I can't believe I've made it this long at Marshall Middle School. I had been two solid years, subbing , teaching and being a para at the High School level, that the switch back to middle school was daunting. When I was in the Wakefield system, I started out,, almost six years ago at Galvin Middle School, and seamlessly moved back and forth as the preferred substitute teacher between there and Wakefield High School. I was working in my hometown, wandering the halls that were familiar to me and following y father's legacy. The students I first met in 6th grade at Galvin are now Juniors and Seniors! Some of the students I interacted with at the High School are graduating from college! Some go to college with my own children and some have even dated my daughter and son.
This year, I tried something new. I was hired to teach Science to low level Middle School learners, at an inner city, very poor and very socially challenging school. My "tough kids" in Wakefield can't hold a candle to my Lynn kids. There was poverty in Wakefield; there was abuse and neglect, but it was hidden. I developed a good nose for who had slept in their clothes.I knew who was sliding down the slippery slope, after all, I had known their families for years, I knew them! I knew nothing about my Lynn kids, except that they walked into my classroom, "the old in-house room" skeptical, distrusting, rolling their eyes at the new "old" teacher.Many were conversing in Spanish and all carried a swagger a mile wide. Ok, I reminded myself that "kids are kids" and that I could do this, I had done this many times, but not here, not Science and not at a school where the students were rumored to run the school. (I had worked for six months at English High School in Lynn, prior to my switch to TMMS.)
I also found out very quickly, that part of the "problem" here was no one seemed to have a firm hand at the helm. Memos would go out, then get corrected, then get recalled, only to go out in the original two days later. Meetings were called, hours after I had gone for the day, and I would be chastised like a child, for missing them. I was forced to attend long new teacher meetings as a stipulation of my hiring, I was assigned a mentor........Imagine, I was shown all there tricks of the trade to help me as a "new teacher!" Hello???? I had been a substitute teacher for five years and had been "mentored" by so many wonderful veteran teachers ,many with whom, I continue to collaborate! I have made many lesson plans, followed many units and managed many a classroom of diverse and challenging children. I've written many IEPs, chaired numerous meetings, been to many, many "back to school nights. This was TORTURE!
As the weeks go by, the meetings have been less intrusive and I have been able to connect and teach the way I love to teach, by letting the kids take the reins and question everything.
December 14th was a heart-wrenching and horrible last half of the day. I was helping the kids finish their wonderfl Mars post-cards and models when I foujnd out about the school shooting in Newtown CT. I looked around my tiny, cozy classroom, and saw my kids in a different light. I do love what I do
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