Yesterday, Kansas lawmakers made a decision to eliminate tenure for public school teachers in Kansas. Here is my response.
Dear lawmakers,
You cannot break me. Tomorrow, I will go into my classroom and teach with all of my heart and soul. This is what I am called to do. You politicians who play with our lives and the future generations to come have no idea what we do. I invite you to join me in my classroom, at any time. Show up unannounced and join my amazing students in an authentic, engaging, learning experience. I have great hope that this will work itself out and what is right will be done. To all of my fellow educators, teach on. Remember why we do what we do. We can and will fight this, while still doing what is best for our future generations. The revolution has begun.
Carrying on,
Virginia Quincy
Educator at USD 259
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
The "Carlos" Method
Recently, in a meeting regarding the possibility of re-implementing teaming in the Freshman Academy, the administration expressed concerns regarding tracking. This reminded me of a video I watched last semester about a woman named Tammy Crabtree (http://youtu.be/Q8VXrHeLqBA). In the video, she and her children had been on welfare for 18 years. Her aspirations were to become a teacher and quit her job at Burger King. Because she could not make enough money in her job to support her family, she lived off the system. She wanted a better life but was stuck in the cycle and had been forced into a tracking system due to her socioeconomic background.
At my last school, all students, no matter what level, took AP and AVID classes. 88% of these students were on free and reduced lunch and the school was open access. I had a student, let's call him Carlos, who could not read higher than a second grade level his freshman year. He had been tracked and was isolated or put into small classes and had very little interaction in larger groups of his peers. I can remember many days when he sat in my class and cried, threw books, and sometimes just shut the book and put his head down. The school's philosophy was that every child deserved a good, solid education and the ability to go to college. We worked with him, cried with him, loved him and hurt with him. Many days, he would come in at 7 am and we would read his book to him. His peers took him under their wing, brought him into their study groups and accepted him. This went on for four years. In that time, I never saw or spoke to a parent because they were never available. Carlos informed us that they loved him but were always working to make ends meet. They lived in an unsafe part of town and had greater aspirations for their children, but in order to help their children obtain a better life they had to work. We continued to work with him to complete his goals and dreams. Carlos graduated. Was he what the world would consider AP material? No. Did he pass any of his AP exams? No. Did he have the courage to take them? Yes. In fact, he took 5 AP exams while at our school. His reading and writing skills improved, along with his self-confidence. The young man who could not write a sentence began to write full essays and was able to read and comprehend what he was saying and then interpret it into his own thoughts and relate to life. Carlos chose to attend a technical college, where he is training to be a welder and now carries a full-time job while going to school.
To this day, I run my class based on the "Carlos" method. All children can learn. They may not learn the same or the way we expect or want. However, we have to remember that they are individuals and so are their family units. Each person operates differently and is not always given the same opportunity as others. However, it does NOT mean they are not capable and should be tracked, whether in society or the classroom.
On top of this, there are other major underlying issues such as peer pressure, lack of food, substance abuse in children and parents, stereotyping, bullying, suicide... We must all remember that there is always an underlying problem. Most of the children I encounter cannot concentrate in class because they are encountering one or more of the problems above. We need to keep an open mind, have empathy, learn to communicate with our students and help guide them to find resources and opportunities.
The current school I work in has a tight knit operation of adults, student organizations and community programs which help to fight poverty, single parent homes, dropout rates, etc. Programs such as Restorative Practices, Communities in Schools and JAG are in place. This, with the school’s structure of academies, allows students better advantages. Our number one struggle is parent involvement. In order to find solutions to this problem, we have formed a Family Engagement Team. In the next year, we will be adding a Grace Med Clinic across the street. We believe this will be the beginning of a great solution to many of our problems. Hopefully, we will have more communication through this endeavor.
I can only hope that our world of education continues to focus on these issues, helps to find solutions, and takes them seriously. The Tammy's and Carlos’ of the world deserve to have choice and reach their dreams and aspirations. They do not deserve to be tracked and have their paths set for them.
At my last school, all students, no matter what level, took AP and AVID classes. 88% of these students were on free and reduced lunch and the school was open access. I had a student, let's call him Carlos, who could not read higher than a second grade level his freshman year. He had been tracked and was isolated or put into small classes and had very little interaction in larger groups of his peers. I can remember many days when he sat in my class and cried, threw books, and sometimes just shut the book and put his head down. The school's philosophy was that every child deserved a good, solid education and the ability to go to college. We worked with him, cried with him, loved him and hurt with him. Many days, he would come in at 7 am and we would read his book to him. His peers took him under their wing, brought him into their study groups and accepted him. This went on for four years. In that time, I never saw or spoke to a parent because they were never available. Carlos informed us that they loved him but were always working to make ends meet. They lived in an unsafe part of town and had greater aspirations for their children, but in order to help their children obtain a better life they had to work. We continued to work with him to complete his goals and dreams. Carlos graduated. Was he what the world would consider AP material? No. Did he pass any of his AP exams? No. Did he have the courage to take them? Yes. In fact, he took 5 AP exams while at our school. His reading and writing skills improved, along with his self-confidence. The young man who could not write a sentence began to write full essays and was able to read and comprehend what he was saying and then interpret it into his own thoughts and relate to life. Carlos chose to attend a technical college, where he is training to be a welder and now carries a full-time job while going to school.
To this day, I run my class based on the "Carlos" method. All children can learn. They may not learn the same or the way we expect or want. However, we have to remember that they are individuals and so are their family units. Each person operates differently and is not always given the same opportunity as others. However, it does NOT mean they are not capable and should be tracked, whether in society or the classroom.
On top of this, there are other major underlying issues such as peer pressure, lack of food, substance abuse in children and parents, stereotyping, bullying, suicide... We must all remember that there is always an underlying problem. Most of the children I encounter cannot concentrate in class because they are encountering one or more of the problems above. We need to keep an open mind, have empathy, learn to communicate with our students and help guide them to find resources and opportunities.
The current school I work in has a tight knit operation of adults, student organizations and community programs which help to fight poverty, single parent homes, dropout rates, etc. Programs such as Restorative Practices, Communities in Schools and JAG are in place. This, with the school’s structure of academies, allows students better advantages. Our number one struggle is parent involvement. In order to find solutions to this problem, we have formed a Family Engagement Team. In the next year, we will be adding a Grace Med Clinic across the street. We believe this will be the beginning of a great solution to many of our problems. Hopefully, we will have more communication through this endeavor.
I can only hope that our world of education continues to focus on these issues, helps to find solutions, and takes them seriously. The Tammy's and Carlos’ of the world deserve to have choice and reach their dreams and aspirations. They do not deserve to be tracked and have their paths set for them.
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