Entry #1 - Sept. 7, 1998

''Imagine if we pooled our talents and built on each others' strengths!''

Who said, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans" I certainly didn't anticipate being concerned with school reform issues at this point (just past the 2/3 mark) in my career. Reform is what you need when things aren't working well. Two years ago, I was happily involved in a very multicultural, K-8 community school in downtown Toronto, and figured (when I thought of it at all) that my activist days were behind me. In an energizing work environment, where new initiatives are ongoing and a co-operative atmosphere prevails, there's not a lot of time for "system" issues.

A hiccup at the central office computer changed all that: projections for a drop in enrollment meant several staff, including me, were "bumped" to other schools. Since my most recent project had been early literacy --developing interventions for students in Grade 1 who lacked the skills needed to succeed -- I was confident that I would be asked to continue these initiatives elsewhere.

Imagine my chagrin at finding myself assigned to a middle school resource position! (Apparently teacher skills and school needs are not factors considered in administrative placement of staff!) Thankfully, I had the summer to mourn the loss of my former school "family" and orient myself to a new challenge. Well-meaning friends offered condolences all summer. "You're going THERE? Oh no!" and "That place is a zoo! Good luck...."

With no idea what to expect, I arrived at Riverside in September of '96, and found the administration gracious and welcoming, if a little harried. The building, dating from the expansionist 50's or 60's, had seen better days, but the caretakers had it waxed and polished, and painters were at work doing doors, lockers and trim. The new principal believed strongly that school must be a physically attractive place for our students, who are as ethnically diverse as the United Nations.

There were, as always, many new staff. The school is "twinned" with an elementary school two blocks away, and between them we have about 650 students, with grades 6-8 housed in the "senior" (middle) school. The neighborhood is a diverse one, with many immigrant and refugee families who, though struggling financially, are full of hope for the future..

Now, I'm no stranger to culture shock. Besides teaching in the frozen North (in my reckless youth), I've been in a half-dozen schools in this school system; but nothing prepared me for the third-world-like conditions at Riverside! Decades of neglect showed themselves in battered and obsolete texts (our atlas sets are from the 1960's and show the "Belgian Congo") and the absence of basic resources such as tape recorders, filmstrip and movie projectors (even pencil sharpeners are hard to find!)

My classroom had nothing in it but trash -- fortunate for me that I had saved up goodies, pack-rat style, from previous years. Most classrooms have no suitable reading materials for our many second-language learners or struggling readers, and the limited library is only available part-time due to budget cutbacks. Thanks to a dedicated teacher we have a working computer lab, but the machines were out-of-date a decade ago, and are neither Mac nor IBM platform. We have some Commodore 64's, but no newer-model computers in the classrooms for students to use ( I brought in a used 486 of my own). Seventh and eighth-grade students used to to rotate to a wide range of classes before our cutbacks, but now homeroom teachers do all the language arts, mathematics, history and geography, while the students rotate for gym, art (every 2 weeks), shop (ditto), French and science.

After hearing what a "zoo" Riverside was, I was pleasantly surprised to find -- hey! -- nice kids! Any building full of young adolescents will have its share of loudmouths and the socially inept, but these were generally inquisitive, active, laughing, eager and usually considerate young people who were not appreciably different overall from the students at my previous school. In fact, the halls and stairs were MORE orderly than at my old school, and walking by classrooms one could peer in and see most students on task, working quietly.

My first months were spent getting organized and learning the ropes, so it was only gradually that I began to ask myself: WHAT is the critical difference at this school? Although we have nice kids and a hardworking staff, the contrast between Riverside and my ex-school -- Beechwood -- is palpable, and you don't need to be a New Age psychic to sense it.

If Beechwood is a "school that works," Riverside is a school that has yet to reach its potential. I'm not the analytic type, but I couldn't shake the question: WHY is this school not at least the sum of its parts? What made the other school -- not much different in socioeconomic status -- such an upbeat, achievement-oriented, positive environment? After two years of the question percolating in my mind, while I read widely on effective schools and discovered online networking and resources, I feel I have some partial answers.

My experience teaching in an isolated, stand-offish Northern community was good preparation, in a way. At Riverside, I found it initially hard to get to know the veteran teachers who had been on staff a long time: they tended to be gruff and suspicious -- with good reason, having seen eager beavers with bright ideas come and go, leaving things pretty much unchanged. Still I knew these folks must be doing some things right. Why had they stayed? What made them keep coming back? What were their special gifts that they shared behind closed doors?

It took a while, but when colleagues realized I was really interested in their ideas and experience, they readily swapped stories, strategies and insights. I had to wonder whether anyone had shown any interest before (or at least recently). Morale generally is fairly low in our area. Teachers feel besieged by politicians and school boards alike, and at this school the staff KNEW they were ignored and "out of the loop." I can't prove it, but I suspect this feeling of impotence subtly infects the students too, who incline to a "magical" view of learning: somehow, they will "get" an education, as they might "get" chicken pox. It is hard to persuade them they have a responsibility to themselves where learning is concerned.

Some years ago, a "full inclusion" model was imposed on this school: the kind of "inclusion" that gives the process a bad name. Large numbers of very needy students were, in effect, "dumped" in the regular classrooms with no support, resources, professional development, teaming, co-operative planning or even books and materials being provided to make the initiative a success.

Cynics are certain it was strictly a cost-cutting move, and undertaken at this school because it lacked a politically active parent community. At the same time, teachers are being told to maintain the "standards" for the grade --while many children with serious language deficits, gaps in educational background, learning disabilities and just plain "culture shock" are unable to rise to the challenge without additional support. Team-teaching and co-operative work are pretty well impossible due to the timetable, which ensures teachers can rarely meet at the same time. (In fact, it was over a year before I even MET all the teachers on staff -- staff meetings are even rare events). Our government believes that every moment the teacher is not in front of the class is tax dollars wasted.

We all agreed among ourselves that the system we inherited isn't working, and lobbied for a different organizational model. This year the most needy students will be clustered in two homerooms at each grade level so they can receive an intensive parallel program in language, math and social studies in an effort to boost their academic skills. With luck, we can collaborate on such ventures as drama, family studies (we have a fully-equipped cooking room but no teacher for it) and perhaps initiate some peer-tutoring efforts that would not only help the weaker students and new immigrants but also build a true community of learners.

Although I love holidays and am never glad to see the summer end, I'm looking forward to the new school year. A major goal -- not too edifying, perhaps -- is to enjoy myself and learn something every day. It would be very, very easy to get discouraged, depressed, or throw up one's hands in despair. Instead, I choose to celebrate the mosaic of people and talents this school offers, and see if I can't generate some excitement about learning in at least one little corner.

I have a couple of projects up my sleeve: some will require the nod from administration, such as a Homework Club, Reading Buddy program (for struggling Grade 7 readers to read to Grade 1 students and help them with phonemic awareness skills). One of my colleagues is very knowledgeable about process writing and has me fired up to try some new techniques. I'm hoping to develop some activities that incorporate the curriculum objectives in geography and history in a less textbook-oriented, more active-involvement way. Thanks to some of my online friends, I've got a traveling journal project and a postcard geography activity ready to go.

Consultants and others have breezed through the school, telling teachers to "modify their programs," but it doesn't appear anyone has ever tried to help them do this -- or better, modeled how it could be done. There are some amazingly talented people on staff, who have been pearls on the ocean floor for too long. Imagine if we pooled our talents and built on each others' strengths! If we wait for administrators to lead the way, we will be waiting for Godot.

After reading Patricia Cunningham's "Schools That Work," I'm inspired by her advice: never mind the big picture; the change that matters is in the school where you are. Just Do It! "Good schools are collections of good classrooms, and the effort must go into supporting classroom teachers' efforts to ensure successful learning for ALL students." I can't reform the system -- or even the school -- but I can help make this a more satisfying, productive year for some high-risk students and some overworked but (secretly) enthusiastic teachers... and we start on the 8th!


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Comments About This Entry

Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1998 19:40:23 -0400
From: dbambino@mail.phila.k12.pa.us

Any chance teachers could/would meet before or after school regularly to collaborate? Sounds like you've got all the ingredients, but no time to mix them effectively. We have some common meeting times built in for reading and math teachers, but as a science person...I'm out in the cold. The after-school model works for us. We are compensated for these meetings which helps too. Good luck, sounds like an exciting year!