Walking in to my school on my first day I really had no idea what to expect. In fact I actually made the mistake of going to the wrong school. There were two schools right next to each other, one was an elementary school and the other was a middle school. I was assigned to tutor at the elementary school so obviously I walked into that one first only to find out that it wasn’t my school. Confused I then decided to walk next door to the middle school and found out that in fact my elementary school was indoors as well. This one building was hosting kids from kindergarten to 8th grade. That was initially very shocking to me seeing how I attended 3 different schools in the same district in that same time period (K-3, 4-5, 6-8). It was apparently over-crowded and I could only imagine the issues that would arise with 8th graders mingling with 3rd graders every day. It just didn’t seem practical to me.
I tried to withhold judgment though until I actually got into my classroom and that was a good thing because I immediately enjoyed my experience once I started meeting with the kids. They were all very friendly and were always quick with a compliment. A day didn’t go by without “hey man I like your hair” or “Ben sweet kicks” or even the occasionally “Mr. Wilder I’m digging the look today”. I don’t know if they were trying to suck up to the new tutor or were raised to always respect your elders, either way it was a very nice environment.
The teacher greeted me with an exasperated smile clearly grateful for the incoming help dealing with a more than full class. She sat me down in an absent students seat and for the first half hour or so had me observe. I found that the classroom was a bit of a tight fit but all necessary needs were met as far as supplies go. The only issue was that with the high number of students it was difficult for the teacher to maintain control of the class often resulting in her having to raise her voice or make an example of a single student. I soon found that the class was structured on strict discipline very similar to the teaching styles that Kozol described when talking about inner city New York schools.
Overall I found my first day being a bit of a surprise with the building not being what I expected and the students being much friendlier then I had imagined and the teacher so collected despite her hectic occupation. I could tell it took a certain kind of environment to deal with the issues in inner-city schools and that apart from a few flaws that this school had developed such an environment.
I’ve never heard of having grades K-8 in one school. I went to two schools during those grades (K-5 and 6-8), and at the time I felt having 11 year olds with 13 year olds was too much of a gap- nevermind as you said 8th graders and 3rd graders. How can one Principal keep order over with all of those children and the grades spanning so far? The school community must be very much divided amongst the grades also.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this goes along nicely with Kozol’s article. Interesting how this school is so crowded and you and I are both shocked by this, and compare it to our experience in middle-class suburban school districts.
I wonder how a teacher could develop critical pedagogy, a democratic classroom, or affective learning with such a large number of students. You mention that the teacher occasionally had to raise her voice or single out a student because it was hard to maintain control with the number of students in her classroom. I don’t believe this is the fault of the teacher, because it seems to go along with what Kozol writes about inner-city schools with high populations. It’s very understandable why a teacher would consider him/herself a “classroom manager” (pg 18) when schools often embrace education theories that Kozol mentioned, such as “..one hears today in inner-city schools that have embraced a pedagogy of direct commend and absolute control.” (pg 9), and “..their aim as the establishment of “faultless communication” between “the teacher, who is the stimulus,” and “the students, who respond.” (pg 9)