A continuation of last week's thoughts....

This past week has really put an emphasis on some of the points I mentioned in my blog last week.

On Wednesday, we held a brief staff meeting where we watched some startling videos on childhood poverty and the effects it has on students. I will have to get the link from my principal and post it here. The biggest point was the gap in opportunities for the students' first five years of life and how we can work to bridge that gap. Unfortunately, without government funding, we as teachers can only do so much when we have them during the school year.

Again, the biggest help an administrator can give is bringing in these cultural opportunities! Students need to be exposed to different hobbies, arts, music, and successful people of all colors. In our school, we are very grateful for our principal and his understanding in what our kids need. Many of the schools in Seminole County require that the fourth graders wait until after FCAT Writes in order to take their Saint Augustine trip. We are very blessed that we get to go befor FCAT Writes because for some of our students, this is the only time they've left the city of Sanford. This experience may be their first time traveling on a charter bus, being out of the city, seeing the ocean, or being in a mueseum. The students are able to draw from their experiences and use it in their writing.

I look back at my experience so far as a first-year teacher and remain thankful for where I am. I spoke to a friend from undergrad who is in her second year at a Title I school where there are 22 new teachers! I found the turnover rate to be ridiculous! We were sharing some of our stories from teaching, and her biggest struggle is the little hoops her school sets up for her to jump through. She has to have her 3 critical thinking questions posted everyday, different objectives posted every day, and all of these little things posted in her classroom that would eat up a large portion of her day. My friend is extremely bold and (much like those mentioned in the STAR article) refuses to do some of these things because she would rather spend her time with her students and planning. She said something very interesting that I think hit the nail on the head. As she was talking about what was expected for her learning goals and what needed to be posted, she said, "I spend my time afterschool conferencing with parents, planning, and doing things that my students are actually going to use. There's a limited amount of time that I'm willing to stay afterschool, and I'm going to use that time for what my students need."

So  much of a teacher's time is taken up doing things that the student's don't even look at. My administration requires that learning goals be written in kid-friendly language, and they can stay the same for a whole unit. Therefore, I spend minimal time writing them on the board. I get to spend more time looking over student work and planning. I don't think my friend is a "bad teacher" for refusing to stay until 6 pm in order to write out learning goals, but unfortunately, that tends to be the consensus. I actually admire that she sets time boundaries and prioritizes what is worth spending that budgeted time on. Unfortunately, those who are in charge categorize this as "being an unfit teacher," and habits like this may be flagged as insubordinate.