Despite what you may think, I do other things besides reading magazine articles and thinking about education

This post, however, will not support that statement.

This week's TIME cover story is "How the first nine months shape the rest of your life," and I read it simply because I was interested in what they call "the new science of fetal origins." It reminded me that I miss science, but more importantly, it put some sense into the incredibly numerous physical and mental health problems that can be seen in a community like Richmond. The article gave me a lot of "oh that makes so much sense" moments.

To preface, I don't know how much I have already talked about this, but if there were only two descriptors for my students' health - healthy or unhealthy - almost all of them would fall in the latter category. It may not be a big deal in middle school, but in high school there are a lot of kids that are pushing obese, and pretty good handful of them are worst-case scenario definitions of the word. Most students don't understand the connection between what they eat and how their body functions - I think that should be 9th grade science curriculum - but frankly the malnutrition comes down to the effects of poverty. Still though, cheap and healthy is a possible combination. And contrary to the opinions of my third period, cilantro does not count towards your daily value of vegetables. It's so appalling to me that these kids do not change their behaviors even after many family members have been diagnosed with diabetes. I don't think they understand that the things that happen to their relatives is a sort of preview and warning about things that could happen to them if they mimic their habits.

As for mental health, I've written a lot about my special education students this year and last, and at first I thought it felt like there was a lot of them simply because they were being mainstreamed into regular classes and they usually require the most attention. But after reading this article I've realized that we really do have a crazy amount of special education students. This year and last I've had an average of five or six of them in each class, and my algebra classes create the heavy end of that average. ADD and ADHD run rampant at our school as well, and often that's what labels them as special education in the first place. And Lord knows I've had my fair share of bipolar students.

So now the question is whether these health problems trace back to the traumas of these kids' young lives, or if they go back to even before they were born. In arguments like this, I think it's a safe bet to say both. Anyway, the article talks about how an individual's health - early or late in life - can be affected by the health of your mother before birth. It was to little surprise to read that individuals born to diabetic mothers are more prone to diabetes themselves, but there are other connections that are interesting, like a higher risk of heart disease for individuals weighing less at birth. This one was crazy to me though: obese mothers giving birth to heavier children is more than just genetic, as proved by the fact that "kids conceived after a mother's successful weight-loss surgery were 52% less likely to be obese than siblings born while she was overweight." If all this is true, it's no wonder that communities like Richmond feel like it's so hard to reverse these self-perpetuating problems. The article also said that women who are pregnant during stress or malnutrition may disrupt neural development, contributing to mental health issues. Reading that line, all I could think about was our numerous high school pregnancy cases, who were likely malnourished and under ridiculous amounts of stress and trauma even before getting pregnant.

One interesting thought process that came from reading this article is that in education, you have to work with the cards you've been dealt. The amount of things that you wish you could affect or change is so frustrating, and you can always trace the problems back to some other source out of reach, but you have to accept what you are given and do the best with what you have. It's always so easy to say that things would be better if ________ (if the middle schools did a better job; if the elementary schools did a better job; if the parents were more involved; if we had smaller class sizes; if teachers were paid more; if our students schedules would stop getting switched five weeks into school; if the students families weren't wrapped up in drugs and alcohol, etc), and quite frankly it's just so hard not to say it sometimes. So while it's interesting to find out the scientifically true source of the problems that can be witnessed daily, it's not going to change my job at all.

The Secret Life of a Richmond Oiler

So my hair is getting relatively long and I've left some scruff on my chin in attempt to look older, so I shouldn't be too surprised that my 3rd period decided that I look like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. I'm not really offended by this, but am more amazed that they even know what Scooby-Doo is. Not that I'm old at all, but I didn't know the show was still on TV. I'm actually a little relieved that now I don't have to think about what to be for Halloween. I'll just wear a green shirt and brown pants and call it a costume.

On the flip side of things, the English teacher in our 9th grade "house" shared with me the results of her recent writing assignment, and it was very eye-opening. Let me preface this by saying that this teacher offers such an open heart and open arms to our students that they share with her more than they would anyone else in the school. She has that effect on adults too; some people are just like that I guess. So anyway today at lunch she told me that even she was surprised this year with the level of trauma that exists in our students lives. I don't recall the prompt of the writing assignment, but it was one that inspired our 14 year-olds to write about such experiences as seeing their fathers being taken to jail, seeing their brother get shot and killed, being abused by their drug- or alcohol-addicted mother or father, recovering from drug and alcohol abuse themselves, and much more. There is even a student at our school that was raped by her father and her mother forced her to have the child. Not a student of mine this year, but the important thing is to realize that all these things happen surprisingly often in this community, and these are only the stories verified by our English teacher through her students' essays. One can only imagine the details that were left out. And yes, this teacher deals with these stories appropriately through avenues like Child Protective Services.

I think of these students that she specifically named off to me and the baggage that they carry around every day to and from school and it is amazing to me that I can get them to smile in my class. After all, these are kids are barely teenagers but are forced to deal with very adult issues - most that the majority of us never have to endure. But it makes sense now why some kids will just blow up in class for the most ridiculous things - I would not be surprised if some of them were to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Translating this to the class: what looks like defiant behavior is really just a brief fault in their coping mechanisms, because these students carry the trauma with them daily, trying to suppress it, and never dealing with it appropriately. And then meanwhile I am beating them over the head with seemingly pointless math skills. The world would be such a better place if there were a way to fast-forward life to show certain individuals the long-term results of their actions; by this I mean I wish I could prove to these students that no matter what they have gone through, they can turn their life around. Talk about goal of the century - but hey, in four weeks I have had to send zero students to the office, so that's a plus.

In my one year of experience, I think I have a pretty firm grasp on the importance of getting to know your students at the beginning of the year, and there is no doubt that I am WAY better at it this time around. By knowing your students on a little bit better level than the typical teacher-student relationship, it is incredibly obvious when a student is going through troubles - and that is the difference between a teacher sending a student to the office with a referral and that same teacher attempting to initiate a private conversation with the student to figure out why the student is acting out. No joke, 95% of the time there is some bigger issue at the heart of their defiance.

So at this point I think back to everyone reassuring me in my early first year that "success in teaching will be if you reach and impact just one student" and that "some kids just don't want to learn, so focus on the ones that do" - I think back and I laugh because while all that advice helped me to not focus on the idea of "success" and "failure" as a teacher, none these ideas are true. As a teacher you do your best to reach every single student, and through parent phone calls and tutoring you pay special attention to those that look like they don't want to learn, because almost all of them really do, and I will argue that to the death. Case in point: I found out today that the reason why my two lowest Algebra students seem like they TRY to do nothing in my class is because they do not know how to multiply. At all. They are very familiar with the fact that they should have picked up those skills in the some six past years of school and frankly are so embarrassed by their situation that they would rather not draw attention to their lack of math knowledge. So the question then becomes: how do you make Algebra concepts - like square and cube roots - accessible to students that are not proficient in multiplication? I could go on forever about this and about how we are still covering Algebra concepts in my Precalculus class, but I think my time would be better spent making personal multiplication times tables for my students, because that is my on-the-spot temporary solution. Until next time.

Getting the Layperson Informed

Since education issues consume my life right now, I feel a little unsure of what the general public's familiarity is with school woes. Sure there are articles in the major news magazines all the time about one person's take on the "crisis," but it is just as easy to flip the page and skip the read. Here's a video that effectively sums up the current status of our education system, promoting the new movie that will be out next month: http://www.letsredu.com/2010/08/video-the-education-crisis-in-two-minutes/

The movie is directed by the same guy who did "An Inconvenient Truth," which I never saw, but has been cited as one of the reasons why climate change became a national priority. They say that the intention of this movie is to do the exact same thing for education. But it's true: the most important thing to do is to get the everyday voter informed.

A Long Ago Reflection

It just so happens that among the other TFA teachers at my school, two of them went to the University of Washington - and one of them was even in a sorority up the street. Even more weird is the fact that our classrooms are all within 20 feet of one another. So today the three of us sat and watched the Huskies get trounced by Nebraska, and the conversations unavoidably touched on things about Richmond High and teaching in general. Often talk about work feels like a disease you can't get rid of, but this time was different in that we discussed our first impressions of other people and RHS and talked about how the perception of TFA at our school has changed year-to-year with the changes in administration. Amidst all that, I remembered one thing that I had planned on writing about on here but had forgotten to do a while back. Something in the conversation made me bring up last year's race riot at nearby De Anza High School last year spurred by a group of black girls vandalizing the school lockers with "F*** Mexicans" in graffiti, and I recalled this being one of my biggest culture shocks of my experience last year.

Hostility between Blacks and Latinos in this community is to an extent that I never expected, and initially it didn't make sense to me. For some reason I assumed that the two groups, both historically oppressed in one way or another by upper-class white people would be somewhat united in their shared situation. It doesn't make sense to me that while the Black and Latino identities are fighting nationally against stereotypes and fighting for respect and positions of leadership, that so much hatred exists between them in a place like Richmond. I realize now though, that in this type of situation, it's a fight for superiority - or rather, it is a fight for who is not the lowest class. It's so sad to me that this community has the unique perspective to know how damaging discrimination can be, and yet so many race problems still happen on the streets of Richmond. A lot of it is gang-based, and a lot of problems begin or culminate at school.

Racial slurs are heard all too often in the hallways at school, and I can't believe how freely the word n***** is thrown around by Latino boys. And when I try to shut it down in class, my students laugh and tell me that nobody is offended by that word at school. I shut it down regardless, but I'm sure my classroom language rules have little effect on the RHS vernacular. From an outsider's perspective, with how much "playful verbal hostility" goes on daily, it's no wonder things get out of control so fast and fights break out so often. It's all fun and games until someone takes you seriously.

TIME to respond to another article

Having this job draws your attention to any piece of media that spotlights schools or the American education system - and I've come to realize that there is a lot of it. The September 20 edition of Time Magazine is their annual national service issue with a 16-page report on education. It is a great read; I'm thrilled to see that people are writing about how stagnant the teaching profession has become in the last decades, and even more thrilled to read that we are actually beginning to put a lot more accountability on adults. The fact of the matter is, regardless of what happens at these kids' homes, all students can be taught, and if it's not happening, that teacher needs to do something else.

There were two quotes in the article that I think hit the nail on the head. The first: "Sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident, teachers' unions have a long history of working against children in the name of job security for adults." This week I went sat in on the United Teachers of Richmond union rep meeting to see who we would endorse for school board, city council, and mayor of Richmond. I felt dirty being there, and the funny thing is that there are so many similarities between what went on there and typical position elections back at the fraternity. There was one candidate whose two minute speech was very well thought out, including his experience, his thoughts on what he advocates for in the classroom, in schools, and in education policy in general, but apparently he forgot to include all the buzz words that earn the support of the union masses. Other candidates gave about one minute 45 second speeches about how teaching is a large part of their family - listing off the family members who are teachers - and then used the last 15 seconds to spout something about fighting for our health benefits or yelling into the microphone that they would not vote to hire scabs, which of course got the entire group snapping in support. In my mind, "we" the union did not endorse the most qualified individuals. It was my sad realization that all elections are like this, and that there are stupid people in this world and there is nothing you can do about it except complain on your blog.

The second quote that got me thinking was: "We hire lots of our lowest performers to teach, and then we scream when our kids don't excel." A year and a half ago I was in San Francisco taking a teacher exam for teaching secondary math, and a few minutes before we were told to begin, I initiated some small talk with the woman in front of me, who openly shared the fact that this was her 14th time taking the test. I often wonder where she is today - if a teacher - and wonder whether or not she lets her students retake a test 14 times. I guess there is a fine line between determination and stupidity. And even in my credential class, there were a whole bunch of people who freely admitted that they had bounced between other professions for a while and didn't know what to do, so they decided to teach. It immediately reminded me of the sad joke that "those who can't do, teach." But seriously it is those people who at the first sign of misbehavior in their class will immediately make bad relationships with students and blame the student for making their job hard. Teaching should be a profession that is prestigious in that you know it will be hard, and your success is measured in your anticipation of those difficulties and how you handle them. I guarantee that no kid comes to class on the first day of school with the predisposition to make their teacher's life hell. Anything that happens that appears that way is likely the result of some teacher action that makes the student feel threatened.

I am particularly passionate about this because my school offers the ultimate highs and the ultimate lows in teachers. Fortunately, the lows only come from a few staff members and mainly happen in the form of substitute teachers. I had one of my best students come in on Friday and explain to me her run-in with her substitute PE teacher that day, who initiated an argument with students after accusing them of not saying "here" during roll call. Seems like a dumb reason to say the words f*** you to a student, but there is no way this student was lying to me, and I've heard of stuff like this happening before. I swear some people should be banned from interacting with kids.

The Chrysler Sebring that ruined my week

Since writing has become such a good outlet for me, I think this has become more of a life blog than just restricted to teaching. After all, the one thing I didn't want to have happen is let teaching consume my life. That being said, I was originally going to spend this time writing about my Labor Day weekend trip to Washington for a music concert, but instead I stayed in Oakland after getting t-boned at the intersection literally a block from my apartment. And if one more person tells me that "statistically it's the most common place to get in an accident," I swear I'm going to scream. This guy side-swiped me hard enough to trigger the side airbags and spin me 180 degrees up onto the curb; I'm pretty lucky he only hit the back driver's side door and not a few feet up from that. I still probably would have been fine - the damage on my car was nothing compared to the obliterated bumper of the other guy. The icing on the cake though - other than the fact that it was not my fault at all - was that the other guy had no insurance, and it also doesn't help that I have to wait until the end of September for my first paycheck of the school year. So anyway, I got hit about five minutes before we were planning on heading out en route to the Gorge Amphitheater, so I gave my friends the ticket to sell, thinking that I would be able to take care of all the repair plans over the weekend, but everything was closed for the holiday. I guess the $500 silver lining is that I was able to get a ton of things done that I originally didn't have time for, including playing in a pre-season game for a premier soccer team that I'm trying out for. I figure it's a "shit happens" scenario, and I didn't get hurt, so that's good.

As far as school goes, I used my extra time this weekend to grade and record the results from the diagnostic tests that I gave my classes. Overall, my algebra classes scored a 38% average on 7th grade math California math standards, my geometry students got a 41% on things they should know before my class, and my precalculus took the cake with depressing results. They scored less than 30% on algebra and geometry standards that they need before getting into precalculus curriculum. It has been quite a punch in the gut to realize that my goal this year is to reteach them Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry, in addition to somehow bridging the gap to Calculus. Holy hell. At least so far the students are all great and understand why we have so much ground to cover. I keep wondering how much better I could have done last year if I had only started off with this kind of relationship with the students. There's pretty much nothing bad to say about my new 178 students (note: still more than an average of 35 kids per class) other than their discouraging entry test scores, and every day I get students from last year walking by to say hi. This has reminded me many times that these kids rarely hold grudges - after all, a handful of those that stop by are the ones who still failed my class last year. I often think to myself when some of them stop by: "What are they doing here? We were never friends!" It's almost like making it through my first year at Richmond High and then coming back for another year is like the equivalent of a rite of passage where all of a sudden you earn all this extra respect. And yet with all this new teacher blood this year, sometimes all I think I've earned is extra cynicism.

But speaking of rites of passage, I was invited and went to a student's quincenera recently, which is a female Hispanic/Latino equivalent of a Bar Mitzvah, although I'm not one to say since I've never been to one. Anyway, these girls have like a wedding party of friends - guys and girls - and they have choreographed dance lessons for weeks before the event. There's dancing, matching dresses, tuxedos, lots of Spanish music, and a borderline ridiculous Beauty-and-the-Beast-style gown for the spotlit 15 year-old. It was pretty cool actually, and I still wonder what Latino guys traditionally do for their 15th birthday to match the girls. To me it seemed like way too much money to be spending on a teenager.

Oh yeah, we also had a 3.1 magnitude earthquake on Thursday morning during second period - it doesn't sound like much, but if you go to the USGS map, it was literally right underneath RHS. I didn't feel it since I was standing, but apparently all the desks shook because the students kind of went crazy and the rest of the period was pretty much shot. It must have done something to our new air conditioning systems because coincidentally our rooms turned blazing hot after that period, and learning - let alone teaching - is a seriously hard thing to do in a 90 degree room with no windows and no air circulation. Later that day the teacher across the hall said she heard one of my students yell in class for everyone to stop breathing because they were making it hotter. It was that bad.

I was originally going to take Friday off to go to this concert, but as it turned out, after getting in the car accident I needed it off anyway. However, getting a substitute already meant that I missed the crazy news that my "house" cultural geography teacher (the social studies teacher that all my students have) is quitting to go work in administration at our feeder middle school, which is all well and good for him, but I feel really bad for the students having to go through sub after sub until the spot has a long-term fix. It turns out that this teacher had been at Richmond for nine years, and actually graduated himself from RHS. The new gig is a dream job for him, and frankly, being Latino, he is an ideal candidate for the district's image, so I'm happy for him, but this was the guy who arranged the whole Oakland Half Marathon staff thing last year, so I'm sad to see him go.

So yes, mine was an eventful second week, and I doubt I'll get into the swing of things until my students stop getting switched around between classes. Rumor is that our new counselor declared that last Friday was the last day to switch your schedule around, and though the cynic in me says that there's no way in hell that's going to happen, I guess we'll see. Each week brings a new adventure. In the meantime I hope this rental car thing works without a hitch!