Hey, Look! We're in the News!

Wow. My high school (where I work, not where I went) has been recognized by US News and World Reports. We were bronze medal, considering our population and student progress. (Too bad NCLB doesn't give any recognition to our population statistics. So what if 30% of our students are learning English? They should pass the ISTEP!) Only 29 schools in Indiana were recognized.

http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/indiana/west_noble_high_school

Sigh

Oregon has a ballot initiative for this fall that wants people to vote on limiting ESL classes for high school students to only 2 years. The man behind it claims its because illegal immigrants expect free services from US taxpayers. WTF??!?!?!??!?! First, since when are all ESL students illegal immigrants? Second, who on earth thinks its a good idea for laypeople with no training in education to decide how many years of English classes students need?

Really, with attitudes like this, let's keep the illegal immigrants and deport the guys like the ones who made this initiative.

Of Socialism, Communism, and Terrorism (Ah, the -isms!)

Today was the last day of summer school, so now I have about 6 weeks until school starts up again that are pretty much work free! (I have a half-day training in Rosetta Stone in July, and a full day Leadership Retreat in August, and I will be doing some reading, decorating, and planning in the meantime, especially in early August, but quite little compared with how much I normally work. And I can have lots of days with no working at all if I want.) Not to say summer school wasn't fun. But I kind of wished it would have started an hour later so I could have slept more. Oh well.

Yesterday, after the first hour of class, I ended up talking to one of the ENL students relating to the essay he'd done on his test about foreign policy and the military. He asked in particular why the US and Venezuela have such relationship problems now. (For those of the uninformed, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, recently called George W. the devil, and Bush, while not so colorful in his language, has been very strongly disapproving of Chavez.) I tried to explain it the best I could, because I do have what I believe is a pretty good theory, though I'm sure my explanation came across much less articulately in Spanish than it will as I try to explain it in English here:

As I see it, the main problem is that Venezuela, in contrast to the US, is very socialist. Chavez is a socialist. Most news outlets refer to Venezuela or the Chavez government at some time or another as "leftist". I don't think the problem is really a left/right one, though it seems slightly suspicious that Bush ("right wing") is anti-Chavez ("left wing") and vice versa, and in contrast, I'm more progressive (read "leftist") and am much more approving of Venezuela's policies, though I don't consider myself informed enough to really speak specifically to any of them.

Actually, I think the real issue is the leftover ethos of the Cold War. As I tried to explain to my student, adults just a bit older than me grew up in the Cold War, with fallout drills and this desperate fear of communism. Rather than being just an alternate political system, or even a bad alternate system, it was taught as a monster, a bogeyman of sorts, the demon that could destroy the world if we didn't "contain" it. While communism and socialism are not the same thing, they are deeply linked in people's minds, and this primitive childhood fear overrides a lot of adult reason. And the majority of adults today lived through the Cold War; a very significant portion of adults today were in their formative childhood years during the Cold War. I think this leads to a deep, innate, illogical distrust of all things socialist in a large percentage of the population. My student made the logical jump to how today we fear terrorists. That is the communism, the "bogeyman" for today's children.

In contrast, I grew up in the 80's, in the "detente", when the tension was beginning to cool off. We didn't have fallout drills; there wasn't the same fear of nuclear annihilation. It's true I did somehow or another still absorb some of that attitude. I don't even know who or what taught it to me, but I remember being deeply shocked learning about communism in 7th grade social studies. The basic tenet of communism is equality of all and that no one should lack basic necessities? Where's the evil part? However, I'm sure my indoctrination was much less intense, and I was able to think more logically about communism than my older counterparts. I don't particularly want our country to become communist, but I would like it to be more socialized.

In many ways I feel I am in a lucky in-between generation. Not old enough to be indoctrinated into anti-communist thought, but old enough by 2001 to not become perpetually afraid of terrorists. My formative years were relatively calm and relatively free of those sorts propaganda. Of course, it may just be my individual attitude and deliberate attempt not to be manipulated by the fear-mongering our politicians and media seem to push on us today. I was talking to a teacher at school recently who is older than me but was deeply affected in the bias kind of way by 9-11. I personally resent how politicians try to control us through fear. It doesn't make us a better people. I believe it makes us worse.

That's my sermon for now. It was an interesting thing to think about, one reason I enjoyed teaching the class this summer.

Still Alive...but of questionable mental capacities

Apparently I could use a little more sleep. Today was a fairly uneventful day at school, and I didn't seem to be particularly stressed out or tired. But by the time I got to my last class, my brain seemed to have slowed to a crawl. Then while writing on the overhead, I could think of how to spell the word "experiment". So after wavering between e and i and e and i (after the p), my class told me. This is particularly embarrassing since it was my level 1/2 class. (For those of you uninitiated in ENL culture, these are the lowest levels of English.) Sigh. Of course, philosophically, I believe that it is ok, and actually important for teachers to make mistakes and model how to think through them and accept correction graciously, so it didn't actually bother me on a gut level. Just a little ironic that the English teacher has to ask how to spell things.

Simon decided that I am not paying enough attention to him, so he jumped up onto the computer chair and attacked my arm. Then I had to take a break because he walked over my lap to push his head under my hand on the keyboard so I would pet him. Yes, Simon is the master of don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-
don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me-
don't-pet-me-PET-ME-NOW!!!!!!!-don't-pet-me-don't-pet-me!

Teaching has its perks....

So, I've found that I tend to like teaching at the high school level better than at the middle school level. I like middle school more than I thought I would, but it's still a weird in-between time.

However, in high school, you don't get the cute pictures from kids to hang on your wall and cute notes like the one I got yesterday. It reads:
"Mrs. Martin I think que somos muy malos con usted pero yo la quiero mucho...."
"I think we behave very bad for you but I love you very much...."

Of course, predictably, this is from a 5th grade girl who behaves perfectly fine but just feels bad because she happens to be stuck in my worst-behaved class.

Also, yesterday, I had the best idea all year....About 10 minutes before class started, I decided that for Friday's Preferred Activity Time, I'd have my two middle school classes make a Christmas/winter bulletin board. It was awesome, because they loved doing it, they did a really good job, and....I hate making bulletin boards! Goodbye to ever doing that job myself again!

An Open Letter to Dr. Suellen Reed

The following is a copy of a letter that is going out in the mail this week. Copies are going to state and federal representatives, as well as GW and the Federal Secretary of Education. (The federal letters differ slightly.)

Just some definitions so I bore you less with edu-babble - Dr. Reed is the Superintendent of Education in Indiana. The ISTEP+ is the state exam given every year to all students (now required for graduation), and the ISTAR is an exam formarly given to many students in special education and ENL, which allowed for students to be evaluated at their level. Apparently now that's not ok.

If you're inspired, write a letter to your legislators! You can even copy mine if you want! (Though you might want to take out the bit about having my job....)

Without further ado.....

Dear Dr. Reed:

I am an ENL teacher at West Noble Middle School and High School in Ligonier, IN. I spent approximately one complete school week in September administering the ISTEP+ exam to my students.

As I understand the situation, the ISTAR did not meet No Child Left Behind guidelines, so students who previously used ISTAR (such as special education students and my ENL students) now had to take the ISTEP+.

I am very concerned with the position these students are put in. A small number of students who had been here for less than one year were exempted from the English portion of the test, but had to take the other sections. The rest of the students had to take all of the test, with some modifications, but no translation allowed other than tiny bilingual dictionaries on the approved list, which did not contain many key words on the test. I would have less objection to my students taking a math exam if it was a valid exam for them: i.e. if it really measured what it purports to measure - math. Instead, the number and complexity of word problems mean that it really tests knowledge of English and reading comprehension first, and secondarily math. This is not fair to the majority of my students who have been learning English for far less than the 5-7 years shown in studies to be the time it takes to learn academic English and to catch up with peers in school.

I tested two groups of students, most of whom for which the test was not valid, and they had no chance of passing. Instead, they spent hours desperately trying to understand, but ending up feeling stupid. On top of that, I lost an entire week (1/36 of a school year!) of instructional time during which we could have been working on English skills.

My only comfort in all this was that I could tell my students to do their best, and that next year, they could see how much they could improve their scores, with the goal of eventually passing. Were I a special education teacher, I might have some students to whom, in good conscience, I could not say even this.

I urge you to develop an alternate assessment for ENL and special needs students that allows these students to show what they do know. An English-only exam for students who do not yet have on-grade English skills is invalid, inappropriate, and racist. Giving any student an exam they have no chance of passing is a waste of our state's time and money, a burden on those students, and a detriment to our educational system.

I realize there are federal guidelines with which you must comply, but I urge you to search out creative minds that can develop a valid, appropriate assessment that ensures all our students are receiving a quality education, not cookie-cutter tests.

Thank you for your work and care for the students of our state.

Sincerely,
Lisa Rose Martin

My Teacher Life

I finally have lots of students, so I'm busier, my cat likes me, I get to have a nice work-free Friday night....life is good! (Mostly, at least)

Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me why I am a teacher. I woke up grumpy and didn't want to go work. But I didn't have even a shred of an excuse not to, so off I went anyway. My first students were a couple of extremely cute kids who were quite excited about learning to read. Then I went to a new family where I gave my first English lessons to four kids and their mom who alternately participated to try to learn along or herded her kids around to keep them paying attention. I have never, never seen people so excited to learn English. Or to learn anything, for that matter.

In the end, it was quite energizing, and I had a lot of fun, though I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day.

Random Potpourri

I got a call from one of my bosses today, and I have my first students to tutor! Adrienne and I are going to be going there in about an hour to meet them (hopefully, if they are home), and determine what materials they need, so that we can pick them up in Indianapolis on Friday.

I've been mostly sitting at home lately, waiting for the students to be found, so it's nice to have some work to do. On the plus side, I had plenty of time to organize all my materials, so I know exactly what things I have.

I found the mix of perennial wildflowers from Anne and Jeffery's wedding, so I think I'll plant them sometime today or tomorrow. I'm not quite sure where to plant them, though, because I don't know what kind of wildflowers they are - how tall they are, whether they will want sun. Guess we'll see. Unless anyone else has planted them and has had them come up already? (It has been 3 years now....)

My Summer Job

So I’ve accepted a seasonal job for this summer, which I hope will be quite interesting and fulfilling. If not, at least it’s full time so it pays the bills…but I think it has a lot of potential to interest me. I’ll be a migrant tutor for the Indiana Department of Education Language Minority and Migrant Programs (say that three times fast). Basically, I’ll be tutoring students anywhere from kindergarten to age 21 who are in families classified as migrants. For the purposes of the state of Indiana, that means that their family has moved in the last three years in search of agricultural work.

So, I could be doing anything from helping an eight-year-old catch up in reading, math, or learning English after having moved four times the previous year, to helping a high school student get an extra credit, to helping a 21-year-old working full time get his or her GED. The program is not compulsory, so I will probably have students who mostly want to learn.

I’m excited to get to use my Spanish some more and to help a community of children that gets the short end of the stick in the educational world. I’m also a little anxious about how I will deal with the irregular schedule, lots of driving, and emotionally handling the poor living conditions of many families. I’ll keep you updated…..

GED-ing

Today was the first session of the Spanish GED class that I'm co-teaching. It went pretty well, I think. We passed out materials and Daniel did a short lesson, and they took a pretest in math so that they can make a study plan. Hopefully if I have to talk in Spanish four hours a week my Spanish will actually mejora.

Jeff is at the South Bend Film Festival with Angi, so I'm going to go hang out with my fam.

TESTING!

I'm in the middle (actually, nearing the end - hallelujah!) of a week of testing all the Limited English Profiecient (LEP) students in the school. It's sort of interesting to do something different with my time for a while, but standardized testing is also mindnumbing to me after a while. Too much reading the same directions over and over. I'll spare you my testing rant. For now, anyway.