sorry about the typos!!!!!... but i have a zillion other things to do tonight!
Tomorrow is the annivesrary of Katrina, and in light of this, I will attempt to be brief. Things down here are moving so slowly, and with so little disregard for the citizens and survivors, it is a wonder someone hasn't blown something up.
So, just to keep everyone posted, I start school in one week. I will be spending my happy August 29 birthday in Literacy Instruction seminars from 8-4, and then I have grad school from 5-10.
After a long, stressful wait, I have been assigned to a school without a building: Landry HS, In its day, it was a great school, but the building is a total mess. In fact, despite my principal's promises that it will be under construction soon, there are rumors that it will be bulldozed thsi weekend. It has been condemned since FEMA and the National Guard left it, and it was squatted for a time.
We have been given 4 rooms at the end of a hallway in an elementary school. Despite community pressure to open it, only 18 students are currently enrolled - fortunately it is only going to be a 9th grade center until it gets off the ground. Despite the enrollment, there are 2 Englia h teacher assigned to the schoo, and it is unclear to me whenther I will be co-teaching, or even if I have a classroom.
Things are an absolute MESS down here right now, and very
little is getting done by the powers that be. We have a new
superintendant, and a whole new system, but when it comes down to it...
...most of the people making the decisions have lost sight of WHO the
decisions are being made about: the battered, emotionally scarred,
abused, poorly educated youth of New Orleans.
For example, instead of being an English teacher this year, I am teaching Read 180, a remedial
literacy program because 85% of 9th graders in NOLA are reading at a
6th grade level... or below... and lacking basic decoding skills and
vocabulary.
Great! It's a neat program! They will really succeed with it, I think!
Of course, I received no training in how to use it... I was scheduled to be in another mandatory meeting on the same day.
But.......
they still have to take the REGULAR ENGLISH I test to get out of
the 9th grade! And, because it is a state exam, I don't have access
to the test beforehand.
So basicaly, I have to tell my students....
"Wow! I am so proud of you this year! You have worked so hard and learned so
much! You have exceeded my wildest expectations and I care for you
all so much!
Now, take this test that you will fail totally because I
didn't prepare you for it, and don't let that affect your self-esteem
or your sense of helplessness about your position and situation in the
world."
I am FURIOUS about so many things here, I really want to quit beforeI
have even started. I also know though that the great things come out
of strife, and that the students are what is really important.
This is just a brush on the surface of what has been challenging down here, and in only one aspect. And I don't want to sound super-negative becasue I know when I get into school, things will be different.
So, if you have a moment, whistle a little chant/prayer/song for New Orelans, and the students of New Orleans. They need it... and so do their teachers!
