Somewhere Between Unsure and A Hundred

I try to refrain from posting too much on here about school, education, my students, etc. That’s probably why I don’t post much anymore considering that’s what I do with 80% of my time. Today, however, deserves a post. I still haven’t come down from my educational high. But first, some background:

REWIND: A few weeks ago there was huge drama when Dr. Firn (superintendant) sent out a letter to the 8th graders informing them about their high school choices. In describing New Tech, the letter was poorly worded and came off as very demeaning to our students, staff, and the rigor of classes that we offer.

Basically what came to light in the hubbub was that parents had been told by school board members that their kids weren’t going to meet graduation requirements if they stayed at New Tech. According to what they were told, the data indicated that our students weren’t learning anything, our classes weren’t honors level, and our students were level 2-3 students (that’s low). It is a gross understatement to say that our parents were pissed. That’s basically telling them that, while they’ve seen HUGE growth in character and intelligence in their students, and while they watch their dear babies scratch and struggle and hang on for dear life to earn a B and be hugely proud of that B, in reality their kid’s education is inferior and is not going to be acknowledged by the administration.

The parents got the wolf pack together, got organized, did crazy amounts of research, and showed up en masse at the school board meeting. The letter was sent out too late for the parents to get on the agenda, but it’s law that they have to allow anyone to speak for 3 minutes at the beginning of the meeting. The parents just wanted to express their concern and request a meeting with the parents, Dr. Firn, the school board, the teachers, and the students- all the parties involved. Two parents spoke about 2 different topics they’d decided on. One of my kids, Curtis, spoke about his experience at the school. He talked about how he’d always been a good student and a leader, but how he’d never until this year had to try or work to earn a grade. He told them he’d NEVER until this year been proud of a grade he’d received.

The board voted and agreed to have the meeting. Action is not usually taken based on the speaking segments before the meeting, so that was a big deal. Nothing has come of that meeting yet.

TODAY: All of that helps to make today more spectacular. My kids took the English I End of Course test today. I was straight up nervous. On top of it being my first state test as a teacher, there was the added pressure to beat the other English teacher’s scores from last year. 93% of his freshmen were proficient. It’s worth noting that the main high school in the county’s proficiency rate is in the 40s.

I prayed for a long time last night. Today, as I was administering the biology test, I walked around and prayed for each of my kids. I prayed for my voice to haunt them in the back of their minds, for focus, for confidence, for patience. I even prayed for their subject-verb agreement.

After they finished, one of them came up to me and said, “Ms. Stewart, I think I did good! I might not have done so well in class, but in there it was just like everything you’d said just hit me in the back of the head!”

After the kids were gone and the answer sheets sorted, Chris took them to Central Office to be graded. We all waited around, torturously unable to work on anything. He came back sooner than expected, which was a blessing on the stress levels.

He walked in and had us all come into one room. Carter had to go get LaBree out of her room, so we had to wait. Chris told some random story about the scanning machine while we were waiting, and I was going CRAZY. They were laughing at me because I was shaking and bouncing and fidgeting and ridiculous. LaBree came in and sat down, and still Chris was stretching the conversation. I burst out, “JUST TELL US!”

He made me come up and stand beside him and said, “In her first year of teaching…..Stewart’s freshman clas received an overall score of………….(long pause)…………..100%!!!!!”  I SCREAMED and jumped up and down like I’d won the lottery. ::Hugs and high fives all around!::   100% proficient. That does not happen. I could not stop grinning. Cloud nine never floated so high. LaBree’s biology kids were 98% proficient, which is amazing. One kid out of hers didn’t pass. He’ll take it again on Tuesday. It was an amazing day for Anson New Tech.

The thing is, how do I beat that? I can’t imagine that that will really ever happen again in my teaching career. So next year if my students get a 98% pass rate, it will be ridiculous to be disappointed (because that’s ridiculously high), but I probably will be. It’s been hours since I found out, and it’s still ethereal. All those times this year when I had minor panic attacks that my students might not actually be learning anything and I might be a horrible person who is ruining the youth of America one project at a time….? I’m over it. George W. Bush, my 100% proficiency IS LITERALLY no child left behind. How about you get someone to give me a raise?

How many W’s can you find in this picture?

Week 3. Or so the fingers would indicate. I have failed to update with anything up to this point since the day I got internet. Mostly because I’m a failure. So are more than half my students…Yeah. Not even joking. According to the other teachers that is normal-last year’s freshmen failed the first 6 weeks, too. It is, however, a bit disconcerting to look at your grades listed and see all F’s, D’s, and C’s.

I feel like I’m finally starting to get the hang of the New Tech model. I don’t have it fully, but I’ve definitely improved. Because I’m in the ideal situation, I talk to pretty much all of the other teachers daily, getting advise and sponging off of their vents, resources, and wisdom. Chris (principal) stops in my classroom during my planning about every other day, and he’s in my classroom at least once a day. He likes to see what’s going on in the classes. Just so you know, this is not normal. One of my classes makes me want to tear out my hair sometimes…or perhaps their hair… For some reason the other 2 classes are great. They’re kids-sometimes they talk too much and get distracted. But they respect me and listen. They actually do what I tell them to do. The other class…not so much. They could care less.

Since I moved here I’ve been required to entertain myself on a weekend ONCE. In over a month. Awesome. One weekend Mom & Dad were here, the next I went home, Labor Day Heather and Rachel were here, and then this weekend Mom & Dad spontaneously vacationed here and we spent Sunday at my dad’s cousin’s house at Lake Norman. They took us out on their pontoon boat and I went out on their jet skis with dad’s cousin. I DID hang out with someone new this weekend, though. Three someones, actually. Went to dinner, watched a movie-perhaps I am capable of making friends outside of college? With said friend I am (as of 20 minutes ago) working the concession stand at Friday’s football game. Just call me Sally Smalltown.

Although I have had visitors every weekend, I’m getting that “time to go home” itch a bit. It happens when I move somewhere-I get physically antsy to visit home. There used to be a defined line when I was at Rochester. For weeks I’d be fine. Then all of a sudden I was just…off. I do have a date for which to shoot, though- after week 6 I get to go home. I get to go to work, drive 7 hours, and then stay up all night. And I can’t wait. For 7 years I’ve been driving 7 hours randomly just for the weekend to go to my youth group’s lock-in. It is the most impractical trip I make yearly. Last year was the first year I missed it, and I’m elated to go back. (I would, however, love to be back in Europe missing it again…No offense, lock-in.)

I think I’ve found a church. Providence Road Church of Christ. It’s an hour and 20 minutes away. Jeff Walling’s church in Charlotte. That is quite a long way to drive for church. I quickly realized, however, that I need that comfort zone. I could go to one of the Baptist/Methodist/Episcopalian/etc. churches around here and feel fine about it. I’d be fine just being happy to disagree about the points with which I don’t agree and going with it for the “assembly/family” aspect of church. BUT I’ve come to find out that, while I can feel fine about going to another church, going to a church of Christ is so FAMILIAR, even if it’s full of strangers. When the whole rest of my world here is still pretty unfamiliar, I’m okay with driving an hour and a half to feel at home once a week. And they have a small group that’s only about a half an hour away. Plus it gives me a reason to hang out in Charlotte once a week.

I made some pretty tasty pasta today-cream sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, bacon. It wasn’t what I expected from the recipe, but it was good. I’m excited to eat it again tomorrow.

Wadesboro, NC

I found an apartment today. I neglected to take pictures. It’s a duplex…a brick house with some elderly people in the apartment next door who are very friendly and might make me cookies or something. The landlord mows the grass, there’s great parking, and I have a very non-creepy outbuilding (which I don’t need because I don’t have to have a lawnmower). The house has 2 spacious bedrooms, a huge kitchen & dining room, and a living room. Oh, and a bathroom. The second bedroom will probably serve as a library 90% of the time. 

After apartment looking, I met Chris, the principal of the school, and looked at the school. It is a small part of the bigger high school, and the students pretty much never associate with the rest of the school. It’s VERY elitist. Like, the most careful and purposeful elitism. He seems really great, and the school seems really great-right up my alley. But I can tell already that they are going to work my skinny white butt off. You know how, as above-average students in an average or below world, we don’t really have to work much to get good grades and demonstrate our above average abilities? The very nature of this school is to force kids like that to have to actually work. 

There is a Sonic right across the street. Apparently they make pretty frequent school trips to the Sonic. I’m a-okay with that. The school has a wild hog. The principal hunts wild hogs for fun. Apparently he’s caught around 400 in the last year. Now I’m a little paranoid that I’ll just run into one…since they’re apparently so prevalent. He caught one and built a pen for it, and it lives right in the school courtyard beside the greenhouse. Before he was the principal, Chris built a planetarium for the school. So we have our own hog and planetarium. 

I have to be down here August 4th. My summer has pretty much disappeared. I’ll be home this coming week, then gone a week for Naomi’s wedding, then gone a week for camp, then I will be packing up in the last week of July and moving first of August. Holythecrap.

After a whirlwind day of waking up at 5, driving 7 hours, touring the town with 2 different realtors, touring the school with the principal, and eating some steak, it’s off to sleep to drive back home tomorrow…