed your clothes, loaded your bag and preset the coffee machine before going to bed. Maybe this isn’t a sign of how the rest of the day will be. You did manage to get out of the house with enough time to make it to school and copy the assignments for the first three classes. You arrive to school and you get to the copier with hopes that it’s not too crowed. No such luck… the teacher who has first bell free is copying packets of work for his or her classes. You make small talk while you grind your teeth and wait. Finally, you get to the machine only to have the copier decide that it’s your assignment that it’s going to eat (I’ve seen grown men almost cry when this happens)! You twist, turn, lift, pull, and reset everything, cross your fingers and push start. Now what’s the problem? Oh, Joe Courtesy didn’t refill the paper tray after his mountain of copies… thanks.

With warm copies, you head to class. Unfortunately, it’s not your normal, slow easy stroll to class but rather a dip and dodge (like a game of frogger) in the sea of students. And you don’t get your quiet time to sip coffee, check phone messages, and email. No, your angels are in your face, jocking for attention. And then one of them hits your coffee mug and in slow motion you see the brown wave of caffeine hit your desk, soak your papers and drip into your bag. This is when you seriously almost call it a day and leave because you know this is a sign of what the day brings.

Your classes are nothing short of chaos. Everyone is pissed about something and you’re getting your head bitten off by students whose parents went off on them this morning, who got dumped, fired from a job, or grounded by parents. Everyone is super-hyper and getting people to calm down is damn near impossible, all day! You feel like you’re in a bad episode of Welcome Back Kotter. You even have the note signed, so-and-so’s mother to prove it. Hardly anyone has done the homework but they don’t want to pay attention as you go over some of it on the board.  You’ve put out six students, taken four cell phones and felt like cussing out two students. A knock at the door brings about a security guard informing you that there is a parent in the office to see you. It’s the same parent who has stood you up twice for conferences this semester alone. I guess NOW is convenient for her… we have to make the parents feel welcome and the customer is always right is the motto. Hell, I thought I was in education not customer service! She wants to know why her little___________________(fill in the blank) is failing your class and why she hasn’t been contacted about any of this! Unprofessionally, you laugh in this woman’s face. And you’re still chuckling as you remind her of the unreturned phone calls and the two missed conferences. Smartly, you also have your records book to show when you have called her. And she still denies it! After your administrator throws you under the bus and says that you’ll be happy to give little___________________ some extra make-up work, you’re dismissed in order to return to class. As you return to class the thought that extra work means extra grading for which I don’t get extra pay. So, Mr. or Ms. so-and–so can grade it keeps being repeated. Seriously, educators are one of a few professions in which people expect us to work for free (because we love the kids!). You get back to class and you try to get a sense of order back somehow and then within a statement you’re given the answer… “C’mon, Mr Fletch, it’s Friday! Ain’t nobody down on that today! Why can’t we just chill?” Friday… (you tell yourself) now it all makes sense! But you know that it doesn’t need to be Friday for any of this to happen. Throw in a couple of fights and this a normal day for you.

Eighth bell, finally! Can we get through this last class without hurting one another, please? We get through the class with people actually listening and participating between conversations about the night’s game and or party. The bell sounds and you can hear a collective, “It’s about time!” As they run out of the door you try to shout some weekend homework assignments. To this you hear shouts of, “Sorry, Mr. Fletch, that’s the bell…school is OUT and it’s the weekend!” On the way home you stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for the weekend. As you’re walking towards the entrance, there is someone walking towards you calling your name. Then you recognize who it is! It’s that one student or parent who you couldn’t stand! You know who I’m talking about. It’s that student who did absolutely zero in your class and couldn’t understand why he/she failed. They were however very good at getting on your last good nerve. And that parent is the one who always had an excuse for their child and one time called you racist because you didn’t give her son a D so that he could play football…yeah, that one. Now, you’re trying to remember a name. Luckily, they give you an out. “Hey Mr. Fletch(er), it’s _________________ from_____________________” You get to play it off and you go into the small talk of how they are and what they’re doing now. You actually find yourself interested and you do care. The Grinch has a heart!

Then they hit you with it. “I just wanted to thank you for what you did in class.” If this were a Popeye or Tom & Jerry cartoon, you’d have transformed into that donkey with Jackass written on the side. Confused you ask, “ What are you talking about? You failed my class.” And he or the parent talks about the life lessons that they learned and how they are applying them to their jobs and lives now. Some even say, “ I’m taking Spanish in college now and I remember everything that you talked about because of your stories. It’s weird.” They tell you about how you inspired in a host of ways and you just sit there with your mouth open in disbelief that THIS kid got soooooo much out your class.

So now, what started out as one of those days, has transformed into The Day that reminds you why you do what you do.